Some little things...

I guess if brother is doing it, so can you.

When I am sitting on the couch reading you just can't be consoled. Until I pull up on the couch with me and you read too(and keep reading even after I get up).

And finally... I found a way to keep you out of everything... until you learns for yourself to get off of your pedestal that is...

The Best Brownies EVER- and you know I wouldn't lie about this...

Best Brownies

1 Cup Butter
2 Cups Sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
¾ Cup cocoa powder
1 Cup Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Add cocoa powder and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add chocolate chips.

Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.


So, I got this recipe from Jeremy's work again. I am hoping he will get a raise this year, but so long as the best recipes ever keep coming home I guess I will have to be OK with that. A bit more plump than I want to be, but OK. I made these and think I might not ever be able to have a brownie out of a box mix again. Well, maybe. I don't think I would ever turn down a brownie no matter its origin. Anyway- I made this twice- first time didn't quite bake it long enough(but still amazingly good). The second time I used wheat flour and they were perfection. Also, the second day they are very chewy. Oh and I am very impressed with how clean my kids can lick a beater. :o>

I think if we could eat a cloud from Heaven, it would taste like these brownies.

SO Cute!

A Frosting Girl

She has had cake, but not cake with frosting.

We think she liked it. Happy Birthday Amazing Little Girl. We love you.

(And a big thanks to our family who celebrated with us and gave us so many nice things! Turning one is an event to remember!)

My First Year

So, I guess its my birthday which means I have been around for an entire year! Wow! Time sure flies when you are a baby. This has been quite the year for me. So many firsts. So many new things. So much growth and development.


The highlight of my year had to be when I met my Mom. Dad, Sister, and Brother were pretty cool too, along with the rest of the world that seemed so anxious to get me in their arms. My mom keeps telling me how much I am loved- but really- I don't know any different. My thoughts are babies are supposed to be loved. End of story.




I put on some weight. I started out a bigger baby at 9 lbs 6 oz(although everyone kept telling me how perfect I was, so big must be a good thing). I kept growing and growing and growing. I am now just under 23 lbs. Daddy keeps saying he should stop feeding me so I would stay little. I don't really get that.


I am not sure what happened on this earth before I came along. But now that I am here, I am convinced this world needed someone to revolve around. I am so glad I was able to fill that role.


I like to gaze at my big sister. She is beautiful. She likes to give me pedicures and manicures. She shares her dolls with me. She would be happy if she could hold me all the time, but something deep inside me tells me I just can't make her happy and let her hold me- I need to cause her a little trouble.



My big brother is a party waiting to happen. Even when I was only a few months old, when he came into the room I was in, I had to pay attention to him. I used to kick my feet when I saw him. Now I usually just laugh, because he makes me laugh most of the time. I like to get a little rough with him and hit his head or take his glasses. I don't like it when people tell me to be gentle.

I have learned about that phrase: Live To Eat. I personally prefer the Mommy Express Special Milkshake. But I also love cheese(but it makes me have a rash so I am not able to eat it these days), veggies, cookies, crackers, and cake. I love Cake. Rumor has it I will have my very own cake tonight- I can not wait!
Life isn't perfect. The trials of a baby are like none I have ever seen before. I detest that first moment I am put down on the floor. I get over it, but feel I need to express myself and yell a little. Oh, and nothing makes me madder then when I am following Mommy and I finally get to her and she turns and walks away(think kitchen). I can't help but really yell at her. Also, what is the idea of my own crib? I get ticked every time I wake up and find they moved me. I am totally OK sharing my king-sized bed with my parents, in fact, how great is it that I get to wake up with my two favorite people almost every day? They just don't realize how snugly their bed is and how cold my little tiny crib is. Plus easy access to Mom makes midnight snacks awfully easy.



I think I am happy in my little world, and all the things that revolve around me. I know I am loved. And even though I may be a bit cranky and not let a lot of people hold me, I sure love everyone around me. Life is a blessing. Mom calls me her blessing. She calls me her heart. What a lucky baby I am.

(By the way: I think Mom will get on here later and post some birthday pictures. And how rude is she to take me to the Doctor on my Birthday and make me get shots?)

Walking!

Yes- she is walking. She took her first steps last Saturday(2/6/10), but got hit with the stomach bug and was too weak to try again for several days.

Here we go... she was already getting into everything, so I am not too worried about that adjustment. I am hoping she will enjoy her new found freedom and stop fussing so much!

Valentines- I think I will take it

I ran across a tube of lemon flavored lip gloss in my bottom drawer in my bathroom this past week. I remember buying this lip gloss on Jeremy's and my first Valentines together, which was a dozen years ago. I knew my sweetie loved the sours and thought how fun it would be for him to get a sour kiss. I am not sure he noticed the sour kiss- I think I had to point it out to him. We had a candlelight steak dinner. We enjoyed what was probably a very boring, uneventful evening without children. I wonder what we talked about?

Now, I had fun this first year with J and I together, but Valentines Day hasn't always meant very much to me. Most of my Valentines were as a heart sick teen. Oh, and then there was that one Valentines Day my x-husband left me like a week before(Yes, this is a reminder to everyone I was married before Jeremy! I know- you always forget about that part of my life. So do I- I am so over it- but it was part of my past, so it will never be fully gone. And he didn't just leave me- it was mutual and necessary and proof that divorce was created by God for a reason.).

But even before that I always figured Valentines Day is stupid. I already have professed my love to my lover- why have a day I have to go out and buy him a card and other unmentionables to tell him something I tell him on a daily basis? Hallmark Holiday. Baah Humbug.

My husband thinks differently. He likes the fuss. He likes the professions of love. He likes the unmentionables. We always did something. The gifts I received were waaaaay better than the gifts I gave, but it worked out. The Valentines Day after Nathan was born J was working swing shift, I wasn't back to work quite yet. I had arranged a beautiful scene, including candles, for him to walk into. After getting both kids down, and probably taking a shower(maybe a first for that day- I don't know- can't remember!) I sat and waited for the LOVE OF MY LIFE to come home. I got cold. I got bored. I was beyond exhausted with a two month old still getting up at night. The take-down of the beautiful scene went quit quickly. My flannel, nursing PJ's came on even faster.

Poor Jeremy was very offended when he got home that night. I got the cold shoulder. Not saying that really bothered me... I am one who really really really values my personal time and personal space. But I did feel bad for him. I felt bad for disappointing him- the man who has accepted me despite my flannel pj's and non-showering days.

So- fast forward to 2008 and 2009 when my adorable little girl decides Balentimes Day is the best day in the whole wide world! She was thrilled with decorating the house. She was ecstatic about a heart shaped pizza. She love wearing pink and red. And Candy on top of it all! Yahoo! She lovingly shared every valentine card that was boy themed with her brother. She even shared her candy with the rest of us. Her Daddy enjoyed her excitement, as we all did. He loved that he had a buddy on this fun fun day. I felt like Valentines was fun again because I could make it fun for the kids and we could enjoy watching them enjoy it.

On Feb. 11, 2010 the stomach bug hit the Conser home. Several of us stayed home from school and work. Leila and Daddy worked on getting her Valentines ready for her school party. They enjoyed the time spent together. I realized while watching my sweet husband help my daughter print her name and the name of her friends on her cards that Valentines is amazing. He takes the time to help them pick me out a card, some flowers, and explain how special this day can be. My heart loves this man more than I can ever explain. I already loved him this much. Watching him care and love our children adds so much more to my feelings to him.

So while Leila's and Nathan's school has renamed "Valentines" day to "Friendship" day to take any possible thought of romance out of it, I think it is about LOVE. And it is about FRIENDS too. Its about being TOGETHER. Its about LOVING EACH OTHER. So, while I would love to pretend this "Holiday" never existed, I think I am OK with it. It does remind me of the good things in life. It reminds me about how much I have- and I really have so very much.

Chocolate Stuff-- followed by a date

I had an amazing weekend. On Saturday my mother-by-marriage decided it was time for some serious Conser Girl Bonding. Both my sister in law and I were happy to comply, especially since it had to do with chocolate and pampering.

We went to the Chocolate Fest up at the Forestry Center. We were able to sample just about as much as we could stomach- some interesting things were the blue cheese truffle, organic and natural raw chocolate, fudge of almost any flavor(I liked the root beer float flavor, but only a bite- a bar of that would be too much). Good times. (I forgot my camera so here is my bag and my loot)

Afterwards we went to the Grand Salon for Chocolate Wraps- they exfoliated the skin with a cocoa lotion, then after they wiped all that off, they painted us in chocolate. The idea is that Chocolate is an anti-oxidant, and we are anti-oxidating from the outside in. Then they wrapped us up in plastic, tin foil(kinda like a candy bar), and put a nice warm blanket over and we soaked in the chocolate for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes they let us shower, then buttered us up with lotion that smelled of course like chocolate. Heavenly. My skin was so soft and smooth. Thank you Sue! I really enjoyed myself. It was a great break from the kids, and it was great to spend time with the Conser Girls I was so lucky to meet and become family with thru Jeremy.

The bad part was Sue had ordered one of each of us. Somehow they messed up on hers and gave her a mango body polish. Still luxurious, however not what she had ordered. Hopefully she will return and use some of the coupons they gave her and do it again! I do have to say the Spa Life is one I could get used to.... sigh.. maybe... someday....

I got home and explained the experience to my kids- Leila got to work and used an old coloring book to make a spa chair for Kathryn. I came into the room with both Leila and Nathan "working" on Kathryn- Nathan was giving her a manicure and Leila was working her feet with a "pedicurd". We had painted her little toes the day before. How cute. They continued their work and gave Daddy a manicure and Nathan then gave Leila a pedicure.

They were having so much fun, I almost didn't want to leave. Almost. Jeremy and I had a date planned, and we ended up going to Big Reds- we enjoyed our evening without the children, even though we talked about them most of the time. Its important for us to have our time together- its so easy to disconnect with the demands on our time and every need seeming to outweigh the need for us to talk. But we have to defend our relationship and make it our priority. Because without him and I, everything we are working for would be for nothing.