Our Weekend Celebration!

So this weekend we kind of celebrated our "little" anniversary and Valentines all through the weekend with food!  Lol!  And we still have more to come tonight!  But most of you may know that Tom does 95% of the cooking in this home if not more.  I am more of a baker but I don't do it as often as I should.  I do make our own bread with this great bread recipe I got from a ladies Bible study years ago, but that is another post, maybe soon as I need to make some today if possible!  Anyway, Tom made us this awesome Crab dinner on Friday night for our anniversary, as our anniversary is more important to us than Valentine's Day.  He surprised me when I came to the table to find this whole crab "staring at me" from my plate.  We also love asparagus and he got some nice Rosemary spiced bread and sauteed some garlic to put in olive oil to dip the bread in.  To top it off, we had some Sparkling Cider.  I did make a Cherry Chocolate Brownie cake later in the evening for us to enjoy too.  It had Cherry Pie filling in it, and I actually made it wrong because during the process it didn't look right to me so that is why I'm not putting the recipe on here yet because I don't know how it would taste the right way.  It still turned out awesome though, no worries!

Tom made us a special breakfast on Saturday morning of French toast and fried plantains, we still need to perfect that recipe, we don't think the plantains were ripe enough.  Then on Sunday morning I made us a Mixed Berry French Toast with Sauce casserole.  So yummy and I wanted to share the recipe with you.

Ingredients:  12 slices day old bread, 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, 1 c. fresh or frozen (thawed) fruit of choice, 12 eggs, 2 c. milk, 1/3 c. of maple syrup or honey

Ingredients for sauce: 1 c. sugar, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 c. water, 1 c. fresh or frozen (thawed) fruit of choice, 1 Tbsp. butter or margarine.

we didn't actually have day old bread so I just put the slices of bread on cookie sheet and put them in oven to bake at 200 for 10 minutes and it gave them the perfect "day old" feeling.

Cut bread into 1 in. cubes, place half in greased 13x9x2 in. baking dish.  Cut cream cheese into 1 in. cubes, place over bread.  Top with fruit of choice and remaining bread.  In a large bowl, beat eggs.  Add milk and syrup or honey, mix well.  Pour over bread mixture.  Cover and chill 8 hours or overnight. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake 25-30 minutes more or until golden brown and the center is set.  In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch, add water.  Bring to boil over medium heat, boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in fruit of choice, reduce heat to simmer for 8-10 minutes or until berries (if chosen) have burst.  Stir in butter or margarine until melted, serve over French toast! Makes 6-8 servings.

We used mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and red raspberries) with the honey sweetener and it was so delicious.  This is a recipe from my mother-in-law and she made it for us over Thanksgiving with peaches and that was also so delicious.  Enjoy!

Oh The Places You Go....!

Today was a very productive day for Mommy!  Titus got his morning nap and then off we went to run some errands.  We do not do that very often I have to say, so we basically stay home A LOT.  But today I wanted and needed to get some things done outside of the house, outside of these four very white boring walls!  I love my time with my family, don't misunderstand that and lately I am loving the freedom that comes with a now 8 month old crawling and exploring!  Not only is it freedom for him no doubt but it means more freedom for Mom.  I don't have to be present (within arms length) to satisfy my sons every want.  I can actually do the dishes, with one eye on Titus, while he explores the living room!  And it is VERY FUN to watch him explore, at least at this point it is.  He is pulling himself up to a standing position on anything that is even the least bit stable, which includes a rocking chair! 

But today we went to the great store of Wal-Mart to work on some Valentine projects Titus wanted to do!  We went to the grocery store and had lunch with my aunt Mary, which the company was way better than the food I have to say!  We went to the mall to pay our cell phone bill, ugh!  And we went to see the pretty nurse at Titus' doctors office so that we could see how big we are getting!  His last check up was at 6 months in December and his next one won't be until he is 1 year in June, so we were curious to see how much we have grown and 6 months is way to long to wait!  Well, he has grown but not as much as mommy and daddy were thinkin he has.  He is now 17 lbs. 11 oz. and 28 1/2 in. long.  Only about 1 pound up and a 1/4 in. longer since his last checkup!  So technically he could stay in his infant seat still since it goes till 30 lbs. or 30 ins., whichever comes first.  We just got him this convertible seat (rear-facing to front-facing) thinking he was beyond the 30 ins. by now and it looks like a captains chair off of Star-Trek!  It does kind of go into a laying position for the rear-facing but not enough cuz when he falls asleep in it his little head hangs forward and I feel terrible for him thinking that has to be so uncomfortable.

Titus is also beginning to love his solid food, he seems to no longer really take the time to taste it or move it around to check out its texture, he just eats it!  Unless of course he doesn't like it, like pears, he seems to not like them.  He takes after his mom on that one, I do not like the grainy texture of pears.  I do like his pureed version of them but he doesn't seem to?  But he likes bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potato and parsnip so far.  Next is butternut squash, mmmmm!

I thought I would add a pic of a tasty dish Tom makes for us sometimes, also great for any vegetarians!  He buys frozen pot stickers (aka gyoza in Japanese) and fry and steams them on the stove top.  And he sautes frozen green beans in soy sauce and oil or butter.  Then he has this amazing rice cooker, that cooks the rice perfectly sticky in just 10 minutes and voila you have a wonderful Japanese style meal!  So yummy!

Anyway I should go, I don't think I forgot anything important!?

Baby Food Cooking...

So for now anyway I make my own baby food for Titus, it is cheaper, healthier, tastes like real food of course but not necessarily easier.  Although, it is fairly easy just not as easy as picking something off the shelf at the store.  I have a book that helps me a lot with knowing what to do and what to offer him for first stage weaning and second stage weaning called The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel. 

Here I am steaming pears, as steaming is the best way to preserve the vitamins and fresh flavor.

Here is my little food processor that I picked up at a rummage sale long before I was married!  Perfect for pureeing baby food!

And here is my ice cube tray with the pears for freezing the perfect portion size for Titus!  Just put them in a Ziploc and label and date them, will be good for 8 weeks! 

And it seriously tastes good, I always try it and if Titus doesn't finish his portion then I do because it actually tastes yummy.  So far we have done apples, sweet potato, carrots, pears and parsnip.  Parsnip looks like a white carrot and tastes like a cross between carrot and sweet potato to me.

Just Because...

I love my husband, he is so thoughtful towards me, more than I deserve.  Usually he plays basketball at our church on Saturday mornings from 7-9 just for some exercise with whoever shows up for it.  Yesterday morning they couldn't have the gym for that because of a conflicting AWANAS event for the kids, but he never told me that!  He got up early as normal for what I thought was to get ready for basketball, but I woke up a little later and found it was starting to get light out and my husband hadn't come in to give me kiss before he left as he usually does each morning before work and basketball!  Then I started to smell something good coming through the top and floor cracks of our door and I could hear something sizzling!  Then I heard our son start waking up and I thought "should I go out there since Tom is busy cooking?"  Well I continued to hear Titus cry and wasn't sure if Tom was getting him up or not so I did go out and found that he was not in the kitchen and found this delicious looking breakfast with a rose was coming together.  So I slipped back into bed and waited for my delighted husband to bring me our son to be fed.  And he did along with something to feed me!  So sweet!

Changes....

What a blessing it is to be able to be home with Titus as he grows through all of these precious stages. I finally felt after about 6 1/2 months to get a routine down that makes both of us happy. That seems kind of long to me to catch on but at least it isn't longer is all I figure. He takes a good nap in the morning and then usually a good one in the afternoon, sometimes those ones are shorter than I would like but at least he takes one routinely. I still need to work on my time management skills with actually getting some things done around the house on a more routine basis, but that is coming and hopeful since he does take a couple naps.

I momentarily stopped going to BSF because of our car situation and I really want Titus to be crawling before I put him in the children's program there. But the car situation is close to being completely worked out and more details will be coming once it is final! Thank you to any of you who have been praying for that situation for us.


Titus is very close to crawling, he will get in the position and either rock back and forth or he will actually take a few strides and then fall to his belly!


He is almost learning two things at once, it is funny to see how it all works because I would have thought sitting up would come first. But they are kind of coming at the same time, he does this all the time now, soon he will realize he can plop himself up and over onto his bottom.


Mealtimes... he loves the spoon and wants to grab it and do it himself all the time. Right now he loves his rice cereal and we are working on sweet potatoes and apples and carrots.

Baking Time

Okay so I don't really like to cook, but I do like baking! Titus and I baked these yesterday and I felt the need to share it with you. We also made a loaf of homemade bread, we don't have a bread machine but we do have a stand mixer and an oven, Yummy! These caramel rolls were good this morning for breakfast with a little heat and butter on them. Tom on the other hand likes cooking and he is great at it. He is marinading a whole chicken right now to grill for tonight, Yummy. Maybe I will get a picture of that finished product for you!

Update on Little Big Man!

Titus is close to 16 weeks now, he is getting very vocal and he is such a good baby. Sure there are moments or days when mom feels like she doesn't get anything done but I am learning to adjust still and trying to work with that as much as I know how at this point. I feel like nothing prepares you for this and at times it is different than how you thought it would be, but by God's grace it is still good and it is worth it. You have the opportunity to make a direct impact for eternity in the life of your children in how you decide to raise them. I love that verse, Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." That is a promise from the very Word of God that we can claim as His children. Titus is very strong with his neck and holding up his head, it seems he has been from birth and he is about 15 lbs. now! Most everyone that meets him or sees him thinks he looks older than what he is because of his size! I am hoping to hold off introducing any food at all until he is 6 months, therefore eating only breast milk til then. His Pediatrician recommends that because of allergies these days and with the allergy history of some of his cousins I think that would be best for him too.
Well last week mom joined Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), which is an interdenominational, in-depth Bible study that actually meets all over the world! Some of you may remember that I did this about 10 years ago, the first year they taught the book of Romans. Then I started work at the Vet Clinic and I couldn't go anymore because it is on Wednesday mornings here in Missoula for the women. But now I have Titus and they have a great children's program where they teach them the same thing that the parents are studying. And this year is a new study to BSF, they are teaching through Isaiah! And actually since Titus is so young I can keep him with me for nursing and such. I think once he is crawling I will put him in the children's program. If you are interested and are looking for a good Bible Study, just click on the link for BSF down under the websites we enjoy. You can search for one by your zip code and they have a class for men too. Tom is not going yet because he is pretty involved in our church's youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings plus any extra activities they do. But I am loving it and it just started last week and goes through the school year with breaks like for Christmas and such.
I think Tom is happy that NFL season is started back up, we love those Broncos! Titus already has two Broncos outfits, at this point for the future. We also think it is awesome that Tim Tebow is on the team after his awesome Pro-Life testimony last year during the Super Bowl commercials!
We are hoping to drive to CO to spend Thanksgiving with Toms parents and then fly into IL or WI to spend Christmas with my family this year! Pray that we can accomplish those trips, we should be able to get at least one free ticket because we earn travel reward points with both of our debit cards thanks to our great US Bank. I am so excited for Titus to play with his cousins, Gracie and Bella, they have not met him yet and neither have my sisters! And we have not met Bella yet and she is going to be a year old in November! And Titus is only about 5-6 lbs. less than her from what my sister tells me! What a ham! But Tom does have plenty of PTO stored up so that is great.

I love this picture cuz it looks like Titus is sitting in the ball! His development book actually recommended doing this to encourage muscle development, another great use for those exercise balls.

Okay I know those who are close to me know that I love most things that few people like, like anchovies, sushi and yes, sardines! I actually saw this on t.v. and wanted to try it and I had the ingredients for it so why not? A peanut butter and sardine sandwich, and it tasted really good! If anyone likes sardines, I recommend trying it.

One of Tom's great soups, Udon, actually from his time in Japan. I love it cuz the noodles (called Udon noodles) are like the size of earthworms and then he cooks up some good veggies to put in it like carrots, mushrooms and pea pods. And usually he slices up a hard boiled egg and puts that in too, which is an awesome way to enjoy hard boiled eggs.

Titus in his Bumbo chair with his precious bunny.

A view out our living room window! There has been a group of whitetail/mule deer of 7-10 everyday down in the gully outside our window! Some are good size bucks, Jerm you could come out here to hunt!