Just for fun

Some recent pics:

My favorite little pirate.
I got these hair bow headbands for Evie for Christmas, but they don't stay on well,
so she mostly uses them to be a pirate. At least they're getting some use.

Nate made a grocery list using creative spelling:
bananas, apples, pears, bread, strawberries, grapes, cuties, and corn on the cob.
I'm impressed by his healthy choices. Maybe one of the things
we've told him a thousand times is actually sinking in.

Happy Easter!

I actually remembered to have Stephen take some Easter pictures while the kids were dressed for church on Sunday. My brain doesn't work well lately, so that in itself was amazing. And then the pictures even turned out well. Who would have guessed?

Nate and Evie smile on cue, but Simon isn't so easy. To get that priceless smile on his face it took me singing a very dramatic interpretation of "Pattycake." 

No, we didn't get a picture of that. :)

Our first picture as a family of five. No time to set up the tripod.
A TV table worked just fine.

Garden: Round Two

Last year's garden was one big disappointment learning lesson. We planted too many tomatoes, so as they grew they shaded all the other plants and kept them from growing. We had tons of tomatoes, but lost most of them to blossom rot. There were a few that turned red, but then squirrels stole them just before we were going to pick them. They even left one sitting on top of our fence to taunt us. Basil was the only thing that did really well. It seeded and I ended up with basil growing in four of our buckets. It's a good thing we love basil pesto!

Anyway, we're starting over, but this time with much lower expectations. We planted fewer tomatoes,  bought some treatment for the blossom rot, and we're planning to get chicken wire to keep the squirrels out. If I get to eat at least one homegrown tomato I'll be satisfied.

 Spring Break gave us some beautiful days to work and play outside.

Evie working in her own "garden."

Four Months

Four months have come and gone! Simon is trying hard to catch up with his brother and sister. I took him to his four month check-up last week, and he weighed in at 17.5 pounds. No wonder I struggle to carry him around in his car seat these days. He's fat and happy. Except when he's teething. Today I'm waiting for tooth #2 to make its appearance, so he's fat and fussy instead. With Nate and Evie I was oblivious when their first teeth poked through at four months. I just thought they were fussing to fuss. Now I know to expect teeth at four months. Simon is falling right in line with my expectations. Here's a picture of our sweet boy. He's looking a lot like Evie these days.

Elizabeth, does this remind you of another picture?

Ten

 If you had told me on our wedding day what the next ten years would hold, I think I would've left the altar. I never could have imagined, after all the changes of the past ten years, that I would find myself on our tenth wedding anniversary happier and more in love than ever. The Lord has been kind to us. He has knitted our hearts together in a way that we never could have imagined. I'd love to write a long post about the past ten years and how much I love my husband, but there are no words for this. Happy Anniversary, Stephen Blan! Here's to ten more ...

 

 Who were those people? I barely remember.

Hodge Podge

Have I mentioned that it's been a hard transition to three kids? It's been a hard transition to three kids. And you'll probably hear that again in my next post - whenever that may be. Anyway, since I haven't had much time to post I'll just post a hodge podge of recent pictures.

I was sitting across from Stephen at lunch one Saturday a few weeks ago and had to take this picture. It reminded me so much of this one from when Nate was his age and we traveled to America for what would be our last Christmas with Mom. Simon wearing Nate's clothes has reminded me a lot of those days. It's strange how that happens.

Rise and shine! Simon loves being greeted by these sweet faces
first thing in the morning.

Nate has really taken off with his reading. He tries really hard, and we're really proud of him and the progress he's made. Yesterday morning he picked up "Little House in the Big Woods" (yes, he knows how to steal my heart!) and read the first page of chapter one. It's not exactly an easy reader, and I got a little bit angry at the English language while he was reading. I sure wish words could sound like they're spelled!

 When we decorated Christmas cookies I froze half the dough to save for Valentine's Day. I was really glad I thought to do that! I put the dough in the refrigerator a couple days before so all we had to do was roll, cut, bake, and decorate.

 I can't decide on my favorite decorating method for the kids.
This time I made royal icing and put it in ziplock bags.

 Evie ended up decorating with her hands anyway.
I set those specially decorated cookies aside for HER to eat. :)

3 months

It's hard to believe Simon is almost three months old. Not because time has flown, but because it seems like he should be a year old by now! Seriously, it's been a harder transition from two to three kids than I expected. But Simon is a very healthy and happy baby, and for that I'm thankful. He gives us lots and lots of smiles and coos, and he's starting to giggle. I had forgotten how sweet baby coos and laughs are. We could just eat him up! Here's our sweet boy enduring some tummy time.

Having a big brother to talk to makes tummy time bearable!

Tortilla Factory

Last week I had some leftover dough from our favorite butter dip bread sticks, and as usual Nate and Evie were quick to ask for it and start rolling out their own bread sticks. They LOVE playing with my leftover dough, as I've mentioned before, so I try hard to have extra for them. They'd been playing with it for a while when I noticed Nate had rolled his dough thinner than I've ever been able to roll mine. I guess he's had a little practice. But when I saw it I instantly thought "Tortillas! Nate can make tortillas!" We usually stop by Rosa's Tortilla Factory for fresh tortillas when we need them, but I couldn't stop thinking about making our own.

So we tackled them yesterday. (And from the looks of my kitchen afterwards, they tackled us back!) I mixed up the dough, divided it into 24 pieces, and covered the counter with flour. Then Nate and Evie rolled their little hearts out while I cooked them. Nate did a great job of getting his perfectly thin, but I usually had to finish Evie's after she gave it a good start. I have to call this one a success. Move over, Rosa's. The Blans are moving in!

Oh, and I used this recipe. I did substitute shortening for lard even though it says not to, but it didn't seem to matter. I also used warm water like reviews suggested, and I think that helped make the dough really easy to work with.

 Hard at work!

 Taking turns with my big rolling pin. They have a smaller one that is theirs, 

so it was a treat to get to use the big one for this.

 He did a good job of getting them perfectly thin. 

Getting them perfectly round might take some practice.

Our stack of tortillas.

What did we do with them? We made bean burritos. It's one of the only meals that both Nate and Evie love. Most of our meals one loves and the other doesn't, but this one is a hit every time, so we eat it often - probably once a month. I cook pinto beans in the slow cooker overnight and make a recipe of my sister's refried beans sometime during the morning. It's not quite like "day after" pizza or lasagna, but isn't everything better after it sits for a while? Anyway, usually the kids eat two burritos each, but last night they ate three each. I'll take that as a sign of success!

Christmas Snow

The entire week before Christmas the meteorologists here were talking about the possibility of snow on Christmas. I thought they were just trying to get people to watch the news. Texans go nuts over snow - especially snow on Christmas. Such a novelty! But I guess I was wrong. It really did snow on Christmas. And it was absolutely beautiful to sit inside all day and watch the rain turn to sleet and turn to snow. We sat at the kitchen table learning how to play the games we got the kids for Christmas (Spot It and Zingo - hours of fun for ages 3 to 33!) and watched the blizzard outside. Well, it was just two inches, but who's counting? Maybe I'm turning Texan after all. It's a far cry from our days in the mountains of Turkey where snow covered the ground from November to March!

 No, she's not in jail. I wasn't willing to take my slippers off and put
shoes on to go to the other side of the gate.

 

 Oh to be this carefree again.

 That looks really cold!

 Warming up with our favorite hot chocolate. I don't do all the fixins.
The hot chocolate alone is delicious!

 Can't take one of their pictures without taking the other!

 Simon didn't get to play in the snow. He stayed inside and helped make
the hot chocolate. :) Daddy needed to warm up too!

Christmas Cookies

Our final Christmas activity with the kids was decorating cookies. I made my favorite sugar cookie recipe, refrigerated the dough overnight, divided it in half and rolled them out for Nate and Evie to cut out their own shapes. I made icing with powdered sugar and milk to decorate. Here's how it went:

 I put the icing in squeeze bottles this time because every time I let them use icing bags it just squeezes out the back. The bottles worked pretty well and kept them from putting too much icing on the cookies too. I need to get my icing a little bit thinner next time though. It was kind of hard to squeeze.

 I'll keep trying the bags occasionally until they're able to do it that way, but I like the squeeze bottle idea.

 They added some assorted sprinkles to decorate. I look forward to the day they're old enough to go all out with colorful icing and creative designs. 

So proud of the finished product!

Leaves

The kids have loved raking and playing in the leaves this year. Evie calls the pile of leaves her bird's nest. Silly girl!

A little help from Daddy.

Where's Evie?

There she is! The game that never gets old.

Nate doesn't look quite as thrilled to be covered with leaves.

Occasionally the leaves do get cleaned up.

Crispy Christmas Cottages

The thought of making gingerbread houses intimidates me. Maybe we'll tackle them someday when the kids are older and more able to help. So when I came across this Crispy Christmas Cottages recipe, I was excited. It looked very do-able, and it was! I made the rice krispie treats Friday morning, and the kids spent Friday afternoon decorating them. The only problem was that they wanted to eat them too. That's a lot of sugar! I'm usually happy just to use sugar to create fun things, but I guess there's not as much fun in that. :)

 The pre-decorated cottages.

New use for old things. We used some leftover Halloween candy to decorate.

 Taking their time to get their cottages just right. 

 The finished product.

 Our little village.

 And where was Simon during all this? Snuggled up in the Moby wrap so I could be hands free. Loving my Moby!

Visit with the Winklers

We were blessed by a visit from Elizabeth, Matthew, and Ethan last weekend. I realized after they were gone that we only took one picture with Simon in it. I completely forgot to take any with them holding him. I guess Elizabeth and I both have baby brain - she's expecting baby #2 in June! Can't wait to add another cousin to the bunch! Anyway, we had a wonderful time. It was so sweet to see how much Ethan had grown. He's such a happy boy and a good baby. I miss this family! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

 Ethan with his big cousins. Evie insisted on silly faces for these pictures!

Plus Simon.

Evie with her Aunt Liza. 

We had beautiful weather while they were here, so Nate got some soccer lessons from Uncle Matthew.

 Sliding with Uncle Steve.

 Sweet boy!

 Love the gap in his teeth!