baby-look-a-like!

Our little Judah is now 9 weeks old and we are starting to see more and more of "baby Ethan" likeness in him! They definitely each have their own personality as a baby but their appearances are similar!

Can you tell which one is which?

*Ethan on left and Judah on right*

I just pulled out the shirt that Ethan has on in that picture for Judah to wear now!

I would say the main visual differences is that Judah's hair is more "calm" then Ethan's crazy hair! And Ethan's hair was longer from birth so he had a head start on the crazy hair-do!

They both have the melt-your-heart eyes and open-mouth-big SMILES! (I haven't been able to document Judah's smile yet....he won't cooperate!)

I must say that I have some good looking boys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

Joe's birthday was yesterday - he got Cinnabon-cinnamon rolls in the morning with coffee and a special homemade dinner in the evening (along side a 'no diaper change' day and time for him to read by himself!) I tried something new for his birthday meal and thankfully it was a big hit! Joe gave me the idea and I ran with it.

The idea was a 'purse' with cheeseburger-ish filling in it. So, I ground up my beef; sauteed the onions - for the sauce I used a mix I heard on Racheal Ray:
1 Tbs chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 Cup yellow mustard
1/4 Cup ketchup
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
*(RR had 1 C beef stock in there but I had none so I omitted it - plus I didn't want it to be runny)
I added this sauce to the meat and onions and let it all cool.

Then I took crescent roll dough; sealed the 'seams'; and cut the dough into squares. Into the dough squares I put about a Tbs or so of meat mix with some shredded cheese on top and brought the edges in to form my 'purse'. Throw an egg wash on top and it's ready for the oven! I was a little nervous on how they'd turn our because I wasn't really following a recipe (besides for the sauce!)

16 minutes later...ta-da! Out came these beautiful little browned purses that were pefectly light and flakey! woot-woot! I was so excited that they worked:) And they smelled good to top it off. Everything for the meal was done: beef purses, cheesy mashed potatoes, and fruit salad....now all that was left was for the birthday boy to try it out......

...AND HE LOVED IT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

...and for dessert I made this yummy cherry-cheesecake-deal I found online! Very simple and oh-so-good!

Recipe:
1-8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 C. Sugar
2 C. Cool Whip, thawed
1 can cherry pie filling

Crust:
16 graham crackers, crushed
1/3 C. butter, melted
1/4 C. sugar

Mix crust ingredients and press into pie pan or 8x8 pan; bake 10-15 min at 350

Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Blend in cool whip. Pour into cooled crust. Spread cherry pie filling over the top. Chill at least 3 hours. ENJOY!

I'm not the best-chef there is but I do enjoy cooking! It was fun to be creative and 'make-up' the main course and actually have it turn out;) AND it for my wonderful husband on his birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!

My Smart Kids

Joe took some super cute pictures of our boys the other day - all showing how 'smart' they are! (and stinkin' adorable too!!)

**Commentary is from Joe**

"Here is Ethan hard at work in the office doing very important toddler things. Here he is scheduling his next snack on his pocket PC and syncing that appointment with the computer.

He is also chatting away with potential blueberry donors. Blueberries are one of his favorite snacks."

"Hmmm...10 blueberries for one little cute dance...sounds like a good deal."

"No no no no no...I do not want grapes!"

"Our little theologian/philosopher thinking about the mysteries of the universe as he sleeps. Or maybe he is just thinking about a poopy."
"How can I get out of this blanket?"
"I want to be as cool as my older brother when I grow up."

I may be biased but I think we have some intelligent little kids!

Ethan does love to "play" on daddy's computer and phone - under supervision of course! Who really knows what our little Judah was dreaming about in his contemplative pose..all I know is that it was super-cute! Thanks daddy for some ADORABLE shots:)

WATER EVERYWHERE!

Last week I had quite the morning...

I had called Tessa to see if she wanted to stop by after work to hang/help out while Joe was gone at a conference - she agreed and came over around 10ish in the morning. About 5 minutes after she arrived the fun began! Judah decided it was time to fill his diaper and whilst changing that (ie: his feet in the air+wipe in my hand+messy everywhere) we hear this GUSHING water noise from the kitchen area...hmm...didn't have the dishwasher on...didn't have the laundry going....and it didn't stop...so I handed the messy bottom baby change to Tess and went to investigate (rather RUN into the kitchen) and open the service door to be welcomed with GUSHING water spraying everywhere!! AHHH! I act fast and grab my phone to call my dad (who thankfully can answer at work) and ask him what to do (may I remind you Joe is at a conference all day...thank goodness for dad!) my dad directs me to the corect spicket to turn off the water...whew.
Then on to clean-up. In the mere 3 minutes we had gushing water it managed to fill my kitchen with an INCH of standing water!! Many towels later and lots of laughs we had a clean and dry kitchen floor again.
Ethan was a big helper with clean-up; he liked to stand on the towels and help soak up the water!

The verdict for the excitement was a plastic bracket thingy (yeah you can tell I'm literate with this) on our water softener that decided it had enough and broke off resulting in water spewing everywhere. The quick fix: dad pushed a lever thing so now our water bi-passes the softener. We'll need a whole new part for our water softener (which isn't high on our financial need list) for it to work again; so for now we're just living with un-softened water...not to bad! I'm glad it wasn't something that NEEDED to be fixed - we can live with hard water:)

During this whole fiasco Ethan came in the kitchen (when Tess was finishing dirty-diaper-duty) and slipped on the water to land very HARD on his back/head; which resulted in screaming! So, we had GUSHING WATER+SCREAMING ETHAN+DIRTY DIAPER JUDAH+CONFUSED MOM - now a week later is a fun story to tell!

3 YEARS!

02-04-06 feels like yesterday and like a million years ago at the same time! The past 3 years have flown by but it seems like I've been married forever:) I love how that works. A lot has happened in the past 3 years -

We started the married life journey on Saturday, February 4th, 2006 (2-4-6 yeah math!)
Then 1.5 years later on Saturday, June 9, 2007 we added beautiful Ethan Josiah to our family! Born at 6lbs3oz and 19 inches with a full head of hair - now a family of 3
Then 18 months later on Saturday, December 27, 2008 we added precious Judah Elihu to the mix! Born at 5lbs9oz and 18 inches with a full head of hair - now a family of 4!
So much has happened: married, bought a townhome, worked full-time, had a kid, became a stay at home mama, had another kid...all in 3 years - whew!
I can't wait to see what the next 3 years will bring! I LOVE YOU JOE!

TMNT fun

The other day Joe found his TMNT action figures and gave them to Ethan to play with. Ethan is turning into such a big boy playing with action figures...it seems just like yesterday he was laying on the floor coo-ing at baby toys...now he's moved on to bigger, more sophisticated toys!
It's so fun to see him using his imagination when playing - he was having the turtles 'fight' each other - sound effects and all!

He wanted to share the joy of playing with TMNT toys so he let little Judah have a turn with them. Judah wasn't too sure what to do with them; feeling the head is just fine for a 5 week old I say! I'm glad that Ethan loves to share with Judah...
It's so fun how rediscovering some old toys can be entertainment for the whole morning! Ethan played with those action figures for a long time - Daddy was so proud! (Joe loves TMNT...yes present tense 'loves' not 'loved') and I love my boys! Here's looking forward to many years of action figures, cars, trucks and other 'boyish' fun!