Newest Addition

I love her sweet little face

They are so in love with her.

She's a lot darker than Tyler or Emily were.

Such a long time since my last post, but most important recent activity in our family is the arrival of Natalie Noel. We are so happy, and to us she is perfect in every single way. Tyler and Emily are so thrilled she is finally here. Every doctor appointment Tyler would ask if she was coming. She was born on September 10 at 8:08 pm weighing 7lbs 9 oz and 20" long. She has tons of, very dark hair, and as of right now we think she will have blue eyes. She looks alot different than Tyler or Emily to me. She loves to eat and sleep, and makes cute little sounds. She has been a very good baby.

I feel so blessed to have 3 beautiful children. They light up our life. I enjoy watching her change already, and we are happy to have her in our lives.

Tyler and Emily can swim

I have been very proud of my children, that they have learned and love to swim, this summer. Ever since moving to a house with a pool, I had my reservations, and was fearful of the thought of one of them falling in. Tyler learned to swim with his floaties when he was 2 years old, but winter came and we hadn't been in a pool for quite some time. He had almost forgotten how to swim. After many days in the pool, he even learned how to swim without his floats. He wanted to do it all by himself. He loves it so much. He is very fearless, and jumps in the deep end and is practicing how to float on his back. He can do it for a short while, but he loves it! He has also learned how to dive. It's one of his favorite things to do in the pool, to dive for his torpedo toy.

I am also so proud of Emily, who has also learned after only a few times in the water how to swim with her floaties on. She too loves to float on her back. I am glad I have children who love, and are not afraid of the water. It's been so hot lately and it's what we do most of our time. They can't get enough of it. They are practicing with daddy how to do different things all the time, and we are working on learning survival skills as well.

Strawberry Farm

Today we went to a Strawberry Farm in Mount Dora. I never knew it was there, but it was so much fun. The kids enjoyed picking their own strawberries. The farm had a park they could play on, as well as a hay ride. They even had a zip line that Tyler absolutely loved. It was a beautiful day and they had so much fun. We rode out to the flea market, and Tyler got to ride a pony, and best of all we got to ride an elephant. I wasn't expecting to get on, but the guy told me to jump right on, and so how could I resist. It was one of the neatest things I have expierenced, how often can you say, I rode an elephant. The strawberries are delicious, and I am hoping to make some jam, with the help of my sister. They were also very inexpensive and so much fun to do.

All grown up

It seems my baby is getting bigger by the minute, and little things like getting a new booster seat for the car, instead of his normal car seat, and getting his new big boy twin bed help me to realize it even more. Tyler finally got a Twin bed, and he loves it. He feels like such a big boy..he tells me all the time..I Love my bed so much! We are so proud, and he does so well in it. As well as his new seat in the car, he loves to wear a seat belt, instead of the straps on his old car seat. Our next goal is to get Emily in his toddler bed...but I think I am just going to wait for her to attempt climbing out of the crib first...she seems to like her crib, so Im not in too big of a rush.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

So I havent posted in a bit, but I made a goal to be more Betty Crocker like and to attempt making new meals. Tyler and Chris love hamburgers so I found a really yummy recipe to make your very own buns and I had to try it because I love me some bread. Thought I would share it with you. Look at how yummy it turned out.

Ingredients

4 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons instant yeast1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or milk, at room temperature
sesame seeds for the tops (optional)

Directions

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Pour in the egg, butter, and buttermilk and mix with a large metal spoon until all the flour is absorbed and the dough forms a shaggy ball. You can trickle in a little water if the dough seems very stiff, until the dough is soft and supple.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop, where you’ll do your kneading. Knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough is soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky. You can test if you’ve kneaded it enough by pulling off a little piece of dough, gently stretching and pulling it with your hands until it’s paper thin, and holding it up to the light: if the dough stretches and holds its shape without breaking, to the point where it’s translucent, it’s done. This is called the windowpane test.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size (I use an electric heating pad under the bowl, as we keep our house on the cool side.)
Remove the risen dough from the bowl and divide it into eighteen 2-ounce pieces (for slider buns) or twelve 3-ounce pieces (for standard size burger buns.) Shape the pieces of dough into rounds, transfer them to baking sheets lined with Silpats or parchment paper, and cover them with a towel. Let the buns proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until they’re nearly doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water, for an egg wash. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like. Bake the buns for 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove them immediately from the pans and cool completely on a wire cooling rack (cool them at least 1 hour before slicing.)
Makes 18 slider buns or 12 regular burger buns.

Important Step to Follow!!

Well except on this particular day the Baker only made one bun, and the pictures above are fake. There is only one bun in my oven, and wont be seen til September 20th, 2010. Did you really think I could make something that yummy? Ya right..We are excited to announce we are excpecting baby #3!!

Hurt Elbow

So as if stitches at 2 werent enough, Tyler had to make turning three just as memorable. He left the 2 year old age with a bang on the head caushing him to get 5 stiches right in the middle of his forhead. So he thought he would start off his new year as a 3 year old with something almost as exciting..A very injured elbow. Poor guy landed the wrong way on the trampoline, and hurt his elbow pretty good. Thankfully he did not break or fracture any bones, but it hurts him just as bad. Doc is not quite sure yet if its a torn ligament or just a really injured muscle. We are waiting it out and see how he does, and then see an orthopedic doc. It's so difficult to see your baby in pain, I wish he would stop getting hurt, I feel terrible for him. Boys will be boys I guess. He has been such a trooper though.

Tyler turns 3

Time sure does fly. Tyler James turned 3 on January 20th. What a big boy he is. He was my tiny little baby boy, who sprouted to 42 lbs and who knows how tall these days. He is becoming too big for me to even lift anymore. He had a wonderful birthday. Small, but filled with tons of fun and smiles. He was so happy for his "balloon party" as he called it. Thats all he wanted pizza, cupcakes and balloons. He loved all of his presents, and we had a fun time just playing in our awesome neighbors backyard on the trampoline. I think this had to be one of the easiest parties I had for him. But he loved it so much.

The day before we visited Sea World with his cousins and they had a blast. It never gets old there. There's always something fun and new to see. The boys loved all of the shows, and rides.