De-Lish Vanilla Muffins

Since Berkley has pretty much abandoned baby food at this point, I have been on the lookout for yummy, soft foods that she might enjoy. I found this recipe for vanilla muffins online and I had to share. They are so good, I make them all the time for Berkley....ok, so I make them for myself, and maybe share a couple with the kids :)

Vanilla Muffins:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
1 Tbs. vanilla

Mix dry ingredients. Blend egg, milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir together. Pour into muffin pan and bake 18-20 min @ 400 degrees

Enjoy!!

Summer Randoms

Here are a bunch of random pics from the summer so far. Once I get these posted I will be officially "caught up"!



This one just cracks me up!







I love how Blake has his arm around Sissy in this picture. So Sweet!

No more Pacis

I knew this day would come, and it is here. Time for Blake to retire the pacifier. I knew this was going to be hard because he loves his paci, and let me tell you, it has been every bit as hard as I imagined it would be. Blake has always been a great sleeper. He slept through the night at 9 weeks old, he has never fought naptime/ bedtime. Heck, he even ASKS to go to bed sometimes! What kid does that??? We moved him into his "big boy bed" with no trouble at all. THEN, we took away the paci.

My friend gave me the idea of cutting off the tops of the paci's instead of just not giving it to him at bedtime anymore. It definitely took the fun out of sucking on it, because he immediately said, "Mommy, paci broken." The first night he cried for and hour and a half before falling asleep. The next day at nap time, Aaron put him down at 12:30 and he didn't fall asleep till 2:00. The second night he cried again for an hour or so. And now, to top it all off, he has started getting out of his bed and coming out of his room at bedtime. We are sticking to our guns and NOT giving in, but it is so hard! Going through this makes me want to stop giving Berkley a paci now!! I don't want to go through this again!!! I know it will get better, it is just a matter of when. I'll keep you posted with our progress.

Front yard fun

Last night the weather was so nice we let the kids stay outside a little longer than normal to play in the front yard. Blake has always loved being outside and now that Berkley can walk, she is really enjoying it too.


Berkley playing in her car


Blake digging in the dirt


He is seriously this dirty everyday! We call him our little "Pigpen".


Berkley and Mom


I couldn't put a post about our front yard without adding a picture of our grass. Aaron has done such an awesome job on our front yard. I tease him and call him a "grass-a-holic", but his hard work has paid off. The yard looks amazing, and he is super proud of the "stripes" in the grass. Way to go Hubby!

11 Months

We are officially one month away from celebrating Berkley's first birthday which is completely unbelievable to me! Aaron and I took the kids on a walk this morning and I couldn't help but think about this time last year when Berkley was still in my belly. It is just amazing how much things can change in a year's time.

At 11 months Berkley has finally started getting some teeth! She has all 4 top teeth and her 2 bottom teeth all coming in at the same time. The biggest development this month is that she has started WALKING! This came completely out of the blue. We knew she was capable of taking steps, but she just never acted too interested in it. But then one day, she just stood up all by herself and started walking! We were so excited and very proud of our little mover. I'll try to post a video of her walking very soon. For now, here is her 11 month picture.

On a side note, it is probably a good thing that we are almost done with these monthly photo shoots, because Berkley is becoming less and less cooperative when it comes to sitting nicely in her little pink chair. All she wants to do is stand up in the chair or climb down. This was one of the few pics that I could capture of her actually sitting and smiling.

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend we went to Owasso and stayed with Aaron's cousin Stephen and his family. My mom came to get Berkley on Friday afternoon for a girls weekend in OKC with Auntie Kelly and Gigi. We figured Berkley would have much more fun hanging with the girls than going out on the boat :)Friday night we took the kids out to the lake and then we spent all day Saturday on the water as well. Blake and Benjamin had so much fun jumping off the back of the boat into the water. Then they got really brave and started jumping off the "high dive" -which is the side of the boat. Every time they jumped into the water, me and Neely, Benjamin's mom, were there to swim them back to the boat. They completely wore us out!!

Neely and I also took the boys tubing. We thought they would love it, but in the end we found out, they were having more fun jumping off the boat. It is the simple things they enjoy the most! Here are some pics from the weekend.

10 Months!

Our little Berkley is growing like a weed. Here is her 10 month picture. Of course Blake wanted to get in on the action too :)

John Deere Tractor Party!

Well, I can't believe it but our little guy is 2 years old!! Being Blake's mom has changed me in more ways than I could ever write down on this blog, but one of the recent changes I have noticed, is that I can't drive anywhere without pointing out tractors, dump trucks, skid steers, backhoes, forklifts, excavators, concrete trucks or any other tractor type things that I see. (And as you may have noticed, I have also learned the correct names for all of these machines. Before Blake, a tractor was a tractor to me!! ) I have even had to stop myself from pointing out tractors and such when I am in the car alone.

So, considering Blake's love of tractors and construction equipment, we thought is was fitting to have a John Deere birthday party, to celebrate his 2nd Birthday. We planned to have the party at the park, but for the second year in a row, it has rained on the day of Blake's party, and we had to relocate to our house. Regardless, the party was a total success, and Blake loved every minute of it!

After the party was ove,r I asked Blake what kind of party he wanted to have next year and he said "Library party". I have to admit the teacher inside me is loving that idea .....:)

Playing catch up~

I knew when I started this blog I wouldn't be great at keeping it up to date. And just as I predicted I have failed miserably at keeping this thing current, so I am going to take you back in time....my next few posts are going to be dedicated to the highlights from the last few months.

I'll start with the first weekend in May: The weekend of May 1st we went to Owasso, OK to celebrate Blake's cousin Benjamin's 2nd birthday. Blake and Benjamin are only 9 days apart, so we love getting them together any chance we get. Aaron, and Benjamin's dad Stephen are first cousins and have always been very close. That is our hope for our two boys. We want them to be close friends and enjoy each other's company. So far so good! Blake LOVES hanging out with his cousin "Benjamention" and has even added him to his nightly list of friends that he prays for which makes our hearts smile!

Benjamin had a "Sweet Dirt Bike" party-complete with rides on Uncle Stephen's "sweet dirt bike". Needless to say, Blake had a ball!