The best brownies

I'm not usually one to endorse from scratch brownies-- I usually like the ones from mixes more! But this recipe is super yummy AND from scratch. And easy too!

Mix:
1 c soft butter
2 cups sugar
1/3 c cocoa

Stir in 4 eggs

Add:
1.5 cup flour
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 cups chopped pecans

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until done (it always takes mine 10 minutes longer).

Cover with about 10 oz of mini marshmallows, bake for 3 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes.

Spread frosting on top:
1 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup evaporated milk (or I just used regular milk)

Enjoy!

Oregon Trip

We spent a week in Oregon over the Memorial Day weekend. We had so much fun! We did a lot of fun things during the day, and got to see a lot of family too. I especially loved Cora being able to hang out with her cousins and get to know them. She misses her grandparents a lot too!

Friday we went to the Portland Children's Museum. It had a lot of fun exhibits, Cora LOVED playing in the water.

At the grocery store lunch counter.

Brushing the alligator's teeth.

Of course, Cora always loves driving the bus! She loves automobiles, especially pushing all the buttons.

Sorayah's face paint--they had a do-it-yourself face paint station that was very popular. Th girls painted Grandma's face too!

Beach Day

Saturday we took a day trip to the beach! We started off with a yummy lunch at Mo's. We were so lucky to have a day at the beach that wasn't rainy or windy. It was cool and foggy, but the sun did come out a little later in the afternoon. Cora didn't care! She saw the water and started clapping. When we got closer, she ran right into it and didn't even care that it was cold. I think she would have gotten all the way wet if we would have let her. She cried when we made her walk on the sand because her feet were all red and cold. Good thing we brought a change of clothes for her. What a water girl! She liked touching the sand, but didn't like the sand ON her hands. But once she realized that if she got her hands dirty, we would take her to the water to rinse them off, she wanted to touch the sand more!
Kylee is about 5 months younger than Cora. Cora loved having a girl her age around. When we were looking at these pictures this morning, Cora kept saying "more Kylee, more Kylee". Kylee had fun with Cora too, I think, she just didn't like it when Grandma or her mom held Cora or Violet. Hopefully they'll get to see each other in the next few months!
You can see how foggy it is in this picture-- this is Keri walking on the beach.

Grandma--holding both girls so neither one felt left out.
There's Violet in the sling!
This is how Violet spent most of the day. She didn't seem to mind! Violet slept for our whole walk on the beach, and did pretty well.
After our walk to Haystack Rock, the girls played in the sand. This is Cora, Sorayah, and Sadie, Sorayah's cousin from Byron's side of the family. She was a great sport to play with all the little girls.

Cora the Pilot

Sunday morning we went out to Grandpa's airplane. It was too rainy to fly, but Cora loved seeing the plane. She chanted 'airplane, airplane' on the drive there and when we saw different planes parked outside. Grandpa was so nice to take us for a drive up and down the runway (it's a small private airport). Cora sat on Kevin's lap in front and even steered part of the time! With Cora's love of airplanes and buttons to push, she was in heaven.

Watching Grandpa....her turn at the wheel....


Hmmm, which way should we go? ... Cora the pilot!

Family Time

On Monday, Kevin, Brad, and I went to Frys. It's a pretty cool store! Kevin had seen a great deal on a monitor in the paper, so we went to check it out. They didn't have the one we wanted in stock anymore.... so we got a bigger one! 20 inch widescreen. It is so different, it looks about twice as big as our 15 inch regular screen one. We were going to get the 19 inch one, but the 20 inch cost just as much as ordering the 19 inch one online and paying sales tax and shipping.

Kevin, Keri, and I also got a special treat (well, special for Kevin and I... we don't get out much!) to go see a movie. We went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I liked it-- it seemed they kept the style of the previous movies very well, although I was a little surprised at the plot twist they chose to take! I was worried about leaving Violet since we didn't bring formula or bottles with us, but she was still asleep when we got back and did just fine. Thanks for watching the kids Brad and Dawn!

Monday night Kevin's parents had all the family in Portland over for a barbecue. It was fun to see everyone!

Cora and Violet with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Anderson.

The Oregon Zoo

Tuesday was our last full day in Oregon. We chanced a trip to the zoo, and it ended up being a perfect weather day! Just the right temperature and mix of sun and clouds. Cora hasn't been to a zoo since October, and it was neat to see how she could see and enjoy it even more! We actually bought a Hogle Zoo pass online, and with their great reciprocity network that is set up, we could use it to get into the Portland Zoo and can use it at the Boise Zoo too! So there will be lots of zoo-ing in the coming year.

Cora and the sun bears.
Grandma and Cora and the elephants. It was pretty cute to hear Cora know a lot of the names of the animals we saw and the sounds they make!

Sorayah, Cora, and Kevin, taking a ride on the elephant.
Back at Kevin's parent's house, we got some pictures-- it seems like we never get enough!

Cora likes to swing! She was on there by herself (being spotted), then wanted to get off. She then got Grandma and patted the swing to let her know she wanted some company.

Cora loved to ride this horsey. I think she especially liked being able to get up and down by herself so she could bounce and rock whenever she wanted.

We had such a fun trip! Thanks for the fun week!

Violet's Birth Announcement

My First Digital Scrapook Page

Digital scrapbooking is all the rage in my neighborhood now. Since I never really got into regular scrapbooking... even though it is awfully fun to buy the supplies!... I thought I'd give this a try. I still have a lot to learn, but here's my trial page, part of Violet's birth book I'm making. I'm not sure I'll have time before the Winkflash sale ends to do all the pages this way, so I might have to wait and do my next book this way instead. I like it though!

Sunday, Sunday

Well, everyone is doing better today (I posted early early this morning), and we had a nice day. The girls are still a little sick, but now having a few days of antibiotics in them, I'm confident they'll be feeling all better very soon. I had my most relaxing time at church in a long time with no little ones to look after. No goldfish to scramble for, no up and down the aisles or in and out of the foyer. Very calm!

Violet got to try on her booties Uncle Shad crocheted for her (for Cora actually! But we've pulled out Cora's clothes and it's so fun to have Violet wear them and remember all the cute gifts our friends and family gave us.)

Cora got all decked out for our walk. Too bad it was too hot to stay out very long!

Kevin made us all strawberry smoothies... mmm! Cora loved them, and sucked in her cheeks to get it all up in her mouth. What a good day!

And, you can kind of see Cora's haircut in this picture. It's really not that uneven... it was just extra curly yesterday morning. But at least the baby mullet is gone! It's pretty cute.

Sick Again

After a miserable week of coughing, runny noses, and sore throats, we took the girls in to the doctor on Friday afternoon. I guess we've been going to the doctor a lot the last few months, between feeding issues, well-child visits, and RSV.... when we pulled up to the building, Cora said 'doctor, doctor'! Cora and Violet are both are on antibiotics now, and he said they should be better before we leave for Portland on Thursday. Hopefully! We're supposed to avoid kids this weekend, so Kevin and I will do shifts at church again-- so I can play the organ and he can be there for Young Mens. It's just so sad to hear little Violet cough and choke on her mucus and hear Cora's bad cough waking her up at night and making her voice all hoarse. They gave it to me too! But of course, Kevin isn't sick, like usual. Good thing!

Newborn Pictures

We had Violet's newborn photos taken (www.vincentarts.com) a few weeks ago. Here are some of our favorites!

Cora's First Haircut

I finally got tired of Cora's scraggly ends and cut about an inch or so off the back of her hair. I was surprised at how noticeable the change was! Cute, and the hair lays much more nicely now. I'll have to post a picture later, because she was not sitting very still, so I need to do a little trimming. I guess I'll have to sit her in front of a new Curious George episode or do it when Kevin is home to get it nice and straight!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! Kevin and the girls made a special breakfast, colored a card, and treated me especially nice all day long.... what a fun (and relaxing) day! Here are the girls all dressed for church-- Violet in her tutu onesie and Cora in her Hawaii dress from Kissie and Pata. Cora gets so excited to go to church. Sunday mornings she chants "chirch, chirch, chirch" when we tell her she gets to go to nursery. Sometimes on other days of the week, she wants to go to church too! I think she loves nursery.... and she just loves wearing her dresses too!

Smiles

Violet has been giving us smiles all week! They are so cute. We have discovered that tickling her mouth with a burp cloth will bring lots of smiles. She has also been doing a lot more gurgling and cooing instead of her baby grunting and snorting. So cute!

Violet

Well, Violet had a doctor's appointment today. She is 22.5 inches long (75-90th percentile) and 10.5 pounds (25-50 percentile).

The doctor said that 60-65% of babies grow out of milk sensitivity at 2 months, 90-95% grow out of it at 3-3.5 months. He suggested keep a food and fussiness diary to more accurately tell what might be bothering her, and to try milk products every two weeks to see how she is doing. So that is hopeful! Maybe it won't last much longer at all.

Shower time

Cora's new favorite thing to do is take a shower! She used to hate it, but now doesn't mind the water running in her face. She loves to 'color pictures' in the steam on the shower doors and will say 'back, back' if I'm blocking the warm water from hitting her back. Violet likes the shower too! She also likes the warm water on her back and licking water off my shoulders. The girls and I have some fun mornings getting all wet and clean together.

So Much Love

Here you can see how Cora spends most of her days... trying to touch, love, kiss, hug, pick-up, and hold Violet. Consequently I spend a lot of my day saying 'don't touch the baby', 'the baby is sleeping!', 'only mama can pick the baby up!' and the like. Of course, we also spend a good portion of the day holding the baby together and looking at her hair, nose, ears, hands, and toes!

Visitors

Kevin's mom and sister came to visit on their way back from Spain too! We were glad they could come meet Violet and see how big Cora's grown.

Grandma, Cora, and Violet

With Keri and the new book of family members Grandma made Cora. Cute!

Cora and Violet before church in their new dresses from Morocco.

Sitting pretty.

Outtakes

This is why it's better to take pictures when Kevin is home and there are two of us to arrange and entertain the girls while trying to get a shot!