this little guy turned 18 months old on the 17th. He is growing up too fast!
he loves riding his little bike, playing outside, and looking at books. He got his first big boy hair cut a couple of weeks ago. It was so hard for me to cut off all those precious blond baby hairs, but he was growing quite the mullet in the back. We just love our Benny boy so much!
my beautiful niece Ava got baptized last weekend. It was so great to be there for her special day!
Emily put together a wonderful luncheon after the baptism. All the food was so delicious!
the decorations were so pretty
Evan and his daddy made this cool shark for his valentine's box for school last week. They had so much fun making it together. The shark's body is made from an empty oatmeal container wrapped in duct tape. They made the fins out of cardboard and glued them on. Evan was so excited to bring it to school and show all his little friends.
I love making homemade brownies, but most recipes call for baking chocolate and i don't always have that on hand. So i have been searching and searching for a good brownie recipe with cocoa. After much research and experimenting, i came up with my own recipe. These brownies have a thin crispy top and fudgy middle and are much more economical than the recipes with baking chocolate.
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Melt butter; stir in cocoa powder. In separate bowl beat eggs and sugar for 2-4 minutes. (the longer you beat, the crisper the top.) Beat in vanilla. Stir melted butter mixture into egg mixture. stir in flour and chocolate chips. Pour into 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 335 for 28-33 minutes. Do not over bake! I usually take mine out a little earlier.
This book is about 9 young men who came together to win the 1936 Olympic gold medal in Nazi Germany. But this book is not just about rowing. The author includes interesting stories about Germany and Hitler's rise to power, the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression and the life of one particular rower, Joe Rantz. I will say that I ended up skimming over the detailed parts about rowing, because I have absolutely no interest in that. But overall, this was a very fascinating read and very well written.
I've read many books on the holocaust and this is definitely one of my favorites. It is the true story of Corrie Ten Boom and her family who helped hide Jews from the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland. This is an amazing, inspiring book! Truly a must read.
This sweet girl loves to play dress up. She especially loves her princess dresses! Her latest obsession is her Elsa dress she got from Christmas. Almost every morning she comes downstairs wearing this dress...
love my little Lorelei
at the beginning of december i took a few family photos for my cousin Kristyn and her family. her little guy is so cute and smiley!
the day after thanksgiving we took a fun little trip to the "alligator park" with my sister's family. it was a gorgeous day! We hiked around the large lake and saw quite a few alligators, turtles, and birds.
it's always fun to take photos by the alligator signs
this big guy was right by the trail!
