Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Proof That Esther LOVES Ribbon Cookies! (11-24)



 






We got this cute outfit idea from cousin Kiara (or Aunt Kayla)...and we were able to pull it off for Esther now because we had some of the same pieces just in smaller sizes!

Isaiah wanted a picture with his sister!  He is such a sweet brother.

We also got out a few Christmas decorations... which Isaiah was excited about because it meant his tiny Christmas tree could be set up in his bedroom!



Making Chocolate Ribbon Cookies (11-23)

This weekend we made our first batch (of the season) of Chocolate Ribbon Cookies!  
Our family sure does love these yummy cookies!




Shredding Papers With Helpers (11-22)

We paid bills this weekend and then decided to tackle a stack of shredding.  The kids were happy to be our helpers!  Isaiah likes feeding the papers into the shredder and Esther was happy to play in the shredded paper.  It was so funny to watch Esther carefully pick up each piece of shredded paper and hand it to me.



 Isaiah had fun playing in the shredded paper also.  He happily covered Esther and I in shredded paper! 



Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Esther's Birthday Day (11-20)

We kept today like a fairly normal day for Esther since the weekend had been so full.  My friend Heidi came to visit us on Wednesday morning.  She is amazing and of course brought Esther a birthday present and both kids some fun Christmas treasures from Target (where she is currently working).  I don't have a picture of Esther opening her gift... it was the Fisher Price Little People Growing Garden and Farm Stand- she (and Isaiah) love it!  

After a morning of visiting and playing we took Isaiah to preschool.  After preschool he enjoyed playing with the new Christmas treasures from Heidi.  Isaiah enjoying their new Rudolph and Clarice stuffed animals that sing during his snack time!
  

  Esther had fun playing with her new shopping cart from Nonna and Pops.

We finished our low key day by going to Mazatlan with Nonna and Pops.  Esther loves the beans!  She also enjoyed getting to eat some of the whipped cream off the fancy dessert they brought to us.


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Esther's Dedication Sunday, November 17

Esther is a gift from God! God knew before she was born that she would be privileged to have birth parents and us!  We believe this is a true blessing from Him.  We were able to publicly acknowledge that we are dedicated to raising Isaiah and now Esther to love and follow the Lord.  The Sunday after her birthday party and just a few days before she officially turned one we had the chance to celebrate Esther Annah Elizabeth with our church family.  We are honored to be her parents and teach her to follow Jesus! 





 




Message Title:  Choose Gratitude

Summary:  The single most stressful time of the year seems to be the period between Thanksgiving and New Years.  You start to worry about presents.  You start to worry about parties.  You start to worry about all kinds of problems that happen, gifts and finances.  Some of you worry about the relatives you’re going to have to see.  The stress level goes up significantly.
As we look ahead the weeks leading to Thanksgiving and the Holiday season, I felt like I needed to share with you, as I encourage myself, a place to look in Scripture where we find answers to stress and worry. The Bible says don’t worry about anything but pray about everything. Is it possible to choose a life of gratitude?
Bible Reference:  Philippians 4:6; Matthew 6:34; Habakkuk 3:17
Link:  http://www.myflc.org/messages/20131117/

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Esther's Birthday Party (11-16)


Isaiah wasn't home for his 1st birthday, but we still made a cool cake and had a family celebration. Isaiah's first birthday cake was also the start of my tradition of making cool cakes for my kids birthdays with the help of my awesome dad.  My dad and I have made some pretty fun cakes! Esther's first birthday cake idea came from a couple of different cakes I had seen and pinned on Pinterest.  Overall, the cake turned out cute, but if I was going to do it again (but who makes the same birthday cake twice) I might need to make a few changes.

I had bought the supplies before the day of the party, but as we began to make the cake we quickly realized that I would need more Kit Kat candy bars and possibly in a different size than I was originally planning so off to the store my dad and I went.  And later in the cake decorating process we decided we didn't have enough cream cheese frosting so we sent my Aunt Cheryl and cousin Kelsey to the run by the store to get more cream cheese so we could make more frosting.  Oh the ordeals of cake making-ha!
 This was the base layer with the Kit Kat candy bars around it.
We ended up using a lot of candy bars!  Some of the Kit Kat candy bars had to be rejected because there wasn't a good chocolate coating layer on them.
Here is the second layer of the cake... I used raspberry filled M&M's.  They seemed liked the perfect option as they were the right colors I was going for, but in the end they were heavy and pulled away from the cake.  They also melted on the cake and the colors were running down the cake...so sad!
 Here is the cake with the third layer.  
Notice my picture had to be taken in the fridge as the cake was seeming so fragile at this point.
Our beautiful cake for our special one year old!
Esther was so happy on her party day...she was full of smiles as we let her sit next to her cake!



Yes, both kids ended up holding a cupcake candle so we could attempt to get a family photo.








Here is Esther's 1st birthday cake and her mini version to have on her high chair.


Snuggles before we sang Happy Birthday!
She liked it!
Big brother happily blew out the candles!


Esther LOVES raspberries so I wasn't surprised when she went after those first!  She was silly though and seemed cautious about getting the raspberries since they seemed to be stuck in white stuff.








I finally broke off a little piece of cake to see if she would like it...she wasn't really interested.
Ha, another person in my family that doesn't like cake...smart girl!





 And here...she really started exploring and making a grand mess!









Then as the annoying host that I can be... I requested family photos!






Finally Esther got to open some presents!  She got some great gifts...thanks family!

























I can't believe our baby girl is already a year old!  
We love you Esther more and more each day.