Tonight you will be served a special Birthday Dinner,
This evening Lulu and I made homemade doughnuts in my new Wilton doughnut pans. These doughnuts are baked and not fried and are super easy and fun to make. We just used a cake mix and made a glaze for the icing and added some sprinkles. Since I'm not eating sugar (darn!) I can't tell you how they turned out, but Lulu and Mark sure enjoyed them.
We all love you very much Mommy!!! You are a treasure to us!!!
After we got home from church we had a busy afternoon. Levi was sporting his new sunglasses that Grandma bought him. He's such a stud! Then we got to go visit the house we just moved out of 4 months ago. My dad's getting it ready for a new tenant so we got to walk around and reminisce. This was the house Levi was born in so it has special meaning to us. It's amazing that it's only been 4 months since we moved out....it feels like it's been a year! 
Here is the kitchen that Lulu and I spent a lot of time in together. This was such a special time for me because I was pregnant with Levi and really got to enjoy spending one on one time with Lulu before he was born. This kitchen has so much meaning to me. Long story short.......while we were living there Mark got very sick and wasn't able to eat ANY food for a few months. He was so weak and lost so much weight. I would make pitchers full of juice. I would juice spinach, carrots, celery, apples and any other foods that were full of nutrients. By God's grace and the juice Mark was able to get through each day and has fully recovered!! This was such a trying time in our life but we would not trade a moment of it. God was so close to us the entire time and we knew He would never leave us. 
Here is Lulu in her old bedroom. 
And here is Levi and Mark standing in the doorway to our old bedroom. This is the room Levi was born in. 
See that small knot hole near Lulu? She used to toss things down it, like rocks and twigs. She was looking down it today and saw something that she remember dropping in it last summer......a slurpee straw! I bought her a slurpee last summer from 7-11 and she just loved playing with the straw and decided to drop it down that hole. Awww the memories. 
Then when we got home Levi and I spent some time together in the Kitchen. This is where I would put Lulu when she was younger. It's a great spot while I'm prepping things on the counter. 
You can see our dinner in the background, that's where I work while Levi plays. Levi loved being in the sink. I won't be able to have him here much longer. He hasn't started pulling himself up yet but once he does he will be at me feet playing in the tupperwear drawer.
I blog for my children. To me this is our photo album/journal. Hopefully someday our children can look back at this blog and see what we used to do as a family. I want them to see how the Lord has blessed our family and how God never left us during our trials. I want a place that I can look back on and remember the amazing days I had being home with little ones and toddlers. And of course I hope that we can be an example to others through our faith in Jesus Christ.
Today I took Lulu and Levi for a ride in the wagon around our neighborhood. It was gorgeous out and about 60°.
We ran into two cats walking around too. These two cats walk along our backyard fence daily and we can see them from our kitchen.
Right now the cherry blossoms are out so we had to take a picture by this tree.
Then when we got back I pulled them up onto the law and laid out a big blanket. We enjoyed the sun and visited with a few neighbors who were out enjoying the weather too.
Happy SPRING!! Tomorrow is the first day of my favorite season. Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter. Psalm 74: 16-17
This morning we checked on our cheeses. It turned out great! The bowl had the whey collected at the bottom.....we just tossed this but you can use this for sauces or smoothies. Lots of nutrients in the whey.
Our 2 cups of yogurt is now about a cup (maybe a bit more) of cheese.
I put the cheese into a glass container that can seal air tight.
Lulu got to try the first bite.
She approves! Mark really enjoyed it too. I thought it was good. It has a very mild taste and is sort of like cream cheese in the texture. I think we will do this again.
This afternoon while Levi was napping Lulu played with her Play-Doh. I find it very interesting to watch her play. She is so much like her daddy. She doesn't like to mix the colors. Mark is very organized and could probably paint a house in his church clothes and they would stay clean. I'm total opposite and would have paint EVERYWHERE and my Play-Doh would be brown because I would have mixed them all together. I'm guessing Levi is going to play with brown Play-Doh. 
Then Lulu helped me make some cheese. I read about how easy it is to make a nice soft cheese from yogurt so we are trying it out. 
Another way that Mark and I are different is that he would actually read the directions and follow them and I like to wing it and just hope mine turns out. But the nice thing about making this cheese is that it's so simple that I don't think you can mess it up too much. I think the directions called for 2 cups of yogurt so that's about what we did. Then we wrapped the cheese-cloth tightly and are letting it sit on the counter while the whey drips out. This will take a few hours or can be left overnight. I think we will try it this evening. I'll post an update to show how it turned out.
Look at Lulu's face......she's a bit timid about touching the gooey cheese-cloth. It was fun making it. I sure hope it turns out!
Here is Levi. Today he is 6 months old. I can't believe how fast the last 6 months have gone. I feel like he is still a newborn but then I look at him sitting up and realize he is far from that stage. I can't even blink anymore because I might miss something. If I could go back and hold him just a little bit more I would......and I made it a point to hold him a lot knowing how fast Lulu has grown. Six months ago today was a Saturday and I went into labor around 4pm and Levi was born at 7:08pm. Levi was born at home and Lulu was right there to see him come out. I really enjoyed being pregnant with Levi and giving birth to him. God has blessed us so much and I can't imagine life with out Levi. 
A few fun things about Levi.......he weighs about 20lbs. He's in 12 month clothing, soon to be 18 months. His first food was applesauce. He sleeps the entire night. He loves his big sister!
Here is Lulu asleep in the hotel we stayed in last week. Last week Mark had to go work at the sister office on the other side of the state and he brought us with him. The town we went to is about 7 hours from where we live and it's a tiny place compared to where we live. It was nice to relax and have some fun. We actually stayed really busy. 
One of Marks co-workers owns horses and her husband and her invited us out to their house so Lulu could feed them. She was a bit timid but enjoyed watching Mark feed them. 
Here is the little restaurant we ate at a few times. 
Lulu got creative and climbed into Levi's walker. There was only so much to do in this small town, plus it was very cold out. We could walk the town in about 5-10 min. One of Lulu's favorite things was TV!!!! We don't have TV at home so I had to get this picture of her. She couldn't get close enough.....LOL. Lulu enjoyed watching the olympics. The skiing and ice dancing were her favorites.
We were invited to a birthday party. One of the daughters of the owner was turning 4 and had a tea party. Lulu had so much fun. This was her first official birthday party. Five little girls having a tea party is one of the cutest things you can watch. They drank real tea with honey and cream. By the end of it there was honey everywhere and their cups were mostly filled with cream. They all had a great time.
Mark got to sneak away from work for an hour to come to the tea party. 
Here is Lulu and Levi outside our hotel room. We stayed in this hotel back in December for the companies Christmas party but this time we were on the top floor and had a great view of the mountains.
Mark, Lulu and Levi out in front of our hotel room.
On our way home we stopped in Leavenworth, WA. Their slogan is "Your Bavarian Getaway" and that's just what it is. You feel like Heidi or Maria from Sound of Music while walking around.
Mark is a meat eater and he loves a good bratwurst. So of course while in Leavenworth eat the Bavarian way. Mark got his bratwurst to go. 
Here is a family picture right before we headed home. It was nice to be able to travel with Mark, we had a great time!
