Camping in Big Basin

We had a wonderful camping trip with the Mathison Family last weekend up at Big Basin Redwood state park. This was our 3rd year of camping together and it was such fun! Our kids get along so well together and we enjoy being with their family so much!

This was Spencer's first camping trip....actually he came with us 2 years ago, but he was probably smaller than a poppy seed at that point (we came home and took a pregnancy test and found out we were expecting him!)

He loved it. Since he's not walking yet (13 mos.), he was a little dirt ball all weekend, but he had so much fun crawling all around playing with sticks and rocks and rope. He slept pretty well the first night, at first I was nervous cuz he woke up when we all came in to the tent to go to bed and was confused that we were all sleeping in there with him, but after nursing him he settled back down pretty well, and then the second night I nursed him before I put him in his pack and play and he slept ALL NIGHT LONG! He wasn't even doing that at home, and since that night he has slept thru the night every night.....and that also was the last time I nursed him. Sort of sad, but kind of nice as well. :-) I can tell he still wants to nurse every once in a while, but he's pretty satisfied with his milk and water.

Here he's enjoying a donut:

This is the adorable Breck....having a spoonful of Nutella:

Look at all that dirt all over us! What fun!

It's so hard to get good pictures of this boy....he's constantly moving, but he stopped for a minute to give me a s'more face....this boy loves the campfire, that's where he spent almost all weekend.
These girls all had their Binky Bunnies. I made one for Breck and brought it camping, she was thrilled to get it. I love the fabric for hers. They all were very loved and dirty by the end of the weekend!

We took a great hike up to a waterfall.....don't mind me picking a mango out of my tooth: :-)

Livi found a way to entertain herself by creatively tying up her shoelaces....
Beautiful little girls, such sweet friends:

My boys:
All 6 kids:

The boys:

Wonderful way to start the summer:

Love, love, love being in God's beautiful creation with such great friends.

My life in tweets

Okay, so here are some random thoughts I've had today..there were many more, but these are the ones I made time to come to the computer and jot down. :-)

Gosh, I really like our new bath towels I got at Costco! (After 11 years, our white towels have gotten very drab.)

Carson and Livi chose to eat 16 carrots for dinner last night instead of the leftover lasagna I served them. At least they got their dose of vitamin A!

Big dog + no yard + rainstorm + baby = no fun, or a lot of fun if I try to make it fun by letting the kids bring lego airplanes or cars along to send worms sailing down the hills in the rain. ha!

Look over and see Spencer drooling orange drool on the floor, and then he spit out an orange Valentine's conversation heart...great! Wonder what it said? Maybe "I'm cute"?

Pound Plus chocolate at TJ's...wishing it had lasted longer than a week in our pantry, I could use some right now. :-)


Time is such a strange thing, the way I have such a hard time managing it, the way it goes by so fast some times, and slower at other times. Sometimes it doesn't seem like there is enough time to do the things I want because I haven't managed well the things I "have" to do.

I love this new dental floss....it actually makes me want to floss every night.



More thoughts to come...

More Than Half a Year

Can't believe this sweet boy is 7 months old already! I think I'll say that forever, but seriously, time is going by so quickly!
His favorite things to play with are electrical cords, electrical outlets, the dog bone, the fireplace, the toilet, the dirt in the plants, anything he shouldn't, of course. He also enjoys bowls and measuring spoons, those keep him occupied for a long time. :-)
But he's still such an easy baby, so content and happy most of the time. He's crawling all over the place (has for almost 2 months!), has 2 bottom teeth, loves to pull up on things and stand there, enjoys his food, still wakes up at least twice at night to nurse and loves to get up at 6am! Needless to say, I'm tired, but I've found a new love for coffee (with cream and agave) in the mornings, which I often start looking forward to at night. :-)

Notice Jason installing the gate behind Spencer at the top of our stairs. Even after it was up, it mistakenly got left open and he snuck over there when I was cooking in the kitchen and managed to fall down all 12 stairs to the bottom. Thank God he was okay, just lots of tears, but not even any bruises or bumps.

This picture was an attempt to get a shot of his 2 teeth on the bottom, but I couldn't get him to show me, and then when did, the picture came out totally blurry. There have been many times since his birth that I have wished I had a better camera, it's a little slow, and I can't catch him very well since he's usually moving!

I think this picture of him standing up from behind is so funny for some reason.

Thanksgiving 2010

We were on our own for Thanksgiving this year, celebrating with our family of 5. It had been a few crazy weeks leading up to the end of November, so it was nice to have a relaxing day at home with the fam (and long weekend with Jason home). I made a small turkey breast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green beans. It wasn't quite the same as having a whole roasted turkey and all the yumminess that comes with my mom helping me make the meal, but it was good and fun. The apple pie is always a highlight at the end, but we had quite an adventure with that as you can see from this picture:

I was taking it out of the oven and the oven mitt wasn't completely covering my hand, so I burned my finger and let go of the pan and all the insides of the pie slid right out of the crust and onto the stove, into the oven, on the oven door, on the cabinet, into the oven drawer and on the floor....it was a mess! But fortunately I had just scrubbed the inside of my oven door (I got some new cleanser I was excited to try that is food safe, so that was good timing!), and so I was able to scoop a lot of the insides back into the pie pan. I was just so glad I wasn't taking it anywhere or having people over to enjoy it with us, I think I would have cried then. But I just stood there speechless and then laughed and took a picture. :-)

Didn't get many other pictures from the day, but we had a nice relaxing time, and the kids enjoyed collecting leaves that morning and decorating the table.

Spencer's gearing up for his sweet potatoes!

Making placemats

Livi's turkey centerpiece

We have SO much to be thankful for!!

Spencer 6 months

I can't believe our little boy is 6 months old already!!!

He's sitting up now and eating solid foods and crawling! He's such a joy.
He had his check-up this week and measured 26 1/2 inches (50%) and weighed 17lbs 12oz. (50%). He got 3 shots and has been feeling pretty miserable the past few days since he's battling a cold on top of that.
What a little love, every day I'm so thankful he's ours.

4 month Hughesies

Spencer turned 4 months a couple weeks ago! He's growing so fast and I'm just trying to soak up every minute with him. I love the way he smells, his smile absolutely melts me, he's so happy and easy and fun. He's becoming so aware of his surroundings and wanting to explore. His hands are usually in his mouth, I wonder if he might be working on some teeth. He's still waking up at least twice a night to nurse and is ready to begin his day just after 6 (when we usually pull him into bed with us and try to eek out a few more minutes of rest, especially now that it's so dark later into the morning as we get deeper into fall.)

Last week at the doctor visit he weighed 16 lbs 1 oz and had grown 5 inches since birth. That's really quite amazing, isn't it??
Spencer's signature feature is his little button nose. Each of our children has had something that everyone always commented on....for Carson it was his massive cheeks, for Livi it was her beautiful bright eyes, and Spencer...it's his nose. It's really cute.

I though it would be fun to compare the three Hughes kids' pictures at 4 months old:

I sure love my family!

Rolling Over

Spencer is rolling over now, a little earlier than the other 2 kids did. It's pretty cute, but I have to be much more careful now, if I leave him on a blanket on the floor he scoots and spins all around! What a love.

Wild Baby Hair and an Anniversary

I just love the way Spencer's hair stands straight up all the time!

And I love that we got to celebrate 11 years of marriage this August. On our last anniversary, we had no idea that God would be blessing us in the coming year with wild hair baby, and we sure are grateful He did.

Spencer 3 months

I could just eat up this little guy, he's so precious!!

Olivia's birthday

Our sweet girl turned 5 a few weeks ago, and we had a great celebration! She really wanted to have a tea party with her friend Sarah, so we made a reservation at a tea house nearby, and the girls got all dolled up and had a great time enjoying tea and pastries! It was really cute and she was definitely in her element.

We love who you are, sweet Livi, and we're so thankful for you!!

Chocolate Kahlua Cake

This chocolate cake recipe is so delicious....

Get a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix, and to that add:

1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
2 cups sour cream
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1/3 cup Kahlua
6 oz chocolate chips (regular or mini)

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a Bundt pan and bake at 350* for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!

P.S. it gets better with time....each day it seems to get more and more moist and yummy, so if you plan to bring it somewhere, maybe you could make it a day or two in advance. It also freezes really well, just wrap in plastic wrap and then in foil to keep it fresh.

Roasted Red Pepper Crostini: This one's a keeper

I tried out this recipe last night when a bunch of girlfriends and I got together for a craft night. I had seen it in my Real Simple magazine and it looked good, so I was happy to have an opportunity to try it out, and I can't wait to make it again. It was delicious! So if you are looking for a yummy appetizer, this is it. Enjoy!

Greg Brown’s Roasted Red Pepper Crostini

Serves 8 (makes 24 crostini) Hands-On Time: 20m Total Time: 1hr 20m

Ingredients

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 heads garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 24 baguette slices
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup crumbled Feta (2 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or basil
  

Directions

1. Heat broiler. On a broilerproof baking sheet, broil the peppers, turning occasionally, until charred, 8 to 12 minutes. Wrap each pepper in a paper towel; let cool for 10 minutes. Use the paper towels to slide off the skins. Remove the seeds and cut the peppers into strips.
2. Heat oven to 400° F. Slice ½ inch off the top of each head of garlic and place the garlic on a sheet of foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and season with 1/8 teaspoon each salt and pepper; wrap tightly. Roast until tender, 45 to 55 minutes. Squeeze the cloves from their skins.
3. Meanwhile, place the baguette slices on a baking sheet and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Bake until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix the cream cheese and Feta. Top the baguette slices with the cheese mixture, garlic cloves, peppers, and parsley/basil.

Our Three Blessings

The country ahead is as wild a spread
As ever we're likely to see

The horses are dancing to start the advance--
Won't you ride on with me?

-from Peace Like a River


I love doing life with this man!

A Sampling of Spencer

4 WEEKS OLD TODAY!