Crawfish and Birthday Cake

We had a busy weekend, but it was lots of fun spending time with friends and family.

On Friday we had a group of our friends over to our house to celebrate our friend Grant's 26th birthday. With the gorgeous weather and the right time of the year we decided to do a crawfish boil. If you know Jason and I we always try to get in as many crawfish boils as possible.



Grant, Joe and Jason dropping the first batch in...



This was technically the first "party" we have had at our house since our little one came into our lives. It was hard for us to imagine being able to have more than a couple of people over at a time at night because of Aspen's early bedtime and the size of our house (small!). Now that the weather is nice we just kept the party outside and stuck Aspen in the pack-n-play in our room so people could use the bathroom without waking her up. It worked great and I'm excited about having more gatherings with our friends!

Before Aspen went to bed she got to hang out with the group a little.

Our friend Pam with Aspen while she enjoys chewing on the skin of the lemon.



Enjoying some peaches for dessert.



Our friend Sara keeping Aspen entertained.



I love this picture of Aspen with Bella. She was trying to snuggle with her puppy dog--poor Bella just lets her beat up on her, what a great dog!



On Saturday morning we woke up and hit the rode to Fort Worth area to visit Jason's sister Sarah and her family. Sunday was our nephew Cameron's 2nd birthday, but the birthday party was on Saturday. I was very excited for Aspen's 1st birthday party! It made me excited to think about her 1st birthday in only about 4 months.

The birthday boy.



Cameron and Jason being silly together.



Aspen didn't get a cupcake--unnecessary sugar for a little one! However she did enjoy some delicious sweet potatoes and peas with her Nanny. She also had a taste of kiwi, which she loved.



As Aspen gets older everything seems to get easier, including traveling. She did really well. Jason and I were so concerned about her not knowing where she was sleeping we kept a night light on, but she wouldn't go to sleep and once we shut it off she was out for the whole night. I think the party totally exhausted her because on the drive home to Austin the next morning she fell asleep about 15 minutes into the drive and woke up right as we were pulling into town--good timing! It was nice to see all the cousins and of course we attempted to get a picture of them all with Papa and Nanny. It gets easier every time!

St. Patrick's Day Celebration

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day yesterday (Irish or not!). St. Patrick's Day is my second favorite holiday of the year, mostly because of the food. I know many people (including my husband) are skeptical about the "boiled dinner", but until you've had it right, don't judge it (I will say after having a real St. Patrick's Day dinner Jason now really enjoys it)! I have to say I topped myself this year--dinner was delicious!

Of course I had to get my little Irish gal in a cute green outfit.



She was more interested in rolling around then posing for a picture. Lately she loves falling forward from sitting up and rolling through to her belly. Talk about flexible!



Sadly Aspen will have to wait til next St. Patrick's Day to have her first of many corned beef meals, but I did plan for her to have some green peas for lunch. She was having a good time feeding herself.



This year I took on the challenge of making homemade Irish Soda Bread. It was really easy and delicious. It has inspired me to try out some other breads in the future. Our house smelled like a bakery when the bread was in the oven. You can't beat that!



Recipe: (Makes enough for two loaves. I halved it, but in the future I would make the full recipe and freeze one of the loaves.)
* 4 cups bread flour
* 1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup raisins or dried currants, rinsed in hot water and patted dry
* 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
* 2 cups buttermilk

Into a large bowl sift together the flour, the baking powder, the salt, and the baking soda and stir in the raisins and the caraway seeds. Add the buttermilk and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead it for 1 minute. Halve the dough, with floured hands shape each half into a round loaf, and transfer the loaves to a lightly greased baking sheet. Cut an X 1/4 inch deep across the tops of the loaves with a sharp knife and bake the loaves in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Transfer the loaves to racks and let them cool.



Of course I also prepared a corned beef dinner. I boiled the corned beef for about 2 1/2 hours and then added turnips, cabbage, fingerling potatoes, carrots, and onions for the last hour.



You of course have to serve this meal with butter and I like to put mustard on the meat too.



We had a great St. Patrick's Day with wonderful food, drink, and company!

A lot has changed in 7 months

I have been going through lots of pictures the last week or so trying to organize all of them. I want to make a photo album of pictures of Aspen--with digital camera's everything ends up on the computer and it would be nice to have an album for her to look at when she is older (and for us!). Anyway, I came across this first video and then I took the second video the other night. Boy has she changed....



What a great Dad...



Happy St. Patty's Day to everybody! Don't worry there will be a big post about all our activities (really just dinner) tomorrow!

Our weekend...

This weekend the weather was just gorgeous. Perfect for getting a lot of work done in the yard. I tried to help out as much as possible, but Jason really did the majority of the work and he did an awesome job!

We started off the weekend going to the farmer's market downtown. It was so nice outside and we were able to get a fair amount of our veggies and some meat for the week. I love going to the farmer's market, I just usually forget about it and then it's to late (it's the best when you get their right when it opens; they run out of stuff quickly!).

Then we met up for lunch with our friends Grant and Joe. They got to see Aspen being a "big girl" eating bananas on her own. I think they were very impressed!

A lot of Sunday was spent out in the yard picking weeds; it's a pain in the butt, but has to be done, thanks Jason!

Aspen was sporting this adorable outfit.



She wasn't so sure about the hat...



Off it goes...



Now we're happy!



Aspen also has been eating lots of eggs this past week. I think we introduced them on Wednesday, but she has been having them on and off all through the weekend. She loves the eggs and I love it because they are free! I always tell Jason I can't wait til she is older and she can go grab her egg out of the box for her breakfast.



Of course we had to wrap up our weekend with a trip to the park and let Aspen swing. We had an awesome weekend and I hope the weather keeps up like this for a while. I know in just a few short months it will be in the 90's and then the 100's and we will be wishing for beautiful spring days.



**On a side note we moved Aspen's mattress down in her crib this weekend because she has started to do pretty well standing on her own holding onto something (like the side of the crib). She hasn't been able to pull herself up on her own yet, but I didn't want her to figure that out while in her crib and be able to flip out. Bella is helping out by keeping her focused on something.



***Also, Happy 25th Birthday Erin! One of my best friends and one of Aspen's best Aunt's....have a wonderful, happy day!

Ah... Motherhood

I like to think that over the last 7 months I have learned a lot about being a parent. Although I will say that majority of the expectations I had when I was pregnant are completely different now that I'm living in it--honestly some things are harder and some are easier; and I never thought it would be as rewarding as it has unfolded to be. I think the biggest thing I have learned in the past 7 months is not be so hard on myself and on my husband. We both have tried to relax a little more and just let things unfold as they need to.

Specifically the latest thing I have had to "let go" of is the fact that Aspen has really moved beyond nursing. I have been struggling with her lately and finally I realized it's just not worth anyone's stress...her's, mine, or Jason's. So now I am pumping like a machine (haha..literally) and supplementing with formula. She gets two bottles of formula a day plus a bottle of breast milk at night. When she wakes up in the morning she still doesn't mind nursing, so we still have that one last bonding time together. Then she eats solids for breakfast (8am), an afternoon snack/lunch (12pm), and dinner (4pm). I know lots of woman who would love to move beyond nursing, but for me it was a very easy process and I loved the time I spent with Aspen. It's just a new chapter that we have opened.

For anyone who hasn't had a child yet, my advice is don't be so judgmental on mother's. I think I use to judge people a lot until I actually became one and realized that we are only trying to do the best for our child and some times the plan doesn't go how you thought. Roll with the punches...my new motto.

Of course I had to include some cute photos of my princess because let's be honest that's what it's all about! Thanks for letting me share with you all...






Also, Jason traveled up to Dallas this past weekend to go to his second godchild's baptism. Here he is with Trevor and the godmother.



Here he is with both of his godson's, Cameron and Trevor.

Happy 7 months!

Yesterday Aspen turned 7 months and it's amazing how much she has changed in just a few weeks. Here are some of things she has been up to...

*She now sits up very well all on her own. I think she enjoys a lot more of her toys now that she can sit up and play with them. She recently has loved playing the drums on this tin can I have...endless entertainment.



Aspen also loves all dogs, of course Bella is her favorite. However, this week my mom was in town and we went over to her friends house for a brunch. They have a dog name Joe who was very intrigued by Aspen and of course Aspen loved the attention.



The family outside at the brunch last Sunday.



She even got to try out their hammock, although she didn't enjoy it very much.



Our favorite toy for Aspen is her exercise machine because it keeps her in one place. She has become much more mobile on the floor and you really can't take your eyes off of her for long before she is into something (start the baby proofing!). However, the exercise machine keeps her in one place and she enjoys playing it too.



Grandma got to come into town for a week and hang out with Aspen. She had not seen her since she was 6 weeks old...what a change! They had lots of fun playing with all her different toys.





I think Grandma had a great visit with her first granddaughter. I know Aspen did...



It's been a joy to watch Aspen change and grow.