It's dough time!

"It's dough time!"

That's what James happily cheered on Sunday morning when E suggested they make homemade biscuits. James LOVES the dough. Forget about the biscuits, just give him the dough.

 He can't shovel it in fast enough.

Goof.

Father's Day

Father's Day weekend continued on Sunday of course. After our fantastic day at the park and Snowbird we woke up and I made the most delicious breakfast for E. First up, lemon raspberry ricotta pancakes (lemon raspberry version is mentioned at the bottom). Oh my gosh, these were amazing! So creamy, so light, so wonderful. We also had a side of yukon gold and sweet potato home fries and the best bacon known to man from our local specialty meat shop. The entire meal was fantastic.

James is a good breakfast eater, loving most sweet things. This particular morning he spent breakfast licking syrup off his plate.

Later in the afternoon I made E pose for some photos with his two children. I love this one. James is so so sweet and Juliet, she's such a chunk. Love her little arm rolls.

She is seriously the best baby. So happy and so easy. Her amazing dress? A special gift from a friend.

We got James a water table for Easter and he hasn't shown much interest in it until now. Finally he found something that kept his attention. Splashing. And a lot of it.

E's family joined us in the backyard for a carne asada BBQ. (My Dad was out of town, and we will be seeing him this weekend.)

The entire time people were chatting and cooking, this guy was content to splash.

And splash. Check out his wet shirt!

At least it was easy to get big smiles from him.

E's brother David brought over fresh homemade salsa that was fantastic.

E cooked up the entire dinner. I tried to tell him he should be relaxing, it was Father's Day for him too, after all. He said being at the grill was relaxing for him.

Sweet girl got a little tired mid party, so we put her in her bouncer.

And she decided to take a little nap.

Sidenote: as we sat down for dinner E said his "Daddy sense" was tingling. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, James run with his blue cup from the water table and splash Juliet. He thought it was hilarious, Juliet, however, did not.

Side-sidenote: check out those thighs.

Dinner was served, and James's shirt was removed because he was drenched from head to toe.

After dinner the boys (James, Daddy, and his two uncles) decided to play a little ball. They ran all over the yard being sweet and wonderful to my little boy. James was in heaven.

See how much joy is on his face?

He's not too good at catching yet, but he was having a ball (haa! I'm so funny!).

What a happy weekend.

Memorial Day {Temple Square and a BBQ}

As I've stated again and again, James is at the best age right now. He remembers things and talks and contributes to our plans. Last week he requested another visit to Temple Square. What a smart kiddo! He said "see fountains there! Big ones! Splash!"

So on Monday morning (the first day of good weather) we packed up the family and headed to the new City Creek Mall (where there are LOTS of fountains!) and to Temple Square, where there are even more fountains.

As always, I was mesmerized by the flowers, James was mesmerized by the fountains. And E was on falcon watch, because they live on Hotel Utah, which is next to the temple.

Do you see James at the edge of the reflecting pool?

We were surprised we had the entire area to ourselves, being it was a holiday weekend and all, and plus the weather was glorious. But we weren't complaining.

 And all the foxglove was in bloom. :)

 Later E put six racks of ribs on his smoker. Yea, there was a second layer. There were TONS.

We invited his family over for a Memorial Day barbecue, and seriously, the weather was perfection.

James? He does this all the time. Puts his head in the flower box and says "working on something."

 Juliet snuggling with Auntie Chelsea.

James is pretty good about trying new foods. He doesn't like 90% of what he tries, but I give him props for trying them. Here he is with his first ever rib. He said "don't like ribs!" No worries little man, you will, oh you will.

 Post dinner dancing.

And laughing.

And hiding.

 And here is seriously the hottest photo of E. Love this man.

Surprise Cookies

My dear friend Jessica delivered the most fantastic dinner to our doorstep only days after Juliet was home. She included these amazing cookies and after the first bite I was in love. I'm not much of a cookie girl, but since Juliet's birth I've decided I adore chocolate. Weird, since before chocolate never really did it for me.

Anyway, these cookies? Out of this world.

I asked Jessica for the recipe and she told me that they were Martha Stewart's surprise cookies. I HAD to have more. So yesterday, once James was awake from his nap, I decided to get out all the ingredients and make them.

Of course Juliet woke up three minutes into the entire process and would not let me put her down. She wanted to be held, to nurse, to snuggle and if I put her down for even a moment she would scream.

So there I was, in the kitchen (and still dressed in my PJs even thought it was now four p.m.) with a toddler on a stool, cocoa powder dusting every surface, and a baby on the boob. I tried the Moby wrap, to see if she would at least let me have my arms free, and she wouldn't tolerate it for more than three minutes.

As I looked around my kitchen, which now every surface was covered in chocolate batter, and my extremely messy toddler, I had to laugh. With one hand on Juliet (who was still on the boob) and my eye on James, I grabbed my camera.

And once James was tired of cooking, and Juliet was still hungry, I whipped up the frosting with one hand and topped these cookies. Then I ate about three, because after all the effort, I was glad the cookies turned out perfectly.


This is during the three minutes or so that Juliet was in the Moby Wrap. I was nursing her, and she was happy for a moment. She didn't stay happy for long though.
Two trays of cookies complete (minus the three that I scarfed right after this photo was taken).

Our last weekend as a family of three {so bittersweet}

As of right now, the plan is for me to be induced this Friday, (OMG! WHAT??!! Yea, kinda freaking out a bit...) which means last weekend was our last as a family of three.

This is so bittersweet.

We adore our family of three. James is wonderful and smart and amazing and the thought that we will change all of that makes me more than a little sad. E too, he said he was feeling so sad and tender last weekend, it just doesn't seem real.

So we decided to make the most of it. James is feeling better (not like last Saturday) and was being sweet and wonderful and perfect.

We woke up on Saturday and did our favorite thing in the world: cook. E and James made "oven pancakes" which are our favorite German Pancakes. We make this recipe almost weekly, especially in the winter and it is amazing. Buttery and lemony and divine. James loves them too, and eats a huge amount.
A few months ago we always gave James a little bowl of flour that he could mix while E worked on the real breakfast. He wasn't fooled. Now he wants to be right in the action, cracking the eggs (with help and a lot of time removing fragments of shell), whisking the milk and butter and even adding the "spice".
I mostly stayed sitting and enjoyed Dada and James doing what they do best.
German Pancakes get really puffed up in the oven. Sometimes they are even taller than this, it's pretty fun.
After breakfast we went to the park and enjoyed the mild temperatures. Where is winter? No idea, but I really don't care. These mild temperatures and sunny skies make me so so happy.

James has been excellent with not wanting to be picked up a lot lately. He says "no help, Dames do it" with most things and can even climb into his car seat unassisted now. But when he saw me posing for photos he ran over and asked "up up?" so I had to oblige. He's heavy, but I adore that he wants to be in my arms. So here I am, 40+ weeks pregnant with a heavy toddler and a knee to my tummy. (Looking forward to not being in the same outfit for every photo soon! Seriously, what gives?!)
Happy boy.

Found a big branch, of course.
The rest of the weekend was filled to the brim, a trip to the Planetarium, dinner at our favorite downtown restaurant (which James happens to love too!), a trip to the pool and even another visit to the aquarium. We stayed very busy, considering I'm over due and slower than a sloth, but by the end of the weekend, nobody wanted the fun to end.

I will miss this. Very much. James, you are going to make an incredible big brother, but you made an awesome only child too. I simple adore you.