Firsts

I know this is really late in coming as most of these happenings occurred 1-2 months ago, but, alas, a new post is finally born. 

Cade's first day of preschool this year. My wish came true- his teacher from last year moved up an age group, and Cade got her again! Woohoo!!

Cade's very first soccer practice.

First popsicle without help.

First football game of the season!

First attempt at putting shorts on completely by himself...

First soccer game.

#8 just like his daddy. Total coincidence, too. Chase was thrilled to say the least.

We were shocked at how good he is! He didn't score any goals in this game, but he has scored at least 3 per game in all of the rest so far. He absolutely LOVES soccer and asks everyday if he has it that day. A true Layton.

 Peek-a-boo. I love those little fat hands.

Peeked in the living room and found this. Definitely, a first.

Gross slobber glass.

Reece's first trip to the beach.

And loved it.

Snot.

 Cade loved catching these suckers. Held them and everything. Not Momma.

Our trip was a quick one. We only had one full day there, but the kids had a blast. Our condo had a big outdoor pool, a little kid pool with the mushroom fountain, and a big indoor pool with hot tubs (Cade loved the hot tubs!).

First merry-go-round ride

Reece's first time to bust out some dance moves.

Cade's first picture day at school.

 Reece's first ER visit.

I hate this. He fell off Cade's bed and hit his head against the nightstand.

And to end on a high note- the PB&J montage:

Can I Get a Yum-Yum?

I'm just going to be honest- I really enjoy food. I mean, REALLY enjoy food. Who doesn't, right? Well, my beyond picky eater of a husband does not. Now, I don't mean that he doesn't like food or doesn't eat it often. What I mean is that he doesn't enjoy it. This may sound a little far fetched so let me give you an example. When I eat something that is really good, everyone around me knows it. Anyone else tend to say - "OOOHHHH, this is so good!!" over and over or make other grunts and noises while inhaling, I mean, eating? Yeah, wives, if your husband does this, be very grateful! Every time we eat, no matter how good the food is, I have to stare at Chase for a long time to finally get a plain ol', monotone "it's good" out of him. So I always have to say, "Make it again good, or it's just okay good?". And if it is "make it again good", he will respond still with no inflection in his voice that shows whether he truly likes it or not. Come on now! Don't you know that every woman who takes the time to cook something really wants to hear how amazing and satisfying you think it is?! It makes us feel good! I'm sure some of you may be saying, "Kristin, it's just plain and simple. Your food must just stink, and Chase doesn't want to hurt your feelings". To which I will say, come over for dinner.

So after many a meal of frustration and after Chase finally cooked a meal for the first or second time ever in his life (my Mother's Day filet from previous post), and I gawked all over it, I lashed out. I wanted to know why he can't ever comment or act like he really likes anything I ever make. Nothing. To which his reply verbatim- "I just don't enjoy food as much as you do". Say wha?? You don't enjoy food?! That is just unfathomable, incomprehensible, inconceivable. Absolutely ludicrous. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But then I started thinking. Even when we go out to eat and he gets some ribs or steak or some other man meat that he always gets, he never comments about it or makes satisfied noises when he eats it. Yet, he must like it because he always orders it. Good gracious, some how he actually does not enjoy food. But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This is coming from a man who refuses to eat a single fruit or vegetable in any form (corn and potatoes are NOT vegetables!). He will never appreciate a juicy, ripe watermelon or the deliciousness of steamed broccoli with a little dab of butter and lemon juice or the heaven of roasted zucchini with a little parmesan sprinkled on top. Which are all amazing. I'm salivating just thinking about them. 

But, I guess there really is nothing I can do about that. I mean, how can you make someone enjoy food? It's just a sad, sad life, and his loss (and my frustration). It's a good thing that so far, the boys seem to be more like myself when it comes to enjoying food. Hopefully, they will comment on my food as they grow and make me feel appreciated. 

Now, as this post gets rather long, let me just say that as much as I enjoy food, I am in no way a food snob, but I also would not just enjoy whatever random thing was put on my plate. I am a lover of all things homemade. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good boxed brownie mix (because technically I have yet to eat a made from scratch brownie that is even close to the fudgey goodness of a boxed brownie), I just very much prefer a good home cooked meal to anything frozen or preservative-ized or picked up from a window. That also doesn't mean I make my own everything homemade. I'm talking mainly meals. And I'm not all healthy-fied (I should make my own dictionary) with my cooking, either. If my chicken paprika calls for some sour cream, I'm going to add me some sour cream. And I definitely will not shun white rice. (Except cream of whatever soup, I mostly shun that except for very few recipes). I'm just trying to make good, wholesome meals for my family. I'm not going to get all sugar-free, vegan, no carbs, etc. All things in moderation. 

As of late, I've been trying to learn how to make all kinds of bread goodness. Because, let's not deny, bread is the ultimate comfort food. For some reason, anything dealing with the words 'yeast' and 'rising' and 'not too much flour because it will be dry' has always intimidated me. How am I supposed to know if this is too much flour?! Well, slowly, but surely, I have begun to figure it all out. And let me just say, it is DE-licious. 

Here are a few delicacies we've begun to enjoy at our house here and there (no critiquing, I'm still learning with the breads):

Need to better learn the technique for rolling them tightly, but these babies slathering in cream cheese icing are divine.

Wheat french bread rolls

Oh. my. mother. These are uhhh-mazing. Cheese Rolls with Buttery Parmesan Crust. Cheese inside a roll. Cheese inside a roll! With a yummy breadcrumb topping! I'm speechless.

Close up of the beloved cheese roll

More cheese and bread for you. I have been searching for the best (and easiest) pizza dough recipe for a really long time, and about a year and a half ago, I finally found it.This is what gave me a little more confidence to try other breads.

My ultimate favorite thing to make is, duh, dessert. And my ultimate favorite dessert of all time ever since I was a wee bratty child is cheesecake. I love cheesecake so much that I almost had a cheesecake wedding cake (until the practice one didn't turn out so well because it cannot be easily stacked without becoming a huge pile of mush and for some reason I really wanted a stacked cake. So I forewent the cheesecake wedding cake. That was dumb.). So, I've been trying to perfect my cheesecake baking for the past 6 years. Nowhere near perfect, but getting better. Here are a couple goodies:

Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake. No words describe..

Inside of Brownie Mosaic. Still no words describe..

I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake a couple years back for Easter. I made it again for the Scout Spaghetti dinner at church to be auctioned off last month. This picture was taken before I decided to just completely cover the top with the ganache and add some cookie dough balls for decoration. Thanks to my MIL (she appreciates my cooking), it went for $50! Good thing it stayed in the family, because when cutting into it to share a piece, it was not done setting up at all! Mortified! Another day in the fridge, and it was perfect. You can't rush the chilling of a cheesecake.

Other cheesecakes I make on occasion- Pumpkin, Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl, Plain, and still working on finding the best Oreo recipe.

Isn't she a beauty?? Chase used his credit card points to buy me a bigger and better mixer for our anniversary. Maybe that is his way of telling me he likes my food...

It's really not about being a good cook, it's about finding good recipes and just being able to follow them. A lot of my best recipes come from the cooking blog - Mel's Kitchen Cafe. If you don't already know about it, check it out. If you are also a food lover and have any recipe or other blog suggestions, I would love it if you shared with me!

I may not be the world's best cook, but I keep trying. And I try because I love food that much.

July Schmuly

Our July started out with a bang by celebrating the day of our Independence. We celebrated by grilling out at my parents and then attending our first (and last) Stars game. Let's just say baseball is way too slow moving to keep my kids interested, and they would rather run all around on the steep concrete steps. Me = panicky. Add the ridiculous heat and humidity of the South, AND the fact that the game took forrreeevvveerrr so the fireworks didn't even start until 10:30! 3 whole hours after my kids bed time! It. was. awesome.Who's idea was this again that I fought hard core because I knew it was a bad idea?? Oh wait. Yeah, it was Chase. 

waving

This is at the beginning when everyone was still happy.

The next day (when the kids still woke up at 6am) was Reece's birthday and doctor's appointment. Let's load my already cranky kid up with some shots, shall we? Awesome day #2. Then, those shots gave him a fever and made him relentlessly clingy, cranky, miserable. Awesome day #3, 4, 5, and 6. The first part of July was fun, wasn't it?

Here are some of July's finer moments:

Waiting for Nonni, Papa, and Seth at the airport. 

Cade came out of my room giddy because he put my boots on all by himself. I was laughing more because they almost touch his butt.

I had some scrap paper from cutting coupons, and Cade was dying to cut with the scissors, too. He was more than pleased with himself when he realized he cut an L. I told him L stood for Layton. He was so excited. "Yeah! Like Mommy Layton and Daddy Layton!" and on and on listing everyone we know as a 'Layton' even if their last name is not Layton.

So handsome all ready for church.

Making Family Night treats. Cade LOVED these. He thought eating 'dirt and worms' was the best thing ever. Too bad we aren't making these ever again because he went haywire for hours every time he ate one.

Oh the misery of having to eat a yummy dinner that I really like. It's such torture to have to sit still and focus on eating. Meal time is always a battle.

But not for this kid:

Every time I glance over at this kid while I'm eating, some variation of this is usually what I find. Hysterical.

Crazy.

I love these cute baseball pant jammies. Skinny whinny. 

Found a cute little train for Cade to paint at the Dollar Store. Sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating just like his Mommy. 

The finished product. Too bad the blue and black were already dried out in that cheap Dollar Store paint. He really wanted to paint it to look like Thomas.

Cade decided to clean out Reece's ENTIRE room and closet and throw it in Reece's crib while he was still in it. I was less than amused. It's hard to tell from the picture how much stuff was actually in this crib. 

We are in the process of cheaply trying to update our bathrooms. We are painting, staining the vanity, and spraying all the ugly fixtures this rubbed oil bronze color. So far it all looks good, but we are far from done. We will see how the wear and tear works out on the fixtures. More to come on that later.

And for the part where July hated me- We came home from church one Sunday to a blazing hot house. The temp reached 88 in most of the house (our bedroom was 97!). Needless to say, we slept at Chase's parents that night. And I'm pretty sure we got big time ripped off when the guy came to fix it. I wish I knew everything about fix it stuff so I could call people out on dishonesty. And after much research and many calls, I still can't find out if I was ripped off unless I pay another expert to come look at it and tell me. (So if anyone knows how to tell how much freon my unit holds, please come over and enlighten me! My unit doesn't say on the back like everyone else's.) Then, the air in Chase's car broke. Then, a stupid apple from the neighbors tree got caught in the weed eater and did this:

Please, Wheel of Fortune, call me to be on your show. I'm on the verge of a breakdown.

Thanks for giving me a bad attitude, July.

Happy Birthday Reecie Piecie!

I really can't believe he is already 1! Maybe I'm not remembering right, but I almost feel like Reece's first year went by much faster than Cade's. It may be due to life just becoming busier with the addition of another child. Or it could also be that I was more prepared for that complete 'my life is over' shock that took me a really long time to cope with when I had Cade. But whatever it may have been, as we all know (and are probably annoyed with by now!), it makes me really emotional thinking about my babies growing up. As crazy and frustrating as they can be, they are my whole soul, my ultimate joy.

Upon reaching milestones, I do, however, like to look back and think how I've cared for this little human being for this long and look at how much he has grown and changed (or simply survived!) and how I helped that happen. It's very fulfilling and humbling.

The birthday boy trying to cheese for the camera. What a sweet, LOUD, busy little boy he is! He's always either mumbling something in a whisper, making that hawking a loogie in the back of your throat noise, or yelling really loudly. This child does not know proper volume levels.

The birthday cake. Best looking cake I have made to date. I am horrible at decorating cakes. Baking them is   no problem. Decorating them requires a whole other set of skills and patience that I do not have. It took me an hour and a half just to smooth out the icing! Luckily, I didn't have to draw the picture on top because I found that you can order online almost any kids character/theme on edible sugar paper and have it shipped to you! And it's not expensive- yahoo! You better believe I'm doing this for every cake from now on.

He had his own little cupcake to chow down. He actually did a really good job of demolishing it, but for some reason, the photographer thought it was best to only take super close ups of Reece's face while he dug in. Due to possible embarrassment, we will leave that photographer nameless (starts with a Ch and ends with the name of  a playing card).

We celebrated twice. One was swimming and lunch/cake with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kim, Uncle Chris, and cousins. Two was dinner/cake when Nonni, Papa, and Seth came home from visiting Cody and Jordan (where are the cousins on this side?!). It doesn't matter how many times you light candles or who they are for, my boys are all over it.

At Reece's appointment the day after his b'day, he weighed in at 21 lbs (30th percentile) and is in the 90th percentile for height! Reece was his usual never still or quiet self, and his doctor seemed quite amused and said that Reece is definitely far more active than his other 12 month patients. Great.. I mean I already knew it, but when his doctor confirmed it, I wanted to just yell, "I KNEW IT!". I knew I wasn't crazy. It's not me. It's him. And since Reece is just like Cade, it's them. And maybe a little me...

I will say that I do love how much Reece loves his Mommy (except when I am trying to cook!). He always wants to be with me, holding on to me, doing everything with me. He is such a Mommy's boy. He may be wild as fire, but when he comes to me and holds those little arms up for me to hold him and then lays that little head on my shoulder and tries to make the 'aww' sound, in that moment, all the other worries grow dim. 

Love my Reecie :)

June Happenings

I am WAY behind on the blogging. We are almost into August, and I'm just now talking about June. Oops. Let's dive right in.

In June, the boys and I were able to accompany my parents and my sister's family to the Chattanooga Aquarium. Since the boys and I had never been, I was excited to introduce them to some animals/fishy life up close. I thought Cade was going to absolutely love it and would be fascinated by all huge sharks and turtles, etc. It was going to be a great time.

And...it. was. NOT. From enter to exit, Cade was in his usual bouncing off the walls mode. Did he care to watch the animals move or even give them the time of day? Not for more than 2 seconds and then off he'd go running around. Totally regretted not bringing my monkey backpack leash (I better not be hearing any judgmental sighs or eye-rolls!). Aquariums, museums, zoos, etc. are great, but there is just so much to see and happening at once, that it's too much stimulation for my unable to focus child. Next time, we will definitely not be going unless Chase can come. He is much better at helping Cade in those settings than I am. 

And then we had Mr. Whiny in the stroller who always has to be moving or he'll scream at the top of his lungs. It was such an enjoyable trip indeed. Although, we did stop and get some amazingly good ice cream before making the trek home so not all was lost.

I believe these were sturgeons??

As still as we could get Cade for a picture.

Cade with cousins- Jack, Kate, and Madison

Shark tank. Nice face Madison.

This tank had sting rays to touch and Dorie fish from Finding Nemo. Cade yelled, "DORIE! DORIE!! Come over here! DORIE!" over and over. Hmm..they must not actually speak English..

It was a nice aquarium though. And when Cade talks about going to the aquarium, he talks about how cool it was and he saw all the big sharks. You don't even know, Buddy.

The next special event June brought us was Chase's 30th birthday. And since I'm such a good wife, I threw him a surprise party at his parents neighborhood clubhouse/pool. I did a dang good job of never slipping up or creating any suspicions, too. The diversion? Our friend Brad asked Chase to go golfing with him which enabled us to get everything in place at the clubhouse. What a fine plan since Chase would never turn down a game of golf.

My friend Misty (who is also Brad's wife) and I were "swimming with the kids at the pool", but when they pulled up he put two and two together since the parking lot was completely filled and he recognized all the cars. That's the best I could do.

The turnout was amazing- 41 adults and 31 kids! Cade is freaking out because he fell in the pool a little bit prior to this. He was fine (thanks to David for seeing it and pulling him out!), but when he saw Chase he broke down.

I was too busy to take any pictures besides these, and I'm regretting that I didn't. We had great food, cake, and fun.

And June's last memorable event- Reece started walking! We came home from church one Sunday, and it was like he just decided he wasn't going to crawl anymore. It was such a quick change. I was in the kitchen, and in my peripheral vision, I see a really little person stumbling down the hall. I remember thinking- what in the world?? He was just walking all over the place. And if he fell down, he would just get right back up. He had started teetering between 2 people a little bit a week prior to this, but that was only a few steps. 

Here is the action:

And another gem I found on my phone: