Papa Glenn

We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people who love our babies. Papa Glenn, H's step dad, is one of them. He comes down several times a week to spend time with the babies. Papa Glenn is a sweet and quiet man who the babies adore. They go to him the minute he walks through the door.

Papa Glenn was a conservation officer for the state of Alabama before he retired, so he knows everything about trees and animals and bugs. He is a wealth of knowledge, and we look forward to him sharing that with the babies as they develop and discover.

The first photo shows where you can find Papa Glenn every evening: watching the wildlife in and around the pond. Bull frogs and deer are some of his favorite. He loves to report what he sees. One of his best sightings this year has been a bald eagle. He has rigged up quite a little outfit there with a fan to keep the bugs off and a large cup for his beverage (note the binoculars to his left). Nana Penny takes the seat to his right.
We love our Papa Glenn.

Milestones

One thing I realized by being around Avery is that our babies understand much more of what we say than we think they do. The babies and I were so lucky to be with Karen and Avery for almost a full week. We got to see Avery start signing words to her mom for the first time: more and all done. And we got to witness Avery start using mama to address Karen. These were wonderful things to watch. One of the things I love the most about watching our babies and Avery reach new milestones is how proud they are of themselves. They just beam when they take those first steps or put their fingers together to tell you they want more food. They really understand that they have acquired and accomplished something new.
Sometimes I think to myself that our babies don't understand what I am saying. It doesn't really matter if I talk about how the ball is red or point to the word Go in the Marvin K Mooney book or make the sign for milk. Usually they just stare at me blankly. But I could tell from being around my niece that it does matter. Being with her was wonderful in its own right, but it also gave me a little snapshot of where we will be in just a short time.

The photos are some smiles from our time together (alem).

Sister Time, Cousin Time

We had a wonderful week with our Tia Karen and Cousin Avery. It was so nice of them to come for a visit. We loved every minute of our time with them. They came to our house for a few days and then we went to the Gulf for the rest of the week. The only thing that would have made the trip better is if we'd have been able to see Uncle Jon. Hopefully we will all be together again soon.

We did lots of fun things together. Here we are taking a walk on the farm. Avery got to see the goats.
She also got to see the horses. She liked being close to One Gun but she didn't want to pet his nose. Who can blame her? He is a big fellow.
Grancy came for part of the week. Here she is playing with Mazie.
Grancy and her four grandchildren (elma).
It is getting tougher and tougher to get a good shot of the kids.

We took lots of walks while we were together. Here we are taking corn shucks to the horses. Here we are walking at the beach. This is the closest we got to going to the beach.
We did get asked several times if they were quads. I think it might have been the matching strollers.

The babies taught one another new skills. For example, Mazie taught Avery to say "Uh Oh" and Avery taught Elliott to give kisses.

Here are Avery and Elliott exchanging affections.

We had lots of fun time together.

Here are the babies playing in the hall.

We had story time.
Mazie and her Tia Karen wore their red floral dresses on the same day.
Avery had a carpet picnic.


Tia Karen and Avery brought the babies some bubbles. Our babies had never seen bubbles so they were very enthralled with them. I think they thought they were magic.
Avery is accustomed to pointing at bubbles and even popping bubbles. She is a bubble pro.


Karen and I also like to do a bit of cooking and baking when we are together. This trip we tried a new chocolate sheet cake. I had also never made a pie (sad, I know) so Karen shared her recipe and skills with me. And I walked Karen through the mozzarella cheese I had made for the first time in June.


The chocolate sheet cake we made was from The Pioneer Woman. It was very good, and we liked it, though we felt the frosting was a little too sweet. Next time I would take a full cup away from the pound of powdered sugar (that will make sense if you read the recipe). Also, we doubled the pecans and were glad we did.




We also made this gorgeous apple pie. It was truly delicious, and so pretty. Rarely does anything I bake turn out pretty. Usually it is edible, but never pretty. I can't share this recipe with you as I don't have it, but it was a pretty standard apple pie recipe.

It is not super easy to make a pie, but it is easier than I thought. I'll definitely try again.


Here is our attempt to make mozzerella cheese. We used the 30-minute mozzarella recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. You can find it at their website. It does call for two ingredeints you have to order from a cheese maker, but the recipe is worth trying because it is really easy.

Here we are curdling the milk. The curds are just beginning to form at 88 degrees.

Here Karen is stirring the curds and whey. See how easy it is.
Now she is pressing the whey out of the curds. Avery has her pretty hands.
Here is the final product. Don't they look rustic and gorgeous? They were very tasty.

Bye Avery. We love you and are so glad you came to visit us.

More Walking

Mazie is really going places. She takes a good number of steps before plopping down.

Lucia took her first step yesterday. It was just one step and she has yet to repeat the feat. She would rather you hold her hands and let her dance around.

Elliott took his first step today and then took two steps a few minutes later. He was so excited; he kept bouncing up and down and laughing after he took his two steps. His Nana and Grancy got to see him take those first steps.

There is lots of movement and activity in our household.

Eleven Months: Mazie

Happy Birthday to our Mazie Bell. We love you.

Eleven Months: Elliott

Happy Birthday to our Little E. We love you.

Eleven Months: Lucia

Happy Birthday to our Pretty Lu. We love you.

Eleven Months: The Three

We can hardly believe that we are on the downhill slide to one year. It is amazing to think what we were doing one year ago--readying ourselves for the biggest and most wonderful change our lives will ever see. Having these three in our lives is more than we could have ever imagined.
Happy Eleven Months to our beautiful, talented babies. We love you and are thankful for you everyday. We look forward to celebrating in a big way your precious lives next month.

Walking update

Mazie Bell is still our only walker. It is so great to see how proud of herself she gets. And, she loves for us to cheer for her. This morning, just in time for her eleven month birthday, Mazie stood up by herself (without pulling up on anything). Also, up until now she has only walked to a person prompting her to walk. This morning she took several steps to nowhere in particular. The most steps she's taken by herself has been seven.


Lucia and Elliott still have not taken a step and seem to still be a ways away. I have noticed the past few days that they seem as if they are wanting to take a step. For example, I tried to get Lucia to take a step toward me yesterday and she stood there for a few seconds as if she really wanted to, but in the end she sat down and crawled to me.

Only fun for Lucia

Lucia has come up with a game she really enjoys: piggyback. She loves to grab on to Elliott's overalls or shirt and let him pull her around. She gets lots of enjoyment from this game and Elliott doesn't seem to mind humoring her.

Elliott apparently feels like he's been a pretty good sport though, because he has started thinking it might be fun for Lucia to take him on a trip around the room. No, not so much fun, as she screams as if he is trying to murder her. And Mazie, she wants no part of this piggyback game. She, too, screams if anyone tries to take her for a ride.

Here is a video of Lucia traveling around the kitchen via Elliott. Excuse the amateurish videography.