as of late...

I've been trying to write a very thought provoking, deep post about balance, but frankly, I'm failing. I'm trying too hard to write like Laura or Sarah and I am not Laura or Sarah, so as you can imagine, it's difficult. I've got to re-figure out how to write like me. Perhaps I should consult my high school English teacher. She seemed to think I was a decent writer...
anyway, I'd like to at least post some of what we've been up to around these parts. Last Saturday, Cydney, bless her heart, retrieved my big ol' chunky camera from the depths of despair (my freezing cold wreck of an office) and started taking pictures of Abram eating. Sadly I've done the typical second-child thing & kind of ignored the fun little milestones that he's been hitting lately, instead of documenting every second of his life like I did with Sawyer. Homeboy is full on walking now. He took his first steps just before he hit 10 months, and hasn't quit since. He is pretty darn stable now & rarely resorts to crawling. He loves food, I could probably feed him all day long and he'd be happy as long as I didn't try to make him sit still to do it. He is weaning himself quite nicely just because he doesn't have the patience to sit still & stare at my armpit while he nurses. As you can see in these pictures, by the time Cyd had gotten the camera, he was ready to be on to his next adventure. Also the first few pictures she took the flash was on & he did NOT like that. So he's ornery. But it's kinda cute anyway.
look at those chunky legs! i just wanna nibble on 'em!

who's that old woman picking my son up? when did my hands get all veiny & elderly looking?

I kinda love this picture. There's my life. Dishes. Ponytail. Cleaning up a mess. There is nobility in the mundane. At least that's how I'm trying to start looking at it, thanks to this post.
Matt must have taken the camera at some point in the day. He & Sawyer were outside most of the afternoon. I'm sure he was practicing his golf swing while she played in the back of my car with her friends, something they all love doing, don't ask me why.
and then she had to come inside.
Sunday Abram's little cousin-friend Sully was blessed, I missed the actual blessing because Fatniss Everpeen (my new nickname for Abes, please tell me you get my joke) was being a starving little loud-mouth. I hear it was lovely, and of course his amazing momma made his darling blessing outfit. Click over here to die from cuteness.
I've been really trying to make a better effort with meal planning & whatnot. I'm pretty much cooking my way though the Our Best Bites cookbook and loving everything (big surprise there, their website is my favorite). I made this pasta and kind of wanted to make out with it. The thing that makes the biggest difference for me is that lately I'm starting to prep dinner at like 10 am. I get all organized & set things out & chop what veggies I can so that when 5 o'clock rolls around I'm not tempted to stick Sawyer in front of the TV and let Abram destroy my kitchen cupboards while I make breakfast for dinner yet again. Monday night I made probably the most tasty cake on the planet, my new favorite. I cleaned out our spice cupboard & noticed a recipe on the side of the cardamon jar. Since I had some cream that needed using I decided to try it. It's so simple & so amazing. Just look at that crumb, sooo fine!
I think I can even remember the recipe:
Orange Cardamon Pound Cake
2 sticks butter (I used unsalted without a problem)
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour (I used cake flour)
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp cardamon
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream
Cream butter then add other ingredients in order and mix, periodically scrapping down sides of bowl. Pour into greased & floured tube or bundt pan. Bake at 275 for an hour then increase temperature to 350 for 15-20 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before taking out of pan.
Over medium heat, combine 1 cup orange juice & 1 cup sugar till sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour over warm cake.
Try to make it last at least a few days.

I'm thinking about starting my garden, but really having a hard time drumming up the motivation. Is it time? I feel like there's at least one more storm coming our way....