Taryne's Baptism...

"...every perfect gift is from above."  -James 1:17

Today we baptized Taryne. It was a great day. She did not cry during the actual baptism part of the church service, she was good while our pastor carried her around the church "introducing" her to the congregation and she was quiet and good through the entire church service. Her Godparents are my sister Charlotte and Kyle's sister Jordana. We have had a lot of questions about 2 Godmothers...it doesn't matter.

It was nice to have both sets of grandparents and all her aunts and uncles here to see her being baptized. We wished we could have had all of our extended family, but since that would mean ALOT of people, we decided it was better to keep it small and personal.

After church we had a fajita lunch at our house. Kyle and I cooked chicken fajitas. I made Mexican rice from Homesick Texan's blog and my mom made her yummy pinto beans. We had all the "extras" for the fajitas. For dessert, I made Kyle a Pina Colada cake and lemon cupcakes. My mom made a chocolate meringue pie for Kyle's recent birthday and Kyle's mom brought a loaf of Amish Friendship bread (and the starter mix for it, so if you are interested in a starter bag, let me know).

Here are some pics from the day...

The invitation I made for today.

Taryne being baptized at Peace Lutheran.

I love this banner they use for baptisms...

Kyle, Me, Taryne, Charlotte & Jordana

Theia and Taryne...they weren't very cooperative for pictures today.

All the aunts and uncles and cousin: Josh, Jordana, Charlie, Taryne, Tanya, Charlotte, Zach and Theia. I know it looks funny that Charlie is holding Taryne, when he is Theia's dad...

The food...

Lemon cupcakes with lemon icing and chocolate daisies.

I am glad it was such a wonderful day, but we are all exhausted!

Until next time...Gig'em!

April 21st...

Today has many meanings, but to our family there are two important things...Kyle's birthday and Muster. On April 21st each year, Aggies from all over the world gather together to remember Aggies that have passed away in the past year. Today is also Kyle's birthday. He always mentions that he was born to be an Aggie since he was born on Muster.

I am so very lucky to have a wonderful, caring, compassionate husband. He has a quiet personality, so sometimes I feel like things revolve around me and Taryne and he is fine with that. However, today is a day that I try to make all about Kyle. I got up early (and I say early because Kyle has to be at work at 7) and made breakfast for Kyle. And then, as soon as he left for work, I made these amazing brownies. I don't normally toot my own horn, but these brownies are awesome and super easy to make.

I found this recipe over a year ago on Bakerella. You take a brownie mix and mix it per the box instructions and pour into the pan. Then mix up a package of chocolate chip cookie dough mix per package instructions and drop by spoonfuls on top of the brownie batter. Bake according the brownie instructions. Once it has cooled completely, frost with a chocolate ganache. The recipe for the ganache is on the link above.

Here are some pics of the yummy brownies...

Brownies once they were out of the oven

Butter and heavy cream heating up for the ganache

Semi sweet chocolate chips waiting for the butter and cream

Brownies with the ganache on top

Brownies on the cake plate ready to go to Kyle

So Taryne and I took this plate of brownies to Kyle at work to surprise him for his birthday. He was surprised...I had thought that he might not share with his co-workers that it was his birthday, but someone knew because there was a cake there as well.

So, Kyle, even though you rarely read this blog, Happy Birthday and Taryne and I love you sooo much!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Maroon & White game 2010...

If you know us, you know that we are avid football fans. We do not miss a chance to watch football...even if it is just a scrimmage. Today was the Aggie Maroon & White spring game at Kyle Field. We have been attending quite regularly the last several years. We have only missed a few games due to weddings...

So Taryne has attended a baseball and softball game and today was her first football game. I say that in a very general sort of term because A&M's spring game is basically another practice. It is set up like a practice. It is Offense vs. Defense. I know what you are thinking...isn't it usually offense vs. defense? Well yes, but this is different. Usually in spring games for other schools around the country, you have 2 "teams" scrimmaging against one another. For example, at Alabama, it is the Crimson vs. White. Well at A&M it is all of the offense vs. all of the defense. They each score or lose points based on the results of the play. For example, if the offense has a run or pass of more than 10 yards, they get 2 points. However, if they have a false start or a dropped pass they can lose 1 point for each of those. The defense has its own way to score points as well. The defense can earn 3 points by getting a turnover or lose 10 points if there are more than 3 explosive plays in an entire game. Those are just a few examples of how the offense or defense can score points. And from what I understand, the team that wins does not have to run at the end of practice.

Today the Offense beat the Defense 102-94. They played 4 - 15 minute quarters and if you didn't have the above explanation, you would think OMG when you saw that score. During halftime today, they had an obstacle course for 4 potential 12th Man kick off returners for next year. They competed in the obstacle course and then the fans texted for a winner. I can't remember who won, so please don't ask...And a football game in Aggieland would not be complete without the band. The Aggie Band marched a spectacular show at the end of the game. Taryne really enjoyed the music every time the band played.

Taryne really enjoyed the game. She was not scared by the cannon, not even once. We were a little surprised by that, but once or twice the announcer's voice scared her. I can only guess he spoke too loud at the beginning of a sentence here or there and that scared her.

Pics from the game today...

Until next time...Gig'em!

It's the Great Spring Fling Charlie Brown...

That was the theme for the fundraiser at St. Thomas Aquinas CDC. They had a spaghetti dinner, which was pretty tasty I might add. There was also a silent auction, raffle and games for the kids. We bought a few raffle tickets and since I have not received a call yet tonight, I am going to assume that I did not win a prize...

For the silent auction, I donated my time to create 24 custom cupcakes for some lucky child's birthday. To my surprise, the "value" that was placed on the bid sheet was $75...what? Really? Maybe I need to start a bakery...When we left, there was one bid for the cupcakes...I am curious who will win the bid and what theme they will want me to create. Hopefully they are not super picky and want me to recreate something extremely intricate...

There were several games and activity stations for the kids. They had a find the treasure in the pool of balls, a stamp/tattoo station, face painting, cupcake/book walk, fishing, balloon animals and more. Since Taryne is still small, she got a flower stamp, a crown, went fishing and caught an army man and got a green balloon poodle. I guess it is good that they didn't have real gold fish to win...because I am sure we would have come home with one...I always did much to my mother's dismay...

Taryne with her crown...

Going fishin'...

She was trying to eat her balloon poodle...

Can you see her flower stamp?

It was a great fundraiser...I am sure they raised tons of money for the CDC. Taryne had fun...which is I guess what counts!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Baptismal dress...

Next Sunday, April 25th, Taryne will be baptized. I am excited that Taryne will be wearing the dress my grandmother, Milady Martin, made for me, my sisters and my older cousins. I am not sure if all my older cousins wore this dress, but I know I, along with Tanya and Charlotte, did wear the dress.

I think this dress is so special to me because I don't remember my grandmother ever really sewing anything. I have a blanket that she made, but it is packed away because the fabric is so old it is tearing. I don't want anything to happen to it...

It is a beautiful dress. It is two pieces, a slip dress and then a cover that goes over it. This cover part has the pretty details on it. I don't know all the technical sewing/seamstress terms, so please forgive me when I describe the top part as the cover. :)

I was nervous when my mom first told me about the dress because I was scared it might be too small. Both of our families are Catholic, but we are not. We are Lutheran. In the Catholic church, they often baptize babies when the are really, really small/young. In the Lutheran church we baptize as babies, but not necessarily that young. So, since I was raised in a Catholic family, we were all baptized when we were 2-3 months old. Taryne just turned 7 months old...see my reason for concern...at least Taryne was a small baby.

Well I dressed Taryne in her baptismal dress for some pictures to use on the invitations. She had so much fun with the dress because it has a lot of fabric to play with...

Ok, I was trying to take pictures and Cassie just came in and plopped down next to Taryne...

I tried to take a picture of the entire dress here...I just didn't get a good smile from Taryne on this one...

Ok, so she fell over and started playing...I love this picture!

I tried to get a picture of the back of the dress...

She loved playing with all the fabric!

I know her baptism is not for another week or so, but I wanted to devote one post entirely to the dress since my grandmother made it. I wish she could be there to see Taryne Milady wearing it, but I know she will be watching from heaven!

Until next time...Gig'em!

Just a swingin'......

This morning Taryne and I went to the park. We go to this park almost every evening with Kyle to walk the path around the park. However, we never stop at the playground part, mainly because this is exercise time for mom and dad.

I think Taryne has been ready to get on the little kid swings for a while now, but because I was working full time, and our trips to the park were for exercise, we never really had the time. Now that I am working part time, we have plenty of time to go to the park and play and shop (i.e. run errands) during the day.

She loved the swings! She looked a little concerned at first with a look like "wow, this thing is moving and I don't know what to do with my hands!" (Hope you get the reference about the hands...) But once she started swinging she just started laughing and giggling. It was priceless!

After the swinging, we tried the slides. She wasn't too sure about this...especially with me standing beside the slide and holding her while she went down. So I decided that I needed to be a kid again and Taryne and I slid down the slide together. Well, she loved that. Apparently it is ok to play on the slides as long as mom goes with her! We also tried the twirly slide, but she wasn't too thrilled with that one...

Until next time...Gig'em!

Month Number 7...

Today marks Taryne's 7 month birthday. We are still wondering if she is going to crawl or just skip that and start walking. She is finally dealing with laying on her tummy. She is trying to scoot a little so I think there will be some crawling. And to fix her "tummy" problem, she is rolling over a lot now. I guess she decided not to boycott rolling over.

We help her walk through the house by holding her hands. She is moving much faster now. I guess we need to finish all the child proofing around the house because it won't be long before she is getting into everything...oh wait...she is already doing that.

She is eating vegetables...well some vegetables. She despises carrots. Maybe she will like them one day. Taryne is babbling more and more every day and she loves playing with Cassie and Phoebe. When she is in her exersaucer, she looks around for Phoebe. Phoebe loves to give Taryne kisses and I think Taryne enjoys it as well! Taryne loves petting Cassie. Probably because she does not lick her to death and just sits there and enjoys it.

She has tried to pull up several times in her crib. If she is sitting and holding your hands she can pull herself up to a standing position. Her favorite new activity is jumping. She LOVES jumping! She will jump and jump and jump. Your arms are worn out before she is....

Here are some pics from today...

Until next time...Gig'em!

Spring garden...

We have always wanted a garden, however, we have never really had a place to have a garden. One of the bonus features of the house we are currently living in, is the fact that our yard is huge! A downside is the ugly eye sore on one side of our house...these huge dog kennels that were built to board 4 large dogs. The area is fenced off from the rest of the yard. When we looked at this house our first thought was "Wow those are huge dog kennels and that would be a great area for a garden!". The area was already fenced off so Cassie and Phoebe could not go in there and get into things. Last spring we didn't get around to creating a garden because I was pregnant and we were too busy trying to update the inside of our house.

So this spring, we have made it our goal to have a garden. Unfortunately, this year our garden will not be the garden we have in mind. We plan to tear down the dog kennels and use the lumber to create raised beds for our vegetables. So this year we are using several old molasses tubs my parents gave us. In case you are wondering...the molasses tubs are for my parents cattle. These containers make great mini raised beds for a garden.

So here is what we did...we bought lava rock to put in the bottom of the tubs to help with drainage (we cut 5 holes in the bottoms). Kyle also cut some of the lumber to elevate the tubs to make drainage easier.

We mixed top soil and garden mix together to create our personal mix for the vegetables. We used bagged soil and garden mix only because it was easier to haul to this part of the yard. If our gate to the back yard was closer to the garden area we would have just bought the soil in bulk to save money. But the time saved from not shoveling the dirt from the truck to the wagon to the yard was definitely worth it. 

Here is the soil mix in the tubs...we actually added a little more in the end compared to what is in the picture below.

Here is a picture of all the tubs spread out in the "garden area" of the yard. We planted tomatoes, bell peppers, yellow squash and zucchini squash. We wanted to plan cucumbers as well, but all the cucumber plants were pretty sad looking so we decided to wait a few days on those. 

Here is a picture of the dog kennels...huge, huh? They had name plates on each one, but Kyle took them off to use the scrap lumber. To the left of the kennels is a large fenced off area that has a covered concrete pad in the corner. Not sure what these people were thinking when they built this...

Our little helper! She had a blast being outside this afternoon.

Not really related to our garden, but a few weeks ago when we were at my parents for Charlotte's wedding shower, my dad and I went out on a drive in the pasture behind our house to check on the cows. We stopped to feed a cow with a new baby calf and I spotted this cactus and decided I had to have it. So I dug it up and put it in a plastic bag. When we got back to the house, I put it in our car and that is where it has been until this afternoon. To my surprise, the cactus was blooming in my car! So I finally got it planted and I can't wait to watch it grow.

I look forward to all the wonderful vegetables we will yield from our garden. I hope that later this summer we can plant pumpkins for Halloween. And maybe we can have a bigger garden next year.

Until next time...Gig'em!