Siblings

I can't express how blessed we've been that Colby and Riann have hit it off since day one. It is so much fun to watch Colby follow Riann and to have Riann play and show concern for Colby. Anytime Colby is laying on the floor and Riann walks into the room he is instantly fixated on her. He follows her every movement and lights up whenever she is around. Riann loves to get down on the floor and show Colby how to play with his toys and help with diaper changes and picking out his clothes. She loves to talk to him and gets very concerned when he cries. She also loves checking on him while he's sleeping and loves to wake him up whenever we're not watching. Her new favorite game is pushing Colby in his walker around the front room and even tries to sneak him back into her bedroom so that she can read to him. Colby likes to sit in his walker most of the time but LOVES it when Riann is willing to push him around and help him spin his toys. Riann also loves to introduce everyone to Colby. I doesn't matter where we are she always announces to everyone who says "hello" to her that "this is my brother Colby!!!"

I love watching these kids together. I pray that they will always be close. I know that there will be a time when all they do is fight and I know that as Colby gets older and is more interested in Riann's toys that time is coming sooner than I would like to think. But for now I'm happy to just enjoy how much they love each other. I am amazed at how much you can see it on their faces.

Here are a few fun pictures of them together over the last little bit. Can't wait for the many fun pictures we'll get over this summer!!!

Riann and Colby together for our first attempt at "Christmas Pictures". Riann loved holding Colby at the very beginning. He was pretty happy to just be held in the beginning. Even if it was a little uncomfortable.

Riann and Colby dressed up on Colby's blessing day. Riann was such a sport that day. She was a little unhappy after church but was very kind to me and patiently posed for pictures.

Riann and Colby playing together at Grandma and Grandpa Vreeken's house.

I have a few more pictures on our Mac that I will get together and add soon. I love these kids!!!

Solids

We've been working with Colby on solids for the last few weeks. He's been getting better and better at eating off a spoon but still makes a bigger mess than he eats. I had forgotten that feeding a diapered baby was MUCH cleaner than a clothed baby. As you can see from the pictures below his first time was a messy one.

We started at the beginning of the month, about a week or two after he hit 4 months. The first time we fed him cereal he slept for 8 hours straight that night. It was a great night!! We haven't gotten as lucky the last few times he's had cereal but I can tell a difference on the days he eats it. He seems to like the Oatmeal cereal better than the Rice cereal but the Oatmeal seems to make him gassy and a little bit cranky. He is a VERY hands on kid so often it's a struggle to keep his hands out of the way in order to get the food into his mouth. I think if he could hold the spoon and do it all himself already he'd be really happy.

I love seeing him sit up in his highchair. It's fun to see him change and get older each day. I'm sad that he's growing up so fast but he's such a fun baby and the older he gets and the more he interacts with me, the more I get excited for him to do more. I think I notice his changes more than I did with Riann because I know what I'm watching for. It's amazing how fast these kids grow up.

Riann amazes me everyday when we have a full conversation about real life things. I'm excited for Colby to grow so I can hear what he sounds like. He's a very talkative kid now and I have to laugh every day at the many stories he tries to tell. I wish I could understand his grunts and happy screams because he'll talk and talk for hours. He's great at making "O" sounds too. I think that is my most favorite thing right now. He makes the best O shape with his mouth. I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet but as soon as I do I'll get it up.

I love my kids so much and love watching them grow. They are so amazing and I know the Lord saved them for this special time in our world. They really are a chosen generation. I just hope I can help them grow up wise and strong.

Fun in the Snow

Riann has had a hard time this year being locked up inside when there seems to be perfectly good snow outside to play in. We've had a hard time explaining to her that the snow we've got now isn't actually any fun because it's all iced over. Well the other day I had put Colby down for a nap and wanted to go get the mail and she asked if she could go with me. "I thought why not? It would be a good idea to let her walk outside for a little bit to and from the mailbox." Neither of us had gotten ready for the day yet and I wasn't planning on her being out for very long so I had her put on her coat and didn't bother having her change the rest of her clothes.

Unfortunately I didn't account for the fact that Riann struggles to (or just flat out doesn't) listen and wouldn't be satisfied just going to the mailbox and back. By the time I was at the mailbox I noticed that she was no longer behind me and was actually out in the yard jumping on top of the snow. I just had to laugh because she was having such a great time. After watching her I split off into the house to drop off the mail and grab the camera. It was fun watching her get stuck in the snow because it was about three feet deep and when she would break through the top layer she would struggle to get out. At the very end she lost her shoe and I had to go save it. It was SO hard to get out to her and I actually lost my shoe at one point. We had a great time through.

I'm glad we spent a little bit of time out that day, even if we weren't dressed for it.

Birthday Cake

This year I made Riann's birthday cake. It was an interesting adventure. I've always wanted to try doing a fondant cake and after getting hooked on "The Cake Boss" from TLC I thought I could actually do it. They make it look SUPER easy and so I thought I'd give it a try. I got the idea from a friend of ours who posted a few pictures of their daughter's (who was also celebrating her 3rd birthday just after Riann) practice cake on Facebook. After seeing someone I knew make one I thought it was time to give it a shot. After asking for her recipe and some pointers we gave the Wilton Rolled Marshmellow Fondant recipe a try. I looked it over and though that it would be easy enough.

I tried to document how I put it all together but it's a really messy and the camera was getting hit hard from grease and powdered sugar so I didn't do as good taking pictures as I hoped. Through it all I think I did okay though.

The recipe is just four basic ingredients.

• 1 package (16 ounces) white mini marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
• 2-5 tablespoons water
• 2 pounds (about 8 cups) sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
  

Once we got the "dough" together I added food coloring to it to get it looking like I wanted it. Riann asked for a blue cakes so I made the biggest chunk blue.



After doing my blue I sectioned off a few other chunks for different colors. I had a basic idea of what I was going for but I definitely could have planned this part better. I was a little thrown off when Riann asked for a blue cake so I did have a little bit of a slip up with some of the other colors I made. I accidentally made brown for one of the colors when I was going to pink and then tried to save it by going orange. As you can see from the pictures, I didn't end up successfully saving it and had to just toss it out. Once I got in the flow getting the colors together was a lot easier. It also got less and less messy as I figured out each color.


Once all of the fondant was colored I stored it in the fridge until after I got the cakes cooked later that night. The fondant is hard to work with when it's chilled so I microwaved it for a few seconds but I think I made it too soft because it tore very easily. For the "dirty icing" layer I made a strawberry cream cheese frosting. I didn't have time to let the cake cool as much as I would have liked to so I made the frosting thinner than I probably should have. After I layered each cake I put the cake in the freezer so that it would firm up. Then I rolled out my fondant and started decorating. I think with this trial I learned that I need to use less shortening and keep the fondant chilled when it comes to rolling it out for the cakes. Because it was so soft it stretched really well but it rolled too thin in a lot of places and where it wasn't tearing, it was thin enough that you could see the pink frosting underneath. I also found that I need to buy an actual cake stand. I had planned on doing a square cake under a circle cake but found that I didn't have a good way to set that up so I had to go with four round cakes to stack instead.



Here is what it looked like completed. Overall I think I did an okay job. For a first timer I feel like I learned a lot. I don't know how soon I'm going to rush out and do another one but knowing that I could it again if I needed to makes me happy.

Riann's Birthday

Our little girl has turned 3!!! We celebrated Riann's' birthday this year by doing a few fun little things. It was a hard year to plan for because I wanted to really try to do something age appropriate this year but also make it fun because she's really starting to get the idea of birthdays. We decided to keep things more low key than we've done in the past. On her actual birthday - the 10th - Riann, Colby and I ran out and got a few cupcakes and picked up a few presents for her to open that night. She was very excited to share her cupcakes with everyone. Paul was up on campus doing school stuff so we stopped by and dropped off a cupcake and lunch to him so he could wish Riann a happy birthday. After that we ran home and had a few cupcakes ourselves.

Riann enjoyed her's a lot. She really liked the blue frosting. We picked up two packages of cupcakes, one that had "How to Train Your Dragon" rings and a second with "Toy Story 3" rings on the top of each cup cake. After we had our treats everyone rested for a little bit. Thursdays are hard for us this semester because Paul has a very late class and I have to work. Both Paul and I have to be focused on our given tasks from 4pm - 10pm every Thursday. To help Riann celebrate her birthday, our good friends - and neighbors, Jake and Adele came by and took Riann out to play with their two girls at Arctic Circle. We sent off a few cupcakes with them and they had a great time. They met up with a few of our other neighbors for dinner and a chance to run around. We were surprised that night when Paul got out of classes early and got to come home and open one of Riann's presents with her. She got a few games for her birthday and the one she was the most excited about that night was Hungry Hungry Hippo's. She had seen me put it in the cart when we were buying them and was very excited when Paul made it home before she had to go to bed so she could play with him. It was really fun to watch them play together. She was so excited to have something she could do with us. She is really good at the game and beats me almost every time.

Later on both Friday and Saturday Riann got to open presents with her Grandparents on Skype (Friday with Grandma and Bradda Gomes and Saturday with Grandma and Papa Vreeken). We're really love being able to see them so often, even if it's just on the computer.

Saturday morning Paul, Riann and I got up and went outside to play in the snow while Colby was napping.

After playing in the snow Riann and I headed off to a hair appointment and Riann got her first REAL hair cut.

We went to Evan's Hairstyling College here in Rexburg. She seemed a little scared at the beginning but warmed up as soon as they offered her a sucker. Her stylist was great. She asked Riann lots of questions and had a flower at her station that Riann got to play with, that she absolutely loved. After her hair cut we shot off to The Craze Fun Zone in town. It's got a fun little play land on one end of the building that's perfect for the little kids.

We played there for an hour or two and then ran over to their dining area and had some cake. My favorite part of the whole day was when I lit the candles and Riann started signing to herself before anyone got a chance to think about starting the birthday song. I'm so bummed I didn't get it on tape.

This year tried fondant for the first time and made Riann's cake. It was a fun adventure which I will post about later. I'm really glad Riann was excited about it. After playing we all went home and went down for much needed naps.

It was a great weekend. I'm still amazed that Riann is already three. She teaches me so much every single day. She is such a smart little girl and keeps everyone on their toes. She can be a handful on her bad days but she is a blast on her good ones. Thankfully over the last little bit she's had many more good than bad. I've learned you have to have a camera handy when she's around because she's constantly doing silly stuff that always unique to her personality.

I'm so excited to see where the next years take her. She is such an amazing child and I'm so grateful for the blessing she is in our lives. Happy Birthday Babe!!! We love you!!!!