Morning Routine

Our morning routine is kind of similar each day, there are a few things that we do every morning and others that we add in whenever I feel like it. Normally Charlie is a great sleeper and has been sleeping through the night since about 7 months. He goes down around 7:30 (most nights) and wakes up around 7. He then lays in bed talking or doing whatever for another half an hour to an hour before I go get him. As soon as he's up we change him and get him some milk. Then I usually let him play for a bit before I make breakfast. This particular morning we played with the bubbles that we scored from last weeks party. Then I make breakfast (usually scrambled eggs and banana for him), but this morning I made these pancakes (I ended up using a full 1 cup of flour though). Then it's time to brush our teeth, which Charlie loves the holding his own tooth brush but throws a fit when I actually brush his teeth. Lastly, we get dressed for the day and then go play with toys.

That is our kind of standard morning routine that I'm sure will keep evolving, but for now its kind of perfect.

 Popping the bubbles

 This is his reaction every time you blow them in his direction

Party Hardy

This little adorable guy just turned one over the weekend! It has been so great to have these two be so close in age, it's been very fun to see how different babies can be. I mean, I've heard that a million times and how developmentally everyone is different too, but to see these two really made a difference. Andrew was a super crawler while Charlie was still pulling himself along and Andrew will also be a professional climber, it's just in his future. It was so much fun to celebrate this little man and I look forward to many more play dates in the year to come!

 Charlie's first experience with bubbles. They were kind of a hit.

 Andrew decided that the sprinkles were the best part of the cake

Like father, like son

Our Little Climber

Charlie has discovered climbing, which is pretty hilarious because he's not very good at it, like at all. The whole lifting your leg high enough just doesn't translate well. But he's a fighter. He won't take no for an answer and will try over and over and over again. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend, ours turned out to be fantastic. First of all, Andy got the entire weekend off! It was so nice to have him around for a full two days in a row, which hasn't happened for the past month. Our weekend ended up being pretty busy, but in the best way possible. We got to hang out with friends and celebrate a little adorable boy turning one. Let's hope this week is a good one too.

Valentines Playdate

Sorry for my absence this week, I might have left my camera at this house after the party. Oops. Oh well, nothing really happened this week that was worth documenting. I definitely spent three days on the couch watching the first two seasons of New Girl. Was it worth it? Absolutely. 

So this party, what a fantastic idea. My sister-in-law had a play date party on Valentines for some moms and their kiddos. We just ate food while the older kids made valentines and the younger ones just played with toys and ran around her house. It was a great way to spend the day. I hope it becomes a tradition, because I'm in! 

She is so precious

Maple Oatmeal Scones and Homemade Mascarpone

Last week I decided that I really wanted a scone and I had pinned this recipe a while ago and decided to give it a shot. It was pretty delicious. The only thing was that it was a bit too salty, but I did use salted butter and I'm assuming she did not, so next time I would just drop the salt to like 1/4 teaspoon. Also I didn't have any buttermilk, but I used this technique and it worked perfectly. But they were wonderful and I definitely want to make them again.

The next thing on my list was homemade mascarpone cheese! I have been wanting to make cheese for a while but I just never had the ingredients (rennet specifically). I know that I should just get some and give it a try but this mascarpone recipe only called for cream and lemon juice! It was so easy! I used it in a baked mac & cheese recipe and it was wonderful, didn't taste any different than when we used store bought. The only thing I did differently was not leave it for the second night, because when I twisted the cheesecloth to get more moisture out, there was none. End of story, you should all try these two things, maybe not together, but you should try them.

Weekend Randoms

I was busy this weekend. Like super busy. Friday and Saturday I took part in the If Gathering with some ladies from my church and I'm still trying to process everything that we heard and discussed. Then on Sunday after church I took part in a class that my church is putting on. Needless to say I was exhausted, so what did I do? I stayed up WAY too late watching terrible chick flicks. It was a good way to wind down, except for staying up late part. That didn't help. But anyways, here are some adorable pictures of Charlie eating yogurt with blueberries (his new favorite). Also Line was over and was coloring our letters.

Dennis the Menace

This kid is a menace. Don't buy into his adorable face, he wrecks your bathroom in 2 seconds flat. He has discovered the toilet paper and loves to unravel it as fast as he can. Also towels,  magazines, and blowdryers will be everywhere. Thank goodness he hasn't discovered opening the toilet. But how can I shut the bathroom door on him when I'm taking a shower when he cries on the other side? I don't, that's how. Instead we play peek-a-boo through the shower curtain and I clean up the bathroom 80 times a day. He's my favorite kind of menace.

Twinsies!

My twin sister was in town over Charlie's birthday and it was awesome. She currently lives on the other side of the country and we rarely get to see each other. We have been lucky and have been able to see each other about twice a year, which is more than some, but still, not quite enough for us. But needless to say, it was so much fun having her stay with us. She was here just over a week and we seriously just hung out for all of it. Didn't have any big plans or anything and just enjoyed being around one another. 

People always ask if we enjoy being twins, and we always respond that we don't know any different. But honestly, I love it. I wouldn't change a thing. I almost wish everyone could have a twin, but then it wouldn't be as special. The only hitch is that now we don't live in the same city and I'm not sure that will ever happen. But we always will have fun vacations visiting each other. Right, Kathryn?

 We had a wonderful coffee date, just the 3 of us. And Charlie ate almost all of both our scones.

Playtime

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago, but that doesn't mean they're not worth sharing, right? The girls came over to play for a bit and Charlie is just beside himself with all the energy to watch. Especially Line. And boy does she love that grocery set. She won't let you mix it with any of our other grocery sets though, just to be clear, you can only purchase the groceries that come with this set. Or else she will ask you to put them back and look at you as if you have no idea how to go grocery shopping. 

Charlie had gotten a little buzz a bit ago. I wasn't in love with it at first but it's been growing on me.