Many things to say

and many ideas to blog about. I could elaborate on this article I read about marriage(and title my post "Experts find what God has been saying for years"), or I tell you about this push up challenge I am doing, or how we went to Galena last week with my niece, or our weekend plans or about all the delicious food we have been eating. Check out this yummy recipe. And all I can manage tonight is a couple of my favorite pictures from the last week.

They say laughter is the best medicine

Who can resist baby laughter? I love listening to that sweet gurgly baby laugh. We never know what is going to strike him funny. A few days ago it was a ball, today I was singing the alphabet song, he chuckled at me which made me laugh, then he was all out belly laughing at me laughing at him and we went back and forth a few times. He usually gets the silly giggles and really lets go when he is over tired and purely exhausted. It tends to go crabbiness, delirious laughter, crabbiness, sound asleep. And I am sure tomorrow neither of those will make him laugh it will be something new.

Rhubarb Dessert

We went to the farmers market on Thursday with the purpose of buying some rhubarb. I have been thinking for awhile that it would be great to have some planted in our yard, but I have yet to do this. I did learn quite a bit about rhubarb though on our little trek. We actually went all the way through the market and found no rhubarb until the very last booth. I asked the lady if rhubarb was out of season, and she informed me that in Iowa no one picks it past the 4th of July. Interesting. I just barely made it. And the best time to plant it is in the early spring. So next year I guess, maybe I can find someone who will share part of their plant. This is one of Andy's favorite desserts I am whipping up for our 4 of July celebration.

Here it is:

Rhubarb Dessert

3oz strawberry jello

1 c sugar

1 white cake mix (dry)

1 c water

1 stick of butter (melted)

Put 4 c. rhubarb in 9x13 pan. Mix sugar and jello and sprinkle over rhubarb.
Sprinkle dry cake mix over top.

Drizzle melted butter over cake mix and pour 1 cup water over all.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Tastes great with ice cream!!

8 months

Yup another month has past and Dane is 8 months old! I wish time would slow and this baby phase would last forever, but it is equally exciting watching him learn new things. He can now sit up on his own, has taken a few crawling steps but finds it much faster to just flop to his belly and army crawl across the floor. We have even found him standing in his bed the last couple of days. And boy is he proud of himself! I don't really know sign language but I looked up the sign for 'more' last week and tried teaching it to him. Just a couple of days ago he signed it back to me! He still loves to tease and he definitely gets that from his dad. Still no teeth but we are working our way through all the new foods and flavors. Each time we try a new one he is pretty skeptical and makes a grimace face but a few bites in he is usually enjoying himself. The other day at Walmart I had picked up some more baby food. Dane was pretty zoned out and sleepy, but as we were checking out he noticed the jars floating by on the conveyor belt and got pretty excited. He was reaching for them and saying 'nah nah nah'. (maybe for num num?)

Double-Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These are my new favorite cookies. I love. them. so delicious. They even turned out pretty as I usually have a hard time making my cookies look pretty while using real butter. At least I think it is the real butter that makes them look weird. Paper thin flat with lumps called chocolate chips. So here's the recipe:

1 bag (24 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (4 cups )

1 cup butter or margarine softened.

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 package (6 oz) white baking bars (white chocolate), cut into 1/4- 1/2 inch chunks(i used white chocolate chips)

1 cup pecan or walnut halves (I left these out as I feel nuts ruin a good cookie)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips in 1 quart sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature, but do not allow chocolate to become firm.

2. Beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and melted chocolate until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips, white baking bar chunks and pecan halves.

3. Drop dough by level 1/4 cupfuls or #16 cookie/ice cream scoop about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until set. (centers will appear soft and moist). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

This one's for you-

It's been awhile, I am staying busy with mundane things yet I am finding myself little bored, therefore not much to write about. With the heat wave this week we have been keeping low and staying cool inside. Our biggest change is that Dane is really on the move now. He hasn't mastered the art of crawling but has perfected the army crawl on his belly, and he has become quite proficient at it. Who knows maybe he won't crawl? He is no longer interested in toys but rather cords, outlets, knobs, shoes and things not normally played with. You should see how fast he can go when there is a cell phone on the floor! We have a low drawer on one of our end tables that he loves to open and close. It has become our first point of discipline as he slams his fingers shut in it routinely and there is nothing to really childproof it except to be taught to stay away. Surprisingly my mainly verbal method has worked so far. Smart little fella, though I know it won't always be this easy.

Here are a few pictures for the family.

Father's Day - after Andy changed out of his dress clothes. Dane is all snazzed up from his baby dedication earlier in the day.
It is so funny to watch him scoot up to the jack-in-the-box and turn his head trying to get the right angle to lick the knob.

What are you supposed to do.

What are you supposed to do when the dish guy or any service guy comes to your house. Do you awkwardly follow the greasy guy around making sure they aren't casing your house? Once you show them to all the TV's do you stand or sit behind them and wait making them nervous as they work or do you leave them be and figure they will come find you when they have a question. I could follow him around and witness to him "Sir, how is your relationship with Jesus Christ?" "Do you know where you are going when you die?" Sometimes I feel bad for hovering near by but I don't really want to leave him alone upstairs so I fake straightening up, try to make a little conversation but I don't really want to interrupt him while he is working because I really do want the TV fixed correctly. Then I will run a quick errand to another room of the house and then come back and check up on him and try to ask questions about what he is fixing and how it will help etc. What's really bad is when they are waiting for the dish to do all it's checks and booting up and it takes like 10 minutes of waiting in awkward weird silence. Maybe it would be better to show him the TV and go to another room. But then I would wonder what he is actually doing up there. I better go shower and get dressed before the dish guy gets here for the 4th time in a week. And I will leave you with a picture of Dane since every good post needs a picture right?
This is what he does when the dish guy has his back to him. (jk)