Happy Birthday Derek!

Yesterday was Derek's 31st birthday! Happy Birthday DD!! He had a fun and relaxing day of golf and a BBQ at the park. Rayah and I baked him a birthday cake! I love coffee, cream and chocolate; therefor, I love tiramisu!! :)

In my quest for an easy recipe for tiramisu, I found a recipe for tiramisu cake at smittenkitchen.com. I made this same cake for a Father's Day BBQ and had enough of the same ingredients left over to make it again, as well as the ambition to make it EVEN better the 2nd time around.

It was amazing! Even the kids loved it!! With that said, I promised Derek that next year he can pick his favorite cake to enjoy on his birthday!

This picture is so funny to me! Roman has just blown out Derek's candles, you can still see the smoke coming off the candles and the cocoa powder blown across the table. Derek is just looking at him like "Really?" While Roman looks at him with his most angelic look. How can you get upset with face like that?

Cookie Monster

The cookie monster stopped by our house. I guess he couldn't figure out how the hell saran wrap works.

I was looking at some pictures I had taken of Renzo recently and realized that I had almost the exact same photos of Rayah and Roman. They are all 6 months old in the following photos.

It seems like whenever a person has a baby, one of the favored topics of conversation of family and friends is to speculate who does this child look like! In this instance we can really compare the kids at about the same ages. Almost in the same poses even!!

Rayah and Renzo, both insisting on feeding themselves.





Roman and Renzo, playing with their toes.

So true...

Not to sound to much like an old parent, but....WOW! Kids grow up so fast!! Where does the time go?

I feel like it was just the other day that Rayah was born, let alone Renzo who is now 7 1/2 months old! He's already crawling everywhere! He can pull himself up and he walks along the edge of anything he can grip. He is so little that it is strange to see him almost walking.

Here he pulled himself up at the bench and then worked his way around the wall and over to the edge of the garbage can.

When he finally did let go, he just stood there for a few seconds before slowly lowering himself to the ground. He has really good balance and you can tell he is so proud of himself. He really wants to do everything his brother and sister can!

Tummy Time! All the Time!

Easter Eggs

This weekend Rayah and Roman painted some rocks they found outside. I put them on top of our herb garden. Mostly out of fear of one going through a glass door, or the glass on our coffee table, or the window, or one being thrown at the head of an antagonizing sibling. It turns out they look really cute there! Almost like little Easter eggs!

Homemade Bagels

I'm not from New York, I'm not jewish and I'm not suddenly opening a bagelry. No. My decision to learn to make bagels was driven purely by ego and my need to impress my family. A family that loves bagels. I am always cooking different things and enjoy trying new recipes. Yet for one reason or another the kids never like it. This is especially discouraging when I take extra time picking deliciously nutricious, healthy meals. I put love and effort into cooking. Only to be glanced at (noticed I didn't say tasted) and declared inedible by both of the kids. Well maybe they are too fancy of dishes for kids, you may say. No way! For some strange reason our kids will not eat anything containing (or touching) cheese and milk. This makes normally kid friendly foods not an option. Things like maccaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, ice cream and pizza. Yet for some strange reason, cottage cheese and cream cheese are exceptions to this rule. Which brings me back to bagels. The only thing I remember about bagels is that at some point the dough is boiled. After a little bit of research, I discovered that pretty much everyone uses the same recipe. Even with the limited amout of bread cooking experience that I have, it seemed pretty easy. You make the dough the day before and it rests overnight in the fridge, then you boil the dough, top it and bake. This all sounded pretty easy and if I could pull it off not only will the kids eat something I make, they may even enjoy it!! Below are the pics of my results. I have made them twice now. The first time they tasted really good. Although they honestly didn't seem to rise as much as they probably should have and were a little pale in color. The recipe calls for malt powder, but says that it is optional. I used honey instead. The second time I used the malt powder and would definitely recommend it. I feel like the malt powder helped the dough get a better rise and the bagels were a more brown color after baking. It also gave them a more authentic flavor. I would also recommend doing the "float test" to be sure the dough is ready to go into the fridge. Other than those two things the recipe is pretty straight forward and EASY!! I topped them with sesames seeds, craisins cinnamon & sugar, parmesan cheese, jalapeno's and cheddar, and just plain. The second time the entire batch was cinnamon raisin. The bagels were soo yummy!! The kids loved them, Derek loved them, I loved them, my in-laws loved them too. Derek had to finally tell me to quit bragging! :)

Old Baldy!

Renzo's bald spot reminds me of a little prior or monk. Literally every hair in that one spot has rubbed off!

Little Brother

While I was pregnant, we didn't know if I was having a boy or a girl. Rayah would say to me, "Mom, I can't love another brother. I really hope this baby is a girl. I can only love a little sister." Luckily much to our relief, from the moment she saw Renzo in the hospital she was in love!

Rayah is a very caring & nurturing older sister . . . .to Renzo. Anytime I need a burp rag, diaper or binki Rayah is quick to help.

Roman also loves his little brother and loves to give him big hugs and kisses (which are really tight squeezes and spitty cheeks). Every day he gets better at being soft and gentle.

Renzo was grandchild number 5 for my Dad and Dolly. Grandchild number 4, Rowdy, was born just a few weeks earlier. As you can tell, these 2 boys are going to be a handful!!

And Then There Was 3!!

WOW!! 3 kids! I can't believe it. We have been spending our time enjoying, loving, holding, kissing and feeding our new baby boy, the past few months have flown by!

Renzo just turned 14 weeks!! He is a very good baby. He is in constant fascination of his older sister and brother and is never short of receiving attention. He sleeps through the night and is always smiling. We are truely blessed!

Renzo Cash Rowell

8 lbs. 4 oz.

November 12, 2010