Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are my favorite. Usually everyone is asleep when I get ready for work (or crying and screaming "don't leave mommy, don't leave!") But Saturday is a day when even Grace sleeps in (if you call 7 AM sleeping in...) On the weekends I try to make a homemade breakfast. Some of our favorites are my pancakes and waffles (made from scratch, no mix necessary), but recently I have been adding a new breakfast to our Saturday morning routine, French Toast Casserole.

This is where I got the original recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-toast-casserole/. It looked so yummy, that we had to try it!

Ingredients:
Original recipe makes 1 - 8x8 inch pan

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

5 cupsbread cubes

4 eggs

1 1/2 cupsmilk

1/4 cupwhite sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoonsalt

1 teaspoonvanilla extract

1 tablespoonmargarine, softened

1 teaspoonground cinnamon

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.

2. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes.

 

 

 In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla. pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with margarine; let stand for 10 minutes.

 

 

 

2.     Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake in preheated oven about 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden.





 * To make this my own, I also added syrup to the top before I put it in the oven to bake. I would also recommend keeping it in the oven a little longer than the recipe asks. I think I took mine out just a smidge too early, it never really firmed up, but it was still delicious!

 

I also added powdered sugar and a little more syrup to the finished product. Even though it takes some time to bake, the making of it is very quick, and simple. (The only type of recipes that I like!)

 

 

 

There's my girls Grace demanded that she wanted frozen waffles for breakfast, and that what I had made was "yucky." (And for the record she never tried it!) She smugly munched on her waffles while I sipped my coffee and devoured my awesome french toast casserole, the kid doesn't know what she's missing! Faith enjoyed pureed apricots, and Mike had yogurt, my breakfast wasn't on his diet. Alas, I still had a fantastic breakfast. None of them know what they are missing!

Who's Who?

OK, so I knew that our children would like somewhat like us, but I didn't realize how much they could look like each other!

 

 

Sleeping beauties, both before one month old, Grace is the top one.

 

 

Silly girls! I believe this is around two to three months for both of them...



Faith

                                                                                        Grace

 

 



 

Playtime! Ok, so this one isn't fair since they are on the same play mat, and in the same jammies,

the left one is Grace and the right one is Faith.

So, there you have it! My family photo albums now must include the names of the people (especially the children!) in the photo, so when we look back, we will know who is who!

One more, just for fun...

 

Faith 3 months

Grace 7 months

 

 

Have a fabulous weekend!

We're Back!

 

 

 

Life has caught up with me, and I have 6 months to catch up on...here we are 6 months ago.

 



 

I was exactly 41 weeks pregnant. This is about an hour before my contractions started. Faith decided to test our patience, but when she decided to come, she was ready! We started timing my contractions around 10 AM. They started out around 4 minutes apart, but quickly advanced to 2-3 minutes apart. Grace was a great distraction, she kept me laughing while I bounced on my yoga ball (thanks Kelby!) and I focused on my breathing. At two minutes apart, Mike had lunch ready for Grace and Erin, and was pushing me out the door!

 



 Mike safely got us to the hospital around 12:15 PM...she was born an hour later, here is one of our first pictures together! I bounced on my yoga ball while we checked in, and when I was supposed to be laying down in triage. (I will never understand why they have a birthing mother lay down...gravity, folks!) The nurse checked me into triage to excitedly explain that I was fully dilated, all she could feel was my bulging bag of water. Bethanie, AKA Aunt B, made it just in time before Faith's arrival! I could either wait to have an epidural, or push Au natural. Faith's time in my stomach was up, she came out wide eyed into the world, drug free!

 

Because she had an extremely fast birth, some of her umbilical cord tore. After an hour of her, and me being sewn up, we were reunited and she nursed like a champ!

 

 

Grace, Erin, and Marc were quick to join us, along with many other loving family and friends. We are so blessed!

 

My next post will show some comparing of my two little beauties, see if you can guess who is who!