Hobbes the Troublemaker

Aaron and I have a cat named Hobbes (you know, like Calvin & Hobbes; Aaron is Calvin and Hobbes is, well, Hobbes). He's a long-haired orange tabby and is just over a year old. He has brought so much happiness and laughter to us and we love him like he's our child. He has so much personality, is incredibly loving, and usually well-behaved.

(this is Hobbes at Christmas last year)

Recently, however, he has started getting into trouble during the day while Aaron and I are away at work. About a week ago, I came home to our fresh flowers (thanks, Jess and Ben!) dumped onto the floor along with the water and vase. The next day, Aaron came home to two overturned glasses of water on the coffee table (I've actually witnessed him put his ENTIRE head inside of a glass in an attempt to drink water out of it...even though he had plenty of water in his water dish). The next morning, I caught Hobbes on the kitchen counter (I'd never actually seen him up there before) and before I could swat at him, he scampered off and took Aaron's "Tree Man" with him. It crashed into 10 pieces. Aaron's "Tree Man" is special to him because it's an incense burner we bought from the Renaissance Festival last year. I must admit, it was pretty cool-looking. Anyway, we disciplined Hobbes after each incident, but he's still being rebellious. I hope I don't go home to a broken candy dish or ripped up paper today. I guess we should be more careful about what we leave on the tables and counters. Maybe Hobbes should be more careful about what his little paws get him into when he's home alone...

Sam and Toby are going Trick-or-Treating tonight...and they're gonna be "Friendly Dragons" (as Sam calls them). Here's a picture:

Dear God,

Aaron sent me this e-mail today...and it's so cute! There were a lot more, but these were a few of our favorites. I hope they make you smile!

Brownie Surprise Cupcakes!

Here it is - The recipe for Brownie Surprise Cupcakes (from Better Homes and Gardens' Holiday Baking magazine)!

Prep: 15 minutes
Bake: 22 minutes
Oven: 350 degrees F

Ingredients:
1 21-oz. package fudge brownie mix (I always use Betty Crocker's Ultimate Fudge Brownie Mix)
15 miniature-size candy bars (I used a mixture of Milky Way, Snickers, and 3Musketeers)
Canned vanilla frosting
Seasonal sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line fifteen regular-size muffin cups with paper baking cups (I use the foil ones). Prepare the fudge brownie mix according to package directions. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter into each baking cup. Place one miniature-size candy bar in each cup. Divide remaining batter among the cups.
2. Bake in a preheated oven for 22 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack. Cupcakes may dip slightly in center. Frost with vanilla frosting and, if desired, sprinkle with decorative candies. Makes 15 cupcakes.

They're so easy (and soooo yummy)! Enjoy :)

"Old Greg" and A Birthday Cake

Remember the "Chocolate Creme de Menthe" cake I made Aaron for his birthday? It was A LOT of work. Now, I absolutely LOVE baking...but that cake made me wonder why I love baking so much. While Aaron was out skateboarding (the skateboard was his birthday gift from me) with some of his co-workers on Friday, I decided that I'd start to make the cake. I put on some comfy clothes, turned up the new Justin Timberlake CD on iTunes, and went for it. Here's a list of what went wrong:

• I didn't get the stand mixer I wanted from our wedding registry, so I used a small hand-mixer to combine the ingredients. Usually the hand-mixer works great for everything I bake, but a cake of this complexity needed something more. I ended up getting chocolate cake batter all over everything in our tiny kitchen.
• Who sifts the dry ingredients that go into a cake? I mean, I understand the difference it makes in the end...but I don't think the creators of these recipes understand how truly ANNOYING it is. Maybe the mistake was when I put all 3 and a half cups of flour and 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder into the sifter at one time. Maybe the mistake was registering for the wrong sifter. Whatever it was, it took more than 30 minutes (and lots of forearm strength) to get the dry ingredients sifted. I made a bigger mess sifting than I did mixing.
• After the cakes were baked and cooled a bit, I took them out of the pans and laid them on paper towels on the counter to continue cooling. When they were completely cooled, I intended to pick them up and place them on the cake plate to frost the inner layers. Guess what? I broke the first layer in half. Yep. I wasn't happy. By this time, Aaron was home and all he could do was laugh. "It's okay," he insisted. "Just put that one on the bottom and no one will ever know." He's so smart.
  
• I wanted to wait until the next day to frost the outside of the cake, so we put the dome over the cake plate to protect it from our cat, Hobbes. The dome was too shallow to fit over a 3-layer cake. The top layer of chocolate cake ended up all over the underside of the cake dome. Aaron put plastic wrap over the cake and covered it with a big plastic mixing bowl so we could go to bed. It looked silly, let me tell you.
• When I attempted to frost the outside of the cake the next day, it was extremely difficult (perhaps because the frosting had a total of 1 pound of butter in it). It took me 45 minutes to frost the cake.

The cake ended up looking beautiful...but I was so tired of it by the time we got it to the party that I think I took one bite of Aaron's piece and was done. I enjoyed baking Aaron's birthday cake because it was special, but it'll probably be a while before I attempt a cake like that again.

Speaking of the party...remember how on Friday afternoon Aaron still hadn't decided what he was going to be for that Halloween party on Saturday night? Well, when he came home from skateboarding on Friday night he'd had a revelation. He would be "Old Greg." I know what you're thinking. "Who's 'Old Greg'?"

Aaron and his buddies at work watch this British sitcom called "The Mighty Boosh." I can't stand British humor, so I never watch the show. In one of the episodes there's a character named "Old Greg" who is half man and half fish. Not to mention he has seaweed for hair, has hideous makeup on his face, wears green tights, a tutu, and white cowboy boots. Aaron and I spent a lot of time on Saturday visiting every thrift store in Rock Hill (and good ol' Walmart) in an effort to find the perfect "Old Greg" ensemble. By the end of the day, the only parts of the costume we were lacking were the most important parts: the green tights (which we probably could have found at Target if we'd had enough time), the tutu (the dance store in Rock Hill was closed by the time we got there) and the white cowboy boots (we found the PERFECT pair on clearance at Rack Room for $6 but they they only had a size 8). Aaron decided that instead of abandoning the entire idea, he would just wear jeans and be "Old Greg" from the waist up. It was a lot of fun searching for Aaron's costume but by the end of the process we were both exhausted. We got ready, showed up at the party, and Aaron's costume was definitely a hit. EVERYONE knew who he was. I think I was the only one at the party who didn't like the show. Who cares. I was married to "Old Greg" for the evening. I made him take off the costume as soon as we got home. It creeped me out. I'll try to round up a photo to post on the blog.

Sam has a Halloween party at school tomorrow...so that means Sam and Ms. Allison get to bake Brownie Surprise cupcakes today! I'll post the recipe later today.

Hmmm...now that I've written a novel, it's time for the boys and me to go to the bookstore. Sam wants to go play with the trains and castles at Joseph-Beth Booksellers at Southpark Mall. That means I get to look through a few more holiday baking magazines before I decide if they're good enough to buy.

Potty Talk

The conversation I just had with Sam while he was using the potty:
Me: Sam, I've very proud of you for going to the potty.
Sam: I'm suuuure you are. But I love you, Ms. Awison.
Me: Oh, I love you too, Sam.
Sam: But one day I didn't love you.
Me: Oh really? When was that?
Sam: I don't know.

We're having a WONDERFUL day :) Off to the park we go to enjoy the beautiful outdoors...

DOMINATE!

Wow. What a weekend! Let me just begin by saying that Aaron and I love Elevation Church tremendously and feel so blessed that we have the opportunity to give to the Dominate campaign. For those of you who don't know what it is, click on the link and check out the details. Last night was the leadership commitment service at Butler High School...and let me tell you...God was there and it was INTENSE. As a newly married couple, Aaron and I have really contemplated and wrestled with God about what we should give to this capital campaign for the next 2 years (above the 10 percent of our incomes we already tithe to Elevation each month). Aaron's faith always seems to be greater than mine...and when I threw out the dollar amount I felt God putting on my heart, he challenged us by increasing the amount by 25 percent. We have all of these dreams of paying off credit cards, buying a house, moving to Charlotte, and traveling (among many other things) but we know that God has called us to be generous with what He has given us. My prayer is that Aaron and I can always keep our hands open to God...because all we have is His anyway. As easy as it is to say all of the wonderful things about being generous with our time and money, I'm sure it will still be hard sometimes to give it away without thinking about where else that money could be used. I truly believe that if we are faithful with what God has given us, He will multiply our sacrifices and return them to us many times over. God will always provide for us. I'm comforted when I think about how many lives God has changed because of Elevation Church...and I'm POSITIVE that our money will be used to grow His kingdom. Thank you, Lord, for challenging Aaron and me as husband and wife and for Aaron being the leader you've called him to be. I pray for my husband as he continues to lead us each day down the path You've made for us. Help us to keep our hands and hearts open to You.

"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch you tent curtain wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. -- Isaiah 54:2-4

Carseats and Creme de Menthe

I don't like the rain...but I know we need it desperately. I do, however, love wearing my polka dot rain boots. So I guess that means I kinda like the rain.

Now that Toby is 20 pounds, he gets to sit in a forward-facing car seat!

As you can see, he's ecstatic. Today was the first day he actually got to see what goes on outside the car because the rear-facing seat he sat in before faced him towards the back seat...and was extremely boring, I'm sure. Toby used to get really fussy when I'd drop Sam off at school because he wouldn't have anyone or anything to look at. When I put him in his new car seat this morning, he lit up. He "talked" and pointed all the way to school. Time in the car with Toby is a lot more pleasant now :)

On another note, I've been thinking about all of the ways I can make Aaron's 24th birthday more special than the previous 23. While I do have a few ideas in mind, baking is a big part of what I've been planning. I saw this recipe for a "Chocolate Creme de Menthe Cake" in Paula Deen's Holiday Baking magazine and have been planning for weeks to make it for Aaron's birthday (chocolate and mint is one of his favorite combinations...next to chocolate and banana). I was planning on making it last night so he could take it to work and share it with his co-workers today (even though his birthday isn't until Saturday) but, of course, my plan was foiled by an ingredient I couldn't find at the grocery store. I definitely thought that creme de menthe was something like vanilla extract. So imagine Aaron and me walking up and down the baking aisle looking at ALL of the spices and extracts...unable to find the mysterious creme de menthe. So after 15 minutes of searching, I had the idea to call Robert (Aaron's oldest friend/old roommate/co-worker) to google it and tell us where we could find it. No googling necessary. Robert informed us that creme de menthe is a liquor. And guess what. The liquor store had been closed for 3 hours by the time we began to look for it. Why do people bake with liquor? I never have understood that. Since I refused to bake the cake without the most flavorful ingredient, Aaron took "Brownie Surprise Cupcakes" to work today instead (from my second favorite baking magazine called Holiday Baking by Better Homes and Gardens). And, yes, the cupcakes were topped with Halloween sprinkles :) I'm baking the Creme de Menthe cake tonight (after I go by the liquor store) for the Halloween costume party we're going to tomorrow. Aaron still doesn't know what he's going to dress up as. He's managed to shoot down every one of my ideas thus far...so I told him to use his creative mind to come up with his own ideas. I'll let you know how the cake and Aaron's costume turn out.

It's bath time for the boys...so I'm going to round them up. Thanks for those of you who left comments and e-mails about the blog! I'm excited to have readers!

Picnic Storytime

So today I took the boys to ImaginOn for "picnic storytime." If you haven't been, ImaginOn is the coolest kids' library I've ever seen. They have thousands of children's books, dozens of computers, a round room built especially for story time, a beautiful theater built for the community to enjoy plays, and many other neat things to explore. Check it out sometime. Your kids will LOVE it. And it's FREE.

Anyway..."picnic storytime" is geared towards 3-5 year olds (although there are always a few younger siblings there, too). There were lots of kids at story time today...14, I think. A story-teller from the library brings lots of cute books and music for the kids to enjoy. The kids can bring their lunch and eat while they listen to stories. Great idea, huh? Well, today the story-teller read a book called "What Do You See?" As soon as Sam saw the book, he yelled, "HEY! I used to read that book at my old school!" A little embarrassed, I lean in and tell him to listen. As the librarian began to read, Sam knew the answer to every question before she even asked it. He would yell, "CAT!" before she could turn the page to reveal a black cat on the next page. "PIG! DOG! COW!" he continued. Everyone thought he was the cutest kid ever. And I'm glad they thought he was cute instead of annoying.

Toby is napping and Sam is having "Sam time" right now. That's what we call his after-lunch time on Tuesdays and Thursdays so Ms. Allison can have a break and Sam can have an opportunity to fall asleep if he feels the need. It's very quiet in the other room. I should go see what he's doing.

Tantrums and Potties

Sam is at school and Toby is napping. Ahhh...a little quiet time for me.

Sam has been behaving exceptionally well this week. I think we're finally getting used to each other and he knows where his boundaries are with me. For the first month or so he would throw tempter-tantrums several times a day because he didn't get his way or I didn't do things the way Mommy and Daddy did them. As tough as it was (and still is) to deal with his tantrums, I just have to stand my ground and not give in to him. Thankfully, the tantrums have become fewer with each passing day. Each day before I leave to go home I'll ask Sam: "What are we going to work on and do better tomorrow?" Lately his answer has been: "Not throwing fits and going to the potty." Bingo. The "not throwing fits" part is going well. The "going to the potty" part...not so well. At least he goes when I ask him to go now; but he still won't go on his own or at school. We've tried stickers, candy, high-fives...but nothing seems to stick long enough to make him want to go on the potty all the time. We'll keep working on it.

Aaron's birthday is on Saturday and we're going to a party at his co-worker's house. It's a costume party...so I'm dressing up as a bumble bee. He doesn't know what he's going to be yet. I told him he should be the "Birthday Boy." He said "Oh yeah! I'll go in my birthday suit!" I said, "Haha. Very funny."

Trying something new...

So I've never really understood the whole "blogging craze" that's been going on for the past few years...but now that I'm married, have a full-time job and am settling into a routine, I've realized that I really miss journaling and writing...a lot. Even if no one reads my blog, it will be nice to get these thoughts out of my head and into cyberspace. My wonderful husband, Aaron, is the BEST listener to all of my long, drawn out stories about the goings-on of my day...but I know that sometimes I bog him down with way too many insignificant details and stories during his day at work and when he gets home. So here you go, Love. You can read about my days sometimes instead of listening to me talk for hours :)

I am a full-time childcare provider for a family in Charlotte, NC and absolutely LOVE it. Yes, I went to college for 3 and a half years to get a degree in History...and now I'm a Nanny. I promised myself that I would never be one of those people who hated going to work everyday...and that's what happened with my first job right out of college. I realized 5 months in that the job wasn't a good fit for me. So, with the support of Aaron and my family, I quit. I took the next few months to pray as well as search myself and the career field to figure out what it was that I really wanted to do. I also spent that time planning the Alexander-Fowler wedding :) As much as I hated not having a job because I felt like a complete bum, I really enjoyed having that time to plan the most important day of my life to date. I searched and prayed...prayed and searched...but nothing full-time became available to me. Thanks to all of you at Elevation who kept me busy babysitting because if it wasn't for you, I'm not sure how I would have spent my time and kept sane!

The week before my wedding I was contacted by a lady whose ad I had answered several months before on Craigslist. She and her family were moving from Oklahoma City to Charlotte for her job and she needed someone to take care of her boys during the day. A few days later I met Liz, her husband Mike, and their two boys Toby (who just turned 1 a few weeks ago) and Sam (who will be 4 in December). I was offered the job later that week and I graciously accepted. I started working the week after Aaron and I returned from our honeymoon. After working with the boys for only 5 weeks so far, I feel like I'm already becoming a part of the family. I've made a year commitment to Liz and her family and I can't wait to watch the boys grow and change.

I think it's so important for people, especially young adults just out of college, to take time to search themselves and figure out what it is they really want to do in life. What makes you happy? What's fun for you? More than just figuring out what I wanted to do, I felt it was important to consider what I felt God wanted me to do with this season of my life. I don't have to choose a career path right this second. I didn't have to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life by the time I graduated college. I didn't even have to get a job in the history field just because I majored in it. But I thought I did. After a few months of prayer and reflection, I knew that I needed a job with purpose. A job that makes a difference in the lives of others. A job that makes me happy. A job that will teach me lessons I can look back on for the rest of my life. Raising children is all of these things for me...and I feel so blessed to be where I am today.

Isn't it funny how children teach you things about yourself? They say whatever comes to mind...and oftentimes it's the naked truth. They don't sugarcoat anything. They don't censor what comes out of their mouths. They just say it. And sometimes it stings. That's what I love about kids. You can talk to them so simply. No big words or long explanations. Just talk to them in their language they're more likely to listen and understand you. I might change my mind about the listening part when I take Sam to a birthday party for one of his classmates at Charlotte Jr. Gym in an hour. We'll see.

I promise I won't always be so long-winded. And I won't always be so reflective and serious. My life is a zoo...and you'll read about it soon enough, I'm sure.