Gumbo limbo, sugar sand park

 Andrew's favorite part is the sharks! He loves to sit and watch them swim around and around. Love his big smile!

 Andrew also really likes butterflies. There were a few butterflies that landed right in front of us and he got to get a good look at them so that was fun

 My artsy shot of a butterfly, haha

 The little strip of beach on the intercoastal that only has waves when boats go by. Andrew loved it

 Sugarsand park

Today we went to Gumbo limbo a nature preserve and to Sugarsand park in boca raton. Andrew and evie loved looking at the fish in the tanks and especially the sharks. The ladies in the ward keep telling me about sugarsand park so I decided to go try that too since it is pretty close to the nature preserve. It is a huge park with a giant playground. Andrew loved the tunnel slides. I'm surprised he liked them because the big one got pitch black in the middle of it and it was scary but he thought it was awesome. They also have a small free science museum that we went to. Andrew loved rolling the balls around one of those funnel gravity circles. The ball would go around and down in the hole and then come out at the bottom so he could do it over and over again. Everyone was laughing at him becuase he starts shaking and getting so excited when the ball starts spinning fast in the middle, haha.

Evie loves clapping for herself now, it is pretty funny. When she knows she does something good like walking far she sticks her hands out like "tadah" haha, I will have to get a picture of it, it is pretty cute.

outside nice weather

 Andrew loves to go on his belly on the slides now.

 Andrew can do the big boy swing now

 Laundry basket rides with daddy was a big hit!

 Evie loves splashing in the water even though she looks cranky in the picture; she love it!

 My baby blanket I made for a lady in our ward. First one i've done all on my own. Turned out a little funny and won't lay flat but at least it looks like a blanket, haha.

Keep forgetting to post her walking. She can do a lot better than this now when she wants to but I can never get the longer walks on camera!

The weather has been so nice lately so we have been hanging out outside as much as possible! We go to the park in the evening after Brandon gets home and try our luck at fishing; haven't caught anything again yet. Evie loves to swing and swing, she gets so excited about it. She is getting better at her walking. She started taking little steps outside now too. We took the kids to the beach today. Andrew now likes the beach and Evie doesn't, haha, they switched. They both loved the blow up boat in the ocean though. Evie just liked to eat suckers in the tent at least. This week we also got to go to Monkey joe's (a bounce house place) with a friend from the ward so Andrew really liked that. Evie was too scared to go in any of the bounce houses. She gets scared really easily right now and just wants to be held wherever we go. Evie has finally started eating baby food! I am super happy about that. But now she just throws finger food everywhere except for quesadillas; she loves those! She has been doing better at night now too. I go in and feed her at 9:45 and she goes till 5 before needing to eat again; so she is pretty much sleeping through the night.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala- Yummy Indian food recipe I just made and loved! 



Ingredients:
3-4 T vegetable oil
2 tsp Garam Masala
2 tsp cumin
1tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
sprinkle of coriander
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts- cut into cubes
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves, garlic
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs cornstarch
Top with parsley if desired

Instructions:
 1. Heat oil in fry pan. Add spices, onion, chicken, and garlic; stir and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the yogurt and crushed tomatoes.
3. Place into crock pot and add bay leaf. Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours.
4. When done, stir together heavy cream and corn starch and pour into crockpot. Stir and cook 20 more minutes to thicken up.
5. Serve with basmati rice

I tailored the recipe to our taste and size the Original recipe is from Table for Two

Museum, park, fishing

 Cold weather outfit. She has to wear Andrew's cold weather clothes; not worth buying her new ones for a day in Florida!

 Science museum day

 Evie is good at pushing the buttons now

 Evie just rips her bows off now

Tired, snuggly boy

Bird that ate my fish

We had a wonderful week! It has been super rainy so Thursday I took the kids to the science museum for the morning. They had a blast. Evie can push the little buttons and things now so she thinks that is so fun. She goes crazy pushing the buttons and making them light up, haha, she loves it. Andrew still asks me to take him there almost every day. He just loves fish and the ball ramp!

Friday Andrew was really tired so he just wanted to sit and snuggle on the couch and watch shows. I get really stir crazy when he does that so Evie and I went and had a good time playing in the playroom. She really liked dumping out all the balls and scattering them everywhere. She is getting good at putting the balls in the little hoop now. She also has started being able to put things into slots. We do the mailbox and I have her put lids into a wipes box. She has started walking more and more by herself. She just gets so excited when she starts walking that she flaps her arms everywhere and then falls down, haha. After all I could stand of Andrew watching shows I dragged them to the park to play. It has been raining so much the park was half flooded but Andrew really liked splashing in all the huge puddles. It was also pretty cold. I actually turned the air conditioner off for the first time for 3 days! It was amazing! I loved having some cool weather. Evie did not appreciate being cold though; she just wanted to be wrapped up in a blanket and snuggled even with her coat on and warm things on.

Saturday we took the kids fishing at the park. Brandon went over and set up the fishing pole and sat by the pole for a while and I played with the kids on the playground. After a little while I wanted a turn fishing so I went over and took the pole from Brandon and in about 30 seconds I caught a fish! Just a little tiny one but it was exciting. I reeled the fish in and a giant bird came and snapped the fish in his mouth hook and all! So then we had caught a fish and a giant bird and we had to try and get the fish out of the birds mouth. We got the fish out without hurting the bird and the fish was still alive. Andrew was disgusted by the fish, haha, but at least he got to see it. Brandon was able to take the hook out and everything and the fish was still alive so the lucky fish survived being caught and eaten by a bird.

Lion Country Safari

 Evie was very scared of the carousel at first

Evie loves doritos! haha

For New Years we got to go to the Lion Country Safari. It was like an amusement park for little kids. Andrew could go on most of the rides. He loved the the little train ride the best. He went on it so many times! He wanted to be the one riding in the front every time so we had to make him share with the other kids but he still got to ride up front a lot. He also really liked feeding giraffes. He thought they were so funny when they ate the lettuce from him. They also had a drive through safari. We unbuckled Andrew and Evie so they could see. Evie just liked finally being able to stand up in her car seat like she always wants to haha; she still fights me when I try to get her to sit in her seat!
 
Crazy a whole new year has started. I feel so blessed. I couldn't be happier! Evie was such a huge blessing coming in to our lives last year and has added so much happiness to our family. She is such a beautiful little girl that always makes me smile. Andrew has grown up a lot as well and continues to be so sweet and fun.Andrew has started giving Evie things and making sure baby always comes with us when we go play. He is a sweet big brother minus all the body tackling haha. We have lots of crazy days but I wouldn't have it any other way. Nothing makes me smile and laugh like those two little guys. We had a really great year and I'm looking forward to our upcoming year. This year Brandon will start applying for residency and going to interviews so he will be gone a lot but it is exciting that we will be deciding the next stage of our lives soon!