It's a Baking Sunday

This was actually a couple of Sundays ago... but I never was able to finish the page to get it posted, so I am finishing it now. The Sunday started out with the idea I had to make homemade pecan Carmel rolls. A friend of mine had posted some wonderful pictures and step-by-step instructions on her website... and I thought "I could do that" So Gracie, Zach and I were off for an adventure to make from scratch homemade Carmel rolls. I have made rolls before, but mind you it has been several, several years and at the time I had the little girl hands and my dear Grandma Sohre had the big girl hands. Amazingly I still remember some of her tricks and the way she did things. I miss those days of spending the whole day with Grandma making rolls, and of course I miss eating them! Hopefully this adventure can happen again in the Malecek home and I can pass onto my kids the treasure of making homemade rolls!

Gracie is my biggest helper. She will bring the big chair over from the dining room table all on her own and start digging into the utensil drawer. She has learned that Zach's high chair is on wheels and she can push him over to where she is to join in the fun. As you can see Zach is enjoying himself as well discovering the joy of kitchen gadgets!

It's time for Gracie to be in the highchair and actually help out.

She has learned that the best part is always sampling and licking the spoon!

Now for the prize we are trying to create.

I think I need to learn how to dissolve yeast a little better, because they didn't rise the best... but hey this is my first time by myself... so I am learning.

Rolls that are fresh from the oven. Remember these are Carmel rolls......so on to flipping them over and ta da... don't they look yummy?
Of course we had to share with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Joe so we dish up a few servings. Grandma Betty has given up sweets and rolls for lent...

but we got her to cheat a little (don't tell)!
Gracie eating her 1st homemade Carmel roll along with her dolly.

Zach will get to eat his later in the liquid breastmilk form.

So there was our Baking Sunday Adventure.

We hope we made your taste buds water!

Downloading the Camera

I was just downloading my pictures today and thought I would post some of the cute ones. Well, to be truthful they are all CUTE, but I cannot post them all. We have been enjoying the warm weather as I have said in earlier posts. I can't wait until we get a playground/swing set up out on the yard so Gracie and Zach can have more activities to do outside. Little Zach finally tuckered himself out in the Jumper!!! It's about time. This guy can jump forever.

Lots of fun in the Exersaucer.


We just started feeding Zach some solids, well about 2 weeks ago, but just in the last few days has he really took a liking for it and I think more is now going inside his tummy instead of on bib on the outside.

My cute little Gracie.

My cute little Zach showing off his tongue. He does this a lot lately... sticking out his tongue and blowing bubbles.

Both my cute little kids - it is a challenge to get them to both look at me at the same time to snap the shot... so I treasure these photos when they are both looking... not crying... not rolling over... not being naughty.

Play time with Daddy.

A visit to Great-Grandma Summers. She thought Zach was a handsome little guy.
I came to the realization the other day that my kids will not both be in diapers together forever (I hope!)... and I should treasure these moments of having two little bottoms in Pampers and Huggies! They are adorable. So here is some of the sights that Marty and I experience every evening as we get ready for the bath tub. I took some of bare bottoms too... which of course are also adorable, but not appropriate for blogging. I know, someday they both are going say "Mom, why did you ever take these pictures? I can't believe you did that."

1st Tooth

Mr. Zachariah has gotten his first tooth. I was in the process of popping through about 1 1/2 weeks ago, but this last weekend it thought it would show itself off. It is the bottom right. The bottom left is going to be coming shortly. We can see the white under the gum. Zach says "Dad... bring on the pork chops!".

Today was my day off from work and since the temps outside are so lovely we went to Ramsey park in Redwood and went for a walk. Me and the two kids in the double stroller. Gracie got to enjoy herself at the playground on the slide. She sure has grown and become more brave since last summer. She even went down the big slides by herself and of course cried when it was time to go. It is hard to believe last week on Tuesday we had a snow storm and now today I was at the park with the kids. Gotta love the great outdoors. Last evening after supper the kids and I and Grandma Betty went for a walk down the gravel road too. It is times like this that I wish I didn't have to go to work all day or that I had an outside job.

I hope every one else is enjoying the weather.

Our Entertaining Little Zach

Zach loves his Jonny-Jump-Up. He can go for what seems like forever without taking a break. You would think those little legs would get tuckered out, but oh no... they just a keep on jumping. In this clip his Big Sister is also helping him out.

You will need sound for this one. Marty can really get Zach going with his giggles and laugh.

Random Pictures

Here are some random pictures taken over the last month or so. I haven't been very good lately at posting... seems there is never enough time in the day! Zach is growing so fast. Gracie is saying more and more words everyday, we can actually communicate quite well. Enjoy the pictures.

Gracie trying to brush her hair!

Cousin Sebastien

Gracie, Zach, Sebastien

Grandpa Sohre and his two smallest boys, Zach and Joe

Zach scooting

Zach can scoot on his back... it is so cute. He sure is a kicker. His legs are constantly going. In this clip he was laying on a blanket until he got going. He probably scooted 4-5 ft!

Visit to Pittsburgh

Last weekend from Saturday to Tuesday the Malecek crew made a trip to Pittsburgh, PA to visit Marty's sister Lisa and her family, Mick, Bridgette, and Miller. We went via plane and amazingly the flights went fairly well. Both Gracie and Zach fell asleep for about an hour on both flights. Our visit with the Mekkelsen's was lots of fun. It was warmer there, about 50's or so. We went on some walks outside, got to watch a couple of basketball games of Miller's (he is in 6th grade), ride the incline to see the big city from up above, eat some good meals made by Lisa and Mick, the kids played with Miller and his friend Jeremy, and just did a lot of good hanging out and visiting at their home.

As I am posting these pictures the blog won't let me rearrange them for some reason, so they are out of order, but I think you will get the idea.

This is the little cart you ride in for the incline.

The city of Pittsburgh, where the three rivers combine. It was kind of a foggy day.Auntie Lisa and Zach.
Auntie Lisa playing with Gracie. Mick watching in the background.

Gracie and Miller eating suckers.

At the top of the incline ride. Lisa, Zach, Gracie, and Terri.

The ride to the top of the incline. Mick, Gracie, Marty, Lisa, Zach.

No more kisses Auntie Lisa!!!

Miller & Jeremy playing with Gracie and Zach.

Tagged - How Fun!

I’ve been tagged to play along with this game! Here are the rules:

1. go to your documents/pictures file on your computer

2. go to your 6th file

3. go to your 6th picture

4. post and blog about it

5. tag 6 people to do the same

6. smile!





How fun... This was our dog Willie and my sister Shelly's dog Colby in Dec. 2006. Colby came to live with us that year cause Shelly ended up in an apt. building that did not allow dogs. We had a lot of fun taking care of him. Willie and Colby would fight and play all the time. Other things about this photo... Marty and I were at our first house we lived in on the farm. It seems forever ago that all we had was two dogs... not two kids. At the time of the photo I was probably 5-6 months pregnant with Gracie. Now look at us just two years later... new house, new job, two new kids, no more Colby... but we still have good'ol Willie!!

I can't tag anyone, cause the two blogs that I look at have already been tagged, but I thought it would be fun to do the reminiscing about the photo.

Zach rolling over

I finally caught Zach on video rolling over. He didn't quite get his hand out on this clip but usually he does and then after a minute or so he will cry, because he does not like to lay on his tummy. Then I roll him back ... then he rolls to his tummy again... then he crys... Crazy kid!

Zachariah 3 months

Here are a few of the pictures we had taken of Zach on January 3rd. He was 3 months old.

Updates

Hi Everyone-
I haven't posted anything in quite some time. 2009 has been off to a busy start. Just days before Christmas I found out I was to be hired by Willmar Medical Services in the Willmar Diabetes Center as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. I started December 29th, which was quite sudden. So my maternity leave was shorted a little, but I guess worth it because I now am doing a job that I want to do with much better hours and schedules. I am working 32 hours a week with Tuesday being my day off. The sad part is our kids having to be in daycare so much and me not getting to spend as much time with them. I very much enjoyed my 3 months home with the kids. Gracie is learning so much and of course Zach is growing fast as well... which leaves me the main reason for this post... he is officialling rolling over from back to tummy. He did it randomly a couple of times in the last week, but today (my day off!) he did it like 10 times! I guess he wanted to wait till I was home to witness it all. What a good kid he must have known I was having a hard time going back to work and leaving him and his sister so much. I tried to capture it on video, but of course then he wouldn't do it. I'll have to keep trying. We had 3 month pictures taken of him of which I don't have ready to show off, so hopefully in the next few days I can share some pictures.

Well-baby checks

We had doctor check-ups for both kids today. 18 month visit for Gracie, of which she is actually 20 months old right now, and 2 month check for Zachariah.

Her are the stats for both:

Gracie:
WT: 22lbs 8 oz --- 15 percentile
HT: 32 in --- 39 percentile

Zach:
WT: 13 lbs 12 oz --- 91 percentile
HT: 24 in --- 86 percentile

Just to compare Zach to Gracie -at her 2 mo check up she was:
WT: 10 lbs 12 oz (50 percentile)
HT: 23 1/2 in (80 percentile)

They both got shots too... poor babies of mine. They cry so hard when those nasty nurses come in with those terrible needles. Gracie goes "owiee" and holds her thigh on the way out of the clinic. Fortunately I think she has already forgotten about it and Zach is sleeping right now, so hopefully they don't bother him to much tonight or tomorrow. They check out to be a healthy baby and toddler.

Giggle Giggle

Zach has started to giggle! It is so cute. Marty can get him going the best and I caught a little bit of it on the video below.

Another New Nephew

We welcomed another Nephew, Sebastien, to our family on November 18th. This is Marty's sister Debbie's baby. He weighed 6 lbs 15oz (I think, or something around there). I wanted to get these pictures up right after I took them, which was a week and a half ago, but time again has slipped away. In these pictures Sebastien is 1 week old, Zach is 8 weeks old, and Gracie just about 20 months old. Zach looks like a Moose compared to Sebastien. As you can see in the bottom picture Zach has started to smile and we even got a giggle out of him the other day! It is so precious. He is growing up sooo fast already! I think he is going to outgrow Gracie by spring time.

So we are finally to the conclusion of our baby additions to the families this year:
June - My sister Christy's baby Kate
August - My sister Shelly's baby Joe
October - Our baby Zach
Novemeber - Marty's sister Debbie's baby Sebastien
It has been quite the year. Hopefully next year won't be as eventful.