Playing a Little Catch Up

We've been busy so I thought I'd do a quick catch up post.

The kids are both still loving swimming lessons. Little Hema can now dive, swim (front and back)and go down and get diving sticks off the bottom of the pool all by himself! Vela is getting to be a good little floater. She will lay on her back for 20 or 30 minutes with just one of my fingers behind her head. She can float on her own for about a minute too!

The weather has gotten colder so we are spending more time inside. At our house, that means lots of forts. Hema and Vela will play in the forts for hours. Hema's aunt Jodene Katoa passed away. She was a wonderful person who was always kind and loving to us and our children. Hema was asked to offer offer the graveside dedicatory prayer. Little Hema and Daddy got to go to Boondocks and have a lot of fun. Hema's favorite was miniature golf.Mom and Vela were at Laura's baby shower. We are so excited for her little girl to be born in about a month. The shower was great - lots of family and food! The food was yummy and so super cute (I know what you are thinking, and yes food can be cute and ours was). My camera was at Boondocks with Hema, so I don't have any pictures. But I'll get some from Brandi and post them. That was the last of the Hawkins siblings to have a baby so I think we are all out of showers... unless a certain someone finally has that very long awaited babe one day and then we will definitely be partying again!
Vela is getting so very big. She cut her 7th tooth today. She also is now taking 3-4 steps at a time. I think she'll be off and running soon. I will post as soon as I can get her walking on camera.

Now on to some yummy food...I've tried several great new recipes lately. Here are a few of the good ones. This Coconut Chicken Curry was scrumptious! I made it twice in a week and every member of the family loved it both times. The second time I left the tomato sauce out and added a few sliced carrots in place of one of the potatoes. I would have liked to add some cashews, but didn't have any on hand. We will definitely be eating this often at our house. I made this Sweet and Sour Chicken today and it was sooo much better than I expected. I had found this recipe months ago and finally got around to trying it. Little Hema ate 3 bowls full. It was super easy and good. The only bad part was not making enough for leftovers. I would highly recommend this recipe! I also made these Creamy Herbed Potatoes from the Pioneer Woman. They were very tasty, but seriously I felt like I was gaining a pound with each bite. They are a bit to rich for me and I probably won't make them again - just because I don't want to eat the entire pan! And lastly, this yummy German Stolen Bread I made today as well. This is seriously so good. I can't explain the texture of the bread, but so different than a cinnamon roll. A picture before...

...and after frosting.

It made 2 full pans, so we shared with some lucky neighbors.