Seach The Maas Family Blog

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A Name! A Name! He finally has a name!

 Aunt Jamie came for the long President's Day weekend and for Mitchell's baby blessing.  We had lots of fun and Jamie loved Ohio sooooo much that she extended her trip for another day!
Baby Blessing - In the LDS church, a baby blessing is similar in importance to a christening.  It's a special day for the baby/family and performed in front of the congregation by someone holding the proper Priesthood authority (Andy in this case).  The child is given a name and a blessing.


Above, Ben was keeping Mitchell happy for me.  Here, he's had a shower and is waiting patiently for Mom to get him dressed.  Mitchell found his fingers this week and alternates which fingers he likes to suck on.  My favorite is his hand gripping his hair - yes, he fell asleep just a few short minutes later!

Here is our cute little family - with Aunt Jamie and Miss Linda (our fabulous next door neighbor).  Mitchell slept for most of our Sacrament service and was not all that thrilled to be woken up for pictures!


 This is the most typical family picture -- Emily touching Mitchell's head, Mitchell pulling Annie's hair, Ben squeezing Mitchell's leg and Andy and I trying to keep everyone together!  I've learned that two or three is the most pictures I can hope for with kids being cheerful - it gets extremely painful after that if we aren't with a professional!
 Loving on our baby!  This boy gets so many kisses each day!
 Aunt Jamie and Mitchell - he's the most awake here!
 And proof that he really does smile!  This was our happy boy after a real nap in his bed.  This little hat is almost too small as Mitchell's head is a little on the large side - you just can't tell because he has so much hair covering it!  (On a side note - last weekend we took the kids to the local high school's production of Beauty and the Beast.  A few kids from church were in it and one was in the orchestra pit.  As we walked from the front of the auditorium to our seats near the back, there were constant twitters of, "look at that hair!"  It was really funny - most of the time I just pretend not to hear, unless I'm ready to engage in conversation.  I only had 3 people that night ask his age and if I had heartburn during my pregnancy.)
 Fake-Baked Alaska Cake!  I have been looking at this recipe in on of my Pampered Chef cookbooks for 4 years now, but it just looked so hard to make.  I reasoned that since Mitchell didn't have a big family and friend dinner to celebrate his blessing, I would take extra care with dessert.  It wasn't hard at all!  I loved it, Andy adored it, Kids really enjoyed it, and Jamie thought it was okay but didn't want another piece.  You must like Cool Whip to enjoy this recipe...and cream cheese...and butter...and cake...and chocolate...and powdered sugar.  Again, I loved it!
 Monday we went to Pump it Up with a fabulous Groupon that I bought (3for1) so the kids could run out some energy!  It started barely snowing when we got there.  Two hours later, it was almost blizzard conditions.  We stopped at the grocery store because we were out of milk and Jamie got the call that her flight was delayed and she would miss her connection and to please call to reschedule her flight.  She got to stay a whole other day and enjoy this beautiful snow!!!

Our family believes in sharing, so I let Jamie share the joys of snow-shoveling with me!  There was a LOT of snow.  We shoveled together twice (Miss Linda from next door helped us the second time - we gave her some cake as a thanks!) and I went out one more time while she put the kids to bed.  I'm pretty sure the Camry wouldn't have made it through!  Thanks for a fun visit and all the snow help!  We're so glad we have our little guy!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Snuggly Bug

This sweet baby.  We just all love him so much.  This is my favorite time - just as he wakes up and gives his first hugs.  He isn't a cuddly guy, unless he is completely wiped out or it's first thing in the morning.  Snuggles lasts all of 5 minutes, so it is such a precious time - which I don't like to share!  I just got back some pictures a friend took when he was 2 1/2 weeks.  Prepare to drool over this little guy - what a charmer!  Coming soon when I have more time...

Fun on an Icy Driveway

It wasn't super cold, but they wanted to play outside.  Yippee!!!!
 We bundled Mitchell up and set him happily in his duck.  Then the fun began!
 Ben had a little friend over.  Miranda is in the bright green.  The kids all loved her!
On your mark...
 I LOVE the huge smile on Emily's face here!

 Such ghetto fun - sliding on an icy driveway...for a LONG time!  It was great. We quite entertained our neighbor as well!

 I think I need to blow this picture up!
 Oh, the joys of falling on your backside...over and over and over again!
 We tried the snow activities the next day - this time with sleds!  Although some people didn't want to put on snow clothes...
 The consequences of playing on the ice without snow gear...such a sad little face.  Ice HURTS!
 Ben getting cocky!
 Okay - this is the cutest little boy (until Mitchell gets to be 2 years old) and he just melts my heart.  He loves the snow.  Of the pictures I took this day, more than half are of my little Miles!

Book, Anyone?

This is how we read books these days - this is during a calm moment where Annie and Emily have decided to coexist happily. It always works better if I catch them before they are too tired... Sadly most nights have gone out the window for books recently - unless Andy is home to help with bedtime. That is when Mitchell needs just Mom; I think we need to move books to mornings while the youngest sleeps in!

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

The kids love Sunday afternoon, where we don't have to go anywhere. They get into a groove playing and just enjoy our time. Ben is playing happily and quietly (with humming) with all those lovely little Legos! This kiddo is so amazingly creative! I think he was making a dentist office that day - a nice change from the battle scenes that he typically creates! This can last hours if we don't interrupt him.
I went shopping with a friend to a store called The Flower Factory. She wanted to get some things to make her daughter a mobile. That is one of the things that hasn't survived from our other kids, so I bought some butterflies to make Mitchell one. I just used white sewing thread to tie it to an embroidery hoop. He loves it and gets great big eyes when I put him in the crib (as opposed to his bassinet). Annie told me I needed to make him a 'boy' one because butterflies are for girls. Tough Luck - this boy will like butterflies! Besides, they start as caterpillars and those are VERY boyish!
Andy went out to shovel - Emily wanted to go with him.
Valentine's was the next day, and I wanted to make a special treat for my Valentine: Strawberry Shortcake, his favorite! I found a (supposedly) fabulous recipe that needs to be made 2 days prior to serving it. Friday night I made the shortcake (with 3 sticks of butter!!!) and wrapped it for storage in the fridge. Sunday afternoon Annie helped me cut up 2 pounds of strawberries to sprinkle with sugar. Then we started to make the whipping cream. It wasn't working. Did I add too much sugar or not enough??? I added a dash of vanilla because I like that. Andy thought maybe that was why it wasn't whipping. I checked Google and vanilla is completely allowed and shouldn't make a difference. I gave up. Andy took over and tried whipping it in the blender. After almost an hour - we realized I bought light cream - NOT light whipping cream. Oops! After 5 calls to friends, no one had whipping cream, so we delayed our strawberry shortcake until the Monday (when Andy gets home after 10pm).
Emily thinks Mitchell is her personal buddy and he needed to be rocked. Not much seems to phase him anymore. :)
Lesson learned: do not play on treadmill (after Mom has said 'NO" at least 6 million times), especially not when Annie is already on it. The treadmill will throw you off and rip off the top layer of your skin...
Monday - our friends came over. This is little Gwen, whom we all love to squeeze - almost as much as our little Mitchell. They have become buddies too - just like their mommies!