Morning of June 1

Inspired by my blogger friend Brooke's talents, I've decided to embark upon a little project myself. Wanting to remember life in this season, I'll try to take a photo every morning for June, July, and August and share here. These are taken with our Canon Powershot SD 750, and won't be edited.

Our front stoop after I've bid my husband goodby on his way to work.

May highlights in photos

Contained within this entry is a picture-heavy post (that's for you, familia!) of some photo highlights of the month of May. I'll include little captions with some of them. Enjoy!

Andrew had a birthday, so we took him out to breakfast. Here he is receiving his gift from Ransom.

We celebrated with dump cake at the home of some friends. It was his twenty fifth birthday. TWENTY FIVE YEARS!!

Ransom tried out a bumbo chair, and decided it worked pretty well.

Transfixed.

Mothers Day morning, my first! We have a mirror at the top of the stairs, and we'll stand in front of it and ask, "Who's that little boy in the mirror?" Ransom will often smile and gasp when we do.

When no one's around I ask the mirror, "Who's the fairest of them all?", but I haven't received an answer yet. This mirror is lacking in magic.

Another Mothers Day photo.
Andrew bought me coffee on the way to church (a sure way to please me), we ate lunch at Chipotle and had (vegan!) frozen yogurt at my favorite local spot, then went treasure hunting, also known as thrifting. Andrew gave me supplies for a coupon binder, too, which thrilled me!
Sundays are a work day for Andrew and have a tendency to feel frantic as we tag along, but Mothers Day was a wonderful day with relaxing gaps between responsibilities. I had several "Oh my gosh, I'm a mama to this adorable baby" moments and was able to enjoy this little boy.


We were able to reconnect with Brad, a professor of ours from Bible college, who was visiting from Canada with some students he was leading.

The students took over the Sunday night youth service on Mothers Day and did an amazing job. We spent some time with Brad and the students afterward and Ransom was a big hit with the girls. :)

Ransom wearing his mohawk hat. Our friend Jenni made it for him. On this day, we went to the public library and Ransom got two compliments on it, one of them from an amateur fashion designer! Ha! Ransom's such a fashion forward baby...

We got to reconnect with our friend Chris.

Ransom watched me as I planted some herbs on our front stoop.

We had some quality piano time this month. Ransom tried it out himself.

We went to a graduation reception for Forrest and were able to reconnect with our friends Cory & Bekah & their little boys!

Ransom having tummy time while he's at work with me.

He caught a lion! Okay, maybe I gave it to him. :)

Thanks for reading!

grass touching his feet for the first time

Tonight we dropped by a barbecue that was in honor of seniors who are a part of the local Young Life program, and on our way out, we paused in the green grass and sunshine to let Ransom take his first feel of green grass on his bare toes. He made that cute gasping happy sound and I took out my camera to capture the moment. The song "YMCA" was playing. :) I'll have a lovely memory to go with that music for the rest of my life.

I love observing Ransom as he experiences things for the first time. This discovering business has been on my mind of late thanks to this post by one of my favorite bloggers.
Thanks for reading!

up really late, or what feels like my culinary zenith so far

Tonight I am up late.
"No biggie," you say. "Rachel's a new mom, she's probably up at 1:00 a.m. because the baby is awake."
"Nope." I would say. "Handsome baby Ransom is asleep."
The reason I am still awake is because I signed up to bring something to church for Easter and I need to have it at the drop off place by tomorrow afternoon. You see, we're having Easter Sunday service at a high school, with a brunch in the school cafeteria beforehand so they're setting things up way in advance.
And what did I decide to make for the Easter brunch? At the time, cinnamon rolls sounded divine. Not just any cinnamon rolls, and certainly not the refrigerated type. I'm attempting, for the second time in my life, Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. They take awhile, which is why I'm still awake with half the rolls in their pans rising before they go in the oven & the other half of the dough rolled out on the counter awaiting butter, sugar, cinnamon, and ground cardamom (the latter being my addition to the recipe).
To tide me over & keep up my energy, I also decided midnight is a perfect time to make a healthy swanky snack like Midnight Asparagus and Creamy Eggs from The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper. It was very yummy. The taste of egg, lemon, onion, asparagus seasoned with salt & pepper...ah!
It was a "Susie Homemaker" moment, as my mom would say. I feel like a foodie tonight. :)


For a little while I worked in silence, and then I put this on.
With both my husband and my son in their beds, me awake, I'm enjoying this alone time. Alone time. It's rare these days, a freedom I have surrendered since becoming a mama, and I'm not sorry, but I am enjoying this reprieve even if I'll be tired tomorrow.
On a normal evening, I make it a priority to go to bed the same time Andrew does; I've heard advice from married people wiser than me that doing this is good for a marriage. Never fear--when this is over, the cinnamon rolls iced and the kitchen counter wiped clean of every trace of flour, I'll curl up next to my dreaming husband and be thankful again for the man I married.
Tonight I needed to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. I want to present something I'm proud of for the Easter brunch. Perhaps it's an act of worship. I think of my mom and of my friend Rikki, both quilters who pray for the people who will receive the quilts they make. That has always been an appealing idea to me.
Praying over cinnamon rolls...am I losing my marbles?! :)
Maybe not, even if it is late.

nom nom!

I am a shameless baby talker. Unintelligible syllables come out of my mouth when I'm talking to Ransom. It can't be helped.
Tonight, for example. We attempted to feed him baby cereal for the second time. (The first time wasn't so successful & we had to throw most of the cereal away.) I prepared about a third less of what I did the for the first feeding & the boy ate it all! Success! We were so proud, I had to share the progress. And here are a couple of pictures of the result.

morning at the bakery

Another journal exerpt, from March 26:

This morning we three are at Hideaway Bakery. Ransom, asleep in his carseat. Andrew read a chapter of a James Herriot book to me. We breakfasted, he on a black forest ham & provolone croissant, me on a pice of vegan/gluten free berry coffee cake. He drank coffee, I, tea.

It's a cloudy, sunny morning. We sit outside. There are lots of kids here; dogs are welcome too.

We saw some pregnant ladies, beaming & talking about their birth plans. We hear a very new baby crying. Now it is lightly raining on the roof above us, a slight chill in the breeze, then it's warm again. Spring.

Andrew just said he loves our boy.

oh, his eyes...

I love his eyes. They're a stormy blue color that is different from either of his parents' eye color. He studies his surounding so intently with his eyes, I wonder what he's thinking.

I think the quilt in th background helps showcase his eye color, too.

(Thanks, mom! You're an artist!)

It amazes me that this beautiful baby boy was woven inside my womb so intricately & intentionally by God. God is familliar with all of Ransom's ways. We'll get to know his personality more as he grows into a boy, then a man. Miraculous. And to think Jesus took on such a shape to come save us! A vulnerable, dependent baby boy housing the Creator of the everything. And to think that God entrusted such a precious life to us. Fumbling, imperfect, insecure, weak=perfect candidates for raising a man of God. I'm thankful and aware of the joyful weight of this, dependent on His grace for the task.