I believe...

So I've been tagged for the first time to do a certain thing on this blog.  Now, I almost ALWAYS ignore these types of things and refuse to do it, simply because I do not have the motivation for it.  But... Jessie is just too cool and I want to be as hip and groovy as her.  Seriously, she's amazing, I've learned so much from her as a mom.  She has three gorgeous children.

So, apparently you gotta do 5 beliefs... nothing serious, religious or political... just fun stuff...

ok, definitely not as creative as Jessie- but I'll give it a try:

1- I believe in four seasons of climate change.  

2- I believe in Farmer's Muffins and chocolate milk for breakfast.

3- I believe in the comfort hoodies bring you on a bad (self-image issues) day.

4- I believe in big hugs from small arms.

5- I believe in the burn in the muscles at training.

Time, Slow Down.

Below are several photos of Ryann- my little girl is now 13 months and one week old.  Geesh. Time, slow down.

Ryann is outside and I am inside.  I asked for a kiss.

Eating PB&J for lunch.  

I've taken her shirt off since she's such a messy eater.

I love little feet.

She's got some very comical expressions!

Before Ryann was born, I had a couple baby showers.  At one of the showers, I was given these extremely cute size three pink boots.  They are thick and warm and meant for cold weather.

She is now barely fitting into size three shoe 

and I really wanted her to wear the boots once!

The boots are extremely stiff and she had a very hard time walking in them.  

She walked like she was wearing ski boots.

She has such a sad and forlorn face

 because Dave and Bethany are leaving for the day.

She is such a toddler in this one. 

 Not my little baby anymore. :(

AJR

Anthony Joseph Rodriguez is my beloved.  Oh, how I love him.  When I think of him, my eyes get misty and my heart tightens.  He is tall, has yummy chocolaty brown eyes, such soft brown hair and is cuban (which I find incredibly sexy).  :)  It matters not of what others think of his looks.  He is mine and I say he is so handsome.

I met Anthony through Laura, my twin.  At the time, Laura and Anthony were very interested in one another.  I had no feelings for him, I was interested in another fella.  Laura and Anthony dated for a couple months and it did not work out.  The rest is history.

What first drew me to Anthony and still attracts me today is his heart for God.  He is not perfect, none of us are, but he is quick to realize when he screws up.  He has such a passion for people and more specifically college students.  Yet, he craves his quite times, with no wife, or daughter or friends talking and interrupting him.  He is an introvert-extrovert.  He gains his energy from his quite and alone times and uses it for those around him.  

He is intelligent.  Sometimes it's overwhelming and frustrating to be the “unintelligent” one of us.  So I enjoy those few moments where I actually teach him something.  He loves to learn.  He is always challenging himself to read more books, expanding throughout the different types of literature.  But he really enjoys reading theology books and telling me of new things he has learned.  His knowledge of scripture is vast compared to mine, yet he is always pursuing God through the Word.  

He is a HUGE and borderline obsessive, fan of team Arsenal.  It is a European futbol team.  He diligently follows this team.  He could tell you just about every players names and their numbers and some of their stats including age (Arsenal is an very young team).  Yet, he is very focused on making sure that his faith and family comes first. He constantly asks me all the time if he needs to back off Arsenal as a way of keeping his priorities in line.     

He is Dad.  He does not want to be called daddy, papa, pops, father or Paw by his children. He wants to be called dad.  So Dad it is!  The way Anthony loves our little girl is so breath-taking.  He really wanted our first-born to be a boy, yet Ryann stole his heart the moment she was born.  He is determine to be the best father that Ryann needs.  He is fair in his disciplining and always makes the time to make sure Ryann knows that he loves her and understands (to the best of her ability) why Dad had to flick her hand.  He loves to tickle and wrestle and “chatter” with her.  He taught her to say “hi Dad” and “bye Dad”  and what the lion says...  “Rarrr”.  

He is my husband.  The way Anthony loves me is so uplifting and freeing.  He yearns to do things for me.   He has force himself pass his hatred for washing the dishes and simply doing them for me.  He is so willing to take care of Ryann so that I have time to myself and time to play soccer.  He loves to buy me all different types of flowers now and then.  He loves to tell me how beautiful I am to him.  He enjoys informing me how good i look in whatever I'm wearing for the day.  He is a great person to talk to about my heart's aches and joys.  He and I have our ups and downs and I look forward with such delight to many more.  I just love him.

Summer in Cape Town

Cape Town summer is quite beautiful.  The days are just perfect most of the time.  Occasionally there will be a hot day.  So this past sunday, after roasting during the church service, Wes and Leigh invited us to their place for a swim.  Since they live right around the corner from us, it was SO easy to say YES!  It was 91 degrees Fahrenheit in the SHADE!  We all were in the mood for a cool down in the pool.  

Oh how I love this man.

Wes and Dave racing on the floaty chairs.  It was hilarious. 

Ryann Grace, you don't have to grow up so fast ya know?

Floating around with mom.

Family Picture

(Laura, Lisa, Matthew and my folks-- doesn't this all remind 

you guys of our summers with the Saurs?)

I am becoming a...

...a house wife or a homemaker.  I mean, like one that makes their own baby foods, bread, and cinnamon rolls.  One that is on top of doing dishes and cleaning constantly even if the work goes unrecognized.  One that does laundry often and folds it neatly...

wow, I really never thought I would become one of those "moms".  I'm proud of it, but still cannot believe it actually happen.  I mean, my twin sister was always the "homemaker" out of us four kids and was very very good at it.  I was very happy to be the one doing the physical outdoor work like raking and prunning my mom's garden for the winter.  Washing the chopper and combine for Pops was no problem for me.  But ugh, if my mother asked me to clean the kitchen and "do the job well like Laura does" I grunt and groan and moan the entire time.  AND it is never clean enough for my mom or at least seemed that way to me. 

Now, somehow, mysteriously, I actually enjoy taking care of the household and taking care of my family.  Oh no, what has happen to me?!  :)

So yes, I have made homemade bread.  Just simple white loafs.  It is SO much easier than I thought!  It smells SO yummy when its baking and it is pretty good to eat.  Anthony is THRILLED.  His favorite food is bread.   I've also been making homemade baby food for Ryann.  Well, not so much "baby food" anymore since she's just eating small chunks of foods and not purees.  Still I can't believe how easy it is to do this.  It does take up some time of the day to make the meals and freeze it, but I just do it when I'm cooking dinner for the SA crew.

Anyway, the main reason I wanted to write this post was because of the homemade cinnamon rolls that I made this past weekend.  It was AMAZING.  Oh my gosh, I LOVED it.  It is a Paula Deen recipe, and good gosh, it's unreal. Anthony also LOVED them. When I go home, I am for sure making this for my family in Michigan because they all appreciate their sweet-tooth.  I've got two pictures to pose as evidence that indeed, Erin 'Carlson' Rodriguez is turning into a homemaker.