Nana's kolaches

The story behind this recipe is kind of a funny one. I'm not a fan of kolaches myself but Tyler grew up loving Mammaw's (sp?) kolaches. He said they were the most fluffy, wonderful things in the world and begged me to track down the recipe. I called a few family members and everyone deferred me to Nana. When I called Nana, I thought we had some kind of misunderstanding because we ended up with a date to make her kolaches together. She sent me the recipe and I got everything I needed and Nana came over a few days later. We got started and I told Nana how excited Tyler was for these kolaches, that he just loved Mammaw's kolaches growing up and he couldn't wait to have them again. Nana then told me that Mammaw never made a kolache in her life! She bought them from a neighbor whenever family came to visit!! I was dying laughing. We couldn't believe one of Tyler's most delicious childhood memories was actually not what he thought. So funny. 

So Nana taught me how to make her kolaches in the end. She uses the dough from a friend's cinnamon roll recipe. Apparently it's delicious, but again, I don't like them and have therefore never tried these. 

The typed recipe is the original, I always halve it because it still makes a crazy amount of dough, so I wrote that below the original. 

Like the original recipe says, combine all ingredients to make a soft dough (sticks to your finger a bit) and let rise until almost double in size. 

This is my setup when I'm forming the kolaches. Your hands get messy so I get everything ready and near me beforehand so I don't have to wash my hands a thousand extra times. I just buy a package of little sausages from Sam's to fill them. You'll also need some vegetable oil. 

Like I said, the dough is sticky. But you want it sticky so that it's super soft! Roll it in a little flour, but only a little.

Dip your fingers in oil and rub on your opposite palm so the dough doesn't stick to you and you can mold it. Take a 1/2-1" size ball of dough and press it flat in your hand.

Put a little sausage in the middle and cover completely with dough. Notice there's not a whole lot of excess - you want the breading to be pretty thin around the kolache. At least, I'm told that's the best way.

I usually put parchment paper on the pans first but I was out this time around. Spraying the pans worked just fine. Let them rise if you can, but to be honest I usually don't see much of a difference in them when I let them sit. By the time I get the last pan rolled out I pop the first one in the oven. They rise in the oven just fine - I think the cold sausage stops it from rising too much. 

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350, 'til they're goldish brown and smelling yummy! We freeze them in little bags - typically 5 to a bag. They'll freeze for up to 2 months, but they've never lasted that long around here. Tyler takes them out of the freezer and microwaves them for about 40 seconds and they're good to go! 

*Note: I have done a little experimenting with other stuff in the kolaches. I have put little slices of cheese in with the sausages, and I have also tried a little piece of deli turkey with some cheese. Tyler liked them all. I usually just stick with sausage because it's already a very time-consuming process. Nana says she loves fruit kolaches, but I have no clue about those.

So there it is, finally. Sorry to Laura and whoever else asked for the recipe a really long time ago! 

An act of kindness

We were heading to Wal-Mart to grab a few things and I stopped to get gas first. I grabbed my wallet and had my phone since I was talking to Mom, and I put my keys in the diaper bag. I locked the doors but left mine open. While filling up a big gust of wind blew my door shut! Not all the way shut, but enough that I couldn't get it back open. I told Mom and she suggested trying to get Millie to open her door. I got her to wiggle her shoulders out of the seatbelt and she could pull the handle but she couldn't figure out how to unlock it so that pulling the handle actually did anything. The more I talked and asked her to push the unlock button, the more shy/scared she became. I tried to be calm and happy and treat it like a game, but of course she knew something was up! There was a woman filling up next to me that came and asked if we were okay. I explained the situation and she tried to tell Millie to open the door. Millie closed up completely at that point and started to cry. The woman said she's a police officer and offered to call a wrecker she knew. I told her thank you and she made the call, then said they'd be here 15-ish minutes from then. 

Max was staying calm and Millie only cried when I spoke to her, so I just told her to eat her M&M's that she had in the car with her and then I left her alone. After an hour I called the wrecker (thank goodness the cop had given me the number) and they said they were waiting for word on my location. The cop had given them that info already, but whatever. Someone would be there in 15 minutes. Sound familiar? Yeah, didn't happen. After the next call, 2 minutes. Again, didn't happen. And at this point both of the kids were completely ballistic. I was pretty close myself. I searched for a new locksmith and called them, then called the previous wrecker and told them they had lost my business, don't bother sending your guy. (That guy ended up calling me about 4 hours after the original call to see if I needed help. Yeah, real professional.)

In all this chaos, there were several concerned people who offered and tried to help. One man was there for a meeting - seemed to be a beer distributor - and asked me twice if I needed help. Each time I told him I had someone on the way, and I thought I did. I wasn't sure what he was doing but be stayed in his car a few spots over. After waiting for the second locksmith for a little while (5-10 minutes) suddenly a different guy pulled up, from AAA. He came and asked if I was the one who needed help and I said yes but I hadn't called him. The beer distributor got out of his car and said he had called them - "AAA is always super fast, and you were waiting for a long time." So nice. I thanked him profusely and talked with him while the AAA guy unlocked the door in about 2 minutes. Amazing! When I asked him what I owed, he waved me off and said it had been taken care of, at which point I lost it. I retrieved the keys from my car, along with the measly $3 in cash I had with me, and walked over to the beer distributor's car. I was bawling and thanking him and told him this was all I had to give him. He said not to worry about it, that he had a wife and three little kids at home and he couldn't not do something. What a saint! I was so so so thankful. I got in the car and called Tyler to update him on the situation. Millie and Max had fallen asleep crying a while before, thankfully. 

I still am so floored by his kindness. In a world where crummy movies are way too popular and things can seem so bad, there are still really really good and kind people who will do amazing things for strangers! I'm going to be paying this forward for a long time. What could have ruined my day (and at the time, it did) turned out to be a really humbling experience that made me so grateful. 

Plus, we went home and had Cheetos for lunch. So that made everything better.

Random things

Our 5th anniversary is coming up in a few months, and I just learned that Tyler can make tooting noises with his armpit. He still surprises me! I almost died laughing.

Sad story: some birds built a nest above our porch (AGAIN) and one Sunday we found 4 little baby birds! They looked like sock monkeys a little bit. Then 5 days later we opened the door and they were dead on our porch and it smelled horrible! So sad.

Tyler had a doctor's appointment and we decided to tag along. While he was in there Millie needed to poop and Max was hungry, so I just took both kids out to the car. I put a diaper on Millie and hopped in the backseat to feed Max (less visibility there). The car was running so that we could have the A/C on, and Millie was climbing around and pretending to drive and having so much fun! Wearing a diaper and no pants, of course. A doctor walked out of one practice and into another (there were quite a few offices in this little medical park). He looked and smiled at Millie and kind of stared for a second. He went inside and then came out again with a woman in scrubs, I assume a nurse. She walked closer and started looking in the car, in the backseat too. I was trying to wave and I guess she didn't hear me shouting "HI! She's not alone!", but I also felt awkward because I was nursing Max and the reason I was sitting back there was to not be seen! Anyway, she eventually saw me and was embarrassed and they went back inside. I'm sure they had contemplated calling CPS for a minute there! I was really glad to leave when Tyler was done.

The last few mornings I've brought Millie and Max into bed with me when they wake up and we just talk for a minute. I like this little quiet time before the day gets away from us.

#sillymillie

If you follow me on Instagram, you see that hashtag a lot. Our Millie girl is as silly as they come!

-The other day, I made chocolate chip cookies. They turned out flatter than pancakes! 

But Millie didn't mind. It just made it easier to eat the cookie the way she eats everything with chocolate: pick out the chocolate chips, then eat the cookie.

Happy girl! Excuse the poor quality.

-We tried a new park today, venturing out into another neighborhood. Except for the extra bugs (there was a lake nearby), it was awesome! Millie especially loved walking on the wall that went around the playground. Just when I think I've figured out what she likes, girlfriend surprises me!

-The other day we were outside and our neighbors a few doors down started mowing their lawn. Millie, fearing lawn mowers (and anything loud), ran to me, shaking like a leaf. I suggested we go inside, but she wanted to stay out! So we snuggled in the 90 degree heat and humidity. This girl loves to be outside. 

 -Millie doesn't like otter pops very much, but loves to chew on the wrapper when I've eaten most of it.

-We found these pink chairs on the side of the road on trash day and Millie is obsessed with them! She sits on one and then pats the other, saying "sit, sit!" until I come sit down by her. We just sit and talk about planes and birds and clouds and bunnies and anything else we see! She rarely sits still so this is a treat for me.

-When Heidi and James arrived for the summer, Heidi showed us the recording of her senior project. It's a beautiful dance and she did a great job! Millie was obviously inspired too. She has been dancing non-stop ever since, and even has a special move where she extends her right leg behind her (just like Heidi does in her dance)! It has morphed, however, into looking like a dog using a fire hydrant.

Again, poor quality, but I had to capture the moment.

We love our silly girl!

Mother's Day/Mom's birthday

We got to be in Lufkin to celebrate Mother's Day this year. My mom's 50th birthday also happened to fall on Mother's Day, so it was a double-the-fun celebration!! We ate a yummy breakfast and went to church and ate a yummy lunch and a yummy dessert. My kind of Mother's Day- it was full of good food! Tyler and I also got to talk to his brothers serving missions- on a video chat! It was so fun to see them and they loved seeing/meeting Millie. We can't wait to see them in person.

Playing MarbleWorks with Grandma

She loved it!!

 I'm so grateful for all the mothers in my life. Tyler and I were talking on our way home from Lufkin about life and family and how grateful we are to have such wonderful families. It's just so amazing and inspired that Heavenly Father gave us families to go through life with! What would we do without each other? We love our families.

One of my favorite memories with my mom was kind of an ongoing one growing up. Each of the kids (once we were old enough) were assigned a night to cook dinner and to do the dishes afterwards. I always chose Thursdays, because that's when ER was on TV! I would take as long as possible to do the dishes so I could watch it all with my mom. We would watch ER and the 10:00 news together. Those were some great one-on-one times with my mom! I'm so glad she is my mom and Millie's grandma.

I'm so grateful to be a mom myself! It's the best job in the world and I wouldn't have it any other way. I was telling Tyler that sometimes it's just a lot of pressure to have these little people rely on you so completely! I hope that years down the road my kids will look back on their childhood with fond memories and feelings. Lucky for me, I have great examples to follow in my mom, sisters, mother-in-law, grandparents, aunts, cousins, and friends. Happy Mother's Day to you all!

First word

Tyler and I talked about Millie's first word a lot before it happened. What would it be? When would it be? We should watch what we say! I hope it's funny!

{For the purpose of record-keeping, Millie did say "papa" for a few weeks whenever she saw a picture of my dad, but it didn't last, so I'm not sure if that counts. Moving on.}

Millie's bedtime routine (when Daddy's home) goes like this: she takes a bath and then Daddy reads the scriptures to us while I feed Millie her bottle. She often finds reasons to stop drinking for a minute-- to share her milk with Daddy, to point at my eyes or nose, to babble something really important, to make sure I have her binky in my hand, etc. But a few weeks ago, she sat up, took the bottle out of her mouth, pointed at her bouncy ball in the corner of the room, and said very clearly, "Ball." As if it was so important that we know that the ball is, in fact, a ball that she had to come out of her non-speaking state to tell us. Very deliberate and serious (and hilarious to us). 

So that was it! We cheered and clapped and made her repeat it a bunch of times before resuming bedtime activities. The way it happened is very Millie- she doesn't do things until she can do them really well! You should watch her say "more" in sign language. There has never been a better "more." That girl cracks us up!

A husband, not a burglar

Last night, I plopped down on the couch with my yarn and crochet hook, turned on an old episode of Parenthood, and settled in for the evening. This is what I usually do after Millie goes to bed, since (as I've definitely mentioned before) Tyler works late and I knew he wouldn't be home for a good 4+ hours. 

At about 8:45, I heard the garage door open! I stood up to make sure that's what it was, since I often mistake the heater coming on for the garage door. Sure enough, the laundry room door started beeping (sure, it works for him but not for me). Tyler walks in the door with the biggest grin I've seen on his face in a while, then laughs as he sees me standing in the kitchen, my scissors in hand, ready to attack! My heart was beating so fast. 

So we pulled our air mattress into the living room and caught up on Suits (after Parenthood was over, of course) and talked about which phone I'm going to get in a few weeks when my contract is up. {Samsung Galaxy SIII or iPhone? Help!}

It was the best Monday night surprise ever. I can't wait until he can come home "early" every night! 

An old phone picture from back when we were engaged

*Side note: He said to me later, "You know I could have totally dominated you even with those scissors, right?" I guess I'm not as intimidating as I'd hoped.

Today

-Poor Millie still had a little fever. 3rd day of this fever bug, whatever it is.

-Despite her sickness, we spent a few hours at the church this morning setting up for New Beginnings. The show must go on, right? Millie was so good until she hit her breaking point. And then we quickly left.

-We got locked out today. For a really long time. I popped some muffins into the oven and then we went across the street to check the mail. We have a little keypad thing on our door where you just type in a code to unlock it instead of carrying around a key, so I never have a house key with me! Very convenient when the keypad works, very inconvenient when it doesn't. I didn't have my cell phone either, since we were just going across the street. The keypad thing decided to continue not working after a gazillion tries and prayers and jigglings. Then the timer for the muffins went off, and I just knew they were going to burn! I remembered that we left a house key with Tyler's parents just in case, but I hoped it wouldn't get that far. After being outside crying and praying and jiggling and trying to break in for a good 35-40 minutes, we gave up and drove the 12 minutes there and the 12 minutes back with the key (insert Hallelujah Chorus here- thank goodness for spare keys and wonderful in-laws). Did you count those minutes? My house smells really bad now. It was probably one of the most stressful hours of my life- the smell of muffins wafting out of the house, Millie crying {her binky was, of course, inside}, the keypad beeping at me, my phone ringing inside, wondering if the house would set fire, the microwave timer beeping, it was just all too much. Not to mention by the time we got back and inside the house I had 20 minutes before I was supposed to leave for New Beginnings! Things like that always happen on the worst possible days, right?

Inedible. I need a pickaxe to get these out.

-New Beginnings was awesome. It was the culmination of a ton of hours from all of the leaders, and we were so happy with how it turned out. And I think the girls were too, which makes it all worth it! 

-It is 10:24 pm and there is no sign of a hubby home anytime soon. Right now our only hours together are spent sleeping, and even then it's less than 5 hours a day. 

I'm going to go eat cookie dough in the bathtub while I watch something mindless. Can this day just be over please?

To end on a more positive note, I love it when Millie "helps" me with laundry. And that she is figuring out how to put clothes on! Watching her learn is my favorite right now.

My Blue Bell baby

When I was about 10 weeks pregnant with Millie, we went to the Juergens Family Reunion. Part of that reunion was visiting the Blue Bell factory in Brenham, TX! {This remains one of my favorite places to visit. A tour AND free Blue Bell? I'm in!} If you didn't know, Blue Bell is the best ice cream in the whole world. Hands down. Anyway, so I was newly pregnant and only our immediate families knew about it- we were going to break the news to everyone else towards the end of the reunion. As we wandered through the gift shop, I saw a little shirt that said "blue bell baby." HAD to have it, because duh, our baby would obviously be a Blue Bell baby. We had a dilemma- pink or blue? Since we obviously didn't know that Peanut was a girl yet, Gigi and Poppy got one of each, to be safe. I couldn't imagine at the time that little Peanut would ever fit into that shirt {because she was after all barely even the size of a peanut}, but now she does!!

Also, I think it's awesome that we can wear short sleeves this early in the year. I'm glad to be a Texan!!