Yo Santa!

My friend Amy introduced me to these new toys. Well, I should say I saw her son playing with them and became insanely jealous that Jack does not have a set...or more along the lines of Jack does not have a set that he and LJ can play with. The wooden train set we picked up at Ikea is great but LJ has been complaining to me for about a month that "the track can not be completed until we find the last curve piece". Jack is perfectly content with pushing his little trains around his uncompleted track and then godzillaing the whole thing. So Santa, if you are listening, these would make AWESOME toys for the younger kids.
A hay lift, bales of hay, fencing, garden tools and feed sacks? Yes please! Plan Toys Farmhouse, $80

Don't forget the animals! Plan Toy Farm Animals, $25
Big Ol' Tractor! Plan Toys Tractor and Trailer Set, $54

Not into animals...how about this awesome parking garage set?

Plan City Parking Garage, $70

See all these toys and more at Amazon.com!

Enjoy it While It Lasts...

...it's supposed to snow this weekend!

Happy Halloween...Oh Wait...

Ok really. It is not my fault this time! I was on it...had the Halloween stuff downloaded and ready to go but my flickr account was busting my chops! For the last two days I have been trying to figure out how to post more than one photo from my account to my blog. I finally broke down and had LJ show me. Hope these all come through!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Jack was a dalmatian and Inchie (our dog) was supposed to be a fireman. Jack's buddy Otis was a frog. I realized after I got home that I didn't take a pic of Jack in his costume so you will all have to make do with these action shots.

Baker County Fair 2009

The Fair here in Baker is not the normal cotton candy eating, puke on a ride event. It is ALL about the 4-H kids. Just about every girl I have coached had an animal there so Jack got the special treatment...which means he got shoved in with different animals. Here are some of the better moments...

No go on sheep and pig. Didn't want anything to do with them.

Loved, loved, loved the cows.

What do you think is going through his little mind right now?

I think he is on his way to becoming a vet.

Happy Monday!

I hope you all enjoy your Monday as much as Jack enjoyed this pickle. Thanks for the pic J. Robb!

Caution: Viewing This May Cause You To Want a Baby

...and people are worried that I am going to push him into playing basketball.

Wanted: The Kid That Cleaned Up At the Easter Egg Hunt

He carried his little bucket up to the line and held it the whole time we were waiting for the hunt to start. The true sign of a competitor.
The hunt begins...
...soo we only nabbed four eggs but what a glorious four eggs they were! AND, unlike some people, Jack actually grabbed all four eggs. Not LJ or I. Jack and his little egg-hunting self.

Added bonus, our little man did not cry when he saw the Easter Bunny. He laughed and if we had let him, would probably have tried to pet her.

Frenchy Goodness

Now that we are getting fresh eggs courtesy of our lovely ladies, I am trying to find recipes that are Jack friendly. He won't eat eggs by themselves (not in any form...I have tried) so I found a great french toast recipe for him. Yum.French Toast Sticks
Adapted from The Super Baby Food Book
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients onto a platter. Place two pieces of whole wheat bread in the mixture and let soak. Turn bread over once and let the other side soak. Once all the egg mixture is soak up (usually about 20 minutes or so) cut the bread into small slices. KEEP TOGETHER!
Using a spatula, put the whole piece of bread(but really cut up already) into a pre-heated frying pan (I like mine on medium). After you get the bread into the pan, use the spatula to separate the sticks. Any other way and they will fall apart. Trust me.
Cook until the wet side is dry looking then flip over and brown the other side. Jack likes his a little custardy on the inside. Delicious.


Uh yeah, that would be the WHOLE stick shoved into his mouth. I am hoping this is a phase he is going through...or it could be because he is 1/2 Joseph.

Feeling Left Out...

Sometimes while I catch up on other blogs, I come across things that I find very amusing in comparison to my life. One of those things is the "Through Her Eyes" series by Maria at Layers of Meaning. She featured a sneak peak into 9 bloggers purses and I had to laugh at how simple these ladies live. Oh the good old days of manicures, cell service everywhere one goes, and long dangley earrings. Here is a shot of the contents of my purse......glamorous huh. You want a break-down of the goods? Here it is: a corduroy purse I got in China (completely washable BTW), disposable paper table covers for when we eat out with Jack (made of recycled paper and they have animals on them, double score), disposable diapers for when we travel or in case of emergencies (the number of these grow due to the fact that I always forget I have some before stuffing another in there), wipes that Jack so lovingly unpacked for me, my wallet, my coupons/gift certificates/receipt holder, an old shopping list, goldfish, gum, random bobbi brown lipsticks, the best lip balm EVER, barrettes, random napkins that I at some point picked up due to the impending mess Jack was going to create by eating something, gum wrappers, ipod, fabric swatches, pacifier (for emergency car break-downs), one of Jack's baby spoons, his body wash (no idea how it got in there), a roll of quarters and a pen.

For all my friends out there that haven't had a kid yet, your purse will look like this once you do. Totally unavoidable.

Fun In A Bun

(Sooo this recipe doesn't really involve a bun. Nor is it much of a recipe...more like a cool trick.) Take a piece of bread and roll it flat with a rolling pin. Then spread peanut butter and jelly on the flattened bread and roll it back up. For some reason it is easier to feed this to the little monster without having to cram it into his mouth.



Yes he will eat this after thoroughly inspecting it with his poking finger.

100 Ways to Keep Yourself Entertained While Mom Does Dishes

#14. Pull all baby wipes out of little container.


Not the way to start off the day. Inchie is pretending that this is not happening.

Would This Be Considered a Form of Child Neglect?

Hmm I don't think so but we have developed some very strange games as of late. How about this one...I throw a piece of clothing over Jack's head and he starts madly giggling while crawling around. Here he is crawling...
...and crawling...
...and crawling right onto the wall.Here is a close up of the action...and yes there was a bit of a thunk. But again, HE WAS MADLY GIGGLING!
Hmmm maybe if he reverses and then...on no wait...crams his head in between the plant and the wall...giggle follows.
Just in case you doubted that he was having fun.
Next game involves pulling all of the old plastic bags out of the drawer. Fun but he knows he is not supposed to do that.
Oh he knows he is in trouble!
But I, of course, crack first. Then it is all a fun game again.

Our Baby Boy is One Already

It has been a year since he was born! How time flies when you are having fun. A year of dirty diapers, breastfeeding, and miscellaneous mishaps (ask LJ about Jack's deadly aim). Jack had no idea what was going on so we kept the party small inviting just the family. I debated about what to make him and finally settled on mashed potato casserole, peas, and meat pies made by my mother-in-law. All of his favorites.

Then came the cake. Chocolate zucchini cake with a light dusting of powdered sugar got the nod. He loved it and not only stuffed it in his mouth, but tried to lovingly share it with his best bud, Inchie the wiener dog.


Really...how fun is it to watch your kid eat their first sweet dessert?

Almost as much fun as your kid managing to make a Charlie Chaplin style 'stache on his face. We left that for awhile because it amused us so.

Happy Birthday little man!

2008: The Highlights

A new baby and a new house?! What were we thinking...here are some of my favorite pictures from 2008.


Before





After







Gaybeard the Pirate made an appearance...
Before
Magenta carpet removal day. Thank god.
After













This is painful for me to look at.