I taught John how to brush his hair... well, I'm not sure if I taught him or he figured it out. Nonetheless, it's cute!
Showing posts with label John Steven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Steven. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
What's that noise?
I heard this from the other room and came to see what the was going on in my living room. (John found the string while I was packing for Ink's Lake)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Mac & Cheese Makeover
This isn't a new idea.
I don't even have a new take on it or anything extraordinary to add to it.
But, it is a good idea that I wanted to share.
We like to keep lunch simple around here, I'd rather use my brain powder (and effort) on dinner. Steven takes care of most of the left overs from dinner because he takes his lunch to work. So, what are John and I do to do?
Most days we just eat whatever random stuff I have in the fridge/pantry that doesn't take that long to heat up... like popcorn and yogurt. But I remembered that a friend of mine hid carrots in her son's mac & cheese. And who doesn't love mac & cheese. Total comfort food. I'm not even too fussy, I think the stuff out of the box is great! And super cheap... 55 cents a box (for HEB brand). However, John's a good veggie eater (Praise the Lord) so I did a few things differently.
"Healthy" Boxed Mac & Cheese Makeover
1 box mac & cheese ($0.55)
1.5 cups frozen broccoli ($0.50)
1/4 cup butter ($0.30)
1/2 cup pureed carrots ($0.20) or squash or whatever.
1/4 cup milk ($0.10)
I boiled water (with salt added in) and then tossed in my macaroni & the frozen broccoli. Boiled for 5 minutes (or whatever your package says), then drain. I added the butter to the hot noodles & broccoli and mixed until it melted. Then I add the carrots, powdered cheese & a splash of milk (I didn't measure the milk but I'm guessing it was about 1/4 cup). Add the milk slowly to check for the right constancy.
It made two lunches for me and 2-3 for him (depending on how hungry he will be tomorrow) for $1.65, or 40 cents per person per meal. I don't think you can beat that for simple healthy lunch. You could make your own mac & cheese instead of using the box... but I think as far as cost goes the box may win (I haven't looked into it, though). You could even beef it up with some meat, or bacon bits, or beans (if you want a cheep protein).
Okay... now I've wasted too much time blogging about lunch... Back to work!
I don't even have a new take on it or anything extraordinary to add to it.
But, it is a good idea that I wanted to share.
We like to keep lunch simple around here, I'd rather use my brain powder (and effort) on dinner. Steven takes care of most of the left overs from dinner because he takes his lunch to work. So, what are John and I do to do?
Most days we just eat whatever random stuff I have in the fridge/pantry that doesn't take that long to heat up... like popcorn and yogurt. But I remembered that a friend of mine hid carrots in her son's mac & cheese. And who doesn't love mac & cheese. Total comfort food. I'm not even too fussy, I think the stuff out of the box is great! And super cheap... 55 cents a box (for HEB brand). However, John's a good veggie eater (Praise the Lord) so I did a few things differently.
"Healthy" Boxed Mac & Cheese Makeover
1 box mac & cheese ($0.55)
1.5 cups frozen broccoli ($0.50)
1/4 cup butter ($0.30)
1/2 cup pureed carrots ($0.20) or squash or whatever.
1/4 cup milk ($0.10)
I boiled water (with salt added in) and then tossed in my macaroni & the frozen broccoli. Boiled for 5 minutes (or whatever your package says), then drain. I added the butter to the hot noodles & broccoli and mixed until it melted. Then I add the carrots, powdered cheese & a splash of milk (I didn't measure the milk but I'm guessing it was about 1/4 cup). Add the milk slowly to check for the right constancy.
It made two lunches for me and 2-3 for him (depending on how hungry he will be tomorrow) for $1.65, or 40 cents per person per meal. I don't think you can beat that for simple healthy lunch. You could make your own mac & cheese instead of using the box... but I think as far as cost goes the box may win (I haven't looked into it, though). You could even beef it up with some meat, or bacon bits, or beans (if you want a cheep protein).
Okay... now I've wasted too much time blogging about lunch... Back to work!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Inks Lake 2011
Our church takes an annual camping trip to Inks Lake. This year was the smallest group we've ever had... only 38 people (I think the usual numbers are around 150). It was a smaller group, but still a lot of fun.
We headed out on Friday with a car packed to the ceiling!
We camped with the Hugghins & Jay (as in we did most of our meals together). The good company helped me overlook that it was 105 degrees during the day.
I brought John's tunnel (and a few other toys) along with us because I thought it would distract him from eating so much dirt. It didn't. Instead the Hugghins kids played with John's toys while he ate sticks. What can ya do?
I think John has camping down. He's been 3 times in his short life of one year (kinda crazy to think he's only been with us a year, it feels like he's always been here). We brought a fan and set it on full blast when he napped during the day. He did excellent. One night (because he saw me) he had a hard time sleeping, but in general I give him an A+ for sleeping while camping. Granted, he wakes up earlier because he sees us in the morning when it's light out, but I'll gladly wake up at 6am if he takes good naps and goes to bed at 7pm.
I took a lot of sleeping pictures. I tried to be better about taking pictures of the activities we did, but it's hard to balance baby, life jacket, splashing water & a camera. However, every time I went to check on him I loved snapping a quick sleeping shot. Here's John after a nap...
Playing with Abby before "church" started on Saturday.
Eating Lunch.
On the first day, we went to the Devils Water Hole to watch the older Hugghins kids jump off a twenty foot cliff into water. I brought John along. He didn't really care for deep cold water so we ended up taking turns supervising John on the rocks while the other parent cooled off in the water. The water was extra cold this year. I'm not sure if it was because we went in May instead of June, but it was really nice to jump in a cool lake when it was super hot out. The only problem was sunburn. Thankfully, John didn't get any, but Steven and my shoulders were a little crispy after the first day... despite several applications of sunblock.
We came back to camp for another nap for John.
Then we let him splash around in a kiddy pool to cool off. I thought it was funny that he wanted to swim in the pool and not the lake that was right near our site.
We make Waffles the second day. I'd never thought to do waffles while camping, but it's a really good idea. Here's everyone... except for John...
He was playing over by some tress. He's so handsome!
And it's time for another nap...
On the second day we got smart. We went to Longhorn Caverns to cool off during the hot part of the day... and see some caves. We went with the Sexton family. I love Inks lake because it gives you opportunity to hang out with families that we wouldn't normal see as much. We have such great families in our church that I wish we had more time to hang out with everyone. I've decided the best way to learn about parenting & marriage is to find people that have great kids and marriages and ask them what they did... so much better than any book you could read about either subject. The Sextons were a treat to spend the afternoon with.
We put John in another friend's Ergo we are borrowed, hoping he would nap... And he did... just as we were Exiting the caves. Oh well. He was just too excited about the echo in the cave and all the things to see.
After Dinner time I made a SMOOKIE! Haha... a marshmallow in between two cookies... two chocolate chip cookies. It was yummy... and messy.
This was the last night. John has seen me making my smookie and realized that there was fun to be had. This was the night it was hard to get him settled down to go to bed. I was roasting my marshmallow when I looked up and saw this...
Crazy kid. He did eventually fall asleep, but it took a while.
In the morning we packed up and were off! I put John on Jay's motorcycle before we left because I thought it would be cute... and it was, Thanks Jay!
We aren't going to be traveling much (or at all if we can) this summer because car rides are the WORST part of going anywhere. John can handle about 30 minutes and the he starts to lose it! He screams & cries no matter what I do. I tired everything from food to making silly faces at him, but this is what he wanted to do...
We were ALL glad to be home. John went around the house grabbing all his favorite toys and turning around to show us. I was most excited about showering!
We headed out on Friday with a car packed to the ceiling!
We camped with the Hugghins & Jay (as in we did most of our meals together). The good company helped me overlook that it was 105 degrees during the day.
I brought John's tunnel (and a few other toys) along with us because I thought it would distract him from eating so much dirt. It didn't. Instead the Hugghins kids played with John's toys while he ate sticks. What can ya do?
I think John has camping down. He's been 3 times in his short life of one year (kinda crazy to think he's only been with us a year, it feels like he's always been here). We brought a fan and set it on full blast when he napped during the day. He did excellent. One night (because he saw me) he had a hard time sleeping, but in general I give him an A+ for sleeping while camping. Granted, he wakes up earlier because he sees us in the morning when it's light out, but I'll gladly wake up at 6am if he takes good naps and goes to bed at 7pm.
I took a lot of sleeping pictures. I tried to be better about taking pictures of the activities we did, but it's hard to balance baby, life jacket, splashing water & a camera. However, every time I went to check on him I loved snapping a quick sleeping shot. Here's John after a nap...
Playing with Abby before "church" started on Saturday.
Eating Lunch.
On the first day, we went to the Devils Water Hole to watch the older Hugghins kids jump off a twenty foot cliff into water. I brought John along. He didn't really care for deep cold water so we ended up taking turns supervising John on the rocks while the other parent cooled off in the water. The water was extra cold this year. I'm not sure if it was because we went in May instead of June, but it was really nice to jump in a cool lake when it was super hot out. The only problem was sunburn. Thankfully, John didn't get any, but Steven and my shoulders were a little crispy after the first day... despite several applications of sunblock.
We came back to camp for another nap for John.
Then we let him splash around in a kiddy pool to cool off. I thought it was funny that he wanted to swim in the pool and not the lake that was right near our site.
We make Waffles the second day. I'd never thought to do waffles while camping, but it's a really good idea. Here's everyone... except for John...
He was playing over by some tress. He's so handsome!
And it's time for another nap...
On the second day we got smart. We went to Longhorn Caverns to cool off during the hot part of the day... and see some caves. We went with the Sexton family. I love Inks lake because it gives you opportunity to hang out with families that we wouldn't normal see as much. We have such great families in our church that I wish we had more time to hang out with everyone. I've decided the best way to learn about parenting & marriage is to find people that have great kids and marriages and ask them what they did... so much better than any book you could read about either subject. The Sextons were a treat to spend the afternoon with.
We put John in another friend's Ergo we are borrowed, hoping he would nap... And he did... just as we were Exiting the caves. Oh well. He was just too excited about the echo in the cave and all the things to see.
After Dinner time I made a SMOOKIE! Haha... a marshmallow in between two cookies... two chocolate chip cookies. It was yummy... and messy.
This was the last night. John has seen me making my smookie and realized that there was fun to be had. This was the night it was hard to get him settled down to go to bed. I was roasting my marshmallow when I looked up and saw this...
Crazy kid. He did eventually fall asleep, but it took a while.
In the morning we packed up and were off! I put John on Jay's motorcycle before we left because I thought it would be cute... and it was, Thanks Jay!
We aren't going to be traveling much (or at all if we can) this summer because car rides are the WORST part of going anywhere. John can handle about 30 minutes and the he starts to lose it! He screams & cries no matter what I do. I tired everything from food to making silly faces at him, but this is what he wanted to do...
We were ALL glad to be home. John went around the house grabbing all his favorite toys and turning around to show us. I was most excited about showering!
Monday, May 23, 2011
I love hate you
Yes, you!
You there, piling up in my diaper pail!
Yeah, I'm talking to you!
I love hate you, cloth diapers.
I love you because you save me money. I love having you around because you are made new with just one wash cycle. You are very versatile... I can use you as a diaper or a burp cloth or snot rag or a my-son-just-peed-on-the-floor-and-I-need-something-to-clean-it-up-with cloth. You are soft and fluffy. You look adorable on my baby and with all the colors you come in I can coordinate you quite nicely with outfits (not that my son cares).
But, dear cloth diaper, you cause me such grief.
Honestly, you make me want to scream sometimes.
Not because you are more work... it's really no problem to throw you in the washing machine. Not because the Daddy of the house is less excited about changing you... I'm faster anyway (no offence to Steven, I just have more experience since I'm home with John) and I don't mind that much. Not because you stain sometimes... nothing a little sun, oxyclean or bleach can't handle. Not because you wear out with use... really nothing last forever and I've definitely already earn my money's worth out of you.
Why you ask? Why?
But because I can NOT, for the life of me, figure out your yeasty ways.
I can't figure out if you are the problem or if I'm the problem or if my son is the problem. I've tried everything... from bleaching the living day lights out of you to using gentle soaps and grapefruit seed extract. John eats yogurt and probably has the healthiest diet of the house (at least the least amount of sugar for sure). I'm sure I'm washing you correctly because we never have stink problems or absorbancy issues. If it's not him or me it has to be you!
When John wears you he inflames with yeast after only three or four days. If he wears your arch enemy, Mr. Disposable, then his yeast clears up (even without creams). But if I even think about switching back to you, yeast flares us again. Why is that?
I can't bring myself to throw you out because of the start up cost if I decided to start again. However, I have literally committed you the Lord about once a month since John was five months old and I'm just so mad at you!
I don't understand.
I am frustrated.
And you will sit in the corner for the next month
... or until I figure out how to deal with you.
You there, piling up in my diaper pail!
Yeah, I'm talking to you!
I love hate you, cloth diapers.
I love you because you save me money. I love having you around because you are made new with just one wash cycle. You are very versatile... I can use you as a diaper or a burp cloth or snot rag or a my-son-just-peed-on-the-floor-and-I-need-something-to-clean-it-up-with cloth. You are soft and fluffy. You look adorable on my baby and with all the colors you come in I can coordinate you quite nicely with outfits (not that my son cares).
But, dear cloth diaper, you cause me such grief.
Honestly, you make me want to scream sometimes.
Not because you are more work... it's really no problem to throw you in the washing machine. Not because the Daddy of the house is less excited about changing you... I'm faster anyway (no offence to Steven, I just have more experience since I'm home with John) and I don't mind that much. Not because you stain sometimes... nothing a little sun, oxyclean or bleach can't handle. Not because you wear out with use... really nothing last forever and I've definitely already earn my money's worth out of you.
Why you ask? Why?
But because I can NOT, for the life of me, figure out your yeasty ways.
I can't figure out if you are the problem or if I'm the problem or if my son is the problem. I've tried everything... from bleaching the living day lights out of you to using gentle soaps and grapefruit seed extract. John eats yogurt and probably has the healthiest diet of the house (at least the least amount of sugar for sure). I'm sure I'm washing you correctly because we never have stink problems or absorbancy issues. If it's not him or me it has to be you!
When John wears you he inflames with yeast after only three or four days. If he wears your arch enemy, Mr. Disposable, then his yeast clears up (even without creams). But if I even think about switching back to you, yeast flares us again. Why is that?
I can't bring myself to throw you out because of the start up cost if I decided to start again. However, I have literally committed you the Lord about once a month since John was five months old and I'm just so mad at you!
I don't understand.
I am frustrated.
And you will sit in the corner for the next month
... or until I figure out how to deal with you.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Garden Update
I've realized that a quicker way (at least for me) to do a gardening update is with my handy dandy video camera! I love that thing.
Below is about a 10 minute video of what's going on in our backyard. And also included for Grandparents, and other John watchers, is a short segment of John playing in water. Just be warned... he's naked.
From last year (the year that I was pregnant/had a newborn) we've got a lot more going on. I don't think I took a single picture of the gardens last year... sad. I'm particularly thrilled about our tomatoes this year. I've never grown such good looking ones... even with the lack of rain I think our tomatoes are doing quite well. The Zinnias also make me happy... but then again, just being in our back yard makes me happy :)
We've been thinking about expanding our boxed garden. Maybe doing something with stone or brick we receive free (maybe from free-cycle... or a lovely blog follower who has extras :) ). We need to do something because the wood around the garden is starting to rot a bit... we didn't use weather proof wood due to the chemicals and we didn't want to invest in cedar. But, I also want to have a space big enough to do tomatoes and squash and peppers and pumpkin and beans and watermelon and... well... just more plants in our garden. However, it's not going to be the size of of our back yard... just maybe twice what the garden is now. Anywho... that is a project that is scheduled to start as soon as God blesses us with said free stone/brick.
Here's where the back yard is at as of the 15th!
Below is about a 10 minute video of what's going on in our backyard. And also included for Grandparents, and other John watchers, is a short segment of John playing in water. Just be warned... he's naked.
From last year (the year that I was pregnant/had a newborn) we've got a lot more going on. I don't think I took a single picture of the gardens last year... sad. I'm particularly thrilled about our tomatoes this year. I've never grown such good looking ones... even with the lack of rain I think our tomatoes are doing quite well. The Zinnias also make me happy... but then again, just being in our back yard makes me happy :)
We've been thinking about expanding our boxed garden. Maybe doing something with stone or brick we receive free (maybe from free-cycle... or a lovely blog follower who has extras :) ). We need to do something because the wood around the garden is starting to rot a bit... we didn't use weather proof wood due to the chemicals and we didn't want to invest in cedar. But, I also want to have a space big enough to do tomatoes and squash and peppers and pumpkin and beans and watermelon and... well... just more plants in our garden. However, it's not going to be the size of of our back yard... just maybe twice what the garden is now. Anywho... that is a project that is scheduled to start as soon as God blesses us with said free stone/brick.
Here's where the back yard is at as of the 15th!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
John's Cinco De Mayo Birthday Bash
John's Birthday was about a week ago, but we really started the celebration on the 4th... and didn't stop celebrating till the 7th. It was a crazy weekend and long naps occurred on Monday (2 hours for me & a 2 hour and 3.5 hour for John) but it was fun to celebrate our son's first year.
On the forth I made Knock You Naked Brownies in honor of birthday suits (really cuz I wanted them) for Homegroup. The sad thing was that John was sleeping while we enjoyed them. It was fun to think back... my water broke at this time... and we were going to the hospital at this time... etc. I'm not going to lie, it made me want another baby... then I thought back to nursing and I was content to wait a few more months.
Grammie (My Mom) came in the night of the forth. And on Thursday (5th = actual birthday) I took advantage of having her in town and did some yard work. For John's birthday present I took him to the doctor... I know, I'm such a great Mom, haha. The doctor kinda laughed at me for coming in exactly on his birthday, but it worked out well for our busy weekend. John got a TON of shots (more than he has had before) so he was pretty mad when we left... but Grammie was watching him the rest of the day so I wasn't too worried :P That evening Steven and I had a date... I highly recommend taking advantage of grandparents :)
Friday (6th) was our big Blue Bell day. I already posted a video (if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it ... it's worth the three minutes!) and there is a slide show below of some photos. That was the first day we turned around John's car seat. Since he's almost always off the charts he met the size requirements to flip it but lacked only the age. I know about the studies that say it's safer to have them backwards, but John is long and he is running out of leg room... in addition, I feel like our seat is more secure forward facing. We meet the requirements posted on the actual seat so I'm not too worried about it. He is still super stoked about being forward facing... I think he especially likes it when I turn around to peak on him while waiting at red lights. The major disadvantage of the forward facing is that naps in the car are now nonexistent... Major Bummer! (I'm nervous about our trip to Inks Lake coming up)
My Sister & Niece came in on Friday and John started to show the first signs of over-tired-ness at dinner. I've never had such a cranky baby in a restaurant... I was kinda embarrassed. But, I think the whole weekend was quite a learning experience for me. John is pretty flexible, but by only two days out of our normal routine he was not cooping well. My son loves his routine!
Saturday was the big birthday party day. We only invited family and church friends because we wanted to keep it small... our house isn't the biggest. Saturday morning involved a lot of cleaning... and last minute shopping trips. I also made John's cake on Saturday morning. The theme was Cinco De Mayo... go figure... and Steven wanted it to look like a chili pepper. This is what we came up with!
I saw some really cute mini three tier cakes for baby's first cake, but I can't find the site again... which is probably for the better, cuz mine did not come out as cute... it looks more like a mountain of icing. Steven & I wanted chocolate cake... but let me tell you, icing a chocolate cake that you have cut up and reassembled is not the easiest! It's super crumbly! I recommend freezing it before icing it if you have time... and pipe on the icing and then smooth it out after it's piped on... or just choose a white cake.
Our plan was to do cake and let the kids play in the water. The hope was that John would splash around and get most of the icing off of him before he came in. John liked his cake, but I think the sweetness got to him because he definitely came to a stopping point. The kids sure enjoyed the water (see video below) but John sure did not. I'm not sure what it is with this kid... He LOVES bath time, but put him in the ocean or a pool (kiddy or regular size) and he freaks out! Steven ended up hosing him off. Since it's getting hot already we may start doing pool time in the back yard more often, maybe then he will get it. I also think that by Saturday afternoon John was just plain done with being out of our routine. Definitely take my advice and don't plan too much for your little one at once.
Just plain Tired!!! I've never seen so much thumb sucking!
Speaking of the heat! It's May but the cake definitely melted. I used real butter to make the icing so a few seconds in the sun and the icing was dripping! Texas is brutal. It was yummy though.
After fun with friends we came inside and opened presents. I did update John's wishpot list for family but I tried my best to not encourage gifts. There is no great way to do that, but here's the honest unedited truth. John has everything he needs... and I probably have enough stuff to have like two more boys and be fine. We are blessed to have TONS of toy entertainment, clothing (Thank you, Issac hand-me-downs) & diapers (although I would never turn down more Bumgenius!). I did update John's list because people in my family asked me what he might need.
John got new shoes, walker/scooter, big ball, tunnel, more bath toys & books. All of those things have been his new favorites so far this week. Also he has LOVE the maracas... the kid is living up to his cinco de mayo birthday. In the past three days he is often seen crawling around the house with one of the maracas in his hands.
Most of the toys he got are 'walking' themed... and I have good news in that department. As of today (10th) John has started to take more voluntary steps. I was sitting on the couch reading something when I saw John let go of the coffee table and take few steps on his own. He kept doing it while I was making dinner. I could see him gaining confidence with each step... re-balancing himself and stepping off. It was kinda neat to watch. I may get out the video camera tomorrow if he is still doing it, but I'm not expecting him to take off. If there is one thing I've learned about this kid, it is that you can't force him to do something early. He will give up army crawling when he is ready to... and he will walk when he wants to, not when you want him to. Somethings I will force, like keeping your bib on during dinner, but I think in the milestone department I can not rush John... even if I know he can do it!
The walker converts to a scooter for future use. A friend of ours has this one and John really likes it. It is a great toy and John plays with it often.
And of coarse the tunnel. I have a little confession: we have the tunnels in our nursery at church and I never was very excited about getting them out for the kids... until I saw how much my kid enjoyed it. I like it so much that I asked for one for his birthday. Something I've discovered I really like about our tunnel is that it collapses & it's portable... a great toy for a small house!
It was a great weekend. We are ridiculously blessed. By having John and by all the people that love us. John is so cute that he makes me want more babies (but I kinda wanted more babies before him so that really isn't fair). I love having him around even though the days are sometimes long. He's taught me so much about how God loves me. Through his fits I've seen how God sees me when I'm ridiculous. I've personally felt the hurt of disobedience from John that God must experience when I don't obey him. I've experienced pure joy when I look at him and he smiles back at me just because I'm his Mommy. Surely God feels that way when I praise him. I truly delight in his accomplishments as God delights in my successes. And I love watching him grow! It's amazing how God created us and gave us a peak into his character through parenting.
On the forth I made Knock You Naked Brownies in honor of birthday suits (really cuz I wanted them) for Homegroup. The sad thing was that John was sleeping while we enjoyed them. It was fun to think back... my water broke at this time... and we were going to the hospital at this time... etc. I'm not going to lie, it made me want another baby... then I thought back to nursing and I was content to wait a few more months.
Grammie (My Mom) came in the night of the forth. And on Thursday (5th = actual birthday) I took advantage of having her in town and did some yard work. For John's birthday present I took him to the doctor... I know, I'm such a great Mom, haha. The doctor kinda laughed at me for coming in exactly on his birthday, but it worked out well for our busy weekend. John got a TON of shots (more than he has had before) so he was pretty mad when we left... but Grammie was watching him the rest of the day so I wasn't too worried :P That evening Steven and I had a date... I highly recommend taking advantage of grandparents :)
Friday (6th) was our big Blue Bell day. I already posted a video (if you haven't seen it yet, go watch it ... it's worth the three minutes!) and there is a slide show below of some photos. That was the first day we turned around John's car seat. Since he's almost always off the charts he met the size requirements to flip it but lacked only the age. I know about the studies that say it's safer to have them backwards, but John is long and he is running out of leg room... in addition, I feel like our seat is more secure forward facing. We meet the requirements posted on the actual seat so I'm not too worried about it. He is still super stoked about being forward facing... I think he especially likes it when I turn around to peak on him while waiting at red lights. The major disadvantage of the forward facing is that naps in the car are now nonexistent... Major Bummer! (I'm nervous about our trip to Inks Lake coming up)
My Sister & Niece came in on Friday and John started to show the first signs of over-tired-ness at dinner. I've never had such a cranky baby in a restaurant... I was kinda embarrassed. But, I think the whole weekend was quite a learning experience for me. John is pretty flexible, but by only two days out of our normal routine he was not cooping well. My son loves his routine!
Saturday was the big birthday party day. We only invited family and church friends because we wanted to keep it small... our house isn't the biggest. Saturday morning involved a lot of cleaning... and last minute shopping trips. I also made John's cake on Saturday morning. The theme was Cinco De Mayo... go figure... and Steven wanted it to look like a chili pepper. This is what we came up with!
I saw some really cute mini three tier cakes for baby's first cake, but I can't find the site again... which is probably for the better, cuz mine did not come out as cute... it looks more like a mountain of icing. Steven & I wanted chocolate cake... but let me tell you, icing a chocolate cake that you have cut up and reassembled is not the easiest! It's super crumbly! I recommend freezing it before icing it if you have time... and pipe on the icing and then smooth it out after it's piped on... or just choose a white cake.
Our plan was to do cake and let the kids play in the water. The hope was that John would splash around and get most of the icing off of him before he came in. John liked his cake, but I think the sweetness got to him because he definitely came to a stopping point. The kids sure enjoyed the water (see video below) but John sure did not. I'm not sure what it is with this kid... He LOVES bath time, but put him in the ocean or a pool (kiddy or regular size) and he freaks out! Steven ended up hosing him off. Since it's getting hot already we may start doing pool time in the back yard more often, maybe then he will get it. I also think that by Saturday afternoon John was just plain done with being out of our routine. Definitely take my advice and don't plan too much for your little one at once.
Just plain Tired!!! I've never seen so much thumb sucking!
Speaking of the heat! It's May but the cake definitely melted. I used real butter to make the icing so a few seconds in the sun and the icing was dripping! Texas is brutal. It was yummy though.
After fun with friends we came inside and opened presents. I did update John's wishpot list for family but I tried my best to not encourage gifts. There is no great way to do that, but here's the honest unedited truth. John has everything he needs... and I probably have enough stuff to have like two more boys and be fine. We are blessed to have TONS of toy entertainment, clothing (Thank you, Issac hand-me-downs) & diapers (although I would never turn down more Bumgenius!). I did update John's list because people in my family asked me what he might need.
John got new shoes, walker/scooter, big ball, tunnel, more bath toys & books. All of those things have been his new favorites so far this week. Also he has LOVE the maracas... the kid is living up to his cinco de mayo birthday. In the past three days he is often seen crawling around the house with one of the maracas in his hands.
Most of the toys he got are 'walking' themed... and I have good news in that department. As of today (10th) John has started to take more voluntary steps. I was sitting on the couch reading something when I saw John let go of the coffee table and take few steps on his own. He kept doing it while I was making dinner. I could see him gaining confidence with each step... re-balancing himself and stepping off. It was kinda neat to watch. I may get out the video camera tomorrow if he is still doing it, but I'm not expecting him to take off. If there is one thing I've learned about this kid, it is that you can't force him to do something early. He will give up army crawling when he is ready to... and he will walk when he wants to, not when you want him to. Somethings I will force, like keeping your bib on during dinner, but I think in the milestone department I can not rush John... even if I know he can do it!
The walker converts to a scooter for future use. A friend of ours has this one and John really likes it. It is a great toy and John plays with it often.
And of coarse the tunnel. I have a little confession: we have the tunnels in our nursery at church and I never was very excited about getting them out for the kids... until I saw how much my kid enjoyed it. I like it so much that I asked for one for his birthday. Something I've discovered I really like about our tunnel is that it collapses & it's portable... a great toy for a small house!
It was a great weekend. We are ridiculously blessed. By having John and by all the people that love us. John is so cute that he makes me want more babies (but I kinda wanted more babies before him so that really isn't fair). I love having him around even though the days are sometimes long. He's taught me so much about how God loves me. Through his fits I've seen how God sees me when I'm ridiculous. I've personally felt the hurt of disobedience from John that God must experience when I don't obey him. I've experienced pure joy when I look at him and he smiles back at me just because I'm his Mommy. Surely God feels that way when I praise him. I truly delight in his accomplishments as God delights in my successes. And I love watching him grow! It's amazing how God created us and gave us a peak into his character through parenting.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Blue Bell
I've been a bad blogger... I didn't make a special post for my son's birthday.
Shame on me.
We have visitors in and lots of fun activities for John's birthday.... some fun for him and some fun for me (like date night with Steven & getting compost for our gardens).
However, I HAD to share this immediately because it makes me laugh so hard (as you will see in the video).
We went to Blue Bell today because I wanted John's first ice cream to be there ... and well, I wanted to go! Anyway, here is an AWESOME video of the experience!
Shame on me.
We have visitors in and lots of fun activities for John's birthday.... some fun for him and some fun for me (like date night with Steven & getting compost for our gardens).
However, I HAD to share this immediately because it makes me laugh so hard (as you will see in the video).
We went to Blue Bell today because I wanted John's first ice cream to be there ... and well, I wanted to go! Anyway, here is an AWESOME video of the experience!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter
After much discussion about bunnies, eggs, peeps & Jesus, we decided it's okay for John to participate in most of the culturally accepted things to do when it comes to Easter (like egg hunts, gift giving and indulging in sweets :) ). Now I'd rather not go into all the arguments about what we shouldn't and should tell John about Easter, but then general guideline we are going by is that we want him to associate Jesus' Resurrection with Easter and that it's fine if he hunts eggs and gives/receives gifts as part of the celebration.
Personally, I think some of the more culturally accepted things to do (like gifts and eggs) provide a great opportunity for sharing the gospel. And as long as Steven and I do a good job of telling John about Jesus then he will have the ability to 'deal' with the Easter Bunny. We hope to spend more time building into his little character than telling him whether on not the Easter Bunny exist.
On a lighter note...
Our friends were planning an egg hunt and I thought it would be fun if John participated too. We set him up...
And this is what happened...
The other kids were having too much fun looking for eggs so I decided not to push it. Maybe next year I'll get a better photo.
At least he was pretty studly for church!
Steven Mom gave John some Easter candy and I thought I would humor her with a series of pictures. I'm pretty sure Jelly Beans are the sweetest thing John has ever had, and some of his faces crack me up! Here's a slide show!
I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus this past weekend!
Personally, I think some of the more culturally accepted things to do (like gifts and eggs) provide a great opportunity for sharing the gospel. And as long as Steven and I do a good job of telling John about Jesus then he will have the ability to 'deal' with the Easter Bunny. We hope to spend more time building into his little character than telling him whether on not the Easter Bunny exist.
On a lighter note...
Our friends were planning an egg hunt and I thought it would be fun if John participated too. We set him up...
And this is what happened...
The other kids were having too much fun looking for eggs so I decided not to push it. Maybe next year I'll get a better photo.
At least he was pretty studly for church!
Steven Mom gave John some Easter candy and I thought I would humor her with a series of pictures. I'm pretty sure Jelly Beans are the sweetest thing John has ever had, and some of his faces crack me up! Here's a slide show!
I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus this past weekend!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Fort Parker
Last weekend we went camping... and to a wedding... and to watch Christine get her Aggie Ring. It was quite a weekend, but I'm going to share just about camping right now.
We went to Fort Parker with some friends. I highly recommend this park. It's on a lake so there is plenty opportunity for fishing. We actually hiked over to the dam in the morning and saw about 20 fish in the water. We didn't bring our poles with us on that hike and I TOTALLY regret it. You could see fish just chilling out and occasionally biting at small minnows. Next time we go, we are fishing that spot!
The hiking trails are nice, as is the case with most state parks I've been to. And Fort Parker has a playground. The best part, I thought, was that almost all of the camp sites have large shade trees... invaluable during the hot summer months. The park is off the highway so you might hear some road noise... but it's not like an interstate so it's not terribly active. It was only about an hour and half from our place and about two hours from my Mom's house so we might visit it again soon.
I didn't take great pictures because it was a busy weekend! I don't have many to share but here's what I have... As soon as we got there and put John down he was off to find a stick to taste!
The first night was really cold... at least for sleeping outdoors... it was about 45. I think I would have slept better if I would have just left John alone. Every time he made a noise I would try to 'fix' him... I was worried that he was cold, mainly. So I would get him down (he was in the pack-n-play like last time) and put him in between us. The problem is that John hasn't slept with us since he was two weeks old... so being in bed with Daddy & Mommy means it's time to play. So he would go from half asleep to wide awake as soon as he hit the ground. I would start worrying about the other campers so I would put him back in the pack-n-play. He would fall asleep (without crying) and then wake up about 2 hours later and the cycle would begin again. I don't know why I was worried about him being cold, he had two layers on with two quilts in the pack-n-play... I think he was actually warmer than us. However, since we don't sleep in the same room I'm not aware of all the noises he makes at night... it could have been a totally normal night.
After walking around the next day I realized that most campers near us had actual campers, so I decided if John made a few noises during the night it wasn't going to wake the entire camp ground up. John stayed in the pack-n-play and we all slept better the second night!
Here is a picture from the first morning. John was active because he was in between us and so the picture is a little blurred... but still good fun.
So our theory on dirt is that "it don't hurt." And what we decided was that John could play in the dirt and get as dirty as he wanted but when he went down for a nap/bed I (or Steven) would clean him up. John got pretty, amazingly dirty. I had to take pictures because it was unbelievable. He had so much dirt that his diapers were sandy the next day. I guess I could chase him around all day telling him not to put this and that in his mouth, but I'm pretty sure other babies have eaten dirt (in larger quantities) and survived... so I didn't worry about it and it turned out to be an great camping trip.
Crazy Kid!
Anyway... I highly recommend Fort Parker. Bring your fishing poles and your kids! :)
We went to Fort Parker with some friends. I highly recommend this park. It's on a lake so there is plenty opportunity for fishing. We actually hiked over to the dam in the morning and saw about 20 fish in the water. We didn't bring our poles with us on that hike and I TOTALLY regret it. You could see fish just chilling out and occasionally biting at small minnows. Next time we go, we are fishing that spot!
The hiking trails are nice, as is the case with most state parks I've been to. And Fort Parker has a playground. The best part, I thought, was that almost all of the camp sites have large shade trees... invaluable during the hot summer months. The park is off the highway so you might hear some road noise... but it's not like an interstate so it's not terribly active. It was only about an hour and half from our place and about two hours from my Mom's house so we might visit it again soon.
I didn't take great pictures because it was a busy weekend! I don't have many to share but here's what I have... As soon as we got there and put John down he was off to find a stick to taste!
The first night was really cold... at least for sleeping outdoors... it was about 45. I think I would have slept better if I would have just left John alone. Every time he made a noise I would try to 'fix' him... I was worried that he was cold, mainly. So I would get him down (he was in the pack-n-play like last time) and put him in between us. The problem is that John hasn't slept with us since he was two weeks old... so being in bed with Daddy & Mommy means it's time to play. So he would go from half asleep to wide awake as soon as he hit the ground. I would start worrying about the other campers so I would put him back in the pack-n-play. He would fall asleep (without crying) and then wake up about 2 hours later and the cycle would begin again. I don't know why I was worried about him being cold, he had two layers on with two quilts in the pack-n-play... I think he was actually warmer than us. However, since we don't sleep in the same room I'm not aware of all the noises he makes at night... it could have been a totally normal night.
After walking around the next day I realized that most campers near us had actual campers, so I decided if John made a few noises during the night it wasn't going to wake the entire camp ground up. John stayed in the pack-n-play and we all slept better the second night!
Here is a picture from the first morning. John was active because he was in between us and so the picture is a little blurred... but still good fun.
So our theory on dirt is that "it don't hurt." And what we decided was that John could play in the dirt and get as dirty as he wanted but when he went down for a nap/bed I (or Steven) would clean him up. John got pretty, amazingly dirty. I had to take pictures because it was unbelievable. He had so much dirt that his diapers were sandy the next day. I guess I could chase him around all day telling him not to put this and that in his mouth, but I'm pretty sure other babies have eaten dirt (in larger quantities) and survived... so I didn't worry about it and it turned out to be an great camping trip.
Crazy Kid!
Anyway... I highly recommend Fort Parker. Bring your fishing poles and your kids! :)
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