two-and-a-half

Little Man is two-and-a-half.

He's been enjoying:

jumping (lots and lots of jumping)

climbing in boxes

helping cook and looking at my cookbooks

painting, coloring, and writing "letters"

supervising the progress on his quilt

going on walks (not in the stroller because he's the big brother now)

sliding down the slides at the park

wearing "big boy underwear"

playing peek-a-boo with Brother

talking in sentences and narrating what everyone is doing

asking 1,001 question every day

sleeping in his toddler bed

reading bed time stories to Brother

This is him playing the guitar as my mom played the piano.

Or "strumming with the piano sounds" as he said.

And here he is helping me design quilts.

I'm thankful for my "big boy." We have a lot of fun.

seven months

Last Monday was Brother's seven month birthday. Recently, as I watched him sleep, it hit me that he is looking less like a baby and more like a boy. He's growing so fast. Every once in a while I feel sadness that time is going by so quickly, but the sadness is quickly overshadowed by the excitement of seeing him develop and grow, gaining new skills and developing his personality.

Brother now boasts two little teeth and likes to use them--for enhancing his sweet smile, as well as for biting. Biting spoons and baby food is fine, biting me is not.

Speaking of baby food, he is enjoying trying new foods. He now eats pureed squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, avocado, apples, and pears and loves them all. His newest food is strawberries which he tried and liked yesterday. In addition, he is perfecting his pincher grasp and is becoming proficient at getting cheerios into his mouth.

Brother gave up on his promising start at crawling and settled for army crawling. He is determined and fast and keeps me on my toes! He's also learning to sit up by himself, though he prefers the mobility of the army crawl to the view from sitting. It's fun to see him exploring the house.

Perhaps the biggest milestone this month has been changing Brother's and Little Man's sleeping accommodations. They are now sharing a room. Little Man is in a toddler bed, and Brother sleeps in the pack-n-play. It has taken some adjustment for us all, but we're making it and are doing better than ever at sleeping.

I'm looking forward to enjoying warmer weather soon and introducing Brother to fun things to do outside.

photography

Last weekend I had the opportunity take a series of photos for some of our friends of their darling nine month old daughter.

She was so cute as she posed and interacted with us, totally unselfconscious and unaware of the camera
She wore an Indian outfit from her grandma complete with baby jewelery. When her proud grandma saw the photos she commented that she looks like an Indian princess.
I enjoyed the photoshoot and think that I was able to get some good photos. My friend painted this flower pot for me as a thank you. Isn't it beautiful! I just love the fuzzy looking panda bears.

I enjoy photography so much. And even though I really have no training, I find myself taking family photos and baby portraits for friends. I'm even scheduled to photograph a friend's sister's wedding in a couple of weeks. How did this happen? I'm pleased and excited but can't help but wonder what I've gotten myself into.

I know one thing, though, I'm saving for a professional camera and am going to find a good book on photography and put it on my Amazon wishlist!

to the park we will go

The last few days have been sunny and beautiful. The weather has even been warm enough that most of the snow has melted, and we've been going around in sweatshirts instead of heavy coats! It's too nice to stay inside. Yesterday we made our second trip to the park this year.

Little Man spent most of his time running around carrying gravel and flinging it into the air with the stick he found. He was also fascinated by watching big boys practice stunts at the neighboring skate park.

Brother tried the park swing for the first time and loved it. He grinned and giggled the whole time and was generally adorable.

Benjamin kept us company, longed for a good pair of skates, and split chasing-small-boy duty with me. He also took us out for pizza afterward, which was a delightful way of satisfying the appetites we worked up at the park.

Monday Menu

M-Broccoli Cheddar Soup (a new recipe for me) and French bread. This was the first time I'd made it, and wow, YUM! It was so good. I even followed the recipe like it was written instead of changing it up like I usually do with one exception. I didn't pulse it in the blender; I simply chopped my carrots and broccoli into small pieces. (Sorry, Summer, but your allusion to it being like baby food made the blending impossible.) : )

T-I'm in charge of the side for small group this week and am making a large salad (for 12 adults and 5 children).

W-A corned beef hash type thing wrapped in cabbage leaves and baked. I am combining a couple of different recipe ideas and will be winging my own version of corned beef and cabbage, thus the vague description.

Th-Sweet and Sour Chicken (I figure we'll need something lighter after our St. Patrick's day meal.)

F-home made pizza (This might get rearranged, though, since I forgot to get ingredients for it at the store today.)

Menu-ing tip:

Make your own chicken broth!

Pick any leftover meat off the chicken bones and throw the carcase into a pot. (Sorry if any of my readers are vegetarian... I'm second guessing including that photo; it looks kinda yucky.)

Add some vegetables. Anything that's around your house will work. I've used all sorts of combinations of celery, onions, garlic cloves, and even carrots, tomatoes, or cabbage.

Fill the pot with water.

Bring it to a boil and let it simmer for a long time. (I usually cook it for a couple of hours.) When it's done simmering, cool the broth for a while and then strain it.

Use the broth for Broccoli Cheddar soup, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Chicken Soup, etc. (Don't forget to add salt like I often do.)

If you have some left over, freeze it to thaw and use later.

What are you making this week?

Am I a paparazzi parent?

It was Monday morning,

and I was getting the boys ready

for going on our usual Monday errand run.

Little Man picked up Brother's hat

and put it on for him.

Then he looked at me with a winsome smile and asked,

"Shall we take a picture?"

[Guess where he'd heard that before?]

I, of course,

happily complied.

Spring Snow

Last night and this morning we had a delightful spring snowstorm. The air was warm (at least for having snow) and the large and fluffy flakes drifted slowly down. It was beautiful.

Little Man thoroughly enjoyed going out to "help" his grandma shovel snow and came in nearly covered from head-to-toe from toppling (his word). I did the proper mom thing and made hot chocolate to help him warm up when he came in.

In spite of the four or five inches we got, the sun is shining now, and the streets are already almost dry. It's beautiful too.

Monday Menu

Here's what I'm planning on cooking this week.

M-Well, we were going to have home made rolls and minestrone soup, but that didn't happen. Instead we had oven toasted bagel sandwiches and fruit.

T-Small Group; this week I don't have any food responsibilities!

W-Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and salad

Th-Chicken pot pie

F-Chicken noodle soup (maybe I'll get those rolls made for Friday's dinner)

Menu-ing tip: Sometimes I like to plan a series of meals that include elements from the previous days' meals. This makes dinner prep simpler and makes it easier to use leftovers in a creative and appealing way. For example, this week I'm going to roast extra chicken on Wednesday. I'll use some of the left over chicken in Thursday's pot pie, and then on Friday I'll use the chicken bones to make broth and throw the last bits of left over chicken into the soup.

What are you cooking this week?

Coming soon...

is a quilt for Little Man! I am going to make him a special quilt to help the transition to a toddler bed. Well, at least that's my excuse for taking on a new project. : ) I am planning it to be somewhere between baby quilt and twin bed quilt sized and would like for the finished result to look something like this without the applique.

Little Man loves the color orange, so I went through my boxes of fabric and pulled out all the oranges that I thought would be boyish enough. I'm combining them with some blues (also from my stash) for a vibrant, boyish effect.

I couldn't resist getting some new fabric too, so I ordered some of this adorable print designed by Michael Miller. (Incidentally, the Etsy shop I ordered it from has amazing customer service. I would certainly recommend them!)
Little Man chose it from the three or four prints that I had bookmarked. When he saw it, he lit up and exclaimed: "Trucks! Signs! I need trucks and signs!" I can't wait until the fabric gets here and I can get started. In the meantime, Little Man is carrying around the orange and blue fabrics and talking happily about "my twilt!" and I am planning on working on the Elizabeth handbag (designed by me) to post in my Etsy shop.

Delightfully Delicious

pretzels and chocolate chips together

are delightfully delicious

and addicting.

yum.

there's something about

the saltiness and sweetness

about the smoothness and the crunch

that is so complementary

and balancing.