I'm a Cheap Scrooge

We were at the mall today. Santa was there and you could take pics with him. Since Jase has never taken pics w/ him before, I thought it would be a cool thing to do. That is, until I saw the price list. Do you know it was $12.99 for ONE 5x7 picture???? Are they losing their minds? I am new to the world of taking pics w/ Santa--so I'm just curious for you experts out there--is it NORMAL for that kind of pricing??? And I think the next "package" up was like $22, which was like 2 5x7's and a couple wallets. Needless to say, I do not have a pic of Jase and Santa now. Waaah. Maybe I could make one in Photoshop. Ha.

Slacking on the Posting

Yeah so I haven't posted in a while. Here's some fun pics from that drive we took up the canyon. This month has been so crazy busy for me--but in a good way, I suppose. I'll try to post more later!

Mr. Tootles

We took a drive on Sunday and brought our camera along. He looked so stinkin' cute in his church clothes with his hair all done and his pimp argyle sweater--I was inspired for a mini photo-shoot. We got a billion pics of Jase. I am so busy lately that I don't have time to sift through them or edit them (this one could use a little "warming up") just yet--but today Roob told me that he kept checking the blog hoping to see the pictures! So I'm posting this one for you, babes. More to come!!!

Lloyd Christmas

Jase's hair was getting a bit on the long side, so both Roob and I decided to cut it. First Roob did it, and then I tried to cut it a bit more. It was ridiculous. He spun his head around so much the entire time I had the scissors out! Anyone who can cut a 1 yr. old's hair and make it look good deserves an award! I wonder if a bowl would have helped???
It ended up looking something like this when I was done (as you'll remember from the movie "Dumb & Dumber"):
Jim Carrey's character was called "Lloyd Christmas." Fitting, since it's December and all. Here is a shot of Jase's lovely chopped bangs below:
Another wonderful picture of Mr. Lloyd Christmas:
Poor child! It doesn't look so bad when I put some gel (a.ka. baby lotion) into his hair, but when it's just a la natural it looks ridiculous. Hence the new nickname for Jasey--"Little Lloyd."

Twilight....my thoughts

I don't want to overanalyze the movie to death (even though I prob will anyways), but I thought I'd give you my take on it. Overall, I liked it more than I thought I would. It was fun to see a book "come to life" on the big screen. Silly as it is--I was into it! The previews kind of had that "low budget" feel to them (climbing the tree looked so lame) so I didn't have my hopes up. And heaven knows my husband teased me every time one of them came on TV. :) How is this any more far fetched than Iron Man or StarWars? Anyways--here's the lowdown. THE CAST--I liked pretty much everyone except Jasper (what the heck were they thinking with this guy? he looked ridiculous!), Rosalie (she wasn't NEAR pretty enough as she should have been), and Jacob Black (he was one of my favorites in the book and I'm just not sure I like who they picked to play him in the movie. He might grow on me, though.) Alice was OK but she didn't really connect with me too well. Her "vision" was kind of portrayed in an odd way, I thought. I think lots of the cast didn't really know how to connect with their characters too well. There were many awkward moments. I was surprised that I liked "Edward" since I thought he was all wrong for the part. So that's good. Even though I thought he had some bad acting moments (like when the fan blew her scent across the room--I thought he looked strange). And a couple of times he did this weird eye-bulging thing. But I thought he got 100x better once they started "dating." Bella fit my imagination perfectly (thank goodness). I really think her character really carried the movie. She was probably the best actor in the film. I also thought Charlie, Bella's mom (just blanked on her name), and most of the schoolmates were cast well. I thought Charlie's house, the school, the prom, etc. was also a perfect match from the book's descriptions. I think with the next movie, New Moon, we will see a HUGE improvement since they will have LOTS more money to make it with due to this movie's success. I hear they made Twilight on a pretty tight budget (wasn't it an independent film)? It showed sometimes (a friend said at times it kind of reminded her of an after school special-ha ha), but for the most part they did a great job. Some of the story was out of order, but I figure they did that for time's sake. However, it did feel a bit rushed to me--but that is because the book is soooo much more detailed--and when is a movie ever quite as good as the book? Mostly I'd say it was entertaining, fun, and a very interesting love story. And a good time! Thanks, Krista, for joining me! I hadn't been to the theater in ages!

My Own Mini Grocery Store

Hi. So lately I've been thinking I need to get up to par on my food storage (for those of you who may not know what I mean, I'm referring to the LDS Church's recommendation to keep a year's worth of food in your home in case of hardship) . It has always been overwhelming for me, but in light of this economy and such, I have found some new motivation to get it done. I like to think I'd have my own little grocery store to "shop" at in times of need. Even if you don't experience any "hardship," you can just save money by buying in bulk and using some of your storage instead of doing your usual grocery shopping. I've been trying to cook more from scratch (especially breads) so that I can more easily rotate through flours, etc. Anyways, I've been doing a bit of online research and making a few phone calls for more info. If anyone knows of any cool websites that would be helpful in this area, I'd greatly appreciate a comment with the link. Here are some that I've found so far:

FEMA disaster preparedness - They have all kinds of tips on emergency supplies, how to store food, how to store water, etc. I was impressed! For example, you may want toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, etc. Another thing to think about is treats! Like chocolate chips, graham crackers, Snickers bars...whatever it is you normally eat (refried beans, corn, penne pasta, tomato soup). Just get the basics--see lds.org--then add all the fun/fancier stuff!
LDS.org - Basic food storage calculator, minimum food recommendations per person per year
The Red Cross

Jase's 1 Year Stats

"Is anybody in there???"
I know we're a couple weeks late, but that's when they made his appointment. First of all, his burned hand has healed up quite nicely, but the problem now is getting him to use it. It's still in a fist 98% of the time. And if you try to pry it open or encourage him to grab for something while holding his "good" hand down, he wigs.

Weight 26.5 lbs, 90th percentile (wow, this is the lowest percentile he's ever been)
Height 32.5", 98th percentile
Head 23.1", 100th percentile (so funny! though I have to say that his head doesn't look big to me, it looks just right--so go figure.

Some other fun things he's doing:
1. He "rocks out" to music. We're talking some major head bobbing (I have to catch this on video) and bouncing of the legs. And if I bust out the karaoke machine for my own entertainment, he just rocks out with me. It's so cute!
2. He says "nana" (banana), "meow," "ma" (which means "more") and a bunch of other non-word babbles. Well I'm sure he thinks they are words--but you know what I mean.
3. He will give you a kiss if you ask. But usually he only gives daddy a kiss. What the heck?
4. He can climb stairs (we have a gate in front of them now to prevent this).
5. Throws royal fits while getting his diaper changed.
6. Teethes on and off due to the front two teeth breaking the gums then retracting for the last few weeks now. ARGH. Which, by the way, is causing extra drool which is causing a little rash on his chin. Ouchie.
7. Sticks his thumb in one of his ears and "itches" it, I guess. We had it checked out just in case it was an ear infection--but everything's just fine.
8. Loves to use smushed food on his hands as hair gel (my personal favorite if we are just starting the day off).
9. Shoves food so quickly into his mouth you'd think he's preparing for the apocalypse! He puts so much in there that he has to use his other hand to keep it from falling out of his mouth!

Jase's Latest Accomplishments

Besides figuring out how to press his face against the sliding glass door (see picture on left), he has been taking his first few steps! I think he officially took the very first ones on November 12. He will stand, get his balance, then start walking. He only gets in maybe 3-6 steps then falls down. He kind of looks like a little drunk guy wobbling from side to side. If we say "Come walk to me" and hold out our arms, he will take like 2 steps and then "head-dive" squealing towards us. It's funny. The other thing he figured out how to do is drink through a straw. Roob just mimicked how to do it at a restaurant, and the next thing ya know Jase just did it. Yay! The last thing I wanted to mention was that he has started to join us in clapping his hands. The funny thing is that since his left hand is the burned one (it's pretty much healed up by now, but he still keeps it in a fist all the time) he just sort of claps by "punching" his fisted hand into his open one. Super cute, though.

One Year Comparison

Ha ha! I had to post this picture of him from last year's Halloween. We didn't do anything since he was only a few days old, but I had to dress him up for a photo. It was a build-a-bear outfit made for teddy bears! He weighed only about 9lbs then, but he was tiny enough to fit into stuffed animal clothes! I even had a little cap gun that we stuck into his pants, but I can't find the picture that shows the gun. Shoot (no pun intended)!
In honor of Jase's birthday I wanted to post his newborn pic to show how much he's changed in a year. Here he is only a day or two old in the hospital. He was so alert!
My friend Wendy took this picture of him in the hospital when she came to visit. I think he looks like a miniature Russian in it for some reason. I think it's the hat.
And this is a picture of him I took just a few days ago. Kind of jerks at my heart strings just a bit...my baby is SO big now! And those eyes are still blue. Yes (thanks to Roob's genetics)!

The Frog Prince on his Throne

Awww...so cute! He was so good just riding around in his stroller and being happy.
Funny how he is sticking out his tongue, huh?
I snapped this pic after dark, right before I loaded him back up in the car and took him home.
Short Video Clip:

Trick or Treat!

I got Jase and myself all dressed up for Halloween. He is the frog prince (I should have made him a tiny foil crown--dang it) and I am the princess that kisses the frog to turn him into a prince.

Here's our attempt to get another picture minus the binky.
Here's my opportunity for a big kissy!
I took Jase out trick or treating in our neighborhood with my friend, Krista (the wicked witch--who Roob thought was Darth Vader for some reason--LOL), her two children (Glenda & the Pirate), and her nieces. It was fun to be in a big trick-or-treating "pack."
We really had a lot of fun. As most of you know, I don't have hardly any memories before 7th grade--so I felt as though I was trick or treating for the first time! It was fun to take Jasey around and show him off in his cute costume. Plus, the weather was great tonight, wasn't it?

Happy Halloween!

I wanted Jase to "help" me carve pumpkins this year. It's technically his 2nd Halloween. He was only 6 days old for his first one--so he couldn't really enjoy it. He's still young but he had fun playing with the spoon. He didn't like touching the slimy seeds and insides, though. Ha!
I guess he was trying out the pumpkin slime to see if it was tasty. He looks like he is enjoying it in this picture, but don't let that fool you. I think he was just laughing at me.
After I carved the face I let him check it out. He poked his little fingers inside its eyes and spun it around. Of course. He loves spinning things. This kid is too funny. He tries to spin everything!
Oooh! Here's the finished product, Mr. Happy Pumpkin:
And here's the lovely glowing Mr. Scary Pumpkin:
Well I'm off to get our costumes ready for trick or treating...hope you have a Happy Halloween!!!

Jase Bday Videos

Here he is eating some cake. Dad makes a quick, unexpected appearance in this clip.

Jase was making a funny noise in this one.

Jase's Birthday, Part III

Just some food--frog eye salad, frogs on a log (peanut butter & raisins on celery, which is really good by the way.)

Close up pic of my little food signs.

Hee hee. This is a pic of Chris & Kami's boy, Kaden. He kept going in the dog kennel, so I think his dad locked him in there. It was great.

Opening gifts with Grandma Jenith and Mommy.

More gifts with mommy.

Jase's Birthday, Part II

So here's a pic of the table set up. I wasn't finished putting things out, but I wanted to get a pic before I the guests arrived. The big glass jar was eventually filled with a sprite/lime sherbet punch that had ice cubes w/ frozen plastic froggies in them. It was my "swampy frog punch!"
Here's some of the stuff on another table...I made these big chocolate chunk cookies and swirled some aqua blue chocolate on them in the shape of a snail's shell for the party favors. We also had cheetos (cheesy fried frog legs) for the chips.
My mom helped me sooo much! She brought all the cupcakes and had this great idea to make little gummy snails on top of them! How cute is that??? It's some kind of gummy candy w/ a sour gummy worm underneath. We toothpicked them and used the toothpick to stick it into the cupcake. Genius.
I got these shoes for Jase's birthday present. Aren't they cute? The have little squeakers in the soles, so when he walks you hear them go "squeak squeak." The great thing is that you can also remove the squeakers--which I'm sure will start to get annoying at some point. Or for church. Another good reason to remove squeakers! Ha ha ha. The only problem is that the shoes are at least one size too big. Dang it!
I wrote funny interesting facts about frogs, snails, and puppy dogs on each of the drink cups. Just a fun little idea.
Before I forget, I want to thank everyone that helped me with this party! Erinn, thanks for watching Jase on Friday while I made the cake. Mom, thanks for all you brought with you (pizza, cupcakes, treats) and for keeping an eye on Jase while I caught up with old friends at the party. Kami, thanks for collecting giftwrap and keeping Jase entertained while I was busy running around. Krista, thanks for the crockpot usage and for hanging crepe paper, etc. Julie, thanks to you for bringing the favorite chili of the night, cutting up my celery, washing my dishes!!! Big hug and kiss to anyone else I forgot to thank. I appreciate you all. And thanks for coming to celebrate with my baby!

Happy Birthday Jase!!!

My baby turned 1 on Saturday! I can't believe how grown up he is already...I have plenty more pics to post but I wanted to get a few up since everyone keeps asking me about them. So--here's the birthday boy! He left his hat on the entire time. What a sport! When we first put the cake down in front of him, he wasn't sure what to do. So he just gingerly touched it with his index finger. It was so funny. Then we put a tiny piece of it in his mouth to taste...He decided it was really good and started digging in for himself! It was too cute!

I was beginning to wonder when I should take it away from him...

Here is a pic of my pride and joy (besides Jase, of course). My first 2-layer homemade birthday cake! I really went all out with this thing. I drew it out, made a pattern, cut out the pieces and started working. It even had homemade whipped chocolate ganache filling (mmm). Took me ALL day Friday. My friend Erinn watched Jase for me so I could decorate without him holding onto my ankles...hahaha. I had some disasters along the way (the tail fell apart, had to throw it out and start over, ran out of icing, etc) and by the time I was finished it looked like a buttercream rainbow had exploded in my kitchen. The cake was so big I had to wrap a huge rubbermaid storage tub lid with foil (I forgot to buy a cake board). It wouldn't fit in the fridge, so I had to store it in our cold storage overnight. Ha! A few ibuprofens later I was able to sit back and admire my masterpiece. Then I had to come to terms with the fact that people were going to cut this thing up and eat it the very next day. Oh, the horror!

Here's a pic of Jase's own tiny "smash" cake. I lit the candle right before we all sang happy birthday. I was so pooped after the snail cake that I kind of took it easy on this one.
I have more pics and videos to post--so hang tight! *side note* I am having a problem with figuring out my camera. It's a Sony 8.1mp Cybershot. I read the manual and I'm still confused. If you click on the pics of Jase (above), you'll notice how grainy they are. I am SO frustrated with this. I had the ISO set on 400 (I noticed if I go any higher the pics are even MORE grainy) but it still looks crappy. I also had the camera set for incandescent lighting since we were indoors and it already looked kind of yellowish. Does anyone know a quick fix for this problem?

For those of you who MIGHT be bored...

You can carve a pumpkin online and watch it glow. Very cute. Click here.

Go Wolves!

My SIL tagged me for this so I will give it a shot.
Remember When.....
Did you date someone from High School? Sort of. I wouldn't call it dating as much as "hanging out a lot." His name was Jay (Roob still teases me about him). I definitely was in love (or so I thought). Problem was, I was the other girl (he had a girlfriend at another high school). Naughty me!
What Kind of car did you drive? Well it was my mother's and it was a Nissan Datsun. Basically some metal on wheels. Ha! It would not have been considered cool by any means. Sorry mom!
What was your most embarrassing moment? The night I drove a friend and myself AND my mom's car into the river. We were supposed to be coming home and she convinced me to show her where Jay lived. Big mistake. It had been raining for days and the bridge was out. We went flying straight into the water. It filled up the car and we had to escape through the windows. I got in super big trouble for that one!
Were you a party animal? I was definitely the life of the party back then. I loved having fun!
Were you considered a flirt? No I stink at flirting. Always have.
Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Yes I was in band during 9th grade, I think. I played the flute. I was pretty good at it, too. But band was sooo nerdy/looked down on that I finally couldn't take the pressure to be cool so I quit.
Were you a nerd? Nah. But I still had good grades.
Were you on any Varsity teams? Don't laugh but we didn't really have Varsity/JV. We were too small of a high school. So we just had one team for everything. I was on the softball team 1 yr and the dance team 2 yrs.
Were you ever suspended or expelled? No
Can you sing the fight song? Did we even have a fight song? I have no idea!
Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs Vulo (shoot I can't remember how to spell it)--she was my history teacher. I hate history but she was hilarious. Coach Garner (who also taught spanish) is my overall fav teacher of all time. He was sooooo funny and let me and my friends get away with everything. We were definitely his pets. We also had a cool English teacher (oh no, his name is escaping me) who I remember drove a Jaguar. I thought that was so cool. He would leave the room during tests (he's crazy) and everyone would cheat off of me. Lovely.
Where did you sit during lunch? In the school cafeteria that housed K-12 grade students. Good times! I have a random memory of them always having malts there, but you had to pay extra for them. We didn't have any special cool lunches like highschooler's do nowadays.
School Mascot? Wolves, baby!
Did you go to homecoming, and with who? OMG. Yes I did. I went with this hispanic guy named "Arnulfo" who I thought was sooooo fine. Ha ha ha I am laughing so hard just thinking about it. The funniest thing is that my friend Travis told me that I looked so "fine" in my dancing outfit (we wore like a sequined bathing suit w/ gloves, tights, and jazz shoes) before the dance started. Awesome memory. Awesome. The not so awesome part is Arnulfo. Although he was super cute, he had ZerO personality. None. Zippo.
If you could go back and do it again, would you? Yes!!! I LOVED high school. So much more than college. I had the time of my life there. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I miss it so much!
What do you remember most about graduation? Hmm...I am not really sure. Most of my graduation memories are from when the class one year older graduated. They had all the cute boys and fun grad party afterwards. I was sooooo sad they were leaving us! Our school was so small there were NOT many boys to choose from left in my class.
Where did you go on Senior Ditch Day? Well I skipped school at least once, I think, but I don't remember what I did. I think we shot at people with waterguns from my car??? Help! Maybe my high school friends can read this and help me remember.
Where you in any clubs? Spanish club, Beta Club....can't remember any more.
Have you gained some weight since then? Some is an understatement.
Who was your Prom Date? I only went to prom once and I went to my Senior Prom with my Sophomore friend, Josh Freche. He was such a sweetie. However, my friends and I all ditched our dates after the prom and went to a club. I still feel a bit guilty for that. Oops. Sorry Josh!
What Cliques were you in? I guess it would be Maria, Babette, Laci, Cayce and myself. We hung out a lot. We weren't the slutty popular girls, but we weren't the weirdos either. We were just the normal cool chick clique. I miss them!!!!!!

Frog Man

I have been looking everywhere for a costume that Jase can wear to his party and for Halloween. Since y'all know his theme is "Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails" I have been looking for something to go along with that. Well finally I think I found something that will work. It's a frog costume from Old Navy. Pretty cute, right? It's just simple and basic--made of fleece. I think it will work just fine. And it's cheap. Can't beat that. I did find a snail costume (believe it or not) but it was fairly strange & bulky (it had a big shell on the back). And the puppy dog costumes I've seen around town are NOT cute at all! So I think my little Jones will be a little froggy this year.