Photofunia

I came across this website called Photofunia that lets you take your own photos and make cool or funny images out of them. Check it out. Here's my baby in times square...

Here he is at the mall...

Yours truly on the cover of Vogue...
And my personal favorite, my hubby's mugshot...(ha!)

My Nephew's 1st Birthday

Saturday was my nephew's first birthday party!!! It was so cute! His mom is really into gnomes, so he had a little "gnome garden" theme. This is his cute mushroom cake--I loved it! There is a little gnome off to the right of the cake, and it's surrounded by fresh flowers. Very cute. They had the party at a cute park that had a toddler playground area. They also had a strawberry pinata for the children. Which, by the way, all the kids were scared of it being hit except Jase. Ha! What a change!
Here he is with the proud parents! (sorry Meredith about the pic of the back of your head!). Dad Nathan is helping him blow out the candle. (Nathan is my brother, for those of you that don't know).
Meredith had little red "gnome" party hats for all the kids. Here's Jase wearing his! Tee hee!
After I took these pictures my battery died (of course), so I plan on getting more pics from my mom later on. Oops!

First Birthday Theme

I have picked a simple theme for the party! Yay! But you'll have to wait until your invitation comes to see it so I don't spoil it. Heh heh. For those of you out of town, I'll post the digital version of the invite on my blog so you can see it. Thanks for your ideas about the party. (cool birthday book idea, tori). It will be mostly adults there, possibly a few kids, too. I plan on making fun finger foods for all of them. And a cool cake, of course. I also plan on doing the colors lime green, blue, white, chocolate brown (inspiration from cake on left). I wish I could make a cake like that one, but that might be a little too much cake for our crowd and a little over my skill level. Now I just have to buy the decorations! I also have to decide what kind of cake I'm going to make. I have a few options with the theme I picked. I just want it to be bright, colorful and fun for Jasey. And of course he'll get his very own "smash" cake. I CAN'T WAIT. Then again, I can, bc I don't want mybaby to grow up! But it is fun planning the party!

Jase's Upcoming Bday

It's about a month away so I just thought I'd see if anyone has a fabulous 1st birthday party idea. I'm open to anything. I have a lot to do!!!

The Walker/Car Thing

I mentioned this walker/car toy a few posts back and finally have pictures to show it. This is it in the "car" mode. He'll sit on it for a bit, but hasn't figured out how to scoot. Probably doesn't help that we have really thick carpet. But he sure looks adorable on it!
So this is a picture of the toy in "walker" mode. He doesn't really walk with it yet. He just stands there and sort of pushes it back and forth a little. Or he'll spin that red spinner at the top.

"Look at me, ma, I'm so big!"

Well hello there!

Surprisingly Good Meatloaf, of all things

I know you are thinking I must be crazy! Who eats meatloaf?!?? Sick, right? Not mine, baby! Don't knock it till you try it! And the sauce for the top is the best part. It is seriously good enough for me to put it here for you all to try. I was inspired after we ate it...

Ingredients:
2 beaten eggs
3/4 c. milk
2/3 c. Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 c. finely diced onion
2 Tbsp. dried (or fresh) parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1.5 lbs ground beef (don't get the super lean kind...I get mine at Costco in bulk)

Sauce: ---just mix in a bowl and set aside for later---
1/2 c. ketchup (I prefer Heinz)
4 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard

Mix all ingredients (except for the sauce's ingredients) in a bowl until well blended with the ground beef. Lightly press into a 8x4x2 loaf pan, or something similar. No need to grease it. Bake at 350 for about an hour, or until internal temperature reads 160 degrees. Take out of oven and drain off excess fat. Then top meatloaf with sauce. Bake for 10 more minutes. Let rest a few minutes before serving. Prepare yourself for yumminess!

Sweet Bubby Boy

Awww...don't you just want to squeeze the cute juice outta him?

Here they are....the hippo teeth! Ta da! Funny huh?

"And for my next trick, I'd like to kick the speed up just a tad."

Mom showing Jase the camera...

Sportin' his cool plaid sun hat!

Boating!

This is probably the last (or one of the very last) times we'll be out on the boat this year. It is getting too cold outside.
I finally got up on the wakeboard today and rode it out. This video is the first time I got up, so I'm not looking too sharp! I had to wear Roob's wetsuit b/c the water was stinkin' cold! The first time I jumped in, I came up squealing! But after I was in it a few minutes, it wasn't bad at all. I had such a blast wakeboarding. I am just sad that it's the end of the summer and I finally figured it out. Of course. My luck. So I kept going over and over until I was completely exhausted so I could get my fill. I think I was pretty dang good by the end of it all. I could cross the wake and get back over it. Oh yeah! Hope you enjoy the tiny clip courtesy of Roob's brother, Jerel....(He stayed the weekend with us. Good times!)

Little Video Clips

Angel, Fly On

I had a neat thing happen to me today. I sang the closing song at a funeral--which was a first for me. The man who passed away wasn't anyone I knew personally, so I was surprised to get a call from my local bishop asking me to sing. Wow. Of course I accepted. Apparently, the man who passed away (I am not going to put his name on here just in case the family would not want me to do so) had chosen this song to specifically be sung at his funeral. The song is an old Willie Nelson song entitled "Angel Flying too Close to the Ground." Fitting, since he was a pilot (it's a song about an angel who broke its wing, someone patched it up, hung around, fell in love, but knew the angel would fly away some day, and says "leave me if you need to but I'll remember"--sad, huh?).

I hadn't heard it before, so I learned it over the weekend and his wife was kind enough to get me a copy of the sheet music. I was planning on singing it acapela but Reuben ended up playing it on the guitar. It sounded so sweet and pretty. I loved it! I was afraid that I'd cry during the song (since I cried my eyes out listening to the cd...and I'm no good at funerals anyways) but I made it through okay. As soon as I started singing there were soooo many people just sobbing. In that moment, I felt blessed that I was able to do something for them that was special. It was so touching. During the last note of the song, I looked at his wife and she had tears in her eyes and mouthed "thank you, that was beautiful" to me. I smiled at her, sat down, and then burst into tears! :) It was so sweet. I think it meant everything to her that I would sing her late husband's favorite song. I really am grateful that I could share this gift at such a personal time for this family. I just feel so happy for some reason, so I wanted to write about it. Reuben played the best he ever played, and I sang it even better than we rehearsed. I think God was helping us out!

More from the Park

Thought it was cute when Jasey got himself a drink from the fountain.

He fits perfectly in this swing and he LOVES it. I am still trying to figure out how to capture high speed pics on my camera since this one is quite blurry. But it's so cute!
This is his super cool bike trailer. We got it at Costco and it's pretty neat. It will fit 2 kids in it.
It also converts to an "all terrain" stroller. I haven't tried it as a "jogger," but I am sure it would work well even though the front wheel swivels. I can't remember the brand. Oh wait, i think it's Kidarooz.

The Pinecone

We took Jase to our town's park the other day to play.
He discovered this cool new object called a pinecone. Very interesting.
As with all new items discovered, it must pass the taste test...

Uh, I don't think he likes pinecones at all. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Cousins are Cool

I was able to go to lunch with my mother and Jase on Labor Day. Meredith and Hibster came along, too. While we were waiting to be seated, the boys were chillin' in their strollers and were fascinated with each other. It was so cute! I had to snap some pics...Next thing you know, it's holding hands time! Hee hee!

Jase kept trying to climb out of his stroller and give him a big hug!

Tooth 3 and 4

I decided since I STINK at filling out Jase's baby book, I better start documenting as much data as I can on my blog so I can fill in his baby book later. I know, I'm a slacker!

Jase got his 3rd and 4th tooth just a few days ago. They have barely cut through the gums, though. The funny thing is they are not his front teeth! I think they are the teeth on the left and right sides of the front teeth. I think it's funny b/c now he has "hippopotamus" teeth!

He has also been standing & balancing on his own for a few seconds. If you hold his hands, he'll take a few steps forward. We bought him this walker/car combo thing that we're trying to teach him how to use. The problem is that since it has wheels, he leans into it and just falls flat on his face. He is getting much better at pulling himself up...but he can only do it from a sitting position, not if he is on his tummy. He doesn't know how to get himself back into a sitting position once he's flat on the floor. He's also wearing about 18 month sized clothing, depending on the brand. It might be a bit big on him, but I'd rather that than too small.