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.

FrankenJase

I think this picture of him is probably one of my favorite ones I've ever seen. Too bad the resolution isn't better on it, but whatever. I kind of screwed up my copy of Photoshop (long story) so I'm having some trouble editing photos the way I want to now. Dangit. Anyways, I thought he looked like a cute frankenstein. Hee hee. Perfect for Halloween!
Too cute! You can even see the "hippo" teeth. Ha ha ha! I think he maybe could use a haircut...
Oh, this is a picture of his super cool Britax cow seat (meant to post a pic of it a couple months ago). Isn't it fabulous? I love it. It's nice and soft, too. By the way, the red sock is the bo-bo hand. We use it to cover the bandage since he likes to teethe on it now. Oh man.
Aww...my little chubber cheek angel. I can't stand how much I love this boy! I love how peaceful his face is while he's sleeping.

Update II on Jase's Hand

This one is a pic from the 2nd day after he burned it. The white stuff is ointment.
You can see how the two biggest blisters (from day 1) morphed into a single, ginormous one. GAH.
This pic is from day 7 after the accident. He wouldn't open his fist, but the stuff you see is all the old skin that is all loose. Blech it just grosses me out and makes me feel so sad for his little baby hand.
My camera is still in my car so pics will have to wait (ok I posted pics since I wrote this, above). I have a picture from the 2nd day to post, but since then taking pics has been virtually impossibly bc Jase balls his hand up in a tight fist and refuses to open it. The good news is that the blister finally drained yesterday. Looks like there is some nice, new skin that formed underneath. The old blister skin is all wrinkly and gross like "raisin skin" on top. Eew! Anyways, we bandaged his hand up for the day (which was very tricky since now he is able to move and wiggle those chubby fingers) and he was crawling around putting weight on it. Yay! So we took the bandage off last night and he got his hand wet in the tub without any tears. We put him to bed w/o any bandages so it could breathe. This morning, we wrapped it up again (and put on some oinment to keep it from getting infected) and then we had to cover his entire hand with a sock b/c he is starting to teethe on the bandage! Gah! (I am worried he'll ingest some of the ointment). He was SUPER grumpy this morning but I don't think it had anything to do with his hand. I think it is those 2 front teeth trying to make an appearance. So the point of this little update is that his hand seems to be bothering him less and less, and I couldn't be happier. I can't wait 'till it is all healed up!

Update on Jase's Hand

So far I am amazed that this child isn't crying all day long. He has already adapted his crawl so he can get around...he's just using his elbows (army crawling) and managing to scoot around fairly well. The hardest part of the day was putting his shirt on. Otherwise, he is doing pretty good and I am so happy about that. As long as we can keep it clean, it should heal up just fine.

Jase's First Traumatic Injury

Ok warning. The following pics are not for the squeamish. The crazy thing is that the pictures make it look LESS severe than it looks in person. So be glad you are not here to see it! I'm not really sure why I'm blogging about this anyways. I guess it was just so upsetting to me that I feel like I need to tell the world. So here's my story: We don't have a normal furnace like most people to heat our home--we have a free standing propane stove. (It looks like a small ceramic fireplace.) Roob put up a fire screen in front of it just yesterday to make sure once we turned the heater on that Jase wouldn't burn himself. I had just given Jase his bottle and I was a few steps away when all of a sudden I heard screaming! Sure enough, he had crawled over to the stove and put his left hand square on the screen. It burned the heck out of his hand. I started panicking like crazy. I tried submerging his tiny hand in ice water as much as I could, then I called my neighbors who came right over to help me. Jase got a blessing and started to calm down after that. My neighbors tended to him while I made the dreaded call to Roob and also the pediatrician. I ended up taking him there to get checked out (making sure it wasn't 3rd degree burn) and do you know this boy fell asleep in the car? It was amazing--but I was the one that cried the entire time (hahaha). It just tore my heart out to see this little boy suffering so much. I wanted it to be me instead of him. I don't know how all you moms handle it when your children get hurt. And burns!? Has to be one of the worst things! His poor hand is blistered on the palm and most of his fingers. It is super sad. The doctor wrapped his hand loosely in gauze and after that Jase did pretty good. When we got home I gave him another dose of Tylenol and by the grace of God he took a nice, long nap. The doc told me to take off the bandages at night so it can air out, but to put ointment on it and wrap it up for the day to try and keep it clean. The hard part was once he woke up from his nap he wanted to crawl around on the floor. Of course as soon as his hand touched the floor he started crying. I can't stand it! So I tried to entertain him with books and cartoons and whatever else kept him from crawling (like snacks in the high chair). We took the bandages off before bed tonight and that's when I snapped these pics. I wonder when the blisters will burst. Yikes. I just hope he's not in too much pain. So far, he seems to be asleep and for that I am forever grateful.

Latest Twilight Trailer

I know I am turning into a geek for this movie. Here's the link if you want to see the newest trailer: http://www.twilightthemovie.com/ecard_widget/

Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails

So here it is! Jase's 1st birthday invitation! It took me about 3 hrs to design it (I'm a little rusty), but overall I'm pretty happy with it. It has all the colors I'm doing for his party and contains his party theme (the old nursery rhyme about what little boys are made of). I thought it was a cute idea. I had them printed in matte finish at Costco in 5x7" size. They came out cute, but the border kind of got cropped off. Oh well. It was cheap. So I can't complain. Now I'm just hammering out the details of the party. Which is, mostly, food. I have some fun ideas that go along with the theme, but it is getting a bit ridiculous so I think I have to start simplifying or this party will cost me a million bucks! (If you're wondering what's up with the black boxes, I'm just blocking out personal info since this is on the internet.)Ok, below is my final sketch for what the cake is hopefully going to look like. I LOOOOVE the snail I drew, so I hope I can get my cake to look even half as cute as it is. The color is kind of off because I took this picture in the dark under some lamp light...so let me explain: The shell is going to be chocolate brown, the body will be lime green, and the polka dots will be lime green, aqua blue, and white. Cute, right? I am thinking to do the antennae with licorice and make eyeballs with big marshmallows. Then I can pipe some black pupils on them. My plan is to make the cake in this exact shape (laying down, not standing upright) and I'll decorate with buttercream. I will probably use like Betty Crocker's vanilla frosting (dyed green) for the body, and chocolate frosting for the shell as my base layer. I am also thinking of doing the shell in a 2 layer cake, while the rest of the snail body will be one layer. I hope that will turn out cute and not odd looking! We'll see!

Rigatoni with Shrimp (or Ckn) & Creamy Butternut Squash Sauce

Ingredients (recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentis)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil for cooking squash, plus 3 tablespoons for cooking shrimp
  
• 1 pound butternut squash, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon (I used Lawry's season salt to taste, I rarely measure salt)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/2 teaspoon (just threw some in)
  
• 1 cup vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
  
• 1 pound rigatoni pasta
  
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled (I just made chicken, but shrimp would be good!)
  
• 3/4 to 1 cup whole milk (I didn't have any, so I used cream)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (I used dried basil and just sprinkled it to taste)
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (oops, I forgot to use this!)

Warm 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butternut squash, garlic (mine started to burn, so I'd add garlic once the squash has cooked down some), 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Saute until the squash is golden and tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the squash is very soft, another 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the squash mixture (including the stock) to a blender or food processor and puree. Mmm. (Don't forget to taste your mixture to see if it needs more seasoning).

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 13-14 minutes. Save about a cup of the pasta water, set aside for later. Then drain pasta.

Meanwhile, warm the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the shrimp (or chicken) with the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper (I just used a McCormick Chicken seasoning). Cook until done.

In a large pot over low heat combine the pureed squash mixture, and 3/4 cup milk (or cream). Stir to combine. Add the remaining 1/4 cup milk if the sauce needs to be moistened. Add basil and cheese. Taste to see if you like the flavor! Add seasoning, if necessary. Once you like the sauce, add rigatoni and mix all together. Use pasta water to thin out the sauce to your liking. Just pour some in there (a little bit at a time) until it is how you like it. Stir until warm and serve. You can either put the shrimp (or chicken) on top of the pasta, or serve it on the side. You will NOT be disappointed.

O'Reilly BLASTS Barney Frank

YearBook Yourself

Tori, thank you for telling me about this website b/c it is the BEST laugh I'd had in a long time. This is hysterical! You can upload your pic and see what you would have looked like in the past. Here I am as the brainy librarian...

I look like my grandmother in this one! Holy smokes!!

I'd imagine my mom would have had this hairstyle...

I thought since everyone tells me I look like my dad, I'd see what I'd look like as a boy...hahahha I am dying!
So I did one more...I guess now we know a good hairstyle for me if I played on the other "team..." hahahahhaha