Cardboard House Questions...

We bought the cardboard house at Costco. I'm not sure if they still have them or not (probably not), but here's a website I found printed on the side of the box: www.colormehouse.com. Apparently they have the house we got, a rocket, and a castle. Here's a couple more views of the house...and the windows open up, as do some little window vents in the roof, etc. It's really neat. I'm pretty sure the price was less than $15. (I just peeked at the website and you can click on where you live and it will show you where you can find a place that sells them. Cool!)

Christmas 2009, part II

Santa brought Jase the coolest cardboard house. It's awesome! It has a pitched roof, windows, stars, mailbox, doorbell, etc. Roob and I started coloring on it. Roob drew on shingles and window frames, and I did the mailbox and put his name on it. It was darling. He played in it forever on Christmas morning. And it was a very price efficient gift. My favorite was the warning on the box that said "keep away from fires and open flames." Check. Ha ha.Jase playing in his coolio cardboard house!
One of Roob's most favorite things to eat are the LDS cannery's potato pearls (dried buttery potato bits). You just add water (they are pretty dang good). Anyways, my mom gave Roob a big box of them for Christmas. We all cracked up. Just look how proud he is of them...
Grandma Jenith and Jase warmin' up by the fire.
Jase and Hibbin playing with their toys. They were in toy heaven. And very overstimulated, I might add!

Christmas 2009 at Grandma's House

Santa did not disappoint this year! First we had Christmas at our house with Jase (pics to come), then we drove to my mom's for Christmas with my brothers & my nephew. We had so much fun opening presents! Jase and Hibbin were hilarious. They had so much to open that they finally just got sick of opening gifts. LOL. Then Gma Jenith spoiled us with a delicious Honeybaked Spiral Ham! OOH AHH. I am still drooling thinking about it. Anyways, here's a pic of my brothers--Michael is on the left, and Nathan on the right. I'm the oldest bc I am the coolest, then Mike, then Nate.Here's Michael, Hibbin (Nathan's son), and Nathan just hanging out on the sofa.
Jase and me, Nathan and Hibbin. Hibb is only 4 weeks older than Jase, and he's my very first nephew on our side of the family!
There's the lovely Grandma Jenith with her only daughter!
Gma Jenith, Michael, and Nathan hammin' it up for the camera. Cute pic!

Children Come in Handy!

I got this awesome hand-held Shark vacuum from Santa this year. I'm already finding plenty of ways to use it!!!

3D Ultrasound Pics: It's a _____???

We finally had our 3D ultrasound appointment! I was soooo nervous to find out what we were having. For those of you who are ultrasound challenged like I am, I drew on the pictures to point out exactly what you're looking at. It helps me, too, bc I swear if I stare at these long enough I can't make out a darned thing. Ok let's get started...here's the baby's sweet little face...Here's another one. The baby was curled up into a neat little ball the entire time (shocking, I know).
And finally...it's a BOY!!! (sorry about this picture, little son. it's quite graphic! lol) So there was NO mistaking it this time (as you can see for yourself). Hee hee.
I have to say my initial reaction was "that's what I thought." I was so convinced it was a girl until my previous doctor's appointment. Ever since then I have been thinking that it was probably a boy. I think this is God's way of saying, "Amiee, you are going to have 3 children even though you thought you'd only have two." Heh heh. I know it's a bit too early to be thinking about that, but it's just a feeling I've got. Anyways, we initially wanted a girl (I'd like to have at least one boy and one girl) but now we're excited about another boy! I think it will be GREAT for Jase to have a brother close in age, too. Plus the boys will have to share a room (which is already boyish-bonus!) and we pretty much already have everything we need from Jase (poor kid will get a lot of hand-me-downs). :) Well, I guess anything that hasn't been worn out or spit up on a hundred times. Ha ha ha.

Now I've just been collecting a bunch of possible boy names and keeping a list on my computer. There are lots of good ones to choose from. I want something that sounds good with our last name, but also something that sounds good with Jase (bc you know you will always be saying your kids' names together). So here's a few on the list: Rowan, Cody, Cole, Jack, Jesse, Liam, Drew, Lane, Ian (I really like Rhees, but Reuben has completely vetoed it. Lame.)

24 weeks Pregnant with Baby #2

So I've made it to 24 weeks! Hooray! I had my 3D ultrasound last Monday, and everything looks good with baby! I am planning on scanning in those 3D pics as soon as I can get on the scanner and do it. LOL. Speaking of that--stay tuned to find out what we're having!!! (post coming soon)Here's another close-up pic of the growing tummy!
Here's just a random but cute picture of Jase standing by our Christmas tree this year.

Good Thing My MIL doesn't Check this Blog

Last Saturday we had a Christmas party for my husband's side of the family. It was so much fun! I always forget how gigantic his family is (and lots of people were still missing)! Anyways, we had a great white elephant gift exchange. One of those items was one of Grandma Connie's wigs. Hee hee. We couldn't get enough of it. Here's a pic of Lecia & Kurt (Kurt's sporting the wig). Too funny!
Of course I had to try it on, too. I think I am rockin' it like Joe Dirt--mullet style!
Couldn't let the moment pass me by to get Jase to wear it. Well at least now I know what Jase would've looked like if he were a girl! Heh heh. Anyways, he HATED wearing it, so I barely snapped a few pics before he freaked out and took it off. I was laughing so hard! It was so totally worth it.
Roob had this great idea to see how many of us we could fit into the small kitchen! I thought this picture was great. We were all cracking up! You can see me in the back over to the left...
Alrighty, so back to the white elephant gifts. A couple of weeks ago Grandma Connie & Granpa Larry rode with us to Gordon's baptism. On the way back G.Connie took a snooze...Roob said "take a pic" so I snuck one. Later on the genius idea came to turn the picture into a shirt for the white elephant gift exchange. Classic. I photoshopped it and Roob ironed it onto the shirt. Connie was SUCH a good sport about it. We were all DYING laughing over it. I think the shirt got stolen/traded about 7 times! And I believe Lecia ended up taking it home! Here it is:
I had my video camera ready to capture the moment as soon as somebody picked our present. Julie picked it first! But as my luck would have it, after only a few seconds of video, I ran out of memory card space! GAH! (knew I should have deleted some files off of it) Oh well, at least I got some footage of it! HEE HEE

Moose Munch

Have any of you ever been to Harry & David's? It's a fancy store that sells all kinds of chocolates, gourmet nuts, etc. They have this butter toffee popcorn that comes in all sorts of varieties called Moose Munch. It's one of my favorite treats of all time. However, one teeny weeny bag will cost you about $8.00! So, this year I set out to try to recreate their recipe on my own. I think I got it REALLY close--but it took a couple tries. On my first try I burned all the caramel corn, including the cashews and almonds. *sigh* It took me 2 days to get over my frustration, but I tried it all over again today. Success! It's delicious! I'm planning on giving away some as soon as it all cools off and I can package it up. I started with the caramel corn recipe from OurBestBites.com, but I have to say that when I followed their baking directions, that is how mine got burned. I'm assuming it's due to the higher altitude where I live. So here's how I adapted their recipe to suit my ambitious copycat of Moose Munch:

16 C popped popcorn (about 1 C. kernels--i just popped mine in oil in a pot on the stove)
1.5 C brown sugar
1/4 c + 1/8 c white Karo syrup
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp salt (if you are using salted microwave popcorn then omit salt here)
1.5 sticks of real butter
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp (would this be 3/4tsp? oh man) baking soda
1.5 tsp vanilla

cashew halves, salted
roasted almonds, salted
really good quality semi-sweet chocolate (please don't use Nestle's/hersheys! blech!)
half a bag of toffee chips

Pop popcorn and set aside. Place brown sugar, Karo syrup, salt, and butter in a microwave safe dish. I cut up the butter into chunks so it melts better. Microwave for 30-45 seconds. That should be enough to melt the butter at least half way. Stir it all to combine. Now microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir. Microwave for 2 more minutes.

Then add the baking soda & vanilla. It will foam a bit, that's normal. Pour all over popcorn and toss well, leaving a little bit of the caramel to toss your nuts in. I recommend finding the biggest bowl you can find. I bought a HUGE one at Smith & Edwards (it rocks). If you don't have a big bowl--good luck to you. Ha ha ha. After that, pour popcorn into two greased jelly roll pans (cookie sheets with about 1.5" sides on it). Spread it out as best you can. Then quickly toss your cashews and almonds into the remaining caramel you left in the bowl. Just eyeball it. Then take a spoon and drop the gooey nuts all over the popcorn that is already sitting in your cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time at 250 for about 26 minutes. If you live in a lower elevation, you might want to try what ourbestbites recommends for cooking times, but that is what burned my popcorn in the first place. As soon as you remove the popcorn from the oven, sprinkle toffee chips all over it and toss well. Let cool until nice and crunchy. Then drizzle as much chocolate on your popcorn as you'd like. My chocolate was a tad on the "dark" side, so I did one sheet with a TON of chocolate on it, and mixed it with the other sheet that had hardly any chocolate on it so it wouldn't be too rich. Wait until your chocolate has completely cooled before you do any mixing or packing! Enjoy!!

Fun Things

Reuben: "Jase, what do you want to do that's fun today?"
Jase: "Uh...eat breakfast...and dinner!"

Ha ha ha!!!! I am still cracking up over this.

Easy Candy Turtles

These are so easy & cute, you must make them asap! I had to do a lovely cross-section so you could see the candy in all it's glory. MMM.Here's a pic of what they look like "un-cut." I did some with red or green M&M's (for the nut haters) and the others have pecan halves pushed into them.
Here's the recipe. I found it on OurBestBites.com.

small pretzels
Rolo candies - one bag has about 55 candies (I bought mine in bulk from Sam's Club)
Pecan halves - or optionally peanuts, cashews and m&m's
Optional: almond bark or white chocolate for drizzling

This is easy as can be! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet. I like to use parchment paper for easy handling, but you can also put them on foil, a silpat, or directly onto the cookie sheet.

Unwrap your Rolo candies and place one on top of each pretzel like a cute little hat. Place pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Any longer is probably too long. You just want the chocolate on the outside to look glossy and melty, but they should still hold their shape.

Remove pan from oven and take a pecan and gently press it right into the center of the chocolate candy. Ta-da! You're done! Unless you're like me...then you'll drizzle them all with some white chocolate...then I added some green christmas sprinkles on top of my pecan ones, just to Christmas 'em up a little bit (you can see it in my close up picture). Mine were done in 15 minutes from start to finish. But word to the wise--these are NOT very good to eat warm. Trust me. They are MUCH better once they've completely cooled off.

Maternity Skinny Jeans

Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, right? Ha ha ha. For those of you who don't know what skinny jeans are, they are basically a fitted jean with a fitted leg all the way down. Not boot cut, not flare, not straight. ALMOST looks like leggings (eeks!). So unless you are stick thin, they are NOT flattering to the hip/thigh area if you were to just wear them with normal shoes. However, with boots over them, they look super cute! Anyways, I purchased some from Motherhood Maternity (M.M.) yesterday. When I first came out of the dressing room and looked in the mirror I just kept laughing and laughing and WISHING I had my tall boots to help balance out the top-heavy figure with teeny tiny calves I saw staring back at me.

The reason why I wanted some is that I have these cute "Ugg" knockoff boots (yeah I'm cheap like that) that I want to wear OVER my jeans instead of underneath them. I tried tucking my regular jeans into the boots but that did NOT work. So I began searching. The only places I could find these was M.M. or Old Navy. Old Navy's seemed to have a better "wash" on them, but they were the low-rise fit and I wasn't sure if that would see me through another 3.5 months. So I went with the M.M. ones. They kind of have a ghetto fabulous wash on them--it's still dark, but it has some unsightly horizontal whiskering RIGHT on the THIGHS (uh...did they think this through?) and a bit of a stonewash feel to it--a'la 80's style. BUT, nevertheless, the need to wear the boots over my jeans won me over and I paid for 'em.

Today was day #1 of wearing them. First of all, they are tight. I mean, painted on. Since I only own like 2 pairs of jeans, I am not used to them being fitted. In fact, they fit "cute" for like 1 hour after washing, then stretch out and just sag/hang off of me after that. Very unattractive. So these skinny jeans are tight AND stretchy. LOL. But in a way that's probably a good thing for me! The other thing is that they have the full tummy panel, meaning, it is super stretchy and comes up to my ribcage. After wearing them all day I have learned 2 things--1.) I am CONSTANTLY pulling them up and the crotch is sagging down (but that is how MOST maternity pants are 2.) I could camp out in negative degree weather in these things. I wore them today with my sheepskin boots, a thermal fitted long sleeve tee and a brown wool short sleeve sweater over that. I was so hot in the shopping stores I wanted to cry! Ha ha ha. But anyways, I am still happy with the purchase, but I don't think I will wear these out shopping all day anymore...there is only so much I can take. But hey, I looked cute--right? No pain, no gain. :)

for Jenny

hi! just wanted to say thank you again for what you said to me tonight. that made my whole week!!!! luv ya!

the Sciatic Joint...dum dum dum!

So I am having a new experience with pregnancy #2. For the last few weeks my sciatic joint (the joint where your pelvis connects to the base of your spine) has been giving me more than my share of trouble. The pain (feels like electric voltage) varies off and on--but it seems like the last couple of days have been the worst. It's pretty difficult to squat, lean over, sit on the ground (trying to change diapers), pick up anything off the floor, and even walk! It's frustrating me bc it makes me just want to sit still and not do anything. However, I purchased a medela tummy support band that is supposed to help a bit. I wore it yesterday for a few hours, and as soon as I woke up today I put it back on. It does seem to be helping a bit (awesome). I guess there are 2 reasons for the joint pain--one is that when you're pregnant your body releases certain hormones that loosen these joints, but sometimes it loosens them a bit too much (my case). The other reason is that the baby could be positioned such that its putting more pressure on that area. So the belly support band is supposed to help alleviate this pressure by lifting the baby a bit. For $24.99, it was worth a shot! I am hoping this helps. Otherwise, I am planning to seek out some prenatal massage and possibly a prenatal chiropractor so I can function normally again.

Disappointment--get used to it?

Today I had my hopes sky high to find out what the sex of the baby is. Last month I felt the same, only to find out that the baby wasn't ready to let us see. Apparently it still feels the SAME way. So after waiting 4 more weeks, I went back in again today. The doctor had a really hard time seeing anything since its legs were crossed--yet again. At first she was guessing "girl" but then all of a sudden saw "something" and said, "wait, possibly a boy!" She's not 100% sure, though, so I really don't know if it's a girl, boy, or possibly a combo of both (gah)? I was so upset I just cried and cried once I got to the parking lot. I was just so dissappointed that we couldn't tell what we're having. I can't take the suspense any longer. Yet, I have to.

I have no idea how some women don't want to find out on purpose. I CAN'T STAND not knowing. Although a boy would be cool for a myriad of reasons, I'm not sure if my body will be able to have 3 children, so I am really hoping for a girl. I'd love to have at least one of each. Before today I was convinced it was a girl--now I am totally doubting it and super confused. Oh well what do you do? So now I have to wait until December 21st for a third try at trying to tell what we're having. This next appointment will be the 3-D ultrasound, so if we can't tell on that one, I may very well have to just WAIT until this baby is born to find out! GAH!

Otherwise, I've been feeling the baby move just a tad here and there lately. Always a cool thing. It just feels like soft little taps and pokes. It's nice to know its alive & kicking in there. And I got to hear the heartbeat today, too. That was comforting. So all in all, today wasn't a total dissappointment, I guess!

PawPaw Ron's Visit

We had so much fun with PawPaw here to visit us (that's my dad). The first couple of days we just kind of chilled out, ran errands, etc. I managed to cook us up some mean taco/burritos Thursday night. Friday we went to the Airforce Museum (that was cool--they had tons of planes and old WWII stuff to look at and I think Dad really liked it). We also went downtown to the train station and got some cute pics of Jasey and PawPaw there. We ended up walking down the street into the little gift shops and antique stores. Some were better than others. We also managed to hit up the D.I. (ooh I got an almost brand new Pictionary game for only $1). Ha ha ha. Anyways, on Saturday we didn't have any power at my house (what are the odds), so we grabbed some brkfast at MickeyD's then went up to poke around the army surplus store. After that dad wanted to try to find some snow, so we drove up to Bear Lake. Gorgeous there! And we did get to see snow! Dad took WAY more pictures than I did, so I might have to steal some from him. On the way back home we stopped in for dinner at a little family owned restaurant. Gator (my lab), Pippen, and Goosie will sure miss PawPaw--possibly even more than we will! (just kidding dad). My dad loves dogs so much, I keep trying to figure out how I can ship all three of them to Lousiana since I know he'd take such good care of them. He went out and played fetch with Gator every day he was here (lucky Gator!). So cute! I think Jase has gotten used to having him here and will be asking "Where's PawPaw" for the next few days or so...awwww sad. So thanks for coming to see us, dad, we had a great time! Hope you did, too!

PawPaw and Jasey in front of a cool, old train.
Jase strikin' a pose. It's HARD to get this boy to hold still!
Love this pic. I think the yellow train makes me happy!
Roob, Jasey, and my dad at the local Pizzeria. Good times. We have eaten enough food in the last week to last us a couple months!
Dad, Jasey and myself after a yummy dinner at the family owned restaurant. Had to get a cheesecake to-go!

Ginormous Windmills

My dad's been visiting here for the last few days...Roob had told me about these gigantic windmills just outside of Evanston, WY. So we took a trip to go see them. Oh my, these things are sooo big. I took a picture to try to give some perspective. This one is of the entire thing...And this one is zoomed up a little bit closer. Those little vertical black lines you see at the base of the windmill are actually BOLTS. Geez! They stuck out like 2 feet out of the ground. Now that is one big bolt if ya ask me! Oh, and I think it's easier to see Jase & Roob to the left in this one...

Jase's Sayings These Days

I'm trying to take a moment and write down all the funny things Jase has been saying lately. Just yesterday he spent half the day in the work truck with his dad. For those of you that don't know, Reuben goes by "Red" in the work world. Anyways, later on in the day he was walking around with the cell phone saying, "Hi. This is Red. Can you hear me?" Ha ha ha! So cute! I wish I would have been there to see that.

I was shopping at Ross and picked up 2 pairs of Dr. Suess pajamas. One for Jase, and one for his cousin Hibbin for Christmas. I told Jase we were buying them for Hibbin. Well now he calls them the "Hibbin" pajamas. The pants are super long on him, so he was trying to go down the stairs and said, "Momma, fix it the Hibbins?" (he wanted me to roll the pants up at the bottom). Cute.

He is learning so much new vocabulary, it's shocking. I was at Target and bought some Einstein bagels (which I am sure I told him I was doing at the time, since I talk to him a lot). Anyways, a couple of days later he pulled them off the counter at home and said, "Have one, the bagel?" I guess he learned that word from just hearing it once! Another word he learned was "snowblower." We told him what they were at Lowe's one night. On a return trip, he said, "snowblowers!" while pointing at them. Impressive. To me, at least ;)

When he falls down (or gets hurt) he'll say "I sorry, Are you ok?" This always makes me laugh bc that is what I say when he falls down.

We have a book that he really likes called "Blankie." It is one of my favs, too. He is getting really good at remembering what words go with what pictures. He will say the correct phrases for certain pages in the book. One page has the little baby with his blankie tied around his neck like a super hero's cape. The page reads, "Super Blankie!" and Jase is too cute when he gets to this page. He yells it at the top of his lungs. There is also a page that says "I love birthday cake." But Jase's interpretation is "I love you birthday cake." Gotta get the "you" in there. Heh heh.

Sometimes he'll repeat a full sentence that I'll say. He also repeats some things that mommy realizes are not what she wants him to repeat. Working on that. He had been doing this funny thing where he'd make a coughing sound and then say "disgusting." It's funny to hear a little toddler say disgusting. I guess he picked it up from me somehow. Or maybe his dad.

He's really good at saying "Thank you," "excuse me,"(after burps/sneezes)...he's still working on "you're welcome," though. I'll be driving the car, hear a baby burp, then hear "excuse me!" Tee hee.

I've been watching for Potty Training readiness signs. So far, not too many. Sometimes he'll tell me he has a dirty diaper, but not usually. I just think he hates getting his diaper changed so he'll keep it a secret. For now, I don't think he's ready. So in the meantime I just show him as much as possible how the potty is a normal part of our lives, and hope to keep him interested in it.

Jase's 2 yr Stats

Height = 37.25", 95th percentile
Weight = 32.2 lbs, 85th percentile
Head circumference = 50.4cm, 85th percentile

Wow. So I have had an interesting day. Took jasey to a new pediatrician. Our last one was just ok. He wasn't super friendly with Jase so I thought I'd try to find a better one. My first impression wasn't the greatest since we waited probably 40 minutes (what!?) to just see the NURSE who weighs/measures him. I was so BUGGED. And we were like the only people in the waiting room, so I don't know how they were THAT behind. THEN after the nurse strips him down, we waited AT LEAST 20+ minutes in THAT room for the actual pediatrician to come in. Needless to say at that point I was ready to punch someone. Try entertaining a 2 yr old for THAT long, and with all clothes off except his diaper. AND my worst nightmare--we are in a GERMY doctor's office (so I wouldn't let him get off the table)! GAH! I was going nuts. I just hope that was an abnormal wait time.

Once she got in there, she was nice. I liked her. I didn't love her (could very well be due to the long wait time beforehand making me go crazy). But she was really playful with Jase so that was good. After her exam and talking with me, she starts in with the flu vaccination discussion. She let me tell her my concerns and then proceeded to give me a very convincing argument FOR the flu vaccine. She had the seasonal flu vaccine in the office that was thimerosal-free (mercury-free). I was liking that idea, but I felt REALLY pressured and didn't know what to do. Jase was also due for a HEpatitis shot. So while the nurse went to go prep that, I called Roob to see what he thought about the flu shot. I already felt like crying. I knew tears were coming even before I called him. I almost cried in front of the doctor. She told me she just had to send a 4 yr old to the hospital for pneumonia, which was a complication of having seasonal flu. NOT what a mommy like me wants to hear! All I could think about was worse-case scenarios for Jasey and I was starting to panic. I can't help it. Worrying is in my genes.

Anyways, Roob listened to me retell the pediatrician's advice and he still didn't think we should do it. But he told me I could if I wanted to. No thanks. I don't want things like this to be up to just me. My luck I'd do it and something would go terribly wrong. Anyways, I just got like crazy worried and started to crack. I started crying. I was still crying when the nurse came in with the Hep shot. She didn't ask why, thank goodness. But how embarrassing! We left w/o the flu shot. I got in the car and just let myself cry some more. When you have a medical professional telling you all the pros about getting the flu vaccine, it starts to mess with your mind and your previously determined decisions (I had already decided against the flu shots for Jase and myself--even though if I did do it, it woud be only the thimerosal-free seasonal flu vaccine, which I was surprised they even carried. I think this is what took me off guard).

Anyways, now it's like 3 hours later and I have calmed down. I feel better. Still not 100% sure I did the right thing, though.

Halloween 2009, pics and video

I was able to drive down to my best friend's house (Kiki) to spend Halloween with her and her family. Good idea since my neighborhood is much more rural than hers. I have never seen so many trick-or-treaters in my life!! Anyways, it wasn't long before Jase really got into knocking doors and collecting candy. However, he wanted me to open EVERY piece for him at EACH door. We had to work on that :)Here he is showing off his loot! (i just realized i don't have any pics of kiki's daughter posted here. sorry kiki!!! they are all on facebook) Heh.
Mr. Stinker and his cool all-terrain wagon ride...Kiki pulled him and Carma (Kiki's daughter) around. So nice, eh? Friends are the bessst.
Aww, here's my gorgeous Kiki and I. She was a gothic fairy chick and I was a sleek kitty cat. I was supposed to be "animal control" to go along with Jasey's costume, but I ran out of time to get all that together...
Pic of me and tootles before we hit up the 'hood! We probably lasted about an hour...Jase was a bit slow to get to all the doors (each one had a few stairs to climb), so I was lifting him up over them to try to speed things up. Not good for the ol' back since you know, it's going out on me and all these days....hahaha. I am TOO old! Or wait, I think Jase is just TOO heavy! All in all it really was a fun night. He was just too cute to watch waddle around!

This video is funny. Jase didn't realize we were actually back at my friend's house, so he was just doing his thing. When the door opens, watch how he just goes inside. He kept going inside EVERYONE's houses!!! Makes sense cuz that is normally what people do after the door opens, right? :)

This is a super short clip of him getting his first trick or treat candy. It's kind of dark but he was SUPER excited about it--hope you can see his facial reaction!

Halloween Preview

Introducing my Little Stinker, Jasey the skunk. Isn't this costume SO CUTE?? The back even has a realistic 3-D tail...that heart on the bum says "Lil' Stinker." This is by Old Navy. Their costumes are totally affordable and nice and soft, fluffy fleece. Good if you live in cold places like us.It was a lot of work to actually get him to WEAR this costume, however. The first couple of times I put it on him he screamed and cried. I finally pointed out that it had cool "paw mittens" the other night and that seemed to do the trick (he's into mittens these days).
Ha ha ha, he looks so NOT happy in this picture. Oh the costume also has a pair of matching fleece pants with these big "paw" looking things that go over his shoes. I'll post more pics after Halloween!

More Birthday Pics

After going through many pictures, I realized Jase makes this face MORE than I realized. It's funny! Then I was told by others that I also make the same face. I'm still not so sure. I hope not! :)And here it is again while he's fixing things with his power drill...(isn't his hat so cute? gift from gma jenith)
Oh look, and again while fixing our chair... Or as Jase would say- "fiskin."
This picture just makes me laugh! He was so excited about opening presents! I look pretty excited, too! Ha ha ha.
Checking out some glow stars that Connie & Larry gave him. We put them on his ceiling above his crib last night and turned out the lights. He LOVED it!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jase!

We had such a good time at Jasey's 2nd Birthday party over the weekend. He scored on lots of gifts and love from family & friends. He was thankfully in a good mood, so I really think he enjoyed himself! He kept saying "birfday" all day long. Heh heh. Here he is eating his own tiny #2 cake. He ate WAY too much of it! While he was eating it, he was watching a veggie tales sing-a-long video that my sister Ashley gave him. He loves Bob-n-Larry!
This is one of the tables I decorated. I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we ate, but oh well. I kept the food much more simple this year by doing frito pies (fritos topped with chili, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, green onions), apples with caramel & toffee, a veggie tray, and birthday cake. Oh and lemonade. Check out the awesome inflatable Larry behind the table! So cool!
These were the party favors. Personalized Hershey bar wrappers. Roob's sister Melanie makes these for her business (if you want some see her link on the right side of my blog). She was able to put Jase into the boat with the veggie characters! Ha ha. (The black marks are just there to cover up his actual birth date for privacy reasons.)
Here it is--the cake! Larry (cucumber, 1layer) was chocolate cake, and Bob (tomato, 2layers) was funfetti cake with vanilla frosting. I think it came out really cute. Then I just piped a few stars, Jase's name, and Happy Birthday around the edges of the cake board to "festive" it up a bit.
Here's a pic of this neat "craftsman" workbench with tools Roob wanted to get him. He loved it! He was running around fixing everything with those power tools!This is everyone singing happy birthday to Jasey. He was so funny. My favorite is his reaction after he blows out the candles!!! (you can pause my music player on the right so you don't hear both my songs & the video at the same time)