Jase found my cowgirl hat and was running around with it sitting sideways on his head. It was so funny!
I love this picture of him. He looks more like a boy than a toddler in it. And he is definitely all boy! Look at those dirty hands!
Jase has been surprising both of us lately with his vocabulary and speaking in mini sentences. He says things like "I got it," "Pippie barking (haha our dog barks a lot)," etc. One of my favorite things he says is "hamburger." He says it so cute! And he's learned that if we go to Walmart during lunch time I will get him a cheeseburger to eat while I shop. It's great b/c I can do 2 things at once. He is really starting to associate things with places we go--he recognizes when we are close to Grandpa's house, our house, the store, grandma's house, etc. When I take him to the local market by my house, he starts asking for a succer (they give dum dum's to the little kids). The other day he was running down the driveway and yelling "slow down, too fast" at the top of his lungs. I was cracking up (that is what
I normally say when he runs bc he trips a lot)!
He has learned what "heavy" means. He says it whenever he carries things around. However, he has somehow associated "heavy" with "exertion" bc when he climbs up the stairs he'll say "heavy heavy" and we just laugh.
I weighed him the other day--he's 32 pounds. I think he's about 36" tall. I'm guessing. He's still in a size 4 diaper and wears 2T shirts and 24 month pants. However it does depend on the brand. Oh and his shoe size is about 6.5 - 7. He has a really long, big toe!
He has pretty much mastered eating with a fork & spoon. He will still drip a bit if it's something runny, but he does great with things like beans or grits. One thing he still hasn't figured out well is how to bite food. I still have to cut it into 1" pieces. I think it might be bc his front teeth are still a bit high and might be making it difficult to cut all the way through a piece of food.
Lately we've been singing him lots of songs and he loves that. We've started a little tradition of singing a few to him before we put him to bed. He's getting good at picking up on the words and trying to sing along. He does really well with "Twinkle Little Star" and also loves to sing the end of the "Moon Song" that goes "oh yes he does!" (but Jase just sings "oh does!!!") It's our favorite. He is also liking songs that have hand motions, like "Itsy bitsy Spider." He will do them with us.
I just can't believe how grown up my little boy is! He will be 2 years old in less than 3 months! I am planning on doing a "Veggie Tales" themed party for him since he LOOOVES those shows. If you're not familiar, they are animated vegetables that have funny voices and they teach some sort of principle like handling peer pressure, how to be confident with bullies, patience, self-esteem, etc. They are super cute & funny and filled with silly songs. I love them, too. Some of the longer films are loosely based on Bible stories, but done in a funny way. Anyways, the main characters are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber. He'll run around the house saying "Bob & Larry! Bob & Larry!"
Jase has gotten really good at going down slides, swinging, and climbing things at the park. He is way more brave than I'd prefer! Sometimes the lil' daredevil trys climbing up the monkey bars or other "big boy" things and I'm afraid he'll fall and break something. He can even climb up a ladder to go down one of those old metal slides. We have a great park just a few blocks from our house. If I drive by anywhere close he'll say "park! slide! swings!" and want me to take him there. It's cute.
He also LOVES to go on bike rides with us. We have a bike trailer that we pull behind one of the bikes and we strap him in and go. He also loves to ride on the lawnmower when dad cuts the grass. As soon as he hears it, he'll run to the door and say "lawnmower. ride!" so I'll take him outside to ride.
He's pretty good at following basic things I ask him to do like "throw this in the garbage," or "throw that diaper away," "put your toy back," etc. I have been trying to teach him how to "help" do things as much as he can. When I mop he'll grab the mop and push it around the floor. Same with the broom. He even had a paper towel and was pretending to wipe counters when I was cleaning them. Ha ha. And everyday he repeats/says a few new words. He can really repeat almost anything you say! (Time to watch what
I say around here). It's so fun to hear him talk. I love it. I really love the stage he's in right now. I love laughing at all the cute things he will say and do. It's so awesome.
Well, if you read all this you deserve an award. I have just been lamenting how much I've slacked on his baby book--so this is my way of trying to catch up!
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...
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!
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!
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!
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)
It just occurred to me that I hadn't sent out Jase's invites yet because I hadn't even MADE them! ARGH! So I sat down at the computer, opened up Photoshop Elements and got busy as quickly as I could. I am a bit rusty in my skills, so it took me a while to remember how to do certain things. Anyways, just wanted to to post a pic of it. I just wanted something simple. I think they came out pretty cute. Roob requested a smaller party this year (last year's was BIG), so I'm trying to comply and not go too over the top. We'll see how well I can do that :) Now off to get all the other stuff done for the party...
So I found the CUTEST t-shirt designs on etsy.com. The seller is "wtingle" and I love her stuff. Plus, she is one of the cheapest for these type of shirts. I just custom ordered one for Jase's 2nd birthday. Here's what it SORT OF will look like, but instead of the pumpkin it will have a number 2 on it. It's printed on a long sleeved white t-shirt. Cute, eh? Check out more of her stuff on her seller page on etsy. If you've never heard of "Etsy," it's a website where people sell any and every kind of homemade stuff. It is awesome!
How CUTE are these little mummy dogs??? Ha ha ha. I found these on Ourbestbites.com and it made me want to throw an awesome Halloween party so I could make some of her foods. Check it out HERE. Though I have to say, some of them gross me out!
We bought Jase a Mr. Potato head to keep him entertained when necessary. He loved it, but it's REALLY hard to pull the pieces in and out of it. Strange since it's made for 2 yr olds! Argh.
Photo opp during diaper change on picnic table. Hee hee.
This is how I "rough it" in the wilderness. I will never go back to tents!!!
Roob trying crazy tricks on this log with my child...oh man. but hey, it's a cute photo!
This is a picture of the ones I made, by the way. How yummola do these look? They are supposedly an Auntie Anne's Pretzel knockoff recipe. (I just googled it.) I took Auntie Anne's recipe and added a few ideas after reading Alton Brown's recipe on Food Network.
Our first dance. We waited a loooong time to get married. I was so happy that I couldn't stop crying. This would explain why I am not looking so cool in this pic! Ha!
Cake feeding time!!! It was so yummy, too! My ol' boss made it for me as a wedding gift. It tasted and looked amazing (mom do not look too hard at this picture).
This was taken at our sit-down dinner (I really wanted to do one of these for some reason) before our reception. The food was excellent. And we were surrounded by close friends and family. Some great toasts were made that night. It went by too quickly for my liking! I was having a ball!
This is a pic of our hotel room we stayed in this weekend. It was sooo cute! And the bed was SO COMFY. Everything was clean, nice, warm neutral colors--I wanted to move in! We also tried a new fun mexican restaurant a friend recommended that was excelente (if I do say so myself). Roob was such a gentleman--opening my car door, being so sweet, and even surprising me with a cool pair of diamond stud earrings! I was so surprised I could barely talk! He got me good. I had so much fun this weekend. I want to go do it all over again. Here's to 5 years, babe. I love you!!!
I love this picture of him. He looks more like a boy than a toddler in it. And he is definitely all boy! Look at those dirty hands!
Jase has been surprising both of us lately with his vocabulary and speaking in mini sentences. He says things like "I got it," "Pippie barking (haha our dog barks a lot)," etc. One of my favorite things he says is "hamburger." He says it so cute! And he's learned that if we go to Walmart during lunch time I will get him a cheeseburger to eat while I shop. It's great b/c I can do 2 things at once. He is really starting to associate things with places we go--he recognizes when we are close to Grandpa's house, our house, the store, grandma's house, etc. When I take him to the local market by my house, he starts asking for a succer (they give dum dum's to the little kids). The other day he was running down the driveway and yelling "slow down, too fast" at the top of his lungs. I was cracking up (that is what I normally say when he runs bc he trips a lot)!
There are many variations of this popular New Orleans dish. I have never tried making it before until today. In the south, we call it "BBQ Shrimp," even though there really isn't any BBQ sauce in it at all. Not sure how it got that name? But anyways...I wasn't able to copy and paste this recipe so you'll have to go "Pioneer Woman"to get it. But it's SO EASY and it was delicious! Roob and I wiped them out! You probably already have everything you need to make it, too-- lemons, salt, pepper, tabasco, worscestershire sauce, EVOO, and butter. WORD UP. I hope you like it as much as we did. Oh, and for you westerners, you must buy RAW shrimp with the shell ON. I'd recommend about the 31-40/lb size. I used smaller ones and they were a little hard to peel. We just ate them right off the cookie sheet and dipped french bread in the sauce. Amazing. With some sauteed zucchini (from my garden, thank you) and fresh tomatoes on the side. MMM.
Ingredients:
