Celebrations

Sometimes I fail to blog for awhile, and then it gets overwhelming because it's been, say, 13 days and so much has happened it's overwhelming to catch up. Case-in-point, the last 13 days. Normally, so much wouldn't happen in two weeks time that required a blogpost, but Friday was Josh's birthday....

And Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary!

(The Butcher Shop- keeping it brief. I guess they figured "Anniversary" wouldn't fit...and forgot that there are two n's in anniversary. Still tasted great, though!)

Us on our honeymoon in 2005:

And on our anniversary this year..."G" and "Ja-Jim" came over (Thank you guys!!) and kept Frazier so we could go to Los Pinos- which was a perfect date and we really appreciated the time to ourselves! You know I photographed the food. Here's what we ate. :)
Other anniversary posts if you'd like to refer to any of the following:

3rd Anniversary

4th Anniversary (this is my favorite because it has a slideshow...when did I have time to do that?)

5th Anniversary

I think we get better every year. :)

Raspberry Rhubarb

Today is the open house of a new store here called Vintage Soul where I now have a booth to sell my artwork and vintage items! Here's a link to the blog I set up for my newest venture: Raspberry Rhubarb.

Let me know what you think!

Galerie de Photos

The camera has been an ever-present entity in Frazier's life as we've carefully documented, oh, every other minute of his waking hours. And when he was a baby, every other second of his sleeping ones. For some time now he's been interested in taking pictures himself, so we taught him how the camera works and now he's off and photographing things on his own. Every time I take pictures off my camera there is an interesting array of images courtesy of Frazier. Here is a gallery of some personal favorites:

Robot

Red on Red

Spindles

Dichotomy

Dad

Ight to the old lady
Mom

Dust

Converse

Firetruck and Orange Bowl

Parents

Through My Fingers

Foot Study

Wheel

Self-Portrait

Fender Bender

Mom and Spider Man

George

He's destined for great things, this one.

Best Thing Ever

When your kid comes to you, wounded appendage outstretched, asking [repeatedly] for a kiss because in his mind this would make it better. And then it does.

My kisses heal boo boos. What's your superpower?

Farm to Table

I believe in real food.

Like, clean fuel for your body, whole and fresh--as opposed to processed, nutrient void artificial food. Health food, pure and simple- not health food in a trendy prepackaged sort of way. Just because it's sold at a "health food" store or has a USDA organic stamp, or is touted by a nutrition guru doesn't necessarily mean it's the best thing for you. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of research and a daily commitment to subsist on real food. Which is sad. It also requires (for me) weekly trips to up to three different local stores. In addition to fresh and frozen produce, I have a list of only 30 other items I purchase grocery-wise which range from butter, milk and eggs, to bread, flour and salt. I know the brand of each item I purchase, where locally I can get it at the best price, and which brands I'm likely to find a coupon for. I can make all our meals using these 30 items plus produce. This has taken me months to figure out.

Anyway, we were discussing food with some friends lately who happened to have some acquaintances who run a farm not far from here and they were willing to plan a trip out to visit them with us! So- Tuesday evening we headed out for a field trip to Shady Grove Ranch. We had a really wonderful time meeting the Cadmans and touring their farm. We got to help feed three baby cows, and some chickens and gather eggs! It was a perfect opportunity for all of us to see where our food comes from...and to meet some farm animals! Frazier loved it! They have cows (beef and dairy), chickens (and a rooster), pigs, and turkeys. If you're in my neck of the woods and interested, SGR has a convenient in-town pick up location here twice a week.

After it's bottle this calf would suck on anything...even Frazier's hand!

Chickens were a favorite with all the boys, I think!

So thanks to the Cadmans for showing us what wholesome farming looks like and to the Nelle's for getting us out there!

Random Again

No matter how tired you are...you're never too tired to play with Spiderman.

Breakfast with Gumby. In full fireman attire. Because, you know, muffins taste better that way.Frazier is very attentive to his little friends. He specifically requested another wipe after I cleaned his hands and proceeded to wipe Gumby's hands with it. :) Way to look after your pals, little buddy.

Since we got the little blue kitchen, Frazier and I have hit some of our favorite thrift stores and antique shops and found a variety of items for pretend chefery. Pretty sure I just coined that word.

This set of dishes, etc. I purchased in Belgium before we even had a play kitchen to use them in because...hello...they're just darling. The wooden tray, however, I thrifted for 50 cents and painted myself to match the other stuff.Frazier and Gatsby-figuring each other out since 2009. I think they're finally getting along. Sort of.
I got Frazier a board book copy of The Runaway Bunny (mostly because it was on sale at TJMaxx and came in a set with a brand new board book copy of Goodnight Moon- the old copy of which he literally loved to pieces) and he promptly stuck it up his shirt. Armor perhaps?
I suggested the other day that we "get ready to go" somewhere and, like, twenty seconds later Frazier was at the door with all his buddies!

I suppose using the rocking chair safely on the floor......and sitting in the barstool at the counter...

would be all too conventional.

***

Crafting. Guess he gets that from me.

Evidently, the four kid-sized potholders we have weren't enough because last weekend he resorted to using socks on his hands.
He did use the potholder for holding his toothbrush, though.

Sunglasses indoors? Sure. Why not?

Never a dull moment.