Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily

2012-01-23T06:00:00.001-08:00

Well, this is awkward.

HappyThanksgivingMerryChristmasHappyNewYear?!

It's always hard to return from an unintentional blogging break that got, well, really long, but it had to be done. I wasn't ready to throw in the blogging towel altogether so a comeback, however awkward or overwhelming, had to be made. Josh said I should just catch up as best I could and then move on from there. So...here's the catch up! I should warn you, however, that should you choose to continue, you are in for one huge picture dump.

I'll begin with Thanksgiving for which I made this cranberry jelly mold using a glass mold I got at a flea market in Belgium...

..and this pretty ricotta cheesecake with raspberry rhubarb sauce.

We had not one, but two delicious Thanksgiving dinners that were everything Thanksgiving dinners should be and even food aside, it was a Thanksgiving with all the trimmings!

...and football:

The weekend after Thanksgiving, the Andersons were here to help us decorate and officially kick off the Christmas season.Then it began. We went to the Christmas parade, we made Christmas crafts, we read Christmas books, we sent Christmas cards and we went to Christmas parties with friends.

We also spent two lovely weekends in Jefferson...

(Frazier took the picture of me and my grandparents above while we were in Jefferson one weekend...I just liked it so I'm sharing.)

...decorating the house for the Belgians' Christmas homecoming!
And then they arrived and the Christmas festivities really began!

We rode the Christmas train in Jefferson and went to Marshall to see the lights and have dinner.And we did even more Christmas-y things here. While drinking wassail.

When Christmas finally arrived it seemed like for a string of exhausting, exhilarating days we were forever opening presents...

...and taking pictures... (I refer you to this post on my mom's blog which has lots more pictures of our Christmas in case you weren't overloaded enough here.)

...and eating lots of good food......and just enjoying people. Really, really, really enjoying people. We just have the best of people to enjoy.Then it was all over.

I think we spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in a post-holiday stupor in which we refused to accept it was over.

We undecorated the Jefferson house since our company was back in Europe, but I left our tree up yet another week until I was so tired of it that putting it away was a relief. Josh and his parents went to Dallas the day after New Year's for the TicketCity bowl and that was the last of the holiday hurrahs. Very slowly we shook off the holidays and settled back into our old routines in a new year. After so much planning and looking forward to Christmas, the days that came afterwards (for which I had neither planned, nor anticipated) seemed so terribly...ordinary.

But then I remembered that even our ordinary days are pretty excellent...and now that we're all caught up here, I can go back to sharing them!

as ever,

Randi

And What'll You Do Now, My Blue-Eyed Son?

2011-11-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

Frazier at 28 months is extraordinary. And I don't just mean his hair. :)

It's hard to remember what it was like to have a Frazier that didn't communicate. My favorite part of having a two-year-old is talking with him. He talks all the time. He talks to me, himself, his toys, the dog. After two years of narrating our life aloud for him, he now does the same for me. I love it.

For Frazier, "my" serves as my, I and I'm, though he does use "me" correctly most of the time. He always announces his arrival, "My tummin'! My tummin'!" or that he's returned "My back!" or "My fall down again!" or "My eat-a lunch?"

He runs. Everywhere.

At any given moment he may engage you in a swordfight. En garde!

He repeats everything I say, and sometimes he even rephrases things as though he's practicing; trying out different ways of saying the same thing.

He's always thinking.

He'll furrow his brow and ask random questions out of the blue, which is great. I often wonder what thought process preceded them.

One day we were singing Jesus Loves Me in the car and when it was over he was quiet for a bit then asked, "Jesus love you too, Mom?" Yes, darling, Jesus loves us both.

Today he asked me what I'd like to eat from his kitchen, so I requested a cookie. He looked at me for a minute and then walked to his kitchen and said, "I'll make pizza."

He has an imagination I envy. When we are home he entertains himself continually. He takes orders via the telephone in his kitchen and then goes right to cooking. He pulls out things like a train and Gumby and Spiderman and creates little scenarios in which they go on a trip or play ball or eat birthday cake. He doesn't even require a toy. One day last week I found him laying on the couch on his back with his hands in the air above his head telling some story about a spaceship. He'd put his hands together as if in prayer, start them resting on his chest and then blast them off into the air. Night before last he build imaginary houses along the edge of the tub...one for each of us...and Gatsby. The other day he fed his fire truck. Birthday cake. In a pot.

Sometimes he grabs his football and runs out into the backyard yelling "Football time!" He is his father's son.

Frazier is always ready to paint or to cook, but rarely up for sleeping.

He wakes up happy every morning.

He is very strong. And quite the acrobat.

If he'd let me, I'd give him a hug every five minutes or so just because, but he's oftentimes too busy for hugs so I just tousle his hair lovingly instead. One day I was sitting on the couch and he came running in, stopping just in front of me. "Hi, Mom." he says smiling. "Hi, sweet

heart," I say smiling back. He stands there like he's waiting for something, then finally says expectantly, "Pet my head..." Guess that just seemed like what should come next.

I would never say that one could read enough, but when we've read ten books in one evening and he wants to read another one...I might come close.

Sometimes he wants to go outside and just run. So we go outside and just run...in big circles and figure eights around the yard and he laughs and laughs and periodically he falls down and rolls in the grass. Then he gets back up and starts over. I'm glad I was a runner before he was, because I would not be up for this...it's grueling. And so. much. fun. One day I watched him running around with leaves in his hair and wondered why I'd never thought of this before...running and rolling and laughing. It was beautiful. I tried to etch that afternoon on my mind so when we are both older I could remember us like that...just running and laughing. With leaves in our hair.

Yesterday we had an afternoon storm complete with hail and thunder so we just curled up in bed and listened to the rain for a long time and I wanted to remember that forever too.

I don't suppose I deserved one afternoon so wonderful, yet I get one every day.

What an extraordinary life we lead.

And what'll you do now, my darling young one?

Halloween '11

2011-11-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

We started with our church's Farm Fair Saturday night, Frazier as a soup can...Josh and I 50s style. It was fun as always- games, band, food...and we got to help man the games in the preschool area for awhile.
Frazier had fun and was quite the hit in his soup suit. :)Then Monday evening we donned the costumes again......and had a chili dinner here with friends......then took our whole troop of trick-or-treaters around the neighborhood!While I don't think he remembered trick-or-treating from last year, Frazier did pick it up pretty quick! He had a couple of friends to show him how. He only walked into one house (I mean, hello...that is what you usually do when you knock on someone's door and they open it, right?) and we had to coax him out.Our neighborhood is just about the right size for little trick-or-treaters...just one big circle!

We only had to carry our little soup can some of the way.Happy November!

Pumpkins, pumpkins!

2011-10-25T13:00:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had our second annual pumpkin party! This year I had four sweet friends help host and it was even better than last year! The weather was lovely (a little warmish, but no rain!) and lots of our friends got to come. It's always special to have a house and backyard full of so many of our favorite people!

All ready to party...

We had LOTS of yummy food. Taco soup...

...and all this good stuff:

There was pumpkin decorating...

...a candy corn relay...

...and pumpkin seed spitting!

We also spent last Friday celebrating fall with friends at Danville Farms. They had this huge pillow to jump on...

this spider web to climb on...

...a corn box...

a tractor ride...couldn't get a smile here

...a corn maze, goats to feed, a barrel train (which Frazier wouldn't ride even if I rode with him) and several adorable photo ops with some pumpkins and gourds...but my camera battery died so, alas, no more pictures! :(

Happy happy Autumn!

Happy Food Day!

2011-10-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

To learn more about Food Day go to foodday.org.

(poster available here)

In observance of Food Day and as a follow up to my Food For Thought post I wanted to post some food ideas. I took some pictures of really easy stuff we've eaten recently so I could share them. :)

The rule at our house is that if it's raw and a fruit or veggie eaten alone (like without dip or spread or something) it's unlimited. You can eat as much of it as you want anytime. And I challenge you to find a snack or side dish easier to make than washing an apple or peeling a banana or throwing some baby carrot sticks in a bowl.

Next up? AB&J oatmeal. I just make plain oatmeal and stir in a little raw almond butter (which contains nothing but raw ground up almonds...period) and spreadable fruit. It's seriously yummy.

Kashi Roasted Vegetable Pizza is my favorite and if we're going to have pizza- this is it...or sometimes I use sprouted grain pitas with tomato sauce and cheese. Either way, it only takes ten minutes in the oven. The plate below plus some Greek yogurt was lunch for Frazier the other day. I had pretty much the same thing...minus the raspberries because they're expensive. The things we sacrifice for our kids...;)

When Frazier was a baby I made most of his food, but since a wide variety of organic produce isn't easy to come by in these here parts, I used store-bought organic versions of fruits and veggies I couldn't get fresh. At the time it wasn't always easy to come by. Now Wal-Mart carries Sprout babyfood (co-founded by chef Tyler Florence). Frazier would actually still eat it right out of the pouch...and does sometimes, but fruit and veggie purees are still super handy for lots of things. I slip them in all sorts of recipes from muffins (think: roasted apple) to pasta dishes (think: butternut squash). They're especially good for smoothies. Beats making your own purees and you can easily get ones now that only contain the fruit or veggie...no additives; no preservatives.

One of my favorite ways to use them is as pie filling. First I make my recipe for pie crust:

1 1/3 c whole grain flour (I usually use a combination of spelt and graham)

pinch sea salt

1/4 c coconut oil

1/4 c coconut butter (or 1/2 c of either)

2 egg yolks

2-3 T cold water

Mix just until combined. Chill before rolling out.

Then I roll it out and use my ravioli maker to cut an even number of circles (one batch of pie dough and one pouch of Sprout puree makes me 8 little pies so I cut sixteen circles.) I stir a teaspoon of pie spice or cinnamon into a pouch of puree...this particular day I used sweet baby carrots, apples and mango, but apricot, just apples or sweet potato are also good. My ravioli maker crimps, too so once I put a dollop of "filling" on eight circles, I top and crimp them. Then into the oven at 425 for about 10-12 minutes. They're perfect little snacks, breakfasts or desserts!

If you've not tried spaghetti squash you need to go get one. I've used it as a replacement for noodles in several dishes including this spaghetti bake...literally spaghetti squash (cut in half, seeds removed, microwaved 12 minutes, scraped free of skin) topped with spaghetti sauce and cheese. Done.

In honor of fall we've been having pumpkin smoothies. This:

plus this:

= delicioso.

This is a chicken I basted with no-sugar added homemade apricot jam and grilled. Easy peasy. I have always been of the opinion that anything served with a side salad, fruit and yogurt or cottage cheese more or less constitutes a meal. This chicken was no exception.

I make big batches of pancakes sometimes on weekends and freeze them for easy breakfasts. I like this recipe (adapted from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon):

2 c whole grain flour (I usually use spelt for these)

2 c buttermilk, kefir or yogurt

2 eggs

1/2t sea salt

1 t baking soda

2 T melted butter

Soak flour in buttermilk, kefir or yogurt in a warm place 12-24 hours (optional in my opinion- it makes the grain more easily digestible and accessible to your body, but won't affect the turn out of your pancakes). Stir in other ingredients and thin to desired consistency with water. Cook on hot oiled griddle or cast iron skillet.

I've said it before, but it's not about eating all raw or all organic or all vegan or like a dinosaur. For me it's just about eating REAL food...not the artificial stuff. It's about fueling your body- not weighing it down and sludging it up. It's about getting what your body needs in a form it can use it best.

Food. It's what's for dinner. :)

Keepin' it real,

Randi

The Big Reveal

2011-10-22T13:50:00.001-07:00

Last year, Frazier was Charlie Brown for Halloween which was cute and super cheap and easy. The year before that he was a pumpkin...because he was a baby and that was the most I wanted to do. This year, I started thinking about his Halloween costume really early. Like end of August early. I began to fear it was the last year I could choose his costume and as I envisioned the potential years of superhero costumes ahead I realized this year had to be something different. I had several ideas- none original enough. And then one day as I walked through my house...

... it hit me. I was inspired. So I sketched out a plan and realized I'd need help...so I employed the assistance of my Aunt Becky who was gracious enough to complete phase 1 of the costume for me...a pair of white twill longalls. Then I painted them with fabric paint to be...

And presto! Fraz as pop art. :)

Tres adorable, no?

One For The Road

2011-10-11T16:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant (which is usually a Friday affair, but that's another story). Since there was hardly anyone there the hostess paid particular attention to Frazier, and as we were getting close to leaving, she was refilling the basket of individually wrapped after dinner mints they offer for pick-up as you walk out. She brought one over to Frazier who already knows you get a mint when you leave El Sombrero, but has never been brought one table-side. He wanted it opened right away and then, once he'd finished his, turned back to her and asked if his Dad could have one, too. Sweet kid. Soon after as we were paying she got out another mint and asked Frazier if he'd like "one for the road". He took it, thanked her, but didn't ask us to open it. Instead he stood at the door looking out and saying "Road?" until we walked out. Just outside the door he stopped, bent down, carefully set the mint on the sidewalk outside the restaurant and said softly, "road" then headed on for the car.

One, literally, for the road.

That's what she'd said it was for, afterall. So that's just where he'd left it. I laughed so hard I had to sit down. And then we explained that he could, in fact, take it with him...to eat while we were in the car...on the road. :)

I always keep my camera handy...

2011-09-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

...because I wouldn't want to miss something like this:

Superfraz

Only Frazier would think to try on the yarn wreath. Didn't fit; little too small.

Grillin'

Ciao!

Thank You Very Much

2011-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

We have always tried to model what we expect of Frazier in terms of saying "Thank you" by thanking him for things in appropriate situations, and for months now I've been requesting explicit please and thank yous from him any time a situation warrants one or the other. It's been hit and miss, but one morning a few weeks ago while he was sitting at the table having breakfast, I brought him a cup of milk and when I set it down at his place he said completely unsolicited, "Thank you, Mommy." Breakthrough!

Today we had lunch with my cousin Anna (Nanna, to Fraz) and while we were waiting for our food I gave Frazier a box of raisins to munch on. Without thinking I reached over as we were chatting, took a couple of raisins out of the top of the box and ate them. Frazier tilted his head down and peered up at me a little sideways with this expectant look and said slowly, "Mommy? Thank you?"

Oops. So much for modeling good behavior.

Thanks for sharing your raisins, buddy. And keeping Mommy humble.

Food For Thought

2011-09-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

I suppose it started several years ago, but since I've had Frazier to be responsible for it's escalated. The food question...what to eat? Once I started, it snowballed...and it's ever-evolving. I've blogged about it before, but it's something I get questions about often so I'm broaching the subject again.

"It" is even hard to explain. I read plenty about how to feed yourself while incubating a new human and then moved on to reading about what to feed growing humans, and finally what to feed fully grown humans...like me. I've read a lot of books. Perhaps a ridiculous number so I won't tell you how many, and that's just the non-internet portion of my studies. Unfortunately, I still find myself vastly under-educated on the subject...like I said, I'm still working on it, but I have devised some basic rules for eating (and feeding the small growing human in my home) based on my research that I think serve us well. I can't possibly tell you what they are, because they are many and complicated and they probably should be different for individual people and families, but here are a few things I will say (and no, I'm not talking to EVERYBODY-I know there are exceptions):

You probably do have the time. To do research, to shop, to prepare food. Take the time you spent preparing, purchasing and eating food today. Now add to it the time you spent watching TV, surfing the internet, blogging, hitting the snooze button, painting your nails. You're going to eat anyway, and it's going to take some time to acquire, prepare and eat that food so that time is a given...are there one or two other things you could give up for health's sake? Could you make an extra 30 minutes a day (ten minutes per meal, maybe?) Because that's probably all you'd need.

You probably do have the money. Americans spend less on food and more on healthcare than any other industrialized nation. Coincidence? I think not. Consider how much you spent on what your kid wore today...and yesterday. Is what you put on your kid more important than what you put inside them? Or how much was the monogrammed lunchbox you packed your kid's lunch in? Sometimes I think we've been conditioned to make food the smallest portion of our budget so we can easily rationalize splurging on the container, but never the food itself.

Consider this: the cheese I buy costs $4.45 for an 8 oz block. Sound outrageous? But that's the same price as one tall Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. The average American family spends roughly 10% of it's budget on food. That means we're spending 90% of our budgets on housing, transportation and...everything else. What's the everything else you're spending your money on?

If your pediatrician told you that your kid would die unless you found two hours a week and $50 extra a month to spend on them, could you manage that? No-brainer, right? It's easy to feed them cheap processed foods and waste a couple hours a week on facebook that could be better spent researching or cooking when it isn't a matter of immediate life or death.

You wouldn't take your kids to a building and drop them off just because there was a sign on the front of it that said, "Best Elementary Education In Town" and because it was conveniently located near your home and cost very little. No, you'd probably research it. You'd probably ask other parents about it; you'd want to go inside it and look around. You might even look up ratings and statistics. And only then, when you'd ascertained that their claim was, indeed, valid, you'd take your child there. If you researched it and found it was lacking in educational merit, or wasn't even a real school at all- would you drive across town and pay more for one that was? If that wasn't an option would you teach them yourself before you'd take them to aforementioned, self-proclaimed "Best Elementary School in Town"?

Yet, we feed our children foods just because they are in boxes emblazoned with unsubstantiated health claims, or because they are cheap, or because they are easy to make or available at a conveniently located store all the time. Even when finding an alternative or making it yourself are options.

I won't tell you I don't ever waste money or time or that lifestyle changes are easy or that diet is all that's important...and certainly not that it's most important (IT ISN'T) and I certainly can't say the way I do things is how everyone should or can. But what I am saying is that those things above are things I think about regularly and it's why and how I feed our bodies the way I do. It seems in Christian circles we talk freely about being good stewards of our time and our money, but we forget that God made us stewards of our bodies, too. I think we owe it to Him to upkeep the vehicle he gave us for our soul. We're little use to Him on earth without it. Moreover, some of us have been entrusted with little extra bodies to upkeep for awhile and to condition for future use. Isn't that a responsibility worth taking seriously? Worth a little of our time...and our treasure?

Time To Make The Donuts

2011-09-15T06:53:00.000-07:00

As a general rule, we do not eat doughnuts (in the traditional sense of the word- doughnut). And by we, I mean Frazier and me...Josh has them at work everytime there's a birthday. That isn't to say we don't like doughnuts in a broad sense of the term. I love baked goods. So not long ago I started researching and experimenting and have come up with a nice doughnut recipe we've made three times so far!

Recipe:

1/3 c warm milk

1 c warm buttermilk

1 pkt yeast

5 c whole grain spelt flour

2 T butter

2/3 c sucanat (1/3 works too, it's up to you)

2 eggs

2 t cinnamon

1 t sea salt

Place warm milk and yeast in mixer bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Since I am not patient, I just sort of add everything else haphazard like after the five minutes is up. I do add each thing one at a time with the dough hook going and so far it's turned out ok. When combined, leave in the bowl, cover, and let rise 45 minutes or until doubled. Punch down the dough, turn out onto floured surface and knead a few times. Then roll out 1/2 in thick and cut out doughnuts. Place on a parchment covered baking pan, cover, and let rise another 45 minutes. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. We brush ours with butter and sprinkle them with an unbleached cane sugar and cinnamon mixture. Sucanat doesn't work as well for this part...it gets sticky and is kind of grainy. You could also mix cream cheese and honey to drizzle them with, or once I served them with a homemade blackberry dipping sauce (blackberries + arrowroot + agave nectar and/or honey, reduce over medium heat, allow to cool).

Yesterday we made a pumpkin version. I left out one egg and added 1/2 c pumpkin puree. Lekker.

These Shoes Were Made For Running

2011-09-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago I started having pain in my right leg and, since I do quite a bit of running, I assumed I'd just strained something. It wasn't until after a month of painful runs that it finally dawned on me...for the FIRST TIME EVER...that maybe it was my shoes. And then I realized that I'd been running in the same pair of shoes for a really long time, so I looked up how often to change your running shoes. Turns out I'd run about 700 miles more in my shoes than I should have. Oops. Just for your information, the general rule for changing your shoes is every 300-500 miles. Now we know.

I immediately did some research and decided on this pair:
The Brooks Ravenna 2 which was the Runner's World editor's pick for 2011 and seemed to be a good all-around running shoe. It also retails for less than $100 and was available in-store locally. I've run around 40 miles in them so far and am very pleased. My only complaint is that sometimes after about two miles the two smallest toes on my left foot start to feel like they're asleep, and I've determined it has to do with the arch support and how I tie the laces on that side. Minor adjustments usually remedy the situation. Compared to my old shoes they're like running on...I don't know, but something pretty amazing.

I couldn't help feeling, however, a little bit sad about retiring my old shoes. We've been through so much together and they've always been so faithful. We ran countless miles together around my neighborhood and on my favorite running trail here in town. They remember when running one mile was an accomplishment, and then three...and then ten. They were with me when we finally broke 8:30 on our one mile time. These shoes ran with me on my first 5K, in the Alps, the streets of Paris, around the cathedral in Chartres, and the sidewalks of Port Allegany, PA. I ran them out. They literally gave me all they had.
So maybe I'll keep them for old time's sake. To wear to the grocery store once in awhile.

Here's to making new friends...and keeping the old. ;)

August in [Pictorial] Review

2011-09-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

Cheers!

Happy September!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-09-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 28th birthday. Since Josh just turned 29 and we'd taught Frazier to say so, he kept also telling people I was 29. And that I was old. I couldn't have asked for a better day- lunch with friends, dinner with family, presents I loved, cupcakes! I love birthdays, though I tend to be remarkably bad sometimes at remembering them (other people's- not mine). :)

Here's a picture I took of Fraz...And here's a picture he took of me:

I think a birthday is a unique opportunity to celebrate someone. It's like your own personal holiday. It is a chance to marvel at what a special person God made on the anniversary of the day that He sent them to earth and to recognize all the time they've been blessed with. When you think of it like that...many take birthdays all too lightly. And lamenting them is blasphemy.

I am not old even if Frazier says so, but I hope one day I am. I pray one day I have a whole sheet cake full of candles (and while we're wishing I hope it's white cake with white icing and strawberries...or cheesecake). And I pray that I look over the years those candles represent and say, "Look at what God has done for me. Just look what He has done!" but more than that I pray that He looks over those candles and says of me, "Look what Randi has done for me. Just look what she has done!"

I wish never to have a candle on any of my birthday cakes that was wasted...or unappreciated. Every year on my birthday I am so very grateful for another year and for all the lovely things in it. And make no mistake, there are always many lovely things. I will never bemoan adding another number to my years because growing old is a privilege.

If only it didn't come with gray hair.

*Thanks to everyone who made this last year and the celebrating of it so special! I love you folks.

"Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you."

Isaiah 46:4

Celebrations

2011-08-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-14T13:11:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-03T06:35:00.000-07:00

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.

Miscellany

2011-08-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

One day, if Frazier is a famous jewelry designer I will tell the press how one day I gave him some air dry clay and he fashioned it into a near-perfect teardrop with one solitary fingerprint in almost in the very center. So I gave him beads and buttons to stick in it and he very diligently put them in the clay around the fingerprint then sat back, obviously pleased, and said "Done!" He knows when a work of art is just right. So I poked a hole, let it dry, glazed it and......voila! Gorgeous, right? He's talented, this kid.He's also generous. Often he likes to bestow "gifts" on our dog. Little offerings to the Furry One. Gatsby graciously accepts. Or something like that.
This was the day he used the little spatulas from his kitchen as chopsticks.

Whoever said helmets were just for riding your bike was thinking way too small.

Fashion rules: Your belt should always match your shoes, your shoes should always match your handbag, and your earrings should always match your safety goggles.

And if the bag fits...

Happy August!

Whatcha Got Cookin'?

2011-07-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

A play kitchen was high on my list of toys I felt we...er...Frazier needed, so for his birthday I picked out this adorable vintage blue one by KidKraft and, just as I suspected it would be, it's been one of his favorite gifts! He loves cooking in the big kitchen, after all, so now that he has his own he's been cooking and serving up a storm.

We put it together while he was napping last weekend and when he saw it for the first time he said, "Kitchen?" and then kept saying "Mine?" like he couldn't believe it was actually his!
This was a winner. Fireboots, firetruck, chef hat. Just in case there's a kitchen fire. :)

He likes putting on his apron and hat, but one day he also added the goggles from his tool set, too. Safety first!

Bon Appetit!

Love, Love Me Deux

2011-07-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

A blogpost in honor of Frazier turning 2.

I find that the blogworld is choc-a-bloc with Moms who think their kid is amazing and want to post about it...usually in letter form. Not that there's anything wrong with that. After all, mine is and I do. (And sometimes- ahem, Kate- I look forward to other people's letters to their kids.) But honestly, I'd just be so redundant...and mushy...and I'd hope that if Frazier went back and read it someday he'd roll his eyes and say, "You didn't have to type all that, Mom. I already knew." Because no kid could be more treasured than this one, and I'm privileged to get to prove that to him every minute of every single day.

I will say that I love having a toddler.I love the revelation of this new charming little personality.

And I love, love, love that he's talking...

...and that he laughs and laughs and laughs.He's such a thoughtful kid.

I spend so much of my day just sitting and watching with wonder...amazed at this beautiful little person.

And at how much I love him.

Dear Frazier,

Every day with you is better than the last,

and on each of our yesterdays I've thought to myself,

"It can't get any better than this."

As ever,

Mom

Happy Birthday, Dear Frazier...

2011-07-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

...happy birthday to you!

And many more!!

You Say It's Your Birthday?!

2011-07-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a better reason to celebrate than the anniversary of the day we met Frazier, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate it than a whole afternoon with some of our favorite people. Except maybe an afternoon with ALL our favorite people...but even so, it was an absolutely perfect day. As a matter of fact it was one of those days that was so wonderful we just kept marveling over it until...well, we still are!

These cookie favors were made by my talented friend Jaime.

Cake from The Butcher Shop- one of my favorite things about birthdays.

Opening presents!

Chef's hat from Uncle Ross:This chair from G and Grampa was a big hit...Smurftastic- T from the "Belgians":

Checkin' out the new timepiece:

Fireman Fraz:

Then it was out to the deck to try out a couple of new things:

I'll go ahead and admit that we'd using a large glass candle stick (which had to be taken back in and returned to it's home on my entertainment center every time we used it) as a tee with an over-sized plastic golfball and a garage sale bat. We're resourceful over here.However, the Gleasons graciously gifted us a REAL tee, a much better bat, and a whole bag of balls!Then gave some free coaching to boot!It wasn't long before Frazier decided to see how many of his new gifts he could use at once so he set up the new folding chair right next to the tee and proceeded to bat...sitting down! Like I said...resourceful. :)

Cupcake #3...

Pretty sure he had more cake on Saturday than he's had his whole life.

Giving his little friends a ride in the new dump truck...

Putting money in the new piggy bank with Pop:

New buddies- Elmo and Gumby:

Even after 3 cupcakes...a party this rockin' makes a kid pretty tired...

I had two videos I wanted to post, but as per usual they aren't uploading. I'll be working on that.

So there it is...the party post. I'm sort of sad it's over (the party, not the post). What a happy, happy day!

Yard Project

2011-07-13T07:50:00.001-07:00

Before:It was quite literally a jungle out there. The flower bed the previous owner of the house planted along with the vines from the neighbor's woods had grown together to create this Little Shop of Horrors-style profusion of vegetation encroaching on the back yard. By this summer, it had practically engulfed the birdbath and was close to swallowing up the bench. Something had to be done.

Work-in-progress:After:

Ahh. Now that's better.

Memories

2011-07-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Somewhere amidst packing, unpacking, repacking and unpacking our bags again...a lot of memories were made! Here are just a few (in no particular order):

We really had such a nice time! We got to see everyone we miss...just not for long enough!

A [not so] Very Good [blogging] Year

2011-07-11T16:50:00.001-07:00

2011 has turned out to be a terrible blogging year for me. I realized as I sat down to (finally) do a post today that I have yet to do a single post in the month of July. I did 7 in June, a mere two in each April and May, 3 in March, 4 in February and a whopping two in January. That's a grand total of 20 for the year...or the six and a half months of it thus far, anyway. In comparison to the last two years (when I did 127 and 108 posts, respectively) that's really sad. I don't know what happened, but I don't like it. I went back through some old posts yesterday and I really enjoyed remembering through them. I'd forgotten some of the little stuff. What happy little things have I already forgotten because I didn't blog about them this year? I resolve to do better. Because even our most boring days are something special and I suspect that even the moments which seem so insignificant today are ones that someday I'll look back at with nostalgia...and then I will call them magic.

Basking

2011-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

I look forward to the few weeks out of the year Texas Red grapefruits are in season. I can have apples all year 'round...so an apple's an apple, but I savor every bite of every one of those grapefruits in every bag I buy. I look forward to the day they're available and I anticipate with sadness they day I eat the last one until next year. Josh's Aunt Julie says that families aren't meant to be so very far apart, but I know now that they're like those grapefruits...being apart makes every minute together thicker, more meaningful. Knowing your time is brief with long stretches in between makes it that much more lovely to bask in their presence and and that much sweeter to revel in their warmth.

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say we had a very nice day celebrating Frazier's Dad, but wish we could've celebrated in person all of the other awesome Dad's we're related to.

My Mom did a good post on my dad (and rightfully so...he's certainly blogworthy as dad's go) two years in a row...so I defer to her.

And here's the post from Josh's first Father's Day.

Much love to Josh, Dad, Pop, Jim and Papa. You guys mean the world to us.

Happy Father's Day!

Berry Pickin'

2011-06-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went out to Martin's Berry Farm and picked blackberries. With Mae Mae and Pop plus the three of us, the picking went fast and we came home with a huge haul. 5 buckets- you may remember this picture.

My freezer's full and I've made two batches now of blackberry jam. Yum.

Freezer full or not, I still wanted to go back for blueberries, which Mr. Martin assured us he'd have in two weeks. As this week marked about two weeks since our previous visit, we returned. And this time we brought friends.

The whole berry-pickin' bunch:

Me and Fraz:I'm pretty sure we ate several handfuls. Berry picking makes you hungry.Aren't these beautiful? I loved all the different colors in one cluster.In the end, here's what we got among the three...er, seven...of us. Being that three of the seven were under two- I'd say that's a pretty good harvest. I was determined not to leave without my bucket filled. Mines the one on the right. :)Blueberries are better with friends. Like most things. This was about as close to a group picture of all the kids as we could get. At least they're all in the frame:Then Frazier ate blueberries out of our flat ALL the way home!

Mmmmm. Tastes like summer.

And A Picture Of...

2011-06-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

The cow jumping over the moon.

Frazier has exactly 402 books (in three different languages). I know because I counted them this week. Four hundred and two books, yet we read Goodnight Moon (one of our three copies, anyway) a minimum of five times daily.

I love it, but we do have other good books too. Fortunately we read alot so we get to read lots of those, too. Reading so much Goodnight Moon, though, inspired me. Every time I looked at the great green room, part of me wanted to redo Frazier's room to look just like it. Or plan a Goodnight Moon themed party or something. Ultimately, I decided just to paint Frazier his very own picture of the cow jumping over the moon.

Of course, there are no blank walls in my house, so then I had to find a place for it which lead to changing a whole small wall in Frazier's room. I took down the two shelves that were above the changing table and made that my new picture wall. One day- when we are done with diapers in Frazier's room and can move the changing table- this wall will probably have shelves in front of it so I may add some more frames below these three, but for now I think

this is a pleasant little grouping.

All the frames came from my thrifted frame collection which lives in my garage waiting for paintings and projects like this. I didn't paint any of them really, the yellow one was actually already yellow though obviously I painted over it a few times to get just the right Goodnight Moon Yellow and to add the scroll-y stuff. It was also almost the correct dimensions (I measured several throughout the book to estimate the right ratio). *Goodnight Moon Trivia: No two of the pictures of this cow jumping over the moon are exactly the same in the book and this picture is also in the picture of the three little bears sitting on chairs.* I chose to replicate the one on the two page spread of the great green room and I just freehanded it, but was quite happy with my estimations.

The drawing and text in the green frame comes from the book A Hole Is To Dig- which I also love:I just photographed a page, blew it up, and printed it out on some cream colored linen cardstock. It says "A dream is to look at the night and see things". It was hard to choose just one illustration and sentence, but I thought this was an appropriate one for a bedroom.The "V is for vegetables" frame is also one I painted myself. I kind of wanted this frame to reflect another book, but decided to use it as an opportunity to incorporate the new veggie patch bedding I want for Frazier's bed when we transition the crib to a daybed.

Then I tried to get a picture of the new wall with the rest of the room so I could show how it tied in with the existing decor. Well, me thinks.

And now I'm going to go straighten up the blankets I have stored on the changing table because looking at these pictures made me realize that looks really messy.

Goodnight nobody.

Goodnight mush.

Family Near and Far

2011-06-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

Josh's family, with the exception of his parents who live about two hours away, has always lived very far away. Like Pennsylvania, far away. And that was sad, I'm sure, when he was a kid, and I can attest that it was sad when we were just married, but it is especially sad since we've had Frazier. That, coupled with the fact that my parents and brother have been abroad most of Frazier's life and that we have a pair of grandparents each who never got to meet Frazier at all, means a lot of the people we love...are not close to us in physical proximity at all. It doesn't make me bitter so much as it just makes me extra-extra grateful for the time we do get to spend with those people (and for Skype) and so very thankful for the family we do have nearby. Mae Mae and Pop (my paternal grandparents in case you don't know) were here for the morning today just to visit and I made the mistake of telling Frazier last night that they were coming. He asked about them all evening...and then for two and a half hours this morning until they got here. He was so excited when they finally came to the door I thought he was going to run right out of his sandals. I just love that he's old enough to look forward to people. And to really enjoy them. And I love these pictures.

I've decided, therefore, not to tell him we're going to Pennsylvania in a couple of weeks and all the awesome people we're going to see there (Grammie and Grampa Jim and Nama and Papa are pretty magic words, too). It'll be a surprise for him.

He'll never know, personally, how great my Nana and Grandaddy or Josh's Grampa Rudy and Grandma Grace were, but thanks to the internet he does know lots of people who love him from afar. He even gets to travel to see them, and he gets loved on by folks close to home, too. What a lucky little boy.

Two-ish

2011-06-10T15:33:00.001-07:00

Frazier had a mini meltdown in the checkout line at Brookshires yesterday. I can't even remember what it was about now, but when we got up to the register the cashier said to him, "You were acting a little bit two-ish just now. How old are you?"

I suppose there was no real hope of escaping it. The kid was going to be two. And evidently, even the most perfect babies become...well...toddlers. I shouldn't complain because he's still a pretty good kid ninety-something percent of the time (that number varies daily). He just got so opinionated. I don't believe I fully appreciated the time I got to think for him.

Even so, I continue to like each stage even better than the last. And I really enjoy having an almost-two-year-old. He's always played well alone, but now I feel like I can actually let him without having both eyes on him every second. Like now, for instance, he is riding his firetruck around the house so I am free to blog.

He's always on a little mission and I love his creativity. He's the kind of kid that takes one thing and sees how many different ways he can use it. He's so independent and resourceful. He will push a chair or his stool to the sink, stand on it, and wash dishes. (Like literally rinse dishes from the sink off and put them on the drying rack.) He also pulls a stool up to the side of his high chair, climbs in and puts on his bib (I always keep one hanging on the back of the highchair). He can also climb on his changing table. If I suggest we change his diaper and then don't go directly to his room- he goes ahead of me, climbs up on the changing table, and assumes the diaper changing position. He goes behind me in the bathroom and kitchen and closes cabinets and drawers I leave open. If I leave things out of place, like shoes or a drinking glass, he brings them to me. One morning, I set him up with a TV show and jumped in the shower. A minute or two later, he opens the shower door, hands me a glass of water I'd left on bedside table and shuts the door. Really made me laugh.

His vocab increases daily, but he has yet to string any words together to really form phrases or sentences. And sometimes communication is a real source of frustration since a lot of his words sound very similar and I'm not a mindreader. Yet.

I think, overall, I enjoy every day more than the last because being a mom seems to get easier. Or maybe I'm just getting better at it...or more used to it. Or maybe I just love him so much more every day that no matter how hard it was it'd still be a pleasure.

I took this picture the night Frazier fell face down on our patio and I thought he'd knocked out a tooth or two. Fortunately all teeth were accounted for, but the lip didn't fare so well. I suppose it would have been too much to ask that we make it to two without a busted lip. Really, the way this kid climbed all over the place it's a miracle we made it this long without any real injury to speak of or stitches. So there's that. But the busted lip was pretty sad...and traumatic. Mostly for me, but it wasn't great for Fraz either. It's all well now.

This was VBS week and I was a crew leader for the preschoolers (so I spent my week with 8 4-year olds) and Frazier got to go to his nursery class every day. It's been a long week, but we had a good time. Maybe now that we'll have our mornings back next week, I'll get some more blogging in!

May

2011-06-02T18:20:00.001-07:00

Smakelijk

2011-05-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

It's a family travel tradition to revolve as much of our trip as possible around eating. I mean, why travel if not to try new foods? So here's a sampling of the stuff we enjoyed.

Seems we ate a lot of ice cream.

One of the things atop my Paris to-do list this time was visit Laduree and get some macarons. Here are my selections: Lavender Black Currant, Raspberry, Rose, Dark Chocolate Lime, Orange Blossom, and Lily of the Valley. Exquisite.

Returned

2011-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm ashamed we've been back so many days and I'm just now getting a blog post in. Almost a month after my last one. Ah me- how time flies. If you haven't been following our trip via my Mom's blog...I'd like to direct you there now because, well, she's done as superb a job

blog-chronicling the whole trip as she [and Dad] did planning it to begin with. It was lovely really, we just showed up in Brussels and were whisked away on one dream excursion after the next. It's the only way to see Europe. ;) As usual, I couldn't decide on a good way to post pictures...I considered setting up an online album or something but have ultimately [as usual] decided that it would be easiest just to post them here. There may be a billion and two so prepare yourself. I've only selected a few favorites. :) And I tried not to duplicate any Mom used in her posts. No since

being redundant. They are not in any particular order. I apologize in advance for the disorganization. When I tell you I had hundreds of pictures I am not exaggerating.

No trip to Belgium would be complete without at least one visit with Mom and Dad's neighbors, Annemie and Jan.

Dijon:

Paris was actually the capstone of our trip. It was my third time to visit, Frazier's second, and Josh's first. So we hit all the important sites to show him and took a boat ride down the Seine.

Taken from the road:We spent a lot of time in the van my parents rented, and this is how I like to remember our travel...pleasant:

On our way to Paris, we stayed in Chartres. We literally stayed RIGHT NEXT to the famous cathedral so we visited it twice.For a fee, you can climb the three hundred steps to the top of this tower. The view's worth it.Maison Picassiette is also in Chartres. This whole little complex is done in mosaic. Kind of inspired me. I may be plastering and mosaic-ing my back patio or something one of these days.I wish everyone could see the Alps in person once in their lives. Because seeing pictures just isn't good enough. And breathtaking doesn't begin to describe it. Josh took this first picture from the top of a mountain. He took a cable car up and I'm pretty sure it was (understandably) the highlight of his whole trip!This was the *heated* pool at our hotel in Chamonix-Mont Blanc. What a view, eh?It seems like my family often happens upon streams. And stops to check them out. It's uncanny how often it happens.This lake in the mountains is easily the most beautiful place I've ever been. It was unreal. Un. Real.I wish I could have immersed myself in it, but it was cold. And I do mean cold. So I just waded. Because, I mean, the water was so clear and the bottom was all smooth, round stones and it looked so beautifully refreshing I don't know how everyone else stayed out!Certainly one of the highlights of the trip was visiting my French family, the Walters. It's been almost fifteen years since I stayed with them and their daughter, Emilie came and stayed with us, but it didn't feel like it'd been that long since. And in a way, it felt like coming home. Emilie has a daughter a year younger than Frazier, Adelie and the two of them got along well. I hope they get to meet again.One our way to the Walter's we stayed in Strasbourg. I'd visited there the first time I visited the Walters, but remembered very little about it so it was interesting to go back. It's a picturesque little place.One of our day trips was the Antwerp to the zoo. It was an amazing zoo, and one of the oldest in the world. It was the first time I'd been to a zoo right in the middle of a city.Some of the zoo's original aviaries. No birds in there now, but for the time they were built, they were considered spacious!I think this was taken at the playground in Hasselt. Slides were always the favorite...regardless of the playground, though, so it's hard to say.Fraz and baskets of Holland souvenirs.I think this colony of gnomes was at a store in Holland. Seems like every trip I come back with a picture of a bunch of gnomes.The following few pictures were taken in Noordwijk on the North Sea. The only beaches Frazier's ever been to have been on the North Sea. This beach was littered with shells which only made it more beautiful.I wanted to put this picture because it's Ross's apartment and one of the few pictures I have with him in it! We always enjoy our time in Leuven. This time Ross and I got to go out shopping just the two of us and he took me to some stores he'd found that were so ME it was fabulous.

These are two of about...I dunno...a bunch of pictures we have of Frazier and Winslow. Good pair, these two.These two, too:

This is us eating pizza (what else?) in Italy.

And this is Frazier and Josh playing with (what else?) beer bottle caps back at Oma and Opa's in Belgium.This is Mom and Dad's little yard. Cozy, no?The tulip fields were actually our first excursion, and please believe me when I tell you pictures can't do them justice. It's astounding, really, to stand at the edge of a sea of flowers. See Frazier in this one?And this is Frazier on the flight home. One day maybe I'll do a post on air travel. I think we've got it down now.

What a trip! It's hard to believe it's over!

A Lack of Blogging Here

2011-04-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

It isn't that I haven't wanted to blog...or that we haven't had anything to blog about. Quite the contrary, really. It's just that real life kept getting in the way. And the weather just hasn't been conducive to blogging. It's been way too beautiful outside to be inside on the computer. And we're just having so much fun and getting so much done. Even now, I'm afraid my blogpost will be all too brief. I'd love to go ON AND ON about how awesome Frazier is at 21 months, and all the things he says and all the things we do together and how sweet and adorable he is...almost all the time. I'd like to wax poetic about his many talents and his staggering intelligence and how he unleashed his creativity on my dining room wall...in silver Sharpie. These are the days.

Every day just gets better. And messier, it seems...but that's what Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are for, right?

Superfraz.

I'd like to brag about how I spring cleaned my ENTIRE house room by room, and every closet, drawer, even the boxes in the top of my closet...and then had a remarkable garage sale to rid myself of the unnecessary. Then I'd like to tell about how, since we'll be spending Easter with my family in BELGIUM we had a lovely early Easter in Ruston last weekend complete with egg dying and an egg hunt.

...and how Frazier and I were invited to an Easter party on Monday and it reminded me again of what fabulous friends we have and how blessed we are to get to hang out together and have lunch and decorate cookies and hunt eggs.

Yeah, I'd like to tell you about all of those things. And in detailed, well-written prose. But I'm afraid I just don't have time! I did mention we're going to Belgium right? Tomorrow?

People like to remind me not to take these days for granted, but they don't have to. I already know how much I'll miss them and it makes me love them all the more. The lack of blogging is just us squeezing all the goodie out of every second of the day.

And I think to myself, "What a wonderful weekend!"

2011-04-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Caution: picture overload. So don't say you weren't

forewarned.

First things first- this past Thursday, the 31st, was my little brother's 22nd birthday and despite my best intentions, this picture didn't get posted. So here's a late birthday greeting from the Fraz and me.

Next up: our zoo weekend! We had Grammie here to visit starting on Wednesday of last week. Then, on Friday, Mae Mae and Pop and Grandpa Jim came over. We had a joint birthday celebration for Pop (whose birthday was last weekend) and Grammie (whose birthday is next week)!

The weather was really beautiful and with so many people around it meant there was always someone (and in most cases, multiple someones) to blow bubbles, and draw with sidewalk chalk, and play in the sandbox...

Then it was off to Tyler for Frazier's first trip to the zoo!

I really think Frazier had the quintessential first zoo trip experience- every exhibit was a photo op and with four cameras and one video camera...our visit was well documented. He pet some goats, fed some birds and got cool surprises from the gift shop courtesy of all those grandparents we took with us. :) What more could you want from a zoo trip? He even got the benefit of having Mae Mae and Grammie to play with on the ride home!

What a weekend. What a happy, memorable weekend.

Shades of Green

2011-03-17T16:54:00.001-07:00

Wishing you a rainbow,

and sunlight after showers.

Miles and miles of Irish smiles,

and happy golden hours.

Shamrocks at your doorway,

and luck and laughter, too...

And a host of friends that never ends-
each day your whole life through!

We started our green day with these green Spinach-Quinoa muffins which I meant to post the link to the recipe for before today...but I didn't. Sorry. They're really yummy, though and we eat them all the time...it was just extra appropriate today. Frazier and I made a couple of batches awhile back and froze them. He eats one almost every day and I get one out of the freezer for breakfast now and then too!

And now to the best part about our Shamrock Day:

It's been awhile since we had a party, and I decided St. Patrick's day was as good a holiday as any to throw another one! So, Frazier and I invited over a bunch of friends and had a St. Patty's Day Picnic! We asked everyone to bring their own sandwiches, and we supplied drinks, desserts, fruit, veggies, dips and chips...all in shades of green! I made shamrock sugar cookies with green dough and icing......and a homemade green velvet cake with light green cream cheese frosting!Since green (more specifically, chartreuse ) is my favorite color, there is no shortage of green stuff around here and it turns out green food and drink is extremely easy to come by: green salsa, guacamole, snap pea crisps, honeydew, kiwis, green grapes, granny smith apples, broccoli, cucumber, celery, green goddess dressing, green juice boxes, green lemonade, Perrier, Sierra Mist, and even Dr. Peppers in the vintage green cans! I had so much fun coming up with the whole green "menu"!Frazier helping himself to a green rice krispie treat...or two.

We're certainly "lucky" to have so many good friends- the company couldn't have been better and the weather was perfect too! We had such a good time...I think we were both sad to see everyone go! I know I was sad when it was over...but the best part of having great friends is knowing they'll always be back!

Frazier played so hard all morning long that he was all tuckered out by the time our last guest left; he went straight to bed for a long nap!

And just in case you wondered...colored bubbles? Remarkably. Bad. Idea. Even Frazier agreed. My sentiments exactly, little buddy.

Just wanted to let you know it was a magnificent mess, lest you buy some yourself and find out the hard way. That "washable" on the label? Doesn't apply to your patio or certain tennis shoes. Take my advice and don't go there.

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was happy, too!

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow,

And the good Lord be with you wherever you go.

New 'Do

2011-03-11T15:00:00.000-08:00

I've trimmed it a couple of times myself, but we decided that, at long last, it was time to officially tame the Fraz 'fro. Long, wavy. wispy-ness may have been cute for awhile, but it was getting out of hand. Case in point:

And it almost always looked like that. So we were getting comments. Also, we've had a staggering number strangers think throughout the last few months he was a girl regardless of what I dressed him in. I mean, I know he's a beautiful boy...but really? Come on. Therefore, today was the day- Frazier's first haircut!

Since Josh is quite devoted (which, after our excellent experience today, I now totally understand) to his barber shop and barber, and since I don't even have a hairdresser we took him there when Josh got off work today. And Mr. Tim was the best first barber a kid could hope for! Josh had his haircut first and was just finishing up as we walked in so Frazier got to see Dad in the chair and was very intrigued. Then we asked if he was ready for his turn and he shook his head! He pretty much refused to sit in the chair alone, so Josh sat with him and after that he was great! He sat perfectly still the whole time...even when Tim got out the clippers. I took several videos to prove it.

One guy who was waiting to get his hair cut and had been watching Frazier even said, "Looks like he's a real good kid," and we had to agree. :)

Tim saved us some hair in a little envelope which he labeled and dated for us and even gave us a first haircut certificate for Frazier's keepsake box. Then we went about our merry-well groomed-way with a blue raspberry Dum-Dum. Mission happily accomplished!

Handsome, right?

Mardi Gras

2011-03-08T11:30:00.000-08:00

There have been years I made as many as seven homemade king cakes and decorated my house in green and gold and purple to celebrate Mardi Gras...I'm from Louisiana, afterall. While this was not one of those excessive years, it wasn't the least festive Mardi Gras I've had either. I made a total of three king cakes this year and this past weekend we went to the Jefferson Mardi Gras parade! Unfortunately, after weeks of beautiful warmish weather, parade day dawned gray and cool and damp. We also woke up with colds. We had a great time anyway, but in every picture I took, Frazier looks a little dreary. I don't think I have one picture from the whole day where he's smiling! Nevertheless, he sat and waved to all the floats that passed and ended up with a whole mess of beads!

Chef Fraz

2011-02-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

Since he's always here with me and often wants to be in the big middle of whatever I'm doing in the kitchen anyway, it seemed only logical that I buy him an apron, train him in the culinary arts and utilize him as a sous chef. He's proven to be not only extremely proficient, but also absolutely adorable at it. Double whammy. I think I'll keep him on.
In all sincerity, he's actually kind of helpful and I find myself sometimes *gasp* waiting until after naptime to cook. Just so he can help me. Once you've cooked with Frazier- I'm just not sure there's any going back. All culinary ventures thereafter seem markedly tedious and dull.We did a lot of cooking together on Friday (hence all the pictures)- and he was a real trooper- "sous chef-ing" through two different kinds of muffins and a king cake (which we waited and iced the next morning).The two-handed icing technique:He's also handy in the taste-testing department. :) Love this little chef.
Bon Appetit!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:12:00.000-08:00

Josh and I before our Valentine's Day date on the night before our 11th Valentine's Day together:Frazier and I made valentines a couple of weeks ago. He was very excited about using glitter. He got the process of glue then glitter then shaking off the excess...right down to closing the glitter after each use before he shook the paper! I found the perfect Valentine for Frazier this year. I actually saw it in a magazine when- I kid you not- he was an infant. And I knew I had to get one. For Frazier, of course. I ordered it back when I ordered some other things for his birthday back in July to save on shipping and it's been in my gift closet for 7 months! It's from my favorite line of toys, Smart Snacks by Learning Resources. We had the sorting cupcakes, rainbow cones, and counting cookies already. Now we also have the hide and peek chocolates! (That link takes you to the Learning Resources website, but they're usually cheaper from amazon)I had just enough of that cute valentine's day wrapping paper to wrap it (I bought part of a roll of it at a Goodwill a couple of years ago for a quarter and had been saving it for a special Valentine's Day gift). (Oh- and those beautiful flowers are from my sweet Dad...because he's awesome like that.)How cute are these chocolates?! They were a big hit...Frazier likes stuff like that. Shape sorting and things you can take apart and put back together, I mean- not so much the fake food part. That's my fetish. :)

This is Frazier "smiling" for the camera. Why do all kids make this cheesy face?We also made a great batch of Frazier's first playdough...in pink for Valentine's Day (and because red is next to impossible to achieve). I love the smell of homemade playdough.And this was Frazier's Valentine to me. While I was unloading the dishwasher this morning, he climbed on the desk, got the glitter off the shelf above it...and glittered my sofa. Super surreptitiously. Fortunately he skipped the glue step. That's what I get for letting the kid use glitter ONE TIME.

Hope yours was happy!

XOXO,

Randi

These Days

2011-02-12T10:52:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, we got more snow! (On Friday I went running in the snow...then on Sunday I went running in the sun wearing a sleeveless shirt!) Crazy Texas weather. Despite the snowy weather, the sun still came out and the snow was so pretty in it's light. It looked like the yard had been covered with white glitter. See? Close up of snow:
These days I feel like I could be snapping pictures every couple of minutes and not capture all the amusing things Frazier does. I love it. Never. A. Dull. Moment. Frazier (and his rice cake) stuck between the mattress and the foot board of our bed. Not the last time that happened, I'm afraid.Talking to Grammie:Frazier put on his own boots yesterday! He came out of his room with them on (the wrong feet). And then he slept in them. :)
Where's Frazier?

There he is! That's the wire basket I keep all his plastic fruit in. On his head. Where does he come up with this stuff?

This weekend I ran my first 5K! Since I'd been jogging 2 to 5 miles a day six days a week, I was definitely prepared and though I felt like I could certainly have kept going when it was over, it still took me 31:43 with which I was slightly disappointed. I was hoping to finish in half an hour. So close. Today turned out to be a beautiful day and it's in the 60s now, but it was still in the 30s during our run which started at 8am...pretty cold and there were a couple of icy patches on our route. At least the sun was out and it was perfectly clear blue skies!

I ran with my friend Rebecca who finished just two people behind me. We stayed pretty close together the whole way. We were pretty proud of ourselves (as were our husbands and kids) so we all went out to breakfast afterwards. :)

Home Improvement

2011-02-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I decided about a week into 2011 that I wanted to change something about our house. Or a few things, perhaps. So I began thinking about it and once I started, I couldn't stop. I determined that the biggest change and the one I wanted most, would be painting the living room. This is something I've always wanted to do as not only was every wall in our house the EXACT same color (and I do mean every. single. wall.), but that color also happened to be the exact same color as our sofa and the curtains (in the living room at least). Though all the other things in the room offered some colorful contrast, the monotone was just too much. So I got Josh on board and we started looking at paint samples.

Once we'd decided on one (Behr-New Chestnut), I had the idea of using it to first paint the guest bathroom. It's long since been one of my least favorite rooms in my house and since it's a small room it wouldn't take much paint and would be a good way to see the color on a larger scale before we painted the entire living room. Since the weekend after we chose the paint color was a weekend Josh was spending away for a guys' camping weekend, I decided that in his absence I would tackle the bathroom on my own.

So- utilising every minute of naptime and as many hours past bedtime as I could, I finished the bathroom before Josh got home on Sunday! Here's a picture of the bathroom before:And after!Not only did I paint the walls, but also painted the cabinets white, replaced the hardware on them with new glass knobs... ...that matched the glass hangers I got (on sale at Target) for the new shower curtain (which came from Bed Bath and Beyond) I hung some cute little metal shelves courtesy of a Goodwill under the marbled window I made ages ago, repainted and antiqued some frames from another thrift store and framed in them some pages from an old hymnal, and I got new towels in a pretty citrus-y green (from Big Lots) that perfectly matched my new shower curtain.

Then, with all that done, I was happy. Except that everytime I went in there I liked everything except the old light fixture. I'd always thought it was a little too small for the big mirror and now it definitely didn't fit with the decor. So Frazier and I made a trip to the Habitat Re-store and found a perfect new (old) one! I say perfect, but what I mean is...it was perfectable. It was pretty tacky all brass with these dated tulip glass covers, but the wiring was good and the price was reasonable, and the girl working at the Re-store that day let me change out the covers for free to something we both agreed looked vintage enough. I brought it home, repainted and antiqued it, put new bulbs in and hung it up. Worked like a charm and perfectly rounded out the bathroom redo!

There was no stopping me now. I moved on to the rest of the house and over the course of a couple of weeks...I did at least something to almost every room!

Prepare yourself...here comes the rundown.

I'll begin with the dining room because while I was at the Re-store looking for my bathroom light, this chandelier caught my eye. It was brass again, but had great potential. I left without it, but thought about it all the next day and finally went back out to get a price on it and check the wiring. Satisfied with both, I brought it home and set to work repainting it. I began with a coat of spray paint (Krylon flat Ivy) then I finished it with two coats of the paint color I had since decided to use for two accent walls- my foyer wall and the wall just outside my master bedroom. It is Martha Stewart from Home Depot in Dried Camomile (it was very close to the towel color in my new guest bathroom so I also used it to paint the wicker Kleenex holder in there.) I had to add a little length of chain since the one this light fixture came with was too short for my tall dining room ceiling, but that was no big deal. I'm still in search of some bobeches for it, but I like it as is well enough.

Here's the dining room before with the old light fixture:...and after with the new!Since I was all in painting mode, and since I've always wished there was something below that chair rail in the dining room...I painted it too! I taped it off and did white stripes with a white wash between them and finished the whole thing with a wood stain. I also got a new little cabinet that you can sort of see in the corner of the top picture. I'd originally bought it (at Ross Dress For Less) to go in the foyer but decided to use something else in there so it got moved in here and has cookbooks and tablecloths in it. I changed the hardware on it to a glass drawer pull and glass knob. I also took EVERYTHING off those white shelves and rearranged them and got rid of things I don't use and bought a couple of new things for them...but probably no one would notice that but me. :)

And now on to the kitchen. On a whim last Wednesday...I decided to paint it red. Just seemed like a good idea. So I went to Lowe's and picked out a color (Valspar- Red Ochre) which is a very nice tomato-y red that went with most of the red stuff in my kitchen and in particular the rick rack on my favorite curtain above the sink. *And just FYI, most paint companies now offer samples for $1-3 to save you from spending the money on a quart or gallon of a color that doesn't look good in your house. Valspar, Olympic, Behr and Martha Stewart (that I know of) all offer a 7 oz one which is actually quite a bit of paint. 2/3 of one was more than enough to paint this one wall of my master bath (Martha Stewart- Rainwater):(Also got some new his and hers hooks from Hobby Lobby-1/2 off-for the closet doors in there.)It took 2 and a half of the sample containers to paint the two walls in my kitchen I painted, but even buying three of them was cheaper than buying one quart. So there's an idea for painting on the cheap as long as you aren't painting a whole lot.

Back to my kitchen. These are kind of sad before pictures because they're some I took right after we moved in (like, 5 years ago), but it gives you an idea. Obviously, the paint color hadn't changed:And here it is now...I made a new hanger for my aprons out of a piece of wood and some great little colored glass knobs from Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, with the aprons hanging on them you can't really see the knobs. I also finally found a place to hang this little white spice rack I'd found at a thrift store a long time ago. It fits perfectly on the end of this cabinet under my strawberry sign and is the perfect spot for some of my little souvenirs and stuff. I made the curtain for my laundry room door by sewing together some of my favorite tea towels and this random strawberry cafe curtain I thrifted a long time ago for 25 cents. It's been in my extra fabric box forever waiting for an application. This worked out great because it was just the right width and already had a seam for the curtain rod so that was one less thing I had to sew! I just loosely basted the tea towels to it so I can easily use them as towels again if I ever want to and I finished the bottom (since there were a few inches left between the last towel and the floor) with some of my favorite kitchen-y fabric scraps.I think one of my favorite kitchen projects was the refrigerator. It came with the house and while all the other appliances were black...it was white. Which made it my least favorite appliance and incidentally, just about the only one we haven't had to replace since we moved in. I covered it with chalkboard contact paper. So it's not only black, but you can write on it too! Super easy change...and very cheap, too. The stuff is $6 a roll and this took far less than two rolls. The best part? If I want it white again...I just peel it off.The breakfast room/office (that area at the end of the kitchen with the bay windows) is now an office/playroom. That was actually a project of mine back in the late summer-early fall.It used to look something like this:

And now looks something like this:The light fixture and rug in there came from Ikea.

This is the office area of that space. I added that extra small white wall cabinet this past week. I found it at Ross Dress for Less the day I found the cabinet for my dining room. It was pretty cheap to begin with, but because it had a little dent in the back corner I got it even cheaper. :)

And finally, last weekend we painted the living room. What was originally slated to be our only home improvement project ended up being our last of many! It is, however, one of my favorites. Here's a before picture (again, it's several years old...but none of the colors had changed in that time.)New Chestnut proved to be a much warmer, cozier cocoa color just as we'd hoped.I also replaced all the throw pillows.And here's the foyer wall we accented with the Martha Stewart Dried Chamomile (same color as the light fixture in the dining room, the kleenex holder in the bathroom and the background of those two big framed pieces hanging above my couch...I also gave the metal gate above my mantel a dry brush of this color). The new foyer table I found at T J Maxx:Here's the other accent wall in the little hallway outside our bedroom. Same color- Dried Camomile...might be my new favorite color.And just because I came across this little shelf at a thrift store and it was only $2 and it looked just right for books...I bought it, painted it white, and hung it under one of the trees in Frazier's room. Made an adorable little reading nook, no?! It was like it was meant to go there. I also got some pretty new tassle tie-backs for the curtains in our bedroom. The old ones were too flimsy and never held the curtains back so I felt like it always looked messy. This is a significant improvement. I repurposed the others and they are now jointly holding back a curtain on a window on the opposing wall.

"It is the main earthly business of man to make his home, and the immediate surroundings of his home, as symbolic and significant to his own imagination as he can." - G. K. Chesterton The Coloured Lands

So there you have it...our home improvement as of late! That's what I've been up to! And while I'm quite pleased with the results, it isn't really about the house and what it looks like...it's about what happens inside it. That's the part that matters. So, these are the two best things about my house:

...them and the fact that they were playing and singing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" and "The Crawdad Song". That makes this house my home.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." -Joshua 24:15

A Week Ago This Past Sunday...

2011-01-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

Frazier was 18 months old!

I need to do an official 18 month photo shoot, but he's kind of hard to get good photos of these days as he's F-A-S-T and forever on the go. Therefore, I am posting some of his Christmas pictures I took a month or so ago. He looks just the same. Adorable. So here's a rundown of Frazier at 18 months:

I enjoyed every minute of having a baby, but having a toddler is even better. He's just better company these days. A little person with plans and opinions of his own. He is very well self-entertained. In fact, most of the time he'd rather just do his own thing than have me in the way trying to play with him. He's always been an easy going little guy, and with the exception of a few amusing (yet embarrassing) public meltdowns and a week of whininess I attribute to a pretty gross cold...he remains so. I find him to be reasonable for the most part and surprisingly compliant. He holds my hand when asked, he stays close to me when we're out. Sometimes I even let him walk next to the buggy at Wal-Mart. And he actually does.

Frazier is generous with affection, and sometimes if I'm sitting on the floor at his level he'll come up and pat me on the shoulder and give me a kiss. Sweetest gesture ever.

He jabbers plenty and repeats words after me, but still isn't a big talker. I look forward to conversing with him. Like, a real conversation where 75% doesn't consist of me trying to guess what he's trying to say. He communicates reasonably well, regardless, I suppose. He comes up and tells me things sometimes that seem so well thought out and I can see in his eyes he knows exactly what he means, but try as I might I just don't understand. His favorite answer to any question is to put his hands out, palms up, as though in a shrug, which means "I don't know" or "I'm not going to tell you".

He engages in imaginative play now which is fun to see; anything can randomly become an airplane or a cell phone and he regularly pretends to eat fake food...and furthermore, he says "yum" as though it is tasty. He gets in his Cozy Coupe, closes the door, waves and says "Bye-bye" as though he's leaving. And every night before bed he parks it in his closet. And he came up with that all on his own!

He's remarkably helpful for someone so small. Every time I sweep, he goes to the laundry room and gets my stick vac (which I always use to suck up the piles of stuff I sweep up). Once, I swept up a little pile, then got distracted before I sucked it up and the next thing I knew Frazier had gotten the vacuum out, plugged it in, and was running the vacuum (albeit off) over the pile spreading it everywhere! I often give him tasks to perform (i.e. throwing something away, closing a door for me, taking his cup and bag to the car) and he is very good at following instructions. This also makes him a great sous chef. He pours things into bowls, stirs, and if I put his little stool out, he even puts things like measuring cups and spoons in the sink for me. Yesterday, I gave him a package of fruit snacks and when they were all gone, he got up from his little table, walked to the laundry room, and threw the package away! I occasionally come into the kitchen to find a sippy cup precariously perched on the edge of the counter in front of the sink. The other day I walked into the bedroom to find him dusting the bedside lamp with some Kleenex.He is also remarkably destructive for someone so small. I liken him to a tiny tornado leaving piles of rubble in his wake. I spend an inordinate amount of time just picking stuff up. Fortunately, he can often be easily employed to help. I find things "put away" in places they aren't supposed to go as well. Funny little surprises that make my day interesting.

Frazier loves music. Playing it, singing it, dancing to it. But he is well-rounded and loves art too. He's focused in both fields...well, really, in everything he does. He's inventive and rarely uses things for their intended purpose, but rather for something else. Which I take to mean he's creative.

He sleeps roughly 7:30 to 7:30 with a 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. He loves bathtime and spends a minimum of half an hour in the tub every evening. He's still a pretty good eater, but not as good as he used to be. He used to literally eat anything...but lately, though I continue to offer him a wide variety of things, he's becoming a bit more picky. For instance, he used to eat steamed baby brussel sprouts and last week he ate one, then refused to eat anymore. (And by refused I mean threw them from the highchair one at a time). I suppose I have more of that to look forward to.

I'd have more pictures, by the way, but there was an incident with my laptop and that's where lots of my recent pictures are. So...there's that.

Even though we spend almost every waking moment together, and sometimes I breathe a huge sigh of relief when he goes to bed, it's still the saddest time of my day. And I always feel excited every morning when he wakes up. After all, it's the beginning of another day. And every day I spend with Frazier is a good one, because even at his worst...he's the best.

Sunday Before Last...

2011-01-21T16:12:00.001-08:00

...began with a miserable, frigid, drizzly mixture of sleet and rain, but ended with a beautiful blanket of snow!! You may remember our snow day(s) last year, but I'm pretty sure Frazier does not, so I was excited about taking him out to see it. (And to document it, hence all the photos.) Though he enjoyed running around in it, he wasn't much into getting his hands in it...or, more specifically, getting it on his gloves. Which I can understand, but one day we're building an igloo (see last year's snow post).

Our Christmas In, Like, A Gazillion Pictures

2010-12-29T16:49:00.000-08:00

We've had the craziest December weather I think I can remember. Some days it's been so cold that to go out we looked like this:

Then some days felt like fall...And a few days the week before Christmas we actually went jogging in shorts and short sleeves it was so warm!

I think I've finally almost perfected my fruitcake recipe as of this year.
Trimming the tree:"Wonderland of Lights" in Marshall:
Making Christmas cookies:Cookies and eggnog for Santa:I think Josh spent his whole Christmas taking things out of boxes and assembling them.Waiting for morning...
Day-before-Christmas-Eve-morning at home:Christmas morning at Mae Mae and Pop's:Christmas Morning at Grammie and Grampa Jim's:Christmas evening with the Gleasons:And lots of ichatting and skype-ing with Oma, Opa and Uncle Ross and all the folks up north:

Other:

More, um, actual words to follow. Promise.

Happy Christmastime

2010-12-08T12:39:00.000-08:00

Remember that post I promised? The one that wouldn't just be a whole bunch of pictures?

Well, this isn't it. Sorry.

As part of my annual campaign to cram as many Christmas-y activities into the few short weeks that are the Christmas season, and because Frazier has been sick this week, so we've been more or less confined to the house, we spent this past Monday decorating gingerbread houses!

I bought this Wilton kit at Wal-Mart for $9 and it was worth every penny. This is how gingerbread house making should be...easy peasy. It came with everything you needed...though I may have added to it a little...

I had to add my own arsenal of candy...Frazier was excellent at this, which didn't surprise me a bit. I had a feeling he would be. He worked diligently for an hour and a half and decorated all five little houses! I did the preliminary construction and let them dry ahead of time, then I just iced the roofs of each house and spread icing all around their bases so Frazier could stick candy on the tops and in the "yards" of each house.

We may have made a little mess. And there may have been a little bit of candy on the floor when we were done. Or this much:

...but it was a pretty quick clean up really. And it was worth it. Just look at these results!These two are going to stay here......while these are all wrapped up to be given away!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of these days I'm going to do another post that is more than just a bunch of pictures. Maybe one that has quite a few words. And while we're saying maybe, maybe they'll even be eloquent ones too. One of these days.

For now- here are pictures of our Thanksgiving...and the first Thanksgiving Frazier got to eat turkey (and lots of other stuff)! It was everything Thanksgiving should be and I enjoyed every minute of it...right down to the last plate of left overs I ate back at home!

As ever, we have so much to be thankful for.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever."

-Psalm 136:1

Picturesque

2010-11-24T15:29:00.000-08:00

Square in Leuven where Ross lives...

...close up of that bug on a spit...

Tongeren flea market

Galerie Lafayette

The Eiffel Tower all a sparkle.

My favorite Christmas window- Printemps, Paris.

Reims Cathedrale

Beer tasting in Hasselt

Koln Cathedrale

Stick art

Kringwinkel miscellany.

Lekker

2010-11-24T05:39:00.000-08:00

Witloof pizza from Pizza Hut Belgium (this was so good we had it twice!):

Lunch Ross made:

Take away from the Tasty Bowl. Tasty indeed.

I seriously might frame this one:

Belgie

2010-11-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

As usual, it's overwhelming to be back and have to summarize my trip for people...and myself. There's just so much to do and tell and remember! I'll never manage it all, but since I finally got the pictures off of my camera and had a few minutes to sort through them, I thought I'd do a couple of posts of random pictures to supplement the ones my Mom already posted.

Airports and airplanes...

A Biscoff cookie for each hand (and several packages of extras). Thank you Mr. Delta Flight Attendant.

Belgium!Lunch at Uncle Ross's apartment in Leuven.

Brioche. Yum.

Bedhead extraordinaire.

The family's family away from family. Seriously lovable folks.

The long voyage home.

Why we went:

(And also for the food. And the trip to Paris. But mostly this.)

Let Mom Do The Blogging

2010-11-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

It has become apparent to me that while I am here, I am not going to get a chance to blog. If the past week is any indication, anyway. And I think it is. So in the event you are interested to know what we've been up to and don't regularly follow my Mom's blog anyway, I direct you here. She's doing a much better job of keeping up with blogging during my visit! We'll be home in less than a week- "see" you then!

Flag Football

2010-11-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again...flag football season. Actually, it's almost over- Josh's team only has one more game. This year, Frazier and I only made it to three games, but Frazier really seemed to enjoy it...we took his little football and everything. Every so often he'd go to the fence, point to the field and say "Dad". So sweet. :)

Here's to many more flag football seasons!

In other news- call me crazy, but Frazier and I leave tomorrow for BELGIUM! We'll be gone for almost two weeks and though I'm looking forward to seeing Mom and Dad and Ross and to all of them seeing Frazier, I'm very sad we have to leave Josh here to work.

Please pray for safe and happy travel. And for Josh until we get back.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T13:30:00.001-07:00

Frazier went this Halloween as Charlie Brown. I put the costume together myself and it cost me all of $4. Plus it was comfortable and cute so I count it a real success!

We went to our church's Farm Fair where Josh helped out at the bounce houses and I painted faces. We were supposed to only work 45 min to an hour, but wound up working the whole time so there wasn't a lot of time to eat or walk around together, but it was fine. I don't think Frazier felt gypped this year.

We went trick-or-treating at a few houses in our neighborhood where people we know live and Frazier was a great trick-or-treater! He wasn't into just getting candy and leaving, though. He wanted to stay for awhile! One house he walked right into and petted their dog. My sweet, sociable little boy.

Josh and I joked that he went as a Penn State fan and I went as Charlie Brown's mom (wah wahwah wah).

Happy November!

Punkin' Party!

2010-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Friday, I hosted (with the help of two good friends) a "Punkin' Party" here for Frazier's friends and mine! By my count we had about 14 mommies and 25 little punkins and we had the most wonderful time!!

It was B.Y.O.P (bring your own pumpkin!) for each kid to decorate.

Pumpkin decorating was followed by a yummy lunch al fresco...A pumpkin seed spitting contest...

...apple bobbing...

And cupcake decorating!

And there was a doorprize drawing in there for the mommies. :)

The weather was BEAUTIFUL--just perfect for an outdoor autumn party--we couldn't have asked for a better time...or a better bunch of friends to share it with!

Since I was busy "hostessing" during pumpkin decorating time, Frazier didn't get to decorate his pumpkin at the party, so once everyone went home, I set him up at the little table we'd moved out the patio and let him have at it with all the paint and glitter. He didn't seem to mind going it alone...he's pretty focused when he works. :) The result (which now graces the coffee table) is, in fact, a true work of art. He's talented, my kid.

(and if you paid close attention to the pictures and you're wondering about Frazier's wardrobe change...two words: apple. bobbing. ;)

Happy Day-Before-Halloween!

Harmonicist

2010-10-29T19:05:00.000-07:00

You know, just a typical afternoon...sitting in the laundry room...in the dark...playing the harmonica. :)

A Weekend In Dallas

2010-10-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

The fact that it's taken me a whole week to blog about it should in no way reflect how much fun we actually had in Dallas last weekend! We drove over and stayed the night to see Josh's Aunt Lori and Uncle Joe who were there from New Jersey for a conference and Grammie and Grampa Jim. It was Frazier's first time to meet them and we hadn't seen them in awhile so we were sooooo glad to see them and it was really a great visit!! We just wish Hannah and Paulie could've been there too! :(

(Also had to run by Ikea and Central Market while we were there.)Am I the only one who wishes she had a big artichoke in her front yard?

All Things Autumn

2010-10-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine there is anyone who doesn't like fall. It's such a perfect time of year; a time of refreshment after summer and anticipation of winter and the holidays. It's finally getting cooler here so we've been celebrating autumn. I've made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie and a few cool weather dishes in my crock-pot... ...and last weekend, when Grammie was visiting, we went to a pumpkin patch!

We've also been enjoying the parks...I've had to drag Frazier away kicking and screaming a couple of times already. The weather may be perfect, but we just can't stay there all day!

Lastly, I have to mention this little piece of fall happiness that came my way today via my friend, Ellen. It's a caramel apple from (and I quote Ellen here) "the best candy shop in the midwest", Betty Jane's. And. It. Was. Yummy. All that's sweetest about fall...on a stick.

Happy fall, ya'll!

Life Can Be Messy...

2010-10-04T05:40:00.001-07:00

...which is precisely why you shouldn't leave boxes of it sitting around where your toddler can get to them.

Lesson learned #18,402.

Addendum to Pop-Tart Post

2010-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

I think it prudent after my rant and in reply to Anonymous's comment, to mention that once upon three times, I did make my own Pop-Tarts. So for those of you concerned about the state of toaster pastry affairs and your kids...this is an option. Good idea, Anonymous! Here is Alton Brown's recipe, though I've got to admit it probably isn't a whole lot healthier than Pop-Tarts you don't have to make yourself. The real benefit would be that you could choose your own fruit flavor...and have them unfrosted to your heart's content. Here's the recipe I used, still probably not much better, but I did use whole wheat flour and cut the amount of butter almost in half.

Believe it or not I actually made blackberry, raspberry rhubarb, and Nutella (which, for the record, we didn't eat for breakfast and Frazier didn't eat at all). So Pop-Tart people, if you're looking for new flavor options I submit for your consideration Unfrosted Raspberry Rhubarb and Unfrosted Blackberry.

If you aren't into making your own Pop-Tarts, I have bought Nature's Path Toaster Pastries on several occasions and though they only offer four unfrosted options (but that's four of thirteen), they do have fruit flavors like Wildberry Acai and Cherry Pomegran. And there's some whole wheat flour in there. And they're organic...so there's that to make you feel better about them. :)

Happy Saturday With Frosting On Top

2010-10-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

Remember when the standard toaster pastry didn't have icing? I really think that used to be the case...or maybe that's just what my mom lead me to believe. I always thought only special Pop Tarts were frosted. I don't often buy toaster pastries, Pop-Tart or otherwise, but in a rare lapse of nutritional judgment I did so recently. Twice. And I was astonished at how difficult it was to find unfrosted ones. The boxes I bought (conveniently) came with a Pop-Tart flavor card on the inside of the carton (presumably to mark off the ones you try) and I was disgusted at the flavor options they offer. Here's the lowdown (because I know you're all as interested in this as I), Ten of the 27 flavors are fruit flavors (and this is counting Frosted Strawberry, Unfrosted Strawberry, and 20% Fiber Strawberry as individual flavors), four include fruit- at least in the title: Strawberry Milkshake, Apple Strudel, Chocolate Banana Split, and Blueberry Muffin. And out of 27 flavor options...only three are unfrosted: Strawberry, Blueberry, and Brown Sugar Cinnamon. Brown Sugar Cinnamon? Really? You can get UNFROSTED Brown Sugar Cinnamon, but Raspberry and Cherry are only available with frosting...and sprinkles? Maybe I wouldn't be so flabbergasted if Pop-Tarts didn't tout their product as a breakfast food...for children...and then offer flavors like (I kid you not) Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Yeah, you read that right... FROSTED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH POP-TARTS. Also available are Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae, Frosted Chocolate Fudge, Frosted Cookies and Creme, Frosted Chocolate Chip and Frosted S'mores (you can also get the Chocolate Fudge with 20% Fiber...for the health conscious, I guess?) This is what's wrong with the world...(among other things). I shudder when I think of the day Frazier can ask for things at the grocery store...like Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop-Tarts. Because I'm not buying them. I draw the line there. What is the world coming to, I ask you? It's a sad state of affairs if you ask me, the day kids' breakfast food comes in flavors adults should be embarrassed to buy in ice cream.

Maybe the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

A big frosted one.

Okay, so I'm just kidding about the frosted basket thing. But the issue really shouldn't be sugar-coated. They're ridiculous, these flavors. Ridiculous.

How 'Bout Them Dawgs?!

2010-10-01T18:55:00.001-07:00

One Wedding and a Funeral

2010-09-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my cousin Andrew (that's us with the grandparents twenty some-odd years ago):

..married this fabulous girl, Jane:

(of whom Frazier-and the rest of us, for that matter- approved whole heartedly!) :)

...and we were super excited to be able to be at the wedding in North Carolina! It was a whirlwind trip, but we were so glad we could be there and had such a wonderful time!! The wedding was beautiful and all the events surrounding it were just perfect!
Sadly, that same weekend, the world lost (and heaven gained) someone very special.

Josh's Grampa Rudy passed away.

My mother-in-law did a lovely blogpost about him here.

The service was yesterday and though our hearts were with our family in Pennsylvania, we weren't able to be there. And we wish so much that we could have been. It's hard to imagine that next time we go to Port Allegany to visit, he won't be there. It just won't be the same without him. (Josh requested the picture below- which has been in our living room for years-because he says these are his fondest memories of the two of them together...sitting on the porch and talking.)

We should all be so blessed to claim a life lived so long and so well.

He meant a lot to many...and all of us will miss him.