Month: July 2010

Alex loved being down in the shop today with Wade. Wade is building a new work bench. I’m not sure what Alex is building:

I have always loved to read and buying children’s books is a whole new world. I’ve quickly filled up Alex’s bookshelves:

In the last few weeks, Alex has turned into a bookworm too. We have always read to him before naptime and bedtime, but recently he has become much more interested in the books. In the last week he has started bringing us books to read throughout the day. In the last few days, he has picked two favorite books: Biscuit and The Ear Book.

I like to collect things and must always have a complete set if one exists. Alex has recently graduated from eating off the high chair tray to a plate (meaning he no longer immediately throws the plate on the floor). It’s not practical for him to always use the breakable plates, but I hate most all of the plastic ones (either for the cartoon characters or the fact that they are plastic). Then I remembered one of my Mom’s good friends gave Alex a set of enamelware – frog themed of course. We have been using the plate for a month or so and I decided he needed more. Now we also have a red, blue swirl, beach house, and twinkling. The problem is there are quite a few more patterns that are cute. And what if he has a friend over for lunch? Then we would need a matching plate to at least a few of the ones we have….

This was the last class in my Cake Decorating class. I attempted a strawberry cake from scratch that was a failure – too sugary and didn’t rise as it should have. Then I went with the box mix and it turned out perfect. I somehow got in my head that a strawberry cake had to have pink icing. It definitely would have looked better with white, but you live and learn. Most of the class time was spent learning to make ribbon roses. I never could get the edges of my icing smooth, but I was rather impressed with how they all turned out.

Alex and Abram tried out all of the water toys we own. The caterpillar sprinkler they pretty much ignored. I think the giraffe pool was definitely a hit:

The ball sprinkler was much more entertaining when it wasn’t spraying water:

I’m not sure if you can tell how off the markings on this measuring cup are. They are noticeably at an angle. However, I didn’t notice when I bought it and have been using it for the last 6 years. Oh well…

Wade and I volunteered to host our Small Group’s July Meeting. I ended up with food poisoning last night (yuck, yuck) and was pretty wiped out most of today. Wade did all the cleaning and prep; Amber and Nick took Alex for a while; and I rested on the couch. The cookout part went really well and everyone seemed to have fun:

I came home from a baby shower to plans of a walk for custard. We got Abram and Alex situated and headed for Gilles.

The boys entertained themselves by looking at the cakes and pies while we ordered:

The boys got a little restless after eating so I introduced them to jumping in puddles.

Wade took these shots of Abram and I love how they turned out:

And what Abram and Alex adventure is complete without a hug?

On a side note: I have never had anyone comment on my parenting – especially someone I don’t know. As I was jumping Alex up and down in the puddle, a woman came outside to compliment me. She told me she thought it was wonderful I was not only letting my child jump in puddles, but was showing him how.

1.) Alex learned that hammers are fun:

2.) I learned that Alex is faster than I am:

We started our day off at 6 am. Alex was really excited that I let him drink from a cup without a lid. (We let him do this once and now he wants all his drinks this way, but accidents and spills are still a constant.)

By 8 am he was down for his nap and slept two hours. I woke him up to get him ready for a trip with Amber and Abram. (Note the cute rain boots.)

Then it was off to the Museum. Abram was happy to show Alex all the ropes:

We got home in time for a quick lunch before nap. Alex slept another two hours and I watched The Quick And The Dead. Then we made a trip to Target. What’s cuter than size 5 Converse shoes? Matching shoes for Daddy and Son:

Tonight’s class was filling cupcakes and making flowers. The cupcakes were pretty good. I made Buttermilk cupcakes and filled them with my leftover raspberry filling from last week. It turns out I am not very good at making flowers. The first was the pompom flower. I didn’t even save any of these to put on my cupcakes. Next up was the shaggy mum, but mine didn’t turn out quite like they should have:

Oh well. I still had fun and now have something to practice.

After Alex was in bed, Wade and I decided to make Rice Krispie Treats and play Mario Brothers. Of course we didn’t actually have any Rice Krispies (or milk, which is necessary to drink with the treats). Wade ran to the grocery. Here is what he brought home:

Needless to say, we didn’t actually make the Rice Krispie Treats. I ate Oreos and Wade started on the bag of chips. We have plenty of snacks for quite a while!

When we had dinner with the Hoiums last Saturday, Alex saw everyone else eating strawberries. Suddenly he will eat them. In fact he ate an entire container today and wanted more:

On a side note: Could there by any more red in this picture? Red walls, red chair, red shirt, red strawberries.

We went for a family walk tonight and realized Madison will happily pull Alex up the hills for us:

Abram invited Alex on a trip to the fire station. On the drive I turned around to check on the boys and saw this:

When we first arrived both boys were mesmerized by all the big trucks, but it didn’t take long before they were into everything:

I spent the early morning painting the new shed:

Wade spent the rest of the morning building shelves and organizing the shed:

Then it was cooking out with the Hoiums. Emelia and Alex had a lot of fun in the backyard:

Alex has always loved the water and spent most of the afternoon getting in and out and in and out of the pool:

Emelia was nice enough to eat in her Exersaucer while Alex used her high chair. We had a yummy grilled dinner while the kiddos entertained us. The cutest moment was when Alex was feeding Emelia her dinner, but nobody had a camera handy for that.

How convenient that Alex’s best friend lives just across the street. He and Abram get to play at least a couple of days every week. It has gotten where we can’t go in the front yard without Alex trying to dart over to Abram’s house. The boys are in the same swim class at the YMCA on Fridays. Today I saw Alex give his first hug (without being picked up and kind of forced into it). He literally attacked Abram and didn’t want to let go (and managed to knock them both onto the floor).

After swim class we headed to the park and explored the jungle gym, merry-go-round, and the sand diggers:

That still wasn’t enough Abram and Alex time so we also had dinner together. While the adults grilled pizza, the boys helped Dawn in her garden:

I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today – a special delivery from Ecuador! Grant (Laura’s son) and Christy got married last October (see the post here). During our last trip I attended a baby shower for Christy. Two of her friends from Ecuador were also there and one of them brought goodies for the shower. I fell in love with the “Huevos de Faldriquera” or “Huevitos de Faldriquera”. They are individually wrapped sweets – kind of like a ball of dough. I don’t know how to describe the taste but I love them. I ate a ton at the shower and Christy sent me home with a bag full. Her mom is now visiting and evidently brought some with her. They mailed me a tin full of them and I got it today!!

Last week we practiced the basics of icing and put stars on cookies. This week we had to bring in an iced cake and perform a gel transfer to put a cupcake design on our cake. I made a white cake with raspberry filling. I had enough batter for two cakes and went that route so that I got extra practice. There was a noticeable improvement between the first and second cake. I had a lot of fun in class and now have two cakes that I know we won’t eat. Anybody want a cake?

Alex seems to pick something new up every day. He’ll respond to a new word, play a new game, or master a new skill. He learned how to get on his riding toys a while ago, but today he showed me that he knows how to make them go. He hopped onto his bike and started moving forward. He still has no idea how to steer and will quickly let me know when he is stuck and needs to be turned.

Wade’s group at work has been working hard to create a new office space. They wanted a job site feel in an office environment. I’d say they did a pretty good job:

Alex is a late talker. Wade and I kept waiting and waiting for Alex’s first word. We were both expecting him to start with “mama” or “dada”. At 16 months of age, we finally got “ball”. As of last week, we have had an official evaluation (scheduled before we even had the one word). The speech therapist worked with him for an hour and then declared him a late talker. She talked about the range of sounds, the way he strings the sounds together, and the change of tone and emphasis. Evidently these things separate him from having a speech delay and instead make him a late talker.

One of my goals during the week Alex was visiting Gram is finally done. I got the doors stripped, sanded, and painted while Alex was gone. Hanging the doors took a little longer, but they are finally up!

My wonderful husband not only created missing hardware and painted all the hinges, he spent hours trying to get everything installed and lined up just right. Thanks Wade!

How many different things can a one year old and a two year old get into at a neighborhood cookout?
First up we had riding of the cars (Alex is still learning how to get on by himself):

Then they found the sandbox and bubbles and the air pump:

Finally Amber showed them the microphone and then the adults started a game of four-square:

Then we put the boys to bed and sat around enjoying some adult conversation.

I’m not sure if this is accurate, but it seems like this summer is much hotter, much sooner than the past two years.  This year we were all grumpy and hot so we did a little research and bought something better than a window A/C unit.  Meet my new best friend:

Madison normally spends every minute outside that we’ll let her. Now she is spending more time inside and her favorite spot is right in front of the A/C unit: