berry picking again

This morning Josh went to work late, so I escaped for a little while to go pick some berries while he watched Jack. Toddler + berry picking = not so much fun! We've been so spoiled with farm fresh berries, that I REFUSE to pay highway robbery by buying them in the store! I can get a full pint of them for $1.40 when a good price for them at Kroger is 2.50 for a half pint! And these taste so much better. Anyway, we havent had any for a few weeks, so I went to pick some, and learned that Blackberries are ready. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THESE BLACKBERRIES!!!! For comparison, I have a normal blueberry on the far left, one of the giant blueberries in the middle and the mega blackberry on the right! They were ALL THIS BIG! They taste pretty good too....I've never been a huge fan of the tartness of blackberries...but I think they will taste good in freezer jam or a pie! It took no time at all to fill up my gallon box. I was so excited about these berries, I didnt notice that I scratched my hand and arm all to pieces while picking them. Maybe it was either the amazement that dulled the pain, or the fact that my hands were covered with berry juice, so I didnt notice it until I washed my hands back home. Honestly, I'm not sure if the scratches are from the black raspberries or the blackberries, but it looks like I got in a scuffle with a cat, and the cat won! OUCH! But....totally worth it.

See, Jack LOVES them!

got it made in the shade

a few weeks ago while at my parent's farm, Jack saw his slightly older cousin Mercy eating watermelon like a "big girl" so I decided to let him give it a try.

I think he liked it!!

Saving some for later....

and then going back for more!

shoes shoes

He's really got a thing for shoes...whenever he comes across a pair, he really wants to take them to their owner...whether we want them or not. It's really very cute. This picture is one I caught of him trying to put on a pair of my shoes....please no snide comments here...just enjoy the cuteness....you should have seen him trying to walk in these things! I quickly found his pair of crocs and arranged them so that he could put them on himself pretty easily and he thought he was just the coolest thing!

maestro

he enjoyed playing uncle daniel's keyboard a few weekends ago...

...play us a song piano man, play us a song tonight for we're all in the mood for a melody, and you've got us feelin' alright!....

He likes to help

honestly, sometimes it's "helping" (not really very helpful, but keeps him entertained) and sometimes it's for real Helping....like today. Daddy has taught him some of the steps to help with feeding Maggie, so I took some pictures of him Helping this evening.

18 month check up stats

(These are just some cute pictures I took today while we were playing outside)

Last week we went for Jack's 18 month check-up. He was Mr. Charming at most of his previous visits, but someone or something spooked him this time and he LOST IT as soon as one of the sweet nurses walked in to do the first part of his exam. Thankfully I was able to calm him down (along with the help of the goody box toy he got from Daddy's nurse, Emily...it's nice to have connections...)and he didn't get too upset when Dr. C came in. Jack weighed in at 29.6 pounds and 34 inches tall (both 90th percentile!!) I don't remember head circumference...but even if I did, not sure it would be accurate since that was at the height of his freak-out session. He has really gained a lot of weight in the past month and a half...3 pounds....not sure if that is because of a growth spurt...or maybe because we are REALLY weaning away from passy. We almost never take it with us when we run errands etc...but that can mean that I automatically hand him crackers and (very watered down) juice to appease him when he starts to get riled up. I'm trying to wean myself away from that...not good. I think he is just in the habit of asking for his snacks after a few minutes in the car....not good either. I'm trying to find other ways to entertain him...like Old McDonald and If you're Happy and You Know It. As Josh warns me, we dont want to raise an emotional eater! :) Regardless of how much he has gained, he is still "symmetrical" and Dr. C isn't too worried about it at all. Guess I just need to slow it down now. We didnt get any shots last week, since we were soon going to be hanging out with Pops and also with Jack's Kise cousins...didn't want to run any risks of sharing bugs with them....so we will be getting shots in a week or so. FUN!

Mommie is not pleased...

I found an AMAZING deal on diapers the other day.
We have had issues in the past with diapers...I started out with pampers...since that is what they sent us home with from the hospital. I tried a few generic brands, and just felt bad putting something that stiff and scratchy on my sweet baby's behind...but I did eventually change to Luvs for a while to help with the expense. Once he started sleeping through the night, we also started using Huggies Overnites. All of a sudden...Luvs just weren't getting the job done anymore...for whatever reason, we had major diaper leakage...so I switched back to pampers...and we have now been sucked into Pampers Cruisers...to accommodate our "active boy". I dont like the idea of being sucked into these diaper publicity "scams" when so many people tell me that generics are just fine....and as much as I dont like it...I dislike extra laundry and embarrassing, messy diaper explosions even more!
So anyway, back to the amazing diaper deal. I seriously stocked up on size 4 diapers when I saw this deal...and just stashed them in his room...I probably have about 100 size 4 diapers tucked away....then this past week while visiting family in Nashville, all of a sudden his size 4s weren't getting the job done...so to speak. 2 leaky diapers and 1 public blowout later...I was running to Target for some size 5s (which he can totally fit into....at a whopping 30 pounds!) I know I should have stocked up on size 5s instead of 4s but 1)it didnt occur to me 2)I didnt realize he weighs 30 pounds and 3)I'm too much of a cheapskate. You see, as each size goes up, you get less and less diapers in the package...for the same amount of $$. So now, Mommie is not pleased. I'm valiantly trying to use up the size 4s while we are here at home and use the 5s while we are out...but I dont always remember...like today....I feel sorry for whoever used that grocery cart after us...oops! I tried to wipe it down....sigh. What am I supposed to do with $40 worth of diapers that can't hold up to my sons growing bladder? sigh...how dare he grow so fast!!!

first harvest

I know I am a big dork for posting a picture of a vegetable...and I promise I will lay off the garden posts for a while...but this was exciting! Here is my first harvested veggie from my garden...ironic isnt it that the first thing I harvest is my least favorite of all I planted. We went out of town last week and I had a neighbor water the garden. I hoped and prayed that everything would still be alive when we got back...and it was...for the most part. We got home really late, so it was too dark to really inspect the garden, so imagine my surprise the next morning when I walked out and found this! After researching for a moment on the internet to be sure it really was ok to pick it...I harvested the squash and tried to decide what to make with this vegetable....

Growing up my favorite squash dish was my mom's twice baked stuffed squash. I have tried to make it a few times over the years, and was always left thinking it was a bit too squashy tasting, certainly more so than I remember. I confess, I'm not a huge veggie eater. I can eat my weight in fruit...I LOVE fruit...but unless the veggies are cooked to death, with butter, breadcrumbs and cheese...I'm not a huge fan....which I guess is why I LOVE this dish...not terribly healthy...I'll admit, but oh so delicious! I tweaked it a bit from the recipe I found on recipezaar.com. Sometime soon I will post the recipe on my recipe blog...because believe me...I wanna remember this recipe!!

CHEESY STUFFED SQUASH!!

YUM!!

ps-I also harvested a zucchini today, there will likely be another squash later in the week, LOTS of cucumbers are making their debut and I think I saw some of my grape tomatoes starting to "blush" but I'll spare you from all those details....

Is he telling a fib?

Josh caught Jack tearing through his toy area the other day. This is at least a daily occurance, but usually when we ask him to help clean up, he will oblige. Pay close attention and you can see him answer Josh's question with a silent shake of his head, and if you look and listen really close, you can see him demonstrating his animal identification skills with a cow and a duck. I'm choosing to believe that Jack's denial of his actions is more because of his tendency to shake his head and say NO to almost any question, rather than an attempt to be deceptive. and I know I should certainly thin out these toys but putting some away for a while...I just can't decide what to put away, over the course of a week...he plays with almost all of them!

This little interaction reminds me of a story I heard recently. A man was playing with his son outside and while his back was turned, his son started eating dirt. When the dad turned around, he asked the little tyke "Son, are you eating dirt?" to which the little boy (with dirt all over his face) replied "uh,uh" (no). The dad then asked "Well did it taste good?" The son replied "uh huh!" (yes) TOO CUTE!

My Garden

No nothing edible has come from my garden yet, except for the herbs, but I wanted to update you on the progress!!

Here are the tomatoes just after I planted them...

and here they are now! looks like I planted them WAAAY too close together. I just didn't have any faith in my growing ability, so I REALLY didn't think they would grow as big as they have!


That plant on the back right...the REALLY tall one...is the one that will have the little bitty grape tomatoes. Ironic.
Here are some pictures of the tomatoes I am salivating over!
These are some of the grape tomatoes.
And here are some bradleys
I've also planted a container of yellow tomatoes on the deck...if I can just keep Jack from sitting in the pot or playing with the tomatoes...maybe we'll have some color in our salads!
I'm dreaming about having an abundance of tomatoes and trying my hand at canning/jarring tomato sauces or spaghetti sauce, we'll see!

Here are my herbs just after I planted them...


and here they are a few weeks later

and here they are now! WOW! That cilantro is taking over the world! I've already harvested some basil and frozen it to use later.




(picture to come...eventually)




In this picture, the little bitty plant on the right is the cantaloupe and on the left is watermelon

and here they are now!! WOW! Again, probably too close together...but at least next year I will know better! There are so many blooms on the cantaloupe plant, I fear that we will be overrun!

Here are the peppers just after they were planted:

and here they are now...not as much difference as the other plants...I've been a bit worried about the jalapeno since SOMETHING (not sure what) has been gnawing at the leaves, and for a while they looked more like swiss cheese...but new ones are coming, and I think there may even be some blossoms on there as well!

(picture to come...eventually)

And Look at this! It's literally an early bloomer...since all the rest of the pepper plants are just now starting to fruit!

Elsewhere in the garden I also have 2 red pepper plants, a yellow pepper that may be resurrecting itself from the dead (I think nibbled on by a bunny) and another yellow on the porch that may be a late bloomer...again, if Jack will stop plopping his cute little heinie in its pot! Sheesh!

I've also planted lots of cucumbers, almost all of which have pretty yellow blooms on them, which I hope will turn into yummy cukes sometime soon....My squash and zucchini plants are also growing a LOT with some beautiful blossoms on them, but when I went out to take their picture, they had already closed for the day. I'll try another time.Just a few days ago I transplanted some honeydew, and this morning I saw the beginnings of some blooms! I LOVE honeydew. I had Josh purchase a little wire fence to put around those, since I have run out of room in the areas of my garden that are inaccessible to Maggie. The Honeydew are in her "area" and she was walking all over them..but a little wire fence seems to be doing the trick!

I can't remember if I mentioned before about the 2 dying trees we had to cut down just weeks after moving here...but we are working on filling in those areas with soil in the hopes of planting some trees there this fall. For right now I just sprinkled wildflower seeds in there...we'll see if anything comes up!

Yesterday we did a marathon session of wedding out our front landscaping and estimating how much mulch it will take to cover it! YEESH! Now I am seriously sore, slightly sunburned and shockingly amazed at how much this landscaping is going to cost, just to upkeep! At the end of the day the weather was still so lovely, I almost suggested going for a walk...but then changed my mind..I'd had enough fresh air for the day! :)

a work in progress

I don't know if you are like me...but I have a TON of recipe books!!! Some of them I cook out of A LOT, some only a little, some I really want to explore but haven't yet, and some that just need to be given away. I just hate it when there is a yummy recipe I want to make, and I can't remember which book it came from, or I want an idea for what to make, but all the ingredients in my pantry just don't seem to come together as a coherent meal. So, I decided to try a new venture...a recipe blog/database. I am in the process of inputting lots of my favorite recipes, trying to somewhat organize them according to main ingredient. It's taking some time, and I have quite a few that say "coming soon!" but I am hoping that this will cut down on all the time spent rifling through recipe books, and will help to jog my memory about fun things I made way back when. You are welcome to visit sometime too, and use any recipes you want. I am not making any money off this blog, and don't plan to....so I'm not really worry about citing where these recipes came from...maybe I'll start sometime....it's really just for my own convenience, and if others wish to use it too...go for it! Feel free to tweak according to your own tastes, health preferences or budgets. Leave a comment and let me know what you think, make a suggestion, or if you have a recipe, send it to me and I'll try it out! Maybe it will make it onto the recipe blog too....then I'll be sure to give you the credit! :)
Visit Cooper's Cooking www.cooperscooking.blogspot.com and see what you think!

Happy Birthday Mommie!

Today was the 1st anniversary of my 29th birthday....just kidding...I turned 30! I'm not really too bothered by it...other than the fact that 30 sounds REALLY grown up, and I still don't feel that grown up. Anyway. The day before Granny Ruthie and Auntie Raychie came up and picked blueberries and raspberries with us, then brought lunch over to the house. It was a nice relaxing day.We also had a nice quiet day on my actual birthday. Josh got off early as usual for a Wednesday and we went to IHOP for dinner. It wasn't quite as easy as last years birthday IHOP visit...SOMEONE was a lot more vocal and wiggly this year...but it was still fun!

Here is the photo we took last year...

And here is this year...he's still very interested in that camera isn't he..some things just dont change!

I know its not a GREAT picture of him...but I think his expression is so funny!

Here is a better one...

I wanted to go to Maggie Moos (or whatever the name of the ice cream place is up here...they all run together) but we were SO full we decided to go to a local park and play and walk off some of those pancakes. My birthday gift was an IOU for a weather thermometer...I know, BORING...but it's what I asked for, so its ok. After Jack went to bed we enjoyed a few slices of key lime pie as my birthday cake.

what was that again?

this is what Jack wanted to talk about when I went in to get him after his nap today. It made me laugh, so I ran to get the camera to capture it for all of you! Enjoy!

booboo!

Jack got his first bandaid booboo! On Thursday at swim practice Jack stumbled and skinned his knee. He was upset about it for a few minutes, but fun in the water helped distract him. When we got home I put a band-aid on it, and honestly, he fussed more about the sensation of the bandaid, than he did about skinning his knee.

But then he got over it!

SWIM LESSONS!

Every day this past week we got to go to Mommy and Me swim lessons at Tech. It was REALLY fun. I was so thankful that they were laid back, really focusing so much more on getting the kids (and mommys) comfortable in the water, than on turning the kids into Olympic swimmers. Jack was a bit nervous the first part of the first 2 days (although I blame part of that on my nervousness and part on the fact that the water was FRIGID!!!) but each day his fear got less and less and by Thursday when the water was as warm as a jacuzzi, he had fun the whole time! I wish I had gotten more pictures, especially of us in the water, but since all the adults were in the water the whole time, couldn't quite figure out how to do it! oh well! here are a few before and after shots.

This is a picture of his cute little baby (generic) crocs I found at walmart. Cute little froggie feet!

This is one I tried to take of the 2 of us while we were waiting to start...apparently I am not as good at these kinds of photos as Daddy is...maybe my arms just arent long enough or something...since this is the best one out of 5 tries.

sweet feet kicking in the warm water. I never knew that pool water could be so warm!

Here is a picture of Jack and one of his friends Gavin sitting by the pool waiting to get in.

This is another attempt at a "self-portrait"...what a shame I completely cut myself out of the picture. He is my baby obi-wan kenobi! He looks so serious. I promise, he LOVED being in the water. Maybe he's disappointed that we had to get out. :)

We learned about kicking, putting our faces in and trying to blow bubbles, paddling with our hands, floating on tummies and backs, jumping in from the side and SPLASHING! He's quite a little water baby!

Jack's first birthday party (for another kid...not him)

We were invited to Corey's 2nd birthday party. Corey is the son of one of Josh's co-workers. The party was at an indoor soft-play area called WiggleTime here in C'ville. I've only taken him there one other time, before he could walk...lets just say we all had a much better time today! It was so much fun seeing him run around and slide and jump and swing!
His VERY VERY favorite part (aside from the KOOL-AID and birthday cake) was the ball pit! I think he would've stayed in there all day! The party lasted a little past nap time, and I was expecting a melt-down when we had to leave, but I think all the sugar gave him just enough energy to survive all that fun, and he was very tired...asleep before we even got home, and its only about a 10 minute drive!

Sorry if these pictures aren't up to par. They are taken with my phone. I KNEW the camera was in the diaper bag...at least I hoped so...but neither one of us could find it...until we got home...it WAS in the diaper bag and for some reason we just didnt look in that pocket...duh!
I felt a little awkward there, not because I didn't know anybody (since I didn't...no big deal...moving to a new place has made me more comfortable meeting new people) but I felt like I was hovering around my child more than other parents....but once I realized that Jack was the youngest one there, by 6 months at least) it made me feel a bit better. I had to help him eat his cake...he sure felt bit sitting up at that picnic table, grabbing every fork in sight, including the birthday boys fork at one point! He also VERY QUICKLY figured out how to drink Kool-Aid from one of those pouches....just squeeze and the blue stuff comes right out.....great! Wish I could've gotten a picture of that too!

Jack @ 18 months

Happy 18 month birthday Jack! We celebrated today by going to 2, count 'em 2 birthday parties...one for a 2 year old (more pics on that later) and one for a 30 year old, Happy Birthday, Uncle Kyle! Jack did great at both!
So, some updates about little Jack (I'm trying to get away from calling him baby Jack...I can just hear him in a few years "Mommie, I'm not a BABY anymore!!!") but sometimes I slip back into it. Sorry Baby...ooops did it again! He does it too though...we were playing in his room and I asked him "Where is the baby?" thinking he would point to one of his toys...."Is this the baby?" "NO!" "Wheres the baby?" and he pointed to HIMSELF! "Are you my baby?" "Yesh!"
He is understanding so much these days. We can tell him "Go throw that in the garbage" or "Bring Daddy his shoes" or "Where is your milk?" or "Where is your Jericho book?" and if he's listening (and in the mood) he will comply.
He's also learned a few more animal sounds, including owl "hoohoo" and snake "ssssss" and cat "nyow" and he is working on saying words with 2 different syllables, like yesterday he was saying "AMEN" almost as clear as day! I was SO amazed the other day to hear the owl sound. We were in the car, probably on the way to Lowe's...and he was looking at an animal book..he starts exclaiming "HOOOHOOOHOOO." Since daddy was driving I turned around to see what all the ruckus was about, and saw he was on the owl page....what amazed me was that this books has been in the back of the car (along with WAAAY too many discarded cheerios) for WEEKS! I haven't read that book to him in FOREVER! Yet, somehow that afternoon owl=HOOOHOOO clicked. He just amazes me!
I went online and ordered him some more of his cute JACK books. I just think they are adorable, with their lift the flaps, pop ups and pull tabs, and of course the main character, a puppy dog named JACK. I've had a bit of trouble finding more in the series since they are out of print, and some dealers want like $50 for a $10 children's book....whatever! So I settled for used books in "acceptable" condition for $5 instead... only missing a few little pieces...probably would've gotten torn up anyway from our little hurricane JACK. He loves these books. They are sitting next to the rocking chair and in the morning when he wakes up and we are cuddling for a few minutes these books will catch his eye. The way he lets us know he wants to read them is by pointing at the book and then pointing to himself. He recognizes that HE is JACK! I think that is pretty cool! He tries to say his own name, but right now he is just focusing on the last sound, so it comes out "KA"...we are working on that...but if memory serves, that isn't too weird!
Jack has been going through a bit of separation anxiety, seemingly worse over the past few weeks. Most of the time he is fine with me leaving the room, but if he REALLY wants me around, for whatever reason, he gets very anxious when I leave, thankfully this has only happened when Daddy is around, so he calms down quickly. But if I need to go to the store while Daddy is home, it's just gotten easier for me to slip out the front door. Apparently he might say my name a few times, but is easily distracted into playing again. Mommie and Daddy went out on a 8th anniversary/30th birthday date the other night and I was a bit nervous about how he was going to do with the babysitter, but we just kissed him and said "love you" and then slipped out away from his eyesight, and he was fine. She said that he asked for us, but she is a pro and distracted him just fine.
Our babysitter Brittany also said that she can't believe how easy he is to go to sleep...in all her years of babysitting, she's never had a child so easy to go down. (Hopefully the Lord wont try to humble me here.....we like this too!) I don't feel like we can take much credit for our easy sleeper...we just get him in his PJs, say prayers, get passy and go night night. I'm just a bit worried that when we have another kid (in the future....not anytime soon, don't get your hopes up Sharon!) that we will have a hard time adjusting, since this kid has spoiled us so much! Speaking of passy, we are making GREAT progress with weaning him (and us) away! Right now 99% of his passy time is only in bed or his bedroom! We don't even take it with us when we go out, except for long car rides when we want him to nap on the way. It's nice to have one less thing to hunt for before we head out the door. It has been a bit nerve wracking though, at night, since we are down to just 1 passy. If he loses it at night, occasionally he will let the whole neighborhood know, and sometimes it is hard to get him to go back to sleep. So right now none of us are "ready" to lose it completely. But we ARE making progress!! yay!
Here is the long promised video of him feeding himself:

I think he is doing pretty good. It sure has freed me up for doing dishes and eating my own breakfast while he is eating. Multi-tasking is a moms best friend. I learned that skill while teaching.