Just a little blog to vent...it won't hurt my feeling if you don't read this, but I need to get it off my chest so I will stop festering over it.
I live in Idaho. Farms near and far beacon to me. My paternal grandparents were farmers and were many (hmm...probably most) of my ancestors. I grew up going to the Andersen farm every summer and have vivid, great memories of hay, cattle, mountains and farm life in general. Farming is just something that I love. If Steven would let me, I would convert my WHOLE backyard into a garden. One day I dream of building a house on a couple acres and planting rows of trees and having a huge garden, so I can can the produce from it.
But alas...Steven will only allow me a section of the backyard to toil in. So I have to take my farming dreams elsewhere. My neighbor, Andrea, told me that she had access to farm land from her husband's grandpa...I jumped at the opportunity to get some land and till it. I talked to my sister and my friend about it and we all went in on some seeds and plants to grow on this gorgeous piece of earth.
I went out with Andrea and saw the section she had marked off and realized it wasn't going to be big enough. Just knowing what she was planning on planting and what I had wanted plant there just wasn't going to be enough room. Not to mention, she had casually mentioned to another set of neighbors that they could plant a little bit of stuff and they took up a huge section that Andrea had planned for my use.
I resigned myself to the fact that I could plant some stuff up in front and then secure a section in the back for my other stuff. I decided to plant 6 rows of corn up front amongst my neighbor's stuff and then I planted my watermelon, cantaloupe, squash and pumpkin seeds along with another 6ish rows of corn in the back. Not too bad...and I realize beggars can't be choosers.
I spent TONS of hour out weeding these plants. (I can think of 3 specific times I personally went out and weeded for at least 2 hours at a time. That doesn't include Kim, Brian or Melissa out there helping me.) Talking lovingly to them so they would grow big and strong and healthy and produce an abundance of fruit. I poured my heart and soul into those plants and eagerly awaited the reap the rewards I felt were due.
So yesterday, on the way home from gleaning potatoes (a whole other story) I decided to stop out at the farm and check on my babies. I drove out to the back section where the melons and such were planted. I found many of our plants not bearing any fruit. I was saddened to see that the plants that did have fruit were very small. (I'm talking baseball sized watermelons and cantaloupes.) I know that this has been a difficult growing season all around and since I was all the way in the back and the land was being flood irrigated and since there are tons of weeds in all the other sections in front of mine I wasn't totally surprised, but I was still saddened. I'd hoped that we could have a decent stock of produce to split among the 3 families,but I don't know if we'll get more that a few small sized items.
I moved eagerly over to the corn that I planted in the back hoping for better results. Sure the stalks were smaller than some of the others, but I could see ears. Unfortunately, there weren't as many ears as I'd hoped. A couple rows had blown over in some wind storms we'd had over the season and some of the ears were just small. At least we only paid $3 for the seeds, so I will get my $1 worth of corn, but I'd hoped for some to freeze or can.
Then I remembered the section up front. This section didn't get the love and care that the other section did because my 2 neighbors basically gave up weeding. (In fact, Andrea who told me about the farm had gotten a different chunk of land and replanted hoping for less weedy results.) Given the sad state of the neighbors, I just couldn't bring myself to put much effort in up there...it seemed like it would have been a losing battle. But some of the corn had sprung up amongst the weeds so I quickly went over to that section to pick some corn.
When I arrived it took me a few minutes to find my 6 rows. I had marked them with some wood Steven had cut for me and they were very distinct from the others out there. I proceed to check my stalks for corn and didn't see any. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that there had been ears, but someone had taken them. MY CORN HAD BEEN STOLEN. This is where I became livid. As I went from stalk to stalk and saw that almost all of my ears had been removed. I was lucky to find a few hidden down in the weeds and quickly grabbed them before they could be stolen. I walked back the the car with my few ears of corn and fumed.
What kind of person steals someones corn? Really? Come on...I paid money for the seeds. I took the time and effort from my life to drive out to the farm and plant them. I weeded there. (At least 1 1 /2 rows of it got a good solid weeding, once.) I know I didn't pay a lot of money or invest tons of time, but really, why would you steal someones corn?
The thing that really stinks...next year Melissa and I were planning on going full-out and planting a big section to use for our canning purposes...tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, pumpkins, melons and more I can't even recall. But now I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Do I want to lay out all the money on seeds and starters just to have someone take them? I will probably end up planting there...maybe just getting a plot further west where not so many people will venture over to.
I'll never know who took it...since it's a community garden type thing, it could have been countless people. Or some kid who just didn't know any better...heck, the person who took it could be starving. Or someone figured since I wasn't weeding it that it had been deserted and it was free for picking. I don't know, but I'm still annoyed. Whomever too my corn will probably never read my blog...and hence never know the wrong they committed...I guess this is my chance to be Christ-like and love them anyway...I'm working on getting there...but for now, I'm still upset...
Friday, September 24, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
New BzzAgent Campaign
I haven't told you before that I'm an agent...well, a BzzAgent. It's a pretty cool company that sends me free products in exchange for me to try them out and tell people about those products. They want me to tell the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm super excited about this new campaign I just got accepted into. It's for:
I'm getting free crafting products. How awesome is that!?! This especially works out well for me because I have some projects in the wings that will let me test out these products...Check back soon for updates.
I'm getting free crafting products. How awesome is that!?! This especially works out well for me because I have some projects in the wings that will let me test out these products...Check back soon for updates.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
My awesome shopping trips....
Let me start out...I follow a couple couponing blogs. Sometimes on those blogs they show a picture of all the food or supplies they picked up for a ridiculously small amount of money. Normally I laugh at those posts and wonder why do people take the time to take pictures of their groceries and then post them on a blog. Well today I understand (okay, a little bit.)
Today I went shopping at Target and Albies. I got such good deals that I couldn't help but share them with you:
Here are 5 packs of sliced cheese, 2 blocks of cheese and 13 packs of shredded cheese
This pic has: 5 boxes of capri suns, 10 boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks, 10 loaves of bread, 2 packages of bagels (6 in each), Kool-Aid fizzers, Boogie Wipes and a package of chocolate chip cookies. (Notice Owen in the background wondering why I'm laying out all the groceries and taking a picture.)
Guess how much I spent on all the stuff in those two pictures....If I would have paid the full price without coupons it would have cost $158.78 but with all my coupons I walked out paying $29.50 plus the kicker...I have $15 in catalinas that I can use next time I go to the store. So it's like I paid $14.50 How awesome is that!?! (BTW it would have been $2.65 cheaper had Owen not decided to eat a that bag of chocolate chip cookies by the register while I was paying...Little stinker.)
And for Target...Box of glad trash bags (we are getting low) 3 boxes of band-aids, 2 packs of shout on-the-go wipes, a Lightening McQueen freezer pack, a pack of boys Hanes socks and not pictured a pillow for Owen. I walked away spending $11.18 and I have a MIR for 3 - $2 off coupons on bandaids. Oh, so nice.
This is why I love using my coupons...sometimes my husband likes it too...especially when he is getting cheese for just the price of tax!
Today I went shopping at Target and Albies. I got such good deals that I couldn't help but share them with you:
Here are 5 packs of sliced cheese, 2 blocks of cheese and 13 packs of shredded cheese
This pic has: 5 boxes of capri suns, 10 boxes of Kelloggs fruit snacks, 10 loaves of bread, 2 packages of bagels (6 in each), Kool-Aid fizzers, Boogie Wipes and a package of chocolate chip cookies. (Notice Owen in the background wondering why I'm laying out all the groceries and taking a picture.)
Guess how much I spent on all the stuff in those two pictures....If I would have paid the full price without coupons it would have cost $158.78 but with all my coupons I walked out paying $29.50 plus the kicker...I have $15 in catalinas that I can use next time I go to the store. So it's like I paid $14.50 How awesome is that!?! (BTW it would have been $2.65 cheaper had Owen not decided to eat a that bag of chocolate chip cookies by the register while I was paying...Little stinker.)
And for Target...Box of glad trash bags (we are getting low) 3 boxes of band-aids, 2 packs of shout on-the-go wipes, a Lightening McQueen freezer pack, a pack of boys Hanes socks and not pictured a pillow for Owen. I walked away spending $11.18 and I have a MIR for 3 - $2 off coupons on bandaids. Oh, so nice.
This is why I love using my coupons...sometimes my husband likes it too...especially when he is getting cheese for just the price of tax!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Kim's First Day of School
Kim is now 11 years old! I know you are all shocked, I look too good to have a kid that old. HeeHee. She has exited the doors of elementary school and entered the campus of middle school. Meridian Middle School to be exact. Before school started, we were able to get her schedule and walk her around the campus to all her classrooms. She practiced her locker TONS of times and got pretty good at opening it.
Enter August 30th...the First day of School. She gets up bright and early. Gets dressed in her MMS spirit tee-shirt (classic 6th grade move) and made her lunch. We had put her binder together the night before, so she loads up her backpack and leaves for the bus stop. Her bus picks her up at 7:25 am at Ten Mile and Forecast. She gets there with time to spare and waits with some other kids on the south side of Forecast. The bus pulls up and lets on the kids on the North side and then leaves.....leaving Kim and some other students stranded on their 1st day of school. Once over her shock, Kim starts to head back home for a ride. Luckily, Steven stayed home a little late to make sure she got off alright and met her halfway down the street in the car. He got her to school about 5 minutes before the tardy bell. (Don't worry, he also called the bus barn to complain about the idiot driver who only picked up half the kids and didn't bother with the other ones. No response, yet, shocking I know, but at least Kim now knows to stand on the North side for pick up.)
She proceeds to her advisory class (AKA homeroom) only to find out that her schedule has changed and she has a different advisory class. She hustles over to the correct room.
After advisory is over, with a new schedule (not the neatly highlighted one I had prepared) and being all flustered, she looks at it incorrectly and sees her 2nd period class instead of 1st period. She runs over to her locker to get her flute for band and heads to the band room. Once she arrives her teacher notices she is in the wrong class and they figure out she missed 1st period. She gathers her stuff and heads over to World Civilization, flute in hand.
1st period ends and she heads back over to band. She makes sure to check her schedule and makes it to the right classroom, but not always on time. Luckily, it's the first day, so the teachers understand.
At lunch, she heads over to her locker to get her lunch. She decides to leave her binder in her locker while she eats. At the end of lunch, she goes back to her locker but realizes that she hasn't memorized her locker combination yet....and it's in her binder....which is in her locker....which is locked. She realizes she needs to get to her next class, so she heads over (luckily, she remembered which class it was). Kim talks to her teacher who sends her to the counselor to get her combination.
Armed with her combination, which she quickly memorizes to prevent this mishap again, she resumes her schedule. Things go smoothly until the end of the day, when she keeps messing up her locker combination in her hurry to catch the bus. Fortunately, she is able to keep it cool and gets the locker open, retrieves her stuff and catches the bus in the nick of time.
When she arrived home from her first day of school and I asked her how it went she told me it was horrible. I asked her why and she proceeds to give me the account you just read. I had to laugh. Thank goodness Kim has a sense of humor and was able to see why I was laughing.
Things have gone smoothly since that first fateful day. She is adjusting to having more homework and different teachers, but she likes middle school for the most part...which is good, since she is stuck there for the next 3 years. Now we just need to remember to keep track if it's a Black (Band) or Gold (PE) day to make sure she has the appropriate items.
(And yes, I'm a sucky mom and forgot to take a picture her first day of school. So shoot me. Trust me, she was/is adorable.)
Enter August 30th...the First day of School. She gets up bright and early. Gets dressed in her MMS spirit tee-shirt (classic 6th grade move) and made her lunch. We had put her binder together the night before, so she loads up her backpack and leaves for the bus stop. Her bus picks her up at 7:25 am at Ten Mile and Forecast. She gets there with time to spare and waits with some other kids on the south side of Forecast. The bus pulls up and lets on the kids on the North side and then leaves.....leaving Kim and some other students stranded on their 1st day of school. Once over her shock, Kim starts to head back home for a ride. Luckily, Steven stayed home a little late to make sure she got off alright and met her halfway down the street in the car. He got her to school about 5 minutes before the tardy bell. (Don't worry, he also called the bus barn to complain about the idiot driver who only picked up half the kids and didn't bother with the other ones. No response, yet, shocking I know, but at least Kim now knows to stand on the North side for pick up.)
She proceeds to her advisory class (AKA homeroom) only to find out that her schedule has changed and she has a different advisory class. She hustles over to the correct room.
After advisory is over, with a new schedule (not the neatly highlighted one I had prepared) and being all flustered, she looks at it incorrectly and sees her 2nd period class instead of 1st period. She runs over to her locker to get her flute for band and heads to the band room. Once she arrives her teacher notices she is in the wrong class and they figure out she missed 1st period. She gathers her stuff and heads over to World Civilization, flute in hand.
1st period ends and she heads back over to band. She makes sure to check her schedule and makes it to the right classroom, but not always on time. Luckily, it's the first day, so the teachers understand.
At lunch, she heads over to her locker to get her lunch. She decides to leave her binder in her locker while she eats. At the end of lunch, she goes back to her locker but realizes that she hasn't memorized her locker combination yet....and it's in her binder....which is in her locker....which is locked. She realizes she needs to get to her next class, so she heads over (luckily, she remembered which class it was). Kim talks to her teacher who sends her to the counselor to get her combination.
Armed with her combination, which she quickly memorizes to prevent this mishap again, she resumes her schedule. Things go smoothly until the end of the day, when she keeps messing up her locker combination in her hurry to catch the bus. Fortunately, she is able to keep it cool and gets the locker open, retrieves her stuff and catches the bus in the nick of time.
When she arrived home from her first day of school and I asked her how it went she told me it was horrible. I asked her why and she proceeds to give me the account you just read. I had to laugh. Thank goodness Kim has a sense of humor and was able to see why I was laughing.
Things have gone smoothly since that first fateful day. She is adjusting to having more homework and different teachers, but she likes middle school for the most part...which is good, since she is stuck there for the next 3 years. Now we just need to remember to keep track if it's a Black (Band) or Gold (PE) day to make sure she has the appropriate items.
(And yes, I'm a sucky mom and forgot to take a picture her first day of school. So shoot me. Trust me, she was/is adorable.)
Peaches, peaches and more peaches....
You are all wondering what I've been up to lately since I haven't been posting right. Aside from lots of reading (hey, Gone with the Wind is over 1000 pages and with 4 kids to take care of...that takes a while to get through) and house maintaining stuff, I've been canning.
Last Saturday, Steven, the kids and I headed over to the LDS Orchard in Caldwell. We had heard that if you picked peaches for the cannery, you could get peaches for 23 cents a lb. (Thanks Melissa W. for that information.) Steven called the day before and they said they were done with picking for the cannery and had moved into "gleaning". Which means I got to pick all the peaches that I wanted for free...the catch...because I could only pick the peaches that were left, most of them were over- or underripe. But hey, they were free.
We fairly quickly filled 6 buckets (yes, Brian, I am using and LOVING those empty buckets from the prison kitchen) and headed home. When we got home, I took Kim and we got 1/3 a bucket of plums from the trees by my house to get the juicer going while I sorted out the peaches.
I got my kitchen all set up and ready for the canning process. Here are a couple pics....which don't do any sort of justice to the mess that was my kitchen.
This pic shows my stovetop with the juicer and pot with boiling water. For those who don't know how this process works...you take a ripe peach and put it in boiling water for a minute or so...then immediately dunk in a bowl of ice water. This loosens the skin and it should come off like butta' but that only really works when the peach is ripe...so I had to fight with a majority of the skins. So you see the bowl for ice water, skins, and the peaches bound for the juicer because they didn't want to cooperate.
This pic has the bowl I put the peaches in once they are skinned. From there you need to cut up the peach and discard the pits (cutting board and knife MIA in this pic for some reason). Then there is the bowl with a water and lemon juice mix to help with browning of the peaches and the 2 bowls of peaches waiting for me to stuff them in jars or sauce. 
I spent Saturday afternoon and evening canning. At 11:30pm, Steven turned off the juicer and I called it quits. This is what I ended up with. (5 qt. plum juice, 3 qt. peach/plum juice, 6 qt. peach juice and 7 qt. peaches). At the end of the day I had only gone through 2 buckets of peaches...4 more to go.
I decided not to work on the Sabbath since the Lord provided me with free peaches and figured that I would be blessed if I didn't break the Sabbath. My hubby, being the WONDERFUL man he is, made sure that the entire kitchen was clean and ready for me. He washed all the dishes in the sink, filled then emptied the dishwasher and had the counter free of everything....Ahhhh. That made my day. (Plus I think he now had an appreciation for all the hard work that goes into canning and wanted to make my life just a little bit easier.)
Bright and early Monday AM, I was at it again. The juicer was roaring all day. Instead of putting it into jars because I already had a ton, it went into some empty juice bottles in the fridge. I knew it would be drunk quickly and also needed some for some of my recipes.
My loving husband came home from work and made dinner so I could continue canning. At the end of the day I finished with 14 pints of peach jelly (2 of which have been given away)
8 qt. peach pie filling and 2 more qts. of peaches. At the end of Monday, I had gone through 2 more buckets of peaches....2 more to go.
Tuesday AM, I'm rolling again. Ready to finish up those 2 remaining buckets. Somewhere around lunch time I decide I'm tired of peaches and the crying (some was mine and some was the boys). I called my friend to see if she wanted a bucket almost full of peaches...she's not an idiot so of course she takes them.
Here is what I netted on Tuesday...3 pt of Peach Honey, 6 pt of Peach Butter (plus a little extra in my fridge) and 6 pt of Peach/Apple Spread. (One of which has found itself a new home.)
I know you are dying to know how I did this with 3 little boys and Kim in school....well...let's just say, my boys are very familiar with Toy Story 1 and 2 along with Curious George 1 and 2. Here they are watching one of the movies....
Also...some of this...Evan in his high-chair while the two others are napping. He loved chewing on the strap. (If you look closely you will notice the vampires on his outfit...that's what happens when you send a 4 year old to get an outfit for his baby brother who so rudely pooped out of his outfit.)
And most definitely some of this....sleeping.
So all in all, things went good. I have a great stock supply of peaches and spreads. When the Apocalypse comes, head on over to my house....bring the bread and I'll supply the topping. :)
Last Saturday, Steven, the kids and I headed over to the LDS Orchard in Caldwell. We had heard that if you picked peaches for the cannery, you could get peaches for 23 cents a lb. (Thanks Melissa W. for that information.) Steven called the day before and they said they were done with picking for the cannery and had moved into "gleaning". Which means I got to pick all the peaches that I wanted for free...the catch...because I could only pick the peaches that were left, most of them were over- or underripe. But hey, they were free.
We fairly quickly filled 6 buckets (yes, Brian, I am using and LOVING those empty buckets from the prison kitchen) and headed home. When we got home, I took Kim and we got 1/3 a bucket of plums from the trees by my house to get the juicer going while I sorted out the peaches.
I got my kitchen all set up and ready for the canning process. Here are a couple pics....which don't do any sort of justice to the mess that was my kitchen.
This pic shows my stovetop with the juicer and pot with boiling water. For those who don't know how this process works...you take a ripe peach and put it in boiling water for a minute or so...then immediately dunk in a bowl of ice water. This loosens the skin and it should come off like butta' but that only really works when the peach is ripe...so I had to fight with a majority of the skins. So you see the bowl for ice water, skins, and the peaches bound for the juicer because they didn't want to cooperate.
This pic has the bowl I put the peaches in once they are skinned. From there you need to cut up the peach and discard the pits (cutting board and knife MIA in this pic for some reason). Then there is the bowl with a water and lemon juice mix to help with browning of the peaches and the 2 bowls of peaches waiting for me to stuff them in jars or sauce. 
I spent Saturday afternoon and evening canning. At 11:30pm, Steven turned off the juicer and I called it quits. This is what I ended up with. (5 qt. plum juice, 3 qt. peach/plum juice, 6 qt. peach juice and 7 qt. peaches). At the end of the day I had only gone through 2 buckets of peaches...4 more to go.
I decided not to work on the Sabbath since the Lord provided me with free peaches and figured that I would be blessed if I didn't break the Sabbath. My hubby, being the WONDERFUL man he is, made sure that the entire kitchen was clean and ready for me. He washed all the dishes in the sink, filled then emptied the dishwasher and had the counter free of everything....Ahhhh. That made my day. (Plus I think he now had an appreciation for all the hard work that goes into canning and wanted to make my life just a little bit easier.)Bright and early Monday AM, I was at it again. The juicer was roaring all day. Instead of putting it into jars because I already had a ton, it went into some empty juice bottles in the fridge. I knew it would be drunk quickly and also needed some for some of my recipes.
My loving husband came home from work and made dinner so I could continue canning. At the end of the day I finished with 14 pints of peach jelly (2 of which have been given away)
8 qt. peach pie filling and 2 more qts. of peaches. At the end of Monday, I had gone through 2 more buckets of peaches....2 more to go.
Tuesday AM, I'm rolling again. Ready to finish up those 2 remaining buckets. Somewhere around lunch time I decide I'm tired of peaches and the crying (some was mine and some was the boys). I called my friend to see if she wanted a bucket almost full of peaches...she's not an idiot so of course she takes them.Here is what I netted on Tuesday...3 pt of Peach Honey, 6 pt of Peach Butter (plus a little extra in my fridge) and 6 pt of Peach/Apple Spread. (One of which has found itself a new home.)
I know you are dying to know how I did this with 3 little boys and Kim in school....well...let's just say, my boys are very familiar with Toy Story 1 and 2 along with Curious George 1 and 2. Here they are watching one of the movies....
Also...some of this...Evan in his high-chair while the two others are napping. He loved chewing on the strap. (If you look closely you will notice the vampires on his outfit...that's what happens when you send a 4 year old to get an outfit for his baby brother who so rudely pooped out of his outfit.)
And most definitely some of this....sleeping.
So all in all, things went good. I have a great stock supply of peaches and spreads. When the Apocalypse comes, head on over to my house....bring the bread and I'll supply the topping. :)
Happy Birthday Owen
My adorable little man turned two! Here he is telling you how old he is. Notice he uses the pointer finger and thumb for two. Occasionally he will use the pointer finger on both hands for two.
It is amazing how quickly the time goes by and how fast they grow. For those of you who don't live close-by...here is a description of my little man.
Physically, he is into everything ALL THE TIME and he has just recently learned how to open doors. (Which is why we now have a lock on the pantry to keep him from eating ALL day long.) He know almost all the letters of the alphabet. He know some of the animals and their sounds, even though frequently all animals say "Moo". He loves to read books and watch movies. Currently he is obsessed with Toy Story, garbage trucks, dinosaurs and Little Einsteins. He is quite possibly the cutest dancer.
Some times I wonder if he is bi-polar or something. He goes from happy to cranky to mad back to happy in the blink of an eye. Notice from these pics I took in quick succession. I was trying to get an adorable pic of him in the "Baseball Birthday Boy" shirt to post. I pointed the camera at him and told him to smile. He said, "no" and I got this:
Then, I say "Come on. I need a cute pic for grandma." and this is what I got...His "do-I-look-like-I-care" face"
Then, I said, "Let's get a good picture for grandma and then you can have your cake." So this is what I get....isn't he just too cute.
Then when he realizes I am not immediately getting him his piece of cake I get this look...the one we call "Stank Face"....trust me, I see this one MANY, MANY times a day:
Anyways....For his birthday this year, we kept it low key. Just the immediate family (because I forgot to call and invite the Richardsons, yeah, I suck.).
We had pizza for dinner at Owen's request. Gotta love Little Cesars $5 pizza. We only need 2 to feed our family for dinner and leftovers for lunch. Here he is loving that pizza. (Check out those ripped abs and happy grin.)
I made a cake and frosted it. Logan and Owen helped put on the sprinkles. (I was too tired to make it into a garbage truck like I'd wanted to...maybe a little too lazy also, but he still loved his "Happy Cake".)
Here he is digging into his cake after blowing out the candles.
After cake, off to open presents. He loves to tear open the packages. He cried on Logan's birthday when Logan wouldn't let him help open the presents. Here he is opening his present from The Birds. (Yep, we had to read the book that night at bedtime and the onesie is awesome...
He he is admiring Curious George 2 from Grandma and Grandpa Andersen....and yes, we've watched it LOTS of times.
By far, his favorite present was also the least expensive. He immediately fell in love with the garbage truck Matchbox car Kim got for him. (He was running around so excited, I wasn't able to get a pic of him with it.) Go figure, $1.04 was the best money spent in his eyes.
Thanks for all the presents and cards. All in all, it was a fun birthday!
It is amazing how quickly the time goes by and how fast they grow. For those of you who don't live close-by...here is a description of my little man.Physically, he is into everything ALL THE TIME and he has just recently learned how to open doors. (Which is why we now have a lock on the pantry to keep him from eating ALL day long.) He know almost all the letters of the alphabet. He know some of the animals and their sounds, even though frequently all animals say "Moo". He loves to read books and watch movies. Currently he is obsessed with Toy Story, garbage trucks, dinosaurs and Little Einsteins. He is quite possibly the cutest dancer.
Some times I wonder if he is bi-polar or something. He goes from happy to cranky to mad back to happy in the blink of an eye. Notice from these pics I took in quick succession. I was trying to get an adorable pic of him in the "Baseball Birthday Boy" shirt to post. I pointed the camera at him and told him to smile. He said, "no" and I got this:
Then, I say "Come on. I need a cute pic for grandma." and this is what I got...His "do-I-look-like-I-care" face"
Then, I said, "Let's get a good picture for grandma and then you can have your cake." So this is what I get....isn't he just too cute.
Then when he realizes I am not immediately getting him his piece of cake I get this look...the one we call "Stank Face"....trust me, I see this one MANY, MANY times a day:
Anyways....For his birthday this year, we kept it low key. Just the immediate family (because I forgot to call and invite the Richardsons, yeah, I suck.).We had pizza for dinner at Owen's request. Gotta love Little Cesars $5 pizza. We only need 2 to feed our family for dinner and leftovers for lunch. Here he is loving that pizza. (Check out those ripped abs and happy grin.)
I made a cake and frosted it. Logan and Owen helped put on the sprinkles. (I was too tired to make it into a garbage truck like I'd wanted to...maybe a little too lazy also, but he still loved his "Happy Cake".)
Here he is digging into his cake after blowing out the candles. 
After cake, off to open presents. He loves to tear open the packages. He cried on Logan's birthday when Logan wouldn't let him help open the presents. Here he is opening his present from The Birds. (Yep, we had to read the book that night at bedtime and the onesie is awesome...
He he is admiring Curious George 2 from Grandma and Grandpa Andersen....and yes, we've watched it LOTS of times.
By far, his favorite present was also the least expensive. He immediately fell in love with the garbage truck Matchbox car Kim got for him. (He was running around so excited, I wasn't able to get a pic of him with it.) Go figure, $1.04 was the best money spent in his eyes.Thanks for all the presents and cards. All in all, it was a fun birthday!
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