Blast from the past

way too many hours were wasted in college watching this and other homestar runner cartoons....recently my friend Emili and I rewatched a bunch and had a good giggle....hope you do too!  (p.s. best when watched late at night with a goofy friend while you're both hopped up on sugar)

Little Red Tricycle

a little something for myself

after crocheting what seems like a million baby blankets, scarves and hats for Christmas gifts and baby gifts I finally got around to making something for me!  a super cute and super easy cowl, plus my sister brought me to a great craft shop when I was in WI and I found those yellow buttons ( yes I need to go back and space them out better).  Now that I'm feeling quite accomplished with my crocheting I can start sewing!  got my machine in the mail today yay!!

An Update on the Boy

this baby boy is growing up so fast, some days I feel like all I have to do is blink and he's doing something new, something incredibly grown up, and it makes my heart swell with pride and at the same time makes me choke a bit thinking about how he's no longer a baby.

here's a few of his recent accomplishments

• has definitely gone through a growth spurt if his eating habits are anything to go by.  It seems like overnight all his sleeves shrunk an inch or two!
• can now take of his jacket all by himself (although he occasionally gets tangled up with the sleeves)
• although he's still not talking consistently he is saying more and more and new words everyday, a few new ones include...more (which he always used to sign)...cheese...toast....woops... binky...and has recently added "moo" to his animal sound repertoire
• he is incredibly good at letting us know what he wants (and doesn't want!).  Whether its pushing you off your chair and then leading you to where he wants and then pointing and signing please or simply just saying whatever food he wants, he is a very good communicator.  
• after months of saying no and disciplining and removing offending items I feel like something is starting to stick.  G has always responded well to discipline but now instead of repeat offending an hour or two later he walks up to something he shouldn't touch and does his little head shake with a little " mmm mmm no no"  he's starting to learn....yay!
• and lastly, my favorite, he's learned how to give hugs!  and gives kisses when requested!  

Baking with Baby

my friend Brittany recently blogged about baking with her two boys, she showed pictures of her boys quietly sitting on stools, stirring their bowls of cookie dough.  When I tried to envision myself doing this with G all I saw were pictures of floor covered floors and ruined recipes.  However knowing that Brit did this with not one but two children....while 8 months pregnant gave me the courage to break out the mixer and bake with G.  This little boy loves to be in the kitchen, observing and stirring and loves to remind me (as I do him) that everything in the kitchen is "hot".  We made some gingerbread cookies together and G loved being able to be up in all the action, adding ingredients and playing with the measuring cup and bowl of flour I gave him. All in all a great time...and I'll definitely be doing it again! (despite all the flour on the floor)

checking to make sure it looks good

the master chef himself

a little careful measuring

full of flour!

I'll let you guess what my floors looked like

A Brief Afternoon in NYC

We always tell people that if they're on the East Coast to give us a call, so we love it when people actually take us upon this offer.  I got a  message from my cousin saying that they were in NYC and wondering how far it was from Philly, so we jumped on the offer to meet up with some family and spent a brief afternoon catching up and visiting the new 9/11 memorial.

The beautiful memorial....if you get a chance, go see it!

an adorable little girl, trying to make friends with G (and steal his binky)

my cousin and I, can  you tell we're related?

me, explaining that its all in the cheekbones

the whole group

What I'm thankful for right now.......Skype!

for those of you who live far away from your friends and families this is the most amazing program you will ever download!.  Just this week it's allowed us to have conversations with family in Wisconsin, England and even India!  and with the share screen option my sister in law and I were able to confer on a Christmas project for my parents.  It sucks being far away from family, especially during the holidays, but being able to hear and see your loved ones definitely takes away the sting.  Not to mention makes me feel less guilty about having my baby so far away from his grandparents. While some kids take baths or read books for their night time routine, G almost nightly skypes with grandpa and grandma  With skype he can become familiar with their faces and voices,  plays peek-a-boo, attempts to feed them thru the screen and can show off his latest skills.  So a big thank you to whoever invented skype....its been a lifesaver for us!

what are you thankful for right now?

The Civil Wars

this song has been playing on repeat in my head for the last few days....I could just sit here forever bathed in their haunting and yet so beautiful harmonies....

England/Scotland Highlights

we had a great time on our most recent trip to England, we got to hang out with Ivan's family, meet our newest niece, Miriam, and take a mini trip within a trip to Scotland to visit Ivan's auntie Janet.  It was basically our first trip to England that wasn't specifically for an event of some kind so it was great just to have the time to relax and visit with people.

G and his cousin, was great to see them

 play and run around together

Baby M after her bath

Evenings on the beach

Edinburgh Castle

G and Auntie Janet

Gettin Crafty

I'm not gonna lie, I'm super proud of myself .  It took me forever to learn how to read a crochet pattern, and even after I was fluent in the language of sc, dc, sl st and tr, it still took about 50 attempts to finally perfect a hat! The thing is, I've been crocheting forever.  My grandma taught me way back when and over the years I managed to crochet several items....blankets....scarves.....more scarves and blankets.  Basically lots of squares and rectangles, I could only crochet straight lines!  Thanks to pinterest I found a baby blanket pattern that seemed easy enough for this straight crocheting girl and after seeing how easy it was I got the confidence to branch out.  Here are some of my most recent accomplishments (I also have done several baby blankets....but since they're gifts, they'll remain unseen)

and now for my piece de resistance 

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A Jellyfish!!

after showing my sister these items so was so amazed she exclaimed "oh my gosh lisa, whats gotten into you?....are you pregnant??" ........clearly she doesn't know the mental energy required to grow a child.....or crochet a jellyfish for that matter (like I could do that while barfing my guts out)

Three things that made me smile today

1.)  Daddy's boots

2.) My little pot head

3.) Goofy Smiles

Jumping for Joy

 on your mark....get set......

 Jump!

 and again.....

and again...

he's only managed to get off the ground a handful of times, but that doesn't stop him trying...just another thing he does to put a smile on my face.

Fall Update

• Now that most of our traveling for the year is over we've settled into a nice routine.  Ivan works four days (one of them a double) and then has three days off.  So now we have lots of time for hanging out and family activities.  We've been busy with trips to the zoo, the aquarium, the children's museum and every park or playground within a 30 minute radius.  Thankfully the weather has been gorgeous and we're more than happy to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

• G is growing up so fast!  His vocabulary (though still small) grows everyday, his most recent new words have been "grape" and "peek-a-boo" and he has even expanded his repertoire of animal sounds (things now say woof, roar and quack!).  He is definitely in a stage where he is asserting his independence, even to the point of refusing to do things he likes just because we want him to!  His newest form of entertainment comes from raiding my cabinets and playing with all my pots and pans and has recently taken up residence in one of my cupboards.  He's getting fifty billion four teeth in which has made him a bit cranky, but also a bit more cuddly....so I guess that's an even exchange

• I'm still loving being at home!  my favorite part of this endeavor is being able to cook and bake more often.  I love being able to plan out all my meals for the week and try out new recipes.....and let me tell you we've been eating good!  things like pot roast, beef stroganoff, chicken with garlic cream sauce and many other amazing meals have graced our table in the last week...mmm mmm.

• I've discovered Pinterest! (need I say more?) so now I've got new recipes, crafts and alot more wasted time :) also a strong desire to find a sewing machine and try out some super cute patterns I've found. (so if you have one lying around unused...please think of me!)

• We've got one more trip planned for this year - off to England again to spend time with Ivan's family as well as meet our new niece, Miriam.  I think we're also going to go up to Scotland this trip and do a bit of Edinburgh, which I'm super excited about!

and last but now least a few pics of our recent outings.....

 playing in the dirt at the park

 one of his favorite animals at the zoo

 our little sunflower

Pumpkin Patch

last week saturday Ivan picked up some overtime so G and I decided to make the best of a lonely day and take a trip out to the pumpkin patch at a local orchard.  The weather was gorgeous and G loved being outside and going on his first hayride.  He was less than enthused about the actual pumpkin patch what with all the tall grass and bumpy ground, although he did pat a few pumpkins to humor his mother. 

"this is gross"

 "there ya go...happy now?"

 still disgusted and unhappy I stole his binky

 he did however love the tractors and the hayride

first hayride (had I know how sweaty and disheveled I 

looked I might have rethought taking this photo)

A Walk in the Park

The weather has recently turned gorgeous, and we've been out almost everyday to enjoy it.  Here are a few pictures of some of our recent outings