Friday, August 31, 2012

Day 73

How does one little boy start Friday August 31?  With deodorant and powder of course.
 
 
Mom!! Do you have to take pictures of everything I do?


 
And how does he end the day?  Looking at the blue moon while wearing a pink nightgown.



 
I think it was a pretty good day.

Day 71

I was off work to spend the day with the family and use up some vacation before then end of year.  Only 22 days left until fall and we have lots left to do. 
 
 
I had bought a whole pork leg earlier this year because it was 99 cents a pound (btw I don't know when they removed the cent sign from keyboards but I don't like it)
 

 It has been lurking in the freezer for months, taking up a lot of space. I pulled it out, put it in the freezer and forgot to do anything with it, like brine it or put a rub on it.  So I slapped some rub on it before putting it on the grill to smoke all day.  It is like a Flintstone leg of beast!  I started up the grill to smoke the beast while we did some family running around.

 
Lori and Baylor have been going to a local Play Cafe for months and I have never been there.  I know where it is because my OB/GYN is on the second floor of the same building.  So I am sitting thinking little does Baylor know he was conceived in a room right above his head.  When they first started to go there Baylor would not play and was shy.  Lori had to sit in the room with him and encourage him to get out there and play.  He has come a long way and this time he was running to the door telling me to take off his shoes so he could go in.  An hour and a half later he came out because he was thirsty.   



 
The girl who stays with the kids in the room told me how much he as blossomed in there.  It does a mommy's heart good to hear that.  Lori is planning on going back to college, mostly online, and bought a season pass to the play room so Baylor can play while she gets some school work done.  They have a small cafe and coffee shop so they can have a nice day out together.
 


 
And seeing how much he loves and cares for his 'friends' makes me love him even more for being the sensitive and emotional little boy that he is. 

 
We went to Wegman's for lunch and bought some food for Eddy.  Lori works for Pur*ina and our dog was out of food.  Nice.  Eddy is still my daughter in a dog suit even though I don't take about her very much.  I made my brother a painting of his dog for his first wedding anniversary and I want to make one of Eddy also so I am trying to get a good photo of her to use in the painting. 

 
After Wegman's we stopped at the post office to mail the gift. I hope they like it.  I have not created any art work since college.  It looks like a paint by numbers but it is not.  But it was a simple process and I like how it turned out.
 
 
And I like how the leg o'pork turned out!!  


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Day 68

A bit of catching up on the last few days.  Thursday was Lori's birthday.  She worked OT that day and as a gift, I served her left overs for dinner and took Baylor outside to play.  She had a quite evening to herself to watch whatever she wanted on TV without being asked for another episode of Team Umizoomie.  She appreciated my thoughtfulness. 
 
Saturday, day 67, we did a morning of shopping.  We arrived home and had a hour before Natalie's 8th birthday party.  Even though Baylor only had a 10 minute nap in the car, he was raring to go. 
 
 
We arrived first and he headed straight for the play area in the Brown's backyard.  He loves their climbing wall and the fort at the top. 

 
Natalie's real birthday is the 27th, the day we moved into our home.  Mandy and Doug were at the hospital having a baby while we were wrangling the tons of boxes into our new house.  It makes it easy to remember how long we have been at the house.

 
She started pulling faces after a few smiles.  She is eight after all.  This is her model face she said.

 
Vanessa said this was her model face.  I am not sure who they will be modeling for but they have my vote! 

 
And so does he! 

 
Natalie had so much fun at her sister's party last month that she chose the same theme.  At least Baylor was familiar with everything this time and knew what to expect. 

 
His favorite was just playing in the water rather than waiting in any of the lines for the games.

 
They added a football toss game to this party and I think he got two out of three in the hoop. 

 
He chose bubbles for one prize and had a lot of fun popping them. 

 
So much fun that Natalie and Vanessa also picked bubbles so they could have fun also. 

 
He scored 15 points at the bean bag toss. 

 
And walked super carefully with the egg and spoon race.  He only dropped it once. 

 
And even tried the gunny sack race.  The sack was about as tall as he is and eventually he hopped right out of it. 

 
All the party guests had their pictures taken with the birthday girl but Baylor also jumped while they were serving the cupcakes. 

 
And back to the water he went. 

 
While Natalie opened gifts, Baylor decided he was done and headed home.  It is a short walk so I said our good byes and followed.  What he really wanted to do was get out the wood we bought earlier that morning.  Have I mentioned he is all boy? 


 
See this nice piece of poplar?  I have a wonderful project planned for that one.  The other pieces were cut into blocks and columns for Baylor.  I have decided I need a tabletop belt sander.  This hand sanding is for the birds. 

 
Also when we were shopping I decided on a container of Crimson Jewell popcorn rather than microwave popcorn.  This week Lori burnt a bag in the microwave and I hate that smell.  People do that at work all the time and I don't need to be reminded of work while I am at home. 

 
We have never used the air popper in Baylor's memory and he loved the idea.  I love there are no chemicals and no burning!  

 
Baylor just loved having popcorn to eat while watching Team Umizoomie. And sitting on my ladder I had to get out to get down the air popper from the back of the top cabinet. 

 
Sunday we slept in until 7 am!  That is a good thing in my book.  I got started on my dad's birthday peach pie and of course my baker's assistant was ready and willing when he heard the clanking going on in the kitchen. 

 
Mostly he just rolled out the flour on the cloth.  But we managed to roll out the crust, shape it, and put it in the fridge while I peeled and prepared the peaches.  We bought them on Saturday at Oak Grove, where we also had ice cream for brunch. 


 
While the pie was baking we made Buddy's birthday card.  I should have added some details to the cake print, like a plate and some icing ornaments.  It would look more like a cake then a messed up hand print missing a thumb.  I made him three kitchen towels that hang from the stove and bought him a box of pancake mix after the disaster at their house on Mom's birthday.  

 
 He loved it all.

 
Especially the pie. 

 
 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Day 63

It is not really Lori's birthday today. Since she is working on her real birthday and Meme is here now we celebrated today.  The three of them spent the morning at a play cafe to get out of the house and do something new.  Little Man does not nap when Meme is here and is pretty wired by the time I get home.  They had a picnic in the living room.  Real picnic fare too, pigs in a blanket, pork and beans, and salad.  Oh, and cantaloupe also. 


Lori left the room, code for had a beer on the deck, while I made ready for the celebration.  The tree is our family tree.  Buddy, Grandma and I are on the left side and Pap, and Meme are on the right. Baylor is at the top and the open space is for Gloria.  She loves her family tree and while I thought we would add it to the living room, she wants in on her side of the bed room.  After cake, we did add her hand so the tree is now complete.


DQ Ice cream cake.


Gloria was lucky, Baylor only made her blow out the candles once but we sang Happy Birthday to everyone including Eddy. 



I found Baltimore Ravens fleece fabric by the yard at a local fabric outlet and made her a blanket/couch throw.  She loved it.   


Meme loves photos, maybe in a way more than I do, but unlike me she likes to be in them too. 


Gloria, like me, would rather not be in the photo and she rarely poses.  I just keep snapping and hope a few work out.  Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much. 



Baylor always has room for ice cream and had two slices. 


Is that not a happy ice cream cake face?