Saturday, May 31, 2014

A Birthday Apiece For My Two Loved Ones

Another year for two!  Last week, as they ever shall, The Wife and The Boy celebrated their birthdays in rapid succession (and don't let's forget The Wife's first official Mother's Day!).  It was fun and delightful and we spread the festivities over several days so as to make the most of them.

Julie made a delicious cake on her day of days, and we put out a general invitation for anyone who wanted to come and take part in it.  We had some friends and family come and help us eat it, and it was definitely delicious (lemon poppyseed with almond frosting, yes, please and thank you very much).  There was some Veronica Marsing throughout the day, and some Coldplaying, and a little bit of Fairy Tale Booking too.  Happy birthday, Wife!  You make [mumbles something that sounds a lot like mid-20s-ish] look mighty fine.
She's a master!

It was so very yes.

I tried to capture this scrunchy face he's been making lately, but it didn't really come across, especially with this neat crayon brush.

And then came this fellow's big day.
(The one on the right.  I'm just there to admire.)
He was actually being squiggly and looking all over the place, The Wife just happened to shoot at the exact right moment.
He likes to fly.
On the day of we just had a little party at home with some strawberry shortcake (luckily he has taken a liking to strawberries again, after a brief period of refusing to eat them, thanks in large part to his mother's patient and repeated and gradual exposure of them to him), and webcamming with his out-of-town family.
Birthday cake!
Birthday bath!

Birthday bash aftermath!
He was having a grand old time, and of course one of his favorite things was the wrapping.
We wondered if he would be old enough to appreciate a toy like this, but we didn't wonder for long.

Then on Saturday we had a party/picnic/playdate at the park planned, but inclement weather forced us to relocate to our little place, which turned out fine, even if a little snug (which is why we planned it for the park in the first place).  There were baby muffins and baby water bottles and THREE kinds of grapes and plenty of strawberries for all.  We all ended up passing around library books that we've been enjoying, and all are enamored with Marla Frazee.
Julie's ingenious party invitation.

Another little muffin cake just for you, baby!

There were a lot of people in close quarters, but the kids enjoyed running around our yard (such as it is), and Bobo definitely was glad to have some company, as well as lots of fun presents (see aftermath photo above).

And then, of course, by the afternoon, the weather was gorgeous and the park was perfect:
Oh well, we had fun anyway!  (Bobo used up all his smiles on the swings.)
So yes, another month (The Wife's great update here), and we're just amazed our little man is a year old.  It feels like it's gone by slowly and also really quickly, but in either case, it's been a grand old time.  People always say these first years are hard and you have to wait and hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but seriously, these days have been golden.  He's sweet and funny and sometimes bewilderingly fussy, but for the most part he's such a good boy, and for that we are definitely grateful.  He loves giving wet kisses on any spot of the face, he is very vocal and sometimes just sits there hollering to hear his voice, and he is quite a snugglebuns, especially with his ma.  He (thankfully!) likes the bath again, he's making good headway on his Disney animation education, he finally really loves the pool, he eats heartily and happily, and he's stretching more vertically than he is horizontally, and he has definitely taken his first solo steps.
Definitely feeling Fun and Fancy Free with the Wii games.
It's never to early in life for a little Mary Blair.

Merrily on his way to nowhere in particular.
Mice and magic on an early morning.

Curiouser and curiouser.
He can fly! [X3]

Long night + early morning = Mommy and Lady both catching up on some sleep.

A beautiful day at Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival.  Here he scored his first little sunburn.  (It didn't seem to bother him much.)

He often finds his way to this spot.  Mayhap he's trying to tell me something?

Sunday afternoon snuggles.  Oh my beating heart.

The first visit of the season to Seven Peaks and the maiden voyage of the HMS My Baby Float.  Baby did NOT get much sunburned this day.  (But we did...  Baby sunblock doesn't really cut it for we older folks, it seems.)
Ohhhh, these twoooo.
Happy birthday, Wife, and happy first to you, my son!!!  We are ever so happy you came to live with us a whole year ago.
We celebrated through the rest of the week, including Memorial Day, when we went to Seven Peaks, grilled on the long-neglected grill and watched plenty of back-episodes of The Amazing Race.

And then, just because, here's a cake that The Wife made, totally unrelated to any of these activities: 
Remember that scene in Matlida?...

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Blogkeeping -- Fall 2013

Time to clean out the sidebar!  I really should just do this more often instead of waiting until I've posted the latest thing-I've-been-meaning-to-post.  Anyway, these 100 movies were all watched from the end of May 2013 (bottom) to October 2013.

The Addams Family [r] *** 1/2 / The Haunting (1999) [r] *** / The Haunting (1963) [r] *** 1/2 / Edward Scissorhands [r] ***** / Face/Off [r] *** / Hocus Pocus [r] *** 1/2 / Rosemary's Baby *** / Wait Until Dark [r] **** / Project Runway (Season 12) *** 1/2 / Dial M for Murder [r] *** 1/2 /
84 Charing Cross Road *** 1/2 / Paranormal Activity 2 *** 1/2 / Paranormal Activity *** / Shaun of the Dead [r] **** / The Tale of Despereaux [r] ** / Toy Story of Terror *** / Pacific Rim *** / We Own the Night ** 1/2 / Underworld *** 1/2 / Bridesmaids ** 1/2 / Public Enemies ** / Gormenghast (1/4...) * 1/2 / Persuasion (2007) [r] *** 1/2 / Epic *** / The Great Gatsby (2013) *** / Broadchurch (Series 1) *** / Bartok the Magnificent [r] *** 1/2 / Anastasia [r] **** 1/2 / Persuasion (1995) [r] **** 1/2 / World War Z **** / A Tree Grows In Brooklyn *** 1/2 / Heroes of Cosplay (Season 1) ** 1/2 / Reign of Fire *** 1/2 / Now You See Me ** 1/2 / The Incredible Burt Wonderstone ** 1/2 / Star Trek: Into Darkness [r] **** 1/2 / Northanger Abbey (1986) ** / Admission ** 1/2 / Rise of the Guardians *** 1/2 / *batteries not included [r] *** / This Is Spinal Tap ** 1/2 / Northanger Abbey (2004) *** 1/2 / Clueless [r] ***** / Monsters, Inc. [r] **** 1/2 / Monsters University *** 1/2 / Richard M. Sherman and Alan Menken: The Disney Songbook *** 1/2 / People Like Us ** 1/2 / The Lady Vanishes (2013) *** 1/2 / Holes [r] **** 1/2 / Taken 2 ** 1/2 / The Host ** / Beautiful Creatures ** 1/2 / Crash [r] ***** / The Outsiders *** / Emma (2009) [r] **** / Independence Day (sort of) [r] ** / V For Vendetta ** / Somewhere In Time [r] *** 1/2 / Emma (1996) [r] ***** / Jack the Giant Slayer * 1/2 / Warm Bodes *** 1/2 / The Queen of Versailles *** 1/2 / Black Swan ** 1/2 / Mansfield Park (2007) *** 1/2 / Blazing Saddles ** 1/2 / Pushing Daisies (Season 2) **** / The Slipper and the Rose [r] *** / Les Misérables (2012) [r] *** / Pitch Perfect *** 1/2 / Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure [r] ** / Pushing Daisies (Season 1) **** 1/2 / Mansfield Park (1999) [r] *** 1/2 / The 10th Kingdom [r] *** / One For the Money * 1/2 / Pollyanna [r] **** 1/2 / Alias (Season 5) ** 1/2 / Because of Winn-Dixie *** 1/2 / Man of Steel *** 1/2 / Alias (Season 4) *** 1/2 / Alias (Season 3) **** / Alias (Season 2) **** 1/2 / The Avengers [r] *** / Alias (Season 1) **** / The Great Gatsby (2000) *** / God's Army [r] **** / The Great Gatsby (1974) [r] ** 1/2 / Pride & Prejudice (1995) [r] ***** / Our Mutual Friend **** / The Green Mile [r] **** 1/2 / Fargo *** 1/2 / Fiddler On the Roof [r] **** 1/2 / Pride & Prejudice (2003) [r] **** / Smash (Season 2) *** 1/2 / Atonement **** / Pride & Prejudice (2005) [r] *** 1/2 / The Bletchley Circle (sort of) *** 1/2 / Hawaii Five-0 (Season 3) ** 1/2 / Bates Motel (Season1) **** 1/2 / Grimm (Season 2) *** 1/2 / Jack Reacher ***

And these are the 50 books I read from October 2013 to January 2014.

The Art of Frozen (Charles Solomon) **** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle (C.S. Lewis) ***** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Newphew (C.S. Lewis) ***** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy (C.S. Lewis) **** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis) ***** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (C.S. Lewis) **** 1/2 / The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (C.S. Lewis) **** / The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) ***** / Foodie Babies Wear Bibs (Michelle Sinclair Colman) ** / A Christmas Carol: A BabyLit Colors Primer (Jennifer Adams) ***** /  How To Cheat In Photoshop CS4: The Art of Creating Realistic Photomontages (Steve Caplin) *** / Cry, the Beloved Country (Alan Paton) **** / Belles On Their Toes (Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey) **** / Cheaper By the Dozen (Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey) *** 1/2 / We Belong Together (Joyce Wan) ***** / The Dead Bird (Margaret Wise Brown) ** / Anna Karenina: A BabyLit Fashion Primer (Jennifer Adams) **** / The Magician's Elephant (Kate DiCamillo) **** 1/2 / The One and Only Ivan (Katherine Applegate) *** / Not a Box (Antoinette Portis) ***** /  The Dollhouse Asylum (Mary Gray) * / Hamsters Holding Hands (Kass Reich) **** / All the Wrong Questions: When Did You See Her Last? (Lemony Snicket) **** / Jabberwocky: A BabyLit Nonsense Primer (Jennifer Adams) *** / Sherlock Holmes in the Hound of the Baskervilles: A BabyLit Sounds Primer (Jennifer Adams) **** / The Vanishing Game (Kate Kae Myers) **** / The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson) **** / Cozy Classics: War and Peace (Jack Wang) ***** / Cozy Classics: Pride and Prejudice (Jack Wang) ***** / On the Day I Died: Stories From the Grave (Candace Fleming) ***** /  Good Night, Gorilla (Peggy Rathmann) ***** / The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear (Don and Audrey Wood) ***** / The 13th Floor: A Ghost Story (Sid Fleischman) *** / The Conductor (Laëtitia Devernay) ** / Moby Dick: A BabyLit Ocen Primer (Jennifer Adams) ***** / The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Kate DiCamillo) ***** / Doll Bones (Holly Black) ** / Wuthering Heights: A BabyLit Weather Primer (Jennifer Adams) *** / Jane Eyre: A BabyLit Counting Primer (Jennifer Adams) ***** / Anya's Ghost (Vera Brosgol) **** /  The Worthy: A Ghost's Story (Will Clarke) ** / Les Petits Fairytales: Rapunzel (Trixie Belle) ** / Let Petits Fairytales: Beauty and the Beast (Trixie Belle) ** / Les Petits Fairytales: The Little Mermaid (Trixie Belle) ** / Midnight In Austenland (Shannon Hale) *** 1/2 / Austenland (Shannon Hale) *** / The Tale of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo) ***** / The Ocean At the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) **** / Little Miss Austen -- Sense & Sensibility: A BabyLit Opposites Primer (Jennifer Adams) ***** / Little Miss Austen -- Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer (Jennifer Adams) *****

And that's all for now!  I'm pretty sure I'm ready for another one of these right away, so it won't be long before I do another one.  Whew.

Friday, April 25, 2014

11 Months

This boy has joined me at palindrome level, just one month shy of a year.  The Wife posted a great update here, but here's a quick little post here too.

Our little man is doing great.  He's smiley and mischievous and learning what to do and what not to do, and when to do or not do it.  He's liking a lot of good foods and loves getting around.  He makes funny noises and blows raspberries and says random word-like things.  His flaky scalp is thankfully and blessedly a thing of the past, but now we're working on a perpetually chapped chin (which evidently itches in the night...).  He loves his mommy especially, but he's always glad to see me when I come down from work.
Making our way through the Disney animated canon!  This is from Saludos Amigos.
The Three Caballeros!  This is a perfect time for no pants.
Hey, the boy has to be indoctrinated at some point or other, doesn't he?  Time for a jaunty hat to fit in with Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet (in Make Mine Music).
Bobo really is a good baby, and although he has his moments, we're looking forward to his first birthday with great anticipation.  He's more active and curious than ever, and he's been great for babysitters and with visits to family and especially his little-like-him cousins.
We found a fun park nearby with swings, and he wasn't sure about the whole idea...
And then suddenly he was sure.  (See?  He's occasionally unhappy.  We have to document it sometime or other.)
We love you, son!!!  You are a delight to behold for all among your acquaintance (and even, I'm sure, those outside of it).

Monday, March 31, 2014

33 and Ten Months

A couple of weeks ago The Boy and I each reached a couple of milestones, so I thought I would just blog about them at once.

I turned 33!  My age is a palindrome for the first time in 11 years (can something be a palindrome when it's only two characters?...  Or when it's numbers, for that matter?  I'm going to say yes and yes).  First I was so excited that my dearest youngest sister and BFF and her two tots came to visit from back east, just in time for my birthday of all days!
Together again!  The older sister had by now found the toys in the kids' loft upstairs
BCFs.
Second, we thought it would be fun to throw a friend party this year (hopefully to make up for last year...), and it turned out so great!  My birthday was on Sunday, and there was a ward talent show on Saturday, so we had it a couple days prior to the actual day.  Julie made a fantastic Boston cream pie/cake (and yes, it was a total coincidence that this party fell on Pi Day), and a lot of fun friends and family came to share it with us.  We should have parties when Elise is in town more often!  HA.  Julie made the actual day very special, with surpreezes throughout the day.  I was glad to add Catching Fire to our DVD collection, and also Frozen a few days later.  I remember growing up that Disney movies often were released around my birthday, which was just the best thing ever.  I hadn't seen Frozen since we saw it in the theater (no, I didn't want to watch it online... the anticipation of the home video release was always one of the most exciting things about a Disney movie!), and we also a few days later saw the latest (brilliant) Muppet movie, which I call a continuation of the celebration.
It was delish, and not a single piece survived the night.

Penneh was really excited about the cake.
Later The Wife made one of her specialty gourmet Oreo cakes.  No one can make one like she can!
The next morning Mom and Elise joined us for a fun 5K in Vineyard, which we did last year, though this year's experience was quite different...  Not only was it a little more expensive and the course completely new, but we were all hampered by the FREEZING wind.  It basically was trying to knock us over the entire time.  Would it be too much to hope that the wind might at least SOMEtimes be pushing your back rather than against your front?  But it never really seemed to.  We all did all right (I came in at about 22:30, about a 7:04 mile, though it was a little more than a 5K at 3.18m... why is it so hard for races to be accurate distance?  Also, why is my racing pace so much faster than my daily run pace?  I mean, I can think of a few reasons, but still), especially when we realized that Julie and I hadn't run a 5K since last summer.  It was also exciting to have an opportunity to use my brand new LockLaces!  Never tying my shoelaces again?!?  YES PLEASE.  The Wife comes up with the cleverest ideas for presents.  Dad's recovering from a little injury, so he was good enough to watch the little ones, safe and warm in the car.  Then, of course, the next day we had a big family Sunday afternoon gathering with foods and treats and St. Patrick's Day/birthday fun for me and Penny and Jonny.
Note the flags and Penny's hair.  It was ever so windy.
Matching shirts from Mommy/Wife!
And then, just a few days later, The Boy reached the double digits!  (The Wife's update post coming soon.)  He's doing so great and growing so fast.  He's crawling and cruising all over the place, is a pro at going up and down the stairs, and is probably days away from walking (!!!).  We're working on clapping and waving (the first is coming along, and the second is taking a little longer, but coming too... we realized that since I work from home we hardly have any opportunities to wave bye-bye, so we're trying to remember to make a point of it whenever I go upstairs to work or whenever either of us goes anywhere for any significant amount of time).  He babbles and blows spit bubbles and sticks out his tongue and is starting to say sort of words, and he's very quiet and attentive and observant when we drive in the car.  He's much better around new people and places, though he definitely still loves to cling to his parents, especially his mommy.  He loves bananas, avocados and bread, and uses his four adorably spaced teeth (and counting) to great effect, though he's taken to grinding his little chompers, which makes a most alarming sound and which we try to prevent from happening.  He often spreads his arms high and wide as if he's just done the most amazing trick ever, and for the most part he's sleeping better than ever, which is a huge blessing that never goes unrealized or unappreciated by us.  Our place seems to be getting smaller and smaller as The Boy gets bigger and bigger, but we make it work all right.
Oh my adorable peeps.
We've been making our way through the Disney movies.  They don't usually hold Bobo's interest for very long.  But look!  They're making the same face and pose!  Lawlawlawl.
And here we see 1) his interest not being held for very long, 2) his love for the stairs around the corner, and 3) another pose similar to Bambi's!  Lawlawlawl again!
His hospital cap is definitely starting to reach its limit.

Oh, that face.  Also, note the most historically inaccurate Noah's ark toy ever.

It's blurry, but that's kind of what happens these days.  Also, note one of his favorite toys (you can play with it, but you can't eat it!).
He loves reading, which makes us ever so glad.  He really likes turning the pages and closing it at the end.
Just two more months until you reach a year, my son!  That is just crazy, but also awesome.  We can't wait to see what surprises this little man has in store for us.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Seven Eight Nine (Plus Valentine's Day 2014)

Nine months!  The boys has now spent as long on the outside as he has on the inside.  The Wife presented quite vividly the difference between what happens during these two nine-month periods in her informative and photo-tastic update, and although those first nine months were pretty amazing, the second nine have been more fun for all involved.

As I said above, The Wife posted most of the details of The Boy's latest developments, but I wanted to post a little Insta-log of some of the happenings over the last few weeks.  He's crawling and cruising all over the place, up (not quite down) the stairs, and we can't help but think he'll be walking proper within a week or two.  He's now showing a nice set of four teeth (the top two are just coming in and it's sort of a trick to get him to let you see them, but they're definitely there), he loves books and toys and crinkly things like junk mail and, lately, gently and methodically tearing apart a tissue.  His sleeping habits are mostly pretty good, even if he occasionally wakes up and realizes that he's not asleep anymore but also that he's extremely sleepy but also that he's apparently TOO sleepy to go back to sleep on his own?  I don't know, it is a VERY curious thing to me sometimes.  But the good thing is that this emergence of Mr. Hyde is definitely the exception, and usually our little Jekyll baby is as good as can be.  Most of the pictures we post here and there are of a happy baby, and though of course he has his down times (he's starting to develop a pretty mighty whine and even a fake cry), those photos are for the most part quite accurate.
The Little Merbaby

My master plan to train up a replacement dishwasher is working perfectly so far.
He's graduated to the big boy tub, which, as you can see, pleases him very much.  He often tries to escape.
The Duck and The Boy regarded each other.
 And now, a word about Valentine's Day.  It was here!  And it was lovely.  There were many delightful surpreezes for me scattered throughout the day, which made for a fun series of Instagram posts, and of course there were prizes for my loved one too (the usual things... flowers, chocolates... promises I tend to keep).
This is what I woke up to.  So much love!
This was delivered later in the morning by a little pony with a ribbon saddle.
And these came later in the afternoon!  Such nice salt dough hand and footprints.  And you can see The Boy trying to make his way into the picture too.

We had a great time having now-traditional sushi at Amber and Todd's house with all the married siblings and parents and overall just basked in the love we have for each other and this scrumptious little squishface of ours.
Mmmm...  I must say the sticky rice I contributed turned out pretty awesome, and Julie's two kinds of cookies were a big hit too.

Everyone having the Big Fun.  (Thanks for the photos, Dad's Insta.)
I hadn't come up with an idea for a Valentine's Day art until late in the morning, and then this happened, which it must.

Happy 3/4 of a year, son!  A few more months and you'll already be 1, which is crazy.  You make us laugh, you make us laugh until we cry, and occasionally we might also cry, but not because of you.

Fuzzy daddy kisses for my growing boy.