Trimming the tree



Sunday we had the RARE (yes, that is in bold, all caps, and italics) treat of having Best home with us all day.  After a wonderful morning of lounging, coffee, and play with Peanut, we decided to tackle the tree.  Actually there wasn't much tackling to it as you can see.  This year, since our house is on the market, we opted for a small artificial tree.  Funny, although I love getting a real tree, (one that almost touches the ceiling, has so many branches we use every ornament) I wasn't a bit sad about this little guy.  He suits our needs perfectly.  Sort of a Charlie Brown tree.  All he needed was a little love.  And I think we did pretty good.  See for yourself:

 

 

Hope you are as excited about the holiday season as we are!  Have a great week friends and family.

Underwater Adventure

I had been craving a little field trip with my Peanut so this week we hit up the aqaurium at the mall.  Kind of strange to think that all these exotic sea creatures make their home directly below The Gap...but kind of cool too.  Peanut loved it and here he is trying to tickle a fish.  I know that is what he was doing because he was saying "tickle" as he moved his hands...what a clown.

Close enough to reach...well almost.  I wanted to get a picture of him touching one, but that will have to wait til we have Best with us.  I did dangle him over the edge and he loved getting his hands in there.

This was a really cool room.  There were several tall tanks filled with these gorgeous creatures illuminated by colored lights. 

An aquarium is a tough place to take pictures...low lights, no flash allowed, reflective surfaces, moving objects...ok, those are my excuses.  But he loved it and Im glad I have a few to remember his first trip there.

This was my favorite part.  We were looking through a somewhat small window that connected to a much larger part of the aquarium and I didn't see anything at first, but right as we were about to move on three of these magnificent turtles glided out from behind some rocks. 

This guy (or gal) was so still I wasn't sure if it was real.  But I'm pretty sure it was.  I think...

And what a combo: Legoland just happens to be under the very same roof!  Some other children had the legos all wrong.  I know this because as soon as we got there Peanut looked at them and said "No, no, no" and got straight to work.  Really, what were those other kids thinking?  Smile.

It couldn't have gone any better.  We packed a lunch and enjoyed it before we headed home.  We rolled in right in time to feed FP (he likes his schedule) and have some time with Daddy before bed.  Hope you have a little adventure of your own this week.  Have a great one friends and family!

17 months old

 

My dear Peanut is 17 months old today.  I am so proud of the little man he is becoming.  How tender he is when I ask him for "a kiss for Mommy please", how obedient he is when "it's time for clean up", how absolutely ecstatic he gets when "Daddy's home!", and how funny he is when he does his fake snoring routine.  As of late he likes to crawl up on our big bed where the tickle monster attacks, then he will tell me when he is "all done" being tickled and say "Daddy night night" and pretend to sleep on Best's pillow (this is where the fake snoring takes place.) The most wonderful thing is how much we can really communicate now. I love that he can use a combination of signs and words to ask for things and that I can better understand where his thoughts are.

 

He loves to play with Furry Pants and tickle his paws.   Our dog should win some sort of Nobel Peace Prize for canines.  F.P. seems to know that Peanut means well and is a part of our family that we love, and enjoys the companionship of his little friend.

 



After much stain removing, Peanut now eats topless.  Why didn't I think of this sooner?  I did, but it just seemed so uncouth... I have gotten over that. Smile

Admiring his reflection in the dishwasher...

...and the oven.  Actually Peanut is very helpful in the kitchen and he loves to unload the dishwasher...regardless of whether the dishes are dirty or clean.

This just made me smile the other morning because he looked so grown up "reading" the back of the box. (Don't hate on our Olympic Cereal btw, got em on clearance for 2$ and they're good thru May 2013!)

Too cool and always on the move.

The weather is crisp and cool now and the skies are so blue. 

Peanut loves to say hi to the neighbors and they are so friendly to him.  There are several cats on our street and he is always signing "cat" and looking for them.

 I know the day is coming when he won't want to hold Mommy's hand, but I am enjoying the fact that right now he graciously accepts it. 

Have a great week friends and family.

Tricks and Treats!

I will be the first to admit that Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  I am not a fan of being scared, getting messy (pumpkin carving), or wearing costumes.  But, as I have said many times before, Peanut just makes everything fun for me...including Halloween.  Our Halloween was great, not too scary, not messy at all, and Peanut loved being Elmo and didn't seem to mind that I wasn't dressed in costume one bit!  Come to think of it, I rarely curl my hair and wear make up when we are just home these days so maybe when I got fancied up for the parties he thought that was the costume! 

 

Anywho... we started off the festivities with our Thursday morning ECFE bunch.  Yep, we were in costume a whole week before Halloween!

Which was followed the next night by the ECFE Carnival.  Best and Papa met us there and we had a blast playing games and even heard a ghost story.  I was loving that during the story time I could hear the children seated behind Peanut saying "look, Elmo!" 

The games were so cute and age appropriate.  Here is Best showing off the hockey skills. 

 

 Peanut was very good at the golf game.  I say "very good" meaning he was very interested and seemed to know what to do.  He actually did get it through one of the holes!

 

 

Our next celebration was at our friend Rocco's house.  We met Rocco and his Mama at Little Gym and we are so glad we did.  They are such good friends and know how to have fun!

There was a table full of Halloween treats and they were all so yummy and creative! We took some "buggy bites" and mini pumpkins to share.

 Rocco's mom got the bubbles floating and we enjoyed the cool air.  Truthfully she was a trooper and entertained the kids (who for some reason didn't seem to notice the cold) while the rest of us took turns warming up inside with coffee!  Thanks Cory!

Elmo and Snow White...

 

 

 And finally it was actually Halloween night.  We met Best at the rink and went to visit Aunt Kiki and Gammie and Papa. 

 

 

We took a little trip to see some other decorations and then headed home. We were in seperate cars so I took Peanut home and tucked him in while Best ran by DQ to get us a little treat.  Peanut was snoozing and we were in our jammies on the sofa with Pumpkin Pie Blizzards by 7pm!  Now that's my kind of Halloween.  Smile.

 

And finally, I just had to include this picture because this is one of Peanut's new favorite activities.  He opens the drawer where we keep the photo albums and says "Dada".  I know this means he wants to look through our albums to find pictures of Best.  It's so sweet.  Kind of a Where's Waldo with Daddy as the main character.  I know why he loves him so much. It's because he is kind, loving, and fun to be around.  It's why I do too.
   So my least favorite holiday went really well and I can say I really enjoyed it.  I'm thinking that the rest of the year can only get better.  Have a great week friends and family!