Summer Update

We've been very busy celebrating and crafting and doing all sorts of fun things...but not blogging, so, here is a brief summary of what's been going on:

Our friend Katie put us on to Luana's Little Library, which is absolutely adorable. Mrs. K, the librarian, lets Wyatt step up on the stool and check out his own books. He also likes to sit at the table and work the puzzles.

We also got some new blocks because our friend Heidi let us know how much building blocks can help grow your mind! Well, what they end up growing is into a giant playroom mess, but occasionally they stack up to a good time.

Some of Jason's cases have shifted around, so we see more of da-da these days. Obviously, that is quite a treat for W. These two roughhouse all evening. Wyatt is more of a daddy's boy than a mama's boy, he loves that da-da. Here's a pic of the two of them playing on the stairs. One of W's favorite things to do now is to walk down the stairs while holding Jason's hand. It's pretty cute and he won't do it with just anyone, including me. It's a da-da and Dub thing.

Our art class at the Museum of Science and Nature came to a close this week. Wyatt made some very cool projects during our 8 week class. This is a spin on Picasso's "The Old Guitarist".

He still likes to fake cry and is having more and more tantrums as he grows more confident in what he wants to say and can't find the words. This age is definitely interesting.

Finally, we've been celebrating with Aunt Katie and Uncle Brad - who recently got engaged. Yea!

I noticed that Halloween costumes are in the catalogs now and Fall stuff is in the stores. I'm getting excited about cooler temperatures and fun colors. Definitely looking forward to the changes to come!

A Visit from the Rockies!

This week we had a fun visit from our BFFs in Colorado.
We were very busy bees and did a ton of activities.

Monday we went to Grapevine Mills Mall to do some back to school shopping. W got some precious things from Gymboree. I can't even stand it. Since it's going to stay 100+, I got some short outfits that should last until...oh, say...November. We also took the kids to Rainforest Cafe, which was absolutely fascinating for everyone. We had a gorilla that shook a tree when the storms came right by our table, and Dub couldn't stop looking at it!

What is that gorilla doing? What is going on here?

Tuesday we went berry picking at Blueberry Hill farm in Edom, followed by a visit to Dairy Palace. Very nice. We made blueberry jam from our pickings.
With all of those leftover berries, we also made white chocolate blueberry cookies and blueberry banana bread. Plus, we ate a ton outright.

#1 Blueberry Tester

Then, parents went out to dinner to celebrate our collaborative efforts. What a night.


Wednesday was a pool party at Gabby's house. It was the perfect end to the day with hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. Everyone loved swimming, even W put on a show. But most of the show was how he didn't want Gabby out of his sight - even for a second.

Wyatt the fish - he's gotten so much better at swimming!

Thursday we toured the Museum of Nature and Science.
They have a great play area for kids - broken up into age groups, which is very helpful.
We had a nice time playing with all of the gadgets.

Come join us at the museum!

Trucks on the wall? This is blowing my baby mind!

Let me see how much of this germ infested surface I can cram into my mouth!!

Look! There are a million of me!

Man, I'm exhausted. I'll just rest on his curvy mat for a minute.

We finished our day up at the CO-OP, preparing for the Fall. Everyone got a little something to prepare for Game Day!


This morning our friends left, and W has spent the whole day resting and getting back into our routine.

Ah!! Book and Milk in my chair. Perfect.

I know we will all miss our Colorado entertainers, but we sure loved having them here with us. From baby bath time to orange slice martini's, we lived it up!

Orange Slice - Day One - froo froo glass with sugared rim

Orange Slice - Day 4 - lets not fool around!

Paperflavor

While I was looking around on Twitter last weekend, I came across a giveaway that featured goods from Paperflavor.
Having never heard of Paperflavor I, of course, had to check it out. Their stuff is precious! From birth announcements and stationery products (heart) to "flair", they had something for everyone!

I'm now the proud owner of this tote, which is carrying library books at the moment! It was a special order item, but the staff was super accommodating about putting my special bag together.

Visit Paperflavor's site and see what they have to offer. Cute gift ideas, cute stuff for yourself. I liked it.

Boat Cruise on Eagle Mountain Lake

Dub & his mandatory life jacket (they didn't get along so well...)

Sunday afternoon, Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim invited us over for a boat cruise and a burger. Evan John, EJ, and Susan were there, as well. Dub had a number of playmates.
Waiting to get on the boat!

Hi, everyone!

It was nice and cool on the water, despite being over 100 on dry land. We did the nature cruise first, EJ drove the boat an did an A+ job of it.


Then we looked at all of the fancy houses. We stopped for burgers at a dive - that was certainly exciting, and they were pretty darn good burgers. Then, Dub drove us home.

Having a snack - cruising is hard work!

What a fun afternoon with family. Thanks, Sue and Jim, for the invite. Thanks, Griffiths' for letting us crash the party!

Great Aunt Susan with Dub at the Dive

Evan John and EJ

Dub with Great Aunt Sue - catching a breeze on the back of the boat. Look at that belly!

Spiced Blueberry Jam

On Tuesday, Dub and I went blueberry picking in Edom, TX with our friends, the Greens. We went early so it wasn't too hot, but I'll tell you that once we were done, we sure enjoyed some AC and some blueberry lemonade.

Today was jam day, so I sterilized my jars, put on my slice attachment, and got to work. Let me just say that if you're going to do your own jam, you absolutely must purchase the canning kit from walmart, or where ever else you can find it. It made the process a breeze!

10 cups of blueberries mash up to about 6 cups when all is said and done

I put the slice attachment on and dropped the blueberries in. Then I mashed them with a potato masher for consistency control.

Add your lemon juice, water, pectin, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. It smelled like Christmas magic in the house all morning!

Once you can your jam, seal it and add it to a boiling water bath for 7-10 additional minutes.


The final product was 12 beautiful and sparkly jars of jam



Taste tester approved!

The Month of June Comes to a Close!

(Jane Maus Photography)

30 days of Creativity has now come to a close. Whew! But we had a lot of other neat things go on in June that I wasn't able to talk about. I'd say it's time for a quick montage, as June was such an incredible month!

We started it off with our second birthday party ever! Baby N, one of our baby besties, turned one. At her party, there was a cool balloon animal expert who made W a purple sword. Pretty fun.



We brunched at Patrizio's with the family. W loves family events because he has a captive audience everywhere he goes.

Let me try that baby Bellini, Gabby. It's for babies, right?



We got better at the getting on/off the slide, fake crying, and we finally started really, really walking. It looks a lot like Frankenstein's attempts, but...he gets places and now prefers to walk over crawling.

fakey!!
(Jane Maus Photography)

Of course, we went swimming quite a bit. Dub's new favorite game is called Baby Dolphin...where Gramps takes him all over the pool, splashing him in and out of the water.
We've been having a great time at Gabb'y and Gramps' place!


We read books with Dad and even got to watch a little tv (scandalous!).


related? the ears match...

We had wild dancing at The House of Blues for Abby's B-day.

We had Mavs watching parties with Nick and Jen! That was a bunch of fun that involved cooking, friends, and champagne! Cheers! We won!


And finally, we had our besties come and stay with us while their kitchen was being remodeled. That has been a real blast.

Phillip & Keisha & the baseball

July holds some fun events as well, so we are looking forward to what comes next - especially a visit from our Colorado bffs, the July 4th weekend, a new media room, and much, much more!

June 2011