Three Days is a Long Time

On Saturday we went to a birthday party at Danielle's house. Her littlest one, Aidan, was turning one and they invited us to celebrate with them. We had such a great time, and it was hilarious watching all of the kids interact. Her kids are fantastic and I am so excited that I met Danielle through that wonderful, high class creation known as Myspace :)

Anyway, here is my big guy playing with all of the kids and showing them how to use the toy. Otherwise known as stealing playthings from small children

John and Aidan

So Josh watched J-man on Saturday while I went to IKEA. He took one of the cameras so he could take pictures of the father and son outing. I just looked at them for the first time before I started this post, and this is what I found.

Yep, that is my son falling out of something. I have to admit that I laughed hysterically when I saw it. I mean, what kind of parent snaps a picture of their kid doing this...my husband I guess. Luckily, there were no injuries, just a funny picture to show John at some later date.

They went to the Riparian Park on Guadalupe and Greenfield. It is such an awesome place and John really loves it there.

Meanwhile, I went to IKEA and had a great time window shopping with my mom and Aunt. I hadn't been there in years and I had forgotten how long one can spend in that store.

Loved this fabric and the beautiful vase in front of it. I wish I had a house so I could display something like this setup.

Aunt Sue

Mom

I don't think there is any way this fabric could be more beautiful. I don't even know what I would do with it, but I am sure I could find something. :)

No matter how many times I see him crawl into his rocker to relax, it always makes me smile.

This afternoon we FINALLY got some backyard time. Everything had been so muddy from all of the wonderful rain, so we could only look longingly at our backyard. We made the best of it for about three hours. John played with Wickett and was so happy. Our dogs are both big, but they are so incredibly gentle with him. I am in awe most of the time.

He "bumpa-ed" on the trampoline. He knows the words jump, but apparently it doesn't adequately describe what one does on a tramp.

And I hired two babysitters to watch him so I could have some time off.

Seriously though, he thinks my dad's dog's cage is the cat's meow. He crawled right in there and then brought his trucks in there to play too. Kids are odd.

Well, hopefully I am all caught up now and I won't have posts that are so long.

Our Apartment...very image heavy

Today while John and I were vacuuming he started to play with the hose. He kept making it suck on his hand, which terrified him and then made him dissolve into giggles. I got out the camera to capture a few pictures and then decided to take a few of the apartment.

We live in a garage at my dads that we converted, well Josh and my dad did, into an awesome little apartment. It is 18 feet by 18 feet, but it actually feels very cozy instead of feeling too cramped. As two major pack rats, we had to get rid of so much of our stuff, which was scary but incredibly liberating. We do have some stuff stored at my moms, but almost everything we own fits into this little space. We are so very lucky to have this place to live after we moved out of our house when the economy turned so bad. Anyway, here are some pictures just to show you how three people and their belongings fit here.

First of all, here is the vacuuming picture. It makes me smile to have such a joyful boy.


Our picture wall. There used to be a couch below it, but we got rid of it after it became a place to store all of the clutter.


John's play area. Of course, his play area is actually our whole apartment, my dad's living room, and the entire 3/4 of an acre backyard :)



The refrigerator is right next to the closet, which makes me laugh as I type it.


Our closet

These pictures are right above our bed. The two prints are by this amazing Haitian artist that Josh and I met in Flagstaff at an art show.

The bed, notice the bin of toys. I told you John takes over the apartment.

Our bookshelf, containing about 20% of the books I used to own. I can never keep it organized because I am always adding new books and I hate to get rid of old ones.

Part of the bathroom. There is a toilet in there too, but who really wants to see a toilet?

The storage area in the bathroom. All of my crafty stuff is in here.

John's bookshelf. It is clean because we have to put the books away multiple times each day. He loves to drag them out.

Above his crib.

The fleece bedding I put together for him. The rocket ships are just a blanket, the peace signs are the sheets.

Still John's room

His "dresser" that is never, ever organized. He loves to pull the clothes out while yelling, "STINKER." I made the mistake of letting him do it once and laughingly calling him a stinker, so now it is a favorite activity.

We mom won him the cow picture at a dinner benefiting Farm Sanctuary. They are cows that actually have been saved and reside at the sanctuary.

Dancing and pantless cleaning...but not at the same time

It is hard to believe that this is even the same kiddo.

John had a follow up doctors appointment today and he got a clean bill of health. He really likes the female doctor who has been seeing him while he is sick, and since he has been sick A LOT this fall/winter, he has seen her A LOT. Now he gets excited when I say we are going to the doctors. Today he kept saying, "checka ears. Checka tummy." I tell him that she is looking at his tummy when she is listening to his lungs.

DANCE PARTY TIME :)

We had a little dance party at our house tonight. My sister turned on all of her music, which John LOVES. He has little names for a few of the songs and will even sing them to himself while he walks around the house. So cute. He has a little thing for Beyonce. He really likes the song Single Ladies, but only when he can watch the video. We are pretty sure he just likes to watch Beyonce dance around in a leotard.

Yep, he is indeed vaccuming with no pants on. I don't understand it either :)

A trial and error embroidery

I made John a little embroidery tonight using one of those rings to hold the fabric. I am just starting to really get a feel for embroidery and I obviously have a little ways to go, but I think this turned out cute. It is fun to make things for my little guy. I think next time I will use a more contrasting thread. I was trying to let it match the fabric, but it just makes it difficult to see. I think I am going to make it into a little pillow case for him.

Happy Mail!!!!

I got my Happy Mail today. It came from the lovely Janel at Running with Scissors. Everything is so great. I got a beautiful owl embroidery for my owl collection. A holder for my scissors, a little book for scrapbooking, an awesome container filled with the cutest odds and ends, and a sweet card on owl paper. Opening the mailbox to find something so sweet just for me was like a rainbow on this VERY rainy day in AZ. Thanks Janel!

I was trying to take a picture of my new goodies, but Josh and Molly kept getting in my way. How could I even be frustrated when it was making them both so happy :)

Crayon Cars

John had a whole load of old crayons that needed a new life. I made these awesome cars with the melted pieces. I used a candy mold that I bought at Michaels just for this purpose. I think they turned out so so cute and I can't wait to give some of them away.

Here is one of them up close. My camera isn't the greatest...well, it might actually be that my photography skills aren't the greatest :)

Precious

I just saw that Mo'nique won a Golden Globe for her role in Precious. I cannot think of very many actresses who I think deserve this award more. She was horrifying in this movie, but that was exactly how she was supposed to be. I thought her acting was phenomenol, and I was excited to see that she won.

I was sad that Gabourey Sidibe didn't win because she was fantastic as well. I just can't say enough good things about this movie.

A Busy Weekend

Josh let me sleep in because my insomnia has been acting up. I woke up to find J-man and daddy relaxing side by side on the couch, so sweet.

He found a purple pencil case that he started carrying all over the backyard. He was even giving it rides on his bike.

There is no reason to post this one, but I think it is cute. Too bad he is a drool monster.

J-Man had to start some breathing treatments for his Bronchiolitis. He doesn't sit still very well, but he is so patient for these. I never let him watch TV, but we let him watch a little video while he is doing the treatment. I guess the bribary works because he sits still for a full five minutes.

Josh, my mom and I went to see Kathy Griffin last night at Dodge Theater. As usual, she was hilarious. We had great seats, but we used my dads camera and it took the WORST pictures. They look like we were three miles away. We had such a great time, just like we always do!

I made some homemade bath crayons for John, We'll see how they turn out. It is basically just grated glycerin soap, water and food coloring. I spooned it into cookie cutters and it is freezing as I type this. Hopefully it works because I don't trust the chemicals in the Crayola ones.