Fun with peanuts

Our six-year wedding anniversary is on Sunday. We've never really given each other anniversary gifts, but I thought this year I might start going by the traditional list. Sixth anniversary is iron (and candy for some reason, which is easy, since he'll eat his weight in Snickers). As for the iron... I can't let Brian know yet, but I ordered an anniversary present for him--for us, really--off of Amazon.com. It is this beautiful wrought iron double-sided train station clock, something we've wanted for awhile.
Jack and I had a great time unpacking the clock yesterday. As soon as he saw that humungous box full of styrofoam peanuts, it made no difference that he'd just woken up from a nap. No grogginess here; he dove right in. Of course, he had to taste a few... but I was laughing so hard, my hastily taken picture turned out a little blurry. My poor little bugaboo had no idea I was making fun of him!

White tablecloth and a berry smoothie

At dinner last night, we entertained Csaba, the missionary we support in his work with Campus Crusade for Christ in Hungary. I made spaghetti and a green salad, and with some romantic notion of getting our house back to how it was before Jack, I laid out my favorite tablecloth. I made it awhile ago, back when I was sewing everything. It's beautiful--white with a blue floral pattern--and although it's actually not wide enough for our table, I still love it. Of course, within a couple minutes, Jack had smeared spaghetti sauce on the tablecloth, and a little chocolate as well when dessert came. But I kept the tablecloth on overnight.
This afternoon, I made a smoothie to share with Jack after his nap. It is one of my favorite things; I made one almost every day during my pregnancy (actually, the recipe is from the book "What to Expect When You're Expecting"). Jack's been drinking well out of a cup, and I thought he might like to drink his own little smoothie, instead of sharing with me as usual. He's so darned cute when he gets a little smoothie mustache! To make a long story short, yeah... you guessed it. Much of his very purple smoothie ended up puddled on the tablecloth. My picturesque "Better Homes and Gardens" kitchen didn't last long!

"Double-the-Milk" Smoothie

1/2 c. dry milk
1 1/2 c. skim milk
1 c. frozen fruit--a mix of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries
1 banana

Combine all ingredients in a blender; blend for 30 seconds.

The bubble bath

I do love a good bubble bath. Before Jack, I took one almost every night. I’d lounge around for a good forty-five minutes with a Redbook or some other completely mindless read. Nowadays, I take almost all my baths with Jack, and after he gets out, I only have a couple minutes to wash my hair while his dad reads him stories. After that, I hurry out and put him to bed.

Yesterday, we all spent the morning working in the yard. When outside, Jack likes to grab fistfuls of dirt and grass and pour them over his head. He'll push around his wheelbarrow and help me transport all the weeds to the yardwaste container. And of course, it was pushing ninety degrees by nine a.m. We all ended up completely filthy and soaked with sweat. So Jack joined me in a bubble bath. He thought the bubbles were the best thing ever! He kept laughing, and jumping up and down, and trying to gather all the bubbles into his arms. It was such sweet bliss, we had to take a few pictures.

Climbing

Jack has just recently learned to pull himself up into the van, or into his high chair. He can climb up stairs, or walk them with a helping hand. With the discovery of his new abilities, he is in full climbing mode now. He has been seating himself at the piano for awhile now, and manages to pick out a few random notes while there. This morning, Brian was in the next room and heard Jack playing nicely on the piano. He looked over and saw that Jack was actually standing on the keys! Pretty proud of himself, too. I know, based on the many stories I’ve heard of Brian’s conquests as a boy, that I have years of bloody “owies” and skinned knees ahead of me. I just didn’t think that it would begin so soon!