Playing in the Snow

Inside
Cottonball snow that is!

All Set Up

Jaden finally got some tracks for his Thomas the Trains! Here he is, all set up - AND wearing his Thomas hat (from his Halloween costume!).

He LOVES to have mommy or daddy set up the "rack" as he calls it...so that he can tear it apart that is! I think I spend more time figuring out how to get all the pieces hooked together than he spends running the trains on it before tearing it apart. Oh well....he's starting to get the concept of putting it together himself. Someday!

Thanksgiving Fun

Several of Jaden's cousins were here over Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures over the weekend. But, in looking for something fun to do, we discovered a new park. This was a really COOL park - way artistic in design - and good for both younger AND older kids (a hard find in a park!)

Max and Matthew counterbalancing and spinning!

Jonathan on the giant web
Silly siblings - with Grandpa supervising
Joshua testing his balance

Funky - and slightly scary - slide

Kate must be a monkey!
swinging - always a favorite!


Peek-a-boo


cooking - I think



the ice cream truck!
Uncle Mark bought treats for everyone! Bad thing is....now Jaden knows that good stuff comes out of those!

Here he is with his first ice cream sandwich. GIANT!
awww... aren't they nice to share with each other?
Later - Bethany, with her brand new, super cute haircut
FUN FUN FUN!

Blessed

Every year we have so much to be thankful for.

This post is about just one example of how God provides for all of our needs in the most unique and special way - using those around us to bless us with His provision!

I had just been saying to Stephen that I needed to go shopping for Jaden since he didn't have very many warm winterish clothes and VERY few pants.

Enter Stephen's sister Laura and family who have given us 2nd hand clothes from their family of 6 (the 4 youngest are boys). Often you can't even tell the clothes have been used before (tell me how THAT happens!?!?!)

They brought a LOAD when they came from Thanksgiving. Honestly, I don't know how they had room for all of this stuff in their van with them, all 6 kids, and all the things they needed for their stay.

Let's just say they must have had LOTS of extra space on the ride home!

THIS is the pile of cool weather clothes that I think will fit Jaden right now! On the chair behind you can see the ones that I have to see if they fit or not. You can't even SEE the ones that I already put in the box for sizes needed in the future!

Here Jaden is modeling the Dallas Cowboys letterman jacket.

I haven't counted but Jaden's closet is FULL. Honestly, I don't know how a kid can even USE so many clothes!

So much for an excuse to go shopping!!!!

Thank you Laura & family and Thank you God for providing all that we need exactly when we need it!

Thanksgiving Playing

On Thanksgiving Day we spent the morning at the church. We always have a Thanksgiving Day service. It is sort of informal in that we sing a lot of songs, the mariachi plays, we have some readings, and the sermon is people in the congregation standing up and saying what they are thankful for this year. The whole service is bilingual (English and Spanish) although not ALL of the things congregation members say are translated since that would take FOREVER.

Afterward, tradition is that a Thanksgiving meal is served by a servant event team from a church in Colorado that comes to serve meals here and at the mission churches across the border. This year they served 1,200 meals!

After the service Jaden and a few of his cousins that were around had great fun playing outside the church!

I happen to REALLY like this new $4 jacket from Kmart!

Sweet Bethany!
A favorite activity was running around the palm tree.

This is Mia, our goddaughter. Apparently she is VERY affectionate with Jaden. I didn't see it or catch it on camera but she is rumored to have run up to Jaden twice, grabbed him, and kissed him! Apparently we are going to have to start teaching Jaden VERY EARLY to RUN!!!!!!!

Payoff

So, off and on we make a bet with a few of our friends at the mission. Whichever pair loses the bet (Stephen & I or Chris & Erin) has to make dinner for the other pair. We usually bet on things like sports games. Stephen says he wins either way. Chris has spent a lot of years as a professional chef and Erin always makes great desserts. Or, I make something extra special and we have them over.

Anyway....last time we bet.....Stephen and I won. It took a while to fit dinner into our crazy schedules so Chris kept joking that he was going to make us gourmet ramen.

Well....he did.

Ramen Antipasta Salad
Chicken Saltenbocca (or something like that) and a yummy dessert that I forgot to take a picture of.
oh - and he even made a special plate just for Jaden!
Delicious!

We've been winning a lot of the bets lately so I'm thinking we need to make another one! :-)

Sweet Potato Rum Raisin Bundt Cake

So, I was attempting to upload pictures of the entire process of making this cake and THAT IS RIDICULOUS!

Sorry Pioneer Woman, I don't have the patience. Uploading alone is killing me. And, let me tell you, taking a picture through every step of the baking process makes getting something into the oven a BILLION times longer of a process. NOT a good plan with a toddler in the house!

But....this cake is YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY so I have to at least share the finished product.

Complete with a Rum Spiked Brown Sugar Glaze....Mmmmmmmmmmm
And some birthday candles (since I made it for Erin's birthday and took it to the office).

Bopping

Bopping is Jaden's new favorite activity.

Actually, he's loved "bopping" for quite some time.

He just used to do it on the bed and we would have to find a way to get him to stop.

I had someone make these dog beds for us. But, the dogs won't sleep on them.
So now they are Jaden's "bopping" cushions.
Yesterday he even started saying "bopping"
I think he enjoys it.
What do you think?

An Accomplishment

I am so proud.

for the first time.....probably EVER

I did all the laundry, folded, hung and put it ALL away in the same day-time period!

Never mind the mountain of dirty dishes that accumulated today.

For that, I say....manana!

Sorry - not to interesting.

Just life!

Travel Professional

So.....

I just got done Jaden's travel log (see left sidebar) and realized that in our travels since this summer, Jaden nearly DOUBLED his flight AND driving miles.

You heard me right. For a baby that I already thought had traveled A LOT

in the last 5 months he DOUBLED the miles that he had in his previous 16 months of life.

Total Miles = 36,850

Total Driving Miles = 16,575

Total Flying Miles = 20,275

Of that total 36,850

22,723 of those miles have come in 2009

Of those, 17,092 have been in the last 6 months.

That's an average of 2849 miles per month.

In Jaden's life his average miles per month (not counting all the local travel of course)

= 1755 miles per month

CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coming up I'll have to get my thoughts and pictures together about tips for traveling with a baby/toddler. We certainly have experience!!!

Counting....Really?

Okay - so is a one year old (2 months away from being 2) supposed to be able to count?

We have this "game" we play most mealtimes.

Usually Jaden's food is too HOT ("aht" in Jaden-speak) so we put the plate into the freezer to cool off.

Sometimes it's that the food is too cold and has to be put in the microwave to warm up.

Either way - he agrees that it has to be done and tells you it is okay. But, the second you put it either place, he gets mad.

So....we count.

I hold up fingers and we count to 10. Early on he started saying "TEN" after I would get to nine.

Today, I put his food in the freezer and said, "Can you help me count?"

As I counted he repeated the numbers after me.

one - "un"

two - "oo"

three - "ee"

four - "or"

five - "ive"

six - "ix"

seven - "ven"

eight - "tah"

nine - "ein"

"TEN"

We did this a few times then we took the food out and it was still too hot. So, I put it back in the freezer. As I turned around I heard Jaden say.

"un, oo, ee"

?????

Really?????

Am I imagining things?

SO....when Daddy got home we told him about Jaden's counting.

Again he repeated all the numbers after me.

Another thing he has been really interested in doing is pointing out numbers on the Thomas Trains in the books we read. He has one book where there is a train from 1 - 10 and each page has you counting things that correspond to the number on the train. He is always really interested in the numbers in this book and points to the numbers on trains in other books. However, it doesn't seem like he ever notices the numbers on his actual train toys.

So, there was a Percy on the floor (#6). I asked Jaden "Where is Percy's number?"

He looked at me for a minute, looked at Percy, and then picked him up and pointed to the number six.

All of a sudden he ran over to a Thomas Train nearby (#1), pointed to the 1 and said "UN!"

?????

REALLY?????

Am I imagining things?

Isn't this like pre-reading number identification?

Hello....my baby's ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gift from Grandma K

Even in this age of internet communication I think Jaden is going to learn to LOVE the mail!

A present came from Grandma and Grandpa K a few weeks ago.

Of COURSE, he loves it!

Opening the paper is some of the best fun!
Ooo!
Train puzzle cards!
He spent LOADS of time taking them out of the bag and putting them back in. Of course, they are easier to get in and out of the box so he does that too.

A few days later, he showed me a bit of his ORGANIZED personality and had to line them up in a neat row.
I think he was making a train of trains!

Banana Cake with Caramelized Banana Topping

Somehow I ended up with a whole BUNCH of bananas going bad in my kitchen so I decided to make some banana bread.

But, right before I was going to start, I saw this recipe in a magazine!

First, cut bananas to the length of your loaf pan and then in half.
Heat sugar and water in a skillet
Cook bananas cut side down for a few minutes, transfer to loaf pan, top with extra caramel mixture
Mash some more bananas
Add sugar
Mix. Add vanilla and eggs
Get a little help
Stir
This is sometime after adding the flour and cinnamon
Pour into loaf pan
See those yummy caramelized bananas on the bottom?
Put in oven to bake. Start dishes (with help of course)

Let cool
Flip onto serving plate
YUMMY!

Now, I'm a die-hard for my mom's mini-chocolate chip banana bread. But, this was VERY good. Moist, sweet (but not TOO sweet) and just YUMMY. More like cake than bread.

Definitely a repeater!