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Wordless Wednesday - Pics from Jordan's Cam

Chrys

Muffin Tin Misfit

Muffin Tin Monday is a fabulous concept. Really. I love it. And I so want to do it. And not just on Mondays.

But it is useless for me right now.

See, my eldest will only eat a few foods. As in, I-can-count-them-on-one-hand-few. Can I get a muffin tin with just one compartment? Oh, right. That's a bowl. I should just stick with a bowl then.

And #2? I would have to prepare his muffin tin in the middle of the night. The second he hears me open the fridge or the pantry, he's at my feet, grunting and whining for food, food, food. He doesn't care one bit about the presentation. But Truett, look how cute these rows of food are!

Earlier in the summer I was completely inspired by Rainbow Challenge Monday. All those colors! I started Truett's lunch with blueberries and was moving right around the color wheel with grapes, strawberries, mangoes, kiwi, etc., filling up my little muffin tin. Beautiful! Vibrant! I loved it!

But I couldn't stand the whining of Hungry Impatient Boy for one more second so I just dumped it all on his tray without even taking a picture.

See, we have eating issues around here. One won't eat. One won't stop eating.

Thankfully my mom got me a huge bag of cookie cutters at a garage sale. I didn't even realize I needed them but I did!

We've got numbers, letters, seasonal themes, you name it. Besides the fact that Oliver loves to play with them and spell words with all the alphabet letters, they're proving useful for some lunch time creativity. That he WILL eat. Always a plus.

I made a "C"!

Please note that O removed the grapes from his tray the second he had a chance. He was concerned they might contaminate his other food, which, by the way was: Ezekiel bread with Sunbutter, O'Soy yogurt, (grapes) and Amazing Grass w/ soy milk to drink.

Just give me the food, Momma. Stat!

Any feeding ideas that you moms would like to share? We've got food allergies to consider (as well as a child who refuses to consume fruits, veggies or meats) but I'd love some new ideas.

Chrys

A Fork in the Road, A Puppy Truck & An Aunt Bed

Since it was coolish and rainy this morning I told the boys we'd go for a rainy day nature stroll.

I love how Truett hooks his arm through Oliver's:The first two items that got a lot of talk-time in the stroller were not the sorts of things I expected to find on our nature walk:

1. A fork. In the road. Literally. Not a plastic fork. A real, flattened fork. We were amused.
2. A "puppy truck". I'm not sure why a lawn care company has a picture of an adorable puppy plastered all over their trucks, but my boys were so excited. Truett said, "Dog, dog, dog, dog, DOG??" Oliver said, "Dat's a puppy truck! We can get da puppy for our house at dat truck!"
Oliver asked the driver if he had any puppies for us. He laughed and said, "We're all out of puppies today, boys. Check back tomorrow."

We did see a big ant bed. That's some nature. Oliver said, "dose are fire ants, we should call a fire truck to get dem." After thinking for a bit he looked puzzled and asked, "Dey are ants like Melissa and Jordan?"

Oh, our confusing language. Ants are different than aunts. Fire ants aren't really on fire.

When we got back to the house and were putting the stroller away, Oliver asked, "Why you don't take us for rides on da bicycle only Dadoo does?" I said, "Well, I haven't ridden a bike in...ummmm....I can't remember when. But I can try. Why don't you guys stand right here and let me try it out first before I put you in the trailer?"

So I did. I didn't fall or anything but it wasn't very graceful. I probably need a little more practice before loading up our precious cargo.

I pulled into the driveway and Oliver very matter-of-factly said, "We just will wait and ride da bike wit Dadoo, kay?"

He's a smart kid, I tell ya.

Chrys

Weary Traveler

Home again, home again, jiggety-jog. We are back in town and just made a run to the grocery store to fill our empty fridge. Apparently one little guy was too tired to wait on supper. I gave him some milk to tide him over until I could get his plate fixed and this is what I found:
Bless his heart. He's sleep eating like his big brother.

Chrys

Hummers

Our boys are big fans of Hummers.

Hummingbirds, that is. Oliver has been making observations about nectar and "hummies" the entire time we've been in Abilene. After making and then sampling some hummingbird nectar, he decided it was time to fill up the feeder and wait for the hummies to come eat at the Hummer Restaurant.

Here he is, carefully pouring nectar into the feeder. Notice Truett with the Lightning McQueen cup? He's drinking nectar.
I love how Oliver is holding his tongue "just right" to pour the nectar:Now the feeder is hanging and open for business.
(Side note: Please notice O's big boy pants. I don't want to say too much but I *think* we've arrived. Eeeek! He's still wearing a diaper at night but is waking up dry. Yay! This topic deserves its own post, however, so I'll stop now.)

Truett is waiting at the window. He's been signing "bird" and flapping his own little wings whenever he sees a hummie stop to eat. That usually scares them away, of course. (Jammie and Oliver decided that hummingbirds are very shy.)Our beautiful one-year old boy.I wasn't fast enough to snap pics of any hungry hummies after we replenished the feeder today but these are some Jammie took last week:
I think hummingbirds are amazing! Did you know their little hearts beat up to 1,260 beats per minute? And that they are only found in North and South America? And that you could mail 9 or 10 hummingbirds with a single first class stamp?

Okay. I'll stop.

Chrys

A Rainy Sunday Afternoon w/ Jammie

We've gotten nearly five inches of rain over the past few days. While Jordan, Mike, Melissa and I were at the mall taking advantage of tax-free weekend, Oliver and Jammie decided to suit up in Jammie's raincoats and play outside.

I love how he's got his tongue sticking out in this pic:
I don't know many grandmothers who would willingly get drenched. You're a sweet one, Jammie.

Chrys

Onederful

Truett's first birthday extravaganza ended tonight with our family party. After supper we served him his "dog-dog" cake, which was met with shrieks of glee. He tore into it and repeatedly asked for more, more, more!As did his brother:Later we opened presents. He got toys, books and music.Honey & Ro-Daddy made Truett a growth-stick similar to the one they made Oliver for his first birthday.Uncle Matty came over to join in the celebration.Honey & Ro-Daddy made T some blocks that are also a U.S. map puzzle, a Texas map puzzle, as well as an "O" and "T" puzzles. So creative! Jordan and I put the U.S. map together but were missing one block in Texas. I'm sure it will turn up soon. T-Bird is such an animal lover that most everybody had the same idea: stuffed animals. He babbled wildly when he opened each one and carried them all over the place. He got three dogs, a bear, an orca and a bunny!What a wonderful first birthday celebration. Thank you, sweet family. Jammie & PawPaw deserve a special thanks for hosting us and for always being so gracious. What a wonderful weekend of celebrating our sweet one-year-old boy! He's decided he's a walker now and that makes him seem so much older than he did when we arrived just a few days ago.

Chrys

Zoo

Our Dallas Zoo membership can conveniently be used at the Abilene Zoo so we headed there this morning for another day of celebrating Mr. T's first birthday. The rain held off and allowed for a cool, breezy, very un-August-like visit. What fun...Chrys

It Takes a Village...

...to make a 1st birthday cake. Wow! When our cake maker had to cancel a few days ago I told Jordan, "Oh, come on, we can do it!" I confidently told my mom that if she'd bake the cake and dig up all the decorating gear then I'd take over from there.

Well, it was a very sweet adventure and I ate way too much icing in the process. We made two sheet cakes and cut them into the shape of a Giant Schnauzer like the one T fell in love with at the dog parade. Then we decorated. (My mom took all of these pics so she's not in them but, believe me, I could not have done it without her. I had no idea what I was doing.)
I was afraid it would end up on Cake Wrecks but it actually turned out pretty well! I am pleased. We're serving it tomorrow night at Truett's "official" birthday party. We're going to tell him it's Maggie's white cousin.

We used my mom's family decorator icing recipe. I'm not a big icing fan but this is delicious:

1 box confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup Crisco
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. butter extract

Chrys

Dog Days of Summer

We went to the Grace Museum for Artwalk this evening. The boys played in the Children's Museum and then did a dog art project.
Several trains flew down the tracks while we were there. O loved watching them.Afterwards we stayed for the Dog Parade. We predicted the boys would love it--especially Truett. And we were right.The boys met their very favorite dog, a Giant Schnauzer named Maggie. I told Maggie's owner that Maggie should feel very special--Truett hasn't yet said all of his family member's names but he now says "Maggie". He was crazy about her!After the parade there were lots of fun activities at the park. Oliver won lots of goodies by catching fish.There was a band playing and our music lover was so into it. O "played" the drums across from where they were until they graciously invited him to come over and play the real drum. So cute. He wanted to play the guitar and sing in the microphone as well. Abilene is such a great town.

Chrys

Crazy Upside-Down Child

He knows he's being funny. Look at that grin on his face.
Chrys

Manly Men

Chrys

A Honey of a Haircut

I've been cutting on Oliver's hair a lot lately and it's a mess. I admittedly don't know what I'm doing so I asked my mom if she would attempt to clean it up for me. We teased her for taking too much off but it will grow. Like a weed. It always does!

I trimmed Truett's a little too:Chrys

Cubbies

PawPaw returned from his baseball trip today and brought the boys baseball caps as souvenirs.
Chrys

Aunt Melissa

Truett always loves his Aunt Melissa...
But she's especially wonderful when she has food. What a mooch he is!

Chrys

Old Glory

Oliver loves to help PawPaw take down the flag every evening.
Our boys learn so much from their grandparents. We are so thankful for them.

Chrys

Pupcakes

Truett's "real" birthday party isn't until Saturday but I have a thing about celebrating on the actual day. We arrived in Abilene this evening and celebrated with "pupcakes" that Aunt Jordan brought over for dessert.After we sang "Happy Birthday", Oliver didn't give T a chance to attempt to blow that lone candle. O swooped right in and did it for him, from quite a ways away. We all laughed.Truett wasn't sure what to think at first. He hesitantly tasted the icing and decided he liked it. But he wasn't so keen on the cake part. I'm one!
Oliver is a fan of the pupcake. Every last bit of it.
Chrys

Good Morning, Birthday Boy!

Dadoo, Oliver and I sang "Happy Birthday to True" when he awoke this morning. What a happy birthday boy he is. It appears that "Dog Dog" has found a wonderful new home.
Chrys

One Year Old!

Sweet T,Happy birthday, precious boy. You are such a joy to us. I can't believe you're ONE!
Your big, bright eyes and infectious smile are beautiful. You know you are funny and enjoy making us laugh.
You adore your big brother. We were at church yesterday for an event and you and O were downstairs in childcare. Your class was outside on the playground at the same time as Brother's and your teachers told us that you followed him everywhere he went. And kept up!
You are a very happy child. You get into everything and love to explore. Tearing books off the bookshelf is one of your favorite past times.
You are crazy about Dadoo and say his name about a hundred times a day. You shriek and wave your arms when you see him.
You give big hugs. I LOVE it. I don't remember Oliver ever hugging the way that you do. You understand the concept of wrapping both arms around someone's neck and squeeeeeezing. It's precious. You know you're cute.
I am shocked by how much you talk. We thought you wouldn't be as verbal since you started crawling so early. Since Oliver was so verbal and less mobile I guess we assumed those two were mutually exclusive. Not so! You talk and talk.
You say: Momma, Dadoo, Brother, Bubba, Ah-ver, PawPaw, bath, dog-dog, woof woof, eat, bottle, cheese, dis, dat, whas dat, whas dis, hi, uh-oh, hey, bye bye, ball, nighty, wow, whoah, oh, fan and my new favorite: "Hey you!" When I get you out of your crib I always smile and say, "Hey you!" So you've started saying it, too.
I'm still nursing you two or three times per day. You eat everything we eat and drink green juice and milk. Anyone who eats with us is shocked at how much you consume. It really is impressive, T.
You have two teeth on top and two on the bottom. There are a couple more that are ready to pop through just any time.
Pacifiers are limited to your crib but you've managed to sneak a few out recently. I think your little teeth are coming in and hurting you:
You want to be big and do everything your brother does.Oliver is potty training so we've let you try it out, too. I'm pretty impressed, T-Bird! You almost always use the potty when we sit you up there. I'm not going to push it but we'll see how it goes.You rarely ever sit still. You have yet to sit in my lap for the length of a book. You just have too many exciting things to do.
It's so fun to see your unique temperament. You are much less independent than Oliver and you tend to stay close to us. You are a love bug and often find us for a quick fix--a big hug and kiss and then you scamper off to play some more. It's adorable. We love it when you lay your head on our shoulders and tuck your little arms in under your belly.
You love all animals, especially dogs. You get so excited when you see a dog and you make your "click click" sound to call it. Adorable.
You sign "bird" whenever you see one then flap your arms in excitement.