To antique or not antique

That is my question. I found these two pieces at one of my favorite stores, Goodwill. I picked up the rocking horse right away but couldn't commit to the funny looking chair. I knew it was a perfect Jonah size but I kept putting it back. I must have walked down the aisle, picked it up and put it back about 3 times. But then as soon as SOMEONE ELSE started seriously looking at "my" funny looking chair, the rare competitive side of me came out and I just HAD to have it. So as soon as the innocent shopper set down the chair and slowly walked away, I swooped in and ran for the register.

I sanded and primed (I started the priming before I remember I wanted a picture) and then spray painted them a soft white. I made a padded seat from materials I had on hand for the rocking chair and called it good. Pretty cute for just a few bucks. But now I wonder if I should "antique" them, add a little personality. Basically that means sand down edges, stain them darker so they will stand out and rub on a brown glaze to take the newness off. Should I do it or just leave them as is?

Thoughts?

"Deceptively Delicious"

So what do you do with the ice cube tray full of pureed califlower Jonah Corona won't eat?

You substitute it for the one cup of coconut milk called for in your favorite Thai peanut sauce, that's what. And no one in the family was the wiser.

One sure way...

to fight the rainy chill is to cuddle up with a load of laundry straight out of the dryer. Mmmmm...

Sorry. Not the greatest picture.

One for me, one for you

I think Cotton has finally gotten used to the interloper who has completely disrupted his Utopian lifestyle. I think he's realized they have a symbiotic relationship from which he has the better side. No, he doesn't get walked as much as he used to and he doesn't get my lap nearly as much as he wants, but he does get all the crumbs and sticky fingers he can lick. Jonah loves to share his food with the little beggar and laughs every time Cotton tickles his fingers. Jonah won't eat hardly any baby food (applesauce, yogurt and sweet potatoes only) but loves real food. Yet only to chew. For some reason he has an aversion to swallowing. He's like Anton Ego on Ratatouille, " I don't LIKE food. I LOVE it. If I don't love it, I don't SWALLOW." So most of it gets chewed, spit back out and then dropped on the floor for Cotton. It drives me crazy because 1) he's not getting anything in his stomach so how do we ween him off bottles? and 2) he makes SUCH a mess. But Cotton's been putting on weight and doesn't seem to mind in the least.























One thing Jonah will eat and swallow is yes...dog food. I do NOT know what it is but this kid lives for that bowl of kibble. We keep it up as much as possible but the dog has to eat sometime and Jonah makes a bee line straight for the bowl and shovels it in by the handful. And then I have to be the one to go digging around to make sure it all gets out of his mouth. Can we say yuck? It will be nice when Jonah realizes that spaghetti really is better than Kibbles and Bits. Aaron calls this picture "One For Me, One For You."
(No dog food was eaten this particular time, in case you were worried. And not for Jonah's lack of trying.)

One thing Jonah gets out of this relationship is great laughs. Cotton just cracks him up! Anytime the dog has his "puppy freakout" running around and barking, Jonah squeals with laughter. Cotton provides endless entertainment. He loves to pull the dog's hair and stick his fingers in his mouth, and Cotton is surprisingly quite tolerant. I think he realizes where most of his snack comes from and literally doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds him.

One thing I noticed very early on is that Cotton is very aware of Jonah and treats him differently. The dog loves to play tug of war and fetch. Whenever he can, he brings his toy over for me to grab and we play a game of who can get it the quickest, sometimes my fingers being the thing grabbed by his teeth. But if ever Jonah would grab it first, he never once grabbed the toy from him. He will just let it go and allow Jonah to have it.

This last month Jonah has been saying a few words, like "mama" and "dada" very regularly and to the right people. Just this week he has started saying "gog" and "goggie" at times that could only be toward Cotton. Of course in this video I found the camera after 10 minutes of laughing and just got the tail end of their playing.





The other day I was trying to clean but Jonah would not let go of my legs and stop squealing. Makes it a little difficult to vacuum. So I buckled him in his high chair and let him play the piano. Thirty minutes later he was still playing...





Jonah turns one next month if anyone can believe it! This year has gone by way too fast but we are loving the open mouth kisses, his chuckles when you read him a book, squealing his head off when wrestling with Lucas and this one not so much, but his new found love of grinding his teeth. He is such a brilliant addition to our family. And it's taken some time, but I don't think even the dog would disagree.

Weather Forecast

Today 54ºF / 47ºF



Tues 49ºF / 39ºF



Wed 47ºF / 44ºF



Thurs 48ºF / 40ºF



Fri 45ºF / 35ºF



Aaah, there's nothing like the fall in the Northwest...

Family Time

I love our family. We all live somewhat, sort of, not really, close but we see each other quite a bit and I love it! We had such a fun time together this past weekend, even though we are growing and not used to the chaos that ensues with 7 grand kids. I know that doesn't seem like that many to most of you but for us who have been used to just 2 boys for so many years, the noise/chaos level has increased dramatically. It's crazy and fun and I love that I can say my family are my best friends.

Papa & Baby Pax

Cute picture of my cute husband...and of Bennett and Jonah, of course.

Sarah Jane with her sweet curls.

Katherine celebrated her 2nd birthday on Halloween so we got to party together.

She was going to have Flounder from Little Mermaid on her cake but this won out after a weekend full of "No touch!" and 2 year old bullying. :)

Happy JB.

Mr. B caught in the mud.

Papa and Luke at Jack's soccer game.

Grandparents with their 7 grandkids.

Not the greatest family picture. I looked drugged.

Fun times. I can't wait to get together with the Williams side come Thanksgiving!

Trick or Treat

We went down to Portland last weekend for the baby blessing of our sweet nephew Paxton and since we were there for Halloween, we all celebrated together. Star Wars was the theme of the evening and lots of people got into the act. I tried to get a Hans Solo and Princess Lea costume together for Aaron and I but I ran out of time and it didn't happen. But I think we represented well even without us. We had Anakin, Queen Amidala, two Jedis, Commander Cody, an Ewok, Princess Lea and Pax was Yoda. With an extra Monkey Princess thrown in by Katherine. Yes, a Monkey Princess. And she was adorable. We went to my sister's ward party and wow, EVERYONE was dressed up. Even all the adults. Very fun.



Lucas was a Jedi, of course and used most of the costume he had last year. We couldn't find the tunic I made anywhere so he ended up using his Tae Kwon Do uniform. I felt badly because it looked like a Tae Kwon Do uniform underneath a Jedi cloak but Lucas didn't mind at all. He's such a good sport.



I made Jonah's costume out of a lion costume I found at DI and spent all of $10. I think he made a cute Ewok, don't you?

His very first Trunk or Treat candy. He didn't actually eat it but he did take it out of the bucket himself.
On Friday I had put on Jonah's costume for the YW soup lunch and to pick Lucas up at school but ran a few errands before hand. Two people stopped me and asked about his costume, a high school girl and an older woman, and NEITHER of them knew what an Ewok was! Am I that old?! Who doesn't know what an Ewok is?!

Papa & Yoda.

Lots of candy and lots of chaotic fun. Until next year...

Just the 3 of us

The Sunday before Halloween Aaron was gone all day at meetings, visits and more meetings. So Lucas, Jonah and I had the day to ourselves and made the best of a day without Dad. We drew pictures, played games and cooked together. We then set out to carve our pumpkin. Super messy and I was missing Aaron who usually gets out all the pumking guts. But Lucas and I managed, and he carved most of it himself.

Jonah watched while he ate Cheerios and fruit. Always happy while eating. (Our high chair was given to us when Lucas was born from my cousin Jeannie who's oldest daughter is now on a mission. I'd say after 22 years the high chair has been put to good use.)

Later that afternoon we built a fort and settled down for reading time. Lucas is loving to read and enjoys our time when we cuddle each with our own book. Aaron reads to Lucas every night still but we love that he is enjoying it so much on his own as well. Lucas and I are always putting books on hold at the library so he get them faster than signing the waiting list for all the good books at his school library. Both Aaron and I love to read so it's fun to see his passion for it as well.

Such a flattering picture...

Fun way to spend the day with my boys.

You know it's been a long morning when...

Joanh is going down for his first nap of the day and it's 6:30am.

Lovin' the daylight savings...