recharging

I took today to recharge. The pace has just been exhausting lately.

Last Monday I picked up the lens I've waited a few Christmases and birthdays to get. I took it out for an adventure today. Not great photos, but I wanted to get a feel for taking pictures with a new lens. I hadn't realized just how comfortable I'd gotten with my 24-70 until I changed to the 70-200.

And just to certify what kind of woman I am... I also stopped today and exchanged the backpack camera case I got for the bigger, more expensive one that will also carry a laptop. I will pinch pennies over a handbag, but price is no object where the camera is concerned. I can't say I'm surprised at myself... I also wonder who buys jewelry anymore, because I sure don't. Let me think, tech gadgets or diamonds? Gadgets!

It was nice to spend a couple hours alone with my camera and sipping coffee while reading a book for nothing but pleasure. I don't often get to do that these days. Heck, I can't even eat a meal without numerous interruptions. (Which reminds me... I need to make a reservation for Valentine's day, because I am eating sushi with my husband and not being interrupted except for drink refills.)

For dinner, JT and I had Thai food with our buddies Carol and Mike. It was good to have time to chit-chat and catch up with one another. Once again, the pace of life has been keeping us from doing this.

And after some time by myself today, the best part of my day was hanging with JT. He fills my heart to capacity with joy and love.

pining for spring

pining for spring, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

In just a few words...

- I'd rather be editing photos, but I have testing to do tonight.
- I'd also rather be digi-scrapping.
- Winter retreat with the youth group was fun... can't wait to share pics and tell the story.
- Excited that Lost and Friday Night Lights are on this week.
- Spent time with JT on Monday... love that kid! He rocks my world.
- Facebook is fabulous.
- Can't wait to read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. My reserved copy is available at the library now!
- Got a new camera lens... can't wait to try it outside the house.
- Looking forward to staying home this weekend and a few more to come.
- Loving the thick layer of snow on the ground. White is the new brown!

on the 12th

Because there isn't enough to do in my life, a new project! On the 12th of every month, I'll take pictures and scrapbook them. I'm following along folks on the 12 of 12 blog. I'm excited to have a year's worth of these. Later...

18 months

At 18 months, JT

- is somewhere between 18 months and 2T in clothing
- weighs about 27 lbs.
- hugs and kisses everyone goodnight
- says goodnight to Mama at least 3 times any given night
- still loves his yobaby yogurt
- says, "Mama?!" I ask, "Yes, JT?" He says, "Truck."
- knows a lot of words and animal sounds
- blows on his food when it's hot
- says "brrrr" when he's cold
- loves going bye-bye
- sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star... "up above," he sings
- dances like a cross between Night at the Roxbury and Barney
- asks for the "Elmo" podcast every evening
- loves the race car track toy the most of all the Christmas presents
- doesn't mind going outside even when it's cold
- isn't fond of wearing his mittens
- says "no, no, no" when you ask him what the Mama says
- pinches his belly with the toy pliers and says "OW!"
- has a bit of an issue with throwing food and utensils at mealtime
- captures our hearts more and more every day

at the table

So we are dealing with JT throwing food, spoon, cup, plate, and whatever else is within reach at dinnertime. It's really frustrating. Apparently it's just what some kids go through around this age. We are being diligent about telling him no and taking everything away. It's a lot of mess and frustration in the meantime.

Funny thing though... it doesn't happen for the sitter, or for Nana. I mean, I just don't understand what they do that John and I can't figure out...

new year celebration

We hosted New Year's Eve at our house this year. It happens when you're big socialites like us. You say, "we are absolutely not leaving our house," and other folks say, "well, how about if we join you there?" Haha! So Mom, Dad, Bill, Theresa, and Bailey (JT pronounces BAY-YEE) stayed with us on New Year's Eve.

I'm typically not much of a hostess... it stresses me to have to cook for people with expectations. I mean, I had my son's first birthday party catered for goodness' sake! But I sucked it up and pulled off a few good things. You can't go wrong with cheese, cheeseball, crackers, veggies, and dip, so those were a must.

I have been craving salsa - real, fresh salsa, so I made some of that. My salsa recipe is actually an Avocado, Tomato and Mango salsa recipe. But I've used it the past couple times with corn and beans instead of avocado and mango and it works just as well. (Though... if you can get perfectly ripe avocado, mango and garden-ripe tomatoes all at the same time... DO IT. You will dream about that salsa!) Since we are pretty far away from garden fresh tomatoes this time of year, I went with canned diced tomatoes rather than fresh. I figured they offered just a bit more flavor and less prep time. Must have been good salsa... because it was gone pretty quickly!

After snacking and playing with JT, we got down to business. The business of Beyond Balderdash, the classic bluffing game. (Holy cow, it's $129.99 on Amazon... John is chanting, "sell, sell!") We love Balderdash. I think we love Balderdash more than the rest of the family. Dad made a good contribution with his movie plot for Expresso Bongo: A comedy about a monkey grinder and his monkey riding a train across the Congo. When I read them off I changed "monkey grinder" to "organ grinder" to increase the chance that anyone would believe it. Good times ringing in the new year with lies, lies, lies.

Mid-way through the Balderdash game, we had our second round of eating: spinach and artichoke dip. I doubled the recipe from 365 Days of Crockpotting. We ate about half that night and John finished what was left by the weekend. Fresh spinach and shredded block cheese made it taste delicious. It re-heated well, too.

Then we watched the ball drop and went to bed at 12:30am. We aren't getting any younger in '09, that's for sure.

anniversary

Today is my parents' anniversary. Happy anniversary, Mom & Dad!

first weekend of '09

Today we spent most of the day taking down the tree and putting together a new bookshelf from Ikea. We made some time to get JT a haircut, go for a walk, drop off the recycling, and get a Starbucks beverage.


Guess who peed in the potty tonight? I guess we are thinking about potty training now... John is way more ready than me and JT though. For now, we'll start with peeing in the potty before the bath and see where that gets us.

Oh, John also picked up a space heater for the basement. Aaahhh... I can't tell you how much more comfortable it is downstairs! Maybe now I can tolerate spending time down there scrapping in the evenings. (You know, during all that spare time I'm going to have this year - NOT!)

more... and more

JT got the hang of opening presents as we went through our extended Christmas holiday. Here he is amidst a pile of wrapping paper and presents asking for more. And then packages kept coming in the mail after Christmas, so now he checks under the tree every morning to see if Santa came AGAIN.

Yesterday JT got a package in the mail from For Bare Feet. Aunt Memaw ordered JT about 6 more pairs of their socks! Now he has crabs, lobsters, hiking, and puppy socks to go with his favorite tractor socks.

The kid is rarely without socks. Last night he pulled off his socks just before bedtime. The floor felt so funny under his feet he went walking around in a little scoot on all the different surfaces. I allowed it for the 5 minutes before bedtime only... I am a major proponent of warm feet year round. Thank my acupuncturist. :)

boys' toys

I managed to make one digital scrapbook layout while we were still at my parents' house for Christmas. So if I never get around to scrapping the other 296 pictures I took over the holidays, at least I'll have this...

The guys were seriously thrilled with their gifts. It's the first year my dad didn't tell us, "you really shouldn't buy me anything." John LOVES the gps. We call her Roxy. And JT loooooves trucks. If you didn't know that already, perhaps I have been remiss in mentioning it here.

hide-n-seek

John got a Flip video camera from Santa for Christmas. We have a digital video camera already, but this one makes taking video easy and fun. We can shoot random, everyday videos like this one of the boys playing hide and go seek and not feel like it's a chore.

The camera actually takes great quality video. So please disregard the lighting in this clip that gives it an eerie "blair witch project" vibe...