Easter re-cap

The bunny came by bright and early on Sunday morning and left a nest in the backyard. It was a little bigger this year, because it was for Maddy, too. But it contained all the usual things: clothes, books, toys, and of course, CANDY.

JT wasn't too sure about going out to the nest because he was "chilly." The mention of candy was enough to lure him outside anyway. We warmed up afterwards with Aunt Becka's homemade cinnamon rolls. Mmm, mmm.

After breakfast, I reached another Mommy Milestone. I forced my kid to wear a tie and sweater vest for a holiday. I also had to wet his hair down to keep it tamed for church. Coaxed by a few jelly beans, he eventually wore the whole outfit most of the day. Yay!

Bill, Theresa, and Maddy were looking darling on this sun-shining day. Can you believe Bill picked out Maddy's Easter dress? Excellent choice. She looked so sweet and classy in her green dress and white sweater.

After church, Aunt Memaw and Uncle Papa joined us for Easter dinner. We had "Vermonte" Cristo sandwiches (made with VT white cheddar cheese & syrup), 7 layer salad, and Nana's deviled eggs.

After lunch we played and took more pictures. As challenging as it is to get JT to sit still, we were able to trick him into sitting near Maddy for a picture. Unfortunately for her, our attempts to engage him meant that she got Easter grass on her head or was otherwise knocked over by her cousin.
But I think she doesn't really mind all the attention so much...

family time

The fam showed up on Saturday and we headed to the zoo.

Maddy experienced the zoo for the first time.

JT saw all his favorite things like snakes, penguins, and the aquarium. His favorite part is watching the diver feed the fish.

The adults were so inspired by the aquarium, we went out to dinner at a hibachi grill for some yummy seafood.

Back at home, we let the kids stay up way late playing trucks with Nana.

jewels

Once upon a time, I cleaned my room. I took pictures. It was amazing. I had to face giant dust bunnies with TEETH to achieve this feat!

But that's not what I wanted to write about. In the process of cleaning, I unearthed a piece of furniture I acquired recently: my Grandma's jewelry chest. My Grandpa designed and made it.

The things inside the jewelry box are very much inspired by my Grandma. Many of the items she gave to me. It's full of enamel flower pins, giant bangle bracelets, strands of glass bead necklaces, vintage scarves, delicate handkerchiefs, and my other everyday jewelry.

The back/top of the box has a lid that lifts to reveal a mirror and two panels that slide up to display necklaces on tiny hooks. I love that my necklaces can stay untangled and away from the dust like this. Plus, you know how the dust bunnies can get around here... a hungry one could eat a few shiny gems all on its own!

I love the bottom three drawers for the wonderful treasures stashed inside. The hankies are an assortment of my dad's when he was a kid, to the ones I've carried in my purse since I started kindergarten, to the hankie I carried on my wedding day, to the special occasion hankies my Grandma would slip inside a Valentine card to me.

A box full of memories indeed.

history of style

I mentioned last fall that I was taking Ali Edwards' Yesterday Today class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Between working on my homework for that class and my Grandma passing away at Christmastime, I've become consumed by the past. At least every couple weeks I find myself at my scanner with a stack of old photos or mementos. It's influencing many areas of my life: scrapbooking, crafts, cooking, photography, and parenting to name a few.

My mom has also been providing me with inspiration, scanning photos from Mammaw's (her mother's) photo albums. Here is a picture of my ever-beautiful Mammaw when she was pregnant for my uncle in 1956. She was about 38, I think. Still today, in her 90s, she will put on a cute outfit and makeup to chat with family and neighbors on the porch.

My mom also scanned slides taken by my Dad's family. I had no idea that my Grandpa was an amazing photographer. The full set of photos from my dad's childhood are inspiring. My Grandma's sense of style come through in every image: the decor, her clothes, the kids' clothes, etc. Just look at her and these darling kids. But remember, the one darling kid is my dad, and he's known to be the orneriest kid on the block!

Further fueling my what's-old-is-new passion are images from the Library of Congress that keep appearing in my contacts stream on flickr. Long live flickr Commons. I am c.r.a.z.y. about that project. Here are some Parisian ladies who drove me to click the favorite button recently:

On Saturday one of my favorite bloggers, Scott from The Sartorialist announced a contest featuring his readers' vintage photos. He has been posting the entries and stories that he is receiving. I can't get enough. You must check out the entries and read the stories.

How is your past influencing your future?

she's a gift

Perhaps you've noticed that I'm fond of props in my photos? When JT was a baby, I took a picture of him in the bathtub with his rubber duckie on his head. The duck was a baby shower gift. It also appears in my maternity photos. And he still takes a bath with it every night. So, just maybe it's worth noting that duck in the documentation of our lives.

That brings us to my sweet little niece, Maddy. This past Christmas I got to take her pictures when JT took his nap. Luckily for us, JT was VERY slow at opening his presents and hadn't opened all his gifts. The remaining gifts were from my Aunt Joan and were wrapped so pretty. Perfect opportunity to play dress-up!

To make it special for me, Maddy is wearing a skirt and tights that I got for her. And she's holding the stocking that Mammaw got her. The stocking is very much like JT's personalized stocking. Again, making it special to me. Can you imagine the flood of memories seventeen Christmases from now when we are drinking egg nog by my brother's fireplace where this stocking will still hang... looking at pictures from years gone by?

With babies, props can be quite handy. Maddy couldn't quite sit up at this time, so we used a blanket to cover up some pillows and put the presents within reach to keep her tilted forward. It worked to keep her upright and engaged where I needed her attention for the shot.

This one was more of an outtake. She was looking away from the camera, but giving a sideways smirk... likely to her mama. Her perky little ears and sideways smile resemble my mom's baby pictures. Yes, there she is, under her Nana's Christmas tree flashing her Nana's smile.

Maddy is spending Easter with us this weekend. I can. not. wait.

déjà toddler

I'm scanning some pictures tonight for the Yesterday Today scrapbooking class I'm taking. I came across this picture and had a bit of a panic moment. Suddenly JT is grown, married, and has a kid of his own. Aack! My heart can't take it!

This is my brother in December of 1981. And he is grown, married, and has a baby girl. In this picture he's about 3 years old, just a little older than JT is now.

What caught my eye was the studious look on his face, the long eye lashes, the footed pajamas, and the piles of toys with an emphasis on trucks.

I'm having so much fun talking to JT right now. He tells wacko stories that are mash-ups of what has happened and what he'd like to happen. He says "pick me up like a rectangle". Which means to hold him horizontally like when he was a tiny babe. I have no clue why that's like a rectangle, but it makes me laugh. He always asks, "what brought me that shirt?" which means, who got him the shirt. It's funny that he asks that way and I love that he wants to know who to associate to some toy or shirt that he likes. And he'll say, "I have an idea." And when you ask him what his idea is, it's usually a truck or firetruck. "Good idea," I tell him.

baby shower

Have I mentioned that I'm going to be an aunt? Did I mention that I get a baby without any of the pain, recovery, late nights, or full time worry?! I'm pretty darn excited that my brother and sister-in-law are having this baby for me. So happy, in fact, that I threw Theresa a shower!

Family and friends joined us at Broken Rocks Cafe and Bakery in Wooster. It's a gorgeous restaurant with amazing food. Glen, the owner hooked us up with a great menu of sandwiches, soup, and salads. We just ate, chatted, and opened presents...

Theresa looks awesome. She has a sick schedule between teaching high school and taking classes for her master's degree right now. I would be asleep at the table if it was me!

I'm not even pregnant and I have been too tired to finish all the projects I had in mind for this baby. I did manage to pull together a few purchased things and some handmade. I made a blankie and a scrapbook for baby. There's also a wooden bunny teether in there from Little Alouette. So cute!

To top off the event... we had dessert. Strawberry shortcake and chocolate custard. YUM!

Wooster has such a great downtown. I think several of the ladies sneaked off to shop before or after the shower. There are a couple yarn stores, a scrapbook store, and a bead shop to name a few of the cool places.

I can just imagine the summer days we'll spend strolling around, sipping lattes and shopping... with my little niece in the stroller... oh, did I mention my prediction for the baby is girl? I'm pretty sure of it. Heee!

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...

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!

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.

mama, Mama... MAMA!

I mentioned that I took somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 pictures during Christmas, right? Do you know there are exactly 3 of me with JT (or just of me anyway). This is the best of those three.

Once again, John was chided for never taking over the camera. At some point, even a bad photo is a good photo when it's all you have. And shame on me for not handing over a camera to other family members. I had two cameras with me the whole time anyway...

So if I saw you over Christmas and you have pics of me... please send my way. Please.

And this red-headed boy I am holding in the photo? He sure loves his Mama. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without him running around yelling, "mama? Mama? MAMA?!"

holday wrap-up

Christmas came and went with a flurry of activity and traveling. We visited John's family in St. Clairsville for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Most of John's family looked like they had seen a ghost when they saw JT. They say he looks exactly like John did.



We spent Friday night with Aunt Joan and Uncle Wayne in Canton. JT spent the evening amazing them with all the tricks and new words he has learned since Thanksgiving.

On Saturday we visited with my Grandma and my dad's family in Akron. JT was more attracted to GG's tree than any others he has been around. But his Grandpa was sure to keep the tree safe...



When we got home on Saturday, we started opening all the new toys and checking them out. The fun continued into Sunday. I think by now we have opened everything and all toys are in their new locations ready to go. Here are John and JT trying out the Tonka race track:



I think I have something like 300 pictures from the holidays... will share more soon.

celebration, round 1

This morning was Christmas with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. Luckily, Santa knew where to find us today...


JT didn't want anything to do with the presents until he had some breakfast...


It took a while to get all the presents open because JT had to play with each as he opened it. Of course, once everything was opened, the combination of presents got a little awkward (well, awkward for some of the other presents)...


Grandpa also quite enjoyed his Christmas present... not sure where Santa was with the wrapping on this one... he just hid it in the back of our car!


We took a break mid-gift-opening to have some breakfast. Grandpa made pancakes for everyone... and yes, JT ate AGAIN...


Uncle Bill and Aunt Theresa got JT a big dump truck. It took him a bit to figure out if he was supposed to ride in the back of the truck or just push it around. Turns out this is a toddler-powered truck...


Finally after bugging Grandpa all day, JT convinced him to go for a walk. Grandpa found out that JT is not so much about holding your hand on a walk. He's a big boy and can walk, er run, on his own, Grandpa...

gratitude

Hope your Thanksgiving Day was full of turkeys...


sweets...


and gratitude.


Ours sure was...

the chair

My dad returned from Wisconsin today. This time he's back for a while... we are very excited to be seeing more of him! He showed up with this toddler-sized rocking chair for JT.


We tried to encourage JT to try it out. He doesn't really like to be encouraged. Must have something to do with his 14-month old independence streak.


Later, when we weren't expecting it, he tried out the chair. At first, he needed some help getting in it. It tends to scoot away as he backs into it.


He has the rocking motion down perfectly. And he has worked on getting into the chair more gracefully and has a near-perfect dismount every time.

The chair is just perfect for reading. He spent much of the afternoon discussing this book of planes, trains, and trucks with Nana and Grandpa.

He can get folks really pumped up for trucks.