8 Months

Don't you just love the crisp, cool feeling of toilet water splashing in your face.  I guess i will need to work on my scrubbing skills so it doesn't happen again.  At least my bathrooms got clean.  

So jack is 8 months old now, and finally sitting up.  He falls eventually, but i can usually leave the room for a little bit.  Its such a whole new field of view for him and its easier for him to play with his toys.  We also finally put up the airplane swing that the Kellogg's got for jack.  when i first went outside, Alex was pushing him waaaayy too high and he was all shaking and scared.  so we had to slow it down a little.  then he got happy.  All the pictures i took turned out all blurry except a few.  we finally got our water barrels cleaned and filled.  well, all but two of them.  So that makes me feel good.  I still need to go out and plant some seeds.  And we need to redo our drip system on the garden cause its not working properly.  I am also growing starter plants if anyone is interested.  They will be $2.  I've just got herbs going mostly.  Basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, cilantro, chives, parsley.  so let me know if you are interested.  They won't be ready to plant for a little while though.  

school is going good.  my bio teacher said she would be my lab partner any day.  i think that is a good sign!! 

Jack's wispy old man hair flying in the breeze.

Big boy jack!!  What good posture you have.

Anny the Yogi

So tonight i was in my bathroom and all of a sudden i hear my yoga video playing.  i though, hmm that's weird, so i come out and there's Anny doing my yoga video.  it was so funny.  She had my yoga mat out and everything.  so i had to get some pics of that.  at first she was like, "stop taking pictures, its not funny" and "you're messing me up".  She has done it with me a couple times before.  she's actually pretty good, and understands what they are talking about.  she knows the names of some of the poses already.  Alex put a kids yoga video on our netflix list, so we'll see how she likes it.  she said she was good enough to do the grown-up one and she didn't need the kid one.  I'm just excited that she wants to do it.  neither me or Alex are very flexible, so hopefully this will help her.  

Pretty good down dog Anny!  isn't my room so very neat and tidy??

My blueberry baby

I know i just posted, but i just thought this was too good.  i made some pears with blueberries for jack today.   boy did he love it.  of course it got everywhere.  he kept grabbing the spoon so he could feed himself.  

Ellie actually took this picture.  i was in it too, but i cropped myself out for your benefit.  he totally looks like alex here, well i think so.  funny enough, this is also what alex looks like after eating blueberries.

Sorry to keep you all waiting

Geez!  i have been busy with school.  Since i don't have a teacher teaching me anything, i have to read the chapters word for word pretty much.  very time consuming.  but i really like it.  i actually learn a lot more.  i think i would just do the bare minimum before, but now, i have to do it all cause i don't know what i will be tested on.  

The girls' birthdays went pretty well.  Alex is a good dad.  he gets them flowers and a balloon on their actual birthday, so they wake up and see the surprise.  it makes them feel really special.  i used to get mad when he did this, cause i think flowers are a big fat waste of money, but they really do appreciate it.  We had family over for dinner on Sunday the 7th.  They both got the stupid barbie dolls they wanted.  and then Cassie got them the new barbie movie.  why do they like barbies?  i hate barbies.  why can't they take after me??  i wonder if there is a connection between girls who play with barbies and girls who later have eating disorders or lots of plastic surgery.  

We also got a great garden box made.  poor Alex, it was a lot of hard work.  it was exhausting just watching him do it all.  We used like 2x12 inch boards.  they only cost about $32, so not as expensive as i thought it might be.  The whole thing is 22ft x 5ft.  We found a place down the road that sells clean fill dirt for $12 a ton.  and we also got quite a few bags of good garden soil with lots of compost.  I planted a few herb plants to get it going.  and I'm going to put out some garlic in a couple weeks.  and i have a whole list of seeds to get started.  Ellie wanted a tomato plant.  So we put that next to the basil.   i am trying to teach the girls to recognize the difference between the herbs and weeds.  

Last night we went to Shanna's house for dinner.  Alex got to go too since he was off.  earlier in the day he went to jury summons.  they were going to pick him but he said he had a funeral on Friday, so they let him go.  The funeral is for Marcus Bess' dad.  If any of you knew him.  He died last week from a very unexpected heart attack.   

Can't think of much else that has happened.  Jack will be 8 months in a few days!!  he's just about sitting up by himself.  yeah, my kids usually hit those physical milestones pretty late.  Anny didn't even walk till she was about 18 months!

Ellie was a good helper.  She was raking all the dirt.  you can see my grape vine and my grapefruit tree that have yet to produce.

Anny helped out by bringing small loads of dirt with a shovel.  the shovel had holes in it too.  thanks a lot Anny for all your help.

Here is my overgrown herb garden.  the grass took over as i got more and more pregnant with jack, and then i didn't have the energy to do anything after he was born.  stupid grass.  There is still some sage, mint, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lavender along the house.  I'm going to have to borrow my dad's tiller to get out all that grass.

Oh, yeah, Alex's family saw those guys from that motorcycle show Orange county choppers, or whatever its called, at the airport and got a picture. 

Here's Anny and Iman's son Ethan.  

Oh what a beautiful barbie, NOT!

Lucky me, they sing too.  so i now have barbie songs stuck in my head all day.

Ethan gave them mouse trap.  good job Ethan.  

Homemade Baby Food, School and Movies

Well thanks to the cool magic bullet my mom got me, i was able to make all of this baby food for only about $2.50.  Cool!!  i did green beans, peas, and some sweet potato.  I did way to much of the beans and peas though and ran out of containers.  Next time i will do smaller portions so i can have a wider variety.  

Me and the girls just got done watching another Hayao Miyazaki film.  I would say he's like the Walt Disney of Japan, but better.  They aren't as fluffy and full of songs like Disney movies can be.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  But Miyazaki's movies are just more relevant.  I'm not really  into anime, but his films are just really good.  they have amazing animation, even the older ones, and they have such good themes in them so they are great for families.  We just watched My Neighbor Totoro.  We've also seen Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, and our personal favorite, Spirited Away.  Anyway, i would highly recommend seeing some of his movies, or all of them for that matter. 

School is going good.  I have an essay due on Monday.  better get started on that.  i also just got my Lab kit in the mail today for micro.  

The girls got their birthday present in the mail yesterday from the Kellogg's.  It is a Karaoke Machine.  It looks like a little boom box.   so Ellie's been singing into the microphone all day.  Luckily she has to plug it in, so i just make her go in her room and shut the door.  I am such a fun mom!

Tonight Clarissa is spending the night for their birthdays.  We are having pizza.  And then we are having birthday cake on Sunday since Alex will be off.  At least i don't have to do a party this year.  i hate doing that.  besides next year Anny will be 8, so I'm sure we will do something for her baptism.  

Shanna, this is how much it made.  Next time you can come over and we will make it together.  Are you going to add cinnamon to your sweet potatoes??

This is our favorite.  Watch it and you'll see why.

Despite that this is voiced by Dakota Fanning, it was still really good.  the images are so emotionally moving, i wish i could be there rolling around in the grass and flowers.