8 Months!

Not excited about the picture!

Alex is 8 months old already! Where is the time going!

 

Likes:

He loves playing with socks! He usually pulls off his and chews them so we started giving him one to play with.

He likes crawling around. He does a great army man crawl but also does an ok more traditional crawl.

He loves to have us hold his hands while he walks. He often just walks in circles but he enjoys it!

Music! He LOVES music! We put his music toy on legs and he loves playing with it and moving around it.

 

Dislikes:

There really aren’t that many. He doesn’t like fruit but he will eat it especially if there is a veggie with it.

He doesn’t like napping at daycare (I think he is afraid he will miss something!)

 

 

He is so easy to get along with and easy going most times. We can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Food TV

I love watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Jake humors me but only for about one episode.

I don't know why he doesn't like the show. We enjoy eating in those Mom and Pop, non-chain, one of a kind, hole in the wall type restaurants. We had several favorites in Utah. There was a favorite Asian place (it went out of business before we moved), a couple favorite burger places and a really great Korean place. I almost forgot our favorite Mexican place- the flan was divine!

We haven’t found as many favorite places here yet. We do have a favorite pizza place (they also have calzones to die for!), a favorite diner, a favorite Asian take out place (there are tables to sit in but not many and it really works better to bring it home) and a favorite “nice” place. We are still looking and having fun trying places out.

The reason I like DDD is I love seeing that every town has great little places to eat. I figure if we go places I will know where to eat.

There are some things I don't think I would try. One time they went to a place that had pig ear sandwiches. I'm sure that to some pig ears are great- so I will let anyone who likes them have them.

On another episode, they showed a pizza with eggs cracked on it. I am not a big fan of eggs. I can eat eggs with enough cheese, green chilies and hash browns but NOT eggs with runny yolks!!! The sad thing is the pizza looked great until they cracked the eggs on it. I would try this restaurant because the pizzas look great. NO RUNNY EGGS though.  

Mostly the food looks really good and I keep a mental list of places to try.

If you are taking a trip, check out the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives website to find a great place to eat when you get there! Do you have a great Diner, Drive-in or Dive in your area?

An Interesting Pattern. . .

I was looking through one of my Pinterest boards the other day. (Are you on Pinterest? It is so much fun. Just like getting a new magazine in the mail everyday!) I check to see if I have many copies of the same picture pinned.  I have lots of boards and these are on the Great Pictures board.

I saw this picture.

from pinterest.com

Then this one.

from Pinterest.com

Then this one.

from pinterest.com

Then this one. Seeing a pattern yet?

from pinterest.com

Then this one.

from pinterest.com

I really like the beach and the ocean. I would love to live near the beach- except for the huge number of people, the expense and the hurricanes (in the East) and the earthquakes (in the West).

My favorite vacation involves the beach in some way. Jake and I honeymooned in Hawaii and it was wonderful. We stayed at a hotel right on the beach and were able to swim in the ocean every day. We could hear the ocean in our hotel room and would have slept with the door open but it was just too humid. I hope we can go back someday.

We went to Charleston, South Carolina. It was so much fun. We found a little place to walk on the beach. Very few people were there since it was March. We went sightseeing and saw The USS Yorktown (great self guided tour) and went through a submarine (how did they ever live on those? It was so tiny and closed in. People really did sleep in hammocks over the bombs!!). We were only there few a few days but had so much fun.

Hopefully we get to go to Myrtle Beach or the Outer Banks this year!

Miracle Plants

I was watering our plants the other day and look what I found!

My dad rescued this Christmas Cactus and gave it to me this summer. They had it in a cup with water by their kitchen sink. My dad put it in the pot with dirt and wished us luck. It looked so pitiful when I got it that I didn’t think it would live.

I have it in a North facing window (hoping that it would slowly recover and get a bit stronger) and don’t spend a huge amount of time in that room. It is supposed to be a dining room but we use it as an office.

Hopefully, this means the plant is healthy and will live! The leaves look very healthy in the picture and there are many other tiny buds. I think it is a good sing the plant is doing well.

In other plant news, we are thinking of having a small garden this year. If we do things right we can grow several spring veggies and then fall veggies. I found a book at the library that says we can plant peas and spinach in late February and early March. Wish us luck!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent some time at my parent’s home in Virginia. My brother and his family were able to come as well as my sister and her family. (My other brother and sister and their families were with the in-laws this year.) One of the nieces got an easel from Santa. It was a huge hit (with everyone)!

We had a great time eating, laughing and telling stories.  Uncle Jake was the hit of the party (as usual!!) He talked football with the nephews. He has not turned them into Dallas fans but isn't giving up. They may see the light soon!!!

My dad is the baby whisperer. All babies seem to love him. He has a magical way of soothing fussy babies too.

Opening presents was an adventure with so many people. We tried to label everything right after it was opened so it all went home with the right family. We also threw all the paper away quickly. We are pretty sure no presents got thrown away. The kids all loved their presents. My dad is a HUGE Star Wars fan (and a huge cookie fan).  He got a great T-Shirt! It was the best present of the day!

We had a wonderful time. It is always great to see everyone! We hope your Christmas was as great as ours!

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas!

We are in the middle of decorating for the holidays. I stretch it out a bit. I do a little here and a little there. When we first moved, I went a little overboard. The house we have now has a different layout and it is easy to over fill a room with Christmas decorations.  I change things a bit each year and enjoy moving things a bit as the season goes on. We put things on the mantle (but not the stockings. I haven’t found stocking holders I like but this year I saw a new idea that I really like! Here’s a picture-what do you think?)

from pinterest.com
use a drapery rod to hang the stockings on!!!

We also decorate the tree and do some on the outside of the house. It has been either raining or threatening rain for days and not much is done outside yet.

There are so many great crafts and printables on the internet right now! Pinterest is a great resource-not only will you see a picture but most of the time you get a link to the directions! Here’s just a few!

(I just noticed these are ALL ornaments! There is so much more!)

I’ll keep working on the Christmas decorations! Pictures coming soon!

It's Fall (for real!)

from Pinterest

Fall is here! We have a few leaves starting to change and the temperatures are MUCH cooler.  The leaves aren’t this brilliant yet, but they will be soon.

I love fall. I love decorating the house with pumpkins and fall wreaths and other great knick knacks. (I have tons of crafty things bookmarked!) Fall is the start of the holiday season! Halloween is coming and it will be Thanksgiving quick and then CHRISTMAS!  Christmas is my favorite holiday. We have great food, the house is so cheery and festive and we enjoy being together to celebrate!

This year we are trying to add more local flavor to fall. We went to the Greek Fest and we are going to try some other local festivals.  They are much more fun with less humidity!

It is getting cool enough for chicken chili, apple bread and other great fall food. Stay tuned!

Greek Fest!!

We went to the Greek Fest this year. It was so much fun. We got there early and so parking wasn’t a problem (we will have to remember that for next year!).

Us before we ate all the Greek food!

We walked around a bit first but decided to get some food first. They had trays made up and you chose the tray you wanted. I chose the Greek chicken and Jake had the lamb! It was SO MUCH FOOD! All the food was wonderful and we found a place to sit inside (with the AC!!) and enjoyed the food and the dancing. They had kids (they looked to be 10-14 years old) performing traditional dances. 

Greek Lamb with pastichio and other great food!

Greek chicken with pastichio and other great food!

Then we went outside to look around. We saw many booths with things to buy (jewelry, clothes, t shirts etc) and some deserts. We were too full for baklava but tried some loukoumades (fried dough like donut holes with honey, powdered sugar and cinnamon). We wanted to get 6 but somehow ended up with 12! They were delicious and will try them again next time.

Little children performing traditional dances. They looked like they were 4-8 years old.

The only thing I wanted but didn’t get was a gyro. We were just too full. Luckily this festival comes every year so next year we will go again! The weather was great and the entertainment wonderful.  If  there is a Greek fest in your area- give it a try!

It's Fall (well almost!!)

Even though it is still very warm (96 when I got in my car this afternoon!!!!) we are starting to feel a bit of fall in the air. There are a few leaves here and there starting to change. The corn is very dry and the farmers are cutting it. And the biggest clue of all…….Football season is here!

Jake is a sports fan. He use to watch and keep track of all sports but as time has gone on he has become more involved in other things (guitar, keeping the yard up, etc, etc). We don’t watch every game of every sport but we do watch the Stanly Cup finals, the World Series and of course football.

Jake loves the Dallas Cowboys (well, some years more than others) and the PAC 12. Growing up his dad was (and still is) a Cowboys fan and so all the kids were Cowboys fans.

Jake is really good to explain things while we are watching (sometimes there are live reenactments!!). He knows how another team’s win or loss impacts his team and what needs to happen so the Cowboys can go to the playoffs. He watches the sidelines to see how the players are acting there (are they sitting with their heads down? Are they up and engaged?). He knows the coaches and assistant coaches how they did with the teams they have worked with before.

So along with the smell of pumpkin, apples and cinnamon; our home is filled with the sound of the Dallas Cowboys (hopefully winning!!)