Boss-Man

This is my boss. He seems to like my work style but I'm a little concerned because we have yet to have a performance evaluation. It's also a little confusing because sometimes he's a really hands-off supervisor and sometimes he's really hands-on.

This is my office, you can see my cubicle over there (the grey couch).

These are my filing cabinets.

If you find my blog amusing, please copy me and tell me about your job site!

Down on the farm

We went to pick up the CSA today and decided to partake in the full experience. Chicken.

Bunny.

Wagon. Really, what more could we ask for?

How 'bout some produce? This week: 2lbs apples, 1 head lettuce, 2lbs peaches, 1 eggplant, 2lbs tomatoes, some unknown amount of summer squash (i skipped it on account of already having many squash left from last week.), 2 green peppers, 8 ears of sweet corn, rolls, 1 dozen eggs.

At least, I think that was everything.

Sesame Place

Today we drove up to Langhorne, PA to visit the happiest place in a toddler's world: Sesame Place!

We were at the park for a whopping six hours, there was so much to see and do. We had a blast!

We rode Elmo's Flying Fish. Guess what kind of fish we rode in?

We rode Big Bird's Sunny Day Carousel.

We ducked in to see Elmo's World during the first thunderstorm. He was so excited to see Elmo that on the way out I asked where we could see Elmo and say 'hi' ...

While waiting in line Jack yelled "Hi!" and waved at Elmo. When we got to the front of the line Elmo and Abby needed a 5 min break. Jack was fine to wait while they took their break. Well he's glad he did because out came Elmo and Big Bird! He basically jumped out of my arms and ran over and gave Elmo a big hug. It was the cutest thing ever and because Matt and I just wanted to bask in Jack's happiness no pictures were taken of the event. We did buy a digital print though.

Then we played on a playground.

And ran around in Count Von Count's Splash Castle. This one would have been fun just for me to run around!

Daddy and Jack found another water park area by Big Bird's Lazy River so Mommy snuck off to enjoy a relaxing river ride while Jack and Daddy explored!

Later in the afternoon we waited out our second rain shower because Mommy couldn't leave without riding Sky Splash (the one with the big rubber ducky on top). I said to one of the teenage lifeguards, "You don't understand, I have to ride this one, it was here when I was a kid, it's awesome!" And he said "Me too. It's awesome, that's why I work here." Too funny!

Here we are. If you look close you can see the topiary Elmo behind us.

Busy Day= Tired Boy.

Carter's Closet

This morning we went to Susan's house and went 'shopping' in her son Carter's closet.
In the end I walked away with a lot of really cute outfits, fantastic pjs, shoes and LOTS of pants.

Emily One was also at the Carter's Closet 'sale' her pile looked a little different from mine....

please keep your comments about my OCD to yourself!

Then we had an afternoon visitor, my friend from college and graduate school, Keith! Jack was so excited to see Keith he skipped his nap again. Hmm...

Praise the Tea Tree!

Jack's cloth diapers have been starting to smell really... umm... ripe... in the last month or two. I've tried different types of cloth-safe detergent (my favorite is still Charlies Soap), bleach, vinegar and triple rinsing the inserts and nothing has worked to even reduce the smell. I had essentially resigned myself to permanently smelly diapers when I had the brainy idea to ask the people at MOM's what they recommend. This little bottle cost me $6.99 and I used 1.5 cap fulls in an extra long soak load.

The smell is gone!! I'm so freeking excited. When I took the load out of the washer and went to put it into the dryer the scent of tea-tree was really strong. After a normal dryer cycle (you cannot use any fabric softener with cloth diapers you will destroy the waterproof barrier) they smell nothing but clean. It's a miracle!! Praise the Tea Tree!

For those who don't use cloth diapers if you have anything else around the house that you can't get the smell out of I very highly recommend this product!

In Review

I've been slacking in the blog department so here are some updates: On Friday Michelle and I went for a walk around lake Elkhorn (to change up the scenery) and we saw lots of cool animals. Turtles, ducks and a blue heron. This white egret was all of 15 feet from us on the trail. Even the little kids were able to see it. When Jack yelled "Kaw-kaw" to tell me that he was also able to see the bird, the egret didn't flinch! Later we saw it fly across the lake, I will never be not-impressed with its wing-span.

We bought a couch today, but we couldn't bring ourselves to buy new furniture for us and not finally get Monkey something of her very own.

I know this couch looks white, but it's a lot closer to the color of the cat than it is to being almost white when you see the fabric in person.

CSA Thief

I got home from picking up the CSA and went to set up the produce for a photo shoot and someone stole a nectarine. He immediately took a huge bite out of it. In an effort to preserve the remaining yummy items we skipped the shoot entirely. But I am happy to report we have: 8 ears of corn, 2 cucumbers, 6 dinner rolls, 2 lbs peaches, 2 lbs nectarines, 1 head of lettuce, 2 lbs onions, 2 lbs summer squash, 2 lbs tomatoes.

Pickles

Future pickle from the veggie garden.

Cut the cucumbers and put in brine bath for 12-24 hours.

Sterilize jars, pack jars with pickles, add boiling pickling juice, cap and boil for 10 minutes.

Let cool for 2 hours. Enjoy in 2 or more weeks (but not more than one year.)

Shout out to Emily L who helped pop my pickling cherry! Next year I'm definitely growing more cukes!

Kids love dip.

I find that Jack loves a good dip. Guacamole and hummus are right at the top of the list. So here's a question: Does your kid love dip? What kind(s)? If you don't have kids (or your kids are tragically turned off by dip) please tell me about your favorite dip! I've been in a dippin' mood lately and I'm deciding to embrace it!

Funny thing...

Building blocks. Just like grandpa.

Jumping in the pool with mommy.

Smile!

This truck was found in the skimmer of the baby pool, and it MADE the afternoon! What luck!

Salisbury Zoo

Gi-Gi, Mommy and Jack at the zoo.

Jack and the Jaguar. (All the exhibits were this close. It was so cool that we got to see everything so close.)

Captain Jack

Animal overview: flamingos, parrots, spider monkey, peacock in the prairie dog exhibit, sandhill cranes (behind fence), great blue heron (on fence), bison, spectacled bear, otter, pelican.

He's not colorblind!

Today we were playing with some pop beads because my parents in an effort to stock up for grandkids got some great hand-me-down toys from friends with older grandchildren (yay for reusing!). Over July 4th I asked Jack on a whim "Where's the yellow?" and without hesitation he pointed to the yellow bead. Both startled and impressed I decided to start casually working colors into some of our daily vocabulary. Last Wednesday we picked up the CSA which included blueberries and Jack screamed "BLUE!!" over and over till I gave him some blueberries. Again, I'm surprised and impressed. Today he identified red flowers and blue flowers by name ("Rrrrrrr" and "Boooooo") and has also added knowing which ones are 'purple' by pointing.

Clearly I'm thinking he's going to be artsy like me, we might have to have a serious conversation about back up plans. Although... he has been identifying the moon every morning, and he's very excited about the moon. Maybe an astronaut? And then there's the obsession with all things mechanical? Maybe a MechE?

Seriously, he has 1-2 new words a day. I'm not saying a stranger on the street would understand him but someone who spends time with toddlers would probably know what he's talking about or asking for. It's pretty cool that he has so many new words and he isn't yet saying "MINE!" or "NO!" or "Why?" all of which would totally kill it for me.

Busy and Busted

I am having too much fun right now and my computer is not recognizing the internet at my parents house which means I might get around to some real blogging (with pictures) and I might have to wait till I get back.

Monday was a fun day with Gi-Gi and a surprise visit from Uncle Tom! Taking advantage of others willing to watch my kid after Jack went to bed I went to a late night yoga class and I have learned that wine with dinner + yoga = pulled hamstrings. Ouch!

Tuesday we met at the park and we had a great turn out! Tammy learned some helpful biting insights from my friend and seasoned parent Michelle. Then we packed up the car for another exciting beach trip. On the way we stopped at the Salisbury Zoo, which is small and free. Well the best part about small zoos is they're not crowded and you can get really close to the animals so Jack had a BLAST! Pictures to follow.

Today I am leaving Jack and Grandpa home while my mom takes me on a fun ladies day. I'm excited for me and nervous for Jack and Grandpa, I hope everything goes well so he'll agree to do it again!

Pool Boy

Today Colin and Emily invited us to their community pool to help us answer the question what to adults do in a baby pool?

Well, that answers that.

Greenie Thumb

Being green is a real hoot!

Fried green tomatoes, anyone? (I'm waiting till they're vine-ripened.)

Pickle. They're mini-cucumbers, soon to be mini-gherkins!

Jack supervised the replacement of our Verizon-destroyed shrubbery.

They don't exactly look the same now, but they will, give them a year.

Lets talk

Play-date etiquette. After doing some disciplining of other peoples kids (which makes me uncomfortable because I wonder if the parent is pissed at me for doing telling their kids what to do and then think that if they are pissed at me I should be pissed too because their kid was out of line....) I'm wondering if there are any official or unofficial rules about play dates and disciplining other people's kids.

I'm of the mind that if my kid is about to hurt himself, please do whatever it takes to stop him. (Yelling, grabbing him and hand-swatting are all acceptable in a physical danger-type scenario.) If I'm not paying attention, which happens a lot, please also feel free to force my kid to share, give something back, or stop doing some other undesirable behavior. What if I'm watching Jack do something and I don't see it as a problem, but you do? Do you tell me? Do you talk directly to Jack? Do you grit your teeth and ignore it? What if I look like I'm paying attention to Jack's behavior and am choosing inaction when actually I'm not paying attention to what he's doing and wouldn't at all mind someone else pointing it out or stepping in? What types of behaviors would cause you to interceed? If someone gets too involved in your parenting would you say something to them? Would you say something if you think they aren't involved enough in their own child's behavior?

Even if you don't often (or ever) comment, please weigh in! I think the more minds that help me suss this one out the better.

A day with CSA

Jack is a lover of the stuffed animals. Teddy was our particularly special friend today.

Before the Hanus's came over for dinner I put Jack to work.

And we ran to get the CSA. This week we have: 1 bunch purple carrots, 1.5 lbs yellow string beans, 1 qt blueberries (boooories according to Jack), 2 lbs potatoes, 1 garlic bulb, 2 green peppers, rolls, 2lbs yellow 8-ball squash, 8 peaches, 1 head of lettuce.

Our backyard garden is starting to sprout! Here's our first tomato

and a pickling cucumber!

The Hanus dinner was a success the kids had fun, the food was good (score one for Matt), and the conversation was fun. Until Anna (daughter 2 of 3- 8 yrs old) went inside to get some Monkey love and Monkey was not in a loving mood. I'm going to have to call in the morning to make sure the cut on her forehead is healing properly. Why is my cat so cranky and anti-social?!