new shoes

I bought Jackson some new shoes yesterday. I bought them at Baby Phases. They are Itsy Bitsy brand. Here are some videos of Jackson wearing them. ***Make sure you have the volume ON or else it won't give the same effect.

The squeaker is in the heel of the shoes and is removable. It'd be pretty funny though having Jackson wear them with the squeaker to church.

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Jackson turning one this last weekend. Here is the invitation I had made.

It was a wii bowling birthday party, including tournament and bowling alley food!

Here is the shirt Jackson wore. I made the graphics in photoshop and printed them on iron-on paper and ironed them on a white t-shirt.

I made carrot and chocolate cupcakes for the party. I gave Jackson a carrot cupcake to eat. It took him a bit, but he did dig into it. I didn't get a real clear shot of it, but I also made his bib. It has a big 1 on the front using fabric with bowling pins/balls on it. I also made some other bibs using the bowling fabric for the other little kids that came too.

We then went to Pappy's Pizza for more celebration! It was a fun and long day. Jackson did great through it all!

One year old!

At one year old, Jackson:

• Says "Hi", signs drink.
• Nods his head yes, I think he's still learning what it means though.
• Walks almost everywhere now...where he wants to go. If I let him walk in a store, he stops to look and touch and pull everything, so it doesn't quite work yet to let him walk on his own to follow us.
• Sleeps all night without a bottle (most nights)
• Still only has four teeth
• Gives great hugs and cuddles

look, no hands

Jackson kept standing without hands on the giraffe this time.

nice day

We had a really nice day recently. I think it got to 70 degrees F, which is way better than the 40's we've been having and are soon to have again. At least it's actually spring now, so it should be getting warmer and warmer.

I pulled out some short overalls for Jackson to wear briefly while we were outside, mainly just for pictures and since it was so nice. Around here (from our friend Jon and his son) these are known as 'shirt-pants' ...so I had Jackson wearing his shirt-pants for the first time this year.

Belgian waffles, yummy!

I made these this morning. They were excellent!

I used the Belgian waffle recipe from this book, The Joy of Cooking.

I had never looked at this book before. I had seen it at the library before (I've checked out a lot of their cookbooks). I just thought it was like a Betty Crocker or Better Homes & Garden cookbook. It's not. It's much more thorough and even the way you read the recipes is different. It's neat. I like it a lot.

The Belgian waffle recipe is quite complex though compared to a regular pancake/waffle recipe. I didn't read it before I started. I probably should have, but then I probably wouldn't have made them this morning. It involves lots of warm milk at 105 F degrees, egg whites beat to soft tips, disolving yeast, and more. However, it made a great waffle.

Next on my list to make from the cookbook is Shepards Pie.

book for Jackson

I made a quick board book for Jackson today. I'm sure it won't last long, especially since it's not water (drool/snot/etc) proof, but it was quick and I thought he would enjoy it.

I made six pictures to be 3x3 inches in photoshop and printed them at home on photo paper. Cut them out. From some old scrapbooking chip board I have, I cut three squares that are 3x3 inches using an exacto knife and ruler. Glued them on. Sanded down the edges. Glued a heart on. Punched holes in them and put a ring through.

Pita Pockets

From these,

to here,

to this.

I made tzatziki sauce, tried to make some Mediterranean spiced chicken (wasn't that great) and made some greek pitas. They were so good. Love cucumbers and feta.

The pita pocket recipe is so easy! It's from a bread machine cookbook (sorry don't know which exact one, didn't keep track of the name). But you just put all the ingredients into the bread machine and set to dough. Then an hour and half later it has turned into perfect dough! Pita's are so fun to see them rise up in the oven too.

I watched the movie Julie & Julia the other day (of course from the library.

I really liked it. It was a cute, no terrible events, movie. It's inspired me to cook more. I've been trying anyways just to save money, but I often run out of new ideas. So I just need to go through more cookbooks. Not necesarrily Julia Child's cookbook and I'm not going to do 500 some recipes in one year, but it's inspiring me to do some new recipes (pita pockets aren't new for me though, I made them a little over a year ago).

Fun day

Amy & Wyatt invited us to go see what the Redmond Gymnastics Academy is like during their open gym today. We had such a fun time!! I knew I would, but I didn't know how shy/active Jackson would be. He did great though. Crawled around everywhere, climbed on stuff, walked some, and had a lot of fun getting thrown high up in the air and landing in the foam pit! Very worth it!

We then went to Pappy's pizza and met Jessie and Brady there. We all ate some lunch and then the boys played in the play area. This was Jackson's first time, he had fun here too.