Winter Day at the Playground

No ponytail this time

I think this is the longest Jake has gone without a haircut except for when he was born to the time of his first haircut (and other than the at-home bang-trimming). His hair was getting long enough that I was starting to see that it could be cute long, so, being the hippie mother that I am, I tried to convince Jake to grow his hair long -- "don't you want to try putting it in a ponytail?" But Jake was having none of that. "Haircut!" he demanded. It's his hair, so I scheduled an appointment (finally).

Mr. Shaggy.

Who is this handsome boy?
It's cute, but is the same haircut he tends to get. I think next time I'll let it grow a bit long again and then have the hairdresser shape it.

Mini-Bath

He's big enough to climb up on the counter by himself, close the drain, run the water, and put himself in.

Thumbs Up

Jake went to his very first movie at the movie theater! He saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel. Luckily, it was open-captioned so Mike took him and Tom and his kids joined as well.

When he came back I asked him if he liked the very big TV screen and his eyes went wide and he nodded yes. Then I asked him how the movie/the experience was. He gave it a thumbs up. (Mike was bored out of his mind, but was happy to be there for Jake.)

Lee's Knitting!

This past fall I took up knitting. My grandma had taught me when I was 12 or 13, and I made a scarf or 2, but haven't done anything since. Having lots of good friends who are avid knitters and who promised to help when needed, I started again.

First I did one of those standard scarves, but after I completed it, I discovered it was way too scratchy. Wrong yarn. Now I know. (No picture of the beautiful, sad, red scarf.)

Then I finished this one. When I started knitting again, I asked my family if there were any knitting needles not being used that I could have. As luck had it, my sister knit in college but abandoned her needles and this project a while back. This scarf was halfway done, so I finished it and then sewed it together. I love wearing it.
Then I knit something similar for my sister, but added a pattern into it. (Amy, I'm sending it to you tomorrow!)
Then I worked on my first hat and just finished it. It was to be for me, but it is too small! Live and learn, right?
But it is VERY cute on my boy. I have more of this same yarn so I think I'll make another one for me and be sure to make it bigger this time!

They're OFF!!!

After 2 years and 8 months: shiny, beautiful, straight teeth with no braces!
This was during with the braces on.
The 'before' picture. Quite a difference!

When I Grow Up...

Jake and I were doing the nightly bedtime reading. For the second night in a row, he chose "Clifford Visits a Firehouse." When I finished reading the book, he declared:

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a fireman!"

This was the first time for me hearing him state what he wants to be when he grows up. So amazing. (And he was a fireman for Halloween!)

1000 Beans

Remember that joke game, "52 Card Pick-up?" Now imagine playing that game with 1000 many white beans. I get to do that almost every day!

I gave Jake white beans to play with using his new construction trucks -- a bulldozer/digger and dump truck. He loves it and the trucks and beans have kept him entertained quite a bit.

White beans everywhere but it's worth it.

(And no, I won't be cooking those beans.)

Happy New Year 2010!

Our New Year's Eve party...
All of us... Sara, Corky, Guthrie, Lee, Jake, and Mike.

Theo decided to join the festivities.
This boy LOVES tacos.
And ice cream cookie sandwiches. Then Jake went off to bed.
And we got silly.
Some of this helped. (Quite a long way from the wine coolers of college days...)
Makin' tacos.
Yum.
Then it was time for our raw, vegan, chocolate truffle tasting. There were 6 different-flavored truffles from Enchanted Florist in Ashland. We cut each up into 6 pieces.
First, the sniff test...
Sniff, sniff. I smell... citrus, lavender, almond, pistachio, coconut, and dark chocolate.
Well chocolate IS know to be aphrodisiac.
Yup.
And then for ice cream cookie sandwiches -- double dark chocolate cookies with mint coconut ice cream from Robots Love Cupcakes. They were fabulous!!!
Post-food relaxation and chatting.
Then onto a game of Cranium!
Fun night! We celebrated both NYC 2010 and Portland 2010 time :)