Random This & That

It's been a while since I posted any pictures...so I scrounged up these photos from the past few weeks. James is in constant motion. I've noticed that I have less time to spruce him up for photo shoots, and most of the pictures I have of him are a blur. Literally. My kitchen is in a constant state of disarray; "his cupboard" is always emptied all over the floor, and toys are sprinkled from the living room throughout the house. I figure it's pretty normal, though.

James is 10 months now! And he officially took his first step and regained his balance over the weekend. He's able to stand on his own for several seconds at a time, too. It won't be long til he's walking on his own! With still only two teeth (bottom and center), he's usually gnawing on something and drooling everywhere!

my little laundry helper...it's too risky to leave him alone upstairs while I gather the laundry when it's done, and this was the best way to carry him along with the clothes back upstairs!

we had a pop-in visit from Grandma

we've had quite the tomato crop! we chose the 'better boy' variety and boy, oh boy are they great! we've been picking six or seven at a time and some of them are huge! my favorite thing to do with the extras is peel, dice, and freeze them for soups and chili this winter.

Touring Around Town

We've been so busy! Last Wednesday our Danish relative, Vibe (pronounce Vee-beh), arrived and, while she's staying with my parents, we have been helping to 'host' her by showing her around the area. It's fun to see your own city from "tourist" perspective. I've gotten to experience a few things for the first time myself! We had been to this farm petting zoo before, but James was much more into the cows this time around. He even made mooing sounds when he saw them!

What a great view of the city!

After a nice Spanish dinner of tapas, we went to a jazz club! It was a really nice, and the music was great! Mark stayed at home to babysit James, so we'll have to go again!

Baseball! I hadn't been to a game since I was pregnant with James. The weather was gorgeous and my feet weren't swollen this time!

Unfortunately, our team lost. But we had a great time anyway. I told Vibe she looked 'all-American' in her team T-shirt and cute new cropped jean capris!

We have a few more events planned with her, blueberry picking included! First, though, she's going to spend a few days with my grandparents.

Summer Swim with Cousins

James has just LOVED having his big cousins stay with us this week. Jacob and Brock (and their mom Shari) are spending the week with us and attending a b-ball camp in town. We think James has been enjoying all the extra attention and entertainment! Yesterday the boys filled up the pool for James and then decided to join him. They didn't last long (obviously..there was hardly room) but James lasted about 15 minutes, despite the chilly temperature. He just splashed away!

This was pretty posed, but doesn't he looks so smart? We ate at a Chinese restaurant with Ricky, Kristen, and Elianna. James sure made friends with everybody there. Tonight we ate out again (at Olive Garden) and just about decided our days of dining out with him are numbered. It's a lot of work to keep him entertained that long!

4th of July!

We were so thankful to get to spend time with Mark's family in the Ozarks over the weekend. Twenty four hours before we were to leave, James was running a really high temperature that lingered two days. He had every test imaginable run on him and were even told we should leave town! In the end, he had a virus, roseola, which resulted in a really mild rash Monday afternoon. Saturday morning, however, his fever had broken and we were able to join the rest of the family for a wonderful time! James loves his Aunt Jody. We have visits from her on a weekly basis, so he's most familiar with her.

So many cooks in the kitchen! Mark's five older sisters, niece, and mom are all in this picture!

Crawling on the dock

the best shot out of three attempts...at least we're all looking at the camera!

swim time at the pool near our cabins--Mark was doing a great job entertaining the nieces and nephews

"okay, I'm ready for more!"

coloring...

Captain Mark on the pontoon on his birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Daddy!"

Looking at the lake

This one is for Joel and Elizabeth...and my mom. My mom made the grocery cart cover (palm trees and monkeys patterned fabric) and Joel and Elizabeth gave him his cute Cubs onesie, which finally fits!

Snip snip

James needed his hair cut. I found myself constantly tucking his hair behind his ears and brushing his 'bangs' off to the side. He was sort of looking like a scraggly ragamuffin baby. On more than one occasion, strangers at the grocery store referred to him as "she", so I figured it was time. Now, my mom cut all the boys' hair in my family growing up. To this day, she still cuts my dad's hair, too. So I thought I'd try my hand at it.

We were pretty surprised at how well behaved he was. We had out an arsenal of toys and kitchen gadgets to distract him, as well as his favorite books. Books actually did the trick! Mark read the same four or five books to him over and over until I was finished. In this photo, James was trying to figure out what I was doing! It was the only time he 'checked', because Mark put down the books to snap a picture.

The finished product. I was really pleased with the haircut. It was really more of a trim, though. And I don't expect it to always be this easy. But it was a nice first attempt!

Recipes, recipes...

Well, there seem to be two major themes in my blog postings. James and food. Well, mostly James, but I really love reading food blogs and think it would be fun to have a weekly recipe post, but I have to be realistic. It's just not going to happen. After my last food post a few months ago, a few people actually mentioned to me in person that they had tried the recipes! I was so surprised that somebody was actually paying attention! So the pattern seems to be that over the course of a few months I take photos of food that turns out great and then compile them all after I have a handful. So that's that. Here's my fourth or fifth 'food post'.

Bagels. I had seen a few recipes recently for homemade bagels and decided to give them a shot. The next day I told my friend Andrea I'd done so, and she responded with a skeptical facial expression, "Oh? How did that go for you?" Honestly, it had quite a few steps, including boiling the pre-baked dough, and they were delicious fresh out of the oven but were pretty chewy the days following. (But not bad toasted). I did try to make mine with whatever whole wheat I had on hand, instead of the fancy stuff it called for. I'll try them again. It was fun to put different toppings on them; cinnamon sugar, minced dried onion, poppyseeds, and kosher salt.

Granola Bars! I have been wanting to make granola bars for months now and finally got around to it. My goal was to find a recipe that was brimming with corn syrup. These are so good that I actually made them three times in two weeks. One of those times I postponed eating breakfast 'til I could whip up a batch. I cut them into huge squares and eat them warm with a glass of milk. There's something really wholesome-ish about them. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour....I add the 1/2 cup applesauce someone recommended to make them softer (it works) and omit any mix-ins, although I tried chocolate chips and craisins another time. I actually prefer them plain!

This is a stuffed pepper, sliced in half, to show the really yummy filling!! I got this recipe for Orzo Stuffed Peppers while working out at the Y. Yes, I watch the Food Net.work channel while working out. Seems counter-productive, right? It's usually torture. Well, Giada was making this and Andrea (who happened to be visiting our Y that day with us) and I looked at each other when we saw these and practically drooled on the eliptical machines. Bell peppers are expensive, but happened to be on sale, so I stuffed a few peppers and baked the rest of the pasta filling (peppers are usually stuffed with a rice mixture) in a baking dish and ate it for days to come. I will probably continue to make the filling because it's just that good! It has shredded zucchini, diced tomatoes, garlic, parmesean cheese, italian seasonings, and mint, of all things! Yum, yum, yum....

There just has to be Mexican food. I love Mexican food. For example, today for lunch Mark and I ate mostly fresh salsa and guacamole, in addition to a small salad. These are Creamy Baked Taquitos and they were awesome! The recipe comes from my new favorite food blog. I bookmark nearly every recipe these ladies post. I'm not kidding. The only complaint about these was that we gobbled almost all of them for dinner in one sitting! But they'd make great appetizers, too. And it's another great recipe to make with shredded chicken from one of those really cheap whole chickens that are always on sale! Oh, and when you roll these, definitely microwave each corn tortilla 20-30 seconds. They'll be piping hot, but if you don't, they'll crack before you get them into the oven! Can't wait to make 'em again!

Finally, this was dinner tonight. Jambalaya. You may notice, if you've actually read this far, that it's from the same site as the taquitos. This tastes like Cajun Fried Rice. Well, that's what it is, really. Green peppers, onions, garlic, minced smoked sausage and ham (really breakin' out of the chicken/ground beef routine for us) and tomato sauce, fried with some cooked rice and seasoned with Creole Seasoning. It was really good. Mark totally approved, too. If you live close and want to try some, let me know, because we'll be eating off of it for days!

And finally, a couple of bonus recipes I don't have photos for: Pizzookies. These are dangerously delicious. I mean dangerous. And too easy, especially if you buy the refrigerated cookie dough, which I recommend. Here's the recipe.

This is a Beef Enchilada Casserole-type-meal. It's called Beef Taco Bake. I made it for Andrea and Brian when they moved a few weeks back and she asked for the recipe. So there it is!