Trailer Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Every year since we have been parents we go camping for Father's Day - this is what Dad wants to do. This year we had Grandma and Grandpa join us.

We all had a great weekend - the weather was great, not too hot, not too cold.

One of Jackie's favourite people is Grandpa, here they are hanging out in the trailer Saturday morning.


A first for Anderson this weekend was a wagon ride; he loved it.

Seriously, how can you say no to that face...

Jackie helping Eric BBQ dinner. I love the chair for her and the chair for her blankie - she brought the chairs over herself to hang out with him.

Sidewalk Chalk

My parents gave Jackie a bucket of sidewalk chalk - since we do not have a driveway or a sidewalk in the back, we decided the safest place for this would be the lake. So out on the road we all went - Jackie had fun, but I think the adults had even more fun.

We all helped draw on the road and laughed as Jackie proceeded in getting quite dirty.

She was very funny as she said "me makettte da miley face" (translated to me make a smiley face).

Adam is by far the best artist in the bunch, he had a Brutis, a duck, a hippo and more.

Crayons and Adults

A regular thing in our house as I am sure in most houses with a toddler is drawing - she is a great little artist but loves to have us draw pictures for her, so the other day I drew some snowmen - here is my picture.


Nice, happy snowmen.

Below you will see the picture Adam drew for Jackie - I think he was a little bored with the snowmen idea and drew a picture that made him laugh.

Hangin' Out

Pictures

Jackie holding Emily and sporting her new hair cut.

Anderson LOVES Brutis; way more than Jackie ever did and still does. He loves to watch the dog, loves to grab his fur, pull his ears - whatever.

Brutis loves Anderson, when he is on the floor doing tummy time, he is in great humping position, Anderson must taste great since Brutis loves to lick him, but mostly Brutis loves to try and steal toys and soothers. This is an attempt at a soother theft.

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies in the World

Peanut Butter Cookies*

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1/2 cup chocolate chips

For sprinkling: sugar, regular or superfine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Place sprinkling sugar — the remaining tablespoon — on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets (I rolled each cookie in the sugar), leaving several inches between for expansion.

Using a fork, lightly indent with a crisss-cross pattern, but do not overly flatten cookies.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.

Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

I think I might have beat my cookies too much since they flattened out way more than I wanted them too - however they are so good and still are a little chewy in the middle.

*recipe taken from Smitten Kitchen blog.

A New Word

Promise

A new word Jackie learned is Promise! Don’t ask me where she learned it – but it is the funniest thing ever to have your little 2 year old tell you to promise.

Here is what she will say to us:

No touch it Mommy, promise, KAY! (huge emphasise on the kay)

We have been laughing for days every time she says it to us.

Here are a few pictures of her sporting her new sunglasses. I love that stores sell this kind of stuff for kids - or really for their parents.

A Quack, quack here and a quack, quack there....

....here a quack, there a quack; everywhere a quack, quack....

Not too far from our house there are some wetlands, every spring this is where ducks and geese gather to raise their families.

Yesterday I took Jackie to see the baby geese and baby ducks. We were able to get quite close to the ducks since they were in the water, the geese however I think have had too much experience with the youth of the area and would not let us get too close - we stayed back, but Jackie still got to see the baby geese.

(All the big adult geese she called "Daddy geese" - I guess all children see their father's as being the biggest.)

Congratulations

A big congratulations to our good friends Al & Sarah - they had their first baby last week.

Emily - more stats in info on their blog.

Anderson and I went over for a visit the other day. In these pictures she is 6 days old.


Mom and Emily


Anderson and Emily - she was pretty fussy when we were there and certainly did not like being placed on the floor away from Mom for a photo shoot - I also do not think she liked Mr. Grabby Pants Anderson.

Six Months

I know I am a bit late (okay he was 7 months yesterday), but here are the stats for our little man.

Weight:
6 months: 18 pounds 6 ounces
4 months: 15 pounds 13 ounces
2 months: 12 pounds 14 ounces
birth: 7 pounds 15 ounces

Lenght:
6 months: 26 3/4 inches
4 months: 26 inches
2 months: 23 3/4 inches
birth: 20 inches

7 month update:

Anderson is a very happy little boy, always smiling in spite of a cold or teething. We have been battling teething for a long time now and today (7 months + 1 day) he cut his first tooth.

He is starting to be able to sit up on his own with out constantly falling over.

He loves to watch Jackie, and especially loves Brutis - watching him, but mostly pulling at his ears and fur.

He is doing well at sleeping through the night - he usually wakes up once around 5 - we just give him the soother and he falls back asleep until 6 or 6:30.

He can roll from front to back, but so far has not figured out how to reverse it.

Trailer Fun

Here are a few photos from our last trip out to the trailer.

Jackie sporting her new life jacket, and with the current favourite toy - caterpillar - this little guy went for lots of walks.

Helping Dad with the fire...

Caterpillar on a walk...

A Man and His Dog

Normally Brutis sleeps in his kennel in the kitchen, but when we are camping he is allowed to sleep with us, and he loves it. I got up one morning to feed Anderson, and someone moved into my spot. Seriously, I think I have been replaced

Watering the Grass

Adam was watering the grass, so Jackie had to help.

A little bit of shade

We often find Brutis under one of our camping chairs taking advantage of the shade it provides, but this was the first time he decided to take advantage of it under Jackie's little chair, we both had a good laugh.