Gingerbread Train!

A little backstory:
Back in college Danielle introduced me to making gingerbread houses. I'm not sure if her family did it every year but it became tradition for us. I'm still so proud of my first gingerbread house that I made with her and I was so proud to show my new boyfriend too. He'd be so proud right? Well he was because back then he was totally in love with me. Now I push a nine pound baby out of myself drug free and he tells me that it's not real pain because it's what my body is meant to do. Anyway, I didn't get to do it that last two years and was bummed. This year I saw an ad for a gingerbread contest downtown and thought, "I'm going to start to share this with Amelia!" I'm so glad I did because she loved it. Maybe it was just the candy and icing part, but I tweaked her interest anyway. This year we started with a pre-made gingerbread train out of the box.
(Danielle, this post just may be like nails on a chalkboard to you!)

I left the room for a moment to throw something away and found that she had taken a nibble out of the wheel, which you can see. This was all before nap so I thought I'd better watch her sugar intake.

So sweet and innocent, she probably thought this was just all here for her to eat.

She was so good with the icing, totally catching on with how to squeeze it properly, not exactly in this photo though. Danielle would be proud!

She enjoyed putting the icing on herself, especially after she saw me lick off the end of the tube when there was some hanging. Now, whenever she finished applying icing she made sure to squeeze a bunch out and say, "oopsy," and proceed to lick it off too. Yep, no dummy here!

She ever so carefully placed the candy on the icing. (Translation: She was pretty careful to not break the structure, but not so careful as to scrape the back of her nail over the excess icing EVERY TIME and lick it off. Remember, I've still got naptime in the back of my mind.)

What was Owen doing, playing patiently in his exersaucer like the good bubbers he is!

Not the greatest icing technique here, but at this point I didn't want much coming out for her to lick.

The "cheese" smile.

Testing the ingredients.

Finished product.

Remember folks, she did all the decorating herself!

Poor baby!

So that is our first gingerbread project and hopefully the first of many. It will be on display down at the College Football Hall fo Fame next week until Christmas. The judging will be on December 12th at 1pm adn prizes awarded at 3pm. There will also be a People's Choice award, so come out and vote for my baby girl!

Feeding Baby.

She even says "ummmm" like I say to Owen. And I'm pretty sure she's scraping up baby's chin to catch all the food that didn't make it in.

New Bath and Good Big Sissies!

After the ball was out of reach, he sat and stared outside for a while.

The good little mommy!

Yes, I realize he has pink on too, but my mom couldn't find his jammy's and put Amelia's on.

This kid loves his new baths!

Loves the washrag, just like mommy did when she was little!

Today we went through her toy box to find things she could give to Owen. We only found two things that Owen can have, but that's still not exclusively.

And Oliver STILL Isn't In Love With Them!

See The Difference!

It's green and he still loves it.

I seriously can't get it to his mouth fast enough. AND, it doesn't squirt out of his mouth, he keeps it all in, like a champ.

Lovin' every minute of it!

Mo please!

I love food!

What is this CRAP you put in my mouth mommy?

I have no clue how to keep it in my mouth.

Can't we just wait until next month to try this food thing???

Breast milk is much better!

She even had to be propped up by towels, underneat and on each side because she didn't have the core body muscle support that Owen did. Oh how different our kids are!

New Chairs!

Amelia got her own new booster seat because she's a big girl! I am very proud to say it is made from 50% recycled plastic and was made in the USA!

Owen's a tank in the high chair. Nothing like Amelia!

Pumpkin Carving!

The artist at work.

Michelle, see your, I mean my, wonderful steamer in the background? I think of you every time I use it!

I've Been Saying This For Years!

Seriously, even the spokeswoman for Baby Einstein says "We never claimed they were educational."

http://www.comcast.net/video/baby-einstein-offers-refunds-on-videos/1307383907

The Portal is Closed!

Say "hi" to Jenn's dad the plumber!

Yep, the clean white block on the left side of the picture is the portal all sealed up.

Look Michelle, the portal to the other dimension is directly to my right. They sealed it off and brought down the wall by three blocks so there is now storage crawlspace. The basement actually looks much nicer than this as this was before it was cleaned up and really dry. It's not bone dry because the weather sucks, but it's drier than this picture. They did find my dad's old scuba gear in the portal, some other being dragged it through but apparently it couldn't be beamed to the netherworld.

This makes me so proud!

Yuck!

Rice cereal, he hates it, but then again who wouldn't. Amelia hated it too, and we went straight to sweet potatoes and homemade applesauce for her. I remember she couldn't get enough of pureed spinach at one time. I have a feeling he'll like everything!

Michelle Ma Belle

These are my sickies. This is back in September, and we've been fighting stuff ever since.

Fun Weekend with the Girls!

Went down to Indy this week and saw Danielle and Michelle. It's nice to have all the kids in the same age group!
We utilized Gina's exersaucer a bunch, thanks Gina!

I walked into the living room to pick up the ficus yet again and about had a heart attack when I glanced at this. Jasmine likes to be under pillows, covers, etc.

Sorry it's fuzzy. Big "0" and Lex.

Awesome Auntie Danielle had a "make your own quesadilla" night.

Look at these happy boys!!

First Day of Preschool!

Despite the way she looks in the first picture, she was very excited.
She's watching all the other kids walk up to the school. We have to wait until a teacher comes to our car before we get out.

But of course on the first day I had to get pictures, so we got out anyway.

The sun was very bright!

There's my baby, she's such a big girl!!!

Yes, I cried a little. I went home and sat around wondering what to do with myself.

On day two, today, she said "bye bye mommy" just as I opened the car door to get her out. I didn't even have her out of the car seat restraints and she's saying goodbye. Wow.