Foto Friday–On the Water

Last month, we took a trip down to Florida to visit Jack’s Grandparents.  While it did take 2 days to drive from Ohio to Florida, it was not a hardship at all.  We were on the Gulf side, between Sarasota and Ft. Meyers, FL.  The weather was PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL.  We spent a few days at the beach (where I got sunburned badly), one at the big aquarium in Sarasota and the rest of the time just enjoying the company.  I love that my In-laws are Snow Birds.  I think I may join them next year. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.  You can be sure there were a ton more than this, but I thought I’d pick my favorites for this post.  I did run them through Photoshop, but the only touch ups I did for any of them was auto levels/color/contrast.  I didn’t do anything fancy at all.  I didn’t feel that they needed anything.  Maybe I’ll play around with them another day.

The surf was exceptionally strong (high?) the first day we were at the beach.  This guy was taking advantage of the good surging conditions.

These are my in-laws.  I loved how they look as they’re taking a walk on the beach. Of these two very similar photos, I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so put them both on here.

After the grandparents finished their walk, they said they’d watch Jack while Rick and I went for a walk on the beach.  What a great time.  I want to remember what it feels like to walk in the surf and sand.   

This Egret looks so regal sitting on the pier waiting for his next meal – an accidental drop by a fisherman perhaps? The Herron was ready at a moments notice.  Or maybe he just enjoyed watching the fishermen on the pier like we did.

The last night of our vacation, we went to the beach to watch the sunset.  It was a cloudy night, so the sunset wasn’t all that impressive, but the subtle color in the clouds were still beautiful.  I’ll definitely miss the beach!

Happy Friday to You

I have a few pictures for you today. 

This week’s theme for Foto Friday is “silhouette”.  (which I never spell correctly the first time!)  I was going to take a new picture of Jack this week for this prompt, but I was too lazy  decided to pick one from my archives instead.  This is one of my favorites.  Jack was 6 months here. My little virtuoso. 

A friend of mine (and her friend) started a new photo challenge. This one has prizes, so I thought I’d get over my fear of submitting photos alongside REAL photographers and submit one this week. I like to support my friends, so I’m only partially in it for the prizes.  Here is my best photo from this week.

Since we live very close to a military airport, we see a LOT of KC135s and C5s.  They routinely do “touch and go’s”, which is when they come in for a landing, but just touch down, then go back up in the air again.  They’ll circle around and do that over and over again.  Each time, this is the view that we get. (This is a C5 –the largest airplane in operation)

 

And here is a picture “just because.”  Last weekend, we went to Gramma’s to watch the OSU game.  (they lost in OT)  At one point, Jack and Gramma both had on their Ohio State scarves and were reading a book together (during commercials I’m sure – Gramma’s a big Buckeye fan).  I thought the image was super sweet and wanted to share it with you today.

Have a great Friday!  And a really great weekend. 

Foto Friday: Old

Today’s challenge at Foto Friday is OLD.  While I originally was going to post a self portrait, I decided I’m not THAT old, and I should post a picture of my dear husband instead.  (He just had a big birthday this month and is feeling really old)

Then I got my act together and figured out what I can take a picture of that is actually old and also has sentimental meaning to me.

These are my grandmother’s old recipe file boxes.  She died just 9 days after my wedding almost 6 years ago.  She was the sweetest little *really little* woman. I’ve ever met.  It still makes me a bit weepy to think that she’s not here anymore, but I’m looking forward to the day that I get to see her *and Granddad* again in Heaven. What a great celebration that will be!

Speaking of celebration…Whenever we would all get together as a family, Grandma would bring her famous Grandma Brownies.  They were Chocolate Marshmallow Brownies, and she was the only one who even tried to make them. They are pretty hard to master. She would fill a tin full of these brownies (two layers if it was the right size tin!) and give each family a tin to take home.  The understanding was that if you don’t return the tin the next time you saw Grandma, you don’t get any more brownies.  Needless to say, we always returned our tins!

When we were going through her house after she died, I was allowed to take home her recipe tins. You know, I’ve gone through these tins a few times and I think I’ve found 7 recipe cards for those brownies! She knew when she had a good thing going.   I am now making it my mission to be the maker of ‘Grandma Brownies’ in our family.  It takes a lot of practice.  I don’t think anyone’s complaining about that though.

Go check out other photos that are “OLD” today at Mom Tried It.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Kim’s photo today.  It’s a beautiful old barn and she’s done an amazing job editing it.  Go see it!!

 

Motherhood

This post isn’t a long dissertation on what it’s like being a mother.  I just read over at We Are THAT Family about Kristen’s definition of Motherhood.  She said '”…it’s about the impromptu kisses and hugs.”  I can only add one more thing to that short list.  Laughter.  Kisses, hugs, and laughter is what Motherhood is about.  Well, it’s what the good stuff is about.  I know it’s about the tears, fears, and spills too, but let’s focus on the happy times for now.

This made me think of these three pictures.  They are the definition of Motherhood.  One of the pictures is Jack with his Grandma, and it’s fuzzy, but it captures the best moment.  I have to imagine that the only thing better than Motherhood is Grand-Motherhood!

I love being a mom!!!

Scout

Jack received this present from his Grandparents at Christmastime, and he LOVES it!

Meet Scout:

He sings, lights up, and knows Jack’s name, favorite color, food and animal.  He’s a LeapFrog toy, and his paws all do something different.  They’re very easy for Jack to push, which I think is why he enjoys playing with him so much.  Scout is very much loved by our boy.

Case in point-

Last night, Jack wanted to take Scout up to bed with him.  I usually don’t bring him up, simply because he’s loud.  His many songs and activities have no volume control, and since it’s a time for quiet, I haven’t wanted to bring Scout up to bed with us.  But, last night, Jack really wanted to bring him up.  He gave him a big hug, a few kisses, and walked to the stairs, ready for bed.  So, Scout joined us for bedtime last night.

It took a few extra minutes for Jack to get to sleep because of having Scout with him (he also asked for Monkey, so he had two friends in bed last night).  Eventually, Jack got to the point where he would sit up, push Scout’s paw, then lay back down.  He did this for a while, and then finally fell asleep.  I thought about removing Scout for the rest of the night, so he wouldn’t wake Jack unintentionally if Jack accidently hit his paw or something.  But, I figured that if Jack really wanted Scout to be with him, I should leave him in there.

Around 10 o’clock, I checked on Jack, Scout, and Monkey.  I think walking down the hall must have made Jack stir, because when I opened his door, I heard Scout going through the start of all his songs as Jack’s foot was doing the ‘horse-foot-stomping’ thing.  I turned Scout off and picked up Jack to snuggle him back to sleep like we usually do, but things were different this night.  Instead of wanting to snuggle into my shoulder, he pointed back to Scout for me to lay him back in his crib!  He wanted to snuggle in with Scout – not Mommy!  Okay!!  I’ll take that!  He wrapped his little arm around Scout’s neck and went right back to sleep.  We didn’t hear from Jack again until much later.

Could it be that we’ve finally found a comfort toy for Jack?  I hope so!  

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa W!!!

New Food Adventures

Jack is 8 months today. 8 months! We'll be doing our monthly progression photo today, and I'm hoping things go better than last month. I've stitched up Buddy Bear and washed the quilt, so we're ready to go. This 'birth'day comes with a few Growth Chart Moments.

Jack ate his first finger food this weekend. The In-Laws came down to visit Saturday, and they took us out for dinner. I didn't take food along with us, because Jack had just eaten, but because of an impromptu nap on the way to the restaurant, we ended up getting there later than I expected. So, Jack was hungry. I asked if they had a banana for him, but big Italian restaurants don't have bananas. Go figure. So we gave him a bread-stick with no butter or garlic. This was his first time trying out 'finger food'. Not sure I would have started with a bread-stick, but it worked out great! He just gnawed away on it, and it slowly disintegrated. I did have to fish out a few big chunks a few times.

Since he's 8 months old now, I can start trying new foods for Jack to explore. My first new food: chicken! Before I read up on baby food making, I had no idea you could puree meat. Well, I've done it, and I can say - it's WEIRD! I boiled a chicken breast, let it cool, cut it into chunks, and then chopped it in my blender. It turns into a texture that is similar to Moon Sand. I have to admit, that it does not look yummy, but baby food doesn't always appeal to the mommy, right? I tried giving Jack his new food by itself, causing him to make all sorts of 'yuck' faces. Then I added it to some green beans. More 'yuck' faces. Finally, I tried mixing the chicken with sweet potatoes. That worked the best, since he loves sweet potatoes, but it didn't last long. I think chicken is going to be a 'work in progress' for awhile.

Finally, after all the new food adventures, and especially after the bread stick adventure, I decided to give Jack some O-shaped cereal. Let's just say he's not there yet. He looks at them on his tray, plays with them, picks them up in his little fingers, and puts them in his highchair "for later", but he does not eat them. He did try ONE, but he didn't seem to like it. We'll try again later.

Here is a picture from our visit with the Grandparents this weekend. Do you think Jack will fit in to the family? You've gotta love 3 generations of plaid!