Proof...

...that it's not all sunshine and roses around here! You know how I keep saying that Joseph has a short fuse / quick temper? Well, here it is.
He had this Vaseline bottle that he wanted me to open. I wouldn't do it because...well... I don't want a bunch of Vaseline in Joseph's mouth or around my house. Call me crazy! For the record, I did try to comfort him / distract him / feed him / hold him, all to no avail, before I pulled out the camera and pressed record.



Let me clarify that, yes, I did lie to my child and say that the bottle wouldn't open. IT does open. Quite easily, in fact. Luckily, he is one, and can't really understand that I am lying.

Goals

 

Tomorrow, I would like to:

1) Not let Joseph play in urine that has been sitting in the toilet overnight.  The toilet water is one thing, but urine?  Come on now. (In my defense, he is VERY fast, and he has officially learned how to open toilet lids…)

2) To eat 20 less bites of brownie.  Perhaps if I don’t leave the fork in the brownie pan and the brownie pan on the counter, this will be more obtainable.

3) Think about my bed, about getting into my bed, about reading in my bed, about sleeping in my bed about 4 hours less throughout the day.  Get to bed before 11, woman!

4) Teach Joseph how to change his own poopie diapers.  Enough is enough.

5) Make my bed, shower, dry my hair, wear a cute outfit (and undies), and put on makeup- ALL IN ONE DAY!

6) Get off of the computer during nap time.  Those other blogs will still be there tonight. (Adult contact!  Must have adult contact!!)

7)  Stand at the window waiting for the mail for only 5 minutes total.  You are under 90, therefore the mail can’t be THAT exciting, Caitlin

8)  Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum!  I am pretty sure that the bottoms of your socks are not supposed to be covered with Cheerios.

Obtainable? Maybe not.  But, it’s a start!

The best gift of all (to Joseph)

Joseph loves, loves, loves his kitties!!



He also does this to anything fuzzy- his stuffed animals, the carpet, my slippers...

Christmas 2008

 

Everybody is now healthy, the house is company-free for the first time in 2 weeks and 4 days (although I loved having everyone!), and I am finally feeling up to blogging!  I hope that you appreciate that I am giving up a nap to do this.  You’re welcome.  (I am so dedicated…)

Do you remember when I told you that Joseph didn’t get to bed until after 9 on Christmas Eve?  Well, that didn’t stop my early bird from waking up at 5:15 am!  I was in the middle of my daily prayer (“Please Lord, just five more minutes, just let him go back to sleep for five more minutes…”) when Brian said, “Well, honey, I think that it is Christmas morning!”  And, indeed, it was.

Santa had arrived in the night- and he even brought stuff for Brian and me! (How did he know that I needed a new hairbrush and blush…?)

Joseph glanced over at his toys, but then went straight into his play room to play with his beloved stacking cups.

We played on the drum to entice him to come to his toys/stocking.

He came about halfway,

Looked at what we were doing,

and then turned around

to continue stacking.

Finally, after playing the harmonica as loud as I could, Joseph decided that it might be worth his time to see what was going on.

He played on his drums,

and checked out his tambourine

and maracas.

Fishy crackers were a big hit,

and the harmonica was interesting to listen to.

This glitter ball was the only thing that got a real smile when I pulled it out of his stocking!

He loves it!

He got lots of books, which we have been reading over and over (and over, and over)

and his first puzzle!

Even the kitty got to come inside (briefly) to say Merry Christmas!

 (about to pull tail)

We had a nice, quiet breakfast,

complete with freshly squeezed orange juice,

and my second attempt at cinnamon rolls!

(The first attempt ended up in the trash…sigh…)

We laid low and played with toys for the rest of the day, and topped it off with a toboggan ride!

Note Brian’s garbage bags on his feet.  Pretty ghetto.  Since this picture, he has gotten a new pair of boots!

After Joseph went to bed, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law flew in, and Brian made us two racks of RIBS!! for Christmas dinner!  Sorry that there are no pictures of them- we were all too busy eating them.  A new Christmas tradition for sure!! (Thanks for the recipe, Alex!)

So, even though Joseph didn’t really get the whole Christmas thing this year, a good time was had by all.  I can’t wait for NEXT YEAR!! 

 

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

Behold, Joseph's new trick- Spinning in Circles!
(On Christmas night)




Considering that he just started walking a month or so ago, I consider this extremely impressive, and a sign of athletic prowess/domination to come. (Or, simply a Christmas miracle...he really isn't that coordinated!)
I explain Brian's garbage-bag-laden feet in my Christmas post. Pitiful!

Excuses, Excuses

 

I’m sorry for the lack of posts- mostly of the Christmas variety.  My baby has an unexplained 103 degree fever and my in-laws are in town.  I’ll get to it soon!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We certainly did. I can’t believe that it is over!!  Lots of pictures and videos to post- hopefully tomorrow. 

The Ghost of Christmas Eve Past

 

Last year, I was out in the living room nursing Joseph at this time.  No lights were on except for the Christmas lights along the wall (we skipped a Christmas tree last year- I was too, too tired.)  I looked up at the clock, realized that it was a little past midnight, and whispered “Merry Christmas” to my snuggly, sleepy, nursing baby.  And then I didn’t say anything else, because if I woke that baby up too much, I would regret it!! (“waaah, waaaah, waaah…”)

This Christmas Eve I am up late blogging and wiping crusted Cheerios and bananas off of my kitchen floor.  I tucked Brian into bed a few minutes ago, and read him “The Night Before Christmas.”  Well, I read him about 10 pages before he forced me to stop.  Apparently, he is the next scrooge. (“This book means nothing to me, Caitlin.”-Brian)  I think that he appreciates it though.

I can’t wait to see my little guy’s eyes light up tomorrow morning!

 

Sleep in Heavenly Peace…

 

Joseph is ready for Santa Clause to come to our house!!  We all hope that he doesn’t get coal in his stocking because

he is kind of naughty.

But mostly nice.

We hung up Joseph’s stocking by the fireplace for the first time.

Note that the “o” is in mid-air in this one;

not exactly the photo op I was going for!

Joseph could be a stocking in his sleep sack!

He didn’t get to bed until 9 o’clock tonight!  We had a lot of fun at my Aunt Barb’s house for dinner, and then we drove through downtown Boise on the way home to look at the lights.  Hopefully, Joseph will sleep in tomorrow morning?  The only Christmas where there is a chance of that until he is at least 16!!

It is snowing like crazy here! 

A White Christmas for sure!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

The Day of My Birth

 

As I said, yesterday was my Birthday!!  Can you believe how young I still am?  Can’t even rent a car.  And yet, so talented at blogging…odd…

My birthday didn’t go quite as planned because

 

Yep, poor Julie’s flight into Portland got cancelled again!  They were booked through tomorrow night, too, so think happy (warm) thoughts for the Portland airport!

Also, it snowed! 

I love, love, love the snow, so it was a GREAT birthday present for me. (Although, it kept Julie from her family, and me from Winco, so…)

 

Julie and I decided to make the most of our additional time together tomake/decorate some Christmas sugar cookies!  Unfortunately, I didn’t have ANY Christmas cookie cutters.  I know, I can make holiday marshmallows, but no holiday cookie cutters?    And why, oh why, would I have St. Patrick’s Day cookie cutters, but no Christmas ones?  I’m a mystery.

We decided to use the cookie cutters that were shaped like pumpkins (kind of like Christmas balls) and hearts (because we LOVE Christmas…?)  Unfortunately again, some didn’t come out so good and looked just like blobs.

So, Julie is REALLY good at decorating cookies, and me…not so much.  Let’s just get to eating.  Look here:

Can you tell which ones were mine?

I’ll give you a hint, mine are the ones that look just like frosted blobs-

Here is one cookie that I am quite proud of.

Yes, yes, it IS little baby Jesus laying in the manger!  Thank you!  (Julie did the manger.)

While Brian was taking Julie to the airport / picking Julie up from the airport, I made a calzone, and hung out with Joseph.

Check out that shirt that I made!  Boojah!

Then, Joseph and I took our second annual Birthday Picture in Front of the Mantel!

Here are last years’:

Look at how far my mantle (and Joseph) have come!

We threw the babies in bed, and settled down to eat cookies and watch Big Love; a show, ironically, about polygamy.  Just Brian and his two wives…

Odd.

 

 

Not sure what happened, but TODAY is actually my birthday.  The 21st.  I am 24.  Yay!

So cute, it hurts

Today is my Birthday! Unluckily for Julie, but luckily for me, her flight yesterday was canceled, and so we are camping out together even longer! Keep your fingers crossed for her flight today- she really misses her husband!
Joseph now can howl like a wolf, so I just had to video it.
Please also note my Christmas clock chiming in the background, and the boys' matching shirts.

Because He is Cute and His Daddy Misses Him

Here's Jaxon!

Thursday’s Culinary Adventure X

 

Tonight on Thursday’s Culinary Adventure-

That’s right, as in “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” and you can bet that we sang that song most of the time we were preparing them!

There are many ways to prepare chestnuts, but being that our fireplace is gas, we couldn’t roast them.  Sad.  We decided to cook them on the stovetop, because it looked easiest.

Boil a pan full of water.  Add chestnuts and boil 8-10 minutes.

Drain them, and return them to the pan.  Let them sit in the hot pan over low heat for a few minutes so that they are nice and dry.

Cut them in half and remove the shell and the brown skin.

Eat.  Them.

Taste Testers Say:

Julie: (“Why does this taste like turkey?”)

Caitlin: (“Oh, eww!  It tastes like MUSHY MEAT!”) (Note that my picture is in “Sepia” to disguise my greasy hair.)

Brian: (“This. is. disgusting.”)

Summary:  EEEEWWWW!!  Why, God, Why?  These seriously taste like mushy old turkey or something.  Why is there a song about them?  They are disgusting.  Maybe if they are used IN something, like stuffing…?  Disguising the flavor…  I don’t know.  Don’t eat them plain.

Grade:  Ranging from a D to an F, depending on how you use it and who out of us you ask.  (I vote “F”)