The Graham Family Tales

So Glad It's Not Just us....

2010-08-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

I know it has been FOREVER since I have updated last. Alton has started preschool and is doing tremendously well there. We started him two days a week so he could get used to school and he adjusted VERY quickly. He was that kid that enters the class room, drops off his back pack and takes off without saying good bye to his mama.

In most ways I am proud that he is so secure that he is comfortable enough to just enjoy school and not have any separation anxiety... a tiny part of me wishes he would miss me a little.

Alton has started swimming lessons as well. He has mostly gotten over his fear of water... but it's still there a little bit and he does not float on his back well. I know it will come in time, but he's just not there yet.

Layouts made with mama's collab with Jenn Barrette, Making Waves

With the arrival of Alton's third birthday, we have taken delivery of a truck-load of attitude. I have talked to other girlfriends with little people Alton's age, and they all assure me that their children have developed the same personality quirk. So while it does not make it any easier to deal with, it does make me feel LOADS better that it's not just us that are dealing with a three year old diva. Is there a male version of that word? There's gotta be!

One thing the truck load of attitude has done is causing me to spend a LOT more time in prayer. I have never raised a three year old before. I pray DAILY for wisdom and patience. I want to raise an independent, creative thinker who loves God and is obedient to His word. If I could just get him to listen to me the first time I ask him to do something, I would be so happy.

Alton's behavior outside them home is getting a LOT better. After reading a library book or two on sharing and just 3+ weeks of pre-school, Alton has improved his social skills and sharing ability remarkably.

He sings along to songs in the car now, and requests his favorites on the iPod regularly. He is a BIG fan of God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man and Don't Give Me That Broccoli! The latter being repeated at dinner... Le Sigh. I can't say I really blame him about the broccoli.

There is more I am sure, but it is late. If you could pray for a couple of things for me, that would be awesome. One, for more patience and wisdom. I want to be a good mother and I want to raise an obedient child. Pray that God would help me do that. Secondly, for Alton pray that he would have an obedient heart and that he would want to be an obedient boy. Finally, Travis has a second interview tomorrow and another one later in the week. Help him to do well and to have a clear path about which job to choose if that situation arises. :)

Adventures in Couponing

2010-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

So I have been reading Kelleigh Ratzlaff's blog and she has inspired me in a few ways. One of which is to try my hand at couponing again. I did it when Travis and I were first married, and usually saved 35-50% off of my bill. That was without buying a member ship to any of the pay coupon sites too. The best I ever did was 75% off of my total once. That receipt stayed tacked up on the fridge for a LONG time. :)

Anyway on my last trip to Costco, I was appalled at how much my bill was. I thought I shopped at Costco to save money? I did the math and figured out that I was spending WAY too much money on meat there. With exception of ground turkey, I buy only frozen meat products at Costco. The Kirkland brand ground beef has always been decent to eat. I forget right now what the meat to fat ratio is, but something is telling me it is 91/9. The price went up recently and it is now $3.25 a pound for FROZEN GOODNESS ONLY KNOWS WHAT THEY MIXED IN THE CHUB ground beef.

The Kirkland brand boneless skinless chicken breasts have previously always been good. But the last two bags have been VERY chewy no matter which way I prepare them. So the quality has gone down due I am sure to whatever non-organic processing method they are using on it. The price of that has steadily gone up too and this last time it contributed to my over large bill.

DON"T EVER BUY THE KIRKLAND FROZEN GROUND TURKEY!!! Ground turkey is not supposed to be spongy and dripping out moisture when you defrost it. I still have a bag with 4 chubs of it in my garage if someone would like to do an experiment to find out what the heck is in the frozen ground turkey there. I am not sure what the price per pound for the fresh ground turkey breast is there, but I do know that when the similar product is on sale at Vons, it is priced competitively.

Now of course on the last trip I stocked up on all three, so I did not buy any this week at Vons.

So back to Kelleigh. She posts these crazy blog posts with pictures where she gets $50.00 worth of groceries for $15.00. So I decided to try coupons again. I called Ralphs and Vons and got my actual club card numbers. Then I went to their web sites and registered my club cards. Both stores have an area on their web site where you can pick manufacturer e-coupons that you can load on your club card and use with newspaper coupons. Vons also has a couple of other E-Coupon sites on their site where you can register your club card number and to get more E-Coupons.

I have twice now gone shopping at Vons. The first time I saved 48% off of my bill and tonight I saved 49% off of my bill. Both times I only had the e-coupons and consulted the Vons weekly ad to see what was on sale. I also grabbed a few in store coupons. I am kicking myself that I did not get a Sunday paper yesterday, because I missed those coupons. (Anyone local have their coupons to spare?)

So what did I get? I got two cartons of strawberries for .99 cents each. Alton will be thrilled tomorrow morning when he finds them. Avacados were .99 cents each, so we will be using those tomorrow night when we have skirt steak fajitas. Speaking of the skirt steak, I had a $2 off any $10 meat purchase, so that e-coupon went to the meat. (I don't think Kelleigh would approve of how much I paid for the meat, but Alton loves steak and I wanted fajitas. LOL)

I had a $1 off e-coupon for Cascadian Farms organic cereal. They were on sale for $3.29 and one of the boxes had a $2.00 off coupon. Plus I had a $2 Catalina I earned last week for buying the same cereal with the same coupons. So I got two boxes of organic cereal for $1.58. I am sure there was a coupon in the paper too, so I might have been able to get them for free. I did earn another $2 Catalina for next week. (Does ANYONE know why they call them Catalinas?)

We don't generally buy taquitos. But the box of 60 was on sale for 9.99 and I had a $3 e-coupon and a $3 off coupon that was in the weekly ad. So the $11 box of taquitos became $3.99. The make a fun lunch every once in a while for my rice and bean loving child. It's something he can dip. ;)
Classico spaghetti sauce was $1.45 if you bought 3. I bought 3. Starbucks has new ice creams... so there was a $2 off any two Starbucks ice creams. They were on sale and I had some sort of coupon. So two pints of yummy ice cream for under $3? Yes please.

They had GREAT prices on several produce items we eat a lot of. Cara Cara oranges (THE BEST!) were 99 cents a pound, so were broccoli crowns and bagged fresh spinach. Those prices are even cheaper than the farmer's market around here. They were out of the spinach, so I remembered to get a rain check.

This will be an interesting experiment. We don't eat a lot of processed food and there are certain things my DH just won't eat. Alton is FORBIDDEN to eat kids sugar cereal, so I won't be utilizing those sort of coupons. And I don't know if Travis will allow me to build a hoarding pantry like so many crazy coupon ladies seem to do. But I am going to try. I will let you know how it goes.

I am not yet convinced. For certain things, Trader Joe's is just better and or cheaper. For instance, Vons does not carry yogurt that is sweetened with cane juice instead of something artificial or high fructose corn syrup. Staple items like frozen peas, corn, and spinach are still cheaper at Trader Joes. Even the national brands with a coupon are more expensive than TJs. Also, with at least the Green Giant veggies, there were no plain veggies for the brand I had a coupon and e-coupon for. They all had some butter or cheese sauce slopped on them, which while tasty, kind of defeat the purpose of eating vegetables in the first place, you know what I mean?

More Library Book Fun

2010-03-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

The Reader

Wheels on the Go! by La Coccinella

Alton LOVES this book. He learned some new transportation items, and it is a book has very happy to sit and read to himself.

Big Words For Little People by Jaimie Lee Curtis and Illustrated by Laura Cornell
I was VERY pleasantly surpised by this book. I didn't think that Alton would be that into it, but since I myself have a pretty large volcabulary, I hope that Alton will too. He LOVED this book and asked for it over and over again. He can't say all of the words, but he still loves it anyway.

Home Run by Robert Burleigh and illustrated by Mike Wimmer

I got this book for Alton to read with his Daddy. They both loved this book. It's kinda like a two part book. They have beautiful illustrations and a short little story on each page (whoot for easy bed time reading). Then they have another blurb on the page (in a smaller font) that contains all of the sports nut trivia that Daddy liked to read on his own.

Alton has a new favorite Character.

Tip the Mouse Can't Sleep by Carol Ottolenghi and illustrated by MArco Campenella

I love love love the illustrations in this book. Did you know that in a mouse house a sink is made from spool of thread, a bottle cap, and a straw suspended by tooth floss? I didn't either. I love the colors and drawings in this book.

Tip and Alton are apparently on the same development path. Alton thought this book was hilarious and asked for it multiple times daily.

If we were going to buy another book right now, this would be it.

Jon Scieszka's Trucktown Truckery Rhymes
written by David Shannon, Illustrated by Loren Long and David Gordon

This book borrows on old Mother Goose nursery rhymes and relates them to transportation items. Easily Alton's favorite library book of all time. It is over 50 pages long and he repeatedly sat through the whole book. Love this one.

Grandma, if you are reading this, Alton wants this book. ;)

Trip to the Fire Station!

2010-03-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

Alton and I joined MOMS club last week. Our first trip with them was to Fire Station 6 in Torrance.

Look how tiny my big boy looks next to the hook and ladder truck!

He had the best time climbing all over this thing!

Alton driving the front of the hook and ladder truck.

Alton was very excited about trying on the Firemen's gear. Here he is suiting up.

As you can see, Alton is not at all shy. He stood right next to Fireman Kubota the entire time and even held his helmet for him later.

Trying on the helmet while holding it for the fireman. He figured out how to turn on the head light after about 5 seconds of wearing the helmet.

It was all I could do to keep Alton from climbing up to the back of the hook and ladder fire truck. Finally they let the kids climb in. Alton was very eager and as soon as he sat down, he starting asking for a hat to wear. Fireman Kubota helped Alton find one for this picture. :)

Right after Alton climbed out of the back of the hook and ladder truck, they got a call, which effectively ended our trip to Fire Station 6. Thank you Torrance Fire Fighters, we had a great time!

Dan and Sarah's Wedding

2010-03-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is an Alton picture free post, so if that's what you are here for, you can ignore this post. ;)

Travis and I traveled to Ramona for Dan Krans and Sarah Krans's (nee Label) wedding. Props to Sprint and Google maps app for Blackberry because we had a signal and map all the way there, even in the sticks were there were unpaved roads. Unpaved roads are not a friend to the tatas by the way. LOL

Traffic was awful though. We stopped on the freeway in about every city between San Onofre and Ramona because traffic was so bad. We got there just as Dan and Sarah were kissing as husband and wife for the first time.

It must have been a fancy occasion, Mama wore make-up! ;)

One of the best parts of any wedding is seeing old friends. Not that we don't see Brian, John, and Maggie, but we definitely see Maggie and John less since they moved back to Sacramento. Le Sigh. I just love candid photos, don't you?

John paid to dance with Dan during the money dance... of all the times to not have my camera on me! I got this shot just at the end. I think Maggie got a better one of them in more of a dancing position....

Look! Mama and Daddy all dressed up with somewhere to go! Darned flash though, we are all washed out looking. :(

This one is one of my favorites:

Jen Graham, Travis Graham, Dan Krans, Sarah Krans, Brian Anderson, Maggie Gedeon, and John Gedeon. Also known as The Cal Polys and their associates. The associates of course being the non-Cal Poly alum spouses.

I love weddings. Someone else needs to get married so we can go to one. It is the only time I can get Travis to dance with me. LOL Which is funny because he CAN ballroom dance and I am utterly hopeless. I am worse than someone with two left feet.

Thank you Dan and Sarah for a wonderful afternoon and evening!

Napping is very hard work

2010-03-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

Library Book Finds

2010-03-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying story time at the local library for a couple of months now. There have been some wonderful books that we have read that we most likely would have never found if we were just buying them at the book store.

Toot and Puddle

Holly Hobbie (author)

This book is gorgeously illustrated. I think that is my favorite part of the book in fact. Alton really liked this one because he recognized some of the art and other things that are in the book from Little Einsteins. It's very sweet and I would read it again.

A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems (Hardcover)~ Deborah Ruddell (Author)
Joan Rankin (Illustrator)

This book is genuinely funny. Both Travis and I laughed out loud when reading it to Alton. He sat through the reading of the entire book, and he also enjoyed looking at all of the different pictures of animals. It also taught him about different animals not covered in your basic Boynton, like salamanders. My favorite poem was the one about the turkey.

The Squeaky, Creaky Bed (Hardcover)

Pat Thomson (Author)
Niki Daly (Illustrator)

This book was very funny too. It has a lot of repetition which is apparently good for pre-school aged kids. (It's been a while since my child development classes...) Anyway, my favorite part of this book is the grandfather. He is totally a hippy. He wears birkenstocks, drives a VW bus, and his hair is longer than Grandmas. Alton loved all of the animal noises in the book. :)

The Tickle Monster Is Coming! (Hardcover)~ James Otis Thach (Author)
David Barneda (Illustrator)

This is our favorite one I think. Needless to say there was lots of bedtime laughter and tickling going on when we had this book. I highly recommened this one, and we will most likely re-check this one out again.

Alton also loved The Secret Shortcut by Mark Teague and Matilda the Moocher by Diana Cain Bluthenthal

The Lap Puppy

2010-03-02T10:20:00.001-08:00

P365/P52 Days 12-14

2010-01-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well I have officially gone twice as far as I did last year on this challenge. :)
Day 12
Alton riding his bike at the park. He WOULD not wear his bike "hat" because none of the other kids had one.

Day 13
Alton's first trip to Lowes with Pop Pop. He took his tools to the hardware store.

Look how little he looks!
Day 14
Early morning hot wheel races are good for the soul, don't you think?

More Layouts!

2010-01-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't posted any new layouts in six months.... Let's watch Alton get older this time shall we?

(By the way the credits for these layouts can be found in my gallery here.)

P365/P52 Days 6-11

2010-01-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

We are missing Day 6 because my camera’s memory card went wonky and deleted the photos I took Wednesday. I had a lot of pictures of Alton hoarding trucks at the Mom’s Club meeting.

Day 7
I got out for Mom's Night Out for Mom's Club, and I actually ice skated!

Here is my Tweet from the experience: "Ice. Fog. Tiny little slivers of metal attached to a moon boot. Beach. Jen. Which of these do not belong? For the record, I did not fall!"

Day 8
The new Pottery Barn Kids catalog arrives. Alton pours through it and asks that Santa bring him EVERY wooden car/truck/thing that moves on wheels in the catalog. (Which by the way, they don't sell in the catalog.) He also asks for the Fire truck bedding set. When we tell him Santa only comes once a year, he asks us to ask Amma....

I also think this is funny enough to note, When I told Travis that Alton was pouring through the catalog, he said, "Well now we don't need to have a girl. You already have someone to Pottery Barn shop with." Men.

Day 9
Alton is going to be a great reader like his mama and Uncle Robert. I often find him like this when he wakes up from his nap.

Day 10
Yes, that is my 2 1/2 year old on a bike. Yes he rides it. Yes, I am terrified of what this means. Pop Pop declares that the streets of Torrance will never be the same.

Day 11
Who doesn't love a good bubble bath?

Project 365...

2010-01-06T01:32:00.000-08:00

Day 1
In the backyard....

Day 2
Trying to convince Daddy to hand over the keys. When asked where he was going, Alton said, "To buy more gucks and nummies." That is a direct quote.

Day 3
Alton's first pair of light up shoes. We got them shopping at the Tulare Outlets with Uncle "PatPat" and Auntie "Ann"

Day4
Supervising Uncle Pat Pat's sprinkler installation.

Day 4 still...
He is going to make a great big brother some day. He LOVED this little girl that was Patrick and Rae Ann's neighbor. He kept trying to keep Madeline out of the DVDs and CDs. So cute!

Day 4 continued...
We got home at 11 o'clock at night from Patrick and Rae Ann's. Alton was so tired that even though I was carrying him to his room, he felt it necessary to get down and crawl into his arm chair. I have no idea where he got my candle snuffer bag from. LOL

Day 5. Alton's "guck and vroom vroom" sheets from Amma and the construction quilt make their debut. Alton is quite pleased by this.

We will see how long this lasts....

A New Week, New Layouts

2009-06-24T09:00:00.001-07:00

Let's watch Alton get younger again, shall we?

both of the above LOs were made with the Flergs/Kaye Winiecki kit A Perfect Day

Ziggle and Amanda Heimann's Surfer Dude
Scrap Orchard Designers, Beach Bum
Madame Wing, My Man
Wyld Web Designs New Recycling
Scrap Orchard Designers Starry Night
Britt-ish Designs Space Ranger

Madame Wing, A Star is Born
Madame Wing
kit by me!!!

I have been feeling VERY nostalgic since Alton turned two on Friday. Hence the labor and birth day layouts.

Alton is definitely two. He says no, multiple times a day and is into EVERYTHING!!! He is talking more, and tries to tell stories. So cute!

I cut his bangs for the first time yesterday. I have to say, I did a pretty good job. They are reasonably straight, I did not cut them too short and there aren't any jagged edges. Trying to get him to look at me and hold still was an adventure though, I will tell you.

Beach-y Layouts

2009-06-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

We've been going to the beach a lot. It's not far from our house and it is really fun to watch Alton play in the sand and he is getting braver about going into the ocean. His favorite part of going to the beach though, is washing the sand off of his feet at the beach's showers.

I used the Graham Like the Cracker/Wyld Web Designs Collab, The Seaweed is Always Greener for this layout. I also used Elegant WordArt by Bethany's word art.

I used the Amanda Heimann/Ziggle Collab, Surfer Dude for this layout. The BOY alpha is from the Scrap Orchard June Mega, recolored.

An All Scrap Review...

2009-06-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

So I had a request for some new photos... I don't do just photos anymore... (Omg that would be so much faster!) So here are all of the digital scrapbooking layouts I have done lately. He gets younger the further down you go!

We have soooo much fun with him!

Kit: A Star Danced: In Space by Graham Like the Cracker (hey! that's me!)

Kit: Blast Off! By the Gingerbread Ladies and Gingersnaps (I am one of those)
Kit: The Seaweed is Always Greener by me and Char. WA by Elegant WordArt by Bethany
kit by me (not released yet)
kit by me and char again. (Hi Katie! the little girl in these pictures is Chloe, Katie and Andrew's daughter)
Kit by Me, Everyday Adventures. String by Flergs
WA by Elegant Word Art by Bethany, Kit Everyday Elegance by Stolen Moments
Kit by Char and me, still
Kit, Tomfoolery by Amanda Heimann and Bella Gypsy, WA by Elegant WordArt by Bethany
kit by Flergs
Kit: Scrap Orchard February Mega
Kit: Britt-ish Designs Motor Mania
Kit: Wynken Blinked and Nod by Stolen Moments
Kit: Floral Fusion by Stolen Moments
Kit: Spring is in the Air by the Gingerbread Ladies
Kit by Britt-ish Designs
Kit: Magical Vacation by Amanda Heimann (the other kids are Char's)
Kit: Firefly Lane by Amanda Heimann and Ziggle Designs
Kit: Magical Vacation by Amanda Heimann
Kit by Char
Kit by me (not yet released)
kit: Make a Wish by Stolen Moments
Kit: Bottom of the Toybox available at The Lily Pad
kit: Scrap Orchard May Mega
Kit: A Star is Born by Madame Wing

Still Alive

2009-05-19T22:18:00.001-07:00

Alton is growing and signing and talking!

He actually got an award at church last weekend for telling his teacher that his friend needed more crackers during snack. :)

He is talking so much more!

He is also sick right now. Poor little Boo Bear has tummy troubles. :(

Quick Update

2009-04-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Bad Mommy! I've not updated in forever!

Alton continues to amaze and confound us. He is finally talking more. Uh-oh! is his favorite new word, and he loves to ask for cheese, but he is still allergic to it.

He has also turned into the jumping climber that his father before him was. His favorite thing to do right now is fly (while nekkid) from the top of his dresser onto his queen sized bed. Good times.

About the queen sized bed; the toddler bed is no more. When the M***'s came to visit in March, we actually cleared out the guest room and Alton discovered there was a large and spacious bed in there. He took exactly one more nap in his toddler bed, and then he moved himself into the guest room. It is a larger room, and it of course had the larger bed.

His old bedroom now houses his train table. He is OBSESSED with all things transporative. Cars, trucks, trains, buses, they are all awesome as far as he is concerned. He makes car and train noises all by himself. I swear I can see Travis's chest swell with fatherly pride when Alton races his hotwheels and makes the car noises.

Another climbing story for you. Last weekend Trav and I were working on our his and her's laptops and Alton was playing with his hot wheels. Then he picked up his back yard lawn chair and walked into the front of the house with it. I thought nothing of it, and we continued to work. Travis got up and went into the kitchen. Where he found Alton ON TOP OF THE KITCHEN COUNTER, eating his Easter Candy. He had THE BIGGEST grin on his little face. I pulled him down and asked him, "Can you show mommy how you got up there?" His chair was way too short for him to reach the counter safely, I wanted to know how the heck he got up there!

He climbed onto chair's seat, and then proceeded to climb onto the top of the chair, and then pulled himself up onto the kitchen counter. I nearly had a heart attack.

So his lawn chair has been on time out and he will occasionally ask for it. I gave it back and so far hasn't been using it for anything nefarious. But he will use it to watch mommy cook dinner, or turn the light on in his playroom.

There will be pictures soon. My laptop nearly died and is in the shop. When I get it back or get a new computer, I will update with new photos.

Silly Boy

2009-02-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

Let the record reflect that for the first time in his existence, Alton pulled the wool over his baby sitter's eyes and convinced them to let him stay up waaaay past his bed time. He was 5 days shy of being 20 months old!

Travis's Aunt Laurel and Uncle Larry watched Alton when we went out for dinner and dessert for Valentine's Day. We went out, had great food and fabulous dessert. We got home after 10 o'clock and imagine my surprise when upon returning home, Larry greeted us and I heard someone answer Laurel. It was not Larry, Travis or myself.

So I went into my bedroom, where Alton and Auntie Lala were cozied up and watching Robin Hood.

Auntie Lala said, "We tried to put him to bed and he just kept letting himself out of his room." (We have child proofing door knob protectors. Le sigh. That was not money well spent. Thankfully they were free from Harrison's mommy Rose.) "Then he climbed into your bed and started pointing at the TV. When I put the movie on, he kept patting the bed next to him, so I sat and watched it with him."

He was still WIDE awake. So Travis took him to take the baby sitters home. He did finally fall asleep in the car on the way to San Pedro. Then he slept until 8 this morning. :)

Someone to Love

2009-01-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

I used the Stolen Moments kit, Someone to Love for this layout

HoHoHo! (Again)

2009-01-10T05:25:00.000-08:00

So now that Christmas is pretty much wound down, Alton hasn't been saying HoHoHo as much. But when we were at Costco the other day, an older biker dude with a long white beard walked past us to return his cart to the cart corral. Alton saw him and exclaimed "Santa Claus!" I was not moritfied, but worried that the guy would be annoyed because he looked like a hard core Harley rider and I am sure he has had kids calling him Santa forever.

So as I am unloading the cart, the guy walks over to Alton, looks him in the eye in all seriousness, says to him, "Ho Ho Ho!" Alton laughed and smiled at his personal Santa.

It was so sweet, I never would have thought that a burly looking guy like that would have been so nice to a little boy.

National De-lurking week!

2009-01-07T20:26:00.001-08:00

If you are out there and happen to come across my blog for one reason or another, please leave a comment!! This is National De-Lurking Week! I get hundreds of visits but I have no clue who you are! I only have 1 or 2 faithful commentors. Now is your chance to show yourself! Let me know you like my blog and you are watching! You don't even have to leave your name. Just tell me you are looking! Thanks

He just keeps learning!

2008-12-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

Alton now signs "I love you". He does it so emphatically that our hearts melt every time. He will also blow his own nose when he needs to. He just walks up to a kleenex box, grabs a tissue, and blows.

He is also asking to pray when he is ready to eat. My brother Bryan did the same thing at this age. My parents would put food on my brother's high chair try after praying, and he would eat all the meat right away. Then he would "assume the position" for prayer and "pray" for meat. I think it is so funny that Alton does the same kind of thing.

New signs and other stuff

2008-12-28T00:15:00.000-08:00

Alton is learning new things every day. We have prayed with him every day since he was born, and this week he learned how to fold his hands and bow his head for prayer. He does it every time we pray and it is sooooo sweet to see.

We are still nursing and every morning when we nurse, we sit in the recliner in his room and I cover both of us with a blanket to keep warm. This morning Daddy got him out of bed and I was sitting the living room. Alton came in and started to play with his toys. After a few minutes, he decided he was ready to nurse, so he went into his room and got down the quilt that was hanging on the side of his crib and brought it into the living room and climbed into my lap with it. He pointed to me and signed milk.

I showed him the sign for diaper once, and now he uses it to tell us when his diaper is dirty. I know this is one of the signs for potty training readiness, what are the others? Does anyone know of a GOOD potty training book?

He is still obsessed with Santa Claus and points him out wherever he sees him. He carries a Santa Claus Christmas card around the house with him.

Christmas Fun!

2008-12-28T00:07:00.000-08:00

Alton hates having his diaper changed. We made the mistake of trying to change him next to his brand new fire truck on Christmas... you can see how successful we were.
While we were watching Alton drive his fire truck buck naked, Travis's cousin Kate said to him, "You know Alton, Robert Downey Jr. got arrested for that." We thought it was pretty funny.

I used the Ziggle Designs kit Reindeer Games for this kit.

Merry Christmas! Santa has some competition...

2008-12-25T01:43:00.000-08:00

I have spent months trying to teach Alton new words and phrases. My sister watches Alton for one afternoon, and she taught him to say, Ho Ho Ho! and he recognizes Santa Claus.

Bad Mommy! A Few Choice Words

2008-12-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting about Alton lately. I have been consumed by getting ready for Christmas and the fact that I am ill. That is much better excuse than the truth, which is digital scrapbooking has taken over my life and I feel badly because I let myself compare my child to other children. Which is something we should never ever do as mothers.

Alton still isn't talking much. A few of his peers speak way more than he does, and I have let that embarrass me; thinking that he is behind or I should be doing more, like reading to him EVEN more or doing flash cards or something.... In reality he is right where he should be. His pediatrician is very impressed with his motor skills, both fine and large. He is ahead on some of his physical skills, and she told me that sometimes kids just race ahead in one area, and then catch up on the others later.

Since his 18 month appointment, he was learned even more new words, and some new signs. He is still using Daddy, doggie, duckie, and dirty. At his appointment, he used Mama. Which he had learned the sign for already.

My sister was watching Alton while I went to the doctor, and she was trying to get him to say Mama. He kept signing "Mama" at her, and she called me and asked, "What does it mean when he sticks his hand out like a turkey and keeps banging his chin with it?" I told her, "Mama." She swore and said, "You need to stop teaching him sign language. He is never going to learn to talk if he keeps this up!" I am going to refrain from further comments about that at this time.

Any way, he learned the sign for "Mama" and I am trying to teach him, "I love you". I use the sign and the words, so I am hoping he will pick up both.

As far as words go, he has said his first sentence! My dad and I were at Disneyland and were walking past the Rivers of America. We asked Alton, "Do you see duckies?" He repeated back to us quite clearly, "I see duckies!" This leads me to believe that he has the capacity to say a lot more than he actually does.

This isn't the first time he has taken his sweet time to do something. He started cruising at 6 months. We were convinced that he would start walking by nine months. But, he did not walk unassisted until 11 months. But once he did walk, he did it well right away. None of this stumbling and taking only 2 or 3 steps. He was crossing rooms as soon as he walked unassisted.

So his word repertoire now includes the following: Daddy, doggie, donkey, dirty, ducky, mama, yeah, no, and all done.
His signing repertoire includes, "Mama", "diaper", "please", "thank you", "more", and "all done".

This weekend he started telling us when his diaper was dirty and demanded a changed diaper. :) He has done it every day since Saturday. We bought him a potty today. I am not sure what I am going to do about potty training. I don't want to rush him, but it would nice to not have wash diapers as often....

Trimming the Tree

2008-12-13T23:36:00.000-08:00

I decided to make a few tweaks to this page. Here is the "new" one:

This was the original.
I wanted the lightbulbs to look more like they were glowing, so I fiddled with those and moved things around a little.

Alton "helped" us trim the tree last weekend. He had so much fun hindering Daddy's progress to light the tree. :)

I used the Pixie Keepsakes kit, Christmas Tan for this layout.

The Lorakeet Exhibit

2008-12-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

Janelle is a friend of Alton's from our home group. They have sooooo much fun together and spend a lot of time chasing each other. They even give each other a hug and kiss goodbye when they part.
We took them to the Long Beach aquarium last month and they were so cute there.

I used the Stolen Moments kit, Painter's Quilt for this page.

Busy Busy Boy!

2008-12-12T23:38:00.000-08:00

I have been a scrapping machine. This is today's page:

My little brother Robert is in the Air Force. He is visiting for "Christmas" from Texas with his girlfriend Robin before he is sent on a mission to Venezuela. So we took Alton and my nephew to Disneyland today.

Alton is at a difficult stage. He can walk; heck, he can run! But he doesn't understand (or simply chooses to ignore our directives) that he need to walk where mommy and daddy want him to walk. So we spend 75% of our time chasing and re-directing. And when we get tired of doing that, we have to deal with a temper tantrum when we try to put him in his stroller. He is such a fun age! (If there was such a thing on Blogger, I would so insert an eye-rolling smiley here.)

I used the Ellie Lash kit, Merry and Bright for this layout.

LA Zoo

2008-12-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

I took Alton to the zoo for first time in September. Here is a page from that day.

In the top photo, Alton was supposed to be napping. You can see how well that went with him peeking out the back of the stroller. Also, I have NO idea, what kind of animal that is in the top right photo....

I used the Ziggle Designs kit, Gathering Leaves for the paper, leaves, and alpha. The frame around the giraffe is from the Lliella Designs kit, Fall Folly.
My journaling font is Pea Charmaine, and the other text is Pea Sarah Cute.

I have an embarrasing confession...

2008-11-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

Alton learned how to turn on the TV two weeks ago. Since he learned how to turn it on, he watches it. Eeek! He loves the Shrek movies and the Toy Story movies. He didn't care for Cars though, which odd. But my guess is that it is because there aren't any people or animals. He LOVES Donkey in the Shrek movies and will just laugh and laugh at Donkey.
I guess collecting Disney movies for the last 10 years will finally payoff now!

My Twilight Board got recognized....

2008-11-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

I know it's totally silly, but I thought this was kind of cool. :) Go here.

Happy (ahem) Halloween!

2008-11-12T22:05:00.001-08:00

So, bad mommy! I never posted pictures of Alton trick or treating.

Here is Alton with his two cousins, John John and Elayna. Trying to get all three kids to look at the camera was IMPOSSIBLE. We started the evening out here, and dined on El Pollo Loco's finest. My Grandmother is a creature of habit.

Then we went Trick or Treating at Grandma Vicki's house. Grandma Vicki's dog Noel, has tasty toys.
At least Alton thought so anyway.

Here Alton is trick or treating with Daddy. He did not "get" it. But there was one house that he really liked, (which is odd, because it is planned community and they all look the same) and he kept going back to that neighbor's house.

Daddy had to broadcast the football game that night, and he was late because of his trick or treating duties. His co-host made sure to announce that on air when Travis got to the game.

A little side note; see the green bowl in the right side of the picture? That is the same Tupperware bowl my parents made my sister, brothers and me dump our Halloween candy into when I was kid. They said it was so that the four of us would share our candy, and not make ourselves sick eating it all at once. In reality, this enabled them to cherry pick the mini snickers, reese's peanut butter cups and special darks after we went to bed. Mom, you can still have my special darks, I will send them to you.

Alton's trick or treating highlight? Meeting Oprah. Seriously, Oprah!

The neighbor's dog Oprah. Decked out in her Petco bumblebee costume.

The end of a long satisfying night of begging from Grandma's neighbors.

"Mommy, where did my Reese's peanut butter cups go?"
"Mommy?"

The "All done" Video

2008-11-12T21:37:00.000-08:00

Alton has FINALLY learned the sign for "all done"! But here is a video with the sign and the pointing to the belly button. :)

He is so stinkin cute!

2008-11-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

Alton learned how to sign "please". It is the cutest thing! He still won't use the sign for all done, but when he is done eating, Alton now lifts his shirt and points to his belly button, or Bee-bo. It is so stinking cute! I am going to try to get it on video at dinner tonight.

I have a new blog!

2008-11-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

So I decided that I needed to take back my family blog and return the focus to Alton and being his mommy. All of my monthly desktops and other freebies are going to be on my new Digi-scrapping blog:

Graham Like the Cracker!

I moved the most recent posts already, and I will slowly be moving the others. :)

I got picked to be on a Creative Team!!!!

2008-11-02T23:43:00.000-08:00

Charmaine started me digi-scrapping at the end of July. And today is my first day as a member of the Creative Team for Amber and Stolen Moments. I am so excited!

The layout below is from the new kit, He's Late For Class. I have to say I enjoy the first aspect of being on a creative team, I can get a whole new kit in one day. :)

I took Alton to the Long Beach Aquarium with our friends from church, Dina and her daugher Janelle. Alton loved the aquarium and would say, "Fishy! Fishy!" at each new tank.

Twilight Blinkies (Round two)

2008-11-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

I moved my freebies to their own blog!

Graham Like the Cracker

He's Signing!

2008-10-30T19:54:00.001-07:00

So as a lot of you know, we have been TRYING to teach Alton some basic signs to make life easier for all concerned. He learned the sign for milk when he was six months old. He still slept with us or in his crib next to us and I can still remember him waking me up and flexing his little fists at me.

When he was a little older and started solids, I began trying to teach him the sign for "all done". Here we are, about a year later, and he has still decided not to use the sign for "all done".

Undeterred, I decided to try to teach him other signs; "more" was the next logical step. It took a couple of months, but he FINALLY learned to sign "more". When he learned "more", he stopped using the sign for "milk".

Now he signs "more" all the time. He signs "more" when he is tired. He signs "more" when he wants more food. He signs "more" when he is all done. We waste a lot of food this way.

I have been trying to teach him the signs for "please" and "thank you". When I ask him to "ask nicely please", he simply signs "more" at me. Le sigh. At least it's better than whining right?

We have a baby signs board book that Alton likes me to read to him and as we read it, I make each of the signs at him. My dad (Alton's pop pop) has decided that it is his job to keep Alton supplied in Costco's oatmeal raisin cookies. You can see where this is going right? As I was reading Alton the signs book, I made the sign for "cookie" at him. He looked me in the eye, and repeated the sign back at me. So Alton got a cookie and a kiss from mommy.

Still no sign of "all done"....

So yesterday Pop Pop, Alton and I were at Costco in the deli section. Alton could see the bakery section and signed "cookie" at Pop Pop. So we went over to the cookie section and procured a box of Costco's finest. Alton started to whine as soon as the cookies touched the cart.
I told him, "If you ask mommy nicely and sign "cookie", you can have one." He looked at me like I was speaking Gibberish and whined again.
"Alton, you need to ask mommy nicely, we don't whine when we want something."
Again with the blank stare followed by the whine.
"If you don't ask mommy nicely, she doesn't understand what you want."

He looked me right in the eye and said aloud, clear as day, "Cookie."

Well that's better than the sign! He got his cookie.

So back at home today, I was trying to clean up the kitchen to start cooking dinner. Alton walked right up to me and signed "please"! Then he pointed and whined at the snack cupboard. So he got some graham cracker gold fish and craisins. Then when Daddy came home from work, I turned off the TV and put some music on. Alton noticed the TV was off (which it normally is) and looked at Travis and signed "please"!

He has also used thank you sporadically. I am hoping that any day now he is going to use the sign for "all done". Any day now....

November Desktop

2008-10-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

My freebies have a new home!

Graham Like the Cracker

Twilight Desktop

2008-10-28T21:49:00.001-07:00

I moved my freebies to their own blog!

Graham Like the Cracker

Our First Family Trip to the Mountains

2008-10-28T15:21:00.001-07:00

I used the Backyard Crawlies kit by Iliella Designs for these pages. I LOVE this kit!

Welcome to the World Nina!

2008-10-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

My good friend Lynn just had her second baby girl. She is a whole pound smaller than Alton was when he was born, and she is just itty bitty!

I used Amber's Sugar and Spice kit, and the fonts MA Sexy and Pea Sarah Cute :)

Alton versus Mommy: The Hat and the Hose

2008-10-28T01:12:00.001-07:00

I made this page with the kit Cottage By The Sea from Stolen Moments.

Twilight Blinkies!!!

2008-10-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

I moved my freebies to their own blog!

http://grahamlikethecracker.blogspot.com/2008/11/twilight-blinkies.html

Alton the Artist!

2008-10-26T13:59:00.001-07:00

This year we skipped the hulabaloo of the large city pumpkin patch and simply bought two pumpkins at Trader Joes.

Yesterday, I took Alton over to Rose's house so that Alton could paint pumpkins with her son Harrison.

Rose had a great selection of acrylic paint colors and brushes ready for us, and suggested that due to Alton's tender age (he is 16 months) that maybe he should use Tempra paint, because it washes out easily. But you have to seal it to make it shiney and I am LAZY.
I poo poohed the idea and, "We'll be watching him the whole time, he'll be fine with the acrylic!"

We start out with a clean pumpkin, a clean face, and a bowl of red acrylic paint.

Oops, gotta little red paint on the boy. 'Sokay, I am sure a little red paint won't stain his white blonde eye brows.

A few minutes later, we watched him the whole time as he very carefully got HUGE blobs of turquoise acrylic paint in his WHITE BLONDE HAIR!!!

Rose decided we needed a picture to commemorate the event. Too bad Alton did not get the memo and wanted to get down and play with Harrison's train table.

Thankfully, after a good soaking and multiple combings in the shower with daddy, we got all the red and blue paint off of him. The moral here is, listen to mothers with more parenting wisdom than you have! Rose was great and never once said "I told you so!" as we cleaned paint off of every available surface! I think she is still finding paint.

Rose takes much better pictures than I do.... check out her version of what happened at her Harrison, blog The Pierce Toddler Project

Our Third Anniversary

2008-10-24T00:13:00.001-07:00

Auntie LaLa and Uncle Larry were thoughtful enough to watch Alton for us while we went out to dinner. Alton was not amused by our decision to leave him with well meaning relatives. They ate his cookies. Here we are trying to leave. Alton's not buying it.
Here we are at the restaurant; The Depot. The chef is getting his own Food Network special soon.
The food was really good. They have this really fantastic pesto butter that comes with the bread basket. the bread basket itself came with banana bread. They use the same recipe I do. So it was yummy!
We had a great time and I would love to go back there again!

Alton poses for the camera!

2008-10-24T00:04:00.000-07:00

During dinner tonight, I was showing Travis pictures of my friend Lynn's new baby girl. Alton saw the camera and made his "look at me!" noise.

I looked over and him, and he was smiling away and posing with his dinner dirtied face. Wow, can black beans and taco meat make a mess!
He wasn't happy with just one photo either, he insisted on me taking another one. Here is a close up of the devastation that black beans and taco meat can produce when mixed with a toddler:

He was so cute after the photo taking, because he insisted on seeing his picture after I was done taking the photos.

A picture a day....

2008-10-20T00:20:00.000-07:00

On my playgroup board, they have a photography challenge where you take a picture of your child every day. The 365 challenge is what it is called in fact. I joined 1/2 way through and since I was a little behind (cough cough) in keeping up with posting, I would share the last week of photos with you guys.

It is his bedtime, but Alton is W I D E awake!

193/365

I got him right at bedtime this day. Goodness, he has pretty eyes!

I swear he doesn't sleep with the sippy!

Hiking in the Angeles Crest Forest

In the Lorakeet Habitat at the Long Beach Aquarium

Kicking it in the kitchen with cranberry pumpkin bread.

On the sofa with Mrs. C.

In the water play area in California Adventure.

Our Latest Trip to Disneyland

2008-10-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Alton LOVES the watering hole in the Bug's Life area. It is his favorite part of the whole resort!

At the head of Main Street in front of the Mickey O'Lantern.

Alton in Frontier Land.

They had a GLOWING orange tree with Jack O'Lanterns It looked pretty cool up close. :)

October Desktop

2008-10-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

A blank one for you!

So I know it is 6 days late, but here it is. :) Let me know if you want it customized for you. Or click on it to download it and customize it yourself. :)

This is from the Apple Fest kit from http://twoboyz00.blogspot.com/

Quick update

2008-09-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

We went to the mountains together on Saturday. I will post pictures later.

Today we went to the zoo with some of Alton's friends and their mommies. It started to rain while we were there. :)

Alton learned a new word today, but I am so tired that I forgot what it is. Bad mommy! His little friend Jenelle learned his name today. It was so cute to hear her say Alton, Alton in her little 18 month old voice. :)

I'm back!

2008-09-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

I listed some of Alton's old clothes on E-bay today and some other stuff that I had that still had tags on it. Go check out my auctions! I have a link in my sidebar. :)

I am on an internet hiatus!

2008-09-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

At least until I finish reading Twilight! I just started reading it today and I finally understand what all the fuss is about!!!

Does anyone know for sure, is the author Mormon? Her book bio says that she has a degree in English from BYU.....

New Obsessions!

2008-09-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

He is OBSESSED with washing his hands and turning light switches on and off. Repeatedly. If you turn on ANY sink in our house, you will soon hear the thundering hoof beats of Alton as he rounds the corner into any room you are in. He screeches, he reaches and points to the sink. When you lift him up, he will immediately dive bomb into the sink and grab the soap pump. After you tear him away from the sink, he lunges for the light switch. Which must be flipped up and down at least 5 times. (Or his family will die.)

His love for trucks continues. He now will go running into the front room to look out the window as soon as he hears the trash, fire or UPS trucks lumbering down out street.

I had to buy him his own Swiffer. He would pitch a fit if I wouldn't let him do it, and he isn't as thorough as mommy, (don't tell him that though!) so we bought him his own (with a couple of pole sections removed) so he can swiffer alongside mommy.

Smallish update

2008-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Things are going better than they were. I am calmer, but my goodness the boy can still make a mess faster than your can say Bob's your uncle! (Bob is Alton's uncle, but that is beside the point.)

Here are some photos from Alton's first gymboree class. He LOVES going to class and I am trying to figure out how to keep him going. It's $74 a month, but worth every penny.

"My Grace is sufficient

2008-09-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

So Travis was gone this whole weekend at our church's men's retreat. Which meant there was a lot of mommy/Alton time without any breaks. Alton has a cold, so he has been a little bear and he was VERY clingy and whiny. It was not a good time. So on Saturday night, I went to church. There were VERY few people there and I ended up sitting next to a wonderful woman of God. Marie has FIVE sons. The oldest three are married and doing all kinds of wonderful things for the Kingdom of God. She has to be an awesome mother right?
So I asked her, how do you do it? I can't cope with the ONE I have. She laughed and told me that it was through the grace of God. She said that God shared this verse with her and it made all the difference for her with one of her more difficult children.

But he said to me,
"My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2nd Corinthians 12:9a

God uses our weaknesses (and I have legion!) to draw us closer to Him. I need to remember that instead of despairing when times are tough and I am at the end of my rope!

The Drama Llama has left the building!

2008-09-15T09:02:00.001-07:00

So you can ignore my previous post about why I was sad. Kate and I have made up. You can now go back to the previous cuteness and adorableness that is Alton.

Just out of curiousity, who is reading? Please post a "Hey I am here and I read your blog."

Thanks!

Alton's First Gymboree Class

2008-09-14T17:09:00.001-07:00

Travis and I took Alton to his first Gymboree class on Saturday. He had a REALLY good time, and like his mama, he is not a fan of structure in learning. He had an awesome time playing on all of the climbing equipment though and I thought I would share this video of him on the "noisy bridge".

Alton Meets Minnie Mouse!

2008-09-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland last week for my aunt's birthday and we had a character dinner. Alton is okay with people characters, but the animal characters still make him flip out. I wonder when he will outgrow this fear?

Why I have been sad lately

2008-09-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, or might have guessed. A dear friend of mine and I "broke up". We spent some time together "in real life" and even planned an out of state trip together with our boys. Unfortunately, her husband became ill and we weren't able to go together.

We had several things in common, a desire for natural child birth (lucky girl got to have her baby the way she wanted), breast feeding, cloth diapering, and other similar parenting decisions. We also have the same need to feel loved, and and a ferocity for those we care about. While we did have many things in common, we also had several differences. At the time, we rose above our religious and political differences and saw each other as more than just a conservative Christian and open-minded liberal. We loved each other any way, and I for one enjoyed the fact that we could both see beyond the labels and spend time together.

I could sense at times that I was being kept at arms length, but I thought that was just her way. I loved watching her with her son. She is much more patient than I am, and I always learned to appreciate my son a little more watching this momma interact with her son. She has such an enthusiastic and genuine love for her son as well as a desire to do everything she can to make him an exceptional adult.

My friend and I were a part of a message board for mommies who had babies in the month that Alton was born. We were in fact leaders of the board. For the most part, I have always kept my topics on topic about our children. Previously when I had expressed my religious or political views, it started a fire storm of debate that I did not like to take part in. But as it is an election year, that is all anyone is talking about and I felt free to post my opinions political and religious.

Travis and I are conservative Christians. He is actually much more conservative than I am; I tend to be more moderate about certain things, but we agree on most of the same points. I realize that it is not a popular view, but we believe that the Bible is the word of God. Because the Bible is very clear that homosexuality is wrong, this is the stance we take as well. We believe that marriage is a sacred thing, and it was designed by God to bring a man and woman closer together towards Him. (I know that not everyone has this opinion.) We plan to teach Alton that every person should be treated with respect and courtesy regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, or race. But, we do not support gay marriage. We believe that marriage should be reserved for one man and one female.

This is where it gets sticky. I do not claim to know if homosexuality is something that someone chooses, or if they are born that way. People far more intelligent than I have debated this point for years. I do understand that people want equal rights for everyone, but I can't go against God's word. My relationship with God is just as much a part of me as the fact that I am a woman and mother.

When Alton is old enough to understand that people have different views of topics like these, we plan to teach him that he needs to respect people and their views, but we believe differently. To my friend, this is not good enough. It saddens me to no end that this is true, but it is. I can not continue to work with this person knowing that she finds my beliefs so distasteful, that she is unwilling to spend time with me. It was shocking to me that she felt this way, because I have always found her to be a very open minded person, and I have always thought that tolerance should include both religious and world views. Personally, I have no issues with her beliefs, I just respect her decision to believe what she does. At no time have I tried to persuade her to change her mind or make her feel badly that she feels differently.

I would still love to be friends with this person, but as she is unwilling to accept my Judeo-Christian values, I don't see it happening. It is very sad because I really look up to her as an excellent mother and I loved learning from her. If you are reading this, I miss you. I hope we can work through this.

Happy Birthday Auntie LaLa!

2008-09-13T00:53:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland on Wednesday to celebrate Aunt Laurel's birthday.

I used the Birthday Bash kit I got from the Faith Sisters digital scrapping web site.

Labor Day Weekend In Glorious Technicolor!

2008-09-10T00:25:00.000-07:00

Here we are in all of our vacation glory. The views, the lions, the pool, and the little boy who is the star of the show!

I used Vicki's new kit, Summer Cocktail. It is available on her website located in my sidebar.

100th Post! Park Day again

2008-09-09T00:05:00.001-07:00

Same kit from yesterday. I love this picture of Alton!

We had an accident Sunday night. Alton tripped over his daddy's feet and he split his beautiful little lip open. We went to the doctor Monday and they said no anti-biotics. He was in good spirits during the day on Monday, so I am hoping that he is on the mend and that he won't have a scar. Please pray for healing, I know most boys get some sort of scar in their lives but I hate to think he is scarred for life at such a young age!

Alton has started "dancing" and it is highly obvious he is white. He has no sense of rhythm whatsoever, but it still the most darling thing I have ever seen. He loves books and points out animals wherever we go. He has been trying very hard to use his fork and spoon, and is getting much better about keeping his food on his plate.

He is utterly in love with his daddy, and it makes my heart flutter to see the two of them together. We are so blessed. :)

Park Day!

2008-09-07T23:19:00.001-07:00

These were taken a couple of weeks ago. The other little boy is Harrison and his mommy that is in the picture is Rose. They are in our home group.

Rose of Rose and Harrison takes BEAUTIFUL pictures. If I had her photography and a stronger talent for digi-scrapping, I would be unstoppable. Go and visit her blogs. They are a breath of fresh air. She has such a sweet spirit.

I used the Boys Will Be Boys kit from Vicki's web site. The link to her site is in my side bar as usual. The second page is actually a Quick Page that I downloaded from Vicki's site. All I did was pop in a photo and add a caption.

Our Weekend, Last Weekend

2008-09-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we met the other MOPS kids at the park for a play date. Here is Alton on the jungle gym, looking very serious.

On Friday morning, our across the street neighbors had a delivery from a cement mixer. At 7 Am. While I was dressing and diapering Alton, he watched the cement mixer and when it left, he looked at me and said quite clearly, "More!" then did the sign. So I told him we would go watch the trucks after breakfast and we did.

Here he is watching the constructions trucks in wonder out our front window.

Daddy had his Fantasy Football draft live in Las Vegas. This was the view outside our hotel room of the Hampton Inn and Suites.

While Daddy did his draft, Alton and I took the hotel shuttle to the MGM Grand. We got there just in time for feeding time at the Lion Habitat.

Alton kept calling the lions doggies. I explained that they were called LIONS. So then he started saying "Lion Lion" whenever one came near the glass.

This was one of my favorite pictures. The trainers would throw chunks of raw ground meat on the glass and the lions would lick it off.
Did you know that lion saliva on reinforced glass makes it REALLY hard to take a clear picture?

Alton also got to visit with his Grandma Patty while we were there. When we were at her house, he was running amuck with a coffee cup, and Grandma Patty asked him, "Can I have that please?" He looked at her for a second like she was crazy and then shook his head back and forth, and then took off giggling. He had never done that before and has not since. We thought it was pretty funny.

After we finished watching the lions, Alton and I walked down the strip.

Sunday morning, the boys and I had breakfast at our hotel, and took a swim in the pool.
Alton is very studious already and used the travel time to keep up on his reading. :)
We had a really good time. Alton even did well constrained in his car seat for long periods of time.

September Desktop

2008-09-01T22:23:00.001-07:00

I made a new desktop today with Vicki's Precious Pumpkin kit. I love the fall!

ETA: Since so many of you were downloading this with the September Calendar, I updated it with the November Calendar inserted...

Click on the November image to download it.
The November calendar was made with a paper from Gingerscraps.

Angeles Crest

2008-08-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

My brother is visiting with his girlfriend from Texas. Robin had never seen the Mountains before so we took a trip to Angeles Crest.
Alton fell on the trail and got quite dirty, but he has a really good time in the stream we found.

Our trip to Disneyland!

2008-08-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

I know there is a blank section on the right page, I didn't want to broadcast their names.... You can click on the page to make it bigger. :)

BTW, I used the twoboyz00 kit Run for the yellow paper and elements. You can find it here. The bottom half orange paper is from A Work in Progress. The name of the kit the paper is from is Fired Earth. The link to her site is in my left sidebar.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-08-15T23:30:00.001-07:00

So now that I have been trolling various digital scrap booking sites, I often will leave a comment to thank the designer for sharing their scrap kits. I was talking to Charmaine tonight and she laughed and told me, "You've been tagged!" I was tagged by the designer of one of my favorite digi-scrap sites. By the way, if you like to digi-scrap, check out her site, the link to Stolen Moments is to the left. :)

So here I am writing 7 Interesting things about me. Tee hee, I asked Travis to help me and he said, "does it need to be printable?" I told him it did and he is still quiet. This does not bode well for help from the spouse.

Okay, here we go:

1. I only eat M&Ms and Reese's Pieces in even numbers. I don't know why, but I do and it has to be color matched pairs. Two red, two green, you get the idea.

2. I am a baking fiend. I am really good at it, but I cheat and used boxed brownie and cake mixes because I have never had a from scratch recipe that was as good as a boxed mix. I will make my own butter cream frosting though, because homemade is far better than the stuff in the tubs.

3. Believe it or not, I used to run track in high school. I was decent too and even ran hurdles a few times. There was something so satisfying about flying through the air even if it was just for two seconds.

4. Okay, this is Travis's contribution. I fold my underwear in a very precise pattern. Crotch up to the top of the undies and then each of the two sides over that. I thought everyone did that. IS there another way to fold underwear?

5. I was on a reality TV show. When Alton was born, we were on Bringing Home Baby on TLC.

6. I am a Secret Shopper. There are some valid companies out there. I secret shop for a large family theme park in Anaheim, Best Buys, Targets, and some restaurants and the occasional fancy hotel. I don't make a lot of money doing it, but we get to go to DL free twice a month and I get reimbursed for stuff I buy at Target. Who doesn't want free stuff from Target?

7. I am secretly (or not so secretly) anal retentive. My MIL is always impressed when she sees my tupperware cupboard. It is ALWAYS organized and we can always find the lid to the container.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 other people...

Kate
Charmaine
Katie
Maggie
Andrea
Kayt
Linda

Alton and Angus have a pool party

2008-08-15T00:38:00.000-07:00

If you want to see an even larger version of this, head here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v193/Starbucksjen/scrapping/080908PoolPartycopy.jpg

Kate and Angus came over for a playdate before we went to Julia's first birthday party. Alton was a very enthusiastic host, whereas poor Angus was overwhelmed by Alton's enthusiasm.

Our day today

2008-08-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Alton and I stayed home today for the most part, but then Lynn called us to go over for a impromptu play date. I packed half a loaf of banana blueberry bread and off we went.

Alton and Julia look like they could be brother and sister. The actually played together today instead of just playing near each other.

I love spending time with Lynn. She and her husband are going through some of same stuff we are, so it is nice to have someone to talk who viscerally understands where you are coming from.

Alton is currently in Alton heaven. It is too hot to cook, so we are having Bowl O' night. Which roughly translated means Bowl of cereal or reheated leftovers.... Alton is having fresh strawberry and blueberry salad and leftover black beans. He is very excited and doing the Alton Shimmey.

The Binkie Master!

2008-08-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Here is Alton, counting his stash:

and here he is again, trying to contain them all...

Visitors and Vacations

2008-08-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

Wow, two posts in one day!

We had a great visit a couple of weeks ago from my good friend Becca. She lives in Hawaii now and we keep forgetting to take pictures when she comes to visit. This is us at the United terminal at LAX.

Our next visitors were the Scott's. They had a three hour layover at LAX on their way to a family reunion in New York. So we picked them up, grabbed In and Out and brought them back to our house for a mini-playdate for Chloe and Alton.
Unfortunately, Chloe had a poopsplosion and needed a bath in the sink.

After she was all cleaned up, Chloe was ready to "play".

Alton shows Chloe the immortal works of S. Boynton.

All their playing wore them out here they sleep together on the way to take the Scott's back to the airport. Funny how though mommies and daddies are all friends, all of the pictures are of the kids only....

Later that day we met The Gedeons and R and H from our home group at Disneyland.

Alton was totally asleep, so he is off screen here.

At the end of the night. We had a great time with you guys! We will miss you.

So It Begins: The Potty Training Odyssey

2008-08-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

As you know, I have a little boy and I thought we wouldn't be dealing with this for at least another six months, but the cloth diapers are working! On Monday, we were visiting Maggie and John to help them to get ready for their move to Sacramento. Alton handed Aunt Maggie and diaper and lay down. He was soaked and needed changing. This morning, he was tugging at his bottom and I asked him, are you poopy and he said "Yes." So we changed his diaper. I am not buying training pants or anything crazy like that, but I am going to start putting Alton on the toilet when he wakes up from his naps and at every diaper change so that he can get used to the toilet.

Alton is not about to let his verbal development take a back seat to his physical development. Yesterday he said clearly "Doggies!" when we came home from the Gedeon's and Jack and Lucy ran to greet us. This morning, he was terrorizing the dogs in their beds and Travis picked Lucy up to save her from Alton. Alton grabbed Travis's leg and said, "Lucy!"

Digital Scrapbooking!

2008-08-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession! And it's the best kind of obsession because it's free. Digital Scrapbooking! No more buying paper, adhesive, and praise the Lord, no more cutting! Here is my first page that I put together. It is from my trip to Washington.

My Experience Traveling with a Toddler

2008-07-30T11:34:00.001-07:00

NEVER AGAIN without my husband. I swear.

1. Leave yourself LOTS of time to get through security. Getting through security by myself with Alton, his car seat (which I ended up not needing) the stroller, my backpack, and carry-on luggage... 30 minutes, and at one airport they actually made me take his Robeez off. It did not help that I was traveling with a laptop in the backpack either. But seriously, trying to maneuver all of our stuff one handed while I held Alton was not a good time. I HIGHLY recommend taking your Baby Hawk or sling type to get through security at least. Next time I will also just pay the $25 per leg and check a second bag. Stupid airlines.

2. BUY YOUR TODDLER A SEAT!!!! When I bought my ticket to go, Alton was still not walking. About a week before the trip and the day before I called the airline and both times the ladies talked me out of buying Alton his own seat. "There is plenty of room on both flights, save your money!" On our trip out, there were 19 people on stand by. So our infant block was removed and though I'd made it through the entire airport with Alton's Britax Marathon car seat, they took it from me at the gate and he had to lap sit. Alton is not a cuddly lap sitter. :( About half an hour into our flight, I noticed and empty seat and thankfully a very nice gentle man traded seats with me. But since they'd taken the car seat away, Alton wasn't restrained and kept taking his seat belt off. He ended up playing on the the seat while standing on the cabin floor.

On the way home, we had an infant block and I was able to get his car seat installed in the seat and we were about to take off and a dude came up the aisle and said "You are in my seat." His arrival made the plane late and I had to rearrange all of our stuff and take Alton out of his car seat and put him on my lap. He needed a nap and the plane body was MUCH smaller than the previous plane had been so there wasn't room for him to play by my feet. He cried for about an hour on that flight. The dude who arrived late and took our extra seat had the nerve to tell me, "Yeah, I was lucky to get on this earlier flight, I was supposed to be on the three o'clock flight. Now all of my connecting flights are messed up though." Boo frickin hoo, hold my nap deprived toddler.

What really skeeves me about that whole situation, was that I was willing to pay for a seat for Alton, and the airlines sales staff talked me out of it!!! Next time I will just buy him a ticket and leave nothing to chance.

3. Take a LOT of toddler snack food. I mean a lot. Alton went through almost a whole bag of Veggie Bootie. True, at least a third of it ended up on the floor (Take that Alaska Airlines) but he was his happiest when he was stuffing his face. On the plane ride to Seattle, I had a snack container (I think it is meant to be a formula dispenser) filled with Graham cracker fish, Cheerios, and Gorilla Munch. That kept him happy and boy oh boy did he love the graham cracker fish.

4. Traveling with an infant toddler = you can bring on your own bottled water. WHOOT! No waiting for the stingy flight attendants to dole out your 4 oz of water in a plastic cup. I don't know if it is an iron clad rule, but I was able at both SeaTac and LAX to bring on a 1 1/2 liter bottle of Smart Water because it was "for the baby."

5. Bring new toys or books. I bought Alton toys that I would normally not approve of, but they kept him entertained on the plane, except during the last hour on the trip home.

6. Take your spouse or significant other! It's a lot of stuff to carry, a second set of hands during security alone is golden.

We had a good time, and I think that if I had slept better the night before, the return trip would not have been as bad a time....

Happy 14th of July!

2008-07-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

So somebody (cough cough Kate) chastised me for not only not updating frequently enough, but for also not posting enough photos.

Here are a couple of pictures from our Fourth of July. Our original plans got cancelled on us, and I decided to celebrate our nation's independence with a relapse of pneumonia. So we did not do much, except eat pizza at Round Table and eat cake.

Here is a picture of Alton being patriotic all by himself. We didn't pose him, honest. Travis actually called me out of come take pictures because Alton was being "Patriotic and photogenic!" Daddy's words, I promise.

This one we did pose him in, I think it came out cute. :)

My camera has this nifty feature where you can pick one color and have it make every other color black and white... now if I could just figure out how to change the color again that would be awesome!

Let them eat cake!

(Okay so the lady who said that was French by marriage (she never actually said it either, but everyone thinks she did) and not English, but their colors are red, white, and blue too.)
I made this cake and piped it all by myself! Did you know it takes almost an entire jar of red icing coloring to get the red icing that red?

Smallish update

2008-07-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

So bad me, no posts in over a month. When I have some more time (and Travis's computer) I will post more pictures from the last month or so. Here is one from his birthday.

Alton with Wendy from Peter Pan at Goofy's Kitchen.

Okay so I lied and I can't stop, here are a couple more to get you through the week:

King Arthur's Carousel in Disneyland on Alton's actual birthday

Alton surrounded by part of his harem... there are no boys his age in our playgroup and I swear it looks like Penelope (in the pink hat) is bowing to in front of him. I think he looks like a little Sultan in this sun hat.

In bad news, I have pneumonia. Again. We need to get our house tested for dangerous molds.

Hell is...

2008-05-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

taking an almost one year old with a serious balloon and color red fetish to the supermarket where they are giving away RED BALLOONS.

It started innocently enough, as we entered Ralphs (Kroger to those of you east of CA) last night, the greeter girl gave Alton a red Ralphs balloon. How cute! Look how happy he is as he flashes his dimples and happily bounces his balloon!

The balloon kept him entertained for most of the trip through the market with my dad and grandmother. But when we approached the check stand, trouble loomed. Each check stand had a bouquet of red balloons tied to the open sign as well as an assortment of Congratulations Graduate mylar balloons.

It was as if you could see the balls roll into place in his head. Alton swiveled his head from checkstand to checkstand and took in the sights of red balloon nirvana everywhere. Brains clicks; hand reaches for the balloon display; and "SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK."

OH MY GOODNESS, the loud pitched squeal of an almost one year old who can't reach what he wants!

"Alton, you have a balloon. Those ones need to stay here for other little boys and girls." At this point, the cashier is laughing. "SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK." "Alton, this is not acceptable behavior, you need to use your inside voice."

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK." At this point, the cashier is starting to look alarmed and other people are looking at us. "Alton, you are hurting Pop Pop's ears. You have a balloon."

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK."

Now people are staring and talking behind their hands while they discuss my lack of mothering skills, so I fling my Mastercard at my dad and unbuckle Alton from the shopping cart. He hopefully lunged at the nearest balloon bouquet, and came up empty handed.

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK."

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK."

"SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK."

He kicked his brand new shoe off and had it land on the conveyer belt where our groceries were being checked. I carried him out to the car with as much dignity as I could muster while his face took on the color of his beloved balloons.

I now see why my mom would take a preemptive advil before going to the market with FOUR children.

He WALKED!!!

2008-05-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Today the five of us, (Travis, Alton, Lucy, Jack and me) were in the front yard; I was watering plants when Travis came home from work, so we all stayed out there while I watered. Travis was sitting on the grass playing with Alton while making sure Jackson didn't jump over the fence to eat a neighbor's chihuahua. Alton had been standing next to Travis, waving a spade when Alton took a step and a half and landed on Daddy!

A few minutes later when I finished watering I was walking by them with the hose and Alton took 3 steps towards me!

Previously, he has taken 2 or 3 steps at a time between pieces of furniture or whatever, but this was the first time he walked towards his parents!!!

Where did my little baby go?

Sick Babies Aren't any Fun!

2008-05-20T21:50:00.002-07:00

To make a long story short, we had to take Alton to the emergency room last night because he had a fever of 105.4. He'd been to the pediatrician earlier in the day and diagnosed with an ear infection. By the time we got him home, he was screaming his head off and felt like he was on fire.

So we called the pediatric advice line and she said take him to the emergency room. I will spare you the details of that nonsense, but his fever did break while we were there. Thank the Lord for the power of prayer!

His fever was back up this morning, so we went to see his pediatrician who said he most likely has roseola....

Still hot

2008-05-18T23:09:00.000-07:00

I know it was only 90 and it can and will get worse, but oh my goodness was it hot today!
We had a nice breakfast with our home group today to celebrate our "dedication".
I really want to blog more an write about my day, but it is still too warm! I'm going to bed.
Good night!

Sunny Spring Saturday

2008-05-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty good day today. My dad and I went to Costco, and Alton charmed the pants off of everyone. I got a gorgeous Star jasmine bush for $15. I LOVE star jasmine. Our local Costco was out of the the Fraggle Rock season DVDs, and since my brother mentioned that he wants them too, my dad and I had to venture to the Costco in the ghetto. Inglewood is scary, but thankfully the Inglewood Costco was not as scary as the Inglewood Target was.

After that, I came home and planted my plants, and Alton discovered that he can stand for a long time. He also discovered the hose. I got a cute video of him with the hose and I will post a link to it later. Then we went over to my grandmother's for dinner and to be squatters in her living room because she has air conditioning. I miss our air conditioning. When it got cooler, we took Alton and his cousin John John out to the back yard to play and I gardened for my grandmother. All and all it was a pretty good day.

Our Latest Trip to Disneyland

2008-05-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

We started out doing a secret shop of the Carnation Cafe. Alton was a BIG fan of his Junior Mickey Mouse waffle.

He was not as big a fan of the orange slice garnish.

While we walked breakfast off walking along Main Street, we ran into someone famous.
You will notice that Mickey and Alton are holding hands. This was not a loving gesture, Mickey was trying to save his nose from the prying hands of Alton. :)

This visit to Disneyland was special, because it was Alton's friend Angus's first trip to Disneyland.
Here are Angus and Alton in front of the honey pots in Pooh Corner.

I think Alton might know he is cute. :) Look at his grin!

Pop Pop (Grandpa Scott) always takes the best pictures:
I have already been to Costco to have this one blown up. It is framed in our bedroom.

Alton and Pop Pop in the beehive on the Winnie the Pooh ride.

Alton loves his Pop Pop.

My new camera does some pretty nifty stuff.

We had lunch together at the Hungry Bear Cafe. Alton and Angus had a good time watching the ducks on the Rivers of America eat random bits of food their mommies kept throwing. Not that mommies would ever abdicate throwing of food.
Both of the boys loved the new Finding Nemo Submarine Adventure. Here is Angus expressing his appreciation of the Magic of Disney Imagineers.

Quick update

2008-05-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

We are still alive! I got a new computer FINALLY and I look forward to being able to blog more often. I discovered the great time suck that is Facebook, so if you are on there, look me up with my G-mail e-mail.

Alton is sort of walking. He took three steps yesterday! He is also biting, scratching and pulling hair. He is such a fun age. Le sigh.

Who's here reading? Or did you all give up?

Wonder Woman Underoos

2008-04-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

When I was four or five, I had underoos! Who didn't in the 80's right? Well I had them all, Collect all four! But my favorite ones were my Wonder Woman ones. They were blue, the were red. They were sexy! Well as sexy as a kindergartners underwear can be anyway.
My Wonder Woman Underoos were special. My Wonder Woman Underoos were going to make me fly like Wonder Woman!

So one afternoon, my sister and I decided to try out our new underwear. Kristina was wearing the Princess Leah ones, (in case you did not know, Princess Leah does not fly) so she was just there for moral support. We opened our window, pushed the screen over, I balanced on the window sill, pointed my fingers to the sky like wonder woman, bent my knees and jumped.

I landed on the front lawn.

Determined that it was going to work, I went back in the house. Wonder Woman has those arm bracelets right? So I found some wristbands (hey, it was the 80s) and resumed my perch on the window sill.

Hands were pointed, knees were bent, and JUMP!

I landed on the front lawn.

"Maybe you need a cape! Super Girl has a cape, and Super Man has a cape, maybe you need a cape to fly." My sister shouted this to me from our bedroom window.

Undeterred, I wandered back into the house and set out to find the perfect cape.

A ha! The new towels! There was even a red one to match my underoos! I could not tie the towel tight enough on me, so we rubber banded it on. This was going to work!

Back to the window. Hands pointed, knees bent...

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" My mom shrieked.

"Mommy, she is going to fly in her underoos! Come watch!"

My mom pulled me back in the window by my newly purloined cape, and slid the screen back into place. She took away my cape (my source of power!) and told me to go play outside with CLOTHES on. Didn't she know that clothes would render the magical powers of the underoos useless? I wonder to this day if that red towel would have been the difference between flying through the sky or once again landing on the lawn....

Another quick update

2008-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

We have moved and we have internet! But we are still wading through a sea of boxes. Someone packed my digital camera charger, and I have NO idea where it ended up! Of course the digi cam is now suffering from a low battery....

Alton is not sleeping well at all. He has been fighting naps, fighting bed time, and waking up two or three times a night. We have had to drive him around a lot and Travis is accruing several frequent flier miles in the Lazy Boy rocking Alton to sleep.

quick update and roll call!

2008-02-29T00:34:00.000-08:00

If you are reading, comment or e-mail or something... a girl likes to get feedback!

We are moving Saturday to a fabulous little house in Gardena.... I am excited becase we will now have a backyard for Alton, Jack, and Lucy. They house even has a dogge door built in. :)

Stress = moving with a mobile 8 month old with a cold when you have a cold yourself....

Did you know candles are tasty? I did not know they were until Alton demonstrated a deep love for them. But then again, his taste buds are not to be trusted as kibble is apparently a delicacy as well. Yum! Liver flavored bon bons!

We get internet in a week.

8 Months!

2008-02-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Alton stood independently for about 10 seconds, twice this morning. Of course this was not long enough to get a picture of him doing it, but still, we saw him do it.
We took 8 month pictures this morning, but we don't have time to post them right now. Mommy will probably do it later tonight.

Chaos: and a quick update

2008-02-18T02:12:00.000-08:00

We are moving in a little under two weeks and we just started packing yesterday. :(
Alton insists on growing like a weed and is HIGHLY active.
He is now crawling on his hands and knees and cruises every where he can pull himself up on.
He is over his milk intolerance! WHOOT! But is still intolerant to eggs in mommy's diet.
We also tried the Gerber Puffs, and he LOVES LOVES LOVES LOVES them. Thank you Soren's mommy Kayt for the suggestion. We are going to try Cheerios next.
We have a secret shop at Disneyland today. Wish us luck. :)

Alton; a Girl, a Walker, and a Binkie: A Video

2008-02-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

This is Alton "cruising" with one of his girlfriends, Penelope; in his "ride".

Note the charming way they swap spit via the now communal binkie.

Alton and Broccolli: The Video

2008-02-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

His mommy won't really touch broccolli, so he must have gotten his love for the stuff from Daddy.

Alton and A Fancy Restaurant

2008-02-13T01:12:00.000-08:00

I had to secret shop a fancy restaraunt on my birthday. This is how my son behaved while we enjoyed our pre-dinner virgin cocktails and overpriced crab cakes in the bar.

New Alton Photos: Walker and Diaper shots

2008-01-31T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am much better!

2008-01-29T09:39:00.000-08:00

Still not 100%, but the worst is over. Travis woke up sniffling though. :(
Alton is also almost all better. His croup is gone, but he still blows snot bubbles. :(

He is currently enjoying a steamy bath with Daddy to benefit both of their noses. :)

I have new pictures to post, and I will probably get them up tonight.

I am sick!

2008-01-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

I am sick. I have the sniffles and I am all stuffy. :( Who would like to make me some chicken noodle soup and care for my son while I rest and recuperate?

On a more fun note, Alton has a toy pig and sheep. We have named them Bacon and Kebab, or Bob for short. Are we bad parents?

Alton is 7 Months Old!

2008-01-21T00:32:00.000-08:00

7th
Month Photo Shoot

My strawberry blonde angel

I finally outsmarted him and put the sign on the floor in
front of him.

He got it anyway

It is getting harder to get him to hold the sign

He looks so serious here

"I wonder if this will taste like that chicken I have
been hearing so much about?"

Daddy is making funny faces for him.

He has the best smile, I am simply convinced. Look at his
dimples!

Non-video post

2008-01-15T22:11:00.000-08:00

Things have been crazy around the house. As you can see from my video posts, Alton is learning to walk. Eeeeeeeeek! He crawls some, but he get quickly annoyed if we expect him to sit and play with his toys.

I have been keeping the house vacuumed and while I am not keeping the rest of the house as pristine, I am thankful that the office is clean the carpets are vacuumed. Alton's eye is still slightly gooky, but not anywhere near as bad as it once was. Thank God. I prayed and I prayed and I think it is finally almost clear.

I am thinking about selling a bunch of stuff on Ebay, but the thought of spending all of that time getting it all ready to list, and take pictures and write descriptions of it all is too much! But I am sure that Alton will very quickly learn that cupboards open and cupboards contain stuff. Stuff must be played with! NONE of our cupboards have knobs, so I can't just use those child proofing drawer locks. So I really should just list it all and be rid of it.

Travis is still job hunting. Last night he applied for a position in Minnesota! It snows there. I can't even begin to imagine living somewhere with a climate so different from where we are now.