kissy face

spaghetti sauce on lips + kissy face = delicious

the cocoa ritual

babysat my niece a while back. after a rather chilly trip to the local park, we all enjoyed a spot of cocoa. ah, the cocoa ritual. instilled in me when i was young by my mother. why not make cocoa drinking a special moment? jack already loves mini marshmallows. i put approximately half a bag in a bowl for us all. i gave jack a special mug and a bendy straw. enough to blow a 2 yr old's mind. claire and i had special goblets and i poured the cocoa from my white teapot with the big yellow polka dots. to keep the cocoa cool for little mouths, i poured cold milk from a little white ceramic cow. i'm pretty sure we all had a really great time...with cocoa.:)

butterfly

another butterfly has flown off my needles. this hat was for elerene, to replace the wool one that my sister SHRUNK! horror! anyway, it's the same yarn as my butterfly hat. isn't it a beauty? i think this was the 12th or 13th butterfly. this is a beautiful, fun, easy pattern. i'm a big fan.:)

danish aebelskiver

made danish aebelskiver with jack last week. danish apple pancake balls are delish. and almost as good as a doughnut in a pinch.;) jack was watching an episode of curious george where george orders 100 dozen doughnuts. (how dumb was that donut shop lady?) when the show ended, jack turned to me, grabbed his gut, and said, "my (i'm) hungwy for doughnuts.".

i was thinking donuts sounded awesome, too. but i didn't want to drive anywhere to get them. then i remembered my danish aebelskiver pan that i don't think i have ever used. jack and i had a great time making these. jack's job was to roll them in the cinnamon and sugar. truth be told... he didn't do such a great job. he kept pulverizing them. oops. oh well, the "ugly" ones i ate.:)

another cool thing about these balls is that i got to use a knitting needle to make them. yes, i said knitting needle. i used a needle to flip the balls over. it amused me.

"chee-bur! fren-fries!"

jack loves cheeseburgers and french fries. if you pull up to a drive-thru window with him, he will lean forward in his car seat and yell out his order. "chee-bur! fren-fries!" mind you, you may be at the coffee shop or the bank.

waffle breakfast sandwich... i love you.

i created the greatest sandwich yesterday!!! i decided to use some of the leftover waffles from breakfast for lunch. bread gets boring sometimes, you know? (at least, the cheap generic bread i usually buy. homemade/specialty breads are endlessly amusing i suppose.) i built my sandwich with 2 waffles, slight bit of syrup, maple ham, american and mozzarella cheese, and a nice creamy fried egg (not too fried, not too wet). delicious! beautiful, too.

red rubber boots

jack has a hole in his yellow rubber boots. good news is that i found hand-me-down boots from jack's cousin! hooray! they are nice and big, too. another fun thing is that i have matching red rubber boots.:) we went out this day in our raincoats and boots and it was lovely. i never mind the rain!

the naughty napper strikes again!

jack whines when it's time to go to sleep. every night it's, "i want to sleep with you!". sigh. jack sometimes gets naughty about it. he knows that if i see him up i will make him go back to his bed. this night he wanted to be close to us... but not get caught. he laid down right next to our bedroom door with a cup of water by his head on one side, and his "friends" on the other. all in a row. very cute. extremely naughty!

a nap crept up upon him

forsooth. jack wanted to go outside sooo bad. he was no match for mr. sandman. i love how the hats, gloves, boots are strewn around him.

beauty

this happen-stance photo of jack really turned out beautiful. i love how the eyes look so clear and the skin so translucent. and of course i dig the eyebrows.

curious george

saw curious george at the mall a few weeks ago. jack was really shy. as soon as we went to leave, however, jack decided he wanted to hang out with george.:) well, in the grand scheme of things i suppose it was a waste of time... but jack really loves curious george. and the photos are pretty fun.:)

homemade bread/indian food

i made some homemade bread the other day. i turned out beautiful...but the crust was SO TOUGH. sigh.

i bought some "chicken tikka masala" from Wal-Mart again the other day. it was just as good as the first time! yum! i am so shocked. i took it out of the plastic dish to make a prettier photo.:) look! do you see the grill marks on the chicken, the peas, the carrots, the big hunk of potato? this is some seriously yummy fakey indian food.:)

my brother's shirt

jack beeeeeged me to help him put andy's shirt on. i told him i didn't think it would fit. when it was on, and just barely brushing his ankles, he triumphantly declared that it DID FIT!:)

"my life in france"

france. i love it. i, possibly, will never get there. BUT!, i borrowed "my life in france", by julia child, from the library last night. bon! it is sooo good. it's all about the few years that she and her husband lived in paris around the end of the 40's and the early 50's. yum. detailed accounts of restauants, meals, markets, etc. i can't put it down. it is in my lap as i type this.:) (slow dial-up gives me gaps of time in which to multi-task.) this morning while i read i laughed aloud. that's the joy of cooking.;) anyway, i had a croissant today. maybe tomorrow i'll knit myself a beret.

big boy pants

i'm really proud of my little pottytrainer. jack is doing great. he has his setbacks... about every time i start bragging on him.:) all in all, it is going amazingly smooth. he even pulls his pants down and goes himself sometimes. i am so grateful. everyone sez that boys are supposed to be more difficult. and jack is stubborn. like his parents. thank goodness i'm almost done with the diaper phase! praise the Lord!

pop cornin'

bought a hot air popcorn popper from my cousin-in-law when we did our combined garage sale last summer. didn't try it out until i partially melted the microwave. oops. well (for about a quarter!) we now have lovely fresh popcorn frequently. i must admit i love pouring butter over it and shaking out the salt.:) but, it's got to be healthier than microwave popcorn with all the chemicals and preservatives, right? that's what i tell myself. hush. jack and i like to watch the popcorn rise. how exciting!

snowmobile

just thought i would post this photo of dan and jack with the snowmobile before the snow is gone away. dan took jack for a little ride and made him the happiest of little boys. this year was pretty good for snowmobiling. of course, i barely went. andy just took me for a short ride up the hill after i sledded down it one night.:) how pathetic! well, i am the one that usually has to watch jack, so i don't get that many opportunities. plus, i almost kill myself every time i try to operate one of them. oops.

spring is coming!

i am so glad spring is coming. it's a lot nicer being outside in the lingering snow when it is nice and warm out. this is a photo i took one day when i took jack down the driveway for the mail. he thinks it's great fun and yelled "wee!" most of the time. yesterday i let him wear his rain boots and stomp in the puddles. YEAH FOR SPRING!

molly's mega market bag

just started another market bag, so i thought i'd post photos of the last one.:) this one i gave to my sis-in-law as a bday gift. i think the next one will be a gift, too. i am trying to get caught up on gifts i want to give JUST BECAUSE. now's a great time, since Christmas is so very far away. (but i'm not going to let it creep up on me. i'm going to get my gifts started even earlier this year! bigger gifts! better gifts! how exciting!) anyway, i think this next bag will be entitled "molly's MEDIUM market bag". i think it will be more useful if it wasn't so...mega.:)