Pasketti!

Riley had her first experience with spaghetti last week.

 Needless to say....she loved it!

Spaghetti is usually a HUGE mess with Gavin, so I expected a mess with Riley....but then again, every meal is a huge mess with Riley.  And I was right....spaghetti everywhere!

But isn't she cute all covered in spaghetti?

Watermelon Slice

 I love me some watermelon!  Gavin, sadly, does not like it {he's not a big fruit fan} so I was excited to share watermelon with Riley.  If I put cubes on her tray, they ended up on the floor instead of in her mouth, so I tried just giving her a big ol' slice.  

The silly girl just kept putting the rind in her mouth.  She apparently found the hardest part of the watermelon more appealing than the sweet, juicy part! 

The plus side of giving her watermelon...Gavin was intrigued and decided to try some again.  He ate one half of one cube I put on his plate and was insisting that it was delicious.  I think he really wanted to like it since Riley did.  I guess my kids will take after me and just be picky about the fruits they like.

 Hopefully, Riley keeps loving the watermelon so I have a watermelon buddy in the house.

Krispy Kreme!

Gavin is definitely my kid when it comes to sweets.  He loves him some dessert!  Ever since Daddy took him to Krispy Kreme on Christmas Eve, he points out the "donut shop" every time we drive by.  So, I knew I had to take him to the Krispy Kreme tour when our playgroup had it scheduled.  He loved it!

He got to feel a donut before it was cooked.  He said it was "squishy."

 He watched the donuts go into the oil and get cooked, and then it was time to decorate his own.  After the nice lady dipped it in chocolate, he was allowed to put his sprinkles on.  

Walking away with his donut in his bag, feeling very proud of himself! :) 

And time to enjoy!

And the sweet little boy was looking out for his daddy...he told me I had to buy some to take home for him, too! :)

Sweet Summer Corn!

The boy loves corn!  I'm so glad we finally bought corn holders so he can eat it straight off the cob like we do. 

Spaghetti!

What?  Don't you eat spaghetti off your belly, too?

Just had to add something - since I posted this picture so large, you can see the buckle well.  Notice that it isn't even around his waist?  Our big boy has figured out how to climb into the seat on his own.  Well this night, he also decided he could buckle himself in by himself.  He was really proud, shouting, "I did it!" while I cut up his spaghetti.  I didn't even notice until I pulled his chair away to wipe the pile of spaghetti from his feet that he hadn't done it correctly.  But, boy was he proud! :)

Proof!

I think these pictures are proof that we just need to have LaRosa's spaghetti sauce sent to us more often. Yes....he inhaled the spaghetti! Thanks for bringing it, Mimi and Beepa!

Lunch with the trains

On Sunday, Gavin woke up from his nap and Jarrod had his lunch ready to go. We wanted him to eat so we could go outside and work in the garage. He, on the other had, was doing everything to avoid sitting down to eat. He was carrying Edward and Thomas around, so I finally got an idea. I took the trains, set them on his table and told him they wanted to eat lunch, too. I put a piece of pizza in front of each of them, and he sat down and started eating! :) He didn't eat everything, but enough for mommy and daddy to be satisfied, and the trains enjoyed their lunch as well!

Birthday Weekend

Another year older....another year closer to 30! Thanks to everyone for my birthday wishes today. We knew Jarrod would be back in Syracuse today so we celebrated some this weekend. He decided (since going out with Gavin to restaurants tends to be stressful!) that he'd make me anything I wanted on Saturday after Gavin was in bed. Even though it made for a late dinner, it was amazing to be able to eat a hot dinner and enjoy adult conversation without cutting up food, picking up dropped cups and spoons, wiping spills....you get the picture!

For Christmas, mom and dad gave us a Bobby Flay cookbook. We decided to pick a recipe out of there. I spent Saturday morning looking through the cookbook, pondering which recipe to pick. There were so many good ones, but for some reason , the "Mesa Burger" kept popping out at me. It was a simple recipe, but SOOOOO good! Of course, it was my birthday dinner, so I didn't worry too much about the healthy factor. :)

Here is a shot Jarrod took for me....the greatest hubby in the world! I'm so lucky! And here is my delicious burger. Bobby Flay's "Mesa" burger, with grilled Vidalia onions and horseradish mustard. I found a zucchini-potato bake recipe online to make for the side dish. Very simple, and really good, too! It was a great evening. :)

Sunday, we started out the morning with Jarrod saying he was in charge of all diaper changes for the day. Another birthday treat for me! :) Too bad it only lasted until 4pm... He gave Gavin his bath that morning because Gav wanted to splash in the tub. During naptime, we did a lot of cleaning and organizing and got papers together for taxes. Once he woke up, we headed to get our taxes started and took Gavin for Toys R Us treat. More trains...he's so spoiled!

Lovin' some chocolate pie!

Jarrod always has a tendency to bring home some delicious and extremely unhealthy dessert from Sam's just as I'm getting back into my Biggest Loser routine. (Of course, I eat it anyway! Who wastes dessert???) This past weekend, it was Chocolate Dream Pie...a yummy pie crust, with a chocolate pudding-like filling, whipped frosting and chocolate shavings. Needless to say, we all loved it, including Gav.

This a great picture of his "Cheese!" face. :)

Melon Bean Eatery

The Melon Bean Eatery is AWESOME! It's the type of place I wish we had when I lived back in Ohio! It's one of the places that I now love about Rochester. I have found so many places here that are geared toward kids. It's really great to have so much to do to keep us busy in a new place now that I am a stay-at-home mommy. On Saturday, a few of us from the playgroup tried Melon Bean for the first time for a morning coffee/coupon swap playdate. It's a great little place with good coffee, sandwiches, and desserts AND a play area for kids. I loved the whole idea of the place. Lindsay used to joke all the time about wanting to open a place like this back home. I didn't have my camera to get pictures, but check out her blog. And if you ever want to come visit, I'll take you here for coffee!

http://melonbeaneatery.blogspot.com

Fall has arrived!

I haven't had much time to blog over the past week or so. On Thursday, I hosted my Tastefully Simple Open House here at the apartment to start off the fall/winter selling season, so we spent most of Wednesday cleaning and preparing food. Then, Thursday afternoon, Jarrod's family came to visit. Jackie, Aunt Pat, and Grandma drove up for the long weekend. I'll post pictures of their visit tomorrow.


Yesterday, after they left, Jarrod and I had a lazy day. Not very productive at all...Jarrod even took 2 naps! (Yes, I said Jarrod, not Gavin.)


Today, we ventured out to enjoy the weather and the fact that Jarrod decided not to go into work! After a visit to the mall, we found a local farm and took a wagon ride out to the orchards and picked apples. It was something I had never done, but always wanted to. Now, it's time to search for apple recipes! Gavin really enjoyed the apples! I can't wait to take him back.

Found one!

Daddy showing him how to take a bite

Going in!

Here's another one, Mom!

He wouldn't put his apple down!

Bad lighting, but enjoying the apple!

Double bite!

Apple trees

Beautiful day

Yummy Gingergold apples

And on the wagon ride back....needless to say, he was tired and mad that we picked him up when the nice lady across from us offered to take a picture of the three of us. Priceless picture!

Flashback Friday

I'm thinking Flashback Friday is going to be renamed...maybe Fun Times Friday??? The problem is that I'm running out of "flashback" pictures. I could do more if I'd scan pictures in, but I'm not motivated to do that. I've been limited to what's on my computer and I'm running out of interesting ones to choose from. So, Fun Times Friday begins!

Fun Times with Food

playing with pudding

so happy to be eating breakfast

"The baked beans were yummy, mom!" Do you see them in his hair? They were also in his ears, belly button, and nose!

loving Daddy's chili!