Birthday Gift

365 Challenge #241

Joel got his first birthday gift last night.

It was a fun wooden game from Nana and Papa.

He thought it was great!

His favorite part was putting the wooden balls back into the holes.

He didn't quite understand the hammer part and wasn't happy when daddy tried showing him how.

He DID like waving the hammer around and just used his hands to push the balls through. Thanks Nana and Papa!

365 Challenge #240

Whew...I think this is it! I'm caught up on my 365 challenge :P

Joel thought the yogurt sauce was the best part!

He was really good at dipping the burgers.

Oh NO....he just realized his hands got dirty. This results in a meltdown.

365 Challenge #239

This is how we eat dinner when daddy is working late and eats his dinner at work.

Chickpea burgers (SO yummy!), Naan bread (leftover pizza dough rolled thin, brushed with butter, and cooked in a covered skillet), and yogurt sauce (plain yogurt, lemon juice, toasted sesame seeds, parsley). It was a hit! Joel loved them!

365 Challenge #238

We set up some hay bales and pumpkins and took pictures of the families.

This sweet little girl slept through ALL the noise (and being passed to about 10 different people)....sure wish Joel would do that!

365 Challenge #237

More of the party...this was a hit with most of the kids...just Joel hated it.

Sooooo hard to get in!

365 Challenge #236

Then the kids played "toss the cucumbers in the bucket".

Picking the perfect cucumber

365 Challenge #235

We had a party for all the staff who work so hard to pick cucumbers all summer before they leave to go pick oranges in Florida. Their kids had a blast! This was "pin the nose on the pig". 

I had to use flash in the above pictures because this is what the pics looked like when I didn't (even with my ISO as high as it would go and my aperture as wide as possible).

365 Challenge #234

Nothing is safe anymore. Nothing. He knows how to open the dishwasher and use it as a stepping stool.

My favorite cooking counter isn't my favorite anymore.

Because someone has taken over it.

He even stands on the silverware tray to reach more of the counter. I need a childproof dishwasher :)

365 Challenge #233

Ok, this isn't the best picture because it was dark, and I had to use my flash. But, this is the best dish we've had in awhile! Those are shrimp, deliciously breaded, bang-bang shrimp. The recipe is here: Bang-bang Shrimp. One of our favorite restaurants is Bonefish Grill, but at over $20 a plate and the normal 45 minute wait even with a reservation, we've only been there twice (once while dating and once with a Christmas gift card). Our favorite appetizer at Bonefish is the bang-bang shrimp, so when I found this recipe, I was beyond excited! And sure enough, it tastes like the restaurant's.

The sauce was a little spicy for my preggo belly, so I only coated half of each shrimp. Also, my panko was a little course at first and was falling off the shrimp when I fried them, so I ground the panko in a ziplock bag, and everything went much smoother after that.

365 Challenge #232

The rest of the "for fun" pics we took.

Can't decide which I like better. I like the mood of the black and white above, but love how the blue shirt matches her eyes below.

365 Challenge #231

I've been pretty busy working at my istock.com application. My friend, India, modeled for photos for the istock account, but we took some fun pics too. She is so beautiful and so photogenic!

365 Challenge #230

New favorite expression...tongue hanging out combined with the lazy eye. Um...beautiful :P

365 Challenge #229

Joel is loving the fall and fresh Michigan apples!

Until he realized the apple was making his fingers sticky.

This is totally unacceptable in his mind....I've never met a kid who was such a neat freak about his hands.

I washed his hands, and he resumed eating the apple.