betsy's first friend

my friend susan had her baby, sweet anabelle, 10 weeks after betsy was born and today they came over to play.  i love seeing these little girls there, side by side, knowing that in just a few short months they'll be sitting up chewing on things together and soon after that they'll be crawling around the house together and not too long after that they'll be running top speed around the back yard together, screaming and giggling with delight!

i promise betsy is not punching poor anabelle in this photo, she just sort of reached out and touched her but it looks like she's giving her an elbow to the throat.  i guess she's working on self-defense to ward of petey's 'affections' once she is mobile. sorry anabelle!

lemon poppy seed sugar cookies

petey and i whipped up a batch of these delicious cookies (recipe is found at my kitchen cafe).  they were really easy to make and we really enjoyed them - they just taste like summer!  careful during the baking process, i found that they baked quickly and browned easily on the edges (normally my oven requires 3-6 additional minutes from the recommended baking time for baked goods so i was surprised).  in the photo below you can tell which half of the cookies were my first cookie sheet, they got a bit more brown than i would have liked.  i'd also recommend using a different method than "dropping" them....they don't really swell nicely into a perfect cookie shape but sort of retain whatever goopy look your drop left them with. but they are still super yummy! enjoy!  petey did :)

*photo from my kitchen cafe*

the new kitchen

we recently purchased petey a "sorry your birthday is in the same month as christmas" gift to jazz up playtime around these parts from willowtoys.com - a new kitchen set! and its been a huge hit. i love its beautiful solid wood (non-plastic!!!) look and the fact that it is oh-so-sturdy. the hinges on the lower storage/oven doors are petey-proof as well. he's enjoying putting things in and out of the kitchen, rearranging all the dishes and his favorite - cutting these cute wood vegetables that are held together with velcro. they come with a wooden cutting board and knife and petey absolutely loves sitting there sawing away at them and watching the pieces come off as though it were real. land of make believe, here we come! did i mention that this is one toy i really enjoy putting away? it makes me feel like i am 6 again and i love putting the dishes away on the shelves and grouping the food. its silly but really, truly, i love this toy perhaps as much as my son!

bugs, undies and puppy pals

my son's behavior is like a sine wave. yes, i know what a sine wave looks like. ask me to do anything using sine and i will fail, but i know what the wave looks like. repeating ups and downs. and man, he is up and then all the sudden he is down, flailing on the ground in a fit. its impressive.  seems like he is in another one of his frustrated about everything phases. each time his communication skills catch up with his brain capacity he is happy for awhile but then he figures more out and can't communicate it and gets all crazy on me. not to mention (i know, mom's blame everything on teething the first 2 years) i am pretty positive he is trying to cut his 2 year molars.  anyway. working hard on my patience.  its harder when the naughtiness is premeditated. when you can see the naughtiness in his eye when he's caught (intentionally) in the act, just to see how i respond. yes, working hard on my patience, indeed.
but in the sweet picture above, he's ripped a lady bug off of my stationary and is keeping it in an empty cottage cheese container and walking around the house proudly with it saying "dizzzzzzzzzzzzzz" as any good lady bug would.  the other day i caught him squatting in the corner of our yard pointing at the mulch saying "dizzzzzzzzzzzzz" over and over so i joined him to see what he was up to. i thought he was telling me that an ant says "dizzzzzzz" because that's all i saw and i was scouring the ground intensely. about 2 minutes later i finally saw the BEE that he had been pointing at and buzzing at all along, walking along with a broken wing. this child doesn't miss anything.

oh my goodness. big boy undies have come to wanesta drive. he's just trying them on here to make sure we really want to open and wash up all 35 pair in preps for potty training.  i've been trying to figure out how to get an extra pair of adult hands around here to help out while we go at it full steam.....and my darling grandmother just called today to tell me she's coming for a visit. are you up for being part of the magic, grandma????

betsy was watching me cook up a storm today during pete's nap, one of the only times she gets some wiggle time on the floor without people hovering over her. after about 5 minutes baxter realized she was down at his level, stopped by to lick her on the head and then laid down next to her. so cute.  i hope betsy adores baxter (and all dogs and animals) as much as pete does!  and yes, the mittens are back.....she discovered her thumb this morning.

my new nephew-pup

betsy is 3 months old!

cardiff state beach

yep, enjoyed another lovely morning out at play. today we hit the coast early and tried out a new beach and a new restaurant, both of which i fell in love with.  this beach is gorgeous - and it has a triple wide bike lane running along the coastline which looks like it could be a great place to take a double jogger running in a couple of weeks.  the best part of our morning - petey finally decided the ocean wasn't so scary and played in the gentle surf. it made my heart so happy to see!  lots of ocean fun in our future.

lots of surfers enjoying the great surf here. i enjoyed watching a wetsuited daddy teaching his wetsuited little guy how to catch a wave. it was precious. can't wait to see petey out there with his daddy!

for now, he has to settle for his momma....although i guess i'm more apt to teach him to surf since i've actually BEEN surfing before. :)

photographic proof that betsy was actually there, poor darling - she is always on-the-go during her naptime. here she is soothing herself to sleep. she ended up taking a phenomenal nap which made the outing even easier on momma.

safely enjoying the sand. then i had the wise idea to show him how to get water in the bottle from the surf. that's what started it all.  he fell in love with the ocean...

slowly he got braver and braver....he was having a ball and would chase the tide out each time it pulled back and then get surprised when it came back to him again.

we took a quick break from the water to check on miss betsy....and then he got brave!

off he went, only looking back once, to go check out the water once more. it wasn't until he was knee deep that he turned around to look for me. i was right there behind him, thank goodness, because the next set of waves knocked him on his bottom. and off came the soaked clothes. but he was not deterred.

perhaps he had even more fun once he was soaked and running around in his cute little diaper.  just in time for his buddy ryan to arrive and the sun came out!

its great to have friends to share a beach day together!