Shoes and Pets

This is what I found when going to put my shoes on the other day:

Making Truffles

Couldn't resist posting this cute picture of Lena helping me make truffles... don't worry, she had a separate spoon and bowl of truffle stuff, so the licked stuff didn't get into the truffles... (in case you were worried :) )

Some Cute Close-Ups :)

Favorite Ingredient of the Day... Sprinkles!

I tried my hand at decorating a cake for a friend's birthday the other day and figured giving Lena a cookie to decorate would be a good idea for keeping her entertained while still feeling included. Well it worked! :) She even discovered the sprinkles and... ummm... I'll let the pictures say the rest:

18 Months

Today my baby girl is 18 months old. Wow, has it really been that long since she was a tiny little infant? I know that everyone says this, but time has really been flying and I can't believe how fast little Lena is growing. She is learning faster and faster everyday now. Some of the things she's been up to are:

- Being happy in her forward facing car seat :) One of my favorites.
- Playing "boo" and "chase" with her cousin Jimmy
- She can reach the light switch on the stairs from the first stair now
- Her 12 month pants are too short for her as of about two weeks ago
- Her three favorite toys are her Ellie (teddy bear), Monkey and Kittie and once in a while any one of her puppies. :)
- She gives hugs willingly... most of the time :)
- She likes giving Jimmy hugs even though he rarely hugs back
- She loves reading books, especially with her Nonna
- She likes to comb her hair after I have sprayed it with the hairspray
- She LOVES rubbing lotion, hand sanitizer or sunscreen on her hands or on anything else she's allowed to.
- She is constantly opening up diapers (clean ones) and trying to put them on herself... she will open them up and sit on them... but then when it's time for a real diaper change she's not happy.
- She loves giving kisses to Ellie, Kittie and Monkey
- The other day she insisted on taking the blanket that was covering Randy up so that she could cover up her Monkey, after getting her monkey covered up she came running to me saying "monkey, monkey, monkey" in a sad voice... she had lost her monkey in the pile of blanket! :)
- She LOVES to climb!
- She's fairly good at using a spoon and a fork with little mess (unless she WANTS a mess)
- She claps after her gloves are on
- Lately she holds her bottle in her hands for like ten minutes before drinking it (I think she likes to feel the warm on her hands), then the act of drinking it has to be HER decision and HER decision ONLY!!! There's no prompting or suggesting or helping allowed. Sometimes she'll fall asleep holding it before she gets a chance to drink it. If you say "do you want to drink your bottle?" she says "NO!" to which I respond "Do you want ME to hold it for you then?" and she says again, "NO!"
- She loves to pour things, water, milk, flour, powdered sugar, etc... I usually give her her own little mixing bowl and measuring cup with some flour in it and it keeps her entertained for as long as I'm baking something... she has her own little apron and stands up on a chair next to the counter with me. Then when we are done we sweep together :)
- She still really likes her fruits and veggies! What a good girl. :) I'm getting better at liking them too!
- Here are the words that I can think of that she says, though I know she says much more, I have a hard time remember them all since there are so many now:
--Gases (glasses)
--Kittie
--Duckie
--Kacko, Kacko (Quack, Quack)
--Meeeeooow (in a deep growly voice)
--roar!
--bubbo (bubble)
--babbo (bottle)
--binky (which we need to wean her off of as well as the previous)
--Daddy
--Sam
--Jimmy
--Aix (Alex)
--Osie (Rosie)
--Up!
--Down
--Gone
--Plop
--Boots
--Apri (Open in Italian)
--Bracio (Arm in spanish)
--Noce (nut in Italian)
--Ciudi (Close in Italian)
--Mano (Hand in Italian and Spanish)
--light
--Eye
--Ey (Ellie)
--Monkey
--Ooo, ooo, aah, aah (like the monkey)
--That
--This
--Nonna
--Nonno
--Gamma (Grandma)
--Jesus
--Chocate (Chocolate)
--Car
--Tuck (Truck)
--Ball
--Owe! (not when she's hurt, just when you say something she doesn't want to hear... like "no")
--Wow! (uses the same as "Owe")
--Manana (Banana)
--Spash (Splash, while slapping the duckies on her book, who happen to be splashing)
--Apple
--Pear
--Bear
--Juice
--Malk (milk)
--Push
--Buttin (Button)
--Bum
--Bye (while waving)
--Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi (just like that, you can't have just one "hi")
-- Jump! (she actually gets about an inch clearance now :) )
-- Burrrrr! (when it's cold)
-- Min (Vitamin)
-- Bread
-- Jacket
-- Walk
-- Basta (Stop in Italian)
--Elbow

Okay, I will stop there. :) Being Lena's mom for the past 18 months has been a pleasure and I look forward to the exciting years ahead of us. :)

The Pros and Cons of Having an Extra Freezer

Pro:

You have room to freeze extra food so that you can buy a LOT of meat when it's on a really good sale and it will stay good in the freezer until you are ready to use it.

Con:

In fact, you have so much room that you think, "What? A 40 lb case of boneless, skinless chicken breast for only $1.60 per lb... yes, we'll take it... and yes, of course we have room for it, just throw it in the freezer... "

(7 days later)...

"Hey, Randy, can you get me a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer? I'm going to make something with chicken tonight"... "Sure" says Randy...

well, of course we didn't think about the fact that we should probably separate the chicken before freezing it

Pro:

Promotes unplanned workouts, needed in order to chisel out needed chicken from 40 lb frozen chunk.

Another Pro:

You are forced to prepare 27 enchiladas at one time, made from the 10 lb chunk of chicken that we were able to chisel out of the 40 lb chunk.... meaning we now have about 5 meals ready-made.

Another Pro:

There is so much extra room that it can fit 27 pre-made enchiladas.

Con:

We may be getting sick of enchiladas. :)

I'm starting to think that from the list of Pros and Cons with having a freezer... the benefits out-weigh the costs... :)

We love our freezer! Thanks to Randy's mom for giving us this awesome Christmas gift. :)

Moral of the story:

Can't decide. :)

Stooping to Dads Level

So the other day we were playing with the string of beads in the kitchen (again). :) Randy thought it would be funny to do a funny walk while he showed Lena how to get the beads to make cool designs. He somehow started walking while in squatting position... knees completely bent. Well, not only did Lena want to make the cool designs with the beads, she also wanted to do it exactly how dad was doing it... she began trying to imitate his walk by bending her little knees and hunching her back over. It was so freaking cute to watch. I tried to capture some pictures of the cuteness. They aren't as good as the real thing, but you can kind of get the idea. :)