Picture Dump

So I had to give a talk on Sunday and I have been so stressed about it that every time I came to the computer I felt like I had to be researching for that.  I hate public speaking.  Anyway in the meantime.  Here is what has been happening in the real world. 

My grandparents moved from the east coast to California.  Luke has never met them.  My parents were driving out, so Luke and I hitched a ride.  It was so great to see them again.

Luke chasing the pigeons on fisherman's warf.

My Aunt and Uncle have a putting green in their back yard. Luke loved golfing with G-ma.

Waiting for Uncle Mark to come home from the Phillipines.

Mark's back....Horrrible pictures...it was late.

Luke's monkey impression

If you asked Luke what he was going to be for Halloween he would say Monkey, CANDY!  He was pretty excited about the whole idea.  He loved trick of treating, but he really wanted to go inside the houses.   He also loved answering the door and saying Happy Halloween.

Fun, fun, fun

 This made me want to install a tunnel in my house Luke played here forever.  He loved peeking in and out. 

There was a big sand/water box were you could build mounds and rivers for the dinosaurs to play in.  Luke also thought it might be fun to make sand castles on little girls backs and turn the whole place into a wave pool.   Ah two years old boys can be creative. 

Puppy Love

Okay so maybe he's not a puppy.  But Luke has fallen head over heels for our dog Murphy.  He has always loved him but I got him a haircut and all of the sudden Luke is just petting him all day saying.  "cute...sooo cute."    Lifting up his ears and saying "bootiful ears"  

He  also says "bootiful worm" whenever he sees one.   With all of these "bootifuls" being thrown around I thought I'd snag one for myself.  So I asked "Is Mommy bootiful"   He quickly replied with a resounding "NOOOO"   I guess that'll teach me to go fishing for compliments. 

Fruit

Lately my life seems to revolve around fruit.   

We have fruit coming out our ears.  We are making peach salsa, peach candy ( or as Luke my apparently Italian child calls it Peach-a Candy.  It is actually dehydrated peach slices,  but you call it candy and well its so much more fun), Apple rings, peach smoothie packs, frozen tomato buckets for salsa, bottled pears. 

Luke is in heaven... he will walk outside with one apple and then see a "good one" on the tree so he grabs that one,  by the time we come inside he has made his mark on 8 apples and is trying to juggle all of them in is his arms so that he can bring his treasures in.    We find them hidden everywhere in our house.  I put my foot in a quillow (how do you spell that Mel?  -I still use it  love spot for my feet)  and felt a little ball and sure enough it was a tiny apple.  Bryan has found on in his closet.   Luke loves having fruit trees.   His body hasn't quite adjusted to the mass amounts of fruit and so well lets just say our diaper budget has gone up. 

It is fun fun fun,  but a bit exhausting having our own little orchard. 

Theme night menu planning

So we are trying to make some changes in our home.  Just little things here and there to lengthen our lives or lengthen our stride or... well that's all the lengthens I can think of.  Anyway one of our goals is to eat better and to stresss less about meals.  And I am hoping to accomplish that via the Food Nanny.  A really perky lady (she has a show on PBS or one of those channels) that would drive me crazy in real life.   But her cookbook/concept is making me happy in the kitchen.  She suggests having every night be a theme night.  Like mexican, italian, etc.  Then you plan your menu around that theme and do all your shopping for two weeks.  I have tried things like this before.. menu planning or occasional theme nights and I love it when I do it, but I don't follow through, but we've got a system and its happening.

It's nice to know what we are having for dinner and then we can't convince the other that we should just grab a bite to eat.  Plus I can do easy meals on the nights I have YW always.  So far we are loving it, and I think it will save us money as I plan out two weeks and think what ingredients can I use meal to meal.

•  Monday - Mexican
• Tuesday - Italian
• Wednesday - Meatless / Fish
• Thursday - Date Night :)
• Friday - Grill /Soup
• Saturday - Pizza
• Sunday - Family Traditions

Luke and I making dough on our favorite night...pizza night.   We have margherita pizza every week while we still have fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden...delish!