Alecisms

This entry will be devoted to a few cute Alecisms. First, the bellybutton. Alec discovered his belly button yesterday. He pulled his onesie super far out and looked down. I wish I got that much joy from looking at my bellybutton!

Second, Alec has learned to open the screen door / sliding glass door when it's not locked. Yesterday he used this new-found skill to go play out on our patio and ended up climbing in the bike trailer. He got out to get his helmet, then climbed back in, tried to put on his helmet, and looked at me as if to say, "Alright, I'm ready... why aren't we going anywhere?" I guess he's really enjoyed our bike rides to church on Sundays. Personally, I've LOVED those.


Third, we gave him his own bowl and spoon for lunch today. He had so much fun! We had tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and he sat contently in his chair for so long, we were able to finish our lunches and he was still going! He did quite well using the spoon correctly. He only tipped out soup onto the floor once. This is such a fun time with him! (I need to remind myself of that more and more often)

Rise until double

So I've been wanting to make bread more often than buy it, in an effort to stay closer to our food budget for the month. This batch was more of a handful than I expected since I didn't realize the recipe I was using made 6 loaves, requiring 12 cups of flour until it was time to add the flour. I didn't have enough white flour and had to use wheat for the last couple of cups. My Kitchen Aide mixer (as I found out mid-try) can't contain that much flour without spilling out dough everywhere! So I was forced to do old fashioned hand-kneading for 10+ minutes and gratefully placed it in a bowl to rise until double. I came back after an hour to check on it and this is what I found. I probably should have realized it wasn't all going to fit in my bowl when it was double, oh well. It'll still taste good ... hopefully.


Ok, Alec has been dying to give his two cents so here goes, accompanied by some super cute pictures of him.

kbkhuuuuuuu nhkbhhbjbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbk.,mnb

(those last 6 characters were done by his feet, seeing as how he didn't think he was done when I thought he was) Ok, here are his pictures:



I'm not sure how he managed that one, but he did it all by himself!

Wonderful weather...wonderful life

The weather here has been fantastic, literally perfect. With all this sun we've really been able to enjoy our bike trailer. I take Alec in it everywhere: the library, the bank, the store, Daddy's office, the community garden, etc... It is amazing how much brighter life can be with a simple thing like nice weather. Feeling the sun on my face or back with a pleasant breeze blowing my hair while I watch my little boy play in the sand or go down the slide is pure joy. I have a wonderful life and I'm thankful for it.

Alec helping Daddy get the bikes ready for a ride.


Nice and comfortable in the trailer.


Oh and I've been taking naps almost every day now, I'm starting to like it.

Family Fun

My family (Mom, Dad, Sarah and Hailey) stayed with us this past week and today, they are gone. We had so much fun just chilling around here doing bike rides, hikes, watching movies and playing ultimate frisbee and tennis. We also toured San Fransisco a bit on Monday: Golden Gate Park, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Zoo! My sister Sarah got on ABC's 7 news because that day was the first day for the lion's exhibit to be opened since those people got killed by the tiger a few months back.

In addition to visiting my aunt and cousins up in Rocklin, CA all day Wednesday, my dad helped Chris and I get our garden ready for planting! We used an ingenious method to keep out the birds with some netting and good old' pbc(at least thats what I've always called it) pipe, which dad calls the "covered wagon method." I'll have to post some pictures after we get things planted.

Now the house seems too quiet, but that should actually be a good thing since Alec is taking a 3 hour nap! Where that came from, I have no idea...

Valentine's Party

We had a fun Valentine's courtyard party that lasted two days! The kids decorated sugar cookies and valentines on Wednesday, then we had a Chinese food dinner on Thursday. The weather was beautiful and quite windy, but at least the dinner was indoors. Also Chris and I decided not to do any separate gifts that required money this year. So I made some beautiful, chocolate-dipped cookies for him, and surprised him with them and Alec at his office. We were given some money from our Grandma Archibald for Valentines day and so we purchased a lemon tree for us to enjoy all year round, for years to come. I love holidays.

craigslist

We love craigslist! Even though sometimes you never hear back from inquiring, and even though there are horror stories of ridiculously cheap customers, we've had fairly good experiences. We got this hiking backpack from a really nice guy. Alec seems to be really comfortable and he enjoys having a high view (on Chris' back). We're excited to go hiking more as there are LOTS of beautiful places nearby. Yay for beautiful weather and yay for craigslist!

Golf clubs

So we finally got some golf clubs for Alec. We found some cheap little plastic ones for 5 dollars at ToysRUs. We feel like they will probably break soon, especially the way Alec has been whacking everything in the house. But, so far so good. Here is a video of Alec hitting a ball around, and then trying out his somersault skills.

Here is another cute picture of Alec recently, he is really into climbing on things of late.

A fun hike we went on recently: