Saturday, January 30, 2010

Cincinnati

We left yesterday afternoon for a little family trip and headed to Newport Aquarium. We left after lunch with my parents hoping Dane would be tired and sleep on the way. He slept for 1 hour and woke up just as we were pulling into the parking garage.




Dane was so excited to see the alligators. He'd been talking about it for several days prior.
Peeking at the alligators through the glass floor. We stayed at this exhibit the longest, he just couldn't get enough.
This is my favorite exhibit. I could've sat there at watched these jelly fish forever.


After the aquarium we headed to our hotel to get checked-in before dinner. Dane was strangly excited about sleeping in a different place. I was nervous that he wouldn't sleep at all! We chose to stay at the Hilton, here is the view from inside. The reason we chose to stay there mostly is because they offered suites at a reasonable price. We set Dane's pack-n-play up in the living quarters with his box fan and pulled the curtains closed. He slept from 9pm till 7am. Too bad Brad or I couldn't sleep at all! The bed was too soft and I couldn't get past the outside noise. Oh,Well. Nothing alittle coffee won't cure.

Speaking of coffee. For breakfast we headed next door to eat at tazza mia. Really yummy food and good Chai Tea Latte's. This place was voted Cincinnati's best coffee. Brad disagreed. The place had great ambiance though.




After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to the The Children's Museum.

Brad and Dane playing in the Water Works exhibit making it rain.
Driving a dump truck.
Crawling through tunnels.


Playing in the repair shop.


The trip was great. Dane was perfect. Not one tantrum! Could not have been better. I am so blessed.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

My winter houseman

I am so blessed to have a good man, I appreciate him very much. He's on a seasonal layoff right now so he stays at home and watches Dane while I go to work. For me, this is key. I hate winter and I do not enjoy driving in the snow so for me not to have to take Dane out in the cold at the crack of dawn is just awesome! Another perk is that on most nights he cooks us dinner. Tonight's dinner was sweet potatoes, sugar snap peas and grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms/garlic. It was great.

We'll be leaving tomorrow for a little weekend trip. My husbands job does not allow us to take summer vacations so this weekend we're going to Cincinnati. We're going to visit the Newport Aquarium, we haven't been since Dane was around 12 months old. He's going to LOVE IT! Then we're going to eat dinner and go back to the hotel to do some swimming. Sat morning we're going to wake up and head over the The Children's Museum. It's suppose to be really good. We've never stayed in a hotel with Dane. I'm alittle nervous that he won't sleep there. Wish us luck.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Socks

Dane grabbed a pair of Brad's socks out of the laundry basket last night and decided to put them on and wear them around the house. It was too cute, if pulled up all the way they covered his whole leg. I decided after seeing him in those that I might like to get him those " baby legs" http://www.babylegs.com/ They would be perfect for potty training this winter. We've just been letting him run around the house in a shirt and no pants. It's really worked, he uses the potty all day pretty much without many accidents. I worry though that his legs will get cold. I think I'll look into it.
I had the cutest picture of Dane running around in those socks with just the shirt on but his private parts were hanging out the bottom of his shirt! I thought it was funny but not really blog appropriate :) I made him put a diaper on.

Oh, My brown eyed baby.


Dragging the dining room chair across the kitchen, you'll see why in the next photo!


Ooooohhhh, COOKIES!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Tree

You ever come across trees that seem to talk to you? Down the road about 1 mile there are these trees. I've been watching these trees for years with one in particular that seems to speak to me. Yeah, so I'm weird, get over it! Anyways, a few days ago Brad caught me starring at them as we drove by and he said " You looking at that pretty tree?" Ha, So I'm not crazy, he's been noticing them too!

We stopped off the side of the road so I could take a picture a couple days ago. It didn't turn out like I wanted. What I need to do it get out and climb over the pasture fence to get the right angle and I'm not totally ruling that out for the next time. I want to try and recreate the feeling the tree gives me in a picture. These pics don't cut it but here they are.






Here's the one that talks.





Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Walkin' the plank

This is a very random post. The Peterson's sent Dane home with a small pirate that you put in water for 3 days and it grows. This was day 1. He didn't really grow that much after the 3 days, maybe twice his size here. For some strange reason Dane calls him "HO HO" even though we've told him a million times that he's a pirate. I guess if you have a beard, whether it's white or black, your a "HO HO"


Sunday, January 17, 2010

Marysville Lanes

I don't even know where to begin with this...... We decided that it may be fun to take Dane and his cousins bowling Saturday night. I can't even tell you how many times I said to Brad "Oh my gosh, What were we thinking?" before we'd even walked out the door. Just seeing them all lined up with there coats on headed out the door made me giggle. I felt like I was a preschool teacher with a heard of children behind me.

Miraculously all three car seats fit into our car! They were so excited to be sitting together in the backseat, they just giggled hysterically. We put in Dane's Laurie Berkner Band CD and listened to "5 Days Old" (one of their favorites) They all sang along as we headed to Marysville Lanes.



Dane waiting patiently as we got everyone's bowling shoes on.


Elise (2) and Claire (3 1/2)




Claire said she had done this before, she didn't need as much help. She had enough strength to roll the 5lb ball down the lane without assistance. The ball was blue which she was super excited about, it's her favorite color!



Dane waiting his turn. I've decided that this game is perfect for learning to share and taking turns. They all did so well and were so excited for each person to have there turn. They cheered and clapped for eachother.




The finished score.

We had such a good time. They play so good together and it wasn't as ovewhelming as I thought it may be.


Saturday, January 16, 2010

Buddies

Dane's buddy Taylor turned 3 this week! Dane and I stopped over Friday morning for a little playdate and to give Taylor her gift. Dane and his dad picked out a game called 123 Stomp for her. She really seemed to like it and it's learning game too. She played with the game for quite awhile, Dane was more interested in playing with all her other toys. I had coached Dane the night before on making sure he told Taylor "happy birthday" and he did, but what was funny was that on on our way over there I asked him what he was going to say to Taylor and he said....."Hi Ladies, Boink" (with a wink) Oh, he cracks me up!

Here she is opening it up, Dane really wanted to help her do this.



Taylor has a laptop, she was showing him how to play a game and was getting kinda irritated cause he wouldn't stop pushing buttons. Alot like what happens here when I'm on the computer!



Taylor doing a little booty shakin'

Dane was just watching Taylor dance with a smirk on his face but he wouldn't join in. Then when we got home, he was dancing all over the house saying "Look Mom, Me Taylor!"

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Daddy & Dane

This picture was taken Wednesday morning. Dane had been standing at the coffee table eating his second bowl of cereal for breakfast and watching cartoons. Of course he had made a mess dumping the milk and Brad leaned over him to clean it up. I'm glad I was playing with my camera at the time, I thought it was so cute how he held his face as he watched Brad clean up the mess.



Sunday, January 10, 2010

Family Fun

Last night we went over to my older sisters house to eat some pizza and play in the snow! My sister's house sets on 18 acres of rolling hills perfect for sledding on. It was super cold, only 18 degrees so we didn't stay out for long. My brothers two girls Claire (3 1/2) and Elise (2) plus Dane all crammed into this tube and John hauled them up the hill. I think he's probably pretty sore today, he did that like 10x! Elise and Dane which are quite the pair play hit each other and threw snow at each other on the way up. They all squealed with laughter the whole way down.






Stopping to pose for pictures before going in to eat and warm up. Elise threw a handful of snow at Dane's face right before I snapped this picture! Dane cried, but we wiped the snow off and he was fine.





Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Apple Dumplings

On Monday night I was on the Allrecipes.com website looking for something to make for dinner when I saw the words..."Apple Dumplings" I knew Brad had just picked up a bunch of Pink Lady apples so I thought, why not? I have never made apple dumplings before, how hard could it be? Turns out that it was super easy. I even had a little "helper" who as I've described before is NOT a very good helper! I did as I said I might and removed all light weight chairs from the house, it seemed to work for a few days till he figured out he could move the dining room chairs, stand on his little potty, turn a laundry basket over, etc.

The dumplings turned out really good. I was impressed. I warmed it up later and enjoyed it with alittle vanilla ice cream. Yummy.


Playing around with the camera setting again, I used the Color Accent setting which uses the most saturated color as the accent and turns everything else B&W. It picked up the color of the cinnamon, I thought it looked pretty neat.





Monday, January 4, 2010

Peek-a-Boo

Today's my last day of vacation. We've just been hanging around the house. I did a few loads of laundry, but mostly I've been spending the morning playing with Dane. We did a little coloring, played with some stickers, and read a few books. He's definitely 2 now, boy can he throw a temper tantrum! Mercy.


Anyways, This day is so gloomy. A typical Ohio winter day, cold gray skies. As I looked out the window this morning I noticed the sun peek out and as I moved across the house to get another look, it disappeared. A few minutes later it returned and I ran to get my camera. It would just peek out for a minute and then get covered up by gray clouds again.





Started to feel alittle congested a few nights ago. Wondering if it's just sinuses or if I'm getting a cold. If there is one thing I hate, it's not being able to breath through my nose, esp at night! My BF during a cold as always been Vicks nasal spray, I dig through the house looking for it like a drug addict looking for a fix! I always seem to get a cold right before returning to work. Why is that!?!


Sunday, January 3, 2010

New Camera

I've been playing with my camera a lot these last couple days. Trying to figure out all the settings and how I can take better pictures. I'd read a lot of articles lately on photography and taking advantage of the all the features your camera has to offer and not just shooting in AUTO mode. I've been trying to do that.

Yesterday I used Dane as my muse, somedays he'll let me do that and somedays not. I watched him go over to the toy box and grab his guitar so I picked up the camera. He started head banging and I tried to switch it over to the video mode but because I'd never played with that I didn't know what I was doing and I missed him "rockin out" (that's what he calls it) I did snap a few good pics though.




Applauding himself.




Finally he noticed I was taking his picture. The session is usually over once that happens cause then he wants to see every picture you take. He shows so much interest in taking pictures and seeing what they look like, sometimes I wonder if he'll be a photographer someday.




After Dane went down for his nap I started playing around with my cameras color settings. My last camera didn't have that. I can do alot of cool things with this Canon. This is the Color Accent setting.
Kinda want to get photoshop or something like that so I can add textures to photos. Photoshop is WAY to expensive though. I'm sure there has to be something like that for cheaper. I don't want to be a professional or anything (which is good, cause I'm not that talanted) I just want to do some cool stuff to some photos sometimes.


Friday, January 1, 2010

New years Eve

We stayed home for New Years Eve this year. It was a nice sorta quiet night with the family. We didn't even watch Dick Clark or see the ball drop. I did some reflecting on the past year though, Dane has grown so much physically and intellectually. I'm excited to see what happens in 2010.


For dinner I made Chicken Pot Pie. I would say it's one of the things I make semi-well. Dane and Brad eat it up. I realized today when I was eating the left-overs for lunch that I'd left out the diced potatoes. Oh well. It was still good. I guess that's the beauty of it, you can add and substract alot of things and it's still good.







Today was a good day. I finally pulled the trigger and bought myself a new camera. Because I'm tight with my money, I saved up Christmas money and giftcards to help toward the purchase. I decided on the Canon SX20 IS. I've been playing with it all night. It's going to take some getting used to. It probably took me a year to get all functions of my last camera down enough that I thought I was taking decent pictures. I feel like I need to take a photography class, I would find that so interesting (like I have time for that!)






Snow

Yesterday morning we woke up to a few more inches of snow and it was warm out. Ok, Not warm but warmer, it was it the 30's. So we bundled up and headed out to try out Dane's Christmas sled.

The funny thing about this picture is that when I picked up the camera Dane started saying "Cheese!" I know he was thinking that he was giving me this big smile, not realizing that every square inch of his face is covered.



Brad pulled Dane all over the yard, around and around and around. We were outside for almost 2 hours. Dane just kept saying "More, More" I had made a big snow man while they were sledding and then everytime they past it Dane would say "Hi Snowman!"



I hopped on the sled for a few rounds. It was alot of fun to hear Dane's squeals and laughter. If you stopped though, here's what would happen.........


Zoey would take advantage of the fact that you were semi-trapped and try to lick your face! Dane got alot of giggles outta that too.