Growing Up

Jed is getting so big!  Growing up, my mom always measured us on a stick.  It was so much fun to look back and see our growth spurts.  We realized Jed is growing so fast that we had to start tracking it!  

We started with a few items from JoAnn's... there are soooo many cute pre-painted wooden figures.  Trains, dinasours, guitars, surf boards, flowers, animals... It was very difficult to choose!  Ultimately, Jesse thought the train was the best for us!  Way to go!

A little paint...

 We picked up a piece of wood from Home Depot. I used some red spray paint.

 Also spray painted the P... getting creative for the drying!

 My sister-in-law has an Cricket machine... it is so awesome!  It cuts out different shapes, letters and numbers.  I used black vinyl and cut out numbers and dashes.  I started measuring out the distance and placing the numbers and dashes! 

 I used screws to screw on the black rectangle.

 A little tacky glue and... we are done!

 The whole project took 1 hour!   

 Jed, a little dazed from just waking up from a nap got his first mark!  

A day in Carmel...

Carmel is a ton of fun.  We love it there and so blessed to have such a great place to go!  (Thanks mom and dad!)  So the day starts with a morning walk with Oma while mommy gets to go back to sleep!  

Knock Knock, we're home!!! 

Breakfast time!!!

 We decided to go on a bike ride in Monterey... it was so amazing!!! Jed absolutely loved it!

 Aaron and Christy joined us!

 Jed loves playing with Opa!!!  What's in his mouth?

It's official... Jed can walk!!!

Jesse put it best... Jed may not be happy that he can walk, but we are!!! 14 steps is his highest now!!!

My new favorite place!

In Carmel, Jed discovered our balcony.  I am not going to lie... I felt an awful lot like Michael Jackson!  We opened the sliding glass door and out he went!  He loved the texture of the tile and wall.  He loved all the places to pulls up... and he loved crawling back and forth!  

 Look at me go!

 Oh... I loved the texture of the wall!!!  We stopped that right away!

 Haha... mommy laughed so I laughed back!

Mystery Spot, Santa Cruz

For my birthday this year, Jesse took me to Santa Cruz for the night with Jed.  He has always told me about the Mystery Spot and I have always wanted to go!!!  So we went!  It was intriguing, frustrating and made my brain hurt.  I know there must be something to this, but I don't know what!!! 

 So we started by him explaining how the ground is level but its not.  Makes a lot of sense already.  One kid stood on one of the cement strips below and one on the other, same height.  They switch sides and one is extra tall.  Even though the level is level... yeah, frustrating.  

 Jed was so great even though he was SOOO tired!

 The board is level, I saw the level with my own eyes... it looks like it is much higher on the side where the guide was.  

 And, the ball rolls up hill... even though it is level... FRUSTRATING RIGHT???

 There are multiple other demonstrations in this house, many of which seem like optical illusions... 

 This one was weird.  These 5 people are in height order, shortest on left, tallest on right.  The plank they are standing on was level according to the level.  So, they switch, tallest for shortest, second tallest for second shortest and middle stayed the same.  They became level... weird!

Ultimately, it was an awesome experience, so fun and something to talk about for a long time!

Splish Splash, I'm Taking A Bath!!!

Jed LOVES the bath!!!  If he is sad, the bath makes him happy... if he is tired, the bath holds him out... her seriously LOVES them!  I of course put the bubbles on his head, but he thought it was the coolest thing!  

He loves watching the water come out of the faucet. 

 He loves splashing!!

 And now crawling around!

 And more splashing!

 Now I am ready for bed!  

Happy Birthday to me!

My sweet mother in law gave me a great early birthday present... it's all about pancakes!  Last year I watched an episode of Rachel Ray and she had a guest who used a pancake pen to make all sorts of cool things for her kids. I wanted it so bad!  So when I saw this gift, I was so exited!  Of course, she got the Star Wars for Jed or "Jedi" as some call him.  Truth is, I have never seen a Star Wars movie.  

Side note... I have seen Alton Brown use ketchup and mustard squirters from the dollar store.

 I started off with a flower.  If you make the outsides first, then fill in the middle you get a neat patterned effect.

 Allie says from the kitchen, "Time for storm troopers"... I was corrected promptly from Jesse "Those aren't storm troopers Allie..."

 When I put the pancakes on the plate... Jesse said, "No Allie, those are opposing forces, at least put the X-Wing Fighter shooting the Empire's fighter ship!"... as if I knew or cared!!!