Fun at the Lynn's

One of my best friends, Allison, and her husband were back in Bloomington over the weekend to visit her family, so we had to go over to see our Lynns and swim in the pool! Allison's parents have an awesome back yard and pool. This was Aaron's first time in a big pool. He liked it....as long as I was holding him. He also had a good time playing outside of the pool with all the pool toys, and in the stream with aunt Allie. He was pretty tuckered out after a couple of hours, and fell asleep on Nancy's lap while drinking his bottle.

It was so nice to visit with them. I miss my friend when she is gone. We had a really fun afternoon!

Back Home

Last weekend Aaron and I went back home. I still call my parents' house "home". Do you still refer to your parents' house as home? When my parents still lived in Philo, that was really going back home. Since they've moved to Mahomet, though, I still refer to it as home. I guess home is where the heart is, and where your mom and dad are, and where the good food is.

So we spent Saturday in Mahomet to help my mom do some painting. I requested ham & beans for lunch with cornbread. YUMMO! It's more of a fall meal, but there really is no bad time for ham & beans. A good friend of my mom's gave her a bunch of her kids' toys that they no longer play with. Have you ever cleaned hundreds of Legos in the tub? That is a day long process. But Aaron and Jackson have TONS of things to play with when we have get-togethers at mom and dad's.

My grandpa and grandma Thomas were on the last leg of their journey back from Montana, so they stopped by to see Aaron since it had been a couple of months since we'd seen them.

Starting my baby on corn bread early on - he loved it, of course

My grandma Thomas always has such good luck finding things at garage sales. Before Aaron was born she was on a mission to find me any and every size picture frame so I could complete my picture vignette going up my staircase. Now she is on missions to find good quality toys. She found this Radio Flyer trike. Aaron can't ride it yet, but he will be able to soon enough. Too soon. Stop growing!

Then we went to my actual hometown - Philo!!! This was impromptu on our part. My mom was going down to my aunt and uncle's house because there was a street dance, and of course we had to tag along. And, YES, I took the scenic route through town to my aunt and uncle's house. I had to show Aaron all of the sites....even if he was asleep in the backseat. OK, I needed to see the sites. First stop, drive creepily slow by the house I grew up in. It still has the street address number wreath my mom made to go at the end of the drive. Then we drove by some of my old friends' homes, the home where I nannied the sweetest little girls ever - slow creepy drive by this house, too. Drove by the old cow farm where back in the day we used to always test out if the electric fence was on with pieces of straw. It was always on. We finally made it to the other side of town where my aunt & uncle live - this town is not very big. You can walk the perimeter without breaking a sweat.

We sat out on the patio, visited with the fam, grilled out, and smelled the sweet, sweet air that is Philo. It was so nice to be back home.

"I love being in my mommy's hometown so much!!"

Fun with Grandpa & Grandma Nickel

On the first and third Fridays of the month Aaron spends the day at his grandpa and grandma Nickel's house. He has a lot of fun over there playing and going to the park to people watch - he's just like his mama. Here are a couple of pictures from last Friday with them.

Getting big 

LOVES swinging

People watching :)

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago.....such a sweet picture of Aaron and his grandpa

My Little Helper

My little helper likes to help me......

organize garbage bags....

load the dishwasher....

organize drawers and Ziplock bags.... 

I'm so lucky to have such a good helper on my hands!

Summer Fun!

We're going to have a lot of fun playing outside in his little pool this summer! Bring on the sunshine and 50 SPF!

He NEVER sits! Or sits still for that matter. I keep trying to teach him to "sit on your butt", but he's just too busy. We really have to keep a close eye on him. 

I think he was going for a Blue Steel look. He kind of has Ace Ventura hair.

Here he is at his grandma & grandpa Nickel's house Saturday afternoon with his 2nd cousins (Bryan's cousin's kids). James is a couple of weeks older than Aaron. They had a lot of fun together!

Yes, my child is a wild man

I hope you all are enjoying your summers! We sure are!

Sunday = Baby Food Making Day

As some of you know, I've been making Aaron's food. Yes, there are times I cheat and just feed him some good 'ole fashioned Gerber - like when we travel, but for the most part I make it all. I really love to cook, and this is kind of my creative outlet, but it can be very time consuming. I usually just spend a whole Sunday morning making enough to last a couple of months. Let me share with you what it's like. Mind you, I have a very small kitchen. 

Necessary equipment - immersion blender, food processor, blender, chopping boards, good knives, peeler, measuring cups, lots of pots, and baby jars. The wine doesn't go into the baby food - only into my mouth. 

All of my ingredients & most of the equipment

Mixtures of squash & sweet potato; chicken, squash & apple; chicken, squash & sweet potato; legumes, carrots, sweet potato, beef stock & water; and pureed apples

3 hours and 2 cut fingers later I am finished! I just freeze all of this into ice cube trays and then portion them into ziplock bags. I also bought bananas, blueberries and peaches, but those I usually just make when I need them. But they also freeze nicely, as well. 

After all of this hard work I'm very excited to try the legume mixture on my guinea pig. This was his first time having this concoction. I thought it tasted just like pot roast and was very proud of it!

And then I get this reaction.

What the hell, lady?!

I'm gonna puke, I'm gonna puke!

Woooooo Weeeeee - that was a tough swallow.

RUDE!

This mommy decided she had earned a beer after all of this. 

I also learned over the weekend that he might not be a fan of grapes. He's still too young for grapes, but I was just letting him suck on it while I held it. 

Even if I get a couple of fails with foods, these faces are priceless. For the most part he really does like everything I make him, I swear. 

Fourth of July

Growing up I always really loved the Fourth of July. Parades, swimming, grilling out & fireworks make for the perfect day. I look forward to having these traditions with Aaron. We didn't stay long enough to watch the fireworks since it would be too late for Aaron. But I think he still enjoyed his first 4th!

We broke out some of my cousins' old toys for Aaron. I LOVED playing with that farm!

Hope you all had a nice 4th!