Sam's Camera 2.0

Here are some of his latest pictures, per reader requests. Well, just one request. These are just a few of 800 pictures that were on his camera. Eight hundred! Behold the majesty...

 I can't tell if that's a creepy face down at the bottom.

 I like this next sequence. I call it "View from the backseat."

Sam said

Sam: Mom, I went poo poo! (Flushes the toilet.)
Me: That's great!
Sam: But you didn't see it.
Me: No, I didn't see it, but I can smell it.
Sam: Yeah, it smells like roses.

Our Sweet Afton is One!

Yesterday was Afton's birthday! As a gift to me, she slept in a little later than normal.

 Then we headed off to Walmart because who doesn't love to go to Walmart on their birthday?

Next came snack time: bananas.

 After snack time, we once again set off. This time to the play area in the mall to meet our church's playgroup. Afton had a great time climbing around. If she ever fell or got pushed, I'd hold her for a minute, but then she'd start squirming to be put down again.

After lunch, she and Sam took great naps while I made her cake and a cupcake. I had planned on a nice subtle pink with darker pink stuff around the edges, but I ditzily (I think I made that word up) dumped a whole bunch of red food coloring in. So it's a much more garish pink. Oh, well! Still tasted good.

 We had Kirk, Gretchen, and crew over for California Grilled Veggie Sandwiches. They were a hit! Well, with the adults. Sam and Carter had to scavenge. Bread and cantaloupe.

Next came singing and cake time! Here's the sequence:

First bite.

 "I think I like this!"

 By the end, she was totally covered in frosting and cake. Dan had smartly placed a trash bag underneath her high chair because she has started throwing food lately. Good thing because she started tossing her cupcake all over. It's safe to say that she loved it, though!

After a bath it was present time.

 She got puzzles and a doll from us, a cute quilt board from Gretchen, and some cute clothes and a book from G&G Cheney. By this time, she was pretty tired.

Our guests. Wendy was sleeping.

 The birthday girl, me, and my rat tail.

She is a sweetheart. At 12 months...

She is still toothless.
She crawls like a champ and pulls up on lots of things.
She'll take steps if you hold her hands, but she's not too steady on her feet.
She loves to eat and will eat almost anything. Everything else she throws on the floor.
She likes to take out all the puzzles and remove the puzzle pieces.
She's addicted to her pacifier.
She likes to swim with us and play in the bath tub.
She's gotten tons of hair in the past few months.
She's not too into snuggling anymore and we miss that.
She is sweet and smiley and a really good baby girl.
She has brought lots of joy into our family with her (usually) mild temperment.
Sometimes she can be quite demanding. She has discovered yelling and screaming to get our attention.

We love you, Afton!

Meatless and other things

A week ago, Dan decided that he didn't want to eat meat for the rest of the month. I still eat meat, but it's no fun for Dan to just pick the meat out of whatever meaty thing I decide to make, so I've been trying to accomodate his meatless lifestyle. So far we've had homemade pizza with red onions, green peppers, and feta cheese; homemade foccacia bread w/ roasted zucchini, squash, peppers and onions; marinated corn and black beans on tortillas w/ cheese and sour cream; spaghetti w/ roasted broccoli in it; and grilled cheese. Saturday we got pizza from Papa John's because it was buy one get one free. We had the leftovers Sunday, too. I am pizza'd out. And I am obviously running out of ideas. If you have any vegetarian dishes that you love, please feel free to pass them along to me! And leave a link.

In other news, we went shopping at the outlet mall this past weekend because it was the sales-tax holiday. It was also sheer pandemonium. I'm glad we made it out alive.

And now for random pictures that were on our camera.

 Storytime with Daddy.

Caught in the act.

Coming to get me. This little lady is a momma's girl.

Some pictures from when we watched Carter and Wendy on Friday. Dan has this nail toy thing from his teenage years. I used to want one back in the day. Kids love it for some reason.

Total Kirk face.

A normal way to watch T.V.

This is a bad picture of the new TV console that Dan built. It's perfect! And can you guess what the kids were watching?

And yesterday we gave Sam an ice cream cone. He loved it. He has yet to master the "lick and turn" approach, but he's working on it.

He was also a little tired.

And here's Afton with her beautiful blues.