Neighborhood Parade & Picnic

The neighborhood Memorial Day parade and picnic was today, and we were proud participants with the stroller and Rufus. Everyone chipped in for a sophisticated water slide and that kept the kids busy for hours. Here's a few shots of the parade (led by the turquoise MG), the water slide with our neighbors girl Matty, and Courtney at the picnic.

Visiting the Pool

Today we went to the swimming pool - Courtney's first experience in a pool. The top photo is of overprotective mother holding baby who was chalky from being slathered with so much sunscreen. She loved splashing in the water and sitting in her floating raft and kicking her legs through the leg holes. Thanks to Bill and Hermine for the cute sun hat - I didn't even realize we would need one until now!

Courtney Cannot Be Trusted!

I have been in denial about this, but I have to finally admit it. Courtney can no longer be trusted to stay in one spot. Yikes! Noooooooo! I needed more time before she started doing this! This was brought home today when I was cleaning the shower in the master bathroom. I left her sitting up playing on her quilt on the master bedroom floor while I stopped cleaning the shower, went to the laundry room (just off the master suite) and took a load out of the dryer and put another one in the dryer. This took I guess 2 minutes. I returned to my bedroom, and not only was Courtney not on the quilt, but she was not in the bedroom at all. I had about a second of panic before I found her in the master bathroom . . . just about to crawl into the shower! She crawled more than 30 feet from her original position in 2 minutes. Here's video proof of the crawling; I took this video today before lunch. The video starts out slow but then she really gets going. I should note that she has been crawling since about the first of the month, but since I have been in denial, I have resisted posting about it...check it out below.

Skype is Great

For Todd's birthday he got a web cam and we used it Friday night to talk to Jalissa over the internet using Skype. They have a web cam, too, so it was like having a face to face conversation. It was crazy because it's hot here, and we were wearing t-shirts, yet it's fall there and they were decked out in fleece sweatshirts.

Jalissa's Blog Now Active!

Regular readers of this blog know that Jalissa (Jake and Melissa) have moved to Australia. You can read all about their adventures now on Jalissa's Blog, which they have begun updating with lots of photos and great descriptions of what it's like to be foreign in Australia. I also have a permalink to this blog on the right side of my home page.

Honey for a Child's Heart

I've just finished reading 'Honey for a Child's Heart' and I recommend it for any parent who loves reading. Beverly gave me this book, and I just loved it - thanks Bev! It's got recommendations of quality books that teach worthwhile lessons - broken down into child age groups. It recommends a lot of books that I never read as a kid, so I'll enjoy reading them the first time with her.

Ikea High Chair

We love our Ikea 'Antilop' high chair! I am blogging about this not to be snobby, but to let everyone know about this great low-cost chair that blends into a room. Todd's dad brought us Todd's old high chair from when he was a baby, but it was covered in lead paint. So we've just been feeding her in the Bumbo chair while we tried to decide which high chair to buy. The cheapest ones you can find are about $50 and (a) they all have a wild pattern and (b) they take up a lot of floor space, I have been really reluctant to buy any of them. But we finally found this one and it's $20 plus shipping. When being fed, she really behaves in this chair much better than she did in the bumbo -perhaps it's the seat belt.

Solid Food

Courtney has had no adverse reactions to any food we have fed her so far. She has also been very receptive to new foods - besides the rice cereal, she has had sweet potatoes, peas and carrots. She even grabs the spoon to pull it to her mouth. Next up is squash. No fruits yet!

Todd's Birthday

Mike was in town on his way to Hawaii for a week, so we were glad to have him here for Todd's birthday today. We took Courtney to Margaritas and had Mexican food to celebrate. At home, I made a cake with easy homemade caramel icing. Never again will I buy the $10 premade kind at Everyday Gourmet. Here's the recipe.

CARAMEL ICING
Bring 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 tsp salt to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add 6 Tbsp milk. Stir. Return to heat and bring to a boil another time. Remove from heat and cool 25 minutes. Stir in 3 cups sifted confectioner's sugar and beat until smooth. Ices 1 cake.

Convention End

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am in Florida for a work-related event....here are some pics. The theme for our event honored a certain person named James, who is from Indianola, Mississippi, and so we adopted the theme 'Indianaola James,' a play on the Indiana Jones movie series (of which the 4th installment launches this Thursday). The person whom we were honoring, James, really got into it and one night, he actually wore the 'Indy' costume that we got for him (hat, whip, khaki shirt). The middle pic is of me and my coworkers. The back row is Russell, Nikki, Wendy and Mac. The front row is Sherry, me and Amy. The bottom photo is the Mississippi band 'Homemade Jamz' who performed tonight as our banquet entertainment. They are a teenage blues band (no kidding - they are siblings aged 15, 13 and 9) that has won several awards for their music. They were pretty good. I am not a fan of watching a band play, it's just not my thing, but others said they were awesome.

Wish You Were Here

I am at Sandestin Resort in Destin, Fla., for a work-related event. Todd was unable to attend because he is keeping Courtney, but Stacey came here with me and while I am working, she is doing things like shopping, bike riding and getting a pedicure! I will be here until Sunday when I will return home needing a vacation, ha!

Martha Foose's New Cookbook

I'm a fan of Mississippi chef Martha Foose, the Viking Cooking School director who is down-to-earth and has great Mississippi stories as well as recipes, so I picked up one of her new cookbooks for my mother for Mothers Day. It's called 'Screen Doors and Sweet Tea.' Here's a link to a Lemuria Bookstore description of the book. Foose was also interviewed by my friend Melissa Townsend this past month in Delta Magazine about the book (interview not available online, but one recipe is).

Courtney in the 'Jumper'

She may be a bit short for it, but Courtney loves her new Johnny Jump Up jumper......

Mothers Day

My mother was in Jackson this weekend to help us out with Courtney care, since I had to work Saturday in preparation for a big work event that will take me out of town from Tuesday to Sunday this week. We took these shots today, a beautiful cloudless day.

CUMC 5K

Todd and Courtney (and our friend Rob) ran in the Christ United Methodist Church 5K run (results on link) this morning. Todd said he wasn't sure, but he thinks he finished first in the category of dads pushing strollers.... Seriously he finished with a time of 26 minutes, pushing a jog stroller, and I think that's pretty good. I was not in attendance, as I had to work today.

Courtney and the Guys

A cute 6-month old is irresistible to many men, including Todd and Mike. Here they are with Courtney doing her thing.

The Deck

Todd has mostly finished the deck. The 'decking,' which is the part you walk on, is completed. Today, he has also done the beams up top, which will support the roof. So he has plans to do the steps down to the concrete, plus the arbor-style roof. He also wants to install a ceiling fan and some cabinetry. But for now, it's terrific to be able to walk onto the deck. We have a double-screen door, so from the dining room, I have a 6-foot wide view of the back yard.

Saturday Outing

Gas is $3.50 per gallon, so we walked to breakfast this morning. We found out that we live 1 mile from Pillow Doughnuts (going the back way, through the neighborhood), and we took Rufus and Courtney in the all-terrain stroller. Rufus behaved very well 'parked' in a sit-stay by the stroller, outside the doughnut shop, while the three of us went in and ate. The first photo is of Courtney eating a paper bag at the doughnut shop -- too young for doughnuts. The second photo is of Todd and me talking to the gas meter reader. The local gas company now has Segways and we were fascinated by it - I had never seen one up close before. The guy said he loved the thing and he could do the work of two men using it.

Charlie Wilson's War

Tonight, we rented Charlie Wilson's War and enjoyed the movie, which was nominated for several Oscars this year.