Old Gazebo

One of the local churches in the next town over was holding a supper to raise money, so we decided to mosey on over and enjoy the "Mediterranean Delights" they advertised. Well, it wasn't quite so gourmet, but we had a good time hanging out. The church is one of three (or more?) on the Town Common, so afterward we let Bobo run around the grass and play on the gazebo for a while.

Just look at that little darling making a kissy face!

Born to Run

Powerwheels... aaah!

This picture is from last summer, from the twin's birthday party. JJ let Arin take a cruise in his Powerwheels... and as you can see he had a great time! (He actually wasn't screaming, I think his jaw was just open from awe at how fun it was.)

Now this year he has his own Powerwheels! His is a toddler-sized one, so it's smaller and it's a fire truck instead of a Jeep. I can't wait until the snow is gone and he can plow through the yard. I hope to get more 'aaaah!' pictures then. :)

Lost and Dispatches and what?

I put up a new link on my nifty 'most recently posted' blog list on the side. This time it is not a close personal friend, but rather the actor Jorge Garcia (he plays Hurley on the tv show Lost... which is A1 and you should check it out starting with Season 1 if you have not already).

I was looking at Cake Wrecks, which is another famous blog (which I am not interested in linking to as it gives me a headache after 2 minutes) when they had a link to Mr. Garcia's blog. Not realizing who he was, I clicked the link and was super excited! Maybe lots of famous people have blogs now, but I don't read any, so I thought this was a great discovery.

He doesn't really write about the show, more about random stuff from living in Hawaii where they film, and his garden exploits and travel pictures. Which are all very tiny. But I think it's cute and funny so if you need yet another distraction give it a whirl: Dispatches from the Island.

Lil' Lumberjack

I just love how chubby he looks in his snow stuff. And I love his little lumberjack shirt, especially with the snowpants! Doesn't he look like he's about to go chop down some trees? I feel like I should send him out with a thermos and a hard metal lunch box.


Awwwwwwwr! There's my little baby again!

Potty Time!

Arin finally has a potty! I picked out the Baby Bjorn one, and it's nice and sturdy and apparently very comfy. There was the temptation to buy one of those huge wooden thrones, but I erred on the side of practicality. And Arin loves it! As a 'Bumbo for Big Boys'. He thinks its fantastic... as a toy.


He is still a bit young to try to use it as a toilet, obviously. I've put him on it a few times to do his business, but he wasn't grasping the concept... he was more interested in springing up and running about buck nekkid.

He thinks it's great though... one day he brought all his blankies into the bathroom and proceeded to place his potty delicately on top of them, like it needed some pampering so it could take a nap! He also likes to drag it out of the bathroom and bring it to the living room to sit on. And, of course, he loves to put stuff in it! He loves to put stuff in the real toilet too, but that is way off limits. This is easier for him to sneak toys into.

As you can see, my little Bobo is playing mother hen here, laying his eggs on his little potty nest. It's fun to walk into the bathroom and see a colorful rainbow of balls sitting just so in the potty. I think I will move it downstairs for a while until he's more inclined/able to think about using it as a toilet instead of a play toy. :)

Lemming for Greenport Nail Polish

I just came across the funnest thing... Essie is launching a trio of Long Island themed polishes... but not just Long Island, NORTH FORK! I was really lame and excited about this, because hey that's where my grandparents live, I spent my summers there! I came across this epic discovery while reading Scrangie's post which features pretty swatches (she is one of 'the' nail polish bloggers, in case you don't follow such things).


I'm not usually a fan of blue or green nail polish, but I really want Greenport! Just because of all the teenage summers strolling through the shops, the days of pulling up the boat to the pier and eating seafood at Claudio's... so fun! Plus, the color is just so summery and pretty. Even if they don't look anything like the colors of the Sound like the 'inspiration' for the line claims. They should have created much darker blues, have they even ever been to the North Fork? Oh well, I don't care, I just want this color. So, that was my little excitement for the day yesterday. Too bad they didn't have more colors, I really would have loved a Southold! Maybe I'll grab a stately mid-tone blue and just call it Southold. :)

Almost a Year Ago

My sweet little angel at Easter last year. I can't believe how much more chubby and baby-ish he was! Awwr.

This is Arin crawling around outside before he could walk well!

"Bobo Cousteau"

His first standing up was pulling himself up on the side of his pack'n'play and nomming on it.

I love this picture, I think he looks like a little colorful lizard! One of my favs.

Another favorite... Arin loves chocolate now but last Easter he was more enamored with putting everything BUT chocolate in his mouth.

The Conjurer

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We forgot to make Leprechaun traps. :(
Maybe we'll have green pancakes instead.
And hopefully there'll be a leprechaun movie on! I love those.
(The Disney kind, not the scary horrifying kind...)

Narnia

Morning Snow

I took a few pictures out the window this morning. It was a good thing too, because now the snow is starting to fall. Not from the sky, from all the pine needles and tiny branches. Rather like it's snowing again, but just where trees are.


Notice the basketball hoop at the bottom to show scale:

Hopefully it will all fall off today and then melt before sundown. :)

I guess I will miss snow a tiny bit... by the time next Christmas rolls around.

Snow Day

Yesterday we had about 8 inches of snow. I would like to point out that on the news, our town was listed as the highest snowfall in the entire area by an inch... fantastic.


Not so much. The snow was heavy and wet and we had to shovel it out of the driveway. I did this right before physical therapy, which my therapist found pretty funny (and dumb).

I didn't even get another snow day at school! That was pretty lame, but Lowell didn't get nearly as much snow as we did. Plus, I did get last Monday off and "Spring Break" is next week... but still, I was hoping. :)


Last night was gorgeous though... it was a full moon, and everything - I mean everything - here was coated in thick snow... every branch of every tree and sapling. I almost went out to take pictures but my warm PJs and snuggly Bobosaur kept me safe inside. Driving down the backroads yesterday afternoon was like driving through Narnia right after you leave the wardrobe. Very pretty, but honestly why isn't it summer yet?

My little devil

This outfit just never gets old! I still think its funny every time I put it on him. (And it's sort of true, too...) Unfortunately we've had it since Halloween and the elastic on the pants is starting to stretch out... pretty soon they'll be falling off!



Notice that he is trying to grab something off the counter (probably chocolate) when he knows he should not be up there.


Those little ears and adorable tail do it for me every time. I'm sure he'll love these pics when he's older!

Early Spring?

Today was a beautiful day, for early March anyway... here in our yard it was 60 degrees.. apparently elsewhere in town where it's not an icebox enclosed by trees and a yard full of 2ft of snow it was even warmer and people were walking around in just t-shirts. Oh, the joy. Spring, please stay, we need no more nights of 15 degree arctic displays, thanks.

I didn't bring out my camera, but Arin looked totally adorable. There is this one 'island' of orange pine needles and fallen twigs near the edge of the yard that's free of snow, so I brought Arin over there. Of course, he immediately ran into the snow. It's a good thing I put on his snowboots and mittens, because he kept flopping to the ground and digging into the snow with his hands. Now our yard is criss-crossed by little Bobo boot trails, it's funny. We stayed out for so long that ARIN asked to come inside. He never asks to come inside, he will stay outside until his lips turn blue and extremities freeze off. Guess he was tuckered out from all the snow trudging. :)

It's suppose to stay nice for the next two days at least... hopefully the weather men will be wrong and it will be just as warm as it was today, or warmer. We can dream, right?

Sleepy Angel

Yesterday morning Bobo got up earlier than usual so I guess he was pretty sleepy all morning. He was sitting on my lap at the computer and we were looking at pictures of Chateaux in the Loire Valley and saying a few french words. Arin put both his hands on the desk and leaned his chin on it too to see the pictures more closely, I thought. Then I realized he had stopped chattering, and I leaned over... to discover the little muffin had fallen asleep right there on the desk! So adorable.

Luckily my camera was sitting just above the computer screen and I was able to slide over and grab it and immortalize the cuteness of the moment forever! I don't know why, but I think it's the sweetest thing in the world when Arin falls asleep in funny places, or anywhere that isn't his bed. It doesn't happen very often, so when it does I just melt.

Creamy Rice Puddin'

So yesterday did anyone else notice the turn-of-the-century western (mostly Oklahoma) theme on Turner Classic Movies? I did, and we had it on in the background all day! From Tulsa, to Oklahoma! to the Rainmaker... well basically I was in the mood to churn my own butter by nightfall.

Since I didn't have anything in the house to churn butter from, I turned my attentions to the chinese leftovers in the fridge. After we polished most of them off, I came here to search slashfood for how to deliciously reconstitute my dried to shriveled white rice. Of course, I came across a recipe for rice pudding and got distracted and sucked in.

So rice pudding it was! I didn't take any pictures, but there are leftovers in my fridge and mmm, it is GOOD! I have made rice pudding before but this was like... ambrosia, it was DELICIOUS rice pudding. I made a few little alterations to their recipe.

So I grabbed a pot and added:
About 2 cups of 2 day old chinese white rice
~ half a cup of heavy cream
~ 2.5 cups of milk
half a cup of sugar
2 dashes of salt

I brought this to a boil, and of course, it boiled over and made the biggest, most horrifying burnt milk-everywhere mess in the world on my cooktop. Ugg. This was while I was feeding Arin prunes, and let's just say while I was shrieking and cleaning up the wreckage he got himself the prunes and flung spoonfuls of it all over his freshly-bathed newly PJ'd self. Another disaster, but one at a time...

So I rescued the pudding, and put it on the backburner to simmer. Since I lost so much liquid, I added in a healthy dose of half-n-half since I was now out of heavy cream, and a little bit more sugar. You know, just cause. The recipe says you can keep adding more liquid to make it creamier, and it all depends on how dry your rice was... mine was pretty dry.

Then I added in a few shakes of cinnamon and a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. I let it simmer and absorb for about 40 minutes... until the rice soaked up almost all the liquid and it got all gooey and delicious. It did start to burn on the bottom a tiny bit so I would recommend stirring at more regular intervals than I did (Rainmaker was on and I just had to see Katharine Hepburn's antics! Not to mention clean up a pruney Bobosaur).

So, all said and done, it came out SO good. I still have a crusty mess on the cooktop that I'll have to scrape off with a razor... but it was so worth it. If you like rice pudding, or any good down-home comfort food... make this! Especially if Oklahoma! or something is on TV.

And here's the link to the original slashfood recipe with more info:
Rice Pudding with Leftover Rice