summer days

This post is simply a display of how adorable my grayson is. We took him to a festival in sea isle and someone had a bubble machine. It lights up, sings music and blows a constant stream of bubbles. How could he not be attracted to it!? Because i love to spoil my child i had to buy it for him. Best $5 purchase ever. We use it all the time. It's so much fun, he loves it and we laugh at him trying to catch the bubbles.

Don't you love how pancake is patiently waiting and checking out the good scene! 

He's getting so big! He's such an independent little person. He wants to do everything himself and damn you for trying to help him. It's a fun age. Every age seems to have its challenges and it's advantages. The older he gets though the more I enjoy our time together. 

 

beer, burgers & babies

for the last year mark has been pursuing his masters degree. he loaded up semesters and took classes non stop till he graduated. to celebrate we invited all of our favorite people over for a barbeque. 

when you have a baby your life changes drastically. priorities shift, free-time activities change (lets be serious- free-time disappears), and life is just never what it was before. i actually asked mark the other day what it was we did with all our time before grayson. i truly cannot remember. for some maybe they miss their pre-baby lives. for me i wouldn't got back to it for anything in the world. 

we may be getting less sleep and making less money. we don't always get to do the things we use to but we get so much more. kisses and laughs and smiles and pure joy (cheesy? absolutely. but it's also the total truth). it can be hard at times, no doubt about that, but at the end of the day when i go in and look over g's crib before i go to bed i cannot remember any of that. i just feel love, and lots of it. 

even more, we are so lucky to have such wonderful friends. we are the first in the group to have a child. no one can possibly know how different things are now then before but somehow they get it. they accommodate. they understand. they still make us part of their lives. best of all, they love grayson, and for that i love them all even more. 

i think grayson is the best thing in the whole world but it warms my heart so much to see how much he is loved by others as well. i think it's impossible not to love him. 

but back to the barbeque. 

grayson's new bib, meant for catching food, has proven to be the best waterice cup holder ever

 

a few new friends were made. although i am not sure they were wanted in some cases. 

  

i love these people

as for my dogs- lazy and enjoying all the extra food hanging around. not to mention the belly rubs. i love them too. 

grayson helped himself to the plate of brownies in-front of him. somehow when is auntie is around he gets very spoiled. 

thank you to all of our friends who came. lots of them somehow dodged the camera but we love them just the same. and please come back soon because we still have a fridge full of beer that needs drinking!

oh! and let's not forget the most important part of the evening. chris got a lesson in poop checking. a necessary life skill. 

sunset walks along the beach

before g the dogs got lots of trips to the beach. they love it. it's the one place they can run wild and be totally free. we usually take them a couple times in the spring but there just hasn't been the opportunity yet. monday night though we figured most of the beachgoers would be long gone and it would be the perfect time to take them for a nice long run before heading home. 

it's good to be back.

hey mind giving us a vote? we sure would love that. 

this is the part where i beg you to ignore my dirty glass

i wasn't going to post these because i was so embarrassed at how the camera caught how very disgusting my back door is. 


i swear i just windexed it this weekend but between two dogs and a small child it doesn't stay clean long. these pictures were just too cute not to share though. grayson is pretty obsessed with himself and could see his reflection in the door. whenever he sees himself he feels the need to kiss himself. over and over and over. he loves looking out the back door when the dogs are out there. he thinks its so much fun to watch them. so please just try and ignore the filth and focus on the cute!

don't forget to give us a vote. thanks!

grayson vs the bear

when grayson was born as a gift my company sent a giant bear. it's just sort of sat in a corner of grayson's room since then. until today.

what a cute bear. i think i like him. 

had you fooled bear- attack! attack!

pancake witnesses the whole thing and decided hiding under the crib was the safest place. 

totally defeated. sorry bear

snow family

we got lots of snow last night. mark stayed home from work and all of us hung out for the day. 


while grayson napped mark, pancake, cherrio and i put that free time to good use. 

pancake

cherrio

the mama & the dad

mark even has his arm around me, how sweet

and that's how we spent our hour! 

christmas bark how to

Today Grayson and I made christmas bark. I'm not a baker so instead i dip things in chocolate during the holidays! It's super easy and even more delicious.

We thought we would share.

Christmas Bark

You will need baking chocolates. You can find them at the craft store, i got mine at the amish market. Some grocery stores may carry them as well. You will also need candy canes. I find that the smaller ones are easier to smash up. Make sure they are peppermint flavored. 

Line a pan with foil or wax paper. You don't need a pan but it prevents it from flowing onto your counter if you over pour. 

Melt the chocolates in the microwave. Put it on 50% and heat in one minute increments. Stir between each heating. Make sure you don't over cook the chocolate. It will become lumpy and taste funny. Smash up the candy canes (i used a mug). 

Pour the chocolate onto the paper, use a spatula to push it around. Don't worry about it being totally even in all spots. 

Then pour the next layer of chocolate on, spreading to the edge of the bottom layer. For this particular batch i used mint chocolate on the bottom layer. I wanted to swirl the design so i would know which flavor this was. You can use the spatula or a fork. 

While the chocolate is still hot, sprinkle the candy cane throughout. Some people prefer more candy cane, some prefer less. There is no right or wrong. 

My second batch i used white chocolate on the bottom and milk chocolate on top. For this one i did not want to crate a design so i waited for the bottom layer to dry before i added the top layer. Then i sprinkled in the candy. 

Once the chocolate is totally dry break apart the chocolate into chunks. 

Grayson says- that is how you make christmas bark!

Grayson wasn't the only one by my side.

Pancake & Cherrio helped too, and by helped I mean tried to get treats the whole time. 

We hope you enjoy your christmas bark!