more reunion photos, and more fun with my new toy

am enjoying playing with my new toy, so i thought i'd play around with some of the reunion photos i've been meaning to post.

slow progress

i was able to cut out about 20 quilt squares for sam's twin bed size quilt before we left for minnesota. however, i didn't make a whole lot of progress while we were there (though i did get some excellent tips from mom and her quilting sisters).

maybe i need to set a "block per day" goal for myself.

a little drawing

i've been rather busy with freelance lately. here's an illustration i did for the fund for the future benefit invitation.

stats @ 18 months

sam had his 18 month check up last friday. he is now 32.8 inches tall (62nd percentile) and a whopping 22.7lbs (11th percentile).

he's also working on his 70+ word count. it seems like he repeats new words every time i talk to him. AND i saw him sorting the shapes in my old shape-sorter toy today. i totally didn't know he could do that. apparently he can.

ps—i downloaded this application for converting my photos into "polaroids". fun fun.

box lunch

i'm always struggling with what to put in sam's lunch these days. afterall, when he's at daycare for 10-11 hours at a time, he's bound to get pretty hungry. though i'm not sure i'm dedicated enough to put something like this together, i thought these bento lunchbox ideas were just too cute not to post.

(also thought that these lunchboxes were pretty neat—maybe too fancy for sam, but i'd love to carry one to work!)

…and we're back!

it's always hard to leave the family and come home to reality again. we had such a good time visiting and playing and eating and cooking and swimming, i think i could've happily stayed another week or two.

i've still got lots of photos to go through, and am hoping to post a few more, but this was one of my favorites from the trip—sammy at the beach playing with the sand and rocks. i think he must've spent at least half an hour just sitting there putting handfuls of sand into the sifter and his bucket (and every once in a while, putting some in his mouth—yuck!)

sam @ 18 months

…has all of his teeth (except his two-year molars). we just noticed the newest four poking through tonight while we were brushing teeth at bedtime. i guess it'll be just that much easier for him to eat his cheese (which he would like to do at least once every meal).

…has upwards of 65 words in his vocabulary (and seems to be adding a couple every day). i won't bore you with the entire list, but chief amongst them are: car, truck, daddy, mommy, please, nope, and (of course) buckeye.

…and speaking of buckeyes, sam thinks that anything that is red or anything with a logo is a "buckeye." mike's brainwashing has started to manifest. this boy is going to be bleeding scarlet and grey long before he understands football.

…likes to demonstrate his smarts. he never ceases to amaze me with his ability to observe, remember, and make connections. a couple of cases in point:

• one day i was listening to music, and i decided to play "eine kleine nachtmusik" for sam. he recognized the music right away as the song that comes from the "dooba-doo", and went directly over and turned it on so that it would sing along with the what was playing on the computer.
• a couple of days ago i got sam some crackers for a snack. for a table, i took one of his toy baskets and turned it over and set the crackers down for him. the following day mike came upstairs to get sam some crackers for snacktime, and when he went back down to the basement, sam had already turned the basket over, ready for crackers. when mike asked him, "where do the crackers go?" sam walked over to the basket and pointed.

i could probably go on and on (okay, i know i could go on and on), but i won't.

…still loves cars and trucks. he can now identify and say "tractor", "dump truck", and "scoop" (scoop = front loader). he loves the book cars and trucks and things that go (thank you morbecks!) and (still) enjoys looking at his truck board book. he rarely goes anywhere without a vehicle in hand, and he must have at least one or two before he can settle down for bedtime.

…is very outgoing. he has been known to hug strangers. he says hi to everyone. he also plays with anyone and everyone that will give him the time of day at the playground, and he's shown himself to be very good at sharing on at least one occasion. it made me pop my buttons. (you may be surprised that i still had any. i was too.)

*pop pop pop* and there go a few more…

here we go!

we're on our way to minnesota for a week of soaking in all the jerabek family goodness we possibly can. while we're gone, don't put any beans up your noses.

finished!

after several, um, mishaps (don't ask) we're a go with the t-shirts! woot!

i have to say, i love a project with a quick turn-around (and those seem to be precious few these days!)

cousin tees

after seeing so many blog posts about cousins weeks and whatnot. i thought it would be fun for the four (current) henderson cousins to have family tees for the reunion next week.

i whipped up this sketch and am now wondering where to find white tees in all the different sizes (i'm guessing that no two cousins are the same size). at least i've got sam covered—i picked up a couple of white shirts when we were at the outlet mall last week. i'm now wishing i would've thought of this sooner and had picked up some for the others too.

basil-palooza

i gave my basil plant a good trim yesterday, which gave me a LOT of fresh basil and nothing in mind to do with it.

thanks to this blog post, though, i was able to freeze a good batch, but i still had a bunch left, so i threw it into the blender with about 2/3 of a jar of those roasted red peppers, and a can of hunt's roasted tomatoes with garlic (if you still have yet to try them, do it. do it now.)

the result was pretty yummy, and was super good on our pizza last night. i even had enough to freeze some for another time. another good food experiment under my belt (literally!)