orange tree

We just discovered that the oranges in our backyard are delicious! Horray, somebody told me they looked like "cocktail oranges" (don't ask me because I don't know) and that they wouldn't be that good. I was so worried that would be the case. I was afraid they would taunt me like the orange trees at my grade school, St. Theresa, that apparently were completely inedible. I am so happy now that we have our own fruit tree and we can even make our own fresh squeezed orange juice, which in my opinion is one of the best things in the world.

Jimmy had a lot of fun picking them with our new fruit picker and of course he wanted to do it all by himself and was all about me taking pictures while he did so.

He did fall down a lot though.

juicin'

This is the time of year that all the citrus in Phoenix starts being just perfect. A neighbor gave me a bunch of Ruby Red Grapefruit a few weeks ago and Jimmy got to have his first real juicing experience. The juice was so good, you didn't have to do anything to it. I am used to the grapefruit from my house growing up. They were pretty sour and I was the only one that ever took the time to juice them. I usually had to add half water and a ton of sugar to make it good. I want a Ruby Red tree in our own yard now.

mailbox

Jimmy has loved this inside mailbox since before we moved in (and I have too). It doesn't currently receive our mail from outside so he uses it has his own treasure box. Around Valentines he became extra excited about it because he could put his own mail in it. I helped him put his Valentines for all our family members in the box and then he happily delivered them to everyone at our family dinner one night. His Snoopy card from the Great Grandparents and his Valentine for dad are still in there.

Here are a few of the card I actually made from the vintage ones I found online.

set-ups

This Ikea road rug is probably the best $15 I ever spent. Seriously, I love Ikea. Sure sometimes it is cheap quality, but when this one wears out I can buy another one. Actually I could probably buy 5 before I equal the price of the one I just saw at Target. And I would just like to add, I don't think the quality on this is that bad and I think the pictures on it are way cuter than a lot of other ones I have seen. I highly recommend to all other parents particularly of boys. It is where Jimmy spends the majority of his day playing any variation of cars, trains, blocks, etc.

He has gotten much more into setting it all up (or making "set-ups" if you will) and making it into a town (probably because I was always trying to do so while he was knocking it down and he finally caught on that mom knows best). He also actually asks me to take pictures now because I guess he also got used to me taking them and now he likes to look at them on the camera after I take them. He is pretty good at posing for me and usually hams it up. As he always tells me, "I'm such a good cheeser." Maybe I should stop boosting his ego so much.

Here is our own version of Radiator Springs. I really want to buy Flo's Gas Station to complete the set, but since I bought all three of the others for $5 then it is hard to spend the actual store price on another one. I am a cheapo after all. Maybe I can Ebay it. I also really wish that Disney would have completed the whole town. I mean how can it truly be Radiator Springs without all the houses like the Court House, Doc's, Mater's, and the Cozy Cone Motel.... Am I letting on a little bit that I like making set-ups just as much as Jimmy?... well, maybe I do and maybe I am not ashamed to say it! I love toys and I should make them for a living because I would do a better job than whoever is doing it now. Well, anyway, for now we use a firehouse for the courthouse and build other things out of blocks. I guess it is good to be creative, but just the same: If anyone out there works for Disney or Matel please let them know my plight.

Jimmy likes to re-enact the whole movie. This is one of his favorite parts: "Where Mack falls asleep."

Jimmy asked me to take this one of "Mater's House" so I just had to include it.

Jimmy's all time favorite part to watch and re-enact: Tractor Tipping.

The Big Tie-Breaker for the Piston Cup.

(Notice, The King Flipped over... so sad. Don't worry McQueen will push him across the finish line shortly hereafter.)

That's my boy.

sleep schedule

...or lack thereof. I won't go into great detail into Jimmy's sleeping habits, but I will say they are not so great. I really hope they get better soon. Nap time seems to be the bigggest problem and he has taken to waking up maybe an hour into it and then falling back asleep on my shoulder. He won't let me lay him down again usually so I then attempt to sit on the couch and write blog entries while I hold him. Then when my arms get too tired I carefully try to place him on the couch next to me like this:

One day when he was playing at my dad's house, naptime was getting neglected in favor of playing trains until finally he just went off by himself and leaned on a chair for awhile. Zach thought he was having a good poo, but then he pulled himself all the way up and fell asleep.

The other day he fell asleep while eating his lunch. Granted he had woken up around 5:00 that morning, but he still hadn't fallen asleep while eating since he was a little baby so I was shocked when I turned around from washing dishes and his head was on the table. He was still holding an apple in this mouth. I should have gotten a picture of that.

groundhog tradition

I realize once again I am behind the times, but if I worried about that then I would never post anything. So Groundhog Day is a huge tradition at our Alma Mater, The University of Dallas. It mostly consists of drinking in the woods, but it is always a really good time with great music and friends and usually a lot of mud. Here are some pictures from old Groundhogs. My apologies to anyone who doesn't want to look at these old pictures of themselves, but really you should just embrace it.

With the Groundhog (our unofficial school mascot)

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Senior Year

This year Zach and I thought it would be a good idea to throw our own Groundhog since our backyard still kind of looks like a muddy forest anyway. Also, we just wanted a good excuse to get some UD people together and have a party since we are not ready for an official housewarming party yet.

(Is someone peeing in the background of this picture below?)

We had a decent turnout, but I didn't get many pictures. If you hand your husband the camera when you go to put your child to bed count on only getting picture like this:

By the time Jimbo fell asleep it was raining and everyone had moved inside to the food. But it wouldn't be Groundhog without a little rain.

PS- Phil said six more weeks of winter this year.... Sorry to all you DC folks, but I will keep it being "winter" here in Phoenix.

vintage valentines

Happy Valentines Day to All! I realize it is a little late to do these for this year, but I still wanted to share. We decided to make homemade Valentines as a craft project in a mom's group I am in, so I found a bunch of vintage ones online. I just think they are so cute and so much better than anything you find today (Why is that?). I just printed them on card-stalk and cut them out for the most part. Jimmy ended up giving them out to our whole family. I was going to take pictures of the ones I did more clever and crafty things with, but we will see if I ever get around to that. If anyone wants full pages that I put into photoshop for printing purposes, just email me and I will send them (if you have my email already I guess since I am not about to post it here).

Also, Angela Kersting found some more funny ones at this website.

This one is not actually a valentine, but I made it into one. It just cracked me up.

This last one is one of my favorites. I photoshopped it into two pieces so I could print make the spinning wheel. I thought I would share in case anyone feels inspired to make it. Mount the back piece on something hard like matte board and the front piece on poster board, then put a brad in the middle to connect them... And then find out which man will be yours!

Hope all of you find a nice way to spend this silly holiday. I think it is the little things like these that make it a fun day.... and candy is nice too.