9 posts tagged “fun”

Daniel and I did some baking this morning. I say Daniel and I, but he was not really interested. Rather than participating, he instead played with his “Choo-Choo-Tommy” pop-up play train that my mom got him for his birthday. She found it at a yard sale for cheap and finally decided to buy it for him once she discovered it folded up nicely, thus making it easy to store and keeping it from constantly being in the way. This is a good thing, for it is quite large when unfolded. Being that I was in the kitchen, Daniel wanted to be as well, so I had to work around “Choo-Choo-Tommy” and my son all morning.

 In attempts to satisfy my sweet tooth and yet stay moderately on the healthy side, we

opted to make these “healthier cupcakes” that I saw in a magazine (sorry, I can not remember which magazine it was). They had three options: good, better, and best. My taste buds really wanted the “best” option, so that is what I had planned to make. According to the magazine, “Cake itself isn’t terribly fattening, but 2 tablespoons of frosting tack on 140 junky calories and 20 grams of sugar.”  The best recipe called for you to swirl in Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread into the batter. I could not find it at the grocery store, so I just bought the Krogers version. When the cupcakes are finished, they have 17 calories and 2 grams of sugar. Not too bad, especially if you are officially tracking that sort of thing. I think that mine have a little bit less calories and sugar because I did not put an entire ½ tsp as called for. I just swirled in a little with a knife.

Being that I had run out of cupcake papers, I decided to use the rest of the batter to make the better option as a small round cake. After baking, you are to drizzle on homemade glaze= 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, 1 ½ tbs milk, and ½ tsp vanilla. I had to add more milk because it was just a messy clump when I added the exact measurement of milk. These have 32 calories and 7grams of sugar when completed. I, however, did not “drizzle” the glaze, I just poured it on the top. So, this most likely has more than the estimated amount, especially varying due to the size of cake you cut. The magazine suggested topping with a blueberry or raspberry, but I do not have those, so I outlined the edges with strawberries.

 Once they were done, we, of course, had an almost immediate taste test. I thought the chocolate-hazelnut cupcakes were great! And Daniel seemed to agree. I think though, after his effort in the kitchen, I am going to start telling him the story of that chicken that made bread. No one would help her make it, but when she asked “Who will help me eat the bread?” everyone wanted in on the action.

He asked for more, and I wanted another, but we stopped with just one each, even though they are “healthier options.” I am sure dinner will be followed up with another. As of now, I have not tried the cake with the glaze, so I am not sure of its outcome. In all honesty, I do not really want any of it. I guess I will take it to work tomorrow or try to send it to work with Thomas. I am leery though because I am not sure of its taste. I would hate to offer it to others when it is not very good. Perhaps if the glaze tastes bad, I will just blame it on the fact it is “healthy.” :o)

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the “good” version called for a specific type of non-trans fat frosting on each cupcake, yielding 82 calories and 13grams of sugar upon the addition of 1 ½ tbs of the frosting applied to the top.

 As for now, I shall go and use the rest of naptime to clean up the kitchen and be officially productive. When Daniel wakes, we’ll go for a run and play outside, for the weather has been clearing up as the day has evolved. After that, it will almost be time for Daddy to be home!

I have always been a person that enjoys warm weather and all 

that it allows. I do appreciate cold days too, for I like the variety, but after the fun holidays have passed, I am ready to move on to spring. Lately we have been having some brutally cold weather, for our region at least, and my tolerance for the harsh winds, snow, and sleet has grown very thin. I say all this to let you know that we have had a wonderfully, unseasonably warm day today, with an outlook for an even grander weekend, even though that pesky groundhog saw his shadow, threatening us with more winter. Not wanting to miss out on the sun, Daniel and I went out to play, away from the house, sans hats and jackets, like we might normally need to this time of year. (Confession: We went to an open neighborhood playground that really only exists for people who live in the glitzy neighborhood......but none of them were using it) He and I were the only ones out enjoying the day, for some odd reason, but this allowed me to relax and not have as much of an eye on him. He enjoyed digging in the wood chips, finding random things to show me, swinging, climbing, and sliding. He listened very well the entire time, until we were ready for our departure. Overall, this sunny day was a much needed blessing for me, and Daniel, too. The only regret: Daddy was at work, so he missed out on all the sunny fun.

At the start of the month we celebrated Daniel’s birth, complete with a Thomas the Train themed birthday party. It was exciting for me to get everything prepared for the big day, for I knew that Daniel was going to thoroughly enjoy the day. This year, he would “get” that the party was for him. Before the party, I let Daniel decorate his very own birthday cake. It was in a train shape, despite the fact you can’t really tell of such. There were cupcakes for everyone else, but I wanted him to be able to do something special. I think that I might make this a little tradition.

After his nap, Daniel woke up to a world of exciting things. He began to "choo-choo" all through the house, full of joy at all the decorations. Once the party crew showed up, we opened gifts first so all the kiddos would have some new and fun things to play with. Thomas began grilling the hot dogs

while we all snacked on the goodies I had made. I even labeled all the items on the table. A little dorky, I know, but I had just been to a wedding where I got myself a yummy ham sandwich that I soon lathered some mayo on before consuming. Turns out that the mayo was not in fact mayo at all---it was horseraddish for the roast beef! In order to prevent that, I made signs.The party was a fun time, and we were blessed to have friends and family in attendance. Daniel loved all of his gifts, even if a certain gift from Nana and Grandpa Tom took all of the attention at first. HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY DANIEL--We LOVE you!

We took the little man to "A Day Out with Thomas." The tickets were not too expensive, and since he is still under 2, we were able to take advantage of him being free, which is always nice. We invited along some family to help add to the fun, and we were very glad to have them along for the ride.

Needless to say, Daniel had a wonderful time. It does my heart such joy to see him happy. I know that he will not remember this day, but I still wanted to take him anyway. It reminds me of what one of my brothers said at Daniel's first Christmas. I had told them to not get him anything, for he was just under a month old, and there was no way he would recall any of it. They could just save their money. They both got him something anyway, and John wrote in the copy of The Giving Tree he gave Daniel "Your mother told me not to get your anything because she said you would not remember it, which is true, but I will remember it, so I got you something anyway." Being that we will remember Daniel's reaction on this day, I am very glad we went, even if he only recalls it via pictures.

One of the first things we did was take the train ride. From an adult mindset, this was a little pathetic. The train went s-l-o-w and some of the views were not too intriguing, thus making it just a slow train ride.We had hoped that on the way back to our origination point, the train might speed up a little, but no such luck. This man that you see to the right was one of the people in charge, so I guess that is some indication as to why we were going at a snail's pace.

From a kid mindset, however, the train was pretty cool, and it provided Daniel with his very first train experience. He liked being able to stand up on the ledge inside the train, which allowed him to see out very easily.

We did make a mistake though. We just got on the train, and we didn't really let the kids understand who/what was taking them on the journey. It just did not really occur to us to take them to see Thomas first. But we went to see him.

When we did go and see Thomas, I was sooo happy because

Daniel was sooo happy. Any other parents out there know the feeling? I mean, Daniel was giggling and smiling, waving and bouncing, hugging and glowing. It was such a perfect moment. I got to be the lucky parent to hold him during that experience. The hubby was kind enough to take pictures. I am very glad to have caught his happiness on film--well technically happiness on digital memory card, but you get my drift.

There were other activities to do as well, other than just the train ride. Daniel and his cousin really enjoyed playing on the 7 different Thomas train sets that were set up for the kids.Sharing became a big issue with all those toy trains, but I guess my son did well, for the most part. Some bounce house type activities also added to the fun. Sir Topham Hat was there, but Daniel did not care too much about him, it was just the train that was important.Overall, I am glad that we went, and I will always remember how Daniel radiated happiness that day,even if he has already forgotten!

Thomas and I met in college at The Wesley Foundation. "Wesley" as we affectionately call it, was our home away from home during those precious college years. We met some of the most amazing people while there, and we learned so much about faith and life through Wesleyan influences. And, through all our Wesley connections, we can quickly get in contact with some pretty helpful people: doctors, lawyers, optometrists, engineers, teachers, dentists, full time mommies, therapists, nurses, veterinarians and so forth. Pretty fortunate, eh? Needless to say, Wesley holds a very special place in our hearts, for without it, we would not have some of our closest friends, nor would we have each other.

Every summer, Wesley holds a summer picnic. Graduates and current students attend, meeting new folks and catching up with the old ones. This summer, we officially realized that we are the "old" Wesley Alumni (most of which are pictured above). This picnic was a bit different than previous due to the crazy toddler we had to chase. Last year he was just a little fella, and the year before that he was extremely portable and agreeable via the womb. Daniel had his fair share of cute moments, as well as frustrating ones, but it was nice to see some of the younger Wesley folks humor him with silly follow the leader type games. He even had a few playmates, thanks to Honey and Clark. While he and Luke explored the grounds, I managed to snap this cute little photo of some Wesley love.

Time went way too fast this year. I felt like I had to cut several conversations short, especially due to my mobile son. Plus, we had a commute this year, unlike last, so we had to head out a little earlier than I would have liked. Poor Daniel was pooped (hence his absence in the larger group photo.....he was already in the car, stuffed animal in hand). Even though we do touch base with many of our Wesley friends throughout the year, there are others we only get to see at the picnic. We hope to keep making our trips to THE Wesley Summer Picnic, for where else can you get your picture taken between two lovely gals named Summer? :o)

We took Daniel on his very first trip to "Where the Wild Things Are" a.k.a, the ZOO! We met up with Thomas' s sister and her family as soon as the zoo opened in order to avoid some of the day's heat. Yeah right---it was HOT. But we did have a nice time regardless. The zoo was not too crowded (guess many folks were not silly enough to venture out in the heat), and the animals were out and about, so Thomas was able to take some really great pictures of the animals that the zoo had to offer.

There is also a huge playground at the zoo, which happens to be one of the best I've seen in our area. It even had a "Tot Town" bounce house. Those two items alone made the trip worth it. We, however, did not get to playing until the end of our visit, so everyone was a little hot and bothered by that point. Regardless, Daniel was very happy (see right) while exploring the enormous playground. He even gave a tiny bit of resistance (perhaps all his tiny body could muster) upon our playground exit.

The Hubby and I took a few nights away from the kiddo to enjoy some time at Holiday World- water and amusement park- for our anniversary! It was a great time! The park was not very crowded, so we were able to enjoy short or non-existent lines to ride the rides. The park is very family friendly, clean, and very affordable. They have free unlimited soft drinks for goodness sake! All you had to do was go to a "Pepsi Oasis" and grab a cup, filling it up with the beverage of your choice. No catch. The place even offered free sunscreen! Some folks, as identified by their bright red lobster skin, did not take advantage of this perk. We, however, used it to re-lather mid-day.

My ultimate favorite had to be the Bakuli, which means "bowl" in Swahili

When I got off this ride, I giggled like a little girl--seriously. It was so much fun! I could have done that one about 20 times, but alas, we settled for just 2, for it is a brand new water slide, and very popular, thus it had one of the longest lines in the entire park.

The amusement portion of the park, per its name, is divided into holiday sections: Christmas, Fourth of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Most of the hard core rides were in the Halloween section, such as "The Legend" and "The Raven." The literary gal in me liked their little puns. While riding "The Legend" for the second time, our coaster pulled up to about 3 people waiting to get on to ride! They eventually ended up taking one of the coasters off, just operating on one, because the park was just not crowded.
 

The Thanksgiving section contained their most recent coaster, "The Voyage," which is themed off of the pilgrims and their journey to the new world. Let's just say this coaster was not for anyone weak of heart! It is a wooden coaster that is 1.2 miles long, going over 65 miles per hour. It starts off by dropping you 153 feet....right from the get go.  When we got off, Thomas said, "Those poor pilgrims had it bad!" So true. That one made us realize that we are not getting any younger! If you want to take a look yourself, they have a video of folks riding it on their site.

Overall, we really enjoyed the park. We liked that it was less crowded during our trip. Also, being that we got 1/2 off

tickets, soft drinks were free, parking was free, a locker rental (where we stored camera, phones, clothes for the entire day) was 3 bucks, sunscreen was free, and we both ate a filling lunch at the park for under 10 dollars, we had great fun for a low price! What a great way to celebrate.

The downside---Holiday World is pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

And yes, we played skeeball---because I really like it and it was only a quarter a play, so we blew 2 bucks.

In his Easter basket, Daniel got a neon green bunny shaped slinky. Although he did get to play with it, it soon went into the drawer of "special toys" that must be played with when under direct supervision (e.g.- no distracted mommy). The slinky joined a barnyard puzzle, some crayons/markers, a set of Sesame Street board books, and a mini xylophone.

Today, Daniel had some major playtime with his cousin, Ryan. The two boys were playing with nearly every single toy that Daniel owned, plus some that Ryan brought with him. They were having a blast! I pulled out all the stops and brought out all the "special toys" for them. The treasured slinky soon became a hit with the kiddos.

See how happy their little faces are! How could you put an end to that pure joy?

They stretched it far and wiggled it fast. They giggled and smiled the entire time.
 

In the end, the poor slinky took a beating, which was ultimately too much for it to bear................

Goodbye dear slinky. You were worth the entire buck that I paid for you from Target's dollar section. You will most likely not be missed, because, let's face it, they're kids and their little minds have already forgotten you and the fun you gave. However, with the beauty of the Internet, the cheer you provided will be remembered in cyberspace. Slinky- rest in peace.

And what did Daniel's dear baby cousin Jenna have to say about all this???? I think her photo speaks for itself:

It is so hard to believe that just a year ago we were welcoming our new addition into our lives. Literally, I feel like we have blinked, and now we are celebrating his first birthday. Crazy!

Those of you that know me well, you  know that I love hosting parties and having company, so planning a party for Daniel was pleasure....seriously. I was so excited about it, that you might have thought it was my birthday. Anyway, we tried to keep it small, but then when you invite family, neighbors, and a few friends, it turns out to be a big crowd. There were about 25 bodies in our home, and not everyone made it! (Of course, some of those bodies were little bodies, but they were bodies none the less.) As my father-in-law honestly said while on a phone call "It is chaos in here." Although that might have been true, it did not mean that it was not fun :o).

We tried to go through the birthday process quickly, being that there were many people, some of which traveled a few hours for the party. Everyone was welcome to eat upon arrival.I had made pigs in a blanket, a vegetable tray, cupcakes, Oreo balls (a big hit), and chips and salsa.

Daniel opened up gifts first since we thought he might get messy from the cake. He received great presents--clothes and toys--and I was glad to say we

did not get any obnoxious gifts. Anything that made sound could be turned off and nothing was too big or crazy. Daniel's favorite gift had to be his activity table. Thomas and I had been looking for one for awhile. Every time we went to a friend's house with kids, they happened to have one, and Daniel simply loved playing with it. I price checked, and they were pretty expensive! However, being that my sister-in-law, Michelle, works at a child's consignment store, she managed to find one cheap, even before applying her store discount. She actually gave it to us early to transport home. We hid it in our closet because Thomas was pretty adamant about not letting Daniel play with it before his birthday. Daniel, however, had different plans. He found it in our closet one afternoon and began to play to his heart's content. I noticed that life was a little quite, and I knew that my son had to be into something. I hunted him down and took him away from the toy. He remembered where it was though! About three more times Daniel sneaked back into our closet to play. We even put a box in front of it, but I still caught him crawling around the box in search of the toy. Needless to say, he was pleased to get it at his party and it is the first toy he plays with when he wakes up and the last toy he plays with before bed. On the left side of the picture, you can see one of mommy and daddy's favorite gifts.....a car seat! Thomas's parents and grandparents got this gift for us, and we are very pleased. Soon, Daniel will be able to ride facing the front, which requires a new seat, and now that we have this gift, we do not have to buy one!

After gifts, we hit the cake. Guests were already eating cup cakes that I made, as well as some my mother baked. I made Daniel his own little cake, which turned out quite nicely, if I may say so myself. It was fun to hear everyone sing. It was funny though because one of Daniel's best buddies is named Daniel, and he is over 2 years old, so he is well aware of his name. Our friends' son got very excited when everyone said his name! He was a little confused though as to why. I actually had to blow out the candle for Daniel. Or nephew, Ryan, blew out his own candle at his first birthday. Our son might have been able to pull it off, but not without grabbing the flame, so we just took care of it for him.

Once the cake was his to eat, Daniel was a little confused as to how to get into it or if he should even eat it at all. I had to somewhat break the cake open and let Daniel taste the chocolate goodness.

Soon enough though, Daniel knew this was something he wanted more of, and he took matters into his own hand (literally). He was gabbing and shoving chocolate cake into his little mouth. We let him have some fun with it; he surely knew he was getting away with something that he would not get to do again. From the highchair, we took Daniel straight to the bath. (He looks like he has a goatee, albeit a chocolate goatee)
Overall, it was a wonderful day. I am so thankful for all our friends and family that came out to celebrate, as well as all those who could not make it but sent their love. It is great to know that we are so loved, but so is our son. He has grown so big in one year: from a little lump to a dancing and crawling maniac. Soon he will be walking and talking in sentences and asking Dad for money to take a girl out on a date! Yikes!!! I pray that we are able to celebrate many many many many more birthdays with out son.