sneaky food

i love to cook and recently, i have started expanding my repitoire. with my birthday money, i purchased a food processor and a cookbook entitled "The Sneaky Chef." the basic premise is to learn how to incorporate healthful foods into the foods kids love without them being able to detect a difference. because as adults and kids both know, mac and cheese sure tastes good, but has very little nutritional value. that is, until you add some pureed cauliflower to the cheese sauce. i've tried several recipes and have had good success. the tricky taco soup, breakfast cookies (the texture is more like a muffin top-yum!), and quick fixes for brownie mix are spot on. i'm going to have to tinker with the mac and cheese recipe though, i didn't find it gooey enough for my liking. i will still serve vegetables au naturale, however, if i can eat fruit in my brownies (and still have them taste like brownies), then make an extra batch b/c i want to be healthy :)

snow day!!!

friday night, we got about 3 inches of snow in nashville...and saturday morning, caleb got to go outside and "play." i use the term play loosely because when you're just learning to walk and have neither waterproof boots, nor gloves, there's not too much that you can do. despite his lack of proper attire, he seemed to really enjoy walking around. in case you were wondering, those are socks on his hands...and yes, they are navy to match his jacket. caleb will be sooooo embarassed one day :)

professional family pics

we got our first official family pics made 2 weeks ago. caleb did a great job. he definitely hammed it up for the camera...wonder where he got that trait?!? after seeing these pictures, we think that you'll agree that he is the cutest 1 year old--EVER!!!

everyday moments

since i am a complete slacker when it comes to taking holiday pictures (case and point, it is february 20th and i don't have pics of any of our valentine's day presents), i hope that this post will fill the void. is it horrible to stage holiday pics after the actual holiday has passed? hmmm, i think not...especially when dealing with a 1 yr. old. holidays are hectic and sometimes "weird" for them. why force them to look at the camera and smile if they are already missing their nap time?!? take the action shots the day of and save the posed pics for another day, complete with appropriate attire...at least until caleb is old enough to know the difference :) so, i hope you enjoy the everyday moments.

28

friday was my birthday and i officially turned 28. it's hard to believe that i'm 28 years old...i always used to think that grown-ups were 28...guess i was wrong. for anyone who knows me, they know that i really to celebrate my birthday. in fact, i claim the entire month as "my birthday." in keeping with that tradition, we ate at the cheesecake factory TWICE this weekend. i'm ashamed to admit it...not really...and yes, i had two pieces of cheesecake...all to myself-yummy!!! on to the important things...the presents! tom got me a new marmot fleece. i was really excited since it has been about two years since i've had one. my mom and dad got me an iron and ironing board. not too exciting, but very practical and very needed. i hate to iron, but since i'm a "grown-up," i kinda have to...tom and caleb's dress shirts look much better now! adam even got me a present (i like the fact that he has a job). he got me some perfume and the most excellent card. on the front, a little girl is feeding her baby brother a bottle telling him that after that, it was going to be time to eat dirt. adam was kind enough to add his own commentary in the card stating that maybe the sister should color on the table and blame it on the little brother next. i can't believe that he's still bitter about me getting him in trouble after all these years...j/k!!!! it was a great birthday and a big thanks to all who gave their best wishes!!!

best friends

although jack can sometimes drive me crazy, he really is the world's best dog. he is so sweet to let caleb crawl and bounce up and down on him. i snapped these pics during playtime this morning. they show just how much caleb has learned to love jack.

sippy cup and other big boy stuff

caleb has had quite the start to 2008. not only have we moved, but he now drinks from a sippy cup (mommy's personal favorite), likes the idea of using a spoon himself (he doesn't actually get anything in his mouth, but it's a start), waves bye-bye, can indicate more and mine ("muh, muh"), and no ("ne, ne, ne"). caleb also enjoys climbing...anything. right now, i take a few of the cushions off of the couch and he crawls all over them for awhile before he moves onto climbing onto the couch. he can reach where the cushions are missing. still no walking on his own, but he can. once he realizes that you have freed your hand from his, he takes 2 steps, and then sits down...funny little guy. we're just waiting for caleb to decide he wants to do it by himself. in the meantime, his favorite game will remain running after jack while pushing his lion. it's good clean fun for everyone, except jack.