Happy Pi Day!

I thought of my San Diego friend Lucynthia last night as I cleaned up Jack's mess of rejected beans and rice on the kitchen floor.  Don't ask why this task brought my mind there.  I thought of how tomorrow (now today) is according to Lu and no one else that I know in this world, PI day!  It is 3.14 of course and since Lucynthia has an affinity for numbers and she loves to perpetuate quirky traditions, I just knew she'd be making a pie today.  I wondered if it'd be banana cream or something else.  Lemon Merengue is what her husband likes, but it always takes too long and dirties 2 skillets.  So I emailed her to share those thoughts with her.  Instead of an email response, she called me this morning and we chatted while I shopped at Target (slightly tacky of me to talk and shop, I know, but that's beside the point.)  The final result:  She did in fact make banana cream pie, yesterday in fact, due to circumstantial (not to be confused with circumferential) reasons and thus she'd have left-overs to eat today.  Love that gal.  I made one too.  A pie of course!   Banana cream with boxed instant pudding and store-bought graham-cracker crust fresh from a dark corner of my pantry.  Can't get much simpler than that.  It's sitting in the fridge lonely and cold.  Waiting to be eaten.  Tomorrow I guess.  Happy Pi Day y'all!

Ian's Wise Words

I just can't let this go, it must be shared before I go to bed tonight.  These words came from Ian today as he waited for me to catch up to him on his bike when we went to pick up Brooklyn from school: "Mom, it's not a walking stroller.  It's a jogging stroller!"  Oh snap!  I couldn't believe I totally just got called out like that by my 4-year-old!  Needless to say, I arrived only moments later to Freedom Elementary, a little short of breath and with my heartbeat slightly elevated.  Thanks Ian.  Apparently Jillian's "Ripped in 30" wasn't enough this morning.
Tune in for more words from Ian.
His word of the week: SNAZZY
He says to me the other day, "Mom, I'm just looking at you right now because that shirt you're wearing is SNAZZY!"  Of course after the wonderful reaction that this comment evoked, he proceeded to describe every other thing about me as snazzy, my hairdo, etc.
Last story, I promise.  Today over lunch I shared with Ian (don't ask me how I started on this one) the story of how Stephen and I first met and became engaged.  When I got to the part where I was going to leave for Mexico and Stephen shared that he didn't want to date other girls, I said to Ian, "Can you believe it?  He didn't want to date anyone else."  I must've said something like, 'I don't know why he would say something like that, do you?'  After musing upon it for a moment, Ian said, "Maybe because he thought you were SNAZZY, Mom."

One Year Old!

 The weather warmed up for a bit on Jack's January birthday, so we went outside to blow bubbles.  Who cannot love a happy face like his?   And yes, he is walking now!  Within a week or two after his birthday, he finally gained his confidence in walking and he's been struttin' his stuff ever since!  (I'll have to find/take more of him in action in the future.)

 Brooklyn decided to stall and delay bedtime...I mean, she really wanted to serve her parents by doing the dishes and wiping off the table.

 Here's a candid hug of the brothers.  I love the raised eyebrow expression on Jack's face.

 Janel and I are showing off our cute baby boys.  They are only a few weeks apart.

 Ian riding his bike at the farewell potluck that some friends put together for us in San Diego.

 An edible arrangement Stephen brought home from work on his last day with Scripps.  (See the moving box in the background?)

 Our friends Pete and Rachel.  They are just awesome.

 Here's a quick family photo of us after church on the weekend that my parents visited us.

 Here's a candid shot beforehand.  I liked the background, but not the heavenly spotlight so much.

 My parents with the MacBad kids

 Jack on his birthday

 Ian with his monogrammed body armor

 Jack's first birthday cupcake, or traces of it

80s Parties and a Campout

Here are some old pictures from some 80's parties we attended in the fall in San Diego.  One was a birthday party and one was a "just because" dance party.  Some of the pictures here were also downloaded from a CD that my friend Heidi made that went along with a sweet book of memoirs that she made for us as a good-bye gift.  The book is a priceless work of heart!

 Ryan and Kristen

 The guys - Birthday Boy Jeremy is front and center on the bottom row.

 Adam and Janel get the award for most authentic and creatively dressed!  Adam was a character from Miami Vice.  Janel looks like she is fresh off the set of Footloose.

Ada

 Patrick, Keaton, and Michele

 Mark and Jenn

 The ladies

 Party-planner Kate and her husband, the birthday boy.

 This was from the 80's dance that Reagan and Amy hosted.  How awesome is that Ghostbuster get-up?

 Brooklyn selected her own costume that she believed to be 80's.

 Pete and Rachel

 Ryan and Andrea

 Brad and Emmy

 Janel, Henry, and Adam

 Ariana and Tom

 Brett and Krystle

Below are some snapshots from a camera phone of a Carrie Underwood concert we attended in S.D.

 Back to some more 80's photos.  Don't ask me how the pictures got out of order.

Ba

 And especially don't ask me what move that was part of??  I'm sure we thought we were totally cool though.

 Don't you love Amy's MC Hammer pants?

 Back to the 80's beach birthday party

 and an old photo of Ian and Samuel

 This was the last campout we took with the ward in San Diego.  I think they went (I stayed home with Jack) near the end of September.

 Back to more dancing

 camping again

When Life Gives you Lemons...

 make lemonade!

 Jack has learned to stand himself up with no support and has taken only a few steps so far.  He's got great balance though and can stand on command.  It may be a confidence issue.  Or a stance issue.  He often stands with his legs wide apart which seems to be a tough position to begin a stride.  He loves manipulating objects with his hands.

 Here he is putting a straw through the lid of a kid's cup.  He says a few words too.  Momma, Dad, and Ian.  The first time he said "Ian," it took me by surprise.  I was buckling Jack into his carseat while the car was parked in the garage and also yelling for Ian to make his way out of the house and into the car.  I would yell, "Ian!"  Then pause for a moment, then yell it again.  One of the times while I was waiting for his response, I heard Jack mimmick me, "Neean."  SO CUTE!  I've been trying to use signs with him and sometimes he catches on or repeats them, other times he makes up his own signs.  When I ask him if he's all done at meal time, instead of doing the sign to confirm that he is in fact finished eating, he starts pulling up the outer rim of his food tray of the booster seat.
Then tonight at dinner, it sounded like he was saying "amen" throughout the prayer.  He likes to chatter too.  It's so cute to hear him chat away while in his crib before and after naps.

 Here's the full idea of him getting into the standing position.  He does it quite quickly and effortlessly, now if we could only persuade him to put one foot in front of the other!

 Here's a happy smile at mealtime.  I had an epiphany when I read how to make bean and cheese burritos last week.  I am a dork, indeed because I like browsing through cookbooks on my free time to get new ideas.  Somehow I came across a burrito for bean and cheese burritos, who uses a recipe for those?  Not me!  But, I found that if you saute some onions first, then add the can of refried beans to the onions, it makes a huge bonus in flavor.  I happened to have a red onion that needed to be used, and it was amazing in those bean and cheese burritos!  Also, I warmed the tortillas in foil in the oven before assembling them so that they'd be nice and supple to fold.  Then, after the burrito was assembled and folded, it went back into the oven for extra warming.  Topped with some salsa and sour cream it was a real treat!

 I thought we were playing this cute game of mirroring each other, but I later learned that he was probably positioning himself to get out some bodily waste...too funny.

 Here I had to get some photos of Ian being Ian.  For some reason, my kids love making collars and leashes for each other and their stuffed animals.  This time, Ian was using one of my exercise bands as a convenient all in one leash.  Usually the kids use elastic headbands and ribbons when it's Ian pretending to be a puppy. 

 Ian was totally happy to drag his dragon around the house.

 I have no idea.

Another funny Ian story: he recently entertained himself on a non-preschool weekday by participating in his own imaginary dragon and bear-fighting school.  When asked to clear his place at the table, he replied, "Sorry mom, I'm too busy fighting dragons and big huge bears today."  The morning was also punctured with his sincere gratitude to me for signing him up for this dragon-fighting and bear-fighting class. 
The picture below shows that sometimes great minds really do think alike.  Stephen was working a long while beyond his normal time and when he came home, I had invited the neighbors over to enjoy with us our movie and homemade pizza night.  After he greeted us all, Stephen changed into some comfortable clothes.  Not until Stephen made some quiet comment to Johnny a little while later did any of us notice that these two were unintentionally perfectly matched.  How hillarious is that??  We were cracking up because sometimes me and Kristen joke that we're sister wives, helping eachother out while one or the other's husband is at work.  Now we thought it was only appropriate that these two would dress like brother husbands???? I don't know about that one... A little too creepy.