Woops

Okay, I figuerd out why the date is Sept. 23 for the "September" post....its because I accidentally deleted the slideshow of my New Mexico pictures! I guess I got everything mixed around. I'll have to get that back up at some point. Sorry!

September

The month of September has flown by. I've taken pictures but I've not really gotten anything put on here. So this post will contain about a months worth of photos. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

The boys, together

This month provided me many opportunities to snap the two boys together. They really enjoy playing with each other, however Ajay thinks of Alex as his equal in terms of rough-housing. Alex just isn't there yet, so the result is many screams and tears. Soon enough, tho, Alex will be able to knock down his brother, and wrestle with the best of them!

The boys thought they'd help out with some housecleaning duties. I walked into the bathroom and found this:

Craft time:

Ajay brought home a full sized tracing of his body from preschool, so I made up some tempura paints and he decorated his little self. Ajay thought he needed clothespins on his knees, so we added that, there was yarn for his hair, and glitter for one of his hands. Alex sat nearby watching, and doing a little watercolor painting of his own.

I had also spent a little time doing some "crafting" of my own. I made some lip balm! It was so easy to do and will go a loooong way. All it took was some bee's wax (thanks to Angie for picking a chunk up for me while at the Kansas State Fair), some vegetable oil (I used the Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil I already had) and some vegetable shortening (I used the coconut oil we'd brought back from India). I added a couple a drops of grapefruit essential oil to two of the small tubs. A nice addition. The first picture is the beeswax melting with the coconut oil. The second picture is after everything is mixed together and poured into their respective containers. I practically live on lip balm in the winter, so this is an inexpensive way to keep me stocked up!

Boys being boys:

Ajay "inherited" his cousins roller skates. They just go on over his shoes, and can adjust to 3 different sizes, so he'll be able to wear them for awhile. They've been through 2-3 cousins alreay, and when he's done, they'll keep making the rounds. You can see they've got two wheels in-line, and then the back two are side by side, to help keep the kid balanced. We've discovered, however, that elbow and knee pads should be supplemented by wrist guards and a hiney-guard!!

Alex was helping me around the house and wanted an apron on, just like Mama. Lisa made this apron as a Christmas gift two years ago, so Alex got to wear snowmen that day.

Gardening:

I figure while I'm updating on random things, I should fill you in on the garden. Ajay is standing next to the tomato plant that got away. It is huge, and is being supported by three wire cages. I've still got a couple of tomatoes resting on the ground. I'm a little disappointed that there hasn't been enough sun to turn the tomatoes red, though. We've got a lot of green out there, and I'm getting impatient!

Here is Ajay's smiling face next to some of the produce picked. I've now got three freezer bags full of peppers. The red peppers never did turn red, and the yellow only faded to a "lime" green color. Oh well, they all taste yummy!

This was some bug on a pepper plant. I thought it was very pretty, but I have no idea what it is!

More peppers picked. That green tomato in there is still just as green today as it was the day we picked it!

Isn't this tomato huge? There are many more just this size outside.

Tom and Jerry

A Tom and Jerry DVD has found its way from the library to our house. I resisted for a long time, but finally gave in. It would seem Ajay has a slap-stick humor (but I think most kids do, don't they?). Ajay just loves this stuff. Here, the boys had just gotten the movie from the library and were having a rare picnic in the living room. Second pic is the boys showing some Tom and Jerry to Biju when he got home from work.

We has a game night with friends on Saturday. The three smaller kiddos conked out while the 3 bigger ones just kept going, watching some movies, playing with light sabors, dressing up as random characters and generally enjoying each others company. Here is a picture, taken by Angie, of her youngest sleeping alongside my youngest.

EDITED TO NOTE: Although the date says Sept. 23 at the top of this post, it is really Monday Sept. 28th at 3:30pm as this is posted! I don't know why Blogger is giving the wrong date.

New Mexico

What, you thought I'd completely forgotten to write about our trip to New Mexico??

So here's the dish....

My mom, her sister, and my sister-in-law, all drove down to meet my sister and I on Friday night. We had a quick dinner of ham sandwiches and chips, then loaded up in my van, along with Alex, and headed out. We didn't leave until 8pm, so we knew it was going to be a long night!! We drove, took some breaks, stretched our legs, all that jazz. One place we stopped at to use the restroom had a sign posted "restrooms for customers only" - so we ended up staying 45 minutes while we ate our mozarella sticks and mushroom poppers. This was around 3am, so Alex, after having slept for part of the drive, was now wide awake, running around the restaurant like a wild child. We finally pulled into my aunt's driveway around 6am (our time, it was 5am NM time). Alex (he did fall back to sleep after our "breakfast" at 3am) did not go back to sleep after we got settled into the Fifth Wheel. I think I got about 2 hours of off and on sleep, then decided to take him outside and have a look around. I thought that would be a great idea, so his playing wouldn't wake the other sleepers in the Fifth Wheel...but as soon as we stepped outside, the dogs started going bonkers!! They would.not.stop.barking! So that ended up waking the rest of the people!!

There was my cousin and her two children who had driven in from CO, my two aunts (on my dad's side) and their husbands, and one of the husband's sister and her husband. Make sense? Anyhoo, there were a lot of people. After breakfast we walked toward the mesa's and looked around for some old Native American artifacts. I picked up a few cool rocks to bring home (Ajay is into rocks right now), and one of my aunts found part of an actual arrowhead! (She has a lot of cool things she's found over the last year of living down there.) Later that evening, I gave a Norwex presentation, we had dinner, then got started on the psychic part of the trip. We all said our prayers for guidance and to keep any bad spirits away. We only spent a couple hours on this, as we were all so tired and had to wake up early the next morning. Sunday morning we headed out for The Sanctuary at Chimayo, a 3 hour drive from my aunts house, and were a little late for mass. After mass we looked around, got some holy dirt, bought a few souveniers, then headed back! We grabbed lunch at some local burger place on the way. Once back at my aunts, we went to her neighbors for dinner (the only neighbor within sight of her place!). And that was that! We left the next day. We got a later start than we wanted, but it is hard to get so many people (most of whom have the gift of gab, myself included) on the road. We stopped in Tucumcari and picked up some more souveniers for loved ones, then drove on. I would say it took a good 12 hours to arrive at my doorstep. Alex did GREAT. I can't imagine a 19 month old acting better than he did under the same circumstances. He did get mad when we stopped for gas and he wasn't allowed to get out of his carseat, but can you blame him??
As expected, I took loads of pictures. I've assembled some into a slideshow for you all. Enjoy!..........Okay, I can't get the slideshow to load, so I'll just post this for now, and hopefully I'll get the slideshow up later!

Molars

Molars are no fun. Okay, so they help you chew food. Thats all well and fine, but growing them is NO FUN! Alex's gums are bleeding and I feel so badly for him. He's got his amber necklace that is supposed to help with pain - I hope it's doing its job! I think it is helping since I can't really tell much of a difference in him. Now and then he is crankier than usual, but with all 4 molars pushing in at once, I can't blame the poor guy!

Family Fun Weekend, part 2

Quick note - I forgot to mention in Part 1 that after bowling and pizza, we watched Meet the Robinsons. Alex went to bed before the movie even started, and Biju tried but kept dozing off, so that left just Ajay and I to enjoy the animated flick. It made for a late bedtime for Ajay, but he didn't mind! Here he is all camped out on the couch in his jammies, watching the previews.

Okay, on to the zoo. Biju elected to stay home (he really doesn't care for the zoo - once a year is enough for him) but the boys and I met my sister and her family at the zoo. We had somehow temporarily misplaced our senses because we both (my sister and I) thought it would be a good idea to go to the zoo when they were offering free admission! Take in an old phone book for recycling, and the fam gets in for free. Well, it sounded like a good plan. That day I spent 20 minutes circling the parking lot like a vulture waiting for somewhere to ditch the van so we could go wait in line with the other nutsos in town! Once we got in and found the cousins, it wasn't so bad. There was quite a bit of elbow room, and the kids really enjoyed looking around the exhibits with each other.

Here is our group - Aunt Shelly, all pregnant and everything, Uncle Carrick pushing Kyleigh in the stroller, then Paige and Ajay, and a female peacock by the pond.

On our way to the new tiger exhibit, the group went inside this little area. I'm not sure what it was, I stayed outside the gates with the strollers.

Outside the tiger exhibit there was a sculpture. Alex did not like it! He was in a fine mood until I plunked him next to this big cat. I don't know if he thought it was real but once we took him back down, he was fine again.

After catching a glimpse of a tiger's tail (they were resting peacefully in the shade, mostly out of sight), Paige and Ajay decided it best to occupy themselves by drawing in the sand.

Inside the gorilla exhibit.....

Checking out the elephants (eh-fant, according to Alex).

A fun time, indeed!!

Family Fun Weekend, part 1

So this fun weekend took place about two weeks ago. Better late than never, right? And the blogging of it will be divided into parts - as I tell Ajay, it's either that way or not at all!

On Saturday afternoon we took the boys bowling then out to pizza. I am really the only one in my family who likes pizza, so it wasn't as exciting as it sounds. It was more like I was asking them to eat brussel sprouts than pizza! "Please, just eat 3 bites!"

The boys really had fun bowling. Ajay, as seen in the photos, demonstrated just about everything one shouldn't do at a bowling alley. Alex was one tired puppy! He missed a nap that day so really was in no mood not to get his way. And since he couldn't pick up the bowling ball, and couldn't kick the bowling ball, he did not get his way a lot! And in case you were wondering, Biju and I made more use of the bumper rails than the boys did!

First up, getting acquainted with the equipment.

Ajay somehow got the ball lodged between the bumper rail and the gutter.

Alex, with a little help from Mama, and Ajay, figuring it out all on his own....

Lane courtesy, what's that??

This kid was mad that he couldn't pick up the ball!

He was much happier keeping score for the game....

Everything is a jungle gym in the eyes of a child!

Don't they look thrilled??

Part two will be about the zooooo! Betcha can't wait!

Behind on blogging

Believe me, I've got plenty to blog about, I just haven't had either the time or the energy (when I have one, I don't have the other!). I haven't forgotten about the blog world and there is a lot to write about and there are lots of pictures to share.

Just for kicks

I just thought I'd share some random photos with you all.


Here is Alex at the easel, using chalk. This was a pose, it wasn't a look I happened to catch. He stood there looking at the camera just as you see him.

The boys were watching some PBS. They had been using the old Huggies box as a slide, then I guess Ajay thought it would be better used as a bed.

Alex looks so much older in this picture! Maybe he was tired and ready for a nap... Whatever the case, the kid had no humor in him at this point!

Here are the first two eggplants and green pepper from our garden! The eggplants were made into a curry, the pepper was chopped into scrambled eggs. Yum! (that's Alex's 18mo hand)

Here are a couple of our tomatoes. All I gotta say is it's about danged time!! I counted about 4-5 growing, only one on the plant on the left, and about 4 on the plant on the right. I didn't go out today, so maybe we've got some more coming in?? (That's Ajay's 4yo hand in the pic on the right.)

Yellow peppers on the left, Red peppers on the right. I can't wait til they get their full color in!! (thats my 31yo hand in the pic on the right)