Apple!

Henry thinks he is a big boy and wants to eat whatever the family is eating. Last night I had Henry sitting at the counter and had given him some Cheerios to snack on while I fixed dinner. He was not very happy with the Cheerios and was whining and complaining. I saw the big bowl of apples sitting in front of him and decided to see if he wanted some apple. I cut off a little slice so that he would have some of the flesh available without peel. He instantly grabbed it and started gnawing away.

He happily "ate" it the entire time I was cooking without another complaint (except when he would drop it).

Is it really January????

This is what we have been wondering this week. Could it really be January when the temperature is in the 70s? Usually at this time of the year the rain is pouring down and sometimes our streets and rivers are flooding. This year we're almost tempted to put on a suit and go swimming. This weekend we didn't hit the pool, but we did go to the park.
On Saturday morning the kids and I headed to Howarth Park. It has a huge playground complete with a climbing web and a ghost town. I was surprised just how many people were there. We even ran into another family from school who drove all the way from Cloverdale. Emma Jo enjoyed climbing the web. Grace loved running up and down the ramps on the big kid playground. Cooper showed me how good he is on the little kids playground. He can climb the steps walk up to the slide and then turn around to go down the slide feet first on his tummy. As soon as his feet hit the ground he runs back to the steps and does it all over again. Daddy met us at the park and then took us to Phyllis' Giant Burger for a burger and shake. It was delicious but there was so much food I was afraid I'd be too full for dinner. That would have been a mistake since Jason and I were headed out to Bodega Bay for my birthday dinner on Saturday night.
We made the long drive out to the coast to dine at the Bay View at the Inn at the Tides. As soon as we walked in I thought about Gordon Ramsey, but it turned out the food was really good. We really enjoyed our dinner and the evening away from the house. We got home to a quiet house will all three kids asleep.
Cooper slept through the night until around 3am. Jason fed him a bottle and then it was back to sleep for everyone. I didn't wake up until 7:30 am when the girls finally woke up. It sure was nice to get to sleep in!
All in all it was a great weekend...

Monday

Monday was back-to-school as usual. We got Emma Jo signed up for Girl Scouts (be ready to buy some cookies this spring!). She is now a Junior Girl Scout which means Mommy gets to sew patches on a green vest this year. Sunday night Grace picked a tomato out of Grandpa's garden and brought it into preschool for snack on Monday. Mrs. Winter reported that Grace shared the tomato with all the children and teachers, but Grace didn't want to eat any. Mrs. Winter ate most of the tomato and she reported that it was delicious, very sweet and meaty with very little acidity, one of the best tomatoes she has had all year.

I finally got my new Title and Job Description for a promotion I was offered in June. I'm now officially the "Consumer Direct Systems Manager". I'm happy with the title and responsibilities and glad to have that settled and behind me.

For dinner last night, Jason made Beer-Battered Fish & Chips. Emma Jo loved the "home-made fish sticks" although she said they were more flakey than store-bought and fell apart easily. I wanted to give Cooper his first taste of fish, but he was a tired little boy and fell asleep before 7pm.