Lobster!!

We had our turn to host cooking club this weekend. It is a great event. Four couples, two babysitters, and 6 kids (5 under the age of 3) all in the same house to hang out and cook a fabulous meal. We decided to do French food and made our theme "Foods from the movie Julie & Julia." If you haven't seen the movie it is really cute and Julia is Julia Child who wrote "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." The menu was: Brushetta on butter-fried French bread, lobster with lemon and butter, French onion soup, artichokes with Hollandaise sauce, roasted chicken in port wine, mushrooms and cream, and glazed oranges. "You can never have too much butter!"



Slater is pictured here entertaining the crustacean before it was turned into an appetizer. He called it a variety of things including: frog, bug and fish. The other kids all got to look at it and enjoyed seeing all of it's parts before we cooked it.

Maybe we should have named him Hoover

Slater dumped some chocolate chips on the floor and then found the most efficient way to eat them.

Baby vs Storm Trooper

She kicked his butt ... but would she fare as well against Darth Vader or the Empire? Only time will tell for this young Jedi.

Best / Worst of 2009

Best food: Mac and Cheese
Worst food: Avocado

Best toy: Anything with wheels that goes in the dirt
Worst toy: That horrible truck that Uncle Carter got that chanted "Raminator" - oh wait only mom and dad hated it

Best accomplishment: Talking!
Worst accomplishment: Tantrums

Best Doctor visit: Baby Jade was born
Worst Doctor visit: Slater had pneumonia

Best clothing: Jammies with zippers and onesies
Worst clothing: Anything Slater could remove on his own

Best brother: Slater
Best sister: Sweet baby Jade
Best mom: Mom!!
Best dad: Dad!!

Best Buddy (Slater): Anyone whose name begins with a J - you know who you are :0)
Best Buddy (Jade): Slater

Best park: Slaterville Park (of course)
Worst park: the one where Slater found used condom wrappers

Best dog: (tie) Piper and Vega

Best kid mover: Chariot
Worst kid mover: Grocery cart - between the toddler and car seat where do you put the groceries????

Best Movie: (tie) Cars and Toy Story

Best TV show: Curious George

Best Diaper: Luvs
Worst Diaper: Safeway brand...poor little bottom

Best summer activity: Chena Lakes
Best winter activity: Sledding
Best indoor winter activity: Bathtime
Worst indoor activity: Getting dressed

Best drink: Any fruit drink
Worst drink: Tomato Juice

Best book store: Barnes and Noble

Best toy store: The Toy Quest

Best Indoor Play Spot: Gymnastics Inc
Worst Indoor Play Spot: McDonalds

Would love to see other best/worst blogs :0)

Chocolate!!! And that is all we have to say!

Sweet Potatoes for the Sweet Baby

Suited up and ready for her first "real" meal. Slater never liked the rice or oatmeal cereal, so we decided to skip right to the veggies with Jade. Sweet potatoes were the first try. Looking at her face you would guess that it didn't go well, but she kept opening her mouth for more. She only ate a couple of teaspoons worth. Next we tried sweet peas and let her hold the spoon, she made the same awful faces and gobbled it all up. After veggies we are going to move to fruit, the store sure had a lot of options in baby food, she is going to be a real gourmet.

The new book shelf

Slater loves to have books read to him and will sit and "read" to himself at times. Until now his books have been piled in the corner next to the reading chair, so we decided to upgrade to a real bookshelf and Slater helped put it together. He also likes to climb up it and then jump over to his dresser, we kind of figured it would happen.