Spring has sprung and Isaac is ready to explore the outdoors. We’ve had many warm days, but a few cold ones here and there. Browse these pictures of Isaac in April, he had a ‘professional’ haircut, did a lot of monkey-ing around at the playground, and enjoyed gardening time with mommy. It was a great month!
Aunt Heidi just came to visit for a fun-filled, jam-packed family weekend. Here are a few fun pics from the weekend… and click here for a special album of photos from Grandma’s 50th Birthday bash!
My grandma is now 50 years young! Here are some pictures from the great party…
Well 2010 is going great — Isaac becomes more and more independent and mature every day. We are having a blast watching him figure things out. His current favorite pastime is coloring. Preferably with a blue crayon. Nana and Grandma have been keeping him stocked with coloring books and crayons. Nana even got Isaac a shiny new table and chair set, which now looks like a Jackson Pollock, but oh well! That’s what the magic eraser is for.
Jason and I took our first trip sans baby. We are eternally thankful to both Isaac and all of his grandparents for being so good while we were away. The trip was just what Jason and I needed and everyone agreed that Isaac didn’t really notice our absence. I’m sure that in a few months time that won’t be the case.
We just had our 15 month checkup. He is growing very well and staying on his same growth curve — having gained 1 pound and grown 1 1/2 inches in the past three months (currently 24.5 pounds and 32.5 inches).
Grandpa just built Isaac a very sturdy little step stool, although he’s still a bit small for it, we love to carry it around and push it across the floor. Here’s a picture of the stool »
Thank you for my very adorable sweater! I love it as you can tell by my beaming smile!
Isaac’s cousin Kayla visited this Christmas. She lives in Alaska with her mom and dad (Jason’s brother Jeremy), so it is always a special treat to see her for the holidays!
Here are some fun pictures from the holiday season…
Well after much planning and prep work (special shout-out to aunt Heidi), Isaac’s party was an amazing success. Almost 50 of Isaac’s closest friends and family made it out to celebrate.
We asked that people make donations to the Ronald McDonald House, and boy did they listen — except for a few stubborn grandparents who insisted on getting him some toys, we managed to raise a pretty penny for this great cause. Every day more and more dedication letters come to me in the mail letting me know who has contributed in Isaac’s name. It warms our hearts to know that people are giving back on our behalf. We love you all!!
Here are some pictures from the special day:
You can download and view full size pictures here…
Many people have requested the recipe for the “Monkey Bark” party favor. This is an adaptation of Isaac’s great-grandmother’s almond bark recipe.
Here’s the general method to making this crowd-pleasing and versatile treat:
The ingredients are simply dark or milk chocolate melting wafers. You can get these at any local craft or bulk foods store. I prefer to buy them NOT from a craft store because you can get a little better quality chocolate. The brand I used for the favors was Wilbur’s (a semi-local chocolatier).
You just melt those wafers in the microwave for less than 5 minutes and give them a good stir. Mix in any of your favorite nuts or dried fruits. Any nut will work, just try to chop them up pretty finely and don’t use any of the “dust” that comes when you chop them up. I always use sliced almonds and have used Macadamia and Cashew nuts in the past. For any raw nuts, toast them briefly with melted butter in the oven just to bring out their flavor. I try to get unsalted nuts when possible.
As for fruits, the possibilities are endless. I always try to include dried apricots because their flavor and texture goes really well with everything. I’ve also included dried cranberries, red and golden raisins, and banana chips. I want to try my next batch with coconut (sorry Jason)!
Once you combine all the mix-ins with the melted chocolate, spread it out in a thin layer on a wax-papered cookie sheet or cutting board and allow to set up. If you can fit your sheet in the fridge, that will speed things up. And, since it’s pretty chilly outside, you can let it set up outside, too! Once it’s set, just break it up into bite-size chunks. Be careful if you use a knife to chop it up (I know from personal experience that it’s easy to slip on a nut and chop your thumb up… yikes!).
To make this extra special, you can get cute candy molds at the craft store. I just saw one of a snowman that was nice, so check out your AC Moore or Michael’s and see what they have.
We had to tear down all of Aunt Heidi’s hard work that turned our simple family room into a jungle canopy. Isaac had almost as much fun helping put up the streamers as he did playing with them during the tear-down.
Check out a few fun pics from the past month:
We just got home from a amazing week in Disney. Isaac had a great week of firsts: first haircut and first dip in the deep blue sea!
Check out a few fun pics from this vacation:
Here’s a little note with what’s been happening in our (Isaac’s) life as of late…
Isaac is now 7 1/2 months old and a whopping 22 lbs! His hair is getting a little curly, so we think he might have gotten my curly locks! His eyes are still blue, so perhaps they’ll stay that way — I don’t know if they can still change at this point?!?
Isaac’s about ready to start crawling, but most people think he’s going to run before he does anything else. He’s becoming more independent during the day and is happy as a clam just sitting on the carpet and playing with all of his toys. He’s just starting to cut his top 2 front teeth — the bottom two have been coming in since mid-May and are VERY sharp!
As for me, I recently joined a “mothers of boys” group here is Berks County, so between that and hanging out with our best friend Mady (she’s the 1 yr. old daughter of my high school friend, Amanda — who now lives right around the block from us!), we are keeping ourselves busy.
I’ve also throw my shyness aside and begun accosting anyone I meet that has a child about Isaac’s age. That’s how we met our new friends, Karen and John, who are proud parents to Elijah (who’ll be turning 1 in a week!) Elijah can be found in the Summer Fun photo slideshow here.
