Dream Dinners

For ALL of you who have been DYING to know what Jason surprised me with, here you go.  First he took me to dinner at a restaurant I have been wanting to try.  It was mediocre :-(  But at least we know now. Awhile back we came across this place called Dream Dinners. Basically it is a place where you go, and everything is laid out for you to prepare dinners. You go around from station to station mixing all the ingredients together and preparing them to freeze when you get home. The meals look to be healthy, delicious, and super convenient on a night where you don't feel like cooking.  We made 8 different meals. It was WAY fun and I can't wait to try the stuff we made. It was so thoughtful of Jason to remember my interest in this place. I think we will definitely go back, because even though I love to cook, sometimes you want something good, quick.  

Tour of California

Today we went and watched the finish of the second leg of the Tour of California. It is a bike race, kind of like the Tour de France of America (but not as popular). This leg started in Sausalito and ended in Santa Cruz a total distance of 115 miles. Since Santa Cruz is only about 25 minutes from our house we decided to go. It was fun, although I can see why cycling isn't really a spectator sport. We waited for quite a while to see the cyclists shoot by us in about 2 seconds. But it was cool for Jason since he loves cycling and what not. Ollie was SUCH a trooper. We are so lucky we get to do these sort of things with a baby, he makes it so easy.

Waiting for the riders to come by

Jason and Ollie at the finish line

Lance Armstrong (in the yellow)

We went home this weekend, which was nice because we had a babysitter so we could go out for Valentines day. Jason took me to a yummy Thai restaurant and then he took me to some of the places that were significant to us when we were dating ;-) While we were doing that we drove by a bowling alley and decided to bowl a couple games. It was really fun. Jason is pretty good (he took a bowling class in college), he scored a 199 one game, pretty impressive. But our Valentines day doesn't end there. Apparently the real date is this Friday, Jason has a surprise for me, so I am looking forward to that. I'm lame and didn't do anything for Jason, he told me Valentines day is for the girl so not to (I shouldn't have listened to him, but I did). I don't feel that bad though since he got to see his race today and he just signed up for a half Ironman Triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run). He will be competing in that May 2nd. I think he is crazy, but also really cool, not many people can do that.

No Slowing Him Down

I just don't know what to do with this kid, he is learning new tricks left and right!  His new thing is pulling himself up to things (I have a feeling a few head bonks are coming soon).  I know every parent thinks their kid is so bright and what not but seriously he amazes me with how quickly he picks stuff up, I can already see that he is able to balance himself better than a few days before.  He is such a fun kid, we love him so much.  He also full on laughs now, I guess he was slow in that department, but I just chalked it up to us not being very funny :) Anyway here are some pictures of when I come to get him in the morning or when he is suppose to be napping.

Baby Food and Furniture

So, just call me Susie Granola...I have been making Ollie's baby food ever since he started eating real foods.  I love it, it is so fun.  It is also very time consuming and messy so I don't think it is for everyone.  Yesterday I made sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, pears and apples.  It pretty much took me all afternoon, but we are set for a few weeks.  It saves money (unless you think your time is super valuable, in that case you would probably be better off buying baby food),  and I know exactly what my baby is eating.

The second thing is that we went to IKEA yesterday to return a rug we had bought that wasn't big enough.  Well now they are discontinuing the rug in the size that I need so I had to get another one.  It is RED, like bright red, the other one was a deep maroonish red and I liked it much better, but this one works and is kind of spunky (and I'm too lazy to return it and find another one I like).  So what should have been a simple exchange ended up costing much more because we also found a matching dresser for Ollie's room for 50% off and a big picture to go above our bed (see below).

Me, prepping the food

Yum

Now that Ollie is mobile he loves to crawl around the apartment and discover things.  His favorite room is the guest bathroom (I know kind of gross to crawl around in the bathroom, but he stays entertained) and he loves to play with the door stoppers on all the doors.

Helping Dad put together his new IKEA dresser

The new picture (we figured a pic of the golden gate bridge was appropriate since we live in the bay area)

Jason found a bike seat for Ollie on Craigslist.  He is too small for it now but in a couple months it will be perfect.  Ollie is so excited for his new bike seat!!!

Pennsylvania 2009

For those of you who don't know, I have tons of wonderful family in PA.  My Mom grew up there and has 8 brothers and sisters who still live in PA.  I love them all so much and they have been a huge part of my life, so naturally I wanted Ollie to meet them.  Every Sunday the family gets together for a big lunch at my Grandmas, so last week, my mom, Ollie and I surprised everyone by just showing up.  It was so fun.  I was totally stressing out about the flights there and back, since we had two layovers each way, but Ollie was SUCH a trooper! We had a great week spending time with family.  It was so cold there, and Ollie had his first experience with snow.  He also got a bad cold and bronchitis, poor baby.  We had a great time, but we missed Jason a lot (and I'm pretty sure he missed us too).  We hope to be able to go back again soon, maybe when we visit my sister who is moving to North Carolina :(  Anyway, here are a million pictures from our week back east.

Ollie at the airport, the nice thing about the layovers is that he could get down and crawl around

We saw this cool farm on the way to my Grandma's

Grandma Bea feeding Ollie, he loves her!

Aunt Jill and Aunt Tonya with Ollie.  They knew we were coming and took such good care of us, we had tons of baby food, diapers, wipes, toys and outfits...it was so sweet of them!

All the ladies got together one night for Chinese take out and games, it was quite an educational night for some ;)

Ollie and I in the snow

Mom sledding, she biffed it

Ollie getting a bottle from Uncle Jimmy

Some of my cute cousins, Katelyn, Meredith, Bekah and Lydia

My Mom with two of her sisters

We got to watch the superbowl at my Aunt Amy's house, it was so fun to watch it with serious Steelers fans.  My Aunt kept yelling at the game and scaring Ollie, so she gave him her terrible towel, what an awesome souvenir!

Ollie with Aunt Amy

Alex, Isaac, Leah, Me, Amy, Ollie

Eating Aunt Tonya's hair

Ollie with Uncle Doug

Ollie with his second cousins Joey and Josh, we barely missed meeting the newest member of the family, Jackson, I was bummed!

Bekah and Nathaniel cutting Joey's hair...it probably wasn't the best idea

It was a little short..., and a little crooked..., luckily Aunt Jill fixed it, mostly...

More of us in the snow

Ollie loved this Johnny Jump-up

More snow pics, I wish one of my photographer friends had been there, I think this would have made a good photo shoot

Ollie with Ava and Brayden

I'm cute

Four generation picture

Game night

Grandma walking Ollie around

Poor kid was always in a million layers, it reminded me of a Christmas Story

Ollie with Uncle Rick and Aunt Linda

Mohawk

Ollie with my cousins Leah and Lydia

Ollie with my cousin Dakota, he was so cute with Ollie, they were buddies!

Ollie was really tired on the plane, I tried to keep him awake so he would take a bottle during take-off, but he couldn't make it

Ready for a nap, on our last flight we had a whole row

This is for my Grandma cause she kept saying that she thought Ollie would be pulling himself up on stuff really soon, well he has already started

Man, we love this kid so much!
This isn't the cutest pic of Ollie, but look how big his eyes are, and they are cool cause they are blue on the outside and brown in the middle