Odds and Ends

Two minutes prior to this picture John told me he was NOT tired.


Great Grandma and Grandpa Ruppert gave John this lollipop along with the mittens. John decided he needed to wear the mittens while eating the lollipop...good thing mittens wash well.


Trains all day and trains all night...literally. A couple of nights ago at 2 in the morning I heard a noise coming from the living room and John was just in there playing with his trains in the dark!




Hans and I had a date night while my parents were here and they decided to give John ice cream.


The same night Gus decided to be an absolute pill and then zonked out.


Reading time.


The last day of my parents visit. Summer is almost over which means it won't be so hot in my house and my kids will wear clothes again.

Gus' First Bite

August has seemed so interested in food lately. He watches intently as we eat and is always grabbing our plates. Hans decided to give him some bananas first. Gus looked very excited, grabbed the spoon and put it in his mouth. To bad he didn't like the bananas.





Next, Hans thought we should try cereal. Gus reached for this as well...


and again, he wasn't impressed.




We'll just keep trying.

Children's Museum

While my parents were here we went to the Children's Museum. My brother got us a membership for Christmas and we've been a few times, but I've always forgotten to take pictures. John loves discovering new things every time we go.



This time they had a room set up like an animal clinic. John had a great time using all of the various instruments on his patient.




Now he uses every pair of headphones he finds as a stethoscope. Maybe he will be a nurse or a doctor.


The train room is always a hit. It doesn't matter how many trains this kid has at home, he is always willing to play trains, anytime, anywhere.




Gardening with Grandma


He couldn't wait to have a turn to fish. I can't wait until next summer so he can really fish.


The museum has a special room for kids newborn to 4. Gus had fun in the infant room.






August was Making A Mess month so they had a toddler activity where they painted with spray bottles.






The museum also has a room set up with a dance floor, a wall full of mirrors, costumes and loud music. John loved this room and spent a good deal of time just looking at himself in the mirror.

5 months

Today August is 5 months old. He is still a very happy baby and he is growing like a weed. I had to take him to the doctor last week and he was 17 lbs and 26 inches long.



Here he is starting to think tummy time isn't fun anymore. He can roll over, but I don't think he realizes that he controls when he rolls over.


Everything goes in his mouth.


I love those smiling eyes.

Happy Birthday John

John turns 3 today. Time sure flies, I can't believe he is that old!

On the day of his birth.


We had a birthday party for him on Sunday and his friends came over to eat and play.




He loved the Henry cake and he knew we were suppose to sing to him and then he could blow out the candles...where did he learn that?

Henry Cake

John is turning 3 tomorrow and we had a party for him on Sunday since my parents were in town. Since John is obsessed with Thomas the train I decided to make his birthday cake look like Henry. For those of you who wonder why Henry and not Thomas, it is because Henry is the #3 train.

John wanted to help make the cake. He loves to help and gets really upset if you don't let him help. My sister in-law Andrina has a very creative way of letting her daughter Eva help. Andrina puts some of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and gives Eva a spoon to mix it all together. I thought that was a great idea, but when I tried that with John he just looked at me like I was stupid and asked where the eggs and milk where.



This is John's favorite part.


The 'before' pictures of the cakes. I made the white cake from scratch and the chocolate cake is just a dark chocolate mix. I will never use a mix again for cakes like these because they are very hard to cut and frost.


The first layer


This was John's way of "helping". We had to keep him from sneaking pieces of cake. I left the room for a second once to get something from the kitchen and when I came back there was a little chunk taken out of the chocolate cake.




Again, John's favorite part.


The cake is now layered and cut, all I have to do now is make it look like Henry.


I used buttercream frosting. The first cake I made I used a whipped frosting and while I like the taste of that it is really hard to frost with several different colors since it never hardens. I also liked how the buttercream produced richer colors.




It's Henry! This was not what I envisioned the cake to look like, but to be fair to myself this is only my second cake and I think I envisioned something that was more 3D covered in fondant...maybe next time.

I think this is my new hobby. I still have lots to learn, but am anxious to take a few decorating classes and learn some useful techniques. I also have to kinks to work out as far as the cake itself, what you can't tell from this picture is that poor Henry sinks a little in the middle...high altitude baking has proven to be quite a challenge for me.

Riding on the Trike

John loves to ride his trike. He will ride around the back porch all day or ride in the basement when it is too hot, cold or raining outside. He is getting so much better at steering, but still bumps into things from time to time. Sometimes he will put his Mickey Mouse helmet on and use the elbow pads that came with it as skates and "skate" around the house...what a cutie.



My dad decided to take him on a walk. They were originally just going to go around the block, but John didn't want to go home so they went to the park about 4 or 5 blocks from our house.

John decided he had to have his Thomas backpack for the adventure.


John started of well...


but it didn't take long for him to get behind. He had a hard time getting over the bumps on the sidewalk, but also felt it necessary to stop and check out every little object that crossed his path.


John needed some direction...


okay, maybe he needed lots of direction.


Off they go! In another hour or so they should be at the park.