Photo of Week: Train Ride

Video of the Week: Jack's New Puzzle

Everyone's a comedian

Jack loves to make funny faces at dinnertime. We have no idea where this came from. Sure we've made faces at him if he's sad or crying to try to get him to laugh, but lately he spends a good quarter of dinner just making faces at us.

He clearly loves to make us laugh so maybe this is Jack's first entre into his comedic career.

Our garden!

It's coming together and I harvested our first bits of herbs and lettuce leaves. So exciting!

picture of the week

Outdoor Fun

We've been trying our best to enjoy our weekends and fill them with activities rather than errands. The Bigelows are trying gardening and JLB loves it. He is also enjoying playing at his water and sand table. 

Jack's first haircut

Jack's hair was really getting unruly so we had to officially cut his hair. We've tried to do it on our own, but he didn't really sit still and the back of his hair really paid for it (really crooked).

Unbelievably, he was so still for the stylist! He looks so grown up now.

beach

Jack enjoyed spending a few days at the beach in Naples this week.

Meeting the President and First Lady

For some of you on Facebook you might already know that I had an amazing and lucky chance to greet the President and First Lady during a work trip to Selma, Alabama for the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights March.

I said to myself there isn't anyone around me to take a picture and half the time pictures turn out so poorly that I will just live in the moment and enjoy it to be forever lived in my head.

Well, then I started thinking. There are always a hundred cameras on the President there has to be some picture some where... but how do I get that? Well, long story short I landed on good ol' C-SPAN. Woo-hoo.

You'll see me in the right hand corner in a pink coat!

snow

We got more snow this week. Jack likes playing in it...until snow get on his skin. We built a snowman in the back yard, but he wasn't too interested in it.

so long baby crib

Today we converted Jack's crib into a toddler bed. The only difference is that one of the sides came off and was replaced by something shorter, with an opening so that he can climb in and out of himself. And he now also has a sheet, blanket, and pillow. Very exciting development.

The little guy is growing up. It doesn't seem like too long ago we took this picture shortly after he came home from the hospital.

Photo of the week: Secret Sauce

We go to this really great, but affordable steak place called Medium Rare. They have a secret sauce that Jack discovered at our last outing. I think he liked it. 

video of the week 2/1

Jack still loves to dance. At school they say that his favorite CDs are Motown and that when he hears it, he dances the entire time. Unfortunately we haven't been able to recreate that at home (still working on it), but here is one of him playing and dancing with his musical bus.

Jack's Aubergines

This week was a great food week for Jack. We discovered he loves tomatoes (kind of already knew) and eggplants. I adapted a recipe from the cookbook Wild Rosemary and Lemon Cake called Enza's Aubergines (eggplants). He ate 4-5 of them plus all the stuff originally on his plate. He first ate off the tomatoes and then ate the eggplant. He often likes his food deconstructed.

He also enjoyed snacking on kale chips while mommy was cooking and like the crispy pork cheeks we had at Rustico in Alexandria. He's definitely not afraid to try new things!

He also like spinning the salad spinner for mommy while she was making a salad. Jack hasn't taken to salad too much. He prefers his veggies cooked and soft.

Just for fun, here's my adaption of Enza's Aubergines.

1 large eggplant
fine sea salt
EVOO

Topping
8 oz grape tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 tsp or more of anchovy paste
EVOO
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice eggplants into discs and arrange on baking tray. Brush with EVOO and sprinkle with salt. Bake in 425 F oven for 12-15 minutes

Finely dice grape tomatoes while eggplants are cooking. Add to bowl with minced garlic cloves (I use a microplane grater) and the other ingredients. Mix and make sure paste dissolves evenly.

Take out eggplants and top with tomatoes. Bake for another 15-20 minutes.

pic of the week

Guess who discovered queso this week....and liked it a lot.

Video of the week

It is funny when your little ones want to be independent in their own way. Jack now insists on holding his jacket and backpack to the car. He also gets it from his cubby as soon as he see one of us pick him up. He's all business!

We've been getting a lot of reports from his teachers that Jack loves to dance. When they put on music he just dances and sings. Hope we can get that one on video soon.