Capanyo for you

Bub got a little piano for Christmas last year, which he affectionately calls his "capanyo". He hasn't used it in a while, but then last night he decided to play with it and ended up putting on an impromptu concert for me. I caught the tail end of it on video.

Happy Birthday Bub

Bub had a great birthday, lots of nice presents, chocolate cake and ice-cream and some friends over to visit. A highlight of the day was when Great-grandpa made it over for about an hour and presented Bub with his birthday present and spent some time with us. Photos below:

Shelly's Creation

I am so proud of our Shell Bell. She has wanted to learn to bake, so we decided she would start doing a new baking project each week. This week she attempted Chocolate Butter Cake from scratch for Bub's birthday (including having to double the recipe.) The only thing I helped her with was mixing the icing, as we don't have an electric mixer, (and paying for the ingredients). She did everything else, with the help of one of her friends.

Here are a few photos of her project, including the finished product, which we all enjoyed!

The Fruit Saga Continues...

This morning, Bub spent about an hour playing in the yard and ended up with a new fruit collection. We have a papaya tree, mango tree, lemon tree, and a couple of other fruit bearing trees. There is one particular papaya tree that grows right outside our room which he is very attached to. He has protected its fruit from being picked early and watched it carefully, waiting for the papayas to ripen. (If you've only ever had store ripened papayas, then you wouldn't know how good tree ripened papayas are. I personally think store ripened papayas taste somewhat like vomit, but they are so sweet and good when they ripen on a tree!) Anyway, we've been slowly eating each papaya fruit as it ripens.

Today he picked a smaller papaya that was almost ripe and added that and a green mango that fell off our mango tree to his "fruit collection" that he carries around the house. Between the mango, the papaya and the coconut he couldn't even manage it all and we finally had to get him a bag to carry it all in, as he was inconsolable without his "fruit salad"! We finally had to banish the papaya to the fridge, as it was getting bruised by being carried about and cuddled all day, but tonight the coconut is in his bed and the mango is on his desk! As long as he doesn't start trying to sleep with a banana....

Curls and Coconuts

Our big boy is going to be three tomorrow. He has informed me that he is going to "eat his happy birthday" and is quite excited about it. He asked for a "brown cake" and Shelly is going all out with a Chocolate Butter Cake and chocolate icing. Shelly is our in-house baker, and is quite good! I'll take some pics of her cake (which she is currently baking.) I am sure it will be tasty.

As you can see in the picture, he is currently playing "Reader Rabbit Toddler" on our ancient Toshiba "brick" laptop that is about 10 years old (with the help of his trusty coconut, of course!). It only has 4 gigs of RAM and is a Pentium 2, but it works for simple computer games and he is getting the hang of using a mouse quite quickly.

He is so vain about his curls. He hardly lets me brush his hair, as he says it might "ruin my curls"! LOL! Will post pics of his party tomorrow. Have a good night.

7 Years!

Today we have been here 7 years.....

Superbed

Bub's new "high bed" has arrived, and I must say, it is the most deluxe "high bed" I have seen in a long time. The idea behind this bed was something to lure him out of his crib (adjacent to our bed) in time for the baby. Our room is not that large, and he loves his sister's bunk bed, so we thought we'd make him a top bunk with shelves and stuff underneath for a play area. Some friends built it for us and the wood was donated, thank God! They did accidentally make it a foot taller than we designed (oops!) but otherwise it is great and he loves it! (We laid foam matting around it, to protect in case of a fall.) The first night he slept in it all night and he is currently up there, singing to and cuddling his coconut (he traded his cucumber for a coconut) and is thrilled with his bed!

Building with you...

Bub and his cousin Dillon got along very well when we visited Suzy and Jeff a few weeks ago. They played together constantly and except for a few run ins, had a ton of fun together.

Classic moment:

They are playing together in my room, when suddenly Dillon turns to Bub and says,
"Don't leave me."

Bub takes Dillon's face in his hands and says, "Don't worry sweetheart. We'll be together always!"

I WISH I had a video camera on at that point. But alas...

I was able to film them singing a song together that Bub "wrote" (consisting of one line, over and over.) Excuse the low lighting and enjoy.

Teenager

Tory went to a "prom" last week and I thought she looked gorgeous, although it's taking a bit of getting used to, to see her so grown up! The shoes were her own purchase (against my better judgment!) but I have to admit that they do look good with that dress.

Time flies so quickly....

The Cucumber

My son is a little strange. He sleeps with cucumbers.

No, really.

It is not "Bob the Cucumber", it doesn't have a name. It is just a cucumber (randomly chosen from our "cold room"). He carries it around all day, cuddles it lovingly, and wants to sleep with it. He has changed cucumbers 3 times, so it's not loyalty to one particular cucumber. Last night he informed me that, "The cucumber and I are cold. Please cover us up." But then today he asked to eat a cucumber. He loves them, they are his favorite vegetable. He can eat a whole cucumber plain without mayo or anything. Stephen asks, "Is that cannibalism?" I just don't know...

Interestingly, since he ate a whole cucumber this afternoon, he stopped carrying one around and tonight is sleeping without a cucumber. I hope this is the end of a strange trend.

Here I go

So, now that it's not even "trendy" anymore, I have decided to blog, simply for the sake of keeping up with my family and updating them on what in the World is going on. What prompted it all was some of Bub's recent hilariousness. I decided that it really needs to be shared, and I absolutely do not have the time or patience to write individual emails. So, stay tuned. I am not sure how easily I'll be able to update once the baby is born, but hopefully this blog will make it easier to stay in touch with everyone!

Have a great day!