M: 21 months

Buttered it myself.

 Mr. Malachi is 21 months old. His vocabulary is just exploding lately, and his favorite things include:

• doing things himself: "No, Mom!"
• talking about action: helping, jumping, smashing, raining
• talking about insects and their demise: "fly? bee? swat?"
• cooking, and talking about cooking: flip, stir, chop, slice, cut, egg, flour, hot, beeping, done
• looking out for the interests of numero uno: me!, turn, too
• singing along with 'Tradition' from Fiddler on the Roof: "Pa-paaaaa!!!!"
• spending time with family: "Home! Daddy! Daddy home!!!"

He eschews the traditional "can you say _____?" and "what does the _____ say?" games, but echoes Toby's words (and attitudes...yikes!). 

Even men of action need cuddling and a book.

M: 14 months

While the men were off in Portland, Malachi and I had a fun day. He set foot in the library for the first time (I'm pretty sure I've always held him or had him in the ring sling before) and enjoyed checking out his own books at the self-checkout machine just like Toby always does. He is pretty insistent about doing things a certain way: getting his own hymnal from the pile at church, eating his own food with utensils just like everyone else, and having a bedtime book just like Toby. His favorite bedtime book is the farm book, because it has pictures of blueberries, chickens and puppies. He recently added "woof woof" to his vocabulary and enjoys feeding Toby's stuffed dog.

M: 10.75 months

He's not quite 11 months yet; 11 months sounds so old. I'm going to post while he's still 10 months old...I'm trying to enjoy what little baby-ness is left in him.

• 7 teeth, loves popcorn and peas
• Doesn't use his arms to balance anymore when walking around. Rarely crawls.
• Climbed up a chair and onto the kitchen table for the first time this morning
• Picks up on a lot: Last night he was in the ring sling and watching me form bread into rolls. Right before I started to slap the first one into shape he excitedly started slapping my arm. First I thought he was imitating me, until I realized I hadn't started slapping yet.
• Missed Dad while he was in Portland on a trip: was excited to see him on video chat but then progressively got more upset that he wasn't "real".
• Occasionally signs more, food, water, please. Gets his messages across pretty well.
• Sad to leave mom during ECHO or lessons at home

Red, White, and Blueberry

Red cherries, white sugary donuts, and blue berries...maybe going to Bill's Berry Farm for the 4th of July will become a tradition!

Toby discussed literature with a 6 year old girl from Seattle over the row of blueberry bushes. They both own the book "Blueberries for Sal", but our plastic buckets don't say kerplunk, was the part I overheard.

Despite being tied firmly on my back, Malachi "Reach" managed to sample both the fruit and the foliage of the cherries and berries, plus some bark chips from the landscaping for good measure. But the freshly made donuts were all for Toby and me.

M: 2 months

• Quick to smile (especially in the morning, but I still haven't gotten very many good smile pictures)
• 12 lbs. 8 oz.
• Tries to be tough when attacked by Tobias but usually gives a big pout
• 25 inches long
• sucks his two middle fingers when he's sleepy
• growing out of clothes and diapers left and right
• thankfully doesn't burp and spit quite as much as he used to
• sits up with help and can hold his head up well
• longest stretch of sleep: 7 hrs.

Vos Reunion 2011

We had a great time at Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, at a Vos family reunion. At the last reunion, Nate and I were not engaged yet, so a lot has changed for us, and it was good to get to see others too and catch up with them. Tobias enjoyed being teased by his great-great-uncles and going hiking. We did have one trail injury; Tobias tripped on our very first stop and cut his forehead, and then the next day got it bleeding again by running into a rock. Thankfully it wasn't more severe and it seems to be healing well.

A highlight for me was our hike to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. I thought it was neat how each lake was different: Nymph Lake had lots of lily pads and baby ducks, Dream Lake was very clear and reminded me of the book Hatchet, and the highest, Emerald Lake, was secluded and surrounded by steep rocky sides. I was carrying 25 weeks worth of baby on me and felt tired by the end, but Nate had 25 pounds of Tobias on him for most of the hike.

Emerald Lake

Julie, Doug, Rebecca, Ryan, Lois, Nate, Tobias (in backpack, asleep), Hannah + baby

click here to see more of Doug's reunion pictures

Peanut Butter Cookies and Invisible Coffee

It seems like my favorite blogs are always posting beautiful pictures of the tasty things they have been cooking up. We've been cooking too, although the pictures are maybe not as mouth-watering as they could be. Tobias is getting less destructive when he helps in the kitchen. He helped stir and shake cinnamon into cottage cheese pancakes, and helped squish peanut butter cookies with a fork.

The recipe for the peanut butter cookies (Aunt Janet's recipe) is:

• 1 cup of peanut butter, slightly melted
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg
• Roll, squish, and bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees

We re-shaped the cookies featured in the video and do plan to take them to church.

What are your favorite places to get new recipes?

Captions By Tobias

Our bike trailer.

Warm apples.

He's still so little

Tobias at Grove of the Patriarchs in Mt. Rainier National Park

Buddies

At times I suspected that Tobias's Grandma VW had gone overboard when she bought so many baby items, but I wanted to post this picture so she could see we're putting stuff to good use. This picture is from a few weeks back (April Fool's Day, I believe) when we took one of our first walks of spring (Jayna and her mom came along!).

(photos by Nate)

Last Friday we went out in the drizzle to rescue some beautiful grapes. We picked 6 bins worth and over that day and the next turned them into over 50 quarts of grape juice using Terry and Jan's steamer. One of my favorite parts, besides the tasty juice, was seeing the colors of the grapes. On the vine they were a handsome navy with a dusty gray coating, in the steamer they gradually turned neon purple, and the juice was a deep, staining, almost black color.

P.S. The stains did come off the countertop with bleach, the fate of the khaki pants that came into contact with grape-stained potholder has yet to be determined

Exploring Mt. Rainier for the first time

I won't be able to blog every first in Tobias' life- there are too many too fast- but we just returned from a short trip to Mt. Rainier that included a lot of fun firsts. Tobias saw his first snowbank, as well as a waterfall (Myrtle Falls). Well, he was sleeping, so he'll have to see the pictures later. He did enjoy staring at the tall trees and bright sky at our campsite. It is pretty amazing to see how much he is already different a few weeks after being born: more alert, likes to hold his head up, and chubbier.

I returned from the trip smelling like all the usual camping smells (smoke, sweat), plus baby smells (use your imagination). I was worried Tobias wouldn't recognize me after I showered but he did remember what a clean mom smelled like!

Ultrasound

Today we got to see our baby! 

The measurements gave a due date of June 23 (doctor thought 16th by his primitive calculations, I said more like the 26th). It is allowed to come whenever it is ready, I guess.

I think the brain looks like Nate's. Just kidding.

Above is a profile of the baby's head. You can also see the heart beating, and fingers moving above the nose.

Baby feet!

Do you see where he or she punches me right there at the beginning!

Knitting

It seems like spring here, but I've really been getting a lot of knitting done lately since my double-pointed needles came!

Almost Ready!

Here's the bulletin board Mrs. E and I made yesterday. We continued the decorating today using our fabulous stapling skills. I think I'm about ready for school to start (although I have enough details to take care of in the next week). Nate and I are having a busy but fun end of the summer: we enjoyed having a visit from G & G VW last week and from Matt and Laura yesterday. We tried to take the cheese tour at Darigold but it was closed due to flooding (water, not milk). Oh well, we had a good time visiting anyway.

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

The title means "Happy 5th of May" for you non-Spanish-readers, and it is a Mexican holiday somewhat like the 4th of July. We didn't participate in the festivities very much, although we heard happy-sounding music coming from town Friday evening while we were outside!
We kept busy yesterday helping with a spring cleaning day at church and then cleaning ourselves up a bit to help chaperone the Junior Senior Banquet. It was fun to see everyone dressed up, the food was excellent, and we even got to take home a cute centerpiece (shown in the picture).

Spring Tour Concert, Spring Project on a whim

Last weekend was busy and fun- the Dordt band and orchestra were here on tour. I was in charge of feeding them, making sure they had places to change clothes and warm up, and places to sleep after the concert. Of course, we claimed Heather and her tour buddy Melissa to stay at our house. Ruth also came from Idaho for the concert and stayed overnight. The concert was great and it was so fun to see them, even if it was very short!
Yesterday at Wal-Mart I was inspired. The pictures show the results. The fabric is tiny pink stripes- some metallic- with a little bit of wrinkly-ness. I sewed it last night after going bowling with friends. Nate was pleased with how late I stayed up (it gave him plenty of reading time).
I didn't use a pattern (learned that from you Mom!), I just measured my blue skirt. I greatly overestimated the amount of fabric I would need so I might need to sew something else too!


...(several hours pass) pajama shirt?

What should we name it?

Here's a picture of our new car, purchased from another teacher family. It is a blue (obviously) '98 Chevy Malibu. The air conditioning works. The trunk is good-sized.
To celebrate, we used some of our Jav-ahhh! gift certificates on a peach smoothie for me and something coffee-containing for Nate.
Little white Nissan is still functioning, although it may be developing some new quirks.

Poisoned Peanut Butter, Projects

Tomorrow there is no school for me (mid-winter break, aka basketball state)! I plan to go to Wal-Mart and return our jar of peanut butter whose product code starts with the deadly 2111. They have been recalled because of salmonella. I find it strangely exciting to have this jar of potentially poisoned peanut butter in the house, although I'm thankful we didn't eat it.













Also at Wal-Mart I'll buy some elastic so I can finish the green skirt.

I made a new curtain for our bedroom and demoted the 70's green one to the storage/guest room.

Where am I?

While taking my Friday afternoon pilgramage to Fiesta Foods, I walked among the unsurprising bottles of hot sauce, tubs of lard, and tortillas that fill any empty spaces in the store. Whizzing through aisle dos o tres, I saw something I hadn't noticed before and stopped in my tracks. Shocked, I took the following picture (feeling rather foolish as I took my digital camera out of my purse in a grocery store...). Can you tell why this made me laugh?