Vicarious Living

Okay, so in my defense, he ASKED!

Superhero

It's a Bird...

It's a Plane...

It's SUPERAshton!

Just goes to show that behind every great Superhero is a Super Daddy...

And a Super Mommy who ties the Super Cape.

Green Thumb

The Peanut loves to help out in our 'garden'. I guess this is as close as you get in the city.

He has successfully kept alive 2 tomato plants, 2 red pepper plants and a few assorted herbs.

He loves to come out and help pick the basil when we're cooking. Now, how do we convince him that eating leaves off the ground is NOT okay?

Ahhh, the Joys of Youth

The smell of Play-Doh always brings back fond, salty smelling memories of our childhood. I have a feeling it will do the same for the Peanut...


Either that or it will give him an unexplained feeling of connection to Oopah-Loompahs.

Summer Lovin'

The Peanut has a BLAST on warm summer days in our neighborhood kiddie pool. He is an absolute social butterfly following the pool staff around and talking to mommies and their babies.





His swim classes end this week and he is applying his face in the water techniques very well in recreational swimming environments. They include: splashing people who don't want to be splashed, standing under the water spray in the middle of the pool area and laying on his back in the shallowest of water. We take our hats off to the swim teachers at our local rec department. Beijing here we come!

Good Eats

*This recipe has been Peanut Approved. He LOVES this as a snack or even as a quick and tasty breakfast. (The Head Nuts do too!) Yummy!!! Since dried fruits can get pricey pretty quickly, we recently purchased a brand new food dehydrator from Craigslist (for $8) which will allow us to buy fresh fruits and dehydrate our own 'til our hearts content...

-Gotta Have Granola-

4 c. Oats (NOT quick cook or instant)

1 1/2 c. Whole Almonds (shelled but skin on)

1/2 c. Flax Seeds

1/2 c. Lt Brown Sugar (we use Splenda brown sugar)

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/4 c. Canola Oil

1/4 c. Honey

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 c. Dried Cranberries*

1 c. Dried Apricots* (cut in halves or quarters)

1/2 c. Dried Banana Slices*

*(substitute dried fruits of your choosing)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Mix oats, almonds, flax seed, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. In a saucepan warm the oil and honey. Wisk in the vanilla extract. Pour the honey, oil and vanilla mixture over the oat mixture and mix well. I find a spatula works best. Spread granola out on a sheet pan and bake for 40 minutes (stirring half way through). Cool and break up any clumps. Mix in dried fruits (I actually add the fruit before it goes in the oven, but sometimes the apricots can get a little brown). Store in airtight container. Yields 9 cups.

Opa!

This is the Peanut stuffing his face full of sticky, sweet Honey Puffs at Greek Fest...

This is a random guy sporting what the Peanut's daddy describes as the world's longest Mullet, 'business in the front and party in the back' (he was so impressed he had to get a pic)...

This was the safer looking of the carnival death traps that we reluctantly agreed to let the Peanut ride after many minutes of tears and pleading. After proudly handing the carny his ticket and finally getting on the ride that he just HAD to have a turn on, he spent the whole 60 seconds of the $3 adventure yelling, "Get me outta here!"...

This is the Peanut and his daddy, safely reunited and all smiles once again. It's so great to be 4!