"Hilarious Outtakes" Photo Challenge

I wasn't going to participate in this weeks challenge, because I'm feeling quite miserably sick, but the allure was too great to resist. Especially this week, because it's about hilarious outtakes! And I love funny photos!

"You looking at me, PUNK?"

I tried to get a picture of Deklan in his crib, and this is what my camera got. :P

"WRAR!"

All I wanted was a nice picture of Deklan for his 4 month birthday, but no sirree!

Our first trip outside after that first real snowstorm..... I think he was trying to catch a snowflake on his tongue.

Alrighty. Go to I Heart Faces to see more (funnier) photos, or to play along!

I'm sick.

And hugely disappointed.

Because I was going to host my family's New Years party this year.

And now I'm not.

Because I'm sick.

It sucks.

I'm going to go pout and drink hot lemon tea.

My baby boy

has CRAZY eyelashes.

They put mine, even with great big globs of shiny mascara, to shame.

Seriously.

It's so not fair.

My story in photos - Holiday Traditions

This week at I Heart Faces, it is a special non-judged week where we share a bunch of photos and stories about the traditions we have for the holidays! It's to get to know one another better, and really, it's to give Angie and Amy a break because this time of year is crazy busy!

Tyler and I have only been married for two years, and this is our first Christmas with a child in the house, so we've just started making our own traditions together.

But number 1 is definitely our Christmas tree! It doesn't feel like Christmas in our house until the tree is up. I could do without anything else, but not the tree. Oh, and it HAS to be real! I don't think I'll ever get a fake tree, no matter how loudly the obsessive-compulsive in me screams "It would be easier than getting a real tree that you have to water, that sheds all over the place, that is sticky and might have a creature living in it!!" It just wouldn't be the same.

number 2 would be decorations... I love decorating the house.

My nativity scene, which usually goes on top of the piano....

... my piggy ornament, which bounces around and this year has come to rest on the tree of all places! This piggy ornament is special to me because Tyler and I met where we worked, on a pig farm.

.... George, who was given to me by Tyler the year before we were married, and who has spent every Christmas since then with us. He's about 2 feet tall and usually hangs out by the door.

Every year I decorate my banister, either with lights, garland, or this year a pretty ribbon!

number 3 is baked goodies! Can't have Christmas without treats... it's just wrong.

Gingerbread men (otherwise known as cinnamonbread men in my house, since I didn't have any ginger)...

...Peanut butter balls...

...*aaaagggghhhlllhhhhhh* (that's a "homer simpson" drool, in case you didn't know...)

Although I don't have any pictures of it, every year Tyler makes breakfast on Christmas Day. That's a tradition that I've adopted from my family; every year as far back as I can remember my Dad and the boys made breakfast Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Enjoy your holidays!

Mah loves

I love him,

and I love him.

Crazy, mad, fierce, protective kinda love, too. Like, I kill you if you mess with my babies. Momma Bear syndrome.... definitely in effect.

That's all for today. Just loving the men in my life.

Gingerbread Mens!

Last week I used the Canadian Living recipe for gluten free gingerbread, and boy howdy it turned out amazing! I was all out of ginger, though, so I've been calling mine cinnamonbread... because I only had cinnamon. Ha.

It's still really, really good though! Here's the source of the recipe, but I've copied & pasted it here in my post, too.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/gluten_free_gingerbread_cookies.php


Gluten-free Gingerbread

1/2 cup (125 mL) shortening (or butter, I used butter!), softened
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup (75 mL) fancy molasses
1/4 cup (50 mL) cooking or blackstrap molasses
3-1/4 cups (800 mL) gluten-free all-purpose baking flour (I used equal portions of brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch, and 1/4 cup potato starch).
1 tsp (5 mL) ground ginger (If you have it.. otherwise, be like me and just use more cinnamon! Yay!)
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each baking soda and salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each ground cloves and cinnamon (Hmm, I didn't have any cloves, either. More cinnamon! Yay!)
Decorator icing

Preparation:

In large bowl, beat shortening with sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and fancy and cooking molasses. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, salt, cloves and cinnamon; stir into molasses mixture in 2 additions, mixing well and blending with hands if necessary.

Divide dough in half; shape into discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Between waxed paper, roll out each half of dough to 1/4-inch (5 mm) thickness. Peel off top paper. Using 3-inch (8 cm) cookie cutter, cut into shapes. Slide dough and paper onto rimless baking sheets; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Bake in 325°F (160°C) oven until firm to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool. Decorate with Decorator Icing.

You can wrap this stuff in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for a day, that's what I did. Because I was baking other things the same day I made the dough, and I didn't get around to it. Ha.

Just look at all the pretty men!

The cookies are crisp and crunchy, but not rock hard. They're almost the texture of an animal cracker, but not as dusty. Really good!

Awww, they're so cute! Do you see the gingerbread lady and the gingerbread baby? And the one I totally screwed up?

It was a lot of fun to decorate them, and easier than I expected!

I used Royal Icing to decorate, I found a recipe for it on the interwebs, but I didn't save the link. D'oh.

I'm going to make more of them before Christmas, since my husband has eaten nearly all of them! He said he didn't like gingerbread, but he really likes cinnamonbread apparently!

Naptime

Is great.

It's quiet....

.. and peaceful.

It reminds me that my son is still so little, a sweet baby that needs to be held and cuddled and loved. When he's awake, he's ready to do things and play and learn and grow, but when he sleeps, I'm transported back to August 16th, when I held my sleeping baby for the first time. It was magic.

Deklan is 4 months old today!

You talking to me, punk?

I tried to take his 4 month birthday pictures, but he was not very happy about it. He didn't even appreciate Mr. Bear being beside him!

You there! Yes, you, the blond one! Stop shooting! I mean it!

He is 4 months old! Craziness! He loves to stand and even tries to jump, and we really have to hang on to him or he'll just fly right out of our arms!

Wrar!

When Daddy got home, he played with Deklan for a while, and then Mommy got him to go down for a nap. When he woke up, he was in a much better mood, ready for pictures! Yay!

My handsome little man!

A smile! Yay!

Making friends with Mr. Bear

He's not so bad, after all.

I can't believe my baby is 4 months old already. It seems a little bit crazy! He's a very intense little guy, always on the go! He fights his naps as long as possible before finally crashing, because he'd rather play!

He's full of fire and spunk! I really do think he's going to be a redhead, his hair looks red most of the time, especially when light hits it.

Bottom line is, he's amazing, and we love him. I'm looking forward to watching him grow and change, and I'm going to enjoy every day I have with him.

“Pets Only!” Photo Challenge

This past May I was forced to leave work early due to a blown sacroiliac joint. When my hip started to feel better, I began walking again, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

One day I was outside, when I noticed this little black thing hopping across my yard. I walked up to it, and saw that it was a baby starling!

I thought it had fallen out of a nest, but when I looked up "how to feed baby starlings" on google, I learned that maturing starlings actually get pushed out of their nest before they have learned to fly. They have to hop around on the ground for up to a week before they master the art of flying, and rejoin their watching parents.

I went back outside, and saw that mommy starling was in the tree above him, watching me and scolding.

So, instead of rescuing a "birdie in distress", I just took pictures and left him alone.

Not exactly a pet, but one of my favourite animal pictures nonetheless!

This week at I Heart Faces, it's all about pets! Or other animals.... so go there to see more pictures, or to play along!

Little D

Is a football fan.

He would not look at the camera during the game, at all. When a commercial came, he would look around, but if those players were on that field, his gaze was stuck there like a magnet to a fridge.

I wish I could hold an ounce of that attention span... dern Patriots.

Giggles!

My baby is so ridiculously cute!

I mean, seriously.

He thinks my face is funny. I can accept that, as long as he keeps giving me these insanely cute giggles and smiles!

My baby makes me laugh

..probably because I am a cruel, twisted, sadistic person.

I torture him mercilessly.

Then I take pictures, so in the future I can scar his psyche some more. Perhaps at his graduation, or wedding, or first date I will bring these pictures out and display them proudly. With a straight face, of course.

"Good one, Mom. I'll just type that up on my invisible typewriter. Hmm hm hm hmmm..."

He's such a good baby. He lets me put things on his head, laugh loudly and take pictures, all without a single peep of protest.

Although even if he did protest, that probably wouldn't stop me.

Oh, Christmas Tree

I finally got my Christmas tree up! Tuesday afternoon, Tyler was feeling good enough to take a trip to town, and in town we stopped and got a tree. We set it up Tuesday night, and I decorated it the next day!

Deklan was fascinated by the lights.

He sat in his swing and watched me decorate, and didn't complain once!

The finished tree! Well, mostly finished. I did a few more things to it, but didn't take a picture. Will have to do that.....

Tyler thought I did a good job, and Deklan still seems to like all the pretty lights!

I love having my tree up, it feels like now I'm really ready for Christmas!

"Sweet Dreams" I ♥ Faces Challenge

For this week's I Heart Faces challenge, I went back through my pictures and found this one of Deklan when he was only three weeks old.

He slept 80% of the time (or something like that) but I didn't get a whole lot of pictures of him sleeping, I was too focused on trying to get pictures of him with his eyes open!

My little sleepyhead

Go to I ♥ Faces to see more dozing, napping, snoozing, siesta-ing, sleeping and perhaps snoring people pictures.