Counting is fun!

My precious little boy is learning to count and I just had to share :)

Updates

Major apologies for the time lapse between blogs. I've been so busy and blogging hasn't been the first thing on my mind!

Jack is becoming such a little boy, running faster, talking more and such a little delight :) This morning he asked me for some "boobies" (hopefully you can all see the humor in this and not the offense!) I was taken aback at first...and then when he pulled my hand to the fridge I realized he wanted BLUEBERRIES! I had a good laugh :) We'll have to work on that one.

Another funny talking incident...We had a lot of puffy, white snow a week or so ago. Jack looked out the front door and yelled with a lot of excitement "Lellows!" He thought all the snow was marshmallows, which he loves :)

He spent his first night away from mommy and daddy last week too! Unfortunately it was because Rob and I were both completely out of it with the flu. But I'm happy to report all is better now and even happier to say Jack did wonderful and had so much fun at Grandma and Papa's he didn't want to come home.

I've been so busy working for Chanel again this season. I'm in the middle of working 9 days in a row right now. After Christmas, most of my work with Chanel slows down majorly and I get time to breathe again :) It's definitely fun and I'm thankful for the flexibility it offers.

I think most everyone reading this knows this by now, I also launched my own website last month: www.juliestrating.com I've received great feedback and also booked some really exciting events for early next year.

And in other news, the sock animal business My Amalies that I run with my friend Amanda could soon be coming to an end if there are no changes to a bill that was recently passed by Congress. In a nutshell, the new law (the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act [CPSIA]) will require all children's products (intended for those younger than 12) to be tested for lead and phthalates. It also requires each component to be labeled individually providing the manufacturing date and stating that it complys with the mandated testing. My initial reaction to this was "Excellent! We need more accountability with our children's items especially with all the toy scares in the last year." Except I realize now many, many small businesses that cannot afford this mandated testing will be affected negatively: be forced out of business. You can read more about this at: www.handmadetoyalliance.org

I think that's the bulk of updates I have for you now. (I'll put pictures in the next post!) I can't believe Christmas is one week from today! Jack and I are headed out to buy our last two gifts today and then we'll be all set.

Enjoy your day and Merry Christmas everyone (in case I don't update again before then :)

"I lub eww!"

Jack's latest...

• He loves to dust the house...with baby wipes???

• He much prefers showers over baths all of a sudden.

• He loves to "read" books to us (it's rather funny.)

• He's a little obsessed with Curious George and talks about "Dirge" (George) often.

• His newest word, as of this morning, is "raintint" (raisins). And he will gladly go help himself to a little box of raintint from the pantry cupboard.

• He tries to put diapers on his stuffed animals. And cleans them with baby wipes also.

• He can *almost* jump. He's been "jumping" for a couple months (squat down, and spring up quickly with his arms up), but his feet never actually leave the ground :)

• The truck/car/tractor/anything-on-wheels phase I don't think is just a phase anymore. It's just part of being a boy I'm convinced.

• He's learning his colors! He's pretty good at identifying blue, green and yellow now.

• His vocabulary is right around 70 words now...(I only know that number as I was making a list for his baby book the other day)

• He learned to say "I love you" and it melts my heart :) See the video below...

"Beet, peeze!" and costume party :)

Jack loves to play in the sand at the beach, a place he learned to love this past summer. As of late though, he will randomly start talking about the "beet!, beet!...peeze!" (translated: beach...please). The other day we were outside playing and Jack RUNS around the side of the house to the backyard as quick as he can! Then he goes straight for the neighbors yard. I'm just watching him, scratching my head wondering why??? They have a little swing set to play on but Jack hasn't shown much of an interest in that. Then it dawned on me. Just beyond the swing set is....the "BEET!" A sandbox. I couldn't help but start laughing when he started yelling "beet, mama! beet mama!" as he started digging in the cold sand. My sweet, sweet boy :)

Running as fast as he can...

The beet! The beet! (if you look close it's just past the little swing set.)
Later on, he found some "crunchy" leaves.

And he brought them to me so we could crunch them together. It was fun :)

Last night we had our annual GR Baby costume party at Chuck E Cheese's! Jack had a lot of fun :) And not surprisingly, we had a huge turn out once again (roughly 40-50 of us???) Here are a few photos (Amanda and Tricia, I'm borrowing some of yours!)

Jack and Addie, he kept giving her hugs...

...and kisses.

A group shot...the lighting is awful in there, so I don't think anyone really got a "good" shot. Anyway, here are most of the moms and kids. The dads are all taking the pictures :)

By the way, Jack was a dinosaur...a slightly unhappy one...



When he was staring into the case, mesmerized by all the goodies, he kept saying "Woooooow!" over and over in a really soft voice. It was really too cute :)

Seeing orange...

Almost a month of no blogging...oops.

There's so much orange around, I love it! It is after all my favorite color. If you ask my mother she may even recall a time during my childhood when I refused to eat anything that wasn't orange. (True story. Though it didn't last longer than a week at most.)

Anyway, with fall in the air Jack and I have been going outdoors a lot. One of our favorite things to do is "crunch" the leaves (they turn a lovely rusty orange shade when they're perfectly crunchable). Whenever we see these leaves on the sidewalks, we walk all over them (ok, it looks more like a little dance) until they don't crunch anymore. Then Jack announces "all done!" And we look for another one :) Seriously fun times with a 1 1/2 year old.

In other orange news, we went to the pumpkin patch tonight! We took the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. At this point Jack was more interested in the tractor that towed the hay ride than the pumpkins or the hay ride itself. After we picked out the perfect pumpkins we headed back for homemade cider and donuts (which are beyond delicious.) And then Jack found great happiness in a couple of the kittens roaming the farm...

The hay ride

The tractor...of course.
Beautiful day!
Jack announces enthusiastically "APPLE!" And I shake my head and say "No sweetie, it's a bitter pumpkin!" Too late. But too cute!
One of the cats that caught his attention...he was SO happy to hold it all by himself!And the video...(it's about 2 min. FYI)

For more orange cuteness...take a look at this!! I ordered Jack's winter gear and it arrived today. I can't decide if he looks more like an astronaut or a convict or a little orange Eskimo. The coat however will be going back b/c Jack's noggin is really too big for the opening in the pullover style (we'll get a "regular" zip up coat instead...but still orange!) Anyway, I at least had to snap a couple pictures...even though he wasn't very happy :) (He kept saying "Mommy, no, no, no furry!")


And last bit of orange news...I bought a new pair of shoes for myself :) You guessed it...they are orange! (And while slightly ugly, unbelievably comfortable...)

Mackinac Island...(the first half)

We made it home today from Mackinac Island. We had a FANTASTIC time! What a beautiful place to visit in the early fall. It's not too crowded and the weather's not too hot (or cold!) There are way too many photos for one blog...so here's the first round. I'll try and get the rest of them up soon with another blog.

First, a picture from last week that I just love. Jack and his "og." My friend Carrie got this for him before he was even born and now it gets carried around with him everywhere :)
On the way up north, we met up with Rob's parents who were just coming back from the island. Perfect timing to meet them for lunch :)
The ferry! It was windy, but not too chilly so we decided to ride on the top for the best view. And Jack loved it :)

We headed to Fort Mackinac the first day. Wow, it's been a long time since I've been there, but the walk is just as high/steep as I remember...
...but what a beautiful view from the top.




Having fun in the children's area in the fort.

And getting into things we probably weren't supposed to.
A canon! (But I think the bird nearby was more interesting at that moment.)Chasing the geese with daddy on Mission Point

Mission Point Resort
Walking the streets downtownAnd at the not surprisingly vacant harbor

The horse outside of our bed&breakfast...Jack didn't want any help holding on.
See! I'm a big boy.But I guess I'll take a picture with you too, mom.
Up at daddy's level

Lunch on the water...it was a BEAUTIFUL day.We found a playground!
Wee!
Hmmm...what's up here? The top was nowhere in sight.Beautiful and well worth the 20 min. climb.

...and the rest to come in a later blog!