Rockin' Out

Bailey's Christmas Tap

18 Month Old Jaemus

Jaemus Lee is 18 months with a new hair cut! Brandon took the clippers to the boy for a solid haircut. We have been keeping it long and stylish but it was too much upkeep. His hair grows ridiculously fast and is always in his eyes, and the thickness of it always make his head sweat. He is all animal.

Before

After

Cha-chi or Chach-man, as he is often called by Bailey, and now us, is full of personality and joy. He is easily entertained and quick to laugh and smile. The whole 'listening to your parents' thing is ignored by him with these sneaky little smiles, quick running, and laughing squeals. Seriously, really difficult to scold or punish such a sweet boy. He understand really well and is able to communicate pretty clearly, so we know this is all an act. I am often saying in a stern tone, "Jaemus Lee, please get down from there, " or "please don't touch that." And then comes the sneaky little ways of his and it melts my heart. I have to keep from laughing to follow through. He is good about cleaning up toys, putting his sippy cups in the sink, and throwing trash away- but sometimes not just trash. =)

He continues to be a squirrelly sleeper. On a normal night he rises early about 6:15a and on a more difficult night he will wake up in the middle of the night and then still rise at 6am! He just gave me a week of this. The best he slept was when we were having our driveway re-done and they began jack-hammering super early and he would sleep until like 7:30am!! I need a jack-hammer noise machine.

He has a nice bedtime routine though. He loves bedtime and is often the one taking me to his room and begins pushing the rocking chair. He snuggles with me while taking a bottle on the rocking chair then points to his crib. I place him down and he goes "mmm..mmm" as I crab his taggie blankie, and dog that plays "rock-a-bye baby" with glowing cheeks. Then he points to his airplane mobile and I push it so it turns for him. He falls asleep making little talking noises and playing his doggie toy over and over next to his face. Sweet boy.

Jaemus' personal preferences are clear. He loves Barney, guitars, balloons, balls, trash trucks, fire trucks, cats and dogs, meat, climbing everything, and wrestling me. He calls a guitar "aduur." He has a toy one that he carries around the house and the second Brandon gets home he is desperately yelling "aduur" and pointing to Brandon's guitar until he plays it. He plays the piano and drums often, but his guitar is nearly always by his side.

This is his new camera smile. A nice big scrunched-up face.

I get at least an hour of Jaemus time a day in the mornings. Bailey being a night owl and a late morning waker, and Jaemus my early to bed, early to rise guy. He is my alarm clock and our mornings consist of pj's, stories, coffee, and a shared banana. We read the same books currently every morning. He enjoys, "Puppy's Count", "10 Little Lady Bugs", "Spot" books, and recently, "Frosty the Snowman" has been added in. Yes, we read about 5-6 books every morning. I have come to love my early mornings with Jaemus. On weekends we often take early walks since Brandon is home. We snuggle up, I put him in the jogger, and we enjoy the early morning smells, crisp air, the birds, and talk about all we see. And sometimes come back with a starbucks.

18 months is one of my favorite kid ages, and I think, begins the real fun. Babies are great, but something about toddlers is pure joy for me. Bailey at 3 1/2 and Jaemus at 18 mos. bring me days full of smiles, cuddles, laughter, and manageable hang-ups. I love all the family affection and watching Bailey and Jaemus play and love each other is the best sight for Brandon and I. We often say that we recognize right now is the time of our lives.

Bailey still prefers the choke-hold

Oil Man of the Year

My dad was honored this year as 'Oil Man of the Year.' The oil companies recognized my dad for all his years of hard work and his outstanding reputation. He is known for being a good friend, honest business man and his knowledge about oil production and building pumps. We are so proud of you dad and we love you so much!

Here was the bio they read about him:

"Mike was born 1-30-1956 in Bakersfield, Ca. He moved to Westminster at around age 3. Directly after graduating from Westminster High School in 1974, Mike went to work for US Steel- Oil Well Division in Long Beach; working in the pump shop, where he learned from the ground up. He then worked for Page Oil Tool as a salesman for a couple of years.

Mike, along with his partners Jim Hurd and Tom Cacek , opened Black Gold Pump & Supply on April 1, 1982. Mike had previously worked with Jim Hurd at US Steel, where Jim worked as a salesman. Mike had worked with Tom at Page Oil Tool, where Tom worked as a machinist.

Chevron had approached Jim and Mike with the idea of opening a pump shop and guaranteed all of Chevron’s business if they did."

How Jaemus Bowls

Tanaka Farms

We went to Tanaka Farms on Saturday and did their "Cook Out" tour with Rough-Fit. It was as Bailey said, "a blast!"

We brought out nephew Tank which was really fun. We enjoyed spending the morning with him. He and Bailey have a lot of fun together.

It was definitely our kind of thing. We did a walking tour of the vegetables that are currently in season and filled our own individual bags with kale, tomatoes, egg plant, onion, chard, basal, carrots, etc. None of their food is sprayed so you can taste the fruits and veggies right off the plant. The kids were popping tomatoes in their mouths and taking bites of kale. So fun to see what they will eat when they are picking it themselves.

After our bags were filled we went to a picnic area to wash our goods. We then proceeded to sort our veggies and have them cut. Then we wrapped our veggies in foil with oil and garlic salt and added tofu. Then they were cooked on big BBQs they had set up. The assortment of veggies after being cooked were delicious! We were also starving, so they tasted even better. Bailey, Tank, and Jaemus were all happily eating tofu and egg plant that I am sure was a first for them.

On the way home Jaemus crashed. Always a sign of a fun day.

We brought home a tone of leftovers and it was too much to eat all in a weekend. So, I took the cooked veggies and pureed all of them together. I froze it in little containers to use in smoothies for the kids. I made one for them by adding a banana, a peach, some frozen pineapple, blueberries and yogurt. It was super tasty. I love sneaking vegetables in my families meals.

Playing the Recorder