Category: Family news/Updates

Tonight I made an awesome dinner- baked chicken, garlic angel hair pasta, and fresh green beans from the garden.   Ajax, however, only played with the chicken and ate some of the pasta.   It seems like sometimes he’ll eat a ton and then other times, not so much.  Oh well.  To make up for the small bit he ate for dinner we of course walked up to the Diary Queen.

Ajax got his own vanilla ice cream cone (his first) and let me tell  you- he was thrilled.  At first I held it for him and then he was like, Oh I got this mom.   He ate a good portion of it and started nibbling on the cone before he dropped it in the dirt.   When I picked it up, I told him it was- all done, and threw it away, and he didn’t really care (probably because he was already hyped up on the sugar).   He did several circles around the yard before Dave wrangled him into the house and into the bath.

I received this picture today from Kristy who was watching Ajax.  Apparently Ali (Kristy’s oldest) loves to push Ajax around in this baby doll stroller.  Although he looks a little squished, he absolutely loves it and adores Ali!  I think I need to start paying her for her babysitting assistance, lol.

Today I was home with the nino.  Since it was a Tuesday I was able to take him to his baby class which was of course a ton of fun.  My cousin Wendy and her two kids were also there as they are in from England.   Ajax’s favorite part of class is music time.  All the kids and adults sit in a circle and sing nursery rhymes and Ajax sings right along, what a cutie.

After class I had friends over who are currently visiting from California.  Although I’ve known them for … goodness, I guess I’ve known them for about ten years now, this was their first time back to Michigan since Ajax was born.   Ajax actually took to them right away and was excited to show them his toys.

Overall, a very nice day at home.  Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures because I completely neglected my camera (I’ve been kind of bad about that lately).  So here’s some pics from the “archive.”

Ajax thought it was quite humorous to carry my purse around the house.  I kept asking him, so are we going shopping?  And he would nod his head, yes yes were are going shopping.  It was too cute.  Dave was a little concerned that his son was carrying a purse around, but I assured him that that was completely normal for kids.

I also wanted to show off our recent harvest from our garden!  We’re getting tons of tomatoes and zucchini… which makes me wonder.  What am I going to do with all this zucchini?  Ajax isn’t totally sold on the veggie so I’m going to have to be creative.  If you have any suggestions I’m all ears.

Although I’m still new to the whole freezer cooking thing I’ve learned a secret and just had to share!  The other day when we were grilling I took one whole sweet onions, peeled the outer layer away, wrapped it in tin foil and place a large dollop of butter with some veggie seasoning salt inside.  I wrapped it up and threw it on the grill till it was almost translucent.   Well the onion didn’t turn out perfect for dinner, but I ended up saving it anyways.

Recently I took out some precooked chicken and pork that I had in the freezer ; while reheating I cut up some of the above mentioned onion and added it to the meat.  It was incredible!  It added such a great flavor and moistness!  I think I’m going to keep one of these cooked onions on standby now that I’m jumping into this whole freezer cooking thing. lol.

Today I was off work again (I was actually only in the office one day this week, lol) so Ajax and I headed out to my parent’s house in Brooklyn.  My mother-in-law, Dara, and her sister-in-law, Monie, and daughter, Emily, were at my parent’s house too, as Emily loves horses.  I also had a cousin in from Colorado and he was out with his three kids as well.  It was a full house.

Basically we spent the entire day down at the barn – playing with horses and buckets of water; chasing cats and petting dogs.  I didn’t even bother trying to get Ajax down for a nap because he was so wound up.  We had a great day and were home by 4:30, just in time to meet the husband.

I didn’t get many pictures as I ran up to the house and then left my camera up there, but here’s what I got- my dad and Ajax cutting the grass.  Ajax loves to ride on things and we had a hard time getting him off the tractor.

Dave turned around for two seconds and Ajax found the cookies (Annie’s graham crackers) in the bottom cabinet.  For some reason he’s never really played with them so I had forgotten I’d put them there.  Dave said he ate two and then turned the box upside down and stomped on the rest.  Of course Dave had time to take a picture after laughing, but not fast enough to save the cookies from little man’s feet.

Michigan is officially under a heat wave advisory.  At 7 am the weather channel was reporting record highs- I believe it was in the 80s.

I had today off and was therefore able to take Ajax to his baby class in Allen Park.  Ajax was great and I was so happy to take him.  He played well and was content the entire time.  The class was composed of all boys (all about Ajax’s age) and of course there were a few pushing matches, but nothing serious.   After class we went to my grandpa Nader’s house with my aunt Terri for lunch.  After lunch we stopped by a small fruit market, where I purchased my first mango, and then headed home for nap time.

We tried to play a little outside after Ajax got up from his afternoon nap, but we only lasted a total of 30 minutes.  It was just too hot to be outside.   As I’ve commented numerous times- what odd weather.

I’m slowly getting on board with this freezer cooking thing.  Mentally I was signed up months ago, but the actual physical execution of the thing is coming along more slowly.  Today the weather has been a bit weird, it will go from sun to dark clouds and rain in minutes and the tornado siren has been going on and off, along with the weather man excitedly pointing out funnel spottings (some a little too close for comfort).  What a crazy summer.

Since we’ve been stuck indoors I’ve kept busy and made calzones.  Dave and Ajax played and watched UP while I made the dough and during one of Ajax’s naps I made the actual calzone.  We now have almost two dozen in the freezer!  I also just learned that you can actually freeze smoothies, so I picked up some plastic freezer cups and we now have four smoothies ready to go!  I have pork shoulder going now in the slow cooker for pulled pork sandwichs and that too will go into the freezer.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE my chest freezer?  I do.

Ajax has been pretty bummed about being stuck in the house, but I did buy him some finger paints and we may bust them out after his nap… I’ll let you know how that goes, lol.

Ajax is all about animals right now.  At my parent’s farm there are horses, cats, and dogs.  Ajax kept taking my hand and making me walk him toward the horses.   He just wanted to be held and pet the horses.   His favorite horse seems to be Frannie, and he kept wanting to feed her apples and grass.  He would also point at the barn cats and say, “kitty.”  Luckily he couldn’t actually catch any of them since they were too fast for him (they have claws and would not appreciate being grabbed).