Christopher's Cooking Adventures Take 1 and 2

Take 1 - Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich  

Colleen and I have been working on getting Christopher to eat better by involving him in the process of preparing the food that he eats.  So far this has been met with a lot of success.  These pictures were of Christopher making his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He loved it.

I think he liked it

Take 2 - Peanut Butter Cookies
Our next project was baking cookies.  I found a very easy, 4-ingredient, peanut butter cookie recipe and decided to try it with Christopher tonight.  It is a Paula Dean recipe, so I subbed her calling for the greased pan with cooking spray and the sugar with Splenda.  The only ingredients called for were 1 c. peanut butter, 1 c. sugar (Splenda), 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and 1 large egg.  I measured out and separated all the ingredients and let him pour and mix them.  He had a lot of fun, although he did require a lot of reminders and prompts not to lick the spoon....at least until we were done.  It was a blast.  Maybe next time we'll get away from the peanut butter staple we've apparently got going here!

ND Game & Gifts from Uncle Pat

Aunt Chris' doing...missed her calling 

The kids and some other kid

"I GOT ME A BASKETBALL FOR MY HEAD!!!"

I had absolutely nothing to do with this....this was Jacqueline's doing!

ok...well, I did allow her to do it and take the picture...so maybe I did have something to do with it

Cuddle-Time for Daddy and the Matt-Man.

Notre Dame Game/ Colleen's Birthday

Per expectations, the entire family (sans a few) met up at a centralized location for this week's Notre Dame game (actually three weeks ago to be honest, but that's neither here nor there).  We were also blessed with the opportunity to celebrate my wonderful wife's birthday.  Here are some pictures taken from the day. 

By the way, Notre Dame 

LOST!

Such a Help

Christopher has been a very big help to us around the house of late.  He's been more than willing and, dare I say, excited to help us clean up and tidy up any chance he gets.   I must admit that I love this and am soaking in as much of this as I can now as this will likely not be the case for much longer! 

Someone's happy that he didn't have to do any cleaning.  I suppose not being able to walk has its advantages.

 I suppose I neglected to mention during one of my later posts (Karen's trip out here and our galavanting about) that my Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot camera took a stumble down the eerie stairs at the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum.  Someone hadn't secured the wristband to his wrist...wonder who that was...and the camera went tumbling down the stairs...about 3/4 way down the first flight.  I can tell you that particular camera had taken Dante's tour through hell and back with me as its owner and operator and has survived the test of time swimmingly...until this last fatal plunge.  This house of Usher, so to speak, is where the Sony Cybershot took its final worthwhile stand...only to fail miserably on Christopher's first day of school after the first shot (the one by the car outside).  The remaining pictures were taken with our Kodak Zi8...wrist band appropriately secured this time...and my cell phone.  

As Colleen and I have had a terrible yen for a new camera that was better quality in every way (not difficult to do given the rapid flow of technology) we finally ventured out and bought one -- A Nikon P500.  Here are some of the first pictures taken with the camera....I can tell you that we're both very satisfied, and, most importantly, the straps are securely attached to the camera and have been used on every photo op to date.  

May we remember the Sony Cybershot, who's tour of duty was met often with great trials and greater tribulations...being washed and dried on one occasion, dropped hundreds of times (more than likely...probably more), dropped down stairs on 2 separate occasions.  It persevered and came through to meet the challenge again and again.   Thank you, Sony Cybershot, for giving it your all.  You'll be retired with dignity and honor.

Christopher's First Day of Preschool

 My oldest boy just became a little bit more of a man today...first day of preschool...he was very excited

 getting ready for school.....talking to Nana Marianne on the phone...dressed...in the car...

 posing for a pic with his little brother...both happy as larks...one because he's going to school, the other because he's going to school!

 At school...next to last picture was him throwing a fit because he wanted to go into the room, but it wasn't time yet.  Terrible shot at the end...that was him turning around to tell us bye...even before we told him we were leaving.  I guess he was ready! 

In his classroom and ready to go!