The last jar of pickles

Woe, Woe is me. How could it be that I am down to my last jar of homemade bread and butter pickles? I am truly saddened to report it. I felt so lucky this summer that a friend of mine grew cucumbers and had so many that she wanted to share. We got together and made my favorite bread and butter pickles. The ones that my Grandmother used to make. These pickles are not only exceedingly delicious (better than any nasty ones they sell at the store), but they hold a lot of sentimental value for me. Every time I eat them I am transported back in time to the weekly visits to my Grandma's (mom's mom) for lunch. We lived only 5 minutes away from her and she always had these on hand to put on a toasted cheese sandwich or hotdog (I only ate those at her house with these pickles). Many great childhood memories are tied to these pickles. I guess there is only one remedy now that I have the recipe....make some more.

Yesterday we had a visit from our Parents as Teachers educator. She brought a mirror for Wesley to look in. He was so cute with it I just had to snap a picture of him looking into it. He sat there like this for 3-4 minutes. It looked like he wanted to get in the mirror and get himself. Once the camera came out, Amberly just had to be in every picture. Reili was just as excited for Miss Andrea to visit. She has had to stay home from school since yesterday because of a fever and a sore throat. The only reason she isn't in the pictures is that she was asleep on the couch at the time.

Already 8 Months!

Time flies! Our Wesley is already 8 months old as of yesterday, January 9. I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of him. You can see that he is a very happy baby, especially around Daddy. They are buddies.

Wesley is really getting places. He does it the same way his sisters always did, the army crawl. I guess right now it is more of a scoot. Luckily he isn't too fast yet. He also gets up and rocks on his hands and knees and then pushes up onto his feet and hands. In honor of the day, he got to try green peas for the first time (instead of cake). Yum! He seemed to think they were pretty good. We just can't kiss his fat cheeks enough.

Just in time for his 8 month day he cut his two bottom teeth. They are still pretty tiny, but maybe you can catch a glimpse in this picture. Amberly just had to get in on the picture action too.


Of course, once Wesley got a picture with Daddy, then everyone needed their picture with Daddy. Reili (who is almost 6) shed some tears when she thought she might not get her picture with him. Daddy is pretty popular at our house these days. So if you want a picture with Tom, get in line.

Happy New Year

Happy 2008 everyone! We had a very low key new year's eve this year. We all went to bed before midnight. Wes woke up around 11:30 to eat, but I think I was already zonked out again by midnight. Something about having young children (and especially a baby who doesn't sleep through the night) just makes staying up late so much less appealing. I need all the sleep I can get. This week has been one of less sleep because of Wesley. He cut his first tooth and most likely the other will come soon. I am hoping that is the cause of his insomnia because it will be nice to have it over. I have come down with some kind of sinus cold or something because of it all and I'm looking forward to that going away too.

The highlight of our new year so far was a visit from Gamma and PopPop Schell. The girls delighted over their grandparents and begged PopPop to play tickle monster with them all the time. Gamma read them stories and drew pictures with them and told them what to draw when they kept asking. We also had a nice dinner date with them to a Chinese Restaurant and Tom's mom and I were able to get in a few games of Skip-Bo. I only remembered to get out the camera last night and this morning before we left for church, so here is the proof of the visit. We love you, Gamma and PopPop!