Birthday Party Crash

Rocco has attended Tyler's birthday party the last two years. Every year he has a great time and it always seems to end the same way. You can see this by the pictures below.

This last year was Rocco's first time playing pin the tail on the donkey. (although it was pin the number on the race car) He listened to the instructions with the other kids and while the oldest cousin was about to follow-up the instructions with a live demo, Rocco decided he already knew what he was supposed to do and went and put his number 9 right, I mean right where he was supposed to. You couldn't get any closer to bulls-eye than that.

He also did the jumpy house without Mom for the first time as well as the pinata. Although he didn't break the candy bank, he did eat his first piece of a mimi chocolate candy bar. The verdict is in, he likes it. Lots of firsts at this birthday party. Although the ending I have seen before.

Feb 2010 and Feb 2011

No Rainy Day Blues Here

Can I say rain without driving anyone crazy? Boy have we had some really good rain lately. After it let up a little bit the other day, we went outside to explore. First thing Rocco did was put his head under a stream of water coming down from the roof. Nothing wrong with getting a little wet as long as you can come in and warm up under a warm blanket when you are done.

Family Recipe - BBQ Spareribs

One of my favorite dinners that my mom made was Spareribs. We usually had them on Sundays. I can't believe I have never made them before. So I called my Mom for the recipe. She was traveling and said my sister Stacie makes them and to ask her for the recipe. When I called she looked the recipe up in the book that my sister Stephanie made for the both of us. This book was given to my sister Stephanie from my Aunt Lynn when she married back in the early 90's. Stephanie was kind and loving enough to us copies. This book is so big and filled with so many recipes, I asked her what section was she looking at, so we could look at it together.

Long story short, the frozen meat that Jared took out that I thought was the spareribs was baby back ribs. So I made them anyways with the sauce that I already made. I baked them for just under three hours at 225. I had left over corn bread from the night before and steamed some broccoli for the greens. I always forget to take the picture before I start eating, so some of the broccoli is missing. I swear, there was more on the plate when I started. Rocco liked the dinner and I think the corn bread was his favorite. Next time, Spareribs!

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup catsup

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 tsp salt

2 garlic gloves, minced

2 tsp powered ginger

Train Surgery

One of Rocco favorite things to play with is his trains. We recently got a new train from the Thomas collection who's name is Salty. We thought he didn't work at first, but after a little inspection and Rocco figuring out the magic combination of clicking the button twice; once for taking and twice for moving, he was good to play with the other trains.

Of course Rocco was in heaven during the inspection since he loves to help Daddy take things apart. He runs to go get the screw driver, helps with taking things apart and loves when it involves batteries.

Sweet Potato In What?

I have been on a sweet potato click lately. I love making baked sweet potato fries with coconut oil and a few spices. YUMMY! So I made these the other night and thought, gosh I don't want Rocco to get sick of these, how can I switch this up. I had fresh corn tortillas and marinated flank steak in the oven and ended up making a special quesadilla filled with flank steak, sweet potatoes and cheese. They turned out so good. Rocco did his usual turn and look at me with a "It's Good."

The sweet potato: This food is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6 and Potassium, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Manganese.

What's In Your Blender?

We were watching some TV before going to bed and an infomercial came on about a baby food making system. It had a steamer and a blender. I was talking about the items to Rocco and he said, blender? I said yes, it is making baby food. You used to eat baby food. Later that night while I was laying with him to go to sleep, he started talking as soon as his head hit the bed. "The blender goes vuvuvuvu and baby food" then he says, "mommies blender - ice cream."

Ok, so we make milk shakes once in a while.

Fishing Lessons With Dad

Jared went fishing with his Uncle Markus last weekend. What happens before you can eat the fish you catch? You have to clean them. Rocco watched on while holding his Great Papa's fishing pole. This pole has no real or hook, it just one of his favorite things to carry around the yard, or stick in a tree, or scrap along the car, or almost jab you in the eye if you aren't watching.

Rocco watched Dad and I got to watch Rocco.