Trying out some online learning fun!

Snapshots in Stripes

Sushi Dining Lunch Date

We had a wonderfully animated lunch date with our very good friend, Tara, and her daughter Thea. Tara's partner Andy is the manager of one of my favorite sushi restaurants, Hapa Sushi and we decided to try out having lunch there with our toddlers. Actually, Freedom and Thea, who is also 19 months, did very well for the beginning of the lunch, but of course within their expected maxed out attention span of maybe 15 mins., they were ready to get down and explore, screech, run around, be their adorable animated, sneaky lil selves and have fun in Andy's restaurant. And goodness are those two tots quick, active and determined. Once they were off, trying to eat our sushi became more of a race than an enjoyment for the mommies, but fun was had by all. Thea ate a few pieces of sushi, such a very good eater, and Freedom tried eel and octopus, ha, ha, just kidding, not so much, but nothing like his regular PB&J to fill up his picky eatin' belly. We took the kiddos to the mall's indoor playground for some after lunch playtime. And then, our friends, who often spoil us with their hospitality and love, had us over to their house for a bit of RnR, with glasses of wine for mommies & more playdate time for the tot duo. They gave Freedom a very cool, hip, adorable Paul Frank skull & crossbones little shirt for a 'just because' gift. They have such great taste! We love it! We are blessed & grateful for friends like Tara, Andy & Thea.

Gap Casting Call / Baby & Kid Model Search Contest

The Gap & Baby Gap company holds a nationwide casting call each year and it's that time again. If you think your sweet child deserves to be the face of Baby Gap or Gap Kids, here is your chance to enter their photo in the nationwide search and contest.

To cast your vote for my son's photo as fan favorite, click here, Vote for Freedom!

Bridging The Generation Gap

There is a 50 year gap between Freedom & his Daddy, quite an accomplishment & quite the adventure it will be to watch these two bridge their generations and grow through the father/son bond they build. We just celebrated Daddy's 50 something birthday with dinner out to a favorite Italian restaurant of ours, Pasquini's, at their new south location. Freedom greatly enjoys hanging with his dada. One of his favorite things to do is to either be outside with his daddy or in the basement with him. He has brought us much laughter and entertainment with his begging to go outside antics. He often runs and grabs the first pair of shoes he can find, and brings them to us to put on, if his daddy even flinches towards the door and he perceives he might have an opportunity to wiggle his way out to the garage or yard alongside his dad. I enjoy very much the idea of him learning from and observing his father's work ethic and garage activity, because I know it will benefit him greatly in the future to pick up on many of the habits, skills and gestures that his carpenter dad has!

Photo Contest 'Sweetest Baby'

If you happen to find this sweet photo to be a top runner for a 'Sweetest Baby' photo competition, then I urge you to support us and vote. Registration to http://www.competico.com/ is free and we have entered Freedom's photo into a few of their photo contests, where he has the chance to win cash prizes. We're still giving it a try, but the competitions are difficult. His rank in the contest has flucuated from like postion 15 up to 37th and it seems strange, because he's getting votes. Anyway, we have won a few dollars for the photos we entered, but then there is an entry fee to join the contests, so that's what I've used to cover the entry fee. We're just having fun trying out various contests, it's a bit of a hobby I guess, something Mama B enjoys doing.

Freedom's Alligator Boots

I got Freedom some really fun alligator rain boots or wellies, but they are still too big for his feet. That hasn't kept him from wearing them all around the house and outside too. He just loves these boots and it's a joy to watch him run to his closet to get them out almost every morning. I have them sitting in a special place, set aside for when they do fit, and he is very good at putting them right back where they go, when he is done dressing up his feet in them. Boys and their boots!

Earth's Best Most Memorable Feeding Contest Video Clip of Freedom

This is the video clip of Freedom that we have entered into the Earth's Best baby eating contest. They are picking 25 top memorable feeding videos and babies to be featured on their site & to each win $200 in their products. I have quite a few minutes of him trying to feed himself this jar of sweet potato cinnamon, but I narrowed it down to about a minute of footage for the contest. He was being pretty cute and insisting on feeding himself, and then when I turned away for a moment and back again, he had started to drink the rest of the baby food, trying very hard to get the last drop!