The Backyardigans!!!

There is a cartoon that Jacob likes to watch, on Nickelodean, called "The Backyardigans". They are animals that play, sing, etc. in the backyard! It's kind of cute. Our last "Backyardigans" were coyotes...and I don't think I'd want to go out and lure them into the yard...... We had some Canadian Geese in the yard next door and John lured them over with some Rye bread. We had a lot of fun feeding them! I love having them in our yard!!!

Enjoying the Spring Weather!

Yesterday the weather was so nice that Jacob and I took a walk. After Justin got home from school, we all went out into the greenbelt and had some fun walking around and playing in the water!


The frozen pond; from Jacob and my walk.

Some "rapids" behind our house. Justin really wanted to go and check it all out...he had a blast and so did we!

Jacob had fun getting his feet wet!

Justin had fun getting himself wet too! He was sending sticks "down the river".

They have planted some Jeffrey Pines out in the area around the pond.

My crazy boys!!!

It was such a nice evening, and Justin wanted to keep playing out in the water making dams and stuff, so we sat on the deck (reminded me of Capitola) and let Shyla out for the first time!

We let Jacob out in his Elmo walker and he was having so much fun! The area was obviously much longer and wider than the house and he was having a blast!

Book Report

Justin had an oral book report today. He was to dress up as one of the characters and tell you about the story, from a characters point of view. The book was "Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk" and he chose the leprechaun hat; which had a lot of relevance to the story. Justin said all of the kids wanted his hat! John did the top and the brim, but I did the "body" of the hat, "belt" and buckle!

Ta dah!

Crawling and Talking!

Today while John was making his hot sauce, Jacob and I were having some fun on the floor!

John's Hot Sauce

John spent a few hours today finishing up his hot sauce! After it sits (being shaken often) during the week, it's ready to be put through the food mill, bottled, capped and labeled! Woo hoo! John made 2 new types this time as well that came out yummy!

This was one of the new sauces. He even changes the peppers and ingredients on the front to reflect the different sauces!

Poor John's arm is about to fall off after spinning the food mill around for hours....

The food mill then is full of the pepper seeds that John has to wash out in between each "pressing".

Wiping off the bottles before labeling them.

Capping them.

Labeling them.

Say Hot Sauce!!!

Lots of sauce!

Here he is putting the little plastic things over the caps, so he can seal them closed.

Using the heat gun to seal the plastic over the caps.

Mmmm! I love chips and salsa!

John is munching on some chips and garlic salsa when he decided to let Jacob try some! He can't eat the chips, but he eats the (not hot) salsa off them! Yummy!

Sunsets, Wild Animals and Mustangs.

This past week John started a new batch of his famous hot sauce! (We are now taking orders...LOL). I had intended to take pictures of the process, but we got into a groove and I forgot all about the pictures! I will get pictures of John during the "week long shaking process" and then later as he puts it in the food mill and bottles it!


Here are the peppers and some of the spices!

I caught a good glimpse of the sunset the other evening. Gorgeous! This is from our sliding glass window, out to the backyard area.

Now I'm used to raccoons and deer in the back yard...but coyotes????? This one was right in the back; there was a nother closer to the pond. I'm sure they were eyeballing the Canadian Geese that were sitting on the ice on the pond, but they don't dare go out there so they were safe!

In the middle of that night, around 3am or so, we heard them howling and making that charming noise they make and there was one in our yard and one in the neighbors yard.

John got the garage all cleaned and made all these great shelves for the walls. He had been trying to get this all taken care of so he could bring over the fishing/camping gear (done) and bring the Mustang. He got the Mustang in today! Yippee!!!

Here are the guys (John and Bob) getting it into the garage!

Under the tires is something that looks like a miniature furniture dolly. It has 4 pivoting wheels and they just had to jack the car up and get them under the tires. Then they were able to push the Mustang into the back of the garage! John even made a customized shelf for the Subaru's "Space Case"!

Then he got Spidey in....

And then the Subey! They all fit in there quite well! I'm just thankful I have a railroad tie (which you can't see) under the left tire so I can't keep backing up into anything!

Jacob has kind of waved on and off for a while now, but now he's in full swing! He waves at EVERYTHING! Especially the ceiling fan. That is his favorite! I tried to get some video of him waving (not the best video) but he was getting tired and wasn't too cooperative. He also tried steak that same night for dinner! He loved it!

Grandma Linda found this toy for Jacob at one of the thrift stores she goes to; she has the best luck finding this stuff! Jacob is loving playing with; especially the fact he can stand while he plays with it! The "trombone" slider is one of his favorite sounds!