Safety First

Don't forget to use the safety holder when you use a mandoline slicer....

I know I sure won't forget!

Needless to say, it's been a long day. Also...thumbs are convenient things to have when you are cooking. While slicing up an eggplant today, I took off a decent chunk of my thumb. After much consideration, it was decided that I should probably go to the emergency room. The wonderful people upstairs took Jack while Tony headed home from work. I was at the hospital for 3 1/2 hours. Now I have an updated tetanus shot and an awesome bandage. After the hospital, I put together the meal for all 3 families that I cook for using 3 hands (my one and Tony's 2). Then we frantically picked up the kitchen just in time for the ladies to come to our house for cooking club. It was my turn to teach. What a day. I don't look or smell very nice, but mission accomplished. And lesson learned. Always properly use the safety on mandoline slicers. 

The End.

Friend Birthday Party

We were able to go to Jack's friend's birthday party today. The weather was beautiful and there were tons of Jacko sized kids.

There was also this epic climbing tree. He is definitely my little monkey.  

And they had a bouncy castle. I am pretty sure it was Jack's first bouncy castle, and he thought it was amazing. They also had a great playground, and perfect toddler food of fruits and pbj's cut into beach shapes. They even made a watermelon look like a turtle. All very coo and very fun. 

And the only reason I was able to get these pictures is because the rest of the crowd was eating cake and Jack had no time for cake. Just endless playing.

Big Boy Now

We have been hard at work here in Virginia. Jack has been potty training and transferring over to a toddler bed. I had extra time on Tuesday and thought, "what should we do today" and I decided on potty training. So far it has gone very well. Only one accident. We give Jack a jellybean every time he goes pee in the potty and a chocolate every time he goes poo in the potty. He is a smart little stinker, so he only goes a tiny bit at a time, and then accepts his award. Then 15 minutes later we get another few drops of pee and another jellybean reward. He's definitely a smart little guy. 

Jack has felt pretty cool sleeping in his big boy bed and he has already slept there 3 nights. For some reason, much to our delight, he thinks he can't climb out of the bed, so once we put him there he stays. Even when he wakes up he calls to us to come and get him. Unfortunately, he fell out of the bed last night at about 5 in the morning. We keep a foam cushion on the ground for this purpose, and the bed isn't very high up, but he was still pretty sad. Luckily, he went right back to sleep after telling me about his big ouch. 

My parents bought Jack this awesome book of cars for his birthday. We finally got around to doing the sticker activity. He gets to pick, in order, his favorite 50 cars. He did it all by himself, and then we hung it on the wall in the hallway at his level so he can practice all the car names. 

For anyone that wants to know, his top 5 were Koenigsegg CCX, Jeep Wrangler, Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Ram SRT-10 and Chevrolet Corvette.

Grandpa's Birthday

We did Bowling and Pizza for Grandpa's birthday. It was a blast. Everyone had fun. 

This one will be a strike for sure. 

Joseph was just upset that he had to pause for the picture. He was a very happy, very talented bowler. He even helped Amanda get a spare once that seemed impossible because the pins were split. 

Jack loved pushing the ball too. 

Here are three of the five 2012 boys. 

And here is a picture of the gang waiting for pizza. 

Eat Mor Chickin and 4 Generations

7/11 was not only free slurpie day. It was also dress-like-a-cow-and-get-free-food day. So we did. We each got a full meal at chick-fil-a. Fries, drink, sandwich. The whole shebang. 

We were also able to go down and see Grandma Tia. That is 4 generations sitting on the couch. 

Bear Lake with Lewis'

I guess I didn't take many pictures at Bear Lake. Hopefully someone else did. We had an absolute blast. My birthday was perfect. I was able to Jetski, go target shooting with my sister, go get dessert pretzels with my brother, and go to a hilarious musical at the Pickleville Playhouse. (For anyone in the area. Who Shot Juanito Bandito is definitely worth going to. It is just plain awesome). 

My first shot while target shooting went straight through the middle of this cheez it box. The best part about it is that the box was what I was actually aiming for. 

(Awesome brother in law that let us use his gun).

(Awesome sister who also let us use her gun. But it was smaller and louder, so we only tried it once). 

Roring Reunion

We went to a family reunion up at Wolf Creek and were quite surprised. When we arrived at night we could see the stars! It's been a while.....We were also surprised because it was downright chilly. We forgot that Utah actually gets cold at night. 

Jack is one of 15 cousins! The older kids all made minion shirts. Aren't they adorable?

There is the entire Roring clan. It's quite the feat to get us all together because we are so spread out. 

They had a fun pool at Wolf Creek and Jack became even more comfortable in the water. 

The kids really liked watching Brad play video games. This was after 2 of them stopped watching. He could barely see the screen. 

We made twinkie Minions.

And Hair Roller Wars. 

And an awesome outdoor game where you had to hit down your opponents blocks from far away. 

And don't forget the giant bubbles. No reunion is complete without giant bubbles :) 

Utah Trip

We headed out for Utah a couple weeks ago and had a blast. Jack was an angel on both planes there, and both planes back. Everyone loved him (because he is so obviously awesome). I must admit it was extremely nice for him to have his own seat. 

Family Pictures

While we were at the family reunion with the Rorings we took family pictures.