JAMSquared

Today is my father’s birthday. I am very much a daddy’s girl. I was looking through my pictures to find some showing the two of us. It is sad, but I didn’t find many. It’s probably because for most of my pictures, I’m the photographer. This one was taken by my sister when we had a family trip to South Padre Island last May.

My dad is also quite the shutterbug. My parents scanned a number of pictures of me when I was a baby (since I’m going to post a comparison of Jessica to her mommy and daddy soon), and there weren’t many of my Dad and I, since most of them were taken by my Dad. Doesn’t my Dad look young? He was 25 when I was born. Looking at him in this picture, I actually see a lot of my brother who is currently 26.

Here is the card I made for him. I used the Mojo Monday 124 sketch. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Unfrogettable
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Stampin’ Up Wild Wasabi, Pacific Point
Accessories: Stampin’ Up 1/4″ grosgrain ribbon Temptin Turquoise, 1/2″ striped grosgrain ribbon Wild Wasabi; Inkssentials Glossy Accents (snail shell)
Tools: colored pencils; Stampin’ Up 1 3/8″ circle and scallop circle punches; Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder

I picked up the kit for this pillow before we had decided on the bedding for Jessica’s nursery, which doesn’t have elephants. However, we’ll just pretend this is a little pygmy elephant like those found in the rainforests of Borneo. I finished the felt applique front before she was born, but I recently finished putting the zipper in the back panel, sewing the panels together and adding the blanket stitch along the edges. I think Jessica likes her pillow. What do you think?

On Wednesday, Jessica was trying her darnedest to roll from her back to her tummy.

Yesterday, she succeeded. I laid her on her activity mat for some play time and went into the kitchen to unload the dishwasher. Next time, I look at her, she’s on her tummy. And she did it 3 additional times, twice on the mat and once in her crib. Before you know it, she’ll be crawling around. She’s already pretty adept at turning herself and scooting herself.

I tried to catch her in her rolling action, but it didn’t happen and so I just have some playtime action in the following video.

I leave you with some funny faces.

This second one was a precursor to a sneeze I believe.

Surprisingly, when all the family was in town this last weekend for Jessica’s baptism, I didn’t take very many pictures. Julia got some good ones. And Kristy took a number at the baptism for me (of which I hope to post soon).

I like this picture as it looks like cousins Jessica and Aspen are holding hands. Since Aspen and her parents live here in Austin, I hope they become the best of friends and we see them holding hands a lot in the future.

This next picture is pretty funny. My brother was snapping his fingers and otherwise trying to get and keep Jessica’s attention. I don’t think Jessica knew what to think of her Uncle Jason. He can be quite silly.

At that’s it in terms of the pictures I took. I’m a little disappointed I didn’t take more, but there were a lot of people taking pictures, so maybe they’ll share.

I’ve been meaning to try out this cookie recipe for a while. Jessica’s baptism brunch/lunch was a perfect opportunity. They turned out terrific. I really liked the slightly crispy cookies (a larger cookie scoop might make them chewier), but James wasn’t the biggest fan, so I won’t be making them for just our household as it’s probably not a good idea for me to eat that many cookies.

Oatmeal Surprise Cookies

Source: Simple & Delicious Sept/Oct 2009

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate-covered raisins

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Combine the flour, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in oats and raisins.

Drop by tablespoons 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake at 350°F for 13-15 minutes (for me 10 minutes) or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: 3 dozen (I actually ended up with almost 6 dozen.)

In addition to the Orange Bundt Cake and these Oatmeal Surprise Cookies, I prepared the Ham Florentine Wreath and Melon Fruit Slush previously blogged about when I hosted a bridal shower for Julia. I also made a turkey and mozzarella bread, a fruit salad with a honey poppy seed dressing (I will tweak the dressing recipe and share later) and Paula Dean’s Mini Phyllo Cups Filled with Shrimp Salad. The shrimp salad cups were delicious, but I wish I had made more than 36 cups as I had leftover shrimp salad although it was still tasty on a roll for my lunch. My Mom helped out by bringing a Pumpkin Cranberry Bread she baked.