...just for Grandma!

...as my Grandma pointed out, it has been TOO long since the last blog post!

Well, here you see the reason why... my Momma was busy finishing the kitchen and the entryway.


The kitchen is done, although the dining room still has one set of windows and the back door to the laundry room that are black. Those will have to wait until Spring, because my Momma will be busy making Christmas presents and illustrating the book that is due next Febuary.


Look at how nice it looks with the white trim! And my Momma had fun making the brushed-copper effect with orange paint and copper metallic paint. The front door and closet doors are still black.... they too will have to wait until next Spring.

So, enough excuses, here are some pictures of ME! I like climbing trees now, and both in our yard and in the park there are some leaning big-leaf maples that are just right for walking up the trunk. I usually still need help getting down... either that, or I take the REALLY FAST way down, involuntarily.

My Momma had to dress up for the youth group Halloween-alternative party... so she became a tiger!


Dad gets up early with me on Saturday mornings, and my Momma gets to sleep in. Here Dad is snoozing while I'm watching a show on the computer.


We finally have some new family pictures. Our friends Todd and Sheryll came to visit us, and they took a few pictures of us while we were at the park.

Dad really hates posing for pictures, but this one turned out rather nice, didn't it?

...and just for Grandma, here are a few close-ups of me.

...no Momma, I don't feel like smiling at the camera.

...my Momma got me to smile for this picture by telling me to say "Hi Grampa!"

And finally: the blue puppy costume! My Momma asked me what I wanted to be for Halloween, and after a moment of contemplation, I said: "A puppy! A blue one!" ...I was rather surprised when my Momma said, "Sure, that sounds like a good idea!" She went to Goodwill and bought a blue fleece men's sweatshirt. She cut the arms short, and took in the sides and the arms, and made the hood smaller. Then she used the extra fabric to make ears and a tail, and used some blue scrap cloth to add paw prints, spots, and a soft padded tummy. I love my costume SO much that I have been wearing it off and on ever since it was finished.

This is what it looks like from the back, and when I crawl on all 4s, the tail wags!

(belated) Our trip to the cabin

A few weeks ago my Dad went on a canoe trip with some of the men from our church. While he was gone, my Momma, Erin (Holden's Mom), Holden and I went to Erin's family's cabin up in the mountains. We had SO much fun!


The cabin was in the middle of the forest. There were trees all around, a fire pit, lots of critters flying/scuttering, and best of all, there was some wonderful DIRT next to the house. Generations of little boys had played this dirt into JUST the RIGHT consistency!


We played and we played. Between the sun screen and bug spray our Mommas covered us in, and the little bit of sweat boys always manage to produce, we got INCREDIBLY dirty. And BOY did we LOVE it!


One of the days we hiked to a natural soda spring. I think Holden and I both expected something else...


...the water was fizzy and bitter... NOT fizzy and sweet!


When we got back to the cabin, we were greeted by a surprize: we had left a bag of peanuts out on the table. It USED to be full. By the time we got back, the chip munks/ ground squirrels/ squirrels had nearly emptied the bag, and had strewn peanut shells ALL over the site! Those little guys were BOLD too, even when we got back and sat down, they still kept coming to get more nuts to stuff in their cheeks.


We had such a fun time running around in the forest.


And we had a ton of fun throwing rocks into the water, and fishing in the river too. Some of the time we tried doing both at once.


What a fun weekend this was!!!!

Quotes

In the morning, while getting dressed: "Momma, today I can't wear a shirt. My muscles grew SOOOO so big last night that no shirt will fit over them!"

On the way home from walking the dog: "Momma, my tummy is growling. It wants peach. It is NOT saying 'please'!"

And here a few pictures:


Holden and I are playing in my pool in the shade on the back deck. This helped us stay cool 2 weeks ago, when it stayed above 106 degrees for more than a week!














This is what happens when you are a boy on a bike ride who sees a mole hill. It HAD to be investigated. In detail. With my hands.

More pictures to follow soon from our fun trip to Erin's family's cabin!

It's a box! It's a boat! It's a bed!

My big buddy Andy got himself a table saw, and he gave me the cool cool box! This is the coolest box I've ever gotten to play in, because it is SO big, my DAD fits into it with me!

My Momma cut a nice round hole into the side, so that I can climb in and out by myself.


My Dad and I are playing ship.


We are sailing to Somalia, and have guns to protect us from the pirates.

Those aren't baseball bats, those are oars. And of course I brought my fishing tackle, to catch food fish, and if we get lonely, some friend-fish and maybe friend-turtles.

Watch out all you pirates! Watch out you big mean sharks!


And now the box turned into a bed, and I am going to sleep in it tonight. Good night!

Birthdays, check-ups, and other updates

My Momma has been VERY tardy in updating my blog! Much has happened in the last month, here are the cliff-notes:
~ we drove to Pullman and to Spokane for a wedding and to visit Gramma and Grampa
~ I turned 3 on June 25th!
~ I had my 3-year check-up at the doctor's, and was pronounced healthy, smart, and thriving. I am 38.5 inches tall and weigh 41 lbs.

Instead of writing tons and tons, here are some pictures my Momma and Dad took these last 4 weeks.


Lincoln has grown to be a well-mannered moose of a dog. We like going to the dog park together, and Lincoln protects me by wedging himself in between other dogs and me (he never barks or snarls). Lincoln likes to run around, playing with the other dogs, chasing a ball etc. but he always comes over to check on me, and he comes right away if another person's dog comes too close to me.

After setting off some fireworks at our house, we went over to Dawn and Andy's new house on July 4th. Andy put together quite the show! I liked watching, but I really didn't like how loud it was... in between I sat in the car and watched from there. And it was good to know that my Dad was keeping me safe.


I think Dawn and my Momma had more fun with the sparklers than I did!

Dawn's friend Sophie took these cool action shots, by the way.

In the end I enjoyed holding a sparkler on the "no fire" end. I stayed up until midnight on Independence day!


I didn't get to celebrate my birthday with my friends until July, since everyone was gone or busy on alternating weekends. My Momma baked me a car-shaped cake, and we had it with punch and ice cream at our new picnic table out on our freshly finished deck.


My friends Holden and Ezra and Tori (and baby Elijah) and their parents came to celebrate with me.


We had a lot of fun together, especially when we went to the park to play some run-around games.

Last week my Momma taught part of the pre-school program of our church's vacation Bible school. I got to go there with Holden, and we had a ton of fun! By noon we were completely exhausted (and somewhat over-stimulated). So when I wasn't busy napping at home, I spent a lot of time reading my books and drawing... quiet, non-wild activities.


Oh! My Momma and Dad got me a cool cool chalk board for my birthday! I love drawing, and this way I don't have to ask for paper and pens all the time, I can just draw whenever I want to. I like drawing little bubble-people (a roundish shape with eyes, mouth, hair, arms and legs), as well as cars, guns, and lots of "M"s.
Speaking of drawing, I got into my first BIG mischief the other day. My Momma noticed a destinct silence coming from the living room and decided to check on me. She found me, with green hands, sitting on a now-green carpet (formerly creme), next to a somewhat green antique cabinet and somewhat green wall. Oh. And don't forget the now green (formerly yellow) balloon I was painting on... with my Momma's good acryllic artist paint! I had managed to empty most of the tube, mostly on the carpet. The paint came off of the wall, cabinet, and my hands just fine. It took half an hour of intense scrubbing, lots of water and towels, and some good carpet cleaner to get the 3 ft x 3 ft stain down from a dark blue-green to a somewhat greenish tint. Looks like we'll be getting an area rug for that part of the livingroom floor! I'm happy to announce that my Momma (surprisingly) didn't get very mad at me. I had to sit on the couch and watch her and Rochelle clean my mess, but aside from that, I got away with a stern talking about "respecting Momma's art supplies" and "asking before you paint or draw with anything except chalk"... she's unlikely to admit it, but I think my Momma thought the whole ordeal was actually kind of funny.

Here I am, fast asleep after the Sunday picnic at our church. I ran and played and sang and climbed and bounced and bounced and bounced and climbed there. Once we got home I was so sleepy I could hardly keep my eyes open during my story.

Oh yeah. And I am starting to get freckles.






Bye all!

Paint...

***Just for the record, "butt" is NOT a word my Momma lets me use. Not sure where I picked it up. So. That said, here we go:

Mark: "Momma, when somebody is driving and doesn't use their blinker, they are paint in the butt!"

Momma: "What???!"

Mark: "Well, Momma, *sigh* you know, if they not use their blinker, they have car ax-dident, and get paint in their butt. Then the doctor have to take the paint back out."

There we go. A 2-year-old's interpretation of an everyday saying.

...so you want a picture of me?

...WELL, you get 10!


This one (the last one my Momma took) is the best. But just for fun my Momma is including the other 9 that lead up to this one!












PS: What you don't see is that in ALL of these my Momma is holding me down with her foot, tickling my tummy with her toes as she waves that darn camera in my face.

Introducing "Miss Bunny, Mrs Mouse & Me"

The book my Momma illustrated is all done being printed! We received the first 10 copies via FedEx today.

Here it is, folks. It will still be a few weeks before it is available on Amazon.

This is Miss Bunny.

This is Mrs. Mouse.

And this is Mr. Man. To see more of the illustrations, you'll just have to read the book.

PS: there WILL be pictures of me (Mark) in the next blog post, I promise!

How to make custom Cookie cutters out of a tin can

We made custom cookie cutters today!

This is a great project that uses recycled materials.
Since it was a ton of fun, here are directions so you can, too.
You will need:

- A tin can (we like the large peach cans, since they don't stink like tuna cans do, and they are nice and big...)
- A small hack saw or other very sharp saw
- A small, rough rock (or a file)
- Needle nose plyers
- A pen
- an idea, or a picture of something you want to shape a cookie cutter after



Step 1: Open the can; take out the contents (eat them); open the bottom, too; wash the can; peel off the label.

Step 2: Use the saw to cut the can all the way 'round, using the first groove of the ridged part of the can as a guide. You might as well cut off the other end, too, while you're at it. Each can will yield two cookie cutters. Each cutter will have one dull/rounded edge (from the end) and one sharp edge (where you just cut). The little saw you see in the picture worked just fine. Make sure you clean up the metal dust, as it can scratch your countertop, and hurts if it gets in your eye. Be careful: the freshly cut edge is VERY sharp!



Step 3: Use a small, rough stone to file down the jagged edges of the sharp side of your cutter (this is a lot easier BEFORE you shape it). Be careful not to cut yourself in the process. Remember, you are not trying to SHARPEN the edge, but rather, to dull it a little.



Step 4: Choose an image of which you want to shape the outline with the cookie cutter. Trace the edge, if you want to. I actually just pull it up on the computer screen, then close one eye, and hold the soon-to-be-cookie-cutter in front of it, and start shaping it. It takes a little bit of practise to get the size right.
I read that some people use a string to measure around the traced edge, and resize the image until the circumference of the edge of the image is the same as the circumference of the can. I prefer trial and error, but hey. Whichever you prefer. By request, I made two chinchilla-cookie cutters today.



Step 5: Using the needle nose plyers, carefully bend the can to the shape you want. You may want to start with simple shapes such as hearts, flowers, or cars... making a chinchilla, like we did, takes a little bit of practise.
Tip: first bend the "dull" edge, then the "sharp" edge, since the dull edge is harder to bend. Avoid sharp turns, since this sometimes breaks the dull edge. Also, if you make too small appendages in your shape, the cookie will often break there. Remember, you don't have to make the shape too detailed, since it is, afterall, a cookie cutter... you can always paint more detail in with frosting after baking!



Step 6: Wash the finished cookie cutter in warm soapy water.

Step 7: Make cookies! Paint them, and enjoy! If you are giving the cookie cutters as a gift, you might consider either baking a few "sample" cookies to include with the cutter, or to trace the outline of the cutter as seen here, and then coloring it in. That way the recipient can see how you envisioned the different shapes to "belong"...





Feel free to contact me with questions, or if you would like me to make you a custom cookie cutter... that can definitely be negotiated!