The Narrative of Kurt & Becky

AKA Peter’s last FIRST Holiday.

The day started early (or in my case normal time).
Here are Kurt and I rocking that “just woke up” look. And “the duckface” by Kurt. niiiice.

We allllllllll walked the 5k before the parade.

Some kids wore crazy outfits. Hey, have fun kids.

After a rest and some showers we went down to the parade. Here’s a picture of Kurt standing in a sea of bikes. The 4th in HB is like “little Holland” with all the friggin bikes.

Here’s Peter wearing his flag shorts and a big smile.

He was practicing some walking with Grandpa before making the trek to PCH to view the fireworks. Almost immediately after he was placed in the stroller he fell fast asleep.

Hey Blog Readers,

I am excited to show you the pictures and tell you the story of Peter’s first birthday party. Here it is:

It started with a HAT I made.

We chopped veggies, made dough, made sauce, baked cakes, made icing, cut fruit… we made many things in the kitchen…
Goggles and a lab coat were integral to the onion chopping process.

Kurt let Peter borrow his goggles.

I didn’t relish using the red food coloring but I only used a few drops for the icing. I think it looked sorta pretty when it’s swirling into the icing.

Frost the cake, but not all the way to the edges.

Sprinkle coconut, er, I mean cheese…

Place the toppings: blueberries for olives, bananas for mushrooms, squished up little pieces of squaw bread for sausage. This one is Peter’s cake!

While Mom and Dad were working in the kitchen Grandma and Grandpa got to play with Peter! What fun!

Place it in a pizza box.

Here is another pizza cake with strawberries for red bell peppers.(No strawberries for Peter yet.)

Here are two varieties of the other pizzas…

I also made him a number ONE! Here is Peter investigating it. (It is supposed to stand up behind him.)

Grandma Sharon brought him BALLOONS! Overjoyed!

He got a Panda named Parker from Sally, Uncle Blair and Aunt Christie… Can you tell he loves it? He loves Pandas and it was his first word!

Blowing out the P candle.

Jazzed about the whole thing! He was probably thinking, “Yes, I get to tear paper, wear a cool hat, dig in to cake and everyone is watching me! This day is rad.”

Later on we played with bubbles (a first!), looked a the rabbits in the park, and made our parachute men fly! More pictures here.

AKA Kurt’s first official Father’s Day.

Here are some pictures of the two loves of my life. Their relationship has only just begun and we are looking forward to so many fun things in life.

Let me know if you want to participate!

I added this site to my google reader way back when I was pregnant to get practical tips.

So you can imagine how excited I was to invent a HACK! So I submitted it…
Then you gotta know I was super jazzed to have it be posted!
w00t!

Check it out for yourself.

http://www.parenthacks.com/2010/06/strawberry-huller.html

Peter was born with very little hair. When it started growing in thicker and got a little longer his “bangs” looked weird. I didn’t want him to look sloppy, so I snipped it one afternoon at home. Then he finally got some good growth and the famous baby curls (most babies get these) started to form around the back and over his ears. While that is cute for a minute, he began to look like he had a mixture of mullet/girly locks. This would not do.

I called the kids salon for an appointment and we took him in for his first professional haircut.

It was a super cute place and he did pretty well.

Here he is in his little car, motoring. This is at the very beginning. Note the hair over his ears.

This is the nice lady who go to do the job. She was a NINJA. He barely even saw her. She was fast and quiet. …Not her first rodeo.

Then with the smock on amidst the snipping, still motoring.

The look of apprehension set in with the clippers over his ears. Then, he lost it, and he cried until we did our parental distraction techniques.

She put gel in it. That was a first. He looks much more neat and clean with his new haircut.

My Grandpa Hettenvan used to love the song:

“Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?
Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey
A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you? ”

(Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid will eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?)

Peter, being a tiny person loves to grab stuff and eat it. He is particularly fond of Kleenex, paper towels, paper napkins, the paper on the doctors table, and writing paper. He likes to rip it into pieces for the loud noise value and then he will eventually try to eat it. I know it isn’t great for him to eat it because its not food and its a safety risk (choking). I let him PLAY sometimes while I watch with a finger sweep ready. How else is supposed to learn things? When he starts eating it – I call him my little goat kid. Then I am reminded of my dear Grandpa. And this is how my mind works. (Yes, women are spaghetti.)

- Cheating celebrities/politicians should not be a news item. I don’t really care about Tiger’s 45th cheater lady. Or even about John Edward’s lovechild. Or if it must be mentioned do just that, mention it. We don’t need a panel to hash out the gory details. There are far greater items of importance on which we should focus our attention. For example, there are several people who need help in Haiti and people in Nashville who are by many account being ignored by the media.
- President Obama may not be your favorite guy, but he is the President. Respect that and give him a chance. In my opinion, he is working toward the goal of helping humans. His methods/laws/ideas may not be yours, but he is President and you are not. As Christians, we are familiar with this “God is God and I am not.” Let’s share the goal, helping humans and loving one another.
- Peter and I usually listen to music when we eat. It keeps him happy. I’ll just turn on iTunes to whatever and we’ll enjoy music. As his personal DJ, I can see him react differently to different genres of music. I think he prefers 90′s rock to ABBA. But he prefers ABBA to Tupac. …I won’t get into all that now.
- I cleaned and organized the house today and it looks great. I am very good at organizing things. I love to do it. I get to do it at work all the time with my new post. I used to reorganize my co-workers desk at first without permission but then later she loved it and granted me permission, hahah.
- We bought “The Happiest Millionaire” on DVD. I watched it with Peter the other day. Tonight I am watching it with Kurt. Did you see it? Well, did you know it is a true story? It is.
- I love the weekends. I absolutely love my family. We get to hang out and do whatever we wish.
- The weather here on the beaches of Southern California is amazing. That goes without saying. It has been very beautiful lately and we have taken full advantage of that by getting out everyday and doing something.

*because that’s all there was.