Jacob's favorite toy

I found this old toy at an antique/thrift store around the corner from our house. It has the greatest stuff, and one of the sections is a children's section. I don't know who made this toy or where it came from, but it was made for a baby Jacob's age. The little "mushroom flowers" wiggle and he can grab them and bite them, there is a bell that tinkles when it moves, and there is a rope so he can pull it once he starts becoming mobile.

Amendment: This is now Jacob's EX-favorite toy :(
Nate washed it and the paint is peeling. I can't quite bring myself to throw it away, but Jacob definitely can't come near it anymore. So sad. He really loved it.

The Hills behind us

I love the fact that there are hills rising up behind our city. In LA county, there are so many cities upon cities that nature is hard to come by. However, we have these hills within walking distance from our house. Ironically, the reason we have them is because they used to belong to an oil company which owned most of these hills. They drilled for oil here in the 20s and 30s, but that meant the land was not developed for houses. Then the city was able to buy the land when the oil was no longer being drilled here. As a result, we have these wonderful trails to hike and bike. This year they are especially beautiful thanks to all of the rain.

Vintage Golden Books

On a happier note, I found these at the same book sale all pretty much unmarked in great condition for 25 cents each. I'm going to be busy reading to Jacob. I'd better stop collecting.

Bittersweet find

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these books. They are from the My Book House series, a vintage collection of old nursery rhymes, stories, fairy tales and children's classics. They were compiled and illustrated in the 20s, so there are wonderful vintage colorplates throughout the books. I saw them once at an estate sale--all 6 volumes, and asked the price. The lady at the checkout area told me they were $15 for the set. Of course I had to buy them! I had already paid for them and was walking out the door when another woman looked at my pile of beautiful books and asked the cashier how much I had paid for them. When she found out I had bought them for $15, she told me that they were $15 per book. I sort of felt that was unfair, I had already paid for them, and she wanted to change the price, but I had no choice, I had to give them back.

Now for the sad story of these in the above picture... There is a library book sale store near our house in Uptown Whittier. They have insanely good prices for children's books and any other kind of book. (25 cents a book or $2-3 a box) There are better quality and older books in different sections, so I was browsing through the older books and I saw the set of these books!!! All six were there! I pulled 2 off the shelf and was looking through them, so excited about my find when out of the corner of my eye, a hand came in and SNAKED 2 of the books off the shelf!!!! I could NOT believe it! I quickly grabbed the other 2 books and stood there leafing through them while the other woman stood there leafing through her 2 books. I didn't know if I should confront her and ask to have the whole set since I saw them first, but they WERE still on the shelf when she got them. Finally, she walked away and I saw them go with my heart breaking. Oh well, I got 4 of them, and I'll find those missing ones someday.

Poor baby

Jacob woke up with a fever on Easter Sunday morning, and he has been pretty miserable all week. Here he is on Sunday with a cool, damp towel on his head trying to cool off. We found out today that he has an ear infection, and he needs some antibiotics. Unfortunately, he was pretty much a little zombie the whole week while my parents were visiting.

Jacob is in the house!

We had a mini family reunion on Sunday with the Warners. Jacob got to hang out with his older cousin Jackson. Jackson let Jacob borrow his baseball cap. I love him in the hat! He usually doesn't like wearing hats, but he loved this one. He looks like he's ready to rap with his dad.

Dogzz in the hood

I made these for Jacob and his cousin. They are from the book Softies. There are all kinds of fun stuffed projects in there.

Lowfat Banana Bread

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar (divided 1/2 and 1/4)
3 very ripe bananas or 2 large (about 1 1/4 lb)
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 T unsalted butter softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped (opt)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1/4 cup of sugar. In separate bowl mix bananas, yogurt and vanilla extract, set aside.

2. Beat remaining 1/2 cup sugar and butter on med. high until light and fluffy (3-5 min). Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.

3. Reduce mixer speed to low. Beat in half of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of banana mixture. Add half the remaining flour, followed by 1/3 of banana mixture. Repeat process once more.

4. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan (greased or sprayed) and sprinkle walnuts on top. Bake until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few crumbs attached (about 55 minutes). Rotate pan about halfway through baking. Cool bread in pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Makes one 9 inch loaf. Calories 240. Cholesterol 50 mg. Fat 4.5 g. Sat. Fat 3 g
Sorry there's no picture. The yogurt makes this bread look very nice, unfortunately it got attacked before I could get a picture of it and is now only a shell of its former beauty and magnificence. I will have to make it again to post a picture worthy of it.

Crafting corners

My owl family

This is where it all happens-- the sewing corner. Too bad it's so blurry. Now I have to work on my shutterfinger.

Jacob loves to read

Getting an early start on the ABCs.

These were made for Valentine's Day using scraps of fabric.

Some belts made from old ties.

Jacob loves to eat...rice cereal, carrots, pears and apples.