Lookin back at the good times: Part 2

Dinner Wed. night. Co-op inspired. Good for the body and soul.

Carrots Glazed with Balsamic Vinegar & Butter

Eggs in a Nest with Swiss Chard
one of our quick and yummy favorites.

A healthy, quiet dinner for three. Eggs in a Nest, Fingerling potatos with butter and salt, Balsamic Carrots, and Sweet Potatoe Corn Muffins. "This meal is brought to you by the Green Village Co-op."

Pitting cherries for Zane to devour and I was even able to enjoy some with yogurt!

A nice hot cup of tea while curled up on the couch with my honey and the babe all tucked in.

I finished making a re-usable Swifer cover and some dish sponges. They are a fantastic idea from our great friend Sara. They work REALLY well and you can just throw them in the washer and dryer! Great for the earth and great for us! In fact, Paul and I both agree that these sponges work better than the ones I was buying at the store. And really, let's be honest. Those sponges that sit by your sink just breed some heavy bacteria. These you can throw in the wash every couple of days. I definitly plan on making more soon so we have more in rotation.

Lookin' back at the good times: Part 1

(The beginning of the re-do! We will see how this goes. After consulting with my amigo we came up with the idea that I was trying to include too many videos in one blog entry. So, I am going to break this down and see if I can share all these fun movies because I know that is what folks are lovin'. I am trying so bear with me. They may not all get up tonight so I will try and finish in the morning.)

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After a long and stressful week for various reasons, I wanted to sit back and look through some video and pics and enjoy and appriciate all of the good and fun things about my week.

We ate good and healthy meals which is always something that make me VERY happy and of course makes me feel good. Played with friends. Blew bubbles in our new pool. Cooked with my boy. Had a fantastic family day at breakfast and the beach. Finished fun household crochet projects. Had dinner with fun new friends. And Zane is TALKING!!

Nothing like a couple of CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY kids to make you smile!


Wed. Morning: Making Sweet Potato Corn Muffins



Zane really liked having his own cutting board and I gave him a little cheese spreader to cut up a banana. He was concentrating so hard!

Spikey hair and fantastic shopping.

Zane out to eat... he decided the food was better off in his hair. I personally think it does look much better!






A couple weekends ago, Beth and I took a trip sans kiddos to the Ikea they just recently oped in Sunrise, FL. I was an Ikea virgin up until now. Boy was that place FUN!! I went to search for a comforter for Zane's bed and a little kid size table and chairs. I of course came back with so much more but found everything I was looking for. One day, the pics of the table and chairs will be posted but it needs to be stained or painted first.

Zane all cuddled up in his SUPER COMFY new comforter!!! It is SO cute and looks SO good in his room. He also likes to point to all the animals and wait for you to say what they are and he loves to make a monkey sound when he points to the monkey!

This is why we do it...

A few pictures as to why I still love doing the organic produce co-op with our friends...

Two weeks ago we got some snap peas and Zane loved it when I opened them up for him and he could eat the peas out of them.

Today we got blueberries which is a BIG favorite for both of the boys. I think they went through about 2 pints of blueberries in one day!

Oh the goods... butter lettuce, beets, turnips, carrots, fingerling potatoes, grape tomatoes, red navel oranges, fuji apples, and blueberries... YUM!

... and I just have to fire up the oven and bake all my big and beautiful beets! They were huge and the greens were beautiful and washed and wrapped up and put in the frig.

All cut up and in the frig for quick use for salads and anything else that crosses my path!

My Blues Men

This was my dinnertime serranade and I just had to share immediatly with all... they are so darn cool! (And yes, that is Zane playing the harmonica! It is just so cute!)

Bon Appetit

On Wednesday night Zane was so very sleepy but we really try and keep him up until between 8:30 and 9pm so that he sleeps at least until 7am. So we typically end the day with lots of playing with puzzles, books, his kitchen, or stacking blocks to wind down his day. On this particular night I was vegging out on the couch reading my new, and oh so wonderful, Bon Appetit magazine (thank you so much Varrell for a wonderful gift!). He was getting so sleepy and he came up to me and wanted up on the couch with me. He got up their and snuggled in right next to me and just lay their while I read the magazine to him. I read to him a section highlighting a some of the wonderful winter fruits and vegetables and how to store them. Sounds fascinating, right? Well, that is the stuff I love and the article really presented it all beautifully with these great drawings of the vegetables.

Anyway, Paul took this video of us and about 60 seconds after he ended the video, Zane was fast asleep snuggled up next to me on the couch. Oh, it was so sweet. I carried him off to bed and tucked him in. He was so quiet about it and so cute!

Also, Paul is so sweet at the end of the video. Listen to his sweet words. I do love him so.

So, thank you Varrell for the wonderful bedtime reading material! Maybe Zane will be a wonderful chef one day!

What a lovely day...

Today Zane and I stopped by the beach after taking care of some errands. It was such a beautiful day to go. He is still sleeping soundly after playing hard at the beach!

Videos from November

Some lost videos that I just came across...

These were taken back in November but I just thought they were so cute that I have to share.


Zane loves to arm wrestle! He is always testing his strength around here. He is quite the muscle boy!



A couple videos of a "Boy and His Dog." Like I said, these are a couple months old, which in toddler time is huge, but I just thought they were so cute!
And the Ruffy we speak of is a stuffed dog his Great-Uncle Mark got him for his birthday. He loves the thing and any time you ask him "where is Ruffy?", he will run all over the house until he finds him! He will then tackle him with big hugs! Sometimes, if you are lucky, he will bring him to you!

Dylan Doggy I


Dylan Doggy II


Ruffy in the Tee-Pee

The Man Flu

My lovely and hilarious Aunt Margaret sent this in an email to me and I just laughed and laughed. I just felt the need to share it today. No offense men, but sometimes this is just how it goes... and we love you dearly! :)

Messy Monkey

Our little messy monkey...

A Weekend at the House of James

Last weekend with Sara, Sam & Maya at the Lowry Park Zoo (Tampa).

Maya has this rockin' cool car that Zane LOVED so much. He was so funny because he just loved getting in and out of it using the door and then he would stick his head out the front window and just give us all a BIG smile and giggle.

Bath Time

Zane LOVES bath time. He just wants to stay in there and when you take him out finally, he throws a super fit with full-on tears!

(Can you tell we are loving this new video camera???? AND with all these new post in a row, can you tell the Zane has been taking a REALLY long nap??!!)

Click here for Bath Time Fun!

He got a few new bath toys for Christmas and he was testing them out. We have to say, though, that the yogurt cup is still a winner!

The Tee-Pee

For Christmas Zane got a Tee-Pee from his Aunt Rae and Uncle Bob! It is the most fun and cute gift EVER and Zane LOVES IT! He just can't get enough of it. He is now in it several times a day with his toys or stuffed animals.


Click here of a video of Zane in his tee-pee the day he got it over at Aunt Rae and Uncle Bob's house.

I will put up more pics of it soon. It is set up in our playroom and he is having so much fun with it! She made a mat for the bottom and a matching pillow and she set up a stuffed horse in it when she gave it to him! It was so perfect and cute we just can not get enough of it all!
Thank you Rae and Bob for all your thoughtful, hard work! You guys are the BEST! Zane loves you so much!





Zane hugging his horsey!


Since we had been all over and from house to house for the holidays, Zane was exhausted and had been hard to put down to sleep. I took the tee-pee in their office and it was great because it just gave him a small space to focus on and tuned it all out! He feel fast asleep and took a little snooze in his new tee-pee!

Playset Update...

We have had some major helpers in assembling this wonderful, fun structure in the back yard! Mom, Ben and Grandad worked on it all day long on Wednesday. It was a long day but lots got done. At this point, all that needs to be done is to do the landscaping with the mulching and framing in the area. It is going to look SOOOOOO nice when it is all done.

Take a look at some video...

Click here to see an update of the progress and to get a better look at the structure.

Click here to see Ben's little helper on the ratcheting. He is so cute! He was concentrating so hard and was so proud of himself!

More helping from the Zane-Man.

As all can see, the videos are a bit longer. We got an amazing gift from Uncle Ben and Aunt Rachael for Christmas. It is a Flip Video recorder! At their request, I am trying to put up longer video using this new awesome camera. I always felt that folks didn't want to see a long video and that it would be too boring. Well, some family members do disagree with me on this and are requesting more and longer video. I will do my best to serve... and to all those out there who do not want longer videos.... turn them off when you want to.

THANKS Ben and Rachael for our new toy!

Now, also, because of the longer video I have to upload them and share them using VideoEgg because Blogger just takes so long to upload a video and the longer they are the worse it gets. If anyone out there knows a better way for me to manage these, please share your knowledge. I am so open to trying out new ways to do this with all these videos!

The Project Managers...

The tool man...

Workin'

These are some of my favs from that day... (I couldn't pick just one of them!)

He just wanted to be so involved and right in there with the big kids!

"Once I get it, I got it. You know what I mean?"

Today is a big day at the Holimon house! Mimi, Uncle Ben and Grandad are assembling his brand new playset! This is Zane's BIG Christmas present from so many people! Many have pitched in to help fund this big project (Mimi & Papa, Uncle Ben & Aunt Rachael, Grandad, Nana, Jim & Grammie, Aunt Maggie & Uncle Chris, Gradeaux, Great Uncle Mark).

This is just the beginning of what seems like it will be a complicated and long project.

I will try to keep all posted on the progress.

Playset Video 1 - Intro

(Just click on the link above to see the video. Blogger just takes too darn long sometimes to upload these videos!)