Blanket by Grams

When Johnny was born Grams and I talked about her making a t-shirt quilt. Gramma Nancy made each one of her Grand kids a quilt when they where born, mine is something I love and treasure!

Taking Johnny's onses and shirts from birth till age one and putting them together so he will always have them to remember. For that year I purposely held aside certain tops that I knew I wanted in. Recently I gave all of those to Grams and she went to town. She added a few very sweet surprise shirts and it was wonderful!!!


Grams got this together very quickly and much bigger then I thought...Perfect for his future twin bed bedspread! Thanks Grams, this means so very much to us!


The center part is all of Johnny's tops and some backs as well that say certain amusing things.

First Row starting at the top right and going across:
*The back to Disney shirt from Halloween says size 6-9 months.
*Kiss Me I'm Cute, top he wore on his birthday
*Everyone is Thankful for Me, top from his Jammies from Thanksgiving
*Snipes and Snails and Puppy dog tails top, just cute!
*Back to his Halloween shirt, Carter's size 6 months
*My Daddy wears combat boots, Grandma Sharon bought this for him when we all went to Kansas to meet Daddy

Second Row:
*I Take my Bottle Shaken not Stirred onsie I bought when I was pregnant
*Level 1 Human onse, Momma bought this for Daddy and took pictures of it on her belly for Valentines day
*Baby's first Easter onsie, Johnny was 6 days old!!!
*HUNK Gorilla top
*Will Cry for Food onsie, because he cries for food and always has
*Back to a birthday top says size 12-18 month Old Navy

Third Row
*Momma's Little Firecracker top, from Johnny's first 4th of July
*back of that says the top is organic size 3-6 month
*Little Devil top, he wore this top for a long time!! It was a hoody that had horns and the pants had a tail
*Embroidered dragon blowing bubbles top, Johnny wore this for our D and D games
*Cookie monster face shirt, this is one of Momma's favorites
*Feed me or no one sleeps onsie, because if you don't feed him no one would sleep :)

Forth Row
*Daddy's Little Monster shirt from his first Halloween
*a Circo (target brand) back size newborn
*Moms Lucky Charm shirt, from his birthday
*red white a blue Carters top from his first 4th of July size 3-6 month
*Organic Baby onsie, because he is an organic baby
*The back to another Old Navy shirt size 18-24 month (remember all the shirts in this Johnny wore before he was one!)

Fifth Row
*NEW onsie, Mommy picked this out at Target right after we found out he was a boy and healthy
*Little Stinker onsie with Flower from Bambi, because he was a stinker
*Another back that says 18-24 month!
*My Daddy Rocks, monkey onsie
*Papa's Little Heman top with little stick figure Papa and "Jack" Momma had this made and a matching T-shirt for Papa for Father's Day
*Baby's First Levis onsie, from a box set that had his first little pair of Levis in it

Sixth Row
*Momma's hunky monkey onsie, Johnny wore this when he meet his Daddy in Kansas
*I'm Banana's for Momma onsie, because he is banana's for Momma :)
*Newblet onsie, another one Momma bought for Daddy and took pictures of it on her belly for Valentine's Day
*"flower" the skunk onsie from Halloween
*Momma rocks me to sleep onsie, Daddy bought this at Target when we found out he was a boy and healthy
*Lucky and Charming onsie, we bought this right after he was born in a 12 month thinking it would be perfect for his birthday, he grew out of it very quickly
Seventh Row
*back from his Christmas shirt from Osh Kosh that says 18 month
*Muscle Beach crab onsie he wore around 5 months for Papa
*Hersey's world shirt that we bought at Hersey's world on our visit in August 08
*This blank panel has a pocket on it, it was from the back of the Hunk shirt and this is a butt pocket, what does a baby need with a butt pocket?
*Just Hatched onsie, thought it was amusing since he was born just 6 days before Easter
*Can barely see the Papa's Little Heman top that Papa bought and had embroidered the day after Johnny was born

Last Row
*Embroidered wolf chasing leaves, for Daddy
*I shamrock St Patty's Day, another top we bought right after he was born in 12 month, but it didn't fit for his birthday like we thought it would
*Momma's Boy onsie, I just love this one!
*Hansome Like Daddy spider onsie, Daddy used to put this on him all the time :)
*Tree Hugger onsie, raising Johnny to be a tree hugger
*you can't see in this picture, but it is an organic onsie that says "we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow it from our children"

Along the sides is where Grams surprised me with family shirts.
The very top shirt is "world's greatest Grandpa" that we bought for Pops
next down is a "United we stand" t-shirt that me and Grams got after 9-11
Ohio State t-shirt from Papa

A t-shirt we had made for Papa with a picture of Johnny, for Papa's birthday
The back to the Gap shirt Papa wore for Johnny's birthday

along the bottom
U.S Army recruiting shirt from Papa
U.S Army mom shirt that I bought for my mom after I graduated AIT, I was really excited to see this top in here since sometimes I feel like the 6 years I spent in the Army reserves gets forgotten

This shirt really made me cry when I saw it since I very clearly remember Gramma Nancy wearing it a lot! Mom said they sold it at the post office where Gramma worked so she would wear it to work .
Next is the Green Gap shirt Papa wore for Johnny's Birthday

The next side has a Penney's Auto body shirt from my Uncles' body shop in Ohio, as far back as I can remember we have all had shirts like this one, this is the most recent.
Under is Papa's t-shirt with the stick figures of Papa and Jack that Momma had made for Father's day, Papa wore it a lot!

On the top is another Army shirt from Papa, I think we got him this one too
And then is Papa's Godzilla shirt, which I was surprise and slightly touched that he gave up for Johnny.
In the next blank square we are going to put Johnny's feet and hand prints.

On the back Grams took a blanket that Johnny's Godmother Christine bought him and that we used a lot, but became to small to use as he got older
Under that is the shirt Grams made with Ella when Johnny was born, it says "cousins" and has their two feet prints from that day...oh my god isn't that sweet?

This means so much to me, it is the maternity shirt that I wore most often and was my favorite!! It was so comfy and by the end it was the only thing that fit!! Grams even let it hang out a little so you can really tell it is Momma's maternity shirt!
This also means a lot to us, it says "A line in the sand" Daddy bought this in Iraq...showing Johnny that Daddy was protecting us while Momma was making him :)

I love this blanket and Grams did an amazing job, something he will have forever and remember and know how much we all love him and how special his life is!

Food

The boy who would eat anything has become the boy who prefers anything but veggies. So I pulled out my book Deceptively Delicious and started baking. For breakfast he had banana bread with hidden cauliflower. Shawn said he could taste the cauliflower but still ate the bread, Johnny ate it, but didn't scarf it down like I expected, I can still try brownies with spinach and carrots :)
"hummm do I like this?"

BIIIGGGGGGG BITE

"Momma I am trying to eat, stop taking pictures"


For dinner last night we had organic London broil!!! It was very yummy!!! Of course I had to cook half of this a little extra for Daddy and the Monkey to eat :)

After dinner enjoying a butterfinger :)

Another Trip to the Park

Hercules always follows us to the park and yesterday he seemed to want to play. Johnny can be a bit rough with his petting, but Herc kept coming back and wanting more. Here Johnny is sprinkling Herc with dirt.

Big boy in the big boy swing!!


Just look how adorable he is!

As always we had a fun time with Grams and Ella at the park.

As follows are some pictures from our trip to Ohio last week. When I posted the pictures from our trip there where just so many pictures! So I held on to these from Sunday morning as we where getting ready for church.

Keep the boys busy and reading some Elmo.

Those Johnny's little loafers where adorable, they kept falling off, but he was very ready to put them back on himself!

"door" that little monkey is so smart! and then ready to go

"Hello?" That is Grams' cell phone, that he always finds, opens and talks into :)

He is such a big boy

Another Ironbirds Game

Before the game we stopped by Target to get children's Tylenol for the teething monkey (two new teeth on the bottom have shown up today, that makes 12 teeth all in all) and wandered through the toy department...I couldn't help but let him play with all 6 of these Sesame Street beanie babies...he loved them!!! But gave them back easily when he saw the BIG BALL!

For $2.50 this was the greatest gift EVER, he loved it so very much.

SO tonight was our special Kid's Game at the Ironbirds Stadium. He got his own seat and loved getting to stadium and getting to play there again.

Our seats where in row A right in the front...so cool.

It was also dollar hot dog day and Johnny got his very first hot dog all to himself. He giggled and grabbed for it as soon as he saw it! He ate it all just like a big boy.


As usual everyone loved him and he got all kinds of attention every where he went.

Sharing a funnel cake with Daddy.

It was a special day at the ball park and there where these guys all over the place! (he actually got tripped by an owl and almost knocked his head off) I don't know who the dog is, but Johnny loved it anyways.

Here he finally got to meet Ripcord, the Ironbirds mascot! Johnny has wanted to meet him all season.

We stayed for 5 innings before the 0 to 0 score became too much and we headed home. When Johny saw this in my bag he said "baseball?" so he read it all the way home!! Then fell asleep VERY quickly.

I just NEEDED to throw this in here. Jo Ann's fabrics had a sale today for 5 patterns for $5. These patterns are normally $15 EACH, so we saved over $140!!! Now I just need to learn to sew :)

Playing in the Rain

Grams got this rain coat for him, it is so nice!!! and cute!! He has monkey boots on the way, but this was a nice warm rain so I wasn't too concern, since he didn't leave our yard.


This was how he enjoyed splashing, slamming his heal up and down in the puddles!





I do think he enjoyed it, but he didn't really get the puddle thing, he just wanted to run and get Momma to chase him!! The pictures are not too great, but it is hard with the rain and humidity, my lenses kept fogging up.

Microwaving

When my sister-in-law told me a few months ago to stop or minimize my use of my microwave oven I laughed at her and shrugged her off. But in the past months she is not the only one to tell me that. So I did some research and what I found makes me feel bad about what I have been feeding my family, and using and giving my other sister in law a baby food cook book that highly recommended microwaving over any other cooking method.

How I understand it is that though microwave ovens do not make food dangerous the way that microwaves heat food (by making molecules move very rapidly inside the food) can kill nutrients inside the food, making it less healthy then you think it is. I have been buying frozen organic veggies and heating them in the microwave for Johnny, making sure there are no pesticides or additives, but destroying the important nutrients. Most things I have read say that the convince of microwaves cannot be pushed aside, so you can't stop using microwaves, but try to bake and boil using a conventional oven more often or at least for children and healthier foods...does that make sense. it is all still a little above my head, but I am trying to understand it. There are not a lot of formal studies and the FDA still hasn't put out any word about this part of microwaving, but there is a lot of info out there anyways.

microwaving destroys some nutrients and turns some amino acids into carcinogens.

All those vital enzymes that help us digest our food, all the B, C and E vitamins and most trace minerals are destroyed in the microwaving process.

health risks associated with eating food cooked in microwave ovens

Post 3 of our Week end in Ohio...the Party!

Saturday 8-15-09 was our big family reunion!!! Over 30 of our Dennison and Penney family members gathered at Uncles Chuckles house in Streetsboro Ohio for hot dogs, beer, corn hole, and catching up. Many of us wore Browns gear to prepare for the game that evening.

One of the biggest attention grabber for the kids was chalk and chalk paint, even Johnny learned how to color with them without eating them.

Grams with Sam (who meet us in Ohio with Natalie and Ella after visiting Nat's family in Kentucky for two weeks) and Johnny, though it is not a good picture it shows Johnny's mood for the week end...he was go go go go!!! And into everything! Momma learned to run quickly!

Sam getting primped by her Momma!!! Ain't she cute?

Johnny sitting for a short moment with Uncle Tim

Playing corn hole, a very popular game in Ohio, or the mid west in general, and the adults played it all day!!!

This is my Aunt Cookie and Uncle Ron who made a grand entrance!!

The little girl whose pretty face you can't see is my cousin's 4 month old daughter Jillian, we tried to get Johnny to play with her, but he didn't really get the genital tactic with her as much and she didn't like belly time.

This is Jillian's mom, my cousin Rachel helping Johnny get into trouble :)

Here the kids come back again to drawing and painting on side walk!!! These four (Ella, Johnny, Bennett and Aislinn) painted for a while, they ran off, then came back and again and again :)

Look at that big boy painting on the side walk!



It was all VERY cute until Johnny began painting himself and Momma realized that we still wanted a nice family picture and Johnny had paint all over himself :) It cleaned off very easily.

Here is the party, It was such a nice day where everyone got along and caught up, Look at all of us...the number of us keeps growing and growing....it is WONDERFUL!

As the day wore on and Johnny got a little more tired he decided to crawl into the babies rest shade area and tuck himself in.

This is one of the only pictures I could get of Bennett (age 2, son of my cousin Erin) and Johnny next to each other...both cute little boys with heads of curly hair.

There are a million pictures of this party!!!! I tried to do a nice spread here, but there are many many more and many that others have taken :) It was a wonderfully fun and relax day!!!

The Dennison Penney family reunion pictures on Picasa

We headed home on Sunday the 16th after church and breakfast with Grandpap and Grandma Ruth, again and as is common now Johnny was restless and constantly on the go. I wish he would calm down just a little so his great grandparents would have been able to bound with him some more! But he has his own personality and way of doing everything.

Elmo and the binky came again the rescue on the 6 hour trip home. We rode in Aunt Natalie's van with her and Sam so Johnny got to utilize the DVD players in head rest and wireless head phone, though he lost patience with holding the head phones up and began to watch Elmo with no sound, keep him pretty entertained since he wouldn't go to sleep.

Despite me bragging about getting rid of the binky so early (ie a few months ago) I have let Johnny have it to calm him down quickly, teething, or when I feel he just needs it! Long car trips for example. I am proud to say that Johnny is developing fast and goes weeks between binky usage sometimes.

Also since Elmo has become a daily occurrence Johnny's vocab seems to shoot up, words he learned on this trip include... No (or no no no no no no), nose (and he knows where it is), car, and cookie...those are just the most used. However something else we have learned is that he is a stubborn little butt, who refuses to do something he knows just because you asked him too...he refuses to do tricks so Momma could show him off.

But everyone was so impressed with how much he has grown, it makes me sad that they haven't seen more of him, or him of them and makes me feel even more sad that his Grandparents, Aunt, and Great Grand Mother and Aunt in Chicago haven't seen him since last Christmas and won't until this Christmas...a full year. It is no ones fault, a trip for either group of us was just too much to do...but Johnny is growing so fast it is frightening!

oh and don't forget to look for the other two posts about our week end in Ohio