The B-man eats alone

Well, he at least tried to eat on his own. But it was our fault. We had some mashed potatoes the other night and the B-man was not happy about having to eat cheerios while we ate other food. So, we decided to give him some mashed taters and see how he did. I gave him a spoon, but he promptly threw that on the floor. Who needs a spoon when you have fingers?
Hand goes into potatoes, then to mouth. Try to lick off as much as possible.

Why can't I get more of this in my mouth??

Chipotle Shrimp with Radish and Jicama salad

So, tried another new dish on Monday night. Chipotle Shrimp with Radish and Jicama salad. It was quite yummy. I've never had jicama before, so that was a new experience. Found it at our local Hy-Vee. It's nickname is the mexican potato, or so the label said. It has the peel of a potato and the look of a potato, but the flavor is like that of a crisp apple. Quite good, actually.
Kudos to my friend Karla for telling me how to pronounce it (hick-u-muh). So, it's not substantial enough to stand on its own, but this will make a great side dish in the future. The taste of the jicama is a nice contrast to the spicy shrimp. It's got some red onion, cilantro and golden raisin in there, too. The rest is just some kosher salt, olive oil and lime juice. The fresh cilantro is key.

My apologies to my good friend Amy, who I know will not like this dish!

10-month pictures

Here's our official 10-month picture. He doesn't look too happy here, but that's becuase we were trying to get him to sit still. That's just not an easy thing to accomplish these days.
So he let us take one picture and then was on the move. Time to attack Pooh.

And then gobble him up!

Maybe stuffed animal feels good on sore gums?

Stairs are no challenge for B-Man

That's right, Brady has conquered the stairs. Well, let me re-phrase. He has conquered crawling up stairs, two or three in a row. We don't dare attempt going down the stairs--pretty sure his big head would carry him right to bottom in a big thud. Alas, we celebrate going UP the stairs.

Happy viewing.

10 Months!

That's right. Brady is 10 months old today. Almost a year old. I don't have a picture with Pooh yet; we'll be taking that tonight. Mom got up early to teach Spinning! But, a little picture from the weekend.
At 10 months old, here is what the B-man is doing: pulling himself to a standing position; walking a couple of steps while holding on to furniture; doing a naked crawl sprint to the bathtub every night; loving bath time and splashing and playing with toys in the bathtub; eating anything we give him, but still just feeding himself small pieces of food; going to bed about 8:30 - 9:00 and sleeping until 7:00 - 7:30; napping about an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon; and crawling up the stairs. No new teeth in the last month, so we're still at 6 little chompers. And, we've outgrown some clothing and are moving up to 9-month clothes. We've got to do so some shopping for PJs, onesies and shirts, and winter clothes!

Chili Mac n Cheddar Soup

Yep, we're going to start writing about food here on The Smoller Family. Brady is still plenty entertaining, but food is a pretty important part of our lives as well. Besides, it gives me more writing material.
Last night I tried out a new recipe from Real Simple magazine. Chili Mac n Cheddar Soup. It turned out fantastic, though it looks pretty average in the picture. It was even better today for lunch with the cold and rainy weather. And I have now decided, it's really just homemade Hamburger Helper! I loved Hamburger Helper and this really is pretty much the same thing, save for waaaaay fewer preservatives and ingredients that can't be pronounced.
The recipe says to brown the hamburger with sauteed onions and since it was a rookie try, I stuck to the recipe. Next time, I'm adding peppers to that mixture to pump up the veggie value and add a little color to the dish. We dished it on top of crushed tortillas chips and it was tasty. Got the stamp of approval from Mr. Smoller, too!
Want the recipe? Well, you have to leave a comment on this post and then I would gladly send it to you!

More football

Amy and I with the B-man during the game. He got awfully tired in the 2nd quarter, so he just took himself a little nap in Amy's lap.
Aaaah, sleepy time.

And after the power nap, AWAKE! And so excited after we got to watch the fireworks. It was a big day for Brady. Needless to say, he crashed once we got home. All that wears a kid out!

Football

Pictures from the football game vs. UMASS, courtesy of our good friend, Susan. She's a great photographer and it's so nice to have pictures from somebody else's viewpoint!. This was Brady's first football game and his first tailgate. He did a great job. Here's the whole family before the game started.
The back of B-man's shirt.

Cheering for the Cats. I just love this shot.

Practicing our Touchdown cheer. We've got to work on that one.

Stay tuned for more.

18 Miles

So, were you just wondering what I did Saturday morning? Well, let me tell you about Saturday morning. I did a little 18-mile jaunt on the bike alongside my buddy Shelby, who completed all 18 glorious miles on her legs. See her blog for more info., including my muddy self post-ride - www.shelbysroadahead.blogspot.com

A little glimpse of Linear Trail. I love Linear Trail. Nice, wide paths, dirt/paved surfaces, kind people to pass; it's a slice of happiness on an early morning.
I love this part of the trail. The light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. It's just gorgeous when it's all tree-covered and tranquil.

So, what does 18 miles on foot feel like? Well, I don't know. The farthest I've ever gone is 13.1. But, I can SHOW you what 12 miles looks like. We needed some action shots, so here is Shelby around mile 12. She's the one in front.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Super Shelb!! And here she is!! Look, that's actually air between her feet and the ground. After 12 miles of running! She can still jump!

So, there you go. 18 miles was quite nice. Started off the 3-day weekend on a great note. More to come later.

Volleyball

The B-man and I went to the first home volleyball match of the year last Tuesday against UMKC. The ladies won in 4 sets. Tonight we host the South Dakota Coyotes at 7:00.
We sit in the first row of the bleachers now--gotta have some space to move around. The Baby Brigade is in full force in our section!

Happiness is . . .

an empty inbox (my inbox is the tray on top)
and a clean desk before a 3-day weekend.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend.

Swinging

We've been spending some quality time outside enjoying this mild summer weather. The grade school across the street from our neighborhood has a couple of little kiddo swings that we put Brady in. He doesn't get overly excited, nor overly upset when we put him in there. Very unlike his mother, who absolutely LOVES to swing. Even as an adult.

Look to the left.
Look to the right.

Look straight ahead!