Redding Trip in June (Part 2)

This seems like such a long time ago. Seriously -- in two months, a baby can grow into a little man with so much personality!

I think Josh's secret motto is, "Why walk when people will carry you everywhere?" (I wouldn't.) When we first got to Redding, my mom brought out this push-toy to help Josh learn how to walk. We know he CAN take a few steps. We've seen him do it. But he still chooses to crawl. I know I should be grateful that he can't run all over the place yet, but my arms could sure use a break!

Josh loves to yank glasses off people's faces and try to put them on himself. They usually end up around his neck, but with a little help from Uncle Mike, he has become a very sophisticated young man.

Father's Day dinner was a family effort. This is one of my dad's "artsy" shots from above in the kitchen.

Guess who loves to skateboard? Before he could even walk, this boy became attached to wheels. That's what I call hard core.

Speaking of hard core, Grandpa is a wicked blader. He roller blades for miles with his friend on the River Trail a couple of times a week. It is surprisingly great exercise.

Getting cozy with Aunt Melissa. This was one of those days when the whole family goes outside to play in the driveway. Rollerblades, skateboards, basketball...definitely a favorite Madsen pasttime.

These two are perfect playmates. They can make a game out of anything. Here they are playing catch in the driveway.

We love to snuggle!

What's the deal with the green socks, you ask? Josh the Non-Walking Crawler was scuffing up his legs on the driveway. He tried to do this funny bear-walk thing for a while, where he walked on his hands and feet, but that wasn't fast enough for him. So my mom found some of Julia's soccer socks and they covered his whole, chubby little legs. No more scratches.

My parents' garden and fruit trees finally started producing this year! Here is my silly mom showing off some yummy plums.

There weren't actually yummy, in my opinion. Very sour. But Josh seemed to like them. They were just big enough to hold one in each hand and go nuts with his six little teeth. I love this picture!

There was a lot of this snuggling business on our trip. Can you tell that his little hands are starting the motions for "The Eensy Weensy Spider" song? He's concentrating very hard to get it right.

Oakley's wedding was just so much fun, I couldn't narrow down my favorite pictures, so I let Picasa make a collage. Click on it if you want to zoom in on anything. Oakley and Scott seem like a perfect match, and they will no doubt have some beautiful children. We can't wait for that! Josh will take whatever kind of cousins he can get! (*hint*hint*Melissa*cough*cough*Christiana*)

Redding Trip in June (Part 1)

Most of June was spent visiting my family in Redding. My cousin was getting married in Sacramento and asked us to make her wedding cake, so we decided to make a trip out of it. Josh and I flew out first and Matt joined us a week later. We spent a lot of time outside enjoying the weather, the water, and having the whole family together.

Josh's first birthday happened to fall on Father's Day, and Matt's birthday came a few days later, so we had plenty of reasons to celebrate! Here he is devouring his first piece of chocolate cake ever! I think he gets his love for chocolate from me.

My little brother Steven likes to shoot BB and Airsoft guns on our property. The boys (and Julia) put some soda cans on the pool gate and practiced their aim. Which is a good thing, considering Steven usually shoots at the wild turkeys that wander into our yard.

That's right -- my 93-year-old grandma didn't want to miss out on the fun. I love that woman!

Here are the birthday boys waiting to open their presents! Josh looks more like he's calling for the dinner check, but at least Matt was excited.

Ties for Matt are like shoes for girls. When I told my family this to give them gift ideas, they got really excited. They had no idea Matt cared about accessorizing, and for a family of mostly girls, this was great news.

In an effort to take some nice family pictures, this is what we ended up with. Very classy.

My mom has a new picture frame that says "Laugh" on it, so she wanted some pictures of us laughing. Don't we look natural?

I love my baby sisters so much! Maybe some day we'll live close to each other again.

For family night, we all went to Water Works Park. It is the only water park in Redding and it's very small. My family used to have season passes here until we moved to a house with a swimming pool when I was seven. Josh loved it! It was so fun to see him playing on the same slides that I enjoyed as a little girl.

Steph loved playing with him in the water. He would crawl up this little rubber slide, turn around on his bottom, reach up for her hands, and yell "weeeeeee!!!!" on his way down.

Uncle Steven is so good with Josh. They both need a little more "man time" when we go to Redding, so I'm glad they have each other.

And Matt too, of course. Nice faces.

Josh liked the swimming pool at my parents house a lot more than I expected. The water was pretty cold still, but he was a stud. And yes, let the record show that my baby could palm a basketball at twelve months old.

We can't have a day at the pool without my dad taking TONS of pictures of people jumping off the diving board. They turn out pretty cool, though. Good form, honey!

Aunt Melissa and Uncle Mike were able to come up for a few days from San Jose.

Mike has a new camera and took some really cute pictures of Josh. Melissa, if you're reading this, email me those other pictures please!

Josh and I were able to see my sister Julia's piano recital. She is becoming very accomplished. Each of us kids took piano lessons for a long time and had to have a recital to pass off each book of music we learned. My mom figured out that this is about the 25th recital we have had out of our home. We sure have some great friends to sit through all that music!

The day before Matt joined us in Redding, my family went out on the lake in our friend Chuck's boat. It was soooo nice! And Josh actually didn't hate it. He was such a good boy, he didn't even mind the life jacket.

Here I am pretending I'm still as cool as I was in high school.

Going in for the kiss...

What you can't see is that I have a goldfish cracker sticking out of my mouth. That's what he's after. It's a great trick for getting baby kisses.

And here is my awesome dad showing off his macho-ness, surfing on the wake of the boat.

Oh, California...you will always be my home! More pictures to come in Part 2.

Our Best Bites

Dear World:

First off, this is Matt. I figure I should probably clear that up in advance because this fine blog is typically Mimi's platform. Now, onto my message.

I really really really love technology. If you were to tell me that I had to give up my access to the internet and cell phone OR my access to indoor plumbing (which in my opinion are the greatest inventions of the modern era*), I would be hard pressed to make that decision. The quantity and quality (with discretion) of information that is available is incredible.

But, this post isn't a quest to sound like

Kip Dynamite. Let me tell you where this is all coming from: Google Reader tells me when you all put up new posts on your blog, which is great, so I don't have to browse to each individual website just to see if there is something new. Additionally, Reader makes suggestions on blogs I might like, based on the blogs you follow. While I usually ignore these, the other day Reader suggested what has turned out to be my new favorite website, Our Best Bites.

Mimi and I love to cook together. Its a lot of fun to try some crazy recipe and to figure out that its not nearly as difficult as you might have thought. We're always on the lookout for new things to try, and Our Best Bites is a treasure trove of goodness in that regard. Why do I say this? Let me count the ways.

• There are lots of different styles of food--variations on classic recipes, southern food, light food, kid-friendly food, there is a lot of variety, which is great when you're looking for something new
• The level of cooking is just right as far as I'm concerned--the posted recipes are as fun to cook as they are to eat. We're not talking about ridiculously easy recipes here, or about recipes that are going to keep you in the kitchen all day and night.
• The two women who write the blog are also very good with the camera. The pictures they take of their completed food always make it look incredibly delicious, which is always helpful in the inspiration department.

So in summary, I'd just like to say thank you to whoever it is that followed this blog in the first place. Identify yourself, and we'll have you over for some homemade blueberry cheesecake ice cream. That being said, you'd better hurry because its almost gone.

* Yeah yeah yeah. Don't argue with me about when plumbing was invented. I know other cultures had it a long time ago, and blah blah blah. It wasn't available to the majority of the population until the end of the 19th century. And I know its true because the power of the internet told me so!

Two Birthdays

So much to catch up on! Matt and Josh both had birthdays last month (June 24th and June 21st, respectively). Since we were in Redding for both dates, Matt's family had a little Snow family party for them before our trip.

Grandma gave Josh an alphabet delivery truck toy that captivates him for extremely long stretches of time. It's amazing. It makes noises, plays songs, and has a little blond delivery boy that Josh likes to talk to. There is also a mail slot for him to stick the "letters" through, which I thought would be pretty difficult for him. However, this toy has confirmed what a stubborn, persistent, focused boy we have. He will sit there "in the zone" for as long as it takes to get every single letter in the truck. I guess postal workers do have to start training from an early age.

My gift to Matt was one he asked for a long time ago. Actually he wanted the hat, but my dear husband's head is just so large and full of intelligence that Charm City Cakes didn't have a hat that would fit him. (Notice the logo.) The Food Network plays a show called "Ace of Cakes," which is all about this bakery in Baltimore that makes crazy, extreme, custom cakes. We love it! Duff (the main guy) first sparked our interest in cake-making when we saw him using power tools in his decorating. So yeah, we're big fans.


This was Josh's first experience with birthday cake, and probably his first experience with birthday candles, as well. I think he was more interested in the fire than the cake at first. Yep, he's a boy alright.


After finally warming up to the massive cake on his tray, and realizing that Mommy wasn't going to stop him from digging his hands into it, Josh discovered that he definitely likes cake. No surprise there. Is it just me, or does his frosting goatee remind you of an old man baby?

Aunt Stephanie looovvvves rainbow chip frosting! She got a whole extra container of it just for herself to eat with a spoon. Now, if you aren't thinking "Mmmm...I wish that were me," I'm not sure if you can call yourself American.

This is Uncle Andrew's classic way of holding Josh -- feet out, face forward, and one hand under the legs so he can bounce them around in the "Josh dance." Those legs have been flailing around with Andrew since Josh was just a few months old. It's very sweet.

Don't know if you can tell, but these Snow kids sure love pictures. Normal, boring, stoic pictures with blank expressions and little movement. Do you see what I mean?


Lastly, this picture is not from Josh's birthday. I just think it shows a really cute moment a few weeks ago when he was sharing his frozen peas with Grandma. And crossing his little legs, as usual. If he were a girl, I'd call that ladylike, but I'm not sure what it means for little boys. I guess it's just cute??

Baby Talk

My baby boy has started talking! It's been going on for a while now, but his vocabulary has grown so much lately. This morning he was jabbering in his high chair and I thought, "This is so adorable...I never want to forget this stage." So here I am recording his progress like a more organized mother would.
It all started the last weekend of May while I was at Girls Camp -- about six weeks ago. Yes, I missed his first real word. Matt sent me a video message on my phone of Josh dropping things off his high chair and saying "Uh-oh!" I'm sure everyone thinks their baby has the cutest voice in the world, but (from a completely objective viewpoint) I'm pretty sure Josh could beat them all.

Since then, there's no stopping him. I'll point to things and tell him their names while he tries to imitate my words. Of course it's always his own version of the word, but it works for me. I'm so excited that he's trying to become a real person! He seems to understand a lot of what I say now, too. For example, I'll ask him "Where is the tree?" and he'll look up and point to one. It's the same with the objects in his little cardboard baby books. He'll look and point to what I name, as long as it's a word he knows.

Here is the extent of his vocabulary so far (from what I can identify as attempts at words):
"Daddy" -- He actually started saying this before "uh-oh," but since almost everyone seems to be "Daddy" to him, I'm not sure if I count it.
"Uh-oh" -- He says this whenever he drops things or does something he knows he's not supposed to.
"Mimi" -- This is what he usually calls me. He knows how to say Mama, but I think he likes that he gets a reaction from me when he uses my name because he always has this mischievous grin on his face. How did he learn this? My sister Stephanie taught him while she was living with us. Intentionally. Thanks a lot, Steph!
"Kahka" -- Cracker. Literally every time he sees me open the pantry, without exception, he points and says this until I give him an animal cracker. It's so darn cute I just can't say no!
"Na-nigh" -- Night night
"Cah" -- Car
"Khiiii" -- Kitty
"Doddie" -- Doggie
"Gah" -- Ball. Maybe this shouldn't really count, but it's what he always calls a ball, and as long as he's assigning some sort of name to an object, I call that talking.
"Tee" -- Tree
Animal sounds -- most recently for horses, cows, birds, and dogs.

I'm just thrilled that he hasn't learned "NO" yet. I don't need no stinking back-talk from him this early in life! Although he definitely knows what "no" means, he seems to take it as a joke. It's the funniest word in the world to him. He gives a big belly laugh when I say "no" or try to teach him not to do something. It makes it really hard to keep a straight face and show him that I'm not happy.

As far as baby signs go, I don't do them very often. However, he does "all done" every time he finishes his food, waves when it's time to leave or go night-night, and recently started doing "duck" when he sees birds outside or in books. My favorite trick is the hand motions he does to "The Eensy Weensy Spider." A few weeks ago, my sister started singing this to distract him whenever she changed his diaper. For a while there, he would start the hand motions as soon as we laid him down for a change, before we even started singing. It is the cutest thing ever. Hopefully I'll get it on video soon.

Do babies just get more and more fun as they grow older, or should I expect that to stop soon?