The Grapes of Tat.

Behold...The Mighty Grape:

After many years of patience, pruning, and caring for his vineyard of 1 vine, T. Atwood, or Tatwood, or Tat as I like to refer to him as, finally got a tasty little crop of grapes this year.

If all goes as planned, you can expect to see me pedalin' this stuff next year at the Farmer's Market:

(kidding, of course)

Avy got a pony!

TAIL...that is. We finally mustered up enough sprigs of beautiful little reds to form what we refer to as a pony-tail, or a "pebbles-do" as in reference to Pebbles from the Flintstones. Can you tell which one is Avy and which one is Wilma Jr?










Avy says, "Connor, that would mean you're Bam-Bam."





Mrs. Avycakes Rubble. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Playgroup fun @ Central Park

Avy has a fun little playgroup of friends her age. Today we went to the park and shooed pigeons, ate sand, got soaked in the water, ate other parts of nature, and tried to take a group photo. Of all the fun things we did at playgroup today, watching Mommy Jessica try to corral all the kiddios for a picture was by far the most entertaining :) Thanks, Jess!

Attention: Blue Light Special on the Cereal Aisle

To all my fellow Safeway shoppers...




As Kramer (from Seinfeld, of course) once said, "Occasionally I like to help the humans." I abide by that rule so I find it my duty to inform you of the fantastic deal on cereal currently going on at Safeway. Many cereals are on sale for $3, and all the Safeway brand cereals are on sale for $2. WAIT...it gets better. If you buy 5 boxes, then you save an additional $5! I repeat "save an additional $5!" So for those of you too tired to do the math, I got 5 boxes of cereal for $5.

To my slacker friends who waited too long to hit the Baby Gap pj sale...GO STOCK UP YOUR CEREAL STORAGE...NOW!

*RECIPE* Lemon Basil Pasta

Avy has discovered her new favorite food; her Aunt Jodi's dee-lish pasta recipe. She seriously probably ate about as much as Tyler...and I...combined. Well, maybe not that much, but she devoured the tasty little morsels. Enjoy!

(Don't be confused...just in case you make this and wonder why your pasta isn't glowing orange, the orange accent on Avykins palette is pureed carrots. It should turn out regular pasta colored.)

*LEMON BASIL PASTA*

1/2 lb angel hair pasta

3/4 tsp garlic salt

2 T margarine (melted)

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 T lemon juice

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp basil

Cook pasta. Drain and return pasta to pan. In a small bowl, combine garlic salt, margarine, pepper, lemon juice, and basil. Toss with cooked pasta. Sprinkle cheese over pasta and serve immediately. (Main dish variation: Toss in 2 c cooked, cubed chicken or 1 lb cooked large shrimp before adding cheese. Also good tossed with cooked asparagus.)

Who is this weirdy?

May I refer you to the most hilarious post ever known to mankind? Check out Austin's "Monday lover's fun" post. You can't read it and not laugh...impossible.

http://birdmanbegins.blogspot.com/

Unanswered Questions:

I realize that my blog is often packed with totally exciting, riveting, and edge-of-the-seat type information and questions, and I've undoubtedly left you hanging on a few topics. Let's put some closure to them right now.

1- Jaxon's Cal Ripken Jr. World Series Adventure

They ended up winning 4 games and losing 3. Since they lost by so many runs in one of the games, they were taken out of the running for the championship. The team from Jupiter, Florida ended up taking the title. Regardless, they had a fantastic time and a great experience. My parents both went (Dad is one of the coaches) and they had a blast too. My Dad's favorite part (besides watching his superstar son) was definitely the fields they played on...they were all miniture versions of professional fields. He said they were way awesome. I think my Mom's favorite part (besides watching her superstar son) was going to Amish Country.

(side note: I don't blame her. I love the Amish! When we were in Ohio, all I wanted to do was watch the Amish. Tyler and I want to go live as the Amish for a month or 2. Can't you see him hoe-ing his fields as I carry baskets full of goods from the local mercantile? Little Avy-bumpkin will of course be skipping along behind me in her fashionable hand-sewn dress, apron and bonnet...but I digress)

My mom calls me from Amish country in Pennsylvania, where the town is called Intercourse, and she says, "I loved Intercourse!" TMI, Mom, TMI.

2- The Fruit Flies

I tried it all. Rotten banana in a bottle with a home-made paper funnel; lame. Apple cider vinegar in a bowl with hole-poked saran wrap over the top; stinky. Vacuuming every hour on the hour; exhausting and useless. Ghetto taping my window seals so the buggers can't get in; well, ghetto, and a waste of tape. So what was finally the cure you may ask? OSH actually sells a concoction to kill fruit flies! Who knew???

3- The Man Eating on the Toilet

*READER BEWARE* This is a true and oh so wrong story...Consider yourself warned.

So it's a beautiful morning at the Atwood house with the glistening sun beaming through the kitchen window. Tyler comes into the kitchen, I tell him I've got his breakfast for him, he tells me he needs to use the restroom, next thing I know...Tyler's marching down the hallway and his bowl is missing from the table!!! You do the math. I go hollering and chasing after him at a rapid rate and he sees absolutely nothing wrong with what he had in mind. His reasoning, "Nothing will get on my food. My food and my business are totally separated. I'll finish eating before I finish...you know." My response, "Absolutely not."

YUMMY!!! (don't be fooled...this isn't a typical Atwood breakfast, just a lovely pic I found online to add a splash of color to this post)

4- Archuleta vs NKOTB

Clearly the winner of this little battle Kaari and I had going on is...well, me of course. There was a bit of a tie, but it was cleared up by a verbal poll. Go Davey!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

Rather than authoring a travelouge about our jaunt up to Idaho & Utah, I'll share the fun via pics...lots of pics.

In conclusion, we can deduce from these images that Avy-cakes is definitely a GIRL!

Besides pushing strollers all day, carrying baby dolls that double her in weight, and wiggling anything that remotely resembled a purse up her arm, Avy also played with cousins, explored the Price, UT Dinosaur museum, played at Thanksgiving Point, and watched her Daddy-o help build a shed for Jodi & Steve. Good times!

my SuPeRsTaR brother

My little brother Jaxon is currently playing ball in the Cal Ripken Jr. World Series in Maryland. How cool is that? Here's the link if any family or friends are interested in listening to any of the games:

http://www.idahofallsbaberuth.org/CalRipken/calhome.htm

The site has their schedule and updates on it.

Cal Ripken Sr. Yard

The championship games will be televised (not totally sure yet which station). Hopefully they play in those games!!!

A few facts:

- first time the Spud State has been represented at the Cal Ripken Jr. World Series

- International teams:

Mexico - Dominican Republic - Korea - Japan - Canada - Austrailia

- U.S. teams:

Charles County, Maryland - Baxter, Minnesota - Kenner, Louisiana

College Point, New York - New Canaan, Connecticut - Bel Air, Maryland
Bakersfield, California - Jupiter, Florida - Idaho Falls, Idaho - Lexington, Kentucky

- Jaxon is the only Shelley boy on the team...the rest are IF boys

-They've won their 1st game and are playing their 2nd right now

-Despite what Austin tells you, Jax gets his mad ball skills from his favorite sibling...Hayley.

GOOD LUCK, JAX!!!