Have I ever mentioned that I used to think pancakes could only be made from pancake mix? It never occurred to me that they could be made from scratch. But to be fair, growing up we didn’t eat pancakes unless we were early enough for breakfast at school. I didn’t even know that croutons were called croutons until I was in high school. But that’s what happens when you’re growing up with very Chinese parents…and I guess if you’re very spacey like me.

Well, I cook a lot now. And having learned it own my own, cooking for me is pretty amazing.

So I can’t explain to you how excited I got over making bread from this book. Imagine. Me. Jumping up and down in a state of pure joy. Yelling at Alan to come listen to the bread singing (cracking when it’s exposed to the air fresh out of the oven. He wasn’t interested). So me happily taking pictures of hot bread to share with you all. Because that’s how happy it made me.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to a party. They had a jumper. Isabelle ADORES jumpers. She even gets excited just seeing pictures of jumpers. She says, “I LIKE jumpers!” But it took her a few minutes before going inside this one. That’s because it was full of kids and she didn’t want to go in alone.

But once she realized we weren’t going in with her, she crawled right in. And of course she thoroughly enjoyed herself. So much that we couldn’t get her out. We finally convinced her by saying, “let’s swing!”

And surprisingly that worked. She came out. It was a surprise because she didn’t like the swing before. But this time she actually enjoyed it! She didn’t hold on for dear life. In fact, she was saying to Alan, “HIGHER!”

That’s because she’s growing up. She’s getting so big. And not in the big as a giant sense. Wow, I haven’t called her a giant in a while. Though she IS a giant. People are always surprised Isabelle is only two.

I mean she’s getting more independent. Like when we go to our regular video store. Isabelle will run around the corner, out of sight, giggling. But out in strange places, she tends to stay close. So seeing her run off towards the jumper without us, in an unfamiliar place, is new.

Yes, our little monkey is growing up.

I have a “stack” of photos I keep meaning to share. They’re getting older and older. And then when I do share them, I can’t think of anything to say because I’m rushing just to get them up. I don’t know why. It’s not as if they have an expiration date or something. Like they’re spoiled milk. Well anyhoo…our family picture, Isabelle turned two years and ten months old. I’m getting later and later with these.

I particularly like that gleeful look on Alan’s face. He was trying to get Isabelle to smile for the camera. Yes, I know she’s not looking at him. But he was saying, “CHEESE!!” The dreaded cheese that she learned from tv!!

And of course Woody had to be in the picture.

“Cheese Woody!” is what Isabelle said as she thrust him towards the camera. Damn cheese!

And now my brain is empty, I’m out of thoughts. I’m tired and sunburnt and can’t think of anything else relevant to say. More spoiled milk pictures tomorrow, really old ones. Oh my freaking gawd, how in the world did this summer fly by so quickly?

These pictures are old, like beginning of July old. And I know if I don’t share them now, I never will. Then they’ll just sit in my computer and I’ll never look at them. So up they go.

In this picture, Alan was sitting there and Isabelle specifically walked up to him, put her arm around his neck and asked for her picture to be taken.

She likes being behind the camera as well. And I love her little pictures. That’s why I’ve been talking about getting an inexpensive camera. One that I can use for video, will take nice pictures, and that I won’t cry buckets of tears if she damages.

And this one…it’s no wonder the dogs follow her around when she has food. And this is after I told her not to feed the dogs.

Oh and we got a pair of fish for Isabelle. (Actually they’re for me. Everything we get for Isabelle is actually because I like it so much. That’s where Woody came from. I always wanted a Woody. And lucky me, I mean Isabelle, they were selling Woody AND Jesse together!!)

Isabelle named the fish: Harold and Nemo. I guess she got the name, Harold, from Harold and the Purple Crayon. (I’m writing that down for you Olinda since you’ve asked me a gazillion times where she thought of the name Harold). And Nemo comes from Finding Nemo. Only one is left. I’d like to think it was faking and all drains lead to the ocean…but yeah.

Ok sorry for this very disjointed post but I’m off to go wash some new fabric. I bought four and a half yards of some blue dotty stuff for this dress. I’m so disappointed that I had to buy new fabric. I really wanted to use the first fabric choice but I didn’t have enough. I thought I could just buy more but I couldn’t find any. Hmmph!

Hope you can see this Olinda. I’m trying Flickr for videos. So awesome! I can hide them from public searches and no password required!!