Carving "Janet Lockturns"

This is the first year that we have carved pumpkins for Halloween with Benjam. Since Benjamin was born we have spent the holiday with family and haven't been home. This year I was really looking forward to the decorating and Trick-or-Treating!

First we went to Bate's Nut Farm (or as we like to call it...Nate's Butt Farm!) which is an annual tradition. Benjamin picked out a few pumpkins, took a pony ride, looked at the animals and generally had a great time. He was so pleased that his "Auntie Eli" (our friend Elizabeth) was able to join him this year. Elizabeth moved temporarily to The Netherlands just a month after Benjamin was born and just moved home permanently about a month ago.

To practice for the pumpkin carving I bought Benjamin this fun little pumpkin craft from Starbucks. The pumpkins were all blank and Benjamin and I put on the included stickers to make the pumpkins. Benjamin was, of course, most impressed by the pirate pumpkin!

Finally the day to carve pumpkins had arrived but Benjamin was surprisingly uninterested! Nate designed and carved the pumpkins while I scooped out the pumpkin guts. Once the first Jack o' Lantern was finished Benjamin was excited!! He started calling it a "Janet Lockturn" and couldn't wait to see the next completed one. We nicknamed the white pumpkin "ghost" for obvious reasons!

Boredom is the mother of necessity

So..as I'm sure you've heard, we had a few little fires here in San Diego County last week. Actually the fires are still burning...just not as ferociously as they were. Luckily we never had to evacuate, although we did make a list of what to bring in the event we had to go. Needless to say...with all the t.v. coverage about "Firestorm 2007" and the inability to go outside because of the poor air quality...it was a boring week!

Nate and I were out in the backyard this morning in our masks cleaning the ashes and soot of our new patio furniture. We diligently vacuumed and then cleaned each piece of furniture and it began to rain just as we finished...thank goodness!! That is not what this blog entry is about though....what it's about is what happend INSIDE the house while we were outside!

Benjamin was inside the house entertaining himself, as usual, when he came to the window and started saying "Mommy! Daddy! I made Mickey Mouse!" Nate and I were like.."huh?" Nate decided to go inside and investigate. Once he'd seen it he told me I had to go look at what Benjamin had made. Somewhere he'd found a quarter, nickel and a dime and made "Mickey Mouse" from them on the table. Isn't he brilliant?!?

I promise I did not manipulate those coins before I took the photo! He was so proud of himself. He just kept saying over and over how he'd "made Mickey Mouse." I had to leave the coins there all morning!

Sing.....Sing A Song!!

So Benjamin has taken to bossing me around. It's really quite cute...for a two year old (but I can imagine it might get a little old with an older child!) He tells me "Sing Mama....SING!" or my personal favorite...."Dance Mama...DANCE!" At least it gets me a little exercise!

Benjamin also does his own singing. Some of his personal favorites are "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle." But recently he's been singing some songs that I wasn't aware he knew. The best part is to listen to his personal rendition of the songs. Here are a few of my favorites:

Old McDonald Had A....Horn?

Ole Dunald heed ferm
E-YI-YI-YI-YO
Beep! Beep! Here...Beep! Beep! Here...Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!


Are You Sleeping?

Why you sleepin'? Why you sleepin'?
Brubber Gee....Brubber Gee
(This is where I think he moves into the French Version of the song!)

My favorite part of Benjamin's singing had to be the other day. I was changing his diaper and a song popped into my head (as is often the case) so I began to sing, "Ooooh baby I love your ways...everyday yeah." And without missing a beat Benjamin sings back his reply " I love you too...ooooooh!" I'm such a lucky mom!

By the way...I promise to put some more photos up on the blog soon!

I'm madly in love....

I am madly in love....with Benjamin. Is it weird to say you are madly in love with your two year old son?? I can't help it, he's just so spectacular!! His loud little chuckle just melts my heart. He can be crying, kicking, throwing a complete fit and I just look at his soft little cheeks and want to kiss them. If he's done something inappropriate and I'm looking at him and explaining why he isn't supposed to be taking trash OUT of the trash can (for example) he'll just look at me with his big eyes and say "Mama mad?" and crack that beautiful smile and I'm a goner. I just want to kiss his little cheeks and hug him!

Everything he says and does is brilliant, amazing and super fantastic (at least to Nate and I!) For instance (you had to know I would be sharing a story!) tonight he was riding his "Diego" scooter through the house (yes...I let him ride it in the house) singing a song. When I started paying attention I realized that he had made up his own song....he calls it the "Belly" song. It goes something like this......"Belllly.....Belllly.....Belly Belly....ahhhhh!" BRILLIANT!!

It's fun to be a girl!

So...after being a mom for a couple of years I've finally re-entered the land of "girly-ness." When I stopped working I didn't really see the need to spend the time (or money) on all those girly things like coloring my hair, make-up, pedicures, waxing my brows, etc. Recently I've decided that just because I'm a full tim mom doesn't mean I can't look good! I found a GREAT new hairdresser that gave me a really good cut and updated my color. I am now back to having blonde-ish highlights, I really like it better than having my hair dark brown. I had my brows waxed at a local Aveda salon....or maybe I should say I was SCALPED at the local Aveda salon. Now I am in the process of growing out my eyebrows so I can take them to a different place to be waxed.....one that believes people shouldn't have that "YIKES!" look on their face because they have no brows! The best thing I've found recently is a new line of cosmetics called "Jane Iredale." You can't get them everywhere and I was introduced to them at a hair salon. They are "minerals" cosmetics and are supposedly good for your skin. I just like them because I can put it on and it lasts all day long.....no shiny red face for me!! I use a pressed powder, eye shadow, blush, eyeliner (so smooth it doesn't "pull" your eye skin when you put it on) and their mascara which I adore. The mascara is a soft brown color which is better for me than black since I am getting older (and those crows feet have begun to show around my eyes!) the mascara is also the only brand in recent years that has not made my eyes burn,itch and water when I put it on, and it also does not flake off leaving smudges around my eyes. All in all it gives me a very natural and soft look but evens out my skin tones and, most importantly, makes me feel pretty!!

What's For Dinner?

I've decided that not ALL the posts on this blog have to be about Benjamin. I mean...I actually have other things in my life happening! One thing that happens quite frequently is dinner....so I decided to post new, different or interesting meals as they occur.

Tonight's dinner was fast, healthy and yummy! I was at Trader Joe's doing my shopping the other day when I saw a "Fully Cooked Seasoned Pork Roast." The description doesn't sound too interesting but basically it is a very lean port roast sealed in a bag with BBQ sauce. I thought I'd give it a try....how can anything smothered in BBQ sauce be bad!?

Since I was short on time I decided to cook in the microwave according to the directions on the bag....just 10 minutes! One note...it says to put several "punctures" in the bag and place it on a microwave safe plate. What it failed to mention is that there is actually another bag inside this bag....and if you don't puncture that bag it will explode...just a little! Luckily I had neglected to take off the outer bag so there was no mess to deal with.

After cooking I shredded the roast and put it on hamburger buns (the whole wheat ones at Trader Joe's are also very yummy!) and we had a version of pulled pork sandwiches. It was a little fussy to shred (the drawback of having lean meat is that it isn't always super juicy!) However, the mealwas really good and I will probably make it again.

I give this meal 4 out of 5 stars ****

So...what is a yak anyway??

I know that all parents think their children are brilliant.....I am well aware of those little things they look for that confirm that their children are gifted. That being said.....I'm fairly certain that Benjamin is a genius, and I have the proof!!

Awhile ago I bought Benjamin these little wooden alphabet blocks. I liked that they looked sort of old fashioned and they all had letters and numbers on them (that's me....always finding an opportunity to educate!) He's played with the blocks off and on but recently he's really been into them. He likes to ceremonially dump all the blocks out of their little bag onto the floor and then build "choo choo" train with them. Basically that's the blocks all lined up single file across the coffee table. He is surprisingly adept of keeping the blocks in a very straight line but, although impressive, that's not the brilliant part.

The other thing he likes to do with the blocks is to build a "tower." At first he demanded that Nate or I build the block tower so that he could swiftly knock it down (arguably the best part!) After a few days he began to build his own towers. He's really good at stacking the blocks one on top of the other. So far his record is 14 blocks stacked on top of one another, but that's not the brilliant part either!

The other day we were feeling sort of lazy (okay...it was me...I was feeling lazy) and didn't really want to go through the effort of building a tower. Benjamin began to hand me the blocks one by one and I would tell him what letter was on each block and the corresponding pictures that demonstrated the letter (do you see where I'm going with this?? There really is a yak in the story!)

"This block has the letter 'N.' It makes the sound 'nnnnn' like 'nest' and 'needle.' 'Nest' and 'Needle' start with the letter 'N.' There's about 60 blocks with each letter being represented twice and some that just have numbers. So the next day Benjamin is building his block "choo choo" again. He picks up the block with the letter "Y" and says "Oh....Yak!" WHAT?!?! Nate and I just looked at each other with disbelief. Then we both wondered aloud...."So...what is a yak?" We better find out quickly because our child is most certainly a genius!