Down for the Count OF THREE

I am watching cousin Lincoln and my two today, alone. And they are all napping at the same time. There is a spiral ham in the oven for when all the big people get back. This is one of my proudest moments in life. It is rare my two are down at the same time. Three, a dream. I am a ROCK STAR.

Pow Wow at the Pumpkin Patch

The farmers are here. And no, that is not their last name. They grew up on a farm, though. Their grandmother is a sister to Hubby's grandmother. And their dad, Buddy, is Grandma T.'s cousin. But as Marty says, we are his "other" immediate family. Mark is married to Kelly and they have Lincoln. Before they even hit the beach we all hit the pumpkin patch. Gotta love a pumpkin patch in shorts and flip flops.

We took a hay ride on a flatbed kinda tractor out to the rows of pumpkins.
Farmer Family

Son1 tried to pick up pumpkins but they were too heavy. He found a pumpkin gourd and was amused that he could carry it all by himself. He wasn't a huge fan of the stickers on his socks, either. It definitely wasn't as easy as going to an air conditioned grocery store and wheeling a pumpkin to our car in a shopping cart. It was in the high 80s and windy and hot. The red dirt is made from the volcanic earth that is rich in iron. It doesn't taste too good in high wind conditions. It was so windy that the driver of our ride looked like this:

Son2 before the wind kicked up

My nursing cover worked as a pretty good wind barrier.
Marty picked the best pumpkins. That coronated him as Son1's new hero for the week.

Hail and Farewell to Hippie Hair

At birth, both of my children had hair like hippies. They were both born needing a hair cut. And wiith both, I tried to put the hair cuts off as long as possible, because that is what a good mom does, right?

"Ohhh don't cut their hair until they are a year!" people said. Right. But I am the one that will hear it later from these boys when they see pictures.

"What were you thinking, Mom?"

After seven long months of long hair, Hubby trimmed those curly (and scraggly) baby locks. Son1 got in on the action, too. Here, he is giving Son2 a brush-off.

I know WHERE'S THE BEEF!

We were at a work party this weekend. Part of what was offered for dinner were these scrumptious looking burgers. I inhaled the smell of hamburger juice-ies from across the room. My eyes followed to lumpy, uneven mounds piled high on a platter. Aahh, such creations were definitely homemade. And I was hungry. I stood in line with a thinner wife.

"Ohh, don't these burgers look big?" she asked.

Mmmmhmmm, I silently replied.

"Wow, they're really big!" she exclaimed as we got closer.

No response, but I knew where this was going.

"They are so big that maybe...."

We were now standing in front of the burgers staring down at these gorgeous things. I straightened and looked her square in the eyes. I cut her off before she finished her thought.

"I don't want to split one. I want a whole one, all to myself."

And that is just what I did. Still nursing, still hungry.

A Sweet Little Friendship

When this little friend comes around, the world stops and time stands still. She is the coolest. She loves cars, trains, running, and climbing, just like him. And she comes with a George.

Plus she is cute.

And I am pretty sure he knows it.

Lost the Island Locks

At about 6pm last night I looked like this:

Then I turned around and Hubby took my picture on his new cell phone he is starting to program. He wanted my stored picture to be me with long hair. He loves long hair, like when we met eleven years ago. I told my hair stylist about the camera phone picture and he thought that was a little dramatic. Right. If he only knew what happened later.

Before.

After.

I cracked the door open to my house. "Are you ready? I'm only coming in if I have your undivided attention!"

Hubby said, "Okay-ay. Should I put some run way music on?"

"YEAH!"

"Something with a beat....okay."

And Eye of the Tiger played. OF COURSE I launched into an impromptu full dance routine.

This is one of a handful of times I have donated my hair to Locks of Love. I donated ten inches, and then still had plenty more for the additional inches they snipped for the cut. I have gotten wiser the more times I have done this.

I donate in loving memory of my sister in love. Her last year with us she taught me the importance of a good wig, and how vital a good wig is to living with cancer, maintaining your dignity, and retaining your self esteem. She got to see me donate once before she passed away.

Carina in her wig with M.

Tub for Two

This bath started with one little boy in the tub.

And then a second one climbed in for much more fun.

California Fires

Thanks so much to those that have emailed and called to see how our families are doing in CA. Everyone is fine and no one has lost anything in the fires. Hubby's side of the family voluntarily evacuated their homes in the San Diego area. They have since returned to limited power and phone access. Others in his family have not been affected in other areas of Southern California. My sister lives very near Magic Mountain. She can see the roller coasters out the front window of her home. She has not been evacuated since the fires are on the other side of the park. My parents and extended family in San Diego can see the fires and have not been affected or evacuated. The projected costs associated with the fires is over one billion dollars. Relief by air is very difficult because of the wind conditions. So please keep praying for those folks that are fighting the fires. To find out more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071024/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires

Pretty People are From San Diego

You know I am from San Diego....

Mon Oct 22, 10:55 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Philadelphia is home to the least attractive people in the United States, a survey of visitors and residents showed on Friday.
The city of more than 1.5 million people was also found to be among the least stylish, least active, least friendly and least worldly, according to the "America's Favorite Cities" survey by Travel & Leisure magazine and CNN Headline News.
About 60,000 people responded to the online survey -- at http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/nm/od_nm/storytext/philadelphia_unattractive1_dc/24914232/SIG=111qh8rfr/*http://www.travelandleisure.com -- which ranked 25 cities in categories including shopping, food, culture, and cityscape, said Amy Farley, senior editor at the magazine.
For unattractiveness, Philadelphia just beat out Washington DC and Dallas/Fort Worth for the bottom spot. Miami and San Diego are home to the most attractive people, the poll found.
But Farley pointed out the results don't mean people in Philadelphia are ugly or the city is a bad place to visit.
"We were asking people to vote on attractiveness, not unattractiveness. Travel & Leisure editors believe there are a lot of attractive people in Philadelphia," she said.
"The relative attractiveness of its residents is only a minuscule factor in evaluating a city's merit."
Philadelphians' self-esteem has been undermined by national surveys showing they are among the fattest people in the United States. The American Obesity Association ranked the city in the top 10 for overweight people every year between 2000 and 2005.
And sporting pride in a city known for the fierce loyalty of its fans has been hurt by not having had a national champion in any of its four main sports since the 76ers won the National Basketball Association title in 1983.

Son2 and His Buds

Son2 and I enjoy meeting other moms and babies outside of our usual circles through Baby Hui. This group of six families just finished meeting. We'll get together once a month now.

Son2, Isaiah, Isabella, Cason, Tess, and Aidan

Aidan was supposed to be this season's baby Aaron on the tv show LOST, but he got too big too fast. His mommy and Cason's mommy and daddy all got to be extras on the show, though.

We were "little" this summer.

Now we are all grown up and do big kid things, like dress up for Halloween.

Sometimes the babies pick on each other. Cason is about to pull Son2's ear. But I wasn't too worried. I knew Son2 could hold his own.

You pull on my EARS and I will suck on your TOES!

Ba Ba Ba Bib!

Sometimes friends get you stuff that you would never know to buy. When Son2 2 was born, Michelle bought me this bib by Funkie Baby. It's cute. But I did not appreciate how cool it is until I used it. It has 3 layers. The middle layer is hidden and soak proof. And we really need that around here, because this baby has, um, "talent." This bib retails for nearly $20 and is worth every penny.

Not for the Squeamish...But Easily Seen Through the Eyes of a Child

If you are a vegetarian or are squeamish you probably want to skip this graphic little post.

It's letter "D" week in preschool, and Son1 is learning all about dinosaurs.

We bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco tonight for dinner when we did our grocery shopping. It was late for dinner time, so we quickly served Son1 dinner while Hubby finished cutting the chicken. Son1 said, "Wook, mommy...its a ter-ah-da-till." And I died laughing. Yes, Son1, the chicken does look like a pterodactyl. Can you make it out? The head and beak (looks like a hook) are right near his fore arm.

Glad This Aint the Fifties!

About 9am this morning I flipped out. It was my turn to bring snacks for my Baby Hui group in one hour, and I totally forgot. The drive to the meeting place is 20 minutes from my house. This was our last of ten meetings, so no chance for a reprieve.

I considered my options. I could buy something. No, that would require waking a sleeping baby from his morning nap. My less than stocked refrigerator was of no immediate help, and neither was the pantry. Sigh. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and racked my brain.

"Ta-dah!" sang a chorus of refrigerator angels from the second shelf. There, in a yellow tub, that may as well have been gold, was refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough from Costco. Okay...what else was frozen? Think! Think! Oh yes....frozen spinach, feta cheese, and mozarella organic frozen pizza...also a Costco wonder. I smiled and tore off the plastic wrap. I scooped the cookies, so they would be ready by the time the oven preheated. The pizza could be cut into small squares, like appetizers. By 9:10am, the oven was preheated, and my snacks were baking away. Then I remembered a banana bread I had frozen a few weeks back, predicting an absolute brain freeze one day when I would need to produce a snack. The bread quickly thawed in the microwave. All of this, and the baby was still asleep.


I pulled the snacks from the oven, allowed them a few minutes to cool, and plated them. I gingerly bundled them, and loaded my car. I plucked Son2 from his crib, buckled him in his car seat, and headed toward the beach to meet the hui. And I kept smiling to myself thinking I am so glad I was born a GenXer and not a pre-Boomer. There's nothing a little Costco can't fix! Premade cookie dough and frozen pizza are a thing of the present.

C is for Cookie

"Here you go, Son1. This is your last cookie."

"Hubby, isn't that his third cookie tonight?"


Guilty look.


Then with a straight face, "I thought chocolate was a vegetable."

Blues on the Bay

This weekend we ventured to the Blues on the Bay air show at K-bay. The Blue Angels were the big stars in the sky. On the ground there were many aircrafts to tour. It took Son1 a little while to warm up to the big "birds." They were a far cry from his Fisher Price Little People airplanes and helicopters.

Air Calvary helicopter pilot gives the Hawaiian shaka.

No, I did not check to see if it was loaded before he pointed it at me....

The C5s were open for us to tour, too. These are the planes that Uncle T. sometimes works on in the Air Force. These are humongous!! They are strategically designed for heavy airlifts over intercontinental distances. They are physically the largest planes that fly on a regular basis.

They were SO HUGE that Son1 was somewhat frightened in the cockpit of a DC 10 after he and Daddy stood in line just to get his picture here.

A picture taken from the ground.

The Blue Angels are in diamond formation. If you click on this picture to enlarge, you get a better picture of these F18s flying just 18 inches from wingtip to wingtip. They had to perform their "low show" btw 1500 and 3500 feet. On a clear day they perform at 8000 feet. But since it was a bit overcast, they flew really low. Depending on their manuevers they were flying between 400 and 800 nautical miles per hour. (I think.) What really matters is that it got SUPER LOUD, too loud for our little family.

So we headed for something a little more our speed. While Son1 flew his helicopter, Hubby whisked Son2 back to the car since the noise was too much for him.





After the show we met up with some friends at Bellows AFB for some beach time. You know us...Will Work for Fun.

A Cowboy By Any Other Name Would Not Smell As Sweet

These two wranglers share the same name.

Son1 has met his first buddy that shares his first name. And they cannot get enough of one another. Last night was a Western themed night at Awanas.

Rakin' in the Rice Cereal

Son2 started rice cereal this week, at just over 6.5 months. Here Son1 is blessing the rice cereal for his little brother. Son2 slurped it down and smacked his lips, mouth, and cheeks. He did not want to give the spoon back, either. In the video clip at the bottom you see him fighting Daddy for the spoon.

Mommy got the clean up job. I cleaned the spoon too since he had no intention of giving it up.