Chowchilla revisited

Ok, so I have not actually visited Chowchilla. But we have to drive through it on our way to Fresno. And Fresno is where we had Thanksgiving dinner.

Behold!


As always, Thanksgiving at Rita’s was wonderful. The table looked fabulous and the food was even better. I have got to get her recipe for Onion Soup – it is worth a 3 hour drive any day! There was the traditional game of Bocce Ball before dinner. Kyle won and it turns out he is not very humble. I think I heard him telling Chris that he ‘creamed’ us. Nice. We spent the night in Fresno and then drove to Santa Cruz for the rest of the weekend. More pictures too follow. And tales of baking!

And we're outta here

Can't talk now - clowns will eat me. I mean - busy packing. Yes, it's the same old song and dance, the pre-weekend in Santa Cruz stress-fess. You would think that this packing thing would be a breeze by now and in some ways it is. I know what needs to go and how to pack it, but it still makes me a bit stressed out. But I bet I’m not the only one who’s twitching – the grandparents haven’t seen the Bean in … how long has it been? Let’s see the last set of photos from Santa Cruz (which I still haven’t gotten around to editing) were from a month ago! Oh my, here – quick! A new picture of Erin that Kyle took.

Whew, that was close. And now I’ve really got to get back to it. Those clowns aren’t going to pack themselves.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

This is not a Food Blog*

I've been making things. Besides trouble, whoopee, and faces behind your back.

For Julie~
An Artichoke Frittata:


My favorite Bad Home Cook took a stab at the Artichoke Fritatta recipe I sent her (read all about it here!) so the last time I made one I took some photos. Kyle thought it very strange that I was taking pictures of my food.



This is not a Knit Blog Ver 2.0

A Umbilical Cord Hat~

And what all the fashion forward babies are wearing this season:

There are more photo's of Grandpa's Little Model on Flickr here. And I'll try to get a picture of the aforementioned tooth. Actually - teeth! I noticed the second one poking through this morning.

*Heh - Kyle, who is too nosey for his own good and reading over my shoulder, just started singing "(This is Not a) Love Song" He gets it! I'm so proud.

Slow down! What's the hurry?

Question – do you find your head moving while you watch that video? Do you end up feeling a bit queasy? Maybe it’s just me.

The bouncy baby Bean is 7 months old today! 7 months old. Damn. And she’s starting to show her age. She no longer wants to lay back and chill in her bouncy chair. No, she sits straight up in it. And the swing – not so much any more. Either the batteries have died or she is just too heavy for that poor little motor. And speaking of heavy – guess who is just 2 ½ pounds shy of the weight limit for her infant car seat? And then try to guess who got a new car seat last weekend. And don’t even get me started on that little tooth that she has been biting me with!

And we’ve moved up to the next size diapers. She was wearing Pampers Swaddlers 2-3s. Yeah, I had wondered what was up with the 2-3 combo size - are they for the indecisive parent? For the parent in denial? There are no other combo diapers sizes so why the 2-3 overlap? Well, now I know. Pampers size 3 diapers are not a part of the Swaddler family. They belong in the Cruisers camp. Cruisers! Yeah – that implies a baby on the move. I do not want to be giving my baby any green lights in regards to her impending mobility. Swaddlers = good. A nice wrapped up baby isn’t going anywhere. But Cruisers? With the pictures of the babies crawling and toddling around right on the box? Bad Pampers! Stop giving my impressionable baby ideas!

So yes - that answer is Parents in Denial.

Luckily Erin hasn’t started crawling yet. But hey – the day is still young. And even without the crawling proper, that girl manages to get around. There is the forearm drag and the ever popular roll. Last night she rolled right out of the room.

So yeah, its time to start the baby-proofing. We’ve already lower the crib mattress. Next is gate shopping. Hey – that reminds me of the best Halloween costume idea I saw this year. Small kid was dressed up as a doggie and the mommy had that doggie on a leash!

Baby's First YouTube Video

We bought Erin a doorway jumper a couple weekends ago and she love love loves it. And we laugh laugh laugh. Because the bouncing Bean is funny. And last night Chris finally broke out the video camera. He set it up on the tripod because his camera is old school - big and heavy. I complain bitterly about it every chance I get. I know, hard to imagine right? Not only does this video camera want to break your arm, it records onto tape. Tape that I can do nothing with. But I'm not the only one who suffers - so do you! And I think we've already established that I care. I'm a giver. So I grabbed Kyle's camera and viola! The Bean for your viewing pleasure.

It was FA-BU-LOUS!

Not only did we survive our Friday night adventure with every screaming little girl in the greater Sacramento area - I think I can safely say that we enjoyed ourselves. Disney puts on a good show. And when you are viewing it from the comforts of a center court suite, well what is there to complain about?! Oh wait, I have got a complaint – I’m sore! You try holding a bouncing 18 pound 6 month old for 2+ hours. Whereas Kyle sat staring with apt attention through out the show, Erin was all about the dancing! That girl was into it! And by the end of the night my neck and shoulders were not happy. Chris held her as much as she would allow and his biceps aren’t letting him forget that night either. So, two thumbs up for High School Musical on Ice. Now take those thumbs and apply to my shoulders and commence rubbing!

And if you are like me and have no clue as to what High School Musical is about - think Grease, but without all the sexual innuendo. And no Sha-Na-Na.

I teased Kyle that I would buy the soundtrack so we could listen to it to and from school and he didn’t even protest. Scary. Actually I think he would put up with just about anything if it meant he didn’t have to listen to NPR everyday.

Speaking of the news - what happened in Pakistan over the weekend?! I tune out for 2 days and this morning I have no idea what is going on. Hmm, I think I’ll keep it that way for a little longer. I need to keep my head clear for this evening’s romp thought our Flex Spending Account projections for next year. Big fun.

Today is the day. (or - I mock because I love)

Halloween was 2 days ago. Here is the timeline: take the pictures Wednesday night, process them on Thursday, and post ‘em on Friday. All across the blog-o-sphere those cute princesses and pirates are popping up to a swelling refrain of “Aaahhh how adorable!”

And today, like a dead fish, I will go with the flow.

Man, Halloween totally snuck up on me this year. We didn’t even get a pumpkin! I’m not sure how that happened. But there we were the day before Halloween – no pumpkin and no candy. So the decision was made – keep the house dark, lock the door and the 4 of us will go Trick or Treating. And even thought I only let Kyle carry a standard issue plastic pumpkin, we still ended up with a bulging grocery bag full of candy! And Kyle hasn’t been allowed to eat any of it! Yup. That is how mean a mom I am.

Ok, I do have a soft squishy caramel center (hence the diet) and I will let Kyle pick a handful of his favorite candy before I donate the rest to…. Hey little reader – want some candy?!

Another holiday celebration I am going to have to miss again is Dia de los Muertos! And why can't I go to this afternoon’s festivities? Because we are going to see Disney’s High School Musical on Ice! That’s right – on Ice. Tonight. At Arco Arena. Can you sense my excitement?

Luckily we only found out about this thrilling opportunity yesterday afternoon. I mean really, just imagine the state I would be in if I had had weeks to look forward to this! As it is I still might put in an emergency call to Stacy. For moral support of course.

But this is a Chris work function thing where clients will be schmoozed. A company higher-up moved/relocated/or some such thing to Chris’s office and brought an Arco Arena box with him. Or should I say private suite complete with catering and a hostess! So, all that is making my first ice show a bit more palatable. It also means that we will probably have many more opportunities to attend events in the future. I’m crossing my fingers for the monster trucks!