New Daddy

My mom and I took Mason out to lunch this afternoon, and he was chattering away as usual. Some of what he says is nonsense (like he just barely told me "When the sun comes up, we can have popcorn!"....), but if you pay close attention he's pretty funny sometimes.

Much to our surprise, he turned to my mom and said that we were "waiting for new daddy." During questioning, he said "old daddy is at the fire station" and that "new daddy is going to come sit right here by me."

When asked if he knew new daddy's name, he said yes. "It's Papa!"

He calls my dad Papa, so we were relieved that he wasn't calling my virtue into question; we're just trying to figure out Papa's "new" name. Anyone have any ideas?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite of the major holidays. I really love to bake and spend time with family, so it goes without saying that I would love a day centered around good food and loved ones. Especially with my side of our family, it's a rare opportunity for everyone to get together and I don't take that lightly. But even further than that, I have so many things to be grateful for and today gives me a chance to pause and really focus on that. Suddenly, the stomping hissy fit Mason is in the middle of seems so minor compared to the "big picture". So here in no particular order are the things I'm grateful for; they mirror a lot of lists my friends have already posted.

- My family. This is a huge one, and encompasses so many different things. My husband who is a smart, hard worker and encourages me to stay home with Mason. Mason himself, who has taught me so much about myself and life in general. Even though right now he's going through a fit-throwing phase that makes being home seem like a chore, when he isn't throwing a fit or having a hard time, he is such a sweet, smart, and funny kid. He loves to learn, laugh, and play. He has a way of cutting through all the pretenses that a lot of adults have built up and is just himself all the time. He always lets me know where I stand with him; I think he gets that from his dad, and it's such a good thing most of the time. I'm grateful for the baby on the way, but more on that later! I'm also grateful for in-laws and parents who are always there for us and very supportive. The relationship I have with my mom, especially since Mason was born, is leaps and bounds above what I ever thought it could be and I'm so grateful for all of her support and encouragement. I've been lucky in a way to have a close relationship with Alan's mom, who is also supportive and helps me complete projects and do things I never thought I would or could do. And the dads, who are always standing by protectively to help me out with whatever Alan can't accomplish when long work hours take him away. Our family is crazy and imperfect, but they are perfect for me and I love them all.

-My friends. When I need a little bit of sanity or girl power, there is a solid group of friends I can turn to. I have had a lot of disappointment with friendships in my life, figuring out which ones were healthy and which ones weren't hurtful. It's so nice to be in a place where I can count on my friends and I feel like they can count on me. Heather, Joey, Amber...my week isn't complete unless I've at least talked to you all. Even though work, kids, and life in general don't always allow us to spend a lot of time together, when we do get together it feels like no time has passed. And I also have an extended circle of friends that I am lucky to have, who I also appreciate. These three are my core friends, though, and one of the bright spots in my life.

-Stability. Alan and I have been very blessed with a stable life in a lot of aspects. First off, we both are relatively healthy. I've been especially grateful for this strength when I've been pregnant. So many people have hard pregnancies or deliveries and I have been very lucky in both these areas. We are both extremely relieved to have stable jobs, especially with all the economic difficulties surrounding us. We joke that stupid people are our job security; it isn't quite like that. Really, it's people needing help that are our job security, and there will always be people who need help; there will also always be a few nuts mixed in. I'm grateful we both have jobs we love and do well at to support our family. I'm also grateful for the flexibility that allows me to have the best of both worlds and to be at home with Mason most of the time.

So with that, I've got about a hundred things to do today so I'd better jet. But if you haven't had a chance to pause and think about it, I would love to know--what are you thankful for?

Taking it all off...

Wow, I just realized what that title must look like to those of you who follow via feed or email and just see the title. Hmm. Oh, well. You all know how I am by now!

So last week, after 45 minutes of effort with and end result of hair that still looked like I hadn't bothered, I decided I was sick of the long and it was coming off. That it did!

Some of you may remember when I was in high school and my hair never made it past my shoulders. For those of you that don't, this is even shorter than it was then! Heather, my fabulous haircutter, showed me where the 10 inches required to donate would fall and I was like "Hey, why not!" It seemed like a shame to be within an inch or two of donating and not going the extra. Besides, I'm taking pre-natal vitamins; my hair might have grown out that much by Thanksgiving. Probably not, but likely by Christmas.

Plus, when the "oompa-loompa" purple wears out (Alan can be very kind, can't he?!), it will be a more dramatic shade of red than I have tried. I like to think of myself as brave, even if it isn't true.

Also, please forgive the awkward self-portraits. I also ended up with pictures of the ceiling and the back of my chair during the photo shoot. I'm not so good at the self photography.

So I have a 10-inch long ponytail to donate, and if anyone knows of a good cancer charity, I would love the guidance (via comment or email, whatever works). I donated to Locks of Love last time (and one other time about 12 years ag0), but I have a work friend who died of cancer a couple of years ago so I feel a little closer to that cause.

Amused at the museum

We took Mason to Discovery Gateway yesterday for the first time in a long time.

He had two real favorite parts. The first was The Garden at the beginning. He loved all the different sounds and putting the "yellow balls in white tubes to go buh-bye." He giggled every time he put a ball in any part, and he played in there for almost 45 minutes before we could get him to check out anything else.

But then he moved right on to his second favorite, the area where you "build" things using the crane. However, he actually liked to slide through the tube meant to move the blocks back down to the first level. You can then load them on the crane to put them up on the platform. Well, Dad had a different idea what to do with the blocks. And as you can see from the chuckle on his face, he was pretty proud of himself when Mason only manage to budge the blocks a little on his first attempt.

Well, as I mentioned, the slide is designed for blocks only, not for kids. There is plexiglass with a block-sized square cut out to prevent little monkeys from sliding down. Not that it stopped my little monkey, and he totally managed to get stuck in the square. Not to worry, he wiggled free.

And in the end, he broke through the block pile dad built.

Then, the soaked little monkey (after a stop by the water area) took a trip to the farm area to pretend-eat some plastic carrots and onions.


We ended the day thinking Mason would love a trip to the roof to see the helicopter. He did not. In fact, he tried to pull Alan away from the helicopter, shoe first, for a complete escape. After another brief trip through The Garden, we headed to dinner afterwards to make the night complete.

Updates....

So remember when I told you how I had my handwriting turned into a font for free? Well, now it's available for anyone to download through the site because apparently she thought it was cute enough to share. I'm fairly flattered.

But imagine my surprise when I realized it was my handwriting in her title bar! If you've been looking for a new font or even just something a little different as far as typeface goes, there are tons of great ideas so take a moment to look. Mine is available in the group posted in July, along with plenty that are way cuter. The directions are also there; it's fast, easy, and free. Just choose the correct operating system from the page for detailed instructions.

Apparently, the need to color-code is genetic

Mason: Daddy, I don't want to go to the orange store today.
Alan: It's okay, buddy. We don't need to go to the orange store. Just the yellow store.
Mom: The orange store?

I guess you know we go there often if Mason has assigned a color to the store, no matter how appropriate or obvious the color may be. Here's a quick reference guide:

The orange store= Home Depot
The yellow store= Harmons
The red store= Target
The blue store= The Children's Place
The green store= Barnes and Noble

What I did during naptime

Besides take the time to paint my fingernails. It looks weird, because I really can't remember the last time I did it! Also, please don't think I'm too Twilight-obsessed. I like the books, but I'm skeptical about the movie. I'm not counting down or anything. I just saw this on someone's Facebook page and I was bored.



Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.

Decisions, decisions...

Now, please no one die of shock. I have organized a separate playlist of my blog music for Christmas. I know most of you who truly know me will be wondering what the problem is. I am a) not known for my love of traditional Christmas music and b) never so organized I have something like that completed months in advance.

Well, a couple of years ago, I came across Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong album, and it is hands down my favorite wintertime CD. It is slow and mellow and in places even a bit sad. My all-time favorite Christmas/winter song is "In the Bleak Midwinter" (if that tells you anything about the holiday music I like!!), and this was one of the only albums I've ever found with it.

So what I'm wondering is this: when is it too soon to switch over to the holiday playlist? I was totally aghast when I realized LiteFM100 already had Christmas music. Typically, I think Thanksgiving is too passed by and gets moreso every year. I usually refuse, steadfastly, to put up any holiday decorations until at least December 1st. But for some reason this year, I'm itching to do it earlier. So please, take the poll on the top right hand side and let me know what you think!

All Hallows Eve has come and gone...

This Halloween was yet another year Dad was at work (we're keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be on the same platoon next year because then we might be able to actually see him on a holiday!), so we had to make some fun of our own.

We invited some friends over. Ashlyn was a beautiful little snow princess and Mason was a somewhat cooperative monkey. Due to his lack of cooperation last year, and the fact that his costume was a 2T/3T size, I decided to stretch the monkey costume for another year. Plus, I couldn't come up with anything that would be equally as appropriate.

So what are we to do with a seemingly endless supply of candy at home? Well, we made more food of course. We had sweet chili with cornbread, Halloweenies, and were too full to make it through our dessert of chocolate chip cookie dough brownies (see my nerdy recipe blog, The Unpampered Chef for any of these recipes you may want to try). The kids played until the house was a total disaster and helped us hand out candy. Mason rebelled and removed his costume before we made it trick or treating, but there's always next year and I way overbought on candy. Plus, we stopped at Grandma's house so she could see the costume, and she provided Mason with some "yucks" (the Good 'N Plentys he so loves. They are named that because mom and dad both told him they are yucky) and a licorice rope that doubled for a whip during various points of the night.

Overall, we had good food, good company, and good times! Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween!

The Saddest Little Monkey, Halloween 2007

A Two-Toothed Little Tiger, Halloween 2006