Gee, Thanks Mister!

Just found this religious pamphlet in my kids Halloween candy. This is way better than candy! Thanks to the anonymous person who snuck it in there with the Milky Ways and Snickers! Now I can throw away unwanted religious propaganda without even having to talk to some Jehovah's Witnesses that knocked on my door! 

Baking Overtime

I spent the first half of my day making Halloween sugar cookies for Alana to take to school tomorrow. They're cute, but they're not really as cute as I was going for. My frosting wasn't quite as thick as I would have liked, but I'll live. Now I'm tired of looking at baked goods, since its only been a couple of weeks since I made cupcakes for Alana to take for her birthday.

I like the cupcakes better, but Frankenstein keeps looking at me and trying to change my mind.

The thing I need to keep in mind in my quest for perfect baked goods is that THEY'RE GOING TO BE EATEN BY KINDERGARTENERS. I think they're fine. Except I don't know why the glaze didn't dry shiny on the bats when its the same frosting but I dipped them into it instead of using a spoon and next time I need to add even more powdered sugar.

Pumpkin Heads

As these pictures were uploading I ran out to the trash can to throw away two of our moldy pumpkins, so yeah, pumpkin carving seems like a lot of work with not much payoff. But the girls think its fun, and they willingly touch the guts, so they're braver than some kids.

Ava was a little skeptical and gave me some scowls when I tried to make her stick her hand in there and take a picture, so I did most of the cleaning for her pumpkin and all of the carving. Alana cleaned her entire pumpkin, drew out the design, and carved the whole thing herself (with a pumpkin carving tool, not a knife).

David had elaborate plans and then ended up just carving a standard jack-o-lantern, but his pumpkin took forever to clean out so he was tired. That's what happens when you pick the biggest one, it has the most guts. Mine was a green pumpkin that Alana had picked from a pumpkin patch, so I made a Frankenpumpkin. Plus the inside had barely anything in it and took less than two minutes to clean out. It was like carving a giant zucchini.

Even with all of the work and an early grave for two pumpkins, its was still fun. I won't be convinced to paint my pumpkins, its just not the same.

Opening Act

Last night was a special performance from a Benson group called "The Kindergarteners: Class of 2025." It was a one night showing, performing the "Star Spangled Banner" in a way that only a large group of 5 and 6 year olds can, high pitched and at the top of their lungs.

While these photos are a bit like Where's Waldo: The Alana Edition, she is in there somewhere. I'd give a couple of hints, like She's the one in the red or Look for the kid who isn't smiling or looking at the camera but that doesn't really narrow it down much.

This was the first of what I"m sure will be many interesting performances where Alana is awkwardly standing among her peers while they all sing off key. I'm looking forward to all of them, there's never a dull moment with this many wild kids around.

Milestones: Four Months Old

My dude is four months old today. You know the drill by now, I can't believe how fast he's growing, I just had him yesterday, he's so big now, etc etc. I've actually been telling people he's four months old for about a week and a half now. Whenever anyone asked, which is a lot, I just said four months. Its easier than explaining the details of his age, and he is a solid and heavy guy, so four months is passable.

At four months he scoots along on his back by digging his heels into the carpet, which is his favorite thing to do when I'm changing his diaper. He doesn't roll over though, he's lazy. He could probably spend more time on his belly to encourage said rolling over, but I don't put him on it nearly enough. He spends plenty of time on the floor, but mostly on his back with girls all up in his business. If I were him I'd learn to roll over just to get away from them. He is also an expert at sock removal, as I type this he just kicked the left one off onto the floor. Victory!

He is my little linebacker, weighing in at 14 lbs, 10 oz, and 24 inches tall. That's 2 whole feet of muscular little dude. He still wears 0-3 months clothes, but I'll probably move him up a size soon because all of his warmer clothes are 3-6 months. He has crazy out of control hair, but his bald spot isn't really as prominent as the ones that the girls had. Maybe because his hair is thicker and longer in the back than the girls was. He still has blue eyes, but they are really dark so its hard to tell. My money is on them changing color eventually, like Alana's did. These kids are not destined to look like me.

Witten is a sweet and cuddly boy. I love his chubby cheeks and slobbery open mouthed kisses. No matter what I do to his hair it always stands straight up, it has a mind of its own. He falls asleep so peacefully, but only likes to be held when he is sleeping at night time. The rest of the time he prefers to sleep in his bouncer seat or his carseat. His tongue is also out of control, he loves sticking it out at people all of the time. That leads to large amounts of drool, which commonly soak his shirt. Then he eats the face off of any toy that you give to him, and when he's done with that he will chew his blanket like its his last meal. Clearly nobody feeds this boy.

This dude needs to settle down with the growing up, I can't handle it. He is getting big and strong and before long he'll be on the move, getting into stuff. I think I prefer the cuddly boy who just smiles at me innocently, rather than the one who probably has big plans to eat all of his sister's toys. These kids are trying to make me crazy with their incessant growing.

Almost Famous

I'm not really a big zombie lover, but I will watch The Walking Dead with David. I might even enjoy that show, even if it makes me have some really weird dreams where I fight zombies at Wendy's with a broom.

During this week's episode David was extra pumped. Because of exciting plot twists? Eh. Because of suspense and drama? Not really. Mostly because someone who he was friends with in high school, Nick Gomez, was one of the actors. He played a prisoner named Tomas who was kind of confrontational and ended up dying just as his plot arc got interesting.

I can't even tell you some of the details of the show, cause the whole time David kept saying Look, it's Nick Gomez! That's Nick Gomez! Nick Gomez is a badass!

Then I said that was annoying, so he said I was jealous. Yeah, I really care about Nick Gomez on TV. David says I'm jealous cause none of my high school friends are famous. I don't see Debany and Lindsey on the Walkind Dead, just Nick Gomez. Okay, I get it. You know that guy. And he's on The Walking Dead, which is kind of a big deal. If I say I'm impressed do I forfeit the argument?

Animal Lover

Embracing Imperfect Photos

The problem with being the one who takes the photos in my family is this: I'm not in most of the pictures. And when I am they aren't as great as the pictures that I have taken. The composition isn't the way I would've done it, the exposure might be off because I couldn't see the meter to correct it, or even in the worst case scenario my head is cut off.

This picture was extra frustrating to me, because it was the one where we both looked the best and the dude was looking at the camera. But I am partially headless. Someone invent a time machine in my camera so I can go back and fix it.

I have sort of learned to accept this, but there is still a huge perfectionist part of me that wants more. I want to be in some of the pictures. I want to have pictures of me and my little dude,without having to ask someone to take my complicated and giant camera and just wing it. I want more pictures where I'm not just holding the camera at arms length, hoping I don't look like an idiot even though I usually do in these types of photos.

I have a remote, which helps. And I have a tripod. That helps too. But the main problem is that I still have to set the camera settings, so if they're off when I'm on the other side of the lens I can't change them. I just have to wing it, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

These pictures aren't always perfect (see Minnie Mouse on the floor crashing that picture?) but they prove one important thing: I was there too. Someday, when I'm not there, I want my kids to have pictures of us together. Pictures that really solidy to them how much I love them, not just pictures of them smiling at me while I'm behind the camera.
Sometimes I even let Ava have the remote. She thinks it is awesome, but she gets really close to the camera with it and sometimes bumps into the camera. Then things are blurry. I'm blurry. Oh well.

But then my photo crashing girl clicks another one and it turns out to be a keeper. Even if I had to crop Witten's feet out of it. Sorry dude, catch you on the flip side.

The entire point of pictures, the entire point of this fancy camera, is to catch moments and things I want to remember. Someday this dude will be taller than me, not anytime soon, but someday. But right now I want to remember that he is still a little nugget. A cute one.

My quest for photographic world domination continues. Even when imperfect pictures strike.

Like ones where his expression is spot on, but his wobbly head combined with the low shutter speed I had the camera set at made him a little out of focus.

Or ones where my camera was at a different angle, so my computer insists on making them upside down. This is only a problem online though, a printed picture can be turned much easier.

Sometimes the squirmy dude is moving his hands AND his head, resulting in some crazy motion blur. He's just so fast! AND the picture is a little overexposed because of the bright light from the window. Whoops.
Other times though, he cooperates. He holds still, he looks at the camera. He maybe even cracks a smile. That's when it totally pays off, all of this photographing of people. The girls always look, they always smile. That's why my dude is the ultimate test of my patience. So I know I'm doing something right. And that all of these pictures I'm taking are worth it. Cause I froze this exact moment in time and hopefully I will remember it. Spit bubbles, crazy hair, curly toes and all.

Playtime Just Got Interesting

I put my dude in an activity center thing this morning, and he is till undecided about his opinion. I think he is leaning towards thinking its awesome, because he cried when I tried to take him out. Then he resumed staring down his monkey frenemy.

Afro Circus

Sorry little dude, but the rainbow wig that came with Madagascar 3 is too funny not to put on your baby head. I cannot stop laughing when you're wearing it. It is the funniest thing I've ever seen. Hope you understand.

Field Trippin'

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to wear a sweater or a scarf or boots during fall activities. What is fall like? I don't really know, since the mesquite trees in my backyard don't turn colors and its currently like 85 degrees outside.

Aren't you supposed to drink warm drinks and not sweat like a dog when you go to pick pumpkins? I'm pretty sure you are. But then again, I don't know.

At least when you go to the pumpkin patch for a field trip you get to spend time with lots of kindergarteners. Which is entertaining, even if you're all sweaty.

Most people don't stare into the blazing AZ sun on a "fall" field trip, but here we do. Does it feel like fall yet? I'm gonna go eat a pumpkin cookie so that it does.

Then I'm gonna pet a goat. That's kind of fall-ish.

Then I'll catch some sweet air on this jumping pillow, even if it causes me to sweat even more. Totally worth it though.

When you engage in "fall" activities in hot weather, your face gets red (like Alana) and you get all sweaty (like me).

If your day of fall fun needs a pick-me-up, pet a baby pig. Then squeal over its cuteness. I can't help but squeal over it a little bit right now, then think of its future as bacon. Mmm, bacon.

No field trip to a pumpkin patch would be complete without a trip to the top of a mountain of hay. I even climbed it, but as proof of my old age it made me nervous once I was up there. I had to get down. Then I was kind of jumpy on the wagon ride to the actual part where we picked a pumpkin. Alana picked the perfect pumpkin (not pictured, but seriously all pumpkins look the same people).

This sweaty fall field trip was brought to you by the AZ heat and the neverending quest that we all embark on each fall to pick our own produce. Do we even realize that they sell that stuff at the store?