Fear the Beard

Brian Wilson is the Giants Closers. He is very good at what he does and he has a weird beard.

And so I thought my boys needed beards too.

Look! Baby B is actually smiling under that beard.

J really isn't sure what is going on, he just knows that Dad won't let him use his hands- because his hands tend to rip off his beard.

They won't be wearing these beards during the game tonight- basically because they will be asleep- or at meetings (Ken has Special Needs Mutual on Thursdays). Guess I will have to put one on.....I mean we can't let the Giants think we don't support them.

Very Superstitious

I started running again about a month ago, I decided to wear a hat. I found a hat by the front door, it was a Giants hat. I started to believe that I needed to wear that hat when I ran so that the Giants would win. They didn't always win, but they won enough to entrench me in my new superstition. Sadly, I am really starting to believe that if I don't at least attempt to run with the hat on, on a game day, the Giants will lose.

Can you blame me? They made it into the World Series didn't they? Yep, that is pretty much because of me.

Now that the World Series has started, my Superstition has grown. It now includes what the baby wears on game days. Yesterday he wore a cute little white Giants onsie- and today- (even though it is still a home game) he is wearing this nice little gray number. How could they lose with a fan This Cute! They Can't!!! Look how happy he is to support them!

This next picture isn't about superstitions, but rather it is about how long the memory of a 2.5 year old boy is. Last Saturday we hosted the friendly neighborhood plumber in our home for a few hours. He spent a while laying in front of the sink, cabinet doors open, heater vent removed..... can you guess what I saw when I walked into the kitchen a few minutes ago. By the time I got camera and took some pictures, the vent was back on, but I assure you, Little J looked like a tiny version of our Plumber Friend.
Maybe he is contemplating Plumbing as a Career....I was just saying yesterday that we were going to start training our boys to become professional baseball players, that their careers would be our retirement program. I guess we better keep saving money on our own, I don't think Plumbing is quite as lucrative.

Ba Ba Black Sheep

This conversation occurred earlier today, while J eating Life cereal-

J- I wan mo.

Me- More of What?

J-That.

Me- Okay, say, "I want more Life"

J- I wan mo wife!

So I pour him some more cereal.

J- BaBa, BaBa, Baba.

Me- You want more milk?

While shaking his head J- Uuhu, BaBa.

Me-Can you say "Milk"?

J- BaBa.

Me- Say, "More Milk please."

J- Mo BaBa Peas.

At least I know he is not just a parrot.

Caught....Red Handed!

And Red Mouthed.

Why is the red "Stamp-in' dot" so appealing. Good thing Ken stopped by on Sunday afternoon in-between meetings so that he could find this guy before things got worse.

I did it! I decorated for a Holiday!

I have always wanted to have a cute house. A house where it was easy to tell that a fun and exciting person could be found inside. I figured that decorating for the holidays would be the way to go, and I ALWAYS intended to do that kind of stuff but it never really worked out. The Valentine Heart window clings fell off and and the ones on the storm door actually blew away. I did make a cute Christmas wreath last year- but it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it- Oh and the Christmas lights I put up- 1/3rd of them didn't light up.....

But this Halloween- we look like fun people! I think....

See our ghosts- J likes to point out that one is Mommy and one is Daddy and that there is a baby and a big boy. I cut out the parts and put tape on the eyes, then I let J put the eyes on the ghosts, it worked out pretty well.

Next our pumpkins.....
I once again cut everything out, I put the smiling pumpkin together, and then I let J decide the location for all the other pumpkin face pieces. I was quite surprised by 1- how J seems to think that all faces need at least one crooked piece- whether it be the nose, eyes or mouth- something needs to be slightly off. And 2- They all look really cute.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I did not come up with this idea on my own. There is a house up the street that has been "Advertising" that someone fun lives inside. I saw their pumpkins and thought- "Oh, that is really cute, we have construction paper, we could totally do that" and I stole their idea. I thought I came up with the ghost thing all on my own, but then I walked past their house again yesterday and saw that they too had ghosts on their door. hehehehe. Guess I am not one to come up with original Ideas- but I am pretty good at making cute copies.

The Escape Plan

This picture is a re-enactment of what happened on Tuesday night.

And here is the story of what happened. Ken was reading in our room and I took J in to show Ken the cute Halloween Costume we had borrowed- it's a Tiger! Then I left J with Ken and I took the baby downstairs because he was fussy and I was hoping that he would take a nap. The baby did go down for a nap. I then noticed J's blanket on the floor down there and so after a few minutes of TV watching I took the blanket upstairs. I was sure that Ken had J ready for bed and so as I came into the room I said "Does my little Tiger want his blanket?" but I wasn't greeted by Ken and my little Tiger, Ken was the only one in the room. He was confused, wasn't J downstairs with me? No, he is up here......we checked the front door- it was ever so slightly open. We jumped out onto the porch..."one of his cars is missing." Ken said. And with that I took off running as fast as I could towards the big community park. When I was about a 1/2 a block away from the park I could tell he wasn't there. I stopped, I didn't know what to do, where would he have gone, I was about to run towards the next largest park when I thought that I should ask a group of pre-teen boys if they had seen a toddler go by. I started to run across the street and that is when I saw him, about a block and a half away. I SCREAMED his name and bolted, I didn't realize I could sprint that fast without shoes. I caught up to him right as he was turning down a pretty secluded path between houses- one that I never would have thought to go down. I felt so grateful that I had spotted him when I did, that I felt prompted to ask the boys instead of turning and running to the other park. I am not sure we would have found him and as he would have been in a completely different neighborhood, any adult who found him would have no idea who he was.

He wasn't scared, he smiled at me in a way that said "Oh Fun, you came on the walk too!" I convinced him to walk back towards the house with me. He had crossed two streets by himself, this FREAKED ME OUT! It could have turned out so badly, but as we were walking back, even with me there, he wouldn't cross the street unless there were absolutely no cars nearby, (this is not normal for him, he usually will run out into the street, giggling with delight). When we made it back to our neighborhood Ken caught up with us, he had made the rounds of all the other parks, he picked J up and carried the rest of the way home.

Did I mention that I was wearing my bright pink running shirt and a Tiger Ears headband...yeah I must have looked insane sprinting down the road. But who cares, I found my boy just in time.

I believe in God. I believe he watches over little wayward boys who want to go on an adventure and I believe he guides frantic parents in their search to find their beloved child. For the past few days the front door has been dead-bolted shut and although he has tried, J hasn't escaped since.

P.S. the baby slept through it all- 2nd tender mercy of the night.

Like Father Like Son

Yes, I share a home with 1 giant Giants fan and 2 miniature ones. This is what Ken and baby B looked like yesterday afternoon. Pretty happy! Too bad the Giants decided to lose yesterday- Oh Well, maybe they are just trying to make the series last longer.
Notice the Giants tie that Ken is wearing. He wears it on Sunday Game days. It makes me smile.

Farmer J!

Do you see him? Farmer J? Out there working to tame the wild backyard. It used to be wilder, Ken worked hard this weekend (Thanks Ken) but I know that I could do much more, a little trimming here, a little more love and attention there. Next year....Next year it will be a beautiful retreat. (I think I say that every year.) Do you see my one pumpkin? I think it is a pumpkin, the plant was labeled as such when I bought it, but the one pumpkin it produced was never ever green. It was white, It has started to turn an orange-yellow. I am going to pick it in a week or two an put it out on the front porch, I grew it just for that purpose and pumpkin or not it is going to decorate!

Today, Farmer J picked some more tomatoes for me. I love how the one in the cab of the tractor looks like a watermelon. Maybe next year I will try growing melons. mm-mm, yum.
I am grateful for my little back yard, I am especially grateful the new (used and free) window-well cover that allows me to be more comfortable letting J play out there on his own.

Preview!

Okay, so I couldn't get him to look at the camera and smile- but take my word for it, in this picture he was looking up at a picture of Jesus- which I think is totally sweet.

For those of you who can not make it to Baby B's Blessing this Sunday, here is what he will look like. Many thanks to Abby for 1st- being such an amazing seamstress and 2nd letting us borrow this beautiful Blessing Suit.

For those of you who would like to come to the blessing it is at 9 AM on Sunday 10-10-10. Let me know if you need directions. Also- there will be a luncheon starting around 12:30 at my house (It's Potato Tacos! You know you want some).

More Fun with J....

He is a little confused, a little torn between worlds. You see he still wants to be my Baby.......

But he also wants to be a Parent.
Here he is getting his babies ready for a walk, making sure that they are buckled in correctly....
and most importantly that they have toys to play with. He must get bored while we are out walking or running. Maybe I will bring toys next time.
He will be a great Daddy- as you can tell, but I am glad he is going to be my little boy for a little while longer.

"Mommy.....HAND?!?"

Yes, it's Peanut Butter. I guess he was hungry. But then it must have felt weird and so instead of eating his prize right off his hand, he called to me "Mommy.....HAND?!?"
I helped him wash his hand, after I took these wonderful pictures of course.