FB made me do it

I'm not sure if ANYONE is reading this anymore, since it seems like FaceBook has taken over the world...

Benjamin is almost three, and has had his first haircut!

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER!!!!

I saved the curls in an envelope :) 

Benjamin likes to play music, farmer boy, Dr man, running, jumping, climbing, reading, clay, Mr Chef, and tractor repair man - oh, yes, and occasionally, he is a hockey bat superhero!!! 

He is happy, healthy, and growing - I am incredibly blessed and fortunate to know him :)

How are things out there with you?

*SherryQ*  xo

Since last we spoke ...

Good golly gracious me oh my

Since we last spoke ... We went to Seattle and Victoria, turned '2', played with Abuela and Abuelo, sweltered in the heat, picked pumpkins with Tio Tony, danced in the leaves, played with Granny and GDad, lost both baby transfers, said, "goodbye," to our sweet puppers, had an early Thanksgiving with Kiki, Sweet Zoe, Uncle Jim, Uncle Corey, Sweet Tana, Granny and GDad, another Thanksgiving on the day, and prepared for Christmas.

And, now, well, here we are.

Almost to 2011.

Amazing how that happened!

bwyl (more to come)

*SherryQ* xo

Feet Bar and Papa Bean

Geez - I need to get my act together and write more often.  March 5th - seriously?!!!?  Call me Slacker Sherry...

 showing baby Olivia the deer and wild turkey

As far as what's been going on around here, other than freakish weather changes, giant bumble bees, stink bugs, and beautiful blooms - It turns out that we are not immune to following in the footsteps of those before us…  toddler temper tantrums have arrived!  

 the big slide, all by himself!

sand and trucks are super cool

checking out the early signs of Spring in the woods

How can we complain, though, when those toddler tantrums are closely followed by, “Momma, I feet bar,” = “Momma, I am your sweet bear.”  Holy heck, toddlers learning to talk are super cute, super busy, and super at wearing out momma!  So, I call for back-up one evening as we are struggling to relax and go to sleep (we = Benjamin, as I am completely ready for him to relax and fall asleep!), and in order to elicit a quicker response from his father, I use my endearing name for him, “Tavin” (pronounced “ta-bean” and a shortened version of Octavio).  Feet bar stands up on the bed and decides to assist my efforts by calling out as loudly as he is able, “Papa Bean, PAAPAAAAAA BEEEEEEEEEAN!”  OMFG - DH and I dissolve into hysterics, thus ruining any notion of sleepytime coming soon (it was after 10 p.m. that night!).   

 I fwing ing!

I run ning!

Because we have responded so delightfully to those two phrases, Benjamin is repeating them A LOT.  I understand that at some point we will get tired of hearing what now seems to be cute, and tired of being patient with the tantrums (seriously, how DO they know to just throw themselves on the ground and kick and punch the floor and scream and cry?!!?), but until then, we are enjoying every minute of being Momma to a Feet Bar, and Papa Bean :)

bwyl *SherryQ* xo

Easter and other celebration photos coming soooooon :)

Momma Tip #127

Toddler plays.
Toddler eats.
Toddler plays some more.
Toddler says, "goodbye," to friends.
Toddler gets snuggly in car seat.
Toddler sleeps.

Momma gently moves toddler from car to bed.
Momma gently changes toddler's diaper that she forgot to change before putting him into carseat.

Toddler wakes up, happy and ready to play again.

Total sleep = 10 #@$%$ minutes >:P

Momma = sighing and silently kicking (ok, cursing) herself

One hour later, Momma remembers tip #127 (and earlier sequence).

SO...

Toddler plays.
Toddler eats.
Toddler plays some more.
*Momma changes toddler's diaper*
Toddler gets snuggly in car seat.
Momma drives around random neighborhoods and comments on home and garden features.
Toddler sleeps.
Momma VERY gently moves toddler from car to bed.

And he's been as quiet as a fresh gentle breeze on a sun shiny afternoon for about an hour!!!! :)

I'll be having another tea now, thank you. xo  and W-H-E-W!

bwyl  *SherryQ*  :)

 

Gyffy Co-Co-Pop now wears earrings!

 

Yes, they are "x" and"o" keychains that the little Mister found

 

Taking good care of Gyffy Co-Co-Pop.

He needs a good shining up now and again! :)

Chair-a-licious

Chair.  It is one word.  One beautiful word.  I like to say it - a lot.  I like to look at them - a lot.  I like to imagine them, touch them, walk around them, sit in them, think about them, push them around and covet them.

I. Am. Obsessed.

Truly.

Mock me - it's all been done before. 

For example:  Moving into a 1 bedroom apartment as a grad student, my brother's friends helping, one of them commenting, loudly, "how are there more chairs to bring in?  How many f*cking chairs do you need?  I see one a$$.  One a$$, one chair.  I'm not carrying in anymore f*cking chairs!"  Ah, but he did carry another one of my chairs, and promptly set it in front of the dumpster.  I hope that it found a good home - it was a very clean lined, mid-century modern, low seat, high back chair.  Not an Eames or anything, but truly lovely and comfortable - and living a happy life somewhere, I am sure :)

Now I have something new to dream about.  A chair with this:

 

The room this chair is shown in is kind of icky faux finished feminine California I-have-too-much-money-so-I-hired-a-designer-to-get-my-house-featured-in-an-American-magazine version of "Tuscan"style - I'm surprised the wood isn't white washed...  jealous much (?)  perhaps....  NOT.  Except, of course, for the back of this chair.  I do not want this chair, but I do want this oh so lovely back of the chair to live somewhere in my house.  It is a beyond gorgeous gown worn to an everyday picnic, where bare feet were eventually the only accessory needed.  Or at the midnight dinner and champagne in front of a fire after an evening at the opera in Prague (again bare feet the only accessory needed).  Love.  It.  So.  Much!

I think I need to take a breath and just dream of my little chair - it's easy to get chairried away - oui?

bwyl  *SherryQ*

Manners and a Party!

Benjamin and his ride...  it's how all of the cool toddlers are getting around these days.  It really cuts down on the commute time from the bedroom to the kitchen (stupid D.C. traffic!).  

The placemat is being used!  Benjamin took it to the table and began placing the items on top - so, of course I grabbed the camera - I tried to be really unobtrusive, just to see what he might do on his own - and this is what he came up with!!!  I know - hardly a sign of genius at work, but still, SO CUTE for momma!  Oh, the hat?  Yeah, I was taking back out his little bag of baby clothes to narrow down the "must save" items, and Benjamin saw this hat and immediately latched onto it.  By latched on, I mean, he is now crying for the hat, wants to wear it all of the time, and takes great pride in being able to put it on, take it off, and watch the dog run around with it, then reclaim it with pupper goop on it and reapply to his own head (yuck!)...  crazy toddler!

After fixing his placemat, the baking soda wars began...

 

And painting another morning...

 

  

Just being his own self with a yogurty face :)

Yeah - we wear that shirt a lot - it's from his big boy cousin, Aidan!

Benjamin has been doing some other big boy stuff...

Benjamin's friend, Gerrik, turned 2 (WOO HOO!!!) and had a lovely construction hat cuppy cake party!

 

Adorable mommies and babies!

zip-zip-zooooooom is how it goes in toddler world!

I think that Cadia Rose enjoys cuppy cakes!

The birthday boy appropriately devours his happy birthday delight!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GERRIK!

Mommies discussing important things whilst toddlers are contained by tasty treats!

The birthday party was super relaxing and cute  - we were so glad to see everyone and Benjamin had a great time ;)

 

And speaking of big boy things - Momma, seriously, I'm not sure how much more clear I can be about the signals that I am ready to start using the potty!!!

bwyl  *SherryQ*   xo

The Works

A belated, "Happy Valentine's Day," to you! 

What we did:  Fried eggs breakfast, Octavio gave me some beautiful roses, left for the mall to curb some cabin fever, ended up at Paradise of Fun (uh - not what you're thinking, we went there with our sweet little mister!), and Barnes and Noble, followed by a turkey reuben on a rice wrap from the Common Market, and home to nap - for 20 minutes! 

No joke.  20 Freakin' minutes was all he wrote yesterday.  By 4 p.m. it was melt down central at this house until the little mister finally just tuckered out at 7:30 p.m.  w-h-e-w  What a day!

And how many times have we read these so far...

 

  

If you guessed, "a bazillion," you are probably getting close ;)  Because Benjamin now loves to say, "bippo," for another one of his favorite youtube videos, courtesy of Big Papi...  he LOVES reading the hippo book and all of the kissing (of course) and all of the, "I love you," 's from Todd Parr are a big hit as well ;)

Finally!  And, finally able to be used....

I decided against binding the edges, and just tucked the bottom edges in and straight stiched - the (ahem) rustic stitching wanted to keep the whole project very simple.  Benjamin is having a great time setting his own place and pretending in his kitchen area.  If I can get a good snapshot of him using the placemat, I'll be sure and post ;)

Our new endeavor is to contain the puzzles pieces.  I don't remember which blogger made puzzle bags a few months back, but I am SO copying them for these lovelies:

btw - I did not install the batteries for sound on the puzzles, and will not because I enjoy imagination and will resist, for as long as I am able to, the urge for battery supplied entertainment - in great opposition to my family and husband, but, please remember that I do have a reputation to protect - or is it project...?  ;)

The bags are cut, and being pieced with the liner, which I decided was just going to be the same fabric just turned sideways.  My plan is to have them just pull close with drawstring rope...  we'll see how that progresses...  and then put up command hooks for them to be stored on the wall in the kitchen area near the table.

I think that the little Mister will get a kick out of the bags! :) 

Any other ideas?

Keep warm and safe!  The snow is starting to fall again...

bwyl  *SherryQ* xo

Coming Home

Concentrating on the happiness in my little family today as this will be the first time I am missing my sweet puffin's (the original puffin!) very happy birthday party.  She's turning five and having a blast at JoAnn fabric with all of her friends!  Looks like watching puffins grow up truly is bittersweet...

 

Tana at 4 months with GDad

 

Tana last month in Puerto Rico

 Quick topic change before I melt into tears (too late!)...

What is it about going to the bulk bins, writing the plu# on the twistie, then coming home and putting all of your goodies into jars and cannisters, that is so lovely and satisfying?

And now I get to use it all up making yummy stuff for my family to eat - and maybe some new momma's too!

bwyl  *SherryQ*  xo

Time to clean it up...

After the snow had a day to pack itself down, and the sunshine came out, we headed to the great outdoors to begin another snowy clean-up.

After my attempt at running myself over with the snowblower, Octavio thought he might give it a try himself...

 

Just like a pan of cut marshmallows! 

 

Thar he blows!

  

s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g...  I cannot reach you, little shed!

 

Trying to figure out how to get the cold wet snow off of his mittens

 

AHHHH!  Help me, Momma!

 Snowbanked Benjamin!

 

Feeling groovy!

note:  I was too afraid to step back and give perspective on how high into the bank he is.

About 5ft. or so off of the ground 

 

Throwing his own self into the stack at the edge of the driveway

and eating snow

 

Octavio cutting marshmallows

That doesn't sound nice (?) but it is a pretty view!

 

Benjamin running up and down in the little path

We couldn't get all of the snow with one pass - it was too deep

 

Hello, baby bear!

 

Snow panted toddler

 

Octavio working hard
 

What? Is it SO wrong to expect everyone to help?!!? 

Octavio is headed back outside now, while Benjamin is sleeping, to use the heavy metal shovel and break up some of the ice.  What will we do when real life returns, and Octavio is back at work everyday?  Little Mister is going to miss his Big Papi!  For some reason, I suspect that Octavio is looking forward to the return...  no one else around here seems all that concerned about Spring Training, although we do find PTI amusing.  Benjamin feels a bond with Tony K.

I think that we will venture out tomorrow - more snow is forecast for Monday.  Keep well, everyone!  This is one thrilling winter season, for sure! :)

bwyl  *SherryQ*  xo