Snow!

I wish I could write that we got snow by our house, but sadly we didn't. On December 17, snow fell in the mountains and high desert, which is about 20 minutes from us. But from my kitchen window I could see it blanketing the mountains. The only thing that fell in our city was rain.

My husband and fellow carpooler got stuck out in the desert, unable to get home, due to 2 freeway closings, and other streets. They finally back tracked to the train station, and took the train home. A normal 1.5 hour commute home took them over 6 hours!

Here is a picture that was taken at the train depot.


The next day John was told his office was going to be shut down, again due to road closures and blustery conditions (have I mentioned he works in THE DESERT!). So the 3 of us hopped in the truck to find some snow!

This photo was taken as we left town. You can see the snow in the distance. Sadly, a few miles up the road a cop was blocking the road, not letting people through.


Because the roads were closed, even people who lived in the towns to the north were unable to get home. The roads and the freeways were lined with people who had spent the night in their cars waiting for the roads to open.

But we persisted in our quest for snow!


We knew of another way up the mountain and tried that way. After going less than a mile we voluntarily turned around, due to icy road conditions. But here was the view.

As of today (Dec. 19) the freeways and roads are now open, and at our home it's a balmy 50 degrees. 20 minutes north of us is a completely different story!

New Tent

I'm not sure why I entitled this post "New Tent" since any tent that is in our living has got to be new (I wouldn't have an old tent in there! No way!) but who cares. I have a title nonetheless.

William has the crankies. I'm not sure if it's due to teeth, due to the late night outing at Babies R Us or what, but he's been driving me crazy. We went to the park in the morning, and he still was cranky. So....I made a tent in the living room. Why, you ask? Because I have nothing better to do with my time, that's why. Dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning toilets can always wait.

Santa Lame-O

A few days ago I was at Babies R Us returning some cupboard locks that my husband promised he'd install. That never happened, and I got sick of moving them from one section of too-full counter space to another section that was just as full. So I returned them and got my $2 back! YES!

As I was checking out I noticed a flyer that listed the various Santa visitings around the Los Angeles area. Since these visits are free (the ones at the mall are NOT!) I grabbed a flyer and immediately posted the event on my calendar, so as not to forget it. My son was going to see Santa!

So last night I reminded my sleep-deprived husband that tonight Santa was stopping his sleigh in Valencia and we were going to pay him a visit. He agreed to go and take pictures of the exciting time we were going to have.

This picture explains it all.
(What on EARTH is under his coat? He looks like a boob-job gone horribly wrong!)

Anyway.

I was gearing up for long lines. Lots of little kids. Crying kids. Lots of picture taking. There was nothing of the sort. John asked where the camera was and I was reluctant to take it out, lest its presence betray the fact that we were here solely to see the man in the red suit. Luckily I needed diapers and wipes, so after the 4.6 second stand next to Santa we were off to another section of the store.

We did let William ride Garfield, since Santa was such a let down.

The Mighty William!!

Not sure how to actually get this video to come up, other than a link....but here ya go!

Mighty William!

A Mish Mash

Lots going on here....

I've been decorating for Christmas...hard to believe that time of year is upon us already. I'm having a hard time getting into the "Christmas mood" when it's 85 degrees out. This hot weather is getting a bit sickening. I'd really just like to wear some cozy clothes. To help get in the spirit I've been listening to lots of Christmas music, and teaching my piano students Christmas songs. :-)

Yesterday while eating lunch we heard a huge BOOM! Last time there was a loud noise like that we were having an earthquake. I thought we were having another, then realized that nothing was shaking. No earthquake. John ran downstairs and turned the tv on - yup! The shuttle had entered the atmosphere! I guess due to rain in Florida the shuttle had to land at Edwards AFB. John was pretty excited, as he was hoping to see it when he went in to work today. Bummer we didn't know about it sooner, though, as we would have been outside waiting for it. The contrail could be seen, as it flew practically right over us.

On a completely different note, I've decided that letting William decide if he's going to do 1 nap or 2 is out of the question. I'm the Mom, and I make the rules. TWO naps it is. End of discussion! He protests, but within minutes he's usually fast asleep.

William now has 7 teeth, as another bottom one popped through yesterday. That makes his extreme crankiness easier to understand. I can deal with him being in pain, but not crankies for the sake of crankies.

Well....that's all for now!

~The Mamma

Our Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. We sure did! John smoked our 1o pound turkey all morning, and I made the rest of the food. It was delicious, and we're still dining on leftovers.

On another note, here's a picture of the blueberry-pear tart I made Wednesday. The filling was delicious, but the crust had something to be desired. Anyone have a fail-proof recipe for crust that you'd like to share with me? I'd love to have some other options.

Drum Roll Please...

Just a quickie here...I'm very excited to announce.....drum roll, please...

William did his first sign last night!!! I've been trying to teach him "please" and "thank you" via signing, and last night he did it all by himself! I'm not very consistent with signing please and thank you, but I always say it to him...last night he copied me and signed thank you after he ate his food. And this morning he did please and thank you again! We're making progress!!

I'm so proud of him!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Can't Help Myself...

This book was so much fun. I couldn't put it down. (Not because I could read the words, or anything...)

But I did. I had to. I was with my husband and son at my friend's house for a birthday party. I didn't want her to think I was a nerd.


Especially since I was taking self portraits of my face in a pig's body.




And rooster's.

Oh, I crack myself up sometimes!

Brisket

I know this isn't a food blog, but I just had to share the wonderful brisket my husband made this past Tuesday. He got the recipe from a grilling cookbook, so I won't reprint it here.



Oh man! The meat was smoked for over 6 hours, and boy, was it worth it! The potatoes (obviously not shown) were also smoked, for about 5 hours. They, too, were done to perfection!




I don't think words have been invented to describe the incredible goodness shown in this picture.

Shorter Hikes Here We Come!

John had today off, (tomorrow too! Yeah!) so we decided that we'd have a leisurely "family fun" day by biking/rollerblading in the morning, and hiking the Mentryville trail in the afternoon.

With William's help John pumped up his bike tires and my jogger tires. We ended up going several miles on the trails around our home. Since rollerblading and pushing a jogger is much more work than biking (in my opinion) and since there are lots of hills where we live I was exhausted by the time we got home. I've been keeping my eyes open for a bike trailer/bike seat either second hand through zwaggle/freepeats/Play It Again Sports or a good deal through a store. If any of you see anything let me know!


After William's nap we headed out to In 'N Out for burgers and a shake. William has found that he loves french fries and strawberry shakes! He's never been able to get anything to come out of a straw, but once we put the shake up to his mouth he "magically" figured it out!

Then we headed for the hiking trails! Wait for us William! (He was a little eager to get started.)


John lugged William on his back for several miles before we turned around. I was not thinking, and didn't bring William's sippy of milk. He started fussing a little, and we decided that short hiking trips are what we're going to be doing for awhile!


We all had a wonderful time! It was a great leisurely "family fun" day!

Hold On While I Fix My Cape

Today was one of those days where I needed to schedule in breathing time.

From the moment I got up I was go-go-go. For the record it seems that some nights I don't get any sleep. Last night William woke up around 1am and refused to go back to sleep unless I nursed him. I complied. Then I tried to go back to sleep, but since John was pulling an "all nighter" with his school work I had a hard time sleeping. 4am John started getting ready for work, and I woke up for that. 6:30 my alarm went off. Yeah...I didn't get much sleep.

I did accomplish a lot, though. Post office, mopped floor, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, tutored 3 kids all afternoon. Not to mention I have a very active (and headstrong!) little tot under my feet!

I'm trying to get my "chores" assigned to a certain day, so that the vacuuming gets done on a particular day, bathrooms get cleaned on another, etc. but I'm having a hard time doing so. Life just seems to get in the way.

Do any of you have a specific way you get everything accomplished in your week? I'd love to hear any suggestions.

Anyway, my cape has been fluttering all day, and now that I've been sitting here awhile it's getting quite wrinkled. I'll be needing it tomorrow, so I'd best go hang it up for the night.

Have a good one!

~The Mamma

Pears In The Armpits

Yes, you read that right. (If you enlarge the photo you can see pears that go all the way up his arm! He's eating fresh pears now, not pureed. He practically squashes them to pieces when he picks them up, though.)


Anyway...William has been getting very picky with his eating lately. He simply doesn't want to eat like a big boy anymore. He'll eat, but only little bits. All he really wants is milk. milk. milk. He fusses, he squirms, he yells. It's all driving me nuts and I don't know what to do about it.

He has always been a perfect eater, eating everything I place in front of him or place in his mouth for him. Now, it's like he's entering the Terrible Twos and has to protest every. little. thing.

I tried something different the other day. I let him hold his own spoon and "feed" himself. It was extremely messy, but it did the trick. That was exactly what he wanted.


I promptly went out and bought a carpet protector!

When You Run Out Of Candidates...

...always vote your conscience!




I hope he's not too upset if his choice for President doesn't garner enough votes to make it to the White House.
I think he'll get over it!

I Think You Get The Picture

Just a little note I found on the grass here in our neighborhood while taking William for a walk. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Nursery

This morning we left William in the nursery, since of the three of us he's the only one who's healthy. We thought that sitting in the well-baby cry room would not have been good, even though the "baby" is well.

We dropped him off and left quickly, so I couldn't see the alligator tears that I'm sure poured out. I left explicit instructions for the attendants to page me if he was crying more than 10 minutes. (They've let him cry for a looong time in the past, and that just upset me.)

I completely expected to be paged during the service, but none came. :-)

When we went back to the nursery to pick him up a nice girl was holding him (of course!) and he was tear-free. The moment he saw us he started to cry, giving us me the guilt trip. The girl assured me that he hadn't cried (really) and had played with the toys.

It was great being able to get a few moments away, and to enjoy a great sermon.

Time Lapse...

William was given this costume last year. Back then I could hardly believe that he'd be big enough to wear it, and, well....he's still not quite big enough, but it fits him fairly well. He thought it was pretty cool, and tramped around upstairs like a little cub.

Since he's still not feeling well, after a few minutes of being a tiger he got thoroughly bored of the activity. And he let me know it.



Sort of reminds me of last year...

Halloween!!

William and I love to take walks. We take at least one walk every day. With Halloween approaching the people in our neighborhood have been decorating.

Well, we were taking a walk yesterday around our neighborhood, and we were passing a house that has a lot of Halloween decorations - pumpkins, lit-up skulls, spiders, you name it. Well, high up, hanging from the highest window was this huge ghost/skull thing. It was pretty freaky, actually. William was in his car and since it was so high up, I stopped and pointed up to the ghost. He followed my point and just stared at the thing with his mouth wide open. I didn't want him crying so we pressed on rather quickly, but I was laughing to myself so hard! Later in the afternoon today we took another walk, and he remembered that the ghost thing was there, and immediately looked up at it as we passed. I really wish I knew what was going through his little head! Too cute!

Growing Up...

My boycha is 13 months now, sniff, and has for some time now been rejecting his delicious jar-style food in favor of whatever it is John and I are eating. I'm quite thrilled that he's an awesome eater, not at all picky. As long as he sees me eating it, he'll eat it too.

I've been able to satiate his hunger with regular "table food" and no baby food for several days now. Yippee!! He loves my chicken noodle soup sans chicken, peanut butter toast, yogurt, anything pasta related, soft fruits and veggies, and...well...anything else that's not too hard or tough to chew. It's great, actually. Yesterday morning we made pancakes and eggs for breakfast, and he ate a whole pancake and lots of bites of egg. I still have some pureed food in the freezer that I need him to finish, though, which should be no problem.

Now if only I could get him to stop peeing on me and use the potty....but that's a whole other post!

Final Product

I decided to carve a dog.

Since William LOVES Scooby, (at least he loves "saying" Scooby, or "Dooby doo") I decided to do Scooby. I started it last night, but got sick of carving it halfway through so I finished it this morning.

John also carved my little pumpkin I had for decoration. He did a scary ghost-face. I think William was pretty impressed with both of them. Not sure he recognized Scooby, though.

I Love Fall

We've been sick as can be the last few weeks, but we ventured outdoors regardless.

This afternoon John, William, and I headed over to Lombardi Ranch to pick out a pumpkin to carve. We went there 3 weeks ago, before I left to visit my fam, but it was drizzling and we decided it wouldn't be a very fun time. Today the weather was hot, hot, but we had fun.


William was convinced the sheep barked...ALL animals bark, in his mind. (So cute!)

Then he took a quick ride on the tractor.


We did find a great pumpkin that I plan on carving. Last year I did Animal, from the Muppets, so I have to pick something just as creative this year. Hmm....any ideas??

It's Been Awhile....

I know, I know....It's been a few days since my last post. I've been in Michigan visiting my family, so I do have an excuse. William and I got back home last night, and we're both suffering with very bad colds, and William has an ear infection to boot (or so the doctor thinks...he was screaming rather hard during our urgent care visit, so it was hard to tell. He's on antibiotics just the same.)

The plane ride home was horrid. horrid. horrid. My little guy has been testing me in every area, as of late, screaming loudly when things don't go his way, or he doesn't get something he wants. And that's exactly what he was doing on the plane. He wanted to suck on the emergency card thingie, and I said no, and he turned around to me and screamed a short, shrill scream. Over. And. Over. The two wonderful ladies next to me commented on what a strong will he has. (They have NO IDEA!) I smiled, and tried my best to get him under control. Yeah right. He pretty much was that way for 3 hours of the trip, and the last hour he was content to stand between my legs, wedged into my seat and the seat in front of us.

I had lots of nummies, toys, books, etc. for him to play with, but because there is NO room on planes these days it was rather hard to get them out of the diaper bag. Well, after 4 hours of non-stop wiggling, he finally put his hands up for me to hold him...just as the wheels of the plane touched down at LAX. It was then that he decided it would be a good idea to fall into blissful sleep. Lovely.

10 minutes later I had to wake him up so we could get off the plane. That didn't make for a very happy kid. I'll spare you all the rest of the details.

We did make it home, and after 45 minutes of solid crying, he finally fell asleep. I think he was confused as to where he was, being in a different crib for the last 2 weeks, and me sleeping in the same room as he.

My trip back to MI was wonderful! I got to visit some old friends, hear about new pregnancies, eat food I didn't have to cook, sleep extra long with family to watch William, play lots of Scrabble, and other fun things! I had a great time.

Thanks Mom and Dad for everything!

So Proud...

Yup, I'm the very proud big sister! My brother is in his second year of med school and this shot was taken at his Rite of Passage ceremony.

Help! I'm Out Of Toilet Paper!

And I don't know what to do!

Ok, I do know what to do NOW...but last night was a different story.

I had run downstairs to get a new roll for our upstairs bathroom (I don't keep any in William's room for obvious reasons!) and when I opened the cupboard and picked out a new roll I discovered that it was soaking wet. Whatever. I tossed it aside and grabbed another one. It, too, was soggy. After inspecting ALL FIVE rolls, and discovering that they were ALL wet I had a panic attack - we were all out of toilet paper - and it was almost midnight on a Sunday night!

(I should clarify - there was a teentsy weentsy amount of paper on the existing roll.)

I called to John, telling him we had a leak under the faucet. He inspected it, thanked me for finding it (of course, hunny!), and announced that it was no biggie; he just needed to replace a line/valve and it would be fine. Sure. Whatever. But that didn't solve the toilet paper dilemma.

I decided that nothing could be done about it at the moment and went to bed - warning dear husband not to use all the paper in the morning. (He's up before me, so has a distinct toilet paper advantage.)

So...I'm still here. And still lacking toilet paper. Again, nothing can be done about it right now, as my son is napping. Arugh....

Here's to being able to hold it for as long as I can! Otherwise I'm off to the pool! (Not to pee in it, of course...there's a bathroom there!)

Here Son, Play With This Ax.

I'm not even joking here.

I'm not big on staying home 24/7. I try to get out several times a week, whether it be the mall, park, bike trails, whatever. Today I loaded William in the car and headed across town to go shopping. Not that I needed anything, but I like eye shopping. :)

William is a shopper, too, as long as I give him something to play with while he's in his stroller. He prefers toys he hasn't seen before, so I usually head straight to the toy section, pick out a small toy for him, and continue shopping. So that's what I did today as well.

While perusing the various toys I saw a toy set that made my eye balls pop out: an ax, crowbar, and pepper spray set. No. Joke. It was plastic, of course, but still. I can't even imagine giving my "innocent" son a crowbar and ax to play with. What are toy makers thinking? I tried to give a positive spin to this horrible set...maybe the crowbar could be used to help an old woman get her stuck car door open? or the ax could be used to help firemen put out that second story fire at the pet store?

Seriously, now.

Parents wonder why their children clobber other kids in nursery, why a 12 year old stabs another kid, and the list goes on. Could it be that we, as supposedly the "responsible" adults, are letting our children play with violent-meaning toys? Could it be that when their little thumbs are able to click buttons we shove an electronic game in their hands? Could it be, that instead of showing our kids how to have a good time on the swing set we let them play for hours on end with mind-numbing computer games?

Children today have TV in their bedrooms, computers in the bedrooms, and other high-tech equipment that allow parents to check out of their parenting role and be more of an absentee parent.

And we wonder why they can't function in the normal world, have low school performance , sleep problems, attention problems, and learning problems?

Wake up people!

It's time to get more involved. DO things with kids. PLAY with kids. ENCOURAGE creativity instead of unimaginative, idle hollowness. I could say more, but my son is waking from his nap.

(Steps off soapbox)

~The Mamma

Dooby Doo! Dooby Doo!

Oh, I love this time of year! The weather isn't quite so hot and outdoor play is completely doable. I've been keeping W inside most of the summer due to the intense heat, but these last few weeks have been beautiful!

W always seems to be learning new "words" and his latest mumble has been dooby doo. He says dooby dooby dooby doo ALL the time, and John and I have never been able to figure out what he meant by that. Then, one day while I was changing him, he said it again. When I put him on the floor he immediately walked to his books. Then it hit me! He was saying Scooby Doo! He's got several Scooby Doo books, which are hands down his favorite books to read. I picked up his Scooby Doo Goes To The Zoo book and he seemed thrilled that I finally understood what he was saying! I'm going to have to look for a Scooby Doo stuffed animal, as he loves barking like a dog as well.

Still doesn't say mama on a regular basis, but he's got "Dooby Doo" down pat! Too cute!

Hassleback Potatoes

Last night I tried a new way of making potatoes - Hassleback potatoes. I got the recipe from Cooking Dunkin Style. I thought they were very good!

* Russet potatoes scrubbed well
* Garlic
*Melted butter
* Salt and peper
* Paprika (my addition)
* Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Cut slits in the potato as deep as you are able without cutting through the potato. Then place garlic pieces in the slits (as many or few as you wish). Place on a baking tray. Mince more garlic with the melted butter and brush on the potatoes. Bake 50 minutes on 425. Brush more butter and garlic on potato and bake another 10-20 minutes. When ready to eat sprinkle some paprika and cheese on top. Voila! A "new" way to eat baked potatoes! We put sour cream on these babies as well. Yum!

Official "Day" Celebration

To celebrate the "actual Day" of William's birthday the 5 of us (Grandma and Grandpa Adams were over) went to Applebees. William is now to eat less baby food and more and more "big boy" food, according to the doctor. So....we ordered him a cheesecake tumbler for dessert! ha!

He only has 6 teeth, so I'm not sure how he's supposed to go about eating big boy food, but he sure likes giving it a try. He'll eat anything I tell him is nummy nummy. I hope he stays that way, as I'm not about to deal with a picky eater.

He's walking now. sniff sniff

I actually like it. I still have to put him in his stroller when we go places, and because he walks so slowly I still have to carry him most places, but he's doing amazing! Still holds his arms out to keep his balance, but now when either John or I bend down to have him walk to us he completely ignores us, wanting to walk all by himself!

He's growing up so fast...

This picture will make Auntie Lynnelle proud! He's in love with his corn popper. He can't really walk with it yet, but when he's sitting down he can get the annoying noise really going! (We WILL get you back, Lynnelle!)

Lots Of Tears. No Sticker.

William had his 1 year doctor appointment today. Wowsers. I'm very relieved it's over. He weighed in at a whopping 19.1 pounds, so he's in the 6%, up from 4% at 10 months. Yeah! He's in the 75% for length and head, being 32 inches long. He's tall and skinny. :-)

The nurse then gave him 6 (six, seis) shots. Yes, you read correctly. 6. 2 in each leg, and one in each arm. He was completely unsuspecting, babbling away, then WHAM! Screamed like a banshee. We then had to head over to the lab to get blood drawn to test for lead and anemia.

Yeeeeaaaah...that went well.

It took 3 of us to pin him down because he was flailing around so much. The nurse was awesome, finding a vein on the first try. I was so stressed I asked for a sticker!

So...we're now on Tylenol every 4-6 hours to keep the crankies and pain down.

And to top it off...he's still suffering with a cold.

Lovely.

My Deception Needs Some Work

For my birthday my sister-in-law got me a new cookbook called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. It's a creative cookbook on getting your kids to eat more healthy, by disguising fruit and veggie purees in favorite foods. There are recipes such as chocolate cake laced with beets, chocolate chip cookies with cauliflower, and main dishes, such as potato soup, with cauliflower and squash.

The trick is to make the purees ahead of time, so you can pull them out of the freezer/fridge whenever needed. Today I made several purees - squash and cauliflower. William pretty much eats anything and everything (as long as it's fairly soft - he's only got 6 teeth!). I just thought this was the most creative cookbook I've seen, since even the "junk food" recipes have healthy fruits and vegetables disguised in them.

I just got the book this past weekend, so I haven't had much time to try very many of the recipes, but today I did make the potato soup.

It. Was. Delish.

It tasted more like mashed potatoes than a soup, but it was so yummy! The only problem with my soup was that it turned out quite orange, due to the butternut squash. The picture in the cookbook showed the soup a white color (the whole idea is to "deceive" your little ones into eating veggies and fruits) so I'm going to have to work on it a bit more. However, I will make it again, as it was very tasty! It was really nice sitting down to eat, and William being able to eat the same food as we ate. He kept saying "nummy nummy", so I know it was a hit!

I will keep ya'all posted on any other recipes I try.

Anaheim Here We Come!

It was a last minute decision, since we found ourselves by ourselves on a lovely, sunny day. Instead of staying home like always, we trucked down to the Scholastic Book Fair, which was awesome! I was able to purchase lots of good books, and get great deals - some of the books were 80% off!



Then we took the Angel Stadium tour, something I've always wanted to do. We got to go down into the "bowels" of the stadium, seeing the team (opposing) locker room (we weren't able to see the Angels' locker room, due to their personal effects being out and about), press boxes, dugouts, you name it! It was a great tour - and all for $3!

The best part - I couldn't have asked for a better kid to take with me! William was SUCH a trooper today! His only naps were taken in the car (granted we did have 2 rather long car rides, but still!) and lunch was eaten on the run. He never fussed or, for the most part, gave me hard time. He was great! The picture above....ah....yeah....he rapidly got sick of being in his stroller, so I took him out, and the next thing I knew he was racing down the dugout suits hall, trying to figure out which one he was going to buy up. I raced right after him, and it was hilarious...he turned to look at me, then he squealed with delight and continued to race away from me! That was the first time he's EVER done that! He normally sticks very close to me. Ah...I guess he's growing up!

We got home all safe and sound, and I spent the rest of the afternoon tutoring. Whew! No rest for the weary! It's good, though. :)

Being A Mamma Has Its Many Perks!

I love being a mom! There are SO many blessings that come with the job.

The least of which is being able to escape jury duty! I got a summons in the mail yesterday (groan!) but when reading the fine print noticed that I qualify for a postponement or excuse because I "give care to a dependent from the hours of 8am to 5pm". Whichever person decided that a mom's duty ends at 5pm has obviously never been one, but I'll go with it, if it will get me out of jury duty.

When I called the courthouse this morning to beg off of duty she told me that "just being a mom" doesn't guarantee an excuse. WELL!

But, after further reading the very fine print on the jury form I found out that being a "breastfeeding mother" WILL get me off the hook! Yeah for boobies!! For that reason alone I'll keep up the milk-making. :-)

Vroom....Vroom....

My baby got his first toothbrush, and now, for an early 1st birthday we got him a riding toy. He's growing up SO fast, I can hardly keep up.


We've (and by that I mean I, mostly) have been wanting to get him a riding toy, but one that I can push as well. We looked and looked, and decided that this one was the way to go. He'll be able to use it until he's 3 (or so the box says) so he should get some serious use out of it.



I know I'LL dig it out of the garage! I think this will kick our daily walks up a notch or two! After John put it together the 3 of us took a walk around our neighborhood, with William smiling and waving at everything and everyone! He was in his glory! I'm sure he's going to get many miles on this little car!

Zzzzz....

The Olympic Games are killing me.

I usually hit the hay early, oh, around 10 or so. I went through a Seinfeld phase a while ago, where I would stay up till 11pm watching reruns of Seinfeld (hey, I never watched them when they were first playing....oh, so long ago for the 1st time). But not since the arrival of our bundle of joy. Oh no. I go to bed early.

But now that the Olympics are on, I just can't seem to peel myself away from the TV. With the difference in time between West Coast US to Beijing, and all the cool events being on late, late at night, it's forcing me to stay up way past midnight. Unfortunately, my little man has no idea that the 2008 Games are going on. He wakes up spanking early, just like always.

I try to remember that I COULD just look up the results online, but somehow that just wouldn't be the same. I have to watch it all "Live" (or so they say!).

Anyway, I'm glad they're coming to an end soon. I need to get some shut-eye!

Shhhhh....We're Filming Our Commercial!

With John working his tail off and higher prices on food and gas we've been feeling the crunch, just like everyone else. So, William and I decided to help out a little financially, to offset our living expenses. To do so we decided that our best resort would be to film a commercial.

A Carl's Jr. commercial.

I'm sure you've seen them, so you know why I thought this would be our best bet in achieving financial stability. *wink*wink* (Even if you haven't seen them, I'm sure you will catch on!)

The first thing we needed to do was get all our equipment ready to go. I left that up to William. He's much better at that sort of thing than I am.



Then it was time for a wardrobe change. (Can't be gettin' all famous in pj's!) This cute little number is straight from Korea. Thanks Jinny!





I got a little resistance from my star when I mentioned that we were going to shoot a Carl's Jr. commercial.








He was a little worried about what his friends might think of him, what, with food needing to be schmeared all over his face and all.






But then I assured him that even though his dirty little mug would be plastered all over prime time, he would still get to consume all food used in the shoot.




Here are some stills from our commercial. Opps...this one would be great, except it doesn't count...eyes closed. Major stations aren't looking for close-eyed stars.







A little better here...except the sour face would turn off future consumers.








PERFECT!! Lovely smile, and no annoying red paper in the way!








After we finished shooting, my little star was exhausted and ready for some shut-eye.










The director was very happy with the shoot. All was successful! *Click HERE to see the spot.

**Disclaimer: this photo shoot was not endorsed by Carl's Jr., or any Carl's Jr. affiliate.