Birthday Bash #3!!

"Hey Fireman"... no mom, i am a "Firefighter"
with all the passion a boy can muster, so i was compelled to do what ever it took to have a Fire Truck come to Crew's Fireman Birthday Party, I mean Crew's Firefighter Birthday Party. With a little bit of luck and a whole lot of work, it was a Huge Success! YAY

Being a mom is like being a superhero. It makes you do things you didn't know you could. It stretches your limits, your budget, and especially your heart. I wasn't planning on knocking doors for three days bugging everyone on my block to sign a petition, repeatedly calling (and annoying) the city public works office, and even trying to sweet talk the fire captain...but...the love for a child certainly gives you magical powers.





inspite of the children's intent wonder and joy, only half were brave enough to sit right on the massive truck


and so it begins...

off to the races. as quick as a fireman to rescue a burning building, the kiddos rushed their trucks to the little fire hydrants to receive a little treat and back to the starting line again.

next, we sang a fireman song to gather all the children and focus their attention on the next big activity...

hurry hurry, spray the water. put out the flames.

with the fire extinguisher full of water, everyone had a turn to spray the burning house to help save the day!!! they loved it! although, i had no idea the pressure the extinguisher had, after the first spray, we had to move the house far away as the water knocked it over. lol

it's my party and i can cry if i want to...(not to mention that is a good looking cake!)

make a wish sweetheart! happy birthday! we love you, and you can thank us when you are older, by not being a rebel teen!

can you tell, i am proud of the cake?

only 2 for 2 more weeks

sitting at a booth eating dinner, crew naturally stands up, to look over the back of the bench at the passer-bys'. to one random man, crew said hi, the mad oddly only gave crew a friendly two fingers up, as if to say "peace" crew excitedly turned to me and j with a big smile on his proud face and said "mom, HE is TWO!" LOL...

this pic was taken a while back when crew had finally conquered the coordination ability to show his age. in the earlier part of his second year, when asked how old he is, he would show both his pointer fingers.

my sweet angel will be 3 soon. i love him so much. he is so cute and fun and funny and smart. i say that objectivly. wink! i seriously am in awe listening to him and watching him every single day grow into himself and adapt to this world. he knows and can identify all the abc's, and knows the sounds of almost all of them, knows his shapes (even recognizes the difference from a pentagon vs. and octogon), colors, his right and left, his address (the whole thing), his gender, his numbers thru 10 easily, 11+ is coming along right around the corner, he can spell his name and differenciate the first, middle and last name. he also knows a lot of biblical people and stories and religious beliefs. he loves fire trucks and every thing associated with them. he was asked at halloween if he was a fireman, and without hesitation he replied "no, i am a fireFIGHTER!" he loves to climb, jump, run, play trains, drink chocolate milk (at least 2 cups A day), swing at the park, play hide-n-seek, read books, and above all, play pretend...anything AND all the time. he is very aware of his surroundings (when i get lost driving (becoming less frequent) he asks me "are we going a different way?" vocalizing his feelings with gusto and charm is always my thrill and pride.

TERRIBLE TWOS
in my parental-denial-ship, i found myself assumming crew is too smart and ultimately above the so called "terrible twos". i told myself...becaue his level of understanding 'good vs. bad choices' and their consequences is so advanced, he is above any extraordinarily bad behavior and won't push the limits. boy oh boy...was i in for a treat!

with the three years of age mark quickly approaching, it is ACTUALLY, I, THE MOTHER who is learning the big lesson(s)...we didn't just wiz by his 'terrible twos'. no. they were merely LATE.

Now i am in a different kind of awe "listening and watching" my sweet little boy turn into a, shall we say less than angelic child. time and time again his DAILY mischievous blatant stunts and outlandish defiance is beyond my wildest imagination and any "hard parenting" cliches. UUUUUUGGGGG. (this might be a little embellished. but, crew, you know i love!)

happy thanksgiving!

when you count your blessings, you realize, your blessings are countless. -t

Fall Fun with Feathers...
... more craft probing (inspired by crew)
project place


one little indian made his drum, headband and his first turkey. i tried to get a smile, but indian bravery prevailed



cooking it up in the kitchen. last year, i made a new thanksgiving feast goal. each year, i will practice making a couple new thanksgiving dishes throughout the year. that way, one day when the children are older, and i HAVE TO cook, i might be able to prepare a yummy feast!

starting with dessert, naturally!





going in for more.


ANY excuse to make more home-made buttercream frosting. YUM

pocahantas pushing crew and toby, she is ready for turkey day

little buddies

the NON-domestic Stay-At-Home-Mom!

this is me exploring my potential crafty/project side, or seeing if i even have one. i tried once before, bought all the supplies to crapbook, and i think i did one page, maybe. so this will be a test of my endurance if i don't find it very appealing once i start. however, i will say to my credit, that i did start gardening a few months ago (remember i live in cali), so that's kind of working (for now). well, it might not be fair to say i am gardenING... i bought the plants, and j planted them for me. thx babe.
inspired by one of my friend's "project" blog, http://fromthetortoiseandthehare.blogspot.com/
taking the leap...

in the time it would take most women to make these cute cuppe-cakes, it took me 3x's as long. yes. it took me three days. lol. i made the the cupcakes on a sunday, after they were baked, i was exhausted. so naturally monday was a resting day. on tuesday, i mentally prepared myself to make homemade buttercream frosting for the first time in my life it was the best ever, definitely worth the the hard work. and it was hard work. now i know why so many people have a kitchen-aid. lastly i cut the templates out and TA-DAAAA!!


STORY: "the sweet potato cupcake series of unfortunate events"

first of all, i don't like cooking, as most of you know. but i wanted to make a special treat with a thank you card for our neighbors who generously borrowed their beach-cruisers (bikes) to us for a couple months. we loved them, had so much fun riding alongside the beach, taking picnics, riding to shops, and cruising from pier to pier. it was great, all the while taking extra care of the bikes.
when j came home from work we gathered the bikes, cup-cakes, and crew and walked next door. they have a fence in front yard, so i opened the fence to let myself in and there began the events.

their big dog came-a-runnin. it's a good dog, but BIG and he wanted my plate full of cupcakes. AAAAhhhhh.
he only got one cupcake to go flying off the plate. but it landed smack on the front door with all the frosting.
you can imagine my emotional state after all the hard work i put into baking. in contrast to most of you, i didn't remain calm. to make matters worse, i started yelling at my sweet and innocent husband "can't you put the bike down and help ME???"
j dropped the bike and came running to my rescue. but just when he opened the gate the dog ran out. this is the kind of dog that runs away when a gate opens. by now i have knocked the front door.
so what do i do? i panic and start quietly yelling at j again to catch the dog. that part was not dramatic. he caught the dog and walked him back into the yard and just as he was closing the fence behind him, our neighbors pull into their driveway....where the bike had been left. it's day-light-savings now, so it was dark and the bike was all black.....
everyone started to scream wildly and wave arms frantically as she drove directly over their bike, not once, but twice. she thought she had only hit the curb, so she gunned it, and the big bulky expedition mercylessly barrelred over a second time. with one more set of agonizing screams, the damage was done.
it was awful, embarassing, and devastating.
i was trying to maintain as much composer as possible, but the tears came-a-flowin.
at this point, i felt ridiculous handing over a silly-ol' plate of cupcakes to my friend.

if there is any consolation to this tragedy, it's that hopefully they enjoyed the cupcakes half as much as i did... maybe we could still be friends!

before the despair...

can you find the black bike?

even crew cried when he HEARD THE CRUNCH that awful night

Lots of Tricks Even more Treats

THE BIGGEST TRICK...


potty training at its best. this bus was the catalyst for crew to pee. he was only allowed to look at the bus every time he sat on the toilet. once he finally went potty in the bowl, he could have it! (he finally peed, earned the bus, and hasn't gone ever since. it's been over a week. oh-well, i am not getting another bus, it will just have to be up to him) ;)



in full-fledged costume, crew decides to potty train, asking, begging, pleading to wear the new underwear, i apprehensively agreed. of all the days to wear underwear for the first time, it has to be in a new costume at preschool, with so much halloween distraction. my focus changed immediately from the yummy potluck and games to... "AC-CI-DENTSSSSS" i couldn't count how many times i asked crew "do you need to go to the potty?" to my son's great accomplishment and my astounding joy and surprise, we were successful. the cuttest little underwear were still dry after all the chaos.

potty update: i think crew worked so hard to stay dry that day, he is currently taking a potty training break.

~as for the TREATS!!!

HALLOWEEN was so special this year, with crew understanding more how the candy-functionality works. the feelings of excitment were rampant.




and no doubt the fire truck was not left behind. i tried to suggest leaving it, but he was determined. this shiny fire truck was going to gain some mileage!


and it went to every door step! (you should know we only went to six houses)

the fear of knocking doors, seeing ghosts and goblins run wild, saying "trick-or-trick" dissolved with ever more candy filling his bucket. it was adorable!



then back home to eat some traditional Happy Hallo-Weenies, aka bloody mummies! YUM


no family themed costumes this year due to crew's opposing plans... and not having anything to match the fireman we resorted to...
the mean witchy mommy, and SUPERDADDY flying to crew's rescue (whom forgot to wear the mask for the pic. grr)




~Previous FUN. our neighbors do an annual halloween party. all the kidos! a lil' overwhelming for c.



trick-or-treating at jonz's work.


and at preschool. with his good friend toby. two cute firefighters!


house to house.


very excited about carving his first pumpkin (and yes i put a bobby-pin in his hair, don't judge me, it was falling in the pumpkin. yuck)



OOOOooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOooooooo. GO UTES!




~btw. it was easy for us to deviate from our family costume theme. crew's passion exceeds all...

rescuing mom from cooking hazards (although i wish he was rescuing me from cooking. period.)

had to stop in the middle of a road trip to see this

crew and toby fighting fires


fireman sweeping the station


fireman playing cars