Sleepy Time Xander

Xander looked so cute sleeping the other night, I just had to try and take his picture! This used to be a lot easier to do, when he was little and took naps during the daylight hours. Now I have to futz around with the settings on my camera so that I don't have to turn on the light or use my flash, both things which would wake him up.

To achieve this shot I used the Starry Sky setting on my camera. It leaves the shutter open for 30 seconds, and I was hoping that with the night light right there by the bed that would be good enough. It was, and it wasn't. I had to monkey around in Photoshop to lighten up the picture, and changed it to black and white because the night light threw a red glow on Xander's forehead.

Here are the before and after shots, for your enjoyment! Have a great weekend, everybody!

A Cat and his Monkey

My mother-in-law won this really cute monkey at the fair earlier this month. She gave it to Xander, and he carried it around for a whole day. Ever since then, the monkey has been relegated to the piles of toys on the floor in Xander's room. Only now, he has a new friend.

Every morning when I go in to snuggle with Xander, Stuart comes along. Next thing I know, he's rolling around on the floor with that monkey. Sometimes he bites it and wrestles with it, other times he just licks it. New friend? Substitute kitty? Who knows!

But it sure is awful cute!

Oh, and since today's post is all about Stuart, I'll add an LOL Cat that I made from one of his recent pics, for your entertainment!

Crop Hangover

Well, the crop is over. I think I should've taken today off of work to recover, I'm so tired my eyes hurt! (Hmmm...this might be due to the chat I participated in on Saturday night till 4am!)


I had such a great time! It's fun hanging out with my online friends, playing games and telling jokes. And I even got some scrappy stuff accomplished! Now I'll be counting down the months till the next crop. Gonna be a long three months!


Shout-out to the Posse!! Love you gals!! And to Tracy, my heterosexual digi scrapping partner for life!! Some of the best friends I've never met!! ::smooch::

Day 2 of the Online Crop

Day 2 of the online crop at A Cherry On Top has started, and I'm already tired! I was up until 2am this morning, chatting and scrapping and having fun. Hopefully I won't fall asleep before my hostess time comes up at 1pm! If you stop by the ACOT site then, you can see me in action! Probably won't be pretty, though, LOL!

Not sure what an online crop is? ACOT hosts one every three months or so, and it runs from Friday through Sunday. There are challenges to get people scrapping, fast scraps that have to be completed in an hour, Bingo games (mine is tonight at 9pm, fyi!) and lots of other kinds of games. As a hostess, I give out points that can be used in the online store, and for Bingo and fast scraps I can give out $5 gift certificates. It's pretty fun!

I'm over at my friend Cathy's house for the weekend, since I'm not online at home and she has high speed wireless. Boo ya! And since this is kind of like a mini vacation, here are the supplies I've laid in to get me through the weekend:

Some stop by ACOT and visit me! I'll be there allllllll day!

Family, Friends & The Internet

Eli's lovely wife was out of the house last night, leaving him alone with three of the four kids. Joe and I kindly offered to come and keep him company, provided there was food involved. Eli seemed pretty needy for adult companionship, so he agreed. We brought over some chicken, which he made into pan fried chicken strips. Plus he made his world-famous, totally awesome, but not crunchy enough fried potatoes. Score!

I have to say, my bro isn't such a bad guy sometimes. At least, when he's not giving me noogies!

In other news, my Finnish friend Anna sent me some new pictures this week of her new and totally adorable baby Lenni. And yes, he definitely gets those cheeks from his mom! For those who don't know, Anna was an exchange student that lived with my family way back in 1989-90. To say we didn't get along back then is a vast understatement, but time has made us friends. Now that Anna lives back in Finland, I don't see her much. But we still exchange pictures and occasional e-mails.

I just have to take a moment to thank the internet for helping me to keep in touch with people that normally would have fallen by the wayside if I had to write and mail actual letters. But with this blog, e-mail, and Facebook I've been able to reconnect with some friends, and keep in touch with the family. It's a good thing!

Pizza Boy

A couple of Pampered Chef parties ago, Joe had me pick up the round pizza stone (with built-in handles!). This very large stone has been sitting in my foyer for months, though we did take it out one time to test it with frozen Red Baron pizza (my fave!).

This weekend, Joe decided it was time to make a pizza from scratch. He picked up some dough, the pizza sauce, and some shredded mozzarella cheese. And when it was time to start the pizza process, there was Xander wearing just his undies and the chef gear my mom had sent him. We call him the Half-Naked Chef. ::grin::

The pizza turned out pretty good! I can see where improvements can be made. But it was a thousand times better than my last try at making pizza. (Turns out you can't just take the dough out of the fridge and smoosh it into a circle. It needs to get room temperature first. Live and learn!) Xander himself actually ate a whole piece, crust and all! So thanks to my two chefs for a job well done!

My Son, the Swinger!

Xander has finally learned how to swing!! After both myself and his daycare provider took the hard line of no more pushing, he's finally stopped whining for people to push him and now he can swing sooo high! Here is a picture of Xander this weekend at the playground:


I tell ya, sometimes it's the little things that can be so exciting!


Speaking of little things, I told Joe last night that I'm going to be so sad when Xander is finally big enough to have his feet reach the floor when he's on the potty. You wouldn't think that would be cause for nostalgia, but hey, we are talking about me here!

::sigh::

I miss my mommy.

I wish two of my very bestest never-met friends weren't dealing with scary health issues.

I wish I could go to Florida and give my other good never-met friend a great big hug, because she's going through lots of stuff too.

I wish my hubby wasn't working every darn night this week. (And no, you don't want to know why!)

I wish it was crop weekend now, instead of next weekend.

I can't find my comfy flannel pants.

I guess that's all my griping for today...thanks for listening!

Fun at the Fair

It's fair time again, and every county is putting on their own fun fest with derbies, rides, and entertainment. My in-laws wanted to take Xander to the Cobleskill Sunshine Fair again this year, but I had to horn in on the action because I wanted to get some fair pics. A big thanks to Jean and Mike for being so generous the whole day!

Right off the bat Xander had to go on the rides. He dragged Mike on the Ferris Wheel, and Jean on the spinning Tug Boat. He rode the kiddie bobsled and the motorcyle ride by himself. And he was so funny with the motorcyles! That one just basically goes around in a circle, not a big deal and it doesn't go too fast. But he still had a blast on it, except every time he came around to where we were standing he'd try to look all serious. It was hilarious!

After the rides came the games. Xander tested his strength and got a big inflatable pirate axe. He went fishing for rubber duckies and won a plastic ninja sword. Jean, Xander and I played the water gun game - Jean won and gave Xander a monkey. And then we were finally able to see some other parts of the fair.

Xander had a hot dog for dinner, and most of a bag of cotton candy for dessert. I looked in vain for zeppoles (disappointed!). We browsed craft exhibits, the livestock barns, and Xander chatted with a correction officer before trying to convince Mike to buy him a hot tub. We only caught part of a high dive show because Xander was on the move and he doesn't like to stand still too long when there's so much to see. Oh, and he got to pet a cow.

My personal highlight of the fair was watching Xander ride the mechanical bull. He begged to go on it. Jean didn't think it was a good idea, but Mike and I overruled her. So Xander gets up on the bull and refuses to let go, even though the guy running the thing kept telling him he had to put his arm up like the real bullriders do. And so he only rocked Xander in one direction, and really slow. Seriously, my great-grandma could rock in a rocking chair quicker than he was going! But afterwards he got a big sticker, and was happily telling everyone that he was a bull riding master, and how he'd stayed on the bull the whole time. Too funny!

The only downside was not having Joe with us, because of his work schedule. We did bring him home some fudge though, courtesy of his mom. Next year, I think we'll try the Altamont fair. I bet they have zeppoles there!!

Battle Ready

This is an all-too regular sight in my living room. Xander's toys, geared up for battle. Although I have to say this was the largest group he's massed yet. If you look close, you can see superheroes rubbing shoulders with Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker sharing some pre-battle tips with the Hamburgler.

Xander is not exclusive in his play. If it's a "guy" and can fight with another "guy", it doesn't matter which ones he uses. Kermit the Frog versus Captain Jack Sparrow? No problem! GI Joe versus Power Ranger? All the time!

Oh, and check out the gear he's got going on here. An elephant, a plane, some horses, even a dragon! Forget the grand scale of the Lord of the Rings movies - I'm living it in my own home! I like to think this kind of open-minded play comes from me. After all, my Barbie dolls were known to date He-man action figures from time to time! (Hey, I had seven of them and only three Kens, give me a break!)

Going to the Ball

Okay, we all know that Xander is one funny kid. That's pretty indisputable. But last night really took the cake. I tried to write down the conversation as it happened, but I probably got some of it wrong. You'll get the gist, though.

Here's the situation: I sent Xander in to brush his teeth before going to bed. He was in there a longer time than necessary, and when I went to check I saw that he'd wet down his hair and was very carefully combing it over to the side. I asked him what he was doing, and here's what he said.

X - "When I grow up, before I go to the ball I have to get my hair cut. Then Meggie [yes, the girl who dumped him] and I will put on our dresses. Then we'll comb our hair and make it beautiful."

M - "You're going to wear a dress to the ball?"

X - "Of course! You know, the black jacket and the pants."

M - "That's a tuxedo, not a dress."

X - "They're date clothes."

M - "What are you going to do at the ball? Will you dance?"

X - "It's a date!"

M - "What are you going to do on your date?"

X - "Get married. For 89 weeks."

M - "What happens when the 89 weeks are over?"

X - "We get to be a mommy and daddy and have two children."

Cue hilarity! I swear, this kid combed his hair for like twenty minutes, and he was back at it this morning. He wants to be sure to look handsome for his date. And I'm thinking, shouldn't all of this be happening much later on, like years from now? I told him only teenagers spend so much time on their hair. LOL!

Good Ole Trixie Belden!

I don't know what you were reading as a kid, but I was totally hooked on the Trixie Belden mystery series. I loved her way more than Nancy Drew! Trixie and her friends regularly solved mysteries, and managed to get themselves out of whatever trouble they got into mostly without adult help.

It took me until after college to get a complete set of the Trixie books, all 39 of them. (And no, Eli, I still don't want to sell them on ebay!) Imagine my surprise when, as a grown-up who still occasionally read through a Trixie mystery from time to time, I found a whole website devoted to the characters! In fact, the characters were living on in fan fiction tales of every kind imaginable, from the Bob-Whites in the Old West to Trixie mixing it up with the boys from Supernatural. And every kind of tale in between.


If you're a like-minded Trixie fan, you can check out all the fun at Jixemitri. Does Trixie hook up with Jim? Or does she go for Dan? Always wish Regan had his own stories? It's all here! So let your inner Trixie geek come out and play!!

Breaking Dawn - Awesome!!

Okay, so Friday night was Midnight Madness at Borders, in anticipation of the midnight release of the fourth book in the Twilight Saga - Breaking Dawn. Krissy, her friend Emily, and I hit the mall around 9pm. There wasn't as big of a crowd as expected, but it was still fun.

We took a Twilight Trivia test, got some stickers and pins, and there was even a costume contest, though only a handful of people dressed up. Krissy and I also tried setting Emily up with a cute security guard, but she was too shy. And then it was finally time to buy the book! I spent all day Saturday reading it, and it was awesome!!

Big Boy Shower

In the last couple of weeks, Xander has stopped taking baths and started taking showers. It's cute, because he does all his own washing now (sometimes he still needs help with his hair, though) and he sings while he's in there.

I have to admit, it's a lot quicker for him to take a shower. Bath time involved lots of toys, minimum washing, and at least an hour of splashing around. Now he's in the shower maybe ten minutes.

Sigh. My little boy is turning into a little man, right before my eyes!