ahoy maties! it's halloween

Ready to hit the neighborhood for candy. We had to bribe Jonah with candy to get him into his costume. Annie has been a princess for the past 2 years, so we were amazed she went with the pirate theme. She did, however, tell everyone that she was a pirate princess.


Quite an excellent picture of us, don't you think? Can you see why I married him?


Stopping for a family picture at a neighbor's house. Jonah is very focused on getting the wrapper off his lollipop. Both the kids are obsessed with the cat Annie is holding. As soon as Lisa opened her door, they went running in looking for Corky. It's nice that the neighbors have a cat. We can just go visit her and then come home.


Showing off their candy. Halfway through the night, Annie looked in Jonah's bag and said, "Hey! How come Jonah has more candy than me?" Evidently, he was taking candy by the handfuls. They left most of their candy out for the Sugar Sprite, who gave them each a present in exchange for the sweets.


Jonah insisted on sleeping with his candy.

jonah and candy

We discovered this week that Jonah likes candy. Well, he more than likes it. He's a little bit OCD about it. A lot, really. He had several angry, angry meltdowns because he "really, really, really" wanted candy. We took this picture after he realized the 6 bags of candy we bought were for the trick-or-treaters, not for him. I think he was saying something along the lines of, "I really, really want my candy. I no share my candy. It's my candy." Actually, he wasn't saying that as much as he was yelling it. Then he proceeded to pack as much of the candy as he could into his Halloween bag before falling asleep with it on his chest.

carving pumpkins

at the pumpkin patch

he really is working

Joel's favorite new website:

http://www.footballocks.net/

He says it's because he can see Chelsea highlights. I think he just likes the name.

my first urinal

This is an exciting one, folks. It's all about potty training. We are in the throes of it with Jonah, desperate to get him out of diapers without having to pull poopy underwear off of him. Here are our observations, for all of you dying to know.

1. He will use the potty 95% of the time if he doesn't have any diaper/underwear on. This usually involves him announcing, "I got to go pee-pee!" in his loudest voice, grabbing himself, then running to the bathroom. So, there is a lot of toddler nakedness in our house since he seems to do better this way.

2. Put some underpants on him and it's all over. We assume it's because it feels like he has a diaper on. If we are really diligent about making him go, he can stay dry, but he's having trouble with the pooping part. We currently have 12 pairs of underpants and have stocked up on pants because we're so tired of doing laundry.

3. Boxer briefs are really cute on little boys.

4. He likes to sit on the potty to pee but has some directional issues. Meaning, he usually pees all over his pants because he can't direct it down. We usually try to help him point himself in the right direction, but this will usually result in him yelling, "Don't touch my penis!" This is especially enjoyable when we are in a public restroom.

5. I just used the word penis.

6. Gum is a good motivator. OK. Bribe.

7. Potty training is much more work than just using diapers. Every outing needs to be planned carefully around his bathroom needs. Knowing what stores and parks have public restrooms is of the utmost importance.

On a side note, I found this plastic urinal on amazon and thought it was hilarious. I think Joel is secretly hoping I'll get it so he can use it too. Too bad for him, we're trying to rid ourselves of plastic.

broken camera, broken voice

Our camera broke for the second time yesterday. Joel thinks it was because of how I was carrying it. I, of course, think he's crazy and that my back pocket is a perfectly acceptable place to carry a camera. We were playing at the park with Holly, Shiraz and Lyra and somewhere between climbing trees and walking back to their house for dinner it stopped working. Well, it didn't stop working so much as the lens got jammed in the open position and then stopped working. There's a camera repair shop on Dexter that I believe lives off of our business because we're so good at breaking cameras. Usually I manage to drop them, which is so obviously my fault, which is why I'm denying this one.

My voice is totally gone. It was gone on Saturday, came back for the day yesterday, but is now worse than ever. Joel is probably in heaven. "Finally, she shuts up!" he is probably thinking. Not so fast, though. If I can't nag in my big girl voice, I can nag in my whispering voice. (Actually, he's staying home today so I can rest. Proving again why his nickname is "Clark.")

"just like mike"

We've been trying to get this one on video for the past 3 months. Ever since VBS last summer, when Pastor Mike led worship, Jonah has been marching around the house with his guitar singing My God is So Big. Then he'll stop and say, "I sing just like Pastor Mike." So, Mike, this one is for you. Our kids adore you (the fact that our 2-year old imitates you speaks volumes). We think you're pretty great, too. Our whole family is going to miss you.


Mike met Jonah in the hospital when he was 1 day old.

rant

So, despite having plenty of great pictures, videos and stories to post, we've been missing from the blogging world this week because the phone company turned off our DSL. Seems their billing department can't figure out that we've moved and that they have given us a new account number so they've been applying all our payments since July to the old (non-existent) account. Evidently, all of our money is sitting in some closed accounts black hole. Joel has had the pleasure of calling them about 10 times in the past 2 months to sort this out, each time being assured that they would fix the problem. Well, their idea of "fixing it" is to send us to collections and shut off our service.

And, because one phone company screwing up wasn't enough, my cell phone was shut off this week because the cell phone company made the same mistake.

round 2

I guess painting on the walls once was just not enough.

Elizabeth, calling down the hall:
"Jonah, what are you doing?"
Jonah, from his bedroom:
"Just nothing mom. Just painting."

We thought we had hidden all the paint, but he managed to find some dot painters hiding in the back of Annie's desk. The best part was the IM conversation I was having with Joel while this was happening.
Elizabeth:
"I gotta go. We just had round 2 of painting."
Joel (evidently thinking I was painting the playroom):
"Cool! Thanks! How does it look?"
Elizabeth:
bites her tongue
Joel, pausing as he slowly comprehends the situation:
"Crap! It was Jonah again, wasn't it?"

On a positive note, Jonah and I had a lovely lunch date at the diner today.

the mom song

Someone sent this to me tonight. It's by a comedian named Anita Renfroe. Too funny. The phrase "it must be your father's DNA" has been heard more than once around our house.

things you do not want to hear your 2-year old saying

"Look Mom, I'm painting!"

When Joel swooped in and took away the paint brush, Jonah informed him that he was "messing it up." Our budding young artist. We're still trying to get the purple streaks off the wall. Oh well. I've been painting another room so I think he was trying to help me. I was planning on painting the hallway too, so it's too bad he didn't choose a nice shade of taupe.

theology 101 with jonah

Yesterday.
Jonah, running down the hall:
"There's really, really a monster in the house who will push me over and jump on me."
Jonah, after talking with Joel about how Jesus helps keep us safe:
"Mommy, Jesus made the monster go away!"

Today.
Jonah, refusing to go to bed:
"There's a monster in my room."
Elizabeth, trying to be understanding:
"You're worried that there's a monster in your room again?"
Jonah, clearly upset:
"There is monsters in my room and Jesus takes all my bikes away and mommy's bike and daddy's bike."
Elizabeth, feeling slightly confused:
"Huh?"
Jonah, getting more frantic:
"Jesus take all my bikes and ride on the road and Jesus stomped on them!"
Elizabeth, still feeling confused:
"You're worried that Jesus is going to take your bikes?"
Jonah, now sobbing:
"I don't want Jesus to take the bikes away!"
Elizabeth, trying not to laugh:
"Jesus is definitely not going to take your bikes away."
Jonah, still crying:
"I just don't want Jesus to take me bikes away!"
Elizabeth, to Joel:
"Somewhere, the lines of communication about this whole Jesus thing have broken down."

when jonah is outnumbered

Jonah was playing with Annie and Soren today...

grrrr

Because, why eat chips out of a bag or bowl when you can dump them all over the carpet of your sister's room and snack on them at your leisure? Am I right?

what's cooking? cormeal pancakes

I can only make these when Joel isn't home because he doesn't like cornmeal. Annie loved them and gobbled up 2 enormous ones covered in honey. I substituted cornmeal flour for the cornmeal so they were less gritty but still had the flavor. We had apple sausage with them. Yummy!

easy peasy green thing

Alright, who hates junk mail? (You should all be raising your hands right now.) Does anyone actually respond to those multiple credit card offers that come almost daily? I mean, really, the last thing I need is another credit card. And that online store from which I ordered Joel some quick-dry boxers for sink washing during our trip to Italy ? That was over 3 years ago and they are still sending catalogs. How do they find me? I mean, we've move 4 times since that trip! (The fact that we've moved 4 times in 3 years should be a subject for another time.) And really, I've never ordered anything from the Costume Outlet or Oriental Trading Company or Crate and Barrel or Pottery Barn (though I won't deny I would like to) so why the hell am I getting all these catalogs? It drives me batty. Such waste. Did you know that the average person receives 560 pieces of junk mail a year? And that each year 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail? That's right, MILLION. Oh - and and it costs $320 million (there's that word again) of taxes to dispose of all that junk mail. Really, it's right here. And here. And here.

Enough ranting. Here's the best part. Did you know you can fill out 2 simple online forms to get off mailing lists? Genius! I did it tonight and it took less than 5 minutes. Go here to stop credit card offers and here to get off mailing lists (it costs $1 per name). It's so easy! I mean, how many of us signed up for the Do Not Call Registry? Why not this, too?

And those catalogs? I'm going to start calling customer service when they come and ask to be taken off the mailing list. I got 6 catalogs yesterday. Where's my phone?

puffy coat? not so much.

what's cooking? homemade pasta

A dear friend is leaving for Italy tomorrow which has caused me to become nostalgic about our trip three years ago. So, I pulled out the homemade pasta recipe from the cooking class we took on our farm stay and the kids and I made pasta tonight. It's super easy and fun to do. It also tastes amazing. The kids love eating something they have actually helped to make. Here are some photos:


2 1/2 cups flour + 4 eggs. The shells are optional.


Jonah's ball of dough. (Notice the suit jacket. They were playing dress up and Annie needed him to be in his "fanciest outfit" so he could be a proper king.)


After 10 minutes of kneading.


Rolled, cut and ready to be cooked.


Homemade meatballs and pasta.

Now if only I could figure out how to make gelato.

when jonah pours his own cereal

Notice the expression on his face that seems to say, "What's wrong, mom? Doesn't everyone pour the entire box of cereal into the bowl before eating it?"