Winter (and naked) fun.

Did I catch anyone reading that title twice? Let's just get right to the naked.





Maybe I'm alone here, but I think every mother gets gleeful at the sight of naked pictures of her chubby little angel. My mom hates it when I take photos of the boys naked (and I thought *I* could be a prude sometimes), but I happen to think that baby nakedness is beautiful and pure and 100% okay to celebrate. So there you go. Naked beauty.

Jack finally got to go outside today and use his sled. It's now 45 degrees and the snow is melting, but he enjoyed it anyway.


He had to learn the hard way that the summer toys don't work as well in the snow:



Mike taught him to throw snowballs at the window Benjamin was viewing them from


This was taken a split second before that too large snowball knocked Jack completely over. Thanks Dad.

Cookie Decorating Fun

We went to a neighbor's house today for some cookie decorating. Most of the kids there were a little too young to really get it, though they all had fun. Jack was more concerned with eating than decorating, but I guess that is the point.

Super Suppers

Last week I hosted a party at Super Suppers, which is one of those assemble-and-freeze your own dinners places. Five of us went and had a great time, and came home with 12 dinners each for the freezer. I'm particularly fond of the crab ravioli with creme sauce...garlic, green onions, cayenne pepper, sour cream... what's NOT to like?? Note to child-free friends looking for good baby shower gifts (especially if giving a group office gift, or joint friend gift): these types of places are a BOON for couples with a new baby. Gift certificates or food you've either made or picked up and deliver to their house are some of the best gifts a tired, busy young family can receive.)

Abby brought her camera, so Colleen and I had a photo shoot.




Next time we may do a neighborhood party. Once I run out of food in the freezer and am faced with cooking (gasp), I'll be ready to go back.

Non-toxic Toys (shouldn't that be an oxymoron?)

Thanks to the diligence of several of my friends (Samantha, you are truly on this), I periodically receive updates and emailed links on new articles about toys and children's products and the levels of chemicals in them. Many of you will remember a fair number of blog postings several months ago with links to sites that can tell you about BPA-free baby products, and the like (one is still listed under my favorite links on the left side of this blog). Now I'm starting to hear about your average, trusted, everyday toys containing strange levels of lead, bromine, mercury, even arsenic. ARSENIC. Are you kidding me with this? One manufacturer, who I have assumed to be trustworthy and safe, and whose toys I like because they are simple, wooden, do not require batteries, and have nice bold colors, is Melissa and Doug. Now I read that they are not necessarily all the seem. I'm particularly saddened to know their toys are made in China, where as we all know, health codes are not met as stringently in US factories located there or otherwise.

For you concerned parents, check out this link: Non-Toxic Kids.

And the link to which she refers, HealthyKids.org, is now linked in my favorites list. I could see how this could become an obsession, never being able to trust the toys your child receives as gifts or you yourself purchase, having to look them up and read their chemical test results before allowing your child to play with them.... life should not be this difficult. Especially when it comes to children's toys. I'm not so worried now about Jack's toys going in his mouth, but Jack's toys are constantly in Benjamin's mouth...his trains, his bath toys, etc. I freaked out when I saw a set of bath sponge letters/numbers on this site that were listed under "worst toys" because of the high levels of chemicals in them. How could a red 7 contain arsenic? Seriously? And I often let Benj chew on those bath numbers to keep him happy when I'm bathing Jack. That makes me ill.

Trying to scrape together some holiday spirit

I was telling a friend of mine recently that I thought when I had kids that the holidays would start to be really special; creating our own family traditions, getting into that whole wonder and spirit that children have when it comes to Santa or Easter egg hunts or whatever it may be. Maybe it's because my children are still too young to really "get it," but so far I haven't been hit with this magic I had anticipated. Mike and I tried to decide whether or not to get a tree this year, since it seems we are already on the less-than-3-week countdown to Christmas, and we weren't really feeling the necessity. I got fickle and changed my mind this morning, so we got a small tree and put up some decor. I'm glad we did because once we had it up, I remembered how much warmer the house seems with Christmas lights on at night, and how much I love the smell of pine in the air. So we fashioned together some last minute holiday cheer, though sadly I was out of egg nog for my traditional "drinking while decorating the tree."


(I'd like to note that it's NOT my tradition to decorate the tree in a bathrobe. And this photo was unsolicited. But due to the fact that my intentions to take a nice, peaceful shower while the boys were napping, followed by the peaceful set-up of the tree before Jack awoke, were DESTROYED by Jack skipping naptime, I had to stay in the robe till all the decorating craze was past and Jack could let the tree alone long enough for me to steal away. On the up side, he's feeling good enough again [thank GOD] to skip naps, so I guess it's back to normal for us.)

Jack would only pose by his stocking if we let him stand on the Wii Fit balance board

Jack is the only one with a true stocking this year, except for the two little ones for Morphine and Lucy. Hawkeye ate my stocking last year, and Mike's is falling apart. We don't yet have one for Benjamin, but hope to wait on that till we can get one that means a little more than a Target-bought stocking. (Note to Sarah: after you GRADUATE in May, I plan to commission you to knit one for Benj. I pay well, don't worry. Especially since your pay grade will be much steeper with a PhD behind your name.)



Even Morphine got into the festivities


I received a surprise package in the mail from my old host family in New Zealand (from 1995!!!!) and it had the cutest gifts for the boys. Little matching tee shirts with kiwi birds on them, New Zealand hats, cute little baby UGG boots (hand sewn in NZ!) for Benj, and a kiwi stuffed bird for Jack. And NZ candy for me and Mike. The only one worth writing home about (which I probably did when I lived there) is the Crunchie. I could eat that all day. Jack quickly commandeered Benj's red tee and hat, and left Benj with the blue that was sent to him. Benj didn't care--he made quick work of the hat and got it all slobberly in no time.



Here's my cutie 7-month-old practicing karate:


2-yr-olds can be found in all sorts of weird spots:



That's pretty much where we're at. I'm hoping to send Jack to daycare tomorrow since he's feeling better, and hopefully not contagious any longer. We'll see what they say.

Holiday Cheer

Pay it Forward, IA

53 "pay it forward" at Iowa coffe shop

Years and Days

"The years rush past, as every older woman will tell the young mothers who complain that they still have two little ones at home and it seems like forever before they will all be in school. Oh no, they say, time flies--enjoy them while they're young--they grow up so fast...
The mothers agree that indeed the years do fly. It's the days that don't. The hours, minutes of a single day sometimes just stop. And a mother finds herself standing in the middle of the room wondering. Wondering. Years fly. Of course they do. But a mother can gag on a day."
--Jain Sherrard

Hand. Foot. Mouth.

I'll let you add them together and do the math. Here's a hint: when added together, they equal screams of "Owie!", bleeding from the mouth, no sleeping, no eating, and lots of crying. Oh, and no medication but time. Crying again. For all involved.

Caffeine surprise

Not too long ago Mike and I made our normal order for Grounds for Change Coffee. We usually get a box of 6 bags of coffee, so that it lasts us a long time. A couple days after receiving our caffeine treasure box in the mail, I received another shipping confirmation from the company. I told them it must be a mistake, since we already received our order. Indeed, it was confirmed as a mistake, but they couldn't take back the shipping, so they told us to keep the second shipment for free. Who can pass that up? Except, when it arrived days later, this is what I found:


As you can see, that FIVE POUND bag of coffee is larger than our gallon of milk. Holy crap. So we will be sharing coffee this holiday season with everyone we know.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with the professional photographer who took our family photos last week to view those photos. They turned out great, and I had a seriously hard time choosing what to order, and keeping the order under $500 (don't freak out: we're also doing photos as Christmas gifts for family, it wouldn't be $500 for just us :)
I tried to break some copyright laws and copy the photos from her website into this blog, but oh-so-un-tech saavy me couldn't figure it out. So if you are interested in viewing my gorgeous boys (said in sugary sweet mommy voice), you can check them out here: Black Photography.)

Yesterday Benj turned 7-months-old. Yikes, he's more than half way to that first birthday party. But he keeps getting cuter, so we'll allow him to grow a bit more.

Here are some photos from our Thanksgiving(s):

Jack was a huge fan of the singing&dancing tree


Not everyone found this infinitely amusing


Cousin Brian, Aunt Jenny, and Uncle Scott


We wiied for hours on end. Jack thought it was hilarious to watch us play the sporting games.


Mike trying out the Wii Fit


Jack and "Unck-y Ada"


I think Benj resembles his uncle a little bit...


Okee dokee, back to work!