Happy Halloween -- Costumes and Haiku

Watch out for King Kong!
I know he looks very sweet
That's my monkey boy.

Over tall buildings
He leaps in a single bound
It's Superbaby!

Check out the awesome job I did
removing my hands and arms in Photoshop!

This morning my friend Melinda was kind enough to come with me to take some cute photos of my boys in their Halloween costumes. Aren't they adorable? To complete the ensemble, my husband is going as the Empire State Building, and I am going as the leading lady/damsel in distress. Fun, huh?

In my neighborhood we don't actually do the whole Trick-or-Treat thing. Instead they do what is called a "trunk-or-treat". All the members of the local church community meet in the parking lot of the church and the children go from one car trunk to another, getting treats from everybody. In some ways it's nice because you don't have to walk around with your kids for hours!

On the other hand, they do miss out on the whole door-to-door experience. I figure we'll just take them to a couple houses in my friend's neighborhood so Jonah gets the idea.

What are you doing for Halloween? Hope it's something fun!

Happy Halloween!

I am participating in Photostory Friday.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek


and Haiku Friday.

Still Hot for the Holidays!

I know, I know!

I had you all thinking, where is Honey Mommy! Did she give up on Hot for the Holidays? Actually... NO! I just have been so busy with Halloween this week that I didn't even have time to write a post. So this will be quick while my boys are napping.

I weighed myself this week, and am happy to be down! Wahoo!

Weight: -1.5 pounds
Goal: 1 pound next week

I have decided that I like Natalie's approach. She told me that she goes for a pound a week because it is an attainable goal. So that is what I am going to try to do.

This week I did pretty well on the exercise. I worked out on my trainer 3 times. I hope that next week I can bump that up to four. I am happy because my pants are feeling looser!

So did you catch the Biggest Loser this week? I only caught the last hour, and I was SO sad that the black team lost the challenge. I knew they would probably lose and that they would send Phil home. Ah well... maybe next week's show will be more fun for me.

I was excited by the teaser for the next show! I am so excited that it will be individuals now! Maybe everyone else can get rid of the Terrible Trifecta (Heba, Brady, and Vicky)! I am also wondering if all the other contestants come back to stay... or if it is just the biggest losers amongst them... or something else entirely. Who knows? I guess we'll have to wait two weeks to find out. Apparently there is some sort of election going on this week or something.

How did you do this week?

One Year Later and Just as Dirty

This past week it has been unseasonably warm in the afternoons, but I'm not complaining! It has been nice to be able to take the boys outside to play, and we have spent quite a bit of time in our sandbox.

Watching Jonah play in the sand reminded me of one of my very favorite photos. I took this picture of him in the sandbox a little over a year ago. I don't know what it is, but something about this photo always makes me smile.


Jonah has changed so much in a year. He enjoys the sandbox much more now and is very imaginative in his play. He likes to have me build sand castles with him so that he can stomp on them... he is definitely all boy!

The other day Jonah was playing in the sandbox while I hung up a load of laundry on the line to dry. I went and played with him for a while, then I ran inside the house to grab something. When I looked out the window I nearly cracked up! Jonah was out there trying to bury himself in the sand. So of course I grabbed my camera and dashed outside.


Just look at how big my baby has grown! From 12 months to 2T and everything in between. I love this little guy! He has such a fun personality.

Here is the very short video that I took of him in action:

I am participating in Wordful Wednesday.

Swiffer Baby

If you want to know how dirty my floors are on any given day, all you have to do is take a look at Eli's clothes. The other day I picked him up and I swear it looked as though he had been on his belly in the dirt. I thought... My floors aren't really that bad, are they?

Eli is still working on the coordination required to really crawl. Right now he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks, then he ends up flopping foward on his belly. Sometimes he drags himself forward on his arms while his little legs churn behind him. He really is making progress and it gets him where he wants to go. It also gets his clothes really dirty.

Yesterday I cleaned all my floors upstairs in hopes that his clothes would stay a little cleaner and people wouldn't think I live in a pig sty. I even vacuumed because on Sunday Honey Daddy picked Eli up after he had been roaming around on the carpet and found that his pajamas had been collecting my hair... especially under his arms. I can't have a seven-month old with hairy armpits, now can I?

I randomly laughed about the idea of attaching a swiffer pad to Eli's belly because then his clothes wouldn't get so dirty and he would help me clean my floors! However it appears someone else has already thought of this:

I read the text on this page and I laughed SO hard! Apparently I need to get this outfit so Eli can "work to earn his keep" rather than just getting dirty and playing around!

The Secret to Photographing Two-Year-Olds

This weekend Honey Daddy was providing support for a programming contest at the University. Consequently he came home late most of the week, and Friday and Saturday I was pretty much on my own with the boys.

Let's just say that by Saturday the boys and I needed to get out an DO something. We were a little tired of being in the house together. So we decided to go for a drive and find some pretty leaves to collect and do some rubbings with.

On the off chance that the boys might actually be feeling photogenic, I dressed them in the same clothes I had chosen for our family photos a week ago. We didn't really get a chance to take individual photos of the boys last week because our family photos didn't exactly go well.

Eli was fresh from his nap, so he was happy and playful. I got some really nice pictures of him while we played in the leaves. He is so easy to photograph right now. Here are a few of my favorites:

Eli thought the leaves were very interesting. He kept picking them up and crunching them in is hands (having already decided they didn't really taste good).

And remember the grouchy boy who refused to smile or cooperate when we did family photos? Well apparently we left that boy at home because I actually got a few nice photos of Jonah. It was still a bit of a challenge because he would NOT HOLD STILL. He was running around in the leaves like a miniature tornado.

Then I figured out the secret! I know what to do to get a two-year-old to hold still for photos. All you have to do is put him in a tree.

Look! He really DOES know how to smile!

Then all you have to do is tell him that you will let him come down as soon as he gives you a nice smile. Actually, Jonah asked me to put him up in the tree... but it sure did help him hold still for a moment.

We had a pretty good time playing in the leaves. Jonah loved the way he could kick them around and listen to them crunch under his feet. He kept moving from one big pile of leaves to another. Check out the smile on this boy.

Maybe we should invite this boy to come take family photos with us next time, huh?

We didn't end up doing leaf rubbings until this afternoon. Jonah didn't quite understand the idea behind what we were doing. He wanted to actually color on the leaves instead of putting them under the paper we were coloring on. We had a good time nonetheless. Here are the finished products. Jonah's is on the left (he had a little help), and mine is on the right.

This was a fun Fall art project, and we'll have to do it again next year.

Unbeleafable Color

Autumn's appearance
in her lovely apparel
fills me with wonder.

The leaves are finally starting to change color around here and it is GORGEOUS! This Sunday the weather was nice enough that we walked to church. On the way home I looked up and noticed the mountains behind our house. It was breathtaking! So I got out my camera and went for a walk as soon as they boys were down for their nap.

The festive leaves are one of my favorite parts of Fall! I love the way they brighten up the trees and the way they crunch underfoot.

This afternoon I took the boys for a walk around the neighborhood. We saw some lovely leaves along the way. This next photo just makes me think of warmth and reaching for the golden sunshine.

The Aspens around our house are starting to change colors too. I love the way these little round leaves look when they blow about in the breeze.

All too soon the leaves will fall off, which always makes me a little melancholy. Winter is not my favorite time of year. Do you still have leaves on your trees?

I am participating in Photostory Friday...

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

and Haiku Friday

Scale it Back

This week has not been the best for me as far as weight loss goes (good thing it's been a FANTASTIC blogging week, right?).
I have been craving chocolate, retaining water, having headaches, feeling tired, and have been getting incredibly cranky as the week has progressed. I guess you know what that means (if you don't, then you're not a girl so don't worry your pretty little head about it).

So this week I am not planning on losing any weight. I am a bit bummed about that, but I guess I just have to keep on going. Even though I don't particularly want to, I will weigh myself in the morning and let you know how it went.

For inspiration this week, here is a picture of Jonah when he was little.

Don't forget, Mommy... Always weigh yourself naked.
You'll feel better about it afterward.

Weight: +1 pound *sigh*
Goal: Lose 2 pounds next week!

I decided to scale back my goal to a weekly one. That way it's not as discouraging if I didn't make it to the weight I wanted by Halloween, Thanksgiving, or whatever. It also makes it a bit more manageable for me. Diva Ma asked me about my weight goal, so I'll tell all of you. I ultimately want to lose 35 pounds. That would put me in a size 10 approximately, and I would be extremely happy with that.

I am happy to report that our bicycle trainer has finally arrived! So now I can exercise at home while the boys are asleep or during nap time. It is going to be fabulous. Check it out:

We got a really nice Travel Trac Real Tour trainer. It hooks up to the computer and has preprogrammed courses that vary the resistance for you. It also has a video course so you can feel a bit more like you are riding outdoors.

I have used it twice so far this week and it got me sweating! I was wearing a sweatstopper headband and by the time I finished my workout I could actually wring sweat out of it! (Gross, I know!) So I think it will help me reach my weightloss goals this winter and get me ready for bike touring season next spring and summer.

I don't know why, but I definitely prefer this to doing workout videos... maybe it's the absence of the always-smiling, too-perky aerobics instructor.
-------------------------

As for the Biggest Loser this week... somehow we recorded all but the last half hour of this episode! I had to go online to see who they had voted out. Can you believe I found out first from Wikipedia? I don't know who is updating this page, but DANG are they doing a good job.

Wasn't it funny that the black team totally thrashed the blue team at the challenge? I loved that the videos turned out to be live! Especially since Vicky basically said she didn't think the challenge was worth it. What kind of attitude is THAT?

Anyway, I was SO sad to see that when the blue team lost the weigh-in they had voted out Amy P. Now I really don't like the Brown team. It made me very annoyed when Vicky said she didn't care if her team won or lost because either way she wouldn't be going home. What kind of arrogance is that? Doesn't she care about her team members at all?! Then Brady only lost 3 pounds!

I'm definitely rooting for the black team now! How about you?

How are you doing in getting HOT for the Holidays?

Technicolor Wonders

Be prepared to be amazed!! You are about to see something that has NEVER been seen on this blog before! That's right.... photos of little girls!

I know what you're thinking... Honey Mommy, you only have BOYS. Did you finally break down and kidnap yourself some little girls?

Nope. They were on loan. (It's true, Officer, I swear!)

Actually, these are photos of my friends' daughters that I have taken in the past couple of months. I am slowly learning how to use Adobe Photoshop with help from friends, online tutorials, and just plain fooling around. This week I learned out how to do black and white pictures with only certain parts in color. It is actually much easier than I thought it would be, and I LOVE the way the pictures turn out!

How adorable is she?

I know I kinda-sorta told some of you that I would cease and desist with the over-abundance of pumpkin pictures on my blog lately, but I just couldn't help myself. My friend asked me to take pictures of her kids at the pumpkin patch. This was one of the first photos that I played with and I thought it turned out really well. Plus she's a cutie-pie too, no?

Orange you glad I put up this photo after all?

We now return to our regularly scheduled boyishness. It wouldn't be Wordful Wednesday without photos of my own little guys. Remember the garden photos I posted a little while back? Well here is another one of Jonah with his beloved bell pepper.

I will love it and squeeze it and call it George.

Finally, here is a photo of Eli in his younger months. My sister made these adorable triangular bibs and I thought they looked cute on my pint-sized cowboy.

There are so many things you can do with Photoshop and I am just starting to scratch the surface. Sometimes it can seem so complicated, so it was nice to find something that I could do easily. Ideally someday I will find the time to take a class. Then I will know what to do to create the effects that I am looking for and make photographic works of art!

I am participating in Wordful Wednesday.

Feeling Saucy!

When I logged in on Sunday to blog about our Family Photo Fiasco, I was stunned to see that I had 19 comments to moderate!!

What the heck is going on here? I was on here less than 24 hours ago, right? Where did all these comments come from? Am I in bloggy heaven?

So I put up my post and then went to read my comments... it was then that I figured it out:

I'm a Saucy blog! Wahoo! Hey Honey, come look at this!

I could not believe that I had been chosen by the Secret is in the Sauce to be featured as one of their Saucy blogs this week! It has been so much fun so far. I have spent the last three hours reading comments and checking out all of your blogs! (Good thing I am "working hard" here at the library tonight, right?)

I waited until tonight to check out all the comments so that I wouldn't ignore my boys all day. I admit that I did check once or twice while Eli was napping to release all my comments (good thing he takes more than one nap!).

My two-year-old, Jonah was being a good boy and playing with his toy cars... or so I thought! Once this morning I turned around and caught him like this:

This is still my toy!

Yep. He crawled in his baby brother's exersaucer and sat down in it backwards! Isn't that hilarious! Ah well, at least he was having a good time!

Ok. It's time to go home from work now. But I am loving this saucy feeling!

Family Photo Fiasco:A Letter to my Two-Year-Old

Dearest Son,

When you grow up and look back upon your youth and wonder why there are no photos of our family from the time you were two until you were four, I just want you to know that the reason has a lot to do with your conduct yesterday.

I had been planning for our family photos for at least a month. Coordinating clothing, getting everyone haircuts, scheduling with our awesome photographer... I took care of it all. I even took time to tell you exactly what would happen so you wouldn't be surprised.

We rehearsed giving a "good smile" for the camera, and not that awful grimace you have been giving me lately. We even went out and took some pictures with a camera just like the one that would be used. You were doing so well, and I had high hopes that we would have a fun day out taking photos as a family. I guess I must have completely blocked out our last family photo experience from my brain.

The big day arrived and we all got ready and drove to the spot I had chosen. Immediately you decided that you wanted NOTHING to do with the entire business. You did not want to sit next to me, or on my lap. You didn't even want to stand next to us. The whole thing was driving daddy and me up the wall. No wait... that was you.

When we finally talked you into sitting with us and letting my friend Cari take some photographs, we didn't really appreciate the faces that you were making. You may think that I want to remember you like this:











But really I don't. And these are the photos that we managed to get when you actually consented to LOOK at the camera instead of something else.












So we tried to move to another spot and spend some time playing in the grass and leaves. We hoped it would help, but you had already made up your little mind. We got a whole bunch of "No no no no no!", which started to get on our nerves.

The final straw occurred when Daddy had to haul you off to discipline you, which resulted in him stepping on his glasses and completely squashing them flat and scratching the lenses. Needless to say the photo shoot was concluded shortly after that.

I guess it's a good thing that Mommy and Pseudo-Aunt Cari know how to use Photoshop. That way we can take the one or two good photos of your cute little noggin and put them on a photo where the rest of us look nice. So we can create our own beautiful photo memory to replace the actual events of yesterday.

Otherwise our family photos would end up looking like this for awhile.

Hey, don't you guys have two boys?

So if you don't see any photos of our family from now until 2011 it is because we were waiting to take them until you and your brother are both over the terrible twos... and that's assuming that you don't get any more siblings!

We love you, and hope that you return to your adorable self soon.

Love,
Mommy

Holy Pumpkins, Batman!

I know I usually do a haiku on Fridays, but this week I just couldn't think of one! So I thought I would give Photostory Friday a try.

I often go past this little old truck when I am out riding my bicycle. It is near a little produce stand and I've meant to stop for a while now. Something about the dilapidated truck and the HUGE wooden pumpkins in the bed of the truck caught my eye. I thought Jonah would get a kick out of looking at them. So we stopped on our way home from taking photos in a pumpkin patch for one of my friends. Jonah though the pumpkins were fascinating!

He climbed in the truck and looked around. He even gave the pumpkins a hug! I liked this photo the best though. It gives you a good idea of just how BIG those babies are!

After seeing my pumpkin patch photos, one of my friends asked me to take pictures of her kids with the pumpkins. While we were at the pumpkin patch, I got another cute one of little Eli. Doesn't he look completely happy? What a cutie!

So that's my first photostory Friday. How did I do?


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Weight for me!

So this morning when I walked out of the shower I found Eli on the floor of the bathroom checking out my bathroom scale. Of course I had to go get my camera so I could put a picture up on my blog. Isn't he cute?

I used to be a bit obsessive about weighing myself. Now I only weight myself two or three times a week. My two-year-old Jonah is well aware of this ritual. We "take turns" weighing ourselves. Even though I tell him what the scale says, he always steps on it and says, "Fourty pounds!" in his most excited voice. I don't know where he got the idea that he weighs fourty pounds, since he only weighs about 29... but at least he's happy about it, right?

I am hoping that tomorrow morning I will be just as happy about my weight. I did really well at eating healthy this week (i.e. NO pie!). I didn't do quite as good at getting more exercise. I only got in my 20 mile bike ride for breast cancer and one other shorter ride (8 miles or so).

Weight: lost 1.5 lbs!!! Yippee!
Goal: lose 4.5 pounds by Halloween

I lost the pound I gained last week, and a half more besides. That makes me pretty happy!

I hope to do a bit more exercising soon! My husband and I ordered a bicycle trainer this week and I am so excited for it to arrive. Then I can ride my bike inside while the boys are sleeping... and I don't have to go out in the COLD.

As you know, I have been watching the Biggest Loser. Can I just say Holy Heba! I definitely have a villain now to root against! She drove me crazy this week. First of all she just wouldn't stop whining... about EVERYTHING. The she tried to take charge in the temptation. I think that she is a total control freak! I was disappointed that she got to pick the teams.

The only thing that I think she did right in choosing the teams is putting one guy on each team. The game is just more fair that way (although I would have been tempted to leave both guys on my team). I don't think I would have split up the families though. She totally could have put Phillip and his wife on the same team. She was just being spiteful when she split them up.

As soon as we found out the black team lost, I knew that Shellay would be going home. It will be interesting to see how the teams do next week. I think if the blue team loses, then Shellay's daughter Amy may end up going home. But you never know!

How did you do this week? What did you think of the Biggest Loser?

By the way, I just realized my previous post was my 100th post! Thanks to all of your for the comment love! That was the most comments I have ever received!

Pumpkin Patch Piracy

Last week I wanted to take the boys out to a pumpkin patch to get some cute fall photos. This is the first time that I decided to do this, so I checked online and in the phone book to see where the nearest pumpkin patch is. It turns out that the place closest to our house doesn't open until 4 p.m. and they charge $8 for an adult ticket. Is it just me, or is that insane?

The next closest place I could find was in the next city over, and they charge $3 for admission. I don't know if I'm naive or what, but I was kind of hoping to find a field full of pumpkins somewhere that would let me take pictures as long as I took home a pumpkin. I guess not!

Then while I was out cycling I passed a nursery that had a cute little straw maze set up with pumpkins on it. It was perfect! I decided to bring the boys by and see if anyone would get upset if I took a few photos. I was in luck because nobody said a thing about it!

Here is Eli checking out the straw. He just couldn't figure out what that funny stuff was!

This is the cutest photo ever, don't you think? I don't know how I managed to get such a great smile while trying to make sure that he didn't face plant off the bench! I just love this dimpled little boy!

I tried to get both of the boys together, but that proved to be a bit more difficult. The best shot I got was this one where they weren't looking at me. All the others they were giving me the cranky-eye... like "Mom! Can we stop now?".

I didn't get any nice shots of Jonah with the pumpkins. He kept giving me his version of a smile, which is a kind of grimace that makes you think he is in pain. I did manage to catch this shot of him that same day as we were walking through a field. I guess right now it's best if I catch him off guard and don't tell him to "Smile!".

Finally, can you believe that it actually snowed here on Sunday?! I was completely disgusted. Jonah was completely delighted! At least one of us enjoyed it, right?

I am participating in Wordful Wednesday.

If You Make Your Son Some Popcorn...

Jonah absolutely loves to read books. He has a bookshelf full of them, which is probably one of the hazards of having a mother and two grandmothers that are librarians.

One of his favorites lately is "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies" by Laura Numeroff. She has written a number of books, and we have most of them. They are really great for showing the consequences of your actions.

Anyway, in this book the boy takes the mouse to the movies. Then the mouse sees the popcorn and wants some. Then he wants to string it together... and put it on a Christmas tree... and gets distracted on the way home and builds a snowman and has a snowball fight... and you get the idea!

So this morning Jonah told me that he wanted to have some popcorn. I don't think that we have ever really had any popcorn because I am not a huge fan. So this morning he said he wanted popcorn because "it's yummy". So for our morning snack we had popcorn, and he loved it!

Of course, while eating the popcorn he told me that he wanted to "decorate it". I guess this means our Christmas tree this year will probably have a popcorn string on it!