Boo! Here's a Halloween Card for You!

James got a Halloween card in the mail from his Grandma and Grandpa Ferguson yesterday. I gave it to him this morning. I love how he looks at the envelopes like he is actually reading his name and address on it!


Here he is trying to figure out how to open it.


Look at his Jack Nicholson eyebrow!


He LOVES it!


Here he is showing it to me.


Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! Check back tomorrow, i'll post pics from the Halloween Trick or Treating Party we are going to tonight with the mommy group!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Peeking in on Our Favorite Construction Worker

Sshhhh . . . our Favorite Construction Worker is busy on his laptop.
He must not need to be on the construction site today.

He is very intent on his work.

What is he thinking here?

"Come on, Mom, can I get some relief for my teeth?
They are killing me!"

"hey Auntie Kimmy, thanks for my way-too-cute
camo pants from the Gap!"

"Ooohhh I ate one two many pretzels today, my tummy hurts!"

"Mom, can you PLEASE put Sesame Street on?
I don't really like Oprah!"

I love it when he wants me to wear his hat! Maybe I can assist him on his next big project!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since Chris and James and I are going to be back East for Thanksgiving, I thought that it would be fun to have an early Turkey Day with Bill and Gini and the kids. We had the whole huge meal. It was a blast. I made a 15 lb turkey (I usually make at least a twenty-pounder) and I tried brining it. It came out beautiful.

Here is James and I before our guests arrived. OK, now tell, me, does this kid not look EXACTLY like me, or what???


James and his Dada.


Here is Uncle Bill and James and Garrin. Isn't taking pictures funny? I have like five versions of this picture, and in not one of them is everyone looking at the camera!

Here's the gang, all spiffed up for Turkey Day!


We ended the afternoon with some games, like the "One-Handed Rocco Toss."


Thanks to Gini for making the broccoli rabe (mmm, yummy, with toasted pignoli nuts and raisins). They also brought THREE pies from Marie Callendar's. It was GREAT!

Fun Fun Fun

We had a very busy weekend!

We had Mel and Gene and Sam and Joan over on Friday night for dinner. James is fascinated by Gene's beard, and smiles constantly at him and points. It's really cute. Here they are:



Chris got James his first real Happy Meal (in the box) on Saturday. James was very excited about it!


Look, Mom! I can use a straw! (This was the first time that he has been able to really drink from a juice box). Don't you just love those lips??!!!


He has loved playing outside now that it is only 80 degrees out (in October!!!!). Here is a flower he brought in for me.



Chris' boss Roy and his wife Doris came over to help us out with a few things. James LOVES Doris, probably because she immediately gets right down on the floor to play with him (must be why the dogs love her so much, too!) James kept hugging her all afternoon.


Roy shows us all his softer side, here, while "reading" James his favorite story. What's funny though, is that Roy makes up his own version of the story (which is TOTALLY hilarious). I think James knows that it isn't the regular version, because he kept looking up at us and laughing.


Doris got James all giggly! I am just fascinated by the things that make him laugh.

"Waaaaahhhhh!!!!"

What happened to my perfect, sleep-thru-the-night-at-six-weeks; happy-go-lucky; super-sweet; totally adorable; pup-pup loving and so much fun in the morning little boy?

7:00am:

"Want some French toast?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Want your milk?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Want to watch Elmo?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Want to play with your blocks?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"WANT TO GO TO BED??????"

He smiles, and sweetly goes to bed for a nap at 8:30am.

11:30am:

"Ma ma ma ma ma ma MA MA MA MA MA MA!!!!!!!"

"Yes, James?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Awesome.

"You want some grilled cheese?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Want some juice?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"Want to watch Clifford?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

"WANT TO GO TO BED????"

He smiles sweetly, and goes down for a nap at 12:30pm.

3:30 pm:

"Ma ma ma ma ma ma MA MA MA MA MA!!!!!!!"

"Yes James?"

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Awesome. I have to talk to a client about a project and what is he doing?

"Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

Don't you think I would know better than to drag him to Kohl's and to the grocery store? What did he do the entire time, regardless of giving him treats, snacks, juices and toys?

You guessed it: "Waaahhhhhhhh!!!!!"

So here I am trying to type this post. When what do I see?




"Do you want to go to take a nap?"

He smiles sweetly, and goes down for ANOTHER nap at 5:15pm.

HMMMMMMM . . . . should I wake him up for dinner???

I DON'T THINK SO!!!!!!

My Artist in Action

Enjoy!

Newsflash!

I was talking to my Mom today and we were reminiscing about Baskin Robbins. We used to go all the time when I was a kid growing up back East, and I loved it!

I told her that I was thinking about taking the boy to a new one that just opened up near my house, and she said "OH! You HAVE to! They should have their fall flavours out now! Egg Nog and Pumpkin Pie!"

Well, that's all I needed to hear and I raced to Baskin Robbins. YES! They had both of the flavours. I got them hand packed in a pint (I also left with a pint of Oreos Cookies and Cream for Chris).

I am SO excited!! I love the Egg Nog, but the Pumpkin Pie is simply DIVINE!!

Thanks for the tip, Mom!

Google Whack-Attack

In all of my free time, (heh-heh) I have found myself to be thoroughly bitten by the Google-Whack game. You may recall a piece about this on the Today show a few years back. The idea is simply to enter two words into the Google search engine, without quotes, & or +.

You have succeeded when you can come up with just ONE query.

Here are a few examples of Google whacks that come up with the coveted ONE response:

headwears furlong

turboramjets flamed

frizzled departeds

funky swallowworts

There are literally hundreds of examples of Google whacks (which, of course, you can find at Googlewhack.com)

Now, it is my lunch break, and there are a million other things I should be doing during this hour, like downloading a Rowenta User's Manual to find out how to de-calcify my iron; scrubbing the pizza lunch leftovers off of James' booster seat; feeding the dogs (have I done that yet today?); picking recipes out for Friday nite's dinner with Mel & Gene and Sam & Joan; or printing out the photos of James that I have been promising to mail to my Mom for over a week . . .

Ah, NO, I think I'll just Google Whack for a little while longer . . .

I haven't come up with my own Google Whack yet, but I'll let you know when I do!

My Little Artist

James has recently mastered coloring! Here is a recent piece of art (with some help from Mommy):
He is quite adept at using both hands:


Looks pretty and tastes good, too!


His Grandma gave him this mouse last year, and he has recently taken a big interest in it, dragging it everywhere! Here James is offering Mouse some of his pasta:

Maybe Mouse gives James his artistic inspiration! He sure does love him!

Priority Mail vs. Media Mail

This is what happens when you don't spend the extra 14 cents and use Priority Mail.


And notice, the box says "GLASS." LOL

Just Truckin'

Like father, like son!




Chris wanted me to post more pics of his other baby:

My Son the Construction Worker

New Pediatrician and New Shoes for James

I took James for a second opinion on his legs yesterday. His legs appear to be bowed out when he walks. I wasn't too concerned about it, but we got an opinion anyway. AND GOOD THING! James is fine (more about that later) but we got a NEW pediatrician out of the experience!

James has had the same pediatrician since day one. We will call her JFP (for James' Former Pediatrician). She is pretty nice, but I always feel like she is rushing me. I have also asked the JFP some questions before where I am pretty sure she has just about rolled her eyes at me for asking. Now, shouldn't every pediatrician keep in mind that they might field some crazy questions from new mothers? Should we moms be judged by that?


Anyhow, at JFP's office, I am always waiting in line to sign in at the one admission window that they have, struggling to find a seat because they are so busy, waiting inevitably for at least 45 minutes in the waiting room and another 25 in the actual patient room, I have to pay the co-pay BEFORE being seen, the JFP has a different assistant every time, and they are constantly pushing shots on me.

In addition, the office is a good 40 minutes away from our house and you can never EVER find a parking space, so we have to leave at least 20 minutes early so that we can circle the parking lot a few hundred times, stalking people who are leaving like its the middle of the Christmas shopping rush at the mall.
I guess I didn't know that it could be different! Yesterday we went to see JNP (James' New Pediatrician). The office is 20 minutes closer to our home. There is PLENTY of parking, (even VALET, if you can believe it). When you get to the office, they have three different windows to check in to, so that you aren't standing in line trying to check in while other moms are trying to pay for their visit.

PLUS, the waiting rooms are filled with cute chairs in red, blue, green and yellow. There are tons of toys and fun posters, and a TV playing PBS cartoons (our favorite!)

They did not, I repeat DID NOT collect our co-payment before we saw the JNP. We only waiting about 5 minutes before he assistant came out to the waiting room to get us, kneeled down to say hello to James, and then took us back to the waiting room. She hadn't even finished telling me a little about what to expect when the JNP came in! YAY!!!

She asked me why I was there and I said I wanted a second opinion on James' legs. I said they appeared to be bowed out when he walked, and that it just did not look right. She shook James' hand, introduced herself, and then asked me to put him down so that she could see him walk. She went to the corner of the room and took a Dum-Dum lollipop out of her coat pocket. NEAT!!! he ran right over to her! I told her that the JFP had said not to worry about it, but that she hadn't even watched James WALK before she gave me her diagnosis!

Long story longer, she was AWESOME. She has been a pediatrician for 26 years and has three of her own children. She said that James just needs to wear shoes with ankle support and a high arch, and that he will be fine. She also said (patting self on the back and preparing to receive the Mother of the Year Award) that she could tell that I stayed at home with him because he was very well-adjusted, happy and social. LOVE HER!

She also won me over when I asked about vaccinations and the MMR shot. I am sure that you have heard about the whole Jenny McCarthy-possible link to Autism-MMR shot controversy. Well, when I had asked JFP about it, she said that it was up to me but that she had vaccinated her kids with no problem. When I asked JNP about it, she said, "Well, this is not what the American Academy of Pediatrics would want me to tell you, but I would delay it as long as possible, just to be safe."

WOW.

I was sold. I told her that I wanted to change to her and her office permanently.

On the way out, they had three windows with chairs so that you can sit and pay your co-pay (nice not to have to stand and shuffle thru your bag while comforting a cranky toddler at the same time.)

Kudos to Fremont Children's Clinic and Dr. Nancy Boebel!

We went out later and got James a proper shoe-fitting (I had him in size 5 regular, they put him in size 6 wide). We also bought him an appropriate pair of shoes. (Uncle/Coach Bill, they have soccer balls on the side!) Here is my happy boy:

Andrea Bocelli and Elmo

I am sitting in my office working on a newsletter layout. James is in the living room watching Sesame Street. All of a sudden, I hear the familliar sounds of Andrea Bocelli floating through the house. "Hmmm" I think, "What is Bocelli doing on Sesame Street?"

This is what I found:



How AWESOME!!

I'm in Slogan Heaven

Ok, so my cousin Heather started adding this little HTML slogan generator to her blog, and now I am ADDICTED! You simply put in your name and the site will generate hundreds of popular slogans with your name in them. Heres a great one I found for James:

James Tested, Mother Approved.

Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more James slogans.

And here is one for Chris:

Go Crack a Chris.

Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Chris slogans.

Here's my favorite for my name:

Things Happen After an Allison.

Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Allison slogans.

What's your favorite? Post it in my comments so we can all see it!

(Heather, your ROCK!--Check out Heather's blog in my links).

Ride 'em Cowboy

Lots of pics for you from the weekend. We headed over for Garrin's 2nd birthday part on Saturday night. I got James all dressed up for the occasion, and then I was sad because he looked so much like a little BOY and not a BABY.


When we got to the party James had some fun playing with his Uncle Bill and some stickers.


We got Garrin a motorized ATV for his birthday. Chris had a great idea to put cutouts of Garrin's face on the box.


Here is the look on Garrin's face after the box was unwrapped and he saw himself on it--PRICELESS!!



Garrin got a little Thomas the Train playhouse and guess who spent half the night in it shrieking with delight? Guess who's mom went out and bought one just like it today??


Today we went with some friends to to a little fall festival. We had a decent time, although when we asked about the price of a pumpkin and the guy said it was $85, I had to remind myself that "You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy!"

But anyway, they did have pony rides! Hmm, I wonder who was more excited about that?

I actually had a little pony when I was a little girl named Trigger that looked a lot like this one! (I know you're astonished by that.)


James liked his pony ride, and cried when it was time to get off. Oh well, maybe we can ride Mommy's old horse Sonny Boy when we vi st Grandma and Grandpa next month!

By the way, anyone who would like to make a buck or two next year should buy a semi filled with pumpkins from Nebraska at 10 cents a pound and truck them to Vegas. Set up some bales of hay and you'll make a nice bundle!