Change of Theme?

I'm thinking of changing my blogger theme, making a new template, switching things up a bit. Here's a tentative banner I made...



(click on it to see banner sized)

Only thing is, I really love the blue jeans theme. LOVE it. Still. And I haven't found one I like even remotely as much. :/ Oh well, guess I'll keep looking! :)

Introspective: The Dune

Introspective: The Beach

Mr. Fashion Show

For Bobo's birthday Alex got him a bunch of really adorable clothes, which I was probably more excited for than he was. Bobo was a good sport though, and tried on a few of the things and let me take pictures. I can't wait until it gets cooler out because most of the stuff is super adorable sweaters and long-sleeve shirts.


Ignore the fact that he's wearing his dinosaur pajama bottoms, at least he agreed to wear the shirt!


He got the backpack for his birthday too. I hate that it makes him look like a little schoolboy.. he is NOT allowed to grow up and go to school. ;) I can't handle the cuteness.






Here is the only other shirt I could convince him to try on, then he was done. This one he really loves because it features a 'big truck' which he is pointing out. When he sees the orange of the shirt he knows what it is and shrieks 'big tuck!' He is so obsessed with cars and trucks of any type.





That's all for now! Look for some fashionable sweater pictures come fall. :)

All Ur Phones R Belong 2 Us

So whosoever may be unfortunate enough to bring a phone into our domicile, be warned... it WILL find its way to the Bobo, who will push all its buttons mercilessly and simultaneously add Malasian telephone numbers to your contacts and download apps from the internet. :) Just fyi.



At least he'll look really cute while racking up your minutes!



'Sry am buzy - confence callz'



"Dood, hold on! Gotta check facebook..."



Thanks for the new toys, everyone! :)

Goodbye Mr. Changing Pad

About a month ago, when Bobo first got sick with his Silver Lake-induced shigella/ear infection travesty, we had an unfortunate loss in our household... our trusty changing pad finally kicked the bucket.

I was sad, because it was one of the first baby items we bought when setting up our 'nursery' (which was actually just part of the bedroom in our apartment), and I was so excited to buy all the fun changing pads for it and shocked at how big it was. When Bobo finally arrived he didn't even take up half of it! Well, by the time it 'retired from service' his legs were sticking off it pretty far.


I was going to run to the store to buy another one, one whose many cracks and tattered batting were not filled with explosive, colorful sick-baby diarrhea (sorry for the visual). Then frugality prevailed, and I settled on a tried-and-true solution that was a feature in my bathroom while my little brother was going through his baby years... the pile o' towels. It's not fancy, but it works! More motivation to potty train sooner than later, I suppose.


Anyway, Bobo doesn't seem to mind or have noticed that his mostly smooshed and worn 'official' changing pad was replaced with some soft, comfy beach towels. And I no longer have to worry about a diarrhea infiltration... these babies can just get tossed in the wash and voila- all poop traces are gone.


How long and skinny are his legs, btw?? He's so going to be 6'2! :)

Random Nap - Reading on the Sofa

I have so many pictures lately of the Bobo falling asleep in cute non-bed places. I love it, I can't get enough of it! I have always found it funny and adorable. It simply doesn't occur to him to go and lie in bed when he's tired, so if he's extra tired one day or we're quite late for naptime, this is what happens:


I love that he was in the middle (actually almost at the end of) "reading" his Little Critter book. It's seven books in one, so it takes a long time to read!


He was so sweet, he was just on the sofa after lunch time, reading his books while I was working on some class stuff, and all of a sudden I looked over and he was passed out. His little head kept bobbing from one side to the other as he tried to prop it up comfortably to stay asleep.


I don't know why he doesn't just LIE down to get comfy, after all he is on a soft, cushy sofa! Silly boy.


He's also been falling asleep like this at bedtime too. I think it must be a combination of the hot weather and all the excitement from full days of doing stuff, having guests, and being a crazy two year old. :) He even fell asleep like this tonight, in his little chair. I'm not complaining at all, it makes bedtime super easy and quick!

Pins and Needles - Sewing with Momo

Bobo has an obsession with order. He loves to line things up, sort them, organize them. He will sit and line up his cars all day long, and that is the best kind of fun to him. One special activity he loves is helping Momo sew, and his job is to take every single little multi-colored pin out of its box very carefully, and line them all up, then carefully place each one back in the box. He is very careful and very methodical, and it is so precious!


He is such a good little helper, he will sit next to her for ages and just organize the pins. I think it helps that the heads are in a huge variety of pretty, pearl-finished hues. I'm sure once he learns colors he will be organizing them that way.




I was worried that disaster would ensue and someone would end up with pins sticking out of their eyes, or at the very least forearms, but so far he hasn't even gotten a single prick! It just shows how precise and OCD he is about his little 'job'.


"Now leave me alone Mama, this is me and Momo time!"

Racer Shades

How funny are these sunglasses? I got them over a year ago at Mother and Child... they were on a display by the register and tiny Bobo grabbed onto the package they were in and thought it was the best toy ever, so I brought them home.


Last year he wasn't into wearing them at all, he maybe let me put them on his face for 5 seconds, and then would rip them off. Same thing with hats. And its too bad, these are such a good idea, they fasten in the back so little munchkins don't lose them like they would normal glasses.



Well, anyway, he finally decided they were cool and wanted to wear them! For three days he would run over and grab them and ask to have them put on him. Even at night time, when he probably couldn't see anything out of them, he wanted to cruise around the house with them on. I think he looks adorable AND very Fashionable Male. ;)

A Relaxing Day, Finally

It seems this summer went from busy to crazy busy starting around the Fourth of July and just not letting up. We have had more combined doctor's visits in the past month and a half than I swear, the past three YEARS. Between me and Bobo it's been crazy health issue central... combine that with a bunch of summer activities, my class, parties, visits, birthdays, home improvements, trips and general mayhem... wow.

So it was really nice to finally have a day just to veg out and relax with NOTHING looming for the ENTIRE day. Well, I did have to finish up my final exam, but it was the end of my summer class so that was a happy thing! Now I have three weeks until the fall starts, and I'm just going to avoid thinking about how nuts our schedule is going to be then, since I'll be taking a full 4-course schedule with at least two courses I know will be *really* brutal.

Anyway though, today was nice (aside from a 5am start with an upset tummy and an unfortunately active Bobo trying to jump on it) we had an early nap at 8:30 and then awoke refreshed for a very pleasantly hot day. I managed to finish up my final pretty quickly while Bobo played with his new cars, trucks and trains, which he loves. We spent a few hours outside floating around the pool with Momo and enjoying the warm sun. Then after a late lunch Bobo got to go out with Momo for ice cream while I got to *lay down and relax*. It was amazing! Tonight we just sat around, played and read books. Might not sound very exciting, but for me it was a pretty great day, and well needed after so much stress and not feeling good lately. :)

I hope this week will be similarly low-key. I have some home projects I want to tackle and a lot of Oracle stuff to redo and fix before the fall semester starts. Hopefully there will be no more dentist/doctor visits, but it looks like there might be! The following week my Mom and Carl rented a beach house up at Hampton so we'll probably go up during a few days that week, especially Saturday as it's her birthday! We might even stay over one night if I'm feeling brave and Bobo looks super exhausted. I might even try to get up more pictures and blog posts this week, I have so many I've been meaning to, as always. :)

Butterbeer, the Harry Potter Treat

Last week (or maybe it's two weeks ago now?) we decided to have ourselves a Harry Potter movie marathon, in celebration (and as a refresher) to the Half-Blood Prince coming out in theaters. We owned the first three, and then ended up buying 4, and then borrowing 5. Each night we would watch a different one. Bobo now knows how to say 'Poht-a' for Harry Potter, so cute, but he was less than impressed with having to sit through all those movies.

Anyway, by the time we got to HP 4, Todd had this excellent idea that we should make butterbeer! After sorting though thousands of recipes online and debating amongst ourselves as to what the delicious treat must surely comprise in the REAL Hogsmeade (because duh it's all real you know), we settled on a warm, butterscotchy, clog-your-arteries version.

We made two versions, and as we still have cream soda I am just waiting for the right moment to pull out a third version, but that will have to wait. Maybe I'll make it tonight for my second viewing of Twilight (thought it was super dumb the first time, hoping maybe it will be better the second).

So for the ingredients we decided on:

• cream soda as our "beer" component
• butter (duh)
• butterscotch (also duh)
• vanilla ice cream
• marshmallows (for topping)
• whipped cream (for topping)

The first batch we made was successful and pretty good, but we decided it had too much cream soda 'beer' and not enough 'butter'. We started with a pot on the stove, putting in about a third or half stick butter, a few generous tablespoons of Mrs. Richardson's butterscotch syrup, and a few scoops of vanilla ice cream. We simmered the ingredients until they were nice and hot and combined, and then poured in the cream soda to taste... then let everything get nice and hot again because it tastes better all warm and cozy.



We topped it with canned whipped cream and marshmallows, and all in all it was quite good. I put a rather lot of cream soda to 'butter' mixture, so it had a definate bite and fizziness.



The second time we made it, a few days later, was even worse for you. This kind really, save for winter when you need to pack on a layer of polar bear fat. And also, I think it would be best served in small cordial glasses rather than by the mugful, because you just might get a heart attack.


So again I started by simmering together butter - a half stick; almost half the jar of butterscotch; several large scoops of vanilla ice cream and THEN I even added two generous handfuls of marshmallows (think rice krispie treats). Once it got thick and hot I slowly added some cream soda, careful not to make it TOO cream soda-y, stop before you taste too much of the fizzy kick.



Then we poured into mugs, bemoaned the status of our arteries, and enjoyed. This is a fabulous drink to keep in mind for winter time to change up the whole hot chocolate ritual, its super fattening and very comforting and will be great for snowy nights waiting for Santa to arrive. Cheers!

Bobo's Birthday Fort

For Arin's Birthday, Uncle Todd, Jason (and others who later abandoned the effort) came up with the idea to make a Tower of Presents or something like that. What they ended up with, 65 boxes and 17 rolls of duct tape later... was this awesome Fort of Birthday Fun! If it wasn't great enough on its own, it's little nooks and crannies were filled with toys, books and candy!


These two spent hours and hours in the pitch-black bug infested night working on this crazy thing... lit only by the light of Bobo's green lightsaber (which did not survive the party, RIP lightsaber).



Bobo wasn't so sure about going into a crazy dark tunnel, as a matter of fact he was downright opposed to the idea. The only way we finally got him to go in was after much coaxing and the promise that there was CANDY inside. That did the trick!



The narrow entryway tunnel goes in an S-shape, starting of small and getting higher as you go, and then it opens up into a big room filled with lots of shelves to hold fun stuff, and windows so you can peek out or in.




It was a TIGHT SQUEEZE for big people to get in, especially the turns. By the end of the day it had been stretched out a bit, but you still needed to do some acrobatics to get in. Not for the claustrophobic!



Party inside the castle!



Todd and Jason pondering how they can improve upon their design for future birthdays. I told them to build a treehouse out of wood, so it wouldn't dissolve at the first storm!


There was a bag of lollipops inside that made the whole experience for Bobo.




One present Bobo got earlier was a car that plays music and 'dances', so someone brought it into the castle and a dance party ensued.



Grampy didn't go in, as far as I know... but Momo did! For those not brave enough, you could look in the windows and see what you were missing.




Thanks Todd and Jason, it was an awesome present and the perfect playhouse to have at his party!!