Farmer's Market

We went to the big farmer's market in Santa Monica last Sunday. It's a special treat because they have SUCH good breakfast and pony rides. We used to go every Sunday, but now we go to the Wed. one that is much much closer, smaller, quicker, has easier parking, etc. So, we get there and the Sun. has moved everything around. It is much easier to navigate, especially with a stroller and a toddler. We had a great morning, ate our fill and got ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. Lily and Grandma made a turkey crown and the kids got a ride too!

Where's Ben??

Seriously, two seconds. Lily, Grandma and I were in the living room and I had just sat down. I look into the dining room, and yell. SWEET JESUS. This is where we found the little punk.





He's holding a bin of crayons.

Not for Arachnophobes

More spiders!! We've had a total of 7 in a week. Tom cleared out the litter box and Matt treated it with mass chemicals. We bought plants and filled in the two boxes in front. What a difference! I'd like to thank the deadly spiders for giving us the motivation to finally make our house look like a professor lives there, rather than students.

The red hour glass



Eeeeeewwwww



The front left box



The litter box

Heebie Geebies!!!!!

We have an infestation of BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS!!!!! Thankfully, Papa (Tom) is here to help! Matt found one on the front porch. They went back to kill it and found 3 more. Then they found egg sacks. They talked to Erik across the street and he's had 2 lately. Then, Matt found and killed another one this morning. Tom went out front a little bit ago to start getting all of the gross weeds out of our giant litter box out front. (We have a huge flower box that we have never done anything with because our neighbor's cats use it as a litter box) Maryann found another HUGE mama spider and we have it in a jar. Sure enough, it has the bright red hour glass on it's belly. I know we are usually all earth friendly and peaceful, but that bitch needs to die!

Target

We got to go to Target with Rebecca yesterday. It was such a treat to get to hang out with her and have some company to help us get through that place. She makes everything more fun. Plus, Lily is officially in the "WHY" stage and it was so nice to have someone else to answer the questions. :)
Lily was being a lion. We had to convince her that trained lions walk upright to get her off the floor and on to the next item on our list.



This Charlie Brown shirt was so perfect for Ben. After he threw it on the floor several times, we decided not to get it.

Felt Club

Lily and I had so much fun at Felt Club. We got to go early and stay most of the day. Crazy Brian made a fort for Lily under one of the tables and she basically stayed in there all day. I kept asking her if she wanted to go explore and she'd say, no, I want to stay in my fort. Rebecca's booth was seriously the best one there. (No bias, of course) She and Brian made the beautiful walls and they just really made the space into Becky-land. We had some very busy parts of the day, so I hope overall, it was a success! Here are some pictures:

Some people GUSHING over Rebecca's beautiful new pieces (&1 old one) she was soooo blushing!



Some wild hair in the booth behind us



Lil in her fort, sporting her new fox (lil' stinker skunk) shirt



The Shriner....I did get to see one super shriner hat, but sadly no big men driving tiny little cars
This was before the event even started......it was packed 20min later!



Not the best photo, but the best booth!

Lovely Leslie

Oh my goodness. Today Lily and I went to Felt Club. It is a huge, amazing art/craft fair in the city. Rebecca was in the show this year and had a great day. (more later) BUT for now, I will introduce you to my new best friend, Leslie Hall. She is the best thing I have seen in quite some time. If you've never heard of her, you can fine her here: http://www.lesliehall.com/
She was the entertainment and she did not disappoint. Laurie and I went to talk to her and take a picture with her. Then, after her performance, we made Rebecca go. Poor Becky. She is so tiny and was engulfed by the hurricane Leslie. Good times. Seriously, I can not look at these pictures without crying/laughing. Lily was totally freaked out by her. Sadly, no photos of them doing ballet moves together. Luckily, those photos are in my head.

Poor Becky being violated



Sick Dance Moves



She was so out of breath after each song.



She makes Laurie and I look extra pretty :)



My hero

Ashes, ashes

Wow. We are not even close to the fires and look what we woke up to Sun. morning. Ashes all over our car and in the air. Can't imagine what it's like when you are right in the middle of it. Hopefully, they'll be out soon. Quit hogging the rain East Coast!
Matt took these before Lily and I left for Felt Club (more on that later)
Smokey Sky

Afternoon Walk

SO it's the afternoon. Ben is up from his nap, it's not dinnertime yet. Lily is asking for Daddy and wants to go outside to wait for him. Ben hears this, gets his shoes, brings them to the door and bangs on it. I guess some outside time will do us all some good. We go to the field-ish area that borders the campus and 80th street (the cross street at the end of ours). There are some great trees. Many of them have been cut down or cut back recently, but the kids still love to play, climb and explore there. We went with no stroller, so Ben felt like a big man and was strutting around. He follows Lil and tries to do whatever she does. Of course, every tree is a castle, or a school, or an ice cream shop to her. We ended up meeting Daddy on the way home and walked home together. It's getting dark early here, so it was nice to get outside beforehand. :0)

I can take a hint.







This was actually pretty high branch they were sitting on. Lily was really good about holding on to her brother.

Day of Beauty :)

Lily and I had a nice girls day out on Sat. The faculty formal (prom) was that night, so I needed some serious help. Ben and Matt napped and we went out for some girl time. First, we went to get my nails done and as I was asking Lily to help me pick out a nail-polish color, I noticed she was picking out her own. I told her that this was a place for big people to get their nails done. "But mama, I'm such a big girl now". I tried the-you can paint your nails with Kayla tonight when mama and daddy go out-trick. Didn't work and Lil chooses the brightest pink possible. I let her hold the polish and sit with her book while I get my nails done. She was so patient, but I could tell she really felt her turn was next. I started to explain how there were only mommies in the salon and how I think they only do mommies nails here. Then she pulls out the big guns. Nana let me do it in Chicago.
Blast that Nana!! So, Lily got her tiny nails painted and was happy as a fluorescent pink clam. Luckily it cost $2 because it takes about 30 seconds to paint those itty bitty nails.
When we got our hair cut, Lily was very brave and cooperative. This is only her second haircut. The first was done by Auntie Meal before Erin's wedding. Meal went on and on about the princess cape and princess scissors and had special treats and everything. I wish we could have had a repeat, but Laura did a great job too. Daddy gave us both strict instructions to only cut off a little bit. I'll have to get some 'after' pictures up here.

How cute is that little butt on a stack of towels!

Breakfast

This is just a video of the kids at breakfast. Lily was finished eating and playing with a puzzle. Ben is just being Ben.

Punk

Some more pictures of that stinky boy. He ran around the house this morning throwing things and pulled out some of Lily's hair. I actually put him in a time out. He sat there with a smile on his face, like, ok, I'll sit here. As soon as I let him up, he picked something up and threw it. Such a punk! All he really wanted was more juice. Once I got it for him, he was happy again. Geeeeez, learn to talk already!

Love free music class!

My friend Rachelle and I took our little ones to a free music class while our older two were at school. They loved it and had so much fun that they both passed out on the way home. Also, a kid fell in the fountain and I only got to see it because Ben was running away through the mall and I caught him near the fountain, so thank you Bubba. It was the highlight of my day! (Mostly because it wasn't my kid) The poor Nanny. She had this naked little boy who was NOT happy. It was hilarious though. "AYE!! DIOS MIO!!!"

Ben rockin' out



Maddie is quite the little dancer!



Ben likes to clap.



And he's off again w/ Maddie's stroller

Messy Morning

So, I decided that I needed a shower. Matt had left for work, Lily was eating her breakfast and Ben was playing in the living room. (Or so I thought). I hop in the shower and am almost finished when Lily comes into the bathroom.
"Mama, this is broken"
What's broken Lil?
"This" (She's holding a chip clip that is, in fact, broken)
How did it break
"Benjamin broke it"
How did that happen?
"He opened the cabinet and got it"
What was it attached to?
"The pretzels"
Are they all over the floor?
"Yes"
So, I get out and get dressed as fast as I can, which, by the way, is really a challenge when you are still wet. I go to the kitchen and the floor is covered in what was a new bag of pretzels. Ben is clapping and stomping around like it's bubble wrap on New Years. I have to eventually put him in his room and shut the door to clean up the mess because he kept coming back and snack-dancing. (He didn't like that. Real tears, hurt little feelings) I'm sweeping up the mess and Lily (Who is supposed to be at school in 10 minutes) is asking me every question she can get out of her mouth. I finally say, Lil, I am angry right now and I don't want to talk. "You need space Mama?" Yes. "Oh...........why?" I look up to see that she is eating yogurt with her fingers and it is all down the front of her. Argh.

This is after I had cleaned some of it up.



STINKER!!!

Ben's first popsicle

Ben usually finishes all of his dinner, or throws what's left on the floor. He gets licks of Lily's deserts, but never gets his own. We have little tiny popsicles so we thought it'd be fun to give him one. Yeah, Ben enjoyed it, ate the whole thing and was stained orange for the rest of the night.

Lily drew this awesome cat and was very proud of herself.



Ben's first popsicle!!



I think he liked it.



Of course, Lily and Kai had one too.

Vote Today

I took Ben with me to vote today. Not the best idea, but I had no choice! He was flipping around like a fish while I tried to hold him and was actually upside down for the majority of it. We vote in someone's living room (Weird, I know, when we have this huge campus down the street) and there were so many knick-knacks he was dying to get his hands on. There were very nice people, all offering to hold Ben, but I didn't trust him. Someone would have been wheeled out with a broken hip. A man said to me as I walked out, your son will always remember this day. I told him that I hoped today was so historic that we all remember it.

Ben is cool and calm and confident in his vote.



This is where his "I VOTED" sticker was a few minutes later: