Halloween

Yes, I know. That hint a few days ago just had you on the edge of your seat, didn't it? Well, no more trying and trying and trying to guess what Bennett might have been for Halloween!

I present, ladies and gentlemen, Sheriff Woody:

I know this video is turned sideways (I have a hard time remembering that videos can't be turned once they're transferred), but I'm posting it anyway. Bennett loved going around saying, "Howdy, howdy. I'm Woody!"



Miranda and James invited us to go to a barbecue in their neighborhood yesterday afternoon, so that's where we headed first. Well, actually we headed to Marietta Toyota first to look at (which turned into purchasing) a car. Josh started a new job recently and he needs a car for work. So I left him there filling out paperwork and he joined us later in the new ride (which is a nice silver '08 Camry).

I didn't put Cannon in his costume for this party, because it was quite warm outside and I thought he'd get super hot.

Here he is with James' award-winning Frankenstein pumpkin:

Bennett is finally at the age where he can run around and play on a playground without me having to be there for every move. It's nice to be able to sit and enjoy a meal and some punch (which may or may not have been spiked) with friends while your children play.

He loved these slides. That middle one was pretty steep, and that was his favorite.

That's Miranda on the left with Katherine coming down head first, and Ella is in the orange about to get run over by their friend Andrew.

Bennett fell asleep on the way home (he didn't nap yesterday afternoon), and we had to wake him up to go Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. Daddy came over and went with Bennett, Greg and Elizabeth while Cannon and I manned the front door.

Halloween Hint

Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, Mama and I took Bennett and Cannon to Uncle Bob's Pumpkin Patch in Newnan. Bennett had a great time. All he wanted to do in the beginning was chase the ducks (geese?) around. Well, he wasn't really chasing them, which is good, but he followed them. And followed them. And followed them. And they just kept walking. And walking. And walking. Bennett kept saying, "Ducks! Where you going?"



After he finally tired of following those guys around, we went into the petting zoo. They had sheep (or maybe they were goats, or maybe they had both - I need to read up on my barnyard animals), rabbits, chickens, peacocks, turkeys, and a pig.


This is Bennett telling the turkey to be nice, because he stuck his finger in the cage and got it nipped.

We went on a hayride and halfway through it the man stopped so we could feed the horses some of our hay.

I tried to get a picture of the three of us, but couldn't quite get Cannon's whole face in there.


They had a really neat vine tunnel that Mama loved. She wants something like this of her own.


I had to nurse Cannon, so Mama and Bennett walked around and explored. They went into this one building where you could see honeybees making honey, and then Bennett found some dogs that he commenced to following around. They sat down to watch a puppet show, but it wound up just being story time, which Bennett was quite bored with and talked through. I had rejoined them at this point and decided it was better if we just moved on so that the other guests could enjoy the story.


Now that Cannon was full and happy, it was time for us to eat. I had made us a picnic lunch and we sat at a nice, shaded picnic table to enjoy it.


Then it was time to leave, but not before picking out a pumpkin! I chose a nice medium sized one that we will hopefully get around to carving this week.


It was a fun little outing. I'm sure it will become an annual thing for us now. :)

Quick and Insignificant

This is really quick and insignificant (hence the title of this post), but I wanted to share it.

Bennett was just in the living room and let out a series of poots. Josh said to him, "Bennett, are you pooting?"

Bennett said, without looking up from his toys, "Nope." (long pause) "Not anymore!"

Lego Cake

Good things are happening around here lately, and I'll write about them soon.

But for now I just want to show you the fun Legos cake I got to make this week (and for some reason, Blogger is turning the nice pretty picture I have of it sideways, so this one I took in the kitchen will have to do):

It was a lot of fun, but took a lot longer to do than I thought it would. I think that's always the case, though.

When I get orders for these cakes, I usually do a Google image search and gather ideas. Well, I'm so sorry if this is really mean, but seriously? Take a good, long look at that thing. And it's a tutorial! I just can't imagine doing that cake and thinking, 'Man, I should really teach people how to do this.'

Okay, now I feel really guilty for being mean. Sorry.

Polka Dots and Thomas Cake

It's been a VERY busy two weeks. I am exhausted. Really. Josh went down to Palmetto to look at some brewing stuff today and took Bennett with him. They left at about 10:45am and got back just before 2:00. I slept almost the whole time they were gone. Much of the reason for that is the fact that Bennett was up half the night last night with a terrible stomach ache, so neither of us slept much.

Anyway, among other things, a couple of cakes came out of these very busy two weeks that I've had. First, a request for a brown cake with white polka dots for a woman's 65th birthday.

This cake wound up being a little more than I meant for it to be, but it was for a former neighbor, so I didn't really mind doing a little extra for her. Truth be told, I realized the bottom layer was not big enough for what she had ordered, so that's when I added the top tier.

Second, my very first attempt at Thomas the Train. She mentioned Thomas a while back, so I started looking for ideas. I had decided I wanted to do either a blue or green fondant covered cake (maybe two tiers) with a train track and Thomas going around it and trees and clouds on the side of the cake. As it got closer to the date of the party, she wrote and had decided on a Thomas shaped cake.

So my search changed a little, and I started looking at Thomas and shaped cakes a little more closely. I found a tutorial for how to make a Thomas cake that had some great tips and ideas. Josh wound up carving the cake for me. I know I could have done it, but he was willing and I knew he could do it well. And he did.

Once it was carved and crumb coated, I couldn't wait to get him all iced up and looking good. I had an absolute blast decorating him. It took me FOREVER, but it was a lot of fun.

Behold, Thomas:

I made his face out of fondant the day before so it could set up a little. I think his face is a smidgen too big (and he looks just a little bit like a chipmunk with his cheeks full of food), but not bad for my first try.


Bennett was quite excited to see Thomas sitting on his kitchen counter, and then equally disappointed mad when he was gone. I had to explain that he was for somebody else. And now when he sees a picture of Thomas or sees him on TV he looks at me and says, "Dat for somebody else."

Oh, He Makes Me Laugh

The other day, Bennett was in the living room with Josh and said, "My (I'm) gonna take a dump."

Josh looked at me, puzzled, and replied, "Where are you going to take a dump?"

Bennett said, "On Daddy's shoulder."

We both laughed, realizing then what he was talking about. He and Josh play a game that involves Bennett standing on Josh's shoulder and jumping off (Josh is sitting in the floor when he does this). So, Bennett wanted to take a jump on Daddy's shoulder.

And Bennett is all about being a big boy lately. We've been working on potty training (which is why the above statement was alarming for a split second), and have been talking about how big boys use the potty. So now everything is about being a big boy. He says, "No, my not baby, my big boy!" My dad calls him skid row every once in a while and he says, "No, my not skid row, my big boy!"

Tonight we ate dinner with my parents and afterward Daddy was going to let Bennett get a shower with him so we didn't have to deal with bath time once we got back home. He said to Bennett, "Bennett, I'm going to go get a shower, are you interested?"

Bennett said, "No, my not interested, my Big Boy!"