So Fresh and So Clean

Okay, don't get mad at me for what I'm about to do. It's one thing to take time to post about a train derailment before I post about Bennett's birthday and Christmas, but this?

I don't know what it is lately, but I just have this burst of energy and good mood.... ness. There are a lot of reasons that I could be in a really bad mood - and trust me, I have had plenty of moments - but these last couple of days have been really good. I have just wanted to call up everybody I know and tell them how much I love them.

This morning I have been happily ironing Josh's shirts and folding his socks. I have picked up several of his t-shirts (that he puts on after his shower in the morning and then takes off downstairs and leaves lying around everywhere - something I despise and have asked repeatedly that he not do) and smile while folding them and taking them back upstairs.

I even passed up lunch at Monterrey's with my mom and brother to keep whistling while I work.

But the thing that made me decide to take a break from my domestic duties was when I went outside to clean the outdoor dryer vent.

Does anyone else love that smell as much as I do? Oh my gosh. I'm guessing that plenty of you do, otherwise they wouldn't have "fresh linen" scented everything.

You know how some people use air fresheners to make their house smell good if company is coming over? You know what I do? I start a load of laundry and try to time it so that it will be in the dryer when our company comes walking up the back steps.

I really do that.

So if you ever come to our house and you can smell the fresh linen scent of our clean clothes in the dryer.... it's all for you. You're welcome.

"Is This His First Train Derailment?"

Why, yes it is. How many does this make for you?

I should probably start by telling you, if you don't already know, that there was a train derailment in Douglasville today, not 1/4 mile from our house.

We woke up this morning to the sound of a helicopter in the sky. It was about 7am. We hear helicopters fairly often, either covering traffic on I-20 or a robbery at the mall or something. So I didn't think much of it and carried on with my morning. Josh, on the other hand, can't stand it. He has to know what's going on, and whether we should board up the windows. (Just kidding, but he does get a little panicked sometimes).

So anyway, he told me to turn on the news to find out what was going on, because apparently he had also heard the helicopter at 5am. So after a little news watching and web surfing, we found out that a train had derailed downtown.

I couldn't tell from the news clips where it was exactly, so after I took Bennett to Montessori, I took a little drive downtown before heading home. The road was closed, obviously, but I was able to drive down the back street and look up through the cross streets to the main road. It happened right in front of the old courthouse (which doesn't mean anything to most of you, and those of you that it does mean something to probably already know that, which means I could have gone without stating that fact). Right past the old courthouse, I was able to peek up through to Bankhead Highway and it looked like a giant toy train had wrecked and was sticking up in the air. The train derailed in an area of the track that goes down in a big ditch before coming back up to the surface of the street. So you couldn't see the track, just all these big train cars jutting out of the ditch. Pretty crazy.

Greg was able to go up there today and get some photos. Mama said, "How were you able to get past the police tape?" Greg said, "Well, when you have two big camera bags hanging from your shoulders you don't get asked many questions." They probably thought he worked for some newspaper. Anyway, here's what he captured:


Tonight, Josh and I took the boys to Gumbeaux's for 50 cent shrimp night and while we waited for our food Bennett and I took a walk up the street to check out all the action (Gumbeaux's is right downtown, on Bankhead Highway).

There were several other people standing around watching the clean-up, and it was then that I was asked the question that is the title of this post. I mean, really? He's three. Just how many do you think he's seen in his short little life? I'm thirty one and this is my first train derailment and most likely my only one. Maybe he was fishing for the "Yes, is it yours?" so that he could then launch into this big story of how he had seen some other train derailment somewhere. Wow! Cool! But I don't care. I don't know you.

But it was pretty cool. Bennett was in heaven. He didn't care much about the wrecked "choo-choo wain," it was the big tractors that he was interested in. And he got to see them in action.







They certainly didn't waste any time cleaning up. I couldn't believe how much had already been done. Most of the train cars had been moved down the tracks in either direction and there were giant piles of debris on the opposite side of the tracks. I heard on the news tonight that they hope to have the track re-opened by 2am. Wow.

I should also add that, living so close to the train tracks, we hear lots of trains and we can hear them very well. It makes Bennett a little bit nervous sometimes, and he says, "Mama, that choo-choo wain is coming to get us?" To which I will respond, "No, Bennett. That choo-choo train is not going to get us. Choo-choo trains don't come off their tracks. They stay on their tracks and go right on by."

Today has been a bit confusing for him.

'Twas the Morning of Christmas...

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse.

Oh, but it's coming. I can feel it. :)

So We Went to the Zoo...

...in December.

About a month ago, Half Off Depot was offering tickets to the Atlanta Zoo for half price. Bennett has never been to the zoo, and he gets in free until he's three. Seeing that his 3rd birthday was on the 17th, I thought it would be fun to go and nice to take advantage of the free ticket while we still could. So I purchased mine and Josh's tickets and decided to go Sunday, December 5th.

I figured the first weekend in December would be warmer than the later ones, plus we had plans for the other weekends. I looked up the forecast for that weekend, but because it was so far off all they had posted was an average temperature for the last few years. The average was about 55 degrees.

Try 55 minus about 20 degrees. I think the high for that day was 36. Oh my goodness it was cold. But we bundled up and went anyway. We probably saw a total of 18 other people there. There were only 18 other crazy people that day.

They warned us as we went in that not all of the animals were out due to the weather. Try MOST of the animals weren't out due to the weather. Oh well.

Bennett still got to hug a giraffe:


And make goofy pictures with Daddy.


This isn't a terribly exciting video, but it shows Mr. Cannon all bundled up in his stroller, wondering why in the world we were subjecting him to this.




We were able to thaw our fingers for a bit in the reptile house. There were lots of "nakes" in there. And "rabbits." (frogs).


I was really happy to find that the panda bears were out. They were "hawnry," so they were having a bamboo snack.


He became less interested in the "aneemals" and more interested in going to the big playground that I had told him was at the end of our walk (it was only mentioned to encourage a good attitude, aka to bribe him).


Can you tell I'm having to hold him up behind this thing? This was right before I busted his lip while trying to hold him up to the Mama kangaroo and put my head in the baby one. Oops. Bad idea.


We finally made it to the big playground. Bennett LOVED the big slide. We had a good time playing with him while Cannon snoozed in the stroller.



After the zoo, we stopped and had lunch at the Varsity. Yum.


We really had a good time, even if it wasn't exactly ideal. We'll definitely be going back when it's warmer. Bennett had his heart set on seeing a "wion," so we'll have to go back and let him see one this summer.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Christmas!

I have already posted these on facebook, but for those of you that are not on facebook...




Merry Christmas!

Electric Guitar Cake

My latest creation was for a girl that wanted a guitar cake for her son's second birthday. She didn't give me any instruction for this cake, other than it needed to be a guitar for a boy. She did mention the phrase 'rock star,' so I knew it needed to be more along the lines of an electric guitar rather than acoustic.

After cutting the guitar shape out of the cake, I thought it might not be quite big enough. I asked Josh if I should add another layer. He said, "No. Just add an amp." I knew there was a reason for keeping him around here. ;)

So here you have Kallen's blue electric guitar cake with amp included:


I have a Buzz Lightyear cake to do in January and a possible Lego wedding cake in February. Yes, you heard me right. A Lego wedding cake. Actually, I think it's a groom's cake, but they want it in all ivory so it'll look like a big Lego wedding cake. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I hope they get me to do it. That would be fun.

But before any of that, Curious George and his 'daboons!'

And the Winner is...

I know, I know. You've just been going crazy trying to figure out which theme to choose for Bennett's party, I know.

Well, thank goodness, you can stop. Aren't you glad to have that weight lifted? Whew!

Bennett has chosen his theme.

He sat in my lap at the computer the other day and I showed him my last post. When he saw the first picture he said, "Djuh Jowge, MAMA!" (I have no idea how to make you understand how he says Curious George - that's my best attempt)

Then I scrolled down a little bit and he said "Da Dat in da Hat, MAMA!"

Then I scrolled down and said, "What is that, Bennett?" (to the space rocket picture) He said, "I dunno..." I said, "Yes, you do. What is that?" He said, "Djuh Jowge in da PACE RAHTET!"

So that pretty much told me what was most important to him, just the fact that it wasn't just a space rocket, it apparently was Curious George in the space rocket. But just to make sure, I said, "Which one would like on your birthday cake?"

He said, "Djuh Jowge!" "Djuh Jowge.... and da daboons.... da wed daboons... da boo daboons... and DA DEEN DABOONS! DJUH JOWGE, MAMA!!! You matin' a date (cake) for ME???"

Poor thing, he's so used to me telling him that cakes are 'for someone else.'

So that's all he's been talking about for the last couple of days is the Curious George cake with all the balloons.

I can't wait to make it for him. :)