And now back to our regularly scheduled program....

Okay, so I just realized it's been almost a week and I haven't even posted about our most perfect Christmas tree getting-and-putting-up-experience ever in life, la la la! So here it is: Friday night was Take 1 - go out for a quick bite to eat and get a tree - didn't work, it was dark at 6:30 p.m. (duh!), Max was over-tired and crying and wanting to play in traffic and it just wasn't the homespun Christmas image I had in my head earlier that day, so home we went. The next day we went to a local Christmas tree farm and took a short hay ride to the trees (or forest as I tried to get Max to believe). We could've picked a tree out immediately because they all looked pretty much the same, but that would've made for some short memory making. So we took our time picking the perfect tree. It was freezing cold and overcast and very festive. When we found THE tree, Matt triumphantly cut it down while Max looked on, perplexed. I must mention that I need to get The Boy out into the elements more often. He was genuinely distressed at being put down on the, gasp!, grass. It was as if his dainty feet had never felt such rugged terrain. He simply did not know what to do. Eventually he got used to it, thank goodness.

So we headed back to wait for the tractor, although we were so close to the checkout area we could've easily made it there on our own. It wouldn't be very Christmasy to just walk to the checkout place when you could take a hay ride now, would it? When we got to the checkout, I helped myself to some complimentary hot cider which was just delicious. In the meantime (digression coming), a guy that was working there asked me if I used to teach at Hylton HS. Well, yes I did. It was then that I recongnized him - one of the first students I ever had! I had him in 9th & 10th grade and I remember the day he came to me his senior year to tell me he was dropping out. I pleaded with him not to and tried to get him to see that he could do it, he was so close to finishing. He just hung his head and said he'd made up his mind. I had thought of him several times over the years and wondered what ever became of him. I was particularly worried because the group of kids I had in class with him didn't fare so well. One is currently in jail for murder and another I ran into when visiting a friend of mine who was a drug counselor at a residential treatment facility for teens. So of course I worried about this student. Anyway, it just made the day even better to hear that he is now 26 (Yes!! How old do I feel?? I think I was 23 when I was his teacher.), married, has a 19 month old son, got his GED and works for the government. So that was just awesome.

Okay, back to the Christmas tree story. We went home and put the tree up and it started snowing! Yes, it was snowing and we had Christmas music playing and Max was amazed and filled with wonder at the lights and it was just perfect. Friday night when my plans failed I abandoned hope of having a meaningful tree experience. I couldn't have orchestrated Saturday the way it happened if I had planned it for weeks. What a great way to start out the season!

Turbo Sarah

Check out my new adventure! I have been doing Beachbody workouts since 2005 and have always raved about them, so the opportunity became available to be able to sell the products and actually make a little money. I figured, why not get paid for something I'm already doing??? Hence, my new blog: http://www.turbosarah.blogspot.com/ Turbo Jam is my very favorite workout, so that's where the blog address came from. I don't claim to be a trainer or a nutritionist. I'm just someone who has been struggling with weight and eating issues for as long as I can remember, so I've tried lots of diets and workout programs. I can say with certainty that anyone who actually tries a Beachbody program and follows the eating plan will get great results. It won't be overnight and there are no magic pills, but their products work. AND, you can come blog with me for accountability and encouragement. Come join me!!!



P.S. Of course I will still be blogging here too!!!

Daddy Day Care

Hello, this is Matt. Sarah's husband. Sarah is working this afternoon and I am home watching Max, a reversal of typical roles much like the ancient Roman tradition of Saturnalia. True to form, I have comandeered Sarah's blog and am making my own post about some of the fun things I got to experience with Max today.

Max just had a major language explosion over lunch! Apparantly, Sarah says he's been trying to say the word "banana" for a while. Now, it's probably helpful for you to have some background info about me. I unashamedly look at mealtime not merely as a nutritional experience but as an educational one as well. Much like Pavlov used food as a tool to explore the intracasies of classical conditioning, so I strive to follow in his footsteps to impart knowledge to my progeny at mealtimes. Today, this consisted of me looking at Max while making funny faces and saying: "Banana. Ba - na - na. Banana. Can you say 'Banana?'" all the while waving a piece of said fruit in my hand. It's all very complicated psychology, so I won't go any deeper into it here.

Well, today we struck gold! After a few failed attempts at getting Max to say "banana" (and recieving telepathic messages from him mainly including the phrase: "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?") I turned away to prepare the rest of his highly nutritious and educational lunch experience. With my back turned (and no more banana coming his way) Max screamed to get my attention: "NA BA!"

I swirled back around 180 degrees to see him, barely pausing to grab another piece of banana at about degree #62, and I resumed the educational modus explained above. Max then proceeded to try several different ways to say "banana." They included:

Ba na!

Ba na ma!

Ba ma ma!

And, as you can see, we are clearly well on the way to learning our next important food word... "Bahama Mama."

He also decided to use this time to say "Da Da" (a rarity) and "Ma Ma" and remind me through his signs that he went swimming with Mommy and Daddy yesterday. Nice.

To digress for a moment, Max is sitting on my lap as I'm writing this... reaching for the keyboard. By observing the sheer force of his determination to contribute to this post, he obviously very strongly wants you all to know the following:

nbfbbbhhh n n b f n

Presumably, you will know what this means, as I, alas, do not.


One final note to all the moms and dads out there in TV land... while I readily admit that staying home with a child / children is excruciatingly hard work, it has been a major blessing to spend so much quality time with Max today... time that I hope no parent ever takes for granted.

Until next time, faithful viewers, this is Blaze Johnson, signing off....

Paula Deen Would Be Proud of Me

I often clip recipes that usually have way too much of everything I am trying to avoid: sugar, white flour, butter, etc. I put them in my jumbled recipe box thinking that at SOME point I will make them, but it just never happens. This year as I started going through my recipes I decided to make everything I'd clipped and had never stopped dieting long enough to enjoy, mind you, I have been trying to lose the same 15-20 lbs for the last year, so it's not as if I've been eating clean the whole time. I came up with 7 recipes and could hardly wait to get started. I shopped and made the first two items, The King's Champion Honey Cheese Ball (with Bacon!!) and Cranberry Dream Salad (heavy whipping cream, two boxes of cream cheese AND mayo!) Tuesday. Of course I had to sample the items to make sure they were Thanksgiving-day worthy. They were mmmm....mmmm...good. Wednesday I baked pumpkin cobbler (1 stick of butter), baked corn (1.5 sticks of butter), and sweet potato casserole (1 2/3 cups of butter & 2 cups of sugar). I didn't sample any of those, well maybe a bite of the baked corn, but that was because I wasn't sure I made it right. I still don't know if I made it right, but it was deee-licious. So by this point, almost every dish, pan and utensil I own was in the sink lounging around til I have a chance to wash them and I decided I couldn't wait one more minute to try to Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Bread that was meant for breakfast on Thanksgiving. Oh....my.....goodness.....it was sinfully good. Among the ingredients are 12 bacon strips, 2 cans of buttermilk biscuits, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese,Italian salad dressing mix and olive oil. Actually, that's ALL the ingredients. You may now rush to the nearest emergency room as your arteries may be clogging just by reading this. And FINALLY..... I just pulled the cranberry-orange pull apart bread out of the oven. It's smells so sweet and yeasty and orangey and cranberry-y. You can't go wrong with Parker House rolls dusted with vanilla pudding mix, sprinkled with dried cranberries and fresh orange juice, oh and drizzled with, what else? Butter!I feel downright June Cleaver-ish/Paula Deen-ish this week and it's a wonderful feeling. For some reason it makes me really feel like a mom/wife/grown-up. Maybe one reason is that for once I didn't pick recipes based on what other people would like and I made things purely for the joy of making them and eating them myself. Somehow I think people will enjoy them even more for this reason.Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! What did you make?

15 Months!

Max turned 15 months old yesterday! He had his check up today and is right on track with everything. He was 27 lbs. 3 oz. and 32 inches tall - up 1.5 inches since his 1 year check up. I knew his pants were getting shorter! His head circumference was in the 90th percentile! He was in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He is doing well with all his milestones (stacking blocks, taking his clothes off - who knew that was a good thing?? - trying to cook and clean like mommy) and he was a little ahead of the game with throwing and kicking a ball. He's still not talking much and has more signs (about 20) than spoken words, but his receptive language is excellent. It was really cute when he went over to Dr. Lu and did his little sign that he wanted a hug! Dr. Lu gave him a hug and then said, "Go give Mommy a hug!" and he did. So cute! Here are some of the things he's into right now:

• Dancing and listening to music - especially when Daddy puts a rap/hip hop song on and changes the words to baby-appropriate language.
• Being attached to Mommy at all times - especially when she is trying to do the dishes or make dinner.
• Sitting in his high chair and watching Mommy cook.
• Playing chase with Daddy
• Playing with cars and trucks - pushing them around
• Reading - Fave books - This is the Stable (a really cool book about Christmas - I love it too!), Trucks, Pat the Cat, We Like Kindergarten
• Singing - Five Little Monkeys, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Little Cabin in the Woods
• Talking to Nana & Pappy on the webcam
• Wearing Grandpa's glasses
• Wearing hats
• Going to the nursery at church and playing with other kids

Some Things I Like (and a Few I Don't)

I was walking around the house this morning thinking how much I enjoy this or that and realized I should really write these things down because I'm sure at some point I'll look back at them and remember how these sometimes tiny little details just made my day. So here are a few things I like, and then a few I don't. **Matt,Max, family & friends are a given as far as "things I like" and this post would be far too long if I listed everything I like about them, so for the most part this is just about other mundane things in my life I like.**

Things I like:

• Thunderstorms
• Driving rain (as long as I'm home and not driving myself!)
• Freshly vacuumed carpet - esp. the lines you can see as evidence!
• Windows that keep cold air out and don't frost over on the inside
• Being the only one awake early in the morning
• How green the grass looks when it rains lightly - I imagine I'm in Ireland
• People who agree with me (not virtuous, yet true!)
• An empty laundry basket
• Being asked for advice
• My advice being taken
• Looking at fall leaves
• Looking at Christmas lights
• Singing Christmas carols
• A clean kitchen
• Clean bathrooms
• Holiday traditions
• A fridge full of healthy food and a week of planned menus
• New workout shoes
• Receiving a letter or package in the mail
• Cooking & baking - especially when I have all the ingredients on hand
• Puffs Plus with Lotion
• Recycling
• Receiving the local paper and Sunday Washington Post & having quiet time to read it
• Pedicures & massages
• New haircuts/colors/highlights
• Reuniting with high school choir friends for a surprise concert
• Fresh flowers in the house
• Rashmi's brown paper packages tied up with string

Things I don't like:

• Crunchy stuff on my feet (see previous post!)
• Poopy diapers - esp. those being worn by squirmy toddlers
• Toys with dying batteries that play music (make it stop!!!)
• Moving stuff to vacuum
• Readjusting car seat straps

What's on your lists??

You know it's time to sweep when.....

Crunchy stuff keeps sticking to your feet and upon glancing at all the nooks & crannies of the kitchen you realize you have enough "crunchy stuff" to fill a cereal bowl - it might even look like granola!! Yeah, so my floors are (relatively) clean now. Don't judge me! : )

Thinking of Adopting? Check This Out!

Oh my goodness, I have just been moved to tears. So, of course I had to share this with my faithful few followers. When Sarah Palin came on the scene a few months ago, much discussion centered on the fact that she had an infant born with Down Syndrome. In one of the articles written about her, a statistic was given that made me so sad and angry: 83% of women who learn they are having a child with DS choose to abort the baby. I was outraged about this figure and kept my mourning about it in the back of my mind. So in Sunday's Washington Post, I was thrilled to see an article on people who are specifically adopting children with Down Syndrome. In fact, there are about 200 people on a waiting list right now! I wish all the people who felt that having a child with DS is too much for them to handle would learn about this. I understand we are all at different places in our lives and feel we can handle different levels of stress and I could never assume to know what it's like to be put in the shoes of a parent learning his child isn't "perfect", but what if these women who choose to abort their babies with DS were made aware that there are families out there who would LOVE to have to chance to raise their baby? A statistic given in the article also stated that in the majority of cases, when a woman learns her baby has Down Syndrome, she is not often told that adoption is a very viable option.

If you or anyone you know has ever felt the call to adopt and think this is something that might interest you, please go to this website. You can see children currently awaiting families as well as donate money if you feel like it. If it moved you as much as me, let me know!

Chase-A-Baby!

Chase-A-Baby = the most fun game in the whole world to play with Dad!

Taking a break from the action to try and grab Mommy's camera.

Happy Halloween!

Behold! The Terror of Manassas.....











We went to church for Trunk-or-Treat and it was really fun. Lots of church members decorated their trunks and passed out candy. There was also an inflatable movie screen on which old- timey cartoons were projected. There was a hayride, a moon bounce, snacks, a little play area for the little kids and an area for people to have their pictures taken. The pictures were immediately printed out and people could make frames for them at a craft table. Max enjoyed looking at everything and dancing to the music they had playing. Here are some more pictures and a video for your enjoyment! Don't forget to click, "Slideshow" to see the pictures in a larger format.

Talking!

Max is starting to talk! He has been saying "Mama" for a long time, but now he also says "hat", "hot" and "hi" - which all sound exactly the same, "haa". We just have to use context clues to know which one he's saying. He also signs them so that helps. Now if only he would say "Dada"!

Adventures in Babysitting

Lots of little adventures going on 'round these parts. Let's see... probably the biggest one was Mabel & Weston staying with us this weekend. It was their first time ever staying overnight without their mommy and daddy, so it was a pretty big deal. I didn't really know how to plan, so I spent a lot of time marvelling at how much more difficult it was for me to keep the house/kitchen tidy with two more kids than usual. I learned a few lessons over the weekend:

1.) Paper products are my friend (plates, utensils).

2.) Keep track of cups, otherwise you'll go through all the cups you own before lunch.

3.) Two and four-year-olds can stay up until 11 p.m. and wake at 5 a.m. even though at home they fall asleep by 7:30 p.m. and don't wake til 12 hours later.

4.) The most fun thing in the world is taking a bath with your cousins!

Overall, a fun time was had by all. We made brownies and pizzas and read books and played and played and played and did I mention all three kids taking a bath together?? Max missed the busy-ness when he woke up Monday. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Cute Max Videos

Here are 2 new Max videos. The first is him trying "cuddle" a piece of the banana he was eating for snack - silly boy! The second is my attempt at capturing his near-obsesssion with watching planes flying overhead. Enjoy!

How Rude!

I generally like to stay upbeat in my blog posts, but I have a major pet peeve I need to vent about. What is the deal with people who are walking or jogging BY THEMSELVES and don't move out of the way when someone with a stroller or dog(s) passes them? Ever since I got my dog, Jake, (okay, he's not MY dog anymore since I am a deadbeat dog mom, but that's another post ), I have noticed that there are lots of either (a.) clueless or (b.) rude people out there who are fine with me having to go into the street or onto the grass to avoid them when it would be much simpler and less dangerous for them to step aside. If you have to step into the street with a dog, there's a much greater chance of being hit by a car because of the volume of space you occupy with a person and an animal. That goes for strollers too. I really thought that maybe the clueless/rude bunch were just animal haters but now I see it goes for babies too! In the last few days I have come upon at least 5 people (all grown ups!!) who, upon seeing me approach with Max, look me dead in the eyes and basically play a game of "chicken" with me as if to say, "If you think I'm moving for you and your little brat, think again, Breeder!" I don't think I deserve special treatment because I have a baby, I just think this is common courtesy. I would, and do, extend the same courtesy to others if I happened to be walking alone. Has anyone experienced this? Am I being unreasonable?

Oh My Goodness My Baby is SO CUTE!! Oops, did I just say that outloud??

Max had his one year pics taken today with Rashmi, the same person who took my maternity and Max's newborn photos. If you click on her blog, you can see a few pics from the session. She usually posts quite often, so if you look later in the week you may have to scroll down and find the blog entitled "Max". I highly recommend her if you've ever thought of having non-studio pictures taken. It's not cheap, but the photos will be priceless and so will the experience! Now it's time to start saving for his 2 year photos!!

Pumpkinville

Nana, Daddy, Max & Friend

Daddy, Mommy & Max on the hayride
Nana, Daddy & Max on the hayride

Nana & Pappy came down yesterday and took us to Pumpkinville at the Leesburg Animal Park. It was really fun. There were donkeys, pygmy goats and other animals in pens to look at as well as a "contact area" with animals such as sheep, goats, llamas and pot bellied pigs that you could walk right up and feed and pet. Then we went on a fun hayride and Max sat in our laps the whole time. He got to go in a moon bounce by himself, but was quickly joined by some "big boys" ending his first moon bounce experience. I took him down a giant slide and he was terrified, but once he got to the bottom, he signed "More" and "Please" over and over. He went down a total of five times and never appeared less terrified, but was equally eager to go again at the end of each run. To top it all off, there was all-you-can-drink-cider and all-you-can-eat- apples, only it should've been called "all-you-can-drink-out-of-a-Dixie-cup-the-size-of-a-shot-glass- cider", but the apples were normal sized! On our way out we each got a baby pumpkin. The weather was perfect and Max enjoyed it more than I expected him to. Thanks Nana & Pappy! Check out this link for more pics.

Mommy & Max Sick for 3 Days + Rain + Now Daddy's Sick = GET ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!!

So how are you doing? We're doing just swell, thank you! It's been a fun couple of days and is now ending with the grand finale of Matt catching what we had, but hey, it was raining anyway so it's not like we could go out and enjoy the weather or anything (anything meaning we missed: birthday parties, babysitting engagements, opportunites for socializing and tons of church events ) BUT, today I was determined that Max and I were going to do at least SOMETHING I had originally planned to do this weekend before the attack of the flu/cold/notstrepthroatbutreallyhurtythroat thing Wednesday night.

So we went to an alpaca farm. Actually, we went to two. I've loved alpacas since I took my class to the Double "O" Good Alpaca farm in Gainesville, VA several years ago. They are so cute and gentle and amazingly clean animals. They look so adorable when they've just been shorn, almost like a furry ET. I knew they would be good animals for Max to go see. He enjoyed looking at them and we even fed one. We also got to feed Rosebud the llama. I should've known better, but I held the feed pellets in a cup in the same hand I was holding Max and then fed Rosebud from my other hand, as Rosebud was chomping away, Max was also chomping away, he had helped himself to the pellets! The owner assured me that there was nothing in it that would hurt him, but I have noticed him spitting a lot more. I kid! I kid! Here's a link to the rest of the pics. If you click "slideshow" at the top you can see bigger versions of the pictures.

You Mean My Baby is Going To Have a Mind of His Own One Day?? HELP!

I'm not sure why this is just occurring to me now, perhaps it was my lack of finesse at handling a little skirmish by a couple of the 4 year-olds in Sunday School yesterday (my first day teaching the class!), and then the off-hand comment someone made that "that's how boys are so you'd better get used to it"*, but as of today, I am officially floundering in Mommyland. I mean, I know Max has a couple months before he really hits the terrible twos, but I already see the writing on the wall. Mabel will be playing with something and Max meanders over to look and she gets territorial, but Max continues trying to get whatever she has. Then Weston has a toy and Max wants it so he tries to take it. Thankfully, at this point, Max doesn't really protest if I redirect him, but having witnessed the last year of Mabel & Weston's interactions, I know that the day is coming when he will fight to the death to get his paws on some tempting item. So I need the help of all my friends who have been down this road already. What are some good books to read on how to handle battles between kids and other discipline/growing up issues? I also would be happy to have some ideas for how you handled the inevitable fights over sharing. I feel like I was really prepared for the infant stage, but not for the social skills training, limit testing, independence-grasping years that we're on the brink of. HELP!!!

*I know it's not just a "boy thing" - As I told some people the other night at Mabel's birthday party while she was in her new Cinderella dress - She's just as likely to tackle someone in that dress as she is to dance around. Girls can be rough and tumble too!*

Have We Gone Too Far??

"I deserve a paper plate that's as strong as I am." What?????? I just heard this on a TV ad and HAD to post it! It was a "busy mom" character who was reflecting on what she deserves in life. While some advertisers have been playing to the whole concept of empowering women for a while now (case in point: the Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty") and that's great, I think this is going over the edge. It just seems like something you'd hear on one of those fake ads on Saturday Night Live, not on a real ad. Does this strike anyone else as funny????? What are some other petty things we can add to the list of things we deserve? "I deserve toilet paper that's as strong as I am" I'd love to hear your ideas so post 'em!

Our Super Fun Weekend!

Mabel, Weston & Max hang out at Nana & Pappy's House

We had a really fun weekend last week! We went to Pennsylvania to Matt's parent's house and the best part was that my sister's family came too and so did my brother, Josh. Mabel (4) and Weston (2) had a great time at Nana & Pappy's house while the grown-ups went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival. Max's Aunt Sara and her boyfriend, Adam, came over and helped Matt's parents all day Saturday. I think the kid's favorite activity was swimming in Nana & Pappy's pool. I don't think Mabel had ever seen an inground pool in someones yard so she was amazed. She was also excited about the "magic bed" she got to sleep it (pull-out sofa)!

The Renaissance Festival was fun. I always enjoy seeing what some of the patrons consider renaissance costumes. You get $4 off your entry fee if you come in period dress and let me just say that I didn't know cleavage could be hoisted that high. Also, I'm not sure a French maid costume counts as "period dress", thank thee very much.

A fun time was had by all. Here are some more pictures of our weekend.

Oh, and on another note - congratulations to Kyle & Tavia on the birth of their little girl!