Can you hear me now?

Take (and pretty much do it yourself) and Bake

If you ask my what my favorite pizza is, you might think I'm joking. It sounds like some sort of weird pregnancy craving gone wrong, but it is actually the most delicious combination: Pineapple and Anchovies.

If I were to open a restaurant it would be the house special and I would call it The Sponge Bob™.

The other night Joel and I were craving said pizza. Unfortunately we didn't have all of the ingredients, so we decided to order out. There are a number of pizza places in town, but most can take up to an hour to deliver, and we wanted to eat sooner than that. We considered running out to the store to make our own, but then decided it would be quicker to order from Papa Murphy's because it is actually right next to the grocery store AND they do all the work for you -- or so we thought.

I called ahead to place the order (HELPFUL HINT: If you live in Hollister, CA the number is easy to remember: 637-PAPA, but for Alamedans like us, you have to dial 865-4777 or 865-GRRR). They took the order without question, leading me to believe it may not have been that uncommon. I was told it would ready to pick up in 5 minutes, so with that I was out the door and on the way to pick up dinner. I was so excited knowing in just over 12-18 minutes we would have a pizza ready to eat.

You can imagine my surprise when arriving at Papa M's to see exactly how the pizza was prepared (i.e., not at all):



(it's a little difficult to tell, but they actually wrapped the entire can of anchovies into the top of the pizza)

So much for time-savings...GRRR!!!

Say Ahhhhhh!

Gabri, Joel and I spent this afternoon wandering around the Oakland Flea Market. We weren't looking for anything particular, mostly there to get some fresh air and people watch. It's a bit of a lapdog minefield, but once you get passed that you're in for a treat. There's a variety of amazing – and cheap! – mexican food (we had two tamales, a papusa and helado for only $8.00!!!) and where else can you buy your own previously stolen bike for twenty bucks?!!

But nothing could compare to the deal of the day...for the low low price of $2.00 you can enter into the wonderful world of dentistry. Dr. Gabri will be starting his practice tomorrow after playgroup. This week's special will be Root Canals - two for one!

Almost Top Banana

This past weekend we spent the afternoon enjoying Gabriel and Joel's first Pumpkin Festival experience. The weather, while predicted to be overcast and chilly, was actually blue skies and warm, and the crowd was bigger than I'd ever seen. Gabriel had his first bite of pumpkin pie (and subsequently his first diaper of pumpkin pie) and Joel was able to see first hand what a costume contest was all about.

As kids, we entered with somewhat elaborate costumes and even managed to take home the coveted Grand Prize ribbon as the HMB Keystone Cops! This being Gabriel's 2nd Halloween, I wanted to continue the practice of making his costume, and now that we're back in the bay area I thought it would be fun to start the tradition of entering him in the Pumpkin Festival contest. Plus it was a good excuse to see Uncle Mikey and Aunt Alena.

My plan was to make him a sock monkey and convince Joel to be a Sock Banana.

I bought 2 pairs of socks (most monkeys require 1 pair) and went to work creating the jumpsuit. I was surprised how quickly it took shape (especially since I have no idea how to sew) but when it came time for a fitting there was a bit of a problem...

This kid is way bigger than I realized. How did this happen? It has been months since I cut out lard and bananas from his diet and yet he's somehow managed to quadruple in size right before my eyes.

I can't believe how much he has grown in just one year...

With the sock monkey costume now a certified bust, I resorted to plan B...for Banana. Using three t-shirts and a pair of socks, I whipped together the yellow ensemble in the car on the way the festival. Once we arrived, it was clear his costume was the most amateur of them all, but I was still proud to have made him something--and 100% recycled too!

Standing among a sea of super hero toddlers and pumpkin babies he entered the 0-3 age group. He even managed to resemble a banana for about 3 seconds--the longest he would allow his hat to stay on his head...and apparently that was all the time it took for him to claim Third Place!

We're very proud of our little banana...and hope to have a picture of him actually in his costume by halloween.

mr. turner turns one

Congratulations Mikey & Alena

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter day. Olive in her little yellow dress was so kissables (like lunchables, it needs the "s" at the end)

Brandy Rose Sanders (what up?!) came from Corcoran, Ca. We went to church and then came home. Brandy and Brooke were sucked into the Arizona State spelling bee on the public broadcast channel (So-Young Chung won it) and I had to concede to letting them eat our Easter ham in front of the television.

We spent a nice part of the evening out on the back porch. The weather was terrific.

All in all it was a tremendous Easter.

Oh and there's this little girl...