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...

The Crisco Kid

I always thought Grocery Outlets were a funny idea because I somehow imagined aisles and aisles of out-of-fashion foods mingling together in self-pity that their labels were sooo last season. It wasn't until recently that I discovered not only do they carry foods with plenty of time before their expiration date, but what a bargain! I suddenly found myself hooked on getting the best deal possible. Sometimes I could walk out of there feeling like I was being paid to shop. And did you know peach halves are the new fruit cocktail?

Unfortunately, I became so swept up in the wonderful world of coupon-less shopping, that I even stopped reading labels. And that's when things went really wrong...

You can imagine my surprise the other day when I went to the pediatrician for Gabriel's 6-month check-up. As usual, he stripped down to his birthday suit (Gabri, not the doctor) to be weighed. "Whoaaa, we've got a hefty fella here" the doctor said as he adjusted the scale to accommodate his portly body. As I watched the numbers climb well into the double digits, I knew he wasn't over-exaggerating.

Apparently his weight does not even register on the charts anymore, and while it is still technically considered the 100th percentile, he has officially thrown the entire baby curve off balance. (NOTE: if you are the parent of a child 6 months or younger, you will be receiving your baby's adjustment notification in the mail any day now.)

Curious as to why this has happened, I went to the cupboard to examine the foods I have been feeding him over the past few days. Lo and behold, the answer was right there on the label...

This officially marks the end of Grocery Outlet shopping for me.

clever