I'm Three, I'm a PC, and I Voted for John McCain

I am sure that you have seen those commercials that Microsoft has recently been running to combat those Apple commercials. Well Nathan love commericals. They are active and interesting and he would rather watch commercials than regular shows. A few weeks ago he asked me if he was a PC or a Mac? I explained to him that meant what kind of computer that he worked on. So he brought me his toy laptop and asked me if it was a mac or pc - which made me giggle. I told him that me and daddy were pc's so he was a pc too. I told him that his Aunt TT was a mac and then he asked me about the rest of the family. We had to go through everybody - Nana, Papa, PoPo, Lolli, Pop, Uncle David, Becky...Anyone close to him he needed to know. A few days later while we were watching TV again the commercial came on and he informed us that he was three and he was a PC and then he went through everyone that we had talked about a few days before and listed out their "category"! I am so jealous of his memory and love his interest.

The funniest encounter that we have had recently was in the park. Nathan and I walked down to the park one afternoon while we were waiting for Adam to head to the store. We had been playing for about 30 minutes when I spotted two young Mormon men beelining through the grass to talk to me. I pushing Nathan on the swing and wondered how I was going to graceful explain to them that I was not interested in their information. As they walked up they said "hi ma'am, how are you today." Before I could say a word, my son peers over his shoulder while swinging and says to the young men, "I already voted for John McCain." I was shocked, but had to laugh. The Friday before, his Nana had taken him down to the polls and voted. He had questioned her about what they were voting for and had compared it to voting for America's Got Talent :-). Back to the park...I explained to the young men that his grandmother had taken him to vote. They approved of his voting choice and then proceeded to ask me about my beliefs. About that time, Adam arrived and I politely got out of the conversation, but it will be something that I treasure forever. I took Nathan with me to vote and he told the poll assistant that we were not going to vote for Barack Obama...again total shocker.

On Halloween, Nathan was a firefighter and we decorated the trunk of my car for our churches Trunk 'R Treat in the fire truck theme. We had such an amazing time. Nathan went around to all of the trunks to trick or treat and especially liked the Little Mermaid trunk. When we got home on Halloween night we dumped his very full pumpkin out on the table to dig through all of his candy and we find a rock amidst all the candy. I asked who gave him a rock and he said that he got it at the Mermaid's car. I remember this very shiny rock being part of her decor. I said, "Did you pick this up and put it in your pumpkin?" he said, "Ya Mom, just like Charlie Brown." I love him!!!!

He is amazing and wonderful and a bright shining light in my everyday life. Thank you for letting me share him with you.

Mama - Is This For Dogs?

One day as we were carrying in the groceries my son was stopped in his tracks. I walked in and he was starring at the bag of toilet paper that I had just placed on the kitchen table. I asked, "What are you doing baby?" He says to me, "Mama is this toilet paper for dogs?" That stopped me in my tracks and I looked at the design on the front and there was the cutest little dog standing next to piles of toilet paper. It took a few minutes to compute in my head and my son is looking at me very baffled.

Can you imagine what he is thinking? How does Samson (our white lab) actually wipe? Where does he store the TP? Where in the world would he flush it? LOL

Marketing and advertising is what I do every day so this was especially interesting to me. Branding, expensive, edgy ad campaigns, drip marketing...all of it is not lost on the innocent simplicity of children. What they see is what they have to accept as true. Real. But all that marketing and branding works.

My son loves commercials. He could care less about what is on TV until the commercials come on. He told us recently that we needed to buy a new car. I asked why he wanted a new car. He said that he wants the car with the TV's in the back seat that is red. He said "Mama, it comes with fireworks. The commercial comes on when daddy gets home." What is so crazy about that is not only does my three year old son know what time of day the ad comes on the tv, but the next time we drove my a Lincoln dealership he pointed the car out to me. He was exactly right.

I spent a lot of my day paying attention to the big picture, but it takes the mind of my three year old to teach me that real learning comes in the details.

He says so many amazing things, but some really cute ones. For along time he was running around the house saying he was a tomato. I thought, and wrongly assumed, that he was just mimicking Veggie Tales. One afternoon while I was making his chocolate milk he said look mom, a tomato. I said this is chocolate milk hon. He said, "No mama, it is turning like a tomato." I said, "You mean a tornado?" He said, "Yeah, I said tomato." We both giggled. To this day he still calls it a tomato. I don't correct him every time because I think that it is adorable.

I will likely keep this blog open to record the adorable words and evaluations of my sweet son. Enjoy - until next time.

My Sister's Baby Shower

All For Baby Cameron!

This is my first blog post and I could not think of a better way to launch than to share the celebration of the impending birth of my little nephew - Cameron.

My sister, and brother-in-law, Scott & Tonya, are expecting their first baby. I am so excited and can't wait. Just this morning I went to the Dr. with my sister and heard Cameron's heartbeat. What an amazing blessing. It has to be God. There is no other explanation.

The idea of this baby shower has been in my mind for months (almost as long as she has been pregnant). I wanted to do something special to really make it feel like a special event. I found some pictures online of events that used paper lanterns and I thought how great it would be for the pictures to have those hanging above the cake table and gift table. I ordered a dozen of all different sizes of brown, teal, and ice blue from http://www.lunabazaar.com/. My husband had the great idea of taking LED key chain lights and placing three in each ball. He found them on sale (a great deal). We hung them with fishing line and paper clips. Thanks to my uncle Glenn for climbing on the ladder and hanging them. He was a tremendous help.

Since the colors were chocolate and teal we decided to focus on chocolate snacks. With a double boiler of melted chocolate, we offered our guests strawberries, apples, pretzels, marshmallows, and good stuff like that. We also had dips and chips and crackers. All good snacks! We had the best punch - slush punch. Here is the recipe. It takes some preparation and planning, but it is so worth it.

Luscious Slush Punch

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 cups water
2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin mix
1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 quart orange juice
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage

DIRECTIONS
In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, and strawberry flavored gelatin. Boil for 3 minutes. Stir in pineapple juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Divide mixture in half, and freeze in 2 separate containers.
When ready to serve, place the frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl, and stir in 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda until slushy.

The cake was another unique element of the shower. I ordered three 10" round cakes from Sam's bakery (delicious). I told them to ice the cakes with butter cream frosting, but not decorate the cake like they normally would. I took Hershey's cocoa powder and a small sifter and duplicated the flower image from the invitation on the cake. I wrapped teal blue ribbon around the bottom edge and made it truly unique. I think it turned out great and several people thought I made and decorated the whole thing myself. I bought a really unique cake stand and stacked two cakes together. It turned out great and was yummo!

I would not have been able to pull any of this off without my hostesses. They were great sports with my ideas and were a great help, especially my cousin Amy and my aunt Debbie. Without their help I don't know what I would have done. And of course - my husband - my constant supporter. He is always game for my ideas and never complains. I am so thankful for his support and adoration.

It was great to see so many of my family and it was amazing to see my sister receive such an amazing show of love. She is my best friend and I can't wait to see her hold her baby for the first time and watch her grow as a mom. It was a success and have ideas for lots of others!