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Simon's Celebrity Look-alikes
Here's a look at who my nephew looks like. It is very, very interesting:
I find it curious that other than Sly Stallone, all the men have beards. And the two men whose pictures I didn't put in the collage (Lord Kelvin the temperature scale inventor guy and Terry Pratchett the author) ALSO have beards! Is it odd that a 2.5 year old mostly resembles old men with beards?
This is so much fun!!!
| http://www.myheritage.com/collage |
I find it curious that other than Sly Stallone, all the men have beards. And the two men whose pictures I didn't put in the collage (Lord Kelvin the temperature scale inventor guy and Terry Pratchett the author) ALSO have beards! Is it odd that a 2.5 year old mostly resembles old men with beards?
This is so much fun!!!
Halloween 2009
Another Halloween has passed. It makes me a little sad, because it is my favorite time of the year. Creating a costume and having something fun to do just makes it a great time.
This year was no exception. As we had my nephew for the first time, my mom and I overscheduled him. We ended up paring the night down to accommodate a more 2-year-old schedule, but we still had a blast.
I got dressed up in a costume I invented the night before, I went as a superhero. SuperLibrarian to be exact! I looked very cute if I do say so myself. My first stop of the day was to visit Clay and Lewie. I had seen them a couple weeks earlier and Clay was talking about how he couldn't wait to see my costume. I asked why he thought he'd see me and he said that he did last year......And he was right. So I went to visit in costume and was there while the boys got ready.
Clay dressed as a red ninja--and though he is posing for me, he can't help but smile. He is one happy little ninja. I think it was the swords. Lewie went as Darth Vader. In this picture I asked him to not smile and give me a Darth Vader face. This is what I got. So damn cute.
And their mother was smart enough to get a picture of SuperLibrarian with the boys. Strange enough they are the only kids I posed with all night. Somehow, even Kelly didn't think of it.
Once I got home, Simon was still sleeping. We had to wake him up to get him ready to go see Victoria and Christian. Turns out, waking my nephew is a BAD plan. He ended up having a tantrum of epic proportions and was crabby for much of the night. And he wanted nothing to do with his costume. I was pretty sad because he had the cutest costume of the night....after me.
We finally got him out of the house and off to Kelly and Mark's, but we were already very late by that time. He cried again when we got there but eventually settled down and played with the kids.
This is the best shot of the three kids that I have...I haven't seen Kelly's yet. Christian is BamBam and Victoria is Scooby-Doo. They both looked very adorable in their store bought costumes. (Hehehehe). Christian especially....the kid actually looks like Bam-Bam. That costume was perfect for him.
After leaving, we headed over to my sister's house where they were home waiting for trick-or-treaters. They live in a great neighborhood for it and their next door neighbor estimated they'd have about a hundred kids. They planned accordingly and were left with tons of candy as they only got about 70 kids.
We got there and Simon cried again. After settling down, I was trying to teach him how to trick-or-treat and he wasn't having it. But then I explained what we do when kids come to the house. He liked that part and spent a lot of time helping Uncle Chad pass out candy. Every time the bell rang he'd scream "Kids are here" and run full steam for the door. Then he'd open it and get all shy and let Chad give out the candy.
Eventually, after much coaxing and battling we got him into his ENTIRE costume for a total of one minute before he started tearing it off.
As you can see, he was pretty full of attitude once we got him in, but all said and done, how cute is that damn costume? I told my sister she better like bees because in a couple years her little tadpole is going to wear that same costume. Since this one was hardly worn.
I did manage to get this shot from the front. He wouldn't look at me and was being distracted by coloring, but look how cute! Seriously, those pain-in-the-ass wings turned out amazing.
Everybody took Simon trick-or-treating and I stayed behind to give out candy. They got him to do four houses before he quit. At the first house he chose Uncle Chad to go with him to the door. He pushed the bell (he likes doorbells) and then before they could open the door, Simon turned and ran away, scared. Uncle Chad wasn't as quick and the people opened the front door to see a grown man standing there without a costume and no child. Poor Chad.
Emily tried to explain to Simon that it is trick-or-treat not ding-dong ditch. He did the next houses fine, but wouldn't actually say trick-or-treat.
When they got back, Simon was finally in a good mood and I managed to get a quick shot of him with a smile on his face. Whew! He doesn't hate Halloween after all. Or maybe he just senses the evening is almost over.
Once the trick-or-treaters started to subside, we headed up to Applebee's to see Uncle Zack and to get some dinner.
Again, Simon was distracted by coloring, but at least Uncle Zack smiled--that's rare enough.
After dinner, we headed home and it was about 9:30. It didn't take Simon long to crash. I think he was relieved the bee torture was finally over. Good news is, we know for certain the boy likes candy bars!
And here is a quick shot from my friend Sonya, who we didn't get to see. Dylan the chicken and Jaysa the ladybug are good friends of Simon and we were hoping we would get to trick-or-treat with them, but it just didn't work out.
All in all, it was a fun Halloween for everyone NOT dressed in a bee costume. And did anyone else notice that I was the ONLY adult dressed up?
I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!
This year was no exception. As we had my nephew for the first time, my mom and I overscheduled him. We ended up paring the night down to accommodate a more 2-year-old schedule, but we still had a blast.
I got dressed up in a costume I invented the night before, I went as a superhero. SuperLibrarian to be exact! I looked very cute if I do say so myself. My first stop of the day was to visit Clay and Lewie. I had seen them a couple weeks earlier and Clay was talking about how he couldn't wait to see my costume. I asked why he thought he'd see me and he said that he did last year......And he was right. So I went to visit in costume and was there while the boys got ready.
Clay dressed as a red ninja--and though he is posing for me, he can't help but smile. He is one happy little ninja. I think it was the swords. Lewie went as Darth Vader. In this picture I asked him to not smile and give me a Darth Vader face. This is what I got. So damn cute.
And their mother was smart enough to get a picture of SuperLibrarian with the boys. Strange enough they are the only kids I posed with all night. Somehow, even Kelly didn't think of it.
Once I got home, Simon was still sleeping. We had to wake him up to get him ready to go see Victoria and Christian. Turns out, waking my nephew is a BAD plan. He ended up having a tantrum of epic proportions and was crabby for much of the night. And he wanted nothing to do with his costume. I was pretty sad because he had the cutest costume of the night....after me.
We finally got him out of the house and off to Kelly and Mark's, but we were already very late by that time. He cried again when we got there but eventually settled down and played with the kids.
This is the best shot of the three kids that I have...I haven't seen Kelly's yet. Christian is BamBam and Victoria is Scooby-Doo. They both looked very adorable in their store bought costumes. (Hehehehe). Christian especially....the kid actually looks like Bam-Bam. That costume was perfect for him.
After leaving, we headed over to my sister's house where they were home waiting for trick-or-treaters. They live in a great neighborhood for it and their next door neighbor estimated they'd have about a hundred kids. They planned accordingly and were left with tons of candy as they only got about 70 kids.
We got there and Simon cried again. After settling down, I was trying to teach him how to trick-or-treat and he wasn't having it. But then I explained what we do when kids come to the house. He liked that part and spent a lot of time helping Uncle Chad pass out candy. Every time the bell rang he'd scream "Kids are here" and run full steam for the door. Then he'd open it and get all shy and let Chad give out the candy.
Eventually, after much coaxing and battling we got him into his ENTIRE costume for a total of one minute before he started tearing it off.
As you can see, he was pretty full of attitude once we got him in, but all said and done, how cute is that damn costume? I told my sister she better like bees because in a couple years her little tadpole is going to wear that same costume. Since this one was hardly worn. I did manage to get this shot from the front. He wouldn't look at me and was being distracted by coloring, but look how cute! Seriously, those pain-in-the-ass wings turned out amazing. Everybody took Simon trick-or-treating and I stayed behind to give out candy. They got him to do four houses before he quit. At the first house he chose Uncle Chad to go with him to the door. He pushed the bell (he likes doorbells) and then before they could open the door, Simon turned and ran away, scared. Uncle Chad wasn't as quick and the people opened the front door to see a grown man standing there without a costume and no child. Poor Chad.
Emily tried to explain to Simon that it is trick-or-treat not ding-dong ditch. He did the next houses fine, but wouldn't actually say trick-or-treat.
When they got back, Simon was finally in a good mood and I managed to get a quick shot of him with a smile on his face. Whew! He doesn't hate Halloween after all. Or maybe he just senses the evening is almost over. Once the trick-or-treaters started to subside, we headed up to Applebee's to see Uncle Zack and to get some dinner.
Again, Simon was distracted by coloring, but at least Uncle Zack smiled--that's rare enough. After dinner, we headed home and it was about 9:30. It didn't take Simon long to crash. I think he was relieved the bee torture was finally over. Good news is, we know for certain the boy likes candy bars!
And here is a quick shot from my friend Sonya, who we didn't get to see. Dylan the chicken and Jaysa the ladybug are good friends of Simon and we were hoping we would get to trick-or-treat with them, but it just didn't work out.
All in all, it was a fun Halloween for everyone NOT dressed in a bee costume. And did anyone else notice that I was the ONLY adult dressed up?
I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!
Martha Stewart I Am Not
Do you know how much I love Halloween?
I really do. I think it is such a fun holiday. This year, for the first time, my mom has my nephew and she and I are taking him trick-or-treating. Therefore, we needed a costume.
When my siblings and I were growing up, my mom made us costumes. To me, that became part of the fun of Halloween. You figure out what you want to be and then you figure out how to make that. Most years mom helped/did most of the work, but as I got older (say jr high and high school) I would make my own costumes.
This has become tradition to me and I think it is appalling that people just buy costumes. And they are junk! They are so cheaply made it is a wonder they last the whole night--much less year after year. (My mother made matching clown costumes for Nick and I when we were tiny and then the next year I think Zack and I wore them and then I am pretty sure Zack and Emily wore them. They lasted several years and four kids!) But, this is me and evidently it is not for everyone.
When we knew we had Simon, my mom and I went shopping. She wanted to buy him a costume and it took me only a few minutes to talk her out of it. After seeing the crap that passes for costumes these days (for $35 a pop and more!) she was more than willing to tackle the build-a-costume project of days gone by. Mind you, it has been years and YEARS since she last made a costume.
Simon finally decided (and by decided I mean he said it once and we took it as a decision) that he wanted to be a bee. Mom and I went around and purchased all the items needed to make the costume. We had a plan of how we would do it, but somehow things didn't go as planned. It ended up being that I, the fabulous auntie extraordinaire, made the entire costume. My mom kept offering her help, but I was sure I had it under control.
Let's just be clear: check the title of the blog.
Martha Stewart, I am not. This means I have never been convicted of a white collar crime, nor do I have the skills and ability to sew a bee costume by hand.
Lucky for me, I am smart and I am creative, I managed to figure it out. My mother was smart enough to buy materials that are flexible enough to be beaten on and used in a variety of ways and I was able to pull it altogether. And it only took me about 6.5 hours.
Yeesh.
Honestly, the hardest part was making the wings, but once I had one wing done, the second was considerably easier. Then there were the problems. Busted thread, pulling the antennae off the hat AFTER it was finished and then having to figure out how to reattach it, glue that wouldn't hold, gluing the wrong side of the wing so it was backwards, et cetera.
Still, after all that time and all those tribulations, I had an absolute blast. I loved making this little costume that he will wear for Halloween. I am so excited to get him inside of it and take pictures of him. So excited was I that after all was said and done, I dug out and old oversized doll from childhood and dressed Jasper up in Simon's costume. Now I know what the whole thing looks like all put together.
Jasper looks pretty cute, but I am betting Simon wins, hands-down. Plus, the costume will actually FIT Simon.
So stay tuned for the official Halloween pictures and make certain that all the comments are about how cute the COSTUME is...not the wearer.
(Ok, I'm kidding--my nephew is adorable, all comments welcome).
And look out Martha, a bit more practice and I'll be taking over! (Hopefully not the prison part, but the multi-millionaire part...be happy to!)
Happy All Hallows Eve Eve!
I really do. I think it is such a fun holiday. This year, for the first time, my mom has my nephew and she and I are taking him trick-or-treating. Therefore, we needed a costume.
When my siblings and I were growing up, my mom made us costumes. To me, that became part of the fun of Halloween. You figure out what you want to be and then you figure out how to make that. Most years mom helped/did most of the work, but as I got older (say jr high and high school) I would make my own costumes.
This has become tradition to me and I think it is appalling that people just buy costumes. And they are junk! They are so cheaply made it is a wonder they last the whole night--much less year after year. (My mother made matching clown costumes for Nick and I when we were tiny and then the next year I think Zack and I wore them and then I am pretty sure Zack and Emily wore them. They lasted several years and four kids!) But, this is me and evidently it is not for everyone.
When we knew we had Simon, my mom and I went shopping. She wanted to buy him a costume and it took me only a few minutes to talk her out of it. After seeing the crap that passes for costumes these days (for $35 a pop and more!) she was more than willing to tackle the build-a-costume project of days gone by. Mind you, it has been years and YEARS since she last made a costume.
Simon finally decided (and by decided I mean he said it once and we took it as a decision) that he wanted to be a bee. Mom and I went around and purchased all the items needed to make the costume. We had a plan of how we would do it, but somehow things didn't go as planned. It ended up being that I, the fabulous auntie extraordinaire, made the entire costume. My mom kept offering her help, but I was sure I had it under control.
Let's just be clear: check the title of the blog.
Martha Stewart, I am not. This means I have never been convicted of a white collar crime, nor do I have the skills and ability to sew a bee costume by hand.
Lucky for me, I am smart and I am creative, I managed to figure it out. My mother was smart enough to buy materials that are flexible enough to be beaten on and used in a variety of ways and I was able to pull it altogether. And it only took me about 6.5 hours.
Yeesh.
Honestly, the hardest part was making the wings, but once I had one wing done, the second was considerably easier. Then there were the problems. Busted thread, pulling the antennae off the hat AFTER it was finished and then having to figure out how to reattach it, glue that wouldn't hold, gluing the wrong side of the wing so it was backwards, et cetera.
Still, after all that time and all those tribulations, I had an absolute blast. I loved making this little costume that he will wear for Halloween. I am so excited to get him inside of it and take pictures of him. So excited was I that after all was said and done, I dug out and old oversized doll from childhood and dressed Jasper up in Simon's costume. Now I know what the whole thing looks like all put together.
Jasper looks pretty cute, but I am betting Simon wins, hands-down. Plus, the costume will actually FIT Simon.
So stay tuned for the official Halloween pictures and make certain that all the comments are about how cute the COSTUME is...not the wearer.
(Ok, I'm kidding--my nephew is adorable, all comments welcome).
And look out Martha, a bit more practice and I'll be taking over! (Hopefully not the prison part, but the multi-millionaire part...be happy to!)
Happy All Hallows Eve Eve!
Family Love
You know, there isn't anyone on earth who can get under my skin like my sister. She truly has a gift. If there were more of her or if she could bottle this ability, I would have probably exploded by now--just a giant ball of anger and sadness and frustration caused by my sister.
Fortunately, there is only one of her.
Fortunately.
I just got off the phone with her (thus the back-to-back blogs) and once again, she managed to destroy what should have been a lovely conversation. SHE called ME to ask for my help. My brother-in-law is going to a hockey game tomorrow night with his brother. They are going to have dinner at a bar I used to work at (Great Waters) and wanted to get directions. She explained all of this to me and then I was to give her the directions. I asked to talk to Chad so that I could give HIM the directions so that I knew he would understand. He's the one going, after all, not her. So brother-in-law and I chatted, I gave him the needed directions and then, like a fool, I asked him to put my sister back on the line.
I don't know if she went and took a for-pregnant-women-doctor-authorized "pissy pill" in the 45 seconds I was talking to her husband, but she was a different person when I got her back on the phone. I was trying to nail down plans for Halloween because we have my nephew for the very first time. We don't usually see him on holidays and we're excited. My mom and I are making him a costume (pictures to come!) and we're trying to figure out what to do. We want him to trick-or-treat with kids his own age and as a result we've set up dates with the kids of two of my friends. We also would like to run him to a couple places so people can see him (i.e. my sister and brother-in-law, my brother, etc). Yeah, this will probably be a fairly hectic evening but whatthehell, might as well make the most of it. This could be the only Halloween we ever get him for.
At any rate, I was just trying to find out if they had anything specific planned so we could work them into our schedule. I was even thinking of inviting them for dinner...but before I could get to any of that she blew up at me. She told me that I had too much planned and that I was ruining Simon's Halloween. Apparently he doesn't want to do all the running around and just wants to do a little trick-or-treating. At least according to Emily. She yelled a couple other things at me too.
Is it a mark of age or more of routine that I didn't even get upset? Granted, I am at work and can't get upset, but I very calmly asked her why she was getting so upset. And then she gave me the "whatever" brush off and said that we weren't to bring him to her house, they didn't need to see him. I, again calmly, said that wasn't the point and tried, futilely, to explain myself. She didn't listen to me, she just talked right over me. So I said that I just needed to know their plans. And she finally conceded and said "we'll be home all night". And we got off the phone.
What worries me is that I have become so used to the way she speaks to me that I barely react to it anymore. I used to get upset and we'd fight...which certainly wasn't productive, but at least I was standing up for myself and hoping that maybe something I said got through. Now, I don't even try. I just let her steamroll right over me and usually just cross my fingers that Storm Emily passes quickly. It has become a trademark that when I see my sister or talk to her, the first thing I do is try to judge her mood, because I know how quickly (like this phone call) she can go from 0-to-60.
I try to be understanding of the fact that she is her own person and that she is very different from me. But, really, most of the time I am so frustrated by her lack of respect for others that I don't want to even be around her. Which is sad, because I truly do love my sister and when she isn't being this way, she is a pretty cool person. Or at least she used to be. I haven't seen that Emily for a very long time. Once in a while I get glimpses of who she used to be and I hope that Old Emily is still inside of her, just waiting for her chance to come out to stay. But lately, this Emily is the only one I see and for some reason, it seems to be me with whom she acts this way the most.
I guess I just wish that I had the kind of sister that I could be friends with. I would really love that. Maybe someday...
Fortunately, there is only one of her.
Fortunately.
I just got off the phone with her (thus the back-to-back blogs) and once again, she managed to destroy what should have been a lovely conversation. SHE called ME to ask for my help. My brother-in-law is going to a hockey game tomorrow night with his brother. They are going to have dinner at a bar I used to work at (Great Waters) and wanted to get directions. She explained all of this to me and then I was to give her the directions. I asked to talk to Chad so that I could give HIM the directions so that I knew he would understand. He's the one going, after all, not her. So brother-in-law and I chatted, I gave him the needed directions and then, like a fool, I asked him to put my sister back on the line.
I don't know if she went and took a for-pregnant-women-doctor-authorized "pissy pill" in the 45 seconds I was talking to her husband, but she was a different person when I got her back on the phone. I was trying to nail down plans for Halloween because we have my nephew for the very first time. We don't usually see him on holidays and we're excited. My mom and I are making him a costume (pictures to come!) and we're trying to figure out what to do. We want him to trick-or-treat with kids his own age and as a result we've set up dates with the kids of two of my friends. We also would like to run him to a couple places so people can see him (i.e. my sister and brother-in-law, my brother, etc). Yeah, this will probably be a fairly hectic evening but whatthehell, might as well make the most of it. This could be the only Halloween we ever get him for.
At any rate, I was just trying to find out if they had anything specific planned so we could work them into our schedule. I was even thinking of inviting them for dinner...but before I could get to any of that she blew up at me. She told me that I had too much planned and that I was ruining Simon's Halloween. Apparently he doesn't want to do all the running around and just wants to do a little trick-or-treating. At least according to Emily. She yelled a couple other things at me too.
Is it a mark of age or more of routine that I didn't even get upset? Granted, I am at work and can't get upset, but I very calmly asked her why she was getting so upset. And then she gave me the "whatever" brush off and said that we weren't to bring him to her house, they didn't need to see him. I, again calmly, said that wasn't the point and tried, futilely, to explain myself. She didn't listen to me, she just talked right over me. So I said that I just needed to know their plans. And she finally conceded and said "we'll be home all night". And we got off the phone.
What worries me is that I have become so used to the way she speaks to me that I barely react to it anymore. I used to get upset and we'd fight...which certainly wasn't productive, but at least I was standing up for myself and hoping that maybe something I said got through. Now, I don't even try. I just let her steamroll right over me and usually just cross my fingers that Storm Emily passes quickly. It has become a trademark that when I see my sister or talk to her, the first thing I do is try to judge her mood, because I know how quickly (like this phone call) she can go from 0-to-60.
I try to be understanding of the fact that she is her own person and that she is very different from me. But, really, most of the time I am so frustrated by her lack of respect for others that I don't want to even be around her. Which is sad, because I truly do love my sister and when she isn't being this way, she is a pretty cool person. Or at least she used to be. I haven't seen that Emily for a very long time. Once in a while I get glimpses of who she used to be and I hope that Old Emily is still inside of her, just waiting for her chance to come out to stay. But lately, this Emily is the only one I see and for some reason, it seems to be me with whom she acts this way the most.
I guess I just wish that I had the kind of sister that I could be friends with. I would really love that. Maybe someday...
Uncle Sam Saturday
Yesterday afternoon, my parents and I took my nephew out to Fort Snelling. A true little boy, Simon loves planes and trucks and the like, so we figured a day looking at old planes and trucks and tanks would be right up his alley. We were right.
The military base at Fort Snelling opens up its grounds for the public to come in and view their old military vehicles. Many of them are available to climb on and in, making it pretty cool for both kids and adults. We headed out that way and the only wait time is entering the base. Security is nuts. We had to get out of the car (all of us, even Simon), leave all four doors open and pop the trunk and the hood. They did a cursory search of the vehicle and even checked underneath for explosives (or whatever it is they look for). We passed.
We found these shades in the car - left by my sister from a costume event she went to last weekend. Simon was squinting, so I handed these over. He put them on and wore them the rest of the day. Even the man with the very big guns (yep plural) who searched our car liked them. He complimented Simon while we were receiving our instructions on parking.
There's Simon next to the tank. This one is still operational so periodically someone would hop in and do maneuveurs around the yard. It was awesome to see. For such a big, bulky vehicle, those things can turn on a dime.
Here's Simon with "Gram K" and "Pa" inside of a different tank.
That one is Simon playing with the bullets of that huge machine gun by his head. He doesn't know what guns or bullets are, it was just something to touch. He actually kept calling the bullets "batteries" and they are about that size and shape, so I could see his point.
Simon was running full speed around the runways (we were out at the airfield), following the runway markers. He would periodically stop and look back to make sure we were still following him. I snapped this shot of him with the planes in the background. Those were the ones we could tour.
We found this cool set of signs pointing different directions with cities and distances on them. Those are my parents and as you can see from where they are standing it is 6,225 miles to Seoul, South Korea and 6,427 miles in the opposite direction to Baghdad, Iraq. I double checked....the distances are accurate.
That's Simon, exploring the cockpit of the biggest plane there, the C-130. It took us a while to be able to go in and tour this one. As we were walking up the steps to go in, Simon got scared and tried to back up (on steps!) I was behind him and stopped him, but he didn't want to go in by himself (even though I was right behind him). So, I tried to pick him up, but I forgot to judge the height of the miniscule doorway and I picked him up and smacked the top of his head into the doorframe. Ooops!
Of course, he started wailing immediately. I turned and went back down to the ground and walked away. He was crying and holding on to me, but he seemed to think it was the plane's fault and not my fault. When I walked toward the plane, he was scared but seemed fine with me. I asked if he wanted to go in and he said, "nooo, big plane, no." We skipped it at the time and toured everything else. By the end of the day, though, he was okay with it ( a bit leery, but ok) and we got to go inside and see this cool cargo plane. It was ginormous. I really enjoyed it and it was the only one where you could go up and see the cockpit. There was a retired volunteer sitting up there and answering questions about the plane.
After that, we went out to lunch (got rained on but we stuck it out). We were trying to decide what to do next when Simon decided for us:
Obviously, touring military vehicles is exhausting. But notice he's still rocking the shades.
All in all, it was a fun afternoon and kept us busy for several hours. Plus, it was one of the few "little kid" outings that my dad actually enjoyed!!!
So here's to the National Guard Reserve out at Fort Snelling and them being kind enough to open up their base to the public. The only do it on select Saturdays in the summer and because of that, it is a completely free event.
And fun for the whole family.
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