Dollar bin at Target

Oh how I love you!! I find some good little things in there once in a while. Yesterday I got a bag of little green plastic army guys for Ben. They are bribery for potty training. Every time he goes with out us telling him or helping him, he gets an army guy. I wasn't sure how much this would matter to him because he is really hard to motivate, but he has played non stop with the 2 he has so far and this is him when he got to pick a new one. I think it was a dollar well spent!!! I also think it's hilarious that this pic shows his lips this way because this is his tough guy talking face. And, I am conducting a little experiment. I guess he doesn't know what a gun is. He knows that what they are holding shoot stuff, but I heard him refer to the huge grenade launcher one of them is holding as a "hammer"!!! I want to see how long it takes for him to ask us what they are or just figure it out.

Add on

I forgot the cutest part of the cupcake story. Later we asked the kids what their favorite part of the day was, Amelia's first response with no hesitation, "the cupcake with the frosting". We asked Ben what his cupcake tasted like and his response, "chocolate frosting!!" That's probably because he just ate the chocolate frosting with a hint of cupcake.

Anyone want to lend us $2 million???

Yesterday we spent the day in Santa Barbara eating, and hanging out at the zoo and eating some more. As you may or may not know, I have an addiction to cooking shows. I recently saw an episode of Cupcake Wars which featured the cupcakery (yep, that is what they call bakeries that only do cupcakes) Crush Cakes. I wanted to see what all the hubbub was about for these $3 cupcakes. Before we went in we had to prep Amelia that she may not be able to have one, but we would ask and if they didn't have something, we would get her a treat at home. She was very hopeful that, "we can just ask and maybe they will say they are safe for me!" Talk about torture for this kid. Take her to a bakery and not let her eat. I was already ridden with guilt and then she got a whiff of the smell from the street and said how good it smelled, more guilt. Well, I was happy to find they have a vegan cupcake option every day and this one had no nuts!!!! (vegans use a LOT of nuts, which is also a problem for her) So my little Amelia was able to get her very own, mile high frosted, totally safe, red velvet and vanilla bean butter cream topped with a vegan chocolate heart, delicious cupcake. Look at her little face. She dug right into the frosting. She said not one word until that cupcake was done. You know she was loving it if she was silent. She licked the paper, her fingers and the plate clean. Ben chose (with a lot of prodding from me) a chocolate chocolate cupcake. Me, a chocolate with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache drizzle with peanuts on top. Phil, a crumb cake. His was the least favorite. Mine, the best. Their frosting was awesome. Cupcakes decent. Would do it once in a while especially just to see Amelia's face!!

Now on to the $2 million dollars. A year or so ago I have found my dream house in SB. A cute little bungalow across from a park up on a ledge overlooking the ocean. The whole front of the house opens onto a porch lanai style and from my stalking abilities, the kitchen looked all professional grade appliances and tastefully decorated and bright and cheery. Well imagine my sheer giddiness to drive past it yesterday to find a for sale sign in front of it. Now I can finally see the inside and all the details. Check it out by clicking on the photo tour and see why I love it. It is even better than I imagined!!! Now, how do I go about getting a job for Phil in Santa Barbara that can afford the payments of a $2 million house!!!

Ben

I love this kid soo much. And I think the real reason is he is a mini Phil. All the things I found adorable in Phil, I find in him. But there are some that aren't so adorable like they both have ridiculous gag reflexes...which lead me to this story.
I took the kids on my bi-monthly all day errand trip to Ventura. As a reward, we went out to eat at their (really my) favorite place, the Habit. Now for any SoCal residents that have been in the Ventura county area can affirm that Oxnard has a funny smell. And sometimes that smell can permeate into Ventura. Yesterday it did and it may have been a raw sewage problem, I don't really know. But I do know it was strong and gross. I told the kids to quickly go inside so we didn't have to smell it. We walk the 50 steps to get just inside the front door and Ben starts dry heaving. I thought, "oh great here it comes, right inside here with all these people and I don't want to leave, I want to eat here!!!". His eyes were watering and he was being all loud about it and then he started coughing and then it subsided. I am so proud of him for taking some deep breathes and keeping it together. I think the only reason he didn't throw up was because he had no food in his stomach!!! He said to me once he had recovered, "whew.(yes, my 2 year old says whew) I thought I was going to throw up from that smell!!!" It was hilarious to me. And it's things like that that make me adore this kid.

Funny things my kids said

Background: Amelia is of the age where she is pretending to get married all the time. Not just her, but her toys, the stuffed animals in the house, the bugs outside, anything and everything has been deemed her job to marry them. Ben is the age where he follows Amelia around and does whatever she tells him to do, and she has no problems being the boss.
Setting up the scene: Amelia and Ben outside playing in between our houses. We have 3 "houses" on the property (main house, office and shed) set in a u shape that creates the backyard. The kids often pretend each house is a different location and drive (on their bikes) from one place to another. Amelia is also holding her baby doll.
The conversation:
A: Ben, c'mon we have to go to the doctor and get this baby out of me. Now tell me to sit down and then you are the doctor and you just take it out.
Ben looks at her with the look of a man, like I really don't want to do this and I think I might throw up, but I know better than to disagree with you right now, is there anyone around to save me from this??? (Lucky for him I was there)
Me: Ummm, let's not pretend to be doctors and take babies out. Let's play something different.
A: OK. Ben, now we have to go get married. Let's ride over there. (get in their "cars" and make their way over to another house. Amelia, still holding her doll, walks up to Ben to "get married")
B: Uh, you can't have that baby when you get married.
A: Oh. OK, wait a second.
(Walks over to her "car" and buckles her baby in)
A to her baby: OK, now baby, you stay in this car while I go get married and no getting out and no freaking out. I'll be right back. (Amelia turns and heads back to get married)

Where to even start?? Should I be more concerned that she had no problems abandoning a baby in a car to quickly get hitched, that she thinks when she is sick of being pregnant she can go to the doctor and he will just take it out, or that she had a baby first so now she needs to get married??? Kids.

I know....

It's a lot of pomp and circumstance, but I really love royal weddings. What girl isn't captivated by being expected to wear beautiful gowns and tiara's and it's all deemed very elegant, not weird. And, Kate Middleton is the most elegant bride. She carries herself so well and I loved her dress and the simple flowers. So classy. That would be my wedding if I could go back, but minus the royalness and the Westminster Abbey!!! I also think it is funny that some commentary narrating the clip I watched referred to her dress as contemporary???? I am pretty sure that is a vintage style. Remember Grace Kelley's wedding dress. Very similar. Lame commentator. (As I searched for this pic, I saw lots of other people saw the same similarities to Grace Kelley's dress so I guess I am not the only one who got it)

Olivia

So I usually don't promote things, but I just hopped on Amazon VOD and they are selling 25 instant videos (each has 2 10 minute mini episodes per "episode") for only 14.99!!! OK, that is a screaming deal since they are typically like $14.99 for like 10 or 12 episodes, or singly as $1.99/episode. So if you love Olivia like us,, and have a TV that hooks up to the internet or a Roku or don't mind watching shows on your computer, I would totally suggest getting it. They are based on the books by Ian Falconer and they are smart and funny and no super annoying voices and my kids are totally entertained by them. We are not TV people. I let them watch only 20 minutes a day (and sometimes even nothing) while I take a shower, so these are the perfect length. You could even cut it in half and only let them watch one of the mini episodes within the actual episode. Screaming deal!!!!