Halloween Happiness Part 1

So it's two days to Halloween and Gabe's already had not one, but two parties. We attended a fabulous bash at the Webber's house in Forest Grove - friends from baby class, yummy snacks, lots of costumes, so much fun! After the party Jen sewed up the boys costumes so they wouldn't trip, since my concoction of double-sided tape and glue dots was not working out...funny, it always works on my scrapbook pages!

The boys are a trio from Toy Story this year, much at the insistence of the oldest bossy boots. He desperately wanted to be Buzz, so naturally he wanted Ben to be Woody. Ben's pretty kick back, so even though given a choice he might choose Nemo or Thomas, he agreed pretty easily to be Buzz's best buddy. We got Max a cute (and warm) penguin costume from eBay, added a microphone, and called him Wheezy - the penguin who sings at the end of Toy Story 2. I mistakenly noted that now they were all in Toy Story 3 costumes, and Gabe corrected me right away, "No, Mom! Wheezy is Toy Story 2!" I could practically hear the "Geez!" in his voice.

Today Gabe got to have a Halloween party at school too. Everyone wore costumes, and they decorated (and ate) sugar cookies. Gabe was so excited about wearing Buzz to school. In the hallway outside his room he complimented Blake on his Transformers costume, though he hasn't the foggiest idea what a Transformer might be. He complimented Siddanth on the utility belt from his Darth Vader costume, mostly because Gabe harbors a long denied wish for a Buzz Lightyear doll with the blue utility belt ala Toy Story 2, and is unfortunate enough to only own way too many Toy Story beltless versions. Poor thing, right? Still these compliments, uttered in full sentences in an audible voice were a huge step forward for Gabe. Yea!

Then he got inside his classroom and kids in costumes started arriving in droves. Teacher Gina asked everyone to sit on the carpet for a group photo - by that point Gabe was shutting down. You could practically see the shades coming down over his eyes as the situation got to be too much for him. All the other little guys are chattering and excited about the Halloween fun going on - Gabe's parked his butt on a purple carpet spot and starts refusing to make eye contact. He said it's because the Batman cosutmes were too scary! I kissed his little purple head and said bye, dragging my Woody-clad two year old away from the lego table with the promise of fruit snacks in the car.

Gabe eventually warmed up to the party and had a super time at school. He's like the hungry caterpillar giving a school report - today he ate 1 frosted cookie with purple sprinkles and gummi bears and 1 cupcake. So he loved the party, as any situation with cake is a-ok in his book. He was upset when I made him take of the Buzz costume after school, but he did share his halloween party goodie bag with Ben. He chose the shiny gold candy for himself (it was a twix, but he didn't care. The wrapper was shiny and gold...only something shiny and purple could've topped that!). He gave plain M&Ms to Ben without a bit of argument. That may be the last sweet thing he did today, since he was so overtired from two days of partying...and only two more to go...

Monster Mash

My friend Jamie posted this neat link to a video maker through Jib Jab. It was so cute that I had to make one for Gabe, Ben, and Max right away. Enjoy!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Chinese noodles are delicious!

One of the boys' favorite things to eat is Chow Mein Noodles. It's the go to choice if we're out at any type of food court setting - they will always eat the noodles, and they both love broccoli, too. But the fast food stuff is so bad for you - so I've been experimenting with making Chinese noodles at home. It's been a big hit! It's way lower in fat and I load it up with lots of veggies. I use a mandoline to slice at the veggies super thin. They wolf it down with nary a complaint - a nice change of pace where Gabe is concerned!

Tonight Baby Max got in on the noodle action. He shoveled in as many noddles as he could at once, so I had to give them to him a couple at a time to prevent suffocation by Chinese noodle, but he ate almost as many noodles as Gabe did! Since he's mostly rejecting the sippy cup and baby food, it's nice to know there's something the little guy can eat without spitting up!

Here's our recipe:

1/2 cup Chicken or veggie broth, divided in half
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp canola oil
1/2 cup cashews
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
4 green onions, sliced
2 carrots, finely sliced
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
1 zucchini, quartered, then finely sliced
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 bunch broccoli, steamed and chopped into small bites
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded
4 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium)
2 tbsp mirin or rice wine vinegar
1 package chow mein noddles - not the crunchy ones for salads, the white steamed ones in a cake

Boil off the noodles and drain; set aside.

Combine half the broth with the cornstarch; set aside.

In a wok or a large pan (I use my biggest soup pot), saute mushrooms in canola oil until browned. Tosh in cashews a minute or so before the mushrooms are done. Transfer mushrooms and cashews to a bowl.

Heat sesame oil in same pan. Toss in all veggies except cabbage. Stirfry for a minute or so to soften veggies. Add cabbage, garlic, and ginger, cook one minute more to wilt cabbage. Stir in remaining broth, red pepper flake, soy, mirin, and cornstarch mixture.  Cook stirring until sauce coats veggies, about a minute. Add noodles and toss to combine.

I usually grind a bit of black pepper over the adult portions before serving. You could probably just toss on some bottled teriyaki stuff too to save the effort. Yum-o!

Fire Trucks in a super secret location!

John's schedule for work lately has been somewhat unreliable and super busy. I was supposed to teach a workshop this weekend, and at the last minute John had to work all weekend on this big, important project for work. I was in a panic, but our amazing friend Shelley came to the rescue and offered to take Gabe and Ben for me while I taught my class. Not only did she take the boys on top of her three kiddos (including adorable new baby Mechia), but she took the boys to this awesome event at the Fire Station in Forest Grove!

Knowing Gabe's issues with me leaving him places, I didn't mention that I wasn't staying with him today. the whole way there I talked up how much fun we were gonna have at William's house, how William and Sean have gobs of awesome trains, remember how Miss Shelley helped you make a painted spider last week, etc... While we were on the doorstep I causally mentioned how I would be running home to teach a Stamping Ladies class, but they I'd come back from him later. He looked a bit paniced himself there for a sec, and I thought that he might not go in, but then Shelley opened the door so he went in...and saw William and toys and a few minutes later was ok with me going. Shelley said he took about an hour to really warm up, but no tears, and no huge fit after I left - hooray!

She took all those little boys downtown to visit the fire trucks. Ben rode in a bucket loader. Gabe was all reayd to go, but opted out at the last minute. Gabe told me it didn't look safe to him! He also told me all about how the helicopter (lifeflight) landed right in the street, it was so windy and loud! Ben chimed in with "Helicopter in street is daaaaangerous".  Apparently getting strapped into a bucklet loader or putting out  fire is all fine, but watching a helicopter land is cause for concern!

They all tried to go to ice cream, but it was closed so they had a treat at Maggie Buns instead. Gabe had told me he ate a BIG brownie today. I asked him if he had it at William's house and he said "No! It was at a super secret place. I'll tell you later. Top secret!" I think maybe he just didn't know where he ate the brownie.

They both just had a blast today! When I came to get them, Ben didn't even want to go home. He is in love with William's backyard, and we have GOT to move into a house with a yard next year when our lease is up. After all the cool stuff he did with Shelley and the boys today, when we talked about his favorite thing before bed tonight he said it was playing in Sean's backyard. Gabe's favorite thing was playing with Willima's toy helicopter and sleeping in William's bed. Today was a huge success, and a big step forward for Gabe, and we just so appreciate our wonderful friends.

Thank you for inviting us Shelley, Danny, William, Sean, and Baby Mechia! We had the best time!

What a weekend!

We had such a fun time this weekend! Sometimes I wonder how we can cram in so many activities, but the boys just love to be out and about! Maybe it's the impromptu naps...or the Pepsi Max!

Gabe didn't have school on Friday, so we skipped our normal routine and headed out to Cornelius library to attend storytime with the Webbers. We were, of course, a little bit late getting there...ok, we were technically an hour early, but then we went to Walmart, so then we were ten minutes late for storytime. On a side note, may I just say that Walmart actually had a cart that could accomodate all three of the munchkins - the boys could've ridden in that cart all day. The "peekaboos" and singing to Max were priceless. We may go to Walmart more often just to hog that cart. Do you think we can get one for home use?

When we got to the library Penny was sitting up in the chairs with the on-time story listeners, so we sat in the back. Ben kept stage whispering, "Hi, Penny! Mommy, I say "Hi Penny"!" Gabe was irritated with me that he didn't get a chair in the front, so he decided not to participate and played with a toy castle in the back of the room instead.

After storytime the kids all colored pages and played in the library. Ben, Penny, Henry, and Emily did quite a few rounds of Ring Around the Rosie. When everyone else was done, Ben kept going by himself for a few more times. Max tried everything he could to escape the Mommy who would not let him eat books. Won't eat food I want him to eat...maybe we can get food in book format?

We decided to move the party outside, and the kiddos had an up close look at the firefighters bell (Looking, no touching! Looking no touching, Ben!). Then Ben and Henry did a good bit of dangling off the bike rack while Gabe and Penny took turn jumping through it between the danglers. We finished off with a super fun playtime at Rodgers park, after which Ben and Gabe were one step away from vegetables.  Good, sleepy vegetables, though. Note Ben is still clutching a ring pop in his hand while he's asleep...

No rest for the weary though - we were up early the next day and off to the happiest place on earth. Most normal folks would probably guess that the happiest place on earth is Disneyland...but in Gabe's opinion, it's Salem, Oregon. Even folks who live in Salem might not agree, but for Gabe, the epicenter of fun is the Discovery Museum in Salem, and there is no place else he'd rather be. This Saturday he got to bring Daddy there for the first time, and he was totally jazzed. I got to go to the outlet mall and search for black pants for John to wear to prison on Monday. Ok - he's not going to prison, he's going to do a job at a prison, and non-prisoners need to wear black pants...I guess to be sure they aren't prisoners escaped from their orange jumpsuits? Who knows -  but the pants had to be purchased, and that bought me a morning of just Me and Max time...plus the ability to tease John relentlessly about his forthcoming time in prison.

Apparently outlet mall shopping agrees with Max, because he was happy as a clam all morning long, flirting with shopgirls and generally babbling and cooing away. He even agreed to chew on a sippy cup. That's right, folks - he actually put the cup in his mouth! I didn't say he drank out of it, but at least he didn't continue to just fling it overboard whenever he thought I wasn't looking. Maybe one day (knock on wood) he'll actually agree to drink something out of a stinking sippy cup. He is eating Baby MumMum rice crackers and bits of noodle without throwing up, so stranger things have happened I suppose.

On Sunday we played with Tina and Nathan and Eric again! Gabe read "I Stink" to our friends, and the boys played without incident all afternoon - amazing! This visit was such a blessing, since John was now offically on his way to prison (ha! I never get tired of that joke) and would be of no use to us at all today. When I put the boys to bed they were so tired from our long playdate topped off with a triple trike walk (Gabe and Ben on trikes, Nathan in the big red car push cart) and dinner at the McDonalds playplace that they didn't even argue for more drinks of water. Everyone is sleeping soundly in their own beds...except for me 'cause I'm blogging...and poor old John who's on his way to prison.

But he'll get out tomorrow with good behavior, and the boys will be thrilled to have Daddy home. Gabe said to me, "I'm missing Daddy already!" Ben said, "I jammin'!I jammin'! I like jammin' with you!"  Come home from prison, Daddy...those boys miss you!

10-6-10: A Day at the Park with Friends

Today we met up with Tina and Nathan for a fun morning out. We had coffee and doughnuts at Munchkin Playland (try the buttermilk bars), and the boys played trains for a long time. The boys just love that place, and when Tina and Nathan arrived that just pushed the good moods right over the top.

For the first time I let Baby Max get out of the carrier/high chair and crawl around at Playland. He was thrilled to be let loose, pulling up on chairs and the fence that borders the climbing area. I even got all three to climb into the little cabin at the same time.

When it started to fill up we moved on to the park. It was such an unexpectedly beautiful morning - clear, not too warm, just lovely! All the boys went for a swing at the beginning. Max is really loving being outside in a swing now that he's outgrown his indoor baby swing. That little 9 month old cherub is 23 pounds!

Gabe is feeling a little sad about getting too big for the baby bucket type swings - he kept asking me to put him into one of those instead of the big boy swing he's been riding for a while now. Guess Ben and Max are making the buckets look like too much fun. When you push Gabe on the swings he squeals, "I'm flying! I'm flying like Buzz [Lightyear]!" Ben just demands to go faster, faster! Max gently sways in his swing.

The boys have such a good time playing with Nathan. I just love that they have such a close friendship so young. Watching them hug each other and play is just so sweet!

This afternoon the boys found a new obsession too. On the On Demand area on our cable we discovered a video version of one of their favorite books called "I Stink". It's about a garbage truck and how he goes around eating up your garbage at night. The boys are fascinated by the concept. It makes an alphabetical list of disgusting garbage items, i.e. dirty diapers, moldy meatballs...

After we went to the park the boys were having a small snack and watching "I Stink" while I made lunch. Ben kept whimpering about how he didn't want to eat that icky stuff after each item in the story. I don't know why they love it so much, but they are just mesmerized by this silly gruff garbage truck from New York.

Max ate a big handful of Cheerios today - hooray! About 5 minutes later he spit them all back up when he choked on the last one. Boo! Maybe we need the big garbage truck to move in with us...or a dog!

A new blog for Gabe, Ben, and Max!

Ok - the babysite updates were killing me, and lots of Friends and Family just won't come along with us to Facebook, so we're looking for a happy middle groud here. We miss you guys, and we've heard you miss us! So let's give this blogging bit a go - lots more frequent updates for the Coffman boy fans, less head banging, tediously long updates to drive me up the wall.


Today we went to Costco - just Mommy and the three rambunctious boys. Bribery was provided in the form of Ring Pops, which neither Gabe nor Ben had even seen before.

Gabe, as the ruling King of Bling was over the moon to have such a huge gemstone that could also be eaten - score! Ben was just happy that I let him sit in the cart next to Max. Since Ben has a strong tendency toward Elmira (I'll hug you, and squeeze you, and love you to pieces!), he's not often allowed such close proximity to Max for an extended length of time. Max is still finding the novel experience of riding in the cart to be a thrill, so all parties involved were quite happy to be in Costco!

We managed to buy milk and bread, plus feed the boys a cheese pizza lunch with no major meltdown or behavoir issues. Woo! Of course, pushing my luck, I then took them to the park to play before Gabe's preschool...

When we got to school all was still going well. Gabe and Ben were both using the potty - cool, right? Except I couldn't get Ben back off the potty. It's like his bottom was glued to the tiny kid sized potty seat. So eventually I told him in no uncertain terms that he was NOT to get of the potty for any reason and ran with Gabe down the hall to drop him off for class just in time. I ran back to the bathroom down the hall just KNOWING that Ben would be wandering the lobby with his pants off. But lo - there he was, still sitting on the potty like a good boy (cue angelic singing).

Ben's good humor lasted throguh the re-diapering process and handwashing all the way until it was time to get a paper towel. Then, convinced that 10 minutes of washing his paws wasn't enough time, he pitched a huge wailer. While still wearing Baby Max in the Ergo, I had to pick up the screaming, flailing 30 pound toddler and drag him out to the car. I refused to let him out of his car seat at home until he apologized...and he refused to apologize for a full 30 minutes. At least I got in some good reading time - my book club chose The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls! Max amused himself with his bell shaker while we waited it out.

Eventually he came around long enough for me to let him out of his seat and hug it out. We're off now to go get Gabe from school...crossing out fingers that it'll be a much less noticable trip this time!