How do you like them pickles?

As many of you are probably aware, one of this evening's more newsworthy events was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake here in NorCal. As you may NOT be aware, olives are apparently considered to be a subset of pickles.

Cindy and I learned this as we watched a local news station covering the story. After detailing the harrowing loss of a ceiling tile at a San Jose Target, the news team moved on to a nearby grocery store, informing the viewing audience that the main casualty of the quake was an aisle's worth of pickles.

Now, here's the kicker - had the story ended there, we all would have accepted the tragedy of the lost pickles. Perhaps I would have felt a greater sense of appreciation the next time I crunched into a beautiful kosher dill. But no, the next shot was of course a dramatic view of the fallen "pickles," which, although green, were surprisingly small and stuffed with . . . pimentos? What?

At this point, you're obviously convinced that we were witness to the finest piece of reporting this side of the Daily Show, but the icing on the cake would have to be the interview of the grocery store employee. As she repeatedly motioned to the aisle of olives and, with an entirely straight face, called them "pickles," I began to understand why fully half of Canadian television programming is based on making fun of Americans by interviewing randomly chosen members of our society.

Needless to say, Cindy and I could not contain ourselves. At the same time, I was left to wonder: if a jar of olives fell in the forest, and no one was there to see it . . . would it actually be pickles?

Mmmm...Pie

With the change of the seasons I've been finding myself craving all things fall (hence the change of blog background). When my Thanksgiving/Holiday issue of Martha arrived, I was instantly excited about trying her pear cranberry pie - it looked SO good! If you know me at all, you know that I'm completely intimidated by pie crust - I'm not a "measurer" when I cook and with pie crust being fickle, it always seemed to me that it would be a complete disaster. However, Martha's recipe for pie crust looked pretty simple, so I thought I'd try it anyway and GUESS WHAT!? It actually worked and was totally DELICIOUS!! Flaky? YES! Tasty? YES! I was (and still am...let's be honest) completely impressed with myself. I think the picture says it all...

It was especially fun doing this because Landon helped me finish it off and put it in the oven. He kept coming over and asking me to turn the light in the oven on so that he could see it baking (and say "Mmmmmm!"). Now whenever he sees that there's something in the oven he says "Pie!".

Oakland Zoo

Not that we didn't know this before, but Landon loves animals! We went to the Oakland Zoo with some friends this week and had a really great time. We were there right when it opened and immediately we heard the monkeys - I have NEVER heard monkeys that loud before! They were howling in harmony and with different beats they were making - it was amazing. Then we noticed there was a Chimp that was going crazy with a toy car. Landon really wanted to get in the cage and play with him, but when he saw the chimp throw the car across the room, he decided to just hold on to me instead. Needless to say, we had a little monkey imitator the rest of the day (including throwing things...lovely).

Landon also really loved seeing the frogs and reptiles. In this picture there is a big snake in the background - Landon was trying to copy his tongue flicking, hence the weird face!

Grandparents and a Big Boy Bed

This last weekend we got to see Scott's parents Len and Kit (or Papa Len and Mama Kit if you're a grandkid!). We loved having them here and Landon loved it more than any of us I'm pretty sure! He wanted to be with them all the time and was really sad when he realized they'd gone home on Monday morning. Next time maybe I'll give him more warning...:)

This is Landon sitting on Papa Len's lap drinking his milk - does he ever do this with me? Not likely!

Here is Scott with his Mom - Kit helped me with one of my Christmas projects and it went SO much faster. Thanks again!!

After they left, Scott and I decided that it was time for Landon to start sleeping in his "big boy bed" (as Landon calls it). We figure we've only got 6 weeks to make him forget about the crib right? Anyway, we tried it and were successful! He put up a bit of a fuss, but mostly he was excited to sleep with all of his stuffed animals :). He is now officially a big boy...though he hasn't figured out that he can get out of bed by himself now. We'll hope that lasts a while longer.

Worst Mom Ever

It's true. Today I had a "worst Mom ever" moment. Over the past week or two Landon has been periodically screaming (and I mean SCREAMING) during the night. He's also been particularly whiny. Scott and I completely thought it was teething or bad dreams, so we've given him Tylenol and some extra cuddles. Then....his ear drum burst this morning. I was at the book store and noticed that his entire right ear was totally wet/crusty! He must have had an ear infection for at least a few days to a week and we had no clue. He didn't have any of the other symptoms, but he didn't have them the last time he had an ear infection either - you'd think I'd get a clue!! Anyway, I feel REALLY bad that he's been in so much pain and we didn't do anything about it :(. I've got a Dr's appointment for this afternoon so hopefully I can redeem myself...SAD!

A Bunch of Updates

Nothing really crazy or new has happened, but we thought we'd update you on a few things anyway. First of all, it has been brought to my attention that I have been a slacker when it comes to posting pregnancy photos of myself. I can tell you that this is for a number of reasons: I'm really busy with my toddler, I don't usually get dressed in anything but my husbands pajama pants and an old t-shirt (trust me, nobody wants to see that) and I am constantly congested with runny nose and all (not too flattering in pictures!). However, I made Scott take a picture on one of the rare occasions that I was dressed and looking semi-normal, so here you go. This is me at 32 weeks pregnant - I have less than 8 weeks left!

This is Landon in the throws of teething. He only has 3 teeth left to go until his 2 year molars - woohoo! These ones have been the hardest for him, though, so hopefully they'll break through soon!

The one really exciting thing that happened today: Carrie and I went to the El Cerrito city wide garage sales and found some amazing stuff! Scott and I are feeling the money crunch this month (and it will be even worse in December) so we have been trying to figure out what we could possible do for Christmas. Well, I found the answer: buy some amazing toys for Landon at a garage sale for a total of...drumroll please....$6!! That's right, I got a really cool marble tower toy, a tool set, tinker toys (we'll save those for his birthday) and a shopping cart with some food for $6! Now you all know what Landon's getting for Christmas so try to keep it hush, hush...

This is a video for Grandma (Landon has been obsessed with Toy Story lately - he asks for Woody and Buzz when he wakes up!)

This video shows Scotts big mistake at lunch yesterday! He lit a match for fun and Landon thought it was the coolest thing ever - we had to keep lighting matches so he'd keep eating his food!

Happy Birthday Liz!!

Our Simpson Family

Well, I saw this on the Steinhafel's blog and so we had to do it too! This is our little Simpson family! Does any one else think I'm extremely yellow!? Scott thinks he's pretty dashing :). (If any of you want to try it out, just google "Simpsonize me". I think it's on the Burger King site...)

Twinkies

Scott and I decided to give Landon his first Twinkie experience (ok, so one of us may have caught a glimpse of a twinkie in the gas station and really wanted one...and that may have been Scott, not the pregnant lady). Of course, he loved it! It is somewhat disturbing that Twinkie's have such a long shelf-life, though...