Odds and Ends

Here are some fun pictures from the past month or so. In the block to the left, Pumpkin enjoys a "picnic" outside with his Daddy (courtesy of Mom, of course ;), gets wet with his friend Livi at another friend's birthday party, attends Livi's own Princess birthday party in a borrowed pink shirt, and looks on as his "sometime" babysitter celebrates her 13th birthday.

As my pregnancy has progressed, and I've been less and less able to horse around with Pumpkin, QT's had to step in and pick up the slack in the "play" department. I guess goofing off doesn't come naturally to QT because, in the beginning, I oftentimes had to push him into playing around with Pumpkin, and he subsequently came across a bit stilted. I'm therefore especially pleased to report that he's gotten much better at it and is now able to relax and enjoy a bit of playtime with Pumpkin every so often without necessarily turning every act into a lesson. (Of course, there's still the small matter of the "infamous" bedtime reading of Skippy Jon Jones 'Shape Up' that nearly caused me to strangle QT, but I won't get into that now. ;) In the block to the right, Pumpkin enjoys some downtime with Sunshine and some playtime with his Daddy.

Accidental Music Fan

I remember when I first saw this video. I was having lunch at the University Center at U of H, and this video was repeating on the monitors overhead. No sound, just that crazy video...over and over and over. It reminded me of Prince when he was still cool. I was mesmerized. I eventually figured out what song it was, and I ran out and bought the CD. Unfortunately, though I listened to it extensively, I realized after a while that the music of Outkast wasn't exactly to my taste. But that's ok. It's still a great song...and the video still rocks!

Hey Ya! - Outkast | Music Videos | SPIKE.com

Come to think of it, that's kind of the same way I got into "My Chemical Romance." Whenever I was visiting my parents in Texas, I'd often stay up really late watching whatever was playing on TV (since I didn't have cable TV in my own home at the time). One night, I stumbled across an obscure channel that switched to playing music videos late at night and allowed viewers to rank them. I returned to that channel often, and it seemed that the video for "...Black Parade" was always on. Not wanting to disturb my parents' sleep, I kept the TV on "mute" so I never knew what the song sounded like, but the video was fascinating. Almost gleeful (like a parade should be) but dark and sinister at the same time. It took me a while to figure this one out, but it's now one of Pumpkin's favorite songs too, and we jam to it whenever we're cruising around in my "red mommy car" ;).

Looking Back

It's hard to believe how much my little baby has changed these past 3 years. I was looking through some of my video clips of him just now and came across some really cute ones including this one which was recorded when he was about 27 months old:



Oddly enough, as I watch them, I find myself feeling kind of bad for him back then because I realize now that he was trying to communicate with me but was unable to form the correct sounds to do so (there were a few videos in which it was obvious that I didn't understand what he was saying to me at the time).

Oh well. They're still cute. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Here are a slew of pictures from our recent trip to Florida.

Pumpkin's favorite parks were Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (b/c of Seuss Landing, which we unfortunately only got to visit for about an hour before closing). The other parks we visited (Hollywood Studios & Epcot) didn't have much for Pumpkin, and though we made the best of our visits there, we considered them a waste of money. Hopefully, we'll remember to read this blog before we return and not make the same mistake again. ;)

BTW, for purchasing multi-day "Magic Your Way" Disney park tickets, I recommend the Wal-mart at 4444 W. Vine in Kissimmee, which is just a few miles "down the street" from the Disneyworld entrance. The discount isn't great, but it's the best I found and definitely better than nothing, which is the discount one normally finds on Disney tickets, haha. It's also legit!

You have to buy them in person so you must be willing to slog through the throngs at Wal-mart as opposed to ordering the tickets online or by phone, but if you're buying for several people, I'd think it's worth it. Call (407) 397-0090 or (800) 669-0913 to confirm prices, hours and availability.