What Part of "Gnome" Don't You Understand?

A week before Halloween, Henry saw some pictures of gnomes and decided he could envision himself with a white beard and a red cone hat. Jenn readily agreed, thinking that she could probably pull off making gnome costumes using nothing more than felt, scissors, and hot glue. Anything to avoid the sewing machine. So, we went for it: 2 days and $19 later, we had all of the supplies and wouldn't you "gnome" it, Ellis is terrified of fake beards! Every time he so much as saw a corner of the white fluff he would go into hysterics. This was bad news for the gnome costumes. So, instead, Ellis got a white "star" on his shirt, but he still was not going to go near me or Henry while we were wearing our beards. It was quite the spooky Halloween costume in the end...

At the last minute, Jenn decided that I needed to be a gnome as well, so she bought a knock-off Snuggie from the dollar store and fixed it up for me. The final task was finding a costume for He-who-must-not-be-named, and, considering his current round stature, we settled on a toadstool costume.

Of course, the boys had to go through the requisite sorting of the candy, which is nearly as much fun as eating it all!

They ended up with quite a haul, but we should have "gnome" that Ellis would love the lollipops the most! He gathered them all up and ran around the house yelling, "Lollies! Lollies!" for about 20 minutes. That's what Halloween's all about.

Elections: The Silly-Season for Economics

I don't know how many of you have seen this ad from the White House, but it's the perfect example of how politicians use shoddy economics as propaganda during the election season:

This kind of thing drives me bonkers. I won't go through all of the things that are wrong in the video (there are a lot), but there are two big things that really stand out: First, he's making it sound like the president (either Bush or Obama) is the main driver of job growth/losses in the economy. This is just foolish. True, governmental policies can have large impacts on the economy, I won't argue against that. But there are dozens of factors that caused the recent recession, and I can think of at least 10 that are far more important that Bush's policies. At the same time, the reduction in job losses that has occurred since Obama took office are due to a multitude of other factors. In terms of the full jobs picture, Bush and Obama should just be footnotes, in my opinion.

Second, he's making it sound like the policies that are enacted have immediate impact on the economy. I love how he makes the point that job losses hit their worst in the month Obama took office, as if things turned around exactly at that time because of Obama. This is ridiculous! Think of the economy as a very heavy, very large boat. If it's going in the wrong direction, even if you throw it in to reverse at full throttle, you're going to keep going forward for a long time before you can slow the momentum down and get things turned around. It seems unlikely that there is anything that Obama could have done that actually shows up in the jobs numbers in February or March 2008, after he took office on Jan. 20th. In my opinion, at the earliest you might see something show up about six months after a policy is enacted.

What gets me about all of this is that Goolsbee (the economist in the video) is a smart guy. He's got a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and is generally well-respected within academia. Either he has been severely brainwashed from his time in Washington, or he knows that most of what he is saying is bunk. I'm guessing it's the latter. Don't be fooled!

Side note: This wasn't meant to be a defense of Republican policies or an attack on Democratic policies. Both sides like to use sham economics to make their points. This was just a particularly awful display, and since elections are on Tuesday I thought it was timely. I actually think that Obama has done as good a job as could be expected with regards to the economy. I don't agree with everything, but he's doing alright in my view.

Making Whoopie!

Announcement: I just discovered the dessert recipe of the year: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies! I cannot even begin to describe them to you. Look at the picture; look at Ellis' delighted expression; go get the ingredients; make them today. You will not be disappointed.

So . . . one would think that a weight goal like this one ["Try to only gain 1 pound per week"] would not be that hard to stay on top of. Let's just say that all of the wonderful fall foods are getting the best of me. Cider donuts, all the yummy pumpkin and apple treats . . . aah! There is still a half bushel of apples sitting on my counter waiting to be turned into pies, dumplings, and crisps. I need like 10 people to come live with me and help me eat all that I desire to bake. Anyone?

Scottish Lads

Ben's parents sent these darling plaid ties from Scotland, where they are serving their mission. I finally got white shirts for the boys so they could show them off at church this week. Aren't they just dapper? Both boys kept their bowties on for the entire day -- they were so proud of them and didn't want to take them off. Henry commented that bowties are the best church clothes ever because "they just look the best." It's hard to argue with that one!

Apple Picking Pics

Just another perfect autumn day for apples, pumpkins, cider, and donuts. For those of you in MA, we went to Berlin Orchards (Berlin, MA) and really liked it a lot. They're a good place to keep on your list of possible places to pick apples. For everyone else, click here for a great song about another farm we went to, Breezelands Orchards. Breezelands was closed for the picking season (hence the trip to Berlin), but they had great cider donuts, and the song is quality. Enjoy (we did)!

Columbus Day Weekend

Of course, Columbus Day has always been one of my favorite holidays (love that Nina-Pinta song). Since moving to New England, though, it has become even more significant -- only because, according to Ben & Jenn's personal almanac, Columbus Day marks the beginning of peak "Leaf Season" here. Hooray! We decided to go big in our celebrations this year, thanks to some encouragement from our friends, the Sorensens. We drove to New Hampshire and stayed here:

Cozy little chalet in a Swiss village -- perfect place to hang out and play!

The view from the chalet

Getting ready for the train ride of their lives

Here's our train on the Conway Scenic Railroad.

Fully-equipped with a window seat, a hot chocolate, and a buddy

Lovely views from the train

Let's top it off with a rainbow to wow the kiddies!

STORYLAND!!! Storyland is such an adorable little theme park based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes -- PERFECT for the 7 & under set. Our boys loved it! Ellis' favorite part was actually this Humpty Dumpty statue. He's been waiting a long time to meet "Humpdee-dee-a-wall."

I opted out of the teacup ride :)

Look how adorable - a pumpkin coach that takes you on a ride to Cinderella's castle!

And our dear friends, the Sorensens, with us inside the pumpkin!

Meeting Cinderella herself

And meeting "Grandpa Dave" shortly thereafter

Isn't this just a dreamy little place?

Next, we drove to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Vermont (which is the most beautiful middle of nowhere I have EVER seen) and stayed with "The Other Ben and Jen." Ben Allred is my wonderful cousin who has an amazing wife and a beautiful house filled with 4 strapping boys. The littlest of those boys is named Henry, which makes our friendship with them even more fun. It actually took Ellis some getting used to, and by the end of our time there he decided his name was Henry too :)

We had a lot of fun family time with our closest-living relatives! Henry and Weston bonded and played together mostly the whole time. We are so glad Weston is not too cool for Henry, even though he's almost 5 years older.

Next, a bike ride in Stowe, VT

The start of the trail

The view along the way.

The town center, where we had a nice little lunch.

In other words, the PERFECT weekend!

2 Boys

2 Boys = 1 gallon of milk intentionally dumped on the floor (Ellis) + 1 muddy pair of shoes intentionally tracked through the entire house (Henry), both while Mom was screaming, "NO!!! STOP!!!! What are you DOING???"

2 Boys = 4 irresistably kissable cheeks + lots of hugs and snuggles + infinite laughs.

2 Boys = 2 dish-washers in training (shall we make it 3?).


Did I mention that I love little boys?

20 Week Update

He Who Must Not Be Named has reached his halfway-mark! Here are the obligatory 20-week belly photos.

I couldn't resist adding some extra pink to my life, to help boost the femininity in our house. Somebody's gotta provide the pink around here! (Thanks to my mom for sponsoring this effort :)

For Amy

If you use a blog reader, you might have already had a sneak peek at this picture due to a glitch in my computer. Oops!
It is my most recent project -- a tribute to Amy and Dave, who just added a new little boy to their family. Congratulations guys, and let's just say for the record, that boys are the BEST!

It's a Boy . . . Again!

Now that I can see his cute little head, I can't deny it anymore. There is a baby growing inside of me. It's true. A real live little person, roughly the size of a bell pepper. But this little guy is a lot cuter than a bell pepper . . . and he's very much a B-O-Y.

Yes, you did your calculations correctly. This will be Boy #3 for the Iversons! Most people's first reaction is to ask how I'm taking the news. Well, I must admit that early on in the pregnancy, I was dreaming of pink. I even warned friends and neighbors that if they saw a dark cloud forming over our house this week, they would know we had received the news that this baby is a boy. Well, no dark cloud has formed, and it appears that everything is going to be okay. About 2 weeks ago, I was blessed with lots of wonderful experiences with Henry and Ellis, enough to make me tell Ben I would be really sad if we were to never have another little boy again. We love little boys! And we make pretty good ones! So . . . I have arrived at a very calm and peaceful place regarding the gender of this child.

At the beginning of the pregnancy, we started calling this child "Princess Nocandy." It comes from one of Ben's favorite ridiculous websites, Name of the Year, where they vote on and post listings of the most outlandish, real, verified baby names from each year. Princess Nocandy was the Name of the Year from 2006. Anyway, it appears that the "Princess" name is a little inappropriate now, in light of recent news, so we need a new prenatal name for this little guy. The options are A) "The Baby Formerly Known as Princess Nocandy" or B) "He Who Must Not Be Named." If option B is chosen, acceptable nicknames might include, but would not be limited to "You Know Who" and "Voldy." The nickname, "The Dark Lord" will NOT be accepted. If you'd like to have a say in the new name for Boy #3, please vote for your favorite in the sidebar on the left. Thanks!

Block Party

Our town's community foundation gives a $200 grant to neighborhoods who want to hold a block party! This incentive made it easy to get a bunch of our neighbors on board to plan a party. It was fun meeting with the committee and making plans -- we had a few meetings in our house, and the committee members were awe-struck by our meeting-planning-and-running abilities (thanks, LDS Church upbringing!).

The party turned out to be a hit, with 50-60 people, clowns, balloons, and tons of food. My favorite part was how many neighbors I met that I had no idea even existed! Several young families were there that we didn't even know about. How do we live near these people and not even know them? It was also fun meeting the old-timers. Those who have lived on our street for 30 years said our neighborhood has never done anything like this. These are the people who seemed to enjoy the party the most, staying until the last table was put away. We had good feedback, and we plan to make our party an annual event! I'm a big fan of neighborhood bonding, so it really made me happy to see so many people making their first attempts at mingling and mixing. It was no "Celestial Circle" (the cul-de-sac where I grew up), but we'll get there someday. Baby steps . . .