Funky Music for a Funky Dude

Let me first say that being a parent certainly opens your world to new things. If you told me a year ago that I would be singing and dancing in my bathroom to rousing tunes such as Funky As a Diaper (listen here) and I've Got a Butt just to keep my little man entertained I would probably think you were crazy. However....

our little John Thomas has quite an affinity for music. Turn on a funky tune and he's the first to start bee-bopping his head up and down and smile. Our new favorite song is I've Got a Butt. #1 on XM Kids radio!

Christmas Pictures!!

I finally have the pictures of Christmas uploaded. Click here.

Christmas Week - 2007

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. It's been a busy week for us. Here's a rundown of what we've been up to the past few days:

Our Christmas festivities began on Sunday when we hosted a gathering which Kyle dubbed a "Christmas Panini Party". We assembled my parents, Kyle's parents & grandparents, Phillip & Cami, Christina & Chad, and Aunt Mary & Uncle Jim who were visiting from Dallas. We all made panini grilled sandwiches and visited in the afternoon. By far the most entertaining part of the afternoon was the practical joke Kyle and his siblings played on their dad, John. I will digress here to give some background....what prompted the joke was a conversation around Thanksgiving regarding best and worst Christmas gifts and John declared he had never received a bad Christmas gift. Well, Kyle is always one to challenge such absolute statements and Kyle rallied the kids to come up with something REAL bad to give their dad this year. Christina was able to wrangle up a spare puppy from her boss at work for us to borrow and we had our prop. Only the kids knew this was a joke. So remember, everyone else at the Panini Party had no idea we were kidding. So let's rejoin the Panini Party.....
With everyone gathered in our living room, Kyle made an announcement about how all the kids wanted to give John and Debbie a special present for their house in Carmel. In walks Christina carrying an adorable long-haired Dachsund puppy and hands it to Debbie. There is a look of fear and confusion on Debbie's face as she cautiously strokes the puppy trying to receive the gift as graciously as possible. John is sitting next to her on the couch and is absolutely silent. No reaction. It gets worse as he continues to hold a laser death stare towards the TV, completely ignoring the puppy's existence along with anyone else in the room. Fearful of John's horrible reaction, Cami and I quickly banish ourselves to the kitchen and busy ourselves spreading out the elements for the meal and attempt to distance ourselves from this joke-gone-bad with mumblings that we had nothing to do with this because we're merely the "in-laws". Aunt Mary had a look on her face that can only be described as
contempt-afusion-ilderment (contempt mixed with confusion mixed with bewilderment). I thought if John didn't start lining us up for a beating, Aunt Mary just might.
Well, the joke was supposed to go on until the end of the day when Christina would return the puppy however the severity of John's reaction prompted us to abort the joke. Between the incredibly quiet uneasiness in the room (no one knew whether to congratulate or condemn) and Cami's pleading for us to cease and desist before all our Christmas presents were revoked, Kyle finally declared "mom and dad, this is a joke. You're not getting a dog for Christmas" to which John replied stoically, "I knew I wasn't getting a dog for Christmas". Sunday moved along quite nicely AFTER everyone was in on the joke....

Monday we celebrated Christmas Eve festivities at our house with about 15 members of Kyle's family and enjoyed Pappasitos. Yum! We also visited with Erin and Justin via Internet on the webcam hooked up to our TV and we enjoyed watching Luke, Alex, Isaac, & Jack open their presents from Santa in real time. Technology is so amazing.

Tuesday we headed to my parents' to celebrate Christmas Day with my cousins and aunt and uncle.

The clear winner of the gift windfall is John. From Mamaw and Grandpa B. he received a little green motorcycle, his very own Giggle-Bytes laptop (since he luuuuvs to slam on Daddy's laptop), and a Chevron car to add to his collection. He also received his very own ticket for a Bethancourt family cruise in July! Phillip and Cami got him a Book of Prayers, Chad and Christina got him some cute clothes, Granny and Papaw got him a neat-O baseball glove. Mimi and Grandpa G. got him an outdoor swing, a musical play table, lots of random new toys and a huge rubber duck to take baths in. My cousins got him more cute clothes...the little man is SET!

Today I hit the stores at 7 AM to scavenge the after Christmas sales. Since this is our first Christmas in a real house I had minimal Christmas decorations this year with the intent of getting lots of things on sale afterward. Target was THE place to be at 7 AM. I was battling many other women with loaded carts in order to get the best deals. I scored some lit wreaths and cute Christmas topiaries for my front porch, several boxes of ornaments, and lots of wrapping paper, bags, and labels.

Sorry for the long post...like I said, we've been busy but as you can tell we enjoyed getting to spend time with our family this past week. It's been loads of fun!! Merry Christmas!

I will post pictures soon.....

John's Been Country-fied

Yesterday Kyle's mom, my sister-in-law, Cami, John and I ventured to Tomball, Texas in search of a home furnishing store called Laurie's Antiques. I've heard about this home store mecca from several different people and did not realize just how far out there it really was. John had his first trip to the country!

You know you're in the country when:

You drive down a street called "Main St." that looks like it really is the only MAIN street in the town.

You pass a Dairy Queen and Sonic that are almost next door to each other.

You meet the Magnolia Police Department sherrif at Pizza Hut.

Three people can eat lunch for $20.

People turn left in front of you without using a signal.

You're drivin' down the highway and you actually SEE a pickup truck blow out a tire and all the pieces of the tire fly around the freeway. (You always see those tire shreds on the side of the highway but now we know how they get there)

Needless to say it was an adventure but Laurie's is quite the fun place. Definitely worth the drive to the country....

Santa Claus is Coming To Town...

...He's makin' a list...checkin' it twice....

...gonna find out who's naughty and nice....

Wait...let's take a closer look..........

**crickets chirping**

HUH???

I think I'll look at the skylight in the ceiling...or my shoes...or the funky holiday carpet...what, mom, there's a camera man? OK, I'll make sure to avoid looking directly at the camera...

Our trip to the mall today was quite uneventful. I was so excited to take John to see Santa. I dressed him up real holiday-ish. Even Uncle Phillip & Aunt Cami joined us for the blessed event. We got there right at 10 AM to beat the crowds and my plan worked as there was only one other person in front of us. We went straight to Santa's lap and John practiced his new aloof look on us. It's OK. I wasn't expecting a smile since he has been quite disinterested in cameras lately. I had it coming since I've been so aggressive in the picture taking department. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have the proverbial "sitting in Santa's lap" picture in our archive :)

Just Call Us the Animal Whisperers

This morning I was unloading the dishwasher. The TV was on so it was kinda loud. As I'm putting away utensils I hear a faint "meooow, meeeeooow". I thought it was the TV but when I looked up and towards the back door there was a CAT staring me down from the other side of the glass. He was practically screaming at me, showing me all his teeth...."MEEEEOOOOW! MEEEEEOW!"
I thought to myself, "This is incredible. How many animals are going to come to my back door?" My eyes got real big and I went up to the glass and said "what do you want, mean cat?" He sounded (and looked) like he was saying, "I'm hungry and I want that baby in there for lunch". No, mean cat, you can't eat my baby for lunch.


The skunk, 2 possums, and now this cat at my back door? I told Kyle about the mean cat and, noting all the animals that keep coming to our house, he opined that maybe we are supposed to build an ark? The animals are flocking to us one by one!


But really we think it's the vent pipe from the stove/oven that lets out onto our driveway that is sending the smell of my baking out for all the world (and neighborhood animals) to smell.

This is getting out of hand.....

Christmas Crazies, Nutella Cravings & A Note from JTB

It's been a hectic past few days. I run around like a nutso during the day trying to get Christmas shopping done only to return home in the evening to tackle my Christmas baking. Last night I was up till midnight baking some russian tea cakes and chocolate chip cookies. As I was cleaning up I looked out the back door and there goes a possum tail scurrying past my door! Noooooo! Not this again?! Looks like we're going to have to call pest control to get another trap set. It's weird how they come so close to the house. And they seem to only come around when I'm cooking something. The smell of my cooking attracts neighborhood vermin....awesome.

One thing's for sure. If I were a possum I would be attracted to the smell of Nutella for miles away. If I were dying I would eat as many jars of this as possible before I kicked the bucket. When we lived in New York my dinner every day (no lie) was california rolls from Westside Market and dessert was Nutella spread on these Italian biscuits. Given my addictive nature I forsook (is that a word?) Nutella upon returning to Philadelphia because I would polish off a jar in about 3 days and Bun didn't really need to be born addicted to Nutella. I've stayed away for just over a year. When I go to Costco I see the double pack of giant jars and quickly try to rationalize how I really could use 60 pounds of Nutella (??). Well, recently I saw a normal-sized jar in my local Kroger's and gave in to my temptation. Bad idea. 2 days later, this--

all gone.

Hello. My name is Lori and I'm a Nutella-holic.

They should call it Notella...as in, No tella anybody you finish the whole jar.

A Note From the Little Man:

I m almos sevin munths old and here are sum of my favrit things 2 doo:

stickin' out my tong
playin' with ruber duckees in the tub
punchin' buttins on calcoolators, r'mote controls, and cell fones
rollin' on my back when I shud be sleeping/napping
bein' real serias when mama wants me 2 smial
refoosing to eet green veggies
showing off my new teef...2 of 'em on the bottom
flerteen with ladies at the mall/groceree store/werever

When Did I Get Old???

As I approach my 30th birthday I am increasingly more aware that I am out of touch with the "in" things of today's youth. Today I was at the Galleria and needed to get some gift certificates for my male teenage cousins at the trendy shop called Hollister (Belen, if you're reading this don't spill the secret, please!!).

I have never ventured inside this store. Any store where you don't see much light coming from the inside and has shutters instead of display windows means people over 21 are not welcome. It's one of those stores where it's depressing to try anything on because the size you normally wear is unusually small because the clothes are shrunken to be "teen-sized". I faced the mysterious facade knowing I had to go in. So, pushing my little guy in the stroller, I hold my breath and pass through the dark doors into the world of Hollister.

First, it's obviously NOT stroller friendly in there. I'm running over mannequins and displays left and right. Oopsie! 'Scuse me! Sorry! Second, there is almost no lighting. How do people shop in here when you have to squint to see the clothes, squint to see the price tag. Third, the music is so loud I seriuosly debate wether to pull out some tissue and stuff it in my son's ears. I look around skeptically and finally make it to the counter where a young guy who looks like he spent more time drying and styling his hair than I did is ready to help me buy gift certificates. As I'm looking at my gift card choices there are only two options: One has a half dressed woman and man locked in a romance-novel-cover embrace and the other choice has a half dressed man showcasing his six-pack abs. I look at the well-coiffed young man and say "Do you have any gift certificates that don't have naked people on them?" The moment the words came out of my mouth I felt 100 years old. "Nope", he says, those are the only two choices. Ay-ya-yai! I am in a hipster clothing store, pushing a stroller, asking a guy with perfectly made hair for a more modest-looking gift card?! Is this the face of (almost) 30?

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Pictures

Last night we went to Lupe Tortilla with some friends of ours from B-school. Kurt and Susanne live in Dallas and they were in H-town for the weekend. They are the ones with the awesome pictures from their trip around the world. It was great fun catching up with them and listening to stories of all the places they visited. We reminisced about Philly and how we miss Sue's Produce (a great little produce shop within walking distance that sold super cheap, fresh produce), DiBruno Brothers italian market, and Reading Terminal Market. (Somehow those all revolve around food??) However, one thing Philly can keep are our little apartments!!

So if you've seen Kurt's pictures you can tell he is a photography wizard. I am enchanted by photography and have been since way before my most inspiring subject arrived ;) As we parted last night, they offered to come by and hang out this morning so I could play with his camera and fancy lenses. Wasn't that so great of them?? Here are some pictures we took of John. Poor John barely cracked a smile for us during this session. I think he is SO over being a model. I have to hand it to him....he endured about 30 minutes of picture taking without losing it. He's a trooper for putting up with a lens in his face for about 80% of his short-lived existence....

Uhhh, can someone tell these big people that I'm not a circus monkey?? Why is the thingy in my face all the time??

Movie Review

"The story is so convoluted and impenetrable, so impossible to grasp hold of, that viewers sit there wondering if they've had a stroke." Mick LaSalle, San Fransisco Chronicle


That would accurately describe Kyle's and my experience trying to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World' End. A stroke, indeed.


I know we're about 6 months too late for this movie. We actually tried to see it the day before little John arrived but the theater was sold out. So last tonight we rented the movie, cooked dinner, and were excited to settle in for a cozy evening. I think we were more stressed out an hour into the movie than we would if we had just had a big argument. I thought Kyle was going to hyperventilate & disconnect his eyeballs from all the exasperated sighs and eye-rolling coming from his end of the couch. The movie just wouldn't end!!!

But it finally did....

By Popular Demand....

....the feature picture has been changed to reflect a more jovial depiction of our child...

Facelift for 2008

So if you're here I'm sure you've noticed the changes on the blog. It's been 2 1/2 years since I started blogging and I needed a change. A new refreshing outlook.

Now, being the project fiend that I am, I decided to tackle this on my own. I thrive on having something creative to work on. Hence my long list of crafty hobbies: drawing/painting, sewing, jewelry-making, website-making, Stampin' Up-ing, etc....the list could go on. (Thank you, dear husband, for putting up with my latest obsession for the past two days)

However, I'm no web techie and I know just enough about HTML coding to be dangerous. But I'm happy with the result. Kyle thinks the picture of John looks depressing. I say it's cute becuase you can see his adorably messy hair, chubster cheeks, button nose, and little eyelashes. Let me know what you think!

Six Months and a Song for You

John had his 6 month doctor visit on Friday. He got his rotavirus oral vaccine and a flu shot which he took like a man. However, when I went to make his next appointment at the nurse's station he sure stared down the nurse who gave him the flu shot. No smiles for her. For all you statiticians out there here are the numbers:

Length: 26.5" (50th %tile)

Weight: 16 lb 12 oz (25th %tile)

Head Size: 17" (23%tile)

So his length is average but it's hard to believe The Chubster is only 25% in weight? His thighs and cheeks look quite "healthy" to me....wink, wink

Here is John in front of our Christmas tree...he looked so delicious in these thermal PJs that I had to take a picture

Lastly, on this 1st of December The Bethancourts would like to kick off the Christmas season with this smooth little ditty. From our family to yours :)