pumpkins and wands

Juma, thoroughly into his new Harry Potter kick, got a "dragon scale" wand through Alivans. He's hardly gone a day without playing with it. Within the first couple days of being a real wizard, he made a book, which looks like a black cat, full of spells like evanseco (heals small wounds), lumos (lights the wand tip like a flashlight), petrificus totalus (puts of full body bind on the target), and expelliarmus (pulls the wand out of the target's hand). Can't tell you how many times I've been stuck in a petrificus totalus, eagerly awaiting the finite incantatum that would end the curse.



Continuing the trend, we looked up some Harry Potter recipes and found a delightful one for Pumpkin Pasties (which Harry bought on the the Hogwarts Express food trolley). We found the recipe here. Try it out, they are yummy. There's an alternative recipe here, along with plenty of other ideas for a full Hogwarts feast.

juma's post

der evrewan,

I got a nw cramra for crismis.

her are sam picshrs.

Juma


For people illiterate in five-year-old-ese:

Dear Everyone,

I got a new camera for Christmas.

Here are some pictures.

Juma

virus wrecks havoc

Saturday - The Beckham family's day was ruined by a few tiny viruses, commonly known as a stomach bug. Justin entertains Juma with movies, while Juma lays moaning on the couch, and Sarah sleeps all day.

Sunday- Juma is back to normal, Sarah is still recovering, and Justin is in bed with an entirely different virus, commonly known as the common cold.

Hope you had a better weekend than we did.

sillee werds [pictures taken with Juma's new camera]

qas [kwas] -- "It means run."




googoogogo [goo-goo-gah-gah] -- "It means hit your head."

cogoo [kah-goo] -- "It means run really fast."

Quiz on Thursday.

john muir redwood forest

The Saturday after Christmas, we drove north of San Francisco to John Muir Forest, full of giant redwood trees. And rain. Brother-in-law Matt dubbed the spot the Dagobah System, and wished we had brought the nephews with us so he could tease them into going on a search for Yoda.

We didn't see Yoda, but we did see some impressive trees.

embarrassingly honest

I got in new haircut just after Thanksgiving, but apparently it's time for another trim. Juma pointed this out to me when he said, "Mom, your hair looks like Snape."



Oh, sheesh.

christmas activites

I'm posting these a bit late for the holiday, but, hey, it's the holidays. What can I be if not a little lazy?

Juma decorated Christmas cookies with his cousins Rylee and Tristan and uncle Cameron. Afterward, they brought a few to the neighborhood kids.






Juma performed Christmas songs in a kindergarten extravaganza.




And we took the tradition picture in front of the tree. A week after Christmas.

because I'm the mom

No, I've never used that excuse with Juma. No, never, uh-uh...

christmas gift!

Merry Christmas!

toffee tradition

Justin's mom, Vicki, has a holiday tradition of making 2.4 tons of toffee, so she invited Juma to help out this year.







Merry Christmas!

Happy Solstice!

Horrible Festivus for the Rest of Us!

Happy Kwanzaa!

I hope your holidays are wonderful.