Rock Star Photo Session

This afternoon, we had a "Rock Star" photo session for Ben at FLASH photography. This session came complete with an electric guitar and a microphone hooked up to an amplifier, and yes, kids, a fog machine. Ben charmed the pants off the photographers by singing "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns-n-Roses, "Fight for Your Right" and "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" by the Beastie Boys, and "Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J.

I am so pleased with the photos-- both the fun rock star photos and the traditional photos. The photographers were great with Ben and took wonderful pictures. I'd definitely recommend them! When our session was over, the photographer asked if I'd be willing to sign a release to use the photos in advertising. Sure. Why not? Maybe we'll see Ben's picture at Oak Park Mall soon. Like that will do good things for his already large ego.

You can view the photos from the session following the instructions below:
1) Go to http://www.flashportraits.com
2) Click on "My Portraits"
3) Click on "Go to My Portraits"
4) In the box that says, "Find Your Images", enter our last name: Mayfield
5) The password is: Mayfield

You'll be able to view thumbnails of the entire session. If you click on a thumbnail, it will enlarge the photo so you can get a better look.

The Ring Bear

Today, a little story from the "Ummmm... are you SURE?" file. It's also cross-referenced with the "Do you know what you're getting yourself into" file and the "Ben needs a sedative, Mommy needs a happy pill" file.

In December, Wendy and Justin took a trip to Paris. They got engaged and decided to have the wedding exactly one year later... in Florida. HOORAY! A trip to Florida in December? Sign me up. Then, they asked Ben to be the ring bearer. I know, my ADORABLE kid in a tuxedo. I had similar warm and fuzzy thoughts for about 3 seconds. Yikes. My child? My mostly noisy, very funny, often crazy child? Maybe he can be the first sleeping ring bearer. He's totally adorable and well-behaved when he's asleep.

When I asked Ben if he'd like to be a ring bearer, his face lit up. Too much.
B: You mean a BEAR? And I will wear a costume?
H: Well, sort of. You'll get to wear a tuxedo. But it's not a "BEAR" it's a "BEAR-ER".
B: (furrows his brow) But I will be a bear?
H: No, honey. "Bearer" means you carry something. Your job is to carry the rings.
B: Rings? Like Saturn?
H: No, love. Rings. Like on fingers. Like Mommy's ring. See? (pointing to my ring)
B: But mommy, I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO EVER, NEVER TOUCH YOUR RING. I'm sorry I touched your ring and your bracelets. (see side note)
H: (rolling my eyes) It's going to be so fun to be a ring bearer. Guess what else? The wedding is in Florida.
B: At Aunt Nancy's beach?
H: No.
B: But that's not Florida then.
H: Maybe we'll talk about it again later.

(Side note: One recent evening, I gave Ben a bath and stepped out of the bathroom for a minute. When I returned, my Pandora and Troll charms and bracelets, my wedding ring, and my watch were all floating at the bottom of the tub. I snapped. I yelled, "What in the hell are you doing?" Ben cried. A lot. Ben ran to Don as he repeated--through sobs-- "Mommy is so mad at me. So mad. She's really, really mad at me." About 30 minutes later, I apologized for yelling and Ben promised that he would NEVER, EVER, EVER touch my jewelry again.)

A few weeks ago, a box from Amazon.com appeared on our doorstep. This is cause for great celebration at Casa de Mayfield because Ben and I love getting "stuff." It was addressed to Ben so I helped him open the box. Inside, he found 3 books from Wendy and Justin about being a ring bearer. The Ring Bearer is a rhyming book that explains the basics of the job. Ben liked it, except for the kissing part. 10 Cool Things About Being a Ring Bearer really caught his attention when we got to #4 (The Ring Bearer gets to walk in front of the bride... "I'm the leader?"), #7 (...Then we all went to the reception where there was lots of yummy food.. "Like Root Beer and cake?") and #8 (A Ring Bearer gets a gift from the groom... "Like Blaster Michelangelo or Motorcycle Leonardo?"). He was also excited by the idea that he would get to "stay up late"-- as if that is different from any other night around here.

By far our favorite book is The Ring Bear. Evidently Ben is not the first kid to hear "bear" from "bearer." Awesome. This will explain it so much better than my previous attempt. It was written by a woman in Fremont, NE (home of the famous Katie Henricks Davis AND Irv's Sandwich shop). This was perfect.

The story goes like this:
Little Robert loves bears. Real and stuffed-- even graham cracker bears. He is so excited to be the ring bear in his Aunt Jane's wedding. Robert practices carrying a plate of peas (oops, they fall on the floor). No problem, the rings will be attached to the pillow. He finds out he'll wear a suit. A black and white one.. just like a panda. Robert preps for the wedding by growling at the dog, eating berries and honey (grapes and apple juice). He crawls around the house with a pillow on his back carrying his glow-in-the-dark ring. (At this point in the story, Ben is barely breathing he's so engrossed in the story.)

It's all fun and games until the rehearsal. Robert is crushed to find out his black and white suit with a tail is a tuxedo. And why on earth would they go to a church? A bear should perform at the zoo or a park. That's when Robert has a meltdown. He stomps. He pouts. He refuses to be in the wedding. (At his point in the story, I'm a little worried about how closely life might imitate art.) He tells Aunt Jane someone else can be the ring bearer. He's NOT interested. But, Aunt Jane doesn't want someone else and Robert growls but agrees. The next day, Robert wore his suit and was the "best little ring bearer". At the reception, he had fun growling at the flower girl and hiding in a bear cave (under a table) crawling around on the floor. Everyone agreed he was the best "ring bear" they had ever seen.

We finished reading the book for the 3rd or 4th time and I decided to have a little comprehension conversation with Ben.
H: What did Robert love?
B: Bears. All kinds.
H: Right! What was he going to do at the wedding?
B: Be a ring bear.
H: Good. But, was her really a bear?
B: No. He didn't get to.
H: What else happened?
B: Well, he wanted to be a panda, but he had to wear something else. There was no growling at the church. He was MAD.
H: But then what happened?
B: Ummm.. he did it.
H: Right! See, Robert was a ring bear-ER. Not a bear. Just like you'll be a ring BEARER.
B: No way. I'm not Robert. I'm Benjamin Charles Mayfield. I'm going to be a bear.

Well, back to the old drawing board. Maybe if we watch a video of Riley being a ring bearer it will sink in. If not, I hope Wendy and Justin are prepared for a darling boy in a tuxedo growling at the guests.

Whew. I'm glad THAT's over.

So here I sit on a Friday afternoon footloose and fancy free after completing my last Kindermusik classes, making 13 pounds of chicken salad on Monday night, making 13 pounds of chicken pasta salad on Tuesday night, making 4 dozen cookies on Wednesday night, finishing up end-of-the-year teacher's gifts for Ben's 4 teachers, attending Ben's spring program at school, and getting half of the "before classes start again" work done for the upcoming summer of Kindermusik. Whew.

Today, Ben and I welcomed a new routine. One of waking up whenever. Of leisurely hanging out. One of doughnuts in the park followed by lunch in the park, followed by playing in the park until we felt like going home. Clearly this routine agrees with Ben who has said, "It's sure great that...." or "It's really good that we..." in front of almost every sentence today. As in, "It's really good that we got doughnuts with 'frinkles'." and "It's sure great that we're having lunch in the park."

In honor of our new routine, I thought I'd post two pictures of Ben on his last day of school.

In the next few days, I'll post some highlights of the last few weeks including:
* The many adventures of the "Ring Bear"
* Play by play of Ben's spring program hopefully with video (esp. where he sings about "Jesus in a box" and the stormy relationship between pilgrims and Indians).
* Why one should never go to Home Depot and on a whim decide to re-do all the landscaping in the backyard.

Actually, my name is Leonardo

Before Ben was born, I swore I would NOT, under any circumstances, EVER allow a child of mine to wear costumes in public if the date was not October 31st. I thought it was funny to see a little girl in her jeans, a tutu and fairy wings, and plastic high heels at the grocery store or a little boy with shorts, a Superman pajama top with a cape, and cowboy boots at Target. Funny, but embarrassing. Who lets their kid go out looking like that?

I also swore I wasn't going to be a "weapons" mom. While I understand that the hard-wiring on the Y chromosome clearly carried some need to pretend to shoot things, a child of mine would have to be creative enough to build a weapon out of Legos or straws. We would NOT have a house full of guns, swords, etc.

Fast-forward to the present day. Who lets their kid go out looking like that? Turns out I do. But, it's not a costume that my kid wears... it's weapons.

Thank you, dear Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for introducing my son to the weapons of a ninja. Most of all, thank you for having turtle shells (that during the mutating process that made you grow as big as people and learn to speak and eat pizza) suddenly come equipped with convenient storage for your weapons.

See how Leonardo (the blue mask) wears his swords? Turns out, poor Benjamin Charles Mayfield wasn't born with a sword holder on his back, so he had to improvise. One day, he started cramming two swords down the back of his shirt. The next thing I know, I began allowing him to wear them until he got into the van. Later, it was "into the store." Next thing I know, he's wearing swords everywhere we go except school.

The swords have made an appearance at Target, the grocery store, Costco, the library, every house we visit, and restaurants. It's become a ritual that when we go out for dinner I say, "If you take out your swords at dinner..." and Ben chimes in with, "I know. You'll take them away."

He wears them so often, I think he looks a little naked when he leaves them in the van to attend preschool (strict NO WEAPONS policy, even for turtles). Everywhere we go, people comment. Ok, they point and laugh, then they comment. We hear, "Look at that little boy with his swords." Then they say, "I like your swords." Ben looks them in the eye and says, "Hi. My name is Leonardo."

Recently, we were at a party at a friends' house. A mom I hadn't met before said, "Are you Leo's mom?" I looked totally confused. She tried again, "Leo? Little guy with blondish-brown hair? He has swords on his back?"

At our every-Friday-night dinner spot, everyone from the hostess and servers, to the manager say, "Hey! It's Leonardo! How are you?" Often, they bring over other servers who haven't had the pleasure of having us sit at their table to meet the famous Leonardo.

You'd think that this sword-wearing phase would be restricted to hours when Ben is awake. Clearly you don't know the obsessive nature of my son. Turns out those swords can be crammed down the back of a pair of pajamas just as easily as a shirt. Heck, you can even sleep with them. I think the point is that you never know when you're going to need them. That, and, that we're all really good parents BEFORE we have kids.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

The celebration of the Jayhawk National Championship is now even better since Coach Self has promised to stay at KU. Not that we haven't been celebrating... After the exciting win on Monday, we picked Ben up early from school on Tuesday and joined 20,000 of our closest friends at Memorial Stadium to welcome the team home.

In honor of the Jayhawk victory, here's a little historical review of our own little Jayhawk.

Baby Jayhawk
November 2004

Ben and Allyson
January 2005

"Jay" Walking
November 2005

First visit to the big Jayhawk on campus
July 2005

We're a Jayhawk Family
November 2007

Future Frat Boys
(Ben and Linus)
January 2008

10 Random Things

Because Amy tagged me and nobody loves a good list as much as I do, here is a list of 10 random things about me (in no particular order).

1. I am obsessed with buying can koozies. (You know, those trashy foam things that you put a can in?) I love them. I firmly believe that diet coke from a can is only acceptable when consumed while inside a koozie.

2. I can't use text-messaging short hand because it drives the grammar teacher in me crazy. (ex: b4 for before, U for you)

3. If given the opportunity, I would eat only salt & vinegar potato chips for the rest of my life.

4. When I was 3 or 4, I was on Romper Room. I had to be told to let the other kids have a turn in the tunnel (I kept going through then running right back to the front of the line).

5. In the last year, I have come to believe in angels. Well, one anyway. (I miss Allyson so much).

6. Right now, I'm reading "I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids" and "Nineteen Minutes." One is a feel-better-about-yourself-parenting book, the other is a fiction novel about a high school shooting.

7. I purposefully think of words I know Ben can't pronounce and then find reasons for him to say them over and over. Right now, it's "pink fury" (a Backyardagains thing), "trick", and "Band aid."

8. I can't stand black licorice. The smell alone makes me sick.

9. Someday I want to live on water--- lake, or ideally, an ocean.

10. I think "fart", "poop", and "burp" humor is hilarious. I laugh like a 13-year-old boy. (Just typing the words made me chuckle.)

Truth in Advertising...

..and, why I haven't been blogging as often.