Outnumbered

2012 Book List

2012-01-29T15:05:00.000-06:00

Let's pretend for a moment.

Pretend that it's not January 29, 2012.

Pretend instead that it is January 2, 2012. Or anytime in that first week of January, anyway. Pretend that it is early January, and that I have my act together. The Christmas decorations have been put away since December 27 (ahem), resolutions have been made and adhered to, and my 2012 Reading List has been formulated and outlined, with an average of 2 books to read every month.

Or, not. In reality, I'm already running about 3 weeks behind with 2012. Good grief. I have been trying to put together a reading list, and have barely come up with anything. Friends will recommend books to me, which I don't write down, and subsequently forget what they are called. If one more person tells me to read The Hunger Games I will stick a pencil in my eye. Just can't do time travel people, sorry.

So here's what I've come up with for 2012: a mixture of favorite authors, books from my 2011 list that didn't get read, recommendations from facebook friends, and "assigned" reading.

One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

I have heard nothing but great things about this book. And I have no idea what it's about. It's in my amazon shopping cart (because some books are better "flipped through" than read on Windell the Kindle), so hopefully this will be a February or March read.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Yeah, this one was on my 2011 list. I still want to read it, I just never got around to it last year.

The Drop by Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is one of the authors I read every time he writes something, but I've been trying to be a bit more patient when a newly released book comes out. I would love to borrow this, or find it at the library, since I only read these "mystery/suspense" type of books once.

Radical by David Platt

Another 2011 leftover. I've heard great things about this book, but I also know that it will be a hard one to read, so I'm looking forward to it but dreading it at the same time. We'll see if it's on the 2013 list.

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

I'm reading this one now on the Kindle. I was also hoping to borrow this one from the library, but Windell and I caved the other night during a bout of insomnia. Hey, has anyone seen the One For the Money movie yet? Was it good?

Bossypants by Tina Fey (finished 1/25/12)

Not last summer but the summer before that I watched every episode of 30 Rock on Netflix during a few long night shifts. (If anyone I work with is reading this, I meant to say "afternoons at home" instead of "night shifts". It's just a phrase I use for "kids' naptime".) I am hooked, and I pretty much think Tina Fey is a comic genius. No surprises to the book, it was exactly what I expected: humorous, entertaining, not meant to be taken too seriously.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Recommendation from a friend, it sounds like something I will enjoy.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

Another tip from facebook. Loved Blue Like Jazz when I read it many, many moons ago, didn't make it through the next book of his I read, so we'll see how I do with this one.

Forgotten God by Francis Chan

One of my "assigned reading" books. My d-group girls (have I mentioned here that I meet with a group of high school girls from church every week? I love them to pieces) are going through this book together. We like to talk about boys and prom dresses and the holy spirit over chicken sandwiches once a week. Good times.

The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges

Another assignment, Brandon has his youth leaders reading through this book right now, and it's a surprisingly easy read given the subject matter. Nice short chapters, interesting stuff.

Okay, blog readers. 10 books. I need about 15 more for 2012. Any suggestions? Please don't say Harry Potter, Twilight, or Hunger Games. I'm not a fan of wizards, vampires, time travel, or basically fantasy of any kind. Also not a fan of manipulative stories intended to make me cry while simultaneously making me dislike every single character in the book(I'm talking to you, Jodi Picoult.)

Any great authors you've read lately? Books that sucked you in while your laundry piled up and the dishwasher went unloaded? My favorites from 2011 were Unbroken and Cutting for Stone. Just get your laundry done before you pick either of these up.

The Last 24 Hours...

2012-01-25T14:00:00.000-06:00

We learned recently that my 93 year old grandmother would be having a procedure done to improve her pacemaker function this morning. A minor procedure, as minor as a cardiac procedure can be for a 93 year old woman. I had just enough of an unsettled feeling that I felt like I should take advantage of a few days off work, and drive up to Austin for the day to see her. It's been...eventful. I'll just give you a quick recap.

Tuesday 4:14pm- leave home, in the rain, to drive to Austin, where it's also raining. Search in vain for the Buc-ees gas station in Brenham, only to eventually realize that there is no Buc-ees in Brenham.

6:30pm- thanks to my father and 33 years of brisket consumption, I am unable to drive through Elgin, Texas without stopping to pick up BBQ. I call my dad, to see if I should pick something up for my Uncle Joe, who is already at GG's house, and I'm told that (of course) Joe has already stopped for his own BBQ. I get a pound of brisket anyway. Trimmed brisket, in honor of cardiologists everywhere.

7:00pm- arrive at GG's house, she had no idea I was coming, so she is pleasantly surprised to see me. Apparently several friends have been by to visit earlier that day.

7-9pm: Sit and talk to GG and Uncle Joe about kids, hospitals, medical procedures, and GG's new digital picture frames. Joe and I make plans to meet my aunt for breakfast at the Kerbey Lane Cafe during GG's procedure, and GG is quick to let us know that we have picked a "hippy place" to eat breakfast, and that's "not our kind of place". Yes, we are just nervous enough to drive to Austin to be with my grandmother for her pacemaker procedure, but not nervous enough to sit in the waiting room while she is in surgery. Not when there are hippy pancakes to eat. GG has to be at the hospital at the ridiculous hour of 5am for her 8am procedure. Joe will take her to the hospital, I will meet them for breakfast and see GG after surgery.

9pm- We discuss how we should probably go to bed around 9 or 9:30, since they have to be up at 4am, which in my world is STILL NIGHTTIME.

9:30pm- Joe goes to bed. GG introduces me to a box of old family photos that she has been sorting, hugs me, and goes to bed. GG's dog, who has at verious times in his life had the names Timothy, Spot, and Dog, growls at me.

9:30-10:15- Paw through some of the greatest pictures I have ever seen. My late grandfather in 1945 in the South Pacific, straddling a longhorn cattle whose horns to this day are in GG's garage because she doesn't think they belong in the house. My great-grandfather standing with four "Tennessee cousins", 3 of whom are staring back at me with Harper's ears. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera, so I could at least have "picture of a picture" quality of some of these prints. I take bad cell phone pictures of a couple of them and show the Harper ears to Brandon.

10:30- Fine. I guess I'll go to bed. Take a sleeping pill (I don't tend to sleep well away from home), and crawl into the comfy, quiet room with my Kindle. Fall asleep at about 11.

11:01pm (estimated): A very dramatic thunderstorm rolls in, brining to my window all manor of LOUD thunder, rain, what sounded like either hail or baseballs being thrown at the house, and I GUARANTEE you I saw every lightning bolt in that storm through my window last night. At some point during the storm my nervous mind is realizes that perhaps God is trying to remind me who is still in control.

11:01-3am: Toss and turn, thinking to myself "this storm would be really cool to watch on the porch swing at my parents' house in the DAYTIME when I'm not trying to sleep, unsuccessfully, despite my little sleeping pill. Groggily decide to take another 1/2 of sleeping pill, thinking if I'm getting 0 hours of sleep on 1 pill, then maybe I can get 3 hours of sleep on 1/2 pill. Perfectly sound logic to a 3am sleep deprived brain.

3:30ish: I hear sounds from the living room. I climb out of bed to investigate in my nightshirt and undies. It's GG, and she's got someone she wants me to meet. I smile and shake hands with her friend that is visiting, tugging my nightshirt down as I introduce myself. At some point I realize this is a dream, which means I am in fact SLEEPING. In my dream, I give myself a mental high-five for successfully falling asleep during the storm, and go back to bed. Note to self: Lay off the sleeping pills.

4:15am: Is someone knocking on the door? What is that POUNDING sound? I really think someone is knocking on the front door. GG and Joe have probably already left. Did they forget keys? Is this another dream? Have more family members shown up on GG's front porch unannounced? I should really check. This time I had the foresight to throw on a pair of pants with my nightshirt and investigate. My grandmother sits calmly in her chair in the living room, "Good morning, Mandy! Do you want some coffee? Oh, that banging noise, Joe is adding a notch to his belt because he just keeps getting so skinny! He's just losing weight and he looks so good, doesn't he? So he's hammering another notch in. He really should just give that belt to Tom if it doesn't fit him anymore. Honey, do you want some coffee?"

4:16am- back to sleep. Awake for good at 6:36. Drink whatever is left in the coffee pot, unsure when it was brewed. It was warmish. Throw suitcase in van, and manage to find hospital 3 minutes after they have taken GG back for surgery.

7:15- tag along with Uncle Joe, Aunt Mary, and GG's Mastercard for hippy breakfast and a little more coffee. Learn that my father, who was supposed to fly in from Dallas, is actually driving down because "planes don't fly in hailstorms and lightning displays". Airlines are so finicky. Also learn that last time Dad came to town when GG had a procedure done, he deemed the visitor seating in her room to be inadequate for the number of visitors she had. So instead of asking if there was another chair available to move into the room, he left and went to Sams, where he bought several new folding chairs, then returned, CHAIRS IN HAND, to her hospital room. I cannot make this stuff up. We should introduce my dad to the woman who hides hooded sweatshirts at the JC Penney.

8:45am- return to hospital, where 2 of GG’s friends from church are waiting. We chat about their grandchildren, the weather, traffic, and why they can never get GG’s DVD player to work when they go over there to watch a movie.

10:00- GG’s surgeon calls, surgery is over and has gone great. He thinks that she will be able to return home today instead of staying overnight as originally planned. The Friends plan for movie parties at GG’s house and sleepovers there while she is recovering. She is about 20 years older than them, but please don’t tell her.

10:30am- we go back to see GG, who is awake. She immediately asks me if I slept well last night, before Joe woke me up by hammering into his belt. Was my bed comfortable? Is it still raining outside? Have I met her nurse, Kathryn? Do we know each other already, since we are both nurses?

11am- Dad texts me. He’s still on the road from Dallas, but he wants to know what the “chair situation” is in GG’s room. I say a silent prayer that he will not arrive with additional seating, and embarrass me in front of my good friend Kathryn The Nurse.

11:30- GG comments that she’s just not very hungry right now, and lamenting on her skipped breakfast and lunch, that she should be losing a couple of pounds, and won’t that be exciting! She says the only thing she feels like eating is an orange, so I text dad and tell him to not show up without oranges.

12:30pm-Dad arrives with oranges, carrying 2 brand new folding chairs under his arms. I am not even kidding. So now GG’s hospital room in the day surgery wing is equipped with adequate seating for four, should any of the staff need to sit down at any moment. Not embarrassing at all.

1pm- GG’s doctor checks in, surgery went great, and my 93 year old grandmother is the proud owner of a brand new pacemaker. Dad and I escape to grab a bite to eat next door at the Central Market, or, as GG calls it "where all the beautiful people go". I'm a pretty big fan of GG.

As of right now, GG is sleeping, healthier than she was yesterday, and all set to go home this afternoon. I am so thankful that everything went well with her surgery this morning, and for the (ahem) unconventional time that I got to spend with my family

And as an added bonus, I have two new folding chairs to take home.

Can You Hear Me Now?

2012-01-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Oh, those stinky cleft palate ears.

Last year when we brought Emerson home, we knew that language and communication would initially be a big challenge. Like, how the heck am I supposed to communicate with my 3 year old daughter who doesn’t speak a word of English? And I speak approximately 4 words in Mandarin. But kids are smart. And if anyone has to learn an entire new language and culture on the fly, a young child is a pretty good candidate. They little brains are sponges at that age, and pick up language considerably faster than adults.
We had some concerns back then about Emerson’s hearing (is she ignoring us because she can’t hear us, can’t understand us, or because she’s a three year old and sometimes they ignore their parents?) But for various reasons, (her language skills, her uncooperation with translators) we were not able to accurately test her hearing. We knew from a little research and from feedback from our ENT, that most kids with clefts have ear problems--up to 80% have eustachian tube and middle ear dysfunction-- and potential hearing problems. We decided last January to preemptively put ear tubes in Emmy’s ears, to help improve any hearing loss she may have due to fluid in her ears.

Well. Whether it was the ear tubes and improved hearing, or just time and development and learning the language, Emerson’s language skills improved quickly after the tubes were placed. Unfortunately, the tubes fell out sometime this past August or September. We got 8 months out of those tubes. We had noticed last fall that Emmy has been having a little more trouble hearing. She was saying “what?” a LOT, and watching us very intently when we were speaking. She wanted the TV turned up even louder than Daddy.

Her speech is not quite what we thought it should be by now, even after having over a year to learn language. Two-year old Harper is usually easier to understand than Emerson. When I took Emmy to the school district for a speech evaluation last fall, they refused to do it because she failed her hearing screening with the school nurse.

This past November, after another failed hearing screening and a trip to a (new to Emerson) ENT, the audiologist tested her in the ENT's office and told us what we had suspected: Emerson's hearing in her right ear is barely in the "normal range", and she had about a 30% hearing loss in her left ear. Another test showed lots of fluid behind both of her eardrums. The ENT, Dr. L, told us that when her palate did not form properly in the womb, her eustacian tubes (or more specifically, the tiny muscles that keep them "open"), also likely did not form correctly, and that she will probably need ear tubes until she is a teenager. Good to know.

So. A couple of weeks before Christmas was ear tube set #2. Emerson and I loaded up at 4:45 in the morning, and headed over to the surgery center for a new set of the tubes. Praying that this improves our girl's hearing! A couple of days later Emerson and Brandon headed downtown to the big children’s hospital for a speech evaluation. This time, the speech therapist decided that Emerson could benefit from speech therapy. Her (relatively mild) speech issues do not seem to be directly related to her cleft palate, they are more likely related to hearing and language development.

A couple of weeks ago, we had her hearing rechecked at the ENT, and though her hearing is improved, she still has some mild hearing loss in her left ear, though not enough to warrent intervention (like hearing aids).

So, this semester, instead of princess dance classes, Emerson is going to see Miss Sarah at speech therapy to "play games and read books" once a week. So far she loves it, but she still asks almost daily when she is going back to princess dance classes. I think she misses having an audience. I made the mistake of telling her that she would be joining the boys on swim team this year (in April), and her face immediately lit up and and said, "WHAT?? Everyone is going to watch me swim??" Yes, Emerson. 80 kids on the swim team, but everyone will be there to watch you swim.

Sweet Emmy, we love you so, so much!

Dear Eight-Year Old Dane,

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Dane,

Hi Dane. It's Mom.

I have this mental image of you 10 years from now, reading my blog and realizing that I completely skipped over your 8th birthday without so much as a recap. It's entirely possible that Teenage Dane will be overwhelmingly embarrassed of his mom for keeping a blog recording of all the little things you did when you were a little boy. Teenage Dane with the Teenage Hormones and the Teenage Angst will just have to get over it.

You had a great 8th birthday. A couple of months ago we got word from your school that a children's book author was coming to school the same week as your birthday. The same children's book author who visited last year, and signed your story after you had won a writing contest. (I just searched through four months worth of posts from 2010 looking to see if I blogged about you winning a writing contest. I didn't. Mom Fail.) You were pretty excited about the prospect of seeing this author again. As you put it, "He already knows me, Mom." Of course he does. So imagine your excitement when one of the birthday gifts you opened was the author's latest book, just waiting for an autograph from the author himself.

And it was also pajama day at school, so you got to wear your (8 inches too long) brand new A&M pajama pants.

(We surprised Aidan with a book to be autographed, too.)

At your request, we waited until "the best day of school ever" to eat lunch with you during your birthday week. Pajamas+Book signing+parents eating leftover pizza (Dane's request) at lunch with you=Best Day of School Ever.

For your big 8th birthday party you wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and have a sleepover. Your silly mommy thought this sounded easier than your traditional parties where we invite everyone we know and throw you all in a rented inflatable in the backyard. Joke's on me!

You, Daddy, 5 (yes, 5) other little boys, and one of our college students (recruited to help drive) enjoyed all manner of spicy wings for dinner, before heading back to the house for some backyard football in the dark. You and your friends played football in the freezing cold, dark backyard for a while, before wandering inside in search of cake and video games.

Mommy was blessed with the beginning of a sinus infection and body aches and feeling like she had been hit by a truck, so Daddy took the late shift and stayed up past midnight until the last of your friends fell asleep. One of your friends woke up before 6am the next morning, and woke all of the other little boys (and your sisters) up. Awesome! I'm sure all of the mommies were so thankful to get their post-sleepover boys back cranky and exhausted for the rest of the day. I think everyone had fun though. Lots of video games, football, eating, and just a little sleeping. What sleepovers are all about, right?

Dane-o, you had a pretty big 8th birthday. I can't wait to see what EIGHT has in store for you.

Love, Mom.

P.S. Teenage Dane, if you're reading this, please quit rolling your eyes when I give you hugs and kiss your face every morning.

Christmas Lights Walk-thru

2012-01-15T07:00:00.001-06:00

Yes, it is officially mid-January and I am still posting about Christmas-y stuff. Blogger and its' photo uploader HATE me this past month, and it's caused a bit-o-delay in the blogging.

Whew. Glad I got that out of the way.

A few days before Christmas, my parents popped down for a quick overnight visit while they were visiting my GG a couple of hours away. (Oh, by the way, my 93 year old grandmother went to a New Year's Eve party and I didn't. She actually was helping with the food and planning, so I guess technically she co-hosted a New Year's Eve party. I have never once been to a New Year's Eve party. Perhaps I'll start hosting them when I'm 93.)

Where was I? Parents. Here. A couple of days before Christmas. For the past few years, a nearby town has had this cool Christmas light display that you can walk around in, so we went to check that out with the kiddos. It wasn't quite as good this year as it has been in the past, but I still managed to take a few bad pictures of my kids. Someday I will learn how to actually use my camera.

I took this picture of the girls with Brandon last year:

Such sweet baby girls with their chubby cheeks and their short hair.

And this is how the picture turned out this year:

Story of our life. And yes, two-year and nine-month old Harper is still in a diaper. Idontwanttotalkaboutit. Potty training? It could be going better.

We may have broken a rule or two by straying off the sidewalk, but at this point our children fully expect to stick their face right into the light display.

I'm just glad Aidan didn't find someone else's clothes to wear this year.

And with that, on this brisk January 15 day, I am officially DONE posting about Christmas 2011. Maybe sometime in February I'll celebrate New Year's.

Family Pictures: Christmas Edition

2012-01-13T08:33:00.003-06:00

What's a holiday with family without family pictures?

It's been a while since we had a group picture of Brandon's side of the family with ALL of us in it. And the last time we did was about three grandchildren ago.

And after minimal photoshop magic, I think it turned out pretty well.

Brandon's Grandma Helen joined in for some of the pictures,

Then we got just the kids and their grandparents.

(Small sidenote: A man with a very impressive mullet who works at the haircut place down the street cut Aidan's hair into a circa 1984 chili-bowl cut the other day. It was a sad day. I'm not a stomp-my-feet and scream in the haircut place kind of girl, so we tipped the nice Mullet Man and went on about our day. But hair will grow!)
Over Thanksgiving, I missed getting a good picture of just my four kids, so I thought this would be a good chance. The kids were dressed, everyone had shoes on, hair was fixed. What could possibly go wrong? Oh, yeah. Harper.

Girlfriend was DONE with all the picture-taking, and she wasn't afraid to let us know about it.
Oh, little sister with the big, big attitude. Perhaps I should make a compilation of all of the holiday pictures that have demonstrated your signature pose:

Exhibit A, Christmas:

Exhibit B, Halloween:

Oh, LoLo. I can just see us compiling a photo album to show to any future suitors when you are 23 and your father finally lets you date.

Did I say 23? I meant 27.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

2012-01-10T07:00:00.000-06:00

On one of the adventure walks over Christmas with the family, the boys stumbled on a football field at a local school.

I'm still a little fuzzy on how they got onto the field (who leaves a stadium unlocked over Christmas break?), but I don't think anyone was surprised when they grabbed their ball and gloves and headed out the next day to go check it out.

Uncle Izzy appears to have been in full on "coach mode".
And Dane did some training...

And it looks like everyone worked on their kicking game a bit.
I love Emerson's crossed arms in the above picture. She no doubt was bossing those boys around on the football field.

This may or may not have been my boys' favorite part of the whole trip.
Not everyone got to play. There was one cute little cheerleader.
Now to somehow talk this school into keeping their field open every holiday...

More Christmas 2011

2012-01-07T08:15:00.001-06:00

Christmas 2011, continued...

After we finished opening presents on Christmas Day, we loaded up the van and headed 4 hours away to Brandon’s parents’ house to spend a few days with lots of family and LOTS of little cousins. Both of Brandon’s sisters and their family were there, and Brandon’s grandmother spent a few days with us also. I’m just going to run through a few highlights of the trip with a handful (okay, 20) of pictures:

Opening more presents. Madden DS games for the boys
Cabbage Patch Dolls for the girls.

I had a wave of nostalgia watching the girls open their Cabbage Patch Dolls. I think they're a generation too young to truly appreciate the significance of the Cabbage Patch Christmas. I clearly remember my CP Christmas, it was a very big deal. They still come with their own birth certificates, or, in Emerson's doll's case, her "China papers".

Make-Your-Own-Pizza night

Helping Grammy play the piano.

Playing "sneak around behind the chair and scare Grammy".

Daily adventure walks.

Izzy took Dane and Joel "adventuring" by himself one day, and they were gone for over 3 hours. At one point they came to a creek, and being too tired to walk around it, Izzy took off his shoes and just carried the boys across. I'm sure they hated that. ;)

Baby Laurel holding

Beauty parlor time. Emerson and Adrienne painted "rainbow toes",

Brandon had his long luxurious locks straightened with a flat iron.

Looking through old family photo albums with Grandma Helen.

Rearranging GranDoug's wood pile. Then the next day, re-rearranging the wood pile to its' former glory.

Smearing Mentholatum on our face and declaring “this make-up is too stinky.”

Oh wait, that was just Harper. And I don't have a picture of that one.

Catching the Many Faces of Uriah (who smelled suspiciously of Grandma Helen's perfume most of the time) on top of the dinner table one night.
I want to squish this face.
More to come from Christmas 2011! I'm hoping to be done blogging about Christmas by MLK Day (or by the time I put my Christmas tree away).

Christmas Morning 2011

2012-01-05T11:50:00.005-06:00

I hope you and your family had a very Merry Christmas! I am so far behind on blogging I may never catch up. The Christmas trees are still in my pantry, and I still have a houseful of laundry, cement dust, half-done flooring, and children. But I needed to take a little break and blog for a bit, so I'm going to spend the next week or two on the blog catching up on Christmas and the 500 pictures that go with it.

We kicked off our Christmas with Brandon participating in FIVE candlelight Christmas Eve services at church, starting with one on the 23^rd. All six of us went the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and Dane got to read part of the Christmas story in service while I spent the hour wrestling with Harper and trying to keep the kids from setting the chairs on fire with their candles. Wrestling match and fire hazards aside, I love Christmas Eve services at our church. Who am I kidding? I love pretty much everything about our church. Especially the hot high school youth minister. ;)

Christmas morning was spent at our little house, with it’s floorless living room and tiny trees. I justified not putting up the big tree this year because I wasn’t sure exactly when the repair work would start, and I didn’t want the possibility of having to put our big tree and all of the decorations away before Christmas. So we had sad little small trees, and I missed my big tree and all the pretty lights a lot this year. In hindsight, since Harper spent most of her waking moments disassembling and/or eating ornaments, it was probably best that she had a relatively limited selection this year.

Anyhoo. Chrismas morning.

Does everyone make their kids wait on the stairs until just the precise moment that you want them to come down? My kids aren’t real big fans of this practice.

And no, we don’t have cute-sy matching Christmas pajamas that our kids open for the first time on Christmas Eve so they have something cute to wear when they unwrap gifts. Their cheap mommy doesn’t want to buy 4 new sets of pj’s when they have PLENTY of pajamas to wear.

Santa surprised the girls with a princess tent filled with baby doll stuff,

and the boys got jerseys and a Nintendo DS.

Last year the boys also got Nintendo DS’s, but Aidan’s had been a first generation model that Santa had scored on the cheap, and it broke a few months ago. Santa utilized Craigslist again this year, but he got a newer model in much better condition this go around. They have LOVED each having their own, and we have LOVED not hearing them fight over the single DS. Christmas joy abounds.

The girls also benefited from impulse-purchase Princess shirts in their stocking, and they were a big hit on Christmas morning.

I want to apologize in advance for everything about this picture:

The pantless child, the giant Tinkerbell, the pose, the expression on her face. You can go ahead and start praying for Future 15-year old Harper.

A few hours later, we loaded up the van until nothing else would possibly fit into it, and we headed up to Ft. Worth to see Brandon’s family for a few days. More to come on that later.

There's a Bookshelf in My Kitchen

2012-01-03T06:21:00.002-06:00

And a Christmas tree in my pantry.

At some point I plan to blog in 2012. I plan to recap our Christmas, cull through the pictures, and maybe even read a blog or two. We got back in town last Thursday, and went straight to a hotel because the drywall was being repaired in our house after our last unfortunate toilet misadventure. Friday started four straight twelve-hour shifts at work for me, and four straight days of Brandon The Super Dad hanging out with the kids in the midst of a house in various stages of repair and disarray. I'm finally off work today, a bit sleep deprived, and with a gigantic to-do list.

And so, my (filled) stocking sits on my mantle. Two unpacked suitcases lie on my bedroom floor. A trash bag full of dirty laundry has taken up residence in my kitchen. My living room floors are in the process of being put in (yay!), so various pieces of living room furniture are all over the house. Like the coffee tables in my garage, and the bookshelf in my kitchen. And the Christmas tree in my pantry. It's just the cruel reality that I still have Christmas decorations up in the midst of the chaos. Sadder still that they may not get put away today, even.

So, blog, I bid you goodbye for another day or two. When I dig myself out from under the laundry pile and unpack a suitcase or two or (maybe!) put away the Christmas decorations, I'll be back to tell all Christmas details for the sake of posterity.

Hope you and yours had a very Happy New Year, and you weren't one of the endless stream of ER patients I took care of over the weekend!

Bringing Gifts to the Naughty List

2011-12-25T17:00:00.001-06:00

...since 2003

Merry Christmas from our sleigh to yours!

My Favorite Christmas Tradition, 2011 Edition

2011-12-24T18:50:00.002-06:00

This morning we finally got to participate in what has become my favorite thing we do as a family at Christmas time: Heifer International shopping. We started this last year with our kids as a way to involve them in giving to others, and to help them understand that since Christmas is about celebrating Jesus, one of the ways we can do that is to help others and give to others. How do we decide how much to give? Simple- we match dollar for dollar what Santa spends on our family. This also helps Santa to be more wise and thoughtful about each gift that is given to our children, and helps him to avoid spontaneous and unplanned purchases. Santa sometimes needs this reminder of what the Christmas season is all about. It’s very easy to get distracted, and sometimes Santa needs a little reality check. (And we get to buy things like water buffalos!)

Like we did last year, we all sat at the table this morning with a stack of $1 and $5 bills, and a Heifer International catalog.

The kids loved learning about what different animals can do for a family in a different part of the world. The debated, did a little math, and made deals with each other, and finally settled on what they were going to buy.

Harper used her portion to get bunnies for a family.

Three bunnies apparently have “fertilization” purposes for certain crops, and multiply like, well, rabbits. She was pretty excited about it, and probably thinks she’s getting bunnies for Christmas.

Emerson wanted a cow, so she bought a share of a cow, and a share of a sheep.

The cows provide plenty of milk and cheese for a family, with plenty left over to sell. The sheep provide wool and milk as well.

Dane was all about the budgeting. He spread his portion out to get a share of a water buffalo, a share of a sheep, some baby chicks, and plant seedlings.

Water buffalos are used for sowing fields and also for milk. The chicks are given as a lot (10-50), and should provide lots of protein in the form of eggs and, well, chicken.

Aidan’s shopping theme was “things that can fly”, and he picked out geese, chicks, and bees.

Geese are used on small farms for their eggs, and the bees help pollinate crops and provide honey to sell to others.

We love sitting together and doing this every year, and we hope it's teaching our children to think of ways they can celebrate Jesus by help others.

December Pre-Christmas Miscellany

2011-12-21T21:02:00.002-06:00

(Blogger HATES me. I have been trying to post this for the past three days, and I have had trouble loading the pictures, then blogger converted this entire post into HTML code. Because that's easy to read. Mad props to my brother John for fixing my sad, broken blog.)

I loaded a bunch of pictures from my camera onto the computer from this month, and I wanted to get 'em on the blog before Christmas comes and I have another 2000 pictures to cull through.

We've had a fun month. The boys both finished up their flag football season. They LOVE football right now. Every day when they get off the bus, they head straight to the backdoor for "training" in the backyard with their football and cleats. (I looked out the window yesterday to see that Aidan was training in only his new pair of boxer-briefs. He's pretty sure they're shorts.)

These pictures are from his football game a few weeks ago when Aidan was perfecting the art of falling face-first into the dirt on every play, even on the plays where he never came into contact with another human being.

He's a bit moody. These pictures were taken in about a 30 second time span.

I love this kid. So much.

After the last game, we headed over to our subdivision's brand-spankin' new clubhouse for a Grand Opening/Open House thing. Our previous clubhouse was destroyed in Hurricane Ike, and now, 3+ years later, it has been rebuilt. They must have used our contractor. We enjoyed eating dinner, meeting a bunch of our neighbors for the first time, and feeding inappropriate amounts of sugar cookies to the kids. We saw the new pool, work out facility, and the kiddos bounced around in a Moonwalk that had been rented for the event.

In hindsight, it should have occurred to us to maybe not stick our kids in a Moonwalk right after stuffing themselves with bright red sugar cookies, at a party where we really didn't know anyone. Sure enough, after a few minutes of bouncing, Harper climbed out of the Moonwalk and into my arms. I think she was actually hugging my neck when she vomited red sugar cookies all over my arm. I realized at that moment that vomit from the fourth child is less "Oh no, my poor baby is sick! We must call the pediatrician for an emergency visit!" and more "Did any of it get on my shoes?" I cleaned myself off, wiped her down with a couple of baby wipes, and commenced with the party. We pulled our kids out of the Moonwalk, and met a few more neighbors.

We talked schools and churches and jobs, and things neighbors discuss when no one knows each other very well. About an hour later, after helping clean up the party and break down tables, we loaded up in the van to head home. That's when I realized I still had a few chunks of red sugar cookie vomit on my jeans. Of course. Just the first impression I had hoped to make with neighbors. "Hi, I'm Mandy. Yes, I have four children. Yes, in fact, I do have my hands full and it is never a dull moment. Oh, and that? Just some vomit chunks from my youngest daughter that I decided to leave on my pants for a while. No, she's not sick. Just jumped around a little too much after eating half of that box of red santa sugar cookies. Hey, weren't we supposed to bring homemade cookies to this thing? Oh, you brought the store-bought santa sugar cookies? My daughter thought they were delicious.

My facebook friends already know about this, but Aidan made a cute little handprint ornament at school last week. It was made of some sort of soft squishy clay/playdoh substance, and Brandon came in the room to find Harper EATING the ornament. Like, she took more than just one bite out of it. My daughter ate a Christmas ornament. What. On. Earth.

She was disciplined, and the ornament was returned to the tree, out of Harper's reach this time. The next morning, we awoke to find her eating the ornament again. I promise we feed her real food, that we are not starving our precious children. This one just eats weird stuff.

Speaking of Harper, Brandon sent me this picture the other day while I was at work.

He had gotten the girls ready for school, and Harper had requested "special hair". I think Hot Brandon is getting pretty good at fixing little girl hair. :)

The girls had a Christmas program at their preschool earlier this month. In hindsight, I have no idea what they did. I'm sure it involved some sort of singing/hand motions set to Christmas music. I do remember afterwards, seeing Emerson goof around with a couple of her sweet school buddies who go to church with us:

Brandon and Emerson had a date on Monday, and they went out for Chinese food for lunch.

Brandon told me later that when they put the food on the table, Emerson immediately grabbed the chopsticks and popped a pork dumpling in her mouth! Somewhere in her brain, she remembers how to use chopsticks. (Brandon had painted her face like a bunny at the Children's Museum before lunch.) Emerson made him take this picture of her outside of the Children's Museum:

I have a few "Dane stories" too, but I will try to post about his birthday weekend at some point, if Blogger lets me!

The Nine Greats

2011-12-15T12:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is almost Christmas and I am STILL posting pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend.

Betty, along with my aunt Betsy, and cousins Carrie and Lindsey, and Lindsey's 2 little cuties came over for a post-Thanksgiving, non-turkey dinner on Saturday night. We had the brilliant idea to try and get a picture with Betty and her nine great-grandchildren.

It went about as well as you can imagine.

And these are some of my favorite pictures in existence.

Lindsey's oldest, Mr. M, is Harper's age, and little Miss M is baby Nora's age.

It was not a quiet house that Saturday night.

It's quite possible that Betty is not laughing at the children, but rather the half dozen ridiculous adults behind the camera(s), trying to coax their respective children/grandchildren to smile at the camera. Or even look at the camera.

Or just sit on the couch without your little bright red tights-clad chubby legs flung into the air. I'm really not picky.

Those of us not in the picture were guilty of making all kinds of screeching and other high pitched, animal-like noises in an effort of getting the kids to all look up at the same time for that perfect, once in a lifetime frame-able picture.

But these pictures are once in a lifetime, all right.

And you better believe one of them will be in a frame in my house.

Almost 8

2011-12-13T16:38:00.000-06:00

My almost-8 year old Dane and I spent an afternoon just the two of us this past weekend, and we had some...informative conversations on the way home.

Mom: (singing)Oh, bring us some figgy pudding, oh bring us some figgy pudding. Dane, what do you think figgy pudding tastes like?

Dane: I don’t know. I bet it’s pretty good. It probably tastes kinda like chocolate pudding. (pause) But if it actually had little pieces of pigs in them, it would be disgusting!

Mom: Little pieces of pigs? (insert confused face here). Um, Dane, you know it’s figgy pudding, not piggy pudding, right?

Dane: It is? (pause) Than I bet it tastes like fig newtons. Nathan had fig newtons one time at lunch and he let me try one. They were brown inside, but they did not taste like chocolate.

Mom, I don’t think Mrs. W. knows how old she is. She’s really old. She has 6 children and 12 grandchildren. But on a worksheet she was showing us, where it asked for her age, she wrote 33 with a question mark! Mom, there’s no WAY she’s 33. She has to be a lot older than that, because you’re 33, and I’m only 7. Do you think she forgot how old she is?

In 20 years I bet Betty will be a great-great grandmother (this was part of a conversation where we were discussing the ages of my grandparents). Because in 20 years, I will be 27, and I’m sure I will have a child by then. Because you have to be married first, and I’m sure I’ll be married. Then it takes, I guess about 3 years to have a baby. Then pregnancy lasts about 9 months or so, then you have a baby. So I’ll probably get married when I’m 22 or 23.

(Go ahead and say a little prayer for Dane's future wife. Pray that she loves Jesus and is very easy-going and laid back and can go-with-the-flow. Because my boy? HE'S A BIT OF A PLANNER.)

Dane: Hey, Mom, can you spell I Cup? (I fell right into that one.)

Me: I-C-U-P. Where’d you learn that one?

Dane: My friend ‘M’ made it up, it is so funny!

Me: He didn’t make it up. We were doing that when I was in elementary school. It’s as old as the hills.

Dane: Yeah, but the only person I actually see pee is Aidan. He pees in the shower, and you can’t not watch that.

(Must tell Aidan to STOP PEEING IN MY SHOWER).

Dane-o, I cannot believe you are about to turn 8. It seems like not that long ago that you looked like this.

And your circa 2004 mommy dressed you in holiday onesies with rick-rack on them. Because nothing is manlier than a little 4th of July rick-rack.

And now you are this bonafide big kid with big plans and big dreams. To say we are unspeakably proud of you is an understatement. Happy birthday, Dane Christopher.

Family Picture Day

2011-12-07T08:30:00.001-06:00

What would a holiday with my family be...

without a couple thousand pictures taken?

Throw three professional photographers

In with a couple of amature ones

and 7 little cousins,

the seven year old

the six year old

the four year old and the three year old

the two year old

and the one year old

and little baby Nora

and lots, and lots of attitude

and eventually you will get

1800 pictures that look something like this

and maybe one that looks like this

Thanksgiving, part 3 of 700

2011-12-01T09:53:00.000-06:00

It's now December, and I still have four drafts for blog posts about Thanksgiving. Yikes, I'm a bit behind. Hopefully I can get these cranked out in the next few days, so I can talk about how completely unprepared I am for Christmas season.

Thanksgiving is slowly but surely becoming my favorite holiday. The extended family, the shopping, the cool-but-not-too-cold weather, the kitchen full of people and various pies. I love it all. This year was no exception. We spent lots of time with my family, and the kids got lots of good cousin time in.

The boys spent some time on the back deck, poppin' wheelies on the big wheels

and shooting BB guns at the homemade target my dad had constructed.

Board games were played (note to self: Emerson is not the best 'Risk' player).

The men in my family cook just as much, if not more, than the women, and I spent my fair share of time sitting at the bar and watching the guys cook.

Unfortunately, I am not so skilled in the art of the "candid shot", and the boys insisted on cheesy poses.

I'm pretty sure most of the adults lived for the precious quiet of nap time every day for a couple of hours in the afternoon. One afternoon the kids were a bit too quiet, and we went upstairs to find that Emerson and Zane had found my mom's stash of Easter eggs.

Yes, my mom has 400 easter eggs in November. Just in case. There's a pretty good chance she hid them in the store behind a stack of crock pots until they were on clearance after Easter.

My dad took the boys out to the train track to leave pennies for the trains to run over, then went out the next day to retrieve their flattened coins.

I'm such an un-fun mom to have never done this with them before. And Dane's shoes had gotten wet in a kite-retrieval excursion, so he had taken them off. I promise I didn't send my children out barefoot and freezing to go play on the train tracks.

Baby Nora helped the guys in the garage (please don't ask me what they were building. I have no idea).

On Friday we enjoyed a much needed night off. My dad had several complimentary nights at a nearby hotel that would expire in a few months, so Brandon and I, and John and Brandy, and Andy and Lindy ditched the 7 grandchildren with my parents and headed out for a blissful night in a lovely hotel suite.

Look how empty it is! No Easter eggs on the floor or half filled sippy cups under the bed!

And it's quiet! No tattling, screaming, or crying to be heard.

And a balcony. With perfect weather. And nothing (except a steak dinner at the hotel restaurant) on the agenda.

Did someone say "steak dinner"? We met up with our fellow kidness-for-the-night kin for a delicious dinner in the completely empty fancy restaurant downstairs.

We had two waiters, it was so empty. And the dinner was comped along with the room! Free steak? Yes please!

Thanks, Momo and Pappy for a much needed night of peace and quiet, in the middle of a busy, fun Thanksgiving weekend!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2011-11-28T20:00:00.000-06:00

(I'm going to spend this next week going through the 2000 pictures taken over Thanksgiving and blogging about our fun holiday with family. I know this won't be interesting to some of you, so consider yourself forewarned.)

I almost don't know where to begin to blog about this past week, so I think I'll skip ahead to Saturday afternoon. My dad had made a couple of kites (with some gracious last minute sewing help from their "friends-since-before-I-was-born-friend", Colyn.) There are very few people who will sew kites for you two days before Thanksgiving, while trying to plan a Thanksgiving feast for 30 of your closest relatives, and I am very thankful that Colyn is one of those people.

And why didn't we sew the kites ourselves? Oh, we are, with few exception, not a crafty people. Except for Lindy. My sister Lindy is semi-crafty, and at one point this past week she convinced me that we were going to make felt flower hair clips for our girls together. Sounds simple enough. Trace flowers onto felt, cut flowers out, hot glue flowers strategically to hair clip for instant cuteness.

So cute, right? (And baby Nora's not bad, either!)

Turns out, I am only good at the "tracing the flowers" part of the craft. I cut little flowers out of felt for about 20 minutes and I wanted to stab myself in the eyeball with the scissors. And my flowers looked a little bit like stars. I am not cut out for any type of craft that requires cutting small shapes. There are many reasons why I am not an elementary school teacher, and the cutting stuff out part is just one of them. But, surprisingly, the felt flowers cut out by the remedial scissor-user turned out pretty cute!

Back to all the kite flying. Pappy made a couple of kites before we got to town, and we just had to polish them up a bit to make them fly-ready.

Yes, that is my husband wielding a blow-torch at the kitchen table over Thanksgiving, while small children looked on in wonderment. A few minutes later, the Yellow Jacket and Red Dragon ready for their debut, we headed out into the incoming cold front, complete with near-freezing temperatures, cold wind, and a little drizzle to fly the kites in Colyn's made-for-kites backyard.

It was the highlight of the week for Dane, and with the exception of some very memorable tacos in Aidan's book, his favorite activity as well. (Seriously. They flied kites, shot BB guns, played front yard football, put pennies on the train track, and played with their cousins all weekend, and Aidan's favorite part of the trip was "going to that taco place".) Harper actually busted out the "Let's Go Fly a Kite" song from Mary Poppins, and she thought she was just so cute and big.

The kites were a big hit. Red Dragon went up first, and an unfortunate crash landing ended his high-flying dreams for good on that windy Saturday. Yellow Jacket had a chance to shine, and the kids each got a turn to fly the kite.

Emerson was the only one who almost got a little "carried away".

Of course the men of my family fashioned a parachute and miniature video camera to float up the kite line. That's not a part of everyone's kite-flying experience?

After Yellow Jacket crashed across the street, Uncle John and I took the little kids home for some lunch and hot chocolate, while the big boys, Pappy, Brandon, and Uncle Andy logged some more kite time and got Aidan some tacos.

More to come from our fun Thanksgiving break later this week!

All She Wants for Christmas

2011-11-26T20:22:00.000-06:00

We've spent the last 5 days in DFW at my parents' house, and I'm pretty sure I have enough blog material for the rest of the year. We have had so much fun with my family. I will blog about Thanksgiving and post a bajillion pictures of the kids and cousins (we had a family portrait session where about 1400 pictures were taken), but I wanted to talk Black Friday for a bit.

I LOVE Black Friday. I love the fun of getting up at dawn, list and coupons in hand, and plan out exactly where we're going to go. I'm usually home and finished before lunch. It's not the "camping outside the store and I am going to GET THAT giant TV for $199" part of Black Friday that I love, it's the "get up early to do some fun shopping with the girls and see how many other crazy people are out at 5am in their comfy clothes" part that I enjoy. This year was a bit different, with so many stores opening at midnight or before, there were hardly any crowds when we were shopping from 5-8am. No madness. No lines. No crazies. It took a little bit of wind out of our sails to NOT get tackled by a middle age woman at 5am in her pajamas, but it was kind of nice to get a lot of shopping done, still get some great deals, and finished in record time.

My side of the family is not really big on "surprise" gifts for Christmas. Lists are made and exchanged. Gift cards are almost expected. And a receipt is always included. But I gotta tell you, my mom took the Christmas wish list to new levels this year. I'm just going to share with you an email that I got from my mom last week:

I don't know who was planning to get gifts for who, but I looked around and found some ideas. You might can go in together if it's more than you wanted to spend. I'm sure the stuff will be cheaper on black Friday or Thanksgiving day

Also, there might be some coupons online to print off to save more $.

At Target, (these jacket things are in the section that says Womens and Morona is written on the wall with a big picture of a lake and lady & girl . It's down the isle by the make up. It's a zipper hoodie sweatshirt with fluffy lining on a rack with wheels. I need a small-1st choice is burgundy, 2nd choice is gray. Regular price is $27.00. # on tag is 016/02/4061

Also at Target, Mossimo regular hoodie sweatshirt in small and gray. Regular price is $19.99. The FM store is out of smalls in gray. It has 2 white strings by hoodie. It's in the front section across the aisle from the hats & scarfs.

Kohls-go in right door and look to the right and in the work out area. The wall says Tek Gear. Reversible with fluffy showing on outside. Regular price is $48.00 They were 1/2 price when I looked. Grey in small 00920 36895 on tag.

Belk- towards the middle of the far right wall in store. Jackets are against wall-Jane Ashley brand 100 polyester. $40.00 on sticker-style is 20025-Khaki/white. Says casual Lifestyle on tag. Fake fur at collar and cuffs and strip down center of both sides. Size small- On sale for $27.99

7-97640-84996-9 on tag

Penneys- White zipper sweatshirt hoodie-Arizona brand-not lined-size small Reg price of $36.00 644-4101-0101-03

Also black with fluffy gray lining zipper sweatshirt hoodie. Medium size-$46.00 regular price. 664-4100-0300-04

I hid these 2 items in the section that has a sign that says Womens Sleepwear (across from the bra section) There's a picture on the wall of a girl with a dog. There are long housecoats hanging to the right of the wall picture against the wall and they're behind those housecoats.on the floor.

I bet they'll be cheap on Thursday or Friday.

Seriously. This is the Christmas wish list she gave us this year. Brand names. Colors. Item numbers. And when "pre-shopping" earlier this week, my mom actually took items off their rack and hid them under a rack of housecoats so we could find them later. And she hid them effectively:

Womens Sleepwear

Girl with a dog

Long housecoats

And on the floor under them?

You guessed it. The coveted hooded sweatshirts. Yes, my mom requested six different hooded sweatshirts for Christmas this year.

Here's the kicker. She swears that she's not the only person who sees something she likes at a store, and, instead of buying it, hides it somewhere so that no one else finds it so that she can come back and get it later, like when it's on sale. My mom is convinced that this is totally normal behavior that everyone does, and that it's not weird at all. But what gets me, is that it's not exactly the hard-to-find door buster item that she has hidden beneath the housecoats. They're hooded sweatshirts from the JC Penney.

On Thanksgiving day, when we were mercilessly laughing at/with my mom about this list, she urged me to survey my blog readers to see how many other people employ the "pre-shop then stash the goodies in random parts of the store so you can find them later when it's on sale" method of shopping. Since I don't know how to put an actual survey in my post, could you do me a favor? If you are guilty of this shopping habit, please fess up and comment so that my mom will know she is not alone. If you do not employ this practice, feel free to let me know that I am not the only one who thinks this is just a teensy bit out of the ordinary.

And, if you're wondering what you can get my mother for Christmas, now you have a couple of *vague* ideas.

Monday, Monday

2011-11-23T19:38:00.000-06:00

I realize that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I should probably post something sentimental about family and thankfulness. But that's not going to happen here today.

I had an awesome weekend this past weekend. Girls night, vampire ridiculousness, parades, lots of time spend doing nothing, church, birthday parties, and turkey bowling. People love weekends and dread Monday mornings for a reason.

And last morning was about to remind me of this. My Monday started at the unwelcome hour of 5:30am, when Dane burst into our room to tell us that their upstairs toilet was overflowing. I kicked Brandon in the shins, and groggily muttered to him to bring a couple of towels with him to investigate the early morning bathroom mishap. Because clearly I had no intention of getting out of bed.

About thirty seconds later, Brandon was wide awake, hollering at me that this was beyond a two-towel clean up, and I was going to have to get up and help with the unfortunate toilet situation.

And the situation? Well. The upstairs potty was a-overflowin’, and it got a little too ambitious to contain its’ destructiveness to just the bathroom. The water had seeped into the boys’ adjacent bedroom, soaking their closet floor and half of their bedroom floor. But heaven forbid it stop there. The water had soaked through the upstairs floor, and was poring through sections of the living room ceiling just below. I walked downstairs to find the entryway and half of our living room underwater. I’m not going to lie, I had some Ike flashbacks when I saw the water coming through the living room light fixture.

I did what everyone does when their house is flooding from the inside out at 5:30 in the morning: I folded laundry and started packing our suitcases for our Thanksgiving trip. Again, my thoughts flashed back to the time period immediately post-Ike destruction, when I stood in the pantry and debated what dry goods to throw out, as a hurricane raged outside and water flooded my bedroom and kitchen. My brain sometimes copes with stress by focusing on mundane, unimportant activities.

I did have enough sense to call our insurance company (who hates us by now), and by 10am a company was at our house ripping the floor out of the living room and measuring moisture levels throughout our house.

In other words, how everyone wants to spent Thanksgiving week. I had the unenviable task of keeping all four kids upstairs for most of the day while the crew worked downstairs, and when I started seeing the dozens of giant fans and dehumidifiers that were to be set up throughout the house for the better part of this week, I decided that perhaps our insurance company would be interested in sponsoring a hotel stay for a couple of days. I had images of Harper surfing down the stairs atop a giant dehumidifier. We packed up a couple of bags, and headed to our home-away-from-home: a 2 bedroom suite with full kitchen and THREE television sets. And an indoor pool. Three television sets. We have one functioning TV at our house, so we were all a little excited about all of the holiday week TV watching options. I thought for a few minutes that I was being a little whiny about staying in a hotel while our house was still livable, then we stopped by this morning for a couple of things, and this is what I saw:

Yeah. No, that would not have worked at all. And it sounds like a wind tunnel. An 88 degree wind tunnel.

Speaking of 88 degrees, Happy Thanksgiving from Texas, y'all.

Weekend Recap

2011-11-21T21:18:00.002-06:00

Well. Monday has been eventful enough to get its own recap, so for now I'll just backtrack a couple of days to last weekend.

Friday kicked off with the much anticipated girls night out to see the new Twilight movie. 12 friends, all but one of us way too old to be watching teenage vampire romances, opening night. And it did not disappoint. Sometimes, no matter what you do, a night that was supposed to be fun, just isn't. And sometimes, nights that sound like they might be fun, just fall into place perfectly and are so. stinkin'. fun.

Silly, unintentionally matching t-shirts certainly help.

Telling funny stories while standing in line outside the theater, surrounded by Twilight-obsessed high school girls an hour before the movie is never what I would plan to do for entertainment, but it was so, so entertaining.

And RUNNING to the theater, smokin' past the gaggle of Twilight-obsessed high school girls so we could try to find 12 seats together, made my night.

There's a rumor floating around that pubescent manager at the theater wearing a vest and bow tie may have threatened to kick us out for running and a brief near-tackling episode. Don't believe everything you hear. We did NOT knock that 15 year old down.

After Twilight-appoluza, Saturday morning came much too early. Especially since we had to be at the parade site at 8:30am, looking cute and happy and ready to wave our pageant wave and smile "till our gums hurt", according to Dane.

We were asked to ride on a float for a local pregnancy center who advocates for adoption. Since we're pretty big fans of adoption, and have the requisite token adopted kid, we agreed. We met in a church parking lot, and were subsequently greeted by this sign:

Of course.

Now, let's have a little 4th grade math review.

We were asked to be at the parade site at 8:30 in the morning.

For a parade that was scheduled from 10am till 12 noon.

And we were riding float #116 out of about 130 floats, with horses, football teams, marching bands, and the like interspersed throughout.

If you've done the math, you'll quickly realize that Brandon and I, and the four children, were to sit on a float for about 4 hours. 3 1/2 of which would be basically parked, waiting for our turn in line. Outside of a donut shop, which is just torture for a float full of children on a Saturday morning. Speaking of torture, the music playing out of the back of the truck that pulled our float was "Greatest Hits From A Mississippi Children's Choir That You've Never Heard Of".

Which my daughters were not afraid to dance to.

Harper-lo found someone to walk her around for most of the morning.

If I had a bucket list, and it had "be in a parade" on it, I could check it off. It was a different experience for our family, something we don't normally do on a Saturday morning, and I'm glad we got an opportunity to participate. We did get some significant bonding time (4 hours of bonding time) with several other adoptive families, which was pretty neat. The kids loved the actual "parade" part of the morning, waving and holding their signs.

Saturday wrapped up with a blissfully unscheduled remainder of the day, gearing ourselves up for yet another very busy Sunday. After church Sunday morning, I loaded up the kids before 3rd service and headed home to get Harper down for a nap before a 2pm birthday party that she was invited to. It was a party at one of those "paint the piece of pottery" places, and we decorated a purple Tinkerbell that, according to Harper was "just so beautiful". (This is one of Harper's favorite phrases currently, and she is just so cute when she says it). This is the first time we have been to a birthday party for one of Harper's friends, and to her credit, Harper only once tried to strip off all of her clothes and try on some of the birthday girl's new outfits from her grandparents.

Sunday evening found me wishing that I had not left my camera at home. Brandon had a high school Pilgrim Night, complete with high schoolers Turkey Bowling. What is Turkey Bowling, you ask? Officially? My absolute favorite Thanksgiving-themed contest involving frozen poultry and baby oil. A quick how-to, so your family can enjoy this friendly family competition on Turkey Day:

Participants: 2 frozen turkeys, large tarp, 12 2-liter sodas, lots of baby oil. And an iron stomach.

1. Set up soda bottles at one end of tarp to resemble 2 bowling-pin formations, side by side.

2. Pour 1-2 large bottles of baby oil all over tarp.

3. Form 2 teams of bowlers, and, using the (packaged) turkey as a ball, see which team can be the first to score 10 spares or strikes. Don't worry, the turkey wrapper will only last a few throws, you will soon be bowling with a naked, raw bird, legs flapping with each toss, gravel embedded in the slimy skin from the over-enthusiastic throws of competitive teenagers.

4. Do not put your hands in your mouth until after you have washed all of the raw turkey nastiness off of them.

5. Just throw away the tarp. It's not worth cleaning off.

You're welcome in advance for introducing your family in what will become your most beloved Thanksgiving tradition. I promise you will enjoy this more than you like that yucky cranberry sauce with the "can imprints" on it.

I for one am looking forward to a week of Thanksgiving, spending time with family, and a little black Friday shopping. I love the predictability of Thanksgiving, especially after a few days of anything-but-routine events!

Sentences I Never Thought I Would Write

2011-11-18T09:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't blogged in a week. I feel like such a blog-slacker. Several "out of our usual routine" things are going on this week.

I had the whole day to myself at home yesterday. No work. No kids. I try to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the girls are at school, but yesterday found me off work, at home, with a blissfully short to-do list and perfect weather. Windell the Kindle and I cuddled up on the back porch with a cup of coffee and spent some quality time together. It was perfection.

I am going to see the new Twilight movie with 12 of my closest girlfriends on opening night. I am speechless as I look over that sentence. I NEVER in a million years would have thought I would be braving the movie theater on a Friday night (too crowded) to see a teenage vampire romance (!) on opening night (hello, crazy fans and crazier lines). But, I can't wait to embrace the ridiculous-ness of the whole "Twilight thing" with my fun friends :)

I have watched the three previous Twilight movies in the last two days, and I didn't hate them. I didn't even throw up in response to the dramatic stares into one another's eyes, majestic soundtracks, or meaningful forehead-touches. But don't get me started on the giant wolves.

We're going to be in a parade on Saturday morning. All six of us, riding on a big float with a stork on it. A local town is having their holiday parade this weekend, November is apparently National Adoption Awareness month. We are one of the token adoptive families that will be riding on the stork float. I expect to be the only mommy spending the entire parade persuading her children to not jump off of the float.

Three of my four children sang in a choir on Sunday morning. And it was even cuter than what you're picturing in your head right now.

And their choir shirts said "I Am Crazy". Why? Because my church is awesome. Crazy awesome.

Dane ran the length of the football field Saturday, scoring a rushing touchdown in flag football. Dane's not, what some would say, a big kid. He's super fast, and has absolutely no fear, even when the other boys on the field are 30 pounds bigger than him. And while I didn't get a picture of that (of course), I did get this sweet picture of Harper and Emerson eating cupcakes afterwards:

At least it's not nail polish.

The Creative Daughter

2011-11-11T18:18:00.000-06:00

I have this daughter. I love her very, very much.

I love her very, very much.

Sorry. Sometimes I have to repeat things.

Back to this daughter. I actually have two daughters, but this is the only one who is two right now.

Two is going to be the death of me. That, or it will send me running for the mental institution.

Why isn't mommy in any pictures when I was two?

It's because she checked herself into the mental institution and didn't come out until you were seven.

Harper's had her fair share of, um, creative days.

But last Saturday, I was guilty of letting Harper play quietly upstairs alone for about 10 minutes. In what I thought was her playroom, with what I assumed were dress-up clothes. Little did I know that either my Hot Husband or I had left the door to our bedroom open. Dane went up to check on her upstairs, and then I heard the words no mother of a creative 2 year old ever wants to hear:

"Mom! Harper got into the nail polish!"

No. The 30 bottles of nail polish in the zippered bag, in the drawer in the vanity in the master bathroom? Why would my precious, sweet girl bypass the room full of age appropriate toys, the dress up clothes and Duplo blocks and baby dolls, to dig around in her parents' bathroom and play with the NAIL POLISH??

No. Nonononononono.

I found her at the top of the stairs, proud as can be. I quickly picked her up, my arms straight out in front of me, carrying her to the shower.

Girlfriend had painted herself from her toes to her knees, her tulle dress-up skirt, her hands, and her face with (at least) four different colors of nail polish. Nail polish is all over the carpet in my master bathroom. The good news is, Harper is advanced in the area of fine motor skills. I can't even get those bottles open half of the time.

What. Am. I. Going. To. Do. With. This. Girl.

A couple other tidbits for the Harper Files?

Yesterday morning after I had gone to work, Brandon came downstairs at 7am to find that Harper had body-slammed her way through the baby gate to get into the kitchen, and was holding three half eaten hot dogs in her hands from the refrigerator. We have no idea how many she ate before Brandon found her. Three. Cold cheese hot dogs. At 7am

I wish cold hot dogs are the worst thing we have busted Harper eating from the fridge.

Yes, that is a stick of butter.

I love her very, very much. I love her very, very much. I love her very, very much.

Not Your Average Fall Festival

2011-11-09T09:42:00.000-06:00

I hate it when I look at the calendar and realize it's almost the middle of November and I still haven't blogged about half the stuff we did in October.

So lets just take a quick stroll down memory lane. Not too far, just back a couple of weeks.

The Sunday before Halloween, our church had a HUGE "Party in the Park". Brandon was heavily involved in the planning process, which explains why we were the only fall festival in the area with this:

Yes, that is an axe-throwing station.

When we got to the event, the crowd was still somewhat small (1000-1500 people ended up coming), so the boys took advantage of short lines to participate in this:

They climbed into these giant inflated beach balls, then prepared to do their best hamster impersonation.

At one point, someone sat around their house and thought, "I have this great idea. Let's stick kids in giant transparent beach balls, then watch with glee as they run around on a pool filled with water, trying hopelessly to catch their balance while their orange hairspray rubs all over the inside of the beach ball, making them look less like Ron Weasley and more like some sort of tye-dyed Beanie Baby."

Goes without saying that the boys LOVED this. And throughout the night, a sizable crowd formed, watching the kids run around their hamster wheels.

It was almost as good entertainment as this:

Emerson smiling for pictures while strapped into a velcro suit and thrown up onto the wall? Funny every time.

All of the pastors took their shift in the dunk tank:

After getting dunked a couple dozen times, Brandon changed into his costume for the evening.

Of course my husband has a head-to-toe Thor costume that he's had more than one occasion to wear.

Of course some of our high school students had some of these super-creepy "morph suits".

Another activity making our fall festival a bit, um, unique?

Paintball the Pastors.

Thor costume optional.

All in all, when I wasn't doing frantic head counts, making sure no one had wandered off unnoticed, and cleaning cotton candy off Harry Potter robes, and searching high and low for Aidan's lost scarf, and briefly losing Emerson, we had an unforgettable time at Party in the Park.

And Brandon's keeping that Thor costume.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T08:13:00.000-05:00

Love,

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermoine Granger, and Cho Chang

Saturday Nights at the Outnumbered House

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

When I was 13, Saturday nights were Mall Nights.

When I was 23, Saturday nights were Date Nights with the New Hot Husband.

And at 33, my last Saturday night was spent doing this:

1 hot husband, 4 pumpkins, and 4 very clear ideas on what was to be carved on the pumpkins.

Aidan wanted "a cross with Jesus on it". We convinced him that since Jesus didn't stay on the cross, and because it was too hard to carve, that just a regular cross would be better.

Harper and Emerson wanted "happy faces and bows".

As I was carving Harper's pumpkin, my sweet girl leaned forward, put her chubby little hand on the pumpkin, and whispered "I'm so sorry."

Dane carved a ghost, which he designed and drew out himself.

This Mommy carved Harper and Emerson's pumpkins, leaving Brandon slightly impressed that I could do something almost artistic.

I said almost.

The kids were very pleased with their pumpkin creations when all was said and done.

And speaking of "said and done", the jack-o-lanterns that have been sitting outside for the past 6 days will not be around to see another Saturday. Houston humidity + open pumpkins= nasty pumpkin mush x4 sitting on my front porch.

I'm so sorry, pumpkins.

But I'm secretly hoping that my Saturday night will look exactly like this 10 years from now.

Pumpkin "Patch" 2011

2011-10-26T08:34:00.001-05:00

Got another one checked off the Fall Bucket List!

Friday evening we grabbed a couple of buddies and headed out to one of our favorite spring-time haunts to check out their first ever pumpkin patch. I have been wanting my place to have a pumpkin patch for several years, so we would have another reason to visit besides picking strawberries.

Well, um, they may need a couple more years to perfect their pumpkin patch. It wasn't really a "patch" per se, more of a "dig through all of the shipping crates and pick through 14 tons (yes, 14 tons) of pumpkins to find the one you're looking for."

The good news is, it wasn't crowded.

I don't think they have quite figured out that most people go to a pumpkin patch to take cute pictures of their kids sitting amongst the pumpkins. If I just wanted to purchase a pumpkin, pretty sure I would just go down the street to the Kroger and get one there, instead of driving 45 minutes away to the advertised "pumpkin patch".

Undeterred, we selected our pumpkins, grabbed a couple of wagons, and enjoyed a perfect evening at the beautiful farm with our two little buddies. We tried our best for a couple of cute pictures of the group,

but Harper was having NONE of it.

I just love these pictures. I think I love them more than if they had turned out absolutely perfect, each child perfectly posed and smiling at the camera.

Imagine Christmas trees instead of pumpkins, and that's pretty much what our Christmas card pictures will look like this year.

Dane perfectly posed. Aidan's face completely revealing his mood at the moment. Emerson a bit distractible. Harper throwing a wall-eyed, completely irrational fit because clearly we are torturing her with all the sibling coordinated outfits and seasonal props. Life is hard when you're two.

Behind us is the corn maze, which we chose not to spend $64 for our group to walk through.

Instead, we enjoyed a picnic lunch (complete with cute little miniature orange sodas bought just for this occasion) and the kids played a few rounds of hide and go seek amongst the pumpkin crates.

We (might) see you next year, Not-Quite-A-Pumpkin-Patch!

Fishin' In The Dark

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Our church has a lovely little fishing pond. A little fishing pond, that, like every other body of water in Texas lately, is much lower than it has ever been. For the first time in several years, the church leadership informed us that it was our CONGREGATIONAL DUTY to catch the catfish and tilapia, take 'em home, fry 'em up, and eat 'em. Before they all die a slow, miserable death related to low pond levels. Or cold weather. Or spawning season. Or something else "fish related". I have no idea why, really. But they were all about to DIE if we didn't catch them.

Though I never had any intention of eating anything we caught (I'm pretty sure that would involve touching dead fish at some point, and, um, no thanks), we decided to enjoy the decent weather while it lasted and take the kids to do a little fishing.

The professional fishermen that we are, we loaded up our Sponge Bob fishing rod and hot dog bait, and settled in for a lovely evening at the church.

We weren't out there long before Dane and Aidan started reeling in some cute little fish. Nothing big enough to keep (thank goodness), just the right size for a little boy to reel in alone and to be pretty proud of himself.

They were pretty excited about their catches.

The trick to taking Harper anywhere is just to continuously feed her. Sandwiches. Apples. Pickles. It doesn't really matter, she'll stay out of the water and out of trouble if she's got a snack in hand.

Princess Eyelashes was not about to smile for her mommy.
I feel I should discuss my husband's hair situation at some point. I don't think I'm quite ready yet. But yes, Hot Brandon's hair is looking unusually long and luxurious lately. He's cut it once this year, and I'm not exactly sure what his hair-related goals are right now.
I'm getting a little sidetracked. The luxurious blond locks are distracting. We had a great time fishing. Fishing is fun. The hair is very long. And it blows in the wind and is sometimes worn in a ponytail. Like mine, except mine is much less blond and flowing and much more stringy and flat. But no, I'm not missing his short hair at all. I IN NO WAY have hair envy of my HUSBAND.

And clearly I'm just not ready to discuss the hair situation yet. Fishing. I was talking about fishing. Fishing is fun. We didn't keep any of them. Hallelujah.

Before and Not-Quite After: Boys Room Edition

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like we have been trying to finish Dane and Aidan's room FOREVER. By the time we get it just how we want it, the boys will be going off to college, and like my mother before me, I will be redecorating their room before they're even out of the driveway.

Another story for another time.

Back to the Boy Room.

Before: Twin beds from Uncle John's old room when he was a little boy.

Matching dresser with a broken drawer. Underbed drawers which held shoes. An antique chair from my grandfather that was super comfortable, but sat in the boys room because I had no where else to put it.

Stuffed animals everywhere. Posters in various stages of being torn down covering the walls. No toys, because they were taking up the upstairs playroom while the downstairs living room was overrun with little girl/toddler toys.

The plan? Bunk beds. Storage and room for all of their toys, away from the destructive hands of their little sister and away from the non-discriminating mouth of their littlest sister. Get rid of the posters, and find something else for the walls. I wanted them to have plenty of room to actually play with their toys IN THEIR ROOM instead of in the upstairs playroom, so I could transition the upstairs playroom into a girl playroom, moving all of the dress up clothes, dolls, books, Legos, etc. out of the downstairs living room.

The solution? Twin-over-double bunk beds (the boys sleep in the same bed anyway). I was looking for something very specific for the beds, I wanted a rail at the top, a ladder that went all the way to the ground, and I did not want to take up additional floor space with a "loft style" bed. And I wanted someone to come and put it together in the room. Me no likey furniture assembly.

We got rid of the shorter dresser with the broken drawers, and moved a dresser that had been in my closet, into the boys' closet for some of their clothes. We moved one of the short bookshelves into the girls' room to accomodate their ever growing collection of books and stuffed animals. These three pictures occupy the remaining bookshelf:

Brandon with each of the boys as a newborn in the hospital, and a cute shot of the boys sharing a snack after a soccer practice.

This little mat sits at the foot of their bed, Brandon bought it from a villager in Kenya.

I got a bunch of baskets for their growing collection of Legos, toys, Beyblades, etc, that fit nicely under their bed. I'm still not completely satisfied with the toy storage, and I am on the lookout for some sort of bench with storage space underneath. Maybe a space that can be used as a bench, or as a play table if needed.

Remember this desk?

After a little (actually, not enough) sanding, primer, and at least 3 coats of paint, it was finished. Not perfect, but finished.

The boys LOVE having the little cubbies and drawers for their treasures, and they've already found a bunch of pictures to tack to the little cork board. We moved the trophies out of the way of little hands (it's a little embarrassing how many trophies have been broken in our house) and moved the "Rock Bros" picture above the desk.

We still need to get a chair for the desk, and move some of their writing and drawing supplies up here. This room will never be all the way finished. Never.

And for the walls? Well. I wanted to put a couple of their favorite verses on the walls. Brandon and the boys liked that idea, but wanted to somehow incorporate Pokemon characters. Of course. We thought about painting something directly on the walls, but ultimately realized that the boys would want something different in a few years and that a canvas would be easier to switch out.

Brandon and I spent untold hours on the canvases, then shoved them into the garage when they were about 95% done. We just didn't know how to polish them up and make them look better, so Brandon's mom finished them up for us when they came to town a few weekends ago. Be forwarned: If you come visit us for the weekend, we're likely to give you a project to do.

Dane's verse:

Aidan's verse:

The spears and shield are from Brandon's trip to Kenya earlier this year.

I can assure you, their next verses will be much, much shorter than these.

The boys LOVE their new room, and spend hours and hours there, playing with stuffed animals, building Lego towns, and reading. I just hope they don't outgrow Pokemon characters any time soon.

Because I'm Ready for Some Football

2011-10-19T12:00:00.001-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, the moment that Dane and Aidan have been waiting for for MONTHS finally happened.

The start of flag football season.

The endless nights of running plays with Daddy in the backyard, the hours spent watching college and NFL games, all the drama during the Madden tournaments would soon pay off.

The rookie had a great first game playing for the Texans ,

proving himself to be a bit of a determined defensive powerhouse amoungst the 6 and 7 year olds, pulling four flags in four quarters.

And it goes without saying that he's a pretty big fan of the eye-black. (Sidenote: the players name the teams, and all but a few of the teams in the league are named the Texans. It makes cheering simple.)

Dane is playing with many of the same boys that he has played with the previous two seasons. They were dominating their age bracket last year, so this fall the team of mostly 7 year olds is playing against the 8 and 9 year old teams. Dane's usually one of the smallest guys on the field when he's playing against kids his own age, and this season will be no exception.

Dane got chosen as a team captain this week and was on the field for the cointoss. And yes, Harper helped with the cointoss as well. Dane's coach, Coach K, is standing on the right side of this picture in the red shirt, and I don't have enough good things to say about this man.

Coach K has been coaching this little group of boys since last fall, when his son Zion was on the team. At some point Coach K realized that he was put on this earth to be a volunteer flag football coach. Now he coaches the team, holds additional practices for the ones that want to come, and his son Zion? Well, Zion decided he wanted to play tennis instead of football this year. Now Coach K coaches this team of little boys (who ADORE him), and his own son plays tennis.

Dane's team (the Firebolts, by the way. It's possible my Harry Potter fanatic was involved in the name selection) is working on learning a few new offensive plays, and just like last year, Dane's happy place on the team is on defense, rushing the quarterback and chasing down anyone on the field with a football.

I'm excited about these upcoming Saturdays...kicking back in my camping chair, doling out fruit and snacks to the little sisters while their brothers run around the field and their father yells something about "staying home" and "watch the blitz".

Happy Football Season everyone.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

2011-10-17T06:59:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure if I've shared this here this or not, but a couple of months ago we signed Emerson up for a "Princess dance class" at our local dance studio. For the past eight Mondays, Emerson has practiced her moves and learned precious little ballet technique for the first 30 minutes of the class, and then for the last 30 minutes, the girls put on their beautiful Cinderella costumes, read Cinderella stories, and attempt to practice a routine to eventually present to Cinderella's loving family in the form of a mini-recital.

I don't need to tell you how cute the recital was. Or that it took me 37 minutes to get Emerson's hair into the requisite bun this past Saturday morning.

Over the past eight weeks, the girls learned several moves necessary to accurately portray the life and times of Cinderella.

Sweeping the floor,

directing traffic using very-official looking arm motions

and briefly levitating.

(I apologize for the quality of the above photos. Either I had the wrong camera, wrong lens, bad lighting, or just don't take very good pictures. But it's definitely one of those reasons.)

After the recital, Cinderella received flowers from her adoring fans,

then provided an opportunity for the public to have their picture made with her.

Upstairs, during the cupcake-and-sherbet-punch portion of the show, a very special guest arrived to mingle with the little Cinderellas.

A certain little sister LOVED meeting the real Cinderella. Harper was probably wondering how she had the time to stop by and chat in between all of her traffic directing duties.

Enjoy, sweet princesses. This is the closest you're ever getting to Disney World.

State Fair 2011

2011-10-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

Got one checked off of the Bucket List!

Last week we took our (almost) annual pilgrimage up to the State Fair of Texas. I finally had a chance to look at the 30oish pictures, and I thought I would take a moment to list my favorite moments from State Fair 2011. In no particular order:

1. Cousin time at Pappy and MoMo's house.

Okay, so this technically wasn't AT the fair, but my kids love seeing all of their cousins.

I would like to take a moment to point out that when I lived there, we were never allowed to throw footballs in the downstairs living room,

and there was definitely never a slide in the upstairs playroom.

I'm pretty sure Pappy and MoMo have lost complete control over the situation.

2. Emerson's first Fletcher's corny dog.

I don't think this picture requires further explanation.

3. The boys' "big ride", where, surprisingly, Aidan had a blast and Dane was scared. to. death. Terrified. Like one more thing to discuss in therapy someday, terrified.

It was one of those pirate ship rides that swings back and forth and makes you feel like you are going to fall out of.

4. Aidan's big win.

Brandon took the boys to play a few Midway games while the rest of us visited the petting zoo, and I missed the ball toss. Harper thinks this tiger is hers now.

5. The food we ate. Fletcher's corny dogs, Jack's french fries, a funnel cake to share, and a Pineapple Whip for everyone, because no one shares their Pineapple Whip.

A couple of members of our party were even guilty of partaking in a second Pineapple Whip.

6. The food we didn't eat. Y'all. I so had my heart set on one of those peeled fried potato things that just end up as one long twisty pile of fried potato goodness on your plate, but we left before I got a chance to partake. The fair was CROWDED on the day we went. So, so crowded, and I don't enjoy the crowds at all. We were so not enjoying the crowds that we left the fair before I got a twisty potato thing and before Brandon got this fried cheeseburger thing:

Fried pickles. Fried cheese. Onion rings. Fried green tomatoes. And beef.

But look! It has lettuce on it so it must be healthy.

7. My mother's belly bag.

Like Big Tex himself, my mother's belly bag has been a State Fair staple for as long as I can remember. She packs it the night before, and wears it with pride. She wears it so she "doesn't have to haul around a big purse." Which is ironic, because my entire family roamed around the fair as a big group, with 8 adults, 7 children, 2 double strollers, and 2 single strollers. But thank goodness MoMo had her belly bag so she didn't have to haul her purse around. Years from now, my siblings and I will squabble over who gets the antique dining room furniture, mom's jewelry, and the thousands of pictures from our childhood. But I gaurentee that Lindy is the only one who will want that belly bag.

7. Chasing Harper around the petting zoo.

What do you get when you take a bunch of farm animals, a few exotic animals you have never heard of, approximately 300 people, and Harper and toss them in a building on a warm afternoon in Dallas? Mass chaos, and a mommy who just chases Harper around the room, trying to keep her from licking the hand sanitizer from the little stations she was so enthralled with. There's a zebra 6 feet from her, and she was more interested in the hand sanitizer.

8. Little kid rides.

This is one I didn't get to see, because I was too busy watching my boys try not to fall out of the Pirate Ship of Death. But I think the littles had a good time on the airplanes.
And I'm not sure, but I think Emerson might have seen her Uncle John and his camera here.

Crowds and all, I LOVE the State Fair, and I am so glad we got the chance to go up and enjoy all that the fair had to offer (except for that twisty potato thing) with my family. See you next year, Big Tex!

Grammy and GranDoug Weekend

2011-10-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a little late with the Weekend Recap (hello, Friday night, it's lovely to see you.)

I would like to pause for a quick moment to share with you that the windows in my bedroom have been OPEN at night for the last several evenings, and I am so, so happy to feel that cool breeze on my face in the mornings. I am officially in love with the month of October. Me+October=LOVE 4Ever.

Back to last weekend. It started off Thursday evening, with Aidan getting off the bus, finding his way to the couch, and curling up for the next 3 hours or so. He complained of his "arms and legs hurting", and by 7pm was running a fever. Awesome. The good news is, he made it till 3am before puking all over the carpet next to my bed. So, Friday morning saw us in the pediatrician's office getting an antibiotic for strep throat. Because what better way to kick off a fun-filled weekend with grandparents and perfect weather than with strep throat?

Friday evening Grammy and GranDoug arrived for a weekend visit, and, as we would soon realize, some chore-finishing. No one visits our house without being assigned at least a couple of tasks to complete. Mi to-do-list es Su to-do-list :) Friday evening, Brandon, his parents, and Dane and Emerson loaded up and headed out to watch a high school football team lose an agonizing game against their cross-town rivals. I don't need to tell you how excited Emerson was to be going to a football game. Girlfriend is ENTHUSIASTIC. My Friday evening was spent at home cleaning up unthinkable amounts of vomit from the kitchen floor, wondering how can super-skinny Aidan can manage to expel such enormous quantities of gastric contents. It just doesn't seem possible that the volume of vomit I scrubbed from the floor should have even been able to fit inside his stomach.

With Grammy and GranDoug sleeping in the girls' room that night, the girls slept on a pallet on the floor in our room. I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but Harper is a VERY light sleeper. She typically wakes up on her own a time or two at night, falling back asleep on her own after a few minutes of fussing. It's likely that with her normal sleep cycles, she just wakes up during the "light sleep" part, instead of staying asleep. Not usually an issue, except when she wakes up on the floor in Mommy and Daddy's room at 3am and decides it's Singing Time. Then she realized that she wasn't in her own room and at 4am made up her mind that "Mommy, I go to MY bed now", sprinting across the house with her half-asleep Mommy catching her right before she opened her bedroom door and woke up her grandparents.

I would like to take a moment to thank the inventors of coffee for getting me through last weekend.

By Saturday morning, Aidan seemed on the mend, so we loaded him up on his antibiotics and Motrin and all headed out to a Fall Festival fundraiser benefitting our local assistance ministry. I have to remind myself sometimes that I'm not overpaying when it's a fund raiser to benefit those in need within my community. Because I would just sound like a stingy miser if I complained about overpaying at a Fall Festival when it benefits those in need. So I would never complain about that.

The good Lord provided perfect weather for us Saturday morning, and we enjoyed a few hours filled with inflatables,

little train rides, balloon animals, and (the hit of the morning) face painting.

Please don't ask me what Emerson is supposed to be here.

And the little sister could not have been prouder of her pretty flowers.

The boys were far too manly to have glittery flowers on their cheeks, so here's what they got instead:

We grabbed lunch and headed home for naptime and to give Grammy and GranDoug an opportunity to help us out with a couple of items on the never-ending Honey-Do list. Grammy finished up the artwork for the boys' room that we have been working on for the past month, and GranDoug and Brandon took care of a broken doorbell and some tree work in the backyard. Like any good Saturday afternoon this time of year, football was watched and naps were taken. I headed out with a (now non-contagious) Aidan and Emerson to a friend's birthday/water party while more artwork was painted and more football was watched. Saturday wrapped up (vomit-free) with a yummy dinner of chicken tacos and pink dip, and an early bedtime for this tired Mommy. I'd love to tell you that Harper slept through the night without singing a very loud rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to her sleeping sister at 3am, so I will.

Sunday morning, Aidan spent three hours laying on the couch complaining of not feeling well, so I kept him home for the morning while everyone else went to church and then to Brandon's soccer game afterwards. I needed Aidan to rest and start feeling better pronto, because Sunday and Monday were big, fun, busy days.

On the schedule? Number One on the Bucket List: The State Fair of Texas.

Fortunately, Aidan rested up and was still fever and vomit-free when we loaded up the van and headed to DFW on Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned for our Fair Adventure 2011 (as soon as I can plow through the 500 pictures that were taken last Monday!)

P.S. Someone googled "ugliest sweatpants ever" and landed on Outnumbered. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. Or clean out the boys' closet.

Fall Bucket List

2011-09-30T19:45:00.000-05:00

It is nearing the end of September, and NO MATTER WHAT the thermostat says, fall is upon us.

Did you hear me, Fall? YOU ARE UPON US.

I love this time of year. More than summer, more than Spring, more even than Christmas time (I think).

I've got a few things on my Fall 2011 Bucket List, activities that simply must be done while the weather is bearable.

1. State Fair of Texas

With the exception of last year, we have gone to the State Fair every year since the boys were old enough to smother their faces in Pineapple Whip. I have memories (and pictures) of going to the fair every single year growing up. I cannot wait for Emerson to experience it for the very first time. My girl who will eat anything will have her pick from fried oreos, fried funnel cake, and fried corny dogs. And my husband that will buy anything will have to show moderate restraint around the ShamWows!

2. Old MacDonald's Farm

We discovered this local gem last year, and just had the best time. Few places are worth us paying $8 per person for our family of six to attend, but this definitely makes the list. Don't know if we enjoyed the horseback rides, little train, or giant swing in the hay pile more.

3. Backyard campout and smores.

Another first for Emerson. It's a notable day in fall when it's finally cool enough to throw a tent in the backyard, light the chimnea, and grill hot dogs and marshmallows while pretending we're somewhere much more rustic than our lawn. It goes without saying that the boys LOVE this activity, and this year Emerson and Harper will be able to adventure also. Mommy might still sleep inside, though :)

4. King's Orchard pumpkin patch

Our favorite strawberry picking farm is offering a pumpkin patch for the first time this year, and we are anxious to try it out. We love a good pumpkin patch this time of year, and King's Orchard is a nice, spacious place that never feels "crowded". Hopefully their pumpkin patch will not disappoint.

5. Starbucks fall menu.

Pumpkin spice lattes. Salted caramel mocha frappuccinos. Enough said.

6. My favorite soup.

It's hot, spicy, and just can't be eaten in the summer. Because it's soup, and soup goes in the fall and winter. I'm mentally planning a date night involving my soup in a mug for dinner while Brandon and I watch NCIS after the kids have gone to bed. While sitting on the couch under a blankie in my comfy pants. Brandon and I are livin' on the edge.

Any "Fall Must-Dos" that I've forgotten about? What's on your Fall Bucket List?

In My Defense, At Least They Were Clean

2011-09-26T07:50:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned lately that I am loving my new job? I usually work only two days a week, which leaves us with a lot more time together as a family than we had been enjoying.

Last Friday was just such a day. I was home from work, Brandon was home from work, and we decided it was the perfect day to run a couple of errands together with the girls, and pick up some pieces for the kids Halloween costumes.

I know it's still September and 100 degrees in Houston today, but I am lighting my pumpkin candle, shopping for Halloween stuff, and WILLING the cooler weather to come. It WILL come. I WILL get to turn my air conditioner off (or at least adjust the temperature) sometime in the near future.

Back to Friday. We're running around the house, getting shoes on the girls and bows in the hair. Loading up the diaper bag and the sippy cups. Grocery list in the purse. I realize the new shirt I am wearing is cut a little lower than I had hoped, and decided to just throw one of my black tank tops under it real quick. As Brandon is loading the kids in the van, I rummage through the four loads of clean laundry in my living room, finally finding the black tank I was looking for, and quickly layer it under my new shirt before running out the door.

First stop? Our local costume store. For Halloween costumes? No, for face make up for a video Brandon is doing for church. I love our church and how well they indulge in my husband's creativity. Brandon was in this same costume store just last month, buying up "strong man wresting costumes" for the last video they did at church. He's in their so often, in fact, that the costume-store-guy recognizes him on sight and they chat about the church and the video and how Halloween business is at the costume store. Nothing like a little "spontaneous evangelism" while shopping for fake blood.

We wandered along, browsing the aisles, Brandon, Harper, Emerson, and me. And the costume-guy. We marveled at how many different costumes they could make for women that basically consisted of thigh-high stockings and something strapless up top.

Suddenly, costume-man stops in the aisle. Something in the aisle has caught his eye. We follow his gaze to see a pair of ladies panties in the floor. A pair of black, lacy ladies panties. Not really something practical, more like something that resembled the much more "adult" costumes in the other room of the costume store.

"Um, are these yours?" he says as he picks up the corner of the undies by his fingertips.

"No." I replied. Of course not.

"Woah! Maybe they're from one of the costumes. Maybe they were left in the dressing room or something!" my husband suggests.

"Hey, Misty! Check out what I found on the floor just now!" Costume-store-girl is not going to believe this.

Then I squint my eyes a little, and realize the object between his fingertips looks a little...familiar. My mind frantically goes back to those hurried moments of riffling through the laundry pile moments before leaving the house, and throwing on the black tank top before rushing out the door. Apparently, the little black tank top had a little black buddy static-clinging along for errand day, determined to make their costume-store debut to a slightly larger audience than they were accustomed to. I made a mental note to promptly fold and put away all clean laundry immediately from this day forward.

I started hyperventilating and sweating a little bit, as the costume-store guy walked away with my undies firmly in his grasp, saying a little prayer that my obvious distressed state would not reveal the true ownership of the surprise visitor. We continued to shop for a few more minutes, finally selecting just the right fake blood for Brandon's latest project, as my husband chatted to the oh-so-helpful employee/ underwear-finder about our church and our Halloween plans. To my credit, I made it all the way back to the van without vomiting. I debated never telling Brandon that the panties were mine, but then I realized I haven't blogged about anything other than qtips and football players in a while, and it's been even longer than that since I've used the internet to horrify my grandmother.

Please, please tell me that these things do not only happen to me. Please tell me that you, too, have unintentionally left a pair of saucy underwear in the costume store for an employee to find next to you and your small children while he was discussing fake blood options with your husband, the local youth minister.

Happens to everyone. Right?

15 Days Ago...

2011-09-19T14:42:00.001-05:00

My family (minus my hard-working Mommy) descended on my house for an evening of calzone making, baby holding, cousin chasing, and, as always, picture taking fun.

After all, when there's a brand new cousin, there must be a new cousin picture.

We knew it would be a challenge to get a decent picture of all seven little cousins, age 7 and younger.

What with one teeny-tiny baby Nora, a cantankerous Harper, distractible Emerson, and toddling Jack, it's a miracle we even got them to hold still enough for a couple of shots.

And then a swarm of hungry, thirsty Houston mosquitos descended on the group, and we knew our picture-taking moments were numbered.

Finally, after 10 minutes, 3 cameras, several hundred pictures, lots of bribery, and a little photoshop magic...

Seven cousins.

No One Has Ever Accused My Husband of Being Succinct

2011-09-12T21:04:00.004-05:00

Well. I didn't really intend to take a week-long blogging break, but I seem to have lost the ability to transmit cohesive thoughts onto a blog post. I have several posts drafted, with just pictures and no words, and a couple of posts in my head, but when I sit down at the computer, nothing happens.

Must be the computer. Technical difficulties.

I decided it would be the perfect time for my husband, Hot Brandon to jump in as a guest blogger and tell you about what the men of my family did on Labor Day.

Chances are, it's not how you spent your Labor Day. Unless you're the men of my family. Or Ethan "The Ross-a-tron" Berger. In that case, it is how you spent your Labor Day. Without further ado, here's Brandon's take on the day.

My father-in-law just happens to be the owner of a couple sets of huge risers that he had custom-made for taking football team pictures (He is a professional photographer after all), and these risers just happen to be the only risers like them in the world (I think it has something to do with the fact that he is the only photographer crazy enough to haul them around the country). Because of this, Pappy gets to take some pretty cool pictures. He has been hired the last few years to bring his risers to Super Bowls where they are used to take the team pictures. He shoots college football programs all over the country. And he happens to be the official, team-picture taker for the Houston Texans (Who are currently undefeated on the season – Whoop Whoop!). So Pappy decided that it was the perfect time to take Dane and Aidan, who just happen to be obsessed with football right now, to the annual Labor Day Texans picture extravaganza.

The morning started out as all mornings should…at the Cracker Barrel. After breakfast we piled into various vehicles and headed to Reliant Stadium.

Some of us were more excited than others.

Reliant Stadium has a grass field but the grass is grown on pallets that are removed and grown outside of the stadium during the off season. When we got to the stadium, we were able to drive the suburban with the risers into the stadium and onto the barren expanse of concrete that usually looks like a football field.

So all the adults on the trip (Dad (me), Pappy, Uncle John, Uncle Andy and Ethan “The Ross-a-tron” Berger) start unloading risers and getting them set up for about 11 and a half tons of football playing flesh to pile onto. While this was going on, the boys were free to run around on the concrete, play football, fly Uncle John’s remote controlled helicopter and just drink in the experience of being inside Reliant Stadium!

That lasted for about five minutes when the boys got “bored” and began filling the time by asking, “When are the players gonna get here,” about every 30 seconds and chugging Gatorade like it’s going out of style. Between them, Dane and Aidan probably backed down about 20 mini bottles of Gatorade in the three hours we were there (Seriously).

The closest bathroom facility from where we were was about 100 yards away. After the consumption of the Gatorade began, the boys inextricably worked out a system of having to pee about every 10 minutes. This may not sound too bad, but they weren’t on the same schedule…so every time I got back from the 200 yard bathroom trek the next boy would have to pee and it started all over again, meaning the three of us probably walked and extra 4 miles or so!!! I searched that “reliable” source of information – the World Wide Web (Thank you Al Gore) – for information about how long it takes water to pass through the body and found times from 62 hours (Those people have not met my kids) to 45 minutes. In my experience with Dane and Aidan, I think liquids simply fall right into their bladder because the turnaround time is almost instantaneous.

Somehow in between all the bathroom breaks, we were able to get everything set up for the photo shoot and the time had finally come…the Texans players began to arrive. Aidan decked out in his brand-new Andre Johnson jersey and Dane sporting Matt Schaub’s #8 had been instructed to follow Pappy around as he got the players situated on the risers.

The kids were in awe…they looked like two munchkins walking around in a forest of trees with 20-inch biceps.

6’4, 300lb. Shaun Cody saw Aidan and Dane staring open mouthed at their grid-iron heroes and came over to mess with the kids.

He knelt down and offered Aidan a fist-bump (His fist was about the size of Aidan’s head, on arms as big as my thighs), and just as Aidan went in to dap his knuckles Cody pulled his hand away and ran his fingers through his hair. Needless to say, Aidan thought that was AMAZING!

Pappy left the kids wandering around the players and went up to Matt Schaub and asked if he would sign Dane’s jersey (Pappy had the marker ready to go).

Schaub, who happens to be a really nice guy walks over to Dane, gets down on one knee and says, “Hey Dane, do you mind if I sign your jersey?” Dane, mouth open – unable to reply, simply turned and let Matt sign the back of his jersey. He regained the ability to speak just in time to squeak, “Thank you,” as Schaub returned to the risers.

Dane ran over to me afterwards and said excitedly, “I can’t believe Matt Schaub knows who I am.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him about the Pappy prompting…so my seven year old now thinks that he is household name among players in the NFL. That will help keep him humble…

Pappy then worked his way over the Andre Johnson (A man who many consider to be the best wide receiver in the NFL) and asked him to sign Aidan’s #80 Johnson jersey. And you have to understand, Aidan loves Andre Johnson. I told him a few years back that he was probably the best player on the Texans football team and that was enough for Aidan…Andre Johnson became his fav. He even named his favorite brown teddy bear after Andre and that bear terrorizes opposing defenses in Aidan’s stuffed animal football games.

Johnson who is also a really nice, soft-spoken 6’3 225lb. guy walked over to my tall-skinny 3’8" 48lb. Aidan and quietly asked if he could sign the jersey. It was so awesome to see the look of glee on Aidan’s face as the perennial pro bowler Andre Johnson knelt on the dusty concrete of Reliant Stadium and signed his jersey.

When I asked him what he thought about Johnson after meeting him up close later, Aidan said, “He was skinnier than I thought he would be.” Seriously Aidan? Andre Johnson is skinny? Um, I can touch my fore-finger and thumb when wrapped around your calves.

When all the players and coaches were lined up on the risers, Dane and Aidan were instructed by Pappy to sit inside an area right in front of the stands that was marked off by black tape.

The boys were able to sit in awe as the entire Houston Texans football organization was smiling for the camera as crazy Pappy yelled out things like, “Looky looky looky,” and “Yeehaw,” to get everyone looking at the camera simultaneously.

And of course, there was some wrestling in the taped off box as well. Who cares if you are 20 feet from a bunch of pro football players…there is always time for hand-to-hand combat.

After the players left we began to break the risers down and load them back on the trailers as Dane and Aidan, filled with gratitude about the amazing day they had just had thanks to Pappy, drove everyone crazy by messing with every possible thing they shouldn’t have, peeing three more times and complaining of the debilitating boredom they were experiencing.

Uncle Andy saved my sons from who knows what when he took half-finished Gatorade bottles left behind by the players away from them. The Texans are really nice, but I promise you I don’t want my boys drinking after professional football players…I don’t know where those mouths have been (Actually I do and that’s the scary part!) We piled back into various vehicles and headed home. As a fitting end to the day, five-minutes after leaving the stadium Dane was in desperate need of a bathroom. We made him hold it until he got home, where he and Aidan immediately ran to a bush outside of our garage and “watered” it…and that is the illustrious end to what was one of the best days ever for my 6 and 7 year old football maniacs. Thanks Pappy!

One Year Ago Today

2011-09-06T06:00:00.000-05:00

We laid our eyes on this little girl for the very first time.

And our lives were changed forever.

She wore a little peach dress, and several little chicken pox.

She ate noodles and a banana for her very first breakfast with us.

She carried a bag made for her my my sweet friend Heather, and a year later, takes that bag to dance class every Monday morning.

She talked nonstop that first day, and has not stopped talking since.

She speaks English now, and sings in her bed after we turn the lights off.

She cut her own bangs a couple of months ago with a pair of scissors she dug out of the junk drawer.

She loves getting dressed, and usually requests "two bows" in her hair.

The other day she and her little sister made a game of throwing their baby dolls down the stairs, then screaming "Oh, No!" as they ran to rescue them.

She loves going to school and church.

She is very bossy, and has discovered that if she is confident enough in her delivery, people will usually do what she tells them to do. Especially little sisters.

She is nothing like what we expected.

She is not in any adoption book that we read.

Nothing about our Emerson matches up with what we know of her first three years of life. Her sass, her language skills, her appetite, her health, her outgoing personality, her confidence. None of this is consistent with what a child who spent three years in an orphanage should be like.

And we are so, so thankful for that. We are so thankful for the little girl that God made her to be, and we know without a doubt that He created her for us, and us for her.

Some days have been easy, some days have been very hard, but we wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

Happy Gotcha Day, sweet Emerson. We love you so, so much.

"Before": Desk Edition

2011-09-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

Well.

I think we might just survive this school year. Two weeks in, and we are starting to settle into a routine of sorts. The boys are both enjoying school so far. I don't have enough good things to say about Dane's teacher. She lets Dane read as much as he wants to at school, as long as his work gets done. She doesn't own a cell phone. She appears to have a story to tell for everything, and Dane comes home telling fun stories about Mrs. W. She doesn't believe in homework. She is the mother of six children, and she doesn't assign homework because she thinks that family time in the evenings should be spent doing other things instead.

Amen and amen.

Aidan's surviving kindergarten after a somewhat rough first week of rule-learning and boundry-testing. Attitudes were adjusted, a sticker chart was hung on our fridge, and Aidan's getting the hang of this whole "school everyday and I have to listen to the teacher" thing. A prayer for the his darling teacher Mrs. S. would not be wasted.

The girls are LOVING school. LOVING it. Emerson is disappointed on days when she wakes up to learn that she is not going to school. Based on a sticker chart of her own that I found in the princess backpack, Harper's teachers have tentatively engaged in the futility of trying to potty train her. Good luck with that. Here's how potty training at home has gone so far:

Step 1: Harper pees in diaper.

Step 2: Harper immediately takes diaper off, leaving it where ever she may be.

Step 3: Naked Harper runs to Mommy, declaring that she needs to go potty.

Step 4: Hopeful Mommy plops Naked Harper onto potty, then watches as Harper does. nothing.

Step 5: Proud Harper claps her hands, proclaiming "Yay Harper! Harper go potty and get candy!"

Step 6: Proud Harper denied candy. Nothing in the potty=No candy.

Step 7: Proud Harper becomes Angry Naked Harper, throws her naked body on the ground and screams for a bit, refusing to have diaper reapplied.

Step 8: Naked Harper relents, diaper reapplied.

Step 9: See Step 1

Needless to say, neither one of us is completely on board with the whole potty training thing at the moment. I think I expected her to be easy to train, since she is a girl, but I think we'll just let her go at her own leasurely pace for a bit longer.

We've had a few ongoing projects around the Outnumbered House (besides potty training), and my the state of my garage is about to drive me crazy. The dirty floor. The paint splatters. The piles of junk making the tool bench inaccessable. I've decided that Mother Nature and I are in a bit of a standoff, and I refuse to have a Garage Cleaning Day until the weather dips below 95. And I am standing firm.

One of those projects?

Some friends of ours passed on to us their (now grown) son's desk. We have been looking for something for the boys' room, and I'm always psyched to score free furniture. She warned us that he had written on the desk in a few places:

Bring it on.

I've got a team of helpers that are not intimidated by stickers and graffiti.

And a can of red paint, leftover from another piece of bargain furniture.

The "after" picture will come later. As soon as I dig myself out from under the disaster that is my garage.

They're Reaching for the Stars

2011-09-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

A few days before school started, the talk in my house turned to what kindergarten was going to be like. I had a very excited, yet a little anxious, soon-to-be kindergartener, and a verteran elementary schooler doling out hard-earned advice about kindergarten and even college:

Dane: "You're going to like kindergarten. The people are real...friendly."

(After being kicked in the crotch by his brother) "Aidan, when you go to college, the girls will not like you if you kick other people in the crotch."
"College is...hard. Like, it makes you think so hard that your brains fall out."

And according to Aidan: "You have to go to college to find a girl to marry. After I go to college I want to sell cars to people. I will sell a lot of cars, and get one hundred dollars so I can buy my own car."

A couple of weeks later, Aidan had to fill out an "About Me" paper for school, and one of the questions addressed "What do you want to be when you grow up". I though this would be an easy question for my Aidan. Needless to say, he had some opinions on the matter.

Aidan, what do you want to be when you grow up?

I don't know, ask me when I'm 18.

I can't put that on this paper. I thought you wanted to be a guy that sells cars.

Dad says that's the worst job ever.

What about a youth minister like Daddy?

No, that's too hard. You have to work too much to do that.

What about a policeman like Uncle Izzy? Sometimes they get to have a dog with them at work!

No, that's too hard.

Do you want to take pictures like Uncle John?

That does not sound fun.

What about a dentist like Uncle Jeremy?

No, that job is too...toothy.

Do you want to be an architect like Uncle Andy?

What's an architect?

They decide what houses and buildings are going to look like, then they draw pictures of them and help build them.

Yeah! That sounds really easy, I wouldn't have to work too much to do that.

Apparently kindergarten these last couple of weeks have taken quite the toll on Aidan's work ethic. And he has somehow gotten into his head that architects have the easiest job ever. I asked Dane the same question a few days ago, and got a somewhat different, yet all too practical answer from my biggest:

Dane, what kind of job do you want to have when you are older?

"Whatever kind is hiring."

Reach for the stars, my boys. Reach for the stars.

Orange Leaf

2011-08-31T08:52:00.000-05:00

When I grow up I want to open up one of those self-serve frozen yogurt places.

The kind that claims to be so very healthy and beneficial for digestive balance.

The kind that encourages you to serve yourself about half a gallon worth of healthy and beneficial frozen yogurt into very large serving cups, then smother it with chocolate chips and candy bar chunks.

The kind that has bright green walls and orange couches.

And plays music, encouraging bad dancing from its customers.

The kind where your two year old can crawl under the legs of the molded plastic chairs

and an impromptu wrestling match with Daddy may take place.

The kind that your boy decides to visit in leu of a birthday cake on his birthday, so that he can craft his own birthday-cake flavored frozen yogurt covered in gummy worms and sprinkles.

Yes, the birthday celebration still continues.

I Just Hope Their Teachers Are Ready

2011-08-26T16:10:00.001-05:00

Last week a couple of sisters started pre-school.

They woke up early, put on their first day of school clothes, and, with much anticipation, finally got to carry their backpacks and lunchboxes. In fact, a certain littlest sister has carried her backpack and lunchbox every day since then.

The two sisters went outside, in the 98% relative humidity, and posed for pictures before the fogged-over camera lens.

A certain outspoken four year old had the privledge of being the "line leader" on her first day of school.

I'm sure she hated that.

Being the first in line? Telling people where to go and showing them how to do it? That's not right up anyone's alley.

Maybe she will grow up and be a school teacher. Or a CEO. Anything but a tour guide.

Her little sister didn't have much to say about her first day of school other than "Harper go night night." I think she had a successful naptime.

I'm so grateful for the girls' little school, and I can't wait to see how much they are learning this year!

Six

2011-08-24T20:57:00.000-05:00

Dear Aidan,

Happy sixth birthday to my sweet A-man! I think back every birthday on the day you were born, the very first time I met my tall, skinny, red-faced screaming baby. Little did I know then that you would always be my passionate, spirited child.

There's a lot about you right now that I just want to bottle up and never forget. Your pappy always says that you'll never be a poker player. Every emotion you have shows from your head to your toes. We never have to wonder how you are feeling, or what kind of day you are having.

Your most favorite toys in the world right now are still your stuffed animals. You sleep with about 30 little animals every night, and after we put you and Dane to bed, we peek in to see you acting out all sorts of adventures with your animals. Your favorite is a little bear you have named "Andre Johnson", and then later clarified that "this bear is Andre Johnson. Even though the real Andre Johnson is black and my bear is brown." Just in case we were confused on the matter. You are very matter-of-fact about quite a few things, and a few months ago pointed out that Emerson has the same color of skin as your cousin, Joel Valdez. Who, as you guessed it, is not Chinese.

You are learning a real appreciation for all of the different and beautiful people that God created.

This past year has been a big year for you, you have learned so much in your final year of preschool, and you kicked off Kindergarten this past week with a bang and are loving every minute of it. You came home from your first day of school with this picture:

Your Daddy and I stared at this picture for a good minute or two, until you explained that, clearly, this was a picture of you next to a giant, blue cafeteria table. OF COURSE it is a giant blue cafeteria table. That is exactly what it looks like. (And we're going to work with you on spelling your name correctly.)

You CANNOT wait to learn how to read, so that you will be able to read stories at bedtime while Dane is reading. You are still learning how to "control your anger" every now and then, and have fewer and fewer tantrums and fits the older you get.

You have gotten so tall this past year, and are still skinny as a little rail. You're just a couple of inches shorter, and about six pounds lighter than your favorite brother in the whole wild world. You pick out your clothes every day, and we frequently see you in patterned shorts and bright socks pulled up to your knees.

We celebrated your big birthday with you today by eating lunch with you at school.

Well, if you can call it lunch at 10:35am. I was just barely able to convince the good people at McDonalds to put together a couple of Happy Meals at 10:30 in the morning.

(I did not realize that Harper and I were making the same face in this picture.)

Now I know why you are starving when you get off the bus in the afternoons. You got to wear a birthday crown all day at school today, and later today you have requested Papa Johns pizza and frozen yogurt as a special birthday treat. You'll open a couple of presents tonight, but your birthday party is this weekend at Chuck E Cheese. We broke our tradition of the waterslide party over Labor Day weekend, and took the easy route instead. You attended a party at CEC a couple of months ago, and talked about it nonstop for weeks. So instead of making invitations, cleaning the house, renting the slide, shopping for food, drinks, goodies, cake, entertaining the children, fighting the heat, remembering to pick up the ice, drying the children, opening the presents, passing out goodies, and cleaning the house again, we are simply showing up with a cake. Thank you for that, Aidan. This is the best birthday gift you could have gotten me.

You have been loving church these days. At the beginning of the summer you made the leap from the preschool room to the K-3rd grade area, and you get to be with Dane for part of the morning now. Our wonderful church has a worship band just for your age group, and one of the band members shared with me the other night about how much you love to sing your worship songs. Actually what she said was "he sings so loud that I actually got distracted while I was singing and forgot my words." Bless your heart. You know the words, and the motions, and you sing at the top of your lungs with a determined intensity. I'm afraid you take after your mother with your desire to sit in the front of the room, and sing really loud and off-key. Only I sit on the front row so no one else can hear me :)

Aidan, we love you so, so much and are so proud of the big boy that you are becoming. I cannot wait to see what Six has in store for you!

First Day of School- Boy Edition

2011-08-22T21:54:00.001-05:00

Happy First Day of School!

Do these shirts look a little familiar? Like from my last post?

If you think I was fighting wardrobe battles on the first day of school, you are mistaken. Hence the plaid shorts and Texans shirts.

I didn't know exactly how this day would go, with my Aidan starting kindergarten. We met the teachers last Friday, and Aidan has the same teacher as Dane had, Mrs. S. (Formerly known as Miss G. Miss G. got married to a lovely man over the summer, so now she is Mrs. S.). Aidan and Dane got off the bus this afternoon, and Aidan was GLOWING. He had a great first day, and loved school! He made a few new friends, and his favorite part of the day was lunch, where he got to buy his lunch and drink chocolate milk.

Dane's teacher for the second grade is Mrs. W, and he has several friends in his class. And yes, he is wearing Harry Potter glasses. He bombed his vision screening at his pediatrician's office last month, and a couple of weeks ago his eye doctor declared him near-sighted. Dane, half-way through the fourth Harry Potter book, selected these cute round frames, and proceeded to draw a Sharpie-marer lightening bolt on his forehead. Needless to say, Halloween costumes will be an easy choice this year.

I am so thankful my boys had a great first day, and I am praying it continues throughout the whole year!

Go Texans Go

2011-08-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

This past Monday morning, as I'm getting my day of grocery shopping and child wrangling planned out, I get a phone call from my dear husband from work.

Someone is offering me four free tickets to the Texans game tonight. They're on the 50 yard line and parking passes are included. Can I go?

Free tickets? TAKE THEM! Just don't plan on taking a bunch of your buddies from work.

Because I know a boy or two who would DIE if you went without them.

And a certain determined Mommy managed to get one of those boys to take a two hour pre-game nap, so he would be in a great mood all night.

According to Aidan, "Andre Johnson's team won, but he wasn't there." It's a tough pre-season pill to swallow, some of your favorite players may not actually be playing.

Brandon took just a few pictures at the game, but these gems were included for some reason:

Thanks, Brandon. I feel these shots really captured the spirit of the moment.

So this football season, if you're sitting around thinking to yourself, "Gosh, I have all of these football tickets that I just don't know what to do with", you know who to call!

Great Wolf Lodge

2011-08-18T15:50:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a little late wrapping this vacation up. But I have yet to blog about Dane and Aidan's favorite part of Road Trip Extravaganza 2011. I thought I would start with an open letter to the friendly and accomodating people at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Dear WolfMan,

Thank you for hosting our little family on our final night of Road Trip Extravaganza 2011. We wrapped up a week-long road trip with a night in your hotel last week, and I would love to share with you a snippet of our experience.

We arrived at about 1pm, after driving in from the Comfort Inn in Oklahoma City. We had just enjoyed a lovely night at the Comfort Inn, taken advantage of their indoor swimming pool, where we were the only patrons, and partook of a tasty continental breakfast before heading your way. The room was clean, quiet, with ample room for the six of us. In the morning we filled our cooler with the free ice, refilled the sippy cups with the complimenary juice and milk, and headed out. All for the very reasonable price of $69.

I know.

The Great Wolf Lodge is not the Comfort Inn. But remember, it's not Disney World either.

I am not intending to compare apples to oranges. I made reservations at your establishment ahead of time online, and I was aware of the rates before I ever set foot in your hotel. I was prepared to shell out the $369 per night plus taxes and fees for my family to enjoy a night in a fun hotel and take full advantage of your much-publicized indoor water park. Upon check in, I was bombarded before I even left the desk with offers to shell out an additional $60 per child for them to enjoy a package of activities in addition to the water park. Didn't I want my kids to play MagiQuest? To run around the hotel with their wands, searching for treasure and slaying dragons? Don't you know they are going to see the build-a-bear store and cry big crocodile tears if they are denied the opportunity to stuff their very own Violet the Wolf? And the kid-geared nail spa! Don't forget the nail spa! What two year old doesn't need a $40 pedicure?

Really? I've just paid over $400 for the room and water park passes, and now you want me to fork over another HUGE chunk of change for additional activities? We're only going to be here one night. ONE NIGHT. 24 HOURS. So, no. We'll stick with the water park.

Our room was not yet ready when we checked in (the hotel generously allows guests to use their facilities before the actual check-in time of 4pm), so we took off to enjoy the much-talked about indoor water park. I had hoped to use a locker for my purse, only to learn that it would cost me an additional $10 to rent a locker for a couple of hours. Seriously. So we grabbed a couple of chairs, and hid my purse and husband's wallet under the diaper bag and the bag of clothes we had to change into.

One well thought detail: mine and my husband's wristbands were coded with our room key, so we didn't have to keep up with the room key while we enjoyed the water park. However. I had heard from others about the Great Wolf Lodge's "secure indoor water park", and applied the wrist bands required for admission to the little wrists of my children. And I have to say, I think some may have played it a little fast and loose with the word "secure". Basically anyone with a wristband on (every guest of the hotel) can walk into the water park and walk out with any child they want to. I thought maybe the room number would be coded on the kids' bands, or have a bar code they would have to swipe in and out with, but in reality their arm bands look just like the allergy bands that I put on my patients in the ER. Just a red plastic band.

We really enjoyed the water park. As I expected, I stayed with the girls in the toddler area, and Brandon and the boys ran around riding on all of the huge slides, Aidan tiptoeing past the lifeguards on duty so that he would appear tall enough to ride the cool rides. When I say I "stayed with the girls", what I meant was, I stood in the 18 inch toddler pool for a day and a half, two-year old Harper clinging to my neck and clutching at my swimsuit if I dared to venture anywhere except the toddler pool.

We did eventually hand over an extra $33 for my sons to share a wand (a cheap, broke-as-soon-as-we-got-home wand), and the boys and husband ran all over your fine establishment way past bedtime, playing MagiQuest, finding clues and treasure, slaying the dragons. MagiQuest was Dane's favorite part of the entire family vacation, in fact.

Mr. WolfMan, my family had a wonderful time at the Great Wolf Lodge. The rooms were clean. The water park was great fun. The whole "scan your wristband to get in your room" thing is brilliant.

But if you want me to come back anytime in the next five years, you're out of luck.

A couple of things I wish you had asked my opinion about before you opened your lovely hotel:

1. I appreciate you not charging for my 2 year old to use the water park. However, recognize that an adult will be attached to that 2 year old in the water park the entire visit, and consider a discounted adult rate for said adult. Because that adult will not be able to partake of your twisty slides and wave pool, she will be fighting to keep her swimsuit in place while her terrified daugher tries to pull it down the entire day.

2. Maybe think about more than 6 elevators for several thousand people in an 8 story building. Just a thought.

3. I just spent more money for a one night visit in your hotel than I did the previous 6 days on my road trip. Please don't make me think that my kids are "missing out" on something super fun if I don't pay an additional $33 for the MagiQuest wand. For crying out loud, we're staying at a hotel with a huge indoor water park. If there's another super fun activity, and it's costing you, Mr. Wolfman, the cost of a cheap break-as-soon-as-you-get-home wand, please consider making it a complimentary part of The Great Wolf Lodge experience. School age boys everywhere will appreciate it. The MagiQuest game was a huge hit with the boys in my family, the highlight of their stay was getting to stay up till 11pm and run around the hotel on a scavenger hunt with their Daddy. Well, done, Harry Potter-obsessed video game savant who came up with this concept. Mr. WolfMan is making a killing on it.

4. I'd love to give you suggestions about the food in your lovely establishment, but I decided my children may like a little money left in their college fund instead of sampling what I'm sure are world class cheeseburgers and pizza. We enjoyed our granola bar breakfast and sandwiches for dinner in our room very much.

5. I noticed, when we were in the lobby for the 8:30 "bedtime story" (complete with a wonderful story teller and one of those people-wearing-a-wolf-costume things), that your hotel bar is situated overlooking the main lobby, complete with its' 8:30 bedtime story. A horrifying thought struck me: there are adults here who may not have children with them. Business travelers, perhaps? Meetings? Conventions? Bless their hearts. They are in your fine hotel, sharing tight elevator space with all manor of half dressed people in soaking wet swimwear, my children are running up and down the hallways at 11pm, and now when they pop into the hotel bar for a little adult interaction, they are subjected to the preschool bedtime stories from Wiley the Wolf. File this one away with the elevator suggestion: Maybe next time put the bar as far away from children as possible. Everyone in there is trying to pretend children, and anything associated with a water parks and giant wolf costumes do not exist.

6. I hate to keep harping on how expensive this was. Did I mention I paid approximately $400 for the night? The hotel room was lovely, but it was a $120 room. The water park was unlike anything I have ever seen when it comes to on-site family entertainment, but simply put, it was not worth the money. I would have happily paid $250 for the experience that we had, but we shelled out way more than that, without ever paying for a meal. I understand that there are slightly more reasonable rates available mid-week during the school year, but I expected a lot more than I got for my money on this visit.

Hopefully, a few years down the road, we will reunite, Great Wolf Lodge. Perhaps my children will all be old enough, at that time, to better utilize your impressive facilities. Perhaps my cooler will be better stocked with goodies. Perhaps we will all play hooky and come during the school year. Perhaps we will request a room on the second floor and take the stairs instead of waiting for your six elevators. Until then, I am afraid this is good-bye, for now at least.

Love,

Mandy

Truth be told, we had a good time at The Great Wolf Lodge. We just drove away the next day feeling robbed of all of our money, left with only a chlorine-ruined pedicure and a bag full of wet swimsuits. And a wand that broke when we got home.

All in all, our week-long Road Trip Extravaganza was a success! We learned a few things along the way (Harper + 3 siblings does not equal falling asleep at night successfully) and had some wonderful experiences together that I hope our children will remember for a long time. Dane's most favorite thing: MagiQuest and the water park. Aidan's most favorite thing: "When Daddy was throwing me in the air at the swimming pool". AKA, swimming at the Comfort Inn in Oklahoma City. Emerson's favorite part: "Yeah, it was fun!!". Harper's favorite part was probably feeling like a big kid the whole week, sleeping with her sister and brothers and playing and goofing off well past her bedtime.

My favorite part? Spending a week with my favorite people in the world.

Dodge City

2011-08-14T09:00:00.003-05:00

I have no idea how long it will take me to recap this road trip. It’s possible that I will still be blogging about it right up until school starts. Consider yourself forewarned.

A couple of Aidan-isms from our trip...

“I think God must really like us the best because we love Jesus so much. Because where ever we go the sun always follows us.” (I didn’t have the heart to tell him that when you are driving west on a sunny afternoon, the sun does seem to follow you.)

“Do you spell ‘newspaper’ n-e-w-s-p-a-p-e-r? I can’t believe it ends with an “r”. It sounds like it ends with an “a”. News-papah.” (Someday he will be able to say his r’s and I will miss the cute way he says everything now. Even if sometimes he sounds like he’s from New Jersey and I can’t understand him. Love that kid.)

Sunday evening we arrived in Dodge City, Kansas, early childhood home of my dear husband.

(Brandon's childhood home)

We checked into a hotel, and within 5 minutes Aidan had launched himself from the bed head-first into the table, cutting his eye open and giving himself this sweet shiner:

It’s what happens when four little monkeys are jumping on the bed. And it’s what my kids do in hotel rooms. And I didn't really lock him in jail afterwards. It's just the only picture of the eye I could find.

We unloaded the van, just in time for Dodge City to experience it’s first legitimate rain storm in many, many months. It was long-prayed for rain for this drought-striken part of the country. Of course, as we are driving around looking for somewhere to eat dinner, seeing trees swaying and water whipping around, I may have cracked my window just a smidge listening for tornado sirens. I’m still convinced that we narrowly missed a twister. We ate dinner, then arrived back at the hotel to find that the power was out. Picture all six of us wandering down a dark hallway looking for our room, and then getting the kids to bed with only the flashlight app on Brandon’s phone as a light source. Always an adventure for us. Fortunately, the storm had cooled things off to about 70 degrees, so the couple of hours without power was not near as uncomfortable as it could have been.

The next morning (Monday morning) we were greeted with a breezy 75 degree day outside, and hurried out of our hotel room as quickly as possible and headed over to Boot Hill.

I'm sure there's some sort of historical significance to this train. The kids loved checking out the inside.

And Brandon and the boys loved climbing all over the outside.

"There's not a sign that says 'do not climb'! That means we can climb over it!" Which one of my three boys said this?

We went to jail,

visited the museum full of Native American artifacts and guns, and witnessed a gunfight. There's a cute little street-front of stores, made up inside to look as they did in the days of Wyatt Earp.

The pharmacy is always fascinating to me in these types of places.

And look what we have here!

Sasparillas were enjoyed at the Saloon where the kids danced around to live piano music.

And you can't go to Boot Hill without visiting the outhouse built for two.

Who thinks this is a good idea?

I'll tell you who...

One thing that I loved about Boot Hill was that it wasn't packed wall-to-wall with people. We saw a few other families there, but it was never crowded, and we never waited in any sort of line while we were there. My kids loved climbing on everything that didn't have a "Do Not Climb" sign on it.

Then, because my love for my husband knows no bounds, this unfortunate picture was taken.

Idontwanttotalkaboutit.

The boys especially LOVED Boot Hill. The mommy loved Boot Hill because the place was a bargain! Our whole family got in for $35, and the gift shop actually had reasonable prices. We NEVER get souveniers at these places, but the kids each got to pick out little carved rock pendants for $1.75 each.

Little did I know how much I would appreciate these cheap prices as we left Dodge City, headed towards Grapevine, Texas and the Great Wolf Lodge.

Part 3 of Road Trip Extravaganza

2011-08-12T09:00:00.000-05:00

Before I continue on with our little road trip recaps, I would like to take a moment to recognize some very important van-members that we could not have made the trip without:

Emma the GPS. Your contributions have been invaluable, even when you got us a little turned around on the country roads in western Kansas and Oklahoma. We forgive you. The roads over there all looked the same to us too.

Backseat laundry basket full of food. Groceries, you have saved us quite a bit of change on this road trip. We will never again leave for six days without our adequate supply of bread, peanut butter, snack crackers, granola bars, chips, Craisins, applesauce, fruit snacks, water jugs, and a 12 pack of diet coke with splenda. Honorable mention goes to the roll of paper towels and stash of empty trash sacks.

Stocked cooler. Who goes on a road trip without a gallon jug of milk? Not this family. We kept her stocked with the milk, flavored coffee creamer (I am a bit of a high maintenance coffee drinker), Capri suns, fruit, yogurts, hot dogs, jelly, and (at one point) leftover pizza from dinner Monday night in Oklahoma City. We loved having options for hungry kids on the road, without having to stop for chicken nuggets constantly.

DVD player. Self explainitory. It would have been even more invaluable had we remembered to bring any of our DVDs from home, instead of relying on a $5 Smurfs movie that we picked up from WalMart.

Moving on.

We pulled into Brandon’s grandparents’ house in Wichita at about 4pm on Saturday, and spent some time catching up with them and chasing their terrified kitty around the house before heading out for some dinner. Emerson never fails to impress us with her ability to clean her plate, regardless of what she is eating. Saturday night she ate her entire bowl of pasta, several breadsticks dipped in my spaghetti sauce, what was left of MaMaw’s pasta dish, and polished it off with a scoop of blue ice cream from Braum’s.

We had a chance to catch up a little with Brandon’s uncle and his family at the Braum’s. My children have good days and bad days, and to say the least, the trip to Braum’s was not their finest hour. In the hour and a half that we were there, Emerson’s nose started spontaneously bleeding, requiring a 10 minute trip to the bathroom with mommy. Then my sweet girl saw a “little person” (is that the p.c. term for it? Is it rude to put that in quotes?) I guess I shouldn’t worry if my quotes are rude, since Emerson went up to the little person, pointed at him, and with an awestruck expression on her sweet face, said “Wow! Look, Mommy!” I was horrified, to say the least, and kindly apologized to the nice man who just wanted ice cream that night, not an audience of preschool gawkers.

Because my children hadn’t embarrassed us in front of extended family enough for one night, Dane and Aidan engaged in a wrestling match ON THE FLOOR OF BRAUM’S when they were sent to throw trash away, then Harper licked the table where some of her ice cream had spilled. We got the kids settled, drawing on some paper napkins with pens from my purse for a little while, then I realized that Dane had been writing letters that started "Dear Poop, " and then digressed from there. I would have written if off as normal 7 year old boy stuff, until he started drawing illustrations of his subject matter.

I did not take pictures of his illustrations. There’s enough filth on the internet without looking at Dane’s poop drawings.

Sunday morning we packed up and loaded up and headed to church with Brandon’s grandparents, and then corralled everyone afterwards for a few pictures...

After a little lunch and some hugs goodbye, we headed over to visit Brandon’s Grandma Helen. I’m making this sound so simple, but the reality is that we drove around Wichita for over an hour, not sure of where Grandma Helen lived, and unable to get ahold of any family members who may know. Heaven forbid we get the address ahead of time. We felt pretty ridiculous.

Finally we made it...

And as a bonus, saw Brandon’s Uncle Charles also.

After another trip to Braum’s, we headed out for the three hour trek west to Dodge City.

Arbuckle Wilderness

2011-08-10T22:37:00.000-05:00

(Join with us as we continue the road trippin’ fun, north from DFW up to Wichita, Kansas and beyond... I know the anticipation is killing you.)

Itinerary in hand, I looked on Weather.com a few days before we left on our trip. I wanted to check out if the weather would be fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot, or just regular August-hot.

Well. Behold the pink. Our trip would take us from the hot mugginess of Houston, to the blistering hot dryness of Dallas, only to end up in the record-setting hot of Wichita. Not to be left out, we decided mid-morning on Saturday not to leave Oklahoma without experiencing her 115 degree weekend. Would someone I’m related to PLEASE move to Colorado? My only consolation is that now I am bound and determined to go visit my Kentucky family next spring. I will go. After this road trip, Kentucky and it’s relatively milder weather seems like a piece of cake.

We impulsively decided after seeing a billboard to forgo our lunch-in-OKC plans and take everyone to Arbuckle Wilderness. (When I was growing up there was a commercial on TV that played all the time, and to this day, when I mentally think the words “Arbuckle wilderness”, it is immediately followed up with, in my head, “Wow! What a difference!”

For those of you who don’t regularly drive past exit 51 in Oklahoma, Arbuckle Wilderness is one of those places where you stay in your car and all kinds of displaced African safari animals are supposed to wander up to your minivan and eat animal feed out of the pepsi cups that you bought at the gate for $3 each. You drive through, and try not to run over any llamas or miniature donkeys.

I had set the bar low for this place. I think we have all been to zoos, peering anxiously into the lion area, only to realize that the lions are hot and holing up inside, away from the prying eyes of visitors. I was prepared to see near empty habitats, because how crazy do you have to be, to be wearing a full coat of hair/fur, wandering around the 115 degree Oklahoma heat?

Apparently, just a little crazier than the family in the minivan with the windows rolled down in the 115 degree Oklahoma heat.

I would like to offer some tips to any future visitor of Arbuckle Wilderness:

Let the kids out of the seatbelts. You are driving 5 miles per hour, alone, on a set path. Getting to drive and sit in the front seat will be a highlight for some of your children.

Getting to run around the now-empty backseat unencumbered and eating Craisins out of the snack basket all by yourself will definitely be the highlight for some of your other children, who may or may not have even known there were animals outside.

There were animals outside? Um, yes. And go ahead and get that extra cup of animal food, because these aggressive llamas will grab an entire cup out of your 4 year olds’ hand, snarf down the goodies, and throw the empty cup on the ground.

Zebras are really pretty. And bigger than you think they will be.

The identity of this animal has not been officially confirmed (it looks a lot like a Brahman cattle to me, Brandon thinks it’s a Sabu), but he has a gigantic head that he WILL stick entirely in the van and drool all over whatever hand is holding his snack cup.

This was the only animal I was actually concerned about tipping the van over. He and his buddies could totally do it.

And if this guy comes to your window?

Do what Emmy and I did, and DO NOT UNROLL YOUR WINDOW. Do not do what Brandon did, which was unroll the window and watch as this crazy ostrich reached his long neck halfway across our front seat, attempting to peck Aidan’s eyes out.

Okay, he may not have actually been aiming for eyeballs, but he very well could have been. These are mean birds, people, mean birds.

When you finish driving through Arbuckle Wilderness, go ahead and cross the highway and pick up a fried pie from the fried pie place. Just think of all the calories you surely burned off while you were clinging to your children in the front seat, saving them from being Brahman lunch and ostrich eyeball appetizers. Dane was considerably braver than his mommy was when it came to feeding all kinds of undomesticated animals out of the front seat. There was some screaming and some clutching on my part.

Overall, our little side trip was worth every penny. I love that we’re on a little vaca that allows for impromptu side trips. The kids LOVED Arbuckle Wilderness, and it’s not every day that you get to feed zebras out the side of your window in Oklahoma.

(Please forgive the numbering/spacing in this post. Something happened when I transferred the word document into blogger and then added pictures. And I'm too tired to fix it.)