Beach Holiday

After Christmas, we packed up the car and headed for South Padre with Brad's family. Beach weather it was not--mid-50s, windy, and some rain--but the kids had a blast playing racquetball, working puzzles, playing board games, watching movies, sword fighting, and, of course tromping to the beach in winter attire to feed the sea gulls! Goggles afforded much-needed eye protection from the blowing sand.

Christmas Cheer

Christmas Eve with my grandparents

Christmas PJs

Christmas Favorite--American Girl Doll

Christmas Favorites--Sword, belt, Lightning McQueen slippers

Playing Abby's new game

The Great Gingerbread Collapse '09

For Christmas 2005, my mom and I started a gingerbread-house-making tradition with Abby. And we haven't missed a year yet. Of course, when Will came along, he gladly joined the tradition because it's really all about eating the candy that doesn't somehow become fastened to the houses fast enough! The kids have great fun, and the adults do too--I don't know who looks forward to the event more!

Will really got into decorating his this year. In the past, we mostly did it ourselves with him in our laps just eating candy. But, this year, he put the candy on all by himself and just directed me where to squirt frosting.

He was so proud! 

But then . . . the roof started sliding. Abby's was so well designed and engineered that she had no problem. (And she very artistically decorated the house almost entirely on her own--she's getting so big!). Will's started sagging just as we finished decorating. You can see the worried looks on our faces in the background of Abby's shot. I was trying to hold up the roof to let the frosting dry and set. Then, we took it apart to add MORE frosting to get better adhesion. And I was still holding it up to help it set.

Then Brad offered to take a turn holding it. The engineer in the group managed to snap one side of the roof clean in half. More frosting. More holding. After 20-30 minutes of salvage operations, we couldn't sit and hold it anymore. So we got the bright idea of propping it up. If only something were the right size. I know, how about a hunk of Velveeta and some Starbucks cup holders? Needless to say, that didn't last for long, so we just had to let it collapse. Sigh.

We all agreed that it was better to have happened to Will's house than to Abby's. She would have been in tears. We thought he might not even notice. So we let it slide and tried to keep the attention elsewhere. But eventually, Will saw it. I don't think he had any idea what was happening to it earlier, but he knew now. He said, very affronted, "Hey, who broke my ginger boy house?" Luckily we averted his meltdown by letting him eat a piece of it. Too bad we couldn't prevent the house meltdown so easily!

Another Berger Cousin

November flew by, right through Thanksgiving at the Bergers. 

A week later, the kids were blessed by the arrival of Carson Edward Berger, two weeks early and still 8 lbs. 3 oz.! Abby didn't like holding him too much! That makes 4 grandkids for my parents, but not for long . . .

Will's World

Time to catch up on our little man. He turned 3 in October. I guess that makes him a big man now. He's fully equipped with Star Wars figures, a transformer, baseball gear and his own light saber. Look out world! He also walks around in these cute hand-me-down cowboy boots. He gets so many comments on them and he absolutely LOVES them! I don't think I ever would have even gotten him any.

He's full of antics and craziness. No idea where he gets it. :) One day, he took one of my elastic headbands and wore it around his eyes telling me it was his bonehead. I had no idea what that meant, but he kept saying it over and over so I took him at his word. He took it in to preschool to show his teacher. He is known around Bethany School for always walking the halls in the morning with a new show-and-tell item from home. It's been everything--a water gun, a glove, an umbrella, a tent pole, a stick, and now . . . a bonehead. He kept talking about his bonehead all day and I had not a clue. A few days later, Abby was searching through the toy basket and she said, "Aha, here's my bonehead!" What?? Her too? Apparently, that's what they call one of their toy dinosaurs that has a bony plate on its head. I'm not sure HOW on earth that one had slipped by me. Suddenly, everything became so clear!

Will has an interesting kind of imaginary play. Whereas, Abby had dolls who became real actors in her shenanigans, Will uses pretend real people! For instance, he blames Luke Baldwin for many things in our home. Luke is a preschool friend. There are 2 Lukes in his class, hence the use of his whole name. Several times, Luke Baldwin and Cousin Phillip have "messed with his things" or "woken him up in the middle of the night." One time, Luke Baldwin even tinkled in his pull-up! 

One day, we went to the preschool playground after school, Will was chasing around an older boy (probably around 5). He kept calling him Todd and yelling for him to chase Will. He came over to me and told me that the boy was his friend Todd. Then, he'd go back over to play with him. When I heard his mom call him James, it all made sense. No wonder he wasn't responding to this overzealous 3 year-old. Turns out he didn't really know him at all! The next day, there was a new Todd at the playground. Would the real Todd please stand up?

What a funny guy! Before I sign off, and because they are so funny, here are some recent Willisms. Oh how I wish I could remember them all:

He runs around the house and has some fantastic collisions with walls, furniture, etc. Unlike Abby, though, he doesn't seem phased by it at all. He usually gets up and shakes it off, saying "good thing I was wearing my helmet [or shin guards]," despite his lack of either piece of equipment.

Emily: Will, what would you like to eat for lunch?

Will:  A tornado.

Emily: Well, it's kinda hard to eat those. They might blow you over. How about some peanut butter, or a banana, or yogurt?

Will: Nope. I want a tornado.

Will: Does God love storm troopers?

Emily: Yes, God loves everyone. Even bad guys. He might not like what they do, but He loves them.

Will: No, I think he only loves yogurt.

Will: Do transformers wear clothes?

Emily: I guess they don't. They're robots and they don't need clothes because they are made of metal.

He now uses the above obscure interaction to justify constantly taking off all his clothes as he streaks throughout the house. He says, "Autobots don't wear clothes." Sneaky little booger. We've had to set certain limits, like no answering the door and no going outside completely naked, but otherwise, we let him get away with it. For now. Besides, it helps with potty training.

Re: aforementioned naked jaunts, he was running around one day and peed on the floor. Abby came running in to tell us:

Abby: Mom, Will tinkled on the carpet!

Emily: Will, did you tinkle on the floor?

Will: No, it was the penis.

Another time, he was actually wearing a pull-up:

Emily: It looks like your pull-up is wet. Did you tinkle in it?

Will: No I didn't. It must have been somebody else. Maybe Luke Baldwin did it. Or Phillip.

At church, they sing "I've got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart." He always sings the other songs, but sits mute during this particular one. When someone asked him why he doesn't sing along with this one, he told her point blank, "Joy makes me sick."

And last, but not least, he has talked a lot about the new baby. He has told the childcare workers at church that his mommy is having a brother AND a sister. In October. Yikes! I can't imagine. I'm not sure what exactly he thinks about the baby, but he KNOWS it's a brother. Every time someone mentions it being a girl or him having a little sister, he says "No, it's a brother." I even asked him about it a couple weeks ago:

Emily: Are you excited about having a new baby sister?

Will: No, it's a brother.

Emily: But, what if it were a sister?

Will: I already have a sister. I need 2 brothers.

And so it goes.

Fall [was] in the air

We finally made it to the Sweet Berry Farm fall festival this year. I've been meaning to do it for about the past 3 years and we've never gotten around to it! This year, I made it a Girl Scout outing, so I had to go! We had 2 of the other Daisies join us with another mom, so that was fun. The kids always enjoy horseback riding, hayrides, and games. They also painted pumpkins, which we realized we had left behind only when we were halfway back from Marble Falls. Luckily, we warded off any major meltdowns by reminding them that we could do our own pumpkins at home for Halloween. Phew!

For Halloween, we had another princess on hand. This time, she was accompanied by Spider-Man. They made a perfect team, along with 3 witches, a black cat, Bo Beep and her sheep, all from the neighborhood!

Both kids participated in the 1K fun run at Abby's school for their annual Fall Festival. Such serious competitors!

Later in the morning, Will won the cake walk and picked this huge cake decorated as a pumpkin. Had we thought about it more, we might not have chosen to START the festival there, but who could know we'd have to carry around a pumpkin cake all day?

Part of the festival is a kids' auction. Kids put tickets in bags for each item, to be selected by raffle later that day. Abby preferred to play the games with her tickets, but she did put 1 ticket in each of two baskets. Will put at least 7 tickets in the "Cars" extravaganza basket. He didn't understand why he couldn't walk away with it then and there. For 3 days, he kept asking if anyone had called to tell us that he won the basket. 

And then, the call came. Abby had won the Barbie basket. Great. I tried to be nonchalant about it when I went to pick it up but, of course, I had to take him with me. And, of course, the other 3 year-old boy who actually won the basket had to be in line right in front of us claiming his prize. Poor Will lost it all over again. I reminded him about winning the cake, but somehow that didn't make it any better. Life just isn't fair sometimes. Especially when you're 3.

New Car

After months of telling Brad we wouldn't need to buy a new car to get a 3rd car seat in the second row, we tried out the set-up. Just as I suspected, we got all 3 seats across. Haha. Vindication. We even got the 2 big kids in their seats comfortably. Now, buckling Abby was another matter since she uses the regular seat belt with her booster. We tried it for about 2 weeks until all of us got fed up with the hand scraping, seat climbing, and otherwise general madness that ensued every time we got in the car.

So, we bought a new car. On Ebay. Now, that's a trip! Well, it actually turned out to be a dealer in Houston, so we finalized everything over the phone, but we bought it sight unseen. Except for the 40+ pics on the Ebay listing! That's probably a more thorough look than we would have taken anyway! 

It turned out to be several thousand cheaper this way, so we were happy for that after the year we've had. We've now bought 2 cars and 2 front teeth, replaced 2 roofs and 2 partial fences, painted a house, and replaced a water main line this year. All before Christmas! But, I digress.

So, we had to figure out how to go get the car. Not as easy as it might sound. We had to pick it up within one week of purchase. It made the most sense for me to try to go during the week, but I couldn't just drive because then I'd have 2 cars to manage. A one-way plane ticket would cost $50 if I could wait 21 days, but on my timetable? $150. How about a car rental? Only $30 a day unless you want to drop it off in a different location. Then it's $140. Really? It costs them $110 to have a vehicle dropped 180 miles away?? Okay, we could just ship the car, right? $400. Again, 180 miles away, really? In stepped serendipity. Brad was asked to go meet with some guys at Rice for work. He had a co-worker that was going too, so he could just drop Brad off at the car dealer in time to pick up the car before his meeting (insert heavenly bell chorus and "Hallelujah" here). Done.

Abby Buchanan, Age 6

Abby is loving first grade. She's a rule follower, a people pleaser, a hard worker, and a good listener. School was absolutely MADE for kids like her. She received a good behavior award in the first month. She is really enjoying reading and math--and becoming quite good at them too. I don't remember such academic rigor when I was 6.

She's often the first one up in the morning. She will sometimes even get dressed, make herself breakfast, make her bed, and brush her teeth before we even roll over. Her new-found independence is a very welcome blessing in our household! The only hole in her strategy is that now, when she asks for help getting dressed or making her bed because she "can't do it by herself," we know otherwise!

There's a whole herd of kids on our block after school (usually about 7-10). Our backyard has become the place of choice for their general merrymaking. They sometimes even try to convince Abby to play out there when she doesn't want to. But, usually, she's more than happy to oblige and play hostess to the whole crowd. After all, that puts her in charge. Even with the older kids. And, Will loves joining in the fray too, so it's nice to have them all in one place under her watchful eye!

She's still enjoying Girl Scouts (I think!) and she's joined the Children's Choir at our church. When she turns 6 1/2, she tells me, she'll be ready to try piano lessons, but not before. So, we stay pretty busy without losing sight of the all-important after-school play time which so many kids don't get these days. It's good for the soul and the imagination, both of which she exudes with abundance.

From the Land of the Lost

Just a FEW of the pics we rediscovered on our first new camera. I mentioned most of these events with astonishing brevity in July.

Flower Girl 4.0

Handsome Family

Houston Children's Museum

Port of Houston

Kema Boardwalk -- Abby feeding stingrays

Will absolutely NOT feeding stingrays

Maureen Voosen with kids at the beach

July 4th

Abby's 6th Birthday

Broom-Wielding Firefighter Will

Kids Say the Darndest Things

One of the neighbor girls had a friend over after school the other day. I'd say 2nd or 3rd grade. She looked at me quizzically and asked "Are you going to get another baby?" I told her I was. She smiled and said, "I can see it's nose." 

No, that would be my protruding navel. Thanks. 

Then, Will proceeded to show us all that his belly button does NOT stick out. Gotta love 'em.

B3

Guess you can't really see from the uploaded image the four letters that announce our baby girl, but she, like her siblings before her, was very cooperative in letting her light shine! We have 3 more months before she makes her debut. We've started on a nursery. Now for a name . . .

It was only a matter of time

We were moving furniture around in our upstairs living room yesterday and guess what we found . . . our FIRST new camera. It was under a piece of furniture. I KNEW it was here somewhere. We actually took quite a few pics on it in the one month we owned it before losing it. I'm glad we recovered them. And now, we have a back-up!

Meal Time with Honey & Cutter (my parents)

Honey: Would you all like ketchup with your chicken nuggets?

Will: No, it smells like cat food.

Honey: Is there something else you would prefer for dipping?

Will: Hot chocolate.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Will is really into making up stories right now, which is fine for those of us who know him/his world, but it definitely keeps others on their toes. The other day, he told his preschool teacher that his sister died. She mentioned it to me when I picked him up and she said she didn't know how to respond to him. I told her to watch out for him because he makes stuff up. Last week, he told me that his son was a firefighter who got caught in a fire and they tried to use a tall ladder to get him out, but they couldn't so he died. Apparently this warrior phase has him really into death and dying. No easy subject for a 3 year-old!

On a side note, what is it about my 3 year-olds and their stories about firefighters?

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Brad and I were in Seattle the weekend of the torrential downpours in Austin seen nationwide on CNN. When it stopped raining, Will was excited to go outside with my mom, but he was very timid about the wet grass. When my mom asked him why, he told her that the animals might come out and eat him.

Maybe he meant the fire ants and earthworms that come out after the rain??

Elementary School Early Release Mischief

I knew something was up when Abby asked me if she and Olivia could put makeup on Will! When I came in with the camera, Abby said "Oh let's take a picture so we can sell it on eBay." Where does she come up with these things?

Our Hotel's Courtyard

Along the Waterfront

Seattle

Brad and I went to Seattle for a friend's wedding in mid-September. The kids stayed home with my parents, so it was a chance for a mini-break. We were there for our 5-year anniversary and this will likely end up being our 10-year trip since baby is due the week of our anniversary in January. It's a good thing we love the city!

We got tickets to fly out of San Antonio because they were MUCH cheaper than those from Austin. We had a 6 a.m. flight, so we stayed with my brother Greg and his wife Jennelle in SA the night before. We logged in to print our boarding passes to find out we didn't have seats on one of our return flights. They'd overbooked the flight and we'd have to show up early at the airport in Seattle (for a 7 a.m. flight) to see if we could get seats the day of. Nice. We only booked 7 months in advance and they hadn't bothered to tell us! So, out of 4 mornings getting to "sleep in" without the kids, we had to get up before 5 a.m. on 2 of them! How restful!

We flew through Dallas (of course). On our flight from Dallas to Seattle, we were surrounded by an entire college volleyball team. It's amazing what "kids" talk about these days--a whole bunch of nothing with no other descriptive words than those with four letters. A testament to our education system! I tried really hard to drown them out, but then the captain came on the PA about an hour into the flight to tell us that we had lost one of our electric generators and we had to return to Dallas, but we had too much fuel (weight) to land so we had to fly around a while to burn it off. Then the fever pitch of the din behind us rose to an almost intolerable level. "Why can't we just land in Amarillo?" "Oh no, we're going to miss our game." "Coach is gonna be so pissed." And my personal favorite, "Oh my God we're all going to die!" Seriously? On that one, I turned around to look at the girl who said it and she said "Sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to freak you out." So, now I'm a "ma'am" to someone ten years my junior. Sigh. Anyway, once we landed, they found us a new plane (a lot easier to do at their hub in Dallas than it would have been in Amarillo!) and we were in the air an hour later. This time, the chatterboxes had had enough excitement to make them sleep the entire 3.5 hour flight. Amazing!!

Once we arrived, we had a wonderful time and did A LOT of walking before figuring out the free downtown bus system. Man those hills are steep! The wedding was fun and we got to catch up with old friends and spend a relaxing Saturday at the Seattle Center. A good time was had by all.

Wedding at Olympic Sculpture Park

When we went to check in at the airport on Sunday morning, we explained that we didn't have seats on our second flight and we needed to book them. The ticket agent immediately got defensive: "We've been doing this for 25+ years and we know what we're doing. This system works." Obviously it works for them. Too bad it doesn't work so well for their passengers. At least we got seats.

School Days

Yes, we're back to school. I have pictures from Abby's first day, but they're on a disposable camera that will probably get developed about a year from now. At least we'll have them for her senior year slide show! I completely forgot to take pictures of Will's first day. Oops. And that's it. That's how we've started the year--with a bang!

I'm leading Abby's Daisy Girl Scout troop again this year and we've already had a couple meetings. I'm even going to a weekend-long leader training this weekend at the local Girl Scout camp. I have visions of reliving my younger campout days. We'll see if they materialize. This time, we're in air-conditioned cabins . . . thank goodness!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The title Abbyisms doesn't cut it anymore because much of our comic relief now comes from her brother. Abby is much more mature now, although she says her fair share of outlandish things too. :)

Emily: "How are you feeling?"

Will "Better."

Emily: "I'm so glad that you're feeling better. That's great!"

Will: "No, not grape. Banana!" (Insert impish grin here)

How wonderful, he's inherited corny/punny humor!!!

Will: "I want to watch The Black Children." Of course, he meant The Black Cauldron. You can imagine my dismay.

He ends a lot of sentences with "does that sound like a good plan/deal?" Sometimes it's not a question: "I only wash hands after poop. Not after tinkle. That's a good deal."

Emily: "You can cut it up if you want to."

Will: "No, I want to cut it down!"

Will: "My hands are scratchy."

Emily: "Why are your hands scratchy?"

Will: "Because I didn't shave."

Emily: "It's time for lunch."

Will: "No. My boy says I can't have lunch."

The latest one is from this morning. Over the summer, we've gotten into the habit of bringing Will into our bed when he wakes up in the morning, so we can lie there a little longer (Abby on the other hand is usually up, dressed, with her bed made when we get up--we'll see how long that lasts once school starts . . .). Anyway, this morning, Will was lying with us and he pointed to my elbow:

Will: "What's that?"

Emily: "My elbow."

Will: "Is that where babies get their milk?"

Not exactly, but close!

A New Generation of Fanatics

Brad has now ensured that the kids have seen 4 of the Star Wars episodes (the original 3 plus The Phantom Menace). Will stands in front of the screen with anything that could pass for a gun (vacuum attachment, Legos, fingers, etc.) and shoots the screen. Not that he really needed much encouragement to get to this point. And playtime now revolves around Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Princess Leia, and Queen Amidalah. Abby even made Will a 2-ended paper light saber. How thoughtful!

Will's World

Will has decided he no longer needs a nap (except when mommy is sneaky enough to get him in the car at the right time of the afternoon). We're still working on the quiet time thing. Today, I've let him stay in his room with the door open. In the past, I've closed the door so he doesn't come out. The problem is, he spends all of "quiet time" yelling for me and body slamming the door. So, maybe we've made a breakthrough with the whole door being open!

Just kidding. He just came in the office to "surprise" me! Back to his room . . .

He went to summer preschool in July and he had a new teacher. The first day I took him, he said, "I don't want to go to Tonya's class. I want to go to Linda's class. Tonya messes with my things and I don't like that." Of course, he'd never even met Tonya. By the end of the day, he was saying, "I like Tonya. Her doesn't mess with my things unless her's mad." I'm thinking I need to start putting more of his funny quotables online now . . .

He's working on potty training, almost all on his own. He hasn't had a dirty diaper in a couple months and now he's starting to tell us when he needs to tinkle too. Hooray! Most of you probably know that we're expecting a new baby in January, so this really is perfect timing. My goal was never to have 2 in diapers at the same time.

Speaking of the baby, Will has taken to telling everyone he meets about having a new baby. But he seems concerned about how it will fit in (me too-how perceptive!). He's asked me if the baby will sleep in his room or eat in his chair. I've assured him that it won't, but he's not so sure. When he tells people about it, he keeps changing the sex and the name. One day, he was having a sister named Emma, then another one named Abby, then a brother named Fruitots. 

Oh yes, fruitots. That's his word for everything:

Examples:

"Do you like your food?" "Yes, it tastes like fruitots."

"That's soft. It feels like fruitots."

"What do you think we should name the baby?" "Fruitots."

You get the idea.

Lost Cause

So, we gave up on the 2-month old camera (1 month of which it has now been lost), and we ordered another one on ebay. Only a little longer of image-less posting . . .

Abby Buchanan, Age 6

Yesterday, we took the training wheels off Abby's bike and she rode away into the sunset. Okay, not quite. It was first thing in the morning (because that's the only time it's bearable to be outside!). I just liked the imagery. She has flirted with the idea a couple times this summer, taking them off, but always ready to put them back on. This time, she was ready to fly. Brad hadn't gone to work yet, so the whole family got to partake in the momentous occasion. Once we got her confident enough to start on her own, she just kept going for about half an hour! 

She said, "Now that I'm such a big girl, don't you think I need a new bike with a kick stand?" Okay, okay, one thing at a time. I told her she could just set her bike down or prop it against something for now.

She's officially ready for 1st grade. Now, if she can just get one of her teeth to fall out . . . I keep telling her that I was in 2nd grade (7 years) before I lost mine, so it might just take awhile. Somehow, my words aren't comforting for her.

Will's World 

Uh. Ahem. This was written May 4 and I never posted . . . oops! :)

Will is in this hilarious phase where just about anything and everything he does is funny. The other day, he was watching the same bug for about 10 minutes with such intensity, you just had to laugh.

He's still really into movies. And, as a Disney aficionado, I pretty much stick to their repertoire. Of course I've learned that most of the movies are not as innocent as I once thought, but what can you do? I've mentioned that he likes watching Mulan. It's because they have swords. After he watches, he pretends to be the bad guy, Shan-Yu. Last week, he was trying to have a sword fight with Brad and he said "You Shan-Yu. I Shan-Me." Pretty clever if I do say so myself. Brad didn't even get it at first!

Life Goes On

Now I can't find the (new) camera. I've looked everywhere. This does not bode well. I guess I'll just have to move forward photo-less. For now.

The end of the school year was fast and furious. Apparently all the moms with older kids knew May would be crazy, but I had no idea what I was in for. Lots of wrap-up meetings, parties, etc. I can't believe my baby is done with kindergarten!

In June, we went to a family wedding in Houston and Abby made her 4th flower girl appearance. She's definitely run the circuit. She was a doll and we had fun with Brad's family. We stayed in Houston for a week with my sister's family and toured the Port of Houston and the Houston Children's Museum, plus their neighborhood pool (a lot!). Then we went to Galveston for a fun beach weekend with the Voosens. Lucky for us, my sister had a coworker with a beach house there since the condos we had reserved burned down two weeks before our trip! We rounded out our month with my family's reunion in Corpus Christi. What a busy couple weeks!

We've been pretty low-key in July, just hanging around Austin in 105-degree weather. It's even too hot to go the pool some days! What's that about?

And now, it's almost August and we're thinking about back-to-school! Yikes!

Back to Business

Someone asked me the other day if I had abandoned my blog. A sad commentary on my 2-month absence. May was really busy with the end of school and we've been out of town for a good bit of June. But, now we're back on track, so I'll try to update what I can remember. I usually use my photos as reminders about little anecdotes, but I dropped the camera and the repair place told me it was "beyond economical repair." Oops. We got a new camera, but I still have to figure out how to get the old pics since the new camera has a different kind of memory (of course)! Stay tuned.

Abbyism of the Week:

We were at a birthday party last week and cake was being passed out. Abby had nearly finished her piece by the time the hostess came over to offer one to Brad. She said, "Brad, this one has your name on it."

Well, I'm sure by now you can guess how Abby and her (inherited) take-everything-literally brain reacted. "What? Does it really say your name? No fair! Mine didn't have my name on it!"

We assured her that it didn't REALLY have his name on it, she had just meant the piece was for him. Not sure whether she really bought it. Oh, she's got a long road ahead of her. Speaking from experience.

Easter

The Buchanan family plus Phillip's eye. He just couldn't stay away!

Daddy/Daughter Disco

Abby and Brad went to their first Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance a couple weeks ago. Rumor has it that she didn't do much dancin' with him who brung her, but opted instead for her friends. Guess that's alright when you're five!

Check our their hot "Disco" threads!

The kids with my first cousins at the Gruene General Store

Yee Haw!

Abbyism of the Week

Abby listens to Majic 95.5 as she's going to sleep. You know, love songs with "Dih Li Lah . . ." The other day she asked me if we could call into the radio station to tell Delilah that she listens every night. ("Well, every night when we're not on vacation," she says). 

Then she said, "But wait, how can we call her if we don't know her phone number? I don't know her number, do you?"

"No I don't." 

I didn't say anything more. Apparently Brad told her we could probably find it online. Great. She's been brainwashed by all the sappy calls she hears when we're not listening! (She also goes around singing the theme song.)

Mischief

Will has a tendency to go off on his own in the house and occupy himself. I have a tendency to let him. The other day, I knew he was being too quiet, but I still didn't go in right away . . .

Oh no! I AM that mom from America's Funniest Home Videos who lets her kids get into random stuff. I told myself I would never do that! At least it was just hand lotion. This time.

R & R

We enjoyed (re)connecting with some of Brad's extended family over spring break in Payson, AZ after a snafoo with the airline. Brad's stepdad got bumped from the plane and had to come the next day because there weren't any more available flights. Something about spring break makes everyone want to fly at the same time. 

But we did all arrive safely. Eventually. And check out the view from our cabin's deck:

Truly breathtaking and relaxing.  

Abby and I went a little further up the mountain and found snow still on the ground! We reveled in our unexpected discovery and made snow angels in about 3 inches of snow. We tried to make a snowman, but we didn't have any gloves. Snow is really cold. Even when it's 60 degrees out! :)

The last day, we went on a nature hike. 

The sun was so bright, the kids wanted to wear their parents' shades. Pretty darn cute if you ask me.

How about them apples?

Tennis-ball sized hail at our house @ 6 p.m. tonight. This is on the COVERED front step. Imagine what the street looked like. I'm not sure. We couldn't see it. Completely covered!

Will's World

So the movie of the week is Pocahontas, which Abby got Will to start watching by calling it a "gun movie." Hmmm. That's the same way she got him to watch Tarzan a couple months ago. I'm sensing a trend here. Those darn Disney movies. Guess even Abby can get tired of watching the same one over and over and over (and over) again.  

There's a song in this one called "Savages, Savages" where the Indians and the Settlers are preparing to attack each other (what DO they put in these movies??). I wish I'd had a video camera the other day when Will was running around wearing Abby's high heels and head band, wielding a tent pole as a spear, and singing "Sandwiches, Sandwiches" at the top of his man voice. It's really hard not to laugh, but I'm SOOOOO trying not to condone this tough guy act.

Valentine's Weekend

With Brad off to camp at Big Bend with the guys, I took the kids to Houston to hang with my mom, my sister-in-law, and my sister's family. Plus all the dogs of course. 

Despite the rain, we enjoyed the zoo and a bike ride around the neighborhood.

Will had to see the giraffes.

But the lion was the funniest.

Abby, Will & Phillip

The kids liked Phillip's new bike trailer

And then, there was our jam session to 80s music on Sunday morning. It was hilarious. My nephew's favorite is "Video Killed the Radio Star." I have a video. I just have to figure out how to change the orientation and I'll post.