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.

Tub Crayons Gone Astray