10 Years and Counting

 Just married, April 6, 2001

 

What a handsome fellow!

We were married on a windy, stormy day.  It snowed the following day. In other words, a typical Utah spring.   Thanks for all of the great times, Jonathan.  It's been real.  Really good.

Since I am feeling nostalgic, some more pictures I found recently after developing some old film. These were taken in my parent's front yard.

You can tell that Chris is just thrilled about taking pictures. I think he is about 12 years old.

That's it.  He's had enough. 

Our first house we bought together.  May 2002

In June the roses started blooming like mad.  I had to deadhead them every few days.

What I did today

(Aside from fixing breakfast, making lunches, playing in the park with Isaac, bathing Isaac, sweeping up a major salt spill, wiping bottoms, general pickup, mopping up melted popsicles, picking up the kids from school, and things like that.)

I ordered a dresser from Furniture Woodworks, the same place I bought Matthew's dresser from 6 years ago.  They make solid wood furniture and it is pretty sturdy stuff.  It has withstood the abuse he has inflicted upon it.  The company also ships quickly, and when I was missing a knob from the box last time, they sent a replacement immediately.  Since they don't have a high google ranking, it took me an hour to find the site. I'm keeping a copy of the link this time. 

The flat packed box:

The goal:

 Isaac woke up from his nap early.  I had extra 'help' from here on.

Isaac's new dresser, all done!

Matthew's dresser, brother to Isaac's new dresser.

Mama Mia!

Homemade spaghetti sauce is one of the very few foods I cook that Isaac loves to eat.

Matthew likes it, Melissa hates it, and Isaac will eat it by the bowlful.

With noodles, without noodles- he doesn't care!

 

Three bowls later...

Portrait of a happy Pumpkin.

Today While the Pumpkin Napped...

The nesting urge has hit, but not the big bursts of energy yet. 

Pantry:

I'm breaking the tasks into smaller projects.

The tally:
Done
1 Pantry 
1 shower stripped and recaulked

Still to do
4 closets to clean
5 drawers sort/clean
a few minor repairs
a garage to organize (this is a huge project)
sort and store kid clothes
the freezer
2010 taxes
2 weeks of meals prepared and frozen

I'm glad I still have at least 8 more weeks!

February peanuts

• Dividing up McDonalds' Big Breakfast: Matthew and Melissa split the eggs and sausage. Each gets their own 3 pancakes. The only thing Isaac will eat is the hash browns. The biscuit goes in the trash.
• Matthew and I went 4-1 in Starcraft 2 today. I'm improving; I said GG after the loss. Matthew is just pleased when he isn't dead last in all of the post-game statistics, so he almost always has something to be happy about. (As Calvin said, "The secret is low expectations.")
• Me: "Complaining about a programmer's handwriting is almost as silly as complaining about a doctor's." Rachel: growls.
• Tonight Isaac spurned the chicken but filled up with edamame. Go figure.
• Bathroom forensics: Melissa leaves the light on. Matthew leaves the light on _and_ the seat up.
• For some reason, Rachel is less than 100% sold on my brilliant idea of spending our 10th anniversary at a gaming convention.
• Me: "If we spend our 10th anniversary hiking for two days, we are totally spending our 20th at a gaming convention." Romance!
• Melissa on Cinderella: "How come the glass slippers didn't disappear with the rest of the magic?" That's my girl.
• Rachel found the DataStax polo shirt I brought back from Strata. "Wow. This is terrible. Put this in the bottom of the drawer, wear the Riptano T instead."
• I'm stubborn, but when my dad forced ice cream into my mouth when I was three I admitted it was good. Isaac spit profusely. "Duck!" [yuck]
• Isaac is drinking a raspberry yogurt smoothie. Whenever he gets to a raspberry seed, he spits. He spits a _lot_.
• Matthew is preaching the gospel of Google Chrome to his unenlightened, Internet Explorer-using friend Conner.
• How picky is Isaac? He'll eat dark meat from poultry but not white.
• Matthew: "I just about killed myself [at gymnastics]." He sounds pleased.
• Matthew: "What's He-man?" We need to educate this boy.
• ‎"Matthew, even Daddy thinks wiping boogers on the couch is gross."
• Rachel to Isaac, eating an ice-cream cone: "Want some help?" Isaac: "NO."

January peanuts, part 2

• Rachel is pissed at Apple for using non-standard charging and data interfaces on the iPod. I approve because that is a pretty nerdy thing to get mad about.
• Isaac's Baby Genius keyboard has a "Cowbell" button.
• It is hard to schedule things when Isaac might be ready for his nap at 10:30, 11:30, or 2:30. You just never know.
• Rachel tells me that "Musical Therapist" is a real occupation. It makes me want to start making up jobs when people ask me what I do, to see how unusual I can make it before they stop believing me.
• Seen on Twitter: "The PhD student is someone who forgoes current income in order to forgo future income."
• Melissa and her friends are just constitutionally unable to use indoor voices. Referred to Rachel's Haagen Dazs Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bars as "fudge bars." Boy, did I get an earful.
• Introduction to Guy Logic: if a mug has unusual blemishes when you take out of the dishwasher, scrape it with your fingernail. If it doesn't come off, it's part of the ceramic. If it does come off, the mug is clean now!
• No live TV is awesome. My kids are almost completely immune to fad-du-jour toys that afflict other parents.
• Rachel: "Do you know what happened to the strudel?" Me: "I ate it."
• Melissa came down the stairs holding both of her keychain flashlights. Me: "Oh, you found both of your keylights!" Melissa: "No; this one's Keylight, and this other one's Sally."
• Rachel has been chopping up Belgian chocolate bars to make cookies with lately. Ordinary chocolate chips hold no interest for me anymore.
• Holding Isaac on your lap is dangerous. Tonight he drew blood when he threw his head back into my lips.
• Me: "I'm going to buy more jeans." Rachel: "Do they even have dressing rooms at wal-mart?"

January Peanuts, part 1

• Matthew has an overdeveloped sense of order. His friend's dad said he'd pick him up at "about 9" this morning, and since 9:00 sharp Matthew's been telling him that "your dad probably forgot; you should just walk home."
• Isaac's dislike of nuts-mixed-in-food extends to picking the pecan chunks out of butter-pecan ice cream. And yet, he'll eat plain peanuts by the handful.
• A naive father would expect a game called "hide and seek" to be about, you know, hiding. The way my kids play it, it's about yelling: "I wasn't ready yet!" "Isaac, go away!" "That's cheating!"
• 15 minutes early to church today for the first time in years -- I thought it started at 11, but it was really 11:30. Rachel's family calls this "the Grandma VanDuker method of punctuality."
• Melissa was carrying her scriptures, the picture she drew, and needed to put something down to open her candy. She handed me the picture: "Daddy, can you hold this for me? I'm full of hands."
• Isaac helped Rachel take the ornaments off the tree. At first, he tried to put them back on, which was funny since he spent the first two weeks trying to remove them. But then he got enthusiastic about it, and now we have several more ornaments to glue back together.
• Isaac likes to do the motions to "wheels on the bus," with an attention span far exceeding his parents'. His favorites are "round and round," "swish swish swish," and "wah wah wah." Yes, Daddy sings it in French, after looking up the word for "windshield wiper."
• Heavy Rain is probably the most intense game I've ever seen, as well as the most convincing rebuttal to Ebert's "games cannot be art" view. It also deeply deserves its Mature rating (though not in the gratuitous blood and guts way that most M-rated games do).
• Isaac and I agree that Thomas the Tank Engine is boring.
• I heard Isaac running the faucet in the bathroom. "Oh, well," I thought, "that's pretty harmless. I'll just keep answering email for a few minutes." Then he reappeared, grinning, with an armful of unrolled toilet paper. That's our little Mr. Entropy.
• Isaac _really_ likes Matthew's Woody doll after watching the Toy Story movies. My job is to put Woody's hat back on every two minutes.
• Crap. Now Rachel banned _me_ from eating in the living room, too.
• "Windows did not start up normally." That's because a two year old kept cycling the power before it finished. I feel bad for poor confused Windows whimpering to itself in the corner there.
• Rachel: " What's your favorite kind of rock, Melissa?" Melissa: "Shiny rocks!"
• Matthew: "... never mind; I forgot." Melissa: what is it you forgot?"
• Matthew: "Why doesn't Isaac trust me?" Me: "I couldn't possibly guess." Fatherhood is making me a better liar.

Soccer

I took all the kids to soccer practice last Thursday. They're not very organized; they told Rachel that Melissa's was going to start at 5:00, but we arrived at 5:05 and nobody was there. We turned around and got pizza, returning just in time for Matthew's practice to start at 5:30. Melissa stood around and talked with anyone who wandered near where her team was supposed to be practicing; if she was disappointed, she didn't show it.

Meanwhile, Isaac ate two and a half pieces of pizza. Pizza is virtually the only food he hasn't decided was duck [yuck] at one point or another, so it's our go-to meal pretty often. Matthew ate one slice before practice and another when we got home, and Melissa had one and a half. In short: assuming Rachel and I want more than one slice apiece, a 14" pie can't be assumed to be enough for our family anymore.

Melissa's team trickled in and her coach got things started at 6:00. Isaac was starting to get bored. We went over to the small playground near the soccer field, but there weren't any other kids there so that didn't help much. There were several throw-myself-to-the-ground tantrums. At least he gets down on the ground more carefully now, instead of actually throwing himself. He's stubborn, but not that stubborn.

I would have rather stayed at the playground, poor amusement that it was, but I needed to go back to the fields at 6:30 so Matthew wouldn't panic. So I dragged Isaac over (another tantrum) and found Matthew. The three of us kicked two soccer balls around for a while, but Isaac was getting increasingly restive. I looked over at Melissa's team and she didn't look very into things, so when she walked off the field to get a drink of water I asked if she was ready to go home, and she said she was, and we left fifteen minutes early. (The coach called Rachel later to say that they didn't realize I'd picked her up and panicked at first when they realized she was missing at the end of practice. And could I return the orange lapel pin she'd been wearing to show her scrimmage team?)

Saturday was game day. We tag-teamed: I took Matthew to his game, then Rachel took Melissa to hers. Isaac stayed home for both.

Matthew's team was crushed 8-1. Matthew and #6 on his team were the only ones with hustle. This could become a pattern. (Melissa's team had the opposite experience -- they won, no thanks to Melissa, who just stood there, even when the ball rolled right past her. But, she had fun playing tag with the other kids while she was on the bench...) I don't know if losing so thoroughly took any of the sting out, but Matthew was more disappointed than angry or bitter. Bullet dodged!

Meanwhile, Matthew threw me his watch wadded up inside his shirt and didn't mention it until we were driving home. We went back to the field, but the watch was gone; someone had given it to one of the coaches -- they weren't sure which team's coach. Matthew took this additional blow with extraordinary (for him) grace. Fortunately, it turned out at his next practice that it had indeed gone to Matthew's coach.

Matthew's first pinewood derby

IMGP2184
Originally uploaded by jbellis

Matthew was extremely enthusiastic about his cub scout pinewood derby car. I took the approach my own dad did: I'd help him cut out the basic shape (that he drew on the side with a pencil) and weight it; the rest was up to him.

I asked Google and a bunch of other dads about weighting approaches but nobody had a better approach than what my dad had come up with: drill out some holes (narrower at the entrance, so the lead can't fall out if you drop the car) and melt solder into it.

The wussification of America threw me a curve, though: you can't actually get lead solder anymore as a matter of course. You can get acid core solder, or you can get silver solder, both of which are much more expensive -- and less dense -- than lead solder. Fortunately, you can still find lead on the internet, so I ordered enough for a couple years of cars. The photo is of Matthew and me melting some into the back of his car.

(Matthew was tickled to death with the novelty of such a soft metal, and unrolled the solder and twisted it into ... interesting shapes. It's easy to melt solder into a hole if you have a straight line that you just feed into the heat source. It's a little more challenging when your straight line, isn't.)

Friday Rachel took Matthew and Melissa to the planetarium. I drove back early from Austin to take Isaac while they did that. It also fell to me to deliver Matthew's pinewood derby to the official weigh-in.

I was not impressed with the official race scale. It claimed to be accurate to three significant figures, but Matthew's car started at 5.19 (Rachel's scale had put it at 5.0) and drilling out 5 holes to lighten it got it down to 5.15. Five more holes got it to ... 5.15 still. Something doesn't add up there!

There was exactly one electrical socket in the room, on the opposite side from the scale. And every time I wanted to check my progress I had to unplug the drill so Isaac wouldn't hurt himself. Isaac wanted to help, so we got into a routine: when I stopped drilling, Isaac would pull out the plug.

It took almost half an hour before we were done. Isaac had been extremely patient, so I took him across the street to the Dollar General to get him a treat. He picked out a bag of cheetos, and we took it to the playground for a snack. He started munching and immediately started coughing. Initially I didn't think anything of it but he kept coughing after each cheeto. I took a closer look; it turned out to be Flaming Hot cheetos. I didn't know they even made such a thing. I need to look a both sides of the packaging, apparently.

I showed Isaac that drinking water was more effective than coughing, then I tried a couple... and coughed. They're not all that spicy but something in it kind of tickles your throat. The bag is still sitting on the kitchen counter but it will probably get thrown away uneaten.

Isaac ran around the playground for a while but I hadn't been thinking ahead when I dressed him, and I'd put sandals on him rather than hunting down a pair of socks and his sneakers -- like most playgrounds here, this was covered with wood chips that sneak into sandals. So he was done pretty quickly. Sorry, kid. I let him watch cartoons when we got home to make up for it. Then Rachel fed him some leftover pizza when she got home.

Potty training, day 6

I took Isaac and Melissa to Momak's burgers after dropping Matthew off at a birthday party. Momak's has a huge outdoor play area, with two jungle gyms and a field.

This wasn't the first time we've taken Isaac somewhere in training pants. I took him to walmart just this morning, in fact. He's not great about telling us when he needs to go, but we just remind him every hour or so and that keeps accidents to a minimum. Still, I set out with an extra set of training pants and shorts, just in case.

We got our food. The kids didn't eat, of course. I don't know why I bother buying anything but a drink for them. The definition of insanity, after all. But the kids played and drank their lemonade and I ate my burger.

It was time for a pit stop. I scooped up Isaac and hustled him over to the bathroom. I took off one shoe so I could get his pants off, and only then discovered that he had done a number two in his shorts. (Rachel informs me this is his first accident with poop.)

Fortunately I'd parked right next to the door by the bathroom. I put him on the toilet to do his number one and ran for the car to get the emergency back up pants and the just-in-case baby wipes. I got back and he was still playing with the lock on the bathroom stall -- perfect.

I got him cleaned up and put the soiled shorts in the car. The training pants I threw out.

Now, if this were the end of the story, it might not have gotten a write up; the bar for poop notoriety is pretty high after Matthew and Melissa. But we went back out to play; I started showing Melissa how to kick a soccer ball with some semblance of accuracy (she's been to two soccer practices but you wouldn't know it) and had to stop because Isaac was jealous. He didn't want to play too; he just didn't want us playing.

So I took them back to our table for one last try at eating before we left. I'd just given up when Melissa informed me that "something smells awful! Really, really bad!" Whatever. Melissa was always full of emergencies real and imagined. But as we headed out Isaac grabbed at his butt. Uh-oh. "Tu dois aller au VC?" [Do you need to go to the bathroom?] He nodded. We headed over, and this time I checked his pants before taking them off. Full of poop: great.

Back to the car, got the wipes, cleaned up the mess, threw away another pair of training pants. There was some poop absorbed by the shorts too, so I picked him up and carried him butt-naked to the car, where he rode home in pantsless glory.

Then I gave him a bath, because no matter how many times I told him, "Touche à rien! Fais pas ça!" [don't touch anything! stop that!] he kept smearing whatever poop he could grab off his butt on his shirt, his arms, the floor, me, anything he could reach. "Duck," [yuck] he decalred, but that didn't stop him.

Now Rachel is back from picking up Matthew. (Birthday party, remember?) So it's my turn to get clean.

Spring Practice

On the two mile drive to church tonight, I passed an elementary school, a high school, two churches, and a park. 

I saw several kid's soccer teams practicing, an elementary flag football team, a baseball team, and several community adult soccer groups practicing in the various open fields and parks.  All over town colorful teams have sprung up along with the bright Texas wildflowers to dot the landscape. 

I love Spring!

Potty training Day 4

I think it is safe to say that Isaac has got it figured out.  He stayed dry all day with the exception of naptime.  Jonathan did put him in diapers for soccer practice since neither of us want to do cramped port-a-potties with a two year old.  Other than that he took care of business and seemed to forget about the jelly beans.  Being big is its own reward. 

I have to say, of the three, he was the most fun and easiest to train.

Kisses for baby

Melissa is simply delighted with the idea of having a little sister.

She is the only one who consistently remembers her in her prayers, "and please bless the baby in my mother's tummy, and bless all the babies in their mother's tummys."

Every day she talks about the baby.  "And someday when she gets big we can share a room!" or "I can teach her to do x, y, or z!"

She tells random strangers that she meets that her mother is having a baby (then her eyes get big) "and it is a sister!"

Every night she requests to give the baby a kiss on my tummy and then she hugs my belly.

I really hope she is as pleased with reality.

Potty training Day 3

Successes in the toilet: Every time he sat, he went.

Accidents: 2 minor cases of dampness. 

Interruptions: 1 I was in charge of the play group this week so we had to go.  We went on a short hike and ran around on a playground.  He wore diapers during that time but used a port-a-potty too.  He also made use of his diaper, which is only reasonable since that is what diapers are for. 

Milestones:  Tonight we took the kids out for dinner and Isaac wore his cloth training pants for the first trip outside the house.  He made one trip to the potty during dinner and stayed dry on our excursion.  (We kept a pair of backup pants just in case though.)

Yay Isaac!

Lesson Learned

Monday was a busy, busy day.  I got caught up in the things I needed to do, but neglected other important things.

That evening I dropped 2 meals off for families that were sick and drove the kids to soccer practice.  I chased Isaac and Melissa up and down the soccer field.  Then we walked to a nearby park and played there while Matthew practiced.  I remembered the drinks for the kids, but forgot one for myself.  At the end of practice my belly was a hard ball and I felt pretty crappy.  It'd been a long while since I'd had anything to drink...

Driving home, my belly kept tightening up and it was somewhat painful.  Matthew and Melissa chattered and asked dozens of questions, until I finally told them that they needed to stop talking at me because I felt lousy and needed some quiet. 

We got home.  Dinner was already cooked, so I dished up bowls of soup and whole wheat rolls for the kids.  I told Matthew to help Melissa and Isaac to seconds if they wanted it, and then I lied down on the couch and guzzled water.  As long as I stayed horizontal I felt somewhat better, but as soon as I sat up my belly clamped down uncomfortably. 

I crawled on the floor and up the stairs to put the kids to bed.  Fortunately they went to be bed without too much fuss.  As soon as they were down I started the bath water and just drank and drank and drank.  After soaking in the tub for 30 minutes I felt fine again.  My stomach was nice and soft and the wee one happily thumping around.  Ahh.

I wasn't having contractions, just Braxton Hicks with umph.   Still, lesson learned.  Stay hydrated.

Today Isaac and I went on a short hike and enjoyed the mid 80s weather.  After that we played in the park for another hour.  I brought a big bottle of water and was just fine and dandy.

Goo

I needed an activity to keep three boys quiet while Isaac napped, otherwise they'd start wrestling and pounding on each other like boys do.

Here's what I came up with:



Guess which kid got the messiest?



Yup that would be mine.



Matthew's friends asked to take their goo back home with them. By all means, guys, I'm sure your mothers will love it!



Amazing how much fun a little cornstarch, water, and food coloring is. Kept the little darlings busy and quiet for half an hour.

Potty training Day 2

 Today Isaac had many successes in the toilet- I didn't keep count.  He made lots of trips to the bathroom.  About half of the time he initiated going to the bathroom on his own, and he raked in the jelly beans. 

Accidents: 1 To his credit he was in the bathroom, he just couldn't get the pants down in time.

Interruptions: 2  I needed to help with food for a funeral so I put him back in diapers and he stayed with a friend for an hour (he stayed dry).  During nap time he was back in diapers too.

Still waiting for #2.  

The older children had early release from school today and I couldn't devote as much one-on-one as I would have liked.  Ideally I would clear the calendar of any activities, outside distractions, neighbor kids, or trips and just focus on potty training boot camp for 3-4 days like I did for the older children.  Unfortunately I kept waiting for such a time...and I've come to realize it just isn't going to happen.  On the other hand, Isaac seems to be a quick study and so far he is the most cheerful child I've ever taught.  To him it is a game and he high fives me and says, "YAY!" after he does a "dry check."

Potty training Day 1, afternoon

Isaac got up around 3ish and declined to use the toilet.  His diaper was very wet so the issue was put aside. He did want to put the training pants back on though.

About 25 minutes later I heard "Uh oh!" and saw his wet pants.  He ran to the bathroom on his chubby legs and finished his business.

He went once more successfully and then it was time for soccer practice.  No WAY was I taking a toilet neophyte to use the field port-a-potties.  Back in diapers, kiddo.  He was none too pleased, but cooperated.

After soccer practice he went once more, and everyone celebrated with a jelly bean apiece.  Matthew read him some more propoganda books and it was bedtime!

Day 1 complete.

Potty training Day 1, morning

The toilet training has begun in earnest.

Today we watched Potty time with Bear.

We read toilet time propaganda books together such as My Big Boy Potty and Too Big for Diapers.

Isaac drank 1 juice box, 1 sippy cup full of water, and 2 sippy cups full of diluted juice, in addition to sips from the faucet.

He ditched the diapers for cloth training pants.

The results?

This one well hydrated kid had:

6 trips to the bathroom
5 of which were successful
2 accidents

6 jelly beans as a reward.  

All in all a pretty good start.  Around noon we took a time out for a nap.

Playing in the sand

Saturday one of the neighbors had a big pile o' sand dumped in their driveway.  They were putting in some new playground equipment.

They graciously let the kids play in it while they shoveled loads to take to the backyard.

Isaac had a 2 bath day that day.

Spring Break!

Grandpa Ellis came to visit last week.  He flew in on Monday, just in time to enjoy the gorgeous warm biking weather and play with the grandkids during their spring break.  Since Jonathan was working in Austin, the kids and I picked up grandpa.  They were excited!

Naturally he rode his bike every day he was here and Matthew went on a few short rides with him. Matthew and grandpa also played with an electronics set.  He taught and then quizzed Matthew about current, voltage, pressure, resistance, and Ohm's law.  I didn't learn about any of those things till high school!

Tuesday Jonathan took the car to be cleaned inside and out, and played with the kids in the park across the street.  He came home to a happy wife.  The grungy car was clean and the kids nice and tired. 

Wednesday Jonathan drove up to Austin for work, grandpa biked, and we picked up some friends and went to a new park a little off the beaten path.  The bigger boys discovered a small pond in the woods with tadpoles and the littler kids had fun running back and forth between the two playgrounds. 

On Thursday I made pistachio cupcakes and Melissa and I decked ourselves out in green.  Isaac wore his very favorite shirt, the one with the green crocodile that grandma gave him.  He gets excited whenever that shirt is fresh out of the wash.  To our dismay we discovered that Matthew had outgrown his green shirt, but he took it in good grace.  "Grandma said I have Irish ancestors, so I guess I don't have to wear green 'cause I'm green enough."  That night we took the kids to a playground and then a kiddie amusement park.  Matthew took Isaac all over the park and Isaac happily followed.  Anything Matthew wants to do is automatically cool.

Melissa stayed with grandpa and dad and just enjoyed the freedom to go where ever she wanted to go. 

 With grandpa on the carousal.

Friday we played in another park, listened to the baby during a prenatal checkup, and enjoyed the great outdoors with friends.

Saturday grandpa flew back to NJ.  We miss him.

See you later, Dad

See you later, Dad
Originally uploaded by jbellis

Isaac filled Matthew's backpack with treasures, then demanded to be let outside. Guess he's off to school.

One of those days II

Some days it seems I have everything together...other days I'm just happy my shoes are on the right feet, never mind whether they are matching.

Yesterday one of our children was invited to a birthday party of one of their classmates at Pump It Up.  Well and dandy!  Melissa picked out a birthday present a week ahead of time, wrapped it, we'd RSVP'd, and Jonathan dropped her off at the party place.  Matthew and Isaac played with their daddy in the meantime while I went shopping.

That evening I asked Melissa how the party went, "Great!  It was fun!"  Did Isabel like her present?  "Yes, but it wasn't the Isabel in my class, it was a different Isabel."  ???  Matthew interjected, "Yeah.  When I went inside to get Melissa a bunch of my friends were there.  I think the party was for the Isabel in my class."  Oops.  What kind of mother mixes up invitations for kid's birthday parties?  Oh dear.

Later I called the mom to explain what happened and apologize.  She laughed.  "Oh, no problem!  I have five kids. Once took them to Chuckie Cheese on a Saturday only to learn the party was on Sunday.  Of course when you take your kids to Chuckie Cheese you can't just leave,  so we had to stay and I ended up paying $60 more than I'd originally planned.  We then went back on Sunday too.  These things just happen."  She was just glad everyone had a good time.

That evening there was a baby shower for a friend of mine.  It was nice and I had a good time, but I was wearing pants that barely  really didn't fit.  I was very glad to get home.  Jonathan was playing a game on the computer when I got back.

I loudly announced to no one in particular "The pants come OFF!" and sighed happily.

"Rachel, I'm on speakerphone."

Oh crumb!

I don't even want to contemplate what the guy on the other end must have thought...

Isaac's fortune cookie

Isaac's fortune cookie
Originally uploaded by jbellis

One of those nights

One of those nights
Originally uploaded by jbellis

First Melissa dropped and broke a plate while setting the table. Then we upended a bowl of oatmeal (right) I was making for Isaac's picky water dinner. Then Isaac grabbed the oatmeal box and poured some on the floor out of solidarity (left).

First big boy haircut

I gave Isaac a big kid haircut on Thursday. He's had his hair trimmed in the past, but I've never used the electric clippers to buzz the back and sides before.

Getting bored toward the end.

I kept it longer on top so it would still curl. He was done before I finished, unfortunately.  Still it turned out pretty cute if not perfect.

See this noodle?

See this noodle?
Originally uploaded by jbellis

I just pulled it out of Isaac's nose. Seriously. I thought it was a booger hanging out, but no, he was stashing some dinner for later.

Power of Placebo

When our kids are running a high fever, have a headache, or congestion it is easy to figure out something from the medicine cabinet to give them. General complaints of my toe hurts, my knee feels funny, or my favorite, my tummy hurts, are more difficult. Matthew and Melissa expect us to DO something to alleviate their discomfort. Unfortunately there isn't anything really that we can do. Tummy aches can be caused by so many different things and it is unlikely anything serious. Yet they need something to help them feel better so we give them placebo (perhaps a little lotion on the tummy).

It works.

Matthew the Teacher

Matthew really likes origami, so much so that he volunteered to give a lesson to his cub scout pack. He was very excited for weeks in advance, and spent several hours planning his lesson and examples.

That night, he was ready.

When he came home I asked how it went. "It was great mom!" And that was about all he said. I received a call later from his scout master who was very, very impressed by how well he did. We were told that he was very well prepared. That he had 40 minutes and he filled the whole time with 2 projects, had his finished samples displayed, helped the boys who needed assistance, redirected those that got distracted, and was very patient. Apparently all the boys had a good time and each completed a folding eight point ninja star and a rabbit.

The primary president called Matthew a natural teacher. He certainly has had plenty of practice trying to teach his sister things; with varying amounts of patience and mixed results, I might add.

This took place back in January, but I was reminded of it during the Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet recently where he received recognition for his lesson. Good job, son!

Melissa helps

Matthew had to create a poster on the Smoky Mountains for school.

In the middle of his project he left the table briefly. While he was gone Melissa decided to "help."



Fortunately poster paper has two sides.



Matthew was initially pretty ticked with her, but was able to see the humor later. He even showed off his sister's work at the end of his presentation to the class.

Our little monkey!

Melissa asked if she could climb up the side of the swing set.

Skeptical, Jonathan responded, "Well, you can try."



This to the daughter who climbed out of her crib at 14 months.



When it comes to climbing, there is no try.

Dinner and a show

Dinner and a show
Originally uploaded by jbellis

Rachel cut Matthew's hair after dinner. Isaac was fascinated. He pushed a chair over so he could have a front row seat. A great show!

Workin' it

Matthew dotes on Isaac. Issac is his brother. It has at least as much to do with being far enough apart in age that Isaac isn't seen as a rival in the same way as Melissa, but in Matthew's mind, it all comes down to both being boys.

Isaac is figuring out how to take advantage of this.

Tonight, Matthew was setting up a game of Starcraft with me, but while he let it start up Isaac came over and banged on it a bunch. When Matthew came back it was restarting and giving him some kind of "Windows is running repair" message. I guess Isaac hit the power button; it glows seductively.

Matthew was pissed.

"Isaac!" he yelled, "I'm going to play a game with Dad! Now I have to wait for this to start up again!"

Isaac came over with a hangdog look and put his arms around Matthew.

Matthew was unable to stay angry at the two year old hugging him. "Isaac, just don't do that again, okay?"

(For the record, when we finally got to play, we won.)

Independence

Independence
Originally uploaded by jbellis

Isaac didn't want to eat dinner tonight until he took his fruit salad to his own table.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Isaac is eating a box of Cracklin' Oat Bran

Isaac is eating a box of Cracklin' Pat Bran
Originally uploaded by jbellis

No, not the cereal. The box.

Isaac needs to check out every rock on the trail

Isaac needs to check out every rock on the trail
Originally uploaded by jbellis

There are a lot of rocks.

Overheard

Melissa to one of her friends: "Take off your shoes; it's the LAW!"

Snow!

Last night we had an ice storm followed by a quarter inch of snow. Snow! In San Antonio? I got an automated call at 6:30 saying the schools were closed due to the weather. All of the freeways were shut down as well. They do NOT know how to drive in winter weather here, so just as well.

Matthew and Melissa were delighted. The first thing they wanted to do when they got up was go play in the "snow." I made them eat breakfast and get dressed first. Just before 8 AM a whole gang of kids came pounding on our door wanting to know if Matthew and Melissa wanted to play. Oh yes they did!

Matthew sledding down the driveway:

It was pretty icy so he had a nice slick ride.

The kids had a "snowball" fight, found lots of big icicles, and each made snowball to save in the freezer. Periodically they came in to change mittens before going outside again.

The snow all melted by mid-afternoon, but they had a ball while it lasted.

And to think it was 80 degrees on Monday...

Brothers

Isaac moved into Matthew's room earlier this week.

Matthew initially had quite a few reservations about the transition. Isaac, on the other hand, was thrilled.

Later that night I checked in on them and found them both in the bottom bunk, snuggled up next to each other.

Last night Isaac fell out of the bed and onto a mattress on the floor. He woke up unhurt, but very unhappy. I went into the room a few times to pat his back, but he was having none of that, so I left. Matthew helped settle him down and was so patient with him.

Big brother, little brother, they are good for each other.