Good thing Isaac can't read.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Isaac's favorite family home evening ever
Rachel gave a lesson on the word of wisdom. The activity was to go through a pile of magazines and cut out pictures of bad-for-you things and good-for-you things. Isaac thought this was great.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Trip to CA
Thursday, January 6th, I flew out to California to see a dear friend, Toni, from my freshman year in college get married. All three kids stayed behind with daddy for a fun weekend of fast food and hamburgers.
Kim, another friend from college, and I met up in the Oakland airport and drove over to Beth's house. Beth graciously hosted us and 4 other girlfriends of Toni's in her condo. It was a bit like being back in the girl's dorms or perhaps a grownup slumber party, a bit crowded, but very fun.
That night the four of us drove up to a small town called Brentwood where Toni lived, and we tried out a little Vietnamese place. It was delicious, and so fun to see my old girlfriends and catch up on the news.
Saturday we met up with some more of Toni's friends who'd flown in from around the country. We took the day to play in downtown San Francisco. I was unprepared by how cold the bay is in January. The fog was thick and wet and the temperatures in the upper 30s with a brisk breeze. Brr! Fortunately Beth lent me her heavy jacket and gloves which I wore over my lighter jacket and long sleeve shirt. Another of Toni's local friends lent me her spare hat. It seemed appropriate to take the bride on a trip to Alcatraz the day before her wedding, so the nine of us did.
(Pictures were taken with my little point & shoot- I didn't take the nicer camera with me this trip.)
(Or perhaps it is the cold- hard to tell.) :)
Me, Kim, Toni, and Beth
Hard to believe that it has been 12 years since we were all on the same dorm floor together.
Kim, another friend from college, and I met up in the Oakland airport and drove over to Beth's house. Beth graciously hosted us and 4 other girlfriends of Toni's in her condo. It was a bit like being back in the girl's dorms or perhaps a grownup slumber party, a bit crowded, but very fun.
That night the four of us drove up to a small town called Brentwood where Toni lived, and we tried out a little Vietnamese place. It was delicious, and so fun to see my old girlfriends and catch up on the news.
Saturday we met up with some more of Toni's friends who'd flown in from around the country. We took the day to play in downtown San Francisco. I was unprepared by how cold the bay is in January. The fog was thick and wet and the temperatures in the upper 30s with a brisk breeze. Brr! Fortunately Beth lent me her heavy jacket and gloves which I wore over my lighter jacket and long sleeve shirt. Another of Toni's local friends lent me her spare hat. It seemed appropriate to take the bride on a trip to Alcatraz the day before her wedding, so the nine of us did.
(Pictures were taken with my little point & shoot- I didn't take the nicer camera with me this trip.)
The dock and building 64 (family apartments for staff and guards)
The blushing bride
(Or perhaps it is the cold- hard to tell.) :)Touring the penitentiary
Toni, Kim, and Emily (whom I had the pleasure of meeting that day)
A view of San Francisco, such as it was on a foggy damp day:
(It was too overcast to get a good picture of the golden gate bridge- alas)
Toni, Kim, and Emily (whom I had the pleasure of meeting that day)
A view of San Francisco, such as it was on a foggy damp day:
(It was too overcast to get a good picture of the golden gate bridge- alas)It was a fun and interesting tour. I did not realize that the island started out as a military fortification, then an Army prison, and then not till 1934 did the prison come under the jurisdiction of the US Department of Justice to become a federal prison. Apparently the island was also home to many families with children as well as the most hardened criminals in America. Here's a good link with some history and photos http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/mainpg.htm
Saturday was the wedding, and the bride was gorgeous! She got married in the Oakland temple and just glowed the entire day. I have never seen her so happy! May they have much joy together.
(Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to the temple- so maybe I can get some copies later...)
Here are some pictures from the reception that evening:
Saturday was the wedding, and the bride was gorgeous! She got married in the Oakland temple and just glowed the entire day. I have never seen her so happy! May they have much joy together.
(Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera to the temple- so maybe I can get some copies later...)
Here are some pictures from the reception that evening:
Me, Kim, Toni, and Beth
Hard to believe that it has been 12 years since we were all on the same dorm floor together.Friday, January 07, 2011
Mr. Mom, day 1
Rachel is in California for her friend Toni's wedding. Last night she packed the kids' lunches, laid out their clothes, and wrote me a shopping list for meals. Tomorrow, I am on my own.
After we got the older kids off to school, Isaac and I went to Artworks so he could make a mess with paints that I didn't have to clean up. He had a great time for about an hour, then he got cranky because he was hungry and tired.
We had lunch, but he wouldn't take a nap. This made dealing with the phone calls I had scheduled for work during "nap time" tricky. I put on a movie, but he wasn't interested, so I had to do some strategic muting, especially when it was 3:00 and I realized I should have left to walk the kids home ten minutes earlier.
Isaac found something to amuse himself, and I figured he was fine because I hadn't seen him push his chair over to the counter to get into Stuff He Shouldn't. But afterward, I found himself with a bag of marshmallows that was substantially emptier than it had been. I let him keep what he had in his hand but I confiscated the bag.
Later, I found out that Isaac had been planning ahead. The picture quality and the angle aren't great, but you can see the contraband under the seat of his airplane toy:
I mentioned that I was late picking up the kids. If Matthew were walking with Melissa I would have just let them walk home by themselves, which Rachel doesn't 100% approve of but which she has let them do once or twice. But Matthew rode his bike this morning, and would probably assume he could ride it back without checking on his sister. I got Isaac into his stroller with more strategic muting (still not quite done with the call) and started running. I intersected Melissa at the crosswalk; she thought she was capable of walking home herself!
I should have waited to see whether she would cross the second street with the crossing guard -- she didn't notice me, off in Melissa La-la Land -- but I didn't think of that until after I caught her attention. So instead, just in case, I reviewed the "only jaywalk with Daddy" rules.
On the way back, Isaac succumbed to his fatigue. He slept until his brother and his friend Connor woke him up an hour later. I'm going to have to institute a no-exceptions, no-friends-inside-while-Isaac-sleeps policy. We do this every so often, then we relent to Matthew's pleas (not Melissa's, because we know that there is no way she can be quiet with friends over; with Matthew there is a chance), then we regret it.
At 5:30 the older kids had gymnastics. I dropped them off, then took Isaac to McDonald's down the road for a happy meal and play time on their slides. When I picked up Matthew and Melissa again, they were jealous of Isaac's chicken nuggets -- he rarely eats them until he is buckled in the car; in the restaurant, playing is far more interesting -- so we made one more trip to McDonald's to pick up chicken nuggets for everyone.
When we got home, I found out that Melissa had greatly enjoyed the stamp activity at the end of gym class. Here she is with heart stamps up and down both arms and both legs:
Before bedtime, we got to Skype with Rachel. Isaac said, "Mama!" and held out his arms for her to pick him up. Isaac misses his mommy already.
Finally, I read chapter six of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," which is tedious and poorly written but Matthew likes it and thinks the underwear jokes are hysterical.
(Then I fell asleep putting Isaac to bed for four hours and woke up at 2:30.)
After we got the older kids off to school, Isaac and I went to Artworks so he could make a mess with paints that I didn't have to clean up. He had a great time for about an hour, then he got cranky because he was hungry and tired.
We had lunch, but he wouldn't take a nap. This made dealing with the phone calls I had scheduled for work during "nap time" tricky. I put on a movie, but he wasn't interested, so I had to do some strategic muting, especially when it was 3:00 and I realized I should have left to walk the kids home ten minutes earlier.
Isaac found something to amuse himself, and I figured he was fine because I hadn't seen him push his chair over to the counter to get into Stuff He Shouldn't. But afterward, I found himself with a bag of marshmallows that was substantially emptier than it had been. I let him keep what he had in his hand but I confiscated the bag.
Later, I found out that Isaac had been planning ahead. The picture quality and the angle aren't great, but you can see the contraband under the seat of his airplane toy:
I mentioned that I was late picking up the kids. If Matthew were walking with Melissa I would have just let them walk home by themselves, which Rachel doesn't 100% approve of but which she has let them do once or twice. But Matthew rode his bike this morning, and would probably assume he could ride it back without checking on his sister. I got Isaac into his stroller with more strategic muting (still not quite done with the call) and started running. I intersected Melissa at the crosswalk; she thought she was capable of walking home herself!
I should have waited to see whether she would cross the second street with the crossing guard -- she didn't notice me, off in Melissa La-la Land -- but I didn't think of that until after I caught her attention. So instead, just in case, I reviewed the "only jaywalk with Daddy" rules.
On the way back, Isaac succumbed to his fatigue. He slept until his brother and his friend Connor woke him up an hour later. I'm going to have to institute a no-exceptions, no-friends-inside-while-Isaac-sleeps policy. We do this every so often, then we relent to Matthew's pleas (not Melissa's, because we know that there is no way she can be quiet with friends over; with Matthew there is a chance), then we regret it.
At 5:30 the older kids had gymnastics. I dropped them off, then took Isaac to McDonald's down the road for a happy meal and play time on their slides. When I picked up Matthew and Melissa again, they were jealous of Isaac's chicken nuggets -- he rarely eats them until he is buckled in the car; in the restaurant, playing is far more interesting -- so we made one more trip to McDonald's to pick up chicken nuggets for everyone.
When we got home, I found out that Melissa had greatly enjoyed the stamp activity at the end of gym class. Here she is with heart stamps up and down both arms and both legs:
Before bedtime, we got to Skype with Rachel. Isaac said, "Mama!" and held out his arms for her to pick him up. Isaac misses his mommy already.
Finally, I read chapter six of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," which is tedious and poorly written but Matthew likes it and thinks the underwear jokes are hysterical.
(Then I fell asleep putting Isaac to bed for four hours and woke up at 2:30.)
Ringing in the new year with Pokemon
We invited the Bates over for New Years Eve snacks and games. I knew this would result in mass chaos, but I was resigned.
I put on a pokemon movie in the living room for Isaac and the little Bates girl, and everyone settled in to watch it. I'm a little surprised the older kids didn't have better taste than Pokemon, but I'm not really complaining.
Meanwhile, we adults got to try Rachel's birthday present, Pandemic, a cooperative board game.
I put on a pokemon movie in the living room for Isaac and the little Bates girl, and everyone settled in to watch it. I'm a little surprised the older kids didn't have better taste than Pokemon, but I'm not really complaining.
Meanwhile, we adults got to try Rachel's birthday present, Pandemic, a cooperative board game.
Isaac and the merry-go-round
Rachel found a new park in San Antonio, the only one we've seen in years with a merry-go-round. Playground designers almost universally consider these Too Dangerous now; I'm glad we found one willing to buck that trend.
Isaac has a love/hate relationship with it. When he's on it, he complains. When he's off it, he complains. I got frustrated at first: what else could you want?
He wanted to push it, like the Big Kids. But they go too fast for him.
Finally, on a gray day with almost nobody else at the park, Isaac got to push it all by himself.
Isaac has a love/hate relationship with it. When he's on it, he complains. When he's off it, he complains. I got frustrated at first: what else could you want?
He wanted to push it, like the Big Kids. But they go too fast for him.
Finally, on a gray day with almost nobody else at the park, Isaac got to push it all by himself.
Saturday, January 01, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
December Peanuts
- Matthew the flirt: "I told her I had boogers in my milk, then I drank it. She said, 'Eww!' and ran away... then she came back."
- "Muzzy vocabulary builder" is less boring if you watch it at 50% faster-than-normal speed.
- Matthew shared his chocolate bar with Isaac. It had nuts in it. Isaac doesn't like nuts. That's why I had to clean chocolate-covered nuts off the carpet.
- After going to the book fair, Matthew shares the facts of life with his sister: "I told her about The Tax."
- Filipino cooking fits my personality. Cups of soy sauce, heads of garlic, large quantities of pepper... very straightforward.
- We had a ton of excellent chocolate mousse cake left over from Rachel's birthday. I explained to her that I would have given the kids some for breakfast, but the thought of the mess Isaac would make stopped me. Rachel was not impressed with my parenting... but ten minutes later she and Isaac were having cake for breakfast.
- Matthew's teacher told Rachel that he didn't complete his study guide for the test. "Well, maybe he'll learn a lesson," Rachel replied. Matthew brought home his test Friday, with a 97. I think he learned that public school is mostly make-work.
- Rachel: "I just had a disturbing thought. I can't remember when it was that I last made Matthew take a shower."
- The doctor gave me a shot of cortisone in my backside to fix something latin-sounding in my spine. I hardly felt the needle at all, but the cortisone made it feel like the world's largest bruise shortly later. That is a lot of butthurt.
- Me: "[Squeezes hard] This wood glue is totally clogged." Rachel: "No, it's not. [pop!]" Me: "Hey, I've never seen a wood glue that had a pop-top nozzle." Rachel: "Me, neither, but it was totally intuitive."
- I'm under 170 pounds for the first time since... probably since Matthew was born and I stopped going to the gym. Rachel's thoughts on my diet: "You have boring munchies."
- Isaac likes Looney Tunes.
- Rachel booked our first babysitter through facebook. Let's hear it for technology.
- Melissa discovered Photo Booth effects. She was glued to Rachel's macbook for close to an hour.
- Melissa: "Can I play with Franco?" Me: "You can play with Franco." Rachel: "Franco's in Argentina." Me: "You can't play with Franco."
- I was typing when the mouse cursor started going crazy -- Isaac found the bluetooth mouse in the other room.
- Matthew enjoyed singing the holiday classics: "Jingle bells, batman smells... "
- Melissa: "Can you tie this ribbon in a knot around my doll's neck? A shoelace knot." Rachel: "She means a bow."
- Me: "Salut!" Matthew: "Sally!" Rachel: "No, that's not it. It's a French U sound." Matthew: "But it sounds like an EE sound!" Poor Matthew; he tries hard, but he needed speech therapy for English, let alone another language. He just can't hear the difference between the sounds.
- Matthew thinks it's boring that rice only comes in white and brown. "It would be cool to have red, blue, and green rice for dinner."
- One extra-large Slim Jim is a fine thing. Two extra-large Slim Jims is a gastrointestinal horror show of epic proportion.
- Isaac isn't very good at opening peanuts. When faced with an especially difficult one, he eats it shell and all. Part of me admires his tenacity, but the rest of me shudders.
- I took the kids to the Dollar Tree to do their Christmas shopping. Melissa really tried hard to figure out what the alien mind of her brother would want for Christmas. Agonized, even. I hadn't expected that.
- Mental note: even if it's not raining _now_, the playground could still be covered with water.
- Took the kids to Pump It Up to get some wiggles out. When I had to use the bathroom, I could hear Isaac screaming as soon as I left line of sight. Nothing like having to rush your business because your kid is causing a scene in public.
- Isaac can take off his diaper now. This is cute when it's bath time. It's less cute when he hands you a poo-filled diaper and says, "Teenty [stinky]!"
- According to his coach, Matthew has a natural aptitude for Gymnastics. The Ellis family tradition of excelling in sports with no funding is alive and well.
- The other day I cut the fingernails of my left hand, but not my right. Yeah, I get interrupted a lot these days.
- Me: "Unless we have nine children, we'll either have an even number, or a prime one. Isn't that a pleasant thought?"
- Me: "Matthew, go empty one of the clothes baskets in Mom's room, and unload the clothes in the dryer into it." Rachel: "Wait, you skipped a step: if one of the baskets is already empty, use that." Matthew can be very pedantic.
- Kim Jong Il will never taste Rachel's Christmas Gingerbread. Score one for the free world.
- Remember when they had to debug console games _before_ shipping them? Merry Christmas, Son. Enjoy playing "Downloading update data... 31 Minutes Left."
- Teacher unrolls the Italian flag: "Does anyone know what this is?" Matthew: "That's the pizza flag!"
- Rachel: "Matthew, those socks don't match." Matthew: "How can you tell?" Yes, he's his father's son.
- Thursday's gymnastics class was cancelled due to the holidays, but I didn't know until I got to the gym. Making the best of it, I made a detour past McDonalds on the way home. While waiting, Matthew made the best of it too and started teaching kids in the play area how to do cartwheels.
- Rachel: "Adults have to put on deodorant every morning." Matthew: "So that's why you smell funny?"
Christmas
Christmas eve we invited a couple over to celebrate with us. Their grandkids all live in another state, and they really seem to enjoy Matthew, Melissa, and Isaac. In fact they have kind of adopted them as surrogate grandkids. This is just as well since dinner was...boisterous. After dinner some of us settled down to read the Christmas story in Luke. Others were more interested in the ornaments on the tree and climbing on top of people. Not the most reverent rendition of Christ's birth, but ya do what ya gotta do when you have toddlers. After that we drank the best hot chocolate ever (which they don't sell here in Texas) while watching a short version of the nativity and listening to carols.
As is tradition, the kids get to open on package on Christmas eve right before bedtime. The gift is always new pajamas and a stuffed toy. Even Isaac was excited about his new stuffed llama, the pajamas, not so much.
We sent them to bed with kisses and dire threats if they woke their parents or baby brother up before dawn.
Christmas morning Isaac let us sleep in until 7:15. We're not sure what time Matthew and Melissa got up, but early enough to have raided their stockings and played with the toys that Santa left unwrapped. They were dancing with excitement and quite impatient.
In the background you can see Melissa's new, pink, and ever so girlish, bike. She loves it.
Matthew's very own copy of StarCraft. Now he can play with his uncles online. He is thrilled.
Melissa's first polly pockets. With all of the tiny accessories, I may live to regret this gift.
Matthew is into cacti lately. He bought one with his own money and wanted another one. I figured he might enjoy growing them from seed even more.
Isaac unwrapping a present from big brother Matthew. He made the wrapping paper himself.
Christmas day was fun. For breakfast the kids requested German Apple Pancakes. In the process of making the pancakes, I discovered that our garbage disposal is even wimpier than I had previously imagined. After three apple peels worth of apples it gave out and clogged the sink but good. I had to take apart the pipes, and part of the disposal to clean it out. Didn't place the bucket quite right and got myself, the cupboard, and the floor very drenched. Okay, so that wasn't the fun part. The pancakes with cream were tasty though.
After breakfast, Matthew and I put together his erector set robot and setup his cacti greenhouse. Melissa took her new bike out for a test ride with Matthew. Isaac went around the house finding candy and leaving wrappers and sticky globs in novel places.
That night Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Andrea, and Gwendolyn joined us for dinner. The Nortons and their two children came as well. Kate Norton was full of interesting stories from Cleveland, and Mike has a wry sense of humor but a very busy work schedule so we haven't been able to have them over sooner. Regrettably I forgot to get pictures.
As is tradition, the kids get to open on package on Christmas eve right before bedtime. The gift is always new pajamas and a stuffed toy. Even Isaac was excited about his new stuffed llama, the pajamas, not so much.
We sent them to bed with kisses and dire threats if they woke their parents or baby brother up before dawn.
Christmas morning Isaac let us sleep in until 7:15. We're not sure what time Matthew and Melissa got up, but early enough to have raided their stockings and played with the toys that Santa left unwrapped. They were dancing with excitement and quite impatient.
In the background you can see Melissa's new, pink, and ever so girlish, bike. She loves it.
Matthew's very own copy of StarCraft. Now he can play with his uncles online. He is thrilled.
Melissa's first polly pockets. With all of the tiny accessories, I may live to regret this gift.
Matthew is into cacti lately. He bought one with his own money and wanted another one. I figured he might enjoy growing them from seed even more.
Isaac unwrapping a present from big brother Matthew. He made the wrapping paper himself.Christmas day was fun. For breakfast the kids requested German Apple Pancakes. In the process of making the pancakes, I discovered that our garbage disposal is even wimpier than I had previously imagined. After three apple peels worth of apples it gave out and clogged the sink but good. I had to take apart the pipes, and part of the disposal to clean it out. Didn't place the bucket quite right and got myself, the cupboard, and the floor very drenched. Okay, so that wasn't the fun part. The pancakes with cream were tasty though.
After breakfast, Matthew and I put together his erector set robot and setup his cacti greenhouse. Melissa took her new bike out for a test ride with Matthew. Isaac went around the house finding candy and leaving wrappers and sticky globs in novel places.
That night Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Andrea, and Gwendolyn joined us for dinner. The Nortons and their two children came as well. Kate Norton was full of interesting stories from Cleveland, and Mike has a wry sense of humor but a very busy work schedule so we haven't been able to have them over sooner. Regrettably I forgot to get pictures.
December Pictures
Decorating the tree.
Not the most flattering photo of me, but you can see a bit of the baby bump.
Making gingerbread.
Birthday flowers! The lilies are from my best friend from high school. (I also received some wonderful spring bulbs from my mom-in-law, but forgot to get pictures of them. They were lovely and the hyacinth smelled wonderful. Thanks mom!)
Looking back- I can see we need to start taking more pictures! Here's one of my New Year's resolutions. In 2011 I will get behind the camera more often.
Not the most flattering photo of me, but you can see a bit of the baby bump.
Making gingerbread.
Birthday flowers! The lilies are from my best friend from high school. (I also received some wonderful spring bulbs from my mom-in-law, but forgot to get pictures of them. They were lovely and the hyacinth smelled wonderful. Thanks mom!)
Looking back- I can see we need to start taking more pictures! Here's one of my New Year's resolutions. In 2011 I will get behind the camera more often.
Thanksgiving: Reader's Digest version
I'm a little behind the times...
For Thanksgiving we had a full house and loved it. Cousins James and Cameo along with their two kiddos Jacob and Eli, cousin Heather, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jeremy, and baby Gwendolyn joined us for our trip to Sea World. The day was really nice and warm and the park was a bit busier than last year. The shows were fun and we all had a great time.
Matthew and Melissa were ecstatic to have cousin Jacob over for a slumber party. They both love playing with him. Isaac and Eli were more rivals but I imagine they will be friends once they outgrow THE twos.
During the Shamu show we sat behind Muslim family speaking Arabic. They bought some dippin' dots ice cream. Melissa, ever the shy one, asked "What's that?" pointing to the ice cream. The lady patted her on the head and gave Melissa her ice cream. I was a bit embarrassed and politely tried to give it back but the lady insisted and smiled at Melissa. That girl is a charmer. While watching the show, Melissa shared her ice cream with Jacob. Later she chattered in her usual happy manner to the lady. I don't think the woman understood a word she said but she grinned, nodded, and patted her cheek.
Later that afternoon little ones played at a very busy playground. While there I had the scariest 3-4 minutes of my life. The playground had a lot of nooks to hide in and 3 places to exit. (Terrible, terrible design, I think.) Isaac managed to dart out of my sight and I couldn't find him. The place was swarming with kids making a search harder. After the first few minutes I concluded he wasn't in the playground any more. I started a sweep around the playground when I heard him crying above the general din. An elderly couple was carrying Isaac and saw my frantic face. "Is this one yours?" Isaac lunged into my arms. "We found him running towards the alligator pond and thought he might have come from the playground." My kids are determined to give me gray hairs before my time.
When the kids got tired we trekked back home for a big Thanksgiving feast. Everything was cooked the day before, but it still took many hands to get the tables setup and the food reheated. Thanks all!
After the meal (and dessert!), we were too tired from the day's activities to have our traditional cousin games. We lounged on the couches, full and satisfied.
We will miss James and Cameo when they move from Houston. :(
For Thanksgiving we had a full house and loved it. Cousins James and Cameo along with their two kiddos Jacob and Eli, cousin Heather, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jeremy, and baby Gwendolyn joined us for our trip to Sea World. The day was really nice and warm and the park was a bit busier than last year. The shows were fun and we all had a great time.
Matthew and Melissa were ecstatic to have cousin Jacob over for a slumber party. They both love playing with him. Isaac and Eli were more rivals but I imagine they will be friends once they outgrow THE twos.
During the Shamu show we sat behind Muslim family speaking Arabic. They bought some dippin' dots ice cream. Melissa, ever the shy one, asked "What's that?" pointing to the ice cream. The lady patted her on the head and gave Melissa her ice cream. I was a bit embarrassed and politely tried to give it back but the lady insisted and smiled at Melissa. That girl is a charmer. While watching the show, Melissa shared her ice cream with Jacob. Later she chattered in her usual happy manner to the lady. I don't think the woman understood a word she said but she grinned, nodded, and patted her cheek.
Later that afternoon little ones played at a very busy playground. While there I had the scariest 3-4 minutes of my life. The playground had a lot of nooks to hide in and 3 places to exit. (Terrible, terrible design, I think.) Isaac managed to dart out of my sight and I couldn't find him. The place was swarming with kids making a search harder. After the first few minutes I concluded he wasn't in the playground any more. I started a sweep around the playground when I heard him crying above the general din. An elderly couple was carrying Isaac and saw my frantic face. "Is this one yours?" Isaac lunged into my arms. "We found him running towards the alligator pond and thought he might have come from the playground." My kids are determined to give me gray hairs before my time.
When the kids got tired we trekked back home for a big Thanksgiving feast. Everything was cooked the day before, but it still took many hands to get the tables setup and the food reheated. Thanks all!
After the meal (and dessert!), we were too tired from the day's activities to have our traditional cousin games. We lounged on the couches, full and satisfied.
We will miss James and Cameo when they move from Houston. :(
Sunday, December 26, 2010
November Peanuts
- Grandma Linda: "Melissa do you want to wash your hands?" Melissa: "No."
- Parked in the principal's spot to vote. (Turns out I wasn't registered. Oh, well.)
- After months of vigilance I left my backup mouse out overnight. Isaac was unable to chew the mousewheel off -- guess it was tougher than the first -- but he did get something sticky inside it so it barely turns now.
- Thermostat says it is 70 degrees inside. I am wearing a jacket. Either it is lying or Texas has made me a wuss.
- Rachel made a Tree of Thanks for us to fill with leaves on which we write things we're grateful for. I'm putting "no eye surgery without anesthetic" on my next one, which sounds flippant if you hadn't heard the guy in church today share the story about his freak basketball-to-the-eye accident.
- Had some trouble getting my power cord out from a table-top power hub one-handed, so I slid my fingers under the edge of the plug for more leverage. Touched both prongs at once. Yes, that stung.
- Rachel's new phone came with Swype pre-installed. Jealous.
- Melissa: "I'm going to be a mommy." Me: "Yes, you'll be a mommy and Matthew will be a daddy." Melissa: "But Matthew doesn't like kisses!" Matthew: "Eww!"
- Melissa: "Daddy, can you put my picture in my folder?" Me, rolling my eyes: "You can put your own picture in the folder." Melissa: "No, I need help!" Me: "Fine. Bring me the picture and the folder." Melissa brought down Rachel's laptop: she wanted her picture saved in the 'Melissa' folder.
- Me: "We mostly talk about work. I see him post things about his family on facebook, sometimes." Rachel: "That's just enough to know his kids are still alive."
- Total Isaac bathtimes that ended with an emergency abort to scrub poop out of the tub: four. Then he stopped doing it. Weird. Not that I'm complaining.
- Driving home with Isaac. I hear spitting noises, and "duck!" [yuck] I hear this repeatedly but I can't figure out what he could be talking about -- maybe he just wanted to practice for dinner. Turned out he'd gotten bored enough to eat his shoes. Why he didn't stop after determining it was yuck -- maybe try each of them once, for good measure -- I don't know.
- I had the minivan washed for Thanksgiving, inside and out. Matthew folded the paper floor mat they left into a hat.
- Got a handwritten, page-long Jehovah's Witnesses solicitation via US Mail. Part of me is impressed with the effort it takes to do a spam campaign in longhand. On the other hand, spam is spam.
- Thinking about buying my first desktop in about 10 years: Matthew and Melissa are starting to fight over whose turn it is to use Rachel's laptop. Not to mention sometimes Rachel actually wants a turn.
- Briefly considered buying a quality solid-wood desk for kids to do homework on, and to put the desktop on. Then sanity returned: particle board it is!
- Melissa is crying in bed now because her pillow is not as fluffy as Matthew's. That is one tired five-year-old girl.
- We tried letting Isaac choose which piece of Halloween candy he wanted. He'd pore through his booty for half an hour, picking up each piece and inspecting it for tastiness potential. Eventually we'd lose patience, and take the candy away, leaving him with his most recent selection, and he'd HOWL (then he'd squash the candy to show us how mad he was). So now we just pick a piece for him and everyone is happy.
- "Melissa, take your foot out of the cereal box."
- Usually google voicemail transcripts are useful but this one cracked me up: "Hi, Whether. Ellis, this is sister method. I was just returning a phone call that I did, and my phone or Switzerland that that you really called anyway. Just want to know we got yours. But the phone call with Mr. Just barely talk to you later. Thanks. Bye. "
- It's officially Christmas season, and the kids are working on Dad. Melissa: "Lights that glow are so pretty. You need to put some on our house since it's Christmas time!" Matthew: "Do you know what Christian's dad did? He let Christian climb on the roof with him to hang lights!" Humbug.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Rachel made pregnant gingerbread women this year
It's my mom's recipe. I'm glad I'm almost done eating them because then I can go back to my low-sugar diet.
I'll be glad when this isn't funny anymore
Isaac is still making his rounds several times a day. Like a doctor checking on his patients, he checks to make sure everything is on the floor where it belongs.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Tu parles Francais?
This morning as Matthew left for school he waved to Isaac and said "Au revoir!" Usually Isaac responds with "bye, bye!" but today he distinctly replied, "Au revoir! Au revoir!" and waved back.
I think that counts as his first French word. On the English front, I heard the words the new words "star" "hat" and "socks" yesterday.
To Isaac, all letters are "I." He likes to point at the letters in words and chirp, "I! I! I!" Son, that is an R and that an E. He'll repeat after me and then joyfully go back to "I! I! I!"
I think that counts as his first French word. On the English front, I heard the words the new words "star" "hat" and "socks" yesterday.
To Isaac, all letters are "I." He likes to point at the letters in words and chirp, "I! I! I!" Son, that is an R and that an E. He'll repeat after me and then joyfully go back to "I! I! I!"
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