A pretty happenin' house

We haven't got a dryer yet, so this is fun. I like nagging the kids not to touch the clothes when they wake up in the morning. We've been trekking to the laundromat as of late, and when I'm there I actually fold the clothes right when they come out of the dryer because there are all these huge tables to do it on. This is a good thing. Do I put them away right when I get home? . . . Well, hmm, I've already worked pretty hard. Oooo, and I discovered a Value Village near the laundromat (for all you northwesterners out there a.k.a Savers) ;) I was beginning to think I'd never find good thrift stores here.
These two geckos live on our front porch. You can see through their skin and they are neat.
We're flattered to have them as neighbors.


Alli's big dose of artistic genes are really exhibiting themselves lately. She doesn't just merely demand that all of her (prolific) works are immediately displayed on the fridge; she steps flamboyantly forward and back from the easel-fridge, selecting one color at a time from her little table behind her, and muttering out loud. She turns her head at all different angles to examine her work, then gets close to squint at it, then flails an arm into the sky with a satisfied air.

All's well--or I'm unaware--in pregnantville

Not a lot on my mind lately to blog about. Not that that's intentional or that my life is stress-free or there aren't in reality lists of things that I should be remembering and getting to--it's just this pregnant mind. It keeps going vacant. I'm forgetting basic simple conversation tools; here are two examples:

• I asked a relatively new friend at church whether she sings. Innocent enough, if I hadn't been practicing a song with her and 5 other gals in recent weeks, AND sharing music with her each time.
• Another new friend at church who's son has become Simon's pal asked for my phone number a few days ago so the boys could play. Fun! Then I realize this morning that I didn't even think then to ask for hers, nope, not until I wanted to call them today.

Okay, now a totally different topic. I see a lot of images I love on other people's blogs. I always just go to Google Images and hunt around (e.g. "pregnant head", "pregnant empty mind", and finally "daydreaming" for this post). I'm not exactly finding the quality or depth of choices that I'd like (though seeing this new-to-me Winslow Homer piece was nice).

So, what's your favorite image site??? Please, do tell!

Oh, and also I took my kids to Hermann Park for 3.5 hours today to wear them out and make up for spending a lot of time lately ignoring them inside while I try to manage all the insurance, bills, and mumbojumbo--with this pregnant mind, no less, it's quite a task. Anyway, I think my other intent was to let them just play themselves out so Mark and I could get them to bed easy tonight. The most frugal date I've thought of yet--since we can't quite squeeze a babysitter or going anywhere that costs money out of our pocketbook just now. It's called "Worn-out, happy, asleep EARLY kids" theme-date. But they're actually asleep right now in the car in the garage. Now isn't that a nice luxury???!!! Even though I'll have to change the date plan, it's nice to know that I didn't have to move them, they're close by (just in the other room, really!). A few weeks ago I would have had to move them, they'd wake up, be grumpy, and I'd wish I had had a safe place to leave the car where they wouldn't be kidnapped or look abandoned.

Okay, enough ramblings. Don't forget the image question! ;)

The new house--a rented bit of bliss!

Alli dug out Simon's old hat from a box and looks pretty outdoorsy sporting it.

Our friends that moved out left their swingset for us!

You can also see the neighbor's rabbit hutches on the other side of the fence. The kids are really entertained by them--Alli thinks they're hysterical when they just move around their cage.

This is the rest of the backyard and the shed (which is actually hooked up with electricity and a workbench, if I decide to try my hand at something). ;) There's also a square of more backyard to the back left of this picture; it has a little fig tree and it was interesting to see the shape of fig leaves in real life.

Just a happy moment--though there have been some playground spats too.

The covered patio spot

No shots of the inside yet--too many cardboard boxes still. But let's just say that rooms are seeming a lot bigger and things newer than we thought--we keep waiting for our parents to come and reveal that this is actually their house, we're too much of kids to have this much house at our disposal. Mark keeps saying that our bedroom feels like a hotel. I love having the family room; right now I'm working at the computer and I can see the kids out the screen door happily puttering around in the yard. That means I'm not working on this in my bedroom with kids climbing all over me or our bed or running away outside and having me holler after them. Hooray!

We found out about this house to rent from friends at church. A family that had just finished their PhD was moving out of it and invited us over and sold us on it. It's about 4 blocks from our church, so 20 minutes from work for Mark (he's planning on getting a bike and riding along the bayou most of the 5-6miles). The neighborhood is nice (and pleasant smelling . . .), zoned for a great school for Simon (either next year or the year after). More later . . .

Trick or treating with Dad at work!

The kids got a surprisingly good haul for showing up unannounced. Hoping to get more and better pics up later--but we're moving Friday, so we'll see . . . Happy haunting!

Fan mail for Sam and Ezra

This is going out to Ginger's boys--it's my kids' reaction to their AWESOME dance video. Hopefully they'll all meet someday at the same Saturday Night Dance.

Sorry if you don't know Ginger and can't see the original video--maybe this is still entertaining?

Oh no, or maybe oh boy!!!

Guess it's a good thing we're getting into a house (rented--more details later!) soon so I won't blow any walls off! I've been thinking of dabbling in unique instruments lately (lyre, dulcimer, banjo) . . . better add this to my list.


You Should Play the ACCORDION

You Should Play the Accordion

You are eccentric, funky, wacky... definitely one of a kind. People have trouble putting you in any one particular category. You definitely have your own thing going on. You are a born entertainer. No wonder you'd be perfect as an one man (or one woman) band. Your musical influences likely cross all genres - and blend together in a very unusual way. While you are definitely offbeat, you also enjoy tradition and influences from the past. It's just your style to take an old fashioned instrument like the accordion and make it uniquely yours. Your dominant personality characteristic: your total lack of inhibition Your secondary personality characteristic: your interest in obscure activities and subjects

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

I resonate with the third paragraph--but I'll have to think about the aaack . . . accordion. For some reason I view it as kind of dopey, not intriguing and exotic. And I think I can be plenty inhibited--I like playing with groups--I tried to swing this quiz towards a bluegrass folk GROUP and this is what I got!

The Wedding Montage

The Smilingest Aaron and Amy!!!!! Hooray!

and, in no particular order (because I'm not that skilled with this technology)

the other good shots . . .

with my parents






ZAZEL

Catherine (my sister) and Ken

Adam (my brother), Heather, and Zazel

the PT Cruisers

a pretty lady and a handsome boy on an innocent walk . . .
til this guy came along
and picked them up!
Alli was sad that they took off with her mom too!

Thanks Aaron and Amy, for letting us test out your getaway car ;)

A nostalgic Fall day

He's getting grown up, isn't he?

This is for Papa--a field of dreams surrounded by forest.

Mark's tree shot

The reward after a long leafy walk--two kids asleep in the stroller.

These pics are from Maryland--the day before the wedding.

We went up to D.C. last week for Aaron and Amy's day. . . more pics coming as soon as the kids let me!

One thing that's good about sitting here reading instead of doing something "productive" while Mark's at priesthood for two hours: I'm sure I can feel the baby moving as I sit here. So it's a good thing I haven't moved--otherwise it couldn't have told me three times that it likes to push my waistband. But I'm nearly becoming a vegetable--I can't remember the next sentence I'm planning to type. Oh yeah, the baby will keep on being "it" for a while--we're going to do another surprise round and wait to find out like we did with Simon.

I want to publicly CURSE all the insects of Texas--because it's 10:23p.m. and after a very long day I have to go do the dishes. Blast you you little creatures!!!

The Smiliest of Days . . . the actual birthday!

a Planet Heroes Turbo Shuttle. pretty much the coolest.

Mark says he would have asked for this up until he was 15 . . .

the long adored Buzz Lightyear!!!
and, delight of all delights (Alli's face testifies!), Simon will share one of his new pods with her!

We finally feel like we got this birthday right, "got him just what he wanted, instead of what we overthought he might want", and he's been playing hard ever since (and sharing more than I thought I could hope for!).

Now, after it was all said and done, I needed to sleep muchly. That's why this is all making it up here a week later.

To four years old and beyond!

A sketched-on Buzz Lightyear and cupcakes with planets and lightsaber handles. I'm pleased.

" Pin the rocket on the planet"

Notice the Simon montage on the wall bar. ;)

Simon invited a bunch of good singers!

Making a wish!

He confessed to me a few days later that it was for the big Buzz Lightyear (once he safely had his Buzz and could take it everywhere and show all its features to everyone who comes to the house.)

Cupcakes on the Rainbow Asteroid Belt

Warming up for the LIGHTSABER BATTLE--it got pretty fierce once all the space kids were armed. We did try to make them do it to music and stop (and win prizes) occasionally. Pretty fun.

Developmental Biology on the homefront

We've had some toad excitement around here lately. About a week and a half ago the kids and I found a bunch of tadpoles in this recurring massive rainpuddle we have nearby. It must have been my reward for finally getting out of the house before noon and heading the kids toward the park. So exciting. Anyway, first we realized that their puddle was quickly drying out, so we scratched the park idea and made a bucket brigade bringing them water from our house. Then, we had buckets, so the kids had to scoop tadpoles into them. Sidenote: Alli was really happily playing in the mud with her shovel til I happened to point out to her that she was getting all muddy on her hands and feet and forehead (which I didn't mind). I thought she would be delighted--she was horrified and upset until we went and got more clean water for her and got her hands pristine again. Funny. So, anyway, we brought a bucketful of mud, water, and 'poles home. I think it was to show Mark later; that is the reason for a lot of things we do. I didn't feel a big rush to dump the tadpoles back out, because hey, they were living in a stagnant puddle anyway. And a few days later there was no puddle to speak of. Whenever we'd go somewhere we give the bucket a little turn and our tadpoles were still alive and kicking; plus, some teeeeeny dragonfly nymphs and some spidery younguns were swimming around in there too. Then they got legs!!!! I know, this is very predictable, of course they got legs; but I NEVER can keep things alive (I guess I should just stick to things I can find in stagnant places). Yesterday we poured them out in a shallow frisbee and:

THREE OF THEM HOPPED OUT!!!!!

They were so small, no bigger than a tadpole, just leggy. The rest of them died from the stress of multiple dumps into the Frisbee. My four-year old assistant got a little overzealous--but hey, we kept three alive and we feel pretty great about that. The end.

The apple frenzy continues . . . caramel this time.

I was just going to write about the gloriousness of caramel apples and state my plans to teach four preschoolers how to make them tomorrow. Then I realized that this is just my recent fall apple obsession being extended. They may not look as good as these tomorrow, but I plan to work out the kinks with the kids and make two somewhat like these for Mark and me later. We had a good friend give these to us a few Christmases ago, in lieu of the traditional plate of goodies, and wowie were they zowie! As for tonight, I'm just making myself sick eating too many caramels while I wait for Mark to get home . . . a pretty happy misery.

Oh, and yes, the theme I chose to teach the kids about tomorrow is: apples. Geez, Emily! Johnny Appleseed, wiggling like worms, apple prints with paint, and the aforementioned delights.

Allianna's hierarchy or, a few of our favorite things.

I'm asking Alli all day things like "don't do that" "leave that there" "can I have that please?" when she has something she shouldn't have or is doing something wrong with it. The usual response is a smile, squeal, and a good chance she'll run away squealing and smiling; or an indifferent and sassy "No. no, mom." As in, hmm, that's an interesting idea you have Mom, but I don't agree. Or other times she acts like she doesn't hear me saying anything. So, that is how much respect I get.

However, and this is a massive however, if I mention that what she's playing with is Daddy's, she gets all reverential and agreeable. "Ooh. Daddy's? Daddy's [with awe]." And then she points to it or hands it to me and tells me "Daddy's"--all while nodding her head very authoritatively and soberly ("We definitely can't let bad things happen to something so special, Mom."). It doesn't matter if it's even just a piece of paper. We may have a moment of silence before she utters another respectful "Daddy's." Then she's on her way. There's nothing we agree about more than how dear Dad-O is. ;)

Oh, we also agree that it's fun to window shop pretty things. We were on our own at Target the other day (while the boys were at the natural science museum) and I asked her if she wanted to look for pretty little girl bracelets. "Yeeeah." (in the deep drawn out raspy way she says it). So we wandered the aisles looking for them while she called all the while "Preh-dy! . . . . Wheh ah yooou??? Pretty? wehahYOU?!?!"

This is for Melanie

and for anyone else who knew me in high school or my freshman year. This is what you'd expect for my daughter to wear: thrift store blue shirt and brown pants. Blue and brown, so many options . . . maybe I'll get a better picture later (sorry about the quick webcam one).

UPDATE

The apples are still intoxicating. I nearly fell into the big bin of them at Fiesta and stayed there...