Helpful Hint

When my parents were getting ready to leave on Lucy's birthday, I was trying to give her a subtle hint about what she should say to them before they leave.

After she guessed "Bye" and "Happy Birthday?", Kilian thought he would step in.

He said, "Lucy, it starts with a 'ffffffffff' sound". Which is true if you say "fank you for the present" like he does.

The difference between boys and girls

according to Lucy:

Girls have "eye-staches" (pronounced like mustaches) and boys have plain eyes.

Out of practice

I don't usually come in our house through the front door, but our garage door has been a little fickle over the last couple of days. So this morning after getting back from school, I decided to just park in front and use the key in the door. That's not very funny, except that I caught myself pushing the "unlock" button on my car remote while standing in front of the house.

Sidewalks in Texas are a little bit less safe now...

Can you guess what Lucy got for her birthday?

Luckily we had some beautiful weather to give it a try this afternoon.

Kilian got to try out his relatively new one (a hand-me-down in super shape) as well today. It just took me a couple of months to air up the tires.

A few of my favorite things

- Christmas trees

- Baby in Christmas p.j.'s

- Goodnight Moon, the book

- Daddy (that just got home) who is willing to read a book before he even takes his coat off

Could it be??

That our Lucy Goosey is 4??

She's holding up 4 fingers and blew out 4 candles, so I guess so!

We celebrated last night by eating at the restaurant in town with the very best chicken strips, of course.

In"chair"cerated

Some kids might sit in a chair to watch a little afternoon PBS. Not Lucy. I found her this way during Clifford, after hearing, "Mommy, I'm stuck".

And stuck she was.

After a few moments of panic we learned that her head is indeed the biggest part of her body.

The little prisoner of the chair was eventually freed after Kilian and I helped her pull her shoulders and hips through. Whew!

Keepers

Here are our newest Christmas ornaments - and their creator.

Joseph - orange
Mary - blue
Angel and Baby Jesus
hooks and all!

I think they are my new favorites!

Little Mimic

Camille is so much fun these days. She'll repeat just about anything you ask her to!

Don't worry, these are "Brad-approved" organic, trans fat-free Oreos! Seriously!

South Plains Sunset

Halfway to 12

Yesterday was Kilian's 6th birthday! When asked how old he is, he answered "6, halfway to 12" a couple of times. I prefer to not think of it that way. We celebrated with family over taquitos and bowls of tortilla soup.

The "cake" was his idea - he told me he would rather have Krispy Kreme donuts than cake. Who am I to argue with that!! No mess in the kitchen, and a good excuse to pick up blueberry cake donuts, my very favorite!!

Hygiene and Wardrobe

Me to Kilian, in the car the other night: When we get home you need to jump in the shower before we read stories

Kilian: Hmmph - I wish they would have never thought of showers.
___________________

Me to Lucy, after seeing her run around with almsot nothing on for about an hour after school today: You need to go put some clothes on.

Lucy: Who's coming??

Typical

So I waited until about 5:30 to go to the grocery store, with all 3 kids today. It was just like most of the trips when the 4 of us go. Camille can squeeze her way up and out of any grocery cart buckle. She's skinny and strong and 10 minutes into every trip, she winds up standing up. That means I carry her (and steer the thing with one hand) and put Lucy in the "baby seat" of the cart. She doesn't mind. She is singing "God Bless America" at the top of her lungs. Kilian lags behind because he must pick up any items up off the floor, put them back in the correct place and straighten up anything else that is out of line on the shelves.

Some time I just might ask for a discount because we provide music and extra help with the facing of the shelves.

When it rains, it pours...

I can't seem to make posting a part of my daily routine yet, but I'm going to keep working on it. There are three new posts below!

We're very excited about our two batches of company coming over the next week. Maybe I'll get some pictures of the fun and even take a couple of pictures of our house since it will be all clean and shiny (pretty much for the first time since we moved into it in during the summer).

Have a great weekend!

Lael

Little bit of Lucy

Dear Camille,

I really hope that one day you can explain to me why you love to be chased by a big 'ol vacuum cleaner, yet the hair dryer makes you cry everytime.

Love,
Mom

Busted!

This is what I come home to after a meeting at the school (about 30 minutes after bedtime!)

What he thinks about on the way home

This happened on Friday. Kilian told me that there was a problem with the numbers. Eleven and twelve don't match the other teens (thirteen, fourteen, fifteen etc.) so we should call eleven "teen-dy teen" or "one-didy one" or something. I don't think he mentioned what twelve should be, but I'm looking forward to when he does.

Just in case

Today Kilian held dinosaur drills at our house. Everyone had to go outside and pretend to be playing, then when he told us he heard dinosaur sounds, we all practiced running inside into the master closet and hiding.

Does your family have a plan?

Little Business Man

As Kilian was making himself a snack a few days ago, he had an idea. Here he is explaining it. oh yeah - The weird sound in the background is Camille playing with the straw in my Sonic cup. Apparently I have learned how to hold a baby, a drink and film at the same time.




It was completely his idea - pricing and all. A few minutes after I took the video, he asked me how to spell "whole grain". He wants everyone to know they are healthy! No question he's Brad's son!!

So yesterday we set it all up. He had 3 customers and was a little bit disappointed with that. I think he was expecting a long line of people. Luckily, a tip for good service from my dad, "G-pa" cheered him up.

Great

Great-grandkids with Great-grandparents...

The kids and I enjoyed a quick trip to Amarillo to visit my "Memaw" and "Papaw" on Friday night. We got to eat some good cookin', see our fish friends in the aquarium, and pick out/blow up a few balloons from Papaw's famous balloon bowl. Kilian always starts looking for the bowl soon after we arrive.

I also really enjoyed how well Camille traveled. To put is mildly, she is not usually a fan of the car seat, so maybe this is a good sign for our upcoming trip to Houston!

Boo!

Here is what our crew looked like last week! The one in pink is about to figure out why the other two are so serious about this.

Mr. Incredible

Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) with a long sleeve shirt on underneath

And a sweet little bunny

Maybe it is payback

I almost felt bad for poor Lucy when she ran into the living room, 15 minutes after bedtime and said, "Camille is coffying me". (which I assume is the same as copying). She is hurting my feelings and she is making me have to go to the potty. "

But then I remembered this event, about a month ago. I wondered why I kept hearing Camille whine for about 30 minutes after naptime began. This is what I found. Notice how incredibly sleepy Camille is near the end of video.

Actually, I think Camille deserves a few freebies when it comes to keeping Lucy awake.

Like to grill?

I took this picture before the football game 1 1/2 weeks ago. If you can't tell, it is a huge 18 wheeler with smokers and a hotdog bar on it. We actually don't have a grill right now, and I figure we could use this one.....

When we live in this house.

The Wedding

One way or another, all 5 of us were involved in my sister, Mandy's, wedding on Saturday. The wedding was beautiful, the food was great, and the newlyweds are now relaxing in the mountains on their honeymoon.

Here are the highlights, as far as my kids go:

- the 5 year old "Ring Burier" was a trooper during rehearsal and through all the afternoon pictures (in a tux while it was about 90 degrees outside). However, just before the actual ceremony he got the chills and his stomach hurt and he had to lay down on his little ring-bearer pillow and cover up with a table cloth we borrowed from the caterer. He had fever and was trying to hang in there just long enough to walk down the aisle. He did, but couldn't stand any longer and wound up leaning on my mom (Mother of the Bride) on the front row. Poor guy. I know he wasn't faking because with a couple of tears running down his cheeks, he said he wanted to go home, even without any cake.

- the 3 year old "Flower Thrower" managed to look like she knew what she was doing during the ceremony, even after skipping out on part of rehearsal to play on the nearby playground. I was relieved when she so willingly put on the dress, tights, shoes and bow in her hair for pictures. She posed and smiled. All was well until we caught her with her dress off, tights at her ankles, trying to unbuckle a shoe about 4 minutes before time to walk down the aisle!! Crisis averted with a small bribe (involving cake). She ended the night as a barefoot dancer - minimal icing smudged on the dress.

- the 1 year old "Honorary Flower Girl" did well for pictures, but missed the ceremony due to screaming when she saw me (Matron of Honor) walking in. She let about a dozen people pass her around during the ceremony, ate her cake with only a diaper and dress shoes on, then enjoyed a nice dance with the Bride to "Twist".

Congratulations Mandy and Mike!

One of my favorite things about morning

I love the way Camille waves "hi" to all the crazy people outside in Rockafeller Plaza with Al Roker on the Today show. She takes it pretty seriously.

Gross

At the breakfast table today...

Lucy: Is today a school day?

Me: Yes

Lucy: Is tomorrow a school day?

Me: Yes, then the next day is not a school day, it is Aunt Moo's wedding (my sister)

Lucy: But I won't get to see my teacher

Me: No, but you can tell her about the wedding on Monday

Kilian: No yuck!! We don't want to tell anyone about them kissing!!

At least half time was nice

My parents, Brad and I went to see A&M and Tech play on Saturday. Sadly, the Aggies didn't win, but watching the band was just as fun as I remembered. I haven't been to an Aggie game in years.

I also liked remembering that it was this game in Lubbock 10 years ago that turned out to be our first unofficial date. We lost that game, too. I think the wind chill was in the 40's then, and we reached a sunny 91 degrees this time!

Here we are at the game (I wish I would have taken off my sunglasses.)

Nice try

Lucy has done this twice now. She asks if we can make Jello and I say "Yes, but it will take it a long time to get cold. Remeber that we will have to leave it in the refrigerator for a long time before we can eat it." She leaves the room and when I'm ready to make it I call her into the kitchen. She pulls the little brown package of powder out of the refrigerator door and asks if it is ready.

For those that haven't seen it...

Camille can walk, and pretty fast.

Warning:
If you get motion sickness or have a fear of large birds, don't watch.




I turned off the camera abruptly there at the end, but we survived!!

I know it is October...

but I never really got around to sharing "first day of school" pictures before now. Kilian is in kindergarten and Lucy in Pre-K 3.

2 days later:

I have finally found the USB cord that will allow me to post pictures/movies here!!

So, I'm going to let Lucy whistle now to make sure you are paying attention.

Here we go....

In the hopes of:

• keeping out-of-towners up to date
• helping me remember all the funny things our kids do and say
• feeling good about how tech savvy I am

I am going to give blogging a try! I'll be back soon with some pictures.

Lael