Chronicles of Jamesnia

Twin Talk

2012-01-25T09:22:00.001-06:00

Many people know that I have always wanted twins. With babies 1 through 3 I was actually a little disappointed to only see 1 heartbeat. After we had 4 kids I started realizing that it would be a kinda crazy, so I told myself to stop wishing. Well, here we are jumping from 5 kids to 7 kids!

This was the first time that we both wanted to find out the gender of the baby, so I went to this sonogram thinking we would "ruin" the surprise by learning boy or girl. Ha! God found a different way to surprise us. Brad wasn't at that appointment, so I got to text him with,

"It's a boy...and another boy. No kidding! I will bring pics by if you want"

and he did want me to. I went to the school at lunch time and showed him, as well as the rest of the faculty and staff. News like that spreads fast. We wanted to tell the kids rather than let them "hear it" so we caught Kilian and Camille in the hallway and pulled Lucy out of class to show them the pictures and tell them.

I saw twins being baptized at church 2 days before the sonogram and told Brad that part of me still really wanted twins, to which he rolled his eyes like he does every pregnancy when I say those sorts of things. Also, just a few weeks before we found out I was pregnant, my friends Wes and Erin welcomed their precious twin girls. I have been admiring how sweet they are non-stop, and actually wondered if it could be contagious. hmmmmm....

I have an appointment with my doctor today (it was just the ultrasound tech last time) so I am really looking forward to some more answers.

*********************************************************

A few facts:

1. I only remember hearing of one set of twins in my family before this. I believe it is my grandma's uncles - named Rubel and Strubel (I'll have to check that spelling with her), but now that this news has spread, I've learned of a couple more distant sets of twins.

2. Twins make up about 3 out of 100 births on average

3. My high school class graduated with 72 people. At least 7 of us have had (or will have) twins

4. I was in a mom's prayer group at our church in Wylie in 2005/2006. 4 out of 10 of us have had (or will have) twins

5. These twins will make Oliver the middle child of 7 at the ripe old age of 3! and just barely 3 since his birthday is the end of May. He looks like he is up for the task, right?

Catchin' up is hard to do

2012-01-21T23:00:00.002-06:00

Fall summary since I did not make blogging much of a priority!

August

- made our annual trip to Joyland amusement park

- started school with a 4th grader, 2nd grader and Little Miss Kindergarten.

- which left me at home with just these two during the day

September

- made my first and only attempt so far at copying an idea off pinterest

- began my 13th "busy season" with the same company, 6th year as a remote, part-time employee (this is cuter than me by a computer).

- let my big helper feed his sister and teach her how to crawl faster

October

- found out we are expecting another baby in June - due on Uncle Darren's birthday/Flag Day!

- celebrated our 13th anniversary

- took all 5 kids to Midnight Yell here in Lubbock (since it might be the last)

- survived the great James stomach bug of 2011 (no pics of that!)

- trick or treated

November

- I don't remember the first part of this month. I felt worse than usual for the first trimester and slept as much as I possibly could

- they found ways to have fun in the house anyway

- one detail I do remember...at one point there were no clean bowls, spoons or cups so kids were drinking water out of measuring cups and using measuring spoons to eat their cereal out of our smallest mixing bowls. Pathetic, but true.

- Genevieve turned 1

- gave thanks like the pilgrims

December

- Kilian turned 10

- announced baby 6 is on the way

- started feeling like myself again

- Lucy turned 8

- enjoyed Kilian's first piano recital, Lucy singing in the Christmas parade and some great school Christmas programs

- traveled to Houston and back to celebrate an early Christmas, but made it back in time for Christmas Eve snow here (more later)

and that leads us to January when we had our first sonogram at 19 weeks and found out that baby number 6 and baby number 7 would be coming at the same time! 2 boys! No wonder I felt worse!

My new hobby

2011-08-01T00:59:00.003-05:00

Lately I seem to enjoy

taking pictures
of a sweet,
funny,
chubby,
baby girl
in swimming suits.
Although, I have been finding it fun to take pictures of her without swimming suits, too!

Camille turns 5!

2011-07-29T00:14:00.008-05:00

We celebrated Camille's birthday on Father's Day while we were still in the Houston area. The day started with a bright and early trip to Shipley's donuts before church. Yes...very bright...and very early for us in the summer.
I know Camille enjoyed getting to go into a donut shop since we usually just do drive through on the days they talk me into it. It was really a treat for me, though, since I fell in love with Shipley's when I was in college. There are not any in the Lubbock area.

Oliver just likes chocolate iced with sprinkles no matter where we are.

She was sufficiently spoiled at Grammy's house. There were cupcakes and candles
and presents
and family! (That is Brad's dad, "PawPaw" holding Genevieve in case anyone couldn't guess!)
She got to open more presents when we got back to Lubbock. This is one girly girl. She wanted and received jewelry, more jewelry, kits to make jewelry and a real jewelry box and some pretty new clothes/shoes.
5 things I love about Camille

* her sweet, high-pitched {helium-like} voice

* how she is always willing to unload the dishwasher

* how she and I share a big glass of chocolate milk with two straws almost every night

* how much she loves to color - she entertains herself for hours!

* her fabulous poses for pictures

and a bonus #6...I love her patience since this was supposed to be her first birthday to have a party with friends and I have still not organized anything! I need to do the detective work to get contact info for her school friends. Shame on me!

Oliver turns 2!

2011-07-27T00:43:00.002-05:00

In the middle of the May end-of-the-school-year craziness, we celebrated Oliver's second birthday with some cool number "2" and truck shaped sugar cookies. Sadly, I am still looking for where I saved the pictures from that evening. The cute thing about that was that for several weeks when someone would ask how old he is, he said "aahver 2! num num num" and pretend like he was gobbling up his 2 shaped cookies like Cookie Monster.

A couple of things I want to remember about 2 year old Oliver:

After months and months of riding on a pink and purple Barbie tricycle, he got his own blue one.

And ride it he does! In the day, at night, outside, inside, fully dressed, diaper only, both hands on the handles, or sometimes with one hand holding on to various trucks and cars. It is way too hot most of the time for me go out to the front yard with him, so I just let him ride in the house. I've only seen him standing on the seat in order to reach the gum a couple of times. Oh, and he can chew gum for up to 30 minutes before spitting it in the trash.

He sleeps with cars and trucks and with books about cars and trucks, after reading books about cars and trucks to his cars and trucks.

He is a ham. He finds what he can do to make his brother and sisters laugh, and will milk it for as long as possible. Side note: Camille can carry on an impressive fake laugh for quite some time.

Finally, we are starting to work on using the potty. Of course, we like to say that big boys use the potty. After going once, he told me "I big boy", I said that yes, he was and he followed up with "I cute".

You've come a long way in two years, Ollie-bear...

and as your mother, I agree with you on both counts!

Sugar Land/Beach Trip 2011

2011-07-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed our 5th annual summer vacation with Brad's family in June. The official destination was a beach near Galveston, but first we spent some days in Sugar Land at Brad's parents' house. Their neighbors across the water always let us use their pool when we are in town.

In order to get to the neighbor's pool, we step down off of the edge of Grammy & Pawpaw's back yard into a kayak,
and ride "Brad's Shuttle Service" across the lake

to get to this pool. This alone is always a super fun vacation!

This was our first swim of the year, and Oliver was not so sure about it.

Kilian was of course comfortable on the slide

Camille and her "puddle jumper" life jacket didn't work up the courage to try the slide until after we returned to Sugar Land a week later, on the day she turned 5.

Oliver warmed up to the water after we blew up a "Cars" float for him.

Lucy mastered the slide...

as well as the map

possibly helping us make it to the beach. Let the counting begin.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7.....1,2,3,4,5,6,7.

All I did was count kids' heads. I can't believe I got a picture with this many cousins at once. They were usually spread out pretty far since we had quite a bit of room to ourselves.

The bigger kids spent tons of time looking in tide pools for things

like these crabs.

My kids were less than thrilled that I made them join me for a quick picture (ok I probably took about 20), but they survived and will thank me one day! See the new header pic at the top of the page??

We had fun inside, too, with games

cooking

and pretending to surf with Barbie.

Yep, this is the life.

I think the highlight for Oliver was getting to "pray" on the deck, but not necessarily the good kind of "praying".

Xavier, Camille and Max fit in the little pool in the shade. I'm guessing that may not be the case next year.

Genevieve preferred to get spoiled on the deck by everyone, but I only got pictures of her with her Grammy

her Aunt Angela

and her cousin Max who could not believe how tiny her feet are!

Group shot with all 9 cousins. Oliver not cooperating.

Another group shot with all 9 cousins. Xavier not cooperating, but these guys are both 2 so we'll give them a break.

I'm so glad these guys have an opportunity to make memories like this each year!

Out of Order

2011-07-22T01:10:00.000-05:00

So I've been dragging my feet when it comes to a new post because I feel like I should go in order - as in starting with Easter events. I have decided to blog about more recent stuff first and maybe catch up later.

Either way, it's nice to be here again. We're having a great summer, and growing nicely, as you can see below. Genevieve is now 8 months old and a "delicate little snowflake" of a baby girl as my Uncle David calls her. In case anyone happens to still check on this neglected little blog, I hope you have a great weekend!!

We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo

2011-05-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too
We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Any other Raffi fans out there?

Over spring break we made a quick overnight trip to Abilene and did all sorts of fun things. The length of the drive (2 1/2 hours) seemed really short compared to our usual destinations of Dallas or Houston. I think it was a good practice run with Genevieve - although she was the easiest one in the car. The pleas from the middle seat of "Aahver [Oliver] get out" were very sad during that last stretch.

Our itinerary included:

- Grace children's museum
- Awesome percussion demonstration at ACU by my very musical uncle, aunt and cousins
- Zoo
- Picnic
- Park

I only remembered my camera for the second day - the zoo and park. I don't know why we waited so long to take the kids to this zoo. It was great!

We got to meet my long-time friend Wes and his family there. Wes had to run back to work, so it was just a very quick "hi" with him, but Erin and their two precious girls met up with us both days and helped give us a tour since they are zoo regulars there. Erin's account of the morning can be found here. She gives a fun summary of some college rivalry pranks. Their family will be moving further away soon, so I am so thankful it worked out for us to catch up in person. Blogs work very well when meeting in person isn't possible though.

my cousin Emily and Camille soon after we arrived
Oliver looking at "the ducks" - you know...the big pink ducks that stand on one leg.

Julia and Lucy in the bird room
the highlight...GIRAFFES!
how often do you get to see the top of a giraffe?
we got to feed them cracker-like things...impressive tongue, huh?
I managed to miss a family picture of all 7 of us at both Christmas and Easter, but now we have one in front of the giraffes!
zebra
tiger playing with a ball
back of a lion - made me thankful I only have to deal with Lucy's tangles and not his

A big chubby frog...

or maybe that was from our house.

does this kid below even have hair? how similar can hair and skin color be?

how we get around these days

our kids were also amused by the hill.

yes, we are from a very flat place a group picture of the older kids (Wes and Erin's daughter Abby is on the left) just before it was time to go

the two little girls during a nap time picnic - Wes and Erin's Mackenzie is almost exactly one year older than Genevieve. AND they both have 9 letters in their names.

I wish I could bring Emily & Julia with us everywhere we go! I might have a little bit too much confidence about how manageable going somewhere crowded and taking pictures with 5 kids under age 10 is now.

I think these guys were inspired when they saw Wes in uniform and learned that he is an Air Force pilot :)

It was a perfect spring break get away for us! Thanks so, so much for hosting us Allen & Susan!

Little things I don't want to forget

2011-03-23T07:37:00.001-05:00

Most of these are Oliver since he is at such a funny stage, but a few from the others as well. This is my main form of keeping up with these sorts of things, so this may be too much if you are not a grandparent or great-grandparent!

I've enjoyed looking back at similar things I blogged when Camille was at this stage, so here we go with some recent/current Oliverisms:

- he used to say cocky bup instead of coffee cup

- Oliver weighs almost 25 lbs at 22 months. (what Kilian weighed at 12 months)

- he gets bored pretend cooking, and will find a way to stir someone's leftovers...or sand from outside...or a grape that rolled under the table...or even his own spit in one of my skillets.

- siblings' names: aahmille = Camille, woocy = Lucy, kiyan = Kilian and Gebeeve or Gigi = Genevieve

- he throws trash away for us, throws laundry up and into the washer, and throws his dishes up and into the sink

- he just says, Bacuum! with a smile when I catch him making a mess

- when I caught him with a finger in his nose and asked if he needed a Kleenex he just looked at me, shook his head and said mouf (mouth)

- the way Oliver says nank you welcome when I give him something

- answers most "Do you want to...????" questions with I guesh-show

- says scoof aahmille = scoot over Camille

- points to Sonic when we drive past it and says Dippa Deppa Deppa = Dr. Pepper

- he has reminded me to pray while eating lunch at home when it is just us at the table

- a hand towel fits him like this

Also,

- that Camille thought long and hard about what would be a good thing to give up for lent. She arrived at "not dressing up in princess clothes". Then after giving in and dressing up anyway she changed it to "not wearing a swimming suit in the bath tub".

- how Camille frowns and says Mom, I don't like this chicken (or whatever I cooked)......*dramatic pause*.....I LOVE it!!

- how much Lucy loves to climb in my lap in the driver's seat of the car at Sonic and do the talking into the speaker for my happy hour "dippa deppa"

- that Lucy plays indoor soccer much like I did the one season I tried it (at age 25) - not much contact with the ball...at all. She is doing very well in gymnastics, though.

- how much Kilian loves to hear Genevieve's baby babble and says there is nothing sweeter in the world

- that Kilian is once again very excited about acquiring a new butterfly net for the upcoming bug season. I hope he doesn't outgrow this anytime soon.

Clean Freak

2011-03-21T07:32:00.001-05:00

Puzzled

2011-03-20T23:04:00.003-05:00

I was puzzled when my friend, Juanelle, asked me to send her a digital picture of the kids last fall, before Genevieve arrived. I didn't have a recent one, so they were puzzled when I loaded them in the car and took them to my parents' back yard to try to get a decent picture.

Then when I opened my Christmas present, I saw this neat tin box with their picture on the outside...
and their picture as a puzzle inside.
I am no longer puzzled,
but they are!
Thanks, Aunt Nelle!! We love it!

The Dance

2011-03-15T07:19:00.003-05:00

A couple of nights ago Lucy talked Kilian into dressing up for a dance. She put on a fancy dress, and he reluctantly agreed to wear this.

They selected The Blue Danube Waltz as music and when it started, she didn't really want a dance partner after all. She just wanted to spin around on her own. He was a little bit miffed that he went through that trouble for nothing.

In comes Camille. She'll take a dance partner!

I was reluctant to take pictures in case Kilian would change his mind.

He was okay with it, even though he couldn't find his church shoes.

They danced quite a while, then Lucy decided she wanted a partner after all.
costume change!
Quick side note: We love those cardboard blocks that are in 90% of the pictures on this blog. They are stacked up neatly some of the time, but probably not nearly enough. They do get played with almost everyday - and we got the first set about 8 years ago. We got the second this past Christmas. Excellent classic toy!

Back to the dancing

and the lift for the finale!

Oliver, you've got some big shoes to fill when it comes to being a good-sport of a brother!

(ok so those are his dad's shoes not his brother's - I just really like big shoes on toddlers)

80 percent

2011-03-11T23:24:00.004-06:00

...of my kids were crying at the same time one evening this week while I was cooking dinner.

Oliver was crying "hold you" at my feet, while Genevieve wailed in her swing. Lucy was quietly sobbing after I made her redo some homework. Just before she stopped, Camille started crying when I wouldn't let her have a snack 10 minutes before our meal was ready. I asked Kilian if there was anything he wanted to cry about so that I could possibly break some sort of record with 5 crying at once. He couldn't come up with anything.

That is ok. I survived. I just need to pay attention and be grateful for the times I get to hear 80 percent of my kids laughing at the same time...and in no time that last 20 percent will be laughing with them!

Lucy Lately

2011-03-10T14:16:00.000-06:00

There are three lucky people that get to call Lucy big sister:

the look-alike

the roommate

and the blue-eyed one

then there is also the one that gets to call her little sister

Wait. Where is he? Could that he him behind that yellow dust cloth Lucy used to dust the piano? She has subtle and not-so-subtle ways of taking out her frustrations.

Yes, we are still trying to play Christmas songs on the piano.

and

Yes, we are finding little cars everywhere now that Oliver plays with them.

Also, I need to get a frame for Miss G's picture. I figure I'm doing fairly well to have pictures of baby #5 at all. A frame would be the cherry on top!

* * * * *

Lucy: Mom, do you remember how Kilian was born with the bossiness? Well I think I was born with the sweetness.

She is referring to her extreme love of sugar and all things sweet, not her temperment.

* * * * *

She also got to attend her first official sleep over a few weeks ago.

The new suitcase was carefully packed,

and there was absolutely zero hesitation when saying goodbye to me as she put on her bright pink boa and sunglasses and lined up next to the Hummer limo.

These girls rode to a private dance lesson and then back to her friend's house for pizza and Dance Party on the Wii.

I stuck my head in to see the inside of the limo and get one more picture. I think I wasn't the only mom that wished I had been invited, too!

Of course, they had a blast. I am just really glad I am not the one that has to follow that party!

Technology: Jamesnia Style

2011-02-25T07:01:00.000-06:00

I'm not trying to brag, but we have a new gadget over here.

not an iPad, iPhone, or Mac laptop

not a new flat screen or Blu Ray player

not a Nook or Kindle

try to not be jealous

it is a....

musical, battery-operated nasal aspirator

and both Genevieve and I like it!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-02-24T07:06:00.000-06:00

All things pink, red, heart, cherry and chocolate made for a great heart day in Jamesnia.

Lucy wanted to take my picture since I had pink on. This may be the first pic I have of me holding a carrier, which has been a pretty common sight over the last 9 years.

More photos by Lucy. I am getting good at holding two sweethearts at once.

heart leotard for gymnastics

home "heart attack" idea I found on this blog

Each family member writes what they love about the other family members on a heart and they are displayed on the walls.

Some favorites:

Camille - I love Lucy becus rockstar

Kilian - I love mom because she copies some good recipes (meaning I don't ever make up any original recipes. He wanted "to be honest" he said.)

Lucy - I love Camille becus she is yong.

Brad - I love Genevieve because she saves all her poopy diapers for when only mom is around.

Everyone loved hearing nice things about themselves. We will be certainly be making this a tradition. Can you tell what is different between the picture above and the picture below?

Cannot ever have enough hand print art!

Kilian cut out the heart shape

He sure values originality (see comment about my cooking above). He also didn't want to buy valentines for friends. He cut out hearts and folded and stapled them to make little pouches for Hershey's kisses instead.

Now I know that food always looks gross in pictures unless you have proper lighting (and a better camera). Well Lucy invented chocolate stew and by the time Kilian talked her into some finishing touches...believe me. This picture does do it justice.

I never tried it, but Brad did. I was thrown by the hot spice tea mix and banana chunks. Lucky for me, Lucy wrote out her recipe so she could recreate it any time I'm ready to try it.

Genevieve's Baptism

2011-02-23T07:42:00.000-06:00

Our sweet baby girl was baptized on February 5, 2011.

We were supposed to have a Saturday morning ceremony with 5 other babies. 4 of them cancelled, probably due to the very cold and icy weather we had been having. So instead, we had a very small private ceremony with just two babies.

Our photographers were two first graders.

Lucy and Mac did a great job

but we have lots from this angle!

us with the deacon

Genevieve and her wonderful godparents

The older kids were happy we chose Lubbock rather than London, so they could see it this time.

the peanut gallery - 9 kids between the C family and us

In all past baptisms, I changed the baby out of the gown before leaving. I had her buckled up before I realized what I had done.

This gown was a baby gift at our shower in Houston before Kilian was born. There are tons of tiny pleats and Brad's mom's friend, Olga, ironed it for us (perfectly) before Lucy wore it in 2004, and I've been very careful to not wrinkle it too much since then...until now.

At home afterwards

a cake* to celebrate

*This will be my "go to" sweet for all events now. I threw together a similar one for Lucy's birthday, and then copied it for the baptism. Lazy much? I guess. It sure was good though.

For Grammy

2011-02-22T07:43:00.001-06:00

...who recently found a shirt handmade by her mom when she was a tiny baby. Knowing how fast Miss G is growing, Grammy sent it in the mail so that we could try it on.

It fits! She seems to like it.

* * * * *
Grammy and Pawpaw live in the much hotter and more humid Houston area. Grammy enjoys visiting us and our cooler, more dry weather. Pawpaw would prefer the warm weather to follow him up here when they visit.

So speaking of contrasting weather...this February we enjoyed record-breaking heat - 84 degrees -exactly one week after record-breaking cold - wind chill of negative 20ish. No wonder these girls are confused. Ever seen such crazy kids wearing swimsuits with not a bit of green in the grass (minus a couple of weeds) and no leaves on the trees?

Not even two whole months late

2011-02-22T07:35:00.001-06:00

Alternately titled: Christmas 2010. Better late than never!

I may have mentioned this here before, but one of my very favorite things is rocking a new baby at night, in total silence, beside the light of a Christmas tree. I got to do plenty of that with Genevieve over the holidays and although I was exhausted, I loved it.

I also got to do the same with Oliver, who woke up multiple times each night for the first three weeks Genevieve was home. I have always wanted twins, and those really busy nights will likely be as close as I'll ever get.

We took our Christmas card picture at my parents house in early December. I just realized that this wasn't the one we wound up using, but it is close.

Brad discovered what a fun set up a nearby neighborhood had. While trying to capture the kids playing near the snow machine I caught an invisible guy's glove! The lights on the trees were set to music. My pictures of the horse drawn carriage were terrible, but the kids loved it each of the three times Brad brought them here during December.
Lucy sang in the choir at the children's Christmas Eve Mass
and Kilian got picked to be Joseph in the pageant.

We missed our chance to get a decent family picture before mass. That's ok since I was still getting over pink eye and Camille was just starting to get it. Also, Oliver threw up some of the 94 goldfish he ate on his special Christmas shirt as we left the church.

This is as close as we got.

Since my parents were leaving town Christmas morning, we opened presents from them that night. Oliver and Genevieve will get tons of use out of our family's first wagon! Yay!

Our tiny little reindeer slept through almost all the excitement.

but not all of it. Here she is with her Noni.

* * * * *

Joy to the World!!

Our relaxing Christmas morning was spent at home with no plans, no packing, and no driving!

Santa left some musical gifts

some gifts that wobble, but don't fall down (as well as some practical gifts, see the diapers?)

and some science gifts.

This was our tenth Christmas as parents, yet our first to have to put a gate around the tree. Oliver pulled the tree down on top of him once, and almost did a second time so up the gate went.

Camille refused to wear her snowman gown to match Lucy. No harm done. I am all about choosing battles these days.

Little Chef got some cookware from Grammy and PawPaw.

Finally, Lucy got a magic wand from Santa, but not the kind she hoped for. This purple one, which resembles a hand-painted dowel rod, came with a note that explains there is no such thing as a "real" magic wand. Remember this post HERE? She had been planning to turn herself into a flying mermaid on Christmas morning for months. Now we know!

Little Big Brother

2011-02-07T07:30:00.003-06:00

Some friends of ours had a baby boy (also their fifth) one month before Genevieve was born. That mom and I agree that it is not the fifth baby that makes our lives...um...challenging. In both cases, it is the fifth baby's toddler brother that makes things...um...challenging.

Oliver is 20 months now. I wanted to document was he is up to and in to these days.

He loves his cars and choo choo's.

And getting stuck going after them, too.

He loves talking on his plastic banana phone.

And sharing plastic grapes with "Baby"
"Gigi" is what he is calling her more and more.

He also shares plastic broccoli

and what else did he get at the plastic food store??

Ah yes, plastic red pepper!

When I remove her from the situation, he rests from all that shopping and sharing in her cradle.

When he sees me holding Genevieve, he'll often drop to the floor on his back and pat his chest, saying "howd baby"

He loves his Daddy.

He still loves to "cook", so he can be found waiting at the front door for his Noni while carrying around a skillet.

At first I discouraged him from climbing into the baby swing, but once he pops the tray down into place, he is stuck. Now I let him, and enjoy those few moments that I know he is not making a mess.

Becaue he is getting pretty good
at making messes.

He likes to play "down, set, hut"

and kiss his "Baby Gigi"
until he is plain worn out.

The Very Middle Child

2011-01-31T21:14:00.000-06:00

third of five
Exactly half way between the ages of the oldest and youngest
(Kilian - 9, Camille 4 1/2, Genevieve - 0)
Older blond brother and brunette sister AND younger blond brother and brunette sister

I don't know any specifics of "middle child syndrome"

but in your case, it must mean: amazing, fun loving, girlie little ball of sunshine.

May you never get "lost" in this growing family

although I just don't see it happening!!

7!

2011-01-30T21:39:00.001-06:00

2 weeks after Kilian's party, we celebrated Lucy turning 7.

I had purchased some cute clearance gingerbread man invitations (probably meant for a Christmas party) a couple of years ago. I came across them in my closet when getting out my maternity clothes last summer, and they set the stage for a fun, after-school, Friday-in-December, first-snow-of-the-year, kind of party!

I purchased some inexpensive children's aprons and painted the brown gingerbread man figure on each one.

Then we set out fabric paint and turned them loose. They turned out really cute, but I sure hope there were no mishaps on the ride home because even though we had them work on these as soon as they arrived, they didn't have time to dry completely.

We also had them decorate a gingerbread man cookie to take home. Putting one between two paper plates and stapling worked well.
The cookie cake
The small favors
and the book read by Noni (my mom)

I could have gone crazy buying much more gingerbread themed "stuff" - it is everywhere this time of year! So far embracing Christmas themes and activities for birthday events seems to be working well for us. December birthdays sometimes get a bad rap, but they aren't all bad!

(side note: Kilian had the option of an activity with more friends, but he chose having two friends spend the night. I don't want to seem like we are unfair. Not that life is always fair...)

7 words to describe Lucy

1. Helpful

2. Funny

3. Talkative

4. Picky (eater)

5. Clever

6. Sweet

7. Musical

Lucy is becoming quite the reader! Our trips to the library are resulting in chapter books now.

9!

2011-01-29T21:00:00.000-06:00

Kilian had a small but fun little birthday party with two friends. At least I think I'm remembering the details correctly because Genevieve was 13 days old, .

It was our first time to host a sleepover with friends (we do have some cousin experience though!). It was so easy! Brad took them to eat at IHOP, then to a neat little neighborhood to see Christmas lights, ride a horse carriage, and play in the "snow" (which tasted like soap). No camera made it on this outing.

They came home and sang to Kilian while one friend played the piano. Then they automatically put on pj's and brushed teeth after watching Charlie Brown Christmas. As Brad, Grammy (his mom) and I were discussing setting a bed time limit, we looked around the corner and they had their sleeping bags out by the Christmas tree and were saying prayers. They were asleep in no time!

The next morning Grammy helped them make Jolly Rancher ornaments. They look like stained glass after they cook.

A couple of days later on his actual birthday, Kilian placed an order for specific types of donuts for us to acquire during the school day. That evening he made his own "cake" with some interesting architecture. Totally his idea, but it worked for me...I got Red Velvet cookies made for his class at school, but no other official cake at home.

9 words to describe Kilian:

1. helpful

2. curious

3. creative

4. focused

5. reader

6. serious

7. analytical

8. polite

9. tumbling

Finally, a picture of his Benjamin Franklin milk jug project/report from the fall that never made it here.

Miss G

2011-01-28T21:12:00.024-06:00

Before birthday updates for big kids, I will catch up on quickly changing Genevieve over her first 2 months...

1 week
2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

helping me with laundry (or laundry helping me with her?)
5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

I love these little leg warmers, yet Brad cannot stand them!

cute cozy hat from her cousins

8 weeks
all dressed up

love these tights

9 weeks

almost 10 weeks

Hello Again

2011-01-27T22:32:00.012-06:00

I've been away so long - I don't even know where to start. So, here are some random thoughts about life as a family of 7 before I go back to starting December birthdays/events in chronological order.

1. Our mom's group from church met at an indoor play land a couple of weeks ago. I made it (almost on time) with the youngest two. You would think that this being my fifth time around I would have remembered a diaper bag. Nope.

2. I heard Oliver saying "Ahhhh Ahhhh" and found him sticking his arm into Genevieve's crib with his toothbrush in hand trying to give her gums a good scrub. This is just one example of why we always have to put her in the back right corner of her crib.

3. I am amused when I get the "Wow, you have your hands full" comment when I'm out and about with only Camille and Genevieve.

4. Several months before Genevieve was born, I posted here about Kilian's preferences on the baby's first name, so that we could spell something cool with their initials. G.L.O.C.K. is not what either of us had in mind.

5. For at least 19 months, I've been meaning to update the profile picture on the right so that it includes Oliver, now what a waste that would have been. Efficiency is the key for me in 2011. I'll add two babies to it at the same time.

6. No nickname for Genevieve yet - except when emailing. Miss G or just G seems to work well. 9 letters make for a long name! I imagine that we will start calling her Genny or Genna or Evie at some point. Oliver very generically still refers to her as "baby".

7. I find myself asking Kilian to do lots of things to help with the others while Brad is not home, yet at the same time I hear myself telling him to stop parenting. I don't have a very good answer when he asks for clarification on what he should and shouldn't do!

8. I have regained the skill required of all new moms. I typed this entire post with one hand while holding Miss G.

Our Aggie Girls

2010-11-30T09:08:00.000-06:00

It's going to be tough to raise 5 Aggies in Lubbock.

Camille has already defected to liking Texas Tech.

Kilian was leaning toward Tech, but decided to wait until he is able to tour the Texas A&M campus before making a "final decision". We hope to do so this spring.

Genevieve is 2-0 with Aggie football at the age of 1 week old. For now we feel good about her loyalty.

Lucy is the die-hard, though. She loves maroon and carefully avoids other school paraphernalia.

My mom found this cute shirt on her way through College Station last month.

This was taken during the game on Thanksgiving day.

Also, I learned how to spell the word paraphernalia today. Trying to keep the brain stimulated in between all these diaper changes!

Was it the tryptophan or nap time?

2010-11-28T09:00:00.001-06:00

Or both?

Oliver's Thanksgiving meal got the best of him.

After the meal we were able to get pictures of Genevieve with two of her three great-grandmas.

Memaw Kathy

Great Grandmother Lucy

We look forward to taking her picture with Nanny this spring (when we're brave enough to travel the 625 miles to Beaumont!)

James - Party of 7

2010-11-27T18:15:00.001-06:00

One week old already!

Last Saturday evening my parents made a deal with the older kids that if the baby arrived before 8:00 pm, they would come meet him/her that night. If it was later, they would wait until the next morning.

Brad had also made a deal with me. If the new baby arrived before 7:00 pm, he would pay attention and be present for the birth. If it was later, he would be watching "THE GAME" and see how I was during commercials :)

Genevieve arrived at 6:15 pm, so everyone was happy!

That night they just popped in for a couple of minutes. They came back the next day for a chance to hold her.

Kilian will be 9 in a couple of weeks and is definitely a pro at being the big brother.

Lucy is thrilled to have another "brown haired girl" that resembles herself as a newborn.

Camille loves having a little sister to kiss on the head.

Oliver was in no mood to attempt to hold a one day old. We settled for this that night, but he is learning to be very "foft" with her now that we are home.

Here we are - waiting for the wheelchair for the ride to the car.

and the going home outfit, specially picked out by her great-grandma (Memaw).

Miss Genevieve

2010-11-21T10:41:00.002-06:00

She's doing great! I love her squeaky little cry, but she mostly does this:

We are ready for when the kids visit today! They briefly stopped by last night and my mom got a family of 7 picture on her camera - I'll try to get that from her soon.

The Announcement

2010-11-20T21:46:00.003-06:00

We have a girl!

Genevieve Rose
7 lb 3 oz
18 1/2 inches

6:15 (45 minutes before A&M kick off)
11/20/2010

We have moved up to our room and are both doing very well. Genevieve has lots of dark hair like her sister Lucy did, which makes Lucy happy because "all the other kids are blond".

Pictures to follow!

November it is!

2010-11-20T12:36:00.001-06:00

Ironically, I actually have time to blog now that I am sitting in my labor and delivery room at the hospital. Never mind that countdown on the right. There are not 14 days until baby arrives because it is happening today!

We've never had an early baby before (although yesterday was my original due date before it was bumped to December 4th). I had made out my "To do before baby list", but not really accomplished much on it since I was counting on a December arrival. That's ok though - we're obviously very excited to meet him or her in a few hours!!

Here are pictures of Oliver that I had started to post several days ago. He was sporting Aggie maroon and enjoying his days as "the baby". I know that the next time I see him he will seem so big and grown up next to his tiny new sibling!

We'll post again when there is official baby news!

Costume Time

2010-10-31T22:18:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween! Here is what our crew looked like this evening:

Oliver as the "Fire Breathing Dragon"

Camille as a "Care Bear" (costume A)
Camille as "Cinderella" (Costume B - because she was just too hot in Costume A)

Lucy as Queen Lucy, or "The Queen of Chocolate"

Kilian as a homemade "Rubik's Cube"

Me as an "8-month-pregnant lady that steals chocolate from her kids".

(very convincing costume, I know.)

Pay no attention to the various sized googly eyes all over the floor. A certain fire-breathing dragon dumped out a box containing hundreds of those fun and crafty, yet no fun to pick up things today.

Cardboard Artists

2010-09-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

During a trip to Sam's, Brad's mom suggested that we take home three very large pieces of thin cardboard (that were separating the paper towel packages) for the kids to play with. I forget to think about the freebies you can find there.

They immediately started their art projects and stayed busy for most of the evening.

Kilian duplicated a picture of a dog howling at the moon (with music notes, a lightning bug, fence, tree, moon and stars) that he had drawn and colored at school for a contest. It now hangs on his wall above his bed.

A few days later we found out that his original drawing has moved on to the next level of the school contest.

Lucy drew mermaids in an undersea world with some "you and me together" song lyrics (seashells and all!)

Camille drew a scene that at first resembled Kilan's fence and tree, but in hers it remained daytime and some flowers bloomed at the bottom.

The girls also have their masterpieces on their wall.

I cannot fully explain the poses...but here are my observations: Camille looks like an NBA player from the 70's holding a toy yorkie and Lucy is modeling her tassel from kindergarten graduation.

Her new approach

2010-09-20T22:43:00.003-05:00

Lucy does not like most of the meals I cook. Pretty much if two ingredients touch each other, she gears up for a long night at the table. She knows that what is fixed for dinner will be what she eats. 99% of the time we stick to our rule that she must have at least one bite of everything in order to leave the table, but must finish her plate in order to have a dessert (if there is one that night).

She also knows that I am tired of hearing her complain about what is on the menu plan. So I found this note tonight.

"from Kilian to Mom

I do not wont lzonya for dinr and I theek that Lucy is the best."

Interesting because Kilian knows how to spell these words correctly (well, maybe not lasagna). She got so many laughs at this attempt that she wrote two more of *Kilian's* requests to not have meals that he likes just fine.

Grammy's Visit

2010-09-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to have Brad's mom come visit for a week recently. If you know Grammy, you know that we are now very well fed, better organized, and have lots of little fix-it projects taken care of.

Our freezer has some stored up food for just before or after baby arrives. We also have a solution for the little blondie that loves playing in the potty. These latch/hooks on the outside of the bathroom doors work well because Camille can reach them, but Oliver cannot. (He can reach all door handles, though).

We also have our mantle decorated with something other than match books, dried up palm branches, changing pad, remote controls, junk mail, 2 cigars (not mine!) and random toys that were put in time out because of fighting.

...and the "funny" I want to remember...Kilian has been enjoying the Magic Tree House books again. Between the ones we own and 3 or 4 at a time from our library, he only had a couple left. Grammy had heard this, and offered to take "just him" shopping at a book store to get those that he had not read. He informed us that he had filled in all the gaps with his teacher's collection at school. Grammy then offered to take him to look for any other books he would like to buy at the store. His response?

"Well - I think I just want to go read books in the store for about an hour. I could probably read about $50 worth because they cost a lot there and that way you won't have to spend any money."

Not sure if his dad or Uncle Darren are more proud of his frugality. Thanks for everything, Grammy! Bring PawPaw next time!

Sister Confusion

2010-09-17T21:48:00.001-05:00

After school several days ago Camille showed me a band aid covering a mosquito bite on her leg. This is the conversation that followed:

Camille: "Do you know who gave this to me?"
Me: "No, who?"
Camille: "Olivia's sister"

Hmmm...I was trying to think of who that might be. I must have had a confused look on my face while I thought.

Me: "you mean a teacher gave it to you?"
Camille: "yes"

Still thinking...are there any families at our small Catholic school that have a student with a big sister that teaches??

Camille: "you know, she always wears the brown dress..."
Me: "Ahhh - you mean Sister Olivia" - the nun that teaches kindergarten classes!
Camille: "Yes!"

We've talked about nuns before, but apparently not what they are called :) Now she knows!

Snooze and a football story

2010-09-16T23:42:00.002-05:00

While looking back at baby pictures of the 3 oldest kids I noticed that I used to take lots of "sleeping baby" pictures. I do not have many of Oliver, so I just tip-toed in there to capture one. Brilliant. Guess who is a pretty light sleeper and is now sitting in my lap?

I love how he sleeps with his hands behind his head.

========================================

A couple of weeks ago Oliver was with my parents during a televised Tech football game. I wasn't there, but I heard that he was sitting in my dad's lap when the other team fumbled the ball. My dad yelled "GET THE BALL!" at the t.v. Oliver quickly slid down, ran across the room and grabbed two balls, and brought them back to my dad...pronto.

The Magical Wand

2010-09-16T23:20:00.000-05:00

Lucy has been talking about wanting a "real" magic wand from Santa this Christmas. I guess it is pretty early to be talking about Christmas wishes, but since we talk about our December baby so much I can see why it is on her mind.

She has a long list (that she discusess often) of what she would do with her wand. It always begins with wanting to be a mermaid and making our house full of water. She would also like to change into a flying fairy when she doesn't want to swim. Then she mentions making our car fly when we need to go somewhere.

Finally, her practical side comes through (and my favorite part)...she wishes we could say POOF! and the dishes would be clean, POOF! and the dirty diaper is taken care of, POOF! all the laundry is done, etc.

I sure hope your Christmas wishes come true, Lucy!

Cute little big frog

2010-09-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

Apparently more attention was paid to redoing the kids bathroom and blogging about it than to the folding and putting away of towels yesterday.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw this towel hanging over our shower this morning. I guess it was Brad's only choice. I wonder if he used the little hood to dry his hair? I bet he'll thank me for posting this...

Jamaican Sea

2010-09-06T21:30:00.001-05:00

is the name of the new paint color. I feel relaxed when I walk in here now.

This morning my dad came over and helped me paint the bathroom between the boys' rooms (with the paint I got for my birthday 3 months, 3 weeks and 6 days ago). Maybe I should say I helped him paint since he did most of the work. My mom took the oldest 3 kids to their house and Brad kept Oliver busy, so they deserve a lot of credit, too.

This bathroom was one of those things I thought I would take care of within weeks of moving in. We did it in 2 years and a few weeks instead, but I'm very happy with the outcome. We just need some hooks for towels.

Tub view from Oliver's door - Before:

Tub view - After:

Potty view from Kilian's door - Before:

Potty view - After:

Flattery at its finest

2010-09-02T21:00:00.000-05:00

One evening I fell asleep early diagonally across our bed. When I heard Brad come in the room later, I joked that I probably looked like a beached whale.

He said, "no, actually just a beached dolphin".

First day of school 2010

2010-09-01T21:25:00.000-05:00

That was August 18th...we are two weeks into it now and so far, so good!

Kilian :: 3rd grade :: favorite part = time in the "reading pad" in their frog themed room

Lucy :: 1st grade :: favorite parts = computer and recess

Camille :: Pre-K 4 :: favorite part = P.E. with "super coach"

O.L.I.V.E.R.

2010-09-01T21:20:00.001-05:00

Sadly, this has been a draft in blogger since just before his birthday in May!

O-ne year old! (plus 3 months now)

L-aughs like Gus-Gus the mouse in "Cinderella" with occasional snorts like "Wilbur" the pig.

I-ntensely loves his siblings - kisses Camille, brings things to Lucy, climbs all over Kilian

V-ery much a clown. "Falls" on purpose and does a "crazy baby dance" for laughs.

E-njoys middle of the night time with mom or dad in the rocking chair. (still true at 15 months)

R-outinely pretend cooks with pots and pans in the kitchen floor.

We celebrated Oliver's first birthday in May with dinner and a cake at home. I had big plans for making a "lion" cake, but I spent so much of the weekend getting the house ready for the guests, that I ran out of time. So we had a very plain cake. He didn't mind.

I promised myself I would make the real cake later on that week, leaving the matching jungle decorations up in the kitchen. So as long as 2 months later, I was so used to seeing monkeys and zebras that I didn't even notice them. No new cake ever happened and he's 15 months now.

This week he started Parents' Day Out on Monday/Wednesday (but it is actually my "day in" since those are my "at home" work days). What a big boy!

Cutest backpack ever!

Handful of dirt - a new favorite hobby.

Fancy cake or not, we are so thankful for the joy that Oliver brings to our family! We love you!

(following pictures are at least 3 months old)

4

2010-09-01T20:20:00.000-05:00

I am late with giving the spring/summer birthdays proper posts, but will try to catch up now.

Camille is now 4!

She celebrated with a special night at Noni and G-Pa's house, then we all went over there early to wake her up with a surprise 4 candle cinnamon twist and "happy birthday" serenade. We jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler that afternoon and then enjoyed an early dinner at Cracker Barrel.

4 things that make Camille happy (according to her):

ice cream

playing princess

shopping

when new babies are born

4 old pictures of Camille - from before I started this blog

Dunkin' Daddy

2010-08-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

My brave husband volunteered to sit in the dunking booth Sunday at our church's "Jamaica". This is pretty daring considering he has taught many of the kids involved with today's fund raiser.

Kilian was one of the first ones to sign up.

I have tried a couple of times each of the last 3 days to get the video on here, but no luck. Kilian hit the target 2 out of 3 times. It was great!

Lucy followed, but the one time she hit the target it wasn't hard enough to make Brad fall.

Brad complimented her aim anyway.

We spent the rest of the time sitting in the shade watching other people send him into the water.

Without planning it, 3 of our 4 wore red and white today.

Lucy is also sporting some purple glitter butterfly art on her face.

Busted, Part II

2010-08-15T22:13:00.005-05:00

Alternately titled: How many kids do I have??

We have been trying to work on earlier bed times since school starts so soon. I was under the impression we had sent all kids to bed tonight, so I have been in our bedroom, doing some work as well as uploading video for a different blog post.

After hearing some strange *clinking* sounds for a while - I go out to see what is going on.

Poker lessons!

Click here to see Busted, Part I from November 2007.

Where, oh where

2010-08-08T23:03:00.007-05:00

has my baby gone?

My boys before haircuts and my boys after

I mean...this little guy sitting in Kilian's lap is really cute, but where is baby Oliver?

and wow - now Oliver really looks like Kilian did at this age.

Kilian's Naming Rules

2010-08-07T23:13:00.003-05:00

Before we even found out that we were expecting baby #5, Kilian had figured out that the first initials of our kids spelled the word "lock" (Lucy, Oliver, Camille, Kilian).

He let me know that when we had another baby, we needed to use a B (block), F (flock), S (locks), or if we were sure we would have two more kids, we could use E and then D (locked).

Now that we have been talking names for this baby -he has strong feelings on our ideas based on these rules. We actually have the name for either boy or girl nailed down now, which is crazy early for us! We're not telling if they follow Kilian's rules though. We're saving the name for a surprise as well as gender*.

*Full disclosure. When I had my 20 weeks sonogram I did tell the tech that I didn't want to know the gender. Then I proceeded to look as hard as I could to see what I could see...or not see. I think I know, but I'm not publishing my "unofficial" findings. Only 17 or so weeks until we know for sure!

Summer Summed Up

2010-08-06T00:51:00.026-05:00

He turned 1

Click here to see him next to this elephant at 1, 2 & 3 months.

She graduated from Kindergarten

She turned 4

We were the proud owners of a pet turtle
(until it died about 19 hours later)

She baked

She baked and iced

and he "cooked" so much we started calling him "Little Chef"

(Also - "cook" was his fifth word)

She graduated from "tumblebugs"

He built things

We made evening trips to various parks (many, many times)

He trained an apprentice bug catcher

We went to

Canyon Lake

with cousins

He played ball

She got a haircut and we all went to an amusement park

finally, my belly grew ~ and "Cinco's" due date was moved to December 4th!

Excuse me, while I brag a little

2010-05-31T18:30:00.005-05:00

Kilian actually deserves about 5 separate posts about all the blog-worthy moments and events he's had over the last few weeks. We'll squeeze them all into one, though.

I've been keeping a mental list of all that I want to mention - and now I shall unload that mental list to blogger in order to free up that memory space in my brain for other things.

Jump Rope for Heart - After practicing for the better part of a year, Kilian won the 2nd grade contest at school. Imagine "Who let the dogs out" music blaring over the sound system while the kids jump!

Insect Report - the spring project for 2nd graders was writing an outline and report, then creating a model and habitat of an insect. Each student chose a different bug - and Kilian picked the praying mantis. The easy part was finding interesting facts. The hard part was finding the right balance of parental help vs. kid working independently. I wanted him to do the work, but we had very different opinions on how neat the final draft should be (handwritten) and how large the model should be (he won)!

First Holy Communion - the most important of all! On Saturday, May 1st we got to celebrate this big step in Kilian's faith formation. Brad and I are so proud of how seriously Kilian prepared for this day. The 2nd graders all looked so handsome/pretty in their special clothes and the 3rd grade choir sang beautifully. I didn't receive Communion in the Catholic Church until I was 24, so this was a new experience for me and I loved it! Here are Kilian and Msgr. Ben at our church.

A honor roll - Here is Kilian with his wonderful teacher. He finished up the year on the A honor roll. He has already said he will miss Mrs. B. this summer. She is very supportive of bug lovers. Kilian started taking his butterfly net and butterfly house to school everyday soon after spring break. Recess became a big bug hunt for him and a few friends.

Raingutter regatta - This was the last boy scout event of the year. Although Brad and Kilian threw this year's boat and sail together at the very last minute (using chewing gum instead of glue on the way there), he won 2nd place in the wolf pack. Either he had the 2nd fastest boat or could blow the 2nd most hot air :)

I don't remember which day it was, but one weekday afternoon we found a letter from his friend in Germany in our mailbox, then came in the house to hear the phone ringing. It was another one of Kilian's friends calling (a first) to ask a homework question, and discuss bug finds.

Cinco de Jameso

2010-05-22T22:31:00.004-05:00

is due in November!

We are all very excited about becoming a family of 7! (7?? 7!!)

Lucy said it best when we told the kids, "ooooohhhhh....this is WONDERFUL, Mom, this is WONDERFUL, *high pitched squeal* this is WONDERFUL!"

This may explain the lack of posts. I am a night time blogger, and that is tricky when I fall asleep at the same time the kids do for 2 straight months. I am so happy to be getting my energy back.

We will not be finding out boy or girl this time either. We're in another tie-breaker situation and will be more than blessed either way.

On the move

2010-05-22T22:09:00.004-05:00

Oliver is the first of our kids to take steps before turning one. He has taken up to 20 or so steps at once, but never when a camera is handy.

This was taken at a pool party last weekend. His clothes are wet from crawling in the puddles, not a leaky diaper. So, per his Pawpaw's request...without further ado:

Less Blonde

2010-05-15T17:54:00.000-05:00

Before:

During:

"um, mom, Camille is cutting her hair in the play room". (left out of that tattle session: "When Camille saw me cutting my doll's hair with scissors, she started cutting her own hair...)

After:

I've started to really like it better over the last few days,

although it makes for wilder bed head.

Pikchures

2010-05-15T15:00:00.001-05:00

During spring break my mom and I took my four plus my niece, Avery to get some pictures taken.

The key seems to be having a sense of humor.

We were pleased with several of them, though.

They captured 10 month upright Oliver.

Sweet Camille

Front-tooth-less Lucy (and they are almost grown in by now)

and Kilian looking nice and relaxed.

The kids even thought of their own pose.

And the 5 cousins in clean clothes, with no tears, looking the same direction...success!

Nice Try

2010-04-22T17:35:00.002-05:00

Kilian and Lucy were having a "discussion" in the back seat of the car on the way home from school. It was getting louder by the minute. I could tell Lucy was getting very frustrated - almost at her breaking point where it can get ugly.

Then I heard Kilian calmly say, "Lucy, how about if you just give us the silent treatment?"

Not what I had in mind

2010-04-21T13:30:00.006-05:00

when I purchased some sidewalk chalk for my little girls.

They were brighter and cheerier than your usual snail, and their slimy paths were outlined with the corresponding color.

I didn't pre-approve this activity - I walked out to check up on them and found some neighbors walking by making weird faces, then saw why.

Ewww. Just ewwww.

I was mean and wouldn't let the kids use any of my cookie sheets as a lid for these slimy things. They had to think of other materials, so Kilian cut part of a cardboard box, then put a heavy phone book on top of that. The next day we found that snails can "eat" through thick cardboard, the cover and 13 pages of a phone book. Who knew?

When the cat is away...

2010-04-10T00:08:00.003-05:00

the mouse will paint.

Brad can't stand it when I do this, but I love to surprise him with a paint project when he comes back from an out of town trip.

Looking back at a few of my more bold attempts, I can see why he might get nervous, but this time I think it turned out ok.

When he and Kilian return from camping with the cub scouts, he'll get to see what I worked on a few hours ago. Whether he likes it or not, he can't complain about the cost. This was leftover paint from my parents' garage!

I almost forgot to take a "before" picture.

After

Now to find (or make?) some curtains...

Hoops and Cousins

2010-04-09T23:34:00.013-05:00

Over spring break all but one of my nephews and Brad's brother came to visit. We did lots of fun things to keep kids busy, like going bowling, playing baseball at the park, playing laser tag, glow in the dark putt putt, and we even found a bouncy house.

Here is our fancy parking lot, dollar menu picnic.

Great way to avoid pricey bowling alley/laser tag lunch prices!

I think one of my favorite parts of the visit was watching the bigger guys (+ Lucy + our neighbor) play basketball.

The weather was right, and everyone seemed to be into it
although Lucy pretty much stayed in the back - not too close to the action.

(She must take after me - I was a timid ball player from 7th to 9th grade and quit when things got too intense on the J.V. team. I think I mostly liked getting to leave school early and braiding most of our team's hair on those long bus rides)

So what were the preschoolers up to during the game?

hmmm...I'm still not sure exactly what it is they were doing, but they were having fun, too.

Now to catch up

2010-04-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

"Super K"

preparing for 1st communion
creepy crawly season has started (mostly roly polies, slugs and spiders so far)
loving gymnastics

"Luthy"

trying to grow 4 front teeth in - not unlike her baby brother
making big progress with reading
being agreeable - she often (but not always) lets Camille have the purple cup or lets Kilian have the last granola bar just to be nice.

"Camilli-willi"

looking out her window and telling me every morning that it "looks like mall weather!" (regardless of if it is 65 degrees and sunny or snowing).
mastering the fake cry
helping me dust (see video....and turn the volume way down or off...it's loud!)

"Ollie-bear"

waving, clapping, trying new foods, cruising around and standing for a couple of seconds w/o holding on to anything
other milestones we can check off the list: played in potty water for the first time (3/24/2010), ate dog food (3/26/2010), and started blowing raspberries while being fed pureed food (3/27/2010).
still not sleeping through the night
favorite word/sound - very low "duh" - example below.

me: hi oliver
him: duh

me: good morning!! are you ready for breakfast?
him: duh

brad: what are you doing?
him: duh

Brad: Do you need a new diaper?
him: duh

Alleluia!

2010-04-04T21:46:00.004-05:00

He is risen indeed!

From the James boys

and the James girls,

Have a very, very Happy Easter!!

Cob issues

2010-03-03T22:24:00.001-06:00

How rude of me to serve one of her favorites tonight, corn on the cob, when she just lost her first 3 teeth in February - with one more dangling.

She was so excited to stick the little corn holders on each side, but had to ask me to cut it all off the cob after a noble attempt to use her remaining teeth.

Kilian, Lucy and Camille have all started taking gymnastics and we now live for Tuesdays! This picture was taken soon after the class ended, when Kilian "helped" her tooth come out with his knee. I thought she was going to cry, but she thanked him over and over for "making her tooth bleed and come out".

Winter Stuff

2010-02-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

We got another nice snow this week. We enjoyed a late start to school and snow ice cream for breakfast again. I have lost track of how many times we've seen our yard covered in white this year! I keep telling the kids that this is not typical.

The girls think this is proper attire for building snow men. Camille has a new pose.

She is using it a lot these days.

She picked out her own Valentiney outfit.

A few weeks ago we had ice that was hard on our young oak tree. Part of it split, and Brad sawed it off and was delighted to use it (leaves and all) as firewood.

Exactly 1 week after the ice and snow above, it snowed again. I got a picture of the window that Kilian decorated with homemade snow flakes.

Finally, it may be February, but we're still enjoying our favorite red and white snowman pajamas and "Fa la la la" flannel sheets.

Pranked

2010-02-24T15:54:00.002-06:00

In case anyone saw a strange post on here last night - please disregard it. I left Blogger open when I was finally working on a post and got distracted by the Olympics. As usual, Brad was trying to be funny and his dry sense of humor may have confused anyone that still read this despite the lack of posts.

For the record, I most certainly do not think my blog is better than everyone else's. I'm taking suggestions for how I can pay him back.

Little Orphan Lucy

2010-02-10T22:30:00.005-06:00

Earlier this evening Lucy was getting ready to go to a basketball game with Brad and Kilian. (A&M vs. Tech women). She came in with the outfit she picked out on her own.

I said, "Wow! You look like a million bucks, Lucy." Then I asked if she knew what that meant.

She answered:

"Yes. If I was an orphan...and I was in an orphan store, I would cost about a thousand or ten million dollars. (then she smiles really big)....and you probably wouldn't be able to afford me."

~ and ~

Brad has started a little family tradition. If we witness A&M winning against Tech in person at a sporting event - he takes us to Sheridan's on the way home.

Lucy wouldn't be eating Sheridan's because A&M lost tonight, but my Red Raider mom called and asked Brad and the kids to meet her there. She treated - since her team won.

Sure, but late 20's sounds better.

2010-02-07T17:45:00.004-06:00

As we're eating the first of our Super Bowl snacks a few minutes ago, Lucy says, "Mom, can you give me this recipe when I'm a teenager? I want to make it for my own kids".

Camilleisms

2010-02-05T14:31:00.001-06:00

Over the last week or two she has come in our room in the middle of the night saying she had a "scary sleep story" (bad dream)...sometimes about a "sharptooth" (tyrannosaurus rex) and sometimes about other things. We are obviously big fans of The Land Before Time movies.

When she is frustrated by something she is trying to do, she says "GOLLEIF!" - which seems to be a hybrid of "golly" and "good grief".

Waking up with a stuffy nose yesterday, she tried to breath out of it and proclaimed that her "nose is locked!"

Her favorite stories are from the "Strawberry Shortcake Storybook Treasury". Therefore, she always says "berry" instead of "very". As in, "this stinky trash can has berry, berry bad breaf".

=========================================

I call her my enchilada buddy. This cold weather has made me want enchiladas a lot. Instead of buying them at Rosa's, which is always tempting, I've started making them at home. Neither Kilian or Lucy care for things with much melted cheese (weird, huh?) so Camille and I wind up eating them alone until Brad gets home to finish them up.

=========================================

Finally, I wanted to share how cute Camille and her cousin Zachary looked while chatting on the porch a few days after Christmas.

Kids at Play

2010-01-31T22:59:00.006-06:00

The kids received some fun Christmas gifts in the "making stuff" category, which I love. The pictures were taken in Houston, the day after they received them, but they have all been used many times since we've been home.

Kilian doesn't own a single Lego, but Lucy does. She is very good about keeping them off the floor and away from Oliver (so far).
Kilian and I are so different. These "Pixos" come with ideas and instructions and I would follow them to the letter if I made one. He always changes it up and makes things a little bit different from the example.
Soon I'll post a video of the "band" we've formed at our house with the musical gifts they received. When are the next auditions for America's Got Talent?

Also, my goal is at least 10 posts per month - I'm set for January now!

Risky Business

2010-01-31T22:57:00.000-06:00

Up

2010-01-28T22:44:00.004-06:00

Hi Ho Silver - 2009

2010-01-28T14:40:00.002-06:00

Click here for Hi Ho Silver - 2007

Over Christmas we got to do some more riding at Aunt Sue and Uncle Lolo's place again. This year it was bareback. All those beautiful trees prove we were not anywhere near Lubbock.

Should I file charges?

2010-01-28T07:05:00.001-06:00

Should I just file his little fingernails?

Early on Tuesday morning while I was trying to get Oliver back to sleep he scratched my eye. I tried to go back to sleep, but it felt like there was an eyelash in my eye and it was watering like crazy. I went into the kitchen to make sure I could still see, and I could if I forced my eye to stay open. I researched corneal abrasions online (with my right eye) and decided I needed to see a doctor.

So, after some antibiotics and 24 hours of a tight eye patch to prevent my eye lid from opening, I'm pretty much as good as new. Eyes heal quickly - and Oliver is way too cute for me to hold a grudge.

Six Years Old

2010-01-28T07:00:00.001-06:00

Lucy turned 6 in December. We celebrated by going to see "The Princess and the Frog" and eating out at any restaurant she wanted....and she picked CiCi's Pizza.

I made rainbow cupcakes for her to take to school. I hear both the cupcakes and the pretty paper cups were a hit. Thank you for this idea, Aunt Angela!

One of the gifts she received was a "create your own fairytale" book. She really got into this. Her first story was titled "Lucy and the Prince".

Six things that make Lucy happy (according to her):

1. holding Oliver

2. opening birthday presents

3. singing Christmas songs

4. playing at parks

5. dancing

6. tickling Camille

I honestly don't ever remember seeing Lucy ever tickle Camille, but I have seen Camille coming to me sobbing with REAL tears because Lucy told her that "she is going to have to marry the boring prince" on more than one occasion.

London - Part 6 - The End!

2010-01-25T07:00:00.001-06:00

The main reason we took this trip was to baptize Mr. Oliver Thomas.

So on Thanksgiving morning we headed to the girls' school for morning mass. (of course Thanksgiving is not a holiday there).

It was beautiful!
I highly recommend listening to a British girls' choir sing the word "Holy".
Fr. Chris was kind enough to do the baptism following mass.
Oliver doesn't usually cry much, but he sure did during his entire special occasion.
Jody and Brent are his godparents. Little George was a witness.
And Jody somehow caught a picture of a non screaming face. Whew!

For lunch we ate at the "Holly Bush". It seem very fitting since advent was just days away.

This is a glimpse of our British Thanksgiving lunch.

I don't like beer at all, but at the end of the trip I learned that I do like this type of apple cyder.

Cheers!
Notice how I was trying to keep Oliver's hands off the drinks? Well....
(terrible attempt to be funny)

The view leaving the Holly Bush

cute little side street

I love the chimneys.

We spent the day doing regular "everyday" things instead of being tourists. That included going to the grocery store

and carrying the groceries up some hills, picking up girls from school, and carrying groceries (that were feeling pretty heavy by now) down some hills to the house. I know why there are not any Sam's Clubs in London.

The babies stayed with their daddies while we did our errands. Prior to our visit, George had lovingly been called "Lord Fussybottom" by his parents. While I was gone Brad decided that Oliver was to be called "The Duke of Discontent".

He recovered and wore his trousers while playing some football while Jody cooked a superb traditional Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't take pictures during the meal, but I did for dessert.

Brent has mastered the art of making crepes.

Yum! (Nutella is on the inside).

(We bought our own Nutella and Brad has made these a few times since we've been home!)

After eating turkey, we watched the Aggies play a good football game against t.u. (live), caught a very little bit of sleep, then took the tube to the airport early the next morning.

We had a long layover in Houston, so Brad's brother and our nephews picked us up and treated us to some Tex-Mex at Chuy's. Aren't they cuties? What a perfect welcome back to Texas!!

* Those are not my fingers over Ryan's head - I promise.

** We didn't make sweet Xavier lean in like that, but as you can guess Brad didn't feel like retakes.

And finally - the three faces I was missing so much! They were most excited to see Oliver, but Brad and I at least got some hugs and kisses, too.

They are holding some chocolate coins from various gift shops.

It was an amazing experience and traveling like that only makes you want to do more and more of it! We are so blessed to have such good friends and such wonderful parents that took over our kids, house and naughty little dog for the week.

p.s. Jet lag is real - not just a made up excuse like I used to wonder about.

London - Part 5

2010-01-19T23:47:00.000-06:00

We were really tempted to try to make a quick trip to France or Ireland, but with only 5 days of visiting time, we decided to not spend so much of it in transit.

We did take a much shorter train ride to Oxford, England.

We boarded at Paddington Station
and were very happy that Jody and George joined us.

English countryside view from the window of the train

At Oxford station, we saw this sign for porridge

and more bicycles than I would have ever imagined.

In 1939 on Tuesday evenings, a group known as "The Inklings" met at this public house across the street from Oxford University. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were two of the members that regularly enjoyed literary discussions over a pint.

"The Eagle and Child" is also know as the "The Bird and Baby" - so here is our baby looking out the window.

I liked the way that the front booths had their own little room complete with fireplace.

Brad is a huge fan of both Lewis and Tolkien and has read many of their books more than once.

I'm glad he got to make this trip

and enjoy a "pint" in the exact same spot they used to.

More literary fun...we had this for dessert.

any Harry Potter fans recognize "Treacle Tart"?

Oxford was very impressive.

Brad climbed up this tower

and got some pictures of some spires around town.

I enjoyed the campus in late November, so I can only imagine

what it looks like in the spring.

We made a quick half-day trip

but liked what we saw

and wore this little guy out.

London - Part 4

2010-01-16T08:00:00.001-06:00

We started the next day with the Tower of London.

Guided by the Yeomen Warders (a.k.a. Beefeaters)

we entered "The Bloody Tower" by walking under this portcullis. You learn some gruesome, but fascinating history on this tour.

Something old, something new...in the picture below you can see both the very modern egg-shaped London City Hall, and the green grass that grows where the Tower Moat used to be (1280 to 1843).
One of the residences that makes up the Queen's House inside the tower walls. I love the door!

We got much closer to one of the guards inside the Tower. Did you know many of these guys just returned from Iraq or Afghanistan? They are holding "live" weapons.
A better view of the Tower of London from a distance.
Tower Bridge in the background - partly under construction. Brad doesn't believe in re-takes. I would have taken at least 3 and chosen the best one to keep. Not him. Hair in your face? Too bad. Keep walking.

St. Paul's Cathedral...pictures cannot show how big it is!

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag"

Those steps are where the lady in Mary Poppins is sitting when she feeds the birds. We had fun watching that movie both before and after the trip.

Brad and Oliver are on the left, beside a column in front of St. Paul's.

Looking up at St. Paul's doors. So, so big!

We spent a lot of time inside St. Paul's, but could not take pictures. Brad climbed all 530 or so steps to the top dome for a nice view of London, while Oliver and I admired all the Christmas items in the gift shop.

The view from those front doors of St. Paul's.

We stepped out to get more latte, because I quickly became an addict. I wanted to remember the details of this coffee company, so I arranged these things and snapped pictures while Brad shook his head and rolled his eyes.

Then we went back into St. Paul's for Evensong. It is a daily evening service where the choir sings Anglican chant. Most of it was in Latin and we really enjoyed it.

Finally, back to the house. Don't we look proper while warming by the fire? I think it would have been even better if Brad had his pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth.
This time it is tea for me, not coffee.

London - Part 3

2010-01-15T15:00:00.002-06:00

OK - I survived my two main software releases and I have time to catch up a little....so where was I? Oh yes - this is the second half of the day I posted about in London - Part 2.

Fall is my favorite season of the year, so getting to see London while the leaves were still falling and without all the peak crowds was extra nice.

We walked through this park on our way to Buckingham Palace.

We saw pelicans,

a cute little cottage,

and helpful signs for those of us whose husbands won't let us hold the guidebooks.

Queen Victoria's monument

Buckingham Palace - notice the grey coats, instead of red on the guard.

What? You can't see the guard? Please tell Brad I need a camera with a better zoom :) The guard and his big black bear skin hat are there. Click on the picture to expand.

Ornate gate just outside the palace

Buckingham at Sunset

Oliver turned 6 months that day...Happy 1/2 b-day, buddy!

Buckingham is right behind me. I got a picture of Oliver with the London Eye in the background. (top left). That is just a portion of what we walked that day...and my legs were not used to it at all.

More big fancy gates

It was dark by the time we got to Trafalgar Square. We enjoyed some hot latte and the pretty fountains anyway!

Here is one of the famous lion statues at Trafalgar. Most tourists were climbing all over these, but with Brad's bad knee and me wearing Oliver in a wrap - we settled for a picture like this. It sure did get dark early!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T10:11:00.003-06:00

Someday I'll come back here to finish up London pictures and cover Lucy's birthday, but for now, Merry Christmas from the James Family. Blessings to you and your families during this special season!

London - Part 2

2009-12-15T07:00:00.019-06:00

We meant to set off bright and early on Monday morning to be good tourists. Switching to the new time zone proved difficult and we slept quite a bit later than we meant to.

I think all visitors probably get at least one picture with a red phone booth. We had to chose our angle carefully to not let the KFC trash in the booth show up in our picture.

We walked past this old church building on the way to the tube. If I remember right, it is being converted into a theater. Lots of old church buildings are being used for other purposes (rather than being torn down.)

The Tube (subway)

Waterloo Station - both underground and above-ground trains stop here. It looked like a mall on one side and was covered with glass (plastic?), but it was still very cool and a little breezy.

Oliver in his brown pea coat

The London Eye

Oliver loved it...

An example of how the weather goes from sunny to rainy to sunny to cloudy to rainy, etc. This was a fast moving cloud and it did get very windy that day.

The 3 of us on the Eye - If I converted meters to feet correctly, it is about 442 feet high.

Not so clear view of Big Ben and Parliament

Big Ben from the Eye again

Walk way along River Thames

Big Ben from the bridge

Two impressive and important-looking old buildings with a monument between them. We were amazed at how many things you see like this that aren't marked well, and don't get mentioned in some travel guides. I guess when everything is old and beautiful, some just get ignored.

It turned out that the building on the right is over the Winston Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. We came back a couple of days later to go down into that bunker. I learned a lot about WWII and what a sense of humor Winston Churchill had.

London - Part 1

2009-12-11T22:20:00.001-06:00

After lots of careful packing (notice the emergency item at the bottom)

and a little bit of airport waiting

we said goodbye to the south plains (by plane)

in the hopes of eventually seeing something more like this (by train),
and we did

but first some more airport waiting in Houston.

Our 9 hour overnight flight from Houston to London was supposed to include many hours of a baby sleeping in an airline bassinet.

Oliver was only kind enough to sleep in it for enough time for me to get a picture, then he decided it was too cramped and that gross stain that looks like pureed carrots just wasn't going to cut it. We took turns holding him the rest of the time. Thankfully, he didn't cry much at all.

Finally, a picture actually taken in London. Here is Oliver at Heathrow Airport in the borrowed collapsable stroller that saved us.

8 am in "the tube", London's subway
We spent the morning finding our way to our friends' house, ate lunch, then Brad and Brent went to a football (soccer) game. Go Spurs!

Jody, the girls, the babies and I went to the high street to see the Christmas festival and the lighting of the tree. Here is Oliver with substitute big sisters for the week.

We saw a puppet show on the street

and a real reindeer.

We went to church, then stopped by a crepe stand on the way back to the house. Words cannot describe how delicious a warm crepe with melted Belgiun chocolate tastes on a cool night.

At that point, I seriously thought if we had to leave right then, all traveling would have been worthwhile. I'm holding my crepe and wearing Oliver in a blue wrap here. (In other words....I'm not pregnant!)

More to come (lots, actually)...

Amen to that

2009-12-09T23:30:00.003-06:00

In Lucy's school folder on Monday was a slip of paper with the prayer intention she is supposed to say at Friday's prayer service.

"For helping us to be patient and kind as we wait for Christmas...Lord hear our prayer"

Not just good advice for the kindergarten kids!

Proof

2009-12-09T23:02:00.004-06:00

that he is now 8

and 8 things that Kilian says make him happy:

bugs
bowling
cake
the beach
Magic Tree House books
Bakugan toys
Carlsbad Caverns
tostadas

I didn't mean to not post anything from that last post until after he actually turned 8. Our trip to London the week of Thanksgiving was wonderful, but I promised myself I would get some (software developing) work goals accomplished before I spent time on pictures. I am ready to tackle them now!

Remembering 7...

2009-11-19T07:00:00.001-06:00

because 8 is just around the corner.

being a scout

making a mess

being a good big brother

being silly

reading

being a scout / helping make a fire

being a good big brother

being very silly

building

being a good big brother

reading by the fire

8 sounds so old, but I sure am enjoying having such big kid around here.

I don't know what we would do without our Kilian!

Not very loved

2009-11-19T06:59:00.000-06:00

Can you tell?

Kid Quotes

2009-11-06T07:50:00.002-06:00

Lucy: I have fat legs.

Me: What??!!?? (they are seriously toothpicks!)

Lucy: Just like Oliver, my legs are fat. (Then she proceeds to show me how her thighs are about the same size as Oliver's). She must have overheard me saying how much I love, love, love his "fat baby legs".

==============================

Camille to Kilian: Oh look, here is the 'T-Rexasaurus'!

==============================

Kilian to Lucy: I 'pacifically' told you that you can only.....(insert complicated rules to his made up game here).

===============================

Halloween 2009

2009-11-06T07:45:00.000-06:00

Remember our unhappy flower from Halloween 2008? (click here and scroll down to the 4th picture for a reminder)

Well, we started out with an unhappy Lion for Halloween 2009.

We took off the costume for a picture with my four and cousin Avery (a happy flower).

Then we put the costume back on once we learned that only kids in costume actually get the candy in their buckets.

What fine ninja moves - don't break my camera, please! Kilian was actually Superman for the school Halloween parade, but wanted to switch to last year's ninja costume for Saturday night. I liked the Superman better, so maybe this will teach me not to forget my camera for school functions.

No candy for them this year, so the babies chat about how unfair their lives are. They don't look disgruntled, do they?

Jackpot!!

Accessorized Insomnia

2009-11-03T16:42:00.006-06:00

Kilian and Lucy have been doing a great job of going to bed and falling asleep when they are asked on school nights. Camille on the other hand....not so much.

I just find it so hard to be a consistent disciplinarian when she comes out of her room looking like this:

The Game

2009-11-03T16:32:00.001-06:00

I started this post right after the big game on 10/24, but am just now returning to finish it up.

Since we moved to this area 3 years ago, Texas Tech has had a good (at times very good) football team. We get to hear and read about just how good they are nonstop. That is fine - I grew up going to Tech games and I always loved them...until I became an Aggie.

During the fall of my freshman year at A&M (1995) - something went wrong and it had not been made right until Saturday, 10/24. We (the Aggies) had not won a single football game in Lubbock since 1993.

Brad bought 2 tickets to this year's game and I was reluctant to go. When it started looking like the weather was going to be nice enough to take Oliver and we were able to get one of our favorite babysitters for the other three kids, I decided that I would go instead of letting Brad take a friend.

Two weeks before A&M played Tech, Tech beat KSU (66-14) and one week before KSU beat us (62-14). Needless to say, we were expected to witness a big loss.

Early in the first quarter I was trying to get a picture of Oliver, and a very nice Tech family sitting behind us offered to take one of the 3 of us. It was a tie game and I wanted to picture before things got ugly.

but they didn't get ugly at all! Well, that is if I don't count the language of a few students beside us. I sure hope Oliver doesn't choose those words to say first.

Even though the crowd was loud and we were right by the Fightin' Texas Aggie band, Oliver caught a nice nap.

We didn't remember to bring our 12th Man towels, but one guy in the band made up for it. Even in my low quality picture (below) you can make out the super long while towel that one guys is spinning around. I thought it was clever at first, but I was mostly impressed with how he didn't hit any fellow band members in the head with it because it was weighted with a tennis ball or something on the end. (click on the picture to expand)

The nice family behind offered to take a picture almost every time A&M scored, and we politely declined until late in the 4th quarter.

See all those empty seats around us? Lots of Raider fans didn't return after half-time.

Seconds away from winning...

Whoop!

Little Readers

2009-10-26T07:00:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago we rearranged our living room. Before moving a small bookcase, Brad removed all the children's books and stacked them on the floor. Who knew that is all it takes for books to be twice as interesting?

I couldn't believe how quiet things were around here.

Camille moved on to other things, but Kilian and Lucy stuck with it for at least 45 minutes. This second picture was taken about 30 minutes after the first one.

There are some parts of parenting that I guess I always dreamed about, but some other parts surprise me with how exciting they can be. Watching my kids read (or almost read in Lucy's case) fits into the second category, but wow - it really makes me swell with pride!

It's that boring

2009-10-12T08:42:00.003-05:00

During church Camille had been nearly perfect for the first 30 minutes. She sat in my lap, calmly turned around and whispered, "I want you to take me outside for a spanking".

The answer is

2009-10-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

that we are arranging the most elaborate play date ever! Oliver will get to go to London to "play" with his friend George, who was born in July. It will be a jolly good time!

Actually we are making the trip in November to baptize Oliver because his godparents now live "across the pond". Couldn't we just do it when they are back in Texas sometime? Well - we could - but that would mean Brad and I wouldn't get to ~~bump into Prince William~~ explore England. (Brad already had a passport).

I do feel guilty about not taking the other kids (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other friends) with us to witness the very special event. I guess I should have been buying lottery tickets or something. What a special opportunity, though! I am so excited I can barely contain myself :)

Any guesses?

2009-10-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Besides people that we've told...can anyone guess why Oliver and I needed to send in these items for passports?

A Whole Lotta Oliver

2009-10-07T22:58:00.000-05:00

Not necessarily in chronological order

Not necessarily taken by people over the age of 6

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy

2009-10-06T18:50:00.005-05:00

Lucy had a very challenging couple of days last weekend. She misbehaved in church, and as a result missed out on privileges that afternoon - no t.v. and no sweets. After more bad choices - and some time alone, she wound up calling 911. I am not kidding. It was not funny then and still isn't to me now. After I apologized to the dispatcher, I asked Lucy what in the world she was thinking. She thought her mom and dad were too mean and if we were arrested then she could get new parents. Oh my.

The next day (Monday) was great. The next day (Tuesday) was also great until she walked into Kilian's plastic baseball bat. Mid-swing. It has been exactly one week and her eye is only a little bit black/purple/green now. It is also not funny to me.

My mother-in-law pointed out the bright side. At least the black eye didn't happen first and the 911 call didn't lead to a visit by the police soon after.

Have I ever blogged about the 2 week period in 2006 when I though Lucy was going to do me in? At the age of 2 1/2 she managed to:

-randomly call 911, causing the sheriff to knock on our door before I even knew she touched the phone.

-pull the fire alarm at Krispy Kreme. It was located right by the door at her eye level.

-climb up, get kids' vitamins, and somehow open them, causing me to call poison control. I had to dump out and count the remaining ones in the bottle and wait for the lady on the other end of the line to calculate the maximum amount of iron my kids might have consumed. Everyone was fine.

Oh yeah. How about February, 2005 when we took her to the E.R. because she needed stitches in her tongue?

Shallow, but exciting

2009-09-16T22:38:00.001-05:00

Growing hair has never been

Camille's forte
(I've never trimmed her bangs)
but we have finally reached the point

where we can

do some fun, girlie things

so that her hair matches
her fun, girlie personality!

I call it art

2009-09-16T00:32:00.003-05:00

I got lots of things done during the day today (it is after midnight now), but the kitchen was not one of them.

So when I went in to tackle it tonight, I noticed how colorful my not-so-rare mountain of dishes was. The pile is no longer, and I only have have an empty, white-ish space on our counter top to look at now. How boring.