Imagination Land

While I'm updating the blog, the kids are playing without any supervision. Joel comes to me with a pair of socks, asking for help to put them on so he can wear boots. At the same time I hear Allison say something like, "I don't have any dresses for getting married to him." The next time I look up, I find the "new couple" coming my way, with the groom walking beside the bride, who is on her stick horse, wearing her new hot pink Hannah Montanna garb. Not sure what to make of Joel's outfit. Sure is an outfit though.

Other December happenings

Matt's birthday. Yes, with 38 candles on the cake. It was quite a sight.

Fun with friends

And Allison giving her brother a ride. I don't know what precipitated this, but Allison was so proud of herself. She said, "Look! I'm strong enough!" They went all around the house and up and down the hallway for quite a while like this.

Christmasness

It was a busy Christmas this year. We started it off with a trip to Lindale, Tx with the whole Francis clan. The kids and adults had a blast playing outside with guns and frisbees. The munchkin army spent a lot of time in the bushes, Shane and Joel turned a small table into a pirate ship, and Allison...well, she didn't have to be asked twice to pose for a picture.

Other highlights were decorating gingerbread man cookies, and opening presents on Christmas morning, of course.

Later on Christmas Day we visited the Smiths, then Matt's parents. Then we left for Corpus the day after Christmas to spend the weekend with my sister and nieces.

Trips to Corpus Christi

My mom, Allison and I drove to Corpus to visit my sister and nieces just before my niece, Heather had her baby. Matt and the kids and I just went back after Christmas to visit and see new baby Dusty. In November, we took a little detour to Austin on the drive down. While we were in Corpus, we went to the Tx State Aquarium and got up close with sting rays and dolphins. Allison and Nikki has a good time together! Heather was a great tour guide!

In December, we got to cuddle with cute, sweet baby Dusty, and spent some time hunting for seashells at the beach. This was the first beach trip for our kids. They all had fun in the sand, and running from the waves as they rolled in. The entrance to one of the shops is a giant shark mouth. Joel was a little unsure of it at first, but eventually went into the giant jaws.

Weekend Get-Away, Broken Bow, OK

Matt and I were able to get away for a weekend to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for our 9th anniversary. Our darling friends, Kenny and Leah, kept the children for us. Everyone had a good time! While the kids were at the Jordan's eating cocoa pebbles, we were enjoying a nice canoe trip, and hiking through the woods. Oh, and simply had to take note of a local CPA's office. Would you believe that you can buy a deep fried twinkie in the same town where a CPA is named Joe Bob Smith?

Where is Thanksgiving?

I seem to have skipped a holiday. So, here is the annual Thanksgiving picture in Aunt Nancy and Uncle Jerry's Big Backyard Tree. Yes, Joel is wearing a red, white and blue USA tank top (muscle shirt, I'm told it's called) with camo shorts. And cowboy boots. Rather patriotic...in a redneck sort of way. He dressed himself, and...well...he was dressed, wasn't he?

And here are Allison and Jordan at Poppie and Grandma's house in Keller. They had a good time playing dress up!

Future cartographers

Two things to notice about Joel here. 1) He dressed himself, complete with tie. 2) He put together the USA puzzle on his own.

For Allison, the scarf on the floor is actually a river. She drew a Dora the Explorer map with 3 obstacles, just like in the show.

Catch-up Photos -- Random things

I'm in one end of the house folding laundry when I hear Joel call for help. This is the scene I find.

Things you find when cleaning out the minivan

package of baby wipes
flashlight
cow
drum stick
Dora and Diego disposable toilet seat covers
James Taylor CD

Cousins and Pumpkin Patch fun

Matt's sister and her family own His Pumpkin Patch in Gainesville, TX. No autumn is complete without a trip out there. The kids have a blast every time! Zip line, hay ride, tire swing, petting zoo...hours of fun!

Halloween Chronicles

It's been quite a while since the last post. I'm playing catch-up here, so things will be in random order. Let's start with our Halloween evening play-by-play:

5 pm - Wrap up working from home. Matt home with the kids, Allison fell asleep in the car. Matt puts her in her bed. Maggie has a glass of wine because it just seems like a good idea, and has fun texting friend. Maggie wonders if cell-phone plan includes unlimited texting.
5:30 pm - dinner
6 pm - Allison and Matt asleep on Allison's bed. Allison still wearing Tinkerbell costume.
6:30 pm - Matt comes to life, Joel decides to wear last year's frog costume. Try to wake Allison to no avail.
6:45 pm - Matt and Joel go trick or treating, Allison still asleep.
First trick or treaters come. Abbey flipping out -- barks, growls, etc.
Second trick or treaters come. Lock Abbey in bedroom.
7:15 - Matt and Joel back home. Joel assesses candy collection. Matt sets up chairs outside. He and Joel hand out candy from the lawn. Joel comes in the house occasionally to eat a piece of his candy. Abbey scratching the heck out of the bedroom door, barking like crazy. Allison still asleep. Put Abbey out back.
7:30 - Maggie pays bills. Oh crap! Where did all the money go? Need more wine.
8:00 - Joel has a bath, emerges from tub bouncing off the walls in naked, after-candy madness.
8:30 - Joel still zipping through house making jet sounds, talking about balloons, wearing tattoos. Allison still asleep.
8:36 - attempting to pray with wired 3-yr-old boy
8:37 - Allison wakes up.
8:37.5 - Allison sobbing about missing Halloween
8:51 - Allison stops sobbing, accepts candy from Joel (who, by the way, is still talking 90 miles an hour, dashing about the house)
8:54 - Joel on the run, now with glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth. Matt and Maggie discuss the possibility of giving Benadryl to the now wide-awake Allison, who is applying her bat tattoos, so that she might go back to sleep soon.
8:56 - Where did I leave that last glass of wine?
Joel requests wine. We briefly consider it...
9:00 - give Benadryl to Allison
9:01 - Allison hungry, heat up a hotdog. Joel still running (literally) around the house with vampire teeth, occasionally pausing to exclaim, "My teeth fell out!" then resuming activity.
9:04 - Joel discovers a bug. We point it out to Abbey...children entertained as they watch her chase, capture, and devour it. This reminds us of the caterpillar Matt captured last weekend. We have show and tell. Nice cocoon.
9:06 - Joel requests a hot dog, runs circles around the kitchen table while he waits for it. Stops to offer me his teeth. I decline.
9:08 - Matt wonders where a "B-double-E-R" is. Joel asks, "Does that spell work?" then begins singing about liederhosen (???!!?)
9:14 - the jar containing cocooned caterpillar is now the table centerpiece. Children have stopped eating to investigate cocoon, then count their bat tattoos.
9:15 - Allison suddenly remembers a day-old, centimeter-sized scrape that is in desperate need of a band-aid to ward off certain death.
9:17 - I wonder why my husband has a mo-hawk.
9:22 - Joel has coined the term, "Jampire," regarding his new vampire teeth.
9:24 - the Jampire is loose in the house again.
9:26 - Matt traps the Jampire, Allison announces that she can have wine when she grows up.
9:30 - re-start bed time routine. Attempt to pray with the Jampire, Allison, and, for some special reason, the dog joins us tonight.
9:40 - Joel (who has removed his teeth and resumed his given name) complains that his bear is wet and he hates dinosaurs.
9:45 - Allison complains that Mommy never EVER lays down with her at night
9:50 - Maggie lays down with Allison, falls asleep for a while
10:00 - Maggie lays down with Joel, falls asleep
1 am - Joel running in his sleep, kicking the heck out of me... turn over, I go back to sleep.
2:30 am - Allison wakes me up, "mommy, my mouth tastes yucky." I facilitate teeth-brushing, then go to my own bed.
3 am - husband and dog snoring.
3:30 am - still wide awake. Allison still wide awake. Give Allison her Leapster, a crayon and a handwriting tablet to entertain herself for a while. I decide to work on my Beth Moore study.
4:30 - Complete this chronicle.

They say the darnedest things - 3 - darn it all to heck

At Allison's parent-teacher conference this week, the teacher showed me some examples of the work they've been doing in class. They're working on "phonemic awareness" (that's letter and word sounds, for the uninitiated), which includes rhyming exercises. The kids were given a list of words, then asked to write one that rhymed with the list. Allison's list:
yell
fell
tell
She added "hell"

Joel, at dinner this evening, was talking about letters and letter sounds too. We got to "D", and I asked him to name something that begins with "D."
He said "dam!"

They say the darnedest things - 2

Joel, with genuine enthusiasm when he saw that he and Allison had the same Sunday School craft: "We both have sick hearts!!" (i.e. sin in our hearts, thus rendering us in need of a savior...)

Also from Joel, when I asked what his shampoo would make him smell like: "Man. Handsome man."

Chronicle of today, Sept 13

Watched hurricane Ike coverage, prayed for Houston-area residents.
Farmer's market peaches.
Fun lunch with sweet friends.
Pedicure and manicure with sweet friend.
Allison turned the family room into an "apartment" -- complete with jewelry section.
Defined "hippie" and the peace sign for Allison (how do I get myself into these things?).
Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack with Francis's -- had a rockin' good time.
Marveled as Joel ate popcorn shrimp, broccoli, honey almond trout and saffron rice. I think he ate more than me.

They say the darnedest things - 1

I'm sure there will be many installments of this post, so I numbered it.

Joel: "Mommy! Mommy! We saw a lizard....and we LIKED it!"

Allison: "I'm sorry Joel, I misunderspoke."

Joel, as he heads to the front door with purpose: "We need to go to Target. I need big boy toys."

It's 1 a.m., do you know where your tool belt is?

Joel is allergic to September. Every year of his life, this month has brought illness and breathing issues. So, we made our annual run to pediatric urgent care at 11:30p.m (usually it's the ER, so we're grateful for the new pedi urgent care). Joel was coughing incessantly. Turns out the breathing treatment we'd given him at home finally took action and he quit coughing by the time he got to the clinic. So, Matt returned home just after midnight with a perfectly healthy, not-coughing, wide awake Joel, who wanted to play with mommy. I humored him, thinking he'd settle down soon and we'd all get to bed. He dashed into his room to dig up the tools. Not sure what we were going to play, but some serious construction was about to happen. He had every tool he owns stuffed into his little Bob the Builder tool belt.

Labor Day swimming and family time

Joel sure liked that skateboard. We couldn't get him to step away from it for the picture with Daddy and Paw-paw.

Allison and the goggles. Cute as a bug!
The kids LOVE to swim. After a few days of swimming lessons they both got really brave and began swimming without floaties on. Now they're like little fish!

Labor Day - Diary of a Skateboard

Joel's first experience with a skateboard.

How does this thing work anyway?

First Day of School

Allison was so excited about starting kindergarten! She made a new friend at meet-the-teacher the night before school started, and an old friend from dance is in her class, as well as the children of a couple other families we know. Her teacher seems really sweet. It's her first year to teach and I think she'll do great!

I was able to have lunch with her the first day. It was so nice to see her there with all the new friends, just as happy as could be.

Our little girl is growing up!

Multi-tasking

I consider myself a Master Multi-tasker. I've talked on the phone, stirred dinner on the stove and fed a baby a bottle all at the same time. I can brush one kid's hair while buttoning a shirt on the other. However, I am entirely dismayed that it seems one cannot brush one's teeth and do anything else at the same time. If anyone has figured it out, please share!

Raspberries

We were talking about favorites at the family dinner table, and here’s tonight’s conversation (note: we’re having breakfast for dinner – bacon, eggs, toast, etc.):

Joel is 3 1/2

Joel: “My favorite is apple juice to drink. Mommy, now you say your favorite drink.”
Maggie: “My favorite is chocolate milk.”
Allison: “My favorite food is healthy stuff.” (really, she said that, I’m not lying)
Joel: “Now it’s your turn Daddy, what’s your favorite food?”
Matt: “I really like raspberry preserves.”
Joel: “No! You mean raspberry turds.”
Maggie: (trying to stay straight-faced) “You mean ‘pre-zervz’, right?”
Joel: “No, it’s a turd.” (and he's very serious)
Matt & Maggie: (snicker, snicker)
Maggie: “What is a turd, Joel?” (putting on the investigative reporter hat)
Joel: “It’s something that you eat.”
Maggie: “Oh, where did you have it?”
Joel: “Right here, at this table.”
Maggie: “Is a turd very big?”
Joel: “No, it’s small.”
Maggie: “Is it round?”
Joel: “No, but some are round. I had an oval one. It was yellow. And there are vanilla ones and raspberry and chocolate-vanilla….”

As he continued to list "turd" flavors, we finally figured out that he was talking about the taffy we'd bought from the candy store on the square a couple weeks ago. Not sure how "taffy" became "turd" but I don't presume to ever understand what goes on in the mind of a 3-yr-old.

Our dancing dog

The highlight of this week in the Francis household was giving the dog a bath. The children excitedly gathered round the tub while our little 13-lb, 4-legged child cowered and shook at the abuse of being covered in Bath & Body Works honeysuckle-scented suds. The kids are always so sweet and encouraging through it all: "You smell so good Abbey!" "Good girl!" "You're going to be so beautiful!" When the dog is done they squeal with delight as she shakes and sprays us all with water, then runs through the house like a mad dog, rolling on anything she can to either dry herself off or reclaim the patented dog smell.

We topped off the bathing experience with an amateur grooming job.

All this so that Abbey could wear her new tu-tu. Yes, our dog has a pink, sparkly doggie ballerina outfit, and her pint-sized owners are thrilled. As if the dog knew the purpose of her attire, she even got up on her hind legs to show it off. Allison ran to put her own leotard and tu-tu on so that she could play dress-up with Abbey.