Well, I'll Be. It's November.

Wow, November's been a silent blogging month. Even my friends haven't been updating their blogs as much. For me, it's a mixture of the busyness of back to back to back holidays and trying to cut back on time in front of the computer screen. It also seems I have a bad case of the "started a draft in my head, but never got it typed" thingy. Blogger's block, maybe?

One thing's for sure, we are getting to the stage where I'll be taping a lot of kid performances. Starting with the boys' preschool director's 25th anniversary last week and the songs the kids sang to her.

Here is Noah's performance. True to form, he has a laser-like focus on his music teacher. He is in the preschool music zone.


Here is Tyler's performance. The little long-haired girl next to him is Julia. True to form, he makes it about 53 seconds into the performance before he goes for a change of face pace.


Honestly, I'm just proud of him for standing on that stage for 2 1/2 minutes without kissing Julia.

Noah will make his big acting debut during tomorrow's Thanksgiving skit. He gets to be a pilgrim ready for a feast with the natives. Stay tuned for another video!

Just Another Manic Thursday

Part Uno

I chose the most humid, windy day to get my driver's license renewed.

Incidentally, when did they start calling organ donation an "anatomical gift?" Creepy.

After spending some extra time getting ready because, you know, these things are part of your life for six whole years, I walked out of the house to about the thickest humidity and wind combination you can imagine for October.

I'm still trying to figure out this concept called "plan ahead."

I have a feeling I'm going to regret my lack of foresight when I get my new dl in about six weeks and I look like Nick Nolte's long lost love child.

For the next six years. Awesome.

Little known fact that he got passed up for the role of Han Solo. That went to Harrison Ford instead. But maybe he was the hair inspiration for Chewbacca, so I guess he didn't really lose out in the end. Chewbacca rocks.

Anyway, I walked in to the DMV to find that, GLORY BE, I was first in line. I'm not sure what was the greater shock: that the DMV was line-free or that I got somewhere before anyone else did.

As I stood at the front of the line, I glanced around and noticed a bathroom. I then had to wrestle with the question of whether one last mirror check was worth risking my place in line. Since no one else followed me in, I decided to tempt fate and walked into the bathroom to see about a mirror.

And one glance in that mirror affirmed my decision to check things out. Glory be, it is amazing what walking through a blanket of humidity will do to your hair.

It was then that I saw in the reflection a hand dryer...

The fates then turned the tables and decided to tempt me. And, I, the girl who is lucky to walk out of the house with matching shoes and, I, the girl who applies make up at stoplights, found myself feeling a little self conscious about being hair twins with Chewbacca the next six years.

So, I eyed the faucet, then eyed the dryer and then the faucet again.

Well, you know what I did.

Oh yes I did.

I took that glorious stream of water and ran my fingers through my hair to get it just damp enough to work with. It was like my own little Regis Salon, only with a commode just feet from me. And the possibility of being caught in my embarrassing state of vanity if another person walked in.

But, there turned out to be enough risk taker in me and, after some hurried primping, I walked out to find that in about two short minutes, I was suddenly the third person in line. And, though there were employees buzzing all around, that is one place where a lot seems to be going on, but nothing productive appears to be happening.

Sort of like my daily routine as a Mom. Sometimes I feel like I couldn't be busier, but then I look around and wonder what the heck I've accomplished.

Anyway, who knows what my hair did before I actually got to the front of the line and had my picture snapped. We'll see in a few weeks, I guess.

Well, I will. There's a high probability you never will.

Unless we are trying to one-up each other in who looks most like a Star Wars character in their ID.

In which case I win. And I have the photo to prove it.

Part Dos

I had it in my mind that I had some shopping to do that same day. Thursdays are my best errand days since the boys are in school. I had a couple of stops to make before going to a local grocery store's going out of business sale. I was tempted to go home, though, when the downpour that brought on all that humidity finally arrived mid-morning and left me with little ability to see very far. Once I made the mad dash to my car, I hurried to roll down my windows to clear them, wiped my mirrors and used the back of my hand to wipe my windshield so I could see through the fogged up window. I nearly re-parked, though, when I realized I could barely see. I had never seen it rain so hard I couldn't even see the road right in front of me. Glory be, it was bad.

It was then that I finally realized I didn't have my wipers on.

You know, the things you turn on FIRST when trying to see through rain.

I think the fates came back and taunted me for giving in to their earlier temptation at the DMV.

Nonetheless, I made it to the grocery store, where I saved 71%, but also stocked up on things I am not sure I would normally buy.

I was, however, excited to score a great deal on some dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries, etc.) Until I noticed the Use By date was January.

2009.

Nine months ago.

Glory be. I think I see why they went out of business.

Part Tres

Picked the boys up from school only to learn that Tyler had found other "activities" to pursue during nap time. His teacher told me four of the kids, Tyler and three girls, were placed in one area for nap time. Somehow, all four ended up with their heads in the same corner where all their nap mats met. His teacher then noticed that Tyler was stroking all three of the girls' hair and giving kisses to one little classmate, Julia. It's like he has a harem now.

And when I think harem, I no longer think "Casanova."

I think..."Hugh Hefner."

Glory be.

Father/Son Campout & Mother/Son Girls' Night Out

Our church had a father/son campout Friday night in Van Alstyne. Tyler was supposed to go, too, but he's had some snotty nose thing going on and I didn't want him to get worse in the 40 degree weather. It might just be allergies since he has nothing else going on, but I wasn't willing to risk pneumonia or swine flu to test his immune system.

Ah, swine flu, how you have slowly sucked the fun out of life.

Instead, Tyler got to hang out with a bunch of women at girls' night at the Andersons' house. Thankfully, there was another little preschooler there for T to play with. (Girls' night outs have changed over the years. We bring our kids, wear pj's, drink hot tea and leave by 10 p.m. Before we know it, they'll consist of bingo, knitting, conversations about cold cream and a 7:30 bedtime.).

Anyway, I think he was impressed with Maggie's train playing skills. They played so well together and kept themselves entertained while the mommies played games and talked. After we got home, Tyler looked deep into my eyes and declared, "Maggie is so pretty." What can I say? He has a heart for girls. It's like I'm raising Casanova.

As for our camping men, they had a blast. This is Noah jumping around in the tent once it was erected. Pitched. Whatever.
This is the guys eating dinner (weiners and chips). After raining all of Wednesday, the ground was still muddy. I'm having such a blast getting the mud out of those jeans. Clorox 2...I heart you.
This is Noah making a smiley face out of chips. I'm wondering if they also served some "special" brownies...Noah thought it would be fun to make a bunk bed out of their cots. Not sure it worked out very well.Brian noticed stadium lights not too far from their camp site (it's like he has an internal GPS for anything sports related), so they hopped in the car to watch some Van Alstyne football. Brian got to see several kids he used to coach and Noah scored a ring pop and some hot cocoa.

Back at the tent, there were a couple of card sharks playing Rummy and Old Maid. Looks like Brian is going down. And even though they had extra blankets, thick sleeping bags, sweatshirts and knit caps on, Brian got very little sleep from being cold and hearing people snore. Somewhere in the night, there was a thief who stole his extra blanket. We are not sure, but we suspect it was a five year old thief, judging by they muddy tracks he left behind. The next morning, they awoke to some kids using their tent as third base.

This next pic is with one of the boys' buddies, Grant. I just love the mud splatters on his face. I'm sure his Daddy did, too. Poor guy ran out of clothes from all the falling in the mud!

Despite cold weather, stolen blankets, mud, special brownies and all, they still had a blast and Noah spent Saturday night seriously wailing about wanting to go camping again. THAT night. I mean, it was the ugly cry. For over 20 minutes. Or 30, I don't remember which. But, it was sincere and that's what counts.

I get it, though. The smell and warmth of a campfire, marshmellows roasting, sleeping outdoors, solitude, relating to each other with a lack of distractions, crisp air...I get it.

There is just something special about getting back to the simple things of life.

So, if the weather cooperates, I think the four of us will find ourselves on our own camping trip and dancing in a tent in a couple of weeks. Looks like I'll be buying some more Clorox 2. Oh, how I heart the Clorox 2.

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

Tyler surprised us when he said something about his son the other day. When we looked to see what he was talking about, we saw that he had declared his stuffed monkey his son. He named him Cracks.

A couple days later, he again said something about his son. When I looked over to see what he meant, I learned that he has another son, a stuffed tiger. The tiger is named Tiger.

Cracks and Tiger. How appropriate that Tyler's sons are a monkey and a tiger.

The evidence of monkey DNA is clear in this picture.

As for his tiger DNA, one of his favorite games to play is actually called "Tiger." We take turns pretending to be tigers as we growl at and then pounce on each other. Who needs a Wii when you've got his imagination?

As for Cracks, I don't know where he got that. There is no evidence of looney behavior in this family.

None at all.

Educatin' & Indoctrinatin' & Goofinatin'

This video is for family, Old Glory lovers across the United States of de America and for those who need a refresher on our solar system. Also people who don't mind spending 4 minutes of their life watching other people's kids' shenanigans.

This is not for people who actually know what Galatians 5:13 says or those who get grossed out by spit. Clearly we have some work to do.


This video is a public service announcement for MISD parents - this man is teaching your kids. At least we can be thankful Brian is an (amazing) engineering teacher and not an earth science teacher. I apologize in advance for our irreverent mockery of global warming. I blame our behavior on global warming.



Noah has clearly been studying the solar system at school. Today, he announced that Uranus is his favorite planet. Logic told me Noah is too young for little boy jokes about Uranus, but I still nervously braced myself as I replied, "Oh yeah? Why is that?" To which he said, "Because Uranus is blue and blue is suh-weeeet!"

Suh-weeeet sigh of relief.

Tech vs. Fuzzy

Brian was an architecture major, taught math for eight years and is now teaching engineering design.

I was a business major.

We played Old Maid during family game night a couple nights ago.

I don't know how much our degrees are an indication of our personalities, but the following made me laugh aloud when I noticed it. Here are our two piles of matching cards. I think they are very indicative of our personalities. Given what you know about our degrees, I'll let you decide which pile was Brian's and which was mine.

Roses Are Red...And Too Darn Expensive!

Brian has been married long enough to know I don't like having flowers ordered for me. Even buying them at the store is kind of questionable.

This is weird, I acknowledge.

I love flowers...love, love, love them. Fresh flowers brighten up a home so much. But, paying for those fresh flowers is not worth it to me. Reason tells me that money could be put into something that is going to be with you more than four days. I happen to like reason.

So, 13 years into this, I get flowers occasionally, but not enough times to make me worry about our bank balance over them.

Tonight, Noah ran to the store with Brian to get some chili and s'more ingredients. As they passed the flowers, Noah excitedly said, "Oooh, Daddy! I want to buy some flowers for Mommy!"

(Noah gets so excited anytime he finds a flower for me. On our walks, he can usually spot a dandelion or two and he totally delights in surprising me with them. It's those kinds of flowers any Mommy loves best.)

Brian hesitated, trying to decide how to break the news of his Mommy's abnormal resistance to receiving flowers to him gently. He then looked up to lock eyes with a woman smiling and nodding to tell him that, yes, he was indeed going to make it home with flowers tonight. Or risk looking like a jerk in front of her. Still, he stayed strong and told Noah, "No, buddy, not tonight."

But as they walked off, Brian said he felt like an ogre and changed his mind. So, Noah happily walked alongside the floral selection and sniffed until he found the perfect bouquet.

He sniffed to find what he deemed the most fragrant ones. I think that is sweet.

And I do think he found the perfect bunch.


Really, what's a few dollars when you get such tangible thoughtfulness? I can look at these for at least four days and be reminded Noah loves me. And his Daddy does, too. There will come a day when our boy is more worried about getting flowers for another girl. So, I'll take them while I can.

Sometimes you've just gotta be a little unreasonable.

And, anyway, this girl Noah meets might turn out to be the kind of girl who likes getting flowers that aren't of the yard picked dandelion variety.

Reason tells me this is good practice.