green thumb

We're so thankful for the rain we got last week and for the beautiful weather ahead of us this week. We plan to spend lots of time outside getting our yard and garden ready for Spring. Casper is always anxious to lend a helping hand.

what the kids know about their father

G=Gwendolyn (6 ½ yrs)
L=Linus (3 ½ yrs)

1. What is something Daddy always says to you?
G – Sure!
L – I love you!

2. What makes Daddy happy?
G – Listening to Mama.
L – Doing things what he likes.

3. What makes Daddy sad?
G – Linus poking me in the eye.
L –Not doing things he likes.

4. How does Daddy make you laugh?
G – By playing a funny video game.
L – Tickling my ticklish spot.

5. What was Daddy like as a child?
G – He had blonde hair.
L – Maybe playing was his favorite thing.

6. How old is Daddy?
G – 36. No, 35.
L – I forgot.

7. How tall is Daddy?
G – Tall to the ceiling.
L – Really tall.

8. What is his favorite thing to watch on TV?
G – The news.
L – The news and football. I like football because I went to a football show before.

9. What does Daddy do when you're not around?
G – Sleeps.
L – Just do things he likes.

10. If Daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?
G – He’ll sell a special kind of cat that could talk and walk without you even training it.
L – Working on the computer.

11. What is Daddy really good at?
G – Daddy’s good at hiding.
L – Printing.

12. What is Daddy not very good at?
G – Nothing.
L – Not printing.

13. What does Daddy do for his job?
G – Works at C* Library.
L – Go to C* Library.

14. What is Daddy’s favorite food?
G – Potatoes.
L – Potatoes.

15. What makes you proud of Daddy?
G – That he plays video games with me.
L – Playing with him.

16. If Daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
G – He would be a little boy.
L – A news. -- ?

17. What do you and Daddy do together?
G – Play video games.
L – Play Hungry Hungry Hippos together. But sometimes when he’s gone I have to play by myself.

18. How are you and Daddy the same?
G – We’re both friendly and have a lot of friends.
L – We’re not the same!

19. How are you and Daddy different?
G – Daddy has green eyes and I have blue eyes.
L – I have red hair and Daddy doesn’t.

20. How do you know Daddy loves you?
G – He says it all the time.
L – Because I’m his angel boy.

21. What does Daddy like most about your mom?
G – He loves you.
L – Doing things for her.

22. Where is Daddy’s favorite place to go?
G – To a restaurant with me.
L – To games.

what the kids know about their mother

G=Gwendolyn (6 ½ yrs)
L=Linus (3 ½ yrs)

1. What is something Mama always says to you?
G – I love you.
L – I love you.

2. What makes Mama happy?
G – Cleaning.
L – Doing things she likes, like cleaning up.

3. What makes Mama sad?
G – Disobeying.
L – Not doing things she likes.

4. How does Mama make you laugh?
G – By telling jokes.
L – By tickling my ticklish spot. I always have my ticklish spot in a different place!

5. What was Mama like as a child?
G – I don’t know.
L – I don’t know when you were a little girl.

6. How old is Mama?
G – 23
L – 5 pounds!

7. How tall is your Mama?
G – 23 feet
L – Really tall.

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
G – The news.
L – The news.

9. What does Mama do when you're not around?
G – Sleeps.
L – She does fun things.

10. If Mama becomes famous, what will it be for?
G – Obeying.
L – For your children.

11. What is Mama really good at?
G – Doing mother things like nursing her children.
L – Helping us!

12. What is Mama not very good at?
G – Climbing.
L – Doing nothing.

13. What does Mama do for her job?
G – Job? She works at helping her children do school.
L – Just helps us.

14. What is Mama’s favorite food?
G – Bean dip.
L – Potatoes!

15. What makes you proud of Mama?
G – She gives us candy.
L – Cuddling with you.

16. If Mama were a cartoon character, who would she be?
G – A happy sunshine.
L – A mama one.

17. What do you and Mama do together?
G – We do school.
L – Just play around.

18. How are you and Mama the same?
G – We both have blue eyes
L – We cuddle with each other

19. How are you and Mama different?
G – I don’t wear glasses
L – You don’t have red hair and I do!

20. How do you know Mama loves you?
G – She says it all the time.
L – I don’t know.

21. What does Mama like most about Daddy?
G – That she’s married to him.
L – This is a boring one. Can you tell me what you like most about Daddy?

22. Where is Mama’s favorite place to go?
G – To go to sleep!
L –Target.

I saw this meme on Lindy's facebook page and her kids' answers were so hilarious, I had to try with my own. Tomorrow we find out about Todd.

eight

Eight wonderful years and counting.

casper series

possible thoughts running through todd's head when this photo was taken

"What is she thinking?"
"Why is she looking at the camera that way?"
"That stray gray hair looks like it's after me!"

telling it like it is

While we were cleaning up toys in the playroom, Linus announced, “I have a new rule: We won’t pick-up any more!”
Mama: “Eww. Then our house would get really messy.”
Linus: “No it wouldn’t. We wouldn’t mess it up anymore, either.”

After Gwendolyn goes to her room to finish a crying fit which began with a broken toy teacup, I ask Linus, “Are you going to behave like this when you’re six and a half?”
Linus: “No. I’m always going to give you kisses, and I’m never going to dye my hair.”

Linus, describing a book he wants to read, “And the front [cover] is crazy – it doesn’t have too many people, just one, and he is being nice to a tree.”

on the road

Gwendolyn, fretting over a scratch on her forehead which she got from a low tree branch, "And I’ve gotta walk around in public like this!"

As Gwendolyn and Linus pretend to be the earth and moon rotating around each other, Gwennie announces, "And that’s how the earth and the moon met. And the moon was very polite, and the earth appreciated that. And then they got married."

fenced in

Our yard got a fence today. Though I'm thankful that I don't see a construction zone each time I look out my kitchen window, I would rather have my trees back.

grape juice and blue juice

Today while Casper was napping, the big kids sewed these little gnomes and named them "Grape Juice" and "Blue Juice".

18 month stats

Casper had his 18-month check up today and is 33 inches tall (75th percentile) and tips the scales at 25 pounds, 10 ounces (50th percentile). He really seems small to me, but that's only because Linus is his brother (I can't put my finger on Linee's 18 month stats to compare, but at 15 months, he was 34 1/2 inches tall and 31 pounds. How on earth did I tote that kid around for as long as I did?).

faces like angels, but looks can be deceiving

Aren't these the cutest, sweetest looking kids? Todd and I are always gushing about how cute and sweet and smart and charming they are. But today during stake conference, they were absolute monsters. All three of them. The entire time. It was a nightmare.

Gwennie rocks

The other day I asked Gwendolyn if she wanted me to paint her toenails this weekend (what little girl doesn't love that?) and she responded, "No. It makes me feel like I'm showing off -- like I have a boa and poofy things." She'd much rather dig in the dirt and look for pretty rocks or try to catch geckos.

She's quite the entrepreneur. She borrowed her daddy's hammer to crack these rocks open in an effort to find "crystals", which she intends to sell.

this is what February looks like in Texas

**********
Speaking of Casper, Linus tells me, "He was just trying to make my matters worse!"

Linus is still very interested in airplanes and the Wright Brothers. Today while we were driving, he was pretending to fly our van. When we got to our destination, I helped him out of the van and noticed that his zipper was down:
Mama: Hey Linus, your fly's down.
Linus: Yeah, I landed the plane.

I gave my baby a chocolate chip muffin for breakfast

nature spot, february

home sweet home again

I'm back from my weekend away. I had a wonderful time at the conference and visiting with family, but I'm very happy to be home with all my sweeties. I missed them like crazy.

joint venture

I'm heading out of town this weekend to attend a business-y conference. I'm excited to learn new things and network and all of that, but I'm also excessively proud of the business cards Todd designed and letterpressed for me, and the goody bags (also letterpress printed) we made. Aren't they cool?

free food for dinner

The strangest thing happened to me today. I went to the grocery store with all three kids late this afternoon and as we approached the check-out lanes, the store manager approached me and pointing out a group of men in wranglers and cowboy hats who were standing nearby, asked if I had a few moments to speak with some representatives from a local agricultural association. I said yes and listened to a rancher talk about the low cost of food today and then I discussed with him the fact that this particular store actually buys a lot of locally produced meat and produce. They look my picture for their farmer newsletter. And then the cowboys and the store manager ushered me to a check-out counter and paid for my basket of groceries! I paid for the cat food and they paid for everything else. Blessed cowboys.

Last night Todd and I put in a bulk food order and went over what we had budgeted for it. Even though that overage cut into the rest of our grocery budget for the month, I was confident that everything would work out. My basket of groceries today was almost the exact amount of our food order overage. Mysterious ways.

between the bars

This is apparently how Casper likes to sleep lately.  I've had to extricate him from the bars of his crib at least three times in the past couple of days.

self-portrait with my valentine

blue all around

casbr

Casper drew this fabulous picture of Mama (?) and then Gwendolyn helped him out by signing his name for him. She obviously sounded out the name on her own and thought she'd done it correctly (because Casbr really sounds exactly like Casper) and she was beyond thrilled with herself. It was so much fun to watch her excitement.

a room of his own

edible valentines

Heart shaped pretzels! Easy kid-friendly activity with a delicious sugar-free payoff.

Learn from my mistakes: don't under-bake them and go easy on the salt.

resident spitfire

Gwennie had an hour and a half freak out tonight. About a cd of primary songs. It was exhausting for all of us.

We have a large basket of cut up, sanded tree branches in the playroom and the children use them for building blocks, play food, etc. We call them "Rita Blocks" because they came from trees which were blown down during Hurricane Rita in 2005. We recently heard Gwendolyn refer to them as "Burrito Blocks".

Gwennie recently made up a song,"Oh, happy husband, happy husband, happy husband! Oh happy husband today!" But she can't tell us what makes the husband happy.

A note about this photograph: after we took the shot, Gwennie spent nearly an hour pulling berries off our holly bush and gluing them onto this pruned live oak branch.  (It was actually quite artistically done, and is now displayed on our kitchen table.)

live oak

Our front yard is quite large and does not have a single tree it. We looked at our house on Google Earth, and we have the only treeless yard in the neighborhood (perhaps the entire town). But today, our yard has a tree. We planted a 15-foot live oak and we are very proud of it. It looks so good in our yard (and will on Google Earth), so we're really hoping that it lives.

temporarily replaced

Auntie Tiffany is here for the weekend and we're all so happy that she came to visit -- especially the kids. Since she's arrived, no one has asked me to read to them or cuddle in bed with them.

teeth

Today, Casper gained two teeth and Todd lost three. Actually, Casper's molars came in over the past week, and Todd's came out in the forty-five minutes that it took an oral surgeon to extract his wisdom teeth (and a tumor in his jawbone) this afternoon. Both are recovering.

This'll depress you

Have you seen my backyard recently? Come take a look if you want to be bummed out. I see it everyday and everyday it makes me so, so sad. Look how close those gigantic trucks are to where my kids play! Grrr.

what goes on in that little red head

Linus, after a sugary breakfast, explains what he wants for a snack: “These little pokey seeds (uncooked/unsalted sunflower seeds), that’s all I’m hungry for, these healthy foods.”

As Linus helps Todd make pigs in blankets for dinner, he comments on the li’l smokies waiting to be blanketed: “These are pigs, but they’re cold and just busy begging for blankets.”

Linus seems to think the Pledge of Allegiance goes a little something like this:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the republic of wicked sands . . .

After seeing Mama throw her breakfast doughnuts up (man, we are so not going to do that again), Linus says, “Maybe baby sister is coming out.”
After recovering (from the shock of the comment and from, you know, the vomit), Mama says, “But I don’t have a baby in my tummy, do I?”
Linus: “Yes . . . I mean no. Baby sister is still waiting in heaven. Is she watching our family?”