Please pray

... for Katie's godmother Kerry and her family. Her dad passed away a few days ago.

Train Ride through Royal Gorge

(This was my first attempt at using Picasa to post photos here. I was extremely disappointed to find that you can only post 4 at a time this way. Who only takes 4 photos???

There are lots more photos, which I no longer have, because my external hard drive died. I will be able to get copies back from my mom's CD when she comes to visit next month. I was going to delete this post, but since it's here and edited, I might as well share the 4 pics I do have. Hopefully I will be able to add the rest later.)

My parents and grandmother came out for Thanksgiving. The weather was mostly terrible, but we did get to enjoy a train ride through the Royal Gorge on one of their glass-topped cars. It was a little pricey, but it was pretty. We would have missed half the view in the regular cars. The kids, of course, loved it.

My parents, Mona & Steve, a.k.a. MawMaw & PawPaw
 
My dad's mother, "Mimi"
 
Us
 
Katie and Dad, filling out our lunch menu.
 

Happy Birthday Roomie!!!

I was going to say please go wish my Roomie a very happy birthday today, but her blog seems to have disappeared. Hmmmm... So maybe we should just all pray for her to have a happy birthday, instead.

One, two, ree...

Katie counted all the way to nine tonight. Twice! I had no idea she could do anything past 3! I would show you a video, but the minute I pulled out the camera, she ran off to do something else.

Katie's First Ponytail!

I don't get it. What's the big deal?

Mmmmm! Pancakes!

Katie loves to help make pancakes. Now you will see why.

(She is definitely her mother's child.)

Leap Frog Academy

If we were to name our homeschool right now, that is what we would have to call it!

I bought some of the Leap Frog videos (thanks, Stephanie, for the recommendation!!!) for the kids, intending to open one now and save the rest for Christmas.

Sammy watched the first one about 20 times, then asked for a different one. (By this point even Katie was singing along with the sounds the letters make!) Sucker that I am, I gave him the next one thinking that would suffice. But when it was over he remembered there was another one, still! Apparently little elephant-memory man knew how many I had bought the day before! So we opened this one, too.

I somehow managed to convince him there were really only 3, so I could put the last one away for Christmas (shhh!).

These are, of course, in addition to all the other Leap Frog toys they have and love:

• Fridge Phonics
• Bilingual Memory Mate Cards
• Little Touch Leap Pad
• Leap's Phonics Pond
• Phonics Writing Desk
• Learn & Groove Alphabet Drum
• Baby Tad Shapes & Colors doll (a well-loved hand-me-down from Rachel)

(We also used to have the Spanish Learning Drum, but it got drummed with real sticks and eventually cracked.)

Freeze Yer Buns challenge

I came across this idea while blog-surfing today. I wonder how much energy we would save if we all lowered the thermostat just 1 degree? How low can you go?

Rant: Time

How do people find time to read? Or to do anything, really? And by people, I mostly mean mothers of toddlers. My want to read list grows by 1-2 books per week, and diminishes by a paragraph a week if I'm lucky.

I was doing good during Lent when I fasted from all my email groups. Both on the reading front, and on the daily prayer habits front. But this was also pre-blog. (Or maybe that was when I picked up the blog?) Now I have too many people to keep up-to-date on, and too many Catholic and homeschooling blogs to get ideas from. If only I could keep from getting the idea that I am so far behind, unorganized, and secular compared to all of them... (But, alas, that is the one theme that crops up every day of my life!)

While I'm ranting, how can I even complain about having no time, after 9+ years of having all the time in the world and nearly killing myself with depression over having no babies?

Aaaah, naptime!

The still photographs do nothing to convey the gentle rise and fall of their bellies, the sweet sound of their breath, the feeling of peacefulness that permeates the air... But I will post them anyway, because I know the grandmas want to see them.

Cherry of a day!

We got lucky. Aunt Jena had to work in Austin the first day we were at Grammy's. So we got to play with Lance and Brooke all day. It was great! Grammy had butterfly nets waiting for the kids. We also played T-ball, made some clay flowers, and of course played in (i.e. destroyed!) the toy room.



Our new cousin is expected a few weeks after Sammy's birthday.

My Roomie got married!

We went down to Houston last weekend for Roomie's wedding. What a beautiful, happy time! It was a long drive, but totally worth it. The kids had a little difficulty in the church watching me from the cry room but not being able to come to me. But to balance it out they were reasonably well-behaved and did not have any meltdowns during the reception, which encompassed (and went way past) naptime. Katie's favorite part, besides seeing Mason, was touching the ice sculpture and saying+signing "Coooooold!" Over and over and over. ;) Sammy loved the cake. They both had fun dancing with mom. And eating all the fruit hors d'oeuvres. It was great to see and visit with Bob & Christa, and my "little brother" Brad, if only for a short, short while.

Many thanks to the other Roomie for letting me download her pictures, since I didn't remember to bring my own camera.

The happy couple


For nostalgia

(What a shame when you are skinnier and prettier on someone else's wedding day than your own!)

The Roomies


Us



Katie and "Me-Me" (Mason) in the cry room during the ceremony


Christa & Bob


Mason & his family

Style

I love Katie's new outfit that she picked out at the store. She picked out her new shoes as well. You can't tell from the photo, but the silver part is totally glitter and sparkles all the way across the room.

When I let her pick out a bow, Sammy insisted on picking one out, too.

Katie got her new glasses yesterday. She keeps ripping them off her face saying, "No No No!" I am surprised she kept them on long enough to take a few photos. I am also surprised at what she decided to wear today. It's so not girly.

MawMaw mailed us the lego-style blocks that Sammy got for his first Christmas but we left at her house. They fit very nicely on the table she bought him on one of her visits here.