Having a ball...

I'm sitting here finishing up some work stuff and James is puttering around with our network which of course involves moving furniture and making just enough noise to keep me on edge, wondering if he's going to wake Noble up. Cross your fingers!

Anyway, it's just funny because no matter what James moves, balls come rolling out. Like, if I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it--a LOT of balls have rolled through this living room tonight, and some of them I haven't seen since I don't know when. :) Balls of all colors and sizes, and a few odd shapes. I guess I just wanted to share that we're having a ball at our house...literally!

Stop and smell the...flowers?

Yesterday the kids and I went to the new playground (at Fireman's Park) for the first time. On the walk from the car, Noble spied a bunch of flowers and asked (in Noble's way) to stop and pick some. It was so cute! Of course I didn't get a picture in time, but here's what I got...

Kayci had fun trying out the rockwall, and of course, I just missed the picture of Noble up there with her. Of course.

After our busy-crazy week, a night at home was just what we needed. We had fun making pizza and watching "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" for family night, and for the first time, our Jiffy Pop turned out right...and tasted good to boot! Here's a fun clip of Noble laughing at Snoopy's antics...we know he won't have that baby belly laugh forever, so we're trying to capture bits and pieces when we can.

This morning we're just hanging out for a while, then it's off to celebrate GoGo's FIFTIETH birthday. But we won't tell you how old she is...that wouldn't be right. And of course, if it's GoGo's birthday, then you know it's Angus' too...but we can't tell you how old he is, because of the whole Scotland-USA time conversion that we don't really understand. Nana, Dan, and Reagan will also celebrate birthdays this week...it's a big one around here! Happy birthday to all, and to all a good day! :)

Noble's Favorite Color

While we were in Philly, Noble started saying "yellow," and in typical Noble fashion, it's something quite special.

Daisy, Daisy...

Last night was our first "real" Daisy Troop meeting. It was lots of fun--there were 7 girls and 7 parents, and I am shocked at what a great group we've ended up with and how well everyone has meshed already. I think we're going to have a great year!

The challenge, since I'm the troop leader and we're going to do this at our house, is to help Kayci stay "just" a scout...and not the boss of things, as she'd prefer to be. She comes by it naturally, I know. So I planned the meeting and tried to keep the fun stuff a surprise, and I hope to be able to continue that as we go on. I want her, for that hour, to enjoy Girl Scouting and not worry so much about directing how the girls play, etc. (Since she's been teaching full-time lately, she really JUST wants to play school...and guess who gets to be the teacher and boss everyone around?) I hope it doesn't sound like I'm criticizing my Bitty, because I don't mean to. She's AWESOME, and I hope she knows that. But she's also a leader and is still shaking off almost 5 years of being an only child, so it's odd for her to be in a group and not be in charge. But it's good for her, too. :) So that's where we're at with that.

We got home late Tuesday night and after a false start Wednesday (Noble was too ick for school still), we kind of got back into our routine yesterday. Well, the routine for days that include major friends' life crises (we're okay, everyone's okay, schedule was shot) and Girl Scout meetings at our house. And start out with a house so trashed that you can't walk from one end to the other! So we're getting back to normal...the house is mostly clean and laundry's half done, and that's good enough for me. We have big, big Pharaon plans tonight...PJs, pizza, popcorn and Peanuts (Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!). After the week we've had, I think that's exactly what we need.

And check out what I found at WalMart this morning--I promptly e-mailed Daddy so he could be jealous as I am now, officially, the Best. Mom. Ever. Ha! I'll be one of the first in car line today (well, that's the plan!), then Kayci and I need to run an errand for PTO before we go pick up our Bubby. I have a happy note for her, and when she gets home she'll find some surprises in her PJ drawer--these new Snoopy PJs (she loves, loves Snoopy!) and some Jiffy Pop. :) Can't wait!

Good morning...

...from Independence Hall. Wow. Just, wow.


-- Posted from my iPhone

This one's for Ant Peggy :)

She's holding a new Rock Angel shirt & thinking of you. :)

Good morning, Philadelphia!

James and I were talking last night about how the worst part of traveling with kids is, well, traveling with kids. Bitty and Bubby have been troopers, but even yesterday they were showing signs of wear and tear. Today so far has been a bonanza of sore throats, stuffy noses, green snot and stuffy heads. So, while Daddy is off learning from a Photoshop deity, we're laying low. We did venture out this morning for breakfast and a trip to Walgreens for Benadryl (cross your fingers!...here are some fun shots of our walk. My hope is that they'll feel better after morning naps...we'll see. :)




The fountain wasn't green when we got here this weekend...hmm.



She's showing you that her shirt says "love", too. :)



Yup.



For you, Grandma!







Sorry...







That's our hotel on the left, City Hall on the right. Can't wait to get out there with the "real" camera!

-- Posted from my iPhone

All Funned Out...

Fallin' Back...in Philadelphia!

Our kids were soooo confused by the combination of traveling and time change...we've already been up for over an hour this morning. (Yep, that means we got up at 3:00 your time, Texas.) I'm too tired to provide a lot of narrative, so here are some highlights: we had a great, safe airplane trip. We were a little worried about containing Noble in an airplane seat for 3 hours, but we lucked out and our flight didn't fill up, so we sat in the back of the plane pretty much by ourselves. It was awesome! When we got to Philadelphia, the first thing we noticed were the leaves on the trees--we just don't see colors like that at home, so that was really awesome. Then when we got into town we were just overwhelmed by the people walking everywhere and the different, um, driving codes...it was pretty crazy for a while while we tried to adjust to what felt like pure craziness to us. But you know, you can't judge a city by the first half hour. In total contrast to the hustle, bustle and confusion of the streets, there are these amazing buildings...I've only seen places like this in the movies and on TV. (By the way, we watched "National Treasure" last night and it was TOO COOL to see the places we went yesterday and are going to see today!) The view out of our hotel window is absolutely amazing...if the statue of Penn was wearing a dress, we'd be looking right up it. Hee hee.

Our hotel is right by the Reading Market...yum!!

We're off to Dunkin Donuts to introduce the kids to Munchkins, then later our plans include a visit to Amish Country then more Philadelphia Historical sites...can't wait!

SuperDaddy!