Painting the Sunset

Last night I took Kayci out for a Daddy & Kayci date. For a couple of years now, I've been wanting to take her out somewhere to paint. I tried to get her to go when she was four, but she wasn't interested. But now she loves to paint and create art , so I thought she might enjoy it.

So we made a picnic dinner and headed out. We found a great spot with some wide open fields, some trees and the sunset behind a hill. Boy, was she excited! She told me what colors she wanted to use and I helped her mix the paint to make those colors. Then she went to work...

Scarecrow time already?

It's hard to believe this...



...was this, just one year ago.




How time flies!



- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphoneeergh

Hot Stuff

How does he know to run fever when there's absolutely no wiggle room in our schedule? :)


-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Guess Who...

became a Girl Scout tonight?!

:)

Quick Change

We've had a fun weekend--Kayci went to Gracie's sleepover on Friday night, and she made it the WHOLE night! She's getting so big--it's enough to make your heart ache just a little. I'll steal some pics of that once Mandy posts them (ahem).

Here are a couple of pictures of Bubby yesterday...oh, what a difference a few minutes makes with him! At times, he still seems like just a big ol' baby...

And then you turn around, and he's all BOY.

(Yep, that's him--rolling around on Panera's floor. He discovered Bogels last night...it's probably a good thing we don't have a Panera close by!)

Worth the drive...

Just walked in the door; everyone's asleep, but this was waiting for me:






out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

First Place!!!!!

Kayci's art was chosen to be displayed at the Washington County Fair.
She got a First Place ribbon!!!

She drew a cow standing behind a fence. Congratulations, Kayci!!!

Off to school

Hurricane Tales, Part 2

"Sometimes You Just Have to Humor Grandpa"

The day before Hurricane Ike hit last year, I went down to Houston and brought Kristi's mom and dad back to Brenham. They lived in an older townhouse, and with Grandpa being sick, we didn't want to take any chances.

So the day of the hurricane, Grandpa decided that we needed flashlights and battery-powered lanterns in case the power went out. Well, I've been through enough storms to know that you don't just go out to the store and buy lanterns the day of a hurricane - they've been sold out for days by that point. But Grandpa wanted to go, so I took him to four different store here in town looking for battery-powered lanterns. Nothing. So we gave up. Now, it must be said that Kristi and I keep a pretty decent hurricane preparedness kit, full of canned food and water and things like candles and flashlights. So we would've been okay for days. But sometimes you just have to humor Grandpa.

Then the hurricane hit overnight. We never lost power at our house, but there were some parts of Brenham that did lose power. And Grandma and Grandpa's power was out (which I deduced by calling their house. The answering machine never picked up, so chances were that their power was out - which it was.) Grandpa was itching to get back home, probably because he wanted to check on things and also probably because we had such a full house (and also because we don't have cable). So he decided the day after the hurricane hit that he might need a generator. But he didn't want just any generator. He wanted a particular model Honda generator. Well, I've been through enough storms to know that you don't just go out to the store and buy a generator the day after a hurricane. But sometimes you just have to humor Grandpa.

So went out again. No generators at Lowes - they didn't sell Honda generators and a full palette of another brand had sold out in minutes earlier in the day. People were driving up from Houston to get them. At Home Depot they laughed at us. Sutherland's was closed. So I got on the internet to find the nearest Honda generator dealer. It turns out there was a dealer here in town - the next closest dealer was in College Station. But they didn't have any. So we gave up. Grandpa didn't stop griping about it, though. He just couldn't figure out why there were no generators to be had. But as with many of Grandpa's rants and stories, a lot of times you just had to smile and nod your head and let him finish.

Kristi's mom and dad ended up staying with us for several days until their power was restored, and we all had a pretty good time crammed into the little green house. But there's a moral to this story, as well as just about any story that involves Grandpa getting a wild hair: Sometimes you just have to humor Grandpa.

Hurricane Tales, Part 1

One year ago things were a lot different. Hurricane Ike had just ravaged Houston and we had a house full of people. There are a couple of stories that happened during that time that haven't been told. I felt like the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ike was a good time to do it.

"The Pharaon Bed and Breakfast"

Taking refuge from the storm in the little green house were Kristi's mom and dad, Sami dog, Lynn and Hannah and their dog as well as me, Kristi, Kayci and Noble. It was a full house. But then the hurricane knocked out my dad's electricity. He tried to tough it out, but September in Houston with no air conditioning is really, really tough (that, and his water wasn't safe to drink) and I finally convinced him to come up to Brenham. He didn't want to impose, so I told him that I had found him a room at a bed and breakfast very nearby and just to pack a bag and come. So he did.

Dad came up first thing in the morning. I told him that the room wouldn't be available until after five, so he took a warm shower and hung out on the deck with us and had lunch and just visited. Finally five 'o-clock came and we loaded up his suitcase into his car and I said I'd drive him to the bed and breakfast to check in. We got in the car and I drove him through some of the neighborhoods in Brenham, snaking my way through town in a big circle.

Finally, I told him "okay, the bed and breakfast is right around the corner here." We rounded the corner and stopped right next to my house, right where we had been parked just a few minutes before. He tried to object, but I told him that we wouldn't have it any other way. And I think he was a little proud of the way I had pulled one over on him. You see, I had not only convinced him to come up to Brenham, but I had also cleverly waited until late in the day before we could "check in" to his room, knowing that he doesn't like to drive at night. And then I had gotten him completely lost on the way to the "bed and breakfast" so he wouldn't know anything was up.

I was really, really proud of myself.

So Dad slept on Kayci's bed that night, and Kristi and I slept better knowing that he was safe and in an air-conditioned house with drinkable water.

Happy Grandparents Day!

To all of our Grandparents...

we love you BIG!

:) Kayci and Noble

We Did It! HE Did It!

Nights have been getting longer and longer around here lately...if you've been following our little saga, you know that sleeping in Kayci's room has done nothing for Noble's schedule. In fact, lately he's been waking up at least twice a night, and wanting to wake up for the day between five and five thirty. Daddy and I are zombies some days, and we finally decided that it was time. So...we've been working up to it, and last night, we did it. HE did it! We put Noble in his crib at bedtime with lots of hugs and kisses, and then left him there. He cried for less than a minute and went right to sleep. He woke up again right about 9:30 and cried for maybe two minutes, then went back to sleep. He woke up one more time again during the night, and then just now...but each time he cried just a bit before going back to sleep. And of course a few minutes after he quit/quits crying we go in and cover him up, check on him...and he's fine. Turns out, it wasn't Noble who needed training at all.

It was us. :)

18!

18 months ago today, Noble was born...

who knew it was going to be this crazy/wonderful/silly/gross/busy/awesome/scary/fun!?

Happy birthday and a half, Noble!

Scenes from our weekend

Our trip to Horseshoe Junction


The new garden!


Noble rocks box (thanks, Cole, for the idea!)


Sami after her shave & bath...in the dirt, of course


A tired Bubby--look closely :)


And finally, our flower beds. Hee hee.

Got milk?

-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Obama's speech

I have a new rant fresh out of the oven over at Destructoville on President Obama's speech to the kids. Check it out if you are so inclined.

And so it begins.

Bento, baby!

It's tough to make sure kids have a healthy lunch at school. We usually pack a lunch for Kayci, but then there's the issue of all the waste that creates (don't get me started!). Well, Kayci really needed a different lunch box to hold her various containers, so we started researching and today's the big day...her new lunch box has arrived!! We're hoping this works--cross your fingers...










See that itty bitty one hiding? Perfect for her ranch dip. :)

Oh, and shhhhh if you see her before I do--she thinks it's coming in two weeks!

-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Why?

Let's call this one...



...why the red stool was outside, waiting to go to storage...until it rained and we brought it back inside...



...and now it's outside getting wet, anyway.

Sigh.


-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Sibling Rivalry

Breakfast time:

Kayci got herself a cup of water.



Not to be outdone...



-- out & about, courtesy of the wonderphone

Why I had an epidural

Yesterday Kristi sent an e-mail that said I was doing fine after my epidural shot. Many people wrote back with some thing like "huh? what? we didn't even know he was expecting!"

I've been having a bit of back trouble this summer, and it turns out that I've got a herniated disc. It's not bad enough that I need surgery. The specialist said that with physical therapy and some medication, I should be okay. But a part of the treatment included an epidural steroid shot around the cartilage of the bulged disc. So that's what I had done yesterday.

As many of you know, I'm quite a baby when it comes to needles. I routinely pass out when I try to give blood or have to take blood tests. That's a side effect of a really bad experience I had when I was a teenager. So I had been dreading this day ever since they told me what needed to be done.

I thought they were going to give me a pill or something like valium that would take the stress off for them to get the procedure done. So imagine my surprise when they started talking about my IV. "IV???" I had never had an IV before.

But much to my surprise, the IV didn't hurt, or make me pass out (thanks to Kristi holding my hand and making me talk while the nurse was putting it in so I didn't have to think about it). After they gave me the IV, I walked into the operating room where there was a table, set up so that when I lay on it, my butt was in the air. I told the doctor that if they screwed up and gave me a colonoscopy instead that I was going to be really ticked off. They all laughed. Then they put an oxygen tube in my nose, and that's all I remember.

The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a recliner with all my clothes on again. I have no idea how I got dressed or how I got into the chair. The photo that Kristi sent yesterday was while I was still functionally sedated. Apparently I was reading a magazine and kept talking about steak and rum - two things that I love, but seldom partake in.

So Kristi took me to eat afterward at Panera. I ... sort of ... remember eating lunch. Then we went to Target. I remember bits and pieces of Target, but not much. And then I crashed and fell asleep pretty much the rest of the way home. But by the time we got back to Brenham, I was conscious again. I remember everything after that, and we had pretty good evening.

I feel a lot better today than I have been. At my PT this morning, I had almost no pain at all, and even sitting here at my desk working doesn't hurt like it usually does. The doctor told me that I might be pretty sore today, but so far I'm okay. The steroid injection is supposed to really kick in tomorrow, so that will be cool.

I'm just looking forward to hopefully getting back to a normal routine.