First of the season!!!

Look what we just saw at Arby's!


-- Posted from my iPhone

When I Grow Up

It's been a whirlwind day around here; Noble was whiny and coughy and generally crabby, so I kept him with me today. Unfortunately, today was the day I'd set aside to go get the tire fixed, shop around for stuff for Noble's party...that kind of fun stuff. He was a trooper this morning, and even sat through a haircut. After we ran errands and then ran some more, we came home to relax and take his next round of antibiotics. As I was doing the Mommy thing (cleaning up the morning's leftover messes, throwing in a load of laundry, etc.), I came across something that made me realize I haven't been giving Kayci enough credit. Remember Career Day? The Pop Star?

When I Grow Up, by Kayci

When I grow up I will be a singer. When you're a singer it doesn't matter if you are rich or not rich, famous or not famous. It just matters if you like your job or not. I want to be a singer because you make up songs. I like Taylor Swift the most!

Signed, one humbled Mommy

Cheese!

Noble had school pictures a couple of days ago. Ever since then, whenever I take his photo, he stops, gives me The Big Noble Smile® and says, "cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!"

Snow Day, Take 2.5

Snow Day...take 2

James got "real" pictures of the kids with Cindy the SnowPerson this morning, but here's one I snapped with my phone when I went out to pick up what was left of her accessories...I suspect some neighborhood kids may have dismantled her. Darn kids.

Last night was a long night for everyone. I'm not sure if the kids' colds have morphed into ear or throat problems, but either way, playing outside in the snow yesterday had some major repercussions. (Clinic for both kids this afternoon--yea!!!) To distract Kayci while we waited for the Motrin to knock out her earache, I asked her to write a story about our snowman. Turns out, she's a snow PERSON. I apologize, Cindy, I really had no idea. I mean, the leopard sort of gave it away, but my apologies. Here's Kayci's story:

This morning it's gorgeous outside, and there's still a little snow on roofs and cars. Luckily there's no ice on the streets and everything is back to normal. :)

Snow Day!

We were supposed to head down to Houston this afternoon for a funeral, but before we could pick up the kids and head down, it started to snow! So the trip was off. At first, the flakes were huge and if it could "pour down" snow, that would be the best description of what it looked like.





We picked up Noble from school, and he was really excited about the snow.











We picked up Kayci and headed home to bundle up and play outside in the snow. At first, we just played on the deck, where we found out that Noble and Kayci are both ridiculously good at making snow balls.







Then we noticed that the snow had started to accumulate, so we moved out to the hill behind our house. The kids seemed to explore it at first as if it were the surface of an alien planet. Then Noble charged across the hill.



Pretty soon, the exploring stopped and the playing began:











And, of course, a snow ball fight broke out...





Then Kayci wanted to make a snow man. (Actually, it turned out to be a snow girl, but more on that later...) The snow had accumulated to about an inch, so Kristi suggested that we try to roll the snow on the ground like we see in movies. It worked! So were able to make the biggest snow man any of us had ever made before!













And finally, Kayci made a snow angel before we headed in for dry clothes and hot chocolate!



What an unexpected, fun day!

Those were the days...

I miss shopping for Kayci when she was this size. I suspect the
"Daddys Girl" T-shirt days are over. :(

Mmm!

We came to pick up a pie for tomorrow...and stayed for the cupcakes! Mmm!






-- Posted from my iPhone

Sleeping Bubby

One of the teachers at Noble's daycare snapped this picture of him and e-mailed it to me the other day...the poor kid fell asleep at the table waiting for lunch. Said kid, of course, woke up at 3:47 AM that morning, so we weren't that surprised. But still--how cute is he? :)

It's a date!!

A friend gave me a great idea for a mommy-daughter date...


...bet you wish you were here! :)


-- Posted from my iPhone

New shoes!

Kayci has been saving her money for a while...she decided she wanted to spend it on new shoes. What a girl! :)



-- Posted from my iPhone

Kayci, Kayci...

...who do you see?




I see a Noble looking at me!

The Advertising Debate

Thanks to everyone for their pushback on my post yesterday on my favorite Super Bowl ads. Some great responses out there.

For more of the conversation and for why I didn't think the Google "Parisian Love" ad was the Best Spot Ever in the History of the World and Maybe Beyond, as some do, be sure to check out the discussion over at my other blog, Destructoville - Population:1.

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

So everyone can quit flooding my in-box asking me...

The Times, They Are a Changin'...

Kayci's speech has always been very clear. There wasn't a lot of the cute baby talk, which was good, but you know, not as cute as the little kids you see on TV. There were a couple of things she said that I just loved...she'd say "buhout" instead of "without," i.e. "me and Daddy went buhout YOU." Taco Cabana was "the taco store." My favorite was "Chik-il-A," though. I'll never forget the day we were in the Target parking lot in Cypress and she said something about Chik-fil-A. Then she said, "Mommy? Didn't you HEAR me? I said Chik-FFFFFFFil-A!" Oh, it broke my heart a little. She was almost three.

Noble has a lot more speech substitutions and some pretty interesting word formations. Nothing to worry about, but we all smile a lot at the silly things he says. Kayci will get him to say the things he says the craziest just to hear it. I think we're all a little guilty of that.

My absolute favorite word in Noblese is his name. He uses it very appropriately, can answer "what's your name?" and "who has...?" and "who wants to...?" but our favorite way he uses his name is as a possessive. "Whose car is that?" "Boble's." "Whose bed is this?" "Boble's." And our favorite...when he wants something of yours, he'll grab it, look at you sideways and say, "Boble's" to attempt to mark his territory. I love it!

Alas, all good things must come to an end and babies must grow up. Last weekend, Daddy was talking to Noble and Noble slipped with a "Noble" instead of a "Boble." I guess he realized it...because he hasn't said it since. I have to admit, I stopped Kayci the other day when she was coaching him, "Nnnnnnnn-Noble" because I'm not ready for Boble to go away, just yet.

Sigh.

Wouldn't it be awesome if there'd been a video of him talking on this post?

Hmm. If only someone in our house had the capability.

Hmm. If only.

Blog pressure. Gotta love it!

Noble is Everywhere, Man...

As Kristi mentioned in her previous post, yesterday we went to Addie Bogan's 4th birthday party. I had a lot of good pictures, but here are some of the best of the kids playing. Noble was having a great time out in the country, running literally everywhere.

Kayci didn't stay in one place very long, either. She was busy playing outside and running around having a great time!



One of Noble's friends from school was at the party. They had a great time playing together.



Noble and McKenna looking at the Dora couch.





Noble and his future bride (once he submits his essay), Kaylin, go for a walk.





Noble eats "ice."











Noble and the cow. Man versus beast.



Noble made off with Kaylin's balloon. Don't worry - Kaylin got Kayci The Enforcer to help her get it back.

Happy New Refrigerator!

When we sold our last house, we decided to leave the refrigerator in the house. We bought it with the house originally, and it just seemed right. And...I kind of wanted a new one. When we moved, our plan was to buy one here in Brenham. Then we ended up renting, and buying a refrigerator for a rented house just didn't seem as fun. Luckily, our friends Scott & Melisa got a new refrigerator about that time and gave us their old one. They laugh because it was truly their OLD refrigerator...they bought it when they got married, and it had been sitting out in their garage since they got their new one, waiting to be donated. So we took it, gladly and gratefully. After all, we were only going to be in the little green house for a year or so until we bought a home...ha ha, almost 4 years later.

Don't get me wrong...we loved that old fridge because of what it represented, and the generosity of our good friends who made the move to Brenham easier in so many ways. And let's face it, if we HAD bought a new refrigerator when we moved here, we probably would have put it on the Discover card and bought more than we could afford. So now we're especially grateful for their generosity! But the refrigerator had a few flaws...like brittle plastic from living in the garage for a while, which led to some holes that, thankfully, were easily covered with Capri Suns. :)

Last weekend, when Mom was visiting, I noticed that our vegetables were frozen in the crisper. Hmm. We'd already priced refrigerators as we figured this one would go out at some point in the near future, and we'd already decided that we'd buy a plain, white, up and down fridge that we could either leave in the house when we move (not on the horizon, yet) or take with us for a garage fridge. So, when I talked to James about it that night he laughed--he'd forgotten to tell me that he'd talked to Scott and Melisa at lunch one day and they'd gotten a new fridge...and wanted to give us the one they bought when we moved here!!! What great timing! We hemmed and hawed, as it feels different somehow to accept a 4 year old fridge than a 20 year old fridge...but they insisted. And we're grateful!

Last night was the big swap. James and I emptied the contents of our refrigerator into coolers, then he went off to Scott and Melisa's house to load up the new one (which I thought was going to be a plain old, up and down white fridge) while I stripped ours of magnets and the last couple years of school pictures, love notes, etc.. And Buddy Bucks, of course.

Kayci walked through the kitchen after it was all cleaned off and said, "wow! Is that our new refrigerator??" Nope...old one. Then she said, "It looks so weird with nothing on it. And our kitchen looks so weird...I'm glad we don't have stuff everywhere like this all the time!" (That's my girl!)

Imagine my surprise when James, Scott and Melisa arrived with this gorgeous thing! I can't believe they're GIVING it away--it's beautiful, and definitely the nicest fridge we've ever lived with. Thanks, Scott and Melisa!!

It didn't take any time at all for us to get it installed and filled up...then while I cooked quesadillas, Kayci decorated it. Then Noble promptly undecorated it...well, you get the picture. Scott and Melisa, we owe you BIG. I tried to offer you our firstborn, but well, I understand. I definitely understand you not taking our secondborn back-up offer. So you name it, it's yours!

Oh, I forgot...yesterday we were supposed to post pics of our kids dressed up for Addie's Pirates and Princesses bash. Well...Noble wasn't having it, and Kayci lost her eyepatch in the car on the way to the party. Yes, really. Maybe James (hint hint) will get on here later and post some of the pics from his camera...he got some beautiful pictures out there yesterday. It was a beautiful day, perfect for running around outside in the country. Thanks, Bogans, for a great afternoon!

We are blessed with amazing friends! Today should be another fun day, as Daddy and the Dudes will head out to Chappell Hill for their annual SuperBowl party and the kids and I will play with Lauren and the Parker kiddos here in town. :) Can't wait!