Noble is 8!

Today is Noble's 8th birthday!

Eight years ago today our lives all changed (again) as this little man entered our lives. It's been such a fun ride ever since.

Happy birthday, Nobley!

A Taste of Black Friday

While in Granbury last Thursday for Thanksgiving, Kayci told us that she wanted to go Black Friday shopping. She didn't want anything in particular - she just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Kristi​ and I tried to explain about Black Friday to her and to explain that we had absolutely no desire to get out early and fight the crowds and all the madness that you see on TV. Be she was unconvinced. Sometimes you've just got to do something for yourself before you'll believe.

Well, there aren't exactly a lot of shopping opportunities in Granbury, Texas. Sure, there's Walmart, but there's absolutely no way that you're getting me to a Walmart on Black Friday. If there's going to be a fight or a trampling, it's going to be at a Walmart, and there's no way I'm taking my daughter to a public trampling. Not one this far from home, anyway.

So I decided we'd go for a much lower stress option - Michael's. I worked at Michael's back in high school and had to work a couple of Fridays after Thanksgiving (no one called it Black Friday back then - we just called it The Busiest Shopping Day of the Year because apparently we weren't the marketing geniuses that we are today). Anyway, I can well remember opening the doors on The Busiest Shopping Day as fifty frantic women and an occasional husband or lost hobo streamed inside to get all the great deals on dowel rods and eucalyptus. Plus, Michaels was advertising that the first 21 people in the door at every store would get a $5 gift card and that one super lucky person would get a $20 gift card. So those were the stakes, and we decided we could handle that action.

Oh- did I mention that the fact that the store didn't open until 7 played heavily into our decision? No? It did.

We got up at a respectable time and got out the door at 6:30-ish. It was 39 degrees outside, so standing in line for more than a little bit for Black Friday sale we didn't really want to go to to buy something that we.... well, let's face it. Nobody really buys anything at Micheal's if there's a Hobby Lobby anywhere in a 200 mile radius.

We pulled up to Michaels at 6:45 to find that the line outside consisted of zero people and wrapped zero times around the store. There was one other car in the parking lot, but it turned out to be an employee waiting for the manager to let her in.

Score one for the "I hate crowds" crowd. But it was disappointing to our girl, who really wanted to see a Black Friday honor killing in the parking lot.

But Kayci wasn't to be deterred. She hopped out of the car and stood by the door in a one person line. She even respectfully stood off to the side so as not to appear to be crowding the front door as a worker put out the Doorbuster bins. But she was clearly the only one there.

And then it happened.

About three and a half minutes until The Great Opening of the Doors, a lady pulled up, hopped out of her car and proceeded to walk around Kayci and stand directly between Kayci and the door. She had just cut the only person in line, and a 12-year-old at that.

Boom. Black Friday.

Kayci handled it with grace. She looked at us as if to say "what the hell just happened?" - even though she would never say such a thing. So we go out of the warm car and calmly went to the trunk of the car and got out my Black Beauty - the baseball bat I use only on Black Friday - and taught that lady a lesson... Walmart style!

Okay, so what we really did was get out of the warm car and just go and stand with Kayci for the next couple of minutes until the doors opened. I *may* have shot the cutter a couple of glares when Kristi wasn't looking. We got our gift cards as we walked in through the door, calmly. There was no pushing. There was no shoving. Everything remained polite. Three other people had shown up at the last minute and we all got gift cards. Everyone except for Kayci, that is. 18 and older only, dontyaknow - regardless of where you were in line.

And the cards we got were the $5 variety. I bet that line cutter lady got the $20 card. I hope she got a splinter from her balsa wood right in her her line cutting fingers.

Twenty minutes later when we left the manager was still standing at the door with a box of gift cards to hand out waiting for the first 21 people to enter the store.

But the important thing was that Kayci got to experience a little bit of Black Friday on a small scale. Luckily, that little taste of the devolution of humanity was enough for her.

First Day of School 2015

Happy first day from Kayci and Noble!

First Day of School!

Today was the kids' first day of school! Noble started first grade and Kayci started sixth grade. We had a fun morning and the kids had great days in their new classes.

Our yearly first day photo is little bittersweet this year because not only are the kids getting so big, but it'll also be the last year for a first day photo in the Little Green House.

Here are also some photos of Noble as he arrived to school this morning. There are none of Kayci because we're strictly forbidden now from walking her in to school on the first day. Frankly, we're glad she even lets us speak to her in car line.

We hope everyone had a great first day of school!

Kayci's 9th Birthday

Yesterday was Kayci's 9th birthday, and I think it was a pretty good day.

The day started off at 5:50 when Kayci came strolling into my office where I was working.  It's not uncommon for Noble to come in early in the morning to say good morning, but it's really rare that Kayci is the first kid up. In fact, she even woke up before Mommy.  I think she was pretty excited.

We woke MommyGirl up and then woke up Noble so the birthday festivities could begin.  Noble woke up really well and was really excited about Kayci's birthday.  MommyGirl was, too.  In typical Kristi fashion, she had decorated the house for the occasion - she's so great at making us all feel so important on our special days.  I did the bathroom while Kristi decorated the rest of the house.

Kayci got down to the business of opening her presents and cards.  Noble gave her a handheld fan from Justice that lights up (or "glows up in the dark") and her present from us was to get her ears pierced and a pair of earrings of her choice.  She's been wanting to get her ears pierced for a couple of years, but we didn't think she was responsible enough yet to take care of them at the time. But Kayci has grown quite a bit in the last year, and now we have no doubt that she'll do what she needs to do with them.



Next was the traditional birthday donuts.  It started as a Kristi and Lynn tradition when they were roommates in college and has just lived on.  Don't judge.

I went to work for a half day and Kristi took the kids to an early movie - the new(ish) Snow White movie, "Mirror Mirror."  They all said it was pretty good.  Then we met up with Amy and the Clarkson kids for lunch as they traveled back to Pflugerville from Houston.  We had a good lunch of pizza and ice cream at Mobius and headed to College Station to get Kayci's ears pierced at the mall.

We went to Claire's in the mall (is there even anywhere else that pierces ears?).  Kayci said her hands were sweating.  She was excited, but not really nervous - until it came time to sit in the Piercing Chair®. The girl who worked at Claire's that would be piercing her ears had blue streaks in her hair and several piercing of her own in her lips and nose.  You should've seen Kayci's face- it was priceless.  We had joked about just taking her down to the tattoo place in town to get pierced, so it was kind of funny. But the girl who helped us was really sweet and did a great job.

Kayci did get a little nervous, but she was a trooper.  She was so brave!  Kayci didn't flinch - she didn't even blink - when the girl pierced her ears. Mommy got it all on video.  And before we knew it, it was over!  Kayci chose as her starter earring some neon peace sign earrings that couldn't be more perfect for Kayci!



We went to James Avery to pick out Kayci's real earrings for when the starters can come out, but we didn't find exactly what she was looking for, so we decided to wait and look around in the next few weeks.  And then we headed home.  Noble had swim lessons, so we needed to get back to Brenham. Kayci requested tortellini for dinner, so we cooked that, ate a quick meal outside on the deck and went off to watch Noble swim.

Kayci was born at 9:43pm, so we told her she could stay up for her birth minute.  I went to the store to get some Drano for a clogged drain and picked up (at Kristi's request) a piece of birthday cake for her to celebrate her birth minute. Kristi and the kids piled up in our bed while I worked on the computer, and went I went in a few minutes before Kayci's birth minute, I found all of them asleep.

I took Noble to his bed and woke up Kristi and Kayci so we could celebrate together. Kayci was groggy, but she woke up quickly when she saw the light from the candle on her piece of birthday cake. We sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candle - then pushed her own face into cake. What a funny girl. She got frosting on her nose, but she was happy.  She ate her cake and headed off to bed.

It was a very Pharaon birthday (lots of traditions and pampering and sweets), and I think it was special.  I know Mommy and I had a great, fun day. Happy nine years old, Kayci!


[edit from Kristi]: You captured it well, DaddyBoy! My only correction for posterity's sake is that Noble's gift was actually a shirt that says, "My brother has the best sister ever" and a bunch of hair elastics in a cupcake thing (her birthday party is cupcake-themed). 

And so you guys don't think I picked a random print for her banner, etc., that's wrapping paper that Kayci chose to build her Nancy Drew birthday party around...then she switched to cupcakes...and went and bought all premade party stuff at Target. 

Happy Birthday, Beauty

Today is Kayci's 9th birthday.  It's a little hard to fathom that it's been nine years since she came into our lives and changed everything (for the better.)  It seems - literally - like another lifetime ago.  We still lived in Houston, I was doing freelance work out of the house, Kristi was still in the classroom teaching and, upon looking back at some of the photos of when she was born, both Kristi and I both look so much like kids.

Since then, we've moved to a new town, gotten new jobs, family members have passed away and we've been blessed with others.  In fact, it's tough for us to remember much about our lives - what we did with our time - before Kayci came along.

And it's been a great nine years.  We've watched our little Bitty grow and blossom into a Beauty - a young lady who is smart and determined and just simply amazing.  It hurts the heart how big she is. We find ourselves trying not to think about how old she's getting and what that means. We just want to savor every moment with her and relish her youth and, as the words to the song say, "let her be little."


So Happy Birthday, Beauty.  Somehow, that just doesn't say what's in our hearts.  Mommy and I love you more than you can possibly imagine and we're so proud of who you are and who you're becoming.  Somehow, you find new ways to amaze us and to make us more proud every day.

Talent Show

Kayci performed "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" one more time today at the Krause Elementary talent show.

Check it out...



I was so happy that not only did she play well, but that she had fun doing it and felt cute in the new outfit she got just for the talent show.

And at the end, I get points for refraining from screaming out, "Kayci has left the building!"

Great job, Bitty!

Piano Recital

Saturday was Kayci's second piano recital.  As you can see, she's come a long way from her first recital last December.

She played:
• Somewhere Over the Rainbow
• Snake Dance
• The Perfect Nanny (from Mary Poppins)
• Sugarfoot Rag

Thanks to Mrs. Foster for being such a great teacher to our Bitty.  We're so proud of her!

Happy 4, Big Man

Happy 4th Birthday (sorry- Bird-day) to our big little man, Noble.

Can it be that it's really already been four years that he's been with us, yet still feel like it's only been four years?  It feels as if he's always been a part of our little family.  We can't imagine our lives without him.

Kayci's First Piano Recital

Today was Kayci's first piano recital!  She started piano lessons in September, and she's been practicing really hard.  Here's a video of her portion of the recital:



...and some photos of her playing:

We're so proud of our big girl!

Noble Writes His Name

Kayci in the Junior Maifest Parade

See the set here on Flickr.

Happy Birthday, Adam

Today is my brother Adam's 18th birthday. As we thought and talked about him today and celebrated him this evening, I can't help but admit that in many ways I still think of him as a little kid. But he's not, and we're so proud of the man he's becoming. He's really turned into an amazing guy, and I'm looking forward to really becoming his friend in the years to come.

We love you, Adam, and Happy Birthday!

Noble Sings the ABCs

Three Years

As I woke up this morning thinking about Noble's birthday today, I thought "has it only been three years?" It seems sometimes as if we've always had a Bubby, and it definitely seems as though he's been with us for more than just three years.

I happened to awake at 4:12am, the same time three years ago that Kristi woke me to tell me that her water broke. As I write this, three years ago, I was loading the dishwasher because Kristi wanted to come back home to a clean house. It would still be another 45 minutes or so before we would get on the road and make a mad dash for Houston. You can read that entire story here. It's worth it.

So much has happened in the last three years- it's been packed with such fun times, sad times, life and, unfortunately, death that it just seems as if its been a lot longer than that. Noble is older now than Kayci was when we moved to Brenham, and she seemed so big at the time. It's frightening and sad - and beautiful - to me how quickly she's growing and how much both of them have grown in three years.

So today is Noble's third birthday. Happy birthday to my little guy. He took our little family and shook it upside down and changed everything. We just thought we were having fun before him, but we had no idea how much more fun we would have with a Bubby. I can't imagine our family without him.

Black History Program

Today Kayci gave the welcome remarks at the Krause Elementary Black History program. After a whole month of rehearsing and preparation (she didn't need it- she memorized the speech in less than an hour) she took to the stage and gave her speech perfectly!



She also presented the doll she made of a famous black American for a class project. She chose Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Justice. And in addition, she and her friend, Jenna, had a special surprise. They had made a doll of Mrs. Dixon, their math and science teacher.

She did a great job, and we're so proud of our Kayci! Here are some photos from the program. You can see the entire Flickr set here.