1000 words...

Shiny, Happy People...

I'm fairly low-maintenance as girlies go, I think, and Kayci DEFINITELY thinks so.  We have a family friend who's always fluffed and puffed (as Jenny says) and coordinated, from her heels to her bag to her jewelry...she's very SHINY, as Kayci says.  Today I went to work, so I dressed in one of my dresses and my silver ballet flats.  Kayci was very pleased.  She said, "You're not usually very shiny, Mommy.  You know, I can't believe you even have silver shoes."  Gee, thanks...  :) 

So then a little while later I'm driving her to school and we're talking about her fingernails.  She's determined to grow them "long like Savannah's."  As of yesterday, she's going to quit biting her fingernails.  Wait, no, she said, just bite them LESS.  So we're talking about her fingernails and how we'll paint them when they grow out, and the conversation turns to a teacher's toenails.  Kayci was trying to describe Mrs. M's toenails...they're white just on the edge (mmm hmm, French manicure...well, pedicure...) and they have something on them...is it a picture?  No..."Oh, I know!" she said, "You know how you can bedazzle stuff?  That's what's on her toenails!"  Bedazzled toenails....what'll she come up with next?  

Odds & Ends...

I'm working (yes, actually working right now) and I came across these pics on my desktop that I haven't shared. They're too cute to pass up...

This is Noble with one of his Bogan girlfriends at the Pancake Dinner.  Sherri shared this one, and we're both hanging on to it so we can use it at the kids' rehearsal dinner here in 25 years or so...

We had a great day on Noble's birthday; the kids (Ronny's kids and our kids) and I went to Washington on the Brazos for a picnic lunch while James filmed a local school event, and that evening after the Clarksons left we went into College Station for dinner and to buy Noble's new car seat with his birthday $$. Here's Nobley at Freebirds with our foil sculpture...it's a tradition there, if you haven't been, and this time we made a "1" for the birthday boy. :) 

Noble's birthday was on a Sunday, but we wanted to celebrate with his new friends at First Baptist so I made cupcakes and we had a mini-party on Monday. It wasn't very exciting, as parties go, but you know it was a big day for Mommy--Bubby's first school party. And yes, I'm way proud of the cool cupcake board.  :)  

a little Bitty, a little Bubby...

Last night we had dinner with Haitham and Adam in Sealy.  On the way home, both kids fell asleep and James and I talked about a little of everything.  We were remembering Kayci's second year (starting with her first birthday), when we traveled so much.  It's so weird to think that she wasn't much older than Noble is now...we had taught her, before her birthday, to hold hold up one finger and say "one" when someone asked her how old she was.  (Bubby?  Um, no.)  Well, in August she decided "two" was more fun to say.  I forget which airport we were in, but the lady at the ticket counter remarked on how big Kayci was, and asked how old she was.  The little goofball said, "two!" and the lady believed her, thinking we were lying about her age so we wouldn't have to buy a ticket.  She would NOT let us on the plane without proof of Kayci's age--luckily, Mom had Kayci's shot record at KinderCare and was able to fax it to the airline.  It was a little crazy, and even funnier now when I look at this toddler and try to imagine him in the same situation.  :)

And speaking of the Bubby, who as we speak is removing the refrigerator magnets he missed yesterday, he slept through the night last night.  Yup--from about 8 to 5:30.  Oh, dare we hope...

If you were an air freshener...

Kayci's in her room getting dressed for her last soccer game of the season.  Noble's diaper needed some attention, so I took him in there and proceeded to take care of it.  I made a comment about how stinky he was, and Kayci said...

"Yeah, and if you were an air freshener, no one would even BUY you!"

And I laughed, so I thought you might, too.  :)  

Memories...

Time to Vote--Spring Eggs Art Walk!!!

If you're in Brenham, please vote for Mrs. Bolcer-egg!  :)

After we set Mrs. Bolcer-egg up (in front of Hermann Furniture--great spot!), the kids and I decided to go ahead and walk around the square.  I knew that last year's winners were going to be displayed, but I have to admit it totally made my day to find Kayci's class egg from last year (also a Pharaon original) displayed in front of the courthouse.  If you don't know the story behind that one, Kayci's teacher had her gall bladder out the week we were supposed to do the egg and I was pretty pregnant and on bedrest, so it was kind of a feat to get it done at all.  We set it up on Friday night, then went out to dinner with the Bogans...and there was Noble, 12 hours later, 3 weeks early.  :)  So that egg represents a crazy time, but a great time!  

Spring Break Bubby

I'd love to post fun pics of all the great adventures we've had this week during Kayci's Spring Break, but somehow don't think you guys would find pictures of Kayci watching a movie or gluing feathers on a chicken very exciting.  So we'll save those pics for another day.  Needless to say, Spring Break didn't turn out quite the way we'd planned, as we brought a sick Bubby home from Pottsboro last weekend.  Monday I kept him home from school because he was kind of puny and it just went from there...when he woke up from his nap it was clear we had bigger problems and a dr. visit a few hours later confirmed it--pinkeye.  In both eyes.  Which was bad enough, but he of course also had an ear infection.  In both ears.  So that set the tone for this week.  We laid low on Monday and Tuesday, but still managed to do what Kayci had on her Spring Break list of things she wanted to do.  (It was an easy list--I love that kid!)  Wednesday we had to bite the bullet and make a trip into Houston to drop off something for/at Region 4 and pick up some things for GPISD from Special Olympics, so we got out of the house a bit...but Noble was running a fever of 102 by then.  The doctor said to wait it out, give the antibiotic 48 hours, but by that time it was up to 104.  So we went back yesterday and they ran tests and confirmed that yes, in addition to everything else he had a virus that we picked up somewhere along the way.  So now we're waiting for the fever to go away so hopefully we can help Grandma and Grandpa with some things this weekend.  Short story long, right?  I meant for this to be more of a pictorial, but I guess I haven't talked to any of you this week so it's time to play catch-up.  By the way, it was James' 34th birthday yesterday--if you haven't yet, don't forget to tell him happy birthday!  :)  

Today James is off, and our family plans didn't pan out as one of us isn't quite up to par.  After Daddy and Kayci left to go to BlueBell (don't ask--200 people in line, they went on to Horseshoe Junction) and to play putt-putt, I decided that Noble and Mommy needed to get out and take care of a couple of errands that couldn't wait and didn't involve contact with anything or anyone...so we set out.  Aunt Susan and Uncle Phil sent him some really cute Astros gear for his birthday, and I thought that a cheery outfit might help perk him up a bit, so that's why he's dressed so cute on a sick day.  :)  Anyway...the hat.  We put it on straight, and the next thing you know, he's got it flipped to the side.  It cracks me up!  We tried to take pictures the night the gift came in the mail, but we couldn't ever get a good one where he was 1) being fairly still and 2) wearing the hat correctly.  Another note--this morning he decided that he needed a pacifier.  So it went with us on our journey.  Along with a bottle of water/juice...just in case.  When we left, the hat was on straight and the passy was nowhere in sight...and this is how I found him when we got to the jewelry store:  

He made it through the 2 errands and then was whiny and kind of pitiful again, so I thought I'd get something that might, just might, entice him to eat. So we went to Sonic and got some french fries and ice cream (Mommy enjoyed the burger--going meatless on Monday, man!). A few minutes into it, here came the passy again...

I think he realized he couldn't have both, so he tried to give me the passy...

Then he changed his mind and tried to pass off the fries.

His good cheer didn't last through lunch, and sickboy started fussing pretty quickly. So I broke out the ice cream, but wasn't feeding him fast enough, so you know what they say...well, he screams for ice cream, anyway.

That's it for the Bubby. Hopefully Daddy & Kayci will come home with some great pics of their adventure today, and later I'll post Kayci's spring soccer pictures (she's gorgeous of course, but the team pic of 3 girls, one not even in uniform...just pitiful).
Hope you're having a great Spring Break, if you're so lucky!  

And special birthday wishes today to Great Grandma Curtis--I won't give away her age, as a lady never tells, but she's 10 years older than "Pinocchio" so we're pretty excited for her!  And happy birthday to Emily, too, and thank God she's a lot younger than "Pinocchio."  

Alrighty...Bubby says it's time to cuddle.  And we're off...

Who keeps giving the kid chocolate cookies????

So last night, Kayci wanted to bake chocolate chip cookies.  Noble was sitting in the rocker with me having his night-night bottle and cuddle, but when he saw Daddy and Kayci with cookies, he was off like a shot.  I didn't think anything of it until just now--I'm sitting in the living room working on my report and cutting out Easter eggs for PPCD (don't ask), and this caught my eye:

No more tears

BIG DAY! This morning when I dropped Noble off at daycare, he didn't cry! Today is the first day after almost two weeks when I didn't slink out of the classroom watching him crying (screaming hysterically early on) and reaching for me. He's been getting better every day, and so today he finally did it.

I fully expect that by next week I'll put him down at school and he'll look up at me, shake my hand and say "have a good day, father. Say hello to mother for me at lunch, will you."

I snapped a photo through the window after I left: