The Recycling Bin that Went to China

When my older sister and I were young we would spend hours in front of the TV watching the old movie, Calamity Jane. We watched it so much in fact that we not only knew all of the words, but each dance and movement by heart. If you were here with me right now, I would jump up on the bar and sing "Just got back from the windy city......" OK, maybe not a bar persay, but perhaps a table. It was SOOOOO windy yesterday that every time Kalea and I went out, she would yell, 'HOLD ON MOMMY!!!' After I explained to her that Mary Poppins blew away on a windy day, she started yelling "HOLD ON MARY POPPINS MOMMY!!!!" We went to Tom Thumb and Kalea blew away in the cart when I was trying to unlock the door. I could hear her laughing and out of the corner of my eye I saw her blowing away. Much to her delight, a bag boy saved her before she traveled too far. Then we went to Walmart where the wind was so fierce that it blew the powerlines down. Kalea and I shopped in the dark and were amazed that generations past are still programed to stop talking when the lights go out. The store was filled with silent shoppers united in the effort of a one stop shop. Kalea and I got half way through the store when I heard yelling and everyone heading for the front of the store. The employees in an effort to close down the store, had all gathered in the back and were slowing moving forward life guard style, herding us towards the front to 'check out and get out' as the gruff smoker of a lady told me. I got to the end of the isle and looked to my right at the mile long line of people checking out and then to my left at the much needed milk just sitting there staring back at me from the back of the store. The 'road' looked clear and I decided to make a run for the milk. I got half way towards it when about three Walmart employees jumped out from the isle and tackled me to the ground. My purse went flying and Kalea and the cart crashed into the chip display sending it crashing to the ground! Ok maybe not.....but the three Walmart employees did pop out of the isle and yelled at me. No milk for my babies....... :o( When we got home, we found that our garbage can full of trash had blown away as did our Recylcing Bin and all of it's contents. The can mysteriously made it back to our house, but our recycling bin is no where to be found. Perhaps the wind will change direction tomorrow and our bin will return from it's adventure.

The Princess is Down

Nathan in Steve's shorts about three years ago......

My mom bought Kalea a treasure chest full of princess costumes for her birthday. It arrived Tuesday night before bed time. It's arrival goes something like this:

Steve: Was that the door?

Me: I don't know, but don't answer it. (I am slightly paranoid)

Steve: It's some guy.

Me: Don't answer it if he has a gun.

Steve: .......But I am curious......OOoooOOo he left something!

Me: Is it a gun?

Steve: I dunno, but I am curious.....

He opens the door to find the arrival of costumes and toys. The kids don't have much time to play before they are shipped off to bed, so the next morning I awake to find a fevered princess on the couch decked out in full princess gear from crown to high heels (with PJs still on and peeking out from underneath her dresses). I could tell she didn't feel well, but HAD to put on her costume before she collapsed onto the couch. I spent most of the day holding and rocking her and trying to teach her how to blow her nose. I tried everything from a very mom-like demonstration, to telling her to pretend to blow her birthday candles out with her nose. I never saw a single drip. It all got sucked down into her tummy. She'd make a good vacuum.



Updates:

Nathan- is doing very well in school. He actually likes it. Steve can't go down the hallway without another teacher stopping him to tell him how hilarious Nathan is. Everyone wants to adopt him and take him home. We did find out that he is 4 levels behind in reading, so all of you who have kids in Bryan schools, beware. He was right on target in Bryan.



Kalea- is a princess down. She has been sick for two days, but by the time the boys come home, she has gained new life and is suddenly fine...... Nathan has been keeping her in a box as his pet mouse and feeding her snacks that he snuck out of the kitchen. She happily squeaks and pokes her head up occasionally to be petted.



Steve-had plans to start working out and we all know that when you have plans to work out, you get sick and that's exactly what happened. He went to school anyway to spread all of his joy.... I mean germs to the rest of the school. Other than being sick, he's doing well. His classroom drama is better than the show Passions so it's been fun to hear all of his stories after school.



Me- I got offered two jobs this week and turned them both down. One of the jobs seemed really great and the pay would have been abundant, but the hours would have made it so I wouldn't be able to see Nathan at all during the week. I can't give up the privilege to raise my own children. Since being unemployed doesn't pay much, I up'd my game as a wife and our marriage has been amazing. Steve even started making the bed and cleaning his side of the room on the weekends! Thanks to a generous donation from my parents, I am currently working on my teaching certification. I take my TExES test in Bryan on February 11th (there were very few testing sites here in the big city, and the available testing dates didn't fit in with my schedule), so I may come by and say 'hey' to everyone.

Happy Birthday Kalea!!!!

Yesterday was my sweet baby's 3rd birthday. I can't believe that she is three already!! We got busy potty training a week ago and yesterday was the very first day that she was 100% accident free. She helped me make her cake and the entire time she kept saying, "I am making my birthday cake!" It was almost like she couldn't believe what she was doing. She picked carrot cake, as my kids always do. As much as I try to pursuade them otherwise, they seem to be under the impression that all birthday cakes should be carrot. After the cake was finished, she took a two hour swim in our garden tub. (She even got out to go potty and then splashed back in when she was finished!) After her swim, I fixed her hair and we ate lunch together and then she went down for her nap. I had to wake her up to pick up Nathan from school where Kalea excitedly told all of the teachers that it was her birthday. After daddy got home, we went out to eat at "the Barn" (a themed resturant that is shapped like a barn and has both an indoor and an outdoor playground) where Kalea asked random mommies to take her picture because it was her birthday. It was embarassing but some of the moms actually had Kalea pose with their children in their pictures. I could just see them at home saying, "...and here's the one of the ramdom kid at the chicken place....." After supper we went home for cake and presents. We got Kalea a few things that she had been asking for all winter, but she lacked the 'wow' factor. It wasn't until she opened the package of princess panties did she crack a grin. Who would have thought the panties would be the highlight of her night?! We're going to have a 'real' party for her in two weeks.

The Stranger in My Kitchen

Why we don't have guns in our house.....

The other night I heard some strange noises over Kalea's baby monitor. It sounded as though someone were in our kitchen, but I passed it off as new house paranoia. Not long after the noises began, Kalea started to cry. She never cries at night, so I got up pretty quickly to check on her. On my way down the hall, I noticed a light on in the kitchen. I was about 100% sure that I was the last one to bed and that I turned off all the lights, so I stood frozen in the hallway, my mind racing and soon my worst fears were confirmed. A shaddow of a man crossed in front of the source of light and before I knew it my feet were taking me away from my crying daughter back down the hall to my husband. I threw open our door and whispered, "THERE'S A MAN IN OUR HOUSE! SOMEONE'S HERE!!" Much to my horror, our bed was empty and Steve was gone.
Now this is the point where most people would realized that the man in the kitchen was actually their spouse, but not me, it was go time. I was high on panic and running around the room looking for a weapon. Could I poke him with a ball point pen? Whack him with a coathanger? Perhaps I could knock him out with a guitar (not mine of course, I would use Steve's). I decided to size up the situation and check out whether or not the stranger was too tall for me to use a guitar on him. I tip toed back down the hallway and peaked into the kitchen. I saw the boxer-clad stranger clearly now. He was sitting on my couch drinking a huge cup of my baby girl's milk. I went to get the guitar...
Ok just kidding, that is when I realized that the stranger was actually Steve. He was having trouble sleeping and decided to watch TV so that he wouldn't wake up the entire house. Little did he realize that everyone was now wide awake with the exception of Nathan who could sleep through a rock concert. Kalea needs breakfast, but I'll do a family update later.

Readjusting K-Mad

The picture is of me 7 months pregnant with Kalea with my assistant teacher 'Mamana' and one of my students.

On a bright and cheery Saturday morning, Kalea and I were doing the dishes while the boys were running around the house playing Hide-and-go-seek with their newly unpacked walkie talkies. As Kalea rinsed the dishes and I loaded them into the dishwasher, it occured to me that Kalea and I could go the entire morning in contemplative slience while the boys could hardly stay silent long enough to hide in their game of hide-and-go-seek. In fact, we've spent most of the week nesting in silence....
We've been so busy exploring our new town that Kalea did not miss her school until the boys started up again this past Thursday. I could tell that she missed her friends so I put a Dr Jean CD into her CD player where she parked herself in front of for the entire morning. As I peaked in to check on her, she looked up long enough to shout, "MOMMY, MY FRIENDS ARE IN THERE!!!" and then went straight back to rocking back and forth on her knees dancing to the music.
We had our first dinner guests this past Saturday and Kalea was super excited about showing them her new room. Upon inspection, our guests noticed the picture collage of Kalea and her pal, A.L. They pointed to it and asked Kalea who her friend was. Kalea very happily jumped up and down and proudly shouted, "That's A.... (said real name), she's my sister!"
I think that it's easy to say that Kalea and I are both super excited to be blessed with a great new town, big new house in a quiet neighborhood, and are so happy to be with daddy, but we are also very homesick for our church and friends.