To My Big Brother:

Happy Birthday!
Yesterday my brother, Scott, turned the BIG FOUR-O. Happy birthday, brother. I hope it was a good one! Love you! Here's some pictures to reminisce by:

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Spilled Coffee And A Lesson Learned

The day before yesterday Anna Kate and Max were peacefully (ha, ha) eating chicken noodle soup together at the table. Suddenly Max began shooting Anna Kate with his pretend guns. Not like a "bang, bang" with his finger. Like a full-on machine gun style shooting. The result? A very sad, offended Anna Kate and a BIG, FULL bowl of chicken noodle soup in Max's lap, on his chair and on the floor under his chair. Since our kitchen is not level, the juice ran all the way to the living room. Lovely.
Now, we have had the stomach bug at our house all week. Chad and I are tired of cleaning up messes. Really tired of it. I don't mind accident messes at all. But messes caused by machine gunning at the kitchen table? Oh, I mind. Max was banished to his room while I cleaned up noodles and collected myself.
We had a long visit. Long, long. It went something like this:
Me: "Max, why are you in trouble?"
Max: "Because I spilled my soup."
Me: "No, Max. You are in trouble because you were playing at the table. What do we do at the table?"
Max: "We eat at the table."
Me: "Do we play at the table?"
Max: "No."
Me: "Where do we play?"
Max: "In the play room."
Me: "Is the kitchen the play room?"
Max: "No."
Me: "Right. The play room is where the toys are. That is where we play. Not in the kitchen. We eat and we cook in the kitchen."
Max: "Yes."
Me: "Okay. Max, why are you in trouble?"
Max: "Because I spilled my soup."
Me: (Big sigh.) "No. You are in trouble for playing at the kitchen table. Do we play at the table?"
Max: "No."
Me: "Right. Okay. Why are you in trouble."
Max: "Because I spilled my soup."
Me: (AAAAAAAAGHHHH!) "No. Try again. Why are you in trouble?"
Max: "Because I spilled my soup."
Me: (Big, big, sigh. Count to 10.) No.

And this went on and on. I role played, explained it again, showed him....
He finally said, "I'm in trouble because I played at the table." Whew. But I'm still not convinced that he understood. We let the issue go and went on with our life.
Well, the next morning I got another chance to help him understand. Max and I sat at the kitchen table together. I was drinking a big, hot cup of coffee and we were visiting about the upcoming day. As we talked (signed) together, Max knocked over my big, hot cup of yummy coffee. Off the table, onto the chair then onto the floor and into the living room. Max panicked. I smiled. He looked confused. He helped me clean up the mess. As we worked I got to explain it to him all over again, starting with the soup. It was great and he GOT IT!!! Whew.

Baby, it's COLD outside!

It is nasty and cold outside today. Rainy, possible icy by morning. No worries, it will probably by 85 degrees by Tuesday.
I actually love the change. Chad works late tonight so he was here all morning with us. We slept in. Well, everyone except Max. He never sleeps in. We got up and cooked a big, yummy breakfast. Pancakes and bacon and eggs and big glasses of chocolate milk. MMMmmmm.
We didn't feel like doing dishes so we left them in the sink while we played an intense game of Hide-n-Seek. Super fun. Our kids are good at finding...not so good at hiding. Anna Kate screams, "I'm in here! I'm in here!" Max hides well, but doesn't understand that we can hear him giggling. It's hilarious. Giggles coming out from under the bed, out from behind the shower curtain or from under the couch cushions. He is not a good Hide-n-Seek partner. But he will be soon. We're teaching him the art of hiding and seeking, along with other important things.
But the fun came to an end when we discovered a new leak in Anna Kate's room. Sad, sad. So we put out a trash can, muttered under our breath about the guy who sold us this house, and started to have some more fun! It's a good day.

What in the world have we been up to?

So, I've been promising an update now for over a month or two. The Christmas season is officially over. Our tree is down (sniff, sniff). We're starting school today (yay!!). After all of the craziness I am SO ready for routine. After all the fudge, cookies, etc. I'm ready for a salad. After all the sleeping in I'm ready for my quiet early mornings all alone with my Bible and coffee. So, today's the day. We're hitting it. The house is clean (well, almost). We're starting new today. But before we get too far in, I wanted to post some pictures of what we've been up to since November. Here you go!
We spent Thanksgiving at Sunfish. Chad had more than one day off!! We loved having him with us for 4 days in a row. Scott, Dede, Logan, Carsyn and McCrae were there. The Bragdon Clan joined us for Thanksgiving Day. We enjoyed porch time, yummy food, watching the kids play, and seeing the progress of Mom and Dad's new house that Mark is building. Here are a few pictures.

Thanksgiving 2006

In early December we went with the Shaw family to Granbury to see the Christmas lights:

Christmas at Granbury with the Shaw's

Then there were just a few normal days filled with reading, playing, eating, etc. We also got to go to a Cookie Exchange held by Mrs. Anita from our church. She does this every year for the ladies in our church. She had the table set beautifully for the Moms and the kids ate their sack lunches out on the trampoline. Such a fun time!

Random shots from December

I said goodbye to an old friend this month, as well. My sad E.T. has seen better days. My brother gave him to me for Christmas when I was a little girl. I grew up with him in my room. When Mom and Dad moved they packed him up and sent him to Arlington. His skin had started falling off...sad, sad. So I took a few pictures and sent him to a better place. So long, old friend.

My Sad E.T.

We had lots of fun visitors over the Holiday as well. Jamie and Dustin came for a little visit. Super fun to see them. In the very same day we got to see Kevin and Becky Peek. It was so good to catch up. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the Peeks. Hopefully we'll have some soon. Granna and Papa came to spend Christmas Eve and Day with us. It was one of the best Christmases ever.

Christmas 2006

Stay tuned for a second installment of pictures. They'll be coming soon! This should get you pretty updated.