This weekend Br and I were assigned topics to speak on during sacrament meeting (the main sermon portion with all of our church congregation meeting together). My talk was about journaling/recording family history. So I don't feel like a complete hypocrite, I'm going to spend a little time trying to catch up on the past few months.
After arriving in Houston we spent the first two months in a furnished apartment right in the heart of the city. Br enjoyed the short commute and being able to walk to the grocery store and any number of restaurants. I enjoyed being close to so many things to keep the kids entertained (for free). We had fun at Discovery Green (once with G-ma T)
We also took advantage of free afternoons at the museum and the zoo.
(E cracked me up when I asked him to pose for the picture and he froze in a position as if he was running from the rhino)
Despite now living an extra 8ish hours away, I didn't change my plan to attend the Tulsa Sugar Art show this year. So about a month after leaving OK I found myself headed back. Luckily I didn't have to travel alone. E joined me, as did my little 11-year-old friend Alex. I used to babysit Alex on Monday mornings before we had kids. I remember once he told me that when he grew up he wanted to decorate cakes with me. We moved from Houston, and he moved from Houston and we lost touch. About a year ago I got a call from his mom to tell me that he was actually pursuing his interest in cake decorating. Later when called his mom for some advice on where to live when we moved back to Houston she said they were headed back too. It was really exciting that we all ended up together right before the competition so that we could experience it together. We also moved back just in time for his 11th birthday and I was able to make him a special cake:
We were still living in the apt with a limited kitchen and limited cake supplies and only started our entry preparation a week before the competition. Needless to say, it was a minor miracle we arrived with three entries. Our hopes were not high for placing in the competition. We were really just there for the experience. We had a little saying "in a world with two homeless families trying to come together to make some cakes..." that helped up prep ourselves for the critiques of our cakes. They weren't our best work but were amazing accomplishments considering our situations. The boys had to do all the work by themselves. E's creation was an Angry Birds cake.
Alex's had an Olympic theme.
I barely "finished" my gingerbread house in the humid bathroom of our hotel room the night before the competition. I tried to recreate Carl and Elle's home from the movie UP! I wanted to create a little Carl figure but I ran out of time. I did create a huge bunch of balloons to come out of the chimney, but the humidity the morning of setup was not conducive to actually getting it to attach. My goal was to get at least one positive comment from the judges. I was absolutely shocked when my entry placed 3rd. It was not by any means one of the best houses, but I guess I must have done something right.
It was nice to go back to OK and visit some friends. They boys and I also had fun playing at the hotel and doing some of the things at the Tulsa state fair (including meeting some of the celebrity sugar artists).
It was also very special to me to see E and Alex bond. I've decided Alex should come with us on every vacation.
Shortly after returning from Tulsa our two-month stay in our swanky apartment was up. E had to say goodbye to his first Kindergarten class (Ms. Adams at POE elementary)
and hello to his new school.
Miss A wanted to pose for a "1st-day" picture as well.
It was hard to believe after living in a furnished apartment with only as many personal belonging as would fit in the car that we filled the entire 16 wheeler that pulled up at our new house. The unpacking commenced and the packing paper and empty boxes began to stack up. Brad challenged me to get the entire house unpacked before the first weekend in the house. He even figured out the right carrot to dangle in front of me to get me motivated-- a nice party budget for me to spend to my liking. Unfortunately, it took me 3 days just to unpack the kitchen so needless to say I didn't make the deadline. We did, however, get the house unpacked in record time. Now we just need to do a little painting and decorating, although it already feels like home.
Halloween was right on the tail of moving into our new house. I made Miss A be Mary Poppins (despite her telling everyone she was going to be a kitty or a princess) because Mr. E
wanted to be Burt. You can't have a Burt without Mary. He went as Burt to the church trunk or treat, but when it came time to get dressed on Halloween night he asked where his headless horseman costume was. Seeing as I was fresh out
of headless horseman costumes, and I spent way too much time making
accessories for Mary Poppins, my kids went as a ghost pirate (yes that is his costume from two years ago) and
"Cinderella" Mary Poppins. Funny how changing the name a little makes a
3-year-old feel like she is wearing the costume she asked for.
Despite her desire to wear something different, Miss A and her new little friend won the little kid division of the village civic club's Halloween party. I guess "Cinderella" was a hit with the judges.
Not much happened between Halloween and Thanksgiving other than a little residual unpacking and LOTS of organizing. The only really noteworthy thing was another little road trip by myself. About a month after my trip I found myself headed to OK again to throw a party with my friend Candice. We've done a party every year in October since we met. It seemed a shame to let this year go by. We brought back our 30 flirty and fabulous pageant from last year as a 31 thirty and fabulous golden celebration for her golden birthday. (more on that to come after some picture editing). It was just as much fun as last year. We laughed until our cheeks hurt. The after party playing nertz all night was just as fun.
Before we knew it, Thanksgiving was upon us. We were fortunate to have both grandmas with us for our feast. JoJo did an awesome job cooking our meal. It was short and sweet but very enjoyable.
And I guess that gets us pretty much caught up. Unfortunately I haven't been keeping as many notes as I should have about our "comings and goings" and have forgotten many of the funny little quick witted things the two curly haired crazies have said over the past few months. Here are a few notes.
Recently Miss A is really good at keeping me humble by letting me know when my breath stinks, when my feet stink and pulling the classic preteen exclamations about me being stupid and about how much she hates me. On the flip she is always notices if I'm dressed up (meaning I've showered and am no longer in my gym clothes) and compliments me and occasionally surprises me with a big hug and sweet kiss that lets me know she really does love me.
Br was doing something while we were driving to JoJo's house so I ended up driving.
Miss A,"Why is mommy driving? She is a bad driver."
Daddy, "How would you know A, you don't know how to drive?"
Miss A, "Yeah but mommy doesn't know how either."
That little girl is going to be a tough one. She is really good at presenting things that she wants with perfectly rational justification. For instance. "Mom, I'm/my tummy/my head is really really hot. I think that I need to eat an ice cream cone/Popsicle/spicy drink to cool me down". It's hard to deny her when she has such a well thought out case (although I have been known to have to tuck her under my arm as we make a very loud exit with her kicking and screaming because I've said, "no").
Although she's been potty trained for a year now I still make her wear a pull-up to bed because I'm not ready to deal with the middle of the night linen changes. One night I asked her to hurry and put on "jammie panties" to get ready for bed. She hurried to her room and came back (trying to hold back her giggling) looking like this:
My favorite exclamations she makes are when she announces that she has good news and bad news. She then proceeds to say "The good news is ___________ but the bad news is _____________". What she says is indeed a piece of good news and bad news but the funny thing is they have absolutely nothing to do with each other or the current situation.
Right now her favorite things to do are watch movies on Netflix, take baths, play with her princess dollies and barbies and make about a billion wardrobe changes a day. Her barbies make lots of wardrobe changes as well. The thing is we don't have that many barbie clothes so she has gotten good at making little dresses out of paper carefully wrapped and rolled around their bodies. I'll tell you one thing, you don't want to get stuck being one of the barbies. This girl really
gets into it and EVERYTHING they do has to follow the script in her head
to a T. Their little scenarios last FOREVER. She doesn't like to play alone so it's not uncommon to hear, "but who's going to play with me?" That's a serious problem since she doesn't have very many friends. Her best friend is Auntie B and so poor Auntie B has played more barbies over the past few months then she probably did her whole childhood. Once Miss A was over at JoJo's house while I went to my cake club meeting. Auntie B had a few things she needed to get finished so she told Miss A that she could only play with her for an hour and then A would need to play by herself. She warned that she didn't want to hear "But who's going to play with me". Miss A agreed. They headed up the stairs and Miss A wined, "But who's going to play with me?" then turned around and with a little smirk and a little pointy finger said "Just kidding."
Miss A LOVES to pose for pictures. Her favorite spot is right outside the doors of the gym. It's hilarious to watch her move from pose to pose. That girl really knows how to tilt a head, point a toe, pop a hip and tooch a booty.
This morning we were dropping off E at school. The park had a lot of trash after the holiday. As we walked past on the way back to the car Miss A said "But there are trash cans?",
me- "Do you mean, why is there trash everywhere?"
Miss A- "Yes. Trash goes in the trash can."
Tonight dinner was a little late because the kids really really really wanted to be in the kitchen with me while I was trying to cook. As we sat at the table Br said, "let's have a quick family home evening lesson while we eat". Miss A's adamant response, "But I don't want to be a family!". E also let us know how boring he thought it was. Thanks kids.
Houses are still being built in JoJo's neighborhood. E noticed that a lot of progress had been made on one of the house between visits. He said, "That house got bigger. It must be getting a lot of protein."
We were riding bikes. E saw a big black skid mark on the sidewalk we had just ridden over. He said, "how'd that get there?" I said "I'm not sure". His response "I think I rode so fast I burned the sidewalk."
