Big Daddy's Sneeze

As a little girl growing up under Big Daddy's roof, there are a few things that Big Daddy did that I remember distinctly. Some are favorable. Some are not so favorable. (No!:)) One thing for sure is that Dad can sneeze like a force of nature. Some people jump, some people hide, some people want to be just like him. I am not exactly sure where he gathers the force to sneeze with such... power, but there is something from within that could be supernatural.

I never thought much of his sneeze except if I was lucky enough to see his eyes squint before the sneeze, I could put my hands over my ears and head for cover. Then, I married Babe. Unbeknownst to me, Babe was an admirer of the sneeze. One day out of the blue in our first years of marriage, Babe sneezed with close to the same intensity (and decibel) as Big Daddy. After several years of being on my own, I hadn't realized the silence until that sneeze. I looked at Babe and said, "Where did that come from?" He asked if I liked it. I said, "No!" It scared me to death. He admitted he had been working on it in an effort to match Dad's outrageous sneeze.

So, the other day, as I was putting JBS in his car seat, he sneezed. I said, "Oh my goodness! That was a loud sneeze." He giggled with his toothy little grin and said, "Yeah, but not as loud as Big Daddy's."

Another admirer. Another one working on his sneeze. Big Daddy will always be just right there.

Last Wednesday

What I have failed to mention is that last week was awful...painful for everyone in the family. Actually, the absolute worst day was Wednesday, JBS's birthday. JBS was in pre-school and I had made an appointment with a new pediatrician in The Woodlands for JLS on the same day. We were a month late on his 18 month shots, so I thought I better get that done and establish a doctor where we will be living in a few weeks. While we were in the room, JLS had an absolute fit because they wanted him to take off his clothes. Somewhere between the fit and when the doctor arrived, his cheeks turned bright red. When the doctor walked in he said, "This one has 5th's disease." I know all too well what 5th's is because I have had it and it's NOT fun. He pulled down his pants (which JLS would relinquish none too easily) and he had that notable lacy rash on his legs. It literally came over him while we were in the office. On top of that, he had a double ear infection...the 5th or 6th this season....I have lost track. So, the doctor, whom I think I really like, recommended we see an ENT about getting ear tubes. Needless to say, no shots were received and I walked away feeling like I had a diseased and miserable child. I KNEW I had an unhappy one.

We saw the ENT on Friday (another road trip) and now JLS will be having surgery next week for tubes and a possible adenoidectomy. I am taking a HUGE leap of faith in the doctor that I have seen once and the ENT this doctor referred. I like them both, but I don't have any idea what doctors have what reputation up there. I don't even live there yet!

That doesn't sound THAT horrible, but just wait. So, the week started off with JLS being sick. Then, I arranged for a cake to be ready on Tuesday night for JBS to take to school with him for his birthday. They lost the order. I had to show up at 8am to pick it up on JBS's birthday (I was trying to avoid an early morning trip to the grocery store alone with the boys) to get the cake I had ordered a week earlier. I must tell you that the drive to The Woodlands is an hour from here. So, we dropped JBS off at school WITH the cake on Wednesday morning and hit the road to have to turn around and drive right back. JLS felt awful and screamed and cried the whole way there and back (enough stress by itself). Someone kept honking at me and I soon discovered the rude and annoying person was a Good Samaritan because my trailer hitch cover was falling off. I was famished...which only causes a domino effect of problems on my unhealthy tummy and makes me extremely irritable, as does a screaming JLS. I barely make it back to Katy in time to pick up JBS from school on his birthday. I paste on a happy voice and a cheery smile because, after all, it is JBS's 4th birthday.

We took JBS to eat Mexican for dinner (his favorite). This really is worthy of another blog, but lets just say eating out with the boys is coming to an end for our family. By the time the food arrived, we were begging for the check and to-go boxes, screaming across the restaurant at our children, stuffing bites in our mouths at each breath we took. Babe and I got in the car and cried....both of us.

Four years ago, life was peaceful. Life was quiet. Life was simple. Life was all about us. I will give up the peace, the quiet, the simplicity and the selfishness for these two little boogers any day.

If you happen to see me dazed and confused, just give me a good rattle and I will pull myself back together again and again...until one day I won't know what to do when all that peace returns to my house. Then, I might cry again.

iPod

I might be the last person on earth who doesn't have an iPod. Even my mom has an iPod. This is the same mom that I had to leave a very specific list when I left for college directing her how to 1)turn ON the computer and 2) open Word (to this day, my dad STILL calls it "Words"). She still pays annually for her Juno e-mail (we really need to change that), but she has an iPod. I would include Dad in the ownership of the iPod, but Dad has no desire to use an iPod and definitely doesn't know how to turn it on. In fact, the only reason my parents own one is because Vin gave them one for Christmas last year. Vin thrust them into the world of technology all by herself.

Today is a very special day for me. I finally bought an iPod! I gave Babe the kind you can watch movies on last year and he loves it. I listen to it when he brings it in the car or when I can find it to put it on the docking station...definitely for Christmas music. Other than that, I really have never had the time or desire to figure it all out (much like my Dad). However, when I moved to Texas I committed to get my bootie to the gym on a daily basis. I joined an amazing gym, but on the days I don't go to my trainer, I do my own cardio. It PAINS me to workout on a machine without music..really it pains me to workout period. However, I am not getting younger and the weight isn't going to fall off alone. Now that Babe is a bus-riding man, he has his iPod with him all the time. So I took my hiney to Target today when I left the gym and bought this iPod!

It is sitting here looking at me, waiting to do its thing that I don't know how to make it do. So, I will sit and wait for Babe to come home and put him to work putting my 1,000 songs on my little nano. (Do I really even know 1,000 songs?) And don't make fun of it because its the little one. I wanted little so I could take it with me to the gym. My reason. The ONLY reason I have to buy an iPod.

I even bought an arm band. Check me out.

The Party

We celebrated JBS's birthday this weekend with Babe's extended family. They all live in the Houston vicinity, so we invited everyone out to Katy to celebrate! We had a great time catching up with everyone. Most importantly, JBS got his highly requested LEMON Lightning McQueen birthday cake.

After JBS celebrated his second birthday (and 2 years of buying his birthday cakes) I committed to make his cake every year. My mom made every one of my cakes, so I should be able to figure it out, too. Well, I got in a little over my head this year. I don't have any fancy equipment (which I think I might like, now) and no experience whatsoever in decorating cakes...let alone a shaky hand. Last year, I succeeded with Elmo, but, really, how can you go wrong with a red circle? Lightning McQueen was an entirely different story. In the end, I think he turned out OK, but there were some very nervous moments. I passed my own test and we had a cake that, at least resembled Lightning McQueen. JBS was thrilled with his gifts...a batman costume and new fire boots are modeled above. JLS really wants just to be like JBS...or batman....or maybe a train wrecked batman.

Building a House

So, let's talk about building a house. Many of you have a much greater experience going through this process than me. Babe and I have had plenty of experience remodelling an old home, but building a new home is an entirely different story. First off, this is not offically considered a "custom home". Although we are picking the floorplan and colors of everything in the house, it is still a pre-planned home by a builder for a certain neighborhood. What this means is that they have pre-chosen the selections for you....paint colors, stone choices, flooring, appliances, everything possible. In some ways this is nice, as I will admit I despise choosing paint colors. I like to decorate myself, but I will be the first to admit I am terrible at choosing paint colors. I had one yellow room go bad in my past and since then I have relinquished all paint color choices to either a professional, or I have copied them from people I know.It can also cramp your style to have all your choices laid before you. For one, appliances. The choice of appliances are either Whirlpool or Kitchenaide. If you should choose to buy them yourself, tough. You can't. They will go to their store, buy what we picked out and then upcharge us....IF their dealer carries the brand we want. Babe is fighting this one tooth and nail...we want an allowance for what they have chosen and we want to be able to go pick our own appliances. When it comes to appliances, we are big believers in Consumer Reports. Unfortunately, Whirlpool and Kitchenaide aren't ranked well with who knows what...energy efficiency, loudness, cooling control. I don't know the categories, but Babe is not pleased. (It pains me to say this as I am a big supporter of Whirlpool when I can since they have a plant in Tulsa) It's just not looking good. BUT, we have realtor Sally, whom we LOVE and she is working a deal, we hope, with the builider. Please let us pick our appliances, please!So, Babe and I had our first appointement at the Design Center last week. This is where we go to pick out everything pertaining to color of the house. It really was kind of fun because, with the exception of paint, I really do know what I want. The word "Upgrade" tended to come up...everytime. It became a bad word. "That's an upgrade for that carpet" "That sink is an upgrade" "Yes, that cabinet door is an upgrade" "That wood floor is a Level 7" (ie a supreme upgrade from the standard Level 2). So, we like the upgraded taste. Babe likes to tell me (often) that I have champagne taste on a beer budget. But this was the funniest upgrade of all...the mortar color! If you choose a color of mortar, other than the basic grey, it is an upgrade to the other 2 more neutral colors of MORTAR! cha-ching to the tune of $1000. That doesn't sound so bad, until you have a list of 100 things of "just $1000."So, we are making lists, checking them twice, and deleting upgrades. For the record, its unfortunate for us because this doesn't even include the estimates for the structural changes we have requested. What structural changes you might ask? Lawsy....making lists, checking them twice and deleting structural changes, too. The builders just don't like change on a house that isn't custom. I am starting to get the picture... Just starting to.I can see how quickly everything adds up. A different door, cha-ching. Another plug, cha-ching. Gutters, cha-ching. You mean you wanted grass with this house? oh, cha-ching. How about some running water...CHA-CHING

FO-ER!

My precious little baby is four-years-old today. It seems like only yesterday... JBS would wake up every morning giggling in his bed. I would literally miss him overnight. He would snuggle in bed with me every morning and fall asleep again in my arms. He was so easy and so much fun. His first word was "stinky" (as in LOTS of stinky pants). He would fall asleep sitting up in my grocery cart at the store. The girls at our church nursery would get so tickled when he would fall asleep sitting up...playing with a toy.

These days he is still a comedian and has a heart of gold. He told me the other night that I was a "smart little booger". For some reason he likes to come sit on the potty while I am attempting to sneak a relaxing bath into my evening. He was clearly using great effort to accomplish his deed when a toot slipped out. (you know, with boys, it always revolves around the poop) He looked at me and with the most serious of faces said, "It's OK, Mommy, its just my poopy coming. It's a really big one." I love those relaxing baths. :)

We were discussing going thru his toys before Christmas to give to the kiddos who didn't have any toys. A couple of days later I threatened to give his toys away if he didn't pick them up...NOW! He said with such enthusiasm, "That's a GREAT idea, Mommy. Let's give our toys to the orphans." So, I told him to pick out some toys to give away. He pointed at the grocery basket (JLS's Christmas present), then he pointed at the vacuum (another JLS Christmas present) and finally at the Elmo toy (again, JLS's Christmas present). He looked at me with an all-knowing eye and started cracking up. The stinker.

There is not a day that goes by that JBS hasn't found a way to make me laugh. At four-years-old I can already get teary thinking about sending him off to college! (I know. I know.) He is a toot one minute and an absolute angel the next. I never knew it was possible to love someone so! I am wrapped around that stubby little finger of his forever.

Happy Birthday, Baby J!

We Got a House!

It was really starting to make us a bit nervous trying to find a house to rent when our corporate lease expires March 1st. Since we have decided to build in The Woodlands, we decided we should go ahead and move up there. It is a full hour drive from Katy to The Woodlands with traffic. We wanted to be close to the building process, but really, I wanted to get started with my life. We have had the feeling of being temporary since May when this whole buyout began. We need some stability. The first great sign of promise was that I got the boys, not only into a school, but into the SAME school. So, I don't have to spend an hour driving around to drop off and pick up the boys from school. My friend in Tulsa, Crazy Kelsey, said she saw a story on CNN about Houston mommies camping out to get their kids signed up for pre-school. That was not a joke. It is a reality down here. It will be a dogfight to get my kids in school for next year (that process starts next week). I am hoping upon hopes that we fall in love with this school. I refuse to camp out for pre-school admissions.

SO, we found a house to rent while we build. It is in the Woodlands, in the same "Village" (there are 5 villages, I think) that we are building, and the best part about it is that it is brand new construction! Someone purchased some houses for investment purposes and they have never been lived in. In my mind, getting a rental house is like buying a used car....you really don't know what you are getting. We feel pretty good about this one. It is in a cute little neighborhood, on a cul-de-sac, and close to everything. We are renting furniture. That sounds funny, but it is quite cheap and less of a pain that packing our house up now and picking and choosing what we need.
So if you were worried about where we were going to lay our heads on March 1st, you may rest peacefully knowing we will have a roof over our head, a yard for the boys to play in, and Toley gets to come home!!!

THE Christmas Stocking

This is yet another subject that I hesitate to tell you about for fear that I might not do the best job imparting the value, sentiment and history involved. What I love most about my Mom's (aka Grammy's) Christmas decorations are the stockings. Not one of our stockings looks alike, every one of them has a story and they are each unique to each individual.

There will be one of you who asks whose stockings are whose, so, left to right: Big Daddy, Grammy, Paulie, Vin, Go-Go, G2, JBS, JLS, Moi and Babe. The mantle started with 4 stockings back in the day!

The stocking with the most history would be Big Daddy's. That floppy little red and white sock has been with Big Daddy since he was in the second grade. He bought it for 25 cents at a school fundraiser and I am sure it was filled with goodies at the time. He claims it used to have some green holly and berries on the white band at the top, but the years have removed any evidence of such. For some reason, Big Daddy was attached to this stocking from the moment he bought it. He replaced his pretty sequined stocking that his grandmother had made over and over with his sock until she just stopped trying to put her nice handmade stocking out. What she didn't know at the time was that fifty plus years later, he would still have that scrawny stocking hanging from his mantle.

Every Christmas morning we would stumble into the den half awake desperate to see what Santa had left in our stockings, but the first stocking I always saw was Dad's. His little sock was bulging in the middle every single year with his favorite...dried apricots.
Dad claims he will be buried with it, although I have asked for it to be left to me in his will promising to hang his sock every year on our mantle in his memory (hee hee). One thing about it, it has character and it is REAL, as it has truly been loved.

I would be willing to bet it is the only stocking left in existence from the 1950 Reagen Elementary School fundraiser. Do you know of another?

Sweet Adoration

Having grown up going to camp every summer, I have many camp songs in my repertoire. Many people sing "Rock-a-bye Baby" or Lullaby's to their children. Not me. Aside from Home on the Range, all the songs my boys hear, I learned at camp. I have a basic line up of songs that began when JBS was a baby and the line up has continued through JLS. I always start with "I Love You, Lord" then "Home on the Range", "Sanctuary" and close with "Sweet Adoration". I close with "Sweet Adoration" simply because that was always the time that JBS nodded off. JLS is another story. I could sing every song I know and JLS still wouldn't fall asleep in my arms. There are some nights I sing more or less, but this is the standard nightly mommy concert. JBS doesn't get rocked anymore (although he would be rocked until he was 30 if he could) but he has three favorites: "Jesus Loves Me", "Ah-yeah-you-yah" (Alleluia), and "Sweet Adoration". There are few things more precious to me than to hear JBS sing a song, and furthermore a song about Jesus. You know I have sung a song many times when he can sing it by heart. That he can do with "Sweet Adoration" and it blows my mind, as it's not an easy one to remember! So, if you don't know this beautiful song, read on and imagine a little (really, he's large) 3 year old JBS belting it out all by himself.

Sweet Adoration

Sweet Adoration, Flows from your children,
Glory and Honor, and Praise are a part of
Our constant devotion, Our love set in motion,
For the Divine One, who reigns in our hearts.

When I am troubled, by heartaches and struggles,
I come and adore You, You take me away from all
Worldly sensations, and endless temptations,
All of my trials, Lord, are lost in Your love.

If I live forever, I know I could never,
Begin to repay all, the love You have given,
So, Father, please take me, mold and remake me,
More like the Savior, who reigns in our hearts.

Precious babies. (sometimes referred to as Angelic little toots)

The Houston Zoo

Somehow I missed telling you about our zoo visit in December. It was a beautiful Saturday, probably started out at about 55 degrees and warmed up to maybe 65. We packed up the boys and headed for the zoo. It was cold enough that we brought sweatshirts for the boys....just in case. When we arrived, there were kids in strollers bundled in more layers of fleece than I wear when I go to the mountains. People looked at us as if we were horrible parents letting our kids go without coats. So, my thought was if it was so cold that you have to bundle your kids up in 5 layers of fleece and blankets, why the heck did you come to the zoo? Amazing.

The funny part was that the animals have Houston blood, too. Many of the animals were hiding in their holes because it was too cold, I guess. I promise you, it was NOT cold. My personal rule and comfort level is to not wear a coat myself until it drops below freezing. I typically just wear warmer clothes....maybe a wool sweater and a scarf. People pulled out the wool today, in fact. The high today was 57. Wool sweaters, scarves, Ugh boots, hats and gloves. Again, the teachers at school thought I was a terrible parent. I only sent my boys with sweatshirt jackets....no hats or gloves. Give me a year and I will be "one of them", I am sure.

I have been to some pretty nice zoos and I will say that the Houston Zoo has the best primate area of any zoo I have seen. It was huge and monkeys are my favorite. Baboons, monkeys, orangutans...I love them all.

Of course, JBS made me crawl through the tunnel, which was actually pretty cool. We crawled under the water so we could look up and see the fish. We had lots of fun. Until our next weekend adventure!

Just a reminder as to whose world we live in down here.....

Drumroll, please...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mom and Dad, the first official picture of our lot where we plan to build our house. Aren't you proud? Actually, because we bought the last lot, it is currently being used as the builder's office. Not sure when or IF it will be removed.

So, if you move past the office, this is the beautifully wooded lot.

The great thing about building in The Woodlands is that you don't have to fight to keep your trees. The builders actually receive HUGE penalties if they do not conserve every tree possible. It is a "Green" community, truly. The application for building permits, etc, is tedious in order to adhere to all the requirements of the township. This will be the east side of the house. There is a house next door on this side.

Next to our lot is a little more than an acre of a reserve. This probably includes a little of the reserve in the picture. This is going to be the west side of the house. And the port-a-potty... JBS has already christened it. The first day we were there, OF COURSE, it was a moment of dire need to poop. Yep, he pooped in the port-a-potty. I can't EVEN think about it.

This is the highlight for JBS. A great little playground is tucked inside the green space right next door to our house. The boys LOVE it. Babe and I kind of like it, too.

Look for future play-by-plays...will keep you posted.

Five Years

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary! Lets see, anniversary #1 I was 9 months pregnant, #2 was good, I think, #3 I was pregnant again, #4 we were stuck in an ice storm in Tulsa, and #5 we just moved to Texas and don't know a soul to babysit our kids. So, Thursday, I was getting a little bit of cabin fever. I decided we should go to Galveston for the weekend and just take the whole family to celebrate our 5th anniversary. The beauty of Houston is that everything is just an hour away. We were at the beach in an hour. How fun is that?

We really wanted to take the boys to see the big ships. We rode the ferry, played on the beach...the boys went nuts over the sand and water... We walked on the Strand and ate at the Wharf. We went by the Cruise terminal and watched 2 cruises board and depart. We drove down to the East beach and watched the cargo ships coming up the shipping channel headed to the Port of Houston. We saw shrimp boats and fishing boats and how entranced JBS was with the entire railroad system at the Galveston Port. It really was fascinating to see how the LONG LONG railroad cars brought the grain to enormous grain elevators right on the bay. These elevators then deposited the grain on to big ships that exported our grain all over the world! We had a great economics lesson at age 3! Here are a few of the big ships we saw...and the huge oil rig that had come in from sea.

We loved our entire trip...with the exception of the dinner where JLS ran grunting and screaming thru the restaurant barefoot poking the other guests. Somehow the other diners enjoyed that a little bit more than we did. Again, JLS is a force to be reckoned with. We made the decision never to take JLS in public again.

This morning, we ordered room service. A small price to pay to be able to taste your food.

The Salt and Pepper Shaker

So, it appears that Grammy already got her story together AND a few pictures of the salt shaker through the years. It is clear that she had to dig a bit in the archives based on the wonderful early morning Christmas pictures. So, a little bit of our family tradition...

"In 1972, when Vin was 3, we went to Colorado on vacation. We purchased theturquoise plastic salt and pepper shaker with "Pikes Peak" stamped onthe side to use on our picnics in the mountains. After we returned to Dallas, itwas sitting on the counter when Gigi came by and saw it and made all sorts offun of it... how tacky it was, etc. So, remembering how much she favored it, Iwrapped it up and gave it to her for the next Christmas. It was so funny,but not as funny as the next Christmas when I got it back. And so it has beenfor over 30 years and no one has lost it yet... though I was a bit nervous giving it to the new family members! (ie the husbands)"

Vin receiving it....

And Gigi, the source of the 30-plus year cycle...

Even though Gigi is gone, we will continue the cycle forever...or until it gets lost (heaven forbid!)

Christmas at the Lake

This year my side of the family decided to have Christmas at the lakehouse. It was new and we aren't really good with change in our family tradition, but this was a good one. Mom transported at least a U-Haul full of decorations and food and more decorations and even more food. Babe always gets nervous when we go to my parents house, as he knows Mom will have prepared loads of the richest and yummiest food. It is really a sacrifice to go there. The excellent shape that we keep our bodies in and the perfect diet we consume...it's just so frustrating to have to eat so much to make Mom feel good about her cooking. We both just dread going...at any holiday... or weekend for that matter. Food is important in my house. It was beautiful. There is just something about being detached from the world up on a hill overlooking water. We had a beautiful rustic family Christmas.

This is me with the boys Christmas Eve... you know, the photo shoot where SANTA appeared!

JBS and Big Daddy as we prepared to go to the Cleora Methodist Church for Christmas Eve service...Yes, Cleora. Its the closest town to the lakehouse and it was almost a full house!

Grammy and Big Daddy's annual Christmas pic....

Christmas morning with Go-Go and G2 waiting to see what Santa brought! They aren't as patient as they look. Grammy was guarding the door...

This is Babe's ever so excited look as he opened his present from us. Really, Babe doesn't ever get excited when he opens a present...even if it is something he really wanted. So, I like to pretend he was really this excited.

JBS opening and posing...

JLS opening...(he was really in to it this year!)

This was a book I really wanted. So, I wrapped it up before we left Tulsa and I had completely forgotten about it. What a surprise!

Vin and Paulie...

Just the girls....

The post-present pic that Grammy wanted of the cute clothes she gave each grandbaby.

And just to keep the record straight, Big Daddy received the salt shaker this year.

I might have to have a guest author to give the salt shaker its due. However, the salt shaker has been gifted back and forth (starting with Gigi) since before I was born. God bless the family member who ever forgets the salt shaker for the next year. Really, "family member" would no longer be a reference to that sad person.

Merry Christmas 2007! Remember, without Jesus, we wouldn't have a reason for such a wonderful celebration.