Wilson's 9th

Wilson's birthday was this past Sunday, but we did all of our extravagant celebrating on Saturday.  We started by eating lunch at Fuddrucker's--Wilson's choice--because he had a coupon for a free kid's meal for his birthday!  Maisy was so excited because she found us a table to sit at and it had Calvin and Hobbes comic strips covering it.  Calvin and Hobbes are a family favorite.  So lunch was a huge success.

Then we were off to the mall to catch a movie.  We were a little early so we decided to walk around the mall and window shop until the movie started.  We had to stop for a potty break of course.  I took Maisy and Brett took the boys.  Maisy and took our dear sweet time as ladies tend to do, but when we exited the ladies' restroom, we were surprised to be the first ones out.  So we stood and waited for the boys.  We waited and waited and waited.  I could tell something was wrong.  Finally, Brett came out with the boys and he was holding something neatly wrapped in paper towels. 

"What is that?" I asked.

"So Ace didn't quite get all his business in the toliet.  Some got in his underwear," he replied.

I sighed and said, "Let's just throw it away."  Brett enthusiastically agreed. 

"So you're saying he has no underwear on?" 

Indeed it was true.  Oh well.  What were we to do?  We continued on our way.  However, I continued to smell poo. 

"Brett, are you sure you cleaned him off really good?  Am I crazy or do I still smell poo??"

So, I took him back to the bathroom, stripped him down, and wiped him real good with wet paper towels.  He still smelled, so I dug around in my purse and found some fragrant Bath and Body Works lotion.  Perfect.  I then proceeded to rub his little bum and legs down with lotion.  Now, there was nothing to worry about!

We then went to our movie which was Born To Be Wild in IMAX 3D.  It's about an orphan baby elephant and orphan baby orangutan and the 2 different woman that raise them to go back into the wild.  The kids had never been to IMAX or 3D and of course everyone loved it!

It was a very special and fantastic day!  Happy Birthday, Wilson--we love you!

Ace is 3!

Happy birthday to our boy Ace!  We can't believe how grown up he is looking and acting now that he is 3 YEARS OLD!

We had a special St. Patrick's day birthday celebration, complete with a Pot o' Gold treasure hunt and green velvet (formerly known as red velvet) cupcakes!

Ace had so much fun at his birthday with his cousins Eliot, Olive and Bodhi.  We were all glad that they could take part in the festivities.

It appears that Ace might have overdone it a little bit. Around midnight he ended up spewing green vomit all over uncle Cameron.  Twice.  Thanks for being there Cam!  Better you than me!

We sure love Ace and all the excitement he adds to our family.  Happy birthday, buddy!  Check out the video of the candle puffing, and appreciate the fist pump at the end.

100 Hours of Ice

So, what have you done this week?  Did you leave your house?  Did you go to work?  Did you get at least one degree of separation between you and your immediate family?  If so, you're a step ahead of us! 

On Monday night, the weather turned cold and icy, dumping inches of ice all over north Texas.  A historically frigid cold front kept the ice on the ground all week, forcing 4 days of school closures.  That left us cooped up inside for about 100 hours, trying to stay sane.  Here are some highlights of our icy adventure! 

Hour 15: (Tuesday, February 1. Family attitude: FESTIVE) We settled in with some popcorn and hot chocolate and celebrated our "snow day" by watching the original version of Disney's Tron.  Wilson loved the movie the most, admiring the radical special effects from 1982.

Hour 32 (Wednesday, February 2nd.  Family Attitude: COLD AND BORED) It was bored, I mean BOARD game time.  We played some Candy Land DVD, Cranium Cadoo, and a few others.  I think the kids were cheating because they kept winning.  Either they were cheating or my brain was going numb.

Hour 59 (Thursday, February 3rd.  Family Attitude:  BORDERLINE DESPERATE) With most of our sanity already out the window, it was karaoke time!!  We got all gussied up in our costumes, picked some awesomely annoying songs, and went for it!  We recorded all our songs on video, and Wilson edited them together into a movie.  Be on the lookout for our You Tube debut!

Hour 81 (Friday, February 4th.  Family Attitude: 29 DEGREES AND FALLING) On Friday, the ice got covered up by some nice fluffy snow, which is like heaven for Wilson.  He played out in the snow all day long, pausing only for food and bathroom breaks.  Maisy stayed inside all day, letting us know that is was still too cold for her.  Ace spent a solid 15 minutes outside, until he actually touched snow with his hands and quickly and loudly requested immediate entry into the house.

Hour 92 (Friday, February 4th.  Family Attitude: SQUIRRELY)  As a last-ditch effort to save our atrophied muscles, we decided to go for some Just Dance 2 on the Wii.  A few good routines heated us up.  Check out the little pros dancing in their PJ's (by the way, the kids were in PJ's for about 95 of the 100 hours!)

 

Now that we are thawing out, our 100 hours of ice don't seem too bad.  It was nice being able to spend lots of great time with our kids, enjoy some warm fires, and catch up on some house projects.  Let's just hope it was a one-time thing!

Christmas Break

Oh boy, Christmas break was soooo  great! We (the adults) both agree that this was the best break ever, because we were able to actually have some low-key time together as a family.  Our kids are getting so big and are so fun to be with. We feel we are in a wonderful place as a family.

This year we started having some questions about Santa Claus at our house and his authenticity.  A quote from Maisy: "Mom, just tell me if Santa is real or not.  I know that adults know the truth."

Wilson was slightly on the fence as well and it showed in his letter Santa.  He wrote his list as usual and it contained the average desires of an 8 year old boy.  But he saved the best things for his 2nd list on the 2nd page of his letter to Santa.  This is what he wrote:

"These ones are very special to me, they may already be on the list but they still would be very special to me.

Spy gear, whatever would make my mom happy, my own electric guitar and one more thing to give…..snow in Texas. Oh and a super power and my very own garden space. This has been a nice talk Santa. I hope you do visit me this year! I’ve been good!"

He then signed it and left a space for Santa to sign.  I loved this letter because it seemed like he wasn't sure about Santa, but figured hey! I'll just go for it and ask for a super power! 

 

The kids in their new Christmas pajamas.  Thanks Aunt Di!

Kasia went all out on the decorating this year.  Check out the beautiful garland thingie on the mantle.  You might have to click to make the picture bigger so that you can see all the great detailed loveliness.  She put the whole thing together with nothing but inspiration and pipe cleaners.  Awesome.

Maisy's favorite present was a pair of roller skates.  She's doing a great job getting accustomed to the skates.  I'm sure she'll be hitting the roller derby in no time.

And here's a little clip highlighting Maisy's skating skills, along with Wilson's brotherly helping.

Kasia's parents, Sterling and Rena, spent a couple of days with us over the break.  We had a blast with Grammy and Grampy, as always.

That's just Ace being Ace.

We went to Bastrop, TX just before New Year's to celebrate the wedding of Kasia's cousin Kirsten.  While there we were able to snap a photo of 4 generations of women!  L-R: Rena Ming, Judy Eady (Rena's mom), Maisy, Kasia.  It was a very special evening.

Now that we're back into the hustle, bustle, and general craziness of real life, it makes our low-key Christmas break seem even more special.  Only 11 and  1/2 months until we can do it again! 

Ice Skating

During our wonderful Thanksgiving trip to Arkansas, we decided to take advantage of a REAL ice skating rink in downtown Bentonville.  That's right--real ice!  Pretty impressive for an Arizona dad and Texas family that's not used to seeing frozen stuff outside.

Maisy and Wilson both took to the ice like pros.  They started out skating with the assistance of little skating helper thingies (technical term) , but soon were gracefully cruising with no assistance.

Speaking of grace, that is something that I (Brett) completely lack when I have any type of skates attached to my feet.  You can chalk it up to a lack of experience, lack of enthusiasm, or maybe lack of coordination.  I just know that I'm funny on ice.  Kasia, on the other hand, is a cross between Dorothy Hamill and Kristi Yamaguchi.

I was actually starting to improve on the ice toward the end of the night.  I felt like I could get going, keep my balance, and slow down enough to not endanger myself or any 5-year-olds.  So when it was almost time to end, I decided to skate a couple of solo laps to see what those blades could really do. 

I got going faster than I had previously in the evening, and was enjoying the cold wind rush through my hoodie.  I was racing an imaginary Anton Ohno when I realized I was going kind of fast, and I that I really had no idea how to stop.

So, I panicked a little bit and decided to give stopping a try before I hurt somebody.  As I angled my skates and prepared for a tumble, I ended up doing a miraculous double spin move, complete with awkward arm flail and grotesque head gyration.  I happened to do this incredible maneuver right in front of a group of about 30 people waiting to get on the ice. 

Not sure if I had really been noticed, I began to gingerly and slowly make my way toward my family.  I thought all was well and unnoticed until I saw Kasia Yamaguchi doubled over with laughter.  She could not stop recounting and imitating my little adventure to anyone who would listen. 

All in all, it was a great night.  The kids learned to skate, I didn't die, and Kasia now has something to tease me about for the rest of our lives.  Nice.

Yamaguchi, Cousin Olive and Aunt Kressyda

Here's Maisy helping me, I mean me helping Maisy.

Halloween is a Circus

This is Brett typing.  Kasia assumes no responsibility for the content of this blog post.

So, this Halloween Kasia had a great idea.  "Hey everyone," she gushed.  "I have the greatest Halloween idea ever!"  I thought to myself, "Here we go again.  She's going to try to get us to dress up all together as a Halloween theme family."  She then said, "We can all dress up together as a circus!"  I thought to myself, "I know her sooooo well."  So the circus theme was born, and after a little coaxing, everyone was on board, and the plans were set.

Wilson chose to be the motorcycle daredevil (because he saw an awesome helmet at the costume store that he HAD to have), Maisy the tightrope walker (appropriate because of her life's acrobatic balancing act between boys, school, and extracurricular activities.  Yes, she's six years old.) , Me the circus freak (no comment necessary), Kasia the popcorn vendor (because of her vast experience in food services), and Ace the clown (because we already had the perfect pants for that).

Finally, the day of the neighborhood Halloween party arrived, and we made our final preparations.  I got all freaky, Kasia got her pop on, Wilson imagined himself riding through blazing hoops of fire, and Maisy got her face painted and imagined what her boyfriends would think of her costume.  Ace was then jostled awake from his nap, and our perfect theme was about to come crashing down.

Trouble under the big top.  Actual conversation as I remember it:

"Ace, are you ready to be a clown?"

"No. Batman."

"But Ace, we're going to be a circus.  Don't you want to be a clown?"

"No. Batman.  Ace.  Batman.  Now."

"Ace, listen.  We are a circus family.  Batman is not in the circus.  Let's get you into your pants and suspenders."

" (Toddler swear words)"

So, I forced Ace into his clown pants and wrangled him into his suspenders.  Not sure where this came from, but Ace has recently figured out that he can take off the clothes that we put onto him.  So he promptly took off the pants and suspenders and literally THREW THEM AT ME.  At that moment I knew that Batman would be accompanying 4 circus people to the party.

So, we went and had a great time as the freak, the popcorn vendor, the daredevil, the tightrope walker, and Batman.

 The Freak and the Vendor

 The Daredevil and the Tightrope Walker

Batman and Friends (Click photo to see Batman)