Mourning

I'm in mourning - Edwards dropped out of the race.

I hate to say it, but I'm fairly certain there is going to be a Republican in office when January rolls around next year...

It's too bad that most Democrats live in fairy-tale land and have never had a taste of the South. There is no way that anyone around these parts is going to vote for - let's see, how did someone put it the other day? - "Monica's ex-boyfriend's wife", or for a black man. That's the sad truth. My only hope was that on Super-Tuesday Edwards would pull out a win in a few states.

Now my only hope is a McCain/Edwards ticket. How likely do you think that is?!

How many?

Conversation between the husband and Fellan:

H: Fellan, you don't have any hot dogs. How many did you eat yesterday?
F: Uh... like 9 or 20.

Marxo's Story

The girl's birthday is in October and that will make her one of the oldest for her class. In fact, we really feel like she was ready to start school this past fall, but the school rules don't permit it.

So, when a friend of ours from school suggested that Marxo and their daughter begin going to "school" once a week at another place, we jumped at the chance.

Last Thursday was her first day at "school". It's actually very similar to Fellan's school in their approach to child-centered play and activity. AND they do the story-telling thing, too. Fellan's first story was rather short. Marxo's however...

Once upon a time, there was a little girl monster. All her friends came over. They played games. Then they went to the park. They played dirt cake. Mommy and Daddy and Blanca monster came. They played dirt cake. Then they put sprinkles on and decorate. They all went home.
A monster came with a bulldozer and tore the house down. They had to move to another house. The End.

I really can't wait to hear her next story. :)

The Bounce is Back

I've been so busy over the last week that I haven't had a chance to write about the demise of the trampoline. Yep, less than a month after Santa brought it, the bungee cord - the thing that makes it bounce - broke! It actually broke right before we went out for Fellan's first bike ride without training wheels, but I was so excited about that, I forgot to mention it!

After it broke, we immediately ordered two new bungee cords (at $15 a pop - yikes! If we have to get a new one every month, this could get really expensive...) and began anxiously awaiting their arrival. What made it worse was that it's been raining ever since the trampoline broke. On Wednesday night last week, in an act of desperation, we actually drove out to one of the malls so that the kids could play in the kiddie play area and release some of their pent-up energy!

So, on Friday, when the new bungee cords arrived, it was quite the celebration in the house. We got the trampoline back together and the kids have been happily bouncing away ever since.

We're still waiting for the replacement Smart Cycle...

How to re-heat frozen Runzas

Tonight I'm going to provide a public service for all us displaced (misplaced?) Nebraskans: How to re-heat those frozen Runzas we all brought back after our last visit home.

I called my hometown Runza just a few minutes ago (guess what we're having for supper tonight?! Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!), so here it is, straight from the horse's mouth:

Oven
- Unwrap fully-baked, frozen Runza from paper
- Wrap in aluminum foil with shiny side facing "in"
- Bake in preheated 325F oven for 45 minutes

Microwave
Microwave fully-baked, frozen Runza for 1 minute on "high", turn over and microwave for another 30 seconds to 1 minute on "high" - make sure there are no cold spots.

And for those of you unfortunate enough to not know what a Runza is, check out these links. (and might I add that I'm so excited "Runza" finally made it into Wikipedia!)

P.S. FYI, the next time you're home and want to buy some frozen Runzas, call them the day before and place your order so they can bake them and then freeze them. If you go in and just try to buy some frozen Runzas, they may not have any already frozen.

UPDATE:
Baking the frozen Runzas for 45 minutes will get them mostly hot, however, they end up a little crunchy on the outside (really, only a little). So, I think the next batch we heat up, I'll put them in the microwave for about a minute and then finish them off in the oven. I'll let you know the results...

Height Predictions

The husband and I have been debating amongst ourselves tonight about how tall the kids are going to be when they grow up.

I think that with all the hormones and everything that we inadvertantly feed the kids, they'll both be taller than us. My prediction (and the doctor's when Fellan was 3) is that he will be 6'-3". My prediction for Marxo is that she'll be 5'-8".

The husband's predictions? Fellan will be 6'-1" and Marxo will be 5'-8". Well, at least we agree on the girl!

My husband found this website earlier tonight and plugged in all the numbers for the three different predictions. Fellan is predicted to be anywhere between 5'-11" and 6'-1" and Marxo is predicted to be between 5'-6" and 5'-7.5". According to these predictions, Fellan would be shorter than his dad and Marxo would be only slightly taller than me.

So, what does it say about me that I consistently think that our kids will be taller than the predictions? Am I one of those parents who value height and have a skewed view of my children? (I'm sure that's partially true.) Or, is it just because I'm about 4 inches taller than my mom and about equal height with my dad - and my brother is about 4 inches taller than my dad - that I think all children grow taller than their parents?

Well, I guess we'll just have to wait about 14 years to find out whose prediction is correct...

Poo-Poo!

Fellan's favorite word for the last couple of weeks has been "poo-poo". He uses it in every sentence as an adjective and also replaces nouns in sentences with it. As in, "I'm going to take a poo-poo bath in the poo-poo."

At school, they keep telling him (and all the other kids - he is not alone in his over-use of this word) that poo-poo is something your body does and that it's a word you use only in the bathroom. And we have had many talks with him about his improper usage of the word.

So, last week, as Fellan and Marxo were taking "big bath" in our bathtub, I wandered in to check on them and Fellan asked me, "Mommy, is this a bathroom?" I replied, "Yes," not realizing what was coming...

He promptly said, "Poo-pooooooo!!!" with glee.

I want to ride my bicycle

Yes, I really do want to ride my bicycle, but that's not the point of this post.

Fellan has been talking about taking his training wheels off his bike, so we finally relented and went out last night for a ride at the park. It was as if he had never been riding with training wheels at all! He just kind of took off and never looked back.

He has such natural physical abilities - it continues to amaze me. So when he talks about how he's going to raise his arms over his head when he wins all his bike races, I have no doubts. I'm going to be there at the finish line, being the proudest mother ever. :)

Weekend Warriors

This past weekend, we spent much of our time working on the kids' bedroom. We got almost everything done, but there are still a couple of small projects that need to be finished before I can take a picture and post it. But maybe I should start the story from the beginning.

In early December, we got out all the Christmas decorations so that we could decorate the house. But the spot where the tree goes was completely filled up with a pile of toys. So, we decided enough was enough, the toys needed a permanent home elsewhere. We moved them up to the kids' bedroom.

However, even after cleaning out the closet, there still wasn't room for all their toys. So, we decided to go ahead and convert their beds into a bunk bed. That was always our intent, however, until that very moment in time, we had always thought it would be too dangerous for a 4-year-old (specifically our 4-year-old) to sleep on the top bunk of a bunkbed. Well, forget that! We needed the room, so we did it.

The kids were so excited about it, they didn't sleep for about a week. Eventually, they calmed down and things have been pretty much back to normal since. However, we didn't like the layout of the furniture. Everything was just lined up against the walls - no depth!

So, we made yet another trip to IKEA and got another storage shelf to use as kind of a room divider and decided that we'd like to get a drop-leaf table for them to use as a desk in their room. Of course, the drop-leaf table is not in stock, so we're going to have to wait a little while for that.

We also thought it would be cool to get a "bed tent" for Fellan's bed and then put a curtain down below for Marxo to create a private space for her (even though she's three, she thinks she's about 13!). So, this past weekend we purchased the bed tent (but it didn't fit :( ) and found some fabric. I actually got out my sewing machine and figured out how to use it again so that I could hem the edges of the fabric. Now we just need to find some kind of hospital track curtain stuff to put up under the top bunk.

As soon as the project is done, I'll definitely post some pictures. The husband and I think the room is "awesome" (Fellan's favorite word these days), but I'm not sure the kids are nearly as impressed as we are.

Next up: the Master Bedroom.

Working, not wandering

Yesterday afternoon I spent about half an hour talking to my friend about his new girlfriend and I got so much work done while talking to him, I was amazed. He kind of jokingly made the comment that it was because our conversation took up the part of my mind that would usually be wandering, but it really is true!

So, I had to come to work today (supposed to be my day off) and I decided that while I'm finishing up the drawing on which I was working while talking yesterday, I'd occupy the part of my mind that would be wandering by listening to the music I have on my computer here at work. (Nope, no iPod for me - I had an iPod Shuffle for about 2 weeks after Christmas last year and then lost it. What a waste.)

The playlist? Norah Jones, Metallica, Gypsy Kings, Nine Inch Nails, The Subdudes, Barenaked Ladies, Sting, Jack Johnson, and Ok Go. I really need to add some "best of" Scorpions and "oldies" Beastie Boys (which I just got for Christmas!) to make it complete... and completely eclectic. :) What's on your playlist?

Real Baby

Well, the boy is still obsessed with having another baby - twin baby girls, you may recall.

When we went on our trip to New Braunfels for the Tour de Gruene, we stopped by a smalltown Dairy Queen. In the Dairy Queen, there was one of those shelves full of pamphlets. Fellan was immediately drawn to a pamphlet about a doll museum or doll store (or whatever) in the area. We, of course, had to take the pamphlet with us and spend the entire weekend discussing which babies in the pictures Fellan wanted.

When we got home, we looked more closely at the pamphlet, looked up the manufacturer, and figured out that we could get a Middleton Doll in our area. In fact, they actually have a Newborn Nursery in Houston. (click on "The Experience") It was an epiphany for us - we could let Fellan adopt a baby himself!

So, hoping to assuage his desire, we took him to the Newborn Nursery in mid-December and let him pick out and adopt a baby doll. He was a little overwhelmed at first, but warmed up to it eventually. The "nurse" checked all her vital signs and let Fellan check them, too. Then she weighed the baby (Fellan chose one of the "premies" - so she weighs 2.8 pounds) and then she asked him to name the baby.

He immediately said, "Baby Maya". So, she asked him if he wanted it to be just Maya or Baby Maya. He said "Baby Maya". Then she asked him if he wanted to give her a middle name. I was standing right next to him and he turned and whispered in my ear, "I was thinking about maybe 'Sara'". (I just about cried.) So, the official name is "Baby Maya Sara".

Santa also got Fellan a baby doll, so he now sleeps with three babies every night.

The only problem? The other day Fellan announced to us, "I want a real baby. No more baby dolls!!!"

He caught on to us...

Santa

This year, the boy asked Santa Claus for a Smart Cycle (we were so proud!). And to go along with the exercise theme, Santa brought the girl a Jump Smart Trampoline.

So, at 7am on Christmas morning, we woke to the thumping of little feet running on the floor and the yelling of a child's voice: "Marxo, Marxo, you gotta come see what Santa brought me!!! It's a bicycle with no wheels and you pedal it and you gotta come see!!!!"

We had forgotten to tell Fellan that when he woke up, he should come get us so we could all go see what Santa brought (you know, so we could capture the footage on tape!).

The presents from Santa were a great hit. However, it seems that Santa's workshop sent us a bum Smart Cycle. It works for about 20-30 seconds and then it says, "Goodbye!" and the TV screen goes blue. Both the kids got good at rebooting the thing and starting over every time, but it really made us mad.

We called Santa's workshop and we have to send back some of the parts (the "petals", as the e-mail states, and the main power cord); then they'll send us another one - in 8 to 12 weeks! Uhg.

Thank goodness for the trampoline! The boy has kind of taken that over as his (but the girl gets some time on it, too). I swear, on Christmas Day, Fellan jumped on the thing all day long. I'm seriously not exaggerating. He would jump from the trampoline over to the couch and sit for about 15 seconds, but then would jump straight back on the thing.

It's been good for wearing him down. (which, of course, was the intent!) :)

Time Flies...

The days and weeks have flown by and I still haven't updated my blog. Ugh. And the longer it takes the harder it becomes.

So, I'm going to rip the bandaid off and write about what we've been doing for the past two months. Or is it three months?

The last I wrote, I think was right before Halloween, so let me start with that - Halloween was a very fun time this year. Last year the kids didn't really seem to get it and they were a little overwhelmed by it. This year, however, the girl literally couldn't contain her enthusiasm. She received a tootsie roll at the first house we visited and it was as if someone had given her something she had only dreamed about. She came back to us from that first door, dug around in her plastic cauldron (she was a witch this year), and started screaming, "Look!!! Look what I got!!!" She was so excited that she was actually jumping up and down at every doorstep. Oddly enough, it made me extremely proud that she could be so overwhelmingly excited about receiving small pieces of candy from strangers. (think about that one awhile...)

Our next family adventure was to attempt to ride in the Tour de Gruene (pronounced "green"). It's a bike ride in Gruene, Texas and since it's not a hugely popular bike ride with thousands and thousands of riders, we thought it would be a good introduction to organized bike rides for the kids. PLUS, it's held during Wurstfest - biking and brats, what could be better?!

So, we drove out Friday night and checked into the hotel. At 2:00am, the boy woke up and came into bed with us... where he promptly threw up all over me. We spent the rest of the night waking up every 30 minutes to hold a bowl for him to throw up into.

Eventually, we got ahold of our doctor's office and got some anti-nausea medicine from the local Walgreens. The boy took some of the medicine and was immediately better and was fine for the rest of the day, which allowed us to go to Wurstfest anyway, so the trip wasn't a complete waste. :)

Since we weren't able to do the bike ride that weekend, we decided we would instead go to Novemberfest the following weekend. It turned out to be a good ride, but I had been fighting a cough for a few weeks (that one of our pediatrician friends told me was "walking pneumonia" and that I needed to go to a doctor - actually her exact words were, "YOU'RE the reason I don't see adults. Adults refuse to take care of themselves. Get to a doctor now!") and due to my limited lung capacity, the ride was, ummm... let me say "difficult" for me - I was unable to catch my breath and was seeing stars after we had only ridden 5 miles. Luckily, the road curved around to be a little more "with the wind" and we were able to finish the 30-mile ride just a little after lunchtime. There was a festival afterwards that the kids enjoyed and it turned out to be a good time for all.

We spent Thanksgiving in New Orleans with my in-laws, during which time, the cough that I still hadn't gone to the doctor about (yes, the pediatrician was correct - adults don't take care of themselves) turned into a raging sinus infection and general super-bad illness. I went to the doctor on Monday after Thanksgiving and got some good drugs which allowed me to return to work (still with a disgusting hacking cough!) on Wednesday. Even now on January 4th, I occasionally have a little bit of the leftover cough. Note to self: don't ever avoid going to the doctor again...

My goal this year for Christmas was to be like my friend, Courtney, who gets all of her Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. I didn't make it.

However, I did get most of it done just after Thanksgiving, which made me think that I might have a chance at having a somewhat relaxing Christmas season. And I was totally wrong.

We ended up having two different dinner parties (because we had so much extra time!) and I was still running around trying to take care of things up until the day before Christmas.

The in-laws came over for Christmas Day and we left for Nebraska the day after Christmas. We drove straight through and made it to my parents' house in about 15 hours - quite a feat with two small children! Without the kids, I think the fastest we had made the trip before was about 13.5 hours.

We came back south just in time for New Year's Eve, which we spent quietly at home and in bed before midnight. After the hectic holidays, that was very nice.

So, that brings us up to date, I think! I've been back to work for two days, now I have a three-day weekend, and then back to our usual routine.

I won't say that my New Year's resolution is to blog more, but I might make a bit more of an effort. :)