Karen's Little Weblog-thingy  -

+ 7 - 4 | § ¶Soccer and dreds

I told Houston we could go play outside this morning before i realized that it had rained and everything was wet and muddy.  So we played in the wet grass and the wet dirt and got good and dirty.  We meaning Houston and Graham mostly.  Katrina slept in the van most of the time.  Graham spent a good part of the time chewing on a metal car part that he found.  Houston spent a lot of time searching for sticks (most of which were about the thickness and size of a blade of grass) to give to Graham, who was mostly uninterested. 

This afternoon we went over to Mom and Dad's house (again), where Todd made us venison steaks on the grill.  They were really good.  (Thanks Todd and Jill!)  Then Alma came over with her family, and Houston immediately asked to play soccer...i think that Alma's family will be connected with soccer for a good long time.  So Juanito and Houston played soccer for a while, and were joined by Jason and Austin.  Houston just had a blast.  When they finally came in an hour later, he was begging to go back out to play soccer again.  He even asked Grandpa Addink to play.

+ 3 - 5 | § ¶Ouch

Houston had tons of fun today chasing my parents' bunny around the porch with a big foam hammer.  The hammer couldn't actually hurt anyone, because it's really soft, so i wasn't worried about the bunny...and i think the bunny was actually quite enjoying himself.  Or is it herself?  Houston also had fun playing with the big old trucks that Dad brought down from the attic and put out on the porch.  He also enjoyed jumping around in the crib while he was supposed to be taking a nap.  Mom moved the crib into Rick's room while my grandparents are here, so now it's sitting right in front of the windows (which are fun to look out) in a room with a zillion fun-looking new things to examine.  So by the time we got home around 8:00, Houston was pretty tired.  And Katrina was getting hungry.  This, of course, is when things go wrong.  As we were leaving Mom's house, Houston fell and skinned his knee.  When we got home, i opened the porch door into his head.  And as i was hurrying to comfort him, i put Katrina down and in the process dropped my purse on her head.  So she started crying.  And when i picked her up to bring her into the house, i hit Houston in the head with the car seat.  Because he was upset, he wasn't looking where he was going closely, and tripped on the toy drums he had left out and fell again.  It would actually have been really comical if it weren't so tragic for the kids.

+ 5 - 4 | § ¶Round Guy

Katrina was completely perfect today.  It was quite possibly her best day ever.  She slept 6 hours during the night, woke up cheerfully and wide-eyed, and was completely content to just hang out and watch us or to be held and cuddled.  Bliss.  She has taken up the habit (although it's not really a habit yet...she only does it occasionally) of sucking on her right hand.  Not her thumb.  Her thumb almost never goes in her mouth.  Her hand, or occasionally her fingers.  She usually tries to shove the whole hand in, and only gets it in part-way.

Since it was such a nice day today (for the first time in over a week), Houston, Katrina, Graham, and i went outside for a good long time.  Katrina sat happily in her car seat, and eventually fell asleep.  Houston and Graham both ran around like crazy for a while, getting out all kinds of energy.  Houston threw sticks for Graham, who never actually got the sticks, but enjoyed running after them immensly.  After a while, i got the key and opened up the VW van and cleaned it out a bit.  As soon as i opened the door, Houston and Graham both climbed excitedly inside.  Houston had great fun "driving" the car, pushing, pulling, and turning buttons, climbing over seats, and jumping up to touch the ceiling.  Graham just seemed to enjoy getting in and out of it.  My only concern right now is that there are bees living in a hole on the outside, so i have to get some bee-killer before they play there often.

+ 4 - 5 | § ¶Toys and Tripoly

Grandma and Grandpa Addink are over at my parents' house this week, so we went over to visit for a few hours this afternoon.  While we were there, i got out our old stacking cups for Houston to play with.  He was completely entertained with those cups and all the different things he could do with them for close to an hour.  I compare this to the length of time he usually spends playing with the new toys where you push a button and they make noise or light up or whatever, and i just think that the old toys are so much better!  Kids had to use their imaginations and their brains to figure things out.  Nowadays they just have to figure out which button to push, and that's all the toy does.  I'm even disappointed with the newer versions of some of the older toys, like Mr. Potato Head.  The old version had a couple of different eyes, different mouths, different noses, etc.  With the new one, the only things that you can really change are mustache on / mustache off, and mouth / tongue.  It doesn't inspire as much creativity.

Anyhow...  The baby birds are getting actual feathers on them now.  While we were looking at them, the mama and poppa birds were just angry with us.  They flew down to where we could nearly touch them and just chirped away.  The little birds didn't move at all.  Apparently they're used to us.

+ 4 - 5 | § ¶Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is Mom's birthday!  Happy birthday Mom!  Enjoy your special day!  This morning i told Houston to tell Mom "Happy Birthday, Grandma," which he did...at least 10 times between the car and the door.  Well, she certainly can't complain that no one said, "Happy Birthday" today!

This afternoon we went to the library to bring Mom some cheesecake and a present from Houston and Katrina.  I figure working on your birthday sucks, so i like to try to make it as fun as possible.  Houston had fun playing with the train that they have in the kids' section.  It's a pretty cool set-up.

+ 3 - 6 | § ¶My first day back at work

Today was my first day back working in several months.  I hadn't wanted to work while i was very pregnant, because i just don't trust these kids enough, and i wanted to wait about 2 months before leaving Katrina for that long.  So i got everything in order, left my kids in Mom's capable hands, and went to work.  And about 15 minutes after getting there, i was told, "Ya know, since 3 kids went AWOL and 1 is on a home visit, we don't really need you...."  So i called Mom and told her to call me if Katrina was refusing the bottle, and told Bill that i'd do the activity i was signed up to do and then leave.  And when i'd been there a little over an hour, Mom called and said, "Your daughter needs you."  So i said bye-bye to everyone and left.  And i got to my parents' house, and Katrina was sleeping happily.  Apparently, she was refusing the bottle and refusing the bottle until Mom put a blanket over her, and then she drank it right up. 

We had a birthday party for Mom today.  Alma's family and my grandparents all came over, along with all us kids.  I don't know when's the last time that my Mom had all her kids and her parents over for her birthday!  A bunch of people played Tripoly.  The ladies all sat in the kitchen and talked while the men went into the other rooms to talk...very Iowa after-church style.

+ 6 - 2 | § ¶Rick's graduation

My little brother Rick graduated from college today!  Woohoo!  Go Rick!  Congratulations!

Having said that...we went to his graduation today, and i have a few observations that i'd like to make.  1.  GVSU is considerably larger than Dordt!  The graduating class was simply enormous. 

2.  My family and i were all apalled at what i'll refer to as the "Rudening of America."  People were so unbelievably rude during the ceremony!  The people in front of us read their newspapers and played on their palm pilots for half of the ceremony before walking out halfway through.  And they weren't alone in leaving...people started leaving just as soon as their graduate had walked, so by the end, over half the seats were empty.  And people kept walking in and out and in and out.  This guy in our row crawled over us at least 4 times, making us all stand up, including my 85-year-old grandma.  I was really annoyed because i had Katrina sleeping peacefully on my lap, and i was holding my video camera, waiting for Rick, who was nearly ready to be called...and this guy and his wife decided to come back in, squishing Katrina in the process, who woke up and started screaming.  So i was trying to calm her down and now had to try to work the video camera with my left hand, and just after Rick was called the girl right in front of me stood up and completely blocked the camera.  AAAAAArgh.  And those stupid people walked in and out about 6 times too.  And then there were the cell phone people.  This guy talked on his camera all through prayer and during much of the graduation.  And people were having their phones ringing and were answering them and talking like they were sitting at home.  I could go on and on, but i'll quit venting now.

While we were at graduation, my Aunt Alma  and her family watched Houston for me.  They took him with them to soccer games that their kids were playing in, and during breaks the kids (Austin and Michael) kicked the soccer ball back and forth with Houston.  When i picked him up, he wouldn't say goodbye to Alma, Austin, or Michael, but he did make sure to say goodbye to the soccerball.  The whole way home i heard about the soccerball.  So i guess Houston has found a new hobby.  I talked to my Alma and Jim later, and they said that he did a lot of chattering, especially about food.  The whole way from one soccer game to the next, he repeated, "Eat that" over and over while pointing to Grandpa's sandwich or anything else that people were eating.

+ 4 - 5 | § ¶Baby Birds

We went over to my parents' house today to help clean (ok, mostly Jill cleaned, but i helped a little) and to take a walk, .  Houston wasn't too thrilled with the walk today, because it was bright and the sun was in his eyes pretty much no matter which way we were going.  But in Mom's backyard, they have a beautiful tree in which the same robin builds a nest every year, and the baby birds just hatched in the past couple of days.  So i took Houston out to see them and he thought they were amazing.  He was really good about not touching them too, even though he desperately wanted to.  We went inside and told my mom that they were born, and she said, "Oh!  I want to see!" and then stood in the sunroom looking out the window at them....  She's funny because she loves to watch birds, but only from behind a window.  Something about chickens chasing her when she was little. 

I went to see "13 going on 30" with Beth this afternoon.  I really liked it.  It was a total teeny-bopper cutsey movie, but funny and just really cute. The Thriller scene makes it worth watching, even if everything else about it were lame (which it wasn't).  Of course, the whole time i was gone, Katrina refused to eat from a bottle, so poor Juanito had to just listen to her screaming.  I work on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see what happens.  He might end up bringing her to Wedgwood for me to feed her....

+ 3 - 8 | § ¶Prayers

Houston prayed his first prayer on his own tonight.  It was "Dear God, Thank you Grandma's house.  Thank you Grandpa's house.  Thank you Grandma's house.  Amen."  Can you tell we had just come home from Grandma's house?  He also sang along to the radio for the first time.  It was the Bunny song.  He mostly just sang the chorus and repeated the last few words of each line, but it was really cute.  He's also starting to use pronouns correctly.  He says "I, you, and my" in the right places. 

As we were leaving the house to go to Mom and Dad's house, Houston was wearing his big yellow boots (he chose to wear them) and carrying a cup of water, a toy bicycle, and a cookie.  He got to the cement steps and said, "Be careful" and i was all set to say, "Yes.  Be careful walking down the steps" when until he finished with "with cookie."  Yes.  It's much more important that your cookie doesn't get squished than that you don't crack your head open....  While we were driving along, singing "Zaccheus Was a Wee Little Man," Houston suddenly said, "French fries!"  I looked up, and there, on the billboard, were french fries.  Leave it to him to spot food. 

Katrina just loves to watch Houston.  He'll be walking around, and she'll just keep her eyes on him.  And when he talks to her, she gets all happy.  I'm so glad they love each other already.  Hopefully that will last!

+ 2 - 7 | § ¶Beanbags

One thing that amuses me about Houston is that he regularly attributes human charactoristics to inanimate objects.  So if he lays his little bicycle on the ground, it's "sleeping."  When he picks it up again, it's "wake-uping."  I remember acting like dolls were alive, but it's more bizarre when we're talking about cars and trucks.

I discovered a new way to completely wear Houston out.  I got out the beanbags today, and we tossed them into a box across the room.  Every time Houston missed (which was at least half the time), he would run over to get the beanbag, run back, and try again.  Good excersize!  He still hasn't decided whether he's going to be left- or right-handed.  He was throwing the beanbags with either hand, and was equally successful with either hand.

Houston still likes to take his toys and throw them out of the toybox.  But i've noticed that if he's playing with a game or something that has specific rules, he's much better at picking up and not making a mess.  He's always careful with Cootie and Perfection, and today he was very careful to pick up every beanbag and but them back into the bag they belong in.  (Into which they go, if you're picky like Juanito.)  Now if only i could convince him that every toy has a purpose....

+ 6 - 3 | § ¶Flirting

Juanito bought Houston a flag today, so Houston was having fun playing with it.  I told him i was going to take a picture of him, and he put the flag around his neck (as seen above), and said, "Cute picture?" 

This morning was "lap time at the library" morning.  Houston loves going to the library to "see the kids."  This morning, after the initial "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song, the leader (Miss Janis, who is a very interesting individual) asked them all to sit down to hear a story.  Houston went and sat down right next to a cute little girl, and after a minute he put his arm around her and leaned down to look at her face.  She just looked at him, and he smiled and ran over to me.  What a little flirt!

+ 5 - 4 | § ¶Mousetrap

Houston really enjoys "playing games."  I use the term "playing" lightly.  He loves Cootie, and takes all the pieces out, puts a few pieces together, and then puts it away again.  Perfection is much the same...take all the pieces out, put a few pieces into the right places, and put it away again.  So today i thought i would play Mousetrap with him.  I got the game from Crossroads (where i worked) because Mark was getting rid of it.  So i set the whole game up, while Houston was watching and eagerly "helping" me. And i when it was all set up, i grabbed the plastic bag with the small parts...and discovered that the balls were missing.  So i tried a few different balls i found in our house (beads, superballs), but they were either too big or too light.  How disappointing.  Houston, however, enjoyed it just fine.

We made kabobs on the grill for dinner tonight.  I think the making was much more enjoyable for Houston than the eating.  While we were making them, he popped a pineapple into his mouth, and when i didn't object, he took a tomato off his skewer, popped that in his mouth, and bit...and then made a gruesome face and spit it out.  After that, he was quite content to just put the stuff on the skewers.  Helping Daddy grill was equally exciting.

+ 3 - 7 | § ¶Skinned knees

It was a beautiful 80 degrees today, and our next-door-neighbors already have their air conditioning on, which blows all their hot air straight into our living room windows.  It was breezy today...well, there are currently wind advisories for all of West Michigan, but in our backyard it was breezy and warm and sunny and happy.  We spent lots of time out there.  Houston loves the outdoors.  Katrina likes it when the sun has started going down and it's not as bright.  Since we put up our fence, Houston and Graham can run around the yard exploring and running and generally having a good time.  Of course, the first thing Graham did when we put him out there without his chain was to stand at the gate and bark incessantly.  Dumb dog.

Today was the first day Houston ran around with shorts on, and in true little boy fashion, he already has two skinned knees.  He was unbelievably brave about both too.  They were gotten at different times.  The first was while on a walk with Juanito.  The second was in our backyard.  I saw the second, and after falling, he stood up and said, "Kiss it!"  And that was it.  While i was cleaning them off, he made a face, but didn't cry or anything until i was almost finished, and then he just said, "All done clean."  I think i'm more of a wimp about getting skinned knees than he is.  He was really happy about the Monster's Inc. bandaids he gets to wear.  He walked around saying, "Sully.  Mike Zowski."

+ 6 - 2 | § ¶Trolleys, vegemite, and ice cream

Partial success!  Juanito started building the rest of the fence.  One side of the house is finished.  He did a really good job on it too -- since the sidewalk over there is kind of funky and has a bump up, he had to figure out a way to make the gate open without hitting the sidewalk.  So he rigged up some sort of weird hinge thing, and now the gate swings up a little bit, giving the added bonus of making the gate shut automatically.

So i was treated to an amusing little episode today.  Juanito was mowing the lawn out front, and Houston was eating lunch at the picnic table, and i was in the house with Katrina, who was sleeping.  Suddenly i heard a clang, and nearly immediately Juanito shouted, "Houston!" with great urgency.  Since it sounded like Juanito was reacting strongly to something Houston was doing, i dashed outside to see Juanito come running up the sidewalk, grab Houston (who was stuffing a banana in his mouth), and run toward the front of the house.  Houston, meanwhile, is saying, "Hungry.  Hungry."  Apparently a trolley came down our street for some reason and Juanito wanted to make sure Houston saw it.  I don't think Houston could have cared less.

+ 1 - 7 | § ¶Spring is in the air!

Today was another day with perfect weather.  It was absolutely beautiful outside.  This morning i went to get Katrina's 2-month pictures taken.  Mom came with me to keep an eye on Houston, which was unbelievably helpful.  The photographer was getting trained, and he took good pictures, but was painfully slow with every aspect of the process, so by the time he was finished *i* was itching to get out of there...so obviously Houston had lost patience long before we left. 

We went over to Mom's house, because she's got a nice big yard to play in.  And we played outside a good long time.  They've got lots of neighbors who have little kids, so one neighbor has a sandbox, another has a basketball hoop, another has a trampoline and a slide, etc.  Never a dull moment.  Houston's favorite thing is "bouncy bouncy."  Today while we were outside, a pair of ducks walked through the yard.  Houston started following them, so i followed Houston, and the ducks walked next door and got into the tiny little pond -- the pond is honestly about 2 feet across.  But they seemed perfectly happy to be there.

+ 1 - 9 | § ¶It's Tax Day. Ick.

We went over to my parents' house today, and since it was perfect weather, we played outside for a while.  The neighbor kids had the same idea, so we told Houston he should go play with them.  They were playing basketball, so he went over, picked up the ball, set it down, and came running to me full speed yelling, "I did it!"  Then he ran back over and started throwing the ball toward the basket.  He actually did quite well.  I don't know that he actually made a basket, but he certainly got pretty close the majority of the time.  It's really the perfect game for him...he loves to throw things, and that's the object in basketball. 

This morning we made a slide in the living room (couch + table leaf), and that entertained Houston for a good long time.  It's the perfect place for him to try going down backwards or on his tummy, because if he falls off, he's falling onto carpet from maybe a foot up.  Definately a repeat activity! 

Houston is so good at making Katrina happy.  If she starts fussing, i'll tell him, "Houston, go make Katrina happy."  And he'll trot over, put his face inches from hers, and start saying "Oh Katrina!  Happy.  Happy."  And she'll stop fussing and start staring at him and sometimes smiling.  And everytime she lies on the floor, he is right there lying next to her.  Definately a good big brother.

+ 3 - 7 | § ¶Shots

This morning, Houston woke up on the wrong side of the crib.  He was crabby and crying before Juanito even got him downstairs, and that mood lasted until naptime.  Katrina, on the other hand, woke up happy and the smiliest she's been yet.  And then i took her to the doctor, where she got 3 shots.  When Houston was a baby and got his shots, he would cry while they were shooting him, and then for maybe another 30 seconds.  Katrina WAILED.  She cried and cried until she fell asleep in the car on the way home.  And to top it all off, Graham ran away and rolled in something awful and came home completely stinky.

So when Houston woke up from his nap still a bit on the cranky side and Katrina was still distraught from her shots, i decided that today was a good day to take drastic measures.  So i broke out the paintbrushes and we went out back and started painting our old VW van that we're planning to make into a playhouse for the kids.  That entertained him for about 15 minutes, but then he discovered that he was allowed to make a mess outside by breaking off the tops of tall weeds, so he did that for another 15-20 minutes.  And then he started running away, so we came back in the house.

+ 5 - 4 | § ¶Katrina's 2-month-day

Today is Katrina's 2-month birthday.  I think this month went by a bit more slowly than the first one, but it's still hard to believe that she's already two months old!  But she's definately getting bigger and more interactive.  She's not a tiny little baby anymore.  I wish that little tiny baby stage lasted longer. 

Back a few years ago, Graham had it pretty good.  Then Houston was born, and suddenly he went down a step on the totem pole.  Then Katrina was born and he took another step down.  Today, it was another step.  We were getting ready to leave, and Houston went to Graham and said, "Graham, upstairs."  And Graham sadly got up off the couch and walked slowly to the steps to go upstairs.  To make up for this "injustice," we had Houston pick out a bone to give Graham when we got home.  Poor dog.

+ 5 - 5 | § ¶Pinecones

A lot of kids have something they like to sleep with...a teddy bear, a doll, a blankie.  Houston has a pinecone.  I can put him to bed with blankets, bears, and a pacifier, and he'll always ask for that stupid pinecone.  And if i try to just put it on the edge of his bed, he'll grab it and snuggle it up under the blankets.  What a weird kid.  He obviously takes after Juanito.

Today we got a fun package from Karen Dreyer!  Houston got a "Finding Nemo" painting book, which he was completely impressed with.  He also got some little animal capsules that grow when put in water.  We did one of them, and Houston just watched and watched the glass.  There were lots of other fun things too...including Suzie Q's!  Thanks Karen!

+ 4 - 5 | § ¶Happy Easter!

This morning we went to church, which turned out to be a little hectic since the nursery was full...so Houston sat with us.  He mostly did really well, although we've learned that it's nearly impossible to convince a 2-year-old that it's necessary to whisper.  Everything is said at regular volume.  After church, we went over to my parents' house (again...5th day in a row!) to celerate with the family. 

Our family has the goofy tradition of having an Easter egg hunt...not just for the little kids, but for all of us kids.  If you were to watch my Mom and Dad's house on Easter afternoon, you'd think we were crazy....  My parents hide the eggs, we all grab buckets, and when they say go, all us "kids" (all of us are in our 20's or 30's) go running around the yard trying to find as many eggs as we can before our siblings find them.  It gets fairly competative.  This Easter the grandkids were given a head start, and there was some definate grumbling about unfairness.  At first, Houston didn't really know what to look for, so i had to point out where the eggs were and tell him to pick them up.  Once he figured out there was candy inside, though, he was all for finding more eggs!  Apparently while i was inside feeding Katrina, he chowed down two eggs full of M&M's.  No wonder he didn't want to eat his dinner!

+ 4 - 5 | § ¶Dizzy

Today we went over to Mom and Dad's house for pretty much the whole day.  Jackie and Eric (Jackie's my sister) and their family are up for the weekend, and my sisters Jill and Chellie were over too.  So with 2 babies and 3 little kids and 9 adults, things were a little loud but fun. 

Houston, Wyatt, and Kelly had fun playing on the trampoline next door.  They also have a swingset next door, and on this swingset is a thing that is about 2 feet in diameter and spins around, much like a merry-go-round.  Houston and Wyatt wanted to try it, so they each stood on one side and held on, and i started spinning.  After a couple of seconds, i asked, "do you want to stop?" and they both said no...and about 3 seconds later Houston got a serious look on his face and just fell off.  I quick picked him up and stood him up, and he promptly fell over again.  Totally dizzy.  And as soon as he was able to walk a straight line, he was begging to do it again.  I remember being able to get dizzy and enjoy it.  Now if i get dizzy i feel sick for the rest of the day.

We dyed Easter eggs with everyone this afternoon.  If you want a cool new way to decorate your eggs, color them with crayon first and then dye them...the dye doesn't stick to the crayon, so you can make detailed designs.  Also, Houston whacked his on the table and cracked it a little, and after it was dyed it had a spiderweb effect that looked really cool.

+ 4 - 8 | § ¶Bad Friday

Today i saw 3 birds making nests and i heard our neighborhood woodpecker.  Which must mean that spring is getting closer!  My parents have a robin that has built its nest in the same tree for several years now (which doesn't thrill my dad), so today i took Houston out to look at it.  He didn't seem too impressed.  The robin wasn't any too happy with me, and sat there chirping loudly the whole time we were near the tree.

We had our "Bad Friday" service at Mars Hill tonight, and it was a really good service.  He talked about suffering and sorrow and how we can't skip over the suffering and go right to the happy stuff...we have to live through Friday to get to Easter Sunday.

+ 1 - 8 | § ¶Sing a Song

I managed to completely exhaust Houston today.  Yeah for me!  We went to the park and played for an hour, then went grocery shopping, then went to my parents' house, and by the time we got home, he was eager to go to bed.  He's just snoring away. 

Houston made up a song today (I think he takes after Travis in this regard) that goes, "Tika tika tika tika Momma.  Tika tika tika tika Momma."  He just started singing it today in the car.  It still makes me smile to think of it, it was so cute!  He's totally started singing the past week or so.  I was most shocked and impressed when i was singing "Amazing Grace" in the car and he started singing along!  And he totally knew the words (well, half of the words.  The rest he just kind of mumbled through).  He also sings along to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Jesus Loves Me," and "You are my Sunshine" among others.  He apparently has my memory for song lyrics.  And he love to sing, so he often asks me to "Sing a Song" and then tries to tell me which song to sing.  Of course, he doesn't know the name of the song, so he'll use some random lyrics from it and i just have to try to figure out which song he's talking about.

Have i mentioned repeatedly that Katrina has become the smiliest little thing?  I think i'm extra excited about this because Houston was always such a serious little baby.  She'll just watch people, and if she gets attention she'll just break into a huge smile.  It's so completely adorable.

+ 2 - 9 | § ¶Success!

Woohoo!  We got a new car!  It's a Ford, and it's an automatic.  Both quite remarkable features if you know Juanito.  But it's supposed to be a good, reliable, never-will-die kind of car, so we're hoping for the best.  Plus it's not one we're planning to own until it dies...just until we find one that suits us better.  We just decided we needed a car, and any car that would provide reliable transportation would do nicely.  After buying it, we drove back to my parents' house to get the license plate from our old car so Juanito could drive the car to work today.  While we were there, Houston had fun "cleaning up the messy" of our old car, which basically involved taking all the broken plastic pieces and throwing them into the hole behind the bumper.

When we were waiting for Houston to be born, we bought a stroller.  It's a great stroller.  The car seat just snaps right in when the baby is little, and then it makes a great stroller for an older kid after they've outgrown the car seat.  But since Katrina has now taken over that stroller, we needed another one for Houston for when we take long walks.  My parents graciously let us borrow the umbrella stroller that they have from when Jill and Chellie were babies, and we've been using that for a few weeks now.  Thanks, Mom and Dad for letting us use it.  We totally appreciate it.  But let's be realistic here...that stroller is way past its prime.  It's seriously obnoxious to push.  For one thing, it's missing a wheel.  So it seriously pulls to one side.  And the plastic part that the wheel is supposed to be on just keeps getting more and more worn down.  But even if the wheel were still attached, it would still be quite unpleasant to push.  The wheels are just hard plastic, so you feel every vibration in the sidewalk.  All that to say that we got ourselves a new umbrella stroller.  (Two new vehicles in one day!)  So this afternoon Juanito and i used it to walk on down to the Bagel Beanery to get some yummy bagels.  Houston's favorite part was putting his bagel in and out of the little bag.

+ 3 - 8 | § ¶Happy Birthday, Jackie!!

Today is my sister Jackie's birthday... Happy Birthday, Jackie!

We did more car searching today.  There was one car that seemed like it might be promising, so we drove around looking for the address we were given (which didn't exist), and finally gave up and came home, only to learn that we had turned around in the driveway of the correct house.  So Juanito went back to look at the car, which turned out to have 225,000 miles on it and belonged to a guy who has the gout.  So we're still looking.

Juanito watched the kids for a couple of hours today so i could go out with Keren.  We actually ended up just driving around to various places, including to get Katrina's one month pictures and the pictures of Houston with the guitar.  And we got Chinese food and brought it back home to eat with Juanito.  Yummy.  So nothing terribly exciting, but it was fun to go out with Keren and to go out without kids!

+ 1 - 7 | § ¶Melt-downs

Today was a very 2-year-old day for Houston.  He had a total of 4 melt-downs, which is really 3-4 more than he has on normal day.  So I feel a little bit drained.  Yawn.  It wasn't even like i was asking him to do anything unusually horrible...sit in the stroller so we could take a walk, leave Beth's house to go home, come in the house, and get out of the bathtub.  All, apparently, perfectly valid reasons for throwing yourself into a tizzy.  Meanwhile, Katrina suddenly came up with a fever of around 100 degrees.  No reason or warning. 

We spent most of the day trying to figure out if there is any car available around here in our price range that is a model we'd concider getting.  So far no luck.

So cute...babies can sleep in the funniest positions.

Tomorrow is Drop of Water is a Grain of Gold Day in Turkmenistan.

+ 5 - 5 | § ¶04-04-04

Today was Sunday, so like all Sundays, we went over to my parents' house, where all kinds of interesting activities went on.  At least, interesting for us.  A couple of years ago, my brother Rick was driving along and drove over one of those counter hoses that lay across the road.  He got home and found that his muffler, which was dragging on the ground, snagged it and he had dragged the hose all the way home.  So it's now a toy.  Juanito and Jim spent a good long time outside with the hose tied around the fire hydrant in my parents' front yard, pulling the hose as far as it could go and then letting go to watch it snap.  Fun for the whole family! 

My mom, Jill, and i had fun going through my mom's cedar chest, looking at all her old stuff she's saved.  Some of it was really fun to see, like clothes from when we were babies, report cards from her grammer school days, and little things she's saved for us.  Other stuff was laughable, like the hat that she wore as a bridesmaid in my aunt's wedding.  A nice little trip down nausea lane. 

Houston had fun playing a "new" game; "Break the Ice."  The actual goal is to knock out as many pieces of the "ice" as you can without knocking this little guy out.  Houston's goal was to just hammer the game as hard and as fast as he could.  So much more time was spent actually setting up the game than playing it, but it amused him for quite a while.  He also got a kick out of the little people's castle that i got for a birthday present when i was about his age.

+ 5 - 2 | § ¶Don't forget to change your clocks!

This afternoon, Katrina was just incredibly smiley.  She's getting more and more interactive.  During every stage of Houston's first two years, i kept thinking, "i don't want him to get any older!  He's just too cute right now!"  And yet, the older he got the more adorable he got.  The same thing is happening with Katrina.  I think, "I love this tiny baby stage!  I don't want her to change yet."  And now she's growing and starting to smile and i think she's even cuter than she was, as if that were possible!  Not that i'm a proud mommy or anything.

Juanito had today off.  His last few weekends off were pretty busy, so we spent most of today just relaxing.  Juanito took Houston out for a ride to go looking for cars, to see what was available at the used car lots.  While they were gone, Katrina and i watched "Alias" on DVD.  Well, i watched.  Katrina mostly slept. 

Tomorrow is Tomb Sweeping Day if you live in Taiwan.  Otherwise you'll have to go with Palm Sunday.

+ 6 - 1 | § ¶Happy Birthday, Ashley!

Some interesting things i learned today:  Lonely parrots can go insane.  11% of Americans have thrown out a dish just because they didn't want to wash it.  Armadillos can be housebroken.  George Washington was not really the first president of the US.  The US pledge of allegiance was written by a socialist.  General Douglas Macarthur's mother dressed him in skirts until he wsa 8 years old.  And finally, Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

Today is my brother Rick's girlfriend Ashley's birthday.  I am completely impressed with him.  He made her a gorgeous jewelry box, called her mom to find out her favorite cake, made the cake and frosting and frosted the cake to within an inch of perfection, made a pinata (a pig) out of paper mache and filled it with candy, and set up a whole bunch of party games to play with her (pin the tail on the donkey, drop the clothespin in the jar, throw darts at the balloons, bozo's buckets, etc.).  Definately earning bonus points!

+ 5 - 2 | § ¶April Fool's Day!

As we were driving to my parents' house today, i looked up and realized that the sun was behind clouds, but very thin clouds, so i could actually see the shape without immediately becoming blinded.  I was tempted to keep looking at it, but reason won out.  Then i looked back at Houston and realized that he was staring right at the sun, completely intrigued by it.  I quickly said, "Oh, Houston, don't look at the sun!  It will hurt your eyes!"  But he continued to just stare at it for several seconds (I got a 6 at the sun stare!) before finally looking away, and then proceeded to repeat, "hurt eyes" about a dozen times.  Ah, the mind of a toddler. 

I'm so happy about the warmer weather we've been having!  This morning we took a walk with Beth, and it was only a little chilly at 9:00!  By afternoon, it was... well, ok, not warm... but definately not freezing!  Houston got to help my Dad wash the car.  (I told my dad that he has to teach Houston how to wash cars so that he can take over the job...Juanito and i don't do well at getting that done.)  And Houston got to play with Grandma's rocks out on the porch.  Even Katrina enjoyed the outdoors, although she slept through most of the walk.