Egregious Foul

This is my new favorite phrase. It also describes my wanton disregard for all things blog. I had so much fun the last few times I was killing time at the computer, because it had been a while since I checked up on my favorite blogs, and it is fun to read several entries at once! It's like a phone conversation after a month or two of not talking. Except you can't hear their voice, and they don't know they've communicated with you, and it's 100x creepier. . .

Any-who! Still working, and still liking it. I have a neat job, flexible, fun and interesting all at the same time. I have had a bit of an initiation into the working world now, I've been yelled at, complained to (probably about as well), complimented, brushed aside, put on the spot, everything that makes it fun! At very least it is something new and interesting almost every day, which is what I enjoy.



The kids are AWESOME! They are loving their new rooms at school, Ella's actually looks like a little classroom, with desks that all face the teacher at the front, and Kyle is in a room of only 5 kids! Which is so perfect because they still need lots of love and individual attention at only 15 months old! He is literally running everywhere. And yelling. And he has perfected this open mouth cry that carries really well across the house, so as to alert every living being in the vicinity he would like attention immediately.



He's really fun and hilarious to watch. Like many kids his age, he picks up everything. Nothing happens without his noticing and committing it to memory, and he can replicate anything! The way I eat, Ella writing, daddy combing his hair. He tries to put on his own socks, which is so funny, and he loves baby powder. We have to hide it, actually. He can pop the lid off a chap-stick post-haste and paint the wall in a jiffy. He loves to throw and has quite a little arm. He threw a block which caught my head and left a welt! And I was standing up. . . no lie

Well, that;s a basic rundown of the tots. I'll give you my favorite pic as of late.

THIS is why I think Kyle is too skinny..

Mommy, Daddy and Ella at the pool, summer '05




'Nuff said.

Knit-tastc

My newest obsession, well, besides the awesome Apple Airport Express that enables me to blast ABBA and Bread in my kitchen, is these cloths my grandma has been knitting for me! They are the size of a standard washrag, she uses 100% cotton, and they are so fantastic! She intended them for use in the kitchen, and they are so great. They are soft and clean so easily, but the loops/stitches make them grab stuff/scrub really well. I have started buying them from her (I insisted, since I have like 15) and use some in the kitchen and some for bathing the kids she is so great she just takes the $ and buys more yarn!

Here are some pics, since I am so obsessed I thought I'd spread the word. I never would have thought of these. She also makes gorgeous baby blankets. She definitely logs some hours under her OTT-Light :)

Kid's Meal!

Both of my children officially require their own meal at restaurants! That's not to say there isn't any Robin Hood action going on from mommy and daddy's plates to the kids' - especially since they eat as much as we do.

Ella had her very first kid's meal at McAlister's a couple weeks after her first birthday:



And Kyle had his first kid's meal at Yes! McAlisters! A couple weeks after his first birthday!



Ella likes to point out that SHE is the one with "boy hair" in these pics. Here she is three years later with real girl hair.

How Could I?

The Horror!!
I totally forgot our 5 year anniversary. OMG. Josh completely, completely busted me last night! Well, technically it is today, but he came in last night being all nice and sweet (clue #1 I was about to get slammed) and then asked if I wanted him to make reservations for a nice dinner (#2). I kinda feel bad! How could this have happened?

Oh, well. We are going on a vacation later this summer with some friends, and we upgraded our room (to the swim-up beachfront suite with service! Yay!) in honor of our anniversary. I guess I just filed it away as "done." I'm sure he'll forgive me, luckily we're pretty low key about stuff like this, so it's certainly not going to cause any dramatic episodes :) I always cringe when I hear stories of people going crazy because someone forgot their 6 month anniversary or ridiculous things like that. Thankfully neither of us operates that way. Actually, I think he's glad to be honest. There were no high expectations to be met.

The night we got engaged in Key West:


In other news, I am starting a new job soon! I am really jazzed and excited. I'm sad not to spend so much time with the kids, but really, I am just not satisfied at present. I need to be doing more, making something else happen for myself. That's not to say don't savor every second with my kids, but I think that's because it has always been my plan to stay home for X amount of time and then get to work.

AND - we are getting our new countertops over the course of today. Which is why I am holed up with the kids in Ella's room watching Nemo for possibly the 1000th time and bumming around on my macbook. Love it! Although I am ready for it to be finished. I can't wait to see what the stone actually looks like - Josh and I spent an hour at their shop pouring over all the options and carefully choosing one, and then when they came out to the house to make a template of the kitchen, I spotted a corner of a slab leftover in his truck and changed the order on the spot. So we shall see. Hopefully I wasn't suffering hysteria after running around with Ella on her big girl bike in the Texas heat.

They finished pulling the old ones out, so now I'm left with this, waiting for the OTHER crew to come and install. At least it gave me time to sweep out under the stove! Although I did have to complain that they brought the wrong sink to install. Stink!

Our demolished kitchen! (It's really not that bad)

Czechs-Mex 2009

Kyle's first baby pool experience, thanks to his bud Ian.



OK- still trying to figure out how to mobile in pics.. I'll get it eventually..

Circus

Not long ago we took Ella-Ka-Bean-Ka-Bob to the circus!





It was the mini-circus, only one ring, some of the animals and no real clowns, much to Ella's dismay.



She lasted until the lion show, which was a bit ?sad? - there was a lot of whip action...



Anyhow, it was fun, and the $10 cotton candy came with a free hat which provided a majority of the entertainment for the evening, to be honest. She asked me a couple days ago when it will be back, she's ready for another.