Rubba Dub Dub, 4 Babies in a Tub

We won't be able to do this much longer. Four cousins in a tub, and they couldn't be happier about it:

Anna, Colin, Paige, Graham.

Cool Auntie Steph brought crayolas for the tub, and everyone loved making their own graffiti.

Look, Steph, I actually got one with all 4 looking at me:


Here is sweet Paige, sitting on the edge of the tub, singing, "Tinkle, Tinkle, little star." She is quite precocious. If you ask her what her name is, she says, "Paigie WalKER." If you ask what her silly cousins are doing, she shrugs her narrow shoulders in a perfect "I dunno."

Paigie. Will she resent me someday for showing her topless? Hope not.

Heat Wave

Lots of VIPs in Austin this weekend - President Bush stopped by to check on the storm progress (must appear concerned), Chris Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow, and wee Apple were here (along with many other great bands) for the Austin City Limits Festival, and we had my sister and family, on the tail end of their reluctant tour of Texas, aka Fleeing Rita.

Stephanie prudently left with the twins from Houston in what seemed like plenty of time, and got caught in the gridlock going north. She spent a few days in Dallas at my other sister's house, then stopped Saturday night with us on their way back. The cousins took a group bath, then reluctantly went to sleep. We had time for breakfast and a trip to the park before they left for home. Mercifully there was little traffic for them on the way home.

Predictions of 75 mph winds? Pshaw. It was breezy, but we didn't even get a drop of rain. NOT ONE DROP. The weather headline here is not the hurricane storm, its the heat wave. Sunday it shot up to 107 at the house. Today it only got to 106. I opened the back door this afternoon, and it was like opening the oven door on your face. I picked up Anna at school, and instead of them all waiting out front on the benches, they were hiding inside the big building. "We didn't even go out to play this afternoon," the teachers said. I don't blame them. Its like you wouldn't go out in a blizzard; this is the diametrical opposite.

I checked the chickens this afternoon to make sure they still had water, and they were all hiding in the shade, panting. Bless their hearts, they still layed 2 eggs.

Hopefully soon it may cool off 10 degrees. That's significant, but think of it -- it'll still be 96. Too hot to do anything outside. Thank goodness Wednesday the kids will have gymnastics again, because it'll be too hot to go to the park.

Battening down the Hatches

This is the phrase everybody is using around here. Although Austin is a good 200 miles from the coast, last night they were predicting that Hurricane Rita could still be a category 1 hurricane by the time it moves up here. 75 mile/hour winds or more. Yikes.

I could see Anthony getting more and more wound up as he watched the weather reports. I finally had to take the TiVo remote and put on The Daily Show. Protective night-owl that Anthony is, he stayed up after I went to bed, locating our old Coleman stove from the days we went camping, rustling up various containers for water, and even going to HEB for food supplies.

That was probably a good move, since I hear today that the parking lots at local grocery stores are full, the shelves are empty, and the check-out lines are backed up halfway down the aisles. However, the threat is much less this morning so we are all cautiously relieved. And worried about Louisiana.

We're pretty slow here at the vet clinic today, but a lot of people are calling for sedatives for their pets to relieve storm anxiety. I figure everyone's rushing around, trying to prepare, and the news says "refill your prescriptions" so they figure they better call the vet for some pills. Just remember they're for the dog, not you!

Gymnastics

Today Colin had his first gymnastics class. He saw the class set up last week in the gym at the Rec Center where I work out, and he went nuts. I felt a little guilty because I had taken Anna as a toddler to Little Gym classes, but they were kind of like fun physical therapy for her since she was such a late walker, etc. Although Colin doesn't need the therapy, I figured it would be good for him to channel some of his energy.

We got there 5 minutes early (really, me!) and wisely the instructor said, "Just let him explore and get comfortable with the equipment." Colin went beserk. He ran from brightly colored mat to mat. There were 2 balance beams, 2 monkey bars, wedge mats, and a mini trampoline. He would have been on the tramp the entire 45 minutes if I hadn't made him get off to let other kids have a turn. It wasn't difficult to entice him with another activity though. His favorite was a monkey bar that he could swing from and kick down a tower of big soft foam blocks. He did this one repeatedly and soon will be sporting a 6 pack as a result, I'm sure. There was also a balance beam set up with bean bags at one end and a bucket at the other. Colin walked across the beam, tossed the bean bags into the bucket, then jumped off the beam onto a dot on the floor. (The beam is only inches off the floor - he's not Mary Lou Retton). Another mom was amazed at Colin's throwing ability, but its all that basketball practice he does. At the end of the class we played with the ever-popular parachute.

During the class I kept peeling Colin's hand off my finger. He thinks he needs to hold my hand to jump off the small mats, climb up the stairs, and go across a wide beam. He doesn't, really, and this class should give him more confidence. But in my heart, I want to baby him, and keep him dependent on me as long as possible. My brain knows better and hurts my heart as I tear my hands away.

My heart feels a little better when I see his joy at successfully completing the jump.

You'd think after so much activity the boy would have a good nap, but noooooo, he lay in his crib and sang, and talked, and played for an hour and a half. Oh well, it gave me time to shower and make some phone calls.

Anna is also taking gymnastics at her Montessori school and loving it, though she will probably soon be eclipsed by her brother in that department!

Couldn't resist posting a few more pics from the Women's Adventure Race in Ft Worth:


Here we are doing a 3-Legged Race. Note the rubber chicken I'm holding (part of the mystery events) and the big nasty bruise on my inner thigh (from falling off the bike the previous weekend).


This was literally the last hurdle before the end (hand-holding not required).


Victory!

School conferences

Yesterday I had a telephone conference with Colin's preschool teacher. It was a little tedious. Mostly because his teacher, who is very nice, talks in that breathy, sing-songy happy mode all the time. It's not baby talk, but it's close. "Hello, Jennifer, how are you?!? Thank you for taking time to talk to me today! We are just going to talk about Colin and our goals for him this year! I'm really enjoying him! Do you think he is enjoying school?!?"

Granted, Colin is only 28 months old, so there's just not that much expected of him. We talked about his strengths (he is easy-going, adaptable, and kind). She asked me what goals I had for him this year, and I said, "Well, potty-training..." She agreed that they would work on that. And scissoring! She has noticed Colin needs more skills with the scissors, and with learning how much glue is appropriate for a project. "Well, I'm not surprised he's not that good with scissors, since I haven't really let him use them yet..." I said. She said, "Uh huh!! And you know, we'll work on math skills, like even during lunch time, we might make a chart of how many students brought sandwiches and how many brought LUNCHABLES!"

There are only about 8 children in Colin's class, and they only go twice a week, so I can't believe the parents can't manage to make a sandwich, cut up some fruit, and throw in some yogurt 2 days a week to send to school for lunch! And that there are enough Lunchables there to fill a column on a chart! No wonder Texas children have an obesity epidemic (sadly much higher than other states).

Anyway, Colin's teacher kept droning cheerfully on, then reviewed with me the notes she took about our conversation. I wish Anna's Montessori school was more proactive with parent-teacher communication, but at least none of them talk like that!

With elementary school around the corner, I fear I will have to sit through a lot more conferences like this one.

Vino doing well

My good friend Enricka brought Vino to work on Saturday so that I could visit with him. He does get around extremely well with just one arm. Enricka is totally in love with Vino! He does have a lot of personality despite his miniscule size. Anna is slowly earning him back. Enricka has his cage on top of her rabbit's cage. As you can see, Vino really likes Abigail!

Quiet Sunday

We had a mellow day around here. Anna and I went to a birthday party for one of her classmates. It was in a really nice city park with lots of shady trees - important since it was rapidly heating up into the upper 90s today. There were lots of nice kids and parents. My only complaint was that the party was from 11 am to 1 pm, and they served the kids sugar, sugar, and more sugar.

There was the candy that fell from the pinata.

Then the cake. And juice boxes.

That was it. No other food, not even fruit or any form of protein. The main problem with this was all the kids were hungry since the party was held during all conceivable lunching times. I heard three children complain after the sugar fest, "My tummy hurts..."

Anna, after chewing her second Tootsie Roll, suddenly bent over and started hacking out a half eaten roll. Drooling excessively, she wailed to me, "Its still stuck in there!" Apparently, Tootsie Roll was stuck on her teeth, and trailing down her gullet in a elongated melty brown mess. No wonder she gagged. Blech.

At least 4 adults came up to me and said, "She's so beautiful, I love her curls..." Couldn't agree more!

Mom Jeans

My mom asked me once, "Do you like those low waisted pants?" I told her although I didn't want anything that Britney Spears would be proud to wear, I also didn't like high waisted pants because they make your butt look flat and broad and weird. Then I saw this, the very thing I fear: Mom Jeans

Be very afraid.

(PS My mom gave me some great genes - youthful looks and a petite frame).

W.A.R. II

The Women's Adventure Race in Dallas was great -- except it was in Ft Worth, not Dallas. Actually, Anthony said, "Oh my God, Jenn, do you realize where it is? This is in West Ft Worth!!!" Of course, he and the kids would be driving from N.E. Dallas where his parents live, so this was significant.

The race was held at YMCA Camp Carter, and it was a beautiful site. There were also several evacuated families from Hurricane Katrina staying at the campground. They waved and cheered us on. We started off with the run portion, but it was really more of a hike. When we went up steep rocky hills, it was too steep to run, then back down, again too gravelly and slippery to run. Then we got on our bikes.

The bike portion was nice, going through shady trails with scattered fallen leaves. The bad part was the thick sandy roads we had to ride between the trails. The bike just sinks in the sand, fishtailing and slowing to nearly a stop. The mystery events were almost identical to the Austin race - but I didn't fall on the balancing event! Emily was great on the Mind Puzzle event - we passed a lot of people with our short stop time on that event.

While we were on the first bike ride, Anthony arrived with the kids. Despite the gnashing of teeth because of the traveling distance to the race, Anthony took care of the kids the night before, got them up early, packed the car, and drove to the race. Anthony's mom and dad, and our nephew Andrew also came to help support us. We had quite a posse! Home Depot was at the race with projects for the kids to do. Here Anna creates a wooden box to hold her treasures:



After the first bike race, we had the water event. There was a small man made lake with a tiny island in the middle on the campgrounds. We had to go around the island. Emily and I piled into the tiny inflatable kayak, but our legs stuck out, and our dragging feet really slowed us down. Emily hopped out and kicked/pushed from behind, while I kept paddling.

Yeah, we might have to invest in an inflatable canoe if we do this again - plus some personal flotation devices that don't fly up around your neck the whole time. There is a float contest, where awards are given for creative floats. I liked this flipflop one. The thong part is made out of noodles, and the base is pink styrofoam wall insulation.


After the water event, we were tired, but glad we were mostly done. We repeated the bike route, without having to stop for mystery events. It was obvious how much more stamina Emily had this time around. We didn't stop except when the sand forced us to!



This next picture is blurry but really captures the moment! We just finished the 2nd bike ride and are getting ready to run the gauntlet and finish!


We really improved out time, finishing in about 1 hour, 20 minutes. We were tired and famished, and we could smell the wonderful meal that Carrabba's Italian Restaurant was cooking for us on site: grilled chicken, penne pasta, and caesar salad. Mmmm. We all chowed down, except for Anna - she would only eat the Clif Energy Bars.


Triumphant Emily and Colin after the race.


Here Montana munches on my watermelon rind after the race. Anthony brought her, too, because we left for home directly from the campgrounds. I didn't get to shower and had to go home smelling my lakey self, but I did change out of my wet clothes before we headed home.

Jumping Cousins

Colin, Henley, and Anna on the trampoline on Saturday. I figure all the physical activity made up for all the time they spent turning their brains into mush watching video after video in the car. Although, Colin's facial muscles do get a work out as he views, and he exaggeratedly smiles or frowns at happy and scary parts!