A little political...a lot sweet.

For some reason the kids have been talking a lot about marriage and girlfriends and boyfriends and having kids, etc. They are both certain they want families when they grow up. Little Bitty, when asked what she wants to be when she grows up, says “a mommy”. Although, I think she'd prefer to have like a baby penguin as opposed to a human. Brother wants to be an author or toy designer when he grows up. However, Little Bitty told him he should either be an engineer…or maybe have a lemonade stand. She also announced that she doesn't EVER want Brother to get married. She wants him to stay with her. Awww.

Earlier this week they were talking about girlfriends. Brother is smitten with a certain little girl in his class – and has been all year. Little Bitty announced that her girlfriend is Audrey. Brother very sympathetically explained to her “Well, Audrey shouldn't be your girlfriend…because you would never be able to marry her. Well – not in Tennessee anyway, maybe if you moved to Washington or somewhere.” Brother and I had had a recent conversation about same-sex marriage because we know several same-sex couples in Nashville. He was wondering about one family we know that has two daddies and if the daddies were able to get married. Pretty insightful for a six year old, no?

For the record – I want my kids to be able to marry whoever they want, wherever they want.

An ironic thing here is that Audrey is Little Bitty’s cousin…and that’s probably legal in Tennessee. ;)

There was a Little Bitty who Lived in a Shoe...

Conversation between Brother and Little Bitty in the back seat of the car as we drove to Alabama last week.

Little Bitty: [Brother], are you going to be a Daddy some day?

Brother: Yes. I think I'll have three kids. (time passes) Wait, actually - I think I'll just have two kids and a dog. You know - a son, a daughter, a wife, and a dog are really all that a man needs.

Little Bitty: I'm going to have 14 kids. Wait - no - 100 kids. And they'll each have THEIR OWN dog. And their own horse. So... I'll have 100 kids, 100 dogs and 100 horses.

Brother: Wow. You better have a million dollars then.

A February Weekend with Team T

Blake had a conference this weekend so Brother, LB and I were on our own for a couple days. We missed him terribly but we managed to pack a lot of fun into our days. Friday night we tried a new pizza place with my sis and her family. YUM. The pizza was great - and we got to sit at a big round booth which is always good for the kids. The service? Well, I guess they're still learning. It was great to hang out but my sister works a real job where she has to get dressed and show up some place every day Monday thru Friday - so by Friday night, she was kind of a drag understandably tired and the night was short and sweet.

Saturday (see - I'm going to do one of those blog posts where I list the mundane activities of our whole weekend) we went to see "Pedro y el Lobo" (Peter and the Wolf for you non-Spanish speakers). It was the symphony with narration and puppets - all in Spanish. There is a lot of good stuff I could say about this performance. The fact that Little Bitty fell asleep on my lap and then peed all over herself and me - is not one of the good things. The fact that this happened less than half-way through isn't good either. We were about to leave due to the fact that I was bored out of my freakin' mind all wet, but then the puppets came out and Brother wanted to stick it out to watch that part. So we did. By the end I felt so proud that we had stayed for the whole thing that I wanted to dance and sing that Dora song, "We did it, du du du du du du du du du, Lo hicimos...."! If you haven't inferred by the description above - apparently I am not a lover of the symphony. I DO love the idea of it. Kind of like going to museums. Anyway - all in all a great experience for Brother and we saw a lot of friends, yada yada yada.

After Pedro, we went to Alabama to hang with Mum, Papa Bob and Grandma. The kids love going down to their house. We got to walk along the river shore in front of their house and gather nature treasures - the weather was awesome! And my mom has a basket full of maybe 100 beanie babies - so that's always a big hit. They had beanie baby Olympics sliding the different little creatures down the stair banister and throwing them over the upstairs balcony. Good times. The kids love their mum and papa bob - so all was good.

Blake returned around the same time we did - just in time for a Team T hang out session on the couch watching Spy Kids 2.

There you have it. I didn't even touch on the karate class we observed Saturday morning. I'll wait until Brother actually participates to write about that.

A Little Bitty Quote

"There are NO winners in Jenga. Only losers and not losers."
-Little Bitty to Brother upon hearing him exclaim that he was going to win at Jenga.


It's funny cause it's true.

We're over the snow.

I'm back at home with my little ones so I can't complain...but (you knew there was a but) it snowed again. Which means that school is cancelled - again. This also wouldn't be a big deal except that Little Bitty got sick as soon as I got home from my work trip and stayed home yesterday - and I was hoping to actually be somewhat productive today. Instead, I have both of them home. Really, if it weren't for this pesky "job" thing - I'd love having them here all day. I do count my blessings though and I am lucky that I don't have to take official time off for something like this.



I had to laugh last night when we looked out the door and saw the snow falling. Little Bitty stomped her little foot and said "I am NOT going out to play in that." Me neither! We live in the south for a reason (and it's not for the meat and three restaurants), right?! So, we made the best of it and I whipped up this awesome fort INSIDE today - I guess I was pretty productive. The picture doesn't do it justice, but this was attempt #83 or so trying to get a good shot with my Blackberry and I had to just go with it. The fort is complete with hanging pirate lights. The kids are both squinting because my little camera on my phone has a surprisingly bright flash. I promise they aren't stoned.





Most importantly, Little Bitty is feeling much better today (strep test negative and blood work normal - yay) and I haven't been puked on for at least 36 hours or so, so I'd say we're on the mend.

It's Fancy

I haven't blogged about any of the recent holidays - not because they weren't great - they were. Even bronchitis, antibiotics, coughs, flu-like symptoms and 12 hour drives are tolerable when it means you get to spend the holidays with your loved ones (btw - I didn't have to put up with being sick - my loved ones did, and for the record, I'd always rather it be me). I think the only reason I haven't blogged about the holiday season is because it was just all so busy starting with selling our house in early November - things didn't slow down until very recently - and now here I am out of town for a week for work.

I always dread leaving on my work trips. I don't have to travel often - just about once every few months and usually just for three or four days. But - the days leading up to it put me in a funk. I miss my husband and kids when I'm gone and I just don't feel completely right. HOWEVER - this time I had a little something to get me excited about my trip. Brother and Little Bitty got me THIS for Christmas:

If ever there has been a fancy suitcase, this is it. They know me - I've always had a thing about not wanting to look "plain". I like earrings and makeup. I like fringe-y boots. I like my new suitcase!

The US Air ticket counter lady even commented on it, something like "Oh! You won't lose this will you?!" I smiled and told her that my 3 and 6 year old had picked it out for me. Her coworker then informed me that he had watched a TV show about a child born without a face. ? Very sad - yes. Relevant at all to my fancy suitcase? No, not so much. So....where was I?

Anyway- so here I am - missing my kids - but doing it in style. I actually found time to run out to the beach (by run I mean ride in my coworkers car) and gather some shells in the wind and cold to bring home for Brother and LB.

And when I do get home, I shall be thankful that I get to see their little faces light up. ;)

SNOW DAY!

Well - no better time than today to start blogging again. Even though my blogs have been on hiatus, we haven't. We've been moving full-steam ahead in all areas. Here is a brief run down on everyone:

Brother

• He's reading and writing a lot. He wrote a story last week called "The Legend of Monkey Mansion". It was about a group of monkeys who go to war and the good guys win, and then they party. In fact, they don't just party - they "PARTAY" (one of my favorite lines). At the end - they decide to sit in a field and meditate instead. It's good, right?
• He's learning to tell time on a clock with hands (as opposed to just reading digital clocks) but he can only do it in Spanish (he goes to a Spanish Immersion school). I love this.
• His hair is still long.
• We just finished a Star Wars room for him. Pictures soon.
• He's got lots of nice friends from school.
• He loves tigers, beanie babies, playing Wii (thank you Grammy and Nonno), imaginative play, Star Wars, and mostly being together as a family.

Little Bitty

• She's been delightful the past few weeks. Agreeable, sweet and consciously works to use her good manners. I mention this because it's weird. ;)
• She did cut her bangs off a couple weeks ago. Off. I mention this because it looks weird. ;)
• She may not grow up to be an engineer - but she'd be great at it. She can work a whole puzzle quicker than her very bright 6 year old brother. She asks great, intuitive questions. And she can work the Wii, TV and DVD player like nobodies business.
• She loves playing with her cousin Audrey (who is now right down the street. Whoohoo.).
• At school - she's more quiet than at home and plays with lots of different kids - not just one special friend as you start seeing at this age - but she does LOVE Walter.
• She eats like a hungry wolf... if a wolf were to eat mainly fruits, eggs and yogurt.

I could list what's going on in Blake and my worlds...but - it's just not nearly as cute nor interesting as the kids. It still involves dissertating and system analyzing - zzzzzzzzz.

In more exciting news - we got our first REAL snow in the years that we've been here in middle TN. Yeehaw. Our kids aren't really accustomed to this - but we did get them out there this morning to enjoy it for awhile. I came in to load a couple pictures and decided I'd finally update here. We're without a camera... (Again. How many cameras does a normal family go through in a year? I'm not sure if we're irresponsible or just cheap.) ...so these are from my phone. Enjoy and I hope this is the beginning of a good blog run for 2010!