Tori's Tale of Woe

We are Macs. Big time. We have nothing PC related in our house at all.  We encourage such behavior in our friends as well.....and so I introduce you to Tori and--good Lord help her--her ipod touch.

Tori received this absolutely wonderful little gadget as an early Christmas present from her wonderful, loving parents....and upon receipt of it it looked totally normal.  She loved it and cared for it and loved it some more until one fateful day on the way to choir practice when she slammed it in the car door. Hard. Twice. It was her mother's fault entirely, but we wont get into that here....


Anywhoo, it got slightly smooshed. Or crushed. Or obliterated.


I am not sure what exactly you'd like to call it, but it had jagged shards of glass sticking out of it and that is generally bad. But guess what...!

You betcha!! That bad boy totally still works!! Well, worked, but we will get to that in a minute....

So, Tori being Tori---who I will say right here is, with the exception of my own freaking awesome kids, quite possibly the coolest most unbelievably terrific kid I have ever met---she wrapped the shards of glass with some clear packing tape, put it in her pocket and went on her merry way.  She also mentioned on more than one occasion within my earshot that it was kinda louder when broken wide open and that that was kinda nice.  Have I mentioned I ❤ that girl.
Anyway, this has been going on for like 2 months now and now, finally, today, the thing bit the dust.  So RIP oh wonderful resilient ipod touch.  You were a masterful example of Apple quality and we applaud you for it.   Also, you played all Tori's weird music all this time and never complained or anything....for that anyone would deserve a metal.  J/K Tori.

So sleep well ipod touch....and if anyone has a spare one they would like to donate to poor ipodless Tori just give me a call and I can hook you guys up.

New Toys after Christmas!

Yesterday we got a super cool present in the mail from Aunt Linda and Uncle Squibby.

It is the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics and Caris is loving it to death. She has the C for Caris, the J for Julia and Jackson, M for mommy and D for daddy all down pat. We highly recommend this little toy. The letters are all magnetic so they arent all over...except all over the fridge, but that is fine. It only plays music when you push the button...and just for a few seconds, not minutes. And it is fun for all ages....as you can see below.

THANKS AUNT LINDA AND UNCLE SQUIBBY!!! WE MISS YOU GUYS!!

Caris's 3rd Birthday

My baby is 3. THREE, do you hear me?! It is sickening. If I could come up with a way to stop time, entirely, I would do so. I can barely stand to think about it.
Anyway, we had an awesome party....what else could we do? Aunt Katelyn came in town special, just for the occasion. And Chris traded birthdays with her to accommodate her guests. ("Thank you, daddy!!")
Here are the pics of our baby doll.




It was Princess themed....of course. This is the "cake".


And the setup.


Caris and Aunt Katelyn....Caris is eating her birthday gift from her brother.....a cinnamon bun. Dont ask me, he just showed up with it?!


You can also see my punch bowl in the background. Hand me down from Nanny and the first time we've gotten to use it!

We had pizza for lunch.....papa was a bit messy by the end.




She changed outfits about 5 times during the shindig. Her wings are getting a little old and pitiful.



She is 3!!



This is Caris telling Julia and Tori, "Stop messin' wif my TOYS!!!"


The new Tink outfit, with slippers and video....



The new coffee pot....we drink alot of coffee around here and Caris has been jealous for awhile. They dont make a lot of play kitchen coffee mugs. We got the Braun....it drips and makes noise and everything.


We love the crap out of this kid. She is terrific!!

First Day of School 2009

Way too soon we have come to a new school year. None of us are particularly happy about it, but then nobody really asked us what we thought. If they had we would have told them that on tv, all the kids go back in the fall...when it is cool...when leaves are falling off trees and you can wear hoodies on the first day. Instead, it is 99 degrees in the shade, the leaves are burning off the trees from too much heat and lack of water and it is smack dab in the middle of what could have been a great summer if it had lasted maybe 4 weeks longer.

Anywhoo....my kids looked cute. Though they are decidedly not little enough for me to dress them all pretty and cute for their first day, they took great pains in picking out their own first day outfits. I just made a slight suggestion here and there. We are also in a whole new hairdo world this year, so the flat iron was getting a workout this morning.

Julia had met her teachers the other night at orientation so we knew her's already. She is happy with her schedule, her teachers and about starting algebra this year. Jack got Mrs. Lemley which made us very happy. Julia had her in 4th grade too and she is her most favorite teacher ever, so we are hoping Jack will feel the same way....so far, he is loving her.

So, without further ado, the rug-rats in all their glory....

This is the tree they pose "underneath" every year with their sign. This sign is lame because I made it with a crayon 5 minutes before we left because the printer is out of ink. Also, obviously, they no longer fit under the tree.


Close up...


This is the full outfits....and I want no crap out of you people about Jackson's shirt. He just laughed so hard and so completely adorably after he had this all laid out on his floor with the socks and everything and I got my first look at it. I told him to pick out something nice and he thought he was so clever....I couldn't tell him no. I have to admit, he did look pretty damn cute.
As for Julia, you can tell by the attitude how cool she thought she looked....


This is what I am dealing with....


One more of the backpack you cant see in the others.


So, all in all, a great start to what we hope will be a great year!

Day at the Dam

Yesterday, with the sister and brother-in-law here in town, we had an afternoon at Cheatham Dam. The kids opted out of the swimming area, so we stuck to playground/sand pit and hot dog grilling. We really enjoyed it. The weather was beautiful, it wasnt too crowded and other than the flies buzzing our food it was all good. Poor Chris had to work all day though, so he missed the fun :-(

Barefoot in the sand.

Slide hair.

Walking with papa to see the ducks/geese.

The new haircolor sees the sun for the first time.

Skipping rocks.

Wearing a "probably unsanitary, but we tried not to think about it" found birthday hat. Go spiderman.

The whole famn damily....note my ever so photogenic face. Nice.

Country kids go on a field trip--to an agricultural exhibit?!

On Thursday afternoon, Jack's class had a field trip to the Ellington Agricultural Center. I will admit that I would have preferred a culturally rich field trip to the city since all of these kids have grown up in the country and are very familiar with agricultural things, but no one really asked me. Obviously...
Anyway, the place is nice and has lots of nice exhibits. They have a kind of colonial village setup. There was a blacksmith, a lady making dipped candles, butterchurning, and weaving. They also toured the Agricultural Museum. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves---especially after visiting the water fountain. It was kinda hot...

Jack with cow...


This is where they stable the police horses for the city. This is one "on duty". They are beautiful horses.


Petting the miniature goats...


Watching the music demonstration.


Next comes the picnic at a park down the road from the Museum. We will not discuss how the buses totally ditched the 10 cars that were following them and left us all completely lost in the middle of the Southern Hills Hospital area....no we wont discuss that part.
Eventually we found our way there.


Then comes the part where they all passed out from the heat...

...because kids these days are wimpy. { When I was a kid, we used to walk all the way to school in the heat... in florida... in the summer...it was a million degrees....etc, etc, etc.}

Band Geeks--UNITE!!

Tonight we went to the Beginning Band Spring Concert and Awards Presentation. Much fun was had by all. The Liver Lip had participated in Solo and Ensemble competition last week and received a superior on her solo and on her duet with "Miss Snoopy" accompanying her on trumpet. Here are some pics!

The grand entrance...

Medal handout...

Pack up your junk to go....

Slam into a music stand with your french horn and make it come crashing down on your departure, because you are your mother's daughter for sure...

Liver Lip and Snoopy...


Congratulations Girls!!

Girls Day Out

Our favorite outing--Costco for pizza....




And then visiting the giant guitars!!



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