November 29, 2012

  Yay!! For the 2+ years that we've lived hear, I feel like I've been trying to make a warehouse feel cozy, with its hard tile floors and tall ceiling.  Putting carpet in the family room was a huge step toward this goal.  Next up: better lighting.  I WILL NOT BE DETERRED!

November 28, 2012

  Today felt like we were packing up our house to move.  With carpet being installed in four of our rooms tomorrow, we've had to completely clear them out.  Some rooms we took the time to box things up nicely and other rooms we just put stuff where it was convenient at the time.  Like shoes in the bathtub.  I feel like this is something you'd see on an episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive.

November 27, 2012

  Our local public library has "Pajama Storytime" every Tuesday night. The children's librarian is super animated and fun (borderline annoying sometimes.)  The kids love her.  Tonight was our first time attending story time.  I have a feeling it won't be our last.

November 26, 2012

  Ryan discovered this little corner of the kitchen behind an open cabinet door.  He decided it's a barn.  One day he showed it to Bailey and now I often find her here while I'm cooking dinner.  Tonight she was a sheep.  Can you tell she's "baaaaing"?

November 25, 2012

Back to our regular routine.  Here's Shelbi having her nightly bedtime snack.

November 24, 2012

  We went to the Stockyards in Fort Worth for lunch.  I wish I had stopped to take some more pictures because it was a really cool place.  If we had more time to spend, I would have liked to do some shopping and even ride the mechanical bull.  Maybe next time.

 This was as close as the kids got to riding a horse.

Waiting for our lunch to arrive.  I had a brisket sandwich because what's authentic about a BLT in Texas?!

November 23, 2012

  Today can be summed up in two words: puzzle and movies.  The morning was spent huddled around this table.

 The afternoon was spent seeing "Lincoln" with the adults.

And the evening was spent seeing "Rise of the Guardians" with the kids.  Somewhere in between the puzzle got finished.  

November 22, 2012

  I didn't have the forethought to take a picture of all of us sitting down to dinner before eating, but here we are, content and very full.  The littlest kids had already rushed back to playing upstairs.  I swear I only saw Erik for mealtimes and bedtime our whole trip.  He and cousin Luke spent the whole day doing whatever it was they did in the game room.  Sure it was a mess to clean up every night, but so worth it.

November 21, 2012

  Can I just say, I LOVE having family close enough to visit for holidays! Thank you to Jill and Brad and family for moving to Fort Worth.  I feel like it was just for us.

  We were lucky enough this Thanksgiving to also have my parents, and brothers, Justin and Josh, come to Texas.  Here are some highlights from day #1:

  The girls insisted that it was warm enough for swimming.  Sorry.  Even though 80 degrees is warmer than our 70 degrees in Amarillo, there will be no swimming in November.  

  Bailey quickly got acquainted with the Bitner's dog, Joey.  He is the perfect dog.  I didn't hear him bark once.  He just sniffed around us and sometimes licked our toes.  He didn't even get upset when Bailey tried to climb on his back for a ride.  Poor Joey didn't see her coming.  She loves him and it's about the cutest thing in the world to hear her say "Joey".

 Today was also Jeff's birthday.  It started off with him getting(?) to herd Ryan to the bathroom multiple times to throw up, but ended with dinner at Chipotle, presents, and birthday brownies.  (Ryan was feeling better by lunchtime and no else got sick.  Whew.)

November 20, 2012

  Today was the Thanksgiving lunch at Shelbi's school.  We were trying to get out of town early for the holiday, but Shelbi really wanted me to join her for lunch.  I figured there may not be many more years that Shelbi wants me to eat lunch with her at school, so how could I say no?  It was fun to go see a little bit of what her world is like.

November 19, 2012

  Please let this serve as an apology for all those times that I've judged other parents for letting their kids run the show.  There was once a time that I may have seen an almost two-year-old refuse to wear a bib or sit in a highchair and thought to myself, "This child is not in charge.  Be the parent and put your foot down."  Never again.  Now I'm the parent of just such a child.  She started to refuse her highchair a few weeks ago.  So I got her a booster seat.  Won't sit in that either.  She insists on standing (or kneeling) on a regular kitchen chair to eat her meals.  What you can't see is her bib on the floor under her chair.  Most days she won't wear that either.  
  We've tried putting our foot down.  She doesn't care.  We've assumed that she'll eventually get hungry enough to follow our rules, but she doesn't.  Eating isn't a priority to her.  And when you've got a peanut-sized child who really needs to gain weight, you've got to let this one slide.  
  So I'm stuck cleaning off the table, her chair, the floor, and her clothes after every meal.  Oh brother.

November 18, 2012

A classic Sunday morning game of "Steamroller". Ryan's at the bottom of this mess.  You can see his crazy hair under Shelbi and Sydney's legs.  Surprisingly this didn't end in tears.

November 17, 2012

Happy early birthday to Jeff!  Today he got a new big-boy bike.  Some guys from work are really into mountain biking here.  Although is it still called "mountain biking" if there are no mountains?  How about "trail riding?" Anyway, now Jeff can go with his buddies. 

November 16, 2012

This is Shelbi playing in the church talent show tonight.  I could write about the turkey dinner we had, that it was nice to have Jeff there with us, that the kids were crazy during the talent show, or that of course we couldn't find the kids anywhere when it was time to leave.  Typical church party stuff.  I won't bore you.  I'm going to bed.

November 15, 2012

A couple of months ago we started to notice a spot in the front of Ryan's hair that always seemed to curl.  His hair was kept pretty short, so I was curious what it would look like if we let it grow for awhile.  He hasn't had a haircut since.  This picture was taken just after his bath.  It's especially curly when it's wet and gets really fluffy when he's sweaty.  I'm not sure how long I'll let this little experiment go, but I sure love running my hands through his (clean) hair.

November 14, 2012

We went for a walk today.

   It was a good day to scare the ducks...

 and watch them swim...

 to collect leaves...

 and sticks.

November 13, 2012

   I went to Sam's Club today and made myself promise to not get anything that wasn't on the list.  Then I promptly broke that promise and put a huge tin of Danish Butter Cookies in my cart.  

 I also couldn't resist the hot cocoa and clementines.   To be fair, those were on my list.  Doesn't this look like about the most perfect thing to snack on while watching Christmas movies on tv?

November 12, 2012

Here's a little something I discovered on Pinterest the other day.  Coffee filters are great for making snowflakes.  I picked up a pack of 200 for under $2 today.  The kids can do them by themselves because there's no complicated paper folding involved.  Just fold the filter in half a few times and you're ready to cut.  Shelbi has made a goal to fill her bedroom walls with snowflakes by Christmas.  We might have a white Christmas yet.

November 11, 2012

This wig came with our DVD of Madagascar 3.   Erik's been wearing it around, singing "Afro, circus, afro, circus.  Polka-dot, polka-dot, polka-do, afro."  If you haven't seen the movie, this means nothing to you.

November 10, 2012

Wow, I've done terribly lately with remembering to take pictures.  There's plenty going on, I just forget to stop and take a picture.  So here's another one from my library...

Shelbi and Erik were playing house and wanted me to take their family picture.

This is a picture my mom took.  I remember this day well.  After a long morning at Kindergarten, I was playing house with my younger siblings, Justin, Jami, and Josh, and the neighbor girl my mom used to babysit.  We, too, wanted our family picture taken.  I wish it were clearer so I could get a good look at our faces and the homemade dolls.  But I love seeing the details of things that I wouldn't normally think about.  Like the flowers that were always planted under the window behind us.  Or the mail slot in the front door that I used to look out of before school to make sure the neighbors dogs weren't out.  This picture makes me happy.  It reminds me why I take a lot of pictures.  Life goes on, but a picture can take you right back to a moment in time.

November 9, 2012

    This was a banner day for the Foster family at Famous Dave's today for lunch.  See those white styrofoam cups?  Bailey figured out how to poke her little sharp fingernail into the side of it, pouring milk all over her, the chair, and the floor.  The cup was full, so it was a lot of milk.  Our server was nice enough about it, but you'd think they never had to clean up a spill before.  All he used was about 50 napkins.  No rag, no mop.  
  After this, Bailey had parked herself on my lap.  I was attempting to convince her that the highchair was her place by pointing to everyone else's seat and naming who it belonged to.  As I swept my arm to point to her seat, I knocked over my full cup of soda, adding to the remnants of the spilled milk.  Jeff and I looked at each other and could only laugh.  I saw many other patrons laughing too.  We were quite the spectacle.  I was so embarrassed.

November 8, 2012

  It's coming, and I can't wait!

November 7, 2012

These itty-bitty dusty footprints are all over the wood floors.  They're about the only dust I can handle right now.

November 6, 2012

There used to be days when my girls would let me choose what they wore.  How cute was Syn in Kindergarten, with her knee socks and matching pink shoes?  Nowadays I just send them up after breakfast to dress themselves.  I wonder what it would take to convince them to let me pick out their clothes again.  Just every once in a while.

November 5, 2012

   This is where we've been spending the majority of our day.  While the workmen have been putting in the floors, I've had to keep the kids out of the way, behind closed doors to block out the sound and mess.  This photo is taken from the foot of my bed.  We had to move in a bunch of the living room furniture, so it's super cramped.  (Incidentally the t.v. is part of the bedroom.  Don't knock it 'til you try it.)  I'm going crazy!

November 4, 2012

   This is one of my favorite Ryan moments.  He had just turned three.  Jeff and I were in the other room and came out into the kitchen to find this.  He had taken this pie out of the fridge and was in the process of helping himself.  I love to think about what his thought process was.  "I'm hungry.  I think I'll have some pie.  I'll just put some in this snack cup because that's all I can reach."  Trouble, but oh so cute. 

November 3, 2012

  This is how we're living this weekend.  Even though they are ahead of schedule, I'm going crazy in the dust.  We vacuumed and wiped every surface we could when they left Friday afternoon, but we just couldn't get all of it.  Hopefully just one more day of tile scraping and then the wood floor and carpet install can begin!

November 2, 2012

  November second is a lovely day to have a birthday.  Even though much of the day was spent holed up in my bedroom to escape the noise and dust of the flooring project, it was still great.  Jeff was home so we went out to lunch and dinner.  In my defense, the kitchen was completely unusable.  Following dinner we had this divine chocolate cake made by the fine folks at Walmart bakery and then watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  Not a traditional birthday movie, but utterly fantastic to watch when sitting next to a four-year-old.

November 1, 2012

  Goodbye worn-out, loud, plate shattering, goose egg causing tile floor.  This project was supposed to start next week, but the flooring guy called yesterday and said they could start today.  So we cleared everything out that we could.  We figure the less we have in these rooms, the fewer things we'll have to dust after they tear out the tile.  I CAN'T WAIT!

October 31, 2012

  No Halloween-themed birthday parties, no friend Halloween parties, no work Halloween parties, and no church Primary Halloween parties.  Thank heaven we only had ONE Halloween this year.  And it was a great one. 
   I warned the kids early that costumes would be simple, nothing like Erik's mummy last year that took a half hour to put on.  Bailey is supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood, but didn't feel well and refused to even wear the hood for a picture.  Maybe next year. I don't usually dress up, but couldn't resist this year. 
  The weather was fantastic, in the 70s as we were out trick-or-treating.  The kids could have kept going after 8:30, but it was a school night and they definitely got enough candy.  A success all around.

October 30, 2012

  In the movie The Devil Wears Prada, there's a scene where the fashion people are picking clothes for a photo shoot and one character holds up two belts and says, "They're just so different."  The main character snorts because the belts are nearly identical.  I had a flashback to this moment as we were picking out carpet.  It felt like we were looking at the same swatch over and over, but couldn't seem to narrow the choice down.  It wasn't until I got these home and took a picture of them that I could really see the difference.  In real life, they look just the same.  The only difference we could tell was the feel of them.  I guess it's a good thing that I took this picture so I could see just how pink the one on the left looks.  We chose the one on the right.

October 29, 2012

  When my sister Jami was a little girl, her pediatrician recommended to my mom that she give Jami a bowl of ice cream every night before bed to fatten her up a little.  I don't think my mom faithfully followed this advice.  Now Bailey's doctor has told me to add extra butter to "things that are appropriate" (her words) to help Bailey gain weight.  So I don't feel too bad when Bailey insists on a bowl of after-school ice cream when Erik has one.