The Sand Dudes

We ended up having to take an unscheduled trip to the border because of new visa laws here. We have a million irons in the fire right now as we are organizing Christmas parties for 400 children (including presents, a meal, cake, candy, puppet show, clown show, etc and so forth - and we hold the parties in nice locations, like hotels or restaurants, so the kids can get out of their institutional environment.) Anyway, going on a trip was the last thing on our minds, but I'm glad we ended up going, as we had a few fun days together as a family before the Christmas craziness. (I say a few, as I don't count the 19 hours up and the 19 hours back as "fun".)

We found a hotel for a very good price right on the beach of South Padre Island and spent one of our days there just enjoying the surf, sand and when it decided to grace us with it's presence... sun. The main beach was covered with seaweed and jellyfish, but we drove out to the end of the island that is a state park and that was quite beautiful. Lots of shell hunting and gorgeous, white "sand dudes" as Bub calls them.

The wind was intense, but our Mr. Preshy (short for Precious) handled it amazingly well. Bub just loved it and had so much fun.




Our beautiful Shell Bell.

I love the look of sheer, unadulterated joy on his face.

Our Indisflexible Baby and Halloween

"Oh baby, you're so indisflexible!" was the the loving compliment paid by Bub to our Mister Precious one morning a few days ago. Since two negatives make a positive, we are thinking that this word means that he is very flexible...? Bub has taken to using very large words, and often inventing his own if he can't come up with one that works well.

The other morning I was talking to our Mister Precious Pants (current nickname)...

Me: Oh Mister, you're such a precious baby! (And then to Bub - not wanting him to feel left out), "And you're such a precious pre-schooler."
Bub: I am NOT precious!

Happily, he is now fully potty trained (day and night) and no matter what he says, to me that IS precious!

On to other things: Halloween here is not really celebrated. Rather they celebrate the Day of the Dead, which is November 2nd, and involves visiting cemeteries, a lot of skeletons and other interesting traditions. It is also a big vacation, which this year meant Saturday through Tuesday off! The girls desperately wanted to go trick or treating, but that is not done here, except by very low class children, and also, because of the time change, it would mean going out after dark, which just isn't safe. So, we compromised, and all the kids went "trick or treating" in the house and happily ended up with some candy to show for it.

The girls wanted to be vampires, and even purchased fake teeth, blood and scar maker for the occasion, but I don't think it turned out quite as they had planned. At least they had a lot of laughs! Here Tory and a friend try to be scary...

Tory and Shelly here, looking good at Simone and Manolo's wedding (Simone is Polly, daughter of Marianne and Jerry - yep, she's married and has a kid!)

Mr. Precious Pants bids you farewell, as he takes off for a walk with my good friend, Cel.

Birthdays, Dress up and Thumbsucking

A little update for those of you who want to know...

I had a lovely birthday, including a tasty carrot cake with cream cheese topping baked by our very own Shell Bell. Starbucks has competition! Stephen got me some lovely earrings and Amaretto Liquer (Almond for the uninitiated) and Tory wrote me a poem. I felt loved :-)


The night of my birthday there happened to be a party going on in our house, (an early Halloween party attended by about 30 young people) and Stephen and I went for a few hours. Our young Mister was a Dalmatian. I went as a hippie. You guess what Stephen went as...


Our young fat is getting cuter and jollier by the day... I know this picture is out of focus, but I love the face he's making.


I'll end with this fetching picture of our cutie, who put himself to sleep sucking his thumb! He's the only one of our babies who actually sucks his thumb!

Some Photos

Our young chunk is continuing to grow. He is starting smile more, sleeps through the night, chews his fist with vigor and is definitely the most docile of all our kiddos. He has such a good nature - I feel blessed.

A list of his nicknames are:
CJ
Mr. Grumpy Pants (when he's grumpy)
Mr. Stinky Pants (when he's stinky... you get the idea)
Sir Topham Hat
Mister

Some photos for your viewing pleasure.


Bub asked me to take this picture of them snuggling, but then wouldn't open his eyes!

Mom, why am I in a pink chair?

Well, it's a little embarrassing, but I guess I'll hang out here for a while.

Okay, I'm getting the hang of this and kinda liking it.

Hats and Hair

It sometimes amazes me to watch my children grow up and see them develop their character, their sense of style, their likes and dislikes. I can definitely see some of myself and Stephen in them, but they also have things that are so distinctly their own. Tory has a love for hats and she really does look good in them. She is also good at picking them out and knows what will look good on her. The picture above is her most recent acquisition.

Speaking of style, we all got haircuts recently. I am not so fond of mine - they never, ever get it right, even when I show a photograph of what I want. So frustrating. Anyway, Shelly got a trim, as she is growing her beautiful hair long (picture coming soon). Tory went for a new look and I think her haircut turned out looking quite nice.

Sir Topham Hat

Our young chunk now weighs around 7 kilos and has many rolls. He is more placid than our other babies, and actually sleeps most of the night! Hurray! He is also extremely serious, and hardly ever smiles, just studiously studies the world around him and he lifts one eyebrow and smirks sometimes, which is kind of funny! We have nicknamed him "Sir Topham Hat".

Overheard...

in the kitchen this morning, Ethan's alligator and hand talking to each-other.

Alligator: Be careful with me, I'm a very delicate alligator!
Hand: Oh, Okay.

A minute later...

Hand: Help, help (halfway down said alligator's throat.)

A very DELICATE alligator? Please!