QUOTE OF THE DAY

The similarities between Chance and I sometimes freak me out.  I remember countless nights as a child being terrified of a robber breaking in to our house, and now I am seeing it with him. 

He asked the other night after a slewth of other questions about robbers, their intents, and could I take down a robber if he was shorter than me.  Pretty much that would be over 75% of all robbers, I am sure.

Nonetheless, I found it funny when he asked me, "mom, if a robber broke in to our house and I killed him, would I have to go to Juvie?"

How in the world does my kid know what Juvie is?

Uh, Where's November and December?

Don't really know.  Somehow they got skipped over and the pictures have just sat in Adobe waiting to be doctored.  Well the doctor was in today, botox and all making us all look younger and more fab.  The pics are being posted by the minute in the right hand column but here's a quick teaser.

November brought weddings (an excuse to remember that yes I still do own make-up)

A package of letters came from Chance's old classmates in Zurich......from every one of them.  I started balling.

Thanksgiving weekend in Austin with family.  Train rides at Zilker Park with Umpa, Lisa and Matthew.

An updated family pic in Drew's backyard

Crazy boys at Thanksgiving

We surprised Mimi with a tree one night after coming in from a date.  And then had a tree decorating party the next day.  Brooks discovered that balls are much cooler off the tree than on the tree.

December rolled in and the ELF appeared, causing daily mischief until he left back for the North Pole on the 24th to report back any wrong doings to Santa.  Brooks is still on the hunt for that elf, asking everyone he sees ON A DAILY BASIS if they have his elf......."UUUUF?  UUUUUUF?"  It is now almost February.

We had a Christmas tree decorating party of our own, where we blasted Christmas music and danced around the tree in a moment of tribal harmony.  Those come few and far between and are so wonderful when they do happen.

Unpacking the Swiss Christmas tree ornaments brought many nostalgic feelings of our adventure there

Umpa and Lisa came to visit the weekend before Christmas bringing lots of goodies for the boys.

Chance turned 7.  And again for another year in a row, I asked myself HOW COULD I POSSIBLY HAVE A 7 YEAR OLD.  He asked his closest friends, neighbors and cousins to jump the afternoon away at Pump It Up bounce house.  And then we topped off the afternoon with a Mario and Luigi cake.....I mean who else?

After many hours of agony over WILL I EVER FINISH THIS THING, I finally did: and the kid got his book on time

No Christmas is complete without a Cookie Decorating Party.  And no Cookie Decorating Party is complete without icing smeared all over your face.

Christmas Eve brought tenderloin indulgence thanks to Jane's tried and true recipe.

And the loooooooong awaited, looooooooong anticipated day finally arrived.  Apparently that elf made a good report, cause come Christmas morning there was goodies awaiting us all.

Brooks didn't know which to ride, his new bike or his new broom.

Santa brought me things I never even knew I wanted: a waterproof handheld HD video camera.

Nanny, Pappy and Beth stopped by later in the day, snapping a rare moment of Ryan out from behind the camera.

Little man was happy as can be, of course

Aunt Beth brought him a piano that he can sumo squat next to like Linus

The Day after Christmas we hosted 19 people at our house, the Baganz side of course, fitting us all around one large table in our dining room.

After dinner we partook in some White Elephant fun

And snuggle time for Brooks and Pappy

It was nice to have a new addition to the festivities, Beth's new beau Steve

And Ryan got to live out his lost childhood fantasy of being a gangster with the hat he won from the white elephant exchange

All in all I gotta say November and December were pretty darn good.

A Lot of Love

Everyday we go outside and wait for Chance to get off the bus.  Probably the best thing in Brooks's day.  The kid can't wait to go out there, basically begging me from the moment he wakes up from his nap.

As soon as he hears the engines roar around the corner, Brooks stops whatever he is doing and runs towards the bus, screaming BUH-BUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I've got to capture it on video (with my handy new handheld video cam Santa gave me). 

But until then, this picture will suffice to show the love Brooks has for his brother.  The rest of the afternoon he is by his side, giving him hugs and saying "La-Loo" for I love you.

CLEAN MOUNTAINS

Only those who have lived among the Swiss would appreciate the humor in this hilarious video I pirated from Liz.  I just had to have a clip of it for my own

FIGURING OUT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

CHANCE: "So, Texas is a country and it has 50 states in it, right?  Do all the states in Texas have to know how to sing "The Eyes of Texas"?"

THE GOOD, THE BAD

Pretty much most of school is B-A-D right now.  All of it.  Who needs stinkin school anyways.  

BUT.....the GOOD was, "my art teacher told me that I did a really good job at weaving."  I'd have to agree.

THIS IS PRETTY MUCH PURE AWESOMENESS

New Bikes can make anything possible like 6 foot drops that were once intimidating. 

First Week of the New Year

 My New Years Resolution: CONTENT.  Not "Contentment" which is also on the list, but to produce weekly usable content for the blog.  This leads to New Years Resolution #2: Find time. It's gotta be out there somewhere.  Put the 2 together and we have a blog up and running again. 

This week marks Brooks at 16 months old.  Boy does time fly.  Each month that passes he grows more cute and more loveable.  Right now he and I are amidst a very strong love affair.  Basically it just boils down to the fact that I am the best person to be with at all moments.  Dada, who used to be #1 (remember), has now unfortunately for him taken a back seat.  Or maybe it's not so unfortunate for him at 1 a.m. when Daddy just doesn't do the trick.  Everyday there is a new word out of his mouth.  My favorite right now are "uh-oh", "more", "f-f-f-f-f-f-f" for our new frog pets, "bubbles" for taking a bath, and "no".  Good thing for us, he really only says no if you ask him to.  Or the way he calls himself "Buh-fa" and says "I do" with the most profound Texas accent.  And how could I forget the infamous "Da-doo" for Thank You, which he does say at the most appropriate times.  He even brings me things he shouldn't have and says "da-doo". 

Yesterday the stomach bug hit.  Brooks was a happy camper all day until we went out to the bus stop to get Chance and the river opened and for the next couple hours, I got to experience the insides of Brooks's stomach.  In the middle of vomiting, I asked Chance to hurry and get him a bowl.  He brings it to Brooks who is sitting there in my lap in utter misery, and he graciously looks at Chance and mumbles "da-doo".  How could I not be in love?

BAD, VERY BAD

Apparently Brooks has been really bad lately and I didn't even know it.  Good thing I stumbled upon this note to set me straight.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Please mom, can I play hickey from school today?"