QUOTE OF THE DAY

It's baseball season again, and the one thing I didn't take in to consideration when we started these sports commitments, was that we have GROWING boys.  That means, each season we can't just reuse our stuff, like probably their feet wont fit in their shoes from last season.  Novel idea, but cheap ole me never thought about this.  So, Chance and I were in line to check out with our handful of baseball gear, one size larger.  The line was looooong, and damn those displays near the checkout counters......I swear when I shop with kids in tow, I always spend more money.  Chance was begging for the sunglasses beautifully displayed there.  The lady in front says, "I have a boy about your age.  He got 2 pairs of sunglasses and broke them both, so now he doesn't get any more sunglasses".  Chance was perplexed.....and asks how old her son was.  She proceeds to tell him he was born December 3, 2003 (Chance was born Dec 22, 2003).

Later in the car on the way home, Chance says,

"Mom, I can't believe that boy was 19 days older than me and broke both pairs of his sunglasses.  I mean, how can someone SO MUCH OLDER THAN ME be SOOOOOO irresponsible?"

I'M MELTING

Remember this scene:



Well, you would have thought that was Brooks today as we were walking in to the gym.  He's almost 18 months old, and I think this was his first time ever to experience rain on his face.  And it wasn't even really raining.  It was a nice, gentle mist.  Either it doesn't rain much in Texas, or we just don't get out much.

We got out of the car and had about 100 yards to walk in to the front doors of the gym (we got in to the car in the garage this morning).  Immediately he grabs his face and starts somewhat screaming, somewhat complaining.  And then proceeds to say in his best 18 month old pronunciations......"EYE" (as he points to his eye", "NO!!!!" (for nose), "MOUF!!!!!!" the stress is increasing, "CHEETS" as he points to his cheeks as if they are melting off his face!

We recover and walk inside cause the kids club is so cool it makes even the most distressed toddler forget about rain and delve in to the world of Elmo, and playdough, and blocks, and other toy taking toddlers.  As we were leaving though, he ran out the doors in eager anticipation of picking up rocks as we always do on our way out.....only to stop abbruptly upon picking up one rock, looks up to the sky and bats his eyes at the mist, drops the rock and screams "EYE, CHEETS, MOUF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Mom, does this ever happen to you?  When I start watching a movie like Harry Potter, all I want to do is watch it over and over again, ALL THE TIME, even though it is very INAPPROPRIATE."

Good thing this week the Harry addiction has been replaced with Mickey Mouse.  We digress but at least it's APPROPRIATE.

The Charmer

Brooks turns 17 months on Wednesday.  Boy does time fly.  He is still a walking ball of happiness, his positive energy radiates in everything he does.  This week his new thing is to JUMP.  He yells "ump", bends his knees and throws his arms up above his head and gets absolutely no air what so ever.  But what can you expect from a man of such stature.  I mean the kid just outgrew his coat today and put on Chance's from when he was THREE.  And it fit, less about an inch in the sleeves. 

Being the only girl amongst a household of boys, I've gotta say that I yearn for the day that bodily functions don't come in to play. 

We opened the door tonight to this woman that was buying some DVD's from me, go figure, and Brooks comes trodding up..  The woman sees him, is immediately put under his spell and says, "hey cutie!".  Cutie proceeds to blow air thru his lips making a very loud fart noise and proceeds to say "Toot".  She puts he arm to her chest, takes a gasp backwards and says "oh my, I'm glad my little girl can only say mama". 

So charming.  But this is why we love Brooks, cause he can look so darn cute even saying Toot.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

I've mentioned in prior blog posts that I am a selling maniac.  Opposite of those hoarders that I like to watch on TV.  And Chance picks up on this, often making sure that I am not going to sell his bedroom by the time he gets home from school. 

But the other weekend Chance and I had left to run some errands and have some special "mommy-Chance time".  He had been playing in Brooks's room trying to piece together a train track but little fingers kept encroaching on his work and destroying it.  It didn't end well, with Brooks screaming and crying and Chance fuming mad.  We get in the car and he proceeds to tell me:

"Mom, I am VERY VERY VERY SERIOUS about this.  I think it's time that we sell Brooks.  REALLY."

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"?"