Christmas Lights!

There is nothing that makes me feel like Christmas is Christmas than lights. Lots of them. We started the tradition the first year we were married when we haunted Peacock Lane, hunkered down in our gold subaru.

We continued it, with variations over the years. Sometimes we would drive around Portland, up and down the hills looking for sparkling light shows all through the month of December.

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Then we discovered zoo lights and decided that the best thing was to buy a year long membership since admission to zoo lights cost just about the same amount. That was the part that left me feeling just a twinge of regret, so I determined to fin a light spectacular for Christmas this year.

And lucky me...this show happens about a mile from our house in Central Park.

We did pile into the car instead of walking, but then we parked and wandered around the park enjoying the spectacle. The girls grinned from ear to ear and not a single shiver assailed us as we enjoyed a balmy 70 degrees. Actually, the website suggested that we bring a picnic.

Kindred Spirits

On Tuesday, one of my violin student's parents asked me if I ever did Black Friday shopping. I smiled, and said, "Once. And I did it by myself and had a ton of fun." Well, this Friday, I headed out with the same student's parents at midnight to brave the horde of shoppers at Toys-R-Us. We actually lined up at 11:00 and already there were severl hundred people in front of us. We were smart, though, we weren't there to browse, but to buy certain items, so when we hit the sales floor, we managed to grab all of the items in barely under 10 minutes. But, here is the thing about Black Friday: it's not hard to get in, but to get out. One of us stood in the checkout line while the others went to grab the items. Even then, it took us almost 40 minutes to check out of the store.

Some of you might be shuddering at the idea of stepping into a toy store at any time during the Christmas season. Some of you might be thinking well at least you got that done and could go home. But then, some of you might not know that it was just the first store, and that I didn't go to sleep that night. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and some caffeine to drink and then hung out at my house until 2:45am. Then we split up since Target opened at 5:00am and Kohl's opened at 4:00am. We were in and out of Kohl's in 20 minutes. Drove to Target. Waited an hour to get in, and then were in and out of Target in 15 minutes. Then we drove to Half Price Books and waited for an hour and a half, but were sustained by a quick run to grab some kolaches. By the end of the stint, I was ready to crash, so I picked Tanner up from work and came home. I made breakfast, got the girls dressed and started decorating the house for Christmas while Tanner slept.

Oh, did I mention that I had been up since 5:30am the previous morning because I made a fabulous beer turkey?

My hero brother, Jonathan, finally came to my rescue at around 10:30am and said that he would watch the kids for me so that I could sleep. I crawled into bed, and then Georgie crawled into bed with me. She downed a bottle and the proceeded to roll onto my head where she fell asleep. I finally fell asleep for about an hour or until Georgie woke up. Muddled through the afternoon with Tanner muddling right alongside me and then I grabbed another nap when Reagan and Georgie took an afternoon nap only this time I didnt' wake up when they did and slept soundly until 8:00. Aaahhh...now for some left over turkey and chocolate cream pie.

November in Texas

This morning dawned bright, clear and nippy. At least it was nippy for us because it was about 68 outside. I shivered into sweats, made the girls wear warm clothes and then we headed out for coffee, breakfast and early last minute food shopping.

When we got home, I started the turkey brine and found a recipe for apple pie and royal icing. We left the girls outside to play in the backyard. About an hour into all of this, Reagan came into the house and shouted from the back room, "Mommy, can I have a towel." That is never a good phrase. It's definitely not a good phrase before 11:00am during the month of November. I turned to see Reagan standing in her diaper with rain boots, soaked hair, wet body and goosebumps. Of course, I had to ask, "What were you doing?" Why do moms ask such silly questions? We deserve the anwers we get, like Reagan's, "I was filling my boots with water." I pointed solemnly to the backdoor, and both Tanner and I burst into laughter as we heard water sloshing about in her boots as she headed for the door.

So, I ended up dumping out a great quantity of water from her boots, discovered that Kate had changed into a bathing suit, explained that even though it was 72 outside bathing suits and water play were out of the question, dried the girls and sent them out to play with strict instructions to make mudpies not have pool parties.

Just George Again

Update.

Well, what to blog about today?  Georgie has learned how to say, "Help!"  I guess she hears that word frequently from her older sisters who play act falling off of cliffs and fighting bad guys.  I think it is so funny that she hasn't grown very much.  She just grows wider, but not taller.  Neither Kate or Reagan grow like that.  Kate has topped 46 inches and Reagan is at exactly 3 feet.

I'm not sure what to do about Kate's school clothes.  I bought them a size and a half too big.  At the beginning of the year she was 5T, so I bought size 6 pants.  Not 6X, but 6.  Now they are barely skimming the bottom third of her shoes.  In September she wore size 12 1/2, but I had to fit her into size 13 skates on Sunday.  Kate had her first crush and then her second and then her third, all within about a week.  She has several good friends at school and at church.

Reagan is officially in love with Kai-lan.  I found a Kai-lan outfit on clearance at Target.  She was rhapsodic when I took it out of the bag.  She danced around and around and around and sang out, "You make me so very happy!"  For those of you that don't know: Kai-lan says that ALL the time.  I am constantly amazed at Reagan's 2 year oldishness.  We were at the store the other day, and Tanner told her to come.  She wanted to look at this toy so badly.  She got very frustrated and stomped her foot and said "aargghh!" and then walked to Daddy.  That was it.  That was her temper tantrum.  We stopped and asked her what was wrong, and she looked up at me and said, "I am so very frustrated.  I want ALL the toys!"  A hug and kiss, a short explanation of looking and enjoying but not buying and she was all sunshine.

What other accomplishments?  Let's see...Reagan can identify all the letters of the alphabet.  She can count to 10 in chinese and spanish, and 20 in english.  She draws circles and faces.  She tried a triangle the other day, but it didn't quite work out so she threw it away.  She sings and makes up songs and tries to dance.  But her greatest accomplishment is her friendliness.  Everyone is her friend.

Potty training is progressing slowly.  Reagan actually told me once today that she had to go potty, and she managed one tiny drop into the potty chair.  Then she turned around and pooped in her diaper, then peed in her diaper and then pooped in it again even though I was putting her on the potty every hour.  I was hoping to have her potty trained before swimming lessons start in January, but it doesn't look like it will happen.  Someone suggested putting her in panties, but it doesn't work.  She just pees and poops in her panties, and then I have to clean them.  So, someone else suggested just throwing the panties away, but that would be a trifle bit to expensive, since we would probably go through about 6 panties a day.  She just doesn't care.  I've heard of boys being like this just happy to sit in poop.  Well, now I know of a girl: Reagan.

Georgie on the other hand is showing signs of early potty training.  She sits on the toilet and tells me when she needs a diaper change.  I just wish she could be a little more clear.  I just don't pick up on her babbling until it is too late.  One problem is that she doesn't make the same sound twice.  She keeps experimenting in order to find the right sounds to tell me.  Ultra frustrating that one.  Hopefully, I'll get her to a toilet in time one day.  Sure would be nice to have at least one kid out of diapers.

For the longest time, she was showing a distinct partiality to me.  She would want to snuggle with mommy, sleep with mommy, be carried by mommy.  Then last night she wanted to stay up, but I wouldn't let her.  So, currently, Mommy is not the favorite.  Like Tanner said, "I'm glad our kids have some kind of will, but..." I've been out of favor with her all day, and she only wants Daddy.  If I pick her up she starts to cry and arch her back. Ouch.  I'm not looking forward to her teenage years when she'll throw all of my mistakes in my face.

Jelly and cookies

This week I introduced Reagan to the joys of making sugar cookies.  Tonight I taught Kate how to make jelly.  At first she thought we were making jello, and she asked me what the big jars were for.  We had a lot of fun.  I just made a small batch about 4 quarts.  Kate was fascinated as we boiled the jars in hot water and then made the jelly with pectin and sugar.  She was a little skeptical that the soupy substance could ever be jelly, but tomorrow morning she is going to be in for a surprise, and maybe I'll let her open a jar and have her jelly on toast.

Georgie has a terrible cold, but she's true to form just like all my girls, and she has already figured out how to blow her nose.  I think they must really hate the nose sucker thingy because it always happens around this age.  They get a cold.  I use the nose sucker on them.  They suddenly start blowing their noses.  Unfortunately, the cold seems to making it's round, and Reagan is coming down with it as well.  It doesn't seem to effecting the adults too badly.  I had the cold, followed by a cold sore, but it only lasted a couple of days.  I feel bad for Georgie because there isn't anything I can give her to alleviate the runny nose. 

I've discovered that she loves being in the backpack.  Ever since Tanner has started school, it's been a struggle to get the food shopping done and all of my errands run because Georgie does not like the stroller or the cart, and keeping track of Reagan and Kate at the same time that Georgie is screaming next to the apples and oranges is just absolutely awful.  One day I decided to take a walk, but Georgie in the stroller wasn't working, so I grabbed the backpack.  The one that both Reagan and Kate absolutely hated.  I put Georgie in it, slung it on my back, and suddenly I had a happy baby.  There was much rejoicing in the Howell family on that great day.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

This year for our Thanksgiving Day project we are going to decorate sugar cookies and put them in cookie tins.  Then I'm going to let the girls give them to our neighbors on the weekend.  That means this week is a labor intensive cookie baking week.  Reagan and I just finished our first batch of sugar cookies.  They taste delicious, but I ruined an entire pan.  For some reason the cookies stuck.

I think Reagan really enjoyed making cookies with me.  The entire time she stood on her chair and kept asking when she could like the beaters.  She's use to me making cake.  But she helped me measure and mix and roll and cut out the cookies.  I was surprised that the project held her attention for so long.  She chatted in her very Reaganesque way about her dollies and someone named Penny.  I'm sure I will meet Penny very soon.  I wonder if it is one of her new dollies that she earned for going on the potty.

No, she's still not trained, but I've got her on a schedule so that she sits on the potty every hour.  We've only had a few accidents the last few days, but today, I wanted to see if she would remember to go on her own.  Nope.  She came running to me shouting, "Mommy, I went pee-pee on my dress!"  Oh, well.  I'll keep slogging away.

After soooo much prayer...

Well, God has come through once again.  We have been praying for over 2 years for a Chinese teacher for Kate.  Then two weeks ago, I was talking to one of my students who had studied Japanese in college, and I jokingly said that if only he had studied Chinese then I would exchange lessons with him.  His eyebrows shot up and he said, "Well, my girlfriend is Chinese..."  The long and the short of it is that Kate is getting private Chinese lessons and all it is costing me is a violin lesson.  Wow!  She learned how to write the numbers one through ten this evening and reviewed her colors and things like that.

The Camel

This past weekend there was an international festival at the Wolf Pen Amphitheater, so we decided to take a break from all of our studying and take the girls for a little festive fun.  It was really a big deal.  I was surprised since I've been to other festivals in the area, but none of them were as packed as this one.  There were booths where you could sample native cuisine, children's arts and crafts, chinese painting, traditional dances and of course food booths.  We ran into some friends at the festival, and decided to eat lunch on the grassy hill that leads down to the main stage.  The kids had fun rolling down the hill, running back up and then rolling down again.  They skipped and danced to the music and had a generally good ol' time.

The best part of the event was the camel.  Or should I say camels?  As we rounded a bend in the path, Reagan tightly gripped my hand and said, "Look!  Mommy!  Dinosaurs!"  Yes, with all the exclamation points and breathless pauses inbetween.  Of course, Mommy didn't have the nerve to take the girls to pet the dinosaurs, but luckily for us, Daddy was there.  He had to carry Reagan and Kate because they were just a little afraid of this towering four footed beast with a long neck.  It did look very much like one of those long necked dinosaurs.  Afterward, Kate said it felt like a fluffy blanket, and then asked if we could keep one at home.

Reagan and fluffy

Reagan is in that annoyingly cute stage where she has to take ALL of her stuffed animals with her.  You should see this 36 inch little girl trying to carry 10 stuffed animals to the car.  She has her Minnie Mouse, Minnie the Bear, Aggie the Bear, Chica the Bear, Pinky, Fluffy, Kitty, Kipper, Doggy, Bobo, George and Rainbow.  This doesn't include her Polly Pocket dolls which are typically shoved in her pants pockets or the dolly's car which is clutched in both hands, or her blanket which is tucked up around her shoulders like a fluffy poncho.  She manages to maneuver all of this to the front door.  At that point it is either mommy's or daddy's responsibility to take over and get all of them out to the car.

I know some people might say that we should just leave them behind, but they don't know Reagan.  She's the type of person that will gather up all of the lonely little animals.  She's going to be the one putting bandaids on the neighbor kids' knees.  She believes in doll hospitals.  She has to take the animals with her so that they won't be lonely or scared.  After all, if we left her at home she would feel lonely and scared.  So, after carrying Georgie and an armful of dollies to the car, I end up coming back inside for the second load and then a third load.  And when we come home, I just pray that it's not raining so that my trips to and from the car are easy.

Of griddles, canners, and food dryers.

So, your worst fears are realized.  I am turning into one of those ladies that read about online that have freezers full of food, cans of jellies, bins of dried fruit, enough food to last for years.  Well, okay, maybe I'm not that bad, but today I realized that I was on the verge of cukeness when I made a quadruple batch of whole wheat pancakes just so that I could freeze them and then I looked over at the counter and saw the dryers going at it with my third batch of banana chips.  Then my eyes traveled to the floor where all of my canning jars are stacked.  It's a scary thought, but I'm turning into my mother.

I remember my mom in her long blue mu'umu'u slicing pears, apples and bananas, carefully spreading them on trays before sliding them into the food dryer.  I remember climbing onto the back of the couch and leaning on the counter, craning my neck to watch the food dry.  I'd check back in every couple of hours just to watch the fruit shrivel.  I could never understand why it too so long for the fruit to be ready.

Of course, I think I've surpassed my mom in cukeness in one area.  She never had an EXTRA freezer.  I have stacks of marinated lamb, chicken and beef.  I have trays of lasagna and spaghetti, containers of pumpkin soup and tortilla soup, and tubs of ice cream.  Okay, I don't make the ice cream, but still, I must have at least 50 gallons of ice cream in my freezer.

Of course the pancakes don't go in the big freezer.  They go in the the regular freezer in the kitchen because I discovered something during my freezing mania:  I CAN MAKE MY OWN FREEZER WAFFLES AND PANCAKES.  Talk about freedom for mommy on school mornings.  I just throw a couple of pancakes into the toaster and breakfast is done.  Some morning it's chocolate chip pancakes or buttermilk or whole wheat or just plain white, but at least I know what's gone into them, and I don't spend a fortune at the store.  I haven't really gotten into the waffle making part.  Mainly because you need a big waffle iron or else you spend all day making waffles and my mini iron just doesn't cut it. I do have a big griddle.  I can make six pancakes on it and a quadruple batch cooks in about 1/2 an hour.  So, there you go.  I am just a little cukoo, right?

We spent Tanner's birthday feeling pretty exhausted.  He managed to catch a couple hours of sleep inbetween classes.  Thank you everyone who called to wish him a happy birthday.  I'm sorry that he didn't answer the phone, but I put the phone on mute and took the girls to the park so that he could sleep undisturbed.  He listened to all your messages, and hopefully will find time during the week to return all of the calls.  Our class schedule is in crunch time.  The week before Thanksgiving, and since colleges here are on the semester schedule there will be finals to take the week after that.  I like the semester schedule because we will end up with almost a month and a half off of school.  It's tempting to take a crash course during that time, but we've decided to take a break, work on the house and recover from the grueling schedule we've been keeping for over six months.

In early December we'll be part of the local ice show.  Our class opted to do the show rather than individual performances.  It's kind of neat because there have been quite a number of students that have worked really hard at the ice skating, and so they actually look good.  Whatever might happen, I'm hoping that Jonny will be able to bring the girls to one of the shows though that might be a little difficult for him to manage.

We're gearing up for the Christmas season in choir.  We have over 20 anthems that we are practicing and will open the season with The Hanging of Greens on the 29th of November.  After that we will have our normal Sunday load as well as a performance with the Brazos Valley Symphony.  Lots and lots of fun and very challenging.  Every time I sing I wish my mom and mom-in-law were down here belting it out with us.  They would have so much fun with all the different types of music, plus being surrounded with ADULT singers rather than children.

Reagan loves her choir school.  She looks forward to every Wednesday, and when I tell her that she needs to take a nap so that she can go to school, she crawls into bed without protest.  I love listening to Kate and Reagan chanting and singing songs as they pick up toys or run around in the backyard.  Another plus is that while the girls are at choir, I get a little one on one time with Georgie.

Too much Kipper

I think I've been letting Reagan watch too many Kipper episodes.  It is such a sweet cartoon series that whenever she asks for it, I find it hard to say, "No."  You see, Kipper is a dog.  A British dog.  He has a friend named Pig.

The other day, Reagan came up to me and said, "Mommy, you are a Pig."  Luckily for Reagan, I had been listening to her playing conversation for some time, so I promptly responded, "Why thank you Kipper."  She proceeded to ask me, "Pig, have you seen my torch?"

I almost burst into laughter because we had just bought her a brand new flashlight, but to her it was called a torch.  I managed to respond, "Why, no, Kipper.  What is that you have?"

"Oh," said Kipper, "this is my clunker."  Reagan showed me a little ribbon tied around a small bow.  "You see," she continued in a very British accent, "if you have a clunker, and I have a clunker then we can play a game."

"Well that sounds rather nice," I responded.  "Yes," said Kipper, "rather."  Then she skipped off to her room to continue her search for her torch.  I heard her say to Georgie, "Arnold (that's another one of Kippers friends), would you like to play clunkers?"

Another good reason for Worcester Sauce

Today was such a beautiful day and for once both Tanner and Jonathan had the day off, so we headed for the outdoors to work on the house.  I let Georgie outside into the backyard with Reagan as I grabbed some bug poison from the shed to do a little grounds maintenance since we had been seeing spiders inside the house.  Tanner got out the roll of Tyvek while Jonathan finished uninstalling one of the air conditioners.  Reagan was running around the backyard reveling in the great outdoors and Georgie was standing in the tall grass looking around with big eyes when she started to cry.

You know how tempting it is to ignore a crying baby, especially when she's been whining all day, and you have just a little bit more to do before you are all done with your project.  I'm glad I didn't do that today.  For some reason, I suppose it was God prompting me, I put down my can of bug poison and walked over to where Georgie was standing -- In a Fire Ant Nest!  I grabbed her, shouted to Tanner, ran to the hose and started to spray her and brush the ants off.  Poor kid, she was hollering and crying.  Tanner rushed over and did a much more thorough job since he's stepped in an ant's nest before.  They were crawling all over her, in her diaper, her shoes, under her dress...I cringed as the little red welts began to appear, but was releaved to see that they were only on her legs.  I grabbed my handy dandy bottle of Worcester Sauce and sprinkled a liberal amount over her legs.

Yes,  a little known fact about Worcester Sauce is that it somehow neutralizes the cyanide from a fire ant bite so that the sting stops hurting and the itches stop itching.  So, I'm inside right now.  Georgie is climbing up the bar stools and onto the table.  Reagan is hiding under the table, but no, she isn't going poo.  Oh, well, at least I got 20 minutes of sunshine.

The Pledge of Allegiance

Nowhere will you find greater evidence of the fierce, loyal Texan culture than in an elementary school.  Today, Kate came home saying that she had learned the Pledge of Allegiance.  So, I asked her to say it for me and she said:

"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible."

Yup, that's the pledge she learned today.

Dadum, dadum, dadum...another weather update from the sunny land of Texas.

So, I'm sorry if ya'll are getting bored with these updates, but I just think they are funny.  Yesterday I was out and about in the morning, and felt a little cold, so when I got home to pick up Reagan, I dressed her in pants and a long sleeved turtle neck.  We packed the kids up into the car and then I went to pick Kate up from school.  It wasn't a freezing cold day, so I opened the moon roof to enjoy the fall air.  Reagan grabbed her blanket and pulled it up to her nose while saying, "Mommy, close it, the wind is so freezy."  I shrugged, closed the roof and proceeded to drive to Kate's school.  So, on our way to her school there is this little reader board that advertises the time and temperature.  I happened to glance at it (drum roll please).  It was 82F.

Little beach. Big ship.

Little Beach:
Sunday, we took the girls to what they call, "Little Beach" at Lake Conroe. [Try to think of Lake Oswego, Oregon on steroids with water-front lots at $90k.] We chose this place because it's only about 70min-ish form our house, has calm water, and has volley-ball courts so the girls can play "sand" with their buckets and shovels. Reagan still thinks it was the ocean, as lakes (especially this one) are more like that than like the other body of water she knows - the river.

[Does anybody else find it to be weird that "volley" is from the German word for "wave", and that both volley-ball and waves are so commonly associated with the beach?]

The two older girls had their first try at staying on the "Boat Dog". Katie wondered at why that "fisher-guy" is standing in the water while fishing, while Reagan noted that the water goes both up and down. Georgie joined them in the sand, where like their hero "Kipper the Dog", they manufactured a boat from sand. [Don't laugh; if it gets hot out, it could be a glass bottom boat. And the way it rains here, they might need it in a pinch.] They saw swimmers, ducks, and a speed boat or two. Lot's of fun for 90 min., then headed to the play place in a nearby city to escape the heat.

Big Ship:
Today, I discovered that should we have gone all the way to Galveston, we might have seen the arrival of the SS Cape Gibson. Had I known about her then, I'd have found a reason to go to Galveston to watch them sail her into the harbor.

Presumably, she's "parked" where the old dumpy ship was. This will make great viewing since from Galveston island one easily can see across the small harbor/channel made by Galveston island and A&M's island (name?).

FYI: The SS Cape Gibson is A&M's new classroom for maritime majors (Commercial Shipping, Naval Officer, Maritime Engineering, etc.). You can see her and/or read more half-way down the page at the following link:
http://blogs.texags.com/blogs/spirit_and_mind/archive/2009/10/26/10976.aspx