The month of January flew by or maybe I should say, I flew by. Seems like our family has been traveling on one of those high speed commuter trains with barely any time to catch our breath which has made me so thankful that we took the entire month of December to relax and just be a family.

We've dealt with bronchitis, pink-eye and three serious colds. We've got Tanner registered for classes at A&M and Blinn. We've been carting Kate to school, balancing our work-to-school schedule, building bookshelves, teaching, cleaning, skating, fixing leaks and all the other things that go along with home ownership.

I have to admit that it is a challenge to balance the kids, go to work and get Tanner to school. We've had to sit down a couple of times just to make sure the kids are actually getting the attention that they deserve and need. It's hard for me to accept that Tanner has a different parenting style from me. I tend to do projects with the girls, teach them how to fold laundry, put toys away and things like that. Tanner tends to play games with them, send them outside to play and teach them to color. As a result, the house isn't as clean as I keep it. Yes, Mom, shudder, it's actually possible for the house to be messier. Dinner usually isn't made or it consists of something odd like iceberg lettuce with pepperoni, and the laundry piles up until my only day off, Monday, so I spend the entire day doing load after load after load.

They try. They really do, as long as I remind them before I leave for work, or if I make a list of chores. For that, I am thankful. I just have to remind myself that they're not use to just knowing what needs to happen in the house because usually the stuff is already done. On the plus side, when Tanner cleans the house it is the most beautiful house ever. I just don't get how he does it. Everything looks so much neater and tidier when he cleans. So, I have extra appreciation for him on Sundays and Tuesdays since those are the days that he makes a concentrated effort to keep the living room clean because I teach on those days.

Tanner is really excited about attending A&M. He went to a career fair this last week and talked with a lot of engineering companies. Most of them were looking for interns, and they typically only want kids that are in their Junior year, but several of them, when they heard that Tanner had run his own business, asked him to submit an application in September. There are a couple of programs in Corpus Christi that would give him great work experience. It would mean moving there for a summer, but we think it might be worth the effort since it will teach him what to expect in a particular field of interest. Plus, it would be right next to the beach... The really neat thing is that he could take a different internship every summer, and that way he could figure out if there is a particular company or type of engineering that he really likes. There are so many types of chemical engineering: petroleum, pharmaceuticals, bio-medical, industrial, computer, ecological, and then there are the research fields like nano-technology.

So, lots of excitement and adventure seem to be hovering on our horizon.

About kids...well, what can I say? Georgie is a momma's girl. She is currently grabbing onto my shirt sleeve, trying to climb onto my lap while bawling, all because...I'm not holding her. No other reason. Before you think I'm cruel, I've been holding her for the last hour and a half and now she is beside herself with angst. I think her love language might be touch, what do you think? Reagan told me the other the day that the happiest day of her life was her birthday. Kate thinks she is a real ballerina because she has an Angelina Ballerina outfit.

If this blog seems a little disjointed I think it is because I am drinking coffee. Yes, coffee, not espresso. I just can't seem to find a Starbucks that will consistently grind the beans correctly and the last batch of beans was way too coarse for an espresso grind, so I got my coffee maker out and have been brewing coffee for the last week. I know, I should go to Starbucks and return the beans, but it just seems like way too much work right now. Plus, I know if I go, I'll end up with a cappuccino...so they win in the end anyway, right? So, I'm suffering and drinking cafe au lait until I run out of grounds.

Deep Fried Butter...

No joke.

Deep Fried Bacon...also, no joke.

Apparently all are rare delicacies to be found at the state fair.

We're suffering from a pink eye epidemic. I noticed that Kate had a goopy eye yesterday when I got off of work, and this morning she woke up to a sticky mess and a very pink eye. About half an hour later, Kate yelled, "Mommy, Reagan has pink eye, too." So, I checked, and she was right. Reagan's eye is all goop. We have a 3:45 doctor appointment, and I'm praying that we can keep the pink eye from spreading to Georgi and Mommi and Daddi and Jonni.

Kate is selling candy bars for school, and she's a natural. She BEGS to go knocking on doors. She LOVES talking to all the strangers and asking them how many chocolate bars they want to buy. She RELISHES every dollar she collects, and the word NO doesn't make her feel bad. She just thinks of all the candy bars she has sold and goes on to the next potential customer. Who would have thought that the daughter who gives strangers the evil eye would ADORE doing door to door sales?

You know you're working when you break into a sweat while in an ice rink.

School is back in session and so far so good. Tuesdays look like they are going to be gruesome no matter which way you paint it. With Tanner at school during violin lessons...well, you get the picture. Thursdays are a little bit better, but not by much. We're managing to juggle everything, and Tanner's stress levels have gone way down. I'm happy to say that my work seems to be picking up and I'm getting enough hours. I love working at the rink, and I really like all of the people there. I feel so privileged to be able to do a job that I love. I know not many people ever get that opportunity.

On a less happy note, I'm not taking any courses this semester. I signed up for one course on American History because Tanner was taking it. What I didn't realize is that I signed up with a different teacher, and unfortunately I got the crazy teacher. You know, the one that wishes they had a doctorate in English and believes that they are God's Tool to Teach Every Person on the Planet How to Read and Write Even Though You're Only Taking this Course Because the State of Texas Requires It. So, I dropped the class. Better to drop it than to fail miserably, and I'm pretty sure I would fail miserably. Plus, I know that I could clep the course with my eyes closed, so, why risk a B?

Kate is having so much fun reading through all of the books everyone sent her for Christmas. I'm sorry that thank you cards haven't been sent out yet. We all had another round of colds and fevers, and now it looks like we're settling in for another bout. It's just a really bad cold and flu season around here, and a lot of people are getting sick.

All the girls are growing so much. Reagan is finally in 3T clothing. She started to fuss when I put a pair of Kate's old socks onto her feet, but when I explained that going potty on the toilet makes your feet grow into big girl feet then she was okay with it. Kate is stretching out into a full size 6 with long feet, size 13 (I remember when I finally reached size 13, 2nd grade). Georgie is finally gaining some height and the 12month clothing no longer trails on the ground behind her. I think Georgie is going to be the shrimp of the family. She just doesn't seem to be breaking the charts when it comes to height. I'm kind of glad because that way she stays baby size for just a little bit longer. Plus, dark hair, blue eyes and petite frame just seems sooooo cute.

I'm still trying to plan out Kate's birthday party. Weekends are just hard for our family, but that's the only time kids can come over to celebrate. When I asked her what she wanted to do for a party, she said, "Ice Skating!" So, it looks like I'll spend her birthday at work which, luckily, is okay by me.

The only witty thing I have to say is that today is the type of warm you get in May on Maui. My skin opened up and soaked in all the warmth and moisture. We turned off the heaters and let the wind blow through the house. Is this what they use to call a "gay spring wind"? It made the corner of mouth wish for a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. I settled for Pistachio Almond Ice Cream and a glass of water, after all, sweat was trickling down my back during my practice session at the ice rink.

Just a little mundane update from down yonder...Reagan has finally fully potty trained. Whoop, for us. It's nice to be down to one diapered kid. Georgie made it to the toilet for the first time today and was thrilled with all of the attention though Reagan was just a little bit jealous.

Kate is doing well in school. She is trying to sell candy bars for a fund raiser. Oh, the memories that brings back to me. She is reading a lot now, and her Chinese lessons seem to be going very well. Her teacher is introducing a lot of Chinese culture to her like paper folding and coloring. Also, she is teaching Kate how to read the characters.

College term starts tomorrow, so Tanner and I are bracing for impact. We did sign up for ice skating lessons again, and hopefully in a couple of months we'll actually be able to start specializing in ice dancing rather than just basic figure skating technique. We learned our first three jumps and worked on a lot of technique. Our arms and legs were sore after the short half hour lesson even though I've been skating an average of 2 hours a day, so I know we got a very good workout.

Jonathan is still recovering from being sick. He's on antibiotics, and I warned him that I will keep nagging him until he is fully recovered. He just smiled. What can I say? It's the mommy instinct in me.

Working on the house came to a screaching halt when I started to work. I guess watching the kids is an important part of fixing up the house. We're planning to indoor work this weekend and put ceiling fans in the girls' bedroom and the dining room. Also, this month we're going to gravel in a large section of our yard just to keep the mud down to a minnimum.

So, that's my update. Just a list of facts. No stories, but that's because I have a headache and am surviving on 6 hours of sleep over the last two days. I'm just looking forward to the opera we will be attending this afternoon. I've actually engender jealousy from a couple of people at the rink. It's funny because I always think of everyone there as sporty, but actually most people are very artistic. When I told them I was seeing Carmen, half of them started singing her aria.

Today, as I tromped through mud puddles, dodged falling missiles of water and did my utmost to stay as dry and as warm as possible, I reflected that rain was never THIS wet in Portland. I've dashed through burst of showers before, been drenched by those steady drizzles, but for goodness sakes, I've actually bought an umbrella. I actually USE the umbrella which I think is even more weird than the first statement.

Drizzles in Texas are just bigger than drizzles in Portland. If it's drizzling in PDX you just hold on to your coat and make a dash for it. When it drizzles here, if you do dash it means that you'll be soaked up to your ankles, your coat won't dry out for hours, and the waterproof parka that you bought, just isn't as waterproof. Really, it's not. Because when you take it off you'll discover that your shirt is just slightly damp. About as damp as you would have expected to get dashing through a drizzle, but it's your well-covered interior.

But a seasoned Texan is smarter than that. Portlanders think that this whole layering craze is fashionable, but it has it's roots in Texas. How many cowboy movies have you seen with those sundrenched boys unbuttoning their topmost button to reaveal a shirt underneath? You see, that's how Texan's dress, and luckily right now it is fashionable. I put on a long sleeved undershirt, followed by a dressy t-shirt, followed by a buttoned up shirt followed by jacket, scarf, gloves, hat, rubber boots and umbrella. When the umbrella fails, the hat kicks in. When the waterproof jacket is actually just water resistant than the the buttoned up shirt kicks in. When I reach my destination, off comes the hat (thank you Lord for the invention of hairspray, and yes, I'm starting to use A LOT of hairspray, I'm afraid my hair might turn blonde), the jacket, the buttoned up shirt to reveal my dry outfit underneath. Now, if the rubber boots don't match my outfit, off the come and I whip out a pair of shoes from my oversized purse. Voila! I look great, and I don't look like I just stepped out of a carwash.

Shoes...

Sleek.
Glossy.
Black.
Red.
Sparkles.
Lightups.
Laces and Velcro.
Georgie has entered the wonderful world of shoes. Pediatricians recommend using those soft soled Robee type shoes until kids are almost 2. They give the foot time to form naturally. Pediatricians don't know Georgie.

Georgie has been trying to wear shoes since she could barely army crawl across the floor. When the girls loose their shoes, it really isn't their fault. It's Georgie. Big shoes. Little shoes. Dirty shoes and clean shoes. She knew from the start that these weren't items to suck and chew. She knew exactly where to put them. She would grab one and fling it toward her feet when she was just a wee little thing. Then she graduated to trying to stuff her foot into them which would end up in a screaming, kicking and flailing on the ground bout. She eventually learned how to stuff her foot into a mommy sized shoe, but I still resisted. I was listening to my pediatrician!

Yesterday, she came tottering into the living room wearing a pair of the girls' high heel dress up shoes. She walked to the center of the room and then started to shake her body and twirl. Yesterday, I gave up. Yesterday, I went to Target and bought Georgie her first pair of shoes. Today, she refuses to take them off. She wants to wear them while taking a nap, while going potty, while wearing nothing but a diaper.

The Zoo

Tanner shook me awake early Friday morning. I fumbled around for my clothes, the diaper bag, snacks, drinks, bottles and toys while he got the DVD player, movies and kids into the car. I shivered uncontrollably in the early morning air. It must have been forty degrees out. I was freezing and worried that Jonathan would be miserably cold.

We had decided that I would drive to Houston while Tanner and the girls slept. Most of that part went really well. The girls dozed for the first half of the trip, and then I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and Starbucks for coffee and a potty break. Tanner slept through most of this and only stirred for the last 30 minutes of the drive which was rather important since our gps was fitfully navigating me through Houston toward the zoo, and unfortunately there was a lot of construction and detouring. That's one of the things I don't like about Houston, they are constantly reconstruction the city, and I mean reconstructing -- tearing down building, sinking new roads, building overpasses and new highways. It's frustrating navigating through the city because it ha FOUR downtown areas. I find it difficult to explain, but one of the largest cities in the USA doesn't have a skyline for this single reason -- it has FOUR. It can be pretty confusing driving because you'll think, "Oh, there's downtown to the left," and then you glance to the right, and, "uh, oh, there's downtown, too," and then you go up onto an overpass and see, "is that downtown over there?"

Anyway, we navigated the treacherous freeway system and arrived at the zoo all in one piece. It was the perfect day for the zoo. First, it was free zoo day because it was New Years. Second, no one was there because everyone was recovering from the night before. Third, the temperature had risen to seventy. We rented a stroller and discovered a cassowary (i have no idea how to spell that word) bird, a komodo dragon, lions, tigers, bears, leopards, and red pandas. We ate lunch, found a petting zoo and a play structure. Then the girls crawled through prairie dog tunnels and an aquarium. We basked in the wintry sun, sipped our Dr. Peppers and watched the girls run, tumble and play.

Then at 3:00 we piled back into the car, drove to a mall and around the mall and around again as we waited for Reagan and Georgie to fall asleep. Then I parked, took Kate inside to find a Starbucks and let Tanner and the girls nap in the car. It was a good thing, too because Tanner had to drive us home after we picked up Jonathan from the airport. I don't do night driving anymore. I just can't tell how far away objects are at night.

On the way home, Georgi threw a fit, so we stopped at Target and let her run around the store for a little while. We ordered Target pizza, and the piled into the car (literally) and drove home. The flat roads of Houston slowly turned into the hilly roads of the Post Oak Belt. The straight roads began to curve. In the distance the twin radio towers blinked on an off and I heard Jonathan sigh. Yes, we were almost home. His room would still be cold because we hadn't been able to tear out the wall. His computer was in boxes, but we were almost home. Kate rested her head on his shoulder. Reagan told him that she was glad that his visit to his mommy was over because she really wanted him to stay at her house and play trains. Georgi fell asleep.