Routine, routine, routine

Stress seems to be oozing around the corners of our life. Nothing is routine anymore. We try to keep a routine, but when Tanner stays up till 5:30am to study for a test and finish homework, Kate has to make it to school by 8:00, oh, and so does Tanner, Georgi decides that 3:30am is the new 7:00am...well, routine just doesn't exist.

We all managed to squeak by in the morning with Mommy (that's me) collapsing on the couch while the little kids watched Barney (here a silent prayer of Thanksgiving for that oft maligned show). The collapse didn't last very long since I still needed to do the laundry, wash dishes and try to slow down the inevitable journey to absolutely messiness, and then pick up Tanner at 11:30 to drive swiftly to a routine doctor appointment and then to Walmart and then home for a nap.

I foolishly thought that at least the doctor appointment would be routine. Just a simple thyroid panel. How many of these tests have I taken? I can't count the ways. Every six months for 7 years plus once every two months when expecting. Routine. Just say hi to the doctor, hi to the phlebotomist and I should be on my way. 15 minutes, that's what it takes.

I got there on time, but the doctor didn't. 30 minutes later, he says, "Hi. Breathe in. Good. Please, swallow. Good. I'll send in the nurse." Exit doctor. Really, that is how fast it is. Enter nurse. I should have known to ask for another nurse when she swabbed my arm with a pad without gloves on. I've done this way too many times. They set up the needle, the tube, the band aid, the cotton ball, gloves on, swab, stick. Always.

They NEVER complain about my veins. I've got a great one in my left arm. It NEVER collapses. The only time they weren't able to get that vein was when I was pregnant with Reagan and started puffing up, but they found one near my wrist. After she collapsed my lovely veins, I told her about the wrist one. I told her they can't EVER get blood out of my right arm. Did she listen? Nope. She re-used the alcohol swab that was sitting on the counter, and messed around with my right arm. I told her that even "Lazereyes" at the hospital couldn't get blood from that arm. She stuck it in any way, and I almost took her head off because she hit a tendon, so one jerked around tendon later, a couple more OW's! (that's right, she kept trying even after she hit the tendon), and she looked at me and said, "I think I'll send you to the lab to have your blood drawn."

Of course, by this time my "routine" exam is no longer "routine", and I can't get my blood drawn which was the whole part of the exam, my arms are actually sore, and Tanner has to get back to school, Kate needs to be picked up, and I am not dragging 3 kids to a lab. So, I have to try on Monday.

On the bright side, Georgi slept for 2 hours this afternoon, and without much fuss went to bed at around 8:30pm.

Okay, it's cold...

I woke up in the middle of the night to find a two year old snuggled up against my back, shivering! All of my attempts to pull the sheet over her were to no avail. She kept kicking them off until I put her baby blanket on top of her.

I stumbled around in the dark looking for our long discarded comforter. Then I searched for some REAL pajamas and some socks. I couldn't believe how cold I was. Sometime between sundown and 2:00am Autumn decided to roll into town. I went through all the rooms to make sure the fans were turned off, covered a couple more little, shivering bodies and then went back to sleep.

The morning didn't make things any better. Kate huddled in the corner of the house and quickly slurped down her hot oatmeal. Georgi stumbled around looking bewildered because of her numb toes. It's going to take us a bit to get use to this weather, I think. Off she went to school, and off I went to get ready for work. I took a hot shower for the first time in MONTHS. I shivered my way into long pants, searched for a sweater and contemplated what to do about this miserable weather, so naturally I logged onto weather.com to find out what the temperature was. I guess I've acclimated very well to Texas. It was 72F.

We had such a lovely time at the fair, and while Reagan tuckered out 1/2 way through the day, Kate was going full steam ahead, and managed to snag a part with a scottish gent in a kilt! She felt so grownup and proud to be included in the "adults" only dance.

For some reason, she BEGGED me to take a picture of her and the pumpkins. I'm not sure what her affinity is towards pumpkins, but she loves them. She loves pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin soup, pumpkin scones and I guess pumpkin pictures.

This guy was labled "Texan Pride" so I'm assuming it's a long horn. A really big longhorn. And unfortunately for us, Georgie really loved his cage.

The afternoon did warm up, so that the very last stop was the fountain. Georgie and Kate ran around and around and around, and Uncle Howell laughed at them as they screeched and screamed.

The Fair!

We decided that it was about time for us to become full fledged Texans and go to our first state fair. We got up early, just as the sun was coming up and hurried the girls into the car. I groaned because it was COLD. There were gray clouds covering the sun and cool, steady wind. I headed back into the house and grabbed some extra shirts just in case it didn't burn off. We were heading north and that probably meant things would be even colder.

It took us 3 1/2 hours to finally reach Dallas with only one stop for coffee and allergy medicine. The kids played games, talked, sang, painted and colored all the way there.

As you can see in the first picture, we were met with even more gray clouds, a stiff wind and even a sprinkling of rain. Temperature: 76F. Kate insisted on wearing her sunglasses and my new shirt. She thought she was pretty awesome, and I have to admit, she can pull it off!

Uncle Howell met us at the fair, and Reagan told him all of her favorite things as we munched on cheese pizza, chicken tenders and curly fries. I skipped the deep fried butter that the stands were offering and also the deep fried beer, deep fried Dr. Pepper and deep fried Coke. The clouds burned soon after noon, but it still wasn't warm enough for the jackets to come off. The girls alternated between curling up in the stroller with the blankets that I had brought and running in order to keep warm.

We decided to take a break, and the girls found these chairs to most useful! Georgie didn't know what to think about the ostrich, but I think the ostrich knew EXACTLY what to think about her.

Georgi's cupcake party

Here are the girls frosting away, away, away! As you can see, Georgi is just crumbling her cupcake. She hadn't discovered the wonders of frosting at that point!

Here she is after she opened her presents from Tutut, Utut and Auntie Emi. She had such a hard time choosing between her new shoes!

She decided to be a ham for the camera. She sat down on the couch, looked at me and said, "cheese".
This one shows her eyes. They are changing to hazel. I think that's the right name for the color. I wouldn't be surprised if the turned brown by the end of the year.

Georgi is two years old today, and boy can you tell that she has rounded the corner into toddler-hood. She is into everything. She discovered the wall sockets yesterday. She discovered the toilet flusher the day before. She discovered the toothpaste tube last night. We are constantly running around saying, "No, Georgi, no, no!" Even Reagan has remarked on it, saying, "Georgi can't touch anything. She is a No! No!"

Georgi is two years old today, and she threw her first temper tantrum. I was in Target (of course) to buy a new memory card. I told her to come, and she glared at me, folded her arms, stomped her foot and said, "No!" Ahem...my dear little child...don't you know what happens when little girls do something like that? Apparently not because she then proceeded to throw herself on the ground and cry. This is where I just love being in Texas because I fearlessly picked her up, gave her a swat on the rear end and very firmly told her, "Georgi, no fit." She blinked, nodded her head and quite crying. THE END!

For her birthday, I threw a cupcake party on Wednesday. We had a bunch of little kids over, and they frosted and decorated cupcakes. Georgi just grabbed her cupcake and ate it, licked the frosting out of her bowl and devoured any stray sprinkles or pieces of candy. I mean, who needs the cupcake to look pretty, right? It's the sugar and candy that count!

Georgi is two years old today, and when it comes to vocabulary she does not lack in skill. She opened her presents and said, "Oh, mommy, socks and shoes, they're beautiful." Just like that. Really. The next present was opened and she said, "Oh, a shirt." Then she spied a third present and said, "Another present. Yes, I want to open it. Here, Reagan, you hold this!" Of course there are times when she still babbles, especially when she is excited. She gets frustrated when she is trying to explain something to us and we can't understand what she is saying. She'll frown, squint her eyes and huff. Then she'll shake her head and say, "Never mind."

My baby is two and not a baby anymore. And I am looking forward to spending this next year watching her grow into a little girl. She's adventurous. She's fearless (unless she looks down). She's curious and strong. She won't take "no" for an answer (even if it means climbing a bookshelf to get what she wants). She's funny. She's generous. She's trusting and excitable. She's loving, cuddly, clingy at times. She's huggable, kissable and holdable. She's Georgi, and she's two today.

Everything in Full Swing

Our life has definitely picked up speed, and the trick is to keep our hands on the wheel without making any abrupt changes or else the whole thing will crack apart and various odds and ends will go flying, indiscriminantly through the air to land who knows where. Amazingly, we've made it through the first two weeks of the next 4 months of craziness, and I find myself in wonder because of the tenderness of God.

So many things have been gradually eased into place to make this phase of our life palatable, doable, workable and funable. Like my crazy, cooking-once-a-month plan. Started 2 1/2 years ago in PDX when I finally figured out what to do with all of those leftovers I kept having. It would be impossible for us to cook meals every day with Tanner going to school from 7am til 5pm Monday and Wednesday, and me working from 9am till 9pm Tuesday and Thursday. Or, my craze for plastic containers. Started 3 years ago in an effort to store blankets. Results seem to be that there's always a container for a toy. And, just our lifestyle in general. We'd rather go on a walk than go out to dinner. Started in Vancouver when we caught the biking/walking craze. Makes everything so much less expensive. It also makes it very easy for us to function as a one car family.

And every adjustment was made for the fun of it, not because we HAD to or we NEEDED to be economical. Or maybe we did, and we just didn't know it. Regardless, the transitions have been so smooth and easy. I often have people asking me, how can you handle it? or how can you be so chipper?

I really can't answer the question because I really don't know. How do I handle the fact that in the last six weeks we haven't seen temperatures under 100 degrees? How come I don't get homesick? How do I stay so positive?

I guess the answer is that I really don't have anything to complain about. Yes, finances are so tight that last week Georgie was the only one who got milk because we couldn't afford more, but starving is so much worse. Yes, having a front door that won't open anymore because the house shifted AGAIN and it probably won't get fixed until next summer, maybe, is tough, but sleeping under the stars is so much worse. Yes, it's so hot that the tar is melting on the road, but having a dirt road would be so much worse. I guess it's all in the way you look at it. I look at our life and can't believe how easy God has made it.

This week, things have cooled down quite a bit. I'm pretty sure it is the fault of the hurricane that's hitting the east coast. Our nights drop into the 70's and in the morning the air is cool and refreshing rather than stale and muggy. But, I don't want you to think that it stays that way. On the contrary, by the time 10:00am hits, we're back up into the 90's and ready for the splash pad.

Our typical Monday schedule is: up at 6:30am. Make lunches, get Kate ready, get Daddy ready, eat breakfast, pull two sleepy kids out of bed, drop off Daddy, drop off Kate. Relax until lunch. Pick up Daddy. Feed Daddy. Take kids outside so Daddy can sleep or do homework. Take Daddy to school again. Pick up Kate. Do homework. Daddy comes home. Do more homework. Eat dinner. Bath time. Sleep. Repeat for the rest of the week with the added caveat that Mommy goes to work for 12 hours at a whack. Yikes! Full swing and loving it!