Weird tastebuds

Emora is still in the stage where she eats about everything, but we have just come from eating out and we discovered some funny eating patterns with her. On the weekend we went out for mexican food. I always avoided giving the kids spicy food when they were babies and neither of the big kids like spicy food, even mildly spicy. But Emora kept begging for the hot salsa sauce, so I let her try a little bit and before we knew it, she was scooping it out with her fingers and trying to drink it. She ate some of the chips, but she was more like me in that I see the chips as a means to the end. They are the utensil with which I try to get the most salsa possible. Then tonight we went to our favorite. Szechuan restaurant serves up some amazing chinese food. Emora's favorites were the soy sauce and a lemon that she sucked on half the night. I mean who sucks on lemons? Maybe teething has messed with her taste buds.

Then we came home to Grandpa's second favorite ice cream: Blue Bell's coffee flavored ice cream. Ivan came out with the funniest comment. He liked it this time and said: "It tastes like coffee. It tastes like I'm grown up". Dominique wasn't crazy about it, but ate all of hers and of course Emora likes everything that can go on a spoon, or be scooped with her fingers.

I'm ready to be done with the extra aerobic classes and get my life back. It was ok for a week, but now I'm really missing our normal schedule. Ah well, only another week to go, and the paycheck will be nice. The people are super fun for the most part, but it just takes big chunks out of our days.

Days fly by

It seems like my days disappear with not much done. School has about gone out the window and we need to rectify that, but at the same time, I'm thinking that Ivan probably has a good enough base that he'll be alright. I have another full week of subbing aerobic classes in the morning and evenings and that is really throwing everything off, but sometimes it's good for the kids to realize that they can survive without momma.

Spring is here. This was our peach tree a couple of weeks ago. It still has it's flowers and lots of leaves now. They say it is going to get in the nineties this week. Maybe time to get the backyard pool out.

We are excitedly thinking up weekend plans. We haven't planned a weekend fun something in I don't know how long!!! and usually it involves visiting relatives or an anniversary. This is just the fun of it, 'cause grandpa's here and the house is hopefully selling and we may not have more chances to go explore Texas.

Windy soccer day pics.

It was a very windy soccer day as you can see from the pics.

The weekend zipped by without us seemingly doing much of anything. I feel so tired, even though I got to sleep later and had a nap today! I think part of it is my muscles recovering from the week. I am subbing for an aerobic teacher who is away on vacation and thus did 15 classes last week (some of those classes were only 40 min. each), but my body sure could feel it. Doing the extra workouts gave me a boost of energy right after, but by afternoon and especially by nighttime, I'm ready to crash! Of course, with the added excitement of grandpa being here, the kids are also on overdrive. Ivan has been especially difficult and we've had a few battles with him about him demanding his way- that drains me too.

We are thinking next weekend, we may try to go somewhere in Texas for some fun. Any suggestions? We thought we could go somewhere and stay a night. Dominique's soccer is canceled for Easter weekend, so we could go Fri., but we don't want to drive off too far.

Emora loves shoes and can usually put one on, sometimes even on the right foot, but she never manages to get two on. Then she walks around lopsided. She also loves to get all the sippy cups and lids out of the drawer and try them all out. Next month I'll need to take her in for her 15month check-up. Is she really that old already? Amazing!

Grandpa Ray!

Grandpa Ray is here and the kids have turned into leaches. Today I told them they should give grandpa a break and have some quiet time by reading a book, writing, painting... and you would have thought I had inflicted some horrid punishment on them. They are either in his lap, at his side, on his computer with him, having him push them on the swing, or are asking where he is. They are just loving having him here. Of course he started by greeting them with hugs, then giving them gifts, so that was a good start to the visit.

Today we had soccer then went to a building workshop for kids at Lowes. Since grandpa Ray and grandma Sue were here in the fall, they got to see Ivan play, and now here he is again getting to see Dominique play. That's pretty wild since their season is super short with only a couple of months worth of games and those just on Saturdays. We did just come back from a two week break and our team was much better. Some of the kids who were so frightened and cried on the sidelines got in there and played today, which meant that Dominique can no longer just breeze down the field without resistance. Now there are some other players trying to kick the ball too. She did score today, but it was in the wrong goal. She told me that's the goal she wanted to use since we were sitting near it and not the other one. Next time I'll know to stake out a spot by the goal we are supposed to score in!

Ivan already learned about not licking frosty metal. His tongue got stuck on the frosty popsicle and he must have pulled off some skin to remove it, because he didn't cry when eating it, but as soon as it was done, he wailed and screamed that his tongue was burning and hurt, so for the rest of the day, he went around with a damp cloth in his mouth. I thought I'd use the experience to warn him of the potentially harmful alluring frosty metal appeal and he's taken it to heart. He really hates pain.

Read to the dogs

The library has a special event that they run periodically- super sweet therapy dogs and their owners come so that kids can read to the dogs. Ivan and Dominique used a library book that they had practiced some at home and did such a wonderful job. At first Ivan was shy, but then he got right into it and read to 4 dogs. Of course Dominique was not shy and volunteered to go first. Emora added her own flavor to the event with her screaming and trying to open the dogs mouths or at times, sweetly petting them.



We also had our last swim lesson and the kids both passed. They can now swim a few feet on their own, so that is a great foundation. I just didn't know how to get them to the place where they didn't need arm floats anymore. I still won't let them in without someone right there to make sure they are doing ok, because it is so tiring and they can't go far, but it's a start.


I am subbing a ton of water aerobic classes right now and my body is feeling it. It feels good actually and I'm sleeping like a ton of bricks, which is what my muscles feel like. My knee is doing great, so I'm super happy about that. I guess the shot and meds did the trick.

Grandpa Ray arrives tomorrow and the kids are so excited. Dominique was being a fuss as I tried to get her to bed. She asked, "does daddy's dad come in the morning?", I replied, "Grandpa Ray will arrive in the afternoon". Her face burst into a big smile and she snuggled down in her blankets without another complaint.

They can swim!

Ivan and Dominique only have one more swim class left and are doing so amazingly well! She had them swimming in the deep end today. Ivan swam the width of the pool and back and Dominique went half way and back. I totally couldn't believe it. The teacher has taught me that a little water in the face will not kill them, no matter how much they would want me to think so. If I had let them get water in the eyes or on their nose, they would have hollered and refused to do anything else, but they are regularly submerged, sputtering and sinking under for the "teacher" and will keep on at it, with noticeable improvements. It's so exciting.

For Ivan's daddy and him day, they went to get Ivan a professional hair cut. Ivan calls this lady the barber. Not really crazy about the way she did it or the cost, so we'll just consider that an experience he lived through- not necessarily to be repeated.

I'm doing 3-4 classes of aerobics a day, subbing for a lady at the Y, so I'm hoping I will finally burn off the last of the weight I gained with Emora, but then I may actually have to try not to eat as much too, for it to work. So now I'm accountable, I told all of you!

Spring is in the air

Spring is in the air, but Abilene is a bit conflicted about it. We actually had barely perceptible snow flurries this weekend. Nothing enough to accumulate, but they were blowing down none the less. One minute we are in shorts and the next, we are pulling out wool socks and slippers. But at least it didn't freeze long or hard enough to kill the peach blooms. They are still bright pink jewels scattered all over our tree- not that we will get to see them mature or eat any of them, but it's still nice to see them develop.

We are praying that a couple of business partners who buy houses to rent will give us a fabulous offer on our home this week so that we can leave here with it all cleared away and money in the bank. Our hearts have also been turned to a couple of friends facing some hard times, so we were a little consumed with that last week.

This week will see us pretty busy also. Soccer starts back, we have our last week of swim lessons, I am subbing 2-3 water aerobic classes a day, plus my own 2/week and Brian's dad arrives Thurs. for a 3 week stay!! We are excited, the city is blooming and pretty, spring is here and we are taking it all in.

Emora just loves shoes. She often manages to get just one shoe on- hers or someone else's and walks around the house lop sided, or sometimes carrying the other. We are trying to get her to say words, but she prefers making little grunting melodies or voracious screams instead. She understands very well though, for the most part that is. Today she brought a towel out of the bathroom and dumped it on the living room floor. When I told her to put it back in the bathroom, she wasn't sure where it was and threw it in the trash instead. Well at least she got it off the floor huh?

Hope your springtime is bringing you beauty and joy as well.

travel partners

Here are the friends that will be going up to Canada with us to help us with the drive. Their plane tickets home are bought and we've gotten walkie-talkies, so now there is money invested in the move - ie, no turning back! Here are some more friends that we wish we could stuff in the car as well and move up with us! I've started my mental list of things to do before leaving- swim lots, see friends lots, library time, go to the zoo, our favorite 2 restaurants, artwalk downtown. Here, Brian is walking the kids home after Ivan and Dominique's swim lesson. Yesterday they had a fun unique experience, they got to read to some therapy dogs! I'll have to post pics some day of that too. Have a great weekend. It's supposed to snow here tonight, hope it doesn't the peach tree is already in bloom.

uniform cuteness

We've had a break from soccer these last two weeks with spring break, so our darlings will be really fired up once it starts up again. Aren't they cute in their uniforms?




What a fun day we had! Brian has always had a goal of spending time one on one with each kid, which in our normal lives is a scheduling challenge, but since he is in between jobs, he took Dominique today for her and daddy time. They of course had a blast. Meanwhile Ivan and I did laundry with Emora in tow. It was actually quite fun. Ivan just loves to help and is so good at learning skills. He folded towels and helped drag baskets of clothes about the house. We worked on some math and school work and played lots and lots of different card games. The kids had swim lessons and are doing amazingly well. They can both swim without drowning for about a 3 feet now. We also brought them Sunday to swim as a family. There must be something magical about daddies, because they wanted to show him all their skills and even got to swim in the deep end with us.

Then Ivan took us out for supper. Yep, the kids had some money from a loving beneficiary and he wanted to spend it by taking us all out to supper. He had a $5 and a bunch of $1 and took us to one of his favorite places to eat: an all you can eat pizza buffet, with desert pizzas too. It's great to be able to eat out as a fivesome for $15. Emora and Dominique ate free and do they ever lose a lot of money on Emora! I'm telling you she can pack away the food. Then we hit three stores and bought our replacement digital camera. Dominique broke ours some time ago, so if you look closely at the above pictures, they are all blurry around the edges, so now we got a new one and it is strictly off limits to anyone under 21 or who has a tendancy to drop things, both of which exclude our trio. They now have 2 faulty digital cameras to use as their own practice models.

Tomorrow is Ivan's turn with daddy and I have a friend stopping over. They are going to look for a camera case, and walkie-talkies for our move and go for a professional hair cut. I just wrote my letter to the Y telling them I'm leaving. Wow, things are moving along.

a bit of this and that

She managed to keep her pig tails in most of that morning, but then suffered with post pig tail hair the rest of the day, since she would no longer leave them in. I even had to confiscate her hair clips since she decided that they were better to eat than to wear.
It has been hot and sunny, but may change tomorrow. Nevertheless, we are enjoying the beautiful spring before the real heat hits (which we hope to avoid by whisking ourselves away to Canada).

This night I ditched bed routine on Brian because I had to do something, right after I took the picture. And yes, Dominique is sticking out her tongue.


We were watching "Popular Mechanics for Kids" and the host was introducing the man who holds the record for the most rappelling, or something like that... but what struck us was this- Check out that name! He has it a little bit off, Christophe is spelled different, and Ivan's 1st middle name is Truth, not "Spiderman", but it was pretty cool to see our Ivan Truth Christophe's name nearly on the big screen! Apparently the guy is a bit of a hero in Toronto, so that's doubly fun.