San Antonio and a New Job

We spent this past weekend (Thursday to Sunday) in San Antonio and had LOTS of fun! As you can see from this photo, our biggest adventure was a trip to Sea World. I have always wanted to go myself and there was no question about whether Lila would love it. Animals and water - what more could she ask for? Well... princesses, maybe... Nonetheless, we had a blast!

We saw shows (watching Shamu and the other killer whales gave me goosebumps!) and rode rides and Lila even got to play in the little kiddie water park. All three of us have pink faces and poor Lila has burned shoulders because the one thing we forgot to bring was sunscreen. Oops! I figured Eli was young enough that he'd be oblivious to the animal shows, but he was just as transfixed as Lila (though he had no idea what he was seeing). He even laughed at the sea lions!

And now we are entering real life again. Today is Doug's first day at IDT! I spoke with him earlier and got the update on his day so far. It's not that exciting, really. He's been filling out paperwork and doing all sorts of other first-day-of-work things. Here's the part that is exciting: After spending 12 years in Cube Land, he has his own office! Woo Hoo!

Easter Weekend

We had a fun Easter weekend here at the Peeler house. On Saturday morning, we went out and looked at a few houses with our realtor. We found out that the one we were most interested in, the one that looked to be nearly perfect, had just gone under contract and was no longer an option. I was SO disappointed! We looked at another one that just wasn't very exciting and smelled vaguely of natural gas.

Then we looked at one that is just amazing! We aren't completely settled on it yet because we need to see what else is out there, but we definitely like it. It's large and has a great yard and amazing curb appeal. The inside is quirky, but in a good way. I don't expect us to find anything we like better, but you just never know...

On Sunday, we started the day off wonderfully - Doug let me have a solid hour to clean the house with no interruptions. Unheard of! It was a beautiful experience. Truly.

We went to church after lunch where Eli took a tumble off a low step and got severe rug burn on his nose. It even bled a tiny bit! That day, it was just very red and we made lots of Rudolph jokes. Sadly, it has looked worse every day since then. The whole end of his nose is now a big dark scab. Add to that the slight shiner that he has from being "accidentally" kicked in the face by Lila and he looks like he's been in the boxing ring! Eli the Bruiser. I'll have to take a photo for posterity.

Oh, and speaking of photos, this one was taken during the egg hunt in our backyard...

If it's not one thing...

Well, I finally got my email inbox under control and today I managed to get through my whole daily cleaning routine... but I haven't touched my blog in a week. [sigh] Oh well!

I'm currently typing this post (obviously), playing Internet Backgammon, and waiting for Doug to finish his Quiet Time so that we can watch last night's episode of LOST. My head feels better than it has in days, thanks to acupuncture, and I'm feeling surprisingly perky given the trouble that the kids have given me/us today. I guess it's just been an all-around good day (notwithstanding the grumpy children)!

I have felt generally more at-ease since Doug accepted a new job. It's still not 100% official, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give the name of the company yet... Seeing some return to the familiar in our future has been good for my mental state. I genuinely love adventure in life, but it's routine that gives me a sense of security. That, and knowing that God is ultimately in control and I don't have to be!

Well, Doug appears to be ready to watch LOST, so I'm off...

Oh my...

The things coming out of my child's mouth just keep getting better and better. Just a few minutes ago, I was trying to steer Lila toward getting in the bath and she told me she was... I don't now - something that involved the word 'practicing'. I said, "Practicing, eh? Well, what you need to be doing is taking your clothes off, going potty, and getting in the bathtub." Her response:

"Let me tell you what's wrong. I'm riding my tricycle." Here, she holds up a fist and then sticks out her thumb. "I'm not taking off my clothes." She sticks out her index finger. "I'm not going potty." She sticks out her middle finger. "I'm not getting in the bathtub."

It was so funny (but mildly inappropriate) that I nearly fainted, trying to keep the laughter in. I told her that she could have five more minutes and then she would be doing all those things, then ran off into the bathroom so that I could laugh!

Oh dear.

This photo, by the way, is of a picture taken of ME when I was a small child. Seemed appropriate to go along with the story though.

And speaking of things coming out of my children's mouths... Eli has started saying words! So far he says 'all done' (ah-dah!), 'Lila' (lala), and 'night-night' (nuh-nuh). Too. Freakin'. Cute.

Dinner

The kids and I just finished up our dinner: vegan chili, cornbread, and corn. I didn't buy vegan chili on purpose and it's really not very good. I also did not think about the fact that I was making cornbread AND corn. Oh well. I can only pay attention to so many things at one time.

Anyway, about halfway through the meal, Lila turned to me and told me she was taking bites of corn and cornbread together, "because they taste similar." Her own words. I just blinked at her a few times and then said, "okay".

Later, I was holding Eli and he had his sippy cup. He reached forward and started banging it on the table. I leaned him back and told him 'no'. Lila demonstrated that he could smack his hand on the table. I said, "Yes, hands are fine, but hard objects are not okay." Lila replied, "Yeah, and soft objects are good too."

"Soft objects"? Seriously, where did this kid come from?!? Is she 3 or 30?

Massive McDonald's Misadventure

Do you ever have days when you make a mistake or a poor choice at every turn? Well, that has been my day. It's like the worst-played game of Operation ever! And I won't even bother about the first few hours. I'll just start with mid-morning, when we left the house to go to the gym.

I have, as has been stated before, an addiction to Dr. Pepper. On the way to the gym, I was contemplating how I might satisfy that addiction with the remaining $3 in my weekly lunch budget. Definitely not enough to buy lunch for both Lila and myself (or even just for myself), but enough to buy a Dr. Pepper somewhere. My first thought is that maybe they have Dr. Pepper in the soda machines at the gym (who thought that was a good idea, anyway?). If so, that would be an easy fix.

If not, then I could just stop by a fast food place on the way home and pick one up. Of course, it would be difficult to get a Dr. Pepper for myself and tell Lila that she can't have anything... Well, one step at a time. We got to the gym and I quickly ascertained that there was no Dr. Pepper in the vending machine - only Coke products. Bah humbug! So I took the kids on back to the Kids' Club.

I dropped off the munchkins, with a heavy dose of drama from the 3-year-old, who absolutely refused to eat the string cheese I brought for her (she suddenly didn't like string cheese) until we got to the gym where they do not allow food in the Kids' Club. [sigh] Yes, feeling the need for a D.P. fix, all right. I worked out, sweated a lot, and went back to pick up the kids.

I started chatting with one of the girls who works in there - I'll call her Erialc - who mentioned that McDonalds is currently selling any size drink for $1. Ooh! And the large drink cups have a coupon code on them for a free Redbox rental. Even better! The plan is now firm in my mind. I will get a large Dr. Pepper for myself, some 99 cent thing for Lila, and then pick up a free movie from Redbox (to be watched after the kids go to bed). Perfect!

There was a McDonald's right there in the same parking lot as the gym, so that's where we went. I got in line for the drive-through and the phone rang. I answered, chatted for a few minutes (long line), and then hung up. Since I had been on the phone, I was slightly unfocused when I got to the speaker to order. For reasons known only to the mischievous little elves inside my head, I panicked when the guy asked me what I wanted.

I ended up ordering a large Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal and a Kids' Meal for Lila. No no, Angela! Stop! . . . Too late. I'd already pulled forward. Doodie! Okay, not the worst thing I've ever done. I think we'll survive. So I payed and took my food and drinks and pulled forward. There is a Redbox at this McDonald's, but there was already a person using it and I really wanted out of that busy parking lot.

No problem. There are two more Redboxes right by our house. One at another McDonald's and one just across the street at a Walgreen's. I'll just go to the Walgreen's (it's less annoying to get to). As I was driving home, I started munching on the french fries because I was quite hungry. Now, I've never been a fan of McDonald's fries because I think they are too thin and hard. I've had some that could have been used as weapons. I've learned to tolerate them, however, particularly when I'm hungry.

A few bites in, I realized that these fries had been sitting in the warmer for a while. That means they were slightly overcooked and quite over-salted. Ugh. Not good. Oh well, I ate one or two more (the over-salting, while pickling my mouth, was also making me crave more and more of the wretched things) and then reached for my nice, large Dr. Pepper.

That was the nastiest Dr. Pepper mix I have ever tasted! Ick! It was more like medicine than soda. I was already 2/3 of the way home at that point, so there was no going back to ask for something different. I considered stopping at the McDonald's by my house and asking them to exchange it, but that seemed... uncool, I guess. Either I would be deceiving them (by omitting the valuable detail of where the original soda was purchased) or they would refuse my request.

[double sigh] I thought maybe it would taste better once it watered down a bit. I consoled myself with the thought that my burger, at least, would be good. There's not much that can go wrong there and I do like Quarter Pounders with Cheese. I went on to Walgreen's and pulled up to the Rexbox. After looking through most of the movie choices, and not being overly impressed with any of them, I spotted the Tinkerbell movie.

Lila has recently fallen in love with Tinkerbell, though I don't know why or how. She has never seen all of Peter Pan (and hadn't seen any of it at all until very recently) and she didn't even know this new movie existed. Anyway, I saw the movie and thought it would be a nice surprise for Lila, who has been sad and out-of-sorts all day (due, naturally, to doug's absence).

I chose the movie and waited for the coupon code to come up. First, the machine wanted me to swipe my credit card and I figured it needed that to find my account before I could use the coupon. So I went through all the prompts... and then it charged me and vended the movie without ever asking for a code! Wha-huh?!? Upon closer inspection, I discovered that this coupon code is only good at Redbox machines that are located at McDonald's locations. Well, doodie again!

Whatever. By this point I just wanted to get home and eat my lunch before Eli fell asleep in the car or got too fussy. I showed the movie to Lila, who was properly excited, and then we went home. After going through the needlessly protracted process of getting all of us and all of our stuff into the house, we sat down to eat. At last!

I opened my burger box and discovered that I had forgotten to ask for NO ONIONS. Curse it all! I'm allergic to onions! Aaaaaagh! Fine! I'll eat the stupid burger with the stupid onions and the stupid overcooked fries and the stupid nasty Dr. Pepper! It was all nasty and left a gross taste in my mouth that I only managed to get rid of with coffee. And all I wanted was a nice Dr. Pepper!

I could go on, but I think that's really quite enough...

Freshwater Pearl Bracelet Giveaway

My Good Cents is giving away a freshwater pearl bracelet with a heart charm. This is all about raising awareness of women's heart health.

Lila Tales

Lila and I just did a fun little St. Patrick's Day activity: handprint rainbows. Honestly, I'm not sure what makes that a St. Patrick's Day craft, except that we talked about St. Patrick before and during the activity. At any rate, it was fun. I decided to put some music on while we worked and Lila requested The Wiggles. I agreed that The Wiggles would be a good choice, and so we painted and listened.

This CD has the Wiggly version of 'Music Box Dancer' on it. When that track came on, Lila said, "This is a very quiet song and a lovely song to go to sleep."

Indeed. Lovely. :)

We also put messages to Daddy/Doug on our rainbow paintings. He left for his trip to Taiwan this morning and Lila was quite sad. My message was: We miss you, Daddy! Lila's message was: Don't be sad! Now, is that a message for Daddy or for herself...?

Oh, and this photo is one I took of Lila last night during her post-bath insanity. Something strange happens to that girl when she's in the bathtub and she always comes out a little crazy! Clean... but crazy.

Why not?

Do you ever feel like a kid who wants to do something just to see what will happen? Just because you can...?

I took Cordy into the shower with me earlier today. I was getting ready to go in and she was standing behind me, talking. I responded, we conversed, and we decided that she should shower with me. Apparently, she was having that 'not-so-fresh feeling'.

Now, to be fair, she and I do speak different languages. So it's possible that what she was asking for and what I was agreeing to do were actually two different things. I'm pretty sure she was asking for a shower though.

Anyway, once I had the water ready, I went and found her. I called, she came, I picked her up, and we went into the shower. Doug thought I was kidding, so imagine his surprise when he turned around and saw what was going on! (we have a shower stall with glass doors.) He took a few photos, but they are NSFW (or NSFBlog, in this case), so you'll have to settle for this family photo.

Amazingly, Cordy did not freak out! I held her and she just chilled and let me give her scratches. I didn't let the water spray directly onto her, but let it hit my body and then run down onto her. And she did get a fine mist to the face, which she didn't seem to notice. Overall, I was very surprised. I expected to end the adventure with my flesh torn to ribbons!

Now, I didn't want anyone to get jealous, so I stuck Charlie in the bath with Lila this evening. He was less receptive. I think his feet were in the water for .75 seconds before he went flying. Lila, of course, thought it was hilarious. Charlie sat in the playroom and groomed himself for a long time. I tried talking to him once or twice, but he just yelled at me every time. Oh well...

Giveaway

maybe i should create a new label for giveaways, since i keep posting about them...

the latest one i found and want to share is the '3 Sweet Peas Jewelry Giveaway'. they make personalized hand-stamped jewelry and it's all very cute.

check it out here: http://www.the-giveaway.com/2009/03/3-sweet-peas-jewelry-giveaway.html

Giveaway for CUTE Shoes

Check out this website for a giveaway for some extremely cute baby/kids' shoes: http://www.the-giveaway.com/2009/03/classic-tale-giveaway.html#comment-form

The store, A Classic Tale, has some other great stuff too! Check it out!

Yummy Cold

Yesterday was a wonderful winter day. The first that we've had, in fact. There have been cold days this winter, but none that were cold and wet and could chill you to the bone. Too bad it waited until March to get here!

The preschool girls (along with a bunch of other young homeschoolers) took a class on Invertebrates at the Austin Nature and Science Center yesterday morning. Lila really enjoyed the class and Eli and I enjoyed hanging out with the other moms. The only drawback to the whole thing was the long walk between the car and the center. In the cold rain. With a stroller and a slow-walking 3-year-old. Twice. And me with no umbrella or jacket (my own fault, i know).

I managed to keep Eli fairly dry while we were walking through the rain, but his feet did get damp. By the time we got home, his feet and ankles were like fat little popsicles (not that he cared). I changed him into dry socks and pants, but the silly boy kept pulling his socks off. I told him that his feet were never going to warm up if he kept pulling his socks off and chewing on them, but he just didn't listen! Boys...

At the Library, earlier today...

I'm typing this at the Austin Public Library and I have a headache. The reason that I am able to sit and type out a blog post at the library is that Eli is not here with me. Just Lila. Eli does not allow us to enjoy trips to the library because he thinks it's boring. Thankfully, Doug came home right around the time I was thinking of loading us up to com here. We decided on a gender split. The men went to the home store to get supplies for fixing up the old house and the women came to the library for new books.

The reason I have a headache is... pollen, I suppose. Spring has sprung in Austin, which means it's the time of year when I have frequent dull headaches and don't sleep well because I'm having so many vivid and bizarre dreams. I do love some things about spring though. Like how all the plants and trees suddenly have little green leaves on them or beautiful purple or pink blossoms. It's happening so early this year that we didn't have a chance to prune in our yard!

Doug spent a few hours at the old house yesterday, cleaning and doing yard work. The kids and I stopped by there after lunch, to say hello and take a peek. Doug had told me what a mess the place was after our tenants moved out, but I wanted to see it for myself. I kind of wish I hadn't because what I saw just made me angry! I don't think those guys cleaned anything, the entire time they lived there. It is repulsively dirty, things are broken, and there is an infestation of Evil Beasts in the kitchen.

Mmm... I think I'd better stop talking about it because I'm getting upset again...

Random

I just overheard the following coming from one of Lila's school friends while playing make-believe outside:

"We miss our daughter. [fake crying] She died like Darth Vader. [more fake crying]"

Other fantastic things said by 3-year-olds today:

Lila: "I love you, Mother."
Me: "I love you, too, Daughter."
Lila: "You are my most special Valentine ever."

...and...

Lila: "All my little kitties are called Meshacks."

I love 3-year-olds.

Another Giveaway

I found a giveaway for a $150 shopping spree at kidscoats.com. They have the cutest boutique coats and jackets for boys and girls (many more for the girls than the boys, of course)!

Go to Extraordinary Mothers for more information and to enter!

Doug Update

I figure it's about time for me to give an update on Doug and his job transition. In case you missed it, he left Dell in December, after nearly 12 years. He'd been contemplating a job change for some time when Dell announced that they were offering a very generous Voluntary Separation Package. What's that? You'll pay me to go and do something that I'd already been considering doing for free. Okay!

So he left Dell and entered the world of Lots of Free Time. The first month that he was off was like a big vacation. Par-tay! After Christmas, we started to grate on each other's nerves pretty severely. We've settled into a good routine now, though, and are both enjoying the rare opportunity. Doug disappears in the morning to some location with wireless Internet access, while the kids and I do school or go to the gym. He might or might not be around for lunch, depending on his schedule. Then he comes home and the afternoons are either spent together as a family or I flee the children for a little while. Nice.

During this time, we've still had the part-time Community Leader job at Gateway that we used to share. Since Doug has had so much more time and motivation, he's taken it over completely. I'm pretty sure he's doing a better job at it than I ever did, but I'm choosing not to notice. We've also had income from the renters in our old house, but they, theoretically, moved out at the end of February and we are thinking it might be time to sell that house anyway. It has, as expected, increased in value quite a bit in the past 1.5 years.

Now, the things that are on the horizon... there are a lot, but nothing is firm, so I'm going to be vague. There are a couple of in-town positions that Doug is considering, as well as one that is out-of-town. He's also been working on proposals for several contract jobs with various companies and is looking into a job doing financial planning for people. I really don't know what the end result of all this will be. Could be that he'll take a full-time position right away. Or he might do contract work for a year or so, until a full-time position that really sounds interesting comes along. Or he might do some combination of jobs.

Initially, I was freaked out by the uncertainty of contract work, but then I realized that I trust Doug and, more importantly, I trust God. So now I'm not worried. Just waiting to see what comes next in our adventure.

Coffee

I don't remember whether I've mentioned this before or not, but I recently gave myself over to a coffee habit. I now drink a double cup of coffee every morning after breakfast. I read somewhere that a moderate amount of coffee was actually good for your heart, which seemed like a sufficient excuse to start drinking it. I've always had a somewhat romanticized view of coffee-drinking, probably because all my grandparents did/do it. Of course, half of them also smoked and I didn't have any sort of inclination to take up a cigarette habit...

Anyway, I like coffee. And now I drink coffee. This week, I determined that I only want my coffee to taste like coffee. I bought some cinnamon and something-or-other flavored blend, mostly because it was the only non-decaf blend that was on sale at the grocery store. (in case you didn't know, i'm obsessed with buying things on sale. i won't go into that now though. it is an obsession that deserves a post all its own.)

So I brewed a serving of this flavored coffee and decided after the first sip that I didn't like it and would be making another trip to the store as soon as possible. I waited a few minutes and then went ahead and took a second sip, just in case it improved after the initial shock. Nope. I pushed the cup over to Doug and went back to my water. With every flavored coffee I've ever tasted, the flavoring just tasted like chemicals to me. No different with this one. So, from now on, I will be getting only coffee flavored coffee.

My favorite is very dark French Roast and I drink it, not completely black, but with only 1/4 tsp each of sugar and creamer. I guess I like my coffee to wake me up by reaching out of the cup and slapping me. What I also find fascinating is the effect that my coffee habit has had on my night time cravings. I usually start craving caffeine at night, particularly when I haven't had a soda with dinner. Pre-coffee, this craving was always for Dr. Pepper. Now it's a craving for coffee.

Don't get me wrong, I still love me some D.P., but what I crave at night is coffee. It only took me giving in to that craving one time to realize that coffee has a lot more caffeine than soda, however. I drank a cup at 9:30 p.m. and didn't get to sleep until 1 a.m. Oops. Now, when I start to crave caffeine at night, I just go to bed. If I stay awake, then I'll keep wandering blindly into the kitchen and snacking. (we don't keep soda in the house anymore.)

Mother

Since Lila was a baby, she has called me Mommy. I couldn't see her calling me that forever, but it's the name I decided to start with. Sometime in the past year, she started alternating between Mommy and Mom. That is totally fine with me. I kind of like being called Mom. In fact, with both kids, whenever we'd talk for them, we'd have them referring to us as Mom and Dad. It just happened that way. I think that Lila's adoption of Mom came from hearing us talk for Eli and having him refer to me that way.

The odd thing is that, sometime in the past week, she has started calling me Mother. I have no idea where she came up with that and I find it unexpectedly disconcerting to be referred to in such a way. Especially by my 3-year-old. Picture this: Yesterday, as we were getting into the car at the gym, Lila turned to me and said,

"What are subways like, Mother?"

How random is that?!? I quickly recovered from my confusion (and the urge to laugh) and answered her question. For once, she was satisfied with my answer and just went on with her business as though it were perfectly normal for us to have had such a conversation. Strange child.

Kids are Awesome

The best thing that Lila asked all day: "Does God have a wand?"

Now that I've probably lost half my readers...

Yes, I am finally sitting down to type out a real post. I can't believe how long it's been since I did this! The problem, I think, is an increase in emails to read and the introduction of other distractions into my life. I'm thinking of making blogging a part of my morning routine. Wake up - Wii Body Test - Breakfast - Coffee - Blog. The only problem with that plan is that the creative part of my brain typically does not wake up until sometime after lunch. We'll see how it goes.

And now I'm sitting here, staring at the screen because I don't know what to write. . . . Oh! I could tell you about Lila's new gymnastics class! She finished up her swim classes in mid-January and I was planning to get her started in gymnastics at the beginning of February. However, due to my extreme procrastinator tendencies, it didn't happen until last week.

At any rate, she is now taking a weekly gymnastics class and loving it! I have some photos from her first class that I'll post soon. (don't expect too much - they were taken through a window) She looks super cute in her little leotard, with her hair in a ponytail. I was afraid she'd get into the first class and not want to do anything, but she jumped right in (literally)! They've spent the first two weeks working on "cartwheels" and yesterday they even got to walk across the balance beam! So fun!