Neighbor Boy

Our interesting neighbor boy, the one we met at our final walk through of our house, has made a habit of bringing our mail to our door. Pretty much every day unless I manage to get to the mailbox before he does, he gets it out of our mailbox and brings it to me at our front door. Always sans shirt (he has many tattoos), and with his basketball shorts sitting quite low. I wish he wouldn't get into our mailbox, but I know he's just trying to be nice...so I'm not sure what to say to him. He usually just hands it to me and says, "here" and walks away as I say "thank you". Glenn is sure that he's a good, nice kid at heart, so I'm trying to give him the benefit of a doubt.

Yesterday Glenn was home and he answered the door when our neighbor brought us our mail. Glenn engaged him in a conversation about Memorial Day. "So, what are you going to do to celebrate today? Barbecue or something special to honor our soldiers?"

He said, "Oh, that's today?"

"Yeah." Glenn said.

"Oh, no. It's probably just smoking pot and drinking for me." Said our neighbor.

Glenn laughed it off and they said goodbye. Dear me. Well, at least he's very honest, right?

Then Glenn looked down and noticed that our sweet neighbor had brought us our own outgoing mail that we had put in the mailbox that morning.

Inthtrumenth (instruments with a lisp)

I was given an Ipod for my birthday from my sweetie and a great ihome system from my mom. Tate was having an irrationally whiney morning so we put on a little music to try to cheer him up. He's been really into music and musical instruments lately. I think it's primarily due to watching an episode of Little Einsteins every morning while I shower. They talk about instruments a lot on that show. Lately, marching bands are his favorite part of parades, he picks up sticks at the park and pretends to play the violin, flute, or drums, our pot lids have become cymbals and everything flat is a drum or tympani, and he's started to try to name instruments in the music we're listening to. It's darling.

Anyway, this is the effect my new birthday presents had on little Tate. Pretty sure I'm going to turn on classical music every day from now on. So so funny.

Surprises

My birthday was yesterday. I turned 28. Glenn knew he would have to be out of town on my actual birthday so he planned some fun things for the few days before.

On Thursday morning he had arranged to drop Tate off with a good friend who was going to watch him all day and night. He took off work, "kidnapped" me, and we went down town. We had a blast, shopping at the galleria, lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, went to a movie, browsed at pottery barn and crate and barrel, a cupcake at Sprinkles. Then we checked in at the Hotel Icon where we stayed overnight. It was a really awesome hotel. Glenn did a great job.

He also planned an activity for that evening. He told me the night before that he had planned something. As he put it, "I'm going WAY out on a limb here. I mean, way out on the end of the limb where it bends." I was a little nervous. What if it was terrible? How was I supposed to react well? He told me that he couldn't find anything else going on in the city on a Thursday night, no plays, concerts, or anything that was perfect, so he bought some tickets to the only thing he could find and he said, "It could go two ways: we could be surprised and actually like it, or we could spend a great night completely mocking everything about it." I am pleased to say we had a great night doing the latter. He took me to see Yanni in Concert. Oh my dear. It was hilarious! Not really my style of music or entertainment, but that's exactly what made it so enjoyable. That, and the fact that I was sitting next to Glenn. The lady next to Glenn was just weeping the whole night and would "conduct" along with her favorite songs. Then there was the binocular couple, and intense camera man. Good times.

I was actually really impressed with Yanni's band. There were some killer violinists, a jazz harpist who seriously rocked, and a flugelhorn player who was pretty surprising too. I think it was Yanni's over the top personality that just made it hard for me to think of him as a serious talent. My favorite move was when he would stand in between two synthesizers facing the audience with one hand playing one note over and over (yep, just one), dancing and smiling seductively to the audience, and the other hand was punching the air and strongly pointing to cue his band behind him. It was just so hilarious. It was like he was commanding the universe instead of just standing there flipping his hair, playing one note, while his band played all by themselves in the background. Hilarious. So much punching, pointing, swaying, and hair flipping. It was a great time. One of my favorite moments was when he was trying to talk all seriously about his next song and a man yelled from the audience, "Will you kiss my wife?" Yanni said, "Are you serious? You want me to kiss your wife?" And then he said, okay and the guy brought his wife to the edge of the stage and Yanni kissed her on the mouth. Yuck. Then there were the three encores that the audience didn't really want. Oh we laughed so hard.

It was super fun to spend all day alone with Glenn. We had so much fun. It's great to be able to talk to him all day long and remember how much I like to talk to him all day long. Such a good man I've got.

Then on Saturday he had arranged a little surprise party at our community swimming pool. He made a cake from scratch and had emailed tons of people in the ward who I've even just mentioned before, to come eat cake and swim. It was very sweet.

Yesterday was kinda boring but I wasn't bummed about it because I felt like we spent so much of the last week playing. I went to church and spent time in nursery (Glenn and I were just called as the Sr. Nursery leaders of our ward. Good times.), opened very thoughtful presents from my family, spent time on skype and the phone, played with Tate. It was nice.

I was telling Mallory about my marathon date with Glenn and she said, "You know, if he had just taken you to another movie, five years from now you would never remember what that movie was. But you will never forget the birthday when you went to see Yanni." So true. Thanks everyone for a fun birthday.

Play Day

Last week was really busy. Babysitting for a friend all day, errands and stuff around the house. It had been a while since we'd really played or done something fun for Tate. By Thursday Tate and I were ready for a fun play day together. We decided to check out the butterfly center at the science museum downtown. He's been into butterflies lately, thanks to a couple of little einsteins episodes.
First we encountered this cool fountain outside. I'm pretty sure Tate could play in a cool fountain all day long.

Then we headed inside to check out the exhibit. It was super cool. Tate loved that giant caterpillar.And we climbed up some stairs (also a hit) to the big exhibit room where we met some huge bugs: spiders, roaches, grasshoppers and the like.

Tate was fascinated by the big butterflies coming out of all the cocoons. And loved to see the different food that all the different bugs were eating.

Then there were all the buttons to push. He didn't really have to understand what all the buttons were for. There were just so many of them! Kid was in heaven.

And a special thanks to this little exhibit for confirming my fear that a large spider just might be hiding in my shoe every time I go to put it on. After that big room we went out to the butterfly conservatory. The conservatory was enormous and looked like a lush rain forest. There were thousands of butterflies everywhere! It was very cool. Tons of butterflies everywhere you looked. All different colors and sizes and they were not shy. They'd fly right up and flutter in front of your face. That freaked Tate's freak a little. He was fine until one came right up to his face and then that was it. I was holding him and pointing to butterflies at least a few feet away for the rest of the time. It was amazing. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face and Tate was much happier too, as long as they kept their distance. Tate was especially mesmerized by the waterfall and frustrated that I wouldn't let him dive in.Then we had a butterfly treat on the way out. It was a great outing.

That night we went to the discount day at jumpalooza with Glenn. I told Tate that we could go when dad got home and he said, all excited, "Dad wants to COME?" Yeah buddy, Daddy is coming. For some reason, he could not get enough of Daddy that night. He didn't want anything to do with me. If he was climbing somewhere, Daddy had to go with him. At one point Glenn started punching these big things like a punching bag and Tate started busting up laughing. Then he said, "I can do it too!" and started copying Daddy. It was so cute. A very fun and full day. Glad we took a break from the daily grind to really play for a whole day.

Adios!

The ants are history! I cleaned out the pantry today and put things back in. My counters look much cleaner and it's just plain wonderful not to be running in to the little things every day.

There was really no difference after the bug folks came to spray so Glenn took matters into his own hands. We had ant traps that did nothing. Then he found this great stuff called "Terro". You put a little drop of it onto a piece of paper and the ants eat it and take it back to feed to the queen. Once the queen dies, you're free! Glenn was super excited. He planted it right along their path and watched them. He is very science-minded, so watching the process unfold fascinated him. There was much fist-pumping, shouting, and celebrating as they fell for his tricks. I enjoyed watching him much more than watching the ants.

He even sang them a little song as he watched. Sung to the tune of "Lead Kindly Light"

Drink deeply ants amidst the encircling doom.

Die vermin scum!

Drink of the poison and feed it to your queen.

Die vermin scum!

Good times. I had his song stuck in my head all day.

Adios ants. Please don't come again!

Here are a couple of other friends who live at our house.

Lizards. Several. This is one of their favorite tricks. Tate thinks it's hilarious to see just their heads sticking out.

And this is a little frog friend who we find right on our back doorstep every night. We must have some delicious bugs hanging out there or something.

That's a lion! And that's a Cheetah!

Tonight we went to a movie. All three of us. It was awesome. Just what we needed. Glenn's been out of town this week doing training and will be gone next week too. I was worn out and tonight was so perfect.

We decided to take Tate to see African Cats. He loves animals and we thought he'd really enjoy it. We were so right. He's had a little problem the last few weeks in church of not being able to stop himself from talking. The boy is sweet and happy, but somehow completely unable to comprehend the complexity that is a whisper. We had this fun animal book out last Sunday and we had to hide it because he kept naming all the animals one by one in a normal full voice. He was so happy. He was excited. He was just too loud!

So tonight, in the movie it was more of the same. Glenn and I went back and forth between embarrassed and trying to discipline him, and laughing so hard it hurt because Tate just could not stop talking.

"That's a cheetah! That's a baby cheetah! That's a lion and he's walking in the grass. That's a crocodile. He's swimming in the water. The lions are hugging. That's so cute! He he he he he he. That's a hippopotamus. That's some water. Those are waves. Those lions are swimming in the water with the alligators. That's a wildebeest! Wow, look at all those wildebeests! That's a pink ostrich. That's a big lion. He wants to run. He wants to wrestle. That's a gazelle. That's a turtle. Hi Daddy! That's mommy! Those are some trees!" On and on and on. He kept talking when we were whispering in his ear to stop talking. He kept talking through our hands covering his mouth. He was so enthralled in the movie it was like he physically couldn't keep his mouth shut.

At one point Glenn took him out after several warnings that he needed to stop talking. He later told me their conversation in the hall went like this,

G - "Tate, you need to be quiet or you can't go back into the movie."

T - (still completely happy and chatty) "Where did mommy go? I want to see the movie."

G - "Tate, would you like to go back in to the movie?"

T - "Oh yeah!"

G - "Tate, can you be quiet?"

T - with a little smile, "Ummmmm. I don't know."

G - Tate, we have to be so quiet if you want to see more of the movie."

T - "Ummmm. This is my tummy, and this is my back." (master of distraction)

We really did try to keep him quiet. Popcorn, fruit snacks, orange juice were all utilized and still the kid just couldn't contain his excitement. Luckily we were three of maybe 8 people in the movie theater at the time and most of them kept laughing at little man.

It was so sweet to see him completely lost in the movie. There is something so precious about the pure, innocent joy that children find. I just adore being a part of it. Tonight, I love being a mommy and being able to witness that pure bliss all the time. It reminds me how spectacular this world is. How blessed I am for all the little things he notices and finds wonder in that I so often overlook. It was a good night.

Next week we're going to get Oceans on netflix. I have a feeling he'll just LOVE that.

Hooray for Visitors!

It's been a crazy and wonderful 2 weeks in our new house. We moved in and 3 days later, we had visitors. We LOVE visitors! Mom, Kenzie, Aubry, Mya and Sadie came down for Kenzie's spring break and stayed with us for a whole week. We had the best time showing them around our city, neighborhood, and home. And they were really great guests, in spite of many crazy challenges of being in a new home. The ants of course, and also we lost electricity for 2 days of their stay. We spent plenty of time on the phone before they came making sure all the utilities on this house would transfer without a problem...but there were problems. Tons of food thrown away, no AC (luckily it wasn't too hot and we stayed out most of the day), and the kicker, all the fire alarms beeping all night long. We didn't have a ladder tall enough to reach them to put batteries in. A few flashlights and ear plugs later, we had a pretty good night's sleep. Good times. I'm just glad they were so sweet and such patient guests. Sheesh!
The first day they arrived we spent the evening at our duck pond.

We met lots of new little ducklings, little turtles, and even our strange rodent of unusual size. Not sure what it is...but it's not real pretty.The next morning we ran some errands, and spent some time on the phone checking on the electricity situation then after naps we headed to the zoo. I love going to the zoo. It has yet to get old for me. Especially with visitors! Tate loved having so many people around and showing off his zoo.

We even met a little pig wandering around on a leash.

And what is a visit to the zoo without a little bongo drums?

It was sure fun watching the kiddos playing together. I was pleasantly surprised how well they all got along all week. They played nice and were excited every morning that they got to play together again that day. It was so wonderful. We could all just sit in our little toy room and watch them play all day long.
The next morning we went to the downtown aquarium. Always a good time, especially when lots of coupons are involved. We walked through all the fun exhibits. Marveled at fish the size of our children.Mya marvelled at the snake the size of her daddy.

Kenzie tried to scare the puffer fish

and gave Tate some lovin'.

At the end of the exhibit we tried to get the kids to touch the sea creatures.Kenzie was super excited. Tate and Mya both passed on the sting rays but Tate loved these horseshoe crabs, and Mya thought petting the star fish was pretty cool. Sadie preferred the white tiger. Then it was off to the train through a shark tunnel. And then a turn on the ferris wheel. A very fun morning. Kenzie decided she needed to try the hurricane simulator. I was glad she did.

After the aquarium we took off to Galveston for 2 nights. We went to the beach that evening and all the next day. That first night we went to Stewart beach which was really gross and covered with sea weed. We'd only been there once or twice before but it was always nice. So the next day we just walked across the street to the beach by our hotel. It was really pleasant and the kiddos played in the sand all day and could have done so for days and days.

Finding sea shells, diggin holes, dumping water. It was little kiddo heaven.

Mom and Glenn stayed in the waves most of the day and could have done that for days and days. It was great to see mom's face when she's near the ocean. Certainly not the most beautiful beach she's ever seen, but there really is something about being near the ocean that just lights her up inside. I think I inherited it too.

We got home on Saturday, cleaned all the spoiled food out of the fridge and freezer and Kenzie, Mom, and I went to the temple. Kenzie did baptisms and crossed another temple off her list. She's been to far more than I have now.

The rest of the weekend we just hung out. Played with chalk, went to a fun park, lots of bubbles and a few attempts at grandkids pictures.

Looking at a little lizard.

On Monday mom offered to watch the kids while Aubry, Kenzie and I went shopping. We had a great time and scored some great deals. Then we had lunch at Cheesecake factory. Hard to beat a day like that.

They left Tuesday morning. It was pretty sad. We miss them so much around here. For a few days every time Tate heard a noise that might be the door he would say, "Maybe Nanna's coming to visit?" Still when I ask him something like, "Guess where we're going!" or, "Guess who we're going to play with!" He says, "To see Mya (Kenzie, Nanna, Aubry, Sadie)" It's kind of bitter sweet when they leave. While I'm kind of glad to get back to my house and getting things figured out around here, I realize so much more after they're gone how much I miss them. I miss having easy access to them. I miss my little guy being able to play with his cousins. I really don't like that Tate is growing up so fast so far away from them. He's missing so many little things and I absolutely loved watching him play with his family.

It was a great week. A few favorites in no particular order:
1. "Delicious, Mean, and Scary" We listened to the Tangled soundtrack in the car...a lot. Tate and Mya's favorite song the "I've Got a Dream" but it starts out, "I'm Malicious, Mean and Scary..." I like Tate's version better. Mya had most of it memorized and had some great facial expressions and actions timed to the lyrics.

2. "Um...I don't fink so." This was Mya's response any time I asked her if she wanted to do something and she wasn't quite sure what it was.

3. Kissing these cheeks. I mean, seriously. 4. Listening to my mom read stories and sing songs to Tate at night.

5. Moments like these.

5. Shopping with my sisters.

Thanks for coming you guys. Please come again! I promise we'll have electricity!