Sweet Suzarooni

Suzy had her four year well check last week. I'm guessing she is pretty average since I never did get her stats. I may weigh and measure her tomorrow, just for fun.

We've been having lots of fun lately. This is thanks in part to a book recommended by Tsh , called Your Four Year Old, that I will write more on later. She loves watching Curious George and doing anything silly. She no longer naps, so we are in bed early and up early at our house.

Her favorite color is pink and she has a heart of gold. She loves counting the money in her piggy bank and when you ask her what she will buy, she will tell you "things for you, and Andy, and Daddy!" I honestly think she really would. She continues to amaze me with her sensitivity to other's needs. She offers drinks, band aides, lovies, and snacks often. She is pretty independent with all of her own care. When she sees an emergency vehicle, her first response is to see what kind it is followed by a request to pray for those involved. She likes to "balance" as pictured below and she likes crafts as long as there is no expectation. what. so ever. of the outcome.

Her latest obsession is impromptu Mad Lib stories involving Curious George and a little girl named Suzy. Her outfits can often be comical. We are currently in another pajama phase that she likes to dress up with necklaces and hats. Notice the lack of shoes. Apparently, they are no longer needed.
We both adore this sweet hat from Mamaw. I'd love to find her a few more of these that are a little more "Springy". I just think Suzy looks so cute in hats.
I love this photo. I love it because the dress is way too short but she insisted upon wearing it. I love it because she made up a game of sitting on the Yoga blocks. I love it because she was determined that she was going to sit on ALL the blocks, even though there was a large risk they would topple. I love it because it shows her little scratched up, banged up, bruised little legs that are a result of many previous balancing attempts that did not turn out so well.
This shot is from the clinic. She actually got up that morning, put on some cute clothes, and then decided to change into this garage sale night gown right before we left the house. My OT peers are way cooler in the fashion world than I am. Suzy helped me drive that point home this morning. She even took the barretts out of her hair for that shag look. ;)

My Little Man

Andy had his 18 month check up last week. He is pretty "average". His head is a bit big at 75% to hold that ever expanding little brain of his. His weight is 26 lbs at 50%, and his height is 49 inches at 50%. He looks a little short due to his stubby little legs from me, but his long torso from his daddy makes up for it. A basketball player he will not be. But he would make a great sprinter or gymnast! :)

He's INTO EVERYTHING. I took the kids to the clinic last week for fun and he was all over the stereo. Booger now knows how to change channels, adjust volume, and change a CD. Crazy.
How you like this station, Ma?
He's a mess. He loves anything artsy. Contrary to the photo's suggestion, he didn't actually eat the paint brush. I'm the mom that lets him eat cheerios whilst his hands are covered in (non-toxic) paint. I love how all the markers were stuck in the paint cup. I tell ya, I turn my back for one second....
Did I mention he got a little paint on his hands while he was eating?
The blue hair makes this shot even funnier in my opinion.
I am embracing the fact that I will have even more wrinkles and look much worse in five years - at which point, I will cherish this photo Debbie took of me and my little buddy at the park last night.
I invited Debbie out to the park super last minute to embrace some awesome light. We all jumped in the van and I realized I had left my camera at home. Glad she had hers!
I let my kids drive short trips within our section of the neighborhood. Illegal, yes. Am I concerned? No. I was probably doing much worse at their ages. Plus, it's literally just up a little hill. We usually just walk. It's a fun little treat.
Andy's ready for his license. I'd be fine with it.... as long as he only drives to the park and the mailbox like we practice. Maybe to Ben and Will's house. But not Molly's. He's not allowed to drive to a girl's house.... ever. ;)

Marti the Magician

Some photos from Debbie's camera. Yes.... cheesy. It's my hat and wand, but not the entire ensemble... ;)
Marietta still hasn't figured it out. HA!

Happy Birthday Uncle Cody!

Suzy and I made some magic wands to help celebrate Uncle Cody's Birthday. I laughed so hard when she said, "That's a great idea! Because Uncle Cody is a real Magi-hackson." I'm sure she didn't really say Michael Jackson and I know it was meant to be toddler speak for magician. However, it sure made me laugh!


Suzy wanted sprinkles on hers.
I thought they turned out great. Debbie and Cody thought it was "sweet".

My favorite part was that I was able to pull out some of my old magic stuff. It was fun to entertain the pro. I think Suzy may finally be old enough to understand object permanence well enough to make it worth while. I used my disappearing / reappearing box to present the wands to Cody and Suzy actually "got" it and thought it was "amazing." I may have to dust off some of the ol' magic tricks from way back in the "Marti the Magician" days....

(I hesitated so long to bring out the tricks for my own kids because of a really traumatic/comical toddler birthday party when I was in my prime. I made an egg disappear and the kid was not impressed. Why? It had nothing to do with my skill or abilities. He simply wasn't impressed because as he said, "You just used an invisible egg, that's all." Because to a toddler, invisible is highly unimpressive..... I should have only done the balloon animals. THOSE were impressive....)

Close to Home

You may have heard that a plane hit an office building here in Austin this morning. It hit pretty close to "home". Rob used to work close to this area, but he is now on the main campus. The plane actually hit next door to our church. The building complex has three sister buildings. Our church uses Echelon III for our adult Sunday Schools. Echelon II is between Echelon III and our church children's building. Several of my friends were there assembling crafts and such for our Sunday School children's classes. Pretty scary. Praise God, all but one person is accounted for at this time. Our prayers are with the family of the missing worker, the family of the pilot, emergency workers, and those who have been tramatized today.

The news is reporting that the pilot was heading for the IRS office housed in this building. He had a teenage daughter and a wife. He apparently set his own home ablaze before intentionally crashing into this building. The FBI is currently investigating.

This is our church.
This is our children's building.
Our Church parking lot.
Although I am not positive, as these stones are pretty common in this area, but this could possibly be the side yard of our Children's play yard.

Photos from a news website...

Feeling the Love and a Juice Box

So.... here's a big photo for you. Something is wrong with my yahoo account and so I haven't received comments on the blog since April. Nothing like a one way conversation, right? Basically, I figured no one was reading here anymore so I started to just upload the smaller photos. Per chance, I opened up some settings and found 62 unread comments! FUN! So... since you DO care, I will start making the photos bigger. I feel so loved again. ;)

Here's a start.... Andy's first juice box at Nate's birthday party. I think he liked it.

Great Wolf Lodge

Happy Valentine's Day 2010

Awkwardly Zesty

When we were dating, I asked Rob to describe me in one word. His word? "Zesty". I promptly sent him some saltines. Yup, I'm sure THAT is what impressed him. ;)

Anyhow, I'm flipping through some photos I took today of Suzy's little dance recital. I'll post more later. I think this one will be very cute if I can edit it correctly.
This one made me just chuckle and chuckle. Then, I had to laugh harder when Rob's reaction was....
"Ah, yes. She's just like you. Really pretty, but a little awkward."
What?

A Poo-Chi must see

My Poo-Chi loves you. In case you haven't seen it yet, this is hysterical!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a2DQC-ghio

Spice

Just some fun with the Rice Vermacilli packaging over-wrap

Name this Caption

Leave your favorite caption in the comments. ;)

Art

Suzy and Andy LOVE to do crafts. I found this great easel at the neighborhood garage sale and didn’t know really where to put it. So, I just decided to make a “craft area” in the kitchen. One of the best things I have done. I brought down an old cabinet and now have all of the supplies I need very handy. Rebekah gave Suzy this water doodle mat for her birthday and it is definitely on the list of all time favorite things in our home.

We Still Love Our Colts

We were so very sad to see our boy Peyton throw that pick 6..... ;)But we are still, and probably will be for a long time.... Indianapolis Colts Fans!
Rob married into it and he's a good sport about it. He does, however, tease me mercilessly about how I can't name any of the other players. Honest? I was shocked to know that "Smith, Jones, Johnson, and Brown" didn't get me too far. Plus, I have no idea what the intro sentence to this blog means. I'm simply restating something Rob said Peyton did incorrectly. Oh well, I guess I really am in it for the commercials. That, plus Peyton seems like such a great guy. No, I don't really know him super personally, but he spoke "real nice" with some of my kids back in the Midwest and up there, folks just talk all sweet about him all the time. Plus, I know someone who knows someone.... Ha!

Bring It ON!

WE ARE READY!!

More to post later.... After the win, of course. ;)

Andy's Second Haircut

Since the first haircut was just a trim, we went all out for the second one. He loved it.

Random iPhone photos from January

This photo had to be taken. It proves that I have the best YMCA ever. All the balloons had Andy on complete happy drive.

One of Suzy’s favorite things to do is to ask Papop and Grammy to take her to Red Robin. The best part is the car. I work very hard to suppress the ick factor.


I love how Andy carries his blankie everywhere I will let him.

Suzy takes her big sister role very seriously. She tries to teach Andy all kinds of things. Some things I wish he weren’t ready for yet.


I am at a loss for words for captions here.

I love that I had my iPhone near by for this shot. This is such a regular occurrence around here. My sweet, sour, spicy Suzy. I love to laugh with you.

Distracted

It's a good thing it was a good sermon. This was very distracting for me a few rows up at church. Sweet friend, sweet babe. Sweet iPhone. ;)

My little helpers

(Below are the same words from the page. I'm making a compromise of not uploading separately from my year book while also not requiring others (ahem... my sister) to squint to read the words.)


My friend, Tsh, is writing a book and asked if I would take some photos of how to fold a fitted sheet. When I was finished, Suzy wanted to take some photos of bunny taking a nap.

A highlight twice a day around here is dog feeding. Both kids scamper quickly to help. On their own, they worked out that Suzy is in charge of Nala, and Andy is in charge of Katie. I laugh because it is so fitting in regards to the personalities.