Here it goes!

Sometimes, okay all the time, I find myself thinking about things I want to remember and such, mostly about the kids and sometimes just stories. Stories of my own that happened to me or stories of relatives. Sometimes, it's just two lines of irrelevant information that for some reason I don't want to forget or I just enjoy remembering.

And usually when I have these thoughts, I want to write them down. And this blog is the natural outlet. But then, I end up talking myself out of it because it is too insignificant or too random or too short or too out of place for a good post. So I don't write it down.

But I am here to reclaim my blog from my own insecurities! I just want to feel like I used to, that I could post whatever I wanted and not worry about how interesting or entertaining it would be to anyone else.

I am attempting to make this my motto for 2009:

"Say what you feel and do what you want because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."


So here's some of stuff I'd like to let out of my head:
Wait, now that I'm finally gonna post 'em I'm drawing a blank, totally figures. Hmmmm...oh yes, here we go,

1. Yesterday, we went to the "pig show". It's rodeo time here in in Katy again and the kids and I stopped on our way to preschool to see a friend's, Jaime, pig in the livestock show.

As she hopped out of the van Ava asked, "Can I bring my fish? (goldfish crackers)" I told her she could. And she replied, "Good, pig shows make me so hungry"

We found our friend and got to pet her 242 lb, sunburned, sleeping pig.

Let me insert a piece of another story here, the other day, we were at a new friend's house. Both the house and the people there were unfamiliar to Ava. While I was on a tour of the house, Ava came screaming up the stairs, banging her hands on the wall as she ran. (Remember that funk, I was telling you about?)

Following after her was a soon-to-be mom in attendance. "Sorry," she said, "I tried to talk to her!"

Okay now back to the pigs.
While Ava was in the pen petting the pig, another big pig made it's way through the open gate for a little visit, and in the handler's attempt to get this new pig out, it bumped into Ava, knocking her on top of Jaime's pig and then onto the ground. She hopped up, and resumed her petting, without much notice.

Now, what kind of child literally freaks out when spoken to by a stranger yet, doesn't even blink while being tossed around in a small enclosed area with (2) 250lb pigs?

As we left to go to preschool, she said, "Wait, I want to stay at the radio!" I explained that we would be going to the rodeo the next day. "Good," she said, "because I just love the radio!"

2. Luke had what I would venture to say was the best night of his life last night. We went to Cici's All-You-Can-Eat Pizza Buffet. He probably ate his weight in pizza and brownie. He just sat in his high chair poking in bite after bite and bopping along to the music.

This is why I decided America's children are getting fatter and fatter, because to see your children looking so happy like this, makes you want to keep piling their plate with the good stuff.

By the time it was brownie bites for dessert, he had slowed down considerably. He'd handle a piece before putting it in his mouth and then he began a behavior that looked oddly familiar.

See earlier this week he had his first experience with paints. He liked it well enough.


I think he was most excited by the fact that he got to do the same thing as Ava.


Soon, though he had enough and I cleaned him up and got him down. Not too bad for an amateur, eh?


It wasn't a minute later when he climbed back up the the table realized his favorite part of this activity was playing with the paint bottles.


He started by putting them in small groups and then found that what made him happiest was when he had them all lined up, just so.



And last night at Cici's the world made sense when his brownies were in a line.

3. I wonder where girls get all these ideas about being a princess and brides and damsels in distress. And I really think that some girls cling to that more than others. I think Ava is one of those. She pretty much lives out her fantasy life though the day and reality is just "between scenes" for her. She is the star of her very own musical that she writes, directs, and stars in every single day.

She came home the other day asking to see "Mommy be marry", which equals our wedding video. She hasn't requested that in a long time. She sat there and watched intently, and sprinkled in her comments of "oh, Mom, you look so beautiful!" and "Mom, you were a bride", etc.

I was sitting on the floor next to her thinking about how much younger Dan looked, and how skinny I was. Out of now where, Ava stood directly in front of me, she cupped her hands on my cheeks and stared intently into my eyes. With calculation she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, tilted her head to the side, and tried to kiss me like the french. In fact, she did kiss me, before I realized that what she was doing.

I asked her where she learned to kiss like that. "From Dad," was her reply. But for the record, Dan only kisses me like that on our wedding video.

Alrighty, that is more than enough for now. And if that is not a pile of stuff that doesn't belong together, then I don't know what is. Take it for what it's worth (not much) and go in peace.