Living in Munchkinland

Samuel is going in tomorrow for an endoscopy and colonoscopy in the hopes that we can find out why his stomach and bowels hurt him so often. Please light a candle or pray or send good thoughts to us tonight as he realizes that jello and popsicles and broth really don't fill him up, tomorrow as he submits to the injustices of enemas, as he overcomes some fears, and as he goes under anesthesia.

My parents bought me tickets to go see Audra McDonald at the Long Center for my birthday (actual birthday is not for two more weeks, but close). A week before the show, they told me they had two more tickets and I could invite two friends! I was so excited. My first call was to my friend Sarah, because I KNEW she would love Audra as much as I do and because I never get to see her and I miss her lots. Then I called Marchelle. They both accepted and I had my two friends from UofA theater days joining me. Michael met us there and I rode up with my parents. We met at the bar and we all sat around and caught up with each other. It was so great to be out at the theater with two ladies I never see and whom I love dearly. And then the show started. Audra is amazing. I vacillated between analyzing her phrasing, vibrato and performance and being completely engaged in the world she was creating. She is an incredible actress. I hung on her words and was so moved by her voice and the s

So. We woke up early this morning- too early, it hurt, but we did it. The boys all put on their running gear, ate a quick breakfast and we went to the Master's School for their 5K run fundraiser. We helped set up and I was put in charge of refreshments. Eventually it warmed up and people arrived and the race began. Davis and Michael ran the 5K. Davis chose to run it with his friends and not with Michael. We've entered that stage. Michael ran fast and strong. We found out when the times were read, that Michael won first place for his age group! I was so ridiculously proud of him. Davis did very well too, running the entire thing in 30 minutes. Then it was time for the kids 1K fun run. Samuel ran that one with his friends and Davis went ahead and ran it as well. Michael also won a door prize of a towel and t-shirt and then we stayed till the end in order to help clean up. Then we drove straight over to the farmer's market to help support the Montessori school f

We spent last weekend in New Orleans with mom and dad. I believe it was my best Valentine's day ever. Martha and Clark stayed at our house and watched the boys and took care of everything so I had total peace of mind while we were away. I have the best in-laws. We flew direct on Southwest to New Orleans around lunchtime on Thursday. I am so glad southwest has started flying direct from Austin again. It makes the trip so easy! We got to the condo around 3pm and after unpacking, walked down the street to Fresh market to get some breakfast and snack food. After we stocked the condo, we took the street car down to the quarter and walked down to Frenchman Street. We had an early supper at The Three Muses where we listened to Tom McDermott play the piano and tried to ignore the loudest drunk woman ever at the table beside us. When we finished our meal, we walked down the street to The Spotted Cat to see Miss Sophie Lee and her band. We enjoyed their set immensely and even did

We got to keep Violet and Graham this weekend while Rob and Cheris went out of town to celebrate Rob's birthday. We had so much fun. They dropped the kids off at 9:30AM on Saturday and they played hard until they picked them up at 2:30PM on Sunday. They all get along so well and had a marvelous time. They painted and did art and played legos and lightsabers and puzzles and chinese checkers all morning and then I made bean and cheese soft tacos for lunch which they ate while watching the Olympics. Then I kicked them outside and they played out there all afternoon. They painted the cub mobile and made acorn "stew" and little men out of mud. They paused to shove a half dozen caramel empanadas down their gullets and then I took them on a walk down to the river bottom and they explored and ran around and let their imaginations go wild. They came up much later and raced various wheeled toys down the driveway. Michael and I got lots of chores done while the kids were o

Here is a picture taken on Thursday at the kid's school. Apparently, after the kids all arrived at 10AM, they put down their bags in their rooms and all went out to the courtyard for a massive, school-wide snowball fight. The teachers, staff and kids all played for a long time outside. Samuel's class and the other first grade class also made snow angels and some wonderful person took some pictures of it. I had to share.

We've had some serious winter weather for San Marcos the last few weeks. This week we had school delays yesterday and today along with snow, sleet and lots of ice. This morning was grandparents day at the kids' school which is a Big Deal. They send out fancy invitations and it's a half day of school and the kids present projects that they have been working on for months. We were very afraid that Grandparents day would be cancelled, but we just managed to make it happen though my dad thought we were all crazy for venturing out into that weather. It was icy and the grandparents scurried from one heated room to another, but the kids were super proud and so were the grandparents. Davis and his dad built a cub mobile for his project and the kids at the school thought it was awesome. Samuel displayed his rock collection for his project and that was a hit too. All the grades did recitation during the grandparents program and I enjoyed getting to show Martha, Clark and mom

Remember how last weekend my children were angels? That didn't last. This weekend my children proved extremely challenging. My husband wasn't all that angelic either. Still, we carried through. Sam won't ever stop making noises. Sound after sound, after buzz after made up word after song after nonsensical syllable. He has a never-ending case of verbal diarrhea. It gets old. Davis is so, so, so, so, strong willed and STUBBORN. I know my mother is secretly thinking the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But still. It gets old. Still, we carried through. We had a friend over on Friday after school. It was a beautiful day and the kids beat each other with light sabers and ran around outside discovering new "forts" down in the gulley by the river. We had pizza and watched a terrible, horrible movie for family movie night. Saturday we took off early. The boys dropped me off for my hair appointment while they all went to the SOAR festival at the