Bathwater and other delicious drinks

Dex is a handful. He keeps on our toes almost every minute that he is awake. Non stop activity from a child who either can't or won't walk. I say won't, because I have seen him make some walking-like motions when he thinks I am not watching. But, should anyone attempt to help him walk by holding his hands, or show any sort of enthusiam at all for walking, he immediately sits down on the floor. And gives us a dirty look. As if, 'Walk? Why would I walk? I have my minions to do my walking for me.' He charms the living daylights out of almost every person he meets (elderly people are especially vulnerable, though they all think he is a little girl), so he has no trouble being carried everywhere he wants to go.
His vocabulary is developing at an alarming speed as well. He is almost always saying something. In the past week or two, I have found him sitting on his rocker and muttering "wocka wocka wocka" to himself. It took a minute to figure out that this was his version of "rock rock rock" He now regularly waves to Josh at bedtime and says "nah nah, dada". His pronuciation is off, but I have started to notice that what I thought was babbling may actually be talking. He uses the same "words" everytime, so there is some sort of pattern there. (Like yelling "Geeee [-hard g, not like, gee wally]" everytime we are near a light switch. He wants to turn it on and off. Geee.)

By far, his most prominent obsession is bathwater. It is him firm belief that drinking the bath water will vastly improve the quality of his life. He spends every bathtime filling cups and toys with water, and trying to drink them without me noticing. When I dump the water out of said container, he cries piteously. Like, "I will die of dehydration, Mother! Bathwater is the only thing that can save me! How can you do this to me???" Eww.
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We moved Michelle to Dallas last weekend. It sucked, in case you are wondering. A friend asked if there was "great wailing and gnashing of teeth involved". I told her that on the inside, sure. But in reality it was more like a slap on the back and a "see ya later". We are not comfortable enough with out emotions to actually.... emote. Her boyfriend seems remarkably tolerant of her anxiety about living in Dallas, and was quite nice to us while we were there. ( still don't trust him- he stole my seester.)

I also got to see two of my favorite people, Guin and Rene. (That's Gwen, not goo-en. Ask her mother, not me.) They are just genuinely nice people, and it puts me in a good mood to be around them. He was largely a metal head in high school and she was mostly a hippie. They have merged into something in between and it seems to be working well for everyone. We have been friends for 14 years (Guin) or 9 years (Rene) depending on which one of them you are referring to. Long enough for them to know that I am crazy, and accept that. Also long enough to make me feel old.
I got to go shopping with Guin. Her purse obsession is much like my kids' clothing obsession. Frightening to behold, and dangerous in it's immensity. We were especially daring because we went to North Park mall which features the following stores: Hanna Andersson, Oilily, Strasburg, etc etc. It also holds a Dooney and Burke anchor store, which features ONLY purses. Guin was pulled across the mall by the force of this store, and we had to cling to one another throughout the store to keep from committing a major credit card sin. I was proud of us for escaping this mall largely unscathed. I miss you, Guinny.
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We are preparing to leave for Las Vegas in the next couple of days. Josh's grandma Linda passed away Friday and we are going to the funeral this week. We are leaving the girls with family, but taking Dex with us. Dex takes on Las vegas. Should be interesting. I doubt that Dex will understand grieving, as he is never unhappy. If nothing else, hopefully he can help cheer up grandpa Al. Wish me luck on this trip. Historically, we don't have good luck with traveling.

Hello out there...

I know, you don't need to tell me that I am lazy about posting. (Though some of you feel the need to call me regularly and ask when I will blog again. You know who you are...) Okay, here's the lately.

Friday night we had dinner with some of my favorite people, whom we don't see often enough. Emma, despite herself, had fun. When we left, she asked when we could go back again. My response was, aww, you like those other kids. Her response was something to the effect of, yeah, I did, annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, they have a TRAMPOLINE. Choose your friends wisely, folks. Not everyone can offer non-stop bouncing fun, like these kids can.

And, no, in case you were wondering, the baby DID NOT want to have her picture taken.

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Stomach bug times two. Dex and Emma. At the same time. They were on alternating vomit schedules all night last Saturday so that, by the time we were done cleaning up after one, it was the other's turn. We have finally recovered, but Emma missed three days of school in the upheaval (har).

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We are just about at the end of our month of free portraits, and it has been an adventure. But I have had fun. Included were these patient and forgiving families, who helped us figure out what in the heck we were doing.

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Seester moves away in one week. Much sadness. :(

I have still been taking alot of pictures, but I had to write about this one specifically. This little girl is 3, and a great model. Great because she loves to watch America's Next Top Model. The third shot below is her best ANTM pose. I think she nailed it. ;)

Move over, Brittany Spears

On Sunday morning, I was driving the kids to church. They were excited about going to Sunday school, and I was feeling more than a little smug, as we were all going to be on time.
Then, from the back of the van,
"Mommy!"
"What?"
"I don't have on any panties..."
I glanced into the rear view mirror to see that the culprit was Emma. And she was wearing a dress.
"Are you sure???"
She lifted a leg in response. Yep. She was sure.
(Mostly to myself) "We don't have time to go back for panties!"
From the back- "But I neeeeeeeeeeed panties!" (crying now)

Long story short, I had to haul everyone into Wal Mart on a Sunday morning. We high tailed it to the panty department and I grabbed the first package I saw.

Emma, trailing behind me- "I get new panties? I wanna wear the green ones. Do I get to keep all those panties? Yay!"

Shoulda just left her naked because now, she thinks she is being rewarded for not wearing panties. In return, she got 6 pairs of panties!!

We finally waltz into church, 15 minutes late. My grandma wants to know why we are late.