Economic Downturn....

THEN

Boating on Lake Travis in a Sea Ray Summer 2008...

NOW

Boating in an inflatable boat on Lake Austin Summer 2009...

**Actually our boat club went bankrupt in December (economic downturn) so we're out of a nice boat to use, but on the other hand we've gained this new boat and some new fun family memories.

Book Review

Nineteen Minutes

I just finished this book last night (took me about 2 months to read-easily distracted during the summer I guess). I thought it was a really good book especially if you're a mother and an educator. For me it hit home on both of those fronts. It's a fictional story about the lives that are affected after a school shooting. The most important thing I learned from reading it... bullying starts at a young age and it's my job as a teacher to recognize it, intervene on it, and talk about it! If you're looking for your next book I would recommend this one. If you've already read it tell me what you thought.

Here's an excerpt:

In nineteen minutes, you can mow the front lawn; color your hair; watch a third of a hockey game. In nineteen minutes, you can bake scones or get a tooth filled by a dentist; you can fold laundry for a family of five. Nineteen minutes is how long it took the Tennessee Titans to sell out of tickets to the playoffs. It’s the amount of time it takes to listen to the Yes song Close to the Edge. It’s the length of a sitcom, minus the commercials. It’s the driving distance from the Vermont border to the town of Sterling, NH. In nineteen minutes, you can order a pizza and get it delivered. You can read a story to a child or have your oil changed. You can walk two miles. You can sew a hem. In nineteen minutes, you can stop the world; or you can just jump off it. In nineteen minutes, you can get revenge.

I Can Do It Myself Mama!

These past couple of days we were in Houston at Andrew's parents house and Taylor enjoyed nothing more than practicing his swimming in their pool. We've come a long way from our very first swim lesson back in June. I think he'll be ready for the beach in a couple of weeks! We all can't wait to do a little relaxation in South Padre.

The Toy Fairy

The August issue of Parents Magazine has an article titled: The Pick-Up Fairy-I couldn't get my kid to clean up his toys. So I invented someone who could. I must admit that after reading it I thought to myself, "Taylor does an okay job of cleaning up, usually takes some coaxing, but eventually it gets done, I don't think I need to invent a fairy to make him do it". Well boy was I wrong! A little experimenting goes a long, long way. Since the article was fresh on my mind and my 2yr old had just decided to throw his coins from his piggy-bank behind the T.V, all over the floor, and a handful down the back of my shorts (cold, shocking, and unexpected) all while I was on the phone, I decided it was time for an intervention.

After my phone conversation was over and I looked out at the living room I once had, I decided to tell Taylor about a little "Toy Fairy" that comes and takes your toys if you don't put them away. I said, "if you don't put your toys away when you're done playing with them she'll come and take them to children that do want to play with them". To my complete amazement Taylor was wide-eyed and attentive. Could this article really work in making my child clean-up? Taylor's face got real sad looking and he knew I was saying something new and wanted to hear me say it again. He listened again and then started picking-up every coin that he had tossed on the floor. The lady in the article's child was 3 1/2 when she finally came up with it, so her child wanted to know all kinds of questions about the "pick-up fairy" like what she wore, what she looked like, where she lived... I think at Taylor's age it's still all about "my toys she better not come and take my toys" with a dash of budding imagination and curiosity that got him hooked.

It's been about a week with our new "toy fairy" in existence and I must complement the author Rebeeca Barry for sharing her story. It works every time like a charm! Just the other day, Taylor and I were out on a walk (just down the block) in his mini-golfcart when sure enough he said he wanted to go back home and wanted ME to drive the golfcart home (which is actually physically impossible). I reminded him that HE wanted to take the golfcart out and that HE needed to drive it back to the house. As he turned to walk away, ignoring my request, I said the Toy Fairy might want a golfcart too! Taylor stopped in his tracks and thought for a moment and then returned to drive it back to the garage. The whole time he kept saying, "but I like my golfcart, I don't want her to have it". If the novelty starts to wear off soon don't think I won't break out some fairy dust and a wand to draw him back in:) They're never to young to teach them the importance of cleaning up!

We Made It...

We officially have all 20 baby teeth accounted for and present! I'm so happy that teething (2 year, very long, process is over). Looking back over it, I think it wasn't too bad and probably could have been worse. We definitely had our share of grumpiness, crying fits, lack of sleep, interrupted sleep, and rounds of Mortin. The last two molars (top) were the worst, but on the bright side they were the LAST! Taylor's awesome 3 1/2 hour nap was reduced to 1 1/2 hours and he would wake up screaming and super unhappy. The rightside finally has all 4 white points showing and the leftside finally has 3 white points showing. We're also back up to 2 1/2 hour naps and waking up happy again! So now that we're out of one phase it's onto another: getting through the tricky two's (don't think they're terrible yet) and potty training:) To all the curious mommies out there, I found an interesting website about children's teeth and when they appear.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=43131

Benihana Chop Stick Fun!

For my 32nd birthday on Monday, I went out to dinner with my husband Andrew, my son Taylor, my mom (Nana), Uncle Tony, and Aunt Melissa (my brother and sister-in-law). We thought Benihana's would be a perfect place for good food and fun entertainment for Taylor. Taylor did great (completely in awe of the chef and his tricks). At his age you never know what's going to happen when you go to a restaurant. So far in just the past 4 months we've had to leave 2 restaurants because Taylor wasn't having any part of it-feels so embarrassing! Hopefully, we can try Chilis and Jason's Deli again soon!

But last night went great and I had a yummy birthday dinner complete with a fake cake-ha, ha, birthday song in English and Japanese, and 21(?) candles to blow out. Fake cake you might ask?? The waitress brought over someone else's homemade two-layered cake to our table. It was so cute: white icing and pink candles!!! I thought to myself, wow my husband really outdid himself with a HOMEMADE cake-but as soon as I blew out the candles it was quickly whisked away and we were told it was a mistake. Our whole table was in shock because we were all thinking that someone at our table had arranged the surprise for me. Nope, no surprise but a cute cake anyways and a good laugh. You should have seen the look on Taylor's face when they took the cake away... "where is MY cake going?" Actually before the cake was so briskly removed from in front of me Taylor got a couple of quick swipes of icing with his finger-oops!:) I bet it was yummy!




Enjoy a video of Taylor intently trying to eat with his chop sticks-finally got a new camera for my birthday. So happy to be able to take and share videos again! Thanks everyone, I LOVE it!

HOT, HOT, HOT!

Texas summers can be a bit overwhelming and lately we've been trying to do anything that involves water. With temperatures reaching as high as 109 degrees last week, it's either play inside with the AC running or get wet outside! I must say that swim lessons a month ago have greatly impacted Taylor's water activities. He's no longer afraid to get water in his face, kicks his feet while being pulled around the pool, and loves to "monkey" around the edge of the pool between the step and the ladder. Plus he loves to go under any sort of water-dumping-toy at the pool or the sprinkler park.

We went to the Brushy Creek sprinkler park on Friday with Ms. Jenn and Graham, and Ms. Wendy and Taylor (her little girl). As always Taylor had to completely size up the situation before he ventured off to get wet and let loose. He had a blast and I'm so glad that we went and that it's not that far away (I'm sure that we'll be returning sometime this summer)! Besides staying cool out doors, Taylor has a new razor scooter. He has been getting the hang of riding it to the park and all around the cul-de-sac. Here are some cooling pictures from this past week.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!