Rodeo vs Rodeo

We had fun at the rodeo this year. Day 1 was all the indoor fun like petting zoos, pony rides and seeing day old piglets. Because the weather was so terrible, we stayed inside longer than we ever have before so we did new things like watching cow judging and discovering the best cinnamon roll ever tasted.
Day 2 was for the carnival only. The girls enjoyed the rides and dancing with Radi.o Dis.ney.
What we didn't do? Eat the 17 lb rib or the giant pork loin sandwich. Next year, I guess.
Tomorrow the girls and I head off to California where rodeo is pronounced ro-day-o and the people watching is completely different.



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Choosing a career path

Miss F decided to cut her hair this weekend. Here's the picture I received via text while in San Antonio for the day. This is immediately after she was playing Vidal Sassoon (or was that a jeans designer and not a hairstylist?)

Here's the after photo when a friend helped out by getting a hairstylist to come to the salon, on a Sunday, on her day off, especially to fix the hair.

And then, here's what we did on Monday to help with the comments about her "looking like a boy". not that earrings will completely stop the comments (I should know, many years of short hair and earrings on display and still called "young man"). She likes her short hair and says she's going to keep it that way. We'll see....We did tell her that the next time she cuts her hair by herself, she better have two years of beauty college under her belt.

Just for the record

I completed my first 1/2 marathon on March 3rd up in The Woodlands. And for vanity's sake, my official "chip" time was 2:11:45. The time shown above is the official "gun" time and since we were towards the middle of the pack, it took us a minute or two to cross the start line after the gun.

Now you're cooking

This week's entry from To Our Children's Children:

Chapter: Food
Question: What Cookbook Do you Use the Most? What one do you remember your mother using?

I am notorius for clipping recipes from magazines and have a giant, 3 inch, ring binder full of recipes. I recently decided that I needed to go through the binder and take out any recipe I know I'll never make or ones I've made that I won't make again for whatever reason. I'm not trying to make more of these recipes to narrow down the keep and the throw-aways even more. But as for actual cookbooks--my favorites are 5:30 Challenge (5 ingredients, 30 minutes), Saving Dinner and 6:00 Scramble.

The cookbook I remember in my mom's kitchen is the red and white plaid Better Homes and Gardens cookbook but it's funny because anytime we're together and have a cooking question, she pulls out the Joy of Cooking. I remember our house being more of a Tuesday is taco night kind of house and sometimes wish I could get on board with that myself instead of rarely cooking the same meal twice. Perhaps after I go through my clipped recipes in my notebook, I can get a monthly rotation going of guaranteed, family pleasing meals.

Go Texan Day!

The annual Go Texan Day photo. McButter refused to wear her boots saying they make her look like a "silly girl" and instead chose a pair of ruby slippers to complete her ensemble.

Free Dress

Miss F's school wears uniforms. It's a public school but within an urban district so many of the schools have adopted a uniform policy and I really like it (perhaps because I longed to wear uniforms when I was in school. They just seemed so much fun and I'm a sucker for a pleated skirt). When students have no absences or tardies for the week, they can have free dress day on Friday. Miss F takes the 'free' and runs with it....

Remembering

Here's this week's entry from "To Our Children's Children".

I had to cheat this week as the first question I picked asked me if the milkman delivered milk to the porch or if we had eggs delivered. Um....no.

I flipped again and got this one.

Chapter: Your Family and Ancestry
Question: What did your dad do for a living? Your mom? Your grandparents?

Here's what is funny. I can't tell you that I've ever quite figured out what my dad did. I know that he has a background in being a med. tech but by the time I remember him going to work he was in suits, not a lab coat and it had something to do with selling medical stuff. I know he'll read this and shake his head because he's tried to explain it before...something about tests to calibrate machines or now something about working for a blood bank. Yeah, I don't get it. I never quite knew what my mom did either except that she was in a lab. I think my standard answer was "My dad sells tests to labs and my mom makes sure they do the tests right". And the tradition continues with my husband. I know he's a geologist but what he actually does all day completely eludes me. Of course, since I left working as a librarian, my girls have no clue what I do. They aren't even sure I work as telling them I work from home doesn't seem to make sense to them.

My grandparents on my dad's side had an insurance agency (I think....) and my grandmother on my mom's side was a journalist (I have old clippings from her column so I know I'm right on this one).

Best Pets

Sheba and Daisy were chosen as the All Star Pets of the Month for our Pet Sitter Company's newsletter. Seeing as they are 11 (Sheba) and 17 (Daisy), they give all older pets hope that they, too, can be Pets of the Month.

Children's Message

This week's installment of "To Our Children's Children: Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come"

Chapter: High School
Question: Do you remember any long papers you wrote, or special projects?

I just remember trying to work the Lindbergh Kidnapping into any and every assignment I could. I believe in our junior year we had the "Big Research Paper" and it had to be on a controversial topic--something you could choose a side and then argue it with facts and things you wrote on index cards (sidenote: years later I taught 11th graders how to write the "Big Research Paper" and we still used the index card method. Wonder if they do now? Doubt it). If memory serves me, I used the Lindbergh Kidnapping for this paper. I remember going to the Hud.son Library (a Carnegie library, fyi) and using the card catalog to look up books on Lindbergh and Bruno (Richard) Hauptmenn and having to inter-library loan them from other places. I remember that the librarian was nice and enjoyed helping me and was probably just thankful it wasn't another paper on legalizing drugs or other favorite topics for the "Big Research Paper". I believe it was researching this paper that I learned our high school library had a booked called "The Encyclopedia of Modern Murder". It was a scary-yet-can't turn away kind of book. Ah, yes, I did love that Lindbergh Kidnapping. And little did I know that later in life, my folks would live in the town in NJ where the trial of the century took place. That I would sit in the witness chair in the very courthouse where Lindbergh and Hauptmenn and all the cast of characters were so many years before.

McButter Moment

McButter has been funny lately...not in the best funny way, all the time...sometimes in the funny but on her way to time-out way. When the kids say or do funny things, I think that I'll never forget it and can bring up the story of the time that they did A or B on any given day or time but it's not true. I had a friend ask me to tell another friend about a recent McButter Moment and I couldn't remember what had been so funny. I figure I'd better write them here:

1. A week or so ago McButter had her hands on one of Miss F's toys. Miss F tried and tried to reason with McButter but eventually had to yank the item from McButter's claws. This resulted in McButter spitting in Miss F's face. After time-out, McButter walked to Miss F's room, opened the door and said "I'm sorry.......you little thief" and shut the door. This apparently has been learned from countless viewings of "Cinderella".

2. I went to pick her up at daycare yesterday and they were putting ice on her head. The daycare teachers had no idea how she'd gotten a huge goose egg and were questioning her as I walked in the room. She promptly told them that she was "Trying to kiss William and then they fell over a Cheerio and bumped her head". Later, she told some of the moms outside the door at Miss F's school that not only was she trying to kiss William and fell and hit her head but that "If you try to kiss a boy, you'll fall". And then later, upon running into another friend named William, an older boy she adores, she told him, "Guess what, William? I kissed another William at my school" in a voice that can only be described as a 'jealous, much?' tone.

The backlog

Another photo of our adventures at Dino.saur Valley State Park. The one photo they took together. After this, McButter decided she must be in photos alone.

This is from our New Year's trip to Ink.s La.ke State Park. It was 26 degrees one morning. I took this photo, though, because McButter looked like a 90's rapper to me. Yo, yo, yo!
Miss F has become quite a monkey, and not just because there's one on her hat. She climbs any tree she can find. A favorite is one in our backyard where she can look over into the neighbor's yard.

McButter loves taking pictures. Don't you love the use of color in this one? I'm sure she was trying to make a statement about the state of the world with this shot.

Week in Review

I have been sick this week but not sick enough, if you catch my drift. Moving slower, feeling puny but still on duty. I missed my training run this morning but I may have used my feeling poorly as a tiny bit of an excuse to sleep in...maybe..

Mr B. is here. He's working on his honey-do list right now. Walking past me as I type to get the tools needed to put up old Coke Box crates in what we're starting to fashion as the play room.

Miss F came home from school sick this week, also, but it was amazing how fast she recovered once she was home. I think she had caught a bit of the Januaries. Much like high school students get senioritis, it seems Kindergarteners get the Januaries.

McButter has a bad habit of demanding things. Today she demanded more chocky (chocolate milk). "I. Want. More. Chocky!" So I told her that I wanted a million dollars. She stopped and tilted her head and said, "So....you want my money?". Funny. Today I've been responding with insane things, too, like "I want a pony" and "I want to fly to the moon". She's catching on and knows to ask politely after my response. Now to work on the polite request to come first.

Miss F found my wedding dress. It's been in the closet since the day after our wedding in '02. I meant to cut out a bit of the fabric to make a quilt or a pillow or something and then trash the rest because it's wine stained and covered in mud from the Riverwalk sidewalks. As things go, it's just remained inside it's bag for the past few (many?!?) years. Miss F put it on and I snapped a picture then vowed to cut some of it up and then trash it. Guess where it is as I write this? In the closet. Any guesses on how long it will stay there this time?

Adding a certain je ne sais quoi

My very thoughtful Aunt and Uncle gave me a great book for Christ.mas. It's called "To Our Children's Children: Interesting Family Histories for Generations to Come". I'm going to try to answer a question out of it every week so that when I create my yearly blog book, it will become part of our family history.

In our Sunday School class, we have a book of questions that we pass around and you open it randomly and select the first question you see. I will do the same with this book so here goes....

Chapter: College
Question: Did you have a part-time job while you were in school?

Answer:

I did have a part-time job in college. I had a very brief job at the local pharmacy in the small town of Morris, MN. I didn't last long. They told me it was because I didn't do a good job of scooping ice cream...something about leaving drippings on the ring around the tubs of ice cream but I'm fairly certain it was because I had pink hair. Yes, pink hair. On purpose. The old ladies would ask me if I was from the college and was I in a play...nope...just wanted pink hair (in all honesty, I'd still like to have pink hair).

After a few tears, a threat to join the Army Reserves and learning that all the 'good' jobs went to work/study kids (which I was not), I ended up working at PFM or food service. Yup, for 4 years of college I held many roles in the one cafeteria on campus (it was a small school). Worked my way up from early morning dishwasher to early morning "runner" (involved filling up the fruit loops dispenser and such) to the girl who hand checked the food cards (it was early '90s but I still am fairly certain there was scanning technology available at that time). I made omelets and wore a sock on my arm to avoid grease splatters. I made sandwiches at lunch (hated this one....). I worked weekends and nights and days and subbed for others and made some good friends. Sometimes I would whisper where the parties were going to be that evening to favored freshmen. I can remember the anticipation of finding out what position and schedule I'd be working at the beginning of each quarter--who I'd work for (student managers) and work with (fellow workers) and hoping I'd get the more coveted spots (that card checker position I mentioned? That was the best one, in my opinion). When I lived off campus I would have to walk uphill, in the snow for almost a mile to get to work. Sometimes at 6:30 in the morning. All in all, though, it wasn't a bad way to fund college.

Dino Days

We took advantage of the 3-day weekend and did the long drive to Dino.saur Valley State Park. It's probably our favorite park that we have visited--hikes up to scenic vistas, two playgrounds and dinosa.urs! Mr B did some geological lessons in between hikes, bikes and too many snacks.



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Walk like an Egyptian

Miss F had early release from school the other day so we took the opportunity to visit the King Tut exhibit at the MFA. And we came across a rare encounter with Mrs Tut and her purse.



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New Year

We brought in the New Year by camping at In.ks Lake State Park with friends. We had so much fun. I think this picture best expressed exactly how much fun we had.




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We had Christmas and all I took was this photo

In typical B Family fashion, we had a wonderful Christm.as hol.iday with friends and family and we took minimal pictures to show for it. Irony? Mr. B got a video camera that you can pull still shots from and it's still in the box. We B's are nothing if not good photo-intentioned.

It was the year of Poll.y Pocket.s and dollhou.se. The favorite gift from S.anta? A game where you hide a sock mon.key and find it by answering questions. It was given to both girls. Has been used daily, if not double daily, for loads of family fun.

Here are the girls on Chri.stmas Eve in their best dresses ready to go to church for a candle.light service. Their bellies are full of Fl.inn Soup and shrimp, our traditional meal, and they're looking forward to opening the one present on Christ.mas Eve after the service (which actually ends up being PJs and usually a trinket/toy). And old She.ba is getting her gift, too, as both girls are petting her...not poking her, riding her, lying on her or dangling food mere inches from her face.

O Come All Ye Faithful

Our little shepherd...er...goatherd in the Christmas Pageant at church.


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Jingle all the way

We ran the Jingle Bell Run 5K together today. We ran it in just under 38 minutes. Miss F was amazing and enjoyed giving high-5's to the police on course. People were so nice to her along the way--giving encouragement and engaging with her. It was a last minute change due to scheduling issues but she just rolled with it.


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40,600 and some odd minutes, how do you measure a month?

(My apologies to the cast of "Rent" for ripping off their song "Seasons of Love")
40,600 and some odd minutes, how do you measure...measure a month?

In costumes and candy and trick or treating...

In turkeys and pilgrims and Thanksgiving cheer

How about kites? How about beaches?

40, 600 and some odd minutes, how do you measure...measure a month?

In Book Fairs for schools and camping trips

In running and biking and going to the Library

How about being scared of Santa's lap? How about going to see a play?

Seasons of Lo-uh-uh-uh-ove, Seasons of Cray-ay-ay-ziness

Beach Retreat

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The required pumpkin pics

It's that time again. We discovered a few years ago that a local realty company had a small pumpkin patch in October--they feed you, paint your kids' face, give you a pumpkin and you run into most all of your neighbors there and it's all free and 5 minutes from the house. Yeah, there's no hayride and you're not pulling the pumpkin off the vine but if you crop your photos close enough, you'd never know :)

Maybe not cropped close enough as you can see the building and driveway but look at those smiles!
I believe McButter cries every year. So here's the true, traditional photo.

6 (not teen) candles...

Miss F had her 6th birthday this month. We've, nay, I, have always gone a bit overboard with birthday parties--pink ponies, elaborate Scooby-Doo mystery parties and I suggested to Miss F that perhaps for her 6th birthday we could start a tradition of doing something a bit smaller. She was very excited about picking one friend and doing lots of fun stuff together and my checkbook was even happier! Because even though they got a private ice skating lesson, made matching bears at Build-A-Bear, went to Rain.forest Cafe, got bags of candy at Dylan's Candy Bar and had a slumber party complete with movie I still spent less than I have for parties and they had a blast and some great memories.

That's Miss F on the right. Similar haircuts you ask? Why yes, funny story, after the first day of school when Miss G-to-the-Ah saw Miss F's new haircut she went home and tried to do it herself so it would be just like Miss F's.
The Volcano Brownie from Rainforest Cafe was tasty and fun and in this photo, looking a bit naughty. Miss F loved being sung to and the little boy you see in the background? He was in love with the girls. Tried to get their attention all night. Knew their names without them telling him. Even called out to them as they left. And so it begins....

I used to love raccoons

Raccoons were my favorite animal when I was seven. I had raccoon wallpaper in my room and lamented for days leaving a stuffed raccoon named, appropriately, Raccoony in a hotel in NYC. But they attacked my overpriced, only one short season honeycrisp apples last night while we were sitting a mere 3 ft away at our campsite and now I just don't know how to feel about them anymore....



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We went to Seattle...in June...but it feels like yesterday

Mr B and I took off for Seattle for his 40th Birthday in June as he'd never been up to the Pac Northwest area of the country and wanted to know what all the buzz was about. We had a great time.

We took a ferry to Bain.bridge Island on a gorgeous, sunny day with temps in the 60s
We visited Mt. St. Helens and stayed at this cute motel. We did 2 of the 4 Visitors Centers on the way up. I panicked a bit as it didn't seem like you could see any of the destruction now that it's been 20 years but the closer to the peak, the more you could see the toothpick-like trees and the way they were blown down the mountain. It was so cool and so scary and sad, too. And it made me want to watch that movie with Art Carney as the guy that stays on the mountain.

We saw lots of totem poles and Native American masks and even experienced some Native American dancing

Salmon! Yum!
On top of the world, lookin' down on creation...or at the top of the Space Needle. Same thing.
Pike Place Market with coffee in hand (not a Sbucks, though but even tastier...shhhhh!)
And we went to Snoqualamie Falls. A totally out of the way trip to see the Falls and eat a 4-course breakfast at the Lodge. Out of the way, yes. Worth it, oh my yes. Just the way they served the coffee at breakfast was worth the price of a rent a car.

Other things we did but I guess didn't take pictures of---Seattle Underground Tour (fun!), Experience Music Project (meh...), the Ballard Locks and Salmon ladder and the Boeing Factory Tour (wow)

Contraption

The girls like to make a contraption of the Co.zy Cou.pe, jump ropes, bicycles, maybe a scooter or a ride along toy. They will drag each other around like this for hours. One day we had 5 kids in on the act--pushing, pulling, 3 jump ropes involved. I love when kids imagine and get creative.

Because we are classy

Check this out...we at the B Family are classy folk. The kids are eating a raw egg brownie mix from a bowl on the ground with butt crack showing and Grandma in black socks and Mom is fancy Crocs. We are classy folk round these parts.

End of Days...well, summer days that is

Labor Day is today and while we celebrate working by, well, not working, it is also the bookend to Memorial Day's beginning of summer therefore making it the end of summer, right?

So, what did the B Family do this summer? My posts have been few and far between and heavy on Swim Team triumphs. So, as we grill brats and have sweet corn to end summer just as we grilled brats and had strawberry shortcake to begin summer, I thought I'd fill in Summer '11 with a few more photos of what we did in between when we weren't swimming. Which we did a lot. It was over 100 degrees every day in August and Mr. B was out of town for 75% of the summer so we stuck close to home. Summer of '11 was the summer.....


Miss F and McButter attended a Wig.gles concert and Miss F and her buddies got to high-5 Miss F's favorite Wig.gle--Murray (the red one).

We ate S'mores at a resort just outside of town. Spent a day/night on waterslides, lazy rivers and watching fireworks. (for records sake--this was a drought year, notice the 'lake' behind the girls is well below where it should be)
We spent 3 days on the beach making castles, boogie-boarding and eating salt water taffy (or at least I did)

1st Day of Kindergarten

She woke up to her alarm clock, turned it off, hopped in the shower, picked out a uniform, got herself dressed, and did her hair all by herself. I think she is ready for Kindergarten. But is Kindergarten ready for her?






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It's raining rain, alleluia

It rained today. Briefly and like our neighborhood was Eeyore with just the dark cloud over us. But it rained. Wet stuff. Lots of it. We sadly watched much of it be wasted on the asphalt but we were thankful for what we got. I'd say I must he getting old with all this excitement about rain but we are in a drought and a record-breaking streak of over 100 degree days so I think young and old are pretty excited about rain.



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Big bed

McButter is moving to a big girl bed. She's had a blast playing in it today. Hope she sleeps in it tonight.

It's an antique sleigh bed--my grandmother's bed. This picture doesn't do it justice



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From the Pad

Testing a blog post from the iPad


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Just because

When Molly called to me as she woke up from her nap, I arrived to this and it was so cute, I had to snap a photo.



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Happy Camper

We dropped Miss F off at camp today. She is with a friend and very excited. It's a mini-program so she's there 2 nights and only 1 full day. Can't wait to hear the stories. Funny thing? The cabin that housed all the 5-6 yr old girls was named Suf.fering Ser.vant. That poor counselor will be put through her paces.


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Teeth

Miss F had two teeth pulled today. She'd been a bit of a shark girl with two rows of teeth--baby in front, permanent in back. She did really well and was very brave. Now for a tooth fairy visit! She's using the tooth fairy pillow I had as a girl.



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