Haircuts

I finally won the battle with Eric and got the boys little boy haircuts. They don't even look like the same kids. And their hair looks so blonde now. Handsome fellows if I do say so myself!

A boy and his dog

We rescued 2 dogs last week. They, and their mother, had been dumped at a park. The mother, sadly, had to go to the pound - we could not take all 3. We were going to keep both puppies, but were advised it's not wise to raise dogs from the same litter together. And, over the few days we had them both, we watched them already struggling for dominance and having little dog fights, which only would have gotten worse as they got bigger.

And so we found a home for one, and have kept one. Guthrie named him Edward, after one of our favorite trains from Thomas and Friends. Since the girls of the family all seem to love Twilight (myself included), it works that way too, although the dog does not sparkle in the daylight.

It wasn't deliberate, but we have black pets. Ursula, the black stray we started taking care of last fall, is not sure what to think of the dog, especially since he stole her bed. She is trying to let him know who is boss, and Edward is learning to be careful around the cat. So far, this is her preferred position to keep an eye on things.

Christmas pictures, finally

I know I'm way behind. I'm way behind on everything, I think, except enjoying life, which I've been doing pretty well lately. Spending Bush's last night in office on the beach at South Padre, then watching the inauguration on the beach with a big glass of wine, and the parrots we've been seeing in our beautiful flowering tree - they have all contributed to the "enjoying life."

Here are a few pictures, since I don't have anything great to say right now. If you've not done so already, you should find me over at Facebook, where I seem to be spending all my time lately.

With my "baby" girl at Christmas.

All 3 of my babies.

Being all girly with my daughter.

Parrots. Green Parakeets to be exact. They love to eat the beautiful pink flowers in this tree (and I still have no idea what kind of tree this is, but it's beautiful, and full of butterflies and hummingbirds too).

Hog Head Anyone

Yesterday at breakfast I was doing what I usually do - drinking a cup of coffee, eating my oatmeal, and reading the newspaper while listening to the boys play nicely and calmly. (Morning, after breakfast, is about the only time those words can be applied to my boys' play.) I was glancing through the grocery store sale ad when I almost lost my oatmeal.

I realize it may be somewhat culturally insensitive, and really, if you are going to kill animals for food, then doesn't it make sense to use as much of the animal as possible? But at the same time, couldn't they have hidden the WHOLE HOG HEAD (only $ .49 a pound!) on the back of the ad, you know, right next to the "quartered pork feet (previously frozen, $ .99/pound) or the Fresh Beef Tongue ($2.69/pound)? And further, does anyone know, exactly, precisely, what you are supposed to do with a whole hog head? Other than scare the crap out of your children and cause weaklings like me to nearly lose their oatmeal and immediately feed whatever pork products might be in the house (does this picture make YOU want salami?) to the cat?

I haven't disappeared

I've just been a very bad, bad blogger lately.

Why? Oh, largely due to my newfound Facebook addiction. I waited to sign up, but finally got around to it, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Because I didn't already have enough ways to waste time around the internet. (Hello, LOLcats and all things related.)

So I thought (after being reminded by a few people that when you come over here, you are still greeted by pics from Halloween) that I could at least put up a few new pictures, give a little update.

We are headed to Missouri in about a week. YEA!!! It's been a year and a half since our last visit, so I am very excited. I'm not sure how we're going to do with the weather though. We had to turn our a/c back on today (really, it was HOT when we woke up), and I'm seeing that in MO it's a whole 8 degrees!!! We are going to freeze. Poor little Turner has never really even seen weather under freezing. We are hoping for snow, though, and maybe to build a snowman. Turner is totally in love with Frosty right now.

Eric was in Paris a week ago. The translation of his book came out, and he was brought over for a festival. Apparently, they LOVE him in France. And I was mentioned in a French newspaper, when they did an interview with him. Ah, how sweet.

The boys are growing like crazy. Turner, who hardly talked at all even a few months ago, has exploded with language lately. He says the funniest things and cracks me up. Guthrie has been going through some crazy growth spurt and outgrowing shoes faster than we can buy them. And Samantha turned 13. How that happened, I don't know, and it must stop, NOW, because that means in just 3 years she can drive. And in 5 she can vote. And then ... I can't even think about it.

Here are the boys with some of their handiwork. They had so much fun decorating this Christmas train, and then eating it. And yes, Turner is a mess, but that's what happens when you let kids play with icing and candy.

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a great holiday and is full of treats and not too many tricks.

Turner the UPS man:

Guthrie the scary skeleton (who wiped off all his face paint before we left and wore the mask instead):

The scary sight that greeted the few trick-or-treaters we had:

Even basement cat says Happy Halloween!

Gas under $2.00

I didn't believe it would happen. Here's the proof, from 4 different stations. Sorry for the picture quality - I took some of them stopped at red lights. And the first one is hard to see - it's $1.95!

Recommendations for your reading pleasure

And, yes, a couple of shameless plugs for friends and loved ones.

First, a new wonderful children's book everyone will love. The Best Mariachi in the World, or for the Spanish language version, El major Mariachi del mundo tells the story of little Gustavo, who comes from a family of Mariachis. But poor Gustavo cannot play an instrument. His family won't even let him touch their violins, trumpets, or guitars. He is sad and left out, until he goes out early in the mornings to sing the songs he knows, all alone, to the stars. Soon, the people of the village hear Gustavo's beautiful singing, his cousins carry him into the house for a special breakfast just for him, and he IS a Mariachi, singing with his family, and feels he is the Best Mariachi in the World.

The book comes in a Spanish language edition or a bilingual edition for those of us who are still learning our Spanish, and trying to expose our children to as much as we can. There is a glossary in the back with the English and Spanish equivalents, so if there is a word you can't figure out, just turn to the end. There is also a short explanation of the Mariachi, for those of us who were clueless there too.

The illustrations are beautiful and you can't help but fall in love with little Gustavo. It's a great story, and a great way of exposing your little ones (and yourself!) to some more of the Spanish language and some of this beautiful culture. I know what all my friends with little ones will be getting for Christmas this year, and it's NOT just because the author is a dear friend. : )

And since we've now covered English and Spanish, if anyone reads French, I've got a rec for you, too.

Noir Beton was released in France this week. And since I don't speak or read much French, and you must be wondering why I care, well, I'm just in LOVE with the author in any language. (Um, yeah, he's my husband.) And as difficult as he was to put up with while he was ... "editing" this book, it was all worth it when I saw this:

Not to mention the fact that the book has footnotes, explaining things like the 49er's, and various names of cheap booze, which makes me smile. And my absolute favorite part of the book (in French): The book is about rough-and-tumble concrete workers who drink too much, smoke too much, and curse too much, and who I just can't imagine speaking French. At one point, Rex shouts out to the main character, "Broadstreet!" and Broadstreet's response is, "Oui!" And I can't read it without cracking up.

And in case you are like me and can't read French, the book is also available in a plain old English edition as Two-Up, and is definitely a good read, even if I am a bit biased.