Snow

August came home from school yesterday with an idea. He was told by a friend that if you sleep with a spoon under your pillow it will snow the next day. He mentioned this to me at dinner with a shy voice and asked if he could have a spoon before bed. I told him that I wasn't sure it would work. He then quietly mentioned that he already had the spoon in his room and couldn't he just try? When I agreed Hazel ran to the kitchen and opened the silverware drawer and ran back to her room.
Somewhere around 11:30 I heard a spoon drop to the floor in Hazel's room.
This morning both kids woke up pretty easily, they both had snow on their minds. Hazel was the first one to run to the window, sadly disappointed that the streets were dry. August was next, his eyes were sparkling, he just knew the spoon had worked. His shoulders slumped as the curtains parted...no snow. I felt as though I had let my children down and talked about how it may still snow today...there are 24 hours in a day and we should not give up hope.
Hazel sadly announced that she found her spoon on the floor this morning so it's probably her fault its not snowing. I reassured her that it was not her fault because the spoon was still under her pillow which was on the floor too.
Right before we left for school I checked the local weather. August was excited to see that there is a chance for snow both today and tomorrow. All is not lost. If he can believe in the power of a spoon I'm pretty sure we've got at least 2 more years of Santa left.

Great Pyrenees Gus

Look at the size of this dog!  The breed is called the Great Pyrenees and his name is Gus.  Gus is the Many's second dog of this breed.  Their last one lived a good long life and was a great protector so when he died Wick and Chee Chee went to the pound and informed them that IF another one HAPPENS to walk through their doors they would be interested...guess what?  
They got Gus.  He's 3 and is just the sweetest dog ever!  On the evening of our arrival Gus wagged his tail and followed us around and finally just plopped down and fell asleep on the floor.  

The next morning I took Hazel out back to look at the shrinking lake and was followed by Gus and their other dog Tassa.  I was shocked when the two very mellow dogs immediately started jumping and running and playing around...
Then you add Wick into the mix and things got crazy.  Gus can JUMP!  He was leaping and bounding all over that back yard!  I was shocked to see such a huge beast bouncing around with ease.  

We're overwhelmed with our little Tank at home.  

Our hope is that once he's out of this puppy stage he'll be a great dog. 

But when Tank dies (in 15 years!!!) I'm sure we'll start looking for a Great Pyrenees.  They truly are amazing dogs.

The Many Men

do you see the family resemblance?

Thanksgiving Day

we went on this trip for 2 reasons...one was that Trey's mom is celebrating her 60th birthday party here, the other is that, well...it's thanksgiving and Trey has family out here.

part of thanksgiving day was spent at Trey's aunt's house:

now this house is amazing.  the land is kind of out there on the outskirts of Baton Rouge.  there's a pond out front that reportedly has hosted a few gators.  we ventured out to see if we could see any eyes poking out of the water but couldn't see a thing:

on our way back to the house we were greeted by this little beast:

Shawn made some killer jambalaya:

and Trey was oh-so-happy to eat his fair share:

he may have eaten Hazel and August's share as well...they didn't really know what to make of the spicy food:

at least she looks good pretending to be a Cajun:

Travel Day

hazel got new shoes for her birthday from aunt kat and uncle justin. she insisted on wearing them on our travel day. she also insisted on wearing her "lucky travel socks" that she got years and years ago from her grandma and grandpa klier. she wears them every time we fly...she may just need a new pair here pretty soon...

we were a bit early getting to the airport so we stopped and got bagels and eat them in the lobby. the kids love flying. they are such great travelers. it helps to pack the right things for them to do while we wait...but i think we've conditioned them to enjoy flying.
trey is a pretty good traveler too...for him it helps to have his iphone and headset. i think he sat in the phone booth thing the whole time we were waiting to get on the plane. august played his ds and hazel worked on a sticker book...i messed around with the camera.

more on our trip in a few days. we're having a great time.
happy thanksgiving!

Turning 6

H is turning 6 this week. it's hard to believe that she's in kindergarten, she's learning how to read and write. she's got friends. she pretends to talk to her aunt kat on a broken phone. she's a big girl now. i'll blink and she'll be in high school.

Why He Strikes.

check out my brother's myspace page...he just posted a pretty revealing video about the strike:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7388701

Overflow

there are times as a parent where i am able to step back for a minute and really see what i'm doing.
we didn't have school today and i have to say, it wasn't a great day. A woke up before me but was fine because he is allowed to play his DS when there is no school. H woke up around the same time i did. we had oatmeal for breakfast, hoping that it would start us out with warm full bellies.
we didn't do too much after that. i asked the kids to pick 2 books to take to a coffee shop so we could relax and be out of the house but by the time i got gas and headed to the coffee shop it was after noon and they were both sooooo hungry. so we opted for panara bread co. we were still able to lounge there and i got a coffee while the kids read their books. the wind was so wild and strong and it was doing that seattle sprinkling thing so we walked the mall just to say we'd done something.
then. we headed home.
and the kids....they watched tv. how much? well, i'm pretty sure they watched 2 hours of sponge bob. not my finest hour(s).
i can't even say i got much done while they were in their zombie mode. i poked around on line, i did some laundry, i started dinner. but really, i sat on my butt and enjoyed the quiet.
at some point during this 2 hour period i saw my life. i saw my children with that look that most children get when watching the boob tube and i saw myself totally un-engaged.
i announced that the tv needed to be off and the kids needed to be upstairs. H came up and played in her room- i think she wrote a letter to someone. A started reading one of his many, many novels. then. H started sobbing. sobbing because she couldn't get the envelope to stick. she couldn't get the envelope to stick because she had put marker all over the part you're supposed to lick. once this girl starts crying...it's hard to stop. so i went on itunes and did what any other mom would do. i bought her a song. if i knew how to post it on this i would. i bought her the song "it's alright to cry" by marlo thomas and friends. i bought it and i played it very loudly in the living room. she listened and cried. when the song was over she was done. the next song (mj, thriller) came on and she immediately jumped up and started dancing.
dinner is almost ready and the day is almost over.

Holy Jerk, Batman!

This guy. This guy. I don't know what I can say that would even allow you to know the anger and frustration and embarrasment this man makes me feel.

Question of the Week

On the corner of Holman Road and Greenwood in Seattle there is a little Pho restaurant. I have probably driven past this establishment thousands of times without noticing it because until recently, I've never ventured into a Pho restaurant.
When my folks came to town for Kat's wedding we were all interested in a warm and cheap place to dine so Kat suggested Pho in Ballard. I was a bit worried because well, the folks are from northern Michigan and well, there just aren't that many Vietnamese places out there...and to be honest, I was worried for myself...I'd never had Pho...what if I hated it? Turns out- it's quite good. So good in fact, I've gone back with Trey on our date night.
Anyway, you know how once you've been somewhere you maybe notice it more? Or like when you get a VW bug and you think you've gotten the right color because you never really saw them in this cool dark, metallic gray but then you see them every stinking time you leave your house? Well, the same is true with Pho. I see them all over town. It's kind of like Starbucks...there's one on every corner.
So back to the corner of Holman Road and Greenwood.
The restaurant is called "UN-PHO-GETTABLE"
Which leads me to this question:
Now that I've put Pho on your mind, will you notice them more? And if you do...will you respond and tell me the names of said Pho establishments? If you can get a picture of the name that'd be even better. I just may have to go back to that corner and snap one for the blog.

Strike...Strike...not Stike!

My brother is walking the line. He's also managing his two kids, taking them to and from school, making dinner...he's an every man indeed.

*photo lifted from paloma race*