The Wanderer

If we weren't all so tired, we'd be cracking up at this boy all day (and night) long. The transition to big boy bed is not as smooth with Thing Two as it was with Thing One. We're going on week three now and he's just finding more and more ways to sneak around our barricades. Week one (prior to baby gate installation) involved him sneaking out of bed, unrolling a tape dispenser, and crawling back in. Week two involved climbing the ladder to Maizie's top bunk and jumping or falling off repeatedly. Week three involves Maizie in mommy and daddy's bed until Anderson gives up the ghost. Each night and naptime is a new adventure.


This is him today. During nap. Which is supposed to be taken in bed.

Budding DJ or are metal desks really more comfortable than IKEA mattresses?

My tired boy after a 3-hour no-nap.

But not too tired to play "Princess Super Heroes" with sister which involved some light saber moves a la Darth Vader.

Big Birthday Boy

Oh, time. You fly. And I'm not exactly happy with you today. Our baby boy is 2 years old. Really and truly unbelievable. These two years with him have been some of the fastest of my life. And I wish at so many points that I could've pressed pause. FYI: when you are raising an adorable, sneaky, speedy, baby deproofing, destructonating, escape artist, there are no pauses.

I can't express in words how much I love this little man. In so many ways, I feel as though I am a time traveler watching Jason grow up. His faces, his toe-headedness, his quirky sense of humor and his stubbornness are minitiare reproductions of the original. We're laying low for this birthday. We'll have a family dinner out and presents some time this week. We'll let him sit at a steering wheel of some sort to his heart's content. And we'll keep singing him Happy Birthday whenever we feel like it because he makes the cutest faces when we do.


The Birthday Boy at the park. He was so proud to wear this shirt. Thanks, Kim! Whenever anyone asked him how old he was, he'd just stick his chest out, I guess hoping the answer to their question was written there.

Um, baby in tie? Makes me want to smush him. In a good way.

Favorite pic of the man to date. Paint-stick-turned-sword and his "Raaaarrr" face.

Honey, I Shrunk the Jason. Only Jason rarely wears Rudolph hats.

Andersonian as a Second Language
No, he's not a Chatty Cathy, but what he does say is pretty dang cute. So here goes.
Dis-dah - Sister
Peesh - Please
Tanks - Thanks
Tay! - Okay
Bee-Bee - Baby
Ouse - House
Lella - Gabriella
Kiyi Cah - Kitty Cat
Ish - Fish
Tar - Star
Ba-Ball - Basketball
Fuh-Ball - Football
Bye-Bye - Clearest word to date! He loves 'em and leaves 'em!

Other Rememberables
* The scream. 'Nuff said.
* How he goes "shopping" in our kitchen pantry and carries around giant bottles of juice or big boxes of cereal.
* How he quietly works at a new skill, scientifically trying out different methods until he figures it out (so fun to watch him learning to use a tricylce and a scooter, not so fun watching him decode safety features in our home).
* Still using both left and right hands to eat and draw, although I'm starting to notice a slight right-hand preference (tear).
* He stands in time out when told and does a hug for sorry.
* He hates it when Maizie is sad and will pester her for a hug until she's happy again.
* He hates it when Maizie has a toy and will chase her around and around until he's victorious.
* He loves babies and still wants to tickle their faces.
* Makes the best animal and car, truck, rocket noises.
* Loves jumping and climbing. He's gonna be one of those kids that skateboards without a skateboard, whatever that's called.
* Still needs his mommy from time to time and is a great cuddler, tickler and smoocher.

The Girls

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent mostly on the Normangee farm. There was turkey-eating, hay-jumping, movie-watching and lots of good ol' fashioned fun. I got some cute pics of Maizie and Brooke (cousins born two weeks apart) that I wanted to post before life gets in the way. So here are the wonder twins at 2 months old....

Here they are now. On the way to the farm, Maizie said, "I have lots of cousins, but two of them are just my age--Megan and Brooke!"

Here are all the girl cousins in the younger set-Megan, Maizie, Brooke and Kaitlyn.

Love these girls and can't wait to watch them grow up as close cousins.

Ahoy, Me Halloween Maties!

We took our second annual Halloween trip to San Antonio this year, thanks to the most hospitable Maloneys. They are quite the opposite of the Veggie Tales' Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. They do everything and do it all the way. It was all kinds of fun. The bubble from last year made a reaappearance at Trunk or Treat at their church. We passed out glow in the dark bracelets and Maizie had fun bossing around older kids around "her bubble." On Sunday, the pirate ship was completed and Grant and Amanda had all the trick-or-treaters repeat the Pirate Oath to get a piece of their booty. Jason was an evil....sorry, I'm really not sure what Jason was, but he said funny things and held a musket while sitting in a canoe.

Maizie was a pirate princess. Instead of saying "Trick or Treat" at each door, Maizie said, "My name is Maizie and I am a pirate princess and this is Anderson he is my brother but today his is a PAR-rot not a PIR-ate and he doesn't say much and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" We didn't make it very far.

One of my favorite memories from this year is when I had them both try on their costumes Friday. Anderson asked for a cracker and I asked Maizie to share hers with him. She followed him around saying "Polly want a cracker?" Wish I had a video camera for that one! Anyway, his costume was by far the easiest to make and I think it turned out cute for minimal effort. Here's my little bird.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. And thanks, Fancy Pants and Amanda, for making it one for the record books. Sorry we destroyed many of your worldly possessions. Treasure up in heaven, right?

Four Years Old

Dear Maizie,
Four years ago today I met you for the first time. I remember holding you and staring hard, trying to soak in the fact that this was real. Trying to understand how such a perfect little creature came from such imperfect humans. Trying to figure out what it meant to raise a little person who would have character, integrity and a heart for people in need. In other words, I was scared. God had entrusted us for a short time to be your parents and we were praying hard that we could provide the kind of support, encouragement and guidance you needed to make your way in this world. Now, four years later, we're blessed by an exuberant, thoughtful, caring, sweet, sometimes stubborn, always confident, adorable little girl. You dive into new situations with ease, love a good story, song or dance, and can talk the spots off a dog. When you're around, there is never a dull (or quiet) moment and we wouldn't have it any other way. I had no idea what I was in for four years ago, and maybe I started off a little scared and uptight. But each day, God has shown us through you that He is in control and that He is your real Father, protector and maker. We see Him in your insistence that we talk to every friend (aka panhandler) we meet. We see Him in your prayers when you thank him for one more day without a boo boo. And we see Him as you are first in line to care for and love on Anderson when he is feeling sad. You are a delight and a joy and I wish you the happiest of days today. Four is going to rock.
Love,
Mama


Birthday girl - 2006


Birthday Girl - 2010

This post wouldn't be complete without a new installment of....

MAIZIESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (4-YEAR-OLD EDITION)
Masghetti - Spaghetti
Gonana - Banana

Scawberries - Strawberries
Gabrella - Umbrella
FighterFighter - Firefighter
FighterFighter Wearing Pajamas - EMT (with scrubs on)
Black FighterFighter - Police Officer (wearing a black uniform)
Pink Girl - Girl wearing pink
Coperate - Cooperate (e.g. "I'm coperating!")
Hair Cut - Hair Style (e.g. "Don't cut my hair" when I'm just trying to put in ponytails)
Just Only - Her "filler" words like other people use "um" or "uh" (e.g. "Just only I'm going to watch just only just only just only Wall-E")

I Cah-n't wash my hay-uh, Mahm- I can't wash my hair, Mom. (her British/Southern/Yankee accent comes out in the oddest combinations)
Race Car Driver - What she wants to be when she grows up

Decorations, Cinnamon - Decorations, Cinnamon (I'm always surprised when she says complex words correctly. I think I said "Cimmanon" until last year.)
R-E-D - Purple

A Party Fit for a Princess

This Saturday, we celebrated Maizie's Big 4 (the real date is Wednesday). Jason and I decided to alternate years for "big parties" vs. "small parties". This year for both Anderson and Maizie is "small party". We had Mia and Simone and their moms over for a fairy princess picnic. We had pink tea, pink star "biscuits" and heart-shaped pb&js. Our man-in-waiting, Jason, served with grace and poise, calling each of the girls "malady" and providing multiple refills of pink tea. Thankfully, Maizie's fair grandmother was in town and was able to join us for the party.

Time for the presents! Maizie exercized some mad patience waiting for this portion of the evening.

Next we headed downtown for dessert at the Melting Pot. Maizie had requested something "fancy". Three 3-year-olds at the Melting Pot? Memorable. First, they wanted to play with the super long (and super sharp) forks. Then they all reached their sugar limit about halfway through and we thought they were all going to fall asleep or climb the walls. We quickly ushered them out for the final surprise--a horse carriage ride through downtown Austin.

All-in-all, it was a fun way to celebrate the little life of our big girl. When I asked her the next morning what her favorite part of her birthday party was, she opened her arms big and wide and said, "ME!" We'll have to work on her understanding that she's not the center of the universe, but I suppose that can wait until after this week. Happy Birthday, sweet funny silly smart hugable lovable wonderful Maizie!

ACU Homecoming

We went to Abilene to hang with Jason's sister's family and attend my 10-year reunion. Yes, I am officially old. It's always fun being back on campus and even more funner (the degree paid off, Ma!) to share some of our favorite ACU memories with the kids.

Here's Maizie playing in the GATA fountain.

And Anderson playing on Amy's piano.

Maizie and Jason in front of my freshman year dorm. Jason first said he loved me in that very parking lot.

And we went to echo point with Maizie. She liked to echo. A lot! A lot! A lot!

It was a fun weekend and I'm glad my "more involved and in touch with ACU" friends encouraged us to go. Maizie saw her first big time college football game (ACU won) and we got to catch up with family we hadn't seen in 6 months and friends we hadn't seen in 10 years. Purple-White-Fight-Fight!