Our big news and our little stories.

So, it's been a little while, and this blog is in need of some attention! I did just add a little sidebar picture for Jacob today, which I am so proud of! Don't worry that it is a year late... and that he looks older than Elinor. It's progress. And that's what I'm all about today. You'll see.

So, here's the big news first: We've moved! We are no longer the TexasCoopers and I am surprised by how sad I am about that! You might not have known it by all my complaining and my restlessness, but I had come to love Austin. I've been hinting to Joseph that I would love to move back there after all this postdoc nonsense is taken care of.
So where are we headed? Boulder, CO! I am so excited about this new location! Basically, what I have in my head is another Austin, but with a nicer climate. We'll see how that works out for me. :) Our apartment there is not ready yet, so all our stuff is packed up in storage and right now I am camped out at the Coopers' house until it is time for me to venture out there to our new home.

Now that that is taken care of, here are some little insignificant stories for your entertainment.

A while back, Caleb was taking a few classes at the Austin Nature and Science Center. One was about fish, and as they were handing out pellets to throw into the pond for the fish, Elinor stuck out her little hand and took her share... and promptly deposited them into her mouth. The poor instructor was just appalled and called out, "Uh, who's kid is this? Can someone come help?!" Elinor spat all (most?) of it out and went on her merry way.
Today we took a little family trip to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. They've built a little dam there and put in a bunch of fish and some little quarter machines for fish food. I happened to have some change, so the kids enjoyed throwing fistfulls of food at those very well fed fish.
Later on, this afternoon, she got on the phone with Joseph and proudly reported, "Today we went to the waterfall and I threw breakfast at the fish and I didn't eat any today!"
Baby steps, people!

On the way to the falls. Isn't the trail beautiful?

Investigating the water.

You can't tell, but her dress was totally soaked by this point. I think she was holding it up because she felt a little bit like a princess. And who wouldn't, in a purple corduroy dress covered in horses?!

And this is sort of on-topic, but a couple of weeks ago we went to Butler Park in Austin, where they have fountains that shoot up out of the ground. The kids were having a blast and I was Jacob-less, so I was relaxing in the shade, feeling a little proud of myself for having such well-behaved kids. I remember there was one kid there who kept pulling his swim trunks down so he could get the bidet treatment from the fountains and I was thinking, oh so smugly to myself, "I sure am glad I'm not his parent! Why isn't anyone doing anything?"
Meanwhile, Elinor was lying prostrate on the ground in the very middle of all the fountains, just being her weird self. She was doing this for like 30 minutes, but she's a really weird kid, so it was okay.
It came time to go home, and El had to go to the bathroom, so I took her. While we were in there she was telling me about how she was playing that she was a kitty cat and it was so much fun and did you know that kitty cats can drink water off the ground and not get sick? Yeah. That's right. I had her repeat it three or four times to make sure, but she was LICKING water off the ground at Butler Park. For 30 minutes. This is where homeless people come for a quick shower when the day is hot and they are feeling grimy. And then the water goes down the drain and is recycled into the next fountain that shoots out. Yay for awesome parenting!!

And then today Joseph double checked with me on the phone that Elinor had not licked any of the bridges or fish that we had encountered. I was able to proudly report that she only drank the water once, but I nipped that right in the bud! Joseph told me he was proud of how my parenting skills have progressed.
But seriously, "Don't drink the water!" is a very common refrain in our home. Especially at bath time. And it is only sometimes followed by "There's blood in the water." Just because my sisters were obsessed with Dave Matthews when I was in high school. And to give my kids a little scare.

We took a few pictures outside the other night because it was perfect weather.

Jacob was super cute.

Elinor was super... Elinor.