Yardwork

Although our backyard features a fantastic playground for the kids, the front yard leaves something to be desired. The neighbors' seemingly countless clotheslines look pretty ghetto, but we can deal with that. Unacceptable, however, was the "grass" surrounding our doorstep. It looked like a little tornado-torn mobile community with fallen trees and bits of trailer trash.

Of course we've got the broken bicycle pedal and taxidermied rodent.

Then we have the Pièce de résistance, that quintessential piece of detritus, the broken, rusty razor blade. Seriously nasty. It was hinted that someone would be around to clean up the mess, but I could only wait a day before I threw on some leather gloves and tossed the mess myself. Emily was sad to see her playthings gone.
Once, when my brother came to visit, he said that he was pretty sure he'd seen our place on the TV show "Cops". While I was ferrying all of our inherited filth to the dumpster, I had "Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?" echoing through my thoughts.

The Move

We are officially out of our old apartment and working on settling into our new one. We would never have made it without our neighbors, and I am not exaggerating a bit! The day of the move my friend who is also my visiting teacher arranged to have two moms watching tons of kids at the playground while four other moms descended on our apartment and boxed, carried, and unloaded for us. The dads were at work (except for Joseph) so this was mainly a women's move. We did have help from three other men later in the day for some of the heavy stuff, but I was amazed at how much we got done during the day. The next day we got more help with cleaning and had a meal delivered to us! Ah, how we love Brackenridge. So, a special thanks to Katharine, Kristen, Editt, Heather, Reianna, Kim, Jessie, Joseph P, Cory, and Mark!

Here are the kids enjoying the new park. They have settled into their new surroundings happily and with minimal drama.

Moving

Well, we put our names on the list for a three-bedroom apartment five months ago, and we finally got one! I have had my eye on the one across the sidewalk from us for a while (such an easy move!) or on a renovated one (no more noisy and inefficient window units!) but we got neither. Instead, we were offered one with a back door leading right onto the biggest Brackenridge playground. We are pretty excited, but moving is always daunting. How did we accumulate so much stuff?

The kids are happy and oblivious. All Emily knows is that we are moving away from Eric to live at Hannah's playground but not in Hannah's house.

Valentine's Day with a PhD Student

Nothing says love like Charles Darwin, right?
This is what Joseph came home with today:
My Joseph is such a sweet nerd. He said he was torn between this and a picture of Newton with a heart shaped apple saying "I really fell for you."

Emily's valentines were a little more glittery and a little less Old Man-ish.

There Was an Old Woman

Who lived in a shoe
She had so many children,
She didn't know what to do.

I know it's only three, but sometimes it feels like way more.
Especially when they're sick and needy.
Don't worry - I wouldn't whip them all soundly unless things got really bad. :)
I love Caleb's little foot peeking out under my knees.

Let's Face It

Kids like to draw. It has been fun to follow Emily's development as a little artist. Today we suggested that she try drawing a person. She answered that she couldn't, but we encouraged her to try anyway. The figure on the top left was the result. When she saw that she really could draw people, she got so excited and started drawing all kinds of people.
She asked us to help with a couple high-heel shoes and feet, but did everything else on her own. The one figure is happily tall, tall, tall because he's playing "Once There Was a Snowman". It looks like she's signing her artwork, but really she was just adding another half-dozen faces in that lower corner.

Sick Day

Little Miss Elinor is not so happy anymore.
Our household has been down and out for the last couple of days.
This picture shows pretty accurately how we've been spending our time.
Three movies yesterday! It's a new record.
Adventures on hold, for now.

Little Miss Elinor

I was hanging out with Elinor on the floor the other day and I had to pull out the camera because she was being such a cutie!She really is such a joy to have in our home. I was telling my friend the other day - we couldn't enjoy baby Emily fully because she was a first baby so we were somewhat frazzled. We couldn't really enjoy baby Caleb because he was so fussy and difficult. But baby Elinor has been so easy-going and cheerful AND we now have the experience to know how to handle her without too much stress, so we have been able to just enjoy her baby-ness. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to sit and drink in her baby essence. I love holding her close and smelling her milky breath and feeling her downy hair. I love that she is happy to sit in her bouncer when I am busy with the other kids. I love that she is not pushy - she doesn't demand to be held or played with for excessive amounts of time. I love how ready her smile is and I love that she wakes up happy from her naps. She cries when she needs something and stops when her need is fulfilled. She is the perfect baby for our family.
Emily loves having another little girl in the family. Here is Elinor patiently enduring princess lessons with big sister.

An icy grip on the heart of Texas

Yesterday we woke up to this:
which may not seem like a big deal if you are from, say, Utah, but it's huge here in Austin. (Do you fellow Brackenridge kids like how it's a perfect picture of Kristen's back door? That is the view from our front door.) UT campus was closed and we were warned repeatedly on the internet and radio to not drive anywhere unless absolutely necessary. It was like a half inch of snow or so. But we Austinites are not used to this kind of extreme weather. It was really fun to have a snow day! I wasn't excited to go out into it because it was so cold and I'd had enough from our Utah experience, but the kids loved it.

It didn't last so long, as you can see in this picture.


Here is the picture of the lovely weather today. I was able to go running in shorts and a t-shirt.


This picture was also taken today. We seem to live in a colder part of town than Kristen though, where it's always winter but never Christmas.

Eye Heart Ewe

Every month Joseph uses a Shabby Princess template to make us a scrapbooky wallpaper. I almost refused to put this one on our computer because it's sort of icky. I guess it's a sweet thought though, and his assurance of that is what tipped the balance in his favor.