Happy Valentines Day!

We made our own cards this year, which was really fun... Here is Lukie with his creations, he kept trying to find "boyish" valentines paper. After four and a half years of being perfectly content to let his big sister dress him in tutus, he has suddenly realized that might not fly with his buddies, and is always wanting to do the "boyish" thing.

Luke- "Let's play Voltron, Autry"
Autry - "Let's play princess/baby/fairy/mommy/ballerina"
Luke - "That's DISGUSTING!!"
Autry - "I'll be Angelina Ballerina mommy and you be the daddy."
Luke - "AAAUUUGGHHH! I only like games with battles!"
Autry - "Angelina Ballerina Lukie!! Angelina Ballerina Lukie!! ANGELINA BALLERINA LUKIE!!!"
Luke - Chunks plastic toy at her head.

State of the Union

Luke has gone from having an imaginary friend named Critter to having an entire imaginary universe in which he is the ruler. For some reason, this drives Sierra CRAZY. Everything in his universe mimics Star Wars. In the Star Wars galaxy, for example, there is a planet called Tattoine. In his universe it is the planet Fattoine. And so on. People are only allowed to watch one movie in his universe, guess which one... He pretty much talks about his universe constantly. It is amazingly complicated and full of drama. Luke and Sierra came running to me this morning, super excited because they thought they heard on the radio that there were Storm Troopers in Ohio. Luke said, "I've done it! It's my universe!" He was also very excited today because he thinks Obama said "the force" during his inauguration speech. He, like many of our fellow Americans, is convinced that Obama is a secret Jedi knight. He was trying to get Autry to play, "I'll be Barack Obama and you be his helper." She told him she would only play if she got to be his Mama. Luke also got in his first fist fight this weekend, which was very sad for us. It is so hard to be a boy. It had been a long time coming, and he came out on top (literally). I'm still not sure what exactly started it, but it was definitely instigated by the other kid. Luke managed, in his own words, to "take his power away." Sigh.



Sierra has started gymnastics, she loves it, especially the uneven bars. She is still taking piano lessons, except now her teacher comes to our home, which is great for me. She was recently tested for gifted and talented at school, and passed all four sections of the test, some with 100%. Her guidance counselor was amazed, apparently you only need to pass one section to be considered GT. She is loving school this year, she has another great teacher, Mrs. Martin. She still plays with her best friend, Mia, and also spends a lot of time during the weekend with Cooper playing some sort of rock band video game and building things in the backyard. She is also super into Star Wars, and can tell you anything you ever wanted to know about characters, planets, plots. She also spends a lot of time honing her lawyering skills by arguing with her mother. I'm already getting a lot of, "You are ruining my life!" and that sort of thing.



Autry is busy being hilarious. She is seriously amazingly funny and sweet. She is quirky and smart and very, very loving. She will be three in a few weeks and I find myself wishing almost every day that she would stay this age for just a little bit longer. She loves to dress up, play fairies and princess and Jedi, take three baths a day, snuggle Bogie, is an amazing climber, and gets a delight out of being naughty only rivaled by her father.

Arizona

Thanks to Grandpa, Lydia, Rose, Nikki, and Adam, Brian and I were able to go to Flagstaff for four days last week. We were there to celebrate Vafa and Amanda's wedding and catch up on some rest and alone time. It truly does take a village, thanks guys. It was a wonderful trip! Flagstaff is beautiful, the weather was great. Lots of snow on the ground and blue sky. We didn't have time to ski, but Vafa rented snow shoes for everyone and we went out after the ceremony and hiked all over the woods behind the hotel. Brian made lots of new friends with his enthusiastic snowball fighting... We ran into my Aunt Joanne, Uncle Murphy, and seven of their nine children (and one son-in-law and one three-week old baby Mary Bridget and one friend from South Africa) completely randomly at a restaurant in Flagstaff and it turned out we were staying at the same hotel and all planning on going to the Grand Canyon. They live in Pasadena, California. It was a crazy coincidence, and we had a great time hanging out with all the cousins at the Grand Canyon.




Had to include a picture of our room for the kids - they really appreciate a fine ho-towel. Our room was amazing, lovely fireplace, marble everything, very nice...


Lots of time spent eating yummy food and catching up with friends. We are always so excited to have a leisurely meal. With Meal. Brian will get that.


Proof that we made it to the Grand Canyon. It was grand, and cold. It snowed a little while we were up there.


Anna and Rose Goodwin.




Goodwin men, plus Sam and Brian and someone's friend (Charlie's?) from South Africa.


Goodwin ladies. Check out the look on Rose's face. She's awesome.


And the happy couple... Congratulations! The wedding itself was very nice, everyone seemed relaxed and happy. It was fun watching the families get to know each other over the weekend.


Brian was the master of ceremonies, Amanda's dad sang during the ceremony and Vafa's parents sang a traditional Persian wedding song while Victor played the violin.

Scatalogical humor.

Scene opens on a disgusting gas station bathroom somewhere outside of Waco. 'Mom', a somewhat haggard looking young woman, badly in need of a haircut, and with a pounding headache, opens the door with great trepidation. 'Autry', two years old, had announced in the car that she needed to POOP! This despite the previous restroom trip of 10 minutes ago. The family pulled over, and 'Luke', 5 year old boy joins in. 'Dad' and 'Sierra' wait in the car.
Autry: Panicking because she is worried the toilets might automatically flush, even after being reassured that this bathroom is not that nice, "I made a mistake. I don't need to go anymore."
Meanwhile, Luke has begun his own epic poop.
Autry notices a dying roach on the floor and begins to circle it, crouching.
Mom's head pounds. The overwhelming stench of the bathroom is not helping things.
Autry: Why is it still moving? When it grows up I'm gonna put it in the car and drive it to it's family so it will be happy. It's so cute! It's gonna get bigger, then little again. Can I pick it up?
Mom: No. Don't touch ANYTHING in here.
Luke: Autry, it is DEAD. It is not gonna grow up. That's sad, right? Why do people draw on the wall? Probably 'cause they are kids, right? What does that say?
Mom: Umm...
Time slowly passes.
Woman walks in. "I LOVE her hair!"
Mom: Thanks.
Autry: She LOVES my hair. People love my hair, right? The cute bug is gonna be a momma like you when it grows up.
Luke: Not everyone is a momma or a dad, Autry. There are other jobs, too.
Mom: Are you done, Luke?
Luke: When I grow up I'm gonna be an astronaut two days a week and a scientist two days and on the weekend I'm gonna help my wife with the children.
Autry: I'm gonna be a bug swimming around in a cute little pond.
Luke: AUTRY! You can't do that! You have to be a human.
Autry: I would wave my magic wand and be a fairy to turn in to a bug. Is that a good idea?
Mom: Sure. Luke, are you done?
Two woman walk in. "Man, it's gross in here. Aww, look at that hair!"
Luke: I've got a lot of POOP!
Mom slowly rubs her temples while Autry circles around the cockroach once more.
Autry: I love this cute little bug. Can it fly like a fairy when it feels better?
More time passes. More people in and out of the bathroom. More comments on how disgusting the bathroom is / how great Autry's hair is. Mom thinks wistfully of her fresh cup of coffee growing cold in the car, wonders if Dad has started to worry yet. Autry is cheerfully singing a nonsense song, swinging around Mom's legs. About twenty minutes have passed.
Luke: I'm done!
Autry: I think I need to go poop now.
Mom: sigh.
Mom searches for toilet paper, helps Luke wipe, flushes, puts Autry on toilet.
Autry: Noo!! It is going to flush!! I changed my mind!
Mom helps Luke and Autry wash and dry their hands, thinking she is in the home stretch. Turns to leave.
Autry: I really do need to poop.
Mom rubs her temples, takes a deep breath, regrets it due to the smell, and sets Autry on the toilet.
Autry, panicking and making noises like a pig giving birth, finally manages to go to the restroom. Luke amuses himself with the dying cockroach and opening and closing the stall door.
Luke: You are holding her hands so she feels better and doesn't fall in, right? You didn't hold my hands, right?
Mom: Right. Please close the stall door.
Autry: AUURGH AHHH!!!
Luke: Is this wasting time? I love wasting time!
Mom, daydreaming about her Costco sized bottle of ibuprofen sitting at home, wipes Autry, washes hands again, wishes the cockroach (who she has secretly grown fond of) luck, and scoops the children out of the door. Scene fades to black.

Welcome to my world!!

Rose is back from Norway for a few weeks! Luke has asked her several times to describe how much she missed them. A lot, I think, although they have already managed to wear her out. Tonight Rose made dinner and helped me put the kids to bed because I am sick. It was great, because afterwards she was both to tired to talk and mad at Brian. It made me feel a little less alone. ;)

There is nothing crazy about owning a book of lists...

The other night we were getting the kids ready for bed, and I told Autry she had to go potty before she had her story. She refused, left, then came back in the room a few minutes later holding a book. Brian holds the book up for me to see - "Prudence's Potty". That's my girl - who needs to really do something when you can read a book about doing it instead?

flickr

I finally figured out how to add flickr, so enjoy...