another wave begins.

The house was quiet. Too quiet. But we didn't notice. We just kept doing what we were doing. No one had the slightest idea what was transpiring in the pantry.

I knew I needed to start making dinner. I walked into the kitchen and I heard glass tapping on glass. At first I was confused. What was that? Suddenly it dawned on me. The quiet. The lack of a visual on the littlest member of our family. I turned to the noise and when I saw the spice jars lined up in a row on the ground, I knew there was mischief afoot. It was the emp! You have to be impressed though. She actually got the step stool and dragged it in. Otherwise she couldn't have reached the spice jars. I guess I am always reminding them to "find a solution." And she did. Boy, did she.


No one has told her. No one has said a word so it must be genetics. There's no other explanation. But if anyone doubted if Princess Cutie Pops and The emp were sisters, this exact incident would be a strong argument for their shared genes. The following pictures are Exhibit A, B and C against our little emp. When you are finished, jump over here for the evidence of PCPops mischievousness. Focus especially on the fifth picture over there. PCPops has a knack for destruction, but we thought the toddler-type of havoc was behind us. Oh, no. No sirree. The emp has taken up the torch. God help us.

The first glimpse of The emp's handiwork.

We caught her just in time. She almost had the foil off of that soymilk. Most of the mess above is sesame seeds.

Cumin seeds, mustard seeds and other spices that were dumped out.

After her stern talking to. Poor little thing. (Although I wasn't thinking Poor little thing at the time.)

In all she wasted about $5 dollars worth of spices. Luckily I buy them in the bulk section or at the Asian market otherwise she would have done about $20 of damage. Oh, kids. Ya gotta love 'em.

the 8th of Princess Cutie Pops

Our Princess Cutie Pops turned eight. She chose red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and poinsettia decorations. We had fun putting them together and the entire house smelled of cinnamon gum.

The hoard.

We got her ears pierced for our present and knowing this in advance, Nana and Papa got her five pairs of earrings! Now she just has to wait six weeks before she can wear them.

As usual, a great present from our friends.

Her siblings got her a pair of "real crocs" in her favorite color.

christmas cookies, belated.

Every year the kids each pick out a cookie to make with mommmy. This year had new ones and an old favorite:

Princess Cutie Pops picked delicious Eggnog Logs. I was surprised to find that it called for absolutely no eggnog, but did in fact taste rather egg noggy in the end. 

As usual, Scoochy chose a decadent and rather upscale cookie. She has such a sophisticated palate. Chocolate mint wafers...oh my goodness. Dark chocolate flavored wafers sandwiched around chocolate mint ganache and dipped in chocolate. To. Die. For.

"Hmmm...which one to eat as soon as Mom is done taking pictures?" Dodge is just like his Daddy. Why try a new recipe when we know Peanut Butter Blossoms are delicious? I'll give you one guess what he'll pick as his cookie next year...

Our little emp is trying to grab Tank's plate of Chocolate Meringues. These babies were melt-in-your-mouth delicious and super simple to make. The only drawbacks were having to pipe them and the 2-hr baking time. But hey! That's what Christmas cookies are for, right? It's that extra little oomph that we don't want to give cookies the rest of the year.

She's got it all figured out.

Princess Cutie Pops' birthday is Christmas Eve. We asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She answered, "A horse. And I want a horse for Christmas, too."

Daddy shook his head, "Sweetie, that's a waste. You can only ride one at a time. Why get two?"

Confidently she replied, "Because next year I'm asking for a chariot!"

Who says kids never plan for the future?

san antonio zoo time

a pocket full of rye and then some

We have a gigantic map on our dining room wall. It is the topic of many dinner conversations, tonight included. After answering many "Is this a country or a state?" questions, the kids noticed that Russia was rather large. This got us discussing how a country's size doesn't always match how powerful and rich it is.

"Mom, does the United States of America have a lot of money?"

"Yes, we're considered a rich country and that's one of the main reasons we're so powerful."

"Is England rich?"

"Yes, England is considered one of the rich countries."

"...and portable!"

"What? Portable?"

"Yeah, it is so small you could just drop it in your pocket."


Kids...Where do they come up with this stuff?

Jokers Wild.

PCPops: Mommy, everyone wants the Joker in Go Fish.
Me: Why?
PCPops: Because we love little men riding bicycles.

Of course. Why would a kid love a card for anything other than aesthetic reasons? Wait a minute, do you even use Jokers in Go Fish?

Anatomical discrepencies...or not

PCPops comes walking up to me..."Mom! These are my kidneys." (pointing to her knees)

I'm just about to correct her when she says, "I'm a kid and these are my knees. Kid knees!"

Oh the pun of it!

Night of the Doughnut

8 kids + 2 types of melted chocolate + powdered sugar + sprinkles + dozens of doughnuts = one messy, fun and delicious time

When Dug was traveling, I decided (I still have no idea why) to have our friends come over and eat doughnuts with us. Don't get me wrong, it was super-duper yummy and way too much fun, but I was sweeping multicolored sprinkles off my kitchen floor for weeks!

In this picture, you'll notice Dodge has apparently become side-tracked from his job. Yashel is more nose-to-the-grindstone while still enjoying a mouthful of freshly deep-fried yumminess.

PCPops and Woozy aren't quite as careful as their siblings. I think their plan goes something like this: one finger of chocolate spread on doughnut...one for my tummy...one for the doughnut...

If Fuzzy Bee wasn't so covered in chocolate, you'd think he was posing for the children's version of GQ.

Realizing there's no prettifying a powdered-sugar-face, Scoochy fully embraces her inner doughnut monster.

Sally, my co-conspirator, enjoying the fruits of our labor. (Actually the labor part -i.e. cleanup- hasn't even started yet in this picture.)

PC Pops and the sixth year.

Princess Cutie Pops turned six on her last birthday. (Which just happened to be four months ago in December, but you'll forgive me right?)

I don't know if a birthday girl could look cuter.

A new addition!

It's spring and we've got new life sprouting in the Shnozberry Patch! This update is horribly late, but anyone with a newborn can understand how superfluous things like blogs and showers are pushed aside and the necessities like food and clean underwear take up the spare moments that aren't in demand by a wee bairn weighing less than a gallon of milk.

So without further ado, let me present my sweet darling, the e.m.p.:

She was born 4 April, 2009, coming in at the perfect weight of 7lbs 2 oz. She took four hours once she decided it was her time to arrive. And we have fallen irrevocably in love.

It's the Zoo at San Antone!

Now that Nana and Poppa live so close, we get to visit them almost every time Dug goes away on a business trip. Nana and Poppa got a year pass to the zoo in which they put their grandkids on for free. (And me for a little bit extra.) Yippee! The San Antonio Zoo is now one of our go-to destinations!

Here, Tank is carefully plotting our course. He wanted the map and was very upset if anyone tried to take it from him.


For a short while PCPops got to lead the way. She studied the map very carefully and in the end, walked wherever we led.


My philosophy at the zoo (especially when we can come back whenever we want) is to let the kids set the pace and stop whenever they find something they're interested in. These parrots were Tank's favorite exhibit. When we were leaving (Well, to be honest, we were shooed out because the zoo had closed.) the parrots were no longer in their exhibit. Tank was very concerned and thought someone had stole them or they had escaped. "Where are the parrots? They're gone! What happened to them? They're gone!" We had to have a zoo official reassure him that they had just been put in their cages to sleep for the night.

We only had a few quarters but there seemed to be those "Feed The Animals" vending machines everywhere. The kids got quite adept at looking around the base of the machine for the nuggets that had been dropped. Scoochy is feeding some fish with one of the few non-scavenged handfuls we managed to provide.

One moment earlier, Tank had found the hidden frog.



This red-ruffed lemur had the most piercing eyes. Just had to let you see him.

Have statue. Will climb.
I think it is one of the stupidest things ever when people/organizations/etc put a very climb-able metal statue at kids level, leave out the fence and then post a little sign (so it won't interfere with the view of the artwork) that says, "Please don't climb on the statue." Luckily for us, the San Antonio Zoo is not stupid.

Last but not least, I managed to get a shot off of the very elusive Poppatus Vidcamerus. He seemed to follow us everywhere we went and only with very quick, highly trained movements was I able to catch him at his own game.

Watch your step!

PCPops is on a roll. Another couple doozies came out of her mouth today.

"Everyone loves Mommy...even God!"

Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence. The all-loving Creator who keeps everyone under His care even loves me!
~~~

PCPops asked me who I would choose to die in our family. After I replied, "No one." She shook her head, "Mommy, you have to pick someone."

Me: Okay, I pick myself.

PCPops: (incredulously) You would pick you? (without a pause or a breath) I would pick Daddy. (Poor Daddy is sitting across from her at the table, mouth agape at the brutality just issued from his beautiful, smiling, cheerful red-headed daughter.)

Me: Daddy?! Why would you pick Daddy?

PCPops: When he died I would take his money. Probably $25! With $25 I could buy you a new mouse pad (she bit a hole in my gel-filled ergonomic mouse pad) and still have maybe $5!

Before the thoughts of "How in the world has she learned to off someone to get their money?" and "What have I done to fail this child so completely?" finished scrolling through my brain she had already changed the subject to some completely nonsensical and silly topic.

She's five. And when you've got a question that needs to be answered, you answer it with all the logic that your half-a-decade old brain can summon.

Let's just hope for her sake that Daddy doesn't "accidently" drink rat poison and we find ourselves $25 short in our bank account...

Don't argue unless you're right.

This happened last night during our little advent ceremony. The kids get coins each night and put them in Jesus' Birthday Present, after Christmas we give the money to Jesus (usually our church).

PCPops: (as she drops the money in, she puts her lips up to the coin slot) Happy Birthday Jesus!

Me: Sweetie, Jesus isn't in the box, you don't have to say "Happy Birthday" into the box.

PCPops: Mommy, Jesus is everywhere in the world. That means he's in the box! (into the box again as if to make her point) Happy Birthday Jesus!


I had no reply. What could I possible say to such irrefutable logic?

Turning 4!

Tank turned four in the middle of October. It was a full month for birthdays. Dug had to travel so much that he missed my, Dodge's and Tank's birthday. Luckily Nana and Poppa live only 3.5 hours away now and we got to spend my and Tank's with them.


Here's the birthday boy. He asked for a rainbow cake. I was so thankful. Not much to look at, but the little guy was happy and that is all that counts.


To make his birthday exciting (and to try to hide the fact that we didn't wrap anything) we hid all his presents around the house. Brother Dodge began the hunt with hiding his Phlat Ball present in the couch. Very quickly we realized that Tank didn't understand how to play "Hot, Cold." Dodge patiently taught him as best he could.


PCPops hid her gumball machine in the pantry. She was so excited for him to find it so Tank could "see how it worked and maybe share." When this pic was snapped, he still hadn't quite figured out what it was. Once big sis explained it, though, it was "super cool."

Scoochy and Tank are astride her present, a rather large T-Rex. When she asked if she could get it for him, I looked at what I thought was the price and said, "Sure, $9.99 is under your $10 limit." I don't know what I was looking at. When we finally had everyone's present picked out and we were running late to meet up with Poppa, I was hurrying through the check-out hoping Tank wouldn't escape Nana's "distraction techniques." The checker rang up said dinosaur and up popped $19.99!! In normal circumstances there is no way I would fork out $20 bucks for a big dino, but I was hurried, a little tired and feeling a bit pushover-y. Tank was so thankful for my fragile state. He loved his new "Bigfoot."


(Sorry mom and dad for having to post this goofy picture of you.) Tank's favorite present by far was his new bike from Nana and Poppa. How could he not love that thing? This present, above all others, pushed him from babydom to Big Boy-hood.


When we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, Tank's first answer was "a horse," in which we had to explain the difficulties and expense of such a large animal. When we realized he meant a stick horse, it all became possible. As soon as he saw his horse, he was galloping away. (Helps that a button on his ear makes a galloping noise.)

And here are the crazy four, happy. Which makes mommy happy. :-) In case you're wondering, we had cake and presents on two separate days, which would account for their wardrobe changes. Presents, of course, were on the actual birthday. Cake was suspended a day.