Daddy's Gonna Kill Ralphie

Catch the Christmas Story reference?

A Day of Rest

Sunday was a leisurely day for us...
I'm making witch dolls right now for a fall project and Rush helped me stuff them on Sunday afternoon. Things do take a little longer when he's helping, but he's just interested in so many things and loves to help.

Rush and I also baked cookies yesterday, because if you're feeling too full from all the carbs you've eaten over the weekend, cookies are the way to fix that, right? Rush is really happy standing on a chair at the kitchen counter, stirring (mostly stirring the bowl of Chex mix he was eating) and sorting through the bread box. And he loves smelling all the spices in the pantry.

In a rare event that has never, ever happened for us, we spent the entire weekend in town and didn't eat out one single meal. It's not like we're spending every meal at five star restaurants, but there's always at least one trip to Taco Bell or a similar quick, 'we don't feel like cooking on Friday night' meal. So of course to reward ourselves we ordered pizza on Sunday and got whatever gigantic oval pizza gimmick that Pizza Hut is currently pushing. (NFL commercials, your advertising worked on us. Let's hope we don't get to the point of wallpapering our house in Bud Light...) The whole point about all of this is that the pizza was so big that we split the ingredients down the middle and for once in my life I got to order the pizza that I always want but no one else would ever consider ordering: black olives, mushrooms, and onion. Mmmm.

Trent ended his evening in the usual fashion, falling asleep in the living room. In his defense, he was still recuperating from unloading an entire 18-wheeler full of pumpkins on Saturday morning for the pumpkin patch at Rush's school. If our cats start snuggling with us, we know cooler weather is arriving.

One...And A Half

Sunday was Rush's half birthday, so we had half a cake:

I hear that the 18 month mark is when toddlers really start becoming little kids. I picked him up from the nursery this morning after my bible study and he was sitting at a table full of other kids eating a snack. I love seeing him in those settings where I can watch him for a moment or two before he notices I'm there. He is continuing to grow and evolve every day.

School is going great for him too. He walks in with his backpack on, hands his lunch to the teacher and spreads his arms out like "let's get started!" There are no tears for him when I drop him off, but he does give me a good hug before I go.

Again and again I remember that I can't be too nostalgic with him because once something is over, it's over. He recently realized that some of the grocery carts at Kroger have cars attached, so now he runs for them as soon as we get to the store. I miss having him right in my face while we're shopping, but he's having a good time and he glances back at me every now and then. I stop to chat with him too, especially when he's doing things like pulling bags of beans off the shelves or trying to touch the floor as we walk. Every new stage is an adventure with him.

More Tyler Highlights or We're Related?

First of all, someone is a great traveller and stayed in a generally excellent mood. A little rest time on Saturday afternoon really helped. Rest time lasted about five minutes.


The drive through east Texas is more of a Dairy Queen ramble then a McDonald's jaunt, so first root beer float for Rush: check.

The most amazing thing about Hunter's cool built-in-the-20's house is the art. There's original art hanging in every room - not prints, not posters, but canvasses with paint, most painted by my brother or one of his friends. He probably has more original art than 99% of the 24 year old males in this country. I always forget that Hunter is artistic because he's good at so many other things. Is it really fair for one person to be both a painter and an athlete? It couldn't happen to a nicer person, but really. Hunter and Alan Bean are on the same life track.

I'm generally fascinated by the fact that my brother, sister, and I were raised by the same parents and grew up in the same household, but can have major differences in the way we live our lives. I'm not talking about having a business degree vs. a recreation, parks, and tourism degree or completely different jobs or life plans; I'm talking details. My obsession began last time I visited Casey and couldn't find any Hershey's syrup in her fridge. She informed me that she has never in her life purchased Hershey's syrup. What? How does she make chocolate milk to drink when she eats bagels? She rarely eats bagels. What? What?!

I bring this up because I have been absolutely flabbergasted since I walked into Hunter's home for the first time. It was so tidy. Everything has its place, there were no piles of pizza coupons, newspaper clippings, and unopened mail. It was neat, orderly, organized. Casey's home is the same way. They both get rid of things that don't have a function; I have a box full of ribbon scraps. I never knew either one of them was so clean, probably because when I lived with them I functioned the same way I do now, with a Pigpen cloud of debris following behind me. It must be a messy gene that I inherited (Thanks Dad!). I'm a few visits away from never being invited back to either one of their homes for leaving my stuff out on coffee tables all weekend. I need to work on my sparkling personality.

That's Hunter's office, by the way. It's huge and has not one but two windows and a table and chairs. He's successful.

Best Zoo Ever

Rush and I travelled with my parents to Tyler last weekend to visit Hunter, my neglected younger brother. It was my first time to visit him in the 2 1/2 years he's lived there, sorry again that it took so long to make the scenic drive. It was a great visit that included a trip to the Caldwell Zoo, which was awesome.

Yes, that is Rush feeding a giraffe.

Hunter's childhood friend Abby is a zoo keeper at the zoo and took us behind the scenes with a bucket of cut up apples, potatoes, and carrots to feed the giraffes. It was one of the coolest experiences ever. They were so gentle. The female only likes orange produce, so only ate the carrots.

The zoo had a lot of great animal interaction sites for everyone, not just the people with an inside track to the zoo keepers.

At the Wild Bird Encounter, there were birdseed covered popsicle sticks to feed the birds. Rush really enjoyed it and only tried to grab the birds a few times.

He's our animal lover.