Holy Cow

A couple of nights ago I was in with Isabella supervising her brushing her teeth. I dropped the toothpaste on the floor and she said, "Holy Cow!" I laughed and said, "Isabella, what is a Holy Cow?" Her response was immediate and authoritative: "It's a cow with spots on it and it eats toothpaste!" Now you know. :-)

Keep your eye on the ball

A couple of days ago Liza was playing catch with Isabella. She has liked doing that for a while now, but could never seem to catch the ball. This time, however, she caught it several times in a row and then informed Liza that "You have to keep your eye on the ball." Later, when I got home, Liza asked me if I had been practicing catch with Isabella. I said no, so she asked Isabella who taught her to keep her eye on the ball. She smiled and enthusiastically said, "Baby Bear!"

For those of you not current on your Sesame Street, he is a regular character. I guess it really is educational television!

Fun in the water

Last Saturday we took the kids to a park that is not to far away. They don't have a pool there, but a water park with all kinds of water spouts and fountains. Zach had a blast running through all the water. He has no fear. Here is a video of the kids playing in the water.



Isabella on the other hand still doesn't like water fountains very much, so we decided to get a something for the back yard that would help her to get used to it. Liza found the best little fountain pool thing on clearance that is perfect. Here's another video of the kids playing in the back yard.

Cute Pictures

Zach has taken to wearing one of Liza's hair bands around the house. I'm not sure what he thinks it is, but it looks like a crown the way he puts it on. He may regret it later in life, but for now it's very cute.

We got a new ottoman that matches our couch (thanks to Dad & Carla for the housewarming gift) that doubles as a toy box. This day it became a place for Zach and Isabella to play in.


Here's a picture of Zach saying , "Cheese!" which is what he always says now when he sees the camera.

More playing in the tent

I've just discovered that we can upload videos directly to blogger now through draft.blogger.com. I like this because it keeps my videos off of you-tube and being seen by anyone and everyone. To give it a try, I thought I'd upload this video of Isabella and Zach playing in the tent that I posted about a few days ago.

Isabella's prayer

Tonight Liza asked Isabella who she would like to pray for. She said, "I'll pray for Paffy and you pray for Naffy." Liza suggested that she pray for both and she'd pray for real people. So, she begins, "Dear Jesus. I pray for Paffy and Naffy that they would be safe on thier trip that I don't know where they're going. I pray they would not get hit by a car when they get out and that they would stop when they get to the street. I pray, amen."

I guess those little talks on staying out of the street and looking for cars when crossing the road are sinking in, :-)

Future Therapy

It is not a normal day if Isabella does not say something that has Liza and I laughing out loud. I hope we are not damaging her too badly. I can see her on the couch at 29 telling her psychologist all about how he parents used to laugh at her. :-) The fact that it is recorded forever on a blog is probably not the best either... but oh well. 

Today as we were on our way to church, the Veggie Tales CD, "Oh Veggie, Where Art Thou" was playing. This is a collection of old hymns and praise music. She really likes it. I get a chuckle every time I hear her singing "Give me that old time religion"... Today she was in the back happily singing, "Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do remember me. Way beyond the flu." I laughed out loud.  

Then, tonight at the dinner table she was talking away and suddenly stopped, then sneezed. Liza said, "Bless you!" To which she replied, "I did a big bless you all over you!  I think I might need to bless you again! I might even bless you 2 more times!"  We had a big laugh yet again. I just hope she understands one day while laying on the couch that it's just because she is so darn cute when she says things with such conviction. :-)

How much fun can you have for $1.65?

Just ask the kids and they'll tell you. You can have A LOT of fun for $1.65 when you pick up a tent at Goodwill. I picked it up a couple of days ago and brought it home while the kids were upstairs. When Isabella came in, she saw it, squealed and said, "Wow! This is amazing!"  When Zach came down, he was so excited he sounded like a chipmunk squeaking or something. They played in it for quite a long while.

Anniversary

Liza and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Sunday. We went out for dinner with a movie at Alamo Draft House theater, and then I surprised her with a night at the Embassy Suites here in Austin. Nancy was kind enough to come spend the night with the kids so we were able to get away. We had a great time.

Color Commentary

Today while I was outside running the weed eater on the lawn, Isabella was inside watching through the kitchen window. Liza wrote down the comments she was making...

"He's doing it like the mower guys!"

"Is he getting stinky?"

"He's doing a great job."

"Now he has to take a shower."

"He's so fast!"

Smell the flowers

Sometimes you just need to stop and smell the flowers. That is just what Isabella did when we were up in Breckenridge, CO at the end of July. Here are a few pictures of her and some of the flowers we saw while out in the town with her cousins and my sister, Kim.

Zach Swimming

My mom sent us this video while we were in Korea this summer. I wanted to share it with everyone else too.

More rides

This is a little bit of old news... but the videos were so cute I wanted to share them.
First is Isabella in Kansas. She got to ride a horse while we were staying with my grandma in Rolla, Kansas. Her great uncle Ron took us out to ride Angel the horse. She had a great time.




While we were in Colorado, after the conference was over, we stayed at a beautiful mountain home just over "Hoosier Pass" from Breckenridge. One day while we were there, we went down to Fairplay and experienced "Burrow Days." Zach got to take a ride on a donkey. Kim, my sister, took the video with the camera in the sideways position, so you'll have to excuse the crazy angle. :-)

Smell phone

Tonight before we went for ice cream with Chris' mom, I changed Zach's diaper in front of everyone. I knew it was wet, but it turned out to be poopy. Isabella was "talking" on her cell phone, and informed Mickey Mouse that Zach had a poopy diaper. She then held the phone up to Zach's bottom, and said "Here, Mickey, smell it!"

Remodeling the kitchen

We returned home from Colorado last Thursday after a very long 13 hour drive from Kansas. We had a great time visiting my grandmother, but we were glad to get home. Then on Friday morning, I took Isabella to the airport to pick up David Howett, my father-in-law. He came down to help me remodel the kitchen. When we bought this house, I knew the cabinets needed to be fixed, so we got the sellers to put in money to buy new doors. We had those, but they needed to be painted and the the frames had to be painted as well. So, it was a major project that I needed help to do. David was a huge help. His experience and hard work were so appreciated over the last 5 days!

Here are some pictures as we re-did the kitchen:

We started by taking off the doors and taking out the drawers. We put plastic everywhere.

We had to prime the frames as well as the doors new drawer fronts. Then we put two coats of paint on each side of the doors and drawers and on the frames.

We turned the garage in to a painting shop. Here is David working on a door.

Here is David working on the wine rack above the refrigerator. I never thought about what a pain that would be to paint.

We also wanted to paint the white walls, so I taped everything off and painted the walls on Tuesday morning.

When we finished Zach helped me pull down all the tape. He thought that was a lot of fun. He was also happy to finally be allowed inside the gates.

Here we are putting up the final door. Then we put on the pulls and were finished. It was quite a project, but as you'll see in the next post, it was worth the hard work. We have banished the brown oak kitchen forever and we really love the new look.

Before and After

After 4 long days of working like mad, here is the finished product of our remodeled kitchen.

Before:

After:



Here is a closeup of the pulls we put on the cabinets:

We also removed the box light from the ceiling. We wanted to put up a cooler light fixture, but because of the hole in the ceiling where the old fixture was mounted, we had to get another florescent. At least this one matches the brushed metal look of the pulls. Now I just have to paint the ceiling where the old box used to be so it is not visible any longer.