Together again...at least for a little while

I see a visitor in our future

I think Greg is really coming! He was going to try one last time today. The airports are open, and Delta's flights are scheduled. The potential for roadblocks was high, so I was doubtful he'd make it through the four-hour drive to the airport without being turned back. But he made it! And should be in Atlanta in a few hours. Then on to DFW late tonight!

Perhaps you are thinking, "Isn't he at an AIR BASE? Can't he just get on an Air Force plane? Why does he have to take a commercial flight?" If so, here is my response: Yes, he's at an air base. But there is absolutely no U.S. Air Force traffic in and out right now. Think about how bad it would look to the local population if USAF planes were coming and going--it would look like we were involved in the conflict. So all operations have been suspended. Even in normal times, he would still fly commercially. It's simpler and cheaper for the military.

Or perhaps you are thinking, "I thought Soto Cano Air Base was only an hour away from the capital. Why does it take four hours to get to the airport?" My response: Ever since Zelaya was exiled, the capital, Tegucigalpa, has been the most volatile area. So U.S. military members have been instructed to use the San Pedro Sula airport instead of the one in the capital. San Pedro Sula is farther away. The embassy arranges for a shuttle to take Americans from the air base to the San Pedro Sula airport each day.

You also might be wondering why we get to see Greg so much. Isn't he "gone" for a year? Yes, it's true we saw him for a weekend six weeks ago. That was on his way to an interview at AFIT. This time he's on his way to a conference in Virginia. He's staying for a week. We'll also see him (hopefully) for a weekend at the end of October after a training meeting in San Angelo. Greg has 30 days of leave he can use to visit us while he is in Honduras. If he uses those days in connection with official travel, it's cheaper for us, more efficient for him, convenient, and he ends up using less days of leave. So it's just worked out that we're seeing him (relatively) frequently. After his weekend visit at the end of next month, we won't see him again at all for 3-4 months. (Ugh. That's going to be tough.)

I hope we have a good week. This week is a BIG DEAL. It's going to be a really long time until we can spend a whole week together as a family again.

This is why I moved to Texas

Last Sunday my brother Dave and his wife Ale came to church with us to hear my brother Daniel speak. Afterwards, they came over to play. Hooray!

Tio Dave and Tia Ale have captured my children's hearts. David and Mary leap for joy when they come to visit. And all four of them will disappear up into David's room to build airports or read books. Ale colors with Mary, and they play dolls together. Dave runs around in the backyard with David playing taxi or airplane or ambulance, and they work on fixing things together. Especially with Greg gone, I am so deeply grateful for the interest Dave and Ale have in my children, for the attention they patiently pay to them, and for the love they shower on them.

I might cry next week when I the Texas tags go on my car. But I know why they'll be there--

so my children can be surrounded by people who love them.

Playdate with Tio

My brother Dave saved the day. We were all a little bummed that Greg wasn't coming today, but my brother invited us over for a playdate. My children LOVE Tio Dave. So playtime and pizza with Dave and Ale was a big hit.

Our playdate included a trip to the park...

pretending to be on a pirate ship...
hide-n-seek...
a bike ride...

building an airport...
and "Duck, Duck, Goose"...
What a great way to pass what otherwise would have been a rather depressing afternoon. We all had a great time. What a hero my brother is!

[David is obsessed with his uncle. Tio Dave is my son's #1 playmate. My brother stopped by earlier this week for a little while, and David invited him over for a sleepover. It was so cute. Unfortunately for David, Dave preferred to go home and have a sleepover with his wife.]

An addition to the list

In response to the to-do list, Greg suggested that when (if) he's here, he should get the car registered in Texas. I think he knows that if he doesn't do it, I'll drive around with expired Ohio plates until July.

My Outback is going to have Texas tags. Ugh. I guess I can't pretend that I'm here only for an extended vacation. I live here. Texas is my home. (That was a very difficult sentence to type.) Well, if you see me driving around with my Ohio plates next month, you'll know Greg did not get on that airplane.

To clarify (sort of) the situation with Greg: He was supposed to fly here today for a week-long visit. Because of a variety of factors--like a conference he's going to, his responsibilities at work, our plans as a family, etc.--he really needs to get here today. But he's not, as I "tweeted." It was really sad--because it most likely meant he wouldn't be here at all this next week. But we worked through things, and he is going to try to come tomorrow. The odds are very good--hooray! But if it doesn't work out tomorrow, I don't know when he'll come. What I do know is that next week's to-do list will be all mine.

Just in case

Greg may or may not be coming to visit us tomorrow. (You can read the anxiety in my "tweets," over there on the right side of my blog.)

If he is around next week, I am prepared with another to-do list:

1. Figure out how to hook up the DVD player, VCR, and Roku box (all at the same time) to the TV in the toy room
2. Assemble the patio table
3. Clean the car, inside and out
4. Take David to get his hair cut
5. Attach the fairing to the roof rack
6. Hang the Warhol prints above Mary's crib
7. Take the kids swimming
8. Buy me and then assemble an office chair
9. Go to the temple
10. Help motivate me to make any necessary phone calls to doctors
11. Back up my hard drive
12. Decide what to do about the mattress in my room
13. Make sure my printer works
14. Look at possible bikes/big wheels/tricycles for Mary's birthday

If Greg is unable to fly out of Honduras tomorrow, now you know what my to-do list looks like for next week. (Except for #2--the hardware is missing and there is no way I'm taking on that project.)

Return to Las Colinas

Since our previous family drive to Las Colinas was such a success, we returned last Sunday. This time we skipped my dad's office and instead stopped to see the Mustangs at Las Colinas. (It's a pretty amazing sculpture.)

I suppose it was inevitable--though entirely unplanned:
David was quick to follow:
And what a good time they had:


What ever am I going to do with those two?

[P.S. The first time I visited Dallas was to see Greg and his family--my own family lived in California. And the first thing Greg and I did, after he picked me up from the airport, was to go see the Mustangs. Memories... Anyway, I never, ever would have guessed that the next time I would return would be with our two kids, my parents (who would "never" live in Texas), and no Greg.]

Flunking Lunch

I have entered a new phase of motherhood: packing lunches.

It could be going better.

After being at a complete loss about what to pack for Mary, who eschews sandwiches, I settled into a routine of an ice pack, yogurt, grapes, and whatever else I can find. My worst sin committed so far was failing to pack a cheese stick on her first day of school--so she stole one from a little boy and ate his. Now I include a cheese stick too.

The biggest problem with Mary's lunches is her cute lunch bag combined with my failure thus far to buy her a little purse of her own. She thinks her lunch bag is her purse--and she carries it everywhere. At school it has replaced her pacifier as the comfort object of choice. It goes with her to chapel, to music class, to the playground, and remains at her side in her classroom regardless of the activity. Hey, a girl needs her handbag.

David's lunches have proved slightly more problematic. He lives off of pb&honey. But school is a nut-free zone. I was proud of myself for overcoming that obstacle with soy butter and lots of honey to disguise the taste. But David doesn't like old, yucky sandwiches with honey-soaked bread. He likes fresh ones. So no more sb&honey in his lunch. What to pack for my picky eater? When I asked him, he said he wanted only broccoli and carrots. In theory David loves broccoli and carrots. In practice, no way. They always come home untouched. So, I ask again, besides grapes and Sun Chips, what to pack for my picky eater?

In addition, David is apparently old enough to look longingly at other kids' lunches and seek conformity. So Monday at the grocery store David begged for crush cup yogurt. There was NO WAY I was going to buy that kid crush cup yogurt. First of all, it was about a million dollars, even with my Kroger card. And secondly, it seemed like a really, really bad idea. You crush the cup, on purpose, and then slurp the yogurt from the top?! Who thought of this idea, and where was their brain? (I had to read the directions to get a vague idea of the mechanics of the thing.) Why?!!!! Why would you slurp your yogurt from a cup? So you don't have to take half a second to pack a spoon? So you can sport a yogurt goatee all day? Like I said, this seemed like a really bad idea. But David begged, and pleaded:

"Please, please, please. Mom, everybody at school has them in their lunches. EVERYBODY! But I don't, so I need them."

Really? What parent had purchased such stupid, gimmicky crap and then sent it off to school, leaving the rest of us parents to deal with the fallout? There was no way I was going to allow my child to participate in such a stupid trend.

But he insisted, "Mom, everybody has crush cups." And I remembered my own lame lunches (which, to be fair, were very sensible and appropriate--I think no kids like what their own moms pack them). All that anxiety associated with wanting to fit is so very acute at the lunch table. So I did what any normal(??) mom would do--I let the emotional baggage from my own childhood determine what goes in my shopping cart. (Who needs the therapist's couch when you have Kroger?) Thus I let David buy the stupid crush cup yogurt for one million dollars. (I needed something to pack in his lunch, right?)

So David went off to school yesterday with crush cup yogurt in his lunch...and not much else. We were running late, and I couldn't quickly think of much else to add. I figured if he were a little hungry by the end of school, no big deal--I'd make him a fresh sandwich when he got home.

Well, I got an F in lunch-packing yesterday.

I clearly did not pack an adequate lunch for my child. The crush cup, I believe, was a disaster, as most of the yogurt apparently ended up on his pants. David isn't one for taking the time and initiative to figure out something new on his own. I'd forgotten to do a practice run of crushing and slurping before I sent him to school with the yogurt. Hello, people! I should not have to spend my time teaching my son how to slurp his yogurt! Why, oh, why did I buy that crap? (Oh yeah, because I never had a Cabbage Patch Kid.)

In addition, when I picked David up from school he was ravenously devouring his art project, glue and all. They had made cute paper arks with pairs of animal crackers attached. David's ark came home empty. I was so embarrassed. Not only had I packed David a lunch he was not qualified to eat, but the lunch had been so meager that he'd been forced to fill his grumbling tummy with animal crackers a la glue and construction paper. Poor kid!

Thankfully, today I did not have to pack any lunches. Mary doesn't go to school on Wednesdays, and, its being "P" week at school, today they were making pizza for lunch in David's class. David was very concerned about going to school with no lunch. He loves pizza, so I couldn't figure out why he had such a bad attitude about Pizza Day. In fact, the thought of making pizza for lunch at school nearly brought him to tears. This morning as we were getting into the car, David worriedly expressed concern again about going to school without a lunch.

Then he asked, "Are we going to make paper pizza...or real pizza?" He was very relieved to learn that they would not be making paper pizza.

Poor kid. He didn't want to have to eat glue and construction paper for lunch...again.

Mission accomplished

Way back when, when we first got to the Dallas area, Uncle Daniel (Greg's youngest brother) was home for a visit.

He decided to tackle the task of getting Mary to warm up to him. (Not necessarily an easy undertaking.)

But, with the help of a Sandra Boynton book, he achieved his goal (for the most part--Mary would only get so close):

Mary's heart was softened though. When we dropped him off at the airport, Uncle Daniel was able to steal a hug. After he passed through security, Mary gave him a sweet good-bye wave (which I don't think Daniel noticed--by then he was preoccupied about getting back to Utah to see the other beautiful brunette in his life.)

A Sunday drive to Las Colinas

Just because Greg isn't here doesn't mean we've given up the Sunday drive.

A few Sundays ago my dad had the stellar idea of driving us out to his office in Las Colinas. David was excited to see just where Grandpa Mike mysteriously disappears to most days.

An elevator ride up 18 floors to the top is always fun.

We first checked out the view from Grandpa Mike's office.
David liked the staple remover, and Mary liked the big chair.
Mary Christine, Future General Counsel?
Then we checked out the conference rooms. (My dad was sure to point out that the shades are automatically retracted or let down with the push of a button--very exciting.)
Not bad views, eh?


Next we sneaked into someone else's office to spy on these young turkey vultures.

Then back down in the elevator.
Thus concluded our field trip to the quiet Sunday corridors of corporate America--complete with an echoing lobby, parking garage (always exciting!), high-speed elevator, long halls for running, staple removers, and, of course, a pair of vultures.

Epic battle

(I owe a big thank you to Wendolin Mercado for capturing this classic cousin moment--and for sharing it with us with no copyright restrictions. For even more fun, view these photos as a slideshow here.)