Thank you, September!

Today's the last day of the month, meaning we've gone through just over a month of school. We've rotated between survival mode and awesomeness every day. I am so grateful.

Here's my thankful list for today:

1. I finished this behemoth! Yesterday I finished reading this entire, monstrous textbook. While it is full of good ideas, the writing was mostly over my head and frustrating. However, I read it all and am done! Woohoo! (You can all line up to borrow it now.)

2. Cooler weather
Fall and spring are my favorite seasons because they are so full of promise and hope. In fall, we hope for a respite from the heat. In spring, we hope for shorts. I love this in between time when the weather could go either way.

3. Kids and school independence
Every day it seems my kids are getting smarter and more independent. I am so grateful for that. They have great teachers at a great school  and I'm so proud of them every day.

4. Failure of embarrassment
I haven't been able to embarrass my kids yet. I've tried. Wearing birds, butterflies, and bonnets on my head hasn't worked yet. Paul just laughs and tells his friends I'm a lunatic. Claire just nods and says, "Nope. You have once again failed to embarrass me. Everyone knows my family is crazy." I've got to try harder and I'm grateful for the challenge.

5. Leftovers

6. Hilarious professors
One of my professors has been teaching at Brite Divinity School since the 1970s. That makes it all the funnier when he says things like "Will the real Jesus Christ please stand up?" He's always dropping little pop culture quotes and it always makes me laugh.

My other professor yesterdays confessed that we all love creative tension. He said, "Creative tension sounds so sexy." We all almost fell out of our chairs laughing.

7. Coffee with a hamster and not a dog
One day this week I was drinking my first cup of coffee, trying to read my behemoth of a book and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I got scared, thinking we had a rat. No, it was Paul's hamster, escaped in a jailbreak and coming to the kitchen. I am so grateful he came to me. I am so grateful the dog hadn't woken up yet. I am so grateful we were able to return him safely to his cage and latch it so that doesn't happen again.

8. Friends
For my email pen pals, for my friends at all my school situations, for my church friends, for my ministry friends, for my friends from all different corners of my life, who remind me who I am and who I have been, I am grateful.

9. Waking up skills
My brain is much sharper in the a.m. The ability to wake up early and start functioning immediately has suited me well in grad school. My writing is much better at 5 a.m. when everyone is asleep, rather than at 5 p.m. when everyone is awake and wanting to chat.

10. Kids and pets
We're up to one dog, two hamsters, and one fish around here. The kids bought the hamsters and fish with their own money, and they take care of them all by themselves! They are so proud of their pets and parenting skills, and I am, too. Also, I'm grateful that their allowance money spent on a pet didn't mean more work for me.

Summer 2016 Status Updates

Time always goes quickly around here, so I thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on what's happening in our neck of the woods.

The kids at AHUMC VBS. They had so much fun!

Paul finished second grade and is headed to third. He also wrapped up a great baseball season. He excelled at first base and at batting. His hand-eye coordination is remarkable and one of his coaches was surprised to learn that he just turned 8 during the season.  Paul's favorite activities this summer include building with Legos and reading books. The series he's passionate about right now is How to Train Your Dragon.

Claire has finished fourth grade and headed to fifth grade, her last year in elementary school. This fall we will be applying to various middle schools across FWISD. Claire currently plays volleyball at the YMCA. She is amazing at writing and crafts a new story nearly every day. She likes making family newsletters as well. She also loves reading and is currently rifling through the collection of books I accumulated when I was her age. (Tip: Don't get your daughter hooked on Sweet Valley Twins because they are incredibly hard to find now.)

Adam still enjoys his work as a structural engineer. He has been enjoying the kids' love for roller coasters and all three of them ride together while Sarah waves from the ground. He's great at origami, fixing and building "stuff" with the kids. He loves reading Mark Twain and science books. He also teaches the kids how to rock at video games.

Sarah is still in seminary at Brite Divinity School. I can only go part-time due to family and work, but I love it. At this rate, I have four years left to get my Master of Divinity degree. This last semester I changed jobs and currently work as the ministry assistant at the TCU Wesley Foundation. I'm still also a Fort Worth ISD tutor. I'm also in the ordination process to become a UMC deacon. After graduation/ordination, I'd like to work in pastoral care/counseling and write curriculum for churches.

Cpt. Midnight Sugar Dot Express has enjoyed being the lone dog on the range. He enjoys snuggling and lying in the sun. He does not enjoy Claire holding him like a baby. He's iffy on enjoying Paul wrestling him. Postal employees are threatened with their lives when they deliver mail to the house, but cats are only scared away if he has space in his agenda for chasing them.






Overall, we're all doing well, working hard and having fun.

Vacation! Photos included.

We are home from our non-stop vacation to California. I'm almost caught up with the laundry and have spent hours sorting and editing photos. Between both of our phones and our real camera, Adam and I took 1,200 photos. Using all of them creates a 52 minute slideshow.

I edited out the duplicates and the extraneous shots of children sleeping or beautiful tree trunks. So if you want to enjoy our vacation photos, the slideshow is 15 minutes.

http://youtu.be/Yb66cIVkHaw

We started here in Fort Worth, TX. Our first night was spent in Childress, TX. Then on to New Mexico and Arizona. Lots of driving and night two and three were in Williams, Arizona. We lucked out and were upgraded at the Motel 6. Unfortunately the penthouse of the Motel 6 had a broken air conditioning and no coffee or even kleenex. We were still grateful we scored the nicest room in that hotel.

We spent a day at the Grand Canyon and then headed to California. We stayed in Mammoth Lakes, CA, which is apparently a ski resort town. Thanks to Priceline.com, accommodations were just as cheap as the Motel 6, but so much nicer. The next day we drove to Yosemite.

Yosemite was beautiful and we were all surprised at the enormity and majesty of the park. We drove for two hours inside the park to get to our destination at the waterfall. Hiking was much easier there than at the Grand Canyon because of shade trees and lower temperatures. The kids waded in lower falls and we all looked for bears in the trees. Due to wildfires during the last few years, some of the trees had burn marks, but life was sprouting from the places of destruction.

The next day we drove to the Redwood forest, which was our ultimate destination. We spent a day exploring trees that were bigger than our car. We even drove through one.

The next day we drove to San Rafael with a stop to see the Pacific Ocean. It was very cold, but both kids were impervious and put on swimsuits anyway. Adam put on his suit and got in the water to supervise/act like a kid himself. I had to stay dry to take photos....(also, I can live without getting in the cold water.)

The next day we drove into San Francisco and met up with one of my lifelong best friends, Anabelle Garay. Anabelle was a bridesmaid at our wedding and is also Claire's godmother. It was fun to see her at home in California and explore some of the sites with her as a personal tour guide. We rode a streetcar, saw Ghiradelli Square, and even drove down Lombard Street. We also found an excellent used bookstore. 

After a day in San Fran, we headed home. The first night was spent in a small city in California, just two hours away from San Francisco. The next day we stopped to see the Hollywood sign and get stuck in Los Angeles traffic. We made it to Tuscon that night. The next day we drove and drove and drove with only stops for bathroom, gas, and lunch. We made it home at 3:45 a.m. the next morning.

Memories I want to savor of the trip: Paul reading books so fast we had to keep buying more, the kids sworn in as Park Rangers at three parks, Adam's excellent driving on all the mountain roads, the cold ocean water, and trees bigger than our car. Also, the hilarious situations that packing animal masks provided us. 

We were lucky to see so many breath-taking views in one trip. I only read three books because most of the time I was just soaking in all the natural beauty surrounding us. I am so grateful.

Plumbing and Playing: Our summer so far

We're wrapping up the second week of summer around here.
Last week the kids had their last day of school, I worked two days, and we spent two days with our favorite plumbers.
We've had a slow draining shower, so Adam called Curly's Plumbing to snake it out. It turned out to be more than a slow drain; we had tree roots in the line.  So the plumbers jackhammered up the master bathroom floor and repaired the pipe.  This is the second time this year we've had to jackhammer up our foundation. We love these guys because they are good at what they do, but they are also so nice! They don't care if I take pictures of them every five minutes to send to Adam.  They also don't mind stopping countless times to explain to the kids what is going on.  I know when I'm working the last thing I want to do is stop to explain everything I'm doing.  But they do it!
The kids recently learned the term "plumber's butt" so they kept following the plumbers around the house to see if they had "plumber's butts." Both guys were wearing belts, though, so they were safe.

I had decided that this summer we will stay home at least one day a week. I say that every summer and then if an offer for something else comes by, we do it.  We never stay home for the entire day, so this year I mean it. It's easy to be at home, realize you need something and jump in the car and get it.  But every year that snowballs and I end up being gone the whole day instead of a few minutes. So last week with the plumbers we had to stay home, but I wandered through the house a little unsure of what I needed to do.  This week went much smoother.  The kids played the entire day and I worked on housework, taking intentional breaks.

Last weekend we travelled to Medieval Times to celebrate Paul's birthday. Luckily I was able to nab a teacher discount to make it more affordable.  The kids loved it and we even got to bring some friends.

Claire took her stuffed otter to the zoo to see a real river otter.

This week we've had a trip to the zoo and much birthday celebratoryness.  Adam and Paul's birthdays are only three days apart so that makes for a week of celebrations.  We went to Six Flags on Tuesday.

Yesterday was our stay-at-home day and it went much smoother. I worked on polishing the hard wood floors and baked Paul's birthday cake. The kids played nicely all day long. They didn't fight one time and I was amazed.

Today is Adam's birthday so we're not quite done celebrating. Even though I'm trying hard to slow down, summer is flying by!

End of the School Year Blitz

It's almost the last day of school in Fort Worth and we were honored to have both children attend Bruce Shulkey Elementary this year. We love our school for its diversity as well as the staff's love and respect for each child. The kids both have learned and grown this year and we are proud.

Claire's head is in the middle of this photo...

Yesterday was the talent show and Claire participated in a group singing of "Let It Go" from the movie Frozen. The song is full of emotion and anger but each child sang it with a light step and a smile on their face; it was pretty cute.  I saw one girl with a costume on and asked Claire why she hadn't told me she needed a costume. "Mama, a costume is a want, not a need," she said. "That's why I didn't ask." She chose a cute dress instead and received many compliments. I was surprised and humbled at her wisdom because she was absolutely right.
Paul didn't get to participate in this year's talent show, but we're already brainstorming for next year.

This week was also the awards ceremony. Each child received so many awards I can't even count. Academic acheivement in all areas.  We were proud of them, but didn't make a big deal out of it. Our children are so smart and we love them so much, but we know their abilities and I expect them to achieve academically, so we don't buy balloons or flowers.  We just hollered at them, hugged them, and told them good job. I also feel that congratulatory items are a slippery slope. If I buy balloons this year, I would feel like that wouldn't be enough next year and would have to buy bigger and bigger gifts until I had to stop at purchasing their first home before they were 18.


We recently had fun at Field Day. Paul woke up with a fever and sore throat that day, so I immediately took him to the doctor, knowing that a child in his class had strep. Luckily the doctor checked him out, tested him, and gave him the all clear. She gave us permission to take him to school tardy with the stipulation that he not kiss anyone. I don't know who was more excited when we arrived, Adam or Paul.

The girls beat the boys at tug of war in Claire's class.

Obviously Paul felt fine.

This is Paul with his "girlfriend" Emily. He informed me last week that she told him they broke up and now she is going out with Luis. "How did that make you feel?" I asked. "Great!" he said. "I told her I'm too young for a girlfriend anyway."


It's been a good year and we are grateful.

Our School Year Thus Far

I have always been a proponent of moving New Year's Eve to the week before school starts.  I haven't contacted the international calendaring committee but to me, this just makes sense.  January is in the middle of the school year.  That's not the time to start anything. The time to start routines and healthy habits is the first day of school.
It's the second week of school and we're settling into our new routines.  Paul has now realized that kindergarten won't be all fun and games and he'll actually have to do some level of work.  He's disappointed in this and yesterday started sniffling as we approached the school.  He told me he didn't want to go to school because he didn't feel like working that day.  He would rather go home and play all day.  I assured him I would also be working and to let me know if his teacher bit him.  "You tell me if Mrs. Alvarez bites you and I'll come up and take care of it."  That made him giggle and away he went.
Claire's enjoying second grade.  She has a good teacher as well and is having fun.  Her biggest disappointment so far is that she had to write so much she got writer's cramp.
Each day the kids come home with competing voices, trying to tell me details of the day.  Claire's daily report involves EVERY detail of her classroom life from the fullness of the soap dispenser in the bathroom to the reason so and so got into trouble.  Paul's reports cover his perceived injustices (he still didn't get a particular sticker he hoped for) and quotes from his teachers.
When Claire entered Kindergarten, I started the practice of sitting down with her daily to talk about all the events in her day.  I wrote up her answers in a blog.  Not only is it funny and honest, but it helped develop our relationship and teach her to communicate better.  She started out the same as Paul, not sure which details should be conveyed and spewing out a jumble of randomness.  Now she can have a more coherent conversation and with open communication lines, I am able to hear about everything that goes on in the classroom, good and bad.  This is reassuring to me because the complaints I'm hearing are minor.  Without being in her classroom I know her teacher is competent and that she has creative a positive learning environment.
Paul is still working on learning to tell me about his day.  I am writing down all he says as well but it's often one or two word answers.  He has the same kindergarten teacher as Claire did and our family loves her so much we consider her family.  Last year she asked us for a tree stump and so Adam got her one, putting the giant 100+ lb trunk on a two wheeler and rolling it a mile to our house.  We love Mrs. Alvarez.  Her mixture of left and right-brained activities help make her learning environment productive for all children.
Adam is glad for us to be back in school because it helps him get up earlier and get off to work easier.  All four of us walk to school together each morning.  Then he leaves for work and I have a miniature break where I can take a breath before I head into the office or school.
Typical of me, I set my self-expectations too high.  For my new year resolution, I planned to write on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and workout on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  I still think it's a good plan, but I also am so thankful that I can give myself some grace when I don't live up to my own expectations.
Last week I had Friday off and was getting bogged down with all the chores I had assigned myself.  Instead, I threw caution to the wind, had coffee with a friend, went to lunch with Adam, and spent some quiet time by myself.  I bought groceries later and cleaned house the next day.  This was much more fulfilling than checking off my to-do list.
So we're all learning. We've all got our new year's resolutions and we've all got hope that we can carry them through to June.  In any case, we all have a sense of humor.

Life-Giving Vs. Life-Draining

In the 21st century, it's easy to be busy. I hate being busy, but sometimes it's unavoidable.  More often than not, though, my kids will be found playing in their own backyard, reading books leisurely or fighting imaginary battles with each other rather than racing around town.
I believe down-time, low-stress time, time at home is essential for all of us, so Adam and I are both intentional about what we schedule.  Every Sunday, we schedule time at  home.  We go to church, then we eat lunch and go home to take a nap and spend time together.

For me, before an event goes on our calendar I ask myself, "Will this be life-giving or life-draining?"  Life-giving events are those that we can make a difference at and will make a difference to us.  Life-draining events leave a negative impact by being a waste of our valuable time.  Here are some questions I ask myself mentally before I raise my hand to volunteer or RSVP.

Are we actually needed here and can we be useful, or are we attending an event that will cause us to rush to it only to be sitting down not enjoying ourselves?  Is this an event that will be positive for me or my family or is this just a bunch of people sitting around gossiping?  Is this event unique or does it happen every week?

With this intentionality we are able to filter activities and fill our calendar with almost-completely life-giving events.  The life-giving, life-draining scale doesn't just apply to events before they happen.  I also use it to decide when to leave.

Yesterday was my day to tutor students on reading.  It was also the day before a state-mandated test, so the school administration didn't actually need me the whole day.  I spent my morning hanging butcher paper on walls to cover instructional material.  I also bubbled in test manual numbers.  Once I finished that I realized that my work for the day was done and the rest of the day would be life-draining.  So instead of just wandering around the school gossiping or trying not to be underfoot, I asked if I could leave.  I did.  Then the day switched from being life-draining to life-giving.  I picked up a delighted Paul from preschool and we went to the zoo.  We had a fabulous time, just the two of us.

My paycheck from this week will be smaller than normal, but it was worth every penny.

Paul was excited about this particular trip to the zoo because he got a snow cone, caught a unique bird, and was able to pet a squirrel's tail.

Sometimes I'm caught in a life-draining activity.  Unfortunately, some are unavoidable.  But what I like to do is flip it into a life-giving one.  I'll clean out my purse, organize my coupons, write in my journal, or just think and pray. With the kids, I'll play tic-tac-toe or try to teach them an unfamiliar concept.  I find that on most activities, you can flip a switch or just leave.

Life is too short to be a drain.

Thankful Thursday

What a beautiful day, again!  We have been so blessed with wonderful weather, here in Ft. Worth.  Days like this remind me of my friend Ben Wright's term, non-weather.  That means weather that is so perfect that you don't even notice it.

Here's my thankful list for today.

1.  Adam snaking at drain at 1 a.m.
Last night after he got home from work at midnight and we had both sat down and talked a little and read a little, we heard a noise in the bathroom.  Our shower drain was clogged up, so in order to have a perfect shower this morning, Adam got out of bed and went and snaked out the drain.  That's love.

2.  !!!!  Exclamation points!!
I am an enthusiastic person by nature, so I feel like exclamation points were made for me!!!  I also love that Claire has started writing her name on all her papers at kindergarten like this:  Claire!

3.  Speaking of kindergarten, Claire was officially identified by the school as gifted and talented this week.  This is a huge deal.  From now on, Claire will automatically be put in the smart class and even get to attend special individualized classes to challenge her.  I was a teacher, so I know a lot of what goes into the identification process.  I didn't realize, however, that it is near impossible to get a child identified in kindergarten.  Apparently you have to score a 92 percentile on a special standardized test as well as excel in other areas of academia.  The more I ask around, the more I think Claire is the only kindergartner at this school to receive this honor.  Since I don't work full-time, we can't afford private school for the kids and one way to ensure they get the best possible education in public school is to make sure they earn the GT label.  Adam and I have been working hard with both of the kids since birth to expand their knowledge on a daily basis so they get on this gifted and talented track.  Hooray!  It worked!

4.  Paul's sense of humor.
Our son never ceases to crack me up.  Last week at the thrift shop, I was asking Paul if he wanted anything.  He pulled out a man's XXXL shirt, held it up to him and said in a serious voice, "I'm really thinking of getting this."  Yesterday he put on a detachable hood from Claire's winter coat and declared himself a polar bear.  Last week he announced he wasn't only a meerkat, he was a pirate meerkat.  He makes me laugh so hard!

5.  Project Mom
I am telling every mom I know to got to this in 2013.  Last Saturday I went to the downtown Hilton for these seminars on how to be a better mom.  I learned so much!  It was all relevant, applicable information on organization, parenting, couponing, photography, and many other things.  Plus, we got tons of free stuff!  I scored a huge basket of baby fitness equipment, which went to our next door neighbor's newborn.  It was awesome.

6.  Babysitting
My friend Melody watched both kids on Monday night so I could attend Bible study.  Since Adam's been working so much lately, I hadn't been able to attend since November.  It felt so good to be back amongst friends and get myself back on track.

7.  The return of perspective
When it's just me and the kids and I don't have much other outlets or adults to talk to, I begin to lose perspective on life.  A cup of spilled milk becomes AN ENTIRE GLASS OF SPILLED MILK ALL OVER THE CLEAN FLOOR MAKING IT NOW HORRIBLY STICKY AND THE END OF THE WORLD IS APPROACHING!!!  One way that I avoid being self-important and self-adsorbed is by being around other adults.  Adam finished two major projects this week, thus freeing me up to get out of the house some.  With Melody watching the kids on Monday, I really feel more like myself again and can mop up that spilled milk, because after all, it's not really a big deal.

8.  Libraries
We are blessed to be able to frequent and feel at home at three libraries.  We have a wonderful children's library at church, where the librarian has started pulling books she knows we'll like.  Paul and I work weekly at the Bruce Shulkey library and check out lots of books there.  There's also the Wedgwood branch of the Fort Worth Public Library, which we also call home.  The only downside to all these libraries is I have to make sure I'm turning the correct books into the correct library.

9.  Public Relations Campaigns at the Dinner table
I served broccoli the other night and Paul had seconds.  I asked him if he liked the trees and he said yes.  Claire however said she didn't like broccoli.  Luckily she ate some anyway and Paul didn't make the connection that the trees he was gobbling up were actually broccoli.  I always feel like a spin doctor at the dinner table.

10.  Neighborhood kids
I grew up in an old, established neighborhood where the only kids around were my sister and I.  I love that we had a new family move in down the street so the kids now have daily playmates.  Neighbors are awesome.

Artwork

For those of you who never get to see the Claire and Paul Boyette Gallery and Museum in person, here are a few of the latest exhibits.

 

Paul made this snowman in preschool.

This is a picture of Claire's version of the book The Huggapotomas.  She said that the parents were very happy that their baby loved to hug everyone so much.

This is Claire's favorite character from the book Armadillo Rodeo.  She said the girl is named Harmony Jean and they never told the horse's name.

This is Paul's train that he made at library story time.  The directions were simple, and Paul understood them.  He chose to put the train cars on top of each other with the wheels in the middle.  He said he wanted it to look that way because it was a train wreck.

The Last Seven Days

Today's blog is a run-down of what we've been doing the last week.  Above you see a picture of Lyndale the Literary Lion. We met him last week at the library. Apparently Lyndale is a full-time librarian in Dallas. He's an excellent presenter for kids. He had all the kids rapping along with him. It was pretty awesome. We've been rocking out to his CD, which was only $5. And guess what? He's on i-tunes!

Later on that night, Adam was riding  his bike around the neighborhood and then found this awesome sight.  At the church by our house, they had Christian gangsta rap blasting out their doors and fires in the parking lot.  I believe the name of the band was the John 8 Crew, but I couldn't find them on Google.

So yeah, what these people had going on at their church actually made us come from blocks away.  We heard about what was happening and immediately got in our car and headed to the church.  We toured the church and picked up all their literature.  Unfortunately not one person spoke to us.  I found that disappointing because we were trying to figure out what the occasion was, etc.  And, if I have something cool at my church, I want to make sure everyone feels at home and knows the program.  If the purpose of having gangsta rap blasting out your church is to draw people to church, that worked, but we were kind of disappointed after that.  We left after hearing the hit "Feel the Holy Spirit Drop" and having a hot dog weiner thrown at our windshield by a little kid.

Here's a picture of Paul at basketball practice.  Unfortunately I keep rotating this darn pic and it won't take.  So my apologies for the crick in your neck.

We also attended a goodbye party for our friends the Leonard family.  Here's Blake and Paul hanging out in the backyard.  The Leonards were friends from church who are now friends from Baltimore.

Yesterday was Paul's first basketball game.  He did well for a near three year old.  I think all the kids at one time running for one ball intimidated him and he wasn't as aggressive as some, but he did shoot for a goal one time (missed) and said he had fun.  His next game is tomorrow, so maybe he'll do better now that he knows what to expect.

Today is library day again, so who knows what the next seven days will hold?  Excitement for sure.

Paul's Basketball Team

Yesterday Paul had his first basketball practice.  The YMCA has basketball for 3-4 year olds, and while he's not quite three, he'll get there during the season, so they let us slide.  It exciting to see him play with the other children and make some baskets.  We were quite impressed.  The above picture is him stretching with the team and coach.

 Here he is practicing passing with another dad.  I told you it was darn cute!

Here's a picture that will be worth something one day.  Paul William Boyette's first basket.  I can't wait for his first game to see him in a jersey running up and down the court!

Paul Eating Ice Cream

Yep, our son decided the best way to eat an ice cream cone was from the bottom up. For some unknown reason, it actually didn't make a mess.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Two years and one day ago I was huge pregnant and at the doctor's office. He heard a "hiccup" in my baby's heartbeat so he put me in a hospital room to be monitored for a couple of hours. Then he went home.
Although he claimed he didn't forget me, Adam and I are pretty sure he did. When he came to work the next day he said, "Okay, I guess we'll get this baby out since you're here!" I was excited and Adam was disappointed. He really wanted Paul to be born on his own birthday, June 20.
Today, June 17, is Paul's second birthday. Our lives have changed drastically since he was born.
I quit work; no more teaching, at least for now. I used my time nursing him to also hold Claire in my lap and read her books.
When he was little, I strapped him in the Baby Bjorn and put Claire on the monkey leash and took them both to the zoo. I started taking both kids to the library when Paul was about two months old and we still go every Wednesday at 10:30.
You can also find all three of us at the Museum of Science and History or Candleridge Park. It's hard to find us standing still, unless it's nap time.
Paul is just as sweet and compassionate as his sister, but he is also a completely different child. His favorite toys are balls. Every day he carries a different one around as a security blanket and a toy. "Ball! Foooootball! Pooooooooool ball!" he shouts.
The boy is also a shoe-lover. You will rarely see him barefoot. He even wears shoes to bed. I used to put him to bed barefoot, but then he fell a couple of times trying to reach a pair late at night, so now I make sure he has a pair on when he goes to sleep.
Pair of shoes is a relative term with Paul. Unlike Claire, who always wore hers on the wrong feet, Paul wears his correctly. He just doesn't wear matching shoes. Yesterday he walked to the library in one flip-flop and one tennis shoe. He often wears one galosh and one Croc. On Sunday morning I at least make sure he's wearing the same type of shoe, and it's usually one blue Croc and one orange one.
Paul is a climber. He often scales the changing table to get a new diaper. He also enjoys climbing on Adam and my bed so he can body-slam his father when Adam is asleep. One of his and Claire's favorite hobbies is jumping on the bed to wake Daddy. (Mama is always awake anyway, and I get out of danger's way when this happens.)
He is also immeasurably sweet. He is in love with my grandfather and runs up to him shouting and then laying his head on his lap to get a kiss from "Mi."
When Paul's friend Ella was crying the other day, he started rubbing her back and kissing her cheek. He is compassionate, too.
Happy birthday to my snuggly, wiggly, Paul-E-Wog!

My Son

Oh, my son is so much different from my daughter. Little Paul William will be two this June, but I think he's added five years to my age in the short time he's been living.
Paul is all boy, and a tough one at that. When we get together with Claire's friends from church, he's in the midst of the wrestling boys, holding his own with four year olds.
One of his favorite activities is climbing onto our love seat, pulling off the cushion, and diving headfirst into the ground. He never misses the cushion. I used to hold my breath every time did that, but now I carry on, knowing he'll be fine.
I was on a tall ladder, trimming bushes this week. I kept feeling the ladder shake and looked down to find Paul right under me.
Adam is teaching Claire to ride her bicycle, so she'll pedal down the street, focusing hard. Paul gets on his little motorcycle and scoots until he's flying down the hill with no control.
He has no fear. He will climb any ladder or slide down any slide, no matter how high. He will jump off any ledge, no matter how far down the ground is. Luckily, I have taught him to say, "No, no pool!" which just might save his life. Our pool in the backyard is deep and unfenced, so Claire has grown up constantly being trained to stay away from it. Paul is a curious little booger, so I often catch him right next to it and hold my breath. Usually, though, he's standing next to the pool to point to it and say, "No, no pool!"
We are blessed to have one girl and one boy. Adam and I haven't decided yet whether we will add another, but we're sure that the two we have keep us busy enough right now.

Fat body and dirty house = happy kid

This morning I tried to workout. Every time I pressed play on the exercise program, Paul screamed and raised his arms at me.
I tried to sweep. Paul grabbed his mini-broom and swept my nice, neat pile all over the kitchen.
Frustrated with that, I tried to sit down and journal to relieve some stress. Paul used that opportunity to use me as a jungle gym.
As I type this, he has climbed in and out of my lap, typed on the keyboard and cried.
I feel like a Mack truck has hit me this morning with the realization that I need to let some frustrations go. I will be overweight, with a dirty house and an empty journal, but I can always fix those things later. Paul won't keep. He'll be in kindergarten before I know it, and I doubt he'll still want to hold me while I exercise.
Now he wants a hat. I better go pay attention.

Paul likes blackberries!

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Claire picked out a pink snake for paul

Paul's new hat

Adam and paul at esparza's