Happy New Year!

This has been a challenging year for many of us. There have been tremendous joys (Natalie being dismissed from her Early Intervention help and Meagan's new love of dance and gymnastics), but like seemingly everyone, we have had to rely on one another and faith that things will work out. We are hoping and praying that our little girl does not have to spend another moment in the hospital and can simply enjoy being the wonderful little girl that she is. Andy and I have learned over the past year that even though the stock market may be playing mean right now, we have the two most wonderful gifts in the world. We are also lucky enough to live in the best city and know (and love) some one of a kind people. Happy 2009 to all of you, my amazing and supportive friends and family.

From the quote section on the bottom of this site, "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.
Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)"

Cross your fingers for us...

...and Grandma Lois/Papa Joe. The girls and I met up with my mom in Waco. We had lunch and then she took them back to Dallas. They will be there until we met them Wed evening. I am hoping that it goes well and no little sicknesses happen. As I said, cross your fingers.

Poor Peanut couldn't escape Meagan's "loving" this morning. She ran, but couldn't hide! Natalie and Meagan are loving their new hat Grandma and Papa bought them in San Antonio. The top picture is from the Snowman that Natalie supposedly decorated. I should have known that it was WAAAAAY too quiet. Click on the photo to make it bigger and you will find that she ate all of the frosting and candies. Meagan's was very pretty and she didn't destroy it. :) I guess we all have our own ways of being artistic.

San Antonio

We went on a little road trip to San Antonio yesterday. We totally lucked out in that the weather was nice and the cold front did not get to San Antonio in time to bother us. If you have never been to San Antonio, especially during the holidays, the riverwalk is something wonderful to see. There were Mizzou and Northwestern people everywhere due to the game on Monday, but we sat down for dinner early and were able to actually find a decent restaurant for once. The riverwalk makes no sense to me in one respect. Why would there be 100 restaurants with crummy food? It isn't that hard to make decent food. Our good experience yesterday was at Boudros, which I would definitely do again. The girls were not being all that photo-happy around the Alamo, so no good photos from there. I am a total history nerd, so I love the Alamo. However, every time I see it, I am surprised at quite how small it really is. The other odd thing is that it is right by all of the touristy things like the Guiness Book of World Records Museum. Sort of out of place.

2 more

of course, we couldn't get them to smile all at once!

Children's Museum in Bryan, TX

Now, I wouldn't imagine that I would normally be saying this, but we had a great little day in Bryan. We met up with my friend Leah and her two little ones, Chloe and Bradley. The kids are the exact same ages, which is cool. We wanted to find something in between Houston (where she lives) and us, so Bryan it was. Luckily, this children's museum was perfect for the day. Of course, Meagan was shy, but after a little bit, all was good. Little girls can always bond over Arts and Crafts- sort of like sports for men. It was awesome to get some time to talk while the kids ran around.

You will have to look carefully...

...But Nati has got bling! We took her to get her ears pierced today and she was incredible! Not one tear. She got to pick out cute little daisy earrings for the next six weeks, and then some other cute ones for later. Meagan, needless to say, had no interest. She said she doesn't need "those fancy earrings." Sure....

First night of Channukah!

The girls were lucky enough to get the infamous Bendaroos, which involved Mommy (ME!) chasing around trying to find them. Apparently, they are in ultra-high demand. Turns out they are actually sort of cool. I think Andy and I got more into them than the girls did, but that is OK. The bizarre picture on the bottom is Natalie making a disgusting combination of food; sort of a normal combo for her. She took a tortilla, stuck in eggs, a latke, and applesauce in, and dug right on in. She said it was delicious. I thought it looked like one of those scary Sonic breakfast burritos.

Holiday Play!

The girls were awesome in their Holiday play! Last year at this time, Kumari was still running her school out of her home, so it was a very small party. However, this year, there are now 70 kids enrolled at the school. We had to move to a much bigger venue. I was fairly certain that my children would not perform, but I was surprised by just how well they did. Natalie looked shell-shocked the entire time and clenched Jenny to her chest. Meagan did a great job, which was a shock to everyone who knows her! She sang all of the songs and even did arm motions. She was particularly proud of The Dreydel song because it is "her song." The children who go to the school are multi- cultural and many do not celebrate Christmas. The kids sang songs from India, China, Germany, America and Sri Lanka. Joe and Alice, our neighbors and friends, were kind enough to attend which is awfully generous on a Friday night! Our favorite part of the night, by far, was when the kids up in front started grabbing the microphone and began totally jamming. The teachers could not get to them very quickly so they were able to do solos for quite a while. The toddlers were funny too. None of them wanted to be there, that was for sure. I don't think any of them sang, but one adorable little girl named Charvi was a pro dancer! She obviously had listened carefully to the instructions during rehersal. All in all, it was a fun night. We were very proud of Kumari and her teachers because this was not an easy thing to pull off.

Loving the fireplace!

Being dog owners and parents of two young kids, we rarely use the fireplace. Today, though, was an excellent day for a fire. Andy got all the necessary gear and hot dogs, and the girls had fun watching. I am waiting for them to finish up. After dinner is over, we will try marshmallows. Natalie, being the world's messiest eater, will be in seventh heaven.

Just testing!

We had a busy weekend!

Uncle Brian is in town and the girls are having a great time. Our parents came this weekend and we spent time around the house yesterday. Andy and I went to my work party where April and I were totally embarrased by our spouses on Saturday night. Today we went to Peter and Mary's house. The girls were excited by the Christmas tree and were even more excited about their presents. Meagan got an awesome glow in the dark art set and Natalie got a tea set for Jenny! I wasn't sure if she would understand it, but she got it right away. Meagan also tried out Peter's guitar...we are hoping she inherited his musical ability as well as his left-handedness and artistic skills.

Nat's EEG test.

Nati was a rock star! I can't believe how awesome she was. She had a clear test, so no definite epilepsy. The neuro said we can't rule it out because the types of seizures that she has had are "red flags" for something more serious. Still, I am relieved.
She liked the "hat" of all the wires and nasty glue that I am about to go scrub out of her hair. She really liked the strobe lights!

Uncle Bobo rules!

For no apparent reason, Natalie has decided that my Uncle Steve is now officially "Uncle Bobo." It came out of nowhere and it has stuck. Andy and I decided that we sort of like it! Anyway, this was a cute photo of Natalie and Uncle Bobo from Thanksgiving. The photo below was Rich and Andy playing some Iphone game, and the ones above were other Thanksgiving photos.

We went to the Fish club's annual Christmas party, which was quite the experience. Andy won...drumroll please...a fishtank. Yeah. Just what we needed. I am begging anyone reading this, email me if you want a full set up of a 10 gallon fish tank!

Goodreads

I recently joined a website called Goodreads for my book group. It is really a nice site. I am able to see what my friends from bookclub are reading and see their reviews. I would love for you all to let me know if you join! It is very easy. I am amazed to say that I have been totally taken in by the Twilight books by Stephenie (not a mispelling) Meyer. I usually hate Vampire books. First and foremost, though, these are love stories. I like the actual books, but I really love books in a series. Characterization is always important to me and I feel like I can really identify with a character when I read 3 or 4 books. The Vampires in Twilight, in case you haven't heard of the story, are "Vegeterian"...as in they don't drink human blood. Nice vampires, if you will. Fun reading.

Baby, it's cold outside...

...Or what passes for cold in Austin, which means that it does dip to freezing at night, but gets into the high 50s for a few days before the 60's during the weekend. Austin rocks like that!

The girls were very excited to get all bundled up in their jackets. They were able to wear the ones that I bought last year (Yeah, no new jackets to buy!), but for some reason they totally thought that the jackets were brand new and were pumped up to wear them.

The picture on top is typical goofy Natalie. We have her second EEG test on Tuesday. Keep her in your thoughts, or rather Andy and I. We are not going to have an easy time keeping her still for an hour. I am scared for the test, for what it might reveal. I just want my little Nati to be healthy and happy.

Last of the leftovers

We finally had the last bit of leftovers tonight, some of Papa Joe's famous cranberry applesauce. Ahhh, the end of Thanksgiving. How sad.
Meagan and Natalie told me that they want to do some "arts and craps" today. Gotta love that.