by the way...

It's snowing here.

A new aunt!

Rebekah and Annabelle have a new aunt and we have a new sister-in-law! We went to Derek and Melissa's wedding last weekend at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth. It was quite a trip. We had a wonderful time, and everything was beautiful. We are excited to welcome Melissa into the rapidly expanding Peters family. Rebekah handed out programs with her cousin Drake and acted very grown up while she did her important job. Annabelle was a different story. She is at a fun but difficult age. She loves to run and climb and talk and yell all the time, and I spend the whole weekend chasing, catching, and restraining her. But I achieved my goal: keeping her from ruining the wedding! The poor thing had to miss her nap, which made my job even harder, but she soon caught up on her sleep at the reception.

These are literally the only two pictures I have from the wedding. I didn't even get a shot of the bride and groom! As much as I love to take pictures, my hands were full! I guess I'll have to buy some pictures from this wedding. And if anyone has pictures they'd like to share, send them my way.

Thanksgiving preparations

We've officially started planning for Thanksgiving with a marathon shopping trip. I've been hosting Thanksgiving at our house with my parents and brother since we moved here, and I really enjoy it. The cooking goes on for days, and I've started already making some apple butter in my slow cooker for breakfast.

The Thanksgiving menu looks like this:

• Smoked peppered turkey from New Braunfels Smokehouse (Dad ordered that for us and it will be delivered in a few days)
• Cornbread dressing (baked in muffin tins so everyone gets some of the crusty edges)
• Sweet potato casserole (mashed with eggnog and topped with marshmallows)
• Chunky sweet potatoes roasted with orange juice, brown sugar, and pecans
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Purple hull peas
• Sweet green peas (some plain and some covered in white sauce)
• Rolls Mom is picking up at the Mennonite bakery
• Pecan Pie
• Italian Cream Cake
• 
  

Mean Kitty

Annabelle's new favorite game is "Mean Kitty." A couple of weeks ago, she started crawling around the house saying "Meow" all the time. I mean all the time. It's the first thing she does when she wakes up and the last thing she does before she goes to bed. But she is not a sweet little kitten. She scratches. So now most of our interaction with Annabelle involves teaching her how to be a nice kitty and not scratch people. We actually don't see Annabelle too much anymore--just Mean Kitty. (I blame Shannon--one of his favorite games to play with the kids is "Mean Dog." You can imagine how that goes.)

Halloween fun

We had great fun with Halloween. Annabelle wasn't sure about her costume at first, but as soon as we started trick-or-treating she perked up. She tried to go in and stay at the first house we went to--I guess she thought these people were pretty nice for giving her candy. They both had just as much fun handing candy out at our house as they did trick-or-treating themselves.

Pumpkin patch

Last weekend, we all went to the Aggie Habitat Pumpkin Patch, which benefits Habitat for Humanity. We like to go every year to pick out our pumpkins and take pictures. This photo will give you an idea of the size of the pumpkin patch--this shows about half of it. If you look closely you can make out Annabelle in the pink shirt, Rebekah in brown pants, and Shannon in a red shirt in the back.

While we were there, the volunteers were emptying boxes of little pumpkins to put out for sale. When they were finished, Annabelle, whose favorite game is putting things in boxes, helped out by running with a tiny pumpkin in each hand to put them back in the boxes. She would not be dissuaded from her task and probably put twenty pumpkins away before we finally distracted her.
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Stay tuned for pictures of our pumpkin artwork!

the bit about the ketchup...

On the suggestion of my friend Rochelle, here's the rest of the story. After Rebekah was traumatized by this cartoon, I went to watch it myself to see what upset her so badly. The cartoon is set in a hunting lodge, and at the end a gun goes off and Pluto faints. Then Chip and Dale pour ketchup on him, so when Mickey Mouse comes back, he thinks Pluto has been shot (don't you miss the days when even Mickey Mouse cartoons were good and violent?). Oh! That must be it! She thinks that Chip and Dale killed Pluto! I went back to Rebekah and asked her, "Did you think that Pluto was bleeding?" Tearing up again, she replied, "No. It was ketchup. They dropped a broom on him (she thought the rifle was a broom) and then poured ketchup on him and it is SO MEAN to pour ketchup on people!" And then more crying.

too soft-hearted

Poor Rebekah. She's just too soft-hearted for her own good. She frequently breaks down in tears over the slightest hurt feelings, hers or someone else's. Even though we are careful about the television shows and movies that she watches, we are often surprised by what upsets her. Yesterday, I found some old Mickey Mouse cartoons for her to watch. She was happy at first and giggled like, well, a little girl, but suddenly she ran away from the screen crying. When she calmed down enough to talk, she cried, "Chip and Dale are being so mean to Pluto!" Her distress led to a good half hour of crying, during which she was inconsolable despite her insistence that she knew that Pluto was not real, just pretend. "I'm still just so worried about Pluto," she said. We love that she has such empathy, but we also hope that we can help her learn to cope with her feelings a little better.

Ike has passed us

The winds have peaked and are on the way down. The gusts are at about 35 mph now, and the rain is not bad at all. Our town tends to flood, but hopefully it won't be bad. Shannon and Rebekah just went out to "survey the damage," of which there was little. Rebekah never passes up a chance to put on rain boots, so she helped Dad check things out.

Hurricane update

The storm is here, and we still have power so far. The wind woke me up at 6:00 a.m., but I don't think it will get any worse. We've got 40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts, and it will probably be like that all day long. It's possible that the winds will cause us to lose power later, but maybe we'll get lucky. We're perfectly safe at home and we are not leaving the house until tomorrow. I can't keep Shannon inside--he keeps going out on the porch to watch the storm. Annabelle peeked out the door behind him and said "Whoa!" I know that the news reports are showing that we are in the hurricane, so I just wanted to let everyone know exactly what we're experiencing so you won't worry.

storm watching

We just wanted to let everyone know that we're prepared for Hurricane Ike, and you shouldn't worry about us. We're far enough from Houston that we're not in danger. We'll probably have some wind and rain and maybe some power outages. We've got all the water and batteries we need, and we're moving all our outdoor stuff into the garage. After that it's just a matter of waiting it out. There's no reason to worry about us--we'll just be stir crazy by Sunday morning. Keep those who live on the coast in your prayers.

check ups and pictures

The girls had their latest check-ups and shots and they are both healthy and still really tall for their ages. We're trying to pack as much fun into the summer as we can, with baseball games, water fun, and birthday parties galore. This morning we went to the gardens at the George Bush Presidential Library to take pictures of them together before they outgrew their matching Easter dresses. It was a challenge but we did get some great shots. Here are a few, and I've put all of them up on my Flickr site if you want to see them.

Rebekah's birthday party

Rebekah's birthday party Saturday was a big success. She had lots of friends there, and they played in the water and ate massive amounts of cake and watermelon until they were all exhausted. Rebekah got so many new art supplies that we're going to have to get some sort of cart to store them all in. I'll have to start posting her artwork on the blog for you to enjoy. She has already produced a tribute to Jackson Pollack as well as a family portrait. She has also kept us entertained for the past few days with intricate dramas involving dinosaurs and My Little Ponies. All my party pictures have other people's children in them, so I don't want to post them on the internet. But here's a shot of Annabelle dripping in watermelon juice.

Biking in style

Happy Birthday Rebekah!

Rebekah is four years old today. We gave her a basket and bell for her bicycle, some pencils with her name on them, and some storybooks in Spanish. And I painted this shirt for her:

We'll have pictures of the birthday girl trying out her new bike accessories soon.

Wilderness vacation

We just got back from our big wilderness vacation at Toledo Bend Lake--I don't think we can call it a real camping trip, since we stayed in an air-conditioned cabin followed by a golf resort. But we were in the woods and there was some outdoor fun.

We started on Tuesday with a group of 22--12 adults and 10 children. No, that wasn't the family reunion. That's just Shannon's brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids. The kids were ages 8, two almost 5, one almost 4, two 3, three 1, and one 8 weeks. We stayed in a large cabin that was just made for us. It had five bedrooms with eleven beds, so we could all be together but not on top of each other. The kids played all over the place and made as much noise as they wanted and the adults enjoyed talking and watching the kids play and napping. The perfect vacation, I say. Rebekah was thrilled to be with her cousins. Annabelle was less thrilled, I think, mostly because she seemed to suspect that every time another toddler approached her it was with the intent to take her toy/book/food/sippy cup. But the toddlers got along fine, as did the big kids. And we got to meet baby Kalyn for the first time.



Rebekah went fishing and caught her first fish. Make that her first FIVE fishes! She wasn't afraid to touch it and she threw several back in the water herself. All the big kids caught fish, and of course, the grown-up kids did, too. Kyra, Grace, and Annabelle kept trying to jump in the lake while their older siblings fished.


On Friday, we all moved to the Cypress Bend Golf Resort for the family reunion. That was quite a change from the cabin, so we got two vacations in one. Shannon and his brothers went golfing Friday afternoon and then we went to see a less-than-spectacular fireworks show. But it was Rebekah's first time to see fireworks, so she was happy with it.

On Saturday Rebekah and I walked on their nature trail so that she could collect things in her pouch. She came home with a few sticks, some rocks, some hickory nuts, a tiny pine cone, and two snail shells, with the help of her new favorite person, Aunt Betty. (Rebekah says, "That Miss Betty sure is a sweet lady" And that little Rebekah sure has mastered the Southern vernacular in her short life.)



Saturday evening we met met at the lake for a picnic, and then all converged on the hotel swimming pool. Rebekah discovered "Safety Floats," which we always called Water Wings, and she was happy to be able to swim all over the pool without feeling scared. Annabelle is afraid of nothing, and she jumped into the pool at least a dozen times before eating her weight in watermelon, seeds included. After swimming, we put the kids to bed and those adults who weren't watching sleeping children when to the hotel lounge for Karaoke. By the end of the night, even Shannon got up to sing the theme song to "Smokey and the Bandit."

Annabelle's first hairdo

I know you must be anxiously awaiting an update on the state of the jungle gym. It's fully assembled and getting daily use. Rebekah loves love to climb to the top and then hang in the middle. Annabelle loves to stand under it and watch Rebekah climb. I took pictures, but I decided not to post them on the blog because I don't want pictures of the outside of our house on the internet.

So here's a picture of Annabelle's first hairdo. She has been trying to participate in the daily ritual of fixing hair and even tried to put a ponytail holder in Rebekah's hair this week. So the next day, I let her have her very own ponytail.

Monkey Bars: Before

UPS brought a big box yesterday. It claims to be monkey bars (or what we call a jungle gym). Shannon sends Dad his earnest gratitude for the gift. :)

Happy Mother's Day

I had a nice Mother's Day and I hope all of the mothers out there did, too.

We finally had Annabelle's baby dedication at church yesterday. She and Rebekah wore matching pink rose dresses with pink sashes--they were beautiful. Annabelle did very well when the pastor held her, and Rebekah stood beside us and spoke when the pastor asked her about her sister. We were proud of them. After church we had lunch with our friends Courtney and Tom and their girls Eliza and Hannah, who had come to church with us.

Rebekah signed her own name on the card that she picked out herself. I also got wine, chocolate, and flowers. Instead of buying a pre-made bouquet, Shannon and Rebekah chose the flowers individually to create a bouquet just for me. They had fun on their pre-Mother's Day outing.

For Rebekah and Annabelle's grandmothers and great-grandmothers I made a CD of Rebekah singing (we got Annabelle on there a little, too). She made up most of the songs herself, and I know it will have them laughing.

the nose

Yesterday Rebekah and two other children collided on the playground, and Rebekah's nose absorbed most of the force. Much crying and screaming and bleeding. We took her to the doctor and she said is wasn't broken. Turns out it is very unlikely for a child her age to break her nose because it is still almost completely cartilage. After the first major gush, which lasted quite a while, her nose continued to bleed a little bit all day long, and even this morning. The doctor said it could bleed off and on for days. She also said we shouldn't do anything to treat it because the more we touch it the more it will bleed. After everyone saw the big playground drama, Rebekah was the superstar of the preschool. Everyone wanted to know how she felt and what the doctor said. She has relished all the extra attention. This morning her little nose is swollen, but it's not discolored at all. Her eyes are not black (except for the dark circles under her eyes that she has been genetically cursed with). Her nose is very sore and her teeth are, too, but she is in good spirits and ready to play all day. I just hope she doesn't smash her face again. At least until it has a few days to heal.

The children have gone cannibalistic

My mother blames it on the spring. The children are acting crazy, refusing to go to bed, running around the house, jumping on each other and me, shrieking and making all sorts of odd noises. This trend has been escalating over the past two weeks, with what I hope was a climax yesterday. Recently, Rebekah was bitten by another child during a playdate. This week she was playing with Annabelle and decided to bite her clothes like a puppy. She accidentally bit Annabelle. We dealt with that and hopefully convinced her not to try it again. The next day Annabelle was bitten TWICE by a child at daycare. It seems that this classmate was determined to get Annabelle, so the teachers had to keep them separated all day. After being used as a chew toy, I suppose Annabelle was pretty annoyed, so last night she bit me on the shoulder. What is wrong with these children???!!! I've never encountered this problem. I just hope it's over.

learning to write

I almost forgot to tell you that two weeks ago Rebekah wrote her name. She is terribly proud and has been practicing it faithfully ever since.

The Enchanted Forest

We have been taking family walks in the evening this week--a habit that I hope we can continue--and a couple of days ago we discovered a sign with the words "Rosewood Nature Trail."
We were suspicious of the title because we live in a residential area and the trail appeared to lead into someone's backyard. We headed down the trail and found ourselves on a bumpy but scenic woodsy path that in some places made us forget the there were, in fact, people's backyards about two feet to our right. Rebekah immediately named it the Enchanted Forest and began telling us stories of all the enchanted snakes and frogs that live there. In one spot we saw a rose bush, and I asked Rebekah what she thought might happen if we picked an enchanted rose. She answered confidently that the police would come and arrest us. We came out of the enchanted woods and found that we had traveled almost a full circle, ending up on an apparently new sidewalk, still surrounded by loose dirt that had been used to level it. "Look!" exclaimed Rebekah, "Enchanted dirt!"

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

Today Annabelle is officially one year old!

Annabelle's birthday party

Annabelle's birthday party Saturday was great! We had planned a garden party, but the yard was too wet, so it was more of a garden-themed party. It was a real baby party--seven of the twelve children were under two years old. I made French vanilla cupcakes with lemon-cream cheese filling and buttercream icing. For the flowers I used pre-colored fondant and flower-shaped cutters. For the butterflies, I piped melted chocolate onto wax paper in the shapes of wings and bodies and filled them in with yellow candy:



Annabelle, of course, had her own little cake to smash up herself:



The favorite snacks of the party were chocolate-covered pretzel sticks molded into the shape of daisies:



The creation I was most proud of was my fruit flower basket:



The kids planted marigolds in flower pots to take home. Here are Lily and James posing with their flowers and Annabelle trying to put her flower back on its stem ofter she pulled it off (she later tried to eat it):




In all, it was great fun, and Annabelle was a happy (almost) one-year-old.

The yuck is finally over

Many of you know that Annabelle had a particularly nasty virus, and I'm happy to report that she is finally well. We were worried for a while that she might end up in the hospital for dehydration, but we managed to avoid that. Now that the yuck is over, she is replenishing her fluids--she woke up three times last night and drank a full bottle of milk each time. When she returned to daycare today, her teachers were saying how thin she looks--that's an adjective that has never been applied to Annabelle!

Spring Break Adventures

We had a great family vacation over Spring Break. We started out on Friday night, March 10, but we got out a little later than planned. Annabelle had to have a bath after she decided to turn herself into Miss Tomato Head at dinner. The girls slept almost the whole way to Arlington, and when we got there Mom and Dad were there to meet us. Annabelle didn't need any time to warm up--she went straight to her Granmommy and Papaw.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Dallas Arboretum for the Dallas Blooms festival. We had to stop Rebekah from climbing right into the flower beds. They had an artisans' show where we bought a glass ladybug necklace for Rebekah, and the gardens gave us some ideas for our own flower beds. We especially liked the Women's Garden, which had beautiful statues and water features. There was a Texas frontier town set up, and Rebekah enjoyed exploring the little houses. They had a display of bonsai trees, and three of us voted for Best in Show. Rebekah chose a tiny one with no leaves for Best in Show--I guess she thought it needed some encouragement.


We left the gardens to meet Mom and Dad back in Arlington for lunch at Spaghetti Warehouse, but we had a little trouble getting there. We had just bought a Tom-Tom GPS to help us get around, and we used the restaurant location that was already programmed in. Well, instead of Spaghetti Warehouse, Tom-Tom took us to an ACTUAL WAREHOUSE. So much for Tom-Tom.
After lunch, we went swimming in the indoor pool, which was our main reason for choosing that hotel. We walked to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner that night, and Rebekah got up and danced with all the waiters.

On Sunday, on the suggestion of Dad and Shannon, we went shopping at Cosco--only they would think of Cosco as a vacation destination--and then Mom and Dad went home. The four of us then went to the Dallas Zoo. Rebekah's favorite part of the zoo was the parrots, the carousel, and the giant tortoises. Annabelle was more interested in the french fries from the snack bar. That evening we went to Dealy Plaza so Shannon could see where Kennedy was assassinated. Shannon was awed by the historical significance of the place while the girls were happy to frolic on the grassy knoll.

On Monday we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. They had a dinosaur exhibit that included a simulated fossil dig for the kids. It was actually the first time that Shannon had ever seen real dinosaur bones, too. Rebekah was impressed with the giant prehistoric sea turtle that was suspended from the ceiling. Comparing it to the tortoises she had seen at the zoo, she said, "Mommy! That biggest turtle can fly!" After the museum, we spent the night at Derek's house and visited his church. We drove home on Tuesday.

Wednesday, to extend our vacation even further, we went to the Aggie baseball game. Before the game, we went shopping to outfit ourselves in Aggie shirts, and Rebekah picked out hats for the two of us. We all had a good time watching the game and cheering for the Ags.

By Thursday, Annabelle had another ear infection, so we didn't make it to the art museum as planned. On Saturday, Rebekah and I went to Michael's for a kids' craft day where she made a collection of ladybugs and a magic wand. Speaking of making stuff, here are the invitations to Annabelle's birthday party (with our address covered for the sake of the internet).

first sleepover and first theater experience

Rebekah had her first sleepover last weekend. Her sleepover friend Hannah, who is nine years old, brought along her baby sister Eliza for a few hours while their parents went out to eat, and all four of the girls played dress-up together for a long time. The favorite game of the big girls, though, was getting inside the collapsible cooler and rolling each other around the room. The next morning Tom and Courtney came to pick up Hannah, and we all had breakfast together. My culinary skills impressed all, and I was officially named Waffle Queen.

Later on Saturday night, Rebekah and I joined my friend Rochelle and her children Nicolas and Sophia, also favorite playmates of Rebekah, to see a production of "The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley." The kids liked the play, but the two girls were concerned about how flat poor Stanley was, and they very much wanted him to round back out again. They were also strangely concerned about a puppet show that came on before the play--it caused more worry than entertainment, I think. You never can predict how a child will react to new things.

On Sunday, Shannon and Tom went to see Arkansas play Ohio State at the Aggie baseball field as part of a tournament that A&M hosts every year. We plan on taking the kids to an Aggie game next week, another first for both of them.
When Shannon got back, he took Rebekah shopping and got her some rain boots. To say she is excited about those is a real understatement. She jumped around outside begging the sky to rain, and sure enough, the next day she got her rain. She was a happy little puddle jumper.

Next week is Spring Break, and we have many more adventures planned. Annabelle's first trip to the zoo (Rebekah's third), and for both of them, their first science museum and first art museum.

pictures to go with the last post

Here are the pictures that I promised in my last post.


Rebekah in her fancy dress setting out the break-and-bake cookies.

Rebekah making valentines for the home-bound church members.

A card I made for my grandmother out of candy boxes.

Rebekah and Shannon working in the yard.

Rebekah's poison oak on her chin and her cheek (you might have to click on the picture to see it).

Shannon's poison oak on his arm.

And because it would be criminal to let this post go up with no picture of Annabelle, here is her first ice cream experience. She stole my cone and smushed her little face right into it. She thought it was especially funny when I took a bite while she was holding it.

ear infections and poison oak--oh, and Valentine's Day

I'm blogging at work because I've been too busy and tired to do this at home. That also means I don't have all my pictures with me. I'll have to add them later to illustrate this post.

Illnesses
We all seem to have recovered from our various ailments. Annabelle had it worst because she had an ear infection that lasted almost a month. It took three rounds of antibiotics to finally get it better. Now she is well and back to her joyful little self.

Valentine's Day
Rebekah loved Valentine's Day. We went to the church party again, where she passed out valentines to the other children and also made cards for the people who can't get out of their homes to go to church. On Valentine's Day, she came home from preschool and put on her fanciest dress to celebrate the occasion. She wasn't quite ready when Shannon got home, and she actually started crying because she wanted to look just right for her daddy. He had to wait outside until she was dressed and then we let him in with the flowers he brought for all of us. I cooked shrimp scampi, at which Rebekah initially turned up her nose. When I told her it was a special Valentine's dinner, she changed her mind and dug in, exclaiming "This is the best Valentine's dinner I ever had!" After dinner we made some "Break and Bake" cookies.

Yard Work
Shannon and Rebekah spent some time working in the yard over the weekend. She swept the porch, and they both raked and bagged leaves. The result was a nice, clean yard and two cases of poison oak. It's always something, right? Not to worry--they are healing and not too itchy anymore. I had no problems because, as much as I love raking and sweeping and bagging dirty scratchy leaves, I had to stay in the house with the baby.

Walking?
Annabelle has taken seven steps in a row, but we have not yet convinced her to repeat the performance. She doesn't fall down when she tries to walk; she simply refuses to walk. She takes a few steps, then changes her mind and crawls. But no hurry. She's only ten months old, so we're impressed with her mobility as it is. And finally, after months of only two teeth, she has a third, with a fourth soon to follow.

That wraps up our adventures over the past few weeks. Except I should add that I absolutely love the class I'm teaching right now. My students are fantastic. Hopefully we'll have more reports of good health and no rashes over the coming weeks.

the plague

We've had it rough the past few weeks. Annabelle had an ear infection, followed by another cold, followed by another ear infection, and just when we thought we were out of the woods, she caught a stomach virus. Yesterday Annabelle was doing well, so I was expecting to get back to work, but at 3:00 a.m. Rebekah came into my room to tell me that she was sick. She spent the wee hours of the morning sick and is home now with the stomach virus. Shannon got the flu, which caused him to get bronchitis, and he is just now feeling better. Since he had to take several sick days for himself, he hasn't been able to stay home with the kids, so I've missed two full weeks of work. I've had a bad cold, but I'm starting to feel better. I just hope I don't get the stomach bug, too. So that's what's going on in our lives--sick, sick, sick.

sick day sewing projects

Annabelle is sick today, so I'm staying home with her. I can't get too much school work done while also watching her, but I did throw together a couple of quick sewing projects. I took a pair of pants Shannon was getting rid of and made stuff out of the legs. I made a laptop sleeve to protect my laptop while it's in my school bag and a tote bag out of the other leg. I like piecing things together out of already existing items because part of the structure is already there. It's not quite as hard or tedious as cutting something from a pattern. I also like making bags because they are very forgiving--they don't have to fit, and if the stitches are sloppy, it's less important than if it were on your clothes. Even with stopping several times for Annabelle, these pieces only took me an hour to make. Here's another view: