"Brooming" update

All pretense of work has ceased. Now they are dancing and playing air guitar on their brooms, to the musical card that HRH got in the mail yesterday..."Rockin' around the Christmas tree" by Miley Cyrus.

This reminded Olivia that we didn't get out last year's musical cards to listen to. In protest of my lax Christmas-card-fetching, she's sitting alone in a chair, doing the sad "Do do do, do dooooo" from Charlie Brown. Which means I am off to rummage around and find last year's musical cards.

Stay tuned for more singing, dancing and air guitar, live from Casa De La Garza.

Brooming

Olivia and Christian are working on the kitchen floors. Theoretically, he is going to sweep, then she is going to use the steam mop. I say "theoretically" because that is not at all how it's going. Olivia is trying to help with the sweeping, but is going the opposite direction as her brother. This led to a conversation where Olivia announced, "I was brooming the other day..."

I laughed and said, "Brooming?" She huffed, sighed and said, "NO, Mom...BROOMING!" From there, it went like this:

Me: That's what I said, "Brooming"
Olivia: No, you said "Brewing" I wasn't "Brewing", I was "Brooming!"
Me: Again, that is what I said!
Olivia: Mom, you just don't get me.

Poor Christian was dumb enough to try to tell her it's "Sweeping" not "Brooming" I thought he'd know better after all these years.

New Knock-Knock Joke

Max and Olivia play this game where she goes into the bathroom to get ready for bed, he sits on the floor outside the door, and they do knock-knock jokes back and forth. He is the one who does this because I can't remember jokes to save my life. This is Olivia's newest one:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Police.
Police who?
Police Navidad!

I think I'll be remembering this one!

Christmas with the Princess

Yesterday was Christmas, and HRH had a great day. We opened gifts at home, then went to Nathan and Gretchen's for lunch. After we came home, we talked to all of our family in Indiana. Aunt-Cousin Tory even got a drum serenade (after which she proclaimed Olivia to be "a little Dave Grohl!")

From Santa, Olivia got a real drum set, so the she can practice her lessons at home. Mommy got a Costco-sized bottle of Motrin and some earplugs.

OK, not really, but they are now on her wish list. Olivia was so excited when she saw them, that she said, "The elves did too much! They even set it up!" Apparently, she has learned that setting up a drum set is not as easy as it looks. :)

Other favorite gifts were her Barbie townhouse (with doors tall enough for Molly to walk through the house) and a remote-controlled flying saucer.

A couple of Princess quotes:

"Santa is SO nice! He knows I have sneezes" (when she got some decorated tissues in her stocking)

"Mom, I thought you'd like gold and gold, 'cause you're worth a million bucks!" (on why she put two gold bows on my present)

Online Shopping

Olivia and Max apparently ordered my Christmas gift online one day when she went to work with him. They have dropped hints about how they did it, but not what they got for me. A package arrived for Max today, and Olivia said that it is his gift for me. That reminded her of the day that they ordered my present, when she was apparently allowed to browse the website by herself to pick my gift. Here, and I quote, is her commentary on what it is like to shop online with her Daddy's help:

"I kept looking, and Daddy was giving me hints, but it was really...what's the word? oh, yeah, irritating...it was really irritating me. He kept on giving me hints about it, and I already knew all of that stuff, and it just drove me crazy!"

Can anyone say, "I do it!"?

Olivia's Christmas note to Max

Olivia just sneaked into my room to wrap her gift for her Daddy (which she thought of on her own and paid for with her own money) and wanted to show me what she'd written on his card: "Daddy, I hope your Christmas is better than mine!"

I was a bit concerned and asked her if she was upset about something this Christmas and she replied, "No, Mom! I really mean it! My Christmas is great and I hope Daddy's is even better!"

Our Christmas eCard

I am always late with Christmas cards. In fact, when we had Olivia's pictures taken on Thursday, I had the free photo cards they gave us imprinted with "Happy New Year"

That said, I have decided to join the legions sending eCards this year. I will still be mailing some cards to family and friends who do not have internet access, but will be sending this to the rest of our "wired" friends.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Just one more picture

The Great Polly Pocket Experiment

Last night, Olivia got a helium balloon at CiCi's while we were waiting for our photo masterpieces to print. She brought it home and immediately set about trying to find the exact counter-weight to make the balloon hover in midair. Her Daddy, the King, assisted.

The first attachment was a Polly Pocket skirt, tied upside-down to the string, to act as a basket. It was still too light to keep the balloon from floating upward. She added in Princess Ariel's wedding shoe, and it hovered perfectly!

But when she brought the balloon and its accessories downstairs to show me, it didn't work! Why, you ask? (Because she knows the answer) Air temperature! It was warmer upstairs in the playroom than down in the kitchen by the glass doors. So, she had to adjust the weight to make the balloon hover.

There you have it, kitchen (and playroom) science at its best. Yes. We are geeks.

Update from the king...

Today, while waiting for the queen mommy, the princess and I saw a commercial for "Fathead". You know Fathead, those life-size stickers you can put on the wall (sports stars, vehicles, actors, etc.). Princess said, "I think they have Star Wars."
To which I said, "Can you imagine waking up and seeing the Emperor staring at you?"
I was less than pleased when she replied, "That'll get the boys' attention."
"Boys" I asked, "What boys?"
"The boys I like" replied the princess, without so much as batting an eyelash.

I told the queen we need a shotgun.

Christmas Pictures

Merry Christmas! Doesn't she look like a big girl? We just got home from having Christmas pictures taken. This is one of my favorites.

I will be mailing some pictures, and hopefully posting some more online so you can see the others.

Lazy Christmas-y Day

Today has been one of those lazy days that I love. We are still getting work done, but it's totally relaxed and on our own schedule. We slept late, and are enjoying the gray day outside because our Christmas tree lights look nice even in the middle of the day!

The only things we *have* to do are go for pictures of HRH at 3:40, and find a place to watch the Colts game on NFL Network tonight. For this reason (the Thursday night game) I am skipping out on my Moms' Coffee Night with the homeschool moms in my neighborhood...a girl has to have her priorities, and very few things come in ahead of PeytiePie.

Olivia is currently working on her handwriting assignment. When she was in Kindergarten, they were so picky about handwriting and made so many corrections in bright red ink that she would cry when it came time to do handwriting homework. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Allen.

After a year and a half of homeschool, I am happy to report that her handwriting is wonderful. And she doesn't cry when I ask her to do it! She actually likes to write now, and is always making cards for friends, etc. It just takes a while because she works so hard to do her best. For that, I am very thankful. We start cursive next week, and she is thrilled about that! (In the time it's taken me to type this, she has finished her assigned work and is doing extra handwriting...filling out her Hannah Montana Christmas cards)

I need to come up with some snacks, crafts, activities, etc. for the Christmas party Olivia and I are hosting Monday for her friends. I found a great Martha Stewart craft (I know...Martha Stewart does NOT live here...but I *do* read her website occasionally) to attach felt or cardstock mittens to clothes pins and put a magnet on the back. I think we might make some of those with cute Christmas cardstock & stickers, then "laminate" them with contact paper. And of course there will be wassail, or hot chocolate, even if my friends are not big fans of hot drinks. Maybe it'll be cool and dreary out so we can light the fire in the fireplace!

Googling Ramses

We are planning to go to Dallas in January to see the Tut exhibit, so we are working on an Ancient Egypt unit study this month in preparation. Yesterday, Olivia was coloring a timeline of the Pharaohs and wanted the colors in Ramses' headdress to be realistic. Unfortunately, the only pictures we could find were of his statues which are, well, the color of rock.

"To The Internets!"

I came into the room to find her googling Ramses 2nd. She was frustrated because she kept finding pictures of his statues and mummies. Undaunted, she modified her search, hoping to find color drawings or paintings.

Her final search string? "Ramses 2nd color alive pepple"

Because if you don't want to see pictures of mummies, you'd better google "alive pepple"

We're back to blogging!

Yeah, I know, I've been a lazy blogger. Very lazy. In my defense, I had some distractions over the summer, including being out of town for about a month. Then I sort of forgot that I had a blog. Whoops!

Anyway, I'm back to blogging and hope to keep up with what is going on here at Casa De La Garza.

Today, we put up our Christmas tree. It's a beauty. We have an artificial tree, but it's full and pretty, and looks amazing with all of our special ornaments on it. It's about 12 feet tall, so it's a chore to get the lights and ornaments on the top, but totally worth the effort.

Now that it's up, we'll leave it up well into January. I love sitting in the dark with the tree lights on.

Olivia had a great time unwrapping the ornaments and remembering the story behind them. She did not remember the Royal Doulton 2001 ornament from Aunt Ronya and Uncle Jim, and she made a big fuss over it. It has a picture of Mary and Baby Jesus, painted onto a china plaque.

We also added a few new ornaments to our tree: A Hannah Montana ornament that plays "The Best of Both Worlds", a Peyton Manning limited edition ornament and a bulb ornament full of Tootsie Rolls that Olivia bought for me at Target this week. I was able to have the ornament to put on the tree but can't eat my Tootsie Rolls until Christmas.

Right now, the Princess is happily occupied watching "Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys", a rather odd sequel to the original Rudolph. I have to say, it just isn't Rudolph without the stop-motion animation. Olivia doesn't seem to care. Maybe it's all the sugar running through her veins...she's working on a big mug of marshmallow-lovers hot cocoa, courtesy of her Memaw.

The Missing Bookmark

Olivia and I sat down to finish Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this evening and found that the bookmark had been pulled out of the book. Christian's kitten likes to chew on anything that moves, or looks like it might move, so we suspect that the bookmark had become a chew toy.

But, never fear! Olivia grabbed the book, started flipping through it and said, "Good old me! I know exactly where we were!"

Update From The Daddy

I thought today was notable enough to require an update from me, the king.

Today, the princess and prince went fishing, I drove, setup lines, baited hooks, removed fish from hooks, untangled lines, and generally kept everyone alive. This being Olivia's first time, the fun all started when I woke up this morning before the sun. I stepped out of my room and noticed that the princess was up before me. She had come down, with a pile of clothes to change into, and lay on the couch waiting for me. Not asleep though. She sat up ready to go as soon as I tip-toed by. I think she might have been excited.

So, skipping past all the prep, let's get to the story. We drove to a little lake nearby and dropped our lines in the water...nothing happened. Baited hook after baited hook went in, empty hook after empty hook came out. We fed a lot of fish, but none of them wanted to feed us. Meanwhile, Christian was doing fine, "Hey Dad look, I caught another one." I became discouraged. Olivia did not. She insisted that while there was bait, we were staying. Then it happened. She dropped her line. She had a nibble. Yank! Reel! "I got it! I got it! Daddy Brother Look!" She was so excited. She was so happy. Then she saw the hook. Now I'm not saying she won't go fishing again, but she certainly felt bad for that fish. Well, we got the hook out and I handed her the fish. It dropped to the ground and wriggled back into the water. At that point, the prince spoke up, "Dad, maybe you should have taken a picture." He's so lucky he's royalty too.

Anyway, the fishing ended well and the victorious sportsfolk went to ye Denny's to celebrate. After eating a ridiculous amount of food, we proceeded to the one-armed bandit known as the toy crane. Olivia has always liked to feed it a dollar or so as we leave. I think she worries that it might go hungry without her money. She certainly never gets anything out of it. Lo and behold, today proved that the fish was not a fluke. She "caught" her very first toy; a hideous red and white lion that I'm sure she will cherish for years.

More victorious than before, we returned home. Where we learned that today is just her day. Olivia played Guitar Hero and unlocked a new guitar. Anyone care to guess the name of it? It was "The Fish".

It's always crazy with a new baby in the house

Our new baby is a seven-week-old ball of fluff that has yet to be named. Christian arrived for his June stay with us with a kitten in tow. This is Olivia's first time to have a kitten, and she is mesmerized. We all are. As I type, he is upside down between me and a couch pillow, watching me type. Every once in a while, he takes a swipe at my fingers, then runs away sideways, sort of hopping up and down as he goes. Then he comes back and takes a long drink from my glass of water. (Then, I go put that glass in the dishwasher, get a fresh one, and start the cycle all over.)

Still, it's great to have a kitten in the house. Wicka was almost a year old when I got him. I can't remember the last time I had a kitten around, so I'm as giddy over this little guy as Olivia is.

Wicka, however, is less giddy. Considerably less giddy. So much less giddy that it seems inappropriate to even use the word "giddy" in the same sentence with "Wicka". But, ever the trooper, he has soldiered on, only hissing in self-defense since the kitten sees Wicka's tail as a fascinating feathered toy.

It is going to be a little sad for us (well, not for Wicka) when June ends and this little guy goes to live with Christian full-time. We are getting attached to him but, in some ways, this has that great feeling of spoiling someone else's child and then sending him home to his parents.

And I can do that with reckless abandon because I am sure that no one would ever do the same to me.

Am I adorable?

Max took Olivia to her first gymnastics class today. She wore a black leotard with a rainbow colored skirt over it, and her hair in ponytails. Max said that everyone there thought her skirt was really cute. I asked if they thought she was adorable, and she said, "I don't know. Nobody said to me, and I didn't think of asking"

Tooth Fairy, be on alert!

We have another tooth that is just about to fall out! The tooth on the other side of her new bottom teeth is dangling by a thread. I give it a few days at most. I write this as much as a reminder to the Austin tooth fairy as to anyone else, because she has been known to flutter around Austin at midnight looking for a suitable reward. And we all know how good Krispy Kreme sounds at midnight when the light is on.

Adorable Wicka

Wicka was dozing in the warm sun by the back door, and Christian reached out and rubbed him with his foot. Wicka woke up and stretched, and looked at Christian like "please come love me". I laughed and said, "Wow, that look says come love on me, adore me, cuddle me, doesn't it?"

Olivia was at the table eating a sandwich and said, "Mom, is it OK if I adore Wicka after I finish my sandwich?"

Hugs and Charlie

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. Margarita and I went yard sale shopping (I need a whole 'nother blog to tell about all my bargains!), Olivia had friends over, Christian is here, I had to get groceries, etc. So, after dinner last night, I realized that I hadn't sat and held her or hugged her all day. I looked at her and said, "Olivia, I don't think I've had a hug all day". She said, "WELL! Let me just take care of that!" and threw herself into my arms for a big bear hug.

After that, I read a few more chapters of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to her. I had started reading it Thursday night, amid many Royal protests that she was NOT interested, even if it WAS about chocolate. By the end of the first chapter, she was hooked. (Well, I say she was hooked...I suspect at first that she just wanted to stay up longer...she knows I have a hard time saying no to "one more chapter?") But, Friday morning I came out of the bedroom to find her on the couch, nose in the book, reading ahead to find out what was going to happen. (She skipped to the Violet Beauregard chapter because the picture of her swelled into a giant blueberry just begged to be explored). I looked up the book in one of my homeschool catalogs and they recommend it for independent reading between the ages of 9 and 12. But, that is for non-Royal readers.

Wasps beware

We have a wasp in the house. Olivia is on the hunt...stalking it with the "flyswapper"

I think we need a blog!

I think we need a blog to commemorate the great things that our Princess does. Mom asked me the other day if I am keeping all of this written down and, in typical scattered-Amy-fashion, I am not. People talk about having four or five kids, and how the first couple have great baby books, but the last few don't even have any photos. I am afraid that's how things are going for Olivia, in terms of keeping track of her dazzling accomplishments and side-splitting comments.

On the bright side, she has been more photographed than either Jackie O or Princess Diana.

So, let this blog be born. I will update it with the exploits of our Princess, and one of these days we will print it out and blackmail her with the contents.