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And zebras ... and elephants ... and rhinos ... and bears ... and penguins ...

Yesterday, "Davis Day Care" took their first field trip!  We joined my neighbor and her daughter for a roaring good time at the Fort Worth Zoo.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well behaved both Andrew and Jacob were despite being strapped into a seat (car seat and/or stroller) for about 6 hours.  Maybe if I could get a bunch of animals in the house ... nah.  I'm very proud of both of the boys and actually look forward to planning another outing/play date at some point.

Andrew and Jacob with new friends Ella and Miss Kristina.


I'm going to be daring tonight and try to make an album with the other pictures I took.  Wish me luck.

UPDATE:  I've been trying to create an album on my own for the past couple of days.  I guess it's time to break down and ask Josh for help.  I'll have to wait for him to get a break from weddings.  *sigh*

Tuesday morning, we went to Davis, OK to drop the kids off with Granny and Papa for a few days.  During that time, Josh and I were able to celebrate my birthday ... peacefully.  We did some shopping and had several quiet meals.  Josh had even made arrangements at a bed and breakfast near Ardmore for the night before we were to pick the kids up.  I won't go into too much detail mostly because I can't find all the right words to describe it.  I will tell you that it was ... well ... perfect!

Shiloh Morning Inn - we stayed in the Tranquility Suite (middle room, second floor).

To view more pictures, click here.

I thought it might be a neat idea to have Myra make a Flickr mosaic.  So ... here's her answers (remember, she's a soon-to-be seven-year-old) and her mosaic.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?   "Myra"
2. What is your favorite food?   "cake and ice cream!"
3. What high school did you go to?   "Chisholm Ridge"  (I guess we put Chisholm Ridge as a tag for this picture.  It worked out great because the other pictures she had to choose from were kinda boring.)
4. What is your favorite color?   "pink and blue"
5. Who is your celebrity crush?   "Cameron!"  (a boy from her first grade class - she doesn't quite understand what a celebrity is yet)
6. Favorite drink?   "chocolate milk ... or root beer"  (She said it all depends on whether we were out eating or at home.)
7. Dream vacation?   "I want to go back to the Lexington."  (She's been begging to go back since we left ... two years ago.)
8. Favorite dessert?   "The Cookie Monster" (from Cheddars)
9. What you want to be when you grow up?   "a movie star" (And wouldn't you know her favorite picture on the page would be of Betty DAVIS.)
10. What do you love most in life?   "buying toys"  (I was a bit concerned with her response until she answered the next question.)
11. One Word to describe you.  "happy."  (We must be doing something right.)
12. Your flickr name.  "Sisterbear"  (Her user name for Webkins will have to do.)



1. 20071024 myra, 2. Sewing Pins - Polymer Clay, 3. 04-29-08, 4. Flickr meltdown, 5. Falls in Cameron Creek Canyon Waterton National Park(cameroncreek-DSC_3135.jpg, 6. I like chocolate milk, 7. USS Lexington, 8. Cain comiendo galletas con Triki, 9. Bette Davis TV Shot, 10. Family Portrait, 11. Something wonderful happens in Summer, 12. sister bear & munki

Our friend Anna over at Run with the Fishes posted this "game" so I decided to play along.  It's a Flickr Mosaic and here's how it works ....

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?   Christina
2. What is your favorite food?   Pasta
3. What high school did you go to?   Stillwater, Ok (I just knew there would be TONS of pictures of OSU's wonderful campus.)
4. What is your favorite color?   Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush?   Eminem (My "bad boy crush" ... that Josh kinda helped me pick out.  A story that will have to wait ... for a very VERY long time.)
6. Favorite drink?   A good cocktail
7. Dream vacation?   Free (I'm with Anna on this one.)
8. Favorite dessert?   Cheesecake!
9. What you want to be when you grow up?   Happy

10. What do you love most in life?   Josh , Myra and Noah .... Duh!
11. One Word to describe you:  Content
12. Your Flickr name:  Fort Worth Squatch (but nothing came up when I searched those words so I tried just "squatch" ... does that count?  And it's actually Josh's Flickr name but ... what's his is mine, right?)

1. Mt Christina mist, 2. Spaghetti in Tomato Cream Sauce, 3. Oklahoma State Icons, 4. Blood-Red Flower, 5. The Fall Of Eminem, 6. a cosmopolitan trinity, 7. Mulher Maravilha, 8. Raspberry - Swirl Cheesecake, 9. The Earth is God's Canvas., 10. 06-18-08, 11. valentines day, 12. Squatch Attack

Something happened to this entry and it never got posted.  I just now happened across it so I thought I'd toss it up on the net.  These are some pics from Myra's Field Day a couple of weeks ago.

More pics here.

We've come up with a new rule this summer ... "Do NOT ask us repeatedly if we can go swimming."  Myra's gotten into the habit already of asking first thing in the morning if we can go swimming.  Sometimes we tell her "not today", sometimes it's "we'll have to see", and other times it's "we'll go after [whatever]".  That doesn't stop her from asking (or reminding us) about it later.  "Remember how you said we could go swimming after ..."  It's getting old.  Back to the rule.

If Myra asks after we've already answered whether we can go swimming or not, we stay home one day for every time she asks or reminds us.  In other words, once we've answered, there's NO MORE talk about going swimming.  We started the new rule this morning after telling her we would go swimming this afternoon.  Apparently, we underestimated her intelligence ...

NOAH (this afternoon when coming out of our room where he and Myra were watching cartoons): "Mommy, are we going to go swimming?"
MOMMY (knowing Noah's not one to ask): "Did Myra send you out here?"
NOAH (in his best girl voice):  "She said go ask Mommy when we get to go swimming."

I guess we're going to have to twique the rule a bit.

Myra had a very hard time getting out of bed this morning ... as she does EVERY morning.  Today, to get her moving, I reminded her that today is Daddy's birthday!  (Thirty-one years!)  She asked if Josh was still home.  I told her "no" but if she got out of bed and got dressed to the shoes, I'd let her call him to wish him a happy birthday.  It still took her 15 minutes to do all that but ... she called.

During the time it took Myra to get dressed, I was telling Noah that it was Daddy's birthday and that we would call him so Noah could tell him "Happy Birthday!"  Noah got this look of confusion on his face.  "But where's MY birthday?"  I told him we had to wait a little longer.  He then asked "Is it over there?  Way far away?"  I told him "Um .. sure."  Whatever it took to get out of this conversation ... for a while anyway. 

Noah decided not to talk to Daddy but instead play with his trains and tell them all about his "Thomases birthday."  A few minutes later, Noah comes RUNNING towards me yelling excitedly "OH!  I KNOW!   My Thomases birthday is at Walmart!"

Okay, I know Walmart has everything but ... Any suggestions on how to explain to a three (not too long before he's four) year old that a birthday isn't a thing you can buy?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!  Dinner's on me tonight.  ;)

While Josh has been away at camp, I've been trying my best to keep the kids (and myself) occupied.  So far, the day time has been pretty much the same.  Josh is usually gone by the time the kids get up anyway.  Dinner time isn't too bad either.  We've even thrown in something new!  A trip to Kids Club (aka 24 Hour Fitness) but I'll save that for another entry. It's bedtime that we're having MAJOR problems with.  The funny thing is, the only thing they're really missing from their routine is saying good night to Daddy.  I guess that's enough to throw everything out of whack.

Last night was TERRIBLE!  I had the kids in their pajamas and ready for bed by 8:15.  That's early for us.  That's great!  I decided to let them watch a short show telling them that when it's over, it's straight to bed.  Somebody failed to mention to me that "bedtime" apparently means "whine-time".

I'll spare you ALL the details and leave it at this ...  "I miss Daddy.  When is he going to call?"  When Daddy did call, it was "I don't want to talk to Daddy."  After hanging up with Daddy, it was "I didn't get to talk to Daddy!"  It was a whole hour filled with kids getting out of bed, Mommy literally dragging them back to bed and constant whining, crying, feet kicking and arms flailing. 

Tonight, we're starting the bedtime routine an hour early.  I don't know how these single mothers and military mothers do it.  I'm tired.

UPDATE:  Wednesday night wasn't AS bad.  The kids still got up a couple times but overall, it really wasn't anything like Tuesday night.  Last night (Thursday night), was the best.  No fussing.  No fighting.  No getting out of bed after being tucked in.  The only thing (not a complaint) was Myra singing until 10:30PM.  It wasn't easy getting her out of bed this morning.  Daddy gets home tonight.  I can't wait!  The kids can't either.

(This is my first post on our new blog so ... here we go.)

Today, March 28, 2008, "Miss Chris" was able to get ALL FOUR kids down for "quiet time"! 

The question is not how it happened.  Who cares, right?  No, the question is what to do now.  Hmmm ... television?  Nap?  Straighten the house?  Oh!  I know!  How about a nice and relaxing lunch?  I wonder what that's like.

(Bare with me ... Going to the potty is a HOT topic around here.)

Unfortunately, poor little Andrew had to go home yesterday morning because he wasn't quite well yet from his bought with ... his bug. So yesterday afternoon, I decided to take advantage of the situation and get some much needed errands done. One of our stops was Hobby Lobby.

We looked at several items while there. Hannah's favorite words were "I want to get that for my mommy." (If I was to purchase everything she wanted for her mommy ... Anna, you'd have a couple model cars and a lovely shadow box full of necessities for the avid duck hunter.) Noah, on the other hand, was "I want to buy that from Hannah Clause. It's twenty-two dollars." In other words, he's working on his Christmas list for next year and making sure it all stays within SANTA's budget.

After walking around for a while I noticed Noah performing the infamous "pee pee dance". Off to the bathroom we went. When we arrived, Noah stopped dead in his tracts at the door.

NOAH: "Is this the girls bafroom?"
MOMMY: "Yes. Daddy's not here and Mommy can't go in the boys."
NOAH (somewhat angry): "I NOT a girl. I want to go to the boys bafroom."
MOMMY: "Mommy can't go in the boys bathroom. You'd have to go all by yourself. Can you go potty all by yourself?"

Yes, he can.

It took about ten minutes. I almost went to find a big man to check on my little man. I could here Noah fussing "I not a girl ... I a boy ... I have to be a big boy cause I not a girl." But I bit my lip, paced back and forth and waited. That was one of the hardest things I've had to do so far with my baby boy.