houpley

Is it weird that I cry during the Twilight Bark scene in the movie 101 Dalmatians every time? Call me crazy, but when Pongo is all "We're going to have to take matters into our own hands..." I start getting the trembly lip. And then when The Great Dane gets word and the passing along of information....it's just too much! Makes me weepy every time. Once, in my teens, when I was baby sitting a little girl during the summer, I took her to see the re-release of the movie in the theaters. During the Twilight Bark, she could barely contain herself and began to bark herself. Loudly. Disney can be intense.

No buddy, I don't think you can reach the waffles in the deep freezer. Yes I can, Daddy. Can't you see how tall my hands are?

My co-worker got married in Jamaica a few weeks ago. Last weekend they held a reception for the locals. Jackson was taken with the island theme. He also made the dance floor his own.

Ready for Spring to work out her issues.

I finished reading this about two weeks ago and it is still sitting with me. I still think about the characters and wonder how they are holding up. I worry about Dr. Stone's relationship with his son. And how is Marion's mother? It is a story of Ethiopia's past while following twins born joined at head. Crazy, huh? Family and friends work at the mission hospital and the author is able to transform medical procedures into poetry. I'll stop there. I almost hate giving a brief recap because a general overview actually makes the tale sound unappealing to me. In fact, when my mother recommended it to me I was all, "Meh." Nothing about it made me want to start it. I'm not really into African history and politics. And medical stuff? No way. But I trust her recommendations. She knows my reading tastes. So I picked it up and eventually could never put it down. It was amazing. Verghese is truly skilled at gently birthing each character from nothing. His simple writi

Overheard from the backyard.... Granddad reassures Jackson: Don't worry, Jack. It's not blood. Blood is red. That's green.

Over Mother's Day weekend we attended one of Jackson's friends birthday parties. It was a lovely day and the kids enjoyed a giant water slide in the birthday girl's backyard. Most of the children were older than Jackson but he still jumped right in and enjoyed the sunshine and water. After a bit, a little girl arrived who was Jackson's age. In her little green and white striped bathing suit, she slowly ventured over to the slide. Later, I turned away from grown-up discussions about crazy cats and book clubs, to see the two of them sitting alone together in a corner of the play area deep in conversation. Her mother and I studied their body language and surmised they were comparing wounds. With such serious faces, they were swapping injury stories. Jackson had some impressive scrapes from recently slipping out of a tree and she had acquired a few band aids on her knee from a tumble at school. They were like two tiny, water-soaked vets one-upping each other. They talked un

This past weekend marked a triumphant milestone in not only Jackson's life but ours as well. We've noticed it has been happening little by little but over the weekend it solidified in to a true ability and it may just well be one of the greatest moments of my life. Jackson can secure himself in and out his car seat completely by himself. This is no small feat as my mother is still only 80% skilled at it. These contraptions are not only so complicated and intricate, but require large amounts of dexterity and obscene wrist strength. Plus he still dose not weigh enough to move into the simpler car seat designs, so we have been using the same car seat for quite some time. So when Jackson finally informed me he can buckle up himself, a joyful tear or two slid down my cheek.

Mama, when do you go to college? After high school. Oh. What college do you plan to go to? Um ... That way.

Mama, I cannot even embarrass how good this cookie is!

Hey mama, did you know that they don't let monsters into the restaurant?