Up on the Rooftop

As I knew it would, Christmas came and went way too quickly. We went to mass on Christmas Eve, had a nice dinner with Matt and Daddy (after making cookies for Santa, of course!) and woke up Christmas morning to Elmo, a bike, and "Greggy's House". That afternoon we went over to our cousin Addison's house and celebrated the birth of Jesus with Sally, Tim, Auntie Jo, Clayton and of course "Addin"! G. seemed a bit overwhelmed by it all, but for me there are some moments which I hope to hold on to as long as I can.

1. One evening after bath time, G. and I watched the Bells of St. Mary's. (If you haven't seen that movie, you should watch it!)

2. Gregory tried so hard to sing, "Oh Night!" with this serious look on his face. It's really "Silent Night", but he just repeats Oh Night over and over! He also liked "Mismas Trees" and "bum bum bum" which I'm guessing is Jingle Bells.

3. He fell in love with Mismas trees. He liked the lights, the decorations...he just liked it all. On Christmas Eve, we walked into CVS for some last minute stocking stuffers and the boy announced loudly, "Mismas"! I hope it means more to him than a CVS store! 4. Our foster Frenchie, Miho, also enjoyed her first Christmas. Here she is on Christmas Eve after Santa delivered Elmo. We're hoping for a healthy, happy 2009 for everyone, including Miho!

Ho Ho Ho

Gregory is really enjoying this holiday season. He doesn't understand the concept of Baby Jesus, Santa, or gifts yet but he loves the "Mismas Trees"! In fact, his favorite song, which he tries very hard to sing is "O Mismas Tree!" He also likes "Jingle Bells" which is more of a "bababa!"

Both Alan and I were shocked that Greggy smiled while visiting Santa at Market Street, however the old bellybutton trick worked!

Have a Merry Christmas everybody!

Bonjour

Gregory loves his French Bulldogs and today he is helping the French Bulldog Rescue Network by helping his mommy take care of a tiny little Frenchie named Miho.

We're hoping to help Miho's health improve and find her the perfect loving family who will take good care of her for the rest of her life. Because of the financil crisis in our country right now, rescue groups like FBRN are hurting for donations so if you would feel so inclined, please check out the http://www.frenchbulldogrescue.org/ website and sponsor Miho!

Giving Thanks

DD, Mama, Matt, and G. all went to California for Thanksgiving to spend time with family.

During the day, G. and mama played with Baby Audrey, Charlie, and Anne Marie. At night, they ate dinner with the Barths (Uncle Neil, Aunt Kerry, Ryan, Jamie, Chelsea, Shannon, Erin and Brandy). We're waiting on Charlie to send us pictures from Long Beach, but here are our favorites from Balboa.

November

If only Gregory could spend every Sunday playing in the woods with his big brother hunting for pine cones and sticks...

Matt would probably be too tired to golf or drive his "go" (The white "go" on the left side of this picture.) Here he is chasing Greggy as he goes zooming down the street on his scooter.

Happy Birthday Da Da

Happy Birthday Daddy.

It was really fun celebrating your birthday with Matt & Mommy at Jaspers. I especially liked dancing in the water at Market Street.

Here is a picture of my daddy last weekend after winning the club championship at The Woodlands Country Club. I am so proud of him.

PS Don't forget to save me some cake, da da.

Halloween was a hoot!

Who? Hoo? Woo? Hwo? Is it "The lord of the harvest?" Noooo...it's a hoot owl!

Ol Gregory got to ride around and trick or treat in his red wagon on halloween and visit the neighbors. What a special treat it was digging in people's buckets and pulling out mounds of candy. The suckers were a big hit....G. even tried eating them with the wrappers on.

Carving pumpkins was a lot of work for mommy and daddy but Greggy got to pick out the shapes. His pumpkin had starry eyes with a "moon" for the mouth!

On the Green

Last Sunday Daddy (da da) and Matt (maaaaaa) let us join them out on the golf course for the last few holes. It was such a treat and Gregory really had fun. What made the outing even more fun was that our good friends, Larry and Deborah Humes, happened to be playing golf on Sunday and were playing along with da da and maaaaa. All four golfers were good sports considering the little distractions that one little person can make on the course like yelling, or pointing out airplanes as one tries to tee-off....chasing balls that are in play and trying to steal a putter to hit someone elses' ball. Geez!

After all the strenuous play, we had drinks outside the clubhouse (which is still damaged due to Hurricane Ike). Gregory blessed the bread by holding the "sacrament" in the air and declaring "Amen!" We also a good reports about our dear friend Carly who is in golf school in North Carolina. We miss her a lot but hear she is doing quite well. Carly, if you need help focusing on your game, we'll ship G. out there to you to sharpen up your mental focus!

October!

Where has this month gone? I can't believe it is already the 20th of October. This has been a very fun month with Gregory. He is going through life narrating everything he sees....every morning we must run outside to see the moon (since we haven't been able to see it before he goes to bed at 8!) and he waves his little hand and says, "Night night moooooon." While the moon may be his favorite object of the moment, one cannot go without mentioning his fantastic cat meow, which truly sounds like a cat screeching or his mooing. (If an animal is not a cat, dog, or fish, it must be a cow.) The Texas state license tag has many of his favorite objects...a moon, stars, airplane (space shuttle) and a cow (horse). He hasn't noticed the oil drills yet, but give him a month and he will.

We have had a fantastic time with our cousin Addison this month. She is ten months older than Gregory and still calls him Baby Greg. He cannot pronounce her whole name, so he calls her Addi. He gets all excited whenever he sees her picture or her house. Addison's mom, Sally, and I have been bargain shopping the past two Saturdays and on one of our adventures picked up this tent which I put away for a rainy day. As soon as I pulled it out, Gregory wen inside did his "happy dance" and started decorating. Included in the prized objects on display in his tent were two stuffed dogs (one from Anne Marie & Steve and one from Neil & Keri), several books, a picture of G. with Matt (Maaaaa), and some toilet paper.

These last couple of pictures are of Gregory in my very favorite outfit which was sent to him from his Aunt Keri and Uncle Neil in California. Guess what he is doing as he is looking out his window? "Mooon? Moooon? Moooon? Night-night Moooon."

September 30

The electricity came back on Friday evening so Gregory and I moved back home on Saturday. Whew! We had a lot of unpacking (and playing!) to do.
Things are starting to resume to normal. Today is my first day with students and Gregory is back at the day care where he goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Gregory finally had his first full day of preschool at The Children of the Woodlands last Friday and seemed to enjoy it. His teacher's name is Miss Fran and I wish she could be his full time teacher for the next five years! Her classroom is full of wonderful toddler things like birds, playdough, an easel and slide. She is British and has a strict countenance but is very tender, soft, and structured...just what the G. needs. Hopefully Gregory will behave himself while he is there...he is, as people often remark, "all boy," throwing, running, squealing, wielding sticks, climbing up slides...

Ike Day 12

For years I have complained about the five days in '97 when a freak October ice storm knocked out our power in Kansas City. Well, here we are twelve days after Hurricane Ike and our lives are anything but normal. The electric company's website states, "The following zip codes have sustained extensive damage, and therefore have a restoration timeline that extends beyond Thursday, Sept. 25." Two of the twelve zip codes listed are the one where we live and the one where I work, so we will be hanging out with our cousin Addison and her parents, Sally and Tim, in Humble until their lives start up on Wednesday then we will be heading back to The Woodlands and camping out until the a/c starts running.
While I am growing weary of living out of the car (and thank goodness I bought this big car!), I really have few complaints about the past twelve days. Gregory, Poppy, Roy Rogers and I are very fortunate to have had this time to spend with the gracious family members who have opened their beds and breakfasts to us.
We have a lot of good memories from the past couple of weeks so I thought I would highlight what we have been up to since the lights went out in Texas.
1. G. learned to play ping pong with Matthew
2. G. learned to sleep in a big boy bed all by himself.
3. Daddy got to see Greggy pop out of bed in the morning talking with his hair sticking up like a cockatoo.
4. G. got to ride hot wheels with two of his peers and play in the street at a block party.
5. Cousin Addison taught "Baby Greg" how to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm! Ei, Ei, Oooo...