Just for my dad who is going a little bit stir crazy

Dear Dad,

I hear that you are a little bored while you are waiting to heal. Here are some photos of your grand kids because they help me pass the time, and I thought they might help you too.

Love, Jacqui

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This is Joshy's birthday celebration (sans Kraig) at Red Robin. Children don't eat free anymore at Red Robin (and Thomas doesn't eat at all, apparently. I didn't need to order him mac & cheese. All he ate were french fries and milk), just so you know for when we come next time :) See how well behaved they are? That's because Andy was watching the Yankee game on the TV screen over my shoulder. He might get that from you. Or me. The jury's still out. It's in his genes somewhere. Here's what we do when it is too hot to play outside: Thomas was our inspiration. He drew his mustache all on his own.

Thomas can do stairs now. He has no problems with landings or turns, either. Unfortunately there's no guarantee that he will be down-the-stairs ready by the time we come to your house. Maybe you can meditate on how you'll teach him.

He is also getting into a whole lot of mischief these days. It was cute the first time. Now I've switched all the tp rolls around backwards.

Here are two of my cute blue eyed boys. Don't Joshy's eyes look like they are turning a little green? But Tommy's are still as blue as ever.

Man, I take a lot of photos of Thomas. He has learned to turn the tv on and off. Maybe we should get a tv built in this century (thanks, Scotty, for letting us use it!). Nah. I will probably makeshift a tv guard like you have, Dad. Fortunately, I think your tv is safe...for now.

And lastly, this is just to prove the whole world wrong that my "disabled" son would never do normal kid things. HA! In your face, world. PS. you and mom bought that train (and it's adjoining train car--not pictured) for Thomas for his birthday party.

Remember? You both wore hats :)

I love you, Dad! Feel better soon!

One year older and wiser Four

HAppy Birthday to my Joshy! What a lucky mommy to have a wonderful Joshy like him in my family!

4th of July Weekend--aka--try not to barf

I am so spoiled. Robin and Mike and their family came to Austin again for a quick weekend stay. We crammed a whole lot of fun into a brief 36 hour stay. Here are some quick highlights:

Robin and I actually got to take our husbands out on a date. We went to Chuy's to get Mexican food and dang, Gina, it was the best Mexican I've had in ages. Hands down.

Afterwards, we were going to watch a movie together, but by the time I got back from taking the sitter home, both men were snoring on the couch. We did wake them long enough to eat some ice cream.

Sunday night we took another trip to see the bats. Still creepy, still stinky. But cool, nonetheless.

The morning of the 4th was spent not to differently than most Monday mornings: Kraig left early (to play paintball, not got to work) and I did a lot of laundry and cleaning. Early afternoon we headed to a park to some vittles and games with Kraig's coworkers.

Then the Fear Factor competition started. Kraig took second place. He lost because after holding the crickets in his mouth (there were about 35 of them) featured in video #2, I was supposed to finish it up and swallow. Needless to say, I barfed and we took second. Valiant effort. I am interested to see what stomach discomfort Kraig experiences after eating wasabi, a habenaro pepper, fish sauce, a fish smoothie, sardines, live goldfish, worms, and crickets. Shudder, shudder.

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Video #1 are the worms. They had to hold them in their mouths, the chew, spit and pass the plate. Yuck.

Video #2--last round with the crickets.

July Challenge

I have this crazy ability to make up silly words to songs I already know. Each of my children has his own song sung to the tune of "Mother, I love you." Usually it's something I create late at night while I'm rocking a baby that won't sleep.

Anyway, as I may or may not have mentioned before, Austin is hot. Not a news flash, but here's our family's tribute to Austin, TX. (Music by D. Anderson)

So I am putting it out there. I want all y'all to rewrite the lyrics to this song to incorporate something about where you live or your family this summer. Consider this a challenge. Email me your finished products and I'll post them on the blog. Bonus points for getting a video of yourself singing :)

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Bring it.

Waxing on

To be raising a child with a disability, there is a certain amount of reality that I've had to come to terms with: more sicknesses, more doctors, unforeseeable futures. Nothing, no amount of warning or "likelihood" could prepare a mother for the sudden loss of her child.

I am deeply affected by the loss of our friends' son, Kalem. I cannot imagine the physical pain of being ripped so suddenly from a child that you brought forth from your own body; a child made up of half your genes, half your personality, half your heart.

Certainly death is a part of life. And pain and hurt and heartache seem to come breezing through as if to add flavor to the joys and happiness we are promised. The sweet and the salty. The tart and the bitter.

Heaven bless this poor mother.

I will be clinging to my children a little tighter.

So Sad

This was a young man from our ward in Heber. His older brother and sister used to babysit for my kids. My heart breaks for his family and our dear friends in Heber.

Cover band

I took the opportunity while Robin was here in Austin to schedule a GNO. Now, all you 3 men that read my blog, don't be alarmed. This was not a trip to the gynecologist, but rather a girls night out. Certainly there was some family/marriage therapy discussed, but thankfully it was just for the price of some steak quesadillas and quail wings.

Robin and I put 5 of the 6 kids to bed (the 9 year old got to stay up) and I picked up our babysitter (a 13 year old who liked the same TV show as the 9 year old?) and we headed to an upscale steakhouse where I felt sorely out of place in my jeans. Certainly it should be posted on the restaurant website that the dress code is urban yuppie evening casual (no piece of clothing costing less than $50). Sorry bucky, I got my jean shorts at Sam's Club for $15.

The hostess placed us in a far corner of the deck so as to "be as far away from the live bad as possible," but really it was because of my lack of expensive jewelry, I'm sure.

Regardless, we had a delightful evening with a few new friends and watched the beautiful red glowing sun set over lake Travis and the surrounding hills.

Oh, and I got out of the house without any children and only Robin, which was a first. We could have gone to Dairy Queen and it would have been the best evening ever.

The Fishers go to Austin, 2011

Robi and the kids made a special trip out to visit two weeks ago. Imagine, if you will, six children and three adults crammed into our 1350 sqft apartment. How could we not have a good time? Unfortunately, all the fun/funny photos were took were on Robin's camera or her iphone, both superior technology to my photo taking abilities. But I try.

Here are a few pics from one of the crafts that the kids did.

Robi and I found the beads at a yard sale for $.25. I provided the necklace string. I just happened to have it in my craft stuff. It came from some bracelets I made in Venezuela about 9 years ago. Needless to say, the necklaces didn't hold up for long. Thomas was particularly adept at grabbing onto the shiny necklaces and ripping them off his cousins.

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I thought this was funny. This is me cleaning the bathroom before Robin got here. Then Josh took the exact same photo of Amanda. Maybe Joshy needs to take a study in photography lighting.

Did anyone get the reference to The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963? My guess is only Brenda. Am I wrong?

But the light keeps shining

You would think from my blog posts that there is only one child in this house. In actuality, there are three children, all vying for attention from their mama 24 hours a day. Fortunately, two of these troublemakers can take care of themselves 75% of the time.

I am constantly asking Andy and Josh: "How many kids are in this home?"

"Three."

"And how many mommys are there?"

"One."

"How many little boys can solve their own problems?"

"Me and Josh."

"Right. Good luck!"

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It used to be really nice to go swimming here in Austin, Texas. Now the pool is as warm as bathwater and not refreshing at all. Ahh, those were the days of hours by the pool.

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Wow, my kitchen looks atrocious at this angle. I think I was trying to be all artsy with my photography, which is not my talent. Well, anyway, Andy will often get it in his head to "make his best recipe." Sometimes it's a tortilla with ketchup, other times it's a cheese sandwich. This day it was a carrot peeled to oblivion. Josh joined it. I love seeing these two united in good causes. Usually they unite to wreck the front room.

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Oh how I miss sweet Olathe corn from King Soopers. Sniff, sniff. But the stuff here will have to do for a while. These kiddos eat corn like it's going out of style. They get that from their grandpa.

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And this last insert is strictly me bragging. I had a little brunch last week and made some delicious pull-aparts. The recipe called for canned biscuits (gasp!), but I substituted my Thanksgiving roll dough. I mean, really? Could I go wrong with that dough? Never! It was a hit with the brunch ladies.

Workin' hard for the money

Corn on the cob is difficult when you don't have teeth. Thomas has implemented the effective lick method for removing the kernels.

This little boy is cruising...along the couch. He can't walk by himself yet, but is working hard to get there. This was the first time I pulled out these darling flipflops (flipflipflipflipflip), but his feet are so fat, they wouldn't fit.

This was minutes before he was strapped to a board and force fed barium for his upper GI. The darling smile didn't last long. There is not a doubt in my mind why this little boy hates doctors.

While I am at it

I am on a roll of videos uploading smoothly. Usually I am not so lucky. Here's a little glimpse of water safety with Thomas. He loves the pool and I have taught him to only jump in when I count to three.

Father's Day special

I have a litter of cute kids, but this is especially precious today.

Serious Business

Sometimes there are just no catchy words to soften the blow of having not posted for weeks. Pictures are the best I can do in this heat:
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Ken and Kolene came to visit for a week. We had a wonderful time swimming and sightseeing. Remember the Alamo! The kids were fascinated with the Alamo cannons.
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I also met up with Nicole while she was in San Antonio with her husband and sister. I miss my girlfriends! But that is a post for another day.
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Austin is weird. Really. Everyone wears shirts that read "Keep Austin Weird." One of the weird things is this yearly bat migration. The bats come up from Mexico in the spring to nest and have babies under the Congress Avenue bridge. Then they fly out every evening at twilight and eat three million mosquitoes. Seriously. They might put Kraig out of business :)
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Speaking of Kraig and work, things are now in full swing for the summer. He is working like crazy and sleeping when he's not at work. Kraig came home from work one night and fell asleep on the couch. Andy woke up and came to give Kraig a kiss goodnight and fell asleep with him. Andy certainly is his daddy's son. I can't believe how much alike they are..

Andrew lost his first tooth. Ken worked on getting it out with pliers. It freaked Andrew out (hence the tear stained face), but he was all smiles in the end with his first baby tooth in hand. The tooth fairy brought him a new toothbrush that lights up. Pretty cool. His second tooth is loose and he told me today that he wants to put my electric tooth brush under his pillow with a note that says, "Dear tooth fairy. I want one like this with Sponge Bob on it. Andy" So now the tooth fairy is taking orders? Sheesh..
Joshy got a hero cape as a prize at the grocery store. I made him a mask to go with it and he has been my superhero ever since. He seriously thought he would be able to fly off the couch with his cape and mask on. It was priceless!.
Kraig grew a mustache for a few days. He decided kissing me was more fun than the weird looks people gave him, so he shaved :)

And here is a little video of Thomas sharing some ice cream with his brothers. Enjoy!