Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  Today I am thankful for many things in my life starting with my wife who will be cooking us a wonderful meal this afternoon.  I am thankful for my 4 beautiful children who amaze and frustrate me daily.  Sitting here right now, I hear the twins yelling for me to come get them out of bed.  Did I mention they are in their big girl beds now, and all they need to do is roll out of bed.  I should be thankful that they actually listened to me when I told them they would get spankings if they get out of that bed again.

I am thankful the twins have learned to put on their pull up diapers by themselves, which means they are that much closer to being potty trained and we will eliminate the voluminous amount of poopie diapers that flow through our house.  I am thankful Lawson Boy has mastered his walking skills even if it means he can climb up on the kitchen table by himself or shut himself in the pantry and will himself to reach the food on the top shelves.  I am thankful for the TV to distract 3 little girls for a few minutes so I can write this blog without them jumping all over me and yelling in my ear all at the same time.  I have yet to learn how to listen and answer 3 girls questions at the same time all while Lawson is pulling at them and hitting them so he can sit with me.  If he is sitting in my lap and one of the girls wants to join us, the boy grunts at them and hits them.  It's fair to say he is possessive, and frankly I don't blame the boy as often as he has gone off to play nicely all on his own. 

We are thankful for family who pitch and help out when I was out of town, or will be assisting with the delicacies we will enjoy today.  Last week when while I was traveling, Lily was able to spend some time with her mama.  It seems Lily decided she would test her boundaries with Mama and basically see what she can get away with.  Mama threatened to spank her at one point, and Lily called her bluff and told her, "go ahead".  Mama tried another tactic and told Lily she would have to go home if she was going to continue to act like this toward her.  The guilt tactic did not really work as Lily told her, "OK , I'll see you later".  I am thankful for Lily, she cracks me up. 

We are very blessed and I am thankful for many more things in our life.  Hopefully each of you have as much to be thankful for as we do.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson Boy

 

Congratulations Ashie and Todd!

Jeff and I with Ashley and Todd on St. Patrick's Day 2010

Today we got to start the day with some good news, Ashley Boyd (who is an adopted member of our family-basically) and her boyfriend Todd are engaged!  I met Ashley when she was fresh out of college and started working at my company.  We have both moved on from that job and into another job together and Ashie has continued to be part of our family.  Lily and Ashie are best friends.  Ashie would be so nice and babysit Lily for us when Lily was a baby.  There were many nights that Ashie would watch Lily for us so we could get a night out on our own.  Of course Lily loved these nights since Ashie would indulge her in whatever she wanted to do and she would bring Foxy.  Lily and Foxy are also best friends.  Lily has always had a love for dogs, but especially Foxy.  Foxy even had her own song, which Lily would sing at the top of her lungs:  "Foxy Lady, Foxy Lady Boyd!"  Lily would sing this whenever she knew Foxy was in the house or randomly in the grocery store.  People would ask us, "Who is Foxy Boy?"  I guess Lily couldn't quite pronounce Boyd.



Lily and Foxy when Lily was 18 months



Lily would sit down on the ground and pat her legs and Foxy would come running. We even have a picture of Foxy in our living room.  We often get questioned about why we have a picture of a dog that is not ours in our living room.  It was supposed to be a picture for Lily's room, but Lily insisted on it being displayed in the living room.  Ashie gave her this picture when she moved from Dallas to Houston to be with Todd.  Although we miss you Ashie, we are so happy for both you and Todd!

This week our house was a little calmer than usual.  Mama came to stay with us all week while Jeff was out of town.  The kids loved having their Mama in town all week and it helped keep them from missing their Daddy so much.  The twins are still having to adjust to sleeping in big girl beds. It generally means no sleeping at naptime.  I am not ready to give up naps quite yet so I keep at it.  Usually, when I go in to get them up they are different outfits than what they were wearing when I put them down.  They also keep stealing each other's blankets in the middle of the night which causes them to wake us up a few times a night to switch them back.  Right now they are fighting over who gets to brush my hair.  Abby is throwing a major fit and Chloe is being very patient.  Chloe keeps saying in a very calm voice, "Aba give me some room.  You need to go upstairs to your room!"  Abby just keeps trying to intimidate her through physical force.  I don't think my hair is going to survive this battle.  Abby just got a spanking.  Chloe is very upset.  "I need to see if my sister is ok.  Do you think she is ok?  Daddy is mean, right Mama?  He spanks.  Don't let him spank you or me."  I told her that her Daddy is not mean.  Abby isn't following instructions.

Lily is enjoying kindergarten and making new friends every day.  We had a parent teacher confernece with her teacher and found out that Lily is doing very well in school, but she's a little too laid back.  She doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency.  For those of you that know me then you know she clearly gets this from Jeff.  Lily's favorite class at school is computers which leads her to constantly ask us to let her play on our laptops.  She plays learning games on our computers and can be entertained for hours so we have to force her to take a break. 

Lawson is learning new words every day and starting to communicate with us more and more. Usually he just wants more food.  He thinks Daddy is the funniest person alive and will give Daddy big belly laughs for anything.  This morning he got up before his sisters so he managed to get breakfast twice.  I think we need to start saving money now to help us afford groceries when he is a teenager.  He is still holding is own with his sisters.  They pretty much give him whatever he wants and shower him with attention.  On the off chance that they don't bend to his will, then he will give them a smack down UFC style.  The boy hits hard and leaves marks.  Good thing he is also pretty charming and can smile his way out of trouble.

We hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday!  I am cooking the whole Thanksgiving meal by myself this year.  I am sure this will lead to lots of material for the next blog.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson

Catching Up

As usual Jeff and I have been too busy to think much less update the blog.  Since I am home sick today, I thought I would catch everyone up.  Let's start with Halloween.  Lily decided that her brother and sisters would dress up as piggies.  Jeff and I tried to go with a Little Red Riding Hood theme, but our follow through left something to be desired.  Lily didn't want to be part of the group even though it was her idea.  She wanted to be a witch.  The twins and Lawson loved their costumes.  The twins would walk around snorting like pigs.  It was pretty cute.  When they figured out that all they had to do to get candy was say Trick or Treat, it was on.  Here are some pictures of Lily and the Twins after their first trick or treat.  They are all very excited.

Lawson figured that walking from house to house looked like too much work for him.  He knew that all he had to do was look cute and the candy would come to him.  So he just chilled in the wagon with our neighbor Judson . 

Lily is enjoying school and making new friends.  I am still amazed that my 5 year old gets to and from school riding the bus all by herself.  I have seen the carpool line at the school though so I am glad that she enjoys riding the bus so much.  Her cousin Jack is fascinated by this too.  He doesn't understand why Lily gets to ride the bus alone and he doesn't.  Especially since he is a few months older.  Aunt Mary and Jack had Lily over for a sleepover while my brother was out of town.  Lily loves to go over there.  Aunt Mary really spoils her and they get to do all the girly stuff Aunt Mary can't do with her boys.  While Lily was over there they got to go to Uncle D's house and hang out with him and soon to be Aunt Karissa (Aunt Mary's brother and his fiance). They were going over things that each of them do well and the fact that Lily rides the bus to school by herself was top on the list.  I can't believe how big she is already and how quickly time has passed.

As Jeff mentioned in the last blog, the twins are determined to destroy the house piece by piece.  Once they accomplish that they will then start on each other.  This has been a problem since they were old enough to move.  This is when they were about 6 months old.

This time they were fighting over my book.  Who knew Eat, Pray, Love could cause such turmoil.  Of course as much as they fight they also love each other just as much.  The girls have recently discovered that they can get out of their cribs.  This means that they are up to no good whenever we think they are sleeping. Usually they get up and play with soap and water in the sink.  One time Abby wanted her diaper changed during naptime.  So she grabbed, diapers and wipes and climbed into Chloe's crib.  Chloe then tried to change Abby's diaper which resulted in poop everywhere.  Now that they can crawl out of their cribs this has resulted in them climbing into each other's cribs at night.

So we had to bite the bullet and put the twins into big girl beds.  They are  no longer babies and its a little sad that they are so grown up.

 Lawson is also pretty excited about the big girl beds since he can climb up and jump on the beds at will.  Other than that there is no too much going on with him.  He is such a bruiser and constantly terrorizes the twins by trying to take their Minnie Mouse dolls and blankets.  I would feel bad for them, except they did that and worse to Lily.  They kind of deserve it.

Unfortunately, for the twins he is stronger than they are so they always lose.  If they do happen to win then he will just smack them.  Today he was trying to climb on the chair with the girls and I.  Abby didn't want him to climb up so she was blocking him.  He solved that problem with a slap across the face.  Let's just say his pimp hand is strong.  I felt bad for poor Abby, but you can't stay mad for long at cutie like this.  Even when you know he is up to trouble. 

 Happy Veterans Day!  We hope 11/11/11 is super lucky for everyone and have a safe weekend!

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson (aka Bruiser)

What did you do?

Things are crazy with work and home life and it is becoming increasingly harder to find time to update the blog, but I am trying to make the effort as the kids have been up to some mischief that needs to be documented as proof for them read some day. 

The twins especially have been up to no good and we have come to the conclusion that they are conspiring to tear the house apart piece by piece.  Last week before bedtime, we were going through our normal routine of changing diapers and brushing teeth.  I called them into the bathroom to brush their teeth and I couldn't find the toothpaste.  As I went to open the bathroom drawer it felt funny and as it opened, water came splashing out everywhere.  The drawer was literally full of water to the very top.  When I asked who did it, I was expecting them to start pointing fingers, but instead Abby looked at me with pride on her face and admitted that she had accomplished this all by herself.

After coming home late the other night, I went directly to the media room to spend some time with the kids before bed time and the twins greeted me with a hug and kiss.  I looked to see what they were watching and noticed that my big screen TV was covered with wonderful works of 2 year old art.  Once again the culprit was proud to admit it was her......this time it was Chloe.  These are just 2 of the many recent incidents that have led to our new favorite saying, "what did you do?"

Lily had her first slumber party at the house last night and we had 3 other girls at the house.  I am not sure I was prepared or ready for the realization that kindergarten girls are boy crazy.  The good news I learned is that Lily is the only one of the group who does not have a boyfriend or been kissed by a boy.  We loaded them up on pizza, popcorn, candy, and sprite.  They got in bed around 10:00 and we heard them still playing around 11:00 when we went to bed.  About 1:30, we woke to 3 of them standing next to the bed and Lily tells me, "Daddy, we can't fall asleep because we ate too much candy."  I'm not sure what time they finally fell asleep, but I have a feeling 3 other families besides ours is going to have some tired girls with attitude problems today.

Lawson Boy is using his new found skill of walking and climbing to his advantage.  Abby had a cookie and was sitting at the kitchen table eating, and a few minutes later Kasey and I looked and found that Lawson had climbed on the chair, and from the chair he had climbed on and was sitting in the middle of the table sharing Abby's cookie with her.  Probably not the safest place for a 1 year old to be sitting.  He doesn't learn very quickly, because just the day before I had taken his high chair tray off which he protested by yelling and arching his back over the side of the high chair and landing on his head. 

Things will never be boring around the Strait house.

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson

Slumber Party

Lily had an idea this weekend.  We try and be good parents and encourage their ideas and creativity, but frankly letting her run with this idea was very poor judgement on our part.  She asked if she and her sisters could have a sleepover.  So Saturday night we let them climb into the bed in the guest bedroom and we kissed them goodnight.  Well, we kissed them, but it was anything but goodnight.  After closing the door, I hung out to see how long it took before they started in.  Abby and Chloe began laughing and then I heard Lily say, "girls, girls, when mommy and daddy go to sleep, we can all get out of bed and go get in bed with them."  I'm not sure how many time we had to tell them to get back in bed and be quiet, but even Lily was telling the twins to go to bed.  Needless to say, they were having a great time.  The last time I went up the stairs Lily had already fallen, I dished out a couple of spankings, and they finally went to bed.  That was around 10:45, which is a couple hours after their normal bedtime.  That night wasn't the bad part, the fun began the next day when each and every one melted down so badly I could hardly see straight.  Lesson learned. 

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy

Lawson Walking

Football Friday

Lily and I went to the Celina football game last night and I was able to get a glimpse of what every Friday night will look like in a few years.  Even at 5 years old she couldn't wait to walk around and see if any of her friends from school were there.  Lily was very excited to see her kindergarten teacher, and even though she could not tell you what the score was if her life depended on it, she could tell you every detail of the cheerleaders and dance team.  She isn't exactly the best football watching buddy, but we were able to get some good quality time together hanging out and eating junk food. 

One of the reasons we live out in the boonies of Texas is we feel there is a higher quality of family living with higher moral and ethical standards.  When Lily dropped her ketchup packet for her hot dog, the lady next to us had her son run and get another packet and without hesitation he took off to get some ketchup and also brought Lily back a glow stick he had her talk about earlier.  It's really nice to see people raise their kids the way we hope to be raising ours. I just hope Lily is not learning too early that boys will do many things for her if she asks; though I fear I may be too late as this afternoon I saw her asking the neighbor boy to walk her bike back up the hill for her.  I guess I could just consider it resourceful of her.

Lawson Boy is enjoying his new walking skills though he is literally trying to run before he walks.  He gets going too fast at times and those little feet just can't quite keep up.  The pride in his face as he walks around the house is pretty funny to watch.  When he knows that you are watching him, he gets this big grin on his face, lifts his arms in the air, and then starts clapping for himself. 

The personality differences between Abby and Chloe continue to develop.  It's fun to sit back and watch them interact with people and see how they handle certain situations.  Chloe is becoming quite the people pleaser, or she may just like to gloat in front of her sister.  I got to Abby for something the other day, and Lawson was once again trying to hurt himself by playing on the stairs so he received a stern verbal beat down.  After the air cleared and all the crying settled down a bit Chloe busts out with, "Daddy, I not in trouble, I a good girl!"  Abby looked up with anger and disgust at the insinuation being made that she is not a good girl, and before she could get up enough speed to run across the room and blind side her twin sister, I grabbed her and made sure they both knew they were good girls.  Disaster was averted, but it took a while to talk Abby down from wanting to put a beat down on Chloe.  

I've had many of you comment on the blog lately and we are trying to update it more regularly, but thing have been busier lately than usual.  Thank you continuing to read it, it does provide incentive to keep up with it.

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe and Lawson Boy