The Year in Us

Lots of "new" to report this year: New jobs, new house, new destinations, a few new injuries.

The dust has largely settled, but we're still not entirely convinced we're back in Austin. It was, to be sure, an amazing turn of events.

Breaking it down:



Cooper: He's 2 now, with a vengeance.

On the plus side, though, he's smart, fun-loving ("Always up for anything," the reports filter back from preschool) and thriving at Habibi's Hutch. He idolizes his big brother and displays obsessions regarding both Buzz Lightyear and Toodles.

On the down side, as we've said before: Don't cross him. Seriously. We won't warn you again.

Quotable: "Here ya go. Here ya go."

Bonus fun fact: Has graduated to his "big boy" bed. Just now. Like, today.



Jake: Now 4, Jake continues to amaze us. His hobbies -- dragons, bad guys, band music -- pretty much remain unchanged. Only now, he's Batman. Honestly. I really probably shouldn't even be telling you this.

What can you say about the Caped Crusader that hasn't been said before? I'm just looking forward to the day when he starts doing this.

He suffered a broken bone earlier this year, his first ... we hope his last, but we're not betting the farm on that.

Quotable: "Actually ..." (It prefaces most everything he says. "Actually ... I want chocolate milk."

Bonus Fun Fact: Actually ... he's Batman.

Tammy: New job, old location. She's returned to the Elementary School she worked at before we moved to San Antonio, only teaching first grade now instead of kindergarten.

Thanks to the marriage of her friend Heather, we got to make our first trip ever to Europe ... well, MY first trip evere to Europe, her first trip to Scotland and Paris, though. We have pictures and details available here.

The demands of a full-time job have cut into scrapbooking time, although she's still doing some solid work. She also reads silly little vampire teenie-bopper fiction. No, I'm not sure why.

Matt: New job, working for the Texas Governor. Really. No joke. To answer your most frequent questions: No, yes, no, and I have nothing to do with his hair.

Seriously, it's an interesting job and I'm learning tons about how government works. I'd long suspected, but now I know.

Not a lot of room for hobbies, really. I still read up on sports when possible, but considering all my teams have cratered this calendar year, that's probably just my tendency toward self-abuse at work.

I also saw "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" in theaters. They're pretty good. You should see them.

Christmas Eve Gifts

(No violent content. Sorry.)

T'was the Night Before Christmas ...

Die-hards only ...

This one's cute ONLY if you're into longish videos of kids rambling song-like things. Sorta.



Enjoy, if you're so inclined.

Cooper answers the eternal questions ...

Halloween 2008, Part III

Halloween '08: Part II

Halloween, Pt. 1

More to come, of course ...

Coming next summer, or maybe in a coupla weeks ...

(Click to Enlarge)

The next big summer blockbuster!

Okay ... a few more ...

It's been brought to my attention that, despite general AWESOMENESS, my previous post, "Hey, look at the jerk-face Parisian parallel parker," wasn't a very complete or — what's the word that came up? — oh, yeah ... APPROPRIATE entry on our European adventure.

Fine. I'm a team player.

Here are a few more shots.

This is, no lie, an unPhotoShopped photo of the place where our friends, Heather and Mark, got married. Really:



This is me at the top, touching the flagpole:



This is Tam, who doesn't really care much for heights, yet climbed to the top of the tower, anyway:



(Seriously, the view was spectacular ... green field rippling like water when the wind blew ... towers visible in the distance ... good stuff.)

Then we went to Paris, where we went to the Louvre ... which (important traveler's tip) is closed Tuesdays. For some reason. Tuesdays. Seriously.



From there, we checked out the Eiffel Tower:



This is me, unimpressed at standing in line to buy tickets to go to the top:



At some point, we descended into the catacombs deep beneath the Parisian streets. They keep bones down here. HUMAN bones. I'm totally not making that up:



Back in Scotland, I paused long enough to firmly reinforce my geek cred by posing next to a potentially vicious "Keep Left" sign. (There are, at best, six people alive who might get that reference):



And then we flew back. I might have more, but let me close this out with a last shot of general kid cuteness (it's a staple in these parts):



Making it clear, they're ready to go NEXT time ...

European Highlights ...

Hey all, sorry it's been so long. New job, new house ... blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, since we last spoke, Tam and I went to Europe. The kids stayed here, on account of them being little and all, and they seemed no worse for wear when we got back.

So, while we were having lunch in Paris one afternoon, we witnessed what was probably the Worst Parallel Parker in the history of the world:



Seriously, he pretty much just went in perpendicular to the curb and sort of floundered around. Another guy pulled up behind him and I thought for sure they were gonna end up fistfighting or something, but no ... they just talked and even laughed a little. Then the second guy drove off and the lousy parker kept on trying until he more or less pulled it off.

It was awesome.

And, uh, well, that's about all we saw in Europe. I mean, there was a castle wedding, some towers, lost of great food and stuff, but ... man ... that parallel parker guy ... let's take another look at him:



Man, what a jerk!

Seeya soon!

Gratuitous Cute Cooper pic ...

We interrupt what will prove to be a heavily-weighted series of Jake-centric posts with this photo of Cooper clutching his "Blue's Clues" NOTEBOOK that he immediately bonded with a week or two ago.

He wandered around yelling "NOTEBOOK" for most of the first day, holding it up triumphantly as he did so, then would settle down to thread a crayon through the spiral binding at the top, as his idol, Steve, and much-lesser-idol, Joe do on the (apparently now canceled, but don't tell him) TV show every day.

Party Pics I: Cake ...

I'll fan these birthday party photos into a series of posts, starting with the end product of Tammy's master cake-making skills:


Below, Jake samples a scrap from the production line and pronounces it ...

"Myufflesummm."

Presented without snarky commentary ...

And you know it pains me:

The hand ... it hurts

This is all a bit out of order, because this injury occurred about a week or so before Jake turned four, but ... yes ... Jake fell off the couch and ... yes ... he broke his right hand.

The original place we took him told us it wasn't broken, but our pediatrician, who is awesome, was dubious and had new x-rays taken.


Yep. There was a broken bone in there.

Good news: It was a very minor break, and nowhere near anyplace critical. No cast was necessary and he was mostly healed up by the time his birthday party came around.

Bad news: Everybody who thought the kid would reach the age of four before I broke him ... you just missed it by that much.

Shaving ...

I've recently gone facial hair-free for the first time in who knows how long.

Jake's fascinated with the concept of shaving, and here experiments with my shaving gel and Cooper's comb.

Clearly, he's pleased with the results.

Riding his bike ... y'know, for sick kids

Jake took part in his second annual Trike/Bikeathon at his preschool the other day, raising money for "sick kids ... to get them medicine."

Not to be outdone, Cooper quickly raced to his trike and ...


Well, actually, Cooper WAS outdone, and pretty quickly, too, as he decided to abandon the wheeled life for one of wandering around, looking at stuff ...


We're sure the sick kids appreciate his efforts, nonetheless.

Late Update: I'm sorry, did I say "looking at stuff"?


I should've said, "looking at girls."

We regret the error.

Telling a joke ...

Driving along over the weekend, I saw a joke on a sign and decided to tell it to Jake, whose own comedic tendencies currently lingering around saying the words "Bananapants" and "Butterflies" and then telling us to laugh.

Me: Hey Jake! Where do you put the dog when you go shopping?
Jake: (Confused silence.)
Me: The 'barking lot!'
Jake: (After a full 25 seconds of silence.) My dog?!?

At Sea World, Pt. 3: Feeding sea lions (or seals ... whichever)

Step 1: Get your Seal-feedin' Game Face On ... Check.



Step 2: Find hungry seal/sea lions to feed ... Check.



Step 3: Position fish above said hungry critters ... Check.



Step 4: Let the fish fall where they may ... Check.



Step 5: Sit back and enjoy the feeding frenzy ... Most Definitely, Check.

At Sea World, Pt. 2: BEHOLD ... SHAMU!

The tension is palpable as we await the appearance of the one, the only ... Shamu!

Cooper seems particularly excited:



Just a few moments later ... Shamu (and friend) appear!



Jake seems, well, almost overcome:



Still a bit awestruck (note plastic Shamu already in hand ... he sleeps with that thing):



Cooper, meanwhile, wakes up to see what all the fuss is about:



More to come ...

At Sea World, Pt. 1: LET ... ME ... IN!

We'll have much more about our first trip to Sea World Saturday, but I think these two photos of Cooper help sum up his experience.

Watching fish:

Watching otters:

Notes on a conversation ...

A brief conversation between myself and Jake, as I picked him up off the playground at preschool the other day:

Jake: Daddy, can you spank Lawson?
Me: What?
Jake: Can you spank Lawson?
Me: Why would I spank Lawson?
Jake: He hit me.
Me: Well, we don't spank people, Jake. Secondly, he's not my son and thirdly, we don't hit people to make them stop hitting.
Jake: (After a long moment's thought.) Can Mommy spank Lawson?

The campout

It was a boring Saturday, so we decided to jazz things up with an actual, honest-to-God campout.

We ran out to the store, found a pretty massive tent for not too awful much money, then set about preparing for the big night.

First, came the set-up:



Jake was helping; note the hammer in his left hand. (Once he saw I had a hammer to drive stakes, he ran upstairs, found his toolkit, grabbed his plastic hammer and ran back down, ready to "help.") Sadly, this enthusiasm didn't last. Within a few minutes, I was informed he was "done helping," and he instead just watched.

Once set-up was done, the tent was field-tested by Cooper (who is still a little too young for a night out with the big guys):



With that hurdle passed, all that remained was waiting for nightfall. Jake let us know, beginning at about 4 p.m., that he was "so tired" and "ready for bed."

Once 7 rolled around, and Cooper went to bed, it was time for the expedition. Jake prepared with backpack (containing sleeping bag), a flashlight, cool-weather jammies and, of course, Baxter the monkey:



We hiked it to basecamp, about 20 feet away from the backdoor, and hunkered down for the evening. We talked about stuff you do when you go "real" camping, such as building a campfire and roasting food. Jake was particularly impressed with the concept of cooking hot dogs with a stick.



From there, the night sort of devolved into a steady string of reasons he just couldn't go to sleep. The following actual conversation captures things, a bit:

Me: Jake, we have to lay still, be quiet, and go to sleep.
Jake: Okay.
(Way, way off in the distance, a dog barks.)
Jake (instantly): Daddy, the dog woke me up!

So, at about 9:30, the expedition came to an end and we retired to more traditional places to sleep.

We plan another assault on the backyard perhaps as early as this weekend.

Finishing touches ...

Here Jake and Cooper put the finishing touches on their upcoming "Thompson Brothers Band" CD ... to be titled either "Anger, Pain, Rage and Distemper" or "Ball."

There is actually quite a lot of creative tension over the title. Also, there is quite a lot of creative tension over who gets to play with their "Jungle Book" figurines, which, while technically a "Jake" present from Santa, are supposed to be shared.