Alice Update

By way of an update, as requested by Alice, here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately.

For a little change of pace and in an effort to escape that unbelievable heat, we went to the fountains this week. Spencer is obsessed with snowcones [favorite flavor: Wolverine...(?)] which they didn't have so we settled for raspberry daquiri. Jake also enjoyed some leftover Cheetos - ...that would be "left over" on the cement from strangers sitting by us after they got up and left.

Jake is trying his best to earn an spot in a picture. It's hard to do.

Evidently, Ava likes corn. We're happy with anything at this point since she doesn't seem to have hunger pangs. Rather, I'm pretty sure the problem is that she's been teething all four molars, bleeding gums and all, for weeks now. Ugh. Help. It's like she's three months old, waking up at night, bottles only, etc.
Spencer's tooth tally is moving along. The big guns have fallen out and he's very proud. I think he's hoping he'll miraculously catch up to Zach - in almost anything.

Here is my latest project, my favorite thing to walk by each day - a bit annoying, as well as complimentary, that two people who saw it promptly did the same in their homes. (One of these did one better and put a couple color pics here and there - even better.) It's addicting, however, since I am now eyeing prospects on other walls. If I didn't have kids, I would find a wall and cover it floor to ceiling. I love it for the fact that I can change the pics whenever I want without guilt or almost any $ or scrap the whole thing when I'm tired of it.

The Great Babysitter

Ava has discovered tv/video in all of its forms, and she's addicted. Baby Einstein and Kipper are her favorites. She perches herself in the computer chair - the highchair won't do since she must be like her brothers - and watches as long as I'll let her or until she falls onto the tile. I'm thinking a strap or buckle would help before watching tv is all she can do.

We have gone a long time without real tv in our house. Our eyes have grown semi-accustomed to the grainy pictures that we get sans cable, and when the show is dark, we just listen - as we did during all of last season's 24. Yesterday, salvation arrived in the form of the cable guy (huh?) who for one reason or another wouldn't tell me his name, so I had to keep calling him "Cable Guy." I got to know him a bit; he was here for 4 hours. Our house didn't come pre-wired; it's old and so we have avoided having cable wires wrapped all around our house and popped through various outer walls to gain access to the rooms inside. We finally gave in and I really don't care how many wires I have wrapped around my house, I'm in heaven. My kids are in heaven. They were amazed to see that they could watch cartoons past midnight if I'd let them. They're already asking. Just for fun on the first "day after" I let them watch without time limits - they watched until 1 p.m. Friends came calling and I shoved them out the door.

Prior to their departure, they ate their meals positioned where they could see get the best view of the screen of our microscopic test tv (until we move the other one upstairs). We should have held off until Christmas as this may be the great event of 2007 for them, and as parents we should know better to play these things smart. Timing is everything, after all. I could have even had my friend "Cable Guy" install the whole thing dressed in a Santa suit to top it off. My kids would have been snapped right back into belief. If I don't tell anyone, I could actually set Ava up with her chair, a buckle, helmet, and Baby Einstein; the boys could lock in on Nickelodeon or maybe a minute or two of the really horrible Cartoon Network, and I could read my book and eat mythical bon bons for an uninterrupted afternoon.