Slacker

I have been slacking. I just realized that I haven't made any posts in the last week. So what has been going on? Obviously easter has come and gone. The girls had an easter egg hunt on Friday. There is a really nice couple that moved in next door. They have a little nine month old girl named Maya. We got together with them and went to one of the playgrounds in our complex. Jess helped scatter eggs, which she then couldn't find. It was great. Our neighbors are in school. There names are Laura and Ray. Laura is majoring in photo journalism, so between her and Carol there were a lot of cameras clicking.

I am back in school, the break came to an end despite my resistance. But it has been a good week. I lectured on Friday and that went well. I have a stack of papers to grade, but that will wait until tonight (80 plus manova's, ugh). I find it is easiest to grade if the kids are asleep. Also the time goes faster if I put on a movie I have seen a bunch of times so I don't have to pay attention. Other than that it has been a fairly uneventful week. I do have Tuesdays away from campus now which is great. If you remember I mentioned that I had bombed a presentation in February due to a head cold. Well shortly after that my Prof. asked me to see her and informed me that I would be getting a C if I didn't ace the final. C's are unacceptable both in my book and in the program. I thought I was in quite a pickle since I needed the class to maintain funding, and I had heard that nobody gets a hundred on any of her tests. That being the case, I talked to a fifth year student who said she had been in a similar situation and had consequently talked to the Psych. Coordinator who said she could drop the class and still maintain her TA positions. So I sent out an email and got permission to drop. On the one hand, I spent half a semester working for nothing, and on the other, I no longer have to stress about that class. Somewhat bittersweet, but on the whole I am feeling more sweet than bitter.
Maren has finally started to talk. I was beginning to worry she might have ear problems because it seems quite delayed, but I knew better she was just taking her time, and Carol and I weren't encouraging her as much as we did with the other girls. She can now very clearly say up. She also knows please, but it comes out as eeas. So maybe she doesn't know it, but she knows that we want her to say it and will at least attempt to approximate.
I think that wraps up the week. I will put some more pictures up soon. I just haven't gone through and cleaned any of them yet. Enjoy the weekend all.

Dancing

A little while ago we went to the library and checked out one of the Veggie Tales sing along DVD's. The girls loved it, and as you can see Maren was quite enthralled as well.

Besides this wonderful video, I am on spring break. Yeah!!! I was going to get some actual work done and not have to worry about anything until finals, but I am quickly discovering that my given topics are not lending themselves to neo research, so I believe I am going to end up stuck in a library in the next few weeks going through actual books ugh. Oh well, it has been a wonderful week so far. I have just stayed home and played with the girls and stayed up watching Jay Leno and sleeping in as much as the girls will let us. It is almost like a real vacation.

Bedtime fun!!!

A few days ago, I was preparing the shower for the girls; I started the water and turned to blow my nose. When I turned around, I saw a pink little shape roaming the shower. Initially I thought Carol had gotten Maren ready and she had climbed in and started playing. As I continued to look the color was much to pink for skin. I flipped the curtain back and whoa. There stood Maren, fully clothed, soaking wet and smiling. Apparently Maren had decided we were to slow and she was ready for the shower. Fully clothed she took her toy and climbed on in. I really couldn't help but laugh, and of course call Carol. Carol being a good and sensible mother, instructed me to get the camera. (I have finally answered the question to how certain pictures and videos ever were shot considering the nature of a given situation, such as the one with the kids and the paint on the floor, walls, couch, and flat screen T.V.) Unfortunately Maren loved all the attention and laughter she illicited from all of us (especially her sisters), and consequently I am a little nervous that she may have learned that such actions are acceptable. (See "A lesson in Conditioning"). That same evening we told the girls to get their pj's before the shower. I think it may be time to rotate some of the clothes. Isn't Jess a hoot (most of the time).

Record Breaking

On Wednesday I am stuck at school almost all day. I start at physio at 8:30 which lasts until 10, from there I have office hours for at least an hour and then I either go TA a class or stay in my office for the next hour at noon office hours start again for an hour then I TA another class until 2. If I am lucky I get to go home for a few hours before my 5:30 class that is only supposed to last until 8 but inevitably runs until 8:30 since Dr. Hayslip perpetually has more lecture notes than he has time, he also seems to have an endless supply of bad jokes, but that is another blog. On this last particular Wednesday the 5th of March Carol decided to make good use of my absence and went to see Grizelda. Together they took the girls to the Fort Worth City gardens. It was a beautiful day, mid 70's. The very next day, I have no school. It is usually a day to try and get some homework done. It is rarely as productive as I hope. This Thursday I got a second chance at a snowday and taking some photos. As it turns out this was a record breaking storm. Denton got 5 inches. DFW airport got 1 inch and canceled 500 flights. It was the wettest snow I have ever seen. I seriously saw snow flakes as big as Maren's face. The first photo is just about an hour after it started snowing. Carol was at the gym, but when she got back she took the girls out to play in the slush. If you expand the photos you can see how big some of the flakes were. I did get a real snow day since UNT closed Thursday afternoon and Friday all day. Yeah for me, to bad it was about 2 days late.

As promised

I promised a few pictures to go with the last post, and here they are. The first one is in anticipation of the trip to Waco. The second is something I haven't really talked much about. Cora and Jess love to get on my computer. Cora has learned how to navigate to Homestarrunner.com and watch emails. The other day I came in to my room to the sounds of teen girl squad. They both also like to open up word and type away. Cora will type peoples names or random letters and ask what it spells. Jess will type random letters and tell me what it says. They are great.
Oh, we didn't get any pictures but it snowed here on Monday. A whole inch on the grass. I was praying so hard for a snow day, but alas I had to go to school. Oh, well. Maybe next year.

Josh

SIGH

I tried to add some photos, but the application wasn't working, so I will add some later. I can finally breath. Last Wednesday I had a large midterm, then on Thursday I had a meeting with Dr. Hayslip about some research I am doing with him, following that I had a lecture to prepare and give on Friday, Saturday I spent studying for a test on Monday morning, Then Monday had that test, and had to give another lecture Today, which I ended up preparing on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. To top all of that off I got sick on Sunday with a head cold that made it absolutely impossible to focus. I think I did well on my test, but the lecture (which was part of my grade) did not do as well as I had hoped. I should have known how it would go since I wasn't even half way done preparing lecture notes and was unable to discern what the notes were prompting. Fortunately a few of the guys in the class starting coming up with some B.S. questions to lengthen the lecture and help me out. (A small side, it would have gone better if the professor hadn't cut my material in half a week before I was scheduled to give my lecture.) So after all of that, I am done with midterm stuff for a little while and I can sigh a deep relief. There is an extra bonus associated with all of this; Spring Break is just two weeks away. YEAHH! and I can't put enough emphasis on that.
Now news from the girls. Maren started saying Mama, Dada, and eese (works for both cheese and please, quite injanuative). Jessica gets sweeter everyday. I can't believe how much her personality has changed from when she was two and bouncing off the walls. She still bounces off the walls but now she will take a minute to come and tell me or Carol that she loves us or give us a hug. She and Cora have apparently made a running game, I have no idea what it is all about but it involves any toy that could possibly talk, including pencils, Barbies, cups, saucers, whatever they can get there hands on. Also they play it primarily out of Maren's reach which constitutes either Maren napping, in Maren's room with the door closed, or at the counter (guess how much I am loving having a counter cluttered with dozens of toys). To top it all off they like to "plause" it while they have to go to the bathroom. It is so sweet to see them playing together, Maren does feel left out though and we have been trying to get them to work on that. Jess is also working on her letters. Carol has been really good about sitting down with both of them after Cora gets out of school and work on their penmanship. Speaking of Cora and school, Cora gets stickers for being good in school. After class her teacher will have kids put their hands out and those who stayed on task and did what they were supposed will get a sticker. Cora has started placing them on her closet door, and it is rapidly filling up. We also started a chore chart for the girls. They are supposed to make their beds, clean up toys, and put away their clothes every day, above and beyond that and they get a sticker. So if they help with dishes, or clean the bathroom sink or something like that they get a sticker for their chart. Each sticker is worth 25 cents, and when they have enough they get to cash it in for a new toy. It started off with guns blazing, Cora was determined to get a 20 dollar barbie with wings that pop up. But after two weeks she has slowed down quite a bit. It was kind of fun though, I taught her how to wash windows and they still bring a stool over to the sink when I am doing dishes and rinse for me. Other than that things are just chugging along as usual. We are planning a weekend in Waco, just before my Spring break and at the end of Zeb's. No offense Zeb and Leah, but it is pretty sad when the brightest spot on the horizon is a trip to Waco, any other city and I could brag, but Waco. People ask what I am doing for spring break, and I just say I am going to visit my brother. Don't get me wrong, I am excited about going and visiting you guys but its Waco. COME ON, WACO. Really pails when people are going to Florida, or Mexico. And now the awkward ending...........