Gulf Coast Road Trip

We just got back from one of the best vacations ever! My sister Laura recently moved to Miami, so we decided to drive there to visit her family. We turned it into a Gulf Coast road trip, and planned our route to include lots of south-eastern states that we had never been to before.


Part One: We left Austin, drove through Lousiana (stopping in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans), drove through Mississippi, and then spent the night in Mobile, Alabama. The next day we made it to Florida. We drove through Tallahassee, and then down to Tampa, where we spent the night.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Greener Eating

So, last month my sisters and I (and my mom) started a little blog so we could share healthy recipes with each other. The recipes are all vegan (no meat, no dairy, etc.), but I promise even normal people have been known to enjoy them.

It's still a work in progress, but you are welcome to take a look.

http://www.greenereating.com/

Maybe they have older brothers

The other day Rachel and Elizabeth wanted me to go upstairs to check-out all the little "set-ups" they had done in their dollhouse. At first glance, everything was normal.

I saw:

A family having a picnic in the front yard. So far, still normal - nothing wrong here except a few wild hair-dos.


A princess and her horse spending some quality computer time together. Maybe the princess is getting caught up on her blog.


One of the daughters (perhaps a teenager?) eating by herself in the dining room.

Wendy upstairs in the bedroom, trying to decide what hat to wear.

A little piano room. The teenage daughter is probably just about to come in and practice.

Oh, wait. . .what's this?

Rachel (rolling her eyes): "Mom, you know!! It's their weapon bucket!"

Oh, right. Silly me. Because every home needs a weapon bucket, right?

Henry Heads Upstairs

I knew it would happen eventually, but I wasn't prepared for it to happen so soon - our little guy has realized there is a whole new world waiting for him to explore upstairs, and he is bound and determined to get there.

One week ago - first attempt:

Two days ago - made it up one step:

Today :

I think we're in trouble.

I guess we've been busy . .

Holding Henry

(One of Rachel's favorite thing to do is to "hold Henry in the air", as she puts it.)

Eating

(Homemade chips, salsa, and guacamole - our new favorite after church meal)

Decorating the house

(Oliver and Rachel have been making signs and posting them up all around. Oliver made this one for his and Tristan's room. Rachel made one for her room that said, "I TOLD you not to come in here." I don't know who gave them the idea for "do not enter" type signs.)

Learning new skills

(This was a fun little experiement that didn't last long - we're back to two in diapers for the time being.)


Playing games(We've been a little addicted to Ticket to Ride lately. Daniel and I love playing with Tristan and Oliver - it's great having kids old enough to be game-night buddies. The only problem is sometimes we are tempted to have game-night every night.)


Dressing up

(Cowboy Henry)

(Fancy ladies)

(Tristan had to dress up like a storm trooper for a little skit at school)

Playing around

Getting into trouble

And just sitting around being cute

Among other things. . .

Rachel's Reading Party

We finally finished Rachel's reading lessons! I think we're both pretty excited. Me, because I dragged out the "100 easy lessons" waaaay too long (we started last summer right before Henry was born - bad timing on my part) and she because it was finally time for her "I'm All Done with My Reading Lessons Party". Plus, as she reminded me the minute she finished her last lesson, she gets to have her own reading time at night now.

Toward the end of the book the lessons get a little long and tedious, so for some extra motivation I put a chart up on the fridge when she had 30 lessons left, and she got to put a sticker on the chart each time she finished a lesson. I told her when the chart was full, she could have a party. Instead of choosing to have a custom "reading party cake", like Oliver did, Rachel requested to have a banana splits party, which was just fine with me.

Here's a little video clip the night of our party. (She introduces herself as Hermione - yes, we're still in the Harry Potter stage).

2009-02-14 Rachel's Reading Party from Joanne Mott on Vimeo.

The happy reader

The happy reader with her happy mom

Enjoying her banana splits (notice the wand next to her bowl)

She goes around now sounding out words wherever she can. The other day I found her on the couch reading one of my books - she had opened it up in the middle and was plugging away, sounding out one word at a time. Since then I've checked out some beginning reader books at the library, and she's a little less confused.

Scoot, scoot. . .cough, cough. . .

Henry started scooting a few weeks ago (before that, he just rolled everywhere), but he's kind of funny about it. Even though he's realized that scooting is currently his best way to get to where he wants to go, for some reason he doesn't like having to do it. He tries to make that clear to us by doing little fake coughs the whole time he's scooting, like "fine, I guess I'll scoot forward, but just so you know, this is very strenuous and I'd rather that you just pick me up and take me there."

Example #1 (yes, pretty much the whole family is cheering him on in the background, but if you wait and listen carefully, you'll hear it):


Henry Scooting from Joanne Mott on Vimeo.

And example #2 (he's incredibly uncoordinated in these clips - he has gotten a little better since then):


Henry Scooting (2) from Joanne Mott on Vimeo.


I thought that his little coughing act was limited to just scooting, but it turns out it's not - he's been learning how to sit up this last week, and any time I try to practice with him, he makes sure to do lots of little coughs so I know he's not enjoying himself (I promise he's not sick - the coughs are very fake and forced and he reserves them for specific times).

Here he is yesterday with Tristan. This clip isn't the best example of his coughing (he only throws a few in there at the end), but I wanted to post it because I thought Tristan was so cute in it:


Henry Sitting from Joanne Mott on Vimeo.