Help Us, Baby Jesus!

Heard around the Faulk house lately...

- Ana's snack time prayer... "Dear God, thank You for this popcorn. We go to the store next time and get blueberry pancakes. Help us, Baby Jesus! In Your name, amen."

- Emma's dinnertime prayer... "God, dank u foh Ms. Maggie, AMEN!!!" (Em tends to thank God for a different person every night, with the exception of that one time she thanked God "foh da cow and da milk." That's right -- the cow that made the milk. Amen.)

- Ana to Wes, "You're my prince, Papi." Emma to me, in response, "Mommy, YOU my pwince." Well, of course, I am!

- Me to Em, during a particular busy time at work for Wes, "You're my baby." Em to me, "No, I Papi's baby." Me to Em, "Yes, but you're my baby, too." Em to me, eyes blazing, little feet stomping, "NO! I PAPI'S BABY!" (Someone was really missing her Papi.)

- Ana to me, "I have a friend at church; her name is Ana. She likes me. She likes to chase me. And I like to be chased. And I can climb up the stairs, like a ladder, like this -- one, two, three, four, five! I climb like the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Mommy, I like the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Hey! Where's the beach?!" (No, there is no other Ana at our church. No, I don't let Ana climb ladders. And, no, I don't know where the question about the beach came from. This is how Ana talks ALL the time. Stream of consciousness!)

- Emma to me, after I explained that she was in my tummy a long time ago, "In Mommy tummy?! Dat SO SEEWEEE!" (Given that I was also toting around a newborn back then, it was indeed silly.)

- Ana, explaining the properties of a square to me, "It gots four evil sides."

- Em's response to the "no sweet" popcorn I gave to her, "Oh, Mommy... TANK YEW! Mommy, tank yew! I so HAPPY! Yummy POPcorn!" (She's such a gracious little girl.)

- Ana, singing, "It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone, and I NEED you now... I said I wouldn't call, but I lost the remote, and I NEED you now..." (This is only funny if you know the song and if you remember that we recently misplaced a television remote. Smart girl!)

- Ana, on our upcoming trip to Dallas, "I get to go see my cousins, Kendall and Connor. I miss them so much, and I LOVE my cousins and they love me and we will play!" Emma, very seriously, "No. See Uncle Chris!" We all have our favorites, y'all.

- Ana to me, 5am, "Mommy, Emma needs you." "Why does Emma need me?" "Because she's crying." "Why is she crying?" "Because I turned on her light and said GOOD MORNING, SISTER!"

- Emma, hands on her face, surveying the mess of books and toys in her room, "OH, NOOOOO!!!" Ana, hands on her hips, surveying the same mess, "Sister, this is not very good." Ha!

- Emma, singing a song about her boots, "T-O-O-T-S! Boots! T-O-O-T-S! Boots! In my fwog boots..." Ana, correcting her with, "No, it's T-O-O-O-T-S! And we don't got FROG boots, Emma!"

Hope you have a great weekend!

Goals

Ever have one of those times when you don't think you have anything worth blogging about? Ever feel like "Eh" when you think about posting? I have lately, and I'm blaming it all on the weather, which continues to be cold, cold, cold. It's thirty-two degrees outside right now, and I'm half convinced that it will never warm up again. Ever. It's hard to be motivated to do much of anything when you're sitting around freezing, right?

Now that I've said that, I have to tell you about Wes's great idea. We've been talking about running again once the weather warms up. (Which it has NOT.) Wes randomly decided this weekend that now was the time to start, and we agreed that we'd ease ourselves into it with just a five minute run/twenty-five minute walk. I was fairly certain that I was going to have a hard time doing even that since we've been on such a long hiatus. Surprisingly enough, though, I was able to run a full twenty minutes without feeling too worn out. Wes was also able to go longer than expected, so the next day, when it was TWENTY DEGREES COOLER, we, of course, had to build on our time from the day before. And let me tell you something -- it wasn't as much fun the second time, with the freezing mist hitting me from every angle. I'm encouraged, though, to see that it's not going to be impossible to build back up to a daily 5K, even in adverse weather conditions. Woo!

We had a GREAT surprise yesterday at church when Emma used the nursery potty. Oh, y'all have no idea what a big accomplishment this is. Her first visit to the church after we began potty training included a series of meltdowns over the "scawwy poddy" and Emmy's insistence that "I gonna fall IN, Mommy!" Yesterday, Ms. Maggie was able to convince Em to get on (while she clutched her for dear life!), she did her business, and that little victory inspired the confidence it took to do it THREE more times over the course of the day. WOO! She was already having success at home, but this out-and-about success has convinced me that she's actually getting it. We haven't had any wet accidents in a week, and today, Emma has been telling me when she needs to go, instead of me constantly suggesting that she go and try. She's not there yet, but she's making definite strides towards being potty trained. I'll probably have to buy another package or two of Pull Ups in the weeks ahead for nightimes, but I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH DIAPERS. Can I say that just one more time? I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH DIAPERS! And I'm not a bit sad about it like I thought I might be. Woo!

I'm still working on my novel. Not the one I did for NaNoWriMo, but the new and improved, going to be so easy to churn out fabulous fiction, novel that I started in December. Guess what, y'all? Writing a novel is harder than it looks. I keep writing and writing and writing and just stop sometimes and ask myself, "Is this any good at all?" There are days when it seems nearly impossible to write anything of quality, and I've been pretty discouraged that my goal of writing something I could be proud of is a loftier goal than I envisioned. But at least I'm still trying. And that's worth something, right? I'm going to keep at it...

Speaking of goals, I've brushed the dog's teeth three days in a row. Yes, that was one of my New Year's resolutions -- better canine hygiene for BC, thus saving us money on veterinarian dental bills. I haven't been so good at keeping that resolution, but now that I'm starting to be consistent, I've noticed that BC is less opposed to me sticking a toothbrush in her mouth. (Actually, she's still opposed to it. But she's losing the will to fight me and growl at me under her breath while I brush, brush, brush that gingivitis away.)

Wes preached a great sermon yesterday at church about the importance of the husband's spiritual leadership in the home. I've heard him preach on this topic before, but it was particularly refreshing yesterday to look at our lives and see the ways that Wes leads our family. I think it's easy for men to leave spiritual responsibilities up to their wives, especially if they're the ones who are providing financially and are kept more than busy with work outside of the home. But I appreciate that Wes, even as I'm with the girls all the time and bear most of the responsibility of caring for their daily needs, takes responsibility for what direction we're all heading spiritually and what the girls are learning about God. It's one thing to be a man who takes his family to church every time the doors are open, but it makes absolutely no difference in who his children eventually become unless he's walking with Christ in the home and leading his family to walk with Him as well. It scares me to look at how many young, church raised adults live lives contrary to the Gospel, and I can only conclude that it's because at some point, the church took spiritual leadership out of the hands of parents by establishing people-pleasing programs that outsourced the work. I love the work we do in our church's youth ministry, but we are far, far, FAR less effective in teaching Biblical principles and concepts than Christ-honoring parents who live and teach their children how to walk with Christ. I'm challenged to remember this with my own children and am very, VERY thankful for a husband who takes his job as spiritual leader very seriously. I think of how the girls sponge up everything we say and do and feel such a responsibility to live a life that honors God as fully as possible so that my girls will want to do the same.

Well, I didn't mean to write all of that, but it's something we've been thinking on for quite a while. If I can get a link to Wes's sermon (I think they record them), I'll post it. It's worth hearing, even if you've heard it before! Edited to add: Here is the link. It's the 2-21-10 sermon.)

And with that, it's lunchtime, and I've got a couple of hungry alligators on my hands. Oh, excuse me -- a mommy alligator and Princess Belle. Ana tried to convince Emma to be the baby alligator, but she was having none of it. I'm fairly certain that before this day is over, Princess Belle is going to be attacked in some form or fashion by the mommy alligator. When I break that skirmish up, I know I'll hear, "But that's what alligators DO, Mommy!" Better think up a good response to that now, before it happens. That will be my goal for the next hour...

How about you? What are some goals you're working on?

Home Improvement and Pin Collecting... Ugh...

I don't know if it's the cold weather or the potty training that's keeping us more homebound these days. Either way, we've been sticking around Casa Faulk a whole lot and in Duncan... well, all the time. (Apart from that one trip last weekend to OKC where I got to visit Oklahoma's one and only, brand new, Half Price Books. I could have spent all day in that store, but since I had two squirmy toddlers who thought it appropriate to lie down on the floor and turn themselves in circles while sprawled there, I had to be satisfied with five minutes. Sigh.)

With all of the time we've been spending within a two mile radius of the house, the girls and I have gotten ourselves involved in a little home improvement. Which makes a lot of sense -- you spend enough time in one house, you start thinking of ways to improve it. The girls picked out some flowers at the store for our dining room table and then arranged them in the vase one afternoon, resulting in the adorable table centerpiece pictured above. All on their own! (Well, they didn't make the pottery, which would have been VERY impressive. But still. Impressive nonetheless.)

In my quest to make more room in the playroom where there isn't much room at all (got that?), I finally moved the bookshelves that were in there into each of the girls' rooms, along with ALL of their books. The girls have enjoyed "reading" books together on their own for as long as I can remember, so they are now beyond thrilled to have their own in-room collections of fine literature. They've each pulled their little recliners up to the bookshelves and spend whole hours in there flipping through books. Ha! Makes me laugh every time Ana tells me, "Shh! We're readin' these books." And Emmy says, "I love booooooks!" Like Mommy, like daughters. (You would think this would have translated to greater interest and better behavior at the Half Price Books it took over an hour and a half to drive to, but whatever. I'm not bitter!)

Wes has gotten in on the act as well and found a framed print to hang above our couch and a recliner. Okay, so he's done a whole lot more than his fair share, because those were fairly big tasks. I actually thought the recliner was a two-seater in the store and managed to get all four of us in it, only to find out from the saleslady that it's a WIDE recliner, made for those who have greater than average widths. Ahh. Anyway, it was delivered yesterday, and it has since eaten our television remote. Wes, who has already purchased a replacement remote, keeps telling me that there is NO remote in the recliner, but mark my words -- twenty years from now, when it's old, worn out, and ready to be left for the garbage collection, I'm going to take it apart, only to find a very dusty and battery-dead remote inside. I'll blog about it when I do. (Or the equivalent of blogging that we'll all be doing in 2030.)

We're planning the final phase of home improvement by getting quotes and picking out tile. Yes, folks, we're saying good-bye to the carpet in our kitchen (seriously, why did the previous owner put carpet in the kitchen?) and getting tile. Though Wes and I are both itching to use our tax refund on another trip to Walt Disney World for the girls (we're addicted to the looks on their sweet little faces when they see that giant mouse!), we're reminding ourselves that one trip a year is more than plenty and that the time for tile has arrived. (And that we can go back to WDW next year! Addicted, y'all. Addicted.)

Speaking of Walt Disney World and the stupid things we do for our children, Ana recently informed me that, "I got a Mulan pin, Mommy!" We've been collecting pins for the girls from our trips, but I didn't remember a Mulan pin until Ana said what she did. In 2007, Nana and Coach went to WDW and got Ana a Mulan pin with her birthstone, long before we even knew about pin collecting. I put it in Ana's jewelry box and totally forgot about it until now. After Ana reminded me, I got it out and put it on her lanyard with her others... and started thinking. Was that Ana's pin or Emma's pin? Oh, no. The effects of 2007 Pregnant Brain are still being felt! See, I'm thinking it was a gift to Ana since I'm pretty sure Nana went to WDW before Emma was due to be born in August, which means if it was for Emma, it would have had an August birthstone and not a ruby. Right? Of course, I can't remember for sure, and Wes was no help in recalling any of this, even though HE was not pregnant at the time and should be able to clearly recall a whole lot more than I can. So, I went online, found another Mulan pin so that each girl has one, and was told that they didn't have one in the warehouse (ahh!) but would be happy to go into the resort shops and find one for a higher price (AHH!). I pictured little Em's sad face and trembling lip and told them that I still wanted it. (I'm actually happy, though, because the release date for that particular pin -- which is not exactly like Ana's but close -- was two days before Emma was born. Which will be neat for her, you know, assuming that she ever gets into this collecting thing. Which she probably won't, but at least I'm doing my part to make sure that if she does, she'll rise up and call me blessed. Right? Right.)

And with that, you've all written me off as completely crazy. But Ana and Emma will both have five pins on their lanyards, and it won't matter that I can't remember who that original pin belonged to! I know I'll rest easier tonight. (Ha!)

We're having a Valentine's Day banquet at the church tonight. Wasn't Valentine's Day this past weekend? Yes -- yes, it was. (Wes and I had a nice dinner date where we held hands at the table... he held Ana's hand, and I held Emma's hand. Such is life with small children, y'all.)Anyway, the banquet is indeed tonight, and I'm dreading taking Emma, who has been doing GREAT with the potty training here at home... but not so great away from home. I honestly think it's the diaper-like quality of the PullUps that I put her in when we go out, but I'm way too nervous to put her in training pants away from the house right now. I feel like she makes so much progress here, then regresses as soon as we go out. Oh, well. Like I've said before, it's just going to take some time. This time last year, we hadn't even started potty training Ana, so Em is already way ahead of where I expected/planned for her to be. So, hooray for Emma!

And with that, I should probably start getting the tots ready for the evening. Ana will be super excited that it's still "Balentine's Day" and will undoubtedly be expecting some chocolate...

Great Gifts at Great Prices!

You already know I'm a big fan of Marla Taviano. You already know that her writing is inspiring, challenging, hilarious, and refreshing. You already know that her books make great gifts for engagement parties/wedding showers/baby showers/just because. You already know all about it because I wrote about her books here, and you remember every single word that I've ever written, right? (Oh, you don't? Well, then, it's a good thing I included that link so that you can read a description of each of the books, isn't it?)

What you don't already know is that Marla is making a deal. Several deals, actually. This week is your chance to stock up on gifts for those special women in your life. I normally wouldn't turn my blog into a giant commercial, but these books make such great gifts and are being sold at such incredible prices that I didn't want you to miss out!

To see what deals Marla is making, go here. And if you want to read a chapter of "Changing Your World One Diaper At a Time," go to the comment section where she's included a link for a special preview. I can confirm that the rest of the book is just as great as that first glance! (And that the rest of her books are just as wonderful as this one!)

Happy shopping!

Overheard...

Random things overheard in the Faulk house so far this week...

- Ana to Emma, "Sister, you're always so grumpy." (Hello, pot. Meet kettle!)

- Emma to Ana, "Where her HEAD?!" (Princess Jasmine had a rough morning that day.)

- Ana to me, over Disney pictures, "Where was Vidia? She's my FAVORITE." (Leave it to Ana to love the only bad fairy in the bunch.)

- Emma to me, crying, "But I not sweepy... zzz..." (Ahh, you can fight the naptime, but the nap is comin' for you anyway!)

- Ana to Emma, "You're Alice. And I'm --" holding Wes's slippers up to her head -- "Big Moose." (???)

- Emma to me, "Ana bitted my head!" (I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm really hoping that she meant "hitted." Which is worlds better than "bitted," right?)

- Ana to me, in her bathroom on cleaning day, "Thank you SO much for cleaning this room!" (It's nice to be appreciated every once in a while.)

- Emma to anyone who would listen, "Miss COOOOOACH..." (What with being "bitted" and put down for a nap, the girl was looking for Coach to save her.)

- Ana to Emma, laughing, "Emmy, you got dippin' sauce in your hair! That's so SILLY!" (Not the word I had in mind, but whatever. Oh, and "dippin' sauce" is ketchup in Faulk toddlerspeak.)

- Emma, at bedtime, "Now, kiss me. Now, hug me. Now, pray me." (So demanding!)

- Ana, to Wes, while holding a tape measure above her head, "I SO TALL!" (At an imposing thirty five inches, she sure is!)

- Emma to me, after I congratulated her on a huge potty victory, her hands thrown up in the air triumphantly, "Emmy is POTTY TRAINED!" (Well, not quite... but we'll get there!)

- Ana to BC, pointing to an empty bowl, "BC, there's your water. It's PRETEND." (BC doesn't play pretend very well, just so you know.)

- Emma to me, giggling, every time she's licked by BC, "BC kiss me, Mommy!" (Probably because Em demanded that she do so.)

What are some strange things being said in your home these days? :)

Monday, Monday...

We got a public service announcement last night telling us that our power would go out after the Super Bowl. Our electric company was trying to get the town north of us back up and working and had to shut off ALL of the power to make that happen. I thought it was funny that they were waiting until the game was over to attempt to do this, but the more I thought about it, the worse I felt about the poor people in Marlow, shivering through more freezing sleet for a few more hours so that our television viewing would go uninterrupted. Enjoy the snow, Marlow -- we're watching the Super Bowl!!! Really classy, right?

We spent the last part of the game searching for candles so that we wouldn't be completely in the dark. The PSA assured us that the outage would be for only an hour at the most, but we knew once the power was gone, it could be gone for longer than expected, so we put extra blankets on the sleeping girls and cranked up the heat. And waited. And waited. The power didn't go off until some point in the middle of the night when I woke up from a nightmare in which Ana was trying to kill me. I stayed up until the power came back on, honestly fearful that she would wander into our room in the complete dark and totally freak me out.

So, the point of this story is that it was a long night, but we're hopeful that EVERYONE now has power. Wes has been making breakfast and lunch for the chainsaw crews who are coming through to take care of the damage leftover from the storm, so he was up and gone by 5am again this morning. I'm not sure how much longer the crews are going to be working, but I hope that the power coming back home speeds along the entire area's recovery, if for no other reason than selfishly wanting Wes to get a little more rest. Ana woke me up this morning with, "Where is my Papi?!" After I confirmed that she had no weapons to use on me (seriously, SCARY dream, y'all), I told her that he would be back... at some point in the day. I hope!

Speaking of my hopes and dreams, those that involved quick potty training for Emma have been flushed down the empty potty. (Pun intended.) She has success, but there's a marked difference between days where I initiate potty visits and days where I leave it up to her. We could have days with no accidents, but since that would totally be my doing with my constant reminders to her, I don't consider it any closer to being potty trained than she was when she was wearing diapers and occasionally using the potty. Leaving it up to her involves lots of accidents, but she's always aware of when it happens and at least attempts to make it to the bathroom in time. It just may be a LONG road from this to completely potty trained. I have her in training pants, which means there's a lot of laundry. But it's almost fitting, since I began my diapering days with cloth diapers which work pretty much the same. I began with a lot of laundry, and I shall end with a lot of laundry. Sigh. (Little known fact on the subject -- Ana spent her first year of life in FuzziBunz, which are the cutest little cloth diapers. I was going to be a Mother Earth type of mommy with nursing on demand, wearing her constantly in a sling, and putting only cloth on her little tiny tushie. Well, one of out three ended up actually happening -- ha! -- right up until Emma was born. Then, we switched to disposables because I was, very frankly, tired and was beginning to feel that life was about nothing more than baby poo. The switch to diapers I could throw away instead of swishing around the toilet, pre-washing, washing, drying, re-stuffing, then folding... well, made the volume of poo less overwhelming.)

Anyway, training pants. We skipped this step with Ana, but it looks like we'll be camped out here for a while with Emma. And that's okay. I'd rather do this than switch her back to diapers and confuse/discourage her. And she's making progress this way, even if it's not as fast as I would like. Which would have been her saying, the first day, "Don't worry, Mom, I've got this totally and completely figured out, and not ONLY have I potty trained myself in one day, but I've also learned to read, write, and do calculus." Oh, well. This way will work, too. Eventually.

It's a regular Monday around here. Laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Exciting stuff! The girls worked on a very special Valentine this morning, and ever since, Ana has been asking, "Is today Balentine's Day? Where's my chocolate?" Hear that, Papi? The girl expects her chocolate on Sunday!

I've been considering something and would like some input on it. I have all of my journals and emails from my two years in Namibia and would LOVE to put it all into a book about my experience as a Journeyman. I'm fairly certain that there isn't a publishing company out there who would publish it, so I've thought spending the money to self-publish it, with any and all profits from the sale of copies going to the International Mission Board. My question, before I take this project on, though, is this -- would anyone out there buy a book? Self-publishing isn't cheap, but if I knew that the whole project would generate enough to cover the cost then possibly more for missions, then I would totally do it. What do you think?

Well, the laundry is calling my name, along with Ana, who is doing a wild dance on the living room floor. I'm just glad she's not coming at me with a chainsaw, like she was during one portion of my horrific nightmare...

Odds and Ends

Let me first say this -- we really didn't get much damage from the ice storm. We got a call from a church member while we were still out of town, though, about the tree we had lost. She told us it had come down with the ice, and we were ECSTATIC. We just knew it was the cottonwood tree, which is messy, a bit of a fire hazard, and just plain unattractive. We've been talking about getting rid of it ourselves as soon as the weather warms up. When we got home, we discovered that it was indeed the cottonwood tree... but that it was still standing. In fact, it's probably healthier now than it was, thanks to the pruning it received thanks to the storm. It is, regrettably, a sturdy little tree. I have my doubts that a crew of chainsaws could tear it down. (And as you can see from the picture, the ice has melted. Woo!)

Anyway.

Clean up efforts continue around town and in the smaller communities nearby. While most of Duncan has power, our neighbors are still doing without. Wes is still working at the shelter in town and left at 5am this morning to go and help make breakfast for those who are there. He told me he had been designated the "Egg Man," so I'm sure that right about now, he's sick of the sight of scrambled eggs.

Today is Day Two of Emma's Torture. I mean, Emma's Potty Training. Honestly, I think she's doing just as well (if not, dare I say, just a little bit better) than Ana was doing at this point in hers. But they're different in their approach to it, which makes me wonder if Emma will actually end up taking longer than Ana did. Ana was terrified of the potty, but Emma has been using it regularly for the past few months. Once Ana got over her fear, she potty trained herself within a few days. Emma already knows what to do, but getting her to do it on her own initiative is like herding cats. Nearly impossible. Oh, well. I'm not as discouraged as I was with Ana, and I keep reminding myself that Em is YOUNGER than Ana was when she potty trained. So any progress right now (and she IS making progress) is great, and lack of progress is nothing to stress out over.

See? I have a great attitude about this! (It IS only Day Two, though. We'll see what I'm saying a week from now.) I'll try to refrain from constant potty posting. I promise!

In other news, Wes and I are anticipating better weather next week so that we can start running again. We seem to give it up during the colder months, but I'm starting to realize that wintertime is the worst time to stop. I gained five pounds over the holidays, lost them all before Disney World, and -- you guessed it! -- gained all five back on vacation. I know, five pounds isn't much and there's nothing more annoying than someone who really doesn't have to lose weight talking about losing weight, but I know if I let five pounds hang around, I'm only a small step away from adding on more and more and more until I'm on The Biggest Loser and Jillian is yelling at me and making me cry. And, y'all, I have no deep, tragic issues from my past, so she would be on me all season long until I would finally have to make up something about how my parents never loved me (they did and do, actually) so that she would get off my back. It's much easier to deal with five small pounds now than to go through all of that. If you've never seen The Biggest Loser, just trust me on that one.

Well, I better get going, as it's time to start asking Emma (again) if she needs to go potty. She's more than willing to go if I suggest it... but not so much if I don't. I should probably draft plans now to spend the rest of my life by her side so that I can constantly ask her, "Do you need to go now? How about now?" Because I'm sure she'll love that when she's fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five, forty-five...

Hope you have a great weekend!

Longest Vacation Ever!

I'm finally back home, y'all. This great state of Oklahoma can literally feel our presence coming and going over the Red River and seems to (recently, at least) experience natural disasters when we're out of town. Convenient for me, I tell you, but not so convenient for the forty percent of our town still without power.

But I'll get into all of that in a bit.

We left nearly two weeks ago (wow!) for a night in Texas. It was like a cruel joke on Ana, who emerged from the car late Wednesday night expecting to see Cinderella's castle, only to find that we weren't in Florida. After a cab to the airport, a plane ride, a tram ride at the airport, a bus ride to the resort, and then another bus ride to the Magic Kingdom, she could barely bring herself to look up, hardly believing that we were actually right at Cinderella's castle. We arrived just in time for a parade, though, so the reality of where we were sunk in quickly (hello, dancing Mickey Mouse and princesses!) and covered over all of the delays it took to get there.

We spent an afternoon at the Magic Kingdom, a full day at Hollywood Studios, a morning at the Animal Kingdom, an afternoon at Epcot... and then did a whole bunch of other days in all four parks. I would give you more details, but I would seriously have to look back at my journal to figure out where we went on what days, how much time we spent there, how many hundreds of thousands of millions of miles that I walked, etc. Suffice it to say, we saw ALL of Walt Disney World. Ana and Emma rode It's A Small World no less than five times (eeeeeeekkkk!), and I ate pizza no less than fourteen times. Awesome. (Especially since I had the worst heartburn known to man the day before we left for Florida. The only other time I've ever had heartburn has been during the last trimester of my pregnancies, prompting Wes to ask, "Are you pregnant?" Thus prompting me to practically shout, while clutching my burning chest, "Do I LOOK like I'm nine months pregnant?!" Kudos to Wes for locating some Zantac shortly after this conversation and enabling my pizza overload. I'm back to normal now and am fairly certain that I'm not, in fact, having a series of heart attacks at the age of thirty-one. Which is welcome news, obviously.)

Anyhoo, we had a great time. Wes and I had arranged to go on a Keys to the Kingdom tour one morning while we were there, and it was totally worth the time and money. I learned some significant little secrets on this tour, some of which, of course, I'll share with you here. For free!

- Goofy's Barnstormer (the kiddie coaster) is actually faster than Space Mountain. Knowing this doesn't make Space Mountain any less terrifying to me... but then again, I'm also scared of Goofy's Barnstormer. I wouldn't have been able to do it had Emmy not been holding my hand!

- That beautiful, acrobatic, flying Tinkerbell who jumps off the castle at the beginning of the Wishes fireworks show might actually be a TinkerBILL, if you catch my drift. I'm not sure what's more alarming about this -- that someone has to push the cast member off that precarious landing to make it look just right or that the cast member may be a man in drag. Hmm...

- The animals you see on the Jungle Cruise are not real. Gasp! Even more shocking, they're not even whole fake animals. The hippos have no bottom sides, and they keep the water colored so that you can't see that your hippo ends at the neck.

- Main Street Bakery actually vents the cookie-scented air from their shop out onto the sidewalks. Because they're not above bringing in business with tasty aromas.

We flew back to Texas on Friday, where my dad met us at the airport with news that whole portions of Oklahoma were without power. This was news to us, obviously, and after a few phone calls, Wes was able to confirm that Duncan was indeed in the dark. We stayed overnight at my parents' house, and after Wes spent the morning on the phone calling every church member to see what supplies he could bring up, he got on the road to come and help out. He and a church member broke into our house (no electricity means that the garage door won't work, you know), and five minutes later, our power came on. Ha! Since then, Wes has been working at the shelter, serving food and helping out, and the girls and I have been in Texas with my parents. We finally came back this afternoon, after picking up some groceries. The fish sticks that were in the freezer (along with the other food) perished in the power outage and never fully realized their dream of swimming downstream to tiny toddler tummies. Sigh.

Whew! See, I said I wouldn't be back until February, and as it turns out, that was true. Oh, natural disaster -- you proved me right!

Speaking of natural disasters, Em is determined to do this potty training thing now that we're home. I'm not sure she's determined to actually use the potty, but she's not letting me forget that we're back from WDW and "no more diapers, Mommy!" Ugh.

Hope you're enjoying your electricity and running water out there...