Chili Powder

Photo of the Day 12/27/06

Best present
Originally uploaded by chili powder.

The best Christmas present.

Marcel made this in aftercare. It is the cutest thing ever.

photo by jennifer. Cuteness made by Marcel.

Photo of the Day 12/26/06

Chucks!
Originally uploaded by chili powder.

Marcel was feeling his Chucks with flames. Right after the photo was taken, he pumped his fists in the air and yelled "Yes!"

The child likes his "style".

photo by jennifer

Fun with Photos

 

 

Bottom-  art by Marcel "Me Me Me and Me"

Photos of the Years...Birthday Mish-mash

This isn't a photo of the day- that will come later...Just wanted to share a few "photos of the past 6 years" in celebration of Mar's 6th birthday yesterday.

Yeah, we can't beleive it. He's 6 freaking years old. Oh my.

Anyway- here are a few of my faves...now, keep in mind these were before the digital camera so they have been scanned, and not the greatest quality...

Marcel in 6 years:

 

   

Sour Power

 

I took these pictures of Marcel when he ate a sour Warhead candy... He took one of me eating one too, but....yeah, I'm not posting that...

Loose Toof

Marcel woke up this morning to find that he has a very loose tooth. He is extremely excited about the idea of loosing a tooth- with his birthday coming in a few weeks and the loose tooth I think he really feels like a "big boy". He was cracking me up this morning- beaming and very proud of his coming tooth loss. He has already started a list of things he can't eat right now, so far it include apples and spiderman gummy vitamins.....I don't think it will be long until it is under his pillow.

Pirate's Booty

Ahoy Me Maties! Marcel received a package of Pirate Booty from Grandma:

I've got a mom after my own heart.

Croc Fever

Mar begged me for these Crocs at REI on Sunday. Crocs must be seriously cool in the world of 5 year-  olds. In the world of Marcel they seem to be cooler than Power Rangers. Sup with that?

Catching up

Yeah, it's been a while since I last posted! I have been keeping up with the Brown Socks blog, but have been neglecting ol' Chili Powder. So...what have we been doing in the past 2 weeks..? Nothing crazy really- here's what we've been up to...

• Rock! is literally destroying everything in his path. He has destroyed the hose in the backyard (we found in in 5 pieces), 2 stuffed animals, a Homer Simpson slipper, the corner of the shag rug (which I repaired with a crochet hook), the YARD, Marcel's sock, and 2 blankets. You cant take your eye off of him for a second, cuz all he needs is that long to destroy something. I'm ready for him to grow out of this destroying phase (if Salado can, he surely will)...I'm running our of dog blankets.

• We have been watching some major cable. We went years without it, and we are making up for lost time now. Some of the house favorites include: Intervention, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch (Mar and Zack) and all of my crime and serial killer documentaries. Marcel is really into Iron Chef, and shows his skills with hamburger artistry in this photo:

• Marcel is learning Sudoku. Last week when Zack told him that he had to do some chores, he asked if Sudoku could be one of them.

• This outfit of Marcel's didn't pass the Mom or Dad inspection. It has to be pretty bad to get a thumbs down, but we had to draw the line at the sandal/sneaker combo.

• I finally painted that "accent wall" that I primed a month ago. And the color was totally wrong! It didn't look like the paint card at all and didn't give the room an accent at all. The dining room is a bright Marigold color, and the accent wall was supposed to be 2 shades lighter than Marigold...instead it looked more like Marigold Dreamsicle. So, I had to go back and cover it all up again. I went back to the store and asked what happened to the paint...I basically got a big "duh" answer from the paint dude. So I asked him if he could guarantee me that the next shade lighter (Stucco) would look exactly as it did on the paint card. His answer, "Uh, that stucco has been giving us problems, it keeps shooting out the wrong color". Needless to say, I didn't buy the paint and the wall is back to its primer-y self again.

• As  far as family running goes- Zack just ran a half marathon in San Antonio and on his way back to Austin as I type. He had to run through a downpour for the last 4 miles (as he did for the last race in SA) but stayed focused (as much as he could, he said he couldn't even see in front of him!) was very happy with his time. I am supposed to run a 30K trail race tomorrow, but have been have some trouble with my shin and I'm not sure if I am going to take the chance of making it worse...
• And lastly, our recliner is finally coming today! We ordered it about 10 freaking weeks ago, they said it would take 6-8 weeks. Now we finally have a complete living room, now it is time to tackle the other rooms. The living room needs to be painted and the ugly brocade valence thing needs to be destroyed, so once it is all in order I will post a photo.

Jennifer

WAH!

So here we are in our new house with plenty of House-y projects on our plate- we have a bookshelf primed and a wall primed- and both ready for paint... and have been for quite a while. Not to mention the backyard (oh my!) that needs a serious overhaul...I bought a shovel and some mulch, and that's about as far as I got on that one. Oh, and our special order chair came in last week and we haven't even gone to pick it up. And some art that we had framed is ready for us to pick up as well...And did I mention the guest bedroom which is still full of boxes. Garage too. Ugh.

It's not that we have been lazy, in fact it is kinda the opposite. For the past 5 weeks we had at least one race per weekend, and some of them have been out of town. And this weekend was the topper- 2 races; one for Marcel and one for me. The decision to register Marcel for his kids race was a last minute thing- on Friday I read that there would be a race the next morning in which all kids would receive capes to run in. Well, I mentioned it to Marcel,  he didn't want to pass up the cape thing. He loves running in races without the lure of a cape- add the cape and he is so there.

So this weekend ended the 5 week stretch of racing- and hopefully the next few weeks we can get back to some of those house projects...

And of course, we've had some other excitement- swimming, biking, checking out the neighborhood parks, registering Marcel for Kindergarten (gulp) and an aftercare program. But, instead of posting all of the pictures of the last few weeks in this post- Check out the the Current Photos link. But I just had to post this one below.

My Superhero in his running cape at the Family Miracle Mile.

Jennifer

Ridin'

 

They see me rollin
They hatin
Patrolling they tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty
Tryin to catch me ridin dirty

When Marcel heard this song on the radio, he told me it was about riding bikes and getting dirty. Yup Mar, that's totally what is about.

Mother's Day 2006

This is how we do Mother's Day here:

Run a Mother's Day race (the whole family ran the 5K minus Rock! who is still recovering)

 

Then go get breakfast tacos!

Mar had to take a little rest while waiting for the tacos...

Not a Bad Guy

This little Marcel guy's not so bad.  Although the Vienna sausages made him fart.  For some evil kids, check out these pictures.

Piggy Bank

What you end up with when your 5 year old cashes out his piggy bank and has complete control of his purchases:

 

Trip to Papa's Barber

Marcel's Riddles

They're not jokes, he says.  Don't call them jokes.  They're riddles.

Q: Why did the chicken cross the playground?

A: To get to the other slide.

Q: Why did the alligator cross the street?

A: To get the flashlight.

Q: Why did the alligator eat the lion?

A: Because the lion ate all the alligator's babies.

Economics over Ravioli

Tonight I cancelled a credit card and Mar asked me what I was doing.  So, lucky him, while he ate ravioli I broke out a piece of construction paper and a Crayola marker and explained compound interest.  I didn't want to get too hard-boiled and pessimistic and go deep on the In Life Nothing's Really Free stuff, but I did want to run him through how the only ones really getting free money are the credit card companies and not the consumer.  He could not believe that, if you buy $100 shoes at 10%, in three months you would owe $33 for nothing.  And I'm pretty sure he lost a tad of his innocence when I told him that excessive debt is a major contributing factor to homelessness.  But it's true.

I showed him how a bank can partner with a company like Wal-Mart (HE said it, not me!  I swear to God I'm not soapboxing, BUT if he brings it up all right then yeah they're evil) and use your spending habits against you, gathering data to increase the probability of you using their credit card in Wal-Mart.  I'm totally fired up now -- the next time we're in HEB I'm gonna get some of their coupons (buy 16 hot dogs and a 24 oz ketchup, get the buns free!) to show him who's really getting the deal.

Right now Lil' Greenspan is watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl.  In the car on the way home we played Machine Gun by the Commodores and he was making his flying fish and seahorse stickers disco dance with each other. 

This is what happens when Jen is out of town.  We cancel credit cards and discuss the ethics of Wal-Mart.  And fart.  A lot of big bachelor farts going on.      

This fire is out of control

Download MVI_0302.AVI

Mar v. Den Moms

This morning Jen is running a 20 miler at the Greenbelt and Mar and I are being bums on the couch watching Coconut Fred.  Mar and I decided that we'd even skip kung fu today -- which goes to show just how badly he needed to chill hard, as he lives for the kung fu.  SO we run to RunTex, grab Jen the fresh new present, and cruise on up for a movie.

Do you have a kid?  Talked to one about a movie this week?  Two words: Chicken Little.  Mar's life has been a compound sentence in every way all week long:  I'm hungry, and I want to go see Chicken Little.  Salado's a cool dog, and I want to go see Chicken Little.  Chicken to the Little. 

The line for Chicken to the Little was HUGE, as this location was doing a 3D viewing on one of its 500 screens (don't movie theatres feel like human honeycomb?), and in front of us was this gnarly, ragtag bunch of Girl Scouts and their den mothers.  I'm cool with lines, I'm cool with other people, I'm even cool with girls in green vests that smell like motor oil -- what I hate in this world is when a group of people arbitrarily complain about something and call it small talk.  These three den moms were ragging about the price of gas, and ragging about the price of tickets, and ragging about the price of convenience fees on concert tickets, and blah-dee-effing-blah.  Women like this (and I'm SURE they have their respective male counterparts, I may even be one) just blow my mind in that they were ever able to arouse a man to erection and subsequent procreation.  I mean, dudes.  It's a Saturday afternoon and your girl is standing in line, getting mad about convenience fees.  Movies don't even have convenience fees.

So Marcel and I are exchanging looks about the den mother Weird Sisters ragging about anything and everything ad nauseam, and me and my boy share a thought at the same time: revenge. 

I picked up Marcel and asked him in a super loud voice, "Dude, what's it gonna be?  Saw II or Jarhead?"  And my 5yr old accomplice chimes in "Daddy, I don't want to go see Saw II.  I want to see Chicken Little."  "No, let's go see Jarhead!  I'll take you to the chicken movie next week, I promise."  And back and forth and back and forth until these ill flaccid-tastic den mothers all shut the hell up about the price of tea in China and collectively refresh their hate in my direction. 

"How about if I buy you a ticket to the chicken show and I come get you after Jarhead's done?"  "Please don't, Daddy!  Please don't." 

The best part is high-fiving after we're in the theatre.  Reminds me of the line in Sid and Nancy, where some big Bo Diddley looking guy tells drug-addled Johnny and Sid that "You boys should be out there, selling some healthy anarchy."  Not a damn thing wrong with some healthy anarchy.

Salado

Today is officially Marcel's 5th Birthday!

And to top off the crazy Inflatable Wonderland birthday party yesterday and being spoiled by Gramma and Papa, we also got a dog!

His name is Salado and he comes to us from my running coach  who took him in after he was found abandoned, swimming in the Salado river in San Antonio.  When I found out that he was looking for a home for Salado- we just had to meet him.  Marcel fell for him right away, and finally today I was able to bring him home after my run today!

Happy Birthday to Mar!

On top of Mount Bonnell

 

Rock Star

Marcel decided to try on Zack's August Strindberg wig yesterday and show us some Rock Star moves.  What band do you think he belongs in?

Jet?

Kasabian?

The Strokes?

I personally think he looking a bit Ryan Adams:

Chocolate Covered Doughnuts at the Pool

Equals a huge mess on the face of your (nearly) 5 year old child, making him look like he is just learning to eat solid food.

Erin/Olivia had her 26th birthday party at the park, and we stopped by to say hi, take a dip in the pool, and chow on some donuts and popsicles.

Happy birthday Erin/Olivia!

Good Morning!

I took this photo of Marcel this morning - it was the type of moment that just makes your morning.  For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting Marcel's son, Billy-Bob, that is him in the photo.  Gotta love old raggedy B-B. The only object of attention that has been around longer is the baby fox that lives in Marcel's stomach. "Shhh....Baby Fox is sleeping!"

Trout Fear Us

Guess who caught his first fish today?  Big Marcel Beane caught a nice sized rainbow trout all by himself, reeled it in all by himself (and it was a fighter too), and then bellowed his battle cry I KILLED A FISH!  I KILLED A FISH! for all the Adirondacks to hear.  I broke its neck and gave it to him to carry through the gills; his hands were all bloody and gummy.  I was so proud of him!

He marched through the woods back to camp where his great-grandfather and the rest of the men sat, talking about property values and 7&7's and other mysterious grown men things, yelling I KILLED A FISH!  His great-grandfather Harold cleaned it with him and everyone was as proud as can be.

We are very lucky to have such a cool kid.  A fearless little guy.  I'm so glad I was able to be here with him today to see this. 

I caught one too.  More pics of fearless Mar:

   

When Marcel channels Perry Mason...

So I'm driving Marcel to TreeTops this morning.  We're listening to Zero 7 and talking about our dreams from last night (me: swallowing a leech, him: running a boat into a cyclops in the water), and we're chatting and driving, everything's pretty mellow.  Then:

Me: You know, I really love this CD.  I think I'd like to marry it.  I could have two wives Marcel, Jennifer and this CD.  How does that sound?

Marcel (serious): That is illegal in the state of Texas!  You have to go to other places to do that.  Nice try, Dad!

z

Adventure Man

Marcel and I went on a hike at the greenbelt this afternoon, to look for caves and run around on the trails.  I swear that boy is fearless sometimes-  I had to stop him trying to climb up to a cave that was about 30 feet up the side of a wall  He is so quick on his feet, it is amazing how he can just run over the roots and rocks, and propel himself up the climbs.  He's a tough one to keep up with, and insists on running about half the time.

Some photos of today's hike- between Gus Fruh Pool and Three Falls.

Water Crossing (yay! water!)

Some random  cave opening

   

Inside of a "cave", which also appeared to have been a home for someone at some point .

He didn't want to leave, even after 2 miles of hiking which included climbing up banks and crossing over large rocks.  My kind of  hiking partner!

Jennifer

Rocket man

Learning about the space shuttle...

Marcel in the astronaut helmet that he made in school yesterday.

Jennifer

Red is the new color of my face

Something to keep in mind after yesterday's shopping experience- When you bring your 4 year-old into a trendy boutique, you have no control of the music being played.

Yesterday, we had an after-work party to go to for Zack's work. It was storming like mad, and I left early to get Marcel, fearing the thunderstorms would cause an hour commute to the restaurant. Surprisingly, we made it downtown pretty quickly and were about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.  So, I decided to stop into one of the gift/clothing shops that I always drool over on my drive home, to pass some time before the party.  We went inside, and as soon as we walk in, the music changes to the Scissor Sisters CD.  It was pretty loud.  Marcel yells out "we have this song!" when he hears "Laura" and we dance a bit.  We look around, and listen to a few more songs, look at the CUTE tops that I can't afford, and dance a bit more. Then, the next song comes on: "Tits On The Radio".  Now, this would have been the point where I skipped to the next song if we were in the car, but I was not in control here in this little shop. We already had the "booby" conversation following an embarrassing incident that occurred at the running store while I was trying on running clothes...I'm still to horrified to even tell the story. So, I'm not ready for this potential conversation. So, I continued looking around the store with Marcel, just hoping that he wasn't going to ask me what "tits" were, as the Scissor Sisters sang the following lyrics:

You can't see tits on the radio
I'll give you five fingers for a one man show
Fasten those pants for the lap dance
Take a shot now this may be your last chance

There ain't no tits on the radio (Oh no)
There ain't no tits on the radio (Oh no)
There ain't no tits on the radio (Oh no)
There ain't no tits on the radio (No no)

He didn't seem to notice, thankfully. I could just feel some of the other shoppers looking at me, and I tried to distract him, knowing they were horrified.  Honestly, was I supposed to run out the door? Cover his ears?

So, we head over to the party and meet up with Zack.

Something to keep in mind after happy hour party experience- When you bring your 4 year-old to an adult gathering and he is the only child, and he wants to make adult conversation,  you just never know what he is going to say.

We are hanging out, making trips back and forth to the very yummy buffet.  Marcel was sitting at the table as I chatted with a few of Zack's coworkers.  Marcel, feeling left out of the adult conversation chimes in and asks if he can talk. He proceeds to tell the following story:

"When my Daddy and I were in the bathroom, he showed me how you take this thing (he then makes a striking motion) and make FIRE.  And, it will help to not make your poo-poo not smell so bad."

Apparently,  Marcel had seen some matches in the bathroom, and Zack had explained why they were there. Mind you, these folks are strangers to me, having just met them about 30 minutes earlier... But, surprisingly, I wasn't as horrified as you would expect, since I AM GETTING USED TO THIS!

Marcel took the opportunity to tell a few more ladies about the matches and the poo-poo. I'm sure his teacher will hear all about it today.

Red faced

Lately, we have been spending some time at the local pools. We recently found a pool that we really really like, so we have vowed to spend a ton of time there this summer.  Our new favorite pool has a good mix of people, as well as many little kids who are learning like Marcel.  The pool is crowded of course, and many people are within  earshot of your mother-son conversations in the shallow end.  Which brings me to the next thing- embarrassing things that Marcel has said at the pool so far for everyone to hear...

1) When we first got in the pool, Marcel wasn't familiar with the whole set up of the pool. Right off the bat, we were getting in the water he (loudly) asks me if I just peed on him.  One of the pool water jets was spraying water against his leg, and he hadn't experienced that before. Got a few looks. Horrifying.

2) Today, as I was holding Marcel and dipping him into the water, he (loudly) asked me if I had body odor. Which I didn't.  So, I told him "no, why do you smell something stinky?" and he said that he didn't smell anything and he was "just wondering". Didn't even bother to look to see if anyone heard this time. Oh my.

I can only imagine what he will say next. 

Jennifer

 

The pumpkin sock is back in rotation

Marcel this morning:

An Interview with Marcel: Music

I interviewed Marcel about his musical tastes and here are his answers:

1) What is the total volume of music you own?

50. 5. I mean 50. 20. I have 20.

2) What 5 songs do you  listen to a lot?

• I Like to Move it Move it...(?)
• Waterloo  (ABBA)
• Dancing Queen (ABBA)
• The Maraca Song (some song by John Frusciante that he likes)
• By the Way (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

3) Song stuck in your head and length of time:

• I like to Move it Move it- 20 days
• Waterloo- 50. 50 Days

4) Coolest Music Girl- Lizzie (Hillary Duff) McGuire

5) Coolest Music Guy - Jack White (He really said this on his own) and the Red Hot Chili Pepper people because I just do.

6) Worst song- Passive Manipulation (he didn't actually say the title to the song, he said the "weak song that Meg White sings)- It's so weak, it just is.  Incidentally he LOVES the other song she sings on anther album,  "In cold. cold night..."

7) Good Kid Jams- Raffi is good kid music, its so good that I call it "tid musit"

8) Favorite Kid Song- Humpty Dumpty

Fort Worth Kung Fu

Practicing Kung Fu in front of the reflecting pool at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum.

Kidsnacks Part 2

(Picture of Marcel and I was taken my Marcel's 4 year old classmate)

Today I chaperoned another trip to the Zoo. This time, no mating chickens or deafening Peacock calls; just a regular ol' time at the Zoo.

After we toured the zoo, we grabbed some picnic tables and worked on getting the kids to eat lunch. I brought my lunch this time and was dining on a lovely lunch tuna sandwich, oranges, and Batman fruit snacks. I poured out the fruit snacks onto my napkin, and  organized them by color, ranking them best to worst flavors. They were all ready for my consumption. Marcel asked for a few, and I gave him a purple and red. I grabbed one and popped it in my mouth when suddenly Marcel flipped out because he thought a chicken was going to come peck him. I assured him everything was fine and turned back to eat my Batman fruit snacks. And THEY WERE GONE!

No- the chicken didn't jump on the table and eat my fruit snacks- the little 3 year old girl on my left STOLE THEM! I found her under the picnic table, dusting off dirt and leaves from one she had dropped! She took every last one. After I interrogated her, she admitted "I wanted them...".

Geez.

Marcel and Cabybara, my least favorite Zoo animal of all time.

Jennifer

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

He comes bearing gifts...

After Zack found out about his wonderful job news, he did what anyone would do- he went over to Waterloo and picked up some CDs....for Marcel and I. For those of you who don't know Zack, that's the kind of guy he is, he didn't even get anything for himself. So I got the new White Stripes and Marcel got a new CD too! No- it's not Raffi, not KidzBop, not a Disney song collection...not even the Spongebob Soundtrack- nope, it's only a CD by one of the best 70's pop groups, ABBA.

Yes, Marcel is a huge ABBA fan, don't ask me how this came about- I can't even remember anymore. All I know is I have sung "Dancing Queen" to him many times, at his request, before bedtime.  I have an old ABBA CD that Marcel has stashed in his room, but the song Waterloo skips. Marcel was pretty bummed on that, that's one of his favorites- so Zack got him another one. What a sweetie.

Other lullabies that Marcel requests- Hallelujah (he knows the Rufus Wainright version- Shrek), Viva Las Vegas, and Highwayman (big Willie/Johnny Cash fan).

Jennifer

Kid Tested, Mother Approved?

As you can see, Marcel had some spaghettiOs last night for dinner. Notice some strange round yellow things dotting the dinner bowl? Those are pieces Kix cereal, apparently puffed corn cereal is a tasty garnish.

Jennifer 

Kidspeak

Things you didn't hear me saying when I was 4 years old:

- "Did you put that movie in my queue?"

- "Can we please, please get couscous?"

- "The UK? That's where people came on their boats"

- "Even though I haven't seen the whole movie yet, I give it 5..." (as in 5 stars)

-"Koala's grown up to be sloths, and sloths are nocturnal!"

- "You both got diiisss-eeeddd!"

- "Oooooh onions....yummy!"

- "Today on the radio I heard Livin' the Vida Loca!"

Jennifer

Project for Dad

Friday night Marcel and I headed down to the Greenbelt to take some photos for Zack's Father's Day gift. Every year, Marcel and I put together some sort of framed gift (of Marcel's choice) for Zack; framed hand prints, art, or photos. This year, we decided to take pictures of Marcel out in "nature" at the Greenbelt and make a action collage.

We got to the Greenbelt and found that it was completely dry. I heard that it was drying up, but didn't know that it was dry already. I've never seen it like that before- it was bizarre to think that just a few months ago the water was deep enough to swim in. My plan to take pictures Marcel sitting in a mini waterfall - foiled! Bummer. But, we found a lot of great places to take photos, including some graffiti under the overpass.

We put the photos in one of those collage frames with 8 picture slots. Looks pretty darn good, if I say so myself. In addition, we got Zack a Good Luck money candle, and we are going to take him out on the town today (i.e. kayaking around Town Lake) and then to lunch somewhere yummy.

Jennifer

Fun with a 4 yr old

Courtesy of my brainwashing lite Marcel now thinks cous cous is actually called cous cous cous. 

Also, last night Marcel told me he had made up a joke and would I like to hear it.  He asked: How do you stop a lion from yelling really loud? 

The answer?  You pull his tongue out.

It doesn't work so well in a blog format, but his comic timing is on point.  That's good material.

zack   

Cool Cool Summer

Oh, we have so many plans this summer! 

Our major project this summer is to learn all about "The Sea". I asked Marcel what he would like to learn about this summer, and he said "fish", so that's exactly what we are doing.  We made a list of all of the things living in the sea, and we plan to take out library books on each sea creature. I printed up a bunch of ocean activities from the Internet as well; coloring pages, mazes, etc...  I bought Marcel a purple 3-ring binder to keep track of all of our ocean activities and projects. I found some cool ocean related crafts to make as well.  Our summer-long sea lesson will culminate in a trip to Sea World so we can see all of the sharks, seals, and dolphins (and of course Killer Whales) in person. So far we have learned all about sharks, and hey, I'm learning a thing or two myself.

Marcel is also participating in two Summer reading programs, one at school (through Barnes and Noble) and one at home (through the library). At school, Marcel has a fantastic opportunity to work on his reading, one-on-one, with the learning center Director. After seeing that he was actually reading Kindergarten-1st grade level books, and not just the BOB books, she went right over to Barnes and Noble and picked up a "Dive into Summer Reading" worksheet for him. Once a week he sits down with her and reads a book, and after 8 books he can choose a book at Barnes and Noble. He's loving it.

Marcel is also going to work on his swimming skills this summer. We are going to go to the pool once a week after school and "get our swim on". Today was our first day, and though tentative at first, Marcel was putting his face under water in no time. I mean, a few weeks ago the kid was talking about wanting to do a triathlon (when we were watching the CapTexTri), so I guess he better learn to swim soon!

Jennifer

The Morning in Pictures

Marcel found a Roly Poly in the house.

Stylin' 2 different socks (Batman and Spiderman) and hammin' it up for the camera (of course)

Jennifer

Future Aspirations

Tonight I asked Marcel what he wanted to be when he "grows up" and he replied, "a donut maker, ice cream-maker, singer, artist, painter, police-man".

No, those aren't 7 separate professions that he wants to try in his lifetime, that is one single job description.

Jennifer

RIP Creepy

Creepy Update: I "made a call today", and it appears that Creepy has been "taken care of".  Consensus was that he was a scorpion not a crawfish, which is so not cool to have in the backyard.  A crawfish yes, a scorpion of that size and color- NO!

Jennifer

Beach Ball Day

Today is beach ball day at Marcel's school.

As you can see he has chosen a very beachy shirt for the occasion.

Once again, I think we should learn some lessons from our Pre-K friends; bringing beach balls to work and throwing them around would seriously be a good idea. 

Jennifer

Madagascar- The Best

Movie Review by Marcel: Madagascar

I liked when the lion scared the Pousa* away.  And I liked when they killed the Pousas and I also like the song. I liked the song the most.

I like to Move it Move it, I like to Move it Move it.

See the movie, it is really vantastic.

Marcel

*I guess it is actually "Fousa", whatever that is. 

PJ Day

Marcel started Summer care this week. All month they have theme days, such as "hat day" or "splash day". Yesterday was pajama day- so Marcel went to school in his PJs.

I wish I had a PJ day...

Jennifer