Huff and Puff

Merry has been wheezing and huffing and puffing since she was a baby. We finally went to the allergist to see what causes her allergies. I guess a better question would be what is not causing Merry allergies. Anyway the poor thing is allergic to 42 out of the 64 things they tested her for. Her poor back was so welted after the test, then she had a big asthma attack the next day. Luckily she only has a couple of food allergies so her diet will not change that much. Hopefully with the new drug regimen she will be on her asthma will be in more control.

Gracie has finally taken a more traditional approach to crawling instead of the inchworm. She has also discovered the stairs. My days of freedom are over.

Jacob has finally decided to start eating again after a 2 year fast. Maybe he is going through a growth spurt.

I am going to have to start investing in a hair coloring company at the rate my gray hairs are increasing. But life is good and we are all enjoying the warm weather here.

Sorry there are no pictures. I still have to take Merry's 3 year old portraits.

YUM, YUM

So I am not a cook, nor do I really enjoy cooking. Luckily I have a brother who loves to cook. Even more lucky that he lives close enough to me that I get to enjoy the food. Lucky for you he is starting a blog to document all his creations. Visit him at cookingwithdangenho.blogspot.com to enjoy mouthwatering recipes.
This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I love demonstrations of sibling affection.

1st piggies and bathtime

Gracie's hair is just long enough to tug it into 2 piggies- she is pretty surprised by this or her hair is pulled so tight that her eyes can't close.  Her eyes have a green circle starting in the center so I think they will be green like mine and Brian's

This is Gracie's favorite place.  Once she gets in she stands up and can't figure out how to get out.  It is a nice little baby cage.

Merry poured a whole bottle of shampoo in the bath the other night.  It was extra bubbly so Jacob's beard was extra long.    They came out smelling like blueberry shampoo.   

Brian bought some fruit by the foot the other night.  Merry keeps calling it "foot by the toe" and Jacob calls it "fruit by the shoe."  They keep us pretty entertained around here.

Happy Birthday Merry

Merry turned the big 3 today.

She loves to help bake- she cut the hearts and rolled the little balls for the decorations on her cake.

Pink is her favorite color and singing and dancing her favorite past time. 

Checking out the presents

This was her favorite part of the festivities, luckily every one at the party left intact after all the stick swinging.

More of the New Year

We rang in the new year in Port Alto with my dad and my sister's Emilie and Ann and their families. It was a fabulous party. We ate a ton of food - my dad cooked a brisket, ham, and a turkey. We played Ticket To Ride and Wii Fit until wee hours of the night.

Jacob enjoyed the pier- but spent most of his time playing Star Wars on the Wii with his cousins.

Merry demonstrating proper technique for walking down the center row of nails.

We played in the clover

Merry showed Grace how to find 4-leaf clovers

Gracie loved the shells, or should I say loved to eat the shells

Merry filled her bucket with shells, then sat on the pier and threw the shells in the water. Then she threw the bucket in the water. When she realized she couldn't reach it she started to cry "oh no that is my brudder's best bucket." I finally had to wade in and fish the bucket out.

We went sea kayaking. Merry and Jacob had a blast.

We caught fish- mostly stinky old cat fish in the wise words of cousin Paul.

Brian demonstrating his fine fishing skills.

On the way home we stopped in Goliad to see the mission. We also checked out the San Antonio River.

A four-leaf clover- okay so probably not a clover, but close to, near by or round about.

Any way you look at it, I feel pretty lucky.

Happy New Year

Wishing you the best of luck in the new year.

Christmas at the Snotty Stotties

We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa slept in until 5:00 am, so the gifts were a little late getting wrapped. Merry came down stairs and watched me put together and wrap the last of the gifts. I told her Santa was too busy to wrap all of the gifts so I had to help him out. Maybe Santa will be on time to our house next year.
My favorite Christmas memories this year are as follows:
1. Merry's version of Ruldolph the Red nose reindeer. It goes something like this- you know cop-it and keep-it and blitz-it but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all, Rudolph the nose-red reindeer.........

2. Jacob jumping up and down screaming "we got a Wii, we got a Wii"

3. Little inchworm Gracie spending most of Christmas trying to eat her big toe through a hole in the foot of hand- me down pjs.



Brian surprised me with a router table and a cake decorating book among other things. I am not sure how these two gifts correlate. Maybe I could router a cake base to put my freshly decorated cake on.


Here are some pictures in Christmas finery.

My dad picked out this dress for Gracie. She looked so cute.

Merry is still so thin she was able to wear last year's dress. Lucky me.

We have been looking for Jacob's red tie for the past month. I finally found it today stuffed in the toe of his too small church shoes. I guess he really hates to wear ties.

We acted out the nativity with the Babcocks on Christmas eve. Merry was a little shepherd, Jacob was a wise man and Gracie was baby Jesus. I was too busy video tapping to take pictures.

We are sure going to miss the Babcocks next year.