The Rescuers

Okay, bear with me as I am blogging backwards on this one, but it was so cute I couldn't resist.

Joe's nephew Sam & his fiance Nadia routinely steal one or both of our kiddos for exciting outings. Why? We don't know if it is because they are "practicing" for parenthood or just because they are gluttons for punishment, but either way, the kids are thrilled to enjoy such adventures with these youthful & willing caretakers, while Joe & I are thrilled at the "time off" it affords us! Here is a handful of such events as they occured in the past few months!

Early December brought an exciting outing for Donovan as when Sammy & Nadia whisked him off for an afternoon of pure delight watching Disney's Monsters Inc. On Ice. Needless to say, this 2 year old was ENTHRALLED! He kept telling Nadia & Sammy to "sshhhh!" during in the show...he didn't want to miss a second of the performance, and he meant business!

Nadia & Donovan Watchin the show!!

Sammy & Donovan

Afterwords we all met up at the park for a long play session with the boys. We stayed there for the typical amount of time one spends with boys when they are running free: until someone gets hurt or falls exhausted asleep:) But for the hour and a half before Avery zonked out in a swing and Donovan's grand finale bloody fat lip, Sammy & Joe took turns chasing him pell mell through the maze of wooden structures & jungle gyms! We all enjoyed the outing and the special time with Sam & Nadia- its great practice for their future!! Not to mention our kids look WAY more like they belong to them:)

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Just two weeks ago we all met up together for a fun afternoon courtside, cheering on the Corpus Christi A&M Islanders men's basketball team. Donovan is a huge basketball fan, so he was all about the game. Sitting like a man in the stadium seat, he cheered and booed and yelled "GO!" at all the right moments- no coaching needed for this tiny sports buff. He could have cared less about all of the junk food daddy kept bringing up- no way, Donovan was there to watch the GAME....oh, and the cheerleaders got a lot of his attention as well:) Mommy wants to think that it was just becasuse they were flipping and jumping and climbing up on eachother and jumping off of immense heights....all of the things Donovan dreams of and generally attempts, but with much less success! Anyway, it was a great time for all of us...even Avery got into it! -But at half time Avery finally gave in and fell asleep in Nadia's arms, where he remained for the second half. We must be good luck charms- cuz the Islanders WON! Next home game in 2 weeks!

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AND FOR THE PRESENT!!!! A worn out mommy and daddy have battled to survive this past week with Joe recovering post-op. With Joe down for the count and as dependant as the kids while he heals, Sam & Nadia swooped in to our rescue and gave us the day off!!!! Wow- and what a day it was!!! While this mommy & daddy lounged around, watched movie, went for a (very s-l-o-w) walk, and shared an abnormally quiet dinner together, Sam & Nadia immersed themselves in the world of little people. They started at the Texas State Aquarium, and once Donovan had thoroughly doused himself in the "hands on" tidal pools, they changed clothes and locations for the games and pizza of Gatti-Town! Finally they returned with both kids exhausted and begging for bedtime! Mission Accomplished.

Thank you Sam & Nadia for the time out for the kids and the time off for us!!!

Doot doot doot do do do do....

Donovan had the priviledge of seeing his favorite morning tv characters LIVE in concert last week! It was supposed to be a mommy/son day out, but Aunt Patsy had to step in while mommy took care of daddy in the hospital. No matter whose lap he sat on, Donovan had the time of his life taking in the sights & sounds of the musical show. He knew the songs and danced in the aisles according to Aunt Pat's report. Mommy sure wishes she could have seen DJ's face, but this picture of him- smeared in popcorn butter and wearing a funky hat says it all! He was in AWE! Every morning he rises up singing the theme song, so we knew that the live show would be quite an exciting event for the young fan! Needless to say, while the show moved on to bring joy to other kids across the country, lots of Doodlebop memorabilia remained in Donovan's possession...a hat, sippy cup, and now he even goes to sleep each night with a light up Doodlebop spinner that lights up his room while he sings himself to sleep.

Doot doot doot do do do do do doot doot.....!!!

A TODDLER IN WONDER!

Metamorphosis of Mopfhs

That budding entomologist of my younger years is obviously far from gone; it was awakened the other day from its dormant phase when I walked onto the front porch early one morning to find a lethargic nocturnal moth with a large chip in her wing, placating herself on the walk. Instantly I ran back in to find Donovan, as I saw it as my chance to begin to share the beauty of God’s creation with him through this beautiful creature. In his mismatched pajamas and bare feet, he followed me to the porch to determine what this thing was that his excited mommy was referring to. And then he saw it. With all the freedom of Adam in the Garden of Eden, Donovan proclaimed the creature’s name for all to hear: “A MOPFH!” He was even more delighted when mommy gingerly placed it in her hand and carried the feathery creature inside. Sadly nature rarely shows itself to my inquisitive toddler in the city limits, so I was exuberant at this opportunity. Inside, we began our search for the mophf house, and found the perfect clear container leftover from the Christmas ornaments. We filled the mophf house with all of the mophf luxuries, leaves and sticks, and an upside down Gerber lid filled with sugar water. And then we placed our lovely mopfh in the container & covered the top with netting and a rubber band. And on the 7th minute we rested….and watched. Donovan just stared in sheer absorbed wonder, and did so throughout the day. Every so often he would drop whatever he was doing and run to go “Check my mopfh!” And there she was, resting her wings and looking pretty for her audience. And then we went to bed that night, telling the mopfh “ni-night mophf!.” Upon awakening we had quite a shock; Donovan had barely opened his eyes before he ran to greet his mopfh, but upon arrival his face fell….our secure mopfh house had been under attack that night it seemed, for it was tipped and open, contents strewn about. Daddy & Mommy just said…. “ZACK!” And the cat got some very evil looks from us all. But the cat didn’t care, because he was focused on something behind the shelf- and was swishing his tail in eager evil-ness. Donovan rushed forward, and we were close at hand to discover our magnificent mopfh in all her chipped wing glory safe and sound behind the shelf. We decided that mercy trumped education at this point, and so it was that Donovan learned about the freedom that God’s beautiful creatures deserved, as he waved goodbye to his mophf as we placed her in the ficus tree in the front yard. I stepped out later that day, half expecting our mophf to still be lounging loyally in the tree, but no, she must have gained her strength and taken to the sky where she belonged. But her brief stay as a guest in our home certainly served its purpose, for now Donovan parades outside with newfound wonder for the creature recently discovered in the form of a graceful mophf.

For Constipation, snort this:

Too embarrassed to admit it, Avery has suffered from irregularity, aka constipation, since birth. But in the unique bond called brotherhood, he consorted with his superman senior, and together they came up with a plan to cure that uncomfortable ailment.

It was my fault for thinking that they were innocent, sitting there in the dark living room, looking out the window at the rainy day outside. Most parents make that mistake multiple times in a child's life- for children are usually anything but innocent, most especially when they appear so quiet and serene. And so it was, as I prided myself on actually achieving the feat of putting laundry away while they happily entertianed eachother, playing together and exchanging indecipherable conversations in the window.

Eventually I turned on the light. And innocent fled with the darkness. I don't know what I saw first, Avery's powder white face or the snowy white mess on the floor.

Then I saw the bottle and it all made sense. Avery must have confided in big brother as to his abdominal discomforts; Donovan, who pretends not to listen to mommy and daddy's conversations knew of a remedy; the remedy called "Benefiber" happened to be opportunely left on the kitchen counter; and mommy always gave them a good 10 mintute head start called benefit of the doubt. So they consorted, and thus succeded in their mission, for Donovan sat in pride watching as baby brother lapped up the stuff like it was sugar. The stuff is tasteless & odorless, and so it was obvious AJ was in it for purely medicinal reasons.
Avery was obviously on a hardcore hand to mouth mission. He didn't ingest much, in case anyone is concerned, he just kept slobbering on his little hand and then dipping it on the floor to collect the fiber like a bumble bee to pollen.

It was one of those moments when yelling was futile. Besides, every mom knows that discipline is useless when you can't keep a straight face.

Whether or not they actually succeded in their ultimate goal will inevitably depend on AJ's next diaper. Can't wait for that. Signing off now to write a letter of thanks to the inventor of the hand-vac.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

OUT WITH THE OLD DIRT, IN WITH THE NEW

WASHING OFF 2006

Time Honored Tradition

Each year, just before Christmas, we gather at Grandma Reyes' to decorate cookies. This year was no exception, and Donovan was inaugerated into the business of frosting and sprinkles. He actually did really well....but near the end he stopped using the spoon to scoop frosting onto the cookies, and used it rather to scoop frosting into his little mouth!

Ho Ho Ho, Y'all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, REYES STYLE.

Everything is bigger in Texas, and Christmas Day is no different in this family!

Its all about the numbers here....lots of love, lots of people, lots of presents, and lots of food (of course).












If we look tired, its because we were up all night helping Santa:)

Daddy & Draven Between being overwhelmed and overjoyed, Donovan still manages to look as cute as ever! He was actually in awe of the pretty wrapping paper, and rather underwhelmed by what was underneath!!! :)

Avery asked for no pictures please, he was rather the Grinch this year:(

Such holiday hulabaloo was just too much for his 9 months to handle.

Better luck next year!

Merry Christmas to all....and onward we march to the New Year & all of its many blessings in store!

Pre-School Christmas Musical

And so it was that we found ourselves "those parents" standing up in the crowd, and crawling down aisles, multiple camera's in hand, desperate to capture each one of our rising star's 15 second of fame. Behind the lens we wondered where the time went, when just a Christmas ago Donovan was barely toddling between pieces of furniture, and eating the paper off of the presents under the tree. Today he is a sweet & courageously fearless ever-exploring toddler, gallavanting before us on stage, drum-sticks in hand, tapping out an off-beat rythym to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" next to a handful of equally miniature & rythymless classmates...none of whom hold a candle to our son's cuteness, but whose parents all disagree;)

Last night was Donovan's long anticipated school Christmas program. He did so well, which we figured since there is not a fearful bone in his body. He climbed onto the stage & looked into the crowd with great curiosty. Their first song was "Jingle Bells," and they all bounced around on stage in organized chaos, shaking little sleigh bells with glee. Halfway through that song, Donovan noticed that the Church has 2 big flat panel screen flanking the stage which showed the kids doing their sogns in real-time. The second half of Jingle Bells was spent mostly staring at himself on the big screen! Song #2 was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and they all traded their bells for drumsticks, and they tapped out toddler beats. This one Donovan loved, and you could tell, he was tapping those sticks together with gusto. When the song ended, all of his 9 classmates paraded off the stage, but not Donovan, he just held onto his sticks, gazing out into the crowd....finally Miss Anne came to usher him off stage;-)

The grand finale was when the whole school (all 4 classes) came up together to sing their final song. The stage was crowded, so Donovan's teachers just had all of the littlest ones sit along the steps stage right....but us parents couldn't see them! Donovan decided then to take matters into his own hands, and he hopped up on stage with the big kids and danced a little jig! He remained on stage until the end of the song....and when the music faded we all heard a jolly "HO HO HO!" fill the church! Yes indeed, St. Nicholas had come too, and there he was strolling down the aisle in all of his authentic big red jolliness right toward the stage! Donovan stood as if in disbelief, and then he moved, trancelike- joining all of the other children scrambling for Santa's lap. St. Nick sat in a big throne-like chair and all of the kids lined up around him. Donovan was quick to join the formation, and yes he got his FIRST EVER chance to sit on St. Nicholas' lap. He was rewarding with a yummy candy-cane from the jolly old elf, and that cane was open & in his mouth before this mom carried him off the stage!

See that cute little face in the center? He could not take his eyes off of St. Nicholas, despite all of the commotion around him!

Avery promptly swiped the beloved candy-cane from Santa as soon as Donovan returned to where we were sitting. A cute tug of war ensued, and Donovan won in the end, but not without Avery getting a delicious lick or two!