August Happenings

Tabouleh is yummy. My kids love it. But what's especially nice is rubbing it all over yourself after you're done eating it. It makes you quite happy.

The weekend before school started we went down to the coast to go fishing offshore. It's a bit of a pilgrimage, I suppose. I miss The Gulf. I love San Antonio and trees and I want to live here, but I need to go out on the water more often than I get to. It feels like home. August is the best time, usually flat for going offshore. Not that day - 5 foot seas. Since Kyle gets sick in the bay and we had the kids with us, we decided to stay in the bay off the Liddy Ann channel. Andy and Katie took us out. We even got a sitter for Cullen so I could have fun (no offense, kid). But alas, the fish were not biting. Here is Seth with one of few fish caught - a skipjack that he reeled in. I am thrilled that my boys seem to love being out there as much as I do.

It was a beautiful day! Blue green water, blue sky, and lots of dolphins that day!

I caught the only keeper of the day - a redfish. Yum. I got him while Andy and I were wadefishing. Andy was great - he was patient and cast my line out for me and baited my hook at times (both things I am fully capable of doing, for the record. He was just being sweet). As a grown-up, a sister doesn't get much quality time with her brothers and it was great.
We also went cooning for Rock Crab. In case you don't know what that means, you put on a glove, muddy the water so the crab doesn't see you, stick your arm down his hole, yank him out (easier said than done), and rip off his claw. Then you throw him back. He'll grow a new one. This is the best food on earth and if you haven't tried it, I feel sorry for you. Roger and Andy got most of them, but I got a few. After feasting on crab that night with all Bennetts and Stringers, Roger and his family took Andy and the girls and Seth and I flounder gigging. Also one of my favorite activities. It was fun and exhausting and by far the latest Friggs has ever gotten to stay up - I figure he fell asleep in the canoe around midnight. But we only saw one 4 inch flounder. Boo! Nevertheless, we all had a blast. You may have noticed Kyle did not do many of these activities. Not because he wasn't interested, but because he's awesome. He knows how much I love these things and watched babies while I had fun. I married well :)
Friggs's first day of school. He is in first grade now and loving it. Doesn't he look adorable with missing teeth? And he lost another one that night. By the way, yes "Friggs's" is correct. A singular possessive should have " 's " even if it ends in "s". Sorry. I couldn't help myself. I'll stop now. Blake's 3rd birthday cake! He loved it, talked about it all week. Was so excited to see it. It turned out very well, thanks to the buttercream icing recipe I used. It's much easier to make the star things (don't know the term...) than to make smooth icing look good. I baked 2 13 x 9 cakes and Kyle cut the pattern out and arranged it - he drew it himself. I just iced it. We used mini marshmallows cut diagonally for the teeth. Success! This was my nicest looking cake yet.I will post pics of the birthday boy later! I need to take some new ones. He is changing - losing the toddler look.

Ever kissed a wad of frogs?

Blake has. Ok, I know I have more than the average number of posts about frogs, but come on, my boys adore frogs. They are perpetually catching them, so they make a good prop for pictures.

Here's Cullen's 1 year pics. The light was a little weird that day, so I'm hoping to get some better ones soon, but I guess they won't be 1 year portraits anymore!

A Post by the Dad

Kim has been hounding me to blog again, and I just never take the time to do it. I have been wanting to relate a great Blake story. Many of you have already heard it, because I tell it quite often when I'm speaking to people in the real world. It seems I have little else to offer people, as I am often asked, "So, what funny things have your kids done lately?" Well, here's a gem of a conversation I had with Blake a few months ago.
The back story is that Blake truly believes himself to be Superman. Their identities are one and the same to him. I came downstairs one morning to find him rummaging through the pantry, which is dangerous, as devotees will recall the garbage can footprint incident- that also happened when the pantry was mistakenly left open. He had pilfered a bag of Doritos from one of the top shelves by scaling them, and was happily munching away with cheese-dusted fingers when this conversation ensued:
Me: Blake, you know you're not allowed in the pantry, Sir.
Blake: Hi, Dad! I eat now.
Me: I see that you're eating. But that is not what we're having for breakfast. (I took the bag away and he squinted his eyes into a menacing glare and pointed a cheesy finger at me.)
Blake: Superman eat CHIPS a breckuss! (a breckuss means "at breakfast" for those who don't speak Blakenese)
It was, of course, one of those moments when it's completely impossible to keep from laughing. Justice can be swift, though, even if it finds you amusing.

What the ladies want...

Seth: Mom, I crack you up everyday, don't I?

me: Yes babe, you sure do! All the time. Do you know that's one of the major reasons I picked your dad? (then, backpedaling a little bit) Well, he was a Godly man and I knew he would be a wonderful father, but any guy I married would have had to be those things. Your dad made me laugh all the time.

Seth: And you picked him because he chewed with his mouth shut.

me: What was that?

Seth: Dad. When he was eating. He chewed with his mouth shut. Girls notice these things, you know...