Gotta Get My Nerd On!

Collin had his Pre-K Graduation on Friday! It was awesome, but I don't have the pictures ready from that one yet so that will be a future post.

On Saturday Collin and I went to Dallas Comic Con! It was pretty nifty. I've never been to a convention before and I wasn't sure what to expect. Everyone I interacted with was very nice. It sort of reminded me of the 6 hours I waited in line to get Star Wars Episode I tickets. (Hey you know we were ALL excited about seeing that at the time! :P) We met up with my friend Angela and her family and just had a geeky time. We saw lots of people in amazing costumes like this:

There were also some costumes that were not amazing at all, but that's okay too, it's all in good fun. There was a very realistic Klingon walking around, but I was a bit nervous to take his picture since they are known for their bad tempers. Most people were perfectly willing to pose for pictures if you asked them, but I just wasn't willing to ask.

I also met another friend at the Con for the first time. She helps with a podcast called Geek Fights and has been on several episodes, including the one I was on about Harry Potter. I felt like I was meeting one of my imaginary friends. :-) It's a bit different to be so used to someone's voice before you ever see their face. She was very nice and even had a light saber duel with Collin. Oh and by the way, where else call you tell someone, "I'll meet you at the T.A.R.D.I.S." ? How cool! Speaking of:

I need to hang out with nerds more often and in nerdier places. Since I surround myself with nerdy things like podcasts and 'imaginary friends' and movies/tv shows, sometimes I forget that my real life friends have no idea what I'm talking about half the time. I find myself having to make an effort especially at work to hold myself back from saying things that pop into my head because I know I will get the stares. While my work friends know better than to ask me what I thought about last night's American Idol, they get a glossy look when I bring up Star Trek. We just have to stick to general topics. It can be frustrating sometimes. For example, it was probably about 4 years ago on Doctor Who when it was revealed that Captain Jack was the Face of Boe. Timothy and I were so shocked and excited, but I didn't have anyone else that I could share that with. I started asking random people if they watched Doctor Who and not only did no one else watch it, but only one or two people had even heard of it! I'm grateful that I'm married to a nerd that, while he may not understand all of my obsessions, at least he understands what it's like to have nerdy obsessions. 

I'm also very proud of the two little nerds we are raising. Tonight we were watching Tarzan and at the part where he comes out wearing his father's black jacket Owen piped up, "Look it's Harry Potter!" I guess he thought it looked like a wizard robe. Maybe? Whatever his logic, I think it's great that he thinks of these things on his own. I think I may have mentioned before that Owen's favorite song has been (since he was 6 months old) the theme from Enterprise. They both recognize the themes from all the Star Treks, except maybe for Voyager. Collin knows how to say several of the spells from Harry Potter and his favorite show is MythBusters that he watches every week with Timothy. We try to mix it up and expose them to different things and let them discover what they like. Which is kinda what life is all about.

If you've made it this far, then I'm willing to bet you are a nerd too, whether you consider yourself one or not. It's not all about Sci-fi you know. You may be a cooking nerd, or a craft or sewing nerd. Maybe a music nerd or movie nerd. Leave me a comment below and let me know what kind of nerd are you?

Mommy and Owen Weekend

It's been awhile. Since I've last posted we have celebrated my birthday, Mother's Day, and our wedding anniversary. Nothing too fancy for any of them; we're pretty low-key. Timothy and I did get to go out for an evening by ourselves which is a rare treat. We saw Thor (awesome!) and went to dinner. It's always nice to hang out for a bit on our own.

This last weekend Collin and Timothy went on an overnight adventure to San Marcos to visit Inner Space Caverns. Collin was really excited to stay at a hotel. They had a great time and ate junk food and drank soda. I think the best story from that trip was when Collin drank an entire can of Dr Pepper on the drive down and shortly after started yelling that he really needed to go pee BAD!

Owen and I stayed home and also had lots of junk food! We visited grandparents in the morning. Then we went to Sonic and Owen had a fun time sitting in the front seat to eat.

And sitting on my lap. This is his "super cheese" smile.

We also went to Chuck E Cheese's and played some games, but he didn't want to stay too long. He was getting a bit overwhelmed after about 20 minutes. But I still think he had a blast!

Then we went to McDonald's for dinner because that's one of the 2 places he will eat and we had already hit up Sonic. I was grateful that they have good salads on the menu because I couldn't handle more heavy food in one day.

Of course we got ice-cream too!

That night I thought I'd give Owen a treat and let him stay up late. He always goes right to sleep at bed time which is 8:30, so I didn't think he would stay up too late. WRONG! I got him all ready for bed and we set up on the couch with pillows and blankets. An hour and a half later and he's still jumping up to dance with Mickey Mouse. We went to bed about 10:30 and he finally crashed at 10:45. Wow. Maybe I won't try that again soon.

Sunday morning we slept in until 7:00 and that was only because the cat decided it was time to get up and started screaming at us. So to continue with the junk food we went to our local donut shop for breakfast. Owen loves to go there and look through the case to pick which donut he wants.

Dad and Collin came home around lunch time and we all got back to normal. It was a good weekend.

Collin will be graduating from Pre-K this Friday. I'm so excited! We are going to have a little party at Cici's Pizza then head over to his school. He has informed me that he will be singing a song for the graduation. By himself. With a microphone. I'm going to cry. If Timothy manages to get it on video I will try to post it here for you all to see.

Lastly, Collin has not had a haircut since December and he's getting shaggy! He wants his hair to be as long as mine. (not gonna happen) We are trying to be open-minded parents and let him grow it out. I'll be happy when we can get past the awkward stage and get his hair to behave. Here's a pic from last night and his first real pony tail.

Easter, potty training, and funny stories

Easter weekend brought big storms to our area and our power went out about 3 A.M. Sunday morning. Would you believe that we didn't have a drop of rain at our house, just lots of wind. The outage only affected our street so the power company wasn't in a big hurry to fix it and it ended up being off until almost 5 P.M. which is about 15 hours!

First of all, it was no fun getting ready for church with flashlights and candles. I really had not planned on going with damp hair, but that's just how it happened. I'm sure God didn't mind. :) We didn't want to open the fridge to let any cold air out so we stopped for breakfast at McDonald's. Of course Owen spilled his apple juice on his new shirt, but that's okay. At least I thought to get him juice instead of his normal chocolate milk.

At church the kids behaved themselves pretty well and after we went to my In-law's house for brunch. It was very yummy because my mom-in-law is a great cook. The kids played and hunted eggs (for the 4th time that weekend) and a fun time was had by all.

We returned to a house that was still without power, so at this point we decided it was time to take action to protect all those groceries we had just bought the day before. Timothy went out for bags of ice and we filled up our ice chest with the freezer stuff. I was very thankful that I had finished the weekly laundry the day before just had a couple of baskets left to put away. While I did that, Timothy took the boys outside for a water gun fight. They had a blast! I should also mention that we were blessed to have lovely weather that day so we just opened all the windows and it wasn't too bad in the house.

The boys came in and got to have a bubble bath by candle light, which they thought was pretty fun. We don't normally have baths in the middle of the day. Some time around 2:00 Owen finally went to take his nap. I was surprised he made it so long without crashing, but I guess he was having fun. All day the boys kept forgetting (or more likely, not fully understanding) that most of the things they like to do take electricity. So they would ask to play a computer game, or to watch something, or why wasn't the light working when the switch was flipped. At one point Owen asked why he couldn't turn on the light and I told him because the power was out. He asked me when the power would come back in! He makes me smile! :D

While Owen and Timothy were napping, I took Collin to The Home Depot to finally see about getting a screen for Owen's window. Turns out, they don't make screens. You have to make it yourself. What?! I wasn't prepared for that, but heck, I'd already been 12 hours without electricity at this point and I was feeling up to the challenge so I bought all the things the man said I would need. We got home and I explored the instructions while Collin rode his bike on the sidewalk. Turns out you need a hacksaw to cut the metal bits and ours needs a new blade, so I wasn't able to make the window screen after all.

The coolest thing was that there were so many people outside, working in their yards, working on cars, or just sitting in lawn chairs because it was more comfortable outside that inside. Most of these folks I have seen passing by, but have never talked to. In this day and age we just don't visit as much as people used to. It was nice to have a chance to talk to some of these people. Around 4:45 an electric company truck came rolling down the street and my neighbor across the street flagged them down. After a brief chat the truck left and my neighbor announced: "They should have us up and running within 10 minutes!" There were cheers and such and it was a nice feeling to be part of a group. Owen was awake by this point, so Timothy decided to stay outside with the boys while I went in to start sorting the MASSIVE pile of candy the boys had received. The lights came on and I went out to tell my guys. The neighbors were all moving back into their houses too. Then it was over and I felt a bit like we had lost something that we had barely had a chance to discover.

I made dinner for the boys and we assessed that the only things that really needed to be replaced were the milk and yogurt so we were only out about $10. I know that seems like a lot for milk and yogurt, but Collin drinks soy milk and that stuff ain't cheap. I started the chicken and dumplins for Timothy and I (the boys haven't learned to like it yet) and then made a quick trip to the store for the milk. It ended like a normal day, but I think this was one of the best days I had had for a long time for many reasons I can't really describe.



On to other news! Have you heard those fantastic stories from crazy parents that claim that their child was potty-trained in a weekend? Yeah, I never believed it either.... until now, because that's what Owen has done!!! I'm so proud of him! I knew the little stinker was holding out on me because he has been going to the potty at school for weeks, but he would burst into real tears if I suggested he try at home. On Wednesday, when I picked them up from school, his teacher told him that if he would go potty for mommy that she would give him a surprise the next day. I was thinking she was insane. Not like I hadn't tried to bribe the kid! Also, he's 2. He's not going to remember something for a whole day, right? Wrong. He sat on the his potty that night, but there was no action going on. I was still impressed because that was more than he normally wanted to do. He didn't get a surprise from his teacher, but he got another reminder on Thursday when we were going home. That night he went potty before bed time! I was shocked! He was so proud of himself and kept reminding me that he would get a surprise the next day at school.

The rest is history. He has been going ever since then. All day Saturday and Sunday he did not have one accident and even woke up dry in the mornings and after naps! As I type this he is sleeping for the first time in underwear instead of a diaper because I think he has proven himself. I know there will be accidents along the way, and I could very well be up in the middle of the night to change wet sheets and clothes, but I'm okay with that. It's all part of the process and I couldn't be prouder of my baby!

Another funny moment this weekend when we went to Wal-Mart and we walked past the ladies section and Owen saw the bras. He pointed and said, "Mommy, those are just for girls, not for boys. But you have one under your shirt and that's funny!" Oh my! Embarrassing! I don't think anyone heard that one because I didn't hear any giggling, but it reminded me of the time when Collin was 2 and we were shopping at the same store. He had seen me nursing Owen since he had been born so he was probably more aware that most kids would have been. He saw a bra and said, "I know what that is." I couldn't help it, I had to ask what he thought it was called. He proudly responded, "A nipple holder!" I walked right into that one and there was no hiding it that time. There were about 2000 people standing right there that heard him. Maybe not really, but it seemed like it to me. Those silly boys! For the record, now when we pass that section, Collin covers his eyes and asks me to tell him when it's safe to look again. :-)

The Good Guys Always Win.... right?

I'm sure I'm not the one breaking the new to you that Osama Bin Laden has been killed in an attack by the U.S. so why does it seem like I'm the only one not cheering for joy? Don't get me wrong! I'm very happy that he will not be able to hurt anyone else, but I just find it a bit uncomfortable to be happy that someone was killed. Has liberalism crushed my sense of patriotism?

I just watched Obama's speech and there were two things that struck me. First, when he said something like, "All peace loving people should be jubilant at Bin Laden's demise." Am I being instructed by my president to be happy? I don't think I like being told what to feel. Then again maybe someone does need to tell me how to feel, because obviously I'm confused. Second, was something like, "When I was elected in 2008 I made it clear to the CIA and other intelligence that the death or capture of Bin Laden will be the top priority of this war." Again, those are not exact words, just how I remember it. So, what? Like Bush didn't care if he got the bad guy or not? Just thought it sounded like Obama was taking a bit too much credit on that one. I guess that's politics for you. It's such a mess! They all lie and twist their words; I hate it.

So did anyone watch William and Kate get married the other day, because that was lovely. In the words of either Fred or George Weasley, "Just trying to diffuse the tension."

Hope you all had a nice Easter. I hope my next post will be about ours.

By the way, in my attempt to leave political views off of Facebook, I'm not posting a link there this time. If you still happen to find this, I hope you're not too disappointed that there are no cute kid stories in this one. Sometimes it's just about me.