A game called catch up . . .

Wow--this is the longest blogging funk I've ever been in. I apologize to all of my loyal fans (hee hee--no, I don't REALLY think that much of myself!) who have been waiting more than 3 weeks for an update on mi familia. Hang with me and I'll give you the rundown!

I really don't know where to start, so picture it: A cold Friday night in downtown Oklahoma City. My BFF Steph and I had decided that we would drag our munchkins and our hubbies out into the freezing cold tundra of our awesome downtown area called Bricktown. We have what's called "The Canal"--almost like the Riverwalk in San Antonio, but we didn't want to copy them, so the city officials came up with the boring name of "the canal"--and they (not sure who they are, but probably some city workers) transform the area along the canal into a winter wonderland (the critterboy's term for Christmas lights) of lights and give all the crazy nutjobs like us free water taxi rides to enjoy it. Here's how the schedule was supposed to go and how it actually went:

6:00pm - arrive and park in the far northwest corner of the Bass Pro Shops parking lot; begin to bundle up the munchkins who have no idea just how cold they're going to get; meet up with BFF and fam; exchange pleasantries, etc. etc. (this part actually went as planned)

6:05pm - depart said parking lot on foot toward Zio's, where our name is "on the list" for a table. Freeze all tushies off on the looooonnnngg walk to the restaurant. (this part also went as planned--we're off to a good start!)

6:15pm - arrive at Zio's. The kiddos are really hungry. Tell them we're there and that our table should be waiting. (But wait, the rude hostess actually said that being "on the list" doesn't mean you have a table, it just means that you get to wait the wait time they gave you on the phone, 30 minutes, instead of the current wait of 45 min. to one hour. Ummm, no. Not gonna happen with the cold screamin' mimi's--mine, not Steph's. Lo and behold they called our name almost after the clueless chick got me all riled up) Woo hoo! We're still on track! (But wait again, we drew the short straw and got stuck with the slowest of slow waiters. Ugghh!) What should have been an hour in the restaurant ended up being almost 2 hours. Oh well--it gave us lots of time to talk, and gave the other patrons of Zio's the opportunity to experience Miss Priss Pants' blood curdling screams, which she uses indiscriminately to express happiness, excitement, hunger, fear, sleepiness, you name it! It's only fair that others suffer hearing loss, too, right?!

My suggested timeline (yes and no, I'm that crazy--I'm really pretty flexible) got all messed up due to the lonnnnngggg meal ordeal, so we headed straight for the water taxi, again on foot in the freezing cold. Guess what--the elevator down to the water level was broken. We carried the sweet sissy priss's stroller down the steep stairs. As luck would have it, the water taxi makes a stop at Bass Pro Shops, so our crew decided to cut it short and get off while the gettin' was good. The kids loved seeing the lights. Sissy priss, who loved being held by her "aunt Steph", stared and said "ooooooooh" at all the lights. The other kids were old enough to know how cold it was and still had a good time! I'll call that a success . . .

We headed into Bass Pro so the kids could see Santa. It was a hoot, as you would imagine it would be. I even managed to completely, panickingly lose the critterboy for a few minutes. I hope that NEVER happens again! It really was a great night--hilarious and nuts just like most of our family outings. I realize every time I see BFF Steph how much I miss her. What a great family that I'm blessed to be friends with!

Then, later that weekend the critterboy and I made daddy-o a birthday cookie. It's hard to believe that he's the big 34 now--a far cry from the 19 that he was when we met! I think the cookie turned out great if I do say so myself! As if that weren't fun enough for one weekend, I also had the bright idea to make a gingerbread house with my little man and daddy-o. I didn't factor in how much waiting the little guy would have to do while we got the icing on. I also didn't factor in the fact that 3 year olds, even the bright ones like my little guy, don't understand why they can't eat all of the candy that is supposed to go on the house. I can't blame him, though, so when he got bored with it, we let him go play while we finished the house. It was fun, and while I'm a total perfectionist and wasn't super thrilled with my skills (or lack-there-of) over all, it turned out pretty nicely.

We've been so busy having fun, getting ready for Christmas, that there's so much more to share. La princesa is doing well--working on cutting several teeth and is Miss Crankypants quite a bit lately. She's walking so fast that she's almost running and has finally mastered the step down into our living room. She's amazing to watch--it's hard to believe that she's even the same girl that we brought home nearly 7 months ago.

The critterboy is mostly potty trained, too! Yay! We sent him to "school" last week in underwear (Batman and Lightning McQueen are the current faves) and lots of pairs of sweatpants. A few accidents the first couple of days, then viola! Virtually no accidents, and he's even waking up dry some mornings. He says "my tank was full!" every morning when he goes. I'm beyond proud of him. I always knew that he would do it when he was ready and I guess the time was finally right. I'm happy to not have to buy diapers for two kiddos, but I have to admit that I'm a little sad that this last little bit of babyhood is nearly gone. I can't help but wonder what's next for him--he's an amazing little critter, to be sure!

There'll be more soon. For now, though, here's some Matthewspeak to tide you over.

Crosty the Snowman--I love love love how he says crosty for frosty and crozen for frozen. I'll miss it when he starts to get them right.

Lazin hot--I always tell him to blow on his food because it's blazin' hot. He leaves off the b and says lazin!

And, he sings Jingle Bells. I need to get this on video--it's really that great! Instead of "oh what fun . . ." he says "oh much fun . . ." and he sings it with so much gusto! I don't know why, but it makes me fall over laughing and beam with pride at the same time.

Hopefully I'll have another update before Christmas. If not, I hope you and yours have a safe and wonderful Christmas!