Grandpa Sandler

After an emotional week of updates from my mom and Bernice, Grandpa passed away last night, just weeks after his 87th birthday.

This photo was taken just a few short months ago. During the past several years, we were able to visit quite a few times. He showed us around the University of Miami, where he spent over 30 years as an English professor. Aurora got to meet him three times, and he was so happy to spend time with us - such a loving man. I remember him being just as sweet to me when I was little. He'd write letters all the time and would draw a little stick figure of himself with arms reaching all the way up and around the whole paper saying "I love you this much!" He was also very generous. When I finally decided to go back to college, Grandpa & Bernice sent money for books every semester, and that encouragement really helped get me through to where I am today.

Robert Sandler lived a good life and contributed so much to our family and society through his teaching and writing. He will be missed, and our trips to Florida will not be the same...

Costumes & Cookies

Our weekend started with a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol. When I told Aurora we were going to a play, she was certain I meant playground, which made her very happy. I quickly realized how much meaning the word "play" has for her, so I tried to explain that going to a play was like going to the movies, but with people on stage wearing costumes. "We get to wear COSTUMES!?!?!" Noooo, WE don't wear costumes, the actors on stage wear costumes. Anyway, this was at a children's theatre and we both enjoyed it, despite it being sold out so Bailey couldn't come in with us, and Aurora coming down with a fever.

Today Amelia came over and we made Christmas cookies. It's always fun having Amelia over, and our cookies were very cute and tasty.

Every time we mention Christmas, Aurora gets excited about seeing Grandma Nancy. We'll be heading to Arizona in just a couple short weeks! So, we found a way to get Nancy involved with the cookie-making as well...

As much fun as we had, this was a tough weekend. Aurora didn't eat or sleep well with her fever (though she seems to be doing much better today), and my thoughts have been with my family in Florida ever since hearing that my Grandpa suffered a severe stroke just a few days ago. Sending love and hugs across the miles to Bernice and my mom during this difficult time.

Grown-up Party

Last weekend was our LIVESTRONG holiday party. When I told Aurora we were going to a party she got SO excited! "We're going to a party!? Is it a birthday party!?!?!" I told her that it was a grown-up party and she sternly replied "I don't believe it." Well, believe it! Babysitter, dress, heels, valet, alcohol, friends, and the photos to prove it.

Oh, and did I mention the view? We were at the highest vantage point in Austin, the top of a new high-rise called the Austonian.

Bailey got the space, food, flowers, and photographer donated and everybody had a great time. I'm not sure Chuck's holiday party can compete this year, but it will be at the W, another swanky new downtown high-rise, so we'll see!

Tangled

This morning we took Aurora to see Tangled, a new animated Disney film about Rapunzel. I think it's safe to say she was excited...

It was a cute movie! Afterwards, I decided to go with the theme and give Aurora her first haircut.

It's not that her hair was getting too long, but there were little whispies that kept getting in her eyes and the back was beginning to slightly resemble a mullet. I just trimmed up the bangs and back, and Aurora cooperated beautifully. Here she is showing off a little chunk of hair we chopped.

I considered cutting it even shorter in an effort to tame the frizziness, but I think the longer it gets the better it will fill in. I feel like I should put gel in it to try to get her nice curls back, but I'm pretty sure she'd hate that. Ah well, she's cute no matter what! 

Holidays

I was so glad not to have to cook, order, or assist with a Thanksgiving dinner this year, but once we came home I started feeling jealous of all my friends and their stories and leftovers, so this week I've been making up for it with mini-holiday meals. Of course, tonight's was a little different because it's the first night of Chanukah!

At school they've been asking the kid's questions and posting their answers on the door for us to see. On Halloween they asked what the class thought would be inside of a pumpkin, and the answers ranged from "dollies" to "daddy!" I hear they were pretty surprised when it was just slime and seeds. This week they've asked two questions: "What did you eat for Thanksgiving?" and "What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?"

Aurora's answers seem so silly - but they are correct! For the Thanksgiving question, she said "gummies." They actually had big gummy letters at our Thanksgiving buffet, and it was her favorite part.

Her answer to the Santa question was "candy canes." We took a picture with Santa last week, and when he asked what she wanted, she noticed the big bowl of candy canes and that's all she could come up with!

It seems that this holiday season Aurora's really starting to remember the little details and traditions that I hope will continue. Not that I was planning to have gummies at the table every Thanksgiving... 

Road Trip!

This Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to continue our Texas road trip adventures with a drive up and around the Dallas Fort Worth area. Aurora's already been to San Antonio and Houston, and we've driven through El Paso a few times, so it was fun to experience more of this great state with our little Texan. She napped and played pretty well both ways, and for a very recently potty trained girl I am pleased to report that we had NO ACCIDENTS!

We headed up the scenic route for a stop at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, TX. It was freezing and I only had my flip-flops, but we still had fun exploring the area.

Then we made our way up to the Great Wolf Lodge. This is a HUGE hotel, complete with water parks, kid's clubs, and a fully loaded Thanksgiving buffet. The first afternoon we just ate and scoped everything out.

The next day we hung out at the water park. I didn't take the camera in with me, but it was pretty impressive. Aurora was a little young for a lot of it and she does not like being splashed in the face, but we had fun. Check out this hair!

Her favorite part of our stay had to be the clock tower show. We saw it three times.

We also took some time to explore Main Street Grapevine, which was so cute and all decked out for Christmas. 

Before heading home, we made a stop at Dealey Plaza to see the Sixth Floor Museum in the Texas School Book Depository. They didn't allow photography inside and Aurora really wasn't that into the whole museum thing, but what a cool place to be. The "grassy knoll" is actually labeled, and there are X's on the street where the shots hit.

We're home now, and while our hotel room (and Aurora's cute bunk bed cabin area in particular) was really nice, and it'll be good to sleep in our own beds tonight.

Better

Today I took the day off and scheduled as many people as I possibly could to come over and fix up the house.

At 9am a guy came over to repair the carpet at the bottom of the stairs, where Tater started peeing once we brought Aurora home from the hospital 2 1/2 years ago. At 10am a crew came over to replace the flooring in the downstairs bathroom, where the toilet has been leaking and causing the wood to warp. At 10:30am a couple came by to pick up our old couches, thanks to craigslist. At 1pm our new sofa, love seat, and ottomans were delivered, and at 2:30pm the plumber came by to fix and re-install the toilet.

I thought about posting more pictures, but the truth is - there's nothing extraordinary about the changes. We just took what was bad and made it better. But what a transformation. No more pee smells, no more damage, and check out our nice new couches! This picture does not do the room justice. The new furniture is the same color as our old set, but we went with a leather blend which is so luxurious and should be much easier to clean.

Of course, this blog would be incomplete if I didn't pay homage to the reason we were able to fix up the house today. Our little companion of almost 14 years is no longer with us. Aurora didn't even notice Tater was gone at first, but yesterday she came home and started calling her name. I asked her what she wanted, and she looked at me with sadness in her eyes and said "Tater is gone - she is not in the house anymore." I gave her a hug and we moved on. I did love that cat, but I it was her time and I know that it was for the best.

Rest in Peace Tatum Wadey, 1997-2010.

Giving Thanks

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving week already. It'll be a short but busy week, and while it's 80 degrees in Austin, it's snowing in other parts of the country and everybody seems ready for the holidays! So, what are you thankful for this year?

I am thankful for my job, and all the great friends I'm so lucky to work with. Here's a cute picture from our Thanksgiving potluck. Yes, that's wine we're drinking.

I am thankful for my sweet daughter, and for our weekends together. My friend Jennifer recently invited us to a party where we made little hand-turkeys with our kids. Look at this gorgeous smile!

I'm thankful for our home, and all the little improvements we're making that you'll see on my next post. At school they asked Aurora what she's thankful for, and she said "Mommy and mommy's house." So, I guess we're on the same page!

And of course, I'm thankful for our family. We won't be spending Thanksgiving together this year, but we'll be thinking about you this weekend. I wish you all a happy holiday weekend - and an early Happy Birthday to my Grandpa Sandler!

Games

Chuck spends his time designing them, and I spend too much time playing them.

Lately I've been addicted to FrontierVille on facebook. It's not a game Chuck worked on, but it was developed by his company. Aurora likes playing the "farming game" with me because I've created a little mommy, little daddy, and a little Rora who says "Yes Mom!" when you click on her. Here's what my frontier looks like right now. Can you see our little family?

I'm really excited because I just got Thanksgiving missions to complete! If you're thinking this sounds like a gigantic waste of time, you're right.

We'll be heading up to the Great Wolf Lodge for Thanksgiving, but if we were staying home I'm pretty sure we'd spend the entire weekend playing video games on our X-Box. We just bought the Kinect, which is basically a component that allows YOU to be the controller. It recognizes your body and movements, so you play by jumping around and being goofy. I expect to share many silly pictures and videos from this in the coming months and years, as the console actually takes pictures of you playing. They come out something like this:

We need a couple more Kinect games so that we can bowl, dance, and workout in our living room. Until then, I'll be planting crops on my frontier...

Videos

I've been trying to upload a bunch of videos for a few days now, but technology has not been my friend. While you won't get to see Aurora playing the drums or singing along to Rock Band karaoke, or dancing with the Delivering Happiness girls at the UT tailgate, I finally got a couple of shorter clips up on youtube.



This weekend Aurora was able to get a lot of her sillies out at Rolly Pollies, a new little gym in our area. She was invited to a classmates birthday party, and for the most part this place was just chaos! Imagine spending an hour and a half with 15 toddlers screaming, jumping, bouncing, climbing, and running around like crazy. They had a bounce house and some other standard fun, but they also had balance beams, trampolines, and a zip line. The idea of putting a 2-year old on a zip line made me pretty nervous at first, but Aurora really wanted to try it, so I asked the employee to be gentle and off she went!



That might be the best I can do with videos for today, but I'll post more pictures and stories later in the week. One thing at a time!

Time for a change

This weekend we actually have nothing on the calendar, but that doesn't mean we aren't staying busy. Our first order of business was changing Aurora's crib into a big girl bed. 

Not only is she doing great with potty training, but she's getting so big that I've been struggling to lift her in and out of the crib - which was pretty easy to convert into a daybed. We decided that if she's going to have this kind of freedom, we might want to start closing the door - then realized her door could lock from the inside! Chuck changed the lock, and after just a few minutes she had this opening and closing the door thing figured out. 

I spent a good portion of the morning cleaning out Aurora's closet until her nursery was fully transformed into a big girl room, then we headed out to get new tires on my car. 

Tonight is the time change, and I'm so glad it'll be light again in the mornings. It's been hard waking up in the dark! I still hope Aurora will sleep in tomorrow. There's always a chance she'll be banging on her door, taking off her jammies, wandering through the halls in the dark to go potty, and ending up in our room at 6am. She did fall asleep without any problem, so it's possible this crib-to-bed transition will go smoothly! But, I'm prepared for whatever the morning brings...

Doing it.

I know I've focused the last couple of blogs on Halloween, but I have to say... a lot more happened this weekend than just Halloween.

A couple days after my last post about Aurora having accidents while potty training, the accidents stopped! At first she was just holding it in. She didn't really want to use the potty and her nighttime diapers and nap-time pull-ups were very wet. Then suddenly, she got it! The craziest thing is where and when she got it. 

We went to a tailgate before a UT football game on Saturday, and I decided that if we were going to be serious about potty training, we should go about our weekend plans with confidence. She wore her undies, and I didn't bring pull-ups or a change of clothes. An hour or so into it, I asked her if she wanted to try going in a port-a-potty, and she said yes! We went in, laid out some toilet paper and set her up on the toilet seat. I was really afraid that I'd be stuck kneeling down in the hot stinky out-house for a long time as she tried and tried and tried, but in just a few seconds she said "I doing it! I doing it!" and low and behold, she was doing it! She did it! I was so proud!

She peed in the port-a-potty with ease twice during our outing, and if she can do it there, she can do it ANYWHERE. And she had no problem sitting on a big toilet seat - at a restaurant, the book store, wherever we went. For 4 days now she's been able to tell me when she has to go, and go! No more accidents. The last two mornings she's even woken up with a dry diaper, which is pretty impressive.

We also had fun with our friends at the LIVESTRONG + Delivering Happiness + UT tailgate. We all wore name tags that included a spot to write "something a little weird that makes you happy." Mine said place mats. Aurora's said UNDIES!

I have a couple of cute videos to upload, but I'll save those for another day. For now, I'll leave you with this... "Hook'ems!!!"