Talmage's Great Idea

While I was upstairs showering Talmage had a great idea. He climbed on top of the fridge to get the paints down. Then he opened all of the little bottles and convinced Anya it would be a great idea to paint as much of their skin as they could reach. They then came upstairs with grins on their faces to show me how clever and cute they are. They did not get the reaction they wanted. I put them both in the tub before I realized I needed a picture for the blog. So they wouldn't think they were getting positive attention I told them I was taking a picture to show Dad when he got home so we could talk about the consequence. It took some time to wash all the paint off them and then I had to face the mess down stairs. It's too bad I had just gotten them all ready to go to my orthodontist appointment with me before I got myself ready.

View from the front-- it was much worse in person!

The back, I think Talmage tried to paint Anya's part in her hair and one of them put globs in Talmage's.

He finally had the decency to wipe the goofy grin off his face, at least while I took this picture. After that he thought the whole thing was so hilarious and the colored soap streaks in the tub were an added bonus. He thought it was like playing in a colorful mud puddle!

" I made my hair look beautiful"

While I was making phone calls to rearrange the primary board, Talmage got the basket of hair things off the shelf for Anya and then went down stairs to try to make himself some hot chocolate so that he could eat a big marshmallow.

When given the choice of which hair things to use, this is how Anya's did her hair.

She knew she looked beautiful!

Pictures in Gruene, Texas

When Aaron's parents and younger sisters were here we visited a little town called Gruene (pronounced Green). We loved seeing all the flowers in bloom and enjoyed going into a few of the shops. Anya got a mean looking plastic T-Rex that she named Polly and Talmage got a plastic army man set that he loves setting up on a map. His army's biggest threat is Anya and Polly. They can sure clear a battle field and cause Talmage hysterics at the same time. Talmage tried to sharing and let her set some guys up on the map but he just couldn't allow her to set up a giant wooden plane on the maps bridge, because it would be too heavy for the bridge to hold and the plane would fall into the river. Anya seeing it as a flat picture of a pretend bridge couldn't figure out what his problem was. So for this week, the army men have been reserved for quiet time when the kids are in seperate rooms and Talmage can play in peace.

Here are some pictures from Gruene.

Anya was please to pose for a picture by herself because lately Talmage is in the habbit of running pictures with silly faces.Anya and Aaron.
Talmage wanted to be in the picture but not part of the picture.

Anya and me.

Talmage and Anya making silly faces. Sometimes Talmage reminds me of my cousins David and Derek who couldn't help pulling ugly faces everytime the camera came out.
I wonder if it's genetic.

If it is, it looks like they got it on both sides.
This is Anya, Aunt Stephie, and Talmage on a nice wood swing outside on of the shops.

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday.Aaron and Talmage wore ties to match Anya's dress. I was just got lucky that what I was wearing matched for this picture. I look like I am winking becuase when I'm squinting in the sun I just can't get that one eye to open.
I'm going to look at this picture next time the kids are fighting and remember they do love each other. Better yet I'll make them stare at it for five minutes next time the fight so that they remember they love each other.
Talmage was practicing his bow. He says some day he'll play music for an audience and then bow after he's done while they clap.

April Showers

I thought we were fairly busy people with Aaron working full time, doing his masters part time and keeping up with the bishop as his Executive Secretary as well as doing the hard labor for my home improvement schemes (yard work and painting). I have been teaching Anya kindergarten and Talmage 1st/2nd grade at home, getting them to gymnastics and Talmage to piano, as well as trying to be a good Primary Chorister and making it to all my orthodontist and infusion appointments. Oh, some where in there I also try to keep the house clean and everyone fed and clean. Well obviously we weren't busy enough because our April showers turned into a down poor. I was just called as ward Primary President, Talmage took on another gymnastics class, Aaron is approaching finals, and someone just snagged us in the hall at church to ask our family to do a special musical number in sacrament meeting. All this and having Aaron's family in town for 9 days followed by a surprise visit with my cousin's family (who I haven't seen in nearly 20 years) that happend to be passing though San Antonio. I feel flooded.
On the sunny side I haven't had any negative reactions to my infusions and I'm starting to see benefits. I think with a few nights sleep and a few big Primary and stake meetings out of the way by the end of this week, I'll perk up just fine.