Yes, it's been WEEKS. But we've been busy living. I only have a few minutes, but to cap off the Staycation posts, here are a couple of pics:

We took Sunday off (mostly) for our date (too tired to drive downtown, we went to Z'Tejas, which was wonderful, and then to the movies).  Back to work furiously Monday morning.

First step:  paint the epoxy on the floor.  Then you toss these confetti paint chips up into the air so they land in the epoxy and create a speckly texture on the floor.  Paul and I both had a little too much fun with the confetti throwing so when we got to the last section we were running kind of short, so the speckles are kind of skimpy there.  But who cares, it's a garage.  This process took us all the way up to lunch.

 

 

This is what it looks like!  It had to cure for 8 hours, so we had lunch, hauled some old motor oil to the recycling center/dump (spared you a picture of that), got a frosty cold beverage at Sonic, came home, Paul made phone calls to various places and planned out where the shelving would go, and I cleaned the bathrooms (spared you a picture of that too).  Around 8:00 I started painting the garage and Paul made YET ANOTHER Home Depot run and then came back with a pizza.  So we had a date.

Aww...This brought back memories of our pizza date the first night in this house.  We had closed on the house on Dec. 23, 1999, and were not moving in until after the Christmas holidays.  So that night after closing we packed for our trip, left our apartment, brought a pizza to the house and ate it in the living room, and then slept on the air mattress in our new master bedroom.  The next day we got in the Ford Probe (yeesh, remember that clunker?) and skidded all the way up to Edmond in what was one of the worst ice storms we've ever seen.  Ah, memories.  But I digress.

I took this picture around 12:30 am.  Paul got all of this shelving up and we started moving stuff in as quickly as we could because of the threat of rain.  Actually, it's thundering right now (9:49 am Tuesday), and it's not all back in the garage, so I better get back out there and help him.  If it rains today, I am not sure how much we will get done on the wall, but at least we can say that we did a great job in the garage.

First of all, Happy 12th Anniversary to us!  Instead of a VA-cation, we are having a STAY-cation to celebrate.  Thanks to Freescale's delightful Mandatory Time Off Without Pay But Just Be Happy You Aren't Getting Laid Off program, we find ourselves with a week off.  And many thanks to Marc and Kandi for keeping the kids.  (Kids!  Mommy misses you and has cried every night so far!!!)

So here's what we have been up to so far.

 

We are building a path and flowerbed here in the backyard.  The path goes from the gate to the porch, the flowerbed retaining wall will have two separate tiers and will be up against the house.  If you look very closely you can see how Paul has strung the level lines between posts and marked the different levels of the stone wall.  Setup for this kind of project takes forever.  The light is because it is so dang hot he has been doing as much as possible at night.

 

Wow, that's a lot of stone.  Home Depot delivery ROCKS.

 

Working hard.

 

 

Starting to look like a path!

 

Yes, that says 106.5.  Time to stop.  Move to the garage.

 

While he was working on the path, my job was to get all of this junk in the garage OUT of the garage.  Now some of it is on the back porch, some in the house, some on the front porch, some just behind the gate...well, you get the idea.  This is all so we could etch and epoxy the floors.  But sometime over the course of the day we had a discussion about what other things we might like to do to the garage, and how it made sense to do it all at once while everything was already out.  And that's how this happened:

If I look a little crazy, well, heat exhaustion does that to you.  It also apparently makes you spend another $600 at Home Depot. 

 

You probably can't see it, but the car is full of shelving for the garage, not part of our original plan.  (Home Depot also tried to tempt me into some wood flooring for my office, but Paul got me out just in time.)  Hey, if you're going to put everything back IN the garage, you might as well put it back into a freshly painted, properly shelved garage, with a beautiful epoxy floor.  So far this staycation is turning out to be one of the most expensive vacations we've ever had.  But we'll have something to show for it in the end.

We worked until about 1 am, but we got the entire thing primed, half of the floor etched, and then this afternoon Paul degreased and etched the other side.  So tomorrow (Monday) when it is all dry we can paint the epoxy on, and when that is dry enough to walk on, we can paint the walls (we are NOT painting the ceiling again, it can just STAY primer white!) a nice garage-y beige.  But tonight, since it is our anniversary and all, we are going to go out for dinner and a movie and forget about home improvement for the rest of the night.

Speaking of, my date is ready, so I'm signing off!

 

I know you have been anxiously awaiting part 2 of our Hawaii blog post.  So here it is at last!  Here we have the major activities we did on the trip, other than laying around the pool and beach at the resort.

1.  Scuba diving. 

Kari is a certified diver, this was Paul's first time.  He took a crash course in the pool and then they went out and dove about 20 feet down.  He saw amazing fish and got inked by an octopus.  I wish we had pictures of the underwater stuff.  This will not be his last scuba experience and his excited descriptions of it have convinced me to try it next time.  Kari went out a second time and dove the wall of Molokini, which is a crescent shaped rock between Maui and Kahoolawe.  You could see it from our villa.

 

2.  Road to Hana.

Hana is a little town on the northeast corner of Maui.  The road along the northern shore of the island has become a tourist attraction in itself.  It's long, winding, and the scenery is incredible.  Waterfalls, rugged beaches, black sand, wildlife, and some of the most amazing views on the planet.  Paul and I left the kids with the grandparents and made a day of it.  We hiked away from the road a couple of times to see some waterfalls (although there were spectacular ones right up against the roadway as well).

One of my favorite things on that trip was this blowhole in a lava formation at Waianapanapa State Park.  The water would come whistling out the top like a geyser.

 

3.  Aquarium

On a very windy day we decided to go to the Maui Ocean Center to do a non-swimming activity.  The kids loved it, Kate especially because a sea turtle waved at her.  We also went to a truly memorable "Mexican" restaurant nearby.  The food was not good but there was a guy with a guitar singing very loudly.  Good times.

Kate touched a starfish, that was cool too.  She was scared at first, but after Mommy touched it and described it, she gave it a try.  It was pretty bumpy.

 

4.  Golf

Paul and Marc played the Wailea Old Blue golf course.  They had a blast.  They did not hit any cars.

 

5.  Ate at restaurants.

This is us at Mama's Fish House for the big anniversary dinner.  Spectacular food.  They could even tell you who caught the fish that day that you were eating.  Kari even ate some fish!  Katelyn had fish and chips and loved it; she wondered why the fish she had tried before wasn't as good.  Umm, because, darling 4 year old, the other fish you had before was Gorton's Fish Sticks, not mahi-mahi caught that very morning.  Other restaurants we visited during the week were:  Ko at the resort, Nick's Fish Market at the resort, and Sarento's.  We also grilled out on the patio a couple of nights, which was nice.

 

6.  Helicopter ride.

This is a spot on the northwestern coast of Maui as seen from our helicopter.  We took a tour of the remote northwest shore and the 'Iao Valley and then over to Molokai.  My mouth hung open pretty much the whole time.  It's just so wild and rugged and unspoiled.

I wanted to climb out and go for a swim in this mountaintop oasis.  The pilot said that sometimes when they come by there are actually people up there.  There must be a secret passage or something, because this is on top of a huge mountain with no roads or obvious trails.  No one is really sure how the Hawaiian tribesmen would get up on top of the mountains, they are so rough, but apparently they used to bury their royalty up there.

Elephant Rock, just off the coast of Molokai. 

The steepest sea cliffs in the world, Kalaupapa Historic National Park.

The coral reef was clearly visible, and the old fishing pond walls from long ago.  The colors of the reef were vibrant and the water was sparkling.  These pictures don't even come close to representing that.

 

7.  Whale watching

Just hours before we left, we went on a whale watching tour.  Audrey slept through the whole thing in someone's arms either on the deck or down below, we took turns.  Kate, however, was totally in her element.  She loves boats.

A whale waved at her.  She's pretty popular with those marine animals.

We saw some sea turtles ("Honu" in Hawaiian) in their natural habitat.

And a happy little dolphin that played chase with us.  It was a really fun trip and a great way to wrap up a spectacular vacation.

 

Be sure to look at our flickr site to see all of the pictures!  If you can't access them, just remind me and I'll re-invite you.

I am finally posting about our trip to Hawaii!  Sorry it has taken me so long.  As you know I went to OK right before and right after going to Maui, so I've been doing a lot of catching up on basic life maintenance around here.  Now that we finally have clean clothes and some food in the house, I guess you would all like to know some of the details.  This will be a multi-post series!

We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, Maui, on the beautiful shores of Polo beach.  It was a wonderful family resort, full of other families just like ours, with great restaurants and amenities.  I'll give you the photo tour:

 

The beach at the resort.

 

Our villa - 3 bedrooms and a beautiful ocean view.  See the island of Kahoolawe in the distance.

 

The view from the back porch.  There was even a little pool so you could get the sand off of yourself after some beach time.

 

This was the main pool.  There were usually lots of people there; I am not sure when Paul got this nice calm picture.

This is pretty much Katelyn's idea of heaven.  She could not get enough swimming!

Audrey preferred the baby pool.  She focused on pouring and splashing.

 

The tannest we will ever be.

Sigh.  Can I go back there yet?

 

(Reality calls:  "Mommy!  Audrey is poopy!")

Part 2 coming soon!

11:00 am today:

1:00 pm today:

After it sat for 10 years in our garage, Paul gave the Camaro to my cousin Michael today.  This was definitely a win-win situation.  He is great with cars (plans to go to mechanic school in the fall, actually) and loves to fix them up.  I think we were both a little sad to see it go; we have many fond memories of our college life with this car, and it was Paul's uncle Shannon's, after all.  But we did not have the time or inclination to care for it as the classic it is.  It is time to embrace the new era, of carpooling and preschooling and really really living in this house.

We're going to completely clean out and organize the garage, but just for today, just because we could, we did this...

 

 

Farewell, old girl!

No pictures yet, but today Paul and I bought each other/ourselves our Christmas presents.  One of them was planned, the other was not.  Can you guess which is which?  (Bet you can.)

1.  The Xterra got 4 new tires, timing belt, seatbelt latch, new spark plugs and wires, gaskets, and other gizmos galore.  Seriously, it runs like a brand new car.  We're ready to take on I-35 and some Oklahoma snow (c'mon, snow!!)

2.  We got a new couch and recliner for the gameroom!  Paul is headed to La-Z-Boy in a few minutes to sign the papers and schedule the delivery.  We are really looking forward to actually being comfortable while watching tv.  The green couches, God bless 'em, lasted 10 years, but they weren't much to begin with.  We got them at the Room Store, they were the nicest we could afford at the time.  In the last couple of years they have declined to the point that when you sit down there is a thud as your bottom hits the wooden frame.  We switched out the loveseat to be directly in front of the tv (although this looks funny) because it had more padding left in it.  The loveseat is going to find a new home in Paul's office as soon as he gets it cleared out (he's pretty motivated now, with the new couch coming).  The old couch is going to find a new home via Goodwill or Salvation Army.

So anyways, a not-glamorous-but-very-expensive Christmas, and we are thrilled and thankful.

BTW I have to add that the children were spectacularly well-behaved at the furniture store, which must be absolute torturous boredom for a child.  Especially Audrey, who has another ear infection.

So in mid-October we all went down to Panama City Beach to celebrate "Hooper and Jake's" wedding.  Hooper is Paul's dad (Hooper is one of those last names that makes a great nickname, you know) and Jake is his old-flame-turned-new-bride (Jake is a nickname as well, but it has become permanent, to my understanding).  Some of Paul's aunts and uncles plus his sister Kari were able to make it too so it was kind of a mini-family reunion.  We don't always make it to Lawton, OK during the holidays at the same time that everyone else does, so it was nice to see everyone.  What a gorgeous place!  It was a whirlwind, though.  We flew out Friday morning, got to Pensacola around 3, rented a car and drove to PCB, had dinner, then crashed.  Saturday we took the kids to Gulf World, lunch, Audrey and Mommy nap/Kate and Daddy on the beach, rehearsal dinner, crashed.  Sunday more time on the beach, then the wedding and reception, then we drove to DeFuniak Springs to see Kelly and Joe and got in around midnight (we had two flat tires that severely delayed us but it all worked out in the end.) Then we hung out with them until mid-afternoon Monday, drove back to Pensacola, flew home, got in around 11.  We were TRASHED and I think it took us about two weeks to recover.  Here are a few highlight pics:

Kate got to touch a dolphin at Gulf World.

 

Playing on the beach!  Kate and Daddy were very serious about this sandcastle/fort.  Audrey mostly ran around pointing at stuff.

 

 

Audrey and Aunt Kari.  The kids adore Aunt Kari, and of course she adores them too.  Kari and I had a whole conversation over lunch about Katelyn's greatest quotes, some of which are now permanently in the family slang.  ("Oh, sweet pickles!"  "Yippee!"  "Dear God, thank you for my bottom which looks so cute on me.")

 

What a good-looking bunch of Hoopers!  Kari, Dad, and Paul.  Dad was so happy, it was great.

 

The Hooper kids and the Morris kids finally got to play together.  Here they are dancing and singing along with Veggie Tales.  They were so cute together!  We were so glad to get to see them even for a short time.  Kelly is my bestest friend and we are still joined at the brain thousands of miles away.  Joe was Paul's roommate for a while (now there are some funny stories I could share).  We have known them and loved them just about forever and still miss them every day.

Well, I must apologize for this bummer:  I know we got pictures of Jake and the kids together, but I guess they must have been with Kari's camera because somehow I didn't end up with any.  (Kari, if that is so, could you upload them to flickr so I can blog them?)  Like I said, it was a whirlwind.  Much of the time I was doing good just to make sure we were fed, dressed, and where we were supposed to be.  As usual I had to work in a few trips to Walgreens to treat various conditions (Paul had wicked heartburn, Audrey had a bleeding diaper rash).  The kids did fantastic, though.  They never cease to amaze me.  The lack of routine, constant attention, meeting tons of new people that want to hug them, different food, late hours, being schlepped about -- any one of these things can bring on a tantrum, and yet they both endured it all with minimal fuss or distress.  They were wonderful on the plane, they slept or watched a movie or drew pictures, and they were quiet and obedient.  (So why is it that at home, if I don't have any bananas to serve with breakfast, they go absolutely psycho?  Hmm....a question for the ages...)  Anyways, I was proud to be their mommy, as I always am.

 

 

So Brandy tagged her blogging friends thusly:

Go to your picture file on your PC.
Go to your 4th folder.
Pull up the 4th picture.

(I obeyed the "tag" rules to find the picture, but it is linked via Flickr so I didn't have to resize it.)

Ok, here it is:  July 2005, Katelyn age 7 months, with Paul in some random park in the south Houston area.  We were on our previous trip to Florida, which I find ironic since we just got back from there.  We had stopped to play at this park and take a break from the car.

Wow, she's so little!

I will blog soon about our more recent trip to Florida and Halloween.  Flickr and I are working hard today getting all of the pix uploaded.  I don't like the new flickr uploader at all, it never seems to get all of my pictures in one go.  Plus I have to do it when Paul is not on the computer or else I'm hogging bandwidth. 

 

Ok, it's taken me 3 days, but I finally have all of the 4th of July pictures up on Flickr.  (well, the ones that didn't get corrupted by accident, but that's another story.  Paul is fixing them in photoshop.)  Anyhoo, they are up.  Now I just have to go backwards and get the pix from our trip to Edmond up there (the ones I took in June).

We had a great time.  The kids especially had a blast with Papa D. 

Kate isn't sick; she has blue lips because she was eating a blue sucker.

Fireworks are fun! 

So happy!

Audrey wasn't sure about the horses.

Can't wait til next year!

 

 

So we just got back from a weekend in Dallas celebrating Kari's birthday, which was lots of fun, even though Audrey was sick and was a real handful at times.  I took her to the doctor today (3rd time in a week I have been to the pediatrician, 5th in two weeks) and poor thing has a DOUBLE ear infection and perhaps a little touch of pneumonia.  Antibiotics and more decongestants were prescribed.  In spite of that I think she actually was feeling a bit better today, as she slept in her own bed last night (until 8 this morning!) and actually had a little appetite this afternoon.  Seriously, why have my kids been so sick?  I just finished giving Kate her antibiotics for HER ear infection on Sunday, and then today started more for Audrey.  It is Audrey's second ear infection in two months, so if it happens again soon, I think a trip to the ENT will be in order.

This Friday Kate is having her birthmark removed, so we would appreciate your prayers.  It is outpatient but they do use general anesthesia.  We'll keep you posted.  I'm not really sure what to expect.

If Paul will help me fix the camera numbering thing, I'll post some pictures.  Until then, they are held hostage on the memory card.  Sorry.  He's been kind of busy, you know.  He got home at 8:30 tonight, we put the kids to bed, talked for a little while, and then he started working on REALife group stuff for tomorrow night.  But so it goes.

Ok, the long awaited (9 days) picture of my new haircut.

It's short in the back.  I was told this is called "The Posh" in reference to a particular famous person, but that's not why I asked for this haircut.  I just thought it was cute.  It goes nicely with my personal sense of style which also includes Infrequent Shampoos and Baby Drool Crust on My Shoulder.

Speaking of baby drool, look at this flirty little girl:

That's Audrey making eyes at Luke, Lauren's little brother, on a baby playdate.  I think she thought it was a real date.  She LOOOOVES him.

Audrey also has recently sprouted two top teeth, and two more are on the way in.  This accounts for much of the sleep trouble, I think, and will probably cause more for a while.  She's been pretty clingy.  She is learning how to eat all kinds of things and occasionally gets food in her mouth.

She's a feisty little thing!  And she turns nine months next week, so I'll have to update again soon.  Now, for this week's Kid Quotes:

Daddy: Hi Audrey.
Audrey, waving: Hi Daddy. 

--------

Katelyn (giving Audrey her cup): Here you go, Audrey.
Audrey: Taaaggg-ooooo. 
Katelyn:  You're welcome, Audrey.  (turns to Daddy)  She said thank you!

--------

Katelyn:  Mommy, dadh gooi hhe hoogok hllw.
Mommy:  I'm sorry, can you say that again, honey?
Katelyn, louder:  Djsll fooi whg jhkj aa.
Mommy, a little frustratedly:  Katelyn, I don't understand you.  Can you use your big kid words, please?
Katelyn, downright yelling:  MOMMY, SHOIGG WJ BOOHTW WATRKK FOSSSII PORU!!
Mommy, irked:  Alright, Katelyn.  I'll just wait until you are ready to talk like a big girl.
Katelyn, with dramatic sigh:  MOMMY, I'm speaking Spanish!

--------

(Katelyn has started calling us Mother and Father.)
Katelyn:  Hello, Father.
Paul:  Kate, I'm Daddy.  Why do you call me Father?
Katelyn:  Because I love you, Father!
Paul:  Aww, that's good enough for me!

Ok, to recap the Whirlwind:

10/30 Halloween party for 9 toddlers, 5 babies, and their parents.

11/10 Katelyn's birthday party, with out-of-town guests (Marc and Kandi).

11/14 Out of town guests Amanda, Brianna (3), and Beau (7 mos).

11/16 Tradeout of guests.  My parents arrive, Amanda leaves.

11/17 My First Thanksgiving To Cook extravaganza, went better than planned.

11/18 Katelyn turns 3, more out of town guests stop by (Jim and the boys), I eat soy accidentally and am unable to enjoy my Thanksgiving dinner.

11/19 No thanks to illness delays, David and Libba and Drew finally arrive.  Mom and I get some retail therapy.  Worship team rehearsal.

11/20 Mom and Dad leave.  Libba and I need more retail therapy.

11/21 I'm up all night sick again, and it's Kate's special day to go to Sea World.  David and Libba leave early.  I place a pathetic phone call to Crystal who generously gives me some of her nausea meds.  We go to Sea World anyways and have a blast.  It was worth it to see the look on Kate's face.

11/22 Thanksgiving Day!  Paul gets up with the kids and lets me sleep.  Bliss...

11/23 (today) up all night sick AGAIN.  I've had enough at this point so I go to urgent care and get a real prescription of my own. Today's plans include drinking Gatorade, laying on the couch, and knitting.

 

So now you know what we have been doing.  If I haven't promptly returned your phone call or email, now you know why.  :)  Maybe next week I will get to some Christmas shopping.  Pictures will eventually be up on Flickr.

Now, something I am thankful for:

Lots of stuff to share with you!  First up:  Audrey turned 6 months yesterday.  We took some pictures in the front yard and she was uncharacteristically stoic.

Audrey is usually our little ray of sunshine, don't let the pictures fool you.  Her current hobbies include drooling, shrieking, and kicking.  She loves having her clothes changed and when you pretend to eat her leg.  She is finally starting to appreciate being sung to.  She hates having her face wiped and being buckled into anything.

Next up:  we got some video of the two girls playing after dinner, both of them in their usual hyper state.  Paul translated the Kate-speak with subtitles!  Audrey only shrieks once or twice in the video, but prior to us turning on the camera the blood-curdling shrieks had been going on for about 15 minutes.  It puts a smile on your face and a migraine in your head all at the same time.  Anyways, observe the cuteness:

And in Mommy news, I wore my finished handknit tunic to church today.  It's made of bamboo yarn and I am very proud of it.  It was a big knitting challenge for me since I'm still a beginner.  Mom, thanks for all of those sewing skills, they really came in handy.  I wouldn't have been able to figure out the garment construction without them!

So I actually meant to post on our actual anniversary, June 28, but life intervened, as it has a way of doing.  Anyways:

This is Team Hooper, pre-kids.  (We look like people who sleep!)  We look happy because we are.  We have always been happy together.  If I knew how to use the scanner I would upload a picture from Long Ago, when we were first dating.  Long Ago we were children, foolish and head over heels in love, absolutely shocked that our parents did not share our certainty that we were soulmates.  (NOW we get it.)  We thought we understood "true love."  We thought we knew what it took to always be a team.  Then (this keeps happening) LIFE INTERVENED.  And it taught us a lot of things but inevitably confirmed what we suspected all along: that we are indeed meant to be together and we had better work hard to keep it that way.  So I'd like to just share with you 10 random reasons why I still want to be with this man every single day:

1. He really truly makes the best breakfast tacos in the world, and I don't really like eggs, but I can't get enough of these.
2. He doesn't let me boss him around.  (It's true.  I try every day.)
3. He actually called my knitting "an interesting part of you" and lets me talk about it in detail.
4. He came to every single boring endless flute performance I had in college and stayed awake for most of them.  (This is EXTREMELY hard to do, even if you aren't a sleepy person like Paul.)  Bonus points:  actually stayed until the end of the 70 minute Bruckner symphony.  I think there were 10 people left in the audience at the end of the concert.  (ask Kelly and Joe, I'm not exaggerating)
5. Everyone calls him for computer help and he never complains and always helps, no matter how long it takes.  And he takes time out at work for my stupid computer questions.
6. He gave me my sweet babies.
7. He always supports me in my crazy pursuits, be it songwriting, singing, teaching, Finale, Arbonne, knitting, you name it.  He encourages, finances, watches kids, whatever, and he pushes me to be the best but never makes me feel bad if I fail.
8. He knows that I like my coffee really strong with lots of cream and if he adds flavored syrup he only adds enough to give it a hint of flavor but not enough to make it sweet.
9. He brings home Serranos.
10. No matter what my body looks like (and believe me, 9 weeks postpartum, it isn't pretty) he has always genuinely and completely thought I am beautiful, and he tells me every day.  This amazes me to no end and reassures me that when I am old and decrepit he'll still feel the same.

See, Daddy, I told you he was perfect for me!

 

Yup, he did it:  Paul got a Wii yesterday.  Ryan called yesterday morning to let us know that they had some at Fry's, so Paul picked it up on the way in to work.  And now, he is playing tennis with Kate!  Really!  Here's the proof:

In non-Wii news, we are all a bit under the weather. I think Paul is almost over it but I have a sore throat and Kate has a super runny nose. Since the actual weather is rainy today, we will probably just lay around and play Wii all day. Baylor won't be feeling well either in a few hours. We were away from the breakfast table for a few minutes taking care of potty and diaper issues, and returned to find Baylor had eaten approximately a pound of bacon off of the table. That won't end well.

I uploaded a bunch of pics to Flickr today, including this, my new favorite:

My three favorite people. Happy Father's Day to the sweetest husband in the world!