It's been an odd weekend here, with 3/5ths of the family heading to Houston, and big kid and I staying put to eat way too much Italian food.

Cotton headed to Houston with her Aunt and cousins, because Aunt decided it was time to try to outrun the cedar. Rone and Chance followed this morning, because Rone was horribly sad about missing a chance to play with the cousins, and Chance has had his fill of pollen-related nonsense as well.

Today Seph and I were on our own, and after a lazy day of reading, we went to the bookstore, because we both needed to add books to the stacks in our 'to read' piles. Mine is only two feet tall, and was feeling small and neglected. Then I took her to one of my favorite restaurants in town, Vespiao, where she ordered calamari and pizza (yes, Mom, she ate bait. deep fried, delicious, bait). Then I started her on Sherlock, so she could get caught up and watch the new season with me. I'll have to go ahead and watch tonight's episode without her, but I think she can catch up.

Earlier in the weekend we went to The Salt Lick with friends. We were 18 people, so filled two big picnic tables. It was wonderful to give all the kids (9 in all) their own table and let them sort out their own all-you-can-eat-bbq situation. I vastly prefer this to the trips where making sure I got a rib before everyone grabbed them was tricky because I was also feeding a baby a pickle. But pickle baby faces were pretty funny, so I guess it evens out. The whole place was enormously busy--we parked further away than we ever have, the wait was an hour and a half, and the subdivisions popping up all along the way are still surprising to me. Here's hoping we can still get a table someday when our 25th anniversary rolls around!

Rone:
This tastes like expired peanut butter with mustard in it.

What's thinner, a piece of paper or a cat's whisker?

Cotton:

Grandma. Nanna. Puppies. Flowers. Grandma. Nanna and Papa. Puppies. Flowers.
(she repeated this after ripping her big toenail off. she was 'thinking good things because it hurt a lot'. it was just that precious.)

Can I have candy?
(the entire month of December. kid is candytastic.)

Seph:

I'm going to the mall to see Frozen.

(three times and counting...)

Our house has started the new year with a solid two weeks of coughing. I love Texas, but cedar is now at the top of my 'Plants I Hate' list. Poison ivy's decades-long reign is over, due to being stationary and thus avoidable. Cedar has me doing things like searching 'nasal irrigators' on Amazon. Like I need Amazon sending me 'Products You Might Like' emails about swishing out sinus passages for the rest of my life.

Happily, the kids seem mostly unaffected. I'm hoping to convince Cotton my sneezes are a superpower.

The first half of the school year has been exciting for Seph. Dance, choir concerts, the school play, and a big trip to Arkansas all combined to keep her very busy. When she isn't doing one of those things, she likes to go to the mall with her friends, or go anywhere they'll let her order a chai tea latte. I'm not entirely certain what's in one of those, but it makes her happy to have one, and happy is good.

Rone and Cotton are both still going to wilderness school. After the floods this fall, the park they meet in changed a lot, so there was more to explore than expected. Cotton is going to Scottish country dance after a few months of ballet, and is hoping to get to go to a ball. Yes, there are balls!

Rone, in a complete capitulation on my part, is doing a class on the Minecraft Homeschool server. Some wily parents realized that other parents will pay $10 a month to have vague assurances that a few hours of the many spent playing Minecraft involve a bit of learning about history. This is genius, and should make them very wealthy.

The holidays were busy, but it was nice to have everyone home. School had a two week break, and Chance took several days off to spend with us (when football wasn't on). We had Christmas dinner with friends (friends that cook prime rib are the best kind of friends), followed by games for the grownups. Chance played Pictionary, despite it involving getting off the couch and drawing at a child-sized easel! He had to draw six things, he was so good at it! We also played Cards Against Humanity, which has us all laughing until we cried. The box advertises itself as a card game for horrible people, and apparently we're all horrible because we had a great time.

I took the kids for a daytrip to Corpus Christi, which really is not far at all. The drive involves I35, so it's not ideal, but 3 hours is a completely reasonable daytrip range for us. There's an aquarium with lots of critters to touch, and the cutest tiny jellyfish!

Wise Words from Cotton:
Me: "Did you like your Twinkie?"
Cotton:"Yeah, but I didn't eat it."