speaking of that...

Tony, since you brought it up, I wanted everyone to see how nice you look in yours as well...


(Yes, I know it's bad photoshopping. I'm no Pyro or Tohu...oh well.)

politically incorrect schooling

Here is Maggie in her (short i) I-I-Indian headdress. She cut out all the feathers by herself...and yes, that is glitter. It's a very glamorous headdress.

bruiser

For all interested parties, here's what the black eye looks like now...I'm sure this will be very attractive in the yellow and green stage.

blood, bruises and blades

The past twenty-four hours have been one of the more brutal days in my sixteen months of raising one of our very own Future Men. Sean tells me there are many more of these days to come, and that they will be even MORE difficult, but I'm trying not to think about that right now.

The events started last night after one28 as Cal was running through the gym, very excited about all the "dodo" (basketball) playing going on around him. He ended up tripping, and in kind deference to his hands, fell directly on his mouth. This seems to be Cal's favorite way to land, actually. He has already chipped one tooth, bitten his tongue badly a few times and split his lip more times than I can count. So of course, he started bleeding and was quite sad.

Okay, so that's not that bad.

So then this afternoon, after a morning filled with normal falls and bumps, Calvin somehow got Maggie to help him up on to Geet and Bop's bed so he could watch the one part of Mary Poppins that he likes (the dancing chimney sweeps, of course). I saw this, and being a wise mother, told Maggie to make sure he didn't fall off while I went to start lunch. This proved to be a bit too much responsibility than a Mary Poppins obsessed 4 1/2 year old can handle. Anyway, I heard a thump and by the time I got there, Cal had already gotten up, and seemed to be more angry than hurt (more motherly wisdom), so I told him to suck it up and be a man...which he promptly did. It was fifteen minutes later as I was feeding him lunch that I noticed the blood dripping off the back of his head onto his shirt. Here is a shot of his cleaned up head...


I guess this still isn't that bad, but I thought it was plenty for me. Apparently, it wasn't.

About a half hour after I cleaned him up, he and Mags were playing rather frenetically on the couch. Already having been proved as a wise mother today, I said something like, "Don't fall off!" and thought that should cover any sort of trouble. Nope. Calvin promptly fell straight off the couch, eye-first onto the coffee table. By the time I picked him up, the bruise was already starting. He was so sad he didn't even protest my ice application. The pictures don't really do the swelling and color range justice, but here are some different angles to enjoy...



That takes care of the blood and bruises - on to the blades! Sean's hard work is paying off...look at this grass!



The little feet aren't too bad either.

a picture for bop + gg

My parents are in Southern California for a few (2, 3, 4...5?) weeks, taking care of their lovely business, and it is proving to be difficult for our little Magpie. She misses them very much and talks about them constantly. Her major concern is that they won't be home for her birthday...which is in August. She probably doesn't need to be concerned about that, but it's still kind of funny. Anyway, she made this for them...


For those of you not fluent in MaggieArt, what you are seeing here is Bop and Geet's business (the house shaped object) as well as a few renditions of their car as they are driving there. The writing (she got a little help with the spelling) says "ItS FRoM MAGGIE GG Bod", which, when translated, means "This picture is from Maggie, GG and Bop". I thought it was very cute and sweet.

We all miss you, Geet + Bop! Come home soon.

remembering through goats

As most of you probably know, today is the one year anniversary of my father-in-law's death. In Sean's post today, you can read a little about the bittersweet time this is for him as he remembers his Dad. My sister-in-law has a great post as well. However, here at hobbsandbean, we are taking a straight-on happy approach to the memories...through goats.

Let me start with a bit of poetry...

The goat is still dead.

Being a wandering animal and being outside with the weather, gotchyer
was once again rain upon and got wet clear through to the goatee

We turn Gotchyer upside down to dry out but we were afraid that
the vulchers would come and devower poor Gotchyer.

- Dennis Higgins
(shared as originally typed)

For those of you who haven't made the happy acquaintance, here is Gotchyer, the lovely wooden goat, in all his glory.



My father-in-law had a somewhat strange affinity for goats, and I always think of him when I see them. As this anniversary approached, I was quite surprised to see the following photo opportunity present itself...


Yes, that is what it appears to be. Maggie, all dressed up, holding a baby goat...inside of a nice home...at a birthday tea party. This is something I have never seen, and something I know Dad Higgins would have loved.

Here we have an odd hand-off...a five year old birthday girl (in a dress made poofier by multiple tutus) handing my four year old daughter a goat...which I would have thought she'd be afraid of. Nope, she loved it. Maybe that is a strong Dennis Higgins gene that is present in Mags.



Calvin got in on the action too. He had an equal mix of terror and fascination. Terror of the goat's head and fascination with the rest of it. Annie's mom, Rhonda, is helping him be brave. As long as the goat was looking away, things were great.



I love that we have such a personal God who even set up this nice, tangible way for us to remember Dad Higgins.

enjoying the "happy easter" process

Now that I have my nifty new camera, I am able to share with you the process of getting our nice family picture. In my experience, it has never been easy to get even two adults to look at the camera properly, so adding in two children is even more exciting. Especially when one of them is Calvin.

Here we have a couple shots that I took to get it set up before I joined the group...in this first one, Calvin is looking to see if he is able to kick Maggie in the head from his current location.


Here Calvin is using his patented ninja move to avoid sisterly affection.


And now we move into a set of pictures showing a variety of faces from Mags and Cal once the real picture taking started...I'm not sure what face this is from Maggie.


Or this one from Calvin.


Here Calvin has gotten distracted by his tie...which he strongly disliked. Maggie is getting wiggly.


Cal is not showing off his tie here, but attempting to rip it off. Maggie is being sweet.


And here, after realizing that the tie is not going to rip off, Calvin has decided to try chewing it off.


I think maybe this is an annoyed face because we made him stop chewing on his tie. Maggie has gotten tired of the picture taking and is hopping.


I have never seen Calvin make this face. I don't know what it is.

happy easter

By the way, for all of you that have been complaining about the lack of pictures of the entire family, HERE IS ONE. Enjoy it.