Here at the Andrews’ house, we like to think we’ve got the best Daddy ever. I thought it would be fun to ask the girls a little about why they love their dad. Here goes:

1. What is something your Daddy does better than most dads?

O (4.5 yrs): Let’s me do special stuff like gives me treats when Molly gets a treat for doing nice things.

M (2.75 yrs): Climbing walls (I think maybe that is what she said first) and going to bed.

V (1.75 yrs): Wawa.

2. What is one of your happiest memories with Daddy?

O: Eat candy, make fruit smoothies & snuggle with him.

M: Climbing up the wall.

V: Daddy!

3. What is your favorite thing about Daddy?

O: Picking flowers (no idea where that’s coming from!)

M: Flying.

V: Daddy!

4. When you grow up, do you want to be like your Daddy?

O: No, I want to be a princess!

M: Yes, because.

V: No.

5. Is there anything else you’d like to say about (or to) Daddy?

O: I love you, Daddy! Happy Father’s Day!

M: I love Ariel the Mermaid. Happy Father’s Day, Mommy! (and then after correction) Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!

V: No. (and then after being asked if she can say I love you, Daddy) I won’t say that.

For what it’s worth, here is what each backpack contains:

Violet (20 months)

• Sesame Street mini board books (thanks, David, for the hand-me-downs!)
• finger puppets
• stacking/nesting cups
• a plastic toy airplane that also has wheels so it can fly or drive across the tray table

Additionally, Violet will have her special blanket, girafa, & a full supply of pacifiers! I am still debating about letting her take a baby doll as well . . . guess I’ll see how much room is left in my carry-on.

Molly (33 months)

• magna doodle (I would’ve liked to have had this one instead, but it would be an extra purchase and it’s a little pricey)
• Brain Quest educational cards
• Disney mini coloring pages – Handy Manny
• pipe cleaners
• matchbox cars
• bendy cow & pig

Molly will also be able to choose her favorite doll or stuffed friend and a small blanket (she loves the ladybug one made my Violet’s godmother when Olivia was born).

Olivia (4.5 yrs)

• lacing cards
• Disney mini coloring pages – Toy Story (purchased at Target)
• Brain Quest Preschool cards
• pipe cleaners
• Sea Life in a Box mini jigsaw puzzles
• Highlights High Five magazine (just one issue purchased at the grocery store)
• Cinderella Re-usable sticker book
• Wikki Stix

Livy will also be choosing her favorite doll or stuffed friend and a camping pillow with a small blanket.

As a backup, Daddy will have a portable DVD player and a few new movies in his carry-on (Pinnochio, The Princess & the Frog, and Fox & Hound). We’re also packing our two Gertie balls for some inflatable instant fun. And we plan to take along some of the girls’ favorite music, probably on an mp3 player. They use a CD player in their room.

Here is the rest of the list I considered, but either didn’t fit in their tiny bags or we didn’t have it on hand. We will probably use these ideas for the next 14-hr car trip to NE (just 3 weeks after we return from WA/CA)! The key for packing for those trips is that they have to be able to do it all themselves. Another reason I’m looking forward to the plane ride where we’ll be able to sit together and work on the items that require a partner.

• books
• chopsticks (with free connectors from Pei Wei like these) – get creative & use it for eating goldfish crackers or picking up toys!
• index cards
• Tag Jr. or Bugsby Reading System
• kaleidoscope
• magnetic dress up dolls
• mini princesses/polly pockets
• silly putty
• twistable crayons

Well there you have it – my best list of toys, books & activities to keep a toddler or preschooler occupied while traveling! The best thing is that for this trip, we only had to purchase the coloring pages, magazine & re-usable sicker books – everything else was already here at home (but thankfully, most of it was ‘out of rotation’ so it will be like new)!

In my research, these were the best websites on the topic of traveling with babies, toddlers & preschoolers:

Best Child Toys

Delicious Baby

Good Little Traveler

Moms Minivan

Walk 2009 (Olivia -3, Molly – 1, Violet – 9 months)

In a few weeks, Olivia will be participating in her 5th annual Walk for Life benefiting the Texas Alliance for Life. As usual, Molly & Violet will be joining her and for the first time this year, we are going to attempt being stroller free! The Walk will take place June 19th at The Quarries park in Austin. To sponsor them with a one time, tax-deductible donation, click here: Sponsor a Walker. You can make a donation right away using your credit card or make a pledge to be billed later. To join the fun and participate as a walker, click here: Walker Registration. Either way, I hope you will support this worthy cause. The girls will be walking with hundreds of Texans to promote the Culture of Life and to raise funds for life-saving programs and agencies in the Austin community. 100% of the proceeds will support peaceful, legal efforts by Texas Alliance for Life to protect mothers and children and to promote respect for all human life. To learn more about them, visit their home page here. All donations are tax deductible. There are new incentives for Walkers this year – how ’bout sending us out to the ballgame??

Thanks for your support!

Incentives for Walkers

• $200 — Walk 2010 T-Shirt
• $500 — TAL Water Bottle and Baseball Cap
• $1,000 — 2 Tickets to the TAL Picnic and Round Rock Express Game on July 23
• $2,000 — 4 Tickets to the TAL Picnic and Round Rock Express Game on July 23 OR 2 tickets to TAL’s 2010 Annual Benefit Dinner on Tuesday, October 19
• $4,000 — 4 tickets to TAL’s 2010 Annual Benefit Dinner
• $6,000 — Table for 10 at TAL’s 2010 Annual Benefit Dinner

Monday, May 17, 2010 – Happy Birthday, GG!!

Outside My Window…

It is sunny & warm – I should be able to say that from now through Halloween! Highs of 85 to 90 this week. We tried the squirt guns from Uncle Nathan for the first time yesterday afternoon. Everyone had a good time & dried off quickly! We’re really excited to turn the backyard into a sprinkler park with the other portion of his last birthday gift to the girls.

I am thinking…

about our upcoming travel plans. In my last daybook I lamented that we would probably not be able to do all the traveling I’d hoped to do this year, but it is looking like we will! I had a wonderful solo trip to my cousin’s wedding back in April and we have two big trips coming up. First, we are headed to Washington at the end of this month to visit my new nephew and soon-to-be godson, Sean Patrick Kane. The girls are super excited to spend some quality time with Sean’s big sister, Morgan (who is in between Molly & Livy). We are also tacking on a 2 night stay in San Francisco to visit Sr. Rosalie. Our first real vacation as a family – yeah! Three weeks after we get back from WA/CA, we’ll go home to NE for the 4th of July and stay a week with the grandparents & extended families. At the tail end of the summer, we have beach house reservations with friends for a weekend and finally, Rachel is expecting the girls & I when her little bundle of blue is born in October. Hopefully, there will be enough money & vacation days left to go back to NE for Christmas, too! It is our most ambitious travel schedule ever, but it seems like this is the year to go when the girls are young enough to have the freedom to go (and Violet young enough to fly free), but they are also old enough to enjoy traveling & be easier to travel with.

I am thankful for…

so many things! It is so easy to think about what I don’t have, but I am really quite spoiled when I sit down and think about it. Thank you, God, for my beloved husband and beautiful daughters. Thank you for our common faith, JR’s good job, our comfortable home, our health, our ability to travel, our friends & family. We are truly blessed.

We are learning…

Violet: what a big girl! She is extremely verbal and carries on full conversations with us. She loves to be in the mix with her big sisters and is finally getting old enough to be an active member of the playgroup rather than just a spectator. She would be a TV junky if we let her – she really enjoys Dora and says all the right things on cue. It is super cute to hear her yell, “Map! or “Salta! (jump)” She has a really good Spanish accent so she is inspiring me to use more Spanish with the girls in the hopes that they will all have a good ear for it.

Molly: our little mother! Molly’s favorite passtime lately is playing house. She sweetly informs us of all of her baby’s wants & desires – “My baby doesn’t like to be out in the rain. My baby likes to drive fast.” I’m starting to think Molly & her babies have a whole lot in common. Just the other day, I noticed a smattering of freckles on her nose. For a minute I worried it meant I wasn’t applying sunscreen properly, but now we are just enjoying the additional cuteness.

Olivia: no more naps! Last night, Olivia was up at 11pm wide-eyed & asking if she could have a snack. I guess it’s finally time for her to give up naps. It’s so sad, because even now at 4.5 she is my best napper! We took Liv for a ‘summer cut’ this week and she looks so much older without her long baby hair. She’s been talking about getting a summer cut for weeks and was excited to sit in the chair for her new style. However, several times on the way there she clarified, “For my summer cut, I want it short like Reese’s (her friend), but not short like Daddy’s.” I guess you never know what this crazy mama will do. One of her favorite passtimes lately is arranging flowers. At CGS, they learned how to cut flowers & place them in vases and she loves to go on nature walks collecting pretty things to fill her vases. She also picked up a few silk flower remnants at Garden Ridge and can now have cut flowers at her play kitchen table.

From the kitchen…

I have the ingredients for Apricot-Glazed Ham With Potatoes and Asparagus and it keeps getting postponed so hopefully I will get that made this week. Thanks to Grandpa Andrews, there is a fresh stock of NaturALL steaks in the deep freeze -  the first batch of ribeyes came out excellent on the grill, if I do say so myself. JR got me a new instant read digital thermometer and it makes grilling so easy. I’m thinking maybe we should get one of those prime rib roasts out of the freezer for JR’s birthday . . .

I am wearing…

well, I had to stop here and get dressed, but now I am wearing flip flops, shorts, and a Big Bend tank top from my first primitive camping trip with JR back in 2002.

I am creating…

photo albums for March & April, packing lists, a daily schedule for the summer (trying to finally get that Rule of Life implemented and have some rhythm & order in our life)!

I am working on …

preparations for our trip – hotel reservation in San Francisco, vaccinations for Red so she can go to the “dog hotel”, things to occupy the girls on the plane, etc. Also, just trying to keep up with the girls’ clothes – take the long sleeves & long pants out of their closets, and make sure they have enough summer gear to get them to October! I’m starting to wonder how long it will take before Molly catches up to Livy and they are in the same size – they’re just about one and half sizes different now. In high school, they could easily all 3 be the same size. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

I am reading…

Introduction to the Devout Life and Getting Things Done (if having those two books on your nightstand for several weeks in a row counts for “reading”). Hope to make progress on both in the coming weeks.

I am hoping…

to settle into a nice rhythm this summer and truly enjoy the girls now that their schedules are finally synchronized, they are much more independent and awfully entertaining.

I am hearing…

Around the house…

We did switch the girls’ rooms and the big girls got bunk beds from Ikea. So far, so good. Everyone adapted extremely well to their new room. Now we just need to finish/stain the bunk beds and hang stuff on the wall for the final touch. I think our room is next – complete with new bedroom furniture and a revamp of our aquarium. It has so much potential, but really needs some TLC (the room & the aquarium!). Poor little neglected fishes are at the bottom of the family totem pole. The other project will be planting the flower beds to finish our landscaping as it seems our landscaper is not available to do it for us.

One of my favorite things…

My new backyard. I really can’t say that enough. We had the family of one of Olivia’s best little friends from preschool over yesterday. The kids played with squirt guns & watering cans and the adults visited at the patio table and it was so great. A little warm at first, and a few too many flies, but other than that, perfect! It truly makes me happy just to look out the backdoor. It is that inviting and beautiful.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

This is our last week of preschool – Thursday is the Spring Program. Also the last week of meeting a friend at the Brushy Creek trail for a run during school. Since I don’t have a triple jogger, I’ll have to come up with a new exercise plan for the summer. The girls have Swim School this week & next and then we will not have any daily commitments for the summer! With our travel schedule, that is probably for the best. There is a Dad’s Night Out and a Mom’s Night Out this week so hopefully, everything will work out for JR & I to both get out and have a little fun. Last but not least, this is Daddy’s birthday weekend and we are going camping with good buddies!! Oh, and Sunday is Pentecost and the last day of the Easter season so this year, we’ll be singing Happy Birthday to Daddy & the Church on the same day!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing…

What’s better than being 1.5 years old and placed in a field of strawberries?

Be sure to visit Peggy for links to more daybooks.

We made it to Mass early (which was good as it was a very full house, as is to be expected) and all of the girls had our hair done pretty and wore fancy dresses with matching shoes (even Mama (except for the matching shoes part), who usually runs out of time). Daddy really spoiled us in that department this year!

We walked excitedly back to the van while visions of Easter baskets danced in our heads.

The bunny did not disappoint and instead of Easter baskets this year, he filled a shopping cart with books, candy, plastic drinking cups with monkeys on them, washable dry erase markers, molding clay, an Easter craft, new princesses to complete our collection of the polly pocket sized ones, and a James Avery cross necklace for Molly (Livy got an identical one last year and Violet will next year – another tradition!) – oh, and even a dog toy for Red.

We enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard and dinner with cousins. We decided traditions are good for multiple reasons – the obvious ones about creating memories and bonding us together, and the fact that it makes planning for holidays so much easier! So dinner was a repeat of last year – roasted pork loin. This time JR roasted potatoes to go with it and finished it off with green beans and rolls. It was delicious! I think my favorite part of this tradition is that JR is the Easter chef (come to think of it, he was the chef for Christmas, too)!

Dessert came out really well, too – thanks to JR’s assistance with the boiled frosting (I had never made meringue before). It is Wilton’s “Fruitful Blessings” cake made with our new cross pan. Livy enjoyed placing the fruit on the cake and there were only a few stray blueberries. The cake paired equally as nice with white wine as with coffee – we tried it with both!

We couldn’t let the day end without a group photo of the girls and cousin Hannah. Isn’t she adorable? She fits right in!

Since the day itself, our celebrating has continued. We died our eggs the weekend after Easter and then hunted for those in the backyard. Made egg salad with them which nobody ate but Mama – Livy even went so far as to say “I don’t want your disgusting sandwich!” We had a little talk about being polite. We colored cross ornaments (the Easter craft from their Easter basket) and still have a carton of confetti eggs to use at a park in the coming days. I’d never seen these before coming to TX but we are hoping to have fun with them where they won’t make a mess in our house or fancy backyard! The girls & I have also been enjoying some after-season sales at Pier One (we picked up a pretty wreath for the door & a nest decoration for the coffee table), Hobby Lobby (got some Resurrection Eggs, and some Easter crafts for next year), and the grocery store (founds some Easter/Spring cookie cutters for a dollar). This year it didn’t seem like we had much decorating we could do for Easter, but next year we should be set thanks to our new stash and the tub in the attic!

Happy Easter!! May the Risen Lord bless you and fill you with His joy and His peace.

Well, it’s been awhile (since last July!) since I did a Quick Takes, but we are home all day today so I figured I’d indulge myself. Here are some highlights from the TX Andrews’ . . .

-1-

Violet might be a Texan. The first thing she said when she woke up yesterday was, “I need shalsha (salsa)!” I kid you not. I don’t know if she knows what salsa is or not, but she is really funny lately with her talking and her use of “need” v. “want” – there is a difference and when she “needs” something she can be pretty convincing! No worries, though, I held her off on the salsa until supper (where she ate medium salsa with a spoon . . .)!

-2-

The weather has been awesome for several weeks now and with our landscaping project complete (except for planting the flower beds), we have been spending a lot of time outside. I cannot tell you how in love with this I am. The girls are so happy to be outdoors and can be trusted to play nicely without getting themselves into too much trouble for longer & longer stretches. The only down side is that it is also very high allergy season here in Austin and we have all been suffering from sniffles/sneezing/coughing fits as well. The girls are on Claritin during the day and Benadryl at night for the last week trying to get ahead of it. I wonder how old they have to be to figure out how to use a neti pot. That thing is awesome!

-3-

One week from today I will be on my way to Kansas City to meet my sister & niece who will give me a ride to Nebraska City for my cousin’s wedding. We will spend the weekend at the Lied Lodge and take in the beauty of the city where Arbor Day was born. Are you catching the key to this whole story? Yes, I am actually going on a weekend trip all by myself! This is big news, folks. I have not been away from my girls for more than a few hours (with the exception of going to the hospital to have another beautiful girl, which of course does not count at all) since Olivia was born almost four and a half years ago. I’m excited and a little freaked out about the whole idea. Our friend Amy is going to keep the girls Friday so that JR can work and then he will be on his own with them for the weekend. He’s actually really excited and I know the girls are going to have a great time. As for me, what on earth will I do with myself??

-4-

Speaking of my friend Amy, we came up with a great idea to do a toy swap every now & then. Their girls are very similar ages to ours so one day we just let them pick a toy from the other girls’ stash to take home for awhile. My girls chose the Little People castle. Within a few days of bringing the castle home, we went to McDonald’s and the girls got Star Wars figures in their happy meals, which just happen to be about the same size as Little People figures. Somehow the two got intertwined and now they are convinced that the Star Wars figures (specifically, R2D2 and Darth Vader) are part of the castle set. The funniest part is that they refer to Darth Vader as the mean guy or the naughty guy, but at the same time, he fills the role of prince of the castle. Molly is super funny when she asks for her “prince” (of darkness?). And the other night Darth Vader was trying to recruit a stuffed snake to do naughty things for him. I also overheard R2D2 saying, “Danger. Danger. Red Alert.” when Livy was playing with him. 

-5-

I went to a seminar on Monday about helping young children fall in love with Jesus. It was montessori-based and very intuitive, but not something I always stop to think about. The key recommendations were: allow your children to observe silence/stillness, expose them to beauty through art/music/liturgy, allow them to experience the natural world in all its wonder, create rituals, patters & routines for them so that their life is orderly, and whenever possible, allow the children to participate. She also recommended delaying the repetition of memorized prayers until children are school-aged and allowing them to pray spontaneously at young ages. She said that little children almost always pray prayers of thanksgiving and usually about natural things like birds & butterflies. So instead of our usual Hail Mary followed by asking God’s blessings on each of our family members, when it was prayer time on Monday night I told Livy she could pray however she wanted. She was very excited and started with her usual intention – “for all the people who have cancer & all the people who don’t” (which she almost always follows up with – “Did I pray for everyone, Mama?”). Then she started thanking God for “bugs and butterflies and grass and everything that’s alive.” Very sweet.

-6-

I have written before about my aversion to Facebook (see #4 here). At this point last year I was seriously considering it (see #2 here), and now finally, I think I have been converted. The final straw was reading an article about how to stay close to your adult siblings. The key recommendation was to be a part of their lives (not just the obligatory holiday dinners) by dropping in on their slow pitch softball game or going to your nephew’s school play. I can’t do any of that given the distance between all of us, so what am I to do? Since they all have a profile on Facebook and post pictures and updates, etc., perhaps that is where I can drop in on them. Even if Facebook is not my favorite medium, I think improving my relationship with them – getting to know them as adults (instead of carrying around the memories of them when I moved to TX – before Rachel was married, back when Nathan was in college, and Matt & Zach still in elementary school!) would be a real gift. So after I get back from my weekend away, I plan to set up an account.

-7-

JR brought home a book called Getting Things Done recently. At first, I thought it only applied to people who “work”, but he asked me to read it and I have been surprisingly inspired by Allen’s organizational theories. I’ve read Part 1 and so far what sticks out the most is his idea that the mind can really only relax and focus on the task at hand when you are not trying to recall all the other things you could/should be doing. He recommends capturing all the things that need to get done in a logical & trusted system outside of your head (I’m using Remember the Milk) and then come back regularly to this list and sort through it to decide what to work on next. I have found this to be a very useful tip and though my To Do list is growing very fast lately as I try to collect all the random things I have to do into one list, I am more at peace with what I’m choosing to do (and by default choosing not to do) because I simply know what all the options are. The other key concept I’m taking from Part 1 is to visualize success. For some reason, I did this all the time in my life as a student, but have rarely applied it to my life at home. In fact, my default for the last couple of years has been more along the lines of ‘panic considering all the ways that this could go wrong’!

Hope you enjoyed my 7 Quick Takes – be sure to visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary for links to more 7 Quick Takes Friday!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Update: Don’t worry the blister is much better. And yeah, it was a blood blister apparently.

1. As if running a marathon wasn’t challenging enough. I, JR Andrews, hereby announce my intent to run the San Antonio Marathon on November 14, 2010 . . . barefoot.

TRUE – At the time of posting the quiz, I hadn’t actually tried running barefoot. Since then, I have and that is a whole post in itself. OK, I’m actually considering starting a separate blog just for this whole journey. So far I’ve run a couple of times barefoot – yeah like completely barefoot. It wasn’t what I expected but so far so good. But if you thought that no shoes meant no more blisters; think again. Bonus points to Alexis even though she missed this one since I did have three pair of shoes in my active running rotation. Also bonus points to Tim for the backhanded compliment of calling me kind of “off”; I’m glad someone understands why I’d try this.

2. This year for Lent Jenny gave up Costco.

FALSE - Come on now folks, let’s be reasonable. That would be crazier than me running barefoot.

3. After 2 months on the farm last fall, Livy’s Easter lamb coloring pictures now come complete with sheep manure.

TRUE - Yes, although we’ve been labeled as “townies” by the Lyons’ clan; you can take the Andrews out of the farm but you can’t take the farm out of the Andrews.

4. Speaking of #4, here he/she comes. As in child #4! Boy or girl we don’t know yet.

FALSE – APRIL FOOLS! Haha. Would we really break the news like that? OK, if we’d pull a cruel joke like this maybe we would. So just when you swore off reading our site because of this I guess you’ll have to stay tuned just in case. Bonus points to Grandma Andrews whom when called didn’t even ask but instead just ranted about how stupid she thinks April Fools day is; classic.

5. Jenny completed the P90X workout. Yeah, the infomercial DVD thing that is 1.5 hour workouts 6 days a week for 90 days. Not only that but in the last year she went from a size 12 to a size 6. Oh, and she can kick JR’s butt on the AbRipperX workout.

TRUE – Come on, no one was willing to dare a false guess on this one? This is another one which is a whole ‘nother post in itself, but yes, we found the time to do a 1.5 hour workout 6 days a week for 90 days.

6. Molly has picked up some Spanish and some (more) attitude and now calls herself, “Quatro-Cinco”.

TRUE – What is even funnier is that Jenny didn’t get the reference to Chad Ochocinco until after people started commenting.

7. Violet, 18 months old, is so advanced that the pediatrician has suggested that we start potty training her.

TRUE – This one surprised us but he recommended it right after he questioned her verbal skills saying that she should be starting to say words to which Violet responded, “I wanna see! What dat?”. Readers who scored well on the reading comprehension section of the SAT would have gotten this one correct since Jenny had recently posted it. But maybe you were second guessing yourself by this point.

8. After much debate, Jenny has finally said that JR can get a motorcycle. Livy’s only restriction is that it must be red.

TRUE – Now before Jenny refutes this, it is technically true. Jenny has said that if I want a motorcycle I can get one. BUT, that she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to discuss it anymore. But just in case I do decide to get one, here is the Husker red one Livy has picked out.

9. This is how JR really looks right now.??? – Now it wouldn’t be fair to those who left comments if I just gave everyone all the answers.

So now to announce the winner. Since no one actually got all the answers correct and others had “insider” information, I’ve decided to award the winner at random. And the winner is… The IowAndrews! Congratulations, you’re $10 BestBuy gift card should arrive sometime next week. And if you want proof that it really was random, I’ll prove it by saying if it weren’t random someone other then my brother would have won.