Some Isaacisms

"I can't commentrate when Violet's making all that noise!" he says, very frustrated.
"You mean, concentrate?" I ask.
"That's what I said, mom, commentrate."

We had an Oscar party last Sunday night. Isaac and Audrey helped clean up the house and decorate before hand. When we were ready, Isaac asked when Oscar was coming.
"Who?" I asked.
"Mom...it's Oscar's birthday. When is he coming?" And even though I tried to explain again, he still greeted people at the door with "Hi...did you come for Oscar's birthday too?"

Audrey's big week.

A couple of things to report for Audrey this week. She lost her seventh tooth on Monday morning (her top right eye tooth). She said she pulled it out on the playground because it hurt so much at lunch that she couldn't hardly eat. Her teacher gave her a baggie to keep it in so she could put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy. The tooth fairy gave her a whole dollar! Which she promptly spent on an ice cream cone after school on Tuesday. She also, amazingly, managed to "find" another dollar somewhere which she gave to her friend Bodhi for an ice cream as well. And yesterday, Audrey went to her first day of drama. Every spring, 1st-6th graders at Robinson Elementary perform a play or musical. This year they are doing "Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood". They practice every Mon/Wed/Fri after school for an hour. When we were on the way to school to pick Audrey up from drama, Isaac asked why we were going to school at a different time. I said, "Because Audrey is practicing for the play."
"Audrey's in an act? This is her first act! Mom, this is exciting!" he said, very enthusiastically. I couldn't help but chuckle. Well, she seems to like it so far...she said it was hard to read the words so fast (they were listening to the songs and following along in the score). I told her she had a week to decide if she wanted to be in it or not. I think they perform near the end of April. I'll post new pictures of all the kids soon (I know it's been a while).

A question

Mommy, "Audrey, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Audrey replies, "A mommy (aaaah). But one that wears make-up (huh?)."
Apparently I need to wake up about 5 minutes earlier.

Valentine's & President's Day

Well, after two weeks of staying at home, and a short relapse on Audrey's part (which kept her out of school another 2 days, making it 6 missed days total over the past 2 weeks) the Mack family ventured out this past weekend! Audrey had been planning a Valentine's tea party with her Grandma Arlene for a month now, and we were so glad she was healthy and excited to go when the day finally came! Here are some pictures from this past Saturday at Grandma's Tea Party. Rebecca with her Grandma Judy. Kharma and her Grandma Jean. Audrey Nicole and her Grandma Norma. Alyssa and her Grandma Connie. Lindsey and her Grandma Ruth. Bethany and her Grandma Dottie. Audrey Meredith and her Grandma Arlene. One of two beautifully set tables for their lunch! Everyone decorating their cupcakes for dessert! Yummy!

Saturday night, Randy and I enjoyed a night out WITHOUT kids...which, after being home and taking care of sick kids (not to mention each other) for the past two weeks, it was a real treat! We went to dinner at Dai Bai Dang with Aaron and Christa Wiens, and then bowling. Man, I wish I'd brought my camera to take a picture...Christa, at 35 weeks pregnant, bowled 2 games! She did great...10 times better than the college girls bowling beside us! Unfortunately, the boys split the wins, Aaron-1, Randy-1.

Since everyone was home for the President's Day holiday this past Monday, we visited Fresno's Chaffee Zoo for the morning and brought along a picnic lunch to enjoy out in Roeding Park afterwards. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day; and I have never seen the park or the zoo so full! It was great to see such a large number of people enjoying Fresno's great zoo, Playland and Storyland next door, and the beautiful Roeding park! I remember my parents taking my brother and I to the Chaffee Zoo as a small kid (I have pictures on the ladybug rollercoaster at Playland). Our kids LOVE to go to zoo (we go at least 3 times a year)! And I hope the zoo is around for so many more years to come. If you have not visited our Chaffee Zoo recently, there have been a lot of improvements to the exhibits and infrastructure since Measure Z passed 2 years ago...come and check it out! One of the kids' favorite exhibits...a touch-and-feel table with bones, eggs, teeth, skin, fur, etc. of all kinds of animals! Randy and Violet watching the Siamang monkeys swingin' around. Our three little monkeys.

YUK...winter.

I must say, there's not too much to complain about when it comes to winter in Fresno. It's not so cold that you can't go out. There's enough rain to keep plants watered but not make you feel couped up inside. The fog comes and goes, and is a pain for early morning traffic, but the sun usually peeks out in the afternoon. The thing that seems to ruin our winters? COLDS! Mix those in with Isaac's asthma, and that usually makes for a rough couple weeks somewhere in February. February of 2006 was tough, with Isaac in the ER twice for asthma attacks. February of 2007 was better, with only one ER visit for Isaac. But a surprise ER visit for me a couple weeks later made the medical bills higher than expected again (thank God for insurance...I honestly don't know how people live without it). This February we're rooting for NO E.R. VISITS! This past Tuesday, our family came down with a nasty cold! It kept me in bed for almost 48 hours straight, Randy home from work for three days, and Audrey home from school for 4 days (she still has a horrible sounding cough, but will go back to school tomorrow if she has a good day today). Isaac seemed to get over the cold/cough fairly quick...we feel like we dodged a bullet! He started on an oral steroid on Friday to see if we can maintain his "good lungs" for the remainder of the cold season. So here's hoping for some rain to wash away the particulates in the air, and some sun to warm up our bodies, smiles, and joyful spirits!

P.S. Thank you so much for those of you that have called to check up on us! And for the Wiens and Alaniz families that brought us meals! We really appreciated it!

Superbowl Sunday

Every Sunday night we have dinner with "family", our neighborhood family. Since September of 2006, if everyone is healthy and in town, we've had dinner with the Bergen family every week. And when Aaron, Christa, and Charlotte Wiens moved in around the corner (July 2007), they started coming too! Our three families love getting together, but our real intent is to connect with college/career age "kids" from our church on a regular basis. We hope to be their "family" away from family (since some of them are quite far away from their parents). So we always invite them to join us for the home-cooked meal. Sometimes only one or two students show up, sometimes nine or ten! We always have a great time eating, chatting, and watching our kids play (we started with 5 kiddos and, as of March, we're up to 8).

Yesterday our dinner started a little early so that we could enjoy watching the Superbowl together. Four out of five members of the Bergen family were sick, so they stayed home. But the Wiens family came over, along with our friends Ryan, Andi, Luke, Valerie, and Elizabeth. We had a ton of great food...so much that we made food deliveries to our sick friends that couldn't make it (both the Bergen family and Terron) and still had lots left over. We had a great day just relaxing, watching the game, eating, and playing Wii after the game until late at night. Charlotte signs "touchdown" for the Giants in the last minute! Violet was not even awake for the end of the Superbowl. Charlotte and Audrey enjoy watching Randy and Luke boxing on the Wii. Charlotte even tries to box too (it's pretty funny)...she makes fists in front of herself and swings back and forth, but I couldn't manage to get a good photo of it.