12.29.2013

Princess Elizabeth


Merry Christmas!

Merry Belated Christmas from our house to yours. We had a relaxing and quiet Christmas at the Lucas house. We kicked it off on Christmas Eve with Zach making us all brekkie. He made a fabulous breakfast pie with potatoes, sausage, and eggs. JT offered to make dinner and cooked us all a delicious meal that included pomengrante and serrano basted cornish game hens, potato cakes, and roasted vegetables all courtesy of Thomas Kellar's cookbook Ad Hoc. 

Christmas morning was nice. The girls had been up multiple times during the night as Lizzie had an ear infection and cold. The boys tried to sneak out around 5:30 but we squashed that and managed a later start. The chickens seemed to enjoy the entire event. Kat definitely was the one most interested perhaps because Liz was sick. Kat was extremely happy with each gift whether hers or not and was often clapping as we opened our gifts.

I tried hard to create a perfect Christmas morning shot but as you can tell we had a bit of a struggle.

We are starting off good but only one chicken. Everyone is dressed because for some reason the boys slept in clothes and the chickens wanted to get dressed as soon as they woke.


Lizzie photo bombs us.


While Zach tried to coax Lizzie in to the photo, JT and Lizzie get extra cute for the camera.


Lizzie not being helpful.

 Zach giving up.


Our final shot of all 4.

12.13.2013

A Quick Status Quo

It amazes me how time seems to move so slow and so fast all at the same time. One minute I am frantically getting kids ready for the first day of school to now enjoying the rapid speed that the holiday approach. Of course December in Texas means we are knee deep in invitations to try out for baseball teams.

A few noteworthy moments from the Lucas House this past week:

Chickens - I go in to the office on Wednesdays. It may be one of my favorite days as I not only get to see humans that are over 3 feet tall and not related to me but my friend Staci and I have developed an afternoon debrief routine that lets us both relax, enjoy a beverage, and chat without email or other disturbances. This week while in the office I got inundated with  texts from Rick. It started with:

Rick - do you know where the tweezers are?
Me - in the bathroom cabinet in one of the baskets
Rick - I need to get something out of a nose
Me - Whose nose?

You get that a chicken had managed to lodge a sequin up her nose. After a visit to the school nurse (they aren't technically students but Darla was willing to take a peek) and then the pediatrician it was determined that an ENT needed to attempt the removal. Thursday morning Rick was up and out the door for an early morning appointment in central Austin. The $60 specialist copay resulted in the ENT announcing that the sequin must have fallen out during the night because it was no longer in her nose.

Zach - Zach has been nonstop excited all week as his class went to see the Nutcracker (or at least the first act) this week. He was even more excited that the company had created new backdrops and costumes. Zach also broke my heart when he discovered a Christmas present in my car and while no one is saying it, it has become obvious that the mystery of Santa has ended for the boys.

JT - Busy as usual with lots of activities but the best one to mention is that last Sunday JT requested that he make dinner for the family. Who is going to turn that down? He spent a bit of time researching recipes and ended up selecting Gumbo. It took a few trips to the store due some incomplete list making but the result was one of the best gumbos I've had. My kid sorta kiss ass in the kitchen!

Family - I know most of you have been asking and wondering and here is the news. At time A&E has no plans to film a season 2 of Modern Dads. I have to admit, we are a bit sad maybe not so much because we loved filming but we did love the crew, which became part of the family and we were eager to explore the opportunities that a season 2 could bring. On the flip side we are happy to have a bit of privacy back. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are all thankful we had it. Now we move forward with other plans and decide what we will be doing next.

Well that all sounds like a bit of holiday card! Hope everyone is well. I promise some photos soon.

12.05.2013

The Magical Power of a Nightgown

Let's get personal for a moment, I don't wear nightgowns. I can't even recall the last time I owned a nightgown but I know I had some flash ones back in the day. I recall a lovely blue one that my mom has immortalized in a portrait.

I have to admit, giving the girls nightgowns is a thought that has never crossed my mind. So I didn't understand Donna's excitement when she spotted some on sale at the Disney store. Who knew one small item could create so much excitement. The girls twirled and danced all night long. It was almost impossible to catch a decent photo but here are a few.





The downside of the nightgown is that in the middle of the night (the girls and I were sharing a bed) I woke to Lizzie patting me and saying MaMa - over and over until I felt a giant full diaper hit my face. The girls insisted on wearing their nightgowns yesterday as an outfit. Of course I thought it was cute but I am sure Rick had to deal with lots of comments about "being a dad" and not knowing the girls are in nightgowns.