Seager Family

Abby's Kitty Party (2 years old)

2007-11-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Here are Abby's party pictures (better late than never). I made kitty ears and tails for the girls, and we did kitty activities (kitty stories, ate like a kitty, played with balls like a kitty, etc.) The kids had fun, and I had fun making the cakes. They turned out pretty good, but of course nothing like that actual picture! But I was really happy with how the day went. And Abby is 2 now!

Halloween Time

2007-10-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did it...

2007-10-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it. I went against popular culture and defied the retailing powers-that-be. And I did it without shame or apology. What did I do?

I handed out PENCILS for Halloween. Yes, I did.

I was the lone car at the trunk-or-treat to be void of sugary indulgences. And I felt a sense of happiness and satisfaction while I did it.

Craig was nervous about the idea at first. Understandably, he didn't want to stand out (we are new to the ward, and this could either be a point for or against us). When he questioned my choice of pencils, I reminded him that, since he is a dentist, I could hand out toothbrushes, accompanied by little leaflets about the dangers that sugar poses to one's dental health and immune system. To which he promptly replied, "I will NOT be the house on the block that hands out toothbrushes!........and, you wouldn't really hand out leaflets, would you??"

So pencils it was.

The night went well. I handed out approximately 125 festive pencils. And I only got turned down by one 10 year-old boy. He put his hand in my bowl, looked down, and quickly mumbled, "No thanks." That's alright, though, I don't blame him. Actually, I blame his parents for not instilling in him a deeper sense of educational importance. But, hey, no parent is perfect.

Most of the children chose a pencil and ran to their parents excitedly proclaiming, "I got a new pencil, Mommy!" while waving it through the air. Of course, most of the parents had to ask their children to repeat what they had just said. After all, they probably weren't expecting to hear those exact words, spoken with so much glee, at the trick-or-treat party.

So where to go from here...I don't know exactly. Now that I've left the candy behind and embraced small, yet meaningful, trinkets, the possibilities are endless. Next year may hold mini play-dohs or sheets of stickers. Who knows, I may not be the only one NOT handing out candy at the next Halloween party.

I hope so.

an oldie but a goodie...

2007-10-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

I know all of you have seen this before, but I was watching it the other day and I just HAD to share.

This is Katelyn's first kiss--and on her 2nd birthday!

I am SO lucky...

2007-10-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

I am SO lucky that I am a good mother.

After all, what would have happened if I had been a bad mother, like some you see on the nightly news doing all sorts of crazy things?

I am SO lucky that I have kids who keep their shoes on in the car. Otherwise, I might have had to put all of their shoes back on before unbuckling them. And, of course, SUPPOSING they'd take their shoes off and I'd have to put them on, what would have happened if one of the shoes had fallen on the OTHER side of the car seats and I couldn't have reached it?

I'm just glad that this scenario hadn't happened, because IF it had, I might have shut the car door to walk around to the other side to locate said dropped shoe, ONLY TO FIND that the car was locked! (Because I MIGHT have put the keys down in the car in order to get their shoes back on). All I can say is I am glad this did not happen to me...ESPECIALLY since it is about 105 degrees OUTSIDE the car, let alone how hot it would've been inside...

After all, at that point I would have had to leave my screaming girls alone out in the parking lot while I ran into the store. And imagine the sheer embarrassment I would have felt if I had had to ask someone to borrow a phone to call the police! Sheesh, and it would've only gotten worse IF the employees started gathering around, asking what was going on. What would've been really bad is if they started whispering and pointing, "Is THAT the Mom who locked her kids in the car without air conditioning?" And to top it off, what if they had started telling my story to their other employee-buddies on those cute little headsets of theirs--as if I was some freak show. I am SO glad that I didn't have to go through that.

What makes this TOTALLY IMAGINARY scenario even better, would have been when there were NO highway patrol able (or willing) to come and rescue my children, and it would've been 45 minutes for a AAA-AA-A1 Locksmith to get to our location. Luckily for me, in this unlucky story, there might have been a manager who claimed to know how to break into a car. So several employees and I would have gone back out to the car, and probably would have found some very sweaty, screaming little girls. And, of course, I can only WONDER how much louder they would've started screaming once some strange men started trying to open the doors, jiggle the windows, and trying to console them through the glass.

Right about now, I would've had to make a hard decision: break the window, or let an OfficeMax manager try and stick a hanger down into my door. After consulting with a few 17-year-old employees, I MIGHT have decided it would cost less to try the hanger approach. So the OfficeMax Manager, Mark, would have had to cut and rip off the rubber lining to my window. While I IMAGINE this would be a simple task, it probably would have ended up being very messy and difficult, utilizing razorblades and tiny pocket knives. I SUPPOSE 2 other boys would have had to jimmy the window down and hold it open while Mark, the Manager, ever-so-carefully-and-gracefully stuck a bent hanger (lent to us by a helpful dentist next door to OfficeMax) into the window to reach the unlock button.

AND I HOPE that this all would have taken less than 30 minutes to do, because it would've been VERY hot out there in the Houston sun. So, in the end, there PROBABLY would have been 2 sweaty, little, angry girls, who would being crying to their mother all the way home, "But WHY? WHY did you lock me and leave me in the hot car?" To which I WOULD have said, "I don't know."

Like I said, it's a good thing I NEVER would have done something like this to my own children.

p.s. In this fictitious scenario, it WOULD HAVE ended up costing us $250 to fix the rubber seal on our window (which was badly mangled), versus $100 for a new window or $60 for a Highway Patrol officer. So, the moral of this story is, ALWAYS trust your local OfficeMax manager when it comes to how to save money when breaking into your car.

What happened to my Princesses?

2007-10-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

So Abby and Katelyn have been watching the movie "Mulan" a lot lately. One afternoon, they came into the room all dressed up in their princess outfits. I said, "Oh, what beautiful princesses you are!" To which Katelyn replied, "We're not princesses, Mommy, we're concubines." My jaw dropped, and my brow furrowed in surprise.

So I asked her politely, "Wherever did you hear that word, child?" And she told me, "From my Mulan movie." It was then that I remembered that the soldiers dress up as women to sneak into the palace to save the Emperor, and one of the guards makes a comment about "the concubines".

So I've decided to just ignore it, and hope it goes away. I'm not quite sure how to explain it in terms that a 3-year-old would understand...

I have thought, however, that this could be the start of a nice business venture. After all, Halloween is coming, and the concubine is greatly underrepresented in the world of children's costumes.

4th of July

2007-09-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

We moved to our new house in May, and have been loving it. Here is a photo from the 4th of July.

Katelyn and Abby enjoyed dancing to the live bands that played while we waited for the fireworks. They also rode on their first carousel and got to go to the petting zoo.

I think this was one of the first times that I felt like we were having a "family activity", as the girls were old enough to enjoy the day with us.

Could it be...

2007-09-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

The hermit has emerged. Yes, I am alive, and I am ready to be social now. Alright, I think that's enough for today.