Mary Clement, a.k.a. Miss Adorableness

I can't stop taking pictures of my baby girl!

Bathing Beauty

MC as a 4-mo. old
Status: delightful
Current interests: feet, fist, saying "coo, coo" and smiling, staring deep into your eyes, watching her brothers, practicing "the roll-over" (almost there; that darn arm)
What others are saying: "Is that a doll?" (the bald head certainly adds to the doll factor), "Did you shave her head?" (I've actually been asked this more than once) "She's so. . . so. . . healthy!" (the euphemism for adorably chubby)

The Boys' Bday Party

Matthew and I gave the boys costumes. the current fav item around here:

We had planned an outside party, but it rained all day. So instead, we had a few families over who have kids the boys' ages & then made caramel apple & cake deliveries to neighbors:

Jackson is 5! He's the one who requested caramel apples:

Harry is 3! Eyeing those apples. . .

My Horns on a Roll!!!

This season I'm finally taking an interest in Longhorn football before they make it to the Rose Bowl. I was walking across campus one Saturday, the air was crisp, and hundreds of burnt orange fans were streaming past me. It just seemed like a day for football. So I went home and watched my Horns beat Colorado. I've been hooked since then, and after 5 years at UT, worked it out for Jackson and I to go to a football game. Folks, we even tailgated before the game, so it was a fully authentic college football experience. (When I say "tailgated," I mean that a group of us from Government ate breakfast tacos on a patch of campus grass. We stood around a mini-cooler. But a few folks had beers, so it was still legit.) At any rate, Jackson was still a little young to enter into the experience fully, but he had fun nonetheless. I kept him engaged with Texas-sized corndogs, lemonade, and cotton candy. He also liked the cannon that's fired whenever my Horns score. At any rate, I'm really hoping for a national championship this year. Given that I am such an unhinged football fan, it would mean the world to me to have national championships bookend my years at UT. So right now I'm trying to decide whether I should prioritize praying for that or that I'll actually get a job.

Jehovah Jireh - Our Provider

Here we are in our 6th year of graduate school, and based on the tight job market, we may be here another year as well. I'm a full-time homemaker. We live on a small stipend. By God's grace (often extended through our families), we have no debt. But even having seen God's faithfulness in our finances again and again, I've been getting concerned as to how we'll make it another year and a half. So this past week God decided to remind me that He isn't so concerned. Our week in a nutshell, starting with last Wednesday:

Wednesday - Attended a UT Housing event where both Matthew and I won raffles - a children's bike complete with training wheels and helmet (the boys didn't have a bike) and a $50 gift card to a local TexMex restaurant. My cooking entry lost the main prize, a cooking class, but I wasn't disappointed because our evenings are already so full that I wasn't much interested in that anyway. But when I went to pick up my platter, a judge informed me, "You've won a consolation prize! A $25 gift card to a local restaurant supply store!". Oh so much better.

Thursday - My mom (who is here to help Laurel, who is doing great, by the way! And so is James!) watched the boys while we had dinner with Matthew's advisor and friends (and Mary Clement. Dr. B had told Matthew that he'd fail his dissertation if she didn't come), and I received the most beautiful hand-knitted blanket from one of our friends (especially made for MC!). Then on the way home we stopped by CVS because they had 90% off Halloween items, and picked up two costumes for the boys' birthdays. $1.60 each! This was to add to the lion and dragon costumes we had gotten for them at Old Navy last week for $2 each! Birthday done for $3.60 each!

Friday - A local grocery store is having a "grand re-opening", and had coupons galore. I spent about $40. My receipt said that I'd saved "$100.04".

Saturday - The Crooked Still concert we were going to attend anyway turned out to be free! And it was marvelous. Additionally, Matthew took Jackson to a UT football game (yes, the first game we've attended!) and Jackson's ticket turned out to be free (though with concessions and tailgate party and t-shirts that was probably a wash!)

Sunday - Our friend Matt who's in Princeton for the year was here for the week, so stopped by to say hello. The people he's staying with sent gifts. 4 lbs. raisins, 7 lbs. fancy nuts, and some hot chocolate mix in an adorable tin. We never buy nuts because they're so expensive, so it was like God had those just for us.

Monday - won a $5 Amazon gift card from Blingo, that toolbar I wasted time installing (see my narcissistic day post)

Today Wednesday - A friend of Simone's was getting rid of bags and bags of nice 5/6 boys clothing, and she claimed them for us. We decided to meet in Saledo (about an hour for each of us) for playtime and clothing exchange. When we arrived Simone had a full birthday party for the boys, complete with cupcakes and presents. And even dinner for me! When I arrived home from that, I put MC and Harry down for naps, sat down to check my email, and saw that a fellow homeschooler had culled through her home library and had hundreds of books she wanted to give to a homeschooler. I grabbed Jackson up (thankfully Matthew studied at home today!) and we came home with boxes and boxes of beautiful, quality, marvelous books (and a recorder with 2 books on how to play it!)!

See all that? And I've left out the birthday presents the boys have received from our parents and friends. Our cup is running over. There are clothes and books and nuts all over our little apartment! So, Lord, if I start to doubt again, will you do that next week too? :)

Halloween in Phoenix

Yes, you read that right. We were in Phoenix over Halloween weekend for a fundraising event for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, having been invited by Cody's friends from med school, Tim and Nino Fincher. Halloween fell on the same night as the 25th anniversary black tie gala for RZIM, so Cody went to that, and I took the girls to the zoo to celebrate. I'll let Sophie tell you about it in her own words. The following is a from a note she dictated to a friend:

This is about us going to the zoo to have fun on Halloween night. I trick-or-treated and got a bunch of candy; it was super fun! I want to tell you about it because it was so fun; it was the best! On the train I saw pretend monsters, people that work at the zoo and were dressed up. One put his arms up and said Rahhhhhhh! I got to see a rat and an owl and even a snake and the other big spider (tarantula). I listened to fun music, and for dinner I had a hot dog. It was yummy! And water too. Water is important. And I loved going to the zoo on Halloween night.

Sophie as Minnie Mouse

(complete with a very cute velvet tail not visible in this photo)

Minnie with Mickey (her friend, Nathan)
Sam, Nathan's big brother, as Spidey

Emma in her pumpkin onesie (or, as Sophie says, "punquin")
So, there you have it. The Flagstaff Wright contingent has finally filled you in on our Halloween festivities. Thanks for your patience!

To see baby James, you can click here and then enter visitor password 04582281147674

They'll take/post a new picture of him every Sunday. He'll be in the NICU until late December. He and Laurel are both slowly healing and progressing.

A few recent funnies

Jackson (son of Student) to Harry in the car, after passing some construction workers:
"Harry, They're working. Adults having school."

Harry to Matthew: "Daddy, I just have a nice, good face and a nice, good body and nice, good feet."

Harry coming in crying holding his scraped knee, "I have a headache!"

Jackson, coming out of a friend's house at night, "It's hundreds dark!" (everything is hundreds - the ultimate number).

Harry has so many funny phrases as he's learning his grammar rules, like "Look what I dood!"

Halloween in Pittsburgh

Here's the Pittsburgh Penguin!











Some people have remarked that the penguin doesn't think much of this costume. Sure, it was my idea, but deep down, she digs it.


love you all!

L

Halloween 2009 in Austin

Before I tell you what they are, I'll give you a minute to guess:

Give up? Still don't know? Don't worry, you aren't alone. We were a little cryptic this year.

Jackson asked to be a cyclops (yes, aren't we a cute little classical-model homeschooling family), and as Harry is still moldable in his dress-up desires, we convinced him that Odysseus was the way to go (Harry! You get to carry a bow and arrow! "A bow and arrow! I wanna be Odishus!"). At first Jackson resisted the idea of Harry being his nemesis because "he'll stab my eye", but after some whispering that Harry doesn't have to know that part of the story, he calmed down and made sure not to mention it again - just to be safe. Matthew was the costume master, painting the eye and taking the boys out to the woods to find sticks for making the bow/arrow and an uprooted tree for Jackson to carry.

So yeah, we dressed our 4-yr.-old up as man-eater. I was planning to give him little cardboard men to carry and occasionally pop in his mouth, but to Jackson's credit, this idea repulsed him and he asked to be a "good" cyclops. But we couldn't resist the bone around his neck. Harry was pegged as a wood nymph, Ceasar, and Robinhood (that's supposed to be a Laurel wreath around his head), but he had a grand time telling at least one neighbor whose door we knocked on, "I have a bow and arrow, and and and and this (pointing at his wreath)."

And Mary Clement? Well, she was Penelope. The Odyssey is not exactly a treasure-trove of female heroes, you'll remember. But Penelope is the shining light, just like our baby girl. So we just made her look pretty, which of course isn't hard. But even with ALL the thought we put into her costume, she decided at the last minute to be Sleeping Beauty. Ungrateful. (Don't tell her Greek women didn't wear fur-lined bonnets. It might hurt her feelings.)

Love you all.

Ruthie

Happy Halloween!

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