When I was a kid, I had this album:


I loved it. I think I listened to it every day on my Fisher Price record player. One of my favs was "Why, Why, Why," with choice lines like "Why can't a mouse eat a streetcar?" and "Why can't a cow have kittens?"

Well, apparently it affected my genes, because the girls highly excel at why questions. Could also be because they are 3, but I prefer to blame Anne Murray. Dang Canadians and their feel-good music! But I digress. Below you will find some of Clan Gacek's more choice Whys:

> "Why is the sky bleeding?" - Ellie on the very red evening sky after a recent storm
> "Why his mom let him draw all over himself?" - Ellie upon seeing Twins closer Jon Rausch for the first time
> "Why it's raining in here?" - Ellie on why her head was wet while sitting on my lap at Toy Story 3 (I was crying.)
> "Why you don't shave your legs, Daddy?" - Ellie
> "What his/her name is? Why?" - Either of them on seeing other people out in the world
> "Why don't you wear jammies, Dad?" - Abbie
> "Why we named your car Johnny Cash?" - Ellie
> "Why did they break that road?" - Abbie on seeing road construction by Cindy's house
> "Why are those cars getting piggie backs?" - Abbie on seeing a semi carrying cars, presumably to a dealership
> "Why it [current day of the week]?" - Ellie.
> "Why Johnny Cash eats gas? - Ellie after we pull into a gas station to fill up
> "Why Johnny Cash's air conditioning doesn't work? Why Grammy's does?" - Ellie puzzling out broken car accessories
And one of my faves: "Why don't daddies wear bras?" - Abbie after helping fold/put away laundry.

Yeah, I ask that sometimes myself, Little Bear. Until we find out, peace and thumbs.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

OH!! Would you look at that? I didn't fall off the face of the earth! It's been a while, I know, but I assure you that the Ringmaster and Casa de Gato y Ninas is still up and running, although now that we are in our "tremendous threes," every day really IS an adventure.

So a quick update: The girls are 3 yrs, 3 months going on 15. Seriously, 95% of what they say needs to be kept for posterity. If you follow my statuses at all on Facebook, you will know full well what I mean. The things that happen when they are around are sometimes beyond the pale. So here's a not so typical, yet completely typical example of life at Casa de Gato y Ninas right now:

I worked from home yesterday afternoon, but I had this meeting with my 3 supervisors and 2 co-workers that I had to call in for late in the day. Four of the five people work in our San Antonio office, so they don't really see or deal with personally (meaning face-to-face) on a daily basis. So I sequestered myself in our bedroom with the phone and things were going really well for about 45 minutes. Then it all stopped.
Ellie comes running to our door with no panties on, waving a plastic Target bag and SHOUTING, "ABBIE POOPED!!! ABBIE POOPED AND IT'S ON THE FLOOR!!" Abbie, who is now in the bathroom shouts back, "NO!! It's not on the floor anymore!!" as she is attempting to empty the contents of the potty into the toilet, which already has a great deal more than the 3 allotted squares of TP in it.
So here I am, phone clamped between my ear and shoulder, trying to wrangle a plastic bag from Ellie, clean a stinky, messy potty without water (because it's too noisy) while not gagging, wipe Abbie (which Ellie had started to do, and did a pretty good job, but then got distracted by the Target bag), AND find the poop that's on the floor while trying to listen to what the people on the phone are saying and praying that they don't ask me any questions.

So there you have it. Life with 2 three-year-olds...NEVER a dull moment.

Oh, and I did find the poop on the floor 10 minutes after the whole thing...Abbie had taken the washcloth from the towel bar and wiped most of it up off the floor and rug. So, on that note, until next time, dear devoted readers, Peace...and love

Eleanor - Ready for Broadway

So Eleanor recently told me that when she gets big, she is going to play violin, guitar, and piano, and will sing. Sisterrrr, aka Abigail, will play drums, piano and cello. So I thought I should get you a sneak peak into a recent practice session between the girls. Abbie is the opening band, but when the tacos get more interesting, E takes center stage. Please note her concert costume was of her choice, not mine, and DEFINITELY not taco eating attire!

Did you know...

that Jack Black makes all the triangles in the world in addition to cheese, corn, pears, and other various produce*?
Now you do, so until next time, truth.



*this is according to Eleanor who very sincerely told me this on the way to pick up dinner tonight.

Sawing logs

Sigh...dear readers, I tell you, there is never a dull moment in this house.

You need to know that although she is way ahead of most of her peers in many things, Eleanor does not excell at all when it comes to sleeping. She does okay for the first few hurs, but then the chainsaws come out and she snores like an old man. This combined with apnea events make for a very restless night when you share a space with E. She also has had some NASTY ear infections.

So today, on the advice from Eleanor's beloved Dr. Lawler , we met with the ENT specialist. He did an exam, and she is now scheduled for an Adenoidectomy, a Tonsillectomy, and a possible Right Myringotomy and tube. Everyone a mass of tissue in the back of their noses where the nose and the throat come together, which is the adenoid, and then two more masses on either side of their throat, which are the tonsills.

If either the adenoid or the tonsils are enlarged, it can mean infections. The other thing that an enlarged adnoid can do is block the Eustachian tube, the one that runs from your ear to your throat and then cause ear infections. In Eleanor's case, both of her tonsills and her adnoid are extremely enlarged, which is why she sounds like a Stihl MS 880 when she "sleeps." The doctor thinks this is also why she is having so many ear infections, as the Eustachian tube can't drain properly. So on July 14, our brave little Ellie will go under the knife and come out with far less facial mass than the average human. Hopefully this will solve a miriad of problems for her.

Well that is our health update for the moment. Until next time, sniff.

Heaven, thy name is bubble bath

Yes, dear readers, tonight was a banner night for Monkey and the Bear - their first bubble bath. Needless to say, they ADORED it. See for yourself.

"Ah yes...now THIS rocks!"
Eleanor
"And why exactly have we not done this before?"
Abigail
"It's just so awesome!!!"
Eleanor
"But I don't wanna get out!!!!!"
Abigail

So as you can see, the first bubble bath will probably lead to many more. What can I say, these girls are definitely ours!
Until next time dear readers, bubbles.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Or something like that.
Seriously folks, where did it go??? The girls just turned 2. 2!! How did that happen? It seems like just a few days ago that I was a house and now they are running around and saying things like, "Hey, wanna see something amazing?" and asking for money and keys (they seriously do, but it's just to put in their cash register or to "start" the Raggedy Ann bike in the basement.) I remember people telling me to enjoy them because the time goes so fast. At that point, Abbie was still screaming 24 hours a day and neither of us had had a full nights sleep in what seemed like years, so I was totally fine with time fleeting as fast as it could. I guess the moral is to be careful what you wish for!
Along these lines, I am hoping to upload the video I made for their birthday this year. If you were at their awesome birthday extravaganza a few weeks ago, it was the video we had playing in the background. Keep your fingers crossed and pray to whomever that I can get youtube to upload the video rather than make our computer crash, because it's a pretty cool little flick. Yeah, my arm already hurts from patting myself on the back about it.
So off I go now. Be sure to check out our new ticker at the top. Until next time, Fries.