Friday, March 31, 2006


Here is Emma modelling a tiny grass snake we found in the leaves, and no, that is not it's big old mama on the ground behind Emma, just a garden hose. Posted by Picasa

Cub Scout awards were given out at the Blue and Gold Banquet last week. Here is Max with his haul. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

partay weekend 06

29.5 hours until the girls pick me up

joey has phobias

Joey is terrified of:
all bugs
IMAX movies
bears

Joey gets angry if:
You are in his class and you get the green ribbon at music time
You are in his class and you touch him while waiting in line
You call him a baby
You ask him to wear pants on a cold day
You put socks or shoes on his feet imperfectly
You use the green bowl
You use the green chair

Joey corrects you if:
You use the wrong name for his current "character"
You yourself are playing the wrong "character"
You mispronounce a word he knows

Joey bugs others when:
He touches Max's ears
He spanks Daddy's bottom

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Par-tay Road Trip in 5 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are getting ready for our annual Girls Get Away Weekend! I leave on Friday with my old buddies, Missy K, Julie K, Mary K to Kerrville Texas. This is our 6th annual trip. Each year there is an exchange of small gifts and last year I decided to make a mix cd for the girls. This year I've already got the tunes lined up and even made liner notes for the cds!


Kathy’s Liner Notes

Par-tay Road Trip Tunes ‘06

1. Parti Week End (joe king carasco): I can’t think of a better song with a more perfect title to start our weekend. Joe King Carasco was the king of Austin frat parties when I got to UT.

2. Bang Bang: (Kelly Willis) Kathy’s current favorite song!

3. Everybody Wants You: (Billy Squire) EHHS Seniors ’83! Woooooo!

4. Copacabana: (Barry Manilow) Contributed by Missy, in honor of my kiss with Mr. Manilow

5. On a Slow Boat to China: (Bette Midler and Barry Manilow) Barry’s current work, with the Devine Miss M. I can hear his luscious voice in the speaking parts….My tap teacher uses this in class!

6. Don’t Be Ashamed of Your Age: (Willie Nelson) Willie knows… “Don’t mind the gray in your hair, just think of all the fun you had getting it there”

7. Sweet Tequila Blues:(Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez) In honor of Julie Kay’s clearance for booze

8. Wild Women: *(Francine Reed) Because we are.

9. When You’re Good to Mama: (Chicago Soundtrack) Because par-tay weekends are…

10. You Shook Me All Night Long: (AC/DC) Missy Kay contribution, EHHS favorite. If only Jeff Gurley was here to dance like Angus.

11. No One Like You: (Scorpions) Mary called me and held her phone next to the radio to check if this was a good song for our mix. Yes, it is.

12. Dance: Ten, Looks: Three (aka “Tits and Ass”): (Chorus Line Soundtrack) Another of Mary’s contributions, the girl who won Best Bod at the 20th reunion, hmmm…

13. One In a Million You: (Larry Graham) EHHS Fling rehearsals, every night, over and over…

14. Killer Queen: (Queen) 70’s pop contributed by Kathy

15. Strange Magic: (ELO) ditto

16. Further: (Katy Moffatt) Kathy’s current favorite slow song

17. When the Sun Goes Down: (Kenny Chesney) one of Mary’s requests from Par-tay ’05 I couldn’t find at the time, but it’s here now!

18. Dazz: (Brick) 70’s Disco, yeah!

19. Tell Me Something Good: (Rufus and Chaka Khan) Missy’s disco favorite

20. Little Less Conversation: (Elvis Presley) Encore from Par-tay ’05 CD

21. Chain of Fools: (Aretha Franklin) Missy’s R&B

22. Mama’s Always on Stage: (Arrested Development) For overworked Mamas who need a break, and the people who support her getting one



I CAN'T WAIT TO LEAVE!!!!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Thursday and Friday

Thursday:
Thursday, our little buddy Adam came for a babysitting playdate. In case you forgot, he's the little guy I babysat last year, and honorary little brother for my kids. He's 18 months old now, but my kids gave him the full court press. A frequent phrase I heard:

"MOM! (insert sibling name) is hogging Adam!"

Finally I started setting the oven timer to give everyone equal turns with our little guest. Toni was having one of her last visits with her OB, and she will have baby Amy here before we know it. If only she was smart enough to have twins, there would be one little child for each of my kids to hog during playdates.

updated memory:
How could I have forgotten (repressed?) this one other event from Thursday. A friend called to ask if we wanted to meet at the IMAX showing of Deep Sea 3-D. I said sure, but Emma had second thoughts and decided it would be too scary. So I asked my buddy to buy three tickets for Max, Joey and me. We dropped Emma off at David's office, and as she got out of the car, she mentioned something about how scary the movie would be. Thanks, Emma. By the time we got to the theater, both boys were wimpering about sharks. I kept telling them I'd hold their hands, cover their eyes, whatever it took. Things kept getting worse. By the time we got into the theater, Joey was a writhing ball of loud crying dispair, and wouldn't even exit the lobby. Max went in with my friends (and three of his classmates) but as if on cue, two minutes later, he was back with me, in the lobby afraid of the movie. I cell phoned my friend who was in the theater, told her it was a lost cause, and tried to get a refund. No luck. Just some vouchers for a future show. ugh!


After that, we drove to the nursery to pick out some plants. Max was excited to find actual Strawberry Plants-- imagine that! Emma bought a flat of flowers and Joey decided to take possession of the Basil seeds I had planned to buy. Max also found a package of "Pumpkin-Big Max" seeds that grow the type of pumpkins seen at the state fair. So we'll have huge Jack-o-Lanterns this year.

FRIDAY:
We drove to Half Price Books so Emma could get a sushi making kit and an Origami kit. We went to Taco Cabana for lunch, and then to an estate sale for me. At the sale, I found a few goodies, but the one that will make me rich on eBay is a package (mint condition, unopened) of Peanut's Hallmark Stickers with Lucy, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. I got them for 50 cents, but think I'll make over TEN BUCKS reselling them. woo hoo. Maybe even more. If I get something unreal like $50 I'll take you all out for margaritas!

And we topped the week of Spring Break off in a very fun way. Mommy time at the Park. We looked like the only ones who would show at first, but then our friends started dribbling in. Had a couple of beers while laughing and relaxing with the girls, then wonderful Erika invited everyone over to her house (15 kids and 7 moms!) for dinner, since her hubby had taken a trip out of town. The kids ranged from 3 years old to 5th graders and they all played some sort of wrestling/tackling game that seemed violent at times. But all of us moms could remember playing a similar game (with various UN-P.C. names) when we were little and the grown ups weren't around. None of the kids broke bones or got hurt, so that was cool.

We made spagetti and carrot sticks for all the kids, and the moms ate a fantastic concoction of shrimp/pasta and steak that Erika just sort of threw together. Margaritas in the kitchen while we all chipped in and worked, dinner on the deck with low lights and a glass of wine, and the kids having a blast. It was a wonderful evening. As we walked out the door, my daughter who usually does not like visiting there since all the kids are younger than her, asked me "Can we come back here tomorrow night?"

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Spring Break...more

Wednesday:
We started the day with grand ambitions, maybe a trip to the nursery to buy some tomato plants and flowers. Instead, we hung around the house. Every half hour or so, I'd yell, "get dressed, let's have an adventure!" But the kids were playing together, so I'd let it slide. Finally we got a call from a friend, back early from the beach. It turns out Port A was really windy and not so fun....so they came home early. She offerred to host the boys for a playdate. Yippee!

Emma and I got to have some girl time with a trip to the Girl Scout shop. Um, no offense Girl Scouts, but your store hit my troop for almost $100 for a teeny tiny bag of badges and pins. Good thing we worked so hard selling cookies...ugh. Anyway, we got to shop a couple other stores before grabbing the boys. A nice break for the Genet girls.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Spring Break... so far.

OK. I've been so busy, that Spring Break sort of snuck up on me this year. We had Max's birthday March 3 and planned his birthday party for that weekend.

Then, we thought we might go to Six Flags that weekend. So, when we decided 'yes' to Six Flags, we scheduled his party for the following weekend. Who would have guessed that was during Spring Break? Not clueless-busy-woman! I became aware of it when four parents called me to RSVP that they wouldn't make it since they would be at Padre, skiing, visiting California. Of course then I had to reschedule the bowling lanes, and call all the kid's parents to change the date. UGH!

So anyway, last Friday, as all my mommy friends were heading off to the mountains, the beach, where ever, I started getting mad. How could spring break sneak up on me like that? In the midst of all my busy-ness I had made no plans for us. We would surely be the only family left in Austin.

Anyway, it hasn't been so bad after all. I'm going to give a recap of each day's Fun Austin Adventure, which is what I've renamed Spring Break for us.

Friday after school:

I was certain that the Mommy Park Time I usually enjoy at the end of a long week would consist of me, and my kids, in a deserted park. I was wrong about that. When we got there, a surprising number of my good buddies were on blankets, sipping cold beer and there was a sizable gaggle of kids running around.

Lately, the park has been an incubator for a kind of kid-sociology experiment. The kids act like a tribe, mixing in a way I'm sure they never do at school-- girls and boys, young and old-- inventing elaborate games. This visit, ALL the kids, Joey's age (4) up through 5th graders, were working on a city made of sand. One mom reported that it was a fortified city. There were builder children and warrier children. The war would be to throw sticks at the fortified city to destroy it. Fortunately, the builders got pretty passionate about the creative end of things and kept telling the warriers to hold their horses. Eventually the building never got finished, just more fantastic, and the warriers (a minority) ran off to the playscape. At least that is what a very funny new Mom told the rest of us. She was a nice surprise, a new Mama who made me laugh so much. My friend Zina, who's house was completely destroyed in New Orleans and who had to endure the convention center before boarding a bus to Austin, came for the first time, and you know, it's hard to bitch about spring break when you sit next to someone in her situation. The beer and perfect weather helped change my mind a bit too!

Anyway, all us Mommies decided that we would meet next Friday, since we would all be home. We might even meet a bit earlier than usual! yippee!

Saturday:

The big adventure of the day was a trip to Peter Pan Mini Golf. It is a funky Austin creation with nearly impossible playing conditions on the homemade obsticles. The kids should have eaten before we left, so there was some crankyness when the ball got stuck under the giant scary bunny's butt. Could have been better, but hey, not every day of spring break is magical.

Sunday:

Church and hanging out. The kids are playing in the bamboo teepee in the yard again, making "food" from dirt, and hauling every pillow and towel outside for mudpie time.

Monday:

Amy's Ice Cream, including photo booth. And a trip to Central Market, its playground, and the Octopus Tree. The tree is magical, one of those big old Live Oaks with limbs dripping down to the ground. My kids love it. I sit away from the action and hold my tongue when they get up there too high, because I remember that tingly feeling I'd get in the soles of my feet when climbing high in a tree. They need to push the envelope a little and do something scary. I also let them run around the little pond there, the visibility is great for me, and they get the freedom of exploring. As I watched them run (fast!) around the pond with the sun in Emma's hair and the joy Joey showed as he picked up steam running down a hill, I was very greatful to have the kids in my life.

Tuesday:

We went to Emma's favorite Japanese store, Momoko. Then we went to a gallery where my favorite artist is having a show- Lance Letscher. I am amazed by his work, but am watching him get so expensive that I will never own an original. I bought a poster from the show on impulse and part of our running around was to get it framed at Michael's. The kids jumped on the trampoline at a friend's house while I helped her get family heirlooms ready for sale on eBay. (hopefully I'll make enough commission helping her to pay for the poster and framing!) At the end of the day, we took a surprise trip up to Krispy Kreme for hot donuts! Partly because I felt guilty for taking the kids on errands, but as we drove home, Emma said this was a good day, and it was! How can you argue with that when you are eating a hot donut?

to be continued....

Monday, March 06, 2006

Six Flags is Open!!


Six Flags hosted all the former employees and their guests at the grand opening of the park this year. It is the 45th anniversary, so we got cool t-shirts and entry to the park before it opened. It was a nice cool day, and apparantly the ex-employees and a handfull of other guests were the only ones who knew the season had started. The attendance at the park was so low that we walked to the front of the line on almost every ride. It was heaven! Although, as you will read later, there is a good reason for waiting in lines, it gives your body a chance to regain its equilibrium and your stomach a chance to settle down after being put through unnatural stresses and forces! Posted by Picasa

On the way into the park, we are all smiles and eager anticipation. Julie and I, being former employees, enjoyed getting to enter the park the way we used to, at the employee entrance. We came in from behind these rides that weren't even around in 81 and 82 when I was a ticket seller and ride operator at Six Flags Over Texas. Posted by Picasa

Mike Bond!


... We are the Summit, Eastern Hills!!..... Yes, not only the same educational foundation, but also the same early employment history.

Mike joined us for the Six Flags Reunion and when he and I broke away from the group for a few of the "thrill rides", little did he know that I was such a woosie. I discovered this 40 year old woman can NOT ride the Mr. Freeze, or Batman rides without becoming queezy. I am very disappointed in myself! On Mr. Freeze, the coaster goes from zero to seventy in less than four seconds, then twists and turns until the only thing I was able to mutter against the g-forces were vivid cuss words. Posted by Picasa

Joey meets Tweety Posted by Picasa

Tweety defying gravity by counterbalancing that big ol head. Posted by Picasa

A real tragedy, my kids are totally unaware of the whole Warner Bros. cartoon world. These characters mean nothing to them. What kind of parents are we???? Posted by Picasa

A little visit to Mexico, Six Flags Marketing style. Posted by Picasa

On the Conquistador. Between Julie, Grace, Emma and Me... 3 of us were queezy afterwords... Posted by Picasa

Emma and the BatMobile Posted by Picasa

Jim, Julie and Gracie crouching, Emma gripping for dear life.... Posted by Picasa

After the log ride....no big deal for Emma Posted by Picasa

Master of Disguise


Joey made his disguise.... "puzzle boy" Posted by Picasa

All the February Photos I was too damn busy to post


Joey wanted me to take this picture of him with Bear Bear Posted by Picasa

My beautiful Valentine's flowers from David. I also got a chocolate truffle cake that I got to eat all by myself! Posted by Picasa

This is why I never post anymore. Too damn busy! Posted by Picasa