Week in Review

We are still here, blog friends. For whatever reason, my desire to blog has somewhat diminished over the past week or so. However, it is not for lack of adorable Isaac stories or crazy Phillips' family antics. Here is the past week's highlights, for those of you who have been anxiously checking this site over the past seven days hoping for an update.

Monday: Isaac and I ventured out to a new park. The reason we had to go to a new park rather than our standard favorite was that the week before I had let him explore the beautiful fountain at our normal park. This fountain has waterfalls that spill over the sides which you can walk up and touch. Since it was at least 80 degrees outside, I allowed Isaac to splash in the waterfall and play in the water. By the time we were ready to leave, he was one soaked and happy baby. I literally poured water out of his shoes and had to wring out his socks. However, we have not gone back to the park since then to give him time to forget how fun the waterfall at the fountain can be and avoid the desire to play in the water every time we visit this establishment. Isaac---being one who is hesitant to change and all things different--didn't really care for the new park and clung to me at all times. He was not at all impressed by the fun house mirrors or baby slides.

Tuesday: Isaac quietly sat on the blue diamond on the reading mat at the library during story time like the good boy that he is. Of course he had one hand placed firmly on my leg in case I decided to leave him there, but enjoyed his twenty minutes of literary time nonetheless. However, each week I am amazed at the parents who miss the large sign at the front of the room that reads "Please take out children who are being noisy or disruptive." and allow their precious darlings to cry, talk loudly, or run around the room during story time. Drives me crazy. Isaac was given a sticker on his hand for sitting quietly. He kept that hand in a fist the rest of the morning and wouldn't move it. Hilarious! That night I put Isaac to bed early so I could watch the finale of Dancing With the Stars. Loved, loved, loved Emmitt and all of his dances. I did not care for Mario's freestyle and felt like most nine year olds with a year of hiphop dance experience could do the same dance. However, I was glad to see Jesse Spano and Kelly Kapowski cheering on AC Slater from the audience!

Wednesday: Isaac and I bundled up against the wind and headed out to my old school to eat lunch with some friends and show off the baby. We haven't visited since last school year and Isaac was quite curious about all the children. Because the weather kept a lot of parents at home (and not making useless trips up to the school) we were able to hang out with my friend Paula in the school's office (she is the attendance clerk). Isaac had a great time sitting in her lap and eating crackers and then playing with an old soccer ball behind her desk. Fun times. I love catching up with old co-workers and rehashing some of the "interesting" days spent in my classroom. I did not see any former students due to an outbreak of chicken pox in the 5th grade (There has been speculation that the chicken pox vaccine might not be effective. Kids currently in 5th and 6th grade were some of the first to be vaccinated and it seems like they are not immune to the new strain. When Isaac is older, I am seriously considering exposing him to the chicken pox if ever given the chance. What the medical community fears about the chicken pox vaccine is that it won't be effective against various strains and mutations and a bunch of people will get the pox as an adult, which can be rather serious. That is your medical tidbit for the day.)
After trying countless times to put in a vote for Emmitt the night before (unsuccessfully, I might add), I was nervous all day over who would win Dancing with the Stars. I am not even sure why I cared so much, but I did. My parents were in the Grand Caymans last week (for business---they don't often holiday in exotic locations....unless Branson counts!), where they attempted to vote for Emmitt as well. They were devastated to discover that the 1-800 number did not work out of the United States. I was quite ecstatic when Emmitt one and thought that Mario might cry. I do feel sorry for his partner, Katarina, as she seemed to really be into their relationship. I am sure Mario dropped her like a bad habit about thirty minutes after the final taping in search of Dancing With the Stars groupies.

Thursday: Is it bad that I don't remember a thing about what I did last Thursday???? (Oh, now I remember that I did go to Anne Taylor that night---without the baby---in search of maternity clothes. No the AT is not making a maternity line, but they do carry tunic sweaters and t-shirts that will fit over my belly. I am constantly searching for anti-maternity clothes for some reason. Thanks, Kelli, for my coupon!)

Friday: Early Friday morning, Isaac escorted me to a doctor's appointment. This particular doctor is Indian and Isaac is fascinated by her accent. She affectionately calls him her boyfriend and likes to show him off to the nurses. They have formed this unusual relationship. After a short morning nap, we loaded back up in the car and headed down to see Alison and Morgan. Morgan was quite excited to see Isaac and the two of them had a lot of fun playing together (or playing side by side with the occasional glance given to the other). However, there always seems to be a meltdown point when we get together with these loved friends. This point came as Alison and I were finishing up our lunches (the kids had already eaten and resumed playing). Morgan somehow fell off a bench in the kitchen and hit her head, which caused great sadness. It was at that point that I heard Isaac screech and saw him crawling in my direction as fast as possible. I figured he suddenly felt sad when he heard Morgan crying. Oh no. He had spotted one of Alison's cats and was gleefully chasing it. The boy who is hesitant to really venture out was now crawling under coffee tables, behind couches, and under end tables to get this poor cat. Isaac did manage to grab him a few times. Finally, we decided for the cat's sanity to put him away in another room, safe from the hands of Isaac. Isaac had such a good time with his friend Morgan that he cried when I put him in the carseat to go home.

Saturday: We welcomed Isaac's new friend, Brandon Scott Kasberg, into the world! Yippee! Now Isaac will not be the only boy at 1017 Washington reunions. That morning, Tobe and I left the baby with the grandparents and loaded up the car to head out for the big city of Sweetwater, Texas. All of Tobe's college buddies get together each year for a game of football and a pre-Thanksgiving feast. While the boys play football, the wives sit around and talk. Years ago it was decided to cater in the food so no one has to cook. I had a fabulous time talking with this wife and with two other super cool wives as well. On the way to Sweetwater, Tobe and I stopped off at the ACU campus in search of the infamous walking track that we had been unable to locate in June while in Abilene. We finally saw it and was quite impressed with the new Jacob's Ladder sculpture. We spent a good 30 minutes shopping in the ACU bookstore, often giggling over the joke of "Hey, I need to buy a scantron." or "Where are the Kojie license plate covers?" Yeah, we are quite the comedians in the Phillips' family. We did manage to score the ACU Centennial Coffee Table Book for $35 (they were originally charging $100 when it first came out. Despite the obvious lack of sales, the book is actually quite interesting and worth the money. However, it is obvious that one of the editors was biased towards a particular women's social club. Social clubs are barely mentioned and the only pictures are those of just one club. Not that it really matters, but I felt like for my $35 they could have at least thrown in something about club life. Perhaps they will make a supplement for the book which includes information on all the clubs. I would even loan them my 1995 Kojie Christmas social sweatshirt to take a picture as archival data.) Tobe and I quickly realized that the fastest way to feel old is to walk around your former college campus while classes are in session. The students looked like children and I often felt the need to ask them if their parents knew where they were. Getting old is the pits.

Sunday: Before getting Isaac back, Tobe and I ventured out to the movies. We caught the new James Bond flick and we were quite impressed. The movie could stand to lose about 15 minutes because it is a bit long, but the overall quality was very enjoyable. It appears that this film finally broke away from the James Bond cheesiness that personified all of the Pierce Brosnon Bond films (for instance, Denise Richards as a scientist????). I like the new Bond, but often felt like he looked like Clinton Kelly from TLC's What Not to Wear. This was a bit distracting at times, but I was able to get past it. I recommend this movie if you are searching for something to catch during the upcoming holiday season.

Monday (today): In search of some last-minute Thanksgiving food items, Isaac and I went to Wal-Mart. Because I am easily distracted in any type of retail establishment, we immediately headed towards the Christmas section and bypassed the food. Isaac loved looking at all things sparkly and bright. I placed a Santa hat on his head to see what he would do and he just beamed all over himself. He rode around during the remainder of our shopping trip with that hat on his head, happily eating fruit puffs out of his snack trap. Most people we passed had to comment on the hat to Isaac and he would simply pat it proudly. Too cute. That boy loves hats for some reason.
Tonight he had a meltdown because we would not let him take his bath early. We were all playing in the living room after supper when Isaac crawled off to the hall. He then proceeded to knock repeatedly on the bathroom door to get someone to open it. When he realized that there was no one inside the bathroom to open the door and that neither Tobe nor I would open it, he fell to pieces. That kid loves his bath and bedtime. We were able to distract him for a while and hold off the whole bedtime routine until a more appropriate time. Every so often Isaac would sign more and then frantically point to the bathroom. I might have wanted to video tape this to show him one day when he refuses to take a bath. He was quite giddy when it actually became time to bathe and go to sleep.

As I type this, I just noticed a hole in the knee of my jeans. I suppose this is from crawling on the floor with the baby. These are my favorite jeans and I am now quite sad about this hole. Tobe told me to go get a new pair, but I purchased these over a year ago off the sale rack at Target. These jeans were supposed to get me through the next month or so of pregnancy before I might be forced to dig out my Gap maternity jeans.

There you go, blog friends. That was the highlights of our week. I promise to be a better blogger and share every juicy detail of our upcoming holiday season. By the way, if you are wanting to live closer to casa de Phillips' (lets be honest, who doesn't???), the house behind us was foreclosed on and the bank is selling it dirt cheap!

In closing, I will leave you with pictures of our 15 month old heading off to college....