1. I was afraid to mess up the headlights worse than they already are.
2. I’m lazy. I figured it would take 2 hours or so for each headlight.

Last night I finally bit the bullet. And you know what? It worked. Of course it took 3 hours each, but we went from this:

to this:

Basically you just sand the heck out of the lights slowly moving through multiple grits of sand paper, plus some rubbing compound (all included in the kit). You attach them to your drill and then sand until your arms fall off.

We did a non scientific test by parking the car in the driveway and shining the lights on the garage door. The right side (which had been polished) was about twice as bright as the left side (which had not).  I’m guessing they won’t stay clear as long as they did the first time (10 years), but I’ll be happy if we get 2-3 out of the new polishing.

In 2009 we took 12,988.  The collages are a wonderful way for me to really remember these events and times of the year.

I am looking forward to all the collages that will need to be made in 2010!

So Mary Ann, Annalise and Nickolas came over early on Friday morning.  They gave a couple of birthday gifts which she opened right away.

Openingher new headband.

Wesley helping Jillian open her new playdough toys.

Then we were off to the pond:

On our way down to the pond.

Feeding the baby ducks together.

Making our way down the pond.

Here are the sweet little duckies.

He got so excited when the babies ate his bread!

She just loved watching them.

Hot and tired, but they love to be outside!

The girls rode in the stroller with me, and the boys walked with Mary Ann. What a great way to end our trip to the pond.

Then in the afternoon we got out the big tub of playdough toys.  Jillian sure did love the extruder!!!

Thank you Mary Ann for a fun day!

JI…

I know you don’t like to celebrate this very special day…but I do.   So, I will keep it simple for you today.  Thank you for sharing your life with me.  I am looking forward to the next 30 years!!

I love you with all of my heart.

AR…

I finally broke down and bought 11 different colors of tempra paint.  Then it sat, unused for a couple of weeks.  Last weekend when Joshua was taking a nap, I wanted to do something quiet….so we painted.

Two brushes at once!

Painting circles

And it worked out great.  They both got to paint at the same time.  Each kid got to pick 3 colors to paint with.  Wesley chose black, purple and blue.  Jillian chose yellow, orange and pink.

Just some of the masterpieces.

Now that I know how easy it was, we will be doing it more often!

Wesley's "Beetle": purple legs, blue antenna, blue eye with a black body.

Jillian's "Circles and Lines"

Wesley's "Feathers"

Jillian's "Wild"

Our new puppy.

On Saturday we drove to Brenham, Texas to pick up our new 3-4 month old puppy.

He is a great listener  and we think he is really trainable!

Having a puppy in the house is a bit stressful, but he really is a great dog – and we are lucky to have him.

Congratulations to my cousin Erica and her husband Paul who have just had their first child: Elijah Hawk Bergman. He arrived at 9:45am on Wednesday. Weighing in at 6lbs 15oz.
I don’t have any more photos (or a link to more) because as far as I can tell they are all on Facebook (I stole this one using Amber’s account). If I find some I’ll add a link.

And guess what???  She is still small!

Length: 28 1/4 inches ( in the 3rd percentile – she is the length of an average 10 month)
Weight: 18 pounds 8 ounces (which is below the chart)
Head: 44.5cm (15th percentile)

But she is going up on her growth chart – ever so slowly – but it is still going in the right direction.

I see you!

The boys carried the bags while Angela and I filled them up.  Angela got some eggplant, peppers, onions, and potatoes.  I got some pears, and onion and half dozen fresh hen eggs.

After we got our veggies the kids headed over to the baby chickens.  They were so sweet talking and pointing to the chicks.

Next we went over to the hen house.  This is were the eggs I bought were laid and collected.  There were a lot of hens and a rooster or two.  The kids did not see the rooster, but Wesley heard it and got really excited.  He started saying cock-a -doodle-do over and over.

Next to the hen house is a dirt pit/pile and some trucks.  What kid can resist that?  Wesley spent his hole time there.  He was uninterested in the big chickens, but Wesley Owen and Jillian thought they were pretty neat.

After our visit with the hens and a tour of the farm, (The boys thought it was cool to see where the produce was grown.  They also liked the rows of dirt that were tilled over for the next crop to go into.) we sat down on the benches and had some goats milk ice cream.  Wesley Owen had chocolate and I got Ambrosia (pineapple, coconut and vanilla flavor) for Wesley and Jillian.  Jillian loved it – Wesley did not.  Wesley Own shared a bit of his chocolate and Wesley loved it.  So we went and got him Turtle Chocolate.  Once everyone was happy with their flavors, they sat and enjoyed the ice cream and made a pretty big mess on the bench and on their clothes.

Then it was time to leave the farm.  Angela and I had no real plans for the rest of the day.  We were planning on heading back to her place and letting the kids play.  But she got a call from the her friend the owner of Los Portales asking her to come and work the lunch shift.  So we headed over there for lunch.  The kids ate their tacos and ate queso and chips.  Wesley was dipping queso on a chip for Jillian and feeding it to her.  It was pretty cute.  Then I noticed there was salsa in the queso.  And then I looked at Jillian.  Wesley gave her the salsa too!  It was hot for me so I was worried that she would be crying.  She just looked up at me and gave me a look like “huh.  My mouth is hot.” and then took a sip of her milk and she was just fine.  She is like her daddy.  Likes it hot!

It was a fun day.  It is nice that Angela lets me tag along with her.  As she pulls away from my house she always says – the bus is on the move…  Wesley now calls our car a bus too.  It is pretty sweet.

We are looking forward to our next excursion out with the Wesley Owen.