CB’s obsession with books grows by the day, but lately she’s becoming more interested in the people who write the books.  Every time we start a new book, she immediately asks “Who wrote this book, Daddy?”

We were eating dinner the other night when Max & Ruby, CB’s current favorite, became the topic of choice.  CB nochalantly turns to Mommy and says, “Rosemary Wells writes the Max & Ruby books.”

This is all well and good until Sunday night when we were in the middle of some book and CB stops me, with a grave look of concern on her face, and asks “Who wrote Kipper?”

I have no idea, and worse yet, I didn’t have a Kipper book nearby for reference.  Undeterred, CB informs me that tomorrow when I’m at work, I need to look up the Kipper books on my ‘puter.  I got a reprieve.

Monday night rolls around and we’re once again in the middle of storytime when CB’s Kipper question pops up once more.  Having completely forgotten about it, I start scrambling…I mean, come on, she’s 3 years old.

“Marc Brown wrote the Kipper books” I tell her, and quickly go back to the story.

“Daddy” CB belts out, clearly exasparated, “Marc Brown writes the Arthur Books!! You didn’t look it up on your ‘puter”

Busted.

So, CB, if you’re on the puter today…

It’s Mick Inkpen

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This is my official birthday week, so the parents came in for a little early celebration.  A real birthday celebration, for me, at least, means only one thing – Buca!!!

I’ve spent many a birthday at Buca, but tonight was special as we got the “Best Seat in the House”.  There’s one booth in the kitchen, and they’re not kidding, when they say in the kitchen.

The view from the booth – by the way – this was taken by CB, she’s become quite the shutterbug lately.  On a Saturday night, with plates banging and the kitchen manager barking orders – let’s just say it’s the perfect place to sit with 2 little ones. Plenty of action.

Hmmmm…if the old man nods off for a second, this bottle is mine!

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CB’s new Official Saying.  What a fantastic weekend.  BU Homecoming… We did it all.  Bonfire, extravaganza, the parade, tailgate festivities, and not to mention catching up with some old friends.  Needless to say, CB is now a Bear for life.

In conjunction with the Bonfire, BU has set up all kinds of activities for the kids.

At the peak of the slide.  CB at first wanted nothing to do with this, but then after learning Daddy could go with her, she was pumped.  We made it all the way to the top, at which point she turns to me and says, “Bye Daddy.  I do it all by myself”  And then she’s gone…that’s my girl.

Great Bonfire pic, with classic CB pose.

“The Twins” Theta Beauties – Pledge Class 2025

The next morning and the parade.  All the great floats to see, and flying candy.  CB could not believe a place like this even existed…

CB making sure Maddy and Shane are enjoying all the Parade festivities.

Catching up with old friends, the best part of the weekend. 
Enter “GD”- big time Baylor Alum, Theta, and proud parent of “GB”

“Remember the black dear, Remember the Gold”
Come on girls, you honestly didn’t think there was anyway that this one was not going on the blog.

Gretchen’s son, Graham, and CB hit it off.  Graham was practicing for the big game a few years down the road.

Now this next one…I’m going to have to copyright before BU steals the image for its Freshman class of 2023 brochure.

Priceless…
For more Graham goodness, as well as the whole Braunstein clan, be sure and check out www.aggbraunstein.blogspot.com

All in all, a perfect weekend, culminating with a Baylor fourth quarter comeback. 

That campus holds a lot of special memories, and wandering the grounds now with a wife and 2 kids in tow it’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 10 years since I first fell in love with a beautiful 19 year old Co-ed and convinced her to come along for the ride…and what a ride it’s been.

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It rained hard last week.  While I spent the better part of the morning sliding around the highways and bemoaning the fact that no one around here ever seems to have driven in the rain before, CB had a slightly different experience.

She ran and danced in the rain.

Could there be anything better…

Apparently there is.  Eating chocolate while playing in the rain.  Good Times.

I guess it’s like everything else, a rainy day is all a matter of perspective

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Lately, MK is becoming more and more involved with Big Sis.  A lot of times it seems that the only one that can keep MK happy is Miss CB.

MK was getting fussy, and the next thing you know all you can hear is uproarious laughter.

CB working her magic once more…

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I must have heard that phrase a thousand times yesterday.  Definitely a good sign.  I can highly recommend the Elgin Pumpkin patch.  www.elginchristmastreefarm.com

I know there are several Pumpkin patch activites in the area – but this one came highly recommended and I can see why – we had a great time.

The obligatory photo-op.

There was certainly no shortage of activities.  Hay rides, face painting, hay maze, pony rides, live music, and rubber ducky races- more on that later.

We almost had Mommy convinced to take this little guy home.

Now, the rubber ducky races.  Pretty ingenious.  They had a series of PVC pipes set up with an old-fashioned water pump at the top of the pipes.  You picked out  a duck, pink of course, and the faster you pumped the water, the faster your ducky moved.

It was all fun and games until a competitor showed up, then CB went into her “PaPa on the back nine” mode.  The girl’s a grinder…

Eyes on the prize.

From there, it was on to the face painting.

Since it is close to Halloween, CB opted for the Christmas tree…

A little break in the action for CB to tend to the “Back 40″

No pumpkin patch would be complete without a visit from “The Great Pumpkin”

All in all a great experience, and we even got a preview of our christmas tree.  We’ll definitely be back in December

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Thanks for the response from the last post.  I got a ton of e-mail on my UT blast – 99% of the folks were in agreement with me, and the replies I got were funnier than anything I could’ve written.

However, I need to clear a few things up.  I am not inherently Anti-Austin, it’s just that I’m strongly Pro-Texas. And it appears that those 2 views are in extreme opposition at the moment.

Austin has always been…different.  I know as a kid growing up, whenever we’d come to visit I loved it.  I’ve always been accused of having a little freak in me.  Before I was born when my parents lived in Temple, they loved their weekend trips to Austin to different restaurants and to see the sights that you can only see in Austin.

In the last 10-15 years everything has changed…drastically.  Austin was invaded by the worst kind of outsiders – Californians.  Texas Monthly has done some interesting articles on the demise of Austin and how that for the last 10 years Texans are an extreme minority to the California freaks – and it’s only getting worse. I remember contacting the Austin Chamber years ago when I worked for a Congressman and was told how many thousands of people were moving to Austin a month – all from Southern California.

Now, I don’t want to be one to only complain, so I’m here to offer solutions.  Through my highly trained skills of observation, I’ve noticed there are several things these Californians hate.  They are extremely pro-choice, they are strongly in favor of gun control, and they absolutely despise anything even remotely involved with President Bush.  Hence my plan….

Everyone around here needs to have a lot of kids, dress them appropriately, and train them early in the handling of weapons.  I couldn’t think of anything that would drive these freaks out of here faster than a yard full of toddlers, each carrying a 30.06, and sporting some stylish “W” gear.  

It’s our duty as Texans…

Posted at 11:26 am by Havens72

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A seemingly innocuous question, but one that draws some irate responses.  Let me back up a bit.  People around here are insane about TU football – and no that’s not a misspelling-just a nod to the Aggie fans out there.

This past weekend was the big UT-OU game, and you would have thought Earl Campbell himself was coming out of retirement to start in the Super Bowl.  There are 3 main reasons why I didn’t watch the game:

1)                 I didn’t attend the University of Texas

2)                 I didn’t attend the University of Oklahoma

3)                 Davis Love was picking up his 19^th career win in his home state

The first two reasons might seem a little strange, but I’ve always had that crazy notion that you should support YOUR college team.  I’m a BU grad, and admittedly, there hasn’t been much to get excited about lately, but hey, the Sox fans waited 86 years for a championship.  Just think of how sweet it’ll be when Baylor wins the big one.

Back to my original question – When did you graduate? It seems I’ve found the perfect response to these rabid fans.  Whenever one of these morons starts going off about how “We’re going to win the big one, and don’t WE look great this year?”  I’ll just casually ask them, “When did you graduate?”

Guaranteed to draw complete silence and a look of utter horror.  People are truly astounded you would bring up such an obvious question.  Occasionally, I’ll get the response of ’78 or ’92 followed by reminiscing of how good, or bad, the team was back then, and how it’s nice to see the program back on top.  This is usually 1 out of about 1,000.

I think this could all be solved with a professional team.  Consider this my petition to get an NFL franchise in Austin.  Because, no matter how much orange gear you buy, UT still ain’t the NFL.  And look on the bright side, I think you could pick up T.O. on the cheap after his Philly performance – he’d fit in perfect around here

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Saturday morning was an incredible discovery…we actually found some water and a few trees!!!  Not to mention a few ducks thrown in for free.

Is there anything this girl won’t pose for?

Apparently not.

Another entry for my “Only in Austin” file.  After a quick hemp snack, the Ducks around here get serious with a little “Tai-Chi” Yoga combination.

Nice moves…

To top it all off, CB gave little sis some tips for conquering the slides.

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Halloween is upon us, and nothing puts you in the mood quite like “Pumpkin Popcorn Marshmallow, Candy, Something or Other Treats” 

Nana Jane brought the ingredients and CB supplied the enthusiasm.

The first step was to pop the popcorn, that was amazing enough for CB.  The second step was the most difficult – trying to keep CB and Grandpa away from the popcorn.

This was the one that brought the house down .  CB was in absolute shock at the existence of Orange Popcorn

Three generations hard at work

The finishing touches.

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