The Traveling Ingys Get Mani-Pedis

It's so hard for me to get out of the house to get
"routine maintenance" done these days, so what a treat it was for Allison to take The Traveling Ingys out for a pedicure last week. Don't tell anybody, but Jason loved having pedicures when we were in China, so this was a special treat for him. My nails were in bad shape, so I was glad to get them prettied up. And the boys fingernails all grow so fast it sure was nice to have somebody cut them besides me. Thanks, Allison...we all really needed some re-lax-ation!

Vocabulary Workshop Part 2

Last night JR brought his dessert to the table and said, "Look, Mommy, I've got 3 Manilla Vanillas!" (That would be Vanilla Wafers.) I had to laugh at him, then make him say it about 3 more times since I thought it was so funny. With JR being half Chinese, he certainly has an interesting way of talking. Lately he's adopted some sort of Madonna-esk fake British accent when he says "Yes", Noooo", and "Actually". I had him tested for speech problems this past year at school and they said he was fine. But really, the poor child was watching High School Musical in Chinese last night, he's bound to have some speech issues. (BTW, he thinks the name of High School Musical is really "The High School Musical Kids".) What really cracks us up is that JR has given things certain names and you can't convince him that those aren't their real names. I guess he gets that from his Daddy and his Paw-Paw, they love to make up new names for things...and people! Being that he's 5, I know I only have a little time left to enjoy the cuteness of his language skills, so I've put together a little to test to see if you can figure out what JR is talking about. This is more words he's completely made up than words he says wrong like "crown" (crayon), "schwimming", and "Buzz Light-lear".

1. Ayi Sauce
2. The Hook
3. Purple Juice
4. The Bad Kid Show
5. The Telican Restaurant

1. Ayi Sauce- That would be soy sauce. His Ayi in China put it on everything he ate. He still wants to put it on everything he eats and asks for it daily.
2. The Hook- The Incredible Hulk. No matter how many times I've told him his name is "The Hulk" he corrects me and says, "No, it's The Hook!"
3. Purple Juice- This is the WalMart brand clear, flavored water. The flavor he likes has a purple top. Where the word "juice" came from I have no idea. If I make the mistake of calling it "purple water" he immediately says, "No, purple juice."
4. The Bad Kid Show. This is an easy one if you are one of my loyal blog readers...Jon and Kate Plus 8
5. The Telican Restaurant -Okay, this one took me forever to figure out. He's actually trying to say "the Italian restaurant".

And I'm also including a video so you can hear him for yourself.

The Traveling Ingys Eating Yummy

We ate at home this weekend (which is actually unusual) but as luck would have it, The Traveling Ingys went out to eat on Saturday! Shelley took us to one of our favorite restaurants, Lupe Tortilla! Shelley was having dinner with her high school friends and their kids...So The Traveling Ingy adults were able to enjoy margaritas with Shelley and her friends, while The Traveling Ingy kids were able to play in the Lupe Tortilla sandbox with the other 6 kids in Shelley's party. Thanks for taking us along, Shelley...I know we had a great time!

Twins, But Not What You Think

We were eating lunch Saturday and I looked across the table at Jason holding Kyle. I immediately had a flashback and said, "I have a picture of you holding JR and y'all are wearing those exact same outfits." Sure enough, I went to JR's baby book and there it was. Now, does that mean:

A. I have a great memory
B. JR has made me look at his baby book with him way too many times
C. We need to edit our wardrobes
or
D. We are still wearing our same clothes from 5 years ago, which would make us "green", and according to the media if we're "green" we must be cool.

JR is in the first picture, a week away from being 3 months old. Kyle is below, and at 6 months old looks like a 3 month old JR. (And Kyle is the big one!) And on a side note, look how cute Jason's lookin' 40 pounds lighter.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, yesterday, 7/25 to the most fun caterer and gourmet chef I know...Kelly!

Superhero Graduation

JR graduated from Superhero Academy today (AKA: VBS is finished). They even gave them a diploma, so now JR thinks he truly is an actual superhero. They also got to take pictures with the superheros from "The Big Show" (AKA: staff that work at the church). As you can see by JR's expressions, he was almost as excited as when he met Buzz Lightyear.

I had a fantastic week working in the nursery. I just had to smile everytime I passed by a window and saw those poor women in there jumping, dancing, singing, and crafting with the big kids. The nursery is certainly the place to be! We had between 9 and 6 kids each day and 4 workers. It was like baby heaven...a room full of rocking chairs, bouncy chairs, swings, exasaucers, and cribs. We just moved them from one apparatus to the next.

Everyone that had been teaching the big kids all week looked so tired today. While we were taking the babies out for their daily buggy ride I saw one older lady with 4th grade kids who told me, "I want to be doing what you're doing!" Speaking of the buggy ride, here they are on their ride...aren't they cute? Anybody who was awake during buggy time got to go...and wouldn't you know it, mine were always awake...it was like they were staying up waiting for it!

Yep, I learned my lesson many years ago....it's nursery city for me, baby!

Those Dancin' Baptists

Sure we had snowcones back in my day of Vacation Bible School, but one thing I can guarantee we didn't have....dancing. 2nd Baptist has a whole big production of a show for the kids each day, aptly named, "The Big Show". It's part Broadway play, part musical, and part (gasp!) dancing. Dancing? Dancing? Did I just say dancing? Oh yes, I did. Are the Baptist becoming...oh I don't know....Methodists? Well, I wouldn't count on any Baptist sponsored teen dances anytime soon. But seems they are encouraging the kids to dance along with the songs their teaching them. They told us we could download the theme song for VBS off their website, and when I did, JR broke out into routine. Now breaking out into routine is all me...but his routine technique I might have to give his daddy credit for. Enjoy the video...Oh, and just when you think he's about worn out, he gets his second wind and really kicks it into high gear. There's music, so if you're at work turn your speakers down. Enjoy....

The Traveling Ingys

In the tradition of Flat Stanley, I have created The Traveling Ingys. With gas prices, airplane tickets, and the noise level in our car at an all time high, The Traveling Ingys are our way of getting to go everywhere and do everything. We aren't particular about where we go, we just want to go. I sent out a few sets of Traveling Ingys last week, and we had our first adventure! Well, almost. My cousin, Joy, who is as fun and fabulous as they come, took us with her to Dallas this weekend. But, unfortunately, we got left behind in her suitcase. But if we had made it out of her bag, here's what Joy said we would have done:

"...you guys (would have) gone to dinner and had Mexican Food and lots of Ritas, then hit the rooftop at Fuse and finally ended the night at a hole in the wall...but we left immediately, as it would not be a good place for the boys! :)"

Joy even sent me pictures of the night to photoshop ourselves into, but since I'm not photoshop literate, I'll just post Joy's pictures of where we were supposed to go. Oh, and the theme of their night was "Wig Out". How fun does that look? I love the way Joy is in all pink and has one of the funniest wigs of the bunch...Yep, we're obviously related.

So, if your interested in having your own Traveling Ingys just send me an email with your home address and I'll put us in the mail to you. Don't think you can only take us on vacation, we're excited about going anywhere, as long as you aren't going to the HEB on Gessner (the place we seem to frequent most these days), we want to go!

Talkin' China

I had the chance to practice my pitiful Chinese skills again tonight. 2nd Baptist in Katy is hosting 250 kids and teachers from Chengdu. The kids are here to learn about American culture, and they go to school or on field trips each day. They also go to youth activities and church with their host families. Our friends, Mike and Emily, are hosting 3 super sweet girls. They are enjoying their time here, except they didn't like their school lesson today...American geography. They said it was boring, too hard, and too confusing. I know how they feel. I never knew where any of the provinces in China were located. They are getting to do some really neat stuff, like tomorrow they're learning how to play baseball and then go to an Astros game. The girls are so cute, and just like all Chinese girls, they thought our white, bald-headed babies were pretty neat. Here's Dani, Sally, and Helen...and Mike and Emily's son, Jack. Jason and I love any chance to "talk China", so we really enjoyed tonight!

Baby Talk 9

Hi Everybody! It's me, Reed. See my big smile? It's because I've been surrounded by grandparents. Mommy, Daddy, and JR went to Dallas on Saturday (Mommy went to a baby shower...whatever that is...) They decided to leave us here at home with Granny Sherry, Maw-Maw, and Paw-Paw. 3 Grandparents for 2 little babies...my math skills aren't that great yet, but those sound like good odds to me! And if there's a house full of grandparents you know what that means....Oh yeah, lap city, baby! Actually, Kyle and I are a bit sore from all the holding and cuddling. Of course they oohed and aahed about how cute and sweet we were, they even told Mommy and Daddy that we were just perfect. We have soooo got this grandparent thing down. Anyway, big brother, JR, wanted us to tell you what he did on his mini-trip to Dallas.

JR said they stayed at Mrs. Kelly and Mr. Jamie's house. JR had fun playing with their kids, Max and Jackson. JR loved their swimming pool (I think Daddy did too). Here's JR and Max jumping off the diving board. I'm not sure what JR is doing, but I'm sure he thinks he's doing some kind of karate move.

JR really enjoyed playing with their toys too. The 3 of them even played Monopoly! I can't promise that nobody cheated, but they were able to play without getting upset with each other...Mommy was pretty impressed with that. Here's JR and Jackson playing Scrabble Jr. Looks like fun to us!

Wow! Look over there! Enough about this weekend, we've got something really cool to check out! See ya!

Working Vacation

I'm going back to work tomorrow. Okay, so I'm working at vacation bible school this week...but let me tell you...that's WORK! The last time I worked VBS Jason and I had just gotten married. I was still teaching school then, so I was used to teaching all day. And I'm here to tell you, I have never been so worn out in my life. I would come home and fall on the couch for a nap. 2nd Baptist has a serious VBS program. It's nothing like the VBS I grew up with....pledge the Christan flag, sing a few songs, have a lesson, make a craft (i.e. color a picture), get a snowcone, play a game, say a prayer, go home. Now the crafts alone are enough to wear me out. Last year's theme was Round Up, and on the first day JR brought home a stick horse he had made. A stick horse! This year's theme is Super Heroes. I can only imagine what they've come up with for the kids to make (I'll keep you updated). Anyway, this year I wised up, I'm working in the nursery. I'm in the same room as Kyle and Reed, and I'm almost certain the Baptists can't expect them to make crafts, although with the Baptists you just never know!

Then and Now

Last night our friends Katie and Andy from China came over for dinner (yes, Andy's the inventor of the Candy Pony Store). It was fun for us all to see how much the kids had grown, and to see the kids that have been born since we left China.

Here's Madeline and JR in June '05 and then last night.

And here's their daughter Ella with Kyle and Reed. Ella's a native Beijing-er so when I tried out my (pitiful) Chinese on her, she looked at me like, "Umm, Miss Jan, your accent is way off."

Baby Talk 8

Reed (yellow): Everybody's been blogging all about JR's big trip to Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's house and I think they've forgotten about us.
Kyle (blue): Nobody forgot about us, we're the babies.
Reed: Oh! I know how we can make them never forget us, I'll do my trick...

R: TA-DAH...The old foot in the mouth trick!

K: Ugh...Reed, okay, now that we've seen your trick, can we got on with our blog.

R: Oh! Okay. Here's what we did while JR was gone....We've reenacted the week for you.


K: Here we are on Monday playing in JR's old exasaucer.

R: And since we're old enough to play with JR's old baby toys, we figured we're old enough to play with his regular, big-boy toys!

K: On Tuesday we pretended to be Automan.

R: JR loves Automan, he's a Chinese superhero...sort of like a Power Ranger.

R: On Wednesday we played Pirates of the Caribbean.

K: We even had a duel.

R: Kyle had the advantage since he has a sword and all I had was a hook!

K: On Thursday we found JR's tool kit.
R: There's lots of fun things in there!

R: I liked the screwdriver and Swiss army knife.

K: I liked the powerdrill and hammer.

K: On Friday we decided to put on the gloves and box!

R: Why don't you take that pacifier out of your mouth and fight like a man?!

R: Just kidding! I'm smaller than you....Don't hit me....I'll tell mom!!

K: And of course, without JR around, we were able to take a nap in the middle of the living room floor everyday. Ahhhhhh......

Oh, That's Too Bad...

I think I've mentioned before that Jason has no problem with most telemarketers, of course he just wants to mess with them, but I always get frustrated with him since I don't understand why he wastes the time to do it. As much as it aggravates me that he talks to them, he did crack me (and himself) up the other night. A lady called and started her sales pitch on how she had a great opportunity for him, and it wasn't a timeshare, nope not a timeshare, and how we needed to come check it out... blah, blah, blah...when she was finished Jason said, "Humm, it's too bad it's not a timeshare. I love timeshares, I'm looking to buy one, but since you're not selling a timeshare, I guess I'm not interested."
Telemarketer: "Ummmm....You mean, you like timeshares?"
Jason: "Sure do, too bad your not selling a timeshare."
Telemarketer thinks she's had a bright idea: "Ummmm....Would you hold on, I'll transfer you to our timeshare department!"
Jason: "Oh, sure. I'll hold on."
Telemarketer with her hand over the phone. Jason can still hear her: "This guy likes timeshares! What do I do?"
Jason hangs up phone.
I have to admit, that one was actually pretty funny.

Just a Bit of Clarification

Although JR's descriptive writing skills are better than his Daddy's, I thought I'd take a minute and clarify some of JR's thoughts about his stay at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's. He did actually go on a Safari, there's one in Grapeland. Where in the world is Grapeland you ask? Well, if you're from Texas it's in between Crockett and Palestine. If you're not from Texas....it's just another itty-bitty East Texas town. And surprisingly they have a website....who knew us Country Folks could use the computer? My mom had told me all about the Buffalo sticking his head in the car. I can only imagine that one, my mom is as dramatic as I am, so I'm pretty sure there was some serious squealing going on. I'm sure Mama wasn't as scared of the Buffalo as she was worried he might mess up her hair.

The laser tag at Incredible Pizza was pretty hilarious too. I was there for that one since that's where we met so I could drop JR off. My dad and I were in the pizza section with the babies when his phone rang. It was my mom in a panic saying, "I need back-up! I need back-up! I'm in the laser room!" My mom thought that laser tag was going to be played in the little room they took them into to put on their vests. When they took them into the dark, maze room and JR took off running she didn't know what to do.

JR also mentioned the 3 Berenstain Bear books he got at the library, he forgot to mention that Maw-Maw read 55 other books to him while he was there! She has the patience of Job.

Speaking of patience, for those of you wondering what Nop-o-ly is...Oh yes, she taught him how to play Monopoly. I even took a picture of that one. How she taught a child that cheats at Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders to play Monopoly I'll never know. As soon as Jason and I walked in the door he was asking, "Do you want to play Nop-o-ly with me?" When I went up to play with him he showed me his 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' with such pride you'd have thought he'd just won the lottery.

Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's House

Guest Blogger: JR Ingersoll
Ummm, At Karen's house they give me a snork and a mask. Maw Maw and Paw Paw took me to the zoo and I saw a lion and I wore my Spiderman gloves. I went on a safari and fed a buffalo. The buffalo stick his head in the car window. And I went to Incredible Pizza and there was this new game called Lazar Tag; it was so cool. It was fun. Laser Tag was like outer space and the rules were: no saying bad words, no climbing obstacles, and no running. You had to walk, shoot, and wear a vest. The Blue team shoot the red team and the red team has to shoot the blue team. There was this safari game and I winned. I winned every single one, I won the whole map. I went to the library and I got 3 Berenstain Bears books: The Green Eyed Monster, The Ghost Walk and Trouble With Money. I went to Burger King 2 times. I played nop-o-ly and I won 2 times; it's an adult game. I rode the 4-wheeler and the tractor with Paw-Paw. I went on the 4-wheeler with Daddy and I saw some deers in the woods, and this summer we are going to ask Paw Paw if we can hunt in his woods. I stayed there until Sunday; it was fun. I ate breakfast and I liked it, and I ate Chinese food. I saved one chicken nugget from Burger King and 1 dumpling from Chinese food.

The Candy Pony Store

When we lived in China we used to go a lot of places with our friends, Andy and Katie. Whenever we would get in the car to go somewhere their daughter, Madeline, would ask where we were going, and Andy would reply, "We're going to the Candy Pony Store." (Madeline loved My Little Ponies at the time.) For us, the term "Candy Pony Store" has stuck, and evolved into this mythical place where you can buy anything or do anything you want. Well, sadly for JR, his Candy Pony Vacation comes to an end tomorrow. I've been calling and getting reports from Candy Pony Land (AKA as MawMaw and PawPaw's house) and it's pretty apparent JR has been having a fabulous time since all I can get him to say to me is, "Hi Mommy, Bye Mommy!"
The night before he left for Candy Pony Land, we sat JR down and gave him some strict rules he needed to follow while he was gone. Now, Jason and I both know that my mom and dad are going to let JR do whatever JR wants to do, so we did our best to make sure and give rules we thought they could actually follow.
Rule #1- No ice cream for breakfast
Rule #2- Only 1 Sprite a day
Rule #3- Remember to say 'Yes, Sir/No, Sir/Yes, Ma'am/No, Ma'am
Rule #4- Remember to say your prayers before you eat
JR, I hope you've followed your rules (not that MawMaw would tell me if you haven't) And no, you can't live at Candy Pony Land. You'll have to come home with us. We'll see you tomorrow!

Vocabulary Workshop

I told my mom she was going to have to be my guest blogger this week since she has my main blogging subject with her. But since they have been going nonstop, I don't think she's finding much free time. She did report that when JR came in from riding the 4-wheeler with my dad he said, "I'm homesick.....I have a cough." (Then he let out 2 fake coughs.) JR has heard the word homesick, but is obviously a little confused on its meaning. Sort of like when he told me, "I fell down on the playground and it hurt my feelings."

Today in Birthdays

Happy Birthday to my second favorite twins (they were my favorite twins until about 6 months ago when Kyle and Reed took over the top spot,) Marcia and Shari! And to my favorite opera singer, and former student, J.D. Roberts. (Sorry, I don't have a recent pic of you, J.D., and I didn't think you'd appreciate me busting out any of the old ones.) Happy Birthday!

WHHAATT?!

AGHH! No Way! Can you believe it? We're 6 months old today! Mommy can't believe it either. Maybe she'll stop calling us her "little babies and mini-muffins" now that we are getting to be so old and grown-up. But knowing Mommy she'll probably still be hollering out that we're preemies when we're teenagers. Oh, and we have more unbelievable news. Guess who has the whole house to themselves? That's right! Us! MawMaw and PawPaw have been asking Mommy to let JR come and stay with them for the week, and Mommy dropped him off today. That means the house is going to be a lot quieter around here...so we're having a stay-cation...Woo-Hoo!

Home Again, Home Again

We pulled out of the hotel parking lot at 6:00AM this morning and 8 hours 49 minutes later we pulled into our driveway. After driving through 7 states in 2 days, Jason and I have some wisdom of the road to share: Florida has the best and most rest stops (there's one about every 30 miles) and Louisiana has the least. Feel like eating at a Cracker Barrel? Just head down I-10W through Florida, you'll pass about 50 of them. Finally, no matter what state you might be driving through, if you see a loaded down SUV it probably has a Texas license plate.

Are We There Yet?

We left Charleston at 7:00AM central time and it was a 10 1/2 hour day until we made it here to Pensacola, Florida. Day 1 of the road trip home wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either. Everybody in the car under 6 months old had a little trouble. Reed protests the long car ride by going on hunger strike. We couldn't get him to take more than an ounce out of his bottles until we got to the hotel tonight. Kyle protests by taking his pacifier for about 30 seconds, spiting it out, and then crying for it again. JR has handled the drive great, the only time we hear his voice is when he tells us to start his movie over or to change it to a new one. We're looking at about 9 or 10 hour day tomorrow, depending on the traffic in Louisiana.

Charleston Day 5- Last Day

It was back out on the boat for 4th of July in Charleston. I celebrated the 4th by staying home with the babies and hanging out with them. We headed down to The Battery (which is downtown Charleston) for fireworks over Charleston Harbor. Oh, I also forget to mention that one of the days we also went to the neighborhood pool. I'm including a picture so you can see what JR did the entire time we were there. The babies even went swimming! Jason and I have really enjoyed the weather, I wore jeans last night (because I thought the ocean breeze was a bit chilly for this native Houstonian.) I can honestly say I have NEVER worn jeans on 4th of July before. Can you imagine jeans in Houston on the 4th?...it makes me sweat just thinking about it! See all these cute little girls in sundresses? They were so cold they were wrapping themselves up in towels and blankets and JR, our child that sweats nonstop, even said he was cold.
A huge thank you to our Beijing buddies, Gary and Anita, for showing us such a fabulous time and to Meredith and Madison for being perfect hostesses to JR!

Charleston Day 4

Anita and I tried to recreate a China day yesterday. We went to the Charleston Place Hotel and had lunch (yum) and them massages (ahhh). We almost had a celebrity sighting. After my massage my masseuse asked me if I was in town for the Dave Matthew's concert, I told her no, and then she said, "Oh, well, he's having a massage in the next room." So since we didn't actually see him it's definitely not up there with my seeing Mary Lou Retton in a parking lot or seeing Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey and entourage at Chuy's in Houston, but I figured it was blog worthy to mention.

Jason and Gary took the kids to Patriot Point yesterday. Now we all know Jason has a lack of descriptive writing skills, but he's taken it to a new level on this one. The only details I got for all these pictures is, "We were on the deck of the Yorktown Aircraft Carrier." I wasn't there so I can't give you any creative embellishments. So, enjoy some cute, patriotic pictures suitable for 4th of July: