Ana and I were sitting on the couch eating our bagels and grapefruit while getting our daily dose of Lame Stream Media in the form of the TODAY show when Joey rang the doorbell. Anyone who knows anything about our family will not be surprised to hear that when that doorbell rang, I assumed he was somehow bleeding or missing a limb.

Turns out, this time he wasn’t!!

I feel like I need to knock on a 300 year old sequoia after I say this, but maybe he’s growing out of the accident prone phase?

Instead of blood, what he wanted to show us was a pair of rogue Canadian Geese wandering around our yard and honking.

Ana totally loves Canadian Geese. They make noises like dogs (she loves dogs) and they are HUGE BIRDS (she loves birds).

So Ana and I chased them around our yard and tried to corral them into the backyard fence, despite the fact that Joey wouldn’t help us. (Which I’m sure is no surprise to anyone.) But the geese outsmarted us and ran into our neihbkr’s yard.

And then they walked into 79th Street and stood there, blocking the rush hour commuters and a school bus.

Ana and I watched them until they wandered away, she happily snuggled close to me while honking at them and pointing.

The only thing that could possibly be cooler than having Canadian Geese in our yard be wild turkeys. Or maybe wild boars.

Over the weekend we tried asking her where Angus’s head was and she just looked at us like we were nuts.

But this morning, she whacked me on the top of my head and yelled some semblance of “head!” Then she shoved her hand on my nose and yelled something that sounded like “nose!”. Then she stuck that finger of hers straight into my eye socket and hollered “EYE!”

The good news here is that I didn’t require a trip to the ER, even though I kind wondered if I would there for second. OH, and she can apparently say a few new words and actually knows what they mean.

The bad news is…maybe we need to work on being gentle a little bit.

Wouldn’t you pay a million bucks to see what was going on in your child’s head sometimes? It has to be so awesome.

Anyway, we shot this before bed because she had been SO sweet and verbal during our bedtime routine. And of course she wouldn’t actually then say “cow” until the very end of the video because she was too busy cheesing for the camera.

She’s gonna be a diva.

This is what he found me. I like it. I hope you do too. If you don’t, let me present 2 options:
1.) subscribe in Google Reader so you don’t have to see this
2.) bye bye!

But you’re all cool and nice and whatever, so I’m sure you’re all bout the change. I’ll do some other changes here and there over the next month, just to kinda clean this place up a bit.

I’ve had this blog since 2006 and BOY HOWDY! If it isn’t starting to get cluttered!

And I’m trying to think of a new name. Let’s be honest. There aren’t very many adventures in my life recently, mis or otherwise. Keeping Analie alive is, like, a full time job and whatever. (Don’t worry, I don’t talk to her like she’s a Valley girl.)

So that’s the news from my side of the street.

Oh.

And I made grapefruit cake yesterday. Sounds weird, but today the whole thing is gone. That is truth.

Darkness to light.  Blind to seeing. Sinner to saint.  Bound to free.  Stranger to child. Empty to filled.  Condemned to reconciled.  Broken to healed. Prodigal to home. Lost to found. Enemy to friend. Poor to crowned.

I’m rejoicing in that forgiveness this Easter season.

Poor baby girl. Wait a minute — POOR MAMA!!!

We had our share of sadness today. And even Ana’s nap didn’t go well, it hurt her feelings and she woke up crying.

Silver lining? She was happy if we were outside. (Or if she had a cracker. The child loves crackers this week.)

Last week we met her friend Maddie at Chick Fil A for Analie’s first fast food ever. While the two of them were sitting across from each other and doing more showing off than actual eating, Ana started blowing snot out of her nose. Lots. Of. Snot.

Maddie’s mommy egged Analie on by laughing quite a bit.

Since last Thursday, Ana has been “blowing her nose” like, ALL THE TIME. Whether she has a tissue or not.

(Remind me to reinforce something disgusting that Maddie does someday. Muahahahaha.)

This morning all of us Woestmans woke up hard. I had a dream that I was somewhere using the bathroom and the toilet started levitating. (Creepster!) Joey slept on his ears and now they hurt. (??!?) And Analie just got up early.

So we went to Hotcakes.

And Analie blew snot out of her nose the entire time.

Guys. It was everywhere. So epic.

Then we gave her a napkin and that at least limited the splash zone to 3 feet in all directions. Girlfriend can really blow that nose with all the courage of her convictions.

Oh. Delete. Why did I even suggest that as a possibility? Now I feel like my kitchen has even more germs than usual.

Anyway, we (read: Joey) think we know what the problem is and how to fix it. It’s going to involve this afternoon, the crawl space, and a saw to the pipe.

I’m already freaking out. Especially if it really is a rat clogging the pipe. That’s not even possible though, right?

So we were watching West Wing. (Best show ever. Why is TV lame these days?) Everyone was in a flurry of activity and heading to The Situation Room, when Joey broke in and said “I’m going to name my office The Situation Room. That’s so awesome.”

But I suggested he might scare off parents of students if he ever had them come in for a meeting in The Situation Room. Buzzkill!

He was quiet a moment and then said “So we can call the kitchen The Situation Room.”

You know, at the time I assumed he was talking about the kitchen at church. Because that’s where the conference table is. And then I was going to make some cheesy quip about Joey and Tom and Bob being the Joint Chiefs.

But now I’m wondering if he meant our kitchen at home? Because the rat clogged drain is a total situation.

Who doesn’t love a smiley, half-naked baby drinking her bottle in bed with us at 7am? Don’t grow up!