Birthday Fun

Kaylynn's birthday was on a Thursday this year. I took the day off of school and we played at home for the morning. Her daddy had a final that night so we drove him downtown for his test. We had a fun time.

We began our evening doing a little Christmas shopping at Bebe Verde. Very fun store on Alabama! We had dinner at Ruggles Green (a place I had been wanting to try) and Kaylynn enjoyed some butternut squash!

With a full belly, we ventured out to the Children's Museum. They usually close at 6pm, but from 5-8 it's the Free Thursdays. Needless to say, Kaylynn had a great time! She crawled around for 1.5 hrs straight, was zonked out in the car ride home, and didn't even wake up when Daddy got her out of the car.

From top left, she's playing with a ball drop, sitting on the walking ramp (oxymoron?), practicing her standing skills, locking the door, out cold on Daddy, and driving the red truck.

I'd say it was a successful birthday!

Cruel & Unusual Punishment

Ok, just one more. I was doing a quick scan through the pictures and I found this one. She will hate us for this one day, I know. But, come on folks. This is funny stuff!

The best part...I am fairly certain that there was a tiny turd in that diaper. I can't remember...seems like that would be something that would happen to us.

A Year in Pictures

I'm behind in blogging, I know. I've got birthday pictures (as in, the actual day), birthday party pictures, Christmas pictures, & pictures of family fun in the hanger. It just takes time. Hey, the good news is that, as we speak, I am taking them off my camera and putting them on the computer. We're headed to East Texas tomorrow until Saturday morning, so hopefully I'll have some time to get things posted.

Until then, enjoy "A Year in Pictures" of our beautiful girl. I had a copy of each one printed and I draped them across the window, behind where Sweet Girl was to receive her carrot cake cupcake (which were sooo good. I'm still thinking about them.)

Christmas in Pictures

Kaylynn's 2nd Christmas was celebrated in Houston this year. Well, Conroe. Same difference (how's that for an oxymoron!) Anywho, we celebrated at Grandma & Grandpap Frink's house, after Santa visited her at our home. We had fun with Gigi, Auntie Melissa & Uncle Angelo, her cousin Anthony, Uncle Mike & Aunt Donna, Donna's parents Hui & Daoming, & Grams & Doon-doon. It was a wonderfully relaxing day, full of fun and good food!

Merry Christmas...

...from your local vonFrinkenhagen's!

**photo courtesy of Brittani Louise Photography**

Many Faces

With the end of finals came the end of an era. The von Frinkenhagen beard was no more. But while the beard disappeared, the many faces of the von Frinkenhagen emerged.

The beard's last meal.

The goatee with the long sideburns.

The full length man-choo.

The Pat "I-coach-my-team-down-to-the-level-of-my-opponents" Hill. (No, I'm not bitter than I have started 1-4 this bowl season. I LOVE watching teams not show up to the game.)

The Colt McCoy/Jason Giambi 'stache.

My favorite one of all. I call it "The Linda".

Birthday Fun

We celebrated Kaylynn's birthday party December 19, 2009. We invited family and close friends to the shin dig. Kaylynn (as well as I) enjoyed carrot cake cupcakes and she was more than spoiled with fun toys and cute clothes!

Just a tip for the future first birthday-ers out there...wait to have the party until AFTER your baby has their 12 month check-up. That MMR shot can be a beast. Kaylynn wasn't in her best mood (though her cranky moods aren't THAT cranky) due to fever and a rash from the shot. :( Despite this, she put on a smile, blew out her candle (she actually blew it out by herself!), and had a fun time with everyone!

Photo collage L-R, then T-B:
With Mommy & Daddy singing "Happy Birthday"
Kaylynn with Grams & Grandpa (Doon-Doon...long story, but he might have a silly name) Moore
Kaylynn with Grandma & Grandpap Frink
Kaylynn with Great Uncle Bob (my uncle) and cousins Caleb & Jacob (my cousin's boys)
Middle: Kaylynn, Mommy, & Daddy opening the best gift ever - Fridge Farm!!!
Kaylynn & The Godfather & Jenno
Kaylynn & her cousin The Panda (Mike & Donna's panda...funny story there)
Kaylynn overtired and not yet enjoying her rocking panda (she does now!)
Kaylynn, Grandma Frink, & Gigi (Great-Grandma O'Donnell...Brian's Grandma)
Teal icing on the face. Not too into cake.
Kaylynn & Mommy & Daddy

Party in the House!

Tomorrow!

Moon Sausage

As many of you don't know, I became a member of 94.5, The Buzz's Fresh Out of Bed, Head to Head hall of fame back in September. Briefly, the Fresh Out of Bed, Head to Head challenge is a trivia game that pits two people against each other on the phone. The DJ asks questions and the first person to say their name has the chance to answer. The first person to get two questions correct is the winner and moves on to the next day to play someone else. If you win 5 days in a row, you become a member of the hall of fame for that year.

The benefit of being a hall of famer is getting to come back at the end of the year in the tournament of champions. All of the hall of famers for a year are put in a bracket (similar to March Madness) in a winner-take-all format. The hall of famers are whiddled down until there is only one person - the champion.

Anyway, I am a member of the 2009 hall of fame and I have made it to the championship game (tomorrow morning). To get to the championship game, I had to beat a guy named Matt. The first question we received was "Which Houston football legend has a sausage named after him." Matt got in there first (by saying his name - there are no buzzers; I said nothing because I had no idea). Matt's guess was Warren Moon. Now, I heard Matt say something, but I couldn't understand him. Warren Moon was wrong so I got a chance to answer the question. My answer: Warren Moon.

It was incorrect for Matt and it was incorrect for me. And of course the DJ let us hear about it. And then my friends and brother let me hear about it. It does make me laugh when I read the emails that say "WARREN MOON?!?!".

I'm not entirely sure why I wrote this post. I think it's because I really just wanted to have a post named Moon Sausage. It might also be because I'm hedging my bets by making a post after my semi-finals match just in case I can't pull off the upset tomorrow. Whatever the reason, this post is done. I'm going to get my beauty sleep, wake up in the morning, eat my Earl Campbell sausage, and try to defeat Shane.

WARREN MOON!!!

The Joy of Kids

I'm finding it hard to focus on my notes for my last final, so I figured I'd write a quick (in Brian terms) post on a couple of amusing things that happened over the weekend.

The first occurred while we were giving Kaylynn a bath on Saturday night. She has these foam shapes that she plays with in the bathtub (they are made by Boon) - and when I say plays, I mean chews on. They are pretty cool in that they stick to the side of the tub when they are wet. We have been showing her this for a couple of weeks and she has been trying to put them on there herself. However, she never understood that she needed to move her fingers out of the way.

Well, on Saturday night, I put one of the shapes on the tub wall and then took it off. Right after I took it off, she pushed it out of my hand onto the tub wall. I thought this was pretty cool. But then she took it off the tub wall herself, stuck it in her mouth, and the put it back on the tub wall herself. Hayley and I were so excited that we started cheering and clapping. Here's the funny part. It scared the crap out of Kaylynn (not literally, fortunately). She was so startled that she didn't know what to do. So she just started clapping with a look of fear on her face. It was priceless.

The second amusing event took place yesterday afternoon. Our neighbor has three kids. I don't know the ages of the two oldest ones, but the youngest is a little over a year old. Anyway, the middle child is a boy who has a crush on Hayley. I'm not making that up. He came to the door one time because he kicked his ball over the fence and asked Hayley to get it. Before she did so, he said she was pretty. I still need to kick his @ss to show him what's up.

Anyway, he came to the door yesterday and I answered. He said he kicked his ball over and asked if I could get it. I said sure thing. (Incidentally, he didn't tell me I was pretty). Shortly after I had come back inside (and I mean within about 15 seconds), I heard another knock. He did it again. So I went back and got the ball again (still no mention of me being pretty) and then came back inside.

:: knock knock knock ::

He did it again. Only this time, when I went back there, he threw the ball back over to me as soon as I threw it to him. I tossed it back over and then he kicked it over. I know he wanted to play catch with someone, and normally I'm the guy to do it. But I had one final to go and was in a motivated mood so I definitely had to take advantage.

So I came back inside only to hear another knock at the door. This time when I opened it, I said "Did you kick it over again?" He said, "Nope, I tricked you. OWNED!!!" and ran away. Yes, I was annoyed when I heard the knock, but I couldn't help laughing at this. I told him I'd get even somehow.

Alright, time to study up...for my appearance this morning on the radio.

Yum! It's 'Goud'a

We love you Babybel!

If I Only Had A Brain

As I sit here at 3:17 AM, I have decided that law school finals would be much, much easier if I only had a brain. I took my third final last night and it, like the others, was no cake walk. Unfortunately, things have not quite gone the way I had hoped this round. I would venture to say that it has been more taxing this semester than it was last year when Hayley was pregnant!

I took my first final last week. I was as prepared as I was going to be. The final was Ethics. The test was 40 short answer giving hypothetical situations that we "discussed" in class (i.e. the professor read a situation from the book, said the rules didn't help us much, and then stated that the situation wouldn't arise half the time in real life). I started the computer program that is used to type the exam. Unfortunately, it decided it didn't want to work. It gave me an error message and sent my computer into a loop where it restarted, showed the error message, shut down, and restarted. Time to grab the pencil and get writing! The problem is, I don't write fast.

I was pretty happy that my second final wasn't taken on the computer. After the debacle in the first final, I didn't want to be worrying about computer problems. Unfortunately, I had other problems to worry about. In my mind, the professor messed up the fact pattern to the biggest problem on the exam. He gave this long scenario about a guy name Jackson Michaels that created a will. The exam said that the will was drafted and signed by Jackson and witnessed by two others. He then said "after Howard signed the will, it was taken to two other individuals to sign as witnesses to validate the will". I hit panic mode. Who the hell is Howard? And what happened to the first two witnesses? Didn't they sign? This made quite the different in the problem. If they did sign, everything passed under the will. If they didn't, it passed by state law. Since you can't ask the professor for clarification during the exam (they are not in the room; they aren't even supposed to be in the building), I took a guess on just what the heck the professor meant. Cross your fingers!

And then there's last night. Here's where I had my scarecrow moment. Before I went downtown to take the exam, I tested the computer software to make sure it worked. At first it didn't. But then I fiddled with it and got it to work. We're good to go.

I mentioned to Hayley on the way downtown that I wasn't completely with it. I'm tired. No, I'm exhausted. Physically and mentally exhausted. Here's some context. A song came on the radio (it was the 4 o'clock flashback). I said, "man, this sounds like Soul Asylum". After the song was over, the DJ said it was Soul Asylum and I got pissed. I was like, "man, I thought I nailed that one. I was sure I had it right". After 10 seconds I realized that I was right. I had said Soul Asylum.

Unfortunately, this spaciness carried over to the final (it was Corporations). I had everything set up and ready to go. I started the software, selected the Agency and Partnerships file, and entered the password that was given by the proctor.

Invalid password.

What? You've got to be kidding me. Are you serious? Maybe I typed it wrong. Let's try again.

Invalid password.

At this point, the blood is boiling. I'm hating ExamSoft and their stupid program that works for everyone but me. I asked the proctor if the password was correct and she said it was. Everyone else in the classroom said it was correct and was working for them.

Time to bust out the pen!

Here were the thoughts running through my head the first 5 minutes of the exam (note this has been cleaned up...A LOT): "Oh man, someone at ExamSoft is going to have quite the bad day tomorrow. They're going to get a chewin'. Brian, get back to the exam. Seriously, what the hell kind of program is this?!?!?! It doesn't even work! I'm 0-2. Brian, get back to the exam. Wait until I tell Hayley, she's going to be pissed too! And on my daughter's birthday! Brian, get back to the exam. What if ExamSoft can't fix it? I can't be writing my exam for Moore's class tomorrow. Brian, get back to the exam. I'm tired of this crap. Brian, get back to the exam."

Here's the problem. I'm a slow reader, writer, talker, and story-teller (can you tell???). I figure I'm at a distinct disadvantage when taking an exam that everyone else can type because they can type much, much faster than I can write. This generally means they get more information down which yields the possibility for more points. Yeah, I wrote 11 double-spaced pages yesterday, but I could have written much, much more. And what pisses me off most is that the exam wasn't that bad. I was more prepared than I thought and I feel that I could have done really well. But alas.

So as I get out of the exam all pissed off, I get in the car and listen to how much fun my baby girl had at the Children's Museum yesterday. I don't have time to detail what all she did, but she supposedly had a great time. And it made me feel so much better. Who cares about the exam.

Then Hayley asked me how it went. And I got angry again. I was explaining to her what happened and I said, "The software messed up again. I went in, clicked on the drop-down box, selected the Agency & Partn...holy sh*t."

To anyone that has been reading this, they will have noticed that I said last night's exam was Corporations. I also said earlier that I selected the Agency & Partnerships exam file. No wonder the frickin' password didn't work. I'm a dufus and I picked the wrong file. If I only had a brain, I would have someone else to blame this on. But I must take the hit for being an idiot this time around.

Happy 1st Birthday, Kaylynn Noelle!

Dear Sweet Girl,

Well, you've we've (we, Goose, we) made it through your first trip around the sun! You are an entire year old- one whole finger! I don't even know where to begin. I think that your Daddy and I can both honestly say that this year with you has been the best year we've ever had and we wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world!

I mentioned earlier this week that it seems that you grew up all of a sudden over the weekend. Since then, you've learned how to eat from a snack cup. It took all of 1 day to learn that you could get puffs at your leisure while sitting in the stroller. You love your puffs, if you didn't know that already. I mean L-O-V-E them! Even more so than oatmeal, which says something, because you really love oatmeal, too. You've taken to doing some furniture cruising, especially if there is a pen or some other object that I don't want you playing with in sight (a pen, my phone, the big remote...)

We're still rocking along with just two teeth. It doesn't prevent you from eating though. You are the best little eater. There hasn't been anything that you've turned away. In the beginning you weren't such a fan of pureed green beans, but now you love them. You'll happily eat tofu, barley/mushrooms, broccoli, and all kinds of things that most kids dislike. You loved eating turkey for the first time on Thanksgiving and took to the "allergeric" berries easily. I am hoping this means that you won't end up being a picky eater, like I was when I was little. Take after your Daddy - he loves all food!

I've said this a million times, I know, but I think you are the happiest baby (yikes, toddler, now)ever! You wave at almost everyone you see (unless it's a stranger with facial hair...but who can blame you, it's scary!) You're also so sweet. You love to give me sweet kisses and once you start, you just keep on giving them. When you play with your stuffed animals, you give them sweet kisses, too. Sometimes it looks like you're biting their noses, but I know it's a kiss. :)

You've recently learned that music is awesome! You start bouncing your arms up and down or in and out - it's the cutest thing! I first saw you do that Thanksgiving weekend, as you found a fun toy that played "La Cucharacha" and you enjoyed listening to Joe play his guitar and sing for us up in Mt. Pleasant.

While we've loved this year with you, there is so much to look forward to! New facing carseat, standing on your own, walking, more words, potty training, eating with a fork and spoon, no more formula, and convincing your Daddy that you need a sibling! We can't wait to experience more "firsts" with you!

Kaylynn, we love you more than you will ever know (actually, one day, when you have your own little girl, you'll know exactly how much we love you!) I hope you had fun this year. Enjoy the ride

Love,
Mommy

Ho! Ho! Ho!

This weekend, Kaylynn and I braved the snow (insert ::laugh:: here) and drove out to Fredericksburg for Will's 2nd birthday party.

This little boy's vocabulary has really taken off and I loved hearing him play the "repeater" all weekend (he'll say anything you ask him to say.) If you ask him how old he is, he replied "dos" and you say "dos what?". His response is "dos anos!" That's "two years" for you non-Spanish speakers out there. I especially missed him when I was unloading my dishwasher this morning, because he is such a little helper! He will empty the dishwasher, handing the plates, silverware, cups, etc. to you and then telling you where it goes. He's also very cautious, as he'll warn you that "it's heavy."

Friday night was the annual Christmas parade. It was probably 20-something degrees out (it was definitely below freezing, not sure of the acutal temperature.) Very cold! Kaylynn and I bundled up under our Aggie quilt (which is fun to have around in Longhorn country.) They decorate all kinds of floats with Christmas lights, so it was very pretty.

Saturday, we partied like it was 2009, celebrating Will's 2nd birthday and Eric's 30th. Jenno & I took the kids out to see Santa at the St. Nikolaus's Markt (yes, markt, it's German.) It wasn't your traditional Santa - it was St. Nikolaus. Kaylynn wasn't too keen on him, she's not a huge fan of facial hair (hint, hint, Daddy...) She didn't end up crying though, just a little wimpering and then all of a sudden she saw a light and pointed at it, resulting in the photo below:

After Will opened his presents on Saturday, the big kids (ages, 2, 4, 6, 9, 11) were on the floor playing with Will's new toys, and Kaylynn just crawled right on over and pushed her way through to play, too. She wasn't afraid of taking toys from someone else (guess we need to work on sharing) or having them taken back from her. The kids looked out for her, making sure she wasn't stepped on, but she wasn't treated like a baby either. It was almost like she was just another kid, such a big girl.

It's funny. I feel like Kaylynn grew up over the weekend. When we got back home last night, she was playing on the floor with one of her abacus type toys (you know, the ones with the beads and move-y things on it) and she was content playing there by herself for a good half-hour. Brian said, "I don't want to jinx things, but she hasn't gotten fussy or wanted to be held in a while." Usually, she'd rather you hold her or be on the floor with her, but it was like she was a big girl all of a sudden. It may change back this week, who knows. I guess my baby girl is officially a toddler.

This is a big week in the vonFrinkenhagen casa. Kaylynn FIRST birthday is Thursday. I am taking the day off and have a fun day planned. We're going to spend the morning at home, just playing and napping. Then we're going to drive her Daddy downtown to take his final. She and I are going to do some Christmas shopping, eating dinner, and playing at the Children's Museum (taking her back to that car she loved so much) before picking him back up after his test. I imagine she'll take a good snooze on the way home. :)

Endangered

I'm worried. I'm very, very worried. Finals hell week is here and I feel that the beard is an endangered species, certain to become extinct by the middle of next week, if not sooner.

We've got a Christmas party to go to on Saturday morning and said endangered beard is making me "look like a bum". I'm not sure I can show up at the party with the beard. I fear that its demise may come sooner than I wanted.

I do not think there's anything I can do to save it. To power me through, I'm going to focus on the times we had together. So many hours we spent in the office - alone. So many hours we spent "learning" the ins and outs of property law, corporate law, and - most recently - estate law. So many hours were spent itching and scratching and wondering just why in the hell the peach fuzz was so sharp.

So many hours together. And yet, in a few days our time will end. So much time is spent saving endangered animals. What about the endangered beards? Where are the efforts to stave off the girlfriends, employers, and others from killing the beard?

No, I do not think I can make a difference in saving endangered beards. I will resign myself to my memories.

How Much?

Ever heard the song "How Much Is That Doggie in the von Frinkenhagen's House?" Well, if you haven't, it goes something like this:

How much is that doggie in the von Frinkenhagen House?
The one that stinks like crap?

Yeah, that's our dog. And the answer is that he's free. Anyone want a dog?

Not only does he stink like a dog, but he stinks like my brother. Here I am, minding my own business, studying for my exam when I get hit with a SBD. Not only was it an SBD, but it was a lingering SBD. I turned the fan on high but all it seemed to do was whirl the stench around the office.

So I take the dog outside to take care of business. But what you don't know about our dog is that he's special. He can't do anything alone. That includes going to the bathroom. You have to be out there with him for him to go. And even then, when he's got the whole backyard to do his thing, he pees on the house. Or he takes a dump 5 feet away from you.

Only this time, he didn't take a dump. Why? Because it's raining. I had to chase him out in the yard only for him to stare at me like I was stupid. "What Brian? You want me to take a dump just because I have completely stunk up your office? But it's raining, Brian. I don't want to."

Well, I don't want to smell him. So he can fart away in his kennel until he decides it's time to rock the deuce.

Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa Moore - the kennel is still in your room. I made sure to shut the door and turn off the fan. That way, you'll have the pleasure of experiencing what I am experiencing. And yes, I do know that I'm the best son-in-law in the world.