How Else?

What more appropriate way could our anniversary begin than by having Braden crawl into our bed @ 5:00am, "blanky", stuffed cat, stuffed dog and spill-proof cup in tow? He was wide awake, and our efforts to deprive him of any sensory stimulation as he snuggled in beside us failed to coax him back asleep. After wallowing on us for about 40 minutes, he finally grew tired of our boring attempts at slumber and crawled out of bed. Snoopy was lying on the floor on the comforter and pillows we peel off the bed before getting into it. (How else should a princess sleep?) Braden crawled into the middle of Snoopy's "bed" and said "Hey girl, dub duh dub a treat?" With the dog now allied with Braden in the wide-awake camp, both left the bedroom, Braden closing the door behind them.

As we listened for what these two might get into, it was not long before we heard Snoopy scratching at the door, aware she has been lured from her bed under false pretenses (a treat). Meanwhile, Braden found the Christmas toy with the loudest, most obnoxious noise-making capability and began to torture us from the living room with it's cruel melody. (Think "It's a Small World After All" - once you hear it two or three times it is in your brain, forever.)

Something tells me our first order of business in Fort Worth this afternoon will be a nap. And not a nap in the sense I mean it when I tell Austin on Saturday mornings he is to watch cartoons with his brother while Shelley and I go take "a nap". I'm talking about trying to get back the extra two hours sleep we missed this morning.

DEVELOPING STORY: Austin just pulled us into the living room for the delivery of his anniversary present. Two months ago he apparently began coordinating a fund-raising campaign among our parents to sponsor a cruise this summer. I'm sure there is much more to this story, but I am dangerously close to being in trouble with my wife for being on the *%&#@! computer this morning. And trouble with Shelley on our anniversary just won't do.