8/25/11

We Are Happy!

The strangest thing happened yesterday...it rained. We were all over at the neighbors for our weekly Wednesday Family Dinner Night and out of the blue, more like grey, a huge gust of wind sent everyone running 100 different directions. We were scooping babies out of the pool, pulling umbrellas down and out of their holders as fast as we could, catching flying saucers, otherwise knows as clay tops to in scent jars, all while trying to keep our eyes half closed so we weren't blinded by debris. All of this frazzled craziness probably lasted about 3 minutes, but we did well, no one suffered from the Dorothy syndrome, and we only lost 2 out of 8 umbrellas. We all made it safely inside when the biggest surprise of the summer came...rain, and not just the kind that spits and leaves you cursing the clouds, but real rain, sheets of rain, heave rain that blows diagonally and makes it hard to see across the street. It must have poured for at least 15 minutes and my girls were mesmerized. They stood still at the window watching in aw at the rain, this was the first real rainstorm Jericho had seen and she was in a trance. Really, we all were, you would have thought the Queen of England or the President was streaking down our street while someone else was throwing $100 bills the way we were all glued to the windows. It was much needed rain and I think we gave it the viewing it was hoping for because it even obliged us and gave us a round two this morning.

Photobucket

Photobucket

So today has been dreary and muggy outside and we couldn't be happier!

My mom is in town for Blythe’s birthday which brings lots of great changes to our house. My ultimate favorite – more sleep! My mom has the gift of waking up very early and therefore intercepts my darling children in the morning while I lazily sleep or sometime just lye in bed past 8, just because I can. It also adds one more adult in the evening which opens up a larger range of fun games to play so we adults stay up till midnight telling stories, reminiscing, talking about the future, and playing games. She is also a personal playmate for the girls and they can’t get enough of their Mamo. There’s playdoh, book reading, legos, coloring, shopping, and painting, the works.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Our friends are all coming back to town as the summer is wrapping up and the school year is starting. We have missed our friends and the lack of play dates these last two months. We are excited to have what looks like another month with our friends before we will be moving.

Photobucket

Photobucket

We haven't had any showings since the last time I said it has been 4 weeks, but I did have the idea to rent our house out for Aggie home games and that is going really well so far, so if you know of anyone who needs a place to stay in Aggieland here's our ad: http://collegestation.craigslist.org/vac/2554081846.html

The oldest is about to be three and she has some high expectations for her birthday party so I better get back to the preparations!

8/20/11

Six Years

He leaves the toilet seat up sometimes. And he thinks "Be ready in ten minutes" means "In ten minutes, start thinking about getting ready." Sometimes we argue about really stupid things. And we're both stubborn.

We are different in a lot of ways but similar in the ones that really matter. Like family. And love. And where we want to be ten years from now.

Five years ago, we were escorted by our wonderful parents down a purple carpeted church aisle. We had big dreams. Most of them have come true.

Goodnight!!

We're still dreaming though.

Photobucket

The five happiest years of my life, hands down.

That is all.
Happy Anniversary to Us.

8/15/11

In Limbo

I'm not a big fan of being 'In Limbo' [I took the liberty of googling this phrase out of curiosity and the in limbo I am referring to is 'an intermediate, traditional, or midway state or place'] . It doesn't fit my type A, organized, game plan in place personality. It's good to stretch yourself and be outside of your comfort zone from time to time because that is how we grow and perfect who we are and who we are going to be, but it's a challenge. It's challenging to not get too excited about any one particular place yet still do the research for all the 'prospects' so you feel well informed once all the offers are on the table. It's challenging to have faith and the stamina to keep the house in tip top show ready shape when we haven't had a showing in 4 weeks [YES, I am freaking out].

The good news is that with two littles at home there are plenty of things to distract you. Like daily face painting and how fun it is to see her search through the images on google to decide what she wants on her face, how serious and quite honestly un-happy she looks while you are painting her face. Her face seriously makes you think that when she looks at the final product in the mirror she is going to break down in tears, but every time she stands there proudly in the mirror admiring her new face paint...even when Jason painted her face like a clown.

Photobucket

Photobucket
Bunny face painted by Ladi

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Then there's that sweater that's 7/8ths of the way finished you just need to put on the buttons to finish up.

Photobucket
I thought I was good with not having a hood since I ran out of yarn, but nope I feel like the cuteness factor is missing without the hood so now it’s not quite done.

Then there's super exciting knocks on the door [that's a stretch the knock on the door is not good because the mail man always comes during nap time and seriously knocks louder than the dogs bark..I know, I know I should just put a sign on the door] when you know you have a package that was too big to fit in the mailbox and you score 2 super cute new belated birthday outfits for your little one. Behold, GGP did GOOD! (second outfit not pictured..yet)

Photobucket

Photobucket

Happy Monday everyone, we're here hoping the phone is going to ring for a showing and the mailman is going to knock to drop off some fat offer letters :)

As much as limbo sucks, it is super exciting (and a little scary) to think that in just a few weeks we will know where we are moving! Say an extra prayer for our house to sell and for us to make the right relocation decision.

8/7/11

The Shoe

Today was no ordinary Sunday. I pushed Jason out of bed at 5:30am so he wouldn't miss his 7:00am flight to New York and I was flying solo at Mass. Jericho has been in a weird sleep pattern the last week or so, allowing us all to sleep in, but then forgoing a morning nap which makes for a long stretch before afternoon nap. The girls and I didn’t stir till around 9:30am so clearly we would be going to 11am mass and not 9, I knew this would be a sticky time because of its proximity to lunch time and Jericho's new schedule, but 7pm mass was certainly out. We made it to mass 5 minutes EARLY and scored great seats; first row in the top balcony, perfect for little eyes to see what's going on. The girls are usually pretty good in mass, but no matter how well-behaved your kids usually are there is always something daunting (at least for me) about being outnumbered in a setting where you have to keep both kids quiet and still for more than 10 minutes. We were going strong, just returned to our seats after the Eucharist when Jericho was getting fussy and needed a distractions so I took her shoes off (she is still getting used to the idea of wearing shoes and was pulling at them). Jericho was happily playing with her shoe when Blythe grabbed one out of her hand and launched it over the balcony railing. Fortunately or unfortunately I did not see where it landed or how many people it hit on the head, but when I peered over the balcony I saw a young college student holding up the shoe, looking back, and grinning from ear to ear like he had just caught a grand slam in the World Series. As if it wasn't already hard enough to keep my laughter under wraps and keep my stern, ‘that was VERY naughty, and I am not happy with you face' on, this did not help. Blythe's face looked equally confused as she had a half smile, half 'uh-oh I'm gonna pay for that' look on her face. So here I am bouncing Jericho, trying to keep her calm, disciplining Blythe, and mouthing my sincerest apology to the college student who is proudly holding up the shoe. The best I could come up with on the spot was for Blythe to collect the shoe after mass, apologies to the unfortunate victims of the flying shoe, and she didn't get to play on the ramp (which is the highlight of Sundays for her).

Sometimes in these moments you just have to laugh, even if it’s to yourself, because lets face it there is something funny about a random baby shoe being launched over a balcony wall, and being caught like a prized baseball in a grand stadium. The shoe launch was no great fire or earthquake like the readings, but I think God was still telling us something; expressing his sense of humor.

Happy Sunday Everyone, Have a Great Week!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
Clearly we are destined for climbers!

8/6/11

Carnival Worker?

There aren't going to be any Carnival directors (do they even have those?) calling me to run the face painting booth anytime soon, but MY girl sure thinks our home-made face painting booth is pretty neat!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

8/3/11

A mouth full...or maybe an eye full

I sat down yesterday to write a blog post, but as I was uploading pictures to Photobucket out of the corner of my eye, on the side where they put adds that you never look at, I saw 40% off photo books at Shutterfly till August 3rd. I dropped everything and put the finishing touches on Blythe's third year book and will soon be enjoying not only a wonderful book of memories for Blythe, but the fact that I got 40% off!!

Drum Roll please....

Click here to view this photo book larger


I am sure when I sat down yesterday I had some very profound thoughts, but I have worked on the photo book, mowed the backyard, worked on the photo book, cooked a delicious fish dinner, worked on the photo book, tucked littles into bed, worked on the photo book, slept, and did I mention worked on the photo book?

So instead I will let you script your own words and simply share the pictures that I had planed to carefully place between eloquently written sentences.

We had a fantastic time in Galveston. I am so blessed to have such amazing in-laws!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
Wasn't long before Blythe decided she needed to intervene on all the attention Jericho was getting.

Photobucket

Photobucket
Some might be stopped by a broken 5th metatarsal, and others aren't going to let anything rain on their beach vacation! Wait, did I say rain, I am kinda shocked that word is still in my vocabulary, oh how we would LOVE to see some rain here.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
LOVE this pictures of Blythe and her godmother Tia!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

It has been a LONG time in the making, but we finally have enough hair for our very first French Braids!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
Sometimes you’re the mom who comes completely prepared and other times you are the mom sitting on the sidelines, hastily assembling your 'last minutes' picnic lunch.

Whatever big sister does, little sister must do too

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

We are working hard to keep the stress level down over here. Jason has interviews in Houston, San Diego, and New York and it looks like we will be ready to move in the next 30ish days with no recently activity much less an offer on our house...