Sun Shiny Day

Aah, the sunshine. Spent the day drinking water, breathing deeply and walking all over CS. We had to take a quick walk to Target to buy bed wetting supplies. I'm tired of steam cleaning the bed every other night. So, while Tanner and Kate went on a mini-date at the Starbucks counter, Reagan, Georgie and I found the waterproof sheets and the waterproof pillowcases. Then the girls wanted to look at the pretty, sparkly princess bikes at the back of the store, and along the way we picked up a solar tent. You know, one of those tents that you can set up on the beach that'll protect you from harmful UV rays. We thought we might use it this summer if we ever make it to Galveston.

Then we trotted back home and climbed into the car to pick up a bicycle that we bought via craigslist. Tanner rode it home, or rather he rode it to the bike shop for a tune up and a new tire. We were tempted to come home, but it just didn't feel right, so instead we went to the park and let the girls climb the jungle gym while I took a quick stroll on the jogging path. Then we came home and ate ice cream. Boy, do I eat a lot of ice cream these days, but the crazy thing is that I'm loosing weight. If I'd known that all I needed to do was to eat more ice cream, I would've done it a lot sooner. I wonder if I could start a new diet fad? My ingredients for success would be 1) move to Texas, 2) must walk in order to do food shopping, 3) eat ice cream at least 4 times a week. How does that sound? Yum.

Is it un-American to hate Mother's Day?

And, I just can't apologize for it. It's one of those holidays that just makes me feel awkward. All of the sudden, my kids want to buy me things and my husband wants to clean up the house for me. Trust me both those scenarios are scary.

Who wants a 5 year old picking out a shirt for you to wear? Seriously. It's going to end up being girly pink with lots of lace, sparkles and ribbons, and I'm going to have to wear it and ooh and aah over it. Or, I shudder to think, what if they pick out shoes or jewelry or a hair ribbon? All of them sound equally horrific, and like a good mommy, I'll have to say that I love it, and I'll have to wear it to church and other mom's will look at me and smile. And their smile will have that well worn 'I've had to do it too' look.

And then the whole thing with my husband cleaning the house for me. Please, don't! And just in case you think I'm sounding ungrateful, last time he did this (which was last mother's day) it took me 3 weeks to find the plastic wrap and a month before the can opener turned up. Of course, did I complain about this? No. Because he is being so romantic. I mean, what girl doesn't want her husband to clean the house? But I guess maybe I'm just too picky. I want him to clean the house ALL the time, not just once a year. If he cleaned the house ALL the time, then he'd know that the plastic wrap was in the top drawer; he'd know that whites get washed in hot water not cold; he'd know that the vacuum cleaner was behind the curtain, and that the bucket in the closet was for washing the car not the floor.

Now, before you get me totally wrong, I'm all for a romantic holiday. I'd suggest going to the beach for the day except that I'd have to pack us all into the car. I don't dare leave it to the hubby because then we'd end up with bare minnimums like one diaper for the baby and half a diaper wipe, one bottle of water, one towel, a blanket, and ooops, I forgot my wallet. Of course, we could try a picnic lunch, but I have a feeling lunch would be a block of cheddar cheese, goldfish crackers and a couple of apples. What about a Mother's Day brunch? McDonalds, anyone? So, I'm back to letting the kids buy me something and my husband cleaning the house. So, I'm un-American and wish I could hide in my closet until it's all over.

Mamma's Girl!!!

I've got one! I've finally got one! Yeehaw! Is it Texas or is it the trip to Portland this past weekend? I can't tell, but I am on cloud nine hundred nine! I finally have a baby that prefers me to Daddy. I have a baby that finally crawls after me crying because she just wants to be picked up. I have a baby that gets jealous if I hold the other girls. I have a baby that LIKES me!!! Woohoo! It has been a long time coming that's for sure. It's so cute that I start to laugh every time she starts screaming because I walk into the kitchen or I use the bathroom. She groans and catterwauls and all sorts of things until I pick her up. I feel special.

Adjusting to the Heat

Today is hot. After my brief stint in Portland, I am finding it difficult to adjust to the heat. I landed in Austin at 6:55. The pilot had told us that the temperature was 90 degrees. I thought that I had dressed for the weather, but my beach combers and t-shirt were just too warm for the weather.

The girls were thrilled to see me, but were sensibly dressed in shorts and tanks. Even Tanner was adhereing to minimalist dress. We had a nice drive back to CS, air conditioning blowing full blast. I kept thinking that I could turn it off, but whenever I did the car would quickly heat up again. We made a brief stop at Sonic Burger for dinner and cherry limeaid. Gave the girls their Disney sippy cups and poured their sour apple slushes into them.

The sunsets in Texas are big and wide. As we drove away from Austin, the sun turned into a huge orange ball of fire and sent large radiating spikes of red and purple across the sky. And even then, it was still too hot to turn off the air conditioner. As the sun sank below the horizon and the stars started to twinkle and the moon became smaller and brighter as it rose in the sky, I opened the window to let in a breath of fresh air, and instead, I got socked with a sultry, thick breeze. The window stayed closed for the rest of the trip. The AC stayed on.

We pulled into our driveway and tumbled out of the car at 9:30. This time I was prepared for the heat, and the fact that it would feel like I was stepping into a sauna. We unloaded the car, turned on the AC in the house, and spent the evening unpacking suitcases and discovering treasures and doing the laundry. The AC stayed on all night, and Tanner laughed at me because I was so hot. I guess I adjusted pretty quickly to the Portland cold, and have to be careful for the next few days.

Today, when the mail came, I gave the girls their letters from everyone back in Portland. A couple of the notes had money in them and boy were they thrilled. So, a "shopping" trip with Mommy suddenly became of paramount importance.

I don't think I've ever seen them so excited about shopping. They must have gotten tired of the Daddy style of shopping while I was gone. Walmart was the destination because Kate realized that she could buy a pink, princess, basket for her bike. The basket was easy to find since she has been eyeing it for several months. I was expecting Reagan to take a little more time about her purchase, but she espied a plastic lion right next to the pink basket. I tried to convince her that she might want a Tinkerbell doll or blocks or a whistle, but no, she wanted the plastic lion. I showed her princess dolls, baby dolls, mini-mommy dolls. No, she wanted the plastic lion. I took her down an aisle filled with sparkly dress ups, necklaces and nail polish. No, she wanted the plastic lion. I shrugged and we proceeded to the check out counter. She roared the whole way there and chased imaginary prey. She cried when I handed the lion to the lady at the counter, but quickly smiled again when I handed it back. I am amazed at how such a simple toy can make her so incredibly happy. A few more roars brought us to the car. We climbed in and headed for home.

I am glad to be home even if it is hard to adjust to the heat.

I guess one of the best things that one can say about life is that we all get to leave a little legacy. Take my grandma for instance. She taught me that thank you notes were important, that friendship could be fun and that letter writing was not a lost art form. She taught me that grandmas ALWAYS send you a card for Valentines Day, Easter, and your birthday. Typically there was a little money included. She ALWAYS sent me at least three Christmas presents: a book, a set of clothes and a piece of jewelry. I think she meant to remind me to improve my mind, dress for success and spoil yourself just a little.

Most importantly, she taught me to never forget to be generous toward your friends. Give them time. Give them parties. Give them games. Give them laughter.

When I got back from Portland today, I opened my suitcase and brought out a little red tin and showed it to Katie. She instantly recognized it as Grandma's can of jelly beans. Give them candy! I took out the little Russian doll and Katie held out her arms and said it was Grandma's favorite doll that she always got to play with whenever she visited. Give them dolls! Lots of dolls.

I have two boxes filled with dolls from my grandma. She loved beautiful dolls and found me a grateful recipient of her handiwork. I used to be afraid that my dolls would get lost or left behind or stolen or burned in a fire. As a child, I would set up elaborate plans of escape for my dolls just in case the house caught on fire. I would agonize over which dolls I would be able to grab quickly and which ones I would have to leave behind. So, I'm glad we have the little Russian doll to remind me just how important they are.

A day in Austin

Tanner tumbled into bed at around 6:30 this morning, and I tumbled out at around 9:00. I packed extra clothes, extra diapers, extra diaper wipes, extra food, extras, extras, extras while the girls got dressed twice. The first time, they came out wearing long pants, long sleeved shirts, socks, and Kate had slipped a dress over all of that. I explained that even though it was cloudy out, it was still hot, so back they went. This time with instructions that they were to find shorts, t-shirts and sandals.

Then instead of making breakfast which makes a lot of noise, I took mosquito killer and sprayed two cans of the stuff all over our yard. Then I took fire ant poison and spread that over a couple of new nests. Then I went back inside and checked to make sure the girls were dressed properly, did their hair, woke Tanner up. Remembered some odds and ends like bottles, baby food, sunscreen and mosquito repellant. Loaded kids in the car. Remembered that we needed the video player and videos. Loaded that. Remembered to call Uncle Howell to tell him that we were on our way. Loaded Tanner in the car. Then headed for Starbucks, gas and McDonalds.

Whew! All of that before 10:00. Boy am I good or what? It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to reach Uncle's place, but we didn't pull in till almost 12:30. Why? Because the "quick" trip to Starbucks, gas and McDonalds took almost an hour! We didn't leave College Station till almost 11:00.

The drive was spectacular. Unfortunately, Tanner slept through most of it, but I got to enjoy the wild Lantana and African Daisies growing profusively along the highway. Bold splashes of green and orange and red and then a sprinkling of purple or blue. All too soon we were pulling in to Austin.

We got to see Uncle's new house that he just purchased and we visited my cousing as well. It was a lot of fun getting to see where everyone was living, and then we headed to the little Celtic festival that was happening near their homes. The girls had so much fun, and Uncle spoiled them. They had ice cream and milk shakes and strawberries and grapes. He found balloons for them and little fuzzy purple bugs. He danced Irish jigs with them and chased them all over the park. My cousin joined us a little later in the afternoon for a late lunch and then we sat and listened to music.

After two melt-downs we decided that Reagan had enough and needed to go home, so we threw the kids in the car, swung by Starbucks again and headed home. Tanner decided that he could drive and we made it about 30 minutes outside of Austin when he turned to me and said that we'd better switch. So, we found a little driveway and I drove the rest of the way home. Well, almost. You see, I have this problem driving when it gets dark. I can't really see the road. So, as we were pulling into CS it got a little dangerous because I couldn't see the white and yellow lines to tell where my lane was. So, we pulled over again and Tanner drove the last 15 minutes home. We made it. We're safe. And we had a great time!

Cute notes:

Reagan has officially adopted Georgianna as her "Tsiser."
Reagan is officially afraid of "topper heads."
Reagan officially likes to eat her "tanwish."
And...the official version of one of our most beloved Christmas Carols is..."Violet Night. Coldy Night. All is call. All wish brigh..."


Another warm morning greeted us, so I determined that when Tanner came home, we would all go to the park and have a barbecue. What a perfect outing it turned out to be. Since it was Friday night, everyone else was "out" to eat, so the park was deserted. I cooked some chicken on the grill and tossed a spinach salad while the girls played on the the swings and in the dirt. Tanner laid out on the blanket with Georgie and watched the cloud patterns.

It was at this point in our excursion that Reagan learned about "topper heads". I was just taking the chicken off the grill when Tanner's voice took on a very urgent tone. He commanded the girls to climb onto the playground equipment and stay there. I was pretty surprised when they immediately scrambled to the topmost level. Tanner at first told me to move away from the grill. I asked him why, and he explained that he thought he might be looking at a copper head, but he wasn't sure. I shuddered and then said, "don't they usually travel in pairs." He nodded. "Then I probably shouldn't move since I'm no good at seeing wild life. Good point. Better to climb onto the picnic table. I very obediently did just that as he peered at the curious creature hidden amongst the dried leaves and brown branches of a sprawling bush. I walked the length of the picnic table and then jumped to a second picnic table and thus made my way around the "topper head" and to Tanner's side so that I could hold Georgie while he investigate. I could see the head of the little animal. It was indeed a nice burnt copper head, nestled amongst dry leaves just like we'd been warned, but it sure seemed to be fat for a snake. And then, just as my arms wrapped around Georgie the little animal moved. It had legs that had been hidden by the leaves. Whew! Still don't know what it was except that it was some sort of lizard.

So, we finished up our picnic, packed the girls back into the stroller and headed for home. We made a stop at Dairy Queen and the girls got dip cones and so did mom and dad. Thus ended a lovely evening fit for the month of July.