breakfast not at tiffanys

five of the six maeser 77 ladies were present and accounted for in utah. so we breakfasted at kneaders. first time seeing 2 of them in 4 years.... way too long girls! (they were out of the country for part of that, so i dont blame them too much!) some look exactly the same. and some of us have had babies and still look the same. and some look almost 60 lbs. heavier.... (that would be me. ewwwww) you all look gorgeous either way. we need to get together again before too long. deal?

and miss warning- you were missed. see that hole? it was meant for you. come back!

remember when

it was christmas, like a month+ ago? whoops.

a wonderful day, enjoyed every second of it.

 even though we look a little dysfunctional.

which we kinda are sometimes. (SES plus really bright outside.... no bueno for me. claire wanted to play i think? bubba was digging for something up there.... at least joe can represent looking decent)

but he always looks handsome. such a good little boy.

who loves the doggies? claire does!

it was a great day. exhausting, but wonderful. 

i really wish the whole fam could be closer, its so fun to everyone together! and i quite like my mom and dad's dogs. a lot. 

Twice the drama

Some days are kinda hard, huh mister? It's all good in photo booth though, right? Kinda funny?

I've been taking pictures, but this thing hates me for some reason, and deletes pictures unless I do it in a very long, backwards, roundabout way.... Ugh.

visiting TEXAS

my mom has been awaiting grandkids for a while. claire and bubba kinda make her really happy. she wanted some one-on-one time with claire, so to texas she went! she flew out with my sister, and i went for a couple days and brought them home. 

we had a blast, every day we wore the kids out completely. although claire stayed true to form, and woke up sometime around 5am everyday. (she always does this when shes away from home. we cant figure out why.) i got some much needed mommy time, a few naps and sleep ins, and some play time with the doggies. (i really tried to bring one back.... i just couldnt carry a dog and a baby in my lap. next time?) sad joe had to work, but getting a ski day kinda made up for it, right? also, some nice warm weather was excellent for this popsicle. utah was kind and has been absolutely freezing since the moment we got back.

anyways, texas has lots and lots to do.... lots of parks and play areas, plenty of ways to wear out the kids :)

my kids are truly SPOILED by grammy, one day she took them to a rain forest cafe for lunch. claire barely had to ask for an elephant drink and she ordered one for each kid. bubba takes his drinks very, very seriously, and downed the entire thing.

typical, anytime we went anywhere.

master piano players and entertainers. they loved the piano, and practiced often.

a fun morning at a blow-up jump and slide place. neither kid wanted to leave!

i spotted a potbelly's not far from my parent's house and decided i had to grab some shakes and a sandwich for old time's sake. (we had one across the  street from us when we lived in dc. so yummy!) he liked his shake as much as i did! and wouldn't let go of it. like i said, takes drinking very seriously.

typical.

grammy's bed is ALWAYS the most comfy.

these poor doggies..... they are SO patient with my kids, even though its painfully obvious they don't want to be. they never once nipped or snapped at them. barked from a distance.... maybe. but never mean.

claire wanted to pick them up all the time, and they just didn't love it. but again, so patient with her. i am sure they are resting peacefully for the next week to recover. 

sharing with the doggies.

my mom has been waiting to bring the kids to this place for a while. LUPE's. or loopy's as she calls it. pretty decent mexcian food, and it has a pretty fun sand box outside for kiddos to play in. the chicklets loved it, naturally. and bubba loved the beans. 

my mom got what she always does- her new fave, fajitas. because the meat is soaked in tequila.wink, wink mom! we decided if we were alcohol drinkers my mom would be a margarita drinker. no question. 

thanks for the trip mother dear! i know the kids LOVED it, and miss you dearly. claire has been asking for you all day :)

Sigh.

I am right there with you little doggies. Headed back to Utah tomorrow. Going to be a long day, but we will for sure be excited to see daddy, who we missed dearly. Back to real life. Thanks for the vacay Grammy and grandpa! can't wait to see you closer to baby e's arrival! Got tons of photos coming, we've had a blast here in Texas, we will need to come back and really do some more discovering.

Trying

I have pictures! I can't put them up :( laaaaaame. I'll figure it out soon. For now, Texas is great, the flights here were interesting, and I will be sneaking a dog home on the plane. Don't tell my mom!

It's a funny thing

Times and seasons. I keep reminding myself lately- times and seasons for everything. Not right now, I whisper to myself, frequently. Or, glad that one is over with, i yell in my head. Sometimes, I reflect on a past 'life'. I think of all the different places we lived as an individual 'life'. Revisiting those lives is sometimes fun, and sometimes painful. I leave the painful ones alone, mostly. It's a funny thing-I told my mom today that I feel like I am living a different life without Claire bear while she visits Texas. A different world, era, whatever you want to call it. My head sometimes spins when 'worlds' or whatever collide, and people from those places overlap. It's a funny thing, I usually think of how small, insignificant I am to everyone else's lives. But then sometimes I realize, maybe not so much, maybe there was a bigger mark left. And today I decided I need to start leaving things better. I am not so good at leaving people better than I found them. I am pretty terrible at it, really. Does that make sense? Probably not. It's a funny thing, my head. It all makes sense up there.


bubba chunk is funny, too. My face is rather hideous though. But I decided I don't care. He can be cute enough for the two of us.

Bedtime snack... Gotta do SOMETHING with all that leftover Christmas candy, right?



blogger is being DUMB. At least on the iPad. I've been trying all day to get it to work.

Fresh

fresh out of the tub, and so handsome. I've been thinking lately about how my kids were meant to be mine, how other kids aren't, and how glad I am for that. Everyone's kids are special. But mine are are extra special because they are mine. I've been extra grateful for Claire lately, since she's not here and all. One reason is she helps bubba to NOT be a brat. It sounds funny, but only child syndrome has kicked in, and big time. Or maybe he is like that a lot, and she helps me not notice? He's stil my sweet little boy, but we are in that really hard, "you aren't understanding what I want when I whine and wave my arms and stomp my feet" stage, and he is trying to be picky..... Hopefully we'll rid him of that soon. He is his father's child, it's probably 80% him, 20% me. Like, when he gets hungry, he is not a happy camper til he gets some food in him. Go too long without eating, and we have a bear on our hands. Joe has gotten better over the years, but we have to be careful on fast Sundays :) Caleb is still my sweetheart through and through, always trying to be helpful, and so, so funny. Right now he's playing "where-dit-go?" with his sippy cup and he keeps pushing it further and further behind my back. Then asking me where it went... Like I said, hilarious.

love my chicks to pieces. Do I say that too much? Miss my Claire.

Happy

He knows how to be happy. Which makes me happy. Loooove him.