A Month in a Minute

We have now been in California for 27 days! As our CA trip draws to an end, I'd like to share some of the highlights:

• Rebekah meets Gus and we all get to spend 5 precious days with him
• This trip, more than any other, I had some amazing talks with my brother and sister. They are both younger than me and are growing into wonderful adults. I am excited to see where life takes them.
• I had the chance to see my cousins- now in CO, TN, and NC
• My dad drove us down to San Diego for the second half of our trip. That was 7 hrs in the car with a wiggly little boy and a baby- they were great!
• We saw some great friends from our old Church in San Diego and Orange County
• We all attended a special party for Nathan's Aunt Susie- it was her 60th birthday, and a celebration of her victory over stage 4 melanoma. Praise God!
• Rebekah got her first tooth 1/6/12, and is now working on #2 (I'll be glad when I get a break fromt he night wakings again)
• Rebekah began to clap her hands all by herself! (See video below)
• I became an auntie once again- Baby Emma Grace Jones born on 1/7/12 weighing 9lbs 13oz, and as Luke would say, a "cutie patootie!"

We fly out tomorrow on a non-stop to Houston. I had a great time, but am certainly looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, cooking in my own kitchen, and opening all of our Christmas cards! Also, stay tuned- we are going to be doing some big work in our yard in the next couple of months- fruit trees, tomatoes, onions, etc... It is going to be a great year!

Strawberry Picking

Maybe I have mentioned it before, but one of the joys of living in Houston is our proximity to local berry farms. March-May is strawberry picking season, May-July brings blackberries and blueberries. Today, Bethany and I took the kids to pick strawberries. They all had a great time!

Luke picking berries- he was actually quite good at only picking the ripe ones and not squeezing them too hard.
Mommy pointing out a good one to pick:
All three kids together in the little park area. They are together, that's all we could do. No perfect pictures, but three happy kids.
Luke and Clara up in the jungle gym. I've seen both of these expressions a lot lately. :)
Luke in his thoughtful spot. It was such a nice day to just be outside enjoying Spring.

Trip to Blue Bell

On Monday, we went to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory in Brenham, TX. For those not familiar with Blue Bell, it is the best ice cream around! We enjoyed the tour and got a scoop of ice cream each at the end. Luke has a book that talks about a bear who likes chocolate ice cream, so when we asked what kind he wanted, he replied, "choc-o-wate!" Here are some pictures:

Luke with the Blue Bell Ice cream delivery truck:
With the cow and the milking girl. While on the tour Luke asked where all the cows were. Not at the factory. :)
Posing in front of the display that showed all the flavors Blue bell makes (55)!
Grandpa and Luke eating their ice cream:

At the Rodeo!

The Houston Rodeo is amazing! This morning, we (Luke, Gina, and I) spent almost 4 hours walking around looking at the incredible livestock. Look at this Longhorn!


There were also several great opportunities to pretend to be a farmer, pet animals, and even see animals being born. One exhibit has chicks that were in the process of hatching. It was fascinating to watch them try and break through the egg. Here he is petting a rabbit. The rabbit exhibit was Luke's favorite animal exhibit:

The petting zoo was fun too, here is a big, old, pig:
I think that Luke's favorite thing about the Rodeo was the John Deere tractors. There were several on display and two that the kids could ride in. He did NOT want to get out. But, a real (big) cowboy who was helping run the exhibit told him to get out and Luke obeyed. Now I know how to get Luke to obey- I just need to become a very large cowboy. :)
Anyways, there is much more to tell, but I have a terrible headache from doing so much, so I'll be off to bed shortly.

San Antonio

Last weekend, we went to San Antonio to celebrate our brother-in-law Evan's 4oth birthday. Here are some pictures of the good times that we shared:

1. On the River Boat cruise:


2. The birthday boy:
3. How we got around with 3 kids in tow. Yes, this was not the happiest of pictures, but overall, Luke and his cousin Clara enjoyed their time together. They were both sad when the weekend ended and we went our separate ways.
4. Luke on the cruise.
5. Me holding a sleeping Jane (we wore her out!) and listening to the cruise conductor (who was excellent!).

Boerne Day 1

Yesterday, Christi and I, with all of the kids in tow, headed for her parents home in Boerne. It was an amazingly good drive considering that we were in the car for about 4 hrs!

Here are some our our activities:

1. Out in the pool!

2. Eating a muffin at the local bakery

3. Ducks by the river.

4. Sitting on a bench with Annalise

5. Feeding the ducks by the river.

Of How We Almost Came to CA...

... and then didn't.

Yesterday, Nathan informed me that he had to make a last minute business trip out to CA. A couple of things crossed my mind right then- 1. I will be alone with Luke all week, and 2. California? I want to go too!

I have really been missing everyone and missing the nice summer weather and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up a free Southwest ticket that I had. Seemed is the important word. I often think that things seem perfect and act on them before I really sit down and think it through. In this case, I even booked my ticket.

For the rest of the day, I felt like something was wrong. It might have been because I began to realize the stress of the journey alone, the costs involved, the extra pressure it put on Nathan, the possible tropical depression coming through (yikes!), the fact that I already had several obligations to fulfill here in Texas next week, and so on.....

At 11pm, Nathan I were talking and not quite ready for bed. We discussed my trip and how much fun it would be to see everyone. We also discussed logistics and some forseable problems. In the end, it seemed that it was not the right time. So, at about 11:30pm, I cancelled my flight. I felt at peace again.

Well, we still hope to come closer to the holidays. And, if the blogger website will cooperate (!!!), I will get a video up soon.

Off We Go!

Luke and I fly out to CA today. We are going for my cousin's wedding in the San Diego area, but are also going to get a chance to see some old friends. A part of me is a little afraid to go back since it will remind me of everything and everyone we have been missing these last 9 months in Texas. The other part of me is very excited!

Please pray for us as we fly- the weather is not good here today (Thunderstorms) and our flight has already been delayed.

Ahh.. Dear, Neglected Blog.....

This past month has been a whirlwind!

We finally said goodbye to our CA vacation (sort of- Nathan worked a bit while we were there) last Saturday. Luke spent he morning getting in some last minute snuggles with Grammy ("nammy") and Papa ("papa"- he can say this one, though it is usually whispered), before we headed home to Houston. Luke was great on the completely full, 3 hour flight.

To our relief, our home was much as we had left it. Thanks to all our friends who helped watch it for us. Some even wrapped out pipes before the freeze-amazing. We were all exhausted so that night we unloaded all of our goods, ordered a pizza, and watched Father Knows Best.

It was good that we had that little break because this first week at home was crazy.

Sunday, I went shopping so that we would have something to eat. I also kept working on unloading suitcases, did some laundry, and tried to be emotionally supportive of Luke as he came down from weeks of the extra special attention that he received in CA.

Monday: We sorted through all of our mail (30 days worth!!) and cleaned.
Tuesday: Bible Study and some more shopping.
Wednesday: Library hour and picked up our new and amazing elliptical (paid for with Christmas money). Also, I began work on cleaning up all the of the leaves that had fallen while we were gone. Began is the key word- this will take some time!
Thursday: MOPS group and a trip down to Gymboree with Bethany and Clara to use our gymbucks.
Friday: Spent the morning playing with friends, then prepared for a birthday party in the evening.

Luke news:

Luke loved his time in CA. He loved all the attention from his relatives and misses everyone terribly. I have to be careful not to mention people's names or he looks around for them, and gets sad when he realizes that they are not around. He learned many new words while we were gone too. He loves to say: car, chair, up-sie (to be picked up), down, nigh-nigh, bee-bo (belly button) no-no, and make all sorts of animal and vehicle sounds. He also learned how to understand more questions. I can ask him where his head, eyes, nose, ears and mouth are, and he will point to the body part and say the word. It is amazing!

Here is Luke playing with Daddy's radio:

And watching Father Knows Best:

Katie and Baby go on an Adventure!

I had to go out to the Catalina Island for work (lucky me!). I had to go out and collect some audit samples from the Santa Catalina Island Conservancy.

Our day began at 4:30 am. We took the 6:15am Catalina Express boat out to the city of Avalon on the Island from the Long Beach harbor. Baby decided early on during the trip that it did not enjoy the open water, and consequently, we spent the trip in the handicapped restroom. Ugh. At the very end however, I was able to come out and saw some dolphins playing in the waves.

We arrived in Avalon at 7:30am and immediately felt better. As the ship was pulling into the Harbor, the island looked dreamlike. It was absolutely beautiful and largely untouched, except for the little houses and businesses that covered the harbor area. It was kind of like stepping back in time also. There were no chain restaurants (except one KFC/Taco Bell), and most people were out and about walking instead of driving.

Aftr a quick bagel and cream cheese breakfast (to replace the one lost on the journey), we walked all over Avalon, up and down the little streets and down by the beach. The island was originally purchased by The Wrigley Family (think Gum) and is still maintained in part by their descendants.

I got into work at 8:30, and worked pretty quickly. For lunch the client wanted to take me out to lunch and we spent most of the time talking about life on the Island. It was fascinating. If you needed food, there was one Vons on the island, if you needed clothes, you could go t the boutiques or just wear a lot of Santa Catalina tourist shirts. They also had one school (K-12) for all the children on the island and one Catholic Church, and a couple of protestant/community churches.

All in all the day was very enjoyable. Maybe we can go back again, once the pregnancy is over. :)