Rainy Day

Noodles

make excellent beads

on a rainy day.

And naps make an excellent activity.

Rewind

Let's back up.  Before my Texas marathon weekend of fun, we had two very special visitors staying with us.

Introducing Visitor #1.  She's well loved by all who know her.  Given a tool box and a roll of duck tape, she can recreate the Eifell Tower in under 3 hours.  She will paint your kitchen table while your partying with your high school classmates.  And finally, she can spot Eloise on her bike like she's being doing it for years...

The one, the only, Neena the Great!  

Accompanying Visitor #1 was Visitor #2.  When she's the ying, he's the yang.  He's the floral notes in your cabernet.  He's the man cutting you open on the operating table and fixing your spleen.  But most importantly, he's willing to spot Eloise on her bike even though we all know she doesn't need it . . . 

The fabulous, Dr. Pops!  The crowd goes wild. 

We love having you here, Neena and Pops.

Eloise and Cordelia love it even more.

My weekend in review.

It takes time to decompress after a weekend I just had.  And my need to blog about it is very strong.  Blogging is becoming closely linked to my processing.  I know I'm a verbal processor.  And I talk and talk and talk to Alex to process.  Then I call a friend and process with her.  Then I blog about it.  And if I still need to process after that, I journal.  Wow!  My need to share and think out loud is so great.

And I'm fighting every urge I have today to get off the computer and spend quality time with my kiddos.  To get the house in order, plan dinner, finish the laundry.  So much I should be doing.  But all I want to do is blog about it.

This might be a problem.

I'll keep thinking about that.  In the meantime, our weekend extraordinaire awaits.

We flew out late on Thursday night.  And hit the ground running on Friday.

My mom organized all these:

And these for me, so that I could start arranging immediately on Friday.

(Flowers in bulk from Sam's Club.  Great quality, Low prices!)

After a full day of flower arranging and shopping for a the weekend events, Alex and I headed to Highland Park stadium to greet alumni and enjoy Friday Night Lights.  Alex's first Friday Night Lights, my 299th.

Thousands of people joined us to root our home team on.

Yes, those girls' legs are touching their heads.  Amazing!  

From there we headed to Ozona's for a fab post party.  It was overwhelmingly fun to see so many old friends.  I could have stayed all night.  "Only 10 more people, Alex!"  Wisely, he pulled me out at 1:30am.  He's so wise and helpful.  In fact, he's the best "assistant to the Vice President" I've ever known.  

Saturday I was out the door bright and early to head to the venue to set-up.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Graham and Alyson brought donuts over.  How did I miss that?  Doh!

The kiddos played.  The adults ate....or so I hear.  

(Cordelia and Annie are 5 days apart.  Scrumptously cute too!)

From there we headed to the high school for our class picnic.  

A sight to behold.

Then on to the main event.

These photos are terrible.  In fact they are basically non-existant.  Yes, people, it was that fun.  So fun I didn't even snap a photo or two.  This is all I got.

Me and my party planning people.  See you in 10 years, party people!

Home again.  Too late to mention.  And up again to enjoy one of the most anticipated sports days in Arlington, TX.  A Ranger's playoff game AND a Cowboys game.  Next door to each other.  Holy Canoli!

But before we could head to Cowboys stadium, Alex went to church.  Because remember?  He's a clergy man.  Okay, then we went to Cowboys stadium.  

And all I have to say is INSANE!

(Alex, Neill, and Ryan walking to the stadium.  It reminds me of a space ship.)

(We could watch the Rangers too.  And probably could have heard them score, if they had at least!)

(See those girls.  Their legs are kicking their heads.  Just like the high school drill team.  

Texas = Football, doesn't?  Or, Texas = Kick Routines.)

It was insane.  The new stadium, "Jerry's Man Cave" is ridiculous.  Football is ridiculously fun.  And Texas makes everything bigger.  And better.

What a weekend.

And now that I've shared, I feel so much better.  Thanks for listening.

Back at the keyboard again

We're baaaacccckkkk!!!  And badder than ever.

(What? No one wants to smile for me?!?)

We're a little rough around the edges.  A bit disoriented.  I keep reminding myself aloud, it's Tuesday, it's Tuesday, it's Tuesday.

These little ones hit the sack at 7:30 last night.  I followed them at 7:35 and slept until 8 this morning.  Pooped out after a week of grandparents at home then a big trip to the big D for my high school reunion that I helped organize and throw (no party planning for me for the next few months, thank you very much!), family time, football time (x2....wait for it, wait for it....photos coming soon...), and too much party time.  (2am and 6am are not really that far apart.  Parties + Kiddos = Double the Fun :-)

More to come.
I'm back at the keyboard again!

Steak

is what we had for dinner.

Eloisa Ballerina

Maggie is having a baby!

And Tim will be a Daddy.  And I know he'll be a super dad because he is so cute and gentle with our little girls.  Precious, really.  And I can't wait for them to be parents.

Their Baltimore shower was so fun.  Betsy kept it festive with lots of games and door prizes.  I LOVE door prizes.

And not to mention bountiful.  

There were lots of Monkeys, Robots, Puppies, Trucks, and Cars adorning a 101 newborn pajamas.  

This is most favorite photo of the day.  

 

This is my favorite photo of the beautiful Mommy-To-Be.  

We can't wait for our little nephew to be born.

Good Morning

Have a cozy day.

Sundays are beautiful.

Because it's Sunday, I think I'll finish posting our cathedral photos that I started posting on Friday.  You can see that cute little photo here incase you missed it.

It's a Sunday theme...you know...church....cathedral...Sunday...football, err....nevermind....

I'm able to post this because we have grandparents in town.  That means we doubled our adult hands, hips, and laps in this house so mine are remarkably more free these days.

Enjoy the photos.  And anxiously await some photos from Maggie's baby shower yesterday.  On pins and needles everyone.  She's having a boy and I'm having some blue envy these days.  I love me some girls, but a little blue would do the soul some good.

Do you see what I see?

Do you?  Do you see her?

I do!  This is what I found when I turned the corner.  Brought a smile to my face and a click to the camera.