Month: April 2006

Love this kid. Love his cellulite butt. Love having a backyard where he can run around naked. And I love that at 13 months he throws a ball, and throws it well (l.e. better than his big brother…)

It was a glorious weekend. Lots of scrapping, lots of family time, a bit of volleyball in the backyard, and dinner at Pei Wei just to name a few highlights. It’s nice to be back to normal, even if it’s just for one weekend before Derek and I are both out of town (and at different places to boot.) I’m so thankful for my family!

When Derek and I first fell in love, pretty much any love song made my heart swell. There are still a few that when I hear them, my heart skips a beat beause it just brings back the memories of the magic of falling in love. But when I hear new songs, they don’t illicit that response anymore-that heart swelling, love that I used to feel. Not that the love isn’t there because it is, even more so. But after 10 years, two kids, the ups and downs of real life, it just isn’t sugar coated anymore.

I just heard a song that made my heart skip. It swelled with love. My eyes welled up with tears. It stopped me in my cheerio-sweeping tracks. Isn’t love amazing? After 10 years, he still makes my heart skip. I truly am the luckiest.

The Luckiest
by Ben Folds

I don’t get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I’d been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I tried to get this song to play on my blog, but I can’t get it to work so I give up. Find it and go listen to it. You won’t be sorry.

My mom is in town watching my brother’s kids for the week. They came over for dinner tonight (13 of us in all…it’s pure madness but so fun!) Anyway, I asked her to look at my garden that I am growing in containers. My tomatoes and zucchini just aren’t flourishing and are looking rather sickly.

“Umm…Meg? Did you pull out the drain plugs in the bottom of those pots?”

Nope. I sure didn’t. I have been slowly drowning my wonderful vegetables. We pulled the plugs out and released some skank nasty water. I am crossing my fingers that I haven’t drowned them beyond the point of recuscitation.

Next year I will rock the garden. This year I will at least have green beans.

Classic Meg. This is just pure and simple classic Meg. Welcome to my life.

Sometimes when I go awhile without blogging, I have a hard time thinking of stuff to write about. I suppose I could do the “this is what we’ve done” post, but how interesting are those really? Just to sum up our week…family visits continue. My dad arrived on Tuesday evening, just in time for dinner. Connor is having a blast playing with Rebecca, my sister. See how cute she is?

Wednesday afternoon, we decided to go shopping at an outlet mall about an hour away. This is so far out of my normal routine. We never go places at 3:30, much less places that are pretty far away. Our stay at home in the afternoon thing began in California. I learned very quickly that I did not want to drive anywhere after 3:00 p.m because of traffic. My favorite grocery store in Cali (Trader Joes,,,oh my sweet TJ’s…how I miss you) was about 10 minutes from my house. After 3:00, it would take 20-25 minutes to get there. So we became morning errand people, and that has stuck to this day.

Anyway, the outlet mall…we got there at 4:30ish. We shopped, ate dinner, and shopped some more. I didn’t do very much actual shopping-just a few books and one baby outfit for a friend (Staci-you’re going to LOVE it! :). We needed to pick up my sister at the airport on the way home and our plan was to leave the mall by 8:15. We didn’t leave until 9:00…oops! It was 10:15 before we got back to my house. Anyone who knows me knows that my kids don’t ever stay up that late. And to top it all off, Derek is out of town so it was just me and two tired, overstiulated kids. But really, things went so smoothly. They were great at the mall, and great getting to bed. And, to top it all off, they actually slept in until after 9:00 the next morning!

So that was Wednesday. Yesterday our big activity was Veggie Tales Live. Connor loved it-he was dancing like a maniac in the aisle. Logan watched a little bit of it, but mostly he just ate raisins and tired to escape our seats. We went with some friends from playgroup, so I even had someone to talk to. My dad and Maggie are crazy shoppers when they come stateside, so they actually went back to the outlet mall again!

Today we went to the aquarium. Good times, good times. We loaded up the party van with 3 adults and 4 kids. Here I am sitting in the backseat between Justin and Connor. I got the lucky seat because I am the shortest.

I’ll say it again…I have enjoyed seeing everyone in both of our families the past 2 weeks, but I am looking forward to May. I need a break!

The other night on our date, Derek and I went to Best Buy. Exciting, I know. We had (or I should say Derek had) a $50 gift card. We bought an ipod car adaptor for the van. So really, even though it was his gift certificate, I will benefit more from it. Anyway, we were in line checking out and I saw something very interesting. This kid was in front of us-he couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13, and he was there alone. He was buying 2 video games, and a last minute check out grab of The Incredibles. He was just odd. He had this fat stack of cards-I thoght they were credit cards but it turns out they were giftcards. Derek and I were muttering over this kid and his gift cards when he pulled out a cell phone and started text messaging. I watched him check out, and his $130 of purchases didn’t even put a dent in his gift cards. I just think this is weird. First of all, where in the world did he get so many gift cards? Let’s assume he had just had a birthday…are kids really getting several hunderd dollars worth of stuff from friends and family? And a cell phone? Why in the world would a 12 year old need a cell phone? I am perplexed.

We also went to Papasito’s on our date. On our way out I saw a girl…and I don’t want to be rude…but a very large girl wearing a tight, midriff baring t-shirt that said “I Love Twinkies”. Hmmmm….

Galveston week is over. Derek’s mom left this afternoon. We had a great visit. It’s always nice ot have an extra set of hands around!

I made a ham today for the first time and it was delish!

My dad arrives Tuesday. Crazy family visit month continues. I am looking forward to the visit. It’s always a mook-a-thon when my dad and my brothers and sister all get together.

Connor had the mother of all tantrums on Saturday. I am told by others that this horrible phase lasts about a year. I believe he started at around 2 years and 9 months old, so I am really hoping he turns back into a normal kid sometime this fall. If he doesn’t, his life and mine may be on the line.

Our van is no longer a Hummer in Connor’s world. It’s a garbage truck. Yup. A garbage truck. Today on the way out after church he informed me of this. What a kid. Despite the tantrums galore, I really do love his imagination and parts about this age.

It’s 11:29 and I am tired. Happy Easter, everyone!

He wants nothing to do with the water or the waves. In fact, he is down right scared of them. He only wants to excavate the sand.

Just one of the million little things that make him him. I love this boy.

Every once in awhile, I just have to bust out and be fun mom.

Today marks the beginning of a very busy season with visiting family. Derek’s mom arrived this morning for our little Galveston vacation. We are staying in a condo…that reminds me eerily of our California apartments…right across from the ocean. Only it’s not the ocean, it’s the Gulf of Mexico, and it is flat and still and a murkey brown color. But Connor is stoked (like my Cali word?) about the beach, so who really cares that the water looks like mud?

Derek’s ‘rents leave next weekend, and then on Tuesday my dad, his wife, and my 20 month old half-sister arrive from Australia. I’m not really sure how long they are staying…that’s another issue completely. So pretty much for the next two weeks, my life consists of visiting with extended family. I am looking forward to it, but I am fairly certain that when April comes to an end, I will be happy to get back to my normal little life.

Yup, that’s my garden! I am so excited about how well it is growing. Derek can vouch for this: I have never, ever kept plants alive despite many attempts. So this is big time. Today the boys and I went to Loews to get the rest of the stuff for the tomatoes and zucchini. They are now planted in large pots on the patio. Picture this if you will: One mom. One shopping cart. One 25 pound baby in the front and one 40 pound toddler hanging of the side. 150 pounds of sand for the sandbox. 50 pounds of soil. 4 large pots. 4 tomato plants. 4 stakes, one roll of twine, 3 Thomas trains, and one black diaper bag. $74.16 spent today. But growing my very first garden? Priceless.

In retrospect, I think I was a little crazy going to Loews to by myself with such a long list of heavy stuff. I couldn’t even get one of those huge pulley carts since there is nowhere to put the kids. I was totally exhausted by the time I got all the stuff loaded in the car and carried into the backyard. But I don’t even care! I have a garden!

In other news…
I have been chosen to be a guest designer at one of the scrapbooking websites I visit! I just placed my order using my winning gift certificate and now I just get to make stuff. Pretty fun! I love scrapbooking. I really do. It’s just fun to create stuff. Remember things that I might forget otherwise. I am so thankful that I found a hobby I love so much and that I have met some amazing people in the process. Good stuff, I tell ya!

I think that’s about it tonight. I watched James and Kathy’s kids today. For six hours I experienced what it would be like to have two sets of twins. And lets just say that six hours with the crew was plenty of birth control for me today! But even amidst all the craziness, I am so thankful to live close to family and to be able to help J and K out. And for Connor and Logan to have these built in little cousin friends to grow up with. I’ll say it again. It’s good stuff.

What a fun weeked! Connor had such a good time at Thomas, as we knew he would. We got there about 2 hours before our actual train ride because we had heard there were some fun carnival type stuff. There were a few bounce houses, train tables to play with, pictures with Sir Topham Hat and Thomas, storytime, and a great Thomas store. The only thing Connor wanted to do was ride Thomas. He just didn’t understand why we had to wait to ride. He did jump in a bounce house and listen to storytime, but he must have asked every 2 minutes if it was time to ride Thomas. As an added bonus, the railroad was very close to the airport, so we got to see 4 planes landing during our train ride. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get much better than that for Connor. Riding Thomas and seeing huge planes simaltaneously…that’s big time in Connor world!

Besides our big Thomas day, we had a really fun weekend. Busy, but fun. It included playtime at the mall, breakfast with Derek’s family, a little shopping, a little scrapping, a wine tasting and dinner out, and 9 hours total in the car. Add in the time change, and we were all exhausted!

Unfortunatelly, I don’t think this weekend was very fun for our poor cat, Dallas. I got home and saw that he had not touched his food or water the whole weekend. Not a good sign…he’s either dead or outside. Luckily, he was just outside in our neighbors yard. But our poor kitty had to spend 3 days outside without food, water, or toilet (come on, someone name that movie!) I guess he slipped out while we were loading the car and we didn’t notice. I don’t think there is any permenant damage. Just a very hungry, very needy cat.

So this about sums up the weekend! Of course there are pictures. No blog or fun weekend would be complete without them!

Connor’s hero. I tried my best to get him to actually turn around for the picture, but my efforts were futile!

Just a few minutes til we board! Thomas had arrived, and Connor was doing his “choo choo” in Derek’s arms.

You think C was excited? I can’t tell…

Autumn, Maisy, and Connor. I know it’s the back of their heads, but c’mon. I gave up trying to get a picture of all 3 of them looking at me!

Check out Connor’s happy little smirk. He had just spontaneously kissed Maisy (which he has never done to another kid-he’ll barely even kiss me!). Maisy was not thrilled-notice she is wiping it off! I can’t blame Connor for making his move. Maisy is just about the cutest little girl I have ever seen!

Connor and Maisy at the Rainforest Cafe. Yummy!

Nick, Mom, Me, Derek, Cindi, and Matt at the wine tasting. Notice my cute yellow skirt-my mom bought it for me! Thanks again, mom!