Wish I Was Here...

Boy do I ever! The first day back after vacation is always the hardest. Lot's of unanswered emails, forgotten to do lists, and never enough sleep the night before. It'll be easier tomorrow, but today I just wish I was back on the porch swing or watching the kids play on the fountain at the Legends.

Last Friday night we enjoyed our first family dinner with authentic Texas sausage. (Thank you Mamasan!) It made carrying it through the airport while carrying a sleeping 3 year old all worth it. Boy was it good! You just can't find anything with the same seasonings here in Virginia. I don't think I've had any for 5 years or more... how sad! Unfortunately I'll have to share with the family since they ate it up. I was kind of hoping that they wouldn't like it and I would get to keep it all to myself!

Better go for now. A~ has a bit of a cold. I got her to take some medicine, but she's refused all food except for half of a popsicle (it's really hot and she's got a little bit of a temperature... so I'm really surprised she didn't eat the whole thing!).

Much love,

erin

Lions, Tigers, and Bears.... Oh My!

OK... so no lions, tigers, or bears....


but lots of other animals! We are having a great time visiting in Kansas. A~ loves to feed the animals... whether it's the chickens... or the fish.... or the bunnies... or the cats... or the dogs. She is in heaven with all of the animals to play with.




On the first day she was already throwing grain to the chickens and helping to gather the eggs. A~ was SO excited... look, there's an egg! I think we got 7 or 8 that day alone. After the chickens came Captain Bun Bun... he like grass and boy is he getting plenty of it! Whenever there's a lull in activity she announces, "I'm going to feed Captain Bun Bun!"... and off she goes to the porch to feed him or pet him or just talk to him.













Shelby was kind enough to give us a tractor ride around the house and through some of the fields. All the kids had a great time, squealing the entire way! Sunday was hot, hot, hot, and sticky. Luckily the pool fixed that and the kids took turns pouring water on their heads... they are SO silly all together!

















Also got a visit from a butterfly who kept on landing on us. He probably came by about 20 times... very friendly... and quite lovely for a brown butterfly.




Much love,


erin

The light at the end of the tunnel...

Well... it's almost time to head to Kansas. Just a few hours, some dishes, about 4 loads of laundry, and countless other tasks and we'll be on our way! I know A~ is going to have a great time. She has been talking about the chickens for weeks already. I can't wait to see her and W~ together too. I'll be sure to take lots of shots and maybe I'll get to update from there... and teach dad how to setup his own blog too! :)

Here's one more A~ photo from this week... another light at the end of the tunnel. This one taken by Papi for a change looking through the playtent tunnel at our little miss with the giant stuffed bear (the giant bear I've had since college... his name is Calvin, in case you were curious).

Much love,

erin

Cupcakes gone wrong!

This last two weeks I have been slaving over birthday presents for my boss. She wants nothing, needs nothing, and is one of nicest people I know... so you can't just get her nothing! Anyways... long story short... after wandering through stores for 2 weekend and finding nothing (well, nothing for her), I decided to make her some gifts. I knew that it would come to this all along and I had stashed a 7 Gypsies Beach album kit aside. That wouldn't be enough by itself... so I also made a Halloween countdown calendar and a decorated binder to put photo cd's in. Everything turned out nicely... but I went to bed no earlier that 1am for 2 weeks!

On Wednesday night, I'm finishing everything up and needed to make the cupcakes. You can't have a birthday without cake, after all. I got some new vanilla cake mix and ultra decadent chocolate frosting from Trader Joes, mixed them up, and put them in the oven. They turned out lovely, nice and fluffy... at least until they cooled...

then,

well...

...they kind of looked like they had nipples on top of each little cupcake. Thank goodness for the frosting!!!

Anyways... here is a peek at my big laugh for the week! Enjoy!

It's all in the delivery...

Mealtimes are always such a struggle. If it isn't pizza, eggs or bacon it can be tough to get her to eat. A~ can be such a picky eater! Makes me crazy to spend time fixing something and not a bite goes down.

Thank God for ketchup. If it wasn't for ketchup there are a lot of foods that would just sit there on the place... like rice, green beans, and cucumber... yes, you read correctly... cucumber! (Gross!)

Last night we tried mini ravioli... but we called then pasta pockets to make them less strange. It worked and she had two helpings. I tried to give her more for lunch today, but that was taking it a bit too far apparently and she ate only one little ravioli! It's amazing how often just changing the name of the food works... it's not broccoli, it's baby trees... it's not cauliflower, it's white broccoli...I keep trying to get her to try tomatoes... "it's just raw ketchup, honey"... but she's not buying that... yet!!!

I'd better get to work on tonight's dinner options!

Much love!
erin

Reach out and touch someone.

It's strange... she can be so shy; completely hiding her face in my neck; refusing to look at strangers much less speak to them. Other times A~'s pulling me through a store because she's spotted another child and says that she has to go play with her friend (the child we don't even know!).

Today it was the usual...after coming home from the babysitter's house (which is next door) she plays and such until she hears them outside in their backyard. Then A~ sets up her vantage point at the window and hollers out whatever she can think of:

"What are you doing?"

"We're cooking chicken for dinner."

"I'm going to watch telly!"

I caught a picture of her in the act here... a little blurry, but I love how it caught her movement, peeking out from behind the curtain!

I'm a good mom... so I say, "Please don't hollar out the window! Be careful not to fall!" and such. And it does work... for about 3 minutes or so! Then she is back in position until I finish dinner and call her to the table.

Tonight she ate everything... so it was indeed a good night! Good night to all of you too!

Much love,
erin

Here Goes Nothin'!

Well, here goes....

With all of the family scattered around, I wanted to try to see if I could create a spot to share, keep everyone updated, and just chat without those dreaded long-distance bills chasing us or counting available cell phone minutes. The added bonus is that you don't have to be in the same time zone or even on the same timetable to keep in the loop.

Last Sunday was wonderful. Lots of showers off and on for the entire day... cooled everything off and gave the plants a wonderful drink. They so needed it. In between the showers, I jumped out to snap a few pics. The hostas are loving it in the flowerbeds this year. This is year number three for the big one and it is definitely flourishing!

Today A~ found her fairy wand and wings from her first Halloween. She was SO excited to discover them and thinks that she is the tooth fairy! She actually squealed with delight to find out that I had indeed bought them for her... "Oh Mommy, that makes me SO happy!" Too cute! Of course, once they were discovered they needed to be modeled.

Enjoy!