Christmas at home

This year we did a nice relaxing Christmas at home - everyday up until Christmas was insane!Maya was very excited to find that Santa had eaten the cookies and Rudolph had eaten the oatmeal that we left for them. Santa even left Maya a note. I made everyone eat a healthy breakfast before opening presents since I knew the rest of the day would be filled with candy and sweets.

Here are the kids all set up in their spots ready to open presents. Luke was a present-opening maniac this year with wrapping paper flying up in the air behind him as he tore into his presents (and helped Matt and I with ours). Before we opened presents, Luke was very sad that Santa didn't stay at our house to visit and that he didn't even get to see Santa. Maya is sure she heard Santa's jingle bells during the night.

The kids each got a bike for Christmas this year. Maya needed a bigger bike and Luke got his first.

Later that day, after hanging out and playing lots of games, we went out and tried out the new bikes. Yes, it's December 25th and Maya is wearing shorts outside. Maya can ride her bigger bike just fine, but she's working out the kinks of getting on and off of a bike where she can barely reach the ground with her tiptoes when she is on the seat.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. My kids are still singing Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman days after Christmas is done. Matt, Luke and I are dealing with colds this weekend, but hopefully we'll be ready to ring in the New Year. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!

I Can Barely Wait for Christmas!!!

i am so exited for chrismas because chrismas is two days away! our wether is cold. this morning it was drizzaling cold! and eventhough it is not supposed to snow here it did! do you see me in the picture? it is pritty silly. what is your favorite holaday? i don,t have one. i,am going to leave santa three cookies . and rudolph three carotts ,s ! oh, and do you have a favorite chrismas song? well i like all of them. buy buy see you later!

maya

Welcome to the Gun Show

That's right. Check out those guns! See the fierceness in Maya's eyes!

Check out that 80's style headband while your at it. (The headband was all Maya's doing.)

I'm trying my best to keep in shape throughout this pregnancy (yet the pounds are still finding me. . .), so when I went to put on a kickboxing video this morning I asked the kids if they wanted to workout too. They were very excited and got some "exercise" clothes on. Luke was very adamant that he was not wearing sweat pants, but that they were exercise pants. It was fun having them join me. Maya lasted through most of it. Luke joined in when he thought something looked fun - mostly kicking. I'm sure it's quite a sight to see. A 6-month-pregnant woman and 2 little kids kickboxing. Good times!

Jammin'

The other the night while the kids were getting ready for bed, Matt pulled out his guiter and was just hangin out in our room playing some music. (I love to listen to him sing and play.) After I got Luke's jammies on him, we grabbed his "guitar" and he went and sat next to Matt on our bed and started playing some music. Then Maya heard the fun and went and got her guitar and all 3 of them were on the bed playing their guitars together. One of those good family moments.

Believe it or Not

Your eyes are not deceiving you. That is ice on the ground this morning around my tree here in Texas. Last night we had an ice/sleet thunderstorm and this is what I saw this morning when Maya went to her bus stop. Luckily, I didn't get around to planting flowers this past summer or they would no longer be.

So there you have it. It can get cold enough long enough for ice to build up on the ground here in San Antonio (where yesterday it was close to 80 degrees!).

Crazy hormones

Note - this post is written in jest of the craziness that comes with being pregnant.
One of the things my husband loves most about me is my emotional stability. I don't have mood swings, I don't do mind games and all that stuff. When I ask a question, I'm not trying to trick him, there's no dangerous wrong answer. I'm pretty laid back and generally happy and positive. That said - I have to apologize to my friends around me for my moods. Let's chalk it all up to the pregnancy and the hormones because even I don't know why I feel the way I do sometimes.
I've noticed that my moods pop up when I'm with large groups of friends. We went with some friends down to the San Antonio Riverwalk and rode on a boat and saw the lights in downtown. I was feeling fine all day - but as this pregnancy would have it - as soon as we arrived and everyone was there, I became antisocial. Then they wanted a picture of all the girls. Right now, I really don't like pictures taken of me and my bloated body (yes, I know pregnancy is beautiful - blah, blah, blah - I sure don't feel beautiful) especially surrounded by my fit, skinny friends. I gave in and stood and smiled in the picture (mostly hidden thank you very much). This didn't help my mood. We all walked over and got tickets and got on the boat. Everyone is singing and having a good time. Then it hits -I can feel the tears coming on and all I can think is "Oh crap! Not on the boat with no where to hide and in front of everyone." (This happens a handful of times throughout my pregnancy. There is no real specific reason for it. I just start crying and can't stop it. I'll usually warn Matt that nothing is wrong and he isn't in trouble. My body just needs to cry when it's pregnant.) I'm trying with all my will to not cry, but the tears fill my eyes anyway. For most of it, I hid my face in Maya's hair because she was sitting on my lap. I'm trying to wipe away the tears nonchalantly as if I was just rubbing an itchy eye. That only worked for a little bit. Luckily, only one friend noticed and I was able to avoid the attention that comes from a person in tears. I don't like to be the center of attention all that much. After the crying stopped, I felt much better, but unfortunately, the night was mostly over.
So - I'm sorry I'm not all that fun to be around. Hopefully in a couple of months, the hormones will go back to normal and I can go back to being nice and level. Until then - please don't take it personally if I don't seem happy and talkative (This goes for phone calls as well - lately, I have nothing to say. I want to talk but nothing comes out). Really - it's not you. . .it's not me either - it's the pregnancy.

Tis the Season

to decorate, and shop, and make cards, and practice music, etc. . . It's a lot of work, but it is my favorite season of the year. I love all the carols and the yummy food. I love how excited my children are about everything. Maya's been working hard on her list for Santa and Luke has learned to say that "We'll ask Santa" when he sees something he likes in the store that I won't buy him now. As you can see above, the kids had a lot of fun helping to decorate our tree. It's a fake tree, but it looks pretty nice when it's all put together. In a few years we'll switch back to the tradition (at least my growing up family tradition) of going out and cutting down a fresh tree. I love the smell of a real Christmas tree.

The flash makes it look bright, but when the tree was finished, it was getting dark, so Matt and I sat on the couch together to relax and enjoy the tree (It's one of my favorite things to do - listen to carols and snuggle on the couch in the dark and watch the lit up tree and enjoy the magic). Luke came up and started hugging Matt and stating that we made a Christmas tree. He was so excited and so proud of what we had done together. I had to get a picture of the 2 together.

Getting Grandpa

The kids loved to get their grandpa. Lots of pillow fights were had, usually ending with big old hugs. Which reminds me of a cute story. My dad and I were cutting up the apples for apple pie when he got a little nick from the knife. I know how kids will respond to these things, so I announced that grandpa had an ouchie. All the kids came into the kitchen to see the ouchie and all of them, one by one, gave him a hug and a kiss to make him feel better. Even little 1-year-old Blaize brought up the rear to give grandpa a hug like all the other kids had.

Good Times at Thanksgiving

The feast

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My parents, my sister Rachel, and my sister Jess and her family all came down and stayed at my house over the holiday weekend. It was exhausting and great fun at the same time. We made way too much yummy food, spent a day at Sea World, and played lots of games. The kids, as well as the adults, crashed hard and slept great every night. I wish we lived a little closer so these get togethers could happen a little more often. Here are some of the memories:

Grandpa reading Luke stories.

After all the excitement, Luke couldn't stay awake through the whole story.

The kids just can't get enough of their Aunt Rachel

We let the kids (Maya, Grace, and Jackson) make some creations with the leftover pie crust.

My mom saved me from back pain by giving each of her grandkids their own bath.

Thank You, Mom!

After that big old Thanksgiving dinner, we walked some of it off by going to the park and playing for a bit.

My parents loved being outside at the end of November in short sleeved shirts. They love their seasons, but this was a nice break from the winter weather in NY.

My Kids

Just some cute shots of my kids. Maya in her fairy princess clothes practicing her Christmas carols on the piano and Luke just being silly Luke. A little taste of what happens on a daily basis in our house. Silly toys on heads, dress up clothes, and big smiles (not to say there aren't any tantrums or drama) - I love these everyday things.

We're Having A. . .

We had our ultrasound last Thursday. We found out that we are having another boy! We're all very excited and, no, we are no where near picking out a name. That's the most difficult part - aside from actually growing and delivering the child.

Zzzzzzz

So, Matt had just left for work last night (he's been doing trauma night shift for 2 weeks) and my piano lessons had just arrived, but this moment was too good to not get on video. A lot of you mom's of toddlers and older children have probably seen this phenomenon before - cracks me up! I'll let the video explain.

The Pumpkin Patch

A little family picture (me at 18 weeks)

Matt is back in town!! YAY! He got home late Friday night. He spends the next 2 weeks working on trauma unit during the night float, so before that started we decided to enjoy our day together as a family on Saturday and take a trip to the pumpkin patch. I really didn't want to buy pumpkins from Walmart again this year. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just that I grew up going to pumpkin patches and taking hayrides out to the fields to pick your own pumpkin and coming back and seeing farm animals and all that good fall stuff. So I googled pumpkin patches to find some in our area. The closest patch with all the legitimate activities was 45 minutes away. So we took a pretty drive out into the Texas hill country and had a fun family day.

The hayride from the parking lot to the orchard

At the end of the hay maze, the kids claimed their kingdom at the top of the haybale

Our little scarcrows

Brushing the mini-horse (I forget what they're called)

Holding baby chicks. Maya's favorite part. You can see the excitment/fear in Luke's expression.

Field Trip

Luke's little Joy school took a field trip to a little family farm last week. It was a really fun experience. It was a private little family farm with some goats and chickens and a few other animals. The kids got to feed the chickens and goats and even had a turn milking the goat. Luke loved feeding the chickens - I think that was his favorite part - but he had no interest in milking the goat. He was standing close by when the farm boy showed them how it happened and got some of the splash from the bucket. They finished off the trip with some homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade ice cream made from goat milk and honey. I used my sensitive prego stomach as an excuse to not try it. Everyone else said it was really good, but I honestly don't know if I should be eating unpasteurized dairy products while pregnant. Here's some stuff from the trip.

Flag Football

Maya's flag football season is officially over. It's been a fun season. A few of you were curious when I said Maya was playing football. It's not tackle football, no pads and helmets necessary. The kids had a lot of fun. The coaches usually played quaterback and were in charge of tossing the ball to one of the kids on their team. Maya had a few touchdowns, some good catches and did some great blocking for her own teammates. Her uncles should be proud. Here are a few pictures from her last game.
Quick huddle with the coach between plays. // Grabbing the other team's flags. Go Maya!

Water break. Gotta keep hydrated.

Luke playing his own game on the sidelines.

Maya had lots of fun, but doesn't waste any time. She's already asking about soccer. . .

Super Spiderman

My son loves spiderman! Yesterday at the store he picked out a spiderman costume for Halloween. He likes to wear it as much as possible. For a while now he's been perfecting his web slinging and fighting moves to get the monsters and the bad guys.

AGAIN!

HE DID IT AGAIN!
I went upstairs to check on him and when he heard me call for him I heard footsteps running which immediately worried me. I asked what he was doing and he said painting. I bolted upstairs and sure enough the paint can was open again and he had added to his work the night before including fresh spots of paint on my carpet. This time I couldn't get them all out. Luckliy they are small and I'll just have to trim the carpet.
Let me clarify that I did hammer the paint lid shut. When I walked in, I found the screw driver next to the paint can. Luke remembered, from watching me, how to pry the lid open with the screw driver. Smart kid.
Luke had his favorite spiderman slippers that he wears all the time put up high and he got yelled at pretty well while sitting in time out the entire time I cleaned again.
My bedroom door is now locked and will remain that way unless I'm in there and until I finish painting and everything is put away in the garage. . .ERRRRR!

My Sneaky Picasso

While Matt's been out of town, I've been working on a home project. We had painted our bedroom back in July (a color I picked out) and once the paint was up, I hated it. Regardless of how pretty a brown it was, I had a brown room. It's a color that would be better as an accent rather than the main color. We thought that we were picking a color that would go well with our new bedding we just bought - a nice deep red. So, I've been painting my room a nice pale blue. (can't go wrong with blue because it is by far my favorite color - any shade of it). Since I'm pregnant and just don't have a lot of energy, I've been doing it a wall at a time, no big deal. Then I take a few days break and paint another wall.

my work on the room

Yesterday I painted another wall. Luke even helped me. I showed him how to use a brush and even let him use the roller, but it was driving me crazy b/c I hate all the drips that happen with the kids and the uneven coating and worrying about them getting it on something that it shouldn't get on. (Matt's much better at letting the kids help with this kind of stuff than I am. I just don't have the patience for it.) I then banned Luke to sit on my bed and look at books while I finished up. Everything went fine.


That evening I put the kids to bed and was ready to watch some season premieres of my favorite shows and just relax. I heard Luke out of his room and put him back to bed. A few minutes later he called downstairs saying "My hands sticky. Need to wash my hands." So I had him come downstairs not thinking much about it. I saw his hands had a whitish looking gunk all over them. My first thought was, did he get into some old Desitin in his room or something? Then it hit me: His hands were covered in paint! As well as some splotches on his favorite new pair of glow in the dark spider jammies. I was afraid to see my room.

Luke's late night project

I went upstairs and saw the damage -- and freaked out! He had opened the paint can (which is my fault that I didn't hammer the lid closed) and gotten and brush and painted a 3 to 4 foot area on the wall across the room (no point in painting the wall that was already blue) dripping paint on my carpet all the way across. Along with at least 1 brush stroke on the actual carpet. I made that boy sit in the corner and watch my clean it all up all the meanwhile yelling at the poor guy! Like he understands that carpet costs a lot of money and paint doesn't necessarily come out. It took an hour, but I got the paint out. I sent Luke to bed and he just kept saying that he was good and he wanted to be good. So I assured him that I still loved him and sent him to bed.


Not exactly the way I planned to spend a relaxing evening.

Say what now?

For a couple of weeks now Luke has been asking for "pepperoni cheese" and Matt and I have failed to figure out what pepperoni cheese is. We have him repeat himself (sounds the same every time and we're still clueless), we open the fridge and guess and guess to no avail. One evening last week Maya asked for macaroni and cheese for dinner and Luke came up to the pantry and said "Yeah, pepperoni cheese!" It finally dawned on me: pepperoni cheese = macaroni and cheese!

My definition of perfect

It was just one of those evenings. Matt was on the couch next to me studying and the kids were playing nicely together - for most of evening! I took a picture of the moment. Maya and Luke were sitting together on the couch and Maya was teaching Luke how to write letters. It's the way we taught her. We dot out the shape of the letter on our magnadoodle and the kids trace over it. The kids are playing quietly and nicely and doing something educational. I was torn because it was bedtime, but how do you tell them to stop doing an activity like that. The only thing that would've made it a perfect evening is if this darn morning sickness would pass so I don't have to hang out in the fetal position anymore. Hopefully soon!

Luke's First Day

Today is Luke's first day of preschool. A friend of mine is doing a Joy school in her home (and it's not a coop thing, so I don't have to teach - perfect!). I signed Luke up for Tuesday and Thursday mornings - what will I do with all that time to myself?
Luke was pretty cute this morning. At first he wasn't all that interested in going to school. In his words: "I want to play smash brothers." (A video game he got to play a lot in NY and I haven't let him play since - not til he's potty trained.) Once I pulled out his spiderman backpack and started putting his school things in it he got very excited.
Before we left he got to say goodbye to Matt. (He's home on a very rare sick day.) He showed Matt his new T-shirt. He also said "I have a spiderman backpack. AWESOME!" Then gave Matt a high five. We went downstairs to leave and as we were walking out he kept saying "Awesome, dude!" It's just really cute to hear that come out of a 3-year-old's mouth. (Awesome and cool are his new approval phrases)
Joy school starts in the backyard, that's where we drop off all the kids. He was playing and at first didn't want me to leave. He really wanted me to watch him play on the little playscape and show me his tricks. I finally gave him a hug and told him I'd watch him for one more minute and then I'd have to leave and take care of daddy. That did the trick. He played and then I waved goodbye and he said "You gotta go take care of daddy" as if he were reminding me. A good start to his first day.
I wasn't sad to leave him, but I really wanted to stay and watch the cute things they'd be doing. The teacher is planning on taking lots of photos and posting them on the class website, so that will have to do.

Butterflies

So, everyone probably knows that Ike is storming through Texas this morning. Houston is getting pounded, but 3 hours away here in San Antonio it is a beautiful day. The monarch butterfly migrates through Texas each year, coming up from Mexico. This year it was a little insane. I guess they knew the storm was coming (or else bad weather in Mexico drove them up here, not sure which) because on Wednesday and Thursday there were thousands of butterflies flying through the area. At first, I thought it was leaves blowing in the wind, but the leaves don't fall offf trees here until November/December. I realized it was butterflies all going the same direction. Maya had football practice on Wednesday afternoon and as we went to the park for practice, butterflies were everywhere. I felt bad driving because there was no avoiding them. No exaggeration, there were thousands of butterflies. I saw more butterflies on Wednesday afternoon than I have the whole rest of my life combined. I tried taking video footage of it but they're small butterflies so they didn't really show up. I tried to see if any of the local news networks had a little story on it, but Ike has been trumping everything lately.
Anyway, it was really cool to see, the kids loved all the butterflies around, and if I find a little video of it I'll post it because it was a really cool sight to see.

Tagged again

Alright, I'm supposed to tell about 6 quirks of mine (What quirks??) This is going to involve some thinking. Once I get going maybe I'll have trouble stopping and then I'll have issues. . .just kidding around. Let's see. . .
#1 - When I chew gum, I snap it. I hope it doesn't annoy anyone. (I know some of my brothers and sisters have issues with loud chewers of any sort - I don't think I chew the gum obnoxiously, I just play with it.) Most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it. No bubble blowing, just snapping.
#2 - I love flip flops! I wear them all the time - I can wear them all year round down here in Texas. I love to wear other shoes too, but I hate shopping for anything for myself with the kids in tow, which is pretty much always, so my shoe collection is pretty pathetic right now. But flip flops are easy and I love them!
#3 - I am very much a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl, but my jeans have to be plenty long. I don't mind the bottoms getting all ragged so long as they are plenty long. I can't wear cropped jeans no matter how trendy, b/c I just feel like I'm wearing high-waters. When I sit down I like my jeans to still reach to my ankles at least.
#4 - I get anxious about phone calls. I don't know why, I just do. I'm terrible at calling people. I'll happily email or text, but for some reason I get nervous to call people. I'm afraid I'll interrupt or bother them. I realize this is silly (right??) but it's the way I feel. So if a long time has gone since I called, don't think I'm upset with you or forgot about you. I'm just afraid to call you.
#5 - I feel naked without my rings on. I wear my wedding ring on one hand and a birthstone ring of one of my children on the other. If my getting ready for the day routine gets out of whack (which it does sometimes with kids just absolutely needing you right at that moment, or fighting kids) I sometime forget to put them on. I usually don't realize they're not on until I'm out doing something and can't get to them. My fingers feel very naked without them. It's not a showy thing, it's a sentimental thing.
#6 - When I'm pregnant I LOVE ice cream. When I'm not, I can take it or leave it. It's not very tempting to me. But when I'm pregnant, man it's good stuff!
Hope you've enjoyed reading about some of my craziness, or er . . .quirks.

Officially blognouncing it (Blog + announcing)

Not that it's been a secret or anything, but I'm officially announcing here on the blog that Matt and I are expecting our next baby. ( I can't keep it secret b/c people need to know why I spend six weeks or so on my couch constantly sick.) I'm 11 and a half weeks along and had an ultrasound today - everything looks good. We've got ourselves another wiggler - the baby didn't want to hold still, which I love to watch. I have ultrasound pictures, but I'll wait until the next one, where the pictures will be easier to read, to post them.
I'm due on March 22nd. We'll start taking bets on if people think it will be a boy or a girl. Your guess is as good as mine.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUKE!

Yesterday was Luke's 3rd birthday. He's still as crazy as ever, but he's gotten a little more polite about it (if he's well rested). We weren't able to celebrate it until about 8 at night b/c Matt had to work a little late and then we had to take care of something at church. So, by the time we got home it was past the kids' bedtime (Maya has to be up at 6:30 ish to get ready for school and to the bus by 7).

Luke fell asleep on the car ride home. The party is ready to go, but he's not.

He's slowly waking up in Matt's arms as we sing him happy birthday.

(Decorating that cake drove me nuts - not that I was trying anything fancy, but the bag of icing I was writing with kept popping open and spilling icing all over the cake - you can only scrape icing off of portions of the cake so many times)

It took us a little while to convince him to blow out the candles, but he finally came around.

After Luke played with spiderman stickers instead of eating his cake and ice cream he got to open his present. The beauty of a 3-year-old mind - you can take him to the store the day before and have him pick out his own present. We left it in the car, he forgot about it until he opened it the next day. Easy to surpise.

I know I'm always saying how crazy he is, but in reality he is such a sweet boy who loves his family and loves to give his mommy kisses (which I love!). I'm sure he ("super spiderman" as he calls himself) will continue to protect us all from the monsters and make us laugh and smile everyday. Happy Birthday, Luke!

My manly men

What better way to spend the Labor Day holiday than doing manly labor around the house. Matt put up crown molding in our front room and hallway back in July before he went out of town. He was working on the finishing touches yesterday and Luke needed to help Daddy do all that manly work.

Kids say the darndest things

MAYA
We just got home from church and the first thing we usually do is get into comfy clothes. So, right after we walked in, Maya said "I'm going to go put on my sweaty pants." Matt and I started laughing. I told Maya that what she probably meant to say was sweat pants, not sweaty pants.

LUKE
At the end of church, the hallways are always crazy. Matt, Luke and I were getting Maya from her classroom. Another kid walked past Luke from behind and Luke fell down, complete accident. Luke jumped up onto both feet into a ninja position with both hand in fists and said "Hi-yah!" - and waited in the ready position for another attack. He was angry that he'd been knocked over, he had no idea who it was, and the kid was long gone. It cracked me up b/c I've never seen him do that before. It was hilarious. (Of course I never would have let him actually hit anyone - his stance was just so funny!)

Pain in my license!

So I wasn't paying attention and my driver's license expired on my birthday last month. I realized this while I was out of town in NY and could do nothing about it. Good thing I had decided not to get a rental car at the airport, because that wouldn't have worked. Being out of town, I had to wait to get things fixed, which left this big old stress hanging over my head. My husband Matt was going to be out of town for longer than I was (he just got back last Friday) so I couldn't avoid driving very much - it's pretty scary driving with an expired license. I was so afraid of getting pulled over. On top of not having a current license, I went to base for a doctor's appointment and they wouldn't let me on because the inspection on my car had expired 2 weeks before (DAYS!). So I had to park about a half a mile away from base and walk to the hospital. I was so mad! Mad at the security guard and mad at my car that we've only owned a few months as it continues to cause me grief. (My friend came up with a great name for it - the Craptima! - It's a Kia optima. Sorry if the nickname offends anyone, but it's very fitting for my car) I got the inspection taken care of the next day. And waited until Matt got back last Friday, to go the Driver's License office. (Another thing that's more complicated than it needs to be here in Texas - To get your car registered: That's through the department of transportation and you go and get your registration done at the County Tax office. There's one place to wait in line. Then Driver's licenses: Those are through the department of public safety and you take care of your driver's licensing needs through the driver's licensing offices. No DMV here.Of course the offices are sos busy that no matter what time of day you try to call, the line is always busy - no way to ask questions before taking the plunge and wasting away in line at the office)
We went to the driver's license office pretty much right away when Matt got back in town on Friday. Big mistake trying to go on a Friday afternoon, the last weekend of summer break. The line was out the door of the building with about 30 people on the sidewalk waiting just to get inside the building. We decided to wait until this morning (Tuesday morning) to go back. Matt said that the line we saw was just to get a number and then wait even more til that number was called. I've been feeling sick lately, so that was not going to happen. We hoped that since school started yesterday and people SHOULD be a work, Tuesday morning should be a lot less crazy. It was. I waited on line (just inside the entrance to the building).
When I got up to the information desk, they asked for my paperwork to make sure I had everything I needed before I waited longer. The only thing I didn't have was proof of registration, but I wrote everything from the registration sticker on my car down on a piece of paper. (I looked everywhere for the registration receipt. - Stupid car! We found the registration for my poor Sonata we no longer have and for MAtt's tercel that we've had forever! But no registration for the Kia, even though we had that sheet most recently) So, the guy at the info desk gave me a pass and sent my to the County tax office to get proof of registration. Luckily the line there wasn't crazy at all and I was inside that building for about 5 minutes. Too bad the drive was 10 minutes away from the driver's license office. Added a half hour onto the whole process. I got all my paperwork filled out on the drive at least.
It felt good to walk back into the license office and skip the line and go right up to the info desk. They put me on the short line since I had to make the extra trip. So I only waited 20 minutes behind 1 person, instead of who knows how long behind everyone else. Now, with an expired license, I have to take the written and driving tests. Because, you know, in the past 30 days of having an expired license my skills have gone down the drain and I've forgotten everything. I don't get it. Just make me pay a fine and check my driving record. I'm proud to say I passed the vision test with flying colors, only got 2 wrong out of 23 on the written (One of the questions I got wrong was what was the maximum fine for a person over 21 caught DUI - I wasn't sure, guessed $200, but it was $2000. That question is meaningless to me b/c I've never had a drink in my life and don't plan on starting. I guess it should be good that I don't know b/c that means I've never been fined for a DUI).
Next was the driver's test. A lady older than me, but not super old, was in the car in front of me waiting for her road test. The examiner was getting in the passenger side and the lady began to move the car before the examiner was in - the car door was still open. Needless to say, she didn't make it out of the parking lot before the examiner got out of the car and came back to the building. I felt bad for the lady (she apparently needs to practice), but at least my turn came sooner. I was very careful to not start driving until the examiner was in the car and seatbelted in with the door closed and she told me to start driving. Gold star for me! I passed no problem, even did well with my parallel parking, thank you very much. But, when someone is observing and grading every move you make as a driver, I think I didn't drive as well as I usually do b/c I wasn't driving naturally. I was overthinking every move. Either way, I passed with lots of room to spare. I'm 29 and I am still capable of driving a car - yay for me. I'm just glad this whole experience is done and I can drive legally again! Overall, the whole trip from leaving my home until we pulled back in the driveway (including the extra trip to the county tax office) was 3 hours. Not too bad considering.

Oh Heavenly Day!

You've may have already read my ode to tastykakes and the sadness I feel that they are only sold out east. Well, no more sadness! I saw them on the shelf at my grocery store today! Bonus point goes to San Antonio for selling Tastykakes!

He gets it from his Grandfather

For those of you who know my son, Luke, you know that he tends to have a bit of extra energy - he doesn't stop bouncing or moving. He's a crazy typical little boy. On our recent trip to NY to visit my parents I caught Luke and my dad (and my nephew Danny) having a nice little pillow fight. Now, this isn't the first time I've caught my dad getting Luke all riled up. He and Luke had lots of fun in Hawaii as well - even after Luke had stitches in his head, my Dad was still getting him all riled up (I have the home video to prove it, but that would take forever to upload). I also remember many a time when my dad has been right in the middle of the pile of my brothers and sisters and I wrestling when we were kids. My mom, I'm sure added some, considering she wasn't necessarily a perfect little teenager (oh, the stories she's shared with me), but she seems to have calmed down over the years. So, Dad, I am officially declaring that Luke gets his craziness from you. . .a little from his own father, but mostly from you!

Adam's

One of my favorite things about going to my parent's home is Adam's Fairacre Farms. It's a grocery store that is mostly fresh produce, Seriously, at least half, if not more, is all fresh fruits and vegetables and plants - GOOD STUFF! They have the best fruits and vegetables and an awesome bakery. Another fun thing about this place is they have kid-sized carts. So we took Maya and Luke and they were in charge of the carts and had fun helping us pick out the fruit.

Here's a few pictures.

Helping Aunt Becky pick out some apples

What kid can resist checking out the lobsters?