lots of this and that

it's been awhile. i have just been too busy and weary to blog these days. not so weary physically, just mentally and emotionally. the past couple of weeks have been rough. we're really having a hard time with William. it is so hard to see him struggling so. it is hard to accept, but from what we've read, it seems he may have early onset bipolar. this is heartbreaking. he is such a precious child, but seems so held back by these unseen forces. we're looking for the right doctor to take him to, and praying for answers.

Margaret's birthday was last Thursday. i can't believe that she's 12 already. that beautiful, tiny rosebud of a baby has grown and is such an amazing bundle of creativity and life!







Margaret left after school on Thursday to go too Fredericksburg with her girl scout troop. there is a GS house there, and the girls went to stay for two nights. Thursday night we went to Redeemer's Maundy Thursday feast. it was beautiful as always.

on a side note, since Brian decided to go through with the officer training and became a deacon, our perception of Redeemer has changed. we feel more connected and feel like this is where we belong. it's been good. we're thrown ourselves in with renewed vigor.
on Friday i took the boys to the Zilker Botanical Gardens. the enjoyed running here and there. then we went to lunch at Taco Cabana. we're never out to lunch together, just me and the boys, and it was fun. Friday night we went to the Good Friday service at Redeemer. it would have been wonderful but for the fact that the only row left was on the second row, right behind an opinionated elder who is also a very well known criminal defense attorney in town. and William was have allergy problems, snorting his head off. the guy kept turning around and giving us "the look". i was mortified and wanted to melt into the floor.

we had one of Samuel's friends over to play all day on Saturday. i worked on making cupcakes for the Easter get together at my grandfather's house the next day and for Daddy's birthday. cupcakes are the new cake for me. i've been making them a lot lately. i have this delicious cream cheese frosting recipe that i've been using. mmmmm.

Margaret got back from her outing Saturday afternoon. we took her out to dinner at El Arroyo for a belated birthday celebration since she was out of town the night of her bday. i really enjoyed shopping for her birthday presents this year. i got her some clothes, some cute flower clips for her hair, some cute sheets for her bed, Jars of Clay's latest cd, some toiletries, a hat (she collects cute hats), and a James Avery chain and cross. we also got her a cell phone. we wanted her to have one before she goes off to middle school. she's growing up. i can't believe we have so few years left with her. so few years to teach her all we need to teach her.

here we are outside of El Arroyo looking like a pretty motley crew.

after our dinner there we walked the 3 mile loop at Lady Bird Lake. it was like old times when we used to go down to eat dinner down town and walk afterwards. we need to do that more often.



Sunday was glorious, celebrating the resurrected Savior! i didn't get a picture of all of us together in our Easter finery, but everyone looked cute. at least i thought so.

we stopped in at Daddy's on the way down to my grandfather's house, but he wasn't in. i left him some cupcakes since his birthday was the next day. we had lunch at my grandfather, "Dader's" house. there was a big Easter egg hunt with all the cousins, and then the kids swam in the pool. Meredith still hasn't had that baby. her due date is tomorrow.

we have home and i napped for an hour or so. there was an incident at the get together where one of my kids was falsely accused by someone else, and it was really bothering me and sort of soured the rest of the day for me.

yesterday after i took the kids to school, i went over to the Shoal Creek Greenbelt and walked several miles. i used to do that all the time when i was pregnant with Margaret. it brought back some sweet memories. i spent the rest of the day working around the house. i mowed and edged the yard and worked in the garden. i realize that being pregnant takes a lot out of me and i can't just go on forever. i was worn down by the afternoon and just wanted to nap the day away.

i made a ton of pizzas last night. i've been craving pizza constantly lately! pizza is one of my favorite things to make. so many options!

here are some pics from last week.

Tuesday the boys had the pinewood derby races at cub scouts.

William was ready to go home and go to bed.



and finally, a tummy pic.
12 weeks, and i lust about have something to show. thankfully i inherited good abs, at least that's what the nurses say, so i'm still able to "suck it in", though i can definitely tell that my figure is changing.

i'm meeting Brian for lunch at Chipotle. need to get a few things done before then, so i had better get a move on. i'll try to be more consistent about keeping up with this thing.

yesterday didn't turn out as i had planned. i ended up not making it to the midday service at church. i had so much work to do around the house it was enough to make me want to cry. actually it did. i haven't done a good job of teaching my kids, particularly the boys, to put away things after they use them, and so i spend a good portion on my day picking up after them. nerf guns and darts everywhere. clothes and shoes in all sorts of places. sketch papers and pencils on every table in the house. sigh.

i think i'm finally turning a corner in this pregnancy. i was able to wait up for Brian to get home from his deacon's meeting which lasted past 10 pm. and actually carry on a conversation with him before we fell asleep. i did wake up at 3 am., but fell back asleep and didn't wake again until the alarm went off at 5. that's huge since i've been getting up before 4 every morning for a few weeks now because i can't go back to sleep. i also feel more energetic and not so nauseous. i'm not used to feeling bad, so this has been really hard on me, not just physically, by mentally and emotionally. i guess God knew i needed to rest, so He made me lame for awhile.

after dinner last night we went over to Mueller for the kids to play a bit. i got in some walking while the kids scrounged up some school chums to play tag with. Brian left for his deacon's meeting around 7:30 - his first since he finished his training and got voted in. anytime he's gone in the evening, i realize what a wonderful husband he is. he always takes charge of getting the kids to bed, especially lately as i've been going to bed before they do. we got through the showering process, which took extra long since i had to send all three boys back in there to shampoo their hair since they'd neglected to do it the first time. i had Bible time with them and started reading Anne of Green Gables for our readaloud. I've never read the series to them, and i think they'll all enjoy it.

i don't know if i mentioned this before, but i've been working through this study called Becoming a Woman of Excellence by Cynthia Heald. it's been so good, just what i've needed at this time. i love her studies - she has written so many and i want to order some more once i finish this one.

and now for a few pictures

the kids playing tag with friends at "the wedge" last night

a recent walk to the Windsor Park library -

 William and John's baseball team

cousin Aili at the boys' game last Saturday

Margaret and Samuel deep in discussion about the The Redwall series books while heading over to toss the baseball. these two have become buddies again, just like they were when they were little.

 *****

i picked up three books when we walked to the library the other day.

i've finished A Long Fatal Love Chase and thought it very silly and disjointed. but that's just my opinion. it made me think of the tragic, melodramatic stories that Anne Shirley attempted to write.

i'm in the middle of both Slaughterhouse Five and Hard Laughter so i don't have much to say about them yet.

i must go water the garden. we're praying for rain down here. we desperately need it.





sunday am.

woke up again at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. i waited until nearly 4 to get up because that seemed more respectable. i don't know why i keep waking up at these crazy hours!

Friday was a full day. i lay in bed on Thursday night wrestling over how i was going to get all the things done that i needed to get done, but somehow it all worked out. just as it always does.

Brian and i met with Maplewood's assistant principal and Samuel's teacher first thing on friday morning to discuss how Samuel has done this year with the 504 accommodations he's been receiving for his ADD. he has to be evaluated every year to see if changes need to be made in the strategies and methods being used. we all concluded that most of the things that his teacher has been doing have been good and should stay in place. he's made great strides academically and socially, but still has a lot of emotional struggles. he needs to learn to take control over his feelings and not give in to them. all in all, it was a positive meeting. he has a wonderful teacher who has been really good for him, i think, and he's done much better this year than last.

after i left the meeting, i went and bought a ton of groceries for the weekend. while i was unloading the groceries at home, two women came up and wanted to share "words of Jesus" with me. i assured them that i was a Christian and really appreciate their concern, but i was in a big hurry, needing to get to a doctor's appointment. they asked if they could give me some literature. i saw that it said they were Jehovah's Witnesses, and i told them that i was pretty sure my beliefs about Jesus differed from theirs. despite my efforts to hurry with the groceries, we somehow got into a discussion about salvation, etc. they assured me that they believed that Jesus was God's Son and the only hope for salvation and the only way to God, just as i did. since we seemed to be in agreement, i said that was great, and told them to have a wonderful day. later i called Brian and asked him what exactly do Jehovah's Witnesses believe? i've always thought they were similar to Mormons, but these women assured me that they weren't. i guess i need to read up on it so i'll know better how to talk to them...next time.

i had to hurry to make it to my OB appointment on time. Dr. Love's office is connected to St. David's, so i have to park in the parking garage, which is always so hard to find a parking spot in, especially for my big suburban. i circled for ten minutes.

the appointment went well. i haven't gained any weight, so my goal this month is to work on that. the nurse, Janine, who has been checking my vital signs and measuring my tummy for years, said she wasn't sure if she'd be able to pick up the heart beat with the Doppler since i'm only ten weeks, but she'd give it a try. she found it right away! it's such a wonderful sound, one that i have been waiting to hear. when you're not showing yet, you start to doubt that there is a little person down there. that little heartbeat was music to my ears. i left the office feeling elated! i ran and got me some lunch at Taco Cabana, the first step in trying to gain some weight, then drove to the AISD central office on 6th St. to drop off Margaret's transfer request. i wanted to deliver the thing in person just to make sure the process got started. the woman in the office was able to answer a lot of my questions and told me that i'd be hearing back next month on whether or not her transfer was approved. that's good news!

from there i went down to Lady Bird Lake and enjoyed a 3 mile walk. it couldn't have been a more beautiful day! 

i made a mad dash back home to bake some strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, clean the house and water the garden before picking up the kids at school.


Brian's parents were here for a short visit. they got here Friday afternoon. we went to Central Market that evening, that being the place that Margaret wanted to go to celebrate her birthday. the food & music were both  good and there were a lot of familiar faces from school.

we had two baseball games on Saturday. i didn't go to the second, but stayed home with the younger boys and rested. Brian's parents left Saturday evening, but not before we'd made big plans for a week-long beach trip in August. it will not be in Texas since we want it to be convenient for Michael and Jana to join us, too. most likely in florida, mississippi, or alabama. after the inlaws left, i went over to Mueller and walked my 4 miles. despite feeling terrible, i somehow manage to get in my daily walks. getting outside like that seems to help me out.

celebrated palm sunday at church, then taught my sunday school class. after we got home and had lunch, i went to bed and stayed there all day. i felt like i had hours of sleep i needed to catch up on. i took Margaret and Samuel over to the park and they played with friends while i walked my 4 miles. i was feeling better, but i still found myself back in bed about 8:45.

monday

this morning i helped out at the school, first shelving books in the library, and then monitoring 6th graders in the computer lab. now i'm home with a to do list that seems a mile long. after the weekend there is always so much cleaning to do.

our church is having a noonday service every day this week. i hope to attend most, if not all of them. they're also have a maundy thursday meal and a good friday service. i'm so excited about all these opportunities to gather with the saints!

wednesday, april 13

this morning i helped out at the school for a bit, overseeing 6th graders working on research projects in the computer lab. same drill as the other day, two girls worked on their project, and two others emailed friends and read celebrity gossip. i bucked up this time and said i'd have to tell Ms. Neal if they didn't get working on their project. i think i lost my status as the "cool mom".

after i left the school, i ran home and grabbed a snack. seems i can't go past 9 am without eating a second breakfast these days. i was starving. that's what i get for getting up at 5.

i met Brian at Lamar Middle School where we had a tour scheduled for 10. when the person in the office told me over the phone the other day that a student would give us a tour, i was a little annoyed. i was hoping for an adult. but theses 8th graders that took us around were so mature! i was totally impressed by them. i wasn't like that in 8th grade, that's for sure. i liked the school. it was real similar to Maplewood, located in an old 50's era building in an old neighborhood, and with similar diverse demographics. it's big on the arts, which really appeals to me. i can picture all our kids there. both Brian and i went away with a good impression. i filled out the transfer request and plan to mail it out tomorrow.

i had to run directly to Meals on Wheels after that. i love this mid-week gig. i generally have about 12 clients, and they're all elderly folks living in a "55 and better" apartment complex. my clients are in 2 different buildings. i take the stairs to get extra exercise, which is tough at first, carrying 12 hot meals and 12 cold bags, but gets easier as i make my drops. these people are so sweet, and i really come away feeling awfully blessed by making their acquaintance.

my whirlwind day continued, as i rushed over to Subway to meet back up with Brian and grab a quick lunch. we chatted about the school options and last night's baseball game (Samuel's). all too soon it was time to go our separate ways.

i came home to clean house real quick, then went over to Mueller to walk a few miles. back to the house to clean myself up and then over to Maplewood for kid pickup. phew! busy day, and it's only 4! thankfully we don't have anything on the agenda for tonight.

friday, april 15

it's early on friday. i've been waking up around 3 every morning and tossing and turning for a long time. i decided to get up around 4:30. i've got so much to do today. this morning Brian and i have a meeting at Maplewood to discuss Samuel's 504 designation. this has to do with his ADD and other issues. it's a label, but it helps the school have the freedom to alter his education to fit him. it has to be reevaluated every year, to see if the methods that are being used are making any difference. i am real curious to see what his teacher has to say. we haven't heard any feedback from her in awhile, though we have heard from his music, art, and PE teacher, and the reports haven't been that great.

i also have a OB appointment this morning. i hope they're able to pick up the heart beat this time. i read that a good Doppler can at this point. i've now ten weeks plus a couple of days. i didn't get around to taking the wednesday tummy pics this week. i'll try to get that in later today. no pooch yet, but i can feel my waistline shrinking. i can't wait to start showing more. right now i just feel like Dolly Parton.

i worked my last day for the ladies' Bible study for this semester. i guess i'll be back doing that again in the fall. the money is pretty good - better than my other childcare job, and it inspires creativity in my, having to plan a lesson each week.

Brian and Samuel have three baseball games this week. i can feel it wearing on all of us. last night Margaret and i took William, John, and Partrick to their practice while Brian and Roger were coaching Samuel and Thomas' team in their game. we have two games tomorrow. i think that we've decided to take a break from organized sports after this season. playing sports is great and i love all that the kids learn. especially through team sports, but it keeps us from being able to do stuff together as a family, to go camping, and go visit grandparents, etc.

i've got to head down to AISD's student services office today to drop off Margaret's transfer request. i'd rather drop it off in person than mail it. hopefully we'll get a quicker response that way. Brian and i both have a good feeling about our school choice, the first "good feeling" i've had about a middle school in all our searching.

that's all i have time for this morning. hopefully i'll be back later with some tummy pics and garden pics.

Monday morning i volunteered to watch a group of 6th graders in the computer lab as they did some research on a project. the group included Margaret and a few other girls, the "higher performing" students that didn't need as much TAKS preparation as the rest of the class. i'm signed up to do the same Monday thru Wednesday of the next two weeks. some of the girls actually did what they were supposed to, looking up info for an assignment about mountains and volcanoes, but others just surfed the internet, reading the latest celebrity gossip. i never like being the bad guy and stepping into to tell them to get back to work. i left them alone and decided to tell their teacher about it. i'm a wimp.

i worked around the house after that, cleaning, gardening, other home duties. my garden has been slow to take off, but it's finally showing some progress, and we ate a salad from it last night.

tomorrow Brian and i are going for a tour of Lamar Middle School. it's one of the ones we're considering for Margaret. it's really hard to believe that she'll be in 7th grade next year. and then aftrer that, just one year left before high school! we have so few years left with our kids under our roof! the time really does just fly away. i have to remind myself of this daily because it's so easy to get frustrated with the kids and wish for some kind of break from them. it'll come all too soon.

while i was there in the in the computer lab with the 6th graders, i got a call from the art teacher saying that she was having trouble with Samuel. Samuel struggles with all his special areas. i think it has something to do with transitioning from one class to the next. he tends to not be very cooperative. his hardest class is music, and he's probably the only kid in the school who Mr. Marks has ever given a C to in music. it's just that Samuel shuts down and refuses to participate. sometimes we can get him to offer an explanation as to what is going on inside him, but sometimes he doesn't know. Samuel is a mystery to us. he's all or nothing. when he's ON, everything is great, but when he's OFF, nothing you do or say will move him. he's made much progress socially and other than his periodic crying episodes, he acts like a normal kid, and all the kids in his class love him. he tells me he's one of the "cool kids" now.  haha. that's one thing that is very precious about him. he doesn't know there are certain things you just don't say. but he still has lots of trouble controlling his temper and emotions. a lot of it can be attributed to the Aspergers, but some is just sin. for Brian and i, knowing how to handle it is so difficult.

i also got a call from the school yesterday saying that John had wet his pants. it was after 2 when i saw the message, so there wasn't a point in me bringing him some new clothes. he didn't want to put on the clothes that Ms. Monica in the office offered him. he just cried to me on the phone and said he wanted me to come get him. poor guy! i think he was tired and embarrassed, and didn't want to go back to class and have everyone ask him why he'd been in the office.

the weather here has been so nice. i wish i could bottle it up and save it for those frigid days come January.

another installment in my home tour.

here's the hall bath, or the kid bath. we also sometimes call it our Aggie bath because of the maroon and gray tile.

 when we first decided to work on the bathrooms, the plan was to gut them and start over. but the more we looked at options and got opinions, the more attached we became to the old bathrooms. most of the money went to replacing plumbing, things you can't see. we replaced some fixtures, hardware and the door, regrouted, rebuilt a cabinet, and repainted. we're pleased with the results, and it stays in character with the rest of the house.

we left the large original mirror above the counter, but removed the medicine cabinet above the sink, and instead put in a mirror, not really needing or caring for medicine cabinets.

initially i wanted to decorate all in white, but then my mom and i found this shower curtain at World Market, and it had all the right colors, so i went with it and kind of worked everything around it. i also got the rug at World Market to echo the round mirror. it seemed like the room needed some roundness since everything is so square and rectangular. i made the simple, almost sheer curtains, which are identical to the ones in our bathroom, as is the paint color, a pale gray.

i think the best thing we did in this bathroom was take out the regular door and put in this pocket door. the frosted glass lets in a good amount of light to our cavernous hallway. and you can't see through it unless you're pressed right up against it.

this picture shows how much it needs to be cleaned.

this bathroom is rather plain, but i think it works best that way since i gets so much traffic.

kitchen.

here's our little kitchen. there isn't much to it.

the walls are gray and the cabinets are some light shade of green. can't remember the name at the moment.

 
it's small, but it serves its purpose. the only thing that is original anymore is the window. everything else was gutted. the granite was a something my dad brought over one day and we made it work somehow. the flooring was also something he picked up somewhere. the hardware on the cabinets were value packs from Target. my dad built the cabinets at his house and brought them over. the measurements were a little off, but with our neighbor Clay's help, they were trimmed down a little and squished in.

i got some stencil letters recently and have kind of gone wild with them, adding words and phrases everywhere. at least i can paint over them if i regret it later.

another room tour

here's our bedroom. it's my favorite room, maybe because it feels so comfy and soothing. like my own little sanctuary.

  it's a hodge-podge of hand-me-down furtniture, heirlooms, estate sales, and thirft store finds.

the bed was my grandmother's great aunt and uncles. the chair was one i bought at a thrift store and painted and recovered. the three prints in the wall are art nouveau that i scored at a estate sale. i'm a big fan of art deco and art nouveau period things.

pardon the crookedness of the pics. when you have lots of kids in a small house all the pictures tend to hand crooked on the walls.

the ivy on the back of the house just about covers our bedroom and bathroom windows and makes the room feel extra cool in the summer.

the door to our little bathroom. we put in pocket doors when we did the work in the bathrooms recently. and that's the collection of books by my side of the bed that i'm currently working my way through.

and every room in my house has plants. because i'm a plant lover.

our bathroom is really tiny, but i love it. it has a shower stall that you can't see in the pic. the tile is a green and the walls are a very pale shade of gray.

 those are roses from our awsome neighbor, Clay's rose bush.

the view from the toilet. you can sit there are admire the dust floating in the air.

theses pics don't include the other end of the room and the 60's era french provincial dresser and vanity that were a hand me down from my aunt Sharon. at first i thought we'd use them in Margaret's room, but i grew to like the funkiness of the set. it is painted with green and yellow flowers and sort of just tied together the whole cottage look of the bedroom.

i asked Brian if the femininity of our room bothered him, and he said not in the least. he didn't figure it was too feminine since it has a hook with baseball caps, a collection of boots, and a beer poster on the wall. hehe.

the color of the room is called celery sprig, and doesn't show up as much in the pictures as in real life. some adjustments i want to make in the near future is to paint the bed (probably white) and to paint the frame on the picture above the bed (a brushed up silver).

so that's our room.

Thursday, April 7

it's 3:45 am. i got up a little awhile ago because i didn't want to wake Brian with my tossing and turning. this pregnancy has been harder on me than any of the others. i've been struggling with nausea and weariness and insomnia. but it's really hard to complain, because i know there's a reason for it all, and that makes it so bearable! 

this week is flying by for me. i worked my last day for Classical Conversations on tuesday. despite all the struggle i had with people at the beginning, i'm so glad i stuck with it and finished out the year. i met some wonderful ladies and really enjoyed working with the kiddos. i just really enjoy working with kids. i'm thinking i'll go back to work for them at the beginning of the fall semester until the baby is born. the money helps and it would be nice to have the interaction with other moms. as a thank you, the toddler moms chipped in and bought me a $65 Target gift card. that was totally unexpected! what a blessing! i was in Target the day before and ended up putting some things back that i had intended to buy.

i had another thing happen to me this week that just reminded me how much God cares for me. i've been searching all over for this one library book, the Bearnstain Bears book about teasing. i tore up the camper looking for it, cleaned the boys room from top to bottom last week looking for it, looked through all our bookshelves, but couldn't find it anywhere. on Monday i was at it again, looking through the boys' room for that book. i had been praying as i cleaned, and just asked God to show me where it was. not ten seconds later i looked under William and Samuel's bunk bed, where i had looked countless times, and there was the book! God is good. i don't know why i ever doubt.

i spent yesterday sewing and cooking and thrifting. i found some great odds and ends for the house yesterday as well as a bunch of shirts for Samuel. i am proud to report that i did not go walk my four miles. i always feel good about myself when i break out of routines like that and realize that i won't die because i didn't do my usual ______. i did not die and it was good for me to take a rest. such is the life of an OCD person.

Friday, April 8

here's the first little installment of home pics. here's the room we did over recently. it's still not finished. the book shelves need a maple stain to match the mantle, but little projects like that tend to hang over for a long time, so we decided to go ahead and fill the shelves with books and stuff.

i'm kind of crazy for color and action so there are patterns and colors everywhere in my house. if you knew this room before the face lift, you'll remember that there was a large accordion door separating this room from the rest of the house. we removed that and shrunk the opening by a couple of feet and put in these french doors. in hindsight, we wish we'd have put in pocket doors like we put in the bathroom as they have a more MCM feel, but i guess that'll be fore the next remodel.

by the time we finished the room and got to the floor we were coming the bottom of our cash and decided to paint the floor instead of staining, saving us close to 1K. we had previously painted it a reddish color. this is a dark brown, but when it scratches, the red shows through giving it a kind of cool look. but it does show up the dirt like nothing else. sheesh.

i've got a love/hate relationship with this fireplace. i DO NOT like the look of it. it was added in the 70's and the limestone is hideous. would have much rather had the red sandstone that is on the outside of the house used on it. but we sure love the functionality of it!

my favorite part of the room is the new set of windows! it allows me to watch the garden grow. and look at all the toys the kids drag out in the yard. and when it's cool enough out i can crank them open and enjoy some fresh air.

there is so little wall space in this room, but what there is i've covered with my kiddos artwork (except the crooked-hanging  fabric wall art next to the books shelf - a bargain from Target).

and lastly, here's the computer desk and the back door. this door used to be the door from the utility room to the side yard, but we replaced that with a window, not needing a door there, and put the door here. the wall this door is on used to be taken up with the world largest sliding glass door. we were so happy to see that go.

this room used to be the most despised one in the house, but since working it over a bit, we've grown to really enjoy it.

****

last night i took William and John to baseball. Leah brought Patrick (he plays on the same team), so she and i got to catch up with each other. it's been so long since we've spent time together. after practice i invited her over and we sat around yacking and watching the shocking episode of American Idol where Pia got sent home.

i shelved books at the library this morning. i haven't told Ms. Cobb that i'm pregnant, but i was feeling so sick i wondered if i looked green to her. i think this baby is making up for all the morning sickness i didn't have with my others. between the nausea, the bone tiredness and the insomnia, it's been a hard few weeks.

since the weather is so nice, tonight we're planning on going over to CM after dinner to hear Rattle Tree Marimba. so happy to resume this friday night tradition!

tomorrow Mama is coming to take the kids away for the rest of the weekend. Brian and i have been looking forward to a date for weeks (months).

well, i have lots i need to get done before i need to pick up my dear ones from school. have a blessed weekend, y'all.

9 week tummy(less) pic

i really am pregnant. it's just not showing much in my middle yet - though it is getting harder to keep the tummy sucked in. other places on me are definitely pregnant already. ha.

this is my little drapery skirt i made. i bought some drapes at Texas Thrift the other day and ripped out the thick lining to make a springy skirt. i have my longhorn boots on with it, because here in Texas you can wear cowboy boots no matter what the season.

a little bit of life

yesterday i worked in the school library for awhile shelving books. thankfully there weren't as many books as there usually are because i was feeling pretty nauseous. i thought nobody at school knew about me being pregnant, but apparently Margaret has spread the word. i'm glad she's excited.

on the way to school yesterday morning the kids suddenly decided that baby should be named Ivy if it is a girl. we've always used family names, loving the idea of honoring our ancestors, but maybe we'll have to break from tradition and let them pick one of baby's names. i've been flipping through the notebooks of family genealogy for both sides, looking for ideas. i can come up with lots of good male names, not so many female names.

i spent most of yesterday cleaning house and doing yard work. in other words, it was a perfect day. my garden is coming along splendidly and we've already has some of the green leaf lettuce and arugula in a salad. my asparagus didn't produce a whole lot, but i'm letting it go to seed, and hopefully next winter, early spring i'll have even more. one shoot every couple of days just won't cut it for a soon-to-be family of 7.

i'm ready this book i picked up at the thrift store called Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. i've found it very interesting. it's a political history, not one about his personal life, and it's written by people who were in his cabinet, so it's quite positive of the late president. and quite negative of Lyndon Johnson. i've read quite a bit about Johnson, feeling somewhat obligated since he was born and raised here, and most of that was written by LBJ insiders who tried their best to honor the man. it's been enlightening to read what those outside of Texas thought of LBJ.

last night Brian and the boys escaped the house to make room for the girl scouts. i made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and we ordered pizza. it was such fun to gad with women folk for a few hours.

not the most flattering shot of some of the ladies, but here's a snap shot for posterity sake of the girls and moms doing meal planning for the upcoming trip to the GS cabin in Fredericksburg.

as i was cleaning house yesterday, i got this idea to do a tour of our house for my blog. so be looking for that some time in the near future.

last night being our free night, the night we don't have baseball practice or some other scheduled event, we went over to the park and some played basketball, others played make believe we're on an African safari, and others walked. actually i was the sole walker. i was so very tired when we first met up at the park that i almost decided not to walk, but i knew in the end i'd be glad i pushed through, and so i did.

this morning i woke up before the alarm (before 5) and made some banana muffins for the kids' breakfast. i've sort of had my goal to make most of everything we eat this week, and i've almost succeeded. that means 72? meals so far. i think we'll get something out tonight. Brian has some planning group he meets with periodically for a happy hour discussion time, and they're meeting tonight, so he'll be home late.

Margaret's girl scout troop will be having their meeting here tomorrow night. that'll be fun. we haven't met together since the beginning of cookie sales which was way back in January.

today i suddenly notice that i have a little hard spot in my lower abdomen. i read last night that my uterus was that size of a tennis ball. it is so exciting to think about all the growing going on inside me right now!

this morning after Brian took the kids to school, i went over to Mueller and walked 4 miles before heading off to work at the church. while working, i had to change two poopy diapers and just about lost it. i've always had a high tolerance for grossness, i mean, like i never get grossed out by sights and smells. not anymore. i'm sure i was green faced.

well, i've gottta go over to Brian's work and swap out cars.