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.