Southern Living

It was another gorgeous day in Little Elm, TX. The high was in the 80s and it was sunny. All. Day. Long.

When Micah went down for his nap, I went out to check the mail and found my new Southern Living magazine. Heaven. I heated up some lunch, grabbed my magazine and headed out back to the glider for the next 2 hours.

After Micah woke up we spent another hour or so outside playing with chalk and running around in the grass. And, yes, Mom and Karen, I put sunscreen on him. 70 SPF.




Don't you just love the excitement on that face!


"Thank you, God, for such a beautiful day."

We were playing tug-of-war with the stick and he was winning.


This is my favorite shot of the day.


Here's a video of some of Micah's words that he says on a regular basis. Um, well, sometimes.


Ok, just for proof. He does say, "Mama".


P.S. If you have the new Southern Living, flip to page 90. That's what I want to do with the iron fence in our backyard. Mom, you might as well pack a bag for the summer. We've got alot of ground to cover.

Egg Hunt, Toy, Juice

I appologize for just now blogging about the Egg Hunt from this past Saturday. If you're on Facebook, you've probably already seen these. If so, feel free to skip down a little or enjoy them all over again.


The egg hunt was at the Little Elm park and open to every man, woman and child in the entire town. The population of Little Elm is in the 7000s, and I think everyone showed up. The hunt began at 9:30 and the flyer suggested that the participants arrive at least 30 minutes early. So, we rolled Micah out of the bed, changed his clothes, and strapped him in the car by 8:30 that morning. (That's early for us)




When the firetruck siren went off, I made a mad dash towards the center of the soccer field with Micah in my arms. My strategy was to get ahead of the crowd so he would have a chance at some eggs.

Notice the crowd behind us in the picture above. As the stampede came through, Micah became my shy, timid little boy again. He just hugged me and gave up on the egg gathering.

He didn't shed a tear or even a wimper. He was so sweet, but scared to death.



There's another egg hunt on Saturday just for our neighborhood. Perhaps we'll give it a try. Maybe he'll be a little less intimidated with less children around.

In other news, Tom and I got a new toy.


It seems like we will have an endless pile of firewood as we continue to clear out the land around the lake. Who wants S'mores?

Also, I thought this was worth a plug. Since I'm trying to minimize or completely eliminate my Dr. Pepper addiction, I've started trying new drinks. Currently this is my favorite. Try it. You'll thank me.

Tuesday

It's Tuesday. It's yoga day. It's grocery store day. It's alot-of-things day. We've had a busy day to say the least, but we've gotten everything on our checklist done except finishing up the laundry. A moment ago I stepped out of the living room to check my e-mail in the office about 20 feet away. When I came back, this is what I found.



And yes, he did that all by himself. He even got the Cheez-Its up there too.


Earlier today we spent some time in the yard. I was pulling weeds and he was, well, trying to pull weeds. He just sat and dug in the dirt.





I've faced the facts. I'll never be able to keep those fingernails clean again.


A portrait of my boy. Runny nose and all.

The Clarks Visit Texas

This weekend we had a bit of variety. What I mean is Friday it was beautiful and sunny out. The high was in the 70s. Karen and her family arrived the night before and we spent the day catching up and spending time outside. It was a great day to be outside. The boys were interested in fishing in the lake. Here are some videos of Micah trying to practice casting. Henry and Will did a little practicing too.







While Micah took a nap, Tom took the boys down to the boat launch to do some fishing. They didn't have any luck, so they came back to the house. Then, Karen and I took a walk with Will and Henry down to the playgroud for a little while.





After Micah woke up from his nap, we decided to hide Easter eggs in the backyard for the boys to hunt. Will and Henry showed Micah how to find them, and Will even found some for Micah.









On Saturday we spent the day mostly indoors. Karen and I took on the gloomy, cold weather as an opportunity to go shopping. The boys stayed at home to watch basketball and play the Wii. Both Tom and Chris were happy with Kentucky and Tennessee. Both teams will advance to next weekend.



As the sun set Saturday night, the rain turned to snow. By the time we woke up this morning, we had 4 inches of fresh snow.


Not everything in Texas is bigger.


After breakfast it was time to say goodbye. Karen and Chris wanted to get on the road in anticipation of more bad weather.



We had a wonderful time with our house guests. It was a refreshing change to be the hostess this time around. I hope we get to fill this role more often now.

Rock Star

While I was chasing Micah around to get him dressed this morning, he started rocking out. I almost fell over on the floor laughing. I caught a couple segments on camera to share with you.

Sunny Days

The weather this week has been absolutely gorgeous! We've spent many hours in the yard, and Micah has enjoyed climbing in and out of his wagon as well as dragging it all over the yard and down the street to the playground and back.






Also, we've been spending alot of time at the gym this week. Last weekend Tom and I decided to join the 24Hour Fitness near our house. I was super bummed that it doesn't have a pool, but it does have a kids club (read free babysitting) for Micah for up to two hours per day. On Monday Micah was a little nervous about the new people and atmosphere at the gym, but he lasted about 30 minutes before I was paged to come get him. On Tuesday he only made it 15 minutes. By Wednesday I had it figured out. I clipped his pacifier to his shirt and let him take it with him. He lasted an hour and 20 minutes and was completely content and willing to stay all day if I would have let him. Today he stayed for an hour and 45 minutes. I think I'll let him have the pacifier for a couple more days so I can take a class or two and then we'll see how he does without it.

In other news, Tom is in Nashville for the next four days at the SEC basketball tournament with his college friends. When do I get a weekend away? Hmmm....

Travels

You might be wondering what happened to us the past couple of weeks. Well, we've been traveling. Yes, again. We just can't seem to stay in the same state for very long without getting antsy. First we went to Colorado and stayed with Micah's Aunt Gamma and Uncle Wes for a few days. It snowed and snowed and snowed while we were there. Tom went snowboarding. He convinced me to go to the mountains with him, but he couldn't convince me to snowboard with him in 16 degree weather. Instead, I hung out in Winter Park and shopped. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures while I was there. Bummer! We had fun though, I promise.

After a couple days back in Texas, Micah and I loaded up the 4Runner and drove to Mississippi. Micah did very well riding in the car for such a long distance. It wasn't until we were crossing the Mississippi River bridge when the battery in the DVD player died and he really started to get fussy. We made it though. While we were there, I watched Hannah cheer, got my hair done and went down to Nana and Grandaddy's house for a few days. I even got to see my best friend Kathy and her baby girls. We had a great trip, but again no pictures. I forgot my camera. Whoops. (Karen took pictures for me and she said she would send some if she could only figure out how) It was a great trip too, but we're happy to be home.

Today we've spent the entire beautiful day at home.



Today Micah enjoyed the beautiful weather in the backyard.


While we were in MS, Tom started clearing out the underbrush near the lake. Here's the progress.


We also rediscovered bubbles. I think he had more fun pouring them out and splattering them everywhere. He did manage to blow a few by himself too.