Mr Garth

Tom's friend from Chicago, Garth, came to visit for the weekend. Those two spent the weekend out on the water fishing.

Guess how many fish they caught? Yep, that's right. Not. A. Thing. It's not like I even like to eat fish, but I just think it's funny that Tom can probably count how many fish he's caught here in Texas on one hand. I am starting to believe "fishing" is his new code word for man time away from the house which includes: drinking beer, putting around in the boat under the warm sunshine, and talking on his cell phone.

When Tom and Garth weren't out on the water, they were sitting here by the chiminea chatting about how their lives have changed in the last 5 years.

Micah spent some time outside with the boys too. He colored his picnic table with chalk.

Take a good close look at Micah's beautiful, long red hair. It's not there anymore. Tom took Micah in for a haircut this afternoon and they CHOPPED all of his long hair off. When I saw it this afternoon I almost cried. A trim would have been just fine, but no they used the clippers on my poor little man's head. It's so short there's nothing to run my fingers through. If you can't tell, I'm a little devasated. I didn't get a picture before he went off to bed, but I'll try to remember to take one tomorrow to share with you.

Note to self: NEVER send Micah with Tom for a haircut!

Reminder to self: It will grow back. Eventually.

Boys Will Be Boys

When the temperatures rise, my boys are begging to be outside.

Tom spent the afternoon out on the lake fishing with his friend Charlie. Micah and I spent the afternoon in the backyard.

Tom didn't catch anything and Micah got down and dirty!

Goodnight, Monday!

We survived our first day back to school and work post ice and snow.

Micah had things especially rough today. All morning I tried to talk to him about going back to school and how much fun he was going to have with his friends, but he just wasn't having it. "No school", he said. Over. And. Over.

Once we were at school he was a little timid walking down the hall, but when I turned into a different classroom he lost it!

A little background information: Due to the storm last week and extremely cold temperatures, one of the pipes in his classroom burst and flooded the building. The mess was cleaned up and the rest of the building, excluding the 2-year-old's room, was safe for class today. So, Micah and all of his classmates and teachers were in a tiny room that is normally the Infant II room (for ages 18 months to 2 years).

The tears rolled down his cheeks. His face turned red. He screamed out, "No Mama". What was I to do? I hugged him, kissed him, and told him goodbye. At that point my day was rough. I felt so bad for leaving him, but I knew he'd be fine in no time.

Around 5:30 today I stood in the doorway of his new temporary classroom watching him chase a a pretty little girl. He giggled and smiled at her. He was okay just like I knew he would be.

Thank goodness today is over! Goodnight, Monday!

Day 4: Snowed In

A sheet of ice on Tuesday + Three inches of snow on Friday = 4 days off of work

Day 3 of Ice Storm 2011

It's Thursday, the third day of the 2011 ice storm. Tom braved the roads and traffic to get in to the office this morning. And since the voicemail at my office hadn't been updated since Tuesday morning, I decided to get dressed and ready in order to drive to the office to see if anyone was there. I knew last night that Micah's daycare was closed, so I packed his backpack with snacks and DVDs to entertain him for a little while he hung out with me at the office. Surprisingly, no one was there. Again. So, we're on day 3 at home. Well, before we came back home, we stopped by Target to pick up a few things.

Shopping this morning was the B-E-S-T shopping trip ever! Not only was Micah well behaved, but it was just the two of us and a whole shift of employees straightening the aisles. It was like a private shopping trip. I only ran into a couple other people who obviously had cabin fever like us.

Lately, Micah has been such a great help around the house. He even likes to help me unload groceries and other items from the store.

While I was changing out of my work clothes and back into my P.J.s in the bedroom, this was going on in the living room.

Stacking, Sorting, Creating, Pretending...

He has such a great imagination!

Taylor Swift in Concert and More

I picked up a copy of US Weekly before we left on the cruise and flipped through it on the first couple of days at sea to pass the time and catch up on celebrity gossip. I had no idea that something I was reading about was going to unfold right in front of me a few days later.

After a long day in Cozumel on the beach, we retreated back to the ship for a nap in the late afternoon. Within 30 minutes we started hearing loud roars of a crowd screaming and clapping. Tom went out on the balcony and reported back to me that there was a concert or something going on on the boat next to us. Then it clicked. Taylor Swift. In concert. On the....other boat. I read about Taylor starting her concert tour on the Allure of the Seas on Jan 21. Who whould have known that we would get hear it live. Too bad we didn't cruise with Royal Caribbean instead. Oh well. At least we could hear it all. Micah even enjoyed "singing along".

Here's a clip from earlier that day in Cozumel on the beach.

Cozumel Is Pretty Awesome Too

Sometimes just some Vitamin D is all you need. We soaked up the sun at Playa Mia in Cozumel all day long!

We were pretending to be "fisheys".

Yes, he bit it. Literally.

But, he got up and kept right on going.