Easter Trip

For almost as long as I can remember, one of our family’s Easter traditions has been Grandma & Grandpa’s Annual Hot Dog Roast and Treasure Hunt. It’s fantastically fun and laid back and wonderful! This year it was a super quick trip (since we kinda have a “thing” we have to be at on Sunday mornings!) but it was a great time.

Notes

When I was a kid/teen, I was all about writing notes in school with my BFF's. Whether we were talking about what we were going to do on the weekend or about our latest crushes, it was a thrill to get a note, and my pockets seemed to be ever full of the things.

Tonight as we were tucking the kids in and tidying things up, I picked up Abby's shorts to take them to the laundry room. As I tucked them underneath my arm, I felt something in her pocket. Lo and behold, it was a stack of folded up little notes. I have to admit, I felt a little sneaky as I pulled them out and began to unfold them (Aaron peeking over my shoulder). What first grade "secrets" would I discover? Were these the first of many notes that I'm sure will be passed between Abby and her friends?

As I opened them, one by one, I couldn't help but feel a little emotional...

Father, thank you for this precious time in my kids' lives, and help me to truly enjoy every season. I feel so blessed.

Fiesta 2011

The concept of Fiesta was completely unheard of to me when I moved to San Antonio. But it's a BIG deal. There's no school tomorrow for the Battle of Flowers Parade, and today in Abby's class, we celebrated with a big party. It was a lot of fun! There was tons of food, and we also made little mini-pinatas for the kids to take home. Good times had by all!

Carson's Career Plan

Yesterday, Carson and I were sitting on the couch and talking, as we often do, and I asked him what job he was going to have when he grew up. Without much pause, he said, "I'm going to be a paleontologist and a sports player... and on Saturdays I am going to be a veterinarian." 

Sounds like a plan!

Roots and Such

When I was about eight, my family and I moved to "the country". I remember our very first drive out there. It seemed to take ages. Where were all the houses? They were so spread out compared to our little house and little yard in our little town. Why were we moving out here, again? Well, it turned out to be amazing. I have so many great memories riding my bike up and down the country roads, having scavenger hunts in the back yard, playing in the playhouse Dad built in the back corner, and... planting a garden. The garden was huge. There was corn, beans, okra, squash, watermelon and more, and Mom and Dad had us help with both the planting and the harvesting. I'm sure I wasn't too keen on all that work at the time, but looking back, I remember it all fondly. There was something wonderful about eating a squash casserole or fried okra picked fresh from the garden.

That's always been one of the things I've missed about living in the country and having so much space. I figured it'd be years before I'd ever be able to have a garden. However, when I came across this post by The Pioneer Woman , I realized that having a garden in the back yard didn't mean I had to have a acres of land, you could start with just a little space. And so... here is our first ever garden. I know it's certainly not award winning or anything, but I love it and have so enjoyed taking care of it.

What's growing this year??
Early Girl Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Serrano Peppers

Jalepeno Peppers

Bell Peppers (Green & Red)

Green Beans

Sweet Basil

Italian Parsley

Chocolate Mint

Rosemary

Thyme

Strawberries

Blackberries (planted elsewhere)
Marigolds (to attract bees + butterflies, etc.)

Madison

I just had to show you a picture of my newest niece, Madison. Is she not positively adorable? She just turned two months old! I have the greatest nieces and nephews!

Sleepover

Last night some friends of ours from church invited both of the kids over for a sleepover. We questioned their sanity, but let the kids go. (Hello date night!) I hear that the kids had tons of fun! Apparently the boys kinda laid low, while the girls did all sorts of girly things (see below) and Abby championed the "stay up all night" vigil. It's still a little unclear if she actually ever slept. Ha ha!

I'm so thankful for the friends that are in our lives AND our kids' lives, and I feel very lucky!

The Lost Art of Letter Writing

I have this fascination with old postcards. Every time I go to an antique shop, I love looking at them. I'll sit there forever thumbing through them to find the ones with writing on the back, and then I read them. It's so interesting to see the things that they wrote about. It was a different time, and I suppose I'm fascinated by these letters and postcards for the same reason that I am fascinated by photography. They are moments, thoughts, and feelings captured in time.

As those of you who know me well can attest to, I am not good the phone or keeping up with people. (I'm working on it!) But over the past year or two I have reconnected with one of my best friends back home, Ashley, and we decided to re-discover the lost art of letter writing. So far, we've only been doing it for a few months, but it's so much fun! I just love checking the mail and finding a real letter amongst all the bills. AND we're finding that we're learning new things about each other through our letters. It's a lot of fun, and I'm thinking about expanding my pen pal list to include others (like my grandparents, perhaps). When was the last time you wrote a letter?