About 6 posts squished into 1

Oh how I miss blogging. I really do feel that writing is cathartic to me. But with A not napping, her hour of room time is usually me going up and down the stairs about 25 times trying my best to patiently tell her to CAN IT so that C will stay asleep. It takes me a lot to be witty or clever or cute, so now with less blogging time, I'm just gonna have to be boring and spew it out. So here goes. In such hodge-podge careless order because by the time I hit "publish," who knows what all will have been added since the time I started writing this flippin' thing .

What we've been up to:

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandmary (aka Texas Mimi) we got to visit with them, Jon, Sarah, and Taylor at my new favorite west coast-ish locale. Lake Tahoe is such a great vacation spot, and it was such a welcome excursion. The girls were great on the planes, we stayed at a lovely spot, saw some beautiful scenery, and got to enjoy time with family that we don't see nearly enough.


Clean air, clear water, temps around 75. Breathtaking.


Overlooking Emerald Bay.


Ben and I got to have a bit of a date night, but got away just a few minutes too late for sunset. And a few minutes too early for lucky numbers 5 and 22, ultimately loosing $20 at the roulette table. Stupid Nevada.


We went to Carson City and jumped aboard an old steam engine towards Virginia City, NV, which is the most western town I've ever visited. I LOVE this pic - makes me think of high school days riding redneck with cute boys. Minus the baby in the middle.




Lunchbreak in Virginia City. I'm not sure if folks like these truly think they are real cowboys or are paid by the town to play the part for tourists' sake.


Our last day, we played on the beach. Just like beaches in the south, minus waves, crowds, mosquitos, or jellyfish. Perfect. Notice the boobies on my baby?


This was around 5:30 pm. We were the earlybirds, thanks to west coast time with kids. We're still trying to settle this confusion.

And since I'm so behind on the blog and don't want to create a separate post, we've also been up to:


Cheering on the Heels. And Horns. And cloth diapering.

And preschool. 3 day a week 3 year olds. Be still my soul, my daughter is almost to kindergarten.


A and LA, who are now visibly taller and loosing some baby fat. :(


(from last year).


And from about 2 1/2 years ago. Oh where has the time gone?!

I've also been up to:


Being blessed with a weekend away at Windy Gap, with some of my dearest friends. For anyone who is interested in going next year, it is always the weekend after Labor Day. I seriously wish I could pack up every single friend I have and rent out the place. There was lots of laughing, a bit of crying, baby-talk, pumping, time with God, and curling our hair. What more can a girl ask for, right? Thanks to the husbands for allowing it to happen!

And finally, now that preschool is back in session, I'm making my new-school-year's resolutions. Among them, exercising, meal-planning, and quiet time. I hate the word quiet time, actually, but what I want is real-life time to read my Bible, pray (and really do it, not just say I'll do it when someone gets sick, etc), and get to the bottom of some issues I have. Easy, right? Well, I don't suppose anyone cares that I'm trying to reach any of these goals, but I'm putting them out there on the blog solely for accountability sake. Well, and if anyone wants to push me along or walk with me, here is what I'm going to be following:

Couch to 5K (pending some rehabilitation from the world's hottest PT).

No More Hitting Snooze

As for the meal-planning, it's just really hard to be frugal, healthy, organized AND partly dairy-free. Does anyone out there have any recommendations for ways to plan your weekly menus before 5:00 each night? Wanna do it for me?

I think that's all my rambling for now. :)