Grace helped with everything from opening Alex's gifts to wanting to "show" him how to play with his new toys. 

Seconds before Alex picks up the puzzle piece and flings it. 

Curse of having a big sister part 2

Poor Alex.

Gracie's art.

Grace draws these wonderful people now. The picture above is about her playdate with Sarabeth this week. Grace is in the middle, Sarabeth is on the right (she has her glasses on). She draws bodies with great big bellybuttons, then "Oh, I forgot their clothes" and scribbles the body in. She also said they both have red panties and shorts on. Purple thing to the left of Grace is Sarabeth's dog (head with four legs). Triangle to the left of the dog is the slide in Sarabeth's house, and the bumps on the bottom are her piano the girls played on. Love it.

The boy turns 1

Happy birthday, Alex!

Wow, I can't believe it's been an entire year since our little guy joined our family. All the parents who told me you can actually love your second child as much as you do your first were right. And what a rough and tumble boy he turned out to be. So different than Gracie was - he loves to bang things, throw things, pound things against his head. He thinks head-butting ("clonking") is one of the funniest things you can do with him.

We had a family birthday dinner of spaghetti followed by ice cream. Alex was in heaven. And he got lots of help from his sister in opening a few presents tonight. But now we are finding ourselves in the situation of having to tell Grace that it doesn't matter that she picked up the toy first - Alex now has toys that are HIS, and if he wants to play with them then he gets them.

I got to wrap the day up with my sweet little guy hugging me and babbling softly to me while I rocked him to sleep. With chubby little arms thrown around my neck. It doesn't get much better than this.

Happy birthday little guy.

Curse of having a big sister

"MOM...Alex won't sit still so I can put my Dorothy shoes on him"

Destructo Boy strikes again

Alex - 1
Pyrex baking dish - 0

These boots are made for walking

Grace wore her new cowgirl boots today. Lots of compliments. She even wore them with her leotard and tights on the way to dance class this afternoon. I'm not sure I'll be able to get her into any other shoes for a while now.

She wanted to show off her pink soccer ball in this picture too. Can you tell what her favorite color is these days?

Dallas Blooms

We went to the Arboretum last weekend for the opening of Dallas Blooms. Beautiful, but too dadgum hot. We look forward to going back in a couple weeks once it cools off a bit. But this is the time of year that makes our membership worthwhile.

Hot but happy 

The frog fountains cool off Gracie 

Trying to stay cool 

This look describes how damn hot we all felt. 

Am I doing this right?

I worry sometimes about being a stay-at-home mom. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE it. But I can sure feel guilty at times when the checkbook has to come out. Especially now with this new roof we're putting on part of the house - why oh why couldn't a mild hailstorm have hit to allow insurance to put this one on. And with Christmas coming up. And with the big car service bill from last month. And with new clothes needed for the kids with Fall and Winter approaching.

I worry because I can't seem to keep my house clean, even though I'm here most of the time.

I worry because I find myself running out of ideas as to what to feed my slightly picky 3-year old and my just learning to feed himself 1-year old. But should I worry if she is happy eating pb&j for almost every meal? And I suppose I'm getting enough vegetables and protein into the boy; I just don't remember at what point I quit giving baby food to Grace and what I fed her instead, so I'm not sure when to make that transition.

I worry because I can't remember things from only a couple years ago (see above).

I worry because I can't imagine having enough time to do something creative on the side to make some extra money (see first paragraph). I get a little depressed when I read another article about a mom that now has an amazing money-making company started out of her home, creating cute little burp cloths or baby clothes or something like that. I worry because I've been telling myself for over a year now that I will (re)teach myself how to knit, but the needles and yarn remain untouched.

I worry that I don't play with my kids enough. That there are too many times when I have to tell my daughter that I don't have time to play school/color/play with blocks/etc because I have to make dinner/get Alex down for a nap/clean the kitchen/etc.

But I do know my kids love me. And that they are healthy and seem to be reasonably intelligent. And are most of the time happy. And I know that I am gladly giving up having up-to-the-minute fashionable clothes and more dinners out on the town in order to have this time to spend with my family. I volunteer for some good groups that benefit both my family and others in the community.

I just read a line in an essay in one of my parenting magazines that said "As a stay-at-home mom, my job is to do Things That Need to Be Done". I feel like I accomplish that most of the time. Sometimes more so than others.

I wish I wish with all my heart...

We went to see Dragontales Live this weekend. Lot's of fun for a 3-year old. Actually not that bad for a parent to sit through either simply because it's so fun to watch your kids get all excited about something. But Jim and I couldn't help but wonder about those poor people who sing and dance in the show. Are they actors striving for Broadway but got stuck doing touring preschool shows? Do you tell people you dress up in an elf costume with a big goofy mask and frolic on stage? Or that you have to sing and act your whole show in an "Up With People" mode.

And what do you tell people if your kid does that for a living? Jim actually said "What if Alex does that for a living?". I think he's a little too in to throwing things and banging himself in the head with stuff to end up prancing around on stage some day.

On our way in 

 

Alex dances to the preshow music 

Excited Grace 

The show. 

Coming home with the loot. 

Art show

I forgot to post a few pictures from Grace's art show she had at the end of the summer session of school. Each kid made an art book full of different projects from throughout the summer. The art show consisted of the art books displayed by class, along with cookies and drinks for everyone. The whole thing took about 30 minutes max, and that includes hunting down Grace's teachers for pictures. But it was the last day of the summer session, so that was exciting in and of itself. Plus even though I knew the show wasn't going to be any big production we still came out with myself, Jim, two grandmothers and one great-grandmother to pump up Grace's ego.

We love matching outfits 

Grace, Mommy, Miss Monica and her friend Madeline 

Her teachers made pictures for the kids to decorate based on things they like. Of course my kid ends up getting a television character. 

Music

Is it pathetic that when I hear music from the 80's I still get totally psyched? (Is it totally 80's that I use the phrase "psyched"?) A lot of times when Grace is in school I have a dead time between eating lunch and picking her up. Sometimes I switch on the VH1 Classics station, and from 1-2pm they have the Pop Music show. Now I can do without the hair bands and the cheesy top 40. But I LOVE it when an "Alternative" song comes on. So far in the past 15 minutes or so I've seen The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Alex was rocking out to "Relax" (I'm sure much to Jim's horror now). And I'd hate to see the percentage of tunes on my iPod that are pre-1990.

Oh well - when you no longer have much access to GOOD new music, you have to fall back on what you know (one of the downsides of staying at home is not being able to run Radio Paradise on my computer all day).

Yikes - Olivia Newton John is now warbling "I Honestly Love You". Time to go back upstairs and finish cleaning.

Clothes

When I just had Gracie as a kid, I'd always hear from people (and say it myself) that "Oh, girls are just so much more fun than boys to buy clothes for". And yes, girls are very much fun to buy clothes for - lots of cute outfits, dresses, accessories, etc. But as I was folding kids clothes tonight before bed, I realized that boy clothes are as cute as girl clothes, just in a different way. I love having a kid that has little trucks or robots on his jammies. I love the tiny Hawaiian shirt from Target with the matching khaki shorts. I love the jersey knit shorts that go almost to his calves in order to be big enough to fit his massive thighs. I love the hand-me-down t-shirts we've received that say Old Navy Football or have cool dump trucks on them. Maybe I just love the little guy that wears them all.

God I can get sappy about my kids. Ick.

Aargh

Chris posted about this a few days ago - I just had my first experience with it today. Jim takes Cl*ritin D just about every day for allergies. It's also my drug of choice when the sinuses start acting up. We're running low and I decide to pick some up at Target today. First time to buy it since the new behind-the-counter laws went into effect. In addition to being a pain in the ass, having to go sign the sheet in the big pharmacy book, you also have to BUY it at the pharmacy, making me stop to pay twice at Target with two kids in tow. And since we use the 24-hour version, I can only buy one 15-count box at a time. If we're both having a bad allergy time, that box will only last us a week.

Also, why is it that all the generic brand Cl*ritin D's at both Target and Tom Thumb are on sale and SOLD OUT. Luckily I had a big ol' coupon ($4 off) for the name brand so I broke down and bought it. I have another even bigger coupon ($6 off) for a 20-count+ box, but since I can no longer buy that quantity in this state I guess I have to just toss that one out (or break down and buy the 12-hour version).

Yes it's important to try to stem the tide of Meth misuse, but it's still a big pain in my ass.

Mmmm....beer

I thought I'd posted this picture before, but looked back in the archives and couldn't find it. One of Alex's favorite things to do is chew on a beer bottle. Only recently have I begun to realize that my beer then ends up with a lot of drool in it because of that.

We both think he looks like some happy-go-lucky frat boy in this shot.

Dinner conversation

Jim: So Gracie, what do you think you want to be when you grow up?

Grace: I want to move big things.

We hope that she meant that metaphorically and not literally.

Separate vacations

When I look at the title for this post, it feels vaguely depressing to me. Like "separate vacations" indicates a demise of a relationship. But Jim and I have always been full supporters of occasional separate vacations, as long as the majority of your vacations are taken with your significant other. Jim just got back from the fishing trip in Alaska he went on with his brother, stepdad and lots of other men. I'm extremely jealous - it's his second time to go back to Alaska without me since we vacationed at Camp Denali a few years ago. Of course, I'm jealous of the Alaska part of it, not the fishing part. And I have no idea what guys do when they go away without the women. Belch, fart, scratch themselves. Share their innermost feelings (right). But it is good for guys to get together and be "manly" with each other periodically.

I was thinking about my girl-getaways of the past few years. It all started with a beach trip to Port Aransas with my mother and her friend Christi a few years ago. We had a cheap but clean motel on the beach. Visited the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus. Had the now-traditional Saturday night meal of shrimp, avocados and margaritas. Got the car stuck in the sand on the beach. Read LOTS of books and had lots of good conversations.

We've done beach trips a few times since then with an ever-expanding group of women, culminating in a trip last year that had women in age ranging from their 20s to 60s. Unfortunately this year there seem to be too many life-altering shifts in everyone's lives (pregnancy, new career, impending retirement, new houses) that it appears the trip may not happen. But even if it did happen I would probably have to miss it. I had the realization hit me one day a few months ago that I just can't make it with the two small kids I have. Grace it so clingy and still commenting on when I spent three days in the hospital giving birth, and Alex is still breastfeeding. But I have the memories of all the past trips, and I am eagerly looking forward to either next year or the one after when I will be able to go again much more guilt-free than I would have been able to do this year. There is just something I can't put into words about spending time with those women in particular. We can share our thoughts and feelings about almost any subject and get wonderful advice about various events happening in our lives. And all of them I have known for over 20 years. So to my beach sisters - Susan, Christi, Sue, Kim, Maggie, Joanna - thank you for sharing such wonderful times with me, and I can't wait until we are all sitting in the penthouse again sipping margaritas.

One last item - could the picture below indicate why we keep going back to Port A??? It was snapped on that first trip so long ago.

This guy really was a lifeguard on the beach that day. Had us giggling like schoolgirls. 

Swim class

Grace did so great at her final swim class today (as witnessed by Daddy, Gramma and Granddad too) that we've signed her up for ONE more two-week session - the last one they have for the summer so this will REALLY be it.

Even with the early class time (8:30am) Grace loves going to them. Hated it the first week or so; loves them now. The coach that teaches the class is awesome - we're definitely taking swim lessons there again next year.

I'm not becoming a schedule-happy mother, am I? She now will have been in 8 weeks of swim classes that should end just a few days before dance classes begin. And she's only 3. But at least dance classes will only be once a week. The last session of swim classes has us going 5 days a week versus 4. Phew.

Tech stuff

So I'm very proud of myself that I figured out how to put the Textamerica link back up on the webpage all by myself (Jim walked me through it the first time). Though I wasn't able to figure out (1) how to make it open up in a new page like it did before and (2) how to make it open to the main page rather than the latest photo.

Oh well. Just know that if you click through to it and go to the main page there are two little movies Jim shot with my camera on it (apparently those won't show up as the latest picture that pops up on this blog). Funny to watch Alex crawl - I guess he'll learn how to get up on those knees some day. At this rate his big ol' thighs will never go down; he'll just develop great upper body strenghth.

Green

Tonight Grace was eating frozen peas out of the bowl before they went into the microwave.

"Mommy, these taste like green. But they are really green peas."

So now you all know what green tastes like.

Writing

As far as I know, Grace took her first stab at writing today (I don't know if they've tried any letters with her at school or not). I think she did pretty damn good. I just described to her how to write the letter - "The E is one line down and three little lines coming out of it" - and traced with my finger on the paper to demonstrate. She wrote names for the whole family, for Mom and Dad (Susan and Mike, though I had to help her with the "S"), and then proceeded to write the names for all the main characters of Monsters Inc.

Sample is below. She didn't always keep the letters in order for some of the other names, but did pretty good with ours.

Julie and Jim ("Mommy, how do you spell your OTHER name") 

Grace H and Alex. I sometimes wonder if Grace thinks that "Grace H" is actually her name - there's enough other Graces in her class that I add the initial to everything I label.

Those were the days, my friend...

Had the 20th high school reunion this past weekend. It was an absolutely wonderful time. All the planning on this thing finally came together and just about everyone come up to me all weekend talking about how fun it was. Unfortunately a lot of people in our class that you would expect to show up did not. It would have been nice to catch up with them. But that can't be helped - they just missed a really good party.

As in past reunions, it's always amazing to me how much I enjoy talking with people that weren't necessarily my closest friends in high school. The only bad thing about the past weekend (other than the crappy group photo - Kathy's class had the same problem) is that I see my Christmas card list getting bigger when I've been trying to reduce it down the past few years. Also the reunion seemed very much like a wedding reception - I tried to talk to as many people as I could, though I feel like I didn't talk to most of them anywhere near as long as I would have liked.

Things of note: creepy Speedo-wearing people from Mexico trips are still kind of creepy; as I expected it is best to go sans spouse if you know your spouse doesn't want to attend - as a "single" girl you have quite the pick of solo guys to dance with; you will always get cornered by weird former ROTC women when there are about 50 other people in eyesight you'd rather be talking to; Wendy still is great to hang next to for making astute (catty?) observations of others; I wish I'd known Mindy better in high school because she is also really funny; photographers who keep telling you to say "sex" instead of "cheese" for the umpteenth group shot are ANNOYING; I wish I'd known Scott Cross before now because he is a really cool guy; Wade can give a wonderfully touching toast with only a days notice; I wish I'd pulled my camera out much sooner - hopefully I'll get people to send in photos to share.

Probably much more to say, but definitely not interesting to any readers that didn't actually go to high school with me. And at the next one in 5 or 10 years I'll be staying out even later because I won't have a nursing baby to get home to (though this old mom did pretty good hanging until about 12:30am Saturday night).

Kevin, Ronnie, David and James.

Kevin, Blair and Aaron.