Attack of the Ants

I had one of those horrible mommy moments.  We had some friends over & the big kids (Kate & her friend) had gone outside to play in the back yard.  They had let Hannah out with them, which Kate does often.

I had just said to my friend (we were sitting inside & visiting) that I realized Hannah didn't have any shoes on & I should probably go get some when Kate & Andrew came RUNNING telling us that Hannah had ants.

Oh my word.  36 weeks pregnant - turns out I can still run.  Poor baby was standing in the back corner of the yard with feet, legs & hands covered in ants - screaming!  We immediately threw her in a cool bath to get the ants off & hopefully take some of the sting out.  I called the pediatrician to get instructions on what to do & sat there feeling horrible.

She of course has handled it like a champ.  We did a couple rounds of Benadryl & Ibuprophen, but she never had any symptoms of allergy, and she didn't even scratch ONCE!  That was my biggest fear, that she would scratch them and they'd end up infected, but she was great.

So, even though I know I didn't do anything "wrong", I just felt horrible for her. I never got a final count, but I do know that just on her TINY LITTLE PINKY TOE there were 20 bites.  Little girl went shoeless for a few days & healed up so much faster than I expected.  No doubt though - someone wears shoes ALWAYS in the backyard!

A Last Minute Find

After spending almost a week in Austin & searching for remains of bluebonnets, I was out of luck.  Such a bummer!  It's one of the things that makes me saddest about East Texas.  I have fun memories of visiting the bluebonnets & there are lots of great pictures to look back on.  So far, I've always lucked out & found some to take pics of my girls in.  I thought it was time to give up as we headed out of town.

BUT!  Just on this side of Waco, I began noticing patches of them!  I told Kate we were going to stop & take a few pics (and maybe bribed her with a little candy) and to the side of the road we went!  No one had on shoes, but I was too excited to care!

Another year down & so thankful to have some pics of my girls in the bluebonnets!

Double Date

Somehow we managed to swing having a babysitter the same night as the Bergmans!  It had been a LONG time since we had been out together & we were all needing to laugh so we were really looking forward to hanging out.  

Our original plan was just to meet for dinner at El Sombrero, but David & I talked them into staying out and going to the driving range with us!

When we got there, we actually headed over to the putting greens, and David taught us to play Horse - like you do with basketball.  The boys (as usual) would just stand there & putt it in.  

                                                

So Bethany & I had to show them what it looks like to really have fun...

Such a fun night out with my a fun man & fun friends.  In case you're curious.  I'm still in denial.  They're not REALLY going to move.

Weekend Adventure

Our weekend of no plans minus a garage sale turned into a weekend of fun & adventure!

Friday night was pretty standard.  David had to work a little later than normal, but we grabbed some El Sombrero, put the girls down for bed & relaxed on the couch for the evening.

Saturday morning, Kate & I got up and headed over to The Big Red Barn for our garage sale.  It was NUTS!!  This is my 3rd garage sale to participate in at the Barn & I have never seen anything like this!  People EVERYWHERE and FOREVER.  Before, it would always be crowded at the beginning, but then taper off.  I think it was lunch time by the time things tapered off!

Well, right after lunch I got a call from David asking if I could leave the garage sale early.  Here's a little back story...

      On the Thursday before this, David was driving around looking at land with this guy and he kept going on and on about David's truck.  He was a BIG fan and asked David if he was interested in selling it.  Well, since had just bought my suburban (another post coming!), David was going to hold off on a new truck for himself for awhile.  This one had lots of miles (over 100,000!), but it was working just fine. He called and asked me what I thought about it & I told him he should go for it!  How often do you have someone offer to pay you the Blue Book price for a truck that is well used???  and not just pay that price - but OFFER to take it off your hands??  Crazy?!?   As exciting as it was, that meant David had to find a new truck - and FAST!


So, while I had been selling our junk, David had been car hunting online & had found one in Mississippi. The problem was, they closed at 8, so if we were going to make it, we had to pack it up and head over!  So, I got the go-ahead to leave early from my friends and headed home.


By the time I got home, David had another surprise for me.  Instead of a day trip (4ish hours each way) to Mississippi, he found the truck he REALLY wanted in Austin!  So, off he went to deliver a ladder to a job, and I began throwing things in suitcases - because a truck in Austin meant a night at my parents!


We rolled into town around 7, test drove the truck a couple times (with the most obnoxious car salesman!), and he decided to go for it!

I was so proud of David.  He is usually very slow & steady.  He likes to process & weigh all side of a n issue.  These are things I love about him, and things that are really a blessing when it comes to leading our family.  Things that happen spur of the moment usually kinda rock his little orderly world, but he really went with it!  We had a great weekend in Austin - got to enjoy my family, eat great food, and even got a date night out of the deal.


Even more, he got a new truck.  It's super nice, and I think he'll enjoy it for a long time.  My favorite part about the story of when the guy kept raving about David's old truck was that he said to David, "This is the kind of truck you take your wife on a date in!"  ha!  Don't get me wrong, David's old truck was a great truck, but it wasn't fancy by any means.  This new truck though, I'll go on a date anytime! ;-)

Baby's Got a Name

Right before our sonogram to find out if baby was a girl or boy, David & I realized we hadn't even really talked about names at all.  Of course we've still got that little boy's name on the back burner for when the time is right, but since we've used up our top girls' names, we were fairly stumped.

We began the tradition with Kate of giving family names for middle names.  We wanted to start with my mom's middle name with Kate, but Kathryn Lynn was just too many "y"s and "n"s, so we started with mine instead - Kathryn Elizabeth.  Hannah Lynn came next, and so we knew since God gave us another baby girl it was perfect to finish out the middle names with Judy's - Claire.  

David & I both love Claire, and even considered it for a first name, but wanted to stick with our middle name tradition.  I spent some time in name books, sent him a list & after much pondering (I'll let you guess who had to be the one to "ponder"), our final decision is...

Natalie Claire

I just love it.  I think it fits perfectly with the other girls!  We laughed when we looked up the meaning and found out it mean "born at Christmastime" - ha! She is our only baby so far NOT to be born at Christmastime.  Oh well, it'll just help her feel like she fits in better - right?

In more biblical & meaningful terms, her name means "gift of God".  And that's exactly what this sweet girl is.  We definitely hadn't planned for her to come as early as she did, and all the details of her joining our family are clearly a gift from God.  His work.  His timing.  We can't take credit for the planning of this one, so we are humbly accepting His gift & are excited to see the ways she impacts this family.

I won! I won!

One of my best friends from high school is living her dream!  We spent almost every day of our high school basketball season going home after 5th period, making nachos in the microwave, busting out the chocolate chip cookie dough, and settling in to watching TLC's "A Wedding Story".  It was such a fun season of life & one we both remember fondly with lots of great memories.

Jessica and I both got degrees from A&M, got married, and started life.  Well, having married a military man, she moved off to all sorts of places around the states as he served our country.  They have settled in Bakersfield, CA for the past few years where Jessica has started a photography business.  People, she is INCREDIBLE.

I have always admired her work from afar and dreamed of being able to work with her.  Well.  At the beginning of February, she put up a competition on her blog - you could enter to win a "couple's photoshoot" for Valentine's Day.  I was THRILLED when she mentioned she'd be in Austin over Spring Break - because we were too!  So, I immediately entered.  I may have even been a little obnoxious as she advertised the competition on Facebook, suggesting that it wasn't necessary, that I would just go ahead and collect my winnings.  Even in my silliness though, I never really expected to win - BUT I DID!!


I loved, loved, loved working Jess.  It had been many years since we'd seen each other & I loved that she got to meet my family. David & I hadn't our pictures taken by ourselves since having kids, and she was sweet enough to let me sneak my girls in for the end of the shoot too!

Enough talking!  Here are my favorites!

I was already 7 1/2 months pregnant (see: round face), my girls weren't so interested in smiling at all, AND it rained most of our shoot (see: frizzy hair), but I love these memories that I have captured now.

Thank you Jess!!

Also - thought I'd add that she is totally willing to travel.  Something to keep in mind!!!

Surprise #2 - Date Night

For David's 2nd surprise I planned a fun date night.  We got a sitter & headed out to Tyler.  

After a yummy stop at one of our favorites - Chuy's - it was time for the real surprise!

A drive in movie!!!  Right before David's birthday I had just heard about this & knew it would be perfect!

It's just this huge open field the the white board (above) that you watch the movie on.  And they're current movies.  You can bring your lawn chairs, sit in the back of the truck, etc.  Since it was the beginning of March we chose to stay cozy in the car & listen through the radio!

We definitely want to go back!