TTT: Season 3, Episode 47 and 48

1. Tis true. I skipped and entire week of Three Thought Thursday. (gasp.) Granted, last Thursday was Thanksgiving. And we were in Lubbock. I'll be real honest...I wasn't really concerned much with busting out the computer to do a blog post while we were there. I was too busy chatting with family and packing on a few pounds to take home with me. So what would I have written about if I had done last week's post? I'm not even sure. I have a hard enough time thinking back over one week, let alone, two. It most likely would have involved getting lots of last minute orders sent out, trying to pack for our trip, road trips with sixteen (now seventeen) month olds, etc. Oh, there was a trip to see the last Twilight movie somewhere in there too. And with my dear, devoted hubby! I mean, really...how many gals can say that their husband agreed to go see a Twilight movie just his wife wouldn't have to go alone? He's the best. So yeah, two weeks ago was a large conglomeration of real life. Now on to our trip!

2. Thanksgiving 2012 was wonderful! We had a great time in Lubbock. It's always nice to go back; something about driving past those feed-lots on the outskirts of town just says "home." Not the curled-up-with-a-book-under-a-blanket-by-the-fireplace kind of home. Just the yep-this-is-west-Texas-and-that-scent-smells-familiar kind of home. As always, Miss Lora was such a wonderful host. The last time we went to Lubbock, Grant was just six months old so I was still getting up quite a bit throughout the night and honestly sleeping less than I did at home. But this time around, with Grant at sixteen months and sleeping like a champ, going to Lubbock finally felt like a little bit of a vacation for me. Miss Lora makes visits to her house so enjoyable with lots of food, comfort and care, and football watching. That is, football watching curled up under a blanket by the fireplace. 'Cause in Lubbock you can actually use your fireplace unlike Houston where it's almost always never necessary. The boys spent hours running around with the soccer ball in G-ma's backyard. The also spent a fun-filled night going on the Polar Express train ride with G-ma and Papa Jeep. Throughout the four days that we were there, we had plenty of time to catch up with all of Mark's cousins and aunts and uncles, as well as our good friends, Ben and Erin. Plus, we got to spend a morning with just our little family running around on campus--a place we've missed seeing so much. Sure, the eighteen plus hours spent in the car are pretty miserable, but they're well worth it. (And a special thanks to Brian and Cristi for letting us late-night crash at their house on the way there and back!)

3. But back to reality. Ugh. The week after a road trip is never fun. The boys have done just fine and fallen right back in to sync with normal life. It's me who is feeling a little out of control. And I'm most at fault. Because as soon as we got home and half the neighbors on our street already had their Christmas lights up, I immediately got the itch to kick in to full-on Christmas extravaganza mode. The tree is up, the mantle is decorated, all the knick-knacks are on display. And outside, the front door is done but we still have all the lights to go. In the meantime, they're spread out all over our entry way and dining room in various piles of what-goes-where. And upstairs, there are still piles of clothes that never quite made it through the bi-annual transfer of wardrobes. That's what gives me anxiety. Sure, most of my life is organized chaos, but all of this would be disorganized chaos. Can't we just arrive home from our trip and walk in to the pages of a magazine? On a positive note, the boys have been just over the moon excited with all of the Christmas decor making it's grand appearance. And they've been more than happy to take in a viewing or two of their favorite Christmas cartoons so that I can get things done. Now back to decking the halls...hopefully by this time next week the hot mess will be a done deal!

Hittin' the road with this handsome fella! (I guess he's saving that little piece of popcorn for later.)

New Spidey slippers from G-ma

Watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with G-ma on Aunt Cristi's iPad 

Does this not look exactly like Rudy!?! It's Mark.

We LOVED getting to see Uncle Dave!!! In fact, he came over to Miss Lora's three different times to spend time with us. And just as always, the boys took advantage of every single minute. Dave is a little kid magnet. They love him. 

Dada and his three babes.

G-ma and the boys headed to the Polar Express!

Papa Jeep is ready to go too!

Playing soccer in the backyard with Uncle Dave...one happy baby!

Somehow Dave managed to get them to take this adorable picture...they definitely would not have been this compliant if I was the photographer.

While we were on campus we took a bunch of pictures of our little family. Many of them turned out great! I love this one with my babies.

And this of Rudy and Mark is just precious.

TTT: Season 3, Episode 20

1. We are at the beach! Ahhhhhhh. There's no place quite like it, I tell ya. And while sleeping in the same room as my three pups, and thus waking way more often in the middle of the night...like every time one of them squeals or squirms...is not ideal, I really have nothing at all to complain about right now. It's all good and we're having a blast. The boys love the ocean. Sure, they're slightly...okay, very...hesitant toward going out too far into the water. But they love the sand. And the shells. And the tiny little holes the crabs make. The excitement of the beach house. The awesome pool. Watching Looney Tunes on Uncle Dave's computer. It's great. So much fun to see these little guys experience the ocean. And so nice for me to have full time help for five days from three other adults! And of course, nice conversations, good food, and reliving old memories with my parents and brother. Okay, so maybe I do have one complaint. My husband isn't here. And nothing is quite as good without him. He's back at home working. And going through all kinds of hell right now. Really, really, really wish he was here. Dada needs a vacation too! And I wish my other brothers and their wives and kiddos were here as well. But I digress...it's been a fantastic vacation. And we're hoping and praying for a smooth ride home!

2. Though it already seems like a long time ago, my Mother's Day was fantastic! Let me just say that my husband went way over and beyond. First, he surprised me in San Antonio by telling me that on Friday, a cleaning service would be coming to the house to deep clean for me. He knows it's been something I've been wanting to do for such a long time. And I've often thrown out "well, maybe this month I'll splurge with a little bit of the money I made through the shop and get the house cleaned"  but never pulled the trigger. So he just went for it for me. And I'm so thankful he did! The house looked awesome when all was said and done and I didn't have to lift a finger. But that was only half of my Mother's Day surprise. On Sunday morning I slept in a bit before getting up and getting ready for mass. After mass, we went over to my parent's house for brunch made by Mark and my dad. And while we waited for them to finish the cooking, my second surprise was revealed: two white rocking chairs for my front porch!!! I've dreamed of having rocking chairs on my porch since I was little. Like since I imagined my house and drew pictures of it with crayons. Yet another thing I've never been able to pull the trigger on. Just can't justify it! But Mark has heard me mention wanting white wooden rocking chairs for roughly eight years now. And I suppose he just decided that if he was going to over-spend on Mother's Day, he might as well go all in and get me the much coveted chairs on top of the house cleaning. So after brunch we headed home and I took an awesome two hour nap. Followed by a bowl of chicken pot pie soup from Jason's Deli. Awesome Mother's Day! And best of all, it was spent with all four (five, including my dad!) of my guys. And my own wonderful Mama too! I know that only one woman in the world can have The World's Best Husband. So glad that it's me! And who can believe my luck...I've also got the world's best dad too! Many thanks to him for helping out Mark with the rocking chair surprise.

3. Since not much is going on beyond beach, beach, and more beach, I'll cut straight to the photos! More to come when we get home of our awesome vacation.

With my Mama and my babes...the very reasons we celebrate Mother's Day!

A great family pic in my new rocking chairs! Can you tell I was excited!?!

I mentioned last week that I was sewing like a crazy woman last week while Mark was in San Antonio. After I returned on Friday night, the boys went to bed really easily and so I had a few hours to get in a very productive work night. Lots of chevron orders!

On the road to South Padre...when you pass a sign that informs you that the next town is twenty-five miles away and your children are wailing out claims like "It's coming out! It's coming out! It's coming out!" you just have to abandon all hopes of good form and pull over. Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures! And obviously Rudy hasn't mastered the art of just pulling down the front portion of his shorts. He went for the full buns.

Grant's very first feel of the ocean. It's a wonderful place, my friend!

Kolbe was so fascinated by the wind-blown sand dunes and their "zebra stripes"

Making sand stew!

So yes, my kids have been waking up way to early for this to be vacation, but hey, at least I get to witness this every morning!

Three brothers playing on the beach!

And don't you know that's some hard sleep! Play hard, sleep hard.