Saturday, May 12, 2012

24

 After 16+ months, Michael and I were able to get away Just The Two of Us - for 24 hours! No mothers, grandmothers, dishes, or cleaning to tend to. And no, not even our sweet baby girl, Lyla. A couple of hours leading up to our Stay-cation in downtown Austin I started feeling a little sadness and guilt creep in. But after a happy drop off, we piled in the car and headed down the road to 24 hours of bliss. Already in my swimsuit, we headed straight for the pool upon check in to our hotel. We spent the next bit laying by the pool listening to tunes and sipping on a mango margarita. Ahhh - so sweet! After grabbing a quick bite for dinner we got ready for the main attraction of the night - seeing Roger Waters perform The Wall! (You know - from Pink Floyd) We took a pedi-cab through downtown Austin and arrived at the performance hall within 15 mins. We were so thankful to not have to deal with parking!  
  
The concert was incredible! Roger Waters was a brilliant performer and the quality and sound of his voice was soooo good! It was the best production I've seen - the graphics and visuals, set designs, lights, music - Everything! We had such a great time. After the concert we had the pedi-cab drop us off in the bar district so we could take advantage of a little night life. We decided to check out the famous Stubbs and stumbled onto another great show! 'He's my Brother, She's my Sister' was the name of the band - and they were so fun to watch. We talked with a few of the band members after the show, who were so gracious, and then headed on down the road to have a drink at a rooftop bar. For one night we were total rock stars :) We even stayed up till 2am - well past our bedtime these days. The vacation continued well into the late morning allowing us to slowly rise out of bed around 10:30am. We grabbed some Starbucks and then wrapped up our Get-Away with a tasty lunch outside at Hula Hut. We arrived home to learn that Lyla had been a perfect angel the whole time we were gone - she had had such a fun time playing with the neighbors kiddos and with her babysitters. What a relief to know that we are able to get away from time to time and she won't just fall apart!

The last three to four weeks have been especially wonderful! We've had a lot of good news and alot of things go our way. We sold my Passat last month and were able to use that money to pay off a bunch of debt and fund our trip to Colorado this summer. Lyla will finally get to meet her other Grandpa(my dad) and I just can't wait! I also can't wait to get to the mountains and experience some of the nature out there and spend time with my sister and nephews.  Michael and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary traveling around Texas and we had a fun and busy Easter weekend.  To see some pictures of the last several weeks, just click on this link:

Lyla will be 17 months in just a few weeks. Since she turned a year old time just seems to be flying past me. She's running all over the place and already has lots of words. She loves to be outside and often points out the flowers, birds, airplanes and doggies of course. Lyla also loves her jewelry - and is so careful to keep up with each piece. One of her new favorite "games" is to get in Gigi's wheelchair and crash into Ditty. She thinks it's hilarious!

Michael is doing really well. He's been taking Brazilian Jijitsu for the past 3 months and loving it! An attacker doesn't stand a chance against him :) After class he trys to show off his moves by having me stand in as his competitor - but I can't get past the smelly sweat factor. Too sticky for me! He's also been enjoying working out in the yard. He's worked so hard the past few months transplanting boxwoods, jackhammering through limestone rock, taking out sod, and planting plants. The yard has gone through a total transformation and looks fantastic!

I've been serving at our church's nursery for the past several months just helping to check in the little ones. It's been a great way for me to meet new people, give back, and do something for myself outside of the house. I've also been getting a little crafty this year. I knitted my first scarf, planted an herb garden, and now I'm working on making a Growth Chart for Lyla.

Ginger and Ditty are doing better than ever. They've had fun helping us with the landscape planning and buying flowers. Ditty was even out in her wheelchair today pruning the boxwoods! But their greatest joy is just watching Lyla learn new things every day.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms out there! I hope you feel loved, appreciated, and honored for all you give of yourselves each and every day! Above all, I hope you get to spend time doing at least one thing you really enjoy today.

Love you all and God Bless!


Saturday, January 7, 2012

Post Holiday Recovery and Reflections

Phew! The last 3 - 4 months have been jam packed full of events and activities. I found myself immobilized a few days ago because I actually had nothing major to plan.    I didn't know what to do with myself.  And then I had to convince myself that it was quite okay if I decided that I needed(or wanted) to take a nap.  I'm such a planner that it feels almost uncomfortable if I don't have anything major coming up to plan for. Which is why I've added "Rest and relax without feeling guilty" to my New Years Resolutions list, again :) 
So what has taken so much of my attention the last several months that I couldn't possibly have had time to update our blog? Here's the rundown:
Lyla's Baby Dedication was held in late October at our home church. We had a small group of family and friends surround us in prayer as we carved out a special time to dedicate Lyla to the Lord. Following the ceremony, we had a reception at our home to celebrate the occasion, complete with all the necessary party treats: Petit fours, punch, Ditty's famous chicken salad, pimento cheese sandwiches, and more! It was such a great day.

It was mid-October when we had to say goodbye to our beloved family dog, Molly.  As some of you know, she had a lung tumor and the doctors thought that the cancer had also spread to her abdomen.  We spent several months trying to make her comfortable by draining her abdomen of fluid, but eventually it just became clear that it was her time to go.  We were so sad to have to put her down, but we knew that it was the right choice for her.  We still miss her very much!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Pomeroys in Dallas this past November.  My Aunt Sonia and Uncle Thomas hosted our family dinner this year.  It was so good to see them and the rest of the family that could attend.  Brought me back to old times.  
The screening of 'An Ordinary Family' - both here at the Austin Film Festival and all over the country! Michael was able to attend the festival here locally and also the one in Fort Worth.

Lyla's 1st Birthday Party was a blast! Though I tried to keep it fairly simple,  I still somehow managed to work non-stop on her party the two days leading up to it.  Most of my time was spent baking and decorating her first birthday cake - and it turned out fabulously!  In addition to her own little smash cake, I made a vanilla peppermint cake cut out in the shape of the number 1.  I decorated it with a kind of pink winter wonderland theme going on - complete with crushed peppermints and edible snowflakes.  Can you tell I'm proud of myself :)  For a non-baker, I sure kicked this cake's butt!  And of course, a month prior to her party I baked a practice cake so I could work out all the kinks and get it just perfect, much to my family's delight!  So anyways, we're supposed to be talking about Lyla right? :)  She was such a little lady as she gingerly licked the frosting off her cake a finger at a time.  And after a handful of licks she was "all done."  Lyla had so much fun playing with all the kiddos at her party and interacting with all the people.  But more than anything, I think she loved her giant Happy Birthday balloon!  She still points to it when we go downstairs first thing in the morning. 

Lyla and I have been spending a few days every week either going to the library for Story Time or to meet up with her playgroup.  She loves getting out and playing with the other tots!  And now she's really on the move.  Just a few nights ago she started crawling up the stairs - she only got to the second stair before I caught her, thankfully, and therefore the fourth and final baby gate will be going up.  She's standing, dancing, cruising and climbing all over things.  As she moves about, Lyla loves to point to various objects and say,"This?"  Oh - what fun she's having!  So much to see and learn about!

Christmas this year at our house was absolutely wonderful!  We had a houseful of Pomeroys and Kistners - and it was great!  We celebrated Christmas with good food, family movie time, board games, an amazing program held at our church, hanging out by the fire, and a little nog.  It was perfect!  Michael and I even conquered cooking our first turkey together - with a few overseeing chefs, thank goodness!  Did you know that you have to wash the turkey before cooking it?!  Thanks to my Aunt Lyn and stepdad, Doran, we had a tasty and CLEAN turkey.  We might also have had a few surprise goodie bags in there had we not had a few experts in the kitchen. LOL!


We brought the New Year in with our neighbors by having a block party this year.  Everyone was out on our cul de sac cooking up burgers, dogs, and other goodies.  Even Ditty and Ginger made it out to this affair.  We all had so much fun getting to better know everyone - we even made it to midnight for the New Years Eve toast!  

Speaking of the new year...I am filled with hope and curiosity as I ponder what it holds for us.  2011 was a doozy of a year.  Infact, I don't think I've ever had a more difficult year in my adult life.  This year has no doubt tested my patience, endurance, ability to "let it go," and setting good healthy boundaries.  Ironically enough, it's also been a year of great love, enduring love, learning, grace, growth, and acceptance.  In a year's time, we've expanded our little family to include an amazing baby girl and a mother and grandmother.  Imagine four generations in one household!  Now - don't ever entertain that thought again!  Just kidding :)  For all of it's hardships, it has certainly been a blessing in Michael and I's lives.  We see the work that God is doing in our home and in our own personal lives.  I just hope He's done with the lessons soon! :)  We hope you all had a wonderful holdiay with your families!  Happy New Year to you and God bless!