It has seemed that for the last... well ... forever... all we have done is travel travel travel to either Lufkin or to Houston and this weekend, we STAYED HOME! What a wonderful thing! We didn't have to rush home on Friday... finish packing... get Joey fed and bathed and into his jam jams... and then loaded up in the car.. "did you remember to pack...?", load the dog, load the dog food... "Do we need to stop and get gas?" and then head off South or East only to arrive at 10:00 at night and then have an AWAKE toddler that we need to entertain for a couple of hours so that he finally crashes. :) Only to race back home again on Sunday to start the week all over again.
So... this weekend, we stayed home.
Oh yeah... the adorable hat in the picture above was knitted by my dear friend Amber of Ric Rac Baby... www.ricracbaby.com It was wonderful. Although I do confess to LOVING being in Lufkin and in Houston because it usually means I get to sleep in, take naps and drink good wine. But, this weekend, I got to get my nails and toes done (sans baby) and then we had some great friends over for dinner. They brought their kids and it was such fun. There were six kids and six adults and the kids all played so well together and the husbands all played well together (ha!) and of course... us wives had a blast. And I even found out that one of them is a sorority sister...how crazy is THAT?
But we had great steaks, good wine and well... it's just so nice to have some new friends up here. For me, I am such a social creature that to not have friends... well, it's just foreign to me. Jason is fine with it... he loves his friends but he is really rather solitary... he enjoys people too... and enjoys getting together but it's not central to his being... you know? For me, it's essential... and I can't explain why that is to him. He doesn't understand. (men are from mars, women from venus). But, I just had such a great night and everyone left fairly early because of the kids... and shoot, I was in bed by 9:30. :)
Last weekend, I realized that I have pictures of Joey (d'uh), I have pictures of Joey and I... Jason and Joey... Jason and I... but none of the three of us, professionally taken. So, my friend Meg had some pictures in her signature on the Nest... and I asked her who had taken them. As luck would have it,
Melissa Goldberg, had an opening today (Sunday) up in historic Grapevine and the timing (and lighting) could not have been better!
We were up and out the door by 7:30 am and headed to Grapevine to the railroad depot and they had just started to decorate for Christmas and it was perfect. It was cool but not too cold, light but not overly bright and Joe was in perfect spirits. As luck would also have it, I think that Melissa has a genius eye... she found some of the neatest spots for us to take pictures... and then we let Joe down to just be Joe and she captured his little mischevious comedian self doing what he does best... entertain.
There were wagons and train tracks, pumpkins and big wrapped presents. We laid in the grass, climbed under the wagon, cajoled, played and even tried bribery. :-} It was so much fun and I cannot WAIT to see the final product.
Afterwards... it was like 9:30 and we were all the way up in Grapevine... (which is about an hour away from our house)... what do we do now? We went to Bass Pro Shop... d'uh! ;) We wandered there and hoped to catch a glimpse of their Santa but he didn't arrive til Noon and so we looked at fish and a bunch of animals that used to be of the living persuasion... and I even got out of there without spending too much. ;)
We decided to go over to Grapevine mills and got inside when we decided that we just really weren't in a shopping mode... so we got a picture of Joey with Santa (there was no line) and we did a little bit of shopping and then loaded back up and headed for some lunch and then home.
We even had the chance to all take a nap... yay!... played, ate some dinner and now, little bits is asleep and we are going to watch some 24. :)
The only thing that was missing today was that I had hoped to get to church... we really need to find a church "home" here ... but we have to stay put long enough to enjoy them. One of these days... life will settle down. HA!
I think the best part of today was just that we got the chance to be a family.. do whatever we wanted and the "race" stopped for just a few minutes. :) Now, it starts back up again because it's Thanksgiving week, of course... but for now... I get to enjoy ... us. :)
