Sand!

6/28/2012

Nat's been home from Mother's Day Out all week -- with hurt fingers, a runny nose, and a cranky disposition (not that I blame her). What's the best cure for crankiness? Sand, of course. It's her first sand box (really a small plastic pool), newly set up today.

She might have slept in it, had I not finally dragged her out, sweaty and screaming (her, not me), after almost an hour.

6/28/2012

6/28/2012

Party Girl

6/23/2012

Natalie got some fingers smashed pretty badly over the weekend and turned out to be a real trooper. That's all I can say. She has a high pain tolerance and a desire to go back to the party, even after losing a few fingernails.

Out Front

6/21/2012

We spend a lot of time in the front yard, partly because the back yard is still a mess, but mainly because we're front-porch people. Or I am. It's how I've met a few neighbors and their dogs. Sitting on the front step makes the world seem a little smaller.  

Photo by Megan. 6/17/2012

V-Day at Camp

6/16/2012

Megan was disappointed that it was "just" me picking her up at camp. She'd really missed Natalie and wanted to show her off to her cabinmates. (Nat had a fever the day before V-Day -- though Aaron seemed to suspect I'd put the thermometer on a heating pad so I could make the four-hour drive each way without the baby). 


I think Aaron missed visiting camp (the same camp he went to decades ago). Me, though, I enjoyed the baby-less ride there and the one-on-one time with Megan on the way back. And Aaron and Natalie had a great dinner waiting for us, with hugs all around. I sure was happy to get that girl home, if only for a while.

Megan was a Flamingo 6/16/2012

Cheese Fries, Again

6/15/2012

Aaron had to work out of town for more than a week. Natalie was thrilled to get him back. Here we are at Snuffer's again.

Wylie Weekend

Three generations, with lake hair. 6/8/2012

It happens every year at Lake Travis, even if Lake Travis has almost dried up because of drought: the annual cousins' weekend that started with my grandmother's and great-aunt's generation. Our Austin-area cousins, the Henrys, host us at their family cabins on the lake. It's a lot of work for them, and it's often hot. But there's water! And great food! And many cute little cousins running around, and a few dogs. This is the stuff family memories and traditions are made of. Thanks, Henrys, for another great reunion.

Swimming at the YMCA

6/24/2012

Copying Her Sister

6/2/2012

Amid packing for camp, Megan lay down on the breakfast-room floor. Natalie came and joined her. Glad my camera was nearby. (If Megan looks long, it's because she is. She grew 3 inches last year and is 5'6", about a half inch shy of my height.)

Peek

5/31/2012

Stages of Teen Room Cleaning

Denial:

5/25/2012

Wishing it would clean itself:

5/27/2012

Mournful acceptance: 

5/27/2012

Remembering what the carpet looks like:

5/28/2012

Enjoyment: 

5/28/2012

Friday Nights

5/25/2012

We've gone to Snuffer's in Addison for a few Fridays now. It's therapeutic for us to get OUT of the house and be around grown-ups (a number of them appearing to be doing the same thing we are -- getting out of the house and sort of pretending it's during the days before they had kids, even though the little darlings are sitting right there beside them, kicking the wooden booth and spilling Coke in their cheese fries, or dipping cheese fries in their Coke). Snuffer's is loud (but not too loud) and just not-fancy enough that we don't get dirty looks when our kid leaves a greasy hand print on the window or lets out a yelp now and then.

New Cousin, New Nephew

5/24/2012, Aaron and baby Cowan a day after he was born

Here's Aaron with our new nephew, baby Cowan. He's adorable. And even though he looks tiny here, he was almost 9 pounds.

First Teacher, First "School"

Natalie had a great year at Children's Day Out. She went two days a week. At first, she was one of two kids in the baby room, so she had one teacher, Miss Carmen. After Christmas, a few other babies joined their class, and Miss Cathy came to help. Nat enjoys them both but seems especially possessive of Miss Carmen. We love her little school.

Miss Carmen and Miss Cathy with their little charge, 5/24/2012

Sunshine and Water

5/23/2012

Some Mother's Day Photos

5/11/2012

5/11/2012

5/11/2012

5/11/2012

5/11/2012

5/11/2012

Gardening

5/1/2012

Piano Teachers

When we moved from Wichita Falls to Dallas, we were rally sad to leave Megan's piano teacher behind. After some work, we found a teacher in Dallas that got Megan through the school year without her quitting piano. It'd be easy to quit piano in seventh grade, after a move. But she didn't. I'm grateful to her last year's teacher for that.

Then this year, Megan began studying with a teacher referred by a friend. It's been a perfect fit and has made everything just that much better. Megan has grown tremendously in her piano abilities -- and in her practicing. I'm proud of her and so happy she has a great piano teacher in her life.

4/28/2012 Spring Recital

5/20/2012 Megan and her teacher
at the ensemble recital

At the Flying Saucer

Aaron used to work here.

4/28/2012

Megan Got Braces

But she wouldn't smile.

4/25/2012

Stealing the Baby's Bottle

4/24/2012

New Freedom

Natalie started walking pretty much on the day after she turned one. By early April, she was enjoying her new-found freedom, especially outdoors, where crash landings are softened by soil and grass.

Here, it looks like she's chasing the cat with a shovel. She isn't. She'd toddled across the lawn to her dad's gardening area. She picked up the spade and, enthralled, came walking it across the lawn. She did a few digging maneuvers, making it clear she's been watching Aaron in the garden. She was really proud of herself. And the cat just happened to saunter across as I snapped the photo (though he's no dummy, getting away from a spade-wielding baby who takes pride in pulling his tail).

4/10/2012

And here, she has climbed up into this chair on her own.

4/17/2012

Pink on the Porch

4/8/2012

At the Park

4/1/2012

I went out of town. For a week.

Here are some of my writing-retreat friends debating the wine purchase, or getting off topic in some way. We'd landed in Minnesota on a Sunday and had to drive to Wisconsin for wine, since Minnesota has some serious blue laws and we were not going to have tea for our opening toast.

3/25/2012

Here was the lovely room I shared with my friend, Miriam, at The Anderson Center:

3/31/2012

Aaron did a great job taking care of Natalie. He had some daytime help from my mom, his sister and Megan, but I'm pretty sure he got up with the baby once every night. Natalie did just fine. Megan made it to all her piano lessons and did her homework. And Aaron was really tired and happy when I returned.

Aaron's March Madness

He did get to watch some basketball.

3/22/2012

3/24/2012

Backyard Sunday

3/14/2012

Megan is studying on her towel. The dog is not dead, just lounging. Aaron is creating a little vegetable garden, his second in the backyard. Natalie is napping indoors. I love this kind of Sunday.

When we moved into this house in August, the backyard was filled with trees -- a huge hackberry and an unhealthy number of crepe myrtles. There was no grass. We had the trees cleared. Then Aaron planted winter rye just so we'd have something green back there for a while.

At this writing (in June), it's pretty brown in the back (with the exception of the awesome little gardens). We're pondering what kind of grass to plant during this drought. Buffalo grass? Hmm.

Spring Break

We went to Florida for Spring Break. Natalie was kind of grumpy and sick-ish for much of it, but she enjoyed the sand and the water and extended family -- though not the plane ride, at least not the part of the plane ride where she had to stay in her car seat. Oh, that would be all of it. Her sister helped avert a huge airplane baby melt-down by distracting Natalie with her phone, usually off-limits to babyfolk, and other antics.

I was too tired (Natalie didn't sleep much on vacation) to take photos. Natalie's Uncle Joe took all of these except the bottom one.

3/2012 Squirming. (Photo by Uncle Joe)

3/2012 Swimming sisters. (Photo by Uncle Joe)

3/2012 So typical of Megan. (Photo by Uncle Joe)

3/14/2012 at The Outlet, our favorite breakfast spot