First up, Josh got to come home early on Friday and so I used that opportunity to get in my long run then instead of waiting until Saturday morning.

My view on the way home

Josh did his long run Saturday morning as usual, and as usual, when he came home, we were all starving. So we decided (as did half of Houston) to go outside for a meal. Unfortunately the food truck we were trying to track down had generator issues and so we drove around until we found another truck we like (with a parking lot that had actual empty parking spaces). Houston has a crazy amount of incredibly wonderful food trucks right now and if I had my way, I’d eat at one every meal for a week and not get tired of them.

This weekend’s fare was from StickIt Truck

Then we went by Petite Sweets (not a food truck, but still delicious) and picked up dessert for a little sweet picnic in the park

What baby doesn’t love a macaroon?

Although these days she’s not such a baby anymore

Big girl was in heaven with lots of sticks

And trees to bang them against

Bean was happy to just climb in and out (and in and out and in and out) of the stroller

We capped off the evening with a trip to the bookstore. For a little light reading, you know.

Marion loves the show, Dinosaur Train. Loves it. She can play Dinosaur Train with all her babies for hours and has an impressive vocabulary of almost unpronounceable dinosaur names. As well as being convinced she’s nocturnal, but well, that’s the topic of another post.

If you’re at all familiar with Dinosaur Train, than you know the role of Mr Conductor and the tickets. Which always leaves me amazed at why do they even have tickets on this train when certainly they aren’t buying them because none of these dinosaurs have jobs and certainly no pockets to carry change in. But I guess without the tickets Mr Conductor couldn’t show off his Troodon claw. Can you tell I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing this?

I digress.

So Marion often plays games with her babies that involve them needing tickets. She’ll ask them if they have their tickets, she’ll say she has the tickets, she sees if we have tickets, etc. When sh asks if we have the tickets, we always tell her no, we don’t have them, maybe go look in the playroom. Essentially, just brush her off because man, the ticket talk can go on all day.

Today though, I was feeling like being super involved mom, so when she asked me if I had the tickets, I told her “I do have the tickets!” After all, I could spare 30 second to go grab three sheets of note paper. She was shocked. I said, let me go look in my special ticket drawer (the buffet drawer if you must know) and I’ll get the tickets out. I was tearing the sheets off the note cube and said, “Hey look, I’m like Mr Conductor” and she said, “You sure are mom! This is so exciting!”

I handed her the “tickets” and she said, “Thanks mama!” and I started to walk off, I was mom of the year, you better believe it. She stood there, inspecting the tickets more closely.

“Mom,” she said, “I really need something more amazing.”

And that folks, is why you have kids. They keep you humble.

Whether you want it or not.

So yeah, I’m not so good with the resolutions, which you know if you’ve followed this blog for any length of time.

In 2011, I actually did it though. I had a resolution I never posted on here, but it was to lose 40 lbs. I also had run my first half marathon and knit myself a sweater on the list too. Well, and there was the whole bake my way through a bread cookbook resolution, but not keeping that one is probably the reason I was able to keep the weight loss resolution!

I didn’t lose 40 pounds, but I did lose 30! I’ll take it! And I ran a half marathon as well, beating my previous time by 33 minutes! That means I’m faster now at 33, married and with two kiddos than I was when I was 26, single and childless. Pretty sweet!

The sweater, well, that mostly happened. Technically, the sweater is supposed to have a shawl collar but no one would know that unless I told them. I figured the way it was, I could wear it out in public and not look homeless, so I’ll count that as a resolution met!

Visual proof I accomplished something vaguely sweaterish.

And I don’t have any real “before” pictures, so here’s the best I can show

Thanksgiving, 2010

Thanksgiving, 2011

So what does 2012 look like for me? Well I’ve got a list of 12 things (of course)

1. Run 12 races in 12 months (one race a month, at least.)
2. Qualify for Half Fanatics
3. Lose another 24 pounds
4. Knit one Christmas gift a month. So not saving 12 Christmas gifts until December 15th. Ahem.
5. Spend less than $1000 at Target January through October (breaks down to $100 a month.)
6. Run 720 miles next year, averaging 60 a month, or roughly 15 a week. (I ran 559.05 in 2011)
7. PR in all my distances. I’m still tossing around what I want to aim for, but this resolution will do for now.
8. Develop and deepen my at home yoga practice. This is pretty vague and vague resolutions are usually the first to go, but I’m still not exactly sure what I’m looking for in an at home yoga practice, so I have to put some more thought into it to get it more concrete and precise.
9. Do my first triathlon
10. Swim 1500 yards continuous
11. Knit myself another sweater, this time, not waiting until December 27th to start it.
12. Learn to spin at least on a drop spindle. Yes, that’s right, another hobby

Perhaps I’ll start with just finishing my sweater…

{january – matching family socks}

{february – sweet love}

{march – bluebonnet girls}

{april – strawberry picking}

{may – beach babies}

{june – never too young to knit}

{july – misses america}

{august – traveling girls}

{september – 1 & 3 }

{october – prettiest pumpkins in the patch}

{november – thankful}

{december – 13.1 miles inspired by 4 little feet}

2010 in review
2009 in review
2008 in review

I will laugh when the dog licks my face
I will declare oatmeal to be “my favorite” even though I eat it every morning
I will smile like it’s going to break my face every time I see someone I love walk in the room
I will laugh at the same joke I’ve heard a thousand times
I will think a weed is the most beautiful flower in the world and carefully hold it in my grubby fist
I will say thank you for a drink of water
I will close my eyes and laugh for joy when the world is still there when I open them back up
I will hold hands when I walk down the stairs
I will say “I love you, you’re my favorite” for no reason
I will tell everyone I meet it’s almost my birthday and smile shyly when they say “happy birthday, what a big girl!” back to me
I will look at the world with joy and innocence through my child’s eyes

I will remember that over 3,000 children lost a parent on this day, ten years ago
I will remember the sadness and bleakness of that day and look at this day, ten years later, and fill it will all the joy and love that it can hold and be thankful
I will hug and hold my children and tell them that sometimes the world isn’t sunshine and rainbows but that as long as it is up to me, I will hold the umbrella over their heads when it rains and make sure that they have the cutest rain boots I can find for when stormy weather comes
I will teach them to pray in the words of St Francis “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light.”

I will not, however, cry because my sippy cup was the wrong color, I can promise you that.

That pretty much sums it up

Our Internet is down. Again. So until it’s fixed, blog posts will be few and far between. Which is sad because I actually have things to blog about now!

{ 2003 }

I never moved much beyond that, never thinking about how subsiding on mac and cheese and chicken nuggets wouldn’t exactly pay the bills (although I guess it would save on grocery bills.) Not really thinking about how, while yes, it would be cool to honeymoon on our stint in the Peace Corps, that’s not exactly a long term career goal and doesn’t come with much of a 401K. It never really occurred to me that perhaps my dream of spending a year following the Dave Matthews Band around wouldn’t work so well with a toddler and a pregnant wife in tow.

{ 2004 }

In short, I never really thought that perhaps my perfect partner, my Prince Charming, shouldn’t look exactly like me. Believe it or not, it’s not fun to be agreed with all the time. And how can you grow if you’re never pushed beyond what you’re comfortable with, urged to try new things, to step outside of your box, stretch your limits, eat mushrooms and unidentifiable dark meat from the street vendors in Bangkok.

{ 2005 }

I’m thankful that dreams change. That as we become older (and hopefully wiser) that our dreams and our realities become more in sync, more attainable, less ethereal and more sustainable. That our dreams don’t become what we think we want, but rather, they become exactly what we need.

{ 2006 }

I hate (and you know this about me) idioms and isms and cheery little words that are supposed to comfort you but instead make me kind of want to punch the speaker in the throat. But, those little cheery sayings have stuck around for a while because guess what, sometimes, they’re true. And sometimes, you really find what you’re looking for when you stop looking for it.

{ 2007 }

Enter you, not my Prince Charming, not my Fabio or Dream Man or any other figment of imagination like that, but rather, my husband, my best friend, my “so perfect for me because I didn’t even know I was looking for you.”

{ 2008 }

Where I’m impulsive and flighty, you’re steadfast and dependable. Where I’m spendy and caught up in the moment, you’re saving and planning and reminding me that we have years and years together, not just this minute. When I’m dark and sad and don’t believe that I’m worth it, you remind that I am, because you’ve never loved anything worthless and you believe in me.

{ 2009 }

You trust me. With your heart, our money, and our girls. You believe I’m the best investment you’ve ever made. And as much as it is an overused Hallmark cliche, you make me want to be a better person.

{ 2010 }

I’m so thankful I stopped looking. I’m so thankful that you found me. I’m so thankful that five years ago, you made all my dreams come true, dreams that I was scared to have, and that now, we have our dreams, our life together. And as much as I love looking back on our five years together, I look forward even more to tomorrow, to five years and one day, to five years from now, to fifty years together.

{ 2011 }

“I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?”

“I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go.”

Song of Songs 3:1-4

For starters, I had grand ambitions (always) of making my own Easter skirt this year. Which, I actually did! And before 2 a.m. Easter morning to boot!

And once again, we played around with our travel times. This time, we left after Marion got out of school on Thursday afternoon. It worked out pretty much perfectly, seeing as how she passed out as soon as we hit the highway.

We also got to see sunset across the bayous

It also meant we were all well rested for the festivities on Friday!

Festivities that included a whole bunch of little kiddos

Grandparents and great-grandparents holding babies

Resurrection Buns

And lots of really pretty eggs!

Of course, Easter egg hunting as well

Seven kids all kinda sorta looking at the camera (or at least in the same general direction, even if it wasn’t at my camera)- score!

Josh hunted (and found) a pretty sweet tan line from a 40 mile bike ride on the Natchez Trace

Apparently the Easter bunny hunted Eliza

And found her!

We were able to spend Saturday afternoon with Mamaw, which is always such a treat

Eliza is obsessed with sticking her fingers in people’s mouths now; Mamaw is no exception

Easter morning prep

Marion got a new bunny friend

A friend she immediately smothered with love

Eliza wasn’t left out (but since she doesn’t exactly get the idea of holidays now, mama gets some leeway on completion dates)

My sweet girls

Daddy and his girls

A rare picture of me with my babies (and proof my skirt was finished!)

Marion and Belle are up to absolutely no good as we got the house ready for John Paul’s baptism celebration

My little string Bean

Amanda and her butter Bean (John Paul is four months younger than Eliza and outweighs her already. I see him paying for his mama & daddy’s retirement with football in his future!)

And a hysterical series of pictures that speak for themselves

And thanks to my brother Al for the family picture (these are rarer than even the elusive mama & babies picture)

WIDE awake at 5 a.m. and ready for the trip back

And anyone that knows me knows a road trip is not complete without a stop at Waffle House! Which, by the way, this trip was tame in comparison to others. We only made one stop by the House. I think we set a record over Christmas with eating three meals in a row at the welcoming (if a wee bit sticky) booths of the House.

My kids are such road trip pros and (usually) such good sports about it

Eliza is seven months old and this was her third road trip of 8+ hours

I’m a road warrior!

And finally home, to a welcome from our garden!

Or rather, it’s the Internet.

Lack of blogging lately is due to our still ongoing internet issues which apparently are unsolvable due to their tech line keeping Pacific Time hours and not opening until 10 a.m. Which means that I have about five minutes a day in which the playroom (also home of all technical stuff) is not occupied by either a sleeping baby or a playing toddler. Neither scenario is good for trying to hold a tech oriented conversation.

Anyway, hopefully one day soon we’ll return to the land of wi fi and I’ll be back to our normal schedule of sporadic blogging. In the meantime, pray my thumbs don’t fall off from iPhone typing and enjoy this new family picture from Easter Sunday!