They're coming!

About this time of year, when the weather turns and it's cool, the leaves start to change, and I get my fall decorations out...I feel so excited!

THE HOLIDAYS are COMING!  Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, Valentines Day...

The long drought is over.  I can't wait to spend time baking, eating, visiting with family, planning for Christmas, holiday shopping, making costumes--okay not that, but the rest is good!  It is time to eat soup, start layering clothes again, maybe even wear socks.  I love fall!

Came, and went...

I wish I knew why good times pass by quickly and bad times linger.  The weeks have dragged on, but the weekends Justin comes home fly too fast!  He came late Friday night, and we had fun all weekend doing nothing special.

Saturday morning we slept in, got up and got word of a showing for the house (Hoooray!) so we hustled to clean up and get out.  I did the inside and Justin mowed the lawn.  Then we took the kids and went for ice cream, at 10:30 am.  Braums is such a great place!

After that we went to the pool, then came home and had afternoon naps.  At least, the grown ups did.  Saturday night Justin and I left Emma in charge--thanks to my sister in law Michelle's ingenious babysitting strategy--and we went out for a quick dinner.

Sunday was business as usual, church, lunch, more naps, and chicken tacos for dinner.  But somehow, just because he was home, everything was more fun.  I miss him teasing the kids, and me, or helping out around the house.  Telling the kids to stop fighting, or to get ready for bed.  It is...just how it should be.

Nate came into our room Sunday morning, and ran right back out shouting, "DADDY'S STILL HERE!!!"  Ahh, cute kid.  I thought the same thing!  This morning we got up early and I took him back to the airport.  And tonight when the kids are in bed I'll sigh.  It's just not the same without Dad!

Other Summer Affairs

A new fire station opened less than a mile from our house.  They had an open house for the public and we went to check it out.  We got a tour of the firehouse, got to see the dorm rooms and the kitchen and lounge area.  They had four fridges!  One for each team that works there.  Also a huge professional gas stove.  And a giant flat screen TV with 6-7 reclining chairs, complete with game systems for those dull nights.

They had the trucks all out and let people climb in and on them.   The kids had a great time climbing in and out of the cab and pretending to drive.  We even got to climb into the emergency medical truck and explore.  It was cool to see all the medical supplies tucked neatly into locked cupboards for a wild ride.

They had firemen all over to answer questions and pose for pictures.

Makes you feel proud, huh?

We all had a great time.

Starting with my little man...

We all dote on him, ESPECIALLY Justin, ahem, not to name names. He actually hates baths, despite the happy face. He hates to have his hair washed, because he doesn't like getting water in his eyes.

One of the things we did this summer is go to the movie theater at the mall for the summer movie camp movies.  This day the kids conned me into staying for lunch and letting them ride on the carousel.  They are getting so big!

Happy Promotion to me!

Justin has a tradition of giving me a gift when he gets promoted.  Last time I got to choose a pretty necklace from Tiffanys.  This time he let me pick out a new laptop!  I'm so excited!  This is the first time I have had my own computer.  It is sleek, fast, and new.  So I'm hoping to blog more, now that I don't have to fight for computer time or wait hours for our old dinosaurs to upload a photo.  As soon as I get my camera software on here, beware!  I have over 1000 pictures on my memory card!

Dang!

I had such great plans to do more before and after photos of my house--but now we are moving and I am overwhelmed with the lists of things to do.  Oh well.  Next time?

Justin accepted a position with Enterprise in southern California, so we are returning to one of the places we started.  I'm sooo sad to leave the good Texas people, and I'm trying to console myself with thoughts of cool ocean breezes.  Time to start over on getting settled!

Toddler Woes

Nate is such a toddler.

     Opinionated, stubborn, moody, mischievious, active, and clever.  I have more trouble with him because he is more certain of what he wants.  He has become a very picky eater--he will hardly eat any meat.  He loves cereal and any crackers, fruits, and snack foods.  He won't eat veggies.  What does a mother do about that?

     He loves to swim.  He has started telling me, with his best pout, "Mom!  House is boring!  I want to go to the pool!"

     Today I took away a cd he found in the car and he threw a little fit, crying and carrying on.  I sat down and snuggled him for a minute and he cried into my shoulder.  I asked, "Aw, what's wrong?" and he said, "I'm mad at mom!"  Then he seemed to realize who was snuggling him because he wiggled away and told me, "Mom! You're a bad boy!"

     He learned last week to climb out of his bed, and I had a fleeting glimpse of the rest of my life when I won't be swarmed with kids every minute.  I'm not ready to put him in a big boy bed, but he is almost three!

     He gets into the pantry every day and helps himself to whatever he needs, then usually brings his snack to the couch and makes a mess there.

     He and Justin have slow motion boxing matches at church, and Justin laughs when Nate hits too hard.  I don't think it's so funny!  But you have to see Nate fall over into my lap in slowmo, it makes us all irreverent!  I'll have to record him saying his name when we ask, "Nathan James Wisonbee."