Roadtrippin'

We have begun what I like to think of as an EPIC road trip. Three weeks driving from Texas to Colorado to California to Arizona and back home. We plan to make full use of our National Park pass, see family and friends, and have ALOT of family time in the car. And maybe take some great pictures, see some beautiful sights. 

First leg: Austin to Palo Duro Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon to Conifer. Conifer to Boulder.

We decided to break up our trip, and for twelve bucks w/ our state park pass we got to wake up in Palo Duro Canyon. Thankfully, summer in Texas has not heated up as much as on past years, so we drove in to the canyon wondering if there would be rain and grateful for cooler temperatures (of, you know, 90!). The fact that we have gotton more rain this year was evident, and it is a greener, less dry place than when we stopped here three years ago.  We drove through the canyon a bit, found coffee at a lovely local coffee shop on downtown Canyon, TX, and then were on our way.  We drove in to our friends' place west of Denver, just in time to hang out with old friends from college- just us and our fifteen kids ranging in ages from 20 months to 13 years old!  Love that we can catch up as families! Definitely kicking myself for not getting a picture. We are loving being in Colorado- blue skies,  sunshine, and I got cold last night. What a luxury! 

First Day of Summer

First day of summer. Naomi had her first day of Spanish camp at school.  Micah went nervously to VBS on his own, and came home singing songs. Then a trip to the library to have piles of books around. In fact, Naomi couldn't put hers down even through dinner. Love them.

Back to the Blog

I might get back to this. I miss writing about the kids, and family, and life stuff. So we will try this again. I may or may not backtrack some pictures and things. But we are starting another summer, another two months off for me and the kids, and it seems as good a time as any to try keeping up. Plus I discovered an app that lets me do this on my phone instead of competing for computer time and transferring pictures. Yay technology!

So, last days of school last week. Naomi has finished 2nd grade and will turn 8 in a few weeks. Micah finished at his school and will start pre-k in the fall. I have a short week of work left before my break. A lot of transitions this year and I am so glad to have time to breathe and be. At least, in between the planning and playing and mediating and straightening and driving and... well, summertime.

Naomi Turned 6!

 Naomi turned 6.  She is a real blessing in our lives and in our family.  I am grateful for this girl who made me a parent, and teaches me and motivates me to be a better one.  I love watching her brain work, seeing how creatively she sees the world, her courage and curiosity, her questions about God, her love for her friends, and her brother.  This past year she has really become friends with Micah, as he is able to play with her more and more. 
Naomi had a lovely birthday this year - with family celebrations, and friend celebrations, and Colorado celebrations.  For her actual birthday Naomi had a couple of requests.  First, for her birthday present from me she wanted a "fancy dress."  So, we went shopping!  And found the dress seen in a bunch of these pictures.  It was so fun to go with her and give her (almost) free reign on her choice. And once she knew, she knew she had found the one!!  She couldn't wait to open her presents on her birthday too, so she had a magnifying class and an actual break-it-yourself geode, and some mystery playmobil from Mark and Micah.  Cool stuff.

Naomi also asked to go to San Antonio to see her cousins and Nana on her birthday, so off we went, to find playtime and cake.

 

 

One of my favorite traditions around the kids' birthdays is around cake - I make carrot cake, Mark does the decorating...

 This year her cake evolved into a Peacock Cake!  Along with her specific request of a girls' tea party to celebrate (with fancy dress), it was a lovely day! And Naomi felt celebrated and loved.

Whoa Summer!!

Oh my.  I am so behind here - 3 months behind.  School and work ended, summer happened, and now we are back in full swing with school and work all solidified and beginning again.  So, this happened:

Naomi has had her first two days of First Grade.  She is just growing before my eyes and I love it!  She is such a great kid - loves learning, and loves her friends, and loves her cousins and brother and grandparents.  She asks questions and is creative.  And really knows what she likes and doesn't like.  She looks so confident in this picture!  Which she really felt starting school this year, despite going to a new school.  Her second day, today, she greeted her teacher with a hug, so I think we are off to a good start. 

Micah started back to school two weeks ago, and saw his former teachers and then moved up to the two-year old class.  They are named the Dragonfly class, and he is very proud of this, and may tell you when you ask about class that Dragonflies have wings.  One of his teachers was Naomi's teacher when Naomi was a Dragonfly, and I like the circular-ness of that.  Something about the class really meets him where he is these days, because where we had some tears and a bit of separation anxiety before, now he is excited and playing with friends and not quite ready to leave after nap time because he and a friend are building something or reading books together on their mats.  I love that this is the year he starts making friends.

Mark is content in his work with CRG these days.  Officing from home means gardening on his lunch hour, and some flexibility time-wise.  I am happy to back at UT and I find myself pretty content with our family setup right now - we are each in good places, and they work well together for our family.  I am working part time, so I am able to be with the kids after school and on Fridays.  Mark is officing from home.  And Naomi's new school is in the same neighborhood as Micah's, which is all close to my work.  It feels like things are solidifying a bit, and feel manageable and balanced.  Hopefully?   I hope this continues to feel true! 

Summertime

My work has ended for the academic year, Micah is off school, and Naomi has six days left of Kindergarten.  Summertime has begun!  Needless to say, my dreaming of summer started a month or two ago in the midst of the crazy-busy season.  Camps for Naomi, sitting by the pool, not having to leave the house before 7:30am, spending time with friends, traveling a little.  Of course, we'll also be juggling Mark working from home, not having my income, and full-time kiddos all summer! 

Goals for the summer:
-Potty Training Micah - this is already happening in full swing.  He's doing great, and I will try not to tell too many "I pooped in my hand!" stories.  Really, that is it.  But the level of his distress was really funny.
-Cooking & baking - two days in and I have made marinara sauce, bread dough, granola bars, and have plans for yogurt and granola.  Also, being intentional about our shopping and meals and all that stuff. 
-Swimming and hanging out by the pool - beyond just a way to spend time, I really want Naomi to be able to put her face in the water this year.
-Lots of sibling time!!
-Dallas - Mark has a conference in Dallas in June, and we will go along to hang out.  I think the Dallas Zoo one day, and then a pool day the next. 
-Science Camp - for Naomi
-Decluttering my house - I'd like to take it room by room. 
-Use the Jumpy House Groupon voucher I bought a couple of months ago.
-Road Trip to Colorado in July
-Slow days with walks, and Art, and playing with friends
-Give Mark time to work - so leave the house most mornings

Our Night at Dell

Last week Micah had an adventure...of sorts.  This is not really the kind of adventure we want to repeat, but it should be chronicled anyway. Micah has had colds or allergies pretty consistently for a while, and this spring several have turned into ear infections.  So, two weeks ago when he developed another cold, I was watching for the ear infection, and Mark took him to the pediatrician that Tuesday because I was worried he had another one.
 

It wasn't an ear infection, but I got a call at noon at work, 5 minutes before my last client of the day, to meet them at the children's hospital.  Micah actually turned out to be having an asthma reaction, and his blood-oxygen numbers were low and he wasn't responding to breathing treatments at the doctor's office.  One ambulence ride later (!) I met them at the ER.  After some time there, he still wasn't responding to breathing treatments and had to keep an oxygen mask on, they decided to admit him.

His room had an awesome view of a construction site outside.  Micah liked watching the crane and seeing the workmen the next day.  He and I spent a restless night of breathing treatments and trying to keep on the oxygen mask, which would come off, his oxygen numbers would drop, machines would start beeping, and then we were awake.  Thankfully, though we stayed the whole next day, they let us go home that evening.  His numbers were still bordeline, but he didn't have to keep the oxygen mask on to stay there, and we continued breathing treatments at home for the next few days.

We watched lots of shows, a friend showed us the playroom, and we talked with doctors.  Dell is a teaching hospital, so at one point Wednesday morning there were about 10-12 doctors in our room, some listening, a couple of interns doing the talking, and an attending watching.  Thankfully, he did return on his own a few times later to let us know what was going on.

It took a few days at home before his numbers went back up -- Friday morning he was still at the same level as when we left the hospital Wednesday evening.  By the following Wednesday his numbers were perfect, and we had a good chat with our pediatrician.

They don't diagnose asthma in kids under 5, but we have an inhaler and an asthma action plan, and orders to watch for and treat early symptoms.  The surprising thing for me is that many of those symptoms are more subtle than I knew (such as coughing at night). 

It is taking me some time to take this in stride - it wasn't until we knew he was better that I felt myself start to relax and let myself feel how scared I was.  And truth be told, when he was coughing this past Thursday night and started a runny nose, my anxiety kicked in again.  Because while Micah thought it was kind of cool to ride in the ambulance to the ER, I really don't want him to go through all that again. 

Anchor Urban Farms

For a while now - a long while - Mark has been dreaming about starting a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, weekly subscription vegetable production). And this spring with two friends, he started Anchor Urban Farms. Its a trial run this spring, with a few shares available. The lovely part of it is that it is truly an urban farm, using their backyards plus two neighbors who get shares in return for use of their backyards. So, across five backyards they have four gardens, two coops of chickens, a greenhouse for starting seedlings, and a hive of bees! Our yard includes the greenhouse where Mark started all the vegetables by seed, one garden and a neighbors garden, and a chicken coop. Here are some pictures from our yard and our neighbor's, and of the first pickup day.

Firetruck!! (or how Micah got to experience the world of Fireman Sam)

Our house has been very full of fires lately, and some kiddos putting them out, and kiddos watching Fireman Sam.  So, when we asked Micah what he wanted to do on a "Mama Date" with he and Naomi during Spring Break, he said "firetruck!"  (Naomi had a solo Mama Date the day before - breakfast, shoe shopping and a movie.)  Thankfully, we have friend who just happens to be a firefighter, and who happened to be working the day we were to have our date.  So off we went!  Naomi liked this trip too, and learned a lot and loved seeing the firetrucks and had fun with her friends Layla and Maya, but it was definitely Micah who cried "wow" at each new thing, who squealed with excitement when he saw the truck, and who climbed into the driver's seat ten times!  We had a tour of the firehouse, saw where they sleep, saw the pole, the trucks, and got to climb in seats and try on the clothes.  It was awesome. 

Kite Festival 2012

We have a lot of catching up to do on the blog, and March has been a busy month!  The kite festival was earlier this month, and it is hands down one of my favorite weekends in Austin. Spring is beginning, the kites are beautiful, and come on, kites!  Here are some pictures from this year.  And I love that Micah is full on particpant these days in whatever we have going one.  Naomi and Micah made their kites and flew them.  Overall, the kids would probably tell you their favorite part was riding the shuttle bus to Zilker Park!