Behind

I feel behind in everything right now.  Behind in blogging, behind in cleaning my house, photos, playing with my kids, catching up on my DVR, reading my devotional, keeping up with emails, getting ready for Addison's birthday, behind in taking a nap or even reading my US weekly.  

Why is there never enough time in the day?

My mom emailed me yesterday and asked me if everything was ok because she hadn't seen a blog in two weeks. 

So here we go...here are some pictures from 2 weeks ago.

Graham is starting to hold his own with Addison.  They wrestle, entertain, laugh, scream, fight, and love on each other all day long.  I've been guilty of letting them do their thing while I try catch up on life a little too much lately.  All I got to say is the 19 month age difference is definitely paying off.

The first year might have been excruciating at times, but I'm loving it now.

 Addison has a newfound love for the camera, but if you tell her to "look cute" this is what you get.

 and then she laughs at herself, and I get a good one.

 Nana and Poppy were in town a few weeks ago and we got some good play time in.

Nana wanted some pictures....

 but not everything went according to plan.

 My parents were cooperative though.

 And we kinda got one of all 4....you take what you can get.

Houston: Nana's bathtub wins

I am the first to admit that I hate giving the kids a bath.

Ever since they were newborns, Andy and I have played by the "every other day" rule.

Unless they really get dirty....then rest assured, we will clean them.

We are just not fun, bath people.

For the past year or so, we have forgone baths for showers because it's just quicker.

I let Andy deal with all that efficiency cleaning.

But if we had a bath like Nana, I could definitely cross over.

Nana has the coolest tub ever, and I guarantee that next time we go to Houston, this is one of the things they'll be most excited about.

Houston...here we go!

 We just got back Tuesday night from a great 9 day trip to Houston.  It's always fun to get to take the kids back, let Nana & Poppy babysit, see friends, and eat a lot of great food.  We have only been getting to take the kids back once a year (because buying 4 plane tickets is not so cheap)...so we try to make the most of our time there and extend/cram in as much as possible.

 I have to say, since traveling last year with them (and holding Graham on my lap for the 3 1/2 hour flight), traveling has gotten about 100 times easier....thanks in part to Apple and the DVD player.

This is how they spent much of their time.            

 

 I actually got to read 2 magazines...amazing.

The kids adjusted quickly (too quickly) to the time change and were up bright and early the first morning.  They got to spend lots of good time with Poppy & Nana.

 And Graham also introduced Poppy to one of Apple's "gifts" to parents of young children.

 There was lots of reading time with Nana and lots of "show" watching thanks to the 7 days straight of rain we had while we were there.

The weather sure wasn't doing much for the "move back to Houston" campaign.

 The one day it DIDN'T rain, Nana took the kids down to feed the ducks.

Graham loved it.

 Then we took the kids up to my mom's old school.  She was principal there for over ten years when she retired a few years back (the year she became a Nana).

They surprised her with the honor this year of naming the library after her.

Addison was excited to meet everyone but I think she thought it was cooler that her picture was up on the wall.

 Much much more to come....

        

Some people we love came to visit

Christmas this year was a little different without my parents.

There were no Brandy Alexanders on Christmas Eve, mainly.

It was special to get to start our own traditions with our own family, but I was in a little bit of Merri & Jerry withdrawal.  Luckily, they came to visit on the 27th.

Addison pretty much welcomed them at the door with her new Pretty, pretty princess game.

Poppy was even down to play.

This girl took the crown though.

 There was a lot of snuggle time with Nana (especially between the hours of 6 and 8am when she let me sleep in!)  That was a true gift.  Oh crap, I'm getting teary eyed just looking at this picture because they left a few hours ago.  

 Let me take a second to talk about how much I love my parents.

There is something amazing about seeing your own parents love on your children, while loving on you at the same time.  

I am at a stage in life where I'm fortunate to be in this "middle place".

A place where I can love, & cuddle with my own kids, feel like I've finally grown up and am officially in the trenches of adulthood, no longer "playing house", but can still be enveloped in a hug by my mom and be transported to any year of my childhood where that hug always made everything feel better.

I don't get those hugs as often anymore, living so far away.

That's what makes saying goodbye so hard.

But I do get the gift of having coffee together in the morning, running errands, taking the kids to the park, making dinner together, and enjoying a glass of wine with some of my favorite people....for several days in a row.  

It is such a gift, to both me and my kids.

Speaking of that glass of wine.

I think we may be well on our way to perfecting the art of wine tasting with kids in tow.

Some of the key ingredients include snacks, toys & sippy cups.

 What?

 I love that less than an hour from where we live, there is this.

 and these two had fun!  

 We stopped at a favorite little winery in Temecula, Hart Winery before heading to lunch at Wilson Creek.

Oh, and go ahead and add Iphone to that list of tools that makes this kind of outing possible.

 Then we made the best discovery ever.

A winery with a playground.

 Yes, it's amazing.  Wilson Creek just got moved up to the top spot.

  Kids played, Grandparents relaxed after lunch, and I began planning our next trip out here.

Nana & Poppy do Cali

Last week was an exceptional week at our house.

Nana came to visit and got to spend a LOT of time with her grandkids.

Which meant that Andy and I had a little quality time of our own.

It was bliss.

My kids were in heaven.

By the way, this picture is to document my mom's "relaxed" attire.

She does not own a pair of jeans.

Let me say that again.

She's retired and she does not own a pair of jeans.

We do casual in this house so she had to borrow some "play" clothes.

One thing I really wanted to do while she was here was get some pictures of her with the kids.

You know how you have that vision of generational bliss that gets captured and becomes a keepsake forever?

My mom and I both had it, but we got mostly this.

I did manage to get a few cute ones though.

They are in the mail to you mom!

Struggling a bit to get G to cooperate.

Take 2....

and we'll just go ahead and crop Addison out of this one and call it as good as it gets for one with Grambo.

My dad flew in on Thursday and we got to spend a couple of nights with him before they both left on Saturday.

We went to Scripps Aquarium on Friday

this tank was huge!!!

Finding Nemo.

Literally.

We couldn't leave until we found him.

Graham tried to dive in headfirst to touch the starfish.

Do you notice that Andy is wearing a fleece?

It's June.

And around here, it's what's called June Gloom.

We had a little bit of "May Grey", but June Gloom has been pretty consistent.

Still not complaining....too much.

It's just that last time my parents were here it rained for 10 days straight.

And it pretty much hasn't rained since.

I wanted them to enjoy San Diego in all of it's glory.

I don't know if they believe me that this is not typical.

We did get a little sunshine though and headed straight to the beach with Nana.

We'll have the sunny weather waiting for you when you come back to see us again....SOON.