Blue Bonnets

We were on a mission today. Finding a field of accessible blue bonnets to take some pictures of James. Apparently it's a Texas tradition, and since James is a native Texan, we made it our goal to take some official blue bonnet pictures before it was too late.

My mom had made an outfit for this very occasion. So my parents, Jimmy, James, and I packed a lunch and headed east. Jimmy had remembered that there were fields out 290 and 71, so we took 71 out a ways and cut up to 290. Eventually my mom directed us to Round Top ( our destination for later this week, I believe, for antiques). Finally, after 2 hours of being in the car, we found a great field in front of an antique barn with thousands of blue bonnets.





On the way back, we saw a lake on the GPS and decided to head out that way to see if there were any more photo opportunities and a place for lunch. We got there and it was really beautiful, but we were all too tired for pictures so we ate our little picnic and headed home. James finally fell asleep on the way home. When we got home I changed him and put him back in his bed to see if he would sleep a little while longer, and he slept for 3 more hours! I had to wake him up for dinner!

It was a trip to remember :-) I had so much fun.

What a Weekend!

Well, it seems like it's been a while since I last updated. And there's a fairly good reason for it. I was keeping a big secret. We finally told our immediate family that we're expecting once again! It's been so hard to keep it a secret, that I didn't think I could make a blog post without spilling the beans =)

In other news, we just finished a wonderful weekend with Bob, Sandra, and Mary Lou Mooney. We had so much fun! The weather wasn't very nice when they first arrived so the first full day we hung out at home and watched movies. Then on Saturday we all packed up and headed to the Johnson Ranch. There was so much to see there, it was really neat. We saw cows

and horses

and goats climbing in the tree!

and an armadillo

helicopters and President Johnson's home office. James hung in there really well for being in the car all day.

(haha I don't know if you can see James' face or not, but it looks horrified. He was really having fun though!)
Then we drove up to Round Rock to have Rudy's at my parents for dinner.

On Sunday we showed Mary Lou Jimmy's office downtown


and went into Heritage Boots (totally awesome!). Then we came home for dinner. We finally grilled a few steaks from our new quarter cow. Delicious!

On Monday, Jimmy had to work (ie South by South West) so I took them down to Cabella's where we saw all the animals

and fish

Sandra got some jeans,

James tried on some hats and sunglasses


Bob and James checked out some fishing reels,

and we had our annual "shoot off" in the target shooting area.

I won't tell you who won ;-) We went to the Salt Lick for dinner. It's become our favorite place to take our guests. The food is so good and the atmosphere is so fun. On the way home we split into "boy car" and "girl car" so Jimmy took his dad and James, and I had Sandra and Mary Lou. Unfortunately, Jimmy hit a dear on the way home. Everyone was just fine, but the car is a little messed up. Eventually, (after taking pictures of the car for insurance....and the deer. I won't scare anyone with those pictures!) we all made it home in one piece. Luckily, James didn't even know what was going on. He was pretty tired because it was pretty late, but he did really well.

On Tuesday, Jimmy went to SXSW in the morning and we picked up the rental car and packed the other car with luggage. We met Jimmy for lunch at Chuey's for lunch (it seems like we ate the entire time!) and they said their goodbyes to Jimmy. It was a little teary, but not too bad. Then it was time to head over to the airport. Another quick goodbye and lots of hugs and they were gone. I really love having them here. It went too fast. I hope they come back in October (when this next one is due).

Today...I rested. I am pooped! But I had a wonderful weekend. And James had so much fun too. He is going to really miss rough housing with his Grandpa Bob. And being read to by Grandma Sandra. And making Great Mama laugh. I think Jimmy misses them a lot now that we're in Austin, so it's nice to be able to see them when we can.

So the car's in the shop now. We were thinking about buying a new car (3 rows) before the accident, and now we think we may push that up. We think we're going to trade it in as is (and let them get paid by the insurance) and get an Odyssey. We test drove a Sienna and and Odyssey last night after everyone left, and we really liked the Odyssey. We were going to get a new car at some point anyways, so it seems silly to fix the Escape and then trade it in later. So we may be driving a new car by the weekend!

18 months

James had his 18 month appointment this afternoon. No huge surprises-tall, heavy, and big head. What else is new? ;-)

The only thing was that he pitched a fit when the nurse or doctor was in the room. He s-c-r-e-a-m-e-d! I don't know what has gotten in to him. It kind of started when we had a sitter the other night, but I just figured he would cry and be fine. Then last night, my mom, sister and I went out for Restaurant Week. When they walked in the door, I couldn't get that kid off me with a crowbar! I finally got him to go to bed before we left, but he woke up just as Jimmy and I were falling asleep. Then he acted as if I was going to leave him and wouldn't go back to sleep. It took over an hour of "Ferber" to get him back down. Poor guy. Then the doctors office today. I hope this is a short faze. It breaks my heart to see him so frightened.

We're super glad to have a healthy 1 and a half year old. I hope we can figure out how to get him through this anxiety and get him comfortable in strange situations.