The First Day

Today was Noah and Jane's first day at Mother's Day Out. You'd have thought Noah was starting school, the way I was feeling about it.

I'm only putting Jane in MDO for a couple of hours at a time, and she'll only be there when I have to go do something that I can't do with children around (working out, dentist appointment, etc.). Since she won't be there all that often, and since it won't be for very long at a time, it wasn't that big a deal to me. After all, Noah went to the nursery during Mom to Mom every week starting when he was just a couple of months older than Jane.

But when I thought about dropping Noah off for five whole hours, I was having some issues. Never having put my kids in child care for more than about two hours at a time, I was feeling some mommy guilt, some trepidation, and some sentimentality. "What if he feels sad that he's away from me for so long?" "They can't possibly take as good care of him as I do, since they can't possibly love him as much as I do." "Is it really necessary that he goes at two years old? Isn't he pretty socialized already? Does he really need it? Do I really need it?" "Is it selfish of me to prioritize some time for myself?" "He is such a big boy, and that's great, but it also makes me sad."

I think all moms can relate to that.

But about five hours later, my tune had changed, because I saw how good MDO is going to be for Noah. I had dropped him off about an hour late, because I wanted him to have a shorter period away from me the first day. However, this ended up backfiring, because it turns out that the kids are allowed to play with the toys in the room for the first hour, and then they move on to another activity. Well, evidently all Noah wanted to do the entire time was play with the toys, and the teachers had a hard time getting him to obey when they were trying to organize story time, etc. Thinking about it, this makes perfect sense, because at home he pretty much roams from thing to thing without a lot of structure from me. So it'll be great for him to learn to 1.) obey other adults, 2.) learn how a classroom works--that all the kids do the same thing at the same time and that he needs to follow along, 3.) get used to a little more structure, and 4.) make some new friends. Actually, I had really emphasized to him that he'd be making new friends at Mother's Day Out, and that's the part that he was most excited about. For months, I've been saying that he had to do this this fall because he is such a social kid, and I think that will definitely prove to be true. He loves friends.

Anyway, all that to say that I think this will be a really great thing for both him and me. And it's exciting that he is getting to be such a big boy. Here are the pictures I took that morning.

I didn't get a good picture of him at the actual venue because the camera lens fogged up when we stepped out of the cold car into the soupy outside air. Dadgum Houston humidity.

But here we are at home, before we left for the day. You can tell he was a little excited!

So the backpack I got him might be a tad bit too big, don't you think?

What a big boy! That's my Noah!

Today

Some thoughts from today:

• If Cherubs can make my two year old love tomatoes, maybe it's worth paying nearly $4 a pint. He keeps sneaking them off the kitchen counter. They really are super tasty.
  
• My fall schedule begins next week. I am ready to have some routine in my life again.
• Eating popsicles outside on a hot day is great. However, it might be a little counterproductive when it's right before nap time.
• Two poopy diapers + no wipes + a sleepy, cranky baby + no pacifier = abandon all errands and go back home because Mommy wasn't prepared today.
  
• I am totally jealous of April, who has been working with a personal trainer for a while now and has very jealousy-worthy body fat. Of course, I think it's the only way she can keep up with her three active kids!
• I hired a personal trainer (Erin is April's cousin, actually, now that I think of it!), and I start next week. I am excited and intimidated at the same time. I have not worked out in F O R E V E R.
• I love it when Shutterfly gives you a free photo book.
• We will hopefully be buying some living room furniture tomorrow. It only took us three months with an empty living room to get around to it. I hope they found the fabric swatches for the couch we like so we can pick something and get this thing going! Tomorrow: sofa, love seat, rug, paint, possibly two chairs.
  
• The thing is, though, that every time I think I have something worked out, a wrench is thrown into the process to slow us down. Example 1: The three shelf bookshelf was too tall for the space we wanted it in, so we had to return it and get the two shelf bookshelf. Translation: three- or four-week process involving assembly of two bookshelves. Ex. 2: I went to the DPS a few weeks ago, only to find out that I had forgotten my checkbook, and they don't take credit/debit cards. Stink. Had to go back. Decided to drive an hour out of town to go to a less populated area so I didn't have to wait three hours with two small kids. Still ended up waiting two hours with one small kid. And got a picture in which I look angry. :( Ex. 3: The sofa sales guy would have to show us the upscale sofa after we had already decided on a perfectly fine sofa, which made the first sofa feel like it was uncomfortable and small. Way to throw a wrench in it, Mr. Sofa Guy. Returning tomorrow to (hopefully) buy reasonable sofa #1.
  
• I can't wait to paint our family room. It is so tan.
• I was very frustrated this morning at three different health professional offices who needed me to babysit them to do their jobs. Anybody have any good recommendations for a PCP in Houston you like who has an office that runs well (family practice/internal medicine)? It really does count for something when you don't have to sit in the waiting room for two hours, when you don't have to call them to follow up on something they should have already done, and when they don't try to fax something to your cell phone.
  
• Nap mats, nap mats. I didn't know they existed until two days ago. When I was a kid, I think we used towels. And since my kids have never been in any real child care, I am completely clueless about some things.
• Noah was, indeed, excited about the train tent in the living room after he got up from his nap.
• I think we may have a train day next week. I have a train cake pan I could make cornbread or muffins in, we can play in his new train tent, we have a few train napkins, etc. What else could we do? Color some trains? Draw a train hopscotch outside?
  
• Impromptu family dinners at Chick-fil-A are nice. Especially when you round them out with a shared strawberry milkshake. (Here's hoping Jane can withstand a little dairy!)

Mommy Points

I think I may be scoring some major Mommy Points when Noah wakes up from his nap today and sees this:

Happy Birthday, Granny!

Last week, my Granny celebrated her 76th birthday!

Here she is with her namesake, Jane.

Jane was named after Granny (Janette) and my other grandma, whose middle name was Jane.

Some things I love about Granny:
-She covers her face and cackles whenever I walk in the house with my kids. It's like she just can't stand how happy they make her.
-The older I get, the more I realize how sage her advice is.
-Her sage advice is always given gently. So gently, in fact, that sometimes you miss it.
-She makes me peanut butter cake and banana pudding.
-She is faithful.
-She never quits loving.

Happy Birthday, Granny!

From the Mouth of a Two Year Old

Nathan: "Noah, you can't have any more cookies until tomorrow. These are tomorrow cookies."
Noah: "Noah go night-night right now."

-----

"Jane's milk comes from Mommy's heart."

-----

Every night, just as he climbs into bed: "Noah very hungry! Noah very hungry, Mommy!" And then I bring him a piece of bread. He must be going through a growth spurt!

-----

Nathan: "Kiddo, you get into a lot of trouble."
Noah: "Trouble? What's that, Dad?"
Nathan: "It's kind of like mischief."
Noah: "Mischief? What's that, Dad?"
Nathan: "It's kind of like trouble."
Noah: "Oh, I see, Dad."

My Little Helper

Noah is such a good helper.

Actually, let me rephrase that. Noah is such an eager helper. ;) He loves to help. Sometimes his help is a little misdirected, though. Like when he wants to help me carry Jane by grabbing her ankles as I'm holding her, which means I have to slow to a waddle while he "carries" her into another room.

But although his help is not always helpful, I do love his spirit, and I try to encourage him by always telling him what a wonderful helper he is. Plus, sometimes his endeavors give me a good laugh.

The latest thing he loves to help with is cooking. Sometime last week, I made baked potatoes, so now he associates potatoes with cooking. And since the bag of potatoes is at toddler height in the pantry, he has easy access to them. All of that comes together to produce scenarios such as the following: the other day, I turned around while cooking in the kitchen to see this.
Cracked me up. No Noah in sight; only a potato. Perfectly placed in the middle of the cutting board.

This is when I say, "Thank you, Noah. Mommy is done with the potato now. Can you put it back in the pantry? Thank you for being such a good helper!"

French Fries and Sweaty Palms

Shortly after we were married, Nathan and I were delighted to discover that we were compatible in a very important matter: french fries. Our preferences were (and still are) completely complimentary: he prefers the crispy fries, and I prefer the softer fries. This means, then, that every box of fries is completely enjoyed. None go to waste or go unappreciated. There are no longer any lonely, crispy bits of fry left in the bottom of my bag. We are frymates. We used to joke that our complimentary french fry preferences were proof that we were meant to be.

This week is O-week at Rice, when all the incoming freshmen and transfer students get introduced, oriented, inundated, and matriculated. And ten years ago this week, in the Baker College Commons, Nathan and I met.

He spoke to me first (who was I, a junior transfer student, to associate with a lowly freshman, after all?). He asked me if the "BU" on my shorts stood for Baylor University. Surprised, I said that it did, indeed. I asked him how he would have guessed that, and he said that his dad taught at Baylor. We only spoke for about two minutes, but it turned out to be the very beginning of something big.

Three and a half years later, I stood in the narthex of a beautiful church, getting ready to walk down the aisle and get married. At this most inconvenient moment, I was hit with a wave of anxiety so sudden and strong that I felt like I might pass out. I had to squat down and get as close to putting my head between my knees as you can in a giant ball gown. My mouth went completely dry. I weakly smiled at my dad, who was ready to escort me down the aisle, and I tried to figure out why in the world I was so anxious. Then a thought occurred to me that calmed me down a little bit: "Just think of Nathan, at the other end of the aisle. He is my home." And at that moment, I knew it was true, and it helped calm my nerves. When we finally joined hands a few minutes later, I found that my hot, sweaty hand was being cooled by Nathan's freezing hand. Lucky for me, it turned out that he was dealing with a nervous, cold sweat while I was dealing with a nervous, hot, I-might-need-to-ask-my-maid-of-honor-to-go-get-me-a-chair-before-I-pass-out sweat. In the end, we evened each other out.

See what I mean? We compliment each other in lots of ways. We go way beyond frymates.

Nathan, I'm glad you asked me about my shorts ten years ago.

Somebody Please Help Me.

*Update on Tuesday* I changed my tactics a little bit today, and we had a better day. Noah only had four accidents today, as opposed to about ten yesterday. He still has a long way to go, but at least we are headed in the right direction! And thanks, everyone, for the encouragement.

-----

Oh my gosh, somebody please help me.

Today is our first day of intensive potty training. I think that pretty much says it all.

We are staying home today, and I am setting a timer to go off every 15 minutes. When it goes off, we go to the potty. Noah gets a sticker for every time his underwear is dry, and then he has to sit on the potty and try to go. We did not have one accident until 10:30, which I thought was pretty good. And then, THEN we had an accident six out of the seven following 15 minute increments.

How is it that he can pee on the potty, then pee AGAIN like five minutes later? And do that like six times in a row?!?

I bought six pairs of training pants. Needless to say, I am washing all of them at the moment, including the super yucky poopy one. Noah is currently wearing a pull-up, which is fine since it's almost nap time, anyway, but geez!

I think one thing Noah will have to overcome is his nonchalance about having a wet or dirty diaper. He has never cared one bit if his diaper is dirty--not once in his whole life. So how can I expect him to care if his underwear is wet or dirty? Also, how long does it take for them to learn what it feels like when they need to go before they go?

This is normal, right?!?

British Blackberry Cobbler

I get a magazine called English Home that I love to read for all the pictures of classy English decor (most of it is classy, anyway!). The ads are fun to look at, too: you can have your floors made out of old, old hardwood beams, you can order any number of amazingly beautiful claw foot tubs, and you can browse vintage hardware, for example.

However, in addition to all the home decorating articles and ads, this month they had a recipe thrown in, which I don't think I've seen before in this magazine. It was for a Blackberry & Apple Cobbler, and the picture looked so amazing that I immediately ripped that page out. It's been sitting on my kitchen counter for a few days, and every time I've walked past it, I've practically drooled. So last night I made it.

Here's my review: The topping is amazing. Nathan and his brother, Andrew, said that it was a very British topping--not too sweet, very buttery, and just all around delicious. Andrew said it reminded him of shortbread, except the texture was much less dense. But the really special thing about it was how it just melted in your mouth. Truly, the cobbler topping was out of this world.

As for the filling, I have to say that I wasn't crazy about the apples--their texture didn't seem to go with the rest of the dish, and the blackberry flavor overpowered them, anyway. Next time, I'm going to make this dish with only blackberries. Also, there is no flour in the filling, which is usually used as a binder in American cobblers and crisps. As a result, there was a lot of blackberry juice in the bottom of the dish--in fact, the berries were practically swimming in it. Honestly, it wasn't too bad of a thing to happen, because the sugary juice was great spooned over the vanilla ice cream I served with it. But I think I'd add a little flour next time, just to firm it up a bit.

Another thing I should note before you delve into the recipe below is that the original recipe is in grams and milliliters. Not having any familiarity with metric conversions, I asked Andrew to convert all of the measurements for me, and I've given our approximations below. Also, the original recipe calls for double cream, which is not exactly readily available at my local grocery store, so I substituted heavy cream. And it tells you to serve the final product with pouring cream or custard (so British!), but we went with ice cream, instead.

-----


British Blackberry Cobbler

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour (115g + 1 tablespoon)
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 of a stick of butter, softened and cubed (95g)
2/3 cup heavy cream (150ml)
24 oz. blackberries (I used frozen)
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (75g + 2 tablespoons)
good pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375. Place the blackberries in the base of a 2 or 3 quart baking dish. Dredge and toss with 1 tablespoon flour and 1/4 cup sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining flour, salt, and baking powder. Rub the butter in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (I used a fork for this). Add the cream to the mixture and mix into sticky dough. Add a bit more flour if you need to (I ended up adding two or three more tablespoons).

Roll the dough into approximately six balls, then flatten the balls and place them on top of the berries. Brush the tops with a little milk or egg whites and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Bake 40-50 minutes or until golden.

Missing

For the past week or so, I've really been missing New England. It really has a lot to do with fall and the fact that I'm not going to get to see one bit of it this year. Over the past several days, a succession of things have happened that have made me yearn for autumn, and with each one I've felt a pang in my chest.

It all started when I got an L.L. Bean catalog in the mail. It was full of pictures that made my heart ache. Pictures of people walking through the colorful woods the gentle autumnal light. (Pang!)

Then, the other day, a friend outside of Boston posted a picture on Facebook--a picture of her car's thermometer, which read 64 degrees. (Pang!)

I listened to one of our old pastor's recent sermons on my iPod and missed our church. (Pang!)

A friend in Houston is going to New England in October and asked me for a list of things to do, which just meant I wrote down everything that I am not going to get to do this fall. It really made me miss apple picking and sweaters, among other things. (Pang!)

Nathan's parents visited their cabin in New Mexico and reported that the days were in the 70's and that it got down into the 40's at night. (Pang!) And that the air was clear and dry. (Pang!) And that there were no mosquitoes. (Oh! Double pang!)

And because I wanted to see pictures of Noah from a year ago, I went to August 2009 on my blog, and the first post was this one, in which I said this:
"It's getting cooler here, y'all. As in, it's not going to get out of the 70's for the forseeable future (for at least the next week, anyway). Today it's not even going to hit 70. I am barely holding myself back from getting excited about fall. So I'm not going to post about how much I love fall and how much I will enjoy apple picking and pumpkin dip.
Dang! I just realized I can't have fresh cider this year because it's unpasteurized. Stink! I'll have to be satisfied with butternut squash soup and crisp air. I am already inspired to make a scarf. And speaking of which, I need to go buy some maternity sweaters! I love sweaters!"
(Pang. Pang. Pang.)

Although I haven't done it yet, I wouldn't be surprised if I shed some tears over autumn before the season is over. Boo.

And missing some good friends like these guys just might be part of the reason I'm missing my old home, too!

(That's the Robinson family, right after they threw us a really sweet going away party. We miss them and many other friends, too!)

Summer Sweetie

Just Because

New Digits

Hey guys,

Nathan and I got new cell phone numbers today--we now have Houston area codes instead of Boston ones. If I actually know you in person and you'd like my new number, email me for it.

best,
Lauren

Summer Vegetable Quinoa

Today I made quinoa for the first time. I just kind of made up a recipe as I went along, keeping in mind the way I usually cook grains (in broth with veggies). I bought this quinoa on the bulk foods aisle at Whole Foods, and what I now know is that it's a little more earthy and less nutty than, say, brown rice. I really liked the way this turned out.

-----

Summer Vegetable Quinoa

3/4 cup vegetable broth
3 tablespoons minced onion
1/2 zucchini, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2/3 cup quinoa
salt to taste

Bring broth, onion, zucchini, and carrot to a boil. Add the quinoa and simmer until vegetables and grains are soft, about 10-15 minutes. Add salt.

Enjoy!

At Our House Today

"Morning, Mom"
breakfast
baths
books
bouncing
dancing
running
cuddling
tickling
Curious George
cars
trucks
trains
lamb
drool
Baby Orajel
crackers
bananas
big brother
baby sister
pink blanket
tummy time
naps
pacifier
"happy to see you, Daddy"
rice cereal
pajamas
cardboard box cave
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
cookies
kisses
night night.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a busy day for us! We had a lot of fun things going on.

Bright and early, we went to my grandfather's 85th birthday party. (8:30am is definitely "bright and early" for us, since we have to get the kids and ourselves together and drive across town, but that 80+ crowd is made up of early risers!) We invited a bunch of his friends to a breakfast buffet that is popular among them. It was really good for Papa to get out of the house, and I think everyone enjoyed the morning.

Here are Granny and Papa, enjoying breakfast and their friends and family.

Granny, Papa, Mom, and Aunt Les

An awesome picture of Noah and Spencer.

On the left is my cousin Arielle and Nathan.
On the right is my cousin Jonathan and his wife, Tara.

Here are Nathan and Jonathan doing their impression of Noah's face when I asked him to smile for a picture. Noah did this hilarious thing where he smiled out of half of his mouth.

After the birthday party, we ran a couple of errands, then I got ready for my friend's baby shower. I was excited about this shower, because I knew I'd be seeing a lot of people from high school who I haven't seen in quite a while. Here's a picture of Jenn, me, Becky, and Kristi (seated).

I saw this ridiculous limo on the freeway. Only in Texas.

Last night, we had BBQ with some friends from college. Here is Jane with Elvia.

I am an idiot and forgot to get a picture with Mark and Kim, who are moving to California pretty soon. We may not get to see them again before they go, and I am really kicking myself for not pulling the camera while they were with us. Hopefully, we'll get to see them one more time before they leave.

It was a fun, busy summer day.

Janey's First Solid Food!

On Thursday, Jane had her first bites of solid food!

She did so great. In fact, she took to it very quickly; Noah had a hard time trying to figure out what to do with his tongue, but Jane had less trouble. Over the last few weeks, I've noticed her watching us carefully when we eat, and lately she has really started watching our meals with rapt attention. I guess doing that helped her learn how to eat!

I also think she was kind of excited about the whole thing. Boy did she go after that spoon!
As soon as I got the spoon close to her face, she leaned forward and met me halfway. I did end up cleaning a lot of rice cereal off her face, but that's to be expected, and overall she did great!

Here's her brother giving her a bite. I don't plan to allow this to be a regular thing since he came close to gagging her, but he loves helping so much (and he loves his sister so much) that I let him have a shot at it.
Our little cousin, Spencer, is in the background watching the whole thing with impish fascination.

What a neat milestone!

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

The other day, I made the easiest chicken soup you can possibly make, unless you think opening a can of Campbell's constitutes "making" soup. I thought I'd share the recipe with you--which is very basic but pretty tasty--because I figured I'm not the only one out there who could use an easy recipe every so often. Also, I made this in my slow cooker, which added to how simple it was. I used pasta, but you could also use a grain, like rice or barley. I have to say, though, that it was fun to use star-shaped pasta when you have a toddler in the house, though, because we ended up calling this "Star Soup," which was fun.

All of the ingredients are already prepped for you, except for maybe the celery (I already had it chopped because I chop up extra celery and keep it in the freezer just for soups). I chopped my onion myself, but I think you can buy frozen chopped onion, too. Generally, all you have to do is gather everything, toss it all in, and let it cook for a few hours! I wished I'd had a little parsley on hand to add at the end, but it was good without it, too. The green you see in the picture is a little frozen chopped spinach that I threw in--y'all probably know by now that I sneak spinach into nearly everything! Served with some fresh bread, this makes a nice meal.


Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

1 32-oz. box chicken broth
2 chicken breasts
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup small pasta, cooked
salt and pepper to taste
*optional: chopped parsley

In a slow cooker, add the broth, the chicken, and the bay leaf. Set it on high and cook for 2-3 hours. Add the celery, carrots, and onion. Continue cooking on high for another 2 hours or so, or until the veggies are soft and the chicken is cooked through. Discard the bay leaf. Shred the chicken. Cook the pasta and add it to the soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley, if you're using it.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Today is my grandfather's 85th birthday! I just wanted to wish him a happy day on such a momentous birthday.

I call my grandfather Papa, pronounced "Pawpaw." Everyone spells it with W's except for me, and the only reason I don't is that someone taught me to spell it "Papa" back when I was in kindergarten or something, and I just can't change it now. He has a blog that he puts an incredible amount of thought and effort into every day--he spends a lot of his time working on it.

The other day, we were reminiscing about how he picked me up from kindergarten every day. He remembers how my face would light up when I saw his car, and I remember that I completely wore out the motor in the electronically adjustable seats and that he had to replace it. He remembers how he used to buy me a coke sometimes on the way home, and I remember how I used to tickle him, and he'd say, in a high pitched voice, "Don't goosie the driver!"

We have a lot of good memories. Happy Birthday, Papa!

Five Months Old!

Miss Jane Elisabeth is five months old today!

A few things about my girl:

• The fuzz on her head is getting a little longer and spikier. Noah's didn't do this, so I'm hopeful that she won't be bald until she's two, like he was. Not that Noah wasn't the cutest thing ever, because he was. But being a little girl, Jane sure would be cute with a little bow or a some curls.
• She is starting to get her bottom two teeth!
  
• She has started experimenting with her voice and making the funniest (and loudest! and piercing!) sounds. "AaaaAAAAAAaaahhh!"
• She'll smile at anybody.
• Her feet are so long and narrow that, although they don't look abnormal when she's barefoot, all baby shoes look ridiculous on her because they're so wide. So she has gone barefoot all summer, which is not a bad thing in hot Houston!
• She's getting really good at using her hands to bring things to her mouth.
• She has a vice-like grip. Pulling Mommy's hair is her specialty.
• Her favorite toys are her little lamb and a little blanket with tags.
• She goes to sleep much more peacefully if she has a blanket around her. I am not sure if it's just a habit she's really taken to that has carried over from her swaddling days or if it's because she likes to have some fabric to grip as she goes to sleep.
• She thinks it is delightfully hilarious when Noah jumps. She just gets so tickled. And when I hold her and help her to jump with him, it sends her over the moon. She laughs and laughs. It's so funny and sweet to hear a baby laugh that hard.
• Looking up at a tree from underneath fascinates her. She can't take her eyes off the branches.
• She may love her mama, but she looks very little like me! I think she's going to have brown hair and brown eyes. And her skin is darker than mine. That doesn't keep her from being super cute, though!
  
• 

Brenham

This weekend, we took a little family trip. Taking little road trips is something we have not done very often over the last several years, but we're hoping to make it more of a regular thing. After the craziness which has been our life lately, we really needed to just take a weekend and reconnect as a family. I know that 30 is kind of late to come to this realization, but I'm seeing how important it is, relationally speaking, just to have fun together sometimes. Our lives have been quite dominated by to-do lists related to moving and settling in here, and most of our "free" time is taken up by tackling the next necessary thing. So I determined that before the summer was out, we were going to go out of town.

Because we wanted to do an easy trip, we chose a place that was a very easy distance. At this time in our lives, with children our kids' ages, the ease with which we can get in and out of a place really counts for something. When you're negotiating two nap times, nursing a baby, and the very limited attention span and patience level of a two-year-old, it just means a lot when you don't have to worry about stressors like traffic, entertaining the kids for hours in the car while on the road, busy restaurants, etc. Anyway, all that to say that we chose to go to Brenham, which is about an hour outside of Houston. It's a small town that has some fun little random things to do in and around town, and it's not terribly big or busy, which made it a good choice for us for this trip.

Here are Jane and me, waiting for the guys to get back to the car with "Texas's best kolaches" . . . which happened to be housed in an Exxon station. Nothing like the true road trip/small town experience, right? They were pretty tasty (they're hard to beat when they're so fresh), but I'm not so sure they were the best in the state. It was still fun to stop in the middle of kolache territory and get a few.

Love Jane's smile in that one.

Our first official stop was at a lavender farm. Now, this place cracked me up, because it was just so NOT this:That is the lavender farm that Matthew, Emily, and Nathan's parents visited in England a few weeks ago. Nope, the Chappell Hill Lavender Farm is this:
Doesn't that make you just want to giggle? Poor Chappell Hill. I regret to say that it just ain't happening for you, guys. Your plants look a lot more like sagebrush than lavender.

Come to find out, their lavender had bloomed really early this year, so they had already harvested it, which accounts for the total absence of blooms. The fields did still smell kind of nice, though. And the walnut-lavender body scrub I bought at the gift shop smells awesome. Plus, they obviously were working on making the grounds a nice place to visit, because they had this nice gazebo:

Here are a couple of family pictures we took inside the gazebo.


Next, we headed on down the road and turned down a side road to make an unplanned stop when we saw this sign. Please pardon the fact that this is a little off-color, but I must confess that it made us laugh.
As it turned out, the miniature donkeys were just in some random guy's front yard, so we didn't actually stop. We just drove by, waved at the donkeys, and kept moving.

I have to say, it was nice to take a trip and have really low expectations. Does that sound bad? I don't mean for it to. It was more enjoyable that way. Rather than doing some high-level entertainment stuff, we just had fun seeing what we could see and enjoying the humor of it when it didn't turn out as planned. I also thought that it was a pretty relaxing way to go about it.

Now, one of the main things we wanted to do this weekend was visit the Monastery Miniature Horses. It's basically a nunnery that raises miniature horses! Isn't that random? It just goes to show that God calls us to do lots of varied and different things, and that he can use any work that he calls you to for his glory.

Anyway, we knew that Noah would enjoy seeing the horses, so we put this stop on the list. It was a nice, well kept place, and the horses were cute.
Did I mention that it was HOT this weekend? H-O-T hot! The temps topped 100 degrees both days (the forecast said it'd be 103 both days). If you've ever lived in Texas, you can pretty much feel how hot it is by just looking at this picture. The cloudless blue sky and the bright sun are good indicators. Imagine the sound of cicadas buzzing, and you'll get an even better feel for a hot Texas summer day. Thankfully, the pictures don't show the sweat sheen on all of us.
The horses in the corrals weren't really interested in being petted, but there were some in the barn that Noah was able to reach.

One of the things the nuns do is let kids paint little figures. We got a horse for Noah, and as it turned out, painting was one of his favorite activities that day. The picture shows how intent he was; he really enjoyed choosing different colors, and he looked so thoughtful as he decided where to paint each color.

We also stopped into the chapel on the monastery property. It was a modest building but had some pretty stained glass. As we were about to go in, an older couple drove up and headed straight inside. It was evident that they were not tourists. I went in alone to take a look around, and the couple and one other woman were sitting in the pews, praying. In the back of the chapel was a book that looked like a guest book, so I walked over to check it out. As I was looking it over to see what it was, I realized there was a space for people to write down their prayer requests. Not meaning to snoop, I happened to see that that same couple had been there before. In fact, it looked like they came there every day to pray for a loved one, which I found incredibly wonderful and sweet and devout.

After we left the monastery, we headed back to the hotel, but after an hour in a dark room with a bouncing two year old, we found that naps were going to be a complete no go. So to kill time before dinner, we went to . . . wait for it . . . Wal-Mart. We are one exciting family, let me tell you. After browsing there for a while, we went and ate dinner at a restaurant, then we followed that with sodas at McDonald's so that Noah could play on the playground and hopefully wear himself out so that bedtime would be fairly early (too bad that didn't work!). After the kids finally fell asleep that night, Nathan and I watched a movie on the computer, which was nice.

The next morning, after inhaling a huge breakfast, we went swimming. I have to tell you, I have not been swimming in years. There just aren't that many swimming pools in Boston, you know? It was so nice, and I really enjoyed it. Nathan taught Noah to jump to him from the edge, and I taught him how to kick his feet.

Then we got cleaned up and headed to the Pleasant Hill Winery to stomp some grapes! We thought this would be a really fun outing. I had gotten Noah all worked up about how fun it would be to step on grapes, feel how squishy they would be under his toes, and have his feet turn purple. He knew it would be fun.

Nathan, Noah, and me on one of the vine-covered decks.

What I didn't realize is that you had to pick the grapes you were going to stomp. You know, the only bad thing about this was that it was DADGUM HOT. But at least it was pretty.

Noah had a great time picking. In fact, he ate quite a few of those suckers.
Nathan's bounty.

Please avert your eyes if my blinding paleness is too much for you. If you can believe it, my arms are actually tan right now (for me).
Katie and I are one in paleness, and together we are bringing back the Victorian era.

Noah and Mommy with a bucket of grapes!

Dumping those suckers so we could get to stompin'.

Woo hoo!

Talk about a staged picture. The guy running the stomping area slathered grapes all over our legs and told us to take a picture. You can pretend we went all I Love Lucy if you want.

Fun times.

Check back later for pictures of our t-shirts! We planted our feet on some shirts so that we have permanent purple footprints to prove we had fun. :)

It was a nice little family getaway! And the cherry on top was after all that fun and all that heat, both kids slept for hours after we got home. Family friendly weekend road trips rock. Perhaps we'll make it to Westfest in a few weeks. That one looks great!