This past weekend my parents went to Tyler to help pack up my great uncle Ray and great aunt Ann’s apartment.  I won’t give all the details, but they have had to move to an assisted living place in Tyler, and aren’t able to take many of their things with them.  They never had any children, so their nieces were like children to them, and great nieces and nephews are like grandchildren.  These are two amazing people who have lived a very interesting life.  I had asked my mom to try and bring something of theirs back for me to have in the house.  Well, they stopped by Saturday night on their way back into town and surprised Clay and I both with what they brought.  No one even knew that Ray played guitar, but they found this guitar in the back of a closet…we’re guessing it’s from the early 60s. 

Clay cleaned it up and put some new strings on it and it plays great.  It has a much different sound than his other guitars so that has been fun.

And then the best part for me was seeing this -

I can’t really explain how special this is.  When I think of my great aunt Ann I think of the amazing talent God gave her for sewing – clothing, crochet, tatting, knitting, quilting – she could do anything and do it beautifully.  This is a 1953 Singer machine, and it still works great.  She took such good care of her things, and I love just looking at it and thinking of the thousands of hours she sat making this thing sing.  Not only did I get the machine, but the table and all of its contents as well.  The contents alone would be an ebay-ers dream -

This is just a small sampling of what was inside.  Every single attachment is in the original box with the instruction manual and her little notes.  There are wooden bobbins, zippers in little cases, needle matchboxes, and lots of other goodies.  Now I just need to find the right place in the house to display it all.  If you have any ideas out there, send them my way. 

And one other thing we received was their old desk.  I have been looking for a piece of furniture for about a year now to put in our breakfast room.  Good thing I kept waiting!

I obviously love the sentimental value it holds, but I also love that it’s unique and it’s green!  Again, it’s in great condition – the drawers don’t even stick.  I don’t have many pictures of Ray & Ann from when I was growing up, so I will always treasure these things that meant something to them and had a place in their lives.

He’s Mr. Personality these days.  Case and point:

E:  Mommy, Mommy, COME HERE!  HURRY! (from the bathroom)
Me:  (after my surprisingly quick sprint from the dining room with R in tow) Ethan, are you okay?
E:  Mommy, look!  My poo poo looks like a fish!

Just the words I’ve been hoping to hear all these years.

Since a few people have asked – thought I’d give more info on the photo.  Clay actually took this picture…in our laundry room.  He just replaced the washing machine with a white background…and voila!  It’s nice to have such a talented husband around here!

I’m taking a cue from Tracy & Nicole…

January 2006 at the Ft Worth Zoo with Lauryn

Hard to believe our little busy body is one month away from her birthday.  Rachel is definitely keeping me on my toes these days…and keeping my arms full.  She is going through that separation anxiety/stranger danger thing where she only wants to be held…and only by me.  Secretly I don’t mind this too much, but it is a little tricky when it comes to helping Ethan use the bathroom.  I think I need to get that one armed cookbook now.  Anyway, here are a few more things about Ray Bug at 11 months:

• She weighs about 22 pounds
• She is still liking that pacifier which cracks me up
• She spends about half of her nap time each day turning her closet light on and off (next thing on my to-do list is to rearrange her room)
• Her bottles are half formula and half whole milk
• She wants NOTHING to eat unless it came off of my plate first
• She would be perfectly happy to eat goldfish, leaves and stickers all day long
• She is happiest when she’s outside – especially when she’s running down the driveway in her walker
• She’s taking 7-8 steps on her own
• She says several words – mama, dada, hi, bye, book, Bible, light, and she has a really good tiger’s roar that she learned from Ethan
• She tries very hard to repeat whatever I’m saying
• Still in size 3 diapers, but just about ready to move up
• Wearing 12 month clothes in everything but pajamas – 18 mos. on those
• Her fifth and sixth teeth are coming in on top
• She insists on having every door in the house closed if at all possible
• Her favorite places to hang out are the dishwasher and the refrigerator (she’s trying to master stacking the grape, raspberry and peach jelly jars)
• She’s much more curious than Ethan was at this age
• She fully understands the word “no,” but likes to pretend she hasn’t a clue what you’re saying - especially when she’s standing up in the bathtub
• She fights with Ethan over everything, and is really starting to hold her own
• She gives really good kisses
• She can just about sit through church services now without having to go out
• She already has a love of books
• She also has a love of chewing the tops off of raisin boxes and sprinkling them all over the house
• She keeps every day interesting, fun, busy and full of laughter

Before you know it we’ll be posting birthday pictures!

The Friday between Christmas and New Years was a day that will live in infamy for a certain 3 year old (and a certain 31 year old, I’m sure) – Clay took Ethan to work with him.  For about a year now Ethan has referred to Clay’s office as his “big tall buildings.”  This is complete with calling all button-down shirts “big tall building shirts.”  Nice.  Anyway, Clay said he only heard one thing on the entire drive there, “Daddy, are we at your big tall buildings now?”  While I’m sure Ethan provided a lot of architectural advice while he was there, he also did a little movie watching, computer game playing, and coloring.  Rachel and I had planned to pick them up at the train station in Dallas and go to lunch, and this was obviously the highlight of the day.

Yesterday Ethan said something about Daddy not being at home because had to go to his big tall buildings.  I asked Ethan if he knew why Daddy had to go to work every day.  His very quick reply was, “Yes, I know why.  Because he has to go ride his trains all day!”  Since I’ve never actually spent a day at work with Clay, I’m going to have to take Ethan’s word for it.

From 7:00 Friday night to 11:00 Sunday night we had 18 guests in the house…in 6 increments.  While we were a tiny bit tired Sunday night, it was a great weekend. 

1.  Julianne – she watched the kids Friday night while we (unfortunately and sadly) spent the evening at the mall shopping for the kids.  Seriously, when did our “fun” consist of me laying out 3 different birthday party dress options at Baby Gap while my annoyed sweet husband managed to act like he cared because I was just so darn excited to be out of the house.  But, we did end the evening by seeing a movie which kept our babysitter out past the Arlington teenage curfew so she had to spend the night.

2.  The Harpers – Scott & Krista and their 4 kids came over for lunch on Saturday.  We have been planning this for a while, and they all survived the long drive here.  Harpers – we had a blast and can’t wait to see you again soon.  And Scott – I will spare the blogging world (and your reputation) by not posting the interesting photos Clay took of you playing Wii.  You’re welcome.

3.  The Crawleys – Steven & Lynette (Clay’s high school friends) and their 3 kids came over Saturday afternoon and spent the night.  They live in Arizona and stopped at our house on their way back home from a Christmas visit in East Texas.  The kids had so much fun together staying up late playing video games and eating junk food…oh wait, that was us.  The weirdest thing happened on the way home from dinner with them Saturday night…our car drove itself to Game Stop and insisted that we go in and buy Rock Band for the PS3.  Yeah, I know, WEIRD.  So, we had to take it home and hook it up…if you have ever played Guitar Hero and have even remotely enjoyed yourself, you would LOVE Rock Band.  And watch out Tico Torres – give me a few more days and I’ll be giving you a run for your money on Wanted Dead or Alive.

4.  The Hammonds – It’s nice to have friends that you can have over to help you eat your weekend leftovers.  We made them asked them to come over for Sunday lunch to help us get rid of some sandwiches and they kindly obliged.  And of course we had to let them try out Rock Band – it was for their own good.

5.  Paul & Donovan – It didn’t take long for word of our new purchase to get out among the 15-20 year old crowd at church.  Paul & Donovan knocked on the door around 2:00 Sunday afternoon.

6.  The Kaags – Brandon & Marisol rounded off the weekend by coming over for dinner after church Sunday night.  We have been trying to hang out with them for a while now, and we figured why not Sunday night.  A little Taco Bueno, a little Rock Band, a few snickerdoodles…perfect.

Anyone want to come over tomorrow night?!?

I’ve admitted before that I have a love affair with Starbucks Mocha Frappuccinos – not the real ones they make at Starbucks, but the bottled ones.  Anyway, after a fun but long weekend (another post), I woke up this morning just needing one.  However, I’m trying to cut back on some things and work a little more exercise into my daily routine.  And then the lightbulb came on…dimly, but it did flicker a few times.  I reasoned that if I walked to the gas station and went out of my way to go up 2 fairly large hills pushing a stroller, then certainly this would cancel out at least half of the calories.  Right? 

A couple of Sundays ago Ethan had to go to the bathroom during church.  We were just finishing communion, which meant the sermon was about to start.  We ran (church-style) to the bathroom, and thankfully made it there in the 10.3 seconds Ethan gives you until it’s too late.  I’m not sure about your church, but in the spirit of not wanting anyone to miss any part of the service, we have a speaker in the bathroom.  While Ethan was taking care of business our preacher started the sermon.  Oh, to have my camera to catch the expression on Ethan’s face when he said, “Mommy, God is talking to me in the potty!”

Not exactly 10 words, but I’m having trouble typing since my husband spilled chocolate milk in the keyboard last night, so I’ll limit my verbiage this time around. 

The children were nestled all snug in their closet

Some of the family at church

Loving Donald Duck a little more than the new bike

You people really think I’m big enough to push this thing?

At The Trains at Northpark  

Testing out the new flash Clay got for his camera

Dinner with Clay’s extended family in Van