back in the saddle

we took a road trip to Hico, then Abilene, then Dallas, and I finally rolled back into town Tuesday night. I'm sort of a jerky-jerk for neglecting to pull out my camera, but... well, but nothing. I'm just a jerky-jerk.

I'm in the moment, man! Too busy livin' to go find a camera to *rabbit quotation fingers* capture the moment *end rabbit quotation fingers*. pssssh.

except I do have an iphone, and it captures stuff sometimes. here are some photos from Mo's birthday party which, if you'll notice, had the same theme as last year. our most precious, three-year-old niece has an enduring relationship with Mickey.

we spent most of the afternoon decorating before the party. here's M and I enjoying the spoils of our efforts (M's way of enjoying spoils is to look very serious and intense. he could totally double as Jack Bauer.)

after decorating, I went into the sanctuary of the church, stretched out on a pew, and was OUT for a good nap. baby girl and I were funky fresh for the partay. note: if my belly looks bigger, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.

Singing happy birthday. Linda made the best cupcakes for Mo!

no joke, my sister-in-law is very talented.

Morgan, lustily enjoying the spoils of being the birthday girl.

there were large Mickey and Minnie balloons, and it was very interesting to watch the girls interact with them vs the boys. the girls by and large tried to hold the balloons' hands, lead them around, hug them, whatever. the boys just punched them. :)

at one point, Mickey lost his head. literally.

and since it was a separate balloon, it floated to the ceiling. one of the funniest moments of the party was M and Tres trying to retrieve Mickey's head... they drew a crowd of children who watched intently and honestly cheered when they finally brought it down (by attaching a piece of tape to the red balloon).

then M set about taping Mickey's head back on his body, which drew another crowd of interested onlookers. more gathered and there was another cheer when Mickey was in one piece again, but alas, those photos are quite blurry. probably from my laughing.

Miss Mo enjoying more spoils of birthday happiness...

some highlights of the weekend:

* Friday night with K & L. we went to Perini's for dinner and had bacon-wrapped, cream-cheese stuffed jalapeno appetizers, and the little being in my bowels kicked around like crazy. M proposed that maybe she was actually in pain, but I'm pretty sure it was more a 'YES, that stuff is awesome, woman!' expression. then we went and saw Sherlock Holmes and really enjoyed it.

* all day Sunday, really... muffins for breakfast, good church and lunch with family and friends, hanging out until we had to leave for Dallas. we just love these people, and it's hard to say goodbye.

* being with Mo... who's such a good, sweet girl. she wants to know WHY everything, and it's funny how intent she is when asking it over and over, as thought it's very important to know WHY we have to cut all of the flowers first before arranging them in Mickey cups. she also gives the best hugs and I admit my heart swells a bit when she picks me to sit by her in the car.

* going through L's maternity clothes! I've come home with another tub of great clothing, and I couldn't be more grateful.

speaking of clothes, I'm about to walk into the other room and start sifting through mine. some stuff will go in storage, some will be donated, and maternity-wear is coming out to stay.


with talk of showers coming up, I was asked about the colors we're going to choose for the baby's room. we've got some loose ideas... I threw out that I'm really thinking about light light blue on the walls with cherry red (and other) accents, and I hit a fabric store yesterday just to see what sorts of things are catching my eye. here's a smattering of stuff I piled up:



I haven't bought anything yet, but it's fun to look. speaking of fun, look at the little floor quilt LBell has already made:



so flippin' cute!! there are actually Dick, Jane, and Spot panels on the other side with sentences from the books, so baby Bell can learn to read while lolling on the floor. the fact that three of this baby's grandparents were public school educators can only be a plus. :)

-m.y.