vacation... and stuff.

We took a much-appreciated vacation to Surfside beach a couple of weeks ago with family.  I heartily recommend doing this, people.  It's so close, was way more cost-effective than Galveston, and is a great getaway if you're not looking for a lot of scheduled activity-sightseeing (though Galveston and all is just up the coast about 30 minutes).

I think most of these photos need little captioning... it was tough to choose just these.  Enjoy.  :)

I rather enjoyed the look of this one blown out... we call it 'Grammy in a bucket':

day 3 - Schlitterbahn.  also highly recommended.

decompressing at the end of the day:

for kicks, some of you may recall a photo Melanie B. took of me at Galveston when we were sending off the Browns... she made it look all kinds of cool and old-fashioned.  we thought it would be fun to have a pregnant one (and if you need to know where to get this super-cute maternity swimsuit, here it is):

and lookie what craftiness I'm capable of!  you might remember that I made this mobile for Maggie... well, we had this birdcage hanging in the corner of Magz' room and in the new configuration it's now over the baby bed.  I decided to keep it and just turn it into a mobile for the new little one.  it's not quite done yet (if you look close you can see the pins) but it looks really cute in there and I wanted to share this burst of creativity, even if it was somewhat blurrily caught by my iphone.  :)

So, what else.  I'll be 35 weeks pregnant on Thursday.  I feel mostly okay - bending and picking things up is a royal pain in the hoo-ha and if I'm on my feet for longer than about an hour my left hip starts protesting, but Michael is letting me keep the thermostat down - even though it's freezing him out, I think, and may cause a minor shock when we receive the electric bill - and overall things are just fine.  We get to see the baby on sonogram later next week, and I'm really looking forward to that.  So much went on with Maggie - it seems like we saw her all the time, what with the specialist and my regular doc, but this go-'round has been different.  I'm starting to get excited about turning my attention to actually having a baby, as things slowly but surely get marked off my to-do list.  tiny clothes washed - check.  girls' closet (mostly) done - check.  laundry/play room (mostly) done - check.  Magz in her toddler bed - check.  the house (mostly) reorganized - check.  sci-fi trilogy audiobook recording - principal narration of book 3 completed this week, corrections completed by Tuesday of next.  VBS kickoff fish fry tomorrow night... I'm helping in the kitchen and with food, but likely phasing out after tomorrow until after baby is born, as my hip hates having to stand up that long and those are becoming rough nights for me.  Magz' birthday party a week from Saturday.  We're supposed to host dinner group this month, need to send that email after I hit publish...

I find myself prioritizing easily... things that can wait, will.  Things that aren't important, fall by the wayside.  It feels like a gift.

hubz home, so I should go. he's making dinner.  I'm blessed in most every way, really.... you have my permission to remind me of that when I don't act like it.

-m.y.