Texas in Review…

Guess what? Emerson slept until 9am this morning! Poor guy is exhausted from traveling! I can honestly say that has never happened in his life—he is always up by 7 or 7:30. It felt so refreshing to sleep in until 8am today. I cannot remember the last time I’ve done that.

We got back last night from our trip—the longest Mitch and I have ever been apart and I missed him horribly. Even when he was doing his internship in Seattle and I was in SLC, we flew to see each other every other weekend. Luckily he kept busy working on some house projects while I was gone—groove board and stripes in E’s new room, crown molding downstairs, a work bench in our garage, new shelves and organization systems, etc. My husband is so handy and talented, but more to come on that another day.

In Texas I had a blast with my sister. I can’t even tell you how we just laugh at the most random things all throughout the day—whether we’re zooming around in her Sienna, cooking and chopping food, cleaning, talking about our pregnant or post-partum brain lapses, or just watching a chick flick together late at night when the kids are in bed, we have the best time together. We both started crying when she dropped me off at the airport. I miss her so much already!

Here is a random smattering of pictures from the past three weeks; it’s hard to find time to take them when you’re juggling all the kids and chores! Five of her kids, plus Emerson, equals driving kids to school and back, driving younger kids to preschool and back, driving to piano, cleaning, more cleaning, laundry all day long, lots of cooking, huge meals and even huge-er grocery shopping trips, playing Legos and dolls, dress up and trains, breaking up fights, cleaning up scars and bruises, and trying to keep the toddlers from injuring the new baby. Whew, it was so busy! Let me just say my sister is the most amazing, put-together mom (and person). She has that house running so efficiently (and makes it fun!). I am a lot less stressed about having 2 kids now—compared to the past month, it should be much less hectic.

The kids and their friends did a lemonade stand in the cul-de-sac. They actually got a lot of customers! I think it was the yellow balloons.

How cute is Madeline?

Audrey is an amazing ballerina and one of the best Irish dancers in Houston! Doesn’t hurt that my sis teaches dance at their studio in their house.

Hanging out with E—can’t beat breezy sun-filled days in the 70s every day.

We went to the park almost every day; with so many cool playgrounds to choose from in their neighborhood, we switched off between playgrounds, splash pads, and walks around the lake. Emerson loves big kids, especially big boys. He followed Brendan around everywhere he went. He would also randomly walk up to Brendan and just hug him. So sweet.

I wish I could walk two blocks to a lake like this every day! Their community is gorgeous.

Emerson loved the trampoline.

Caleb and E were so cute together. Caleb cried when they dropped us off at the airport! Here they are watching a movie in the media room. (This media room is heaven with so many kids around; the walls are soundproof so if all the kids are in there with a movie on and the door shut, the entire house is silent. Bliss.)

E had fun during bath time—we’d bathe all the little ones at once which made for pool party of sorts for the kids each night.

We took some pics of baby James… isn’t he adorable?

Lastly, I took some family pictures with new baby James during the trip. How wonderful is this family?

Love them and miss them already.