Hurricane Harvey

Y'all Hurricane Harvey is wrecking havoc in Houston. The stories coming from friends and friends of friends are just heartbreaking. The city is basically underwater. Somehow our house is dry with power and water still, but the rain keeps coming. Please keep Houston in your prayers.

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Midlandtopia

To the Tall City and back again. I have no idea why it's called that...?

My rental car was pretty embarrassing this trip...

Just like Houston?!

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Claire Uncensored

Claire-ness this week:

Looking at my wedding rings- "Dad I'm so glad you gave Mommy this ring. It's beautiful"

Watching gymnastics on TV with Ross- "Dad, she's wearing gloves like Elsa" "Her clothes are so sparkly" "She looks so pretty" "She looks like Captain America" "I like her hair bun" "I can't hear the music Dad"

While eating dinner- "I'm going to get married to my sister and wear a white dress"

As I'm hugging her- "Mom I'm growed up. When I'm even bigger I'm not going to live here anymore. You will be very sad?"

In the kitchen helping Ross make pizza- "Who is this man on the flour and why he got gloves on?" Ross-"That's King Arthur"

Talking to Paige- "You're not being a good baby Paige. I'm going to put you in the brown chair"

At dinner talking about my upcoming trip to Midland- "Mom I'm never going to let you go"

At bedtime when it's Ross's turn to snuggle with Claire and I get sad- "It's ok mom don't be sad. Do you need a hug? Do you need me to get you? I will snuggle with you the next time"

My favorite Claire funny pronunciations right now are Girl (Gorle) and Squirrel (sqarllel).

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Sharing

When 1 pool just isn't enough...

there's 2!

And there were a couple moments 2 pools wasn't even enough, thanks to ROMA.

We actually ended up doing bath time in the pools outside on the lawn. For me and the girls :)

Glad we have another lake house trip on the schedule!

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Roma turns 10!!

Happy 10th Birthday to the perfect puppy for our little family!

Roma is definitely a pest, but we've never been one for the straight and narrow path, have we? Roma is missing a toe, a toe nail, 1-2 teeth, has metal plates in her back legs with 9 screws on each side. a million bruises and bumps, and has cost us lots of money... but we love her and her zeal for life. On the worst of days she has been there to pull us out of my funk. Always happy. Always up for an adventure. Always special to us.

Happy Birthday Roma!

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Mars and Venus

Men and woman can be on completely different planets sometimes. Here's my example from this evening.

E: "I'm trying on new clothes, but I don't want you to look at me. This is me time"
R: "But I want to see the new clothes"

A few minutes later while I'm analyzing my reflection in the mirror-
E: "Ugg I still have a post-baby bump going on"
R: "It's a little bump"

I look at Ross and he's smiling like he just complemented me.
E: "WHAT??!"
R: "What? It's a VERY little bump"
E: "You said I have a bump?!!"
R: "No, you said you had a bump. I'm just agreeing"
E: "OMG stop talking and don't look at me!!"

Seriously?!

Well I can kinda see both sides.

I feel like this may become a regular blog feature :)

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Weekend in Seattle

We just returned from a kiddo-free weekend in Seattle- some much needed R&R. We're so thankful the girls have special grandparents who enable these types of getaways!

Here are some iPhone shots:

Great View at Matt's in the Market

Gas Works Park

Visiting friends Scott and Paige, they have an amazing view from their house

Deception Pass

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Boat Rides with Claire

One of the rewards Claire will "work" for, is driving the boat at the lakehouse.

"Guess you don't want to drive the boat, if you can't be nice to your sister"
OR
"If you eat all your peas you can drive the boat next trip to the lakehouse"

You know real good parenting type stuff...

Anyway Claire will do whatever it is we're asking for, she loves riding in the boat that much.

So cool and so fresh.

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Munchkin

Little P, isn't she a cutie? :)

I mean is there anything cuter than a lil baby learning to walk waddling around in diapers?

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Happy Place

Everyone has their "happy place" and some have multiple happy places. It's super important to have somewhere you can escape to, but also somewhere that you can go to in your mind when you can't get away but you need to. We all have those days/weeks right?!

Ross just got home from one of his happy places, the Ranch. I had a great weekend with the girls at home, but I'm not going to lie, there was a couple times I "went" to the lake where I couldn't hear anything but birds (and jet skis)...

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Ranking Breakfast

Everyone has a favorite breakfast food... and it's usually not what you eat Monday thru Friday :) For example, I eat yogurt with frozen fruit topped with granola, nuts, and raisins at work every morning. So when I go out for breakfast the yogurt with fix'ins usually doesn't appeal to me, I tend to go for an omelet. I would say Claire's favorite has become Kolaches- cheese + eggs, need I say more? :) Ross's favorite is breakfast tacos or eggs with bacon. So with such an egg-oriented family, imagine my surprise that my littlest munchkin does not like eggs. Paige Renea can eat Pop Pop's belgian waffles all day long, but keep those eggs away! What's your favorite breakfast food?

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Sock Mittens

I never thought I'd be "that" parent. But tonight I taped socks on Claire's hands so she wouldn't suck her fingers. I'm in bed reflecting on this and wondering if I crossed some invisible line with this act, essentially turning into "that" parent?

This is a snapshot of Claire when I woke up this morning. She ditched her sock "mittens" during the night and had the shriveled fingers to show for it.

But with a little tape we are finger free so far tonight.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if this works then I'm going to have to be ok with being "that" parent, at least for a little while :)

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