Thanksgiving

Dave, Moses, Milo, and I traveled to Las Cruces, New Mexico for Thanksgiving. There, we saw lots of my aunts, uncles, and cousins as well as my grandparents. It was a brief trip, but we had a nice time visiting with everyone. Moses enjoyed his deep-fried turkey dinner and even had seconds. Thanksgiving night he watched the big kids make S'mores in a desert fire pit and braved playing with a sparkler. I know there are some great pictures of our trip floating out there, in other peoples cameras, but my camera's batteries died.

Since Moses' birthday fell on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we celebrated by having a little birthday party on Thanksgiving night. He wasn't quite sure what to think of all the people singing at him.

But he was very sure of his cake!

Since we were on the road, this was the only shot I thought to take of our two-year-old eating Clementines on his birthday.

Friday night we stayed at Dave's parents house before returning to Lubbock. In all, it was nice to see everyone despite being a brief trip. The boys were great travelers so I'm hoping for repeat performances the next time we head out of town.

Home again, home again.

So after a long, tiring week in the Dallas Metroplex, we are home again. We had a nice time but Dave and I agreed that we'd never turn a work trip into a family trip again because it was too exhausting for both of us. Maybe when Moses is older and I'm not pregnant we'll give it another go, but for now, we'll just say our goodbyes to Dad at the airport and hope he brings us back something cool.

We did have a great time seeing family and friends and visiting the zoo though. He saw grandparents, great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and more that I don't know the official titles of--some of whom he'd never met. We also met up with one of my good friends and her husband at The Cheesecake Factory, yum, where Dave and I took turns walking outside with Moses because he refused to behave (figures) in the restaurant. He's just at that age where he's into everything and sitting still is not an option. I also took us to the Ft. Worth Zoo, where Moses enjoyed the un-zoo parts most--the stairs, the men with brooms and dustpans, the golf carts zipping around--not the animals. He only took interest in a bear, a crocodile, and the aviary--everything else either scared him ("no, no, no, bye, bye") or was wholly uninteresting to him.

One thing he's taken away from our trip is a love for airplanes. Each one he saw in the sky would bring about pointing and the repeating of "pane, pane" until we, too, acknowledged its existence.

One thing Dave and I took away from the trip was the damage a coyote caused to our rental car. Seven days of driving in Dallas traffic, and we're fine. Forty-five minutes from home, and we hit a coyote with a death wish who seriously damages our front fender and air conditioner. It's just not right. I think Mother Nature should carry insurance for such occasions because we really, really aren't looking forward to handling this with ours.

Enjoying his great-grandparents' backyard and toddler-sized bridge

Learning the art of sunscreen application

Failing at sunscreen application

"Talking" on the phone for the first-time ever, to Dave's dad (Papa)

Crocodile!

The gorilla

Moses' reaction to the gorilla (vigorous head shaking)

Eh, rhinos, so what?

Moses and the bear "connecting"

-Lindsey

Road Trip

We're in the DFW Metroplex this week. Dave is attending a teaching institute so Moses and I decided to tag along for a mini-vacation and last hurrah before his brother arrives. I expected to update and post pictures of our adventures, but it seems that after I packed the camera's USB cord, Dave decided to unpack it so the pictures will have to wait until we return.

We're having a good time here. Moses has gone swimming each day (I even went swimming with him, gasp!) and tomorrow we're going to hit up the Ft. Worth Zoo. I can't wait to see his face when he sees all those animals!

I'll be sure to post all about our adventures when we return later this week.

-Lindsey

Me and Moses: On the Road

Last weekend, Moses and I ventured to Wichita Falls for my sister Raychel's high school graduation. This trip marked our first road trip as a duo, sans daddy and other companions. I was worried how he'd handle nearly four hours in his rear-facing car seat so I scheduled our departure for his nap time. We left Lubbock on Friday morning around 10 a.m. and it was easy sailing for most of the trip. He napped for an hour-and-a-half after we left town and woke up at our halfway mark just in time for some leg stretching and diaper changing. The rest of the way I tried to keep him busy with random toys and miscellaneous things found in my purse. It worked and we got into Wichita Falls without a single fit.

Raychel's graduation was very sweet and intimate since she went to a small Christian school and graduated with only 7 other kids. I only got to see the beginning of the pomp and circumstance though because Moses insisted on running around and not playing nicely in the seat beside me. We ended up walking the perimeter of her school umpteen times in the terrible humidity, but it was better than having "that kid."

Lots of family was in town for the occasion so Moses got to see, and, in some cases, meet for the first time, great-grandparents, grandparents, great aunts and uncles, cousins removed or something like that, and aunts. With that many people around, he received oodles of attention and gifts that left him both super busy and exhausted. He played from sun up to sun down for the most part, enjoying the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, tricycle, and wagon my mom has been saving since my sisters' days on them and a lawn mower than his great aunt bought him. Thankfully, my family played with Moses a great deal and I was able to relax a bit. That heat was very tiring and my body did not want to keep up.

We left the following Monday, Memorial Day, and the return trip wasn't too bad either. He slept just as he had on the first leg and woke up in time to "mow" for a bit in Guthrie, the midway point. He really started get restless towards then and I pulled out all I could from my "mommy bag" by the time we got home.

Sadly, I left my memory card in our computer at home (but took my camera on the trip) so I couldn't take any pictures. The following were taken by my Aunt Sheri:



I'm hoping I'll get some more pictures from last weekend. There were some great moments and I wish I had had my own camera to capture them!

-Lindsey

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer

We kept pretty busy in May. Moses' first road trip was the six hours from Lubbock to Horseshoe Bay, Texas for my cousin Ryan's wedding. There, Moses had his first dip in a pool, and his first, of many I'm sure, dance to The Isley Brothers' Shout.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some (okay, 16,000 words worth) pictures to recap our busy May:


















-Lindsey