Catch Up

Wow. The last few weeks have been insane. The kind of non-stop activity that can be thrown off by an ill timed red light. I am happy to say that I think the next 3 days are boring before the pace kicks back up again for a bit. That being said, I better recap the last week or so now before a) I forget and 2) I end up having no time to blog again.

(And yes, I know I used a and 2 in my listing . . . Paul on Mad About You used to do that and it always made me laugh. I loved that show. Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt, Hank Azaria, Carol Burnett . . . good stuff. We even have a spot in our kitchen that I swear slopes some and will pull a Jamie (Helen Hunt's character) and dramatically point it out with a lunge for Josh.)

Sorry. Major digression.

OK, last weekend was Caroline's first dance competition of this season. It's fun and it's crazy and it's exhausting. She is in 4 dances this year, so we had our first experience with costume changes and bow changes and shoe changes. I really do enjoy watching the dances--some of them are emotionally moving and others are jump up to your feet entertaining. I also have a lot of appreciation for the talent and time it takes to pull them off. More than anything, though, I love the time that Caroline and I get to spend together and on the car rides, she becomes an open book. I realize there may come a day when she is not as candid with me (please, Lord, no), so I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting a peek into her life and heart and thoughts.

Tru (as previously posted) had his birthday and a little party with a Lego theme because he may or may not be slightly into and obsessed with Legos. On his birthday, he LITERALLY ate, slept, and played Legos (his cake looked like a Lego block. It was to die for cute). So, Josh and my gift to him was a trip to Dallas for just the 3 of us and a trip to Lego Land there. I was so excited. When you have 4 kids (and I can only imagine with more), you (ok, I) worry about whether or not they feel special and whether or not they get enough time with us and do they know we love each of them as if they were the only one, so anytime we get a chance to take them away alone, we jump at it. We had a blast and Lego Land was cute and fun. What I love about Tru, though, was how excited he was to get home and play with his own Legos. The other three were lavished with love and attention by Nana and Papa and didn't call once missing us. In fact, they begged to stay Saturday night too even though we were back.

In completely unrelated to my children news, y'all have all put up with my loving, blubbering updates about my nephew, John Tyler. What I have been less internet over the top about is my yummy, darling nephew here in town, Davis. My sister had her first baby in December and I have been strangely quiet about it. Kristin doesn't have a facebook account that she posts anything on . . . she's just not a blogger or facebooker or twitterer or anything like that, so I felt like it wasn't my place to introduce him to the world wide web. Let me just say, though, that Davis and I looooove each other. I am gaga for his beautiful red hair and the way that he smiles now (he's 8 weeks old today). I will brag for a minute that I have a little bit of a magic touch with him and he asks for his Aunt Rayray often. We've even had our first sleep over. It's been really fun to see my sister be a mommy. She's a great one and this has been a great bonding time for us.

By the way, I am writing this while I watch The View--something that I haven't done in FOREVER and like do when my blood pressure seems to be too low. If I could have one wish granted today (obviously after world peace) it would be for Joy Behar to get laryngitis. Permanently. Or at least for someone to turn her mike down while other people are talking so THEY CAN BE HEARD TOO. I guess she figures if she can't be right, she can at least be louder than everyone else. Oh. She. Drives. Me. Batty. On a fun note, one of the actresses (Madeline Stowe) is wearing the same dress on The View that I wore to Josh's brother's wedding. That's right. I am THAT fashionable. (Or she needs a stylist.)

And because I would be remiss not to leave you with a Bo or Sascha story, here you go . . . this morning Bo woke up while I was in the shower. After I got out, I noticed that his mouth and tongue were blue. (Not like he wasn't breathing blue, but like what the heck had he eaten blue.) So I asked him and he told me it was blue circle candy that he found in the white trashcan. I'm sorry . . . WHAT?! I tried not to panic or gag or react and reminded him to always ask before he ate anything. Thankfully, Josh asked him to show him where he found the blue round candy and he took him to the Lego cake (stored in a white trashbag . . . just trust me, they keep better that way). He had eaten a blue fondant circle. Sigh of relief.

And Sascha bonded with our security company guy today when he came to update our system. She invited Mr. James to stay for the day and eat with us. Sadly, he had to go on to other houses. The girl loves people.

Well. 2 weekends on the road and crazy business in between have left me with some clothes to fold and dishes to put away. And perhaps I should locate some focus factor to gather my scattered mind. Happy Monday!