Hurricane "Summer"

Yes this Hurricane's name is Summer, not Katrina. We have not stopped and I think the eye of the storm is approaching, hopefully before it is all over! I am almost more tired now than I was when it began but we have been so blessed to pack as many family members and sites to see in these weeks of no school as we possibly could and though it has been tiring, it has been so wonderful. I wish I could post my calendar on here but just to give you an idea, will list where we have been and who we have seen since school let out.


School was out June 3rd for me. That night, we left Eleanor with my parents and went on a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Retreat. We had been urged by both our parents to go and really enjoyed it as it definitely opened up a completely new way to communicate with each other. It was exhausting though as we were both already dead from the end of the school year only to not get much sleep on the weekend and then if you have ever been on a retreat know how refreshing yet exhausting they can be.


Andy went to school for his last day that Monday the 6th also being requested to interview at Carrollton Ranchview High School for a Varsity Football/Head Track Coach position. WOW, to have to close up school and then go to not just any interview but one that required him to write an essay on the spot and that was very strenuous ONLY to have to come home to a psycho nagging wife who needed his help packing because our flight left the next morning at 8am to see his grandparents! WOW what a champ and what a lot to cram into one day. He ended up getting the job and well that is a whole different post!


Tuesday the 7th, we flew to Midland/Odessa airport and then drove 2 hours to Ft. Davis to visit Andy's dad's parents and siblings. We had a wonderful time, returned on Friday June 10th (almost already halfway through the month of June and we haven't spent anytime at home ha).

The week we returned was booked with doctor and dentist appointments along with Andy spending lots of hours up at his new school getting to know his new coaching staff and working with his new football players. We were, however, able to fit in some fun with our friends, the Vaniceks! We also celebrated Andy's second Fathers Day that weekend and ended it with a huge Mexican feast of his request, homemade and fried tostadas and fajitas with my family in attendance as well.


The following week on Tuesday the 21st of June, Eleanor and I left for Houston to brave the wildfires on I45 (yes we saw smoke on the side of the rd. but apparently were in no danger as the highway was open) and visit our friends and Eleanor's godparents, the Wentrceks, and the Tantons. Andy spent the week moving his old classroom at Renner (so sad he is leaving Plano but excited for his new job) to our garage and painting the locker room of the new High School. We had a wonderful time there and then headed home only to have to rush to clean house because my inlaws were to arrive the next day! AH yes see what I mean, hurricane, it never stops!


We had so much fun with Andy's parents and brothers, Tim and Mark. We swam, ate lots of food, and even made it to Grapevine Mills to do some shopping and allow Mark and Eleanor to create their first "Build a Bears." The Reinbergs left in time for me to have two days to do laundry, straighten up the house so we would have something nice to come home to, and do last minute things like exchange our brand new camera that wasn't working oh and buy my first Iphone because my old faithful of a blackberry decided to drown in the deep abyss of the whirlpool at the nail salon oh and one more thing, PACK for the three week trip we were leaving for on the 1st of July!


WOW - as if I didn't think the day would ever come/I would be ready when it did, we loaded the suburban at mom and dads and finished around midnight late on the 30th of June. Just before we hit the sack to wake up in a few hours and make the LONG trek out East, Dad suggested just loading up and going. Boy were we happy we did that. Eleanor slept a lot of that night and we arrived in DC (our first stop on the journey East) a day early. The 22 hour trip went fairly well and we had so much fun celebrating Independence Day in our nation's capital and most importantly with our sweet family (mom's brother and fam) who we rarely see.


So vacation had commenced and you would think vacation=relaxation. Not quite. My dear husband brings out the love of history in me. Pair his desire to see every monument, battlefield, and historical site he reads about in his history book with the fact has has never been to the northeast and you have a pretty exhausting itenerary. We went to almost every monument in DC, a few Smithsonians, the Capital/White House, and a few battlefields. We had so much fun but were so wiped out!

After that, we enjoyed a weekend in Baltimore with my dad's family and LOVED attending the wedding of and meeting my cousin's new husband, LJ. Still, no relaxation as we scampered to each wedding event and social gathering while sleeping in a hotel room and poor Eleanor being dragged everywhere.


That brings me to now. We are at my Aunt Gay's house in Pinehurst, NC to visit her family and my 95 year old grandmother, Grandmary (dad's mom). Today, I did get to sleep in and though I haven't stopped since I woke up and went running with my sweet "1st cousin once removed" (i learned this to be the title since we have been here...she is my cousin's daughter), we are enjoying ourselves! Andy played golf with everyone on my aunt and uncle's course whose 17th hole is visible from their back porch - don't worry, we brought them beer when they arrived at the hole ha! Grandmary taught me how to make her famous Maryland crabcakes and we indulged in an awesome east coast pizza chain for dinner.


Tomorrow we head to the pottery stores and Andy and Dad are off to golf again. I hope to get some time to spend with Grandmary and catch up as I haven't done that in quite a while! We will pack the car again and commence into the dark night for another 12+ hour drive to Perdido Key, Florida, near Pensacola tomorrow night. We are ALL hoping for the relaxation we have been craving this vacation once we arrive. We have decided we are doing NOTHING but passing out on the beach...well and taking turns playing with Eleanor in the sand (let's hope she is not interested in eating it). I have so many books I brought to read and well it would be nice to sleep some too!


I will add some of the, don't worry, 1000+ pictures we have taken to the post and future posts I am sure once uploaded on my home comp. Until then, let's hope this "Hurricane Summer" blows over soon and we get a little bit of relaxation in before school starts because crazily enough, there are only a few weeks left before that happens YIKES!!!!

Baby Jacob's Shower

Amanda and I had so much fun and were so honored to have been able to give Laura Verett, a sweet friend from High School, her first baby's shower. I think we both equally delight in throwing parties (and probably even moreso just planning them...well I can only speak for myself on that part) and had so much fun doing it together! Amanda's house is beautiful and she and Jason have done such amazing work on it (including completely redoing the backsplash, counters, and more in their kitchen) so it was a beautiful canvas to work with! Amanda and Jason did a wonderful job with the decorations making the pom poms and banners for the event, even the matching cupcake toppers. The pattern for the hanging blue and green pom poms can be found here: http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/pom-poms-and-luminarias

The recipe for the cupcakes was pretty awesome! http://www.marthastewart.com/255457/billys-vanilla-vanilla-cupcakes We then just did a basic cream cheese buttercream frosting and used food coloring. We served pizza bread (Jacob's fave according to Laura was Pepperoni Pizza so we did that with a twist...we also had an amazing hot spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips, fruit kbobs, a spinach and strawberry salad, "baby" quiches, and to drink served mimosas and keeping with the lime green/blue nursery theme and shower theme, limeade that you could add cherry to if you preferred.

Jacob is already here, it is crazy to believe! Thank you for letting us be a part of your shower Laura! Can't wait to hold Jacob!

Catching Up

Oh WOW! So much has happened since Ash Wednesday! I want to write and post pictures about it all...we will see how long that takes...here are a few of the highlights:

Eleanor turned 10 Months Old! I said in her 11 Month post that I really couldn't distinguish the two months in what I could remember her doing. We love seeing her grow and turn into a real person!

We finally decided after sitting down with my financial expert Dad that we are going to wait another year before buying a house. Despite the market being so in favor of buyers and the low interest rates, Andy is my dad's clone as far as being conservative with money goes (which I am thankful for) and really wants to pay off some or hopefully all of his college debt before taking on mortgage debt ha! SO it is another year on the 3rd floor in our apt. We are fine and cozy and the space works for the three of us but that is part of the reason why we are concerned about me being pregnant and carrying a one year old up the stairs...so we will see what happens but think we will wait another year in that department too...tear :(

We also made another big decision about next year, Eleanor is going to preschool! My mom needs a little bit of a break though she LOVES taking care of Eleanor. I can understand though, not that she is mobile, she makes you tired just watching much less chasing her! We started to look at in-home daycare and part-time day cares and then stumbled upon St. Philip's Catholic Church in Flower Mound. I would have preferred to put her in preschool at our parish, St. Ann, but the great thing about Little Apostle's Preschool (St. Phil's) is that they do 5 day/week daycare while St. Ann is only once a week and you have to be 18 months to start (E will only be 15 months in August). We are excited, the facility is awesome and the curriculum seems advanced so hopefully it works out well http://stphilipcc.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=173! Mom is going to take her and pick her up and E will be at school from 9 - 2 every day.

One of the weekends during Lent, we drove 2 hours and met Grandma and Grandpa in Eastland to return Grandpa's white truck that Andy has been borrowing since we married. It was perfect as they hadn't seen her and we hadn't seen them in quite a few months so it was a perfect day trip! We enjoyed lunch with them at a little Italian Restaurant off the highway. Eleanor loves Grandma and Grandpa!

Other trips out of town included to the lake for St. Patrick's Day, Eleanor's first, and to Houston for Laura and sweet Baby Jacob's shower at the Tantons. We had so much fun spending time with Hallie, Belle, and Jason and Amanda along with a dinner evening with the Wentrceks as well! All three babies are getting so big, Eleanor had so much fun with her Houston girlfriends!