greatest hits

chris' dad is going to san antonio for business, and because he's awesome, he's hopping on a plane to dallas to spend around 36 hours with us this weekend.  we are all excited to see papa.  we plan on doing the usual when out-of-staters are visiting: eating barbeque and mexican food.

yay!

here are some snaps form the past week or so:

1) i chaperoned ben's first field trip as a kindergartner.  as a former teaher of eight years, i have officially concluded that it takes a special soul to teach kindergarten.  and i am not one of those souls.  they are so sweet and cute and clueless, like puppies.  i had a blast observing.

 we walked to our neighborhood nursery where i drooled over succulents and the kids posed with pumpkins.

 aren't they cute?

 2) i snapped this pic of my mom and my niece.  it cracks me up for some reason.  i think these two may be two-peas-in-a-pod.

 3) desperately trying to get good use out of our season passes, we went to the fair a couple more times.

 the boys found a fun-house with suds.  our shins sure were clean after that.

 hear me out, this was the best thing we ate at the fair.  magical greens wrapped in dough and fried like an empanada.  best enjoyed after doused in louisiana hot sauce.

 this is why we are broke.  rides.

 someone's getting sleeeepy.

 after five years of practice, this child STILL cannot eat without food ending up all over his face and in his ears and staining his shirt.  unreal.

 the parade is always a hit.

 our local favorites, the o's, played the main stage.  ben got to high five his favorite musician/waiter/nice guy.  good times.

i am running thirteen miles on saturday morning, and to be incredibly honest, i am scared to death.  running close to 12 miles last week almost did me in.  anytime i am scheduled to run mileage i never have before makes my stomach knot.  wish me luck.

looking forward to that being over!

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

love,

coco

bye-bye baby

just like that my baby became a fuzzy-headed toddler, who became a little boy with a fierce love of dinosaurs/trains/elephants/gorillas/ninjas, who then became a kindergartener.  like, in the blink of an eye.

next up: junior high, puberty and prom.

i'm not ready.

this morning ben's excitement turned into a nervous confidence as he entered his classroom.  he did great and didn't bat an eye when it was time to say good-bye (which is really all you can wish for as a parent).  i, on the other hand, had to walk out of the building in silence, for if i opened my mouth to speak, i would have gurgled instead.

i am a crier.  i cry when i am angry, happy, scared, frustrated, and apparently when my child starts kindergarten (and pre-school and mother's day out.  whatever.)  today was no different, even though i am so excited for him and he is so ready and i am so ready and he loves his teacher.

never in a million years did i anticipate missing thomas the train this much.

miss holford.  an aggie.  whoop! 

we suck at the self-timer. 

my sister-in-law shared this article by beverly beckham with me.

this part kills me:

September whisks kids away and entertains them and beguiles them, but returns them not as they were but changed and in a different size. That’s why parents cry as they stand and wave goodbye. Because first grade becomes fifth grade becomes high school becomes college even as you watch.

How is this, I wonder, that a day alone with a colicky baby and an I-don’t-take-a-nap-anymore 2-year-old can feel like a year? But 18 years can go by in a blink of an eye? 

 click here to read the rest.

are you plagued with the crying gene like me?  how do you cope with big changes?  

the newest kinder-mom on the block,

coco

greatest hits

tomorrow we leave for the happiest place on earth.

to say ben is excited, might be the understatement of the century.

we have been running around getting ready for this mini-vacay, but we managed to sneak in a trip, or two, to the great state fair of texas.  i promised some friends out-of-state that we would eat some flethcher's corny dogs in their honor.  it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

here's a peek:

1) many firsts: first fletcher's corny dog (ever, for this little boy),

 and the first of the year for this big guy.

 a first trip to the fair for addy baby.

 a first ride for biggie smalls.

 2) a walk around the neighborhood.  and by "around the neighborhood", i mean "half-way up the street" for 45 minutes.  we don't go far with this little acorn-loving, dirt-digging, trash-collecting nugget of love tagging behind.

 3) a neighborhood block-party for national night out.  our new neighborhood does not mess around...there was a petting zoo, bounce houses, a pony ride, and a dj.

 4) daddy got back into town and felt left out that we went to the fair for the first time of the year without him.  so we went back.  more corny dogs.  good lord.

 5) my grandmother entered a picture of crosby and he won a second place ribbon.  oh that boy.

i am looking forward to mugging on my neices and nephew at disneyworld.

how was your week?  what are you looking forward to?

xoxo,

coco