Fort Davis

 We recently took a trip to Fort Davis, TX with the Fords/Svobodas to celebrate Grandmommy and Granddaddy's 60th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  What an amazing event to celebrate! 

My two precious angels.  I love this one!

 Ok, Blogger's new format is not being nice to me so I apologize for these out of order photos!

The cows were a little scared of us...

 We had fun enjoying the nice weather and watching them.

Having trouble with these...

Clarky and Daddy



We took a truck ride down to the lake to do a little fishin.

Takin a walk

sideways again!  Sister tryin to wrangle Bubba in...

Buffalo's gettin a little close! :)

Sooo beautiful!!!!!!!!

Little fisher

The cute couple!  Thank you for being wonderful role models for us!  We're so thankful for you two and are thankful for your marriage.

Even though it got nice and cool at night, it was still warm enough to swim during the day.  I'll take this for the backdrop to my swimming pool anyday!

The whole crew!

Goodnight, moon.  A beautiful place with a beautiful family! 

AnnMarie with her sweet cousins: Emily, Madison, Mackenzie

After dinner we sat around the campfire and talked.  So relaxing!

Clark liked to growl back at the animals in the lodge.

Thank you for a wonderful trip, Grandmommy and Granddaddy!

Yesterday

Just in case you think life here on Burgundy Lane is always CandyLand (and so that one day when my kids are parents they will see that their lives are nOrMaL), I assure you it is not. :)

Yesterday was hard.  really hard

This is what I woke up to.  dishes lined up for miles for their chance at the dishwasher

i didn't get a shower. 

clark was hanging on me like a magnet, non stop crying, and leaving (what i like to call) a "roach trail" of crumbs all over the house.  sigh.  pick up, and pick up some more.

annmarie was trying out for the "most words in a day" contest

my floor was (is) crunchy.

the laundry was piled up to the window sill in the laundry room.

i had a pitty party for myself and got my feelings hurt because (long story) i felt "stuck in the house" with the kids and missing out on other things going on. 

i realized i had to give up some "activities" in order to not feel overwhelmed.

i had a long good cry.  in fact, i sobbed. 

(bright spot) my friend, kristiana, talked it all out with me, and we just about solved all the world's problems :)

dinner?  i hadn't even thought about it.

(bright spot) sean (who always makes me feel better after one of my rants!) and i ended up being able to (unexpectedly) go on a date for dinner, during which i made up with myself and realized that i am "living the (my) dream".  i'm doing this for my kids.  it's not always a cakewalk for me.  but my "stay at homeness" is for them---just a little for me.  :) 

during my cry fest, i lamented about how on days like that, i feel like i'm not the most creative mother in the world, all i'm able to get done is provide their basic needs, i wish i was better at it, blah, blah, blah and in the blog world where the buzz word is to be "real", then here it is folks. 

it ain't easy

BUT

that was yesterday.  :)

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend we spent lots of time playing, playing, playing--which, i guess was appropriate since we were taking a break from our "labor".

It's so fun living in a college down. The excitement for the start of football season is SO much fun! We went to the first Baylor game and tailgated with some good friends.

Here is Clark inspecting the "tailgate":

AnnMarie has fallen into the category of "professional smiler", as Sean has deemed it.
AnnMarie and her buddies, Niyah and Alayna, had fun watching the cheerleaders (no, not the game) :)

And pretty soon after that we were out because I don't think bringing Bubba to the game was our (my--Sean advised against it) wisest move. I just wanted to have our whole family there for the first game! But--by the 2nd quarter we were D-O-N-E done. Clark would have been completely happy if Mommy would have let him climb up and down the filthy concrete stairs, eat leftover food underneath the bleachers, and go down on the field. Again--we did not see halftime. :)
On Sunday we went out to my dad's land for a weenie roast. It was pretty sticky and hot, but we still had so much fun!
It's good for the soul to get out and breathe some country air and make some smores.
Clark: Whatcha got there, Brooks?

Mini carhartts

Uncle Lukey, comedian extraordinaire!

I love this picture! Caroline got some great shots!

How is it that the two cutest peanuts in the world are related to me?

Huck tried to sneak some of Clarky's dinner

Papa giving weenie roasting tips

Redneck playpen

Makin a mama proud

Can't wait to make many more memories here! (especially when it's cooler)

Hill Country getaway

Last weekend Sean and I got to get away for a weekend to celebrate our seventh anniversary. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for keeping our babies!!

We stayed at a cute little B&B in Fredericksburg. It felt just like a cabin on a farm somewhere, but it was actually all new construction!
I really didn't take a lot of pictures because the break from working/"phoning"/ etc. etc. was nice, but here's a quaint little house I spotted just down the street from where we stayed. So calm...

The windmill and sistern at our B&B

Sean and I at one of our relaxing, no taking anyone to the bathroom, no wrangling a toddler dinners.

The best part of our trip was taking a little day trip on Saturday about two hours south down near Uvalde to (unexpectedly) float the Frio. (We had planned on going to beautiful Garner state park down there, but it was closed. Turns out we had a much better excursion!)

The Frio was gOrGeOuS!!!! Crystal clear water, not crowded, beautiful pebbles under you as you floated slowly along. Really---so so pretty and a well kept secret different than the well known Guadalupe and Comal. We will definitely be back!

We had a great time relaxing and recharging to be back in action with our two munchkins that of course we talked about and missed the whole time! :) Cheers to year eight!

PRE-K has begun

...and I feel like somebody just set a timer! I have exactly one year before my baby goes to Kindergarten. aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! How is that possible? Soak it in. Soak this year in.

My all grown up, ready for preK big girl Gotta document the backpack
Gotta document baby brother (catch him if you can!)
Walking (a little) nervously in with a good buddy (Alayna) from last year

Yay! Mrs. Brown! We could NOT be happier with AM's sWeEt sweet teacher. She is warm, friendly, funny, welcoming, and a mother hen to all these babies. Makes a mama feel good to drop her off THREE days a week!

Mommy's view of sister ready to be picked up after the first day...Her quote was, "Mrs. Brown is even better than Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Conner!) (last year's teachers) Whoa! That's a tall order, Missy! We loooooved them!

And the best way to end the day---lunch with a great new friend! Amanda! Two big preK girls!!

Being a teacher never leaves you, and I guess I'll always pay extra attention to who's teaching my peanuts, but honestly, the Lord has blessed us AGAIN this year. I really had a peace about it. Didn't feel the need to request anyone, didn't feel the need to worry about it. And now I know why---because He had it all worked out!

Can't WAIT to experience this year with you, AnnMarie!

Allison and Emily visit

Last week we had some fun visitors at our house. Aunt Allison (Sean's sister) and cousin Emily came! I must say, it was a treat for me in many ways, but mostly because they are big time entertainment for my two peanuts! :)
Sadly, AnnMarie's mommy is not a pro (yet) at french braiding, so Emily gave me a little tutorial.

Great job, Em!
Poor Allison had to do a lot of Clark "wrangling". Here she is keeping him out of the street---it ain't easy!

On Tuesday we took a little trip to the zoo. (which by the way, Waco's is top notch!) We got there as soon as they opened so we could TRY to avoid the heat. The indoor aquariums were a lifesaver! Clark really liked these...

We loved seeing you girls! Texas misses you, Allison! :) Come back soon!