Tristan had a pretty good time. He loved the petting zoo and could've harassed lambs all night. He wasn't such a fan of Lady Antebellum though. He wanted to go to bed. And live she sounds and talks like Dolly Parton... And thats not a compliment.
But overall it was a balst. I love the rodeo. I didnt think I was going to go this year but it worked out that I am still in town.
Anyway
Obviously he's warmed up a little since then. Anyway, my sister and her husband had to leave for a few days for work. They flew Tristan and I in to make sure the house didn't burn down. We were barely successful. It was a pretty busy trip and most of the pictures I took came from my cell phone.
Tristan was a champ for the hour flight... he loved everyone on the airplane and they loved him right back since he didn't cry. What was up with this sign on the seat in front of me!? My only thought was that our flight attendant, Rowdy Martin, was going to have to fight me for the life if it came down to it. On that note, I totally love his name. Rowdy. If we named another kid that I could say, "Howdy, Rowdy!" and he'd love me forever for it.
Fortunately we never had to find out if I was going to have to fight Rowdy for the life vest. We made it to Houston. My friend braved the airport traffic and picked Tristan and I up.
I haven't seen traffic like this in months. I forgot what the daily commute in Houston is like. Jeff gets grumpy if there are ten cars on the road here at any time in Lubbock. "What is with this traffic!" I have to remind him there is no such thing as traffic in Lubbock. I also took this photo to send to my nephew, he was wondering where I was and when I was going to be there because he needed a ride to Scouts.
It was super fun to be at my sisters again. I forget what a daily party life is with seven kids. There is never a dull moment. Tristan was in hog heaven with all the kids carrying him around, although he didn't sleep well at all that first night. He kept waking up in the pack and play and screaming bloody murder. He has never slept with us, so I thought maybe I'd give it a shot and he'd be happier if he was right next to me. Um. No. It was awful. He couldn't get comfortable. He slept on my neck, stomach, chest, arm, and leg until I finally moved. Then it was time to get up, anyway and I'd only had about three hours of sleep. Ugh. But, I woke up and enjoyed riding bikes with one of the kids to school. It was soooo beautiful out!
Later that day Tiffany sent me to get my hair done. I think she was embarrassed to be seen with someone who had such bad roots. Then the hair dresser cut my hair and told me in her little accented voice that my dead ends were "unnecessary" so she was going to cut them all off. "Theez, theeez are unnecessary. I cut dem off." I love it though. Went with the full bang this time instead of side ones. I think I like it.
From there it wasn't too bad. I picked up the three littlest ones from preschool. We played for an hour and then went to pick up the three from elementary school. I met up with Heather at the park. When we got there I counted kids, and between the two of us we had eight. Seven of which "belonged" to me. Tristan met up with a friend he knew from way back when and she showed him how fun it was to eat mulch. Then we played on the slide until I shoved Olivia too hard and she nailed her head on the side.
She lost a tooth! And a fish. But we won't talk about that.
Miller lost a lot of blood. I don't know how, because this happened during the time when the microwave caught fire. I heard when it happened though, because I locked half the kids outside and said they couldn't come in until they picked up the driveway. Three minutes later they were screaming that Miller was bleeding everywhere. I thought it was a joke, but no.. he really was trying to bleed to death on the driveway. That picture doesn't even do it justice. That was me holding him still for two seconds to take a picture and that's how much he bled.
Thankfully, he eventually quit bleeding, I asked the oldest kid hose the driveway off and he yelled at a younger kid til she did it for him and we ate dinner. With all the windows open so we could try to breath through the smoke from the microwave incident. Then I left the little kids with the oldest kid so I could drop a couple other kids off at softball. When I came home the bigger baby had a pen and had drawn on herself and their brand new sofa. I couldn't get the pen to come off. Awesome. Microwave-broken. Dog-bleeding. Sofa-ruined.
Morning rolled around and it wasn't as rough as I thought it would be trying to get all seven kids to school. The oldest took care of himself, and the next five just needed a little help before they caught rides. Then I was just left with four little ones. They played so dang well together I almost didn't want to take them to preschool. Until one started crying and they all followed. I dropped them off at school a few minutes later. In between the few hours of no children I stopped by Jessica's house in time to see Janelle and her newest baby. Ah! So dang cute. And Janelle looks so amazing for just having had a baby. It's not even fair.
Tristan has a girlfriend. Well, maybe I should say she has a boyfriend and he's vaguely aware. They were both standing and holding the bathtub when Whitney inched closer, put both arms around him and gave him the biggest bear hug. Cutest thing I have ever seen. She just held him, rested her head on his shoulder and was so adorable I could have taken her home.
Feeding nine people isn't as easy as it looks. For dinner I asked the kids what they wanted. Most of them said pancakes. We ended up with German pancakes. Three batches. And two pots of Cream of Wheat and a small batch of the best scrambled eggs I have ever made. All of this took three hours and one trip to the store. I asked if they could find brown sugar and syrup, and of course, they couldn't. So we went and bought some only to have another kid say, "Oh, wait, here it is!"
Saturday morning rolled around and was a balmy 37 degrees with a lovely wind. I took the four older girls to softball for three hours-I am so glad I left all the babies at home! It was miserably cold and all I wanted to do was hide in the truck. In between we went to HEB and caught the tail end of what they're hoping is the largest flash mob ever. Seventy six thousand employees singing at the same time at every HEB.
Then we went home and picked up the little guy for baseball. I am not sure he had a clue what was going on, neither did any of the other kids, but they sure were cute. I could've just died watching them. My little baseball star and some other kid kept calling each other eye balls and laughing. I had to separate them.
We made a quick stop to see the family I nannied forever. I can't believe how big her kids are-that little Owen was still incubating when I left! Now he's a big old baby. I'd like to thank the six year old photographer for this shot.
That night for dinner we decided to ride our bikes to McDonald's. Miller dog decided he was going to come with us. Then he changed his mind and ran home. Then he changed his mind and ran back. Then he changed his mind and tried to get hit by a car three separate times while I tried to catch him. Then I gave up and yelled at a kid.
Church on Sunday started at 8:30am. We got there at 9:30. I was tired. The fourteen year old was tired, too. But not too tired to scream "Hallooooo" out the window at every passing car.
Also.... this is him as he tried to take his hoody off. You can't tell, but instead of unzipping it like a normal person he tried to pull it over his head. He pulled off both shirts he was wearing and got stuck. I almost peed my pants laughing.
And that was the end of my stay. Sonia came and drove me to the airport-we had to convince Miller he wouldn't fit in my carry on and that yes, they would notice him.
As I peeked around the corner I heard Mary ask Tristan in the nicest voice, "Um. Baby? Please move. Please move............ Please move..... "
He continued to sit on the book she was trying to read. He started thumbing through pages.
"Please move." He gave her a blank stare and continued sitting on the book. She waited patiently for him to do something, anything else but sit on the book.
She turned to her friend and begged, "Can you please move him?"
Her friend replied, "Ugh. No. He doesn't listen to me, either."
The people here in Lubbock are some of the kindest I have ever met. I am not sure if it's because we live in the bible belt and everyone is Christian, or there is something in the water, everyone is just incredibly kind. I am used to Houston where for the most part, people are nice. It's how it is in the South. People are just nice. I hear it all the time from people who visit, "Wow, Texan's are just so nice!" It really is true. But Lubbock is something special.
On Wednesday I left the mall and completely spaced where I parked. I wandered around for twenty minutes looking for the van when I finally decided it was stolen. I was calling Jeff to whine that I couldn't find it, when this couple in a big SUV pulled up. "Did you lose your car!? Don't worry, we'll help you. What's it look like?" I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl under the stroller, but they were very insistant so I gave them a description. Ten minutes later, after I was sure they'd probably just given up and gone home, I saw them pull down the aisle I was still wandering in. They were laughing, "Does your license plate cover say "Hot Lips" on it? We found it!" They directed me to my stellar parking spot and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That was just at the mall. After looking through the fridge I decided we were having Papa Murphy's for dinner. As I was walking in the store with the baby carrier this man ran over and opened the door for me. I set Twistan on the bench to get in line, and he was mobbed by three people waiting for their pizzas. They tickled his feet and made faces til he was laughing. The lady in front of me said, "Oh! I believe you came in before I did!" and insisted that I go in front of her. When I left I had two pizzas, a liter of soda and the baby carrier. I could've gotten the door, but someone else ran over and got it for me. As I was walking to my car another lady ran over and grabbed my pizzas and helped me load them up. On the way home I realized I needed some key ingredients for mine and Brittany's cookie exchange, so I stopped at the store. On the way in, the bell ringer saw me carrying the carrier and ran inside and got me a cart. I asked a random stranger where the cheese was (it's conveniently across the store from the dairy section) and she was happy to tell me. The lines were soooo long to check out, but that didn't matter. Everyone enjoyed the time they had to chat in line with complete strangers, play with my baby, and wish each other a Merry Christmas. My bagger remembered me and asked me how things were going as he took my things to the car.
That is how it is here. All day, every day. I love it.
It's snowing this morning in Lubbock! Real, big, fat snowflakes! And they're guessing it will snow most of the day. I had to scrape almost two inches off the car this morning, pretty crazy for Texas! 
I didn't have the heart to sit Twistan directly in the snow, so I thought I'd set him on a towel and let him explore on his own.
Which he didn't appreciate very much. He would prefer to NOT be in the snow.
Chunky loved it though. He usually isn't a fan of the cold but for some reason snow makes him get all giddy. He pounces through it like a reindeer. I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas!
We wake up. Eat. Harass the dog.
Go for a bike ride.
And spend as much time outside as we can before it gets too cold. Best part about Tuesday? Jeff coming home hours early and playing on the blanket with us.
Thanksgiving is approaching, and I feel like I have so much to be thankful for. Today I am super thankful for prayers, answered and unanswered. Today its the ones that are answered quickly. It's crazy that God will answer the simplest, silliest of prayers. Because I constantly am losing things, mostly I'm praying that I will find something (on top of everything else I ask for). But even those prayers for lost items are answered. It never ceases to amaze me that a God who has so many other things to worry about would bother to listen to my plea to find my USB drive, my shoes, my phone, or anything else that I seem to lose constantly. But He does. He totally does. I have some friends who might think it's a lucky coincidence, that statistically the odds are in my favor of getting what I ask for, like asking for sunshine on a sunny day. But I know that it's not a coincidence. It's a loving Father in Heaven who knows of my existence, and is aware of my every need.
Remember that day forever ago that I decided to take three dogs to the park? Well, I was all sweaty and gross from running. I thought, "might as well take the dogs out before I clean up." So, I grabbed my dog, a friend's dog, and then drove to my sister's to get her dog. I was leaving the neighborhood when I had this feeling I should stop by a friend's house that wasn't far away. I pushed it aside, "I'm sweaty, gross, and have a car full of dogs. She doesn't want this kind of company." I kept driving. I had the feeling again. I thought to myself, "No, I need to get my day going... she's probably not there anyway." I got to the stop sign... and that's when I turned around. When I pulled into her driveway she was hanging out in the warm sun. I felt dumb, but I got out and said hi. The tone in her voice was just wonder, "I knew you would come!!!" I was confused at first, but she said, "My phone is lost, my husband is at work, none of the neighbors are home, and I really, really need a ride to work! So I said a prayer that someone would come, and immediately I felt peace." She repeated, "I knew you would come!"
At the church assembling hygiene kits for those in Japan!!! Blogged live from my Celly :)
*UPDATE*
This was a service project that Tiffany from MyLitter organized. She encouraged the community to meet up and put together hygiene kits for those in need. We had a great turn out, and in less than an hour had so many kits put together. We eventually ran out of toothbrushes, but thankfully another group showed up and helped us out! The items that were left over were donated, and the 160 complete kits we made were delivered to the Bishop's Storehouse where they will be shipped. It was awesome.
Small snow flurries have made small dogs worried about the weather. Only able to withstand temperatures above 70 degrees, Chunky and his friends called for immediate assistance in the ugly sweater department. "We don't care how dumb we look." one dog said. "We just want to stay warm."
On the same note, The Woodlands experience a small flurry this afternoon about two pm today. The flurry lasted twenty minutes, and dumped almost nothing on the ground. Spectators were only able to see the small flakes if they were strongly contrasted against another object. However, due to the rain that had fallen previously that day, ice was expected to form on the roads, making driving hazardous. We'd ask our readers to please, be careful out there. And, if you see a cold chihuahua, loan him a sweater. ... let him sleep in bed with you! And, wrap your pipes!
A darling, sweet little ...
Who likes to be a ...
We went in this morning for a twenty-week ultra sound to find out the gender of the baby. Both of us have been so excited for today to come. Watching the ultra sound is one of the most fun things in the world, it makes the baby seem so much more real. And our little guy put on quite the show, stretching, hiding his face, putting his hand in his mouth and moving all over. We couldn't get over how fun it was watching our little baby move! I could have sat there all day.
Of course, the nurse did about fifteen minutes of measurements before she started looking to see what he was. Not that I wasn't happy to see all the measurements be right on schedule, but holy cow woman, WHAT IS IT!?? Jeff was pretty anxious waiting to know as well, although I'm not sure why. He's been convinced it was a boy from the very start. At ten weeks we got a fortune cookie where his lucky word was, "Son." Jeff had a dream the doctor told him it was a boy, and he's just known it was a boy this whole time. I was hoping for a girl, but statistically speaking, our family is due for a boy, and I've felt like it was a boy this whole time. I never told a soul but my journal just in case it would jinx it, but I would have been SHOCKED if they told us it was a girl. ... even though I would have loved to have a little girl! 
At any rate, it was a great morning and we were both so excited to find out what we were having. So thanks for taking a guess in the poll-the numbers were pretty even and it was fun to see what everyone thought! (I'm sorry for those who voted for kittens, it looks like we'll just be having one baby boy :) But there is always the stray cat that hangs out by the dumpster... I'll let you know if she has any!) And thank you for all the congrats, I can't tell you how excited we are and how much it means to hear all the nice words!!!
