Bridesmaids' Luncheon

Meghan's Mom, Donna, Meghan and my Mom

All the wedding festivities kicked off with a Bridesmaids' Luncheon on Friday morning. Meghan's aunt hosted us at her home for a lovely lunch. Only 4 of the 7 bridesmaids were able to attend, but it was great time to visit and see Meghan before all the craziness set in.

Our gift from Meghan

Mamaw's Burgers...

For as long as I can remember, my Mamaw's burgers have been my favorite.  But since we make it back to Texas so infrequently, I hardly ever get to eat one anymore.  But Memorial Day, Mamaw made burgers for me and they were as good as they ever were.  Most of the family came over and we had a great afternoon seeing everyone.  I feel incredibly blessed to be able to share my Mamaw and Papaw (G.C.) with my boys.  They mean so much to me and I am grateful every day that they are still in my life!

Here I am with a mouthful - I told you I liked them!

Mamaw has many, many "famous" dishes, but this is another recipe I can 

remember her making most every Memorial Day and 4th of July.

We're Here!

Unlike our last trip to Texas , our flight yesterday was completely smooth and uneventful. We were at the airport in plenty of time to check our bags and get through security and even use the bathroom and buy a snack. But we weren't so early that I had tons of time to kill with the boys. It was perfect. Our flight was overbooked and for a nano-second I even considered taking the $300 per seat they were offering. But apparently I couldn't take the voucher and leave the kids on the plane. That seems to be frowned upon for a number of reasons. And in the small chance something were to happen to delay the next flight, well, I just didn't think it was worth it. Even for $900. Tempting, but not quite tempting enough. So we settled in for a short, easy flight to DFW. Luke slept and Mark watched Imagination Movers - again. (You might be seeing a theme for us if you are regular reader or follow me on Twitter.)

But we are home at my parents settling in nicely. It's going to be a whirlwind two weeks as usual, but I plan to gorge myself on mexican food as often as possible. I'm hoping to keep posting regularly, but I won't make any promises. Hope you don't miss us too much. And if you do, well you can probably drive to Dallas and start calling every mexican food restaurant on Hwy 75 near Allen. I'll probably be at one of them...

The End of Our Texas Visit...

Our trips home are always a whirlwind of people and places. It seems like there is never enough time to see everyone and do everything. We try as hard as we can to see as many of the people we love while maintaining the quality of that time together. It can be exhausting. But it's such a blessing to have so many people who love us and want to spend time with us. Here are few pictures from the rest of our visit.

I am blessed to have all four of my grandparents living. My mom's parents are in an assisted living facility in Houston so we made a quick weekend trip down there to see them. While we were there we got to have dinner with Aunt Lindsy and Uncle Adam and we stayed with my Aunt Tricia and Dave. Luke was recovering from a cold so he stayed home with Mimi and Papaw.


Hugs for Granny and Grandaddy!

Eating a cookie with Uncle Mark

Playing with Grandaddy's dog Sam...

We promised Mark that we could stop for lunch at the Corsicana Bakery that had cookies "as big as his head"...

"Riding" an ATV at Gander Mountain...

We met Mamaw and Papaw GC at the mall on our last day in Texas to see them one more time. Mark got to ride the train twice and we had lunch at La Madeline's - my favorite!


It was a great visit! We'll be back in May...save some Mexican food for us to eat then!

A Whole New World...

One of the best things to come out of my year of teaching at Ford Middle School was meeting Katie and the Smith family. We've stayed close even though we only see each other twice a year when I come home. We do know that our lives are very different as mothers of two boys and two girls (with another girl on the way!) Yesterday Mark and I went to their house to play and have lunch. Luke was sick and Haley was at school, but Reese and Mark had a blast. And Mark was introduced a "a whole new world" of Disney Princesses, Barbies, pink and purple toys and tea sets. You should have seen the bewildered look he gave me when I handed him a teapot! I'm pretty sure that no amount of exposure to princesses could change the fact that he's all boy though. When I handed him the Barbie he immediately lifted her skirt to see what was underneath. Here's a few shots of our day together...

Mark loved pushing Reese in the swing

This looks so different from my tricycle at home, Mom.

Mark and Reese "driving" the swingset...

What's more masculine than a motorized 4-wheeler? A Tinkerbell 4-wheeler!

We had lunch at Mom's favorite fast food joint - TACO BUENO!!!!

Mmmmmm...it's just as good as I remember!

Thanks for hanging out with us Smith family. We love you guys and wish you a fantastic 2009!

Texas Happenings...

On Saturday we went to Northpark Mall to see the train exhibit. Even Luke was impressed with all the trains. Uncle Mark and Meghan came with us and we had a great time. Uncle Mark made us Duck Parmesan for dinner. It was our first time to have duck, but I'm sure it won't be our last.

While we were at the mall we returned Papaw's broken christmas present for a popcorn popper that worked. And boy, was it good! I think we know what Daddy might get for his birthday...

We spent Sunday evening with Tim's parents, brother and grandmother. The boys love playing with Uncle Blake and banging on (umm...I meaning playing) the piano.

He's almost more cute than he is rotten...almost!

Today we went to the Wiggly Play Center with Marcy and Lincoln. Luke didn't come because he's had a runny nose we decided not to infect North Texas children with a Georgian cold. But Mark and Lincoln had a grand time. They jumped, slid, drove a big red car, danced with Henry the Octopus and rode the merry-go-round at the end of our visit.

Apparently, it isn't necessary to have your own horse to ride on the merry-go-round around here...