Life in Pictures

I made it a goal (I like making little goals) to take more pictures of everyday things and journal those little daily events.  I didn't want my blog to turn into an "only big" events forum since it is my journal and, to me, there is beauty in the mundane, every day things.  I read a book, The Secret Life of Bees, it was really good.  But the point I took away from it was to write down your history, we all have a story to tell and it's most important to the one's we love.  So here's my everyday in pictures and captions-

 Bob snapped this picture this past Sunday- August 28, 2011.  Brynn is seriously too cute for words and I love it when babies wear those little beanie caps.  We were getting ready to go suburb shopping- our weekend excursion.  This was a moment of quiet at a time of chaos- getting 2 kids and myself ready in under 30 is no simple task.  



Brynn's stinky cheese face

Speaking of suburb shopping, so what is it?  Basically, Houston is like majorly big and choosing the right suburb basically seals your fate- it's where you'll shop, eat, recreate, and live...forever- you'll have no other reason to leave it or move and any friends you make have to live in that suburb, like, you can't have a friend in another suburb or in the city because it would be like them living in a completely different state because Houston is so big.  So, choosing the suburb has been a weekend event.  So far, we've narrowed it down to 3 and those are a soft 3 because you have to pick the right neighborhood within the suburb.  It's exhausting!  When we go suburb shopping, we make a list of houses/neighborhoods we think we can afford and do drive-bys- if there is an open house we'll stop, but mostly it's a lot of driving and slowing down.  On this particular trip, we took our camera so we could take pictures of "our" house.  This is "my" house.  Isn't it cute?  I want a house.  One day my house will come....

 

We got a new member of our family last week: Meet Dorothy...er...I mean Nemo.  Actually, we're not quite sure what the goldfish's name is.  Piper has been doing so A-MAZING with her potty training that we promised her a fish.  She got to pick out all the fishy essentials.  She was so happy carrying her little bag of fish stuff.  We've been watching Nemo A LOT and she's been wanting a fish, really bad.  After we got her a fish, all she wanted to do was play with it and feed it.  We had to explain to her that this was a real fish and that real fish don't really like to play, but...they like having their pictures taken.  So she spent the morning taking about 50 pictures of Dorothy or...Nemo. 

A few weekends ago, I decided that we needed to get out, explore nature, and discover something new!  So it was off to the Houston Arboretum- a little bit of nature tucked just inside the loop.  They had a delightful nature center where Pip got to touch a turtle shell and make leaf rubbings.   We also went on a "hike". There's not much elevation change in Houston unless you count an overpass as elevation change or going up to the 39th floor of an office building.  But, leave it up to us, to find the only trail with elevation.  We walked along the ravine which was nice and dry due to the drought, but we had fun and a nice uphill workout. 

We brought the wrong stroller, the trail was a mix of boardwalk and leaves. 

 On the hottest weekend to date in August- 109 degrees to be exact.  Piper decided she wanted to go to a park with no shade at noon.  What was she thinking?  What were we thinking?  We spent all of 5 minutes there before we decided that a playground in Hell is not appealing at all.  But I did manage to snap a few shots of her having fun with daddy!

Now on to the cuteness that is my family:  Piper and Brynn.  This week Piper decided that the my laundry basket was the ocean and she was a fish.  Typically, the laundry basket is a nest for her eggs or a boat, but today the ocean.  I love that she knows how to use her imagination, unfortunately, that imagination has been cultivated by watching copious amounts of TV due to my ever demanding eater:  Brynn.  Oh well, guess the TV's good for something.  She starts a mommy's day out preschool program next week and I couldn't be more excited!



And here's Brynn. Oh sweet  Baby B.  Man she's a cutie and so expressive.  She's starting to grin every so often, but not frequent enough like these pictures for example were supposed to capture the ever-elusive grin.  As you can see...I failed.  Still cute though!  She's going to be 2 months next week and I'm in shock at how fast time is flying.  As much as I love this newborn phase, I do find myself getting excited about feeding her french fries.  And it's no lie, but Brynn is very demanding and cries quite a bit.  If she isn't eating or sleeping, she's crying.  It's so sad for both of us, but I know she'll grow out of it with time.  So I've been looking forward to the magical age of 4 months or known to me as:  The END of the 4th trimester (if you haven't read The Happiest Baby on The Block, this phrase means nothing to you and you've never had a colicky baby and I hate you..just kidding).



I have more pictures, but no time to journal another lengthy post- our poor dog, Boo is ready to go potty.  *sigh* a mother's work is never done.