Yah Mon! No Problem!

"Jamaica, no problem." That's their answer to almost anything and it makes for a VERY laid-back, relaxing vacation. Honestly, I didn't realize that "Yah mon!" is something they really say! I just thought it was the touristy thing to say... but they all SAY it! All the time! Just like we say, "Yeah" or "Yep" ...they say, "Yah mon." Hilarious.

For those reading this post who don't know, Collin was on assignment in Jamaica for the last two weeks. Because of my sweet, selfless (and adventuresome) parents who offered to take the girls to Austin for 6 nights, I got to go to Montego Bay and join him for a little 2nd Honeymoon.

It. Was. Awesome.

After sending the girls off with Mom & Dad on Thursday afternoon, I walked back inside the house and closed the door and just stood there. Silence. I realized that I had no responsibilities for the rest of the night! Don't get me wrong, part of me was already missing my girls in lots of ways but I have to be honest-- I was GIDDY with excitement! I haven't felt that way since grade school when the last bell rang on the last day of the year, and it was SUMMERTIME! I felt like a KID! NO responsibilities... I was jumping. And laughing. OUT LOUD. I was ridiculously hyperactive, and had no idea what to do with all my free time... So I did what I used to do before kiddos: I went and got a pedicure. :)

The next few days were spent in the beautiful Caribbean with Collin by the beach or the pool. Ahhh... bliss. We did a zipline canopy tour that was AWESOME, but other than that we really just hung out at the resort. Lots of good quality time together. It was much-needed, and we enjoyed every minute. We'll be back in Jamaica at the end of the year as part of a Caribbean Cruise we're doing with our Sunday School group. Already looking forward to going back!

Re-entry to the "real world" was hilarious... Avery got car sick on the drive back to Dallas with Mom & Dad, and for the first few hours of being reunited after our respective vacations, all she did was throw-up on me. Ha! But I gotta tell ya... I would choose mothering my precious girlies over a lifetime of vacation, 100% of the time. (But it sure is nice to get to do both, sometimes, so THANKS for making that possible Mom & Dad!)

We didn't really take that many pictures... I wish we had gotten one of the two of us all dressed up BEFORE the sun went down and it got dark, but it honestly didn't occur to us to try and do that. :/ Guess our brains were on vacation too. But here are some of our favorites...

Our Little Lady turned ONE!!

It was SO MUCH FUN to do a ladybug themed party for our little Jules!

The weather was gorgeous, so a majority of the party ended up being in the backyard, just by chance. The kids loved running around out there and playing with outdoor toys, and the adults seemed to just enjoy the weather and fresh air.

Julia was GREAT to watch as she dug into her individual ladybug cake. (I used a hard-shell/almost chocolate-like frosting for these, so she had a little difficulty getting into it to eat it-- see video-- but it sure made for a less-mess cake! Imagine red icing everywhere! Good thing I didn't do that...)

Happy First Birthday, Julia! We can hardly believe how fast you're growing... We love you SO much and look forward to many, many more. Here are a few pictures that my sister took... I still haven't gotten the ones off of my camera and the grandparents and my friends have some good ones too! But this is a good start...

SIX COMMENTS???

I just wrote about Good Friday, and happened to scroll down and see that there were 6 comments on my last post. I had no idea people were still reading this blog!! I thought everyone had moved on to Facebook. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So I'm blown away! Thanks, guys, for still checking in on us even though my blog is about as current as a majority of the things in my refrigerator... I should always remember to clean out my fridge before I go on vacation.

Thanks for hanging in there with me, loyal friends! You're feeding my addictive spirit... ;)

A very Good Friday at the Arboretum

What a fun day we had on the Friday before Easter! Everyone was in town because we had Julia's Birthday party lined up for the next day. It was a GORGEOUS day so we decided to head to the Arboretum, along with everyone else in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

No kidding-- it was PACKED. We had to park off-site and take a shuttle to the garden... it was NUTS trying to ride the shuttle with three kiddos and their strollers, but the "shuttles" were chartered, air-conditioned buses, and they had their act together so it wasn't too bad. Once inside the gates, it didn't seem crowded at all. Amazing how many people those grounds can hold.

The entire day was pure fun, except for about 3.5 minutes at the beginning when Avery decided to wander off in a huge crowd during the childrens' concert at the amphitheater. One down-side to having 6 adults watching 3 kids is that everyone assumes that "someone" is watching the kids at all times. Well... we have a sneaky one, and she moves FAST. I'm not going to downplay it... it was the most traumatic, terrorizing 200 seconds of my life while she was missing. Truly. Terrorizing. And EVERYWHERE I looked there were kids her size, so she did not stand out at all. Collin and Julia were headed up to the stage for something, and were completely unaware that there was a crisis. When we realized she was missing and did our quick, head-spinning glance in all directions and still didn't see her, we scattered to search for her. The HERO of the day was her Uncle Andrew who (after handing Drew off to Jen) dashed around on a mission to find his niece... and he did. He found her clear across the amphitheater, marching along and not even looking back. Ugh... that precious child... she loves to explore.

I tear-up just to type this because for me and Collin, there's nothing more endearing than to watch someone else love and protect your child as their own. I will forever be thankful for Andrew and his initiative in that event. The blood-chilling lesson learned was how stinkin' FAST it can happen. It only takes a second and POOF! She was gone. Thank you, Lord, that she was found quickly! And by Uncle Andrew instead of a stranger who would have called Child Protective Services on all 6 of us! :/

So, after that adrenaline rush of losing her, finding her, scolding her for walking away from us while in the same breath telling her how much I love her and wouldn't know what to do if I lost her, hugging her (probably too tightly) and weeping like a crazy lady... we spent the rest of the day completely carefree! We celebrated Spring and a little bit of Easter (2 days early) with our own little family Easter egg hunt. :) All is well that ends well, I suppose...

Blogging hiatus...

WOW.

There once was a time when I was addicted to this thing called "blogging." Where have those days gone? Seriously... it didn't matter if I hadn't slept for days with laundry piled up to my ears and no idea what was for dinner. Didn't matter if I was nursing one child while chopping up meat and veggies for the other and typing one handed. There was a time when I could do ALL of that and blog simultaneously because I made it a ridiculous priority. And now... it's been a MONTH since I posted something? Crazy. My old blog-addicted self judges my current blog-neglecting self.

If there's anyone still out there!!... We're still here too!!... :) And I'll try to post some things that might be of interest.

MUCH has happened since I last posted. Let me hit the highlights:

• Julia had her 1st Birthday Party and it was so much fun.
• EASTER!!
• Julia is walking! ...and has a total of 6 teeth that we can see.
• Avery continues to break new ground everyday and misses Daddy like crazy
• Collin has been traveling for work and has been gone 5 out of the past 7 weeks. We all miss him terribly, but he'll be home in a matter of HOURS now so that's wonderful!
• My sweet parents volunteered to watch the girls for a few days while I went to Jamaica to visit Collin. What an amazing gift that was! Ahhh, Jamaica... I miss you already.
  

I have 3 blog postings in the works with pictures! Check back soon for those... and I can't promise I'll be much better about regular posts, but I'll try not to keep the same old post up for an entire month again!