Our Lenten Life

We're trying hard around here to keep things simple, preparing ourselves for Easter and its big celebration, and while we're counting the days with little, purple crayons and cotton balls and reading daily reflections with penances, I still find there's been a lot of good reasons to indulge. Since Mardi Gras, Mom and Dad came into town for Dad's work for a week, then they took us back to Houston with them for a week, and now we've been here, back at home, for a week.

Daylight Savings Time was in there somewhere, too, and that always throws us for a loop. Never really noticed or cared before kids.

The week with Mom and Dad here was great! It was funny, too, because his work put them in a hotel in the warehouse district, and Mom was free to just meet up with us - not stay over or spend all day - just meet. It was awesome, like we lived in the same place. (Not to be read like staying over isn't awesome, duh.) We met up for lunch with Dylan one day, and we met up one morning with a bunch of Point moms for the Audubon Insectarium, after beignets, of course. That was great ... and creepy. It's a beautiful museum, thank goodness, because the, uh, specimen are disgusting. Come pet this (insanely massive Madagascar) roach! Look how many termites fit in this huuuuuge jar, making it an "infestation"! Unlabeled jar with a "Smell Here" sticker - no, I will not! There was an interactive short film that rocked (your seat, literally)! And there were big beetles in the table tops. Alive. Guten Appetite. Anyway, we also got to visit with two of my aunts, one on either side, Aunt Cyndi & Aunt Mollie. Lovely to see both! 

"Paul - go sit by that butterfly" Bam.

What Ginny sees in Ada on Aunt Mollie's rocking horse.

Then, Mom and Dad spent the weekend over here at our house, and we enjoyed some City Park sunshine, more beignets with Uncle Pete, and had a great start to Sunday with gorgeous weather and a tease-taste of the "Friendship Day" festival here on the Point (when St. Patrick's and St. Joseph's Days are sorta celebrated: the Irish and Italians coming together over food and drink). And Michael Knoll arrived in New Orleans that day, too! We'd caught up with him 2 Easters ago in Austin, MN, and now he's in his 3rd year on his basketball scholarship to St. Ambrose - always a pleasure to cross paths.

 

Then we hit the road for "Tetsas!" Paul's an excellent traveler. Ada, well, Ada gets there. Once we flip her to forward-facing, I'm sure she'll improve, but Girl just don't like being in that carseat. Moving on...

We had bad weather all. week. Other than missing backyard play & driveway trike riding, we survived just fine. We hit up HEB (aaa-mazing and Paul had his own tiny-sized hand basket in tow), got a haircut, went to a mall with a giant indoor playground, had dinner at our fave Mexican restaurant, drove around hunting cowboy boots, had a 1-year-old photo shoot (adorbs), and...

...went to Paul & Ada's first RODEO! Ada was cool with whatever, but Paul loved it! He wore his teeny cowboy boots aaaall day, chucked the hat after about 20 minutes, saw cows and horses, and tons of tractors. It was really precious. That night, Papa drove in.

   

And then Saturday happened. Saturday was beautiful. The weather made a 180º, and everybody came in to celebrate Dad's 68th birthday. We had Dad & Mom, Ginny & Ryan, Dylan, the kids & I, and Peter & Serena. We had drinks and snacks and tailgated (in the drive...) and crawfish and kids' and dogs' play and an apple Pi pie (c'mon, it was 3.14.15) and a fire and apparently no cameras. Too engrossed in enjoying the day - all 8 adults - to remember to take a picture together.

Sunday we hit the road again but not before early Mass at Christ the Redeemer and their delicious St. Joseph's Day spaghetti dinner and seeing their beautiful altar with breads, cakes, cookies, and more.

This week has been much more calm and slow-going, relatively speaking. We've done our usual round of grocery trips, story times, and playgrounds but have also had ridiculous nighttimes. Ada's getting molars already, so she's been up a lot and for long periods. Though Paul doesn't actively wake, it surely takes a toll on him during the day. They both sleep so. hard. during naptime. There were also lots of green things to eat on Tuesday (spinach-infused French toast, melon, Brussel sprouts, spinach-onion soup), and Italian things with a St. Joseph's altar on Thursday.

Let's talk development for a bit: Ada's getting those molars, yes, but she's also walking! Not everywhere all the time yet, but she's doing much more than just walking along things. When she's distracted, she'll walk clear across the room ... to Lucy, making her weird, inimitable Lucy sound. She's eating more and more, still a big variety. And more independently than Paul, in fact. I spoon-feed only oatmeal for breakfast, and she does the rest. Still nursing a good 4-5 times in a 24-hr period, reluctantly overnight, too. Dylan recently pointed out that because she's so tiny, perhaps she does, in fact, need something in that long stretch. During the day, she's nursing and eating. Anyway, there's that.

 Paul is getting so sharp. I mean, I think he always has been (smart, you know), but he's recollected 2 things lately that impressed me: that we had 2 staircases in our Austin house, and that there was a playground outside our old St. Augustine's church for after-Mass play. He also knew that our friends here, Stacy and Minty, haven't been to that church. He's a huge helper in the kitchen, too. Big shout-out to Colleen who helped me take that next step to getting his help at the stove and not merely prep. He adds ingredients now and stirs and seasons. He's also very good about listening while we cook and staying away from the fire and hot pans. It's awesome!