The last of the trip pictures

This top picture is of Simon and I in the backseat, where we hung out most of the time in the van. Simon is giving me a 'nose kiss' which he pronounces 'o kiss'. The headband is one Matt's mom passed along to me, it was originallly Matt's paternal grandmother's. Matt's grandmother's names were Thelma (maternal) and Louise.

Simon and I the last night before we came home in a hotel somewhere in Alabama. I decided not to even bother with a pack n' play on the way home. I think it's too much to expect Simon to sleep in between two queen beds where my mom and I each had a bed and for him not to sleep with me. The bed looks more fun to him, and there was plenty of room for him in my bed! We lined up 3 chairs next to it so he couldn't fall off. And, of course, he still had his lamby and blanket. (Who would have ever thought, Sarah, what depths of love that green blanket would bring?) You can tell that I am more than a little tired as we are about to finally go to sleep!

I think Simon looks like a little kid in this third pix, not so much baby. And I love the smile!

The 4th pix is from mine and Simon's view from the backseat. You can see two laptops and there is also a portable dvd player somewhere. That reminds me of the time Matt, Sarah and I took a very long roadtrip with no such media. Our only entertainment was a cell phone that we used to call just about everyone in the Address Book. You can see Dad's visor is down (so that he could see Simon.)

Simon will be two in less than three weeks!

Boots in their Natural Habitat

These are the boots that Simon loves to wear. He can walk easily in them now, so it is not as amusing as before when he would just stumble and giggle!

This is the garden at my grandparents--I didn't want to confuse anyone who might think it was my garden. :) On the contrary, my small amount of squash have died as a result of rabbits, neglect, and sun. The cucumbers are just barely hanging on to existence, but the tomatoes are thriving.

Simon will be two on August 4th--less than three weeks away! I have been trying to plan how we can celebrate this big day for us! It falls on the first Friday of August, when we have all night prayer at GFA, so we'll have to have some kind of gathering later that weekend.

We drove into the Dallas area yesterday around 7:00. Simon and I were very, very, happy to see Matt. Eleven long days without him! Matt gave us the wonderful gift of a very, very clean house and several completed house projects, and fresh flowers in a couple of rooms!

It was fun to see so many people and visit so many homes; nonetheless, it is fun to be home, also! Simon was able to spend lots of time with his grandparents as well as visit with both sets of great-grandparents and several cousins, uncles, and aunt (not plural yet until Ollie or Scott marries.)

It was an adjustment to leave the unseasonably cool (and pleasant) temperatures of South Carolina and to meet the hot and very humid temperatures of north Georgia and Tennessee. Agh, but the worst was the heat of traveling back from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and finally Texas. But the transition was good for our bodies. I don't know how we could have adjusted to our current 103 degrees if we had traveled straight from the 80s of South Carolina (unseasonable) to our 103 here, deep in the heart of Texas!

Well, I must go finish assembling our fine dinner cuisine of tuna salad on whole wheat tortillas!

Here We Go

Pix while Away

There is more from whence this came.

You can see Sarah came up for a visit.

Simon didn't want to wear Nana's shoes, but I thought it would be a cute pix.

Simon practices for American Idol.

We watched Bride and Prejudice last night. Found a gold mine at McKays of Dr.Who and MST 3000.

Tigers Drive

Outdoor photo shoot this evening. Ollie drove up for the afternoon and left after dinner sometime. The weather here in SC and when we were in GA has been perfect for July. Seasonably cool.

My grandparents' flowers have truly rivaled the Arboretum. I told Grandpa that he should put a sign up on the street and charge admission to look at his yard! I think his yardwork is an act of love for Grandma since she loves flowers so much and is unable to tend them like she used to.

Two hours of weeding yesterday and I definitely feel the pain today.

Simon was chasing lightening bugs this evening.

My uncles taught Simon to pound on the table and say, "Beer." (Sorry, Matt)
Uncle Wayne always teases me that I don't let Simon eat 'real' food and that something horrible will happen to Simon is he grows up drinking skim milk and eating broccoli. I didn't offer Simon any of the sausage at dinner, because he normallly doesn't eat meat. I did give him a bite, expecting him not to eat it, but funny enough he liked it.

Simon had his first sip of Sprite yesterday.

Simon has had more ice-cream in the last two nights that I have (but I haven't had any so that doesn't say too much.)

We miss Matt terribly, especially when I call him and have to recount all of the terribly cute things Simon does...like when Alex was crying and Simon came up to him and said 'It's alright." Or when Simon would bring Alex a bottle or pacifier on Simon's initiative.

Kelly, Corey, and Alex

Alex and Simon sharing the back seat of the Camry after a crazy vehicle musical chairs thingamajig that I truly have no energy to explain. But what fun it was for them to be together in a car!

We saw the new Superman movie. Thumbs up, but I'm easy to please sometimes. Nacho Libre made me laugh much harder, though. I saw that before we left with Matt and Scott. Funny sitting next to Sayrah who had NEVER SEEN any of the Superman movies. But she knew about the whole Kryptonite thing somehow.

Kelly and Corey just moved a couple of weeks ago to Georgia, though they live minutes from South Carolina. Corey just finished his doctorate, and we are all proud of him and are rejoicing with them (Phillipians) as he will be a professor of Counseling at Toccoa Falls.

I heard a pastor comment once on the passage in Phillippians where it says to "Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." He said it was often easier for Christians to mourn with those who mourn that to rejoice with those who rejoice. Just a thought that came into my tired brain.

Missions Conference

Last weekend, thought it seems like last month, GFA hosted their Renewing Your Passion Conference at the Gaylord in Texas. The photos are of some attendees that we knew and we blessed to spend time with that weekend. There is cameraman Matt. Ah, how life changes sometimes. I remember when the first week of June was filled with videotaping Hilltop. There's not a pix of Matt and I together because we really didn't see each other. Even though we were staying at the Gaylord, which isn't comparable to Hilltop, we both felt like we had just 'survived' a week at camp as far as our energy depletion.

Top Ten Conference Highlights: worship, serving, visiting, teaching, helping, the Gaylord and all its craziness, especially the all night cafe, wireless internet pretty much everywhere, the in room coffee that was the best coffee I have truly ever made, quiet times on the balcony with the aforementioned coffee, mint oreos with the girls on the third floor, walking with Cathy in the morning, ... I think I may have mentioned more than 10. Notice the first five are not quite tangible so I guess that means they are more lasting.

Old News

I am sitting in a Starbucks in Clemson, South Carolina with my brother Scott. Hmm...wish they were actually brewing coffee, but it is closed. We are using the wireless internet though. Free internet. Nice.

Here are some old pix that I feel the need to post before posting present pics. Matt, Simon and I spent some time with Ashley and Matt a few Sundays ago. We went to church with them, had Panda Express afterwards which seems to be a tradition, shopped at World Market, and had ice cream a la Matt afterwards where he works.

My clearest memory of that day is Simon running up and down the sides of the stage, thinking the wheelchair ramp was a slide; Simon running on the stage with the biggest and cutest rubber ducky that I've ever seen, thanks to A & M's mom. A very nice day and Simon was a trooper until he crashed when we got home around 3 or 4 -- there's a pix of him sleeping on the floor.

Three Poses

I like the different expressions that Simon seems to make in these shots. He is wearing a shirt mom bought him that day; I think it makes him look like a little man!

Mom also bought Simon some shoes and had his feet sized at Stride Rite. Hmm, should I feel bad that he was wearing a size 5 but is really a size 6.5 or 7 ? Simon now has a pair of brown shoes that look like his daddy's. Very similar. Maybe I'll post a side by side pix one day.

Writing of future pix...I should mention I will try and post one of Simon in his boots. When Simon receivev his new shoes, it prompted me to see what size his boots were. (They are a size 7) Simon was given a pair of cowboy boots by little Jacob when Simon was born. They were Jake's when he was a little lad.

So, I put the boots on Simon and he loved them! He seemed to realize they were special. He just giggled and tried to walk, but kept falling. He would just laugh and laugh. He fell over so many times and seemed to practically do a somersault. Ah, maybe I should see if I can post video somehow on this blog. It is hard to describe in words how utterly hilarious Simon can be!

I am blogging tonight in on my bed with our new (to us) laptop! I guess we are officially a Macintosh home as our desktop and laptop are both Apple. Matt bought a wireless router tonight and became a computer geek for a few minutes, but now we have wireless!

Ebay--Matt got an awesome deal on this laptop. We are still selling things on Ebay as the notion strikes us. We were cleaning out Simon's room today and came across two "collectibles" (loosely termed) that we think we can part with. A Mickey Mouse phone and a Will Ferrell Jack in the Box from Elf. You should search for them on Ebay and see if you can find us. Oh, Matt just told me he is going to wait until after this next weekend to list them. I think he will put a link to a movie where you can see the jack in the box in action. Ah, but this is but a tease as it won't be for sale for another week or so. Just be patient--paradise is right around the corner and Pedro will make your wildest dreams come true.

The Tails of Two Bunnies!

This morning, Simon and I went outside to water our tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers. I let Simon play with the water hose and he unwittingly discovered two baby bunnies. I have been complaining about the rabbit who we see frequently in our backyard and whom we suspect often eats our veggies before we do! Matt noticed a couple of weeks ago that the bunny had dug a burrow. I feel strangely touched that the rabbit decided to have her bunnies in our backyard--that we are hospitable to little animals. At least in this moment, I am glad we have such a home, sweet home for them in our yard; though, I do predict that I will one day complain about the same animals.

Simon just ran around while the little bunnies hopped and hopped from the 'huge' (in proportion) toddler. I don't know where the mommy bunny was today.

Hmmm ... We hung up some curtains in Simon's room today and it made a world of difference. The curtains aren't over the window, but where the closet doors should be. It was an easy 'room-makeover' as we already had the curtains which match very well and the tension rod was in the garage waiting for a use. I imagine it saying, "Use me, use me!" Sad, little rod that was so anxious to be used.

I am almost through listening to a trilogy by Michael Phillips. I think I may have forgotten to mention that two weeks ago I read no less that four of his books in a week's time. I think each book was approximately 400 pages. I go through stages where I read a lot and then not so much because I realize I love to read, but I easily get engrossed and spend more time than I think is wise reading. So, these last two weeks I weaned myself from reading by once again going audio. I did read an interesting book last week (non-fiction) titled The Unlikely Angel or maybe it was An Unlikely Angel. It was about a hostage situation in Atlanta a year or so ago; lots of dialogue about the Lord and the 40 Days of Purpose book by Rick Warren.

Soundtrack

Simon fell ill Friday evening through early Saturday morning. One bath, one shower, and one sponge-off later, he was settled into a fitful's night sleep next to me--we put a twin mattress in his room on the floor and I slept with him both Friday and Saturday night. Matt also fell ill. He had to cancel his early Saturday morning cross-country bike ride.

Last Wednesday, we went to the park and road bikes with Simon in his trailer. We went to Arbor Hills in Plano and stayed on the paved roads with Simon. Then, I took Simon to the playground while Matt explored the off-road trails. AND...he saw a mountain lion! Not a bobcat, the tail was too short. At least it was a baby one (sort of). I asked if he was scared, and he said he definitely started pedaling faster.

We've eaten squash and cucumber from our garden on several occassions. I wish I had planted zuchinni, but everytime I went to Home Depot, they were out of it, and I think it would definitely be too late now.

We just finished eating and Simon said this sentence for the first time : "Bye-bye eat." You'll have to read another post to really get the gist of that.

Simon and Alex are cousins!

The top pix is of Simon in Alex' baby carrier/seat. I guess Simon recognized it and wanted to reflect upon the past or something.

Simon and Alex on the couch -- just waiting for Alex to tip over! The other shots following this pose are humorous -- in one pix, it looks like Simon is attacking Alex' eye, in other pix, Alex just tips over, the next pix has Alex crying with Simon looking befuddled, and then the next pix has Alex being picked up by an adult and Simon is now crying.

Aunt Amy. Hmmm, sometimes it just dawns on me that I am an aunt. Hmmm, I think Auntie Amy or Auntie Ames. Not too much you can do with the name Amy. I guess we'll see what little Alex comes up with. We wanted Kelly to be Aunt KayKay, but Simon calls her Kiki.

Alex looks so cute in these pictures!

Bye Bye Fun

To help Simon transition from activities, especially the 'fun' ones, we began a 'good-bye dialogue.' For example, when it's time to leave the park, we pick him or up take his hand and say "Bye bye park." Then Simon says, "Bye, bye, park." Then we in turn say "Bye, bye slide" and "Bye, bye, sun," "Bye, bye, swing," with Simon echoing each goodbye sentiment. Simon now will initiate some of the good bye sentences.

The other day, he ended with "Bye-bye fun....." as we left the park -- (sweet and a little sad)

I was in our backyard with Simon this morning, and I could tell when he was ready to go inside. It wasn't hard to figure out. He stood by the backdoor and started saying "Bye-bye, water. Bye-bye, sun." If that wasn't a big enough clue, he had also taken off one of his shoes and put it up in the outside shoe basket.

The pix of Matt 'sleeping' on the slide makes me smile.

Also, the true boyness of Simon's scuffed up face in the one pix. He is truly 100% boy. His little legs are spotted with small bruises from playing so hard.

Mom and Dad brought Simon back a sailor hat from St.Louis. I'll have to take a pix of that and post it soon. He wanted to wear it to bed last night. When I sat down to read a book to him and give him his nightly sippy cup, Snoopy was in our chair with Simon's hat on. So, Simon put it on himself and was quite content to leave it at that. Once he was practically asleep, I managed to slip it off his head without too much of a struggle. I guess I could have let him sleep with it on, but I wasn't thinking, I was just being ruled by tradition, I guess!

Matt and I had a trip down memory lane last night when we watched The Flight of the Navigator from 1986. I didn't remember Sarah Jessica Parker being in the movie, but she was. Ah, the 80s--WHAT we were we thinking? It's like a stain on our nation's heritage -- the hair, the clothes, the make-up, the music. Granted, it has reminiscent value.

A Friend for Simon!

Last Thursday, Simon had so much fun playing with Cameron. Cameron is only 3 months older than Simon, and the two boys played like the best of friends and were quite brotherly (in a nice way) to each other! Cameron is the son of a good friend of mine from Texas A&M with whom we were just recently reacquainted, only to find out that they are moving soon!

This was one of Simon's first meals to not sit in his booster/high chair. We're not ready to make that transition just yet, but Cameron's little brother Asa (born last September) needed the high chair more! Simon and Cameron would take turns jumping up and running from the table -- so you can see how it would be hard to get simon to eat under these circumstances! Someone did suggest using a belt to 'belt' him in, but I"ll just keep using his high chair until he can't fit in it or until he goes off to college!

It was adorable to Simon and Cameron running around, playing with each other; without shirts, they seem like little boys from the 1950's. I don't know why, but I associate the 1950s with shirtless little boys.

They played outside in the yard, ran around the house, played in the living room, played in Simon's room, tinkered on the piano, and shared a calming 30 minute video together.

Water Fun

Pix taken May 21st.

Simon loved the sprinkler. Now, everytime we go outside he picks up the sprinkler and says (somewhere between a statement and a question) "Water.?"

Matt and I went to the State Park at Lake Ray Roberts today. Bike trails. (I didn't do the off-roading ones, but Matt had fun on them.) I wish I had brought towels for getting in the lake--the lake and 'beach' actually seemed clean. I think Simon would have fun playing in the water and in the playgrounds that are nearby. So, we'll have to go another weekend when we have Simon!