Love Bugs...

are a type of fly that comes out in Spring and Fall for mating. They fly around, usually two attached to each other, and sometimes they make it a three-some! It's more of a nuisance than anything. They're splatted all over my car and it's sooooo gross. Thank goodness they don't stay around for very long or fly at night. Emma thinks they're pretty cute and wants to catch them.

I would have posted a picture of them, but I'm pretty frustrated with the process of posting pictures. So, needless to say, I don't have any to show you.

Spring Fling...

at Emma's preschool was held a few weeks ago, but I just got my pictures downloaded so I could share them with you. Basically, instead of a school day, they hold a carnival for all the kids. Emma had a great time there and found her friend, Jennifer to walk around with. I was so glad the weather was nice that day, and not to hot. We had a great time.

Emma riding on the train

Emma and Jennifer on the "swing"

Hayride

Climbing the wall of the obstacle course

Emma in the train

News and Happenings...

My parents are coming to Texas tomorrow for their first visit, and we are excited! They left this morning and will be arriving late tomorrow afternoon. They got a little delayed in Arizona, but hopefully it didn't put them to behind.

Barry returned yesterday afternoon from being gone all week at a convention. Emma and I were glad to see him. We missed him!

It turned out to be quite an interesting, exhausting, frustrating , and lonely week, which is an understatement to say the least. Between not being able to sleep at night, Emma's challenging behavior, the idea of a "critter" in my attic, and still adjusting to being in a new place without my usual support system around me, I was totally wiped out by Thursday and barley able to function. Thank goodness Norma, my mother-in-law, is only 5 doors down and came over at midnight on Wednesday to keep me company so I could try and get some much needed sleep.

Until next time...

3 days down, 3 to go...

Barry left on a business trip Sunday and comes back Friday afternoon, I'm counting down the days until he gets back. This long trip is not typical for his job, so it's a little different for us. Although I miss him, my biggest challenge has been Emma. For the last several weeks we've been dealing with attitude and behavior issues. Ugh! It's exhausting dealing with that when you're "on" 24 hours a day. Some people say the 3's were difficult, but I'm finding the 4's most challenging. One thing I am grateful for - preschool 3 days a week!

From the inside...

Here are some pictures of what our home looks like inside. Some have not seen pictures of it and others have only seen it with the previous owners furniture. So, here you have it, the Calvert pad...


Backyard
Guest bathroom
View down the street
Game room
Emma's room

Emma's bathroom
Family room
Kitchen
Master bedroom
Master bathroom
View from front of house

An Adventure into downtown...

Well, today Emma and I ventured into downtown Houston to go to the Galleria. The Galleria is the huge mall that has it all, and then some. If you thought South Coast Plaza was big, you haven't seen nothin' yet.

There are two other malls closer by, but the closest Nordstrom's is at the Galleria and I had to return an item that I've had since January. So, we got in the car and headed out. I was very proud of myself because I only made one wrong turn. I got off the freeway, and called Norma just to confirm that I was headed the wrong direction and needed to turn around.

We made it to Nordstrom, returned the shoes, and Emma even got to spend her gift card at Build-a-Bear. We didn't complete the entire walk of the mall, but I feel comfortable about making the 28 mile drive again. It was a little confusing getting back to the freeway, but in all the turns I made I saw more stores and even Maggiano's, yummy! I also liked the area in downtown where all the shopping is. Now, if they just had a Coffee Bean.

It's my birthday...

Today marks the day of my 38th birthday! I awoke this morning to Emma bounding through my bedroom and climbing up on the bed with gift and card in hand. She has been so excited about this day. I opened my gift and saw that she had gotten me a teddy bear, and chocolates. So precious.

We attended church at Champion Forest Baptist, this was our first time there and enjoyed it. Emma had told her Sunday school teacher today was her mama's birthday, so they made a card for me.

This is only the second time in my life that I have not been with my sister on our birthday. The first time was 18 years ago when she was in England. I was glad we were able to connect on the web cam and talk for a little bit. I'm looking forward to my parents coming in two weeks and we'll get to celebrate all over again.

For dinner we went down the street to my in-laws and had dinner. It was so yummy. Jessica (my niece) made one of my favorites from her mom, chicken enchiladas and rice. Thank you Jess and Bern. We had my favorite cake, German chocolate with butter cream frosting. I was stuffed afterwards. I got a gift card to Coach from Dave and Norma and one from Barry. So, can you guess where I'm headed? They just opened an outlet mall, not far from here, with some of my favorite stores. I've heard it's pretty crowded since they just opened, but I'm eager to check it out.

Besides missing my sister and my Coffee Bean, today turned out quite nice.

Back to Texas...

I flew back home on Wednesday afternoon and had a much better experience than leaving for California on Monday. I was not sure I would make it! I was flying from Houston to Dallas and then on to Orange County, however, Dallas was having storms so flights were being delayed and connections being missed. I was originally to arrive in O.C. at 8:00 p.m. and finally got in at 11:15 p.m. Whew!

I attended the graveside service for Holli's sister, and then went on to the Memorial service and reception. It was all very nice and a great celebration of Gwyn's life. It was so good to be there for Holli and give her encouragement and support - Eileen, Julie, and Beverley were also there. Although, the circumstances in which I was in CA was bittersweet, it was great to see my girlfriends and family.

I feel very blessed to have such committed girlfriends that stand by your side no matter when you need it.