Christmas Present

So, my Christmas present came early this year....

Not only did it snow here in Houston a couple weeks ago,

Jakob went and bought lights and decorations for outside the house.
This will be the first year we REALLY decorated for Christmas. Granted, we aren't putting up a tree, but it's not worth it since we won't be around. I'm just happy to have some rejuvenated holiday spirit, and I'll be reminded of it every day when I come home!!

Thanksgiving

Well, although it's a little late to be posting about Thanksgiving, I figured I should share some of the family photos from our visit. We spent Thanksgiving day with Jakob's family. We visited with Baw-Baw, doted on the twins, and spoiled Taylor rotten!

Jakob also got some time with his cousin Ashley and her husband Jimmy.

All in all we had a great visit, displayed in the pictures below!

Friends

Well, as most of you are aware we are spending a week with Jakob's family for Thanksgiving and his birthday. We started the weekend with a visit with Jakob's good friend Russell and his family. We had lunch, visited with Russell's parents (who adore Jakob), and doted all over Russell's little girl.

I got to see a different side of my husband as he became comfortable in memories of his past, and caught up with an old friend. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with him and his family, and see Jakob get to reconnect with people from his life that meant so much to him. We even have plans to go watch Russell's rugby practice while we're in town.

We also took some time to have dinner with my cousin Sarah and her fiance Bryan. There was lots of conversation about the craziness of life, and Jakob and Bryan talked mostly about civil service. I'm glad I got to spend some time with her and getting to see a little of her life now. I have missed her terribly these last ten years, but as we age and mature, life's little things seem to take all the free time that exists. Good news is we should be seeing them again next summer for their nuptuals.

Needless to say, we still have a couple friends and family members to visit with, but overall the week is shaping up to be a great trip!

Time Off and Time Away

So....I know it's been forever since I posted anything. I actually went back today and realized it's been (literally) months! Well, that is partially due to being so busy I don't take the time to sign on, and partially due to having absolutely nothing to talk about. How ironic huh?

Anyways, I'm realizing today there's a huge difference between time off and time away. That includes from your family, your job, your hobbies, and your friends. I often find that I talk about taking time off, but that usually just involves putting an electronic request in the computer, and having someone approve my option to not show up that day.

Time away is a very different matter though. There's lot of preparation, thinking ahead, and at least a small amount of stress until you come back. For example, traveling away from home. It's great and nice to take the time to go and be somewhere different, but to get there you have to do several things first.

Step 1: Figure out if you are taking the dogs (children, cats, etc.) or having someone watch them.

Step 2: Find the right person to watch them.

Step 3: Leave notes for the person watching them so they do it right.

Step 4: Prepare yourself to call often and make sure they are doing it right.

Step 5: Come home and try to avoid the "we'll never do that again" thought if it wasn't done "exactly" right.

And that's just accounting for one small piece of the puzzle. You still have packing, planning, notifying, and then physically going to account for.

After all is said and done, you come home, throw your bags on the floor, pet the dogs (kiss the kids if so applicable) and finally rest. All this, and yet we look forward to taking some time away.....

Fourth of July

It came and went, without a single firework seen. We spent the holiday weekend with Jakob's parents, at their house with a pool and great weather (well, bright sun, but lots of heat), but came home to settle in before the fireworks went off. Jakob had to work today, which meant he needed sleep last night. It's not the first year we haven't fully celebrated, and I doubt it will be the last. Ah....the joys of 24 hour shifts.

Anyways, aside from my missing out on a great light show, we did enjoy family and visiting (with a little family competition on a poker table....). We hung out by the pool, and the dogs soon found out how much they loved/hated the water.

We couldn't keep Bailey out of the pool if we tried, and Henry was too jealous to allow her all the fun without him. I ended the weekend with some hellacious scratches across my arms, but not nearly as bad as the ones Bailey left on Jakob's back as she swam after him. She's faster than either of us thought.

After a couple times watching her launch herself into the pool, and swim back and forth between family members, we figured we'd put the experience to good use and finally try to get her to learn how to fetch. That went swimmingly (no pun intended) until Henry wanted to interfere, at which time Bailey dunked him much like children do. Jakob and I couldn't stop laughing, even though we shouldn't have encouraged that type of sibling rivalry between them.

After a long afternoon in the sun and the water, Bailey and Henry made amends. They shared a float, and finally kept each other warm while we ate dinner and played a little poker.

We were only at Jakob's parents for a little over 24-hours, but the whole family was glad to get some rest on the way home.

Family (cont.)....

Well, I'm a little slow on the upkeep, but we have news from the family front....

My nephew Chris has arrived. He came at 6:08 AM on Monday, June 29, 2009. He was a gorgeous baby boy, taking after both his parents, but definitely didn't inherit the head of hair that Nate had (although he does have the Aggie hat to cover that up.)

Jakob and I attempted to hang out at the hospital all night waiting on his arrival, but I'm a party pooper and just couldn't hack it. We left about 5:00 AM to come back and get some sleep. Dad finally called around 7 to say he was here.

Needless to say, I bugged Jakob all week to go with me back down to see him, and I got to hold that tiny little bundle of joy for the first time last Wednesday. He is very sweet, and makes the cutest noises and faces while he sleeps.

I went down again today to get some one-on-one face time with the little man, as I cannot possibly pass up the chance to love on such a sweet face.

In the meantime, I got another small visit with Nate, when he came through on his way to visit Chris. It was great to see Amanda and Erich too of course. Nate is getting so big, and has the happiest little personality. I thoroughly enjoyed making him laugh and coo while he was here.

All in all, it was a great week!!

Father's Day...

"He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it." ~Clarence Budington Kelland

On this Father's Day, I took some time to reflect on my childhood and enjoyed some fond memories.

I remember hanging out with my dad watching movies, and wearing the 3-D glasses around the house wondering how they worked. I remember the milkshakes Dad made,

and realize now how frustrating it is that I can't recreate that same taste.

I was truly blessed to have a father who was interactive, and involved in my everyday. He coached my softball team, came to parent-teacher conferences, and was supportive when I was slathered in makeup for dance competitions.

He told me I was capable of doing anything I put my mind to, but was protective enough that I worried about doing anything that could get me into enough trouble to ruin my future.

Even now we share a similar sense of humor, and I feel like I can talk to him about anything going on and get a honest opinion back.

I wondered when Jakob and I got married, how the transition with the in-laws would be, purely because my father and I are so close, and I wasn't sure how I would bond with Jakob's dad. I am very fortunate in that he took me in as family (even before the wedding) and now I'm getting

an insight on a different type of parental relationship. I'm seeing how father-son bonding is different than father-daughter.

For instance, my father and I may talk while he's fixing the car, but it's never about actually fixing the car. And if Jakob's dad would never ask me if I had "honorable" intentions when we started dating.

All in all, we are still very fortunate to both still have ability to enjoy our father's at this point in our life.

Now my generation are becoming father's themselves, and I wonder how their children will view them. Will they see the fun-loving father, or the disciplinarian. Will the children grow up to hold similar values as were instilled on our generation, or has that been lost in this society that doesn't slow down to think about the repercussions.

A visit from East Texas

Well, we are recovering this weekend after having Taylor for a week. Jakob spent most of the time with her, taking her swimming, to get her nails done, and running errands. On Thursday I was able to take off half a day and we took her to the Astros game.

We also took her to the Aquarium afterwards and walked through the exhibit.

She played games, had a caricature drawn, and we had an awesome dinner!

Now that she's gone, we miss her of course. It's great when she comes to visit, because we get a small bit of spoiling, and a small dose of parenthood. I think each time she leaves Jakob is very aware of how we are not currently ready to start our family. We have so much going on during the week, and most weekends, I'm not sure how we'd manage.

That being said, I love it when she comes to visit. I get to share some of life's great secrets with her, and Jakob tells her different stories about her dad.* This is a great honor for Jakob, as he tries to provide Taylor with the bits of knowledge, humor, and love that Jeremy would have. Obviously Jakob is no substitute for her father, but he does a great job letting her know just how important she is. I know we aren't ready for kids right now, but I am blessed in knowing how great of a father Jakob will be.

*For those of you who don't know, Taylor's father passed away when she was 5 years old.

God is good.....

Just a quick update...

I just found out today that our friends, Tim and Jess, are pregnant.  She's announced it to the world via her blog (http://countryfamilyrobinson.blogspot.com/2009/05/wanna-hear-secret.html) so I figure it's ok for me to share too.  :)  Anyways, she had shared with me a little of their journey trying to conceive and today, and their news, just proves prayers are answered.

Now I'm not saying I didn't believe in God before now.  All I'm pointing out is that times like this are when you know he really listens and cares about good people.  As you'll read her post (if you're so inclined), the "other" Robinson family got their news on what couldn't be a better day of the year - Mother's Day.

So here's to Tim and Jess!

Family.....

I started receiving multiple emails today with pictures of my precious nephew Nate.  It's absolutely amazing to see the joy of parenting my sister is experiencing through the photos she shares and her thoughts of those moments captured in time.

I look forward to the day when he is moving so much and so quickly that the shots we get are few and far between, though I will miss the days of feeling like I know most of the inner workings of his regular activities.

And just as everything does, this too shall fade and pale in comparison to the joy of seeing my grandparents with him for the first time, or seeing my dad succomb once again to holding this tiny person in his hands, though we all know it's not something he's done in more than 20 years.

All in all, I'm very blessed to be able to love this child and call him family.

Mindless numbing....

This weekend has been a whirlwind of activity, and yet nothing was accomplished!  Thursday I got news that Jenna is engaged.  She was so excited, and it was great to hear the story.  Fredy is one awesome planner.  Friday was an early day at work, but I still went non-stop from 8AM till 4PM.  I got home and spent the afternoon getting ready for the festivities.  Saturday we had a crawfish boil and an Astros game.  Like usual we were running behind everywhere we went.  Today was another Astros game and they opened up the All-Star ballets.  Minute Maid park is encouraging voting by offering prizes for filling out 50, 200, 500, 1500, and 3000 ballets.  Jakob decided that 3000 is the way to go, so we walked out of the park today with 1200 ballets to fill out.  We've spent the better part of the night punching ballets, and haven't even made a dent in the progress.

All in all, it's been a good weekend.  I enjoy staying busy and having things to do, but I am looking forward to resting now.

On another note, I planted flowers a week or so ago, and they are doing great.  By nature I have absolutely no predisposition for growing things, or keeping them alive once they are given to me.  This should be an experiment in my ability to actually contribute to the beauty that is my landscape.

This post is much less deep than the first, mostly because I'm in a more boring state of mind.  I'm hoping to have some inspiration strike soon....

First Draft....

So, here's the thing.  I'm not much of a writer...unless I'm angry or have nothing else to do.  By definition, this means I may have set up a blog that will disappear in a matter of weeks.  On the other hand, it might catch on and you can read my rants that drone on and on about who knows what.  For anyone that has spent any length of time with me knows that I can talk your ear off.  Maybe this will curb some of that socialization appetite.

Either way, it's here for as long as it wills itself to be. (And no, I don't believe it's actually capable of making a decision on it's own, and I'm not hearing voices associated with a web application.)

Well, since this is the first of an undetermined amount of posts, I'm going to take this time to be my whining moments.  I figure most people don't read the first post anyways right?

To start off, let's just say I'm a worry-wart that pays too much attention to what others are thinking or feeling (in general and specific to me) and it sometimes overruns my day.  I try to go out of my way for others and see myself as a good friend that just gets walked on......but.....I have had it brought to my attention that my own self evaluation and the reality of my relationships may be slightly (ok, in some cases drastically) different.  

I'm suprisingly okay with this realization in itself.  My issue is more how to overcome what seems to be a basic part of my personality, and allow myself to have a more complete, calm, and secure existence.  I mean, I have a great husband, a close family, and a secure job at the moment.  What more can a girl ask for?

I feel like I've went through my life being an outcast and with one (two if I was REALLY lucky) friends at a time.  Most people will tell me "good friends are better than social aquaintances, especially in small numbers" but I don't always believe that.  I have always found myself to over-cherish my friends (thus suffocating them according to my assessment) and therefore ending up lonely.  Of course, I'll occasionally find that one off, that is there no matter what is going on, and I feel secure enough to truly share with them the things that I would hope they would share with me.....which ultimately leads me to saying things that apparently it's ok to think, but never to say out loud.....

For instance, you cannot say to a "best friend" that you agree with them when they are ranting about their significant other and their fears, because then you are not being supportive but rather destructive to their relationship.  I feel like I walk on these eggshells (more like glass shards) constantly, and have not quite figured out how to keep from cutting my feet......

However, Jakob has helped to curb some of this.  He pulls no punches in telling me when my facial expressions don't match what I'm thinking, or that having friends that just ditch aren't worth it.  I've come to hold tight to a more philosphical approach in that people are in your life for a time, to teach you something, and to learn something from you.  In the end, they leave, or you do, and the reasons why may not be apparent or make sense at the time, but always show themselves later.  

I guess by that thought process, I have a lot of revelations to look forward to.....