Beginning to Bloom!

So many things in our life are beginning to take shape . . . blooming into bigger and better things you could say.
Let's start with our beautiful flowers. Our rose bushes are all taking turns giving off colorful buds.



Our Magnolia tree has several buds on it - and some flowers too.

Our front landscaping has Purple Sage bushes that are starting to flower (no pics though).
But the most beautiful flower that has come up are our firey red Asiatic Lillies!


Of course, photosynthesis takes sunlight to help these wonderful beauties to grow - and the sun can be rather bright here in Texas - - - so we HAD to get Augie some sunglasses!!!
Check him out - what a little dude!!!


Don't know if you can tell, but they are camo shades!

Thanks to our amazing Daddy-O for catching Mommy and Bubby together in their shades! We had a lot of fun!



Augie thinks that he is blooming new appendages as well . . . I know they were already there, but he has found his toes and thinks they are a GREAT new set of toys!

He also has a new "thing." He still does the turtle face, but he has now added a lizard tongue to the mix.

He has had to get some new clothes. We added some fun muscle shirts to his summer wardrobe. He has received lots of compliments on his muscles when he has worn these.

He is also working on building his back muscles. We have reached the "tripod" stage - he is sitting up on his own, but only for a couple of seconds!!!


And the most exciting - for us, not Augie - is that we can SEE his first tooth. It is starting to poke out of his gums. It is really hurting him and causing lots of tears, but I have to admit that I did take the opportunity to snag a picture. It was an exciting milestone for me. I'm sure that will change as Augie continues to nurse (we'll see how much longer that lasts now). So, I had to take a picture while we could see the little tooth.

Poor Bubby!!!

Altogether, we have had quite a busy couple of weeks - hence why I haven't blogged in so long, and I am rambling on about all that's happened.

Last Thursday night was spent at the school for our 50th b-day celebration. It was a long night . . . but it was fun - and really cool to see all the people that came. I was very happy to see some of my own students that are in Jr.High and Highschool now.
Augie was very happy to see someone too . . .

I am VERY surprised that Augie wasn't scared. One of my 6th graders (great kid) is Al-E-Gator for our school and was present for the festivities. He came over to say hi to Augie . . . and to my surprise, Augie didn't mind at all.


Today, we finally took a break for ourselves. We went to eat at Cantina Laredo - delicious! Augie even sat in a big boy high chair and behaved incredibly well!!!

Belton Bound!!!

WooHoo! We are really making progress on getting to move closer to Pops and Grandma Lopez. We have received the deed to the 1st lot that we purchased TODAY!!! We also faxed in the contract for the 2nd lot that we are going to get to purchase TODAY!!!
God really wants us in Belton I guess. We are so blessed to have been able to purchase two adjoining lots equaling a little bit over an acre . . . without having to finance either one! We will be able to use the next two years (maybe more) to pay off as much of our student loans/debt off as we can (all of it hopefully) - and move to Moffat near my parents! The pay cut is going to be huge, so we really need to make that progress before we can go anywhere!!!
That also gives me 2 yrs.(+) to create my dream home and try to line it all up into a reasonable budget - and save up any extra money that I can. Mommy has expensive taste - so there's going to be a lot to figure out with that budget!!!
Good thing I have a couple YEARS to do that!!!

Moving on:
I'm glad that the things that we are doing are transferable also (we did do that on purpose). For example, we planted these new beauties in our pots - they can come with us when we build our new home!!!


Continuing on:
We took a last minute trip to see my parents this weekend. When we talked to the gentleman that is selling his lot to us, we agreed to sign the contract this weekend at Marci's house. It turned out that he is Marci's paperman (paper boy - except older - a lot older). He lives a mile down the road from her, John, and the girls. So, we met at Marci's on Saturday afternoon, signed the contract, and got to enjoy a great weekend with the family!

We made sure Augie ate something before hitting the road . . .

He was having some trouble pooping, so we added prunes to his "fruit" options! He had a lot of fun with them. I think he just had fun in general . . . he likes to eat . . . as if you couldn't tell that anyway!


We also attended a special mass for the Farias kiddos. Julian and Adriel both made their First Communion. Gus and I are honored to now be Julian's God Parents. It was a nice mass, followed by a little bit of family time afterwards (unfortunately we were a little rushed because of leaving town right after the mass). What a beautiful day and a beautiful occasion!


Then we hit the road to get to Marci's on time to meet Mr.Pritchard and sign that contract!
As we arrived, we pulled onto her newly paved drive, and up to the garage, and right in front of our car . . . was a little green chicken jumping around! That's right, Jelly bean has survived! Unfortunately, he is the only one that has. One of the others was attacked by a cat, and the other just didn't make it. But, it turns out that Jelly Bean is one tough ROOSTER!


Augie's cousins were SO excited to see him. He is the same size as Alexa - sure - but she is way more mobile than he is - and tackled him with kisses as soon as she could!
And Elena wasn't far off waiting for her own turn!

After spending a little time inside, we moved outside for Elena to show us her bubble blowing hippo! Augie was quite mesmerized. He was trying really hard to catch those bubbles!!!

All of this family time - it just gets him all wound up. He had SO much fun! You can just see it on his face!!!

And of course, after a long day of playing and fun, he fell asleep . . . HARD!


After church on Sunday, we spent some more time with the cousins before having to return to Dallas.


When we returned, we checked on my mother's day gift from Gus, a beautiful new hydrangea plant that I'd been wanting for awhile now. It withered a little, but we propped a watering spike near it to keep it well hydrated! It is doing wonderfully.

Plants ok. Dogs ok. Augie fed. So Gus treated me to a mother's day dinner at Logan's Roadhouse. It was delicious!!!
They had run out of high chairs for him to sit in right when we got there. So Augie got to sit in Mommy and Daddy's lap for dinner. He did VERY well with it too. He drank water from my straw, enjoyed some squash, and was a very good boy!
Of course we took pictures! It couldn't have been a better mother's day!!!




I AM SO BLESSED TO BE A MOMMY! I HAVE A WONDERFUL HUSBAND AND A BEAUTIFUL CHILD, AND I AM SO BLESSED TO GET TO GO TO BED AND WAKE UP TO THEM EVERY DAY! WHAT MORE COULD A MOTHER ASK FOR!

Wonderful Weekend

What a wonderful weekend. Augie's Grandma 'Raine was in town, and we had a lot of fun! We spent Saturday buying plants to add to the front landscaping, going to a mother's day lunch, planting the flowers, and enjoying eachother's company. Augie watched us plant everything and tried to stay cool in the shade. He had lots of fun too.



Sunday, we woke up and decided to try on one of daddy's old baby shirts . . .


I think we missed the window for Augie to be able to wear this one!

Then, after a family breakfast, we got ready for church . . . Grandma watched Augie while we prepared . . . priceless moments . . . caught in a photo . . .

Then we dressed Augie:
He got to wear an adorable outfit from his Grandma 'Raine. Rock Lives!!!
HOW GREAT IS THIS OUTFIT?!!!

Grandma 'Raine with her 2 boys!

Daddy and son - matching macho men with their sleeves rolled up!

It took until after church for us to get a picture where Augie was smiling with Mommy . . . but we did!


We enjoyed lunch, a movie, and dessert after church - and then it was time to take Grandma 'Raine back to the airport. :(

We returned to the store to get more plants, etc. for the landscaping . . . and order a new dishwasher - ours quit on us without warning (It was probably the original one that came with the house in 1980!) - we just got a really simple one that will still look nice in the kitchen. Then we returned home to get all the real work done. We thought we'd be able to get more work done . . . but then we decided to wash the cars. It was beautiful outside, so we put on our swimmin' suits and prepared to get a little bit wet!
We were SO excited to get to put him in his 'trunks - even if he really wasn't going to be the one getting wet!!! They are REALLY CUTE, trendy little board shorts, with sharks and great colors.


He was a good sport for a long time - playing in his exersaucer.


When he got fussy, he ate, and we went inside to fold laundry. Laundry is probably my least favorite chore. You do it, and there's always more to follow. With this in mind, I never thought I'd say this, but folding the laundry was the highlight of my day today!!!
Here's why:


On a new note:
As I was typing the last little paragraph above, my bubby woke from his sleep - screaming! A rough end to a perfect day - I think those little teeth are pretty close to breaking through his gums. He was SO upset. He brought me to tears with his body just slumped in my arms, drool running out of his little mouth, and lower lip hanging in a full pout. :(
Pray for us - especially Augie - so that he doesn't suffer too much as he goes through this challenge of his infancy.