A Lull!

The last few weeks have been good. While we did all battle a little cold, for the most part we've been happy and healthy. We're even in a little bit of a lull when is comes to trips, birthday parties, and major events...a welcome breather before the next squall hits. 

Some highlights:

+Sarah and the Balyon boys came down to visit a couple of weeks ago from their new home in Oregon. They were in town for Jen's baby shower. All four kiddos had a blast and the conversation with Sarah was like a day had passed vs. a couple of months. We missed Roger in all the fun things we did...donut breakfast, stomp rocket at the park, and fully utilizing every toy in our house -- and we do have a few. Any time J would take a "special toy", E would say, "No no no, that is too expensive."  The house was packed...if you weren't stepping on a kid, you were stepping on a dog...and if not a dog, it was a toy. And as hazardous as it was to walk, we wouldn't have traded the giggles, games, and joy for a patch of empty floor...or really, for anything. 

+That same week / weekend cousin Kevin officially graduated from San Jose State and boy, did we enjoy all the celebrations. First up, the Metsers' had the family + friends over for a big party.  Ron outdid himself again on all the cooking...it was basically an Armadillo Willy's belly buster, but a Ron-adillo belly buster: brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken, sausage, baked beans...I'm sure there was more, but I think after I got through all of that, I hit some sort of food coma and my memory blacked out (no, it wasn't the pony keg of Firestone DBA). The kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline, even if it was a tad stressful on me every time J dashed to the edge, giggling while I tried to intercept her mere steps away from a nasty fall to the rocks below. How did my little snuggly baby transform so quickly into a wild toddler? I feel like she went from 0-to-60 in a millisecond. 

+On the day of the actual graduation ceremony, I took off work at lunch to watch the kids so the rest of the family could attend. Then Kaylee came over at dinner and took over so Lisa & I could go to Maggiano's for the big dinner. The food, of course, was delicious (and way too plentiful). On the way home, Lisa and I were talking about how proud we are of Kevin...demonstrated by the sincere, impromptu thank-you speech he gave. 

+One evening, the kids and I got home before Lisa, and I was trying to get dinner started with a hungry (read: whiny) toddler girl clinging to my leg. E was watching TV, when he came up, guided J into the playroom, saying, “Come on, I’ll make you happy.” And you know what? It worked…as well as melted my heart into a hot mess. 

+Over Memorial Day weekend, we didn't have the chance to go camping in the woods, so we did the next best thing: the backyard! We set up (in the gusty breeze) and grilled dogs/sausages (before running out of propane seconds after the food finished). We roasted marshmallows over our portable fire pit, except it was too windy and blew out our log...leaving our 'mellows sooty vs. toasted. Also, I didn't realize our sealed graham crackers were too old and tasted like soap or something...so our S'mores (sans crackers or toasted 'mellows) ended up "basically like eating chocolate," as E described. The rest of the night went great, though -- all of us + dogs sleeping wonderfully in the new 8-person tent. 

+The rest of the holiday weekend was fun too...a trip to the model train display at the Santa Clara station, a couple hours at the little Airport park to watch the planes take-off & land, playing fetch, and a ridiculously pleasant / delicious dinner at the Hui's. Plus, we got some house cleaning done. Got the grocery shopping done. Hit up a birthday party. Seriously, this juggling act'o'life would be much simpler if all the weekends were three day-ers.

+We're gearing up for a visit from Nana and Papa...and you can just feel the excitement building. They're as much of rockstars with J as they are with E. In terms of verbalized words, she says, "dada", "mamama", and as of this week, "pa-pa-pa". She does attempt "nana" too, though it's not officially a word yet, since it sounds a lot like "dada."  Also, FaceTiming with them is often the highlight of her day and she can get very, very upset if they are not available on wifi. 

Ok, that's enough for now...writing all this down has exhausted me. I guess we're in the phase of our lives where a "lull" isn't much calmer than the storm, huh?