Friends are fun!

Yesterday Libby and I had some company come over!! Georgette, Mandy, and I were all in the same child birth class so we got together for a nice lunch. It was a lot of fun! I had seen Georgette and her little Mathilda but I hadn't seen Lucy yet. We had such a wonderful time!
Lucy is exactly a month older than Libby although she was due around Libby's due date. Poor Lucy lived for a couple of weeks in the NICU but she's sure doing great now! Her mother, Mandy, is a fabulous photographer and took some snap shots of us while we sat outside. So I just wanted to share.
I'm trying to get ready for company this weekend and a small party on Sunday. I'm having some trouble finding a brisket though. I guess Yankee's don't really appreciate BBQ!!
Oh well! Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!


Little Lucy

Libby and Mathilda

Why didn't I wear lipstick?!



As soon as I can (lose a little weight) I wanna have Mandy come and take family pictures of us. Isn't she great? Can't wait!! :)

Hope

Dear friends,

Thank you all so much for your encouraging words!!! Kacie and Jess, it is so helpful and encouraging to know that others feel the same way. :) (although it would be nice to be within driving distance, JESS) ;)
Even though I didn't feel like it I got out of the house yesterday and ran a bunch of errands. So now I have a lot of things to do. I am going to be in TX a week longer than Tim so I'm going to cook up a bunch of freezer food for him. Plus, I went to Target (it is therapeutic, Jess!!) and bought some cute things for Libby with the last of my giftcards. I can't wait until it warms up so I can put her in outfits that show off her cute little arms and legs!!
And finally, the best thing that happened yesterday...Tim suggested we go on a weekend trip somewhere...so we're going to DC to visit Kristin again!! And we're going to be there for the cherry blossom festival too! I can't wait! So we'll be doing that next weekend if everything goes according to plan. And maybe this weekend we'll head into the city but I'm not sure.
Today and tomorrow I'm going to stay home and finish cleaning the house. It's almost there and it's going to be so nice and clean and fresh. Plus, I'm using my chemical-free cleaners and they're working well so far!
Well, I just wanted to thank everyone, it's so wonderful to have friends!! And what a blessing to have high-speed internet and free long-distance! I don't know how my mom survived back in the day!! (she left her home country of New Zealand and came to America at 19 when she married my dad).
I love you all so much and I hope to get to see you soon!!!
XOXOXOX
~SAM

PS. there are eleven buzzards in my yard...good thing they weren't here yesterday!! :)

What up

So I've mostly been writing about Libby...a lot! I know, I guess this is turning into a Baby Blog but I can't help it! She pretty much is mostly what I think about these days, and she's a lot more fun than the state of our economy or government! I try not to stick my head in the sand but besides listen to my beloved Rush Limbaugh, I haven't been keeping up with things too much. I've been trying to get through the same book for the last month, but when it's time for bed I'm ready to sleep! However, last night after the Libster went down, Tim and I stayed up and watched 24 and Dancing with the Stars on my computer. It was so much fun!! And you'll never guess but I was the one who wanted to watch 24 and he was the one who voted for DWTS!!!! 'Tis true!! We really enjoyed it too. I guess I should disclose the reason he wanted so badly to watch couples twirl around (and I'm sure it had nothing to do with those beautiful "dresses" the girls wear -- rant -- but excuse me! When did wearing one leg of hose stretched across your body with a few strategically placed sparkles suffice for an outfit?! I thought that was supposed to be a "Family" show!!! -- rant complete)
Anywhoo, guess who is one of the stars this year?! Yes, one of Tim's heroes: Ty Murray!! Ty was a bullrider and was seriously one of, if not the best ever. It was really fun to watch a "goshdarnit" sweet cowboy on tv. And it was hil-ar-ious watching him try to dance!!! Our favorite quote: "I see it like bullriding, you never are ready, it just becomes your turn" LOLOLOL!!! We loved that!! Needless to say, the poor boy was as stiff as a board. I don't think he'll last too long!! It was interesting to watch for sure! Totally worth staying up until midnight!
And then 24, one of our favorite shows that has really seemed to have jumped the shark. I am having a hard time believing a few frogmen wearing camo and dragging several hundred pounds of ammo and gear could swim up the Potamic and simply walk into the White House. I was there over the summer and I'm sorry, there is noooo way that could happen!! Anyway, still, I was so very upset that they killed Bill!! They've killed so many of the best characters that I really don't see how this show is going to be able to come back for another season. Although I must say that the end was slightly more interesting, I don't think we'll be able to give it up quite yet.
One other thing, I've been growing more and more concerned with all of the chemicals in our lives so little by little I'm trying to change how we eat and clean, both ourselves and our house. So yesterday I ordered some Dr. Bronner's soaps and I can't wait to try them out! A big inspiration for all of this is my friend Alison's website. She has devoted a lot of research to living healthfully and she generously shares it with us on her blog. She is a terrific girl and I am soo thrilled that we're going to be bridesmaids together in August for our friend Susan's wedding! Which reminds me, I still need to lose a few more "Libby Lbs"!! Better get cracking on that!
Have a great day! Enjoy your warm Texas weather, my friends, I will be down there in about a month!!! XOXO

Texas Trip Re-cap #2

Okay! So anyway back to Texas...

Sunday afternoon Rebecca, Mom, Lizzles and I drove from the ranch in Wimberley to my parent's house in Magnolia. Mostly an uneventful trip except for one minor detail, we were starving! We decided to eat on the way as we had left about 2pm and hadn't eaten anything since breakfast several hours before. So we started looking for a Whataburger. Not sure why except that since I was in Texas I wanted things only found in Texas! And as all my Texas readers know, Whataburger is VERY Texas! So we drove, and drove, and kept driving. All the while passing up about four Sonics. Unfortunately we had four very undecisive women in the car and no one wanted to say "yes! lets just go there!" so we didn't. And everyone at one point was certain there was a Whataburger in the next small town, just 10 miles down the road. Until finally the preggers lady was about to barf. And then we were saved! Finally! We saw the Orange W up ahead, in Giddings, I believe. And we were saved. And Rebecca was saved from me barfing in her little red car. :)

That evening we made it in around 6 and were greeted by my dad and two youngest brothers. It was so cute seeing the reaction of Robert (the 8 year old) to my protruding belly. He really handled it well and just seemed excited. And later when we sat down to watch a movie he brought me his favorite blanket and pillow to use. :) So sweet!

That week with my family was just wonderful! It was relaxing and busy, in the perfect amounts. I hung out with my parents and family a lot, drove to College Station to see my sis and her husband, went to lunch with Lizzles, and to the Galleria with Jess! And mom and I dragged poor Robert around town looking for a baby book and shower supplies. He was really sweet though and totally enjoyed his Wendy's frosty. I also helped (a term I use very loosely) my dad burn some cleared brush in the back of their property. That was fun and nice to hang out with my dad.





Meeting up with Jess and eating with Elizabeth were two high points as well. It was so nice to spend time with good friends! I've known Elizabeth since highschool so we're old buds and have had many adventures together! And Jess and I worked together at Drs. Alexander's Orthodontics which was also quite interesting at times! And dinner with my sis Stephanie for her 23rd bday was fun as well! I finally got to see her apartment too. :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEPH!

SiStErS!


And then on Saturday morning my mom and sisters threw me a beautiful shower with lots of our friends. And my two SIL and MIL came to that as well!! It was a lot of fun and so wonderful to get to see so many old friends! And blogger isn't letting me attach any more pics to this post so I'll have to devote one to that shower. There are a ton of good ones, believe me. :)

Texas Trip Re-cap #1

Ok, the house is messy and I have a million things to do but I really want to write a little about my Texas trip. Oh and seriously, Libby is one spoiled lil girl already!! She has so many beautiful clothes, stuffed animals, and gear. I'll post some pics when I get things straightened up and in order.

So I flew out Thursday afternoon from Newark airport and our plane was delayed, wa-ho. We had one lay-over and then I finally made it into DFW at 9:30. And my sweet Chris and Katey were there waiting for me! It was so good to see them! They took me to their beautiful, new house and we stayed up munching on goodies and catching up.
Friday we were able to meet Jess and the Alexander kids at Chick-Fil-A and it was so wonderful to see them! We laughed and ate and had a wonderful time!


Friday evening was our first shower hosted by Katey. It was so beautiful and so much fun! She and Chris did a great job decorating and preparing. There were yummy sandwiches and snacks and an adorable cake! I have a few pics from that but I'm still waiting on some from Katey...




Hopefully Katey has more pics of the people who came! Thanks so much, girls!!!

Saturday morning Bethanie and I woke up early (she spent the night with me and Chris and Katey's) and were on our way to New Braunfels by 7:57. Yep, thats right, people, a HENDERSON left on time!! She claims that Steve has reformed her but I told her it was because she was with a Shenk. ;)

We made it to Heather's beautiful house by 11:30 where we found a flurry of ladies preparing for our second shower. This one was given by my SILs Heather and Mindy and my MIL Carol Sue. And many other people helped too by preparing and making cakes. And were there cakes!!! Sweet cousin Abby took pictures and she did a great job. Although, again I didn't get many of the people actually attending the shower. :( There was a great turn-out and it was so fun to see everyone!! Thanks for coming!!






We had so much fun and Libby and I got some wonderful gifts. Plus, I got to spend a lot of time with some great ladies! Thank y'all so much!!
I spent the night with family and friends at the Ranch and then Rebecca, mom, Elizabeth and I left to go back Magnolia. I spent the whole week with my family there and that is where I will leave off and resume next time!

Updates!

I've got a lot to update everyone on so here goes...

1.) We had 7 members of Tim's family here for the past week and we had a fantastic time! We went into the city, two state parks, and out on the lake. It was awesome having them here and showing them around everywhere. Thanks for coming, guys!! I'll post some pictures as soon as I get some from them, I've gotten really lazy with taking pictures.

2.) Today I got a call and found out I do not have a job anymore. The little baby I was watching has taken a turn for the worse and the family thinks it will be best to have someone live with them. An aunt is going to come live there with them and it will help give him some consistency. I'm sure this is all in God's timing but as we all know, that isn't always our timing! Please pray for us and we figure out what our plans are. I was going to quit at the end of October but before then we had lofty plans to pay off my car and save up a little. Things don't always work out the way we want them to but I know God will take care of us and we'll be just fine.

3.) Tim's job is going great! He had an evaluation and they told him how happy and impressed they are with him. They also gave him a very generous "salary adjustment" which makes everyone concerned very happy. Tim is loving the work and the people and feels like he really made the right decision to move up here. Its really a blessing and the Lord has taken very good care of him. It has also allowed us to meet a couple of terrific new friends, Jonathan and Vanessa, who live in the city. They're a blast to hang out with and have come out to the country a few times with us.

4.) We have not found a church yet. :( We haven't been able to visit very many but have not been too impressed by the ones we have visited. The Northeast is certainly not like the Bible Belt!!! Please be praying that we can find one soon!

5.) I'm hoping to have the opportunity to visit Texas this fall at some time. My dear friend Katey has generously offered to throw me a Fort Worth shower and on the same weekend my family is also giving me one in San Antonio. I'm really excited about that and cannot wait to see all of my dear family and friends, I MISS Y'ALL!!!

More to come soon but for now I am going to sign off. I'll write a baby update soon. :)

Friends are a blessing!!

We have some of the best friends in the world! And we have been so very blessed in the past couple of months to meet some great people. (yes, they do exist North of the Mason Dixon Line!) When we rented our house we didn't realize we were getting friends in the package! Our landlord, Vincent, has become a good buddy of ours along with his sweet girlfriend Christina, and his sister Christine and bro-in-law Rob. The whole group came over for cake and ice cream on Tim's birthday and we visited and had a great time.
So here are some fun pics of that event:




And this past weekend we also had our first company! Tim's cousin Kristin, aka 'Strongsome' came up from DC for the weekend. We all had a fantastic time! I didn't get a lot of pictures from her visit but we made dinner together, had Vincent over, worked in the yard, shopped at the outlet mall, and ate a ton!!! I love her so much and it was great to see her! Hopefully her visit opened a floodgate and we are ready for lots of company! So break our door down and come soon!!


Thanks for protecting the new grass seed from those pesky birds, Kristin!!!

An update!

Hello peoples!! Yes, I am finally writing an update! I'm going to get Tim to fix my real blog but for the time being this will have to work.
We've been here for five weeks now and are getting settled in just fine. First off, we love our little house! After I write this post I'm going to put up a bunch of pictures of it. It really has been a perfect fit for us, and it came with friends! Our landlord, Vincent (or Vinny to everyone else) is a doll and he's been so helpful. He's #9 of 13 kids and 11 of them live in this little town! His sister lives next door to us and she and her husband are awesome! In fact, they all came over yesterday to help celebrate Tim's 27th birthday! I made a carrot cake with a recipe from one of my new favorite blogs Pioneer Woman . It turned out really delish! They have a new little baby and he is just precious!! I know we are going to be great friends with them.
And on Saturday we went into the city for the day! It was so much fun!! It was a lot like what I imagined only with more people and more buildings! We walked around Central Park, went to a museum, shopped on 5th Avenue (well, at least I did), ate pizza, and went to a comedy show!! It was great! And our legs are very, very sore. If I lived in the city I would either get really skinny with all the walking around or really fat with all the yummy food available! The show was fantastic! It was an impromptu family-friendly show that made us laugh sooo hard! Highly recommended! We finally got home around 2 and were totally pooped! But it was a great day, so fun!
Tim is loving his job, I think he's really fitting in well (of course!). They recently put him in charge of something, a part of a part of a project. And he's doing a great job with it (again, of course!).
I found a great little part-time job watching a 5 month old baby three days a week. He's a really special little boy who was adopted at birth by this family. The family is fantastic and I'm really excited about it. And I start tomorrow! Hopefully it goes as well as I think it will! I'm not looking forward to waking up early (4:45 :( ) but I'll get over it. I'll post more about it later!
So in a nut shell, this is what we've been up to lately! We really, really miss everyone and I can't wait to have some company!!