My Favorite Things, Final Installment

Ok, so a lot of things are precious to me. Once I started thinking about it, I came up with more and more objects. But now I have a great list.

My Diamonds

What a lovely surprise my ring was when Neal proposed on his family's upstairs porch swing way back in 1998. I've treasured this diamond ever since, not to mention the two other sparkly tokens Neal has given in the years since then.

This drawing by my sister

I asked Julianne to recreate a "DaVinci face" for me a few years ago. Her artistic talent is incredible! She has a well-trained eye for beauty, and I've reaped the rewards. I love this face, and I'll always appreciate the care I know she put into getting it just right.

My Paul McCartney autograph

One Christmas when I was a teenager, my dad brought this back from London for me. Stephanie and I both received one for Christmas, and we were so thrilled. Our mother passed on her genetic love for all things Beatles to her children. She went to a concert with her dad in her early teenage years, and I always remember her saying that her dad had just as much fun as she did. What a fun memory to have with him. We grew up listening to the Beatles in the Suburban and in our home; we know all the words to almost every song, and my kids call the Beatles "Bramma music." My mom has even managed to convince us that a 64-year-old man is perpetually "cute," although she is always quick to add that he's not nearly as cute as Dad.

My silver tea service

Neal's mom gave me this a few years before she died. Sometimes when we'd visit her house in Tyler, she would bestow upon me some little trifle I had admired. Well, this was no small trifle, and it holds a special place in our home. I use it occasionally for special parties like baby showers and such, and I don't even mind polishing it. It was given to her as a wedding gift in 1958.

What are your favorite possessions?

My Favorite Things, Part 2

Some more of my favorite objects . . .

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

This is my copy of a beautiful document put forth by the leaders of our Church several years ago. I put together this little montage and am so proud of how it turned out! It's hanging right by our front door, reminding Neal and me of our commitment to each other and of our responsibility as parents to our precious children. You can read it here.

My Family History Wall

This wall represents so much work, and in my mind, it's some of the most important work I'll ever do. The chart records the names of both my ancestors and Neal's. The pictures are visual representations of people who gave me my life and my name. They made me who I am, and I hope to meet them all someday.

My Sand Collection

Disclaimer: This is not my sand collection. Mine is not nearly this picture-worthy, yet. Although my sand collection is still waiting for a lovely organizational session, I still treasure it. I've collected sand from beaches I've visited over the past several years, and had friends collect it for me from places I know I'll never see, like Mozambique for example! I wish I had started it long ago, before I visited the Mediterranean and the Baltic seas, Fiji and New Zealand. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back! One day I hope to display it in a special spot in my home; dozens of small glass bottles filled with sand from places I treasure.

This Letter to Audrey from her Grandmother

When Audrey was born, Neal's mom wrote her this letter. She implied that it was to be given to Audrey when she was "of age." I think we'll probably give it to her when she's 16 or so. Until then, it is something I treasure for Audrey. An envelope full of loving and inspiring words for my daughter from one of the most incredible women I've ever known.

Vimeos

Audrey has some new videos on her blog. More favorite objects to come! (I have 12.) :)

My Favorite Things, Part 1

The other day, my friend Rachel sent me a "Getting to Know You" email, where you answer questions about yourself and email it on to your friends, hoping they will answer the same questions and send it back to you. One of the questions was "what are your favorite possessions?" It got me thinking, and I thought I would document them here on my blog, if for nothing else but for posterity.
I know "things" aren't the most important things in life. We learned that quite well last summer when a hurricane threatened all of ours. Obviously I treasure my family more than any thing in the world, but some objects really are treasures to me, and these are a few of them.

My Degas

My mom and dad gave this reproduction of "Petite danseuse de quatorze ans" for Christmas one year before I left home. It's really, really heavy and has been carefully wrapped in towels and packed with me through six moves now. The graceful stance of this young girl brings elegance to any room into which she is placed. She inspires me to strive for beauty in even small things. Before I had children, I signed myself up for a ballet class, and although I was quite alarmed by my body's inability to be graceful in dance, I can at least look at her in admiration.

This old photo album

I have many small treasures in my trunk full of family history paraphernalia. My mom gave me this little album last year after her mom passed away. It is full of very old and amazing pictures of ancestors of mine and their friends. Some of them I'd love to frame, but I'm very scared about handling them, so they will stay safely housed in this little treasure of a book on the shelf in our guest room.

My London Journal

I learned so much about myself and life in general while I was studying in London. I fell in love with the city and gained independence and self-confidence that will last me a lifetime. I spent many quiet moments alone in a noisy city, and through those moments, I learned not only what I want out of life, but who I wanted to spend it with. My testimony was strengthened and my love for travel was cemented in my heart. I count that all-too-short visit as one of the best experiences of my life. This journal records it all. I started writing in this journal on the airplane trip over the sea and finished it on the ride back. I carried it in my bag each day I spent in England. I can turn to any page and am immediately taken back to the moment I wrote the words on that page.

My Piano

My grandmother gave me my baby grand piano last year when we moved into our house. It belonged to her mother, Evelyn May Potter, and its genuine ivory keys are full of music past and present. I love to spend my odd free moments working on my talent; it needs a lot of work, but I find playing music very relaxing. I can be silent and create beauty, and that, I love.

My Three Best (Inanimate) Friends

There are three things that I can't live without right now, besides my air conditioner:

Oh, this stuff saves me at least twice a day. I am completely plagued by heartburn while I am with child. I even have to give up orange juice toward the end. But this stuff: works like a charm. A really chalky, yucky, green charm.

During normal times, I can get by with one pillow, but I enjoy sleeping with two. Now I NEED four, and when Neal leaves in the morning, I get to have 5.


Audrey got this as her prize at the Space Center a few weeks ago. Little did I know how much I would come to love and need it. It's a grabber. I use it to clean my house without bending over. It can pick up coins and clothes, books and shoes. I love it!

Swimming!

Twice a week, the kids and I hang out at our big neighborhood pool for almost two-and-a-half hours. It's nice to have something scheduled in the summertime, I've found, so we don't drive each other crazy (which still seems to happen almost every afternoon around 4). Audrey has a swim lesson at 9 am and unfortunately, Parker's isn't until 10:30. So we kill some time eating snacks and reapplying sunscreen, trying to keep cool in this South Texas heat! The kids have tons of fun; Audrey always manages to make new friends and learn new tricks, and Parker gets braver every time we go. Now he'll even go underwater voluntarily! If you want to see some video I shot today at the pool, click here!

32.5714 weeks

My pregnancy seems to be slowing d-o-w-n. Used to be, weeks ago, I didn't even know how far along I really was. But ever since I wrote a number on each Monday square on my calendar, things have majorly been lagging. I'm now 32 weeks 4 days. Why do I know that? Should I really have time to be counting days, let alone weeks, especially when I still have at least 6 weeks to go, not to mention two other children who occupy every moment? Sigh.

The baby is doing well, though, which is the happiest news, of course. I'm hoping it's a bigger baby this time since I've already gained about as much weight as I gained in 37 weeks with Parker. I remember when I was on bedrest with Audrey and I was about this far along, I just wished I could be knocked out and woken up at 38 weeks, just so I wouldn't have to think of a way to pass the time every day. That's not a problem now, of course, but I think I need a pick-me-up. Perhaps a pedicure, since it's getting awfully hard to reach those little toes way down there. One of these days, if I'm feeling unusually cute and chipper, I'll post an update picture of my belly. It's quite silly-looking. Great.

According to my Dr., my c-section will be scheduled for Monday, August 28th, or thereabouts. Unless, of course, in true ME fashion I go into labor earlier. Here's hopin'! Oh, and I think we've settled on names. Miles Jefferson and Charlotte Rose. Cute, no? And all four are family names, which I love.

Dr. Horn, Junior

A couple of Christmases ago, Mike and Steph got this dental play-dough set for Neal. Just so he could practice, you know . . . well, we got it out the other day for the kids to play with, and whadduya know? Parker LOVES it! He loves to sit there and make little white play-dough teeth, drill holes in them and fill them with golden play-dough. He asks questions about pulling the whole tooth out, and when I told him he could make a whole tooth out of the golden play-dough, he couldn't believe it! What fun!
We always say that Parker would be crazy not to go into Dentistry when his dad will have a perfect opportunity waiting for him when he's done with school, no doubt. Just yesterday we thought, hey, maybe Audrey's husband will even go into that field, too! Why shouldn't they when they'll have such hook-ups? Well, looks like we're on our way. Hey, Lincoln, you need one of these, by the way.

Meet Twiggy

This is our new pet, Twiggy! He's a little baby parrotlet, a small parrot. He won't get as big as a parrot, but he's just as smart. Apparently one day he'll be able to learn tricks and maybe even talk. He is oh so cute and fun to watch in his little cage. We haven't clipped his wings yet, but we were able to play with him a little bit in the bathroom, so he couldn't get away. The kids are so excited to have a pet, and I'm really excited to have one that's CUTE! Our tarantula and 5 snakes just don't fulfill that need somehow.

Me and My Singer

Along with my sudden nesting urges, I've also become reacquainted with my sewing machine this past week. I left it out for a few days after I made Parker's most recent costume, and decided to make Audrey a dress. It turned out quite well, actually (even though it looks sort of lopsided in this picture, back me up Natalie); it was my first try at pintucks and the bias tape was really scary. Audrey even asked if she could wear it yesterday, which made me so happy. It's a little white linen sort of prairie dress, which goes perfectly with this adorable little girls' apron I found at Anthropologie several months ago. Too cute! Next, we're going to work on some pajama bottoms for the kids. We found dark teal (Audrey's fave shade) My Little Pony fabric, and no child of mine will leave my house in actual clothes made out of it, so peejays it is. Oh, and Batman fabric for Parker. Surprise, surprise.

Vimeos

So I figured out how to upload videos onto Neal's computer, since ours is still out of commission (note small tear of worry running down my cheek). Here is a little highlight video of our trip to California in June. There's another new one on there, too. Parker and Audrey took a motorcycle ride with our friend Jay the other day.

Nesting

I'm not what you would consider an overly "organized person." My cleanliness can't hold a candle to people like Stephanie or Natalie. :) I mean, I enjoy a clean closet just as much as the next person, but it doesn't usually consume me if it's a little messy sometimes. So it's easy for me to tell when the nesting phases of my pregancies begin.
I've been busy straightening up almost every closet in our house this past week. I organized all of my sewing/craft supplies for no reason at all; later I reorganized all of our videos and cds, in order to make space for a diaper-changing station in the living room cabinet; I sorted all of our children's books by type (which probably totals about 400 books, though I've never counted); I'm getting ready to redo the shelf paper in my kitchen; I'm dying for Neal to get the baby linens and newborn clothes down from the attic (since it's not safe for me to venture up the ladder), because I feel this URGENT need to wash baby clothes and put them in drawers! And much to Neal's chagrin, we reorganized the garage, and I made him use his new leaf-blower to really clean it out. It looks so good!
My dresser drawers are calling my name, the pantry is feeling neglected, I want to rearrange the furniture in Parker's room, where the baby will eventually stay, and I really want to buy Rubbermaid boxes.
I wonder if we nest because we know we won't have time to do it post-baby, or if we just really want stuff to be clean. Maybe it's because I know I'll have company for a few weeks after the baby and I want things to look nice, I really don't know. It's the strangest thing, this nest-building instinct. But I can't deny that it is very real!

Fireworks in the Rain

We have had an extremely rainy July so far, and the Fourth was no different. We had about an inch of rain in the morning, but luckily it cleared up long enough for us to go swimming. Of course, at the first clap of thunder, the whistles blew and everyone was out of the pool! But at least we got to swim for a while; it's been 2 whole days since we were able to go and the kids were so tired of being inside! We got some cute pictures, too!

And if you've ever wondered if you can have fireworks and rain at the same time, you can. We watched from the church parking lot as our neighboring city let loose in the sky. It was beautiful and inspiring, of course, but awfully weird to be covered in raindrops watching fireworks! At least it brought the temperature down a bit.

Parker had to smile at the camera, even though his eyes were on the sky.

Oh, and I mustn't forget the highlight of the day! Dr. Horn won his first official baking competition. He wowed our church friends with an Apple-Cheddar Bread Pudding. I was trying to convince him to leave out the cheddar (that combo never has made sense to me!), and he told me I would eat my doubtful words when he won. Well, he won. So I ate them. And the bread pudding was quite delicious, I must admit. Way to go, baby!

Bloomin' Booooks

Just read this one:

Quite an interesting read, it's a novel about black slaveowners in Virginia in the 1840s, a topic I knew nothing about. The author has won a Pulitzer Prize, it's a good one!

Now I'm reading this one:
Oooo, it's good so far. Sad, but good. About a man who grew up in Afghanistan in the 70s and 80s. Explores the intricate relationships between Sunni and Shiite Muslims during that time, and follows him to America, which is where I am now. What are you reading?

Good Hair Day

Audrey had a really good hair day yesterday, and I thought I would share. Her curls were nice and loose, very soft, no frizz! Audrey's hair is kind of a mystery to me. Mine is just wavy enough to only look good when I blow dry it, hers takes on a life of its own most days, but yesterday, it looked like this after she went swimming in two braids in one of those saline-water pools, then I removed the braids and combed it out. Most mornings, we go through about a 4-step process of detangling, combing, wetting, combing, and curl serum. She's so patient.