We survived!

Mission Trip week was great!

Xaris did wonderfully, and so did all the youth (and adults).  

I had 500+ pictures, so here's a smattering, some highlights.

Quality daddy-time.  He was a work team leader, plus he slept in the "boys' rooms", so he didn't get to see her as much as usual.

She had her very own name tag too...

60's night.  We wore matching tie-dye.

She just blended right in to my tummy!

For the mystery dinner I made Bat-Chickens.  Pretty cute, huh?

Anadarko, the town we went to for mission trip, experienced a tornado a few weeks before we left.  Here's some of the damage we drove past every day.

Slip and slide pile up...

We went and visited all the work teams...of course they all wanted a picture with Xaris.

We also brought cookies--calories and sugar to keep them working hard all afternoon!

Playing around--they started some trust falls one afternoon.

This is Ricardo trusting his team...

One of the youth sporting his f0-hawk...so we did Xaris' the same.  She wasn't too happy about the picture, but she loved matching him.

Such a smiley, happy girl!

Yep...she knows she's cute!

One team at lunch

Hawaiian night...she's wearing her outfit Aunt Karyn brought her from Hawaii.  I'm wearing my kid-sized plastic Hawaii outfit from Walmart.

Mara and I at skit-night, making fun of our husbands who were co-work team leaders.

Momma B and I at skit night, making fun of our tool belts (mine just had cookies, hers had baby gear)

Group Picture on the last day!

Gramamma doing her mission trip work!

Dallas Arboretum

I have finally experienced the Dallas Arboretum.

It took me forever to visit the arboretum (roughly 3 years?) here because at first I refused on principle: the Seattle Arboretum is free (and bigger) and the Dallas Arboretum charges $5 to park, and $10 per person entrance fee.  So...I never went.

However, a week ago a friend invited Xaris and I to walk with her and her baby boy, and we got in on her family pass (only had to pay parking).  We enjoyed it, and Ricardo ran at the lake which is right next to the Arboretum while we walked and talked.  Ric and I decided to go ahead and purchase the family pass, so we have something fun to do when some of his family comes into town and for picnics with friends, etc.  The family pass means we get to park for free, and have entrance for up to 6 people per visit...and in 3 visits it will have paid for itself.  Our first visit was this morning!

Xaris and I sat on a bench and knitted.  Well, I knitted while she slept, and we waited for Ricardo to do his run at the lake and come find us.  After he found us, we walked through the Arboretum, trying to get to know our way around, and enjoying the photo opportunities.  

We also saw 3 brides and 2 quinceañearas getting their photos taken.  We're pretty happy with the decision to buy a membership and know we'll use it...although I still think Seattle has the right idea.

Ricardo was the photographer for this trip--he gets the photo credits!

Waterfall wall

Chilling with mama...

Hello beautiful eyes!

A closer shot...unfortunately the camera focused on me instead of her.

Practicing our sad faces.

And tongue skills...

And when we came home (after a stop at the Bagel shop for breakfast of course!) she conked out.  Here she is relaxing, 

Pirate-Belly style.  

Can't believe she's 5 weeks old today!

Happy One Month!

One Monthiversary events:

Bath time.  We've found that she won't scream as much with a pacifier to distract her.

Looking cute at 1 month old!

Graduated!  One month old and big enough to try her cloth diapers!  

They are still a little big, but they closed around her legs and stayed on--good enough!

Happy One-Monthiversary Gift: A bouncy chair!

(probably more of a gift for mom and dad though...she's been pretty fussy during her waking hours these days.  Today I finally got the dishwasher loaded in three shifts--and that was after it took me about the same amount of time to empty the clean dishes from it yesterday!)  

I suggested some sort of swing or bouncy chair to Ricardo, and after he read some reviews online, including one that said it put their babies right to sleep, he got up, went to Babies R Us, and came back with this!

We did try her in it, and while she did fuss just a bit, most of the time she enjoyed the vibration, and was distracted (and then maybe overwhelmed) by the toys (so we took them off).  We bounced her occasionally, while eating our dinner sitting on the floor beside her.  

And then she fell asleep.  So I got the laundry folded! We didn't remember to take a picture of her in it, and right now she's asleep in her Moses basket, and there's no way I'm waking her up to get a picture of her in her bouncy chair!

My friend Shannon Gracey Rush took monthiversary pictures of her daughter with cupcakes...and I'm shamelessly stealing the idea.  However, because the mood of my daughter required that I get absolutely nothing done (except feeding and holding and feeding her) today, I found myself making cupcakes at 10:30pm after she was asleep.  Again...I'm not waking her up for a picture, so she'll never know she was this close to something delicious that she cannot eat yet...

Happy One Month Xaris--you are loved!

Houston

Ricardo and I took Xaris down to Houston to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday.

Both my sisters and one bro-in-law were able to fly in for the occasion as well, so it was an exciting weekend for Xaris to get to meet her tios!

The drive down went okay...she still doesn't like her carseat much and will scream when we put her in it or take her out of it, but once she's either in (and we're moving and she's asleep) or out she's typically okay.  We stopped once in the trip to eat lunch and feed her/change her, so what usually takes us just under 4.5 hours took us a little over 5 to get to my parent's house.  

The weekend was full! 

Happy Birthday Taita!  

Xaris got to meet the puppies too--here's Rainey checking her out.

If you look close, it seems Xaris is pointing at the dog!

Xaris meets her Tias!

Sisters going sailing

We know we're cute.

Paul is the king of the world!

That is, until Kira took over!

Pirate Dances

Oh Captain my Captain!

We also went to NASA's rocket park.  

Nothing like a giant rocket engine to make you feel even tinier, right Xaris?

Snuggly Baby Girl!

Us and Rocket

Family Photo

Birthday boy and his girls!

Catching Up

It'll take a few posts...there was a lot going on this past week. Here's a start.

Several firsts, including a first road trip to Houston, meeting tias Alisha and Kira 

(and unker Paul) for the first time!

So, more pictures to come, but here are some brief highlights of this past week.

Xaris' first trip to Ikea!  Swedish Meatball lunch included (for mom and dad).  

She is usually pretty content in her mobywrap...

We got to park here for the first time!

Next up: Haircut.  

I made it to graduation with long hair 

(something I wanted to do, since when I graduated from SPU I had really short hair that looked funny under a mortarboard).  

So...after graduation from SMU with my long curly hair, I decided to say goodbye to some of it.  

Before...

The first of two ponytails to donate...

After...

And...some more of the precious girl...

Giving the Stink-Eye during Tummy Time. 4 weeks old!

Conked out tonight...after church.