Since My Last Post I've....

witnessed a lot of crawling....

It never gets old....except when he face plants on the wood floor!

Still Waiting for Snow

Landry will have to wait even longer to see his first snowfall.  The 1-3 inches predicted for this weekend fell in the form of freezing rain.  It created a traffic mess for Houston, but we stayed at home and remained largely unaffected - that is until we get our electric bill next month!

Waiting for Snow

First Day of Class

I survived the first day of class!  Here are a few of my observations and general musings about how things went....

• I had to circle 20 minutes for a parking place....Never in a million years would I have thought that a community college outside of Houston (parking lot capital of the world!) would have such a shortage of spaces.  It made me feel like I was back at UT Austin.
• I have 30 students enrolled and 28 showed up for the first class.
• When I asked each of them to share something about themselves, all 28 students told me that they were taking the class because it fulfilled a requirement.  I held out hope that just one would tell me that they were taking it because they wanted to....Nope!
• One student showed up after class ended.
• One student showed up without a pen.
• One student asked me if I cared whether she took notes in pen or pencil.
• I received an extra textbook from the publisher, so I held a contest to see who made the best pitch for why they deserved the book.  Nine students chose to participate, and the class voted for a student who said that he needed the free book because he has a lot of medical bills to pay for a disability.
• I hope I don't get in trouble for giving away the book.
• All of the students loved the idea of cutting out the breaks and getting out 20 minutes early.
• The whole experience makes me so thankful for my parents who provided my education.  I never had to worry about paying for books or juggling a full-time job with a full courseload.  That's not the case for most of these students!

Highlights From The Past Week

Well, another week has passed between posts.  I have had great intentions about posting, but I confess that the follow-through has been lacking.  It just seems like I need one extra hour in the day!  So, here are the highlights of our past week....

Monday was a lay-low day around here.  The weather was so cold that we didn't venture out much besides a quick trip to Wal-Mart.

On Tuesday, BSF started back up after the Christmas break.  It was great to get back into the discipline of regular Bible Study.  We studied Isaiah 34-35, which includes a wonderful picture of the "Highway of Holiness."

On Wednesday, Landry returned to BSF.  He normally gets a great report, but this week, his teachers informed my mom that he was madder than blazes that the other babies had solid foods to eat while he just had a bottle.  And I thought that I was doing the teachers a favor by feeding him breakfast at home!  So, from here on out, he will have a mid-morning snack on Wednesdays!  We've been practicing with puffed rice and some of the Gerber fruit-flavored puffs, so he should be good to go by next week.

While Landry was at BSF, I took my car in for service and found out that I needed some new brake pads.  I spent the time preparing for my class until Brian called to pick me up for a lunch date at Lupe Tortilla.

Still on Wednesday....We met with a realtor in the evening about selling our house.  (I probably need to devote a separate post to this, so I will do that the next time I'm lacking in topics!)

On Thursday, we went to baby storytime at the library.  Landry was even more interested in it than he was before the Christmas break and wanted me to help him stand the whole time so that he could have a better view.  He loved all the puppets and tried to pet each one as the librarian brings it past him. 

Thursday night, I had my orientation at the community college, and I found out that I have 27 students registered.  I am admittedly a little bit nervous about having disruptive students after hearing some of the reports on the Tuscon shooter's behavior in his community college class.  They briefly addressed that during the orientation, and I found out that there is going to be a phone in the classroom that will automatically dial campus police. 

On Friday, we had a playdate at the Children's Museum.  Landry is still a little bit young to fully enjoy the "tot spot," but he liked the ball pit and a random rattle shaped like a tomato!

On Saturday, we stayed pretty close to home, except for BSF leaders' meeting and an evening trip to Target. 

This past week, I also read the first two books of The Hunger Games trilogy on my Kindle.  They were "stay up all night reading" good!  I'm now back to reading some free classics for a while before my Kindle becomes a $50 per month habit....I think Anna Karenina is the next on my list.

All in all, a busy but good week.....and with all these random details, I'm sure you feel like you've lived it with us!!

Sheetrock Repairs

The past two days, Landry and I have been keeping a sheetrock repairman company.  It's made me feel slightly like a prisoner in our own home, but it is so nice to have the repairs done.  From the amount of time that he's been here, you'd think we had major damage, and that couldn't be further from the truth!! We had some minor dings here and there that have resulted from our three years of living here, and we had some work that Brian did in the garage after Hurricane Ike that we wanted to make look a little bit more professional...Two days later, we now have perfect sheetrock once again!!  

Here are a few musings from our time with the sheetrock man....some funny...or at least self-depricating..some not so funny....In case you can't tell, I'm a little bit starved for blog material these past few days.

• Yesterday morning, the repairman arrived at 7:30am.  I was still in my pajamas, and Landry was still asleep.  When he knocked, I knew that if I took the time to get dressed, he'd think no one was home and then leave.  So, I answered the door in my pajamas...(thankfully flannel and very modest)...I felt like a lazy bum to think that he had gotten up, dressed, and made the long drive to our house in the same amount of time that I had made it from the bedroom to the living room couch.
• I had to show him where the sheetrock needed repair, so I proceeded to do this in my pajamas, all the while acting like that was completely normal!
• At the end of the day yesterday, he asked me what would be a good time for him to show up this morning...probably so that he could avoid a repeat of the pajama experience!
• He took it upon himself to find the leftover paint containers in our garage and mix the paint to match each individual room....completely above and beyond what we expected...In fact, Brian was anticipating that he would spend Saturday doing the touch-up paint. I was so impressed that he took that initiative.
• It was a great reminder how much easier life is when one spouse stays at home....Yes, I had to cancel a play date with two friends from church today, but otherwise, it was no big deal to be at home for two days straight!
• And, that made me very thankful for Brian who is so supportive of me being at home!

Our Drive-In Experience

Last night, we found a great way to see a first-run movie on a big screen without worrying about finding a sitter or disrupting others with a fussy baby: We went to a drive-in theater and took Landry with us!!  It was great fun. 

The drive-in is about an hour away from us on the northwest side of town.  In fact, I passed by it many, many times on my trips to and from Austin when I was in college.  Little did I know that a decade later, I'd be coming with my own little family.

Here we are before the show:

And here we are in our movie-watching positions: 

Landry made it through all the previews and then slept soundly in his car seat through the entire movie.

As an unexpected bonus, we saw Brian's cousin Tanis listed as part of the production crew in the post-movie credits!  We were so proud of her! 

All in all, it was a perfect way for us to spend New Year's Eve.