Weekending

This was our first full weekend in the house that didn't involve waking up to a tower of boxes and a whole lot of "where is that? have you unpacked that? where should this go?". Oh there was still boxes and unpacking (I gave up on waiting for JP to get to the garage so I suggested we attack it first thing Saturday morning. It's now done.). But there was fun too.

We went to a party on Friday night. One of my new co-worker's invited us over for pizza with his neighbors and all of our collective children (8 under 6). He is the one who recommended our great realtor, our contractor, and pretty much everything else, so it was great to hang out with him and his family (and see his house- Roger the Contractor re-did pretty much every room of his too) and to see our kids rum amok.

Today we want on another long walk. I took pictures along the way:

Here, they are trying to hold hands while moving down the sidewalk. They still make my heart melt on a regular basis.

And we thought we'd be giving up our creeks and nature walks when we left Austin. This is less than a mile from our house.

Guess what the front of his shirt says?

(It involves the words "Texas" and "Swimming." Much like every single other t-shirt he wears.)

Our caravan. Claire rejected the stroller after about 2 miles, and then opted back in after walking about a quarter mile on her own.

Me and my girl. Because I feel that JP fully represents Texas Swimming for the two of us, I only have one old swimming t-shirt and rarely wear it (also, I just very rarely wear t-shirts). This one is out of the drawer because our washer and dryer has been disconnected since Monday.

We came upon a turtle. At Landon's request, I have 65 pictures of this turtle. I selected this one to share with you all because it perfectly captures Landon in Big Brother mode, stopping his sister from getting too close to an animal with unknown personality and dangerous intent. Claire just wants to poke its nose.

And this series perfectly captures the way Claire, despite being the feisty domineering one, also very much looks up to her big brother and wants to do everything he does:

Climb rocks.

Run about the playground.

Climb up the top of the slide.

Oh wait, I can't do that one!

After we got back from our 90-minute, 3 mile journey, Tex collapsed in the grass and the kids wanted to go for their inaugural dip in the pool.

The loved it.

It's nice to take a few moments and just relax.

Especially when you still have boxes, to-do lists, and drywall exposed in multiple parts of your house. But the garage is done, more tile has been selected, erranding has been accomplished, and homemade meals have been made for the week. And we found a cheap and delicious Mexican place a few blocks away that has killer margaritas, an outdoor patio, and live music on Saturday nights. It's been a great weekend.