Over the next few days, I'll be sharing bits and pieces of our epic road trip to the east coast. It was 13 days filled with joy, sibling fights, a bazillion rest stops, one major meltdown on the side of I-10, great memories and lots of hugs with awesome people. Oh, and we saw a ton of cool stuff, too. You can read all about it by city: New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Washington, D.C. and Knoxville, TN. The drive from New Orleans to Atlanta was easily the absolute worst of the trip. Everyone was still settling into the close quarters, we hit Alabama beach traffic and it rained, rained, rained. It's stretches like that when Scott and I wonder if we are legit bananas. One … [Read more...]
East Coast Adventure: Easy Living in NOLA
Over the next few days, I'll be sharing bits and pieces of our epic road trip to the east coast. It was 13 days filled with joy, sibling fights, a bazillion rest stops, one major meltdown on the side of I-10, great memories and lots of hugs with awesome people. Oh, and we saw a ton of cool stuff, too. You can read all about it by city: New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; Washington, D.C. and Knoxville, TN. Here. We. Go. Because our sweet, reliable, amazing Honda Odyssey was hovering close to 230,000 miles on her, we opted to let her sit this 3,700-mile road trip out and rent a van. What was originally supposed to be an 8-seat capacity Suburban turned into a 12-passenger … [Read more...]
Dear First-Time Mama of a High School Senior
I know, I know. You looked at yourself in the mirror this morning and asked, "How, how do I have a senior in high school?" Then you either a) started hyperventilating, b) teared up, c) swelled with pride or d) all of the above. I'm sure moms who have gone before us are already smiling, reaching out their arms to embrace our conflicted hearts. But, I suspect while this letting go thing may get easier, it will never get easy. Can I get an AMEN?! I feel like we are bombarded with something called the "oh sh*t" list. As in, "oh sh*t" I didn't know we had to do that. And so it goes. It's quickly followed by a "I guess we'll scramble and figure it out" list. Followed by a list of … [Read more...]
A “Meat Fest” Birthday for the Teenager
The older my boys get, the more I realize just how much their lives revolve around sports, food and sleep. Repeat. They're also asking me to dial it back a bit in the birthday celebrating department. Eeek. But, I get it. I also realize that dialing it back for me is not the same as it is for other people. Hazard of the love language of birthday party host. When Will turned 17 earlier this year, we really did dial it back. He invited his good buddies - the "lads" they're called at school - to our local H-E-B grocery store meat department. It's also vividly apparent all of his friends are at least 6-foot tall. They picked out the meat they wanted to cook and $4,000 and two pints of … [Read more...]
A Very Texan Teenage Birthday Celebration
With our oldest daughter's thirteenth birthday on the horizon this spring, I was stumped with how to properly celebrate it. I wanted her to know how special she was, involve the moms of her friends in some way and do something memorable. A providential evening at a Catholic schools event with the First Lady of Texas, Cecilia Abbott, got me thinking. Why not tour the Governor's Mansion? Bingo. A thoughtful and kind friend, who knows the First Lady personally, set up not just any tour, but *the* tour of the mansion. Anna-Laura invited seven of her best friends (and their mamas!) and we enjoyed the loveliest of mornings in downtown Austin in early June, just a few weeks after she … [Read more...]
