Popping In

I didn't set out to take a break from blogging, but it looks like that's what I did, and am doing. I've got just enough time to pop in, then disappear again for a bit. Here's what we've been up to - through photos:

 A visit with our daughter and grandson, in Pennsylvania. We squeezed tons of fun and snuggles into a few days. At almost five years old, his new favorite thing is watching funny animal videos on Youtube.

 A two day trip to NASA and Galveston - NASA was awesome, and we hope to go back for a longer, behind-the-scenes tour. That would please my engineer husband. 

 Our version of Easter. If you find the golden egg you win a whipped cream pie in the face. Fancy bags to hunt eggs too.

 One of the vinyl stickers applied. Two more still in the box with good intentions. I love this one!

 Cowboy burp cloths for Daniel Jr, who is just about to make his appearance. If he could wait another week that would be great, but I doubt his very pregnant Mommy agrees with me. 

 A two day visit to San Antonio, to meet Pennsylvania friends. I love, love the Alamo. 

 Don's very first baby shower - family showers are just nice. Don't you love that Mommy and JaeBeth dressed to match?

 A week in Branson, Missouri with Don's brother and sister-in-law, with a sidetrip to the booming town of Kingston, Arkansas. This building was the family's grocery store for the past one hundred years, and is now an antique / hardware store. I bought a new doll crib for Miss Addie here, which will be painted pink presently. 

One of Janae's shower gifts - A book page project, with our son's cowboy photo, taken when he was three. She loved, loved it, as I suspected she would. I got this idea at www.emilyjonesdesign.com - lots of great, great ideas there. 

So that's what we've been up to. Sarah and the kids are coming to the lake today to help me paint kitchen cupboards. Now - pale glossy oak. Soon - french white with a caramel glaze. Grandbaby due any minute. Kids selling houses, kids buying houses, our house in the middle of remodeling. So it's not a neat, tidy picture, but it's all good. 

A last note - I've been reading a book - highly recommend it to just about anyone - Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent. (The original, Tyranny of the Urgent, is a 30 page pamphlet. This is the full length book from that pamphlet.) It's been life shaping for me. Life shaping enough I cancelled my Southern Living subscription, dropped out of Newcomers, and redid our family calendar. I found out my # 1 priority, after God, and before my husband, is getting enough sleep. Seriously. Everything flows out of that and being tired just doesn't work for me. Time with friends, which friends might not understand, was near the bottom of my list. Wouldn't it be great, though, if we all knew ourselves better, and lived out of that knowledge?And if we figured that out in the first half-century of our life, rather than the second?  I'll be back soon to share more on that.