New Pics of Rylan

Here are some new pics of Rylan. He's really getting big! What a cute guy!

Faculty Party

Justin, Annabelle & I went to a back to school party for the faculty at Justin's work this evening. Lots of Justin's new colleagues along with their families were at the event & we had really good mexican food and had a good time. We met so many new people it was hard to keep them all straight! I'm definitely not very good with remembering names, especially when I'm hit with like over 2o in the first fifteen minutes . Plus, I'm not the most outgoing person in the world so these things are a little stressful for me! There were only three other kids since most of the faculty are older. One couple have an 11 year old boy, another couple have a 16 month old little boy, another couple have a little girl who is only two months younger than Annabelle, Annabelle became instant friends with this little girl. The party was in a massive Spanish villa type home in the country, Annabelle had a great time running circles around the sunken living room with her new friend. I think the girls ran laps the entire two and a half hours we were there! The other little girl was misbehaving quite a bit & Annabelle was quick to point this out & come tell me, it was very funny. I guess Annabelle really listens to my rules more than I thought, the other little girl tried to open the patio door that led to an open pool & Annabelle came & got me because she knew it was wrong to go out there, I was so proud of her! I asked around about good preschools and got the same response I've gotten in the past, there are really no good ones and the okay ones are very, very expensive...ugghh. Looks like Annabelle will be staying home with me for at least another year (which is fine with me!).

We are still adjusting to the cultural differences around here. It's like a different world. It's very strange being the only white, English speaking person sometimes. Sometimes when I'm out I look around and try to FIND the white people, it's pretty funny, when you do find one, it's like they are looking for you too! Haha!

New People & Places

Annabelle & I went to the Lark City Park yesterday morning. Believe it or not we were the only ones there! Annabelle had a good time going down the slides and playing on all the playground equipment. We would've stayed much longer but it was so hot outside!

Today we went to UTPA with Justin to check out his classrooms & office. Yesterday he was given 2 keys for the rooms but they didn't work! The keys were for the stairwell & bathroom - haha! So, he is still without keys, his office has no power outlets, phone or internet access and the school seems VERY disorganized. I'm hoping he gets keys and everything starts to work out or it will be a really tough first day of school!

We were also invited to one of Justin's co-workers house today for lunch. They are a very nice older couple and we had a good time visiting with them. They even offered to watch Annabelle for us if we ever need it! They have 5 cats and live in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Edinburg, it was really interesting to hear their story and meet some new nice people. Annabelle was very excited to see they have a large pool in their backyard!

Tomorrow I need to do grocery shopping and some cleaning around the house. Annabelle wants to swim in her little pool so we'll probably be spending some time outside too! Hope it isn't as hot as it was today...but it probably will be!

Rain, Rain...Oh, we NEED rain

It clouded up today, thundered, looked like it was going to rain...and then, nothing! (Our backyard is crispy and dead.) So, we spent some time outside looking at the cool clouds and the rainbow afterward. Annabelle had to have an ice cream cone on the patio. I finally let her know that they sell ice cream cones and ice cream in the grocery store and we can make ice cream cones at home, now she needs one every night! haha!

Our Home Office

We almost have the home office in order now. I have a new giant bulletin board (thank you Justin) and we bought another section of desk so Justin can have his computer and equipment next to mine. It's really nice to work in the office now that everything is organized!

Annabelle & her many disguises

Hmmm...

Well, I just realized this has probably been the longest length of time I've ever gone without going in to work everyday (not including the time I took off when Annabelle was born). Talk about a weird feeling! Now I have all that time I was always wishing for to do things with Annabelle, organize my files, sort through closets, rearrange and redecorate - woohoo!

Story time doesn't start up again for another three weeks so Annabelle and I have been trying to do some crafty projects at home. She loves using watercolors and painting. Our neighbor wants to start up a playgroup and hopefully we'll be able to have our initial playgroup next week sometime. Should be interesting, I just hope the Moms all speak English!

New Photo of Rylan

Leslie sent us this new photo of Rylan, he is such a cutie!

Stickers

Annabelle loves getting mail, sometimes Justin & I give her the junk mail because she loves it so much. Great Grandma Writer mailed Annabelle a sheet of smiley face stickers a couple days ago, Annabelle ripped open the envelope and took every sticker off the sheet and stuck them on her legs, she wore the stickers for the rest of the evening. It was pretty funny seeing her running around with legs covered in smiley face stickers!

Moving Dirt & Moving In

Justin bought 15 bags of dirt today and put them around the foundation of the house and in some of the holes that are in the backyard. I'm not sure why the previous owner never took care of the backyard and let the soil move away from the house but now we are fixing that. Justin plans on going to Home Depot (our second home) again tomorrow to buy some more dirt to fill in some more areas in the yard. I think Justin will be ready to go back to work & not have to do so much work around the house!

Annabelle and I went to story hour this morning. It was the last one for the summer and won't start again until mid-sept. Today's theme was cookies and we got to make a cool mouse cup. A lady from Learning Express was there with some cool toys from her shop and she handed out cookies and milk to all the kids. Annabelle and I will definitely have to check out her store! We sat with two really nice kids and their Grandma, had a good conversation with her, her husband is also a professor (of biology) at STC. I'm hoping to make more friends at story time! Hopefully it won't be as busy when school starts.

Bubble Bath

Annabelle loves taking Bubble Baths lately, she's become a pro at making big bubble hats. Walter thinks she's crazy but he loves to watch!

Introducing Toto the Toad

We have a few backyard toads that come out every night to sit on the patio and search for bugs and enjoy the sprinklers. Annabelle calls one of the biggest toads "toto". Here are some pics of our good friend.

Adventure in Heat in South Texas

Last night our A/C quit. One minute it was a cool 80 degrees in here, the next it was topping out at 94 degrees! Luckily when we bought the house we also made the seller buy a home warranty for us so any problems are covered with the home warranty, the only problem is we had to call the home warranty company who then put in a work order to a local company contracted to do A/C work for them and it can take up to 48 hours for them to contact you. Luckily they contacted us this morning and were out here by 2 pm today and had the problem fixed before 3. It was a rough night of almost no sleep last night because it was so hot in here. Poor Walter couldn't bear the heat, he kept panting and meowing, we think he probably lost another of his nine lives leaving him with only one more left after the duffel bag/hotel experience from the move. I think Justin, Annabelle and I are all a little smaller from sweating it out for a day. We spent most of the day today outside in Annabelle's little blow up pool (thank goodness we have that!) & Annabelle and I both got a little sunburnt even with sunscreen! Everything is hotter (and yes bigger-including the bugs, lizards and toads) in Texas.

Bye, Bye Grandparents!

Grandma & Grandpa had to go back to New York. Annabelle will miss them!

On the UTPA Campus

Storytime

We had a good time at story time this week, we brought Gma & Gpa Clark along with us. It was a dinosaur theme this week & the craft was making these rompin' dinosaur feet. Annabelle loves the crafts at story time, it's the only time she get's to play with glue stick, staples and tape!
(Photo credit goes to Grandma for the great Story Time pics!)

Trip to DQ

What would a trip to Texas be without a stop at the local DQ?

Hangin' out with the Grand'rents

Hangin' out at our house with the Grandparents, Annabelle loves playing in her new room (yes it has a race car theme, hopefully I'll have some time to change that soon, any tips on removing large amounts of wallpaper would be appreciated!)

Grandma & Grandpa Clark Visit

Grandma & Grandpa Clark came to visit us in TexMexico this week for a few days. After an eventful flight with many delays they finally arrived late Saturday night. Annabelle was very excited to see them since it had been over a year since the last visit. She loved showing them her toys and room! We took Grandma & Grandpa to the UTPA campus to see where Justin will be working, to downtown McAllen and to Story Time with Annabelle.
It was so good seeing them again!