Back to the Hill

This is just a little test to see if I can blog from my new phone.  If so, lots of post will be coming your way this summer!

Yeah.

This little monkey is getting ready to begin KINDERGARTEN tours!! Sigh...

The random

In an effort to document life since August, this post will be purely stream of consciousness. Not that I'm ever particularly organized in my writing, but I want to fully prepare you for any potential disjointed confusion. I'm watching House Hunters International, it's 10:40 PM, and I'm just now hearing silence from the girls' room. We put them down at 7:24. I made the decision (mayhaps a mistake) to create a "family closet." Adam and I have a ridiculously large bathroom and closet; the bathroom now holds both girls' dressers and the closet used to be a bedroom before a 1980s remodel. Once it's finished, I think it will be brilliant. Adam is making some grunts and ugly faces, so I'm not so sure he's as excited about the potential for organization. The real problem is that in a moment of brilliance?, I decided to change the position of Gracen's bed, so that the end now touches Avery's bed, creating a bedrail. Smart, no? Yeah, until they're awake for over THREE HOURS laughing, playing, singing, screaming, talking etc. because their heads are either right next to each other or because they've just stood up and taken that one step across the footboard to hang out in the other bed. See...maybe not so smart:

So I'm a working girl now. I work part-time, but it doesn't really feel part-time. It's a good job, and most days I feel like I'm making a difference. I'm not really doing as much "counseling" as I would like to be doing, so it's an adjustment. I'm just having to reframe my thinking about it, and since I was willing to look into jobs other than counseling initially, I can sort of be okay with it. Most days. Other days, I just really want to be home with my girls, especially on the days that they cling to me and cry and plead for me not to leave them. We go through waves of this. They're pretty happy at this school, and I'm pretty happy with them there, but I miss our little church preschool right down the road. Adam and Matt just got a new office that is three blocks from my school and less than a mile from the girls. It does feel good knowing that we're all so close together during the day. There is an excellent chance that my job is going to be eliminated next year, due to our budget crisis. I'm not sure how I feel. I know that I wouldn't be devastated to play with my babies a little longer.

We have our Christmas tree up, and the "kittens" haven't destroyed it yet. Ave is more of the problem. Our kittens may not be kittens so much anymore. Jack is a giant of a cat. Other than a few Maine Coons I once knew, I don't know that I've been around a cat quite this large. He's mildly chunky, but really he's just BIG. Bebo (Rainbow), is little and dainty, and really only loves Gracen and Avery (when she's asleep). She tolerates the rest of us.

We also have chickens. Very cute chickens. Lazy ass chickens. They should have started laying a couple of months ago, but nada yet. We have Faline, Thumper, Flower, The Great Prince of the Forest, and Rudolph--all hens. They were all supposed to be Bambi characters (recent book obsession), but Gracen watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" during rest time the day we got them.

I had fully intended to write more, but I just realized that "Steel Magnolias" is on, and it wins...

Catching Up

Where do I even begin?!

We spent a month back in North Carolina, visiting as many people as we could squeeze into our schedules. It was thoroughly perfect, and it was really hard packing up the car to return home to Texas. But we're back, and we're happy, even through some major life upheavals.

Life change #1: Last February we started talking about the possibility that I might return to work, either full or part time to help support Team Riggsbee while Adam's new company is in its early years (poor years). After getting my Texas school counselor license and after several no-thank-yous-we've-selected-someone-elses, we pretty much accepted that I would not be working this fall, Ave would not attend preschool, and we'd be eating beans and rice several times a week. I was pretty damn happy about this plan too, as my neighborhood mama friend had put in her notice at work to stay home with her two little boys. As irony would have it, I ended up with a last minute interview on her last day at work. And they wanted me, so here I am. I work part-time, 4 days a week, at a sweet little elementary school in south Austin. I have seen more of the city in the last 3 weeks than in the entire year prior. Speaking of which, we celebrated our One Year of Survival in Tejas on August 3rd. I sweat less this year, which is a big bonus, especially now that I have to wear grown up clothes and occasionally mascara.

Life change #2: Due to me working, Ave and G had a to start a new preschool that would accommodate my schedule. We found a Montessori school less than a mile from my school where they are in the same class. This was a huge bonus, as Avery is still unsure about the whole separation from Mama thing. Gracen loves it and often growls at me when I come to pick her up, or asks why I'm there, or asks if I can come back later.

Life change #3: AVERY IS FULLY POTTY TRAINED!!!!

Life change #4: Avery might be weaned?

Life change #5: Athena Marie, our collie-shepherd-husky-chow-wolf mix pup, died a few weeks ago. She deserves her own post soon, so I'll not write much here except to say that our hearts are still very heavy with missing her.

I feel certain that there's more, but I need to head off to WORK now. My mother is in town for the week, watching the girls because their school is out for vacation. They've pretty much ignored me for the past 24 hours.

Miss you, people...

five in two

I'm just going to go ahead and brag on myself because I have now blogged FIVE times in two weeks. Ave's life may just get documented after all. A big Tejas "howdy" to all three of you out there.

And for your viewing pleasure...

Avery got a big girl bed today. It's her early birthday present. There has been a lot of laughter and screaming going on in there. I'm trying to stay away because it sounds like an awful lot of fun, but I'm going to have to go lay down the law in a few. I'm giving them five more minutes. Here's a sample:

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We're still teaching the little people how to care for their kittens. Please notice how well we've instructed on this skill and how very well they listen to their Mama's directions. Can you count how many times I say "Let the cat go?":