Living in Munchkinland

Summer has officially begun around here. Both in temperature and by the calendar. We've been hitting the 90's every day this week which was unfortunate for us because our air conditioner went out on Monday. We spent the whole week trying to decide whether to replace the whole unit or just the compressor and which company to do the job. We also spent the very hot week trying to pack for our trip, complete our last week of school and juggle last minute responsibilities while camping out at my parent's house. Thank goodness for my parents gracious hospitality. Their oasis of a home was a wonderful place to run to. Also this week I took the kids to the dentist and Davis got his first filling. This was not as traumatic as it could have been, but it did require two hours at the "we don't normally treat children under six" dentist with both kids which was an effort to say the least. We also attended Davis and Sam's end of year picnic for their montessori sc...

Have you ever been to a crawfish boil? It's a Louisiana/East Texas thing, best done outdoors and with lots of beer. I really enjoy them. You throw crawfish, potatoes, corn, onions and lots of cajun seasoning into a boiling pot and when everything is cooked, you dump the food out onto newspapers and everyone comes by and picks out the tail meat by hand and eats the rest of the food with fingers as well. It's messy, but extremely delicious and fun. It's always interesting how each batch gets more and more spicy. We were invited to a crawfish boil last weekend at the home of my husband's old roommate and his wife. We drove up to North Austin with the kids and made an afternoon of it. Michael really enjoyed spending some time with his old college friends and the kids had a blast playing with the live crawfish.

Did I tell you that we went to a Pow-wow a couple of weeks ago? We did. My parents helped to sponsor it and we got to go and represent them since they were out of town on the day it happened. The pow-wow was held at Aquarena Springs and it was a beautiful day. The river was gorgeous and the sky was blue. I love pow-wows. They remind me of my childhood. When I as a kid, my dad fell in love with the indigenous peoples' culture and made some wonderful friends in the Kiowa-Apache tribe in Anadarko, OK. They became a second family. We would often climb into the "Blue buffalo" (my dad's dodge ram charger) and drive up to Oklahoma where we would attend the pow-wow's for several days. I had a pretty pink shawl with fringe and I always danced when I could. Taking the kids to this pow-wow was really special for me because I was able share with them such a special memory. Davis was enthralled with the dancers and the drummers. We sat for almost an hour watching th...

We had a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend some classes with his Holiness the Dalai Lama this week. Our family foundation donated money to allow some monks to attend this teaching. As a result, we became "sponsors" of the event and got some incredible opportunities over the last three days. My mom, dad, sister, husband and I all flew up to Indiana on Tuesday morning. We left the kids at home with my most fabulous mother-in-law. We flew into Indianapolis around 5:30 and then drove to Bloomington and the home of Indiana University. We were driven in a van with a wonderful monk who had worked quite a bit with the Dalai Lama and who is also an accomplished photographer. We felt honored to ride with him. Our rooms were in the Biddle hotel which is right in the middle of the student union. We dropped off our bags and walked through campus to 4th street where we ate a fabulous Thai dinner. The next morning we woke super early and prepared to face the long lines (in the...

My whole life I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I knew it when I was five and I never wavered. There was none of that indecision or flip flopping. I just knew. I wanted to be an actress and a stay-at-home mom. I will be forever grateful to my parents for helping me achieve the first and to my husband for helping me achieve the second. :) I love being a mom. It is the most rewarding, fulfilling job I've ever had and there is nothing else I would rather do. It fits me. (Yes, it drives me crazy and sometimes I just want to run, far, far away, but in the end it is who I am and I love it.) The inspiration for wanting to be a stay-at-home mom was of course my own mother. I very much wanted to grow up and be just like her. Heck, I still want to grow up and be just like her. When faced with a parenting quandary I ask myself, what would my mother do, and I pretty much always do that. I am aware how lucky I am that I have that kind of role model in my life. My mom is a...

Michael and I have been working on our bucket list. This is a list of all the places we want to travel in the next five years or so. It's been a fun project. It doesn't matter if we actually got to do these trips, this is a dream list, a wish list. Here it is: Greece Morocco- specifically Peacock Pavilions Ottawa and the cottage Disney World/Disney Cruise combo New York City England and Ireland Pub and Castle tour Mardi Gras with the kids Albuquerque Balloon Festival Rent an RV and drive through Europe . Caribbean all-inclusive with the kids. A tour with Rascals in Paradise Oh, it's fun to dream.

We've had some rain over the winter and spring and the temperatures have been mild. The ranch has been covered in wildflowers and we have really been enjoying our home.