Living in Munchkinland

We just had an amazing week in Taos. It was pretty perfect. I didn't want to leave and neither did the boys. We flew in late on Friday. Michael and I picked the boys up from Camp Indigo and drove straight to the airport. We got right on the airplane and then got kicked off because there was a storm in Dallas. We didn't mind because we had a three hour layover planned in Dallas. Four hours later as we still waited in Austin, we were worried. We were told if we didn't make that night's flight to Santa Fe, we would not be able to find another available flight till Monday. As we finally boarded our flight to Dallas late in the night, we found out our Santa Fe flight was also delayed and that we would make it. We arrived in Santa Fe around midnight to find our car rental voucher wouldn't work and that our luggage hadn't arrived and was lost. We spent half an hour negotiating our car and were finally successful. When we got to our hotel,...

Michael and I celebrated our nine year anniversary yesterday. He was in Dallas when we woke up, but he called and he emailed me sweet things. When he got home we had ranch happy hour at G.G. and Gramp's and then I made one of Michael's favorite dinners. We ate it while curled up on the couch watching My Neighbor Totoro for family movie night. I loved it. I love this family and home that Michael and I have made together. We are best friends and I love him so much. We have faced many trials together, but we are both committed to making our marriage work and will do anything that we need to do in order to make it better. That makes me really proud. It also makes me feel really lucky. I am lucky in love and I will work really hard to stay that way. Happy Anniversary to my love. You are amazing. I appreciate you and support you. I will always love you.

This week has been great! I owe a ton of this to Camp Indigo. The kids have been attending this fabulous camp run by the Amala Foundation . This is an amazing organization. My parents offered to send both my boys and their cousin Kade to this camp when we first heard about them and we were thrilled to accept. The kids are blossoming there. They love it and are coming home more kind and more compassionate. The camp is at Austin Discovery School this year which is about a forty five minute drive for me each way. This hasn't been so bad though, because our dear friend Linda who lives on the ranch heard us discussing the camp and when she checked out the website, loved the organization and volunteered for both weeks of the camp! She has been taking our boys in the morning with her, so I only have to do the afternoon pickup. It's great. And I get to see my sister at drop off on occasion and get to hug my nephew. Love it. I've also gotten to be a bit more s...

Here is my reflection from today. I'm proud of it and enjoyed writing it. The last bit I stole from my brilliant mother when she was helping me with my reflection. I love her so. Brian asked me to reflect on what was “enough” in today’s world. I am often struggling with finding balance between accepting that what I have is enough (more than enough, really) and wanting more. In fact, that very question is what led me into my search for meaning in my adult life. I figured there had to be more than a hedonistic life. There had to be. If there wasn’t, then it was a sad world we lived in. I have worked hard to try and become more spiritual. I strive to be content and grateful with what I have and also, try to become more generous. I’ve spent several of the last few years studying buddhism and working to bring spirituality into my everyday life. To be a better person. I have tried to live in the moment and find joy in that. But a lot of times I fail. There’s lots of d...

These last few weeks have been hard emotionally for me. I'm really working on getting better, but I think the new balance of my hormones is not right yet. I've been feeling depressed. Like I'm not a good parent and not a good wife and not a good daughter and not a good friend. I've been feeling anti-social for months though I've tried hard to push through it. The kids have been exceptionally challenging this week and that has been extra hard on my already low parenting self esteem. I didn't know what I had done wrong or how I could fix it. I'd put them to bed at night and then go sob on the chaise lounge. We talked to a therapist friend about the kids and were told that the disruption of schedule between all the camps and shuffling between family has probably been causing them to act out. Sam has also been having way more accidents than a five year old should have. I took Sam out of camp and had a special Mommy and Sam day where I spent the whol...

Things are better around here. The beach got better. Sam apparently was just having a no-good, terrible day, because his behavior was much improved after Wednesday, though both boys are still bickering a lot. We had a nice day at the beach on Friday and I spent the late afternoon surfing travel while Michael played with the boys in the condo. So the beach trip was saved, but still did not rate as awesome. We decided to pack it up and leave early and were out of there by 9AM on Saturday morning. We got home by noon, had lunch and relaxed awhile before having a pool party in the late afternoon with Stacey and Chris and kids. We hadn't seen our friends in a long time and it was nice to get to spend that time with them. Michael sat under the palapa bar fan, and seemed to have a good time despite the fact that he can't swim. Sunday we went to church, spent time at the pool with Marcie and Ann and the boys and had a family movie night. It was good to be home and be normal. ...

We are in Port A. Michael's doctor approved our beach trip at his wound care appt on Monday. W drove in on Tuesday around four. Marcie and Ann and the kids settled into 101 and we threw our bags in the condo and then we all headed for the pool. Davis and Sam are such strong swimmers now that it's easy to take them down to the pool. Yesterday I went for a run and then we set up the EZ up and played on the beach all morning. It was a lot of work to watch both boys boogie boarding in the strong current. Michael can't go down to the beach and Marcie and Ann have their hands full with their three so there was no reading or drinking for me down there. The kids had a great time though and Sam I made a huge sand castle. We came up for lunch and then went down to the pool for about an hour and a half. I was done after that, so we came up, cleaned up and put on a movie for the boys while I prepped dinner. Marcie and fam came up for dinner and we all ate together and l...

We had a wonderful day on Sunday. Michael's mother, father, brother, sister-in-law and nephews drove down to spend the afternoon with us. We were supposed to have gone to Houston this past weekend to spend time with our California family while Michael's brother attended his high school reunion. We hadn't seen them in two years. Unfortunately, Michael's injury kept us from going so we were thrilled when they offered to come to us. They drove in around two and the boys all immediately reconnected and started playing. They loved each other and played so well. The grown ups sat around chatting and then I made us dinner and we all sat around the table and ate and then played some games. I love my Walter family so much and it was hands down the best day I've had in a long time. We have to find a way to get together more often.