JAMSquared

James took Friday off from work and we traveled to Midland to celebrate Mother’s Day with our Moms. Jessica did pretty well in the car. This is a beautiful time of year to drive to Midland. The wildflowers were gorgeous. The stretch between Llano and Brady was especially vibrant. There were red and yellow, orange and white, pink and purple wildflowers and even a few bluebonnets (usually this is too late for bluebonnets). Some fields were covered with only one type of wildflower, making one field look like it was dusted with snow there were so many white flowers. Other fields were covered with red and yellow wildflowers giving the impression they were on fire.

Friday night, James’ Mom hosted dinner at her house with my parents, James’ parents, James’ grandparents, James’ sister Tami and her boyfriend Randy and our nephew Dawson. It was a full household and I didn’t get any photos.

For lunch on Saturday, we headed to Tampico with James’ family. Afterward, we visited back at James’ parent’s house.

Someone’s getting sleepy.

James’ Mom had gotten out some of Dawson’s toys from when he was a baby and Jessica had a grand time playing with them. She especially enjoyed this little musical piano.

Dawson enjoyed playing with Jessica.

We went over to my Mom’s house for dinner Saturday night and she got to feed Jessica her dinner of butternut squash. Jessica is really starting to like butternut squash, of which I’m really thankful.

Before we left Sunday morning, Jessica got to play some more.

We stopped in San Angelo to visit with James’ Uncle Chuck. We took Jessica to the Sante Fe East Park, which is across the Concho River from the Visitor’s Center. The park has a toddler section. She enjoyed swinging, going down the slide with her Daddy, and riding a little pony.

Sunday night after we had gotten back and Jessica had played, eaten dinner and had a bath, we took some more photos.

Overall, it was a lovely weekend.

As promised, here are pictures from our trip to Midland last weekend. It was a very busy weekend.

My Dad had so much fun at the breakfast table, he ended up being the last one to change from his pajamas.

My sister wouldn’t want to see the other picture I snapped of her and Cameron.

After breakfast, we all hung out. Cameron found a giant foam hand that he immensely enjoyed. Of course, it made all the Longhorn fans happy, especially since my sister is an Aggie through and through.

I can’t wait until all the kiddos are old enough to play together. It will be so much fun. Growing up, I never really spent much time with my cousins. Partly, because I didn’t have many, two on my Dad’s side and three on my Mom’s side. And partly because none of them traveled and they lived a ways away from us. So I think it is great, that we all live close enough to see each other often and that we’re all willing to travel.

After lunch on Saturday, we went over to James’ parents house and visited with them a bit.

Then we stopped by his grandparents for a little while. His grandparents will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary in September. Isn’t that exciting? Yep, Jessica has her thumb in her mouth. I think it is so cute how she covers up her nose with her fingers when she does that.

We got back to my parents house right as everyone was leaving to go on a walk. We walked to the playground near the elementary school I attended. That brought back memories. We used to walk home from school. Aspen and Cameron enjoyed the swing. I didn’t bring Jessica’s coat (I didn’t realize we were walking to the playground) and so she stayed tucked under the blanket in her car seat/stroller.

I can’t wait until the kiddos become cheesers. Then Julia won’t be the only one smiling. Plus it will be so much easier to get them to all look at the camera.

On Sunday before church, my Mom got to hold all the grandbabies for a photo shoot, similar to the one my Dad experienced at Christmas. It was so cute how Cameron had his arm around Aspen.

Then we tried to get all four of them on the recliner, which was a tad difficult. We should have stuck with the loveseat from my Mom’s photo shoot.

Jessica did pretty good in the car both ways. The way up would have been faster if we had realized all it took was a light on once it got dark outside to make Jessica happy.

Wednesday, December 23rd

For Jessica’s first Christmas, we traveled to Midland. The trip was about 7.5 hours, which normally takes us about 6 hours (when we stop for lunch). We stopped in Eden for lunch and to feed Jessica. We stopped again in San Angelo so Jessica could meet her Great-Uncle Chuck. About 20 minutes from my parent’s house, we had to stop again, because Jessica didn’t want to sit in her wet diaper any longer. Except for the strong winds and rain the last hour of the trip, it went relatively smooth for Jessica’s first long car trip. After arriving and meeting her Aunt Sarah, Uncle Brian and cousins Cameron and Trevor for the first time, she went down for bed.

Thursday, December 24th

What do 8 adults, 1 toddler and 3 babies equal? A chaotic but wonderful Christmas Eve. The day was spent enjoying each other. The guys and Aspen put together a puzzle. My Dad, Sarah, Julia and I ate lunch at Taco Villa (nacho fries, yum!) and then took lunch back to the house for everyone else. Some naps were taken and not just by babies.

Everyone except my Dad, James, Jessica and I went to the children’s service at St. Ann’s. We then ate dinner and my Dad left for choir practice before the 8 o’clock and midnight masses. Normally, we would have opened all the gifts together Christmas Eve, but with my Dad in the choir, the little ones going to bed and an over-abundance of gifts under the tree,  the adults opened most of their presents and some of the babies’ presents after dinner. My Mom and I then went to midnight mass (held at 11 o’clock with 30 minutes of music beforehand) to watch my Dad sing in the choir. James was going to go with us, but since Jessica had been fussy being put to bed, we didn’t want anyone to have to get up to soothe her should she wake up. Of course, she didn’t wake up.

Friday, December 25th

The morning started out with all the babies in the matching sleepers my sister got for them. Jessica (10 weeks old), Aspen (4.5 months old), and Trevor (7 weeks old) looked so cute. Cameron (21 months old) had to of course join Papa and the babies for some photos.

We also took a number of photos with just the 2009 cousins. It is quite difficult to get 3 babies to smile at the camera. I think Aspen wanted more room.

Jessica got some great presents: clothes, books and toys. Daddy opened most of them for her as Mommy was busy photographing the opening of gifts.

Even though she didn’t technically open any of her presents herself, she decided that opening presents was tiring and decided a nap in Papa’s arm was in order. See that little headband with the red bow? That goes with the cutest little sailor outfit she received and will be wearing this summer.

After getting Jessica dressed in her Christmas outfit, we went over to James’ parents’ house to have lunch and open gifts. Jessica got to meet her great-grandparents and Aunt Tami for the first time.

Saturday, December 26th

After breakfast, Cameron convinced his Uncle James to take him for a walk in the new wagon Santa brought him. Of course, it didn’t take much convincing since it was James’ idea. His wagon is pretty deluxe. It seats two with cupholders for each and one of the seats opens up to hide some toys.

After lunch, Sarah and her family left to return home. Jason, Julia and Aspen had left before James, Jessica and I woke up. They are early risers. I’m so thankful that Jessica is not an early riser. Of course, it helps that we put her to bed 1-1.5 hours after Aspen goes to bed allowing her to sleep 1-1.5 hours later.

Sunday, December 27th

We went to church with my Mom (Dad left early to sing in the choir). After lunch, I went with my parents to visit my grandmother, who is in the later stage Alzheimer’s unit at Manor Park. I’m so glad my Grandma has such a nice place to live. After that, we went to visit at James’ parents’ house.

Monday, December 28th

After breakfast we hit the road. Jessica did fabulously in the car.

The last weekend in April, a big group of people got together in Midland for a family reunion. Everyone there was related in some form or fashion to Freda and Cecil Evans, James’ grandparents. It was a lot of fun.  We got to see a bunch of people we hadn’t seen in a while.

The first activity was Saturday lunch at Tampico Spanish Inn, a favorite Mexican food restaurant in Midland. While there, we were able to get a group photo. It pays to have a tripod in your camera bag like I do.

After visiting at Granny and Pawpaw’s house, we went to the hotel that a lot of people were staying at to watch the kids go swimming in the indoor pool while the adults chatted.

After dinner with James’ parents, Tami (James’ sister), Randy (Tami’s boyfriend), and Dawson (our 8-year-old nephew) at the Cracker Barrel, we went back for more visiting at Granny and Pawpaw’s house and some genealogical research for me.

Sunday entailed more visiting, watching the “kids” play in the yard, and a fried/grilled chicken dinner from KFC.

On Friday, we had dinner with Randy, James’ good friend since they were little bitty and who served as James’ best man at our wedding. Afterward, we went to the movies, which is quite expensive compared to Austin. Since Midland only has only one movie theater, I guess they can charge whatever they want. We saw The Spirit and I don’t recommend anyone go see it. It is based on a comic by Will Eisner and was one of the weirdest, and not in a good way, movies I have ever seen.

On Saturday, we had Christmas dinner with James’ family and opened gifts afterward. There were nine of us: James and I, his parents, his Granny and Pawpaw, his sister and her boyfriend and our nephew Dawson, who spent the first half of his Christmas vacation with his father’s side of the family and did not get home until Friday. Next year, Tami, James’ sister, will get to have Dawson at home the first half of Christmas vacation. James’ grandparents were really surprised by the digital picture frame we all pitched in together and got them. I had pre-loaded it with a bunch of pictures. The pictures ranged from when Dawson was a small tyke of two in 2002 when I first got a digital camera to a couple of pictures of James and the two of us on our November trip to French Polynesia (of which a post is forthcoming).

We left Sunday after meeting the whole gang for lunch at McAlister’s Deli.