Welcome Home Uncle Jacob!

Ben's younger brother Jacob recently returned home from serving a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Tallahassee, FL. Although lately we have had way more to do than time to do it in, we couldn't let Jacob head back to college before we were able to catch-up, so we caught a quick flight to DFW with a return ticket booked only 48 hours later. Isabelle was excited to actually meet in person the Uncle she has had a picture of her with in her bedroom for the last 24 months and especially to also see her silly Uncle Seth! From the moment we arrived she played as busy and as quickly as she could moving from one thing to another, definitely making use of the short stay. We had fun visiting with Jacob as well as Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Seth and Joe and even found a little bit of time to celebrate Ben's birthday with an alligator cupcake cake, in honor of Tallahassee, FL. Although it was a fast visit, all three of us really enjoyed our time in Dallas and were especially grateful to reunite with Jacob. Now Isabelle has a real face to go with her picture and can't wait to play with her Uncle's again soon!

It's a girl thing

It is so funny to hear all of the silly things that come out of Jelly's mouth. It is interesting to hear what she is thinking about and to try and walk through her logic, etc. This was our conversation today in the car:

Belle Mom, I know my legs are fat!
Mom No, your legs are so skinny and long.
Belle I just know they are fat.
Mom Why do you think that?
Belle I know they are fat because I am a girl, and girls legs are fat!
Mom (laughing)
Belle Girls legs are fat at the very top! Aren't they mom?!

I was left wishing my legs were as "fat" as hers at the very top!

A quick birthday!

Ben turned 32 years old this week. He was traveling for work and we have all been in and out of town for months, so his birthday sort of snuck up on us. I had kindly scheduled him a cleaning at the dentist as soon as he got back in town and Isabelle was so excited to celebrate with him that he really didn't get a chance to open any gifts himself. The first morning she woke up to him at home all week she yelled Let's get this party started! at about 6:20am and she meant it. By 9:30am she had decorated with ribbons and leftovers from her Curious George party, we had opened all of Ben's gifts and even lit his candles and ate his birthday cake! It was a very quick, and early, party but we were glad we were all three together! I adore Ben but only perhaps half as much as his little girl!

Long summer days...

We have all been running a little ragged lately. Life has been busy and we have been doing our best to keep up. Ben has continued to be on the road working in various cities and burning the candle at both ends of the stick. Occasionally he comes home and sleeps more than 5 hours at night, but most of the time he functions at top speed for days and days at a time.

We were luckily enough to have Grandma and Grandpa come over for a quick weekend visit while Ben and I continued to celebrate our 8th anniversary, a few weeks late. We met some friends for a yummy dinner at Bohanan's downtown and then walked across the street to the Majestic Theatre for a viewing of the Broadway musical Wicked. The next morning Belle and I left with my parents and headed back to Houston for a few days. My dad was scheduled for another procedure at St. Lukes and I wanted to be there to help with the travel and recovery, etc. We spent a very long day, especially for a toddler, at the hospital and unfortunately left without a lot of good news. The doctor was unable to open the bile-ducts like he had hoped and scheduled my dad for a follow-up surgery the next week. If anything makes a hospital visit less pleasant, it is leaving with your return visit already on the calendar.

We squeezed in a little bit of fun playing with Aunt Alee and Uncle Nick before returning to San Antonio for a long holiday weekend. Our great friend Chris Venegas was married to Nicte on Thursday the 2nd followed by a dinner and reception on the 3rd. Isabelle was very excited to attend the wedding and was extra quiet during the ceremony and loved dancing with the 9-piece Mariachi band at the reception. It was a beautiful night and we are so glad we were able to be there to help celebrate with Chris and Nicte.

Saturday morning, the 4th of July, came too early, like it usually does, but we didn't have time to be lazy yet. We had 3rd row tickets to the Ringling Brother's Circus. We were especially excited for this event since DUMBO was Isabelle's very first favorite movie to watch and she continues to watch it at least every month. Our seats were great and we enjoyed every act of the Best Show on Earth. Isabelle had a snow-cone in an elephant shaped cup and the rest of us feasted on all sorts of circus snacks! After all of the fun, we had just a few minutes before we headed to the church to view the Sonterra Fireworks show. Although we were pretty far back, it was good enough for Jelly and she had fun staying up late and seeing all of her friends and especially her babysitter's dog, Penny!

With all of the commotion and business, I only picked up my camera one brief moment and didn't capture too much of the excitement. Now it is Monday again and Ben is in Baltimore, Belle is taking a nap, still trying to catch-up on too much missed sleep, and I am anxiously awaiting my dad's next surgery tomorrow. Somewhere is between all of the recent maddness, Belle had a violent stomache bug and Ben's brother Jacob returned home from a 2-year mission in Florida. We are hopeful to make it up to DFW to visit with him very soon. I keep thinking life will slow down at some point but so far there is no end in sight. I guess that's what keeps us going!