Our 3216 Mile Move - Part 2

Houston was the first stop on our journey from Alabama to Utah. Although it's not exactly on the way, we had a few days to spare and wanted to jump at the opportunity to spend a little time with our families. We went to Jason's mom's house first. I love being with Jason's mom. She is so encouraging to me on this parenting journey because she had children just like mine!!! She always seems to know what I'm going through and has an encouraging word to say. She is patient and not judgmental in any way, which I really admire in her because she no doubt watches me make mistake after mistake with my kids! I hope I can be the same way with my kids when they have kids..even with my siblings and friends as they raise their kids.

Our Allibelle LOVES dogs. This love is not a typical love that kids have for animals. It is utter amazement, complete infatuation, puppies on the brain 24/7 kind of love! She fears no dog, big or small. She lets them kiss all over her and she can spot a dog coming from a mile away. This is how I found her one early morning while I was doing laundry:

She's hanging out with Grandma's dog Izzy!

I took these pictures with my iPhone and I know they are poor quality. Sadly, I take many of my photos with my phone lately because it's always in reach during this time of transition.

(And yes, we normally keep the gate to the laundry room shut because of the cleaning supplies that are within her reach.)

We got to spend some great time with Ryan, Jessica, Megan and James while we were there. I was able to take Jessica to her eye doctor appointment after her surgery and we got to have some quality one-on-one time, which we never get to do and I LOVED! We all spent some time at Jason's mom's neighborhood pool and enjoyed an opportunity to eat at Pei Wei - a Jackson favorite that we didn't have in Alabama. This is one of the only photos I took! I haven't been so great about taking pictures lately. I do have more photos of our visit in May, which I hope to blog about in the coming weeks.

Jason's mom treated us to a night out by watching our kids for us. It was wonderful!! I LOVE being with my man of 12 years and I miss our time together so much. We stayed close to the area because Allison has a hard time getting to sleep at night without me and I didn't want my mother-in-law to have to endure a night with lots of crying. (I didn't want my baby to endure a lot of crying either!) We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Salt Grass and then went to see X-Men, which I loved! Jason had a terrible headache that got worse as the night went on. It was so bad, that he vomited in the parking lot as we were leaving the cinema! How's that for our rare date night! Poor Jason! (Another iPhone photo...Jason's eyes look like Storm from X-Men!)

When we got home that night, Allison was still awake, but she was happily watching Miss Pattycake with Grandma. I didn't care that she was still awake. I was just happy that she was happy. I'd much rather her have a late night than a night full of crying. Thank you, Mom!!

Later in the week, we went to my parent's house. Everyone in my family came over that day. When we all get together, it is loud and crazy but so much fun. My parents have 8 grandchildren. 7 of them are 4 and under and they are getting two more before the end of this year! When I was a little girl, my parents put a pool in our backyard. That is one investment that was worth every penny! Not only did we enjoy it our entire lives, but now our kids are enjoying it. I can't imagine what a blessing it must be for my parents to sit (well, they rarely sit when we're all together :-)) and watch their grandchildren play and swim in the same home and pool that their children played and swam! God has greatly blessed our family!

The boys LOVE the pool. Jackson and Colin were having noodle wars. They are five weeks apart and they play so well together.

Dawson trying his hardest to attack Jason:

My little water baby sporting one of Madalyn's old swim suits:

Thank you always, Mer and Ryan! Hand-me-downs are great!

Miss Fearless! I can't wait to teach her how to swim. She totally scares me near a pool because she's not afraid. She loved riding on Daddy's back. She was so happy to have Jason around. Moving gave him a little time off. Even though we were busy moving, he was still at home with us and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Dawson is super loving and sweet with his nieces. I think he'd like a sister as much as Melissa would like a daughter!

Allison LOVES her PaPa! For some reason, she attached herself to him even before she was really around him. I had pictures of our families around the house and she would always find the ones with PaPa, point to him, and say, "PaPa! PaPa!" At night, she even sings a little melody, "PaPa, Coco! PaPa, Coco! PaPa, Coco!" (Coco is my parent's dog!) And she constantly asks me where he is. It's hilarious!

Ready! Set! Go! Run and jump into the pool! Boys are awesome!

It was so fun to watch them do this over and over again. Colin is a tough and brave little man. He's been jumping in the pool for as long as I can remember. Last summer, he and Jackson would jump in together. Then, for some unknown reason to me, Jackson decided he wasn't going to jump in the pool. He never would during any of his swim lessons and he wouldn't when we were here at the end of March. During our May visit, he just decided to do it one afternoon. Landon was never a jumper either...until recently. Seeing all of them run and jump was so much fun! Of course, Dawson isn't afraid. That boy loves the water too. He's on swim team this summer. I'm so happy for him. Now for the big dog:

My little man loves pink! He chose those goggles last year. They wear them more for fun than for function!

Ronald, our grill master, enjoying a rare day off! It was so great getting to see him, Christy and sweet Anna. I can't believe I didn't get one picture of my niece!!

Friday, we went to Jon and Melissa's. My kids love being at their house because most of their cousins are there and they have tons of things to play with! I love being there too. My sister amazes me. She is so calm and nothing seems to stress her. I guess four boys will do that to a mom! The kids had a great time and we enjoyed a late night of talking to Jon and Melissa.

Somehow, Allison manages to get herself inside of exersaucers!

She love, love, loves baby Kaiden or K-K!

And she loves chairs...all kinds of chairs.

The kids found the dress-up closet and had a blast!
Landon, the Ninja:

Colin, the shark:

Jackson, the Spider-man:

Dawson...well, maybe he's the Ninja...I'm not sure!

Another Spider-man, unmasked!

Our future SR-71 Blackbird pilot!

I said they had a blast with the costumes. Well, most of them did.

Once she found one she could do herself, her attitude totally changed!

Having a big brother has really made an impact on this little girl. She wouldn't be exactly the same person if it weren't for Jackson!

We had a great time seeing our families and we miss them so much. After a wonderful but hurried week, we headed to Oklahoma. We did make a stop in Dallas for a super special treat - an evening with our former neighbors, the Sherrers!! I'll write about that in my next post!

Lord, thank You for such amazing families! We are so blessed and I hope to never take it for granted.