Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The End

It's time to say good-bye for now.

I have loved every minute of blogging, but for a number of reasons, I have to stop. Hating to be the one to hang up first, I'll give you some of the reasons and then a quick update on our lives before I abandoned my captive audience:

  • Blogbooks are stupidly time-consuming to make...and blogbooks are 80% of the point of me having a blog. Besides that, the company that used to slurp my blog into a book stopped offering that service. Dang them!
  • Facebook keeps me in touch with friends and family as well as I could ever hope for.
  • The books I've made from this blog are real treasures for my kids. And it's mostly because of the pictures and quotes. I can do that with chatbooks.
  • Chatbooks are a thing!
  • I have no more time to blog. I have four kids,  one of which is a very busy toddler. We just moved and I've got a super long list of things to do. I don't see it shortening anytime soon. And soon I'll have a job (I hope)!
 Family Update:

In July, we arrived in College Station, Texas--three hours from our beloved San Antonio. Jared has started medical school at A & M. Isaac still loves to read, Noah still loves animals, Ellie still loves being creative, and Natalie has discovered the joy of changing fancy dresses a hundred times a day and dancing in them. We have started going to a Spanish-speaking congregation in our church, which has been fun and interesting. We haven't taken a family picture in two years, or I'd leave it here. Love you all...ciao!

Monday, August 14, 2017

Natalie's 2nd Birthday

If you know my baby girl, you know she loves Elmo. Oh, does she love Elmo!
So, OF COURSE we had to make her birthday have an Elmo theme. I don't think we've ever enjoyed a little one's party so much, from the planning and decorating to the celebration and watching her face as she enjoyed everything.


One of the snacks was Goldfish, in honor of Dorothy (Elmo's goldfish). Natalie felt like using utensils on this apprized appetizer.


Her face while hearing the birthday song is so priceless.
She approves!
Quite.

NiƱos approve.
Presents! This party just got unbelievably better! Elmos for everyone.
 The best thing I ever bought (to date) was this Elmo balloon. It provided hours (I'm not even kidding) of fun. I can still see in my mind: Noah running in the backyard with Elmo tied to him, seeming to chase him, and Natalie's in stitches. But the day it finally died, it was saluted for all its service.