ANuStart*

*If I haven't mentioned it before (and I'm sure I have), do yourself and your funny bone a great big favor and rent or Netflix the genius comedy show Arrested Development. It features some of the funniest people in one of the best ensembles ever on TV. This show changed my life, and I reference it every chance I get. Seriously. Watch it, and then watch it again. I've been watching it for 12 years (OMG, I'm old) and it's still magical every single time. I could go on, but I have other (although equally important things) going on, such as ...

How is it possible that it's been two years (!!!) since I had time to blog? Oh, right. I lost the power cord to my laptop in our big move, and was too broke to buy another one. Then I finally did buy another one and my hubby's laptop bit the dust. My laptop became "temporarily" his laptop, and ... well, here we are. I guess, since it's been so long, I'll update you on exactly where "here" is:

My little sweetheart, frolicking in a field of bluebonnets
in our new hometown of New Braunfels, TX

In the summer of 2014 (after a delightful summer vacation to Wisconsin and Minnesota) we made a leap of faith. Elvis got a job at a new school, so we packed up our little family and moved to nearby New Braunfels. It's a small town a few miles north of San Antonio, and we LOVE it. It's a bigger town than San Marcos, closer to our families in San Antonio, and - best of all - not a college town! It's a nice, family-friendly place with plenty to do. His job is in Seguin, which is about 20 minutes away (half his previous commute time!) and he's been doing well there. We got library cards at our new local library, and Henry enrolled in their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program (OMG, the New Braunfels Public Library is a hundred times better than the San Marcos Public Library was); we got memberships at the McKenna Children's Museum; we developed a taste for German food, and even got to enjoy our very first Wurstfest this past fall. So far, we have loved every moment of living in New Braunfels.

A few weeks after we moved, a permanent job opened up at a different store within the same company I'd been working for as a seasonal employee. I was hoping to stay and get hired on at "my" store, but ended up applying at the new location anyway. I got the job, and have been working there happily ever since. I'm so grateful for my job, which I love and am pretty good at. I'm sure we would have been okay, but it was getting a little worrisome there with only one income and a growing boy to feed. Now we're still not rich, but we have a little breathing room and a little money in the bank, and not a day goes by that I don't thank God for providing my little family with a safe home, good health, good jobs, and friends and family who support us and love us so much.

Speaking of family, my mom's parents both turned 80 this summer (my goodness, it's hard to believe they're 80; they seem decades younger than that!), and we had a big family reunion to celebrate. Nana & Gramps, Mom & Dad, my brother David, Elvis, Hank and myself joined Aunt Sandie (Mom's sister) & Uncle Virgil, their daughter Amberly & her husband Jordan, and their son Taylor and his girlfriend (now fiancee) Chay at a rented house on Lake Siesta in Seguin.

High school sweethearts: Over 60 years in love

Gramps hugging his favorite niece, Michelle, who came with her
family all the way from Wisconsin to surprise the birthday peeps.

 

That part was all planned, but then we surprised Nana & Gramps with some foreign visitors: Gramps' nicece Michelle, her husband Stan, and their kids Laura and Andrew joined us all the way from Wisconsin. Many hugs were shared and many tears shed when we revealed the surprise, and we spent a wonderful long weekend together, eating, playing games, swimming, dancing, eating, cooking, taking pictures, joking, fishing, eating, and cracking cascarones. It was such a fun weekend, so full of love, and Hank still talks about it all the time.

A delicious plate of fried fish.

Hank "decorated" for the photo booth

Elvis & me

A lazy afternoon of fishing ... what could be better?

Elvis takes his turn at the piñata.

My great big beautiful family: grandparents, aunt & uncle, cousins and their significant others, parents, brother, husband, and son. This is what love looks like.

My & my handsome cowboy, engaging in the Native Dance of Our People
(that's the Texas Two-Step, y'all!)

Me with my little sweetheart, not dancing.
He preferred flirting with Nana to dancing with Mama.

Hank on the Komodo Dragon statue
at the San Antonio Zoo

And, speaking of Hank, has he changed! He's 4 1/2 now, and in school. He's been working hard, and it's been paying off. It took him about 7 months of school to learn to read (he already knew all his letters and their sounds), and he knocked my socks off one night by reading his own bedtime story. He can write reasonably well (he improves every day), remembers his vocabulary words each week, and add small numbers. More important, he's learning the valuable social skills I can't teach him on my own: sharing and taking turns with his friends, communicating with his words, and regarding others' feelings. He's always been a sweet boy, but now that he's got friends to interact with, he's becoming much more mindful of how his words and actions can affect others. He's still incredibly quick with his laughter and his kisses, and sometimes he's so tender it makes me cry. He still lets me snuggle him and hold his hand almost any time I ask, and my favorite times of the week are early Saturday and Sunday mornings when he sneaks into the bed before dawn, and snuggles me quietly for a little while. His imagination is outrageous, his athletic prowess impressive, and his concentration (when he choses to concentrate) and determination are sometimes surprising for such a young boy. He wants to learn and accomplish things on his own, although he still loves to be babied sometimes. His favorite things right now are robots, sports, riding his bike, the Spurs, the Rolling Stones, shooting thugs & Nazis, The Looney Tunes Show, his girlfriend Maddie, carrots, and Minecraft. He's funny, smart, sweet, and so heartbreakingly handsome. My son takes my breath away.

Now that we're all caught up, I'll do my best to get back in the habit of sharing my little slice of heaven. Y'all come back now. ;-)