Daddy Day Care

Daddy took the crew to get the mail... I never realized how much it looks like a day care when travelling with all three kiddos!

When good news goes bad

Why can't good news ever come without bad news? We have a condo that we have been trying to rent out since June. It has been sitting vacant, and doing its best to make our bank account vacant as well. Well, good news: we heard from our property manager, and we got a year lease on it! Yay! Now we can buy groceries! But my relief was tempered when they told me the maintenance coordinator needed to talk to me. Oh crap.

Turns out the tenant was complaining that the air conditioner was spitting out only warm air. What does he want, we're in Texas!! Anyways, turns out the heat pump is broken, coils leaking. Don't really know what all that means, but I did understand what $2500+ means. Good times.

But hey, silver lining (however thin) is that we don't have to worry about getting another renter for at least 12 months! Just got to keep telling myself that.

From where I sit

I grabbed the camera last night (or was it this morning? We were up until after 1am) as Filipe was packing for his annual sales meeting in Montreal. This is what I saw.

Filipe's still-unpacked suitcase....
Still unpacked hanging bag....

Sewing machine covered by still unfinished Christmas gifts....

So I'm realizing that I have a lot of unfinished business in my life. When do I get to finish something? Take it from inception to completion? See it through to the end, where I can shelve it and say, "I did great. That was fun." or feel that sense of accomplishement? I look around my house right now, and the dishes from lunch are still on the table, I have a load of laundry sitting in a basket from when I took it out of the dryer two days ago, the desk is covered by this-and-that from who the heck knows when.

This doesn't just apply to my housekeeping issues (and I have plenty!). I have a couple of boxes of craft supplies I got to do projects with Sofia (and I'm not a crafty person), I have school books to do with her that I haven't gotten around to, I have all sorts of ideas for community service projects & church projects, even an idea to start a business. But do I finish any of it? Do I follow through? No. It's just more clutter in my head.

I just want to finish something. Anything.

International Patriot

We got roped into manning a table at our church school's International Food Fair this Sunday. We only had one day's notice, so it wasn't as cool as it could have been, but we did okay! Yummy yummy Brazilian food! Too bad you missed it.

Enchanted Rock

Filipe had an "office day" today, so we took a last minute trip up to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We figured it was about time we put our annual State Park Pass to good use.

So here we are eating lunch:

And here we are ready to hit the trail:

And here we are at the top of Enchanted Rock:

Okay, well, maybe not. This is really us, on the, umm.... trail? Okay, not really, but actually a sandy dry creekbed. We're not too good at maps:


Sam and Sofia getting a great ride:

Little Explorer Sofia
And one of a couple of fawns we startled from the brushGood times! Filipe found a nice spot for camping sometime, but I think for a day hike we'll go somewhere that has water next time! Maybe Guadalupe River or McKinney Falls. Stay tuned!

Picnic in the Park!

So we usually have a playgroup meeting at the park by the library on Wednesdays, but apparently, everyone bailed this week. Except us. So we played for a while, but mommy decided to move our picnic lunch to our own back yard. We have a nice, clean picnic table to eat at now (thanks, Grandma!) so we thought we'd take advantage of the cool weather (hey, it's not 100... that's cool for us!).



Isn't it great how none of my kids knows how to chew with their mouths closed?




Such cute little legs...My silly girl who hates pictures

Happy Fall!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I LOVE FALL! I just glanced at the calendar, and what do you know, today is the first day of autumn. Strangely enough, I already put out my fall decorations. So go celebrate the best season of the year, and have a happy fall!