Pedernales Falls (and so does Josephine)

I'm curious.  Need to measure her again, because if her sense of coordination lately has been any indication, Josephine's in a growth spurt.  There has been MUCH falling and stumbling-- the child spontaneously topples out of her chair at the dinner table.  ???  It's a little bewildering.  Thankfully, she's not much fazed by it anymore-- she usually gets right back up and carries on with whatever she's absorbed in.

She's learned at the zoo that running downhill is worth the occasional spill, gravel or not.

We've had some good rainfall over the last couple days, so the creeks were cool and flowing well.  Next time we'll remember swimsuits.  Because if I had a penny for every time Sean has taken Josephine wading and returned to me with a drenched child...

Just before she fell in.
Twice.

Aaaand we're still batting a 1.000 with this.
Note Sean's sheepish grin.

When the sun was out from behind the clouds it was quite warm, so honestly, Clement and I were jealous of her wet clothes.  They didn't slow her down any, either.

feigning enjoyment.  it was hot back there. 

Josephine's really at a great age for these expeditions, despite some of her moaning about "when are we going to eat again" and "I just want to go home."  She is easily enthralled by the nature around her, and I love watching her get a little rough and tumble as she engages with it.  Outdoor activities comprise the vast majority of what I remember about being a kid.  It's good stuff.

a captivated Josephine watching a... butterfly?  caterpillar?  snail?  bird?  bunny?

Nope.

Dung beetle.

"He's CUTE, Mommy!  Is that a boy or a girl dungbeetlebug?"

jason is a total hypocrite!

Quite typical for the older brother to start badgering me about my lack of blog posts when his OWN website has sat un-updated for equally as long as mine!!  Just thought I'd make the double-standard known publicly, so we can all boo-hiss him next time we see him.  Don't forget.

Okay, soooo... life.  Life has been busy.  Let's catch up a bit.  And if you're lucky, I'll scrounge up some photographic evidence of these escapades.


There was the move back.

Josephine's party in Bedford.

Sean went to Atlanta.

Easter.

Illness.  (no photos.  you're welcome.)

Josephine's real birthday.

The cramming of a NY apartment into our living room.

this is calm.  then I started unpacking.

Taxes.  (Picture your own.  Unless you do yours electronically, in which case, picture a desk and the nearby bed covered in papers.  And picture me screaming at our printer that decided to go on the fritz THAT WEEK.)

Easter in San Antonio.  It was SO good to see Granny.  She was nearly fully recovered from her recent broken hip, and this was her first time meeting Clement.

They're looking at a rain lamp.

A trip to the zoo.

Sean's parents and their company came to town.  (how did I manage to not take any photos?)

Sean went to Atlanta two more times.

My parents came to town.

Clement turned 9 months.  A few outtakes from that month...

I think Josephine was cooking his head.

that's a pacifier stuck in his mouth sideways.  he left it that way.

loves the hammock in their room.

A garage sale.

Another trip to the zoo.

Sean went to Costa Rica for a week long training.

Sean's folks came down briefly for his cousin's graduation. (Again, no photos!  I swear I'm not boycotting my in-laws.)

Yesterday the kids and I went and worked with friends at the Christ Church Garden, which is in cahoots with Genesis Gardens.  These gardens grow organic veggies to donate to Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which delivers food to the homeless.  No photos, but that was fun.  I linked to our church's garden blog above because the guy who writes it is funny, if you're in the mood for idle, amusing reading.
 
And now Sean has returned but is SO under the weather that he went to bed at 8:30.  :-/  Poor him, but lucky you because here I am with yet another evening with no one to talk to and after keeping myself busy all week, I don't feel like being busy any more.  So I'm sitting.  And you get this little catch-up post.

I feel in general like my photos have been lacking lately.  I've been in more of a hands-on, tangible mood.  My to-do list is long.  Repairs spring up more often than I would like (houses have so many parts that can break!  so many!!!), maintenance and chores are endless, and there are many baby steps to take towards accomplishing bigger projects.  I'm relieved that the deadlines are behind me; taxes and the garage sale were both a lot higher pressure this year than normal -- those were my two biggies upon our return.  I don't mind having a lot to do if I can pace it fairly well.  But I need to be able to set things down and not feel guilty about it or pressure over it.  Parenting requires too much.  My own sanity has high demands.  (And then there's Sean... bringing home a free rocking chair that needed the seat replaced, wanting a mandolin, fussing about sound proofing until I hang a solid-core door in front of the already existing door to his office in order to better block out our existence.  To say nothing of his decision that the best way to include balance in our lives is by weekend excursions that leave all 4 of us utterly exhausted... but full of barbeque... so I can't really complain...)

On a hike in the McKinney Roughs Nature Park

bluebonnets were a bit scarce this year.

... and nearly scarcer.

She's handcuffing him so he won't pull the flowers.

Bastrop 

So that's a bit of why I've been absent.  Tangible projects have felt satisfying lately.  I suppose I got a little hungry for them up in NY.  But also, I've realized that somewhere in my noggin I had the notion that if I were to just write enough, often enough, detailed enough-- I could actually convey our life/kids here in this blog.  Some sort of crazy desire to document it all.  I have a horrid memory, so maybe I see the blog as a back-up hard drive for my brain or something.  And I do love remembering things as I go back through old posts.  But I'm also understanding that it is just IMPOSSIBLE to cram Josephine and Clement into a blog.  Wouldn't matter how hard I tried.  Living human beings must be enjoyed in person-- there is no REALLY knowing them virtually.  We're all far too multi-faceted.

Upon identifying and debunking that silly ambition that I didn't ever intend to have, I found myself less driven to write.  Which naturally frees up more time for enjoying the little humans themselves, in person-- and that's great.  But so is having the blog, so I just need to settle back into writing, simply with different expectations and aims.
I don't know that this will look any different here, but it will feel different for me.  Hopefully less frustrating.
Anyway, I'll work on that.  Here's a start.  :-)

Jason, your turn.

4 Years Old.

[I actually wrote this a month and a half ago, but wanted desperately to write out so many more thoughts and Josephine-isms, in honor of her 4th birthday.  Turns out, life just isn't permitting that.  And with this blog, if I don't keep things flowing at whatever pace I can manage in the present, it just gets all backlogged and jammed up and goes nowhere at all.  So I hope I can get more of that up eventually, but here's what's been sitting drafted all this time.  Need to move on.]

We've been busy (and ill) so I don't have much to show, blogwise, but here are a couple photos from Josephine's actual birthday.  Having already had the party at my parents' house, we just spent April 2nd as a family.  

She woke up to find the dining area dolled up in pink (on the back of her chair is a "birthday princess" ribbon that she clipped on her shirt for the day).  

We let her choose what kind of food she wanted for breakfast, and then went to a cafe that had pancakes.

fittingly, this was framed above our booth.  

I think if you enlarge the photo you can read it.

Clement.

We then headed home to open up a few gifts.  She did most of her gift opening at her party, but there were a few items for the actual day.

this girl and her PINKNESS.

The day was mostly normal from that point on.  After dinner, we put some candles on a cupcake and sang Happy Birthday.  She spoke with her grandmas and then we had a family game night and some hot tea.

four + one to grow on

For her birthday, God sent Josephine rain for her tomato plants.  

This is a post-rain, post-chocolate-icing dance of exuberance,

in case you were wondering.

And so, she's FOUR.  Sean and I are totally bewildered and confused.  We can't figure out A) how she's already four, nor B) how a four year old can act so OLD.  The number 4 just seems entirely inaccurate on both counts.  In our minds, she should still be a baby.  In her mind, she is a full grown adult.  Four's an odd compromise.  A precious and adorable one, though, too.  And we are UTTERLY in love with how her creativity is getting so smart and personalized.  It's increasingly fun to watch her break out of the ruts and routine of toddlerhood into spontaneous behavior, conversations, and story lines, because those are growing ever more complex and amusing.

We had a check-up with Dr. Boes April 5th.  She dealt with the vaccinations relatively well, completed her eyesight and hearing "games" with perfect results and had her blood pressure taken for the first time, which made her SOOO nervous that her heart rate registered at 97.  :-)
She's 40 5/8 inches tall, and 40.1 lbs, which puts her at about 75th percentile for both.  In every way, totally healthy.  We're very grateful.

In a blog post forthcoming I have ooohhhh so many stories I've been cataloging, but for now, this little update on Josephine will suffice.

Love our sweet 4 year old!!