Catching up after a busy week

First, thank you to everyone who expressed your love for baby Max and for us on his birthday. We are so thankful for you and the amazing support that you provide. We feel your prayers and we believe without a doubt that they are working.

Second, thank you for the concern and advice you shared about Catalina's situation at school. My friend, Amy, said it best when she said, "It's hard having girls and it's hard being a girl." Things are going to be just fine and I'll share more about that in a separate posting this week, but I guess the bottom line is that it just takes time. My mom reminded me that there are no shortcuts to making friends. Ain't that the truth?

Okay, since I have so much to catch up on, I’m just going to try to keep the commentary to a minimum and let the pictures tell the stories.

Last weekend was our church picnic and we got to spend some good time with our friends, the Van Heysts. After the picnic, Catalina went over to their house for a playdate and had a wonderful time. Here are Catalina and Maya at the picnic:



That evening, we had more fun with friends, the Perques, over pizza at Cappy’s. Ali and Cati had fun playing together, as always.



The next day, Cati had an appointment for some blood work. Let me just tell you that the folks in that doctor's office will not soon forget my sweet daughter, who screamed and yelled and kicked and cried from the time we left our front doorstep to the time we walked out of the office. It was quite a sight, me trying to wrangle her into our car and then into the office with poor little Gussy, also crying, trailing behind. Afterward, Papa met us for ice cream and moral support.

The tear-stained face of my beautiful baby girl:



Gussy was so exhausted from the whole experience that he slept through the first half of our ice cream treat.



It’s our favorite little ice cream parlor. They have all sorts of board games to play. You can see someone playing Connect 4 in the background of this pic:



On Wednesday morning after breakfast, Cati and I found Gussy in the family room enjoying the snack that I had packed for Cati’s school that day. It was quite amusing!!



Thursday was baby Max’s birthday, as you know. Catalina had another doctor’s appointment before school that morning. Louie accompanied us. After the dramatic scene earlier in the week, I didn't feel like tackling this one alone. She was very grown-up, though, so we rewarded her with donuts (please note that I do not typically give my children this many sweets, this was just an unusual week).



Louie and I went for a long run after we dropped Catalina at school. I forgot to tell you this in my “Max’s birthday” posting, but we saw FIVE dolphins in the bay. I have run out there multiple times a week, every week since we moved here a year and a half ago. I had only seen dolphins once before. Louie had never seen them out there before. We've decided that it was a very good sign, or at least a sweet little blessing to boost our spirits, seeing five dolphins that day.

On Friday, while Cati was at school, Gussy and I had a wonderful morning with Lindsay and Will. Will and Gus played wonderfully together and I always enjoy every minute I spend with Lindsay. Here are some pics from our morning:







That night, we had supper with the Raineys and the McCraws, both of whom have boys in Gussy's preschool class. We had such a good time. Jodi is the hostess-with-the-mostest and the kids played really well. Gussy took a spill down a few stairs on their porch and I, being two mojitos into the evening, cried a lot more than was necessary. He was totally fine other than a scrape on his wrist. Here are the kids, enjoying each other's company, before Gussy's tumble and my breakdown:





On Saturday morning, Cati attended the birthday party of one of her classmates. It was so much fun. I’ll tell you more about that and how they are both doing at school later this week. Saturday evening, we had a special treat…Cati made pizza for supper. It was a ton of fun for all of us!



On Sunday, we headed over to Louie’s aunt and uncle’s house to celebrate Louie’s mother’s birthday. The kids always love spending time with Louie’s family and they especially loved seeing Uncle Dave’s trains. Even baby A.J. would watch the train as it came around the track. So cute!





Monday was a fun day since Papa was home from work. We went to the Y to swim and play on the playground. Afterward, we had lunch and dessert (if you have a CaliYogurt store in your town, do yourself a favor and go).





Okay, that was our week in a nutshell! Hope you had a good long weekend. Some of you are wondering about my family in south Louisiana. They were able to evacuate, but I haven't heard much since then. Thanks for thinking of them and I'll let you know when I know more.