Springtime ramblings

It's spring!!! Well, just about. I guess the official first day of spring is March 20, but this is Texas after all. I'm so excited! I can't wait for sunshine - I know the sun's up there somewhere, hiding behind the clouds. It has to come out eventually, and when it does I might just break into song. It's been damp and dreary lately, so Madi and I still haven't gotten to go on our fabulous picnic yet, but we went shopping and picked out a basket, so it's going to happen. I think it'll look something like this:



Jane Austen-style picnics are the best. The above picture is from the Box Hill picnic scene in Emma. I just finished watching the Romola Garai version, which I thought was excellent - for any of you Austen fans, who might be interested.

Madi and I haven been on a bit of a fairy tale kick lately. We've read all but one of the stories in the fairy tale book I bought at Half Price Books, and I recently introduced Pat and Madi both to the show Once Upon a Time. Madi loves it! One of her favorite characters is the evil Rumpelstiltskin. She says "he's the kind of bad guy that you like." Every time she hears his creepy little laugh, she starts giggling.



We have grand plans of dressing up like princesses to go see the new Cinderella movie. I think Madi's already picked out her outfit.

My Prince Charming and I got to get all dressed up last weekend for a friend's wedding. He was one of the groomsmen, and I got to sit there and watch him be all handsome and remember our own wedding almost 3 years ago. Our anniversary is in 12 days! We're going on a getaway trip during Pat's spring break, but I have no idea where to. Apparently the plane tickets have already been purchased. I love romantic surprises!

Of course, there's been more puppy-holding in the past few weeks. When you can't play outside, you go to the pet store instead.

Yesterday, Madi and I started working on a scrapbook together. We'd been planning to all week, and she was so excited! She told my mom all about it the other day, and said "we're going to make a scrapbook all about ME!" I had actually started a book for Madi awhile ago that I was going to give her as a surprise, but when she asked me last week if we could make one, I decided she'd enjoy it a lot more if we did it together. It was so cute to see her meticulously pick out the pictures she wanted to use, and go through all the stickers and decide how to put her page together. I remember when I was little, how fun it was to look at all the pictures of me growing up. It's fun to see Madi enjoying that too. One of the most fun parts about parenting is watching your kid enjoy the things you loved when you were that age - whether it's scrapbooks, fairy tales, American Girl dolls, crafts, or playing outside in the dirt.

"If people did not love one another, I really don't see what use there would be in having any spring."

~Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Instead of a Picnic

*Gasp!* 2 posts in a month! I'm on a role, my friends.

Last week during the amazing warm sunny weather we had, Madi and I talked about going on an after-school picnic on my next day off, at the park down the road from where we live. Monday came, I was off work, and unfortunately the weather was gray, cold, and windy - not ideal for a picnic in the park. So, we resorted to plan B:

Holding puppies!

I think Madi would stay in the pet store all day if I let her.

Madi QOTD: "The fun always ends when pee happens." (after puppy nearly piddled in her lap)

After holding puppies, we made our way to Panera for a cookie snack, and then to Half Price Books - my favorite store! Madi excitedly sold some of her books that she didn't want anymore, and with the whopping 50 cents she got for them, bought a new book about...puppies.

And I bought a fairy tale book. 

You're never too old for fairy tales. Especially when you have a kid to read them to.

It was a fun outing...maybe next time it'll be warm enough for a picnic.

In a Nutshell

Oh dear. I just looked at my blog for the first time in over a year. So sad. So neglected. I don't think it recognized me. Poor 2014. No updates all year. How depressing. I nearly scrapped the whole thing and started a brand new blog. Best to erase past mistakes and start again, right? I mean, who ignores their blog for 20 months?? Pathetic. But then I started reading through my previous posts...and looking back on the beginning of the Smith family's adventures...and smiling at all the memories. I can't scrap all that, no matter how neglectful I've been. Maybe this will be a re-boot. Maybe in 2015 I'll become an avid blogger, and my witty posts will rival those of The Pioneer Woman herself. And then again, maybe this will be my only post this year. If so, oh well. Such is life. Sometimes you have enough time and energy to live your life, but not enough to write about it.

The last time I posted I was at our apartment in Temple, sick with mono, while my studious husband was traveling in China for an engineering trip. How do I catch up on our life since then? For starters, speaking of mono, my immune system has gone through the ringer. I've been working in the ER for 2 years now, and I wish I could see a list of the antibodies that must be floating through my bloodstream. Emergency nursing is definitely my niche. Of course I don't love it all the time, but overall I can't imagine wanting any other career. I've learned so much over the past 2 years, and am learning more every week. Currently, I'm working full-time at a level 3 trauma center as well as PRN at a tiny emergency room at a smaller hospital. It's fun to work in 2 totally different places - changes things up.

2014 was definitely intense for my hard-working husband. Pat finished up his basics at community college ("basics" being crazy hard classes like calculus and physics, which are both Greek to me), applied to several universities, and was accepted to his #1 choice - petroleum engineering at Texas A&M! His first semester at A&M was filled with even harder classes, acclimating to a new school environment, interviewing for summer internships, getting very little sleep, and making some awesome grades. Christmas break provided some much-needed and well-deserved rest, and now he's hitting the books again for semester #2!

Summer 2014 saw the Smiths make the great migration from Temple to College Station. What a hassle. I hate moving. Next time we have to move, I think I'll just hire some experts to manage my affairs, I'll go into cryo-sleep, and have them wake me up when it's all over. Actually, looking back, I guess it wasn't so bad. We had some wonderful friends in Temple who helped us so much with all the packing, cleaning, and moving. They were so generous with their time, and even drove down to our new place to help unpack the Uhaul. We'd met a great realtor in CS who helped us find a duplex in the school district we wanted for Madi, and we're definitely enjoying NOT living in a 3rd story apartment anymore. So much easier now to carry in the groceries! Also, we have a tiny back yard which is just big enough for my humorous attempts at gardening. My fall garden produced a few cherry tomatoes, a shriveled ear of corn, almost a pumpkin, and a handful of green beans. Better luck in the spring maybe?

And Madi? Well, she's just been living her life, going through her little victories and trials with the same sweetness she always has. Looking back over my blog and seeing old pictures of her made me sad though - she's getting so big! Her current passion is anything and everything that has to do with wolves. For Christmas she received several wolf-themed gifts, she reads everything she can about wolves, and at recess she organizes her friends into a "wolf-pack" of which she is, of course, the leader. So far, her favorite part about College Station is the little pet store in the mall, where you can pay a quarter to hold a puppy for as long as you want. She was ecstatic the day they had husky puppies! Closest thing to wolves, you know.

Well, those are some of our shenanigans from the past year and half in a nutshell. Until next time!