pillow pile

Quite obviously, Ron surrounded James with pillows and it became a fun little fort :)

it's a long walk to IGA

I want you to look at Ron's face here. I see this face any time I have dragged Ron into some adventure that went slightly awry. It's actually a little worse of a face that I see, a bigger pout and more angst in his eyes. After all, the camera was out here.

It's not much of a story, really. One day we needed milk (when don't we? we may as well get a cow) and we decided to walk to the closest grocery store, our local IGA. It was a bit windy out, and actually cold (yes, that does happen in Texas occasionally, surprises us, too). We didn't want to walk on the busy road to get to IGA because, as some of you might know due to my incessant complaining about it, Waco does not believe in sidewalks. In general. There are a few. Barely. (don't get me started again). So we thought, oh, we'll just cut through this residential area that we know is behind the store. Well, we discovered there aren't any roads that lead to IGA from there. I don't know who planned this. I can see IGA, but through people's swing sets and back yard fences. (we did have a stroller, or maybe we would have tried something creative here). After a couple miles of aimless (it turned out to be) wandering, it is getting colder and the sun in sinking. But we need milk. And now this little walk has become a mission. Why all that aimless wandering, I want to know, if we don't even accomplish what we set out to do? So there we are, having doubled back to the busy road (which is under construction, I might add, so the lanes are tight and filled with orange cones). We wait for the lights to change so that the cars thin out. I end up running, stroller bobbing along with me at the tiny edge of the road, pulling into a gravel (not a driveway, just a spot of gravel, really) to wait until the next red light gives us no cars coming. It only takes one more run with the stroller to reach an adjacent (well, not quite, but it's much easier to haul the stroller over curbs than fences) driveway to the store. And then we had to get back. Really, it was a grand little excursion, we managed to keep our kid well insulated and happy, see below, though I don't think we'll be walking to IGA again any time soon.

Kansas City trip

In January we went to Kansas City for Ron's district meeting. We drove up, which was a little daunting at first, but I do believe, in typical Goodman fashion, that James behaved himself better than Ron or I on a long trip! He did great. Oh, so did Ron and I :) We have actually always enjoyed long drives, just talking and reading... just a few more pitstops this time around. We enjoyed our time in Kanas City, where Natalie joined us in order to watch James while I attended some functions with Ron. After the weekend, we all drove back to Dallas, where we spent a couple days with Natalie and Pierre at their house. We enjoyed some good times with them, and topped it off with a visit to Whole Foods. Yes, Whole Foods was a highlight, and if you have ever been there and then moved away from one, you know what I mean. We spent a couple hours there, actually :)

James enjoying the view from our hotel room, floor 27!

formal company dinner time

sleepy boys!

our room at Nat and Pierre's. James and Ron enjoyed lots of time here :)

a few snaps of Christmas

This is just a friendly hello to let whoever may actually read this, or stumble upon it, or desperately wait for my blog to updated. I have many many pictures to post and I also have an almost 9 month old. I sure hope that's all the explaining I need to do as for the lack of updates!

In fact, I hear him waking up now, the contented gurgles and coos of a well-rested happy baby. yum. We had a great Christmas. It was so fun to watch James open gifts, and once he got the idea, he even wanted mine :) We tried not to get him a lot of things, just a couple nice things he would appreciate. We would like that to be the theme in his childhood gift getting. Even so, it was more toys than he usually gets in a day, and I think it overwhelmed him a bit at first!

We spent the rest of Christmas day with our good friends, James and Ashley, and their family. On New Year's Eve, we got together with them and our other good friends, Brad and Cara. We are always doing stuff together, and it seemed fitting we ring in the new year with each other.

We sure are enjoying these days with our baby. More later :)

Silo Christmas Tree Farm

A few weeks ago we set off with our good friends the Smiths. Destination: Silo Christmas Tree Farm. Objective: obtain some pumpkins with which to cook wonderful goodies with. (don't mind my grammar...) And, of course, to have a good time in the process. It was a beautiful day, and we took in the sights, picked out some pumpkins, and fiercely competed at the duck races. We may have to tone that down in the future to set good examples for our children. But probably not. Here's a few shots of our day there...

James, Ashley, and Olivia

James always thinks Daddy is fun!

Ron and James discussing something engineering related, I'm sure :)

James first sees a pumpkin!

mama and James

more adorable James...

I never get tired of it, why should you?

I guess I'm one of "THOSE" mothers, who pull out their wallets and out drops 50 pictures of their kid. But my wallet is my blog, and you're only here because you want to be, anyway, so... get used to it. I am going to post tons of pictures of James :) And maybe to some of you they will all look the same :) but, of course, each one is different and priceless to me!

I actually particularly like these last two, and am thinking about getting one or so of that set (I have more, you know it) blown up.

What James is up to today: growing a tooth (you can already see it and feel it, but it still needs to pop up proper like...) and sleeping with his eyes half open. I don't know if the Goodmans do this, but I have seen my little brother David, do it. It is freaky looking!

And, for those of you who don't know yet, we are planning a short trip to Virginia this month. It was a last minute sort of decision, we are still applauding ourselves for being spontaneous travelers (for once!)... although, we had been talking for months about wanting to join mom and dad and the kids when they went, just didn't think it would happen. Then... their trip coincided with Ron's 6 days off and we thought we should take the opportunity. I haven't been to see that side of the family since I was about 10. I am looking forward to seeing/meeting relatives, showing off James (the theme of this entry, I guess), and seeing my great grandmother's grave. And grandma and grandpa Burchell's graves, too...

It will be a time of remembering for me. I will look at that old farmhouse and remember how excited Sarah and I were to sleep under a canopy bed, for instance... or how Grandma Davis killed that snake on the guesthouse porch. And then a lot of memories from before that time. And a lot of thoughts and words that I never got to say to any of them.

And we will get to see Dad's family that will embrace us and feed us southern cooking and gush over us. And through it all I will get to play with my siblings, and they will get to exclaim over how big James has gotten. And to see Mom and Dad... these are the best things. the living things!

It will, I think, help ease the longing for home at Christmastime. But who am I kidding, we'll still long for home then, even while we have a wonderful time making our Christmas with James here.

spinning

Ron had to show James the washer "spinning", since he liked it so much himself as a child. I don't know if James knew what to make of it, but he seemed to enjoy it. James is really more into ceiling fans himself, and likes to laugh at ours :)