Wow...yesterday was a crazy day. I had to be at the airport for a 6:00 a.m. flight, so up at 4:00 a.m. No problem, right? Miss Meg decided to be up at midnight and 2:00 a.m., so after the second screaming fit I couldn't fall back to sleep. LONG DAY! While I was off to meetings, Megan got to go with Gran to play with Alex, Austin, and Gage. She loved it! She and Alex played dress-up, and Megan was a cheerleader. Alex referred to Megan as "best friend." I sure hope so! My meetings went well, and I got a lot accomplished, so we finished earlier than my 6:00 p.m. flight home. I went to the airport to get on an earlier flight. I got on the 3:30 flight but due to storms in Houston and Dallas, I didn't get home until 8:00 p.m.!!!! I was exhausted!!!! Today is lay-around-and-watch-Megan-play-day.

We're officially moved out. I thought I would be sad about leaving the house, but honestly, it hasn't been all that emotional. I reflected back on the six years, almost to the day, that we lived in the house. We have so many good memories: dinner guests, my brother's wedding reception, parties, bringing Megan home for the first time, living behind Shawn and Kelly (throwing butter over the fence comes to mind), and many other memories. We had a good time at that house, but it's time to move on.

Having said that, we're living at Gran and Papa's house. So far, so good. The only person having adjustment issues is Megan. She thinks we should all stay in the room and do whatever she says. Not possible or even remotely what any of us would want to do. She'll figure it all out soon. In the meantime, Daddy and I need some rest from all the moving.

We're officially homeless! Sold the house...signed the papers...frantically packing...if you're bored this weekend, come on over. I have a box for you to pack/carry.

Megan has a nasty cough, and like most toddler ailments it rears its ugly head during the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep! At 3:30 a.m. she was sitting upright in her bed, coughing up her left lung. I gave her some medicine and dragged her off to bed with me (hey, this is day 8 of the up-all-night-cough...I needed some sleep). After a while she turned to me and said, "Poop." Great. I scooped her up to change her diaper, and she said, "Go poop big girl potty." What? At 4 a.m.??? Off to the potty...and she went pee-pee. That was the second time she told me and went yesterday. Why not? :)

Uncle Scott might be glad he's going back to school so we'll leave him alone! We showed him the joys of Splash Factory today. Not as much fun for a teenager, I'm sure, but he was a good sport. He let Megan boss him around, took her to shoot the water guns (they got me and the camera!), and chased her around as she ran the place. He kept me company, too!

Uncle Shawn has been working on his house in our neighborhood almost every day this week. Megan has become very fascinated and attached to him while he's been around. She talks about him quite a bit..."Check on Uncle Shawn", "Go see Uncle Shawn", and "Uncle Shawn come over" are a few things I hear during the day. But tonight's was the best..."Twinkle twinkle Uncle Shawn. How I wonder what you are"!!!!

Where has the summer gone? Uncle Scott starts his senior year next week, so we invited him to come play today. We had such a good time! First we went to the gym for Mommy and Uncle Scott to work out. Meg was so good in the play area. Luckily we got home just in time to catch Elmo's World, about bananas, on Sesame Street. We ate lunch, took naps, and then hit the pool! Megan has turned into such a dare-devil fish lately. She walked all around the 18 inch pool (last time Scott was with us, she sat on the steps and freaked out if either one of us wasn't touching her) and even kept asking to go into the "deep end." She jumped off the side and kept asking to "float." We came back home, played, and ate dinner. It was a FUN day! Thanks, Scott! You are SO good with the little ones...they are SO lucky to have you!

Megan, little baby and I went to Target today to get a few things. We shopped, paid, and got to the car only to find out - BABY WAS MISSING! We ran back inside to find her...not up the aisles, not at the register, not in the produce section...panic set in. Megan was saying, "I drop her" and "I find her", but she was no where to be found. Luckily, a nice woman (with a little one) had taken her to the nearest register because she said she knew there would be a sad little one looking for a baby. Whew...

Grandma brought Megan a special treat from her trip to Seattle...Princess and Elmo big girl panties! While we are not using them for all the right reasons yet, they make great dress-up clothes! At this particular time, she had on: a diaper, PJ shorts, Cinderella panties, and Elmo panties. She had so much fun wearing them around the house...she still knows where every pair is and asks to wear them around the house. I refuse to let them go out of the house for now!

Our little helper...she insists on being right in the middle of everything. "I help you..."

I (barely) survived yesterday, and thankfully today was much better. She had about half as many meltdowns today than yesterday and took a much longer nap today than yesterday. That had to have helped! It's got to be teeth. And let me digress for a moment about teething...why doesn't the pediatrician or anyone else just tell new parents that teething 1) is to blame for everything (drool - teething, snot - teething, low fever - teething, rubbing ears - teething, nasty poop - teething, grumpy - teething, up during the night - teething, not eating - teething, etc); and 2) NEVER ends? WHY? She's been teething for like 17 months! At least this time I can see some coming in. Okay, so yesterday she had a sweet moment when she helped Daddy vacuum the kitchen rug. She was very eager to "I help you."

Well, it's only 8:29 a.m. and wow...have we had a day already. Megan woke up, apparently on the wrong side of the bed, at 6:30 a.m. and has been on a tantrum rampage since then. My favorite, so far, has been the 6 1/2 minute tirade of throwing herself on the floor, banging on the shower door, and screaming, "Mommy get out!" over and over while I took a shower. That one is closely followed by the "Apple NOW!" while flailing on the tile kitchen floor as I cut and peeled her apple. Oh, and let's not forget the "Grapes and cheese" fit back around 7 a.m. while she screamed at the top of her lungs and kicked the cabinet door as I washed the grapes - too slowly apparently. Then there's the "swimsuit ON" escapade when she wanted to wear my swimsuit and couldn't get it on right...
I can't wait to see what the rest of the day has in store for me...oh how I dread getting her dressed later on. I know she'll have an opinion about that. *sigh*

Megan and Daddy have been watching pre-season football.
Megan has quite the Dallas Cowboy vocabulary. She will normally say "Romo" is the quarterback, but tonight we asked her and we got this...

I forgot to put this picture up from Friday...you think Megan was trying to tell me she was finished at Splash Factory?

All three families, kids included, went with Papa and Gran to visit their friends' farm. There is no way they could have been prepared for what hit them - even if they'd heard a tornado siren before we drove up - yet they were wonderful to us! They let the kids have free run of the place...horses, pond, backyard, patio, and any other place they could possibly reach. Megan had a blast! She ran herself ragged making sure she toured every inch possible. She wasn't afraid to pet the horse, and she even touched a baby frog that Uncle Shawn caught at the pond. She was so excited that she didn't even eat her lunch. The well water pools weren't too cold for Megan...the other kids weren't too interested but a swimming pool is a swimming pool is a swimming pool to her. Great idea, Papa! What a fun day for her! On the other hand, Mommy had her "country quota" for a while! :)

Okay, so it isn't a house yet, but this is what will eventually become our new house. It goes deeper than the black tarp (across the back) and is longer on one side than the other - kind of pie shaped.

I wouldn't let Megan have any ketchup on her plate, so she showed me!!

Today we had our last summer cousin (plus a few neighborhood kids) day. Aunt Taryn has to go back to work, so we'll pick up next holiday or summer.
The kids do so well together. We've only had a few little "timeout" incidents, but for the most part, they just enjoy being together. They're so lucky be able to play together so often!

Between house-hunting and poopy diapers, I have neglected my blog! It rarely happens, but I have been consumed over here. For some reason the poop will not end, but we found a house (finally)! It won't be ready until this winter, so until then we'll be living on government cheese, in a van down by the river. No, we're currently working out the living arrangements since we have to be out of our house in 2 weeks. Fun stuff.

Now to the more exciting aspect of our household - Megan is just a hoot. Here are some things about her right now:

• She loves to color! We spend hours of a day coloring in her Sesame Street and Princess coloring books.
• She talks all the time. She has quite the vocabulary which includes words such as: Saltalamacchia (the newest Ranger), spaghetti, swimming pool, big girl potty, library, storytime, parachute, dot race, Barney, thank you/welcome, Barney, bathtime, etc. She can count to 15 and knows almost all of her ABC's in order (she misses a few). She likes to sing songs, too.
• She loves the Texas Rangers and can carry on an entire conversation about the team, including players and the game she went to 2 weeks ago.
• She likes to dress herself, although her choice of clothes and mine often clash. Today she insists upon wearing her long-sleeve blue shirt with no pants. Fine. I'll win tomorrow when we actually leave the house.
• She's really into puzzles. We got a few last week, and she has really enjoyed them. She and Double G were working on one the other day, and she can now perfectly imitate how he said, "Go there? Nope..." etc.
• She likes to go to "dah-seagals" (garage sales) with Grandma and Granna.
• She has an opinion about everything. Need I say more?

It's been a while, so we got together with several of our friends and their families last night. We met at Misty and Todds, ate hot dogs and hamburgers, and let the kids play and swim together. They did very well together. We didn't have any mishaps! Megan loved swimming this time. She even got brave enough to jump in with Daddy. Her favorite thing to do was go down the slide. One time she didn't even wait to make sure anyone was there to catch her...she just went straight in!