Hi...

For being so young, Tessa has developed quite a sophisticated sense of style...

I admit I sometimes struggle with the stay-at-home-mom thing. Once upon a time I was a working mom, and I thought it would be so wonderful when I got to be at home with my kids. Now that I am at home I feel a ton of pressure to be this great mom and wife, and I'm pretty sure I fall short 90% of the time. This does a number on my self-confidence, since the majority of the time I feel I am failing at my full time job. Maybe that is why my favorite time of the day is the mornings when my kids just wake up. The pressures (or sometimes non-pressures) of the day haven't caught up to me yet. We just cuddle in my bed and talk. Max tells me his sweet secrets, and Tessa tells me about everything and everyone that "lubs" her and everything and everyone that she "lubs". The list is endless, but it's okay since I have nowhere to be except with them.

At long last the leaves are really starting to fall off the trees. Oh the joy of Fall!

If you don't count the trip to Target where Max puked all over the aisle and merchandise, today would probably be the worst trip to the grocery store ever for me. I had an incredibly frustrating time dealing with two kids who had momentarily turned wild. They were literally bouncing off of shopping carts. On the way home I was telling Max how it made me sad that he didn't listen to me in the store. He interrupted and said, "But Mommy, what's really sad is a little kid who doesn't have a Mommy or Daddy so he can't get enough food to eat and then he dies." Umm...I had to agree with Max on that one.

*Picture by Talea

*drove two hours to pick us up from the airport
*then made the drive again to drop us off
*let Max take a spin in his tractor
*made killer banana chocolate milkshakes, cookies, and steak fajitas
*started huge fires
*designed and made a catapult per Max's request
*let Max play veterinarian to his sick horse

I got on to try to catch up on posts, but then I got sidetracked looking at last year's Turkey Trot pictures. Just for fun I'm posting this picture. Tessa had a little less than a month before she would turn one, but she was walking around like a champ. She was--and is--such a tiny little thing. She started walking when she was 10 months old and strangers who saw her would stop and stare. She looked like a little 6 month old baby walking around. She is definitely petite. A little too petite for her own good, if you ask me or her doctor.

We decided we should see more of Texas than Dallas so over Labor Day weekend we went on a mini vacation with our own Texas experts, the Morris family. Here is quick summary in pictures (or actually, not so quick):

We began with a stop in Greun (pronounced Green, I believe). A quaint little German town full to the brim with tourists. We took our babies into a bar. (But it was all for the sake of history, this bar being the oldest dance hall in Texas, or some such thing.) And I discovered a true and lasting passion in overpriced Texas souvenirs.

We then headed to some caves outside San Antonio. I can't think of the name right now and am feeling too lazy to look it up. Give me a break though, I just downloaded approximately 531 pictures for this silly post.
The caves proved slightly traumatic for Max. Can you see his reluctance in this picture?
I think this is the King's throne or something. Or maybe the ice palace. Or maybe the oversized and frightening jelly fish. These caves were pretty sweet and very humid.

Outside the caves we decided to let the kids (the Morris' have two boys about the same age as Max and Tessa) play on the dinosaurs with the "Do Not Climb" signs on them. After this (still same day) we drove to San Antonio and visisted the overcrowded Riverwalk (no picture, it was overcrowded). It was a pretty sweet place that I would like to visit again sometime other than Labor Day weekend.

We decided to not eat on the Riverwalk to avoid the crowds. Giannina found a top rated authentic Mexican restaurant that accessable via trolley according to the hostess at this top rated restaurant. She failed to mention that the trolley stopped running a good hour before we talked to her. So we walked two miles or so through the ghetto to reach this place. We did a few little dance steps to the music of the live Mexican mariachi band playing under the festive lights and then proceeded to wait over an hour to be seated. It was fun for a second (see picture below). The chicken in my enchilada was totally bland, which I guess is the way it is supposed to be. Not worth the walk to the ghetto, for sure. But still it is a fun memory now all is said and done.
We walked the two miles back to see the Alamo. This is pretty much as close as we got. I've heard we didn't miss much. We ended the night trying to scrounge pennies off the floor so we could pay for our cash only parking. A nice cop even offered us a dollar, but in the end we found enough change.
We were grateful to get to bed that night.

The next day was Fredricksburg. This is a sweet little town full of lots of fun shops, many of them devoted entirely to my beloved Texas souvenirs. It also had a little bit of Mormon history as depicted by these statues. A huge rainstorm came by while walking down Main Street (pretty much the only street we visited, we're told there isn't much else). We found an ice cream store with Blue Bell Ice Cream cones. Happiness!
Then we went to a place called Luckenbach, Texas. You may have heard of the song. Apparently this was the site of Willie Nielson's family picnic for many years until he moved it to Austin. I think the population is 6. Max learned how to use one of his sweet Texas souvenirs. Every kid needs a high powered sling shot.
A guy rode a steer.
We danced in the dance hall sans music.
Ty M. and Giannina bought their boys some souvenir shirts. We ate some fabulous Texas potato twists and drank some fresh lemonade. Then we left and headed to dinner at a German restaurant in Fredricksburg where fried chicken was listed under the "Lighter Items" portion of the menu. Tyler and I expanded our horizons and both ordered hamburgers. But we did sample some grease that was deceptively called "sausage".

We arrived at our hotel in Kerrsville. Although we may have been greatly disappointed in the cleanliness of the place, we were not disappointed with the rock climbing wall they had at the head of our beds.
We woke up and headed to an exotic resort. If you don't believe me, just check out the sign.

Max and Tessa are actually "superheros".

Note: this is a bit boring as far as posts go. It may be to your benefit to skip this one all together. But do check out Max's time in his first 5k.
Tour de Fleurs 20k
2 weeks before the marathon I ran a 20k, which is approximately 12.4 miles or so. I was completely dead and not recovered from my long run 5 days earlier. It was hot and humid, but I expected that. I did not expect all the hills. (It's time that I stop thinking that all Texas races are nice and flat, because I have not run one that actually is.) The post-race party was great with tons of yummy stuff (bagels, ice-cream cookie sandwiches, Rocco's pizza, Sonic slushes, Jamba juice, pasta salad, beer...no wonder I can't lose any weight from running), music, and just the fun of ending at the beautiful arboretum. Lots of points to Tyler and the kids for waking up early to drop me off so I wouldn't have to worry about finding a parking spot.
1:39.40 (I was hoping to go a bit faster than that, but oh well)
8:01 min/mile

Note to self: never wear this shirt again running...you know why!
I must say, this is one very carefully posed picture!

Swiss Days 5k
1 week before the marathon was my favorite race of all: Santa Clara Swiss Days. I my be biased because my mom and Lisa are the race directors, but I think it is one of the best. I decided to fly to Utah a bit early so we could run it. Yep, Max was a little stud and ran the whole thing by himself. My mom stayed with him while I attempted to run fast, then I ran back and ran the last mile and a bit with them. He was so cute and never complained (it must have been all that training that he and Tyler did in Dallas). We kept pointing out little kids that were in front of him and he would keep on running so he could pass them. Someone also gave him an otter pop, so when he needed some energy he would stop and eat that. We both got a 2nd place medal, but he was more concerned about winning a flag in the drawing afterwards. He NEEDED to wave it at Maddi in the parade. Luckily he did win that flag (I'm sure there was no cheating on the race directors' part on that one).