Our First Family Road Trip

I feel like it's going to take me years to catch up from our first family road trip,

which I'm just now blogging about one week later...

 

Since it's taking me quite a while to go through the 2000+ pictures we took,

I thought I should touch base with the blogosphere 

to let you all know that we did survive 3100 miles with a one-year old!

 (I now see the wisdom in minivans, but that's another story.)

 And actually, it wasn't quite as bad as we thought and Max did really well in the car.
Here he is as we're pulling out of the driveway, totally unsure of what's about to happen. ;)

He napped a lot

and played with his new steering wheel toy.

Sometimes he preferred a good 'ole empty water bottle

 
or the sunshade

 or chewing on his foot

while Daddy chauffered us around. :)

It wasn't always a bed of roses, though,
and we definitely had our moments!

 But two weeks and ten states later...

 

 

 

we made it back to Texas!

(Yes, I know we missed a few. But some state signs were impossible to get a photo
and some states didn't even have signs - gasp! Better luck next time.)


More pictures and details to come. :)

And You Wonder Why

Life has been busy in the Rich household these days!
Here's a little glimpse of what we've been up to...

A few weeks ago, I hosted a favorite things party for my small group girls.

It was such a wonderful evening
sharing favorite things with some of my favorite people!

Aunt Katie came for a visit!

We don't get to see her (or Unkie Jeremy, for that matter)

as often as we'd like, so this was a lovely treat!

We were so busy having fun during her visit
(one day a trip to the science and history museum!)
that we didn't get many pictures. :(
This was our best effort at photographing two busy little boys and their Aunt Katie!

My SIL Tara hosted Pinterest potluck one evening.
We all got to bring a dish we'd pinned but hadn't gotten around to making.
The perfect opportunity to try things you're not sure your husband will eat. ;)

We had (from top left) zucchini boats, crockpot mac and cheese,
spinach artichoke dip in mini bread bowls, white trash dip, and OMG chicken.
And THEN there was strawberry lemonade cake for dessert!

We finally gave Max his birthday present - a new kid-sized chair!

(It took us a while to find the time to drive over to Dallas to pick it up.)

It's his new favorite place to sit. :)

My parents came for a short visit, and while they were in town
 we celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner at Macaroni Grill and a yummy coconut cake.

We also got to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday a few days later
with a special breakfast. (Sorry I didn't get a picture.)
It was so nice to spend the actual day of birth with both our moms!

This past Saturday, I helped host a milk and cookies shower for sweet baby Madelyn.
It was so much fun - and there was so much pink!

If you can tell from the tiny picture, I have a new 'do!
Clay prefers my hair with some curl, and I'd rather not spend hours with a curling iron in hand
so I opted for a perm. That's right - I'm bringing the 80s back. ;)

We have sidewalks!!!!
AND we can get into our driveway!
Construction is moving right along - workmen are currently leveling out the dirt
and preparing to put sod down.
Soon we will be all put together again! ;)

So as you can see, lots and lots going on in our world these days!
And you wonder why I haven't been blogging. ;)

Unfortunately, my return to the blogosphere is short-lived;
I'll be taking another hiatus as we set off on our first family road trip this Friday.
Stay tuned for details of our fun when we get back!

Photo a Day: July

I seriously cannot believe that July is already over!

For some reason, I thought the summer of a stay-at-home mom

would be a relaxing and slow one.

But we have been on the go, go go! as you can see...

 

 

 

 

 

Here's to August!