Friends and Cows

Back in our Gladstone teaching days - we were "Dryer Lint" for Halloween, and made Pi shirts on Pi Day (3-14).. just to name a few things :)

Jon told me on Mother's Day he had a surprise coming my way - one that wouldn't happen for another month or two. He threw me off from my original guess - that Benny was coming to visit - by date-napping me for the night while Ben and Teresa came over and took care of Ezzie. We went out for a special dinner and to a bookstore. I didn't exactly think this was too out of the ordinary, but considering our not really eating out anymore, I took the bait. Well, the next evening Jon said he had to go pick up a potential instructor for LETU. He returned and pulled me outside, telling me he wanted to share the sunset with me. Well, I looked for the sunset, and found something better - Benny!!! Out from behind the car she came! We only had a couple of days together, but those days were so refreshing and such a blessing. I miss her terribly. I miss teaching next to her, collaborating, doing crazy things with our students, going to walks pretty regularly, and just being able to be around a girlfriend who I totally can let my hair down with.

Check out Ezzie's long Torso and squatty legs :), Zinks, Webers and Benny!, Herd Names

While Benny was here, she got to meet some of our friends and have go to Chick-Fil-A dressed like a cow for free food with Bill and Crystal Zink, two of our really good friends here. We made shirts and gave each other fun bovine (cow means female bovine) names.

Benny = Cow-lifornia
Tam = Moo-my
Jon = Papa Bovine
Ezzie = Calf
I miss Benny dearly right now, and wish we lived closer.

I am also so grateful to be married to a man who is so thoughtful and loving :)

7 Months and More!!!

7 Month Photo Shoot

Ezzie is now 7 months, and has developed so much in the last month. I am continually amazed at how fast he picks up on things and becomes more expressive. As mentioned in the 6 month blog, Ezzie began turning over from back to front on Father's Day. He has since grew to be a roly-poly! He rarely stays where we put him anymore. He also loves to stand by himself when he is holding onto something stable.

In the pic on the right, Ezzie was originally in front of the mirror - he backed himself into the corner :)

He went through a phase where he would cry when he rolled onto his tummy - because he forgot how to roll back over - even though he began doing that months ago! Now he has transitioned to crawling backwards and crying when he gets himself into a corner. It is hilarious :) We know crawling is coming - in some ways I am not ready for this. I knew time would fly - but, really, this fast??? I cannot even imagine how fast the next year will go. All I know is that Jon and I continue to find ourselved overtaken with how much we love our son. We heard people talk about not remembering life before kids.. and thought this was silly... well, silly no longer :)

I think Ezzie really wants the coffee - not the glass :)

Ezzie has reached the age when he wants to eat whatever we are eating. He especially loves glasses - cold coffee cups. It cracks me up when he grabs for my glass and tilts his head up to suck on the bottom. He is beginning to become more interested in the top though. This adds some lovely moisture to my drink, but I just shrug it off :) I have tried giving him water from a glass a few times, and he does pretty well with it!

All sunscreened!, Loving it!, Family Pic :)

Another big thing this month is swimming! We have heard from friends that Daingerfield State Park was beautiful and relaxing. My image of the other lakes around here made me reluctant to really check it out, even though a part of me was curious. So, we got Ezzie a floatie, and headed to the park to get away from Longview. As a side note - I have been craving a change of scenery - mountains, wild rivers, the beach... something!. This proved to be a solace from the boring-nothing-to-do-outside place of Longview. It was so relaxing and beautiful! When Ezzie first began to swim around he immediately loved it! His legs are powerful, and he loved to jump and stand up. We weren't totally surprised when he began to kick in the water - our little waterbaby :)

We are headed to California soon to spend time with my family, and hopefully Jon's family for a day! One drawback of being here is them missing out on all of these changes. It'll be nice for them to have a chance to see Ezzie in these stages of cuteness, allertness, excitement and discovery! Plus, we will have a chance to visit some beautiful rivers, waterfalls and lakes. I already am looking forward to Burney Falls and Whiskeytown Lake. I love the beauty and clarity of Whiskeytown Lake, and have heard Burney Falls is beautiful!

More to come :)