Fam

My mom, dad and sister came for a short visit this week. They got here Tuesday and left this morning. It either rained or threatened to rain every day so we didn't get out quite as much as we would've liked.


Wednesday morning, Clara hitched a ride with Bia and Aunt Linsey to go shopping while Chris and I headed up to Huntsville. We are now the pround owners of only one house, not two! It is nice to have that second mortgage gone; I feel a lot more secure with only one house, that's for sure. I can't complain, though. We were very blessed this past year with the way everything went with our move. We were a little concerned about it taking a long time to sell our house in Huntsville, but then some friends from church heard we were selling. They came out and took a look and it was just what they were looking for.


We did a lease to own, and a year later, we sat down and closed on our house. They were the perfect renters. On time, no problems whatsoever and they even made a few upgrades this past year. Couldn't have asked for better renters. We hadn't really talked much this past year, so it was nice to chat with them at the closing. They have twin girls that are four months older than Clara so we got to swap stories about what the kiddos are up to. It took forever to finish up though. After all papers were signed, the agent went to fax it to their lender and it took about an hour for them to review it. So we got to talk for a long time.


Nice part about the whole deal was that since it was a private sale, there were no real estate agents to pay on either end, so we made a little more than we would've otherwise and that's always nice.


Wednesday evening, my mom and dad headed to Rosenberg to spend the night with my aunt and uncle. Linsey stayed here and we went to Market Street for some dinner and some fountain. Clara dove right in this time. She wasn't scared at all; every other time she's been slightly leery of the water. I guess maybe the extra time she's been spending in the pool is paying off. She was even putting her face directly over the holes, waiting to be sprayed in the face. She got it right in the face a couple of times.

The next day, Linsey, Clara and I headed to Mercer Arboretum. It was overcast, so it wasn't just sweltering hot. Clara got another ant bite on her toe that turned her whole toe red and made it swell and she got a couple of real good mosquito bites also. (This ant bite looked weird. The next day, instead of having a white head like most do, it was dark red and looked like a blood blister.) Anyway, we saw a couple of really big spiders and lots of pretty na-na's (flowers).

Strolling with Aunt Linsey

Being uncooperative for a picture with Mommy

Right as we were finishing up and heading over to the library for story time, it started raining hard. At story time, Clara got to play with bubbles and blocks. During the bubble blowing frenzy, kids everywhere were rubbing their eyes, crying because the bubbles were popping in their eyes. It was great fun. Linsey sat in the wrong chair though; one of the bubble blowing moms kept flinging soap all over her. It was still raining when we left and it kept raining throughout the day.

Clara and Aunt Linsey at story time

Standing on her watermelon carpet square

That evening, we went to Cheesecake Factory after dinner for some cheesecake. Yummy. Clara got to eat a little cheesecake, but mostly got whipped cream off of ours. I brought little cookies with me, so she quickly figured out how to dip her cookie in the whipped cream and that kept her occupied until she ran out of cookies. Then she decided that pretty much anything tastes better dipped in whipped cream, so she dipped her sippy cup and ate it off of the bottom. She really is a smart cookie.


Friday, we had planned on going to the zoo, but it rained all morning, so we all slept in (except for Chris who had to work). Clara didn't wake up until 9:00! She never sleeps that late. The girls headed to Old Town Spring when it let up late in the morning. We didn't stay too long though because Clara started melting down.

Clara and Bia at Old Town Spring

And that's about all we did. Not too exciting I suppose. The rain really did put a damper on things. Good thing Bia and Aunt Linsey LOVE to shop, because you can always browse racks of clothing while the rain pours down outside, although that's not too exciting for PawPaw. Clara enjoyed her time with everyone and was able to call them all by their names. She thoroughly enjoyed eating Aunt Linsey's gummy bears. (Aunt Linsey couldn't resist the way Clara looked up at her and said "Peas" over and over and over. What a sucker.) She loved all the attention. She even crawled up in PawPaw's lap yesterday morning and laid there for about 15 minutes motionless while we watched The Princess Bride. She never sits still in our laps for that long. I guess there's just something about your PawPaw that makes it better.

Can't wait for the next visit.