Yes, I DO remember how to blog!

OK, so my sister, who is always the one bugging me about the Blog, recently reminded me that one of my friends left a comment (about 5 months ago) saying that one of her New Year's Resolutions was to stay in touch with us, in part by following our blog. So my sister said "How can she stay in touch with what you're doing when you never update the blog". So maybe it wasn't that direct or insensitive, but that's what she meant! Bless you, Mary.

So here are my excuses:

1. All our photos are on the iMac, which is a desktop, and at the end of the day my back is too tired to sit at the desk and update the blog. I'd much rather update it from the laptop whilst sitting on the couch, but the pictures aren't on it.

2. We've been moving. OK, so I can only use that excuse for the last 8 weeks or so (not the 4 months previous to that), but I'm using it anyway!

3. Like all things, the longer you don't do something, the more guilty you feel for not doing it, so the more you continue not to do it. So, Thanksgiving came and went, and I didn't report. John's birthday came and went, and I didn't report. Christmas came and went, and I didn't report. Our cross-country relocation trip came and went, and I didn't report... I could go on, but I won't!

4. For months I've actually gone on to the blog and tried to locate pictures on the iMac to upload, but can't find them in the order in which I've organised them. So frustrating. So I FINALLY called Apple and they informed me that, NO, I will NEVER be able to access the pictures in the albums I've organised and created - so I should just cut and paste what I want to upload on the Desktop and "find" them there. And I thought technology was supposed to make your life EASIER!!!

So you know what. I'm back. And you know what else. I'm not going to bore you all with the details of our almost whole (just one cousin missing) family reunion of a Thanksgiving. I won't tell you all the details of John slowly ripping open his 1st birthday presents, so slowly that Sydney ended up doing it for him; and then he "ate" his cake with his feet. I won't bore you with stories on how Mary and Brendan's dog, Bailey, was more of a hit at Christmas (with both kids) than anything Santa or Mommy or Daddy or any Grandparent could have given them. I won't bore you with yet another trip to Disneyland (we stayed overnight and did two days in a row!). No, you get to miss all the stories and all the details because I was too lazy, and my back was too sore, to write about them as they happened. I'll just upload some pictures (soon) instead.

In the meantime, here are some of our most recent shots, since we've been in Houston. I really need to get the camera out a bit more!

Yes, that is a lampshade on Sydney's head! She found it in a box we were unpacking and it looks exactly like the Safari Hat that Minnie Mouse wears on Playhouse Disney. So she's had taken it, it now lives in the dress-up box, and it is her Safari Hat. This picture was taken right before we were leaving the house to go out to dinner at The Rainforest Cafe. And yes, she took the lampshade, I mean Safari Hat, with her to dinner, much to Rich's dismay!

This photo was actually taken in February back in California, when John was into giving us his funny, toothy grin. I just love it. In fact, looking closely, he doesn't even have the other two bottom teeth in yet, which he does now. I just think it's so darn cute.

This was after church about 3 weeks ago. I stuck them on the driveway (the grass was very wet) to try and get a nice brother/sister shot all dressed up, but of course they didn't want to cooperate at the same time. Sydney would look at the camera for one picture, then John would hear the click and decide to look up and smile a bit late. This shot was taken about 15 seconds before John tried to crawl away and then Sydney tried to wrangle him back onto her lap by throwing her arms around his neck and pulling. Yeah, got those shots too before I rescued him.