I'm back!!

I know you all missed me terribly. Your lives can now return to normal now that I'm back to posting. I have alot to say today...

First, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was interesting. As I posted before, my mom has been ill. She is now staying with me in Houston and has some appointments at MD Anderson today and tomorrow. Her surgery should take place soon. Please keep her in your thoughts. So, after I went home for a couple of days to be with my mom in Bryan, I came back to Houston to work a half-day on the Monday before Thanksgiving. As I was packing Monday night for my trip back to Bryan, I received a call from my mom that my dad was in the hospital with heart arrhythmia issues. They kept him there until Wednesday morning and everything seemed fine. Apparently, once they get his heart back into its normal rhythm, he's, well, normal.

So we spent Wednesday afternoon getting ready for our trip to Dallas the next morning to visit my brother, sister in law, nephews and niece. This was the first time I'd meet my niece and I was excited beyond words. Thursday morning, I heard the words I was not expecting: "Carolyn, you are going to Dallas by yourself." My dad's heart was out of rhythm again and he needed to go back to the hospital. My mom and I drove him there, and once he was stable, at my parents' insistence, I drove to Dallas, with my mom's famous stuffing in hand. Thankfully, my dad was released later that day and continues to do well, but Thanksgiving just wasn't the same without them.

Gotta love kids: When I got to Dallas, I just couldn't get enough of my adorable nephews. Being the awesome aunt that I am, I immediately presented them with two toy trucks, which are their favorite toys. What I wasn't expecting was that both would like the same truck, and they started fighting over it. Within 5 minutes of my walking in the door and giving them their toys, my nephew Koen was in timeout.

Koen looking innocent:


Hayden having a fit:


The boys continued to play with the trucks throughout the day, changing their mind often about which was their favorite. Unfortunately, both declared the same truck as their favorite every time. After some more crying and bickering, they started playing nice and really warmed up to me (see, bribery is the best way to gain popularity!). They are definitely the cutest boys I have ever seen.


Meeting my niece: As I was playing with them, I hear "Carolyn" and I turned around to see my niece for the very first time. She melted my heart immediately. What a beautiful baby girl. She is almost two months old now and is already making her presence felt on a regular basis (ie: crying at the top of her lungs, and doing a little squeaking sound that my brother finds adorable). Yes, a princess in the making! My brother and sister in law didn't like my plan to make her a shirt that said "Future Aggie Tri Delta," but I might sneak it on her anyway. After all, she is a legacy!

Later in the day, my heart was melted again when she fell asleep on my chest after a bout of crying. And this girl can cry! Not only is she automatically a princess, but she is also going to be a drama queen, just like her aunt!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my brother's in-laws, then we watched the A&M/t.u. game which wasn't the disaster I thought it would be. Yes, we lost as expected, but not as badly as expected. I am so glad the season is over. And I won't even go into what I think about the BCS mess, but I will say this...If t.u. had made it to the Big XII championship over OU, they would have been singing the praises of the BCS system. Because it didn't work out for them, it sucks now. Funny how things work. I'm just glad Tech didn't make it. But I digress...

A couple of fun videos of the twins: I may have accidently encouraged the boys to do some things they probably shouldn't have. What can I say, I'm their aunt, and I think everything they do is hilarious.



Running update: So, with all of this drama post-SA marathon, including huge meetings at work that resulted in a major change in leadership, I have had no time to run. I have had two solid weeks off and I'm ready to get back out there. I hope I haven't lost any of my strength, but I think I'll be alright. I'm going to get a couple of runs in this week (not only to get back up to speed but also to work off all of the Thanksgiving food I stuffed my face with) before rejoining my training group bright and early on Saturday. The Houston Marathon will be here before I know it!

Christmas decorations: After thinking I wouldn't have time to put any up, I buckled down and got everything set up this weekend. I even put some lights out on my patio, though they don't come close to competing with the, in my opinion, gaudy display across the street. (Actually my neighbor's place looks really good. I'm just jealous.) I put up those old-fashioned colored ceramic bulbs because I like those. The ones I bought came with red, green, blue, orange and white colors. I spent a while changing out all of the orange and white (remember, I'm an Aggie and cannot have anything orange and white anywhere) so I have a lovely, yet simple, display of red, green and blue lights. I personally think it looks good, but now that I've sized up the competition, I'll be ready for a bigger light display next year...

"Picture" of the day: This is one of my all-time favorites...