Beachin' it up with Babb-to-be

Last weekend, I went to Tracy's bachelorette party in Port Aransas, TX (Moore party, more fun!). I am outrageously lucky that I met her and so many other good friends in 6th grade -- FOURTEEN YEARS AGO. I never got it when, in college, other people would grimace and use the term "high school friends" in a not-so-kind way, like they were glad to have "outgrown" them. Ick. Please. These gals are great. I totally have their backs.

Anyway, here's what's changed in the last decade or so:
1. We apply sunscreen (serious stuff, SPF 30 or 70) rather than baby oil or that coconut baking butter junk, which I still love the smell of.
2. We make up cocktail recipes instead of dances.
3. No more lip liner and no more bangs.

Here's what hasn't:
1. I still love swimming in the muddy brown, bath temperature gulf.
2. We still stay up too late and keep talking even after the lights are out.
3. We still talk about the boys we like (although most of us are married to them now).

Old friends smile happily in the shark jaws

Then I got to come home to perfection: my Luke, who cleaned and bought cream puffs while I was gone; his cuteness, who continued the Reign of Adorability; and Ellen, who sewed an apron and chef hat for me! Really, how did I get all of this?!? Thank You.

"I hereby decree that you hand over all the hugs!"

Last weekend

A rather productive 2 days, in which we:

1) Sanded (coarsely and then finely) and treated our deck
2) Sodded 2 small areas of our yard (beautiful beautiful grass)
3) Tilled our garden area
4) Planted a LEMON TREE with a totally cool watering system*
5) Hung laundry lines
6) Transformed a $5 craigslist find into a hip new patio table
7) Went with our neighbors to watch fireworks over the bay
8) Had tequila shots :)

All while keeping a 9 month old fed, happy, and reasonably clean. Go Team Wagner!

*The watering system was recommended by the guy at the garden store and it is cool. We put in about 2' of 3" diameter perforated corrugated plastic tubing in the ground about 1' from the tree trunk ($0.80). We covered the top with a plastic drainage cover to keep things (like little legs) from getting caught in the tube ($1.34). Once a week we'll fill up the tube with water and once every couple months we'll drop in a fertilizer spike. That's it! All the deep watering a citrus tree needs, easy peasy!

Happy 4th of July

Yard work! What an American boy.

Journey to Japantown

We spent our Friday holiday celebrating American diversity in San Francisco's Japantown! We had a great shabu-shabu lunch at Shabu Sen. You sit at a table with a high-tech hot plate and vent hood. The waitress brings a pot of boiling broth and plates of thinly sliced meat and veggies and you cook it up and enjoy. YUM.

We also played at Pikapika, a shop full of crazy photo booths. Check out the results -- stickers! -- below.

Luke channeled his inner Japanese girl and out-decorated Ellen & I.

9.5 months

Little clips of Scott this week, taken & assembled by Ellen:

He's big! He crawls and babbles and smiles!

The View from my Office

Outside, there are Ellen (sister-in-law and summer nanny!) and Baby Boy playing in the kiddie pool in our unfinished back"yard". (Perhaps back garden or back nook would be a better term.) Inside, there is me, doing dose reconstructions!

Life has been exciting and full -- updates soon, but after working hours.

Cincinnati

I'm in Cincinnati for a week of training for my new job (I'll be working from home after this week). I'm really enjoying the training and looking forward to the health physics work. It's now been over 72 hours away from Luke & Scott and it's starting to get a little weird! I'm posting this older video of Scott playing peekaboo back in College Station at 6 or 7 months old so you can enjoy his filmed cuteness and miss him like I do. ;) I know Ellen's taking great care of him, though, and am so glad for a supportive husband who was all "Go for it!" about the job.


Also on my mind lately: the beautiful lyrics to "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". (<-- btw, I do not like to protect the period punctuation within the quotation marks. It used to be necessary for typsetters to place it inside so as not to jam up the printer because the period stamp thing was little and delicate, but it's totally not necessary now and is nonsensical. Check out Eats Shoots & Leaves for more fun punctuation facts!)


Favorite verse this week:

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I've come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.