Gotta catch up, gotta catch up...

Goodness me, I am so behind on blogging and reading blogs...but to keep me a little caught up, here are some pics from our time here in TX. I'm somewhat annoyed, because our little point-and-shoot not only has been acting funny, as in producing fuzzy, washed out pictures, but SOMEHOW (I blame myself, for letting Bran play with the camera too much...) batches of cute family and river pictures got deleted. Grrr.... But, here are some that stuck around:

The newbies. Ciaran (Keer-an) and Teresa, at a little over a month and almost a month old. Such cuties! Nuala asked, when she first met Teresa, "This OUR baby?" Ohhhh, Nuala. If only it were that simple...

Boerne Bergesfest Parade. Something cool was no doubt on its way...

Bran pretending to drive. He really liked the little cars behind him.

Z, Nuala, Bran, and Granny and Grandad, at the end of the parade. Well, the end for us. It was HOT out! And we got loads of candy.

Bran taking a swing at the piñata at the church party. He lives for whacking things. And he's darn good at it, too!

Nuala. In pink. She was having fun, too!

Erin and Rob and their 3 kiddos overlapped our time in Texas, and they sent Liam, Brigit, and Colin to the party while they went to Erin's 10-yr high school reunion. This is Colin. I like this picture, because Nuala has Bran's sucker, poor boy. Doesn't look too happy, does he?

Granny turned ** while we were there, so she got lots of help blowing out her measly few candles (which greatly under-represent her age, ha ha! ;)

Erin, Rob, Liam, Brigit, and our little family went to Schlitterbahn, pretty much the coolest waterpark ever... We had so much fun, even with the kiddos! It wasn't all the crowded, and there were fun rides we could all go on. Brigit and Nuala are so cute. Brigit was 3 in February, Nuala 2 in December, and they really clicked. They share a love of pink and princesses and getting into mischief. That's Nuala in the blue, and Brigit in the pink above.

Zac and Liam.

Nuala and Brigit on a PINK duck.

Erin, me, and Bran coming down one of the slides.

Nuala, Brigit, Colin, Liam, and Bran at the library storytime.

Uncle Gary reading a Barbie book to his little pink nieces. And Liam. He's a great uncle!

Bran and some new additions to his arsenal. He strips his shorts off so he can sheath the swords just right...

Feeding the ducks at the river -- Nuala and Granny.

Me. Feeling pukey, but not showing it. Go, Fiona! Gary is sneaking off in the background. We match. He likes to copy me sometimes (not that I blame him).

A new way Bran has come up with to carry his swords around. And see the little ducklings? Awww...

This is adorable. I got to visit with a couple of friends from High School, Katie and Kyle. Katie's little girl had outgrown one of her princess dresses and Katie was so sweet to give it to little Nuala! Even whipped out her sewing machine and stiched up a torn ruffle. And Nuala adores it. My poor deprived girl has no princess dresses, and insisted on wearing this one all over the place. Here she is with Bran going to storytime again (without cousins...sniff, sniff...).

And with her new princess shoes!! Finally. Doesn't she look like a showgirl with her dress hiked up like this? Usually she's a tad more modest, which we encourage. ;)

Bran helping Granny pick really hard pears from the trees in the backyard.

My cousin Ruth and her husband James and their 5 children (almost 6!) came to visit. David, who is a month older than N&B, LOVES swords, too. He and Bran provided some great entertainment for us! They were so cute!

Aren't her girls adorable? They're the ones in blue...well, the ones that AREN'T Nuala and Bran are, obviously, hers. And little David's in there, of course.

So that's a bit of what we've been up to. I'm still looking for pictures that mysteriously disappeared from our GOOD camera (what's up with our picture luck?)...we'll see if those show up. There's a drought/heat wave here in Texas, and the rivers are so low and warm. Well, they're always relatively warm, of course, but we love going there to play and it just wasn't the same. We go camping next week in Oregon with Z's family, so we'll be playing a lot at the river there. But it's so cooooold! We will survive. And Zac, the polar bear, will thrive. It'll be fun, we're looking forward to it!

We just got back from Austin. My 8-yr old niece was baptized yesterday, and the two babies were blessed in church today. It was a special time; I'm glad we could be here for those things, too. I'll miss my family so much! The time goes too quickly when we come visit. We got to see all 3 of my sisters and their families, and my brother. At the SAME time. Doesn't happen too easily... I've been very blessed with wonderful parents and siblings, and a wonderful family that I married into, also. Family is good. Very good. :)