The greatest family on earth

So I had mentioned last month that Chris and I are currently house hunting in order to find a place that can hold our growing family. And since we've been in our current house for seven years, there's been some natural wear-and-tear to the place. And in order to make it tip-top in preparation of putting it on the market, we decided that we needed to spruce the joint up a bit, paint some walls and replace the upstairs and basement carpet. And because I'm in no shape to be breathing fumes or moving furniture, and because Chris wanted to avoid having Taylor following him around during the big project constantly peppering him with, Why you doing THAT Dad? What you doing Dad? What's that for Dad? Where's that go Dad? Chris packed up the Caddy and sent Miss T and me to my sister's house in Birmingham for a long weekend to soak up some family time and basically stay out of his way.

It was a fantastic visit, in that I was there long enough that I truly felt like I was able to spend some quality time with almost all of my Blackwell family members. And Taylor very much enjoyed being spoiled by her Beeba, Dirky, Great Granddaddy and the Graffeo gang. She was in heaven. And it most likely had something to do with the outrageous amounts of cupcakes she was fed during the weekend. Okay, so I also ate an unhealthy amount of sugar. But being as big as I am right now, what's the point of counting calories, right? And I'm directing that comment to Grandddady, Libba, Dirk and their food-calculator apps they were constantly using on their phones. Life is too short to take the time to figure out how many calories a slice of pizza has in it. Food is good. Enough said.

One big highlight of the trip was that Libba, Dirk and I were able to take Princess T to see the circus for the first time. And not just any old circus, The Ringling Brothers Circus - aka The Greatest Show on Earth - was in town, and our hosts treated us to tickets. I had grown up going to see the Shrine Circus in Sioux City, and was thrilled to be able to share the wonders of the Big Top with my daughter. And she was amazed. And so were we.

Oh, and remember the drama I told you about when I took Taylor to see Princesses on Ice and she threw a fit because I wouldn't buy her a $13 snow cone? Well, you can officially call me a sucker now.

I did however draw the line and refused to buy her one of those spinning, glow-in-the-dark, rinky-dink toys that catch everyone's eye. Because they cost $25. Seriously? But luckily she was too jazzed about the clown cup her snow cone came in, and totally forgot about the other over-priced crap they were selling.

And after reading Water for Elephants a few months ago, I was particularly looking forward to seeing the elephants perform. And watching them charge into the arena in all of their giantess and splendor pretty much took my breath away. However, by that point my little peanut was too pooped to watch, and she took a catnap while I enjoyed the rest of the show.

The rest of our weekend was spent outside in the sunshine and in front of Libba's lens as much as possible. I hate even bringing up the weather while a third of the country is being hammered with the blizzard of the century, but being able to run around in seventy-degree wonderfulness has definitely given me a case of spring fever. Here's a fabulous picture of my growing bump that my super-talented sis took.

And after making record time back home on Sunday, we rolled into the driveway and had Chris show us around our shiny, re-carpeted and re-painted house. Only a few more improvements to make before we put it on the market, and thus begins another adventure for the Famous Amys ever-growing family. Wish us luck!