Hi from Waco

Well, here we are again, majin folks, coming to you live from Waco, home of the Branch Davidians and the Cowpeople Who's Family Tree Boasts Only One Branch. This is true Texas, friends. El Paso was El Fako when it comes to this. I never knew when I lived there, but now I see the error of my ways: this is DEEP in the heart of Texas, and everyone here has an accent and very down-home ways. We cannot leave the house without some nice person striking up a conversation with us about their children (when seeing ours) or sharing their personal histories with us at the park. This is the type of place that you would feel safe leaving your house unlocked not just for the day, but for your ENTIRE VACATION.
It's weird...I never thought that I would live in Texas at all, but now that I'm here, it's like the Camel's Nose....we saw the nose inching it's way in when we lived in El Paso, and now the whole frikkin thing is in the tent, crapping in the hummus, now that we're in Waco. We are truly Texans now.
Our house is a duplex, which I think I mentioned before. It's very nice because it was built quite recently. This also means that there is slightly restricted access to the area, because it's all new...in other words, one of the roads that lead here is a DIRT road and the other is unmarked. No one can find it because the road has NO ROAD SIGN. It's true. We think someone stole it. Who knows? Coulda been the cows who GRAZE OPPOSITE OUR BACKYARD. I had to drive and meet the movers who brought our stuff and guide them in, like a pilot boat, because it's kinda impossible to find. I will provide this service to anyone else who comes to visit too, because you could literally end up in the 'crick' if you try by yourself (esp. at night), and also because we really hope people come to see us, because as before mentioned, we have no money to come see you. We're all cutting back, and it's a challenge, but I think we're going to manage. It helps that I grew up living like this, so I'm getting back to my roots.
Back to our new place: the biggest drawback I'm seeing is the bug problem. I think this stems from the fact that this used to be pasture land about 3 years ago. When we moved in, before our stuff was unpacked, I casually glanced in our master bedroom to see a spider the size of my PALM casually sitting on the floor. My scalp crawled. I don't know that I ever knew that was a genuine condition and not just a figure of speech, but it crawled. Like it was trying to get off my skull and scurry back to El Paso. I don't know which is worse, spiders or centipedes. Yuck. I'm so tired of Texas-sized bugs. So we sprayed and the management sprayed and we're still finding them out in the yard everywhere, but no more in house, at least for the next 15 minutes until they mutate and become immune to the poison.
But on the bright side: the house looks clean and big and quite classy...it's painted a nice light brown/tan color with cream/white crown molding. The kitchen is pretty big, tile counter tops, new (black...meh) appliances, etc, and it has a little built-in wine rack thingie up high. The ceilings are all high, which means the shelves are all built high. I imagine this is a pain the ass for normal sized people, but for Jeff & I it's a mercy and a blessing, because we can reach everything (barely), but Dillon can't, even if he drags the chair over & climbs as high as he can! Yay! Finding places that Dillon can't reach for the 90% of our stuff that he's not supposed to touch is becoming the focal point of our lives and the bane of our existence. Which brings me to the kids:
They're all growing up quickly. Dillon talks in full sentences now. Example: a big fly was in the kitchen and flew in his hair. He bats it away, yelling, "BAD BUFLY! BAD BUFLY! YOU. WANT. PUNCH? YOU. WANT. PUNCH?" He copies Noah all the time. Noah is growing fast too, physically and in imagination as well. That kid is going to write a book someday. I overheard the following the other day: he's running around talking (to himself) about some magic thing he was going to do, to mend a sword or something, and he's saying how he's going to use his "magic slobber." "My magic slobber"....I just laughed and laughed. We should send it to Dave Barry as an offering for a rock band name.
And Zoe...what a fat, cute thing she's becoming. She's huge, wearing 6 month clothes already (at 2 months), has a double chin and fat rolls everywhere, which pleases me no end. Her thighs are endless, huge and dimpled, and they taper down to her dainty feet with her long toes. Makes me laugh just looking sometimes. I'm so in love with her, she's such a good baby. She absolutely has not a bad bone in her body, and she just exudes love and sweetness. I can never be frustrated with her like I sometimes got with my sons in their infancy...probably because she always sleeps through the night and never gives me a lick of trouble, but also because she's just an angel from heaven. Thank God for small favors in the middle of my insane life.
Jeff's new job is like any job, good and bad things both. But we're thankful for the fact that he has it, with so much unemployment in this country. And that's an overview of what is going on with us. Maybe I'll see if I can take some pics of the house and post. More later.