Our Fun Family

Last weekend, we took Grace on her first camping trip. While some of you may challenge this particular definition of camping, the only good way that we know of to camp with a toddler is in an RV or camper trailer. I have mentioned in the past that I would really like to someday own a travel trailer or RV so that I can share with my family some of the joys I experienced as a kid RVing with Pa, Mema and my sisters. I do enjoy tent camping and Brenda and I have gone once before with Billy and Angie. While we had a good time, I knew Brenda wasn't all that excited by the prospect of tent camping with a toddler. Somehow I needed to get Brenda to warm up to the idea of someday owning a camper trailer and the idea of camping in general. We have been to a couple of RV shows and she has seen how they can deliver some nice features and conveniences that would make camping more enjoyable. She has had the opportunity to "visualize" the camping experience, but it wasn't tang...

Thursday morning, just as I was about to head out of the house, I got one of those mind numbing, bone chilling calls that nobody likes to get. Actually, to make it worse, it was a voicemail that nobody likes to get. It started out like this, "Honey, I am okay, but I was just in an accident..." Yuck!!!!! Frantically, I called Brenda back, who was shaken up, but overall, doing pretty well. She wasn't hurt, adrenaline was pumping, but nothing physically wrong. She was merging onto I-35, headed to work about 7:15am. Traffic was about normal, slow, but still moving. In the lane next to her was a Ford Bronco. Somebody cut off the Bronco, and when he slammed on his brakes, his wheels locked up and without any control, slid right into Brenda. Fortunately, no one was injured. The passenger side is pretty banged up, but it wasn't sufficient to deploy the airbags or break any windows. Thank goodness the guy had insurance, and he promptly accepted responsibility. Brenda...

Well it was a busy weekend for the Cornish house, but what else is new? Actually, it was a very busy Saturday, followed by a restful Sunday where we actually even played hookie from church so we could relax a bit. The Texas Longhorn football team wraps up their spring practices every year by having the annual Orange and White game, an inter squad scrimmage that is open to the public, free, and combined with a kids carnival and concert. The whole event makes up what they call The Spring Jamboree. What it really does is give the new freshman players a chance to see a simulated game atmosphere in the actual stadium, complete with thousands of fans, the Longhorn Band and spirit groups. It also gives fans like me a chance to catch a glimpse of some new guys, and give us some artillery for our armchair quarterbacking. But mostly, its 1 day of football in the midst of a very long, sometimes painful off season. It will be 151 more days until we will see these guys suit up for the season...

Happy Easter! We will post more pics soon. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend, surrounded by family and friends and taking time to reflect on the goodness of God and His provision.

If there is one thing that we have learned over the last 3 years, it is that family is all about sharing. We have shared lots of joy, we have shared burdens from time to time, we have shared playtime and we have shared work. Well, now we share a cold. Hey, you have to take the good with the bad, right? So a little more than a week ago, just before I was to take a trip to Houston for work, I noticed a slight tickle in the back of my throat. "Great" I thought. Just in time to take a business trip, I was getting sick. Last Sunday, the day before my trip, by miracle, I felt much better! Woohoo ! Then, on Tuesday, while I was gone, Brenda tells me she seemed to pick up a sore throat, but she didn't know from where. I sheepishly admitted to having a sore throat over the weekend, but told her that it passed so quickly. Well, it didn't. Brenda missed a day of work with absolutely no voice whatsoever. She returned to work the next day, still with no voice. All alon...

When Mommy makes Grace a sandwich, she takes lots of time to cut the sandwich in small, manageable pieces for Grace. Mommy also has a thing for clean fingers, clean hair and hopefully clean ears. There is certainly nothing wrong with this approach. I applaud her enthusiasm for Grace's manners. However, sometimes... well, come on... really. It is just peanut butter and jelly. At this point, I should probably take a moment to thank the sponsors of this particular blog entry, Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Gramma's Strawberry Preserves. Gramma's Strawberry Preserves and Peach Butter is only available at a small pantry in Tyler, TX. She doesn't advertise, she doesn't sell her products online, heck, she doesn't even sell her products period... But those in the know, know where to go to get their jelly fix. Since I am down to my last jar of Strawberry Preserves, and I am completely out of Peach Butter, it must be about time for another journey to East Texas. Since Gramm...

As I am working on closing down our family website, I have been re-visiting a lot of our old pictures. While I won't be bringing all of those albums over to this blog site, I did want to bring over enough to serve the purpose. One of the fun things I just did was to go through and watch Grace grow, month by month. Wow. For an adult, months pass by as a predictable unit of time. We often measure our progress in these terms. For example, starting my new job, it took me approximately 3-4 months to get assimilated and feel fully productive. I know I am 2-3 months from being in the full swing of Spring, so I know what projects I need to layout in order to prepare. What does the pool need, what does the landscaping need, etc... Time is relative, and while for me the last 17-18 months have flown by, there has been a tremendous amount of change going on in this little girl! To see her expressions come alive, to watch her hair grow, watch her go from a fairly stationary newborn, to ...