last post from alabama

so, i think i left my camera in nc, which is unfortunate, because we have some furniture to list on craigs list. also, no pictures for you.
as i mentioned, this was very unexpected. we had always planned on patrick becoming a salesman, just not right away. this is unprecedented, and i am so proud of him. he has obviously done an amazing job where he's been the past 10 months, that they feel confident he is ready for this next step. he is such a natural pilot, a good people person, and a good salesman. i, along with premier, can't wait to see what he's going to do in texas!

his territory will be much smaller than the one he has now, but alot of people, and alot of potential. he will be working alot of hours, but on the road less. i hope he'll be home in time to kiss hannah goodnight. the commutes are so much longer in these big cities, i know i'm going to miss the small town life! his office will be right at the airport, which is great, and he'll have an administrative support person, a customer service helper person, and be working alongside another saleswoman. as for us, we're just hoping we can find a house not too far away so we can bring him lunch or a pumpkin scone. (because really, what do stay at home moms do all day except make pumpkin scones and do lunch with friends, right? :-) hannah and i are really excited about the exciting things in the big city!

we have most of the logistics figured out. we are leaving a week tomorrow, actually. patrick driving the uhaul and me with the munchkin in our car. (anyone with extra earplugs, send them to me. hannah is going to go so crazy). we think that the time hannah will need to stop and run around every so often will be enough time for patrick to catch up with us. when we get there, we'll find a house to rent for a while. our house is on the market, so we'll see how that goes.
i'm going to miss our relative proximity to NC, our cute little house, and our church. but for quite awhile i've been meaning to write a top 10 of what we miss in texas. so here goes, a top 10 of what we're excited about in texas!

1. food. specific restaurants, like joe t. garcias (at the stockyards in ft. worth. they only have 2 items on the menu, but it's always packed out. they also don't take cards. wierd.) and fogo de chao (brazilian, and conveniently located right in addison. but expensive!), authentic mexican food, and pretty much every ethnic food on earth is available in dallas. and then of course, the grocery stores. oh, the grocery stores. central market, it's 2,000 cheeses. and the farmers markets too.
2. broken bow, oklahoma. i know, not texas. but only a few hours to paradise. of sorts. you probably don't believe me that OK is paradise. you can rent cabins or camp, and fish (lakes and streams), swim, hike, canoe, all kinds of things. it's really big, and really secluded. we went there on our babymoon. we got stranded at the top of our little mountain because the road washed out. i was 1 wk from my due date. fun stuff :-).
3. which brings me to my next one, midwives. no, i don't need one. but when i do, yeah!!! i won't have to go underground to look for a covert midwife. they're everywhere, and certified, and well regulated. so great!
4. fredericksburg, and the hill country. absolutely beautiful. we went there last march, and missed so much. there are outdoor things like climbing enchanted rock and white water rafting on the river, beautiful little bed and breakfasts, great restaurants, cute little towns with lots of shopping, wineries, all kinds of stuff.
5. canton trade days. the first weekend of the month, canton texas has the worlds biggest flea market/arts and crafts/antiques/everything you can imagine sale. it takes a couple days to see it all. i almost have dreams about canton trade days, i like it so much.
6. friends. we will be a few hours from longview, but we'll still go back and visit. patrick's friend ben lives in dallas, and my friend kristy (who just had another baby!!) lives in houston, so hopefully we'll get there too. my best friend from highschool lives in san antonio. and i have a friend from middle school in dallas somewhere. (i never talk to these people, but thanks to facebook, i know what they're up to :-). see, texas is the place to be.

ok, so that's only six. i'll come up with four more. proximity to an airport, so all y'all can come visit easily! and lots of things we never did in dallas, like the arboretum. ok, i have to go find us a house to rent. wish me luck!

first clue: Central Market and legalized midwifery

we had a wonderful visit with des. she got to spend lots of time with hannah because i totally took advantage (in a good way, i hope) of her being here. we went to the pumpkin patch, and hannah really enjoyed her birthday present from nana and pop pop, pictured here.









roll in the hay, anyone? :-)



who knew a feeding trough full of corn could be so enthralling to a toddler?










david couldn't come, but he sent hannah some beautiful dorothy shoes, which she loves. patrick helped des put together hannah's wagon.

after a completely dry month, we got nearly flooded last week. when it finally cleared up, we went outside for hannah to play in the puddles.

i know this post has an uncharacteristic brevity to it, but we're really busy these days. very unexpectedly, patrick was offered a promotion. wait, that came out wrong! i'm not surprised at all that they think he's ready for a sales position. the unexpected part is the soonness of it, and the moving to dallas part. yep, we're on the move again. the office is in addison, in north dallas. i will talk more about if later, but by the first week of november, we'll be back in cowboy hats :-).

very quickly, yes, we're happy, but a little overwhelmed. we've only known for a week or so. we will be renting in dallas for a while, obviously selling our house will be a challenge. more details later.

mostly business as usual here at the crisp household. patrick got his yearbook the other day, and was showing hannah pictures of all his college craziness. also, she's such a big girl she can apparently eat apples. who knew? she got it by accident, and then ate nearly the whole thing!
(i realize in terms of nuclear weapons in iran, the elections, and the housing market that is not big news. but it is to me :-)



"stop taking my picture mommy. just give me more food." but seriously, she's the only child i know whose hair grows straight up.


true story: the college girls at church threw a tea party for the ladies (of which i am one now, strangely enough) and i really wanted to go, so patrick was going to be home by 5 so i could go. not surprisingly, he told me he couldn't make it home on time. (what was surprising was that he didn't make it home until the next night!) so, i was kind of sad and mopey. hannah starts making some noise, and not kidding, this is what i find. she's having a tea party. yes, i got all teary eyed. i will have plenty of opportunity to go to tea parties later. right now i get to have one with my daughter. (we're also going to have a tea party birthday one year. very excited. i'm already planning the menu! :-)


she offered me a cup. on the right is the best self-portrait i could get. sorry!


so, we have a little bit of progress. lettuce, collards, cabbage, broccoli, and basil. i hope it works, because i've put alot of work in to it.



so in case you can't tell, i'm very much a seasonal person. not just clothes (and even jewelry and nail polish), but decorating the house, having parties to celebrate the season, and of course, eating seasonally. we have been waiting for apple butternut squash soup, and Hannah was helping me out here. it's actually quite heavy. i've also really been wanting pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and i even though i had canned pumpkin in the cupboard, i've waited till they had pie pumpkins at the grocery store. of course, while i've been baking and pureeing and freezing my pumpkin and eating my fresh roasted pumpkin seeds, it's been nearly 90 degrees all week. oh well. i've had many a tropical christmas, so surely i can celebrate fall in alabama.


nothing, nothing i do could ever compare to the belly game. for some reason, hannah goes crazy.



i've been convicted that even though i'm a sahm, i don't actually spend enough time with hannah, just interacting. so i took her to the park the other day, ignoring the hundred things to do in my house. it was fun, but i think she's a little young. all she wanted to do was play with the mulch.

desiree comes tomorrow, so maybe i'll get some pictures of me AND hannah for a change. next week we have the missions conference at church, and i'm so excited. then we're headed to Charlotte for a football game. you guys enjoy your fall, wheverever you are. especially those of you in africa :-)