And the winners are...

SWAT had their second annual Halloween party at S's house this afternoon. S is a bit fanatical about Halloween and goes to great lengths to decorate and plan a great party. She really outdid herself this year. It was a beautiful day so the kiddos were able to spend a lot of time playing outside. She built and painted a pumpkin toss set, a worms, teeth and eyes feeling set, and a ghost cut-out set. She also had a hay bale and pumpkin area for family photos. This girl thinks of everything!

K and J. K is dressed as a peacock and didn't crack a smile all day.

J was in true party form and spent most of his time eating and his free time playing. He wanted to eat all of the pumpkin muffins I brought, but he also enjoyed some grilled cheese and apple sandwich slices as well as some of the pumpkin chili I made. It seemed to get good reviews so here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Chili:

1lb. Ground turkey

1/2 cup chopped onions (I used more)

1 large red or green pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes (no salt added)

1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can packed pumpkin

1 4 oz. can diced green chiles

1/2 cup loose-pack frozen whole kernel corn
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

I also added a teaspoon or so of pumpkin pie spice, which gave it a great smell and about another quarter can of pumpkin. The pumpkin acts as a thickener, so the more you add, the thicker your chili will be.

In a large saucepan, cook onions, garlic and peppers until soft. Add turkey and cook on medium high heat until brown, drain. Add everything else. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or more. Be careful not to burn the bottom by having the heat on too high.

There was a vote for best dressed family and guess what? We won! No, we weren't the only family that dressed up. The prize was a skeleton trophy. When J's friend K handed him the trophy as her mom announced us as the winners, he uttered, "No! No! No!" He was terribly frightened by the trophy and didn't want to win! Everyone said that he was just being humble. B and I joked that we finally had a chance to be popular and our kid was ruining it for us!

It was so great to see everybody. There were some babies there that I hadn't seen in nearly a year. It's amazing how much growing happens in so little time. More pics on Halloween!

Redemption

This post is for my darling SIL, who is waiting to go into labor and lovingly branded me with a faint scarlet letter F for giving her a starter of friendship bread. I am in the midst of experimenting with the measurements to take away the friendship part of the bread and will let you know what I find out. In the meantime, here's a pumpkin muffin recipe that I just made and is so good! You only have to make it once! I made them into mini muffins and only put cinnamon sugar on half of them (forgot in the first batch). J was stealing them and stuffing them in his mouth, so I think that is a good sign. Very moist and fluffy for a muffin. I added the whole can of pumpkin as well, figuring you couldn't go wrong with too much. I would imagine you could use applesauce instead of oil, but I didn't have any. Oh, and I only baked the mini muffins for about 13 minutes. 12 may be just enough as well. Enjoy!



http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2006/11/03/pumpkin-muffins/



I have a pumpkin chili cooking right now that we're taking to a party later on. If it gets good reviews, I'll post that as well.

Halloween Practice

We had a little Halloween party at the library during story hour today. The library has about 5 different Halloween parties and you can sign up for whatever ones you want to attend. I decided we'd go to the one today because it was food free. Since J doesn't eat "party foods" I really didn't see the point in going to one that would be a giant mish mosh of prepackaged cookies and candy. He doesn't know that part about Halloween and I'm happy to keep it that way for a little longer. Instead of food, we were to bring 30 stickers, pencils, or other treats to put in little bags that the library provided. J got quite the stash of straws, stickers, spider rings and little pads.

I didn't think we would last long because J was a little taken back by the pirate libarians and the witch and skeleton story props that were in the front of the room. He also didn't know what to make of the larger crowd that was there today. We've been walking around the neighborhood quite a bit to see the pumpkin and witch decorations. He likes those. Ghosts don't bother him much either. I can see why the skeleton doesn't look quite right to him. But after singing a great little song today called, "Mr. Bones" I think they're breaking him in a bit. Ha ha ha.

Once he got used to his surroundings, J had a blast. He loved visiting with the other kids and participating in the songs and stories. He didn't want to leave when it was time and even said thank you to the librarians as we left (without me telling him!). Such a thoughtful lion.

I'd post pictures, but I am sure we'll get cuter ones this weekend when we go to another party. The whole family is dressing up, so we'll see.

We're finally cooling off down here. On Monay the temperature dropped about 30 degrees to a high of 56. It felt bone chilling cold because of the wind. J didn't want to wear long sleeves because I don't think he's worn them since April. Today it's in the 70s and I'm wearing long sleeves. We even turned the heat on a bit last night to take the edge off. Clearly the blood is thinning. It is finally nice to have some fall around here, though.

Good Times

B's birthday was a success. The vodka sauce turned out great, but it took me almost 3 hours to make it and it was only supposed to take a little over 1. I was being really careful not to burn that heavy cream when I reduced it. Turns out, I could have left it alone a little more. J just loved watching the candles burn on the ice cream cupcakes. There were only two candles because I had a heck of a time getting them through the frozen whipped cream. Check out this shot of the two of them. They aren't related or anything, are they?

I also had a hankering for fall the other day and made some pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies with cream cheese frosting. Actually the recipe is in a Christmas cookie book, but they looked too good to wait until then to make. This recipe was interesting. It said it would make 6 dozen cookies, which is usually your standard chip cookie product. I ended up with over 9 dozen. And I lost about 2 dozen due to accidental burnage on the first trays (still getting used to the double oven). I was also using evaporated cane sugar. Anyone baked with that before? It seems to burn a little more than refined sugar. I had little spoltches of cooked sugar (not quite burned) on the bottom of many of the cookies. Anyway, they tasted like little bits of pumpkin heaven. I would recommend halving the recipe. Oh and make your own cream cheese frosting instead of the icky store bought stuff. I'll try to post this sometime later.

A funny thing happened with these cookies. I was trying to frost them while they were still warm. I remember turning off the oven for the last tray. I thought I frosted everything and began to clean up, got distracted by finished laundry, and went to bed. I went to use the top oven two days later and what did I find? A cooked batch of cookies that I left behind. Oops. The neat thing was that they hardened into a really good biscuit-like cookie. The originals are better, but it was neat that although I forgot about them, they were still pretty tasty.

We took a scenic drive yesterday to Marble Falls to visit Sweetberry Farms. They were having a fall festival with plenty of pumpkins, hay and pony rides, pumpkin ice cream and goats. Poor J wanted to get in the pen with the goats since that's what he's allowed to do when he visits Nummi's farm in California. He also called every goat he saw Suzi, after Nummi's goat who is no longer with us. Unfortunately J doesn't know that, so every goat is Suzi. I think we need a Suzy 2 at the farm in CA. J had a great time banging on pumpkins, riding on the kiddie sized tractor, checking out the old fashioned trucks filled with pumpkins, running around with other little ones, and tasting some of that pumpkin ice cream. In fact, there was so much excitement that not only did he sleep in the car, but he also slept for another two hours when we got home.

After naptime we headed over to the Hairy Man Festival at one of the parks in the neighborhood. The legend of the Hairy Man is pretty lame, something about a baby left in the woods, grows up all hairy and tries to keep the western settlers from taking the land by the creek. Today the festival collects canned food for local food banks and raises funds for the children's homes in the area. There was live music, ponies, jumping castles, crafts, a train, and plenty of food. And yes, there is a hairiest man contest. If I'd known about that, I would have made B enter, but there's always next year. We were actually pleasantly surprised by how nice the festival was, as we'd been told it wasn't so great. J loved riding the train. I think we did that about 5 times. He tried going in a jumping castle, but slid right out. I think he was just so tired from everything else he did.

Today we just spent most of the day outside. There was a wonderful breeze and it was so comfortable outside. We did some yardwork, played at the park, went for a wagon ride and took a long nap. Not a bad way to end the weekend!

Birthday Prepping

I took J on a little culinary tour this morning of an Italian market and one of the fancier schmancier grocery stores in Austin. We were on a mission to get ingredients for B's birthday dinner tomorrow night. The old man turns 33. As he puts it, he's 1/3 through with his life, which when he told me that, I freaked out on him for being so half empty. I mean, who thinks about dying on their birthday anyway? He followed up with, "Look how much I've done in 1/3 of it. Imagine what I can do in the next 2/3." Okay, you're excused. Good point.

J and I encountered some happy people for a change. One was a counterperson at the market who didn't charge us for the single sesame seed cookie I was going to buy to give to J. It took such will-power to get just one and then to give it to my son and just take a teeny tiny nibble! This place smelled like heaven. There was a hint of garlic in the air-- not the overpowering kind you get at a wanna be Italian restaurant. The bread area smelled so fresh that I wanted to bring every loaf home with me. J cracked me up the entire time by yelling, "Mar-ket!" down each aisle. I think that's what won us the free cookie.

We also scored some free toppings from another little ice cream shop. I'm making ice cream cupcakes and was on a hunt for crunchies from my childhood ice cream cakes. When I found them and asked if I could buy some, the salesperson just gave them to me. I consider that my reward for waving on all those people who don't thank me back! B is not a gigantic dessert eater and requested an ice cream cake for his cake. But, I know he will complain that there is just too much left and he doesn't want to eat it all, so I thought about making a smaller version. I thought I was being all creative, but then I found out that some of the ice cream stores have begun stocking them wtih their ice cream cakes. I thought about buying them, but decided to have some fun. I can't wait to try them.

We're cooking Pennette Ala Vodka for dinner, which should be interesting. It's a recipe from Rao's Italian Restaurant (famous in Harlem and now also found at Caesar's Las Vegas.). It calls for a quart of heavy cream reduced in half. That should be fun to do with a toddler running around. I hope I can avoid burning it or everything will be ruined. I can't believe B wanted some thing so rich, but we'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

Oh, this should get me the bad mommy of the year award. A few days ago I was getting dinner ready. J loves when I chop things. He runs around slapping his legs when I smash garlic, or he yells, "Chop, chop, chop, cut, cut, cut". I decided to let him practice cutting too. He has a play knife that came with his play basket of fruit and I only let him use that when he is strapped in his chair (don't want to give the impression that running with knives is okay). I gave him an onion to "chop". Usually he peels a couple of layers and puts it in his pot and that's it. Today he decided to bite it a few times (and was a little surprised at what he got). That wasn't the worst part. After peeling way more layers than I realized, he touched his eyes. The minute I saw his hands go up to his face, I knew. And then the tears came, followed by, "Eyes! Eyes!" I felt so horrible. We scrubbed his hands and washed his face. I distracted him with some bubbles and he was fine. We all know that onions can burn, but can you imagine how it probably felt to him? I felt so bad. Well, next time I will give him something like a potato or celery.

I'll be sure to let you know how dinner goes and post some pics of the old man on his birthday.

You're It!

I wish I had pictures or video of this fantastic first, but unfortunately, I don't. B, J and I were at the park across the street this afternoon. We met some people who live down the street, C, L, and their darling 5 year old granddaughter, C. J was very intrigued by little C and wanted to do everything she did. We had to put him on the swings because she was swinging. She squealed "Weeee," J squealed back. Of course his attention span lasted about 2 minutes and then he was onto something else, but C wanted to continue this interaction. She followed B and J as they explored the sunken rock area of the park and made it over to the kiddie slide/steering wheel area. This is where J's first game of tag took place.

It just sort of happened. J was happy going down the slide, but when he saw C coming over, he immediately got excited and began running around the playscape as he yelled, "Oh oh!" Giggles and squeals erupted and the quick movement of gravel gave away each of their attempts at being sneaky. B helped J tag C a couple of times and he kept yelled "Touch you!" It was the sweetest thing. He was absolutely exhausted and almost fell down the slide face first because he was trying so hard to catch up to her/get away from her that his legs were actually giving out on him! J has played tag like this with adults before, but never another child. It was so much fun because it was kid-initiated and we just watched and laughed. A very good sign of things to come. Who knew that J could keep up with the older girls?

Tonight B and I shared some yummy Greek food from a restaurant not too far from here. We hadn't had any in many months, so we ordered way too much and have plenty of leftovers. We also unpacked our books, put childproof latches on our TV stand so that we can actually use the drawers to hold dvds without them being emptied everyday, and broke down several boxes that have been cluttering the dining room. We still have a long list of things to do this weekend, but we were productive in a short amount of time, which was good. Also exciting and unexpected today was a Friday morning garage sale where I picked up a Lego table that converts to a blackboard table, wipe board table, and town map for cars table for only $6! There are 3 more community garage sales tomorrow. I'm going to try to get out really early and look for a dark wood bookshelf for our bedroom and some other good kid buys.

Thank You, Thank You Very Much

Why is it that my almost 20 month old can sign thank you to the cashier every time we are in a store without prompting (I think he hears me say thank you and then signs to participate), but the three grown-ups I waved on today at separate stop signs cannot offer the same courtesy? This drives me absolutely crazy; not just in the car, but anywhere. Is it too difficult to put your hand up as a gesture of gratitude as you pass by?
Or how about this... You almost have a head on collision with someone turning the corner in the grocery store. You say excuse me. They keep going. Ugh! You offer another person the chance to get ahead of you in line because they have way fewer items than you. And they barge ahead without a word. Or when you hold a door for someone, with child in tow and not only do they not say thank you, but they just walk through the door without grabbing it! What is it with people these days? This didn't all happen today, but it happens much more often than it should. Were these people never taught manners when they were younger, or have they just become so numb to the world and their actions that they don't even know what they are doing? I'm sure these people are just busy like the rest of us, but it's the little things that make a big difference. And not using simple manners just makes me so mad! Not publicly mad-- I mean it would be so easy to just yell at all of them and tell them how rude they are, but that would be just adding to the problem. It makes me even more determined to raise a polite, sensitive child who understands that it doesn't take much of an effort to be just that if you really think about it.

Little Adventures

J and I took a little drive to New Braunfels yesterday morning. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes away. We went to have a quick visit with Cousin M, who is visiting from Geneva by way of Seattle. His sister, Cousin D, just had a baby on Wednesday. Sweet little L clocked in at well over 8 pounds and 22 inches! Wow! Quite the linebacker! Anyway, off we headed south after the rush hour traffic. We passed by the San Marcos outlets, so I taught J how to say "outlets". It was something like "outlas". There was a gigantic county fair going on so we had to take the scenic route around town to get to our destination. Our visit was quick, but involved a trip to a great park so J could play and we could chat. J also had fun exploring the design shop M was working at and leaving a few marks on some decorative apples that looked oh so real. Maybe the teeth marks will make them look more authentic?
It was great to see M even if it was only for a short while. We are hoping that we will get to see him a little longer on his next trip to TX!

I was hoping the sleep gods would work in my favor on the drive home so that I could make a quick stop at the outlets and let J nap in the stroller. Unfortunately he fell asleep after drinking his milk, which was about 2.5 seconds after we got into the car. It was probably better we didn't stop, as the temptation to spend is just too great there.

I had a special treat this morning. I got to sleep in until 7:30 and at about that time, B and J prepared to meet C, Z, T, and S (translation: daddies and kiddos) for breakfast and some morning playtime at the playground and splash park. The idea was to give the moms a little time off to do whatever while they got together for some father/son/friend bonding time.

I used the time to hit some garage sales. Two neighborhoods were having community garage sales, so I got to a bunch of houses. I'm not a broken in garage saler, so I only made it through one neighborhood, but I was pleased with my little stash. I picked up some books, some foam play mat tiles, an automatically inflatable, portable booster seat (this is really neat and I got it for $5), some stacking buckets with opposite pictures and words printed on each side, and a wooden shape toy. I missed out on a garden shovel and a hose roller, both of which we need, but I was too slow on the first one, and the sellers wouldn't budge on their price on the other and I figured I could get a better one new compared to what they wanted. I ended the morning with some coffee, a scone, and a little relaxation time before the boys headed home. I hope they decide to do this more often!

J and I are on our own this evening and probably for a large chunk of tomorrow. B is meeting his brother D in Van Horn, TX (about halfway between here and Tucson) so that B can give D our baby stuff that they wanted to borrow. It seemed so silly to have them buy all new stuff when ours is in perfectly good condition and is just sitting around in our garage waiting for kid number 2. So if you hear of any goings on in Van Horn tomorrow on the news, it's probably because the two boys got a little crazy and shook things up a bit. I mean, you never know what can happen when B tries to take food off of D's plate (chewed or unchewed).

Budding Socialite

I had my first taste of the Junior League today. Well, sort of. B signed me up for the Capital Area Dental Alliance, which is a fancy way of saying "a dental wives club." The first meeting of the year was at the home of another endodontist (that's a root canal dentist to those of you not familiar with all those different types of "ists" out there). They meet monthly to work on volunteer projects in and out of the dental community and also have social functions. Today's meeting was a potluck dinner ( I made that lemon cake again!) with a speaker from a local volunteer organization that helps seniors who live alone in their own homes so that they can stay in their homes as long as possible. This includes providing transportation to the grocery store and doctor's appointments, completing small fix-it jobs around the house, and calling them just to check in and make sure everything is okay. Aside from providing them with a donation, we discussed ways to help this group this year. The alliance also has a scholarship fund set up for dental hygienists and provides assistance during various charity dental events set up around the Austin area. Socially, the next meeting is a trip to Neiman Marcus to view their fall fashion line along with lunch. I'm not sure if I'll make that one because it's during the day and we don't have a babysitter that is not in high school and I don't think I am at the Neiman Marcus age (or price range) yet. I'm trying to be as polite as possible with that wording to any of you who may be around my parents' age or so... :) There is a wine tasting trip planned in a few months, so I will defintely try to go to that in addition to helping out where I can at some volunteer events.

We have officially moved into our house and things are still in the unpacking phase. I'd say we're about half-way done. Mom is still here on toddler patrol. My dad also surprised us for the weekend to help out and showed up on Friday. He was a big help to B doing all of the "manly" things around the house like unloading the truck that I finally convinced him we get instead of making ten zillion trips back and forth, and hooking up the washer and dryer. There was also some master caulking involved, as well as some grandpa babysitting time, where my dad taught J how to dance like a penguin. I have some video of it, which is hysterical, but I have no idea how to get it here. Too tired to try right now, sorry.

Tomorrow will involve more unpacking and possibly a final trip to the splash park for J before it closes for the season. One of the things I don't get about living down here is that it is warm for such a large part of the year, yet the swim season is only May through the end of September. I suppose it's a cost thing, but when it's 90 degrees in October, it would be nice to be able to go somewhere to cool off. I surely won't be complaining when it's warm here and snowing elsewhere, though!

Aargh!

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I heard this on the radio while we were driving to pick up my mom from the airport. J and I aarghed a little bit. His aargh was more like, "aahhh" but the sentiment was there, I'm sure. I don't know how days like this get started and I am sure there is information on this out there somewhere, but it just made me chuckle.

Sadly, all that aarghing reminded me of something I found out this week which other Colgaters might like to know. Rusty Jacobs, founder of Woods Tea Company, died back in August of a heart attack. I found out when I went to the band's website to check on their tour schedule. We were lucky to see them back in Feb. when they came through Texas. B and I never missed a show while we were at Colgate and seeing them after being out of school for 10 years made it seem little time had passed at all. Rusty laughed and aarghed back at us when we aarghed at the band after a song. He recalled some of their visits to Colgate with us as we chatted with him during intermission. We've been listening to their CD tonight as we pack up stuff as a little tribute. B and I felt bad because even though we didn't know him personally, we felt like we did know him through his music and his shows. I'm not really sure how to end a paragraph like this, so I'm just going to say thank you for all of the great music, Rusty. Aargh.

Denial

We only got the second coat done on 2 of the 4 walls last night, so we are working on finishing that tonight. While B does that I am trying to begin packing. That's right. Begin. As in, I haven't started and we are moving on Friday. I keep telling myself we have plenty of time. My mom comes tomorrow and everything will be fine because we'll have babysitting round the clock. I'm beginning to think I am in denial.

So, as a way to avoid the fact that we have way too much work that can be done, I'm thinking about other things. Like Halloween. I know it's random, but I was looking at one of the pics on our fridge and kept trying to think of something cool for Jonah to be this year. Last year was so much fun. How can you beat this?

It's not that I have a major desire for my son to have to take down other kids to have a good time, but this was one of the best shots taken last year by any of our friends. I mean, how many people can say that their kid (dressed as a shark) took out a super hero? No worries, it all happened a lot more gentler than it appears. That shark costume was way too much fun. I loved that tail. I wish it still fit J because I would just dress him in it again this year.

Anybody have any ideas of what he could be? I'd love a whale costume, but the only one I can find has the whale part sticking out around the middle and I think he would just be bumping into stuff all the time. I'd love a creative costume, but unfortunately it has to be something I can throw together without sewing or it has to be store bought. This is what happens when you have no sewing talent.

Handsome

J got a haircut this morning. I was a little nervous about how this would go because he screamed and cried through the whole thing last time. However, one of his lift and flap books has a picture of a barber and he loves that one. He says, "Bar Bar" and then grabs his hair and says, "Sip sip" for snip snip. As we got in the car this morning to run to the post office, he kept saying barber, so I figured, why not.

The key to the haircut place is getting there right when it opens. Last time we go there at 10:05 and had to wait over 20 minutes. This time we were first and J was able to get right in the chair. He's not a big fan of the cape and he whined a bit at that. When the stylist offered him some animal crakers, she became his new best friend. He willingly got into the chair and only whined a bit when she first started around his ears. All in all, it was quick and he totally looks like a little boy now.

Not so shaggy anymore

In crib news, we decided to try the temporary solution of turning J's crib around so that the short end faces the wall and the tall side faces out. This was met with much crying the first time and when I say crying, what I really mean is screeches louder than a howler monkey on speed. For forty five minutes. Thankfully he only cried for about 5 minutes the second night. I know he's just mad that we thwarted his escape plans. After we get settled into the house we will look into bringing a bed into his room so he can get used to the idea and eventually transition him over. But, if he gets used to the tall side of the crib being out, we may be able to squeeze a few months of captivity out of him.

B and I got the first coat of paint on the walls of our bedroom yesterday. It looks much better than J's room, mainly because I found an edger that I really like and it doesn't splatter or smear on the ceiling. There will be much less to touch up. We'll take a look later on today at how badly it needs a second coat and go from there.


Our first homeowner's association meeting is tonight. I'm going to go to represent and introduce myself. I don't think we are in a strict association, but I want to see how cranky the board members are. I've heard they can be picky when they want to be. As long as they don't make me approve my flower choices or complain if I have my trash out too early, it'll be fine.

Fantastic!

Guess what J just did instead of napping? He figured out how to.....






















CLIMB OUT OF HIS CRIB.





I think it is safe to say we are officially screwed.

Sweet Little Gardener or Little Devil With a Hose? You Decide

Much to our surprise the other day, J exhibited proficiency at using the hose all by himself. This doesn't surprise me because he has been "helping" me water the plants for nearly six months, but we were still amazed at his strength and control. We just need to work on not over watering the petunias and we'll be all set. Poor things got a little drenched.

Poor little flowers... so wet

Watering the patio furniture

Heh, heh, heh, and now it's time to get you, Mom!

The one gloved weeder

J was nice enough to spare his mother, but the look on his face... he does have a bit of a sinister side. I can't wait until next spring. By then he should be able to help me plant stuff without putting all of the dirt in his mouth!

B is working on priming the master bedroom ceiling. We scraped the popcorn a couple nights ago and spackled some of the rough spots earlier today. Hopefully we will be able to paint the ceiling and begin the walls tomorrow. We have a babysitter coming tomorrow and Sunday night so we can get a lot done together. Our goal is to have this done by Sunday so we can begin moving things over on Monday. I have to admit that the thought of going through all of our stuff again to move is seeming a little daunting. It will get done, though. It has to. Then hopefully we won't have to do it again for quite some time.

A New Name

A new name for this blog came to me last night in the shower. A name worthy of sharing with the rest of the world. So if you are reading this and it's still the second week in September, then I finally got around to telling you about it. I thought of this name because I feel like this is all I have been doing lately. It's most likely what I will be doing for the next couple of years, so I think it's a safe fit for now. As you can see it's taken me over a year to let you in on this little blog-- I'm not really sure why. I was always the first one in school to read what I had written, but I think that was mainly to get it over with. There is something about letting people read your thoughts and actually comment on them. Plus, I feel like all of the blogs I read are always so perky and full of accomplishment. I know there are accomplishments in this one too, but have you ever had that feeling where you wonder if what you have done is really important enough to tell people about? I think it's part of the problem I have with living so far away from people. I'm much better about sharing cool stuff in person.


Anyway, no need to get all deep right away. I had the mamas over for some yummy French Toast and it was a big hit. The kiddos also enjoyed breakfast with plenty of fruit and some blueberry muffins. J kept saying "Mo muffos." He enjoyed entertaining his friends and mom enjoyed some adult conversation. Mind you, it was scattered with all the cooking and keeping little ones away from the stove, but it was lots of fun.


This afternoon I put the second coat of blackboard paint on the closet doors. Then I had to do a massive vacuuming (as per flea sprayer instructions). I only have one question. If the spray kills the fleas, then why is it I was bitten on the leg while vacuuming? I am not happy about this at all. I hope that little flea got sucked up into my vacuum and met lots of his buddies in there. I can't imagine doing this for another 21 days, but we'll try. This is one case where I won't accept anything but positive results. I'm itchy just thinking about those little buggers.


Here are a few pics of some of the cuties who were at our breakfast:

Sweet little JC asleep in her carseat

R and J play tag with a sippy cup

T catches his breath after all that spinning

J tries one more time to grab the camera

Hope you enjoy reading this. Feel free to go back a year or so and check out what we've been up to!

Free time and Breakfast Plans

I decided to take a break from house working today and focus on a little fun. This included taking a trip to the mall (by myself since B is home today and watched J for me) to get new curtains, sheets, and a lampshade for J's room. We still had Pottery Barn Kids gift cards from when J was born, so I thought it was finally a good time to use them. I scored some cute stuff and all of it was on clearance, which is the only way I will by PBK. I haven't been able to bring it over to the house to see how it goes with the paint (that darn flea issue was being taken care of today, hence my break from house working).

This morning I took a little sidetrip to the downtown Whole Foods. This is the largest Whole Foods and really is the only one worth ever going to. The others are so crowded. This one is something like 60,000 square feet and they have EVERYTHING. Of course, you still pay a premium for most of it, but ahh the selection is worth it. I got some cute little tomatoes called Dirty Girls and some fresh mozzarella. We ate them with some fresh basil as a side dish to dinner. So smooth, sweet, and delicious. I also picked up a beautiful challah ring, which inspired me to give a call to my friend K to see if she wanted to come over for breakfast. That got me thinking that I should invite some other people, so I invited about 8 mamas and their kiddos to come for french toast, turkey bacon, fruit, and mini muffins tomorrow (baked them from scratch tonight from a Gourmet magazine recipe. I think the wee ones will enjoy these). I also have some prosecco in the wine fridge, so maybe I will offer mimosas, but right now it's just coffee and ginger peach iced tea. I had so much fun getting everything ready tonight, as well as cooking a big ol' batch of squash and sweet potato fries for J (baked, not fried). This is the first time I'm sitting down in 4 hours. It feels good, but it's time to get up, take a shower, and get some shut-eye. I will probably be punished with an early riser because I decided to stay up late.

No Salt or Butter on this Popcorn

My Coldwell Banker Realtor rocks. B is a friend of ours and also helped us buy our house. She is also handy with all things home improvement related, so when she offered to let me borrow some old paints to test out colors, I didn't refuse. When she said her mother could babysit so she could come over to help me remove the popcorn ceiling in J's room, I said, "I'll bring the wine!"

We spent about 3 hours taking turns with my wallpaper scraper. The popcorn scraping tool I purchased sucked and will soon be returned to Home Depot. Most people scrape their popcorn ceiling after spraying it, but we found it was easy just to scrape it dry and leave a little texture on the wall. Since I have never done this before, I figured I would just make J's room the experiment room. I'm sure it won't look perfect, but you've got to start somewhere.

The scraping only took about 2 hours. The next day I went back over and tried to smooth it out a bit. I bought a litle spray can of orange peel texture to fill in the spots that looked a little more deeply scraped than others. It sprays on blue but dries white. However, I also noticed that it pulled the drywall off as it dried (it left all these little holes.) So I decided that following directions and priming first might be a good idea.

Talk about a messy comedy of errors. I kept banging the extension pole into the walls. And kicking the paint tray. The ceiling was just sucking up primer like there was no tomorrow and because I was doing this at night with no glare from natural light, it was very difficult to see where I had primed and where I hadn't. I needed to go back and finish the next morning. I was a little disheartened by the slight appearance of imperfections that didn't seem to be there before I primed or in the artificial light. DH kept reminding me that this didn't have to be perfect, but it's been so long since I've had a project that was not child related, so I am a litle anxious to put my overachiever/perfectionist genes to good use again. I also decided to cut myself some slack. With this in mind I sprayed some more texture (which for the record dries off white to off green) and painted the ceiling. The texture didn't do too much for me. Either I didn't spray enough of it on (which is probably the case since I didn't see the point of adding texture after scraping so much away) or I didn't spray it evenly enough. All the same, I know that when we scrape the master bedroom I must take the extra step and sand the ceiling lightly first. This should make it easier to prime. I shouldn't have listened to the paint people who said, "Oh no! You can just go ahead and prime." Why is it the people who are supposed to know what they are talking about often don't?

Following the painting of the ceiling came the walls. They were much easier except for where the ceiling meets the wall. There were a few smudges that will need to be touched up, but overall it looks good. And then I painted the closet doors with blackboard paint so that J will always have a place to doodle. I had a chalkboard in my room from 1st grade through college. I always used it, so I wanted him to have something similar.

You'll have to wait for pics of the finished product. One more coat of blackboard paint. Oh and then we are having the house sprayed for fleas. What's that? We don't have a dog and we haven't moved in yet? Don't get me started.

Amazing

There have been a lot of things going on around here besides vacations... we bought a house, J had strep throat, B and I are sharing a sinus infection. I'll get back to the former mentions later, but for now I want to tell you how amazed I have been lately by J.

He has become a verbal tornado. He attempts to repeat everything we say. Case and point when we were at the park the other day and a pitbull started charging right at us. I yelled, "Sh*t!" as I ran us away, and he repeated "Sh*t, Sh*t, Sh*t!" with complete pride. Oops on that one. Anytime he wants help with something (which is always now) he says, "hep, hep" and rubs his chest for the please sign. When he wants us to take him outside he says, "shoes!" and proceeds to run and find our shoes and demands that we put them on. The most helpful utterance has been "poop" which he tells us right before he does it. He's not quite ready for potty training and believe me, I'm in no rush to get him there.

Last week when he was sick with strep throat, which shocked us all because he has never been sick except for a small cough/cold at about 6 months, we ended up waiting in the doctor's office for close to 2 hours. Insurance sucks, that's all I have to say. Anyway, the poor kid was so well behaved, but his patience was wearing thin, so every so often he would run to the door and say, "home" (pronouced "hum"). He also did this as we were walking through our new house the other day. Unfortunately he didn't mean that was home; he wanted to go to our current abode. I think he is going to be pretty disappointed when we leave there. Hopefully it won't be a big deal once all of our stuff is there, too.

I have to lock J in the bathroom with me while I take a shower. He always manages to get into something he's not supposed to if I don't. Normally he doesn't mind and he reads or plays with some toys. He's become quite the helper. When I finish my shower, he exclaims, "Taa!" and hands me both of my towels. Then he slams the shower door shut so I can squeegee the door and towel it off. One day I couldn't find my cloth, so I said, "Oh, I guess I need to get a new one." J pointed to the tub, where the cloth had fallen, and said, "dat!" He knew exactly what I was looking for. I was dumbfounded at his intuition and just said, "My goodness, you're so smart!"

I know that my child is just plodding along on the developemental road at a normal pace, but it all seems so fast and wonderful. His interactions with B have been so much fun to watch, and I have been doing a lot of watching this weekend because I've been feeling under the weather. Even when he isn't speaking English to us, his Nell "chick chickabee" sounds are so intriguing and full of expression. He is having full conversations with me and I have no idea what he is saying. Yet, everything I say back to him is perfect and often makes him smile. I don't think that will last long!

Okay, that's enough bragging about how gifted my son is. One cannot help but be proud! This month has definitely been one of the best yet. Except for the tantrums, but that's another post.

To New York and Back, and a House In Between

It's been a busy couple of weeks! We put an offer on a house only to be outbid in the last 24 hours. This was after no one had put an offer on the house in over 100 days. It wasn't meant to be. Then we found an even better house and decided this one was so great that we would offer full asking price. We waited until Monday to call the realtor because B thought they didn't take offers on Sunday. Well you know what the early bird says and we found out someone put in an offer on Sunday for just over asking price. The yard on this house was gorgeous. The space was perfect, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

My friend B is a realtor and took on this mission from here on out to help us find a house. We snapped the little ones in the car (she has a little girl one month younger than J) and proceeded to look at 10 other houses. Houses that smelled like curry. Houses that were way overpriced. Houses that looked like they were just out of a Pottery Barn catalog, but whose yards were too small. Oh well.

After a couple days of searching the husband and I said to each other, "Let's just take a break from this and regroup and begin looking again after our trip to NY." That was the plan until realtor B called me on Wednesday night at 10:30. She said, "I think I found you a gem." This house is right down the street, appears to have a brand new kitchen and floors and is on a double lot. So if you know me, you know that I am not very patient when it comes to finding out information, so there I was, in my car, in my pajamas, driving past this house to see what I could see. Of course this wasn't much, but it was enough to know that I wanted to see more. So when the sun was up and we were awake at 6:10 the next morning, I strapped J in the car and we went back again (in our pjs once more) to take a look. It looked promising. We did an official look at 8:00 and had an offer in by 10:30. Our offer was accepted by noon. We had us a house!

Holy crap! We had us a house! On a third of an acre with four bedrooms and an office, hardwood floors, and a detached garage. Okay the detached garage is taking me a little to get used to because it feels like it's in our backyard. Well, I guess because it is technically, in our backyard, but it breaks up the yard into two very nice sections. There is the shaded section with over 40 foot trees providing tons of shade and breeze. Then there is the sunny section where a large garden plot lays. I can't wait to start planting next year.

The people who sold us the house remodeled their kitchen 6 months before and put in hardwood floors downstairs. Then they decided they wanted to move back east to be closer to family. I totally get that need, but am so glad they redid their kitchen first! More photos to follow in the future.


We took a trip to NY for my cousin's wedding in Buffalo. It was a gorgeous weekend. We got to visit with lots of family and also took a drive out to visit a former fourth grade student of mine. She still writes to me and her family visited me on a family trip to Philadelphia. I can't believe she's in 10th grade! There's nothing like one of your first classes getting close to graduation to make you feel old.

B headed back to Austin to work and J and I spent a week with my parents. We had a great time visiting the library, the duckpond, swimming in the pool, going to the park. Grandpa even babysat one night so that my mom and I could go into the city for dinner and a show. We at an Italian restaurant called DaRosina. I had the best seafood platter with homemade pasta. After dinner we saw "Curtains", starring David Hyde Pierce. It was a perfect combination of wit, mystery and music. We laughed quite a bit. I love the city. I also got to go in for an evening visit to see my dear friend K from high school. It's always great to catch up with her and no matter how much time has gone by, it always feels like we talked yesterday. Friends like that are priceless. We shared some good wine (I even got a free bottle just for taking a picture of a promo display with my cell phone and sending it to the promotions person), conversation, and bagels the next morning. My ride home on the train was sublime with my New York Times, Dunkin Donuts coffee, and salt bagel light on the cream cheese. I can still taste it. Yum.

J was pretty good on the plane ride back. Now that we're back home, it's time to start doing things like get homeowner's insurance, set up people to fix little jobs, and pick out paint colors. Yay!

What Happens In Vegas...

We took a trip out west to visit our mother/mother-in law in Grass Valley, CA and to get some free babysitting so B and I could go have some fun in Las Vegas. We had a great time and came back more exhausted than when we left. Part of that was due to staying up late. The other part was because we didn't sleep in the same place more than twice for 9 days.

We began our adventure with a 3.5 hour flight to Sacramento. This wasn't bad, but we flew out of San Antonio because it was $200 cheaper and direct. Which meant we got up at 3:15 to catch a 7 am flight. Which meant waking up J at the crack of dawn. B insisted he would go right back to sleep. Oh no! He was way to excited by all of the lights on the sides of the highway to do that. He babbled for nearly an hour before nodding off again 15 minutes before we got to the airport. The little guy is never in the car at night, so this was a big adventure. I let B have a big "I told you so" for that.

The flight wasn't full, which was good, because J wanted no part in staying in his seat. He insisted on visiting with the family sitting behind us (A mom, a dad, his 2nd wife, and three kids. Yes, you read that right). After we arrived in Sacramento, it was another hour and twenty minutes to the farm. I visited the farm back in December and honestly have to say I was a little overwhelmed by being out in the middle of nowhere and the bumpy roads and such. I'm not that much of a country girl. This time was much better because I wasn't there by myself, and there have been many improvements made to the property (patios have been laid, some roads have been laid, it was summer and warm, so it was very pleasant.) Plus, J was old enough to enjoy being outdoors with all of the new animals- 1 goat, 3 pygmie goats, many chickens and 2 enormous, unsheared (not by choice) sheep. For J it was love at first baaaa.

J's first goat and sheep encounters

After spending a day and a half on the farm (enjoying a visit from B's cousin L for one of those nights.... I can't believe the first time I met her she was 6 and now she is starting her senior year of high school with many scholarship prospects at top colleges...) we left the little man and jetted of to Las Vegas. This wasn't the first time we had left him, but it had been quite a while, so I was a little nervous about it. I'll just say that our phone calls tapered off dramatically as the days went on. By the last day we were down to 1 call. Not bad for our first kid.

J and his Nummi share some laughs and kisses

Vegas was so so so so fun. We did too much. We didn't lay around and do nothing quite enough. We didn't win big. We did eat some wonderful meals, drink some terrific drinks, and see some great shows. We spread out our trip at two hotels, The Golden Nugget and Bellagio. We wanted to try The Golden Nugget because neither of us had been to downtown Las Vegas, which was interesting to see for one night, but we stayed for two. It's your old fashioned glitter gulch.

After relaxing by the shark tank pool during the afternoon, we got gussied up for dinner at Hugo's Cellar in the Four Queens Casino. This place has been rated among one of the best places to eat in Vegas not only for it's food, but also its service. It was scrumptious. B and I shared chateaubriand and lobster for two and a bottle of wine chosen by the sommelier. It was a bit tricky walking in my 4 inch heels after that meal! Y-U-M.

The shark tank pool at Golden Nugget

The next day we had lunch at what is was supposedly the best restaurant in Vegas. It's called Rosemary's Restaurant and it's way off the strip in a shopping mall. From the outside you would think that it's nothing, but inside, you don't even feel like you are dining in a building shared with a supermarket. We had a prix-fixe lunch for $20 a piece. B had roasted duck and french lentils and I had an eggplant dish that was to die for. Oh, and we shared a wonderful salad and carpaccio/blue cheese appetizer. Dessert was a little disappointing because I was misled by the name, but it was still very good. I would recommend this place to anyone going to Vegas. It would be worth a cab ride and is extremely easy if you have rented a car.

Following our culinary adventures, we decided to check out some hotels and attractions because we had purchased this power pass thingy that got you into various attractions for one set price. This ended up being trickier than it sounded because many of the attractions we were interested in had decided not to participate anymore or were closed, so we had to bust our butts a little harder to make back our money and thensome. Which was annoying, but not impossible. It just left us with a little less time for lazing around. Without going into too much boring detail about all of that, let's just say we basically saw anything and everything that was on the strip-- from the dolphin habitat and the new three week old dolphin, to Madame Tussaud's and the top of the Stratosphere and the Rollercoaster at New York New York.

Life got a whole lot better when we checked into Bellagio. Mind you, it wasn't bad at The Golden Nugget, but it was downtown, which ended up being a little inconvenient the second day. It was a nice place to stay for the super cheap rate we got, but being right at the center of the strip was so much better. I got a great rate back in May for Bellagio, which is the only way we could afford to stay there. Little did I know that the rate had a "lake view upgrade if available." We were lucky because it was available. Check out the pictures for the view from our room. And of our room. The neatest feature was the electric blinds that you could open and close from your bed. So if you felt like watching the fountains in bed, you could. Well, our window was too small, but you could sit in the two chairs and watch in your robes.

The view from our room

That night we also traveled off the strip to another shopping mall for what was dubbed "the best Thai restaurant in America" by Gourmet magazine. It's called Lotus of Siam. If you ever go, make sure you have the address with you before you travel. They aren't listed in the phone book and are not recognized when you call information. A little Internet searching saved us and our reservation. This place is in a dive of a shopping mall, but again, once we were inside we knew we would not be disappointed. It smelled wonderful, like nothing we can get in Texas! I think we shared 5 different appetizers and entrees and two drinks and the bill was less than $35. mmmmmmmmmmm.

From there it was off to see Spamalot at the Wynn. This hotel is even fancier than Bellagio. The show was hysterical and John O'Hurley of Seinfeld and Dancing with the Stars fame played King Arthur. We decided to decline the free admission to the lounge at the Wynn and head back to our own hotel to have some drinks there. We settled in at the Caramel Lounge for some of the most expensive martinis I'd ever had, but they were so good and we were on vacation and we were dressed up... and I had two. Pomegranate martinis made with Effen Black Cherry Vanilla vodka, pomegranate juice and rock candy syrup. We ended up going back again the second night because they were that good and the music was fun as well. I've been looking for this vodka online and from what I can tell it's made in Holland and only has a limited distribution in the states. I am going to have to get myself some so I can make my own at home.

We also saw O, which was amazing and did some wine tasting at the Rio. I would get a really bad grade on these descriptions if I were in school, but I just want to get it down, so be patient with me. It also reached a record high of 126 degrees on the strip while we were there. Needless to say, we weren't outside much.

B and I were excited to get back to see our little guy and his brother and sister-in law, who are expecting a little girl in November. We had a baby shower for her up in Lake Tahoe before leaving. J was so spoiled by his grandmother that he didn't even bat an eyelash when we walked in the door. He was more interested in playing with Uncle D than to give us any attention. It's tough competing with food, goats, and a rambunctious uncle! It was so great to get away and I hope we can do it again soon. It would be nice if our family lived closer so we could take advantage of free babysitting more often!

Happy Father's Day!

J and I tried to make Father's Day as relaxing as we could for Daddy. We started off this morning by giving him some extra time to sleep. J and I headed to the grocery store as soon as it opened because I decided I wanted to cook breakfast instead of going out. We picked up what we needed (all but the New York Times-- apparently Texas is too far away to get that in all of the stores... I was pretty bummed about that) and headed home to prepare.

J played with some spices in the pantry while I mixed up the batter for crepes. Then I got some bacon cooking and got a tray ready with a mimosa and french crueller (not homemade, but B loves them from anywhere). J carried the gift bag while I had the tray and we woke up Daddy. He was surprised by the service, but was more surprised that he had slept about 10 hours. He loved his token grill tool (a large spatula-- What's Father's Day without a big grill tool?) We also got him a book called I LOVE DADDY BECAUSE... and a gift certificate to a barber shop in Austin (he's been dying for a good cut and a shave). We sat down to a yummy breakfast of crepes, berries, bacon and mimosas (plural until my placemat slipped and my glass broke... now we only have one wedding flute left Oops. Glad it wasn't Waterford!)

In the morning we took a walk at a local duck pond. There are so many varieties of ducks there. J almost ended up in the water because he has no fear and just kept on going. Thank goodness B wasn't too far behind. J loved seeing all of the ducks and yelling, "DUCK DUCK!" as he made the sign for duck at the same time.

We spent a nice time this afternoon at a local park. I love this park because there is plenty of shade and J is mesmerized by all of the gravel rocks. He loves to pick them up in his bucket. We could spend hours here. Today, J decided he wanted to eat one, and he swallowed it before I could get it out. So, we'll be on poop patrol for the next few days to make sure it didn't get in his lungs. F-U-N!

Who do you think was having more fun at the park?

For dinner we decided to grill some scallops, shrimp, mini peppers, and sirloin burgers. We also cooked up some balsamic onions, which have become a staple whenever we have burgers. They're so easy, but it always amazes me how much onion you lose as you cook them down. J also loves these onions. For dessert, we grilled some peaches and strawberries that were basted in a little balsamic vinegar. I didn't grill these long enough because they were falling off the skewers. Next time I have to play with them less and just be patient.

The day ended with a light rainshower and a beautiful rainbow afterwards! I think it was a pretty successful Father's Day. J is so lucky to have B for a daddy. We look forward to many Happy Father's days together!

Day Trip

Every boy wants his own tractor

This Saturday we took a trip to Blanco for their Lavender Festival. It's about an hour and a half away in the hill country. We packed up all of our Raffi cds and headed out the door. J was pretty well behaved in the car, a first for a longer ride. There was one point where we thought he may have felt a little car sick, but he was good most of the time. Once we got there, he showed no fear of crowds or lavender. He just took off towards the nearest dog and vendor and we just followed him. It was a little unnerving at first to watch how willing he was to just take off. Makes you realize how easy it is to lose your kid. Of course, we were like helicopters and didn't let him go as far as he thought he did. Aside from all sorts of lavender vendors set up in the town square, you can also take tours of the local lavender farms. We stopped at one on our way home so that we could get the token photo of the toddler in the fields.

It's so much fun to pull up all of the lavender stakes

Unfortunately we picked the farm that didn't grow that type of lavender that gets totally purple. Either that, or it just hasn't happened yet. In any case, we had a great time and have made a vow to take more little daytrips to break the monotony that has become a part of our weekends.

Because the trip to the farm was an afterthought, we had changed J out of this outfit because he was so sweaty, and we threw it on over his other onesie. Somewhere in between changing his diaper in the car (real fun with a 33 inch kid in your hubby's lap while you do the deed) and getting him situated in the carseat, we lost the shirt. We have no idea where it is. Hmm...

Iron Chef

J turned 16 months today. 16 months! Where has the time gone? In the past few days he has decided he likes to wear hats (we couldn't keep one on his head for more than 5 seconds). He also likes to yell (hat-d!) to everyone he sees wearing a hat. Very cute.

J is also preparing himself to be The Next Food Network Star. Today's secret ingredient is Brio blocks. He had the idea of putting his wooden shapes from his shape sorter toy into a pot. He loves playing with the pots. Next, he ran over to the stove and started begging for a spoon. I will often give J a spoon to stir his empty pot while I am cooking. He brought the spoon over to the pot and began stirring. Then he went in search of a lid and came back with two. He decided one was too big and then put on the other one which fit just right. He picked up the pot and moved it over to our small ottoman, which I think he was pretending was his stove. After a few seconds, I asked J if I could have some of his soup. He happily took off the lid, gave me a red cube and I pretended to eat it. He laughed hysterically as if this were the best thing we had ever done. I told him he should try his food, so he took out green cylinder and shoved it in his mouth, literally. This went on for nearly twenty minutes, which is a great deal of time for a toddler to stick to one task. He also fed B the same soup later on. What fun!

One of Those Days

A little devil came in the middle of the night and took the place of my angel child. This devil decided it would be fun to only take a 25 minute nap this morning. He thought it would be delightful to throw all of the pots and pans (and lids) all over the kitchen floor over and over again. He agreed that an afternoon nap was in order, but only slept for slightly over an hour, before discovering that if he reached just far enough, he could turn on the light in his closet, which would send out light through the cracks in the door. Upon this discovery we decided to remove the lightbulb instead of moving the crib for fear that the latter would just encourage him to try to climb over to the light switch.

The devil wasn't finished after his nap. We went to a friend's house and planted some flowers. Then we made a quick to the store for some sunscreen and some lettuce. Screaming at the top of his lungs with a gigantic smile on his face made him happy, along with chewing on the outside of a cantaloupe. Gross.

What could a little demon accomplish in just thirty minutes before dinner? Try taking the house phone, playing with it, pretending to talk on it, and then throwing it in the cat water. He just stared and stared and stared as the electronic face started to flash and become jumbled. I fished it out, and it is now drying, but I doubt we will be able to salvage it.

Little devil child went to bed a bit early tonight. He didn't make a peep as I laid him in his crib. I hope J finds his way back tomorrow.

Shoe Fetish

J's newest thing is handing me my shoes. It doesn't matter where I am in the house. He will run and find my flip flops and insist that I put them on. Upside down. This is not always easy, as he has little patience and they must be put on immediately. Once I have the flip flops on, he races and grabs a pair of sandals. I haven't figured out if I am supposed to take off the flip flops or attempt to put the sandals on while wearing the flip flops. I've also tried wearing one sandal and one flip flop, but none of this makes him satisfied.

This evening the husband was mowing the lawn. J wanted to go outside and watch, so he ran to the back door and began pointing and grunting. I asked him if he wanted to go outside. Again, he pointed and grunted. Finally he decided that I was moving too slowly, so he huffed, bent down, grabbed my shoes and placed them at my feet. "Hurry up, Mom! We're missing the show and it's all your fault!" We immediately went outside and he was happy.

I wonder if all this means he will have a thing for heels and slingbacks when he gets older?

A Weekend of Yum!

My dearest cousin M gave me a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. I decided that I just had to make the meal on the June cover and the dessert on the cover of the April issue. We are having our friends K and C, along with baby Z over to share some margaritas, stacked chicken enchiladas with tomatillo sauce, and lemon meringue ice cream pie. I've been busy since last night getting things ready and I can't wait to put everything together. I'll post pics of the whole process and the results later.




Later....
Oh man, was it good! Dinner couldn't have been better. We were stuffed and had plenty left over. J loved the enchiladas and kept using the sign for more. The only thing he handed back to me was a large poblano pepper slice that B tried to feed him.

3 lbs tomatillos and jalapenos, Lots of cilantro, mint, parsley

Ta Da!


Dessert





Lemon curd on toasted pecan crust, Meringue on top of ice cream and lemon curd



Completed torched pie and a yummy slice!


The next morning....

Today we went to a barbecue at K and C's to help celebrate their new house and Memorial Day. I brought a Lemon Yogurt Cake- a Barefoot Contessa recipe recommended by S. This was also a multiple step process, but much easier. Cake batter, cook the cake, allow sugar and lemon juice to soak into cake, then glaze with confectioner's sugar and lemon juice. It was delicious!





That's probably all of the cooking I will do for awhile. Although we do have steaks waiting to be marinated in the fridge....

Clapping and Spices

A couple of things that have recently happened.

After months of prompting and getting nothing in return, J finally claps his hands. Yes, most children do this much earlier, but not J. He was holding out on purpose. Whenever I asked him to clap his hands, he would grab my hands and clap them together. Or, he would slap his knee. He stomped his feet on command with no problem, but he was not going to give mama what she wanted.

Last week, J fell on the lawn. He picked himself up, looked at his hands and clapped them together. I caught him and started cheering! Now he claps at everything. We sing, "If you're happy and you know it" and he does everything I say (clap, stomp, touch your head, shout hooray--he doesn't shout hooray, but he picks his hands up over his head like he is cheering). It's been a lot of fun. And, this is a great distraction when I am changing his diaper. For this week, anyway.

Our other favorite pasttime is playing with the spices. Our spice racks are on the inside of the pantry door. J loves to take them down and examine them and shake them all around. He can't take off lids yet, so we are safe. For now. His favorite bottles of spices are crushed red pepper and a mixed melange of peppercorns. He also likes to shake the bottle of shrimp and crab boil. The spices are great for stacking, placing in pots, moving over to the shelves on the pantry, and rearranging on different spice shelves. I think I need to look into getting him his own toy kitchen stuff. I don't mind him playing with the pots and pans, but the spices could get really messy one day. The only problem is that I don't think he will be fooled by something fake.

Mohawk

This was after the bath, but I can't figure out how to post these in order.

Just having some fun in the tub.

Oh well, I never pretended to know what I was doing!

It's been a bit of a grumpy day. Something must be in the air. Everyone I've talked to today has a cranky wee one.

The Music Man

J decided recently that he loves to listen to music. Correction. He has always enjoyed music, but now he has to have it on all the time. He loves to bop his head along. When he wants music to be played, he starts bopping his head back and forth. When the music shuts off and I look at him, he bops his head some more. If I didn't know him, I would seriously think he had some mental issues with all that bopping. He also dances all over the place and stomps his feet with these giant steps. He looks like he is traveling in slow motion as he turns in a circle and stomps. It's so cute.

His favorite music? Raffi. I'm seriously ready to burn the Raffi cds. We listen to "Baby Beluga" at least 10 times a day. Oh, and he also loves one that talks about shaking hands in any language. If you stick your hand out while this song is playing, he will run over and shake your hand. That makes all the Raffi a little more bearable.

What's that? Change the music? I've tried. For awhile we were able to sneak in a little bit of the Beatles and sometimes we can listen to Bruce Springsteen in the car (but only if it's tracks 5,6,7 on the Seeger sessions cd). Since we will no doubt argue about music later on in life, I'm not going to fight with this one while his only arsenal for arguing is "aaaahhhhhhh!" I'll just listen to that whale song one more time. I know, I know, what would I expect from a kid named J.

One Lucky Mama

I had a fabulous Mother's Day with my little family. Actually, it was pretty awesome. It started on Friday afternoon when B volunteered for a full afternoon of J watching and let my mom (who was visiting for the week) and I go to San Marcos to go shopping. One afternoon is not nearly enough time to get to all of the great outlets they have there, but it's a good start. We didn't let our time go to waste. I got some new tops for going out, two pairs of shoes, a skirt, wrapping paper/bags, gifts from Bath and Body Works for dental assistants at B's office, some Under Armour tops, and margarita glasses and mix as a babysitting gift for B. It was a successful trip. We stopped back in Austin to have dinner at 219 West, which has a fabulous, daily happy hour that includes 1/2 price appetizers and drinks. We're not talking your average potato skins here. We had spinach and arugula salad, seafood beignets, tequila shrimp scampi, and caprese burgers. Took the leftovers back for B. It was yummy. I love that place. It makes so much sense to do happy hour from 5-9. We just got our order in on time!

On Saturday we spent some time playing with J and then Mommy got to go sit in B's office while Daddy worked on a patient for about an hour. I needed to be there to make sure nothing happened and that she wouldn't come back and sue him for harassment or something. Isn't that awful? My mom and I then went to a local tea shop for a mother/daughter afternoon tea. It was just delightful. We were a little pressed for time because B had a soccer game and I got nervous when they started serving us soup (not traditional afternoon tea fare). But that was the only individual course. Everything else came out in a tiered tray. The scones were terrific, as was the lemon curd. The caramel tea we chose smelled so good and went perfectly with the dessert dishes. The winter white earl grey went well with the tea sandwiches. Got home in time for B to go to his game and play 95% of it. Shared margaritas and sat on the patio that evening. Good day.

Mother's Day was terrific. B let me sleep in a little bit, but J decided to sleep until 7:15 on his own (a whole hour later). I lazed around and listened to the two of them play and decided to make my presence known around 8 when I heard them on the back patio. J was playing with the hose, his sleeper unzippered, his diaper off (we were nursing a yucky diaper rash and he was airing out.) He got so excited when he saw me and the two of them came in to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. B left for a few minutes and then stole J and a laundry basket. He plopped him inside, along with a picture, a book, and card. The picture was a feet collage that he made with J the day before. I'll have to post a picture. I just love it. The book is called Fearless Women. It's actually a book about middle aged women, but B bought it for the title and the before stories, since that is where he sees me. It was such a sweet morning.

After J's nap, we headed to a beautiful brunch where the mimosas flowed along with anything else you wanted. We had a fabulous time. J loved eating all of the "kid" food (macaroni and cheese, chicken fingers, fruit, turkey. We also let him have his first taste of ice cream. Needless to say, he loved it.) We spent about 2 hours at brunch, eating, taking turns letting J play host to other arriving guests, feeding J, and just being together. Such a good time.

We napped for a little while and then it was off to a baby shower. I know, you're probably thinking, "Who has a baby shower on Mother's Day" but my friend T is pregnant with her second child and never had a shower for her first. Her family is in Iowa, and most of our families do not live here either. So it was nice for us to get together for a few hours. It was at a spa, so I had a pedicure before the shower. My feet were three months overdue for maintenance (no time for that sort of thing anymore). It was great to chat, design onesies, and share mother stories. I am so lucky to have found such a great group of mama friends down here!

I am so lucky to be a mama to such a wonderful little boy. He is just an awesome kid with a great big, wonderful personality. I had a fabulous Mother's Day weekend and am so grateful for my little family.