88 miles per hour

Lucy's Dance Recital - Let's Celebrate!

2011-05-16T21:34:00.009-05:00

On Saturday Lucy had her very first dance recital. And she was great!
Warning: tons of photos. This post is mostly for me to remember the fun night. Sorry for the overload!
Lucy was in the youngest group of dancers, but she was the oldest in her class and took it all really seriously. She wanted to make sure all the dance moves were correct. She even told me the day before the performance, "Mom, I need more help with the ballet dance! I don't know it all the way!" I ensured her there was nothing to worry about.

Lucy's class performed 4 dance numbers throughout the night. The first was a Mickey Mouse birthday song. They looked irresistibly cute in their Minnie outfits.
They came skipping on stage stage carrying birthday gifts.
Then they danced, looked cute, forgot the moves, remembered some moves,
and wiggled their tails from time to time. It was really, really cute.
And Lucy loved being just like Minnie (even the red lipstick. Though the eyebrow liner was a bit scary).
While Lucy's class changed for their next number, her school friend Nicole got up on stage for a Shirley Temple dance.
Seriously, how adorable is this sight:
I don't even know this little girl's name but what a doll!
The next number was "All the Little Children" and they sang and danced in party dresses (Lucy asked every girl in the room do you like my sparkly dress?)
The three-year-old girls weren't always interested in dancing.
There was a photographer backstage, taking group pics after each dance. Cheesy backdrop. But I liked piggybacking on her set-up.
The finale was with all the dancers, in their Let's Celebrate T-shirts (the theme of the recital)
The white gloves were cute.
But my favorite number was "Petite Ballerina".
This is the dance Lucy was worried about and honestly, she was the only one on stage that knew the entire dance. Pretty funny.
They all looked dainty just twirling, singing, and acting like ballerinas.
Here's a 1 minute video from the dance, jumping in mid-way in the dance (Lucy is 2nd from the left). Wait for about 10 seconds and it improves. I like how Lucy instructs another girl to move off stage afterward.

My favorite moments of the night though were just watching the girls interact with each other.
It reminded me so much of my dance days and getting ready for play performance, with all the excitement and build-up of going on stage and performing. I could tell that Lucy really wanted to do her best. And she was also excited to see me afterward and ask what I thought about it.
These are two of her favorite friends from class, Katie and Aurelia.
These cute girls were from another dance class that combined with us for the performance night.
Lucy's got a lot of fun dancing years ahead of her!
And Owen was a good sport about it all. He's gone to every dance class rehearsal with me, hanging out in the waiting room, playing with toys and coloring. He and Casey came to the performance and had front row seats. Owen loved clapping for all the performances.
Good job little dancer!
Time to wash out that crazy Frida makeup. We went out to get a treat afterward (at uh, 7-11. Seriously, these kids are easy to please) and the checkout lady looked at Lucy kind of weird. I promise we're not the Ramseys.

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-08T23:48:00.008-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!
We hope you enjoyed your day!

Our festivities started out early in the week when the kids brought home decorated flower pots and cute cards the kids brought home from school. They could have brought me a hand-drawn picture and I would have loved it all.
I'm so lucky to be a mom to these cute kiddos! Lucy's right eye is kind of red from a strange allergy she had that day. It's kind of funny to me that we've sealed that moment in history now.
At church today the kids sang the token Mother's Day song which I always love (even when I didn't have any kids!). And then they surprised us in Relief Society with cool corsages and funny "about Mom" pages. The only defining characteristic Owen could point out about me is that I have "2" eyes. I feel special. At least he doesn't know my weight.
We spent the weekend without Casey (he's in Virginia for business) but we made the most of it and actually had a lot of fun. On Saturday we went shopping, got sandwiches, saw Gnomeo and Juliet (really cute) and on Sunday we hung out at the house, had friends come over to play, went to the park, and I whipped up two super chocolately molten lava cakes. One for me; the other for me. Okay, I let the kids try one. They didn't get very far into it.
With Casey gone, I warned the kids this morning that since it was Mother's Day, there would be no fighting or whining among them. Haah. They actually did okay!
Lucy was a real sweetheart and kept reminding me all day that it was Mother's Day, giving me hugs, and saying I love you. It was very sweet.

And finally, we took our token Mother's Day pic together! Here's a look back at the previous Mother's Days....

2006
Lucy was only 3 months old and I remember that the night before Mother's Day she slept through the entire night. The best gift ever!

2007
Can there be a worse picture? We both need help.

2008
How we miss Casey's parents, their house, and the gorgeous bougainvillea.
Owen is 5 months old, Lucy is 2.

2009
More pretty flowers; more cute kids

2010
Texas! (and the boring cheap fence. I miss the bougainvillea). Owen is such a goof.

2011
5 year old Lucy and 3 year old Owen.

It's a pretty amazing job we moms get.....to watch our kids grow and teach them as best we can to be independent adults. What a cool occupation.

Fancy Sky

2011-02-17T21:38:00.006-06:00

Our Valentine's day ended with a spectacular pink sunset. Mother Nature was celebrating the red and pink day along with us.
Then driving home from the park today we saw another sunset--not quite as rich and gorgeous as the one above--but still filled with pretty pinks and blues. I pointed it out to Lucy and we had this quick exchange....

L: Wow mom! The sky is almost.....fancy!
Me: (chuckling), you're right! It is fancy!
L: No, I said almost
Me: Oh. Almost. Well....then what would a real fancy sky look like?
L: Um, there would be white and pink and some orange and yellow and blue. No green though.
Me: Yep. That would be a very fancy sky.

I love Lucy.

Melted

2011-02-06T23:00:00.006-06:00

Well, the sun came out this morning and mr. snowman looked like this. I like how his body morphed into a nose.
And when we got back from church, he was just an eyeball.
Bye bye Frosty!
And then Lucy's hair did this.
For a place that is so humid in the summer, it's amazing how dry it feels in the winter. I'm slathering the lotion on like crazy!

Later in the day we got ready for our little Superbowl party.
Casey was wearing green.
And I happened to put on yellow. So, um....go Packers!
(Lucy was getting artistic with her photos).
We had a few friends over to watch the game and it was super fun! Good food, happy kids, fun conversation, oh, and lots of football watching.

Snow!!!

2011-02-05T08:40:00.009-06:00

Yesterday we got our one day of snow for the year!
Well, it was more like 6 hours but it was enough to bundle the kids up and play outside till they were too cold and wet.
The best snow gathered on the trampoline. So Casey climbed up (decked out in full ski gear) to gather it in a bucket.
And Lucy bounced around him.

Owen was short-lived and wanted to go inside after 5 minutes.
So he watched the rest of the festivities from behind the glass--and so did I.
Casey and Lucy brought a few buckets of snow over to the back porch and started building a snowman.
Ta da. One funny bucket-head looking snowman, sporting a Grateful Dead hat.
It'll do.
Then we had hot chocolate and toast.
Owen in his odds-and-ends "warm" outfit.
The kids examined Lucy's Frosty the Snowman picture to see if Casey's snowman looked similar.
Pretty close. They both have pipecleaner arms!
And now the gear will go back in the garage till next year.

Iccccy Collld

2011-02-02T21:41:00.004-06:00

Yesterday it was 75 degrees. We played at the park in short sleeved shirts.
Today is was 18!
EIGHTEEN! That's a 57 degree change!
And since we're normally known as a warmer place, it's hard to believe that it really is cold outside because there's no snow or ice to show for it, until I saw this:
Someone left the sprinklers on in the bank parking lot by our house. And the icicles were gorgeous.
Leaves and stems were encased by the frozen water.
Even single blades of grass.
Just hearing the jeweled grass crunch under my feet was beautiful. And so was the sight of my butt sticking up in the air as I crouched down on the cold grass, munching blades with my knees to take this photo, while cars continued to drive by to the bank and HEB. The photo is always worth it.
I hope you're staying warm wherever you are!

Pretty In Pink

2011-01-19T11:29:00.005-06:00

Last night 4 friends and I drove down to Austin for Pretty in Pink night at the Alamo Drafthouse. So. Much. Fun.
I can't remember the last time I'd seen this movie and thus, couldn't remember how it ended! So that made it even more exciting. And seriously, how does she not love Duckie? How much cooler does he look than Blaaaaaaane? "That's a name?? It sounds like a major appliance."
We had Tiffany, Chris, and the underside of Tami's nose.
ah, there she is.
and me and Katherine.
The night started with a "Welcome to the show" from the cute (and funny) blondie girl in the top photo. Note: she has an asymmetrical haircut. Does it get more appropriate than that?

Most people enjoyed their "pink drinks" special:
And we sipped on Dr. Pepper and Diet Cokes.
When Duckie waltzed into the prom, the crowd cheered.
Katherine pumped her fist. Yes!
And Andy looked shocked.
(Duckie and Andy pics by Blissful-Bee)

Thank you John Hughes for making the world a better place. It really made me want to be back in high school, but with more of the uh "wisdom" I have now (and slightly improved sense of style). High School and College really were some fun, growing, heart-breaking, exciting times. You do them once and move on to the next thing. I guess I'll have to live it all again through my kids.

Next month the Drafthouse is showing Dirty Dancing. And In March....Clueless! I'm totally pausing for that one.

Thanks girls for a fun night! Let's do it again!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T21:29:00.012-06:00

This year our Christmas (with a tree, the decor, etc) was very last minute. And if it wasn't for Casey, I probably would have left the walls bare and promised to be more festive the following year. But I'm happy he's more sentimental than me and announced on 12/20 when we landed at the Austin airport, "tonight we're getting a tree!". So after stopping at Rudy's for dinner, we drove over to Walmart and bought the last tree anywhere in sight. In fact, we had actually left the store, resolved that all the trees were gone and then noticed one lonely tree standing outside. SOLD! For $17. Ironically my friend Katherine was leaving for Utah the next day and called me in the morning to see if we wanted her tree. But since it was 10 feet tall, it's a good thing we landed our little 6-footer.

So, we came home that night with our tree and before I even unpacked our bags, we pulled our 3 little boxes of decor from the garage and it began to look a lot like Christmas. Sorry if you've seen some of these on MADE but here's a glance at our Christmas-y house and our Christmas day happenings.
The kids loved, loved decorating the tree. In fact, it became an issue throughout week as Lucy kept saying "mom, that ornament needs to move over a bit" and continually rearranged them till a few broke. Next year, non-glass balls.
I was really happy though to see how excited they were about it all. This is the first year that they really "got" the fun of Christmas. Well, Lucy did and Owen just followed suit. He's such a cute shadow.
I hung super snowflakes again, this time on our freshly painted gray wall.
We had a few gifts under the tree.
The stockings were hung.
The tree came together with a hodge podge of ornaments and cheap last minute balls from Walmart.
We pulled out the cute jingle bell pillow (a gift from Casey's mom last year).
Our little nativity was well played with (a missing star on the stable, a missing arm and staff on the shepherd, and a slightly broken Mary.) We love it!
We hung the hand-painted nativity scene (another gift from Linda, along with the scene above and the blanket below. She's decorated our entire Christmas. Thank you Linda!)
My favorite addition this year was a discarded branch from the bottom of our tree. Lucy and I tied a bow on it and hung it up! I'm doing this every year.
and of course, I love a good wall of cute Christmas cards. Thank you for sharing your family updates with us!
With our house in a festive mood, we spent the remaining days leading up to Christmas by hanging out, buying last minute gifts, baking, and eating whatever we wanted. It's Christmas.
We spent Christmas Eve at my friend Tami's house with their family and other friends. She was so sweet to invite us over. Thank you Tami! We ate more yummy food, chit chatted, did a really (funny actually because there were 3 kids in it, playing multiple roles) nativity scene. We watched a beautifull video about Christ's life that Jared, Tami's brother-in-law, made (I need a copy for next year). The kids sang Christmas songs into the microphone (Lucy's dream), and then they all bounced on Casey's legs at the same time. This is the only photo I have from Christmas Eve. Funny.
By 9pm, we had kids in jammies, cookies out for Santa, and a very excited Lucy and Owen. In the morning, Lucy woke us up around 8:30 (perfect) and we headed out to see their goods.
Gifts and stocking, stuffed by Santa:
Lucy got some princess dresses and Owen got a really cool Airport set. For the past 8 months, he's been really into airplanes and since we've spent a lot of time in airports recently it was perfect. He played with this thing all morning long.
Both kids got Jessie and Woody talking dolls from my parents, which were a hit! Thank you Gram and Papa!
Lucy already had them in tucked into bed together....in a uh, non-weird way.
And from Casey's mom, Lucy got the most adorable set of handmade doll clothes! Linda and her friend spent an entire week making all of these (well, 3 sets of everything for 3 grand-daughters).
I love the little shoes (you can see more pics of all the clothing in my post here).
A cute girl and her cute dolls. Thanks Grandma!
Owen also got a really cool hand-crafted wooden shotgun from Casey's dad. This is the third year of cool wooden creations from him! I forgot to take photos but I'll be sharing it on MADE down the road.

For me I got (a really fun trip to Asia) and some new cooking items.
A dutch oven pot for making soups. I've been wanting one of these forever and the color is just perfect.
And this pretty stand caught my eye at Target months ago. I debated buying it and decided not too. Then I checked back at Christmas time and they were all gone. Then we happened to be at Target on Christmas Eve and they randomly had one left! And it was on sale! I definitely bought it. It'll make a lovely cupcake and cookie stand.
Casey got a variety of books, a miniature frying pan for cooking one egg, some bike trinkets, and the hit of the day for Casey and Lucy was the Presidents Puzzle. The two of them seriously did this thing 10 times over the Christmas holiday.
It was too advanced for her to do alone but she did pretty well in general.
And I know Casey loved hearing her say things like, "I think that piece goes here, next to Teddy."
She was also intrigued by which president was "her president" when she was born. And then asked each of us who our presidents were as well. Watching kids learn is really cool.
We spent the rest of our day doing whatever. We had the fake fire going on the TV.
We ate monkey bread,
(and picked at it all day long). Yummm.
We went to see Tangled (loved it!), I made a turkey that was ready for dinner at 9:30pm (whoops), and on Sunday we took an official family Christmas photo.
Merry Christmas from the Willards! And a Happy New Year!

And finally, I made these photo montages for our family newsletter but ended up not using them (and I already have a photo post in the works for our 2010 recap). So, I'll just post them here for my own amusement. Some pics from the year:
And some places we visited (from top, to bottom): Singapore, Bali, Italy, and Texas.

hanging out in Calif, Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T08:25:00.005-06:00

For the past month we've been on the road...or in the air. We left the week before Thanksgiving and flew to California where we hung out with Willards and Sumans and then drove to St. George for the Willard Reunion/Thanksgiving and came back to Calif. From there Casey and I left the kids with their grandparents and flew to Singapore and Bali for two weeks (Casey had to go to Singapore for work, so I tagged along. And hey, while you're in the area, you may as well swing by Indonesia, right?). And eventually after another weekend in Calif, we flew back to Texas where it was sunny and 73 degrees. It was a wonderful welcome home gift, since it had been raining non-stop when we left California.

The Asia pics will come in a different post but in the mean time, here's what we did on and off in California for most of December.

Lucy and Owen loved playing at Grandma's house. Lucy tried out the new Fancy Nancy boa and picked out this fancy outfit (and the pose) herself.
Casey and his dad had fun talking about politics, religion, business, and putting together the vintage doll highchair we took apart and stuffed in our suitcases as a gift for Grandma. Nice job boys!
Both kids loved Grandma's "rainbow" tree. Owen asked if we could have a colorful tree next year. It's just so fun to look at.
And Owen's absolute favorite thing of our entire vacation (actually, it's more of an obsession) was playing with the Billy Bass fish. When Parry showed it to him a year ago, he was frightened. But this time around he could not get enough. We were all so sick of hearing "Don't worry, be happy" and "Take me to the River" but Owen was in heaven. He even took the fish to bed with him.
Of course traveling to the old stomping grounds means you get to all your favorite foods. My mom made pumpkin pie and I finally got my daily breakfast fix.
We hit up Trader Joes a few times,
mmmm, Asiago bagel with Veggie Cream cheese.....
I frequented this place a couple times. And of course we hit up Cafe Rio, In N out, and Tito's Tacos...multiple times.
We tried to make Christmas ornaments from Jolly Ranchers.
They sort of worked.
The kids got to play with their cousins and Mere Pere.
Leah and Owen on the swing that Eric made. I need to commission Casey to make one for our yard too.
And Lucy got to hang out with her cousin Ava for hours and hours. They were just adorable, really loved being together, and had so much fun.
We went to the Orange County Mormon Choral Organization concert at the Performing Arts Center and it was amazing. Eric has been part of the choir for two years now and we were impressed to hear the beautiful music and be in the gorgeous concert hall. We ate at Baja fish tacos beforehand and ran into my Uncle Randy, his wife Paula, and Liz Smith. So it was a happening night.
In the words of Casey, "that concert may have made my Christmas!" It was very well done.
We did a bunch of shopping,
and I bought way too many things at H&M. I'm now the out-of-towner who needs to buy everything in sight since I'm not sure when I'll see the store again.
We played on Gram's and Grandma's pianos and conducted music.
All the kids played with the little village, rearranging the little figures and having funny conversations.
Gram was so patient each time I came to her with a broken foot or head. She'd simply glued them back on and let the kids continue playing.
My mom did all sorts of baking for parties and for us.
Mmmm. Gingerbread softies (I posted the recipe here).
Meredith was an excellent model.
We got to play with Jeremy and his friend Savannah (sadly she's not in the picture) almost every day after school. They were both so adorable with the kids....like free babysitters! Savannah played pretend school with the kids and taught Lucy math and about understanding object patterns. And Jeremy was so sweet to go along with whatever the little kids were doing, even though I'm sure it was pretty boring for him since he's 4 years older. Thanks Jer!
Papa had a great time holding the babes.
I took some random modeling pics for Mere but we never got around to taking more. I flew out of town and then it kept raining non-stop. In the summer Mere.
And a Christmas would not be complete with a Follow The Star performance at my parent's church.
The production is very well done, professional, with live animals, actors, and impressive lighting. It's all held outdoors at night and inside the church is an amazing Creche display. You can see my photo post about the many nativity scenes here.
My Dad plays the same wiseman every year, for every performance throughout the weekend. And somehow Casey always gets wrangled in to playing one as well. Not sure if he likes it or not but he's a good sport and looks great in a turban.
Lucy also got to participate in the show, as one of the Christmas decorating kids in the first scene with Savannah and Jeremy.
Meredith was the angel and did a fabulous job. Later on Christmas Eve, Lucy got to be an angel in a small nativity reading with did with our TX friends and she was trying to copying the same arm movements she saw Mere doing. It was really cute.
Beautiful depiction of that holy night.
and finally.....
Casey and I drove to LAX and exited the scene for two weeks. But more on that later...
Back at home, Owen hung out with Grandma and Grandpa and continued to play with the fish. And Lucy went down to Gram's house to play with Ava and Jeremy.
We all joined up together for my mom's Christmas party where there were plenty of treats,
and lots of cute kids dressed in costumes that my mom had spent all month making.
These girls were darling in some sparkly ruffled scarves we made.
And on Sunday night we had a yummy dinner at Eric and Laura's house. Their place looked so beautiful decorated with sparkly Christmas decor. My pics of the night are pretty bad but the cute kiddos are still the same.
Funny pic. I was just testing my settings but I like Mere's smile.
A slightly better pic, with a few chopped off heads.
And for most of the night Ava and Lucy sat here playing with a little nativity scene.
We flew out of California on very, very rainy Monday (and oddly enough, it rained the whole time we were there in July as well. I guess California hates us. We didn't make a single trip to the beach!). But thankfully we were welcomed home to lovely weather in Texas and a beautiful full moon--it was the night of the cool lunar eclipse (check out that 30 second video link. It's really neat).
And we immediately went to dinner at our favorite Texas BBQ stop, Rudys. Yum yum yum.
Thanks Calif for a fun trip! We loved seeing everyone, playing, and hanging out. See you in the summer!

Pretend City

2010-12-28T23:36:00.010-06:00

While we were in California last month we finally made a trip to Pretend City in Irvine with Laura, Camille, and the kiddos....and....an extra special treat was that Doris and her kids came down to join us too!
The kids were super excited about it all. The lobby alone was intriguing.
And the inside was adorable! The entire place is set up like, well, a city. Everything is miniature and the kids get to try it all out. The can work in the post office, hang out in the library, the farm, doctor's office, theater....it's all there!
Owen and Ava hung out at the beach:
Camille checked out the Mexican restaurant:
Lucy with her cute friends Sammy and Hannah. We miss these guys!
and cute little Helene. This girl has grown up so much. She's a doll.
Baby Anna was a doll too and just chilled in her stroller.
Ava worked at the local market.
And uh, Sammy and Lucy went on their first date? Funny photo.
There was a tiny house, complete with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and kids rooms.
a doctor's office with mini crutches,
and cool phone that could call to all the other rooms in the city. Leah loved it.
The grocery store was awesome.
Laura was impressed with the deli bar.
And the two highlights of the day were dancing on the stage (apparently Owen knows the Robo Cop),
and playing at the farm.
The farm was my favorite too. It was just brilliant! The kids picked fruit from the orchards.
and then they worked in the garden.
If we lived closer, I think we'd need an annual pass. We were there for two hours and the kids could easily have stayed longer (but the moms were hungry).
So we headed off to this place and it was like old times with Doris, me, and our crazy circus of kids.
A totally fun day! And I totally miss Doris. Thanks for driving down to play with us!

Owen is 3!

2010-12-07T19:58:00.000-06:00

Today my baby turned 3 years old. Wow. Three! Time to potty train (can you tell I've been putting it off....)
It's so fun to watch your children grown, learn, and to see how their personalities are still the same, whether they're one or 15 (well, I'm assuming that's the case). Owen is such a goofball kid. He loves to act silly, jump around, and pretend that he's Buzz Lightyear. He follows Lucy around doing and saying everything she does, and easily gets his feelings hurt if she runs off without him, "Lucy! Wait for me!" Yes, he can be emotional at times but on the flip side it means I still get a lot of hugs from the little guy. He's always been a cuddler.

For his birthday over the weekend we had a small family party. Laura made the cutest hats by taking cheap party hats from the store and adding tissue paper pom-poms on top. Brilliant!
And the kids loved them, well, except for Owen. Guess he wasn't in a hat mood that night.
The fun thing about Owen's birthday is that he shares it with his cousin Ava! Today she turns 4!
I share a birthday with my cousin Kam and it was always fun growing up to have birthday parties together, especially since it falls around Thanksgiving time so there's tons of family around.

With colorful hats on, we started the party. First the presents. Ava and Owen took turns, while Lucy closely supervised and even tugged at the paper a few times. That girl's gonna love having her own birthday in February.
Then we had a pinata! Laura planned the whole night and did a cute Ice Cream theme. Ice Cream cone pinata, Cupcake Ice cream cones for dessert and even ice cream cone balloons (which I didn't get a picture of. Bummer).
Owen smacked the pinata first and did no damage.
Ava was next. She got some good hits in there, smacked it around.
And then with one hit, Lucy knocked off the top. Definitely a design flaw by the manufacturer, since I know Lucy isn't a powerhouse hitter.
I felt bad that Tyler and Jeremy didn't get a turn at bat. But they all loved diving for the candy. They each gathered a bag full and my dad picked up the pinata remains.
Then it was time for the classic "picture around the kitchen island"

Gathering,

lighting,

singing,

and picture!

Time to chow. Owen ate three of these. Of course it was confusing when he kept asking me for chocolate ice cream. I got him a bowl of chocolate malted crunch and he whined, "noooo. the chocolate ice cream..."
Hmmm. Ohhhh, the pretend ice cream cupcake with chocolate sprinkles on top?
"uh, yea."

Cute little Anna.

The Blairs! Cameron and Wendi, Tyler and Jill (and one on the way!)

And our birthday boy.

Happy Birthday Oboe! I love your cute face, your funny personality, and your sweet sweet hugs. We're so blessed to have you in our family!

Thanksgiving 2010 - St. George, Utah

2010-12-06T22:37:00.017-06:00

In Casey's dad's family there are 7 brothers and 1 sister. And for years the entire family (and offspring) have been getting together for Thanksgiving. On a typical year, that means about 130 people or more! This year was smaller year, with only 90 Willards. But it was still plenty fun and plenty yummy.
His uncle Bob has a huge house in St. George, Utah with an octagonal room built just for these get-togethers. We can fit tons of folding tables and chairs and there's always room to run around in the acres of backyard.
The best part about Thanksgiving (aside from the turkey of course) is seeing all those fun cousins we don't see very often. Such cute kiddos!
The siblings rotate every year with who is in charge of the event and this time around it was Parry's turn (Casey's dad). So instead of showing up Thursday afternoon for the meal, we drove up early on Wednesday. We had a whole extra day to check in on the yummy meal prep,
And I got to watch the guys dig up the turkeys from the pit! Quite interesting.
It's their tradition every year to bury 4 turkeys in a huge pit in Bob's backyard and let them cook all night with hot coals.
Then they take off the lid, pull them out,
unwrap the birds,
have funny conversations,
And eventually the turkeys are driven back on the truck while the boys walk back to the house, still telling dumb jokes to each other.
Then the boys huddle in the garage where they carve and prep the birds for dinner. More jokes and sampling go on at this stage as well.
While the boys did their thing, I went for a brief walk. St. George is so picturesque with that pretty red rock and small town feel.
Back at the house, Nicole and Linda made centerpieces from a box of twigs,
old canning jars,
and thankful leaves clipped to each branch (each person wrote what they were thankful for and attached them). They were really cute and so simple to do!
Uncle Brady and Owen wore similar shirts and well, we thought it was funny.
Lucy and Owen love hanging out with Uncle Brady (and just saying his name). Owen looks like his attached twin here.
We all waited patiently for the yummy food.
And made funny faces. Jilly has the best expressions.
Lucy with Jacqueline and Jillian (her two cousins who live in Riverton, UT). I wish we saw these girls more often!
Finally, it was time to eat! Mmmm. Delish.
Later that night we sang songs and ate pie. And in the morning, we went back to Bob's house for games and fun.

Cousins:

Sisters-in-Law. Lauren, me, and Nicole

First the kids had a treasure hunt, planned by Lauren and Chad (Casey's older brother)
The kids ran around grabbing all sorts of hidden goodies. It was perfect! Eden looked just like a snow princess. Such a pretty girl.
And then the Willard boys spent an hour playing "knock that bottle down with a frisbie". I'm sure there's a more official name. But that's what it looked like. And I'm sure Casey was not competitive about it.
Parry and Uncle Paul helped the little kids launch foam rockets in the air.
And Owen absolutely loved it (though he looks kind of grumpy in this pic).
There was plenty of baby holding time,
and snuggling with Grandma on the couch (next to Kettle corn I bought at the Santa's Workshop boutique. Yum Yum!)
That night was "Silly Song Night", with Kevin's family doing the best rendition of Bust a Move (with their own unique lyrics) that I've ever heard. We were only sad that Lexie wasn't there to show us her amazing dance skills. We wrapped up the night with The Song Game (where you all start singing a song on the same theme, such as "Michael Jackson", until no one can sing anymore). Quite fun. And finally we took a huge family pic! We'll have to do this every year, though I'm not sure how we'll fit when there's larger attendance.
And before driving home on Saturday, we did some impromptu photo shoots.

Jeff, Nicole, and their kids:

cute pregnant Nicole (#4 is due in January):
Chad, Lauren, and baby Henry:

Seriously, this has got to be one of the most adorable kids I've ever seen.
Such a doll; like a cute Gerber baby.
And that was our weekend! We hit up Cafe Rio on our way out of town and got stuck in Vegas traffic for 3 hours. But that's all part of the fun too (I think). I hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Happy Donut Birthday

2010-11-20T13:16:00.009-06:00

Today this guy turned 37:
It's been a while since we got donuts, so we had a birthday morning celebration at Donut World by my parent's house.
It's always such a big important decision....though it will likely come down to pink or white frosting and sprinkles.

"Donuts!"

I sneaked behind the counter and found the special racks, without a glass covering.
Owen took some hefty bites and quickly asked for another round.
I guess when you're only eating the frosting, you go through donuts pretty fast. Silly boy.
Jeremy and Luce.
My donut choice:
His manly choice:
Adults chatting, Mere texting, kids playing.
Advertising only the color-blind would enjoy:
Thank you Donut World! You're my favorite sugary, greasey, donuty stop!
And Happy Birthday my Dear. You make a handsome #37.

Port Aransas and Mustang Island

2010-10-20T01:11:00.021-05:00

A few weeks ago we drove further south in the US than we've ever been....to the Gulf of Mexico! Our friends in Round Rock invited us to spend a weekend with them, just hanging out at the beach and of course we said YES.
So, 4 hours south of Austin is Corpus Christi. And 1/2 hour past that is a cute Texas beach town called: Port Aransas. Mustang Island is the unique stretch of shoreline there.

We stayed at the Laughing Horse Lodge.
Where there were tons of cute kids (2 per family),
Very colorful and kitschy decor,

Lots of drinks and treats,
And tons of fun people!
From left to right: Us, Christa and Matt Hall and their girls Lexie and Brooklyn (my Warhol dress model), Jon and Katie Evans and their kids Lydon and Maddie.
Seriously, this was one of my favorite Texas weekends. We had a blast! The lodge was a little quirky and weird so next time we'll probably go for a slight upgrade. But the company was great and I really loved all the bright beach vibes.
Every time I drive through our own neighborhood I think, "why is EVERYTHING brown?? Brown houses, brown rocks, brown dirt, brown BORING." Let's take a few notes from the Carribean folk and spice it up! I think I was meant to live by the beach. And this weekend I decided I want to move to Port Aransas.....maybe...
The turquoise home in the distance? I want it.
But back to our funny lodge.
When I read the hotel description on their website it said, "we're funky and unique with a bit of beach and bit of cowboy."

Yep. The funky beach:
The bit of cowboy:
It was such a funny little place. These pictures make me laugh just thinking about it. The living quarters were really tight with 3 families. There was no living room or couch or hang out area, and no hallways anywhere. Just 3 bedrooms that opened into each other and a really small funny kitchen. But the kids didn't care and had so much fun together jumping on beds, watching movies, and acting silly. Lucy and Lydon were little buds. At one point I heard him say to Lucy, "your dress is cute". Haha. I love kids.
Of course the real highlight of the weekend was spending an entire day at....the BEACH!!!
I've been itching for the sandy waters lately.
Growing up with the Pacific Ocean all my life, I approached the water cautiously, tiptoeing my way in, expecting that quick chill that runs up your body. But, surprise! It was warm! I couldn't believe it! Totally dreamy. You could walk right it, no problem. And that's just what we did all day.
The kids all played so well together.
(the little love birds again):
There was a lot of this:
and this:
and this (which all reminded me of being a kid, searching for shoreline treasures):
The adults set-up camp and soaked up the sunshine and chatter. It was really fun to get to know everyone better. A cool group of friends.
Katie and Jon again. Katie is a photographer and Jon is an Audio Engineer and musician. I related to both of them so well. We could have talked for hours! Oh wait, we did.
The kids gathered a large collection of seashells and sorted them like Halloween candy.
Lexie made this cool line:
and even little Brooklyn helped!
This shell was my favorite. We brought it home.
And the rest of the day was spent doing....beach stuff. Looking for things,
Dancing (how great is her tan line?),
getting messy,
walking around,
looking for stuff again,
bundling up,
and finally making a castle. Well, this was my first attempt...
but then Casey walked up with a bag full of these and construction was abandoned.
mmmmmmm.

Clean!

Messy.

want a bite?

After an ice cream break (followed by Doritos, oreos, and chocolate chip cookies. Isn't the beach great that way? Junky treats gallore), the kids were back on the sand.
Not sure what this photo says....some deep "Inspirational" poster verbiage...."When waves beat you down, don't fold!"
Nono.
Just a chair in the water.
A photo of me! With a bad tan line too.
And eventually, I got back to my sandcastle. A sandy Stonehedge, decorated with the kids' seashell collection.
I forgot how much I enjoyed playing in the sand.
We could have stayed for another few hours. But I guess the seven we enjoyed filled our bucket up real nice. Bye bye beach. We'll be back!
Meanwhile, at the lodge...

We ate lasagna, let the kids run around till they completely crashed and then played silly games all night and found out that Jon likes bubble baths and clowns. The late hours always bring out the best in us.

The next day we ate Sugar cookies for breakfast.
We ate other stuff too. But seriously. Who doesn't want this for breakfast? It's just a donut in disguise.
Hooray for Texas!
And for the Laughing Horse Lodge!
Our little girl:
and....our other little girl:
Katie and her camera. I love seeing other people lean over to capture the moment too.
We said goodbyes to everyone and continued our Port Aransas adventure as a family of 4.
Everywhere you drive in town you see these funny shark heads, leading into the store. Kitschy cool and kind of crazy.
Look mom, a lighthouse!
and seahorse lollipops!
We found the local candy shop and let the kids fill up a bag.
How fun does this look?
On our way out of town, I made Casey drive through this neighborhood, Cinnamon Shore. And this is when I really fell in love. Wow. These houses are beautiful. I finally realized that my home decor style is "modern beach cottage"? Maybe? I just think that the outside of this house matches the inside of our cookie-cutter suburban home perfectly. Our home needs new skin.
Would you like one too? You can live in a TX beach house for 1/4 the price of a Calif beach condo! And you're walking distance to the beach! And you have a community pool! You just have to be ready to evacuate for a hurricane at any time. Haah.
But hey, everyone has their problems. How many times do fires blow through southern California? Earthquakes? Flooding in the south? Tornadoes? We all have mother nature issues. I'm just trying to talk Casey into it all....
Have you ever seen such cute outhouses?
I really want to pee right now, in the coral pink house please.
After drooling over Cinnamon Shore (and perusing Zillow on my phone for the next 1/2 hour) we drove to Corpus Christi and toured the Aquarium.
Cool seahorse. The kids are sticking their heads up inside of the aquarium.
This is a dumb photo. But Owen is obsessed with that talking fish plaque. Casey's parents have one and Owen played it over and over last time we were there. He often sings "don't worry, be happy" around the house. So we died when we saw it on their wall:
Owen also loves turtles. So this was the highlight for him. Lucy's highlight was touching stingrays.
And my highlight was this. I love these two. They are really good, good playing buddies. They have the most infectious laughs when they're together.
And before starting the 4 hour drive back, we ate at this Texas hot spot:
These boxes are full of....peanuts. Random. You get to munch on them while you wait for your burgers and fries.
I ordered the bacon cheeseburger with bbq sauce. Um. Wow. Really, really good.
We topped it off with a round of canjun and regular fries for everyone.
3 cheers for a really fun weekend!
I'm already dreaming about our next trip there.

Family Man

2010-10-19T22:30:00.010-05:00

I just said to Casey, do you have ever have days when you wake up and literally can't remember what day it is?

Casey: I have days when I wake up and have to remember what my life is.

Whoa.
Deep.

So, in case you forget about life tomorrow morning, here's a reminder....
I guess we all like to have our mouths open.

Of course if you can't remember what your life is, you're not going to remember 88 miles per hour hyphen willard dot blogspot. But here's to hoping!

I love the weather!

2010-10-04T17:33:00.006-05:00

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous. Mid-70s and no humidity. In fact, this morning I kept slathering on lotion and couldn't figure out why. It's DRY outside. I guess I've become acclimated to the Austin weather (though it's totally mild compared to Florida and other parts of the South).

So, with our gorgeous weather we've been going to the park as much as possible.
And on this particular day, the kids wanted to gather "berries". I have no idea what these fruits are but they were like mini-plums. Really cute and a gorgeous color but who knows if they're poisonous! Aren't I a great mom. At least no one ate any.
Owen was quick picker, gathering as many berries as he could. Lucy was a bit slower, inspecting each one for quality. But then she started getting annoyed that Owen had more in his bucket. So I told her to pick up the pace (she likes a good race). Eventually they both had overflowing buckets. Of course they wanted to bring them home to show Dad but I drew the line somewhere. Berries stay at the park.
Too bad you can't eat these. I'm sure they'd make a lovely berry pie. Hooray for fall!

Owen Appleseed

2010-09-27T22:42:00.005-05:00

My kids are not the best eaters. So when Owen asked for an apple, I more than obliged...I sat there and documented the wonderful moment too.
The TV was a good distraction. He just kept him chomping away.
What a goofball. This kid is definitely the silly one of the family.

Farmer's Market

2010-09-26T20:50:00.013-05:00

The other week Katherine wanted to check out the local Thursday Farmer's market. So we packed our double-strollers, drove over to the park, and got ready to spend an hour perusing the local fare (secretly hoping I'd score some kettle corn).
As we pulled up, we both started laughing. There were literally 8 vendors. Eight. And some of them had only a table-full of 10 squashes. Well, we'd be done in about 5 minutes! (and there definitely wouldn't be any kettle corn). So we got the kids out and made the rounds.
Among the mini-market we found a few gems. Great Harvest bread! Mmmmm. They were out of White (bummer) so I went for Asiago Cheese.
In retrospect, however, I really should have bought a loaf of pumpkin bread. Oh, I've been itching to make pumpkin pie! The weather was in the low 70s today with a lovely breeze and I immediately got the Fall Fever.
As Katherine checked out some handmade soaps, I stopped by the honey booth. I wasn't planning on buying anything. But the 90-year-old woman that I chatted with was way too cute to resist. She talked about running the bee farm herself back in the day and about how she only has the energy now to bottle the honey and show up at markets to sell.
She showed me her Apricot Honey, made from dried apricots and similar to preserves. And I said yes.
10 minutes later, we were done with the market tour and headed to the park toys for the kids. These three are so cute together.
And baby Virginia is always a good sport, along for the ride and going with the flow.
Cute Virginia and Katherine:
When I got home, Casey laughed at my purchases and wondered why I spent $7 on a small jar of honey. I told him about the sweet 90 year old lady. He laughed at me again.
And for breakfast the next day, I spread it over cream cheese and a honey-wheat bagel and it was deeeelish!
The asiago wasn't quite as exciting, but it did make some yummy cheese bread.
Thanks little farmer's market for the lovely afternoon. We'll probably be back.

Abe, Frank, and George

2010-09-23T23:51:00.006-05:00

Yesterday at the store Owen asked if he could have money. So I gave him my two pennies of change. He looked at the coin, smiled, and cheered, "Frankenstein!" I guess Abe always was an odd looking guy.

Then today he was wearing his President's Day shirt:
He looked down and said, "Mom! Curious George!"
American history, through Owen's eyes.

little bob

2010-09-19T21:14:00.004-05:00

For the past two months, Lucy's hair has had two looks: one bun or two.
I grew tired of combing the tangles (and fighting her over it), the summer chlorine had done a number on the fine strands, and no matter how many times I explained that her hair was blond, she thought I was saying "long". She'd smile and continue to tell me that her hair was yellow just like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Emily Elizabeth.

But we won't be having the blond/long conversation anymore because today she had an impromptu haircut! The days of combing tangles are in the past! (for a few months at least).

BEFORE:
(she chose all these poses)
THE PROOF:
THE AFTER!
THE SIDE-BY-SIDE:
And then we cleaned up Owen's hair with the clippers.
I'm gonna miss her ponytails and buns but I always love her with a little bob. She really looks like a different kid.

New Friends

2010-09-18T14:02:00.003-05:00

We moved to Texas a year ago and everyone here has been so welcoming and great. We've been invited to go to a girl's weekend at the lake, camping with friends in Round Rock, and we're going to Corpus Christi in a few weeks with a small group of families. We've been blessed.

But....in our particular town here there aren't a lot of young moms, or moms with young kids like ours. Most of my friends at church have kids who are 7 years-old and up. Lucy is the only child in her primary class and Owen is one of 5 kids in nursery. And I have missed dearly having that one friend you can call and say "you wanna go to the park?" or "just come over and chat while the kids run around." Someone I can relate to; who's in the same stage of life.
And then.....two months ago, a new family moved to town! A cute family of four with two little kids and so many similarities to us. The Winegars! I spotted them at church and couldn't wait to say hello. And we've hung out with them non-stop ever since then. We've had play dates, Katherine taught me how to can peaches, we've gone to the library, to the Rec Center, out to eat, to the park, and just had a ton of fun having new friends. They've been a total blessing.
And their daughter Savannah fits in so perfectly with Lucy and Owen. She's right in-between their ages and the three of them play so well together. Lucy loves having a little friend and Owen just follows Savannah around saying "Savannah! Savannah!" Lucy and Savannah are in the same preschool now too.
So thank you Winegars for moving to town! We've been waiting for you!

A really good day = Austin Kid's Museum and Burgers

2010-09-10T21:54:00.017-05:00

We didn't get out of the house much this week. Our fun new friends were out of town (we've been hanging out with them non-stop for the past two weeks since they moved here. Love it). And then it rained NON-stop for two days. Holy Moly. So today I decided we were walking away from the cabin fever and the computer. Downtown Austin was the perfect medicine!
7 months ago we bought an annual pass to the Austin Children's Museum and it has been well-worth it. It's the perfect outing for me and the kids. We drive for 35 minutes, spend a couple hours at the museum, get lunch somewhere, and then the kids get to watch a short movie on the way home since we usually hit traffic. We have the routine down pretty well.

As we drive to the parking garage, Lucy looks for the green building (and I try to see what's in the Design within Reach windows. Sometimes they have their furniture set-up outside and the kids think it's hilarious. Why is there a couch on the sidewalk mom??!)

So today, Lucy danced her way to the museum. Owen refused to be in the picture and wanted to stand in the shade. Smart kid.
The museum is great. Not as vast as Kidspace in Pasadena but still fabulous. The traveling exhibits change every few months and we've loved each of them.
Our first stop is always the Kitchen. And this day in particular was luxurious because no one was there! Only about 8 families at any given time. Very, very nice. Usually, the kids are fighting for space behind that counter:
First the kids went into the "store" to buy fake fruits and vegetables. Then they stood behind the restaurant counter and prepared 10 million things for me to eat.
Like this monstrosity. Reminds me of a Bill Cosby hoagie.
Next up....Lucy pretended she was Alice in Wonderland, carrying around her cat Dina. The last time we came to the museum there was a random cat stuffed animal in the little kids area. She got really attached to it and carried it all around the museum. So of course when we came back today she immediately requested, "mom, let's find my Dina cat!" I highly doubted it would be there, and it wasn't, but strangely enough there was another stuffed cat sitting in a different room. Random and weird.

Anyway, here she is reenacting the first scene in Alice in Wonderland where Alice falls down the tunnel. Lucy went to the top of the slide, left Dina there with Owen,
and then "fell" down saying "goodbye Dina! Goodbye!" So silly and so funny. I love her imagination. She did this routine about 5 times.
After doing our normal stuff we checked out the current exhibit. It's all about games! There were tables set-up with normal board games for older kids to play. And then there were over-sized games everywhere.
I always get a kick out of these human-size Chess boards.
Largest Sudoku grid ever? (there's the Dina cat in Lucy's arms)
This one was my favorite. I've always loved Connect Four. I think my cousin Kam, my brother Eric, and I used to play it when we were kids for hours at a time.
The kids are too young to get the strategy aspect, so I just told them to fill it up and then we yanked the bottom out and watched them fall.
Life-size Jenga and min-bowling (I guess games that are typically large became smaller?)
And finally, have you ever seen such a cool train table??? The kids spend 30 minutes here every time we come (while I loaf around checking email on my iPhone. It's a nice tradeoff). Sometimes Lucy climbs into those middle holes to play.
After the train, we headed upstairs to the craft and engineering room. Owen has a thing for Ladybugs.
These two windows caught my eye last time we were here and I told myself to bring my camera the next time so I could capture their beauty!
They're covered in plastic bottle caps. How cool is that? They really look beautiful (kind of like the Beer House)
I guess I'll start saving my recycled bottle lids.
In this room there are all sorts of mechanical engineering lessons. Nothing intense, just simple stuff like these cool gears, some lego-ish type of building toys,
and this really cool pulley system . I showed Lucy how it worked a few times and then she wanted to do it all by herself, over and over and over again.
There's a vertical rope and an angled rope with a large clamp on it. You attach an animal with a parachute to the clamp and then use the pulley system to pull it up to the top.
When it gets there, the parachute falls off the clamp and the animal floats down. Simple fun.

And lastly there's a crazy fun craft/art room. It's usually filled with kids and looks a bit messy.
Man, if I wasn't watching kids, I'd totally be in there cutting and glueing away. Looks like creative mayhem.
And that was our trip to the museum! (after a quick stop at their store on the way out)
And then it was cheeseburgers and French fries from P. Terry's. I was looking back at my previous post about P. Terry's and oddly enough, the kids are wearing the same clothes. I guess they're our favorite"outing" outfits.
Thank you P. Terry's for the entertaining sandbox! My kids love it and I love my quiet yummy meal, while I watch them play.

Labor Day in San Antonio

2010-09-06T23:58:00.005-05:00

We wanted to drive somewhere fun for the holiday but we've exhausted most cities within a 2-3 hour radius. And we just weren't up for a 5-hour drive. So it was back to San Antonio again.
And though it wasn't intended, the day turned into a tour of dead animals.

First stop was Dinosaur Quest. Now why haven't more museums taken this clubbin' approach? The dinos looked way cooler and fierce with colorful lights and harsh shadows.
We saw a wide variety of dinosaur skeletons and some ice age animals too. The kids are very into the Dinosaur Train show right now, so this was right up their alley. Of course, "buddy" the baby T-rex from Dinosaur train is much more tender-hearted than the real T-rex animation they were showing at the museum. Owen wouldn't even walk near the video screen because he was too scared. At our house we call Owen a "chicken tender".
After looking at dead dinosaurs, we headed to the Buckhorn Museum to look at....
dead animals!
This place is funny. It's a restaurant/saloon in the middle and on the outskirts, it's a taxidermy museum. There are animal busts everywhere!
And sometimes, you get the whole bull. I mean, check out those horns! They're longer than me!
I thought this mirror was cool and reminded me of the chotsky version Michael made on Design Star.
Never been this up-close and personal with an elephant.
Mr. Zebra almost smiled.
And Lucy with her prairie skirt looked just like a saloon girl, gazing down from the balcony. She's such a funny girly girl. She actually spent half of our time here, walking around with only one flip-flop on, pretending she was Cinderella. A stranger noticed she had lost her shoe, picked it up, and brought it over to her. Lucy looked down and with a totally fake gasp said, "oh! My shoe! I didn't know it was gone.".....as if she didn't know. Cuckoo.
Of course, fast forward 5 minutes and there I was asking her to look like a serious Mountain man, ready to fire his rifle. So, I can't totally fault her for living in a land of make-believe.
We ended the crazy taxidermy tour in a mini wild-west town (after wandering through 6 rooms of Africa animals, two headed deformed animals, fish, birds, and even shrunken human heads!) I thought this antique screen door with it's crackled blue paint was pretty unique:
and Lucy got a kick out of the old saloon doors. She walked in and out, in and out, watching them swing back behind her.
It was a fairly tame outing overall but fun to see a variety of animals and walk along the River Walk. We've resigned ourselves to the fact that doing really cool stuff with the kids will just have to wait till they're older. They're still totally content with playing at the park. So why drive all the way to San Antonio for that?! Of course, I will drive all the way there for our favorite Main Street Pizza joint but guess what....they were closed! How does this keep happening to us? I guess calling ahead would be a clever idea. So we ended up at Chipotle cause we were too tired and hungry to find anything else. The kids played with a really fun cowboys and Indians set purchased from the Buckhorn museum. And we called it a day. It was Curious George on the DVD player all the way home and then a bit of jumping on the trampoline to get the travel wiggles out.

Hope you had a nice weekend!

Friday Night!

2010-09-06T21:22:00.007-05:00

Lights.
When we moved here a year ago we were totally excited to be "locals" by heading to the high school football game every friday night. But we jumped into the season late, kept missing the home games, and usually ended up at a random Round Rock game. So this year, we're on top of it! And on Friday night we cheered for Georgetown.
It was a blow-out game with Georgetown killing Temple. But no worries, the good football atmosphere was there to entertain.
I had to remind Lucy what a football game was (since she kept calling it baseball).
But she quickly caught on, remembering the "dancing girls" and loud band music.
Little Oboe enjoyed the game excitement too but mostly.....
he focused on the crickets jumping around the bleachers,
keeping his shoes on or off (this is the first pair of flip-flops he's owned and I love them on him!)
and making sure all his toys were lined up in order.
Of course we were all along for the treats. The highlight of any sporting event right?
I was bummed they didn't have kettle corn. I guess we'll have to hit up a Round Rock game afterall. Hooray for Friday Nights! We'll be coming back for more.

(I never grow tired of this little profile):
(and the back of this head):
And yep. In case you forgot, we live in Texas.

3 First Days for Lucy

2010-09-02T15:21:00.006-05:00

This past week Lucy started 3 new things.

First, she went back to preschool. Most of the same kids were returning to her class, so it was fun watching her get excited about seeing her friends again. I always thought that was the best part of going back to school too. Well, that and the new school clothes. Lucy didn't get any of those since she still fits stuff from 2 years ago. But, it may be time to retire these shorty shorts. Her waist is stagnant but her legs keep growing. What a little string bean.
Funny picture. Looks like she has no neck.
Second, she started seeing a speech therapist.
You know, when Lucy was 15 months old her pediatrician freaked out that she wasn't talking yet and wanted Lucy to see a therapist. I was super reluctant and we never did it, and by 2 years old she was talking just fine. I had no idea though that two years later we actually would be going to speech for a totally different reason.
Lucy has a hard time with the letter "s". She says it through her nose and you can tell she's working hard to get the words out. So we're taking care of it. Her therapist says it could take almost a year to correct but we'll plug away at it little by little. The bummer part is that Owen has learned to speak from her and now has the same problem. He's too young for the therapy right now. So we'll probably be back here in another year with him.
Her sessions are a 1/2 hour long and it's just Lucy and her therapist, Katie. Owen and I stay in the waiting room while they go through speech exercised together. And at the end....Lucy and Owen both get little lollipops! Good rewards.

Third.....Lucy started a dance class! Oh she was so excited about this one. The girl is constantly dancing around the house (and anywhere else we happen to be). I've been holding off because I wanted her to be old enough to really understand dance instruction and now she's the perfect age!
We purchased tap and ballet shoes at Payless (and then found some at the Thrift store for $2. Woohoo. She'll have plenty of shoes to use over the next few years)
She tried on the gear, showed me a few moves, and then had to wait for a whole week till the dance class started. Of course she asked about it every day. Is today Tuesday?? Nope. Two more days.
I made her a girly bag to hold tap and ballet shoes, which only raised the excitement level.
I made a bunch of different colors (shown on MADE) and let her choose her favorite. Pink, Pink, Pink!
Finally the big day came. She quickly got dressed,
grabbed her new bag,
and off we went!
It was a hit from the very start. She totally loved it.
Owen, the Toy Story gang, and I had fun watching it all through the glass.
It's so cool seeing your kids grow up and start to do the "older kid" things. Seems like a rite of passage when your first child starts an extra-curricular sport. Next big milestone...kindergarten. But we've got one more year till that.

Happy FIRSTS everyone!

Ahhh,

2010-09-02T14:41:00.004-05:00

much better.
Currently munching, as I type.
And random that 3 yellows popped out. The bag knows my favorite color.

Chocolate and Pretzels

2010-09-01T08:33:00.006-05:00

A while back I posted about the glorious introduction of Coconut into the M&M family. Yum Yum. I'm open to new ideas. So I was really excited to hear that PRETZEL flavor is the new baby.
We bought a bag at Walgreens yesterday and I had high expectations. Chocolate, pretzels, what could be better?
Well....bummer.
They're not that great. Flavors are good; ratios are off. You'd think it was like a Whopper. But it was like a big old ball of dry air. I had cotton mouth afterward, needed a drink, and longed for a yellow package of Peanut M&Ms (good thing Casey bought one of those too)
So, they were good enough for me to eat well, the whole small bag. But man, they are NOTHIN like these:
A thin stick of pretzel with layers and layers of yummy chocolate coating. That's how it should be. Sorry M&Ms. Maye you should try Peanut Butter inside of the pretzels. Now that would really have me coming back!

Memorial Day Weekend and Fredericksburg

2010-08-30T22:15:00.011-05:00

Continuing with our tour of Texas, on Memorial Day we headed to Fredericksburg, TX. We actually drove through the town when we moved here last year. LAST YEAR. Wow, can you believe it's been that long already?! But at that point in time, we were 22 hours out and one hour in from Austin and all we wanted was TO BE THERE.
So it was time to head back and check out the town.
Founded by German immigrants the streets are full of little German eateries and cute shops. It's not the most kid-friendly place and looking back on these pictures now....the day ended up being pretty fun. But overall, it was one of those comedy-of-errors kind of outings. I won't bore you with all the details but everything was just slightly off.

First we wandered the main street and peeked in the cute shops.
We immediately found the toy store. Lucy took one look at this wall and could have stayed for another hour. Each animal was talked to, organized, given plastic trees to eat, and special places to sleep.
When it was time to go, she sadly parted ways with her mini Serengeti.
We walked the streets again,
got cool stickers,
saw interesting people. Now that's a nice look. Gym shorts and boots, on a hot summer day. Mmm.
I loved the all the shop signs:
Especially these two colorful ones:
Then we spent the next 1/2 hour trying to figure out where we should eat.
We finally settled on this cute diner and it was perfect; food, cold drinks, and new army toys for the kids to play with (purchased at that local toy store). Brilliant entertainment!
After lunch we found a darling pie shoppe:
We were actually stuffed from lunch so we didn't eat any. But I enjoyed the cottage vibe.
Since the first two hours of our outing were filled with boring Mom and Dad stuff, we told the kids that after lunch we'd go swimming at the local pool. The bait that kept them going all morning long! So with two excited kids, we drove over to the pool only to find out that it was CLOSED! What??? Who keeps a pool closed on Memorial Day? Isn't the day all about friends, BBQs, and water activities? Booo. So then we searched for two other pools in the area, drove to each of them, and.....they were closed too. Poor Lucy. She was pretty sad and didn't understand why she couldn't go in the beautiful blue water right in front of her.

So, we got some candy at a shop on main street (which improved the morale) and headed out of town to see if we could find a lake or some water area that was OPEN.
We passed beautiful fields and flowers.
Stumbled upon the:
saw this in the Sonic parking lot:
and eventually.....we found water!!! Off the side of the road, somewhere outside of Fredericksburg was a small stream with a little bridge and tons of small fish jumping up the wall.
Ahhh, the oasis of our day. We couldn't have been happier. The kids played for an hour and then, we headed home.
Nice to meet you again Fredericksburg. You're probably a bit more fun without kids and we wish your pool had been open. But we hear you have excellent peaches so we'll spread the good word about you!

Trampoline

2010-08-30T17:22:00.008-05:00

Our backyard is pretty sparse. There's just grass and well, a fence! So a few months ago we bought a trampoline from our friends that were moving. I wasn't sure how it would go over. I knew the kids would love it....but for how long? And I feared it would look ghastly, seeing it peek up over the fence when you walked up to our house.
But....it's been GREAT! Both kids love it (though Owen was scared to jump for the first two weeks). And with our large tree in the front yard, you really don't even notice the trampoline at all. Seriously, fabulous purchase.
The kids jump almost every day. It's the perfect "get the wiggles out" kind of activity (a variation on my mom's "go run two laps around the block" when we were kids).
The kids (and sometimes Mom and Dad) jump around with soccer balls:
in the sprinklers:
(with the option of being clothed or naked)
and even princess costumes (with Lucy's friend Cameron)
After a 1/2 hour or more, most of the wiggles are out. Hooray for trampolines and easy entertainment!

name scramble

2010-06-03T14:23:00.003-05:00

I've received letters like this in the mail before.
If only I were a man named Willard, who kept my maiden name.

Christmas part 2: Alone in LA

2010-05-17T15:23:00.012-05:00

A few days before Christmas, Casey and I left the kids with his parents and spent a day alone in one of our favorite cities. Well, I spent the whole morning alone in LA and then he joined me around lunch time.

I spent plenty of time running from shop to shop in the garment district:
and sifting through odds and ends. You can see more about my fabric shopping experience HERE.
Then I swung by Casey's office to pick him up. Their old building is really cool and actually part of the architecture tour on 500 Days of Summer.
We then drove from downtown, through West Hollywood and took a moment to pause at this. If you ever need to go clubbin, while pumping your gas, you must stop at this ARCO station on Santa Monica blvd. The only missing elements were Ben Stiller and his boys splashing gas on each other.
From there we continued to the Miracle Mile and ate at our favorite pizza place, Rocco's.
I've blogged about this before. But seriously. Pepperoni Calzones, mixed with....
Barq's rootbeer?
is cheesy heaven. I hope we can eat there this summer too.
With full bodies, we continued west and ended at: the beach.
I've realized, while going through my pictures, that we made 4 different trips to 4 different beaches while we were there. Most beaches are dreamy and simply beautiful. But especially in LA, it's a nice contrast to the craziness of Hollywood Blvd. The beach is one of the top things I miss about California.
The famous Santa Monica pier:
Late afternoon drivers on PCH:
I was actually there.
(and Casey was actually at Rocco's...though my cheese was more important in the photo than he was)
After watching the sun go down, we wandered 3rd Street Promenade.
Paid a visit to this place:
Tried on boots at Aldo (didn't buy any). And then saw this movie:
We both thought it was....Fantastic! haah. I was actually going to write that. We highly recommend it.

We came out of the theater to a darker 3rd Street, with sad singing acts getting ready for the crowds that night.
We admired the pretty Anthropologie windows:
We hit up Urban Outfitters one more time and then called it a night! (or a day).
We really love where we live right now and the lifestyle we're able to have in Texas. But man, there really is something about L.A. that draws you in. Maybe it's the fact that we know it so well? I think of the countless hours I spent driving these streets while working as a P.A....knowing all the ins-and-outs, short-cuts for getting "over the hill", best places to park, ways to avoid the 405/10 interchange. LA really feels like home to me. So much life, character, and still some natural beauty.

"I lovvvvvvve LA."

Christmas part 1: The Willards

2010-05-16T23:53:00.013-05:00

Well, I'd hate to have to do a post called "Christmas in July", so I figured I better get my Christmas pics up on the blog before summer rolls around. And we have a bunch of travels coming up, so I really need to get ahead of the game NOW.

I have so many pictures from our Christmas/New Years in California that I'm going to break it into 5 or 6 blog posts. So here goes the first!

Christmas with The Willards!
Jeff, Nicole, and the kids came to town for a few days and it was a blast. We love to hang out with them and the kids just act silly together. There was a lot of this going on:
(cute Harrison and aunt Nicole):
and if we weren't eating grilled cheese, we opted for donuts:
mmmmmm.
Owen at his morning best:
I snapped photos of the darling girls. Jillian has the most amazing eyes.
and great expressions too.
These were supposed to be her "3 years old" pictures.....just a few months overdue.
Jacqueline is fun to take pictures of too. Both girls are very photogenic.
and she has cute little feet.
This pic just makes me laugh. Can't remember now what she was bothered by.
and, cheese! Such a cute girl.
Cousins, playing together in Grandma's front patio.
One night while they were in town, we braved the LA traffic and drove from Simi Valley to Fairfax.
We ate at Messob (Ethiopian food), which Chad and Lauren introduced us to...and also announced that night that they were having a boy! And to follow that up: she just had baby Henry last week! The Willard male/female ratio is now balanced.
The food was quite tasty and it was fun to eat adventurously. My only complaint is that the bread was a bit too spongy to me. Now if you put some Indian Naan with it?! Perfect!
We had a great time eating family-style in the middle of the restaurant. And when the kids got restless, the staff entertained them. Does it get better than that??
Thank you Messob!
After dinner we walked around the LA temple to see their Christmas lights.
Everything was cheery, bright, and festive.
Moroni still:
Moroni moving:
We had a slight scare while at the temple grounds when we lost Lucy for 20 minutes. She was with all of us but at some point she must have lost sight of me or Casey and decided that she needed to go back around the temple to find us. So she started walking in the opposite direction of us. Some people saw her and asked, "what do you need?" She calmly responded, "I'm looking for my people!" Of course we were not as calm as she was and were a bit worried. So we circled around the temple as well, Casey going one way, me going the other, and yelling "Lucy! Lucy!"

People who heard us asked, "little blonde girl? She went that way...."
So we knew she was close by, we just needed to find her. And eventually we did. PHEW. Scary to think of what could have happened instead, in LA, at night time.

On that note, to finish off the night we hit up our favorite ice cream sandwich shop in Westwood:
I quickly snapped photos inside the shop, before getting busted.
Yum. I wish I had this right now in my house to devour.
For the rest of our Willard hang-out, we just played around the house, went to the outdoor mall to see the "fake snow". All the girls went to see The Princess and The Frog (and the boys went golfing). Jeff, Nicole, Casey, and I had a date-afternoon where we got In-N-Out to-go and smuggled it into the movie theater to see A Christmas Carol.

I'd been wanting to make Lucy a jacket for a while now. And since the cousins were here I made one for all three girls and ended up using them for SYTYC. It worked out great. And the girls were just cute together.
Jacqueline really could model kids clothing. She was so perfectly posed in all these shots.
Jilly's amazing expressions again.
Thanks for coming down to California Willards! It was a fun, fun weekend.

It was hot

2010-05-16T22:03:00.004-05:00

So we ran through the sprinklers.
Actually, Casey was testing the system to make sure they were working properly and the kids could not resist jumping out in the middle of it all.

Can't blame them. Who wouldn't want to run through firey sparklers? The sun-thru-water was just gorgeous.

Easter!

2010-05-16T21:18:00.010-05:00

Yea. It's time for some family blogging.
So, here's our Easter recap. First off, you'll have to remember that these fun people were here. We loved it.

There were decorations...
Peeps Bunny Bunting:
Little Lamb Pillows:
Colored Rice Easter Eggs hanging in our archway:
and plenty of good ole fashioned easter egg coloring going on:
I left the dyeing, prepping, cleaning, decorating to the men (while I got our post roast dinner in the oven, compliments of the Pioneer Woman's recipe. Mmmm. It was yummy).
So the boys and Lucy did their thing (we decided it was a good time for Owen to take his nap. Next year little guy).
And Lucy thought it was great fun. She totally got it.
And they came up with this. Well done men! Such pretty colors. Vibrant.
The men then hid the eggs, we woke up Owen, and had our hunt.

Lucy quickly caught on that the plastic easter eggs she was finding had candy in them, while the real eggs were just....boring eggs. So she was kind enough to share the real eggs with Owen each time she found one. Or in this case, throw it at him:
Owen's basket got pretty heavy but he kept lugging that thing around. In the mean time, I hid their real Easter baskets behind the car and Lucy was overly thrilled with her Princess Tiana goodies.
She showed her toys to everyone:
Then she shared her toys with Owen:
and later that week, I made a Ruffled Hobo Sack for her toys (that blue Tiana is now decapitated. Sorry Princess)
The adults started cracking, peeling, and eating eggs so Lucy wanted to join in the fun. Grandpa's head was the perfect crakin spot.
She loved peeling the shell but refused to take a bite.
And Owen looked for bugs with his big over-sized magnifying glass (which the kids got from Grandma and Grandpa). Owen wrote his own song recently that he sings on and off at the house, "a lady bug? (going up in tone), a lady bug (down in tone)" (and repeat). It's really dumb and really cute.
And that was our Easter! (in a nutshell) (or an eggshell) (nononono)

The Audience is listening

2010-04-19T16:25:00.007-05:00

Lucy's finally at that age where she's really aware of/hearing/processing all that's going on around her. Casey and I can no longer talk about her in the front seat of the car, without her picking up on it. Her fox ears hear it all. She's a sponge. And it's only the beginning of the rest of her life.

SO, time for us to be more careful with what she hears and sees...since these two things happened recently, which were kind of funny but made me aware of the fact.

* On Saturday Lucy was watching a cartoon on youtube (which we had turned on for her) and when it was done she started clicking around on the site.
"What's she watching?" I asked Casey.
"I think she found a Dora clip."
"Okay".
When I checked on her a few minutes later, sure enough she was watching Dora.....or something called "Dora on Heroin". And the related videos next to it said, "Dora the alcoholic", "Dora smokes Pot."
Nice.
"Mom, I was watching Dora! But it was a little bit different," Lucy informed me.

* Today in the car a Justin Timberlake song came on the radio, so I turned it up.
Lucy asked, "Mom, what's this song called."
Hmmm.
How do I disguise or shorten the name "I'm bringing Sexy Back"?
I was stumped, "um....it's called Hey Hey".

dumb name.

visitors! Grandma and Grandpa Willard

2010-04-11T09:36:00.016-05:00

Last Saturday Casey's parents flew out to visit us. Since they were flying stand-by we didn't tell the kids anything till we knew they were sitting on the plane. And when I broke the good news to Lucy she was just giddy with excitement. It seems that two times a week she makes a comment about how much she misses her Grandmas. So she was very excited to have visitors.

Casey picked Parry and Linda up from the airport and then the kids and I drove to Rudy's to meet up with them. That should be everyone's first stop in Austin, right?

I'm not sure who was more excited to see who....Lucy or Linda?
So cute.
We spent the rest of the day just hanging out at our house, chatting, and watching the kids play.
-------------------------------------------------------------

The next day (Easter) we watched some conference, colored eggs, ate all sorts of yummy food, and showed them our little town. I just love the downtown square.
It's the perfect place for strolling around, sitting on a bench, and enjoying Antique shops.
Because it was Easter Sunday all the shops were closed but we found it hilarious that all the stuff was just left out on the street. I guess the folks are trusting in our town.
For some reason Owen liked this little boy statue and kept standing next to him. I guess he needs a friend? Not sure if it's intentional but I like the hand in his pocket (just like the statue)
Funny Oboe.
Casey and Linda. Looking great in blue.
Next we drove through all the cool neighborhoods in our town (with beautiful old houses) and we ended our tour at the lake.
Where Lucy picked as many wildflowers as she could find.
Then we headed to the lookout point, which if you remember from our visit here in August, THIS is where people were cliff jumping into the water 25 feet below. CRAZY how much water has filled the lake!
Our kids found it pretty great though.
And soon there was some of this going on....
and yep, eventually this. Good thing there weren't many people around. I hate feeling white trash.
-------------------------------------------------------------

On Monday we did a tour of Downtown Austin. We drove around UT campus. Since we had to take separate cars everywhere, I had fun snapping random photos when we stopped at each stoplight. The stadium:
flowers:
a truck:
And of course I had to show them the amazing multi million dollar homes. I never grow tired of these pretty spots (as you'll remember from this October post.) We drove by all those same homes with Parry and Linda.
Some houses had cute Easter decor. I'm going to remember this one for next year (or when I have a wrought iron fence):
We ate lunch at my favorite hamburger spot, P. Terrys.
The few times we've been there, I've gawked at everyone's shakes. So this time I broke down and bought one for all of us to share.
It was yummy but a bit to sweet. Perfect for the kids!
Next we walked around the lake that runs just south of the dowtown. It's one of our favorite spots.
Here's the normal routine: we park the car, walk for a bit through the gorgeous trees, look at the water, use the bathroom at the Hyatt, and then hang out at Lucy's "fishing spot".
This time around Lucy had a friend fishing next to her.
Owen gave his stick pole a try.
And they both spent 20 minutes gathering sea shells.
I've said it before but I love Owen's head. Cute. Round.
There was a local goose walking on the sidewalk, greeting visitors who walked by. He wasn't mean or honking. He just hung out, like a maitre d' for the Hyatt. Our Luce Goose thought it was really funny.
And of course the other part of our routine is riding the Hyatt's glass elevators to the top (and talking a few rounds on the escalator). Cool views from the top.
Looks so 2-dimensional, like a blue print.
We continued our walk back along the river and walked over to the Congress bridge to see the BATS.
We stopped for snacks at the nearby Chevron which, (according to their mural) is at the heart of Austin. Nothing says Austin like a 24 hour food mart. Hmmm.
Along with hundreds of other people, we hung out here waiting for the bats to fly out for a nightly feeding. When we came in August we had a spectacular view. But tonight, the bats were being batty. They didn't come out till AFTER it was dark!
So we had a couple hours to play, run around,
and eat treats.
I bought Tootsie Pops for the kids, which ended up being a lifesaver.
Pure entertainment for over an hour.
And at one point, complete silliness.
Thankfully the people around us thought the kids were cute and enjoyed their entertainment.
I guess we were all happy to have treats.
We waited and waited till after 8pm.
The sun went down.
And the bats just hung there, under the bridge.
FINALLY they started coming out but it was too dark for snapping photos. Cool sights though! As we walked back to our car, we kept stopping to watch the long stream of black bats flying over head.
-------------------------------------------------------------

On the final night of their visit, Parry and Linda offered to watch the kids so we could have a date night! woohoo! YES.
We knew exactly where we wanted to go: The Alamo Draft House.
It's a kitschy theater, but it's also a restaurant. When you go to your seat, you place your order and about 1/4 of the way into your movie, a server brings out your food and drinks. Pretty cool!
And we very much enjoyed Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Far more exciting than the Disney version. And those costumes?! I wanted to wear each of Alice's dresses.
Outside of the theater, I had fun with my camera and lights....
Then we got yogurt (from a Squeeze and Scoop type of place. hooray!), walked around for a bit, and that was a date! It's great to be out alone with my husband. We always have fun together.

Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for coming to see us! We loved having you. We were sad to see you go. But we'll see you again soon! We love you guys.

Never too old for Trunk or Treat

2010-04-09T08:34:00.002-05:00

Times and Seasons posted another photo of mine today. You can see it HERE. Brother Kester always makes me smile.

Good Friday in Dallas

2010-04-03T19:49:00.015-05:00

Whenever Casey has a holiday weekend, we try to make a small day trip out of it. We hit Houston in September, San Antonio in February, and this weekend.....Dallas.
A 3 hour drive from Austin.
Traveling with the kids seems to be getting easier. Lucy has always been great in the car. And Owen's finally catching on too. It helps that they are such good friends with each other. Often times, they're just sitting back there saying silly things to each other and laughing. After an hour it can be a bit obnoxious but hey, at least they're not fighting (though that happens at times too).
Casey and I visited Dallas once 5 years ago (with my family) but we were interested to try it out again.

First stop, the Fountain Place. There's a large tall mirrored building (which makes picturing taking easy).....
And in the courtyard are tons of fountains! Smelled just like Disneyland's water rides.
We walked around, listening and watching the water, while Owen threw in leaves.
And since spring is officially here, red tulips were everywhere. Lucy thought she should smell each one of them. I asked what they smelled like.
"um....water!"
I had to explain to Owen a few times that these are not like weed flowers (which I let them pick) and that we should just look at them. No picking. He started bawling. I guess the boy loves his flowers?
Mama and kids.
Next we drove around the downtown, taking in sites. Cool trolley wires:
Big billboards:
with the Mad Hatter:
Large murals (which was kind of funny to us since we'd just watched The Cove the night before. A great movie. Definitely one-sided, so more of an expose rather than a "documentary" but quite informative and interesting. Recommend).
And eventually we drove through Dealey Plaza, where JFK was shot.
When we came 5 years ago we did the full-blown tour. And took some serious pictures. This time we just did the drive thru.
After the downtown I visited a darling fabric store called City Craft (more to come about that on MADE).
While I found some great oilcloth, guess who found the candy jar at the counter?
Yep, this girl:
She also wanted to take a picture of us in the car, while waiting at a stop light:
And she really wanted me to take her picture with Ronald. Funny girl. And NO we did not eat McDonald's on our Dallas visit. We actually bought a pizza from a local place. But there was limited seating, so we took it to the nearby McDonald's while the kids ran around. Quite perfect.
The next two stops were my favorite of the day. In the nearby city of Irving is the Mustang Museum.
We were too late to go inside. But all we really wanted to see was the amazing Mustang sculpture in the front plaza. It was just as impressive as we had hoped.
8 different bronze horses, in beautiful formations. The details are amazing. And combined with fountain work, it really looks like they are running and splashing in the water.
This was my favorite stop because the whole atmosphere was just relaxing. The plaza is very large and open, with water and walkways. We just relaxed and walked around. Sat down for a bit.
This photo reminds me of a similar one from our San Antonio trip:
We walked across the water bridges.
Looked at the horses.
And behind the building we found a beautiful lake with a large patio/deck.
And more red tulips. Mmmm.
The forecast had said it was going to rain all day. But the weather ended up being perfect. So we soaked up the late afternoon sunshine.
And Owen took a few falls. He must be having some growing pains because the kid has been falling non-stop. He's got scabbed-over knees to prove it.
But he wasn't sad for long when Casey asked if he wanted to "fly"?

One, Two, THREE!
And for our final stop we went to the Galleria Mall. Just a normal mall with the normal stores. But on the bottom floor is an ice skating rink! I'm bummed I didn't bring my camera along so these were taken with Casey's phone. Cool looking mall and rink:
And the real highlight was that Lucy tried skating for the first time! It was more like Casey dragging and pushing her around the rink. But each time around she got a bit stronger. And she loved it! I had my doubts. I'm so glad she was eager to try and that she had a great time doing it.
Here's a 15 second clip:

And that's Dallas in 7 hours! We left Austin at 11am and we were home by midnight. Great trip.

Times and Seasons photo

2010-04-01T09:15:00.002-05:00

Back in October I submitted some pictures to an online photo series for the site Times and Seasons. And this week, they posted one! Check it out HERE.

(and you can see the entire series here).

feeling snotty today?

2010-03-31T09:15:00.001-05:00

maybe this will clear you up.

Snowy Day

2010-03-30T00:32:00.011-05:00

So here's the thing about Texas: the weather is predictably unpredictable.

This happened a month ago....
On Sunday evening we all wore short sleeved shirts and walked to the park at 6pm.
The next morning we woke up to this:
Actually, I heard the rain coming down in the night as we slept. And I woke up to Lucy running into our room with, "mom, it's snowing!"
"No sweetie (wishing I was still sleeping), it's just rain."
"No! It's snow! Come see!"

Still not believing her, certain it was "snowing" on her princesses' house or something pretend, I stumbled out of bed, rubbed my eyes, and wow! Sure enough. It was snowing!! I immediately grabbed my camera and ran outside like an idiot in my pjs to capture the white stuff.
I know I posted about our "snow" before. But this time it was the REAL deal. I know, I know. Those of you living in snowy places are laughing at my excitement. But seriously, this is like snow falling in Phoenix. It doesn't really happen here! (at least it's not supposed to. But there's that "predictable unpredictability" thing again).
Falling right out of the sky. I forget how beautifully quiet it is. Not like the racket of rain.
Casey immediately announced that he wished he didn't have to go to work. But since he did, he ran out back and made the tiniest (alien-ish) snowman.....
yep. He's only 5 inches tall.
So Casey went to work and we stayed inside watching the snow fall from the front room; enjoying the white beauty. You can really enjoy it when it only lasts for a day.
Rooftops sure look pretty covered in white. At one point we left the house and I forgot about scraping off my car. I left that memory in my Utah college days. So I grabbed the kitchen broom and went at it. Worked pretty good.
When Casey got back home from work, the snowy fun began. Casey went straight to the garage and grabbed his snowboarding gear. I wrapped the kids up in whatever warm things they owned (not much) and everyone played in the backyard:
Lucy totally loved it. She danced, tromped, galloped,
and learned how to have a snowball fight.
winding up:
and taking a hit:
seriously, don't mess with dad.
Lucy started to hold her own though, after a while.
And then Casey helped the kids build a snowman:
Another adventure Lucy was thrilled about.
Owen however, just tromped back and forth in the snow getting as wet as possible. And the poor kid had no gloves.
I eventually tried to put Casey's on him. But that didn't last long. He was the first one inside for a warm bath. I helped Lucy make a snowman face out of big legos.
Ta da!
our Snowman was complete! Not the finest guy. But he'll do.
And for a neighborhood with not a lot of kids normally playing outside.....everyone came out of the woodwork on the coldest day of the year. Seems that every kid was making a snowman in his front yard. And just over our fence, our neighbor was working on his (with a ball in the middle of the head. clever). A paparazzi lens comes in handy.
To finish off the fun, two snow angels. Casey:
Lucy:
And by the next morning, this is what our snowman looked like:
With his face hanging at his feet.

We love you Texas. You always keep us wondering!

In-N-Out = P. Terry's

2010-03-06T20:32:00.004-06:00

Since moving to Austin we've been on the prowl for an In-N-Out replacement. We need more in our Saturday-Lunch routine other than: Chipotle, Firehouse Subs, and Rudys.

Everyone in town has been recommending Mighty Fine. So we tried it. It was.....fine. But it just wasn't that great and was also overpriced ($20 for me and Casey, while In-N-Out is $10.58 for us both).

Then.....the other day the kids and I went south into Austin and on a whim I drove by this place and decided, huh. Let's check it out.
And I'm SOOOO glad we did! It's just what I've been looking for (and more) Delicious, reasonably priced, and has the coolest decor. The kids and I ate there on Wednesday and we drove back today to share it with Casey.
At P. Terry's you'll find.....

Cute kids (one of them happier than the other):
Cool 60's decor with nice lighting:
Ketchup the way all great burger joints do it. In cups.
Yummy fresh, soft-in-the-middle-crunchy-on-the-outside fries (which I think are better than In-N-Out's):
GREAT burgers. The picture looks sloppy, but just believe. It's very tasty. I kind of want another....
Cute kids enjoying their fries (one refusing to look at the camera):
A fabulous color scheme. I know I'm a sucker for cool branding. But I'm not completely shallow. The food has to taste good too.
But seriously.....Cute cups! And perfect soda:
See, I think you're digging the turquoise and orange too....
Mod chairs:
And something we discovered after eating......an outdoor sandbox!
Dude. We should have been sitting out there the whole time! Next time.
Thank you P. Terry's for being my new best friend and making me wish we lived IN Austin, instead of 30 minutes away. We may not see you often enough. But we'll try.