Sunday, December 21, 2008

MMM, Macation!

So it's the holidays and that means "Macation" as my two year old calls it. For the first 3 months of his life I was on uninterrupted maternity leave (good thing since he was a coliky, insommniac baby and I spent most of my day ensuring that my arms never moved so he would be eternally comfortable), and the next two working no more than 4 hours a day. That all changed when we moved to Austin and I came back to work full time as a telecommuter. I tried for about a week to manage an active 5 month old baby and my job. It didn't take a genius to figure out that as soon as the baby started crying the phone would ring! I'm sure looking back an outsider would have viewed my days like an Abbot and Costello film; a true comedy of errors, but within a week I was interviewing nannies.

That was really the best of both worlds for me. I could work hard, get my job done right and still hear his giggles, see his smiles and have plenty of time with him every day. At 18 months though my little social butterfly was asking where his friends were and I knew that it was time to cut the apron strings and enroll him in a more social environment. A is now a happy, adjusted toddler in a nearby church school and never wants to come home. This week, our Holiday Macation week, will be spent bouncing from one activity to another, trying to entertain him. I'm looking forward to the quality time, believe you me, but when your two year old knows that Sunday means he'll see his friends tomorrow, and he's already asking for them, you begin to wonder how the week will go!

Wish us luck, I have a feeling it might be easier to handle deadlines, presentations and colleagues than one little, cute, angelic, crazy kiddo missing his pint size running buddies. Good thing I wouldn't trade our time for the world!

Twinkle, Twinkle

This time of year you see twinkle lights everywhere. As I sit here typing this up I can see my neighbors lights winking through my front window and if I crane my neck I can almost see the gorgeous LED lights across the street. We decorated last weekend, when it was still warm enough to be outside in tee-shirts, and it brought back memories of decorating for my wedding several years ago. I wanted a fairy tale outdoor wedding in April so in preparation we purchased thousands of lights at after Christmas sales. Not only did we get them for a fraction of the cost, but after the wedding we boxed them back up and our first year of marriage we were all set to decorate the whole street in white twinkly lights. Now we wrap the front porch columns, decorate the house roof line and even wrap the trees. I won't even tell you how many strands I have left over! Believe me it will be many years before I ever need to buy lights again.

If you're planning a wedding in 2009, and want to decorate with lights, hit the after Christmas sales next week and stock up! If you're not planning a wedding, grab a few boxes anyways and turn your deck into the outdoor entertaining hotspot among your friends! 

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A Nutty Irishman Saves My Sanity

The rush of the holidays. Finishing up deliverables for the year. Two days until vacation.

These are all things that are occuring simulteanously during the last week of work before Christmas vacation! I work hard all year, and I work from home which means I work sick or not, so I am planning a bang up vacation for Christmas. I'll be out the door (theoretically :)) on Friday at noon and I'll be back sometime after the first of the year. So this week is nuts and today finds me at Kenny's Coffee having a Nutty Irishman, my absolute favorite coffee drink for a pick me up, to get the day jumpstarted. I can't tell you how many times I have been so happy to have a great mom and pop coffee shop with free wifi in my neighborhood. Anytime I need more noise than I have at home to get me to focus, they are ready and waiting with caffinne a plenty. Off to the grind now, but I can't complain too much since Pandora. com is rocking on my computer, the Nutty Irishman is soothing my lack of sleep that I can thank my toddler for, and I'm looking forward to a coworker lunch today! All in all the best of the best that telecommuters can look forward to!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Holiday Party For One

This time of year I do miss working in an office where celebrations, lunches, and holiday parties are the norm. Working at home I do get my lovely Christmas decorations to enjoy around the clock, hot chocolate whenever I want to make it and Christmas music without worrying about enjoying a neighbor, but this is a super social time of year and as a born entertainer it feels like time to party!

This is my last week of work before I head off on Christmas vacation, so I am rewarding myself for pushing through my "Holidayitis" with a Holiday Party for One on Friday! :) Christmas carols will play, hot cocoa will be served and I might even through a breakfast buffet together.

Telecommuters Unite and Party together! Maybe next year I'll make the rounds of work at home meet up groups and organize a meet and greet telecommuter party!
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Friday, December 12, 2008

Crazy Days

Life as a telecommuter varies for me. Some days, when I don't have a super pressing deadline, I have to force myself to focus and work steadily on tasks that are more monotonous than fun. Fortunately there haven't been too many days like that lately.

What there has been are the typical snafus that accompany working from a home office (or a desk built into the kitchen like I do :)).

Yesterday there was a parade of repair men tromping through my house. The first one showed up right on time around 2, he was the cable guy, and being completely into what I was working on I showed him to my husband's wall mounted new plasma TV and left him to fix the broken input. It wasn't until 10 minutes later when a team of Best Buy repair men showed up that I realized the cable guy was there to fix my phones, not my husband's TV. There was a bit of embarrassment on my end and chuckles from the various testosterone infused experts in the house when I went up to shuffle them around. After all that neither party could fix what they came for and both rescheduled service calls for next week. So the saga continues!

Today I woke up sick as a dog, took the day off work and dosed myself with DayQuil. After sleeping for a few hours I woke up feeling better. Having already taken the day off I decided to get some personal business done and am now feeling quite accomplished for getting my Craigslist listings up, packages mailed, books sent off for www.paperbackswap.com, a few groceries (mostly OJ and Superfood juice by Odwalla) and a tiny bit of housecleaning done.

Realizing what all I accomplished from a day free of general work (sick or not I got a few things done that have been cluttering up my desk for sometime), I am now determined to take 1 day a month off to play "catch-up" for the house!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Drama, Dreams, and Disgusts that come with Telecommuting

I've been telecommuting for almost two years now and still there are funky hang-ups and distractions that make life interesting. Recently my "eyes' in the office, the one co-worker who didn't shun me when I left to work remotely, became a telecommuter herself. Being the literary minded person she is (and a child of the 80s, like me) she wanted to commermorate her Telecommuting journey and share it with anyone looking for a laugh!

Thus Adventures in Telecommuting was born.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Mmmmm Turkey

I spent yesterday visiting family I don't get to see often enough. I had a great time playing with my cousins, and even though it upset mom, I REFUSED to particpate nicely in any picture taking. Mom managed to grab a few action shots and made the book here.















Click to play Barber Thanksgiving 2008
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Hope you all had great Thanksgivings and you and your families are doing great!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Holiday Entertaining

Are you hosting Thanksgiving, or baking a dish to take along somewhere? You might even be wondering what the fuss over Turkey is all about! If you here reading this then the fuss is probably more about entertaining and less about the Turkey.

The Holidays are a wonderful time to gather friends and family near, show off your Hostess skills and visit. Unfortunately we typically picture this going smoothly, with a beautiful golden brown turkey, lots of laughter and clinking glasses, everyone mingling and visiting with some kind of background music playing. While some of us might get that vision in our post turkey nap, most of us will have a more "I Love Lucy" style Thanksgiving, with a lot of rushing around, flour flying and kids stealing cookies kind of day.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we count down to Turkey Day with some ideas on how to be prepared and above all RELAX and enjoy the day when it arrives.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Destination Weddings

My college roommate is getting married and of course I'm helping with the wedding. They were considering a possible destination wedding, and wanted to see if it would be in their budget to take themselves and about 30 people to Hawaii. I just finished tallying up the budget. Imagine my surprise when El Paso, Texas came out more expensive than Hawaii! Now granted they are looking at 30 people in Hawaii and about 150 in El Paso, but I still expected Hawaii to be leading the charge.

Just goes to show that you should never write off what you really want until you take a hard look at the numbers. :)

Open House Tomorrow

Whohoo, Open house tomorrow! Come on buyers! :)

We're excited about a new open house. We held the last one before the house was repainted, before we made some basic repairs, and before we moved out. I know the market is a little crazy but I am really hoping to see it sold by Christmas!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Rock the Vote and Get House Hunting

I voted yesterday...whohoo. So the election hype and drama is over for me, at least until they announce the winner. I am however, anxiously awaiting Election Day to come and go so that the real estate market can pick back up again. Everyone I talk to from lenders to my favorite trusted Realtor has told me that the market just generally comes to a standstill before the election. I trust my Realtor so we're just playing the waiting game. But boy does it stink when you have a house for sale.

Other houses have popped up for sale in our neighborhood, and like any interested party we either checked them out online or dropped by and I'm pleased to say that ours is definitely a strong competitor, possibly even a front runner. The other houses have laminate and we have tile, some have semi open floor plans, we have a true open floor plan, they have carpet, we have new laminate floors, etc. So all we can think is Come On Future Homeowner...:) Come see our old house and fall in love with it. I really do want it to go to a great family. We put so much time and effort into it that I feel invested in wanting a good family for it.

Ok, I just spotted my son making off with a Sam's Club size box of goldfish for his breakfast so I'll have to run and finish this later.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

I Voted!

So all week long we have worked hard learning the campaign slogans, making posters to help our candidates out, and preparing speeches for the rally that was held today. Seems like a lot of work for little toddler politicos, but at the end of the day we were all excited when our candidate stood out from the crowd. Mommy helped me by bringing in lots of handouts for our cause (as did some of the other kiddos moms), and we were all pumped up on sugar when the afternoon rally rolled around yesterday.


Now the rest of you crazy grownups might be worrying about things like bonds, and financial markets, but that's not what concerns our generation. We're concerned with big governement, since too many authority figures reduces the everyday toddler's ability to wheedle additional cookies.  Other issues encountered during the rally were who governs sugar content, who regulates the ingredients that go into snacks that toddlers get to eat, and other issues like foreign relations (imported cookies are sooo yummy).  Cookie control is a frequently debated issue since some children have cookies at home and need to know the dangers of sneaking them when Mom and Dad aren't watching. Our campaign is based on awareness...toddlers should know the dangers of eating cookies without permission or being monitored by a responsible older sibling.  The concept of Free Trade also came up during debates, and we are willing to work on a non-partisan blue ribbon commission to encourage Free Trade of lunch room cookies but will expect other parties to step up and join us in this endeavor.


After our rally yesterday we gathered around and cast our votes, which are being tabulated as we speak. Check back soon to see if your favorite cookie was elected and will rule the school for the next four years.


Sponsored by the Brown Ponies in support of Animal Cookies.  We're committed to bringing the very best to our classmates.


We're Number 1, E-I-E-I-O.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

All Moved In

So we bought a new house before we sold our old one...YIKES in the current market! We've been distracted for the last few days as we moved into our new house and got settled but now that we are Eric and I are both beginning to feel the push to stop strangers on the street and ask if their in the market for a new home! :)

It's a beautiful home, well taken care of, and we could have been very happy there for years if the tempting home down the street that had everything we wanted to eventually do to ours and then some had not popped up. And then the darn financial market began spiraling downhill and it became a smart, cost-effective move to make. So we jumped on the opportunity, took a leap of blind faith and hoped that ours would sell in a timely manner.

We've had a good bit of traffic, gotten some comments back and made some updates (more neutral paint...should have known, huh?) and yet still no offers.

Now starts the rambling and wondering...is our house under-priced? Are the wrong people coming to look at it since we priced it low to sell quick? Then a neighbor's house (a nice house but of course I think mine is nicer :)) comes on the market and it's priced almost $4000 more than ours. Makes me want to pretend to be buying and go snoop the house!

When we thought the house we were buying was a sinking ship (the first, second and third times we signed termination of contract papers) we nicknamed it the Titanic. It's something of a misnomer now since it has sailed safely into port and we are happy and settled but the icebergs keep on floating by as we are anxiously awaiting an offer on our house for sale.

Do you know someone looking for a new home in Austin??? Our previous Well's Branch home is for sale. Visit the listing here: http://listings.listhub.net/pages/ABORTX/5059778/?channel=trulia

Motivated Sellers! One of the best homes in Wells Branch! With new neutral paint and laminate wood floors, this house is move-in ready.The soaring ceilings, spacious layout, roomy kitchen, and large backyard with patio are great for entertaining while the large master suite is the perfect place to rest and relax. Wonderful bonuses such as surround sound speakers, quality stainless steel appliances, and a lush lawn with vegetable garden make this home a complete package! Plus its in Round Rock ISD!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Houses used to be named to represent what they stood for to their owners. The dream of owning a home, the work that it took to get there all culminated in the few words that forevermore the home site was known by. These days with neighborhoods full of similar plans, elevations and landscaping we no longer do this. Our recent adventure in real estate was a roller coaster ride of emotions, craziness, mishaps and comedy, and I'm bringing back tradition. Our house has earned a name...The Titanic.

A little background...
We live in a typical, average, truly lovely part of Austin, the Wells Branch area. We are surrounded by hike and bike trails, swimming pools, soccer fields and quirky neighbors. Eighteen months ago we bought a great two story, grey brick house with too many tall bushes in front, and a great room that knocks your socks off.

That transaction was also convoluted and riddled with last minute interest rate changes (had our lender never heard of locking a rate?), but that's another story for another time! The house we bought was a basic in good condition but had none of the upgrades we were hoping for. So we bought it, buckled down and spent the last eighteen months doing one project at a time. It kept us hopping but eventually we were ready for a break (did I mention we have a toddler too J), and a house where weekends were spent playing in the backyard and not laying wood floors, or installing new appliances.

So we started searching for a home with all the upgrades we had in mind in our same neighborhood, and four months later the Titanic sailed into view!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

One to Two, A Year in Review

So right now Mommy and Daddy have "flown away" to Canada. To keep busy I'm partying all night with Noni and Pa, doing some major shopping with Noni, Aunt Christine and Bis Nana and just generally having fun.  Before she left Mom finished my two year annual photo album and wanted to share.  Click this link to take a peek.


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QbtWTNwzbMXOw


Lately I've been a bit of a drama king (mom keeps threatening to film and post it) and am definitely taking the "Terribly Trying Twos" to heart. I'm doing great in school though. My new teacher is Ms. Paine who I love taking flowers that I pick myself to.  Most of my friends from my old class are in my new one, plus a few new guys too. Mom's a homeroom mom so she pops in now and again and we're learning all kinds of new stuff. Plus we get to play on the big playground! YEAH. I love the playground and slides, and pretty much anything outside that keeps me running.


Mom is constantly chuckling at some of the things I do like say Okidokey, sticking out my bottom lip, throwing myself on the floor to cry but peaking up to see if it's working, and the thing that made her laugh so hard she cried...locking myself in the laundry room with the dog's gate so I could eat in peace. Man did she laugh forever. Ever day when it's time for the dogs to eat mom or dad puts them in the laundry room and shuts the baby gate so I can't go love on them and they can eat in peace. But when I get to eat (Cheerios mixed with goldfish if I get my way) they run around after me trying to get my food. I yell "No princess, no brinna, my cheerio fishies" but they just keep coming. So finally I had enough and decided that I would go where they couldn't. I went in the laundry room, shut the baby gate, sat down and ate in peace, knowing they couldn't come and steal my food.


If you haven't been around lately I'm talking up a storm, complete sentences, and very nicely pronounced. I still tend to get a bit whiney if I don't get my immediate way but overall I'm a darn good little communicator.


Ok I gotta run and go keep Noni and Pa in line but I wanted to update everyone on who's really running things while Mom and Dad are away.

My first vacation without the kiddo

So far everything is going okay. I haven't gotten to talk to Alex much at all since we have been here and that has been particularly hard.  I'm such a control freak (and perfectly okay with that) that it has been very frustrating not being on a good schedule and talking to him daily. Other than a rough first night, for both him and me, everything does seem to be going well though.

Yesterday I spent sightseeing around Vancouver (pics to come soon) and saw the beautiful Stanley Park, a few national landmarks, some local shopping and even managed to stumble across a tent sale, which was fun even though I left empty handed. In the afternoon I treated myself to an hour and a half long high tea at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which was just amazing. If we are ever blessed with a daughter I think that will be the perfect mom and daughter birthday ritual.

Today Eric is finishing up classes in the morning and then we will sight see together this afternoon. We plan to hit up the suspension bridge and a few other gorgeous photo opps.  I'm still working on bettering my photography since I can't ever seem to take the shot I see, but even I'm seeing small improvements.

Tomorrow it's back to Seattle and Eric is off home while I spend one more day here with family and friends. I'll fly back Monday and join life as we know it then.

We are still trying to sell our house and buy a new one, but over the last few days that too has gone south since the seller of the house we love is a non negotiating little pinhead who won't negotiate at all and refuses to lower his house to the value it appraises for.  Since that is no longer assured watch the open houses we are having this weekend bring in an offer for ours. LOL

Ok off to play in Vancouver. 

Monday, August 4, 2008

Planes, Trains and Automobiles...What a Party!

We celebrated my 2nd birthday on August 2 (a mere 24 hours before the official big event since I was born Aug 3 at 10:19pm). Since I love everything that moves, rolls, or motors we celebrated with a Planes, Trains and Automobiles theme with a few boats thrown in for fun. Here are a few pictures of the big day and some of the prep Mom did for the big day.


 








 


and not a few days later Mom's getting on to me for the "Trying Twos". She says I am pushing my limits, exploring my boundaries and just plain does what he wants to do. Here's a great example!


 







Thursday, June 12, 2008

A Month of Madness

To start with, it's 11:40pm, and Mom should be sleeping but isn't. Wanna know why??? Because in my obsession to "drive" anything and everything I can with Mom's keys I somehow got distracted, as curious little boys do, and misplaced Mom's keys tonight. Now I don't see what the big deal is, she knows there around here somewhere, plus these two really nice guys from Mom's work who she was supposed to go to dinner with to talk shop, hung around the house for an hour helping us look for them. We still couldn't find them after an hour, even though I kept thinking I knew where they were and would take Mom all over the house, so we moved my car-seat to their truck and went to a REALLY late dinner. I was asleep by the time we got home so Mom had to finish search on her own. After tearing the house apart AGAIN she finally located them by walking up and down the backyard in tight little rows with a flashlight. Guess she finally found that knot hole in the fence where I stuck them!


 


Now that that drama is over, here's what I've been up to for the last month. May 14th was Sam's last day watching me. We had a special picnic at the park, played on the playground and had a great time.


 


 



 



 


Then on May 15th I started school at Shoreline Christian School. I'm in the 18 to 24 month class and my teacher is Mrs. Rogers. She's great and is always keeping us busy doing something fun. Although I was overwhelmed at first, I made friends quickly and can now name off my classmates with no problems. I'm working on learning boundaries since I'm a loveable guy and like to kiss all the girls goodbye.


 


I've been there a few weeks and am now getting into the swing of things, doing better at drop-offs (I've even had one day where I didn't cry at all!) and starting to get over the sleep troubles I was having when I started. Here's a few pictures of my first day at school!


 



 



 



 


When I get home from school in the afternoons I usually hang out with Mom, helping her out in the garden. Dad wouldn't let her plant watermelon so I planted some for her and we have two baseball size watermelons getting bigger every day now. Last weekend at my Uncle Bryan's graduation party Great Aunt Sharon showed me how to pick the rosemary and smell it! MMMMMM.


 



 



 


We've had lots of parties in the last few weeks, Mom's memorial day BBQ, Uncle Bryan's graduation, Mother's day, and tomorrow we leave for Cousin Michelle's baby shower. In between all the fun times I learned how to play washers, got to try out the sprinkler Nana Tyler gave me, and helped Uncle Bryan polish off his cookie cake. (He wasn't going to eat it all anyways!) Although I still take a few minutes to warm up to people I haven't seen in a while I had a GREAT time seeing all the family. Here's a few pictures of the last few weeks of friends and family.


 


My special occasion outfit!



 



 


Trying out my new sprinkler…Thanks Nana!



 


Uncle Bryan and Uncle Jason were teaching me how to play washers, while Aunt Virginia cheered me on!



 



 


Teaching Uncle Jason everything I know



 


Uncle Bryan was nice enough to feed me more cookie cake when Mom cut me off after three pieces.



 


Yelling YEAH UNCLE BRYAN at graduation!



This is also when Uncle Jason asked to "babysit me" so he can pick up chicks!


 


The Barber Bunch …so proud of Uncle Bryan..he carried Flat Alex when he walked across stage. You can see flat Alex in the picture here, I'm holding him. He's a laminated mini me that Sam made me to trasvel around with my friends and family so they can send pictures back to me for my website and scrapbook. He's been with Dad on business trips, graduated with Uncle Bryan and has plans to go to A&M with Auntie V and skiing for Christmas!


 



 


As most of you know my Mom is a little crazy about the environment, and now she's got me in on the act. To do my part in saving the earth and being more environmentally responsible I am now a gDiapers baby. They are a flushable diaper that biodegrades in 50-100 days instead of 500 years like plastic diapers. Mom's really excited about this and my teachers at school even think I'm neat for doing it!


 


If you haven't been around me lately, I've started talking a blue streak, including complete sentences and appropriate responses to questions. Mom's current favorites (she's trying to figure out how to get audio clips on here) are Opps a daisy and Oh MAN!


 


Well it's almost tomorrow so I better hit the sack but Mom should type this up and post it right away for you guys!


 


Love you all,


Alex


 

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Fabulous Finds for Summer Entertaining

Do you love to entertain? I sure do! :)

1. This week Garden Ridge has 10x10 pop up canopies for $49. I snagged a great white one just in time for a Memorial day BBQ.

2. Sam's Club has great deals on gorgeous glass urns that hold 3 gallons of liquid and has a nifty dispenser at the bottom.

3. Target is now carrying pre-seasoned skewers for healthy kabobs. If you are shooting for healthy choices at your BBQ, these skewers could be for you.

I'll keep updating this as we're out and about and find new ideas, but feel free to post your own as well.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Fabulous 50's


Why celebrate this incredible milestone with gloom and doom, blow up toliets, and practical jokes? If you are looking for a fun, light-hearted alternative to going "over the hill", check out these ideas for a rocking good time!

First, think about getting an entertainer for the kids that will be present. This frees you and their parents up to have a good time. I'm proud to reccomend Bonzo Crunch, http://www.bonzocrunch.com/.





Then decorate with fun, festive colors. This Celebrate 50 theme is avaliable both online and in local party stores.






We took the theme even farther, by having custom invitations made and a cake to match.




The cake, a fondant masterpiece shown here, was created by Blue Note Bakery, http://www.bluenotebakery.com/.

The design was inspired by both the decorations and the custom invitation designed by RSVP Regrets Only, http://www.rsvpregretsonly.com/. All in all, this was a perfect way to celebrate such a special day. Our guest of honor spent it surrounded by friends and family, enjoying cake, tea and lemonade and a festive atmosphere provided by the light-hearted decorations and upbeat music.















Saturday, April 26, 2008

UPS Mishap


As a multi-tasking mama my day is always unpredictable! Today I waited anxiously for a UPS delivery of rush invitations for a special event only a week away...and I waited in vain. Technology is great and this morning the invitation designer and I anxiously checked to make sure that the invitations were on the road and headed our way, especially since we overnight shipped them! At 8:45 they were in Austin and I made myself wait patiently for them to arrive, but by 5pm I was wondering where my elusive UPS driver could be. My husband's family had all arrived to go out to dinner and celebrate his and my sister-in-law's birthdays but I couldn't be pried away from the computer. As a born planner I will admit that I am somewhat of a control freak, it's one of the traits that makes me good at what I do. However this was my inlaw's first experience with the sometimes unpredictable demands of my non stop entertaining. As everyone enjoyed thier dinner I continued to hound UPS on the phone and email an all night printer with emergency instructions to get my order filled NOW. By the time dessert arrived everything was under control and running smoothly once more, but you can bet UPS and I will find the time to chat on Monday!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

I Met the Little Einstiens

What a day!


 


So yesterday Momma, Daddy and I took Disney World by storm. We got up early (I'm always early but Mom and Dad were slackers and tried to go back to sleep), and got some breakfast where I spit eggs all over Daddy. Little did he know it was the first of five times that day that I would shower him in something. :) After a hearty breakfast I went screaming down the halls to our room waking everyone else up! It was after 8 so I didn't see any need to moderate my voice. Then we got dressed, and I got to wear my special Mickey Mouse Playhouse shirt mom got from Target before we left. It has a button at the bottom and when you push the button it plays the M, I, C, K, E, Y, M, O, U, S, E song. As you'll see from the pictures of our day I showed off the shirt and danced with all my favorite characters that I got to meet. They danced along with me and made my day.


 


So after Mom and Dad finally got dressed and around (I swear they took forever and I got so bored I destroyed the hotel room trying to find something to do), we went downstairs and caught the bus to Hollywood Studios MGM. I was so excited to ride the bus that I entertained everyone on it shouting BUS, BUS and again playing and dancing along to the music from my shirt. Once we got to MGM we went straight to the Disney Playhouse show to see when it would start. Right as we got to that area I spotted JoJo from JoJo's circus and I went nuts! Momma and Daddy had been a little worried that I would get scared by all the characters but as soon as they let me out of the stroller I ran over to JoJo to visit. I played with her for about 10 minutes since no one else was around and I got to squeak her nose just like she does on TV. I also got to hug her and Goliath her loin. As you can tell from the HUGE grin on my face in the pictures I was ecstatic to get to see some of my favorite characters in real life. When JoJo left to go and take a break I was so upset and tried several times to run after her and Goliath into the cast area.


 


Throughout the day I got to meet JoJo and Goliath, Leo, June, Quincy and Annie from the Little Einsteins, Donald Duck, and Chicken Little. I rode the Viking boat ride and loved it, the Three Caballeros boat ride in Mexico, the Finding Nemo ride, and the big boat from MGM to Epcot. I enjoyed the Disney Playhouse show and Momma will post video of that pretty soon, but you wouldn't know it from my expression. I was a little overwhelmed so I look a little straight-faced instead of smiling, but I really did have a great time. Momma and Daddy also went and saw the Muppet Show, but I was tired from running all over the place and decided to crash and take a super deep nap.


 


All in all I had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back in a few years when I can do even more.







Saturday, March 22, 2008

March Madness

Yeah around here that would generally just refer to basketball, but there has been so much going on that it really has just been a crazy month. Late in February Mom and I took a trip to Midland, then when we got back I raided mom's stuff and took a trip back into the 80s by myself. I also went with Mom for the Texas primary and voted. Mom picked the candidates and I hit the button. This was also the month that I discovered basketball. Check out the slide show below to see me in action. Mom also got my water table set up outside and I had a blast playing in that until the bees discovered it and took over. Dad's taking care of them today! And in case you haven't been around me lately and heard, I LOVE trucks. I get so excited in the car or anytime I see one, so when we were at Chick Fil A last weekend I wanted to go and sit at the back on the restraunt on the corner and watch all the trucks go through the drive thru. This just cracked Mom up and she took a ton of pictures. For some reason Pa gave me money to do this, but I dropped it cause the trucks are more fun. Boy you should have seen Dad scramble to catch the money flying away! I also finally agreed to sit still long enough for Mom to take Grampy some pictures of the great Cowboys jumpsuit he got me. She finally caught me watching sports and snapped a few. Here's a bunch of pictures from this month.








 


 


Today I have been pretty cranky since my last few teeth are taking their sweet time to come in, but right after refusing lunch Mom and Dad decided to distract me with some Easter Egg decorating. Although a bunch of them ended up cracked (I do like to throw anything remotely round), I had a good time.


 







One Seriously Jammin Dude

This will be quick since its Easter Eve and we are off shortly to church but I wanted to get it down before I forgot.  Thursday Alex stayed with his Noni and Pa all day while I got some work done.  Then Eric and I enjoyed a very rare evening out alone...whoohoo date night. We went to Outback and then on to the dollar movie to see Enchanted.  I loved it but the fun was just beginning. We headed off to my inlaws to pick Alex up and he was dead asleep. We put him in the car and he began to stir so we quickly turned on the nursery rhyming music that has the amazing ability to put him to sleep or calm him right down depending on the time of day.  Well Alex with his eyes barely open begins jamming, bobbing and dancing in the carseat to the music.  Eric and I were dying laughing.  We got him buckled in and started towards home (all of 2 miles away) and when I looked back and checked on him he was sound asleep.  Then I heard something, looked again and he was dancing in his sleep.  Memories like that make the cranky, screaming, teething days all worth it!


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Better Get Ready

Spring is almost here. I just finished helping Dad rake the leaves that finally fell at the beginning of February and now here it is the beginning of March and spring is almost here. I have spent most of the month outside playing in the gorgeous weather and learning the art of basketball. Noni even taught me how to dribble and shout 2 POINTS all the time. Here are some recent pictures!


 







Saturday, February 9, 2008

Be My Valentine

So we don't have much candy around the house, but Mom did take me to have pictures made for Valentine's Day. We've been really busy around here so it's been awhile so she got a chance to update this. Check back soon for pictures of my trip to Philly and some videos of me hanging out with my Little Leo Buddies.


 


Love,


Alex

Thursday, January 17, 2008

My Short Lived Career as a Stunt Man

So last night mom set up a little play area for me on the floor (see my video below) and I had a blast jumping around and wearing myself out. Then this morning I attempted a backwards somersault off the couch and landed on my head on the hard wood floors. You would have thought I broke my neck the way mom carried on. (Mom says she did think I broke my neck) Now I am not allowed on the couch at all, and she's being super strict. Guess next time I'll have to do it when she's not looking!


 







CHEESE!!!!!

Alex loves to eat...anything and everything, as long as it can be chewed and swallowed.  I'm definitely not complaining since I know there are tons of parents out there that wish their children weren't so picky, but Alex's obsession with food and string cheese specifically led to a funny moment the other day that I am sure we will bring up anytime he needs to be humbled in his teenage years.

SPOILER WARNING: This story contains feminine references that might make the male species squirm...so read no farther if you can't handle comments about "that time of the month."

So it's that time of the month that makes every woman so happy she's female (yes sarcasm :)) and Alex spotted me heading to the restroom with a tampon.  Normally he just waves bye bye as I pass but today his eye was caught by CHEESE.  As I passed him he spotted the tampon and it's similar size and shape to his favorite string cheese snack, and as I'm sure you see coming, he began yelling CHEESE, Me Want CHEESE at the top of his lungs. I laughed off and on for the rest of the day!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Watch Out

I finally figured out how to work the pedals on my Jeep, but I haven't figured out the steering so you better clear out of the way. Check out my adventures this afternoon. Sorry about the video quality but mom had to take this with the webcam since I lost the cable for the camcorder and she hasn't found it yet!


 








 


And here's some more








 


Mom got some good pictures too so check back soon for those!


 


Here they are...


 



 


 


 



 


 



 


 



 


 


 

Where are my Keys?

Like most people I have to occasionally search for my keys. They could be in my purse, a pocket of a previous outfit, the drawer where they are supposed to be, or any one of a dozen other places.  However the rules of this game changed completely when Noni and Pa gave Alex a Cozy Coupe for Christmas.  The Cozy Coupe is a fisher price red and yellow car that is supposed to be powered Flinstone style, although Alex prefers Mom or Dad horsepower.  It has a horn, a small storage/trunk space and a big blue key and key slot.  Alex is incredibly observant and is so cute mimicking everything we do, right down to needing chees (Keys) to drive his car.  Seriously the kiddo won't even open the door to his coupe without first running to Mom, Dad or the key drawer and shouting for keys.  Then keys in hand he'll get in, take out the fake key and insert the lovely real jingly ones and away he goes.  Add it to the list of places I now need to check when searching for my keys! 

Another of Alex's latest accomplishments is belly blowing.  That crazy disgusting act of someone blowing on your belly, than never fails to make you laugh.  After months of us cracking Alex up by blowing on his, Eric pinned me down and showed Alex how to tickle Mommy not long ago.  Today Alex decided to see if it was as funny to blow on my belly as I find blowing on his.  It was so funny to see him try and boy oh boy was he proud of himself.

Mr Mimic is talking up a storm, doing everything we do, and advancing/learning by leaps and bounds.  In the last few weeks he has said his first full sentence (There he is, in response to Eric's "Where's Alex?"), learned how to get out into the garage (I found him trying to climb into his jeep), Saying the names of all his favorite little Einsteins characters, trying out new words like Meatloaf, and lip syncing to his favorite Little People tunes.  He loves being outside, hearing and pointing at the planes and driving his Jeep, which he has now mastered the art of.  He plays hard, sleeps some, and truly is a joy to be around.

Eric is still traveling quite a bit and will be for awhile.  That's okay with me when I hear that crazy employee's wives are driving their cars through the glass building he works in and crashing the break area.  He's safer in Tampa!

I'm busy with all my various endeavors, and will be especially focusing the next 7 weeks on jump starting my weight-loss plans for the year with the Curves Challenge.  I'm working out 4 times a week, doing a low carb plan, and generally making my house to healthy for any friends or family's peace of mind.  I'm also in full organizing mode and will be attacking closets over the next few weeks and checking out sites like www.easyclosets.com.


Monday, January 7, 2008

Cheerios and Milk

This morning Alex progressed to real cereal. Boy was he excited when he saw me pour the milk in the cheerios!  Kind of funny that we are regressing back to spoon feeding him but I just wasn't ready to have to mop up the whole kitchen again! :)

Speaking of mopping I got the mother of all deals yesterday.  While working out at Curves I mentioned that I wanted a steam mop to truly clean our floors since Alex considers the whole wide world a plate.  One of the ladies working out told me she had seen them on sale at Kohl's, so as soon as I finished my lovely 30 minutes I grabbed Alex and headed that way.  It's a good thing I did too since I got the last one on the shelf, and even better got it for 40% off the retail price.  Our entire downstairs is laminates or tile and this wonderful mop made short work of the entire thing.  This evening I'm trying it on the carpet. I love it and anyone looking for a great mop should check it out. 

Yesterday we met another neighbor and I am really happy to say that this family has twin boys around Alex's age and is super sweet.  The mom and I have careers that can help each other out, the boys all played great together and it is so nice to have friendly faces on our street.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Clocking Out

First day back at work went okay!  I did good on the food I ate, whohoo!, and best of all Eric is taking me out to dinner and a movie. I finally get to see National Treasure 2.  I'm excited!!! Since Alex was born I think we have been to the movies and dinner alone 2 times.  Bring on the diet food and entertaiment! 

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Short and Sweet

It's finally caught up with me. I was able to hang past midnight most of our vacation but I have been yawning since Alex went down at 7:30 tonight.  It really cracked me up how defensive I was with the few friends silly enough to sound surprised at my ability to hang in there and watch the ball drop.  From the consummate party girl in college to the sleep deprived parent of a toddler, I have gone a long way in a short time.  It wasn't long ago that 9:30 on a Wednesday meant it was time to head to Scruffy's for some hilarious Karaoke.  There's days when I miss that life, and then there's days like today when my bed looks better than anything else.

I got my Curves workout in this morning, and some extra crunches a few different times today.  I even managed to talk myself into 3 push-ups!  I was motivated by the freaking crazy funny commercial that Yo-plait is running right now with the husband who is scouring the fridge for the desserts he hears his wife mentioning.  Looks like I might have to grab some Boston Creme Pie yogurt next time I'm out!

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Years Day

2008 is here and I want to remember it is as my year of organization.  Although we keep a clean house, there is still a crazy toddler, two dogs and two busy parents that daily clutter up our house.  I want to spend January really getting everything in a designated place that is easier to maintain. 

Today Alex had his first New Year's Day meal.  He at Corned Beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, cabbage and black eyed peas...mmmm.  By far his favorite was the meat.  I got half the Christmas decorations down and will finish up tomorrow, but it was kind of sad as all the holiday charm is being packed away.

I got our Thank you cards ordered today and will hopefully have those out next week.  I really enjoyed hosting Christmas and hope that in the future we can surround ourselves with even more family than we have this year. I made so much food that we are just now getting down the end of the leftovers and it was so nice not to have to cook over the holidays. 

Ok off to get a good night's sleep and then tomorrow I have my last day of freedom! Here's to a great 2008 for everyone.