Mother’s Day

I didn’t expect to be really celebrating Mother’s Day as an actual “Mother” this year.  Mother’s Day fell 2 days after my birthday.  We joked a lot about how we thought my birthday would be pretty miserable… pregnant, fat, tired, uncomfortable and so ready to meet little Cason.   Mother’s Day would probably have been more of the same complaining.  :)

Instead, I celebrated my 29th birthday and my very first Mother’s day with my adorable little man, my wonderful husband and my oldest son (of the canine variety). 

Mother’s day has a new meaning now.  Though I’ve only been a Mom for a little over 3 weeks, I know already what it means to be a mother.  As my body was not just my body for 9 make that 8 months… my life is not just my life anymore.  Especially in these early weeks and months I hold the responsibility of this life in my hands and its an awesome responsibility and amazing gift.  From the morning I jumped out of bed and rushed to check on Cason after he slept for 6 hours to the way he melts my heart when he grips my finger as if he will never let go to all the crazy funny faces he makes as he stretches, wakes up, eats, etc…. I am just so truly blessed to have this happy, healthy baby that arrived 5 weeks early.

Finally being a “Mother” myself, it makes me appreciate my mom and my grandmothers and all the mom’s in my life that much more.  I hope to look back in 29 years and see that I’ve been as wonderful a mother as my Mom.  And with that, I thank my Mom for always being there for me and James, for loving us unconditionally, for letting us make mistakes (and being there to help us pick up the pieces when we did), for encouraging us to follow our dreams, for offering advice (even when we didn’t want to hear it), for being our friend as we have grown older and for a million more reasons… Thank You and Happy Mother’s Day.

 

New Phones!!

Two years ago we went to get new phones when our two year renewal discount was available. We left the Verizon store with a Blackberry for Ryan and a little flip phone for me. I was jealous. Lots of our friends were getting Blackberry and iPhones. It just wasn't in the cards for me back then.

Yesterday we went in for our new two year upgrade and I had already told Ryan that I WOULD be getting a smartphone whether he liked it or not! I need to be able to email him pictures of Cason while I was home on leave. And I need to be able to post them straight to Facebook... I NEED to be able to do this!!!!!

So here I am, posting to the blog from my new Droid Eris. Ryan got the Motorola Droid. I love mine and I think Ryan is starting to like his... gotta adjust from the Blackberry.  We've both already spent WAAAY too much time playing with theses phones in the past, oh, 18 hours!

Finger Football (Part 2) and Fievel

Eric and Whitney(who finally have a blog) came over this weekend so Eric could help Ryan get the rest of the nursery furniture upstairs... and just to visit.

Ryan and Eric had to get a game of finger football in since, you know, Eric's the big stud Division 1 Wide Receiver and all!!! I'm thinking the Ivy League education was more useful than the Football training since the game has so many rules.

Ryan in scoring position...
Something good just happened...
Kicking a field goal or extra point
So determined...
Once again, there was a lot of laughter and when Eric is around it's never a dull or quiet evening!

And a few pictures of their puppy Fievel who was just a few days out of having his man parts removed and forced into a onesie because his neck is so long he could still reach his stitches with a cone collar.
Resting (or pouting)
Trying to figure out why there is glass separating them!

Finger Football

My parents always find something sort of silly to get Ryan for Christmas. One year was one of those little remote control helicopters they were selling in the malls. This year it was Finger Football. Kevin and Steph came over last weekend and Ryan convinced Kevin to play with him


It looked pretty fun, but more complicated than we imagined.


And requiring a little more skill. But they had fun and there was lots of giggling (manly giggling) invovled as they played.

Red Bird Problem

We've had a problem with this stupid red bird (cardinal I guess) liking to peck/fly into the window of the utility room and guest room window. Ryan had this problem at one of his spec homes and we did some research. Everything says that during mating season certain birds (including cardinals) are very territorial and they will see their own reflection and think its another male bird so they attack. I guess hitting the glass doesn't teach them anything and they just keep doing it. Sometimes its so bad they start to bleed! Most solutions were to keep the blinds shut, put the screens on the windows, and other methods to make the windows not have a reflection. None are "pretty" solutions..

Since the problem at our house was not affecting anyone's sleep we never did anything about it. Then, the bird (or his friend) took a perch on our outdoor cooler one day and saw himself in the glass door to our bedroom. For the past couple of weeks, he's been attacking himself in the window every morning around 7:00. I did more research and still found no fool proof solution other than to try to make the window not reflective.

I came home last night to Ryan's version of this solution.... (click for full effect)


And Ryan re-enacting this photo...

It worked this morning... Ryan said he even saw the bird perched on the cooler so we'll see how long it lasts. If we follow the advice of the websites I've read, Ryan's threatening picture will have to stay for a couple of weeks for the bird to forget that he has an enemy in this spot.

Monday in Woodforest

I woke up today in a funk. We stayed up too late last night budgeting for life after the arrival of Cason Philip and then I didn't sleep well...or really at all. My mind was racing and I was extremely uncomfortable (I'm a stomach sleeper and, well, that's just not possible anymore). So needless to say, today was not a good morning. I was tired and cranky and the water works started. It was just one of those mornings.

So the rest of my day just sort of had that same blah tone. I worked, tried to focus, put dinner in the crock pot, etc. And then things started to take a turn...

First, Ryan got home and said "Hey, come look", directing me to the garage door. And this is what I saw (well, it was sitting in the driveway... I didn't get a picture before Ryan brought it in).

Now to most of you, this is just a really big, new trashcan issued by the trash company. Nothing special. But to me, this trash can was probably the first thing today that made me glad I got out of bed. You see, we've been in this house for over 3 months but TODAY is the first time I've seen this trash can. This trash can symbolizes the end of bags of stinky trash sitting in the garage for a week at a time. This trash can symbolizes the end of waking up to torn up trash bags and trash on our driveway on trash morning (raccoons we assume). This trashcan symbolizes... well you get my point. Whatever was holding up delivery of trash cans to our new neighborhood was finally worked out and all is right in garbage world.

The trash can itself would have been enough to brighten my day but then there was more. We ate dinner and were cleaning up when Ryan said "It's pink outside... get the camera." And he was right. The sunset view from our back porch was beautiful. God is Good!

Christmas 2009

We hosted Christmas at our house this year. My parents, grandmother, niece, brother and his dog all came from Mississippi and stayed for almost a week. It was great to have my family see the new house and especially to spend some time with Grammy, James and Helmi as I see them even less than I see my parents. Admiral enjoyed having his cousin Gus around for several days too.

On Christmas morning, Santa came to visit and we opened gifts with my family. All of Ryan's family (parents, both brothers and their wives, and of course all the dogs) joined us for lunch.

It was great to celebrate our first holiday in the new house with both families. Here are some highlights.

Grammy and Helmi making Grammy's famous Lemon Pie.

Helmi in her adorable Christmas Dress

Santa came to visit.

Helmi helping Neanie open her gift... handmade by Helmi (with some help from James).







In the kitchen where I spent lots of time!

My first attempt at Grandmother's dressing.

Admiral getting his gifts.

My family

Ryan's family

All the dogs (I suggest you click on these to see them full size!!)

Fievel makes his escape and Clive TRIES to follow.

Playing Mouse Trap

Admiral and Gus relaxing in the sun.


For the full roll of pictures, click here.

Happy New Year

Last year I did a sort of 10 year review. I guess you should normally do those on a year like 2010, when you roll to a new decade. I jumped the gun... mainly because 1999 was a big year for me and 2009 seemed like an appropriate 10 year mark.

As I look back on 2009, I again realize how blessed I am. The highlights of our year and the blog are:

• We built and moved into our "Dream Home". For me, it was a hard, stressful process. For Ryan, it was all fun. He'd do it again tomorrow (good thing since its his job) and I hyperventilate just thinking about picking out tile, paint, granite... breathe... breathe...
• We sold the "Best Boat Ever" (and promised each other we'd get another one one day)
• I gained two amazing sister-in-laws when Ryan's brothers Kevin and Eric tied the knot.
• We traveled to New Hampshire for Eric's Graduation, to Nashville for my friend Ross's wedding and to San Antonio/Seaworld with my family.
• Admiral gained 3 doggie cousins.
• And last but not least... telling our friends we are expecting a baby and finding out It's A Boy!

Since I've often devoted a lot of my blog to the food I cook, here are some of my favs from 2009:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies - "Chocolate Heaven" and "Almost Molten Lava Cakes"
• Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies - "A Red Velvet Valentine's Day"
• Rockets Iced Sugar Cookies - "Baking for Sports"
• Fried Pickles
• Cheesecake Pops - "Cheesecake Pops -- The Easy Way"
• And a few more that haven't made the blog yet... I guess 2010 will get credit for those!

2010 is going to be a great year! I can't even begin to image how my life will have changed by January 1, 2011.

I'M IN LOVE WITH...

MY OVEN!

It's so pretty and big and roomy and has all kinds of fancy features and I don't have to bend over to use it and there are TWO of them!!!

And tonight, it made me so pathetically happy when I fit all 24 cupcakes on the middle rack. I'm talking so happy that I got my camera and took a picture! Ahhh, I'm in love.

Halloween 2009...

I just got a little sad today when I thought about tomorrow being Halloween. The past few years, Ryan and I have enjoyed carving pumpkins and handing out candy. Okay, I did most of the carving and candy giving but Ryan was there, keeping me company!

We decided not to carve a pumpkin this year, instead just hanging out with Ryan's family while they carved their pumpkins. We won't be handing out candy since we don't have any neighbors. We didn't even put our blow up pumpkin man out in the yard. Maybe next year we'll have some neighbors!

We will celebrate Halloween at the Hebert's Halloween Party and I'm very much looking forward to it.

So, in celebration, here are our pumpkins from the past two years.



I'm holding out hope (but not holding my breath) that I'll get to make an Astro's pumpkin one year soon.

This and That

In my constant attempt to APPEAR to be organized, I didn't include a few pictures in my previous posts because they didn't go with the theme. So here are a few things I've been wanting to point out... mostly unrelated but not really worthy of their own posts.

First, my HUGE kitchen island. I love the granite and finally got to see it all cleaned up over the weekend. The sink is under the cardboard... we may be getting a different, deeper sink so no pictures of that yet. I'm really excited about this island. It's going to be my main cooking space. I am already dreaming about the trays of cookies, bowls of buttercream icing, pie crusts... and probably some non-dessert foods too!

Second... Do you remember this post where I was debating on the cooktop backsplash? This was one of the areas I was REALLY opinionated about and of course, what I wanted was $$$. We don't know why its so hard to find pyramid shaped tile dots??? We see them in lots of magazines but they are hard to find and of course, when you find them, they make the backsplash cost more than all the tile in the rest of the kitchen combined. Sigh. Anyway, I am very happy with how it turned out. You can see a further back, full kitchen shot in my last post. Here's the close up. Thanks to Jennifer for all her hard work researching to find what we needed to make this happen. I am sure she will never use metallic pyramid deco tiles ever again!

Third... This is a standard in the homes Ryan and his dad build but its a big, huge, fantastic deal to me. Pull out trays for my pots and pans. I love to cook and cook a lot. I am so excited to be a little more organized in my kitchen (ha, I hope it lasts).

And last, but not least, one of my other minor requests that Ryan gave in on. A plug in my vanity drawer. I wanted to have a plug in my drawer so that I could keep my hair dryer and flat iron plugged in at all times. Now, I am a little worried about the flat iron, I might need to unplug that every day for safety but at least the hair dryer is always plugged in and has a little home in the top drawer so it never gets left on the counter. Ryan laughed when I asked about this but once he realized I was serious, he found out how to get it done and made it happen... and he put one in his top drawer for his razor too!

Now I have this song in my head...

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things

Let there be light...

Friday night, Ryan and I went to the house after dark. It was the first time we were able to do this because we finally have lights! All of the fixtures were hung on Thursday and Friday. Ryan would not show me any pictures so that I could see it in person for the first time. I'm glad he did. I don't have a picture of the dining room fixture because it had a missing piece so I'll post that later. Everything looked really great and we were very pleased with the couple of items we had to pick from a catalog. Here are some pictures...



Hanging fixtures in each gallery opening

Fan and recessed cans in the living room

Breakfast room fixture (selected from a catalog)


Kitchen Island Lanterns
Our trip to the house Friday night was interesting in other ways besides all the new lighting. It really set in with me that we are some of the first people in this area. Our street was soooo quiet, dark, still, etc. It was nice and it was a little creepy all at the same time. I am what some might call a "city girl". I guess after living in a big city (meaning not Jackson, MS -- "The Bold New City") and now in the burbs I realize there are both city girls and suburbia girls and I enjoy getting to be a little of both. But the looming thought of living in what feels like "the middle of nowhere" is a new thing to me and something I never thought I'd do. I always thought I'd have a neighbor on either side.

I know that one day, in hopefully not that long of a span of time, my neighborhood will be full of other homes and families. Our street should have 24 homes on it. But it was a little bit of an eye opener. We are, for now, the only people on our street or the street behind us. There are several sold homes in other parts of the development, one a couple of streets over is going up now.

The positives are how quiet it will be while at the same time we (and Admiral) can make as much noise as we want. We'll get to know our neighbors as they move in -- I hope to be the official welcoming committee and Mom wants me to run for Mayor! It is very serene. I am sure there will be mornings and afternoons that I can sit on my front porch and watch deer drink out of the pond. We could really see the stars. But, I do hope that I soon start complaining about waking up to the sound of nail guns, saws, loud music, etc. Because this will mean that more houses are going up, the market is picking up again and neighbors are soon to come.

Until then, please come visit (well, after we move in early October), bring your kids and pets, stay the night, make as much noise as you want, enjoy the new house with us!

Moving... part 1

We moved out of our current house on Saturday.  After a week of hard core packing (plus all the boxes we packed when the house first went on the market), everything was boxed up and ready for the movers on Saturday morning.  It was a really long day of moving almost everything we own into storage.  The movers were SLLLLOOOOOOWWWWW which made it even worse.  But, by 4:30, the house was empty, the storage unit was packed and all our every day belongings were at Ryan's parents house.  We will be living there until the new house is ready... which is looking like early October!

 

I have new pictures of the progress at the house that have not made it from camera to computer yet.  I hope to do that one night this week.  Things change daily out there so there is a lot to update about.... granite, tile, lighting....

Sold!

The Fray w/ Jack's Mannequin

Last night Ryan and I went to see The Fray and Jack's Mannequin at The Woodlands Pavilion. Kevin and Steph went with us and my friends Erica and Dylan were there too. Ryan and Kevin's main goal for going to the concert was to see Jack's Mannequin. They are bigger fans of them than The Fray. I like both so I was excited despite some reviews that said Jack's was awesome but The Fray was boring. It was a great show and both bands really rocked. I was able to get some decent pictures.

Jack's Mannequin
Rocking out while playing piano
Piano playing singers like to get on top of the piano!
The Fray. He sang the first few songs out front.
Then sat down for a few on the piano.
More singing on top of the piano
Encore!
At the end, the whole band came out front, one by one. It was a nice ending to the show.

Eric and Whitney, we missed you guys! Whit, hope you are feeling better!