Casa del Suerte

Oh what a wonderful weekend!  Our friends, the Luck's just bought their first home.  They planned a housewarming party for next weekend that we are unable to attend due to a prior engagement.  I really wanted to see the house, particularly before Mila is born, so we made the trek to Austin this past weekend. 

We originally wanted to leave Friday after work so we would have all day Saturday to hang out, but as the day approached, we realized that neither of us were capable of staying awake that late (it's a 3.5-hour drive).  So instead, we woke up and got on the road first thing Saturday morning.  We arrived right at lunch time.  Logan and JR were on their way back from Logan's teeball game, so Sara gave us the grand tour.  They had the home built almost to their specifications, but left a few details to change themselves in hopes of saving some money.  They were hoping to finish everything before we arrived, but ran out of time.  It was okay though because the place looks great!  I think they've done a great job with everything.

JR got home before we got to the second floor so he joined the tour.  After we had seen everything, we headed out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  Everyone partook in a few spirits.  I was very jealous of Travis and JR's beeritas.  I want to try one so bad.  It will have to wait a couple more months though.  I am sure if I drink one of those soon after having Mila I will be severely plastered with just one.  The food was good, and the kids entertained themselves with Aiden's toys.

After lunch we went back to their house and a couple of their friends came over.  The guys went off to play disk golf in the gale force winds while the ladies stayed behind with the kids.  At first I was annoyed at the prospect since I thought I would have Travis around to help me with Aiden.  I am just SO tired lately.  I have no energy.  But!  It turned out great because Aiden had Landry and Logan to play with - and all of Logan's toys.  In fact, that was such a relief all weekend.  I didn't have Aiden constantly hanging on my leg.  He always wants me to play with him, or he wants to show me something.  All of which I appreciate and I do not ignore, but sometimes it's nice to just sit.  Particularly when you are 30 lbs heavier than normal.  Yes 30 lbs.  I'm probably going to hit the 40 mark in the next month.  Poo.

One of Sara's friends has an 8-week old son.  He reminded me so much of Aiden.  He was so sweet.  It really made me look forward to having Mila.  Though things will be a little different this time: 1) We have a better idea of what we are doing.  2) We're having a girl this time, so the clothing situation will be different.  Ahhh!  I can't wait!!  Well, I'm not particularly looking forward to the birthing process, but the end result will be awesome, I'm sure.

For dinner, we went back out for Mexican food with everyone.  That meal turned out to be a little stressful.  Aiden didn't take a nap that day AND we left for dinner when Aiden would normally be going to bed for the night.  Sara, Landry, Aiden and I ended up leaving before everyone else.  I got Aiden to bed as soon as we got home and he passed out immediately.  Sara and I stayed up chatting until the guys got home.  Travis passed out immediately as well.

Sunday I slept until 7:15.  Travis and Aiden got up around 7:45.  I would have preferred to sleep later than that, but it was way better than getting up at 5.  Blech.  Travis and JR got us donuts and kolaches for breakfast, then we went to the playground.  After the kids had played on everything for a bit, we walked over to the community pool.  It was so nice.  I really appreciated having other kids around for Aiden to play with.  There was a kiddie pool that didn't get any deeper than a foot and a half, so I didn't have to get in and hold up Aiden the entire time.  The water WAS freezing though.  We eventually had to force the kids out because they were all turning purple.

For lunch we went to Steak 'n Shake - a favorite of mine from Illinois.  I ate SO much.  It's no wonder I've gained 8 lbs in the past two weeks.  It's just that I'm SO hungry ALL the time.  It never seems to go away!  I didn't have any trouble losing weight after Aiden, so I'm not horribly worried about it.  I'm just worried about not being able to get around because I've gained so much.  Meh.  Only five weeks left now.

We decided to just head home after lunch instead of sticking around for Aiden's nap.  Aiden and I slept for two hours on the drive home.  It was AMAZING.  I was exhausted after a weekend of doing nothing.  I guess I'm just tired all the time.  We got home just after 7, so we fed Aiden dinner and unpacked.  Aiden went right to sleep with only a couple hiccups.  Then we laid in bed and watched The Rum Diary.  I didn't really like it, but it was nice to finish the weekend with more relaxing.  A thunderstorm rolled in before we fell asleep and it persisted through the night.  I've started using a sound machine and the only one that helps put me to sleep is thunderstorms.  That means real thunderstorms = sleepiness. 

FABULOUS WEEKEND.  Thanks so much Sara and JR!!

Birthday Luau

For Aiden's birthday we decided to have a luau with a little Toy Story sprinkled in. We pulled out all the water toys that we had for the party last year. The only difference is last year, the water toys were dominated by the older kids. This year, we only invited Aiden's friends that are close to his age so the playtime would be more even.

Chris made this trike wash water toy that I mentioned earlier - you can see it at the end of the slip and slide with Blair running through it.

I think it was a big hit. All the kids kept running through it. Aiden doesn't really like the sprinkler because it's too much water in his face all at once. This trike wash (which turned into a kid wash) was a happy medium. (Pictured above: Aiden, Blair, Kate and Logan in the pool.)

Alexey and Nadya (Kate's parents) came for the festivities.

Travis set up the canopy so it would be more comfortable for our guests, especially the babies. It's amazing how much cooler it is if you're in the shade. My dad got in that morning after driving through most of the night, so he was in a bit of a daze. Ariel was only able to come for a couple hours before she had to leave for work.


Skylar was such a sweet little girl. She just sat on her blanket and played with her toys. Do you see her tiny little flip-flops? Teehee!

THE MEN

Travis, Zach and Chris

I wanted to buy some sort of fun cup for the luau drink of the night (hard lemonade), but the only thing I could find was a pink margarita cup. So I would like you to note the pink cup resting on Chris' left shoulder. I think some of the guys got in touch with their feminine side.

Luau baby Kenley
She slept through most of the party, but I think that worked out for Mom and Dad!

We had Hawaiian chicken and veggie skewers, rice, lil smokies, raw veggies, fruit, and chips with a Mediterranean dip. I need to remember to make that dip again. It was like an exotic salsa.

Aiden got some really great gifts this year. Well, he got some really great gifts last year as well, but this time he enjoyed it much more. I think his favorite by far is the train track. Kate got him an add-on set to the one we got him. He plays with it EVERY day.

That night, Sara, Logan and Landry stayed the night at our house. After the kids went to bed, we sat outside and talked for hours. It was nice to have some child-free chat time. Although I think I'm still hurting from staying up until 1:30 am, then having to get up with Aiden at 7 the next morning. I had to go into work for an hour as well, so I wasn't able to dawdle at all. It's okay though - it was worth it!

The rest of the weekend

Aiden screamed for the first 10 minutes on the drive home from Gatti Town. The last part of our drive was scream-free, since he fell asleep. In the car! Isn't it amazing?

We let Aiden sleep right up until it was time to leave for dinner. We attempted to go to a BBQ place that they said was amazing, called Salt Lick. Turns out, that place is hoppin' on a Saturday night. There was a two hour wait. Just looking at that parking lot, I cannot believe that the wait was only two hours. There was a constant steady stream of cars pulling into what seemed an endless parking lot. It was so thick with cars that cops were directing traffic.

The restaurant looked really cute. It's in the middle of nowhere, so the surrounding area is beautiful and green. They had a band playing and it's BYOB. If we didn't have cranky kids in tow, we probably would have stuck around for the wait.

Since we DID have cranky children (and by this point, cranky Nikki), we headed back towards Sara and JR's house. We tried another BBQ place (our mouths were watering for BBQ after the aroma from Salt Lick reached our cars), but they were packed for Crawfish Night. We finally found a place a couple blocks away that looked like a giant warehouse. There was only one table of people when we walked in the doors. I've decided that these hole-in-the-wall places can be the most gratifying.

We pushed a bunch of tables together so we were seated like you did in the cafeteria in grade school. The food was awesome, and this was another BYOB place, so we popped open a bottle of wine and the guys cracked open a beer.

I INHALED my chipped beef sandwich. After trying Travis' brisket, I was bummed I hadn't gotten that. I didn't grow up around brisket, so I always forget it exists. Aiden happily ate away on the other side of Travis, over by Logan and his cousin Isaiah. We went outside when a train went by, since Aiden's current obsession appears to be trains and large trucks.

After dinner, we all went back to Sara and JR's for a game of Apples to Apples. We had 11 people playing. I'm pretty sure that's a record for largest group for me to play with. We still had a great time.

Travis, Carol (JR's mom), JR, Wheldon and Casey (Sara's parents)

Kyle (Vanessa's date), Vanessa (Sara's sister), Isabella, Sara and Brittany (JR's sister)

The only person not shown is Sara's other sister Randi Beth because she left the party early. The next morning, they made us breakfast and we hung around drinking coffee. Aiden got up at his normal 7 o'clock, so I was pretty exhausted by this point. We stayed up late every night, got up early and had full and active days. I was WORN out. This was the first time that it was just Logan, Landry and Aiden, so it was cute to watch them interact. Aiden followed Logan around, examining all his big boy toys. Landry and Aiden played with some foam letters together and then we let them run around outside for a bit. Of course, Aiden's ears seem to be tuned in for trains these days, so he loved it when a train went by somewhere in the distance.

For his birthday, Logan got a new bicycle with training wheels. Aiden really loved this bike, but he was entirely too small for it, so we had to help him on and off.

We had the car loaded and were on the road at 11 that morning. We had seen a Steak 'n Shake the previous day. That restaurant was all over the place when we lived in Illinois, but we have never seen one in Texas. Since it was lunch time, we decided to make the short detour north to eat there. It was interesting to see the slightly different menu, although the staples were still there. They offered a Guacamole Burger and a Chipotle Burger. Both of which are not available in Illinois. Travis got the Chipotle Burger and I got the Frisco Melt. We had enough food to just share with Aiden.

Of course, we both got shakes for the road. It was amazing. I was STUFFED. Actually, writing about this is making me hungry. Travis drove halfway home, while Aiden slept. I drove the last half, after Aiden woke up. Aiden was ready to be out of that car, so the last 30 minutes were pretty stressful for me.

It was good to be home after such a busy weekend. But it was worth it!

Logan's 4th

After Logan's T-ball game, we went back to the house. By this point, all the grandparents had arrived, so there was a full house. After about an hour of chatting, we got back on the road to go to Gatti Town. It is an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet (with spaghetti, salad and dessert, etc) with a huge arcade room.

The party started at noon, so we were all hungry by the time we got settled in. I made Aiden and I a plate and then Travis went to get his food. Apparently Aiden was just as hungry as the rest of us because he sat there and ate until we were all finished. I'm sure it helped that Scooby Doo was playing on a huge projector screen in the room.

After we ate, we migrated to the arcade. Aiden was enthralled with all the bright lights, Landry was in awe and Logan quickly ran from game to game, checking everything out.

We saw the largest crane game I've ever seen in my life. I'm pretty sure all the plush toys were larger than Aiden. Oh and all I could think was "the claaaaawwww".

Did you spot Aiden in the photo above? Haha! His favorite game, by far, was the mini bowling.

It was so cute! The lanes were shorter than normal, and the bowling balls were the size of a softball. Aiden kept wanted to throw the ball overhand down the lane. We quickly figured out that the best way was to have him sit down and push the ball. That seemed to eliminate the urge to throw. After the kids had spent some time in the game room, we headed back to the table for cupcakes and presents.

I came across this Lite Brite when I was overwhelmed in the toy aisles at Target. I know Logan is really into action figures, but I never wrote down which ones. So when I was at the store, I was worrying about getting something he already has, or getting the wrong one. In the end, I went for more traditional toys: Lite Brite and Playdoh!

The funny part about this Lite Brite, is that it is a "flat screen". It appears that everyone is going thin and light, even children. The one I had as a child was this huge thing with a back large enough to house an entire normal size light bulb. When I tried to look up a photo of the Lite Brite I had, it was considered vintage. What?! Ugh.

Aiden threw a fit when we left the game room for cake and presents, so Travis stayed in there with him while I went to watch Logan. Afterward, I went to find the rest of my family. I found Travis struggling in a photo booth with Aiden. He did not want to sit still AT ALL. The photo was HILARIOUS. I plan to scan it to show the world, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. We pushed our luck with all three of us in another photo booth. I promise to share as soon as I get them scanned.

Logan's first T-ball game

This past weekend Travis, Aiden and I piled into the car and drove to south Austin for the weekend. Logan celebrated his 4th birthday. Friday night, we ate dinner after work, then got on the road for the three and a half hour drive. We hit some traffic in west Houston. Thankfully it was in an area of town that Travis knows, so we were able to quickly maneuver around the mess.

We got to the Luck's new house a little after 10. I fell asleep at 9 and I was told that Aiden finally fell asleep at 9:30. I felt drugged when it was time to unload the car. Aiden was ready to climb into his travel crib as soon as we brought him in the house.

We sat up for an hour doing a little catch up before heading to bed. It was nice to see our old friends again! And I was impressed with how much weight JR has lost. He's been on a diet for a little over a month now (Sara?) and he's lost about 40 pounds. It's amazing what just a change of diet can do for somebody.

Saturday morning we got up for Logan's first T-ball game. Logan's team consists of three- and four-year-olds. I was so excited to see a bunch of little kids play an organized game like that. It was HILARIOUS. I laughed so much. Every time the ball went into the field, every single kid out there would run after the ball. There was an adult at every base and placed sporadically around the field to coach the kids on what to do. All in all, I was pretty impressed with these kids' abilities. They seemed to grasp the basic concept, although there was the occasional batter that ran towards third before an adult could redirect him or her.

Logan's team is called the Purple Lil' Wranglers. All the teams are called the Lil' Wranglers, but each one has a different colored shirt. It worked out well for the referee. Before he placed the ball on the tee for each kid, he would yell "Lil' Wranglers, are you ready?!" in his booming baritone voice. Of course, that would get the attention of all the kids since they all fell under that name.

Here's JR, getting Logan's team shirt on. (It was their first game, so he didn't have a t-shirt yet.)

The bats seemed to be half the length of a normal bat. They made me chuckle. Sara gave Logan some batting tips.

Aiden was pretty interested in the game. He was also really interested in the dugout, in general. I think he wanted to get in there and play with the other kids. He also found that it was fun to scale the chain-link fence. That was scary for me, but we just let him do it. We figured that if he hurt himself, he'd hopefully learn from it (he never got higher than two feet). But then he never fell down or hurt himself! That kid constantly amazes me.

Aiden and Landry spent much of the game playing the red dirt. Everyone looked like they had bad spray tan with orange hands and feet by the time we headed home.

The guy in the cowboy hat and red shirt is the referee. He would show each batter the ball and ask them which picture they wanted to aim for on the ball. Then he would set up the ball with that photo facing the batter. He was really good at luring them into what they should be doing. Some of the kids were reluctant to get up to the plate. The picture decision on the ball helped distract them. Logan's a lefty, so if he sticks with the game, he'll have one up on his opponents later in life.

After the ball was set up, the ref yelled at the "pitcher" to throw the ball. The pitcher then made the hand motions like he was throwing the ball for the batter. (Lol!) After Logan hit the ball, he knew which base to run to first.

I don't know how they decide what to do, but sometimes the kids run just to first, sometimes they had home runs. It didn't seem to matter how many times they got tagged with the ball. I guess there are no outs or strikes or balls in T-ball. It totally makes sense to me, but man was it humorous.

Landry's ONEderland

Landry's first birthday party was this past Saturday afternoon. We decided to leave first thing in the morning, instead of rushing around to leave after work Friday. We arrived at their house, between Austin and San Antonio, around 1 pm (~4-hr drive, with a lunch stop). I had to run to the store for a couple things for Aiden, which worked out because Sara was running party errands when we got there.

I got back just in time to start eating the food before the rest of the guests arrived. It was mostly Sara's family, but there were a couple friends as well.

The birthday girl

Opening pink presents

Eating birthday princess cupcakes

Landry and Aiden played with her cousin Isaiah

Logan passed out on the couch. He sleeps with his eyes open.

I made a joke, asking if anyone had checked to see if Logan was alive. He was looking a little pale, and the open eyes were a little freaky. Sara had a moment of panic when she looked closer, but he was okay. Just panicky parents!

After the family left, we played a game of quarters. That is a BAD game. Results in hangovers. We thought about going to the local carnival, but after quarters decided that it would be best to stay off the roads. Instead, we ordered a pizza and moved the party outside. It was nice and cool out. People started dropping like flies, until the last three of us decided to call it a night at 1:30 in the morning.

The next morning I was EXHAUSTED, but it didn't matter because Aiden was ready to get up at 7:30 and he was MAD. He did okay for a little while, but then decided he wanted out of the bedroom. Since everyone was sleeping in the house, including on the living room couch, Travis took him to the store to get donuts. I stayed home and tried to sleep, but just couldn't get myself to fall asleep. By the time he got back, Sara and Landry were up, so we all went outside to eat breakfast.

Sara and I chatted while Travis and Aiden went to the park. After a few hours, it was time for Aiden's nap so we got back on the road for home. We stopped at a farm on the way home, but I'll have to get to that tomorrow...

Happy birthday Landry! I can't believe how fast time flies.

Little Landry

Sunday afternoon we headed up to JR and Sara's to see the new house and spend more time with the new addition to the family. I still cannot get over how small Landry is! We brought dinner over because I know how much I appreciated it being done for us.

I'm sure it was a combination of the busy weekend and the glass of wine with dinner that kicked my ass. I was fighting sleep the whole hour-and-a-half ride home (they moved to north of Houston just before Landry was born). I would have loved to just pass out, but I wanted to help keep Travis awake since he was driving. It's the little things.

Sara and her little girl

JR and Logan

A Wonderful Saturday Party

It turned out to be a wonderful day for Blair's birthday and party. It was a little windy, but I would prefer that over no wind at all! Alexa's parents flew in Thursday to be here for their grandson's first birthday. Travis and I got to Chris and Alexa's around noon so we could help set up for the birthday bash. Chris built a sand box, just in time for the party, although Blair wanted nothing to do with it. He should get over that soon. =)

There were kids and babies everywhere at this thing! There were five boys and later on one little girl. Plus, there were two pregos (including me) carrying boys. We joked that in a few years we should have enough boys to start our own football team. LOL!

Here's just a taste of the boys and their toys: Landon in the truck, Matteo on foot, and Blair on the four wheeler.

Alexa had a beautiful cake made for Blair, complete with his own mini-version to tear into on his own.

Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be quite as interested in the cake as we'd hoped he would be...

After Grandpa got in there and dug in, he seemed a little more into it...

I am slowly working on getting the videos loaded. Our stupid video camera battery was dead, so we had to use our regular camera to get some of this on video. Blair did really good in the gift department. Plenty of toys that should last him a while.

They made SO MUCH FOOD. And it was all so delicious: shrimp, chicken and veggie kabobs, hash brown casserole, sweet potato fries, glazed fruit, hummus and pita chips, crackers and cheese, veggies and dip. I went home a miserable, stuffed pregnant lady. I'm pretty sure I ate for three hours straight. Ugh, makes me uncomfortable just thinking about it. Travis came home a well "satiated" guy. Let's just say he may have woken up the next morning with a slight headache.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAIR! Not Blaire ;)

PS - Happy Birthday Logan! He turns 2 today. They're all growing up so fast!

Not Much To Tell

I have absolutely nothing exciting to report today. Friday I went up to Chris and Alexa's to help assemble some of their new Ikea cabinets. There are so many that I barely feel like I made a dent! After two hours of working, I went with Alexa to pick up Blair from daycare. I've never been before and I'm listed as an emergency contact, so it was nice to see where the place was and how things work. It always cracks me up seeing all those babies together. Crazy kids.

Travis and I kept the evening easy since we were so busy all week. Saturday morning, Travis' alarm went off like normal and he left for work. About 20 minutes later he was pulling back into the driveway. I assumed he had forgotten something and would probably run in and out in a hurry, so when I didn't hear the door open for several minutes I wondered if I had imagined his truck coming back. Finally, he came in and back to the bedroom. He had the day off!

First thing on his list? Go back to bed. I am in the middle of reading the Twilight series and am completely addicted to it. Even though I was happy to have Travis for TWO WHOLE DAYS this week, I was thankful to have a little more time with my reading. I seriously think I have a problem. I have to force myself to put the book down so I don't spend my entire day just reading. I am on the third book and the forth is in the mail from Overstock.com. Seriously - right now I want to stop typing and go read that book. Must wait...

We spent the rest of the day running errands... grocery shopping, a stop at Petco, a few moments at the bookstore. I still need to put everything in the checkbook. Ugh. I had plans to go up to a friend's house that I don't see very often for a little get together, girls only. Travis went as Quagmire to a bar in Houston for a Halloween costume party with Sara and JR.

Speaking of Halloween, check out a few of the Halloween costumes my friends are using for their kids this year.

Logan, the Golfer

Complete with knickers.

Wednesday, the Monkey

Sunday, I did nothing except go out for Vietnamese food for lunch and then read my day away. Travis made himself useful around our house and our friends'. He put the the gutter downspouts that were still knocked off from Ike and he took care of some paint cans that needed to be properly disposed of. Then he went over to Chris and Shannon's house to help Chris hang new cabinets. Everyone is getting new cabinets! I really want some to put around our stove, but that will have to fall somewhere after rewiring the house and putting tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. NEVER ENDING.

Roni Lips

JR and Sara came over Friday evening with Logan. We had beer, pizza and played a little Liverpool Rummy. Since everyone but me had to work that evening or the next day, we ended up cutting the game short.

Logan didn't quite seem sure about pepperoni.

It kind of reminds me of that thing you can do with Pringles to make duck lips...

Friday in Photos

David, Stephanie and Wednesday got to our house Friday evening. Shannon, Chris, Sara, JR and Logan all came over to visit with them. Nothing too crazy - I just made a frozen lasagna and Shannon brought over a cranberry-walnut salad. Pretty laid back.

Logan's impression of JR. And a good one at that.

A very excited Stephanie. Lol!

Travis, a booger bulb and a beer.

Wednesday and the boys

CrAzY haired Wednesday

Wednesday was absolutely terrified of Travis the first time she saw him on Friday. We think she was just tired and freaking out a little because she went to sleep in a car she knows very well and woke up in a strange house. Poor kiddo! She did a little better once Travis took off his hat. By the end of the weekend they were old buds again. Phew!

I GOT MY CAMERA BACK!!

Look at how much the shroomies grew in just 10 hours!

Playing catch with Callaway

Bella, in her regular spot under the futon

Phage likes to sniff the camera. It's hard to get a picture of anything besides his nose.

My Sagira-magira sitting at the table

Logan likes to wear big-people sandals... then watch himself walk... teehee...

Playing the Eukalale