Vulture Park

After a week long of freezing temperatures and a couple days of freezing rain, I was ready to get OUTSIDE. I don't know how I ever survived up north - stuck inside for months on end. Yuck!

So! When I saw it was supposed to be 65 degrees on Sunday, I quickly made plans with the Ramby's to meet at a playground. The Yeager's had recommended it to us, saying that it was great for toddlers. Aiden has problems playing at the playgrounds near our house because he's not tall enough to get up the first step by himself. The park we went to on Sunday was wonderful!

There was one downfall. The park was FILLED with black vultures. Ugly things. And LARGE. Birds freak me out a little, so I was feeling anxious when we pulled up to this:

I was relieved to find the playground was on the opposite side of the bayou from these guys. I wasn't sure if one of them would try to make off with our son.

We had a few minutes to run around the playground before the Ramby's arrived. Aiden LOVED exploring this new play set.


We woke up a little late, so we decided to go to McDonald's for breakfast. I had the Fruit & Maple Oatmeal. Uh, it was amazingly delicious. I couldn't believe it. I need to try to make it at home! We also enjoyed some McD's coffee. Not gourmet level stuff, but it hit the spot nonetheless.

Aiden was so excited when he saw Blair running over from the parking lot.

Skylar was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed when they showed up. I am fighting off a cold, so I tried not to touch her or any of her gear. It wasn't until after I had done it that I was scolding myself for trying to help Alexa. I hope they don't catch whatever we have!

We left the park with a bag full of shoes for Aiden and a toddler bed. THANK YOU RAMBY'S!!

PS - Happy birthday Rachel!! =D

Travis' Birthday Extravaganza

Birthday dinner

(great shot of Zach by the way...)

Luke and Linsey, enjoying a slice of a giant chocolate chip cookie and mint chocolate moose tracks ice cream


Two are better than one, as demonstrated here by Rachel

Texans game, courtesy of Robert

(vs. Buccaneers, Texans lost)

Also on the gift plate? Jerseys for everyone!

Our seats were higher up at first, but then we moved to the other set of seats we had tickets for. I think I enjoy watching football better AT the game, than I do on a TV.

I dunno...

Sharing is Caring

Look at how nice Rachel is being by sharing her bouffant!

I'm also impressed with how well Rachel can rock the Kip safety glasses.

Need More Goldfish!!

On Aiden's actual birthday, we made spaghetti (his favorite) and we did a test run with a cupcake. I think he did pretty good.

After his bath, we opened a few presents from Gramma. Earlier that day, he went to the store with Gramma to help pick out which gifts he wanted. I think they did a great job!

Have you ever seen that Saturday Night Live skit of Christopher Walken and the cowbell? Well, every time I looked at the table at Aiden's birthday party, I couldn't help buy yell in my head, "Need! More! Goldfish!"

Since I was going for a goldfish themed party, Rachel found an ice tray that made cubes that look like goldfish. They were REALLY cute when I pulled them out of the tray, but not so much in the punch bowl. Sort of looked like a bunch of dead fish floating in the punch bowl...

All the little kids congregated in the living room around Aiden's toy corner. Holy cow! Look at 'em all!!

We served traditional BBQ food for dinner (burgers, pasta salad, chips, beans, etc). Travis set up a couple tents in the yard. Originally the plan was for them to be shelter from the sun, but they ended up functioning more as a shelter from the rain. Thankfully it only rained for about the first 30 minutes of the party. We had also set up some water games for the bigger kids to play in, slip'n'slide and the kiddie pool. We were going to set up the sprinkler, but decided not to because it was RAINING.

After food, I was too full for cake, so I opted for presents first.

Aiden made out like a bandit! Seriously, we are going to have to add on to the house to have enough room for all this stuff. Actually, I think it will be okay if we make some of the toys only for outdoors. That should free up some space. Come to think of it, we are still expecting a couple more gifts in the mail - a swing from Gramma Carol and a surprise gift from Chrissie, Jordan and Audrey. Ahhh! At least the swing goes outside. He's going to LOVE that. I can't wait!!

I attempted to make some goldfish cupcakes to match Aiden's cake, but they were a disaster. I used this icing that came as a powder in a box and you were just supposed to add boiling water. Unfortunately, the icing melted over night and had the goldfish spilling over the sides. Thankfully, Baker Rachel came to the rescue with a couple jars of regular icing and fixed the problem. I was so grateful because even if I had the energy to spend more time on those things, I didn't have the time. In the end, they turned out great!

After he finished opening presents, we moved over to the cake. Rachel made two cakes - a small one for Aiden to tear into and a big one for everyone else. You can see both cakes in the third photo from the top.

Aiden WENT TO TOWN on that cake. For a "small" cake, it was actually pretty large. I would say he ate at least half of it. He just kept going and going and going. It was getting to the point where I thought I should stop him, in fear of him getting sick from all that sugar.

Rachel and Ariel stuck a goldfish to his forehead - hence the blue spot in the center of his head.

He finally stopped on his own accord. I gave him a quick wipe down and then we headed straight for the bath tub.

He started crying as soon as I put him in the tub. At first I was worried his stomach was hurting, but then he proceeded to chug an entire cup of water. The poor kid was thirsty! I didn't even think about giving him a cup of water. BAD MOMMY.

After a little while, the guests started to trickle out. Jenna and Kai (and their kids) stuck around after Aiden went to bed, so we sat out under the gazebo (which Travis fitted with Christmas lights) and had a few drinks. Finally it was time for them to get their kids to bed, so they headed home and we headed inside to do a little damage control. I knew there was no way I would be able to clean everything up that night. I just wanted to get the food taken care of. About an hour later, we CRASHED hard. I did not want to get up that next morning. Aiden was a sweet pea and slept in until almost 7:30am. It was awesome.

The house is still a disaster zone. We got the floors mostly cleaned up and the dishes are slowly but surely getting cleaned and put away. We have SO MANY leftovers. I don't know what to do with it all. I'm pretty sure we'll be eating hamburger-related meals for the next two weeks. But it was worth it! Our little man has officially made it through a year of life!!

Our Little Toddler

We spent the weekend surrounded by all of Aiden's Walking Friends and look what happened!

A Toddler is Born from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Friday night, we had the Ramby's over for dinner. Blair was running EVERYWHERE with Aiden sitting in the middle of the floor watching him go back and forth. Aiden has always shown interest in the walking babies. I think it finally occurred to him that perhaps he might join them.

Saturday was a crazy day filled with Travis going to work while I got the oil changed on my car and me going to work and running errands while Travis took Aiden home to nap and eat lunch. Then in the late afternoon we headed over to Kate's for her 1st birthday party. She was born 1 week before Aiden so it is amazing to see the differences between the two. Kate seems so much bigger than Aiden to me, but when they stand next to each other it's a pretty close race. Kate has been walking for weeks (months?) now, so she has advanced a bunch in the mobile area.

The party was really nice. It wasn't a huge party, but there was lots of food. They had a moonwalk, which Aiden enjoyed, and of course all of Kate's toys for the little ones to play with. Aiden kept up with the big kids the best he could. It made for a cranky baby who was late to bed. Travis hung back in Galveston to help Rachel put in a new A/C window unit, while we went home to shower off the sunscreen and then SLEEP.

Sunday we did lots of shopping (I'm still feeling sick from all this spending):

• Home Depot - flowers, gazebo and a couple deck chairs (although we do not have a deck)
  
• Hobby Lobby - last of the party craft materials and party favors
  
• Walmart - Slip'n'Slide
  
• Sweet Factory - $50 worth of candy equating to 3 lbs
  
• Kroger - a week's worth of groceries

When we got home, Aiden showed off his walking skills. He seemed to get more and more courageous as the day went on, stringing more and more steps together. This video was taken just before bedtime. I was hoping he'd be walking by his birthday so he'd get to more fully enjoy the party. Looks like he's walking, but not quite enough for what I had imagined. He's well on his way though. Look at him go!

Party Teaser

Rachel came over this weekend to help me put together some stuff for Aiden's birthday party. We have less than 2 weeks. EEK! Rachel has some mad scrapbooking skills (along with the tools to go with it) and I was able to put those to good use...

I wanted to do a goldfish theme for the party, but that is proving quite difficult. The closest stuff I've found to goldfish are tropical fish, and that's NOT what I want. Instead I'm focusing on the colors, orange to represent the fish and blue to represent water, and then throwing in a few homemade goldfish items. Hopefully it's not a disaster!

So far it looks like we'll have a pretty significant turn out for the shindig. As of right now, we have 24 adults and 10 kiddos. We better get crackin'!

Friends and Family

Friends

Rachel is in Dakar, Senegal for two months. She left this past Saturday and the lab has never been lonelier. She is there for a fellowship with the graduate school. It was an excellent chance to get to Africa and visit her sister while she is there too.

Family

Ariel just got a new job. She will continue working a night or two at the bar she's been at, but she will be working Tuesday through Friday at a pub now too. I am so excited because the first bar she was working at was more of a club. It was too hard to go visit her ever at night because the dance music was too loud to hold a conversation. When she said she was going to start looking for a new job, I was really hoping it would be a daytime job. I was bummed to find out that was not the case, although I am ecstatic she will have weekends off!

Pig Roast at the Russians'

I've mentioned one of my co-workers, Zhenya, on here a few times. A couple weekends ago, her and her husband Kostya had a pig roast at their house. Yup, they drove up to Houston, brought home an entire pig in a cooler and cooked that pig for about 8 hours on a spit in their backyard. I took a few photos, so if you are weak in the stomach, I recommend skipping this post...

Here are the hosts, Zhenya and Kostya (sporting a Russian smile):

Travis was working that day (of course), so Rachel helped me out with the kiddo a bit.

And, dun dun DUNNNN! The pig:

This whole thing was a little weird, but I was totally grossed out when I asked why some of the skin was gone. Apparently people had been eating the crisped skin all afternoon. Sorry, but I've never been a fan of pork rinds and this disgusted me to no end.

They had to put a bracket around the vertebral column to hold it to the bar of the spit all day. Before they cut it up for us to eat, they had to unscrew the bracket, hence the screw drivers. They eventually grabbed a drill... LOL!

I had a little trouble watching the cutting. Then I couldn't get myself to go grab some meat. The sliced portion was sitting between the legs that had been removed and the remains of the pig. Too much for me, so Scott grabbed Rachel and I some meat. It was absolutely delicious! Just like a pork roast. Ha. Guess that's what it was huh - a roasted pig. What I was referring to, though, is the piece of meat that you roast in your oven in a pan.

At the end of the feast, while Aiden was taking his nap in the house, I partook in several of the desserts.... mini strawberry cheesecakes, Andes mint brownies (courtesy of Rachel), chocolate covered toasted soy nuts... mmmmm.... I really need to start controlling myself or I am never going to lose this baby weight!

Anyhoo, here are my comatose homies soaking up the last few drops of sun as it sets behind the neighbor's house.

Easter 2010

This year for Easter we had a few friends and family over to our house. Of course, Travis had to work, so I scheduled a later dinner than I would have done normally. Everyone came over between 3 and 4:30 to snack on appetizers. Travis was home around 5:30 and we ate around 6:30. The table was full of food and, later, desserts. I am going to go ahead and apologize again for the overly spicy scalloped potatoes. The recipe called for chopped Chipotle peppers, which I did not actually measure out. Oops.

Rachel's ever-impressive baking skills at play. It's good to have friends-with-baking-benefits.

(with several goodies missing already)

My husband, his 70's-long hair and Toby

Scott and Rachel, looking Easter-y

Ariel enjoying a cupcake, as Robert pays absolutely no attention to the camera whatsoever

Not pictured: Chris, Alexa and Blair - didn't break out the camera until after dessert. =(

The photo of Aiden is the day after Easter. I just wanted to get in a shot of that crazy stuffed animal Auntie Ariel brought in an Easter basket. The colors sort of go along with Aiden's room, except that we have NO IDEA what it is. A frog? An alien? A colored egg? It has webbed feet, eyes and bunny ears. Your guess is as good as mine!

Despite sending food home with everyone, we are still working on leftovers. Bring it on ham sandwich.

Open Windows

Oh how I love the spring and fall here in Texas! It's usually the perfect temperature, between the oven-baking-hot of summer and the wet-humid-cold of winter. It also means I get to open the windows in the house and let in a nice breeze. Unfortunately it is still humid, which means my hair will permanently be a fro and all the papers on my fridge will wilt over. It's the price we pay for fresh air I suppose.

Despite the fact that my husband was gone all weekend working his butt off, we had a delightful weekend. Friday night we took it easy and watched the movie 2012. It was a pretty good movie with all the great graphic, but it's not one I will purchase. The beginning contained a ridiculous amount of impossible feats, including ramp jumping a limo and an RV and flying through a falling city. I think they included ten too many close calls. Throughout the entire film I was disturbed by the thought of being in those situations with a child. It was almost too much to bear.

Saturday I did a little cleaning around the house and started going through the boxes that my parents brought down here from their storage. I packed these boxes up the summer of 2002 just before moving to Texas for college. Oh my the memories! I've been reminded of my friends from Student Council and Sea World summer camps, the fact that I was accepted at ISU (also contemplated Ohio State and Oregon State) and had a music flashback when I came across several CDs including Will Smith Big Willie Style, White Town in Technology and OMC How Bizarre. WOW. I may have enjoyed toys of the 80's in my childhood (My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch dolls, etc), but I am definitely a product of the 90's.

Saturday afternoon I went up to Chris and Alexa's to get a little adult time into my day while Travis went to his electrician job. Sometimes I forget that I have plenty of friends with kids slightly older than Aiden that have an endless source of experience with child rearing. It was nice to get some tips, and at the very least, hear that others have dealt with the same stuff and survived. Not that Aiden is a difficult child by any means. I just worry that I might do something wrong and doom him to a life of therapy.

Anyhoo, Alexa had to run to the airport to pick up her parents, so I ran home to meet Travis - that way we could ride one car together. We don't have much time to catch up with each other these days, so a 30-minute car ride can be precious time. When we got back to the Ramby's house we headed over to their neighbor's house for a crawfish boil. Again, I have NO PICTURES. I've really been slacking with the camera lately. How will I ever remember these activities without a photo to jog my memory?! Gah. We had a great time, even though I don't have hard proof. We were idiots and stayed there until 11, so the next day was a little rough on both of us.

Sunday, Travis worked at Home Depot. I took a nap at the same time as Aiden in the morning, which means my AM was shot. I went through one of the storage boxes again and then we drove down to Galveston to meet Travis for lunch. Mmmm, Subway. This was our first chance to try out the nifty disposable placemats we bought for using at restaurants with Aiden. It was just as handy as I had imagined.

After lunch, we dropped Travis back off at work and headed over to Target for some shopping. Aiden was overdue for some older-baby toys and I needed to grab a couple of other items (Blair's birthday is next weekend). I love Target. I mean really, I think that place is my favorite place to shop, ever. The toy section is a whole new adventure for me now. I finally remembered to pick up some rice cakes for Aiden to try out. He really seemed to enjoy them last night, so I'll have to get the other flavors later. For now, Mommy can share the caramel-flavored rice cakes with him (the only kind I like).

Sunday night, Scott and Rachel came over to celebrate Pi Day! We watched Napoleon Dynamite for the 300th time, ate pizza and of course, pie! Apple, to be precise. With a side of vanilla ice cream. Oh how I love nerd holidays.

PS - I learned that there is a bonus scene at the end of Napoleon Dynamite that I never knew about! HOW COULD I NOT KNOW ABOUT THAT?!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Celebrating another year of life...

Easter 2009

Our baby shower - May 2009


Aiden's birthday - July 1, 2009

Oktoberfest 2009

Thanksgiving 2009 - making mashed potatoes

Thanksgiving 2009 - Apples to Apples

The Day of Turkey

Thanksgiving this year was a hit! We had dinner at our house and we invited Ariel, Robert, Rachel and Scott. Chris R. even ended up coming because he got called back from his family vacation on a flight (that never happened). Sad circumstances, but it we were happy to have him!

Everyone arrived at 1pm to partake in appetizers and drinks. Ariel brought mimosas, which really hit the spot. The guys played ladder golf while I tackled the turkey. It ended up having to cook for an hour longer than I had planned.

For dinner I shook things up with a few of the dishes:

• Herb-injected turkey
• Garlic mashed potatoes and gravy
• Chipotle scalloped sweet potatoes
• Green bean casserole (made with fresh green beans, not mushy canned)
• Mac and cheese (just noticed this recipe is by Paula Deen = eesh)
• Butt rolls
• Stuffin Muffins
• Cranberry-orange relish (not a big fan of canned cranberry sauce)
• Spinach, cranberry and walnut salad

YUM DELICIOSO!

Rachel sipping a mimosa while I hand mashed the potatoes - deal with it Chris ;)

Travis and Chris enjoy ladder golf

Ariel, Rachel and Toby watching the game

Aiden was pleading with his eyes for someone to stop Daddy from feeding him more sweet potatoes (homemade!)

Scott is so photogenic.

After dinner we played the game Apples to Apples. We also downed a pot of coffee to counteract the effects of tryptophan. For dessert, Ariel and Robert brought homemade pumpkin and pecan pies and Rachel brought spice cakes. Ugh I was SO full!

I had such a great time with our friends and family. I am so thankful to have such great people in our lives. I hope your day was a great as ours!

Oktoberfest Galveston

Saturday was another busy day. Aiden and I slept in until 7am by accident. I got a new cell phone and it has a horrible battery life. If I do nothing but text message during the day, the phone will die by 10pm. I've started charging the phone on my ride home from work everyday - something I never had to do with my two-year old phone. Anyway, point of the story is my phone died before morning, so my alarm didn't wake me up for the 6am feeding. No biggie really. I was glad to sleep in until the sun was coming up!

We planned to be at Oktoberfest at noon, just in time for lunch. But just as we learned the Thurday before when we were packing for the weekend, getting out of the house with a baby takes some time. We packed everything (except Callaway) up in the car and arrived at the festivities around 12:30. We grabbed beers (the guys all got liter-sized beer mugs!) and congregated to chat for a few minutes.

Travis, Aiden, my brat, a liter-beer and I

Rachel, Scott and a liter-beer

Linsey, Zach, Luke and you can just see a liter-beer over Linsey's shoulder

Nadya, Alexey, Kate and look at that tiny beer in Alexey's hand!
I don't think Alexey got the memo.

Then Aiden gave Luke a stare-down that made him let out a blood-curdling scream and then cry. It was so sad! My son is a bully!

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between the beer and food stands. We checked out the Cake Wheel and various tables with goods for sale. Of course you can't forget the German Oompah band.

Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi!