My Acting Prodigy

We have quite the character on our hands as of late. He is so full of laughter and funny faces. I was able to capture a few of them last night.

I know this one is blurry, but it is IRRESISTIBLE!! I think he might have gotten some of his mom's theatre genes afterall. don't you think??

Here he is playing the Court Jester . . .


Here he is playing the Villian . . .


Here he is reprising Robert DeNiro's role as Leonard, the psychotic patient from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . . .


And here he is, accepting his Oscar for best actor in a dramatic film . . . Applause . . . applause . . "And I'd like to thank my Mother for inspiring me to follow my acting dreams!!"

And, for your viewing pleasure . . . a small, independent film of James talking about his hero . . .

Baja Fresh

We went to Baja Fresh for lunch today. I have been dying for fish tacos (thanks for getting me hooked on those , Bill!) and s0 we headed out to Henderson.

Here are a couple of cute pics of the boy before we left. This is a hand-me-down shirt from Donna and a pair of hand-me-down Converse sneakers from Gini (thanks guys!!) How cute!!



So we got to Baja Fresh and I ordered a cheese quesadilla for the boy. We munched on tortilla chips while we waited for our orders. He loved them!

"Want one?" He is always offering his food to us now. Sometimes it has been in his mouth for a while, so we politely say "No thanks." LOL


How cute am I?

Puppy Diving

We were at Costco last weekend and I saw all of these kids with huge, floppy stuffed dogs in their carts! OF COURSE I wanted one for James, so we found the bin and he got to pick one out.

What has been so sweet is that everytime that he is tired, he starts to dive onto the puppy like he used to with our couch pillows. Then he rolls around and sighs a bunch. It is just too CUTE!

I have tried to document the whole process. First, the really tired and hysterical laughter begins.


Then the dive onto the puppy begins.


Going . . .
Going . . .
GONE!!!
Here he is just being silly. He has been playing a lot with his feet lately.


And then Daddy came home!! YAY!!! This is a dark and blurry photo, but it EXACTLY captures the excitement when Daddy comes through the door.


Finally, here is a video of puppy diving. Enjoy!

Fun at Mel and Gene's

James and Chris and I headed over to Mel and Gene's yesterday to swim and have dinner. Here is a pic of James on the way over. Please notice . . . drum roll . . . NO BINKY!!!! He had only been using it in the car and for naps and bedtime. I started to take it away last Thursday, and (keep your fingers crossed) so far so good!


I had brought some of James' toys with us, but Mel pulled out some fun things, and James had a ton of fun. For example, who knew you could have so much fun with two plastic spoons?


Or with Mardi Gras beads? At least they are Newcastle Beer beads. (Hey, what can I say, the kid has good taste!)

Or . . . how about a meat baster?? Looks like fun to me!


And here he is with Mel. He had so much fun eating, playing and swimming. He was one tired little boy when we got home! Thanks Gene and Mel for a great time!

James is Growing Up

So, it has really been on my mind lately how fast James is growing up. A friend of mine had a baby about a month ago, and he was 5 lbs. I got to hold him soon after he was born, and he was so small; I found myself thinking that I could barely remember James as a newborn. Time just FLIES.

He is doing so many big boy things lately; he can get down from the couch by himself, he can get off of his ride on toys alone, he is starting to feed himself with utensils, and he is saying new things every day.
I think Chris and I are so amazed at what a genuinely happy, fun loving and sweet little boy he is. The simple delight that he takes in everyday things is constantly making us smile; like playing peek-a-boo with a dish cloth or diving into couch pillows and laughing hysterically.


I love how much he loves his Daddy, too. He looks at him so adoringly. I took this shot today while we were all having breakfast together. You can even see that he still has that great double chin that he had as a newborn.


And just to prove how fast he is growing, here is a picture of his latest trick; standing on the side of his playhouse. I don't know why, but I find this so amazing and slightly sad at the same time. He is really growing up fast. A little too fast for my taste.


I guess it is inevitable, though. As I am writing this, Chris is telling me that James is next to him in the living room, trying to pull himself up onto the couch. Enough already! Anybody know any good ways to stunt a child's growth????

Lake Tahoe

I was asked to speak at the Nevada Health Care Association's Annual Conference in Lake Tahoe. Chris happened to be scheduled for a job in San Francisco, so we made a little trip out of it. We dropped the boy off at his Aunt and Uncle Herbst's house, and then flew to Reno. We then rented a car and drove to Tahoe.

The conference was held at Harvey's Casino Lake Tahoe, which is right on the lake. It isn't my preferred place to stay (I love the Black Bear Inn, where Chris and I stayed before James was born), but hey, Harvey's was free.

That night Chris drove to San Francisco for his job while I stayed in Tahoe and finished prepping for my session the next morning. He met me back at the hotel after I was done (about 1pm), and we took off and drove around the lake.

Here is a view of the lake looking back at where all of the casinos are. The tall black building is Harvey's.

Here I am looking out over Emerald Bay.


This is Emerald Bay. It is 3 miles long and one mile wide. It was really beautiful.


A pic of Chris enjoying the 90 degree temps and the fresh mountain air.


Another great view of Emerald Bay, and the mouth of the bay where all of the boats come in and out.

Antiques Roadshow

Antiques Roadshow, the PBS series that travels around the country came to Las Vegas yesterday! I had known that the show was coming to town and I signed up for tickets last February. Not everyone that requested tickets got them; so in June when my tickets arrived in the mail I was so excited!

I am a HUGE fan of Roadshow, especially since I grew up with parents who are antique dealers. Mom and Dad have a shop back in Maine (I have posted a pic in the sidebar.)

When you get to the first "check point" you go to one of 10 tables and you are asked to show what you have brought. Then you are assigned tickets that tell you which appraisal category line to get in. I brought several Civil War items; here are my "Arms & Militia" tickets:


I took my friend Mel with me. Here she is with a dollhouse that I brought.


Here she is following one of the volunteers into the taping area:


When we walked in, we saw that they were already taping a segment with this gentleman and his beautiful piece of furniture. The only thing was that there was so much noise with all of the appraisals going on that we couldn't here what was being said about the piece!



First Mel and I were directed to a table where my blue and white homespun coverlet was appraised. I got a decent appraisal for it, about $350-$400. The dollhouse appraised for between $75 and $150.

Here is a picture of the table where the Arms and Militia appraisals were taking place. The gentleman in the navy suit jacket with the purple tie initially welcomed us to the table. Then, when I started pulling out all of dad's items, a bunch of other appraisers ran over and started DROOLING.
Three appraisers came over at once and said to me "Who are you ad where did you get these items??!!" I told them that they were gifts from my Dad.

Here is a fox horn. It was valued at $300 to $500:


Here is a Naval belt buckle circa 1850. It was valued at $300:



Next is a powder horn. The appraiser was very excited about it. He said that without the carvings on it, it would probably be worth about $75, but with them it was $1,000, and if the "Hills Bros" were from the Bedoni Hills family, it was worth $3,000!


Here is a Civil War era flag topper. They loved this piece, and appraised it at $3,000 to $5,000.


Now, the piece de resistance, the drinking horn. This was carved from a cow's horn, and was used for an infantry man to drink out of while on march.


The appraiser, Ken Farmer, was really interested in it. He told me he needed to take it away to look at it, and he would be back. Mel and I anxiously waited for him to return. Meanwhile the men that had appraised the other items were still discussing what I had amongst each other and whispering. IT WAS SO EXCITING!!!

Finally he came back and he said, "OK, we would like to put you and this item on the show. Would you do it?" I was like "SURE!!!" (Of course that had been my hope the entire time.)

They prepped me for the filming. They miked us both, got us situated, and then the cameras started rolling. That is when I got the appraisal. Ken said that it would be $3,000 to $5,000 on the LOW END and would likely get FAR HIGHER than that at a really big show. WOW!!!


He also said that in the 12 years that he had been working on Roadshow he had NEVER seen anyone come in with a drinking horn. WAY TO GO DAD!

The horn is from 1766. It has a beautiful sun carved into it, and a great little saying, "Drink Ye Thirst Away."

What a great experience. It was really fun looking at what everyone had brought along. When we were leaving, we saw the host of the show, Mark Wahlberg (no, not from New Kinds on the block) taping the opening segment. When the show airs, we will have to keep our eyes out from Mel, as she was tiptoeing behind him during one point of the taping.

My segment may or may not air (keep your fingers crossed that it does) and if it does it will be sometime between January and May of 2008. When the schedule comes out, I will let everyone know!

Red Rock Casino

A bunch of us went to Red Rock Casino on Friday for a Mom's Day Out.

Here is a pic of the lobby:


Donna and I before dinner:


Here is the gang at Cabo's Mexican Restaurant. Top row, Kim, me and Donna, bottom front (l. to r): Tiffany, Debbie, Dana and Melissa. Brittany and Jodi couldn't make it--we missed you! And Katie, if you are reading these, we miss you too!


Here we are at Cherry Nightclub:

Goofing Around

Happy Tuesday!

Just a few pics and a video here. I put James in a really cute outfit and wanted his Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Frost to see it--the shorts are from Polo and are SO CUTE!!


The toy is from Auntie Gini--James has figured out how to ride it and he LOVES it!






Here is Mr. Serious watching Sesame Street in the chair that his Auntie and Uncle Troy got him for his birthday.