Just Stuff

I have been crazy busy with work, and have missed posting TWO DAYS IN A ROW!!!! I know, you just can't believe it. I guess I am out of the running for the 31 posts in 31 days contest for March. DAMN! I made it so far! Oh well.

We had a lovely, quiet weekend. I am loving staying at home and enjoying the company of my men. Saturday we headed over to a local nursery to check out tomato plants (I am determined to grow patio tomatoes this year) and I found out that the EXPERT on growing tomatoes in the desert is speaking there this Saturday. So, I will be headed over there for a little workshop.

Chris took some fun photos of Rocco. Geez . . . he sure is getting a lot of blog posting time! Here is one of them.


On Sunday we celebrated St. Paddy's with corned beef and cabbage at the Herbst's. They have a new IG addition to their family, so we brought our two IGs and they all had a blast playing. Can I just say, I LOVE puppies!!!


I made out like crazy for the St. Paddy's feast, because a) I didn't have to cook corned beef all day and stink up my house--which is a good stink, don't get me wrong, but it does linger; b) I didn't have to clean my house like a madwoman; c) all I had to do was bring the dessert "makings" -- I didn't even have to dirty up my kitchen with the tiny amount of kitchen utensils required to make these:


These are the Apple Dumplings from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. They are FABULOUS (and made with some Mountain Dew) I know--that is just NUTS!!!

While we were over there, I watched James pushing a metal flatbed around, and thought to my self and then SAID OUT LOUD "You are going to trip and bang your head on that thing if you aren't careful." No sooner did the words come out of my mouth but he tripped and fell and hit his head. Which is why he is sporting this big long red scratch across his forehead:


OK, I admit it, you would probably have to click the photo open and then zoom in on it to see the scratch--but it is there and you know that makes me feel like a bad Mommy. I actually just took this pic tonight right before James headed up for bed. He is a little under the weather, pale, and pouty--but sweet as usual.

I am going to be slammed all week with the work that pays the bills, so I may be infrequently posting. I was at my desk at 6am this morning and still working at 5pm, (whine, whine, WHINE) but hey--ya gotta do the work so that you can have the fun. RIGHT??!!!

For Auntie Kimmy

Hi Auntie Kimmy!


Like my Nalgene?

I stole Mommy's water bottle today, so Daddy filled the
Nalgene up with water for me and I have been carrying it around ALL DAY!

Aren't I a BIG boy?
Is Matthew using his yet?

LOVE and MISS you!

Hey! A Baby Belly!

Look what happened this week!

17 weeks and feeling great!

Some Italian Eye Candy

I was fooling around with my camera this weekend and took some shots of Rocco.

Doesn't he just look so handsome? Regal? A great specimen of an Italian Greyhound?

What these shots don't portray is the constant yelling at him to get away from the kitchen counters, the boy's plate, the trash, etc., etc.

Here he is saying "Don't hate me because I am beautiful!"

And a couple of recent shots of James. First is of him having a blast in his Thomas playhouse. He loves it when I squeeze myself in there (which should become increasingly more difficult as summer approaches, LOL).


And here is a fun shot of him. We were in the middle of playing tag in the kitchen. I duck down behhind the kitchen island to surprise him, and he doesn't see me there yet . . . Too funny!

And Mom, I knew you would love this pic--his shorts are a wee bit too small (we'll just call him Little Chuck . .shhh . . . don't tell Dad).

A Great Visit

My friend Katie, whom I met through playgroup came into town for a conference this week. She was able to get away for a few hours for a visit. She and her husband Andy and their daughter Maggie used to live a stone's throw from our house, and we really miss them. They moved back to Atlanta where they were originally from. Can you tell how psyched I was to see her?


Oh, and Katie is preggo, too, with a little girl. She is a little ways ahead of me. It was so fun laughing and sharing pregnancy stories with her. I am all bummed and sad today. Miss you guys!

Love / Hate

This Love / Hate Meme is going around blog land, so here is mine.

(Oh, and if you are saying what the heck is a meme: "Meme (/miːm/) consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another." --Wikipedia)

LOVE

1. The smell of Lilac in the Spring, fresh cut grass in the Summer, a wood-burning stove in the Fall and wet wool mittens in Winter.



2. When my son says "Thank you" after anything that I do for him/give to him.

3. Coming down in the morning only to find that Chris has put my coffee cup out for me and left a good strong pot of coffee brewing.

4. Getting mail for James from my Mom, which is always addressed to "Master James."

5. Being able to help anyone with blogging/ graphic design/ marketing /writing questions.

6. Browsing through Timber Home magazine and building my dream log home in my mind.


7. Laughing with Chris.

8. A bathroom closet filled to the brim with toilet paper and a diaper stacker filled to the brim with diapers.

9. Making a great, home-cooked meal and sitting down to dinner every night with Chris and James. (I SO MISSED THAT when Chris was always out of town!)

10. Reducing/reusing/recycling so that I will leave the smallest footprint possible on the Earth.



HATE

1. Folding laundry/ironing shirts.



2. Careless drivers (I am so much more concerned about that now that I have a little one.)

3. My neighborhood.

4. People that come to my door to sell me bug extermination/Jesus/housecleaning when I have a sign that says NO SOLICITING next to my door bell.



5. When my computer just shuts down for no reason, especially in the middle of a long blog post with about a million pictures.

6. Coming home from the grocery store only to find that I forgot that ONE CRUCIAL INGREDIENT, even though I for some reason crossed it off my list in the store.

7. Being away from Pine/Oak/Elm/Birch/Maple trees and Goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, Black Eyed Susan's and Chicory growing wild on the side of the road.



8. Watching James grow up really fast and seeing him change into a remarkable little person every day and knowing that my folks are missing it.


9. Watching James grow up really fast and seeing him change into a remarkable little person every day and knowing that Chris' Mom isn't around to see it (although I sure hope she can see him from Heaven).

10. The fact that I was at the Spring's Preserve Water Conservation exhibit and someone was walking around behind me saying "that's not true," "I don't believe that," "That's ridiculous," "who comes up with these numbers anyhow" and knowing that there are a million other people who don't think that water conservation or global warming is an issue.

Sunday Grilling and a Monday Lunch Break

"I'm a man. Men cook outside. Women make the three-bean salad. That outdoor grilling is a manly pursuit has long been beyond question. If this wasn't firmly understood, you'd never get grown men to put on those aprons with pictures of dancing wienies and things on the front and messages like 'Come 'n' Get It'"

William Geist, New York Times Magazine

* * * * *

Chris broke out the charcoal grill/smoker last night. We had some chicken and the weather was beautiful so we decided to grill the old fashioned way--by making a fire without gas. I KNOW, SHOCKING!

What is it about men and grilling that makes them so happy?

Ok, even though he looks like he is choking to death on the smoke, Chris is actually ridiculously happy here. (I'll mention, for those of you who don't know, that we have a state of the art, built in barbecue/gas grill/fridge/bar area to the right of the above picture. But it is this little red smoker that makes Chris TRULY happy.)


Here is the whole thing in action. Looks hot, eh? He used hickory chips and mesquite (from our own tree that Chris has kept dry since trimming last year). The aroma was just amazing.


Awwwwwwwww . . . . so cute! James wanted to be with his Da da SO BAD! He kept smacking his hands on the slider and saying "Hot! Hot!" BTW, can you see the huge and frightening 5 alarm fire call the fire department the house is going to burn to the ground lovely plume of smoke?


To the BBQ chicken I added our favorite grilled (on the safe grill) russet potato chips and Giada's Spinach Salad with orange vinaigrette. Plus, a lovely, tall glass of Fresh & Easy Black Ice Tea. What a perfect almost summer meal!

After dinner, Chris and I watched the fire die down, enjoyed the birds and the smell of fresh cut grass and played with James. It was just wonderful.

* * * *

Ok, this could be a completely SEPARATE post, but I am folding it into this one so that I am not accused of being a manic daily blogger by my oh so competitively posting SIL thought to have nothing better to do than blog to my heart's content.

I had two things to accomplish today during lunch. Mop the kitchen floor and feed James. I had a ton of Institute work beginning with a 6am conference call (which of course means I am at my desk at 5am so that by the time the call comes I don't sound like a blithering idiot) and so I knew it was going to be a long day.

I was very fortunate to have the maid come by and do the mopping:


I will call the housekeeping service because he missed a few spots, but all he wanted in return was lunch, so how could I complain?


And here he is eating his lunch. TAKE NOTE all of you readers who know that I have been struggling to get him to eat anything that is not white/tan in color. Here he is, eating Pizza Rolls!

(Mom, don't ask. Yes, they are frozen. Yes, they could be considered junk food. Yes. I might as well shove a Big Mac down his throat. But I don't have time to make a gourmet meal for him and get my work done.)

And here is a video of my beautiful son saying "Thank you."

How is it possible that every day with him can just get better and better? I mean, as a newborn he was cute and cuddly and miraculous, and then he got even more adorable when he started to walk and follow me around, and now he says "Thank you???" I know what it means when people say that their "hearts melt."

I am such a pushover for my son.

A Cool Cousins Weekend

We had Garrin for the weekend while his Mom and Dad played coach/whip cracker/carb-loader chef/personal trainer/cheerleader for Hannah and Connor who swam in meets on Saturday and Sunday. James was THRILLED to have Garrin over, and said "Hi Gar-yen, hi Gary-en, hi Gar-yen!" all weekend!

We picked up the precious cargo at about 5pm on Friday evening. We headed home and had yummy mac and cheese for dinner (James had mac & mac since he won't allow anything yummy to touch his noodles!) Then the boys settled in and played (fought) laughed (screamed) all night with trains, blocks and assorted other cool stuff.

James is a little on the sensitive side, and Garrin likes to have all 27 train cars to himself, so it was tough going for a while. BUT--they were able to work it out and settle down to putting on the Indy 500 around and around the kitchen.

The whole evening I was thinking to myself, "Am I ready for two kids?" "Is Chris ready for two kids?" But they were AWESOME and I love all of the extra smiles, giggles, hugs and kisses that come with two little ones.

The cutest thing was when I took James up to bed and he waved bye bye and said "night night" and "luv you Gar-yen" to his cousin. Makes a mom proud!


Here they are Saturday morning gearing up for their big day, which would include a birthday party for one of the little girls in playgroup. They are enjoying "cancakes" as James calls them.


The birthday party took place in this big room that was filled with bouncy houses and bounce playgrounds with slides, tunnels, climbing walls, and all sorts of neat stuff for little boys.

BUT--Garrin was NOT THRILLED. It took him about 40 minutes to warm up to the idea (with some help from his Uncle Chris) and then he had a BLAST.


Check out Garrin sliding in the last pic on the right above this caption. I think his face says it all!


Chris had a good time, too. He is such a great Dad and Uncle!


James was very excited to see that the theme for the party was Elmo. Here he is saying "Elmo!"


Look, Gini! See this kid? It is your boy and he TAKES NAPS (if you tucker him out long enough, throwing him repeatedly down the slide, bouncing him up and down a hundred times, chasing him all over the place and stuffing his face with pizza and cake!) Ok, but if you bring him home and let him sleep for another hour, he doesn't go to bed until after S&L. (So maybe I gave him too much cake/gummy bears/sour patch kids/cotton candy/chocolate??!!!)


After all that playing, the boys needed a nice bath. They had tons of fun splashing each other, until Garrin saw a red piece of fuzz HUGE KILLER BUG (uh, did Hannah teach him that?) and had to get out of the tub. All the while, James is like "What the heck is the problem? Come on and let me finish washing your hair!"


And here they are, all cozy and clean and ready for bed, giving a BIG, SLOPPY night night kiss to each other. Now THIS will be the best pic to show at their weddings!

Saturday Sneak Peek

The Blogger server is having lots of problems tonight, and I am trying to upload 6 photo collages with no progress, so I am throwing in the towel and will try again tomorrow!

Springtime is Here

Well, I definitely feel like Spring is here, now that I have this beautiful wreath adorning my front door. Thanks Gini!


And don't you worry, Garrin will have a great time at Hotel Lantieri this weekend!