When daddies eat babies...on the next Dr. Phil...

Yesterday, Drew was so tired from not having a second nap that he just collapsed into Neil's arms still wearing his church duds. Here he is giggling while Daddy nibbles on his neck.

Ten months old!

And the winner is...

My goal recently has been to see what I can get in the span of a literal few minutes, photography wise. With his mobility, I literally have to takes whats I can gets. The hair is my biggest obstacle. Drew obviously has no problem 'working the camera' since he seems to know exactly where to look or dial that cute factor up a notch. Yesterday, while shopping for Neil's anniversary gift a little old lady asked how old 'SHE' was. Ugh. The comments about the hair are becoming more and more frequent.

{lean in...let me explain something}

I'm not one to subscribe to old wives tales or anything superstitious, *but* let's suffice it to say I'm not anxious to cut his hair because, well...frankly, it's the hair he was born with. That luscious gorgeous head of hair.

I had heartburn as my pregnancy test. I jest only slightly. Seriously, I had heartburn my entire pregnancy. From start to finish. They (and who this "they" is I'll never know) say that when you have heartburn you are more likely to have a baby with hair. So, heartburn = a stunning head of hair - for baby, not you. Yes, I realize he's a boy and I know boys generally wear their hair shorter. Sigh. This means that it's only a matter of time before his baby hair is altered, forever changing his "look" from baby to boy. Sigh again.

But until that happens, I've decided to dub him our 'surfer boy'. That makes it ok, right? After all, I'll still get those comments from the swim instructor who's convinced a baby needs a high and tight at 9.5 months old and the little old lady will still be oblivious to his shockingly orange stroller, red outfit with the words SPORTS across the top and a monkey to boot. I've made my peace with it. He's a gorgeous baby and he draws attention wherever we go. His eyes are still the color of a typical newborn. Dark steely gray/blue.

Oh, and thank you to Alice who suggested the Radio Flyer prop the other day for our pics of Ella and Drew. I decided to do the same thing today so it was his 'official' ten month photo. Enjoy all!

{the runners up}

{seriously, how do you *not* want to gobble him all up??}


I have to sneak in one last bit about his outfit. Neil wasn't crrrazy about the look of this outfit. And I agree. Yes, it's blue, but it's got a collar big enough to pass as a bib. So, I sarcastically say "thank you" to the "great" find at Janie & Jack.

{note to self: just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's the best choice. mom lesson #698}

Oh, and by the way, whose bright idea is it to put Fall clothes out starting in August, especially in Texas? I can't find anything short-sleeved anywhere after mid-August!

Our 8th wedding anniversary

{September 23, 2000}

So, today's our anniversary and I was {was} tempted to regale the story of our wedding. Then I figured I'd just share a few pictures from our wedding day. Oh, and maybe just a few details from the day too!

As most know, Neil and I met via our good buddy, AOL. After almost two years of long-distance 'dating', lol, we married at San Jose Catholic Church in Austin. I had been working as a wedding photographer with RON PARKS (click on his name to see his website)for about a year. Needless to say we were able to convince him to photograph the day. These photos, unfortunately, don't capture how great his photography is. I removed pages from our wedding book and was not able to scan with great results.

We stopped at McDonald's to grab a bite (I was hungry and couldn't wait!) and then headed over to the Austin Children's Museum where we had the reception. After the reception we left by horse and carriage and took a short tour of downtown. We have a lot of fond memories of the day and enjoyed all the great company and food!

{the infamous stop at McDonald's}

{playin' on the playground!}

{leaving by horse and carriage}

Our trip to Houston...before Hurricane Ike

We went to Houston to visit Alice and Chris and the girls for Labor Day weekend. We had a great time. We did a little swimming, a little shopping, a little Euchre playing. It was great to connect with them and we were sad to leave!! Hurricane Gustav seemed to threaten our trip back, but we made it back home with very little evacuee traffic. The real problem emerged later when Hurricane Ike made it's way right over their house. I will have to blog about our refugee camp later!

{Grace, enjoying Cheetos}

{Our goddaughter, Mia}


{Sophie giving drew kisses}


{Paige with her godparents}

{Ashley and Madeleine, the dynamic duo}

{Miss Sophie}

{don't let Strawberry Shortcake fool you - those are blueberries she's eating!}


{the boys}

{Sophie as she demonstrates under-bubbles-kick}

{Alice and Ella}

{Paige on the turtle}



{Ashley and Madeleine stop to pose during their basketball game}

{Grace demonstrating under-bubbles-kick}

Fundraising fun!

As the beginning of the school year is finally in full swing, I am reminded of this post because it pretty much documents how I feel about the seemingly unending onslaught of 'buy this', ' we need that', 'please sign up for x, y, or z'. Don't get me wrong. Don't mistake my feeling overwhelmed with not actually wanting to do whatever it is that comes our way. I enjoy the things I sign up for and I do them very happily. Right down to the fund raisers. I'm always in the market for double-sided wrapping paper. Hey, at $7 a pop I'm set for Christmas for at *least* a year. I use the elementary fund raiser to stock up on all my wrapping needs. Middle school is a little different. Last year, Ashley was in band and to support the band, we bought cookie dough and mini-pizzas (think mini Red Barons). I wasn't exactly crazy about it, but with Drew's upcoming birth it made for some quick gifts for those who took care of us as well as some fast and easy dinners.

This year, Ashley came home with a fund raiser I have resisted for many years. I am now buying one because 1) they are half the price of the ones sold in VA (which was *why* I was not sold on buying one or two or three - they were sold as a fund raiser through the VA MOMS Club) and 2) they essentially pay for themselves after a couple of uses.

We are talking about the Entertainment Passbook '09.

This is my shameless attempt at plugging Ashley's fund raiser to family, lol. At $20, it's hard to say no. I'm definitely getting one. Definitely.

Click on the link above and go to the Seller's Section tab at the top. You'll need the school's account number to sign up. For those who are interested and don't know how to contact me, please send me your e-mail address in the comments section (don't put it as xyz@abcdefg.com or you'll get spammed - write it as xyz at abcdefg dot com). I will send you a private e-mail with the school account number so you can order yours!

These coupons are good through the end of next year. Keep one in the car and you won't forget to use them!

Ashley will be calling on you soon if she hasn't already!

Final installment of our VA trip

Our last day in Virginia was spent doing a lot of fun things. Brendan stayed out at Grandma and Paka's, so Ashley and Jonathan and Paige all played with him. We first went to throw rocks in the river because, who doesn't like to chuck rocks and skip the flat ones?

Seriously it was good.

That is, until I slipped and fell on the rocks, scratching the screen on my camera (not to mention totally devaluing it - WAH!). Luckily, it was not damaged!!





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Then we headed over to the scary bridge where I had a couple of 'what were we thinking' moments. It was best to look straight ahead and *not* look down!


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Then we finished our outing with a few laps around the track and a few video games. Jonathan was our turtle, getting lapped a few times by everyone!







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Here's Jonathan dressed up like a desperado. He had been dressing up like this all week, so I finally managed to remember to drag the camera out (yet again!) to capture him in his fun digs.

Boys gone see-saw

First, we'll start with a couple of pictures of Paige giving Aria a ride on the tricycle at Grandma and Paka's house. This was just before they headed back home after Zack's party. It was a really fun day and we were sad to see the day end!

{Dana helps position Aria on the tricycle}

{and off they go!!}

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{Uh oh, Neil's making a weird face. Let's fix that!}

{OK, let's make it seem like we did this on purpose!}

{OK, now we can laugh about it. ;-)}

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While in Austin, we took Kevin and Dana and Aria to one of our favorite parks after eating at The Oasis. I got a few pictures of the kids (err um, I mean grown men) teeterin' and a totterin'. Then for grins we did it again at Grandma and Paka's house. This may be a developing theme with any future teeter totters we run across!!

Austin teeterin'

Woodstock totterin'