On the Grow

There is one thing certain with a little one - they are growing all the time. Ours seems to do so exponentially. I am having to retire all of the cute 2T footies in exchange for 3T. Didn't I just BUY these PJ's? Aren't 3 year olds suppose to wear 3T? Last I checked, I wasn't even pregnant yet to have had a 3 year old.

Oh well, I bought some snow boots at the consignment store today. They were a cheapy $5 pair from Old navy. size 4T. Well, whatever fits, right?! We have tons of snow in the mountains right now, so it would be fun to take the lil mister sledding soon. we'll keep you posted : )

Return From Paradise

Family Picture

Giving the animals a ride in the ski boat

My birthday

We have been getting settled back in this week after a fantastic family vacation to Hawaii. We were fortunate to have Matt's parent's join us for a portion of the trip, which gave us the opportunity to have a few date nights.

We were a little "adventurous" and ate out at an authentic Japanese Restaurant (hey, that's a stretch for a girl from small town Texas...) They had an "all you can eat" buffet the night we went (this is high class...not the cattle call at Old Country Buffet, people!), which gave me an opportunity to see and sample a little of everything (except for the sashimi...couldn't quite do that one...) We also just ran with the whole "When in Rome" notion and we tasted a flight of sake. The sweet one was OK, but I think I can now just say, "been there, done that." Here is a sampling from the buffet at Ushio Tei: buffet. The wafu steak and the shrimp tempura were very tasty!



Our other big meal out was for my birthday. We went to an island legend, Roys, where we enjoyed Hawaiian Fushion Cuisine (the word fusion always makes it sound so much more exotic....just combine seafood with an Asian influence and you've got it.) And because my biggest dilemma at restaurants is that my palate gets bored with one main dish, they offered an entre called "Classic Four," which paried together 4 samplings from the menu (including seared ahi, mahi mahi, butterfish, and some other fish I couldn't pronounce.) Top that off with a monte cristo cake for dessert (chocolate cake infused with peanut butter filling and then deep fried and served w/ ice cream) and you have the makings for a yummy and memorable birthday dinner.

On the playtime front, we did enjoy the beach pool, though our lil man still absolutely hates the sand (hence no sand castle-building pictures at the beach.) It was a bit cool at the pool some days, so we were glad to have a long sleeve rash guard for Colin. There was a huge section with water only 3 inches deep, so Colin could drive his animal toys around in his toy speed boat while mom and dad lounged at the edge of the pool.

Here are some other highlights from the trip:

- We drove up to the Dole plantations and on up to the north shore, the surfing mecca of the world. When we arrived at the north shore, we turned around and drove home, as it was 9:45 am and the lil mister was already asleep for his "afternoon nap." Our day (and yes, this was my birthday) began at 4 am. Good times on the sleeping front!

- We realized the sleep issues were do to three (yes, three) budding 2 year molars. Praise the Lord for Motrin, our best friend and the keeper of all that is happy and bright.

- Matt and I enjoyed a snorkel outing together at Kahe Point, an area dubbed the "electric beach." The water is really clear, but not an over abundance of fish. I saw an awesome (huge) parrot fish, some humu's and angel fish, but nothing noteworthy like a sea turtle.

- My MIL and I drove into Honolulu one morning to do some birthday shopping. Wouldn't you know we finally had success at the very last store in the whole shopping center! Banana Republic has some cute things for their spring line-up.

- Our resort was awesome! We had a full kitchen, dining, living area, which was separate from the two bedrooms. It was so nice for everyone to have their own space. It also helps when feeding a munchkin. We just stocked up at the local Safeway (milk was $6 a gallon - yowsers!) and it worked really well.

- Lastly, it was so awesome to have 3 generations of family all together. I've always seen larger family groups on vacation together and always thought that would be such a fun way to "go on holiday." Pretty cool, indeed!

Choices, choices!

This past week I have been introduced to a dizzying array of choices with names like, "Waldorf, Montessori, Reggio-Emilia, and others." It seems I had fewer options for college than there are around here for preschool. Yes, preschool.

I joined other moms (many I knew or recognized) as we visited with various schools at the local preschool fair. Want your child to be immersed in French? Maybe Japanese or Korean? It's all possible. Programs choices range from those with religious teaching or second language instruction, to those with outdoor exploration, cooking classes, music programs, and you name it!

One program caught my interest, as I think it would be oh so fun, given that I was a fish when I was a kid: one school offers a 30 minute swim lesson (pool on site) at the end of every class. How cool would that be? Go to school and play with you friends for 2 hours and then cap off the morning with a 30 minute swim class.

And then there are the other schools, which are more academic. Schools with things like "Center" or "Academy" in their name make me think they'll be turning out 3 year old prodigies who can read at a 3rd grade level. Hmmm. And the cost is out of this world, too. (Formal Name=High Cost) Maybe it's a pedigree thing. Though I'm not sure I would want to grow up saying, "I went to the Giggly Wiggly School."

And then there are Co-op programs, which I have mostly ruled out. I think I like this concept of dropping him off so I can go run errands. Alone. Without fussiness or distraction. Unless that distraction is a chai from Starbucks.

I've got some research to do!

On The Mend

We are all FINALLY on the mend in our house. The stomach flu can go find some other family for the rest of the winter season! We decided to stay home one more day from activities, though activities were all cancelled because of the snow. So it wasn't like we REALLY got to play hooky anyways...

Speaking of things on the mend, I decided that Colin's blue blankie just couldn't make it another night without me mending the loose satin binding around one of the corners. It has to be sewn when he's awake (it's "thee" blankie for sleeptime.) I did pass home ec in high school, though I'm not really sure how given how poorly I stitched it up...the blankie now has that well-worn, homey look with my mismatched stitching. But it's stitched. Good thing -- it got washed about 7 times in the last week. The blankie and the blankie's owner both survived this last bout of sickness.

Did I mention we leave for Hawaii this weekend. There is indeed a God in heaven!

Happy 10 Years!

Fountains at Bellagio looking towards Paris.

A view of the Wynn golf course and the strip from our room at the Renaissance.

Venice Canals.

Remember when? 10 years ago today!

Ten years ago today, many of you were gathered with us in a church in small town Texas. On that cold, West Texas day, you joined us as we became a family. Can you believe it's been ten years?

We celebrated our big 1-0 in "high style" this past weekend. Grandma came and stayed with Colin while we dashed off to Vegas for an early anniversary celebration. In keeping with with our big 1-0, we thought we'd a list of top 10 from our trip to Vegas:

10) Stay at an off-strip casino if possible. We enjoyed the ultra hip Renaissance, and it was a brief walk to the monorail with access to all of the big casinos. As an added bonus, it is casino free (no listening to "Wheel of Fortune" each time you walk in the lobby.) The hotel was right by the Convention Center, which was preparing for CES, so the place was buzzing with all of the consumer electronics big names - our hotel was even wrapped by one of the booth exhibitors (their exhibit marketing makes the marketing work I did look like child's play!)

9.) Yummy dinner at Emeril's Cajun/Creole restaurant, just off of MGM Grand. We both had the grouper, but the other dishes looked divine, as well. Get a spot near the glass for great people watching.

8.) Check out the lions at the MGM while you are at it. So cool to stand under the glass while a big lion just lounges 4 feet above! The rotate the cats out from their ranch, so each cat only spends 1-2 days a month at the casino.

7.) Shopping! Oh where to start? We hit the Fashion Mall at the north end of the strip, and also enjoyed Caesars Forum Shops. there were many others between, so we just paced ourselves! Matt hit 3 Tommy Bahamas, and I found about 4 Ann Taylor Lofts.

6.) Ka was awesome! This Circ Du Soleil show at MGM was just incredible! The acrobatics were unbelievable on this stage, which sometimes rotated up to a complete 90 degree angle. Whew! It was the story of an epic journey for a brother and sister, though it uses no words other than an intro in the very beginning.

5.) We stayed at the Luxor the second night. Thanks to CES, the Renaissance was full, so we took the best Priceline had to offer. Yeah, not so much. We woke at 8:30 am to sanding and hammering 4 floors up. So much for sleeping in after a late night! Note to self: Ask about construction in the building when booking a hotel room!

4.) For a megga meat feast, we hit Pampas Brazilian Grille. Yummy! This is the kind of place where they bring around "cooked beast" until your heart is content. Matt and I were so full we probably got a weeks worth of iron in one sitting!

3.) I just love the fountains at the Bellagio. we missed them at night, but it's also great during the day. The water is choreographed to Andrea Bocelli's opera song, and you feel momentarily whisked away to Italy!

2.) Our two other favorite themed hotels were Paris and New York, NY. They each exude character from the cities they imitate. Very cool to walk through!

1.) Aside from the food, $4 worth of gambling, shopping, and some very tired feet from all of the walking, we most enjoyed just getting a chance to be together and hang out. Alone. Sans Kiddo. Pretty cool!


And today, exactly ten years after saying "I do," I could not have imagined what I would be doing exactly 10 years later. Our little man developed the tummy flu right around 3:30 Central time (the time of our wedding.) So, in the true spirit of motherhood, I traded my beautiful white veil for about 3-4 changes of clothing for both of us throughout the afternoon. Good thing for an early break to Vegas!

Happy Day

Tonight as Colin was eating dinner, the radio was playing a song that I was mindlessly singing along with. It's a song called Happy Day, and some of the chorus is:

Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

As I was singing Happy Day, Colin clapped his hands like he would in the song, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands." And he clapped each time the chorus sang "Happy day.",

Yes, Colin, a happy day, indeed.

Happy 2008

We enjoyed a New Year's Eve Dinner with our next door neighbors and another couple they know from church. The kids had a great time racing around the house, and the adults enjoyed eating the authentic tamales they brought back from their Christmas visit in New Mexico. The pork chili that topped the tamales was super spicy, but yummy indeed!

On New Year's Day we joined some other friends and their family for their annual frogmore stew dinner, complete with crab, shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, and lots of messy finger-lickin! We all dined "Colin style." That was some good eatin!

Christmas 2007

Here are a few highlights from Christmas:

Colin continued to enjoy the Wonder Horse throughout Christmas.

On Christmas Eve we went to church and then came home and enjoyed Dungeness Crab and the fixins, as well as a chocolate fondue dessert. We even got some gourmet marshmallows to include in our caloric chocolate feast, which included two kinds of chocolates. YUMMY!

Colin tries out his hoppity horse. His Christmas Morning PJ's had a moose on them and said, "Big Antlers, Big Heart." Colin got new PJs on Christmas Eve.

Colin tries out his new keyboard. He later put his Little People animals on the keys. Do you think pandas and sheep can play the piano?