Gratitude

As the boys get bigger and life gets just a little busier everyday, I am learning to value the few minutes or hours I get to spend with close friends. It would be so much easier to just stay at home during the rare moments when neither boy has an activity, playdate, sporting event, birthday party, or school event but then we would miss out on those special moments when we meet up with friends for evening ice cream at DQ or brunch with the Nguyens during their whirlwind Turkey Trot in Texas.
As we gear up for Thanksgiving and reflecting on all the great things in our life, I want to take a moment to give a virtual shoutout to our families for their never-ending love and support and to our close, special friends that help make life and all its craziness is just a little more bearable.

NOLA

I had a fabulous weekend getting to visit with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. We probably drank too much and we definitely ate too much but it was well wroth it.

Lee and Rebecca are great hostesses and I'll definitely be heading back to NOLA (I have yet to see the zoo or the art museum) and I might just take Rick.

Video On Demand (a Zach Fuism)

I walked away for 10 minutes and somehow the boys managed to navigate to the Video On Demand menu on the TV. Even more impressive is that they found a "Sports Movie" category. We started flipping through the options and watching previews. Eventually we landed on King Pin (I promise we didn't watch the preview) but as you may know the VOD menu shows an image of the movie. I tried to find the image online to post but we will just have to go with words on this one. The poster shows a min-dress clad woman with Woody Harrelson and Dennis Quaid on either side of her and I am sure there is a bowling ball in the photo somewhere. So the image appears and Rick starts professing his love for the movie at which point Zach jumps up and yells: "NO MORE FREAKING CHICK FLICKS!"

The poster is fairly innocuous, which leads me to believe that Zach was reacting to Rick's commentary, which then leads me to believe that while I am gone Rick is making Zach watch a lot of chick flicks.

lucky

I have to admit that I pretty damn lucky. I have a great husband who hasn't batted an eyelash about me leaving for three days to spend some quality time with Lexi in NOLA . And I have two super, fabulous friends who are letting Lexi and I crash at their house and promise to keep us entertained and filled with coffee.

And I can't forget Chandra who spotted me the perfect little suitcase and readily agreed to check in on my boys and ensure that they are ok or that they have at least changed their underwear.

Hopefully I will get a few good shots of Lexi's and my adventures this weekend.  It could get crazy as the top things on our to do list include: eating lots of pastries, sleeping in, going to stores that we typically pass by because we have boys with us, and drinking NOLA out of coffee while sitting in Lee's and Rebecca's backyard.

window markers

I saw window markers at Target and thought the boys may like to do some holiday decorating on the back door. The markers have been a hit but I don't have any holiday drawings; instead I have Zachy writing his own Star Wars Saga that includes Dad Vadar, Jedi Zach, and Jedi Master JT.

What Cute Looks Like

Trick or Treat

We had what JT describes as "the best Halloween ever" mainly because we hung with the Laynes and got to introduce Lauren to candy (no photographic evidence in case her parents come after me).



Words of wisdom from Halloween 2009 - "It is really fun to have a cape!" I am considering wearing a cape to work tomorrow.

Pumpkins!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin

This past weekend a special treat came to Austin - Lauren. We were so excited to have her come and visit us. We kicked off a very busy but fun weekend with JT's Book Parade at school. The idea is that each kid pick a character from a book, dress like that character, and then parade around the school. JT was very excited to have Gavin come visit him at school. I think Gavin on the other hand was overwhelmed by 1st grade.

I have to admit I am please with my Max costume creation. I tried to talk JT out of Max but he was stuck on the idea and we made it work. It is also great that JT and Zach now think I am some sort of magic seamstress because I was able to pull this one off.

Zach's Fall Festival

Here are a few shots from Zach's fall festival. He opted to wear a different costume from his Halloween one because Ms. Sandy kept talking the possibility of costumes getting ruined. Zach had a great time but was too anxious for his cousin's arrival and asked to leave after the festival was over.