Tuesday, July 27, 2010

We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

What a wonderful week!  Busy, but perfect in practically every way.  Lots of family and friends to visit with, fun things to do and just general love all around!

The beginning of the week was pretty slow, especially with my parents in Colorado, but it was interesting having 4 dogs in the house for the week since they were gone.  But, on Wednesday I took Connor downtown to Deep Elum for some pictures with friends.  JP took the pics, and they are FANTASTIC!  I can't believe how big he is...  It was Connor and me, Tiffany and Keaton (4 months) and Brandon and Kaiden (also 9 months, he is 9 days younger than Connor).  It was HOT, but here are a few shots, like I said, JP is the best.



On Thursday Connor and I had a lunch date with my dear friend Val, and her 6 week old, Katie.  We met at Rosa's and Connor enjoyed eating my rice and beans, and a bit of tortilla.  He thinks that Katie is very beautiful, (which she totally is), and can't wait for her to be old enough to play.  We didn't take any pictures of the first outing, but others will certainly follow!  Both Connor and Katie were very good during lunch and let Val and me chat for the better part of two hours.

Friday my best friend, Kathy, came into town and we took Connor to his very first Rangers game.  He thought it was great, and I thought having Kathy, Mom, Dad and Chris to all help with Connor was equally as great!  It turned out to be the perfect game to go to as well, it had rained much of the afternoon so the temp was cooler, we were seated below the awning on the third base side so the sprinkles stayed away, the game was quick, the Rangers won, and it was followed up by fantastic fireworks set to Broadway music.  Seriously, does it get better than that?




Saturday I had free tickets to see Ramona and Beezus, so Mom, Kathy and I left Connor with Chris and headed to Allen for the show.  We were pleasantly surprised with gift cards at the screening, and the movie was SO cute!  Thanks MyDFWMommy!  Check out our super cute peanut butter sandwhich picture.  


                                        

Then it was time for Megan and Matt to arrive!  We all ate lunch at Savannah Grill, (so good by the way), and had a great time catching up with each other.  Connor especially enjoyed his time with his Auntie Megan and Uncle Matt.  We spent the evening decorating the rest of the cupcakes from earlier in the week.  We were all sad when Kathy had to leave.

We kinda took it easy on Sunday, just church, lunch at Abuelos and some errands.  But today was Zoo Day! We headed out to Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville relatively early, we wanted to be sure to get there in time to feed the giraffes.  If you have small kids, that zoo is perfect!  In a little over 2 hours we had seen the entire zoo, and had fed the giraffes and some goats.  It is a great size and all the employees were very polite.  Not a ton of animals, but perfect for kids!  Also, very affordable!  Then we had lunch in Gainesville before spending a quiet evening at home.  



Connor was obviously exhausted by the end of lunch.  Home for a nap!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Cake, Cupcakes and Icing, Oh My!

My cake decorating class is almost over! Sad face...  I am going to try to take the next one, but with school starting back mid-August I may not have the time.  Anyway, I really enjoy this course!  Today we did flowers and then I came home and messed around with icing and cupcakes for a while.  Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. 
Now, we spent the whole class working on the first 6. I'm not really a fan of the "shaggy mum" thing, and one suffered a bit of an accident in transport, but it was still fun to learn. The other 6 I made at home this evening by just looking at some pictures in the book.



This one is my favorite, I think he is cute with his little buck tooth and all. 
I also really like this one.  Unbelievably simple to do as well!

These last two are from last weeks class.  We made the fish in class, (for some reason she would not let me change the colors, even though I had to make them myself), and I made the Barbizon cake for Chris's office with the leftover cake layer and icing. 

I'm excited for next week when we get to design and create our own thing.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet...maybe Mickey Mouse holding some balloons?  I'll have to try to find a picture to use.  I also made a delicious strawberry cake to take to a friends last week, and it was beautiful, but I forgot to take pictures!  Guess I'll just have to make another one! 

Of my many hobbies I enjoy this and my travel agency the most.  I just wish that the cake and icing was fat free...

Tomorrow is picture day for Connor!  A friend is going to take his 9 month pictures down in Deep Elum, they should be great!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Blah Blah Blah

Ever have a day where you just feel blah?  Can't put your finger on why, but just have a generally low energy, low enjoyment day?  That was today, actually, come to think of it, that has been a lot of this summer.  I don't know if its the fact that I haven't really had anything to do over the summer, or what, but I'm just very blah these days.  I'm used to having something big to look forward to before the start of the next school year, and this summer we haven't done a dang thing, so maybe thats it...I don't know.  It seems like everyone else is traveling right now, and I'm stuck at home.  I'm not used to this, and I don't like it one bit.  How is it that I'm a travel agent who doesn't travel?  I feel like a broken record though, and I guess I just have to get over it. 

Rant over. 

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Wow, it has been a while!

So, my goal with this whole blog thing was to, well, actually blog. Needless to say I kind of suck at it. I always have these great ideas for things I'm going to post when I'm out running errands, and once I get home, get Connor all settled, and sit down at the computer for a minute I have completely forgotten that I even have a blog. I vow to get better!

Anyway, things here are moving along. Summer has been completely uneventful and rather boring to be honest, but I am getting to spend some wonderful time with Connor. I know most people probably think I'm completely nuts for being bored over the summer, but I'm just not the type of person who can sit around and do housewifey things...I'm just not. I need to be doing something, making something, going somewhere, etc, or I wind up on the couch watching tv, and more than likely eating something I shouldn't. But, here is a brief recap of things so far.

School is obviously out for the summer and I miss my seniors like crazy. This was the first year that we graduated a significant number of kids out of the theatre department, and they are the ones who have been the life-force of the department for the last three years. We have FANTASTIC kids left, but we are taking a huge hit losing this group. Plus, I loved them all, they were each incredibly special in very individual ways, and when put together, WOW! I know they will go on to wonderful things, and have no doubts about their bright futures!

I have started running. I am bound and determined to become a decent runner, even if it kills me. I am attempting the Couch to 5K program, and was doing well until my old knee injuries from dance started to flare up. I went to the doctor last week and he wants me to do 4-6 weeks of physical therapy to work on muscle stability around my patella, but said I can run as long as I am on a flat surface and stop if it starts to hurt. My friend Jana and I take our boys, who are 9 days apart in age, with us when we can and it is nice not to have to run alone, and to have someone to hold me accountable and not let me be lazy.

Connor is growing like a weed! He is 9 months now, 29" tall and 20.08 lbs. He has mastered the art of crawling, kneeling, and standing, and is working hard on sounds. It has been really great watching him develop, and I can't believe the way he has changed just in the last month. Chris and I were talking today about how learning to crawl (he army scootched for a long time first) seems to have just opened the door for him to do all sort of new and exciting things. He loves to make t sounds, tongue clicks and smack kisses. He has two teeth, and his favorite food is very clearly sweet potatoes, and I am really enjoying making his baby food as often as I can. He has also started nibbling on table foods over the past week, though we have been sharing our ice cream with him for a long time...we can thank his Auntie Megan for that since she gave him gelato when she came to visit last year at Thanksgiving... Connor also LOVES water, and loves to "swim". He has no fear and will happily dunk his head into the water, come up, spit the water out, and dunk his head back in. He will do this repeatedly for quite a while, and splashes like there is no tomorrow. He would spend all day every day in the pool if he could. He is also becoming very social and stares at other children if they are around, as if he is completely fascinated by them. Being his mom is the greatest gift I could ever imagine.


Dogs are doing well, albeit they have decided they don't like Connor so much now that he is mobile. They tend to keep their distance as much as possible, which frustrated Connor because he really wants to play with them. Hopefully they will take more of a liking to him as he gets older. For now we just keep an eye on everything, and give the girls some one-on-one love when Connor is down for naps and bedtime. I think the dogs enjoy summer the most since they are put away much less...

Chris is working as usual, though he has changed his schedule to work 7:30-4:30 so that we have more time in the evening to spend as a family. This has worked out quite well, and I think he enjoys it. He is about to put in quite a bit of travel time to Austin, as he is working on the system install for the new W Hotel down there. He is a fantastic dad, and I love watching him and Connor interact with each other.

I'm taking a cake decorating class, which I enjoy, and it gives me an excuse to bake things! But, I am spending a lot of my summer time trying to get my travel agency off the ground. It has been a bit trying, as I have had it for over two years now but don't have the time to commit to it to really make something of it. I am focusing on Disney (what else!), the cruise industry and all-inclusive resorts. Disney is my favorite, and the one I know the most about, but I really do enjoy all of it. I am trying to take as many webinars this summer as I can, but they keep getting cancelled which has been frustrating. Luckily I can find my way around anyway, but it would be nice to have it a little more together! Anyway, if you are looking for travel email me at magicaldetailstravel@gmail.com and I can help you out!

No vacations on the list for this summer, which has me very bummed out...hopefully we can do something fantastic next year, but we are really trying to watch our finances right now. We just switched to the envelope system, so I will report on how that is going at a later date.

I'm out of things to say! TTFN!!!!!