Who's Your Babysitter?

My sister's birthday was Friday, and being the most fabulous sister that I am, I babysit Miles for her.  Like he spent the night.  With me.  And Brent was gone.  So I had both boys BY MYSELF.  And we had a fantastic time!!!

We played outside.

We looked super adorable watching 'Bob the Builder', holding hands, and brushing our hair.  Like seriously.  Cutest.

We rode the tricycle.  Naked or just in our undies.

We played in the baby swing.  Naked or in our undies.

I was for sure exhausted when Miles went home, but my sister had a fabulous time, and I was so happy to have had Miles stay.  I'd been scared to do it, but the boys were great!

Happy 60th Daddy!

Today, my dad turns 60!!

He is a wonderful father to my sister and me.

And a great father-in-law to his 2 knucklehead son-in-laws.

Oh, and he's been an awesome husband to my mom for 36 years. 

And a great Pops to his grandbabies. 

He's a die-hard Aggie who often has a broken heart.

He loves to play golf and watch football, shows about economics, PTI, and the weather channel.

And he's handsome to boot, no?

Happy birthday, Daddy!

I hope you have a fabulous day and many, many more!!

A Tuna Christmas

In July, when they adult Gurleys went to Grandbury, we saw 'Red, White and Tuna'.  My mother-in-law searched and found that 'A Tuna Christmas' was playing at the Paramount theater in Austin.  We rounded up most of the ladies in her family for a girls afternoon.

All the ladies!

First, the play was great!  This was the original 2 guys who wrote the plays and have starred in them all.  They are AMAZING!  We laughed so much and really enjoyed ourselves. I hope to be able to see the other plays in the series.  Afterwards, we ladies hit up Vivo.  I may have overindulged in both sangria and Mexican food.  {grin}

Me and my sister-in-law sure love sangria!

This was a great ending to the holiday weekend!

Trent Wanted to Say...

Randoms

You guys know how I love to tell you random things AND use bullet points.  So get ready!

• Brent and I had a 'date night in'.  We got Chili's to-go and watched 'Crazy, Stupid, Love'.  I hoped he would like it as much as I did - I think he did!
• I've been having a friendly debate with a friend over cow's milk vs. alternative milks.  It's getting a little heated, but it's a lot of fun.
• I have a physical next week.  I'm nowhere near where I want to be and am pretty embarrassed about it.  I have rescheduled this physical 3 times now but am just going to face the music.  Boo.
• We are really focusing on potty training with Trent while we're off work for Thanksgiving.  He's SOOO close, I'm hoping we can get there in the next week.  Saturday he peed in both Target and Home Depot, but I have confidence.  We'll see if I feel the same way in a few days. {grin}
• I have a few new blogs I've been reading lately yet can't commit to adding them to my sidebar.  How silly is that?
• Hopefully seeing 'Breaking Dawn' this weekend with a few girlfriends!!
• Am tired but know I had more to talk about.  Oh well!  Goodnight!
• Anything random you want to share?

The Jaws of Life

Everything is a tool to Trent.  

Everything.

Including my salad tongs.

He calls them the 'Jaws of Life'.

He's a hoot.

Picking up an egg with Jaws.

And transporting his egg.

What an imagination!

What does he not use Jaws for?

'Cooking' salad.  Ha!

Daydreaming

I remember being a little girl and wishing I were a princess.  Or rich.  Or famous.  These days though?

I dream of the day...I have a cleaning lady again.

I can't wait until...I don't have to work at night.

I wish...healthy, nutritious {and} yummy meals were on our table every evening (and I didn't have to make them).

I long for...my child to sleep in just once.  {And that I could too.}

I want...my BFF to not live so far away.

I look forward to...days when work doesn't keep me away from my guys.

I am so excited about some time off this week!  And I can focus on my daydreams.

I'm a Classy Lady

I had several meetings for one of my clients yesterday...in Odessa.  I left the house at 5:27 AM and got home at 10:47 PM.  It was a LONG day.  Somehow, though, on my return flight (well, 1 piece of it), I ended up in FIRST CLASS!  It was my first time in first class, and even though it was barely an hour, it was fantastic.


Did you know in First Class, you get a fresh, packaged blanket?


Did you know in First Class, your drinks are served in real glasses?


Did you know in First Class, the seats recline more in their 'upright position' than in Coach?  And they're WAY roomier too?


Yeah, I didn't either...until last night!  What a way to end the craziness that has been this week! {grin}

Same Time of Year

It's one of my busier times at work right now.  I don't have any time to blog, so if you want to know how I feel, check out this post from last year.

I miss my peeps.

This group of pictures make me laugh because it's boys being girls. {grin}  Can you see what I mean? (and guess what they're doing?)

South Pacific

Last night was our 2nd Broadway Across America show of this season.  It was Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific.  I honestly knew little to nothing about this production other than 'I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair' - please tell me you know that song and it's not just me??

A short snipit from Wikipedia about the play: South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its stories into a single plotline about an American nurse at a U.S. Naval base, during World War II, who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past. The issue of racial prejudice is sensitively and candidly explored in several plot threads, including the struggle of the lead character to accept the mixed-race children of her lover.


I thought the play was really good (although I got a little tired of the songs, there were A LOT).  And it was fun to see a play I had never seen and didn't know the plot.  I may be a dork, but it's fun adding to my list of plays I've seen.


In the next 5 weeks, I'll see A Tuna Christmas, The Lion King (in Vegas baby - thanks work for sending me to a training there), and Beauty and the Beast.  Super excited!!

Success!

Remember this traumatic day?  Well, we found a new haircut place that Trent loved!  He got to drive a fire truck during his haircut and we avoided the clippers the whole haircut.  This is probably a silly post to most people, but I was sick to my stomach on the way, so the fact that my baby wasn't screaming bloody murder for 20 minutes was wonderful!  Yay!  

We also went to Target today and went sans diaper!!  I think we're on the home stretch of potty training.  I am going to try his new Thomas the Train underwear at church tomorrow - wish us luck!  We might spend all of mass in the bathroom, but I'm going to try. {grin}

Holiday Spirit

I love this time of year.  I love the smells (pumpkin, spices, evergreen...), sights (Christmas lights make me giddy), sounds (I confess I've already been listening to my Christmas Pandora station)...I just love it all!  I don't have much in the way of Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations, but I do put out what I have.  I always intend to buy more...and don't.  Maybe this year?  But I did want to show off what little I put out for Thanksgiving.

Entryway table (T painted the pumpkin in the corner at school...I <3 it!)

Another view

What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

Kit and Heather 11.5.11

Some friends of ours, Kit and Heather, got married on Saturday.  Their wedding might be one of the best I've ever attended.  They are such a fun couple, and the wedding/reception really reflected them perfectly!

Some of the great decor

Mr. and Mrs. Perkins

You know this girl feels about cake.

Some dancing...

I loved their first dance - 'Home' by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zero.

The lyrics were perfect as they are about to move to New Zealand!

Home, let me come home

Home is wherever I'm with you

Oh yes, home, I am home

Home is when I'm alone with you

There's also a little 'Teach Me How to Dougie' in there. {grin} 

Can't be a wedding of our friends without some Aggie War Hymn time!

Whoop!

Book club!!!  {If you can't tell, we're pretending to read books.  Duh.}

End of the night sillies.

Don't ask me what my face is supposed to be.  I look grumpy!

Overall a great night and wonderful time celebrating 2 great people who make an amazing couple!  We love you guys!!  The only downer is one of our friends took all the couples pictures on HIS camera...so I have none of me and my sweets.  But trust me, he looked fabulous.  Hopefully I'll get them someday!

First Time Shaving

I know he's a little young.

But it was time.

This little guy just needed to shave like daddy.

Holding Hands

I had an overwhelming number of guesses as to what the boys were doing [insert sarcastic laugh].  But the boys were in fact holding hands.  And I have died again from their utter cuteness.

Guess

Are they holding hands?

or

Is Trent holding Miles hostage?

What do you think?

Meal Prep: A Community Affair

Alternatively Titled: An Easy Recipe for a Picky Toddler

I got up early this morning to make dinner (sounds weird, huh?) because Trent spent the night with his Nana and Papa last night.  As I've discussed many times, Trent is a picky eater.  So I have to work to sneak good stuff in his meals.  So let's dissect tonight's dinner, shall we?

I posted a few months ago about my first meeting with 'my' homeopath.  I naively thought I could switch {somewhat} Trent to a dairy-free, gluten-free diet with ease.  HA!  A friend, Jaclyn (hi Jaclyn!), sent me a link to a friend of hers who has an autistic son therefore requiring a special diet.

I sent the link to my co-worker and fellow hippie mama, Jenna, who is also a little nuts about her son.  (And of course I mean that in the best possible way)  Jenna was trying recipes left and right and having great success with her son loving them.  I tried one, and it was a hit with Trent and me!

I don't want to take credit for this recipe in any way, so here's the link with tons of pictures.  

Lamb and Zucchini Meatballs

2# ground lamb (except I have only used ground beef and it's awesome)

3 zucchini

Salt, pepper, oregano

Peel and cut up zucchini

Use a food processor or immersion blender to puree zucchini

But wait!  I don't have a food processor or immersion blender.  Another friend, Emily, recommended one when making smoothies for her son, Wyatt.  So off to BB&B I went to purchase this same hand mixer.

Mix together zucchini puree, ground meat and seasoning to taste.

Mash into small-ish meatballs (ends up making around 20) and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  You can put a little olive oil on them if you want.

When they're done, lay on a paper town to drain.  Eat now or freeze!  I usually keep half in the fridge for immediate eating but also put some in the freezer and just take out the night before to pop into Trent's lunch for school.

So moral of this story - blogging is awesome.  And I'm a sneaky mom who will do just about anything to get my kid to eat his veggies.