Nicholas Turns Two!

Towards the end of January, our little guy turned two! This year, we opted not to do a big birthday party. Instead, I took a half day off work and we brought cupcakes to his class and had a little party for him there.

Several other kids in his class had recently had birthdays, so he was thrilled to take his turn as the birthday boy (complete with birthday crown!), hear everyone sing "Happy Birthday," and share cupcakes with his friends.

Afterward, we headed home for cards, presents, homemade pizza, and of course more cupcakes!

Too busy playing with his balloons to pose for a picture. (Excuse the mess in the background!)

Yummy! Another cupcake -- this time Oreo flavored. (We took a video of him blowing out the candle, but forgot to get a picture, too.)

That Saturday, we took Nicholas down to check out Austin's new children's museum, the Thinkery. There were lots of cool exhibits, including an entire room covered with holes and Lite Brite style colored pegs that lit up when you put them in the wall, lots of water features (a friend wisely recommended we bring a change of clothes), and a full scale farmers market with little shopping baskets and every type of fake fruit or vegetable available for "shopping."

There is also a huge park across the street, so we made time to feed the ducks and take a spin through the playground.

We capped off our excursion with a tasty lunch at Austin's new In'N'Out. Yum. Way to turn two, buddy!

Christmas 2013

In typical fashion this is a little late, but I wanted to share a few highlights from the holidays before January is completely over. We spent Christmas at my parents' house in Portland, but before we left, we celebrated with an early faux-Christmas morning at our house. Our big gift to Nicholas was a train table, which we spent almost four hours assembling the night before we celebrated our Christmas morning. I foresee lots of future Christmas Eves spent this way. . . 

Jason, admiring his masterpiece. It would not stay this neat for long.

The next morning, when Nicholas woke up, we brought him out into the living room to see what Santa brought . . .

As hoped, it was a big hit!

Then we opened the remainder of our gifts to each other and the gifts Jason's parents had left with us at Thanksgiving. Nicholas really got the hang of unwrapping gifts this year and decided pretty quickly that he is a big fan of presents.

The next day we boarded a plane to Portland to visit my family for a week. After our less than stellar plane flight to Seattle last summer, we were nervous about the nearly eight hour trip (including a layover) to Portland, but Nicholas surprised us and did great.

Once we arrived, we spent five days relaxing and catching up with family. We admired my mom's gorgeous Christmas tree . . .

We met our new nephew and Nicholas' first cousin in the family (he was very interested in all things baby, but didn't love it when I held baby Braylon) . . .

We enjoyed our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of Swiss fondue . . .

We read The Night Before Christmas and Nicholas impressed us all by saying "Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" at the end of the story . . .

The next day we opened gifts (somebody was spoiled by his grandparents, aunts, and uncles) and feasted on a delicious Christmas dinner with the family . . .

Jason and I also enjoyed a date night with dinner at Navarre and we watched a bunch of movies, including at trip to the movie theater with my sister and brother-in-law to see Anchorman 2. Eh, maybe not the best choice, but it's always fun to get out and see a movie.

Despite Nicholas' expression above, we all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas week!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our little golfer! It's always tough to wrangle a toddler, but we managed to get a few good pictures this morning on our way out the door. We're looking forward to his Halloween party at school this afternoon, followed by trick or treating (to a few nearby houses) this evening.

Here's to lots of treats, and not many tricks. Happy Halloween!

A Birthday, an Anniversary, and a Baptism

We've been a busy bunch lately! A few highlights...

I celebrated my birthday at the end of August. The Saturday prior, Jason and I got a sitter and ventured downtown to check out Qui, the new restaurant from recent Top Chef winner (and now famed Austinite) Paul Qui.

We were prepared for a crazy wait and, at two hours, it lived up to expectation. Fortunately, they let us leave during the wait, so we headed down the block to get some appetizers at one of Paul's East Side King trailers behind a local dive bar. Then, we headed back to the restaurant to enjoy some cocktails on the patio. It was a fun high/low Paul Qui experience.

Dinner was worth the wait, and the highlight of the evening was that he came by and shook our hands. He seems like such a genuine, humble guy-- just like he was portrayed on Top Chef. Our seats were at a bar overlooking the kitchen, so we succumbed to our inner tourist and snapped a few (or twenty) pictures of the chefs at work.

My actual birthday was two days later on a Monday, so we celebrated that night with a nice meal at home. Grilled steak, roasted cauliflower, and roasted asparagus, followed by chocolate cupcakes-- a nice way to usher in a new year.

This past Friday, Jason and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. It's amazing that five years have come and gone-- seemingly in a blink! And, looking back, I'm proud of all we've accomplished: a cross-country move, a graduate degree, new jobs for both of us, lots of travel, the birth of our first child, and the purchase of our first home. Wow. I'm tired just typing it. But it's been an amazing ride, and I'm so glad to have Jason as my partner along the way.

And, last-- but certainly not least-- we baptized Nicholas yesterday at our church. He is a little older than a lot of other babies who get baptized, so I was nervous about how he would tolerate it, but he did great. He didn't make a peep when the pastor poured a little water on his head, and then he calmly let the pastor carry him a little ways down the aisle in front of the congregation. It was his first time sitting through an entire service with us (usually he's in the nursery) and he handled it really well. He was enthralled by the music-- so much so that he loudly exclaimed "Yay!" after a very talented soloist sang a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace. Everyone laughed and it was a really cute moment. 

It was a special morning for us, and for Nicholas, and we look forward to the years ahead as he hopefully grows in his spirituality and comes to appreciate his faith.

Birthday Boy Bash

I'm over a month late in posting this (about par for the course these days), but wanted to share some photos from Nicholas' first birthday. On the actual day of his birthday, I took the day off work to spend some extra time with him and take him to his one year check-up. After his shots (yuck), we came home, ate lunch, and he napped. Later in the afternoon we hit up the park for one of his favorite activities-- the swings!

When Daddy got home, we opened cards and gifts, ate a Nicholas-approved birthday dinner of chicken artichoke spinach casserole and steamed broccoli with shallot butter, and then we sang "Happy Birthday" and presented him with his first cupcake. It turns out he may not be a huge fan of sweets (yet, anyway) because he puckered up and convulsed a little bit at his first taste of frosting. In all fairness, it was a little past his bedtime and he was a little cranky due to his earlier shots, but it definitely wasn't quite the response we expected! (We didn't capture photos of the first cupcake, but recorded a video instead.)

I spent the next few days in Houston for a big work event, and then made it back to Austin on Saturday afternoon to prep for his birthday party on Sunday. We hosted about 12 adults and 4 kids for a small, but festive circus-themed party to celebrate Mr. Nicholas' first year. He tried a second cupcake (still not quite sure about all the frosting and sweet taste) and had fun opening gifts and playing with his buddies.

Birthday boy waiting for the guests to arrive (or just checking out the balloons on the front porch...) 

 Caramel corn, cupcakes, animal crackers, fruit salad, sausage cups, and chips and guac (some items weren't out on the table yet)

Happy birthday to you!

What is this stuff??

Hmmm... not quite sure about this frosting...

...and I'm ready for a bath.

Post-bath outfit change (into a Manchester City soccer jersey-- dad's choice, of course) and playtime

With Pete, Jarren, and his favorite new toy... if only it really cut grass!

I think he had a good day!