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!

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!

Happy 4th!

We celebrated a spontaneous, low key 4th of July today. Our original plan was to go swimming at Krause Springs in Spicewood, but we arrived around 11:30am to find that it was absolutely packed and that the only place to sit were some bare rocks in the sun. Not exactly baby friendly. So we packed up our bags and moved our picnic northwest to Marble Falls. We found a nice park along the river and camped out in the shade. Nicholas loved stretching out in the grass and watching the big kids jump off the rope swing into the water.

Later, we took a scenic drive through Horseshoe Bay. We had wanted to stop at Flat Creek Estate winery on our way home, but found out that it was closing early. Instead, we headed south to Stonewall and made a stop at our favorite winery in the area, Pedernales Cellars. We hadn't visited in about a year and a half, so it was fun to check in and enjoy a cold glass of Viognier on their deck, under the trees. They had a band playing, and Nicholas loved the live music.

Back home, we fed Nicholas bananas for the first time. Survey says... thumbs up! After we put him to bed, we fired up the grilled and enjoyed a holiday dinner of barbecued flank steak, sauteed summer vegetables, and smashed potatoes. We're hitting the sack before the fireworks go off (a sign of the times), but we enjoyed our little mid-week hill country excursion and Nicholas' first 4th of July. Hope you had a good one too!

Holiday 2011 Recap

I'm a little (OK, a lot) behind, but wanted to catch up with a quick post on the holidays. With the doctor's approval, we flew back to Portland and spent Christmas with my side of the family. It was a fun few days with lots of time spent visiting and catching up with family.

On the 23rd of December, my grandmother organized a "ladies luncheon" for all of the aunts and cousins at a club in downtown Portland. Here we all are before lunch:

We spent a quiet Christmas Eve at home with my immediate family, including my sister and brother-in-law down from Seattle, and my brother and sister-in-law who live in Portland, as well as my other grandparents, who were up from Coos Bay (a small town on the southern Oregon coast.) Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner is always a big pot of Swiss cheese fondue and a fresh salad. It was as delicious as usual.

On Christmas morning, a few of us attended a 7:30am Christmas Mass (and, yes, that was a little painfully early), and then came home to open gifts beneath the tree and eat brunch. Later in the day, we had a few visitors over for cocktails and appetizers, and then enjoyed Christmas dinner.

(J and I in front of the Christmas carnage tree. And yes, that black dress is officially the MVP of my maternity wardrobe.)

The day after Christmas, J's parents drove down from Seattle to spend the day with us. We opened a few more gifts with them (and were completely spoiled), enjoyed a nice lunch out, and then they came back to my parents' house for cookies and coffee before hitting the road back to Seattle. It was a quick trip for them, and a lot of driving for a 24 hour period, but so nice to see them and catch up in person before the baby arrives.

Jason and I headed back to Austin on the 27th, and were both lucky enough to have the week between Christmas and New Year's off of work. We spent the rest of that week laying around watching movies, doing some housework and final baby prep, and just enjoying the quiet before our lives change in a few weeks.

We rang in 2012 at our friends' house-- miraculously, I made it to midnight-- and now here we are in the final countdown to baby: less than 3 weeks to go! 2012 will be a wild ride, and nothing short of amazing, I'm sure.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend we traveled back home to Portland for my brother's wedding. The weather forecast held true, and we enjoyed beautiful 80-degree weather (truthfully it was a little chilly for my Texas heat-thinned blood! ...my friends and relatives in the NW are now laughing at me considering that it was one of the nicest weekends they've had all summer), and more importantly-- a beautiful and touching wedding. My camera is still broken, so these shots are courtesy of my cousin and mother-in-law.

The beautiful bride and groom.

Laura & I giving a reading during the ceremony.

The "three of us" at the reception (that would be me, J, and baby for those of you counting... ; )

Beautiful garden setting for the cocktail hour and dinner. And in the background, you can see the ice cream truck arriving. So cute! The ice cream truck (which also had cupcakes) was in lieu of a traditional wedding cake.

The wedding was gorgeous and it was so great to see so many extended family members. A trip home for this type of big family event is always kind of a whirlwind, and the 3.5 day weekend didn't seem nearly long enough. I've definitely had some homesickness since we arrived back in Austin, but I know that this whole living thousands of miles away from everyone we know and love is just a season of life. It's the best thing for our little family right now, and hopefully we'll be back out west at some point in the next few years.

Side note: my blues did not improve when we are arrived home at 2am Sunday night (or Monday morning) after a long delay in Denver, waited for our bags, walked all the way out to the long-term parking lot (because we didn't want to sit around and wait for the shuttle at 2am), and worked up a nice sweat in the 90-degree heat along the way, only to find that my car wouldn't start. Of course. So we walked all the way back to the terminal and took a cab home. On Monday, we went back to jump start the car, but no luck. So now my car is in the shop and we're just crossing our fingers that it's nothing serious. I'm really, really hoping that after weeks of preparing for and dealing with the move, and now several weeks spent unpacking and organizing-- plus the wedding travel, work travel (greetings from Atlanta!), and now the car fiasco-- that life slows down soon. Is it Friday yet?? (OK, end whine.)

It's hot here. Really, really hot.

I interrupt my all baby all the time broadcast to bring you this... the 5 day forecast for Austin. Really? Really?? 108 degrees? There really are no words. I know it's hot pretty much everywhere right now, but I just need to whine a little bit. Sigh. So. Many. Days. Until. October.

Fortunately, I am headed to Portland on Thursday to celebrate my brother's wedding. Just look at that beautiful forecast...

I haven't been this excited about anything in a long time. Sleeping with my window open! Bringing a jacket for the evening! Jogging outside after 7am! Oh, um... er... and celebrating with my brother and his lovely fiancee as we toast their future lifetime of happiness together.

In 80 degree weather.

Priorities. ;)

Children's Book Baby Shower

This past Tuesday, three friends and I hosted a surprise baby shower for our good friend Cassie. She's having a little boy in early September, but since they're moving to St. Louis right after graduation, we wanted to make sure we took advantage of her last few weeks in town to throw a party and celebrate her new addition.

Since she and her husband are moving soon (and don't need any more stuff to pack), we asked each guest to contribute to a gift card for one of her baby registries. That way, she can buy what she needs once she's settled. But what fun is a baby shower without gifts?? So, in addition to the gift card, we asked guests to bring one of their favorite childhood books to help start a little library for baby Z. Then we ordered a big LL Bean tote to hold all of the books. A few shots of the "baby book banner" we created, as well as pompoms and table decor. (Big props to my friends Alle and Erin for the creative genius-- and manual labor-- behind the decorations!)

In keeping with our outdoor venue, we kept it simple and streamlined-- paper plates and table cloths, fresh flowers in yellow, blue, and white, and a buffet of mostly make ahead salads and appetizers.

A few of the food items weren't out yet in the picture above, but I love how pretty and fresh the multi-colored salade nicoise looks. And here are two of the hostesses, Erin and Lauren, pre-shower.

Unfortunately, this is where my picture taking stopped. But the guest of honor was surprised, and I think everyone had a good time, so we fledgling baby-shower-planners considered it a success. And now that I've figured out how to make those poms, I'm totally using them again at another event!