Gobble, Gobble

With the Thanksgiving Holiday approaching, Braedan's school put together a program for all the classes to take part in and given that his school career has just begun, this was one of the most entertaining moments but I know there will be plenty more to come. I was afraid he would get stage freight but he did so well, and he even tried to showcase some of his dance moves while up there. I didn't get too many good pictures while he was up on stage since I was seated a little far from it, but I did manage to catch up with stage star when it was all over.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Parents Gone Wild

Last month the hubby and I enjoyed a rare opportunity to go away for a weekend, just the two of us, without our favorite third wheel tagging along. The chance to celebrate a friend's wedding in New Orleans lured us away from our parental duties for those few days. My friend Jessica and her husband Mark will forever be remembered as the ones who got us to go away on our first real vacation without Braedan. Having the opportunity to spend time with friends, whether they are near or far, is something I greatly cherish nowadays given that time and distance may prevent it from happening as often as I'd like. And I can't imagine another city to have done it in than New Orleans.

And I couldn't help but laugh at ourselves during that weekend, because someone could capitalize on situations like these...follow parents with cameras while they go away without their kids and create a "Parents Gone Wild" franchise. I say this because while the hubby and I were there we did things we haven't done in ages, like stay up until 3am, drink before 2pm and, a biggie for me, wear shoes that weren't flip flops, ballet flats, or tennis shoes for an extended period of time. As you can imgaine, we had the best time and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend some alone time with the hubby and catch up with old friends.

Our first night in New Orleans

The hubby listening to a jazz band on the steps of the courthouse on the following day.

Taking in more of the sites that same day

And, last but not least, the few things I miss about living in Chicago.

Halloween Fun

I know that Halloween has come and gone, but I wanted to share and show all the fun we had that day and the few days leading up to it. In my previous post I talked about how this time of year is suddenly a busy time for us and the weekend's events certainly didn't let us down. The fun started with a visit to our first family Halloween party, and the best part for me, besides seeing Braedan thoroughly enjoy himself, was getting the hubby to do something he's never done before, which is dress in costume.

The next evening we attended a pumpkin carving party, another first for us, and the hubby did a great job with our pumpkin...with a little bit of help from Braedan, of course. But Braedan made sure to grab a bite to eat before he went hard to work at carving. He is dining with his buddy Carter below.

Helping daddy clean the pumpkin.

The finished product

And for the piece de resistance, Halloween night itself lived up to all our expectations. We spent the evening with our friends, the Jensen family, starting with dinner and then heading out for trick-or-treating. While I watched Braedan that night I laughed thinking about what a difference a year can make. Last year, he didn't want to wear the cowboy hat that went with his costume, he wasn't talking a whole lot and half the time he rode in a little push car and had more fun pretending to drive rather than go up to a house to get the coveted candy.

This time around he really got the hang of trick-or-treating and even practiced his good manners while doing so by responding with a "Thank you, lady" after receiving some candy during one of our stops. Who knew a pirate could be so polite.

Who's Really Having All the Fun?

A couple weeks ago we visited the Pumpkin Patch, and while we were there I don't know which was funnier, seeing Braedan run and run through the rows of pumpkins as if he was a mad man or watching him pick up the baby pumpkins and throw them to the ground expecting them to bounce like a ball. Watching him enjoy himself that day and preparing for this year's Halloween in general has been a lot of fun. Before you have kids, no one ever warns you that your social calendar will fill up exponentially the moment after he or she turns one and begins making friends of his own. The hubby and I were never so busy around Halloween until we had Braedan. We will be attending some Halloween parties this weekend and have plans to trick or treat with another family on Halloween night. Having the chance to experience this with Braedan makes me feel like a kid again and it makes me wonder who is looking forward to it more, me or him?

Have a fun and safe Halloween Weekend!

The First...

Since my last update, our household has undergone a myriad of firsts. You might assume a topic of this nature only applies to Braedan, but both the hubby and I have experienced a few firsts of our own. These firsts were a lot of fun as expected to be, but as you other moms out there know, what fun is a first if you don't have a little worry to go with it. So to kick off the first of the firsts, I'll begin with Braedan and the first day of school.

In September, Braedan began attending a Mother's Day Out Progam twice a week. There was a little bit of crying during the first few weeks, none on my part, (surprise, surprise) but given those first few weeks of tears it's been a good change for him. Now I know my tone here sounds blase as if this whole school transition thing has been a breeze, but let me reassure you that about a month ago my brain was on overdrive in the worry mode. (I can explain more about that later in the next "first.") And as hard as it was seeing and hearing the tales of him getting upset, he once again showed me what a tough little guy he can be. Since that little bump in the road at the start things have gone well, and each week I can tell he is enjoying it more and more. I think it helps that a couple of his frequent playdate buddies happen to be in his class. His pals, Cole and Charlie, are frequently mentioned in our discussions about school.

Here we are prepared for the first day of school.

And here he is with his buddy Charlie having some fun outside of school.

This first of Braedan's actually leads into another for me, because as Braedan took part in the first day of school I too headed back for the first day of work in about two years. Thanks to a little bit of good luck and a good friend, I was able to get a teaching job at the Mother's Day Out Program Braedan attends. I help with teaching the 12-18 month old class, and it has been a nice way to ease back into the work world given that I only have to work two days a week and my toughest work challenge is handling cute little one-year-olds. And although I am enjoying this new chapter, it brought forth a whole new set of worries for me as I mentioned earlier. Watching Braedan get used to the new change of school, it caused the ever-present second guessing a mom endures to creep in. I found myself thinking that maybe I shouldn't have started working or maybe placing Braedan in the program was too much for him. Thankfully things worked out and after talking to other moms and hearing they went through this same thought process I now know I'm not completely crazy.

Moving from crazy to crazier, I find it odd that the hubby enjoys fishing yet doesn't enjoy eating fish. So it shocked me when several weeks ago the hubby headed out with a friend on a fishing excursion and came back for the first time ever with a fish for me to cook for dinner. In all fairness to him, it's fun to see him take up a new hobby because when he does he's like a little kid. He really enthralls himself in learning all he can about it, not to mention getting his hands on all the equipment and gadgets needed, that it almost becomes an obsession. In fact, he even drove to a neighboring town to get his hands on some wading boots that he just had to have. To add to the suspense of this boot hunting trip, he texted me a picture of these boots just to show me as he put it, "How awesome they are." I'll remember that for the next time I find an awesome pair of shoes on sale.

Here he is with his first big catch, a red drum.

And after...

And finally, this month marks the first year of our return to Texas, and it's hard to believe it's only been a year because it feels like we've been here for a few as opposed to just one. I guess I owe that sense of comfort to the fact that we are really enjoying our "way of life" down here. I mean you can't beat going to the beach in late September, which is just what we did a couple weeks ago. It was probably our last beach trip for the year, but Braedan definitely made sure to get the most out of it.

In both pictures, he's enjoying the beach with one of his other good buddies, Carter.

The Big 2

We celebrated a momentous occasion a couple weeks ago--the big 2 for Braedan. We threw him a Curious George birthday party (he loves the cartoon and books), and he seemed to understand why so many of his friends and family members were there. When asking him how old he is, he enthusiastically replies "Two!" and also holds up two fingers to show you. And he did great when it came time for his big moment of blowing out the candles. I was a little nervous that he might cave under the pressure, but he was ready. A little too ready as Mother Nature kept him waiting since she decided to crank up the wind that day. There was a little trouble keeping the candles lit, but like I said he was more than ready when his moment came. It was so fun watching him enjoy the party that my only regret was that the whole thing flew by way too fast.

Before the party making sure George is ready for the afternoon

He wanted to take a swing at George here instead of using the kid-friendly strings they now have on pinatas. He actually saw the bat on the ground and picked it up himself to take a whack.

Enjoying the party with his friends

I've really embraced the stay-at-home mom thing as I decided to make his cake and the cupcakes from scratch. I thought I would have enough time to have these done and relax but it was way stressful. Next time I might just go easy on myself and order a cake next time.

His big moment

And I think the hubby's tired expression sums up what a long but fun day it was for mom and dad.

Eat, Laugh, Love

Now don't judge too much by what I'm about to share, but some of my best memories of events or outings involve food. Just look at some of my previous blog posts to affirm this shameless truth about me. I have even been known to scope out the menu of a restaurant prior to arriving just to check out what they have to offer. Some friends back in Chicago can attest to this fact. When stepping out with them, I pretty much knew what I planned to order for a dinner outing, a lunch and even the occasional brunch.

So it should come as no surprise to learn that when the hubby and I celebrated our 10 Year Anniversary last month, it involved one of the best meals I have had since moving down here. The hubby and I dined at the Republic of Texas here in downtown Corpus and not only was it a nice treat for the taste buds, but it was also just a nice way to spend some time alone with each other without having to talk over the chitter chatter and rambunctious playing of Braedan. We reflected on the duration of our time together and how, for both us, it does not seem like it's been 10 years (it's actually 13, if you include our dating period). And to me that's one of the best qualities of being married to my hubby--being able to laugh and have so much fun that you lose track of time.

Here's a glimpse of the some of the daily laughs I've enjoyed...

Here we are during our senior year of college

Year One

And Year 10

Cheese, please and thank you

The above words are some of the simplest of the English language and nowadays a "please" and "thank you" may be hard to come by, but coming from my little guy, these words are like music to my ears. Over the last couple months his vocabulary and comprehension of things has increased so much, sometimes I am caught off guard by it. He understands that to politely ask for something he must say please but it's more of a "peaze" and when given what he desires, a thank you follows but he's also put his own twist on that word with it sounding more like a "tankoo." I am trying my best to record him when he speaks, because it is one of the cutest things. Hopefully I can get that down soon, but these days when I have the camera in hand to record something he's more interested in being the cameraman himself which you'll see from the pictures below. Lately though I have learned it is easier to shoot pictures if I say, "Can you pose for the camera and say cheese?" He will kindly say the word "cheese" and give his best impression of a model-like pose. This is what he did for me when I asked him to pose a couple weeks ago.

And here he is being photographer like mom. Since he had the camera, I had to use my phone to take the picture.

The hubby and I have so much fun with him everyday. We love sharing, showing and teaching him all sorts of new things. Here is one of the more fun activities we can get him to do. (And please ignore my prompting during the video. You will see he was pretty distracted and I was lucky to get him to cooperate as much as he did. When I replayed the video, I was surprised I wasn't moving the camera in the motion I was urging him to do. You can just imagine what I'm doing on the other side of the camera.)

More good times to come in Corpus

At the end of last month, I finally got the hubby to do the impossible--participate in a running event. Never mind that he might tell you the best part for him was the beer they offered after, I'm just glad he joined me in Corpus Christi's Beach to Bay Relay Marathon. Our teammates included some good friends of ours from college and another couple we've become close to here in Corpus. Considering this is the largest relay marathon in the country, with about 2,520 teams turning out for this year's race, our team did really well within our division clocking in a time of 4:27. And this was the first time in about 10 years where I took part in a team-oriented activity. Sadly, I think the last team-type activity I did was some rounds of volleyball during Greek Week at good ole' St. MU. But in my preparation for the race, right up until the night before, the familiar butterflies of teammates counting on you to do your best came back to me just as they used to in high school. And I know that anxiety didn't just affect me but it got to a few other teammates as well, except the hubby of course. He was his usual cool cucumber self sipping on a beer the night before as we discussed how each of us would get to our respective starting points. Not only did our worries include how to get to our start lines, but there was the nonsense of having to actually hold and carry a baton while you ran. So then we added the pressure of making sure to find our hand-off teammate in a timely fashion so as not to affect the overall time. One of my biggest worries was the responsibility of being the lead leg of the group, and to make matters worse the first leg takes place on the beach. But the running gods were on my side since massive amounts of seaweed were washed up with the tide the day before, moving the start line to a different location away from the sand and thankfully so. Just because a gal has ran a couple of long distance races doesn't mean she can breezily stride through the sand a la Baywatch style.

But given all the anxieties that plagued me and my teammates, I can confidently say we will probably do it again next year, including the hubby, because that's what made up part of the fun of the event. Afterwards, we all had stories about how we got to our starting lines, what happened during the run and baton hand-offs and what sort of crazy runners we saw along the way. I actually saw a guy running barefoot on the asphalt carrying a pair of thong sandals under his arm like it was a purse. The way he carried them it was as if bringing shoes was an afterthought once he walked out the door as if he said, "Oh I guess I should bring some shoes just in case my feet do get tired." I wish I had had my camera to take a picture of him and my reaction because I think my mouth dropped open when I noticed him. Luckily my sister ran in that first leg too and saw that runner so she related to my shock of the image. She also shares my weird love of running so she formed a team with some friends and got to take part in the fun madness. Participating in the race with the her, the hubby and friends makes me look forward to more good times to come here in Corpus even if to the hubby's surprise and disappointment it involves a little exercise.
My gal teammates are below. The one in the middle is one of my best girlfriends from college. On the left is her sister who happens to live down the street from us. She has been so great in helping us adjust down here.

And enjoying the cool down with the sis below.

Easter weekend

This particular update embarrassingly lives up to the term "far overdue," but I still feel the need to share about that weekend, not just for the fun of filling you in on the details, but also because I imagine all of you sitting in front of your computers on the edge of your seats. So to keep the suspense from killing you, I'll delve right into things.

Braedan and I spent the weekend in San Antonio and Cousin Ian, Aunt Amy and Uncle Mickey met us there to join in the Easter festivities. The fun began on Friday with a trip to the San Antonio Zoo. At the time we made our decision to spend that first day together at the zoo, I internally complimented our wise choice to make that our first visit, but that overconfidence in our decision-making quickly faded as we drove into the zoo grounds because the parking lot and entrance was, for lack of a better word, a zoo. Since it was Good Friday and schools were closed, every San Antonian decided spending the day there was a good idea. But despite the large crowd, we still enjoyed ourselves. Below Ian is checking out the bears, but Braedan spotted something else (not an animal) that caught his attention and tried to get Ian to take a look.

And what do you do after spending a long, hot, exhausting day at the zoo? You rest and gear up for some Mexican food and margaritas. We met for dinner at a well-known eatery, Henry's Puffy Taco, and Ian and Braedan kept the entertainment going there as well. Here they are hanging with Henry the Puffy Taco.

And I could never get Braedan to look straight ahead while taking the picture. He was too busy watching the puffy taco get away from him.

The next day we attended an Easter Egg Hunt hosted by the Jensen Family, and they did a wonderful job of putting everything together. Not only did they prepare the egg hunt but they made sure to have snacks, drinks and the Easter bunny himself on hand. During the hunt, Braedan really got the hang of searching for eggs as you can tell from the loot in his basket, and he also enjoyed visiting with the Easter bunny.

Easter Sunday proved to be just as fun as the rest of the weekend as Braedan spent the day visiting with more family and building up his egg hunting skills.

Fiesta fever

A couple weeks ago Braedan and I came down with a little bit of Fiesta fever. The following captured the spirit, tradition and frenzy we experienced at some of the weekend events.

I stepped out to NIOSA (Night in Old San Antonio) with my sister, the second best date behind the hubby of course. She gladly joined me as we met up with some girlfriends, and I made sure to get a nice picture of us before we sunk our teeth into some good eats.

This is an anticucho, which are grilled beef tips with a spicy, tangy kick, and I don't know what makes it so good. Maybe that it's served on stick, because everything served on a stick at Fiesta is good (see my previous post about chicken on a stick). I know that's not true, but when eating it you acquire a new skill because you must attempt to eat it one handed while simultaneously juggling your cold beer in the other.

The following evening Braedan prepared for the Fiesta Flambeau Parade by getting all decked out in some good, parade-watching duds and then practicing his grito along with a popular question on the minds of parade goers.





Miss Fiesta and her princesses wear long ball gowns atop the floats which hide their shoes so many in the audience are curious about what kind of shoes they're wearing underneath. The crowd gets a laugh out of what they choose to wear so this prompts many to yell out and ask "Show me your shoes!"which is what I was trying to get Braedan to do.

Here is Braedan doing some parade watching with his cousin Alexander. I hadn't noticed until I posted this, but look how sweet he is clasping his hands together while watching.
As the evening progressed and we began to see the floats colorfully light up, I thought Braedan would surely get excited, almost too excited to stay still but as each bright float passed us he just looked on in awe. It was fun to watch him take it all in, and I am grateful we had the opportunity to celebrate this family tradition again this year.

Winter, spring and a few things in between

Here we are almost half way through April and all I keep thinking is where did February and March go, and surely my baby boy isn't turning two in a few months. Since the start of the new year each day feels like we navigate through it at the speed of light, which I guess is a good thing, but as I mentioned before it has also become a frightful reminder that Braedan is only growing more and more. So just as quickly as our days and activities move along, I too will attempt to swiftly sum up the highlights of what we've been up to.

Our first winter in Texas was pretty uneventful compared to some of the snow and ice we witnessed during our time in Chicago, but at the beginning of February a "winter storm" decided to head our way making it seem otherwise to native south Texans. On February 4, we were part of a historical event in San Antonio--its first snow fall in over 26 years. Thankfully the snow was gone by that afternoon giving us the green light to mosey on down to the rodeo for Braedan's first taste of the cowboy way of life. While there he rode a pony for the first time and got up close and personal with other farm animals.

Viewing these pictures brings the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" to mind, because when I look back at these photos I will always remember what took place right before the shots were taken. Although Braedan looks to be enjoying himself on the pony, a few short moments before I took this picture he was crying and hesitant about being placed up there. What you don't see is me trotting alongside him continually reassuring him that it was ok and the fun part of the ride would begin in no time. Thankfully he calmed down and got into the ride, even bouncing a couple times to make his pony "giddy up." It's funny because while he was a little scared at the start of the pony ride, he certainly didn't seem to mind the friendly tap on the shoulder from the goat in the above picture.

During that same weekend, we cheered on the Green Bay Packers during their Super Bowl win and Braedan boogied on down during the entertaining halftime show. Over the last month it seems as though Braedan learns and says a new word everyday, and for a while now he has been into copying and imitating a lot of what we do. While watching the Black Eyed Peas perform at halftime, he picked up some new dance moves from his Tia.

March and the start of spring mean two important things to me -- nice weather to soak up and Fiesta in San Antonio is just around the corner. At the end of March our little family made a trip to St. Mary's University to celebrate its Alumni Weekend and for many of us, it's a little teaser of what's to come at Fiesta. During that visit Braedan indulged in a Fiesta food staple, his first chicken on a stick.

March and April in Chicago never quite lived up to their status as spring time months so it's been a nice change of pace to have the opportunity to spend so much time outdoors lately. One thing we have adjusted to is high wind gusts, which I learned is a normal thing down here for this time of year. But I tell you what, I'll take warm winds blowing us over any day over the possibility of snow showering us during this time of year.