New Year's Resolutions

I'm a sucker for New Year's Resolutions. Really, I just like goals. I'm a big nerd - what can I say? Sometimes I make too many and miss the mark on every single one, and that is a big bummer. So I'm trying, especially since I took on this mom role a few years ago, to focus on the ones that really matter. With that in mind, here are our New Year's Resolutions

ME
Exercise four times per week: I know this won't happen every week, like when I'm traveling, but I think it can on the 90% of the year I'm in town. Mom and Dad gifted me with 10 classes at a yoga studio that has a class time perfectly for my work-from-home days so I am set up for success.

CADE
Complete phase 2 of potty training: Also known as really completing potty training. He doesn't have many accidents right now but he is also very reliant upon us to remind him to go. This spring, he needs to go on his own accord and start making it through naptime dry. The latter scares me but I'm sure we'll get there one day. The goal is by his birthday so he can move up from pre-primary to the primary class at school in April.

ME & ROSS
Don't touch the savings account: We're not awful about pulling out of our savings account but we do usually rely on it for vacations and Christmas. In 2016, no dice. We're going to pay for everything from our checking account and let that savings account grow, grow, grow. And of course, continue putting money into it at the same pace we do now.




Ready, Set, Go!

Christmas Traditions

A few days ago I got very concerned with Christmas traditions. Cade is old enough to be totally in love with Santa and Rudolph now and I wanted to make sure this Christmas - and subsequent ones - was totally awesome for him. Ross' schedule throws in the monkey wrench of date inconsistency year after year and that was throwing me off. When would Santa come? How would we explain the ever-moving date? What could be consistent, even if the date moved?

I stressed sufficiently but eventually was distracted by something else. Like in the moment needs of caring for a family.

Today is Christmas Eve and what our tradition could be, should be, will be dawned on me. Since Ross is off for 48 hours, whenever it happens, our Christmas tradition is going to be just that. 48 hours of Christmas awesomeness.

It "came to me" because really, that's what we're trying to do this year. Ross is off Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (jackpot!) and I really wanted to make the most of it. So we're spreading the fun out over both days. And while it is really awesome to have Christmas Eve and Day this year, I realized we can always celebrate for two full days. Every year. So that is what we'll be doing.

This year that meant Christmas music and stockings this morning. Stockings, for us we've decided, are from family. No Santa involved and they are done just the four (Mom, Dad, Cade & Lexi) of us. That's our own little private slice of holiday time. So at 8 a.m. today we busted into our stockings.

Aquarium trains for his train set, complete with water and toy fish and they light up!

Now we're laying low. Everyone is in pajamas; Cade is watching a Thomas Christmas movie, Ross is napping and I am drinking really delicious special Christmas wine. When Cade's movie is over, he and I will decorate gingerbread-man cookies for Santa and early this evening, we'll go to church with Nana and Grandpa Jack.

Tomorrow my parents will arrive, and after naptime, we'll have the big family Christmas party with tree presents and dinner.

It's all the normal things of Christmas, but I'm really enjoying stretching them out across two days instead of cramming everything into one. It also means we can do EVERYTHING: movies, stockings, tree presents, big dinner, and church. Literally all of the Christmas things.

In 20 years, when Cade is in college and everyone is talking about their Christmas traditions, I hope he'll say "we had Christmas weekend. It always lasted two days." Maybe he'll say "we did stockings just us" or "we had surf-n-turf for dinner," some of the little more traditional traditions we're slowly establishing. But if his story is we celebrated and had the best time ever for two days, I'll feel like I've done my mommy job on the Christmas front.

These Halls Are Decked!

We're still working on the outside (long story) but inside, we are festive and ready for Christmas!

The Tree


The Living Room


The Dining Room & Kitchen


My Favorites


More! More! More!

Staycation Days 8 & 9

A little late but that's because 1) we were enjoying staycation and 2) staycation is over now so back to the usual crazy :)

July 4 started with Facetiming the grandparents, a flag photoshoot (he was super enthusiastic about it, continually telling me "more flag Mom") and then a trip to the park.

After that, Cade decided it was just too exciting of a day to nap. Sad face for Mommy and Daddy. But despite being nap-free he did pretty well at the afternoon pool party. He alternated between playing and watching a movie. We brought out the mattress from his pack-n-play, laid it under the porch and streamed a movie for him on Netflix. Not exactly what I planned for our holiday, but Mr. SleepyPants couldn't handle a whole afternoon of playtime so quiet movie time was a nice option when he needed it.

On Sunday we went to the duck pond, had morning playtime with Holden, went to the gym/Kids' Club and gym pool. All before lunch. After a FANTASTIC almost 2 hour nap, he had an afternoon playdate with Holden and our babysitter, Emily, while Jenny and I went out for a very high quality, family friendly moving. Magic Mike XXL. Alright, not so family friendly, but tons of fun! And Emily said the boys had a blast playing together for 3.5 hours. I think it was win for everyone.

Staycation Day 7

Ah, a Friday that felt like a Saturday. Coffee and coloring on the back porch, play time in the gameroom, gym/Kids' Club (a pilates class that isn't offered at times I can normally attend - so good to go today!) and then home for lunch. After lunch I ran errands while the boys played. From what Ross says, lots more running from Lexi Bear. Then a pre-dinner play time with Holden and after dinner, the main event. America's Birthday Storytime at Barnes & Noble!

It was the first time we've gone to storytime and had Cade actually sit through it and pay attention. In fact, he did REALLY WELL, Four books were read and he sat without wiggling for the first two. On the third, he talked but only to say "Mom come sit with Cade." (Yeah, I'm "Mom" now. Not "Mommy" any more. I hope I go back to "Mommy" soon.) And when all the books were done he said thank you, gotta go, night-night. Because he is awesome.

Springtime Fun

It's like Texas heard me when I said a couple weeks ago "no bluebonnets this year...". Apparently I was just a couple weeks early because this week they came out in full force, right in time for Easter!

Between bluebonnets and Easter, here's what we've been up to

We went to the Round Rock flashlight Easter Egg Hunt on Thursday. The highlight was meeting this giant chicken. Egg hunting was really just picking up one and running around the field like a wild man. But hey, he was happy.



On Friday Cade and I played in the cul-de-sac with Jenny, Jeremy and Holden. The boys went cruisin' with the top down.



Yesterday, also with our neighbors, Cade and I did bluebonnet pictures. Really it was pictures of him in the bluebonnets but I snuck in for a selfie.





My favorite though was this one Jeremy took with the two boys.



And this morning was our first Easter basket for Cade. Really an Easter beach bucket to help provide supplies for our summer beach trip.



The winning gift was the Curious George coloring book and crayons. Honorable mention to the vanilla wafers in an Easter egg. Other inclusions were tee balls, paint brushes and a toy car (to be honest, it was just plucked out of the toy box because we needed something else to fill an egg but trust me he had no clue).



Happy Springtime!

Ele-pants Ea'ing

Sheesh! It's been weeks! We've been busy busy bees. Most notably Cade and I spent two nights in Houston and had QT with my parents, my grandma and Brenda. I also got QT with Melissa while he was hanging out with Grandma and "Pa-pa."

Afternoon playtime with Pa-pa and Great Grandma

 On our Houston trip he really showed off his every expanding vocabulary. He started calling my dad "Pa-pa" and throughout the drive there would tell me "Pa-pa 'ouse" yes, little boy, we were going to Grandpa's house. Very good! Once we arrived he also said "TV" for the first time (that I heard anyways) so that was new.

It was a quick trip, Thursday night to Saturday afternoon. It worked out really well though. We got to see everyone we wanted to visit and had a solid amount of weekend time at home, especially since Monday was a holiday for me.

On our way out of Houston Saturday we went to the zoo with my mom. He was very excited about the elephants and kept pointing and saying "ele'pant." As the post title implies, he saw them eating. For days afterward he would tell anyone who would listen "ooo ele'pant ea'ing" as in "At the zoo, the elephants were eating."

Ele-pants Ea'ing

Telling narratives and answering questions with more complex responses than "yes" and "no" is new this month and so so so so much fun. We love it!

Just monkey-ing around at the Zoo on Valentine's Day

Our Houston weekend kicked off 2 months of very very very busy times for our family. Tomorrow I'm working at my company's customer conference, Thursday Ross has his promotional ceremony and in just a couple short weeks the Cade-man turns two. I also have some exceptionally big projects going on at work in March including a conference in 2 weeks and a business trip to Dallas at the end of the month. We're selling our old house (had an offer today but ultimately turned it down for a long list of complicated reasons) and starting a health kick in March too. Because you know, a strict exercise and workout routine during major work craziness and a home sell is totally a good idea.

Then April hits with Easter, Ross' birthday, the end of my work craziness and finally, blessedly, four nights in Mexico. Some time in all that we'll also file our taxes, add steps to the back porch addition, get my eyes examined, take Cade to his 2 year pediatrician's appointment, meeting sweet baby Carys (Jon & Erin's soon-to-arrive-bundle) and a host of mundane every day things like shower and eat. Needless to say, by the time we board that flight to Cancun and hop down the coast to Tulum, we are going to be highly in need of some R&R.

And some cocktails.

Adios 2014!

You were a good year and I trust you'll successfully pass the baton to 2015.

Cade Train

The train set my parents gave Cade for Christmas has "cars" that spell his name! The Cade train!

Christmas Eve!

Wowzas - we've been so busy with the holidays I haven't even shared anything from our big Christmas Eve!

Let me hit the highlights for you.

We woke up and did stockings "just us." They mostly contained the typical loot - socks, shaving cream, floss, gum. Cade's had an art theme so he got watercolors, a painting smock, and some color bath stuff. Since pile under the tree was so large, we added two of his tree presents to stocking time, including a set of three balls. They were VERY popular and provided lots of pre-party entertainment.



My parents arrived at lunch, said a quick hello and then took me out to lunch while Ross put Cade down for his nap.

At 3p or so, the party started! Appetizers and tree presents. There was a MOUNTAIN of presents by the time everyone brought all of theirs inside. Eventually Cade had to open two to everyone else's one.

We planned to save his big present for last but with so many gifts, we realized it would be dark before we finished. So a few minutes before 5, we took an outside break. Here's a video of what happened next


As you can see, his reaction full of "wow" and "yay" was absolutely perfect! He's been loving his slide castle ever since and I am SO glad we got it for him.

Back to Christmas Eve, we finished presents - highlights include earrings and boots for me, weekend on Lake Travis for Mom & Dad, coo-coo clocks for us and the Vancils from Nancy & Jack, a train set for Cade, a Chicago Bears jersey for Ross, a carseat for Jack & Nancy, FitBit for Nancy, very very good whiskey for Jack and much much more. We all had a delicious dinner of brisket, mashed potatoes and zucchini. Brownies and coffee for dessert and I'd say the whole she-bang was complete around 8p.

All and all - a great Christmas! And thankfully, several vacation days afterward to for recovery rest and relaxation.

Christmas Eve Eve

This year our family is celebrating Christmas on Christmas Eve to accommodate Ross' work schedule.And since Ross grew up celebrating on Christmas Eve, it isn't really a stretch. (Does this mean he never got to watch a relevant Santa radar on the news? I must ask; that would be sad.)

Cade started his Christmas Eve Eve with his "Christmas calendar" and today received a box of raisins, a delicious addition to his breakfast. Then it was off to preschool while Mommy and Daddy worked, built his big Christmas present and did the grocery shopping.

Let's visit the building part though. It included dropping temps, rain, a 20-page instruction book and lots of parts. But in the end, we got the job done (we may have gotten pneumonia from being out in the cold wet weather but damn it, Cade has his playscape-thingy).



The name of the game this evening was "keep Cade out of the backyard" so we closed all the blinds, went on a walk around the neighborhood and watched cartoons.

After bathtime we enjoyed one of the best Christmas Eve (Eve) traditions of all - cookies for Santa! Now I'll be honest, I didn't remember this until about 3:30p today so it wasn't quite June Cleaver fresh baked Toll House cookies. But since Cade isn't quite two yet, I think that's OK. Instead Santa got some strawberry newton cookies on a Santa plate (so he would know the cookies were for him, duh).



As you can see, Cade was very excited to put them out on the coffee table for Santa. (Since we don't have a fireplace, we just place them convenient to the Christmas tree. How Santa gets in without a chimney is a conversation for next year...or never if I can make that happen.)



And with that the little boy in reindeer jammies was off to bed, with visions of sugar plums dancing in his head.

Austin Moms Blog Kid-tastic Christmas

I'm pretty proud of this recent Austin Mom's Blog post. Reprinted here for your enjoyment! But do a blogger a favor, go read it/like it over there too.

I love Christmas but I am not a domestic diva.

Like not a domestic diva at all. My husband cooks (and well, I might add) and one of my new year’s resolutions is to spring for a monthly house cleaning. But like I said, I love Christmas and all the fun celebrating that comes with it.

So for you other non-domestic divas, or for the domestic diva who just needs a night off, here are 12 kid-tastic Christmas ideas that do not involve you becoming June Cleaver.

1. Christmas cookiesCookie cutter cookies: Pre-packaged sugar cookies have a direction variation for going cookie cutter style. I think it still only required three ingredients or less. And HEB sells some Texas shaped cookie cutters for the $1-2 range. Go crazy.
2. Christmas light drive: Whether around the block or through the Trail of Lights, this is a classic.
3. Storytime: Local libraries, Barnes and Noble stores and BookPeople all offer holiday storytime for the small human in your life.
4. Seasonal volunteering or donating: Many organizations like the Salvation Army offer unique seasonal giving-back opportunities. Pick one near and dear to your heart to show the kids what the giving season really means.
5. Fire department drop-off: Fire departments run 24/7/365. Swing by your local station to drop off goodies. Homemade meals or simply bottled water and Gatorade are all appreciated.
6. Red & green meals: Take inspiration from Green Eggs & Ham and turn any meal a little more festive with the addition of food coloring.
7. Christmas crafts: You can paper mache a life-size Christmas tree if you want (but then you will qualify as a domestic diva). Or you can make simple construction paper chains or buy a Christmas coloring book. I recommend the Christmas Puppies coloring book because who doesn’t love Christmas and puppies.
8. Movie night: Kid or parent selected, snuggle in for a Christmas classic like Miracle on 34th Street or modern classics like Elf. Personally, I love Prancer of the 1980s fame.
9. Sing-a-long: Turn the daily commute or the over the hill and through the woods trip to Grandma’s into the jingle bell rock. Sing your hearts out y’all.
10. Holiday bathtime: Much like holiday meals, add some red and green to bathtime to make it festive. The Crayola bath crayons or drops can lead the way. Or fill the tub with the foam letters to spell words like “Santa” and “tree.”
11. It’s a small world: Choose a country, maybe the one your family hails from, and dedicate an evening to their Christmas traditions. You can include a special dinner dish (I’m sure World Market or Whole Foods can help), read a book or sing a song.
12. Bible readings: Before Santa and the elves, there were Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Help your kids understand the origins of Christmas and the beliefs of your family.

Ba-da-bing ba-da-bum Christmas! No paper mache, aprons or Pinterest required.

Happy Holidays!

Big D Birthday

Well it has been many moons since I blogged here but we have been busy! On Black Friday we decorated and then Nikki and Brittany came over for a slumber party. The next Friday we had another slumber party - in Dallas for Nikki's 30th birthday! This slumber party though started with champagne, included dinner at one of the fanciest schmanciest places in Dallas and ended at a bar & lounge, also on the fancy Dallas list.





In between slumber parties we've had work, a double ear-infection (Cade), a dentist appointment (me) and all kinds of other normal every day things. So really, with those few sentences, you are totally up to speed!

But because I know you love baby pictures, I'll leave you with this one of the little boy playing on his water table (a very summertime activity) despite that it is the holidays and as you can see our Christmas tree is up and decorated.

Christmas Picture

Hehe, Cade was SO SO wiggley at Christmas pictures. When I tell you this is the only shot in which he isn't a blur of motion or making a super strange cross-eyed, tongue-out, talking face, trust me. I mean it. The ONLY one.

#AMBTakeoverTuesday

Yesterday I took over the Austin Mom's Blog Instagram account for the day. In Instgrams, here was our day

Happy Halloween from the Littlest Trick or Treater

Cade went trick-or-treating! Like real actual trick-or-treating to multiple houses with both parents and for part of it, his favorite pup.

Yesterday we got decked out as NFL stars and knocked on four neighbors' doors. All were very nice and Cade made out like a toddler candy bandit. Which really means we made out like candy bandits since he is not allowed to eat it yet.

 

After our formal trick-or-treating, Cade and I went on a stroller adventure to Margeaux and Ryan's. Mostly because I wanted some exercise but it was fun to show off his costume, see Ryan's big bird costume (feather boas and dyed long-johns included) and enjoy a candy corn punch cocktail with Margeaux.

Me Monday

I'm not totally sure why, but my company gives us Columbus Day off. It's a very New England holiday to have and we don't have any New England offices. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So I didn't question it; I just enjoyed it with a me day.

I took Cade to preschool, worked out and then got a 90 minute massage. Ahhhh. It was heavenly. I'm not sure when the last time I splurged on a whole 90 minutes was but it was fantastic.

Then home for a quick lunch and out to do my favorite thing: outlet mall shopping.

Though the day started out very rainy by lunch it was beautiful. Sunny and seventies. Perfect for outlet shopping. And shop I did.

I got lucky and had one of those days where everything fits and everything is on sale. I did my part to support the Texas economy by making purchases at no less than eight stores. I got two sweaters, a work blouse, a wedding anniversary top and necklace, a comfy long-sleeved tee, cute striped 3/4 sleeve top, PJs for the little boy (Xmas gift!), fleece for the little boy, t-shirt for the little boy and a Christmas gift for the hubs. Let it be known that I was not purposefully Christmas shopping but it is getting pretty close and I figure anything I buy from here on out can be wrapped and put under the tree.

Normally I would happily give you the breakdown of spent v saved. But I've been a bad shopping blogger today and hung everything up without doing the math or taking pics. I can tell you though that one of the sweaters is from Ann Taylor and was purchased for $11 when it was originally $79. That was by far the steal of the day. Other notable wins were the Gap long sleeved tee for $12, NY & Co sweater for $17ish and baby PJs at 2 for $13.

Ahhh, I love an afternoon of shopping. And as if that wasn't enough, tomorrow is back to work but as a work from home day! Woohoo!

The Way Mondays Ought To Be

Mondays should always include the park, the pool and of course, martian glasses.  

He looks so grown up as a martian!

Summer Vacation, Day 7

Wedding day!

Last night our dear family friend, my pseudo sister if you will, got married! Bryanna married her Army officer college sweetheart, John, in a patriotic 4th of July wedding in the Texas Hill Country. Talk about perfect!

During nap time, I loaded Cade in the car and started the drive down San Antonio way. He slept solidly for 45 minutes and then dozed/had quiet time for the following hour. We went to my parents hotel for a few hours to get some wiggles out. They took him swimming and he did much better than I expect. It must be the grandparent touch.

Now, my family is pretty low maintenance. We're not fussy people. But still, I think it is noteworthy that we got 3 adults and a toddler ready for a wedding sharing one hotel room in 40 minutes. And we all looked pretty sharp if I do say so myself.

Up the road to the Don Strange Ranch we went for wedding festivities. Cade fell asleep on the 15 minute drive so I sat in the car letting him rest until the last second possible. Cade did really well in the ceremony. A little fidgety, but that's part of being a toddler. My dad sorta walked and rocked him in his stroller to help him make it through and it worked! The only crying was at the very end but we think that was because all the whoopin' and hollerin' from "I now introduce..." scared the wee boy. A mom hug was all he needed to recover though.

A few notes from the actual wedding. The venue had these cool chandeliers made from branches and sticks. They were really pretty. I had heard the ceremony was going to be more formal than the reception but I wasn't really sure how the difference was going to be shown. Um by a FULL BRIDAL PARTY WARDROBE CHANGE that's how. I knew the long skirt on Bryanna's dress detached and she would have a short dress for the reception so I was expecting that. I wasn't expecting the bridesmaids to transition from identical navy dresses to "your own style" red dresses and boots or the groomsmen to go from their navy blazers (in many cases part of their Army dress blues) to jeans and white button downs. Even the mother of the bride transitioned from heels to flats. It was pretty cool. As a final non Cade note, I feel like I had a tiny part in the festivities and their years of good luck. Bryanna's "something borrowed" was my Swavorski earrings from our trip to Austria two years ago. I think they complemented the sparkle in her lace dress very nicely.

OK back to Cade. For the reception, he basically just ran around like a toddler tornado. Mom, Dad and I took turns chasing him while the others rested or snacked. I did get off relatively easy on the baby chasing front. In addition to just loving their grandson, their drive into town had been unusually long and I think they were both still anxious to do some wiggling themselves. I didn't take many pictures - I enjoyed my downtime as just plain downtime - but as is no surprise, Cade flirted with the photographer so I think we'll have at least a couple candids of us from the wedding, plus our family picture with Bryanna.

Dinner included grapes and mac n cheese so Cade was in food heaven. I think he grazed constantly from 4:30p at the hotel to 7:30p when we left the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful, the bride stunning, the groom lucky and my toddler was well behaved. 4th of July win!

Bride's family

 

Father's Day Fun

Lucky us, Ross has this whole weekend off! Especially nice since it is Father's Day weekend. In our typical fashion, we couldn't wait until the actual day to do gifts. Ross opened his presents over breakfast yesterday morning. The best gift was the baseball Cade decorated for him at school, complete with traces of his little hands.

Today Ross took the early morning off off. Cade and I went on a wonderful busy morning outing of Starbucks, the park (we played for a whole hour!) and then Walmart. We went to Walmart for a polo for him to wear to an upcoming wedding...but we left with the polo, 2 pairs of PJs, a snack, "The Land Before Time" DVD, baby sunglasses and a kiddie pool. Par for the Target or Walmart course.

When we got home, the three of us took the kiddie pool out into the backyard for some playtime. The hose was popular but the pool...well let's just say we'll have all summer for it to grow on us.

Good news though: Ross and Cade fit in it together perfectly.



Now my boys are upstairs watching cartoons and I am about to go to yoga class. After nap we're heading over to Nancy and Jack's for a Father's Day on-the-grill dinner. I for one am having a great, fun Father's Day weekend. I've got a hunch that the best dad in Round Rock is too :)