Christmas at Grandma and Grandpas

Let's start by the best Christmas present ever! Jay came home from work on the 19th and Edward was sooo excited to "pick up daddy!" I think it was the first time he actually understood what I meant when I said daddy is coming home. He flew into Denver and we were waiting for him with Grandpa in the terminal. It was a great time to be there because of the holiday season there was a guy playing the piano and singing Christmas music to entertain Edward while we waited. After each song E would request the next one be "ABCs!"  Poor kid didn't have a chance :) 

Edward has already had so much fun with daddy. Activities include "Edward scissor hands" training...quite the scary sight!

Tree decorating:

Jumping:

And cookie frosting:

Of course we have done a lot as a family as well...Edwards godfather Shawn came to visit one night and they had a lot of fun chasing each other around the house:

Making cookies with mommy, grandma and grandpa:

Waiting is the hardest part buddy:

Finally got to frost some:

And the best part - eat them!

I even made it in a few shots during another day of decorating! It's a rare occurrence :)

He looooved being the Sprinkle Master:

One more taste test:

On Christmas Eve we remembered to sprinkle food for Rudolph and the other reindeer on the front lawn so they could find the house! It was a cool mix of oats, cinnamon and glitter:

Then before bed we left cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. I was worried he would want to eat the cookies but he was good and left them alone :)

Santa came after we all went to sleep. It was a small Christmas this year because anything we bought or received we had to fit in the car or in our luggage. It all worked out great having him this young because he really didn't care. He was just excited to wake up in the morning and see that Santa came!

In fact, he was more concerned with the piece of carrot that Rudolph left. Don't tell Santa, but I think he likes Rudolph best ;)

Some of his gifts this year included pajamas, a Percy train, a Dora coloring set (for the long drive to Kansas City tomorrow), some cars, books, and little things like Dora toothbrushes and a toothbrush travel case like mommy and daddy have. It's fun how simple things like that can be more exciting than what we may think are the big exciting toys... His Rudolph Pez was also a huge hit!

After gifts and some breakfast (traditional orange and cinnamon sweet rolls then eggs and sausage later), Edward started getting cranky. His 2-year molars are coming in and I knew it was making him grouchy. As soon as I mentioned the ergo he snapped out of it and said "back" then pointed outside. This always works and we had a nice little walk together looking for stop signs and Chrismas decorations. Notice he's in his pajamas still and wearing his new slippers (like daddy!):

A little later the whole crew loaded in the car to the nearby park for some fresh air. 

Three generations:

He loves his grandma and grandpa - we have spent over a month together straight and it has been great bonding for them!

The park is less than 2 miles away so I didn't really think about bringing a change of clothes or anything (we are doing great at potty training but poop is still an issue in public). Soooo speaking of poop he's standing still at one point and grandma thinks maybe he pooped...I check and yup. And we don't have anything to clean it up with! Jay runs home to get something and we keep him standing and entertained while we wait. A family of middle-aged people shows up at the park and we say "Merry Christmas" to them. They say hi to Edward and he just looks at them and says "poop" with a look of disappointment on his face. Haha. The looks on their faces were priceless :) 

We had a great afternoon nap and then for dinner we had filet mignon, cheesy hash browns (family favorite), green beans, and carrots. Edward ate nearly half of my filet! We are so proud of what a great eater he is and tonight he didn't disappoint!

What a great Christmas! Among all the crazy changes I think we made it as special and memorable as we could for Edward and can't wait to spend it as a family of FIVE next year! *gulp*

Tomorrow we leave early for a loooonnng drive to Kansas City to see Jay's brother and his family. Continuing our adventure!!

(And now that I figure out photos I think I am even more likely to keep this up!)

Remember Us?

Soooo...lots has happened in the past, what, two and a half years since I last posted. I am not even going to try to cover everything, but due to some big changes in our family journey, I feel motivated to try posting again. Also, my friend Kiera is a blogging champ and she has inspired me!

The first big announcement? We have an amazing son Edward who turned two in August. He is hilarious, smart, energetic and stubborn among many other mostly positive qualities. I love being a mom, especially to a boy!

The next big thing? After over a year of trying to conceive again, we are finally expecting! I am due in May with twins and couldn't be happier! I am finally getting some energy back and the nausea has subsided. I'm trying to be strong and keep their genders a surprise (to us and everyone else) but am finding I'm becoming more and more curious (weak!) and with such an awesome husband who really wants to know, I just might be swayed. We will see. I'm at 18 weeks and so far, it's a mystery. 

The third and final big change is that we sold our home in Gilbert, Arizona (I guess that is another biggie I never blogged about - we bought a house!), and are moving to Vermont where most of my family lives. It will be so nice to be around family, especially with the babies' upcoming arrival! 

Jay's parents came down before Thanksgiving and helped me pack since Jay was still at work. Then we had the huge moving truck arrive on December 13th and then headed here to Colorado to await Jay's arrival. It was the first time I think Edward really understood what "Daddy is coming home!" meant. He was excited and they are having a great time together. 

After Christmas we head to Kansas City, then Lincoln and Omaha before finally arriving in Vermont in early January. 

Please bear with me as I'm hoping to find the energy to keep posting and to also get pictures up as well. I'm using the blogger app on my iPad and most of my pics are on my phone....gotta adjust my cloud settings and I'm sure I'll be all set soon enough!

So if anyone is reading this, welcome back! And please text me so I know it's visible...I can't remember how I last left all my settings....

Xoxo

Atlanta Part 2

In an effort to log the remainder of our time in Atlanta together without crashing the internet, I am going to try bullet points for the remainder of the visit (with one exception).

Thursday: 
*Mexican Lunch with Jay, his sim partner & their teacher. Jay and I were worried since we love our AZ Mexican food, but it wasn't too bad.
*Ground School with Jay - they let me go to Flight Safety sit in & it was great! Made me really miss flying & learning.
*Pool - the perfect time of day for sunshine at our hotel pool was about 1:30-3:00.
*Shopping - I had a coupon I wanted to use! Jay bought $8 chapstick.
*Dinner at Pura Vida. Jay had picked this place out (main reason - so he could try chimichurri sauce) and guess what? It is owned/operated by another Top Chef Season 6-er - Hector Santiago. It's a tapas restaurant & overall the food was very very good. My favorite was the Steamed Coconut Buns (smoked pork belly, tamarind sauce, shaved cabbage, cilantro & pickled chiles). It might have been Jay's favorite too (the bun itself was incredible) though we also got some chorizo & cheese empanadas which were so. good. (again, it was the dough on the outside we loved - so flaky). Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of our favorite dishes, but did get this one of the Mofongo con Carne Frita (green banana mash with pork cracklings, berkshire pork carnitas and pork jus espuma) because it looks so cool with all the foam on top. I picked this dish totally based on the term "pork cracklings". Though it was good, we didn't love the banana mash and I didn't find any cracklings (expecting them to be crunchy?), so the coconut buns totally won.

Friday:
*Pool - I did laps!
*Ordered pizza for dinner. Yum.
*We got news from our mortgage broker that we are getting the house we put an offer on in March (gotta love short sales!)!
*I couldn't sleep due to thinking about house stuff

Saturday:
*Smoothies for breakfast
*Lowes - picked out appliances for the kitchen
*Jason's Deli for lunch - we were happy to have some fresh, healthy food
*Groceries

**back to regular blogging for a bit**

Sunday morning we got up early & were out the door by 6:30 to head to Savannah. It was only about a three and a half hour drive & totally worth it! What a cute city!

We started our visit by having lunch at Vics on the River. This place had a great view of the river and that's why we picked it. The actual restaurant is on the 4th floor, so these are pics from the balcony up there.

The food was ok. Jay had a Fried Shrimp Po Boy and I had a Fried Green Tomato BLT.

Next up was Tybee Island. I wanted to see the ocean & put my feet in the water! It was only about a 20 minute drive & again, totally worth it.

After a little driving around looking for a place to park (we didn't have any change with us for the meters), Jay found this spot with nearly 2 hours left on the meter!! Score!

Who's da Man? 

The first thing we did was go Tybee Time which was recommended by our server at lunch. Lots of daiquiris to choose from & are supposedly a staple along the strip. They already had alcohol in them with the exception of a virgin Strawberry so that's what I got. Jay got the grown-up Strawberry & we were on our way to the pier. 

I love the ocean!

Did I mention how HOT it was this day? The humidity, though not as bad, reminded us of our honeymoon in Mexico. Sticky hot. 

Next up was the beach. I can't believe I tried to take a picture of my feet in the water:

Not so successful. Haha. 

These turned out better :) 

My dress got pretty wet in the water so we took a walk along the beach to let it dry out. Let's just say there was great people watching on this beach! And on the way back to the car, I got the best compliment ever! This lady approached us & told me that I looked classy. How nice is that to hear from a total stranger? Made my day...

...and so did what we found upon returning to our car:

I love spotting VT plates and am always tempted to leave a little "Hello! Small world! I'm from VT too!" note on their cars, but never do. Made me smile though. 

Our final stop on Tybee Island was the Lighthouse. 

A sweet couple offered to take our picture:

 And I just had to get this one!

It was way too hot & I'm way too pregnant to take the stairs to the top of the lighthouse, so we headed back to Savannah. 

Jay wanted iced coffee, so I referenced a bookmarked site on my iPad that recommended a few good places. Guess what?

Yeah, the two cute, locally owned coffee shops I wanted to check out were both closed. Gotta love the South. So Starbucks it was. We took a nice little rest there & made our plan for the rest of the afternoon.

One thing I wanted to do while in Georgia was to tour an old estate. The Owens-Thomas House sounded like the perfect choice & it's located right in the heart of Savannah.

The house was designed by an English architect (very unusual & prestigious at this time) and built between 1816 and 1819.

The tour started in the Slave Quarters. We couldn't take pictures inside any of the buildings, but the slave quarters had a very cool (original) blue ceiling which was painted by the slaves that lived there. It was common for ceilings & doors to be painted with this indigo-based paint (called "haint") in order to repel evil spirits and keep the building's occupants safe. Apparently it's the only building known to have original "haint" left in the area.

The view from the house looking across the gardens at the slave quarters.

On our way out:

I had to snap a picture of the famous porch where the Marquis de Lafayette (a general in the American Revolutionary War) addressed the residents of Savannah against slavery (which was funny because he stayed as a guest in the house during his visit. During his stay, the owner hid his slaves & had his children help out knowing that the Lafayette was against slavery - he didn't want the general to know he was a slave owner himself).

Jay and I both enjoyed the tour and were very impressed by the architecture - particularly the fake doors and windows (symmetry was very important back then) and the bridge on the second floor.

After the tour, we headed to the Olde Pink House for an early dinner. We had called earlier in the day for a reservation & the only time they had open was 9:30pm (on a Sunday!), so we decided to wing it & get there upon opening at 5pm in hopes of at least a spot at the bar.

They were very accommodating & we were seated at a nice intimate table on the lower level in what used to be the home's kitchen & laundry area. One thing that really impressed me was that the whole room was lit by candlelight - candle sticks - instead of little votives that I'm used to. It was quite romantic!

This historic house was built in 1789 and was one of the few buildings in the city to survive the big fire of 1796. In the 1800s it was a bank (the vault is now the wine cellar) and now it's a restaurant! One of the coolest things about the property is that it is supposedly haunted. Our server took the time to tell us some great stories.

Jay ordered the Crispy Half Duck with black vinegar BBQ glaze, crispy onions, seasonal fruit and vegetable crepes.

And me? I was going to get the Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie or the Braised Pork Shank, but after being highly recommended by our server, I decided on the Crispy Scored Flounder with Apricot Shallot Sauce instead. Yes! I ordered seafood & am sooooo glad I did!

It came with two sides I wasn't crazy about (grits & collards), so I substituted asparagus and macaroni & cheese instead. Everything was DELICIOUS. The coolest part? The way they prepare the fish is so it's easy to eat. Each of the little squares on top "popped" off the bones & was the perfect sized bite.

And then when you're done with one side, you flip it over & there are new squares on the other side. AND! AND! When you're done you get this!

(Tricia, are you proud or what?)

Now for dessert, we had to try Leopold's Ice Cream - a local landmark & old-fashioned ice cream parlor.

Everyone that worked there was very friendly & helped me decide on a safe, nut-free selection of their all-homemade ice cream. I ended up with coconut ice cream with, yes, house-made chocolate fudge sauce to top it off. Delish.

After such a fun-filled day, we decided to head back to Atlanta rather than spending money on a hotel. That is, not before a quick detour to the South Carolina border so Jay could check a state off his list:

We drove past the sign, turned around & came right back to Georgia. Fun times.

"Home" by 11ish, it was a fun-packed day that I will say was probably my favorite of the whole two weeks! Thanks honey :)

**Back to our bullets to wrap things up**

Monday:
*Thumbs Up Diner for some chicken & waffles (they sold Vermont Maple Syrup if you wanted to upgrade as I did)
*Sent off our mortgage docs!

Tuesday:
*Waffle House for brunch. Duh. WH in the south is like Dunkin Donuts in Boston, or Starbucks in Seattle. There were 3 of them within a mile stretch of the road our hotel was on. So we made a point to stop in for our "scattered, smothered, covered & diced" (hash browns for you WH virgins), a chocolate chip waffle (and eggs, and toast, and bacon, and OJ) for me, and cheesy eggs (and bacon & a egg sandwich) for Jay. We ate our hearts out.

Wednesday:
*Headed home. Jay is not far behind!

He's back! Well, kind of (Part 1)

Instead of coming directly home to AZ from work this time, Jay headed to Atlanta for a month's worth of training. Luckily, I was able to come out to visit him for two weeks since I finished up with work about a month ago. I'll try & break the visit up into a few posts so as to not bore you all in one sitting!

I flew in Thursday the 12th and after less than an hour visit (including picking up the milkshake I was craving at the time), he had to get back to training for the night. I walked to the local Ruby Tuesday for dinner that night being glad that Jay called as I was on my walk over to be my phone escort - our hotel is not in the nicest area of town being near the airport & all... The food wasn't that great, but I made "friends" with one of the waitresses (pregnant also) while I sat there & ate my salad.

Friday Jay didn't have to get to work until about 12:30, so we spent some time at Target & the grocery store picking up some supplies for the week (sunscreen & groceries), and getting lunch (philly cheesesteak & buffalo wings) before he went in. Jay is here training with another guy, so the three of us grabbed some pizza for dinner & I spent the rest of the night in the hotel setting up the room, unpacking & taking a nice nap.

Saturday we slept in & then searched for a coffee shop we could go to (in a nicer area of town) & study a bit. I spotted this place called Drip & thought it sounded cute. The reviews were good, so that's where we headed! Just a short drive from our hotel (north), we found ourselves in a very cute neighborhood called Glenwood Park. The staff at the coffee shop was great & I decided apple pie and an iced latte was the perfect breakfast to get the weekend started. Jay was boring took the healthy route & got quiche & an interesting locally made yogurt with hot pepper in it. Yum.

In between studying & fantasizing about how cool it would be to live in a neighborhood similar to where we were, Jay mentioned that the place looked like the coffee shop from the movie "Hall Pass" that we watched in the theatre together last time he was home. I kind of brushed it off at the moment, but as we were heading out, Jay asked one of the workers there about it & he said that it in fact was where those scenes were filmed! I'm looking forward to watching the movie again to see the guy we talked to in the background "behind the hot chick"!

Side note: Jay is amazing. How does he do that???

Happily satiated & going on a walk in Glenwood Park.

We decided Saturday night was date night. I had asked friends on Facebook to give us some suggestions of places to eat in Atlanta & one of my old high school friends suggested the Woodfire Grill. After doing our homework & reading the reviews, we called to make a reservation. The only time available was 9:30pm! Seeing as we'd been up late the nights before (Jay worked until late & I was still adjusting to the 3-hour time change), we figured why not?

Just a few points about this restaurant. It is in an interesting neighborhood speckled with cute restaurants, strip clubs (big fancy looking ones with valet - they could easily fit in in Vegas I'm telling ya), and home dec stores. Very strange. But the good part? The chef/owner is Kevin Gillespie from Top Chef Season 6 (Las Vegas). He came in third & cooks amazing food. He was there the whole time & I could see him working his magic (checking each & every plate before it went out) from my seat. This is the best picture I could snap before heading inside.

We had a great table & opted to order ala carte instead of going with the tasting menu and were glad we did. For our appetizers, we had the sweet corn soup which was topped with chili oil and crab meat & the fried green tomatoes with shrimp. Both Jay and I thought the corn soup was the best course of the night. It was so good our eyes rolled back into our heads each time we took a bite. For our second courses, we had the green garlic & leek risotto and the salmon croquettes. The risotto was delicious & Jay said the salmon was pretty good (though he felt it necessary to tell our server JR that they looked like "balls"- nice). For our main course, Jay had the duck breast with some sort of yummy butter on greens & I had a filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Of course we had to get dessert. Jay had a hazelnut semifreddo (hazelnut sponge cake, orange caramel, cognac milk chocolate ganache) & said it was ok. I think the texture threw him off. I had the banana pain perdu which was banana bread (nut free!) topped with ice cream, salted caramel sauce and candied bacon. It was delicious!!

We even had great entertainment - a young couple at a nearby table had eaten their meal & realized they didn't have a way to pay for it. The maitre d' was at their table for a while & they were working out a plan. We felt so bad for them because they were clearly on a date, but the staff was very forgiving & they got something worked out. Kids. 

Overall it was a wonderful experience & I'm so glad we got the recommendation. I was very impressed with their service. When I called to make the reservation, they asked if there were any allergies & I told them about mine. They made sure they didn't serve our table one of the breads they make with nuts and even used fresh knives to cut the bread they did serve us. I was equally impressed (and excited!) that the banana bread used in my dessert did not have nuts! At many nice restaurants we've gone to, I have found that 80% or more of their desserts are "tainted" with nuts & I'm left with a sorbet & maybe a chocolate cake to choose from. Not at Woodfire & I love them for that! 

I was upset that we (I) forgot to get a photo of us at dinner, so we took one ourselves when we got home at 1am!

And we decided to include baby Edward in this pic:

On Sunday, we woke up around 11am and were starving, so we looked up directions to Cafe Intermezzo (again, recommended to us via Facebook - this time by my sister's sister-n-law Amy) for brunch. Amy recommended cake & tea for dinner there, so let's just say the cake was something I had to scout out before we ordered. They had a huge Cheesecake Factory sized case of cakes to choose from and even a special "tour guide" to describe them all when we were ready to order. But first we had to have brunch. They have a gigantic menu of drinks to choose from & Jay decided on the Turkish coffee. This coffee was crazy. It came in a special little copper pot with a handle on it...

...and is made by boiling finely powdered beans. As you can imagine it's quite strong...

...and creates quite a sludge. Jay liked it. Me, not so much.

I had this delicious little creation - a Caffe Bach - decaf espresso with butterscotch syrup & homemade (unsweetened) whipped cream. Delicious & very fancy.

For brunch, I had a panini made with chicken sausage & egg and Jay had the Intermezzo omelette with bacon. For dessert we decided to share a slice of ginger cake with lemon cream cheese frosting which hit the spot. I would love to go back to Intermezzo some day to try some other coffees & cakes!

After brunch, we drove around for a little while to explore the city. On our way to the Little Five Points area to find Jay his own pair of Five Fingers, we came upon a motorcycle accident only seconds after it happened. The poor guy was lying on the ground spread out with his motorcycle on top of him. We stopped & Jay helped some other guys move the bike to the side of the road. Luckily the guy was responsive & other bystanders were in contact with his girlfriend. We stayed until the police arrived & then went on our way. 

Little Five Points is an alternative area of town lined with vintage clothing stores, coffee shops, and hookah lounges. We spent a good hour or so in the shoe store & left with a new pair of shoes for Jay! I must say I think it's a record - usually he takes MONTHS to purchase a pair of shoes, so this was a very successful trip! 

I'll leave you off there for now because Jay's laptop is about to die! More to come soon...