Family Time

Edward has been playing so well with his cousins and continues to looove his grandma and grandpa. Here are some pics from our first day of spending time together - Edward taking apart a toy with Todd while Xander looks on:

Edward LOVES the piano. He sits there throughout the day and plays singing (his version of) ABCs or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

One happy Dad to have his son around again:

Edward giggling with Xander:

It was such a beautiful day we spent a whole bunch of time outside riding bikes and launching stomp rockets. Edward made us so proud - he figured out how to coast on his balance bike and had soooo much fun! I posted a video on Facebook - will try to figure out how to get it on here as well...

Todd and Xander:

After Edward managed to skip another day of napping we headed to a little family gathering at Jay's cousin Kyle's house. Kyle and his wife Becca had a little girl Alice in May. She is such a cutie!

Jay's Aunt Mary Jane (!), Edward and big Ed looking at the squirrels outside:

Edward took a break to play with his new Matchbox cars - I love how he lays on the floor to play with them:

My sister-in-law May, Jay and Xander chillin after dinner (I promise Liam was with us all day too!):

Edward playing with Molly, Jay's cousin Bryan's little 3-year old girl. We were so impressed with how well they played together!

Here is the whole group:

It was so nice catching up with everyone!!

Road Trip!!

The drive to Kansas City from grandma and grandpas is about 9 hours not including stops. While Jay thought of it as a fun adventure and "no big deal", the thought of a pregnant woman and a 2-year old on a 9+ hour road trip to me sounded like a nightmare. Luckily I was proven wrong!!

Edward did so much better than we both expected and kept himself entertained with his new cars, stickers, books and a very short amount of screen time on "his" iPhone watching videos.  

Grandma and grandpa got him this great travel tray for the trip and it worked out great!! It's nice and soft yet stable enough to roll his cars around on it. 

It also makes for a great sun shield when the sun first comes up over the horizon. "Too bright" he said and this is what we saw. What a goofball. 

Kansas. Flat. Boring. 

We had a "mommy poop in my underpants!" scare along the way and this happened in the parking lot of a gas station somewhere in the middle of America:

False alarm. Boo! He really did great with the whole potty training thing for the whole trip. Used the big pottys and urinals like daddy does. I just put a diaper on him when he was supposed to be napping (which of course did not happen - I mean...road trip!!!!! Why would he?!)

He is such a good traveler! He even would exclaim "road trip!" every now and then. 

We had a great run at one of the rest stops which I thought would for sure tire him out enough for a snooze. 

We made it in 10 hours - about two

hours shorter than we had planned and happily enjoyed dinner and some catching up with Jays brother and his family before heading off to bed. 

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!