Disney, Disney, Disney

Has anyone ever experience too much Disney? Don't get me wrong; I had a blast. The best part was seeing Gabe's pure joy at each adventure. If I never experienced sensory overload before...this was it. I, like Gabe, needed an afternoon rest...not for the sleep, but the peace and quiet. Which type are you...action vacation or relax vacation? I have determined after 29 years of my existence that I am a relaxed vacation person, but Gabe and Brad bring out the adventure side of me...at least to take pictures. I love the foreshadowing of this picture above. Notice Brad's slightly tense grip of the car, and Gabe's carefree enthusiasm to get moving! In the spirit of simplicity, I won't post every singe Disney photo I love, but e-mail me if you want to see the rest...

On the 7th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A chandelier for my entry!


found here .

Yum!

We were so sick of turkey and dressing, that I fixed a huge pile of vegetables for dinner last night. This was a wonderful autumn recipe (click here for recipe), and I am now a fan of parsnips (never had them or cooked them before.) Where have I been? Parsnips are delicious!

This is a recipe I will keep around. It came from Food&Wine magazine, which my brother and sister-in law gave us for Christmas last year. Every recipe I have made from Food&Wine has turned out well. I am not a huge fan of new recipes and tend to stick to the old tried and true ones (Better Homes and River Roads are my ultimate go to's--can you get more traditional than that?). I made it minus the butternut squash and pecans, just because I didn't have them around, but I bet it would make it even better. If you try it, watch the cooking time...mine would have burned if I wasn't waiting by the oven salivating at the wonderful smell!

Gabe with Santa last year:

Gabe with the same Santa this year:


He's not wailing, but he is still not sure about the whole scenario. Of course, this isn't his official Santa picture. I just thought this expression was funny. We have a smiling one on our mantle.


This is Brad with Gabe this year:



And Brad with Gabe last year:

He is always happy when his papa is near!

BTW, Brad voted for the football sweater vs. the precious Christmas outfit I had for him. I guess the Thanksgiving outfit did him in.

My little pilgrim

I just want to eat Gabe up when he wears his little coat and hat. These were all lovingly handed down from Gabe's cousin, Braxton. Brad can't stand it, but for Thanksgiving I had to go all out...not on the cooking, but the outfit.


So, we went out to eat. Gabe was a doll. I'm sure it had a lot to do with the waiter who brought him lot of gifts (crayons, coloring book, orange slices, chef's hat, cherries, helium balloon...you get the picture.) Hey, whatever it takes!

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

There have been lots of trains in our world lately!

Halloween (boy, am I behind)

The candy has been eaten. The decorations are put away. Thanksgiving is on our minds, and I am just now posting about Halloween. We had a blast with our neighbors and friends. This is Gabe waiting for the big event.

Gabe with his best buddies, waiting to get out the door. (Picture quality is horrible, because it was dark)

The trick or treat limo, pulling up to its next stop.

Gabe sharing candy with a robot/friend.

On the way home, we stopped by the firehouse for a photo/candy. I don't know how to shoot all this reflective stuff without issues, so this is the best I could do. The fireman were happy to see a mini-me. Gabe had a glassed over, so tired look by this point, but wouldn't you know it....he was up at 6am promptly the next morning...never fails.

Steamfest 2009

I hope this is the only time I see this image, and never with a moving train. Look how tiny he looks.

Gabe ringing the bell.

Gabe and Pawpaw

We were trying to replicate this picture of Brad with his Dad, but the train setup didn't allow. This was the closest we could get.

I love that Sam has an LSU hat & polo shirt in both pictures and Brad's face has a "what am I doing at a Train Festival/can I go home now" look in both pictures . Things don't change much. And with all these spectacular trains, all Gabe wanted was the Thomas train to himself.

Pumpkin Patch

I am a little behind on posting. This was a few weeks ago. As Papa headed out for the LSU/Florida game, Gabe and I headed for the pumpkin farm. Thanks to cell phone technology and a small moment of brilliance on my part, I decided to double check that the farm would be open on a gameday (you know those Tiger fans) before driving waaaay out of the city. Anyway, the farm was closed...Emergency detour to Whole Foods. 2 year olds have little patience when it comes to pumpkins and promises. The lady in the floral department gave Gabe the "baby" pumpkin and he couldn't be happier. We'll have to get the rustic farm experience next year...I don't want Gabe to get the impression that Whole Foods is the farm, but it might be too late for that.

firsts

These are photos from Gabe's first baseball game. This was a while back, but I thought I would post for documentation purposes. I don't want to miss a thing, and I don't want you to think we spend our entire lives in the kitchen. Although, looking at my waistline might tell a different story.

Some of Gabe's expressions just crack me up! This was a super serious moment of concentration. I just wonder what is going through his head all the time...like what is a Zephyr and why is there a giant Nutria named "Boudreaux" dancing around on the field? I wonder these things too. Or maybe it was an issue related to the enormous hot dog he had just eaten?

ahhhh!

the best book I have read in a long time. Seriously, I think this should be required reading for all parents. I nabbed my copy from my mom's bookshelf in an effort to devour anything that would give me some solid guidance. This is it! I was struggling. How do I get to the often described "rewarding", "beautiful", "wouldn't trade it for anything" motherhood, whithout panic attacks, mood swings, and lots and lots of tears? Not to say that all of that is over, but, hey, its a process. Anyway, I just couldn't keep this one for myself.


I will be reading it again with tabs and highlighter...I don't want to miss a thing.

One Design Flaw

Before I was married in 2003, my future in-laws hosted me for an entire month at their home in Singapore. While there, Mrs. Joyce and I took a trip to Bankok. We had a wonderful time shopping. Since I was soon to be married, it was so much fun finding housewares for the home that Brad was simultaneously searching for. I fell in love with this unpolished stainless steel flatware. However, the handle is hollow with a little hole at the end. I figured it would be pretty tough to get food in there, and I would just load them in the dishwasher stems down to get really clean. That was before this two year old came along and made a great discovery...a pea fits just perfectly in that hole. This is why I call him "Goose", as in "silly goose, don't put that pea in your spoon backwards."


I wonder if Gabe will look back at his pictures when he is older and think "who did my hair?" The poor boy has my half wavy/half straight do that does not work well with humidity...which we surely are not lacking.

moving on

Okay, we have moved on to some real food...cookies and brownies. Don't worry, we are sharing our treats. Gabe loves making them more than eating them. Sophie and Ethan next door are grateful for his talents too. We brought them cookies for an after school snack.

And, pictured below is my very first sewing project. My next project will be an apron/smock for Gabe although his will need full coverage for the messes he makes. I got the tutorial for this one from Darby's blog here. The apron would probably look better in bolder fabrics, but these were scraps that I had. The white was previously Gabe's canopy when we lived in Florida, and the stripe is a shirt that Brad got a bad ink stain on. I think I will make some matching distowels too.

Ratatouille

Maybe its from watching Ratatouille about a zillion times, but Gabe is loving "cooking" lately. I set him up with a bowl of cornstarch, he adds water, and voila...gooey sludge that is fun for hours. I will get him working on dinner soon, but for now he is practicing. He also "cooks" in the bathtub, making pretend apple juice. He doesn't even want boats in his tub anymore...is this normal?

the Birmingham experience

Last weekend we took a short trip to Birmingham. The purpose was twofold. One, to pick up some dining chairs that my aunt and uncle were giving to my mom for the New Orleans condo. Two, to visit with Aunt Jane and Uncle Robert. Since moving into their condo a few years ago, I had not been to Birmingham to see them. So, it was great to catch up, and give Gabe the Birmingham experience I had as a child. First, there is the obligatory trip to see Vulcan. Below is a photo of the Vulcan museum. The house in the photo in the upper left corner is the home where my Uncle Robert grew up. Uncle Robert is so special to us, and so is his city...


This is the view from their condo on Red Mountain...breathtaking.


Second, according to my childhood memories, in order to have an Aunt Jane and Uncle Robert Birmingham experience, one must taste some sort of ethnic food. As a child, we were always exposed to something new and different when visiting Aunt Jane and Uncle Robert. Gabe fulfilled this by eating egg rolls, which he has never tasted before. He loved it, and I will be sure to get this boy egg rolls at home. Next time we may have to expose him to Indian food!

During college, I spent a summer in Birmingham and lived with my aunt and uncle. They were such gracious hosts, and I will always be thankful for the experiences I have had with them. I hope Gabe remembers his first trip to Birmingham as well.

Sandbox in the City

When you don't have a huge yard, you can't have a huge sandbox. I would feel terrible for depriving our precious boy, but Gabe plays in the sandbox a lot at school. This was just a fun afternoon activity. See, I had a bag of sand to fill a little hole in our yard. So, I filled the hole, and the next morning...darn! the hole was back. I think we might have a critter of some kind...any ideas?

This was only one frustration for the weekend. The second, was the sewing machine. See, I am learning to sew. I literally just got it out of the box, and spent a loooong time trying to sew two seams. After a tense morning, and almost throwing it out the window, I actually sewed something...I will post pics later.

I think that I thrive on frustration a bit. The more annoying something is, the more I want to master it...I believe I have found a new hobby...sewing is annoying and satisfying at the same time!

Bookcase makeover

When we first moved into this house, one thing that bothered me was this gigantic blank wall in the kitchen above the existing tv. I knew that this could be put to serious use. This bookcase was made a while ago by Brad's dad's good friend, Bill, who can build just about anything in his ultimate basement workroom (I am so jealous). Although it was put in a while back, I thought I would share since it one of the most useful things I go to all day. It is hard not to just drop stuff there...doesn't everyone have a catchall place in their house, that just always seems to attract stuff. Well, this is my attempt at reigning in the junk. I love it because there is a place for the phonebook, stamps, envelopes, and cookbooks at a hands reach. The boxes at the top are wine crates from Martin's wine cellar. I cannot remember how much they were, but I do know it was less than $3 a peice. That is where I stash Gabe's artwork and stuff that I plan to organize later. The bottom shelves are now Gabe's territory for toys that he can reach. Anyway, I thought I would share since this is one thing that I enjoy so much...thank you Mr. Bill!!!

after

I never dreamed I would have a basketball goal in my kitchen...temporary, but fun! Also, I would love to remove the in-glass blinds and put up wall to wall curtains in a breezy white linen (Brad will have a heart attack, therefore this is waaaaay down on the list).

before
before

One would need gigantic artwork for this to look right. It looks like the previous owners came to the end of the renovation, ran out of money, and said "what can we cut out", and the bookshelves got nixed.

Rain, Rain

This is why we didn't go to the LSU game on Saturday.

note the sea of ponchos

Instead, we watched from the dry and cozy couch and porch at the May home. So, we got the best of both worlds...being dry and enjoying a Tiger win. Of course Gabe had a ball playing with his buddies, and we also got to visit with Mema and Uncle Will too.

It rained continuously the entire weekend. This has some perks such as spending Sunday on the couch reading a great book, and Gabe's cabbages in the garden are looking pretty good too. I will post a pic soon.

Labor Day

This is how we spent Labor Day weekend. We had a wonderful time with the with the May boys in Orange Beach.

This is how Gabe and Cooper spent most of their time. Cooper was so sweet to wait for Gabe so they could slide together.

Gabe training for a remake of "Baywatch"

kites on the beach

I am so glad that Gabe has some lifelong buddies that treat him like one of their brothers. Fun times!

architect?

Uh oh! I think we have an architect on our hands...this boy loves to draw, draw, draw. All over momma's work too.

first day of school

Last year I reluctantly dropped off (carried to his classroom) our one year old baby to nursery school. It was so difficult and heart wrenching and traumatic (for me, not Gabe). This year our two year old boy didn't walk, but ran to school. I cannot believe the difference a year makes!

first day of school this year


first day of school last year