thirty seven

tonight we celebrated rich's thirty-seventh birthday for about thirty-seven minutes before everyone broke into different directions for various wednesday night activites. we made good use of the time though and managed to fit in eating dinner, singing happy birthday and opening gifts, and eating a cupcake all before the chaos began (although not in that order, i seem to recall cupcakes coming first).

his gifts included:
new smaller jeans to match his thinner body
a halo reach reservation for monday night's release.
a gift card from ethan to purchase a "family" game since he was disappointed we bought halo and he knows he can't play it.
and finally, a majorly nerd-ish gift which he bought for himself, a super fancy remote control which i don't really understand. but hey, it's what he wanted, so there's no arguing that.

i wish i could have gotten him tickets to the US open that he's been watching so intently this week. the man loves tennis, what can i say. but that may be a gift/trip may not be until we're in another stage of life. at least he got to enjoy it from his couch.

happy happy birthday to our super duper, more than totally awesome ricardo mas.

i love you dear.

and thanks for having a favorite cupcake that doesn't appeal to me in the slightest (yellow cake with chocolate frosting). that paired well with my calorie counting today.

every day life

i love the joy of every day life.

these last few weeks have been like that, just really great.

nothing grand or special occasion necessarily,

just regular every day life.

and after moving, and the end of school and busy-ness of everything lately,
i'll take it!
i'm sure the fact that it finally feels like summer has something to do with it.
here's a little looksey at things that made me smile:

grandpa turned fifty nine! 
and so he BBQd burgers and grandma made her famous potato salad.

grandpa knows how to appreciate a funny card.
we sure love this guy.

rich brought home our copy of his game, TS3, so the kids beg him to play it every night when he gets home. even the teenagers who were not necessarily, the targeted demographic, give it two thumbs way up!
good job dad!

we saw TS3 the movie and loved it. even if we were not disney employees, and even if our dad wasn't "part of the magic" of this project (that's what his t-shirt says), we still would have been one of the first families in the door. we have loved these movies since taylor was ONE and currently house the world's biggest fan, his name is ethan.

the end was a little emotional for me and the four year old, but over-all we thought it was great.

ethan and i hung out at the children's museum with cousins while the teenagers were at youth conference. texas cousins were there too - whoohoo! we love this place!

it was FINALLY hot enough to swim.

ethan wore his goggles around the house for about an hour before it was time to go, ready to jump in.

when we walked out to the car, he asked rich, "why is everything blue?"

allie made the best batch of texas sheet cake ever. EVER. this might be my new favorite dessert.

find the recipe at blogger moms cook by clicking HERE.

ethan learned how to cross his eyes with a trick from dad - just follow your finger.

i'm not sure our family has ever laughed so hard.

like i said, simple joy.

i got to hold this sweet new baby for about an hour at the family party.

there's nothing like a snuggly newborn all swaddled and precious.

making friends right next door!

ones who like to play hard!

we are loving our neighborhood.

i had don, the singing handy man back to put in some shelves in the laundry room for me.

i am aware that they are a tad obnoxious, but i'm so desperate for storage space that i don't even care!  it's just the laundry room anyway right? i'm happy to have some shelves ready for a few unpacked boxes.

two different days my awesome SILs april and andrea came to help me organize the kitchen and garage and help me keep my sanity - no photos yet, but soon. i am so lucky that they enjoy organizing so much, they were hugely helpful.

a lovely BBQ with friends, which is becoming one of my favorite summer traditions!

last but not least, yesterday taylor helped me hang some of my little plates.
(sorry about the blurry photo)

why these little plates bring me so much joy, i'll never know, but they do, so i'll take it. 

this week looks promising with fun activities planned, hopefully i didn't just jinx myself.

i love summer.

something is different

there are whiskers in my bathroom sink
the crossword puzzle is all filled in
ethan isn't attached to my hip
the teenagers aren't complaining about needing a math tutor
the sink is always empty of dishes
neatly packed boxes are stacking up quickly in the garage
a little black sports car is constantly parked in the drive way
i am cooking real dinners again
i am not sitting alone at track meets, lacrosse games, dance recitals, school plays or choir concerts.
i am a happier mom

it all leads me to one conclusion:
toy story 3 is FINALLY done and i have my husband back!
can i get a hallelujah amen people?
and how about celebratory blizzards? yes please.

we are a happy family once again.

and he has four weeks off.
which is good for me - help with the move, bad for him - help with the move. not a super exciting way to spend your comp time, but it's better than a 100+ hour work week right?
the person that will be the saddest when he returns to work in three weeks - ethan, because he finally has someone to hang out with during the day besides me.

and if you want to see what he was up to during all that time, check out this little video.


ya, that's my nerd.
and please, go buy a copy for your family!

you are a TOY!

just incase you wondered what project rich is working on next... (sorry the video cuts off on the right, i can't figure out how to fix it).

disney finally announced that toy story 3 will be out in june 2010, which means i can finally blog about rich's next project, the TS3 wii game. this youtube video has also been the most requested by ethan in the last hour, i think we've watched it ten times so far, and counting. i still think that it's one of the most original and awesome stories of any movie i've ever seen. can't wait to see what buzz and woody do next.

harvesting the organs

rich spent a little bit of our tax return on himself and bought fancy new computer. i'm so glad he did, the man rarely does stuff like this for himself, he definitely deserves it. i walked into the office the other day to this scene, rich busy at something he referes to as "harvesting the organs". besides how gross that termonology is, i'm pretty sure it's just nerd speak for "saving all the good stuff". i'm not exactly sure what he does with pieces once their harvested, but the process itself is kind of entertaining to me. i mean, just incase i was unclear as to whether or not i married a nerd (i wasn't), this photograph certainly puts to rest any doubts. how many people do you know with a nerd score high enough to harvest organs from a computer?