Happy Halloween!

Sunday Randoms

I know I haven't written much lately, but in a nutshell Erik was away for a couple weeks an another detachment, Landon and I both came down with colds that knocked us flat on our buns and I was listening to a lot of Nina Simone on gray days ("little boy bluuueeee..."). The order of the world has been restored, however, and we are back to usual antics.

Today we are bumming around the house, waiting for Grandpa Jim to arrive (delayed by one day because of a random snowstorm in the Northeast... pooooop). He will be in town for the week to help celebrate Landon's FIRST BIRTHDAY. Yep, that's right: our little man is turning ONE ON WEDNESDAY.  Holy toledo! Uncle Jamesy is trailing in a few days from now, too. Yippee!!!

Just killing some time until our guests arrive...

One of Landon's favorite places this past month. The boy loves a good shower stall.

Landon, where are your teeth?!

Floor rolls.

The Curtains Have Feet

Chip Housing

Ah, yes: the perfect place to store snacks.

"You're welcome."

Happy 31st To Me!

Now that I officially have both feet into my 30s, I must say the water is just fine. I love the comfort and the confidence that comes with age; I wish I could go back in time and shake the vapid thoughts out of my teenage self*, but I suppose it's all part of the process. Am I in love with the signs of aging like new sun spots, tiny wrinkles and a softer figure? Nah, I'm not in love with that. But I'm comfy with it. My body is still young and sturdy and it helps me take care of my family, so for this, I am thankful.

Since Erik is away on detachment, I took birthday activities into my own hands a day early while Landon was at daycare and drove to Corpus to get my toesies done, my arm pits lasered (hooray for permanent hair removal!) and to eat at Long John Silvers (extra crispies, please!). I guess it sounds kind of lame on paper, but it was a wonderful leisurely outing to myself.

You know you want some.

For my actual birthday, my favorite little companion and I spent the day together, bopping around the house and doing some quick errands like usual. He was extra snuggly in the morning, gave wet slobbery kisses throughout the afternoon and didn't throw any of his food overboard in the evening - happy birthday to me! He did rip some curtain hardware out of the wall in an overzealous game of hide and seek, but we're moving soon anyways so hey, no biggie.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!!! Feeling the love! My gift back to you is an evening video of Landon, getting all his little steps out of his system before bedtime.

*Dear Teenage Self, if you think being a size 4 is hard, wait until you pop a button on your pants post partum as your tummy flub doesn't want to cooperate. Literally, you will POP a button off. It will go flying. It will make a "beeeeeew!" noise and skate across the floor. So just eat the damn third bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream while your metabolism is still at your service, Abs McGee. With love, your 30-something self.

Happy 31st to Erik!

The tall man of the house turned the good ol' age of 31 on Tuesday. He looks just like the day I met him, but with a tighter hairdo :o)

His birthday meal request was meatball subs and roasted potatoes. Ask and ye shall receive (on your birthday)!

Yummy yum yum!

Thumbs up from the birthday guy.

Thumbs down from the other guy.

Used a cupcakes-for-two recipe that turned out dericious; and it saved us from eating too many cupcakes! Yippee!

The dinner was a bit rushed as Erik had to run out the door to work on some more charts for another detachment; he left the following morning and baby boy and I will fend for ourselves for a while. The cupcakes-for-two-but-I'm-really-just-going-to-eat-both-myself recipe may be repeated a few times in the coming days. Plus I made a lot of meatballs so I'm already on my third meatball sandwich. Bottom-line: it's fat pants week.

South Padre Birthday Trip

Last week Erik suggested that we get out of town for the weekend to celebrate our upcoming birthdays...what a great idea! Given that it was only 2 hours away (i.e. Landon's limit in the car) and the fact there was a zoo and a beach, we headed down to South Padre Island. 

Much like the aquarium, Landon wasn't terribly impressed by the zoo experience except for some monkeys swinging from trees and some turtles scuffling around. There were tigers, bears, giraffes, rhinos, hippos... everything! But he stared the most at turtles. It was a wonderful small zoo (Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville) and I would recommend it to anyone else in the area.

The beach on day one didn't go so great when Landon encountered a small wave while sitting on the beach and he took a slight topple as a result. He sent his best scornful look towards the ocean ("You jerk!") and didn't want to unsnuggle from daddy's arms much after that. Thankfully he warmed up to the beach on day two when we brought his walker down for him to explore things on his own. And by explore things, I mean run after seagulls with reckless abandon.

Below are some of our photos from the trip. Enjoy!

It looks like he's smiling at us!

"Hey, wait a minute... this one is a decoy!"

Cute, but slightly "Heeeere's Johnny!"-esque.

Landon's most joyous moments of the weekend were spent opening and closing cabinet doors in the hotel. Seriously.

Dad and Landon take a break while at the sea turtle conservancy.

Landon being wistful.

Landon being wistful... again.

Landon being wistful... in mommy's arms.

Trying to catch seagulls.

"Hello, ocean. So we meet again. Jerk!"

"This sand part isn't so bad at all!"

"...Until it gets on your hands. What IS this stuff?"

Landon finds a shell; refuses to put it down for quite a while.

Rare shot of mommy. I exist :o)

11 Months

Once again we had some troubles capturing Landon for his monthly photo, but at least he's cute during the process. 

The ol' let-me-stretch-and-arch-my-back-and-see-where-I-end-up maneuver.

Giggle time with Daddy as he tries to corral me for a photo.

My official 11 month photo.

Current Likes
- Hiding behind curtains
- Pulling objects off of tables and then throwing them back up on the table
- Working on walking skills
- Favorite show: Jack's Big Music Show
- Favorite toy: Empty Cheez-It box

Current Dislikes
- When a door doesn't open like I want it to, I throw a mini tantrum and scream
- Sick of chicken pieces right now
- Wendel, that bully kid, at daycare

Leaf Initial Wreath

Thank you, again, Pinterest for inspiring me to do something crafty. This week I made a simple Fall monogram for our front door. This idea came from the Thrifty Abode blog. Sometimes you just need to see someone else do it first to remind yourself that yep, I can hot glue some leaves to a letter. I got this!

Thanks to the hubs building a sturdy "H" out of scrap pine in the garage.

I'm hanging it on our door despite the fact that it's been 95 degrees all week. It's Fall in my mind, gosh darnit!  Plus we are getting a cold front this week which will bring us down to 88... oooooh.

On The Bedside Table: The Swan Thieves and Dracula in Love

I wanted to start sharing some posts about good reads I tackle each month. Everyone has their own personal tastes in literature, so please take my reviews with a grain of salt. Hopefully it can give you some direction if you are looking to pick up a new book or two at the library. This past month I enjoyed reading the following...

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

This book follows the mystery of why a modern day artist has slashed a particular canvas at the National Gallery. The book is primarily told from the viewpoint of the psychiatrist treating the man... and he becomes intertwined in the mystery and the story while trying to assess his patient's obsession for a particular artist and painting.

I found myself getting immersed in this book while it jumped from the viewpoint of various characters in various eras. It was a historical novel, a mystery novel, a slightly suspenseful novel and yes - a love story - all in one. I think the author can be very wordy at times when setting the scenes (read: it's a big ass book) but it so clearly paints the characters in doing so, I can't fault her for it. This book was intriguing enough for me to skip back a few years and start reading The Historian, Kostova's original book that brought her to fame. I'm only partly into that one, but I can see it's going to be a very similar web of stories and I will be just as immersed!

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

Definitely a book for the female crowd and it's a quick easy read.  This is the story told originally by Bram Stoker but now written from the perspective of Mina (Murray) Harker. What if she didn't want Van Helsing and Arthur Holmwood and Quincy Morris to defend her? What were her thoughts of Jonathan Harker versus the Count? I thought it was an interesting romance story (or maybe a lust story...? I never got to the full impression of the characters being deeply in love) but it was a mindless, easy read.