This guy was hanging out next to our front doorknob last week:

I think it is a Texas Brown Tarantula, a.k.a. an Aphonopelma hentzi. Flynn was a bit freaked out by him. I thought he was pretty cool, but I have to admit, I have been checking before grabbing the doorknob haphazardly. Adam and I thought Harry would be a good name for it, but Flynn was all about Taranchy. Seeing as how he left that night and hasn’t come back though, I figure he’s not sticking around to take on a pet name, unlike Lizardy, who we were able to watch gradually triple in size.

Hard to imagine Flynn is that old and starting Kindergarten next year. In his usual creative style, Flynn chose his own theme this year for his birthday party, a Holiday Mix-Up Party. It is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, mixture of different holidays all put together into one extravaganza. There was a Thanksgiving style lunch (a lighter version) with sliced turkey & cheese, cranberry sauce, rolls and condiments for sandwich makings + sweet potato casserole + green bean casserole (Flynn’s favorite holiday meal items). The kids all wore either Halloween costumes or green for St. Patricks Day. Most wore costumes, and only a couple got pinched for wearing neither. We avoided the costume trauma for Flynn by getting an ornage Halloween shirt with graffitti style writing that said, “This is my costume.” For Flynn, this was about as far as costumes tend to go without a meltdown (yet, he was a-okay with asking his friends to wear one!). There was an Easter egg scavenger hunt, in which clues were hidden inside plastic Easter eggs. Each one had a picture of where you had to go next and they eventually lead to their goodie bags under a Christmas tree. It worked better in theory. A couple of kids were intent on having a regular ol’ egg hunt and found some of the eggs out of order. But they still had fun so no matter. The pinata was the easiest one I’ve done yet… Cinco de Mayo, a traditional Mexican star-shaped one in the colors of the Mexican flag. It was especially easy since that holiday is right before Flynn’s birthday. The cake was a Groundhog Day cake, at Flynn’s special request. I spent the week before the party scavenging all of Austin for a plastic groundhog, and amazingly enough finally found one a few days before. All my focus was on the critter though, and I managed to not check my stash of food coloring… I was SURE I had black! Lo and behold, an hour before the aprty as I was rushing to get the cake finished, there was no black to be found. So I used what I thought would be the next best thing for the shadow, blue. But of course it looked nothing like a shadow, and one kid asked, “Why is there a pond???” Oh well. It did taste good at least. Someday I will get the cake thing down and not leave it till the last minute. Though this party was so much easier to do than the Camel party last year. I was able to grab an assortment of holiday items on sale after the holiday had passed, and filled the front yard with an array of various decorations. We got several bundles of balloons in different holiday colors (red, white, & blue for the 4th; red & green for Xmas; pink with hearts for Valentine’s; etc.) and tied them on the treehouses along with mixed banners and streamers. I think overall it was a hit. Here are a few pics, the full set is here:

Back in April & May, Adam got a little closer to his dream of having a whole complex of treehouses in our backyard. We’d originally planned to expand the current one this summer, adding an upper level that would be enclosed with screen so you could sleep up there without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. I wanted to put in a beam between two other trees to hang swings from as a 1st step that we could someday add on to. So we went to the store to buy a big beam, and learned that the trees were too far apart to get a precut piece of lumber. We’d have to special order one, and that 1 beam alone would cost about $200. So, there in the store, we improvised a new plan, and basically bumped the treehouse for that set of trees up on the list (while simultaneously knocked down the screened in one for a later day). We decided to create a tower in the middle of the 2 trees that would lead to a bridge connecting two treehouse platforms. The swings would hang from the bottom of the bridge. There are 2 ladders that go up the inside of the tower, and a trapdoor that opens onto the bridge. One of the treehouses has a bucket on a pulley that has been a big hit. Here’re a few photos of the progression (the complete set is here):

Cleo loves her swing:

We actually have a few more plans for it… another platform that drops down from the triangular one with a slide and a ladder coming up between the tree truncks, which will allow another way to get up into the treehouse apart from the tower. The slide addition will get us a step closer to our goal of getting rid of the plastic play equipment too. Not sure when we’ll do that now as it pretty dang hot outside for construction jobs.

I am still catching up. Photos from Easter are up in the gallery, here. We hosted another brunch and egg hunt. Lots of fun!

Back in March we went on a road trip through new Mexico and into Colorado. My parents gave us some points to use at this time share deal they have been doing. With Cleo being so little, we wanted to go somewhere we could make a home base with plenty of kid stuff to do. So we decided to go to Durango for half the trip then up to Denver to visit our old friends the Schurters. We had not seen them for a couple of years and had never met their diaghter Eliza, nor had they met Cleo.

Our first stop was Carlsbad, where Flynn added another cave to his list and Cleo went underground for the first time:

Our nest stop was Santa Fe, where we stayed a very cool old Motel, the E| Rey |nn, and met up with 2 sets of friends.

Emily and her family:

And Brian and his family:

We made a stop at one of my favorite childhood road trip memories, Camel Rock, and by coincidence there were several camels traveling with us.

The Gh0st Ranch outside of Abiqu is a gorgeous area, and we definitely want to go back there and spend more time than just a drive through.

We rode the train in Durango that goes up into the mountain. It only goes 10 miles an hour, which was fine once we were in the mountains, but the 10-mile journey from the depot to the outskirts of town was maddening. Flynn enjoyed it though and slept the last hour, so all was well.

We went to the coolest restaurant in Durango, called P is f0r Peanut. It’s a kid’s cafe and everything is centered around little kids (people w/o kids would probably NOT be into this at all). The tables are all kid-proportionate, there are games, books, and toys everywhere, and the menu is kid-centered but all healthy and organic… lots of smoothies, and of course, nut-centric. All kinds of fancy peanut or nut butter sandwiches (fancy enough for grown-up taste buds), salads, and snacky items… like “ants on a log” that was celery stick with peanut butter and raisins. Flynn got the coolest item, edible playdough that came with cookie cutters, a rolling pin, and veggies and rice crakers to put the peanut butter on. I wish we had one of these in Austin.

We drove out to Mesa Verde and thoroughly enjoyed it as usual (as usual for Adam and I, it was Flynn’s first time there). Afterwards we made a big circle down to Four Corners then to Shiprock, which we realized too late wasn’t accessible except by a very far vantage point out the car window as you drive by. Oh well. Flynn was quite the adventurer that day.

After that we trekked up to Denver, the long way to avoid mountain passes, as there were some snow storms going on. We didn’t have as much time as we wished in Denver, and missed out old friends the Lindbergs due to conflicting travel plans. but we had a great time with Kyle & Jane & Eliza, and even got to hang out the the infamous and totally entertaining Dr. Breanna.

The complete set of photos is here.

My ex-boyfriend had a weird thing about the idea of Christmas in July, freaked him out. I can’t remember the whole story now, but it was something about seeing a Santa in the summer and it scared him as a little boy. Hmmm, whatever.

So now that it’s been 6 months, I finally posted pictures from Christmas. I am slowly trying to catch up (key word being slowly).

I won’t relive the whole thing, but if you want to look at the photos they in the gallery, over here.

Our Annual Sew-a-Charm-On-the-Stocking Tradition

Yeah, it’s been a while. What can I say? 2 kids + busy job + trying to maintain a life = not much time to keep this thing up-to-date. But I have not forgotten it.

Here’s a quick update in photos on Cleo’s growth. She’s now 8 1/2 months old, crawling, pulling up to standing and on the verge of cruising, 2 teeth with more on their way, and a real pleasure.

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

Well, the Thanksgiving itself was on schedule, but the follow-up is a bit late.

We had a great time this year. We went up to Denton and visited both friends and family. Cleo did great on her first ever road trip. She slept most of the way, and we stopped along the way both there and back to let her nurse while Flynn and Adam checked out a playground and a cute little small town square (Glen Rose, which has the prettiest Christmas tree on their square that I have seen yet). We stayed over at Julie’s to let Flynn and his cousins play:

Then we stopped by our old friends the Owens bunch, played some Wii, admired their new swanky house, and caught up:

On Thanksgiving day we were with the Storrie family at Stu & Cecile’s. Their house is always a fun one to visit; even though they live smack dab in the middle of the DFW-Denton sprawl it feels like you are out in the country, what with the old farmhouse, acreage, big trees that provide privacy, and miniature goats and donkey. With the weather being a perfect brisk Fall chill, the tastey food, the fire on the back patio, lots of family (including some favorite cousins we hadn’t seen in several years), and the great setting, I kept thinking it felt like we were in the Thanksgiving spread of Southern Living or something:

The next day we had a second Thanksgiving meal at the Millers, which was just as tastey and just as cozy. We also got to go out that night and see No C0untry for Old Men then met up with some new friends from Austin who were also in Denton for the holiday. It was the 3rd weekend in a row Adam and I got to go have a date, and now each of the grandparents has had a turn babysitting the 2 kiddos at once (we’ll see when that happens again!).

We ended the weekend visiting Scott & Noel, who have moved back to Texas, much to our happiness. Some of the old favorites came over to hang out as well. Flynn hadn’t seen Scott since he was a wee tyke, and had never met Noel, and he took to them pretty quickly:

(The complete set of photos are here.)

And now for the cheesey corn…

Having a baby is really good for putting things in perspective. Though you already know it, it really drives home that what really matters in life are the people that you share it with. We are very lucky to have a big family and lots of friends, both old and new, to keep us smiling and content. And as we get older, and have had our share of various types of relationships with people, we really recognize that those ties that are healthy are the ones we need to cling to. And by healthy I mean that people can come together, share a bit of themselves, take a bit from each other, maybe have a few disagreements or quarrels along the way, but brush those aside as little bumps that are just part of the package. Anytime you have to deal with someone who lives outside your own skin, there is room for misunderstandings or offenses, some little and some not so little, but you laugh about them, you work through them, and you forgive them… that is the measure of a good relationship. Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes it is hard, but you do those things because they are what allow your relationships to grow deeper and stronger, making for more years of laughter, fun, and mutual support. When you have those kinds of ties in your life, all the other stuff can just wash over you more easily. And, like I mentioned, we are very lucky to have so many of these kinds of bonds. So we are thankful for you, and for those special people in our lives not reading this as well. Thanks, and happy holidays!

Cleo hit the 2-month mark over the weekend and had her doctor’s appointment this morning. She is 22 1/4 inches, which is the same gain that Flynn had at that age, and is 50%. She weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces, which is 75%, and her head was 38.8 cm, which is 50%. So she’s a’ growin! She had 4 shots plus 1 oral vaccine this morning and was not happy about it. Actually she was already unhappy after being woken up from a nap, but the shots put her over the edge.

Despite her ability to get herself into a right tizzy, she is super sweet, as is evident in these adorable smiles:

Yes, that’s right, smiles! They’ve been showing up here and there for a little while, but all of a sudden she is full of them. She is also full of little chuckles and of course the ever so sweet cooing. She is quite the little talker, and Flynn has a new game of following her coos with “Mom, Cleo said ‘Ooooohhhhh.” He likes to mimic her and report on what she is saying in case we missed it. He has really taken to her lately.

We are all having a fun time, and while Adam is getting excited about having some time off in a couple of weeks, I am getting sad that my leave and my full days with Cleo are ending in 2 weeks. I know in the big picture it’s what I want to do, but man, it came up so fast! Too fast. I am already missing her thinking about it.

We’ve been very active lately. Much running around around socializing, but I’m not going to have the chance to post about it before the holidays. So I will have quite the backlog afterwards.

I did want to share this though:

A couple of days ago Flynn was showing us some drawings he did, and Adam said, “What can you tell me about this picture?”

Flynn’s  response: “This is a three-headed man with a really, REALLY, REALLY, big penis.”