Texas Size Hull: April 2010

While April has come and gone, we are continuing to move at a frantic pace. This blog post is just snapshots or videos that I've taken through out the month, either special events or just the picture of the day (potd). These are all the posts I would have put up for April had I been able to squeeze in the time!

Greg and I took an overnight trip to Flagstaff, AZ. Just the two of us. For the first time since Nathan was born. Do you sense the weight in my words? It was HUGE. Gamma E (Elaine) stayed the night at our house and took care of Nathan, so we could take a break from parenting and just be a couple. It was such a relaxing 24 hours, especially knowing that Nathan was in loving hands and the best care at home.

Some pictures...breakfast and a latte from Einstein Bagels. Very nice start to the day!

We meandered the mall. I took this picture outside, which is funny to me because I totally cut Greg's head off.

I took this one after lunch, definitely a better picture of Greg...but me, well not so much. What is that expression about?

Greg took this one, obviously. He was able to get 'Brandy's' in the background. Featured on the Food Network, this little hole in the wall was AHHH-MAZING!

We had lunch AND breakfast there. It was that good. After you eat there, you just want to go back again and again. This was my breakfast, California Eggs Benedict. It was pretty delicious.

This was Greg's breakfast, a Swedish oatmeal pancake with homemade apple sauce. The picture does not do it justice because this thing was absolutely incredible. I've never tasted anything like it. As much as I love Eggs Benedict, I'm ordering this next time.

This is me - completely, totally, utterly happy. I have my husband. I have breakfast. And I have a Latte - a GOOD latte. So happy.

On Easter Greg, played the keyboard at church instead of drums or bass, it was a first for him so I had to make a brief video. Not the best quality and I had to cut it short when some folks walked in front of me.

Moving on to a random POTD. ~~Occassionally~~ Very often, Greg falls asleep in his recliner. On this day, he was wearing earphones plugged into the t.v. because I was working and needed the quiet. It just cracks me up that he could fall asleep with the t.v. blaring in his ears like that!

Another random POTD. The American Express corporate card from Oracle has a direct feed to Oracle's expense reporting system. The day this picture was taken, Greg said "This card is saving us money!!"- because I don't have to keep up with receipts or misreport my work related expenses and that makes him very happy.

Sunday mornings equal 4 newspapers which means 4 sets of coupons. It takes about 2 hours to clip and organize 4 sets of coupons, my goal is to have it done by Wed when the new grocery ads are circulated.

Kelsey's wedding shower. A few years ago, I received a family heirloom from Elaine, a cute little apron that she made in high school. It was a very special and meaningful gift. Passing this down to Kelsey, who has followed in her mother's footsteps and loves to cook, was just the right thing to do. It meant the world to me to receive it, but it meant even more to me to give it back to the family.

This was just a random weekday morning, somewhere between 4:30am-6:00am. Since Nathan started sleeping in a big bed, he wakes up unreasonably early. So I fixed up the loft with a little t.v. and taught him how to turn it on to buy me more sleeping time. Call me a bad mom but waking up as early as 4:30 - for no good reason - is just wrong.

While my gift at Kelsey's shower was a huge hit, all things being equal, I created the worst looking cake for Andrew's birthday. I could not get the icing or tips to work together, then Nathan wanted to help with the sprinkles and it just ended up looking like an awful mess. Greg suggested I just put 'HBD' on the cake and call it a day. So I did.

What really cracks me up about these pictures is my friend Randi is laughing so hard at my cake, that she has to shield her eyes from looking at it - that's how ATROCIOUS it was.

Another early morning....

We had time to spare on this early morning, so I took a walk around the block while Nathan rode his bike, pedaling by himself for the first time.

The March of Dimes/March for Babies, 3 mile walk in downtown Phoenix.

I walked with Lynn's team, Phoenix Prenatal Associates but opted out on the matching t-shirt, no smalls.

Similar to the Susan G. Komen walk, there were T-shirts, posters, images remembering babies who did not survive their prematurity. A jarring reminder to never take for granted the blessed gift of good health.

Equally inspiring as SGK, were posters and images of children who were living healthy lives. This family named their premature 1 lb 15 oz baby, Chance. The poster shows Chance at different stages and ages of life.