Dr. Seuss Photoshoot

Milli Turns 1

27 Oct 16

Today was a busy day.  George wanted to be the first to wish Milli a happy birthday, but I beat him to it during one of her nightly feedings, and Bà sent her a text before we woke up.

Dressed in his dragon costume, Drakeson went to school in the morning while we started setting up the house for Milli's pumpkin birthday party.  We went to the Dougherty Arts Center for Drakeson's monthly open house, which featured a stegosaurus song and costume parade, swung by the airport to pick up a Dodge minivan, and came home to our party.  My friends Vivi, Emily, Jen, and Stephanie brought their babies Zachy, Frankie, Eva Marie, Eli, and Luna to celebrate with us and decorate pumpkins.  We had chocolate chip pumpkin bread, maple pumpkin seed milk, cutielanterns, pumpkin shaped carrot slices, pumpkin blue corn chips, and spinach artichoke dip.  George packed the van up during the party, and we hopped in to pick up Ông and Bà immediately afterwards.  From the airport, we drove straight to Sealy, took a night tractor ride, and enjoyed a simple dinner of brie and honey toast, persimmons, and coffee.  It's been a whirlwind, and my little pumpkin is one.  Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

Invitation

Luna, Milli, & Eva Marie

Cutielanterns

 Birthday Pumpkin

28 Oct 16

Drakeson was so excited to be at Sealy that he woke everyone up.  Uncle Zac met us early in the morning at the house, and we all had pesto crab melts with coffee before heading out to the big birthday celebration for Milli and Dad at the Blessington Farms Pumpkin Patch.  The Farms exceeded everyone's expectations; not only was it huge, but there were also so many things to do and explore.  My favorites were the large jumping platform, the giant slides, the tire mounds, and the hay palace, but we also loved visiting the animals and trying out the rope maze, the trolley swing, the barrel ride, the hay ride, the pedal cars, and of course, the pumpkin patch.  Linda met us halfway through the afternoon, and she brought several presents for the baby.  We drove back to Sealy in time to enjoy a tractor ride and prepare a perfect feast of ribs, kässpätzle, french beans, and apple cobbler with cougar gold cheese.  Once the sun set, we took a night ride out to the edge of the property and chatted under the stars until a train came roaring by.  It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful day.

Four Wheeler

 Pumpkin Cart

Unkie Zac

Failure

Slide

Flying

Trolley Swing

Pedal Pusher

Bird

 Bà, Milli, & Mimi

Dor-Dor

29 Oct 16

We spent the morning packing up and riding around the property, and then sat in the car for most of the rest of Dad's birthday.  From Sealy, we went to Katy for Aiden and Andrew's birthday party at Altitude Trampoline Park.  On the way back to Austin, we stopped at Buc-ee's for some treats, and then headed to straight to Eli's first birthday party.  It was a fun and busy day, but we were happy to arrive back home to Castle Grayskull in the evening.  George made pigs in a blanket, and with the leftovers from Sealy, we had another feast.  The six of us piled into bed to snuggle and watch the first half of "Nightmare Before Christmas."

But it's not Mama

Not Really Fishin'

Jen & Prince Eli

Eli & Milli

Eli's Pumpkin Patch

30 Oct 16

It was our last day with Bà and Ông for this trip, and it was a fairly restful one.  We went to my church job in the morning, had a wonderful brunch of honey pecan baked brie, and let the grandparents read to Drakeson all afternoon.  After it was clear that neither of the kids were considering a nap, we took them on a swim and came home for a dinner of shrimp and pesto pasta with mango sparkling wine.  Ông watched Drakeson ride his bike until sundown, and then it was time to snuggle back into bed to finish "Nightmare" with a double batch of spooky popcorn.  Until next time.

Bonding

Bow Tie

 Family Tower

Drakeson & Milli, 12 Months Old

Drakeson

Milli

Drakeson

 Milli

October Yard

I've never been interested in yard work.  This is partly because maintaining a green lawn in Austin is not the most resourceful way to use water, and partly because I have a hard enough time keeping the inside of the house clean as it is.  Every September, nevertheless, we clean up the yard for our annual October pumpkin patch.  This year I think we did an especially nice job of it, so I took some pictures.  As my father's mother says, "If you don't write it down, it never happened."  Now it's more like, "If you don't blog about it, you have nothing to show your friends who don't care anyway."

After removing a dozen bags of old mulch, weeds, and trimmings, we spread out ten bags of fresh mulch and planted lavender, a second rosemary bush, and a brand new herb garden.  We also have 10 new jackolantern sculptures and a 6-panel pumpkin fence to add to our trusty rusty Jack Scarecrow and porch lantern.  Happy October!

 Italian Oregano, Garden Sage, Onion Chive, Spearmint, Garden Thyme

 Scarecrow Jack & Preppy Vader

Pumpkin Patch

 Original Rosemary Bush on the Left, Little Lavender on the Right

Herb Garden

Pumpkin Fence

Little Ones & Little Rosemary

Dougherty Arts Center

It's Drakeson's first day of school again, and I thought I'd publish a snapshot about what he's like for the future reminiscing Mommy I may or may not become.  He's attending the Explore Arts program again at the Dougherty Arts Center for two days a week, three hours a day.  Like last year, his favorite class is visual arts.

Drakeson is obsessed with Darth Vader, which he pronounces, "Darf Laydrr."
He's never seen the Star Wars movies, but he reads his Star Wars Little Golden Book every day.
He has Darth Vader jackets in sizes 4, 5, and 7; he's currently between sizes 4 and 5.
If he hears the Imperial March, he drops whatever he's doing, puts on a solemn face, and marches.
He rides a pedal bike without any help or training wheels.
He can swim 25 yards freestyle or backstroke.
He loves swimming underwater, and can get diving rings up to 8 feet deep.
He has swim lessons every week at Nitro with Coach Jenn.
He'll start his second session of Soccer Shots with Coach Lainie on Monday.
He can do 200-piece puzzles by himself.
Although he can recognize letters and copies them, he can't really sing the ABCs.
He builds Mega Bloks towers with me, and gets very protective of them.
He likes losing at "Go Fish" because he always wants to "go fish."
He cannot finish eating anything without being fed.
His favorite foods are still sushi and ice cream, and his favorite color is still purple.
His favorite drink is kefir mixed with milk.
His favorite person and biggest fan is Milli.
He has a "bootie dance."
He still takes a long nap every afternoon, and confuses night time with nap time.
He has slept at night without me twice: once with Ông, and once with Aunt Diane.
He has learned that saying "I love you so" will get him out of anything, and I'm okay with that.
Orange Mouse is still alive and kicking.
And hand dryers are still terrifying.

 First Day of School!

 Little Run

Austin Boy

All Ready