My Weekend...Project!

WHAT A WEEKEND, WHAT A WEEKEND!

But this weekend was a WHAT A WEEKEND on an entirely different level...

Remember that super great deal of a China Cabinet I snagged off of Craigslist for my birthday?! Well... this weekend was time to paint that MONSTER of a piece! I don't know if I am stupid or naive to think that it wouldn't be too hard or take THAT long, but the more I think about it the happier I am that I WAS completely stupid and/or naive to the fact that it was, in reality VERY hard and it did take a SUPER long time, or else I would have NEVER done it! :)

And now that I have done it, I can honestly say I'm glad... and I'm proud... and I'm sore!! So sore... actually! Saturday night required a nice cocktail of Advil, tequila and Mentholatum just so I could get comfortable enough to sleep, BUT almost overnight my hand grew "official painter muscles" and I was ready to hit it again on Sunday!

Here's how the weekend went down...

Saturday started like this... on the driveway in the nice, cool breeze...

After some sanding, cleaning, hardware removal I started to paint...I used a paint that is primer and paint in ONE... SO GLAD!! I can't imainge how long it would have taken me otherwise! Worth the money!!

Notice the sun had TOTALLY encroached on my work space by the end of my first coat...It was HOT!


After the first coat was done, I HAD to move it inside and spent the remainder and Saturday and Sunday in the garage, with my trusty fan, Pandora on my iPhone and a HUGE cup of water by my side at ALL times!

Saturday I spent 8 hours painting... and Sunday I spent 7 hours! That's 15 HOURS!! And to think that I thought I would get it done in just TWO nap times... HA. HA. HA. I told you I was stupid and/or naive!!

Then last night in the wee hours of the night... or 8pm... Justin and I finally put the doors and drawers on and in and it was DONE! Victory!!

Here is a shot from Sunday... seeing the light at the end of the tunnel... barely... but still seeing it!



After the top coat dried we brought it in to give it a look...

And here is the finished product... complete with working LIGHT! :)

It was a BEAST of a project, but I am really happy with my result. Not bad for $250. $150 for the furniture and $100 worth of paint and supplies... can't beat that!! :)

Now I'm painting my kitchen table and chairs to match... so far I'm only partially done with one chair... it's going to be a week-long project for sure! It was SO great this weekend to take advantage of Justin and work ALL day, both days on the furniture! He was MOM-on-call this weekend and did a great job... I DO think he was VERY ready to get back to work today though... that Mom business is tough!! :) Thanks Justin for all of your help!! You are one good MOM and DAD! :)

This week we are gearing up for Caden's surgery (tubes in his ears) on Friday! BUT first Caden turns 20 months!! More to come on that soon...

TWO NEW POSTS

Catchin' up on my blogs... ENJOY!


FRIDAY THEME DAYS: Color Day


It's My Birthday...TODAY!

It's My Birthday...TODAY!!

August 23, 2010...the day I turned 28!! Can that be right?! TWENTY-EIGHT! Wow... that's serious! If you had asked me at 18 where I'd be in ten years I would never have said, married with a kid! However, if you had asked me at 23 where I'd be in five years I would have definitely said MARRIED (would hope so, right?!) and one kiddo and probably another one on the way. Well, as far as I know there isn't another one on the way... BUT all that to say that 28 sure sounds pretty grown-up... especially once you throw in that kid stuff!



And really, as long as we're talkin' about getting older or more seasoned as some like to say, a number doesn't really do much more than make it official... there are LOTS of clues along the journey that give getting older away!



I could make a LONG list... but I'll spare you... oh you don't want to be spared?! No, really, I shouldn't... BUT if you insist... just a few... okay?



My list...



You know you're getting older when...

• Two boxes of Fiesta Ware on your doorstep send you into fits of laughter and shouts of joy.


• You spend DAYS perusing Craigslist ads waiting for the perfect China Cabinet to POP up.


• You would rather cook your own birthday meal than go out to eat. At least then you'll know it will be good! :)


• You prefer maternity undies to your regular ones most days of the year!


• You think about getting pregnant simply because you have more cute maternity clothes than you do regular ones.


• Better yet, you go ahead and wear your cute maternity clothes... and take on the motto "just belt it!"

Ah, yes... these are the signs of getting older my friends...the times... they are a changin'! :)



As most birthdays tend to go... I've been celebrating mine for a while now! Staring with two HUGE yet delightful boxes of my new Fiesta Ware that were delivered mid-week, last week... All put up!!



I'm VERY excited about my color selections, even though I've pretty much decided I'm going to collect it all... I'm gonna be one of those crazy "day-after-Thanksgiving Fiesta Ware bargaineers"... okay so maybe I won't go that far, but I'm excited to have something to "collect."



Since I'm a collector now it is a REALLY good thing that I just so happened to find the MOST beautifully-boned china cabinet on Craigslist last week. We picked it up Saturday and now we're in the process of choosing the perfect shade of not-ultra-white white and then this weekend the real fun begins! I can't wait to show you the finished product!! AND I can't wait even more to display my new dishes inside!! :) Yay!!



This also means that I get to FINALLY unpack my nice China from the boxes it came in 6 years ago when we got married! Which opens up some serious storage room for more of Chadorade's junk (I mean keepsakes!).



The birthday fun continued on Friday night when Justin and I had an in-home date night. We do this A LOT but it never seems to get old and is the perfect end to a hectic week at work for Justin. I made a pitcher of yummy margs and some homemade chicken enchiladas and we curled up on the couch with a redbox... Valentine's Day... it was good... Justin fell asleep, but I blame this more on the tequilla in the margs than on the movie! :)



On Saturday we had FAMILY day and did all sorts of fun errands... picked-up china cabinet, went to Starbuck's, Home Depot, the AT&T store to cash-in my phone upgrade to an iPhone (YAY!), and lunch.



Later that night we met KK, Albi, Aunt Ermie and Uncle Sprady for dinner at one of my FAVORITE restaurants... Siena! It was SUPER yummy and we all had a great time! Caden did REALLY well, especially considering it was a 2.5 hour dinner! :) That is certainly not to say that we didn't have to go outside and burn off some energy a few times! :) I am so glad he was there to celebrate with me on my bday!! He's my buddy!



My family has NEVER been one to take pictures... we're horrible at it actually! We forget or get lazy and don't do it, but we did manage to snap a few before we all headed our separate directions... Caden and Justin were already loaded in the car so I just got a picture of the original three... me and my rents! :) After all, my birthday is just as much a celebration of them as it is me!! They are the reason I made it my 28 years thus far!! :)



Thanks for dinner Mom and Dad!! And thanks to Josh and Em for driving up too! I appreciate it so much!

Sunday the fun kept coming... birthday fun! Sunday evening for dinner we went and dined at another one of my favorite establishments... TACO BUENO! You either love it or you hate it and I LOVE it. I've been eating Taco Bueno since I was Caden's age and I have so many wonderful memories of eating at Taco Bueno every Sunday after church with my grandparents... it's just one of those feel good places that never disappoints! SO I got my Taco Bueno fix and then we headed out to he ballpark to watch the Express play!! :) They were playing the Rangers AAA team so of course Justin was loving that! :)

I LOVE going to baseball games! It is super hard for me to watch them on TV unless it's in the 9th inning and its nearing the end of the season, BUT going to a game is a whole different story... I LOVE it! And CADEN did too! We took him last year, but he was WAY young and not able to really enjoy the FUN, so this year was a totally different experience!

I had the MOST fun watching him get so excited about the game! He and his Daddy have been watching a lot of baseball lately with the Rangers doing so well, so he was very aware of what was going on and knew it was a BIG deal to be at a game! :)

He clapped ANY time anyone else did... no matter who did what!

We even got some spontaneous throw your hands in the air action... SO funny!

More claps...

After a while in our seats we moved to a REALLY empty section in the shade so that Caden could run around and have fun... he was GREAT until the mascots from all of the sponsors started heading out the door near our section... OH.MY.GOODNESS.GRAVY. Caden is TERRIFIED of them... all of them! Chick fil a Cow, HEB Buddy, Chuy's Red Fish, Spike the Express' Mascot... it was hilarious... to us! Every one else in our section was looking at us like we were the worst parents in the world laughing SO hard as Caden shakes (SHAKES) and wimpers at the sight of our energetically stuffed friends... oh my goodness, if I had only had my video camera! SO I'm pretty sure that Disney World is going to be a NO GO for a few years. We've gotta get over our fear first! I've never understood the whole "I'm afraid of clowns" thing... it just didn't make sense to me, but after watching Caden, I get it... I think he'll be afraid of clowns too and obviously mascots... :)

After all of that FUN...

We headed to the berm... it was finally in the shade so Caden could run around and play and we wouldn't sweat to death watching him! :) He had a blast! He ran UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN so many times his legs finally gave out on him. He face planted twice in a row and so we decided that it was time to pack it up... the poor kid was WORN.OUT.

UH-OH... more mascots... the birds that run around the field for the Pluckers Chicken Race (like the dot race) were taking the field... see the look of fear in his eye! At least they were FAR enough way that the shaking was not needed! :) Poor little guy!! How do they learn to be afraid of such things?!! So strange!

Phew... that brings us to today... my REAL birthday!

This morning Caden and I went on a run together (I didn't want to wake up early today) and then we did some shopping with a few birthday gift cards and cash. I picked up a yummy salad from Pei Wei and Caden got Burger King and we had a nice little lunch date at home! Tonight, I'm making one of my favorite meals Sweet-n-Sour Chicken and Justin may or may not be bringing home some yummy cupcakes from our favorite bakery in G-town! Sounds like a GREAT day to me!

Regardless of all of the fun, gifts, food and massive amounts of celebrating I always feel like the luckiest girl in the world... truly! Thank you (friends, bloggies, family) for all you do to make me feel especially lucky (blesses, loved, etc.)! I love y'all!!

Happy August 23rd!!

(Happy Birthday, Steph!! From one August 23rd'er to another!! I love you!!)

FRIDAY THEME DAYS: Color Day

I finally managed to get another theme day together. Last week was the first week in MONTHS that we were not traveling or curled up on the couch being sickies so I had some time to scheme up a little learning fun for Chadorade (like Gatorade...it's my latest nickname... it's a sickness, it really is! Poor child!).



So, last Friday was COLOR DAY in the Cox house. I had a lot of fun preparing for this one. I will say that Color Day was not nearly as successful as Animal Day, but I knew this might be the case...colors are tough stuff! A few of the activities I planned were a COMPLETE bust, but at least they introduced him to the concept of colors and I can continue to use them as he gets older and more able to grasp this idea! :) I'm no teacher... so I'm doing the best I can! :)



I had been "talking up" color day ALL week to Caden! Caden, do you know what Friday is???!! COLOR DAY!!! And of course because I was excited, he was excited... :) So Friday morning when I went and got him out of his crib we had our offcial "start of Color Day celebration" with a few jumps up and down and a high-five or two!



First thing we did was make some GREEN EGGS and Ham. We didn't actually eat green ham or ham at all for that matter. Since we didn't have green ham we decided to have green milk with our eggs! :) Don't those look yummy??!! I had my Lysol ready to go for any egg spillage! :)



While Caden dined on some YUMMY and SUPER HARD green eggs we read GREEN EGGS and Ham, of course!

He was REALLY excited to eat those eggs!! I think he likes green eggs better than regular eggs!

YUMM-O!

Then we did some more practice with GREEN and read More Mr. and Mrs. Green and looked at our GREEN color sheet!

We didn't have too much time to spend on GREEN because RED was waiting... we had an outdoor activity that we HAD to get in before the 120 degrees set in! :)

Caden and I went on a RED stop sign hunt in our RED wagon! I made Caden a make-shift stop sign so that he would know what to be on the lookout for...

He was PUMPED up about this and I am patting myself on the back because COLOR DAY is off to such a fantastic start... (don't hold your breath is what I really should have been saying though!)

STOP!

Look what we found... a RED stop sign!

And another RED stop sign...

And ANOTHER RED stop sign...

And then we found the park... so we stopped and played! The weather was uncharacteristically cool that morning so I couldn't resist! :)

After our RED stop sign hunt and our trip to the park we sat down and TRIED to play our first "color game" with our color sheets. It was a flash card game I came up with. He was supposed to place whatever color flashcard on the color sheet it matched...

But it turned into 52-card pick-up instead... hahaha... he was SO not interested in sitting down and playing a game... I should have known better! BUT I thought I'd try... in time, in time!

So we were RAPIDLY speeding through my list of activities so we moved onto finger painting... which sounds like it would be SO FUN, BUT not so for a kid who puts EVERYTHING in his mouth!! As it turns out PAINT doesn't taste so good... at least not to Caden. So then the icky paint became toxic all the way around and he wanted nothing to do with it. After a bit of convincing I got him to take interest in painting for .2 seconds using a paint brush! :)

OH NO! It's on my finger... I usually just lick things off my fingers but this stuff tastes like GARBAGE... HELP! Oh dear!

So he's no Picasso... :)

Next Color Day activity was all about BLUE! We got dressed in our BLUE swim trunks, our BLUE rash guard and our BLUE shoes to go to the BLUE pool, with our BLUE bucket and our BLUE floaties and splash in the BLUE water!

Mission Blue was a SUCCESS!! DUH!

Then it was time for our RED lunch! YUMM-O!

Before nap time we read several new books we checked out at the library to help us with our Color Day. We read Black Dog, Red House and Brown Bunny.

While Caden was napping I set up another Color Day activity that included FOOD... so I KNEW it would be a HUGE success!! Right??!! WRONG!! We got through a few flash cards before he got impatient with the "one-at-a-time" thing and just started grabbing handfuls from whatever glass he could reach and putting them all in one cup... SO I decided what the heck... let's just eat M&Ms and read what God has to say about colors... and how He used them to create the most beautiful promise... a rainbow! :)

AND that was Color Day... we won some, and we lost some, but such is life with a 19 month old, huh?! Regardless, we still had a fun day learning about COLORS!!!

Hopefully, more theme days to come soon...

He's Traded Me In...

Earlier this week I had an appointment with an allergist... first appointment and first time to see him. I will spare you the pictures of what the allergy tests did to me... in short I'm pretty much allergic to anything GREEN... which is fantastic, isn't it?! :) But I've got a new med and so far so good... I'll keep y'all posted!

Anyway, enough of me... so when I was at the allergist, my sweet friend Gina watched Caden. Caden was SUPER excited, of course because Ava was going to be there... duh, it's her house and Ava has a KITCHEN! OH boy! He is one kid who loves to be in the kitchen... funny, isn't it? Of course how Caden plays in the kitchen and how Ava plays in the kitchen are probably TWO different things... Caden is more IRON CHEF... throwing, banging, etc. But nonetheless the kitchen is one of his favorite new places to play...

It is certainly no secret that Caden has a crush on Miss Ava... no doubt about it he is foolish over her. He is ALWAYS trying to hug her and when he is lucky enough to catch her he is one happy man. Gina sent me these sweet pictures of the two little buddies playing on Monday and I just had to share...

This is actually from the nursery on Sunday... Gina thought their bags looked so cute next to each other (we got the idea about the back pack from them) so she took a snapshot of it! So cute!! A lady bag and dude bag!

The next two are of Caden ATTACKING Ava with some serious affection. She's expecting a little brother in January so there is definitely going to be more of this where she is concerned. Caden is a good trial for her! :)

SO HAPPY he caught her!! Cheesey Mc Cheeserson! :)

Thanks Gina for watching my lil man! He loves you and Ava so very much, but just so we're clear I'm not LETTING him trade me in ANYTIME soon... like at least for 35 more years! :)

Love y'all!!

Dude Date!

Caden's dad here...yes, shocking I know. This is my first blog since November 2008 when I first blogged about my travels to Seattle and running the San Antonio half-marathon. Based on the blog below, I felt it necessary for me to report the events of the day around the Cox house.

So this weekend has been circled on the calendar for a few weeks now...not because there was some big event or vacation for us to attend, but for the fact that we had NOTHING to do or NOWHERE to be. Since the past 6 weeks have been non-stop excitement for us, we were all very anxious to have a Cox family weekend around the Rock.

Earlier this week, I realized that Caden and I hadn't had any dude time in a while, so I told Katie that Saturday would be "Dude Day" and she could go do whatever she wanted....didn't matter what she did, she just couldn't be with us dudes! Poor Katie...she was so sad, her boys gave her the boot and told her to go away...it was out of love, of course. Once she figured out what she wanted to do, she was also very excited for the weekend.

Katie decided to go to the 10:30 showing of Eat, Pray, Love in Georgetown. Now, in normal towns, you would think a theatre at 10:30 in the morning would be a ghost-town. Well, that was certainly not the case for Katie....oh no, not in Georgetown. For those that don't know, G-town is home to waaayyyy too many grey-hairs. G-town is the #1 retirement spot in the US and you can't go anywhere without running into someone over the age of 65. The grey-hairs are all over the place! So at 10:30 on Saturday morning in the G-town theatre, it was almost a full-house! They can't resist going to the early movie so they can get the early bird rate...also so that they don't interrupt their afternoon nap time.

Okay....enough about Katie and her solo movie date where she was the only one who was born on this side of 1950....on to the good stuff...dude day!

First stop....gas station and dude car wash. Mommy's car hadn't had a bath in a couple of weeks so the Chade and I decided to top Tilly off with some gasoline and a good 'ol fashioned rinse. Caden loves the car wash at Exxon next to Teravista...it's one of the long ones with the colorful foam and you get to stay in the car. He always watches out the window and points.

Here we are entering the wash...


Here's the Chade pointing at the big brush as it goes down the side of Tilly.



Next stop...Red Box. As Katie has mentioned before...we love Red Box. It's always a great go-to for a date night once the Chade is in bed and a glass of wine in hand. This week's flick....When In Rome...nothing like a good rom-com to watch with the wifey!

Next stop...Quenan's jewelry store on the square in G-town. My watch battery died a few weeks ago and it was time to be replaced.

Up next....daddy's office. I had a little work that I was not able to get done last night due to a server re-boot. We were there about 45 minutes. The first 30 were great...very productive and Chade entertained himself with random things in my office. The last 15...well that's another story. I'm kind of concerned with the quality of work that was done in that last stretch due to Caden being sooo ready to go. Oh well, if I missed something....I'll blame it on Caden...Jimmy can't get mad at him, right?!

Chade wanted to review some of my budgets to make sure I wasn't missing anything....

Now to the most important stop of the day....lunch! On the menu...dude nuggets and dude fries and Chick-fil-a! Caden loves dude nuggets and dude fries....and the best part....the ketchup to dip them in!

Notice the Rangers jersey the Chade is sportin'...one of the guys behind the counter asked if I saw the game last night and we talked about how AWESOME they are playing right now! If you haven't been watching...it's never too late....they are playing great baseball and Josh Hamilton is the best player in the league right now.

Okay, I'm off my Rangers soap-box...on with the rest of dude day.

After lunch...onto the ultimate dude store...Academy! We were in search of a new Cowboys jersey for the upcoming season! Can I get a whoo whoo for football season being just a few short weeks away?! Whoo whoo!! Last year, Chade wore his Romo onesie every Sunday and brought great luck to the 'Boys. Although they didn't make it to the Super Bowl last year....it was great to see them take the step of winning a playoff game. This year looks even more promising....with the exciting possibility of playing a "home game" for the Super Bowl at Jerry World. We had no luck finding the Chade a jersey for the year....but we'll find one soon elsewhere.

Last stop....Starbucks! Caden had been such a good boy and great helper today...I wanted to get him a treat to end our dude date! The Chade loves coffee in the morning, so I figured it was time to introduce him to dad's favorite frappuccino...java chip! And to no surprise....the Chade loved it! We downed us a tall frap before heading back to the house!

Oh yeah....can't forget about the chocolate chunk cookie we had as well....

So there you have it....our dude date was over! What a blast we had this morning....without mommy. I do have to say....when we walked out the door, Katie was still in the kitchen and Caden cried when he realized he was leaving her. BUT, he immediately stopped once the car was moving and I turned on his tunes.

Now I must get the chicken on the grill....open the wine....eat family dinner...and then movie date night on the couch with the wifey!!

Great day in the Rock with the Cox boy's! Hope everyone had a great Saturday!

I'd Marry Them If I Could...

Yes, that's right... you two fine pieces of cleaning specimen, I'd marry you BOTH if I could. Perhaps I should move to Utah and join a polygamist group so that I can. It might be worth it! If I could take Caden of course... and Justin too. Yes, I do believe I'd marry you... BOTH!

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop how I love thee so! You first delighted me with your magic eraser splendor in college when I was forced to clean a year's worth of grime off of every surface in my apartment each May. You were daring and dashing, no job or stain or scuff was EVER too much for you. I carried you on into my marriage. I've used you countless times, until you wither so delicately in my hands. Recently, I've used you throughout my house to de-kid and de-dog our tile floors and you have proven once again to be faithful to the dirt and grime but not quite so to my aching back and ailing knees... oh how I longed for you in mop form! To stand and scrub the floors with your power... twas the dream!!

And you, you sweet, bald man...the King of Clean, you did it! You fulfilled all of my hopes and dreams last week when walking down the cleaning isle at HEB I saw you... it was love at first sight (again!). I held you in my arms, hugged you and placed you gently atop my basket, yearning for the moment when I would dip you in water, squeeze you tenderly and dance you gracefully across my floors!! What joy, what bliss!!

And you... you big group of hard workin', scrubbin' bubbles! Y'all are just too much! Had I known of your tenacity I would have excepted a date with you MUCH sooner. But alas, my fair friends and fellow mommies were holding out their one true love in hopes of keeping you all to themselves, but after one look at your bright green can and the determination in your sweet but sincere scrubbin' bubble face I knew I had to take the chance! For love...

And as luck would have it I. am. in. LOVE. with. you, my scrubbin' bubbles... all of you! You do all the work so I don't have to... it is true, it really is. You are bubbles of your word and you do such a fine job! I am so thankful for your robust passion for the clean, spic and span. You had me at first scrub!

Shiny and new, everything looks so beautiful. From the kitchen sink to my toothbrush holder... you have surpassed greatness! If I did have one thing to offer in way of constructive criticism (you forget that I am a woman) I would dare say that your smell has room for improvement. Of course, when I think it through I realize that it's hard to smell like anything but burnt rubber when you are working your little scrubbers to the nubs! Forget I said anything at all dear bubbles, your disdainful smell can never change the way I feel about the overall satisfaction and pleasure you give me when all of your work is said and done.

OH Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Mop and Dearest Scrubbin' Bubbles, THANK YOU for your dutiful service to me this week. I pray that you may bless the homes of those who read this blog and that they too, will feel the overwhelming compulsion to write their own love letters to you, for you both are worthy of praise!

All my love,
A sincerely happy housewife

Last Summer Vaca: The Frio

LONG POST AGAIN! VIDEO CLIP AT THE BOTTOM... Don't Miss 'Em!

And PLEASE disregard the HORRIBLE spacing issues... not sure what's going on!

My goodness! I cannot believe that it is August 11th! Happy Birthday Meli P!!

At the beginning of the summer it seemed as though it would take an eternity for our August vacation to get here, BUT alas, it came, it triumphed, it ended! :(

Last Thursday we headed a bit south and a lot West to the Frio River. KK and Albi put Aunt Ermie and Uncle Sporady (both nicknames to be explained later) and the Cox Fam up for a week in this... ...spectacular home appropriately named "Bella Vista" in ConCan, TX! Ever been to ConCan?! Yah, us either, but it was a sweet little secret that we found to be quite delightful! I know you won't believe it but despite the 100+ degree weather we spent the ENTIRE week outside. I guess going that much further west and being the ONLY house on top of a "mini-mountain" were a deadly combo where the heat was concerned... there were very few times when we ever had to retreat inside because of the heat. Our days were spent by the pool, in the pool or up under the protection of a lovely shade porch! It was PERFECT!

When we got there on Thursday, we did a little unpacking and then it was STRAIGHT to the pool! Poor Caden hadn't been swimming in nearly two weeks and was READY! Thankfully, he was feeling and acting just like the old Chade again so he was ready to PAR-TAY!

After swimming we had the munchies so we broke out some of Aunt Ermie's corn dip and went to town! Caden always seems to find his Aunts to be particularly giving when it comes to food. I think I remember a similar pic with Aunt Ree Ree in Port A! He's got this Aunt thing figured out!

When we took off Caden's rash guard after the pool it gave him quite the impressive new look! Spikey Cox! What do you think?!

Friday was RIVER DAY! Chade and I stayed behind at the house and had a SUPER fun morning hangin' by the pool, but the other crazy kiddos headed out to FLOAT THE FRIO! My super smart and savvy hubbie decided to get a waterproof camera to take some pics of their journey!

Albi and KK...

Justin and Aunt Ermie... (I know it's killin' you... I'm getting there... Ermie and Sporady will be explained!)

KK cheersin' the camera with her Ozarka bottle! :)

Albi looking ahead for any rapids...

The Frio... beautiful!

All tied up with the important stuff in the middle...

Justin wanted to be sure he was in a pic... nice feet! I guess he didn't realize that he had several beer-crotch shots to choose from! :)

After the floaters got back from a long day on the river they decided that it was definitely the perfect night for a steak! SO after Chade went down for the evening we fired up the grill and put the rice casserole and olive bread in the oven and ATE! KK also made a yummy salad... we were pretty impressed with our spread so KK wanted to be sure we got pics...

NOTHING BETTER than dining outdoors... especially when this is your view! Bella Vista!

Steak and vino... YUMM-O! The steaks were SO good! I think I finished mine in about 5 minutes... all 8 ounces of it! Yep! That's right!

Are you hungry yet?! Because I am!

Another shot of our view...

On Saturday the boys played golf and the girls and Chade did a lot of this...

Caden swam more in the week we were there than he ever has! We swam morning, noon and night and LOVED every minute of it. You don't realize how great it is to just walk out your backdoor and take a dip until you have the opportunity! It is awesome!!

Sunday we headed back to the Frio, but this time Chade and I got to tag-along! We didn't float but we found a nice spot to hang out for a few hours! Caden LOVED the river. He favorite thing was throwing rocks with Aunt Ermie... okay are you ready?

So Caden and Aunt Ermie were doing some serious bonding in the river. She would collect rocks and then he would throw them and then they'd repeat! So we were all hanging in the river and I thought hmmmm Aunt Emmie sure isn't sticking, but maybe Aunt Roxy would since she and Caden are bonding over rocks. Aunt Ermie said that she would go by anything, but she's really only had one nickname in her life and that was Ermie. Her brothers called her that when she was little and it kind of stuck. With this new information it was a little HARD to pass up such an opportunity... Aunt Ermie... are you kidding?! It doesn't get much better than that! So we're givin' it a go... what do y'all think?

So Aunt Ermie it was and is! At least for now! :)

There is nothing like nature to inspire the greatest ideas. So while we were still laughing about Aunt Ermie's new name and the beauty of the Frio... look how clear it is... we decided that Uncle Josh needed a new name too... so I came up with Uncle Sporady. You see, Uncle Sporady has a little bit of a chest hair issue... it's growing a bit sporadic in his old age and on the first day we got there and we were swimming I called him Sporada-Hair because I am his older sister and this is what I'm supposed to do... we all giggled and had a great laugh at his expense. So when Aunt Ermie came along it was pretty clear that Uncle Josh would be Uncle Sporady... Uncle Sporada-Hair is just a bit much...

And there you have it... the evolution of Aunt Ermie and Uncle Sporady! Like 'em?!

Our time at the river was peaceful and lovely. The river is gorgeous and it certainly does not get its' name by chance. The Frio is as its' name boasts... a very refreshing shade of cool! :)

After a few hours at the river we went to the ConCan Country Club, where the boys played golf the day before, to have lunch. They RAVED about their hot dogs served on a sourdough buns so we knew that the hamburgers wouldn't dare disappoint and they didn't! Best burger I've had in a long time... and onion rings, OH MY-LANTA! SO good! And SO tasted them the rest of the day... but worth it! For sure!

Lunch on the porch... not hot... SO nice!

We were all a bit enchanted by the gazebo and table for four under it's shade outside of the main dining porch. It was pretty, but we couldn't quite figure its purpose, so we settled on weddings... in ConCan... it's the HOT SPOT for weddings!

The rest of our trip was spent being SUPER lazy and it was JUST what we all needed before we headed back home to face the crazy weeks that lie ahead of us... at least for all of the workin' folk! Caden and I came back to a dirty house but other than that we are pretty much business as usual! :)

Caden did some amazing things while we were at the Frio... perhaps he TOO was inspired by God's beautiful design and decided to do and say a few new things:

He learned to SWIM! With his floaties! Before this week he has been wearing his floaties but has not been able to support himself without my help. One week at the pool and DONE! He started jumping (belly flopping) off the side too. He is FEARLESS when it comes to the water but not so much when it comes to pool floats! He is scared to death of pool mats, tubes, etc. As long as he's got his floaties... he's king of the pool!

Look Mom no hands!!

SPLASH!!!

Ready to jump! As soon as he'd come up he'd say "GIN" or again! :)

He also started saying "ice" with a very long "ssssss" at the end and he said "pool" and has continued to say BOTH since we've been home. He was a jabber box all week... coming up with new words (not quite ones we understand) but then some that we were like YEP, he just said Ice! The doctor said his speech would start taking off and BOY has it! I can't imagine what it will be like when he get tubes! Watch out world... he's gonna be on fire!

Caden likes an audience of course, so it was the BEST THING EVER to have so many people to show off for each night as he took his last dip in the pool!

Uncle Sporady and Albi!

My little water dog...

Aunt Ermie and Uncle Sporady... so cute, so cute!

Aunt Ermie giving Caden "ninja kisses." This is something new that Aunt Ermie started the last few times we've seen her but having a whole week with her gave Caden an entirely new appreciation for the art of "ninja kissing." Aunt Ermie acts like a ninja and sneaks up on him when he least expects it. Sometimes she'll give him a warning-pucker and even a BIG smack of her lips to let him know she's on the pursuit, but there is NO running where Aunt Ermie is concerned or at least he hasn't learned to do this YET, but he will! So she's sweeps in and GETS him! AND HE LOVES IT! He gets the biggest cheesiest grin! SO FUNNY!

SHE GOT 'EM!! Eat your heart out Uncle Sporady! Uncle Sporady is actually pronounced Sprady, just so we're clear... Spor-ady would be a mouthful still! But Sprady works!

WHAT A VACA! It was SO FUN and super relaxing! The Evans Fam always knows how to relax... and it's a good thing because I think we all needed a bit of R&R!

Thanks KK and Albi... y'all are the best! We appreciate you spoiling us so! Where are we headed next year??!! :) We love you!!

NOW...for a few video clip of our little swimmer!! Enjoy!! Happy Swimming!