Uncle Josh visits Chloe

Uncle Josh came to visit us this past Saturday. He arrived around noon.

After he and Chloe got caught up, we went to Torchy's Tacos. Mmmmm. Then we went to watch Mark's lacrosse game. It was a gorgeous day here and we enjoyed being outside.

Josh left the next day around noon. It was a short trip but I think Chloe thought it was awesome to see her uncle Josh.

Mark's the one looking toward the camera.

It was bright outside.

Chloe loves acorns.
She only tried to eat a few but between me and Josh, we managed to keep them out of her mouth.

She's getting so difficult to photograph.

Playing in the dirt. That's my girl!

Uncle Josh and the Great Pumpkin

Uncle Josh came to Austin! Today we went to Sweetberry Farms to buy some pumpkins, take some pictures and go through a corn maze (that I'm pretty sure was bamboo). The corn did not look like the corn I've seen in West Texas but maybe it's a different type? Who knows...the maze was fun!

The trip to Marble Falls is about an hour so we spent about 2 hours on the road.

Looking quite uncomfortable here.

This is better!

First Halloween!



Looking a bit grumpy.




One of my favorites.




Where are you going? We're not done.



Another fav!

Daddy and Chloe

Uncle Josh, you found the great pumpkin!

Mommy and Chloe

Another weird family photo.

It takes a lot of work to prep our model.

This didn't turn out so well.

Silly Uncle.

Blowing spit bubbles is always fun.

I liked the tunnel.

Pretty cool.

Uncle Josh in the corn/bamboo maze.

Daddy, NOTasking for directions.

Pushing a stroller through a corn maze is HARD work.

The cutest navigator ever.



Meltdown in the car...sweet, sad baby tears. This is after I got her to stop.



New Toys for Chloe

Two blogs in one day? See previous post: California

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Chloe has found two new things that she likes to play with:

Uncle Josh
This video is cute. Chloe is talking to Josh. Who knows what she's telling him but it is clearly important. Josh is making faces and noises at her and she jumps almost every time.



Her Hands
We've been working on the hands for a while now. She gets a little better every day. The first time she tried to 'work' her hands, she was concentrating so hard that her whole body was shaking and I thought she was having a seizure. I guess she really wants to have control of her hands!

Holiday Happenings

The past week has been wonderful. I'm sure the first thing I should probably tell you all about is that I have finally been feeling Baby G move around. He/She gave me a birthday present a day early. On Sunday, December 20, I was lying in bed when I felt a small bubble feeling. I told Mark about it and let him know that I was 90% sure it was the baby moving. Needless to say, I payed very close attention the next day. I felt it again around 7 p.m. on my birthday. This time I was sure it was Baby G. He/She was moving around like crazy on Christmas Day. I'm looking forward to the day Mark will be able to feel it too.

Christmas was short and fun. We went to Houston for Christmas Eve to be with my side of the family. We played games, talked and watched some movies. Mostly, we laughed! My parents cooked an amazing breakfast and dinner Mom cooked some tasty quail and biscuits which is now a Longcor tradition on Christmas morning and my dad tried out a fantastic new recipe for some beef tenderloin.

Christmas Day was spent with the Grantham side. Things were much the same there. We played Pictionary, watched the Hangover and followed it up with dinner at the Omni. Mark's mom is an amazing cook but this year her health kept her from showcasing her talent. She has been a lot peppier the past few months.

On Christmas Day, my parents drove to Austin to help Josh and I with a few projects. Today (12/26/09) my Dad helped Josh put up a new range microwave while my mom helped me stain our kitchen cabinets. We will use our new video camera (from my parents) to give you a tour-de-kitchen in a few days. Josh, Mark and I are very thankful that we have parents that are so willing to lend a hand and pass on their homeowner knowledge.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. I'm beat and going to bed.

P.S. Shout out to Chris and Katie! They got engaged tonight and Mark and I could not be more excited for the special couple. We love you guys!!!! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special evening.

New York State of Mind

Thursday is the Big Apple day! Mark and I leave Austin at 7 a.m. for NYC. This will be our last vacation as a childless couple. We still plan to travel once we have our little one, but we know finances and circumstances will change the types of trips that we are able to take. In other words, we plan to live it up starting Thursday.

I usually like to wing it on these trips, but New York has WAY TOO MUCH to offer for us to rely on our spontaneity. Today I bought our tickets for the Broadway show we plan to see. Lion King is supposed to be great and I got a pretty stinking good corporate discount. I guess corporate America does have it's benefits. We are going to be going to Broadway on Sunday night (our last night in NYC). Here's some info: We paid more for our Broadway tickets than our Billy Joel/Elton John tickets. (Blows my mind but I'm a sucker for a musical, huh mom?)

I also bought a New York City Pass. It's a lot like to Chicago Go Card that we bought last year for our 1st year anniversary trip. I highly recommend these things if you are going to any major metropolitan area. It gets us into all the stuff we want to do for one low price. In this case: Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty tour, Empire State Building observation deck, Museum of Natural History, Central Park Zoo, Museum of the City of New York, Skyline cruise and a lot of other museums and tours. We WILL NOT have time to see it all but we can go to as many as we have time for in 3 days. It really pays for itself.

It's supposed to be in the 40's and rainy while we are there, but we won't let that slow us down. I'll be sure and post pictures when we get back (assuming my camera doesn't get jacked in Harlem...jk).

Enjoy your week!

P.S. Shout out to the little Bro! He just bought his first house (here in Austin) and I'll be excited to help him decorate and do some yard work (if Mom leaves any for me to help with) when I get back. ;)

Still Kicking

I'm still here. I have a very good reason for being m.i.a. for the past month or so. Mark and the computer had a little disagreement and let's just say that Mark won. That is, my $1700 computer is no longer with us. Poor Mac. Until I save enough money to purchase a replacement, you will have to be patient. I do not have regular computer access. It makes checking e-mails, facebook and other fun stuff very difficult. For those of you that see me on facebook, I update through my phone via text messages so I'm really not checking facebook either.

A few updates from the Granthamania here in Austin:

• We are anxiously awaiting Austin City Limits this year with Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon, John Legend, Ben Harper and so many more. This year is going to be the best one yet! October better get here soon.

• We are also excited about going to New York for our 2nd anniversary in October. I really, really, really need to start planning a few things out. Normally, we like to just wing it. However, I've been to New York before and the fact is that there is far too much going on to just fly by the seat of your pants. I really need to prioritize before we make touch down in the city that never sleeps. I LOVE NY!

• Mark's best friend Stuart and his fiance Renee are getting married on September 26th. Mark and I are both very excited about the wedding. They just purchased their first home here in Austin and we are thrilled they decided to call Austin home. Plus, I'm really jazzed about seeing Mark in a tuxedo, again!

• My brother is moving to Austin. Hopefully, he will find a house soon.

• Last week, we went to see "Our Lady Peace" in concert! It was so much fun! All I can really say is that it was a great throw back to my junior high days and Mark, Josh and I stayed out way too late for a Tuesday night, but it was worth it.

Hopefully, I can update this sooner rather than later and next time, cross your fingers for some pictures.

4th of July

I don't have a whole lot to share. I hope my muse comes back at some point. I'm just feeling really unmotivated. Here are some pictures from July 4th for you to check out. We went to our friend, Erin's family lake house for swimming, volleyball and live music. It was pretty fun and Josh got to come to Austin to help celebrate! Hope you had a happy 4th!

Stephanie and me

Mark playing v-ball, above. Josh playing v-ball, below.

A Busy Weekend

Mark and I had an extremely busy weekend. We drove to Amarillo on Friday for Josh's graduation in Lubbock on Saturday. We returned to Austin on Saturday. All said, it was a 16 hour road trip within a 48 hour period. Whew. Glad the drive is over but glad we got to see all the family! Here is a brief summary of what we did along with a few shout outs.

First, we were able to see Landry. My cousin, Tori, had a son in November. Although we were a little late getting to meet him, we are trilled that we finally made the trip! He is such a cute, happy, lovable baby. He is a perfect combination of his mommy and daddy. Our only regret is not getting to see Chris while we were there.
We were also able to see Keevan and Kaleb, who are the son's of my cousin Terry and his wife, Trissa. They are so much fun and so active. As a side note, we did not put them in the dog kennel; they wanted to get in to take a picture...hilarious! Kaleb just turned 5 and Keevan is 7. They are getting to be so grown up and I'm sad that I am not closer to see them grow up.


On Saturday, we went to Lubbock to see my little brother walk across the stage and receive his diploma from Texas Tech University. I am unable to express how proud I am of him. He has become a responsible young adult and I can't believe he is entering the 'real world.' I was lucky enough to spend part of my time at Tech with him. We had so much fun and not every sister gets to share college years with their sibling. I really miss being at Tech with him. Don't worry though, he should be moving to Austin very soon and Mark and I thrilled that we will get to share memories with him here, too. I don't have the family picture from graduation. You'll have to watch my mom's blog for those. But I do have a picture of Josh and I and another one of him and his best friend, Kellen. Thanks, Kellen for being such a great friend for Josh all these years. You two are perfect for each other in a completely heterosexual way!

Josh and Kellen (above) Brother and Sister (below)

Proud parents (above) Proud fellow Red Raiders and brother-in-law and sister (below)

Saturday was also my mom's birthday. Mom we love you very much and thank you for everything that you have done for us. We hope you had a wonderful birthday because you mean the world to us.

Finally, Happy Mother's Day to all of the mom's! You have helped shape us (being your children...whoever they are;) ) You gave us life and made us the people we are and we are forever indebted. Here are a few of the mom's I want to give shout outs to, I'll try not to forget anyone...my mom; my grandma; Mark's mom; Mark's granny; Devonn (my aunt); Tori; Trissa; Ronna (my aunt); Gramma Carol; Debbie (Mark's aunt); Nancy (Mark's aunt); Donna (Mark's aunt); my friend, Katie; my friend, Erin; my friend, Sarah Wrotten; Tana (Josh's best friend's wife and Sarah's sister-in-law).

Pancreatic Cancer 5k

If you read my blog, you probably read my mom's blog and you already know about our 5k last weekend. I'm a little behind these days. My parents and my brother came into town (Josh on Friday and Mom and Dad on Saturday) to complete a 5k to raise pancreatic cancer awareness and research money. The race was at 8:30 on Sunday morning but I insisted we be there at 7 a.m. since Mark, Stephanie and I had not registered. (Shout out to Stephanie for coming out to this one.)

We all had 'in honor of' tags on that read, Don Light (grandpa). He lost his fight with Pancreatic Cancer last year.

Here is the photo of us before the race. Please be kind, it was early!

Makeover

I gave my blog another makeover, as you can see. I borrowed the title from my brother's clever mind. Thanks, Josh!

First, can I say that I love love love this time of year. It's (almost) officially spring! It's rainy and cold here today but the flowers are blooming the trees are budding and the grass is getting green! I can't wait to do some yardwork out front.

There isn't a whole lot going on around here. I went to visit my family in Houston last weekend. Mom and I went to Galveston to get some sun and see the recovery efforts, which are looking pretty good. (Check out her blog for more on that.) I had a lot of fun hanging out with the fam. I miss getting to see them all everyday.

I hope you are enjoying your spring as much as we are! Camping season is upon us and I can't wait!

Sonny and Cher

Thanks to my mom this is now on YouTube. Most of you have probably never seen this video. My brother and I were in a talent show when we were little. I think I was in 5th grade here and my brother in 3rd. Anyway, we dressed up as Sonny and Cher and sang, "I Got You, Babe."

Good times!!!



Enjoy!

Do Not Enter

Remember the signs that you used to post on your bedroom door as a child? They would most likely say something like:

• Do Not Enter!
• Quiet Please!
• Do Not Disturb!
• No Little Brothers Allowed (my personal favorite...jk, Josh. You know I love you.)

Well, I have discovered that my bedroom is no longer a private sanctuary now that I own a home. I think this happened for a couple of reasons. The first being that I actually share a bedroom with someone (my husband). The second and probably the biggest reason for this 'lack of privacy' is the need to parade every guest in your home through every room in the house. AND, in the spirit of parading you through our home, here is the latest picture of our bedroom.

We have hung curtains, placed the headboard and hung some pictures. I still want to paint but it can wait for now...I'm not in the mood to mess with the vaulted ceilings yet.

By the way, I realize that this blog is quickly becoming about the improvements we make on our home. That's probably because it consumes our life right now :) so you're going to have to suffer through it with us!

Side note: new haircut...not sure what to do about the color.