Never a Dull Moment...

May 23, 2013

Having a toddler in the house means that there is something entertaining that happens at least once a day. Most of the time it revolves around something Thomas did and wondering what is going through his mind:

It was empty, but he obviously has been watching where his milk is stored...

Then he realized there were all kinds of fun things stored in the cabinets and he just had to play with all of them - mostly by banging them together. The one night he was particularly going crazy with the pots, Matt decided to move him to the living room where he couldn't hurt the wood floor. :)

Matt is good at so many things - including being a cymbal stand!

Goldfish for breakfast? Yum!

It was only a snack to tide him over until he got to daycare. But he was still pretty excited about it. And I just *love* his expressions. All of them. But especially this one today. :)

Hico - The Kiddos

May 21, 2013

I thought it might be good to split Hico into two posts because I took a ton of photos of the kids and didn't want to overwhelm the actual reason we were there post. And I have a dear friend who admits to skimming if I use too much text. I don't think that applies to too many photos, but I didn't want to risk it!

All of the kids there were super well behaved considering how long we were there and how warm it was outside. Luckily we got a spot that was in the shade for a good part of the day and away from the asphalt - black top can radiate some heat!

Thomas fell asleep in the car on the way over to the competition. Mom somehow managed to get him to the spot and sit down without waking him up! I guess it helps he's a pretty good sleeper...

I actually remembered to hand off my camera to get a photo of Thomas and I. Those have been sorely lacking over the past year. And I tried playing with the B&W option in my camera software. I'm not sure I love it - I think photo editing software might do a better job. And apparently there are a million versions of B&W, while my software has two... "/

Guess who is walking now? He's still a little hesitant, but he certainly has the ability. So he gets really excited about it, but also likes to stay close to walls in case he loses his balance.

"Look mom - no hands!"

I never get tired of seeing dads hold their kids and Anna looked super worn out (and adorable) in this one. Not surprisingly, she was out in about 2 minutes.

Wallace followed shortly behind. And look at Thomas' awesome wagon - you can fold down the seats and it's a perfect sleeping bench for little kids. We were all wishing there was an adult version...

Another one of Thomas and I. He's looking a little worn out, huh? Shortly after this photo, we found a church on the square that had created an indoor area for kids with toys and air conditioning! So awesome of them!

Wallace 4-wheeling under some stranger's chair. They all thought he was too adorable. :)

Wallace in the kids area heading for the toys and the loving attention of about 10 young girls. Smart boy!

Momma dancing around to the music with Thomas. That boy sure loves his Nonni. He has started flipping out when I leave the room, but not if she has him!

Theresa got an awesome camera for her Christmas present from Josh. Matt and I were seriously impressed at the awesome photos she was taking with it. And for my birthday Matt got me the same camera. So now we get to geek out about the camera a lot and plan on taking classes for it together. It's good to have friends who share your hobbies. :)

Thomas had several admirers there and this little girl in particular kept flirting with him. He thought she was fun too. (Though not as much as trying to eat things off the ground... *sigh*)

Anna obviously has a thing for him too. She can even say his name, which is still super impressive to me every time I hear it. :)

So I asked him, what is it about you that all the girls love so much??

"Beats me, Mom...!"

Hico - The Competition Photos

May 20, 2013

Theresa's hubby, Josh, is big in to cook-offs these days. I've only made it to one cook-off so far (in Shiner!), so I was ready to go to another one. This one was geared more toward backyard chefs - our crew was by far the biggest rig out there. I have no idea what size the trailer is, but they keep adding more things to it every time I see it - this time it had satellite TV!

I even managed to talk my mom into coming - easier since it was only an hour from where she lives versus the 4 for me. It was almost all my favorite people in one spot - if only Matt hadn't been on call*...!

Thomas is ready for action in his super fancy red wagon. I love that the wagon has a shaded cover - especially since it's really getting hot outside. We had a super mild spring, but summer is coming with a vengeance!

Trisha and Kevin busy prepping the garnishes for the pulled pork slider entry in the appetizers round. Trisha makes cutting up peppers look fun!

See what a good job they did? And if you think the pork looks awesome because it was awesome. I'm pretty sure I ate it at least three times during the day. :)

Kipper & Alex smiling for all of the eager Hico attendees. Wrist bands to try all the appetizers were only $10! I'm pretty sure I ate more than my fair share roaming around the booths.

Oh, what's that you say? Time for the steak round? Fire in the hole!!

So at some point I accidentally bumped my ISO knob up way too high and over exposed some of the photos. I tried to salvage this one in editing, because Kevin was awesome with the propane torch and he used it several times just for me to get photos.… — So at some point I accidentally bumped my ISO knob up way too high and over exposed some of the photos. I tried to salvage this one in editing, because Kevin was awesome with the propane torch and he used it several times just for me to get photos. I would hate for all the effort to be wasted!

Josh making sure the presentation for the judges is "Just So" - aka cleaning up the errant meat juice.

And what was the result? Old Army BBQ got Best in Show! While not a reward strictly based on food, we were all still pretty excited about it. Everyone stopped by the trailer to talk to us and wherever I roamed with my Old Army BBQ shirt on, people wanted to chat. So I'd call it a success - I mean, who wouldn't want to hang out with such fun people:

I couldn't really get a good photo of the trailer with all the smoke out there - but I just wanted you to appreciate the level of awesomeness this rig has achieved.

(*And if someone hadn't moved to Alaska!!)

Trying Something New

May 14, 2013

It seems like I have a love / hate relationship with blogging. I love the idea of having a blog and love being able to read old entries and be reminded of events that I have already forgotten. It's like rediscovering yourself - thanks to my genetic predisposition to forget everything! But at the same time, it seems like I never have enough time to update it and I *hate* the guilt I feel every time I think about how I should have added something. And I go through phases of hating the layout, hating all the old stuff and hating the domain name.

So I'm trying something new. A new host, a new template, a new domain name, and most critically - a friend who is new to blogging keeping me motivated. We'll see how it goes, but if nothing else I'll have tried to make it new and exciting again. And if all it means are more photos of the world's cutest toddler are easier for all of his relatives to see, then so be it.