Party at Network Streaming

Last night we went to a party at Daddy's office celebrating the release of their newest product. It was lots of fun- great Mexican food, tons of babies and kids to play with, and all our fun "work friends" and their wives. Below are a few pictures.

It's not a party without the cawrs

This is our buddy Lily

Since hanging out with Wilson, Lily has developed an affinity for cawrs- Wilson scoops them all up when he sees her coming!!

One last shot- if you look closely in the background, you can see baby June sucking on daddy's beer bottle. It seemed like all night long as the dad's relaxed and enjoyed their success, you could hear mom's voices everywhere (not necessarily directed at her own child) saying, "no, baby, that's daddy's juice!"

Latest product Review

I thought I'd fill you all in on a great little product I picked up at the grocery store this week. It is called Shout Color Catcher. They are little sheets you throw in the wash with your clothes. They catch all the excess dye floating around thereby keeping your clothes brighter. This is great news for sloths like me who refuse to sort laundry and throw it all in on warm and hope for the best! It might be a time saver and a small step towards a more relaxed lifestyle for those of you who keep two laundry baskets- one for whites/one for colors (you probably also obey the handwash only warning too!). Anyway, to the left you can see the box and a before and after shot of the sheet. Wilson's new red swimsuit was in this load and none of our white socks are pink!! Happy washing!

FYI

Just wanted to let all you pet owners know that there are some great dog & cat toys and accessories on the dollar aisle at Target. We got a new harness (one of ours had somehow gotten twisted beyond repair) one of those hard nylon bones with the teeth cleaning bumps (like the hartz ones) and a tennis ball nap covered flip flop. Here are some photos of Tate cuddling with his new toy (I'd show pictures of Jack with the bone, but he's always under the bed with it!!) Anyway, they have leashes, collars, harnesses, placemats, toys (ropes, balls, bones, cat toys), and all sorts of other paraphernalia in a Hawaiin theme if its time for any of you to replenish or freshen up your stash!

A Day at the Beach

We're back! We had a great long weekend at the beach. It was so much fun to see our friends Andy & Ashley (Lott not Ethridge) and to get to play in the sand. Wilson really enjoyed himself as you can see in the pictures. The last time he went to the beach we went with the Lotts to "their beach" in Biloxi- the weekend before Katrina. It was about 100 degrees and extremely still- literally the calm before the storm. We didn't have much fun because it was so hot!! This time it probably did not get up to 90, the sky was beautiful, and there was a steady breeze- perfect weather!

There was a feeling of bittersweet to me the whole time, however. Driving down there it was hard to see the remaining signs of Katrina in our state- a hundred miles inland. Hattiesburg was still littered with blue tarp roofs, trees were down everywhere, and stores were still closed. Once we got to the beach in AL, things were a little better, but Ivan's presence was still all around almost two years later. Where many of the beach houses once had been there was nothing but the stilts they used to stand on; there was one home that was a pile of rubble with a wicker sofa and an arm chair on top. I can't imagine what our coast must look like. Still, Andy and Ashley were hopeful- both said that if the MS gulf coast can look that good in two years they'd be thrilled!

We had such a great time, but it's always nice to be back home. Wilson was thrilled to see his dogs and they couldn't wait to get home (thanks to Granna, Granddaddy, & Uncle John for housing the mutts while we were gone). Wilson and I will be back at the beach in a few weeks with my mom while my dad & brother go on their adventure to Philmont in AR, so I'm still debating about whether or not I should even de-sand everything! We can't wait to be by the ocean again! Tomorrow Wilson and I are off to his 2nd swimming lesson. He's really enjoying them and got really good at his "kick, kick, kick" in the pool at the beach.

Irony

My spray bottle of daily shower cleaner has soap scum on it.

Congratulations!

Congratulations! It's a BOY!!

This is how Tate fell asleep last night- on his back with his head under our bed. Of course, Jack was in the dryer due to the thunder.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here are some photos from baking cookies on Saturday.

Marketing

Well, little Wilson's world has just gotten 110% better. The Cars movie marketing paraphanalia has hit the shelves. We got back from the grocery store just a little while ago where we saw Cars graham crackers, Cars cereal, Cars Pull Ups, & everything else imaginable! We got home and I had snuck a box of the Cars grahams in our bags. Wilson was ecstatic! He didn't know whether to drive them or eat them! He wound up taking them to the water trough on his farm for a drink of water he was so overjoyed. Later we were getting ready for his bath and he sat on the "po-ti" and actually went, so he got another car cookie that I had hidden in the bathroom cabinet. Well he couldn't have been happier if I had driven an actual Ferrari into the tub! He started squealing "ge-own, ge-own" (get down! get down!) I took him off the potty and he ran (in nothing but his hippo t-shirt and an ear-to-ear grin) screaming "Daddy! Daddy!". He found his daddy and spouted off the most excited bunch of garble I have ever heard. "Da-i-po-ti-cawr-caker" which I can only loosely translate as "DAD, YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE IT! I JUST PEED ON THE POTTY AND MOM GAVE ME THIS SUPER COOL CAR SHAPED CRACKER!" He was so proud. . . and so were we.

Seeing all of the Cars marketing has been fun. Needless to say, we are eagerly awaiting the premier of Disney's Cars. While it's hard to miss all of the Cars products a few new marketing ploys have caught my eye recently. Are we all getting excited about David Blane's special tomorrow night? I am a fan of the illusionist, he always leaves me scratching my head. But this time I'm scratching my head for another reason. The name of the special is Drowned Alive. I have to ask, "Can anyone think of any other way to be drowned?". Secondly, there is a new product on the breakfast foods aisle of your grocery store. It's from one of our favorites- Kellogg's Poptarts. They're called Go-Tarts and, I kid you not, the tagline for this product is something like "Everything you love about Poptarts, only easier." Was anyone terribly confused by the original product? Didn't the Pop-Tart already simply our morning routines by ending the need to make fruit filled pastries from scratch. Anyone run late for work and when questioned by the boss answered, "Sorry, sir, but it's just those Pop-Tarts. If they could just somehow simplify that confounding pastry in a foil package."? Apparently by reducing the size of the bar by half and only putting one in a package, our lives are now much better off. I know I'll never be late again!

Hope you all have a great week!!

Correction

My editor-in-chief has found a critical typo in the previous post. It should have read that "I walked in the den to find Wilson standing in the middle OF THE COFFEE TABLE in a complete trance. . . ". I apologize for the typo and any confusion it may have caused.

Brief Update

Hi to all. Sorry it's been a while since our last post. It's been pretty quiet around here- the fridge broke again as I was preparing for a party at our house. The guy came to fix it about 4 hours before the party so our outside fridge (the one from my college dorm room!) was stuffed to capacity. I rearranged the furniture a little for the party one night after Wilson had gone to bed. He walked out the next morning and whispered "WOOOW!" I don't think because of my centerpiece, but becuase he never knew the furniture could move. It was pretty funny. I was on the phone yesterday and walked in the den to find him standing in the middle in a complete trance watching "Stein" (Baby Einstein). I don't think he even realized he'd climbed up there. He's such a mess. He asks all day long for his daddy and grandparents and "JON" (my brother John). It's really fun to watch him become more aware of the world around him. Above are some of the photos we had taken for Easter. He had such a great time playing with the duck and bunny.