Spring???

It's the last weekend of February and we got our first taste of the potential of spring! I know that all of you reading this in the midwest are not all that impressed with our whining, but it has been unnaturally cold here this winter and we're tired of it! If I wanted to have to wear a coat and be stuck inside, I would just move home! :)

So first, a few pics of one of Will's favorite pastime lately -- see how bad we need to get out?

Lately Will seems to think every time he sees a camera that he needs to say "CHEESE!" and smile as big as possible. Super cute, but doesn't exactly lead to me capturing the moment I was attempting to when I got out the camera. This time was no exception...



Sneaky Pete here has figured out how to get around the child latches we installed (read: broke them) on the doors that he was interested in and can now get out the pots and pans. So if I'm in the kitchen, the natural thing to do is to "cook" with me -- which means each and every pan MUST come out of the cabinet. Here he is caught in the act.



What, Mom? Is there a problem?



This weekend was the annual Rodeo Run here in Houston that kicks off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo that takes place most of the month of March. It's always a lot of fun and raises tons of money for scholarships. Saturday was perfect weather and I ran in the 10K race while Todd and Will cheered on all the runners at the finish line. It wasn't quite the same without Amber here to run with me, but it was a great run nonetheless. And our friend Becky ran the race too -- her 1st 10K! We were all so proud of her and celebrated with brunch after the race.



Woohoo Becky!



Another sign that spring is near -- baseball! The Rice Invitational is always at the beginning of the season and Nebraska usually starts their year with an appearance. Since it was so nice out, we decided to go and take Will to his first official sporting event. Added bonus -- when we were headed to the box office to buy tickets, a very nice Rice fan (and in our experience, they are few and far between -- the nice ones that is) gave us some tickets! They were great seats -- right behind the Nebraska dugout. It gave Will the perfect spot to watch "ball" and give us a play by play -- "throw the ball, catch the ball!" I'm sure the fans around us got a little tired of him letting them know what was going on, but he didn't want anyone to miss anything. :)

The guys taking in a little baseball...



A Nebraska fan gave Will a baseball when we got there -- maybe not the best choice since he then wanted to throw it -- and we tried to prevent it from rolling off the dugout and on to someone's head.



Ever heard of a glare delay? Apparently when you have a ballpark in the middle of a city, this is a problem. There is a Hilton hotel high rise that overlooks the park. At a certain time of day during a certain time of the year, the sun hits it and there is a glare in the batters' eyes, so they delay the game until it's gone. It takes about 15 minutes or so and then things start back up. Here are the guys playing around while we wait for the action to get going. We knew it was time to go back and pay attention again when Todd got hit in the leg with a foul ball. :)



Here's Will letting me know what's going on in the game...



It was a great weekend with a much needed taste of spring. Can't wait for more days like these -- they'll be here before we know it, right???

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January odds and ends

Where did January go?? We had so many exciting things happening, I lost track of time! So here are a few of the highlights to keep you posted on our busy month.

I ran another half marathon this year -- in Phoenix this time. Two friends and I met in Phoenix for a girls weekend and to participate in the Rock and Roll half marathon. There were some injuries (not to me, thank goodness!) that didn't let the running part pan out like we had planned, but the rest of the weekend was great. It was so much fun to get the chance to hang out with faraway friends and not be distracted by those little things like kids...husbands...jobs...

Of course we were so busy having fun, that we forgot to take any pictures! This is literally the only one I got. Mary wasn't able to participate in the run because of an unexpected foot surgery, so we celebrated early with a few Marathon beers instead. :)



The next weekend two of our favorite people came to visit -- Amber and Justin! Amber will always have a special place in our hearts and home after living with us a few years ago and we always love the chance to hang out. She has quite the fan club here in Houston, so we invited a few of those people over while they were here to catch up...they hadn't been in town since Will was born!



There are a few more kids added to the party now -- wow how things have changed since Am lived with us. :)



Not quite everything is different though...Todd and Justin are still up to their late night mischief. This trip it came in the form of tabletop football. Yep, the game every middle school boy learns to play. And apparently secretly still wants to play as grown men -- just with the addition of some adult beverages at their side. :)



Then the last weekend of January we had the opportunity for Nebraska winter, take two. We flew up to Nebraska for a quick weekend for a very important person and event -- Mom graduated from college! It was very special to get to share this experience with mom. And, as an added bonus, we got to see quite a few of the people that we missed during the holidays due to the storms.

Here's the graduate!



Whew! What a month!