Baby Naming

We went to San Antonio today for my college roommate Jen's second child's baby naming ceremony. It was fun to see some college friends that I haven't seen in a while. We all have kids now, how things have changed in just a few years!

Jen with her first child, Bailey.

Marc, Mark (Jen's husband holding Maegan) and David

Jill holding her little boy, Jake. Jake liked Bryce a lot. After the ceremony he kept bringing Bryce M&Ms to eat. So funny!

Art

Our good friends from college, Leah & Seth Abrams, and their daughter Dylan came to visit this weekend. It was fun to catch up and watch the kids play. Dylan loved the toys at our house, Bryce was less than thrilled to have company. We're going to have to work on his social skills.

The Abrams brought Bryce a wonderful gift, all sorts of art stuff. Bryce is actually able to scribble so I was very excited. We played with everything today.

New York Newmans

Russell's dad and stepmother came to visit. AS you can see by this picture, Bryce was pretty excited about the visit. The guys had a good time playing golf and Barbara and I spent the weekend rearranging furniture. This is what I do with guests these days so think carefully before you decide to come over.

To Grandmother's house we go...

Bryce and I took a road trip and went to visit Dede in Corpus. Bryce was so good in the car and enjoyed listening to my audiobook. Wonder why he slept so well...

We had a great time at Dede's. Marty was also visiting and Bryce was so excited to see him.

Marty was celebrating his first birthday so we were invited to Susan and Bill's to help eat the cake.

Bryce neatly ate his piece from my fork, Marty got a little more involved in the process. A hose was needed after he finished :)

Yoga

I've been wanting to take Bryce to a class of somesort for a while now but nothing seemed to fit into our schedule. My work trip got cancelled today so Bryce and I decided to try a yoga class for crawlers. It was so much fun! The first part of the class was mass chaos. About 15 mothers set their babies down and began to do some yoga. The babies were everywhere. The instructor kept advising to look behind for a baby before doing any bending, kneeling, leg lifting, etc. I think 3 kids came up to Bryce and touched his hair. So funny.

After the yoga for moms we did stuff with the babies. Sang songs, bounced them around, read stories. Bryce loved watching everyone. I wish everyone could see this for themselves. IT was hard to keep from laughing the whole time. We will definetly go back.

A BIG thank you

My parents are about 98% responsible for helping us complete the backyard. Russell and I did do a large part of the manual labor but without my dad's tools, vision, and help we wouldn't have anything framing the deck. It wasn't easy to go from mudpit to oasis but with their help we got it done in record time! The backyard came out even better than expected.

Thanks also to Mother for entertaining Bryce so well while we worked and to Lara for buying this great swing!

A few more pictures from the weekend

Here are a few more pictures from Bryce's party...

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=167598034/a=33497972_33497972/t_=33497972

Here's a little something I did...thought it was kind of cool

A Big Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was Bryce-a-palooza. Bryce took his rump shaking show on the road to NYC. It was his 1 year anniversary reunion tour where he got to play some new venues. The tour started at Gram and Pops's crib. Bryce was asked to give an interview by Pops but he didn't feel like Pops new about his struggles.

However, once the article was printed, he felt like his readers would get a much better sense of who he is offstage...although he was misquoted once about his stance on gay marriage.

As part of his trip, his publicist/mother asked if he would do a spot on playground safety. The slide did not seem very safe, but after a thorough inspection of the swing, he felt it was worth the B stamp of approval.

Bryce then decided it would be a good idea to cool off in the shade and show the crowd how the king of the jungle rolls

Pops thought he might join in the act, but once again...Bryce was leery of a misquote

The paparazzi was hot after Bryce as he took some time to pose with some adoring fans:

Sunday was the day of the big show. Bryce played his heart out and then came the after party. Bryce opted out of his normal In Da Club style party for and old school backyard bbq...B style. That meant all the freshest and dopest kosher meats and salads and the sickest kanishes this side of Jerusalem.

Bryce's main man Dan served up the flava making sure the drinks were filled and that B never ran out of his favorite spicy mustard. B did have to go upside his head once after he accidentally served 2% instead of whole milk.

Bryce found time to mingle with his peeps.

He thought he would play it cool with the ladies by sipping his beverage

Bryce is against smoking so he found a twig instead...still sophisticated, but cancer free

The celebration started to wind down as B offered a small token of racial harmony by serving a cake that was half black and half white. The train..."Thomas"...represented new clean biodiesel as B also cares for the environment.

Unfortunately...Bryce at the whole cake

After the party B had to make a quick stop and present at an awards show...he did find a moment to sort through his presenter gift bag

Finally...the weekend was over...even though B had plenty of energy while waiting for his private jet to shuttle him home, his entourage just had to crash

Big ups to the the NYC crew for a weekend that was off the crunk. While B is already talking about doing it up next year in Las Vegas...a return trip to the Big Apple is probably in store.

Everything's so GREEEEN...

Well...3 weeks in and we finally have grass. This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus...a Carl Spackler special. The last piece to the backyard will be deck constuction which could start at any minute. I always find it amazing when I'm trying to give people money to perform a service and they refuse to acknowledge me. I always feel like saying "the hell with it" but then they finally call and give me that glimmer of hope...and for a split second I believe again. I think..."yes...here's my money...please take it sir...I would be happy to continue to get ignored with the hope that someday I'll come home and you'll actually be there working." But until then...I'll continue to stew about it...someday I'll unleash the fury, but rest easy...it won't be tonight.

On a side note...I just want the good people of NY to know that our government won't stop until they find the son of a b*tch terrorist who constructed that steam pipe that exploded. As a homeowner with a few leaks of my own to deal with...I'm prepared to blame terrorists for faulty welding and shoddy PVC. I knew Osama was training pilots and fighters, but plumbers? I would immediately ban plummer's crack from NYC (which probably should have been done years ago) but now that there's a terror threat...put it on the ballot. Not to mention the benefit on NYC's carbon footprint as a result all the methane gas that will now be contained instead of released in to the atmosphere...I see upside all around.

Sorry...I took these through the window screen...but you get the idea

Haircut

Bryce really needed a real haircut. When we ran errands today I stopped in a place on impulse. It took about 5 minutes and Bryce had a great time. No pictures of the big event since this wasn't planned but here is his new do.

A milestone for Bryce, more mud for Russell

The big news is that Bryce pulled up to a stand today. He's been getting on his knees for a few weeks but today was the first day he got up to his feet.

Russell has been working in the yard with my help. Can you see the green metal edging on this pic? I put it in all the way around the yard and then Russell came behind me and "adjusted" my work. Saturday was the last day he got to play with the dingo. We worked all morning and came in right before the rain started. It's so muddy today. Thanks Daddy for lending that to us. It was a huge help!



We went furniture shopping the other day. We didn't find anything but Bryce had fun riding around in his taxi while we shopped. Isn't he funny driving?

All moved in

The move went great on Saturday. Thanks for all of the help everyone! We are unpacked but because of all the new space it doesn't really feel like home yet. We started furniture shopping today. Why is it so hard to find normal sized furniture? Everything is gigantic.

My parents came in on the 4th to help start yard work. While Daddy assures us that we made a lot of progress, it's hard to tell by looking at the yard. We've had nonstop rain for weeks for the backyard is really a mudpit. I got stuck a few times and Russell had to pull me out. I think I was slowing the guys down because they sent me in early.

Home Sweet Home...

or home on the range...or sweet home alabama...or in deference to Daughtry...we're going home. Well...almost. Uno mas week of separate abodes, but after that the band will be back together. Today was our final walk through (although we walk through again the morning before we close so I guess that's our FINAL walk through, but close enuf)...and things are really looking good. Mostly cosmetic things to fix...grout here, paint there, but nothing that's a showstopper at this point. I took a ton of pictures and the little green marks you see aren't spots on the photos, but the "fix it" tags we stuck all over the house. Hopefully now that it's about done you can get a sense of what it will look like when we live in it...ya know...walls, floors, lights, etc.

Front (with Paige doing her best Avon lady)...this little tree is new too.



You may not remember the sidewalk from earlier posts...well...it's ours now


Pretty pleased with the landscaping and the grass. We went with Zoysia in honor of the McClures.

Our number...



Backyard from the 2nd story view





Backyard view from the patio



Kitchen






Breakfast bar




Media room...don't those sconces make it feel like a theater?





Nana, Gabby, & Gram's bathroom



Upstairs game room looking across to Bryce's Room



Second story landing looking towards the game room


Second story landing and game room looking up from the family room


Family room fireplace...how do you decorate this thing?



The hearth is raised up so you can sit by the fire

Entry way (living/dining to the right, study to the left)

Stairs and study entrance

Formal Dining


Front door looking from family room


Master bedroom


Master bath


Paige is measring the steps from the entry to the toilet so she can find her way back in the dark