Gingerbread House

Here's a peek at Daddy and Carver's Gingerbread House project this morning. Turned out quite perrty if you ask me. Surprised to see how much candy made it on the house considering what went into Carver's mouth. It turned into a breakfast of candy and a very giddy little boy on this Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas!

Carver Christmas 2009

Typical mom- put Carver in a preppy Christmas sweater then make him say "cheeeese" in front of the tree and label it as "Carver Christmas 2009." Had to share, you can just see for yourself how handsome he is!

Zilker Park Trail of Lights

Gilbert & I took Carver to see the infamous Zilker Park Trail of Lights for his first time. He was his typical self - the observer - but did love the lights and displays that can only be found in our own funky town of Austin. The flash on my camera and all the lights made for what appears to be a bunch of psychadelic photos but hey - some of them are pretty cool. Here's a small taste of our trip...

I can never get enough kisses from my boy

The Zilker Tree from afar
A trio playing Christmas songs on the side of the street, to which Carver not only asked for "moneys" to put in their guitar case, but also danced.

A dinosaur display

Under the tree looking hundreds of feet up at the star

"Snow Day"

Teeeny, tiny flurries of snow hit central Texas and what do ya know? So small that I couldn't even catch them on my camera. Unlike Houston where I saw pictures of snow covering streets. So on our Texas "snow day," Carver & I played outside just before the flurries began. He went down for a nap and then they started...of course.
But I enjoyed feeling like a kid and having that moment to myself. I watched the flurries fall from the window while he slept & I snuggled on the sofa under a blanket. Life's pretty darn good.

Christmas a la casa Chavez

Did I mention just how much I love Christmas??
Wait til I post the pics of the outside lights!

FAMILY

Didn't occur to me to include this picture in the previous post. Here we are. Hornishs. Farriors. Reedys. Chavez. Hills. Wish we weren't missing the Carvers.

What a memorable Thanksgiving 2009.

Cousins

This post is all about the cousins. We just got back from our annual Thanksgiving in N.C. with my family as well as my aunt, uncle & cousins. It's the one guaranteed time of the year that I will see my extended family and for that, it makes it quite memorable! Anyone who knows me knows how close I am to my siblings and parents. I am as close as it gets to my cousins as well. And I can't begin to say how special and warm it is to see your child play with your sibling's children. It's as if they instinctively know they are of the same blood and family line. It's awfully special and unique. So here are pictures of me with my cousins as well as Carver w/his cousins. I figure it was also a good way to show off our hike we did to Schoolhouse Falls one afternoon. Gilbert & I actually did it twice over the week and it 's oh so so beautiful.
Like most of us, we are overwhelmed by our blessings.

Cousin Todd, Ashly, Paige with her 2 boys & Gilbert

Cousins Ashly, Paige & Jenny

Sweet Meryl (Mimi) and Carver
Mimi is known as my "mini-me"

I told them to say "I love Aunt Jenny" at this moment and sweet Carver even repeated it

Mimi, Carver, Payne & Blake

Cousin Payne, Carver & Mimi

Oh the age of innocent wonder!

Mimi always ready for the camera

Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Washington, D.C.

Amen to a direct flight! Because Gilbert & I just jetted to the east coast for a quickie 2 night stay. Boy did we make the most of it. My favorite - the pic taken above - a pit stop in front of the White House after the best crab cake dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill, and in route to the Hay Adams Hotel for an after dinner drink. (every President has stayed there before moving into the White House)

Let me brag on my husband real quick - it's the sole reason we went to D.C. Gilbert was nominated and received the "Commissioner's Award for Oustanding Performance." (from the Office of Child Support Enforcement....he works for Office of Attorney General here in Child Support Division). Yes, that is a federal award, my friends and I was very proud to be a witness to his recognition at the awards luncheon. Congratulations again, honey.

Gilbert was in a conference the first day so I had a wonderful day alone hussling around downtown to and from my top pics of places I wanted to see. I'll just say that my favorite was the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Can't begin to explain how emotional and truly moving that was. In general, I just love lacing up my shoes and huffing it around a new city, breathing it in and all the people and sights, stopping for a Starbucks every 3 corners if necessary. I was also surprised at the giddy and patriotic feeling being in our nation's capital gave me. To walk past the FBI headquarters, EPA, Dept. of Justice and the list goes on and on...but the architecture of these buildings are phenomenal. They all seem so intricate, old and special. A taste of true fall didn't hurt either.
So here are just a few of my favorite pics from our stay. I already look forward to going back so I can check the rest of my favorites off my list.

Amtrak is the way to go from Baltimore!

Took me 1 hr just to get from hotel to the Mall on foot

Reflecting Pool with Lincoln Memorial at the end. Lincoln Memorial probably my least favorite only b/c of the truckloads of junior high kids on school trip.

What a beautiful walk I had...

Halloween Parade

Today was Carver's Halloween Parade at Mother's Day Out. He was 1 of 4 Thomas the Train's as that is his newest, most exciting toy collection. I now understand all the Thomas the Train hype that came long before Carver. I guess Thomas never really gets old since every boy between the age of 2 and 3 first discovers trains after tiring of cars and trucks.
Of course I think he looked absolutely precious as he's at the age where he kindof "gets it." We're already practicing our trick or treats for Saturday.
Here are some pics of my special boy. His facial expressions crack me up- he was puzzled why I was snapping pics of him and why so many other "kids" (as he says calls them) weren't wearing regular clothes.
Happy Halloween!

Being paraded around the sanctuary by Ms. Snow White

" Mom, is that you?"

Happy boy, even on the potty

"Not in front of the rose bush and with my matching backpack, Mom!"

Choooo- choooo

Is it possible?

Seriously..is it possible I can love this boy Carver so very much? I can go from "how will I ever have another baby again" after weeks of 5:07 or 5:32 am wakeups then get into the daily groove so quickly and that is long forgotton. I kiss his upper and lower lips, I even like to kiss his front teeth, I just love to kiss and hug and snuggle him all up. I'm so lucky, my "baby" loves to snuggle me just as much. "Anuder hug mama?" I get to hear this several times a day.

It's cliche, it is redundant with alot of mothers, but seriously....I am so blessed.

This post tonight comes from a very pure, primal place. Love like no other. This post also stems from an experience at the park this afternoon. While heading there in a regular, ho-hum, this is my not so exciting life kinda mood with buckets and shovels and sippy cup (straw, thank you very much) in tow, we arrive and start the be careful, use both hands while climbing kinda talk and weeeeeeeeee, I swing tall from Carver. All is fun and easy in our every day life once I spot a father with his special-needs toddler maintaining a jogging pace just to keep up with him and prohibit the boy from hurting himself or anyone else. Suddenly it was pure chaos. The child was humming to himself, racing back and forth across the park on his tipey-toes, to and from slide to slide. Manic. His dad with a look of constant focus, just trying to keep close behind him, re-direct him. Over and over. And over again. This was just 30 minutes of their day might I add. It exhausted me, a bystander.

I am no doctor, I would never pretend to be. I'm pretty sure he showed signs of autism at the least. I don't diagnosis. Please let that be my disclosure. No judgement here, just in awe and ever so grateful to be so quickly thrust out of myself and into the mind of what it must be like...to raise a child with a disability of any kind. What a different meaning having a "healthy child" means once you have one...or don't.

I even use to work at an agency that provided services to children w/disablities, but I only now realize that I didn't "get it" then ... I wasn't a mother. My job ended at 5pm.

When I close my eyes tonight and turn my light off after dropping my book a few times to let me know that I am, indeed, ready to go to bed, you can bet my prayer will be one of gratitude. How embarassing, how foolish of me to feel so entitled ever in this lifetime. I only hope I can remember this every day. Sweet dreams, sweet boy. Mama loves you more than you can ever know.

Aunt Jenny

I'm on a roll here. Per usual, I'm a feast or famine even when it comes to blogging.

Today I found out the sex of my brother's 4th child. My brother/best bud, Ryan, and my sister in law, Angela, are having a GIRL!!! I'm so excited for them. Their kids are Blake, Meryl, Payne and next up is a baby girl due in early March. I'm so happy that Meryl will experience a little sister and the boys will have the brother bond as well. I figure if you are crazy enough to have 4 kids (just kidding...well, not really) then what beats boy-girl-boy-girl?
Congratulations, Ry and Angela. You guys never cease to amaze!
Here they are with my mom and dad in their hometown of Greenville, South Carolina watching the local baseball team. Great pic, just wish I could have been there too.

I'm back

One reason I haven't blogged recently..maybe b/c I always format the pictures and text bassackwards?? Too tired tonight to fix it. First catch up on pics then blog is below.

Well, apparently I'm not good at maintaining a blog. I still go through and read the rest of your blogs. Usually you all make me inspired, enlightened or inadequate depending on my mood.

So I figured I gotta keep up with this. I mean, I love to write and rant and talk to myself anyways, and it's just an added bonus if someone else is interested. Examples of blogs that could have been in the past 2 months..."Pumpkin patch"... "Rainy days playing in puddles" .... "A week of sleepless nights and 5:30 wakeups" ......

So maybe I spared you afterall?

Obviously this post was me pumping myself up to re-enter the blogging world. Stay tuned for my next post, hyping up my quickie 2 night trip to D.C. with my hubbie in 2 weeks. KID FREE!

One leg up & ice cream pie

This is gonna be short and sweet, literally. Here are a few pics of Carver showing off his latest achievement - holding one leg in the air. He finds this to be very amusing and at this point, so do I. It is something to be proud of after all, he's practicing yoga at the ripe age of 2. No, he isn't wearing shorts (or a diaper for that matter), he rarely does around the house. It helps with all those potty visits. But that's another post for another time.

On another note, check out the caramel & cookie ice cream pie I made tonight. It may not be the prettiest picture, but it's a better reflection of the real image compared to my hamburger patty chocolate cookies from last week.

The baker in me

So I'm really into baking all the sudden. Don't know if it's just a creative outlet or something to do as I am a list-type person, but either way, I have found baking to be easier for me than cooking. That's weird, too b/c everyone tells me baking is harder. How? Follow the directions to a "T" and there you have it. With cooking, you gotta put a lil' of this spice and dash of that and blah blah blah. My chicken always comes out tasteless unless it calls for a couple cups of cheese.
Sooooooooooooo....I'm into the cookies and bread thing so far. Don't get me wrong - I haven't experimented much AT ALL, but I'm about to be big time. Tonight, Carver and I made a cookie recipe I found online called something like "best chocolate cookies ever." I don't know about all that, but they were dang good. I patted myself on the back after my husband, the household cook who thinks crab stuffed lobster is a regular weekly dish, ate 2 cookies and said how good they were. So here are some pics - oh and don't you know in the flash of the camera they just look like miniature burger patties, but I promise they were prettier in person and even more importantly- tasted delicioso! Check it out for yourself.

Um, seriously, these look like ground beef but I promise it's not

Getting a little playful

Say "cheeeeese"

Can I have one yet, mom?

2nd batch coming out