Rattler

A week or so ago we came home from a morning out with friends. (We meaning the girls and I). For some strange reason (God. Thank you again.) I decided to jump out and take all of my things in the door before I began unbuckling and unloading the girls. Normally I will let them out as I gather the load that seems to follow us everywhere. As I approached the door I saw a snake coiled on the doorstep.

Readers, you should know before reading any further that I am terrified of snakes. Even a small garden snake can send me to a week of nightmares. I come by it honest as my Mother is the same.

Had the snake been a garden snake I would have been upset. Had the snake been a small snake I would have been upset. This snake was more. He was easily 20 inches long and thicker around than any snake I had EVER seen outside of a cage or an animal show. His coloring also indicated this was not a garden snake. He hissed his long tongue and I went screaming back to the car. I jumped in and locked the doors...as if snakes can unlock a door. I watched him closely as I called the hubs. No answer. I called the Y where he plays basketball...busy signal. I called a neighbor. No answer. Panic was setting in. Then suddenly my 80-something year old neighbor, Mr. Doolittle, came home. I carefully climbed over to the passenger side of the vehicle so the snake wouldn't see me get out and ran across the street....locking the girls in the car behind me. He grabbed a shovel and came back with me. By the time we got back, the snake was gone. Of course this means he is loose somewhere around our house. Mr. Doolittle helped get the girls in and we locked up and stayed in the house for the rest of the day.

Ever seen finding Nemo? Specifically this scene:


For the days that followed I would grab everything in my arms and hold Cupcake's hand while saying "we go out, we go in" "we go out, we go in"
Side note - Pixar is just genius because two days of that and Cupcake was just like Nemo. Sigh.

Flash forward a few more days....Cupcake and the hubs are taking out the trash when cupcake spots the snake again. Does she run? Does she scream? Does she ask to be picked up? No. She just calmly says there's the snake. Guess she's not inheriting my terror. The hubs brought her in and told her to play inside. I went and got Mr. Doolittle and then had to leave...I was headed out anyway. Thankfully Mr. Doolittle and the hubs were able to kill him. The hubs took a picture and after having a chance to look a little closer he was in fact no garden snake...he was a Rattle Snake. A venomous snake. Whew. The fun never ends around here.

At least he's dead. Hopefully his blood trail leaves a little messages for the other rattlers in the hood....you aren't welcome here!

Ok....maybe a little

We went to the baby pictures and I digress. I guess Cutie Pie does kind of look like her Dad. My new theory:
Cupcake looks like Mom with Dad's coloring.
Cutie Pie looks like Dad with Mom's coloring.

Let me dig out a Mommy pic....

Mommy looks like Cutie Pie? :

Or Mommy looks like Cupcake? :

Daddy's girls

Have a girl? Having a girl? Girl who has a Dad? Are you a Dad with a girl?

Read this:
http://www.fromdatestodiapers.com/50-rules-for-dads-of-daughters

Granted, I'm a Daddy's girl.
Granted, I have a girl.
Granted, I have another girl in my belly.
Granted, the girl I already have loves her daddy.
Granted, I love her Daddy too. Very much.

But I cried my eyes out throughout this article.

Rule #1: 1. Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.

That is where the tears started for me. Good or bad...? In my case my Dad and Mom just celebrated 32 years of marriage. I grew up in a home where they would kiss...not just a peck...at red lights. My brother and I would scream with disgust. But I took note. They would go on regular dates leaving us to the likes of our favorite babysitter Allyson. To this day I'm still in contact with Allyson and she was dear to us all the while I watched Mom and Dad making time for each other. My Dad sent flowers, gave cards, hugged, rubbed backs, and took lesser jobs for more time with us. He never missed a dance performance...often one of the few Dads there because Saturday was a good golf day after all. He was book smart, street smart, money smart, and not afraid to stand up for things even when it wasn't popular. I had a great Dad and part of marrying my man was finding someone to fill his big shoes.

That man has filled the shoes. That man is creating his own big shoes for our girls' future spouses. And, while we're early in the journey I read through each of these so thankful that Mr. Crack is a great Dad to my cupcake and I feel confident that will continue with number 2. I could gush, brag, drag on the longest post ever about how dearly I love him and how he does all of these things so well. But I'll keep it simple: We are proud of the man, Dad, and husband he is and continues to be. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing husband and daddy.

I'll give one example because I just couldn't resist the cuteness of this video I tried to sneak:

15. Dance with her. Start when she’s a little girl or even when she’s a baby. Don’t wait ‘til her wedding day.

They dance. Sometimes as prince and princess. Sometimes to just be silly. And sometimes, in true Crack team form: A DANCE OFF!!!

Zoku

Google it.

I was introduced about a month and a half ago. Thankfully parents, in-laws, grandparents and family don't rely on Facebook to tell them it's your birthday. That's a different soap box.

My Mother-in-law sent me a recipe book and Zoku maker for my special day. It was such a fun gift! Seriously...if you need a fun gift for someone look no further. Of course it has all the elements of high value to me: health, creativity, mod marketing, and kid friendly. I was seriously so excited for my new "toy." Then we were out of town. Then we got sick. Then I was on kitchen strike for a week or so because everything was tasteless with the cold I had lingering.

Finally...the hubs and I broke out the zoku for our first round of pops. We opted for the seasonally appropriate, healthy, and fresh strawberry lime recipe for our first go. We didn't do anything super fancy. Just a few layers. About 10 minutes of prep time. About 10 minutes of freezing time. A couple of Michael Jackson hits on Grace (our internet radio transmitter whom I also love). And....

GLORY!!! No lie I would have eaten all 6 of our first pops if:
1. The hubs hadn't been helping thus earning his share.
2. I wasn't at the fun point in pregnancy when too much food means a hour or so of discomfort and feeling as though (to quote my beloved high school principal) "I've stuffed 2 pounds of meat in a one pound bag" (principal said quote in relation to girls who should not be wearing certain clothing that they were...it was funnier when he said it but still appropriate for my ever stretching mid section)

The pops are soooooo good. I literally am becoming "that" girl who detests all things high fructose corn syrup, red dyed, tons of added sugar. Gag. Of course that's an even easier thing to give up when you can have such yummy healthy freshness in no time flat. Wanna come by for a pop? A little advanced notice and you have an open invite. There's a ton of other recipes we want to try and making them for a friend sounds like the perfect excuse to Zoku!

Check out these beauties:

And excuse the late night, prego puffed face:


Zoku! Whooo Hooo!!! Thanks again, Sally!

Fathers Day...

We LOVE celebrating a man so worth celebrating! Cupcake's Dad is soooooo amazing. She really loves him (so do I!!) and so each year, come June, a weekend of celebrating him is a total joy!

This year we celebrated with a sweet cinnamon roll breakfast on the porch on Saturday, a pool party and grill out with our friends, the Martins, and some other Dads Saturday evening, church together and some gifts on Sunday morning, and then dinner out at a very favorite Italian restaurant followed by some splashing at a splash park with the Conleys. Of course we had lots of hugs and kisses and wishing of Happy Birthday too. After all any day that is "your" day is a birthday to a 2 yr old. Here's cupcake on Sunday with her hero. Her shirt says proudly "I love my Daddy"
Thanks for being a hero, a strength, a prince charming, a leader, a teacher, a song singer, book reader, tickle monster, breakfast maker, diaper changer, game player, bed jumping, hair doing, ball kicking, tea party attending, Annie acting out, praying, loving, Dad! We are so proud to call you ours!

Good morning

He's got a sense of humor that Hubs of mine. Most times I laugh, I confess others I roll my eyes, and finally when the camera is rolling....my eyes aren't...at least on the outside they aren't.



Good Morning!

Hmmm....

Recently I posted on the kind of husband I have. You can re-read his awesomeness here. Somehow in my post I forgot to mention that he is also the kind of husband who had to buy a wedding band that is too large to actually fit his ring finger in order to get it over his previously-injured-in-basketball ring finger knuckle. Apparently that incident was "memorable" enough to also forever be the motivation behind taking off his wedding ring every time he plays basketball. Now, when your husband is a total stud on the court (mine is!) it's hard to see him wedding band-less. Of course he proudly wears his wedding ring when mowing the grass in knee high socks, safety goggles, and an allergy mask. But, Basketball-Hubs Extraordinaire is ring-less.

Now, what is the likely hood that of the 10 fingers on the husband I have, he would relive the exact ring finger injury? Apparently pretty likely:


Ewww! Now we're wedding band-less for a healing period. Guess I should keep the hubs on grass mowing duty and away from courts, fields, and all of his other studly ventures for safe keeping until his band fits again. If it fits again...

Father's Day...a little late

I almost forgot to upload these pictures!

For Father's Day we went Kayaking on Brushy Creek. Chris was super excited to try out the water with Chloe. At first she misunderstood life jacket for straight jacket and was holding herself very still....as you can see in the picture. Then she learned she could move around even though she was wearing a bulky vest! We loaded up and took off. For the first 15 minutes or so she would scream "weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" with each paddle Chris and I took. She also waved at everyone that would pass by as if she were Ms. America. Then she wanted to splash the water so we let her lean over the edge and splash a bit. At this point we're in the middle of the creek and she abruptly lets us know she is done. Just like that "all done." So we quickly returned to shore and called it a great first kayaking adventure!We went over to the splash park that is also part of the Brushy Creek Park for some splashing and sno-cones. Yum!

Finally we came home and had a special father's day dinner with all local grown produce and meat: Brisket, twice baked new potatoes, and blackberry crisp.


Chloe and I are so proud of Chris and loved the chance to celebrate him on his special day!!

Pee Babash Day!

After a morning of practicing, Pee Babash Day was cupcake's best attempt at Happy Father's Day! One out of three words perfect though isn't that bad, right?!

Happy Father's Day to our Dads! We love you...

Happy Mother's Day

to our Moms. We love you!

Happy Birthday Chris!

He's working on his facials....I'd say he's learning quite well!

This was Chris's first birthday as a Daddy so Chloe and I each got him a little something and then worked on making a cake together. She played with utensils while I did the baking...then I iced it while she threw some sprinkles on. Of course this leaning concoction can only be credited to what happens when you are trying to make a fun project for a 10 month old out of baking a cake. Perfection goes out the window. At least it's on par for being a Dad, right?

Happy Birthday Chris, Chloe and I love you!

Just because...

Chloe's 10 month birthday was yesterday...and I've got the awaited bear pictures coming soon, I promise! But in the meantime, University of Texas has been at the top of our blog long enough...

Here's a few fun Cupcake updates:

A week ago Joshua came over for dinner and playing while his parents went out for dinner. We let them have a little dinner date of their own. Clearly Chloe is thrilled beyond measure. Not sure if Joshua was as enthused. We've never seen her act like she did at dinner. She watched his every bite and squealed between each of hers. It was sooooo funny. Click this picture (really any of them can be clicked anytime) to see her pure joy in full view!












And for those (me included) that are in Camp Chris (the camp of folks that think Chloe looks like Chris) here's another goodie for you:

First Father's Day

Happy First Father's Day Chris!

Sunday was a special day as it was Chris's first year to be celebrated on Father's Day. I had been tossing around so many ideas for this big day and slowly each of them fell off the list for various reasons. I am someone who loves to throw a party, make someone feel special, or buy gifts so this would normally be a day to exercise all of those but I just didn't have the "big idea" that I was hoping for. Worse yet (only worse for me great work Sally!), while Sally was in town, she left me some money and instructions to get him a picture cake. We picked a picture of Chloe and Chris and I dropped if off at the grocery store. It was the cutest idea and super thoughtful. When I was checking out at the grocery store people thought the idea was brilliant! But I had to admit it was my Mother-in-laws idea and that I had nothing for our special new dad!

FEAR NOT Crack Team Chronicle blog stalkers for I work fabulously under pressure. Saturday afternoon I came up with an idea and thanks to Brudder and Kari being in town to help with Chloe I was able to pull it off. I started a DAD book for Chris. Each year we will put pictures of him from that year on the page listed with that year. I had one little journal box where we (Chloe and I) listed everything we were proud of him for doing this year. I had another journal box where I listed Chloe's favorite things to do with Dad. We'll mimic the same format each year so that one day he can look back and see how his relationship with his kiddos has grown and changed over the years. It turned out exactly like I hoped and Chris loved it! I can't wait to add to it each year and can't wait until the day Chloe can tell me all by herself what it is she likes doing best with Daddy! For now I used my best Mommy judgement and the list included things like: - Cuddling on the couch - Swimming - Riding face out in the baby carrier on Dad's chest - Getting hugs and kisses

Anyway, we went to church as a family and then to Brunch with My Brudder, Kari, and The Martins. Chris sang in the night esemble at church and we sat in the front row to get a close view of our favorite singer. Finally we ended the night with Chinese take out and candle lights...and of course the cake, the other gifts, and cards. Unfortunately I did a lousy job of taking pictures on Fathers Day so I only have one of Chris and the cake and one that the Martins took of us (THANK YOU Liza!). I'll also include Chris's first picture as a Dad...amazing how things have changed in three short months.

Happy Father's Day, King Crack. We love you!!!

We're public again...

Ok, ok, I give in! We're a public blog again. It seemed safe and secure to be "private" but I've heard the cries of having to sign in, having to have a gmail account, wanting to be able to send it to your friends etc....so we're live. Feel free to share our blog address again. Sorry for the temporary inconvience.

Since I've heard every good post has a photo...here are baby pictures of Chris and I. I still think Chloe looks so much like Chris. :)

More posts soon!

Sweet Friday

This morning was a dark and rainy morning. It was the kind of rain that is heavy enough to hear it's drumming pattern on the roof without being a huge thrashing storm. So I pulled Chloe into bed with me for some cuddle time. We listened to the rain, I sang some lullabies and Chloe cooed along as best she could. It was such a sweet morning that I could temporarily forget that I haven't had more than three consecutive hours of sleep in 5 weeks, that my house is a wreck, and that the groceries in our fridge resemble that of a college aged male. In fact I'd almost call it a perfect morning except we were missing one huge thing...CHRIS. Thank goodness it's Friday and we're about to have the whole weekend with our favorite guy.

Speaking of Chris, last weekend he gave Chloe her first bottle. It was so sweet and sexy too to see him share in the precious moments of feeding her. She is so content when eating that I'd been anxious for Chris to have his chance to share a "meal" with her...just the two of them. Of course I was right there with the camera to catch the moment on film :). I LOVE the way she's looking at him. I know the feelings of trust, security, love, and attraction she feels in his arms. I never imagined sharing my man could be so dear...but its obvious, Chloe loves her Daddy and I know just how that feels!!!

Live from Austin, it's Chloe and Chris!!!

Yay! We're LIVE...kind of. Here's a video of Chris in action with Baby Chloe. Now the updates can be even more exciting....like Chloe spitting up ;).

Sorry I've been lame with the updates, I was just hoping to have fun news to share. Sadly my blood pressures are still up and Chloe has developed reflux. So I get frustrated with the 4 times a day blood pressure monitoring and Chloe fills the in between with tears and spit up. We're a mess...but a blissful, love-filled mess. We're trying all the "tricks" to make the reflux better for our little girl but apparently the best "trick" of all is to give it time.

This weekend Chris's Mom will be here. We're excited for Chloe to meet her Grandma and for us to have an extra set of hands around for the weekend.

That's all for now but I hope to get more pictures and videos up here soon!

Monumental Dentist trip....

Clearly the Crack Team takes our teeth seriously. Of course we would never eat Easter egg dye to see if it would stain our teeth like it does eggs. (It does, which is why we think all those boxes say parental supervision suggested).

After getting married we did the whole Dr. shuffle where we tried to align the Dr.'s we'd be attending. Chris was quick to X my dentist from the list. Something about him being tall, dark, handsome, with bleached teeth...and from Kingwood that made him unfit to have his hands in my mouth. So, we went with Chris's dentist. In fairness they are 3 minutes from our house (mine was 30ish), they let you watch TV, and they are pretty quick with the routine stuff. So, for the past 2.5 years we've faithfully gone to his dentist each 6 months for our appointments at the same time. We usually celebrate our clean bill of health by promptly eating out afterwards. I have no cavities...not even one....so I figure we might as well enjoy getting the post clean slime feeling gone as quick as possible.

Anyway, yesterday was a monumental dentist trip for the Crack team. Noooo...I didn't get a cavity! It was our last one together...by next time we'll have a baby in the family. While we might be nuts enough to eat Easter egg dye, we know LOTS better than using our babysitting fund for his and her dental appointments. Soooooo, I'll have my on Monday and Chris's on Tuesday. I almost choked up while doing the fluoride treatment. I'm sure there are many more things that will be changing come March 20th but I just had to post about our dentist trip. I realized how many things I like doing with Chris...even getting my teeth flossed. Goodbye Duo Dental trips...don't worry we finished off with a meal at Jason's Deli complete with the free ice cream and topped with Chocolate Syrup.

Trick or treat...

It's been a long time since I've updated our blog, I know. I have a post from September that I've been wanting to catch up on which has bottle necked the posting. Anyway, I'm jumping ahead and one day

I'll go back.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Here's a sneak peak of our day even though it's only morning so far:

Creep Cakes - Chris wanted something spidery to take to work so we did Creep Cake Spiders. I hope they are yummy. I'm still a little hesitate to indulge in that much sweet stuff but I did eat a few legs (pretzels dipped in chocolate!).

Deal or No Deal - Chris was SUPER creative this year and came up with his own costume idea so all I had to do was help pull it together. He's Howie and Deal or No Deal! Each tin has a prize ranging from A Rock (Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown) all the way up to a $25 Movie Theater Gift Card. People can "play him" for prizes all day long! I hope he has as fun at work as we did making the costume!

I'll be heading up to his office later this afternoon for a little party in my own costume but will have to send pictures later...both because I haven't made it yet AND because I can't take a picture of myself. Stay tuned...

Hope you get some good candy!

Bill-paying Blues

Surely you can imagine where I am going with this....

It's that time of the month where receipts are accounted for, bills are paid, and we see where I've gone over budget this month - usually clothes, gifts, or house stuff. It's not my favorite thing we do together at the Crack house but it has to be done.

This month, Chris decided to make it a little better. He pulled out his day of the week 'stashes he got as a birthday gift for his sister and put one on. Once I snapped a shot or two he demanded I sport the 'stash too. Needless to say, for those 10 minutes we weren't so concerned with balancing the books or double checking each receipt!

Next time you are in the midst of bill-paying blues, reach for a 'stash.

Cinco de Mayo

Still playing catch up here...


Saturday May 3 - 4 was Chris's Premier Team's annual Cinco de Mayo tournament in San Antonio Texas. I was most excited for the tourney this year because our friend Matt has been playing on the team with Chris. Matt and Jenn have been dear friends to us and sadly their time in Austin will end in August as Matt has accepted a professor job at the University of Colorado. While we are excited for them we're selfishly sad to see them go.


Sooooo, the tournament was a great time for me to hang out with Jenn and Soren, their adorable one year old. The guys headed to the tourney early on Saturday morning for their first game and then Jenn, Soren, and I drove down for the second game. We cheered them on for the rest of Saturday and then drove back to Austin for a fun cook-out at Matt and Jen's house.


Los Anejos, the team, won two and lost one on Saturday which meant they advanced to Sunday's semi-finals. Chris can be credited for a goal, several headers (his Mom's favorite) and as always, being the "gazelle" who burns by everyone with his speed. Sadly, on Sunday they lost in the semi-final round. However, by this point most of the guys were fairly sore and sunburned so as one guy from the team pointed out...in someways they won by loosing.

Chris and I went to San Antonio's famous Alamo Cafe for a post tourney lunch. Yum! Another year of Cinco under our belt but with out Matt and Jenn...it just won't be the same next year.

Chris did awesome, as always and I had fun with our new camera!!!