Weird Comments
Hi Dear Friends and Family,
We just got a strange comment from some random person (still trying to figure out how to delete it) and have decided that only invitees can view our blog. I know I can moderate the comments from now on, but there's really no reason to leave our blog open to the world wide web. So, if you'd like to see our blog from now on, just email me or leave a comment and I'll add you to the list of VIP's. Sorry to complicate things but knowing that any weirdo can read all about our family kinda gives me the creeps! Hope all of our loyal friends and family will stick with us :)
Team Mathews
Ps. If you're reading this, that means I haven't set it to private, yet.
Baby Einstein
"Oh look, Will is holding the telephone up to his ear!" my friend Amanda exclaimed enthusiastically as Will held the nostalgic Fisher-Price pull along telephone receiver up to his ear. From the design, I'm guessing this telephone has been around for ages. "Is this Lauren's from when she was little or is it new and it just has a retro look to it?" one of the moms asked. I was puzzled, "You know, I don't know how he knows to hold that up to his ear? We don't have a telephone like that?" "He's just that smart, Emily!" Emanuela exclaimed. We all sat in wonder and amazement for the next two minutes wondering what trick Baby Einstein would perform next. I decided to play telephone with him for a few minutes until he was distracted by the plastic peanut butter and jelly and a cluster of grapes.
"Guys? Nevermind about the telephone. He's holding the grapes up to his ear."
Pushing My Toys Around
I have shown very little interest in push-toys or even walking with my mom holding my hands ...until today. After dinner tonight for almost an hour, I pushed my ABC abacus toy up and down our entry way.
Playing at the Park
It's been so warm here in Georgia. My mom and I spent more time playing at the park.
My Favorite Place to Play
77 and Sunny
Today I spent my day playing outside and it was HOT! My mom turned on the air conditioning in her car on the way home from the park because we were burning up. Then when I got home it was nap time so my mom let me sleep in just my t-shirt. I'm so glad she took those socks and shoes off of me, too.
We also have a new place that we love to go to called The Flying Biscuit Cafe. I think they call it that because I throw the biscuits on the floor when I go there. They just opened their doors in our neighborhood and we are so glad about it. If you come visit us, I will probably take you here!Oh and Ps. I now love Chik-Fil-A chicken. That is all for today.
A "Hare"-Raising Experience
But only after trying on our own and failing miserably! (Where is Aunt Leah when you need her?!)
The clippers didn't seem to bother him too much. Although, he had a little distraction.
Not only his first haircut but his first taste of real sugar!
Bye-bye little baby mullett!
All done! He did a great job of sitting still. When she started buzzing around his ears, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
*Yes, I do realize that for the price of the boy's hair cut I could've bought a pair of clippers and buzzed it myself. I do plan to do this for future hair cuts :)
Santa!
10 Months
Anyway! Back to me! I am officially 10 months old!
Guys, next month I will be 11 months! Can you believe it?
Jesse's Birthday Celebration- Fogo. De Wow!
Since Jesse was busy on his birthday we had a family celebration on Saturday with cake.
I made the teensy mistake of putting an "Over the Hill" candle on Jesse's cake. Oops. I thought it was 30, he said 40. We had to call in reinforcements. We called Jesse's dad. He did confirm that Jesse was right. And yes, they laughed at me.
So after our family celebration, we put big guy to bed, and anxiously awaited the arrival of OUR BABYSITTER! I am a bit embarrassed to admit that this was our FIRST DATE since Will was born. I can't believe we didn't do this sooner. The problem has been finding someone to watch Will (no family close and our friends either have children of their own or they're single.) AND he has always been unpredictable at bedtime. So I borrowed my friend's babysitter (yes, the one who I borrow everything from including doctors, hair stylists, and fun events-Mrs. Councill) and out we went. I tried to keep our destination a surprise as long as possible. Since Jesse got a GPS system for his birthday (Thanks Dad and Pops and Mom M.!) I programmed the address in and told him just to follow the directions. He kept guessing. And guessing. Finally I caved and told him where we were going. We went to Fogo De Chao for the first time since being in Atlanta. We were told about the restaurant by a friend before we even moved here and have wanted to try it for a while.
So we finally made it and were more than impressed. Fogo. De. Chao. is a Braz.ilian steakhouse that specializes in churrasco, slowly roasting meats over an open fire. The idea is sort of a one size fits all restaurant. You pay a flat rate which includes the salad bar, entree, sides, and bread. Sounds just like Gold.en Corral, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Not even close.
Start with the lavish salad bar which would put GC to shame; sundried tomatoes, enormous asparagus and hearts of palm, artichokes, roasted red peppers, fresh balls of mozzarella, prosciutto, bacon, smoked salmon, soups, and a variety of breads and cheeses.
Here's how the entree works. They give you a round card that looks like a coaster, one side red the other green. When you're ready for your entree, flip the card green side up. They will scurry over with skewers of succulent (never used that word in my life) roasted meats to your table to be carved to your plate. When you need a break, flip your card red side up. Jesse and I both made the mistake of leaving our card green side up. The gaucho chefs were ready to carve filet mignon, bacon wrapped chicken, leg of lamb, beef ribs, and pork loin faster than we could say, "UNCLE!"
In addition to the entree of roasted meats, also included are mashed potatoes, fried polenta, fried bananas, and my personal favorite the pao de queijo (cheese bread). I nearly reached over and slapped Jesse in the face it was so good. I couldn't help but ask our server what the secret ingredient was. Just a simple concoction of eggs, milk, salt, parmesan cheese, and tapiocoa flour. Crispy on the outside and soft and cheesy in the middle. "Would you like me to bring you some to take home?" he asked quietly as he looked over his shoulder. "Would you?" I smiled. "Yes, we're not suppose to but..." He brought back a styrofoam case of goodness to our table. I stuck it in my (big) purse to protect our friend from getting in trouble.
I think it's safe to say this was the best steak house we've ever experienced. Ever.
And it is that, an experience. So it's much more fun.
Along with the food, we both tremendously enjoyed our time alone. Jesse said, "I feel like I have my life back." Did he mean wife? We did commit to making a date night every other weekend, even just for coffee.
Ps. Aunt Susan-they just opened one in Beverly Hills in 2006. I think when you are feeling up to it, it should be a Post-SCT celebration for sure!
Happy Birthday Daddy!
Puttin' Up the Tree
Did you guys know these berries were edible?
Hey, this must be mine!
My dad puts the finishing touch on the tree
Here's me the next morning checking it out.
Our First Thanksgiving
I tried a little bit of turkey and maybe a green bean or two. It was ok. I was really crazy for the pumpkin pie, though!
For dessert, my friend Riley invited us over. He had all kinds of family there. There were kids everywhere!
Here's us with our mommies...
There is never a shortage of fun when we get together...
Here's me with my folks. I liked Thanksgiving and can't wait to do it again next year!
ZZZZzzz...
Was going to upload some pictures from last week but then looked at the clock and realized it's after midnight! Needless to say I've been busy and a little behind! So... I will update this weekend. Until then, I'm going to bed and hoping my cute little alarm clock will automatically snooze itself to 8:30. Unlikely, he's pretty on the dot with "dadadadadadadaaaaa!" every morning at 7:30am. Why can't he say "momma?" I am the one who goes to get him in the mornings?
Thinking Outside the Jar
I can't believe nobody in my area has really told me about this place (especially my friend who always has information on EVERYTHING local for me-yes you Jennie Councill!) It's a Whole Foods store. I shopped at the Whole Foods in Buckhead on my way home from PB when we lived in Atlanta. It's way too far to drive now so I was happy to find Harry's. As they say, "if you're looking for it at Harry's they've got it. If you're not looking for it, you may get it any way." I went in for a Thanksgiving turkey and some honey crisp apples. I walked out with honey crisp apples and baby food. ONLY those two items because my husband and sleeping baby were in the car and I was like a child at Disneyland running from one exciting aisle to another.
So my story with the baby food is that I have been having trouble finding convenient foods for Will to eat that are healthy, interesting, and fresh. Let's face it, Gerber is boring! He is not quite wanting what we're eating but kind of over the baby food. I would love nothing more than to make/puree all of his baby food but I don't really have the time to do it all. So today while scurrying through Harry's I found some frozen baby food; Plum and Happy Baby. Both are flash frozen, organic, healthy, and carry intersting ingredients like bay leaf, corriander, and cinnamon.
I purchased supergreens multigrain, red lentil veggie, chicken whole grain pasta, mama grain (bananas, quinoa, and black beans), and baby dhal (carrots, potatoes, lentils, spices). I'm keeping my fingers crossed and one eye open when feeding it to him. Hoping he'll have adventurous taste buds like his mommy! Playing in the Leaves, Playing with Daddy
Have one, they're tasty.
Too distracted by daddy's hat to be ticklish!
First Balloon
My mom and I went grocery shopping at Trader Joe's today. I got my first balloon. Loved it! I carried it with me to take a tubby (bath) and stared and yelled at it the whole time. Then when it was time for bed, I wanted to take it to bed with me. I can't wait to get another balloon at Trader Joe's!