Oohhh, boy...

We have had some exciting events happening around here in the past few days. On Friday night, we noticed Alex "clapping" for the first time- it's a really cute grab-clasp-repeat kind of action. He seems to be doing it on purpose and even did it in response to Michelle this weekend at the horse races- wow! (Horse races: www.baymeadows.com) On Saturday morning, we heard Alex in his crib "talking" to himself and when I went in, he was standing at the rail of his crib, shaking it a little. Tonight, I watched him pull himself up entirely, with the help of his humidifier. He was sitting on the floor, reached up his hands to the top of the humidifier (off), and pulled himself to a standing position. Oh, my, we're really in for it now... :)
Here is a picture of him standing.
(Judy, I know you read the blog and we received your beautiful flowers today- THANK YOU! Do you have a new email address?)

"Juno" - so great!

Two weekends ago, Andy and I saw Juno with some friends. It was a great movie and I would certainly recommend it! I was so surprised that this movie could make me laugh and cry. If you get the chance to watch it, do! Happy Friday!!

93% Fresh! Wow!
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/juno/

WHAT just happened??

The Orange Bowl? For real?! :) Go Hawks!

Fall...ing leaves

Although we live in Sunny California, where it is always warm-ish, some of the trees are changing colors this fall. There are some beautiful shades of burnt orange and red on the Sycamores around our area; I really should take some pictures. Fall makes me think of school, football, and fun times with friends. (I have been keeping up better with the Blog for Alex, so I have neglected my own blog.)
Since I blogged last, I have been able to:
a. finish three books
b. see three movies at the theater
c. watch KU football (They are ranked #4 in the nation- HUH?!) on weekends.

Three books- Middlesex, Wednesday Night Witches, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
(Three very different books, all entertaining in their own ways)
Three movies- Resurrecting the Champ, Michael Clayton, and American Gangster
(Best of the three- MICHAEL CLAYTON)
KU Football- Who would have ever believed this?!

MOVIES!

I've been able to get to the movies THREE times in the last week, because The Peoples have been here to help out with Alex! Last weekend, Andy and I went to see Harry Potter 5, which was really a well-done film. On Wednesday, Grandma, Grandpa, Alex, and I went to the "diaper days" movie, Hairspray, which was a fun musical. (Diaper Days means it's a theater full of moms with babies- sometimes you have to take what you can get :) Yesterday, all of the adults went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, which was awesome! (Andy and I survived the first time leaving A-man with a babysitter, too!! :)
If you want to read reviews of any of these movies, you can use the website Andy always checks, www.rottentomatoes.com

Summertime!

Summer is in full swing! The CA sun is shining, I am out of school for vacation...... oh, and we had our son, Alex, on May 15th! (He has his own blog, too!) Life is different around here now, but things are good!

We got a new TV since we might be spending a little more time at home. :) The TV is great, but we also got HD cable and a DVR, which really beats the old VCR! Since it's summer, we have started watching the fourth season of "Rescue Me" on FX. If you like Denis Leary, you will like this show; he's done an awesome job with the writing and the casting was perfect. It's worth watching if you have time! (http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/rescueme/)

Two weeks ago, we went to St. Augustine, Florida for a family gathering to celebrate Dick's birthday. It was a lot of fun! I took a picture of the beach and will post it here- in some areas on the East Coast, you can drive cars on the beach, which seems strange, but everyone does it. Anywhoo, it was a great time and it was really fun to see everyone!

This last weekend, we went to our friend Velia's wedding and reception. She looked beautiful and we had a nice time- but I forgot to bring my camera!

Another exciting thing coming up is the release of the last Harry Potter book- yeah! I cannot wait until an owl drops that book off on my porch Saturday morning!!

The blog updates may come slowly, but it's still a fun way to keep up with what we're doing. Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer, too!

More Birthday Pictures!

Another picture from Andy's birthday party yesterday!

Springtime!

It's been a while since I last posted- big surprise! March Madness didn't turn out to be all we had hoped it would be, but we had a great time watching the first KU game in San Jose against Southern Illinois! For both games, there were actually a lot of KU fans in the arena and I went to both pre-game pep rallies downtown. It was a great experience and it really shows the bond you can make with other alumni, no matter where you are!

Andy and I have both been busy lately, working and getting ready for The Little Guy to get here; however, last week... on Tuesday, Andy and Brant turned 30! Tuesday night, we went to House of Genji with E and C for Andy's birthday dinner and then yesterday was his "all-day birthday party." Kenneth came up from L.A. early in the morning and then shortly after that, the boys headed out for a really wet round of golf. In the afternoon, when they finished, everyone came back here for poker and board games and then we all went out to Maria Elena's for Mexican food. After that, we went bowling! It really was an all-day fiesta and I hope Andy had a very special birthday! We all had a good time! I'll post some pictures (from my NEW digital camera :).