Houston Color Run

Right before Thanksgiving, some of us from the math department got together and did the Houston Color Run.  The Color Run is a 5K run/walk through downtown that raises money for a local charity that works with veterans.   All along the route, there are stations set up where volunteers throw colored powder at you.  Messy?  Absolutely.  Super fun?  Absolutely!

The four of us at the start line -- all smiles in our clean white t-shirts!

Waiting at the start line... behind about 10,000 other runners.

The pink station.  I think the volunteers had as much fun as we did!

We had to stop mid-race and take a picture with the downtown skyline.

The blue station -- glad we didn't have to work clean-up afterward!  What a mess!

At the finish line (with a random creeper getting in on our picture!)!

Every 15 minutes, there was a color party at the finish line where everyone threw powder at each other.  We were already super messy, so why not add a little more?

Perfect sign for the finish line!

I am by no means a runner, but I had so much fun doing this race with these ladies!  What a great way to spend my first 5K!

Trick or Treat!

Lindsay didn't really "get" Halloween last year, so it was fun introducing her to the festivities this year.  First, we carved our pumpkins... she wasn't too impressed with the process, but was very proud of the pumpkin Daddy carved for her!

Our pumpkin family.  I'm pretty sure I've carved the same pumpkin face since I was about 10 -- can't go wrong with a classic!  Todd, on the other hand, likes to mix it up every year.  I guess one of us has to color outside the lines. :)

We had the cutest chicken costume picked out to wear, but Lindsay called an audible about 10 minutes before our Halloween block party and decided she wanted to go as a ghost that my mom made for her.  It was definitely not worth the fight, and the ghost was super cute, too!

The original chicken costume -- it was my little sister's costume when she was Lindsay's age!

The last-minute costume switch to the cute ghost -- who am I to tell her she can't change her mind about what she's wearing?

After the block party, we headed out trick-or-treating.  We had explained the "rules" to her before we left -- ring doorbell, say "Trick or Treat!", they put something in your bucket, say thank you and head to the next house.  She did great, and loved seeing all the kids outside.  Todd said they ran into a complication when one house just left a bucket of candy on their front porch -- Lindsay stepped over the bucket to get to the doorbell because she knew you had to do that before you could get candy!  This girl follows procedures to the letter... Wonder where she gets that from? :)

Explaining to her that people will put things in her pumpkin after she says "Trick-or-Treat".

Ready to head out for a fun Halloween night!

She is getting to be so fun -- we are just loving this age, and next year should be even more exciting for her now that she knows what Halloween is all about!

Catching up on October Fun

Things always seem to get so busy in the fall!  Here is a re-cap of October:

In mid-October, we headed over to UT in Austin to visit Abi for sorority initiation.  Abi pledged the same sorority I was a member of in college, so I got to be a part of her initiation -- only she had no idea I was coming!  My family worked really hard to keep her in the dark about our plans, and she was completely surprised.  It is so special to share the bond of AXO with her!

Lindsay and Aunt Abi at the UT AXO house

The next weekend, we visited the Pumpkin Patch at a local church with Grandma and Grandpa.  Lindsay thought this was the greatest place ever -- it was hard to get her to stay still for a picture because she wanted to touch all of the pumpkins!

I'm pretty sure she's talking to the pumpkins in this one -- she's getting to the point where she will talk to just about anything (unless you're a man with facial hair or if you walk up behind her)!

"I want this one, Daddy!"

Finally found a Lindsay-sized one!

Halloween is up next... it was so fun, it deserves its own post! :)

Number Sense

I love listening to Lindsay play.  She is getting into pretending now, and it is so fun to hear her talk to someone on the "phone" or tell her stuffed animals what to do (oh yes, we've got a bossy one on our hands!).

Last night was all about counting to herself.  Most people count to 3 (as in "1, 2, 3, go!"), but our little one has a thing for counting to 13.  So, after a few rounds of 1 to 13, our conversation went like this...


Lindsay: "...., 11, 12, 13!"

Me: "What comes next?"

Lindsay:  "Hmmm..."

Me:  "What comes after 13?"

After a brief pause, she looked at me and very matter-of-factly said, "Lindsay-teen."


Oh yeah, her future math teachers are going to love that. :)

Mmm, Mmm, Crockpot!

With school starting back, dinner around our house has taken a hit... well, to be honest, it really couldn't get much worse.  I like to cook, but with a little one around, I've found it really hard to get motivated to do something that will only add to the "needs to be cleaned up" list around here!

I decided to stop being lazy this week and had Todd help me make a meal plan for the week.  If we're both in on it, it will be harder to back out! :)  Tonight, we tried Shredded Chicken Tacos, a crock pot recipe from my friend Tanya.  One word -- AMAZING!  It was easy, filling, tasted great, and there are enough for leftovers another night this week.  My kind of meal!

Even more than we loved the chicken tacos, I love that I work with some awesome moms that will share their family-approved, time-saving meals!

Baby Spaghetti

I must have been feeling really brave tonight when I decided to cook spaghetti for dinner with a toddler! :)

California, here we come! (pt. 1)

Todd had a conference in San Diego this past June, so we headed out to sunny California with my family to visit the west coast.  We had a wonderful time checking out LA and San Diego -- the weather was such a nice change to Texas heat!

First stop was Anaheim for some fun at Disneyland.  Lindsay was 17 months at the time, and we weren't sure how she would react to the characters or if she would enjoy any of the rides.  To our delight, she absolutely loved it!  Disney must run in her genes. :)

We stayed at The Grand Californian, which is a lot like The Wilderness Lodge in Florida.  The best part about the hotel is that it has its own private entrance to one of the parks!  It was so convenient to be close to everything with a little one in tow.  The time change also made a huge difference, because our baby that normally slept until 8:30 was ready to go at 6:30 -- perfect timing for the parks that opened at 7!

Riding the Rides

Toy Story Midway Mania with Lollie and Pops

A kid version of Mad Hatter Teacups.  She was NOT impressed!

Favorite Ride of the trip: Small World with Aunt Abi

Second favorite ride: Ariel's Carousel.  She thought she was big stuff riding this one!

Meeting the Characters

Her favorite character is Minnie Mouse -- she ran right up to her!

Loving on Minnie

She didn't want to leave Mickey Mouse!

She was also really excited to meet "To-to"

Random pics from around the parks

Lindsay and Mommy in front of the Ferris Wheel

She loved her Tigger souvenir!

Lindsay and Lollie

All in all, Disneyland is definitely no Walt Disney World, but it was fun and nostalgic for me to see how it all began.  The weather was beautiful (and sometimes even "cold" to us Texans!), and we didn't feel rushed at all to see everything we wanted to see in the 2 days we were there.  We also lucked out that the new Cars Land had just opened at California Adventure (the other Disney park in CA) -- it drew the crowds away from Disneyland itself, so the lines were all pretty short!  It was a great way to spend a few days in LA! :)

Our Little American Idol?

Lindsay is definitely getting into singing!  Here are two of our favorite singing moments from this summer.  First up is "Call Me Maybe":

And then "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (sorry that it's blurry at first, I didn't realize it until she was finished with the song!)

The Big 3-0

In May, I turned the big 3-0... a major life milestone worth celebrating!  Since my birthday fell over a holiday weekend, Todd surprised me by suggesting that we take a special trip somewhere.  We went back and forth, but finally decided on a "grown-up celebration" at DisneyWorld in Florida.

It was fun to be treated so special by Disney on my birthday!

This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime trip -- how many times in your life will you be at Disney World on your birthday?!?  Since the little one was staying home with grandparents, we decided to the things we'd never do on a trip with family.  We visited multiple parks each day, hung out in a hammock on the Polynesian beach and watched the fireworks, ate at some amazing restaurants, and even played at the Magic Kingdom one night until 3 AM!!  We also took the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour at Magic Kingdom, a behind-the-scenes guided tour full of Disney trivia and things you don't have access to as a regular guest in the park.  It was amazing, and I highly recommend it if you're a Disney fan!

Birthday Breakfast -- Mickey Waffles!

Our home for the weekend -- The Grand Floridian

We hit all four parks on my actual birthday -- Animal Kingdom to ride Expedition Everest, Epcot to shop their awesome store (hey, Test Track was closed! :/), Hollywood Studios for Toy Story and Rockin' Roller Coaster, and Magic Kingdom to take a picture in front of the castle. :)  Then it was off to California Grill for my birthday dinner and Magic Kingdom fireworks! 

Mickey Bar -- Best Birthday Cake ever!

Todd also got to have some fun on this trip... for his birthday, I surprised him with a driving experience at the Walt Disney World Speedway!  He got to drive one of his favorite cars, the Audi R8.  Now he's convinced we need one -- yeah, right!  Even if we could come up with the ridiculous amount of cash needed, where would we put the car seat?  And would you really want that temptation sitting in the garage when your kids turn 16?  :)

Todd with his super fun car for the day :)

We had an amazing time celebrating my birthday in Florida, and I can't wait to see where Todd decides to go for his big birthday next year!

4th of July

We are so blessed!  Blessed to live in a country where we have the freedom to have an opinion, and blessed to have brave men and women to protect that freedom every day.  Blessed to live in a wonderful community that offers so many family-friendly opportunities.  And blessed to have a great little family!  Here's our sweet one at the 4th of July parade:

Watching the high school band come down the street

Favorite part of the parade - the flag someone handed her.  She had so much fun waving it!

While she loved the parade, she was not a big fan of the fireworks -- when we asked her if they were pretty, she said, "No... go inside?"  Guess the bright, loud, exploding lights in the sky were not her thing this year. :)  Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!

Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your Engines!

Yes, that's right, Lindsay has officially become mobile!  When I went to pick her up today after school, here's what she was doing:

She has taken a few steps here and there before, but today was her first time to really take off.  I think she looks so adorable up on two legs!

Even though she's been a little bit of a late walker, she's been putting her brain power to good use.  Here we are "singing" our ABC's.  We like to sing it fill-in-the-blank style (pardon the Blair Witch Project-esque cinematography... it's hard get a good video of a little one when they're sitting in your lap!):

Lindsay counting, May 2012.  Makes a mommy - especially a math teacher mommy! - proud! (the cutest part is the first 26 seconds... I only put up the rest of it because Blogger wouldn't load the edited version!  Sorry!)

Spring Happenings, Part 2

Other big events this Spring included a trip to the grand re-opening of Texas A&M's Memorial Student Center (MSC) and our 15 month check-up!

A few weekends ago, we headed up to College Station for the grand re-opening of A&M's MSC.  Todd and I both have very fond memories of the MSC from our college days, and we wanted to see what the long-anticipated renovation was all about.  And we thought just maybe it would help subliminally establish a little Maroon & White love in Lindsay. :)  Here are a few pics:

Yay for the new MSC!

The new 12th Man Hall (we're standing on the walkway to Rudder Tower)

Out by Rudder Fountain (it's still there, Todd and Lindsay are facing it)

The entrance across from Kyle Field (where the old "main entrance" used to be)

Sul Ross Statue

Of course we had to take her by the place it all started... The Century Tree!

Lindsay's 15-month stats...
- 23 pounds & 31.5 inches long
- crawling everywhere, pulling up, walks holding onto your finger... but refuses to do it by herself!
- definitely experiencing stranger danger
- uses a cup most of the time, but still takes a bottle at night before bed
- eats pretty much everything, but her favorites are "samiche" (sandwiches), milk, "eeweios" (Cheerios), apples, and peas
- has 4 top teeth, 3 bottom teeth, and is starting on a top molar!
- sleeps from 8:30 PM to 8:00 AM, takes one good long afternoon nap
- talks up a STORM and will repeat almost anything - she loves her animal sounds!
- favorite things: puzzles, books, her pink chair since she can get in it by herself, and helping us sing "You are My Sunshine"

Caught in the chair!

We'll take some videos soon so she can show you her talking and animal noise skills!

Spring Happenings, part 1

Seems like Spring is the busiest time of the year!  Here's a quick update about what we've been up to...

This Spring, Lindsay had the chance to visit with all 4 sides of great-grandparents!  Todd's Grandpa Sheets is staying with Todd's parents for a few months, and Todd's Grandpa and Grandma Anglin came down to visit for a few weeks at the end of March.  Lindsay was a little shy around them at first, but warmed up by the time they left and had lots of fun learning to say their names!  On my side of the family, we had lunch with Grammie over Spring Break, and Memaw came down at the beginning of May for a weekend.  We are so lucky to have such loving extended families!

Lindsay and Memaw (my mom's mom)

In April, we had lots of fun celebrating Easter with Lindsay, who was a little more interested than she was last year!  She's still not into hiding or hunting, but she LOVED plastic eggs -- something about opening and closing them fascinated her.  She's going to be really excited in a few years when she figures out that people usually put fun toys and candy inside....

Look at that pose...

Thank you for the fun book and bunny cup, Grandma Marge!  We love reading about Peter Rabbit!

Getting to be such a big girl!

 Up next... a visit to the New MSC at A&M and a 15 month update!