Solution

The most convenient place in our house for Tate's high chair is next to our table, which means it's in our main living area and over carpet. I've been looking for a drop cloth to go under his chair since he's starting to eat more on his own which means bigger messes. I couldn't find any that I liked. They all had obnoxious pictures which would be fine if it didn't have to live in my front room. I couldn't find any that were just a plain pattern. I wanted it to be sort of cute so it wouldn't be an eye sore in my dining room. So I made one. I found iron-on vinyl, a cute floral fabric, and made some bias tape to match. No, it is not perfect. And no, I do not want my mom inspecting it closely for mistakes. But it goes on the ground and catches Tate's food, and I sure like it.

Date Night

Saturday we went on a date. We have a date night swap worked out with a couple in the ward. We watch their kids one weekend and they watch Tate the next so we each get to have dates without kiddos in tow. I have really enjoyed it! I don't care what we do, it's just so so nice to be alone with my honey and to get out.

Last Saturday we didn't have anything specific planned. We went to get Tate a book for his Easter Basket, had a delicious dinner at Panera, stopped at the fabric store so I could take advantage of a sale, and then decided to go test drive cars. Nope, we're not going to be buying one any time soon, but it sounded like a fun (and FREE) date night activity. So we called our friends to ask them look up dealers nearby and then wound up at an Acura dealership. Glenn drove. We wound around for a while, enjoyed the new car smell and the pretty interior. So many buttons. Glenn tested the pick up, not super impressed. We were headed back to the dealership and missed the exit so we tried to circled around and missed it again. So we're winding around for the third time, trying to find our way on the back roads, getting frustrated and quite lost, and we see police lights in the rear view mirror. Yep, pulled over for speeding. Glenn had to take care of a speeding ticket over the Christmas break to get it off his record so being pulled over again was really bad news. The policeman let Glenn know that he was going way too fast (I'll spare you the details) and got after us/the dealership for not having the correct papers on the car. Then he called the dealership to make sure we hadn't stolen it. Poor Glenn was so stressed out. I won't say he's the only one who speeds in our relationship, but he is the only one who has been caught so far, so he felt bad. After a very long wait, the policeman came back and gave us a warning. Oh my stars that was a close call. I was sitting there in the car thinking, "If he gives us a ticket that will just ruin the whole night". But he didn't, so now it's just a funny story.

Spring Break

This week Glenn is off of school for Spring Break. I LOVE spring break! It has been so fun to have him around more and to plan some fun activities. He has still gone in to work in his office or the lab quite a bit but we've been able to play so much this week!

On Wednesday we went to San Antonio to play at 6 flags. It was the perfect day for it. I've been a bit hesitant to take long day trips because I just don't know how Tate will react to no naps all day but it was great. Here is a list of all of the ways our day was perfect!

- The weather was gorgeous. Sunny with a little breeze so it wasn't too hot. Beautiful.

-No traffic all the way to San Antonio and all the way home.

-A guy in line behind us had extra copies of this coupon and he gave us one so we and our friends got in for half price! It was so nice to get in for so cheap because it made us feel less rushed and pressured all day. We didn't have to get in so many rides to feel like we got our money's worth because we paid half price for our tickets! We went on two huge coasters; Goliath and Superman. They were amazing.

This is Superman. It went up and over the edge of the cliff. Tons of huge drops. My favorite. It was cool watching the cliff just disappear under my feet as we flew over the edge and then dove toward the ground. It was such a rush, and a great view to boot...when I opened my eyes that is.

-We spent the day with this family. The Jenkins are in our ward and we have so much fun together. It was fun watching our kids take in the crazy amusement park atmosphere. Their sweet little Molly was hilarious. She'd go on a ride with her dad and then RUN to her mom afterwards, so excited to tell her all about it!

-The kids were such great sports. Tate was super happy when he got to get out and run around, but didn't fuss much when he was stuck in his stroller for long period of time either. I love this picture of little dude and his daddy.Tate wouldn't sleep in the car so he finally zonked for about an hour in his stroller. Even with just a little bit of rest all day he was incredibly pleasant.
-Glenn, being the bold guy he is, asked if we could go through the "handicapped entrance" with our strollers for a ride with at least an hour and a half long line. The attendant said that we could since there was really no way to get through the regular line with our strollers (there were tight winds and tons of stairs). So we literally walked up to the front of the line through the exit ramp and got on the very next ride. It was awesome. Oh the advantages of having kiddos, and a husband who is bold and asks the right questions.

- After the park we went to dinner at La Tierra. It was fantastic. Great Mexican food in an enchanting atmosphere. The walls were murals of famous Mexicans, the ceilings were covered with decorations, and Mariachi bands were circling playing live music. Tate loved it and danced in his high chair every time he heard them. Tate also loved the vast amounts of rice, beans, and chips he was able to get into his face.
So much fun! I'm glad we had a successful day trip. It made me realize that we can and should do it more. Tate was a trooper and seemed to have fun just exploring this new place. Have I mentioned that I love spring break?

Happy Day

I am happy this morning because:
-It is spring outside today. Green grass (in some places), bright yellow sunshine, waking up to birds (a mocking bird actually in the tree outside our window. I like the variety of sounds it makes. Glenn does not love it.), a nice morning jog through the beautiful green park. It's warm enough I will probably want the air conditioning on at some point this afternoon. I love spring!
- Tate put his head on my shoulder and snuggled me while I sang to him before his morning nap just now. I know he won't always do this. Some day he will just stop. So every day when he does it I smile inside and try to just soak it in. Before bed time and each nap I hold him and sing a song or two ("when you wish upon a star", "twinkle twinkle", "baby mine", "our love is here to stay", "they can't take that away from me" are my favorites right now) and as soon as I start to sing he plops his head on my shoulder and snuggles me until I lay him down in his crib. It makes me so happy. What a sweet boy I have.
- I have rehearsal tonight for Savior of the World. We're doing the second act in my stake and will be performing the Thursday and Friday before conference. We've been rehearsing just once a week for a couple of months and since it's coming up in a few weeks we're starting rehearsals during the week. I love it. It's fun to be around the people in the play. It's fun to sing and act again. It's fun to have something that I do to look forward to.

It's a happy day.

Sleepy Boy

Tate sleeps in the funniest positions and he's always moving around and getting re-situated in his sleep. What's going to happen when we move the kid into a bed without railings some day? We go in to tuck him in every night on our way to bed and find him in the strangest positions. Usually he's snuggled right against the edges of his crib or sometimes he's wedged his face right into the corner. Sometimes he's tunneled under all of his blankets and he's just a big mound of blanket in the corner.

We started taking pictures of our sleepy Tate occasionally. Here are some recent favorites.

I really like when he does this. All curled up in a ball with his bum sticking up.

And the zombie.

Lately

It's been two weeks since Tate turned 1 and therefore the end of picture Tuesdays. It's harder than I thought coming up with the motivation to post and something to post about when I don't have my weekly assignment. So here's a little catch up of what the last two weeks have held for us:

• Tate's head is healing just fine! We're putting stuff on it so it hopefully won't scar too much.
• We went to a cake show last Saturday. A friend in our ward entered some cakes in the contest so we went to support her and for something fun and unique to do on a Saturday. It was in a huge warehouse just full of cakes. It was amazing the creativity and talent that went in to those things. And SO much time! Not something I have any desire to spend my day creating but I sure think they look cool. Here are a few of the most impressive cakes.

Who wouldn't want a piece of Gollam? Mmmm.

• Fun sewing projects. New skirts for a friend's two little girls, more car seat canopies for the website and baby showers, a cute drop cloth for under Tate's high chair. I love having projects to work on.
• A touch of winter. It snowed last Monday. Our house looked like this all day! I love the weather here more and more. Of course I'm sure I won't be saying that this summer. I enjoyed our little touch of winter so much more because we never see snow here. And also because I know that in a few days I'll be outside again in 70 degree weather. It's so much easier to really enjoy the cold days when there are so few of them.
• A special package in the mail. While we were at his house for Thanksgiving, Glenn and his mom were talking about Christmases when he was little. He mentioned that he wanted a Teddy Ruxpin when he was little and was sad he didn't get one. This week Heather sent one in the mail. Apparently she had to really search to find a Teddy Ruxpin in working condition. Seriously, how sweet and thoughtful is she? Love it.

Tate is doing new things every day. He's started saying "Mommy" pretty regularly this week. It's like he remembers every once in a while that he knows how to say Mommy and that that word means me so every once in a while he'll just look at me and say "Mommy" over and over really loudly. I love it. And just because I can't seem to post without a picture of little man, here's Tate asleep in his car seat on the way home from church. He won't sit still in church. He certainly won't fall asleep in church so we can listen. But as soon as we get in the car he's out like a light.