For some reason over the last few years, I just haven't gotten into Halloween. I'm not sure why. We used to decorate to the nines, plan our costumes, throw parties, etc... Now? Not so much. I didn't even decorate this year (I just heard a huge gasp from Alice!). I have pumpkins outside, but they'll stay there throughout the Fall. No cobwebs, spiders, ghosts or ghouls. I'm sure that will change as Hudson gets older and starts to notice the whole decorating thing. And maybe he'll actually ENJOY Halloween this year - especially since he won't have to wear a costume like this:
Moving on....... I'm the "Room Mom" for Hudson's class. Don't ask me how I got swindled into that :) I have to do the Halloween party today and this is what I've come up with for the toddlers.
I found these precious buckets at Target for $1.00 each. I thought long and hard about what to put in them. I didn't want to piss any of the parents off by feeding their kid a bunch of candy or sending home glitter or play-doh that gets all over the place.
So....I decided on washable crayons that I tied up with some cute Halloween ribbon, bubbles and some stickers.
I put all of the goodies in these cute skeleton bags, tied them up and put them in each bucket. Cute? I think so.
Another parent is bringing cupcakes, so fear not - they will have their sugar fix. :) I had a bright idea to make these cute rice krispie pops, but they looked terrible so I'm not taking them. I'm telling you...I can cook, but I'm SO not a baker or decorator. I did not inherit my mom's artistic talent with cakes, cupcakes, etc... Boo!!
Yesterday, Hudson went to school in his pumpkin shirt. He loved it and would constantly look down and say: EYES, NOSE... so cute.
We're taking Hud to a pumpkin patch on Saturday (I know, I'm nuts) even though it will probably be a madhouse. Lots of pics to come on that. As well as him in his costume...which most of y'all have already seen anyway. We went the easy route this year, remember?? He's a soccer player! Have a great weekend, peeps!
New York was a blast! We had so much fun. We talked, laughed, acted like total idiots, drank a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot...did I mention we drank and ate a lot? Awesome time. And I would travel with Coco again in a heartbeat.
I met Coco at D/FW on Thursday and we immediately went to Chili's to have our first cocktail of the day and eat some lunch. We finally boarded the plane, made a spectacle about changing seats so that we could sit next to each other and settled in for the long flight to New York City! We hit some turbulence and Coco thought she was going to die. Instead of consoling her, I pulled out my camera, of course.
Please notice that her window is also shut. She refused to look out the whole time.
We arrived safe and sound at La Guardia airport and caught a cab to my brother's apartment. It was already 7pm, so we decided to go grab some dinner near their apartment. We went to Kefi and it was fabulous!! I had eaten there last time I was in NYC too. We all agreed that Anthony should order for the table and he did a great job. Everything was delicious! He even let us pull out the camera inside the restaurant.
The crew
After Kefi, Anthony and Josh went back to their apartment because they both had to get up early and be at work. Coco and I decided we wanted to hang out a little while longer, so the boys dropped us off at a cute, little wine bar. We had some fabulous homemade sangria and became infatuated with the couple next to us. They were obviously on a first date and she was SO not into him. We eavesdropped like crazy and made all kinds of assumptions that may or may not have been correct.
The next morning, we were up bright and early and rushing towards the Good Morning America studios. We made it just in time to see my brother's segment with Emeril. Coco got to meet him and we were so hungover that we both forgot to take any pictures with him!! WTH??? Instead, we went upstairs to the main studio and acted like we were news anchors.
I think Coco was made for this.
Next on the list was a full day of drinking shopping! We trucked it over to the American Girl store. Holy cow people - this makes me thankful that I have a boy. This store has FOUR floors. For real??? Each floor is dedicated to certain dolls and they all have displays like this:
This pic is for Merry and Missy Mack
We finally found the itty bitty babies??? after wandering around this mega-store for what seemed like five hours. They're all set up in nursery type settings like this:
It's a crazy phenomenon, I tell ya. Probably like the Cabbage Patch Kids of our days, but I think it's even bigger. And for those of you who know me well, you know what a huge deal this was for me to even walk into this store since I'm scared of dolls. The American Girl dolls didn't bother me though.
On the way out, Coco noticed a very pretty mom with 2 pieces of toilet paper hanging out the top of her pants. I seriously thought it had to be part of her shirt, but Coco was adamant that it was toilet paper. We pondered whether we should tell her or not and decided that we might be on an episode of "What would you do?"We didn't want to be those people that they interview and say: So, why didn't you tell the lady?? -- so Coco rushed across the store to save the poor woman from any more embarrassment.
We stopped at a few other stores, but mostly just walked around Manhattan and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. We ended up walking all the way down to the Soho area. Quite a trek from the Upper West Side and we were ready for a cocktail. We popped into Bar 89 and enjoyed a lovely pomegranate martini (or 2) and made friends with a couple sitting next to us...where Coco immediately asked the guy if he was from Cuba because she recognized his accent. She has a thing for Cubans...who knew???
After getting a wee-bit tipsy, we stopped at this place because we were both craving hot dogs. Something about being in New York does that to you
That night, we went to Mario Batali's Lupa restaurant. Fabulous doesn't even begin to describe it. Everything was soooooo delicious. Mario sent out several dishes "on the house" since Anthony told him we were coming. We had all kinds of wonderful appetizers and pasta dishes. By the time our second course came out, we were all stuffed and had to have it bagged up instead. Anthony "allowed" us to take pictures without a flash. Can you see us?????
"Close your eyes. Give me your hand. Darling - can you hear my heart beating??"
Okay, here's a better one
Anthony and Josh
And finally - a normal picture outside the restaurant of everyone!
Can you say MUNCHKIN??? I needed a step stool with this crew.
We proceeded to make Josh and Anthony take us to one of their favorite bars. It was quite interesting to say the least. They call it their "day drinking bar" - love that.
Coco and I pretended that we were very rich and lived in this walk up.
Aren't they cute?? I love this picture. So genuine.
On Saturday, Josh and Anthony had to go to Connecticut for a baby shower, so Coco and I were on our own again in the city. We woke up starving (HOW???) and decided to go eat pizza. Honestly, Coco wanted a glass of wine at lunch, but the thought of red wine made me want to puke so we refrained. Instead, we braved FAO Schwarz with the other 5 million tourists that go there each day.
Coco found Bram the transformer he wanted and I picked up a Lightning McQueen truck for Hudson.
The big piano. I really wanted to get out there, but it was all kids.
After toy shopping, we roamed around the city a little more. We passed by Chanel, Prada, Saks, etc... we saw this incredible entrance at Christian Dior...wow.
We stopped in at Fig and Olive - very cute restaurant. The food looked delicious, but we drank instead. Of course.
Anthony and Josh beat us back to the apartment because Coco and I couldn't get a cab to save our lives. Coco was seriously ready to lift her shirt when a cab finally pulled over for us...just in the knick of time!
We finally made it back and Anthony was waiting for us with some awesome appetizers.
We were supposed to go to Momofuku on SAT night, but we were all really tired. We decided to stay close by and hit up Fatty Crab instead. It's Malaysian food and it was wonderful. The rest of the night entailed playing games back at A&J's apartment. Yes, seriously. Fun stuff!
Sunday morning was brunch at Anthony's favorite spot - COOKSHOP! It's soooo good. Awesome bloody mary's, awesome bread basket and wonderful food.
After brunch, we walked up on the High Line - great views of the city!
Coco "in front" of Nate Berkus's building with her vintage Gucchi glasses on
You can even see the Empire State Building
The High Line stretches 8 or 9 blocks...something like that. It's basically a green bridge. Lots of flowers and greenery. See....NYC does have flowers! It's not just a concrete jungle.
We thought this was a cool backdrop, so we got some pics. Josh assured us that the lighting was phenomenal. I almost twisted my ankle in that stupid cut out by my feet.
Such a great trip!!! We boarded our separate planes back to Texas after that. Both of us had issues - Coco had to stop in Chicago and ended up very delayed. My plane, though it was supposed to be a direct flight ended up having to stop in Knoxville, TN to refuel. So annoying.
"I was having a very, very calm day until this....ole bump in the road comes..."
Josh and Anthony shared this video with us and we cracked up all weekend long. So funny!
I love this kid.
Fabulous time in NYC with Miss Coco. Can't wait to do it again!
Thanks Anthony and Josh for letting us crash at your place and for showing us a great time!
We had a great, laid back weekend...just the kind I like. Trey played in a golf tournament on Friday and Saturday, Hudson spent some time with his Gran-Gran and Grandaddy on Saturday, and me? Well...I got to go tailgate at a TCU game with some friends. Lots of fun! I guess I'm going to have to adopt TCU as my football team since Tech doesn't want to win any games this year. Kind of like the Cowboys. So annoying.
Moving on............
We've been playing with cars A LOT in our house. Hudson absolutely loves cars. And trains. Right now though, he's obsessed with matchbox cars. Fortunately, my mom and Trey's mom have a ton of them at their houses. Hudson is in car heaven. Trey and I haven't bought any matchbox cars, so he has to settle for this:
Multi-tasking - Watching George and playing with cars. He's talented, I tell ya.
He's also gotten very into his stuffed animals. We have to give each animal a drink of water every night before going to sleep. It's kind of an ordeal y'all. And I'm guessing just a stall tactic for not going to sleep right away. Being the pushover good mother that I am though, I happily oblige my child.
There's lots of them, people. Let me give you a glance. And this doesn't include the ones I have hidden in his playroom closet. Hope he doesn't find those any time soon
or this night time ritual will take forever and it's already cutting into my nightly TV time.
(And no, these do not stay in his bed while he sleeps)
We're also experiencing some major fits when we don't get our way. No, not me. I'm talking about the munchkin. Here's an example. It's 7.30pm and he decides he wants something to eat. I tell him no and he starts this
I walk over to the stairs, calling his name and telling him that it's time for bed. Silence. I peek back over into the kitchen and the little tooter has these
This could have had a very bad ending if I'd been the disciplined mother and said no again. But, being the pushover good mother that I am, I happily gave him a few Crispix and we went on our way to bed.
Forts and Tents have also been big at our house lately. Hudson loves to throw my not so cheap silk pillows on the floor and bury himself in them.
Still multi-tasking. It takes skillz to build a pillow fort AND watch George at the same time
Out ghetto fort
And just so y'all don't think we keep him in his pj's all the time, here are a few pics from yesterday before going to church. He's doing this new thing with his bottom lip. Don't ask me.
I have no idea...but he's multi-tasking again. Do you know any other 19 month olds that can read a card and play the piano at the same time? I think not.
Still got that lip out
Last on the list - I got this cookbook for my birthday. I can't wait to try some of these recipes. Great kid recipes! Hudson's a pretty good vegetable eater, but he's getting a little picky. And he doesn't drink milk so I try really hard to give him lots of veggies and fruits. These recipes incorporate veggies into things you would've never thought. Pureed broccoli in chicken nuggets. That sort of thing.
I'll let y'all know how they turn out. I'm excited.
Three day week for me this week- woohoo!!! And then it's off to NYC with Coco. Can't wait!
I forgot to mention in my last post that Hudson was asleep in his room during the entire party on Saturday night. Never woke up. I was so amazed! There were probably 40-50 people inside our house. Not to mention, people walking back and forth in front of his door. The kid must have been tired! However.......he did wake up at 5.30am on Sunday morning. Oh yes. It makes me think that maybe the party did in fact wake him up a few times and this was his revenge on me. I went to sleep about 1.30am and was up at 5.30am. Fun, huh?? It would've been okay if I could have slept on Sunday, but we had another full day.
When he came downstairs, he immediately went to the balloons.
I think he was wondering what he missed out on...
After 4,000 cups of coffee, we got dressed and headed out to another birthday party for our god daughter, Emery. The party was so much fun and Hudson had a blast.
He was hilarious on this bridge. He would only crawl across it at first because it jiggled. After awhile, he got comfortable though and by the end of the party, he was running back and forth across it.
The Cinderella bounce house
He had fun in here, but he refused to take off his shoes.
What??? There's a train????
He chose the firetruck car
All Aboooaaard!
Of course Hudson chose the car that didn't have a door on it, so I had to ride the train with them. I was afraid he'd try to climb out of the train as they were cruising down the street.
Back to the playground...running, as usual.
Logan and Hudson looked for fish while Trey tried to make sure they didn't fall into the pond.
Checking out the bubbles
He was sooo tired when we put him in the car. I knew he'd fall asleep on the way to my parents house and he did. We woke him up in hopes that he would eat lunch and then go down at his regular nap time, but that didn't work out so well.
Trey and I went to the Cowboy game while Hudson stayed at
my parents house entertaining them all day (without a nap).
The great Tom Landry
Watching the Rangers game inside Texas Stadium. Pretty cool. Would've been cooler if the Rangers had pulled off a win.
Up close and personal
The Cowboys were a total disappointment. The Rangers lost too. It was a bad day for our TX sports teams. We still had a great time at the game though. We even ran into this guy. So funny.
For those of you who don't know, this is Paul Pa...Casey's father-in-law. You can read about the first time I met him here. Funny stuff. He sat next to us and kept us entertained.....especially with his magnetic glasses and Hornitos stickers. Awesome. Love him.
It was a fantastic weekend! Exhausting, but fun. And now I'm ready for a relaxed week.
