Happy Birthday Milo!

Today is Milo's first birthday. I am so thankful that we added Milo to our family. Even though it is more work and planning at times, I know that Maddox truly loves his dog. They are so fun to watch.
Enjoy the Milo Slide Show.

Daylight Savings

This afternoon when I picked Maddox up after school we had enough time to enjoy the daylight hours. He rode his bike to the new school and all around it. He even went around the drop off circles in the parking lot which he called loopty loops. I got a good bit of walking in while he was riding. Going to try to do some more of this. I love the extra hours of light I get to enjoy with daylight savings. 

Playing at the Park

This past Saturday was just glorious. We met the Payne's for some time at the park. All the boys had so much fun. I got tired just watching them. Here are some pics from the outing.

I can't wait for many more days like this. Great company, beautiful day, and lots of fun had by all.

Houston Rodeo 2010

We had a great time at the Rodeo this year. We went to the carnival and the livestock show. We saw lots of animals and had a grand time. 

Boys

Maddox has been eagerly anticipating spending time with his buddy Landon. Tonight they had a ball. They bounced up and down during dinner like a pair of Mexican jumping beans.

They showed off their new Scooby Doo tatoos.

They played a couple of games on the Wii.

They ran up the slide and down the slide and under and over and in between.

They tried to get Milo on the slide.

They played with toys.

They gave bear hugs.

They watched a movie...on and off.

They played fetch and chase with the dog.

They played Ants vs Knights and everyone vs the Monster (Momster)

And Milo took it all in and enjoyed every tiring moment.

They had a wonderful time. I hope they both sleep well tonight!

Ranger's Ballpark

The little man and I went on a wonderful tour of Ranger's Ballpark. It is a beautiful building. There was only one other person on the tour with us a lady from Rhode Island. The guy who showed us around first asked where we were from and said we must be Astros fans! He talked about the open design of the park and then took us up a big escalator which Maddox loved. Once we got up we had our first photo op. The guide told us it was Jerry's World. I thought that was so funny. 

I must say it is a huge, shiny beacon for the Cowboys. We then went into the press box. I thought that was nice. Reminded me of college at Southern Miss working the football games in the press box. A few more seats and nicer chairs. 

The guide told us all about the architecture of the stadium. How the outfield had parts patterned after Giant's stadium and Yankee stadium. It also had some of the original bleachers from Arlington field. After we left there we viewed a couple of the suites. GW Bush has his own suite. We checked out the suite for the City of Arlington. Very nice. All the other suites are named after Hall of Fame ball players. Joe Dimaggio is the suite next to GW Bush's. The guide showed us where Nolan Ryan sits for the games. After checking out the nice suite we went down to the press room. 

Maddox really liked the stage and all the chairs. I think if I would have let him he would have run up and down all the aisles. One of his favorite parts was up next. The indoor batting cage.

Since there was only the lady and us on the tour, the guide gave us each a ball out of the batting practice bag. 

The bleachers inside the batting practice room. 

He wanted to know when he could go hit a ball. After we left here we went down the tunnel under the stadium a little farther to the players locker room. As we were reminded several times on the tour the team is in Arizona at Spring Training. 

Maddox really wanted to go sit down at this point and take a rest on one of those comfy couches, but we pressed on to the dugout. 

He wanted to run out on that field so bad. That was the first thing he asked when the tour started. He wanted to know when he could go out on the grass. The guide told us that they had watered the field earlier and it was in no condition to run on. Maddox told him it didn't look wet. LOL

Maybe someday Mom I will be a ball player too!

View of center field from the home dugout. 

View of the press box and suites from the dugout. 

A little luck never hurts.

We enjoyed our tour of Ranger's Ballpark. We got the ball and a certificate. I also got the little guy a miniature bat for being well behaved and not running around like a mad man. This made me want to see about taking a tour of Minute Maid park just to compare. It would have been nice to take a tour of the new Cowboy's stadium as well, but there was an event there that night and we were worn out. 

Arlington, TX here we come!

Max had a convention this weekend in Arlington. Originally it was supposed to be in Dallas, but got moved at the last minute to Arlington. We were at the hotel right smack dab in the middle of Six Flags Texas, Ranger Stadium, Jerry's World (AKA Dallas Cowboy stadium), and the Hurricane Harbor Water park. It was a nice central location. Six Flags doesn't open till next weekend but that was alright with me.

When we got in Friday afternoon it was overcast, rainy and COLD. Daddy had meetings, so the little guy decided that room service was in order while we watched cartoons on the laptop and Olympics on the TV. 

He had nachos. I had a salad and we split a Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake....(awesome!) He ended up with a chocolate mustache. 

More meetings on Saturday for Daddy. The little guy and I headed out early with a general idea of things to do but nothing concrete.

We ended up getting some breakfast and then riding around the area to take in the sites in the big ole' Grand Marquis. We stopped at the Wal-Mart right across from the new Cowboy's Stadium. That thing is HUGE! 

We grabbed a few snacks for the day and headed out. We decided to walk down the block to Ranger Stadium to get a closer look. We stopped along the way to catch up with Auntie Shyra on the phone. 

Then the little guy decided he wanted to go check out the water. We followed an egret.

He climbed a tree.

Ran up a hill.

We watched the ducks. 

Then decided to make our way to the stadium. 

While we were there we grabbed a tour. It was us and 1 other lady on a tour of the stadium. It was pretty awesome. 

To Be Continued...

I have really done it this time!

I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I have created a MONSTER in the kitchen. All the little guy talks about when he gets home now is cooking. The only problem is he has decided that he doesn't want to help me cook anymore. He wants to make his own dish. He told me today that he wants to be an Iron Chef and a ninja when he grows up.

The Next Iron Chef

We like to watch the Challenges on Food TV. We watch the cake challenges, the throwdown's and the Iron Chef series. So tonight while I am making dinner Maddox tells me that he wants to add a special ingredient of his own to dinner. I didn't realize at first that this meant he wanted to cook his own special dish.

 I had left a quarter of an onion on the cutting board. Thankfully I had put the big knife I had been using away. Next thing I know he has cut it into chunks using a spoon and put it in my liquid measuring cup. He brings it over and puts in the small skillet I had just finished using to saute my onions. He pulls up his cooking chair and starts stirring. He tells me we need more special ingredients.

So he adds: some ground turkey that I had just cooked, some mashed sweet potatoes, some apple juice and apple sauce, a quarter of a banana, some honey, and pinch of salt & pepper. Right about that time I send him on an errand so I can do something with the HUGE onion slices and banana in the skillet. He thinks they are going to cook down. So I decide to throw it all in the blender and puree it for him. He comes back when he hears the blender and thinks that is a great idea. We return the blender contents to the skillet for further cooking. He then decides his master dish needs a little something more.... ketchup! Oh and of course more honey.

So he tries his lovely mix and declares it a winner. He then makes me try it. I will give him props, it was better than I thought it would be. A little sweet for my taste but it wasn't the worst thing I had eaten by far. He was so excited for Daddy to come home to judge our food to see who would be the winner. Lets just say that even though mine was a good meal Iron Chef Maddox got points for creativity and plating in the snowflake Christmas bowl. So as you might have guessed this evening Iron Chef Maddox reigned supreme. He came out the victor of the first Vige Kitchen Challenge. I have a feeling there may be a few more of these in our future. He really had fun.