Sad Day

I was trying to make reservations at my favorite restaurant tonight but for some reason the restaurant didn't appear on opentable.com.  It was weird, so I decided to go directly to the restaurant's website but their website wasn't working.  I started to panic a little so I googled the restaurant.  And then the most horrible thing happened.  I saw a link to an article saying that our favorite restaurant had closed in November!  What???  They closed?  No one called to tell me.  I didn't receive any email about the closing.  I was shocked and very upset. 

You can roll your eyes and call me dramatic but I don't care.  My favorite restaurant has closed.  It's where Jay had sushi for the first time.  It's where I've had amazing dinners with our friends.  It's where Jay and I went to eat after he proposed.  And it's where we met for lunch during the week when we could sneak away from work.  It was our restaurant.  And now it's gone.  So goodbye MF Sushi on Ponce.  You will be sadly missed.  I wish we knew you were closing.  We would have come to pay our condolences. 

Santa, may I introduce you to Santa...

Since Christmas is rapidly approaching we have done our best to decorate the house.  It's a little different deciding what we will and will not put out this year.  We've moved the tree to a room that John Henry doesn't spend much time in and we didn't put out some of the floor decorations (i.e., breakable angels) due to our little angel.  We did however, decide to put out our Santa.  Some may look at him and think he's creepy but I think he's wonderful.  He lights up and moves so he freaks Lady out but I love him.  We decided to introduce John Henry to Santa and I think it went well.  It helped the John Henry was wearing his Santa pj's.  Thank you Benich family for letting us borrow your Santa pjs!

John Henry didn't want to ease into it.  He wanted to jump right in and say hello.

 "Come here and give me a hug."

Getting up close and personal.

This guy isn't too bad!

This is the look I got when I told him to be gentle with Santa.

Too cute!

Friend or Bully?

I always wonder if John Henry likes the kids in his class.  I wasn't really sure if he noticed anyone other than the teachers.  When I dropped John Henry off this morning I found that he does notice the kids in his class.  In fact, there is one child that he is particularly fond of and plays with all day.  His name is Brooks.  He's a little younger than John Henry but they seem to get along just fine.  The teachers think they're real cute together.  I thought so too until I saw John Henry bulldoze Brooks with the push cart!  His teachers say it happens all the time.  After watching it in person, I'm not so convinced that John Henry and Brooks are friends. 

They do look cute playing together.

This is the last picture I got before John Henry took him out.  Can you see the devilish smile on John Henry's face?  Poor Brooks had no idea it was coming.  

I would like to think these two are friends and John Henry isn't being a bully.  Fingers crossed that this is the case.  If not, I won't blame Brooks if he gives John Henry a black eye.  We'll just have to wait and see.  

Where's John Henry?

John Henry struggles with nap time at daycare.  He does fine at home but I'm sure that's because it's dark and quiet.  At daycare it's bright, loud, and there are way too many things going on that distract him from sleep.  When I arrived yesterday to pick him up I couldn't find him.  His favorite teacher smiled at me sweetly and said, "I finally got him to sleep."  I looked around the room again.  I didn't see him in the crib.  In fact, I didn't see him anywhere.  She had to point him out.

(If you look closely you can see the top of his head, part of his arm, and his little hand.)

Apparently, she has to bury him to make him sleep.  Poor kid, I'm sure he dreams that he's being suffocated by stuffed animals...

Tacky Christmas Sweater Party 2011

Whitney and her husband Trey hosted the December Wheeler get together.  In honor of the holiday season, they had a tacky Christmas Sweater Party at their house.  They did a fantastic job with the food, drinks, and games.  They did such a great job, and we had so much fun, that I doubt they will ever invite us back.  It was the perfect way to get the holiday season going.

Some of the folks from Marietta met at the Crawford house to carpool over to Whitney and Trey's house.  Doesn't everyone look festive?

The Ladies (Sarah, Kriya, Me, Mandy, and Jenny)

The Guys (Ash, Clint, Jay, Beau, and Chris)

Did I mention the food was great?  They even had a tacky Christmas sweater cake!

One of our gracious hosts - Trey.  He even grew a mustache for the event.

Chris, Clint, Sarah, and Steph

The whole crazy crew.  Don't we look festive?

Prizes were awarded for the most tacky outfit.  Beau and Mandy won, and I think Beau is trying to tell her congratulations but who knows! 

Then the fun really started.  We all participated in a white elephant gift exchange.  It got very interesting, as evidenced by the picture below.

Mandy, Mary Brooks, and Me.  Can you believe Mary Brooks didn't break up with Frank after seeing him in bunny pjs?

They guys enjoying some serious karaoke.

Clint and Sarah

Thankfully John Henry wasn't there to see his crazy looking parents!

Thanksgiving In Colorado

This year we spent our Thanksgiving holiday in Colorado with our family and friends.  Jay's sister Wendy picked us up at the airport and took us to one of our favorite places in Denver for lunch.  The food was amazing and I'm not sure if it was because we were starving or if we were just so relieved to be off the plane.  I'll just say that the trip out wasn't too horrible but we were definitely counting down the minutes to landing.  After lunch we got to see the Ladner's new home which is gorgeous and in an amazing location in Denver.  Hopefully we'll get to spend some more time and get some pictures there on our next visit.  

Our next stop was my parent's house in Broomfield.  They were so excited to see John Henry since they hadn't seen him since his baptism.  He enjoyed every second with them, especially since they  stocked up on toys and his favorite foods!

John Henry also got to spend some quality time with his Uncles Josh and Joshua. 

I thought Thanksgiving would be the perfect time to get our Christmas card picture.  Not so much.  It was ridiculously bright and John Henry had no interest in looking at the camera. 

My sweet dad did his best to get some good shots but we weren't good subjects.  I do like this one of John Henry.  He looks so sweet sitting in the field.

By the time we finished up with our "formal" pictures, John Henry was ready to get home and play until it was time to eat.

This year my dad deep fried a turkey and Mary cooked another one in the oven.  Both were delicious!

This is our group shot before we chowed down.  

Unfortunately John Henry wanted nothing to do with solid food while we were in Colorado.  I'm not sure if it's because he had a stomach bug or what but this kid wanted no part of the Thanksgiving feast.  

Instead, he had baby food and goldfish.  Lots and lots of goldfish.  At least he was a good sport and ate outside with us.  This was the first Thanksgiving in Colorado that we've ever eaten outside.  It was 70 degrees and beautiful.

After the meal, Jay did his best to work off the turkey by pushing John Henry around on his truck that Grandma Schuler got him.  He loved that truck and played with it the entire trip.

Grandma and Grandpa spent a lot of time spoiling John Henry.  In return, John Henry did his best to show off his tricks.

I think Grandpa loves you John Henry!

So does Daddy!

Showing Grandpa and Grandma his lip trick.

Being silly with Uncle Joshua.

Grandma Schuler took John Henry for a walk and found one of Josh's old hats.  I don't know how John Henry feels about the Broncos but I think he looks pretty good. 

The trip home was easier for us.  Probably because it was shorter and they put us in the baby ghetto.  If you don't know what the baby ghetto is, it's the last rows of the plane where they put all the families with small children.  Sounds awful but really it's amazing.  Everyone around you understands your situation so when your baby screams (because he thinks it's funny) you don't have to worry about people giving you the "look".  The flight attendants were also great and spent a lot of time flirting with John Henry.



They even gave him a pair of wings! 

This trip happened to fall during the "I only want my Daddy" phase.  Good for me, rough for Jay.  John Henry refused to let me hold him on most of the flight there and back.  Jay was great and as you can see from the picture above, John Henry was perfectly content to be in daddy's arms.

Although our trip out was quick we had a great time.  I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of our lunch with Wendy and Steve, or of Jay hiking with John.  Thank you to everyone that shuttled us around and made the trip so easy for us.  We love you all and can't wait to come back!

Two of a kind

Just the other day Jay, John Henry and I were out having breakfast.  A woman came up and said, "He's the spitting image of you".  She was talking about John Henry being the mini version of Jay.  It's not uncommon that this happens.  It seems everywhere we go we get that reaction.  People that know us a little better think that John Henry is a good mix of both parents.  However, as I look through some of these pictures, I can't help but agree with the strangers.  They really are two of a kind. 

Sometimes they look more alike because they have on similar clothes (aka Falcons shirts and khaki shorts).

Sometimes it's because they are appeasing me even though they are sick of me taking pictures.

Sometimes they don't want to appease me and would prefer that I put the camera away.

But most times, it's because they just look like exactly like each other.

Biggest Fans

The other night Jay ran out to pick up dinner.  When I looked over at the door I saw Lady and John Henry anxiously awaiting his return.

It was pretty cute until I realized that they probably don't do this for me.  I guess we know who they love more!