This weekend, we did a whole lot of stuff:

On Saturday, we got up and headed to Mayfield Park to take photos of Nora and Mason, Heidi and Lee’s kids (they live on the corner down from us). Holy cow… I had no idea how hard it was to tak photos of 2.5 year olds… especially two of them at the same time.

Got some good photos of the kids though. And a few good ones of the peacocks.

On the way home, we stopped and had lunch at Santa Rita, a swanky little mexican place on 35th, about half-way between our house and Mayfield Park. The waiter got our order wrong twice, and then charged us for the more expensive plate he brought us, Oy Vey! Next time, we’re going to keep on driving over to Amaya’s. If they get the order wrong there, they comp the meal, and have the right thing out in second.

Then, after Jack’s nap, we headed to Josh and Elise’s to see Maly. A week later, and she’s still gorgeous. Just adorable. We ended up staying for dinner. Joanne (Elise’s mom) had pre-made strombolli, and since the weather was so nice, we ate out on the patio… mmmmm… great food and good company. After dinner, Josh and I took a walk around the block with the kids. Heh, kind of cool to write that: the kids. Funny that Christine and I will have “the kids” in 5 months or so.

On Sunday, Christine got up early, then I woke up at 7:30 thinking I had to get to work (no idea what was wrong with me there). Since I was up, I told Christine to go get some rest before church. Jack and I took the photos over to Heidi around 9, and then walked around the neighborhood. We stopped at Herbert and Lori’s and Jack got to sit in Herbert’s 1978 Super Beetle convertible with Dylan… Lori took some photos. If she sends them to me, I’ll post them here.

We got home at 10:00, and Christine was still sleeping, so we decided to let her sleep and skip church (a pregnant mom deserves to sleep in at least one day a week right?) so we headed out into the back yard. I did some yard work, and chatted with the neighbor over the fence about jobs and kids. I turned around and Jack was pulling weeds for me (he was also pulling up perfectly good grass too).

Then we played fetch with Wesley. Wesley didn’t understand that he needed to let go of the stick when Jack was pulling on it. Jack didn’t understand that Wesley wanted to play tug of war with the stick. Jack got mad at Wesley, and Wesley got fiesty. He started running around Jack and yipping and yapping and barking and nipping at Jack’s arms… Jack got crazy and started playing back by yelling and flapping his hards around crazily. It was hilarious. Then Jack got scared and ran at me at about 5000 miles per hour. Heh. We decided to head inside about 10:40.

Christine was up eating a late breakfast and Jack an I felt we needed to head to church, so he and I piled in the car and headed to Home Depot. It’s where every good Methodist goes on Sunday morning when he’s skipping church and needs some spiritual enlightenment.

While at Home Depot, we bought some Mosquito-B-Gone, some Sevin Dust, some Roundup, some Mosquito pellets for the pond out back, and some super glue. Then we stopped at Sears and bought a swanky new spill-proof gas can, got some gas and headed home. Our spirits were filled and our wallets were lighter at that point… just like church! 😉

Christine fed Jack lunch while I mowed the lawn. Then after she put him down, I rounded up all the weeds in the flower beds and between the cracks in the concrete in the out front. I also sprayed the back yard for bugs, and then realized I was covered in bug poison spray… so I headed to Jason’s Deli to get Christine and I lunch.

Christine and I headed out back around 3:00 to start building Jack’s new sandbox (one of the neighbors in our ‘hood was selling a sandbox she’d bought for about 1/3 of it’s price because she realized she didn’t want to put it together, so we grabbed it). We turned on the tunes and worked pretty well together once I remembered Christine was a Civil Engineer at one point in her life and she knew more about how things go together than I do. Heh… That’s a story I can’t put online, but we’ll tell it to you anytime you ask… she was right, I was wrong, ’nuff said.

Jack woke up just as we got done with the heavy lifting and tightening of all the parts, so we headed back to Home Depot for second collection, I mean for sand and weed barrier.

When we got home, I carried 400 pounds of sand to the back yard. Luckily they put it in bags… could you imagine carrying that much sand one grain at a time?

I put Jack in the sandbox and he started sort of whining/crying. Heh… he didn’t “love it” yet. Christine went and got him his sandbox toys we’d bought him for Easter…

I grabbed a beer out of my office and we both got in there with him. He was still skittish, but by the time it was time to get out of the sandbox for dinner, he was enjoying it.

We took some photos of the sandbox after dinner… Jack was better with it then, and when we put him to bed, I asked him “Where’s your sandbox?”

He ran over to his window and pointed to it and said “eh!” So I’m sure he’ll fall in love with the sandbox soon…

Gotta go buy another 400 pounds of sand this week though… there’s not enough sand it in yet. Ugh… that’s a lot of damn sand… and it’s heavy after about 6 bags from the car to the back yard.

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On Friday night, Josh and Elise drove the the hospital to see if it was time to have a baby. They arrived around 11:00. At 12:49, Elise had given birth to a beautiful little girl. Congrats guys!

The fun thing is that Josh and I were on the phone every few hours on Friday, starting around 8:00. We talked a few times beteween 8 and 11 when they headed to the hospital and he called at 1:30 a.m. or so to deliver the news.

Christine and I were sleeping in Bellville, but we woke up, and listened to the voice mail… a couple of times. We were so excited for them. I stayed awake until 3:00 or so, just thinking of how cool things must be for them right then… and how tired they should be, but that I bet they couldn’t really sleep either… not with a brand spanking new baby and all 😉

Then, on Saturday when Josh and I spoke mid-morning, they still hadn’t named the baby. I told him they had 24 hours from the baby’s birth to find a name.

As I understand it, Josh wanted one name, and Elise wanted another… so, they compromised and went back to the tried and true: Maly (pronounced “Maylee”). Maly is the name Josh used to announce that they were pregnant, because it means “small” in Czech.

Maly Elizabeth Janicek.

Since we were in Bellville to see the whole family, we couldn’t really make it to the hospital in Austin until Sunday. But, when we got back to Austin on Sunday, we dropped Jack off with the neighbors and headed up to the hospital to see their new baby girl.

Maly is beautiful, and already full of spunk (at least I think that’s what I smelled when I held her). She’s tiny, like all babies, and has the cutest little fingers and toes. She’s all Josh… in that she looks a lot like him, and he’s totally smitten with her. And she’s as big a ham as he is.

Before Maly was born, Josh would tell me about how he was really worried about having to change the poopy diapers… I kept telling him he’d be fine and that “they’re different when it’s your child” and that he’d be able to do it. Sure enough, he’s making me proud and has changed almost all of the poopy diapers in the hospital so far (so Elise can rest and get better).

Josh is so funny. He confessed to me that he’s going to plan on scaring the living crap out of any boys that show up on his front door asking for his daughter. I told him we’d have to train Jack to be Josh’s “eyes and ears” when Maly is out of his sight some day. I can already see Jack taking care of his “little sister” in 15 or 16 years.

Elise is doing really good. She told us she wasn’t in much pain, and that she’s only taken a few ibuprofen since the labor, and then she only took that because the nurses kept asking her if she needed anything for the pain… so she just took them to shut up the nurses. Mom and baby are learning how to breast feed, and from what we heard, they’re doing pretty good at it!

Congrats to the first time parents! We can’t wait to bring Jack over to meet Maly as soon as he’s not coughing and full of bugers guys!

Here are more photos of Maly from Sunday.

post script: Josh called “girl” from the beginning. Can’t wait to see the baby in her iPod onesie.

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My mom hosted the family Easter get together this year in Bellville. We decorated the yard and the house with decorations to get into the spirit of the holiday (and so the kids would have something fun to play with).

It was a fun weekend for us for sure. The weather was perfect, it was probably 80 degrees, sunny, and the breeze never died.

Frank, Mary, and Michael drove down from Dallas. Christine, Jack and I drove in from Austin. And lots and lots of other family members and friends were there… must have been 40 or 50 people in the house and yard throughout the day on Saturday.

I took a few photos throughout the day: Roland and Cheri having a conversation. Roland telling a story. Rodney posing for me. Helen on the swing. Two ladies on the deck. Mother and Son. Roland and the girls. Laura and Clay. Jacob hunting eggs. Christine on the deck. Where did it go? Jessie Otis Boyte. Nicky and her pearly whites. Nicky’s Jack. Clay, Laura, Drew and Cannon and the second shot. Jack after his nap. A rusty rooster. Doughboy. And a great laugh.

The kids did what kids do when they’re outside… the played and played and played and got dirty and then played some more:

The adults chatted inside and outside and outside and inside.

Everyone ate around 2:00 (and some of us kept eating… there was a lot of food, and some yummy deserts – thanks to everyone that brought something).

After food and drink aplenty, we all took turns taking photos in the bunny cutouts my mom had made:

Then we had an egg hunt. Jack and Ella were both taking naps, so all the other kids hunted eggs, and around 6 p.m. after everyone had left, Jack and Ella got up and hunted for their eggs… Frank forgot to bring his shotgun with him, so we had to let the big one get away.

Then on Saturday night, Michael, Evan and I headed out to Rose and Rodney’s house to play poker with them… I lost a little, Evan lost a little, and Michael won a little… but we all had fun getting caught up on what our cousins have been up to for the past few years. Good times!

Happy Easter everyone.

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So, in case you guys didn’t realize it… Josh and Elise should have a baby in about a week…

I came across a website today that I think Josh needs to make a few orders from:

PottyMouthShop.com.

They make onesies… but not the cute little onesies that everyone else has… great “alternative” ones that make me think: “This onesie would get Josh to say the word ‘onesie'”.

Josh, aren’t you going to order a few?

It’d be too cool for him to get a few of these in the mail from his friends… lol. I’d love to see that kid wearing this one (warning this one’s pretty explicit).

Found that site here: BabyRoadies.com.

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This past weekend, Christine, Jack and I headed to Bastrop State Park with Marc, Cyndi, Rowan, Jenny, and Michelle. Christine and I haven’t camped out there in 10 years… it was lots of fun then, and now.

Christine rented a tent for us from REI for a very reasonable rate ($24 for the weekend – not bad for a 6 man tent that costs $300+). Cyndi, Marc and Rowan came over to the house around 10:30, and we all drove out to Bastrop around 11:00 a.m.

Talk about a gorgeous day… man it was an awesome day to go camping: blue skies, green grass and tall pine trees, and friends… who could ask for more?

Jack got all scratched up and beat up on his first camping trip. He got scratched on both legs, he got a few bruises on his arms, and he got a nice shiner on his right eye… heh. Fun times!

Here are some photos from the camping trip:

Jack did really good sleeping through the night out in the woods too, though, he did wake up about 4 or five times. Eventually, Christine pulled him out of his Pack and Play and put him in bed with us (we had a blow up mattress) and he only woke us up 3 or 4 times when he was in bed with us… heh… but it was fun. An adventure even.

Rowan was hilarious at times… he’s really getting to be a big boy. We did things like sit around the campfire and make Smores, and walking along the really long windy nature trail, and climbing the hills, and playing with balls, and killing mosquitos – everything you’d expect on a camping trip in Texas.

More photos here.

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Here’s a photo I took of Nora, one of our neighbor’s daughter tonight:

We were outside playing in another neighbors front yard, and she stopped just long enough for me to take that quick snapshot… heh, I love trying to take photos of 2 year olds 😉

You can see the rest of the photos from tonight here.

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Christine’s birthday was Friday… she turned 29 – woohoo! 😉

To celebrate, she headed to Chezee to have dessert with her girlfriends. They stayed out until midnight, and from what I can tell, had a great time, just hanging out and talking (three of them are pregnant, so there wasn’t much “drinking and partying” — just hanging out).

Our neighbor down the street turned 40 this past Friday too, and his wife threw him a surprise birthday party on Saturday… while Christine and I were there, we found out that Herbert and Christine share the same birthday.

Photos from Herbert’s party are here:

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