A big weekend

Abbey and James renewed their vows in front of friends and family back in July, and Mikey and I were honored to be a part of the festivities. But let's face it - if Abbey hadn't invited me, I totally would have crashed the party.

I drove up on Friday to enjoy a girls' night out. Abbey's sister Erin and I shared a hotel room and took advantage of some baby-free time. I suppose mine wasn't technically baby-free since I carry little bro everywhere I go, but he is certainly less work at this point than young William! We started the night out at a great coffeehouse/wine bar called Opa, where we were entertained by Abbey and some of her Guitar Girl friends, followed by some (completely unrelated) fire-dancing girls. The latter was about as interesting and strange as you'd expect.









After that, we decided to head downtown for some dancing. We ended up at a club called Qua that, I kid you not, has live sharks swimming under the dance floor. It really freaked me out at first, but you get used to it. I looked up the club when I got home to make sure the sharks are OK in there. It seems like they handle it as responsibly as they can - they even let kids come for field trips! They put all the liquor away when the young, impressionable ones are visiting.

Anyway, we danced the night away and stayed up until the wee hours. I'm sure I was a sight rocking my big ole belly on the dance floor, but I managed to keep up with all the able-bodied ladies for the most part. I definitely drank a ton of water and played the pregnancy card by sitting and resting as needed. One incredibly creepy guy tried to hit on me (note: super short, greasy guys ALWAYS hit on me - it is so annoying). He hadn't even seen me from the front when he asked me to dance, said something about liking my height (uh, right), and then tried to win me over by telling me he watched Titanic that day. Lame. As I kept trying to turn him down, he asked if I was married. I turned toward him and said, "Dude, I'm pregnant!" His gut reaction: "EWWWW!" It was hilarious. He then ended up dancing with some girl who couldn't even manage to stand upright for more than a minute or two before falling over on the dance floor. I have always wished we could erect some force field around a group of girls that keeps the guys out. We just want to have a good time together, not hang out with you creepshows!

Saturday morning came way too soon (doesn't it always after a big night out?), and Mikey drove up to meet everyone for a boat ride on Lake Austin. It was a lovely way to spend the day! I took it upon myself to capture the day in pictures (excellent excuse not to ever get in the water). Everyone seemed to enjoy a relaxing day on the lake. Poor Abbey got hit in the forehead with a full bottle of water (from the second deck of the boat). As always, she handled it with grace. It had to hurt like the dickens. She had a ginormous goose egg, but the immediate ice on her head thankfully brought it down relatively quickly. My glass-half-full friend kept saying it was no big deal because at least she parts her hair on the side so it would be mostly covered up in pictures the next day. The infamous bottled water incident came about because Abbey asked a young girl to throw her a water. Of course the girl felt just awful, so Abbey made sure to put on a smile whenever she came around.















After the boat ride, Mikey and I checked into our hotel and decided a night of nothing was in order. We knew William was in good hands with Grandma and Grandpa. All we had to do was feed ourselves and be on time the next morning. We went to a local restaurant, came home by 9, ate some ice cream bought at the hotel, and called it a night. We were living large, I tell you!

I went to the Mansion at Judges' Hill early to help Abbey get things set up. She had a crack team of helpers, and everything came together beautifully. We only had one last-minute issue that was resolved by a quick trip to pick up some ribbon. Abbey handled just about every detail herself, from the flowers and vases to a tree that held seating assignments to fans and outdoor decorations. You wouldn't know it was all DIY stuff because it was so well done. She did have a pro photographer, so I didn't even bother taking detail shots. I knew someone much more talented than myself would take care of it - and she did. The photos are beautiful!

The vow renewal ceremony was held outside under a canopy of trees. It wasn't all that hot (easy for me to say since I wasn't in a suit!), and the ceremony was so very Abbey and James. They were clearly filled with love and gratitude for each other and those around them. There was a delicious brunch afterward, followed by out-of-this-world cupcakes. Before you knew it, the big day was over.







In my estimation, the day went off without a hitch. Everyone looked great, the decor was so thoughtful and well-executed, and Abbey and James seemed happy. What more can you ask for?

Daddy's little man

William picked up this striped shirt one day and decided he wanted help putting it on. It's not unusual for him to put on our shoes (especially my slippers, Uggs, and flip-flops), but he rarely shows interest in wearing any of our clothes. But this day, he was all about Daddy's shirt. He wore it around the house and was very proud of it. He just played and played. I thought it was too cute not to capture!

A look back

Being the delinquent blogger I am, it's time for another catch-up post. I hate that I am so bad about keeping up with this because I absolutely love going back and looking at old posts. You can't do that when there aren't old posts to look at!

Anyway, this summer has been fun, other than the heat. :) I pretty much try to stay in air conditioning under a fan set on high. That's not easy when you have a toddler who wants to "go go" all the time! Our typical routine is wake up, eat breakfast, play at home a little, go somewhere around 10 (grocery store, library for story time, mall play area, other shopping), come home around noon or 12:30, eat lunch, nap, and STAY INDOORS until after dinner. We bought a cheapie inflatable pool, but I don't even have the energy to pull it out and fill it up in the heat. Plus, I know William would stay in it for about 3 minutes until he decided it was time to explore the rest of the yard.

Way back in June, Jen came into town for a visit. William loved her, not only because of her winning personality, but also because she wears GIANT hoop earrings. I rarely wear jewelry, and of course W thinks it is super fun to play with any and all sparkly or colorful jewelry. I thought he was going to rip holes in her ears, but Jen was a great sport about it.









We got to spend lots of time with Jennifer. I know she's far, far away in jolly old England, but there are some friendships that are just not affected by distance. It's always the same, whether we talk on Skype, in person, on email, or just in my head when it's 10 pm here and way too late to get in touch with her! I do have to mention that she brought William a fabulous gift - it's an adorable plate, bowl, and cup gift set with a cowboy motif. It really encouraged William's love for pretend play. We started feeding each other and various stuffed toys "bites" of nothing. That inspired me to get him a (very masculine, thank you very much!) plastic tea set. It's been a huge hit. William can now do "Cheers," but I wouldn't recommend doing it with actual glass. He clinks cups hard.

I really enjoyed one particular Saturday when the stars aligned so that Jennifer, Kimberly, Wes, Ashley, Jas, Ken, and Virginia were all in town at once. It was very appropriate that we met up with other H-Town friends at Kay's Lounge and sat at the Texas-shaped table. I believe I was El Paso. Shout out to Galveston! No pictures from that night, though. Sometimes I love putting down the camera and actually enjoying my surroundings, as opposed to photographing them. Plus, I would look like a weirdo with a camera at Kay's.

That Sunday morning, I was honored to help throw a baby shower for Virginia. Hooray for baby boys! We enjoyed delicious food, fun games, "awwww"-worthy gifts, and a lot of excitement about Ken and Virginia's kiddo. The visits with the two of them are always too short (the responsibility for the lives of countless animals tends to get in the way), but I treasure the time we do spend together. Off the cheese, on to the sugar...the cupcakes pictured below were a bright idea that I should have known better than to attempt. I am not crafty at ALL. The gummy things at the bottom took me forever to find, and then they split in half overnight. Darn it. But the cupcakes do still look like rattles, which is what I intended. It's the thought that counts, right?









Here's some random cuteness from June...