A Real Good Time

Greg and I got to spend Saturday night in Austin while my mom kept Kennedy here in Dallas. We drove down and met all our friends to celebrate Caroline's 30th birthday. And celebrate we certainly did. I was feeling a little less than 100% yesterday. I should mention the party was at a winery. And the night started and ended with a party bus. 

We started off the night with cocktails in the bus. There was some heavy handed pouring and the 'yell-talking' amongst the chatty girls got off to an early start. There were photo opps and a little bocce ball before we went in the Duchman Family Winery for the tour and tasting. 

After we sufficiently 'sampled' the best the winery had to offer, we headed into the restaurant next door. Its called Trattoria Lisina and if you find yourself in the Austin area, I highly recommend it. There was so much food at dinner and each course was better than the one before. Pasta, lasagna and bruscetta all came out before the meat course! We finished off dinner with tiramisu and vanilla gelatto that was To-Die-For. 

The next morning Greg and I got up to head back to Dallas. We ended grabbing some breakfast and taking a little hike to Mount Bonnell. It was such a beautiful morning and I think a little fresh air was just what we needed before spending a few hours in the car. We love to visit Austin and can't wait to go back again this weekend for the UT/Texas Tech game with Grammyflash and Big Poppa!

The Hunters

The Group

View from the highest point in Austin, the top of Mount Bonnell.

Halloween: Part 1

We have sure had a lot of Halloween activities in the past few days. On Thursday our playgroup had a Halloween themed play date at our friend Alice's house. She got all Martha Stewart on us and made sand-witches, blood orange mimosas as well as other fun foodies and sweets.

Crafting.

Blood orange mimosa and sweet treat

After the play date, my mom and I took Kennedy to Buy Buy Baby to pick up a few essentials. They have kiddie shopping carts at the entrance and there was no getting around not letting Kennedy push one. Did she love it? Yep, with all her little heart and she loved following me around the store. Spoiler alert: we now own said kiddie shopping cart.

Little shopper in training. 

Greg's office had a halloween party on Friday so my mom and I took Kennedy by to say hello. Its a super modern building with lots of concrete and stairs. My worst nightmare. Kennedy's dream come true. She ran all over the place and it took me, my mom, Greg and a couple of his co-workers to keep tabs on her. She did sit still (strawberry cupcake bribery not pictured) for a few pictures with her little sock monkey friend, Jake.

Minnie and the Sock Monkey

Minnie and Daddy

Greg and I got to sneak away to Austin on Saturday night while Kennedy stayed with my mom. More on that later, but we got back in time this afternoon to meet up with some friends at a neighborhood halloween parade. Kennedy and her friend Emily ran from yard to yard and loved looking at all the other kids in their costumes.

Bug-donk-a-donk

Tonight we let our little bugs play in the front yard. And by play I mean we bribed them (both) with Goldfish so I could take pictures. I'm not going to say it was an all out success, but I did manage to get a few pics of the two of them.

Tomorrow we have a party at Southwest Airlines on our agenda and I can't wait to put Kennedy in her little flight attendant uniform.

Costume Week

Its the week before Halloween and it feels like every day we have had a costumed event of some sort. Tuesday was Noah's Ark Day at school and they asked all the kids to come dressed as animals. We didn't have an animal costume since Kennedy's 'real' halloween costume is of a more professional nature. We happened to have a red & black polka dot dress and I made her a little bow... boom ...lady bug.

Today we met our friends at Kidville for the halloween carnival. Kennedy and her friend Emily debuted their official costumes: Southwest Airlines flight attendants. Emily's grandfather works for SWA and was able to hook us up with official patches, badges and wings. They look so professional and SO cute. There will be many more pics to come since we are going to a party at Southwest on Monday.

Lot's more parties to come and even a few more costumes to wear. Looking forward to the rest of the week and weekend!

Little Lady Bug

 Ni-Hao. Authentic costume Uncle Eric brought Kennedy from China.

Hello and welcome aboard Southwest flight 675 to Dallas Ft. Worth...

Happy Birthday Greg

Yesterday was Greg's birthday and we had a really fun day celebrating with family and friends. His parents, also known as Big Poppa and Grammyflash, came in town to hang out with us and keep Kennedy so G and I could go out on the town last night.

We started off the day by meeting some NYC friends that were in town for lunch at Texadelphia. Eli and Greg were college roommates at UT and we all hung out a lot in NYC. We definitely miss them and were excited to get to hang out with them for a couple hours on Saturday.

Later in the afternoon, I rant to Tiff's Treats (an Austin staple now available in Dallas) to get some yummy cookies to share with our friends at the bar later on. Greg and I packed a few things, kissed Kennedy goodbye and headed downtown to the Belmont Hotel.

After checking in and a few pre-dinner cocktails with the Pfeiffers, we headed over to have dinner at Lockhart Smokehouse. Y'all, this BBQ is legit. You order meat by the pound and they don't give you forks or knives to eat it with. The boys were fine eating with their hands, savages, but Caroline brought utensils for the ladies.

We ate a ton and made it out of there before the Meat Comas set in completely. We headed to Bar Belmont where we met friends for drinks. And more drinks. And cookies. But mostly drinks. And fun times.

The Hunters & The Terrys

Who is that sweet, smiling little girl? Yep, that's Kennedy, mid tantrum. 

Let's put on our party hats! 

Happy Birthday Daddy. 

Belmont Hotel 

Pre-dinner bubbly 

Bag-o-deliciousness 

Hilarious, not-staged-at-all, jokes being told. 

Waiting for our BBQ

 

Pumpkins! Pictures!

Its been a while since I posted pictures of Kennedy with pumpkins. We did a shoot at the Dallas Arboretum with Kelli a few weeks ago. I loved the sneak peeks and was very excited to see the rest of the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites. 

Cinderella's Carriage 

Hadley, Mason and Laighton's pics turned out adorable as well!

Nothing Beats

A good pair of jeans.

Hanging out in our denim dipes watching a sign language DVD. Just another Wednesday night.

Ladybug Movers

Do you have a tiny house that needs relocating? Don't worry. We have you covered. Our uniformed relocation specialist will move your house from one location to the next. We are not responsible for additional items such as coasters, spoons and Cheerios added to your residence during transport. We are also not liable for damage to your property due to it being dropped, slammed into the coffee table or submerged in the bathtub. 

In The Car

Now that Kennedy has moved to the big carseat and faces forward, I love to peek behind me (not when I'm moving, of course) to smile at her. We play a game where I turn around, say boo and she laughs uncontrollably.

Most of the time, this is what I see when I turn around. 

She loves books. Loves them even more in the car.

 Aaah! Mommy is SO hilarious. 

Side note: if you happen to have a Britax Boulevard, they are quite difficult to find covers for. My friend Ashley found some by Bokoo Covers and I love mine. Bright, fun colors that are easy to remove and wash. They keep the car seat clean and protected from messy toddlers. Since we will be in this seat for a while, figured it was a good idea to try to keep it in good shape!

Pig Tails

They're funny and super cute. But they make her look too grown up. 

TX OU Weekend

Thousands of people flood to Dallas every year for the Texas vs. Oklahoma football game, called the Red River Rivalry. Its one of the biggest rivalries in college football and dates back to 1900! The game is played in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, which is halfway between Austin and Norman. Everywhere you go leading up to the weekend you see Longhorn and Sooner flags, t-shirts, etc.

The game was played yesterday and it turned out to be a tough day to be a Longhorn since they lost pretty badly to Oklahoma. Despite the fact that the outcome of the game was not in our favor, we still had fun getting together with friends for brunch. Well, I speak for myself and Kennedy here, we had a lot of fun. At times Greg looked like he was going to break things while watching the game.

After a two hour nap in Caroline's closet (lol), Kennedy had fun playing outside with Emily and Knox. Specifically, she liked playing in Emily's little car. If she was awake, she was more than likely sitting in the car. She is also really into baby dolls right now. She has a few at home that she pretends to put to bed, holds and pats them on the back, and recently started trying to feed them scraps of food. She couldn't have been more excited to see baby Austin's carseat empty. She had fun putting a doll in it, 'buckling' her in and taking her back out again.

 Hook 'em Hunters

Pre-game: all smiles. 

During game: not so many smiles. 

 Buckle Up.

"bebe...bebe...bebe...bebe...bebe..." 

The Car: her favorite spot.

Small Fry

Kennedy had her 15 month check up this morning and, spoiler alert, she is still a very little lady. She absolutely refuses to pass that 20 lb threshold. We feed her, I swear.

Weight: 19lbs, 5%
Height: 31 in, 72%

So far, we haven't run into a fruit, veggie or piece of pasta that Kennedy didn't like. She loves cheese and yogurt with all her heart and would be a happy girl if I let her eat nothing but that all day, every day. She does not, however, like meat. I've even tried making a chicken puree mmm...meat paste and hiding it in marinara or cheese sauce. No dice. She knows its there and spits it out while giving me a stern "no." We will get there. I am not raising a vegetarian in Texas. No ma'am.

Have you ever been on a plane and the person next to just won't stop talking? That's pretty much my day. Only that someone has an adorable little voice that I could listen to all day. She says a lot of words and is becoming a good little communicator. One of her favorite things to do is talk on the phone and I can barely get a word in edgewise when someone calls me.

She is my little mimic and one of her new things is pretending to put on make up. I hand her the eyelash curler and she holds it up to her eye. I hand her a tube of lipstick and she pretends to put it on. I even painted her toe nails hot pink and now every time she looks down at them she gets so tickled.

She is definitely a very silly girl and continues to do things to make me and Greg laugh.

Hanging out at the doctor in her denim diapers. 

Also, she desperately wanted to crawl inside this contraption. It upset her greatly that she could not do so. 

15 months and driving.
PS. That's a 0-3 month onesie she has on. 

Icky

Kennedy is trying to be silly. Its gross. I'm hardly discouraging this behavior by laughing and saying "no" in the sing-songy voice of a cartoon character. Consider yourself warned, the following content is rated i... for icky.

Off Leash

We took Kennedy and Olive over to the elementary school in our neighborhood to run around last night. Neither of them can be trusted off leash (or stroller) in a big, open space. We can catch Kennedy (for now) but Olive is fast as a rabbit. The school's kindergarten playground is completely fenced in. Genius. Of all the play structures there, Kennedy found Olive's leash to be most entertaining.

PS. Kennedy is 15 months old today. Eek! Check up on Friday so I will post her stats this weekend.

The Petting Zoo

Have I mentioned we moved? Yeah, we pretty much live at the Dallas Arboretum now. True story.

I took Kennedy to meet up with a few of her friends and check out the Arboretum's Petting Zoo this morning. It happens on Monday and Tuesday each week right next to the Pumpkin Village. The Petting Zoo consisted of itty bitty goats, a donkey, chickens and a bunny. What a terrible occupation for these animals - to be the main attraction for a bunch of toddlers amped up from their morning snacks. Luckily, Kennedy didn't really want to actually pet any of them as much as she wanted to point, smile and 'moo' at the goat that looked like a cow.

Also a highlight of today's outing - being able to run and explore all over the place with Emily and Alex. There were major meltdowns when we left and immediate slumber in the car. We will definitely be back to moo at the goats in a couple weeks.

Checking out the grounds.  

Alex, Kennedy and Emily. 

Can't believe they sat still for this! 

Hugs.  

Cool girls. 

Side Eye from the goat.  

Moo. 

Melting Down.