What is up with April?

It's the last day of April...and I have many people to wish a very happy birthday!

My Sister turns 23 today!

Courtney is 27!

And Melissa is 27...and a new mommy to Matilda!

Happy 28 Katelyn!

Happy Birthday Katelyn, hope you're having a fabulous day!

This picture cracks me up...

I love Sundays!

After a fun weekend in Houston, I spent Sunday back in Austin. Forrest was in OK this past weekend for our niece's First Holy Communion and our nephew's 4th Birthday. So much to celebrate!

To start our day, we attempted a swim in the lake. Dad wanted to test out his new wetsuit for the triathlon. Ann Marie and my Mom also jumped in to swim laps, but the 66 degree water was a little too chilly for me. I enjoyed watching (more like life-guarding) from the dock. After a successful swim for the triathletes, friends and family joined us for some burgers and cheesecake to help celebrate Ann Marie's birthday a little early!

Ann Marie, Me, Kelly, Claire, Renee and Nicole

Duke taking a nap on the front steps!

Barley and Duke butts up and paws down on the front steps!

Babies, Fish & Worms! Oh My!

This past weekend was Baby T's first baby shower. My wonderful college friends hosted a shower in Houston. The theme was FISHING, which suited us very well. They decorated with precious cut-out fish and even gave gummy worms as a party favor (according to Cara, sure to 'worm' your heart, haha). The food was delicious! They made amazing chicken salad, fruit salad, and punch. To top it off we had tiny petifores decorated with tiny blue booties! Adorable!

Beautiful hostesses! Jill, Erin, Courtney, Me, Cara, and Courtney. My dearest Melissa was also a hostess, but she lives in NY and couldn't be in town. THANK YOU GIRLS!!!!!!

Party Favors!

April Birthdays...Crazy Month

Love you Melissa! Hope 27 is a great year for you! Maybe a big move to Austin???

Tough Cookies Don't Crumble

Last weekend was a blast! I went to Austin to help celebrate some April birthdays. The weekend was a true whirlwind and I think I'm still recovering.

Friday night Kel and I decided to try out a new restaurant, Mesa Ranch. We walk in and it's packed. As we look around, we slowly realize everyone is 60+ years old. Kinda funny, it felt like Luby's at 5pm, but we checked our watches, it was 7:30pm. We sat by candle-light, ordered up our fried cactus and enjoyed a very delicious meal. Had to call it an early night because of all our activities planned for Saturday...

Saturday morning was eventful...Renee, Ann Marie, Kelly and I all went to a Tri-class at the gym. We started out on the bikes and I kept having flash-backs to high school with Kelly. We were getting in trouble for all the chit-chat. He said we weren't working hard enough and came back to turn up the resistance on our bikes (the belly gave me a pass). Renee proceeds to tell our lovely instructor that we are tough cookies (the triathlon training group) and our motto is: Tough Cookies Don't Crumble! She asked him what his motto is, he said, "Move your Ass!" Good one! After our butts were numb we treated ourselves to a protein smoothie, yum yum! The day continued on a crazy path...pedicures, lunch, a trip to Saks (to attend Katelyn's bra fitting seminar), and to top it off -- a great Birthday BBQ backyard party!

Have You Met Duke?

I've decided to dedicate a blog or two to our dog. I have a feeling once this baby is here, he might be taking a back seat (I can't imagine). Is it possible to be this obsessed with a dog? Oh yes! We love our Duke! Born on St Patrick's day, he just turned 2! He loves to chase squirrels up trees and cats under cars. He also loves to look out windows which isn't always a good thing when I have the blinds down. His english is expanding by the day, he knows: outside, treat, sit, daddy, lay down, no, this way, walk, ball, Barley, lake, and squirrel.

For those of you who haven't met him, let me introduce you...

First Car Ride

Cuddling with his big brother, the bully, Barley
First Family Photo

Stork Delivery!

After months of searching for the nursery bedding, I finally made a decision! I was having trouble finding green bedding. I really love green, but obviously can't avoid blue when having a boy...so I was so happy to come across this Pottery Barn stork bedding!

I'm now 27 weeks which means the second trimester is almost over. We are now seeing the Dr. every two weeks. We have a lot going on over the next couple of months with baby showers, decorating the nursery, and taking birthing classes. One of my biggest to-do's includes deciding on a baby name. We have a list of names we love, but can't decide!! Maybe once we see him, we'll know...

Go Spurs Go

Forrest and I went to the Spurs game last night. What a great game! We won in overtime! We weren't actually there for the end of the game, but we did make it home in time to see Tony Parker (say it with a French accent) lead the team to a WIN. We were pretty pathetic last night, too exhausted to cheer for our team and too exhausted to stay past 9pm. If we leave early, I usually try and stay at least until they do the 'kiss cam.' It's my favorite!!! We missed the 'kiss cam' but we did see someone propose, that's always fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY!!!!!

Happy 27th birthday Kelly! This picture brings back great memories of our apartment in downtown Austin! I think this was actually taken celebrating your birthday, year 23 perhaps?

Kelly and I have known each other since high school days on the soccer bench. We ended up both going to A&M where we were dorm roomies together and then we both moved home to Austin after graduating.

We've always been big about the birthday celebrations. Why shouldn't we? So I can't wait for this weekend...we are treating ourselves to pedicures and getting together with friends for a BBQ bash! Hope you have a great day Kel!

Float the Swim, Walk the Bike, Crawl the Run

Last year, I took on a fun challenge I knew anything about....I did a triathlon! You want me to swim, bike, and run? My mom, sister, and aunt also participated (or should I say, dragged me into it). This year, unfortunately, I don't think they allow 8 month pregnant people to sign up. I've already had to give up cycling as my knees started hitting my belly around week 24. I will be watching from the sidelines. But oh my, so many more people have signed up for triathlons this season. I feel like instead of wedding showers, it's triathlon time! My dad and Forrest are even doing one! My best friend Kelly is signed up and so is my cousin, Renee! I'm so proud of all of them and really can't wait to be cheering from the sidelines.

Here's a pic of the 4 triathletes after the Danskin 08:

I'm even more excited because we are raising money again this year for the Mark Felice Childhood Cancer Fund. Mark Felice was a close family friend, especially of Ann Marie. Here's his story:

Mark Stephen Felice was born on March 22, 1986, in Camden, New Jersey. He grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even as a very young boy, he was drawn to idolizing heroes who pushed themselves to the limits to do the right thing in any situation. He continuously surrounded himself with people, from his parents to his friends, who embodied the same amazing hearts as his idols. In middle school Mark moved to Austin, Texas; all along he searched to live life to it's fullest. Soccer was always one of his favorite pastimes and although he was not the star of the team, he would preserve to play as hard as he possibly could. Mark's goal was to motivate the other players to do their best on and off the field. Mark continued to high school, when it was discovered after a wake boarding accident that he had Rhabdomyosarcoma, a solid tumor found in the base of his skull. Even through radiation, chemotherapy and a relapse, Mark pushed to be out with his friends and family, wake boarding and on the soccer field. Two weeks before he passed away, he attended his senior year Homecoming dance. Mark died on October 15, 2003 with his friends and family that he had touched and shown what life had to offer, surrounding him. All that Mark Felice wanted was for no other child to go through the trials of cancer. He wanted every child to be a normal kid with his or her life in front of him or her and goals within reach.

We hope we can raise enough money this year to help children going through the trials of cancer. Check out our triathlon blog if you're interested in signing up for a triathlon and want some training tips or if you're interested in donating. We even have cute t-shirts you can purchase!


http://triingforacause.blogspot.com/

The More the Merrier!

Easter weekend was eventful, to say the least. It all started with simple lunch plans with my parents and Forrest's parents. Somehow the news spread and it turned into a party of 25 people! Forrest and I spent most of Saturday cleaning our house and preparing for all our guests. My mom and sister arrived that night for a great dinner at La Fonda! The margaritas made my mouth water. Nobody warned me how much I would miss that sweet taste! There's a lot of things I wasn't warned about, but that is another post another day... Sunday morning it poured and I was so worried all 25 people would be squished into our house. Thankfully when we came out of the church after Mass, the skies were clear and the sun was out! Our little 2 bedroom, one bathroom house survived a family packed weekend! Good to know for future parties -- but more than 25 people and we will probably be renting a port-a-potty just in case! Here are a couple pictures...sorry I don't have more (like the food, decorations, or more people), but I am still new to this blog thing!

Renee and Ann Marie in our backyard.

My cousin, Michael and Forrest

Cousin pic! We missed you Claire!

Welcome!

I have to admit it. I am one of those people. I am a blog fanatic. I'm addicted to looking at other people's blogs and I even get sad/slightly mad when they don't post an update for the day. So to be fair, I am starting one of our own. I feel like after all this time of 'taking' from the blog world, it's my turn to give back!