Love these two:

My parents came into town on Thursday night. They drove all the way from Virginia! We bought my parents' minivan and instead of us paying someone else to have it shipped, they decided to drive it down themselves so that they could see us. We had a really fun visit. Friday I showed my parents the lot for our future house and a model of what our home will look like. We went to a park close to our apartment and that night we met my aunt and uncle, who live in a Houston suburb, for dinner at a local BBQ joint - Goode Company. Next door to Goode Company is a restaurant with a giant armadillo with flaming eyes. I got a picture but with my mom's camera so hopefully I can get that later. That day Sam napped a total of 20 minutes. It was killer.

Saturday we went to the San Jacinto monument outside of Houston. It's where the Texans defeated Santa Anna back in 1836. Don't mess with Texas. It is also the tallest monument column in the country. It was a chilly and super windy day. We also went to the USS Texas which was nearby. For lunch we stopped by another Texas hotspot - Beck's Prime - for burgers and shakes. If you ask any Houstonian where to get a good chocolate shake, they will undoubtedly say Beck's Prime. I beg to differ. On a 10-point scale, I'd give it a 7. My mom gave it a 5. Ouch. But it was still pretty good. (Sidenote about shakes - Before we left I googled "milkshakes houston" and a place came up called Sparkles that had really good reviews. We GPS'd it after seeing the monument but it turned out to be a random rundown shack painted electric blue. I was up for the adventure, but everyone else refused to stop. I'll have to take Sam there someday when it's just the two of us.)

Sunday my dad had to fly home, unfortunately. It was so great to have him here! After he left we went to our aforementioned relatives' house for some delicious food and good company. My aunt is a really good cook. I could have rolled out of there I was so full. Later Dan, my mom and I played some Skip-bo and hung out.

Monday my mom and I went shopping and yesterday we went to the Houston Heritage Society and toured some old Houston houses. It was actually pretty cool and I think my mom now has a major crush on our tourguide, Grover. After the tour it was "Grover this" and "Grover that..." Just kidding. Don't worry, Dad!

Last night, Mom babysat so that Dan and I could go to the movies. We hadn't gone to the movies since July and hadn't been on a date since September! It was so fun. We went to see Taken. It was so intense. We were on edge the WHOLE time. I've just got to say that Liam Neeson is one bad dude! Today I had to say goodbye to my mom. I loved having her here. I feel like when my parents come that I'm actually the one on vacation because they do so much for us. Love you guys! Sam has been distraught since you left. He cried the whole way home from the airport.

UPDATE:
On Monday, I got pooped on. No joke. So last Monday, Sam got pooped on. This Monday, I got pooped on. Next Monday, Dan had better watch out!

The Houston Zoo was free on Monday for Presidents' Day so Sam and I went to check things out. It was jam packed with annoying teenagers and lots of strollers (yes, I'm guilty) so it was kind of hard to see the more popular animals, but we had a great time! Sam liked the giraffes and meerkats. He also liked some kind of crazy looking bird. Most of the other animals were just sitting there so they didn't really hold Sam's attention. The birds wanted to leave a token of their love with Sam and it landed right smack dab on the top of his head. I looked down as I was walking to the parking lot to see that Sam had bird poop right on the spot of his head where there's a hole in the helmet. Buried deep into his hair. Thanks, birds. I wish I had my camera. It's true that Sam's my child. He's got my same stroke of luck. I've gotten pooped on far too many times! At least my luck isn't as bad as this kid's.

We visited the neurosurgeon this week and he said Sam's head is looking great! He may only have to wear the helmet for 6 more weeks, but just in case, I'm still not getting my hopes up.

I got an ad in the mail for a place called Value Village. They had a picture of this lady wearing a cute dress and a coupon that said 50% of all clothes! I have been wanting to get a dress and still have some Christmas money so I thought this would be perfect. I mapped it all out and drove the 20 minutes to get there (even though it's only 6 miles - have I mentioned how I hate Houston traffic?). I lugged Sam out of the car, put him in the stroller, wheeled him in, and smelled that familiar smell from my youth... It was a thrift store! What the heck?? I was so bummed. That ad was so deceptive. Now, don't get me wrong, I used to be a huge thrift store fan and still like going there to look for things like furniture, etc. I still have a Star Wars shirt that I got at a Salvation Army in 6th grade for a quarter. But I felt betrayed. I rummaged through some books and picked out a few, but saw that the checkout line was miles long and decided to leave. Never to return.

Sam will be 9 months on Wednesday and is doing great. Still no teeth and not crawling, but that's fine with me! He loves bathtime and has graduated from the small plastic tub to the real deal. He rolls around in there long after the water has drained. He loves it!

Notice the helmet head.

He's also a really great eater. If he likes the food, he'll just sit there with his mouth wide open like a bird.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dan and I had a pretty normal day yesterday. Dan made me a blueberry muffin breakfast (okay, that's not really normal) and I went to a rehearsal for a church function. Later Dan and I went to the design studio to pick out things for our house: cabinets, countertops, flooring, etc. It was kind of overwhelming, but now that it's over, we're excited to see what it all is going to look like! My parents might be the only ones, but just in case you're interested, here's the combo for the kitchen. That wood isn't going in the kitchen, it's going in the living room right off the kitchen.

Our tile flooring will be laid out in a pattern like this:

This is the combo for the master bath:

And this is for the bathrooms upstairs:

After that, we came home so Sam could take a nap. Then we went out to Red Robin for some gourmets burgers, fries, and a wonderful chocolate shake. It was a nice day. Dan bought me a beautiful rose and I made him some cookies.

Just in case you're wondering, Nelson County High School's parent-teacher conferences have been rescheduled from Feb. 11th to Feb. 25th. How would I know this, you ask? Somehow I wound up on their phone tree automated calling list.

It all started about a month ago when my phone rang at 4:45 in the morning. I stumbled up to answer it, thinking that someone had died.

"Hello??"

A robotic woman's voice:"Hello. This is a message informing you that Nelson County Schools will be closed today due to inclement weather. Goodbye."

What the heck??

The next day I got a call telling me that schools were delayed 2 hours. Dan kept telling me to call someone and get off the list but I forgot. Until I got ANOTHER call at 4:45 in the morning letting me know that, once again, schools would be closed due to icy conditions.

Finally I remembered to call them. I wasn't sure exactly who to call, so I called the Superintendent's office. I spoke with the secretary. After explaining that I've been getting calls about their schools... and I live in Texas (she broke out laughing) the lady told me that she'd fix it. I thought she had until that all-too-familiar number showed up on my phone again!!!

How can I make it stop? I'm afraid I'll be getting calls like this every winter until I change numbers.

In other news, today I took my very first trip ever to an IKEA. Holy cow it was huge. I spent 1 hour in there and could have stayed so much longer but Sam let me know that he was ready to go.

Have I mentioned that I hate Houston driving? Today I ran over an entire tire on my way to IKEA going 60 or so MPH. As far as I can tell, the car is okay. But it was kind of scary. I'm pretty sure it went right between the tires because it didn't feel like I ran over it with a tire. I just heard one thump.

Lastly, I've been trying to take a cute picture of Sam for Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest but he keeps making funny faces. I think he's teething because he always rubs his toungue on his gums like this:

Copper, Copper, Party Stopper

This week Dan and I had to go up to our future home area to finish signing some more papers. When we got to the developers office, the people who are buying the lot next door to us where there, too. Our future neighbors. Turns out that they are both cops. This can either be a really great thing, or a really not-so-great thing. He doesn't really look like a cop. He's got a goatee and an earring. So we think he must do undercover stuff.

Here's a picture of what our house is going to look like: dark shutters, red brick, and tan colored trim and garage. It's pretty similar to my parents' house. Dan likes the classic Virginia style. So we introduced ourselves and they seem really nice. But just to be paranoid and to freak ourselves out, Dan and I rented "Lakeview Terrace" from Redbox. It's a movie about an interracial couple who buys a house next to a psycho cop played by Samuel L. Jackson. Turns out Sammy L. is really a racist lunatic who wants to destroy their lives. So yes, we're really excited to have cops next door! (By the way, we wouldn't recommend the movie. It has some soxuality. That's right. Soxuality. We don't say s-e-x.)
Friday night we tried out a Greek restaurant called Niko Niko's. Dan got a gyro (pronounced euro - um... why did I not know that before?) and I got a souvlaki sandwich. SOO good. We'll be back. Mos def.

Saturday we went to the park. It was about 70 degrees and gorgeous! Sam really only handles the swing for like 3 minutes and then he's done. Everything else there is too big for him so we went and lounged on the grass for a while. Here's a picture of when I took Sam to the park earlier this week. I didn't want his head to get burned on the top so I put a hat on him. But the only hats that fit are adult hats. He didn't mind. To compensate for our first DVD rental, we rented another movie: Fireproof. Yahoo users gave it an "A" so we thought that was a good sign. It has Kirk Cameron in it. He was on "Growing Pains" back in the day but now you see him a lot on Christian TV channels. It was a cheesy movie and the acting wasn't that great, but I liked it. It made me happy and mushy.

Saving a dime (or 5,000 dimes) in '09

On Regis and Kelly a few weeks ago they had a segment about saving money. One of their suggestions was to check your car insurance rates, then check other companies and see if you could get a better deal elsewhere. Then they suggested you call your company and see if they could beat the other rates. Does that make sense? So Dan and I had insurance through a company which shall not be named but which claims to save customers 15% and has annoying commercials. I looked into a few different companies and found that we could save $500 a year by switching to another company which shall not be named but also has annoying commercials. Our current company couldn't make our rate any lower so we switched! $500! And our new company promised to plant a tree since we paid online. Just wanted to throw that suggestion out their for anyone who might find it useful. (If you want the actual names of the companies, email me. I just don't want to get in trouble for some unforseeable and stupid reason!)

The Latest and Greatest

(and not so greatest)

First, I would like to point out that Sam's helmet post got more comments than our "We're having a baby post" back when I was pregnant. (No, I'm not currently pregnant.) Sam's feeling the love.

We had quite the exciting week! Here's the rundown:

1. Today Sam is officially 8 months old! He is so cute and so much fun. We love having him and are so grateful to be his parents. Remind me of that when we're working on potty training.

2. Sam pooped while I was giving him his bath. Twice. Once Friday and once yesterday. I'm afraid to give him another bath. Of course, Dan wasn't around either of those times. Maybe I'll wait for him to get back from hometeaching (visiting families from church) and then suggest that he bathe Sam. Not a bad idea. I took pictures, but I'll spare you.

3. We put down money to build a house! We're going to build in the city of Humble, Texas. Our house should be done in about 6 months and we are very excited! We have lots of choices to make in the coming months about what we want our house to look like so I hope we don't get too overwhelmed! We selected a lot that's in a great community with pools, playgrounds, a fitness center, and lots of walking trails. We think it will be a great place for our family. We also found out that our church has property just a mile or so away so that will be great in the future. Our lot backs up to a "nature reserve" which means we'll never have back neighbors. That was one of the huge selling points because it seems like most places try to cram in as many houses as possible.

4. In honor of our big decision, I made pizza. For the rest of the night, and well into the morning, I threw up that pizza. And everything else I've eaten in the past 5 years of my life. I seriously lost 3 pounds. But I'm starting to feel a little bit better. Dan has been so sweet to me while I've been sick and I really appreciate him!

5. My mariokart skills have somehow plummeted drastically in the past week. Dan has crushed me every time.

That's all for now.

Presenting... the "Supposed to be dark blue but came out purple" new helmet. He's actually taken to it very well. He was pretty fussy when he first got it, but now once it's on, he hardly notices it. It's also really nice when he accidentally falls and bonks his head. Someone at church asked us if he was going to audition for American Gladiators.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Today is my mom's birthday so Sam and I wanted to wish her a happy one! She is an amazing mother and a very giving grandmother. She is always thinking of her kids and how she can help others. I am so grateful for her example and influence in my life. She has taught me so much. In honor of this special occasion, Sam learned how to write.

We hope you have a great day! WE LOVE YOU!