Museum Mondays

Since we've moved back to Durham we've discovered a place that I'd heard of when I lived here before never been to, The Museum of Life and Science. It's absolutely fabulous, and every time Evan and I go we discover something new to explore. Earlier in the summer we frequented the museum on Wednesday afternoons when it is free for Durham residents. However, recently, we've been mooching off our wonderful friends and their memberships to go on Mondays. It doesn't matter when we've gone, it's been great to explore and spend the time with our friends.

The first place we usually head is the toddler play area. It's nicely contained, and made just for the little guys. There's all sorts of things to explore and climb on. Evan especially likes the balls and various wooden shapes and doors on the walls.

(Evan prepares to throw.)

(Exploring the wooden beads)

A few weeks ago, the museum opened a new exhibit, The Dinosaur Trail. It's got all sorts of dinosaur models, one you can even go up and touch. Evan loves to look at the dinosaurs and plants around the trail, and he has even walked the whole trail himself while pushing the stroller. One of the coolest parts of the trail is the fossil dig where kids can find all sorts of interesting bones and shells. I think Evan likes digging in the dirt best.

(Evan gets up close and personal with a dinosaur.)

(Evan and Edward can't wait to head down the Dinosaur Trail.)

(What did he find?)

The museum also has a butterfly and bug house. Evan thinks both are equally interesting, although I have to say I prefer the butterflies!

(Evan finds the blue frogs very interesting.)

(Just sitting on a bench taking in the butterflies)

On the way out of the museum we have to stop in the weather exhibit for a quick look at the cloud making machine. Evan thinks this is absolutely fascinating, and he spends quite a bit of time just waving his hands around in the mist, smiling, and laughing.

(Is it a ghost? No it's just the cloud making machine.)

There are tons of other exciting parts to the museum that we just didn't visit on the day I brought my camera like the zoo with bears, lemurs, and foxes, the train, the wind exhibits with sailboats, the farm animals, and the music-making room. There's also exhibits on space and all other sorts of science that I'm sure Evan will find incredibly interesting when he gets older. We can't wait to go explore the museum again soon!

Snails for Dinner

Sounds delicious, doesn't it?

Well, Ian and I have been debating about dinner lately. We waffle between rushing to have dinner ready early so we can all eat together and letting Evan eat early and having Ian and I eat once he goes to bed. Usually, the latter wins just because it's easier to cook our dinner at a leisurely pace while Evan is going to bed.

However, we try to eat together as much as we can and make dinner as enjoyable as possible. Last week, we had another attempt at fun dinner. We pulled out the baby cook book that we have and decided on the chicken sausage snails. No, thankfully, they're not real snails. We made the snail's body out of chicken sausage, the shell out of mashed potatoes, the eyes out of peas, and the antenna out of carrot slices. Since Evan hasn't actually ever seen a snail, we're not sure if he recognized it, but he definitely had fun and ate almost the whole sausage. Mom and Dad happily ate our snails as well.


Who knows what food-related creativity will come next...I'm thinking of breaking out the Jello cookbook next!

Family Fun in the Lone Star State

The first part of our visit to Texas was busy, filled with seeing old friends and shower preparations. The second part of the week, we just got to relax and spend some time as a family at my parent's house in Boerne. It was a lot of fun because Audra was there too, so the whole little family was back together (minus husbands).

Evan really enjoyed the time he got to spend with Grandma and Grandpa. There was lots of playing! Evan especially enjoyed my old Sesame Street toy that Grandma had salvaged and ice cream making out on the porch with Grandpa. Although we stayed home and had a great time relaxing for most of the week, we did leave the house a couple of times. The girls snuck out for an afternoon so we all could get pedicures and left Evan and Grandpa home alone. Another day we headed down to Freebirds for another Mexican food fix. Evan loved his first Freebird quesadilla! It's the first time he's ever eaten out and actually eaten food off the kids menu.

(Evan and Grandpa pour over the day's newspaper.)

(Evan is grateful to Aunt Audra for introducing him to Freebirds.)

It was a great week, and my parents house is absolutely beautiful! I actually saw a few shooting stars out sky-watching one night. We can't wait until our next visit!

Good Times with Old Friends

I can't believe it's been 11 years since we graduated from high school. On my recent trip to Texas for my sister's baby shower I was able to stop by Houston, which is where I went to high school, see the sights briefly and see a few good friends from those days. It's amazing how our part of town has changed. I wouldn't have even recognized it!

When we first arrived in town, we headed to the mall to get a bite to eat. Of course, Memorial City Mall has been renovated and expanded beyond recognition, like everything in town. At the mall, we met my friend Aimee, from high school, and her son Grant. It was great to get a chance to see them because Grant is only a few months older than Evan! From the mall we left my mom, who had shower preparations to do, and went to a park called Discovery Green in downtown Houston. It was great to have a chance to catch up with Aimee while we chased the boys all over the park. There was a great splash park and lots of room to run and play. With the midday Houston heat, the boys wore themselves out. I just wish we could have hung out for longer, or even better, I wish we lived a bit closer.

(Aimee and I)

(Evan enjoys the splash park.)

(The boys explore the park--can you believe Grant is only about 2 months older than Evan?)

(My little peanut)

That night I continued my reunion with old friends. We headed out to Lupe Tortillas so my pregnant sister could have her mexican food fix. There, we met Audra's friend Jeff and his girlfriend Sarah, my mom and her friend Carolyn, and my friend from high school, Steve, and his girlfriend Sarah. Again, it was so great to see him, just like old times. Evan enjoyed watching his "Uncle" Steve, and I could tell they would be great buddies if they got more of a chance to hang out. It was all too short a reunion, and hopefully we'll get to see him again soon too. Oh, and the soft "cheekin" tacos and margaritas were fabulous!

(Steve and I enjoy some mexican food.)

The next day was the day of my sister's shower. Fortunately for us, my friend KC from high school and her husband Tony were driving back through Houston on the way home from a concert. So, they stopped by my mom's friend Carolyn's house where we were hosting the shower, we caught up, and they got a chance to meet Evan. I wish their daughter Bailey had been there so we could have met her as well, but it was still really nice to talk and see them. I hope we get a chance to meet Bailey soon!

(KC and Evan and I catch up.)

After we got home from the trip, we all realized it had been far too long since we've all seen each other. We were a really close group in high school and had some amazing times. Since then we've spread all over the country from California to Texas to Washington DC and even up to Canada, but we do still keep in touch (thank you Facebook). I'm glad Evan got a chance to meet some of my great friends, and I hope we can all find a time to get together soon!

When we stepped off the plane in North Carolina after our wonderful trip to Texas, we were in for another treat! We were met by more old friends at the airport. My friends Sarah and Jen from Vanderbilt were up vacationing in the area, and I hadn't seen them in a couple of years either. Evan and I took them straight from the airport to some North Carolina BBQ at Q-Shack and then some Mexican popsicles at our local favorite, Locopops. It was great to see them, and great to relive some old memories.

(Sarah, Me, Evan, and Jen after our yummy BBQ)

The past few weeks have really made me realize what good friends I have made along the way. It's really important to keep up with old friends, and maybe now I'll do a better job of it!

Showering Audra and Baby Jack

Last weekend Evan and I were lucky enough to get to go to Texas to see my family and celebrate the arrival of Evan's new cousin, Jack, with a baby shower for my sister Audra. We arrived in Texas on Thursday and drove down to Houston on Saturday. While I was there I was able to see several of my old friends, but more on that later.

Sunday afternoon was the shower. We were excited because a lot of people were coming from every part of Audra's life: family, high school, UT, work, and friends she had met along the way. We spent Saturday and Sunday morning setting everything up. Well, my mom and her friend Carolyn, who was nice enough to host us and the shower, spent most of the time setting up, and I spent most of the time watching Evan.

As the shower approached, everything was coming together, we hung a clothesline in the entryway filled with little baby clothes, bibs, socks, and hats. The table was spread with countless goodies. We had little sandwiches (pimento cheese and chicken salad), brownies, lemon bars, petit fours, cheese topped with candied ginger (You really should try this combination, it's fantastic!), artichoke dip, and probably lots more yummies that I can't remember. I was in charge of the mimosas. We had regular and virgin for the guest of honor.


The set up was great and the party was even better. Audra loved seeing everyone, and she got so many cute clothes, blankets, toys, etc. for Baby Jack (Thomas Jackson Mhire, isn't it a great name?). Audra's mother in law Kathryn brought an adorable diaper cake that Evan enjoyed dismantling at every opportunity. She also made some great games. The Bingo boards were my favorite.

(the guest of honor opening her gifts)

(These games must have taken concentration!)

(the Bingo boards)

So, Audra has been successfully showered. She even managed to get everything home with the help of a few very full pieces of luggage and several packages shipped back to Connecticut. We all returned back to San Antonio to have a fun week with just the family. I'll fill you in on that as well later. We can't wait to be back together again in Connecticut for the arrival of Baby Jack in November. Evan can't wait to meet his cousin, and Ian and I can't wait to meet our nephew! Rip, however, is not so sure about another one of those little baby things running around.

(Grandma and grandson enjoying the festivities)

(Sisters and one happy baby)

(Everyone had a great time!)

The Interior Decorators

Last week, my mother-in-law, Jennifer stopped by for a few days so that we could have some girly decorating fun! This time we tackled Evan's room and the family room off the kitchen. It was great to have her help and her expertise in matters such as upholstery, spray paint, etc.

In the end we managed to finally hang all of the pictures in Evan's room, and it looks great! I love how colorful and bright it is! We also made a huge difference in the family room, I think. She donated two of her old lamps to the cause, and we bought new lampshades for them. We also rearranged the furniture and added some items that we had sitting around that we just hadn't found a place for yet. My goal in that room was to have a picture wall of pictures of the family, so we also set to work spray painting picture frames, picking out pictures, and buying some new frames and mattes. It's still a work in progress, but I think it looks fabulous so far!

We're also going to reupholster the chair with the flower print and make pillows for the couch and kitchen chairs in the same fabric. We went to the store and picked out two that we can't choose between. Keep your eye out for a poll on the blog, and let me know which one you like.

Thanks to a new light fixture and painting help from my parents, and decorating help from Ian's mom, things are starting to come together. Take a look at the before and after pictures-

Evan's room before:


Evan's room after:

The family room before:

The family room after:

It's a Bird...

Evan has been fascinated with all things in the sky recently. He has learned to sign "bird" whenever he sees one by flapping his arms. We've moved his high chair so it faces the window, and he watches the birdfeeder and flaps his arms while he eats. It's amazing how he can spot a bird when no one else has even noticed it. If he's flapping his arms, you can be pretty sure there's a bird somewhere around.

We wondered if Evan's bird fascination extended to other things in the sky, so this week, our little boys playgroup went to the airport park to watch the planes take off. The boys loved it! Not only could you watch the planes take off, you could also watch the trucks drive around the runways, or play in the sand, grass, and playground at the park. It was especially perfect for Evan to go to the airport park on Wednesday because we were flying out Thursday morning. I don't know if he ever picked up on the fact that he was riding inside one of those things he watched take off.

Here's a picture of Evan as a plane gets ready to take off into the sky...