Happy Birthday John Brown

I would just like to give a shout out to my hubby on his birthday, even though he doesn't read the blog and will therefore most likely never see this. This picture was actually taken while I was in labor with Netta. I guess John wanted Netta to have proof of how cool he was before he had to start working at Dell. I do have to praise John for being cool with all my kitchen remodel ideas. He had no issues with our kitchen but I really wanted some cosmetic changes so this week we got our countertops refaced which required him to rip out the old sink and install the new one, something he had never done before and even though things didn't exactly go smoothly he persevered and we now have a nice new shiny sink to go with our new countertops. (Pictures to follow when the remodel is complete.) So yeah Happy Birthday John Brown and thanks for the new sink. I love you!

IHOP Rocks

Well I have been meaning to post about his for a couple of days. So Tuesday was free pancake day at IHOP. I have never really been a huge IHOP fan, but we were redoing our kitchen counters this week and had no sink for 4 days which meant no cooking so free pancakes sounded great. I was afraid it would be really crowded but there wasn't any wait and when we walked in they were handing out mardi gras beads and balloon animals. Not too shabby. EZ, Netta, and I were each able to get our own plate of pancakes. They gave us the silver dollar ones cause of the kiddies and they were way better than I expected. Maybe I just haven't eaten at IHOP in awhile or something but I seriously was surprised. I asked the waitress if the silver dollar ones were somehow different then the bigger ones cause they were so good and she said no just smaller. Anyway, the whole reason IHOP does this is to raise money for charity and here they were asking people to donate to Shriners' Children Hospitals. I told the waitress I would donate $5 and then she said that since we donated $5 we got a $5 off coupon for the next time we come back. Now that is a good deal if I ever saw one. So thank you IHOP for the free pancakes, the mardi gras beads, the balloon animal, and the coupon.

Potty Dance

Unfortunately this post is not about the dance EZ does after going pee on the potty. Instead it is a post about the dance EZ does while he is supposed to be going pee on the potty. Last week we had two pretty good successful days of potty training and then while our friends were here visiting we kind of regressed so Monday night we let EZ watch is favorite Charlie Brown's Christmas as long as he sat on the potty. Well as this video shows EZ apparently likes this movie so much that he can't watch it without dancing/jumping around. In the middle he says something about peeing so then John and I tell him to sit on the potty and he explains that "That's not funny!" I guess not because then he keeps yelling half words half gibberish at us. One note of progress is that he did pee on the potty twice today. He also went pee on the floor twice but hey it's still progress.

Jon and Elise

Our friends Jon and Elise came to visit over the weekend and we had a blast. Jon and my John met while getting their MBAs and of course then Elise and I met through them. They are now living in Omaha, Nebraska and we were so excited when they called and said they wanted to fly down to visit. EZ absolutely loved having visitors and definitely kept them busy stacking things and throwing things. Of course we loved having visitors as well. We were able to show them some of Austin and hit up some putt putt. The only bad part about the visit was that they didn't get to stay longer. Here is a pic of EZ enjoying the putt putt. Yes he is hitting the ball in the complete opposite direction of the hole.

Here is John looking extra tall.

Netta keeping score and doing her best to look as cute as possible.

And finally, Elise and I taking a break from golfing for a photo op.

9 Month Check Up

So Netta had her 9 month check up and some how she went from 20 pounds at 6 months to 19 1/2 pounds at 9 months. I know she has thinned out but I think there is something fishy about those numbers. The Dr. said the nurse probably just got it wrong at 6 months. Although I must say how do you mess up weighing a baby when that's what you do for a living? I mean it's a scale. It kind of does the work for you. Anyway so now that makes her 1 pound less and 3 inches shorter than EZ at the same age. I kind of have a problem with the height as well. People always tell me she is so tall and the doctor even walked in and said "What a tall baby," but again according to the nurse she is quite a bit shorter than EZ was and only average height. I don't know why it bothers me so much but I was honestly annoyed when I heard average weight and average height. Who wants to hear that their baby is average? I mean it's bragging rights to say your baby is way high on the charts or way low. I know the whole thing is so stupid, but you kind of get sucked into it when you are around moms all the time comparing babies. It's not healthy. Anyway so here is a pic of Netta and a pic of EZ both at 9 months. What do you think?

EZ Take a Bath

Usually I bathe the kids together, but yesterday EZ took a bath before Church while Netta took a nap. So last night I decided to give Netta a bath in her little tub to save water. Well as soon as EZ heard me running the water he ran upstairs and insisted he wanted to take a bath as well. I told him just to sit on the side and put his feet in, but he would have none of that and quickly wiggled his way in leaving Netta squished in the corner. I was a little annoyed but it's hard to get mad when he flashes that smile.

Rock Band

I think everyone is pretty up to speed on the fact that EZ is obsessed with guitars and now he has a band to rock out with. We started a playgroup for some kids around his age and they just happen to all be boys and all love to rock out as well. I figured EZ was having fun but it wasn't till all the boys came to our house that I realized just how much he loves playgroup. Whenever anyone new would arrive he would run in circles till he fell down. I guess that's how he expresses excitement. Having a bunch of boys in the house might not seem like that much fun, but I loved watching EZ interact with the other kids. He is finally starting to play with other kids and not just play around them. Of course I also really love playgroup because it means that the other three Wednesdays in the month I get to go shopping with just Netta. Life is good when you get to go out with just one kid.

Fancy Dancin' Netta

Netta loves music just like EZ and although she can't dance like a crazy person or wail on the guitar she has her own special way of groovin' to the music. This video was taken at my parents house over Christmas vacation. We were watching "Across the Universe" and apparently Netta really likes the Beatles. I especially love when she throws in her jazz hands.