The Empty Nesters

Last Friday morning Nicky left for a fun-filled week with his Granny and Poppa in El Paso.  From the sounds of it, he's been having a blast!  He got to go to work with his Poppa...

...and they've been to the zoo and a dairy farm.  All that on top of swimming in their pool every day has made for one happy little Russky!  We talk to him each night and he wants to know every detail of what we're doing.  It's so cute!  He'll ask "whatcha doin momma?"  "where are you?"  "you watchin tv?"  "where daddy?"  Then he'll tell us all about the fun stuff he's doing and he gets so excited he'll squeal more than talk.

We've had a few of the "i come home morrow?" questions...and "morrow" was like Wednesday, so we were a little worried we might be making a long drive to EP, but he was pretty easily distracted by the promise of more fun stuff to do the next day.

Kris and I have enjoyed the time to ourselves...not that we don't miss the little guy, don't get me wrong!  But, it's been nice to come home from work and do NOTHING.  No rushing to the preschool to endure endless chatter until 8pm.  No scurrying around to fix dinner all the while entertaining the chatty Russky.  No getting up early in order to get him to school on time.  It's been pure laziness!  We did get to enjoy a "romantic getaway" at the hotel Nylo...thanks to the wonderful planning of my awesome husband!

We've also been to a movie and enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite haunts without having to scarf it down while keeping an eye on a preschooler who constantly drops food/almost spills drinks/bounces in his seat...etc.  Kris has been extra excited about the fact that he doesn't have to get up from the dinner table to wipe Nicky's arse!  (somehow the morning poo ritual has now been shifted to the dinner hour...no matter the time dinner occurs!)

Kris is leaving today for EP to collect the Russky and I'm heading to San Antonio to see my family - my brother, niece and nephew are in town to boot, so it should be fun.  Kris will fly with Nicky to SA and hopefully, Nicky will be spending next week with Nana and Pop, his uncle and cousins!  Not that I don't miss him, but we still have some stuff get done around the house (since we've been lazy all this week) and a baseball game to attend and more movies to see!

We're so thankful that our parents are wanting and willing to spend time with the little dude, and we hope this is a summer tradition in the making.  It's hard not having family closer to us and we think it's important that he have the special time with his grandparents that I was afforded as a child. 

Thanks Granny and Poppa for taking such good care of our baby this past week!!!

Look at you...you have a baby...in a bar!

We have found that being parents has it's pros and cons. 

Pros:  the pure joy you feel when you see your child blossom; hugs and kisses from said child at random; and being reminded of the pure innocence of being young again. 

Cons:  there's no more going potty by yourself; your wants and needs are a thing of the past; and it's hard to find a hip place to hang out when toting around a little fella!

So, we figured who cares?  Let's throw caution to the wind and go ahead and take the little Russky with us to an otherwise adult-friendly hang-out.  A pub called the Londoner recently opened up in our neck of the woods (we had visited the Dallas location in our "sans child" phase of our marriage) and a few weekends ago we decided we should check it out.  I figure, if they have a section of kid's meals on their menu, they asked for it, right?!  We apparently weren't the only parents with that idea either - there were several other families there as well...whew!  It had been a long week at work, and a few pints were definitely in order. 

The food was pretty tasty; there was plenty of good ol' fashioned people watching for the hubby and I...

(seriously?  you're wearing practically identical shirts...shouldn't you sit on opposite sides of the table?!)

(hmm...at first glance, one would think he's merely holding the purse for his chick...however...the comfort and grace with which he threw it over his shoulder - and stood there like that for SEVERAL minutes - sends the message that he's permanently lost his man card!)

...and best of all, the place was loud enough to drown out any nonsense that Nicky tried to throw our way!  We've also come to realize that not only are our iPhones fun for us to play with, but Nicky's a big fan as well!

(he's "playing" solitaire...who needs a babysitter?!)

We all had a fun night and we learned that it's apparently ok to bring your kid to a bar (good thing they're all non-smoking now).  Look out North Texas...the Johnson's have a lot of new bar/restaurants to check out!

Hot Child in the City

Two weekends ago, we decided to head out to McKinney for the Third Monday Trade Days.  It's basically a flea market with all kinds of fun junk to peruse.  We have had pretty good luck with finding some interesting treasures (aka other people's junk) in the past, and this time was no different.  I was ecstatic when I spotted an old 6-panel door just the right shade of blue/gray, which was the exact item which brought us out there to begin with.  We have all our meters and hook-em-up stuff for the cable, etc on the wall of our backyard patio...just not the eye candy I'm going for out there...view before the door...

...view after the door...

Much better, no?

We also purchased a cool old green window from an Army base in Arkansas that is being shut down; a few old blue Mason jars; some new house numbers; and an old screen that used to cover a transom window.  I don't know why, but I have an addiction to old windows.  I think they make a funky display on the wall and bring interesting dimension to an otherwise dull space. 

Nicky was rewarded for being such a champ and walking the entire flea market with a "train" ride...Momma and Daddy rode too...kinda fun!

Anyway...it was about 100 and hell degrees outside...no exaggeration...that's what the temp on the car told us.  We were all sweating profusely by the time we got back to the vehicle to load up our riches that we barely had enough power to get everything in, much less ourselves.  Kris started the car to attempt to cool it off some while we maneuvered the the door inside - of course, this was futile seeing as though the door was way too long and had to hang out the back window, thus causing all the air conditioning to be sucked out as we drove down the road.  Somehow as we were loading everything into the car we managed to lock the keys in the car with it running.  Luckily the back window was open, but this meant that one of us would have to unload all our new finds, climb in and unlock the doors.  Of course, we turned to the shortest one in our group, the Russky, and immediately squeezed his little person inside.  The little guy must have sensed our stress because he freaked out and didn't want any part of the situation.  I'm sure passers-by were having a good laugh at the sweaty parents screaming at their kid inside the car.  "Unlock the door Nicky!  Pull the handle!  It's on the door Nicky!  No...not the back of the seat!  THE DOOR!!!"  Nicky frantically searched the inside of the car for the lock/door handle.  I know he knows where they are...and you would think most kids would think this quite the adventure.  Not ours.  Panic and terror were apparent all over his sweaty little face as he hysterically tried to rescue us.  "i don't want to!  noooo!  you do it daddy!  i scared!"  "You HAVE to!  We can't go home if you don't do it!" 

Our little hero finally pulled through and we were saved from melting on the hot pavement.  We  re-loaded all our purchases, wearily climbed in the vehicle, and set off in search of lunch.  As we sailed down the road, a woman in an SUV pulled up along side us and motioned for me to roll down my window.  Afraid of the worst (like we had a flat or something) I obliged, only to be informed that Benson, the latest addition to Nicky's menagerie, was hanging onto our back bumper for dear life!  As you can imagine after looking death in the face, Benson hasn't left Nicky's side!

After re-fueling our bellies, we decided it was WAY to hot to do anything but head over to Gina's house for a dip in the pool.  Even that didn't cool us off!  The water was so warm, I turned her outside shower on and sprayed us all off with the nice cold water.  Kris had the great idea to put ice in the pool, so see how long it would take to melt...

...turns out, ice melts pretty darn fast when put into 92 degree water!  The best idea of all came from Gina turning on the water which fills the pool (thus turning the pool into an infinity pool it got so full!) - it was nice and cool...if you stood right in front of it...

Oh well...what we lacked in being cooled off, we made up for in good company and pure laziness! 

Mesquite Ta-Maters

The husband and all the guys from the clubhouse (aka firestation) are competing in the annual Texas firefighter olympics this week.  Seeing as though he's a tall dude, he is of course playing the role of "baller", as opposed to being part of the poker team (poke 'er?  barely know 'er!).  The team usually wears random t-shirts and shorts, but this year their Chief sprung for the fancy uniforms since they're the defending champions.  And when I say fancy, I mean FANCY (see pic above...I apologize for the shoddy lighting...shoulda used the real camera instead of the iPhone that was handy).  They are bright toe-may-toe red with gray on the sides, and are made from the super-shiniest material EVER!  They kinda remind me of them slick satin sheets or a tafetta prom dress...only without the pouffy 80's sleeves.  Due to these facts, they've earned the awesome team nickname "Mesquite Maters" - doesn't matter if I'm the only one that calls them that - I find it humerous, and that's all that matters!

Anyhoo...I suppose the uni's are working for the boys, cuz they've won their first 2 out of 3 games and have a shot at another championship!  So...cheer with me folks...

L.E.T.S. G.O.  Let's go! Let's go!  L.E.T.S. G.O. LET's GO!!!  Whoo hoo!  Go Mesquite Maters!

~ update...looks like my cheering didn't help as much as I had intended.  although they didn't do too badly...they won the silver! ~

Why Do I Torture Myself?

This weekend I somehow managed to get both of my Tiffany & Co necklaces all knotted up.  Major bummer because I typically swap between the two depending on my mood.  I don't really have all that much bling, but these pieces are my go-to pendants when I don't want to have to think about how I'm going to accessorize an outfit.  I mean seriously - Tiffany pulls everything together, so I really can't go wrong with either choice.

Well, this afternoon I broke down and took Mr Starfish...

...and Ms. A to the Tiffany store to be de-knotted.  

I only hesitated because I figured they would stick me with some obscene charge for the minor infractions.  The fixer-upper dude told me it would be about 10-15 minutes, so I said "Perfect!  That will give me some time to look around!".  Upon further investigation, he said "Actually this should only take about 5 minutes", to which I replied "My husband will thank you for that...I won't have much time to do any damage!"

I should've known better than to peruse the beauties on display, but I just couldn't help myself!  Sitting still in the little waiting area is just torture when I know all the fabulousness that is just steps away.  So now I'm left aching for this little piece of magnificence...

She is only $200.  And I need her because I'm not a fan of even numbers, and having her to make pendant number 3 would round out my collection nicely.  Don't you think the hubby would go for that kind of rationization?

After trying on a few rings and bracelets, my necklaces were back to their original glory...meaning much shinier than when I originally brought them in.  I was going to ask them to clean them, but that is $15 a necklace, so I figured with the cost of having them repaired would be enough for the day.  Who knew they would go ahead and throw that service in?  Well, to my surprise, the wonderfully awesome sales lady gave them to me, helped me put them on, and then told me I was good to go!  Huh?  You mean there's no charge?!  I got the knots out and they are nice and shiny?!  I just might have to accidentally get knots in them more often!