Grayson Tong-Hands

That was a lame attempt at an Edward Scissor-hands reference. Our largest, longest kitchen tongs might as well be attached to Grayson's hand because he won't let go of them for ANYTHING. Now that he's learning to pick up things with them, it makes a tad more sense (okay not really) but in reality, it's just a strange fascination. Grayson's friends Emmie and Liam each have a love for a stuffed animal Puppy and a Blues Clues notebook respectively, which I have always thought was so cute but THESE?! Kitchen tongs?? We have tried replacing them with kid's play tongs (they do exist), our smaller plastic ones, even smaller metal ones to no avail. Enjoy my blurry iPhone pictures!


Getting his diaper changed. I dare you to try to take them away from him...

 Looking for a ball under the furniture...

Hangin' with mom while he gets ready for the day...

he waves them like a weapon making it very difficult to get a non-blurry picture...

 He climbs with them...

He eats breakfast with them...

 ..he even checks his email with them.

Life Group Christmas Party

We had a our church Life Group party last night and had a really great time. I wish we had taken pictures of the beautifully decorated home of our friends, Hillary and Sean! They have something like 10 bins of Christmas decorations and you can't help but get into the Christmas spirit when in their home! This is the first meeting where every single one of us was together (Beau is usually the missing person since he travels) and it was such a great time! We hold a special place in our hearts for the people in this group - where we started together and where we are now has been quite the journey and all feel like we have been through so much together in one short year. The other Life Groups at church talk about how they've been together for close to a decade, their kids have grown up together and they all take ski trips together. I couldn't even imagine this in the beginning as we had enough friends ;) but I can really see our group doing that! I guess there's always room for more friends. :)


2012 is all about new beginnings for many of us and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for everyone! 

Top from left to right: Jill, Father Clay, Sean, Scott, John, Beau, Michelle,  Justin
Bottom row: Hillary, Emily, Joanne and Stacey

This is us getting ready for the picture, which seems like nothing but I love how
it captures Father Clay and his wife Jill on the left...how they love on each other when they think
no one is watching...they are such an inspiration to all of us!

How Stacey got her groove back (or Weekend Getaway)

Beau and I headed to Fort Worth for a relaxing weekend and it's just what we needed! It was a perfect mix of planned events (Friday - dinner reso at Reata and The Nutcracker ballet at Bass Hall) and absolutely no plans (Saturday - slept in and went wherever the day took us!). I took a lot of pictures with my phone since I love my new Hipstamatic app so this story should be told in pictures!

Beau's 1st morning of VACATION was spent on conference calls. Even
the whole drive out there. Bah.

Beau's Executive status at Starwood got us an upgrade to a suite.
Too bad our entire floor/hotel was occupied by Texas HS football playoff players!
LOUD ones! But we were excited for them. :)

The bar at Reata. This restaurant and all things Ft. Worth make
me so proud to be a Texan. 

There was a surprise envelope waiting for us at the restaurant.
It is the COOLEST feeling to have something like this waiting for you.
An early Christmas gift from my parents - a gift card for dinner! :)
Well-spent on steak and lobster and we split a Millionaire Margarita (when else
will we EVER buy a $25 marg?!) 

Loved this cowboy at the bar. 

Bass Performance Hall - much more special in person

Saturday in the Stockyards! We can't wait to bring back the
big camera someday for some family pics. So many cool buildings
with a lot of character...all over FW, actually.

We've both watched the cattle drive in the Stockyards many times
but it never gets dull. We can't wait to bring Grayson someday.

Leddy's in the Stockyards for boot shopping.
They have, by far, the best selection and
awesome experts working there. 

Here's one of them - has been in the boot biz for 30 years
and taught us SO much. Also found Beau the perfect pair of boots!

I love this picture. :) Beau's new dress boots and
mine (also from Leddy's circa 2 years ago)

Frosty beer at lunch. That promptly led to naps but again,
we had no plans so it was perfect!

.....aaaand the hotel valet damaged our truck. But
at least they told us! They didn't have to and we are
very thankful! This is Beau reading off the VIN to the
valet manager for the incident report. 

After a great dinner at Brownstone, we headed out for drinks
with our good friends Anna and Jeremy and a bunch of their friends.
Such a good time!

Blog Series: Mommy's Juice Muffles Loud Noises

Grayson found the one non-child-proofed drawer in our kitchen....the one beneath the oven. I actually forgot I had all those baking pans! This kid loves nothing more than playing with kitchen stuff.

Banging pans together - do you know how LOUD this is?!

He was very busy! 

He went on to eat his weight in fish and broccoli! Okay, so I'm bragging a bit. But he just doesn't eat this well usually. But coat some healthy food in enough butter and seasoned salt and you're in business! :D

A Few of my Favorite Ornaments!

I have several friends that blog about their special ornaments each year so I thought I'd follow suit. :) Ornaments are so funny b/c each one tells a story and are so special to the owner but are rarely appreciated by guests. Especially since we won't have any guests this year! :/ So here goes... some of my favorites. :)

9/11 Memorial - Christopher Radko - probably my favorite. 

My Aunt Linda and her family have given me most
of my Radko ornaments. I hold them dear to my heart - they really
dress up our tree! :)

Frog Prince! It's glass ornaments like this (and the two above) that
make my blood pressure rise when Grayson gets close to the tree.
These are waaay up high!

I treated myself to this snazzy high heel with an ankle strap.
Mainly b/c this is as close as I'll get to owning a heel like this (sigh).

Received the year we were married....
"Just married!" Classic car with luggage up top :)

This little guy has a star hanging from his right arm. It's on a little coil
that makes it bouncy. :) 

This is a bad picture but does anyone else collect these Hallmark
ornaments? They are houses and town buildings that, when turned around,
allow you to peak inside. I fell in love with them when I was like 6 and made my
Mom buy one every year - pretty much against against her better judgement.
She still buys me one every year :) G thinks they're play houses, of course. 

My former manager from Razor gave me this wiener dog!
He's the second cutest dachshund in this house. ;)

Santaphobia

This was my baby the whole morning leading up to our big trip to see Santa....

This was my baby 20 seconds before he saw Santa...



This was my baby with Santa...

And this was my baby immediately after sitting with Santa.

I mean I LOVE our 2011 picture, I love any Santa picture where the kid is hysterically crying, but I must admit I'm just so surprised! He was blowing kisses to all the elderly people in the food court not 30 minutes before the photo was taken. Granted they weren't wearing big red suits and long white beards....


I love you baby Grayson! I'm sorry I laughed and laughed the whole time. Maybe next year will be better. ;) I mean 2010's picture has nothing on this year!

Our Home: Christmas Edition

Beau and I have really enjoyed decorating this year. It didn't happen all in the same day or even the same week but it has really come together. We are still waiting to do the outside - thinking next year! Meanwhile, here are some photos of the inside...please note, I was playing with my Hipstamatic app so they're a little silly but you get the point. :) Not too terribly different than my decor update from 2009...


We purchased a new pre-lit tree that better fits in our living room. Taller (9ft) but less full at the bottom so we have more room to walk around! Our old one was almost 6 ft in diameter - yikes! I really love our new tree!

Remember Beau's Bow?! :)

Our mantle is a little full but includes some of my favorite things so I can't complain. :) I threaded little tree cut-outs through the ribbon on the stockings and wrote our names on them. My little cost-effective way of not monogramming.

Four stockings (Brinkley & Shelby share one)

I have been wanting to put a wreath in each window for the past couple of years and I finally found some that I like! I kind of want to keep them up year round...but I won't. :) It's hard to tell what they are from this picture so here are some words to describe them: rose gold, glittery, detailed, leafy.

We haven't really bought a lot of Christmas decorations mainly because I've been caught up on lack of storage space. But I couldn't resist this little cutie cookie jar.

I caught Grayson ON this table with his hand in the jar pulling
out a cookie. He's so smart. ;)

Believe it or not, this chandelier ornament tree was all Beau's idea! Time consuming but well-worth it and actually looks more like a "tree" in person...

Grayson and I did a Christmas craft that now hangs on his bedroom door. We put a hook on his door hoping to always have one of his little creations hanging from it throughout the year. Here is his Christmas craft...it's a Christmas tree made of his little handprints, which really makes it look like a moss tree but whatev. It will live on the Christmas tree as an ornament after this year. :)

Lastly, I took Beau to Home Goods a few weeks ago for some lamps. We left with this Christmas carousel and zero lamps. He was like a child who just HAD to have it. You talk about a storage nightmare (it's SO fragile) but it made the hubby so happy. ;) The candles keep the fan above and the little snowmen below spinning. I've already caught Grayson melting a toothbrush over the candles. Never a dull moment in this house!

I love seeing how all of my friends are decorating for Christmas! It's my absolute favorite time of year and I love sharing all of our holiday updates on this little blog. :) Merry Christmas, friends!

Beau's Company Christmas Party

Beau's company, MarketSphere, had their company Christmas party this past Friday at the NYLO Hotel in Las Colinas. It followed their annual meeting, which was also held in the hotel. My parents were sweet enough to keep Grayson all day and overnight so that I could ride out there with Beau in the morning before the meeting. That meant that I had a WHOLE DAY in the hotel room by myself! The day included: a king sized hotel bed, trash TV, room service: truffle fries and a glass of wine, an awesome shower, a nap,  mindless time on my phone with gossip websites, Facebook, etc. What that day didn't include: children, husbands, cleaning, a To Do list, errands, "Mamamamama", or tantrums. :) I can say all this because you know I adore my family and my life! Everyone needs a little alone time though.

The bed that I lived in for 5 hours before the party! 

I actually sent this pic of room service to Beau while he was
in his meeting. That was pretty mean of me.

The party was so much fun - dinner, an open bar and a casino night. It was all perfect and I loved getting to know all the people with which Beau spends all his work time. 

I played craps! This is a complicated game, my friends.

Hottie Beau-body. Not that I EVER call him that ;)

Some of us wives crashed the Microsoft party down the hall. They had a photographer with a green screen! How could we not?! We chatted up the employees in line and I think they believed that we Microsofters. I would say that the whole thing wasn't my idea but I'd be lying. 

2011 Christmas Card

I really enjoyed making this card. :) The photo shoot was a tad stressful for me just because my vision was so distinct but, as you may know, one has little control when a toddler is involved! That said, my mom did a great job behind the camera and Grayson was so happy! With the exception of Beau and I being completely distracted by the balloons, looking at our precious boy and the wind blowing my hair in my lipgloss (probably one of my top 2 pet peeves), all was perfect!


Out takes....

Probably the most beautiful picture of him to date!

Beau was getting the camera set up and I was
watching my mom chase Grayson <3

The final card...Merry Christmas from the Reynolds Family!