Hot Sauce Festival

Yesterday w decided to head down to Waterloo Park for the Hot Sauce Festival, and we had a pretty great time. Don, my mom, and I had been before, but Cory never had and neither had my aunt Karen and cousin Anthony. Things we loved: getting there early, free salsa of all different types (even though some were spit-out worthy), the fact that Torchy's was there with their queso awsomeness, the sneaky but legal way around the big line, and that it was actually under 100 degrees while we were there. Things we didn't like: the booth's lines were pretty long which prevented us from getting even more free salsa (perhaps a blessing in disguise). Pretty much a good Sunday adventure that left us full, happy, and didn't cost us much at all. Pictures from the day:

Mmmm, snow cones. Anthony, Karen, Don, Cory.

Ethan having fun in the stroller, and sticking out his tongue (a new favorite past time)

Being entertained by his cousin

Trying to keep the little one happy while in line

E, me, and crazy uncle Don

Cory and Mom enjoying the Torchy's

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Meeting Deirdre

I completely forgot to post about Ethan meeting Deirdre last Saturday. Deirdre was my first college roommate at UT. Not the one who sold drugs out of our room and left old milk out in her closet so long that it grew all kinds of nasty mold (seriously, not kidding), but the other one who left at semester break for the glory of a first floor room with a private bath. I could really hate her for leaving me with the drug selling one, but at least she would come by and help me Febreeze and Lysol the room, so we're still friends.

On Saturday she and her boyfriend came to town and we went to Polvos for some lovely margaritas and good food. She and I are trying to convince her other half to make the move to Austin, so hopefully Polvos was a good start.

Here's Ethan with Deirdre:


And Ethan with Eric (who claims to only have about an hours worth of baby experience in his whole life. This was actually the best face he made that didn't show the complete horror he felt)


And the roommates:


Great to see you guys! Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of you soon!

More on Baptism Day

So as you can see, E was baptized yesterday, and it was quite an eventful day. We waited until now because his godfather, my cousin David, has been in San Francisco all summer.

We planned a small party with the family afterward, and my mom and I claimed dessert and fixings for the fajitas. The "cake" we decided on turned out to be quite the four hour adventure. My mom found an adorable Sandra Lee creation in a magazine in which you bought cake, cupcakes, and sugar cookies and assembled them to create a super cute cake. "Why buy when you can make it yourself?" I said. Stupid move. I thought it would save money as well as taste better, but apparently Saturday was my mom's and my worst baking day. Just a few of the mishaps included dropping a whole egg into the mixer with the batter, not having enough batter and having to make some from scratch, cake sticking to the pan, pasting together said cake with icing, overflowing cupcakes, and not thinking about how to transport the finished project. Then my favorite, our cross cookies turning out a little more phallic in nature (meaning we could have sold them to someone planning a bachelorette party) and we had to"circumcise" them to make them a little more appropriate for a baby's baptism. Yeah, next time I'll be buying the stinking ingredients from the HEB bakery.

Here's how the whole thing turned out. It apparently tasted pretty good anyway.


The actual baptism was really nice. Performed by the same priest that married us in the same church (not really that huge of a deal since we were only married 13 months ago, but still really special). Most of my family attended as well as our friend Don, and we all went to my aunt and uncle's for a nice party afterward. Fajitas, queso, salsa, cake, what more can you ask for (well, maybe a WORKING margarita machine).

E received some great gifts and LOVED playing with the tissue paper they came with, he was cracking himself up. All in all, a great and very special day.

A few pictures (and of course more in the video):

No honey, the hat's not for you

Another baby was being baptized too

With Mgsr. Bomar

E and his godfather

And Nana

And Anthony

Taking a nap with his godfather

Goofy Pose

Our family

Playing with the tissue

Definitely a Bennett boy, already liking the duct tape

Ethan Baptism / Slideshow

We're switching to YouTube. Here's the video from yesterday. It's always good to click play, click "HD" if you like, then pause to let the video (red bar) pre-load.

Ethan's Baptism Video/Slideshow

Yesterday, the little man was baptized. Here's the link to a video/slideshow of the day. I'll post more about the day later.

Ethan's Baptism

Ethan on his blanket

Just thought I'd share some pictures. Usually first thing in the morning Ethan hangs out his blanket downstairs playing with his feet, rolling, etc. while his mom fully awakens (sometimes requiring a caffeine fix). Here's one of those times when he was just looking cute and I had to grab the camera.

The last one cracks me up every time. Can you tell he's into rubbing his head now?

The walker

Not our child, but the toy. Yep, E now has a walker. Yeah, we know they're not as popular anymore because kiddos would tump over (yes, I say tump, I live in Texas), and then there's that whole bow-legged thing he could get from standing too early, but I had a walker as a baby and I seem to have very little to no brain damage. I also think I walk pretty darn well too. So since the kid loves to be on his feet so much, we bought him yet another toy where he can do that.

He hasn't quite mastered it yet. He just pushes himself around backward until he hits a wall and then fusses a little until I pull him back so he can start all over. He does seem to like getting a new perspective of the house though, and I like being able to pull him wherever I happen to be. I'm sure he'll get the walking aspect eventually and I'll curse myself for buying the thing, but he likes it, so I'm happy.

Here he is in his new walker:

Happy Anniversary G&P!!!

Yesterday was Gramma and Papa's 57th anniversary (my grandparents), so we celebrated with a lovely dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, A La Carrera. It was so great to celebrate such an amazing marriage with two of our favorite people. I'd be 87 years old if Cory and I make it that long... Wow. Can't even imagine. I hope we get to celebrate 57 happy years some day with our children, grandchildren, and great-grandson someday...

Here's some pictures from the evening:

Fascinated by Gramma's face. He looked like he was trying to give her kisses, but it was probably just another thing he thought would be fun to put in his mouth. Kisses sounds cuter though.

"Kisses" for Papa

The result of me saying "Get together like you like each other"

Finally persuaded them

The attendees. 4 kiddos, 2 grandkids, 1 great-grandson, 3 spouses, and an adoptee

Paula making fun of E's standard surprised look

Ethan already likes to help open presents

And try to eat the paper

Happy Anniversary! We love you!!!

The new deck

Hooray! The pile of lumber that has been in the backyard for almost 2 months now has finally become an outdoor living space. It's still missing the roof over one side, but that's going to be done Friday with the help of my uncle Mark and probably my cousin David and Don (and of course Cory). I'm so excited to take Ethan out there to play, especially when and if it ever cools down, and Cory and I have already enjoyed some time out there after the little man hits the sack. Hopefully, we'll find a way to spruce up the landscaping and get some grass around it, but it's already a huge improvement on the tiny concrete slab we had before.

Here's the pictures of before and after, and I'll update again after Friday's project:

The crappiness we had before:

The lumber pile we had to look at for weeks:

And the loveliness we have now:

Nacogdoches Edition:

Ethan sure enjoyed meeting his great uncle Gary and great aunt Elecee this weekend. He also had some quality time with his only uncles, aunt, and cousins.

We went out to Nacogdoches this past weekend so Cory's uncle Gary and aunt Elecee could finally meet Ethan, and Cory's brothers drove down from DFW to meet us. There was GREAT food, relaxing time on the BEAUTIFUL patio, swimming, and visiting. We also got to see some rain (they actually get it out there), which was so nice.

Gary and Elecee just finished building a beautiful home that from the backyard looks to be in the middle of nowhere. It truly is beautiful in Nac with all the huge trees, and their back porch backs up to a nice little forresty area. They are super talented landscapers (as is their son Ben who was apparently stuck with rock duty), and I came home wanting to do so much with our yard. Too bad I have neither the talent or the money (or the rain for that matter). I just keep watering my stupid plants that refuse to flower, dreaming of a nice yard. Anyway, I digress...

Elecee and Gary made some great southern home cooking, and Ethan liked to watch them from his Bumbo on the counter. We also visited cousin Kerry's hotel for some swimming Saturday afternoon. Otherwise we just hung out, watched some tv, and visited. Ethan was on his best behavior and loved meeting new people and playing with his cousins. It was a lot of fun and we're hoping we can go back sooner rather than later, and hopefully Gary and Elecee can visit us someday.

Okay, now time for the pictures:

Their lovely backyard

Meeting Elecee

And Uncle Gary

More of the backyard (can you tell we liked it?)

Playing in his Jumperoo (can't go a weekend without it)

With cousin Madeline

Playing peek-a-boo with cousin Grayson

With aunt Kalie

Swimming with Daddy

Taking a nap in the swing (just loved his pose)

Grayson, Me, Ethan, Lyle, and Kalie

The boys

"Uh, mom, what is Uncle Troy doing to me?"

Playing with the Cookie Monster from his cousins

Playing with Grayson (I think he was making Ethan a super hero)

Say bye to Aunt Elecee