New Year- resolution maybe?

Wow. Welcome to version 20.11 of McMannes Meanderings!

I have lapsed again and I blame it on Facebook. It's quick updates, speedy statuses and current news have sucked me away from the art of blogging. I vow to return to my roots and resume my web based thoughts (I think it's the outlet I have been missing)! Well...since last April (since that was my last post)...let's see- We had a great summer, Kilian turned 4, we took an AMAZING trip to Turks and Caicos in August and are expecting Baby Boy #2 in 90 days! (See you didn't miss much in the 9 month lapse of blogs!) Here are a few highlights from April until now...next post...belly pics!!!

Spring is in the air...

...as are the ridiculous amounts of POLLEN. Ick. When the rain washes down a gulley and leaves large mounds of yellow pollen at the end, enough to scoop up in a cup, is just grosses me out. Despite the natural beauty and purpose of pollen it is just gross!

Kilian has successfully embarked onto his first Spring season of sports. After working through a rough season of peewee soccer (he just didn't get the concept of the game) and finding his niche as the goalie, we walked right onto the mound for some WeeBall (3 year old Tball). He LOVES the Weeball and cries when we have to leave the fields and if a practice is cancelled because of rain. It is so much fun to watch and play with him and makes me happy to see him happy and enjoying himself. Matt has taken quite a liking to the Weeball too which is good because a parent has to be out of the field running the bases with the kid at all times!

Batter up!!!

November.

At the Alamo.

Excited for some Joe's Crab Shack!

My handsome men.

My handsome men + the handsome furry one.

November came and went as any normal November would. We branched out and took our first Thanksgiving trip as just the three of us and explored San Antonio. What a cool place!! The riverwalk is great and was beautiful with the all the trees lit up. We attended the Annual Holiday Riverwalk parade with front row seats (which means if any of us had tipped forward we would have landed in the river-we were sitting on folding chairs with feet dangling over the edge-talk about up front!!) and the lights and floats were a fresh new variation to a traditional holiday parade. I think we had Starbucks about 3 times a day while we were there and ate some great food too. SeaWorld San Antonio was fun but I think I would prefer SeaWorld Orlando if I had to choose. But I won't complain because we have been able to go to both in the last 2 years for free thanks to the Anheuser-Busch "Hero Salute."

We joined the psychotic masses and got up at 5am for Black Friday shopping and actually got most all of our shopping done before it got really insane. Of course Matt had to purchase the one thing that wasn't 50% off or buy one get one free....we joined the Apple family and got the huge iMac desktop. It took a few days to get use to but I do love it.

I am thinking about planning for San Antonio again this next Thanksgiving....any family want to meet up and join us?

March...already??

My sincerest apology dear blog.

It didn't occur to me I had been so neglectful until we ran into some family friends in New Orleans last weekend and she mentioned the "Red carpet event" being my last post. So the next 4 days, I will be playing catch up on the last 4 mos....STAY TUNED.

Until then, enjoy a few snippets of the endless conversations between Kilian and I today:

- "Mom when you have a baby boy (btw, I am not pregnant), his name will be GIJOE, right?"

- "Macaroni makes me dance!"

-"Give it to me." (Followed by-->). "Sorry, am I in trouble now? Let me see your face." (Checking for my angry mommy face I guess.)

-"Well I am going to call those movers to take your bed to Walmart." (This was after I was being impatient, as the strategically placed candy was distracting him from following me out the door of Target and I said "Ok, if you don't hurry up, you'll just have to stay here all night, I guess." )

- "Ok, I'll be the daddy pteradactyl and you be the son pteradactyl." (Driving home in the dark as the point and totally confused as to how I am to play this role.)

Red Carpet Experience.

So I am blessed to have a sister who works for Regal Entertainment headquarters!!! She was able to get our younger sister and I tickets for the New Moon premiere. It was a fantastic night and just a cool experience. All the energy and hype was contagious and I really enjoyed the night. Not everyday you get to get all dressed up, make up done and walk down the red carpet in style while thousands of diehard fans (twihards) are watching and wishing they had had the same opportunity. I am definitely a fan of the books and the movies take a second seat, I would offer mixed reviews and critiques of the movie if asked, but I'll wait so as not to sway the experience!

October in summary...

Fall at its finest: Fishing trips. Pumpkin patches. State fairs. Halloween.

Oh NASA.

Our day in Houston was superb! IKEA, NASA Space Center, Houston Galleria and the Cheesecake Factory. (those of you from 701...I didn't eat any cheesecake, I've remained on task!)

My strongest thoughts from the day emerge from our hours spent at the Space Center. The Museum was very cool and interactive, the 1.5 hour tram tour left me unfulfilled and highly sarcastic. For being one of the most highly federally funded organizations, it has been left back in the early 80's, aesthetically speaking. Seriously, can't we get a little updating on that compound? Inside and out? Dreary and drab. The most visual stimulation we had on the tour were the random deer running through the streets.

Matt's favorite was the Flight Control center (go figure), Kilian and I opted towards the huge laboratory hangar where all the space "practice" takes place. Kilian turned to me and whispered during one of the less than energetic tour guide explanations, "Mom, this is so cool." So I responded as most aspiring parents would with, "Are you going to be an astronaut when you grow up." He turned around and whispered again, "No, I am going to be a veterinarian, remember?" Hmmm? Do they have astronaut veterinarians? I must continue to consider Iphones for Matt and I, as I believe the ability to instantly blog my sarcastic thoughts may stop me from saying things like- "Um, they didn't really land, they crashed!"- outloud, when the less than energetic tour guide mentioned something in the "space practice" room was used for the "recent satellites that just landed on moon yesterday". I am sorry. I will continue to work on controlling myself. But I must say...I am pretty sure the 80 million dollars that crashed into the moon could have made a bigger dent into the national debt than they did on the side of the moon. Just a thought.

We heard the NASA narrator use the term "newish" to describe a particular building...which Matt and I concluded meant that is was "relatively new", I guess? Or is that referring to a geographic influence, like Swedish or Irish? We also spent some time at one of the GREATEST malls ever (thanks for the referral Christine!).

The Houston Galleria has to be one of the best shopping experiences, while I didn't actualy buy anything (odd I know) the shiny floors, regular mall stores intermingled with Jimmy Choo and Zara (my FAV store from Germany) were all magical. (Sorry, my best shopping experiences as of late have alternated between the PX and Walmart, so you'll have to overlook my childish fascination.) We are planning our return before Christmas, devoted entirely to the Galleria! Signing out. The Eagle..is landing...in her bed of snuggly sheets and pillows and sweet Jimmy Choo dreams.