Pumped about carving

Today was a gorgeous fall day here in Florida, and we celebrated by attending not one, but two pumpkin carving parties!

The first was hosted by friends and next-door neighbors Wes & Jess, and the second was at Ansley & Ben's house- a couple we know from church. Here are just a few shots from the festivities.
Here's Bradley wide awake and enjoying the pumpkins (or more so, his hand. He chews on them a lot these days.)







And here's Bradley zonked out- too much fun for him!















Here's me in an "action shot." Wouldn't you know it, I was the last one to finish my pumpkin!












Here's Wes' drunk jack-o-lantern. One too many Bud Light's apparently.










Brian's and my (aren't you proud of my grammatical triumph, Ari?) finished pumpkins. We both used stencils from the carving kit we bought. That was my first try at using one of those things, and my emotions are mixed. Sure, you can make cool designs, but it almost feels like cheating yourself out of the raw, basic pumpkin carving experience. But then again, maybe I'm over-thinking it?

And finally, our three happy jack-o-lanterns all lit up!

Family photos

My how the months have flown by! The picture on the left was taken just days after Bradley was born, on June 12th. The photo on the right is the 3 of us taken on October 18th, 4 months later! I thought it would be a good idea to re-create this shot, and now I'm wishing I'd done it sooner.

Getting Gorgeous

We all know I'm a huge cosmetics-addict. Well on my recent trip to TN (that blog is coming soon!) Laura, mom, Bradley, and I snuck away to Green Hills for some girl time on Saturday afternoon. Our destination? Sephora, of course!

Laura and I each had gift cards to spend, but mine was not spent without a little legwork ahead of time. You see, I had the unfortunate luck of accidentally throwing away my gift card, so I had to get the receipt from mom and dad, and hound the Sephora people until they agreed to re-issue me a new gift card. What a nice surprise though, to get the automated answering message each time I called the Green Hills store.


"Hello, gorgeous" the voice said each time I dialed.
"How did they know I was calling?" I thought cheerfully to myself.


Then you listened to the different menu options before choosing the appropriate one. I however, found it was such an ego boost to hear some unrecognizable male voice on the other end of the phone referring to me as gorgeous, that I kept calling and hanging up right after the greeting!


Hello gorgeous!... Hello gorgeous!... Hello gorgeous!... well you get the idea...

Anyways, we three ladies and the bebe spent a good amount of time perusing the aisles of the store, before I finally settled on 2 items:


Bare Escentuals Well-Rested, an under-eye concealer I have already been using, and Bare Escentuals Rare Minerals- a Best-of-Sephora-voted product for blemishes, and one I have been wanting to try. (MA, I'll let you know what I think about the Rare Minerals- it's still too early to tell)

I had so much fun looking at all of the new products and daydreaming about an unlimited makeup budget, and sampled a few powders and lip glosses along the way. And of course, we had to record Bradley's first trip to the Makeup Mecca for posterity!

Don't be a Hallo-weenie

This morning Yahoo had this article headlining their page- The 10 Most Disapointing Treats for Trick-or-Treaters- it was a quick interesting read, and while I don't agree with all of them (I happen to like the mini fun-size candy bars)- my number one most-loathed trick or treat candy as a kid is suspiciously absent from this list.

Do you remember those peanut shaped orange fluffy pieces of candy? (I've taken the liberty of finding an image.) Individually wrapped, they are mushy and chalky, and downright gross. I think the reference to "candy for senior citizens" from the Yahoo article applies to these too. All these peanut candies are is a waste of space! Give me my mini boxes of milk duds and pieces of Double Bubble bubble gum! Now THAT'S where it's at.

Read up on your Halloween treats and make sure you're not THAT house that all the kiddos avoid, and feel free to comment on your personal favorite treats you received as a kid (or as an adult if you're still begging strangers for candy).

Miles and Milestones

Real real quick, I'm blogging to say "Hey Nashville, we're coming your way tonight." I am super excited to be going home, and yes, I'll say it out loud... excited to see some fall foliage and cooler temps. I am even busting out some of my autumnal apparel for the occasion. Don't get any ideas though- I'm not proclaiming to love the fall, just anticipating a temperature other than HOT. What I'm Not anticipating is the long car ride this evening.

Bradley had a few milestones this week. He finally rolled over from his back to his tummy on Monday, and then yesterday we had our first play date. A girl named Stephanie that I met at church invited Bradley and I over to her house. Steph has 3 kids, but her youngest Ethan was born a month after Bradley. We put the 2 little boys on a play mat and both of them kicked and grinned, and Bradley even talked some for us, while us moms got to know one another.

Bradley's 4 month check up was today and he's now a whopping 15 pounds! He's in the 65th percentile for his weight, but only the 25th for his height, so we've got a little chunkster on our hands! Nevertheless, the doctor declared him "perfect," so that's great news. He gave me the go-ahead to start him on solid foods whenever I'm ready, but I'm still adjusting to having Bradley sleep in his own crib in the nursery, so one thing at a time, please!

Ok- time to make a mad dash around the house to finish packing!

Knights of Columbo (Day)!

It was a low key weekend for us. Friday was Spouse's Day on base for Brian's squadron. It was pretty uneventful, but we did get lunch outside on the pavillion, and then Brian and I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of us with Bradley on the playground nearby.

Notice his festive matching t-shirt and socks, compliments of Aunt Laura! Friday evening was spent making dinner and watching a Netflix movie (Sicko), and I caught Bradley grinning big in his bouncy seat!

Currently, the dilema with taking Bradley's picture is that it's impossible to catch him smiling at the camera, because by the time all the blinking lights and flashes have gone off, they startle him into a wide-eyed stare where a smile was just seconds before!

Saturday Grandma Ann came to visit, and the four of us went to Wes & Jess's baby shower on Saturday night. It was funny being on the other side of a baby shower, remembering that when I had mine in April, I wasn't even sure what to do with all the gifts I received (and I'll never forget the way the girls oohed and ahhed over Beth's Boppy pillow gift she got at her December baby shower, with me not having a clue what a Boppy even was!).

The Vilendrer family at the baby shower

(aka another excuse for Bradley to wear his fancy party outfit while it still fits!

Sunday we went to church and spent a lazy day watching football and cleaning after saying bye to Grandma Ann, and today is Columbus Day, a work holiday for Brian so he's outside pressure-washing the house! fun, fun! (The blog title is a shout out to Emily, a reference to an Anchorman quote-gone-wrong.) I'm not sure what else we'll accomplish today, but if the weather holds out I see a walk through the neighborhood in our immediate future.

Lookout Nashvillians, we're headed your way this weekend and would love to see you!

Spit Happens

Happy 4 month Birthday to Bradley!  I love when the month marks roll around and I think back to what I was doing x months ago today, and then realize how much my life has changed since then!  

Bradley's first fall photo shoot

Bradley goes for his checkup next week (keep your fingers crossed for us- more shots are coming and I dread them!) but at his last doctor's appointment the little man weighed in at 13 pounds and 15 ounces!  All my fears about him spitting up too much and not gaining enough weight are out the window.  We have gotten into a routine where we get up in the morning after Brian has gone to work, and Bradley sits in his bouncy seat while I eat breakfast and we both watch Sports Center.  I swear to you, the kid will watch football with Brian and me and seems totally content!  He's up for a few hours then takes his morning nap.  After that Bradley eats (spits up) and is up for a few more hours before taking his afternoon nap.  By the time Brian gets home around 5 and I am trying to start on dinner is when Bradley decides to get fussy and needy, so it makes preparing dinner and eating a lot of fun (read: chaos).  He plays on his Baby Einstein mat while I check email, and spends some time in his swing while I'm doing various chores around the house.  Now we're about to embark in a scary new territory:  moving Bradley to sleep in his crib in the nursery.  I'm thinking this will be more traumatic for me than it will be him (it makes no difference to Brian since he sleeps through everything!).

And finally, here's a new video we took today.  I call this "Spit Happens."  Enjoy. (technical difficulties... please check back later!)

Palin in comparison

If you've been watching the news lately (and I have... after binging on Sex & the City for 3 days straight, I decided I needed to rejoin the real world and spent the bulk of the day yesterday watching CNN and MSNBC), you know that Senators Obama, Biden, and McCain were in Washington last night to vote on the economic bailout bill.  But where was Sarah Palin?  Hopefully researching what newspapers she reads, and studying up on her Supreme Court history!  he he

SEX!

And the city.

ha ha- made you look!  (I know right?  What a cheap ploy to get you to read my blog!)  They say sex sells, so I wonder how many copies of the movie has flown off the shelves in its first week on DVD?  I received my much anticipated copy of SATC: the movie (Or Sex & the City season 7 as Sarah Scott calls it) on Saturday, but held off from watching it till Monday with Jess while both of our husbands were at work.  

You'll recall that I was very pregnant when the movie came out in theaters this past spring, and the very day I was finally slated to see the movie with Rhonda and Joe, wouldn't you know it, I went into labor!  I went so far as to consider seeing the movie that afternoon to distract me from the ensuing contractions, but thought better of it.  I remember calling Rhonda that morning while walking with mom through the neighborhood to try and lessen the pain of the contractions or make them stop altogether (no such luck) and saying to her, well I have bad news- I can't make it to the movie because I'm going to the hospital instead!

In true-to-form irony, Bradley was really fussy on Monday while Jess and I were trying to watch the movie, forcing me to stop the movie 5 or 6 times to take care of my cranky little man.  Well, he stopped me from seeing this movie the first time, I said, I guess it's only fitting that he keep me from seeing it now!  We got through the fussiness and since then, SATC has had a permanent place in my dvd player.  It's been running constantly while I dash from room to room getting things done, and conveniently it's on when I plop down on the couch to feed Bradley.

I'm thinking enough is enough though, and today marks the sad day when I shall return the movie to its little Netflix envelope, and pay it forward so some other deserving lady or gay man can enjoy Sarah Jessica Parker and crew.  The scene I can't get enough of?  The Vogue fashion shoot.  Those dresses?!  OMG, I'm JUST sayin!  I give the movie 2 thumbs way up.