14 Months Old

Sorry it has been weeks since our last post. I have been working on a big project at work trying to get a new account and it has taken a lot of extra hours. We find out if we got it on Tuesday - yikes!

We took half of MSU's Spring Break and went to Charlotte to visit Delia's Nana and Granddaddy, who just moved from Wilmington a few weeks ago. Their new house is beautiful and their neighborhood has it all: golf course, community garden, dog park, woodworking shop, gym, indoor and outdoor pools, ceramics studio, and on and on! It is about an 8 hour drive (for adults who don't stop to eat or pee - used to be us) and took about 9.5 with sweet Delia.

It was Delia's first long road trip, and I picked up lots of toys and snacks to make it go as smoothly as possible. This picture is actually on our way home with a drug store coloring book and crayons we swiped from a restaurant.

Our first morning with Nana and Granddaddy in their sun room porch!

Fun on the neighborhood playground!

Delia LOVES to swing.

Granddaddy stealing that sugar.

Granddaddy helping Delia walk! She loves to hold on to your hands and walk - fast! She stood up this weekend by herself and is so close to taking her first steps!

Going through a bag of goodies and books from Nana.

This Petting Farm book came with an awesome animal DVD with running baby animals and fun music.

We had a super fun trip to the brand new Harris Teeter, or as Granddaddy says, "The hairy what??"

Big Girl

Snow last weekend, 75˚ this weekend! Delia spent so much time outside Saturday and Sunday that she got a little pink from the sun!

We borrowed this cool car from our neighbor Saturday morning. Delia was whining in this picture because I had to stop pushing it to run around and take her picture.

Delia has been walking so well with her walking toy! Grady took these sweet pictures while I was babysitting for some friends.

Fun with Photoshop.

Those shoes! That booty!

Delia walked halfway down our long driveway and back!

"Look at me go!"

Delia got to ride the neighborhood train Saturday AND Sunday! Grady said she threw a huge fit on Saturday when it was time to get out. Believe it or not, I think she is having fun here...

The engineers, Little Charlie and Big Charlie.

Near...

Far!

"Look out tree, here I come!"

"Wheeeee!"

Blogging Under the Influence

... of a bad movie. I am going to try to do my part to make the world a happier place by telling everyone I can, DON'T see the movie "Changeling." Even if you are in love with Angelina Jolie and you would like nothing better than to look at her for a solid 2 hrs and 20 minutes, just say no. Unless you like killing children - oops, spoiled it for you - you will not like Changeling. I don't know how the director of Gran Turino (awesome movie) directed this awful thing. Shame on you Clint Eastwood! So I am up watching Ace of Cakes on the Food Network to try to override the awfulness. It's working - these cakes are pretty awesome. Go see Slumdog Millionaire! It won 8 Academy Awards and you will feel happy at the end.

Welcome Little Will!

Our friends Ryan and Brandy had their baby on Wednesday! His name is Will and he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. What a handsome little man! I know he and Delia will enjoy many MSU events together in the future.

Snow! and Anniversary Beer Dinner

We woke to almost 2 inches of snow this morning! I snapped these very quickly from the door in my pjs around 7:30am. The sun came out and melted almost all of it by noon.

This week Grady and I celebrated our anniversary early due to an event we couldn't pass up. Our favorite local chef, Ty Thames (see write up in Feb. Southern Living!), put on a Lazy Magnolia beer tasting dinner. Lazy Magnolia is Mississippi's only brewery, and the owner/brewmaster got her degree in Chemical Engineering at MSU. She said she couldn't think of anything better to do with her degree, so she started making beer. It's worked out pretty well for her! Ty used different beers in each of the 4 courses of this tasting dinner and it was awesome. Erica, these pictures are for you!

Our friends Brien and Amanda lived in Colorado for a while and they really appreciate a good microbrew. Brien stated that this dinner was "...the coolest thing to ever happen in Starkville."

We got a babysitter for probably the 3rd time ever - Delia goes everywhere with us.

Dave (who brews beer as a hobby and is VERY good at it) and his girlfriend Christina drove over an hour from Tuscaloosa for the event!

First course: Indian Summer Braised Pork shank served in an Indian summer beer and Mississippi honey glaze. Served with Lazy Magnolia Indian Summer, Spiced Ale.

Second Course: oops... couldn't stop eating the sweet potato dumplings...

Second Course: (I flagged down a waitress with a tray) Vardaman Sweet potato gnocchi with southern pecan “Old Country” sausage served in a truffle and Parmesan cream sauce. Served with Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan, Pecan Ale.

Third Course: Pulled pork sandwich served on a City Bagel jalapeño cheddar bun with Jefferson Stout barbeque sauce. Served with Lazy Magnolia Jefferson Stout.

Is that Coca-Cola? Nope - it's the Lazy Magnolia stout. Very chocolatey and coffee-ey.

Dessert: Southern Gold Beignets dusted with powdered sugar. Made with Lazy Magnolia's Southern Gold in place of the water usually used in the beignet dough. Brien seemed to get the short end of the stick on a few of these courses; super-small pork shank, etc. Here he points out what appears to be a Colorado-shaped beignet next to everyone else's Mississippi beignets.

And last, but not least, what's Delia up to these days?? Getting big and talking a lot! Here are some of the things she is talking about:

doe = dog
wuh wuh = woof woof/dog
goodah goodah goodah = good good good
hot = hot
bah = ball
bah bah = chicken/bock bock
mmmmm = mooooo
app = apple
duck = sock
dee yah = Delia
dat = everything else not on this list