Another Weird Spider Sighting

Today while Saul was watering the lawn he made another amazing wildlife discovery. In between our air conditioning units was a little neon green spider with neon orange spots on the back. We looked it up, and apparently it is an Orchard spider. It has a very weird shape with the abdomen being much larger than normal and at a weird angle. While looking it up online I found a delightful little clip from some nature show about one of these spiders that had a wasp larvae stuck to it that slowly sucked out its insides. I think I am scarred for life.

These pictures are from the web since our camera can't focus on such a tiny object, especially as it hangs in mid air.



Here is the attempt from our camera:

Andreas Turns 1 Year Old!

We can't believe it, but Andreas turned 1 year old on October 28. He had his first taste of sugar and his first taste of cake. He loved it and even when it was down to only specks left was trying to get them up with his finger. Uncle Sam and Aunt Tiffany came over with Zoe to join in the fun, and he even got some great little cars from Grandma and Grandpa Z.





Opening presents

Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake
In the mountain of presents
With Mom

Saul has trained him that whenever he says CUH CAW that Andreas will hold up the eagle. Oh it is so wrong.
The Handsomest Man
We recently have been trying to buy bilingual books so that I can learn the Spanish along with Andreas. Here are the boys going over the Spanish basics:

Quite possibly one of my favorite pictures of all time...

Turning 1 with his presents in the background


The Texas Cousins -- playing much nicer now and having fun together on the car

Here is Andreas sporting the fauxhawk


I think he was crying in this picture because he realized he wouldn't be able to vote in the upcoming elections...

Andreas In the Pool

One of the advantages of Houston is that it is warm outside for a long long time. It has been bearable for the past few weeks, so we thought we would get out our little crab pool and let Andreas play. He also had just gotten his first flu shot and had a fever, so it was a good time to cool him off a bit. He loved it, especially the little shark that we gave him.








Also, every morning for the past few weeks, when he wakes up, he stands up in his crib and starts pointing at his shelf of stuffed animals. We couldn't figure out if there was one in particular he was interested in, so we brought them all out. We still have no idea which one, if any, he is pointing at. But we thought it was a funny "ET" type of picture. Thanks to Sam and Tiffany for the cute NY outfit!

Angry Gnome

Recently we were trying to decide whether we would bother with a costume for Andreas since he is so little. We decided only if it was really cute. So we found one we couldn't resist -- a Garden Gnome. Here is a little preview. Saul sent me these pictures during work and they were so funny I had to post them. Andreas hates the costume with a passion, but we will try again on Halloween for some official pictures. Maybe even do some trick-or-treating.

Saul labeled this picture Angry Gnome
This picture is so heart-breaking, it really makes me stop and wonder if the price of the future therapy bills are worth the cuteness. And then I answer with a resounding YES! (Saul labeled this picture Sad Gnome)



We also made frosted sugar cookies one weekend for fun. I was really proud of my turkey, so I had to capture it for posterity.

Washington DC Sept 2010

This year I was lucky enough to score a work trip out to Virginia and the DC area. Even though we were tired from all of our summer adventures, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to mix business with pleasure -- and Saul has never seen DC! My Aunt Kay was very generous and let us stay with her for several days, even making us delicious dinners and touring tips. We even got to see my cousins Nicole and Rick with their families (congratulations to Nicole for having her baby the same day as I had mine last year!). Andreas was a bit of a challenge, but I think it was mostly due to trying to drag a tired infant through very quiet museums. It was exhausting but we were able to see a lot and had a good time.

Here we are looking out at the capital building:
and Washington Memorial. By the way, it was one of the hottest weekends of the year so even though we are used to Houston, we know better than to try to spend too much time in it. Here we had no choice. I think that explains part of Andreas' reaction in this picture:
In the Smithsonian at the transportation exhibit:
Magnum PI's shirt at the Smithsonian (this one is for Saul):

We went to the National Bookfair which was happening on the National Mall when we were there. It was crowded, but luckily we had taken the metro.
In the National Art Gallery:
A few pics of the memorials:



We even found some time to make it to Mount Vernon (George Washington's House). We went just an hour or two before closing, which was perfect because it was not crowded at all and not too hot.

Washington's old grave:
Washington's new (and current) grave site:

While on the Mansion Tour:


Washington's view from the back porch:

Andreas turned 11 months in the hotel, so I had Saul take some pictures. I was at work, so Saul gave Andreas this delightful hairstyle. Notice the bald eagle puppet in the background. We bought it as a souvenir while we were there. We brought it into one of the restaurants to entertain the baby while we ate dinner. Saul enjoyed it so much and put on such a show that kids throughout the restaurant gathered around for his little show (he made the eagle make this CUH CAW sound, which is wrong in so many ways).

Saul also got to make it out to the DC Temple (thank goodness for TomToms!!) while I took a turn with the baby at night. He said it was beautiful and really enjoyed it.