It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

More snow. There's so much snow, it's like waking up in the middle of a Miami Vice episode. (Think about it.) (And yes, this is the same picture from earlier, just picture the same shot with more snow on the ground. That's what it looks like.)

Not just that, but we've got our tree up. It's our first tree together and Antonio's first tree ever. So it's a pretty good tree, not just some cheap thing we picked up at Wal-Mart. (If you're interested in purchasing a tree like ours, you can find them at walmart.com -- for a pretty cheap price, too.)

Of course the tree is decorated in purple and gold -- Husky colors -- but if you were to ask big WSU fan Torin what the colors are for, he'd tell you they are for the Oak Harbor High School Wildcats. (He'd tell you that because we told him that.)

Why would we tell him that our tree was inspired by our high school? (Besides the fact that it's fun to lie to kids?) I'll tell why. Oak Harbor is heading to the state football championship game for the first time in history. After winning a grand total of 4 games during my entire high school career, you can see that this is quite an improvement. It's the biggest story in town, and all people at The Country Club (not really he only place to eat in town besides El Cazador -- it just feels that way) and El Cazador (new pictures added below) can talk about. It might just be the best thing that's ever happened to anyone anywhere ever.

And yes, Deb and I are planning on being big nerds and going to the Tacoma Dome to watch the game.

What's All This White Stuff?

Antonio spent his first night at home after visiting the grandparents for Thanksgiving. And what did he wake up to find?

Snow! Lots and lots of snow!

Mommy and Daddy quickly got him dressed in his snow outfit to get some pictures, but the snow had already started to mix with rain, so we didn't stay outside very long.

But Havana isn't a little baby, and she can brave the elements, or to tell the truth, Mommy and Daddy make her brave the elements to go potty outside because that's the kind of terrible people we are. First we bring a little boy into the house and give him all of our love and attention, then we make her go outside in the freezing weather to do her business. (Sorry, this last paragraph was dictated to me by a disgruntled canine sister.)

This was already a busy morning. But then we had visitors. Aunt Becky and Uncle Greg came over with Antonio's cousin's, Torin and Preston.

(Now Uncle Greg can have the picture he didn't have on his birthday.)

Preston gave Antonio his first nickname. Because he's two years old and has a binky in his mouth most of the time, it's sometimes kind of hard to understand what he has to say, thus, his trip to go see "Cousin No-no."

All in all, it was a good morning. And there was more activity in the afternoon, too. So come back later and read all about that.

Happy Turkey Day!

And first of all, Happy Birthday, Uncle Greg.

(Since I don't think a picture of Greg and Antonio exists at this time, here's Antonio and his cousins, Torin and Preston.)

Today was Antonio's first Thanksgiving, and he looked extra handsome in his fancy Thanksgiving clothes.

Here is a list of things he is thankful for:

Grandma and Grandpa (Barge edition) -- They love to love Antonio. He loves that.

Grandma and Grandpa (Rodgers edition ) -- They also love Antonio. He doesn't mind that one bit. (Here's Grandma and Antonio the day before Thanksgiving.)

Uncle Rich -- Antonio met his Uncle (or Great Uncle, I think) Rich today. It was love at first sight.

Uncle Alvin -- He talks to Antonio all the time, and today they watched football together. Even better than that, Alvin taught Antonio the first of many bad habits he'll probably teach him in his lifetime -- how to suck his thumb. Next week, Alvin will teach Antonio how to swear.

All his other friends and family -- Antonio was so loved today, I'm sure he was enjoying himself and how spoiled he was. That's what holidays are for, I guess. We usually do our best to neglect him, so I hope he doesn't get too used to it.

Comfy clothes -- Antonio is thankful that at the end of Thanksgiving, after eating his fill of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie (or in this case, breast milk) he can change into sweats and a t-shirt and just kick back and relax.

And last but not least:

Mommy and Daddy -- Believe it or not, until today, we didn't have any pictures of Mom and Dad and Antonio. We fixed that today.

Havana was thankful to be included, too

El Cazador is the bestest!

Happy 40th Birthday, Grandma!

We're up in Oak Harbor for Thanksgiving. Mommy and Daddy get to eat all the turkey they want. Antonio still just gets to eat mommy's milk. Before we get to the turkey, we ate at El Cazador. (It's not the only Mexican restaurant in town, but sometimes it sure seems that way.) Antonio will eat there another 31,932 times in his lifetime. (This is just a rough -- yet conservative --estimate.)

There will be another update with more pictures after dinner. (And football.)

People, Let Me Tell You 'Bout My Best Friend

Antonio had a good day today. I know this because Debbie told me he had a good day. I am in Los Angeles doing my Los Angeles thing, so I don't now firsthand. He's been having lots of good days lately, and he's been doing a lot of talking. He has a lot of things to say.

Oh, and he's had a busy week. Let's see. Sunday night, we had dinner with friends. (Yes, we had dinner with friends on Saturday night, too. What can I say, we're party animals.) And yes, there was another young female who was smitten with Antonio. This time, he was flirting with an older woman. He's a charmer. Don't Charlie and Antonio make a cute couple?


Antonio also went to the doctor. He weighed 11 pounds 4 ounces. He is now officially a big brother to Havana. (She weighs in at 11.1 pounds. Every time. No matter what she eats. Much like me, I weigh [redacted] pounds. And I've weighed [redacted] pounds since I was [untrue number] years old. I haven't gained a pound in years [This is not true at all.].)

So between the dinner parties and the doctor visits, Antonio's had a pretty good week. He's not so sure about next week. Sure it's a holiday week, and I'll be home for 10 straight days, but his best friend won't be around. This is Laurie. Antonio can't say enough good things about her.


Actually, Antonio can't say anything about her, because, you know, he's 8 weeks old and whatnot, but if he could say something about her, it'd be good. She hangs out with Antonio during the day when Mommy's working and Dad is out of town, and best of all, she takes really great care of him. He loves Mommy and Daddy, but she is his best friend. I know when he sees her again a week from Monday, he'll break out into a huge smile.

And that's the best thing in the world.

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Posting this a few days later because I've been trying to figure out how to put movies up on the blog. But I can't. Even if it's possible for some people to know how to do it, I can't figure out how to do it. This is bad news for all of you who are reading this, because if I could figure out how to put movies up here, you'd be able to see Antonio taking a bath and then peeing on me. First time that's happened. He enjoyed it.

Antonio's Busy Day

Guess what? Today, Antonio attended his first Husky Football Tailgate.

After that, it only seemed fair to take him to his first Husky football game as well. This picture was taken when the score was 3-0.

Let's just say the score did not remain 3-0. Antonio cried.

(Okay, I realize that the 2006 University of Washington football team is, for lack a better word, sucktacular. Really, I knew going into the season that we were not good. But if you start out 4-1, that just kind of gets a person's hopes up. Then to play tight games against USC and Cal, well, that gets a fella thinking about bowl games. But COME ON. Stanford? Really? Stanford? We're going to lose 20-3 to an 0-9 Stanford team? On the bright side, at least our seats should be better next year.)

After football, we went over to see some friends. But Antonio was not interested in the younger (three days younger) girl who was there, too. No, he was more interested in the handsome baby in the mirror.