Christmas

We had a fun time with Darcy on her first Christmas. We did not go over board at our house with STUFF...lets face it...she gets stuff all year. However she did get her "favorite" My Friends Tigger and Pooh characters. She really likes the "Darby" doll.


Darcy, however greatful for all of her gifts, I think enjoyed the gift wrap more than the actual gifts at the time of opening. Here she is after a quick bite of the gift bow.


Darcy and Anna Belle I think had a great 1st Christmas! Aside from really racking up on the gifts I think they had fun at all the parties playing with the many family members. Ali and I kept talking about how we didn't buy our kids that much stuff...but somehow after all the parties I have to find bigger storage containers to hold all the new stuff...


The girls really enjoyed playing under Uncle Jerry and Aunt Cindy's glass coffee table. They thought it was funny that they could not touch the drinks that were placed on top of the table while they were under it.


And finally Christmas morning with the Rishel Families...The girls wore their Grinch shirts in support of Uncle Chevis's Bah-Humbug shirt that is worn every year.

I am not going to lie...

Darcy's dedication was yesterday during church. I understand that I am totally bias...but she was the cutest kid being dedicated. She is appearantly too cool for shoes because she was barefoot by the time we walked to the front of the church. Darcy proceeded to grab her feet and pull on her dress then entire time we were in front of the congregation. She also enjoyed her conversation with the little boy next to us.





(A special thanks to Aunt Ali and Uncle Johnathon who took all of these pictures!)Cousin Anna Belle came to show her support of the dedication. She still doesn't seem too trusting of Darcy. I think if some kid pulled my hair that much I would not trust them either. (I am sorry Anna Belle we are working on it.)





Thank you everyone who came to Darcy's dedication. It meant a lot to us and we appreciate the support. (Both Corey and I's families came for the dedication...I just wasn't thinking and took no pictures of the families with Darcy...sorry)

OHHH OOOO

Yesterday while running errands I almost ran over some K-Mart shoppers. (picture below)



My brakes went out, which is scary. I was driving relatively slow in a K-Mart parking lot but was about to turn onto a busy highway (my life was sparred). Zach (who has the same truck but got his fixed) or Ford didn't bother to tell me about the recall but I am not holding a grudge.

Culture Bits.

Books:

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell- I am geek when it comes to culture studies and this one is about successful people and the ingredients to their success.

TV:

Arrested Development- This is by far the best show ever. Audri and I are re-watching the series in the evenings when Darcy goes to bed. LOOSE SEAL!!!!

Music:

New Music has been pretty lame lately but I'm enjoying 808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West. He has always been credited as a different type of rapper but has too often fallen into the same sterotype. 808s is a departure from everything he has ever done both lyrically and musically.

Website:

I have a favorite new website www.thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast is a product of the 24 hours/ internet news cycle but it doesn't let that get in the way of great political and social commentary.

corey

Thanksgiving Day is a Happy Day when we say thank you God.

Darcy's first Turkey day was a great success. We started the eating in Long Beach with Audri's family and finished it with my folks and family coming over. In between the meals we snuck in some family pictures.





( the best pictures are on facebook though.)

Aunt Donna continued her belligerent attitude about our posting but I found solace in Uncle Thomas' artichoke dressing.

Aunt Donna

Today I was attacked by Aunt Donna at the office Thanksgiving Party. She was angry and I mean MAD that we hadn't updated our blog in quite some time. Actually she rattled off the dates of our last post and embarrassed me in front of a lot of people. My eye's are finally dried and I'm ready to post about what's been going on. So here you go Aunt Donna.....

October 6th- went to the Monday Night Saints game.
October 8th- we cleaned the house.
October 14th- had dinner with friends.
October 22nd- bought a dvd.
October 30th- went to our church harvest fest.
November 4th- Corey got lost in Wal-Mart. Voted and Celebrated Jimmy's birthday.
November 17th- Celebrated Mrs. Lucy's birthday.
November 26th- Had lunch with Aunt Donna and got yelled at.
December 8th- Went to the Dr.( Yes I am predicting the future so you know what we are up to)

Cooking Blog

Yo,

I started a new blog all about cooking. Please check it out @ www.orchidgrill.blogspot.com.

Thanks

Weekend

10.26.08




We had a laid back weekend which was very nice. On Sunday we got the chance to take some pictures of Darcy and she ate up the spotlight. We also watched the Saints play a home game in London, but they won so no harm done.

Audri and I both have busy weeks ahead of us, which includes Darcy dressing up as an 80's dancer for Harvest Fest ( that is what happens when Halloween gets baptized ) and I've downloaded "What A Feeling" on my iphone to play as her background music.

Tonight the Phillies can win the World Series in 5 games which was my prediction, but I just blew it by typing it out so game 6 we will see you on Wednesday. That game will start later because of Barack Obama's 30 minute special on the 4 major networks. No one will notice though because ESPN keeps saying that NO ONE is watching the series. They are just upset that they don't get to talk about Dustin Pedroia running the bases all out, or about how gutsy Jason Varitek is, or how Fat David Ortiz is. GO PHILLIES.

She is Crawling.

She finally did it. Thursday Darcy made the decision to crawl (and say Mama). That morning she was in bed with Audri and I and kept getting on her hands and knees and pulling the blankets toward her, that evening when she got home, she chased a tennis ball across the living room floor. Now she is an unstoppable crawling machine which means I should stop blogging and go pick up my child before she eats a computer chord.

8 Months

Darcy turned 8 months old today. She is so close to crawling and loves to roll across the living room floor. Last week we brought the Dogs in to play with her and she and Jeter instantly bonded. He was so gentle with her, letting her pull his hair and gouge out his eye balls. Last weekend we took Darcy to the Disney Store, she had a lot of fun, but I think Audri and I had more fun thinking about brining Darcy to Disney.

In other news: I have officially healed from my sinus/ deviated septum/ uvula trimming surgery. Big surprise- it was miserable. The nose part wasn't so bad, but having your uvula trimmed is worse than waterboarding. The results are incredible though, both nostrils are filled with air when I breathe, great job Dr. Scndndhejadhdaixlaehådnfakdfleaygond.

Audri is doing well, this week she became a minimalist and emptied out her closet and I love her for it. We went to the last 2 Saints games, the Monday night game vs. the Vikings with our friends Jeremy and Kasie Ulmer / and the Raiders game with James and his friend Michael. Both games were lots of fun, but the Raiders game ended in a Saints victory.

OH, and Lulu got engaged to Kyle Cassagne. Much love to the both of them. The wedding reception is going to be at this gorgeous old mansion in the Pass. The only thing left to plan is to have Maroon5 play the reception.

Ok, off to cook dinner: here is the recipe for the week ( Thanks to Mr. Bobby Flay ):

Ingredients
Grilled Poblanos:
3 large poblanos
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
BBQ Onions:
2 sweet onions, skin-on, and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
Canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill BBQ Sauce (or your favorite jarred variety)
Coleslaw:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small head cabbage, cored, finely shredded
2 carrots, finely shredded
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Chicken:
2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (8 ounces each)
Canola oil
8 flour tortillas
2 grilled sliced poblanos
Barbecued onions
Coleslaw
Guacamole, recipe follows
For the poblanos:
Directions
Heat the grill to high.

Brush the poblanos with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the chiles on the grill and cook until charred on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the grill, place in a bowl and cover with plastic for 10 minutes. Remove the skin, seeds and stem and cut into thin slices.

For the onions:
Brush the onions with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on the grill and cook until lightly golden brown and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Brush with some of the bbq sauce during the last few minutes. Most of the skin should come off on the grill, but if not, take it off when the onions come off the grill.

For the coleslaw:
Whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, celery salt, celery seed, vinegar and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the cabbage, carrot, onion and scallion and stir to combine, season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Let slaw sit at least 15 minutes before serving.

For the chicken:
Heat the grill to high.

Whisk together the ancho, cinnamon, cumin, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper in a small bowl.

Season top side of the breasts with the rub mixture, turn over and season the back with the remaining salt. Drizzle with some of the oil and place on the grill, rub side down and grill until lightly golden brown and a crust has formed, about 3 minutes. Turn the chicken over, close the lid and continue cooking until just cooked through, about 6 minutes longer. Remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

Grill the flour tortillas briefly, just to mark and heat. To build the tacos, fold each tortilla around some of the chicken, poblanos, onions, coleslaw and guacamole.

Fire Roasted Green Chile Guacamole:
2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 poblano chile, roasted, seeded, peeled, and diced
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
2 scallions, finely chopped
2 fresh limes
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

We were there.

Yes, we were at the final game at Yankee Stadium (9.21.08). It was an incredible night of baseball history- the Yanks brought back some of their greatest to take the field one last time. It was such a treat to see Yogi Berra, Don Larsen, Reggie Jackson, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neil, and Tino Martinez in the Pinestripes again. Some of the guys I grew up watching and others I spent a childhood reading about. We stayed at the New York Palace and our room overlooked St. Patricks Cathedral- which is where the Babe's funeral service was held. It was a great weekend that didn't allow much time for sleeping but it was completely worth it. Darcy came to the stadium with me at 3pm til 7, then Audri and Marcie showed up and went to the bleacher seats and stayed for the whole game. So her first Yankee Stadium game was her last in the House that Ruth Built.

We also got to hang out with Christina Kane for awhile on Saturday afternoon, and eat at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. The girls saw Wicked and the Lion King, our 55 hours in Manhattan was slammed full of fun.

Strolling Through Central Park


Leaving Their Mark


Darcy Doing What Many Yankees During the 80's Did During the Games... NAP.


Audri and Darcy at the Stadium

Darcy Says Dada

Darcy can now say Dada... does she know what it means, probably not but it sure is cute. Here is an excerpt that I caught on tape last week.




We have been attacked by a plague of LOVE BUGS, which seems funny when I type it out but it is insane. During the day I sit and watch thousands of the die on our front porch. I'll have to take a pic of what the average day of dead LOVE BUGS produces. I recently updated Forward Design's webpage, check it out at www.forwarddesign.org let me know what you think.

Corey | check out the audri's post below, I just realized she posted new Darcy Pictures.

"we dodge a bullet"

I just put that title up there because Corey is sick and tired of hearing people say it in the news. They are referring to the fact that HURRICANE GUSTAV missed us. Anyway the only problem we had from the storm was a leaky back door, which we have had since we moved in. The door people are supposed to fix it today. We will see...they have "fixed" the problem 3 times before. I thought I would update with some fun pictures of the baby. We are having so much fun with her. She loves to laugh and play.

What a pretty face!


Daddy and Darcy...she says "da da" now. She thinks "da da" is so FUNNY!


She put her hat on this way in the car.


And finally she no longer likes to play on the blanket...she tries to make a "run" for it.

Good Mornings

Well we are gearing up for another possible hurricane. I think we are as prepared as we can be after living thru Katrina's aftermath. I continue to thank the Lord for the blessings he has given us and trust Him in these situations.

This is a picture of what I like best while I get ready for work in the mornings.

Darcy loves to play on our bed while she watches me go from the closet to the bathroom; going in and out of doors she thinks I am playing a game with her. It is SOO cute in the mornings. I love it. {Don't think ill of Corey sleeping in...he got up with the baby earlier that morning and let me sleep a little longer before I had to get up and get ready for work}
Much love-

6 months today

Today Darcy is 6 months old. She is keeping us laughing and well entertained. I think she is the most "laid-back" kid ever. She rolls with whatever is going on in our day. She is sitting up pretty well by herself these days...the occasional nosedive is to be expected. She rolls to everything she needs and is attempting to "scoot" or "swim" to things that she cannot reach. When she is laying on a blanket and would like a toy out of reach she just pulls the blanket closer to herself and then gets to the toys. Pretty bright!



Darcy loves to eat. In the morning I fix her a bowl of fruit and rice cereal and I think, there is no way she is going to eat all this. Then by the end of breakfast I am scraping everything in the bowl because she wants more. I have tried my hand at making her baby food. I just can't bring myself to by baby meat in a jar. YUCK. So I cook the meat she is going to eat and then just freeze it. It really is quite simple. I am trying to teach her sign language. They say babies start to recognize the signs about 6 months but they typically don't perform the signs until they are about 9 months. Either way...this is Darcy's sign for more!


She enjoys play time on the floor. Building with blocks and then knocking them over. She also likes to support the Yankees on game day!

Sugar Poured On Me.

10 Legs + 9 Arms = 1 Rockin British 80's Arena Band. Audri and I spent our Sunday evening celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary ( Thanks to Aunt Lulu and Cousin Lindsay for watching Darcy ). We started our evening with a delicious dinner at a fine steakhouse- then chased it with what had to be the greatest concert we have ever attended together ( ie. I saw MC Hammer as a kid so that does not qualify.) Def Leppard rocked the Biloxi crowed with leather bedazzled pants, 80's hair, topless guitar players and swweeet emotion. Our concert checklist includes... Radiohead, Wilco, Coldplay, Josh Rouse, John Mayer, Sigur Ros, Interpol, Damien Rice, and mannnnny others but none compared to the night that was Def Leppard. I honestly don't even remember what they opened with because it was something new that I've never heard but the list included Photograph, Rock of Ages, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Foolin', a song called Yeah!, and other classics. For the hour and thirty five minutes they played I felt like a seven year old in my present body, ala BIG. There was some dancing from old white folk that it was almost painful to not watch men and women tanked up on Coors Light to rock the night away. The walls of the Coliseum rocked as the crowd sang away to every song and the ground reverberated each time someone pounded their feet as they threw up the Rock N Roll sign. It was a great night all together and it truly commemorated our first five years together. Bring on some more Hysteria.

What's up blognation? Look at Darcy- she is growing so very fast. As of today she is 5 1/2 months old and loves to play on the floor and grab things. She is such a fun kid.

Congrats to our dear friend Sarah Mathis and Matt. They got married this week. The sadness was that we could not make it but we are so excited for the both of them.

Life has been pretty typical around here, but that will change this weekend. Saturday is our anniversary (5 years) and to celebrate we are going to eat dinner Sunday night and then we are going to see Def Leppard, yeah I said Def Leppard. I'm bringing sugar packets so that when they do sing ( and they will ) Pour Some Sugar On Me, I can rip open the packets and shower the crowd around me. I'll let you know how that goes.

Then next week we are going to Dallas to attend Marcie's graduation and hang out in Fort Worth where Walker Texas Ranger was filmed.

Food for thought: What if Barack Obama put out a commercial called HAS BEEN CELEBRITY: and it showed various shots of John McCain globetrotting on a jazzy, then cut to a shot of Andy Griffith putting in his teeth, next shot- John McCain playing shuffleboard. Then, Betty White ( Golden Girls ) knitting a quilt. Finally, the voice over comes in during a very dramatic mood music- Sure John McCain is experienced but does the experience translate: Final Shot: John McCain putting a hearing aid in.

BOOOOOOOM. OUUTTTA HERE.

Gulfport Hates Captain Crunch

Apparently, Gulfport Mississippi has something against this guy.

I have been on a crusade to find Captain Crunch with the sweet berries and have failed miserably. It is incredibly sad. It has probably been 2 years since I've had CC but I WANT IT NOW and it is nowhere to be found. So instead we have settled for Fruity Crunchies.

Other than the Great Captain Crunch Caper we are hanging out with Darcy a lot, she is so aware now and loves to play with books (kid books) which is great. She is also really enjoying eating banana's and rice cereal (she is still too young for Captain Crunch (allegedly) ).... so she has to eat the gerber stuff which isn't very good. Today Darcy got to iChat with Marcie, we will try to make this a regular thing since both of them enjoyed it so much.

Ok, Audri is pulling up with CC and Wipeout is on and Darcy is asleep- it's going to be a wild night.

The Natural

Josh Hamilton may have lost the home-run derby but he certainly won over millions of baseball fans with 28 dingers in the first round. Not only is he an amazing ball player, he see's the bigger picture and uses his platform to tell people what the Lord has done and is doing in his life. Check him out on Rome...

Houston

We had a great time in Houston this past weekend. Even though we had a quick run to the ER when I had an allergic reaction to something. Still not sure what caused it. We had fun at the Schmidt house. Thanks Aunt Donna and Uncle Thomas for having us! Your new house is great. We also got to visit with Marcie and Zach. They were so dark after returning from Hawaii. Darcy went swimming for the first time and she really liked the water. Because of her milky white skin she gets to wear a long sleeve swim shirt until she is old enough to apply the sunscreen. (Notice Corey and Uncle James do not want to waste time with the sunscreen either; they are both in swim shirts) She did have a hat, it just didnt make it in the pictures.




Friday night we went to the Astros/Yankee game. Darcy was great. We actually sat in our seats for 3 hours before we had to get up with her. She even managed to sleep for about an hour during the game. The loud crowd didn't scare her, if everyone was shouting she would get excited too. I just think she is the sweetest baby! She is very content and happy. I bought a "hot sling" but was never totally dependent on it until the baseball game. It was great. I checked the stroller at "fan accomidations" and just put the baby in the sling...I was very pleased with my purchase.



I have the Everyday sling "Indian Summer" and the Reversable sling "Mirror Ball". There was a childrens boutique going out of business so I got them at a great price.
www.hotslings.com

Darcy's First Yankee Game

So we are about to head to Houston to see the Yanks play the Astro's on Friday night. Very excited about this one. Joba will be making his third start and we will be about 10 rows from home plate. Go Yanks. We are going to stay with the Schmidt's and Zach and Marcie are going to come down and hang out with us so it will be a all around fun weekend.

Darcy is growing up so fast, she now arches her back, follows you with her eyes, and grabs toys. She weighs an unofficial 18lbs and is in my unbiased opinion the cutest kid ever. She is sleeping in her room now, she likes her big bed where she can stretch out and play with her Minnie Mouse doll.




Audri is really into me right now, she had a special braclet/ id tag made for me. Not super sure why but she makes me wear it, it's cool though.




Here are my summer reading, music, and tv pics.

Books-

Anything by John Feinstein- but specifically Painting the Black. It follows Mike "Moose" Mussina and Tommy Glavine during the 2007 season. It is a great look into 2 older but incredible pitchers. I usually don't like sports books but Feinstein tells a human and sports story in such a way that it is hard put down.

True Enough by Farhad Manjoo: This is a socio-political look into the lack truth that circulates in society. Whether news broadcast, commercials, we have accepted truthiness because it is easy. I got this book so i could get free shipping on Amazon (which is pretty lame) but it has been my favorite read of the year so far.

Music-

Coldplay / Viva La Vida- Death and All His Friends.

I heard the whole album yesterday and at first was not super impressed but by the 3rd go round I really started to like some of the songs. Yes/ Cemetaries of London / Viva La Vida. I think until most people love or hate Coldplay and this album isn't going to change that, but thats ok because it is the most purchased album on iTunes ever and it doesn't even release until June 24th.

Movies/ TV- Now that Lost and The Office are over our TV serves as a monitor for Yankee games on MLB.tv but on those occasional nights off we find ourselves looking for mindless entertainment for 30mins after Darcy falls alseep. The answer FLIGHT OF THE CONCORDS- the oddest, funny show on tv/ dvd. This series follows two New Zealanders who are in folk duo and their attempts to make it big in America. It is an HBO show but is cleaner than most network show (minus Dave the friend who cusses) and is really funny.

Darcy Days

Darcy is the sweetest baby...I know I am her mother and what else would I say. However it is true. She has started talking up a storm. She loves her mobile. She gets excited when we lay her in her bed because she knows we are going to turn it on for her. She always alerts us when it shuts off...unless she has fallen asleep. I will try to get some video of her talking to her "friends". It is pretty funny.
Here are some pics from the other day:

Darcy at 10 weeks (last month):

Darcy the chubby Ballerina

How Time Flies

It has certainly been awhile so I hope this lives up to your expectations but it has been crazy around here. Darcy is growing like one of those spongy things you soak in water and in 72 hours it grows an outlandish 80X its regular size. She is somewhere around 23 inches and about 17 lbs, and is quickly approaching her 3rd month on earth. She holds her head up and loves to lay in bed and watch her mobile friends. Audri and I are pretty consumed with her and we would like to keep it like that. Here is a recent pic of Darcy. This weekend we are headed to Orange Beach in AL for a weekend getaway, Mothers Day celebration, Corey catchup on some work, fun weekend- so we will have some pictures.




More to follow soon, the Yankees are on Tv and Wang is pitching.

Goodnight.

One and Done.

Admist all of the NCAA basketball players declaring for the draft I wanted to let everyone know that I am entering the NBA draft and have hired my agent Boblob Law to represent me. Experts are expecting me to go anywhere from the first to last round.

Neyland Update

Here is a rundown of our lives over the past few weeks.

On April 2nd we left for Texas to visit Gigi/ Grandpa/ and Uncle Noah. There we saw their new house, ate at the Dinner Bell and Posados, went to Racquet & Jog and hung out with our good friend Sarah Wilson.

On April 4th we drove to Arlington to visit Marcie and Zach. Things got interesting there. Audri woke up Saturday morning with lips that Steven Tyler, Hillary Swank, and Mr. Ed would be embarrassed about. So we rushed to Carenow to find out what went wrong and she got the Barry Bonds steroid package, so that she didn't look like Angelina Jolie on Botox at Marcie's wedding shower. There are no pictures but it was really funny.

Since we've gotten back things have been pretty typical, Darcy is growing like crazy and likes to hold her head up and she has captured my heart by spending our evenings together watching the Yankees play. Her Jeter jersey and Yankee cap will come in this week, so we will now match- we'll put some pictures up.

Ok- I'm off to finish watching the Yanks destroy the Tampa Bay Dev.... RAYS.

Corey

Get Well Soon Harlan Chamberlain.

MMSPS3CO

Married Man Seeking Playstation 3 Co Owner.

27 year old married man, seeking somone to co-own a playstation 3 with. Preferably a nonsmoker but will make concessions. The deal would be a joint custody thing 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Contact me with your information.

Corey

Easter

We have had a lot of company at our house this week. Corey's family was able to come in and visit, Marcie and Zach were in town for a few days, and Sarah came in for the weekend. Here are some pictures from Easter with my family and the "great Easter Egg Hunt".



Egg Hunt Success!




Darcy with Paw Paw


Darcy with Grandma and her giant Easter basket from her and Paw Paw:



Also, Darcy, Corey and I would like to wish GiGi a happy birthday!

(Darcy with her way cool hat and sunglasses her daddy got her)