Monday, November 21, 2011

6 months

You know those dumb bumper stickers that say, "My kid can beat up your honor student?" Even worse, when "pug people" have the sticker "My pug can beat up your honor student." (I LOVE dogs. We own a ton of them. However, I don't get pugs. I don't think I have ever even touched one. But this isn't about my dislike/fear of pugs, this is about my son.) SO, anyway, if I were to join the cheeseball bumper sticker club, mine would say, "My Baby could eat your honor student." 

I am pleased to announce that I am the proud owner mother of one of the biggest babies to ever walk the Earth. Russel Reed Batt is in the 90th percentile in weight and OVER the 99th percentile for head size. (What does over 99th even mean? Go ahead and just say, "It's the biggest head we have ever seen.") I think that whenever you are told you have a child that is "over the 99th percentile" he should win some sort of door prize. Or wait, maybe I need the prize. I mean, I carried him, gave birth to him, and now am carrying Mr. 21 lbs all over town. Thoughts?

To waiters...
NO, he doesn't need a children's menu and NO, he does not need crayons.


A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Just when things seemed to be getting normal around here... I just had a lovely lunch with my 2 best friends from high school when I came home to this...



Please don't focus on the fact that our backyard is completely torn up. (Ollie (our boxer) decided to re-do our landscaping for us. Our next home project is to completely renovate the backyard- hopefully before and after shots soon!) THE MAIN FOCUS IS THE FACT THAT I WALKED INTO THE BACKYARD TO TELL HIM HOW DELICIOUS MY SALAD WAS, AND THIS IS WHAT I SAW. Excuse me, but didn't you join the fly fishing club a month ago? 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Evan Wants to be a Police Officer, story 1 (of many)



 Evan has always “threatened” to quit his job and become a cop. Sometimes I thought he was serious but then the conversation would usually turn into how cool he would look with a mustache or how fun it would be to play good cop/ bad cop when busting up high school parties.


This is a picture of Evan busting our own High School Themed party a few years ago. I’ll write about that in a future “Evan wants to be a Police Officer” blog entry.




Well, about a year ago he busted into our kitchen all excited and said, “Guess what? I am going to take a 7 hour volunteer police officer training! Oh, and I need a partner, so I signed you up too.” By this time, I wasn’t really surprised. I’m often added to his random activities.

So, we spent about 7 hours at the police station and realized it was more of a neighborhood crime watch class and that we were the only non-retired people there. However, we took it seriously and had fun. (Several people remarked that I must be an awfully responsible teenager to be so involved in my neighborhood.)

2 pieces of good news.
1: We earned these certificates. (Evan will do ANYTHING as long as there is a certificate involved.)


2. We became pals with our area Chief of Police and patrolmen.

The Chief emailed me because he knew Evan wanted to do a ride along and told me that I should sign up too.  I told him that since I didn’t want to see drugs, violence, or gangs that I would probably just as well stay home. Chief told me that I could ride with him and decide which calls I was comfortable with and that he would send Evan out in a patrol car. We ended up going out on the same shift, which was about 7pm-3am. Actually, Evan started earlier because (naturally) he wanted to be a part of roll call.

Evan’s night:
-Domestic Disturbance between teens- one teen went to jail
-Answered an alarm call (raced down 75 but stopped short when lady realized it was her daughter’s friend who had come over)
- Saw a pimp with a tattooed neck, carrying a silver briefcase to his Mercedes. Officer ran plates but car was in one of his gal’s names.
- Pulled up behind a Highland Park police officer who had pulled over teens riding on the side of their Tahoe. Evan’s favorite part of the night was watching the Dad lay into them.

Sally’s night:
- Talked to the Crips in South Dallas (scary)
-Talked to Nicole, a “frisky” prostitute who works behind a gas station off of 635
- Talked to 3 “lovely” (MEAN) Ladies of the Night in front of a motel (also scary)
- Pulled up on cops talking to another prostitute. (They were actually nice to her because they have arrested her many times over the last ten years.)
- Investigated a fight at a martini bar (stayed in car)
- Drove around looking for a car that was involved in random gunfire.

A good time was had by all. Oh, and we also have joined our neighborhood crime watch and have been on patrol. We reported that 3 garage doors were open.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Halloween Week

Halloween with a little one sure is neat! We are thrilled that young couples with babies seem to be moving in all around us! Young, active neighbors + our new neighborhood Facebook page= lots of Halloween fun. On Sunday we had a neighborhood walk which was lead by one of our crime watch patrol cars. Costumes: Russ- Batman, Evan- Robin, Sally- Cat Woman, Jammie- Proud Grandmother. On Monday morning, Russ and I went to Stroller Fit which is a workout class for mommies and babies. Russ and his buddies looked ridiculously adorable in their costumes! Costumes: Russ- parrot, Sally- Mom trying to loose her baby weight. On Halloween evening we attended a neighborhood block party. Costumes: Russ- parrot, Sally- Mom of a baby who wouldn't sleep, Evan- Dad who came straight from work. After the party, Evan dashed home to throw on his pirate costume. He could't wait to take his baby boy trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, Russ made it to one house before passing out in Daddy's arms. Evan, still super proud Dad, carried his sleeping baby down to one more house before ending our Halloween celebration. By the way, Evan bought FULL SIZED CANDY BARS again this year. Shoulda come to our house!
BATTman, Robin, and Cat Woman before the Neighborhood Walk (Russ in the swing he gave his Dad for his birthday.)
Here are some of the boys who couldn't sit up for the toddler pic. Don't you just wanna smooch em?
Pirate and parrot
Trick or Treating
Passed out parrot.




Thursday, November 3, 2011

Evan's Birthday

Evan is normally a 10 year old when it comes to his big day. However, having a child will do weird things and Evan kept "forgetting" about his birthday. Whenever I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate, he would shrug his shoulders and then go play with Russ. I was challenged with finding something that would put him in the birthday mood. After a lot of thinking, I thought of something pretty darn good.

My friend, John, is an amazing chef. He is consulting for many area restaurants as he waits for his new place to open in December. I asked him if he were at all available to cook for Evan and his friends for his 31st bday- AND HE WAS! I then called our buddy, Nick, and asked him to do a wine pairing with the food.

John prepared a delicious and pretty salad, handmade ravioli (to die for), pork with a berry sauce, and we had Italian cream cake for dessert. Nick paired each course with fabulous wine. A good time was had by all!