Baby, It's Cold Outside

For those of you reading this outside the great state of Texas, we're experiencing a cold snap this weekend. I needed to run some errands, and since Jeremy was out of town for the day, I bundled Luke up and brought him with me. Isn't he cute?

Naturally, I hear we're supposed to be back in the 70s by Monday at the latest. Gotta love it!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Stay warm!

Spring Break Has Sprung

It's a sad time: the final night of Spring Break. It's been a great one, but, like all Spring Breaks, it has gone by way too quickly. The best part of the break has been all of the time I've gotten to spend with Luke! This post will be more picture-heavy than anything. After all, it's 11:36 p.m., and I have got to go to bed, even though I am not remotely tired. I have no idea where this energy has come from. I sure wish I had it, say, earlier today when I got tired while doing work for school! [One quick note: for those of you, if any, who have followed my bracket blogs - no more until Wednesday, if at all. I think that since work is resuming, I doubt I'll have the time to devote to my mascot musings. : )]

Luke spent some time at Honey and Grandfather's on Tuesday, when we had a belated birthday dinner for me with my brothers, sisters-in-law, and Granny. Luke enjoyed his new basketball hoop that Honey and Grandfather got him. He was a very good boy, even though he had barely napped all day. (You can kind of see his pink eyes if you look closely.)

I think this is the funniest little expression on his face.

Another Spring Break milestone: Luke has segued from the kitchen sink to the big boy bathtub, as you can see here.

Luke must have sensed that he needed to put the duck in a special place.

The rest of these are from our trip to the Dallas Arboretum on Saturday. Jeremy's parents came up for the day, and we had a wonderful time! As usual, Luke wasn't terribly cooperative for the camera, but his cute clothes and natural beauty of the setting made for a lovely set of pictures nevertheless. Enjoy!

I got a picture of his outfit before we left - just in case he barfed on it!

Three generations of Roberts men: Jeremy, Luke, and Pete.

Have a great week everyone!

Round 2, Day 1 Picks

While my nature bracket is in last place in my league, I am undaunted – 3 of my 4 final four picks are still intact! (That’s the Wolverines of Michigan, the Spartans of Michigan State, and my pick-to-win-it-all Xavier Musketeers. The Cornell Bears faltered though… dang it!) We’ve got a big day of picture taking at the Dallas Arboretum planned, but here are my predictions for today’s games – which, in case you missed last time, are based SOLELY on how each team’s mascot would fare in an actual battle royale. Like a caged fight in a zoo.

First: I’m picking A&M over UConn, just out of loyalty. Miracles can happen! I am wishing for a big upset tomorrow.

Next, I pick Purdue to topple the Washington Huskies. I don’t know for sure what a Boilermaker is, but I know Purdue’s webpage has trains on it. I pick the Purdue Trains to run over those Washington Huskies (though, as a dog lover, I don’t like it).

Though I should support the Maryland Terrapins for Jeremy’s sake, I pick the Memphis Tigers to tackle the turtles. To their credit, the Terps showed a valiant effort in their victory over the Cal Bears. Highly unfeasable in real life, but, hey, that’s what is so awesome about this exercise.

Alright – UCLA Bruins against the Villanova Wildcats. This is actually kind of a tough one. I’ll use my Round 1 Arizona vs. Utes logic (which, BTW, worked in calling a 12 over a 5 upset) – Wildcats!

I am happy to choose the Duke Blue Devils over the Texas Longhorns. Yes, horns could pierce and kill, but these are blue devils. Other-worldly forces are at work (though that didn’t exactly work for those Demon Deacons…)

Okay – so let me be the first to say that I am crestfallen that the Radford Highlanders are no longer in the tourney. I was even willing to watch these Highlander movies so I could make better jokes. But alas, the Tar Heels found a way to win, but I’m going to stay true to nature’s course and pick the Tigers of LSU to best UNC. You will be a plaything for tigers, what with your heels stuck in tar and what not.

Next: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers against Gonzaga Bulldogs. What, you may be thinking, is a Hilltopper? It’s THIS guy:

Give me WKU… I feel like this guy could win over any creature with his hilarity.

And finally: Michigan Wolverines vs. Oklahoma Sooners. So let me get this straight… pioneers who wanted to get to a boring, flat state before anyone else vs. a wolverine… a wolverine also associated with Hotty McHotterson Hugh Jackman. No question: Go Big Blue!

Admittedly, I don’t think this post is anywhere near as funny as my last one, but it’s what you get. I think Sunday’s matchups look more promising. Who will win the Trojans-Spartans battle? Will the first round’s triumphant Dayton Flyers paper-cut their way to another win? Who knows… stay tuned tomorrow for another round of my musings!

March Madness!

It’s that time of year again: the NCAA tournament. About two years ago, I thought it might be fun to decide a bracket entirely based upon which mascot would win in an actual battle in nature. (Last year, the Cal State Fullerton Titans really let me down.) It’s actually a fun game to play in any sport. When a Giants-Titans Super Bowl looked possible, Jeremy asked me who would win – they’re both just big people, after all. I logically concluded that since the Super Bowl was in Tampa, the Tennessee Titans had the advantage. “They’re closer to their stuff, so they won’t have to reach as far,” I reasoned.

But I digress: I give you the first round picks of my nature bracket. Well, some of them anyway – I started to type rationales for every game, and that just got tedious. Anyhoo, at the end of each weekend, I’ll make updated picks based on how the games actually transpire. (FYI, my Nature Bracket tells me the eventual National Champion will be… Xavier. Find out why below!)

Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Siena Saints: Wikipedia says that the buckeye is the state tree of Ohio. If a tree falls on a saint, does the saint die? Well, possibly, but God is on his side. Give me the Saints.

Utah Utes vs. Arizona Wildcats: Tough choice here… Native Americans indigenous to the Utah-Colorado area or wildcats? I’m a big High School Musical fan, so give me (what team?) WILDCATS!

Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Cleveland State Vikings: Hello, paradox! (Seriously, what is a demon deacon?) Sorry CSU – hard to go against other-worldly forces. Wake it is.

West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Dayton Flyers: *Sigh* I hate mascots like Dayton’s. Really throws a wrench into my “backyard brawl” paradigm. In effect, this is a matchup between a mountain hiker and a… commuter? Paper advertisement? Grrrr…. I’m going with WVU. Either way, a rugged mountain person could kick a business traveler’s (or handout’s) ass.

Kansas Jayhawks vs. North Dakota State Bison: Birds are challenging in the nature bracket. What they lack in strength, they more than make up for in elusiveness and creepiness. I’ll take Kansas because jayhawks could fly away from the bison….s…?

Boston College Eagles vs. USC Trojans: Just so y’all know, I’m going to consider Trojans in the Roman (and not contraceptive) sense. While birds are elusive, they can’t elude a Trojan’s spear. Oh snap.

Michigan State Spartans vs. RMU Colonials: Have you seen The 300? I haven’t, but I heard King Leonidas is bad-a. Go MSU!

UConn Huskies vs. Tennessee-Chatanooga: Dang. Okay, Mascot for UTC is the “Mocs.” Initially, I thought that meant moccassins, and I thought, “Sweet! Snakes rarely enter this world.” But further research revealed that a Moc is some kind of a bird wearing a conductor hat (like Chatanooga choo choo). Anyway, I’m going to pull for the Huskies, if only because UTC’s success will mean difficult decisions for me in coming weeks.

BYU Cougars vs. TAMU Aggies: I’m a purist, so I won’t consider today’s connotations of cougar (old woman hunting young men) for my picks. Plus, whatever… Gig ‘Em Ags!

Washington Huskies vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs: Huskies seem so formal, like they wouldn’t want to mess up their fur in a fight. I’ll give into the stereotype of fight-loving Southerners – MSU!

Missouri Tigers vs. Cornell Bears: Because I think a bear would win, and because I love Andy Bernard from the Office… Go Big Red Bear!

Memphis Tigers vs. Cal State Northridge: When can a man beat a tiger? When that man is a MATADOR! Cal State Northridge!

Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Tennessee Volunteers: This ain’t no canned food drive, Tennessee. Also, Big 12 love. OSU!

Florida State Seminoles vs. Wisconsin Badgers: Seminoles probably eat and wear badgers in nature. Awesome.

Xavier Musketeers vs. Portland State Vikings: We’re Xavier, and we have MUSKETS. (This also enables a second-round Musketeers vs. Seminole matchup, which we last saw, like, hundreds of years ago. History repeating itself… what’s more natural than that?)

American Eagles vs. Villanova Wildcats: I just put this here because I guarantee you one of my students would say something like this: “American Eagles? Do you think they did that because of the store?” (BTW: Villanova)

North Carolina Tarheels vs. Radford Whatevers: One of the advantages of the nature bracket is it gives you a chance to ask and answer questions like, “What is a tar heel?” Wikipedia has a bunch of blah blah about it, but here’s my thought: if tar is stuck on your heel, can you move? NO. By extension, if you cannot move, can you defeat anything? NO. Radford. (oooh, just looked it up – Radford’s mascot is the Highlanders! I think that’s some movie where people can only be killed by having their heads cut off, right? Ooooh… AWESOME.)

Syracuse Orangemen vs. SFA Lumberjacks: A lumberjack isn’t going to ask, “why are you orange, man?” No, he’ll just cut you. (Aside: I hope SFA eventually plays Radford.)

Okay – that just took an hour and a half. That either means I am hilarious or I have a serious problem. Anyway – happy March Madness! And Happy Birthday, Parker! And Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

Monkeying Around

Not a lot to report, really... I decided to change the background to monkeys. Why? Well, monkeys are Luke's favorite animal - or at least the one most represented among his toys. He scratches his head like a monkey when he gets tired. I can't help but think we'll be throwing a monkey-themed first birthday party in September, so monkeys on the blog for now!

It is Spring Break, praise the Lord! We kicked it off by cleaning out one of our closets in preparation for (fingers crossed!) moving this summer. In the process of the cleanout, we ended up sending 3.5 giant garbage bags to Goodwill and unearthed - I wish I'm kidding - 8 rolls of tape. If anyone needs any Scotch tape, give me a call. I am excited that both A&M basketball teams made the NCAA tournaments (as did Jeremy's teams - Maryland and Baylor), so we'll be watching lots of basketball. (This is bittersweet: after March Madness, sports start their gradual decent down the tubes to baseball. Barf. Of course, in saying that, I've all but ensured Luke will be a baseball player.)

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll post some pictures later this week. Can you tell I have a case of Spring Break boredom? On Monday? Talk about a Type A personality... : )

New Videos from Luke

Hello readers! It's been a while since I've updated, for many reasons, including:

• Luke's bout with the flu (Feb. 21-28 approximately)
• The end of a six weeks period and the ridiculous amount of grading that accompanies it
• General busy-ness of working and mommying (yes, I made up a new verb)

Anyway, here we are... and Luke is over six months old! I cannot believe how quickly time passes. It wasn't that long ago at all that I was exhausted and wondering if I would ever get the hang of having a baby. Now... well, we're so blessed that Luke sleeps through the night, but the cluelessness never totally goes away, because Luke is changing so much!

Luke, like his mother, thoroughly enjoys eating. Cereal, applesauce, carrots, squash, green beans... he has not been remotely picky. He apparently shares my affinity for Sonic; he was fascinated with my Route 44 cup, as you can see here.

He has mastered sitting up, and he rolls over from his tummy to his back with ease. (We think it’s motivation-driven – he doesn’t really care for being on his tummy too much.) I think it’s just a matter of time before he can figure out all the cool stuff he can do!

Luke is a typical boy, and he loves all gadgets that light up. He is enamored with our remote control, and, more recently, the camera. As a result, I just can’t get a cute picture without a semi-astonished or dozed off look on his face (aside from this profile pic, which I love).

Anyway, here’s something better… Luke live! The first video is from 2/19; the second is from tonight.

One more thing: I have to thank my Aunt Julie and Uncle Ray for the adorable name block they got Luke. He looooves it! He just stares at the bright lights. Thanks so much!

I'm sure I'll update this weekend or next week (Spring Break... hallelujah!). Have a great week!