An Anderson Weekend

Good Evening! I am in Austin writing this blog - I'm here for work for two days - and can't believe how cold it is! I also can't believe that Michael missed the opportunity to post another breakfast of champions... perhaps he went into work too early these last two days to eat like a champion - instead he had to eat like Otis (in a hurry)!


Anyway, on to our updates. We had some visitors again this last weekend - this time Charlie and Cathy - and Michael and I were both so excited for them to see the house. I've been feeling more and more settled over the last couple of weeks now that we have a picture hung in the breakfast nook and a duvet and frame 'installed' for the guest bedroom. All of this settling in has been taking it's time but I finally feel we're at a point where it is less stressful to have guests and so their timing was perfect! (It also helped that I cleaned on Wednesday because David was in town for work on Thursday - I was extra prepared!)



C&C got into town on Friday afternoon and we took a quick tour of the house and headed out to dinner at Besa's for some Italian food. We've tried to go there before when they were in town but they were closed (it was a Sunday). We had Greek salads and two huge pizzas and lots of good stuff to talk about :-D

Saturday morning we headed down to this drug store in Highland Park that Charlie read about. This store has been around since 1912 and serves breakfast and milkshakes and all sorts of other things at different times of the day. Breakfast was good but the coffee left a little to be desired... Charlie and Michael said it tasted a little bit like popcorn. STILL, there were some cool little bookmarks and picture frames and other little things to look at in the shop after breakfast.

After breakfast it was on to Steins Bakery (if you read the reviews you'll know just how fabulous it is! http://www.yelp.com/biz/steins-bakery-dallas) and picked up some cheese and cherry danishes for dessert the remainder of the weekend and breakfast on Sunday. THEY ARE FABULOUS! We headed to the house afterwards, enjoyed a danish or two, and then Charlie and Michael began work on the yard. Cathy and I headed out for some shopping at Dillards, TJ Maxx, TJ Maxx and TJ Maxx (haha), aaannnd... hmm, I can't remember where else.

We ate chicken spaghetti at the house on Saturday night and visited until it was time for bed, which it was early if you know my husband! Church on Sunday and Babe's for lunch rounded out the weekend ... after which we were ALL ready for a nap!

We had a great weekend getting to share the 'grand baby' Huck for the weekend and relaxing with our parents/in-laws. We are loving our first year of marriage, new home and the visitors coming to see it, and our fast-growing new baby HUCK!!

Natasha

Breakfast of Champions. (Me and Huck)

Huck and I are bachelors for a couple days while Natasha is in San Antonio for work.

This is the breakfast we slapped together this morning (he was still subject to eating dog food). He made sure to get in the picture last second though, just so you'd know he was involved. That's brisket my lovely wife whipped up before she left town.

Tonight we'll be dining on...something. Don't know yet but I know I'm looking forward to tomorrow's breakfast.

Tis the season...

What season you might ask? (And if you did just ask that, you fell right into my little trap!) :-D

For starters I'm starting to get the Fall bug. A couple of weeks ago I took Friday off and I spent some time at Hobby Lobby. As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted with fall colors and pumpkins and scary black cats. EXCITING. I love this time of year and all the fun decorating opportunities it affords. A little further into the store I found Christmas trees, but I'm not ready to go there quite yet.

Secondly, it is Marathon season. For the past three weeks Michael has been up at 5:30am to run 1, and now 2 miles through the neighborhood. These are just the warm up weeks for what will prove to be another grueling Fall and Winter of long miles traveled on foot. Michael plans to "Run the Rock" half in December and then potentially run the Little Rock full in March. Though tough I know that Michael looks forward to this time of year where he can cross another race off his list. For now it seems I will not be running anything on so grand a scale but depending on the knee I may look into a 10k.

Next, it is FOOTBALL season and what do you know? The Aggies won their first game. This past weekend we headed to College Station and enjoyed getting to spend time with all 3 of the brothers (J., David and Marcus), Ninny and Opa as well as my Uncle Mike and cousin Jacob in from Oregon. We missed Charlie and Cathy this round but I'm sure I'll get my chance to eat hamburgers and cheese sticks with them next game. Pics of Jonathan & Ashley, David & Sara and Michael & I all at the game below.

Last but not least, Michael is very excited that "soup season" is on it's way. Little did you know that Fall brought so much to look forward to! ha I learned last year that Michael has a serious love for soup - so much so that he joined an interest group for "soup" on Facebook. He's probably half excited about "soup season" though because it comes with corn bread and he sure does love corn bread....

Anyway, here's to a happy Fall with beautiful oranges and red decor, pumpkins, marathons (or 10ks), winning football teams, and yummy soup.

Love, Natasha

White Dogs Love Dirt

A couple of Saturday's ago (I haven't been very good at posting) a very clean Huck got into some wet flower beds and dirt. I heard Michael yelling "Noooo! Don't do that!!! Mommy's going to have to give you another bath!"

When I turned around and saw him I couldn't help but think of Lexi, Ninny and Opa's dog, who LOVES to get in some mud when it is available. It drives Ninny so nuts that mom took a picture of Lexi at her MOST dirty with mud all over her little white face, and framed it!

Ninny, I know that you of all people can relate to my frustration. These pictures don't even do this little mess justice!

Puppy Steps in Potty Training

Huck really did great not having accidents the first two weeks or so. We take him out OFTEN to try and avoid accidents since he isn't really able to say "Hey let me outside." while in his play pen.

The last couple of weeks however he's had some accidents while we are away at work. Either one or both of us comes home during the day to let him out at lunch but sometimes during that 4 hour span in between visits home he just can't make it. I attribute THAT to puppy bladder. Sometimes when we are home he's playing and will take a quick stop to pee on the floor and I attribute that to being like a kid too caught up in the fun to take the time to go outside.

We have begun ringing a little bell when we go outside so he knows that is the "please-may-I-go-outside" cue and he's still doing great going once we take him out. However today at lunch there was a nice little pile waiting for me when I came home. "Man we have regressed!" I thought.

But then, tonight while I was cooking dinner I look over and little Huck is doing a two-footed dance by the back door - he wasn't even scratching at it! (Good Boy, Huck!) We went outside and he went straight to do his business! (Good Boy, Huck!) Then about 30 minutes later I hear a tiny bell and so with my mouth gaping I take him outside and .... VICTORY again!

Huck, I'd have to say that tonight you have redeemed yourself! GOOD BOY!

You Lazy Dog

The other night I took Huck for a walk before dinner. When he came home all hot from walking he lay down on the kitchen floor with his belly flat on the tile to cool down. He wouldn't even get up for the dinner I set just a few inches in front of him.

I scooted his bowl toward him to see if the smell would rouse him, but instead he lay on the floor and craned his neck to get his head in the bowl to eat. He lay there flat on his belly eating for a few mins before he stood to get the remainder of the food.

We both laughed and then Michael says to Huck "oh man... I love you." You lazy dog - you're lucky you're so stinkin' cute!

- Natasha

Opa, Handy as ever!

Opa came to Dallas last Thursday to drop off a motor at a shop in Grand Prairie that needed some workin' on. He stayed with us Thursday through Saturday and we had a great time reaping the rewards of his handy-ness... not to mention Ninny's preparedness!

Now Ninny and Lexi didn't make it this time, but they sure did send 'enough food to feed Cox's army', said Opa. She sent a rotisserie chicken, potato and sausage casserole, salad, cherry tomatoes, spicy chicken, bread and a cinnamon caramel cake. YUM. Thursday night we ate on all that delicious food that was sent our way and we're STILL reaping the rewards as of lunch yesterday!

While he was here Opa repaired a leak under our kitchen sink, fixed the stopper in the secondary bathroom, helped Michael install a programmable thermostat and told us stories of all his crazy jobs. Life at the railroad and the time he was almost hit by a train of 4 cars, and all the great characters that he knew there - Stringbean, Porky and Rabbit! He also told the story of his brain tumor from the 90s, how they found it, the surgery and how he could hear the doctors talking and of the times he spent at Kelly Field working on nuclear weapons. During the nuclear conversation I could just feel Michael going into his Bourne-Identity-Zone!

Below are pictures of the thermostat change out. Opa said "your old thermostat looked like it came over on the Mayflower!"

(Ahem, and yes Michael is wearing a headlamp to work on that thermostat - he wears it for nearly all in-house repair jobs).

I feel so blessed to have an Opa that can travel and spend time with us in this capacity at this time in our lives. Love you Ninny and Opa - come see us again soon!

PS. One more pic from the visit to Dallas a couple of weeks before out to eat at Babe's after church.