We all love Logan...

I think Mimi is finally completely convinced of who is the most important person in the family now...Logan!  Yesterday she stopped by the apartment and aparently Mom's first words were, "Where is Logan?"  Then I got home about an hour later and my first words were, "Where is Logan?"  Guess it's pretty obvious who we love best ;)  Just kidding Mimi!

Anyway, we totally love that little guy...and he's finally walking!  He waiting a long time to start but once he started he was off and running!  I've gotten a few videos of him lately because he's doing so much more on his own!  We just sit back and watch him and love every second of it!

He's finally walking!

He was playing all over the living room.  This is the first time he ever stacked the blocks...and we just happened to be recording!  That never happens!

Harry Potter!!

As I'm sure you know, I LOVE HARRY POTTER! 

Not the character himself, or necessarily the actor...but basically everything about the books (and sometimes the movies).  Right now is one of the rare times you will hear me say nice things about the movies.  I'm not saying that I hate the movies (I don't) but I will never say that I love them.  Or even that they're great...they're just good.  Sort of.  Some more than others.  Anyway, I won't say anything bad about the first 6 movies right now.  I'll concentrate right now on the 7th movie...where it all ends :(

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This book is the best in the series.  It is the conclusion of 7 years of Harry's life in the wizarding world and concludes with the ultimate battle of good versus evil.  And I mean BATTLE! Awesome!  The book is so jam packed with material essential to the story that is was broken into 2 parts for the film.  Early on in the filmmaking, the producers decided to concentrate the films on what is going on that directly relates to Harry.  This is how they chose what parts of the books to leave out of the previous films.  Anything not directly related to Harry (and the Voldemort connection) was left out of the films. I don't typically think breaking a book into 2 parts for a film is a good idea, but it was totally necessary for this film.  If you didn't read the books (MISTAKE!  DO IT NOW!  IT WON'T TAKE LONG!) then Part 1 was probably pretty boring for you and likely pretty confusing as well.  The concept of Voldemort's horcruxes is brought up in the 6th film (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) but the concept isn't really explained well.  Part 2 of the film is basically a war.  The story progressively gets darker and more sinister through the series from innocent 11 year old Harry entering school and culminating with Harry fighting for his life and the lives of all the people he loves, as well as everyone in the wizarding world and muggles as well.  The film is will made and the most important parts of the book are in the film and done well.  I laughed, cheered, and of course I cried.

There was only one thing I was disappointed in for this film.  The lack of completion of the Deathly Hallows story.  The Deathly Hallows are vitally important to the story in this book and the entire Harry Potter saga.  Without the Dealthy Hallows (all 3 of them) Harry would never have survived and ultimately killed Voldemort.  The movie never established this!  They never even touched on the fact that Harry's invisibility cloak IS one of the Hallows.  That would have been pretty impotant to know.  If they were just going to talk about the Elder Wand then why even bring up the story of the 3 brothers in Part 1 and mention that there are 3 Hallows?  When Harry opened the snitch and found the Resurrection Stone, they didn't really say was it was.  It just sort of did its thing and that was that.   But the fact that Harry ended the story in possesion of all 3 Hallows is really important!  He was "the master of death."  Kind of an important point, don't you think?  Might explain how he survived being killed by Voldemort...again.  I know that the movies are designed to supplement the books.  They can't put in everything, but this seemed like a huge oversight to me!  The Deathly Hallows are my favorite part! 

(Stayed tuned later this year for my next tattoo...it will look something like this next picture!)

Anyway...the bottom line is that Harry Potter is over.  Boo.  I'm so sad about that!  I was sad enough when the books were finished, but now the films too.  What will I look forward too now?  I guess we'll see in October how much Pottermore can ease my withdrawl!

Week Awesome: Part 2

So, Week Awesome continues.  It is almost over though, so we decided to make the most of it!  Last night we went to Wahoo's for dinner.  Yummy!  Fish tacos are awesome, and they had good queso and margaritas too!  Can't beat it.

Then we decided to head across the street to Kung Fu Saloon, because I remembered that they have SkeeBall there.  After we got there we discovered that not only is there SkeeBall but it is FREE!  Score!  We had a few other friends that came out to enjoy the night with us too, which made the giant Connect 4 and giant Jenga even more fun!  Can't wait to do it again :)



Week Awesome!

Shawn has dubbed this week Week Awesome for several reasons.

#1  My bestest Theresa Vargo is visiting with her mother Barb Sequin.  Yay!

They love us so much that they drove down from Indiana to spend the week here!  They arrived Sunday night...and so Week Awesome began!

Monday we went to lunch at the Hula Hut.  Theresa and I shared a drink that was served in a fish bowl!  It was tasty...fruit juice and rums.  Yum!

We also went out to dinner at an Irish pub downtown called Fado.  It was really good!  I had a drink that was delicious.  It was called a Black Velvet.  It was half Strongbow and half Guiness.  Delicious!  We all had really good food too.  Everyone cleaned their plates!  The waitress tried to get me to try some drink that sounded disgusting.  It was Jameson Whiskey with pickle juice!  Gross, right?  Anyway, we had fun and I got called an asshole while we were walking back to our car.  Oh...fun times with Theresa!

#2 Yesterday was Shawn's 28th Birthday!

Shawn decided that he wanted to rent a canoe and go out on the lake for his birthday.  Mom found us a deal a few days earlier so we decided to do it.  Barb and T had one canoe and Shawn and I were in the other.  We had 2 hours out on Lady Bird Lake.  It was awesome!  Shawn and I will being doing this again for sure!  I forgot to sunscreen my legs though...mistake!  They are beet red!

Just starting out.  We ditched the life jackets pretty quickly!

We got our exercise!  Especially Barb and I, because Shawn and Theresa decided to relax back a few times into the canoe!

Downtown Austin from the lake.

We encountered some wildlife along the way too.  Theresa was afraid of the swan...he did sound pretty mean though.  But I just reminded her that we had a paddle and I'm pretty sure we could take him!  There were a ton of turtle too!  Shawn and I drove our canoe under the Congress Street Bridge to see if we could see the bats...we could not.  They tuck themselves way up into the bridge during the day.  We could hear them though!  You could really tell there were a ton of bats up inside the bridge!

Overall, the canoe experience was awesome!  And so Week Awesome continued!

#3 Eric came home from his trip to Indiana yesterday, just in time for Shawn's birthday!  The house was not the same while he was gone!  Of course Nessa was CRAZY EXCITED that he was back.  Plus, she just got back from her trip to England and Ireland.  And she brought us a present from Dublin.

 It's Mini-Marcie!  We love it!

Marcie is not so sure though ;)

We all went to Plucker's for dinner for Shawn's birthday since he get a free meal on his birthday.  It was a great time!  Logan was super adorable, as usual!  He was eating everything in sight...he really liked the ranch dipping sauce!  Afterward, we all came back to the apartment and played a new game Theresa brought with her.

Basically everyone acts really stupid during the game and there are some hilarous trivia questions.  Ask Shawn about cantaloupe.  That is all I will say about that!

Well...the week isn't over yet!  We still have outlet mall and Harry Potter ahead!

They're back!

Mimi and Ian are home from their vacation...so Logan is back home with mommy and daddy.  I think he's pretty happy about that.  We did have a great time with him though while they were gone.  Shawn and Logan even got some one on one bonding time the last day while Mom and I were both at work.  They had a great day together!  I told Mimi she needs to go on vacation more often so Logan and stay with his favorite Auntie Lisa!  Marcie is sad he's gone home too...well not really.  They did have a great time together but I'm pretty sure Marcie was happy to have me all to herself again!  Here are some pictures from the last day Shawn, Logan and I spent together.

 "What mom?   Am I not supposed to chew this cardboard?"

 Shawn decided to chill on the porch after our trip to the pool and catch up on his comics.

Logan had so much fun with Auntie Lisa and Uncle Shawn he needed another nap!

Bonding

Mimi and Ian left for a long needed vacation the other day.  It is their 6th anniversary this week and they're never really been on a vacation for more than a quick weekend away.  So really...much needed.  Luckily they have such wonderful family here (wink, wink) to keep track of their precious baby.

So I have had Logan with me for the past 2 days...we are having tons of fun.  He and Marcie are really bonding :)



Marcie is starting to get a bit annoyed with him now...two full days and nights is quite a lot for her to share me with someone else as needy as she is!

Shawn is off work today, so we'll se what is in store for all of us!