5 whole years!

This September, 09/08/12 to be exact, Mama and Dada celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary.  On our second anniversary we adopted two cats... adopting five more cats seemed like too much so we kept our adopted cat count at two and gave each other experiences instead.  We decided to make a weekend of it and started with a dinner for two on Friday the 7th.  We were just Anthony & Amy at this dinner, not having to worry about our Dada and Mama duties for a couple hours.

We went back up to Newcastle, the scene of the crime... er wedding..., to have dinner at the Calcutta Grill.  We've yet to dine there so we figured it was time.  We shared a nice salad and entree and each ordered a drink to try.  Anth's was much tastier, much like a pina colada, and Amy's was quite strange.  It was supposed to taste like a carmel apple, but it had cranberry juice in it, which Mama doesn't like but she tried being adventurous anyway.  Note - carmel + apple + cranberry flavors = fig-like flavor.  SO STRANGE!!  Worth the experience though of course.

After our nice dinner, we saved room for dessert but decided to try dessert elsewhere.  We went outside just in time for sunset and the Newcastle bagpiper.  BTW - the necklace Amy is wearing was purchased on our honeymoon, and that dress that Amy is wearing is the same dress she wore to her and Anth's engagement party back in 2007.  She never thought it would fit again, but she managed to get back to her pre-baby weight and it fits!  Yay!

After the bagpipes were played, we decided to take the scenic route to the car.  On our way there Anthony started getting a sketchy look about it and was looking around like he was about to do something illegal.  He guided Amy over to a tee box that wasn't being used and asked her to dance.  Amy loves a good dance so of course she accepted.  Anthony then pulled up his iPod on his iPhone and started our wedding song.  We danced, and it was a beautiful night for a dance outside, while people passed by - but we were in our own little world and nothing else mattered.  This was Amy's favorite part of the day - getting a romantic dance in with her husband!  What's better than that?

When the song was over we took a couple of photos to commemorate our evening.  First some silly smiles...

Then some silly faces...

And of course, a smootch!

After our dance and our photos, we got back in the car in search of dessert.  We decided to go to the scene of one of our first dates.  Back in 2005, not sure of the exact date but it was coat wearing weather, Amy and Anthony got to talking about how there needed to be more Dairy Queen locations in the Seattle area.  Dairy Queen sounded good, but the closest one was all the way in Bellevue, and not just Bellevue but Eastgate... that's a long way to go for DQ.  We were all set to drive back to Anth's place from our date in Seattle when Anthony pulled a crazy move in the car and took the exit for 520 instead.  Next thing we know, we're pulling up to DQ and having a deep conversation about ourselves and our relationship in the car outside.  We managed to finish our discussion before DQ closed up and enjoyed our blizzard treats in the car.  That was a really good date for a lot of reasons and it is one we remember fondly.  So, we celebrated that date and our wedding anniversary with DQ blizzard treats - we were going to share but they were buy one get one for 99 cents - what were we to do?  Mmmm!  Blizzards are SO good!  Especially with two kinds of candy at once (Anth taught Amy that move on their date, she'd never tried that before!)!  MMMMM!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Let's have some bread, some banana bread...

We seem to have an abundance of bananas in our freezer lately, so it's been banana bread season!  This was one of two loaves Mama made in late August.  Xander really liked it and so did Mama and Dada (and the Fisks enjoyed the other one).  Later, Mama would go on to make a loaf of banana bread containing one cup of chocolate chips in the batter, and another whole cup sprinkled on top!  Sorry this blog doesn't come with smell and taste-o-vision...

Our Last M's Game of 2012

Early in September Mama and Dada dropped Xander off at Gigi and Pappu's so we could go to a Mariners game.  It was nice to have some time to ourselves.  Just the two of us, and the Mariners... and the Red Sox... and a bunch of other fans...

Here are the highlights according to the Mama...

We had some food, yum!

Hey, look!  It's Frankie G!

Hey, look!  We're cute!

The Mariners suck.

The End.

14 month mini overview

Xander was a handful at 14 months.  He started getting a little "tantrumy"and was still struggling with food.  Luckily the food thing was getting a little better and Xander was trying new things and starting to like meal time a little more... slowly...

Meanwhile, Xander was doing his usual being-super-cute thing... here is some evidence.

Sometimes he doesn't even need toys to entertain himself and be a happy smiling little dude.

And sometimes when we use the flash he doesn't get super squinty.  This one really captures his beautiful eyes!

When Mama and Dada get out a kitty toy on a stick to give the kitties some extra exercise, Xander likes to get in on the action.  Xander has liked this particular toy since Mama was picking it out at the store.  Mama would tickle him with it while he was in the shopping cart and he would laugh so hard!  So now we play that same game with the kitties at home.  This is Xander taking his turn with the toy, getting tickled.  He's so gosh darned cute!

Huskies Home Opener

For our first Husky game of the year, we went ahead and dropped Xander off at Gigi and Pappu's house.  We took the opportunity to get a family shot in our husky gear like we did last year.  Unfortunately the sun was hard on some sensitive eyes, but we managed to get a couple decent shots, like this one.

The Huskies faced San Diego State for their first game at CenturyLink Field this season.  Husky Stadium is being renovated so all home games are at the Clink this year.  We schooled SDS for a final score of 21-12.   Always fun to watch a win :)

Dada's 31st Birthday

Dada celebrated his 31st birthday on August 13th.  He took the day off for an extended weekend - which was probably the best part of his low key celebration, not having to go to work!  Over the weekend we had gone to dinner to celebrate on one day and the other day we went to the Brown Bag Cafe in Kirkland for brunch.  We've wanted to try this place out for quite some time and finally made it a priority.  Highly recommended, btw.

Xander had gotten Dada a card and a couple small presents.  

Basically a toy that they could play with together (3 and up for Dada and with supervision for Xander) and some candy.  Mama isn't supposed to get candy for Dada, but Xander wanted him to have his favorites!

After opening presents from Xander and Mama, Dada couldn't help but notice that Muters was playing in the bag of recyclable wrapping and boxes... she's so dang cute!

Overall Dada had a nice birthday and enjoyed some special meals, opening his gifts and taking the big day off.  He got some awesome T shirts and a watch out of the deal - not too shabby.  Mama and Xander are pretty sure Dada likes the watch because he wears it all the time :)  Happy Birthday, Dada!

Muters, you're so silly!

Muters just likes to hang around the house, she's pretty lazy and never does the ironing.  But while we were having sunny days, she would camp out near a pane of glass.  Here she is sunbathing in her own special way.  Sometimes she strikes a version of this pose that we call the "sea otter" - but this version is pretty cute too.