Double Congratulations

First, congratulations to our dear friends Clay and Sarah for the birth of their awesome little dude, Austin. We were fortunate to visit with them at the hospital and hold their son on his birthday. He is indeed pretty cool with long hands and feet and a handsome little face. Well-made, Clay and Sarah!

It was an illuminating experience, and we have a lot better idea about what to expect when we finally head to the hospital ourselves. Our goal is to do our homework now but stay flexible and ready for the unexpected.

Another congratulations goes to Olie-O and Emily. We had a great time at the wedding in Plano. This day was a long time coming, and he is one of the happiest grooms I have ever seen. Shannon was a trooper to travel and celebrate at the wedding at 37 weeks pregnant.

The reception featured hours of funky dance moves. Some highlights: a massive "Sweet Caroline" sing-along that was like a Broadway number, an invisible jump rope "double dutch" dance off, and Olie-O just being Olie-O on the dance floor.

I think I've got some of the finest friends in the word and it was great as always to visit with them in Dallas.

Now we're back in Austin working on the to-do list and waiting. Bring on the baby, I say!

A couple of pictures from the weekend:

-Chris

Baby Q

Last night our good friends Dan and Amanda hosted one of our last parties before Baby Sieber gets here and I can't even express how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family. I hope that everyone who came had a good time and was not offended that we didn't open presents in front of everyone. I always feel like that is such an awkward part of "showers" and Christopher and I were having such a great time catching up with all of our peeps that we didn't want to quit!

Dan and Amanda were completely amazing with a great spread from Rudy's BBQ, the choice of any soda/alcohol you could imagine, and an amazing assortment of homemade cupcakes. They even had the smarts to TiVo the UT vs. Rice game so everyone could start watching it at the same time! I would say we did fail to take any pictures at all so I have none to share. I sometimes think that that attests to the great time we really did have, I didn't even think to stop visiting with everyone to get out my camera!

Going to Vegas...

Later this week, my brother and I are heading out to Las Vegas to celebrate Olie-O's upcoming wedding. It is going to be a great bachelor party weekend with an outstanding group of guys.

Some details:
Our hotel is Treasure Island, or TI, as it likes to be called. This hotel has been described as tacky, but great. I guess they are running from their past by branding as simply TI. Kentucky Fried Chicken restyled itself as KFC, but was anyone fooled? I say bring on the pirates, the rum, and pieces of eight.

Planned Festivities:
Thursday night will be a nice steak dinner with Carl.

Friday will be spent in the casinos, hopefully not squandering Baby Sieber's college fund.

On Saturday, we'll be spending some quality time watching college football and betting some of the games. Hopefully, I won't lose my retirement fund. The evening will be in a private section of some Hollywood-style, fancy-pants club. We will have "bottle service" and a dedicated bartender. This will cost my IRA.

Sunday will probably involve being tired, watching football, and finding a ride to the airport.

Here's to a great weekend celebrating with Olie-O and some good luck at the tables!

Tap Dancin' Baby Momma

To all my loyal followers of dance, to those who came to support me and cheer for me at the recital, to those who only wish they could see my awesome display of agility, and to all the haters....I present to you the dancin' momma....

Dancing Update: Although I only have 6 1/2 weeks left until our little tap dancin' boy comes into this world, I am still taking both tap and jazz. I just started my second week back and I'm still loving it. I did have to borrow some tap shoes from the stock of used shoes for the middle school's dance classes since my feet have grown to at least one size bigger than my actual tap shoes, but that has been the only set back as of yet. We have already started on our moves for the recital in May (we're kind of slow learners). In an effort to keep up, I only plan on taking the minimal time away from my classes as possible. What I can promise you are some sassy walks, hair sweeping, and possibly a jazz hand or two.