I was looking through some pictures from a month or so ago, and I saw something I had missed the first time! Sara was taking some fall pictures of Evie while Evie and I were playing in the leaves outside. In these particular pictures, Evie and I were playing hide and seek. What I didn’t realize the first time I looked at the pictures, is that I am in them!
The first time through I was focused on Evie and I didn’t really notice the background. Either that, or I am such a master hider, that I even fooled myself!
Well, for those of you that we don’t see very often, we have some big news…baby #2 is on the way!
It’s a boy! Sara is 21 weeks. Evie has periods of more and less excitement. She wants to buy her “baby brudder” everything. She just walks through the story saying he’ll need socks, mittens, dresses, boots for in the rain, toys…she even wanted to buy scissors to cut her baby brudder’s tags off his new pajamas.
Sara hasn’t been as sick as last time, but she’s been plenty of sick. The most traumatizing thing of the pregnancy so far is when Sara threw up in Evie’s sand bucket. Evie was inconsolable.
We asked Evie what she would name the baby, and she decided on “Refrigerator Baby”. Since then we’ve asked her a few times, and she’s always stuck with it.
So far, Nathan had the worst reaction – when I told him, the first thing he said was “Oh no!” (I told you I wouldn’t let you forget that)
I really can’t conceive of how we will have the time for 2 kids. It seems like we barely have time for 1! But people manage it I guess, so I guess it all works out.
By the way, anybody that was previously under instructions not to tell anybody, the ban is now officially lifted.
Over the weekend we made a quick trip to pick up our quarter of a cow. Sara’s cousins raise a couple of cows every year for butchering. They feed them, etc. until they are ready, and then they end up on the block. This year we got in on the action and purchased a quarter of one of the cows.
We weren’t exactly sure what we were doing. We really don’t eat that much meat and we are certainly no experts on what the different cuts of steak, types of preparation, etc. are. So luckily we had Lisa (Sara’s cousin) there to sort of help guide us a little bit. I’m sure it takes some time until you figure out exactly what you want, and how much you can eat.
If you’re wondering how much beef a quarter of a cow comes out to, ours had a “hanging weight” of 203 lbs. We got a whopping 77 lbs. of ground beef (although it turned into only 55 lbs. because we ordered it lean). When you see it all piled up together, it is quite an impressive sight. I get the meat sweats just thinking about it. Even after trying to clean out our chest freezer and throwing some stuff away, the meat just barely fits. It is absolutely full up to the top (well, to be fair, we do have some other stuff in there besides just beef).
I don’t think we’ll be able to finish all that in a year. I doubt there has ever been a year where I have eaten that much beef. 55 lbs. of hamburger alone seems pretty daunting. That’s more than a pound of hamburger a week! On the other hand, since we have it already, we will probably be eating a lot more beef than we would have otherwise. So if you come to stay at our house, expect to be eating some beef!
In other news, Evie and I have started a parent / child soccer class. So far Evie really loves it. For her age group, they don’t actually play soccer games or anything. It’s more like fun stuff in a soccer context, like kicking bubbles and warming up with races and games of red light / green light. It’s a 12 week class, so hopefully she won’t get bored before the end.
Completely by coincidence, Evie’s jersey is #4. Read into that what you will. I think it means she is destined for soccer greatness, and then ultimately to break my heart.
I wish I had telekinesis. I would use it to push the cat downstairs and close the gate whenever she is meowing outside Evie’s door before 6 a.m. When I’m lying there wishing death on the cat, I think of all sorts of things I could do with telekinesis. I could sweep her out of the hallway, confine her to a room, put her in a little telekinetic box and squeeze her until she shuts up, give her a little push every time she meows until I taught her not to meow. The list is endless.
I really do need some superpowers though. I always thought it would be nice to have Superman’s heat vision so that you could clear the ice off your windshield in winter. I used to have the power to randomly get free cookies at any Subway, but I haven’t been to one in so long that I don’t know if that power is still functioning. I probably got that power by working at Subway for so long, kind of like being bitten by a radioactive spider, so it might get weaker and weaker the longer I work at a desk job. Or it could be controlled by the phases of the moon. Superpowers are complicated like that.
I always forget how bald I am until I see a picture of myself from the top. I was looking at one such picture the other day and I was quite amazed at the perfect little oval of hairlessness. Then it occurred to me! What if I am developing an invisibility power, and so far it only manifests itself over my head?
So look for me to be invisible in the future. (Well, don’t literally look for me, because I’ll be invisible) Anybody else have any interesting super powers?
A couple of weekends ago, we drove all the way up to the North side to check out a barbecue restaurant, Smoque. Despite several missteps on our part (driving to the North side is a misstep to begin with), I was very impressed!
Our first impression was related to the fact that there was a huge line out the door. We probably waited about 45 minutes to an hour. Now this might have been enough to sink the experience, but it was a really nice night, and Evie was a perfect angel, hamming it up and entertaining us while we waited. The line didn’t move very fast, so don’t expect to run in and run out. But this also might have been because we were there at like 5 p.m. on a Saturday night.
The food was awesome. I really appreciated that they let the meat speak for itself, rather than drowning it in sauce.
I had a pulled pork sandwich in a vinegary, Carolina style sauce. Don’t get me wrong, they gave me big thing of sauce on the side, but I didn’t really use it (except for dipping my fries!) The fries were just plain awesome. They were larger versions of the homemade fries we used to make at home, growing up. Another thing I liked about the place was that they had a “taste” menu, so you could get a little side order of something for a couple of bucks extra. Sara got one and couldn’t eat it, so she had some left over brisket the next day to smugly eat in front of us. For what it’s worth, Evie liked the mac & cheese.
One of the claims to fame of the restaurant, was being featured on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives, which you can watch below (Warning, don’t watch on an empty stomach!):
In summary, 2 thumbs up! It might not be worth braving the traffic from my place, but if you find yourself in the neighborhood, it’s well worth the stop. Absolutely the best barbecue I’ve had in a long time, and easily some of the best I’ve ever had (there was a place in Georgetown (D.C.) that competes)
Shane Halbach 