Peacocks and Playing Hooky

I'm having a hard time believing that Christmas is over and today is a work day. I took off yesterday and was continually perplexed by all the emails buzzing on my blackberry- I kept forgetting it was a Monday and there were people in my office actually working on legal things.

I've been busy too, just not on anything billable. On Saturday I cleaned the whole house and carefully put away all our Christmas decorations in labeled bins. My mother-in-law was horrified as she keeps most of her Christmas decor up year-round, a practice that horrifies me. JP installed the gorgeous new ceiling fan I picked out for our bedroom (our old one was ugly, didn't match, and made a clicking noise that was slowly driving me insane) and hung up my pretty picture frames on the walls. Our bedroom is now complete and I love it. It's like a modern little hotel room totally separate from the rest of the house.

On Sunday we went to Green Pastures for brunch. If you live in Austin, I HIGHLY recommend heading over one Sunday. It's a little pricey ($35/person) but it is in a gorgeous historic home on 7 acres, the service and food are incredible, the highly alcoholic milk punch and homemade juice blend are included -- and, best of all, the grounds are home to a few dozen peacocks (or "peafowl" as I just learned from their website; only the male is a peacock, the female is a peahen). It's great for a special occasion and Landon was enchanted by the Christmas decor, the piano player, and especially the "big birdies".

Landon: I want to give it a kiss.

Mommy: I don't think peacocks like kisses. Let's just look. From a distance.

This peacock refused to show me his pretty feathers. Apparently I am not attractive as a mate.

The albino peacock dug himself a little hole - I wondered if the other peafowl made fun of him.

We managed to get another good picture of the 3 of us (3.5?)- of course the only two I got this year were both taken after we sent out our Christmas cards. I've decided that the two pregnancy pounds I've gained so far are split among my cheecks and my boobs, which seems odd given that the baby is in neither of those places. But I still like the picture, Landon looks so proud to be wearing his new "I'm so handsome" sweater vest.

Last night we ate at Z Tejas and Landon kept sticking his head under the table. When we asked what he was doing, he said, "looking for the peacocks!" We thought that was a great idea and he stayed busy looking for those wily birds for most of dinner.

The in-laws left early this morning and while the visit went fine, eight days is a very long time and it's very, very nice to have our house back to ourselves. JP no longer has his angry eyes on all the time and I can relax for the first time in a week and enjoy a quasi-day off while working in the study. The boys are building a comlicated train/block city in the play room and I can watch them from my desk. It's cold and rainy outside, the dogs are at my feet, and Lilly is in her Nordstrom box. All is well.