Thursday, July 30, 2009

Memories

The other night, I decided to pull out the photo albums and show Landon and Nixon the pictures of when they were first born. While reminiscing and looking at pictures in Landon's albums, we saw pictures like this:



and this....


and this...


and then we came upon this picture...





and Landon said what's Daisy doing? I said she was probably trying to give you a kiss. He looked at me and said, "I miss Daisy, I want her back." I explained that I missed Daisy too, but she's in Doggy Heaven now and she's having a good time. Daisy May, we miss you...



Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Landon was so excited to sleep on the top bunk of his bunk beds for the first time. It took him a couple of hours to fall asleep.


But then he was out for the count....


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ten Things Tuesday

Almost didn't make this one, but here we go...
  1. Today has been a busy day. The auditors were with us today, which makes it feel like I have two full-time jobs. They'll be there tomorrow also. I don't know that I've ever had them there two days in a row. It usually takes me a week to recover from one visit!
  2. We put the other part of the bunk beds together tonight. Landon will be sleeping on the top bunk for the first time tonight. Nixon won't be on the bottom until tomorrow night because the mattress place was closed by the time we got there. I'll try to post pictures tomorrow of Landon in the top bunk. He's very excited!
  3. Please take a moment to pray for Baby Stellan. Under "Blogs I follow" on my page, you can go over to McMama's Blog. Stellan is her precious baby boy who is having some major heart issues. Her family's unending faith during this difficult time amazes me.
  4. Chris & I went on our first grocery trip last week on our new zero-based budget. Basically, this means we had a certain amount of money set aside, in cash, to get groceries. We went in with our list and calculator and surprisingly, we got a lot for a little. It's amazing what you can do when you actually pay attention to the prices and don't just go grabbing everything you can find.
  5. I'm so ready for the season premieres to come out for my shows. I know that makes me a dork, but I miss them!
  6. We're watching the Season Finale of Deadliest Catch tonight. The people on those boats have to be crazy!
  7. Chris was gone to a softball tournament on Saturday, so while he was gone, I found a "Little House on the Prairie" marathon on the Hallmark channel. Six hours of nothing but that show. It was wonderful!
  8. Our Financial Peace University class, which consists of about 12 couples, has over $520,000 in debt (not including houses)!! I'll let you know how much the class pays off in the 13 weeks we're in the class.
  9. Chris & I saw the new Harry Potter movie two weekends ago. It was a great movie to me. Chris said the book was better. I guess it depends on whether you've read the book or not.
  10. This one was harder than usual. Guess I've been pretty boring this week:)

Monday, July 20, 2009

Honest Scrap

I'm so excited to have received my very first blogger award...



It was given to me by one of my sorority sisters. Check out her great blog at http://ncsuz.blogspot.com/. The rules are pretty simple..

• List ten honest things about yourself that your blogging friends do not know about you.

• Give the award away to some bloggers of your choice.

• Let the bloggers know they have received the award.

• Link back to the person who awarded you.

Ten honest things about me that you may not know:

  1. I won an award, along with a trophy, in 2nd grade for reading the most books of anyone in my school. I read over 100 books. That's the one and only trophy I've ever received.
  2. I wanted to be a Forensic Pathologist for about 10 years of my life..seriously. I even went so far as to being in the morgue, watching autopsies, to make sure that's what I wanted. College Biology Lab was what finally did me in.
  3. I make the best brownies. Whenever we have get-togethers with friends or at work, I always get asked to make the brownies..not sure why, I use the boxed kind.
  4. I've had a little girl name picked out for about 15 years of my life. Now, I'm starting to get scared I may never get to use it.
  5. I knew I wanted to marry Chris within two months of dating. I never would have done it that soon, but I knew it nonetheless.
  6. I used to have a lot of will-power when it came to losing weight. Now, I just can't seem to get motivated no matter how miserable I get.
  7. When I got pregnant with Landon, I was actually pregnant with twins. The other baby's heart quit beating around 10 weeks. I've never known emotional pain like that in my life and it's something you don't ever forget.
  8. I really don't like snow. I like to watch it fall, but after a day, I'm ready for it to be gone.
  9. One of my guilty pleasures is watching movies like "Notorious" "Drumline" and "ATL."
  10. When I was in high school, I had this strange feeling that I would die in a car crash. Kind of morbid and not really sure why I felt that way, but I did.

I'm giving this award to:

  1. Tiff at http://honakerblessings.blogspot.com/
  2. Elizabeth at http://radezfamily.blogspot.com/
  3. Amanda at http://nunusplace.blogspot.com/
  4. Holly at http://thegranings.blogspot.com/

Not My Child Monday



Switching things up today..this should be interesting...


It was not my child at the dentist who could be heard screaming from the very back of the building all the way to the front lobby. Nope, not my child. My child is perfectly polite and never throws a temper tantrum because of something new. It also couldn't have been something new, going to the dentist, because obviously I'm a good mother and wouldn't take him to the dentist for the first time on the day they were actually going to clean his teeth. Nope, I'd definitely take him to just watch a couple of times before so that he could know what was going on.

It was also definitely not my other child who called a perfect stranger at the daycare Daddy. When said stranger jokingly replied, "Boy, I'm not your daddy," it was also not my child who replied, "Pa-Pa?" My children definitely do not talk to strangers. Obviously, it was not my child, who I think had too much sugar at daycare that day, that hit a nice gentleman who was holding the door for us. He didn't continue to hit the man until I noticed what was going on.

And finally, it wasn't my child who informed Chris & me last night that a little boy at school didn't die when he ate apples. Obviously it was my child who was listening when we read the story of Adam and Eve and he took it literally that you couldn't eat any apples...ever!


Friday, July 17, 2009

18 Video Tapes

An oldie, but goodie..

Lyrics from the song "18 Video Tapes" by Jason Meadows...
One day little Billy said "momma, where's my dad?"
Fightin' back the tears she said "I knew one day you'd ask."
She walked him down the hallway, to a closet with a safe,
Said "I think you'll find the answer right here, in these 18 video tapes."
See the doctors told him he'd be gone before you were born,
And it broke his heart to know he'd never hold you in his arms.
Determined not to let you grow up learnin' from mistakes,
He put everything he thought you'd need to know, on 18 video tapes.
Like here's the way you hold a bat, Be sure to keep that shoulder back.
And when you cast that rod and reel, Well use your wrist its in the feel.
Or when you learn to ride your bike,
I'll tell you now that you won't like those training wheels,
But your momma will.

That day always momma showed him one of them a year,
Sometimes it was almost like his dad was really there,
Sometimes he laughed, sometimes he cried,
But he always walked away,
Havin' learned another lesson from his dad, in those 18 video tapes.
Like when you shave don't get too close,
Lose the hair, but leave the nose.
And when your momma gives you my old truck,
Don't drive too fast or ride the clutch.
Don't listen to your buddies son,
when the conversation comes to the birds and bees,
Just go to tape 18.
Well I just need to tell you one more thing before I go,
It wont be long you'll have a little baby of your own.
Be there for 'em every day, no matter what it takes,
Even you have to put your love on 18 video tapes.
While putting a new picture of Landon in a picture frame in my office today, I discovered, behind the current picture, a picture of him when we was about 10 months old. He was sitting up in his little shorts and t-shirt, pacifier in his mouth, little curls coming out from behind his ears. Curls that I haven't seen since his first hair cut on his first birthday. Where did all my time go, I remember that little baby so well and now he's looking more and more like a little man. He's gone from calling me Mimi to Moma. From giving noseys to saying "Give my kiss". Then, I was reminded of the song above. Every time I hear this song, I choke up. See, that's one of my biggest fears..that Chris or I won't be here to watch our boys (and future children) grow up even more than they already are. I know it sounds silly, but there have been a lot of people I've seen taken away in an instant. None of us knows how many days we have left here on Earth. But instead of dwelling on that, we should learn to live our life to the fullest. Enjoy those little moments with little eyes and ears watching/listening to your every move. Not only those, but the people you're around from day to day. You never know how something said or done may affect someone for the rest of their life. Good or bad, we don't get the choice. Only the choice to act in a way that we can always be proud of. So from here on out, I'm going to try to take a step back and not be in a rush to do everything. That's hardest when you have kids, I think. You want to see the first time they sit up, the first time they crawl and more importantly, those first tentative steps. But, sometimes, you just need to sit back and enjoy the way they look at you with the most perfect love. You're the center of their world. Nothing could be sweeter than a love between a mother and child. And nothing can ever replace it.


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Best Buddies - Landon and "B" had not been together at school for around 3 weeks. "B" came home early from a vacation to come to Landon's party and they were inseperable!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Ten Things Tuesday - Landon Edition

  1. Landon's party went really well on Saturday. We had a big crowd of kids out there and he had a great time.
  2. After Landon's party was finished, Chris asked him if he had fun, to which he replied, "Yeah, it was cool." When he asked if he got everything he wanted, he replied, "Well, I didn't get my Cool Spiderman Bat."
  3. Luckily, we knew he wanted this and saved this present for his actual birthday...it's crazy after all those presents, a $10 bat was what completed his birthday!
  4. Chris & I started a new tradition this year. We both took off the day for Landon's birthday. While Nixon was at daycare, Landon got to go with us to Wal-mart to spend some birthday money, to McDonalds for lunch and to play on the playground, and we topped it off with a trip to the movies to see Ice Age. We were supposed to spend some time at the pool also, but we got rained out.
  5. Landon did not like leaving Nixon out yesterday, but he got over it fast when I told him that Nixon didn't cry when we left him at school.
  6. When Landon and I picked Nixon up from school, Landon was so excited to tell him about the dinosaur movie and his new car track he had at home.
  7. I'll say it again, I can't believe my Boo-Boo is 4 years old! It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant and thinking our life would be forever changed.
  8. I don't think Landon can believe it either because he keeps asking me, "Am I 4 now?"
  9. Completely unrelated to his birthday, Landon has been on me recently about having a baby...he keeps saying that "Jesus WILL give him a sister!"
  10. I say go ahead and pray buddy..Momma needs a little girl!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Happy 4th Birthday to Landon!!

It's hard to believe that my oldest baby is now 4 years old! He was born at 11:56 am on July 13, 2005 weighing 8 lb, 6 oz and 21" long. Landon was definitely a good first baby. He slept and ate like a champ from Day 1. He's definitely the peacemaker of my two boys and is very concerned about everyone's feelings around him. He always seems to know when you're upset and will hug or kiss you to make you feel better. Oh, how I love this little boy of mine!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Welcome to the Bat Cave!

This morning, I came to the realization that I don't get paid nearly enough to work where I do! I started off my local government career working in a nasty old building, waiting on the new, nice and clean building to be built. After working in that wonderful building for a short 10 months, I decided to switch jobs and was sent back to a nasty, old building. There is one thing this building has over my old building though....bats! That leads me to my story of how my morning went. Keep in mind as you read this, I'm not a morning person..it takes me a good 3 - 4 hours to get going in the morning (talking-wise).

Anyway, this morning, not unlike other mornings, I had my hands full of all kind of things while walking up the door at work. When I walked under the awning, I felt something brush my leg. Thinking it felt like a leaf, I kept going and started to unlock the door when I heard the most awful screeching noise in my life. I looked back behind me and what did I see? A bat with his little wings flapping on the ground, mouth open, fangs showing. Well, let me tell you, I woke up fast! I did the "turn around, press your body up against the door thing" like I was being attacked. One of the girls I work with was getting out of her car and just happened to see me. She peeked out and said, "Is something wrong?" In the highest pitch possible (one only dogs could hear), I said, "A Bat!! I just stepped on a bat!!" I could not get in that building fast enough. I just knew that bat would attack me because my hands would not work right. (Not to mention the fact that in my frazzled state, I was trying to open the door with my house key!) Anyway, I ran into the building, so that I could quickly put some anti-bacterial soap on my leg. Every time I think about it, I start to shudder and get the heeby-jeebies! If I would have thought about it, I would've taken a picture of the bat before it got taken away.

Not Me Monday


I haven't done this in a while..and since I'm close to perfect, this might be hard..yeah right!

I absolutely did not start out my week claiming this was the week to start my diet, only to last a pitiful two hours at work..nope, I'm not weak-willed at all when it comes to dieting.

While we're on that subject, I also did not go to "the workout" as Landon calls it, get on the eliptical for 2 minutes before it kicked my butt and I got off and opted for a treadmill instead. Nope! My motto is "no pain, no gain" so that couldn't have been me!

After working out on my half day, I didn't go lounge by the pool with my book without my kids. I know they would absolutely love the pool, so there's no way I went and spent a whole afternoon with just me and my book. Nope, not me.

And while at the pool, I didn't put my book down because the feud between the 3 high school girls and the 2 high school girls across the pool was more entertaining than my book. I didn't secretly listen to their conversations the whole 3 hours wondering if I ever sounded as stupid as they did while I was in high school. To be sure, I NEVER fought over a boy like that! Nope, not me!

I also did not spend Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the pool without any sunscreen. That would be completely irresponsible and I don't secretly love my great tan I've got going this summer. First time being a member of a pool and I don't really wish I could go everyday. I don't think that sometimes it would be great to be a teacher, so I could spend all summer there!

And last but not least, I didn't ask one of my friends how to get ice out of her snazzy refrigerator. She would never tell me that I have to talk to it, in which I (almost) said, "I need ice." Nope, not me!