In Case You Were Wondering...

Landon informed me today that the opposite of Upper-case is Downer-Case....that pretty much sums it up I guess!

Cracked Hearts

Landon asked me yesterday afternoon why the heart on his shirt was cracked.  After telling him a couple of times (because he forgot) that it meant he was a heartbreaker and good looking, he said, "Yeah, but I don't listen all the time."  Then, that made me think of the sermon in church this past Sunday.  Our preacher is doing a series of 10 sermons on "relationships."  This past Sunday's sermon was on our relationship with our tongue.  He pointed out a well-known fact; once you say something negative to someone, they may forgive, but they're never going to forget.  It's true.  You can say something positive to someone and they'll forget it by tomorrow, but let something mean or hurtful slip out and they'll remember it 20 years from now.  The preacher explained how you have to constantly have your heart full of love (and the Spirit) so that there's no room for that negative tongue to lash out.  It's hard because we are all human, and like Landon so simply stated, "We don't listen all the time."

Random Thoughts on Life

I know it's been a while since I've posted.  Life has been extremly crazy for me lately, so here's some random thoughts to keep you (the few who have asked where my blog posts are) at bay =)

• My billing supervisor at work left the end of December.  She accepted another job closer to home.  Therefore, while waiting on a new person to start, I've been doing her job.  It's crazy hard doing two full-time jobs in only 40-45 hours a week!
• Ellie is like another child at times.  She's so demanding of our time.  Our other two dogs were not like that at all.  Well, it's either that, or because we didn't have kids, we didn't notice!
• If anyone knows how to get a dog to quit jumping, I'd appreciate any tips.  We've tried the "knee to the chest" thing when she jumps, but it just makes her jump more!
• Nixon has the worst balance ever.  Last week, he tripped and fell into a door at school.  He got a big gash on his forehead, but it didn't slow him down any.

• We went to our first Hurricanes game on Monday.  A guy at work gave us some tickets, which were great by the way, and we had so much fun!  Landon is obssessed with hockey now, but he was upset that they didn't win when we saw them because "he wanted them to win."

• Landon loves playing basketball.  I think baseball is still his favorite, but he loves that he has practice on Wednesday and games on Saturday.  That means that he gets to go twice a week to play!

• Still no word on the house.  The latest news is that the foreclosure process is started.  We won't have any other news until at least next week sometime. 
• This past week has gotten me ready for Spring!  I'm so ready to go to the pool again!
• I think I've gained a little of my weight back.  It's crazy how stress affects my eating habits.  Some people don't eat when they get stressed, but that's definitely not me!
• Nixon is still pottying pretty good.  He'll go if you take him, but he still doesn't know when he needs to go.  That's okay, small steps!

I think that's about it for now..you all should be pretty caught up with what's going on in our world.  Nothing too exciting, just normal, everyday life around here, which is a blessing!

Ten Things Tuesday

1. Nixon is still doing great with the potty.  They told me today when I picked him up that he went every time they took him!
2. When Landon heard that Nixon peed and pooped in the potty, he said, "Nixon, you're doing a great job!"  What a motivator!
3. Landon asked me how many days until show and tell.  I told him and then asked him what he wanted to take to which he replied, "You'll have to wait and see."
4. No news on the house yet other than they've started the foreclosure process.  They're going to have to foreclose on it before we can buy it.  This could take up to 4 weeks and anybody can come and outbid us until after the foreclosure process is over.
5. I've quit Weight Watchers.  I just hated paying $40/month for the couple pounds that I was losing in a month's time.  I'm weighing in at work with a girl I work with.  I figure I still have accountability because I'm weighing with someone, without paying the monthly fee.
6. Ellie has been crazy lately.  I don't know if the cooler weather is making her frisky or what!
7. We finally watched "The Hangover" Friday night.  That movie was hilarious!  Definitely have to get that one on DVD.
8. One of my employees' last day was the 30th.  I've been doing her job this week until we hire someone which will probably be another couple of weeks, then however long they give notice to their current employer.  It's been crazy! 5:00 comes before I know it and I'm worn out!
9. I just finished reading the book, "Water for Elephants."  It  was a great book that I'd recommend to anyone.
10. I can't believe it's 2010 already!  One of my goals this year is to pay off at least $12,000 in debt.  I don't know if this is feasible if we get a house but we'll see!

My Baby is Growing Up!

I've heard about it from different teachers at daycare and Chris..but I'd yet to see it for myself.  However, five minutes after coming home with a little potty, Nixon finally peed for me!!  Yay!! I was beginning to think he'd be going to college in pull-ups!  I hadn't tried to buy a little potty for Nixon because they freaked Landon out and he wouldn't go potty for like 3 months after his "experience".  But I guess Nixon wanted to prove to me once again that he's nothing like his big brother Landon.  After that first time in the little potty tonight, he was so excited, he went  like two or three more times!  Landon now thinks he's ready for big boy underwear.  I had to explain to him that it takes a little more than that!

Ten Things Tuesday

1. Christmas was so much fun!  I got the boys up at 5:00 and they were wide open!  When I was getting the boys in the car to go to Lumberton, Landon told me that "Santa did a GREAT job!"
2. We always clean out all the "baby" toys and toys that don't get played with the day after Christmas so that we can make room for the new toys.  Well, this is the first year that Landon has noticed.  He wanted to know where all his old toys were, why Santa didn't come see those kids we were giving the toys to, etc, etc.  Then, after thinking about all I'd told him and looking at the basket of toys in the back seat, he looked at Chris and me and said, "I sure am going to miss my rocket."
3. Sunday night, the boys were in bed watching cartoons before going to sleep. Well, if you have kids, you know on Diego, they interact with the kids that are watching, telling them to say certain things.  Anyway, after they had been watching it for a while, we heard Nixon yell, "I DID DIEGO!"  I guess he thought Diego didn't hear him!
4. Take a look at what Santa brought Landon...

5. Take a look at what Santa brought Nixon...

6. Nixon absolutely loved opening up presents..in fact..he opened up his, Landon's, and anyone else's that would let him!

7. Immediately after all the presents were opened and played with, Landon wanted to know how long before Santa comes again.
8. Landon didn't get the Transformer rain boots that he wanted, but he did get some Pirate ones, along with a Pirate umbrella that he was estactic about.  Luckily, it rained on Christmas day, so he got to break both in and Nixon got to use his Spiderman boots.

9. We started a new tradition this year.  Instead of Chris working on Christmas Eve like he normally does, he took the day off and stayed home with us.  We took Nixon to see his first movie at the movie theater, "Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."  We had so much fun doing this, we decided to try to go see a matinee every Christmas Eve, as long as they have something the boys can watch.
10. All our inside Christmas decorations came down the day after Christmas.  It's kind of sad, but I just have to put them away as soon as Christmas is over so I don't get too depressed that Christmas is a  year away! 

Ten Things Tuesday - Christmas Edition

Since Christmas is just a few days (3!!) away, I figured I'd do this one Christmas-style

1. Ever since I can remember, I can't seem to sleep on Christmas Eve..I'm that excited that I just can't fall asleep.  Do you know how hard it is to sit there and watch the hours go by knowing just in the other room there are presents to be opened?
2. Because of this, I would always want to get up at the crack of dawn. My mom always made me wait until at least 6:00 am, but the first year we were married, Chris got up with me at 4:30 am!  Since then, I've made myself wait until at least 5:30 because that makes for a long day when you have so much family to see!
3. My boys have yet to wake me up.  I wake them up every year.  In fact, Nixon's first Christmas (he was 3 months old), I woke him up and he was so cranky, we sent him back to bed while Landon opened up all his gifts.  Nixon woke up about time Landon was finishing and then enjoyed his gifts very much from that point on.
4. We have a couple of Christmas traditions for our family.  The first one is that we buy our tree first thing the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving.  While it's falling out outside, I clean the house and put out the decorations, while Chris works on the outside lights.  We're usually done late that afternoon and we bring the tree in to decorate.  We always eat pizza while we do this and watch a Christmas movie of some sort.
5. The second tradition is we each open up one present on Christmas Eve.  It always holds a brand new pair of pajamas so we all look pretty for the video and pictures the next morning!
6. Every year since we moved to Johnston County, we go see Lights on the Neuse.  It consists of about a 30 minute hay ride through woods and around a farm.  They have big lights up with Christmas music playing.  The lights move to the beat of the music.  They also have a building with old time candy and hot chocolate and Santa is usually there for pictures.
7. This will be the first Christmas that Chris & I don't do presents for each other.  We still have our stockings, but we agreed that we'd rather spend our money on stuff for the house if and when we get it.
8. I started listening to Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving.  That's all I've been listening to since then!
9. My favorite Christmas movies are "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "A Christmas Story," Elf," and "It's a Wonderful Life."
10. Christmas is so much more special when you see the excitement and joy in a child's eyes.