Silliness is hereditary!

A few months ago, Chris started this thing...when someone talks to him, like a cashier at a store or someone we see that he doesn't know very well, he makes this "scary" face and says "RAAHH!" I thought it was from Halloween and his obsession with scary stuff around that time. I know we didn't teach him to do that. Anyway, it's pretty funny and most people get a good laugh out of it, so I haven't really given it any thought. This evening I was trying out my new scanner so I went and got the box of my old pictures from the closet to find one to test out. I haven't looked at them in a couple of years so I got caught up in looking at a lot of them. Then I came across the funniest thing...a picture of me and my cousins from Christmas 1985. I was about 2 months older in this picture than Chris is now, and the resemblance is amazing! Obviously, I'm the cute one on the left.

Santa Claus was here!

I remember when I was a kid, we would wake my parents up by 6am to see what Santa Claus had left for us. I guess that comes as kids get older and understand what is happening a little bit more. I was surprised when at 9am I was the first one awake in my house. I finally woke Buddy and Chris up about 9:30. Chris was SOOO happy to see that Santa listened and brought him a CHOO-CHOO! We got to sit around and be lazy for the rest of the morning, and went to Buddy's uncle's house for a late lunch. Chris jumped on the trampoline, which was cool as long as he was by himself...he got a little scared when the bigger kids were jumping too. We came home and played with presents more tonight. Aside from a big huge temper tantrum from Buddy's 9 year old half-brother, it was a pretty great day.

Christmas Eve...before, during, and after.

Merry Christmas Eve! We opened presents, and Chris had a fantastic time! He loved ripping the paper so much he hardly cared what was inside. That is, aside from the occasional must-play-immediately Lightning McQueen. I of course cleaned the livingroom up before we sat down to open presents, and by the time we were done it was a million times worse than before!

park day again.

How can Christmas be five days away, when it's not even a little bit cold? This afternoon we headed to the park to let Chris play, and we didn't even bring our jackets. We let Chris run around where he wanted to, and we just followed him. He started at the playground of course, but then wanted to go exploring. Every few seconds he would tell one of us "look at that"...fascinated by every little thing.

the plan.

A little over a year ago, Buddy started managing shifts at Applebee's. He opens or closes shifts (usually closes, 4pm-1am) and does the checkouts and deposits. He gets paid hourly for that. Anyway we have been waiting to hear when he will go to his management training, to be a salaried assistant manager. Finally he got to talk to the Area Director and figure out what our plan is. We will be going to Houston the first week in January to start his training. I say "we" because Chris and I are tagging along. In order for me to stay here, we would have to rent a second car and hire a babysitter, and I don't make enough money at my job for that to be worth it. Plus, it might be fun to get out of the BCS for a little while! His training will last 6 or more weeks, during which we will be living in a hotel suite. (But Applebee's pays for it!) His days off will usually be 2 in a row so we can come back here if we want to. After the training is over, hopefully he can come back to this restaurant...the AD is going to try to get him to anyway. There's still a chance we might have to move though...I guess there are pros and cons to that but I'll worry about that when it gets closer. For now I'll be satisfied in knowing I get to quit my job soon! Haha!

playground.

I wanted to take pictures of Chris playing, so today we went to the park. He had fun playing around. The grass was still a little bit wet so we didn't get to play in it. Of course he had to bring some cars and trucks.For some reason he likes to slide backwards...still feet first but on his tummy! I don't know why he likes it so much better than sliding normal, but to him it's fun!

We were ready to leave and walking back to the car when he spotted a fire hydrant. He went up to it and said "Mommy take a picture this!" How could I refuse? He didn't even want to look at me, he just wanted me to take the picture. Silly little guy.

thankful.

For Thanksgiving we went to eat lunch at my grandparents' house. We had a nice meal and then we all went to play outside. Buddy and Jared had an acorn fight and Chris ran around and climbed on the swing and the bench. After that we headed back into town and met Buddy's mom at his grandpa's house. We hung out there for a little while and then decided to come home. We put up our tree, but we didn't decorate it yet. It was nice to see our families, but by the end of the day we were all tired.

new camera.

I got my new camera today! I LOVE it! I got a Canon Rebel XTi. I have a lot to learn but I can't wait to do it! I took a few pictures of Chris right away. Too bad the weather was yucky so I couldn't go outside.

hospital trip.

Well I had to go to the ER. Stupid heart problem again. We were at the mall and I felt it start. We left, and I thought it would go away but instead it seemed to be getting worse. I haven't had an episode like this in a long time, just a small one when Chris was a baby that I was able to stop...before that was over 4 years ago. I don't remember feeling this much pressure, or it being this hard to breathe. Anyway I went in and had the IV like I've done lots of times before, and it was scary as usual. My heartrate went back to normal pretty quickly though this time. I'm just exhausted though. Just brushing my hair makes my arms feel so tired. Chris was very sweet to me...he kept asking if I was okay and wanting to kiss my 'owie'. I'm going to have to find a new cardiologist. Obviously I can't use my old pediatric cardiologist, and the one I saw when I was pregnant with Chris was okay, but I wasn't crazy about her.

color love.

Today I decided to take pictures of Chris coloring. I wanted to try some close up pictures and play with Photoshop a little bit. He was actually cooperating a little bit this time too! I thought the big window in his room would bring in enough light, but it didn't and I had to use the flash. Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out. I think I'm going to get one of those black collage frames and hang them all together.

sick.

Chris is sick. Yesterday while we were trick-or-treating he had a bit of a runny nose. Today he still has the runny nose and the sneezes, he is really congested, and his eyes are red. I got off work this afternoon and we went to Target to get some Benadryl for him. Of course he wanted to look at scarys, and since Halloween is over there aren't many scarys left! So we checked out the clearance Halloween things and he picked out a package of nasty spiders. Then we went to look at the Christmas stuff. I could almost get in the Christmas mood- that is until I walked out of Target and into the 80-something degree day. So we came home and I gave Chris the medicine. We started to watch a movie, but he fell asleep. I finally woke him up after he had been asleep for two whole hours- didn't want him to be up all night. That wasn't a problem though...poor little guy was so tired! We did play for a little while but he just didn't have much energy. It would be nice if he could just sleep this sickness away...but more likely I will get it in the next couple days and we will pass it back and forth for a while. That is the one thing I hate about this time of year.

trick or treat.

Happy Halloween! We decided to head to the Farm Patch to pick out a pumpkin. They had a maze in the hay there, and the three of us went through it about four times. Then we picked out a big pumpkin that we wanted to decorate and a baby pumpkin for Chris to hold. He fell asleep on the way home though, so we went in and took a nap instead of decorating pumpkins. We woke up and got ready to go trick-or-treating. Chris was a boxer, or as he likes to call it, a box-man. He was really excited about wearing his box clothes and boxing gloves. We let him play outside for a few minutes after he was dressed, then we headed out to visit our families. Chris had his basket mostly full with candy, cookies, and cupcakes. The last place we went was to my mom's house, where Chris got to box Jared, something he had been looking forward to all day.

welcome fall

It was a beautiful fall day today! The temperature dropped yesterday morning, but it rained. Today it is just cool and sunny, and I can't get enough of being outside! We decided to take Chris to the park and play. He liked climbing and he even went down the tall curly slide by himself (and loved it), but then he wanted to explore. We walked across the bridge, but he wanted to get closer to the water. He was starting to get mad because we wouldn't let him walk all the way down there, but finally he saw some steps that looked like fun. We had a good time, and Chris fell asleep on the way home!

silly

I walked toward the bathroom tonight and saw Chris making faces at himself in the mirror. I was able to take a few pictures before he saw me and resumed brushing his teeth. Silly guy!

fall fest

Chris and I went to the Fall Fest at the Children's Museum today. He liked to watch people carve pumpkins, but we didn't try one. He was so interested in the joy jumps, so I let him go. He just stayed still the whole time, while the bigger kids bounced around him. I think he would have enjoyed it more if it was just little guys. Then we went to get some cotton candy, which he really liked! They had these play tables full of bubble stuff with big bubble wands, and he had a blast splashing in there and blowing bubbles. Then he made a spin art with all different colors of paint. The last thing we did was check out the haunted house. They had lots of 'scarys'- pumpkins, skeletons, bats, and nasty spiders. Chris was definitely sad when it was time to leave!

what a day.

Today started out okay. Chris decided that he would go to the potty three times this morning. So he got to wear his Mater underwear for a while, which he really liked! We were getting ready to have his pictures taken when my mom called. She told me that Jenni had been in a wreck this morning. She broke her nose, broke her ankle, and broke her sternum. She also had a concussion and was really confused. She was going to need surgery for her ankle; it bent completely sideways and split the skin on the other side. My mom told me not to come since she would be having surgery most of the day. So we went on to Chris's photo appointment. It was nice to see the new studio and the photographer who I haven't seen in a while. She was really patient with Chris which was good because he was a brat! He was okay at the beginning, but he was really more interested in the props and scenes on the sides than the things that were in the picture. We would move the things he liked into the picture and he would lose interest and mess with something else. I hope we got a few good pictures at least. So we came home and ate lunch and hung out for a while. Then we decided to go to the mall playground. We saw Tracy and the kids there, so we talked to her for a while. Noah and Sarah were so good! Most of the older kids we see there usually are mean but they were really sweet. Noah was really good with Chris- Chris loves following bigger boys around! We finally left the mall and rented a movie. Chris fell asleep in the car so Buddy and I watched Evan Almighty. Buddy went off to poker night. I was able to talk to Jenni finally, and she said she was in tons of pain! She sounded pretty normal and coherent though. She wants to see Chris. I called in to work and tried to get Cassie to work for me tomorrow so I can see Jenni, but she doesn't want to. I won't really go into that though. So I guess we will go see Jenni tomorrow after I get off work. Anyway, I'm exhausted now and I have to be at work soon.

nasty bugs

Chris and I drove by the new place today. I have been trying to get him used to the idea of moving by telling him about all the stuff we will do there. He told me today that he would ride his tractor outside at the new house, he would play cars and trucks at the new house. He said he would watch movies at the new house, and take baths at the new house. Then he told me, 'NO night-night at new house!' I had to ask him why not, and he said because 'nasty bugs are scary and gross!' HAHAHA! I know why he said that. When we came to see the house before, there was a dead mosquito hawk and he saw it. Funny how that stayed in his mind the whole time.

tunnel time

We got Chris one of those pop-up tunnels for his birthday, and Lori got him a Cars tent. We decided to set it up in the living room. He had so much fun! After he crawled through, he pushed his cars and trucks through it.

outta here

I am so done living here. We have got to move and soon. I told the landlords that our air conditioner was broken in mid-March. They said a few times they would come, and never did. It is now August and I have had more than enough. The main water line under the house busted too, and they turned the water off last week. It was off for 6 days, 4 of which nobody even came to work on it. The one day I did call to check, Darlene got such an attitude with me that I wanted to choke her. So anyway, we started looking at duplexes and I think we found one! I am just trying to reassure Buddy that this is the best decision, and maybe we can move in another month or so. I can't wait to not have to deal with them anymore!

so hot

We are dying of heat strokes here. It's freakin hot! Our air conditioner still is not fixed, and we can hardly stand to be here. This afternoon Buddy and I took Chris to the splash pad at the park. He had a blast! He loved playing in the water and running around with the big kids.

happy birthday to me!

I had a fun birthday yesterday! I hung out with my boys all day. I got some cool stuff too. I got a CHI hair straightener (well that one was for Mother's Day), a game, a Willow Tree figurine (Child of My Heart), and a James Avery ring from Buddy and Chris. My mom gave me $100 and Jenni gave me some Pink perfume. We went and met my family at Olive Garden for supper. Chris was being cute- he kept dipping his breadsticks into my soup and saying 'mmm'. He saw another baby at the table behind us and they were laughing at each other. My mom told the waitress it was my birthday, and apparently the girl misunderstood, because she came over and announced my 40th birthday! We all got a pretty good laugh at that. After we ate, we wanted to go see Shrek the Third. The people at the theater said they couldn't let Chris in to see such a late movie though, so he went home with my mom and Buddy and I watched it by ourselves. It was cute. Anyway I had a good day and I'm sad that it's over.

Hello!

Hi everyone! I decided to start this blog because, well, I have nothing better to do. And I'll assume you have nothing better to do either if you are going to read this. So welcome to whatever ends up here. Have a great day.