~~~~~~*

exhaustion.

2008-08-10T02:02:00.000-05:00

My job is kicking my ass. I got a new job at the post office, driving the mail truck. It's probably been about a month now since I started. Whoever thinks mail carriers just drive around all day and have an easy job is CRAZY. The shit is hard. Learning the routes, learning all about different kinds of mail and what to do, and learning how to drive a right-hand-drive truck. What makes it so much harder is the HEAT. The mail trucks are NOT air conditioned. It's hotter inside them than it is outside. They have little fans that help a teeny bit. It's been in the high 90's most days, and last Saturday got up to 105. That night I threw up, felt like crap all day Sunday, etc. Heat exhaustion basically, although I've been drinking tons of water. Today was a much shorter day- I actually got finished by 4:30- YAY me! But it was still hotter than hell, and I was ready to crash. I went to my mom's house and slept on her couch for a few hours. I feel like a Mean Mommy, just sleeping while Chris played with everyone else, but I seriously did not have the strength to continue being awake. So overall, I have been improving slowly. I started to get the impression this week that a few other people are starting to be aggravated by me taking so long. My boss seems to think I am doing okay though, and I guess that is the main thing. It will get easier, probably around the same time it gets cooler. I think I will really like the job, once I get to the point where I don't feel like I'm about to die at the end of every day. And of course it pays about 3 times what I was making at my old job, plus cheap federal benefits. Can't complain there.

Happy 3rd birthday!

2008-07-29T01:38:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today, at 8:53 pm, my sweet boy was born. I can't believe how fast the time is flying by!

Mommy loves you so much, Christopher!

rockin' the 'hawk.

2008-06-22T01:56:00.000-05:00

We fixed Chris's hair like this after he got out of the bath. He said it looked awesome!

yee-haw.

2008-06-20T01:51:00.000-05:00

Today Buddy had a meeting in Houston for work. Normally his meetings are just around 2 hours long, so Chris and I decided to tag along. I figured we could amuse ourselves for a little bit and all do something together afterwards. Well when we got there we found out the meeting was going to be about 5 hours long. Chris and I decided to look for a park. We found a park that had a petting zoo and stuff. Pretty much animals he could see if he hung out with my grandpa, so it was ironic that we went to a bigger city and that is what we did. Well he liked it. He got to feed a baby goat. And he got to ride a pony for the first time which he was so proud of! While we were there it started raining and storming all the sudden. So we went shopping instead while we waited for Buddy. When he got done we all went to the Galleria. We thought about ice skating, but after watching people we kinda chickened out. We saw a little girl stumbling and falling, and her dad was pretty sturdy holding her up. Neither of us thought we would be sturdy enough to be much help to Chris. Anyway, we had a pretty fun day overall.

downtown.

2008-06-11T22:23:00.000-05:00

I had to drive to downtown Houston today to take a test. I was a little nervous about getting there. I'm not the best with directions and I was going by myself. I didn't have much time before the test, so I only got to take one picture. I wish I could have done more, but I had to concentrate. I don't know which one I like better:

color

or black and white?

Class of 2012

2008-05-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

My little brother graduated from 8th grade. He has always been a smart guy- I think he gets it from his oldest sister. ;) So he was the Valedictorian of his class, and I am so proud of him! At the ceremony he did the invocation. They had a slide show of pictures from when they were little. (I already picked a good one for the high school video...) After graduation they had a big party/dance for all the new freshmen and their families.

It is HARD to take pictures inside the school and in a DARK dance hall. Big-sister-goggle pics I guess you could say.

Jared:

the two highest-ranking students:

the invocation:

Dad and Jared:

Jared and Jodie (rare moment):

Jared and Chris (love this one):

Mom and Jared at the mother-son/dad-daughter dance:

My brother is crazy!

and um, so is my sister....

Chris had lots of fun...

dancing with girls. (breaking Mommy's heart)

He helped clean up, which he does not do at home.

Congratulations graduates! Best of luck in high school!

Memorial Day weekend

2008-05-27T20:54:00.000-05:00

By some miracle, Buddy got three days off in a row. That almost never happens. We decided to go visit his family which is about 3 1/2 hours from here. We were going to leave on Sunday morning, but when Buddy got home late Saturday night we decided to just go then. He figured since he can't sleep for a few hours after he gets home anyway we might as well. Plus Chris would sleep in the car and when we woke up on Sunday we would be ready to do something fun. The first half of the trip was fine. I like staying up late, and we were just talking and listening to music. After a couple hours though we were tired. I dozed off a little even though I tried to stay awake and keep him company. When we finally made it to his sister's house we crashed out. We didn't wake up till his sister got home from church. We had fun that day though. We took the kids to the park to play. I guess everyone in town had the same idea, because for a tiny little town the park was really crowded! It was really hot but Chris got to get ice cream from an ice cream truck for the first time. We went out to eat a couple times and basically just hung out at his sister's house the whole time. It was a pretty nice visit overall.

Chris doing a little bit of rock-climbing:

our nephew Christian. He is getting so big!

Buddy and his uncle Gary. Gary had a stroke a while back and Buddy hates to see him getting old and feeling bad. But he will treasure a picture of them together one day, and besides he doesn't read my blog so it's all good. ;)

Hot Shots Soccer

2008-05-20T23:39:00.000-05:00

Chris has been playing on a soccer team this spring. They have soccer classes for kids that are too young to play in the regular soccer leagues. Chris will not be 3 until the end of July, so we went ahead and put him in with the younger 2-year old class since that is more the age of kids he will be in school with. Plus, to be totally honest, since he is not in daycare or anything I was a little afraid he would not respond well to the structure of a class so I didn't want him to be behind with the big-2 and 3's class. Today was the last day of the spring season. We have had so much fun! Chris has really come a long way in the past couple of months also.

He learned how to wait patiently for his turn:

made a few friends (and flirted with girls):

lots of things on the obstacle course:

how to pass...

and SCORE!

What would a 2-year-old class be without a little bit of DRAMA?

This is his favorite part. They put their hands together and yell, 1-2-3...HOT SHOTS!

At the end he got his trophy. He was so proud!

butterfly

2008-05-19T22:14:00.000-05:00

We were outside and this sweet butterfly kept following Chris. It was really nice and let him hold it. He thought it was pretty cool. I had to take a picture even though I was afraid he'd squish it. I am happy to say that the butterfly left us safely, off to "find his mommy butterfly."

happy birthday to me!

2008-05-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

Today I am 25 years old. Or "too much old" according to Chris. I love my birthday, though I really am not crazy about the idea of getting older anymore. We will probably go shopping today, and then this evening we will eat with my family and a couple of friends. I think Buddy and I are going to go see Forgetting Sarah Marshall tonight. I've heard it is really funny.

Baby Emma.

2008-05-17T20:46:00.000-05:00

Emma's parents wanted me to take a few pictures of them to give to their parents. I have a long way to go before I can really feel good about taking pictures for other people, but since I know them and need the practice I figured it would be okay. Emma is such a precious baby. She's 4 months old, and she has the most adorable smile. But she HATES cameras. No, she doesn't get upset like some kids do. But she likes to show the camera her "stank eye" or at the very least a little frown. So I took some of her with her mommy:

and her Daddy:

And when we were done, we headed back inside. When we got to the porch and my camera was down, wouldn't you know it, she was all smiles. I tried to capture them and this was the best I could get before the mean looks came back. Too bad her other arm was cut off.

Afterwards she played with her big brother a little bit and I managed to sneak up behind them.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-12T00:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to me, my mom, and all my mommy friends. Being a mom is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me. My son brings me joy and laughter every day. I am lucky to have a mom who is like a best friend to me. To all the moms out there, you know what you do, and you deserve to be celebrated!

summer fun

2008-05-06T23:10:00.000-05:00

It's starting to get hot. It's only the beginning of May so I know this is nothing compared to what it will be like in a couple months. Still it's in the mid-90's and it is pretty much too hot to play outside for most of the day. Today we decided to break out the kiddie pool in the backyard and let Chris swim. I think we need a bigger one though, because Buddy and I were not enjoying ourselves as much as he did.

prom 2008

2008-05-04T01:42:00.000-05:00

Tonight Jodie and Jake went to prom. They are only sophomores but they were able to go with a group of friends. Becca and Kody came over too and waited for the limo to pick them up. Jodie was absolutely beautiful. She looked like a princess. Jake was fun and crazy as usual.

Jodie and JakeKody and Becca

Finally the limo showed up. It was huge! Everyone got out to take a few pictures then they headed off for their exciting evening. Have fun everybody!

crazy.

2008-04-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

I love my crazy boy! He cracks me up. Last night we were discussing birthdays, and I told him it was almost my birthday. I asked him "do you know how old Mommy is going to be?" and he said "TOO MUCH OLD!" I'm already not thrilled about turning 25 (I know...) so that was not very nice. He makes me laugh about 100 times a day at least. I love the silly things kids say at this age.

33 months.

2008-04-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

My baby will be three in just three months. Three months ago was when we started Buddy's training, time has certainly flown by since then! It's thoroughly depressing how fast time goes by. I need to start thinking about a birthday party soon. I know how bad I am, and I know next thing I know it will be the middle of July and I'll be scrambling to get things done. Happy 33 months to my sweet little guy!

funk.

2008-04-27T01:02:00.000-05:00

I am officially in a funk. Notice all the empty spaces for April? Yeah, I've been taking pictures. But I am so freaking frustrated because I want to make them better. I can not figure out how to do things on Photoshop. There are lots of great tutorials out there. I just don't understand them. It will say, click on this, or do this...and I don't know what "this" is. Not a clue. I feel so totally stupid about this stuff and I hate it. I see lots of books on Amazon too, but I don't know which one, if any, will tell me things from the very beginning. I think I need to try and sneak into a high school class or something. Gaaahhh!

Mommy and Chris

2008-04-24T00:23:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago, Tracey told us a very sad story about losing her mom when she was young. And she urged us all to take pictures of ourselves with our kids, because you never know what may happen. A kid is not going to see a picture and think "ugh, she was fat" or "her hair looks like crap"...all they will see is their Mommy. I know that is true- we don't have many pictures at all of my grandpa who died three years before I was born, but I love the ones we do have. This evening we went shopping with my mom, Jodie, and Jared. Since I was halfway presentable I decided to go ahead and have Jared take a picture of Chris and me together. Unfortunately Chris was not digging the idea, so he was whiny. I still like it though. I am going to make an effort to take more pictures of our family together. I managed to sneak a few snapshots of my mom too.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-04-17T22:53:00.000-05:00

On this day three years ago, Buddy and I got married. We had such a wonderful wedding. You would never guess that we planned the whole thing as fast as we did. Of course, it helped that I was working at the studio at the time, so I had the hook-up on pictures, plus called in some favors for the location, dress, flowers, tux...okay pretty much everything. I really do wish I could relive that day because it went by in such a blur.
Today we didn't get to celebrate. That is the downside of starting a new position at work- Buddy wasn't able to request days off in time. So he is at work all evening. I know we already went out the other night but it's still kinda sad. Next year we will have to do something fun.

date night.

2008-04-16T01:58:00.000-05:00

This Thursday will be our anniversary, but Buddy has to work so we had our date night tonight instead. We were hungry for Mexican food so we went and stuffed our faces. We were so full that we didn't even have much room for candy at the movies. We went to see 21, about the college students who count cards and win all the money at Blackjack. It was a cool movie. It made me want to go to Vegas one day! Anyway we had fun, but at the end of the night I still missed Chris so we went and picked him up from my mom.

crashed out.

2008-04-15T01:44:00.000-05:00

Chris was so tired tonight, but kept insisting that he was NOT. I got him to read some books before bed, and he didn't even make it through The Very Hungry Caterpillar before he was crashed out.

awesome.

2008-04-07T14:10:00.000-05:00

Jodie is awesome. Seriously if I had a little (or a lot...) more talent and creativity we could have a blast! She is really down for taking any silly picture, and can totally keep a straight face long enough for it. So we did some sarcastic glamour shots and laughed our asses off. It really was just for the hell of it but I thought she looked pretty awesome anyway. What can I say, she takes after me!

baptism.

2008-04-07T00:14:00.000-05:00

My baby brother was baptized today! My parents were not the same religion (my mom was Catholic, my dad was not) so they only taught us basic Christian ideas and left the rest up to us. We went to church with our grandparents or friends fairly often growing up. I liked to (and still do) visit different churches and see what they are like. Buddy and I have talked about trying to find a church that feels "right" to us. Anyway, so Jared has decided on his own to be baptized and confirmed. I'm very proud of him! Plus I got to the church this morning and was utterly shocked by how old he looks! I mean, I see him all the time but today it hit me. He's a young man! Over the past year or so he has gone from my height or a tiny bit shorter, to at least 4 inches taller than me. And he's about to be in high school! I know I've mentioned before that he is about the same age difference from Chris as he is from me. So when I think about what I was doing at his age, I remember him at the age Chris is now, and it seems so unreal. That was just the other day wasn't it?

playing.

2008-04-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

This afternoon when I got off work, we went to Mike's house and Chris played with Mary Katelyn and Abby. He hasn't seen them since before Christmas, but they were totally comfortable around each other still. Mary Katelyn and Abby were so willing to let me take pictures of them too, but mostly goofy ones. Chris is always up for some goofy time so he had fun! After that we went to the park, but it was so incredibly crowded that we didn't stay for very long.

riding along.

2008-04-04T00:21:00.000-05:00

Sometimes my mom and Jodie come into town and pick us up. I get tired of being stuck in the house so it's great to leave even just to tag along on their errands. Jodie and I had fun goofing off. She took a ride on the bike-shaped bike rack. Dork!

be afraid.

2008-04-01T01:20:00.000-05:00

There's a monster in my house!

bloom.

2008-03-30T17:48:00.000-05:00

I brought these flowers home last night from the party. I love flowers and I love the cheerful colors!

Miss Emma.

2008-03-30T01:58:00.000-05:00

She's almost three months old. Tonight we went to her parents' anniversary party, and she crashed out before it was over. I just love sleeping babies!

tongue.

2008-03-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

Just a random picture of Chris, who is increasingly incapable of taking a serious picture.

me.

2008-03-26T21:22:00.000-05:00

Taking a picture of myself taking a picture.

I guess this is pretty much what I look like to my kid.

uncooperative.

2008-03-25T22:30:00.000-05:00

Chris literally ran away from me as I tried to take his picture. Finally I was able to back him into a corner. Mwahaha.

little chef.

2008-03-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

Chris likes to put on his chef hat and help cook. He is such a sweet little helper!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

Chris had a good Easter. We went to church this morning with Buddy's family. Then Buddy had to work so we went to my mom's house to hunt eggs with my family. Chris had a Lightning McQueen Easter basket. He had lots of fun hunting eggs and then dumping them out to see what was in them. Trevor wanted to help too.

a big mess.

2008-03-21T22:49:00.000-05:00

You literally can not walk in my hallway. This is why.

you want a piece of me?

2008-03-20T23:13:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we watch a lot of Toy Story in our house. Chris loves it. It's a pretty cute movie. I remember watching it with Jared when he was Chris's age or maybe a little younger. We don't even have the DVD, we have Jared's old VHS. Haha!

happy spring!

2008-03-20T00:11:00.000-05:00

Spring starts this week! I think the day after tomorrow is technically the first day. But we never have much of a winter here anyway, so it's all the same. Anyway, today we went to the park for a long time. It has been gorgeous outside. Chris is still not crazy about swinging too high, he would rather be running around and climbing.

play-doh.

2008-03-18T18:39:00.001-05:00

Chris wanted to play with play-doh. Which means that he wanted to tell me things to make. I'm not any more talented at play-doh than at anything else, but I guess he's little so he doesn't care. So...I made 2 snakes and a guy. Chris helped some.

grumpy

2008-03-18T00:08:00.000-05:00

Chris just wants to be left alone. I guess we all have days like that.

cousins.

2008-03-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

We got Chris and Christian matching pajamas for Christmas, but Christian was sick (isn't everyone sick on their first Christmas?) so they didn't come. So finally we got a picture of the two matching boys together. None of them turned out wonderful in my dark house, but they'll do I guess.

playtime.

2008-03-16T00:25:00.000-05:00

Amy, TJ, and Christian came down for the weekend. I wasn't sure if they were coming until the last minute, so I already said I'd start back to work this morning. I'm only going to end up working 2 or 3 mornings a week though. When I got off work we went to eat at Casa Ole and came back home. Chris is really enjoying their visit. Christian is getting to the age where he can scoot around (pre-crawling) and Chris loves the fact that they can somewhat play together. Only I think he has forgotten how to play with baby toys.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

2008-03-14T01:41:00.000-05:00

Today is my husband's 26th birthday. He had to work this morning, so Chris and I cleaned the house and made him a cake. I am proud to say that the cake is very good! (Coming from someone who pretty much sucks at cooking, that's really saying something!) We also went out to eat and to the movies.

getting gas.

2008-03-13T01:13:00.000-05:00

Chris filled up his car with gas this evening. I think I need to fill my car up here too. It has got to be cheaper this way. ;)

Ladies' Man

2008-03-11T20:27:00.000-05:00

Here's the ladies' man in his orange hard hat.

I hate mornings.

2008-03-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

So what was I doing up so early this morning? That's a good question- I have no idea! Luckily since it's daylight savings time it wasn't so bright and I was able to go back to bed for a while. Thank goodness!

ME time.

2008-03-09T12:34:00.000-05:00

I'm awake by myself. It's so quiet in my house I don't know what to do. We don't have anything planned for the day yet, probably just hang out while Buddy has to work. :(

attention.

2008-03-09T00:34:00.000-06:00

Don't talk to a boy while he's watching TV. Even a little boy. He won't listen, and you'll just be wasting your time.

army truck.

2008-03-07T22:03:00.000-06:00

Chris got a little army truck from the lady at the bank, so he has just been driving it up and down the hallway. Every couple minutes he would say "Mommy, look!" so eventually I decided to just crawl along and join the fun.

relaxation.

2008-03-07T00:04:00.000-06:00

We could all use a nice relaxing bubble bath. This morning Chris wanted to play in the bathtub for a long time. He decided to lay back in the bubbles and say "ahh, that's good" like he was relaxing from a long day at work or something. Silly guy!

soccer man.

2008-03-04T22:47:00.000-06:00

Today Buddy started his new job, and Chris started soccer. We all had to get up and dressed early which was unusual. Neither of us were sure how to get to the Applebee's since we had never been there before, so we left a littler earlier than we thought we had to. Well the drive did not seem too bad, but we took the business exit and ended up NOT where we needed to be. We finally made it though, but a few minutes late. When we got back into town we were about 10 minutes late to Chris's first soccer practice. We missed everyone introducing themselves but that was all. The practice was not bad, considering it was a bunch of toddlers. Chris didn't like to follow instructions every time, but he was by far not the only one. They kicked the ball into the goals, moved the cones, and got to slide a little bit. The hardest thing was getting them to not pick up the ball, just to kick. They wanted to throw it so bad! They were so cute! At the end of the class we helped clean up and decided on shirt colors for the team. We picked bright orange. A couple of the little girls refused orange though so they got bright pink. Oh well, it's not like they are playing against another team this year anyway. LOL! After soccer we came home for lunch, went to the library and the post office, then went to my mom's house. We hung out with my family and went to vote. A pretty busy day, but in a good way.

home sweet home.

2008-03-03T23:20:00.000-06:00

We are HOME and it's good to be back! The day didn't exactly go as planned though. We got up and Buddy went to work at 10 like usual. The plan was for him to get off this afternoon, for me to have some of our things packed, and for us to take our time about getting home late tonight. So I came back to the hotel, played around on the computer for a little bit, and talked to the housekeepers and the maintenance guy who came to fix our phone. Around 11:45 I thought I better get started, so I started taking our clothes out of the dresser and putting them in the suitcases. Then Buddy called with the first glitch in the plan. Instead of having a day or two off to get home and settled like he was expecting, he was informed that he has to be at the new job at 10am tomorrow morning. Which only meant that we needed to leave this afternoon instead of getting home late, so he could get some rest. No big deal, I kept packing things up but still not majorly rushing. Then he called back at 12:25. Apparently someone had called him from the hotel to tell him that if we didn't want to have to pay for another day, we needed to be out no later than 1pm. Until then, all the hotel people had been very nice and lenient to us, since we had been living there for so long. And I had already talked to the housekeepers about us leaving in the evening. But now I had 35 minutes to pack up 5 1/2 weeks worth of stuff and get it out to the car, with Chris trying to follow me outside every time, while it is pouring down raining. Not possible. Buddy told me to just come pick him up, so I did. He went and checked us out and then we were able to pack up the rest of our things. It took the two of us till 1:20 to get everything loaded up, and our car was so full there was hardly any room for us to sit! Then he had to go back and finish working and fill out all his end-of-training paperwork. We couldn't stay at the hotel, it was raining so we couldn't go to a park, and I didn't want to go to the mall with a bunch of steal-worthy items in plain view. So Chris and I sat at Applebee's for about 2 1/2 hours waiting for him to get off. It was not so bad at the beginning, there were plenty of employees there and they talked to us and made Chris some balloon animals. Then we ate lunch and dessert. Towards the end though we were both getting restless. Finally we were ready to gas up and head home. The drive was not bad, we are used to it I guess. We finally got back in town, unloaded some things onto the livingroom floor, and went to Chuck-E-Cheese. We had fun and Chris was happy with the little prizes he won: a snake, some nasty bugs, suckers, and stickers. All that is left to do now is get all the things unpacked and reorganized. But first, we need rest.

Choo-choo!

2008-03-02T23:11:00.000-06:00

Today we went to the park to ride the choo-choo. It was really cool! We went to the little station and bought our tickets. Chris was so excited. He gave the tickets to the conductor and picked out a seat for us. It felt really good outside. It started drizzling a little bit while we were on the train, so when the ride was over they had to keep the train at the station for a little while. Try explaining that to a 2-year-old though! Luckily I was able to keep him occupied for a while by feeding the ducks, and the train was back in order before long. We rode it two more times after that! I wish we had something like that at home, it was pretty fun.

they're clean!

2008-03-01T22:37:00.000-06:00

Chris does NOT like for me to help him brush his teeth. He says "No, I do it!" so I try to brush as much as I can really fast before I let him take over. Then he will brush them for a while. I asked him if his teeth were clean and he said "look!" When Jodie was little, she would brush her teeth, then smile and go "ding!" like this toothpaste commercial with the little sparkle and ding. Haha!

Chris does pretty much the same thing when I ask him whether he finished his food or drink, only he points more into his mouth...like I can see the food if I look hard enough. Silly guy.

clean monster.

2008-02-29T01:51:00.000-06:00

RAHHHHH! Chris made scary monster faces at me while he was taking a bath. I guess lots of kids make this face and are told, "you better stop it or your face will get stuck like that." I didn't tell Chris that though.

best buds.

2008-02-28T00:38:00.000-06:00

It isn't too often that Chris will actually sit still for a picture and smile. Tonight he was very cooperative and let me take a picture of him with his Oscar Trash. Sometimes, he's such a sweetheart.

zoo.

2008-02-27T00:21:00.000-06:00

Today was a pretty day, and Buddy was off so we went to the zoo. It was really cool. Buddy and I went to a zoo when I was pregnant but this was Chris's first time to see most of these animals. The alligators were so LAZY, that you could almost think they were fake. They barely moved at all other than to blink. The lion was so playful, he came right up to us and was running back and forth just like a puppy. There were 4 giraffes- one was a baby that was only about a month old. They were really cool looking, even though we couldn't get too close. Chris really liked the Komodo dragon. I think he thought it was a real dinosaur. I decided I want a pet otter. They are so adorable! This one knew her name (Marie) and just seemed so friendly. She was even cuter when she stood up on her back legs. We had lots of fun!

running boys.

2008-02-25T23:47:00.000-06:00

Normally on Mondays we've been going home, since Buddy is off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Today though, we decided to just stay here instead. Next Monday we will be finished and going home for good so we may as well stay here and go to the zoo and stuff. After Buddy got off we went to the park. Chris was so excited when we got there that he just took off, and Buddy had to catch up.

little toes.

2008-02-24T21:27:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't love little baby feet? Chris's feet are still cute but I'm sure it won't be long till they stink up my house.

family visit.

2008-02-24T00:59:00.000-06:00

Today Chris and I drove to see Carole. We don't see them all often enough and I was really excited to go. We left as soon as we dropped Buddy off at work, and it took us about an hour and a half to get there. Chris was going to be shy at first until he saw that they had gotten out a remote control Lightning McQueen for him to play with. Carole and Cammie took us to Chuck E Cheese. Chris had never been there before and he loved it! His favorite game was one where you stomp on the big spiders when they light up. He talked to Chuck but didn't want to hug him or take a picture with him. After that we went back to Carole's house and hung out for a while. We saw Bob and Amanda there, but Zach was out of town for school. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had a good time.

i <3 hot wings.

2008-02-23T01:02:00.000-06:00

It's been kinda nice, not having to cook or wash dishes all month. But we are getting burned out out fast food, and it's not like there are a million options here. One thing I might never get tired of though-hot wings. I craved them all the time when I was pregnant with Chris and it never went away. Chris likes them too, he doesn't even mind the hotness. So, as far as pictures go, it's another stupid picture just to have something for the day, but oh well.

"spripe"

2008-02-22T00:32:00.000-06:00

A while back, Buddy started bringing Chris a sprite when we pick him up. Now it's something Chris plans on. When he sees Buddy walk to the car he is happy- "Daddy brought me a Spripe!" But if he forgets- watch out. LOL! He hardly ever drinks the whole thing, but for some reason it's fun to have his own little fountain drink I guess.

movie night.

2008-02-20T01:38:00.000-06:00

Aahhh it feels good to just hang out and watch a movie at my own house. Buddy let me sleep late this morning because I don't feel good. We took Chris to the Bounce and then went to the mall to try and find him some new shoes. (we didn't get any.) Tonight we ordered a pizza and rented a movie.

spider-head.

2008-02-19T00:33:00.000-06:00

My mom has a big nasty spider on her head! We got home this evening and she came over to see Chris. We were just laughing and watching Chris play as usual. He had his remote control tarantula, and after making it run around on the floor he decided to get us with it. He would put the spider on us and we would act scared. Well then he decided to put it on my mom's head. Then he pushed the buttons on the remote control. The little wheel on the spider got tangled up in her hair! It took a long time to untangle her hair, and even then we had to cut a little piece of it. It probably would have gone quicker if we weren't laughing our butts off! And I just had to take a picture of it. I mean, who wouldn't want to remember this forever? HAHA!

like Daddy!

2008-02-18T01:22:00.000-06:00

Tonight Chris decided he would dress up like Daddy. He tried to do it himself, but he needed a helper. So I helped him roll up the shirt sleeves and fixed his tie. Then he got Daddy's watch and ring and put them on too. After I took the picture he grabbed Buddy's keys and said 'Bye bye Daddy, I'm going to that App-bee's!' It was so precious! It's hard to believe that one day my little guy will be big enough to fill up clothes like these. I hope it goes by really slow!

it's raining, it's pouring!

2008-02-17T00:16:00.000-06:00

It's really storming today. The thunder is so loud, and it's pouring. Chris and I watched the lightning from the window for a little while. I don't really like rain unless I can sleep, so I tried to get Chris to take a nap with me. No such luck. I didn't really feel like driving around in the rain to find something to do, so we just hung out all day- again. The only time we left the hotel all day was to pick up Buddy from work and grab something to eat.

pig OUT.

2008-02-15T16:22:00.000-06:00

The day after Valentine's Day. We've got lots of candy, and it's raining. What better to do than watch Cartoon Network and pig out on candy all day?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-15T00:31:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day is not a really big deal around our house. This is the seventh Valentine's Day since Buddy and I got together, and unfortunately it's the busiest day of the year for people in the restaurant business- so we never spend it together. Normally we go eat with my dad or something, but this year is the first year I've been too far away to even do that. At least I have my little Valentine here with me! I told him this morning that he has to be my Valentine so he keeps saying "I'm your Balentine Mommy!" We went to Target to buy cards for Buddy, got milkshakes at Marble Slab and went to the mall. We bought Buddy a new shirt and tie, and then we came back to write on the cards and eat candy. Buddy got off pretty late as we expected, but he had a really sweet card and more candy for me, and we got more Cars cars for Chris. It was a pretty good Valentine's Day overall.

cutie fry.

2008-02-14T01:58:00.000-06:00

We came back to the hotel tonight. Before we left my mom brought us Chris's Valentine's Day present. She brought him a little candy heart, a new Cars car (Mario Andretti- you should hear Chris say it!), a stuffed bug, and the Sweetheart Spud Mr. Potato Head. I managed to get a picture of the potato head before Chris dismantled him.

the bounce.

2008-02-13T00:11:00.000-06:00

Today we decided to finally go to the Bounce. It's a fairly new place with inflatable joy-jump type things. I've heard good things about it and it's pretty cheap to get in. Chris LOVED it! It was really crowded today because there were a couple birthday parties going on. Once the birthday crowd went back to the rooms to have their cake he was able to enjoy it a bit more. Some of the things they had were only for ages 5 and under, so that was nice. Although of course there were some bigger boys who read the sign and promptly ignored it, then wrestled around in there while the little kids were still in there. When Chris is bigger I need to remember what it's like to have a little guy and make sure he isn't one of those big mean ones. He wouldn't go down the big slide for some reason, even after he climbed way up to the top, he just wanted to come back down the ladder. He did slide on some of the shorter ones though, and boxed some of the inflatable things like they were punching bags. His very favorite was the ball pit. He rolled around in there several times and laughed the whole time. At one point one of the other dads put his face to the little mesh window and let the kids throw the balls at him, which of course they loved. I think when we get home for good we'll be going there a lot more often.

doing taxes.

2008-02-12T01:36:00.000-06:00

Came home again today, till Wednesday. I didn't really want to, because I'm not exactly enjoying going back and forth, and I'm sick of packing. But we got home and Buddy's W2 was in the mailbox, so I got to sit down and do our taxes. It's not fun, and I hate math, but it's always nice to get a little bit of money back. We aren't getting much back this year, but it's better than having to pay! We probably won't buy anything exciting. We need new tires for one thing.

walking on the tracks.

2008-02-10T23:02:00.000-06:00

We went to a pretty cool park today. They had lots of slides and swings, and there were a lot of kids playing. There was a big pretty pond with a few ducks. We got a little too close and Chris's shoes were covered in mud! There also was a little train station, and tracks that go all around the park. We got there a little too late to ride the trains, but Chris was still fascinated by the tracks. He ran back and forth yelling 'CHOO CHOO!' We will have to go back soon when he can actually ride the choo-choos. He will love it!

procrastinator extraordinaire.

2008-02-10T01:56:00.000-06:00

Yep, that's me. Not only do am I late getting anywhere, always have been, but I seem to put things off till almost the last minute. I try not to, but it always comes back to this. Maybe I'll get my picture done earlier tomorrow.

paying bills.

2008-02-08T23:08:00.000-06:00

Who doesn't hate paying bills? That is one thing that ruins an otherwise good pay day. But, it's part of life I guess, so that is what my helper and I have been spending our Friday evening doing. He helps me put the stamps on and then checks the names. Usually he helps me put the mail in the mailbox, but we'll just give these to the people at the front desk.

Today we ventured off to get some (expensive) medicine for Chris's eyes and to buy a new headlight for my car. It wasn't really that hard to find the places I needed to go. We passed a cool playground on the way. If the weather stays nice we will have to go when Chris is feeling better. The auto parts store didn't have anyone there to put the headlight on my car for me, so I hope I don't get pulled over before Buddy has a chance to do it.

potty training.

2008-02-08T01:36:00.000-06:00

Well, we are giving potty training another try. It started off well the last time, then Chris got sick and we just never got back to it. Now we are in the hotel so we have nothing better to do all day than sit on the potty. Potty training sure presents a lot of opportunities for kids to say funny things! The other day, Chris was wearing the Cars underwear and he had an accident. He said 'uh-oh Mommy, I tee-teed on everybody!' LOL! Then today, he woke up and had the, um, stiffness that boys sometimes wake up with. He went to sit on the potty and yelled, 'Mommy, I can't point my wee wee down! It's TOO BIG!' I just about died laughing at that one! I'm sure his daddy will be proud. Anyway wish us luck with the potty training, I bet we'll need it.

night-night.

2008-02-07T01:43:00.000-06:00

Isn't my boy so sweet while he's sleeping? He's such a little ball of energy all day long- jumping, dancing, talking, yelling. Then when he sleeps, he looks like a little angel. I still love to watch him sleeping, just like I did when he was a tiny baby. Chris still sleeps with us most of the time, and even though he's getting older I am in no hurry to make him sleep in his own room all the time. I figure I should enjoy the snuggling while I can. I know it will be all too soon that he is too big for cuddling with Mommy.

Mystery Machine

2008-02-06T01:43:00.000-06:00

Since we first came to the hotel, we have all been enjoying the cable. We canceled our cable kind of a long time ago, because we both used to work a lot and didn't really get a lot of use out of it. Chris especially likes the cartoons, and his newest favorite is Scooby Doo. I told my mom about it, and when we went home earlier this week, she found an old toy Mystery Machine for him to bring with us. We got back to the hotel this evening and relaxed. I don't really feel good though, I have a sore throat and Chris and I keep coughing.

beating up Daddy.

2008-02-05T01:40:00.000-06:00

Buddy and Chris love to wrestle. Without warning Chris will jump on Buddy and start beating him up. They tickle and box. They have a blast, but I'm pretty glad they leave me out of it.

going home.

2008-02-04T00:13:00.001-06:00

Buddy is off of training tomorrow and Tuesday, so we decided to come home. It seems stupid to come back so soon, but he may not get another 2 days off for another couple weeks so we might as well. When we went to the hotel, we went from Houston, so I didn't have directions back home. It's not hard to tell from the map of course which roads to take, but if you don't know where those roads are in the town, it's a little trickier. LOL. Chris slept most of the way home which was nice. The drive was not bad, lots of those big tall pretty trees and stuff. One of those trips that would be incredibly boring at night though. And I thought this barn was really cool looking, so I made Buddy pull over so I could take a picture. We decided to surprise my mom and go see her. Chris has been going to her house every Sunday evening for over a year- first because I worked on Sunday nights and then in the past month, just because they had their little tradition and she wanted him to. So today she was sad that she wouldn't get to see him. She was really happy when we got there! We watched the second half of the Super Bowl there, and then we went to Jake's house to pick up Jodie. I got to see his baby sister who is a month old. She was so precious! I guess I have forgotten what it's like to hold a tiny baby, because she felt so tiny and fragile. After that we went back and hung out at my mom's for a little bit longer and then came home. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight.

goofy.

2008-02-03T01:49:00.000-06:00

If the hotel's housekeeper is wondering why the bottom 3 and a half feet of the mirror is so filthy, I have proof that it wasn't me. Chris thought it would be funny to make faces at himself in the mirror for a while tonight. He made kiss faces, stuck out his tongue, rolled his eyes, made pig faces-all of it. He is silly!

Smokey the Bear.

2008-02-02T01:54:00.000-06:00

We were driving around this evening after Buddy got out of training, and we saw this HUMONGOUS Smokey the Bear on the side of the road. It was hard to get a good picture, because it was so dark outside and I didn't want to climb some strange fence in the middle of the night to get a closer one. I'm not sure how tall this thing is. At least 20 feet I would guess. The trees here are so much taller than the ones we have at home; it is strange how just another part of Texas can be so totally different looking. Chris loved looking at this bear and he wanted to get out and look. We will have to remember to check it out during the day sometime.

lighting and other adjustments.

2008-02-01T01:16:00.000-06:00

If I'm awake, I like it bright. Occasionally it's nice to watch a movie with the lights off, but most times you can bet all the lights in my house are on. I've never been scared of the dark, I just think it's much more cheerful when the house doesn't look like a bat cave. So weird as it may be, the lighting at the hotel is the hardest part to get used to. We have these 2 little lamps and 2 more- that's it, unless you count the bathroom light. For the most part though, we are all pretty comfortable here (thanks to God for giving me such an adaptable son!) and it hasn't been hard on us. Last night Chris and I slept in one bed and Buddy slept in the other. That's just the way it ended up when we crashed out. At one point Buddy tried to crawl in with us, but he didn't really fit. I think we were too tired to care anyway. Chris and I stayed in the hotel all day today while Buddy went to training. We don't have cable at home, and I was surprised to realize that Chris doesn't know what a commercial is. When one comes on he gives me a LOOK like I turned his movie off. He already likes Pokemon and Scooby Doo. Well pretty much everything on the "Cartoon Work" (Cartoon Network) Haha! When Buddy got back, Chris and I were really glad to get out and drive around. We bought a few things to stock up our little mini-fridge and came back and hung out some more. It was an okay lazy day.

we made it.

2008-01-31T01:46:00.000-06:00

Well, we made it safely to the hotel. Woke up early in the morning and Buddy was feeling sick. Not nervous, more like the flu. So we drove to Houston and he had meetings all day. Chris and I entertained ourselves by going to the mall. Chris normally tries to run away from me in the mall if I don't bring the stroller, so I was a little nervous about taking him in a bigger mall in a bigger city and expecting him to walk and hold my hand. He was really good though. We rode up and down the escalators, threw change in the fountains, and looked in several stores we don't have here. Then we found a little playground for kids, and he played there for a long time. Right next to the playground they have a K-B toys. (our K-B closed several years ago) I pretty much let him look at whatever he wanted in there, and he was loving it! They still had the little display up front with the walking little pigs and dogs, just like they did when I was little. He thought those were pretty cool. Finally when I thought I couldn't walk anymore we went to wait for Buddy to finish his meetings, and then we headed to the hotel. It seemed like a long day, and we are all really tired!

all packed.

2008-01-30T01:48:00.000-06:00

I think we are finally ready to go! I'm so worried I will forget something important, even though I made my compulsive lists and all. We are leaving really early in the morning, which ought to be fun seeing as how we all hate mornings.

"two half."

2008-01-28T22:09:00.000-06:00

Today is Chris's half birthday. I told him this morning that he was 2 1/2. I'm sure he didn't really know what I was talking about, but he has known he's 2...so he thought it was pretty cool. All day long he was telling people, "I'm two half!"

He is still really excited about going to the hotel. I'm not sure if he realizes that we'll be pretty much living in a bedroom for several weeks. He just thinks it's something exciting to do. I haven't even told him about the zoo or anything fun we might do yet. I told him he could help me pack his Lightning McQueen suitcase, and that was enough to convince him! I hope he is not begging to go home after the first few days.

flashback 2007.

2008-01-28T01:48:00.000-06:00

Just thought I would share a pic from last January. Look how big my guy has gotten. He still has a bit of a baby look in this one. I remember he wanted to wear 'da's hat' in the car. LOL!

Today I was a cleaning machine. I scrubbed the refrigerator, and threw away nearly everything, because I don't want food sitting there while we are out of town, that's just gross. I cleaned out my closet. You would have had to see how messy it was to really appreciate my hard work. ;) I picked up Chris from my mom's house and I was kinda sad. I won't see my family for at least a couple weeks. I'm used to seeing them all the time.

almost forgot!

2008-01-27T01:58:00.000-06:00

EEK! I almost totally forgot to take a picture today. For some reason I happened to look at the clock at 10 till midnight and think, oh #*&@! So no good pic today, just something to keep me going. LOL! I looked at my dresser and grabbed something. Hopefully I won't make a habit of this.

updating the music.

2008-01-26T01:04:00.000-06:00

I have been updating my iTunes list. Actually redoing the whole thing. I made my original list at my mom's house so that Jared could help me and so I could use all Jodie's songs. Somewhere in between Jared making Jenni's list, and everyone moving the songs to their laptops, my entire song list was erased. I've been trying to make my new list here- putting in CDs, downloading songs, converting them all, etc. It's really time consuming. I don't want to erase my old list till I have a good one ready. I need more songs! I'm trying to get a good variety of stuff on there. I'm getting pretty tired of messing with it but I'm trying to do it before we leave so that we have something to listen to in the car all that time. How's that for some Friday night excitement?

reading.

2008-01-25T01:52:00.000-06:00

Chris has only recently taken an interest in being still long enough to read books. I have tried to read to him a million times, and he looks at the first couple pages then runs off to play basketball or cars or something. I think my parents must have read to me constantly from the time they brought me home from the hospital, because I learned how to read when I was 2 1/2 years old. (No, I was not a nerd.) I loved to read books all the time when I was young, so I pretty much assumed that my kid would love to read as much as I did when I was a kid. So I am happy to say that he has found several books that he totally LOVES and will even read over and over again. His favorites at the moment are the classic Green Eggs and Ham and one I had never seen before called I Stink. I bet everyone all knows about Green Eggs and Ham. It's awesome. But read it to a 2 year old a few times a night for a week, and you will almost understand why moms try to "accidentally" skip pages. It's a lot longer than I remember it. Haha! I Stink is about a garbage truck who drives around the city eating yucky trash all night. Chris thinks it is so funny!

As for an update on the rest of us, we are getting ready to leave for Buddy's training. Yesterday we found out that we may be going to a different city than we originally planned. It's only a couple months but I'm still pretty disappointed. I hope we are not too bored. I'm starting to get nervous about being in a hotel in a place I don't know. Not scared, I just know it is going to be weird. At the same time though I'm not going to be ready to come back because that means I will have to work again. I better enjoy this weekend at home with no job while I can! My time as a stay-at-home mom is going by too fast!

Oscar Trash

2008-01-24T00:09:00.001-06:00

Chris LOVES Sesame Street, probably about as much as he loves Cars. Ever since he started watching, his favorite has been Oscar the Grouch. He calls him "Oscar Trash" though. He has a stuffed Oscar that he likes to sleep with. For his 2nd birthday he had cupcakes that looked like the faces of Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Oscar Trash.
Well a new thing Chris likes to play, is to pretend he is Oscar Trash. He gets in the hamper and tells me "I'm Oscar Trash! Scram!" And then he wants me to be the trash truck, and come pick up the hamper and dump him onto my bed. He thinks it is so funny!

organizing.

2008-01-23T01:28:00.000-06:00

Buddy worked this morning because he had a conference call. I kinda felt like a real stay at home mom today...it was definitely better than him working at night even though I know it won't happen too often. This afternoon Chris and I sorted through all the clothes in his dresser and closet, and packed up all the things that were too small. There is lots of room in there now (check out those empty hangers!) but it was still kinda sad that he can't wear some of the stuff anymore. Another bittersweet mommy moment I guess.

wheeee!

2008-01-21T23:01:00.001-06:00

We went to the mall today just to look around. When we went to Macy's we had to ride the escalators as usual. Chris LOVES to ride them up and down, up and down, over and over again. He thinks it is so fun to stand up, to let us hold him, to sit down...he wants to do something different each time.

I bet the Macy's employees think we are very strange. Unless of course they have kids...then maybe they get it.

lessons.

2008-01-20T23:41:00.000-06:00

Today the only pictures I took were the ones for my photography lesson on shutterbugs. Chris was gone with my mom most of the day so I just cleaned house and did my lesson. This is a vase my mom gave me last year. The assignment was to take pictures of things from different angles. I enjoyed it, and I think they came out okay. I hope I learn a lot from these lessons!

date night.

2008-01-20T01:58:00.000-06:00

We had been planning on going to the movies tonight. My mom said she would keep Chris. She called this morning and said that I would have to bring Chris early, Jared's basketball team ended up winning the game at a tournament and were going to play again. So I took Chris to her house around 3:00 and came home. Buddy and I just hung out and watched TV for a while and then decided to go eat. We are both notoriously indecisive about picking somewhere to go, so we played the whole "I don't care, wherever" bit for a while and finally decided on Cheddars. Restaurants here are always crowded, no matter what the parking lot is full and there are people outside. But we've never had to wait more than like 10 minutes when there are just 2 or 3 of us. So we find a place to park and go in. The hostess tells us there is about a 50 minute wait. For 2 people?!? So we go back outside. It's 34 degrees outside and windy. We think maybe we will just walk over to Texas Roadhouse and see if they have a shorter wait. The girl there tells us an hour and a half! We were nice to her of course but we left like WHAT?!? That is just crazy! So we ended up back at Casa Ole...we just ate there, but we got our food and finished it in less time than we would have waited at a table. I had a good strawberry margarita too. After we ate, we went to the movie theater. There was nowhere to park there either. We ended up parking behind the building and walking around. Then we weren't really sure what to see- there were not too many that we actually knew anything about. We decided (with slightly less trouble than the food) on I am Legend. It was pretty good, and I like Will Smith. I wasn't crazy about the ending though. Overall it was a pretty good date night. It's going to be hard to fall asleep without Chris here though. It's only like the third time he's slept away from home.

Friday already?

2008-01-19T01:09:00.000-06:00

When you are writing something every day and actually paying attention to what day it is, a week seems to go by really fast! Of course it may have something to do with the fact that I don't have a sucky job to slow things down. Today it was really cold- probably the coldest day we have had all winter-but not quite freezing. It rained off and on all day too. Buddy is off today and tomorrow, which is really strange. He rarely has either one off and I don't think he's had both off in well over a year, other than requesting off for Chris's birthday weekend. We went to eat at Casa Ole tonight and Chris was being rotten. He wanted to get up, and we wouldn't let him. He "dropped" his sprite on the floor, he told us "no"...so he didn't get to go slide at the mall playground afterwards. He got over it when we got home but he was still acting like a terrible two year old most of the evening. We rented a movie and he finally fell asleep. Hopefully in the morning my sweet boy will be back.

baller.

2008-01-18T01:28:00.000-06:00

Tonight I finally made it to one of Jared's basketball games. Normally they have them on Monday nights and I can't really make it, so this is the first one I've been to all year. It was a pretty good game. They won by 29 points! Jared was pretty good too, he played all but 2 or 3 minutes. I couldn't get any really good pictures because we were sitting too far away to use my 50 and then it was dark. Oh well. Here is Jared with the ball, about to shoot. We had fun.

semi-emergency.

2008-01-17T00:52:00.000-06:00

Today, we ALMOST went to the emergency room- twice. I went to bed late last night as usual. At about 4am, I woke up. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and got back in bed. After I laid down I started coughing...and immediately started having another one of my heart episodes. I have 2 related congenital heart defects: Wolff-Parkinson-White and Epstein's Anomaly, and I get sudden episodes of tachycardia. I had these episodes every couple of months from the time I was 12 till my procedure in 1999. After that, things seemed to improve because I was only having them every couple of years. Now though, I'm afraid it is getting worse because I just had one two months ago, and they seem to be harder on me than they used to be. (or maybe, I'm in worse shape) I could not decide whether to go to the emergency room or not, so I tried not to and prayed it would quit. Finally about 6:25am it stopped on its own. I went back to sleep, and luckily Buddy let me sleep really late till about 1:30. Now my heart is just tired. It hurts a little to take a deep breath, and the veins in my arms and neck feel weak. I will be looking for a new cardiologist very soon. My old one was a pediatric cardiologist in Houston, and he isn't even there anymore.

So, fast forward to this afternoon. Chris and I were hanging out, and he was running through the living room when he tripped over his own feet. He fell on his face, and bit his tongue-HARD. He started screaming, and I scooped him up. He had been drinking red gatorade earlier, and when he opened his mouth the whole thing was red- I couldn't tell where it was bleeding from. Blood was pouring everywhere, and he was hysterical. Then I started freaking out. The hospital is literally a couple blocks away but for a split second I worried how I would get there, I didn't want to stop holding him to put him in the car seat. By the time I was able to stop the bleeding and calm him down, we both looked like we stepped out of a horror movie. Who knew a little tongue could bleed so much? The cut looks kinda deep, but it stopped bleeding more quickly than I expected once I found where it was coming from. He seemed okay for the rest of the evening, but I'll keep checking on it and call the doctor in the morning if I have to.

my sweet boy

2008-01-15T23:52:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to go to the gym. Normally I go at 4 when I drop Buddy off. He went in at 3 today and I didn't realize the gym kids' club was closed till 4. I knew if we went home I would lose my motivation for working out, so we went to the park for an hour. This is the first time we have been to this park, and it was pretty cool because there was lots of open space for Chris to just run around. He kept picking up sticks and throwing them.

typical day.

2008-01-15T01:11:00.000-06:00

Today we didn't do anything too exciting. Buddy had to work tonight, so Chris and I just hung out. I went to a weight watchers meeting and took him with me. He was actually really well-behaved there, especially considering we spent almost the whole meeting standing in line. At one point he sneezed and then made a funny noise...which made him want to make pig noises. He doesn't do like a lot of kids and say "oink," he actually snorts! So he snorted in the meeting and I said, "stop, that's not funny." Then he snorted again and said "I'm funny! I'm a pig!" At least the people around me thought it was funny. Then he fell asleep right after we ate, pretty late for a nap but he had slept late this morning and didn't have a regular nap so I didn't mind. Of course I sat around doing nothing instead of being productive, so when he got up I still needed to do laundry. Chris likes to be my helper so I put him on the washing machine to watch me turn the dials. He liked sitting up there and wanted his cars to come too. Chores take a bit longer when you have a helper, but they are more fun!

baby bear.

2008-01-14T01:31:00.000-06:00

When I was pregnant with Chris, we bought this little bear. A little while later we took our tour of the hospital. They told us that when people came to see the baby in the nursery window, they no longer put signs that said "Baby Boy Allison" or whatever, so we should bring a little stuffed animal or something to put in the corner of his little bed. Of course, he was in my room most of the time, so I doubt that anyone really used this to tell which baby they were looking at. But it was there, so this was his very first bear. It sits on top of his dresser now. Every time I see it I remember my sweet little baby boy.

happy birthday Jared!

2008-01-13T01:29:00.000-06:00

My baby brother is 14 years old today. I was 10 when he was born, and it certainly doesn't seem that long ago. I remember when I turned 14 too; he was just a little bit older than Chris is now. Time flies. For birthdays, my family usually goes out to eat somewhere and the birthday person gets to pick. Jared decided tonight that we would go to Outback Steakhouse. Believe it or not, that is one of about two places in this town that I haven't been. (the other being Texas Roadhouse) I actually wasn't that impressed with their menu, there was not much that I really wanted so I got a chicken fried steak. It was pretty good. Chris got kid's chicken tenders, took about 5 bites of that and filled up with fries and ketchup. Weirdo. It was fun and somewhat crazy as usual, because there were 9 of us there. (Buddy was working, so he couldn't come.) I tried to take some pictures of everyone while we were eating and discovered that Outback Steakhouse has the very worst lighting ever. So I wasn't able to take any pictures of the birthday boy till we got back in the parking lot. Then he totally refused to be serious for any of them. What a dork! Everyone was going back to my mom's house to watch Jared open his presents, but we didn't go. It was already getting late and I didn't want to drive all the way out there. Chris was mad because he wanted to ride in my dad's truck.

manipulation.

2008-01-11T23:42:00.001-06:00

Everybody likes to get what they want. Kids, specifically two year olds, want their way NOW. Chris is sick today, and he wouldn't eat anything earlier. After he took some benadryl, he crashed out on the couch for a while. When he woke up he felt a little bit better and started to watch Learning About Letters. I asked him if he wanted to eat and he told me "I need a burger and fries." Well, nice Mommy that I am, I decided that would be okay. After all, better to get him to eat a cheeseburger and fries than nothing at all right? So I told him we would go after the movie was over, and I resumed folding clothes. Now, it's only a 30 minute movie and had maybe 10 minutes to go, but apparently he didn't want to wait that long. So he took the DVD out and brought it to me, and said "Letters are over, Mommy. Let's go." HAHA! So I left the clothes where they were and we drove towards McDonald's which is about 2 minutes away. But noooo, he wanted "a different one, I need a burger hat! Pleeeeeeeease!" Well I like Burger King better anyway, so I didn't have a problem with that. By the time we got home Chris was ready to play and ride his tricycle. I guess that burger made him feel better!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

exhaustion.

Happy 3rd birthday!

rockin' the 'hawk.

yee-haw.

downtown.

Class of 2012

Memorial Day weekend

Hot Shots Soccer

butterfly

happy birthday to me!

Baby Emma.

Happy Mother's Day!

summer fun

prom 2008

crazy.

33 months.

funk.

Mommy and Chris

Happy Anniversary!

date night.

crashed out.

awesome.

baptism.

playing.

riding along.

be afraid.

bloom.

Miss Emma.

tongue.

me.

uncooperative.

little chef.

Happy Easter!

a big mess.

you want a piece of me?

happy spring!

play-doh.

grumpy

cousins.

playtime.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

getting gas.

Ladies' Man

I hate mornings.

ME time.

attention.

army truck.

relaxation.

soccer man.

home sweet home.

Choo-choo!

they're clean!

clean monster.

best buds.

zoo.

running boys.

little toes.

family visit.

i <3 hot wings.

"spripe"

movie night.

spider-head.

like Daddy!

it's raining, it's pouring!

pig OUT.

Happy Valentine's Day!

cutie fry.

the bounce.

doing taxes.

walking on the tracks.

procrastinator extraordinaire.

paying bills.

potty training.

night-night.

Mystery Machine

beating up Daddy.

going home.

goofy.

Smokey the Bear.

~~~~~~*