Happy Valentine's Day!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.