25 May 2009

Birthday Weekend

I honestly cannot believe that James is now a TWOYEAROLD! It seems like I was just announcing his arrival and we were all getting used to being a family of four. Now I can't imagine life without him! Here are some fun facts about our little mister:

  • He says "da-do" (thank you) all of the time! He doesn't say much else because he doesn't have to... he has us all trained and I'm pretty sure that's what he thinks big sisters are for!

  • He rarely goes anywhere (including bed) without his baseball cap! Although, he did trade in the paci in exchange for being able to sleep in his hat and as far as I'm concerned, breaking that habit can be left up to his wife. He is holding a sucker in this picture because I exchanged it for his hat for long enough to take a picture!

  • He loves to play pretend.... especially loves to pretend to be a puppy or a cat. It is way too funny when he gets down, crawls around barking and then licks your leg...okay, that's not funny its kinda nasty but still very cute!

  • His favorite cartoons are Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, and Handy Manny.

  • His favorite foods are mixed nuts, corn on the cob, popcorn, and broccoli.

  • He is a fun kid to cook for.... almost everything he takes a bite of is followed by "yummm"

  • He loves to play trains, cars, and any sports although sometimes he mixes up the terminology. Today he was hitting a baseball off of a tee and kept screaming "touchdown"!

I know for most it was a Memorial Day holiday but this weekend, at our house, was all about our youngest family member turning TWO! Birthdays are a big deal at our house and fun is always had by all. This weekend was no exception. For James' "Birthday Eve" we loaded up and headed out for an afternoon of fun at Six Flags. It was great because the park was not crowded at all. There was a slight threat of rain but the weather turned out to be perfect and we had a great time. We even splurged and had "eeee-zzzzzza" (pizza) at the park for dinner.



Sunday, for James' actual birthday we celebrated again. First we took donut holes with sprinkles on them to his Sunday School class. Then after church and naps our friends from down the street came over and we had the ice cream cone cup cakes that Kirstyn had made for her bubby.

Our Healthier Cake Recipe: Devil's Food Cake Mix + Can of Pumpkin + 1/2 cup H20 (your welcome.)

Today we went as a family to the local Movie Tavern for lunch and a movie. This was James' first time to go to a movie theater. He did great! It helps that at this movie theater you also eat lunch while watching the movie. We saw and enjoyed Night at the Museum 2. James really liked the dinosaur bones that acted like a puppy. He would laugh and hang his tongue out. Funny. Then, after naps today we turned on the sprinkler in the back yard and had a great time splashing.



All in all it was a great weekend and I couldn't be prouder of my darling little boy that is not so little anymore...

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19 May 2009

Our Broadway Baby

Kirstyn's debut performance was Saturday night at her first official dance recital in front of LOTS of people! She did amazing and looked very pretty and much too grown up! Her height was even more obvious when she was on stage with her peers. Yes, my 5 "AND A HALF" year old daughter is 48 inches tall! Anyway, she did a great job and she can't wait for the DVD of the recital to come in so that she can watch it "over and over"!



I joked on Facebook about how putting on a little makeup and pink lipstick made her walk rather sassy and about how it seemed to scare her father to death! It was pretty funny.

Her daddy really does love her so much. See, I have proof! He agreed to and participated in the finale at the Dance Recital... their "traditional" Daddy Daughter Dance! This year's theme was DISCO! Kirstyn was so proud of herself and her daddy for putting on such a great show!



You can't tell from this picture but Kirstyn performed in only one shoe! See, they ran in on the isles for this performance and the daddy behind her stepped on the back of her shoe and she lost it. She was so proud of herself that she didn't stop or worry about it! When the dance was over she said to David, "Daddy, I need to go over there and get my shoe." David asked her why she didn't get it when she lost it and she said, "because they told us even if something goes wrong with our costumes, like if a feather falls off, then just keep going and no one will know until we tell them and then they will think we are a REAL star since that didn't even matter!"

We couldn't be prouder of her! And yes, she is a REAL STAR!

Oh and I have to share this one last Kirstyn funny...
I have been asking her now for two months if she wants to take dance next year and she has been adamant that no she did not want to do dance anymore. Finally, on the way home from recital I got to the bottom of it. I said, "Kirstyn you were really good tonight, don't you want to keep taking dance?" She said, "No Mommy, didn't you see that I am really good at Broadway Baby? I don't want to practice that dance anymore." Ha. Poor kid thought that if she took dance again that she would just keep doing that same routine over and over! When we explained to her that she would get to learn one of the other "big girl" dances she was over the top excited! So, I guess we will be taking dance again next year!!!

This is definitely a WordFUL Wednesday!


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18 May 2009

Tuesday Tribute - Siblings

Welcome to my first time to participate in Tuesday Tribute....


Tuesday's Tribute


Mother's Day weekend in my family is a huge get together with my grandparents and all of my grandpa's siblings and their families. I grew up looking forward to big family reunions on the farm every year. I am closer to some of my second and third cousins than others are to their first cousins. I value family and the importance of making time for each other and I think that is rooted in the traditions started by my grandpa's mother to get her children together every year, especially when one of her boys came home from war.
In this picture my Papaw is on the far left and he is 83. Their dynamic is interesting, but at least they have been able to age together and watch each of their families grow. They also seem to have defeated so many odds. My Papaw has a Purple Heart from WWII, his youngest brother served two tours in Vietnam. They also all attended college...
I'm glad we thought to get a picture of them all together this year.



Then, since I am talking about siblings I have to introduce you to my younger sister, Neida. She is holding my darling nephew Bryton who is giving me his best ever "CHEEEEEEESE!". Neida and I are only two years apart and it amazes me sometimes how much my daughter Kirstyn reminds me of her Aunt Neida. I've heard before that the older sibling helps raise and influence the younger sibling therefore many of the younger sibling's traits show up in the older sibling's children. I have to say that I am a believer!





And of course my favorite pair of siblings are the two that made me a mom. Kirstyn and James sometimes think that fighting is an appropriate pass time but most of the time they adore each other. I pray that they will grow old together remembering how lucky they are to have a sibling that is there to support and love them no matter what challenges they have to face!



So, tell me about your siblings...

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I'm still here...

So I guess I should have announced that I would be taking a little bloggy break but honestly it wasn't really planned...life just took over.

If you are a single mom I would like to take a moment to say.... I HAVE NO IDEA HOW YOU DO IT and at the same time I AM IN AWE! See, David took a class this last semester toward finishing his MBA (only 2 more to go) and this particular one was an advanced finance class that required tons of work! The last 3 weeks he went straight from work to campus to study and work on a group project. Then half of their final was a take home that he literally spent over 40 hours in one week working on in addition to going to his real job! Crazy.

His final was the Monday night after Mother's Day weekend so I actually took the kids and went to Arkansas for my family reunion by myself. The drive alone was a little intimidating but it actually went really well and wasn't as stressful as it could have been because I drove fast the kids did great! Of course I had lots of family around when we got there to love on my kids so that was nice for me. It would have been better if it had not rained the entire weekend, because my kids LOVE to be outside at my parent's house on the farm.

Since David's final was over at MIDNIGHT on Monday night (yes the final was a 3 hour final that started at 8:15!) he has been spending this week trying to catch up on sleep and on work at the office. And this past week has been about the kids!

Kirstyn had her first ever Science Fair on Thursday at pre-K. We had to put together and display a collection. She did a great job decorating an egg carton and arranging her favorite sea shells that she has collected the last few years on our vacations to the beach. Then Thursday night she had dance practice, Friday night she had dress rehearsal for her dance recital and then Saturday night was her debut performance and she did fabulous! Pictures to come!!!

Saturday morning was also James' 2nd Birthday party with our playgroup (real Birthday is May 24th). We did a combined party with my friend Elaine's little boy Gavin that just turned two on Friday. They had a great time that could have only been made better if it had not been pouring down rain and we could have gone on the planned nature walk.

Oh and ME... I finally made it to a Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday morning before the birthday party and was down 2.4! That is a two week total but either way I am proud of it! David and I went on a date last night (mom and dad came for the weekend and stayed an extra night so we could go out!) and we ate Mexican food so HOPEFULLY I didn't blow it too bad!

Thanks for checking in on me and if you read all this then you truly are a fabulous friend! More to come this week.... PROMISE!

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06 May 2009

Wash Your Hands...


Just a friendly reminder to Wash Your Hands!

The last couple of weeks our news has been talking about all things Swine Flu related along with numerous school closing and plenty of reminders that we all need to be washing our hands! Check. James LOVES to wash his hands! He is very much in a stage of doing everything by himself.

The other day he took off to the bathroom, went potty, and then this is the site I saw... He already had the water on and the soap bubbles all over his hands by the time I got back with my camera! I mean, who wouldn't want to capture a shot or two of those cute thighs!

And yes, he is able to pull himself up and climb onto almost anything! The other day I found him sitting on top of the washing machine! There is no such thing as childproofing for this boy!

How's that for Wordful Wednesday!

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01 May 2009

Fat Fighting Friday - W14

Down 1.8! Yahoooooo! I am also now only 10 lbs from making lifetime at Weight Watchers! Finally, it feels a little more like a goal that is within my reach! Also that is 5.8 down on my 20 in 20 goal. Only 6 weeks to go so I probably won't make it but at least I can say I didn't give up or quit!

One of the trainers at the gym worked on my diet for me and it is now much cleaner! He said something to me when I made a comment that I thought I was eating clean but not seeing a loss even though I am exercising all of the time. He said "clean is relative". And that is soooooo true. I probably would have told you a year ago that I was eating clean but MY definition of 'clean' eating keeps changing. After a week eating according to his 'clean' I can say that I have kicked my sugar cravings for the first time in my life!

In other news, Christina is a photoshop miracle worker! Thanks to her, Shamu is now the only whale in the picture! Now I wish I had that shirt in purple...it looks great! Thanks again girl.



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