It is here!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours! Hope everyone out there had an amazing day. We sure did. (More to come on that in the near future!)

Not even 8am yet!

I hope this is not an indication as to how the rest of my day will go... I heard Austin call my name this morning and I knew instantly he had wet his bed. Typically he lays there and calls me over and over until I come in to help him. Not today! He said my name once and then I rolled over and there he was, pee-pee pjs and all, standing next to my bed. I put him in the tub and went to his room right next to the bathroom to get his bedsheets in the wash. Even his pillow was wet... also a new development! As I am cleaning his bed I notice that I do not see the frog in his tank. Maybe he is hiding I said to myself. I looked all over... he is not hiding in the tank! Now this tank has a top on it. It just rests up there so it is not the most difficult thing to take off. But there is no way that the frog could play Free Willy and jump himself out! The cat also enjoys watching him swim... but with no thumbs she really could not get him out... not to mention that she was very busy sleeping on my head at the time of the crime! The only one left is Austin and seeing as how the top was placed back on after the escape I am voting for him. He maintains that he did not know anything about it. I asked him where Buddy was and he said he was in his frog house. I explained that he was not there. He then told me that he hopped out all by himself. I asked him where he hopped to (in and effort to find him since he has to be in water!!) and Austin told me that he had hopped to McDonalds! Ahh... must be getting the bloodworm burger! I had to leave the room for a moment so that he did not see me choking down the laughter! He still claims he had nothing to do with the frog disappearance (even when threatened with Santa!) It is amazing how bad it makes you feel when your kids lie to you. I want to believe him but given the evidence I would be stupid if I did.

I started to panic with the thought of a frog running around the house. Not because I was grossed out by the frog but because he is a water animal and I was very worried about him being out of the water! Like I said I really like this frog! I also started to panic because Austin's sheets were now in the wash and I was really worried that the frog was too! I decided to take off the mattress and see if I could look under his bed for Buddy and when I put the mattress down I saw him. He was in the far corner of the room I went to reach for him and he JUMPED! I was so excited. We grabbed the net and quickly got him back in the water. Now... as long as the time spent on the lamb with no air (not to mention the shock of it all) doesn't kill him, he will be just fine!

I think it is time for the frog to move to Nana's house! For his own personal safety!

PS Thankfully the petsmart lady must have misunderstood me... the worms we got are really freeze dried and you just sprinkle them in! Thank goodness for small favors!

2 WEEKS!

I love my job! But I love to stay home in my jammies with my family more than anything in the world. I am totally excited to be home for two weeks. I am almost done with Christmas shopping... I have no idea what to get my hubby... but I am working on that! Austin has been sick with a fever and hacking cough for the past week and a half and we are finally at the end of it for him. I prayed the whole time that I could make it through school without catching it since I had to miss two days with him already. Here it is my first official day off and I can feel it coming! I hope that it will stay away! My plan for the break is to work real hard on my Boards for the first part of the break, relax and enjoy Christmas and my family and then have a much needed day at the spa! The downside to this trip is that my class pet is staying with us (that is not the worst part. I love Buddy) but I forgot his food at school. He is a growafrog. They come as tadpoles and you watch them very quickly grow into a frog.... Awsome!! They live completely underwater all the time so it is like having a fish but much cooler! The bad part is that if you don't have the food the company sells (they are little chunks of dry food...nothing gross) you have to buy freeze dried bloodworms to feed him. I am not really sure what that is but in the conversation with Petsmart I had today, I was told to thaw out the little block of worms and then feed them to him. So... I will be defrosting worm icecubes for the next two weeks! YUCK! It is a good thing I really like this frog! He is cute... I promise!

Help me win UPDATE!

To those of you who voted for my ugly sweater... I WON!!! Thank you so much for the votes. We are somewhat new to this church and it is great to be able to not only get involved but to "take the cake" as well!

For those of you that are interested... your votes did help grant a holiday wish. As a church we have adopted a single mother with two kids of her own (the children go to the school where our church meets). This single mom has also taken on the responsibility of caring for three additional children as well! She is worried about this Christmas and being able to provide the kids with a great holiday as well as the necessities. We have a giving tree for this family and one of the gifts that they are asking for is a gift card for $25 to Walmart. Well, because of your votes, I won a gift card for $25 to... you guessed it... Walmart. So, I gave it back to the church to give to this family.

I want to give a big thank you to those of you who voted for me. Not because I won... but because this little girl will be able to go to the store after Christmas and buy something that will make her smile... and for that I am grateful! Thanks for taking the time to vote! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Help me win!

Ok here is your chance! I worked really really hard on my tacky sweater for church! You can't tell from the photo but it has colored blinking lights and plays that Mexican Christmas song (can't spell in English so I am not trying to spell something in Spanish!) Here is the link to check out the sweater... yes my name is spelled wrong... blinded by the sweater he forgot the h in Nichole! Anyway!! In order for me to win you and all your friends and family need to vote for me BEFORE Sunday! HELP ME PLEASE!



www.discovernorthpark.com



Email pastoranthony@northpark.com to vote for me! (His address is on that site as well)

Watch out Hollywood!

So Austin had his show on Sunday and he was priceless! He did the cute little wave when he saw us in the audience. He picked at the leaves on his costume (he was a "pine sapling"). He had the fake plastered smile when the director reminded him to smile! And... if all that is not cute enough... he still announced that he had to pee! That is right. He did it at the same time as in the dress rehearsal so I thought it had to just be nerves! I motioned for him to keep going which he did. Then a few minutes later he announced it again. I then got up and got him off the stage. We ran to the restroom and then back on stage. He really did steal the show! What can I say... he is precious!

PS I am home today with him... he is sick with a fever... and the dog threw up too!

What a day!!

Today is a very special day for us! Austin is in his first play at church! He is the youngest one in the play (and no he is not baby Jesus!) He is a tree! He has one little line and it is as cute as can be! At the dress rehearsal he was standing on stage looking around and then announced "I have to go pee!" As long as we can get past that today we will be great! (And if he does it again today that will also be great because I will have it on tape for the rest of his life!) My mom, dad, grandparents and some of my friends are coming to the show today too so that will be really fun! This evening I am having dinner at my house to celebrate Austin's stage debut. My family is coming for that so it will be really nice!

It is also tacky sweater day at church and I spent all Thanksgiving making mine! It is really bad! It lights up, plays music and has a cardinal that sits on my shoulder! They put some of them online at the church site and let the public vote for the winner. So, if I make it online I will post the site for you to help me win!

We are also having our church Christmas party today. I love those! Lots of food and fellowship.... I love food and fellowship!

I hope you all have a very wonderful Sunday!

Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. As I said yesterday, I am thankful this year that I was able to live through my injury in February to spend the last 9 months with my family and friends. I have spent those last months really understanding who I am. Some of it, I have to admit, I do not like much and I am working those things out. But the most important thing about this last 9 months is the strength I have learned that I have...(maybe not with the recovery itself. I don't do well with medical stuff... or pain for that matter!) but the stress and the work that I have taken on during this year with regards to my education has really taught me a lot about what I can do if I really put my mind to it! I also have seen how much my family and friends are willing to do to help me achieve my personal goals and how much they stepped in both while I was in the hospital as well as when I was released and that means such a great deal to me! Thank you thank you thank you!

I would love to hear about your thoughts so send me a comment and tell me what you are the most thankful for this year!

Wednesday

Today is another big day for my injury! I have yet another angiogram. (Sp?) This one however will be much much better than the last one! This time they will put me in the Cat Scan machine and inject the dye into an IV in my arm! YEAH!! Anyway... as long as they can get good pictures with that one this morning I will not have to have the bad angiogram! Also, as an added bonus... if the pictures come out nice and they are able to see that the damage is healed I will be able to stop taking the blood thinners! I really have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving... no matter how these scans go today. I will spend a great deal of tomorrow thanking God for the miracle He has already given me!

Ahh stress!

I am up to my neck in the National Boards now! I totally see how God has lead me to this moment (I can look back and CLEARLY see how he has forged my path to this event more than anything else in my life...except meeting my hubby) but it has been the hardest thing I think I have ever done. The work that has to go into it is basically like having a second job. And all of this on top of doing my real teaching job, being a wife and being a mom to a crazy three year old! At this point I am living off of coffee and a nap anytime a can get them!

Blog Trickery!

I have discovered that this blog likes to trick me into blogging! I have several blogs that I like to keep up with and they are listed on my side bar. But I have discovered that the only way my blog seems to keep up with them and update itself when they post something new is if I update my blog on a daily basis... Trickery!

Fall!

Here is a post that I started and it is about to be the end of Fall so I thought I should finish this blog and post it before it was too late! (This picture was a last minute thought in the car... so again... not a great effort on my part for this blog! Sorry!)

Wow... Fall is in full swing here in good ol NC. The leaves are at that perfect stage when they are the most vibrant colors that they will become before falling off. I love Fall! The yellows, reds and fiery oranges! The crunching of leaves beneath your feet when you walk. The tickle of the cool breeze on your neck as you enjoy the crisp weather. The apple cider,pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Thanksgiving right around the corner. The thousands of leaves to rake... constantly having to adjust the seat belt on Austin's car seat so that it fits him with a coat on in the morning and without a coat on in the afternoon! Trying to keep the cat in because it is too cold for her to stay out at night now. The random days of snow we have had this week... that normally would be ok but one of the days was while I have carpool. The snakes and spiders and other critters that start to come inside because of the cold outside. Having to defrost the car windows in the morning! Having trouble getting up in the morning because your bed is so warm and the house is so chilly... Ok... who am I kidding Fall sucks! When will Spring be here?

Dear Santa,

Please bring Austin his OWN camera!

Sincerly,
Austin's Mom

Bowling

We took Austin bowling this weekend. We had a great time! Austin bowled against two other children (he was the youngest). He actually got a spare and won the game! Ok... the more excited I get the more I remind myself that he did use the ball ramp and the bumpers...so it is not really that big of a deal... BUT he is just three. I think he did great! It made for cute pictures too!

This was the one time we let him try to throw the ball on his own. It was very funny. He dropped it straight down in front of him and Frank tried to get him to push it down the lane... he kicked it like a soccer ball. Do they make steel toe boots for toddlers?

This was what Austin insisted on spending his tickets on from the arcade!
Yes, it is a fake mustash!

Sweet!

Movie Reviews

You need a high school degree to read me! (I am feeling a little smarter!)

P.S. LaShawn, I think your blog is an elementary level because you have so many pictures for your readers to help them with all your big words! (This coming from a first grade teacher that teaches reading all day long!)

Whew!

So far today I have folded and put away two loads of laundry... load three is currently in the drier! I have written 2 papers for my boards, come up with a check list on what needs to happen next for the boards, had a cup of coffee and a shower. Gotten myself and Austin dressed and now we are out the door headed for playgroup and work! AND it is only 6:30 am!! No matter what else I do today... I am counting today as productive!

What's do you mean by that?

My mom and I were helping Linens and Things go out of business the other day. We had Austin with us and he was being his normal friendly self. The Walmart greeter better step up his game cuz Austin may be slightly more qualified! Austin was bouncing around the store when this little old lady came up (she was late 70s early 80s) and Austin said "Hi, What's your name?" She responded pleasantly by stating her name and then asking him what his name was. He said Austin to which she replied "Austin? How wonderfully plain!" What exactly do you think she meant?! I had no idea how to respond to that... luckily she walked away quickly and I didn't have to think of something to say. I just don't get it!

Fire!

Austin was at my mom's house on Monday and some how mom left the burner on on the stove and the fire went out leaving only the gas on! (Yes, I do let her take care of my son... wait... it gets worse!) The gas was filling the house for 6 hours. Luckily they were not home and noticed the smell as soon as they came in. They called the fire department, much to Austin's delight, and they came out to examine the problem. The house was fine, they were fine and most importantly Austin got to sit in the firetruck and pal around with the firefighters! They even invited him to the fire station to have cookies! When he came home he talked to Frank about the exciting events of the day and Frank asked him why the firemen came and he said there was gas in the house. Frank asked him where the gas came from and he said "the gas station!"

VOTE!

I will be saying nothing political here! But... I hope everyone has voted! There are three reasons why you should vote!

Number one: You are lucky enough to live in a country that gives you an opportunity to use your voice! You know you use it every other chance you are given... so this should be no different!

Number two: You can be a part of history! What an election. Anyway it goes it will open a new set of doors for every American and most importantly, it will show all children that you can grow up to be the president! (Why they would want to do that is beyond me! But that is a topic for another blog!)

And most importantly! Number three: If you do not vote... you have no right to complain!

So... if you are like me and like to complain... get out there and vote!

Cheese!

I took Austin to the Farmer's Market and we had a great time. (Don't worry... the tantrum he had while we were there and the one I had immediately after his have been erased from my memory!) Austin loved the flowers so I had to plop him down and take his picture!

Halloween!

We had a great time! Austin went as Spiderman. (I know... not original at all!) But... in my defense even if I had tried to come up with an original idea he would not have worn it because he is three and in charge of the universe and if it isn't his idea... it ain't a good one!

About time!

It has only taken me half of October to figure out what is going on with my camera and get the pictures from my Vegas trip up for all to see. In all honesty I still can't figure out what the problem was... but "it ain't a problem no more"!

This is my buddy Danielle! We had a great time having a little "photo shoot" out by the pool at one of the local casinos!

Dan and Danielle (so cute you almost want to throw up!)

And here we are having lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.

And here is the typical Nichole and Danielle photo! (One of these days I will have to post the REAL "photo" Danielle and I took when we were much younger! It puts all other crazy photos to shame!)

Vegas!

So... I have been wanting to blog about my trip for the last 3 weeks but I could not get my camera to sync to my computer and what is a blog with no pictures! It however is still not working and I am going to just blog now and post the pictures later! Anyway, I had an amazing time! The time it took me to travel there and back was almost longer than the time I actually got to spend there but I really really had a blast! I got to see my long time buddy Danielle and her hubby Dan (the three of us always have a great time together) and we stayed over at Danielle's mom and dad's house so it really was like being back in high school. The reunion was nice too. A lot of the people I really wanted to see did not make it out there but it was interesting to see everyone after 10 years and see what they are all up to! Some people have not changed much yet! The real excitement was on the plane ride out there! There was a man in first class that had to be in his 60s and he had the typical doctor hairdo... but the rest of him was no so doctory! He had on the shortest jean shorts I have ever seen in my life. I am not sure where he kept his "junk" because it was not in his paints... He had red thong straps that were pulled out of the top of his shorts and a pink shirt that showed his belly. The pink shirt said "Spank Me". Only in Vegas!!! Let me just say the man that was sitting next to him for the 6 hour flight was a little less than pleased!

YIPPY!!!

Look out Vegas here I come! I am headed to Vegas for my 10 year reunion this weekend! I can not wait! (More to come when I get back!)

I'm just too nice!

The phone rang and I picked it up. (First mistake!) But in all fairness to me the number came up as a long distance number with a name and it did not say 1-800 or "Do not pick up the phone whatever you do!" It was some little old lady that was taking a survey on local news. So I participated. The more and more questions she asked the more and more I wanted to interrupt her and ask her how long this was going to take. But... I felt like I let her start so the least I could do was let her finish and she was very friendly. I got tired of taking the survey and wanted her to be done but I just kept answering questions. When I finally hung up the phone it took (no lie) 21 minutes and 8 seconds! That is 21 minutes and 8 seconds of my life I will never get back! Why did I do that.... because I am too nice! ... and stupid! That is why!

Virginia Beach Weekend

*Warning photos have not been edited! Not great quality... but if I waited until I got around to that I would never get around to this blog!*

We had a great weekend about 3 weeks ago and I am just now able to write about it. My dad was in Virginia Beach for the week and mom, Austin and I drove up to meet him there for the weekend. I was so excited to have one more crack at the beach before the summer weather left. (It didn't happen!) There was a nor'easter off the coast and Austin and I lived in the one or two outfits I had packed for cold weather. (Austin is in shorts because this was the first time this season that the weather was cool enough to wear pants and he refused! He screamed at me that they were too long and he wanted short ones on! So... he wore shorts.) I have never been out in such wind! And it was constant all day long! Saturday, since it was too cold for the beach, we went over to the airshow at the Navy base nearby. That was really cool. Austin LOVED it! I am worried that I am raising a future pilot! We got to see all kinds of planes and flight demos, including the Blue Angels! Here are some pictures that I got of Austin that day. I also took Austin to the aquarium while we were there. It was a great mommy & son day! I could not get him to leave the area that was like a little submarine. It was full of buttons and the sub windows looked into the shark tank. So you were playing around in the sub and watching the sharks swim by... it really was awesome!
Virginia Beach is nice but different! Here are some of the crazy things I saw while we were there. I saw this sign on almost every street corner and I had no idea what it meant. Some of the signs had a sign under it that explained it. I have added that sign too... thought it was funny.
Then we saw this at the airshow! Yes, that is a motorcycle pulling a coffin. It had a locking hing... most interesting trailer I have ever seen! I wont even tell you what that dog on the back did to the coffin!

Bad mommy!

Sometimes you have no idea how bad something sounds until it is said back at you! This phenomenon was made clear to me this afternoon by my three year old! A little background of my day first.

I stayed home sick today. Last night I had a sore throat and a fever and was in bed by 7:30. I did not sleep well for several hours however because the fever made my joins ache so badly I could not get comfortable. I finally did fall asleep after calling in for a sub around 9:45 and after that I slept very very well. I woke up this morning and felt better but still not 100% my fever is lower but not all the way gone yet. I took Austin to daycare so that I could sleep and recover. When I picked him up there was a massive accident that made my trip take an extra 20 minutes... which would be ok normally but is not as fun when you don't feel well. Then I picked him up and he screamed the whole way home. Most of the screaming was because he was in a good mood... again that would be if you feel well but is not that much fun when you don't! I had to take an alternate rout home as well because of that accident and my trip was 20 minutes longer on the way back. I had two bags of clothes that the daycare lady was giving Austin, his daycare bag, my purse, the necessities I picked up from the grocery store and the dog (I thought it would be a good idea to take her on a car ride with me.) As usual I have to carry it all in one arm full so that I don't have to make another trip back to the car. Austin was taking too long to get out of the car, my hands were full and my mind preoccupied. Lexy too this opprotunity to go across the street to bark aggressively at the neighbors and their two dogs in their own yard. I drop everything, leave Austin unattended and go running to the edge of the yard counting to three at my 65 pound dog. The good news is that it worked the bad new is that I looked like a crazy fool to the entire neighborhood. I got Lexy into the house and went back to clean the contents of everything I was carrying off of my driveway. Austin still would not get out of the car so I started barking orders at him. I finally get him out and quickly lock the door behind him so he can not change his mind and climb back in. At this point I am at my wits end and carrying everything with one of the brown bags full of clothes ripping with every step that I take! I throw the contents into my kitchen and turn around to threaten Austin that he better "get in this house this instant!" He does and turns around to me and says "Mommy you are driving me insane!"

Oops... lesson learned!

*I do have more to post but have not had the time... I will get to it soon! (I hope)

Update!

So I have not written in a very long time! Lots going on right now! Open House at school is on Tuesday, I have not had an assistant for two days and I have been getting up at 4:00am every other day to work on my national boards! (I hate to put in all this work when I'm just going to fail it anyway!) Nothing like a positive attitude to pull you through rough times!

Well we are at the beach right now! YEAH!! We are spending the weekend in Virginia Beach (Frank is not here... hates the beach... would have been a good premarital question to ask!) I would like the record to show that I drove the whole way here by myself (with mom) but I did all the driving. My family calls me the princess because I can not drive long distances AT ALL. The second I get in a car I fall asleep! This was a 3 1/2 hour trip and I did it! The bad thing is I have to do it again tomorrow and this time mom will not be with me so I have to do it on my own! (I think I will buy an autiobook on my Ipod!)

So on the way here we saw the biggest convoy of FEMA trucks. I am sure they were coming from Texas but they were driving into VA beach. It must be because there is a hurricane off the coast out here somewhere! You can not believe the wind! It is amazingly windy and cold!!! The coast guard helicopters were out here circling for about an hour the other day... not a good sign! Anyway today is the Navy Airshow and the Blue Angels are here so we may go take a look since Austin and my dad are glued to anything plane related!

I will try to post again soon but for now I am off to work on the Boards~Hope all is well with everyone.

Fantasy Football!

So fantasy football has started and it is my first time playing. I was so excited about it because I had the second draft pick in the league and I picked Tom Brady! Well he earned me all of 3 points. He did not even finish the first quarter of the first game of the season because of a devastating knee injury. Now, once we all feel sorry for me... I really hope all goes well for him and that he is able to heal and recover from this injury. I am still happy that out of the 16 members of my league I am still in second place after the first round of games! On to week number two!

What a weekend!

So a little about the weekend we have had:

My brother Sean and his wife Kelly live in New Orleans! The were both evacuated because of the hurricane. Kelly went to Florida with another family and Sean had to go to a military shelter since he is in the Air National Guard. Once the storm was over Sean was sent out to other shelters to help out. Not sure yet if they have made it back home and how their house made it through but I think everything should be fine there. We are now watching Hana and Ike here in NC!

On Saturday Austin was bit in the face by a dog. It was not too bad but it was pretty close to his eye so I took him to the ER just to be sure. He is doing well and I have a check up for him tomorrow. But... the whole thing was really out of control. Since it was a dog bite the animal control had to be called and then the health department called me to make sure that he was doing well. I know they are just doing their job... but really!

I also signed up to do my national boards... not really sure what I was thinking... the next 6 months of my life are going to be bad bad bad! But as I always say... what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger!

Black thumb!

As I have mentioned before... I have the blackest thumb in the world and I can kill a plant just by looking at it. (Never remembering to water them seems to help as well.) I did however work pretty hard on my veggie garden. My whole family loves veggies! Mom got me the cookbook that teaches you how to hide veggies in your dinner... well I need a cookbook that teaches you how to hide dinner in your veggies! That is all Austin eats. The cherry tomatoes from last year came back on their own so I just pulled the plants I didn't want and repositioned the ones I wanted to keep. I then planted cucumbers since Frank loves cucumber salad and I planted bell peppers since they are so expensive! I planted the peppers and cucumbers a little late so they are not growing much of anything yet... and may not. BUT, I have also planted a cantaloupe plant and it has the first cantaloupe growing on it! I am very excited about it.

After working hard on the veggie garden I no longer felt like planting anything in the rest of the garden. I pulled the weeds and then thought I would just sprinkle some seeds and see what happens. My mistake! I sprinkled some "Wild Flower" seeds. Yeah... that packet of seeds should just say... Weeds that bloom!

Randomness!

So I know that I don't live in the city, but I never really thought that I lived in the country... until I thought about the last two "strange" things that happened to me. (Both while I was in the car!) Scary... I know! Anywhoo... a few days ago we were taking a family trip to Walmart (clue number one!!) Frank was driving and I was in the passenger seat, Austin was in the back. Frank starts to pull up to a stop sign and out of the corner of my eye I see a small set of tires fly up into the air and disappear followed by a large cloud of white smoke that quickly mixed with black smoke! When we got to the stop sign I see this man on the ground wrestling his riding lawn mower... which he just drove off of a 4 foot cliff!! Ok... so the word cliff is a little over the top... but I want you to understand that this "cliff" went straight down... there is no way this man looked at this "cliff" and actually thought that he could successfully ride his lawnmower over it and have any other outcome! The thing was laying on its side, spinning its wheels and blade and spewing smoke all over! It was amazing. I am sure the poor man was embarrassed... Don't tell him I blogged about it!

Short little recap and then on to the next story... I think I live in the country...
Clue one: Family trip to Walmart.
Clue two: Men driving riding lawnmowers over cliffs and living to be blogged about!

On to clue three!
We were driving home from church this weekend and I was (as usual) not driving and on the phone. (I should have an endorsement from AT&T. To bad cell phone gabbing is not in the Olympics! And I see this massive black bird circling ahead. (Not a head... ahead!) Very important that you do not misread that... that is the DEEP country and I just live in the regular country! Gross... ok moving on! I comment about this giant bird (which was a vulture... clue number three) and just as we drive closer it lands on the road right in front of us and turns to look at us. Frank slows down (he can not stop because the bird did not give us much warning and there were cars behind us) so he slows as much as he can and the bird realizes that we own the road and tried to take off. Well... he did not make it! He hit us... Ok... we hit him at about the head light level of the car. He then rolled up the hood and continued to roll over the windshield until he hit the top of the car where he proceeded to take off and fly away. All the while I am yelling "You have got to be kidding me!" and Austin is in the back yelling "Papa you hit that big bird!" Let me just tell you something! That is a big bird that can be hit by a mini van roll all the way up to the roof and fly off like he meant to do it! Talk about the Olympics! That would be an event I would have to check out!

Final recap! I think I live in the country...
Clue one: Family trip to Walmart.
Clue two: Men driving riding lawnmowers over cliffs and living to be blogged about!
Clue three: Vultures!
Clue four: Vultures that take on mini vans...and win!

The fridge!

So Austin's new favorite thing to do is put things in the fridge! A few days ago we left Austin with a babysitter while Frank and I went to church to pick our fantasy football teams. (I got Brady on my team so I am hoping that I get some good points out of him!) When we got home I went to get a drink from the fridge. I noticed this on the bottom shelf.

That's right... it's a lock box... in my refrigerator! Inside the lock box was...

Popcorn! (I wrote this one a few days ago. Since then I have found a penny, a notebook and a balloon in the fridge!)

I can't believe it!

My little boy is three today! It amazes me how much he has grown and how quickly the time has passed! He is just the cutest little man I know. He is so sweet and, although it can be exhausting, he is still a mama's boy! I am sure that I am the luckiest person in the entire world because I am the only one that gets the honor of being his mom! Happy birthday little bear!

Our trip to the beach... finally!

We had a great time visiting my grandparents at the beach last weekend! It was a much needed trip that was over way to soon! Austin was so excited that we got to ride a bus from the parking lot to the terminal (I really think that was the highlight of the trip for him!) When the plane landed in Philly Austin said "We're on the ground baby!" I really am not sure where he gets some of the things he says! Anyway... once we got there it was late afternoon and we all decided to walk to the beach just to take a look. I let Austin get in the water in his clothes and he had a great time. My grandfather on the other hand was laying on a towel and did not notice the wave coming... he did not enjoy it as much! I have not seen him move that fast in a long time! Here is a picture of Austin in the water that first night.

When we got home my grandparents were having a good time playing with Austin. My grandfather is a kid at heart and at some point in the game he ended up with a pair of Austin's shorts on his head. Well, right around then a thunderstorm rolled in and he quickly changed modes. He was running around the house trying to get everything ready for the storm. Taking towels off the line, closing windows, propping up the porch canape with mops??? Yeah that one got me too! Anyway all of this was done with the shorts on his head... so did I run and help him... heck no! I ran for my camera!

Saturday was beautiful! Austin and I spent a good part of the day collecting jellyfish (or sea snot, as I called them). They were just the tops and did not have any stingers! (Don't worry I let someone else's kid touch them before I let Austin do it!) We wanted to see how many we could get. This bucket shows how many we got before growing tired of this event! There is no water in this bucket... just sea snot!

We had so much fun! Austin ate his weight in watermelon and loves the sand just as much as I do!
The sad thing is I already miss the beach! And... I have another year to go!

A conversation with a toddler!

There is just no winning with a toddler! I was in the car with Austin today and he was in one of those moods where he is going to be upset no matter what! You could give him a 50 pound firetruck made out of chocolate and he would be mad that the lights didn't work! We had just left my mom and dad's house and he was talking about how much he missed them (he sees them everyday so he can't miss them too much!) Anyway... here is how the conversation went.

Austin: Mommy I miss Nana and Bopa (that is what he decided he was going to call my dad.)

Me: Yeah I miss them too.

Austin: No I missed them first!

Me: Ok I miss them second.

Austin: No Mommy (this time he is yelling at me) I missed them second FIRST!

It is just best to stop talking!

DR. Called

I was right! I will be taking blood thinners again for the next 3 months and then I will have to do that scan again! Ahhh

Update

Everything went exactly as planned yesterday! It was very scary and the meds that they gave me did not calm me down so I was pretty upset for most of the procedure. I think they must have kicked in at some point because I do not remember a lot about what happened to me. I have yet to hear from the doctor but I was told that it is definitely better than it was in February and it is close to being healed but it is not yet at 100%. Now I am back on the blood thinners and waiting to hear from the doctor about the next step. I hope I don't have to do this procedure again! :-p (But if I do... I will try to be braver next time!) Thanks for your prayers.

What?

I was all prepared for my procedure to be Friday and they called me and moved it to tomorrow! Do they not realize what that does to my head! I am really freaked out now. And you know what makes it worse... the doctor's name is Dr. Payne! Really? That is just cruel! (But she did my last one and I turned out ok so that is good!) Change your prayers please! Tomorrow at high noon!

PS I got my bags and will still share stories about my trip but that may be a little delayed!

Your suitcase? Oh! You needed that?!

I was not very friendly to my mom and dad Friday morning as we were preparing to leave for the airport. I don't like that I can only bring 3oz of liquid on a flight and since they don't make toddler travel size toothpaste that about maxes me out! So I was all bent out of shape because I refused to check my suitcase since I have a small child and I don't have the time or money to go out and buy a weekend worth of stuff to "get me through" the beach trip if and when they lost my luggage! We put all of the liquid in my mom's bag which was checked and then we schlepped my bag all over RDU and Philly International! We got to the beach with all of our luggage and had a great time (more to come on our trip in the near future!) When we got to the airport to come home this morning mom asked me if I wanted to check my bag since we were now headed home and I would have stuff at the house if anything happened. I agreed and it was definitely much easier without it! When we got back to RDU I stood at the baggage claim like a buffoon waiting and waiting. The crowd started to dwindle and I got worried. At first I thought... ok they just ran out of space on that little cart thing that carries the bags from the plane to the baggage claim and they are going back for a second load. Then I thought... wow that is sad... maybe I don't know what my black rolling bag looks like and I have just overlooked it for the last 30 minutes since all of these bags look the same anyway! Then I realized that I was the only one still standing there like a goon staring at the same 3 unclaimed bags going around and around on the belt. Neither of our bags where there! We went over to the little office where we were told that our bags did not make it on the plane. Hey... thanks for the heads up! I just looked crazy for the last 45 minutes while you hung out in here eating popcorn! (She really was eating popcorn...it smelled pretty good and for a moment I thought about the new Batman movie and when I might have some free time to go check it out!) They just forgot to put the bags on the plane! They were supposed to go out on a flight that would arrive at 5:20 and they would deliver them in the evening. Once 7:20 rolled around and I had not heard anything from them I thought I would give them a call and check on the status. Well, guess what! One bag got here... and no it was not mine. I really don't see how these bags were together enough to be left off the plane and then separated enough to have one make it and the other one not and they will not deliver one without the other! I am not able to blog about my trip yet because my cable I need to download my pictures with is in my bag. I have some great pictures to share so I will do that as soon as I can! My bag is supposed to arrive at 11:00 and be put on the delivery truck around midnight. I told them to leave the bags on the porch so that I don't have to wait up for them. We will see if they are here in the morning... it's kinda like Christmas in August.

Good bye beach :-(

Well our trip is coming to an end. I am excited to get back to Frankie and my own house and my own bed. It is always hard to say goodbye to the beach and my family. I am excited to post the pictures and tell you about the trip once I get home and settled back in. (There is never a dull moment around here!) Hope you all enjoyed your weekend as much as I did!

Whoo-hoo

We are off to the beach in the morning! Austin and I are flying with my mom to Philly where we will meet my aunt. Then we will all drive out to Long Beach Island NJ to see my grandparents and stay at their beach home! I love that place. We have gone there every summer since as far back as I can remember! Austin is excited about the plane ride... I just hope I don't make the news as the next person with a rowdy toddler to get kicked off of a flight! I will post pictures and tell you all about it when I return! Happy Weekend!

No time!

I sat down to write a short little blog but it will have to wait in the 3 minutes I was on the computer Austin cooked a full loaf of bread in the microwave!! I will blog when he is in bed from now on!

Saturday!!

Yeah it is Saturday!! Who is excited? ME! I don't have any plans but I think that is what is so exciting about it! Leave me some love and tell me all the amazing things you are or are not doing this weekend! Love to hear from you.

Here it comes!

Well 6 months have almost come and gone since I was diagnosed with Vertebral Artery Dissection! I will be going in for my angiogram on August 8th. That is right, 8-8-08 at 9am (I know....I know... why couldn't they have made it 8am!) The actual procedure doesn't start until 10:30 but I have to be there at 9:00. If you have read the first part of the link that tells you what an angiogram is you will see why I nearly freaked out the last time they did it to me and have requested that they give me something to calm me down this time. Last time I had to fight the urge to rip out the catheter they were threading through the artery in my leg and I could imagine that if they did that I would do damage to the artery. They will be giving me some stuff that apparently puts you to sleep enough that you don't really care about what is going on and you don't remember it but it keeps you awake enough to do what they ask you to do since you have to hold your head a certain way or you have to hold your breath so they can get the pictures they need. I will be taken to and from the hospital by someone and I will have to keep my leg still for about 8 hours but other than that it should be fine. (All except the dinner plate size bruise I will sport along with my bathing suit for the rest of August... but that is what they make wraps for...right?!) Anyway. The point of this blog is to request your prayers! Although mentally I will be fine once they give me the meds I would like you to pray for the outcome! There are risks (and since I have done this before in much scarier circumstances I am not too worried about the risks) . I am worried about the findings. This is the test that will tell me where I can go from here. This is the test that will tell me if I am healed and if I can get off the blood thinner and the heart meds. (Which I would not like to take the rest of my life!) This will also tell me what my activity level can be as far as how careful I have to be of my arteries in the future. So if you think about it. I would appreciate being added to your prayer lists. I know that prayer worked for me at the beginning! I saw, first hand one miracle after another from the start of all of this! It started a few weeks before the injury at the end of January, strangely enough with the passing of Heath Ledger. He was my age and had a daughter my son's age. That really set my mind spinning and thinking of the possibility that I could be gone tomorrow. Then about a week before, a hockey player (many of you know that I love hockey) was hit in the neck with another player's skate and had his carotid artery cut! I thought a lot about that for the following weeks. Before my injury I remember thinking how amazing it was that he could survive such a traumatic injury and then during my recovery I thought a lot about him and how if he could survive I could too. I think God did a lot of work preparing me for the ordeal I was about to go through! Then there were all of the miracles that happened in the hospital. Like the ER doctor that ordered an MRI "just to make sure that nothing was going on." (While I knew that there was something other than a migraine going on, the doctor's in the ER thought I was having a migraine because I had been to the ER once before for one and the symptoms I had sounded a lot like migraine symptoms. Not to mention that young healthy women don't typically come in to the ER with stroke symptoms!) Had she not ordered that MRI I would have been given pain killers and sent home where I would have eventually had a stroke. I sat in the waiting room for over 6 hours... plenty of time to have had my stroke but I didn't. I think the most amazing thing that happened was that I never felt like I was going to die. Even when I was laying in the ICU in critical condition with the Chaplin siting next to my bed I knew that GOD was with me and that I was going to be fine! I was still scared, but it was not the feeling that I would have ever thought I would have had in a situation like that. I know that I have blogged about my experience before but I have not really blogged about God's role in all of it and it took me a little while to process before I really was ready to share. So here it is!

The last wedding of the summer!

So, I have not told you about the wedding... except that I missed it! I really think I need to take a step back and tell you that even though I missed the wedding, the reception was amazing!! The bride was gorgeous! I was so busy dancing with Austin that I forgot to take pictures so unfortunately I don't have any to post, but the house and the grounds were beautiful! Out back it had a two level stone patio that led out to a grass yard that had tables and chairs to sit in. Beyond that there were stairs that let to a small decorative pond with a fountain. That is where they had their wedding pictures taken. I can't wait to see them! I am sure they will be breathtaking! I loved hanging out down there. It was great to see my family and share in such a special event! They had the greatest band who kept everyone moving and there was more food then I think I have ever seen before! I really was glad that we made it up there! It was well worth the drive just to see the family! (And the chocolate bar!)

Our new addition to our family!

This is my beautiful fridge! I love it! What I love the most about it is the price! It is listed on the Internet for $1,298 (which is more than I wanted to spend. Especially in the summer when I don't get paid!) However, they have cheaper prices based on where you live... yeah I don't get that either... but when we looked in our zip code they listed it for $1,078. Then since it was a GE we got a $100 mail in rebate and then since it is an Energy Star appliance we got another 10% off and the one I wanted they were out of and we bought the floor model (which I wanted to do anyway because it saves you money and it was in good shape) so we got another 10% off! We ended up only paying around $870!!! Whoo-hooo! They are also running a special on delivery. You pay $79 dollars and they deliver it, hook it up and take the old one away which is awesome enough but then you fill out a paper and they send you a Visa gift card with that money on it! I am way excited!

Would you like some WHINE with that cheese?

So let me just tell you about the week we have had around here! After the dog went pee pee all over my house and we took her to the doctor (see blog) we then left for our trip Thursday leaving Lexy in the capable hands of my friend "John: the dog whisperer." We decided to leave Thursday after work since it was a 9 hour trip to NJ and my cousin's wedding was at 4 on Friday! We drove as far as we could and only really made it 5 hours to DC but that was about halfway so we were happy about that. We stopped for the night and a nasty hotel that should have been cheaper than it really was but whatever it was just for the night! We get up and out of there around 10am. Frank was all showered and dressed for the wedding and I was showered and had my hair and makeup done. I was worried about sitting in my dress for the 4 hours that the drive should have taken and didn't want it to get wrinkled. By leaving at 10 we had an extra 2 hours before the wedding to meet mom and dad at their hotel where I could get in my dress and Austin could get into his clothes. Well, let me tell you! We not only needed that two hours but an additional hour due to traffic! We were so late we actually MISSED the wedding! I could not believe it! I had to dress in the car (while we were driving) and Austin fell asleep 15 minutes before we got there! The GPS told us that we had arrived at our final destination on the left and when we looked at the left there was a church with a limo parked outside. We pulled into the parking lot and Frank started looking for mom and dad's car. We couldn't find it but we just figured that they carpooled with someone else. I asked Frank if he would wait with Austin (still sleeping) while I just peeked into the church to see what the wedding looked like. I walked up to the door and peeked in. My first thought was "Wow, my cousin Heather sure has a lot more hair than usual!" and while I searched for my mom and dad the minister asked everyone to pray. So standing at the door I bow my head and pray. I hear him say "Dear God, please bless Kristin and Jim..." Who??? That is right! After all of that, I was at the wrong wedding! I ran from the church (while the photographer staired) and we went in search of my cousin's wedding once again. When we finally made it just in time to watch the wedding party walk down the aisle and out the door! That drive that should have taken 9 hours took 12!
That night we stayed at my aunt and uncle's house outside of Philly and on Saturday we went with Austin and my cousin Emily to Dorny Park. It is a theme park with a water park together. I have never been so hot and I have never see so many people! We only really got to ride the kiddy rides because the lines for everything else were way too long! Then when we were all about to die from heat exhaustion we went to the water park. There were so many people you could not even see the wave pool until you were right at the entrance! We found a small patch of water and just rolled around in it! It was the greatest feeling! Then I noticed a band aide and part of a hair extension go by and I thought that maybe we should move ourselves along. Sunday we returned home. We got a real late start because we wanted to just enjoy some time with our family before we left. We go home around ten that night to find that our refrigerator broke! So I did what anyone would do in that situation. I left everything right where it was and I went to bed!

Creepy!

Here is a picture of the most random thing I have ever seen for sale in a store! I was in a store that sells decorations for your home and I found this 3 foot glitter mummy statue! ....What? Who would use this in home decoration and what must their decorating concepts look like?!

Ahh... the joys of owning a pet!!

My sweet dog Lexy has gone to the bathroom all over the house for the last three days! While I love working all day and coming home to clean up dog pee I thought "something must be done!" So I called the vet! Let me just tell you... it took 3 adults and one 2 year old to accomplish this vet visit. My precious doggy weighs in at a hefty 65 pounds and I can not hold on to her when she is chasing after a dog that she would like to sniff. Therefore, my hubby came to hold on to her leash. My friend Katherine came (because we had plans to hang out) and she came in handy at the end of the vet trip... details about that to come! So we go to the back, the doctor takes Lexy outside and can't get her to potty. (They were trying to catch it in a cup to test it, if it were me... I would be able to go either!) They then came back and tell us that she is a little excited and maybe if one of us walked her she would do better... Nope, that didn't work either! They then teach me how to get a sample while we are in the comfort of our own home! FUN! I was determined to get a sample before leaving the vet! So here is where it gets interesting! There we are in front of the vet's office and my hubby is holding the leash, Katherine is making sure that my two year old does not run off, and I am holding a little silver bowl and following the dog around so that when she squats I can get a sample. Well, I did! She has a bladder infection! And let me tell you the office visit was over $80 and the medicine was an extra $61 dollars. I don't even think they gave me a discount for catching the sample on my own! The real kicker is that we have to give her two pills in the morning and two pills at night for the next 2 weeks... and... she has already thrown up dose number one! Joy!

A picture is worth 1,000 words!

I happen to have a lot of photos to share from this wedding we went to last weekend. (I just don't want you to think that this is the only thing we dress this kid in!) Anyway... I took this picture and thought right away how this was the perfect picture that shows exactly how Austin is at this point! He is very independent. He will be 3 next month so EVERYTHING has to be done on his own or on his own terms. (He still has the "only mommy can do it" thing going on too which is very exhausting!) I have been to 3 weddings this summer and I have one more to go to next weekend. It is amazing how different I feel during the mother and son dance. (My husband makes fun of me since he is not even 3 yet and I am worried about him moving out and getting married.) But the last 3 years have gone by so fast. I can't imagine how the next 15 years will go by...

I hate Onions!

I was trying to nap the other day (I love summer vacation) and I made a very big mistake! I was watching Ellen while napping so there really no napping happening. She got on this little rant about onions (it was a rerun). She hates raw onions and thinks that they should automatically grow sauteed. ME TOO! I pick them off of everything. I will eat them, but I prefer not to. The thing I hate most about onions is cutting them! I hate that your hands smell like an onion for a week after cutting them and my eyes burn like mad. Some people have just one lonely tear drop from cutting onions... I sob! Uncontrollably! I can tear up just sitting in the room next to wear onions are being cut! I have found that you can find already cut onions in the freezer section and I love to use them. The only problem is that my hubby loves onions and swears that they just aren't the same. So... right next to the oven I have a drawer and all that that drawer hold is my swim goggles! That's right folks I have to wear swim goggles to cut onions! It is that bad!

Life with a boy

They are always superheros!
They don't let what they are wearing get in the way of fun! The creepier and slimier the better!
This is no longer a boat and a cooler. It is a pirate ship and treasure! (Austin could not believe that he found a pirate ship with treasure on our trip to Maryland!)
They do not fear dirt no matter how dressed up they are! But most importantly they are full of unconditional love!

Dinner out!

Last night we went out to dinner. It was one of those buffet style restaurants... they work very well for little kids! Austin loves to eat there because there is a guarantied ice cream sundae in his future (if he eats)! He was shoveling his ice cream in and quickly got a brain freeze. He kinda whined a little bit and put his hand over his mouth. Then he drank some of his drink that was also cold and therefore did not help at all! Once it went away he was ready for more ice cream and picked up a smaller spoonful and blew on it before eating it...as if that would help!

Don't let this face fool you!

So this was taken at the wedding that we went to in Maryland this weekend. However, earlier in the day he threw the most amazing tantrum I have seen in a long time! Over brushing his teeth! He is a little crazy... one minute he is yelling because he wants you to stop brushing his teeth and right when you decide that "it is not worth the fight... those teeth will be falling out anyway" and you stop brushing his teeth he then screams because you have stopped brushing them and he wants them brushed! Well, he got himself all worked up and there was some hitting and stomping and screaming and he was then banished to timeout. Once he somewhat calmed down I walked over for our little post-timeout conference and asked him why he was put in timeout. He looked at me and said..."because I freaked out!" There was no amount of biting my lip that could keep me from laughing and that logic!

50 Pounds!

I have bagged up 50 pounds worth of "stuff" I don't need! That was my summer goal and I have already done it! (Just from my closet) And I am not done yet! It is amazing how much junk I have just held on to for all these years! I stopped counting at 20 pairs of shoes (and those are just the ones I am getting rid of. I have another 30+ still in my closet!) I am in the perfect mood for closet cleaning! I am feeling ruthless and getting rid of things left and right!! It feels pretty good!

Attack of the killer closet!

It is officially time for me to tackle my closet yet again. I cannot put it off any longer! I am however feeling very very unmotivated!

Go CNN!

Dr. Sanjay Gupta did a show yesterday on chiropractic strokes. (CNN is temporally having trouble with their video section. Hopefully it will be fixed shortly.) This is what my doctors believe happened to me in February! I am so thankful that the word is getting out there. Chiropractics can be very safe and effective but it can also be very dangerous. A little update on me. They have determined that while I had a clot and began to have stroke symptoms there was no lasting injury to my brain, no signs of a stroke. I am still taking blood thinners to make sure that I don't have a stroke until both arteries heal on their own. I also am continuing to take heart medication to lower my heart rate and blood pressure. The doctors seem to think that they are both elevated due to the trauma my body was recovering from. They have done tests to rule out any underlying heart problems. I am continuing regular checkups with my family doctor to make sure that things are going well and to have my blood work checked. I am also seeing my neurologist regularly to make sure that there are no more symptoms of stroke and that I am recovering. I did have some extensive testing done to make sure that the brain functions were returning to normal and they came back great! The doctors did notice some concentration issues which is why I went for testing in the first place. They will be giving me some strategies to continue to deal with that and it will hopefully continue to improve as it has so far! I will be going in August to have my follow-up angiogram. It is my understanding that this will be done in the hospital again but I don't think I have to stay there over night. I am going to call today and set up that appointment. I am really nervous about it. It was very uncomfortable! I am also nervous about the results. After all, this will be the first time anyone has seen the damage since it was diagnosed and it will be the deciding factor of where to go from here! Keep praying it has worked miracles thus far!

My Summer Diet!

So, the other day we had some friends over! It was great and we had lots of fun! It was also wonderful that I had Bean over because I knew she would be late and I would have more time to furiously clean before she got here! (Love you Bean!) I love having people over... but my house is always a mess and it stresses me out. I would love to have drop in visitors but luckily I live a little too far away for people to drop in. My house is never drop in ready! I need at least an hour to prepare for a drop in!
My biggest problem is that I make piles of stuff so the house always looks cluttered. If I could keep the clutter away then the quick straightening or scrubbing would be a whole lot easier and maybe I would do it more often! So... this brings me to my summer diet! I want to lose 50 pounds by the start of school! 50 pounds of junk from my house! I will be weighing everything that I throw away or donate. My goal is 50 lbs but I hope to be more successful than that and lose as much as possible! I am blogging about it so that I can be held accountable! So help me out!
I need to start once again in my closet! I got rid of so much junk from in there just recently (some of you remember that blog) and it is like a starfish! You break it in half and it grows two new starfish! I am really praying for the "throw away" urge to come back! I need that now!
At church this Sunday they asked us what our one prayer would be if we could only have one. While I would love to have world peace, no illnesses, and cheap gas prices, I realize that in order to change the world I have to change myself first! I pray for myself to be better. (This was a cheating prayer because I figure that is the one prayer that covers most of what I need.) I want to be a better wife, a better mother, a better teacher, a better friend, a better daughter, and a better sister. I also want my injury to get better. So... I am losing 50 pounds to begin to get better!

Just an average Saturday!

Yeah right! It is not even noon and I am ready for a nap! :-) I got up early this morning to take the cat to the local rabies clinic to get her rabies shot done. She has to go get her yearly check up on Tuesday where they would give her that shot but by going to the clinic to get it done I saved myself $15. I am already worried about what that vet bill is going to look like! I also got her microchiped for $10 since I can not keep a collar on her. I figure I spend more than that replacing her tags and collar every time she comes home without it! Anyway, I saw that they were doing the clinic and I read the article about it. It didn't say anything about bringing any proof that she needed the shot and so I called my vet earlier in the week and they didn't know if I needed to show any paper work or not. I know I should have just gone to pick up a paper that said she needed it but that was yet another thing to add to the list of things I needed to do and since the article did not ask for it... I didn't do it.
When I got there they asked if I wanted to get her done for the one year or three years and obviously I said three years. They then asked for my proof that she needed it and when I didn't have that they said I could only get the one year. I was annoyed and nicely asked them to include that information on the website next time.
When it was Tyra's turn to have her shot the vet asked if I was getting the one year or the three year and I told her my dilemma. She gave me her fax number and said that if I faxed her the info from my vet saying that she did in fact need the three year shot that they would change my paper work and fax the new document to me. (Anyone else as confused as I am??) I asked if she could get the three year shot on top of the one year shot (thinking that they had to be two different shots!) and she said it is all the same shot it is just a different piece of paper. (????) I was and still am lost. That makes no sense to me! If anyone out there can shed some light on this for me that would be great! All I know is that she can't get rabies this year!
Also, Frank is currently at the Urgent Care for a rash that is getting worse each day and now he needs to go to an allergy doctor to see what he is all of a sudden allergic to! Random! So I am off to research where he would need to go for allergy testing! The good news is that it is almost nap time... and I am going out for sushi tonight! Whoo!

Dogs and Kids

So... I have a boxer that is just over 5 years old. Anyone that knows anything about boxers knows that there are two important things to know about them. Number 1: They are forever puppies! (Translated that means that they are a dog with ADHD their whole lives!) And Number 2: They have really bad gas! And by really bad I mean horrifically bad! Peal the paint off the wall bad! Feel the inside of your nose burn and gag a little bad! Today's story deals with the number 2 aspect of having a kid and a boxer!

I was checking my email this morning when this terrible smell entered my nostril! "Ewww, geez Lexy what did you eat?" is typically my reaction and this morning was no different. Austin hearing my reaction asked "What did Lexy do?" I then told him that Lexy had passes a little gas... ok I actually said that she tooted. Austin looked at Lexy, with a very good mother look upon his face and shaking his finger in disapproval said "Lexy you go to time out!" I giggled for a moment and then when back to checking my email and Lexy continued to lay on the floor in the same spot. Austin then said "Don't worry mom. I took care of the stink!" (Which is funny enough on its own) But then I turned around and he had draped one of his jackets over her hind end!

Saved By Sunglasses!

We pulled into the driveway yesterday right behind my grandparents' old car. That is right... I am the proud owner of a 1989 white Cadilac with red leather seats! Don't laugh... I paid a whole dollar for it... in mostly dimes and nickels but at least it is paid off! Anyways, back to the story. We pull up behind it and Austin sees his dad's work truck off to the side of the house and says "Papa is home!" Then he sees the caddy and says "Granny is here!" (Granny and Grandpa died a year and a half ago so here is the conversation that took place with my 2 1/2 year old son.)

Mom: "No honey, Granny is not here."

Austin: "Where is she?"

Mom: "Granny lives in the stars with Grandpa."

Austin: "Up there? In an airplane?"

Mom: "No, remember Granny died and now she lives in heaven."

Austin: "But how are we going to get up there?"

Mom: "We can't get up there to visit honey. We can remember her and visit her by talking about her and looking at pictures of her."

Austin: "Ok"

Thank God I had on sunglasses!

Happy (late) Father's Day!

To my hubby and my daddy, Thanks for being great men and thanks for teaching my son how to be a great man too!

Martha Stewart I am not!

I have the blackest thumb known to man kind! Give me a plant... I will kill it! My aunt has a plant that was willed to her by her aunt. It seriously is over 100 years old. She asked me to water it while she was gone one weekend and I nearly had a panic attack just thinking about it! Luckily I only had to do it once and I wrote myself 8,000 notes to remind myself to do it! At my house I have a few plants outside that have proven that they are the fittest and survived. From them I have cut some flowers and made the arrangement above. I wish that I was good at growing plants so that I could do that more often. It feels nice to have beautiful flowers to decorate with. I am just not good at talking to them or providing them with adequate light... ok let's be honest... I just don't water them... ever! There I said it!