Saturday, May 30, 2009

Sweet Caroline

I am so glad I took the trip to Texas to see my Aunt, Uncle, cousins and Grandma. And she got to meet her GREAT-grandsons-which was such a great joy for me to bring to her!
Me and my grandma, aka "Ms Sweet Caroline" according to some of the old men in her retirement community-apparently a lot of them have little crushes on her, which embarrasses her completely but we all think it is pretty cute.

One of my favorite photos from my trip, my grandma, who will be 90 years old here soon. You can't really tell so much in the photo as in real life, buy Grandma has BEAUTIFUL skin and complexion, which I think is because of her Native American (Navaho) and Mexican heritage. She is just gorgeous.

Another favorite photo, the boys and their Great-Grandma:



Friday, May 29, 2009

Dear Bill

Five years ago today, I walked down the aisle and met you at the end of it. One of the most fun and amazing days of my life and the start of our life together. I am amazed at how quickly the years have passed, and how it seemed, when we first got married, time just stood still.

I can't thank you enough for being my rock, my best friend, a most amazing husband, and an adoring father. You make even the most normal things fun and exciting-like sitting on the couch on Sunday and watching 24-and there is nothing I look forward to more than spending the next 55 years with you. Except maybe watching the next season of 24 with you.

I dug up some old pictures from our honeymoon because I knew you would enjoy seeing them again. (And because I have not scanned any of our wedding pictures onto the computer yet)

Us in front of the amazing pool at the Grand Floridian Resort at Disney World

Our honeymoon in Disney World was just amazing. News traveled fast too! Wherever we used our hotel cards to pay for items, they knew we were on our honeymoon and we got all kinds of free gifts, pictures, pins, wine (whoohoo!) and "hops" to the front of ride lines in celebration. We even had a gift basket waiting in our room after our first day out and about with great gifts. The free wine around Epcot was my favorite "Disney Magic touch..."

Our champagne carriage ride around the Disney Park was so fun and relaxing and perfect before seeing the fireworks.

I love you, Happy Anniversary!


Thursday, May 28, 2009

Movie Night With The Neighbors

I'm quite blessed to have awesome neighbors all around me and many of them have kids or grandkids pretty close in age to my children, so that is even better! I have to say though, my son is in love with two of our little neighbor friends who also have a stay at home mama that I love, so it turns out to be perfect for us all when we have play dates!

Our latest was yesterday evening and it was a PJ movie night! It was so fun and came at perfect timing, because I was feeling a little depressed-bored-what-to-do-tired-of-the-park funk coming on. Caroline, one of my said awesome neighbors and mother of the two adorable kids my oldest son loves, brought over her kids, right after dinner and baths, along with a huge bag of popcorn and all of us in our PJs (us mamas, too!) sat down to watch Pinocchio. It was SO fun and reminded me so much of when I was little and having movie nights with my sisters.

The kids loved it, and really enjoyed hanging out with each other and eating popcorn like at a real movie theater! A fantastic and free way to break up the nightly routine into something fun.
Here is JR with his sippy cup, all ready for the movie to start:

Here is the gang, from left to right: Little Dude, Cole, Caroline and Keely. Note that there is also a wine glass; adding wine to any play date makes it super fun, esp when you get to share the wine with a wonderful friend!


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Thomas The Train

Due To the BlogHer ad rules, I had to move this post to my review site; it seems the free tickets to see Thomas the Train was over the amount that BlogHer deems OK for me to talk about (which is a rule because of the paid ad space on my blog that BlogHer sells-which by the way I haven't made any money from in the last year...)so I might be rethinking being a memeber of BlogHer, since not only am I not making any money from it, but they can also tell me what I can or can't review and what "free" items I can try out and talk about and I think I'd rather be the one that decides that. In the meantime, you can read about our adventure to see Thomas the Train Here.

Monday, May 25, 2009

I Have a New Phone

Oh I am back! That is, I have a phone again! YAY!

Though it was nice to know that I was not accessable 24/7, it was also very weird to not be able to get in touch with anyone. All I can say is thank goodness for Facebook, or I wouldn't have been able to get anyone's phone numbers ever again. It's funny, but I so rarely even email people anymore, most of my communication is over the phone or through texting, so to not have it for a while was crazy for me!

Anyways, I am back, and so, also, is a cold bug.

Yes, the kids and I all got sick over the weekend, and we gave it to poor Bill who had to fly back to Alabama to work yesterday. So, I am sitting here, sipping some hot thera-flu and trying to catch up on all the work I missed doing over the weekend.

And I'm playing with my new phone. No, I didn't get the iphone-that would have been awesome, but for the cost, I just couldn't afford the increase in the plan. ANYWAYS, I'm super excited about the one I got-apparently it is made from recycled products AND it has a slide out keyboard to make texting super quick. Whoo hoo! And the best part? It was free, since my contract was up and I was eligable for a phone upgrade. Lucky timing at getting my phone washed, eh?

Thursday, May 21, 2009

In Which I Washed My Phone

So for the last few days I have been pretty sick with a cough and cold, and finally today was feeling better. So much better that I got up off the couch and actually started on the pile of laundry I had growing on the bedroom floor.

And so, I threw all the clothes into the wash; I went on about my day, and then got ready to go out with some friends and the kids. When I went to call Mike and Beth, to let them know I was heading out to meet up, I realized what a blunder had occurred.

I can't find my phone. ANYWHERE.

I ripped the house apart looking, and with each overturned couch cushion and randomly moved item, a sinking feeling grew within me.

Yes, I washed my phone.

And not just a little wet either. By the time I realized what I had done, that load of laundry was well on its way to drying. In fact, it was on its second round in the dryer, since my dryer is dying and I haven't found a good spot(read I'm lazy) to hang my clothes line yet.

I'll have a new phone by this weekend, with my same number, but if you want me to be able to call you, then you'll need to call me, or shoot me an email with your number, because I don't have any of them anymore. They were saved in my phone. And no where else.

So, what is the lesson to be learned from this?

Laundry is evil and should never be done. And perhaps I just need to slow it down and stop with the crazy multitasking. Or at least remember to check my pockets along with the boy's pockets, when doing laundry. And to have a hard copy of all phone numbers so I can then call people and let them know my cell phone has been killed off by a washing machine, in the laundry room, with a gentle wash cycle.




Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ready For My Nap

I have so many things I'd love to write about right now, but honestly, I am just too tired.

The hubby, Bill, is still in AL working, so I am alone here in NC with the kids. And it isn't bad, I have friends and neighbors that I invite myself over to (yes, you read that correctly. I'm not shy, I'm calling you up and coming over cause I'm board and need to talk to someone that can pronounce l's).

But being full time single work from home mom has me worn out already, and it has only been two weeks.

So, I am finally off to catch up on work, since the only good time I can find is currently at 11pm at night.

Perhaps tomorrow I can get to writing about some of the things I want to share. Or even get that nap in I keep trying to take but never seem to find the time for.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

I Got You, Babe


Little Dude's first bike ride! With a little help from me and my Aunt, Little Dude got going on his first bike ride and for the rest of the day (and every day since, really) he has talked about his "motorcycle" and how awesome it is. Oh my.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Almost Famous

Newbaby.com and Wisk has a couple of internet commercials going about HE washers, and I got to be in one of them! Whoo hoo!
I'm in this one, along with some of my favorite mom bloggers:

And some of my other favorite mom bloggers are in this one:


And I have to say now that I am just drooling for an HE Washer and Dryer. Esp. since mine are dying. The Drying is taking 2 cycles, at least, to dry, and the Washer gets unbalanced all the time, and is starting to make a weird noise.....

Friday, May 15, 2009

Babywearing with the Animals

While in Dallas, we went to the Dallas Aquarium, though honestly it is WAY more than an aquarium. There are all kinds of birds, animals, reptiles and everything is set up as a nature trail in a jungle-complete with birds flying freely over head!! We had a few close calls with bird droppings!

This was my favorite guy. He is a sloth, and we got to get SUPER close to him. Isn't he just a beauty? SO CUTE!

Here are some of the sharks we saw


Here I am under the shark tank with JR. The tank was so cool! It was like a tunnel, so the sharks were swimming all around you-Little Dude was amazed.
I really loved the aquarium and highly recommend anyone visiting or living in the Dallas, TX area to check it out. Little Dude LOVED it and didn't want to leave (boy THAT was fun). They had a few clown fish as well (think Nemo) and Little Dude loved those the most out of everything.

And the best part? I got a really great, fun filled day with my Aunt Marla. Getting to spend time with her was the best ever, she is one amazing lady!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Everything is Bigger in Texas

Even the Cattle. Do you see the horns on the ones below? Yes, those are Longhorn Cattle, and at the Fort Worth Stockyards you can watch them get herded down the street from one pen to another, very cool!

You can see Little Dude watching them from the sidewalk. He was with my Aunt Marla; JR and I hung out a little farther back under a shade tree.

The Longhorn herding is pretty tame, they just walk down the street and a whole slew of REAL cowboys surround them, ready to correct any that deviate from the street. One lady though commented to me that she was annoyed at having waited half an hour to just see them walk-she wanted to see them run! My reply? If those horns are running, I'm not standing here to watch, I'm up the tree! She looked puzzled, so I can only assume she'd never been around cows before-even normal ones are strong and faster than you think-let alone some with 2 foot horns!

The Stockyards are super fun, and we even got some ice cream and a fun little cowboy had for Little Dude!



The Longhorns!
One of the cowboys let Little Dude play with his whip! Little Dude wanted nothing to do with it though until Aunt Marla held it first (shes the arm in the pic)
The super nice cowboy that enjoyed showing Little Dude all his cowboy "stuff"
Yes, that is a longhorn with a saddle. Yes, that is the cowboy that owns him. No, I did not ask for a ride.
I was so impressed with seeing someone riding a longhorn I just had to share another picture.




Wednesday, May 13, 2009

11 Months Down

My Little JR is 11 Months old today! How in the world did that happen? I just can't believe time has flown so quickly. JR loves trying to walk and does really well walking around furniture. He doesn't do the all fours crawling yet, but has one crazy super fast army crawl and I swear sometimes he is going so fast he thrusts himself up off the floor. JR is a food lover, and his super cute "cankles" are a testament to how much he loves eating, and he is just constantly smiling-a huge turn around from the constant crying he did the first few months of life!







Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Flight Number One

So this is how you fly with two kids under the age of 3! It actually was a great time; Little Dude loved his book bag of toys ad JR loved my Mei Tai carrier, so we were pretty much awesome with the travel.

That is, until the plane ran out of gas.

Yea, my plane ran out of gas, because we circled Dallas for over an hour waiting to land, and couldn't, so we ended up going to Houston, getting gas, WAITING THERE til we could take off (all the while not getting off the plane...sigh) and then FINALLY got to DFW Airport. The flight we had should have arrived at 7:30pm; however, it was well past midnight when we finally landed. My poor Aunt and Uncle were waiting up and worried because of all the bad weather (which was why we couldn't land to start with and caused us to run out of gas...) and by the time we got to their home it was well past 1am.

And even though we did have a few moments of semi melt downs, all in all the kids did GREAT and I was impressed they actually feel asleep once we made it to Aunt Marla and Uncle Bruce's! Whoo hoo!

Though somehow, both were up with the sun at 7am, goodness gracious!

Here we are waiting to take off from Raleigh to go to Atlanta and from there to Dallas


Here we are on the plane!

And my carrier is a Babyhawk Mei Tai that I got off ebay for $50 dollars. Yes, it is double sided, has pockets on both sides and has a key ring. Yes, I recommend this Mei Tai very highly. It is so easy to use, so very soft, padded and comfy AND I would even pay the full price for it now that I have one, but suggest just hunting on ebay for a deal. My Mei Tai saved my life and made this trip possible. If I had not had pockets for the tickets and a way to keep JR snuggled with me, the trip would have been a nightmare. As it was, JR was content to just snuggle and hang out and I had free hands to do important stuff, like cashing Little Dude, drinking coffee and eating the pretzels!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Nap Time

So, the boys were supposed to be taking a nap, and this is what I found instead:


They were having so much fun, I almost hated to stop them, so instead I grabbed the camera, took the picture and then reminded Little Dude to lay down and stop talking to JR, because even if they weren't tired, Mommy WAS. And I needed nap time!

Also, I have a fun giveaway for something every woman should have in her medicine closet on my Miche Reviews page!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!





My boys. Somewhere along the way I started answering to Mom, and it is the most amazing job I have ever had. Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Last Day in Texas

How did this week fly by so quickly? I feel like I JUST got here, but already, tomorrow morning I will be flying back to North Carolina. I'm pretty bummed I have to leave already; I have had a blast hanging out with my cousins and my Aunt and Uncle AND I am so very glad my Grandma got to meet her great-grandsons!

We went to a train museum and Little Dude loved it enough to throw the Tantrum of All Tantrums when we had to leave, we went to the aquarium, which also had birds, monkeys, and all kinds of animals. It was HUGE and a lot of it was underground. I can't wait to share the pictures! Today we are going to go RIDE a train to Dallas and go explore downtown-I'm really excited!

Well, off we go, and wish me luck tomorrow flying back. I haven't told you guys about flying IN; however, just trust me that it was the flight from H E double hockey sticks. I'll explain more later, now it is off to catch a train!

Take care!


Saturday, May 2, 2009

National Mom's Night Out!!

National Mom's Nite Out: the Ultimate Celebration of Motherhood

Hurray!! THIS Thursday, the 7th, is the FIRST annual National Mom's Night Out! I actually am spending tonight in Texas with my Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and Grandma, so I certainly won't be taking tonight as a mom's night out, but with all the family around that is getting to meet my boys for the first time, I have a feeling I won't have to do much holding or helping.

But, even though I won't be around in Raleigh to participate, I did want to get the word out about the fun Mom's Gathering in celebration of the National Mom's Night Out Party!

Oh yes, there is freebie swag! And fun! And other moms! AND NO KIDS!! Whoo hooo!! Though, of course, if you are breastfeeding a little one can just can't get away without him/her, feel free to bring 'em!


So, here is the local Apex National Mom's Night Out Celebration information:

Host Molly Gold is the founder of GO MOM! Inc and has put this great local party together for all us moms! Just in time for Mother's Day, we've partnered with Moms across the country to bring you a fun event in one of the Raleigh area gems, historic downtown Apex. Hosted by www.greenpeanursery, select retailers and restaurants will offer special promotions all night long and we'll have a grand prize offer with some of the best they have to give. We'll have swag bags for a limited number of Moms too and some fun Mom Makeover opportunities are popping up as I type. Most importantly, we've also joined forces with Nancy's Butterfly Fund to raise awareness for domestic violence against women in memory of Nancy Cooper who lost her life last summer.

What do you need to do? Simply gather your friends, leave the kiddos at home, and take a few hours to enjoy yourself out on the town Mom style! Visit our Facebook page to learn more and come back soon for a complete list of participating retailers, promotions, and items included in the grand prize.
http://www.facebook.com:80/event.php?eid=87762423053

So, all local moms who can get out to Apex, come on over and party! Celebrate motherhood with all our local moms and come out for the National Mom's Night Out!
National Mom's Nite Out: the Ultimate Celebration of Motherhood


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