Halloween 2009

Today I learned that I still need to listen to my momma.  She told me since the day I bought Luke's costume "you need to try it on him to make sure it will work".  Eh, I said.  It'll be fine.  Now I know those are dying last words. 

An hour before we were supposed to be at the church to set up for Trunk or Treat I finally unwrap his Woody costume and put it on him.  Well, tried to put it on him.  It seems my darling little dear has a bit more of a buddah belly than the typical child in the 12-18 month size range.  I tugged and tugged to snap it shut.  When I finally did he could barely toddle around like a stuffed sausage.  Now my mind starts racing.....an hour, an hour, what can I come up with in an hour. 

The shirt, jeans and boots were his normal clothes that he wears, I cut a square of material left over from his bag that I made him for the kertchif, the hat was salvaged from his Woody costume, and I made a cardboard and foil star for his sheriff's bagde (that said Sheriff Luke).  Except I didn't have any foil so I had to knock on the back door of the people who live behind us and ask for some.  At least I didn't need to borrow a cup of sugar.  Once we got there we did lots of things!  (*warning* lots of pictures to come)

We petted a pig.  Luke squealed in delight when he saw the pig, I think he thought it was a dog of some kind.  He LOVES dogs.

We took some pictures together.

We fished for some ducks.  Okay, he really just splashed in the water and I "fished" for the duck.  Then he threw a tanturm when I pulled him away. 

Then we tried putt putting.

But he decided cheating was more fun.

And he also  "threw" the football.  From the one inch line.

And finally we got a picture with a few of his friends.

He wasn't all that into the actual trick or treating, he just didn't get it. There was lots of aimless wandering.  And finally, here is the back shot of his pumkin that I painted.  The front is just a classic black jack-o-lantern face, and on the sides I painted the words "boo" in green cursive to look like a pumpkin vine.  Maybe next year he'll actually want to use it!

 

P.S.- I messed with the settings today and I hopefully got the email thing turned on (Lucy, if I didn't you may  need to walk me through it) and I turned on the annoymous (Mom, sorry I didn't realize it was off before.  You should be able to comment now without having an account.)  And I switched to the new editing format, but now I can't find the spell check.  I'm a horrible speller.  HORRIBLE.  Tonight when I showed up mom had to tell me to go fix Luke's badge because I had put "sherif"  not "sheriff".  So, until I can find the spell  check you may have to just deal with it.

Happy 100th!

This is my 100th post! I can't believe I've made it this far. I was SO sure that after a couple of weeks I would be totally over blogging, just like all of my other "journaling" attempts. But here I am! I thought for a long time about what I should say on this oh-so-special post. Should I make up a top 100 of things I love? 100 things that are *cough* unique about me? 100 things I want to accomplish? And then I realized if I tried to come up with 100 of ANYTHING it would take me 100 years, so I nixed the idea and went with how I almost universally start my posts....

Today we went to Old Navy where they were having some long sleeve shirts for $7! I got 3. And a flappy hat for Luke. And camo flip flops for him for next summer (they were 48 cents). And a pair of super soft house shoes. Then we went to Hobby Lobby for some rick rack and I found some metal decorations for above the living room windows. I'm waiting to put them up until Monday when Cody is at work. I don't think he'll really like them, so if I put them up while he's gone I bet I can get away with it for a couple of months before he notices. Sneaky, yes, but sometimes you have to put men's inability to notice details to our advantage. Finally we stopped off a Target for candy for tomorrow and diapers. I am so tired of buying diapers. Is 16 months too young to potty train?

I also painted Luke's pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket today. That's what I needed the rick rack for. Instead of boring you with pictures of it today and then more tomorrow from when he's all dressed up, I'll just wait. You're welcome!

Clean!

Today was Cody's birthday- happy birthday baby! Even though you won't ever read this. Anyway, he doesn't really like birthdays (weird, I know, but he's been like that even in childhood), so I'm always determined to make it a special day. I decided to have The Boy picked up by my parents for church so that we could have a nice quiet dinner that I cooked, and I wanted to do it in a clean home. Oiy. I really didn't have good time management today. Let's start from the beginning.

Last night I put some new flannel sheets on the bed and oh momma were they comfortable. It was so hard to get up this morning! So, the plan to go get Cody donuts while he was showering fell through. It also put the rest of my morning in a time crunch. I needed to go get the groceries for tonight's dinner and get in in the crock pot before Luke and I went to have lunch with him, but we were supposed to be at his office at 11:50, and we didn't leave for the store until 10:30. We got back about 11, so that left me 30 minutes to get the dinner thrown together. I'm not a chopper, I'm not a peeler, I'm not a cooker. That was the fastest I've ever done all three. Which meant I left the kitchen looking like this:

Yikes. I'm slightly embarrassed to show these, I take great pride in my house always being clean. As soon as Luke and I got home from lunch I laid him down for a nap and got to work. Ta da! One hour later it transformed to normal:

Then I needed to move on to the living room. There had been an accident on the couch yesterday, and no one picked up Luke's toys, so the room was a tornado:

But after the cushion covers got washed, the toys put away, and the floors scrubbed, it was relaxation-ready again: (note, I forgot to take the after picture until I started writing this, that's why it's dark outside. It didn't take me until sundown to clean.)

Also, I did a ton of laundry. Here is the pile of CLEAN laundry. Plus there was a load in the washer. And a load in the dryer. And a load of Luke's clothes in his room. This stack was actually taller than Luke, and I tried to get him to stand next to it for the picture, but he's too quick.

Dinner turned out a little dry, the wine was a little intense, and the cake had no icing, but that's how he requested it. Isn't that weird that he wanted a cake with no icing? I eat icing straight out of the can. It's the best part. Anyway, it was nice to have a quiet dinner together. I lit a fire, even though it was 68 degrees out side. We have lived in this house for over 2 years and have never had a fire! So when I lit it, of course I opened the flu. Except that the living room started filling with smoke. Apparently we've lived the last 2 years with it opened the whole time, and I closed it just in time for a fire.

Good bye for now

So tonight was the going away party for my good friend Shae and her husband and little boy, Dakota, who is one of Luke's "friends". And now I get to show you my secret project! The last few days I have spent turning this:

into this:

The verse at the bottom is Numbers 6:24-26.

"The Lord bless you

and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

and give you peace."

First of all, I feel that is a very appropriate blessing for someone you love that is moving away. But secondly, our preacher pronounces that blessing over the congregation every Sunday, so I thought it would strike a sentimental note. I also made something for Dakota.

What 20 month old doesn't want a hooded towel as a going away present?! Anyway, it was a nice party. There were kids everywhere! And it was so nice to just sit and visit. My dapper little man made quite a first impression when he walked through the door.

I wanted him to get to wear his suit before he grew out of it, considering its only been worn the one time, so I paired the vest with his jeans and this hat I found on sale a Babies R Us for $2! I ALMOST let him wear the tie, but the neck of this shirt was a little snug and I didn't want him suffocating for the sake of fashion. There was also hot chocolate!

I mistakenly let Luke have the whipped cream off the top, and of course he grabbed the cup and spilt chocolate all down his front. On his white shirt. Awesome. The little stinker also kept grabbing chips off my plate and running off. Apparently the dinner of chicken nuggets, tomatoes, and carrots that I brought for him just wasn't good enough. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of me and my dear friend Shae tonight, but I did get some more of our boys. They turned out much better than the ones from this day. When the other kids saw me taking their pictures, they all came running and wanted in, so we ended up with this:

At 9:30 I reluctantly told Luke it was time to go home. I had to give quick hugs to Shae and Joby and dart out of there so I wouldn't start crying like a little girl. *ugh* I hate saying goodbye.

I got nothin'

I did have something nice to say tonight, I really did. I felt bad about being negative yesterday, so I was going to make up for it tonight. BUT, I'm tired and now I've forgotten everything I was going to say. Luke didn't sleep last night so Momma is pooped today. Sooooooo......... I thought I would steal this from Lucy's Life and answer a few question's. Here we go!

♥What are your middle names?
I'm Lindsey Ann and he's Cody Ryan. Which is why Luke is Luke Ryan.

♥How long have you been together?
We've been married for six years and dated 4 years before that. We've passed the decade mark!

♥How long did you know each other before you started dating?
We grew up at the same church, so we've been friends since we were 7 years old.

♥Who asked who out?
Wellllllll.......here's the thing. We had a crush on each other all summer back in 1999. We were at Bennigin's with a bunch of friends having dinner, and as we were leaving I saw a girl from school in the lobby. I stopped and made small talk, and I thought he had gone on out to the car. When she asked if that cute boy was my boyfriend I *gulp* lied. I said yes. I thought he would never know! Well, he heard me. We were riding in another friend's car, me in the passenger seat and him in the back, and he leaned forward and asked me what I said to that girl. I said "oh, you know, just small talk." He said no, when she asked if I was your boyfriend. I got all wide eyed. BUSTED! With a pounding heart I stammered that I said yes, and then I asked him if it was the right thing to say. He said sure and that was that. We were boyfriend/girlfriend.

♥Who made the first move?
Oooops. See the novel above. If' this means kiss, then he kissed me first. In my car. When I was dropping him off at curfew about 3 months into our relationship.

♥How old are each of you?
26

♥Did you go to the same school?
High school? No. College? Yes.

♥Are you from the same home town?
Yes. And we've moved back, so both grandparents are here begging for face time with Luke.

♥Who is the smartest?
Well, since he doesn't read this, I could totally say me and get away with it. But maybe I should go ask him. Hold on.......Okay, here's how that just went down.
Me "Hey, silly question. Who's smarter? Me or you?"
Him "What?"
Me "You heard me."
Him "I don't think you can judge that."
Me "Well, do it anyway."
Him "We're smart in different ways. You're smarter in creative stuff and management stuff and other stuff."
Me "And how are you smarter?"
Him "I don't know."
Me "Are you just saying that because you think that you are smarter and you don't wanna say it to my face."
Him (laughing) "No. I guess I'm smarter in technical stuff. And other things."

I would have to say he's pretty dead on. We definitely complement each other in the area's of strengths and weaknesses. It's amazing how God works that!

♥Who majored in what?
I'm elementary education and he's working on computer programing.

♥Who is the most sensitive?
Oh lord have mercy, it's me. In fact, two days ago we were laying on the couch and I got weepy about some changes that are coming up, and he goes "You know what I really don't like? When you cry on me. I get all damp." Nice.

♥Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Probably Chili's. If you were averaging over the years. Or Macaroni Grill.

♥Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Mexico. Once in high school on a mission trip and then on our honeymoon. Well, I think the drive to Colorado might have actually taken longer, so either Colorado or Mexico. Hey! This is Texas!

♥Who has the worst temper?
Me me me. I know you are thinking, not sweet Lindsey! But holy moly do I flare up.

♥How many children do you want?
Well, before I had kids I always said I would take 1 and see how that went, and then maybe have another, and he said 3. Now I'm dying for 10 and he's content with what we've got. So, we'll see.

♥Who does the cooking?
Me I guess. Well, I'm supposed to. But I hate cooking. Hate it. So we eat out waaaay more than we should.

♥Who is more social?
I would actually say we are both pretty social. No bad time when the Carver's are around!

♥Who is the neat-freak?
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

♥Who is the most stubborn?
Unfortunately we are both pretty stubborn. BUT as God continues to work on my heart I feel like I have improved in that area.

♥Who wakes up earlier?
It used to be me, but now that I stay home our roles have switched and he gets up first.

♥Where was your first date?
Not a clue.

♥Who has the bigger family?
He does.

♥Do you get flowers often?
I can't remember the last time I got flowers. I say out loud that's okay, because we don't need to spend the money. Which is true. We don't. But deep down I really would like the flowers.

♥How do you spend the holidays?
We do what we can to make things even, but usually work schedules dictate what we can do and where we can go.

♥Who is more jealous?
Me. I can only think of once where he was jealous.

♥Who eats more?
He does. In fact, when I buy special treats for me I hide them so I will actually get to enjoy them when I want to.

♥What do you do for a living?
SAHM, baby! Whoop whoop! And he does tech support for a medical company.

♥Who does the laundry?
I do. As much as I hate laundry, he's been banned from doing it in fear of ruining my things.

♥Who’s better with the computer?
Him of course! It's his job! I'm pretty tech savvy myself, but sometimes I am so thankful he has his knowledge and expertise!

♥Who drives when you are together?
He used to, but now that Luke's here when we go out as a family we have to take my car and he HATES driving my car. He's too tall to see out of it properly. So when it's the two of us, he always drives and we always take his truck, but as a family it's 50/50 in my car.

♥What is "your" song?
We don't really have one. We walked back up the isle to Shania Twain's "Forever and For always" at our wedding, but he hates country.

Whew! That took longer than I expected!

Mosquitos mosquitos go away (a little bit complainy tonight)

I thought that would be an appropriate title since a couple of days ago I asked the rain to go away. All of this rain has made the mosquito population COMPLETELY out of control. Luke has 8 bites on his legs, and I have 6. Blec. And guess what it's doing as I type? Yep. Raining. In fact, the thunder just crashed so loud there is a good chance I might have to take a break in a second due to a terrified baby woken from slumber................nope. I don't hear him. You know what I'm also tired of? Being hypocondriacal (that's a word, right? spell check had no suggestions) about the flu. I swear every evening I am SURE my throat is getting soar and tomorrow I will wake up with fever and the chills. *sigh* What a season. I just hate Halloween in general. I hate scary movies. I hate trying to come up with costumes. I hate haunted houses. I hate all the ridiculously cheesy "horror" decorations. I do love the candy though. I love that I can get lots of sweety treats cheaper than normal. Mmmmmmmm. Sweeties. I think at one point I had something nice to say, something clever and witty, but right now all I can think about is how my house smells like toast and tomorrow, if it's not still raining, it will still be muddy.

The Carvers Carve

Today Luke and I carved our pumpkin. Don't worry. I didn't get an over priced one at the pumpkin patch the other day, I bought a $5 one at the grocery store. Luke pretty much had zero interest in carving a pumpkin. In fact, he wanted nothing to do with the gooey mess that is the inside of a pumpkin. It may have had something to do with the fact that I "killed" the pumpkin.

"Daddy, what is Momma doing to that thing?"

"Ewwww....get it off, get it off! I don't like that slimy stuff."

"What the....get off of me you flower. I just want to be left alone!"

All in all, it was not the quaint family experience I was picturing in my head. There's always next year! The only other thing we did today was we went and got Luke his first flu shot. They FINALLY got them in, and we get to go back for 2 more- one is the follow up to this shot in 4 weeks and the other is the H1N1 whenever they get a shipment in. Since Luke has reactive airways he got bumped to closer to the top of that list. Asthma has to be useful for something! As I type this I have Luke in the bath. Cody was feeling a little blue tonight, so I told him I would take him to dinner. Tomorrow is Sunday, so he had to get his weekly bath before off to Grandmother's for the evening! Just kidding. He gets a bath every night.

Huge praise!

It may not sound like the biggest deal to most people, but my baby learned a new sign tonight! Being diagnosed as language delayed, it's a huge praise when he picks up on any new word. (Sign language counts as vocabulary in the medical world.) Tonight I was sitting and working on a secret project while Luke was eating dinner. He had been jibber jabbering most of the time, and I didn't think anything of it. Finally I looked up and he was holding his arms up, flapping his hands....."all done"!! I got so excited. I've used the sign "all done" for the last couple of months, at least 5 or 6 times a day. The last few days I have been praying specifically that God would provide Luke with a vocabulary, and here is a new word! Lets just hope that it continues.

As I foresaw on Wednesday, these last few days have been really laid back. Haven't really done anything, haven't really accomplished much. Yesterday I kept a couple of kids for a few hours, and one of those hours was during breakfast. I was out of fresh fruit, and according to my friend frozen fruit is just as good and cheaper. So I tried out frozen blue berries, since I can't get fresh any more anyway, and I put them in his pancakes and in a ramekin on the side. I stepped out of the kitchen to be with the other kids in the living room, and when the 4 year old and I went back in, she started laughing at Luke. I asked her if we needed a picture of him, and she said yes.

You can also see the hair cut I gave him amidst the bed head. Hopefully tomorrow we will carve our pumpkin and there will be better pictures there.

Rain rain go away

It has rained the ENTIRE day today. And not just a slight drizzle. I mean RAINED. I am soooo over it. At least we had a few refreshing days of sunlight in the last week amidst all this rain, and it really did lift my spirits. Isn't it amazing how depressed you can feel just because of the weather? I am so glad I don't live in some place like Seattle, I would probably need Prozac or something (that's an antidepressant, right?). So while I've had cabin fever, I completed my first official order. Can you believe it? Someone is actually PAYING me to make something for them! Here it is:

It's hard to see in the picture, but the verse on the green next to the bird is Psalms 9:2. My original idea was to stitch it directly onto the onesie, but that was waaaaay harder than I thought! The material was too stretchy and ended up looking bunched and funky, so I took it off and appliqued the green material on. Much better!

I also gave Luke a hair cut yesterday. It turned out pretty decent. Behind one ear it's a little more square than rounded, but totally worth a free haircut. Hello extra $20 in my pocket! I'll take a picture and post it tomorrow though. I foresee tomorrow being just as exciting as this one, so I better space out the pictures.

Lots of activities

Today was a busy busy day. First I had a quick follow up at the oral surgeon, then it was on to better places...donuts! Yes, I did get the mouth watering chocolate butter cream stuffed chocolate covered donut. Oh. I want another one.

After donuts we ran up to Once Upon A Child to take some clothes I never even took the tags off, found him a LEATHER JACKET!!! yes, be jealous, and then we finally made it to the.....pumpkin patch! This year:

Last year: (you may laugh at my little old man. I do every time I look at these pictures)

Do you know how hard it was to get him to smile for a picture all by myself? There is literally only ONE other picture from about 50 that he is smiling in. The one below doesn't count, I was actually tickling him. This year:

Last year:

Then we rounded out the morning with a quick trip to the grocery store. Even Puppy got to ride in the cart next to him:

We got home, ate lunch and while he napped I finished the present a friend is buying from me for a baby shower. I'll post pictures tomorrow or so, there are enough pictures for today!

In control (kind of)

So yesterday my lovely friend of about 3 years, Niki, called me. She is having a baby in about 5 weeks and she was feeling completely overwhelmed with her nursery. She has the CUTEST bedding and accessories, but every single present from her shower last week was still in it's bag in the middle of the floor. And who does she call for rescue organization? ME!! I knew I was good friends with this gal for a reason. Can I just tell you again how much I love to organize stuff? If I could run a business organizing things, I totally would. I got to spend the whole afternoon sorting clothes, arranging drawers, setting up more accessories, and I only got a little too bossy once (well, in my head it was only once). I really tried to remind myself every 5 minutes or so that this wasn't my room, wasn't my baby, and wasn't my life, so that she wouldn't kick me out.

Let me just clarify one more time- I didn't DECORATE her room...she's done a beautiful job of that. I can't wait for Riley to spend sweet, dream filled nights (and afternoons) in her gorgeous room. I just got to help organize it.

Whilst I was at Niki's house working my magic, Mom and Dad took Luke to lunch, let him nap at their house, and then took him to the park. Fun with Papa:

And fun with Nana:

And then I got to come home to my whirlwind of a house. Cody and I didn't have the greatest night last night, so I didn't pick up before I went to bed and let me tell you I paid for it when I walked in. The reason for the mess? Here:

Can you tell what he's doing? I have a sugar mold with glass votives in the holes right inside the fire place (it used to be right outside of the fire place, but once he started climbing up there I thought it would be safer inside of the wire curtain thing). He figured out that the votives come out, and he took them all out. Then he put them all back in. Then he took them all out. Then he left. Awesome.

Not dead yet...

Not only did I not get struck by lightning by my (slightly rude now that I go back and read it) post from yesterday, God granted me with a little shot of productivity! I went to Home Depot today to get a drain cover for Luke's tub- the drain was working so poorly that I would have to fill it back up half way through bath time- and we went to Target and got his Halloween costume. This has been one area that I've been disappointed in myself for a lack of creativity. I really wanted to come up with something fun, unique, and cute for his costume, but I can't for the life of me! I know that there is still a couple of weeks left for something to come to me, but now we have a Woody (from Toy Story) costume for when I still come up dry. I'm not a huge fan of character costumes, but it's better this than nothing. I guess it doesn't really matter that he's never actually SEEN Toy Story, but by golly we sure can look like it.

I also made this today for him out of one of those shirts from Wal Mart. I hope they get more in throughout the winter, I bought the only two they had in his size and I will be bummed if I have to do laundry every day since the only plain one he has now will be the bottom layer of EVERYTHING from sweaters to oxfords.

Lightning might strike...

There is a good chance lightning my strike me in just a moment...because I have some serious news. I am 10 chapters into Leviticus and it is b.o.r.i.n.g. I'm reading in the sub-par NIV version (I'm an ESV kinda gal) because it's my "study" bible with all the little tidbits at the bottom. Even those hint at boring-ness. And I know it's most likely going to get worse, not only because I've peaked ahead, but I've also tried to read through it before. *sigh* But aren't you proud of me for making it 46 days so far? I know if I can just get through to day 53, things might start looking up. That's when Numbers starts. But I wouldn't bet to much money on it. I'm thinking day 82 will be my favorite- done with not only Numbers, but also Deuteronomy and beginning Joshua! Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and not all of the next 40 days will be a total drag. If I remember I'll keep you posted.

This morning ECI came out for Luke. After working with him she said that she would like to see him have at least a couple of basic words in his vocabulary, seeing that his current repertoire of words is still resting at 0. If by 18 months (December) he isn't really improving we are going to have to bump up his visits from once a month to every two weeks. If you do things in a prayerful kind of way, please remember him and his language development. Between this and my fear of him catching the swine flu I am doing good not to go totally crazy with worry. (FYI- if he catches the flu he will most likely be hospitalized due to his lung/breathing situation)

And now I believe there is a glass of wine, a new Good Housekeeping, and a tub that is calling my name.

Forgot

I forgot to mention in my last post about this great new store I found! I dropped the hint to Cody last night that it would be a good place to get a Christmas present from, and I also need to drop the hint to Mom. Or this could be the dropped hint because I know that you read everyday Mother, yet you never comment. Not even about how pitiful/cute/adorable/wonderful/spastastic your precious and ONLY grandson is.

Highly pitiful

So I didn't think I was going to have anything to write about today. Except, then the boy acted more pitiful than I have ever seen him. Yesterday on our way to Renee's house Luke and I stopped at WalMart to get some onesies that I plan on applique-ing and embellishing. This led me to the baby section, where of course I had to poke around and make sure I didn't need to pick up anything for Luke. Naturally. I found him a couple of plain white long sleeve shirts to layer under short sleeve shirts, seeing that the weather is changing and he can still fit a bunch of stuff. I feel like it would be a total waste to pack up perfectly good clothes that he can still fit just because of a silly thing like the weather. Anyway, I did find something else that he needed. I found some a knit beanie for $2 and a 2 sets of matching gloves for $1. Hello! I would be crazy not to get those for him! I tried them on him today. The hat he could handle, but as soon as I put one of the pairs of gloves on him, look what happened.

Not to mention it would have been impossible to get his little fingers where they belonged. His fist is just balled up inside. The good news in this though, is that I could tell they were big, so I'm sure he can where the gloves next year. Nothing like trying to keep up with four gloves on the off chance he won't hate them in 14 months.

Tonight Cody and I went to see our friend Jacob Metcalf play. We had a nice date before hand complete with a pizza place and and ice cream shop. I had cupcake ice cream with sprinkles. Jacob sounded great too! Shhhh....don't tell anyone that I skipped out on church. I felt it was a big enough deal that Cody asked me to go somewhere with him that justified missing out. ;) While I do think it's important to belong to a church for learning and fellowship, I actually feel sorry for people who feel like they absolutly HAVE to be at church everytime the doors open. I am sooo glad my salvation doesn't depend on how frequently I show up to church, because I'm pretty sure Jesus told me there were no perfect attendence awards in heaven.

Love washed over

This morning I was standing at the sink cutting the tops off of strawberries for Luke when all of the sudden I felt the love of my Savior just wash over me. The itunes was blaring a good song, the baby was happy and eating, it was slightly chilly out side and coffee was brewing, and I just felt completely overcome with peace and love. I felt like this is exactly what I was meant to be doing at exactly that time. I just love when Father blesses me spontaneously like that.

The rest of the day just flew by, I got the house totally picked up, vacuumed the bedrooms and cleaned the wood parts. All of this rain has made it impossible to keep the floors clean, any time you step a toe outside there are little bits of grass everywhere. *sigh* It's kind of like no matter how many loads of laundry you do, at the end of the day what you were wearing will start the stack all over again.

Tonight we (as in Luke and I) had dinner at an old friend's house. I have know Renee since middle school, and although we didn't keep in contact while in college, it's been nice to pick back up now that she and her husband have moved back to the area. We had a nice long visit and I finally had to excuse us when Luke laid down on the floor and started crying. APPARENTLY it was time for bed. He's gotten into the habit of randomly laying down in the middle of the floor lately. Take this picture for example. Background: I was watching tv and I hadn't heard him playing for a few minutes. Then I just hear clapping. I look over and the child is LAYING on the floor in front of his high chair clapping (his sign for "more"). Not crying, not fussing, just clapping. Confused, I look at the clock and it was way time for him to eat a snack. Oops.

A Day Away From the Office

Today a couple of girlfriends and I took our kiddos to the zoo. We were there from 11 to 3 with a 3 year old (Emma), a 2 year old (Claire), a 1 year old (Luke), and a 3 month old (Audrey), and they did unbelievably well! With the exception of one smashed forehead, there were absolutely no incidences, despite the obvious lack of nap time. The weather was actually perfect- cloudy and cool. Luke wasn't overwhelmingly thrilled with the animals...

Or with taking pictures with me...

But after a fantastic lunch of chicken nuggets, fries, ketchup and a $2.50 Dr. Pepper (okay, that was just me, he had water) we did find something that totally made his day...

Only the biggest wheel he has ever seen! And just to prove that we were there with other people...

Here is photographic evidence of Emma, Claire, and Sara (who apparently is the only one who smiles for pictures). We were POOPED when we got home, but I'm so glad we got to go. We learned so much. You know, like some times older people go to the zoo to make out. And either not many people had off of work or we were the only ones silly enough to go to day becasue there was NO ONE there. Also that hippos are very dangerous and there is such a thing as a less flamingo. I did get a video of the lion roaring, which is pretty cool. He was either roaring or coughing up a hair ball. Could go either way. And now...

I'm off!

More showers

When I say more showers, I am saying literally and.....literally? What I mean is, not only did it rain again today, but there was another baby shower after church. Is anyone keeping count? Yes, that is three baby showers in 8 days. Plus, my good friend finally announced to the world (via Facebook of course) that she is pregnant, and I am so glad she finally shared the news! Yaaaay for more babies! But that little twinge has returned, about how great/fun/exciting/wonderful/thrilling it would be to be pregnant again, and have another sweet Cody&Lindsey combo in our lives. I keep telling Cody that Luke is so cute that we need to see if we can top him with an even CUTER kid. I don't think he's buying it. ;( Oh well. I guess I'm not really ready to clean out that spare room anyway.

Also, the other day I've started reading the book 90 Minutes In Heaven. I got it as a door prize at the retreat last weekend, and to be honest I wasn't allllll that thrilled. But a couple of people told me it was really good so I got a little excited about it. And you know what? It is! I'm about 6 chapters in, and I'm hooked. The first couple of chapters was describing the accident he had, and then what heaven looked like (he was declared dead for 90 minutes, hence the name of the book). After reading that, and having read the book Heaven a couple of years ago, has refreshed me once again in my faith with a peace that I am on the right road. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that focusing on getting to heaven is the right motive for following Christ. He give me such a joy and peace every day, sometimes for no other reason than the fact that He loves me, that if this was all there was, that would be enough. But getting to have some little clue about what things are to come makes it that much easier to keep my eye on the prize and my focus pointed upward.

And now I'm going to go eat a hamburger. I know that it is currently 10:30 at night, but Cody and I were just watching one of those "world's biggest" shows on the food network and they featured a ginormous hamburger. Cody volunteered to go get me one (I promise he did! All I said was, "Yum. Now I want a hamburger.") and he has just returned from What-a-burger. Cheers! Maybe I'll eat it in bed and read another chapter from my book...

Yesterday and today

Yesterday was not the best of days. Here's a run down:

2 AM- Woke up with the sensation of water pouring down my throat due to over active sinuses/allergies and then sneezing

3 AM- Same allergies

4 AM- Ditto

5 AM- More of the same

6 AM- Still going strong; wondering why I even take allergy meds

6:30- Phone call from a panicked sister who was on her way to the airport in Little Rock to fly home when her back driver's side window fell down and wouldn't go back up and it was raining

6:50- Get off the phone with a now calm sister

7:15- Get in shower to get ready to go pick up said sister with Dad

7:30- Luke wakes up, cutting into my get ready time

9:00- Dad comes and picks us up

9:45- Arrive a Love Field and pick up Ashley

10:00- Finally get breakfast with Dad, Ashley and Luke at Cracker Barrel

11:00- In a zombie like fashion sit on couch for a loooooong time

Now when I tell you that I went to bed at 8:30 a Friday night, you might be a little more understanding, and a little less likely to call me a grandma.

This morning I woke up to a very cold world (it was 68 degrees in my house!!! We were freeeeezing, we normally keep the temp at 79 in the summer) but that's okay because it was my good friend Niki's baby shower today! I have been so excited to give her the present I made her, which was a huge hit. Yay! And tonight Luke and I went over to have dinner with Mom, Dad, and Ashley. They made a swordfish steak (which was actually pretty good, I just wasn't that hungry from all my snacking at the shower) and banana pudding for dessert. I let Luke have some and of course he LOVED it. When I say he loved it, I mean he actually picked up the bowl and licked it. We have photographic evidence of this occurrence, but it's on Mom's camera so I'll post the pictures one day. Instead I'll just leave you with a couple of good shots of Ashley and Luke that I've gotten in the last 15 months.

We've bonded

This morning I had a whole lot of trouble getting going, it took me forrrrrrrreverrrrrr to get moving to make breakfast. Like an hour. But we got there and I was gearing up for a day of home life, trying to get motivated to clean something. Not too long after breakfast I took Luke back to change his diaper, and he only had 2 diapers left in the basket so I thought "My first productive task can be to refill his diaper basket." So I opened the drawer and my heart skipped a beat. It was empty. I mean EMPTY. All I had left was 4 swim diapers. I have never let him get this low! So we immediately threw some clothes on and went to Walmart. I was a little bummed because I had just made coffee and it was raining, but what if he had two blow outs? What if someone called and was having an emergency and we were gone all day? What if a tornado came through with the misty rain we were getting and we were stranded? (FYI- there wasn't even thunder in our fall shower today) Okay okay, maybe I over reacted a little, but still, I panicked and ran us to Wallyworld.

When I got home something magical happened: the sun came out and the FedEx guy delivered my coat rack! Is it weird that I've always wanted a coat rack? I found one on Amazon last week for $47! Whoooo hoo! So I was super pumped when the delivery man showed up. Plus, who doesn't love a package? It came in a bunch of pieces:

(Dog and child's board book not included)

But after my magic touch I turned it into this!

(yes, my kid is pantless AGAIN. I promise he always has on pants in public!)

And then after I finished putting it together there were little pieces of Styrofoam all over the floor, forcing me to clean it. This was a good thing though, it had only been a week since I had cleaned them but Luke's sock were......let's just say they weren't staying white on the bottom.

Then tonight at Celebrate Recovery we had a shocking situation. If you know my child personally, you know how easy going he has always been. Never ever has had a hard time when I leave him places. But tonight was a whole different ball game. In between worship and small groups I had to pass by the room he was in. He saw me and got all squeally. Of course I had to go over and kiss him hello real quick, but then the lady confessed that he'd been having a hard time and had been crying off and on. Hmm. So I set him down to go into small groups and he gets hysterical. HYSTERICAL. I give him some milk and his favorite book and quickly exit the room. I'm in small groups for 20 minutes when the nursery coordinator sneaks in and waves me over. Really? My child? Poor kid could not calm down and I had to go get him. I would have never thought it. Sooooooo.......I guess he has finally bonded to the point of attachment! Maybe I should have taken the clue when he got mad I was holding another baby last night....

Then of course when we got home he was all giddy and hyper. Just look what he did in 45 seconds. Not even kidding.

Enough!

Enough with the crappy rain/mist/clouds already! I feel like it has been gloomy for months now. And it's seriously affecting my mood. I just can't seem to snap out of it! I have become very complacent and just.....blah. I know deep down if I were to cry out to my Savior that He would pull me out, but the vicious circle has yet to be broken. Most tangible symptom? I have not been able to get my house under control since I got home on Saturday. Each day the mess just gets worse and has now become so overwhelming I just want to crawl under a rock. *sigh* It is so frustrating when you know you need to get your act together, but you just can't get motivated.

One reason the mess has multiplied is I got to sewing. When I'm creating I try and get it done as fast as I can so that the mess won't hang around. BOY do I know how to make a mess with supplies! Add a 15 month old with no concept of "put away" and you have a recipe for a disaster. So here are some of the things that have sucked away my time, energy, and sense of order:

(Luke's new diaper bag and diaper pouch- Momma's taking back the pretty blue paisley one!)

(baby shower gift for Sunday- monogramed hooded towel, monogramed pocketed bag, paci holder, and two burp cloths, all fabric is matching)

As I'm making things, I get the deep satisfaction of actually enjoying what I'm doing. It must be the same feeling that people who LOVE their job feel. Not that I don't whole-heartedly love being home with my baby. This is just different. I've got a few other ideas in my head of things I want to make, so be on the look out in the next few weeks. I'm also toying with the idea of doing Luke's room over in vintage cowboy (hence his new bag). I haven't found a comforter that I just love, so it's entered my mind to maybe-just maybe-make a quilt of vintage cowboy and bandanna and denim. Maybe. Renee? Are you out there? If I decide to do it your number will probably be on speed dial. My only problem is that Pottery Barn Kids make such darn cute things that I'm being indecisive about what I want!