Plan was foiled

Soooo...this weekend I went on the ladies retreat at church. 

It.  Was.  Awesome.

Beyond awesome.

I have not laughed that much, cried that much, or been that silly in a very very long time.  Not only did I get to learn some more amazing facets about my Savior and Redeemer, but I got to love on my friends and get to know them even better than I did before.  You know it's been a good time when you have a million new inside jokes, like "profe-sher" and "pork-on-a-stick".  Laser's anyone?

Before I left I made a little video of what my house looked like, how perfectly in order it was, and fully expected to have a disaster when I came home.  I was ready with my camera to document the horror, and I was going to have a post that was simply titled "Before and After" with only those two videos in the body. 

But you know what?  My husband rocks. I came home and it was pretty close to what I had left it.  Sure, there were a couple of toys out, pajamas in the bathroom, and a milk cup on the bedroom window sill (not even going to ask about that one), but it was not nearly what I had prepared myself for.  My only complaint was that Luke pulled books off his shelf and ripped the pages out of Stellaluna.  I'm a little protective of my books, so that one hurt a bit.  Thank you Daddy for working to have it nice when I got home!  (even though it foiled my plan of a funny post)

Now on to the pictures.  My other plan was to get the perfect pose picture, a la Missy at Naptime, with most of the ladies at the retreat (pretty much all of them have known me for years and years), but seeing as this was my first grown up ladies retreat and not a youth group retreat, I didn't realize that no one brings their camera.  So...I only got pictures with my immediate friends and roomates for the weekend to save myself the embarrasment of looking super juvenile. 

Sara and I at Whataburger on our way out to the camp.

Brandy and I in our hats because it was cold!  She got this one for $1 at China.

Sandra and I right before the first session.

Rachel and I before she had to leave, and we are holding a special present.

Erica, before she had to leave with Rachel because her hubs and baby both had gotten really sick.  ;(

It's a good thing Sheri isn't a reader, because she might kill me if she saw I posted this.  She's a trooper though, and went along with me!

Can you tell how cold it was?  I promise that I had a fresh outfit on every day, but it was so stinkin cold that I didn't take of my coat or scarf once.  Not once.  After I got dressed that is.  I didn't shower with them on or anything silly.  Although there is a good chance I might have tried to nap in them on Saturday after we got back from Canton.  Here are my amazing Canton finds!

This one I put in my living room:

And this one I hung in my kitchen.  It's really about 3 1/2 feet tall!

And then to cap it all off, we were singing some songs in small group tonight and all of the sudden Luke busted out dancing to it.  Apparently no one has told him we are Church of Christ and we just don't do that.  *tsk tsk tsk*  His parents need to teach him better than that.

Hider

Ladies, get your jewelry out of sight and look before you sit down.  We've got a hide-er on our hands.  I've found toys here:

And here:

And here:

Amongst other places.  Like picture frames in my bed.  Or cups of milk under the entertainment center.  Okay, that last one might not have been on purpose, but it was still disgusting when I found it. 

Also, did you know that flat irons make excellent security blankets? 

I drew the line at taking it to bed at nap time. 

So this weekend is the ladie's retreat at church, and we will be gone the ENTIRE weekend!  As in, leaving Friday night and coming back Sunday morning.  So if I'm gone all weekend with no baby, guess who will be home all weekend with baby.....that's right.....Daddy.  Anyone wanna start taking bets at what the state of the union is when I get home?  I plan on cleaning everything tomorrow and leaving a note that says:

I have cleaned everything.  Since you have told me before that I'm the only one who makes a mess so I'm the only one who needs to pick up, I expect it to look like it does now when I get home on Sunday.  Thank you- managment

Belly button

Tonight my beloved son discovered the belly button.  He not only discovered his belly button, but he discovered my belly button. 

By lifting up my shirt. 

Apparently this is hillarious, because you should have heard the storm of laughter each of the million times he did this tonight.

Then when Daddy got home, he discovered Daddy's belly button.

By lifting up Daddy's shirt. 

So if the next time you are around Luke he lifts up your shirt, just say belly button and wait for the mad giggling.   Then try to distract him and move on.

Suprise Party!

I can finally talk about what I've been doing  for the last two weeks.....getting ready to throw Mom a suprise party!  Ashley, Dad, and I decided that turning 50 was a pretty big deal, so we got all of her friends together and had a shin-dig.  Since Mom was  born in 1960, we thought a 60's themed  party would be perfect!  I put in the evite that costumes were optional, and while it was a given that we would dress up, I wasn't sure how many people would come in their best hippy gear.  But some did!  It was great!

But ya'll.....oh ya'll.....the only other party I have ever thrown was Luke's first birthday.  About half way through the planning process I was  a little afraid of what I had gotten myself into.  What, you don't throw a suprise party for 50 people (including dinner) every day?  I don't even cook for my little family!  But you know what?  It wasn't that bad.  I took it step by step.......guests?  Check.  Cake?  Check.  Decorations?  Check.  Slide show of pictures of Mom growing up?  Check. Food?  Check. 

Then I (to Ashley's mucho groaning) made us start really early yesterday morning to get everything ready.  And tada!  It was fantastic!  We fixed smoked bristket, bbq sauce on the side, baked beans, green beans, 2 types of potato salad, cole slaw, two types of bread, tea, and of course the cake.  We played a game where I read a statement about Mom and they had to hold up a card that said true or false, and then Mom had to tell the story about it.  I still had people come up to me this morning and tell me how much fun they had.  And now for the pictures!

How fun is  this groovy cake? 

Luke ate his roll with a fork again.

One of the shots of the people and decor.  It looks a little bleh in the picture, but we had flowers on the tables, 60's posters everywhere, the slide show playing, and bright colors everywhere you turn!

Take a big breath Mom!  Holy moly, you should have seen me try to serve and cut that cute cake.  I D.E.S.T.R.O.Y.E.D. it.

My groovy  family.  I spent an afternoon tye dying us all shirts (except Ashley, she wouldn't wear one of mine, she had to wear one she already had), and I found my vest, jeans, and Dad's vest at Goodwill.  I split my jeans and added the fabric to make them bell  bottoms and painted the back of  my vest with a peace sign, heart, and smiley face.  So now if you want to invite me to a hippy party I'll have something to wear.

Let's get silly

Last night Cody and I went with Dillon, Autumn, Justin, and Sarah to Medieval Times.  I haven't been there since 8th grade!  It was so much fun doing something silly, and we got rowdy while we were there.  Nothing like getting into a cheering match with some drunken fools across the arena or having to listen to a belligerent dude in the torture chamber going on and on about the devices.  I meant to take a camera so that I could be a good little blogger and share our merriement with all ya'll, but I forgot.  So, no pictures for today.

However, I can give you a good mental picture.  This morning I got the boys out to do a couple of errands.  The second place we went was Target, and half way up the bread isle I feel something squishy behind my knee.  I muster up the courage to reach  back and feel of it, and it's on the INSIDE. What?  You heard me.  My mind starts racing. 

Do I leave it there?

What if whatever it is falls out?

Did my underware fall off?

Do I have static cling? 

What if I pull out panties?

Finally I take a deep breath, bend over, and reach  up my pant leg from my ankle and fish for whatever is lodged up there. 

Good news:  it was a sock. 

Bad news:   there was a sock stuck up my pants.

Pants are a must

So this morning I've realized that Luke needs to wear something over his diaper or this will happen. 

Boo.  This means more laundry.

This afternoon I took Luke up to the doctor for a quick check on why he hasn't been feeling so great the last few days.  Turns out he's getting over his first cold.  Of all the illness that boy has indured, this is the first time it's been an actual cold.  Amazing huh?  When we got home the child just could not handle being indoors any longer, and we spent an hour walking up and down the sidewalk and around the block.  Good thing it was another beautiful day in the 70's!  I swear we pointed at, named, and waved hello/goodbye to every airplane that flew over head.  Did you know we are kind of under a major air highway into DFW?  I didn't realize this, but there is one flying over head  every 4 minutes at various times of the day.  Oh!  And did you catch that?  He's finally waving goodbye!  I know that it may seem like a little thing, but when most kids start waving bye bye at 10 or 11 months and your kid doesn't, we celebrate it!  It only took him until 18 months!  ;)

Then tonight at bathtime I got a some progressive pictures of his new favorite game. 

I like to call it the "I'm helping the tub fill up and sometimes splashing me" game.

Some things you prolly don't know

About me.  And these are different from the things I've learned.  Which when I went back and read them realized I've learned some pretty good thing's that I had already forgotten.

1.  I sometimes cram food in my mouth, go without, or try to eat when Luke is not around, just so I don't have to share.  He wants EVERYTHING I eat.

2.  I strongly dislike sharing.  Yes I'm 26 years old and still don't like it, although I believe I'm getting better.

3.  Winter weather before Christmas- cozy and festive
Winter weather after Christmas- freezing and depressing.  How long till spring?

4.  I stand in front of the mirror for an hour at night after I wash my face and brush my teeth just picking at things on my skin.

5.  Two things that I am most afraid of: balloons and puking.  Both give me panic attacks.  I will refuse to eat something on the off chance it's bad and could give me food poisoning.  When Cody has been sick I make him close all the doors between me and him and turn on the tub water so I can't hear anything.  I felt a huge sigh of relief on my last day of teaching school because there would be no more suprise throw ups from my kids. 

6.  Besides my inner monolog being Brisitsh sometimes, I mostly talk to God in my head all day.  He's like the bluetooth in my ear having to listen to my constant verbal discourse. 

7.  If God asked me to give up tv forever and ever, I don't know if I could do it.

8.  I finally don't feel guilty for not wearing a pair of shoes for a really long time, and consistantly choosing other shoes over that pair, with out hurting their "feelings".

9.  I hate doing laundry so much that most of the time we don't wear any clothes at home, just so I won't have to do it later.

10.  I am dreading the Olympics.  Dreading them.  That's all anybody can talk about when they are on, and it totally disrupts my prime time viewing pleasure.

Taller than I realized

So, Luke has grown more than I give him credit for.

Example.  This afternoon he was whinning that he wanted a snack, so I got out some apple sauce for him.  I know better than to give an 18 month old free reign over a cup of apple sauce and spoon, so when he refused to let me feed him I put it up on the table and laid down on the couch for a rest.  Then I realized it had been quiet for a little too long. 

Why was it quiet?

Because he was able to reach the cup and the spoon. 

Now instead of eating apple sauce for a snack, he's wearing it on his shirt.  And his pants.  And his hair.  And the kitchen floor is wearing it in puddles.  As is the living room floor from where he came in to show me what he had accomplished.  I tried to get a picture, but they didn't turn out very well and Daisy got to work too fast.

Also, tonight he finally put two and two together that if he gets up on a chair by the table then he can reach all of the electronics Momma put out of reach.

Captured on film

Well, it's not really film.  It's a memory card.  Will we be able to use that phrase anymore?  I guess it will just become another phrase that in 30 years kids will say, "Mom, where did the phrase "captured on film" come from?"  Anyway, I knew that Luke would not be a one trick pony with his new toy-crate-chair buisness. 

(you can see the gap in the wall behind him where the crates are supposed to go)

And then right after I took these he realized he couldn't see the tv from that vantage point, so he moved. 

Now, you might be wondering where all of those fabulous Hot Wheeles, Matchbox cars, Tonka trucks, and other 4 wheeled toys that are normally housed in the red crate might be while he reclines in their home.  They would be on my coffee table.  Where he very carefully took them out two at a time (one in each hand) and placed them safely on the table to wait.  I should have known what he was  up to when I saw the mass exodus next to the coasters.  Also, all of the things piled on the fireplace in the above picture are toys normally stored on top of the crate.  You can see the great length and effort he went to just for an uncomfortable seat directly next to the couch.

Lots of adult conversation

Now that I think about the title of this post, I could probably come up with something less suggestive, but I'm too tired.  So get your mind out of the gutter. 

Today I was actually around mulitple adults, and therefor had mulitple conversations that didn't revolve around owies and boo boos and yogurt and toys.  My good friend Niki came over again for most of the day, and it is so nice just to have another grown up hanging around the house.  At some points during the day we were just sitting there watching our kids, without talking, but it was the good kind of comfortable silence.  I'm so glad that I have a friend that is close enough that we don't feel like we need to fill every down time with random words.  But don't get me wrong, we had good indepth coversation too.  Plus she let me try and teach her to knit.  Yay for more knitters in the world!

Then when she left our new ECI case worker came out.  I like her!  And it turns out she graduated from the same high school I did, only three years before me.  Fun!  Then Cody got home, we ate the pot roast I'd been crock potting all day, then we went out with his friends for drinks and sushi.  See how many adults I got to be around today?  The only time I was alone with the babies was from 7:30-10:30 this morning, and in that time I got a shower, all of the ironing done from yesterday's cleaning extravaganza, pumpkin bread made, the roast on to cook, and Luke fed and dressed.  

Good  day folks.  Good day.  (oh, and I tried to get the funniest picture to add, but the battery wasn't in the camera and the moment passed before I found it and got it in.  Luke had taken all of his toys out of his crate and pushed it in front of the tv and sat in it for a new chair.  Apparently the Pottery Barn one has lost it's charm.  Maybe he'll try it again tomorrow.)

Nary a spot

I spent my whole day cleaning.  Whole day.  Cleaning.

Why you might ask?  Because I procrasinated last week and didn't to ANY, and this week looks so full I knew it wouldn't get done otherwise.  So I did it all.  Today.  All.  While taking care of two needy boys. 

Now there are no milk splatters in the kitchen.  No drool spots in the living room.  No yogurt smears on the couch.  No water spots in the bathroom.  No trash in any cans.  No laundry to be found anywhere.  No dusty finger prints on the entertainment center.  For one magical night the house is clean.  Is this what Christmas Eve feels like to an adult? 

Just don't look too closely in the corners.  While I used to pride myself on being a good house keeper, I have come to realize (and fully accept) that I'm a good enough house keeper.  The stove may not look pristenly brand-new, I hate doing base boards, and those pesky cobwebs won't seem to fall down, but it's clean where it counts. 

And it feels good. 

So bring it on, oh you rest of the week, because this momma can handle it now.

A Dancin' Fool

You may want to turn the sound down a little, the song gets a little annoying, but stick with it.  This is a one-minute exerpt from a three and a half minute video I got of him dancing, and about 3/4 of the way through this clip I just die.  It's probably because he's my kid and I'm the momma, but still.  I die.

Lazy day

Well, it was a lazy day for me.  Is it ever really a lazy day for a toddler?  This morning while Luke made his usual gigantic mess he calls "playing", I read a book.  Doesn't that sound nice?  He played all around me and I sat with this super warm blanket, a cup of coffee (that came to a total of 3 by the end of the morning), and my book that I'm reading. 

A few weeks ago I got Francine River's A Lineage Of Grace.  It's five different ficitional naratives about women in Jesus' lineage.  I've loved it.  This morning I started the last one, titled Unafraid, about Mary.  As I read about her telling the story of rearing Jesus I watched my own son play and just couldn't help but get teary.  This woman got to watch Abba take His first steps.  He called her Momma.  When he got a boo boo she got to kiss it.  Amazing.  I'm about half way through it and I'll probably finish it in bed tonight after I finish watching the Cowboy's game. 

Unless they continue to spank the Eagles and I'll cut out early to go read. 

So that was this morning, and this afternoon I took a very dangerous trip to Target.  The temperature finally got up around the freezing mark today, so I felt good about leaving the house.  Why was it dangerous?  There are always good things to get.  I found a sweater and a pair of shoes for Luke, both 50% off.  But mostly because I found these. (the canisters)

Aren't they so cute?   I love getting little things to spruce up the place.  The canisters that I had before had been wedding presents, so I thought it was time to get some fresh color in the kitchen.  Plus it inspired me to hang these up over the back door.

Mom got them for me for Christmas, and I love them!  They say Coffee (duh, that one is big enough to read), "There will be a $5 charge for whinning", "Kitchen rules: take it or leave it", "Keep the kitchen clean- eat out"  (my personal motto), and "Home is where they love you"  Thanks Santa Mom!

Today's stats

After 4 poopy diapers, 9 temper tantrums, 1 grocery store run in 17 degree wind chill weather, 0 showers, 6 different snacks, 1 pee pee on the floor, 2 crates of toys everywhere, 3 non-trash items fished out of the trash,  and a million baby steps run all over the house, Momma is tired.  He made me work for it today.  And he's still going. 

And I wish that all of that was exagerations.  But they aren't.  Well, execpt for the million baby steps.  It sure did feel like it though. 

I did get an interesting picture today.  Luke's been really into eating with a fork, and as a part of his dinner I let him have the end to a loaf of french bread.  I was honestly hoping it would keep him occupied for a while.  It did.

Nothing says "I can conquor the world" like having the entire end piece of bread on a fork.

18 month well check

Today Luke, Kayden, and I ventured out for the first time together to go to Luke's 18 month well check. It was crazy!  Trying to get a carrier around  with a toddler is about as difficult and prone to fumbling as it looks.  If Luke was a little older and I could trust him to stay by my side when I tell him to, things might be a little different.  But the instant there is another bush, or tree, or flower, or car tire to look at and touch, it don't matter WHAT Momma says, that boy is off. 

But we did it and all survived.  Luke's stats are 25.8 lbs (I was THOROUGHLY shocked it was so much less than 30), 32 1/2 inches tall, and I think she said his head was 43 cm around.  Something like that.  I forgot to ask about his percentiles chart, so I'm not sure where he falls on all of those, but the kid looks pretty average to me, so I'm guessing somewhere around the 50% for all.  Get it?  Average?  50%?  I know you are so glad you are still reading.

Most of the time we talked about his milestones.  He still failed several, but not nearly as many as his 9 month or 12 month milestones.  My baby is slowely catching up!  He is still farthest behind on his language (like we didn't already know that), but I've already got him an appointment with the developmental pediatrician on the 12th.  I just can't believe my precious angel is already 18 months!

Tonight at church I got to have dinner with some friends who just came back from a 2 weeks mission trip to China.  They got back Monday and boy were their stories great!  I'm just so glad everyone is home saftely, no matter how much the jet lag stinks.  ;)  And then in bible class I started the Ester study by Beth Moore.  I think it is going to be a great one, and I can't wait to sink my teeth in it. 

Speaking of teeth, please everyone pray that all of the rest of Luke's teeth come in soon.  I"m so tired of having a fist full of spit come at me everytime he reaches for me.  The child literally chews on his ENTIRE FIST.  The whole thing goes in his mouth.  Yet another reason we still haven't let go of the paci. 

Now I've got a craving

Ever since my good friend Niki mention that she and Sonic's Dr. Pepper where having a little thing on the side, well darn it if I didn't need one too.  So tonight on my way home from picking up my braclet and dinner guess what I passed.  That's right.  A Sonic.  And could I just drive on by and go home?  Nope.  I thought I'd get a little treat to go with dinner. 

When I get drinks from Sonic, I rarely get DP, for some reason I have always thought it tasted a little different somehow than any other DP.  I usually get a cherry vanilla coke, because I heart those a lot and the only other way to get one would be to buy cherry coke and vanilla coke and mix it yourself.  Who wants to do that when Sonic does it so superbly well?  Now much to the suprise of everyone, myself included, is that Dr. Pepper and I have been on a break lately.  Now, don't get me wrong, I could never completely break up with DP.  But we agreed that for a little while it was best to try some other flavors of soda, lest our relationship get stale and boring.  So when out I have been getting a lot of tea.  Because that's really the only thing left after Dr. Pepper and coffee. 

When the little gal brought me my large Dr. Pepper  I thought to myself "Hey!  I can see if it really does taste funny since I haven't had one in a while, or if I was just always being a DP snob."  And you know what?  I'm a snob.  But that's okay, because I've still almost finished the whole thing and haven't even started dinner yet.

So thanks Niki for the craving.  It was worth it.

First day on the job

Suprised?  Yes, I started my new job today.  It's called I'm-a-surrogate-mother-to-an-infant.  Or child care provider.  Or babysitter.  Whatever.  The point is, today was the first day Kayden came over to play.  As much as an 8 week old infant can play.  I think he's 8 weeks. 

ANYWAYS.  It was good!  He's another easy baby who eats and sleeps.  Although, he's not quite as content to lay around when he's awake like Luke was, so I'm not sure what to do with him sometimes.  He might have to be subjected to my made up songs with their made up tunes.  His mom is a girl who is a teacher at Mom's school, and today was the first day back from Christmas vacay.  All the teachers groaned, all the parents rejoiced. 

Tonight Luke and I got out to do a couple of errands while Cody got a massage.  I would be super jealous about that, but it was what he asked for for Christmas from Mom and Dad.  I could have asked for the same thing and I chose not to, so I can't be jealous.  Right? 

Back to the errands.  Nothing says "Please come help me"  like a young mom carrying a toddler through Home Depot up and down the isles.  I was sure they would put those outside faucet insulator things up at the front seeing how cold it is but NOOOO they make you pace around carrying a 30 lb lump of sweetness on your hip until you have to ask the old man helping someone else where they are.  But I got them and when I put them on tonight neither of them fit our faucets outside.  Poetic justice right?  At least they were only 98 cents.  And styrofoam so I could jimmy-rig them.

Then we went to James Avery to get my new charm sautered on from Christmas.  Mom got me a charm that says " I *heart* crafts"  How perfect is that? 

Tada!  That was my day.  Well, I also cooked some killer chicken breasts with something I threw together.  Cody had some left over onion from dinner last night, so I sliced them up and put them on top of the chicken with lots of lemon pepper seasoning.  I was pleasently suprised how good my make shift dinner turned out.  Luke even ate some of the chicken, which is an item he's decided to veto the last couple of weeks. 

I pronounce it good

Sorry about the silence last night.  I promise I wasn't mad at you or anything.  It's just that we went to a 9:20 showing of Sherlock Holms.  Loved it!  Except I had a hard time understanding what Holms was saying when he would talk fast in that accent, which caused many whispers of "What did he just say?  What's going on?"  to Cody.  He doesn't like that.  Tough.  Then we went to IHOP afterwards.  We haven't done that in forever!  Made me feel like a college gal all over again.

Today was a good day.  Church was good.  Luke was good.  Luke got grumpy and then took a really good nap.  12:30 to 4.  Yes.  Be jealous.  And you know it ended on a good note when you living room looks like this.

We played just about everything.  Which is appropriate when the cabinet is emptied like this.

But, Luke is a good and sweet boy and helped me clean while Cody cooked dinner.

Did you catch that last statement?!

Cody cooked dinner.  Ahhhhh.  I just love saying that. 

So all in all it was a good day. 

When I uploaded those living room pictures from my camera just now, I found pictures of this.

I have no idea what is happening here, or why his p.j.'s are around his ankles, but it had to have happened in the last day or two, because they came after the NYE  picture of him sleeping.  I guess I just have a crazy kid who likes to run around half necked (that's naked pronouced with a long "e" instead of an "a").  As long as he's half necked and not fully necked.  Lord help me the day he figures out he can take that diaper off.

No resolutions please

I'm not one to do resolutions.  I think they are lame.  I think that you have the power to start something new each day that you wake up with the ability to make choices.  So that's pretty much everyday that you are breathing and not in a coma. 

That being said......I do have a few thoughts for this year.  Over the last few months I have tried to focus my life back on Christ.  I've really put forth the effort to revive my relationship with Him.  I hope that this year I can continue to draw closer to my God and let Him continue to change me in ways that I could never do by myslef. 

One of those ways I'm working on is my snotty-ness.  If you don't know me personally, I have the tendencies to speak before I think, stick my foot in my mouth, and not be the most polite to everyone around me.  Blec.  Nobody wants to be that girl.  I want to be a woman of grace and love and compassion.  So that's one facet I'm praying that God works on.  And you know how He usually works on your weaknesses?  By sitting you smack dab in the middle of what makes you uncomfortable and draws out those negative reactions.  *sigh*  Bring it on. 

Anyway, I guess that's the closest thing to a resolution as I'm gonna get.  Sure I'd like to loose a few pounds around the middle.  Of course I would love to revamp my eating habits and be healthier.  Who wouldn't want to pick  up a new hobby?  But lets be honest.  None of those are probably going to happen.  Momma loves her coffee, Dr. Pepper, snacks, and tv.  No, I've decided to work from the inside out, and pray that the Lord will take me under His wing and fix me up in ways I could never do myself.

Happy New Year!