I think it's time to get back into this again...

I know, it has been far too long since I posted here. Well, I'm going to try again! I'm going to start off small.





Maybe I'm starting him a little young?!?! I only spent $10 on this little vacuum, but it's great that little man actually uses it! Now if only I could get him to do the dishes!

Yes...I'm a slacker!

It has been well over a month since I've posted. I'm not going to make any excuses...it's just life! We're currently getting over a second bout of "the plague" in my house. The first time we were all hit, the second time only my hubby and me! I'm hoping little man doesn't decide to get sick this weekend!
Just wanted to let you know I'm still here...and I'll hopefully be back with some new posts shortly!

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

On Saturday we took a road trip. We went to see a house being built by Extreme Makeover Home Edition. We had heard they were going to be in the town because my hubby's cousin lives on the same street they were building it. We figured we would take a ride because when would we ever have the chance to see this again.

I had been following the story on the Internet. They actually tore the house down on Wednesday and by the time we got there on Saturday, they were finishing the siding, gutters, landscaping, etc. I'm not sure how far they were on the interior, but they had put out a call for anyone who knew how to drywall and install hardwood floors. Darn it, I don't know how to do either.

There were a lot of people there...between volunteers and spectators there were hundreds. There were some kids selling water and hot dogs. There were tables of t-shirts that were being bought up. What an amazing thing to watch though. I wish we had gone on Sunday. That's when you would really get the opportunity to see everyone from the show. We did get to see Ed Sanders (he's in the pinkish-red colored shirt in a couple pictures). I'm not sure when the episode aired, but he is the one that cut his hand when he was working on a project for the show. He was in the front yard and turned to get the crowd to cheer on all those working. It was truly amazing to see how much all these people got done in a few short days!











Little man did pretty well all day. Right before we left, he started to have a meltdown. He had only napped in the car for less than an hour. We were really hoping he would take a little nap in his stroller, but he wanted no part of it. Five minutes after we got in the car, he was out...of course! Since we drive right past her house, we were going to stop and see my sister on the way home. Unfortunately we got detoured due to a parade and were past her house by the time we got back on our original route.

All in all it was a good trip. We're actually hoping to take another trip next weekend. We'll see though!

Visiting Baby Girl

Last Saturday after little man got his haircut, we took a little day trip to visit my sister, her husband, and baby girl. We had just seen them a few weeks before when they moved, but we didn't get to visit amongst all the chaos. It's amazing how big baby girl is getting.


I still get nervous when little man gets around baby girl. The picture looks all sweet...but about two seconds after I took this picture, he tried to hit her! UGH! We're trying really hard to teach him about "nice touches!" Hopefully he'll get it soon!








Baby girl wasn't sure what to think in her exersaucer. I just kept taking pictures though hoping that I would get a good one...she is so cute!

In a few weeks we're going to go visit again...hopefully I'll get more pictures then!

Yet another first

Yesterday we went through another first with little man...His first haircut. His hair wasn't incredible long (as you'll see in the first three pictures), but it was just getting to an unmanageable stage. He has some curls in his hair, so once he slept on it, forget about it. I had been putting it off for a few weeks now, but finally decided it was time to take the plunge!

Just a few pictures to show what his hair looked like before -






He got to sit in an airplane while she cut his hair...he loved it!




The first few cuts...I didn't know how he would react, but he did really well. I think it helped that she had Elmo playing on the counter in front of him.






And the end result. I was so afraid he was going to look like such a big boy. He does...a little bit!! I really like his new haircut, and I'm glad we did it. I hope next time goes as well as this one!

Happy Birthday to me!

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Yesterday I turned 34. 34 years old...where have all the years gone?

When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to grow up. How exciting grown up life seemed. I wouldn't have to live with my parents, I would have my own place, I would have a job, etc. How many adults looked at me and said to enjoy my childhood, it would be gone before I knew it? And it was.

I don't know if I would want to go back and relive everything. What I want more than anything is the naivete (however you spell it). I want to have carefree days of spending time with friends. I want my most tiring job to be babysitting the kids up the street. I want to take bike rides with my brother. I want to play Barbies with my sister. We used to have so much fun. We created so many activities...not even using any the toys my parents had bought us. Our imaginations led us.

I guess I can't really say my adult life isn't great. I'm reliving all those innocent days of my childhood through my son. On the 4th little man watched his first fireworks display. He sat so still in my lap taking it all in. At the conclusion, he clapped. Did he really understand why? Probably not, but I absolutely loved sharing that first with him.

Happy 4th of July

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It is officially 12:00, but I hope everyone had a happy 4th! Tonight we spent at my brother-in-law's house. It was alot of family and friends, eating and having a good time. At 9:30 we watched the fireworks on their front lawn from a nearby park. It was little man's first time to see fireworks (it's sad, I can't even remember what we did last year!). I have no idea why, but it made me kind of sappy and emotional. All these firsts we go through with our kids that we'll never have back. He actually really enjoyed the fireworks. He even clapped after the "big finale." You never know what type of reaction you are going to get from them!

Other than that, my brother and his family drove to the city the airport is as they are leaving to fly home at 6:15 tomorrow morning. It was nice to visit with them, and I hope they can come visit again soon. I actually think it would be great to go visit them since we haven't been out there in three years. I just don't know how little man would handle a plane ride! We'll see though.

Visiting with family has been fun. My vacation ends Sunday, and it's back to work on Monday. Sometimes I really wish I didn't have to work. Maybe someday!

A Family Visit

This week I'm off from work. It's a long-needed break. Hubby is working though, but little man is home with me. My brother and his family are visiting from the west coast until Friday night. It's been almost 9 months since my brother was here, his wife was here for my dad's funeral in 2006, and my niece hasn't been here since my sister's wedding in 2004. I think this visit was very welcome to be able to see everyone. It seems in our hectic lives, that we don't get to visit with family as much as we used to. Just this past weekend, my sister moved an hour away from our hometime, so I'm hoping that we'll get to see her and her family more often! Everyone is going in different directions that we rarely have an opportunity to all meet up and spend time together. Tonight we are all going out to dinner to celebrate my brother and sister-in-laws third anniversary. It's going to be great to have all the generations together, all as a family.

Bye Bye Binky!

Tonight I'm trying something new. I have a feeling I might regret it but right now everything seems fine. When I put little man to bed tonight, I didn't have a pacifier with me. I said to myself "do I, or don't I?" One part of me thinks this is crazy, why do I want to take away little man's "security blanket"? The other part of me says why not? We had to take little man to the dentist a couple months ago because he fell and chipped his front tooth. On the way over there I forewarned hubby that the dentist was not going to be happy to see little man with a pacifier at 15 months...and I was right. The dentist went on to tell us that kids should be done with them by the time they are 18 months, preferably sooner. I wonder if he ever had to live through a child screaming for a binky when you tried to put them down to sleep? At this moment little man is quiet, but I know that could change at any moment. I just know that the sooner we try to wean him off the binky, the easier it will be for him (and us!!!). Besides...who wants to see a five year old walk into kindergarten with his binky still in his mouth. :0)

My blooms and a sunset

Just a few pictures that I took last week. The flowers are growing in the front flower bed at my house. Being our first spring/summer here, it's been interesting to see what comes up! We still have a few months of this too. Then we have the beautiful sunset we had the other day. Hubby and I took a walk just so I could take these pictures. Then, of course, I added a picture of little man. Unfortunately, that's how most of his pictures turn out these days. Little man + the camera flash = squinty eyed pictures. Anyone know how I can stop this??

My Daddy

It's been just over a year and a half since I lost my dad. With Fathers Day coming up, it just reminds me of him even more. I was going to look for cards for my hubby from me and little man, and my first thought was of what type of card I would get for my dad, only he's not here. Then I was walking through the store, and I saw many different presents I would have bought for him, only he's not here. He is never far from my thoughts. He was a great dad, the kind every kid wishes he had. Yes, he could be strict, but looking back he had reason. He could be embarrassing, but what teenager didn't feel this way at some point? He could be funny, and he made us all laugh. My dad loved to be on the go. He was our transportation for many years. When friend's parents didn't feel like driving us somewhere, we knew all we had to do is ask my dad and he would say yes. If we were a little low on money, and one of his kids wanted something, he would sacrifice so we could get it. He was a very unselfish man. He never wanted for much. He was a very simple man. Most days he would be wearing his cuffed jeans, a t-shirt and his sneakers. But when he dressed up, you never saw a more handsome man. One of my memories that I have as a little girl is the smell of my dad's cologne. It was never the expensive stuff for my dad...it was all about the Old Spice. And to this day when I smell it, I automatically think of him! Now that I have little man, I think of how much he would have loved to spend time with him. He actually joked with me over the years that if I ever had children, he would have to take them from me to take care of and I could come visit them on weekends! I alway knew he thought I would be more than capable of taking care of them, he was just excited by the prospect of grandchildren! And looking at little man, sometimes I think he looks alot like my dad...and that's good! I never knew how much I would miss him...but I miss him so much. So for everyone who has their daddy to celebrate this holiday with, go see your dad, call him, whatever, just tell him you love him and you're glad he is your dad!! I think, even though he's no longer here, my dad always knew how much he meant to me!

I'm a bad blogger

I don't even know when the last time was I posted? Things have been really busy around here. I try to find a little time here and there to get on, but I'm not finding a big enough span to get anything substantial on here. Maybe sometime soon....I have some new pictures to post of little man, baby girl, and so on. Spring is...springing...and we're hoping to start making some summer plans!!! Hope all is well with everyone!

A trip to the zoo

This past Saturday we decided to take little man for his first trip to the zoo. We have a zoo locally, but I hadn't been in probably ten years. So like the good, researching mother I am, I went online and looked to see what they had there. It didn't seem too bad, and they it looked like they had a lot of animals to look at. Little man gets in for free until he's three, and we had a coupon for buy one, get one free admission for mommy and daddy. We only had to spend $6 for all three of us to go to the zoo...not bad. Well.....our zoo is not very exciting....and left me a little disappointed. What did we get to see? Well, 2 buffalo, 2 goat (who were quarantined), 2 reindeer, two animals I can't remember what they were, a handful of some monkey-type of animal and 2 sloths, 2 tigers, 1 leopard, an otter, 2 or 3 penguins, a wolf habitat...but didn't see one wolf, a variety of different birds, and the last animal was inside its "house" so we didn't get to see it. Now I know we're not from a huge city, but....I think we could do a little better. It only took us about an hour to get through the zoo...with the first half of that being spent walking up the hill to look at all the displays and the second half just basically walking back down the hill to the exit - no displays. It was a beautiful day though, and little man enjoyed being in his little buggy and watching everything and everybody. His favorite animal was the monkey things - they made him laugh when they jumped toward the window. I told my hubby we should plan on going to a bigger zoo next time, so maybe little man can see some of the bigger animals!


Just starting out...


Little man's favorite....kind of blurry through the glass


What's over there?


The beautiful, bald eagle


The leopard...trying to stay cool


Little man and hubby...on the way back down!!

Even though we were a little disappointed with the zoo, it was great to spend some time as a family!!! Who could ask for more than that?

Time for an update

It has been too long since I last updated...almost 2 weeks? We took a trip to meet baby girl last weekend. The car ride wasn't too bad. It's only 3 hours from our house to my sisters, but this is the first time we have travelled with little man since we went to visit her last May. Little man was only 4 months old then, so he slept most of the time. I wasn't sure how it was going to be this time around, so I packed many snacks, drinks, toys, and books to make sure little man was entertained. Little man did not sleep, one bit!!! He made it through the first 2 hours and 15 minutes...the next 45 minutes were not very pretty. He just wanted out of his car seat so bad. We didn't stop to let him get out, since we feared he would not get back in. We made it to my sister's in one piece and finally got to meet baby girl.

We even got our first picture of the two cousins together.

She is a tiny, little thing. Looking at baby girl, it's hard to believe little man was once that little. There may have been a slight twinge of wanting another one, but....not yet!!! I have to do a little more convincing with hubby!!!

We took a walk to the playground while we were there, and little man got to ride on the swings and go down the slide for the first time this year.

On Sunday, we left early since we didn't know what to expect from little man on our return trip. Within a few minutes he went from this...

to this.....

The ride home wasn't as hard. Little man slept for a little over an hour, and only started to have his meltdown about 15 minutes from home. He was so glad when we pulled in front of our house and got out of that car seat. I know how hard it is for me, as an adult, to sit for that long. I can't imagine what it must be like for little man. So we had a good trip, but I don't know when we are going to be travelling with him again....maybe when he's 10!!!!