Friday, August 28, 2009

My Life This Week

Jackson started preschool this week. His teacher's first impression of him was that "He's very active!" :) Our MDO phase is over, which means no more lugging around a huge nap mat even though my kid doesn't sleep at school. And we traded in the big, honking backpack for this smaller one. Woo hoo!



My mom always had some special treat for us on the first and last days of school. I had to carry on the tradition with some Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. I'm thankful to have had an excuse because it was oh so yummy.



Missy and Ellison came over to celebrate with us. This is our first pic of the girls together. They're two beauties, if I may say so!



Star came to stay with us last night.



This series of pictures is called "Jackson got in trouble."



Crayon on the window.



Colored pencil on the wall. I really thought I had that stuff hidden.



Annabeth had her first carrots today.



I had to walk away for a minute to, um, tend to my other child's bathroom needs, and Annabeth started crying because she wanted more, more, more! Get in my belly, carrots!



Carrots make such a mess. I whisked her out of the high chair and into an already prepared sink bath.



Sunshine girl, all bright and clean. She's sitting up now like a big girl.



These are the flowers Curt brought me the other night. I always put my flowers on the kitchen island - either in this pitcher or in a glass milk bottle.



Wanna know a secret? I have another great giveaway lined up for next week. Yippee! You won't want to miss it.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Dog Days of Summer

In honor of hottest, most sultry days of summer (thank you wikipedia), let's talk about dogs.

My dad's dog, Geli, is currently in the hospital with some kind of gastrointestinal infection. She's lost 8 pounds in the last couple of weeks. Not good. We think she ate some rat poison down at the ranch and she hasn't been the same ever since. For my dad's sake, I am praying for God to deliver this animal. Last summer was awful for my parents - losing both their dogs within 3 weeks of each other - and I'm hoping that my sweet dad doesn't have to do down that road again. I don't think he expected to see the inside of that vet hospital again this soon. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it getting so attached to creatures with such short lifespans and not a lick of sense.

Beckham, who turned five on July 4th, is starting to get up there in age. The chew and destroy shenanigans of his youth have largely been replaced by eating baked goods left out on the counter or bar when no one is watching. What kills me is that I know he wants to maintain his squeaky clean image and he would never ever do that in front of us. He lost his cover when Bill (the cat) left us and there was no question of who done it. He still loves a good dumpster diving episode (think kitchen trash can), but thankfully he has never eaten a dirty diaper to my knowledge. There was that time I saw him playing with a stiff squirrel carcass in the backyard in Irving. He's lucky I didn't brush his teeth with Clorox. One thing I think he will do until the day he dies is visit other people's homes. I guess we're lucky in that respect. Anytime he gets out, he goes straight to a person or an open door instead of hitting the road. He's been in more of our neighbors' homes than we have. That goes for our old neighborhood and our new one.

Dogs are not immune from being negatively influenced by their peers. Beckham got his food stealing ways from Curt's parents' sheltie. Jess, AKA Fweet Scruff, has a thing for bacon grease. He once managed to eat a whole container of it and became rather ill. I think Jess got his food stealing ways from his cousin dog, a pug named Maximus. Bless Max's heart. He's overdosed on so many stolen foods that he has to be on special medicine for the rest of his life.

Here's cheeky little Maximus - our cousin Erin's dog. He's pretty dern cute, huh? In a pugly sort of way?



Here he is with his Person.



If you're a dog lover and you get this kind of thing, will you help my sweet Erin out and take 2.5 seconds to vote for him in a photo contest? (Here's the link.) If he wins, his picture will grace a billboard in Springfield, MO. Here's a pic of Jess/Fweet Scruff, Beckham, and Max when they were just babies. Lindsay, Erin and I were, too.



I'll be honest. When I look at that picture I wish I were still that cute. It comforts me to know that someone else understands where I'm coming from. Jess/Fweet Scruff has seen better years, too.



He got stepped on my my mother-in-law's horse and had irreparable hair loss. Please, someone, make a toupee for this poor dog! He was once so beautiful! I'm not sure how he's going to deal if Max becomes America's Next Top Dog Model.

Both my parents are going out of town this weekend and we are keeping Starsy for them. We won't have Geli because poor baby will still be in the hospital. Did you know that my dad calls my mom's dog Stanky? It makes her so mad. Beckham is going to be sooo happy to have company. Especially if Starsy lives up to her nickname because stank is like a sweet-smelling perfume to dogs. Maybe that's why Beckham once at a pair of dirty athletic socks.

For those of you who are thanking me for this enlightening, sweet, precious little post, I'd just like to say you're welcome. And vote Maximus Ward for Billboard Buddy 2009!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

We're Back

So I have this problem. Whenever I go away for a long time and make great memories, I don't know where to start when I come home. How do I blog about our amazing two weeks in the mountains? I can't possibly say or show it all. It's overwhelming. And one thing I learned there is that I spend WAAAAAAAAAY too much time on this computer and that's something I want to change. So, what, do I come home and immediately become a slave to it again by publishing every detail of our trip? These are the things I struggle with in this messed up little mind of mine. Seriously though, has anyone who works from home using the Internet (and who also blogs for fun) figured out how to put nice and neat little boundaries in place to prevent it from taking over your life? It's not like I can just throw the computer away. *Sigh*

I feel better. Well, a little.

Anywho, we had an amazing, glorious time in Wyoming. I've got to stop here though because Curtis just walked in the door with some new boardgames for us to play while we're not spending all evening messing around on our computers. But I'll share more later.

PS - Holy cow, my hubby just handed me a bouquet of red gerber daisies!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Heading West

Whoopee ti yi yo
Get along, little Jonesies
You know that Wyoming will be your new home.


Did y'all like that? It made me think of third grade.

Tomorrow we're handing our house keys and our dog over to a sitter. We're leaving the blazing hot, humid flatlands and heading to the not-as-hot, crisp, mountainous glory that is Jackson Hole. Praise be to God. And we're flying.

Our date with George was amazing. I had recently gone to the NKOTB concert and been sorely disappointed in how gross their new songs are and how offensive they were when they spoke at the microphone. That's why I never wrote about it. I was so sad that it wasn't the same innocent concert from my childhood. After that, I swore that if George Strait disappointed me I would renounce Texas and leave forever. No worries, y'all, because George was a gentleman. My favorite moments were when he sang "Heartland," "The Chair," and "Troubador." I had given these tickets to Curt for Father's Day and even though we sat so high I had to close my eyes at first, he loved it as much as I hoped he would. Maybe those seats will have prepared us to dwell at an elevation higher than sea level for the next 2 weeks.

I'm officially awake at 1:00 AM for the fourth night in a row. Why am I such an idiot? My left eyelid has been twitching like crazy for lack of sleep. If you happen to see me in the airport tomorrow, please don't think I'm winking at you.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

"He's All Boy" Giveaway Winner!

Happy Saturday, bloggers. It's time to announce the winner of the "He's All Boy" giveaway.


Drum roll please. You can imagine me banging on some pots and pans because we are not rock stars and we have no drums in our house.


The winner is Leslie, who said, "Funny thing is that I read this post while I was sorting through baby clothes looking for a cute outfit for my 4-week-old baby boy to wear to our small group study. Didn't find much. I love the little tie onesie. Too too cute."

Congrats to Leslie on winning the giveaway and on her new baby boy!

Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks to Christie for letting me do the giveaway. Don't forget that you can get 20% off any order in the He's All Boy store using the babybangs coupon code.

Oh, by the way, guess who we're going to see tonight? In Texas he only has to go by one name and that is George. *And all the Southern girls just did a collective swoon.*

Thursday, August 06, 2009

"He's All Boy" - A Giveaway!

Five years ago this October we moved to the Dallas area for Curtis to be the student pastor at FBC Irving. On the Sunday that the church voted us in, Pastor John arranged for several couples we'd never met to have lunch with us at the Olive Garden. It's funny to think about who those couples were because Pastor John totally had us pegged. We ended up being good friends with all of them. That's how I met Christie Simons.

Christie is the kind of person who is a true servant. The first morning after our arrival, she came to my house to help me organize my kitchen. She really didn't know me from Adam, but she helped me whip that tiny (seriously tiny) kitchen into shape. She also helped spearhead the amazing baby shower that our church gave us for Jackson. I would come to know Christie as not only a friend, but also as one of the most capable, intelligent, and creative women I'd ever met. She and her husband are also amazing singers and musicians. In fact, they have a full-out, professional recording studio in their house. If I could call any of my friends rock stars, it would be them!

Several months ago, I found out that Christie was going to start a line of clothing for boys. It didn't take long after her son, Jude, was born to realize that there weren't a ton of offerings out there for cool boy clothes. From that moment on, I was waiting on pins and needles to see what she would come up with.

Well, the time has come. Christie's clothing line - He's All Boy - has launched! Check out her little man model.





And guess what? I get to do a giveaway! Woo hoo! (It took all of 5 minutes before I started my shameless begging.) I know how disappointed y'all were when I didn't give away that sweet felt Christmas commode cover. I want to make things right!

Here's what you need to do to enter the giveaway. Go visit the He's All Boy web site and take a look at the t-shirts and onesies, then come back here and tell me which one would be perfect for the "All Boy" kid in your life.

I will do a random drawing on Saturday. The winner will receive the t-shirt or onesie of their choice (sizes range from 0-12 m to 4T). When you leave your comment, please make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

Also, Christie is offering a 20% discount to my readers. Bonus! I told you she's a rock star. The coupon code will be babybangs. He's All Boy will be adding new designs and periodically running specials, so sign up for the newsletter if you'd like to be notified.

Well, I've got to go get my hair washed. We have our last Metro tonight. I'm so proud of my man and I can't wait to hear his last message. It just so happens to be on marriage. I wonder if he's gonna tell something on me. He best not forget that I have a blog. Muahahahaha!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Barefoot Baby Booted from Burger King

Curtis and I were laughing so hard while we were watching this, especially when they said the incident happened in Missouri (Curt's homeland). I was literally wiping tears off my face.


Just today the kids and I were getting ready to meet my mom for lunch and I was spazzing out because I couldn't find Jackson's "crocodile shoes." (They're the only ones that fit right now.) Mom said, "Honey, just let him come barefoot."

"Um, Mom? Jackson is not a baby anymore. They're not gonna let him in the restaurant like that."

Mom's been working way too hard lately, so I had to cut her some slack. She was fatigued.

Call me a redneck, but Annabeth hasn't worn shoes in a couple of months. I've never worried that I might be asked to leave a restaurant because of her barefootedness, much less that someone might threaten to call the cops on us.

Oh man, thanks for the hearty laugh, BK!

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Annabeth is Six Months Old

My darling daughter, yesterday you turned 6 months old. I anticipated getting your brother down for rest time/AKA destroy the room time and having the most remarkable photo shoot that we are capable of (in your dimly lit nursery with my pitiful skills). I couldn't wait to put that blue 6-9 month romper on you that I've been saving. I bought it before you were born.

It became apparent that you wanted to give me a precious gift....



The gift of seeing into the future.



I just need to mentally remove the bow...



And I can see it in my mind's eye.



You, my darling daughter, at age 14.



I love you now and I will love you then. I will love you when you start to get naughty. And when potty training takes a long time. And when you cut your own bangs. And when you scream on the airplane. And when you don't get straight A's. And when you forget your lunch money. And when you say you hate me. And when you only want to be around your friends. And when you put on mascara behind my back. And when you call boys even though I've told you not to. And when nothing in the world seems right and good and you just feel like this.



I will always love you.

Pictures with Big Pink Bear

First day home


1 month


6 weeks


2 months


3 months


4 months


5 months


6 months


Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come.