Spreading the Adoption Love

My friends Joey and Courtney are adopting from Ethiopia. As part of their fundraising to bring her home, they have created some CUTIE t-shirts. I wanted to share their blog with you so that you could support them in their efforts. So, go check them out and get a t-shirt or two.
These Dreams of Mine

Throw me some bones...

Okay naming a baby is SOOO hard. It becomes even harder when you have been a teacher, you have 3 boys... and 7 nephews. We THINK we know what his "called" name will be but do not know if it will be his first or middle name (even though after Baylor I said I would never make a child go by their middle name again). To add to the stress, everyone in our family has an l and an a in their name. It was totally not on purpose but it is there...even for Brent whose first name is actually William (and do not suggest we use William- it is already another named family member). So I need help, throw me some bones... I will probably veto them all (cause that is what I do- or have a reason why I cannot use it) because I am tired of searching the net and playing the name game. And for those of you who do not know me well, I like unique names because our last name is one of the most common names. Also, don't suggest AL because well that is just not going to cut it.

(Oh... the called name does not have an a or l in it at all)

Wordless Wednesday

Labor of Love

I had to post this. Callan loves Lego sets. He is not really putting them together yet, but he loves playing with them and watching them be put together. As I spent most of my day Saturday (Callan's birthday) doing exactly what he wanted me to do, I found myslef putting together Lego sets. To be exact on Saturday, I put together 3 Lego sets (and 2 on Friday). The big one I put together had almost 800 pieces, and as I sat with him at the kitchen table digging through the pieces and putting it all together it occured to me... I spent more hours laboring over that one Lego set than I did in labor with him 6 years ago.

But when you see someone enjoy something so much, it does not really matter... it was yet another labor of love and by dinner the pain of searching for pieces and the numbness in my legs from sitting so long was already gone.

Let the FUN begin

My Callan will be 6 tomorrow. SIX??!! That means you have to use 2 hands to count and that means he is a BIG BOY!

At first he decided that for his birthday he wanted a Nintend@ DS (hand held game), but last weekend he went to his friend G's birthday party sleepover... and there was no turning back. (We have a birthday rule you can either pick a BIG present or have a party but not both that is why he was holding out for the DS). He had so much fun at the sleepover, he decided that it was worth the wait until Christmas for the DS and he has invited over a few buddies for tonight.

So stay tuned for the adventure. Believe it or not, I have never done a sleepover before, and I am kind of scared.

He did however get a special day at school. It was Pirate Day! So he got to dress up at school, and of course mom delivered cupcakes for him and his friends.

To sleep or not to sleep... that is the question??!!

Luckily, the answer was sleep.
The boys did great here in Friday night. Everyone arrived by 6PM, they tried to eat Pizza and cake, but really just wanted the freedom to run and play. I had tried to find the boys some little flashlights for their party treat, but had trouble locating the flashlight department. You will notice in the pictures that they are holding these glowstick/flashlight/lightsaberish lights. They were a hit. I am glad they liked them, just not so glad that Callan handed them out the MINUTE they walked in the door and added "I am not supposed to tell you but this part right here is a loud whistle".



I think Brent, Eliza and I were the only ones who really ate cake, but Callan had fun with his friends singing to him and helping him blow out his candle. (LS if you see this, don't gasp, he was just "helping" and Callan loved every minute of it). And of course time for presents. However, I only got one picture because it happened so fast that it was all I could get! They were all so excited to give Callan their gifts.







My plan was to let the boys watch a movie. It went kind of haywire. First the movie was scratched and did not work, so I had to take it back for a replacement. I got Star Wars:The Clone Wars. And, although they loved it, they had all seen it several times and preferred acting out the ENTIRE movie. Brent however, watched the entire thing (even when they left and went up to play). Poor J, Eliza staked her claim on him and kept trying to play with him all night long. He was so sweet to her. So sweet, that we had to tell him that it was okay for him to play with the boys and walk away from her. I think Eliza may have her first crush, because she was all about this boy.




Finally at wind down time, we pulled out the mattress and blankets and pillows and came to an agreement about the sleeping arrangements. Everyone brushed teeth and piled into bed while watching a last episode of Batman. I went on upstairs as not to invade the boy party and Brent slept with them in the basement. They were all well on their way to sleeping by 10:30 (except for the small complaint from Callan about all the coughing and snoring keeping him from sleeping), and they slept all night. Brent did say someone groaned off and on all night and that he kept getting up to make sure everyone was accounted for, but not any other peep was heard until 6:30 AM.



Brent and I went to work on Pankcakes, sausage and eggs and again most of them preferred to play... but as for me and my son, this little shindig was a HIT!

It takes a village to raise a Davy Crockett

Baylor received the part of Davy Crockett for his 2nd grade program at school. I had asked a few weeks in advance if I needed to create a costume for him to have. I was told that they thought they had it under control. Evidentally whatever they had fell through because I received an e-mail Wednesday morning that they had nothing for him (his program was Thursday night). So as any mom would do, I began making phone calls. All in all I think I spent 2 hours on the phone trying to track down a coon skin cap (and I cannot begin to tell you how many people went out of their way calling toy stores and historical gift shops, offered to pick one up in Nashville, and put out an all call on FB). Luckily I found 4! Plus I scored on a bag full of fabric scraps from a friend who said she keeps things like this around because she is always having to come up with stuff for kids school (RHE). I threw this together and Baylor was proud. I also have to say I was one proud mom that my son stood up in front of the entire 2nd grade and their families to sing a solo and have a speaking part (there were only 3 solos), and then do it again today in front of the entire school. He did great!!!

Thank you Tonya, Kyla, Christine, and Callan's teacher Miss Ross for hunting down some coonskin for me.

BOY OH BOY!

I wish I could be crafty and clever and have some cute way of spreading our news... but I am tapped out for the day. Our ultrasound went MARVELOUS this morning, and our baby is absolutely perfect in every way. The funny thing is though, I have not been able to feel him move much because of the location of my placenta. But, today, during the ultrasound, I felt him more than I ever have and he was all over the place. So much so that I did not get a single good picture to share. Nada, nothing, it would just look like a gray blurr.

We are very excited and thanking God for a healthy baby boy! HE knew just what we needed and we are so happy that this baby is a boy. I wanted to share the news with the kids in a fun way so I brought them balloons to school that said "It's a boy" and also went and bought this shirt as a way to billboard our joy.



Now... A NAME????? (and you know it has to be different)

The New Kr@ger

We have a new Kr@ger's here in town. Not that the old one is that old. They just decided to update, upsize and updo. It is a new Kr@ger Marketplace (and as advertized the FIRST in middle TN). To all my locals, what are your thoughts on it? Did you like it? Are you impressed?

Here are a few random thoughts from my visit today...

ANOTHER STARBUCKS?

Why are so many people just gathering in the deli/bakery department. Like are they having church up in here? OH... just all the free samples.

Did I miss the prepackaged deli section... I never saw Silas' turkey bologna, and that is dangerous!

Who puts the bread in a little closed off section away from everything else?

Oh, cool... I think I need a tortilla warmer like they have in the restaurants.

Who put the snacks (crackers/cookies) on an aisle you purposely have to travel to instead of in the flow of the aisle... OH same with cokes...?

Really beer... front and center to the store, I mean I guess it makes sense in a college beer run town, but here? Now I have to explain to my kids everytime we check out why they cannot have the cool blue canned drink. Surely a man designed this.

I am certain no one that has ever had kids designed this place. Is this a toy store in the middle of the store... IN the section you must travel to if you have a baby or a child in diapers?

Why did they quit making my Healthy Choice Panini sandwhiches?

Hummm... milk right in front of the laundry detergent... and next to a couch and chair display. Was milk an after thought to location... does everyone not buy milk EVERYTIME they come to the store?

I will never again make it way over to the section to buy shampoo/ haircolor/makeup. Because by the time I make it this far... I am exhausted!

I know I am a creature of habit, and I already miss my old simple store... surely I will get used to this. But there were some serious errors in layout of this place... and people taking their Sunday afternoon stroll.

Favorite Foto Friday

Thanks Mrs. Anna

Grandpa Callan

Today was Callan's 100th day of school. For the occasion he had to dress like he was 100 years old. He enjoyed picking out his outfit, and he HAD to have gray hair. He did not however like the lines I drew on his face with eyeliner pencil, and they had to be removed IMMEDIATELY. I might also add that the Gold Bond powder I used for his hair made him seem even more authentic because Gold Bond powder smells very "for the mature man".

Conversation with Eliza

It is so funny to hear Eliza talk. Sometimes I wish she would talk where I could record it so I could always remember her "talking" right now. Because I know that NO ONE but me and Silas understands much of what she is saying. But WE KNOW... and SHE KNOWS how to get her point across.

At lunch today I asked what they wanted to watch while they ate. I happened to ask if they wanted to watch Wonder Pets. To which Eliza said:

"NO! I no yach yundar yets! I yach Ta-Tash"

(Translation: "No! I no watch Wonder Pets! I watch Ta-Tash" (which is Tasha on Backyardigans)

She really is talking a lot more, a lot of it makes no sense, but most of the time I know EXACTLY what she is saying or what she wants.

Dare I say it?

Well, I have put this off for a few weeks now. It all started with an attempt on MLK weekend. It was a long weekend and I knew we would be stuck at home a lot because it was so cold. Eliza's teacher had been encouraging me to try it because she stays dry at school and goes potty for her. So I tried it. I decided to dive into...Potty Training. Using underwear was not that successful of an adventure. My guess is that because the smallest size that I could buy do not touch her anywhere, she could not feel that she had anything on. I have never been a Pull**Ups kind of mom. I just thought that it was more like changing diaper styles and not really potty training. But, since "panties" were not working, we went and picked some out Pull-Ups. AND LORD HAVE MERCY... it was a potty training miracle. I mean when you are a princess yourself, the last thing you want to do is "pee-pee on the princesses". So, Eliza is potty-trained. Even though I wince a little when I say that for fear that I might mess it up, she has not had a pee-pee or poop accident in over a week. AND she has only gotten up from bed time wet 2 times (and that was my fault because I was slow in going to get her out of bed). Her potty dance is precious, and I would love to catch it on film...but that may be too much to ask.

Now the task is transferring from the princess Pull**Up to the princess panties. And the girl is in love with her Princess Pull**Ups. Anybody got any ideas on "cinching" panties?

Favorite Foto Friday

This is my Fave Foto Friday and Wordless Wednesday post all rolled into one. I wanted to put up a picture from Brent and Baylor's duck hunting adventure last weekend on Wednesday. But Brent took the pictures to work and has not brought them back. There were some really cute pictures, and Baylor said some really cute things like..."I got to do something I always dreamed of" (when I asked what's that?, he said) "I got to hold a green head mallard." He also said that seeing up to 2,000 ducks flying over his head at one time was "AMAZING".

Thanks, Daddy... for bringing them home.

For those of you who thought that the green head mallard would be cute and sweet and innocent (and perhaps ALIVE) sorry. That's how it works in the life of a hunter.
Not to mention that I am not sure you could really ever hold a green head mallard, alive.

Laundry

My mom and I had a discussion on Saturday. A friend of hers told her to tell me that when the baby comes, I will not know what to do with all the added laundry. REALLY??? I am not sure I will notice!!!!!!!!!!




Usually I do not do all the laundry in one day, because it makes me tired and a little grumpy. But I thought I would today... just to see. This is our laundry for the week. I did 9 loads... and to be honest, Brent and I did not have full loads. I did our laundry mid week last week. I also still have a baseball uniform in the dryer, a load of kitchen towels in the washer, and a velvet dress to wash alone and on delicate.

I mean when there is this much laundry produced in a week, who is going to notice that there is 7 extra sleepers???

I guess I need to thank God that:
1. We can afford the clothes.
2. We have a washing machine and dryer in our home and I do not have to go to the laundry mat.
3. That I have beautiful warm bodies to fill all those clothes.