It's been quite a while!

At least I have a semi-good reason for not posting in *gasp* months! Right?

Sorry to anyone who actually follows me and reads anything I post! 

Sorry for the long absence :)

 My husband and I are expecting our 2nd the first part of October! I cannot tell you how excited we are!! 

We get to have an early gender scan this coming Saturday- yay!!  

Although I am not getting my hopes up of having a girl- I have a feeling it might be. But I'm not 100% positive. I'm not sure if I'm making myself think it's a girl because I'd love to have one, or if my "mother's intuition" is right. 

With my son, I hoped for a girl (probably because I have a sister and really have always wanted to have at least one girl), but way down deep- knew he was going to be a boy. My husband and I both even had dreams we were having a boy (before we found out we were having a boy) when I was pregnant with him.

This time around I've had one dream that we are having a girl.

So... Saturday can't come soon enough!

Have any of you moms out there had any feelings about what gender you were carrying? 

Were your feelings right?

 I'm just curious ;)

 

Hope you all are having a great week!!

Messy Mom Monday

So today I've decided to do something different.

I've decided that today is a good day to do a link up for the first time.

I'm linking up here for Messy Mom Monday!

I've got to be honest, I have probably read at least 7 different blogs who have linked up to do this.

I'm not sure why, but I needed to snoop around see other peoples blog posts about their messy places in their homes before I felt ok to do this post. I know I'm not the only one out there that can have a messy house at times, I just needed to see the proof.

So here goes nothin'!

This is our kitchen table.  As you can see there are a pair of my son's shoes, my wallet and checkbook, scissors, a book I'm reading, and various papers strewn about.  Perfect environment for eating ;)

Part of my kitchen counter tops. I was in the middle of making breakfast when I decided it was the perfect time to take pictures.  Can you spot what item doesn't belong in the kitchen? If you see the can of hairspray- you're right!  I think it's time I move it back to it's home in the bathroom...

 

 This is my 3 year old's room. It's actually not as bad as it has been. Usually it looks like a toy store threw up in here. And yes, that is a giant, stuffed alligator. My dog loves it my than my child.

 

This is where my clean laundry usually ends up.  On a chair. In our room. In a pile.  Oh, and see that lovely pile of boxes? Those used to be in our closet. I recently cleaned out and organized that space. I'll do a before and after post about that soon- so stay tuned :)

 

And this room. This is the messiest room in the whole house. This is our third bedroom. It's looked like this since we moved in back in July.  We moved from an apartment to a mobile manufactured home out on 5.5 acres.  Who knew a 2/2 apartment would have more storage space than a 3/2 home?  This is where we are storing a whole slew of things- everything from Christmas decor, hunting gear, my son's clothes that he's grown out of, baby furniture, etc...  Hopefully we'll be able to get some sort of storage out here where all this stuff can go live so we can start turning this into a nursery {here's hoping for baby #2 in the near future!}

And there ya have it, folks!  Just trying to keep it real

I hope we can still be friends :)

Happy Monday!! 

:: Edit- after publishing this, I immediately started cleaning up our messy spaces! I feel so much better now, lol :) ::

new M&M discovery

While I was at Wal-Mart today {I practically live at this store..} I decided to take a stroll on down to the Valentine's day aisle, or should I say aisles {seriously, there's at least 4 aisles dedicated to Valentine's Day things at the Wal-Mart I go to}.  I was specifically looking for any sort of candy or chocolate.  I was needing a sweet fix today.  Anyhow, as my son and I were walking along one of the candy aisles I started paying closer attention to the M&M's {who doesn't love M&M's?!}.  I saw your token milk chocolate, peanut, even dark chocolate M&M candies.  All excellent choices.  As I was about to pick up a bag of the peanut- my absolute fave- I spotted another bag.  This bag was white and had maroon and red M&M candies on the front with a picture of a heart with an arrow through it and, of course, the classic red M&M guy dressed all snazzy for Valentine's Day. As I stepped in to take an even closer look, I read the package: Cherry. Oh. Em. Gee. I LOVE chocolate/cherry flavors together!  I immediately grabbed a bag and placed it in my cart. Done and done.

 

I didn't waste much time opening them after I got home.  Wow. These are pretty delish!  If you like chocolate/cherry flavors together, I highly suggest you give these babies a try!  Yum-O! 

new hair

Not everyone is lucky enough to have a relative who does hair for a living. But I sure do! My sister is an amazing hair stylist and is the one who cuts my hair.  I'm so lucky to live close to her so she can help me look beautimous!

The other day I was looking at my hair and noticed my ends were looking pretty bad. (I hadn't had a hair cut in nearly {gasp} a year...)  I picked out a few strands with my fingers and began really inspecting the pieces.  I was immediately drawn to what I thought was a few strands of  hair with split ends.  The few strands actually turned out to be one single piece of hair that had, and I'm not lying when I tell you this, 9 split ends branching off of it!!  Can you believe that?!  Who in the world has 9 split ends on ONE piece of hair? Me, that's who.  Eew.

Thankfully my sister graciously offered to cut my hair soon after the split end fiasco.

Here's how it turned out...

What do you think?! 

I LOVE it :)

If you're needing a great hair stylist in the Pearland area, you should check out  Neri Hair Studio and ask for Lauren.  You won't be disappointed!

pinterest love

So by now I'm sure most of you have heard of the newest addiction on the Internet- Pinterest (if not, have you been living under a rock?)  I am absolutely in LOVE with the site, aren't you?  I have been able to find SO many great ideas for crafts and of course, dinner! I love that I can go to Pinterest and find a new, awesome recipe to try out instead of scouring other websites or my cookbooks.  Anyhow, I'll leave you with some pics of some of my favorite finds on Pinterest... Enjoy!

bhg.com

sweetsomethingdesign.blogspot.com

simplysara.ca

cookingwiths.blogspot.com

yourhomebasedmom.com

 

 

marthastewart.com

afarmgirlsdabbles.com

etsy.com

warehouse.co.uk

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!!!

wal-mart & the bathroom

So my son and I went to Wal-Mart yesterday evening to get some groceries.  While we were shopping my 3 year old informs me that he needs to potty. We've only been in the store for maybe 15 minutes so I'm nowhere near to being finished with my shopping.  So I walk up to the front and ask a cashier if it would be OK for me to leave the cart where he was so we could go use the restroom.  Pointing to my son, he says, "As long as you take him with you."

"Really?  He doesn't really think I'm trying to ask him to watch my child so I could go to the bathroom? Has someone asked him to "babysit" for them while they pee?" These are the thoughts running through my head.  I'm so confused.

In the time of the .7 seconds it took these thoughts to run through my mind, I politely say "Oh no. I'm not going to leave him. I'm taking him with me."
 
It really baffled me that those words came out of his mouth.  I'm guessing maybe someone had asked him to watch their child for a few minutes while they stepped away... why else would he have said that?

Strange.

Just as a heads up:: Don't ever ask a Wal-Mart employee to babysit for you so you can go use the restroom- they'll say no.

Happy Friday!

The Hunger Games

So, have you read The Hunger Games trilogy?  If not- you should most def read them-- SO good!  If you have, didn't you just love them?!  I sure did!  I loved the first and third books the most- there was just so much action in those two I had a hard time putting them down!  The second book is good as well, but the first and third were def the best (in my opinion)...

Over the holidays I managed to read all 3 books.  I'm so excited they've made a movie and can't wait to see it!!  

Anyhow... you should certainly check these books out- you won't be disappointed!!

2012

Happy New Year!

Here's to hoping 2012 will be one of the best ones yet :)

...( and maybe I'll actually blog about stuff instead of just reading other peoples blogs  ;) )...

boys and their toys

So how is it that boys are born with the ability to make all sorts of gun/car/motorcycle/etc. sounds just by using their mouths?  I don't get this.  It's probably because I'm a girl, but whatever.  Seriously though- how on earth does my almost 3 year old son know how to make all those sounds?!

AND how does just about anything get turned into a "pow-pow" (as my son calls it)?  I'm talking straws, utensils, his toothbrush, anything he sees can be turned into a "pow-pow."  How do they just know these things? It's kinda creepy.

I mean, yes, my husband has his fair share of weaponry but it's not like he's ever shown Sawyer how they work or what they do. I'm not even sure my husband has even shown our son what a pow-pow looks like.  Lord knows, I sure haven't.  And it's not like we're watching "shoot 'em up" shows in front of him... 

Boys.  It's just in their nature, I suppose.

i need...

a vacation.

yep.

This, that and the other

So it's been a while...  Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks!

So here's an update on potty training (I know you were just dying to know!)...

• Little man has been doing very well! A lot better than the last time I posted anything about it.  My husband figured out that if you tell our son he'll get a few pieces of candy if he goes #2 in the potty- he'll do it! Judge me if you will, but hey- it's worked!
• Also- the sticker chart has made a come back... I had stopped giving stickers for going #1 (because he had pretty much gotten the hang of it- or so I thought..) but have begun to dish them out again.  Like most kids in the process, I'm sure, they all have their accidents because they don't want to take a break to go potty if they're playing or watching a movie. This is what my son has been doing. He gets so caught up playing he forgets to go to the actual potty and just has an accident... so this is why the stickers have made a come back. So far, so good.
• I'm still a proud momma!

Moving on....

Have you heard of/seen the commercial for these---

I am obsessed with these!  My favorite ones are the Strawberry Watermelon and the Berry Pomegranate.  I absolutely love flavored water- it's probably my favorite drink (next to sweet tea, of course).  My son also likes them too.  He thinks I'm giving him juice.  These are also really good added to sparkling water (like Clear American-this is the brand I usually get. You can find it at Wal-Mart and I'm sure at other grocery stores, as well.  They come in lots of great flavors.)

If you haven't had a chance to try these- you most definitely should!

So another thing I'm really enjoying right now are my new Sperry shoes!  I got these a couple of weeks ago and wear them all the time.  They are super comfy, are a great summer shoe, and go great with a number of things!  I love 'em!


So what I'm not loving right now is the weather.....  It seriously hasn't really rained here since I think February. February! Isn't that nuts?!  It did rain last week for a couple days, but not enough to really do anything.  What's really crappy is that since it hasn't rained in so long... pretty much the entire Houston area is, and has been on for a while now, on a burn ban. With it being the 4th this coming Monday.... that means no fireworks! HUGE bummer! I love fireworks and am so sad we won't be able to have any this year :(  Guess we'll just have to watch them on tv this time...

So there's what I'm diggin' now and what's a bummer..  Hope you enjoyed!

Hope you all have a lovely 4th! Hopefully you'll be able to enjoy  fireworks where you live (enjoy 'em for me too :) )

This and That

*Warning-- this is kind of boring and random- and fairly long -(but there's a lot of pics!) so I don't blame you if you don't read it :)


So.... over the weekend I did something I've wanted to do for a few years now, but never did until this last Saturday...

Yep! I got my nose pierced! I wanted to do it a few years ago but at the time I was getting ready to go to a private Christian college- and they didn't allow it. So, I ended up not getting it.

Moving on.....


The other day I walked into our living room to find this... 

 

I knew Sawyer was being too quiet..  ;)  My son thought it was a good idea to get inside his toy chest and do a little playing.  He stayed in there for a good while just keeping himself entertained!


Yesterday I found a box of this in my pantry and decided to make them...

See how on the box they look so pretty? You can actually tell there's supposed to be cookies AND brownies- together?  Well mine turned out not looking like that at all! HA! I read the instructions wrong for the cookie part of the batter. You see, for the brownie part you were to had half a stick of melted butter and to the cookie part you were to add a half a stick of softened butter.  I was thinking "OK, so I just added the melted butter to the brownie part, now I need to do the same for the cookie part." WRONG! Baking fail... but not really. Mine ended up looking like this...

At least they still tasted good!


Last pictures....

A few Saturdays ago our church did a Child Dedication class. Since I am now on staff at our church as one of our  Children's directors, myself and our other Children's Director did the class. It was a fun class. We didn't have very many people show up but it was still nice to get to visit with those who did come.  After we had finished talking about the paper part of the class, we moved on to doing a craft.  Our other CD had heard about this craft idea from another church in Phoenix. What we did was make a time capsule to give to our kids when they get older. We all loved the idea and everyone had fun decorating their time capsules!

This is the one I made for my son...

What it is is a paint can that we ordered on line.  We had plain white paper we cut to fit around the can and then had a whole bunch of decorating items.  We had stamps, stickers, markers, etc.  It was SO much fun to make!  On the inside, we printed off pictures of what our church looks like right now (the classrooms, sanctuary, teachers, etc) and gave everyone who showed up copies.  We also printed off pictures of ourselves to give everyone.  We also had all our teachers write letters to the kids who got dedicated and we wrote the kids letters as well. The point of the time capsule is to not give it to your child until they are older (teens/preteens). You are supposed to give it to them when they are going through a rough time in their lives and when they open it up they can see all the letters from family, friends, teachers they had at church all telling them how much they are loved, how much God loves them, and that we're always going to be here for you- no matter what!

 

 Here's a look at what's on the inside...

I really loved doing the class and the time capsule as well. can't wait to
give it to my son :)


Whew! You made it! Thanks for making it to the end  :)

Adventures in Potty Training....

Oh potty training.

It kind of sucks.

Right now we are only on our 2nd week of pt.  My son is doing fairly well for only being at it for 2 weeks.  I'm proud of him!

I do wish, however, we could speed up the process of getting to use the potty all the time, every time.  I know it will take time, lots of time, to get to that point. But boy will I ever be happy when we do get to that point!

Anyhow.. potty training sure can teach you a lot of stuff though! 

1- Patience!!  Gooooodness.... have you ever sat in a bathroom waiting for a kid to do his business? That can be quite a lengthy process... At least it's quality time, right?  We've done everything from singing songs, looking at books, and sort of playing with cars/trains/superheroes.

2- Another thing is that I realize I have watched too many episodes of Dora the Explorer and Diego.  I know pretty much all of the words to their theme songs. Oh, and Mickey Mouse Club House, Chuggington, Bubble Guppies, and Little Einsteins.   Right now the most favorite song to sing is the Little Einsteins theme song.  I'll admit- my son is mildly obsessed with them. Hey, at least they're teaching him about musical instruments and styles of music and different kids of animals and art!  ;)

3-  Where ever we go, I must know where the potty in that store is! We've successfully made it to a few stores and have used their restrooms! Knowing where the restroom is located has now become my top priority upon entering a store.

4- Not all little training potties will work for your kid! We have one that is Cars themed. It is way too small for my child. Tried using it once. Never went back to it. Also- those potty cover things- those don't work for us either. Again, they're too small.

5- Sticker charts work! (for going #1 at least)  We had a sticker chart that came with a book that had enough space for you to put 40 stickers. we used up every single space within a week. I had to make a new one.  I'm hoping the sticker chart will help for #2 as well... I'm trying to entice him with Thomas the Train stickers.... so far, not going so well....(side note::: Any of you moms, or anyone who has gone through potty training a child have any tips for getting them to go #2 in the potty and not their underwear? Thanks!)

 

So these are my potty stories/tips so far.... and to leave you with one more...

Tonight my son runs to the bathroom. I hear a splashing sound and run in after him. Poor little guy is trying to stand up to go #1. He's only 2 1/2. He's not tall enough to stand to use the potty yet. Needless to say the floor got wet, but hey- at least he was trying to do it by himself!

I'm proud of my little guy! We'll keep working towards total potty training completion! Hopefully it won't take forever :)  I know he'll eventually get it. We all got it, right?  ;)

First Blog Award!

Thanks to Jessica over at The Hilton's in Texas ... I was nominated for my first ever blog award- The Sunshine Award! Thanks Jessica!! 

The rules for the Sunshine Award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.


2. Tell us something about yourself.


3. Nominate 10 other bloggers.


4. And let them know you awarded them!


Let's see.... now for a few more things you don't know about me...

1. I tend to forget things easily. If I need to remember something, I'll have to write it down.
2. I have never broken a bone and have only had stitches once.
3. I bruise like a peach and usually always have at least 2 bruises on my legs.
4. I really want to either take a Zumba class or order the DVDs.
5. I have never gotten any kind of traffic ticket! (knock on wood!)
6. I used to love NSYNC back in high school....


So there are a few more tid-bits about me! Here are my nominees (in no particular order, and I know it's not 10.. I'm still pretty new and don't have 10 blogger friends yet :])...


Taylor @ Little Bit of Everything
Brittany @ Day to Day with the Garcia's
Danielle @ The Lenz Family
Erin @ Little Texas Love Nest
Allie @ My Dreams Coming True




Thanks again, Jessica! It was fun :)

just because...

Because I'm bored (and really don't have anything else to do...), here's a list of random stuff about me. Sorry if it bores you, and I don't blame you if you don't read it all or read it at all.

Here it goes...

• I really wish I knew how to play the piano. I took lessons as a kid, but gave up after a couple of years.
• I LOVE chocolate. Milk, dark, white... it doesn't matter.
• I always have my polish on my toes. I think my feet don't look so cute when they're polish free.
• I don't know how to drive a stick. My grandpa tried to teach me once... yeah, not so much.
• I have 3 nephews. All of their names start with a "C." (Connor, Canten, Caden)
• My favorite kind of dog is a weenie dog.
• I have baby fever. Like, really bad. I'm ready for #2.
• Whenever baby #2 does come along, I really hope it's a girl.
• I was in labor with my son for 19 very long hours. It kinda sucked, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
• I played flute in middle school and high school and oboe in high school. I loved playing and still get my flute out every once in a while. I suck now, but it's still fun to try and play our high school fight song.
• I was in the Marching Band in high school and absolutely loved it. 
• Before becoming a Children's Director at my church, I worked at an elementary school for 3 years as an aide in a Life Skills class. Those were some of the best years I've had. Love those kids!
• I used to want to be a teacher, was even going to school for it.
• I've been to 4 different colleges, but don't have a degree of any sort. I'm ok with that.
• Next year will be my 10 year high school reunion. I don't plan on attending. It's not that I don't have an interest in seeing people I went to school with and was friends with, I just don't feel like it's something I NEED to go to.
• I love to bake. Anything and everything. Last year I was really into cakes and decorating them. I haven't done any this year though.
• I really hate it when people don't use their blinkers. They're there for a reason people!
• I could eat Chick-fil-a at least once a week.
• Sweet tea is a staple in our house. We always have some made.
• I could listen to Christmas music year round. I've always loved Christmas music. And movies.
• My favorite holiday is Christmas.  I love everything about it. The only thing that would make Christmass time even better around here, would be if it snowed- not a ton, just enough to stick.
• My favorite season is Fall. I love the colors. Fall scented candles are the best- and the decor!
• I love shoes! I always have to walk by the shoe department in any store.
• I love watching kid shows and movies with my son.
• One of my cousins is also my sister-in-law.
• I only have 5 first cousins.
• Brandon and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary.
• On our honeymoon we went to Kauai, HI. It's now one of my favorite places to go. I would love to go back again.
• People say my sister and I look like twins. We're 13 months apart. I'm older.
• I really enjoy classical music. I find it to be very relaxing.
• I have done a lot of babysitting in my life. A lot.
• I"m not very good at math or grammar. I strongly dislike both.
• I have read all of the Twilight books. And have seen the movies.
• I absolutely despise raw onions. I'll pick them off of any food they're on.
• Tex-Mex is my favorite kind of food. Chips and salsa, fajitas and a good margarita and I'm in heaven!

Well I guess I've bored you enough today! If you made it to the end, thanks for reading!  :)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!

I'm Vloggin' it

 If you want to follow along or do the Accent Vlog yourself, here are the words/questions: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Coffee, Daughter. What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball? What is the bubbly carbonated drink called? What do you call gym shoes? What do you say to address a group of people? What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs? What do you call your grandparents? What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket? What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining? What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

So in love...

with my sister's tempurpedic bed.  I wish we had one.  We're only at my sister's place because she, her hubby, their son and her hubby's family all went on a cruise for the week. Lucky Ducks.

But seriously. Have you ever laid on or slept in one before? They're amazing.  Everyone should at least have the pleasure of taking a nap in one some day.

Best sleep I've had in a while.

Hands down.

The End.

gLee

I love the show.  I'm not what you'd call a "gLeek" though.  I have not watched it from the beginning but just recently started watching it.  My husband doesn't so much like the show, so I watch it at my sister's house (she has the DVR (: ).

They're such a talented bunch of singers, dancers, actors....  I love to listen to them sing.  Most of the time, I get goose bumps just hearing any one of them belt it out.

Call me crazy, but the most recent episode- the one with the funeral- made me cry.  If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil anything for you, but it's a good one.  It's funny how a tv show, something that's just meant for entertainment, can cause so much emotion.

Anyway... that's my randon thought for today  :)

Silly boy

So last night my son decides that it's a good idea to take a nap a little after 6.  I let him do it only because he hadn't been feeling well- other wise, heck no! He'd be up for forever! Anyway...

So he'd been sleeping a while on the couch. My husband and I were eating dinner and just watching tv. A commercial with a lot of music came on and out of the blue, our son decides it's a good enough song to wake up to and dance around on the couch.

Just like that, he's awake. Feeling much better, and wanting to dance. It was hilarious.

Funniest thing that happened all day  :)   The joys of having kids <3

 (This was taken last year, but it's still pretty cute/funny)

Happy Birthday!

Like the title says.....

Today is my husband's birthday. Happy birthday, babe!!! We love you <3