lately

Here is a little glimpse as to what's been going on over here lately...

Andy and I had a play date (on may 3rd)...

Andy was OBSESSED with Anne Carter.  And she did not like him one bit.

Andy got to sit with his buddy, Lee.

We attempted a group shot...Eliza was not feeling it.

Andy, Lee, Anne Carter, Presley, and Eliza

The pool has opened! Our country club pool is now opened on weekends and we are taking full advantage of it! We went Saturday of last weekend and then back again Saturday of mother's day weekend. Both kids love it.

 Brad was there, so you know Cal was happy.

 I got this picture- and I love it:

Andy is a strawberry-eating machine:

We don't cut them anymore.  He prefers them whole.

Back to the pool the day before mother's day... this is what being a mom is all about (note the beer, please)...

We are in prep mode for Andy's birthday.  I got some favors:

 I took the boys over to a friends house who lives on a farm.  They let us go see the horsies and feed them a carrot.

The Bachelorette started back up last night.  You KNOW I had to have a celebratory glass of wine!

I let Andy play with one of the balls for his party (turns out I over bought a few...).

he is about to be ONE! ack!!!!

xoxo

 

Mother's Day

I have started and deleted this post several times... it is very hard to put into writing how thankful I am to be a mother...and to have a mother with whom I am very close...

I am so thankful for these two little boys, who FILL my days with laughter, hugs, (deep breaths), smiles, cars, balls, drool, snot, poopoo, and a lot of love. I still can't get over how lucky I am to have these two call me mommy (or "uhhhhh!" in Andy's voice). 

I am so blessed and thankful to have my mom in my life.  She is one of my very best friends and I just adore her.  She has taught me how to be more than a mother, but a mom...and a GOOD mom.  I can only hope to have my kids look up to me one day the way that Chris and I look up to her.  

 I am thankful that my mom is still alive and able to share in moments like the pictures above and below.  Her mom died when she was 47 years old...before my mom had us.  So my mom's mom never got to see her be a mother. I am thankful that my mom is alive, and living close, so that she can see all of her hard work with us coming back with our kids.  (She can also witness payback to me for when Cal is acting like a little devil....that is karma coming back to me....and I am glad she is here to see it happening!)

my mom, her two kids, and her four grandbabies

 I think the best compliment you can give someone is to tell them you think they are a good mom.  When someone says that to me, it seriously makes me want to burst with pride.  Being a mom is not easy and, as you know from reading this blog, it has its very trying times, but I absolutely love, love, love my job and there is no where else I would rather be. 

please note andy in the bottom of this picture...he crawled over and was not to be ignored!

 MOM: I LOVE YOU! Thank you for loving me back and putting up with my terrible twos that never quit and my attitude and my "strong personality" and my brattiness.  You have taught me to be a patient and loving mom, and I am forever grateful to you.  I know your mom loves watching you from heaven being a mom and a grandma and I know she is beyond proud of you. I hope I make you proud of me, too.

And I hope the rest of you had a wonderful day. 364 days of the year are devoted to the spouses and children in our lives...we deserve a day for us....am I right?!?!?!? ;)

   

a BUSY bee

I was talking to a friend a few nights ago who is pregnant with her second baby.  She is feeling slightly panicked because her first child has started to become really busy.  Her exact words were "I had NO idea they could be THIS busy!" Well, I have news for ya.... just wait until that second one arrives and becomes MOBILE! PHEW!

Cal has always kept me pretty busy because he has always been into everything and on the move constantly.  But having two kids into everything and on the move makes the word "busy" an understatement!

Andy is literally into EVERYTHING lately, and it makes me laugh how quickly he can find something else that he shouldn't have after I have taken something away from him.  I tried to document some of his naughtiness curiousness today.  These were all taken in a matter of less than 1 hour.  30 mins before the gym, and then the 30 mins after the gym...

"hmmm, mom seems to use this thing a lot.  wonder if i can play with it..."

"maybe if i smile at her, she will let me open and close the door"

"just...going...to...look....for....some....scraps....."

"must....get....toes...off...of....floor!"

"any mac and cheese in there??"

"wooooaaaahhhhh"

"shoot...she sees me....just gotta be charming..."

"she pulled me off of here once, but I can get back up again, easily"

"I am trying to lean in there like hank does, but it doesn't quite work like that"

"told ya I'd get back up here, mom"

"why does she keep pulling me down? there are so many fun things to see in here"

"uh-oh...she's baaaaack..."

"hmmm....wonder if i can open all of mom's drawers at once"

"dang it, cal! quit telling on me! i like to turn the water on and off!"

"see? on. off. on. off. it is such a fun game"

 After the gym, we had to run to my mom's house to get some things from her basement.  Andy discovered his love of the stairs...

"maybe if I lay low she won't see me sneaking away"

"this is SUCH a funny game!"

"you'll never catch me!"

 Then, back at our house for lunch...Andy crushed some strawberries and ended up naked.

"I love when i find hank's toys under the table. I must put this in my mouth immediately."

"whew! all this crawling works up a thirst! and makes for some red knees"

"might as well stand for a while and suck my fingers...la-de-dah"

"oh, heeyyyyyy, handsome.  I love when mom turns the camera around so I can see myself"

"oh, a BOX!"

"I better crawl inside...just because, you know...it's a box"

"what?"

Now, add in a 2.5 year old who is SUPER busy and wild and you see why I drink at night...kidding....kinda.....not really......

I wouldn't want them any other way.  I love my busy boys and I love watching them discover the new things around them.  And I am telling myself that chasing after them this morning earned a chick-fil-a spicy chicken sandwich for lunch.

Happy weekend, y'all!

"Reading"

Cal is OBSESSED with a few books about Lightning McQueen.  We have read him one of these books every night (and nap time) for the past few weeks.  I started reading the page to him and letting him say the last word on the page.  Then, he started reading along with me as I read.  Then, he just read each page.  Obviously, I use the term "read" VERY lightly here... he is NOT reading, of course, but he pretty much says each word on the page. 

The teacher in me is excited about his love of reading.  The geek in me is excited too... just had to share this video of the first part of the book...

part 2:

(not uploading.... will try again later....)

Random-ness

Totally random post today. I feel as though I owe it to y'all for reading through my Monday bitch-fest.  So here ya go... some randomness for your Wednesday!

1. Cal just came into the study and said to me, "I be riiiight back, Mommy. I gonna go run a few errands, but I be riiiight back. Okay, mommy? Okay? Okay, Mommy? I be riiiiight back!"
It was awesome.

2. I have done nothing for Andy's birthday.  Seriously, nothing.  I am hosting a party for my mom's 60th (along with several of her friends) the night before the party and I am so set on making her party perfect, that I am not working on Andy's.  It will all come together, I know, but WHEW, I am a hot mess trying to do it all...and do it all well...you know?

3. Back to Cal (who is in his room screaming for me right now: "mommy??? you need me??? I right in here!!!!!")... he has been cracking us up lately saying the funniest things (see number 1).  Andy has also been a trip and acting like he is about to pop from excitement all the time.  We took this video last night in the bath.  It is best to watch it with volume, but it is loud, so maybe not while at work??

I swear, it's like he knows his birthday is approaching and he can hardly stand all the excitement!

4. I pulled up Etsy the other day to attempt to make progress on said birthday party for said one year old, and this shop popped up.  Why do I find this so funny?

source

Perhaps I am having a hard time accomplishing things for Andy's birthday because I take time looking at outfits like the above and then send out the link to all of my friends with daughters telling them they should seriously consider this outfit combo... yep, it was a time suck, but it made me laugh.

5. Want in on the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies ever? They are insanely easy...and insanely good.
Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie bag mix (the oatmeal choc chip ones are bomb too)
1 egg
4 soup spoons full of vegetable oil
Mix it all up, form into 6 balls (can't make more or they aren't as delish)
Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes
You will thank me. Your waist line might curse me, but your husbands/friends/family will all thank me.  These are the cookies I bake ALL the time for people and I can't even express how easy they are to make (or how often I get requests for them).
The only rule is, you have to tell me when you make them... I like to know when the goodness is going other places!


6.  See this nugget?

That's me... or is it Andy?  hmmmmm......

7. I forgot one more thing that happened on Monday that I left out of my ranting post:
As I was leaving the gym, carrying my bag, my 18 pound water jug (okay, it doesn't weight 18 pounds, but it is heavy-- it holds like, 70 ounces, I think...), my baby, and my 2 year old's hand (while he was jumping up and down), I approached my car, which had a pretty good parking spot.  A car pulled in behind me and put his turn signal on for my spot.  Ummmm.... I would understand this if there were NO other spots in the lot, but I looked down the row and counted 7 other spots...not even 5 yards from my spot! I looked at the guy and he gave me some kind of a wave...I am telling myself it was a take your time wave, but it in all honesty looked like a let's get a move on wave.   I started putting Andy in the car and I was trying to hurry for this a**hole unpleasant man, but then I decided to take my sweet time.  I saw two other cars pull out from my same lane and this guy sat, still waiting for my spot.  Wait, have I mentioned we were at THE GYM??  Isn't the point to get some exercise, chief?  Honest to goodness, y'all! I saw his license plate was from New York...nothing against New Yorkers (except this guy), but I was ready to join him in honking my horn.  But I didn't.  Because a southern gal is nothing but class.  (wink wink)

8. Have y'all read Fifty Shades of Grey? I just started the third one this morning.  Funny story-- I heard so many people talking about this book... it was on the Today Show and all kinds of talk shows.  I bought it on my kindle for our trip out to LA, not having ANY idea what it was about.  Ummmmm.... we were on the flight and Eddie bought the wifi for his phone (twitter-addict). I got about 30 pages in and I asked to borrow his phone so I could google search this book.  I liked the Twilight series, but I did not want to read another book about vampires and I had no idea what the "catch" was with this book... well, the first 10 pages that came up in google all said things like "mommy porn", "erratic read", " S&M romance."
I wanted to stop reading right there, but I couldn't.  I flushed plenty of times on the airplane, that is for sure.  If you aren't aware of the books, they are racy, but actually pretty good, even with/without all the sexiness- haha.  Some parts are just downright raunchy, be forewarned....
In honor of Mother's Day this weekend, I pass this video along to you-- TOO funny!

Video From SNL

9. The Bachelor starts this Monday-- HOLLA!  Can.not.wait.  I am going to have to get some wine for this household. I love "watching" the show with my friends on our facebook group.  It sounds so lame when written out like that, but we all have so much fun together.

10. I just started using some Jergans self tanning lotion.  I used it a ton last year before I had Andy because I wasn't trying to be all pasty while on the operating table and it worked really well... we will see if I have success this year too.  I must shower now so that I can apply some skin darkening goodness to my legs.  It has a funny smell to it though...hmmm...

I told y'all this would be a random mind dump!  And THIS is why I don't get anything done! My mind is racing with all this other mumble jumble stuff!

Have a great Wednesday, y'all!