Baby Needs a New Pair of Jammies!

Anybody with a Toddler out there?  Well, let me say that John Stephen is not really wild about wardrobe changes!  I am sure some of you have been through this before!  He kicks, wiggles, flops, whines etc...everytime we change his clothes or diaper!  I have learned that singing a song while changing diapers works wonders (thanks for the advice, Mom), but even the BEST rendition of Old McDonald won't get us through a full outfit change!  As a result...sometimes we cave!

If you see a little boy running around in his diaper in my yard this summer, don't call DHS!

Oh, and if you see a little boy with long hair and a pony tail at my house...again, DON"T call DHS!  We are just about to break down and cut the hair!  I will probably need counseling to get through it, but I SWEAR we are getting there!!

This is John Stephen watching TV this morning.  Interesting lounging position!  You can tell I let him wear his jammies too much...

Oh Brother!  I am unfit!  We have SPRUNG THE TOE OF OUR JAMMIES!!   I will be making a trip to Children's Place soon for a new assortment.  And hopefully, somebody will get a better attitude about changing clothes! 

Do you SNOW how much I LOVE YOU?

Hello Loves!  Hope you had a Happy Valentine's Day!  We are FINALLY enjoying pleasant weather here after a couple of weeks of inclement weather!  Everything tends to shut down when a few flakes fall here, but when you get two 4-5 inch snows in a week- well... 

Everybody shuts down!!  And we sure joined in!  There were a few days that John Stephen and I never left the house!  Finally, I decided we should take a family walk in the snow...

Yeah, that didn't go so well.  I put John Stephen's hood up and tucked a blanket over him, but by the time we had gotten down the street he was screaming bloody murder!  Don had to scoop him up and walk as fast as he could back to the house- leaving me with the wagon and the dog!  As they walked, pieces of John Stephen's snow garb were falling off in the street, and all of the neighboorhood surely could hear him crying!  A little embarrassing to cause a neighborhood scene!  I guess he was cold- poor baby!  Anyway, I am a little dissapointed that my idea of a family tromp through the snow didn't pan out!

So, after the snow thawed we turned around and it was Valentine's Day!!

I made Chicken Picatta for dinner and we shared a bottle of wine.  And we helped Pax (he did not share in the wine:)) work on his science project!  I guess in retrospect we should have saved the science project for a night when we were not going to have a bottle of wine! Just Kidding!  We did the work before dinner and wine:)!  I enjoyed Valentine's with all of the men in my life!  (Sydney wasn't here, but I got to deliver her Valentine earlier in the day!) 

And, today Don had a meeting, and I have been working on my computer.  Everything is great except that I am here with this...

Hope it is thawing out where you are!  Pray for my self control!!

Snow Day!

Thought I would share a few pics of John Stephen in the snow!  We have had two snows in the last few weeks!  Add that to Martin Luther King Jr day and we have had a leisurely pace around here lately!  We have been cuddled up by the fireplace eating comfort food for WAY TOO LONG!  I am ready to stop the insanity!  Speaking of fireplace...

We have two gas log fireplaces in our new house.  I have always preferred a wood burning fireplace, but my allergies are so terrible that sometimes a wood fire gives me problems.  And, since our house came with gas fireplaces- we didn't see the need to convert them back to wood burning.  Anyway, getting to the point, the fireplaces are the only things in our home that run on gas.  And we have been very liberal in our fireplace use age- every night, all day on weekends, all day on snow days etc...I have been dreading the bill from our gas company!  My biggest fear has been that it will be exorbitantly expensive and I will have to ration out my fire time!  So it came today- $11.96.  That is what it is every month when we do not even use the gas!  So, I guess they decided not to check our meter every month?  My big delima now is whether to leave well enough alone, or call the gas company.  I could see us getting a $6000 bill in April after a winter of glowing fires!  Oh well, at least we are toasty here!

Back in the Saddle!

Well, If I had any sense at all, I would have announced that I was taking the month of December and part of January off from blogging!  It is always hectic at Christmas, and I was a little bit overwhelmed this year.  But, I think we are back in the saddle over here!!

John Stephen was so much fun this Christmas!  I never knew how much fun it would be to have a little one during the Holidays!

We went to 5 or 6 family celebrations, shopped for gifts for about 30 people, had people over a few times to our house, cooked, cleaned, wrapped, enjoyed the fireplace, hung twinkle lights, and sang along to my Christmas music on my IPOD!  It was great!!   It was a lot of work, but it was so fun!!

 John Stephen got to see his cousins- and he loved it!  

On Christmas afternoon I found the whole family napping on my bed!  John Stephen and Sydney woke up right as I came in with my camera!  For all of the Moms out there I have to say..."Why were they all getting the NAP while I was washing dishes??" Oh well, at least they had the wild man trapped up there with them!

A few thoughts:

• Love the new Oprah Winfrey Network
• Ready for Duck Season to be OVER
• We are going to MAUI in April!
• Need something to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks
• John Stephen is getting his EYE TEETH
• I've got cabin fever- it has been very cold!

So, I hope to be back soon- with some good posts!  Stay WARM! 

Around Here...

Well it only took from August 28th until last week for us (Don)  to put together the wagon that we bought for John Stephen for his first birthday!  We have perfected the Art of Procrastination around here!  Once we got her all put together we went for a spin around the yard!  I think he liked it!

And we also have been running around outside looking quite dapper in my brother Rafe's "heirloom" sailor coat!  Everyone knows that I love classic baby clothes, and they aren't easy to find these days!  We feel very blessed to enjoy such a beautiful coat!

And, we finally took pics for the Christmas Card!  It took an Act of Congress to get all three kids here and dressed at the same time.  Not to mention how hard it was to get all three looking happy-smiley-cute at the same time!  This is not the shot I chose for the card- that I will save for later!

And in other news...

-We took Pax to his FIRST Razorback game last weekend!  Hogs beat LSU!  It was fabulous and FUN! 

-Wondering if Hogs will go to our FAVORITE city (NOLA) for the Sugar Bowl??

-Great Birthday for me- #37!  The best part was that I had gotten confused and thought I was turning 38 until a few days before!  So, I feel young now!

-I have been scraping wallpaper for a few weeks!  The hall bath is looking pretty!  I'll post pics soon! 

-Put a tree up in Sydney's room and John Stephen thinks it is MAGICAL!  He loves it, and I love that!

-Went to mini storage this afternoon to get Christmas decorations, and lost my keys inside the very messy hoarder paradise! It started to get dark before I uncovered them and was able to drive home!  CRAZY!

-Going on a two day adventure to Little Rock/Hot Springs.  Hope to get to shop a little- haven't started Christmas shopping yet!! '

-Had my Traditional Pre-Christmas Emotional Break Down this morning while trying to get to a meeting, digging out from under four baskets of dirty laundry, surveying my disgustingly dirty house, and my cranky baby, and very cranky husband!  Whew!  Glad that's over!  Things are still a little nuts here, but I feel the LOVE! 

Wishin' and Hopin'

OK, I know this is selfish, but I have been thinking about a few items that I would love to see Santa bring down my chimney this year!  And, since my Mom and my Husband both like ideas...here are a few things I like for my two loyal readers!

These are Merrells, and I like them because they are easy to slip on!  I always find myself in yoga pants, a fleece and white socks when I need to run to the grocery or to drive carpool, and my little black slip on tennies look terrible!  All I can see is the black shoe/white sock thing, and I hate it!  OK, moving on...

The Kindle!  Now $139 on Amazon!  This is AWESOME!  I can read a book at home in my small, little town that has no bookstore whenever the mood hits!  I can see myself on lazy Sunday afternoons just downloading a great book when the boy is sleeping and being able to upload titles that my friends recommend to be in my lineup! So cool!

LL Bean Tote- I want a BIG one for taking sheets and towels to the lake!  It doesn't need to zip.  And I don't care what color!  A classic!

There are a few other items on my wish list, but I do not have photos...

-an address stamp with my new address

-a noise maker to drown out a certain someone's snoring!

-and a REALLY long gold necklace/pendant.

- an INA GARTEN cookbook- Isn't she awesome??

And that is all I have come up with so far- isn't it enough?  Hope you have started your wish list!  Just in case you were wondering, we are not really doing well on my HOLIDAY ORGANIZATION PLAN.  I'm not really shocked.  I am going to slam it into gear next week, and have my scheduled nervous breakdown in two weeks- right on track!  But I have been doing some home improvement projects that will be featured ASAP!  Have a good weekend!!

 

Free Range Chicken

Things have been so crazy around here that I almost forgot to post pics of our Free Range Chicken!  I was calling him a Funky Chicken until we tried to wrangle him for a couple of pics before the Thursday night Halloween Party- that is when his true identity as a Free Range Chicken was revealed to me! 

There is a neat parade in our old neighborhood that we went to again this year!  John Stephen's buddy was there!

Lots of kids come and they have games and fun stuff for the kids all along a beautiful street.

We caught up with Sissy bobbing for apples!  The Raggedy Ann costume won "Best Costume" in John Stephen's age group!  It was soooooo cute!

Free Range!

Sydney the Vampire with John Stephen the Free Range Chicken!