He thought this was SO fun.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
the eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul (ralph waldo emerson)
Yesterday, Christopher and I had lunch with my dad at a local Mexican restaurant. It was a gorgeous fall day outside, and I decided to take Christopher to the park afterwards. I took my camera with me because I’m really trying to take more pictures of Christopher. (I’m also TRYING to shoot in full manual mode, but it’s going to take me awhile to get there. I think I took about 5 pictures in manual before saying ‘forget it’ and switching to portrait.)
Anyway, back to the point. I took this picture of Christopher and I just love it. Doesn’t he have the most beautiful eyes? Yes, I believe he does.
The only “touching up” I did to this photo was removing some dried stuff around his nose (he’s had a runny nose recently) and some Mexican food around his lips (apparently he was saving it for later.) I did not touch his eyes.
I have more pictures from the park, but this one deserves a post all on it own, don’t you think? Yes, I think it does.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A few things… (I’m gonna be a GRANDMA!)
I think I’ve already mentioned that I went to War Eagle with my mom and Britney. We left out EARLY last Friday morning and headed to Northwest Arkansas. (Can I mention my love for NWA again? Cause I really love it up there!) We got to War Eagle around 9:30 or 10:00 and shopped there for several hours (it’s huge!) then we went into Springdale, ate lunch at Applebees, then went to the Convention Center to the craft fair there. There was SO much cute stuff. I can’t wait till our budget is a little bigger. I’ll have a LOT of fun. I think we are going to try to make it a yearly tradition! This year, I had a little bit of my birthday money and I bought a few things for myself. I think it was all Christmas decorations! (What can I say? It’s my favorite time of year!)
One thing I forgot to mention about our trip to Branson… just for my own documentation. On the way to NWA, you go through a tunnel for a short distance. Christopher thought it was really funny when we went through it and after we got out of it, he asked to do it again. (“More!”) I’m going to try to remember to video his reaction the next time we go through it.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Prowant Wedding Weekend
Last weekend (October 8 & 9) we headed to Branson to celebrate the marriage of Deanna (my mother-in-law) and Leonard. Deanna has two kids and so does Leonard, and we were all able to meet in Branson and get to know one another. We are really excited to have new family members! We loved getting to meet everybody and spend some time together.
Stephen had a home football game to cover on Friday night, so we left Saturday morning around 7:30 and headed north. We had planned to stop at Ricks in Fayetteville to get a snack before lunch in Branson, but when we got there, there was a line out the door and we didn’t feel like stopping our trip for that long just for some donuts. There was a home game in Fayetteville that day, so I guess people were stopping to get cakes and stuff for tailgating.
We got to Branson and had lunch at Fuddruckers – yum. I think it’s such a fun place to eat, and I love their fry sauce and ranch. (I’m one of those people who judges a restaurant based on their ranch dressing.) After Fuddruckers, we headed to Tanger Outlet Mall to do some light shopping. I had a few things I needed to pick up for Christopher, mainly some jeans for fall and a few fall t-shirts. Christopher’s at a weird size right now. 18-24 month clothes fit him fine in the waist but are too short, and a lot of 2T things are too big or too long. It’s frustrating!
After we were finished shopping we headed to our cabin for the weekend, which was literally a minute from Tangers. Leonard and Deanna wanted everybody to be together for the weekend instead of in different hotels, so they rented a 5-bedroom, 3-floor cabin. It was really nice and it was a great way for us to all hang out and get to know one another. Leonard’s kids weren’t in town yet, but we were able to catch up with Jim & Cristin (Stephen’s brother and his wife.)
Once Leonard’s kids got there, we all went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Hollister. We stayed there for quite a while before heading back to the cabin. We laid Christopher down then stayed up late talking. The next morning, we packed up and headed to the wedding, which was at the College of the Ozarks campus in Hollister. I had never been there before, but it’s beautiful! We watched Deanna and Leonard exchange vows, then we headed inside where we had a DELICIOUS brunch at the Keeter Center at the College of the Ozarks. It was a really neat atmosphere and I loved the food.
We had planned on going to Silver Dollar City after the brunch, but nobody else wanted to go with us and it’s just not as much fun by ourselves. When it’s just the three of us, Stephen and I can’t ride anything because we have Christopher with us (plus Stephen doesn’t really enjoy the rides, anyway) and there really isn’t much in the park and Christopher can do (2 or 3 rides is all, and I have to ride them with him – and Momma can only ride in circles so many times before getting sick and losing those delicious waffles from brunch) so we just decided to head on back home. We stopped in Ft Smith and did a little shopping and had dinner at Gino’s. I was disappointed that we didn’t go to SDC, but hopefully Stephen and I can get another chance to go with another couple (maybe Leonard & Deanna or Tyler & B) sometime before the end of the year.
Leonard’s daughter, Lori, and her husband, Jordan. They are so sweet!
Leonard’s son, Greg, his wife Michelle, and their precious daughter, Ava.
Christopher loved Ava. He always wanted to be kissing and hugging her.
Jim & Cristin
Richard and Gina. They are Deanna’s best friends and Richie is related to Leonard. (First cousins once removed.)
Gina and Richie and are the people who introduced Deanna and Leonard! :)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
TUESDAY tidbits :)
**I just have to say that I originally named this monday morning ramblings until my brilliant sister-in-law pointed out that I wrote it on tuesday, not monday… yes, hello, I’m 26 and can’t tell you the correct day of the week. tuesdays are like the first day of the week for me since that’s the day that my school week starts. oh, well. it is now tuesday tidbits."**
Good morning, friends!
I'm at school this morning, waiting for class to start. I decided to hop on the computer and write a quick update! I have a post started at home, it just needs pictures added to it to be finished. I'll try to get that up tomorrow. I just wanted to jot down a quick things this morning that I've been meaning to document!
*Midterms are here! It's hard to believe that my fall semester is halfway over. EEK! I counted this past weekend, and (not including today) I have 14 more class days (Tuesdays & Thursdays) left this semester. So. Stinkin. Excited.
*I haven't written much about Christopher and daycare - or as he calls it, "scooh!" (School.) He is doing really well! The adjustment was hard for the first several weeks. He would recognize the building when we turned onto the street that the daycare is on and start shaking his head "no" and whining. BUT, I am happy to say that he is now excited about going to school (most days) and will usually even pick school over staying at home with Mommy or Granny. However, when we actually get to school and go inside and I start to leave, he has second thoughts. I know that he only cries for a minute or two (yes, I stay and listen or peek out the windows if they're playing outside after I drop him off) and then he is fine for the rest of the day.
*I'm playing Bunco again! I played for a few months two years ago, when I was on maternity leave with Christopher. I loved it but once I went back to work it was hard to go because of Walmart's scheduling, then last year I had class on Monday nights. I've been the last two months and won 2nd place both times. But really - I just love being able to get out and have a little fun with my friends!
*I'm taking a Photoshop class at RMCC. It's only 6 weeks long, and it's one night a week. I don't really know much about Photoshop at ALL and I figure it's something that I may need to teach one day. Plus, I am hoping to be able to do some designing with it (like Christmas cards, birthday invitation, etc) and some picture editing, as well.
*PICTURES! I have been SO horrible recently about taking pictures. I think it all started when I lost my 8 GB memory card around Christopher's birthday. I need to replace it. I'm having a garage sale at the beginning of next months and I'm hoping to buy myself a new lens. I've been drooling over this one for months, and I'm pretty sure it's what I'm going to go with!
**there's lots more I could add to this, but I've got to get to class now! I'll leave you with a picture my mom just sent to me -- apparently she lets my son play in make-up on the days that she keeps him. ;)
Happy Monday!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
fall afternoons
Over the last few weeks, Christopher and I have spent lots of time in our front yard enjoying the gorgeous fall weather, playing on the “cycle,” blowing bubbles, etc. He can play while I sit on the front porch and work on homework or play fetch with the dogs. Lots of times we have yummy half-price Cruizzers drinks to sip.
These are from one day last week.
These pictures make me smile. It reminds me of another sweet fall afternoon from two years ago (almost to the day!) Christopher has changed SO much… Baxter – well, he’s pretty much stayed the same.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
applications, football games, selling the house, and a birthday
We’ve had a busy few days! Last week for a rush for me because I was getting everything together to turn for my application for student internship! It was due Friday and there were a lot of other things that I had to have approved or turn in before I could complete my internship application. I met with the HSU Registrar so that he could approve my application for GRADUATION! That was really exciting for me! (Obviously, I get excited easily.) I have been saying since the beginning of the summer, “I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!” referring to internship and graduation, but it wasn’t until the Registrar approved my graduation application that it really felt REAL to me – ya know? I also had to write a personal essay and have it approved by the HSU Writing Center. They were jam packed and I had trouble getting an appointment with them so I ended up having to drive to Arkadelphia last Friday to meet so that they could approve my essay. After it was approved, I turned in my entire application for internship, which was just as exciting as my application for graduation. I’m SO relieved to have everything done and turned in. Now I just have to finish out this semester of classes. Before I know it, Christmas Break will be over and I will be starting my student teaching.
About an hour after I got home on Friday, we loaded up the car and headed to Clarksville for the Bearcat football game. Stephen was going to be by himself on the trip and I knew that he was tired and would be getting in late, so I offered to go with him. Christopher went with us. He had a great time at the football game! Their visitor stands were very big and we basically had a huge section to ourselves so that he could run around. He could see Stephen taking pictures and notes down on the sidelines and would holler “Dada!” and then WAAAAVE when Stephen turned around. I was cracking up laughing. I had no idea he could holler that loud! ha! Stephen took come cute pictures of Christopher waving at him (and Big Mama with her mouth wide open laughing) but UNFORTUNATELY (ha) I do not have those pictures on my laptop, since Stephen took them with his work camera.
These are the only pictures I took. In the last photo (the one that’s blurry) he was saying “CHEESE!” but he moved when I took the picture. You can still see his sweet cheesy grin. :) We bought pizza and nachos (for a healthy dinner for Christopher and myself) at the game and the lady at the snack stand gave Christopher a sucker. This sucker kept him occupied for the 2nd quarter, halftime, and the majority of the 3rd quarter. I was thankful for it! (It was past his bedtime, and while he doesn’t really get extremely cranky, he can get kind of hyper and might throw a fit if things don’t go exactly how he wants them to go. The sucker kept his mind off the fact that it was past bedtime.)
On our way to the game, we received a phone call from my MIL (who is also our real estate agent) telling us that we had someone wanting to see our house. We put it up for sale this summer – about 4 months ago – but we hadn’t shown it at ALL. After the whole fiasco of our A/C going out this summer and us spending a ridiculous amount of money to fix it, Stephen and I had actually decided to just take it off the market when our contract was up in December. So on Saturday, my mom and I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned the inside of my house while Stephen worked in the yard (let’s just say it’d been a while since our backyard had been mowed.) We left the house at 4:00, went out to eat with my parents, and got back home at 6:00. At about 15 after, my MIL texted me to let us know that we had gotten an offer and she was emailing it to me! WE WERE SHOCKED!
Their offer was lower than we wanted, so we countered on Monday morning, and Monday after they countered again. We accepted their counter. Sooo now we start the whole waiting game to see if everything checks out and that the financing doesn’t fall through, etc. If everything works out, we will be closing in mid-November and we will have to be out of our house the weekend after Thanksgiving!
Today (Tuesday) is my 26th Birthday! I had to spend the entire day at school. We were up this morning at 5 in Arkadelphia at 8 for Stephen’s first class. We had my birthday lunch at Hamburger Barn then I had afternoon classes that lasted until 6:00. I didn’t even get to see Christopher until 8:15. It was a pretty uneventful birthday, but I had a lot of sweet friends leave me happy birthday wishes on my facebook wall and it made my day a little better. :) Britney gave me my gift from her and Ty this morning. I got Pictionary Man and an Olive Garden gift certificate. My mom and dad gave me a REALLY pretty wind chime that I’m excited to hang up on my front porch! I am also getting a pair of Toms from them (I just have to go pick them out) and apparently something else that they don’t have yet. ??? When Stephen asked me what I wanted, I told him –
“A new refrigerator?” (We got one in May)
“A new A/C?” (Which, as I already mentioned, cost us a fortune just a few weeks ago.)
“A new car?” (I mentioned in my last post that we just replaced Stephen’s 16-year-old car.)
I really don’t need ANYTHING for my birthday. I’m good with just saving our cash, thankyouverymuch!
I’m off to catch up on DVR’d shows. :) Happy 4th of October, everybody!
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