senior picture

e & a

Our friends Lane and Laurie just recently lived one of the biggest days of their lives. If you've been reading my blog for a while you might have read this.

It was been four long years that Lane and Laurie have been trying for a baby and on August 2nd the Lord answered their prayers. They welcomed not one, but two precious baby boys into the world. Ethan [6lbs, 15oz] and Aidan [6lbs, 5oz] arrived and they are more adorable and perfect than ever imagined.

Laurie took these pix.

I have been in a constant state of praise since they were born. I find myself tearing up just thinking about the miracle they are. The struggle Laurie has had to endure...The close call when they were 20 weeks old and almost entered the world extremely premature...The hard pregnancy...The bed rest...The shots...The negative pregnancy tests. On Tuesday I got to hold this little miracle in my arms.

God is so good.

He loves his people.

That is not up for discussion.

potty 911

Colt is to the point where we should start potty training.  But who knew finding the perfect potty would be harder than the SAT's.  We've bought two in the last two days and immediatly determined neither work. 

Anyone have any suggestions?  I've been reading reviews like crazy but figured I'd take your word for it. 

A few things to note:
Colt is pretty tall for his age.
Colt is quite beefy for his age.

And His butt is larger than life.

can your shoes do this?

I finally went to get some new shoes the other day.  I had been running and started to get some really bad knee pain so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get new shoes.  The lady fitting me for my new running shoe couldn't believe at what I'd been wearing.  She pretty much took my shoe and twisted it like a wet noodle.  Apparently,  if your shoes can do what my shoe did in the top picture you should burn them because they're giving you no support.  In fact they're probably hurting you.  She said I was pretty much running barefoot these last two months and she was surprised I didn't get a stress fracture or something.

I got fit after waiting in line for a while and walked out of there with a $120 pair of shoes.  It honestly kinda ruined the rest of Andy and I's date night we were on.   We went to dinner and the whole time I was thinking how dumb to spend that much money on a pair of shoes is.  So the next day and asked to be fit to a pair of clearance shoes.  I felt much better about that.  Lets just face it, I'm no marathon runner and honestly any shoe felt like I was walking on white puffy clouds compared to what I was running in before.

I've since worked out in the shoes a few different times and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I've yet to run in them.  That was supposed to happen today but I've got the energy of a two-toed sloth.  And I've kinda been feeling like crud lately.  A few bad stomach aches, no energy and a skipped period will make everyone and their mama ask if you're pregnant again.  I'm pretty sure I just feel like yuck. 

Anyhow, go check your running shoes and see if they bend like mine,  you should toss them.  If you have any other fitness questions, just ask me.  I'm a professional here.

your pits stink

A few months ago I bought some new deodorant. I hate when a deodorant says it goes on clear. If it's a white bar, it going on 'clear' is a lie. I've tested the method. It still leaves marks on your black shirt. So at Wally World a few months back I picked up a bar of that gel deodorant I used to wear in middle school. Let me tell ya, I flippin love it. It is kinda wet feeling, but only for a few seconds and alas! No more white marks. Plus, I swear it, my pits smell less. Even after working out, all the other deodorants I'd ever tried never worked as well as this stuff.

After testing the deodorant for a few days I thought that I needed to blog about this and share so that you can all go out and get this amazing deodorant and the world would become a far less smelly place. A few days past and every time I put on my deodorant and took a big whiff of it's fruity glory I reminded myself...blog about your pits, don't forget. Soon after I started thinking about other things that I love and needed to share with the world so finally, after creating a list in my head, I'm sharing a few of my favorite things. I'll probably forget a few things because a list in your head is not near as helpful as an actual written list.

Hold on to your socks. Ready? Go.

1) Behold...the cool gelly lather my pits so desire...

Go on and go down to Wally World and get yourself some. Make sure you remember this Wally World [Walmart] talk because once I tried to get it somewhere else and they didn't have it. I cried the whole way home. You'd think that it would go quicker than a regular bar deodorant but really it's lasts a pretty long time. The 'Secret's' out...

2. I've questioned whether or not I'm OCD after putting this in my car console...

I seriously Purell the crizap out of my hands every single day. Putting it in the car took it to a whole new level of sanitation. I Purell after I pump gas, after I touch money, after I put on my makeup, after I go to the bank...I even Purell after I Purell, just for fun. I Purell the steering wheel a few times a day. I Purell Colt sometimes. If Purell could make me dinner, I'd probably marry it.

3. Who needs a grill when you've got a pancake griddle!

We got this pancake griddle for Christmas last year and has been one of the best gifts ever. We started off, of course, making pancakes on the griddle. Andy has always been the pancake maker in the house. He seriously never burns a pancake and they always turn out perfect. Me on the other hand...well, remember this? So I burn things! One time I made brinner [breakfast for dinner] for my brother and I. He said he liked his pancakes a little burnt. I was thinking to myself, my kind of man, he'll love my pancakes! This was my 1st time using our new griddle and I tried for the life of me to burn the flippin pancake but it wouldn't burn! The thing sat of there for a good five minutes and still...perfect pancake.

4. Why buy a bottle of wine when you can buy a box of wine?

There are 4 bottles of wine in this one box and it costs $9.oo at Sam's Club. I think it's safe to say that I am no wine connoisseur. I don't whirl my wine around in a glass and take a big whiff. I don't like red wine. And I often times break corks in half leaving the bottom half floating in the wine bottle looking like a bobber. I just drink it and when I can get 4 bottles of wine for the price of 1 very cheap bottle of wine, I'm happy. Boxes of wine are also very green. This is how I help save the earth...one box at a time.

These are just a few...but you should really get the deodorant.

she sits!

Molly is 3 months old today and sat in a booster seat like a big girl! She's smiling all the time, trying to talk and really enjoying life.  I call her my angel baby and she is everything you'd think an angel baby would be.  Perfection.

i guess my head looked like a loaf of wheat bread or something.

I don't trust ducks.

my monkey man

Every night Andy and I lay in bed and recall how hilarious Colt is throughout the day. I say all the time how each stage of his life has been more fun than the last. Not the the stages are ever boring when you're in them...but Colt just keeps getting more fun and more fun. Here are some thing he's done the last couple days that make me laugh/happy:

1. He saw a commercial on TV of an opera singer. When the commercial was over, he turned to Andy and I, raise his arm up in the air and belted out the adorable cat-sounding opera note at the top of his lungs.
2. We made a tent out of a blanket and he gave me free kisses. sweetness.
3. After he got his diaper changed him and Daddy ran through the house to find me and spanked my butt. He thinks it's hilarious...so does Andy.
4. When we say our prayers a night he always nods and says 'ehhMAN! [amen] quite confidently.
5. After prayers when we give kisses he grabs the back of my head and the back of Andy's head and pushes them together to make us kiss. He makes us kiss at least 83 times a night. Andy asked the other day, "When does this get weird? Him making us kiss all the time", I assured him when he's ten I doubt he'll still be making us kiss. And honestly, I think him seeing his parents kiss all the time is sweet. At least he'll never question if we love each other or not.
6. His new thing is to stand on the arm of the sofa and do a big belly flop across the length of the sofa. I no longer say 'No' I say 'Becareful!' No got to tiring to keep saying and he's too much of a monkey to not let him act like one...so I say, becareful instead.
7. Last night I was holding molly before we layed him down and he kissed her goodnight on his own. He always kisses her on the forehead. Then he kissed Andy's forehead and pushed my head down so he could kiss my forehead. Apparently he likes to kiss foreheads.
8. He has been running up to copper, pushing her butt out of the way and saying GO! I wonder where he gets that from. ha!
9. All I have to say lately is 'please use your manors' and he'll insert the appropriate 'pease'[please] or 'thannng' [thanks/thankyou]...every once in a while he'll throw in a 'peepease???' [pretty please]. When he does that, doesn't matter if he's asking for a cup of pure sugar to mix into his chocolate milk, I give him it simply because he's adorable and I cannot resist.

Anyway, he's growing up and so funny. Last night Andy said that Colt was his kinda kid....1) thick 2) sweet and 3) durable. That pretty much sums him up perfectly. Love my little doodie head.

independance day

In the words of my cousin Alex,  The biggest salute goes to you!

squint face mcgee