What's happenin'??

'What's happening?' Anyone other than me remember that show?? Had 're-run' on it, and he did that goofy dance, that you always see people doing now? I think it was on in the 70's, and seeing as I'm getting up there in the years, I DO remember that show.

Anyways, thought I'd just share what's shaking here in BG.

I have been volunteering in Pierce's classroom. They usually have me ripping out pages and making stacks, a little monotonous, but glad I can help. It's cute to watch Pierce in his environment, even though it's *really* hard not to go all mom in that situation. My brain says, "Tell him to turn around. Tell him to speak up. Tell him to raise his hand. Tell him to come kiss his momma." However, I squash all that, so Pierce doesn't beg his teacher to kick me out. :)

This has been our reader this week, and had to show you Memaw and Grandpa, we always got a kick out of reading it. :)
I took the kids to the dentist, and happy to report no cavities!!
However, this threw me for a loop. The dentist was talking to me, telling me about a few things about Pierce's teeth and mouth and then says "we'll refer him for an ortho consult in 12-18 months" DO WHAT? In 12-18 months and orthodontist consult? Pierce will be 7 years old! Back the orthodontist truck up please, since when do CHILDREN need to see the orthodontist? Anyone else heard of this?
Paul will be getting home tonight from New Orleans. He left Monday and *says* he's been there for work. Suuuuuure, workin' Bourbon Street maybe!!! Who says he comes home with beads??? ;)

Weekend.

Time to give my weekend update!! First of all, I have to say I have been GLUED to my phone today (I know this isn't anything unusual) but it feels different today. With Tracey's brother and Jaime's brother both competing in the IronMan today, I've been on pins and needles! I just know how hard Travis has trained for the last year, and how badly he wanted to finish it. I wish I could have been there to share in the excitement with everyone :-)

I have a had a stinkin' head cold all weekend, it started around Wednesday but by Thursday night it was full on. At Bible study Thursday night, every time I would bow my head to pray or read my Bible, snot would just run out. Lovely. So, Friday I was just a sad mess, and we didn't do a darn thing.

I was super excited to get a special package in the mail on Friday. HA! Thanks Tracey for my Eclipse trading cards and candy!! :-)

THIS is about as exciting as we got on Friday night.
However, check this out. My husband fought this fire on Friday almost all day. Okay, there were about 20 firefighters there, but I like to think he was the one who got it all out ;) Isn't this a cool picture? He's actually the one in front holding the hose.
So, on Saturday he did a lot of this to recover. That thing laying on him is Hope's 'blankey' I guess she thought he needed it. Sweetness.
We had a first for us as parents on Saturday. Paul took Pierce to karate on Saturday morning, and Pierce heard the instructors talking about, "parents night out" that would be happening that evening. Parents could pay to drop off their child for a few hours, they would play games, eat pizza, watch movies, etc. I guess Pierce thought it sounded fun, so he started pleading with his daddy to go, and then they called me....

"Mommy, there is a parents night out tonight at karate, and I would like to go. My friends will be there, and I get to play dodge ball and stuff. I never do anything except go to karate, and I would really like to go, pleeeeease"

Paul and I discussed it and decided we would let him do it. It was strange to let him go do something like this, you know? It was all of his own volition, and he just seemed older. He was excited!!!

Right away a little boy came up to him and said, "come on!!"And with that he was gone! No, bye mommy I love you, or nothing. Just ready to be a big boy with his friends. *tear*

So the three of us just hung out. We ate pizza and watched a princess movie, and it was fun having that time with just Hope. When Pierce got home he said he had fun, and next time he hoped he could stay until 10!! Tonight I went with the ladies of our small group to see 'the Help' and then out to dinner. This was the best movie I've seen in a looooooong time. If you have the chance to see it, GO. I could have seriously broken into the ugly, shake my shoulders up and down cry, but didn't want to come across as a nut job to these women. So I kept it to the dab my eyes in the corner cry. Seriously, great movie.
I had a picture taken of the group of us, but it didn't turn out. There were about 14 of us, and I was glad I went. Every time I go and do, I begin to feel less and less like the odd man out.

And I gotta end with this!! What an exciting day, and I know at least two of my blogging friends will be doing awesome posts all about this. :-) Happy Weekend!!!

So proud.

Time to brag.

I am so proud of Pierce!! He had a hard time adjusting to 1st grade, for various reasons. So being the 'always need to know what's going on mommy' that I am, I e-mail frequently with his teacher. She has only had positive things to say about him, "I often use Pierce as an example for the class on how to behave. He's always smiling and happy." Could I be any happier about that? I think not.

Yesterday, he came home with a car from school, he got it for his good behavior. He's been doing well in his work too!!

And to top it all off?? This morning he asked me if I would snuggle with him? No brainer of course. As I snuggled in with him he said, "I love you momma, you are one of my best friends."

That would have been a good time for him to ask me for anything, because it would have been his. I love that little boy so.

Boy crazy.

It's time to go back to when I was chubby, had acne, and really bad hair. No, not last month. This time we are going way back! Remember girls? We would squeal with delight, and write our names with theirs, and dream of the days we would be swept off our feet? Okay, maybe it actually was last month.

When I was thinking about this blog off topic, I had to think for a while about who was my first crush (other than Joey Price in kindergarten) and for me it actually started before acne. It was around 1982. You would have seen me rocking the Dorothy Hamil haircut, wearing little earrings so no one would mistake me for a boy, and spending the night with my best friend Melissa Detrick. Without fail every Friday night, we would watch The Dukes of Hazzard, and that's when the boy crazy madness began.

Melissa actually had stickers of Bo and Luke Duke on her headboard. We would kiss them before we went to sleep every night, and pretend they were our husbands. Of course Melissa and I would fight over who got Bo and who got Luke, but I always won Bo in my mind.

Fast forward a couple years, 1984. I was actually at Joey Price's house, remember kindergarten crush?? Anyways, he said we were going to watch a movie called Karate Kid. I vividly remember thinking, "this is going to be awful" but once I saw Ralph Macchio, I suddenly took a big interest. Loved the movie. Loved him.
Let's keep jumping forward in two year increments, now it's 1986. I went with my parents to see a movie called Back To The Future, and fell hard for a short little cutie patootie, named Michael J. Fox. I cannot begin to tell you how many times me and my friends rented that bad boy on VHS, and I would dream for him!! By this time I would have been around 12, and the boys craziness was only escalating. Along with braces, acne and perms with frosting.
I gotta throw another one in here as well. (That's the great thing about young girls, our limit on crushes I do believe can be endless.) In my family we were really big on two shows growing up, The Waltons, and Little House on the Prairie. Well, the Waltons didn't offer up any cute boys at all, (unless Johnboy did it for you, and I apologize then) but do you remember when Jason Bateman was on Little House? I thought he was cute when he was on that, then fast forward to 1986 and he was on a show called Valarie's Family. Anyone other than me remember that one?
Now were hitting circa 1990, still have the bad perm, but the braces were at least gone. In my attempts to be athletic I started playing tennis, and even took it to a whole new level by watching the sport! Boy was I in for a treat when Mr. Andre Agassi took the courts. I was super crazy about Andre, and I in fact had his posters all over my walls. I wonder how devastated I would have been had I known then he was in fact bald, and wearing a wig!!

Part of the blog off was to also discuss crushes we currently have going on. Another thing about us girls, is we never seem to outgrow crushes, do we?

One of my few crushes that has lasted through the years, is Jason Bateman. Come on, he's just cute.
This crush right here is strictly for Edward, not for Robert Pattinson.

Holla!! I actually didn't like good ol' Donnie Wahlberg back in the day, you know my alliances were somewhere else. More on that in a minute.
I appreciate Brad Pitt in certain looks and movies. Legends of the Fall, and Thelma and Louise, those are winners! However, many times he just looks plum crazy, especially with that nasty Angelina Jolie!Seriously. There's nothing else to say.
BUT anyone who knows me at all, knows there's been one boy that has been mine since 1986. We met via MTV, and it's been a love affair for the ages. Mainly one sided, but still, epic.
Isn't it good to know that some couples can survive, mullets, perms, acne, braces, and 25 plus years worth of bad fashion choices? That's us, giving hope to others since 1986.

I must confess one more though.......

Crazy for Rico since 2001.

Blog off time again!

Anyone that reads my blog and that would like to join in our 'blog off' feel free to join. This time we are doing, teen crushes, and I believe also adult crushes. Will be fun to read about who we were crazy about as teens, and who we are still holding out hope on. Homework due tomorrow!!

After I punch you in the face, you wanna go on a playdate?

Remember when I told you all about this banner moment?

Well after recovering from my embarrassment, and coming out of hiding, guess who has taken to becoming fast friends? Yep. Hope and her victim, Lily Grace. Apparently when you are 4, you can punch someone in the face and still be good friends! I really don't think that would work if they were 14! I'm just glad they are becoming such good buddies, and thought you might like to see Hope being nice to Lily ;)

Weekend happenings.

Time for my weekend report. I'm not sure how I've settled into this thing of reporting in every Sunday night, but I have. I hope you, my loyal and faithful, enjoy the usually slightly mundane reports from BG.

Friday night I hosted my first dinner at our place. I have had dinner's for our families, but that doesn't seem to count in my book, I know that no matter how lame it is, they will still love me. We had over Sharky (works with Paul) and Megan, and I seriously wanted to get a picture of all four of us, but it honestly slipped my mind. Bad blogger. Anyways, I had salad, lasagna, bread, and homemade mac and cheese. Megan's pregnant, and requested the mac and cheese, so I was happy to oblige. It was like we were carb loading for a major race or something, but all we managed was to shift from one butt cheek to the other. We laughed, talked, and no one vomited from my cooking, so I will call it a success!!

Saturday Paul worked all day long, so it was just me and the kids. We were invited to Layton's 4th birthday party, so we were all over going to that!! Brittany had it at the Connection Center at Living Hope. Fun!! Every kid loves a party that has a bouncy thingy!! ( I don't know why some of my pictures are coming out fuzzy, this doesn't make me a happy camper)

Brittany did so many cute things, and I didn't get pictures of it all. I was just waiting for Southern Living to come in and photograph it all.
Just some of the spread!! There was also more food on the other end, plus homemade ice cream, a slide show and MORE.
Again, another fuzzy picture. Mark my words, I am getting me one of those big fancy shmancy cameras. I am saving my allowance and will maybe be able to buy one by the time the kids marry or something.
The kids with the birthday boy!!
Brittany managed a group shot before we left. Hope is the ONLY girl. I did see one other girl at the party, but she is WAY outnumbered down here, but she didn't mind one bit. It was a really fun party, and we appreciated being included!! :)
One last thing about the weekend. We've decided that it's time to join the church officially. I have belonged to one church basically my entire life, we joined Graceland in 1980, so 31 years later I'm making a change. Anyways, this was a 3! hour class, I was seriously beginning to wonder if I was going to be awarded a doctorate before I left. It's not over either, this is just the beginning. Hope I don't end up a sister wife or something ;)

It's time I start to introduce you to some BG friends.

October 1st will mark the one year anniversary since moving to BG. I remember someone telling me before we moved, "it will take about a year, before you start to feel settled" and I can attest to this. By no means does this feel like my hometown, but it also doesn't feel as strange anymore and I'm sure part of this is because I'm finally beginning to make some friends. I no longer sit at home crying and sucking my thumb, of course, I kid (kind of) but it does take a while to find a nitch. So, I thought it was high time you start meeting some of the people I know.

First up, Brittany, she's sitting right next to me. Few facts about Brittany.....she and I did boot camp together. We are sure that we are the only two people in boot camp history to gain weight, and also weep during class. Brittany is currently getting her doctorate, yeah she's really smart. Brittany has two boys, her oldest is 4 and is in Hope's class at pre-school, and her youngest is 1.

Second is Laurie. Few facts about Laurie.....she was miss Kentucky basketball! She and I go to Jazzercise together. She has TWIN boys, who are 4 years old, the boys are also in Hope's pre-school class. One of the very first things I ever noticed about Laurie, was her affinity for big ol' earrings!! Not very often I meet other big ol' earring wearers, and she has a wicked collection! :-)

I have met and am still meeting some wonderful people down here. And since many of my readers are scattered in places other that BG, I want to share my experiences and the people with you.

Pre-school!!!

My sassy little girl started pre-school this morning!!! Crazy to think she'll be starting kindergarten next year, but I'm not going to go there quite yet. She was sooooo excited!! Hope and school go together, like me and hoop earrings, it's just meant to be.

She was ready to go early on!! We had a lot of time to kill, so of course we took lots of pictures.

I so love that she enjoys school, it gives me at least one less thing to worry about.

And have I mentioned how much I love her?? Aren't her shoes a-dorable? I just couldn't help myself.
Now I am at home alone, and it's freakishly quiet. As much as I should technically enjoy this, I can't wait to get my loud monkeys back home.

Weekend.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend!! Ours has been pretty good. Many times I find myself thinking this weekend's going to be boring since we don't have our go to couples, or family to hang with anymore, but it always turns out okay. :-)

Friday night, was little man's award ceremony. Getting his yellow belt in front of the class!!

I've had a couple of you guys ask me about karate, and I say its great. Sometimes it can seem a little more boring for a little person, than say basketball, but it teaches great fundamentals. Pierce really loves it, and I see us sticking with it for quite a while. Oh, and don't mess with him, or he'll go all Jackie Chan on you.
Pierce has practically been begging to either go camping, or "get in the woods." Lord willing, we're going to take him camping in October, but we decided on Saturday to take them on a hike.
One of the first things we did, was take the kids to see a butterfly thingy. I'm sure that's the proper term for it too.
Just thought I'd share with the class. Not sure if this butterfly was committing butterfly murder, or if there was some butterfly shimmy shamming going on. Aren't I awful to take a picture of such an intimate moment? All for my blog people.
So, we looked at old buildings...

And climbed in holes...All the while, this is what I was feeling. Ick. You know, I love God's creation and all, but I'm a city priss of a girl. Me no likey, bugs, snakes, animal poop, creek water, etc., but I do likey my kids, so I forge on!! I'm a real pioneer woman I tell ya!!
The kids decided they needed sticks to walk.
You know kinda like Moses, or Rogers and Clark.
Then Hope decided to get an even bigger stick, and I had a BAD feeling about this, but I was trying not to be a kill joy.
But I was right about that feeling, because the giant stick and Hope's face met up in a not so fun way. From now on, I will stick with being a kill joy.
Poor baby, wanted to be carried most of the way from then on.
But she soon recovered, and then the kids were playing in a crick. I felt like a real life episode of Little House on The Prairie. I wanted to yell out, "Pa, you fetch me a bucket of water, cause I gots to do some washing over here, on my rock!!"
But the best was yet to come, because Pa, I mean Paul, thought I should suffer a heart attack.
Look at this picture!! Enlarge it, if need be. He's JUMPING from one rock to the other. I yelled out, "if you fall and die, I'll kill you!!"
And guess who he wrangled up there with him?? You can't see it can you? But my first born is up there. Those first born's aren't easy to come by, and I want to keep him, I was a nervous wreck!!
Finally my first born was back where he belonged. With his nervous ninny, kill joy of a mom.
One last highlight for the kids, we let them pan for gold. Or maybe fool's gold.
All in all, I would say it was a successful day fulfilling my son's need for the woods!!

Thank goodness for Sunday's! I needed to rest up from my wild pioneer woman ways!! We've been to church, napped, and now just playing games and resting!! Happy weekend indeed!!!