25 Things You Don't Know About Me...

I have had subscription to US weekly for 5 years or so... it keeps renewing even though I am pretty sure I have canceled it several times!! That being said, I love the "25 Things You don't know about me" article they have every week. I thought it would be fun to make one of my own.. So here it is!

1. I talk to myself out loud while I am grocery shopping (about what I need to buy) If people notice I pretend I was talking to Xander.

2. My 2 front teeth are fake. I fell on my face when I was 8.. on Christmas eve!!! Everyone sang  that song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" to me for a whole week after that!

3. I love reality TV. Bravo is my favorite reality network.

4. I can never remember if I unplugged my hair straightener and will always have to drive back home from wherever I am to check.. and it is ALWAYS unplugged.

5. I love going to the movies, James and I used to go every weekend before we had Xander

6. I love watching NFL football! Go Falcons!

7. I love bookstores! I love reading and buying new books too! 

8. I do not like coffee or sweet tea.

9. One of my pet peeves...people cracking their knuckles!

10. I have bad habit of cracking my thumb!

11. My all time favorite book is  the Harry Potter series!!

12. I do not care for dogs.. or cats for that matter.

13. My biggest pet peeve is people who ride their bicycles on busy roads!!

14. I want to go to culinary school one day.

15. The first concert I ever went to was the Spice Girls!

16. I have green eyes - When James was 13 at church camp he actually wrote that he wanted his future wife to have green eyes. Obviously we were meant to be!

17. I am extremely introverted.

18. I have a slight addiction to Sams Club pizza.

19. I miss regular grocery stores and I miss Super Tragets with Archer Farms!!!

20. I miss living in a large city.

21. I have natural CURLY hair, but I ALWAYS wear it straight. I have struggled with my hair my entire life.

22. My all time favorite city is Charleston, SC. I got married there and we will retire there one day!!  

23. I never answer the phone if I don’t know the number!! 

24. I love Dr. Laura! I listen to her radio show every single day while Im doing chores around the house or playing with xander. 

25.  I used to watch the movie Harriet the Spy every day when I was a kid, I wanted to be her!!

Day 8 - I am thankful for our health. Thankful that Xander is a growing healthy boy, and that James and I rarely get sick. So thankful! 

Day 9 (Today)- I am thankful for James' safe travels. He goes out of town once a month for Reserve duty. He was gone last weekend and last night. So thankful he has always made it home safely!!

Weekend Recap

James was out of town this weekend so I did my best to try and keep Xander entertained! He went through a stage a couple of months ago that really stressed me out. We couldn't go to grocery stores, restaurants (without daddy), or even birthday parties. He was was clingy and cranky and I felt like I couldn't take him anywhere without being stressed out. I don't know what changed over the past month or so but he has really calmed down. Hopefully that stage has passed for good because we had a fun weekend and I was able to leave the house without the fear of a meltdown! 

We went to walmart to buy a birthday present for Ryne and I picked up a few things for X as well. I have wanted to buy these magnetic letters for a while but nothing in our kitchen is magnetic. A friend told me the other day that the door to the garage is magnetic so I was so excited to get to buy X the letters!  He loves them! I also got him this little play laptop. He loves all things electronic and this is his new favorite toy. He carries it all over the house!

On Saturday we went to my friend Megan-Marie's house for her daughters 4th birthday. It was a cowgirl theme and she did such an awesome job on the food and decorations!! I didn't get a picture of everything, but it was all so cute!!

 The girls were so excited about the pony rides!! Xander was scared OF COURSE! :) And the Birthday girl blowing out the candles with her dad. Ryne is so CUTE!! and sweet, I am so glad we got to be there to celebrate her birthday!

He pretty much played with this kitchen the whole time!! After he saw the ponies (middle pic) he refused to go back outside. He may have been a but traumatized after I tried to put him on the pony and he kicked and screamed to get away! Poor Boy! 

 Xander kept looking for Daddy all weekend while he was gone. Every time he would wake up and come downstairs he would yell "DAAAADY" It was so precious. I knew that he was going to be so excited when James came home, and he was!! So sweet! 

I hope you all had a great weekend!! We have a busy week this and I am already looking forward to relaxing this weekend and watching our Falcons beat the Saints on Sunday!!

Day 7: I am thankful for Kids Day Out on Mondays! I love having a few hours to run errands and get a few things done around the house without dragging Xander all over the place! He really enjoys it too! 

20 months!!

I usually do not do Xander's monthly updates because he hasn't changed much since I started this blog, but I feel like Friday was a big day! He turned 20 months!! He is out of the "teens" and into the "twenties" and he will be 2 in 4 short months!!! I can not believe it!

20 months!! 11-4-11

Your are 36 inches, you weigh 30lbs, and it's killing Mommy just to carry you across a parking lot or up the stairs!!

You wear size 5 diapers,  2T-3T clothing depending on the brand, and size 6-7 shoes 

You know shapes: Oval, rectangle, square, circle, triangle, star, & heart

You know letters A-P and You LOVE pointing out the letters you know wherever you see them (mommy is so proud of this!)

You know numbers 1, 2, & 3

You love looking at books, playing on mommy's phone or i pad, EATING, watching Yo Gabba Gabba, and going through cabinets and drawers to see what exciting things you find!

You take one nap a day from about 1-3:30 and sleep from 8pm-7am. You don't cry when you wake up and sometimes mommy doesn't even know you are awake because you are so quiet in your crib!

You love playing with your friends and you love playing with "big" kids even more. Its so cute to watch you interact with other kids! 

You love your Mommy and Daddy! And you love giving us "sugar" and hugs!

You are such a blessing and I can't believe you are almost 2!!

Day 5- I am thankful for my Nana. She has always been such a wonderful grandmother and now great-grandmother. She makes each one of her grandchildren feel like they are her favorite (even though I clearly am). She is a woman of the Lord and I truly admire her. She spends over an hour praying in her prayer room every day and I am truly grateful for the prayers she has said for me the past 23 years!

Day 6 (today) - I am thankful for the extra hour of sleep last night! I really needed it! 

Day 4 & Friday Fun!

Day 4 - I am thankful for my home. I love my house. I love the memories that have been made here. I love how quiet it is during Xander's nap time and how noisy it is as soon as he wakes up. James and I love being at home. Home was never a peaceful place for either of us growing up, so I am VERY THANKFUL that we now have a peaceful cozy home to share and grow together as a family!!

Friday Fun - I met my friend Jodi at the mall for lunch and a play date. They have a fun little play area for the kids to run around and its perfect for winter/summer when its too cold/hot to go to the park.

I know I chopped off his head in the middle one, I just thought he looked so cute!!

McKenna and Xander love to play together! They are only two weeks apart and it has been so fun watching them grow up together. We live in the same neighborhood so they get to see each other alot! :)

I love this picture of McKenna! She was hiding in this tube thing. It looks like she is stuck but she did not want to get out! Too cute.

We had a lot of fun playing, eating, and shopping at the mall! After the mall we had to make one of our almost daily Walmart stops. They had Halloween candy on clearance so of course I picked up a bunch!! :) I hope you all have a great weekend! I know I am ready for some football!

November Challenge

I have seen the November Thankfulness Challenge floating around on Facebook for a few days now and I decided this was be fun to put on my blog. I am a few days behind so I need to catch up! I am constantly thanking the Lord for so many blessings, and I am excited to actually write one out every day for a month!

Day 1: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16. I am so thankful for this truth!! I am thankful for Jesus and his love for me. Thankful that I know he is the only person that WILL NEVER let me down! I am especially thankful for his grace! Honestly, the only way to explain why I am where I am today is simply God's grace!!

Day 2: I am Thankful for my Husband. He. Is. Awesome. Seriously. He is the most ambitious person I know. He works so hard and never complains. I am so blessed to have such an amazing man as my husband and father to our son.

 Day 3 (Today): I am thankful for Xander. He is absolutely precious. I just look at him and joy fills my heart.

I love the month of November! It just got even better with this challenge. I am excited that I am going to be focused on the things I am thankful for rather than complaining about the things I don't have! Happy November!!

New Kicks!

I don't think I have ever talked about Xander's obsession with Yo Gabba Gabba on my blog before. Well, he is obsessed, and it is the ONLY show he will watch. He knows all the songs and loves to dance along with them. It is seriously so cute.

My favorite shoes for Xander right now are Vans. He has been needing new ones, so I went to the Mall Monday to get him a new pair. I was just going to get the same color he already has since they go with everything, but when I saw these Yo Gabba Gabba Vans I HAD to have them...I mean Xander had to have them. :) Normally I am not big on character shoes for kids, but these are adorable!!! Just look...

I can not get enough of them! Xander loves them too! He walks around saying "Bobeee" (Brobee). I don't know what he is going to wear to match these new shoes, but at least they are cute!

Trick or Treating - Tyson Style

Every Halloween, Tyson invites the children of their employees to  trick or treat at their offices. We took Xander on Friday and he had SO MUCH FUN! He was only 8 months last Halloween so I was surprised that he knew EXACTLY what to do with all of the candy. He didn't try to eat it...he just went around to everyone's bucket took a few handfuls and put them in his bucket. It was so cute!

Love this! X was scared of it.. of course :)  I thought it was appropriate for him to be a chicken this year! Everyone got a kick out it!

We loved getting to visit Daddy at work! Notice Xander's eyes are on a candy bucket!

Some of the guys made a trail of candy for X to collect... he loved it!

Hmm...Decisions, Decisions...

Ms. Sabrina is so sweet, I am so glad we got to see her... she just loves Xander! Of course Xander had to go visit Uncle Mike!

I feel so blessed to have such a hard working husband and precious little son! Love them!!

This was at Tyson last year! X was just about 8 months and so chubby!! Precious!!!

Sorry about the picture overload! I tend to take a TON of pictures and I love them all. We had a great time trick or treating with Daddy and I am so thankful that James works for such a great company! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Today our MOPS group took a little field trip to a local corn maze. We had so much fun! It was Xander's first time at a pumpkin patch/corn maze. I promise he had FUN despite the angry face in most of his photos. :) He wanted to run around and play and he did NOT want to do any of the structured activities like riding the cow train or the hay ride.

I was trying to get a good picture of the two of us since I have about 5 total since he was born, but he was just not having it! 

My cautious little Xander was scared to go on the cow train! He whined the whole way, and once we started going I was whining too! Our cow was in the middle of the train and it was so bumpy I thought we were going to fly out! It was awful!

Again, Xander being very cautious... he was scared of the baby goats in the petting zoo! That is the closest he would get :). I just LOVE that picture in the middle... My happy boy running around! The hay ride took us to this baby pumpkin patch where all the kids got to pick their own pumpkin. X didn't really like this either because he had to pick them out of the dirt!

I Love this picture because he looks so deep in thought, I wonder what he is thinking! :)

We had so much fun today and I am glad the rain held up long enough for us to enjoy the morning at the Ozark Corn Maze!

*linking up with JDaniels4smom.com - Halloween Traditions Link Up

Tuesday Mornings

Every Tuesday morning we have women's bible study at our church. This semester I am taking the Women's Discipleship study. This is the first time they are offering this specific study, and I absolutely love it!! The study is lead by Meredith (our pastors wife) and she is precious! She put together these binders that are just FULL of biblical knowledge that I will use the rest of my life!!

The first few weeks we talked about our spiritual life, I was definitely convicted when we spoke about the importance of having quiet time with the Lord. I have been working on that for a while now! Then we spent a few weeks on marriage. I loved the weeks we spent on marriage! I seriously learned so much that I have used and will use in my relationship with James. One of the tips I will not forget are the two most important phrases in a marriage: "I'm Sorry", and "I forgive you". This is so true, but sometimes hard to act out!! :)

The past few weeks we have been talking about raising godly children. A few of the important points I took away were: the importance of praying for our children, being godly examples for them, teaching them scripture and how to read the bible, and just making sure I take the time to be a mommy and not just a homemaker!

I posted before about how much I love the Duggar family. When we started this study in August I was thrilled to learn that Michelle Duggar would be one of our guest speakers! Yesterday was finally the day and her and a few of her older girls along with the TLC cameras came to speak to our bible study! The older girls played their violin and Michelle gave us very helpful tools for raising children!

I'm on the back row next to Mrs. Duggar, and her girls are on the other side of her!

I really look forward to Tuesday mornings, and I am so thankful to have such a wonderful church that provides so many ways to get involved!

Busy Weekend!!

We had such a busy weekend.. I think I am still recovering! Friday was another FNO and we went with some friends to a local seafood restaurant Mermaids. It was AMAZING! Saturday Xander had two birthday parties to go to! The first was his friend Noah's second birthday. Xander had so much fun running around outside and looking at the horses with Daddy. I tried to get a picture of the birthday boy (second picture) but he was very busy! :)

Later that afternoon we headed to Hannah's third birthday party at Boingo Bounce. All of the kids had so much fun bouncing around!! Xander has been to Boingo Bounce several times, but for some reason he was terrified this time!! I put him in the bounce house and he FREAKED out (as seen below :) He finally warmed up to it and had a great time bouncing with his friend Anna Kate. Hannah was so sweet at her party and Stacey did such an awesome job with the cute decorations!

Saturday Night we had friends over to grill steaks and watch a movie. Xander loves having company and loves having an audience! :) Sunday Morning we headed to church and then out to eat with friends at one of our favorite sunday spots.. Powerhouse! I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend coming up!!

 

Catching Up...

I have been neglecting my blog for a while now! I saw my friend Jenna at playgroup today and I mentioned my blog and she encouraged me to get back into it!! I really like blogging, I just never seem to make the time to sit down and do it. I picked up my camera to see if I had any pictures I could blog about and I realized I have not taken any pictures since the newborn playgroup !! I have taken several picures with my iphone though! here's a few...

 

We cant seem to make it through walmart without a snack!

Xander's Aunt Tabitha is always sending him surprises in the mail! He loved his new bath blocks!!

 

 

He loves his wagon! 

I have wanted to get him this house for a long time!! He has the farm and loves it! It costs over $100 brand new so I have been looking for a used one for a while. We drove by a random consignment shop and they had this sitting out front. It was $12.50...And the best part was it hardly looked used and it all works! I got an awesome deal and Xman loves his new house! 

A couple of weeks ago Xander had strep throat. He was miserable. We stayed home all weekend and watched Yo Gabba Gabba! Poor guy! 

Last weekend was Friday Night Out. Our church provides childcare from 6-9:30 two Fridays a month so parents can have date night! I always look forward to FNO!! We went out with some friends to a Japanese steak house, it was a lot of fun and the food was awesome!

Sorry about the picture overload!! We have been pretty busy these past few months! But I already have a few things in mind I can blog about so I will keep it up this time! :)  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

"Newborn" Playgroup

There was a baby boom in our neighborhood last year!! It seems like every other week someone was having a baby! I have been going to the playgroups in my neighborhood since Xander was 2 months old. It has been so fun to watch all of his neighborhood buddies grow up together especially since they are all the same age!! We love to get the babies together to play and of course take tons of pictures of their cuteness!! Yesterday we got to catch up with our "newborn" playgroup... except there were no newborns!! It's so crazy how fast these guys have grown! 

Mamas and babies in birth order (August 10')

 

 

 

 

 

Babies (August 10')

Birth Order (August 10')

Crue, Xander, Grayson, born March 3, 4, & 5!! (Aug 10') 

One year later! A few friends were out of town... (Aug 11') 

Xander and Grayson - One day apart! :)

What I'm Reading

I have always loved reading. I LOVE getting new books and I love finding books that are so good I can NOT put them down! I am currently reading several different books. This is a new development for me. In the past I could only read one book at a time. I now find myself reading different books for different reasons, so I choose which book to read depending on my mood. Here's a list of the books I am currently reading:

1. Bringing up Boys - James Dobson
2. Mockingjay - Suzane Collins
3. In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms - Dr. Laura Schlessinger
4. For Women Only- Shaunti Feldhahn
5. The Power of a Praying Women - Stromie Omartian
On the Kindle
6. On Becoming Toddlerwise - Gary Ezzo
7. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

I know that seems like a lot of books, but so far I love them all!! I am hoping to finish The Help by next week so I can go see the movie! It looks so good!

Visit With Mimi & Fun with Friends!

James was out of town for the week and thankfully my Mom came to visit from Georgia for a few days to keep us company. We had a lot of fun hanging out, cooking, and playing with Xander. On Wednesday we took Xander to Boingo Bounce, he had so much fun! He was scared of the bouncy for the first 20 minutes so he just sat in the corner until we finally got him to jump!

My mom left Thursday and I took Xander to Boingo Bounce again to celebrate his friend Hunters 2nd birthday. Hunter lives a few houses down from us and they have been best buds since Xander was born! It has been so much fun watching them grow up together!

The past few weeks...

I thought that I would be better about blogging if I had a cute blog makeover... it didn't happen! Its been a couple of weeks since my last post and we have been pretty busy! James is in the Air Force Reserves, so he has to go to Little Rock one weekend a month for reserve duty. Two weekends ago we joined him. It was my first time being back on an Air Force base in 2 years, and I loved it! While James worked, Xander and I had a lot of fun learning our way around base. Little Rock AFB is huge! Since it was so hot out we didn't get to enjoy all of the amenities offered, but we did go to the pool. We spent most of our time shopping at the BX (kind of like a department store) and the Commissary (the grocery store). The commissary was awesome because it was the first "real" grocery store I have shopped at in a while. Those of us from NWA know that good ole Walmart is about the only place we can buy groceries and it is definetely not like the "normal" grocery stores I grew up with in GA. The commissary was HUGE and I found so many things I have not been able to buy at Walmart! I am definitely looking forward to going again once it gets a little cooler out. I am also very excited that Xander will grow up going to the base and he will get to experience military life (even if its only for a weekend a month), and I know he is going to love watching the airplanes take off when he is older! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but for some reason I only got my camera out one time!

 Last weekend was also very busy! Friday night our church had Friday Night Out (which they have two times a month) so we dropped Xander off and headed to a surpise party for one of our friends from church. We had a great time!

After the surprise party James and I went to see the final Harry Potter movie. I love Harry Potter! I started reading the books when they first came out almost 14 years ago!! The next day we had a sitter from the neighborhood come over after we put Xander to bed (he goes down about 7:30) and we went to the movies again! This time we saw Captain America. It was awesome!! We love going to the movies! Before we had Xander we literally went to the movies every weekend, now we only go if there is a really good movie playing. James loved comic books growing up, and I have enjoyed learning about all the characters he loved as a kid through the movies these past few years. I think Captain America is one of my favorites!  This weekend I am taking it easy. My Mom is coming to visit for a few days and she will be here tomorrow night! Hope you all have a great weekend!

The Ladies Man

This past Saturday we took Xander to get his very first haircut! We took him to James barber Nick, at a place called Trendsetter Barbershop. :) He did really well for his first hair cut! It took about 20 minutes and he didn't cry or move at all. I think the lollipop helped a lot! Nick and a couple of the other guys there kept calling Xander (Leon Phelps) and I had no clue what they were talking about, I just laughed along with them. I asked James later and he told me to Google it. This is Leon Phelps:

At the ripe age of 16 months Xander has been dubbed the ladies man. I. Am. In. Trouble. That's all I have to say about that.