Sad day road trip

Last week Chad's grandfather passed away.  We left Thursday evening for the funeral in southern Arkansas.  It was a sad occasion but I think we had some good times along the way.  This is just another reason why Colin is such a special part of our lives.  He can bring out the fun and happiness on even the saddest occasion.  This post will focus on the fun we had over the weekend.

Thursday evening we headed out of town with little Colin in the backseat.  He did a great job and slept all the way to Joplin.  We stopped there and had some dinner at Cheddar's.  If you don't know about Cheddar's it is a fantastic little family dining place with super low prices.  Chad had the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and I had the fish tacos.  Both were yummy.  I think Chad's favorite part was the crescent roll. They have these hot, flaky crescents drizzled with warm honey butter.  They melt in your mouth!  Colin had some babyfood and sat in a big boy high chair.  It was kind of nice to have dinner out.  Chad and I hadn't really done that since our anniversary when Colin threw an unholy fit at dinner at Kona on the Plaza.  We agreed not to take him out again until we thought he could handle it because it was so miserable. 

After dinner we hit the road again.  I'd like to tell you about the drive through the mountains but I was asleep with Colin in the backseat for the rest of the way to Alma, Arkansas.  We stopped at the Days Inn to spend the night.  Colin can't really travel for more than four hours at a time without getting really mad.  In the morning we made our way into Chickasaw, Arkansas where we stayed with Chad's uncle and aunt.  The whole family was there and it was pretty crazy.  Everyone was meeting Colin for the first time.  I don't think I got to hold Colin again for most of the weekend. 

On Saturday we took a trip to Mississippi, which is really close to where we were.  This was Colin's first time in Mississippi.  He thought it was pretty exciting.

While driving through Greenville, MS (pronounced GreenVull) we saw a watermelon truck.  Unfortunately, none of them fell off.

We stopped to check out the riverboat museum.  Colin was still sleeping in the car, so we just hopped out and took a couple of pictures while he slept.  Next time I want to go inside and look around.

 After our little jaunt into Greenville, we stopped in to see Chad's grandma.  Here is a picture of Colin with his Great-grandma Stracener.  He's nearly as big as she is.

On Saturday evening Uncle Kenny's church group came to the house for a Harvest party.  There were kids in costumes and fun games, a hay ride, bonfire, and cookout.  It was good clean fun, but Colin didn't want to stay outside for very long.

He did stay outside long enough to let Cousin Allie paint some whiskers on his cheeks to complete the Tigger costume.

On Sunday it was time to start heading home, but since it was Halloween, we put Colin in his costume to go trick-or-treat at Great Grandma's house.

It was going to be a long trip home.  Colin slept right through Little Rock and woke up only 20 minutes from our stopping point.  He woke up hungry and mad.  He also wanted to drive. 

Don't worry.  We're not really moving.  We stopped in an Ozark Mountain Wal-Mart parking lot to feed Colin and let him stretch for a minute before he had to get back in his carseat.  I love this picture because it looks like he got caught doing something naughty.

We were so happy to get to the hotel room and rest for the night.  Colin is so close to crawling, I think it will happen any day now.  This is one of his favorite moves.  He might bear crawl before he crawls for real.

Over the course of the weekend Colin got to do some fun things.  It was a not-so-fun occassion made better by visiting with family and playing with Colin.  Thanks for being such a cool kid!

Adventures in Scrapbooking

One of the fun things about being a new mom is documenting all of the cool stuff that happens along the way.  Since I recently started staying at home for the majority of the time, I decided to scrapbook.  I've had a few surprises with this.  First, the really cute scrapbook that I saw in the Hallmark store was 50 freakin dollars.  Holy cow! It was cute, but not that cute.  I'll be looking elsewhere for my scrapbooking needs.  Second, I was happy to see that I have no shortage of pictures.  I'm usually terrible about documenting things, but overall, I feel like I've done a pretty good job taking pictures so far.  Yay me!

I have been having a good time going through pictures and deciding which ones I want to print out.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

 I like this one because it looks like he just slipped on a banana peel.

This one is funny.  He really likes to wrestle with that sock monkey.

Sleeping baby update

Colin and I were headed to Target this morning.  At least that was the plan.  I took a shower while he played in his crib then I played with him for a few minutes before I started to get dressed.  I set him down in his playpen for a few minutes so I could get ready and he fell asleep.  I thought this would be a perfect time to get some cleaning done but instead here I am at the computer. 

I've been thinking about what I am going to do with myself now that I am a stay at home mom/substitute teacher.  I for sure want to work on the scrapbook for Colin and I want to get some home improvement projects done.  What I would really like to do is get back in shape. 

I posted about my weight loss goals a while back, its going ok.  I haven't exactly stuck to the plan, but I've done a decent job of watching what I eat MOST of the time.  I've lost 12 pounds (as of 9/29) and I have a weigh in on Wednesday.  I feel like I am ready to start exercising again and so I have been on the look out for an eliptical machine.  I know I can't really go to the gym with Colin during the day and in the evenings I won't want to go.  Ideally, I could run on an eliptical while Colin plays with toys.  I want to start off with a cheap one and then if I am really good and use it every day I will buy a nicer one.  I really miss running at the gym.  It was one of my favorite things to do before I got pregnant and it was a great stress reliever.  I think this could be a very good thing for me.

Off to clean the house. . .

Fantastic Fall Fun

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a summertime kinda gal.  I love hot weather, swimming, flip flops and not ever having to wear a jacket.  The list could go on and on, but sadly, summer has come to an end.  Even though I am a summer freak, I can appreciate fall.  Ok, I actually like it.  I wouldn't love summer so much if it wasn't for the other seasons, right?   My buddy and fall freak Alyssa has posted on her blog about her love of fall (http://www.myhusbandswatchingtv.blogspot.com/) which inspired me to do the same.  I really do like fall for the floowing reasons:
Fall foliage - its beautiful and I love jumping in the fallen leaves
Cooler weather- even I can admit it's a nice change from sweating my face off
Soft sweaters- I love the feel of a nice comfy sweater
Hoodies- nuff said
Wearing hoodies and shorts- fall is nice enough to still wear shorts - love that
Flip flops- I can still wear em. I can wear them until November.
Happy husband- Fall is my hub's favorite time of year, he hates heat and is much less cranky in Fall
Sweet baby- Colin is like his daddy. He likes it cooler too, plus he looks cute in his baby onsies.

So welcome Fall.  I did miss you even though I said I wouldn't.

Catching Fire

The second book in the Hunger Games trilogy was just as good as the first.  Katniss still pissed me off with her inability to see big picture type stuff, but I can't blame her.  It's who she is.  I don't think I would like her as much if she was able to read things correctly.  All I have to say about the second book is viva revolucion!  I enjoyed watching Katniss try to put together the events of the story while trying to save Peeta.  I liked the fact that she has trouble separating her feelings for Peeta and Gale.  The ending was a cliffhanger.  I can't wait to see what happens next.  August 24th ...

Why we read!!!! Finally!

This week I read the first two books of The Hunger Games trilogy. The Hunger Games is first. The story is about a young girl, Katniss Everdeen who is living in a poor district of a country called Panem. There are 12 districts in Panem - all controlled by the Capitol. No one leaves their district. Each is controlled by representatives from the capitol, guarded by fences and kept in check through fear and starvation. Once a year each of the 12 districts are required to send two children (tributes), a boy and a girl to the Hunger Games where they will engage in a vicious and bloody fight to the death. Katniss’s story begins on the day of the reaping when her little sister, Prim, is picked as a tribute.




I am really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Lately, I have been into supernatural fiction almost exclusively so this came as a pleasant surprise. I think Suzanne Collins did a wonderful job creating the backdrop for this story without spending an undue amount of time with detailed descriptions of how the world came to be in such a state. Rather, Collins tells the story through characters, which I find to be much more personal and much less tedious. Often I am annoyed with authors who put so much effort into building the world around their characters that I lose interest. Collins had no such problem with The Hunger Games. The world was devastatingly real, the characters well rounded and the action fierce. I found myself thinking about what would happen next long after I put the book down for the night.



The heroine of the story, Katniss, was frustratingly true to herself. I kept feeling angry at her for being so stupid sometimes and at other times I was impressed with her knowledge and ability to figure out clues, and ways to survive. I would get so angry when she didn’t pick up on social cues or when she couldn’t see that her counterpart, Peeta Mellark, was falling in love with her. However, that is just who she is. I think Collins did a great job creating a complicated female character. One who knows how to take care of herself, but sometimes fails to see herself clearly. Most importantly Collins steered clear of the oh-so-dramatic, sighs, mutters, and longing that seem to be present in much of today’s teen fiction. It wasn’t gross or over played. It wasn’t stupid or juvenile. It didn’t remind me that I was a grown up reading a book for a younger generation. It did, however, remind me why I love to read. Thanks!

The "Almond" Joys of motherhood

There are many things about having a baby that are magical, wondrous and fun. There are many things that are scary as hell and very stressful. All in all the good outweighs the bad. Unfortunately, these days, I’m also doing a lot of outweighing. There is no denying it. Having a baby changes your body. I know this because thanks to the magic of nursing a newborn and very hungry little boy I have lost all of my pregnancy weight. So why don’t my pants fit quite right? Four little letters H-I-P-S! My hips spread like cream cheese on a bagel. Ok- so maybe that’s an exaggeration – maybe. But I have cellulite now! So I have recently decided that even though I am still diligently breastfeeding and I need to take in way more calories than I even think I can eat in a day, it is time to make those calories count. I’m turning over a new leaf and that leaf is spinach, my friends. Spinach and all those other nice leafy greens, fruits, veggies, and lean protein that make a body healthy. Oh – and I’m actually going to exercise. Really! So I’ll keep you posted on how my transformation from a caterpillar into a butterfly is going.

Away we go!

So here I am - a new mom starting a new blog and, hopefully, a more fun chapter of life. I’m starting this blog mainly to help myself keep track of all the changes, goals, and fun stuff going on in my life. However, I have to give credit to my friend Alyssa who is always saying “you should blog.” Well, Alyssa, here I am. I hope my blog will be half as good as yours.
I’ll be posting as often as I can. This may mean several posts in one day and then nothing for a while. I’m working on an interesting schedule. 3 month old baby + graduate school + student teaching + 2 dogs + 1 cat + 1 husband = a lot of stuff to divide my time. I hope my life is as entertaining to other people as it is to me. If not…well, I’m not really sorry.

So bear with me as I get this thing figured out.  Hang in there, the good stuff is on the way!