Friday Faves! (Because it's my Friday today!) :-)

This may be the simplest Friday Faves yet!

Today is my FRIDAY and I have a 4 DAY WEEKEND!!! Thank you, Deloitte, for having Friday and Monday off. :-) Ahhh... Floating holidays! Definitely a Friday Fave!

Happy 4th of July Weekend!!!

Be safe and please don't burn anything down.

Why? Wednesdays

Why is every DVD we ever rent messed up? How do they get so damaged by just taking them out of the case, putting them in the DVD player, removing them from the DVD player, and putting them back in the case????? IRRITATING.

Why do we not use the metric system like the rest of the world? (I normally don't care but I'm working on a property in Russia with hectares, ares, square meters, etc.)

Why do some people (i.e. me and Carson) swell up like crazy when we get a mosquito bite and other people (i.e. Andrew) don't have any reaction at all? (I don't want to hear the "because we're sweet" excuse. That's crap.)

Who is this Murphy character that came up with Murphy's Law???? Sometimes it seems like Murphy's Law is the story of my life.

Why is my "Monday" always on another day of the week? My Mondays are usually good, it's other days that have stuff happen.

How does an airplane not fall out of the sky?

Why do our dogs (and most dogs in general) act like they've never been fed in their lives?

Why to the birds only eat our "regular" tomatoes versus the Roma tomatoes?

Why do men's jeans have the size on the outside (i.e. the length and waist on a Levi's label) ? I can't imagine women's jeans EVER doing this?

How does a dog shed SO much and still have hair?

Sometimes I think it's awesome that you can get an aerial and street view of just about anywhere in the world, but other times I think it's pretty creepy? Do you think we are being "watched"?

Why am I either hot or cold? My body can't seem to regulate it's temperature. It's a million degrees outside, and I am sitting here in a blanket. If I turn the A/C up another degree, I'm burning up. What's the deal?

When we are outside, where are flys when we aren't eating?

How was I ever able to do the splits and kick my leg and touch my nose? It's amazing (and sad) how fast flexibility goes out the door.

Why do we hit snooze ten times? It's so much easier just to get up and get it over with.

Look What Mommy Did!!! :-)

Okay, so I originally had grand plans of a blog sew-a-long thing...well, Mommy got focused during nap time on Saturday! :-)


I'm almost done!!!...it just needs two shoulder buttons and snaps!!! I've done buttons and snaps, so should be a piece of cake! Well, I should have said I'd have it done in a snap!!! (Pun intended)

I used the cheapest fabric I bought for this first trial run, but have three more fabrics left for the next project. I'm already itching to go and make another one!

I did take pictures as I went along and made notes on "Lessons Learned." I plan on doing a detailed post to walk through the sewing process. It was amazingly more simple (but not easy) than I thought it would be! I only had a few "oh crap" moments... the first was in the first 5 minutes. I have to admit that the little sewing class I took last year was helpful in terms of trying to follow a pattern. Patterns are DEFINITELY not dummy-proof though. I think the teacher from whatever class it was when we had to write a "How-To" would certainly find error in how pattern directions are written.

So, I have to say I'm pretty happy about going from this...


To this...


in just a few hours!

Make Ya Smile Monday!

Someone went SKINNY DIPPING in the backyard this weekend! :-)
















Someone definitely enjoyed their little redneck splash park!

Friday Faves! - LOTS of them!!!

1. MAKING THE TEAM FOR THE NEXT WOMENS ACTS RETREAT AT CHURCH!!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. :-)

2. Being content with staying home on the weekends. We were ALWAYS gone before the little man came along. Did I ever mention, I HATE packing?!? Anytime I don't have to pack up my stuff, C's stuff, and the dogs' stuff, I'm a happy camper.

3. Learning to share


4. A new razor. I don't think I knew how crappy (or just old) the other one was until I used this new one. Even better, it's a fancy razor I didn't have to pay for. Andrew's grandmother loves to buy drug store items when they are having good deals, so we always get razors, shampoo, etc.

5. Letting the girls be FREE at night! I know it's probably TMI, but after sleeping in a nursing bra for 11 months, it feels SO good to be FREE at night!!!

6. Sweet moments and expressions caught on camera.






7. Payday. Who doesn't like that day?!?

8. Adult versions


9. My awesome Mavs Championship shirt my dad sent me!!! Don't forget, I am from DALLAS!!!


10. Homegrown!










11. Figuring out who's been eating all the bird seed.



12. Enjoying a typical day at the Peters' house. The day started with an air boat parked in the driveway and ended with banding doves in the backyard.
















13. New experiences





I'm usually positive on Fridays, but I'm going to post one Non-Friday Faves since I don't like being irked before 8 am, especially on a Friday.

1. Logging in to my online bank account to check to see if any new bills have come in just to find out they have and are due TOMORROW! The whole point of online banking is to make your life simpler, but for some reason, I've had a lot of my eBills coming in late. I've even missed a couple payments because the eBill came in AFTER the due date. Grrrr....

That's just little stuff though! We're excited for a relaxing weekend at home this weekend! I may even actually start my sewing project. Sweet!

11 Months

Well, just one more short month until the big ONE YEAR!!!

This has certainly been a fun month!!!

The whole monkey picture was pretty much a HUGE FAIL. I quit trying after a couple pictures since I take so many others.








I'm having a totally lazy mom moment. I copied/pasted a 10 month update from a friend's blog (Yes, Courtney... this will look familiar) :-) and then modified for my little man.

-Size 4 diapers (we'll be here for a while)
-Takes two (much better than before) naps a day! AMEN! I'd say most of the time they are around an hour. This is MAJOR progress. I guess all that crawling, pulling up, and cruising is TIRING!
-Goes to bed around 8-8:30 and wakes up 7-7:30.
-Sporting mostly 18 and 24 month clothes
-On pretty much all formula now, with the exception of a frozen breast milk bottle here and there.
-Likes ICE COLD water out of his straw sippy. Hasn't really taken to juice and we haven't tried real milk yet. I guess that usually happens around a year, so we'll be there soon.
-Usually eats like a champ but is certainly showing signs of being picky, especially when it's food he picks up. He knows the difference between the different foods put on his tray. He LOVES smoked sausage and chicken! He also loves a real man's breakfast (bacon, eggs, toast, grits) and any kind of beans. He doesn't seem to like squishy feeling foods. He doesn't want to pick up pieces of banana or canned pears.
-Crawls like a wild man in traditional crawling style. This kid can MOTOR!!!! He can motor so fast he's already bruised his chin and busted his lip twice.
-Stands for a fairly long time by himself. He's gaining confidence he didn't have before. He's not afraid to let go anymore.
-Hasn't really shown an interest in walking yet. He cruises around everything and has recently taken a few steps behind a push toy. I've tried the sit a few feet away with your arms out thing. Yeah, he would just belly flop straight to the floor if I let him. He literally will just fall towards me. I think he knows he can get to something super fast just by crawling, so he's cool with that. He just started crawling at 9 months, so I guess he's not tired of it yet.
-Some days he is the biggest snuggler and just LOVES to give his mommy BIG hugs! He's definitely a hugger and not a kisser... maybe all the kisses I give him gets annoying? :-)
-Hasn't been swimming in a real pool but had fun at the splash park.
-Pulls up/opens/closes/pushes on/sticks hands into EVERYTHING!!
-Still gets rocked at night. He hasn't actually fallen asleep doing this in a while, but it's still our special time.
-Loves to clap and dies laughing when playing Patty cake (just the part when you "roll it" on his hand). He's VERY ticklish!
-Thinks peek-a-boo (i.e. "Where's Carson?) is the funniest game ever.
-Loves to wave, but mostly for hellos not good byes.
-Isn't really much of a talker. He makes lots of sounds, babbles, and grunts, but hasn't really picked up on saying to many actual words other than Mom Mom. I TRY though! He definitely knows what lots of things are like ba (bottle), Da Da, more, turning off the "light", brushing his teeth, ball, dog, Lucy, Shooter, and ducks are. He actually grunts at a lot of things.
-He's very particular about his books at bed time. If you try to read one that's not a "regular", he pushes it away.
-Loves being around other kids but doesn't get the change that often other than on Sunday mornings. The lady that works in the nursery has a daughter with Downs Syndrome that LOVES Carson. She is so excited when he comes in each week. She says his name and gets so excited. It's really cute.
-Loves Shooter and Lucy... especially LOVES to feed them.
-Has had some separation anxiety at the church nursery. Fortunately, it's brief.
-He has been a little drama queen. He can definitely turn it on to get attention.
-LOVES to jump up and down anytime he's standing up. He's actually getting his feet off the floor too sometimes.
-Still has 8 teeth but has been showing teething signs again. Are there 1 year molars or something? It definitely seems like they are farther back.
-He loves to dumps stuff out but doesn't get the concept of putting it back.
-One of his favorite activities is just pulling books off the shelf.

I think that's a pretty good overview, but I'm sure I'll think of something else later.

Sweet Carson - You are the greatest blessing ever!!! We love watching you grow and seeing your little personality develop. We LOVE you!!! Mommy & Daddy

Goober...

Our little goober has a new "thing"....



It's way better in person. He tends to turn the "ham" off if he knows he's on camera. :-)

Up on the shelf...

Now that I am (pretty much) over the emotional part of no longer breastfeeding, I can happily say Sha Na Na Na, He-ey Goodbye!!! to my breast pump (well, until the next baby [hopefully] comes along some day).

Yesterday was the first day I didn't pump at all. I went from pumping what seemed like all the time, to multiple times a day, to just a few, to only morning and night the last couple weeks, to only morning for several days... and now... NOTHING.

What did I do with my extra time this morning, you ask? ACTUALLY WORKED OUT!!! :-)

We Don't Encourage This....

But it's hard to get mad because it's just so cute!



The pups pretty much have to go outside when he eats because Carson's meal time ends up being Shooter and Lucy's meal time.

Sewing Challenge - Step 1...DONE.

Don't get too excited. Step 1 just involved buying fabric and required notions for the pattern. I'm so lazy (well, that's probably not the right word) that I just went to Fabric.com and ordered everything. Yes, I wanted to get some super cute fabric, but I figured that for the first go-round at this I better stick with the "Everything's $1.95 - Clearance / Discount Fabric". That way I wouldn't feel too guilty if (I mean, when) I mess up. They actually had quite a bit of seersucker and simple, cotton blend gingham and striped fabric. So, if this does work out on the first try, it'll actually be something he can wear. I went ahead and bought several yards of "girly" fabric if I get in the mood to experiment making sweet little dresses for Miss Charlotte or for some of my friends with little girls. I'm all about free shipping, so I piled in a bunch of different fabrics, interfacing, bias-fold tape, elastic, etc.

Here's a few swatch pictures of some fabrics that would work...








Source: Swatch pics from Fabric.com

Can't you just imagine my sweet little Carson in a handmade romper/jon jon already??? :-) (Okay, I know, I really shouldn't be getting ahead of myself.)

So...if you are up to the challenge, get your pattern, get your fabric and let's DO this!!! If everything comes in this week, I'm hoping to at least get the pieces cut over the weekend. In the meantime, I plan on actually opening up the pattern and reading through everything and trying to see how all those paper thin "patterns" actually become something. If I can't visualize how this is all going to work out, I know I'm really going to have a BIG challenge on my hands.

Make Ya Smile Monday

C has this super awesome vintage "I'm a Little Aggie" that his great aunt Becky gave him. (It was her's when she was little).


It's still a little big...


But C has created a new fashion statement to solve the problem.


Happy Monday!

Friday Faves!

I'll keep this one short & sweet...

1. HUGS from my sweet little man!!! He's in that stage where he clings with his whole body if he's not sure about the situation.

2. The sweet time right before C goes to sleep. He's had dinner, his bath, brushed his teeth, read his books, said his prayers, had his bottle, then he has sweet mommy and me time. He just sits on my lap facing me and just plays quietly. He touches my face and smiles. He buries his head in my chest. He gives me hugs. He's just SWEET! (Then he gets put in his crib and cries for about 10 minutes, but then it's all good!)

3. Experimenting with natural light in the kitchen and trying to get his eyes to sPaRkLe...(see some of the other posts lately for other "eye sparkle" pictures).










Like I said, short and sweet today!