Happy Birthday to Me!

So I turned 27 on the 5th.... I'm getting old! I'm no longer in my mid-20's~ I'm now in my upper 20's. The only thing that gets me through this very difficult time (Crazy smile here), is knowing that no matter how old I get, Don and my siblings are always going to be older than me. In their eyes, I'll always be the baby (which I'm perfectly fine with!).

Even though my birthday was on Monday, Don and I decided to celebrate on Sunday. The day started out wonderfully! We went to a starving artist sale in Nashville where I got 2 awesome paintings for my birthday present! The pictures of them don't quite do them justice~ I just LOVE them!

That evening, we got a babysitter and went to dinner at The Melting Pot. YUMMY! I love that place... although it made me think of the last time we were there. It was our wedding dinner and my mom was with us. It made me cry a bit, but only because it was such a happy memory of spending time with her.

On my actual birthday, I felt quite loved. I got a phone call from all of my siblings, most of my in-laws, and a few of my nieces and nephews. My phone was going off all day! I know I'm pregnant and hormonal, but it really made my heart happy to know that I'm cared about by so many people. I'm such a sap!

What have you done?

So I saw this on a friends blog... thought it was interesting. It made me realize that I've done a lot of things in my short life... yet haven't gotten to do everything that I really want to. Someday Steph- we'll go to Europe and ride the trains!


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea- mostly from the beach, but it was still awesome.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64.Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Made amends with someone who offended you
101. Flew in a small Cessna plane with just you and the pilot
102. Ran out of gas
103. Eaten fried okra
104. Swam in the Caribbean Sea
105. Peed in a swimming pool
106. Rented a beach house
107. Hosted an exchange student
108. Been a Secret Santa to a family in need
109. Worked on a political campaign
110. Coached a sports team
111. Baked bread from scratch
112. Driven from coast to coast
113. Paid off all of your debt
114. Roast marshmallows over a campfire
115. Cut up a credit card
116. Drove a car through a flood
117. Been on t.v
118. Danced in a cage
119. Built a playfort
120. Shoveled your neighbors walk

Highlight any items you have done, and post it. Feel free to add more!

Happy New Year 2009!

I'd like to say that New Year's Eve is one of my favorite holidays. I just wish that this year's celebration was like celebrations past... but it wasn't. Don and I didn't even make it to 10:30... what's sad is that we really tried to stay awake! Oh well...

Blame it on the stomach flu. It's had us up at 3-4 every morning for the past few days without getting to take a nap. It's been trying to keep up with the laundry~ I swear I've washed every blanket in our house at least once in the last 3 days. I think that it just got to us last night, especially after eating dinner and passing out the medicine, Nolan threw up AGAIN! I think it was too much... we just want to leave 2008 in the past and start 2009 all new. At least no one has thrown up yet today (better not speak to soon!).

I just wanted to say that I hope your 2009 is better that 2008!

I have a 7 yr old!

Happy 7th Birthday Brennan!!!!


Both Brennan's and Dylan's Birthdays are extremely hard to celebrate. It feels like we've been partying for a week and a half! This year, Brennan spent his birthday in a car, driving back home from Little Rock. We didn't have a cake (I'm such a bad mom), but we did let him open his Birthday presents. He got his favorite video game Rayman Rabbids TV and his favorite board game Blockus.




Now, I'm not as bad as a mom as I think... just to let you know, Brennan is having his birthday party with all of his friends at Chuck-E-Cheese in a couple of weeks, where he will have a Kung Fu Panda Birthday Cake. See? I'm not all that bad!


I wish that Brennan's Birthday ended with him happily opening his birthday presents, but it doesn't. Brennan spent the entire night throwing up. He must have caught a bug or something from Papa's and Gigi's house. I felt SO bad for him... having such a boring birthday and being sick on top of that! What a poopy way to spend your special day.

Christmas in Little Rock

Since we had to have Dylan back in Oklahoma on the 26th, we decided to drive to Little Rock on Christmas day to spend the weekend with Don's family. After a long (5 1/2 hr) drive, we arrived to see our wonderful family. After a quick lunch and nap for Nolan, we celebrated Christmas with Papa, Gigi, David, Teresa, Brett, and Sara. And in case you were curious... Brennan got his much desired Bakugans from Brett for Christmas.

After our quick small family celebration, we went to Gram's house to celebrate with the big family (all of Don's mom's brothers and sisters and their kids). While the trip may have been short, it was well worth the drive to spend some time with the family.

Christmas 2008

Since we only have Dylan for a week, we decided to move up Christmas so that he could have time to play with his presents. That being said, Christmas this year occurred on December 23rd.

It's official .... we've now reached the age that Christmas starts EARLY~ as in 4:45 am. I woke up to Brennan, Dylan and Nolan all crawling into bed to tell me that Santa had come. The looks of excitement on their little faces was too cute. It's the only thing that motivated me to get out of bed. When we got upstairs, the shouts of joy (and I mean TRUE joy~ the kind that comes from believing in Santa) were what made my morning. Forget the receiving~ the warm fuzzies come from giving (oh, that's mom coming out!).

After spending the week prior doing all of the wrapping... hours and hours of work were thrown about the floor in 30 min. Oh, well. Santa was really good to the boys this year. Brennan got nearly everything he wanted... Wii games, DS games, Board games, Legos, Pixos, Matchbox rockets, an Air hog, a scooter. Everything except Bakugans. Sad! Dylan got Spike the Dinosaur, a pirate ship, a castle, an Air hog, Wii games, a doctors kit and a bob bag. Nolan got Elmo Live, Elmo's restaurant, cars, cars, and more cars. Bet you can't guess what he LOVES more than anything! Here are some pictures from Christmas Morning.

Nolan LOVES Elmo! He was absolutely entranced with him.
Brennan and his Legos... Coming from the diaper box Santa had to borrow. When he first unwrapped it, he said "This isn't mine. It's Nolan's. Santa got it wrong. I didn't ask for diapers!"
Dylan and his Castle & Viking Ship
Notice the triumphant stance and raised present of Pixos. It's something he's wanted since he first saw the ad for them way back in April/May.

Nolan and his Elmo Cars
Gigi and Nolan playing with his Elmo Restaurant~ one of the most popular toys of Christmas (all the boys enjoyed playing with it)
Nolan and his new cars and car mat
Dr. Dylan (my idea! I even embroidered his name on the coat)
Don and Brennan playing with his new Matchbox Rocket
Nolan with Elmo again...I have like 10 different pictures of him playing with it. He really loves it!
Brennan and Dylan playing with Spike the Dinosaur. It is a really cool remote control dinosaur.
Dylan making Spike eat what Brennan is trying to feed him.
Don and Brennan playing the new Wii game "Star Wars: Light Saber Duals"
The light sabers really glow!

After a few hours of playing, everyone decided that they were hungry, so we decided that since it wasn't really Christmas day and restaurants were open, we would go to Mimi's for breakfast. I kind of like celebrating Christmas early!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas (alright... it was a couple of nights before Christmas~12/22) and all the kids wanted to do was go home!

Now, this wasn't the typical night before... typically, that night is spent reading the Christmas story and having a nice home-cooked meal followed by opening the Christmas PJ's. The only typical part of our night was the PJ's, but we'll get to that.

After we spent the afternoon at the YMCA pool, we came home and everyone crashed! It was a much needed rest... to prepare us for the remainder of the day. Now, by the time we woke up, everyone was hungry and I wasn't in the mood to cook, so we went out and had Mexican...Yum! I swear this baby is going to come out looking dark like Dylan because all I crave is Mexican. Anyway, after eating dinner, we drove around a looked a lights around town. Then came the decision... do we go home for 30 min just to round the kids up again to go to the airport? Nope, we decide that we need more sugar! So it's off to DQ. After a sugar high, we drove to the airport to pick up Gigi. Except that Gigi's plane wasn't there yet... so we had to drive around and around the airport for 40 minutes. Brennan and Dylan just wanted to go home and leave Gigi there! Shortly after that comment was made, Gigi came out and we were off!

It is our family tradition to open Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve and sleep in them/spend all of Christmas Day in them. Brennan and Dylan remembered, but Nolan is still a little new to all of the excitement. He didn't know what to do with his present! Lucky for him, his two brothers were more than willing to help. In addition to the pj's, Brennan and Dylan also got robes (something that Brennan has been hounding me for since last Christmas). When he opened his robe, Brennan had the biggest smile and I got the biggest hug of the year! "It's just what I've always wanted~ You're the best mom!" Ah, the sweet things you wait all year to hear.

After opening presents, the boys jumped in the tub for a quick bath followed by their new pj's. Then it was off to bed. I thought that they would try to stay up and listen for the Jolly Man, but they were out within 5 minutes. After making sure Santa came, we were off to bed too!