Hello and Goodbye

Bryan turns 30 tomorrow so the Clarks came down last night to celebrate his bday. They came down to spend the afternoon with Reese and then the adults went out to dinner. After dinner I went over to game night with my bible study and had a good time socializing. I feel its worth every penny I pay the babysitter to be able to go out as an adult each Tues night and socialize with other adults.

Today was a great day. I took the day off work - a very rare thing for me. I take off for vacations and such but never just to have a "me" day. I slept until 8 (shocking since I am always up early) and then took Reese to MDO. I went to the gym, had the sprinkler system fixed, went out to lunch with friends, ran errands and spent time at home with the tv. Of course Reese has to be picked up by 2:30 so I am limited in what I can do with a day off- but it was great. Reese and I had a great afternoon. We went to Kindermusik, Reese ate like crazy for dinner and we went for a walk. Today is a sad day because I went out to lunch with my old FRG (military support group) friends to say goodbye to Sharen Leigh. Ben and Sharen Leigh have been great friends to both Rusty and I. Since Rusty and Ben worked at the armory together, they were friends independently of Sharen Leigh and I which was nice. We used to meet for lunch and hang out alot when they were both stationed here. Ben and Sharen are headed to AL for flight school and then back to Houston in approx 2 years. Its not goodbye forever, but CS wont be the same without them. I can't imagine if we ever have to face an overseas deployment again, not going through it with Sharen Leigh again. There are times this summer that I wanted to have a pity party for myself and I was reminded of how Sharen Leigh was home alone with 3 kids- including a newborn- and if she could do it and never complain- so could I!

I sandwhich tray leaked on my shirt so I am bent all crazy in this picture trying to hide!
I am going to finish up my night watching my Friday Night Light DVD's that came today. I love that show and I have never been so anxious for my DVD's to come in the mail from Blockbuster as I have for this series.

I am trying to think of creatives names for the title of my blog- so if you have any let me know. Reese isnt that catchy!

Monday

Reese woke up early enough for me to hit the gym before taking him to school - which was good but made for a long afternoon since lately I have been working later in the morning and therefore logging back on later:) Charissa and Heather always need to work out with me to make the time fly- so much fun!

It is over 100 degrees and that's no fun with a toddler. We hit the mall this afternoon. I didn't find a swimsuit (swim lessons start next week) and didn't buy a thing but it was nice to get out. Reese and I did play outside tonight in the baby pool and with his sidewalk chalk but at least it was later in the day when it was more like 98!

My night has been full of Facebook and relaxing. Facebook sucks up my time but it is addicting for sure.

The maid, the Clarks and the babysitter are coming tomorrow so we have a big day ahead of us!

Time with Laura

My mom sent me the CD with the Disney Pictures and this was on it. This is my favorite picture of us. Its rare that he looks at the camera and smiles. She blew it up to an 8 by 10 for me so I better go get a frame. This picture is a few months old but I still love it. I have also updated my Disney blogs below with new pictures now that I have hers.

Laura and I had a wonderful visit. We went to dinner and the grocery store but otherwise just hung out at home. I felt like I should entertain more but she assured me that spending time at home watching Homefront (a tv series from the early 90's we both love) and just talking all weekend was good for her. Its nice to be with old friends because its so effortless. You can tell stories and they don't need to know the backstory because they already know it. This is the problem I found alot when we lived in GA because no one knew a thing about you or about Texas so everything had a backstory.

Of course he wouldn't pose when he was in his nice church clothes with her!

I cooked up a storm with Laura here. I made orange rolls this morning -too much sugar and too much effort to knead bread for me to do it again. I cooked jerk chicken last night and steak tonight. I am ready for Rusty to be home so I am not cooking meals like for Reese and I. It was nice having Laura here so that someone actually appreciates my efforts. Reese is so obsessed with jello that he could pretty much care less what else I feed him! Reese was an angel this weekend and was quite the show off for Laura. His vocabulary is really improving and he clearly understands what I say. This goes for when I talk on the phone now as well so I have to be careful what I say when I talk about the good or bad things he is doing over the phone:)

Ross King lead worship today at church and it was amazing. I had been a fan for years and have alot of his cd's. I cant wait for him to be our worship leader when Grace Southwood opens.

I got out the playdoh for the first time yesterday and Reese loved it

Friday

He likes to snap green beans with me now

Today was a busy and fun day. We went to the gym and to playgroup before lunch and had a spontaneous playdate with Erich and Lacey this afternoon. My friend Laura has come to spend the weekend. She has never met Reese and I am glad she got to come for a visit. I claim we have been friends since 7th grade. She claims I met her in 6th grade but wasn't her friend until 8th. I will go with somewhere in the middle we became friends:) Most of you will know her as Laura from France since I went to visit her over there twice. She now lives in Dallas and is buying a house next month so she will be entering the homeowners club- yeah!

Wrestling with Erich

Per Charissa- I have been tagged for her questionnaire and I am a woman of my word.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Starting my senior year of college. Living in my duplex which was first time not in the sorority house or dorm. Drama with my duplex roommates! Preparing to be a rho chi for recruitment and hating every minute of disaffiliation from my sorority. Having a fantastic summer in CS. I always loved the summers in college because the classes were smaller and you made friends-- including my friendship with the Weavers that later led to my friendship/roommate Ellen.

Things on my to-do list today
I still need to call and find out where my half price Veritas coupon is. I need to check my finances and pay bills. I need to call the mortgage company and see if they can cut me a deal on a refinance. I need to plug in my new freezer. I am proud to say that most of my to do list was accomplished this week because I didn't have a bad week at work and had time to take care of things- yeah!

What are some snacks you enjoy? I really like the Natural Cheddar Cheetos and was excited I found them this week. I mostly eat healthy foods and my favorite snacks are smoothies and cliff bars

What would you do if you were a millionaire? The fluff answer is I would get a private jet so I could travel the world. I think realistically I would give money to my top charities which are Grace Bible Church, Wilcrest Baptist Church, Star of Hope, World Vision and Homes of St Mark(my adoption agency). All of these charities are ones I give to now and are very important to me. I would give a small donation to ADPi as well (although not to be grouped with the ones above since its not really charity). I would also give money to my family so that they could pay off their houses

Name some places you've called home
My life story is Houston(Alief for a year and then Mission Bend for 23 years) College Station, back to living with mom in Houston waiting to get married, The Woodlands, TX- and now back to College Station. I guess I could technically call Fort Benning GA and Fort Knox KY home for 5 and 4 months.

So that's - Houston- College Station- Houston- Woodlands- College Station. I don't travel far and I know the Army will move me somewhere not fun in the future

What are some of your bad habits?
Talking too much, being too blunt, interrupting, gossiping

What are some jobs you've held?
babysitting
Target for a few months when I was 16 and saving for a car
Joshua's Christian Store/Family Christian Store- 8 years
Hewitt-9 years
I am a stable employee and don't like to switch jobs.

Who are you tagging?
I am going to say whoever has time to do it

Disney Part 2

Back to the Disney World synopsis.

On Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. I must admit this trip was much different because I rode all of the Fantasy Land kid rides that I had always skipped. We rode Winnie the Pooh (which I must say is a BEAUTIFUL ride), Snow White, Peter Pan, Dumbo, the Carousel, and the family favorite Its A Small World. He also rode several things in Tomorrow Land -the people mover twice, saw the Carousel of Progress twice, and I rode Space Mountain!

Riding the people mover for the second time that day

Reese's first time on the carousel. He cried when he had to get off. He loved it!

On Friday we went to Epcot. In the past, we did the front part of the park in a few hours and then the countries all day. This time, we didn't even get back to the countries until after 5. The fun thing about this day was that Reese and I were walking around in the Innovations building when we were handed dream fast passes. I was able to get Heather and Brent over there soon enough but too late for Kelley. Basically it was a fast pass to 6 of the rides that you could use at any point of the day. I could have really used that in Magic Kingdom! Some of them we didn't need because lets face it- there is never a line for the boat ride in the "Land", but some of them came in handy. At 8:45 we ended up using one of them to ride the ride in Norway and then we were able to make it back to our spot for the light show at 9!

I rode Test Track and then watched Conner and Reese while the others rode it. I took Reese and Conner over to the aquarium and I must admit that having 2 kids is much harder than 1 alone at an amusement park:) We went to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show (Reese loved the 4d again), the Nemo ride and aquarium, a ride that talked about your senses, and played musical hopscotch for toddlers We also went on the boat ride in the "Land" (twice- pointing at everything along the way)- I think he has alot of Rusty in him because he loved the greenhouse and the fish hatchery.

I rode the new ride Soarin and I must admit it was really cool. Its a simulated ride of what it would feel like to fly or para glide over different areas in the US - The Golden Gate bridge, Yosemite etc. I really like how they incorporated the smell of the areas you were flying over in the ride. For example, when you flew over the orange grove you smelled oranges, when you flew over the mountains you smelled trees etc.

We stayed for the light show and had a fantastic view. Reese loved the light show and especially loved that I gave in for one of those blinky rope necklace deals that he stared at until I decided he was overstimulated!

Visiting the aquarium

Such a big boy

Reese did a great job on the flight home. He was so tired that he slept almost the entire way home from the airport (about 5 pm). We went to Mi Cocina with Grandpa and Uncle Bryan and that was the ended our fun trip! Reese woke up at 6:30 on Sunday- I think he was ready to hit the parks! Luckily he has slept late every day this week since!

I am impressed that you read the whole thing. I promise they will never be this long again

Disney Part 1

Reese was quite a little trooper today. He went with me to have my blood drawn, to blockbuster and over to my friends house to pick up address labels. He also decided that he wanted to help me snap my green beans for dinner. I ended up giving him a little bowl of his own so he could work- and then I could resnap

On to Disney World.

My entire family went on the trip. Both of my parents, my siblings, their spouses and kids. We had 11 total. It was a challenge at times to keep up with such a large group but for the most part we all stayed together throughout the parks. Reese was fantastic on the trip. He loved to ride the rides, rarely cried, and took a nap everyday in his stroller. The only bad thing on the entire trip was that there was a down pour every day. I am so glad that my mom bought a stroller rain cover for me! Reese had his own seat on the plane and did fantastic on the ride there and back. Having a dedicated seat and his car seat sure beats him on my lap like I did last year.

On Sunday we went to Animal Kingdom. Reese loved the Safari ride and especially looking at the tigers in the viewing area. He loved the Bugs Life movie in the big tree. He wasn't scared of the wind, water, bugs etc that you feel in the 4d adventure. He loved to look at the animals and point at all of the birds. He calls all types of birds "ducks" of course. He ran around in the playground forever- up and down the stairs and slides- he wore Kelley and I out for sure!

Notice how I am coming down the slide after him and he is running off to go againOn Monday we went to Magic Kingdom. We started the morning with a character breakfast. If you have ever seen Reese's Easter Bunny or Santa pictures you know he doesn't like stuffed animals. He screamed at the first few at the breakfast, but came around to liking them when my Dad took him over and held him at eye level. He rode the Aladdin Flying Carpet, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean- you name it. He also saw the family favorite Tiki Bird Show. He stayed up late that night to see the Light Parade and the fireworks. He is a solid 7:30 pm bedtime kid, but did well staying up later. I need to give up trying to take pictures of the light parade. We will call these my art pictures for the trip:)We took the day off Tues to spend time around the resort and hit the pool. We hit Downtown Disney in the afternoon.Tuesday night, he stayed home while my Dad, Brent, Heather and I went to a nice dinner at Emerils.

On Wednesday we went to MGM. In the past, MGM has been a half day park for me. With Reese, we didn't have enough time to do it all. I found myself seeing DW in a whole new light when you spend your day going to Toddler shows. He actually sat on my lap for 30 min to watch the Playhouse Disney stage show and the Little Mermaid show. We liked the backlot tour - especially since Nestor was chosen to be in the show- we all had a good laugh over him being drenched. The kids and I stayed a bit later to see the High School Music show but it was rained out- I was bummed because this year I actually saw the movie and the show would have made sense (who is going with me to the theater on Oct 24 for the HSM 3?). Wednesday night was my turn to watch the kids while Kelley, Nestor, Mom and Dad went out for their dinner. I cooked my chicken cacciatore for the group and it was a hit.

Nestor after being in the backlot tour show

Hanging out with the big boys

Playground funThis is getting really long so I will cover Thursday and Friday another day. We had 4 cameras on this trip and I dont have pictures from my mom, sister or brother yet. Expect to see more and better pictures in my monthly slide show since I only took 60 on the entire trip (hello- I was the single parent with a toddler and my hands were full!)

Friends and Fun

Yesterday was a fun day. I had 2 friends over yesterday for a play group and then went with friends to see Mamma Mia. I had high expectations after seeing the show on Broadway and listening to the sound track frequently. I think Meryl Streep isn't right for the role and thought it was funny to see Pierce Brosnon sing but over all pretty good.We all decided to move to Greece after seeing the movie. I really wanted to go to Greece,Spain and Italy before I had kids- maybe one day.

Reese kept taking out Gianna's hair bows I have had 6 local friends change jobs in a little over a month- 4 of who lost their jobs. They are all so at peace with it and know that God will provide. This tested my faith because I don't know that I could be so calm if Rusty lost his job. Luckily, Rusty has about the most stable job you can so its not an issue but it got me thinking how thankful I am. A few examples

1.I have a wonderful husband who loves me and accepts all my shortcomings. He even went out of his way this week to tell me how much he appreciates all that I do for the family and how I am an independent wife who can take care of things on the home front while he is gone.
2.I have a healthy child who is a huge blessing to us
3. I have wonderful friends and family who support me
4. I have a great job which allows me to contribute to the family income, stimulate my mind, and provide the creative outlet I need. I have a job where I can work part time from home and spend a lot of time with Reese. I am fortunate to be one of the few military wives who can say that I have a job wherever I go
5. We have a great house (even though I am begging Rusty to let us move a mile down the street to another neighborhood)
6. We have cars that are paid for and don't give us any problems
7. We have been fortunate to be able to save our 6 months expenses in case a crisis occurs
8. We have a great church that we both enjoy.
9.Both of our parents live reasonable close so we get to see them alot
10. We all have our health
11. I have wonderful parents who never treat me any differently because of my adoption

Reese is finally no longer scared of the sprinkler (ignore his outfit - I didnt want him messing up his good pants). He also likes to try to drink from itMy little pointer