Happy birthday to me

What a horrible picture! But it's the best I could do - and Bud insisted on taking it. Ugh! I went to the doctor on Monday, Sept 21st because I didn't feel well. The doc thought I might have the flu, did a flu test and sent it to the lab, put me on Tamiflu and told me to stay home from work for 2 days. So I did....doctor's orders. I took the Tamiflu and never started feeling better, actually started to feel worse and running a fever. Each day I called the doctor for the flu test results, but they weren't back yet.

Wednesday was my birthday and I felt pretty bad. I was really sad too because I hadn't held either of the boys in two days and I missed them. I cried off and on all day long. :( But the boys tried to cheer me up. When they got home, they had brought me a cake, flowers and a gift. That was very nice. I made dinner, then opened my gift (gift card to Hobby Lobby - my favorite store, and a bottle of perfume), and had some cake. Again, Bud insisted on taking this photo...pajamas, messy hair, no makeup. Nice. Real nice.

Well I got my results on Thursday and it was negative! Great! I didn't have the flu. The downside? I'd been taking medicine for 3 days to treat something I didn't have. By then I had developed a pretty nasty cough, so he put me on an antibiotic because they figured I had an upper respiratory infection or something and needed to prevent bronchitis and pneumonia. That would be a great birthday present! LOL.

So on Saturday, Bud really compensated. We left the kids with Jane and Chester for the night and went to an early movie. We saw Love Happens which was pretty good, then he caved and took me to a really nice dinner at The Melting Pot. I say he "caved" because he did not want to go there - he was afraid he wouldn't get enough to eat. (That's always his biggest fear when trying somewhere new.) Kelli and Stacie had gotten to him -- telling him that I really wanted to go there, and finally convincing him. He decided that if that's where I wanted to go for my birthday, then that's where we should go. Yay! The Melting Pot was awesome. We had so much fun. We really enjoyed each other's company, and the food was excellent. It was the first time Bud has ever tried lobster....and....he loved it. He said it was his favorite thing on the plate - over steak, chicken and sausage. So proud of Bud for trying something new.

So it turned out to be a really nice, relaxing dinner. And as much as we love our kids, it was nice to not have to worry about eating as fast as we could, before food started flying across the table, or Ryan tried crawling out of his high chair. Haha! Our crazy little life.

This is what LIFE is all about

Sometimes I get so stressed out and bogged down in the daily grind that it's easy to forget about why I'm here, my purpose in life. It's moments like these that I stop and remember. I'm here for them...my boys. This is what God put me here for. He created me to be the best mom I can be for my two little guys.

Life with a 3 1/2 year old and a 15 month old can be rough at times. They're so full of energy, into everything, and they never stop. Luckily they both sleep well at night so I get those few hours to rest. Haha! Sometimes I just feel so drained and start to run low on patience, and at times, I feel like it can be too much. But then we have really great, simple but perfect moments like this, and everything fades into the background, and all I can do is smile. They make me smile.

It's a..........BOY!

Finally! After almost 9 months of waiting, Stacie and Beau had their baby. And it's a boy! They named him Brooks Anderson and he's so adorable. He has a perfectly round little head full of dark blonde hair, a cute little nose that's slightly turned up like Stacie's, and full pouty little lips. He's so pretty that he's already been mistaken for a baby girl.



Stacie had been having trouble with high blood pressure over the last couple of months and when she went in for her doctor's appt on 9/29, he admitted her to Labor & Delivery. He said if she hadn't eaten breakfast that day, he would have done the c-section right then and there. Instead, he kept her overnight and scheduled the c-section for 7:30am the following day, September 30th. Little Brooks wasn't due until my dad's birthday, which is October 18th, so at 2 1/2 weeks early, we were all a bit nervous. No need though...he was born a strong and healthy 7 lbs 12 oz, and 19 inches long. Adorable.

The morning he was born, we rushed to the hospital. We left the house around 6:40am because we wanted to be there by about 7:15 so we wouldn't take any chances on missing the big announcement (Beau and Stacie didn't know what sex the baby was). Well, Bud and I had a little miscommunication (that's too long and pointless to include here) and ended up taking a long and traffic-congested route to the hospital. Very bad decision. That was one of the most stressful hour-long drives ever. We finally made it into the parking lot at about 7:50. We were so scared that we were going to be too late.

Bud literally threw the truck into park, he grabbed JD and I grabbed Ryan, and we ran to the waiting area. We arrived, breathless and frustrated, but we at least we didn't miss anything. We sat there for about 1/2 an hour before we got the....phone call?! Phone call?! Yep, that's right, Beau called in the birth. We couldn't believe it. As many births as he's attended, he should know you don't call it in. But he did. He called Bud and told him that they were in the recovery room and everyone was fine. There was no nurse with them, Stacie was shaking too bad (from the meds) to hold the baby, and there was nowhere to put the baby. So we had to wait. We still didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. But the feeling in the room was pretty strong that it was a girl. Why? Because we found out that the night before a nurse was checking on Stacie and said "so what are you going to name your little girl?" She said "we don't know if we're having a little girl" and the nurse said "oh, I must have confused you with the woman next door." At the point, Stacie thought that the nurse had blown it for them....9 months of waiting to find out, then the nurse slipped the night before. Ugh! So everyone was sure it was a girl.

Anyway, so Beau said he'd be out as soon as he could. About 5 minutes later, the door unlocked, so I quickly turned my camera on, then the door opened and out walked a man in scrubs, and...."Click!" I took the first picture of the new daddy....only it wasn't our daddy. It was the daddy of the baby girl that the nurse had been referring to. He walked by, held his arms out to side, and said "do you want another picture?" and laughed as he walked over to tell his family it was a baby girl.

This is the guy I thought was Beau.




A few minutes later, out came Beau. I got a picture of him too. He came out and we all just stared, but he still didn't say anything. Everyone was asking him to spill the beans. Instead, he asked JD to help him out. JD walked over to him and Beau said "so what do you think we're having - a boy or girl?" JD said "a girl!" and Beau said "well, you're wrong." The whole place came alive, everyone started screaming, and JD ran off crying. It scared him to death. Poor little guy.

So excited that we've got another little boy. Surprised too because we really thought that nurse had let the cat out of the bag. Either way, we would have been so happy. But now that he's here, I couldn't be happier. JD, Ryan and Brooks are gonna have so much fun together.

So after all the initial excitement, two by two, we went back to meet little Baby Brooks and congratulate Stacie. He's just precious.

Baby Shower

On Sunday, Sept 13th, I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Stacie. She is due October 18th and we're not sure if she's having a boy or girl...so exciting! I think it's a boy....today. I keep going back and forth. They'll probably end up having a really easy-going, laid back little girl. Haha. Then they'll really think that our kids are crazy.

Anyway, the baby shower turned out very nice. I did it at Apple Annie's Tea Room - it was perfect for a baby shower. About 20 or so of her friends came and she got lots of nice stuff from everyone. We played a fun question game where the guests had to try to figure out the answers that Beau and Stacie gave to several different questions. I asked them the questions a couple weeks ahead of time - they didn't know how the other person had answered either, so it was a lot of fun revealing those answers...especially revealing Beau's answers to Stacie.

On a last-minute whim, I decided to play the toilet paper game where you have to guess how much toilet paper it would take to go around Stacie's belly. Since I hadn't planned to play that game, I didn't have toilet paper. Kelli and Amber are such good sports -- they went to the bathroom and swiped a couple of rolls. (It's great having little sisters! Haha!) Stacie's friend Aly got the closest - she was off by about 1 inch!

Then we played Baby Bingo. I printed bingo cards and as Stacie opened her gifts, the guests would cross off the items she received. We played that game until we ran out of prizes. Everyone really enjoyed that game and even continued to play after the prizes were gone. It was great too, because everyone really paid close attention to what gifts Stacie was opening.




I also hand made this book and titled it "A Mother's Advice." I wrote a poem and put it on the inside cover, then passed it around as guests were arriving and had them write a small note of advice for the mother-to-be. I really like how it turned out. I hope she liked it too. She didn't have time to look at it closely during the shower, so I hope she took some time to look through it after she got home.

Anyway....the baby shower was a success!

The Circus

This weekend we went to the circus...yes, a different circus than the one that's at my house everyday. We went to the Shriner Circus. Chester, Bud's dad (aka: Bada), is a Shriner so he gets us tickets every year. We sat on the 2nd row from the floor...great seats. Last year we actually sat in the front row and Bud and Beau became part of the circus. Yep, they were selected by one of the clowns to participate in his act. They had to try to throw the clown's hat across the arena to make it land on his head. The clown really teased Beau about not having enough muscle to make it all the way across. It was really funny! Bud always wanted to join the circus, so I guess he got his 5 minutes of circus fame!

So this year was JD's 3rd circus and Ryan's 1st one. They both really seemed to enjoy it, but I'm not sure what Ryan liked more -- the circus acts or the popcorn!!! Man that kid can put the popcorn away. Just like his big brother.



Kelli and Timothy went with us. Jason and Ashton couldn't make it because Ashton had his first Select Baseball practice during the same time. We all had a really good time, except one fun-killing moment...during intermission Bud took JD and Timothy to go jump in the moon bounce. Of course, we should have known that it would be a screaming nightmare when it came time to get out. And it was! Luckily, I wasn't on duty for that (I was in the bathroom). Daddy got that job....he was not in a very good mood afterwards, that's all I will say.

From what I could tell, Ryan's favorite part of the circus was the trapeze act -- people swinging and flying through the air right in front of us. JD's favorite part is when they shoot the guy out of the cannon at the end. He waits the entire 3 hours for that part... and it only lasts about .7 seconds. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out.

After the circus and went to eat at the Little Red Barn. It didn't take long for the Blair family to return to our own personal family circus! LOL!

Car Reaction

"Car Reaction"...that's what JD calls it. On Wed, August 26th (Ryan's 14 month birthday), we were involved in a car accident. I had the two boys in the car with me and I was heading to town to drop the kids off with Jane so I could go to work. A car turned left in front of me as I was entering the intersection, so I had no time to react or even hit the brakes. I ended up t-boning the passenger side of his Cavalier.

I was driving my Tahoe -- thank God! It protected us just like it should. The kids are fine - I had them checked out at a clinic, and other than JD complaining of a sore chest, they were fine. I have a couple of bumps and bruises, and definitely a sore neck, but I'm fine too. Especially considering the impact -- I hit him going about 45 miles per hour.

The scariest part of the accident, besides seeing a car dart out from traffic and head across my lane, was when we came to a stop. The front cab of the Tahoe was filled with smoke, smelled like something was burning, and my legs were wet from the knee down. I immediately thought something had ruptured and was on fire, so I tried to get out, but my drivers side door was jammed. The passenger door was jammed too. I crawled into the back seat and tried Ryan's door - and thankfully, it opened! I unbuckled both kids as fast as I possibly could and got them out of the car. I was standing there barefoot (I guess I kicked off my shoes since they were wet) surrounded by glass, holding Ryan, hugging JD, and trying to wrap my arms around what just happened.

The other guy was standing by his car holding his ribs. He didn't even come over and ask us if we were okay. I was really mad about that...and got more upset as time went on. Then when we found out he had been drinking (and had another DUI ticket sitting on the seat of his car from a previous incident), I became even more upset. Bud, as you can imagine, was enraged! He kept saying "My whole family was in that car!"

We were there for 2 hours after the accident. Jane and Chester came up to help us out and Jane took the kids back with her so we could go get things sorted out. We got a rental car -- Sweet Minivan! -- and started the ball rolling with claims.

Well, it's more than a week later and the collision center totaled my Tahoe, so we're car shopping now. Looking for another Tahoe (after how it held up in the accident, I would never drive anything smaller). Here's what really stinks though...I haven't had a car payment in over 2 years, and all because some guy decided to drink and drive, I will now have one. Ugh!

We're still waiting on the police report to come back to find out whether or not he has insurance. Praying that he does. But all in all, we're very lucky that none of us were really injured. God was certainly watching over us that day - and sent his guardian angels to protect us.

Oh, and in case you're wondering -- the smoke and burning smell was from the airbag I think, and my legs were wet from the coffee that spilled on me. LOL!

Well, we decided this week that we were gonna try to go on at least one formal family outing per month. I mean, we do stuff with the kids all the time, but not necessarily "kid stuff." I've always suggested doing this kind of stuff anyway, but Bud never really wanted to because it didn't sound like fun to him. But he finally decided that it's important for us to do this kind of thing - for the kids, and for the family. Yay!!!

So here we are at our first "Monthly Family Outing" -- we went to the Children's Museum and we really had a great time. Here are some pictures of what we did while we were there.

JD and Ryan were pilots in the airplane. After he was the pilot, JD said, "OK Mom, you drive the plane and I'll be a sitter" and he sat in the airplane as a passenger. A "sitter"....so cute!


Here's Ryan in the town's General Store -- JD worked the register and Ryan stocked the shelves. Isn't the mini apron so adorable???


Here's JD milking the cow while Ryan watches. Did you know that it takes 12 pounds of milk to make 1 gallon of ice cream!?


Here's JD shopping in the HEB exhibit. It was so cute. All the kids knew exactly what to do in the store, pushing their carts around and picking groceries off the shelves. They even paid at the little registers and helped put their groceries back after they were done. That was our favorite exhibit.


Here's JD in his favorite exhibit - the powerball room. He was a green ball hog....it's his favorite color.

July Sketch Bucket

Here are a couple more pages I did for the July Sketch Bucket on ASP. I had two 5 x 7 photos that were really good so I asked someone to give me a layout sketch that used a 5 x 7 photo. I loved the sketch I received and used it for both of my photos. I really like how these pages turned out. I helps to have great pictures!

Here's a picture of JD and Bud at a restaurant in South Padre. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture!


This is a picture of Ashton and Timothy walking down the beach in South Padre.

Bud's new "toy"

So Bud finally got a new toy. He used to have the 1975 Nova that I bought him for Christmas in 2006 (after his gun accident!). He sold it last month and has been feverishly looking for a new car to play with. This time, though, he wanted something that he could actually drive. The Nova sat in the driveway for over 2 years and we never even put insurance on it because he couldn't get it to consistently run.

So after being on Craigslist almost every waking moment of everyday since selling the Nova, he came across this 1999 Camaro Z28. The original asking price was a little over his budget, but his negotiating skills came in handy (I swear, he should either sell cars for a living...or work in a flea market in Mexico! LOL!) So he negotiated a really great deal and the whole family drove up to Round Rock on Sunday. That was a fiasco...the traffic in Austin was horrendous for a Sunday afternoon. It was bumper-to-bumper the entire 2 1/2 hours! We finally made it to Round Rock, and the car was beautiful...even better than the pictures. So Bud bought the car with the cash he had from the Nova, and we drove back to San Antonio - me and the kids in the Tahoe, and Bud in his new car.

The kids spent more than 5 hours in the car and were extremely restless and agitated (we all were!), so the drive home was not a fun one! But we made it.

Then Bud spent the entire evening yesterday cleaning, organizing and rearranging the garage so he could fit his new toy in. I can't believe he did it! [Our next purchase? A shed! If you know of a good deal on sheds, let us know!]



Bud's really happy with his new car. And I'll admit -- it's very nice. Kinda brings back memories of the Z28 I had when we got married. I just hope this time he doesn't do so much exhaust work that we set off car alarms when we drive it! LOL!

My Dark Hair

So I dyed my hair this weekend, and it's pretty dark. I'm still trying to get used to it. I will walk by a mirror and look over and kinda get that surprised feeling all over again, like I forgot I had it done. LOL! I really like it though. And Bud LOVES it. I think he likes Italian girls, so this is about as close as he'll get to one! Haha!



So how did I decide to do it? Well, it was time to get something done - either more blonde highlights to blend the dark roots, or dye it. I'm kinda tired of blonde highlights and it was getting to be almost too blonde, which makes the roots more noticeable (more quickly) and requires a lot of highlights to keep up with it. So I called my "hair girl" and told her I was ready for something different and wanted to dye it. She got really excited about the change and said I'd look great as a brunette. When I got there on Saturday, I went with her recommendation. Hey, it's just hair, right? It can always be changed.

So it ended up a little darker than I had expected, but I'm very happy with it. I've always wanted to go darker, but was afraid to, so I'm glad I went with her recommendation. I think it makes my eyes stand out a little more too, which is cool. For some reason though, it makes me feel like I have to wear a little more makeup.

Anyway, use the "comments" link below the picture to tell me what you think.

My beautiful boys

I took these pictures one day when the boys were being so loving to each other. It was adorable. Ryan just kept hugging on his big brother. They play so well with each other now that Ryan can get around and is interested in whatever JD is doing. JD is getting so much better about sharing too, so it's a blast watching them play together. I just love these pictures!

Rise to the Challenge - Week 5

So I was a part of a 5-week scrapbook layout challenge. It's called Rise to the Challenge and is meant to push you out of your scrappy box. And that, it did! It was really tough for me. Each week was totally different.

The first week's challenge was the 7s -- we had to use 7 pieces of cardstock, 7 pieces of patterened paper, 7 different techniques, 7 brads, 7 flowers and 7 letters/words in our title.

Week 2: We had to use 28 or 82 embellishments, a summer theme, as well as orange paper (color of the sun), blue paper (color of water) and brown paper (color of sand). That was the hardest week for me. Ugh!

Week 3: Raw journaling -- we had to write some heart-felt journaling, and had to use a household item to stamp something on our page, and we had to do some distressing.

Week 4: The Cindy Lauper challenge - we had to use some of the lyrics from Cindy Lauper's song "Time After Time" in our title or journaling. In addition, we had to incorporate a clock. I really loved how that page turned out. I'll have to post it here later. I need to get it off my camera.

Week 5: ABC logo week. We had to incorporate 1 of about 6 logos we were provided into our page. I chose the Kraft logo. We also had to use the entire alphabet on our page, and use a masking technique. The page below is what I came up with.



The RTTC challenge was exactly that....a challenge. I wondered, at times, if I was creative enough to do it. I'm glad I did though. I certainly learned a lot!

Layout Challenge

Here's one of the layouts I had to do for the July Sketch Challenge. One of my scrapbooking buddies gave me a sketch to work with, and this is the page I came up with. It's really hard to get good pictures, but I think these are all really good ones. I love our faces. These pictures were taken at the Sea Ranch Restaurant in South Padre Island last month. We had a nice dinner there. Ryan and JD shared spaghetti. The night before, we ate at a place called Parrot Eyes (pronounced Paradise) and Ryan shared my grilled mahi-mahi with me. He loved it!

The Deck is Done!!!

Here's the finished deck. It just needs to be stained, but I think it looks sooooo awesome! Bud, Jason and my dad really worked hard on it, and it paid off. It was finished just in time for Ryan's first birthday party last weekend. It's completely shaded by about 5pm so it was a perfect place for everyone to hang out during and after the party! Big thanks to everyone that helped!

Our New Deck

Today was a busy day. For the last 3 weekends, Bud, Jason and my dad have been building a big deck off the back of our house. It looks awesome. While they work, Kelli and I have worn ourselves out chasing 4 boys around the house, so we decided to take them to the pool today instead. We all had a really good time, but were exhausted afterwards. When we got back, Kelli and I made a big steak dinner with peppercorn cream sauce (YUM-O) and a chocolate cake to say "Thank You" for all the help on the deck. (I guess Kelli really didn't need to help since I was the one saying "Thank You," but she did and I really appreciated it.)

Anyway, here are a few progression pictures of the deck.

Day 1


Day 2


Week 3


And here are some pictures of us at the pool.

The 3 of us - Ryan, JD and me

JD and me

Timmy - what a Pro!

Cricut Swap

I signed up for a swap on the Rockin Reality website. It's a Cricut Swap, so I had to choose a Cricut cartridge and make something using one of the die cuts from it. I chose a dragonfly and I think it really turned out cute.

The way a swap works is a certain # of people sign up for it (this one is for 10 people). Then everyone makes their item, whatever it might be -- it can be an embellishment, a journaling tag, a title, etc. Then you make 10 of them and mail them to the host. The host then sends one of each to each person. So in the end, you get 10 different items to use on your pages. It's a great way to get new things and see new ideas.

Here is mine.

The Smiles That Melt My Heart

Here's my favorite page from the retreat. It's also my very favorite picture of my boys.

Weekend Scrapbook Retreat 6/5-6/7

Ok, I'm gonna give this blogging thing a try. Maybe my goal for right now will be to update it once a week at a minimum. We'll see how it goes.

I've got some great material to start off with. Kelli and I went on a weekend scrapbook retreat in Temple, TX. It's called Rockin' Reality Scrapbooking Retreats and we had so much fun. This is my 3rd one since October. The retreats are 3 days, 2 nights and nothing but scrapbooking for like 48 hours straight. We usually end up sleeping a total of about 8 hours the entire weekend...but it's so worth it.

I made 19 pages during the weekend, which is fewer than usual for me, but I spent a little more time on them than I usually do. I've learned some new techniques too, and those took time as well. Anyway, here are a few of the pages that I did.

Well I'm going to try this out. Let's see how it goes.