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!