Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday was such a great day!! K woke us up around 6:30. I guess he was ready for the fun to begin. I got to open my presents. I got a inflatable pool from K that we can use this summer. From Chris, I got a video camera. It was so funny because on Saturday I was trying to get Chris to buy a pool at Target and he just wouldn't get one! It was like he was ignoring me. Now I know why! The camera is so cool. K does so many funny things that I know I want to capture and watch whenever he's being a teenager. It will remind me of how quickly time passes and he changes. We decided to skip church and headed out to Mimi's for breakfast. We really like going there - so yummy!! We then headed to Home Depot to buy some plants. After that, we went over to Granny's house to wish her a happy MD. She gets such a kick out of him. She just laughs at his antics. We headed home to get ready to go have lunch at Steak & Ale with my family. Grandnanny is still recovering from gall bladder surgery and was not up to it. I will never go back there for MD. It was so irritating because there was no parking. All the cheap people who didn't want to pay for parking at Six Flags parked in the A&A lot. Paying customers had to trek across two parking lots to get there! Try that in heels with a 22 lb baby and all the stuff that comes with him! The meal was ok. Just not a S&A fan. We went back home and got started on jobs that needed to be done. I cooked our meals for the next two weeks (gotta love casseroles!) and Chris worked in the backyard doing some planting. My dad came over to help Chris with installing the new screen door and switching out the dimmer light switches. Momma came over too and we just played around with K. Afterwards, we headed out to Cheddars. I wanted a Cookie Monster so bad!! But it was 8 o'clock and they had a wait where people were standing outside. FORGET IT! We skipped over to Spring Creek and walked right in. So yummy! A girl from our church works there and we got to say hi to her. She is so funny!! She had free ice cream brought over - YUM!! It is getting fun to see what K will eat. We are trying to let him experience a little bit off everthing. He LOVEd the green beans there and their mac n cheese. Granted, once he saw the ice cream, that was all he wanted. Good thing he is not lactose intolerant!!

K's going to be 1 year old next week - how I am not ready for that! We've got the party plans all down but I am just not ready to let go of my baby. While I do miss the baby phase, I am so enthralled with all he can do now.

I will say the best present I got on Sunday was a fabulous time with my parents. It is so nice to be able to sit back and laugh and goof off with your parents. I do feel sorry for people that do not have a good relationship with their parents. Trust, I am a firm believer that not every should be a parent. Some people don't realize it and others do. I for one am thankful everyday for my parents. They do so much for my brother and I. I am so blessed that God made them my parents. Granted, I think they didn't always feel that way but thank goodness I grew up!

What a weekend!!

It was super busy. Saturday, Chris had to work Saturday until 3. We woke K up from his nap and headed out for errands. We spent the evening over at the Jackson's house for burgers and cards. It was so much fun watching Madison and K play. He really enjoys being around other kids. Is that a hint, kiddo??
Sunday, we played hookie from church. Since we taught our children's SS class for the month of April, we decided to sleep in and go out for breakfast. We went to Mimi's Cafe in Arlington. We really have enjoyed everything we've had there. The manager sat us at our table. He returned a few minutes later with a small plate that had a quarter of an orange and some Cheerios for K. We were so impressed! It was K's first time to try oranges. He really liked them and was smart enough to spit out the pulpy part of the orange. He is really interested in what we are eating but he didn't get a taste of our meals since we both ordered eggs. Afterwards, we headed to Target and Home Depot. We finally found a patio set that we liked, could comfortably seat 6, and not be over $400. We then headed home to meet up with my parents so that we could go to the Airhogs baseball stadium to pick up our season tickets. It was so much fun! We saw so many people that we knew. We found our seats and were delighted to find out that the people next to us were members of our church who also have young kiddos. Opening Day is the 19th of this month and we are so excited about going!!! We came home and cooked up some beans for our Dave Ramsey class graduation. It lasted 13 weeks and was totally worth it! We have enjoyed Dave for years and it felt so good to have the class. The cool thing is that once you take it, you can take it over and over again as many times as you want and not have to pay again. Also, your children can take it without paying - so cool!! When we finally got home, we were beat! We put K to bed and then called up our pals in Houston. We both have Wiis and just got Mariokart. This game is so cool because we can all go and race in the same race even though were hundreds of miles apart. It was so fun!
Monday was a great day - no school!! Gotta love not using those bad weather days! We dropped K off at the sitters and then headed out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. It was so good!! Then we went to Best Buy to start using Chris's employee discount. Finally got the TV he's been wanting!! I met some friends from work for lunch at Cotton Patch and then we headed over to the movies to see "Made of Honor". It was so funny and will probably be one that I have to add to my chick flick collection!!

Thanks, Rhonda, for those good tips about how to avoid using the word no but still saying no. I'm going to try them out!!

Is it just me??

So, now that Keegan has all this mobility, I feel like the meanest person in the world. I am getting onto him for what seems like a million times a day. "No." "No, Sir!" "Do not lick the cat!" I feel like all he gets from me is negative energy. I sit there and feel so terrible, like I'm not being a good mom. I know I am. He's healthy and happy. But I also feel like the Wicked Witch. Anyone else feel this way??

Just a quick update!

So, time has just been flying by!! Here's a quick catch-up:

Keegan is taking steps!! He's up to three without falling. The funniest part is he knows what he is doing is really big because he looks at you with the BIGGEST smile on his face!! He has started throwing fits when we lay him on the changing table. He doesn't do this anywhere else. We have no idea why and are trying to figure something out because he really freaks out about it. I am having to learn how to quickly snap onsie bottoms while he is standing up!! He is also getting good at getting lost in the house. Chris had him in our bedroom and K just took off down the hallway. Chris waited a few minutes (since K loves to be chased) and went after him. Chris came into the living room and there was no K!! He asked if K was in the kitchen with me and he wasn't. Where was he?? He had crawled into our guest bathroom and crawled into the empty bathtub. When we found him, he was standing up IN the bathtub hitting the top of the edge of the tub. We took it to mean that he wanted a bath that night. So, we are making sure to keep the gates locked from now on!!

Chris has started a permanent substitute position as a 5th grade math teacher. He is truly learning by fire!! He comes home with some pretty interesting stories - for sure!! He will have officially been working at Best Buy for a month this Sunday. Why is that a big thing?? That means the he can now purchase items from Best Buy with his employee discount. He can finally get that plasma tv!! While he is worn out from working two jobs, he really has enjoyed doing something different. He is going for a job interview this afternoon for a position with a company that one of our good friends works with. It pays a heck of a lot more than teaching so it could be something for him to seriously consider.

I have been busy being the single parent. Since Chris works 3-4 days a week, I have found that making all of our dinners for the week on Sunday is the best thing for us. We're not eating out much anymore (so we're saving money) and we are trying new things. I have posted a new favorite recipe at the bottom. It sounds very strange but so good!!

We are all excited that we get to go to the new Airhogs stadium on Sunday to see our seats and get our season tickets!! Can't wait for Opening Day!!

2 Point brownies
1 box Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie mix
1 15 oz can black beans

Puree black beans in a blender until completely smooth. Mix with brownie mix. Spray a 9x9 baking dish with Pam and pour mix into it. Bake according to box directions. We store ours in the fridge.

Chris has stated that he doesn't want me to make any other kind of brownie.

Olympic question

There has been a lot of talk about the leaders of countries boycotting the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympic games in Beijing due to China's treatment of Tibet. This completely ticked me off. why do these world leaders decide that now is the time to take a stand?? Why not take a stand when they got into office? Why have they not spoken about it before?
I usually don't tell others who I vote for but I voted for Hillary in the primary. I agree with her view on education and abortion legislation. But I do not agree with her stating that Bush needs to boycott the OC. He is not there showing his support of that country. He is there showing support to the competitors who represent the US. I have a former student who is captain of the US boxing team. He has literally been working towards this his whole life. It means so much to him that he will be representing the US. If I could afford it, I would be there supporting him. I feel that, like our troops in Iraq, the more that our support is shown for their dedication to what they do, the better they will do. I am seriously rethinking my vote. Add to the mix that ALL presidential canidates have said that the President should boycott. Can no one make their own decision? I honestly have no clue who I will vote for. It all depends on the next few months, I guess.

1st trip to the zoo

During our hiatus from blogging, we went to the zoo for the first time. For Christmas, my parents gave us the best gift ever - a family membership to the Fort Worth Zoo. I truly believe that this is the best gift to give. It requires not dusting, feeding, or finding a place to put it on display. Plus, it's something the whole family can enjoy. We got one for our friends the Brinkmans. Their birthdays are all within one week and we thought we'd spend that much on three gifts.
We played hooky from church the last weekend in March. Chris and I switch off teaching the 3 & 4 year old Sunday school class at church. We would start teaching again in April so we took the time to enjoy our gift.
We got there a little before the zoo opened and got a front parking spot. Chris had a great time putting on the canopy to the Radio Flyer wagon that Granny got K for Christmas. You could totally tell it was our first time to the zoo. We had the wagon AND a stroller. We realized that K has so much stuff that there would be no room for him in the wagon! So off we went to get our membership cards. After the couple of minutes that took, we entered the zoo and went straight to the primates. The big gorilla was not happy about having people check him out in his room. He kept coming up and banging on the glass. The best part what when he would go over to his door and look at the zoo keepers with an expression that said, "Ok. I've done the horse and pony show. Can I go play now??" The keepers did not have his breakfast ready so he had to wait. He just sat there blowing air out of his lips - totally not into this! K really paid attention to the animals. Once we pointed them out, he would follow them around with his eyes. We headed out doors to check out other animals and the gibbons were totally enjoying their play stuff. They were jumping and soaring all over the place and K was enthralled by them. When we got to the top of the primate exhibit, the orangutan was in his room playing with a blanket. There was no one else around so we were able to get K right up in the window. The orangutan noticed K and came right up to the window and put his hand on the glass. K's eyes were so big! It's like the orangutan was checking him out too!
We met up with the Brinkmans and headed out again. We got to see the new baby giraffe - so cute! K just loved watching the animals. He thought the cheetahs looked like Fat Cat. We also went into this neat exhibit they have. It's basically a walk in octagonal cage full of parakeets and cocktails. For $1 you can get a Popsicles stick with birdseed stuck on it. It was so cool to have the birds flying about and landing right on the stick you were holding out! Keegan really wanted to touch one but he hasn't quite learned you have to be gentle. (God bless Fat Cat. She is happy to let him tug and bat at her while he is learning.)
We both took lunch to the zoo and sat down to eat. It was such a fun time. Madison is getting to be such an independent person. And K just smiles at her! I think he might be smitten!!

Oh and, Rhonda, you are totally invited to the scrapping times!

Where HAVE we been?

Yes, I am ashamed to admit it. I lost my zest for blogging. I guess part of me felt like no one was posting comments so then no one was reading. Seriously, who else thinks that my life is so funny besides Chris (Because he has to)? Then I realized I don't do this for other people but for me. My mom said that all this blogging will really pay off when I start my summer scrapbooking. I'll have all these cool little entries to remind me of things that happened over the past year.
The biggest news is that Chris got laid off about a month ago. We were kinda freaked the first day. After the shock wore off the next day, we realized that this was all part of God's plan. He would take care of us. Once we realized that, we were good! Chris started working part-time at Best Buy. He's pumped because of the employee discount (as am I). He will start April 14th as a permanent sub at an intermediate school teaching 5th grade Math. He has talked about teaching for a few years now and this is a great chance for him to get a taste of it.. If he likes and feels called to it, then he will go to the alternative certification classes this summer. It will be nice when he is on the same schedule as I am. If it isn't his thing, then he'll do some major soul searching and praying and then see where that leads him.
On the Keegan front, we bought our first pair of REAL shoes. We figured since he is taking a few steps around the furniture that it was time to invest. We took him to Stride Right to get his foot measured. He wears a 4 1/2 wide since his foot is chunky. He looks like such a big boy!! And we went ahead and bought a big boy carseat that does rear-facing, front-facing, and booster. He really likes it! We swear he just sits there and sings along to the radio. Granted, he looks like such a big boy in it! The bad habit that he has picked up is that he has learned his to arch his back when he is upset. That little trick won't go on much longer. I'm not much on whining or throwing fits.
As for me, not much is going on. School goes on for 11 more weeks. Can't wait for summer vacation. I am planning on scrapbooking at least 1 day a week with my mom and whoever else wants to join in. I kinda feel like a bad parent but I realize that I need to continue to take Keegan to Miss Becky's for a few hours each day. There will be things I need to get done that will take double the time if he's with me. Plus, he does not need to get out of the habit of being with her during the day. At least that's what I keep telling myself!