Before Bath Time...

Whining, Air Quotes and Tortillas

A prominent national "magazine" (Family Circle) has just placed my beloved city on its list of 10 best places to raise "a" family. The article alludes to the fact the our City staff members tirelessly worked to promote our city, that reporters never technically visited our "community" and that we were randomly selected from a Cheetos bowl, along with Oro Valley, AZ; South Burlington, "VT", Brunswick, OH, etc.

This leads to my next question, in the most pathetic and whiny tone possible (which isn't challenging for most of you to imagine), if this is such a great "place", why do my friends always leave me? ALL of my college friends moved away at some point after college (Christy and Adi have returned to the fold). Then there's my adult BFF, April, who moved to Texas "temporarily" but now because of a "job change" has decided to stay in Texas (TEXAS!). The upside is I have vacation homes all over, in such tropicals as Fort Smith, Siloam Springs, Houston, now, "another" "in" Houston, Memphis, Atlanta, Boston, New Jersey, etc.

This leads me to my new favorite quote from my new best friend, Christy M. (who I have not technically met face to face but have been introduced via the world wide web through Emily). In our exchange of e-mail (yes, I decided she was my BFF after one e-mail and reading her blog religiously), I requested that she move to my city (it is on Family's Circle's list of 10 best places to raise a family). She asked in regards to our "Indian-y" sounding location, "Do you have dream catchers in every window and make your own tortillas? That would be cool." She already lives in another place besides my city. That's good, because now I've prevented the agony of her moving away.

Random Summer

So, here are some random pictures that I want to share, but no cohesive story to go with them:
This has been the summer of weddings and these pics are from one (Lauren & Jordan's), from the photobooth, which is the latest trend in receptions these days (for those of you who are not former high school youth sponsors and aren't currently invested in Bed, Bath & Beyond Wedding Registry stock, like ourselves).

When I was a child, the slip and slides had 3 foot stakes holding them down, and no padded cushion at the end, just an opening to help you slide right into the oak tree. And that reminds me of a Bucky Covington song (as I'm sure you're often saying to yourself throughout the day)..."Our cribs were covered in lead based paint, No child proofed lids, no seat belts in cars, Rode bikes with no helmets and still here we are..." Not that I'm for exposed outlets and easy to open cabinets, just an observation about the "different world" that Bucky and I grew up in.

Our sweet cousin, Alyssa, who visited us on her sixth birthday! In honor of her Arkansas roots, Ian is shoeless.

Because who doesn't like a picture of a 4-year-old with a deadly weapon and Robin with a hard hat.

Because they are all so cute.

Noah sometimes reminds me of the 90 pound Lab who lets his 4 pound Maltese friend pounce all over him.The big dog could cover him with one paw, if he wanted to, but he's too tenderhearted and too happy to have someone to play with than to do anything but get his heels nipped on.

Below are our most patriotic of annual pictures:

I look like Wilson from Home Improvement (disregard laughter if you're not a fan of the show)

Because the magic of fireworks never leaves you.

Eating cheetos while laying down is very patriotic.

Deidra in white tank, Colton in red tank, Baby Luke with BIG smile and extra chins

Great Moms Getaway!

Long gone are Christy and my college days when we would go off for the weekend on the BSU sponsored "Great Girls Getaway" (the guys liked to use that title as a command, because they thought they were so very clever). But us now GREAT moms, did in fact, get away to OK City for 28 hours without goldfish or sippy cups or strollers! It was 28 hours of eating (we somehow accomplished four meals and one dessert stop in that time period--and Christy is the only one that is pregnant), shopping, talking, laughing, and breathe right strips (see below for more on the strips). Thanks, Christy, for a truly wonderful getaway!

The eternally glowing Christy in Bricktown.

Christy and her breathe right strip (look closely on her nose bridge for its cuteness) before bed time. It turns out we need more help breathing when we are pregnant.

Here is our only picture together during the weekend (of course it is at a restaurant). Since we didn't get any good ones together during this trip, here are a couple of flashbacks from yesteryear...

One of our many mature marker fights in college.

Here we are actually at one of the Great Girls Getaway's during college.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ian!

Here's our little Ian on his 2nd birthday!



These are some of the guests at his birthday party.

This is what the end of a birthday week feels like at our household!
We love you SO much Ian!!!!!!!!!!

The Sign of a True Friend

I'm still working on getting Ian's 2nd birthday pics up, but in the meantime, I want to show you a live example of a servant-hearted man. Our family friend, Jer Jer, (he was named Jerry until Noah came on the scene), helped us set up for Ian's party, clean up and all the stuff in between. During the party, a large number of ants were discovered on the playset so Jer Jer sprung into action. A large number of children were playing around the area (some of them playing IN the ant area) so he wanted to remove the ants with the least amount of disturbance to the kiddos. So here he is, on his hands and knees, blowing ants off the playset--the very definition of a loyal friend.

Happy Father's Day!

I was watching the evening news (E News) and they shared that a recent poll named Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Matt Damon as the top dads. Clearly the pollsters have never seen my man with his children.
They've never seen Seth wake up at 5:30am, go to work all day, come home to play soccer, motorcycles, chase, then give the boys a bath, read a book and put them to bed, then go to bed and discuss with me how in love he is with those little men. They've never seen him laugh uncontrollably while Ian jumps on top of him, head butts him then slobbers relentlessly all over his face. It wasn't reported the 845 times that Seth walked out of Noah's room in tears after reading to him and having Noah tell him that he loves him. They didn't mention the 5,678 times that this previously late sleeper was woken up at 7am to the shrieks of little men, with only the response of, "I love you, boys." No headlines mentioned Seth's unending patience as the little guys, who want to be JUST LIKE him, weekly "mow" the lawn with him, even though it takes him twice as long as necessary. Not once did they take notice of all the meals provided, the laughs given, the hugs and kisses dispensed, the love immeasurable, unconfined, and endless, but we did. And, to further prove my point, for my babies' daddy, that is all he needs.