Midweek Confessions

I just want to give you the heads up that my first confession is pretty long, but stick with it because it's pretty funny...

• We went grocery shopping last week, just me Brent and Jackson.  We decided that we would let Jackson try sitting in the front of the buggy.  He was doing pretty well, but he needed to be repositioned often because he was so squirmy.  When I go grocery shopping with a list I have to carry my list and a pen to mark things out as we buy them.  I am totally obsessive compulsive about it.  While Brent was looking at t-ball bats for Austin, I noticed Jackson was slumped over and needed to be repositioned.  So I, with my list and open pen in hand, reached over and sat him up straight and propped some things around him to keep him from falling, and then I walked away to look at something.  A minute later I hear Brent say "oh god" and he is cracking up. I walk over, look down at Jackson and to my horror there is blue ink all over his face.  I had written on my baby's face with my pen.  It was horrible looking.  There was even a blue line on his lower lip.  I felt horrible.  Of course I immediately start licking my fingers and try rubbing it off, but if you have any experience with ink on skin, you know that it wasn't coming off.  It lightened up but you could still see the blue ink lines on his little chubby cheeks.  So we walked around Walmart finishing our grocery shopping and I just knew that everyone was wondering how in the world he got blue ink lines all over his face.  Brent thought it was hilarious, but I really felt bad.  Mother of the Year Award, here I come!

(This was before the ink incident.  I refused to take a picture of his face with ink all over it!  I felt too guilty.)

• I am new to the blogging world and so I'm constantly checking my stats to see how many people have viewed it.  I also get a little too excited when someone comments on one of my posts.  I'm talking giddy!

• While I was pregnant I grew all these new hairs right above my forehead.  They were bothering me so much because they wouldn't lay flat.  I started just plucking them out here and there if I felt one on my forehead or around my face.  I guess I got carried away because now I have a ton of little tiny hairs growing back and sticking STRAIGHT UP.  It looks really bad if you look too closely.  I learned my lesson.

• I am already counting down the days till summer break.  We have 53 days left!!  That doesn't sound too bad. 

• I really really hate my duty week.  Duty week consists of having to be at school at 7:10 for all the fifth graders to come sit in my room.  I have to take the entire fifth grade to lunch and watch them eat and try to keep them quiet, which is impossible, and I have to moniter the entire fifth grade at recess.  This is for an entire week once a month.  By the end of the week I feel like I could cry.  (on the bright side I only have 2 more weeks left this year, after this week!!)

• I really failed with my weight-loss efforts this weekend.  I ate Burger King, donuts, chinese food, pizza, and brownies.

Hunger Games

If you haven't read The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins yet, I highly recommend it.  They are very enjoyable.  I would describe them, but I'm not very good at that, and would probably make it sound stupid, so I copied and pasted the synopsis from Wikipedia:


The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by Suzanne Collins. It was originally published in hardcover on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic.^[1] It is written in first person and introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds absolute power over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive.

The first book is called Hunger Games, the second is called Catching Fire, and the third is called Mocking Jay.  They all have just enough romance to keep the ladies interested, and more than enough action and violence to draw in the male audience.  I couldn't put them down. 

I am so super pumped about the fact that they are making them all into movies!!!! Yay!!!!  The first movie is coming out March 23rd.   Kelsie has already ordered our tickets for the 12:01am showing.  We might be the only nerds there, but we don't care.  Will I be exhausted and falling asleep at work the next day? Yes, but it will be totally worth it. 

We couldn't be more happy with the cast that was chosen to represent these characters.  Sometimes I get nervous about watching the movie based on a book that I have read and loved, because the books are usually so much better.  I try not to be too judgmental and remember that they just can't squeeze in every book detail into a 2.5 hour movie.

 I am predicting that it will be awesome and literally can't wait.  Of course I will post an update about the movie after we watch it.

Clumsy Smurf, ragamuffin, snaggletooth, Abba Dabba......

(My favorite picture, but kind of deceiving because she looks so serious)

This is Abigail. My sweet first born baby girl.  From the beginning she has been my happy, fun loving girl.  She was always easy to cheer up and for the most part is in a good mood.  I think God gave us her for our first child, because he knew how many mistakes we would make and that she could handle them and bounce right back. 

She is six and half years old now and continues to be a ham.  She really loves attention and making people laugh, sometimes to the point of being annoying.  Probably my favorite things about Abigail would be her tender heart and caring nature.  I think her spiritual gift will be encouraging others.  She always looks for ways to compliment and lift other people up.  In her mind, everyone is her friend and I think she might be right.  Who could not like Abigail? 

Speaking of tender-hearted, a few weekends ago she came out of her room bawling her eyes out.  I thought she was sick or hurt.  She was upset from watching the move "A Little Princess" the remake of the Shirley Temple movie.  If you haven't seen it, there is a little girl who becomes an orphan because they think her father is killed at war, but he really just has amnesia.  It is really emotional toward the end when the father and daughter reunite.  I promise it is age appropriate. 

(This picture perfectly depicts her snack food/candy obsession.)

I also have to brag a little about how smart she is.  She was reading at four years old and  is now at a 2.7 reading level in first grade.  She could do even better in school if she was a little more motivated.  She mostly thinks she's at school to socialize and have a good time with her friends.  She doesn't always take things as serious as I think she should, but maybe that's a good thing.  I took things too serious when I was her age. 

One of the best words to describe her is just plain GOOFY.  We are constantly baffled by the things that come out of her mouth.  A good  recent example would be our Chasing Rainbows conversion.  She says things like this all the time.

She has always been an easy target for nicknames too.  Clumsy smurf is a recent nickname, created by her daddy.  It would be a strange day if she didn't spill something or make some kind of mess by accident.  She just can't help it. 

Ragamuffin is an old nickname, but still applies.  For being such girlie girl princess, she can get dirty and look pretty nasty sometimes. 

Snaggletooth or toothless is a new one.  She recently lost one of her top front teeth and it looks pretty funny. 

Abba or Abba Dabba are also old ones, but we still use them from time to time.  Strangely enough, we have never called her Abby.  I just don't really think she is an Abby.

She will put on an act like she is offended when we use one of these nicknames, but she really thinks it's pretty funny. 

Abigail started dance this year and she loves it.  She is taking Jazz and Ballet and I can already see an improvement in her dancing skills around the house.  We used to crack up at her dramatic crazy dancing, but now it looks pretty good. 

As much as she likes to have a good time and play, she also really likes to be lazy.  She is always telling me she can't wait for Saturday so she can stay in her pajamas all day and be lazy.  Sometimes she has her pj's or comfy clothes on at 4 in the afternoon. 

She and Austin play together really well, but she will drop to his four year old level and fight with him pretty hard.  We are always telling her to act like a six year old, not a four year old.  She hates that. 

She loves, loves, loves her baby brother Jackson.  When I was pregnant we brought Abigail with us to find out the gender of the baby.  When the ultrasound lady announced it was a boy, the first words out of Abigail's mouth where "Awe man".  She really wanted a baby sister, and still does, but that ain't happening. 

She loves Jackson anyway.  She always wants to help with him and hold him, although he is getting too big and active for her to handle.  She almost threw him off her lap once when he spit up on her.

(When Jackson was tiny, she always wanted to lay with him.  I don't know why.)

Abigail's name means "a father's joy", and  joy is definitely what she brings to our lives. 

American Idol: Josh Ledet

Can you believe one of the American Idol contestants in the top 24 is from little ole' Westlake, Louisiana. 

Joshua Ledet is a graduate of Westlake High School.  I don't actually know him.  He is quite a bit younger than me, but my sister went to school with him.  She said she can remember him at school, singing all the time.  From what I hear from everyone that knows him, is that he is really a nice guy and an awesome singer, which I now know from watching the show.  My favorite performance of his so far was "Jar of Hearts" in Hollywood.  That was already one of my favorite songs.

 Josh has consistently wowed the judges at every performance. 

Everyone in our small city is super excited and can't wait to vote for Josh next week.  If you don't already have a favorite, please consider voting for Josh Ledet next week.  Your home town is behind you Josh!!! Good luck!!

Ok, that being said I also have to mention my other favorites in the top 24:

Heejun Han: I love his funny, quiet personality.  He cracks me up.

Phillip Phillips: I love the husky tone to his voice.  Plus he's not bad on the eyes, if you know what I mean.

Shannon Magrane:  She is one of the younger ones, but you wouldn't know it by the way she sings.  She sort of has an old fashion sound to her voice.

Jessica Sanchez:  She is also very young, but every time she sings I get the chill bumps on my arms.

Of course my loyalties wll stay with Josh.  These are just my backups!!  Don't forget to vote.  I think the guys sing Tuesday, and the girls are on Wednesday. 

Did you hear they are bringing back one guy that they cut?  Who do you think it is?  I really hope it's not the cowboy!  Whoops was that mean?





Kelsie's Vintage-country-chic Wedding

My baby sister is getting MARRIED!!!  It is pretty surreal to think about.  I am super excited about it and we all totally love her fiance Grant.  Kelsie and Grant are a great a couple and will have an awesome life together.  I would type some more mushy, tear jerker stuff, but I need to save all that for my speech at the reception. 

We are in major wedding planning mode right now.  Well I haven't actually been much help, having three kids kind of hinders my helping abilities, but I do my best.  I really should be focusing on planning the wedding shower.  I have set the date and time and booked the place.  I've bought a couple little decorative things, but that's about it. 

Her wedding theme is sort of Vintage/Country/Chic.  It's really cute.  Kelsie and my mom have really been DIY-ing almost everything.  We all enjoy making things ourselves, not to mention the money it saves.   I am putting up a few inspirational pictures that Kelsie is using from the website Green Wedding Shoes  for the actual wedding.  She isn't doing the exact same things but similar. 

The bridal shower is in June, so I have time, but I hate waiting till the last minute.  I will probably end up doing the majority of the shopping, planning, and decorating during the three weeks in between school letting out and the shower.  There are, however, a few things I cannot put off.  I have to really get serious about shopping around for invitations.  I need to have the menu planned out and let the other bridesmaids know what I need from them.  It can be quite overwhelming to think about all that I have to do, especially when I feel trapped at home by my three munchkins.  I am bound and determined to fulfill my duties as Matron of Honor to the best of my abilities and galldarnit, throw the best dang bridal shower this side of the Mississippi. 

Whoops, sorry about all that.  I got a little caught up in the country part of the wedding theme.  It's not really country-cowboy, more like countryside country.  Below are some bridal shower inspirational pictures I found from random places.   I am planning on using greys, whites, and yellows in the decor. 

I can't wait until after the wedding so I can post pictures of all the cute stuff we they have been making.   For now you will just have to take my word for it and believe me when I say her bridal shower, wedding, and reception are going to be very cute and different (in a good way).

Pinterest Challenge: Cleaning Stove Grates!

Don't judge me, but this is how dirty my stove grates were.  I have tried scrubbing them with hot water and dish soap.  I have tried soaking them in water over night.  I have even put them in the dishwasher, but nothing would take off the grease and grime that you can easily see in the picture above.

I found a pin of pinterest that instructed me to put the grate in a ziplock bag with about 1/4 cup of amonia.  This pin said that I would be able to wipe away the dirt and grime easily after about 12 hours of letting the amonia fumes do their thing. 

I was very doubtful, but willing to try anything to get my grates clean. 

Look at what was left in the bag after I took out the grate.  I know, gross. 

Now here is my clean grate.  Those dirty looking spots are actually rust.   Can you believe how easy this is?  I barely had to wipe the grate and all the grease and grime buildup was gone.  Have I mentioned that I love pinterest? 

I also read the instructions on the bottle and mixed a half cup of amonia with a gallon of water to clean my stove top, so that it would be as shiny and clean as the grates.

What cleaning pins have you tried from pinterest? Did they work?

PS. Stay tuned for next weeks pinterest challenge!  I am going to try a couple recipes.

Biggest Loser

I have always enjoyed watching the Biggest Loser.  I have not actually been watching it this season, maybe because I am living it.  An old coleague/facebook friend of mine, was posting about the Biggest Loser competition they were having at her school.  I really, really need to lose weight before my sister's wedding (wedding post to come).  I asked around at my school to see who would be interested, and sure enough people were really excited about it.  I put up a sign up sheet and we ended up with 16 participants.  We even have some very tiny little ladies, that most of us think were crazy for signing up, but hey the more the merrier.

We all put in ten bucks to start out.  Every Friday we weigh in, in my classrom.  If someone gains more than one pound, they add a dollar to the pot.  At the end of ten weeks I will figure everyones percentage of weight loss.  The person with the biggest percentage will win $100.  Second and Third place will divide what is left in the pot. 

I was hesitant to start this because I knew it would take some time and effort on my part.  I am really glad I decided to go through with it.  I have really enjoyed getting to see all the ladies participants every Friday.  In a normal week,  I could probably go without seeing or talking to some of these ladies.  It is also really encouraging to watch others lose weight.  I have been very motivated by everyones hard work and dedication.  March 23rd is our last weigh-in.  I think everyone will be a little relieved once it's over.  I hope that even when it's over, we all stay on a path to a healthy lifestyle.  Most, if not all of the participants really are in it to be more healthy.  I don't think one single person is really in it for the money.  The money is just a little added bonus, not the primary reason for losing weight and getting in shape.  I will post an update when it's over and let you all know how we did.

I have had a bad week this week.  I think I may be paying a dollar. 

Below are some funny pictures that some of our staff posted on facebook when we started.

Midweek Confessions

Today I am linking up to another blog called e-myself and I, for midweek confessions.  I am doing my best to keep it real and be honest, so here it goes...

• Almost every night that I have to get up around 2 am to fix a bottle for Jack-Jack, I will grab a cookie for myself.  I am usually half asleep and can't really taste it, but I need it.

• I think Abigail went four days last week without a bath or shower.  I honestly don't know how many days it was, but for sure not more than four.  She didn't stink or look dirty, but I felt bad anyway.

• On Valentine's day I ate at least half of the chocolates out of Abigail's heart box that her daddy gave her.  Luckily she is too young to notice. 

• I sometimes watch Jersery Shore.  It's like a bad car wreck and I can't look away.   I really think it is horrible and nasty, but I get stuck watching it sometimes before I realize what I am doing.

• Austin wouldn't take his medicine last week when he was sick, so I pinned his arms and legs down with my body and forced him to swallow it.  He immediatly threw it all up.  I felt like a horrible mother.  I didn't do it again. 

Austin's four year old ways!!

Austin is my middle child through and through.  He can be the most confusing child at times.  One minute he is very sweet and silly and the next minute he can have a complete end of the world tantrum.  From 1-3 years old was really his worst time.  He was just hard to please and easily upset.  We all learned to walk on eggshells around him..  We came to except that as his personality.  It was a difficult couple of years.

This was Austin at almost 2 years old. This was a very familiar face at the time.

Most of our frustration and his, came from his language delay. He struggled to communicate.  He has continually stayed about a year to six months behind as far as language and comprehension.  He has had some speech therapy and will most  likely continue in pre-k next year. 

He is four years old now and is really much better, thank God.  For the most part he is happy and silly and loves to play with everybody and their phones. 

  He will still have an occasionally fit or meltdown, but what four year old doesn't.  He is also very particular about so many things.  For example, he won't drink out of a regular cup.  It must be a sippy cup or a cup with a straw.  Our church has a program for kids on Wednesday nights called Awanas, which he loves, but they thought he didn't like red juice because he never would drink it.  We finally figured out that it was because he won't drink out of a regular cup.  I think he would die from dehydration before he would drink without a straw. 

He also gets very attached to particular things.  He has had the same blanket since he was a few months old.  We used to have to take it everywhere, but now days it just has to be in his bed.  When he is sick or grumpy it really soothes him.  He also usually has a toy that he gets very attached to for a certain period of time, usually just a couple weeks, or until he gets something new and better.  If he can't find this toy, which happens often, he acts like it is the end of the world.  Right now he is very attached to his ''packjet man'', a little man with a jetpack on his back.  So far this morning he has misplaced it about four times and it is a big ordeal each time we go searching for it. 

Austin is probably the most hard headed person, not kid, but person I know.  We have to be careful how  we threaten him.  Sometimes at bedtime we will say "lets go to bed or get a spanking" and he will say "ok I take a spankin".  At Christmas he was getting mad and screaming at a new toy that he couldn't quite figure out, so we asked him if he wanted us to send all his toys back to Santa, and he said yes.  When he get's frustrated with someone or something he can just lose and start screaming.  The picture below is of him sitting in timeout on Christmas morning. 

I don't want all this to sound really negative.  Although he is frustrating at times and very hard headed, I know that God made him that way for a reason.  In his future he might go through something or become something that requires him to stand strong and hold tough to what he wants or believes in.  I thank God everyday for letting me raise Austin for Him.  Sometimes I worry I am not doing a good enough job and that I let my frustrations show too much when it comes to Austin.  I am constantly praying for patience and calmness when dealing with him, although those prayers often come after I have already lost it with him. 

He is really a funny silly boy lately.  Here is a list of some of the funny things he is saying right now that I want to remember.

• When he is asked a question he will respond with "of course" or "of course not"
• When someone has a good idea or fixes something for him he will say "that's perfect"
• He is always coming up to me when I am holding Jackson and says "Jackson is a very cute baby"
• He pronounces his r's like w's, so that makes everything he says a little cuter.
• He is always telling his PawPaw Terry that he has a baby in his belly, since it sticks out so much. 

He is very smart.  He knows all his ABC's and can count to 20.  He can recognize some numbers and letters on paper.  He can't wait to start school next year.  He loves to come visit me at school.  He always has to wear his little backpack. 

Austin and Abigail can fight pretty good, but most the time they are best friends.  They will play together for hours.  I know this will not last too much longer since Abigail is getting older, which makes me sad to think about.  Austin is a really good big brother to Jackson.  He has always been really gentle and sweet to him. 

Austin is also very attached to his Nana (my mom) and his MeMe (Brent's mom).  He spends a lot of time with them both and never usually wants to come home.  Below is a picture of Austin and Nana.  MeMe doesn't like to be in pictures, so I couldn't find one. 

I could write all day about the things I love about Austin, but I won't.  I'm sure that as soon as I post this I will think of something else I would have like to remember about him at this age.  Most of all I want to remember his sweet voice and caring nature.  He always wants everyone to be happy. 

I love my bubba and can't imagine my life without him!! 

The pinterest challenge!!

Ok, I don't know about all of you, but I am so tired of pinning and pinning things on pinterest and never doing anything.  Maybe I am the only one, but that is going to change.  I am going to issue a challenge to myself to do at least one thing that I pinned on pinterest every week.  It could be a craft, recipe, home project, organization, or cleaning pin.  I will hopefully update y'all every week with what I have accomplished.  I already a few ideas for this week. Wish me luck!!

The Crud

Over the past few weeks almost  my whole family has been sick with what I call "the crud".  The crud consists of sore throats, runny noses, congestion, coughing, mucus, and  just overall yuckiness.  The only one not seeming to be affected was Austin.  I was optimistic and thinking he was going to make it through unscathed.  I was wrong.  He ended up getting it the worst out of all us.  He was so pathetic and sounded horrible.  We spent Friday and Saturday of our Mardi -Gras break trying to get him well.  He went to the doctor and was given a cough medicine with codeine and an antibiotic, which he threw up twice. 

Meanwhile a snotty nose Jackson is very fussy in the background.  We aren't sure if Jackson  is fussy from his runny nose or if it's teething.  I hope it's teething.  Austin was 15 months before he got his first tooth.  We were blaming all of Austin's fussiness on teething for at least 9 months before he got his first tooth.  I thought we were going to have to buy some baby dentures for him. 

It wasn't the best start to our long weekend, but it definitely could have been worse.  Everybody seems to be getting over it now.  Let's hope we have had our round of sickness and we can make it through the rest of cold/flu season without any more sickness.

So proud of myself!!

Look at those beauties!!!  Brent had been talking about wanting to design his own chucks for months.  I am usually the worst about getting him thoughful gifts, but when this idea popped into my minds, I was so pumped.  I ordered him a gift card from the Converse website.  He was shocked.  He spent the good part of two hours designing and redesigning his chucks.  These are the final product.  He was so proud of himself.  Some guy at Walgreens told him his chucks were sexy.  That sounds weird to me, but Brent thought it was pretty awesome.