Dancing Machine

Apparently BooderBean has inherited all of my fathers dance moves and enthusiasm! My dad is one whom at my own wedding we couldn't' keep him off the dance floor!

We went to his toddler rooms teachers wedding this past weekend and we could not keep BooderBean and his little girlfriend off the dance floor!! My little man and his favorite friend, Addyson, have been in school together since they were in the infant room together at 9 months old! Over the summer her daddy got transferred with work and they have moved away, BooderBean was/is devastated! So we were all so excited for the recent wedding and getting to see everyone together again.

I know that BooderBean loves to dance, we have dance parties at home all the time and just about every morning and evening on our drives home BooderBean and I jam out and start dancing! So i was not too shocked to see him hit the dance floor at the wedding...but I was shocked to see him actually have MOVES and RHYTHM and not want to leave the floor! It was hilarious, strangers were taking pictures of the two of them!

These photos of course didn't come out nearly has good as he looked in person, but you get the idea! And this was all after he had taken the tie off! poor guy was sweating he was dancing so hard, wish i had a good one of him in his first tie!!! precious!!!

I just love my little dancing machine!!!

5 years and going strong

Since Military Man and i tied the knot 4 years ago we always (for some unknown reason) have looked at our 5 year anniversary as being a huge milestone, as being something we looked so forward to and couldn't wait to achieve. And tomorrow, September 4, 2009 at 7pm we will have achieved our goal! We will both be taking off work tomorrow for a long 4 day weekend filled with a concert, a wedding to attend, a family lunch and much needed family time, soaking up the days with our special BooderBean, and some much needed couples time!

We always thought we would spend our 5 year anniversary in Ireland...with baby K 2.0 on the way we decided to postpone this trip for at least a year...so Military Man said he has some plans up his sleeve instead! excited to see what the long weekend brings!

Military Man: we've been good friends since you were 16 and i was 15--it all started when you asked me on a date to go name your pig, it took you being deployed to the first war in Iraq for us to realize that what we had was love, not only friendship...look at us now, 5 years of wedded bliss and 1 wonderful son and 1 wonderful baby on the way! I couldn't have asked for a better life! Thank you for all you have given me and all you are to me.

You are my rock and my knight in shining armor.

This photo is a little dated...but it has always been one of my favorites.

I love you so much,
Forever and Always.

preggo pics at 22 weeks

I haven't posted a "preggo pic" in awhile so i thought i would...this is me and my Military man at 22 weeks pregnant with Baby K 2.0. My fabulous sister took these photos of us last weekend, we are now at 23 weeks. Scares me a bit to think we are 1/2 way there!

good picture of us...too bad Military Man didn't smile!!!!!!

we couldn't get Booderbean to stop playing for 5 seconds to take a pic,

but of course Military Man had to have his precious Maggie dog/horse in the photo!

most comfy dress ever made!!! Terry cloth is my friend!

he hung the moon...

...Is how Uncle Troy felt about his nephew Booderbean.

It has been one year ago today that we lost Uncle Troy, and there has not been a day since that we haven't thought about him, talked about him, and remembered him, and missed him with all our aching hearts.

I have been thinking all week about what I will put on my "Foto Faces Friday" post and how i wanted to make a post in my brother-in-laws memory, but i couldn't for the life of me figure out the angle i wanted to go with it. I started looking through old photos, and it hit me...i needed to post about the love that Uncle Troy had for his little nephew Booderbean!

While Military Man was deployed Uncle Troy and Aunt Tonya practically moved in to help me get ready for the baby! He was the best "mr. fixit" anyone ever met!

At Military Man's Welcome Home party

In Eureka Springs, these two had so much fun at the big park!

He sure did know how to make Booderbean smile

Uncle Troy & Aunt Tonya with little Tarzan

These photos say it all, he really did think that Booderbean hung the moon.

Foto Faces Friday

I've decided to join arms with a few fellow bloggers and post on Foto Faces Friday! i love this idea that a friend had because i simply take way too many photos (according to some!) and i can't possibly post all of them!

This was his first 4th of July, his first time to be around loud fireworks, his first really late night out, and his first time to make his hilarous-terrified face!

I love it! One day he'll be so mad at me, but i love it!

a moo moo here, and a moo moo there

To any of my readers (HAH-the couple of you out there that is) that have ever been pregnant, you will hopefully be able to relate to this post.

Today is one of my, what i call, "moo moo days". You know the days ladies, when you feel like you are wearing a big ol' tent moo moo dress!! I'm wearing a shirt and pants that are that stretchy, material that just kind of flows and hangs. And for a preggo body, flowing and hanging are not attractive features to be flaunted around!

Now yesterday, i wore this great little outfit that i felt so great, so pretty, so good in! And i didn't get anything...but today, on the way from my car to the office (in the moo moo outfit mind you) i had 3 compliments!
I honestly gave them each the "are you kidding me!!!!" look!

On another baby note, Baby K 2.0 is really becoming quite active in my tummy! i love the feeling! i remembered it from Booderbean and couldn't' wait to feel it again. MWP, if you are reading this i know you are disgusted right now, i remember our talks when you told me you did NOT like that feeling at all!

Military Man is gone for his 2 weeks of yearly training, or "Army Camp" as Booderbean and I have been calling it. So he's not here to hear about all the movements, which is fine b/c you can't feel it from the outside yet. And i realized last night that when he does get home i will be HALF WAY through this pregnancy!!!!!! And that just about freaks me out!!!
I've got way too much to do still to be 1/2 way!

Anywho, happy moo moo day to you all! Booderbean and i will be taking the day off on Friday to head to the zoo--photos will be posted next week for sure!

favorite 4th foto

I love Photoshop!

This is one of my favorite photos ever of Booderbean and his "Gampa".

They had the best little moment just sitting there as the rain poured off the porch as i handed them one sparkler after another!

There are plenty more photos on our shutterfly page: http://kroutfamily.shutterfly.com/

But this one was definitely blog worthy!

Your assistance is requested

I've decided to write a book, or a leaflet, or something of that sort. After being pregnant with Booderbean and now Baby K 2.0 I have encountered many moments where i feel "i should write this down" There are tons of pregnancy advice books out there ranging from various topics yet I haven't found one that just hits the nail on the head in such a way that I want to. The title of my book will be "You Know Your Are Pregnant When..." (more or less a mock off of Jeff Foxworthy).

My good friend Kasey was with me through the entire pregnancy (even showed up for the induction at 6am!) with me last time and shared in many of the not so good, embarrassing, difficult, fun, emotional times of this pregnant lady while Military Man was off serving our country far far away. She said many times that i just needed to write a book about it.

So i will be starting with my latest "moments" below (oh and all of my moments are true happenings!), and would LOVE to have all of you share your "You Know You Are Pregnant When..." moments.
Who knows if this will actually ever get published, but it will be fun to compile!

You Know You Are Pregnant When...

1. You leave work for the day at 5:00 p.m. armed with a baggie of grapes in one hand, and a leftover piece of pizza from lunch in the other. Because Lord knows you must eat ever hour or you just might starve!

2. Your toddler comments on mommies latest purchase of maternity underwear and hollers to daddy "Look at mommies underwear, DADDY THEY ARE HUGE!!!". all this with a look of shock on his face.

3. You are trying to carry on a very important conversation with a coworker and get interrupted by a phone call and literally have no clue what you were even talking about before the phone rang.

4. Your drive home from work every day is a constant struggle just to stay awake, the exhaustion is unbearable.

Father's Day Fishin'

I don't think the scorching sun or 105 degree heat index bothered Booderbean even for one minute yesterday! We spent Father's Day with Military Man's family and from the minute Booderbean woke up that morning all he could talk about was going fishing and riding the 4-wheeler and playing with his cousin Shelby outside. I tried explaining to him how not many people were going to want to be outside that day, since it was supposed to be a sweltering day, but he didn't seem to care--the little cutie knew someone would go!

And they did! I'm pretty sure all Booderbean has to do to his grandpa is ask him and the next thing you know grandpa is pulling his boots on and they are heading outside! Military man and Grandpa and Booderbean headed out to the pond for some fishing and riding the Mule (the vehicle not the animal!), I of course had to tag along so I could snap some photos.

Grandpa and Booderbean hanging out in the Mule

Booderbean cast and reeled this one in all by himself!!! First time to do that!

Notice how sweaty and hot everyone is...I asked Military Man if it was too much to ask for a nice family photo outside...i just got a laugh fro him :)

i'll pray for you, you pray for me

I'm going to be a big of a copy-cat on my post...a blog i follow--and whom happens to be an old friend from church and high school posted the most awesome post. So good in fact, that i decided i needed to share his idea and get the praying moving :)

I have started the past month saying nightly prayers WITH booderbean. Usually i say our prayer and he listens. On our morning drives we've been talking a lot more about God and Heaven and who all is up there with him. We've had some recent events in our lives that lead us to this discussion more and more. I want booderbean to be comfortable with the idea that some of our loved ones have gone on to Heaven and we will join with them again some day. He's just starting on the praying part so basically it's something like this "i pray that i get to go outside and play at school tomorrow" or "i pray that i get corn dogs for lunch" things like that :)

So here's the deal...booderbean and i will add your prayer requests to our nightly prayers if you would like. The way i see it is, we all have things we need to pray for weather it be our family, our health, our kiddos, a prayer of thanksgiving, whatever it is...send me a comment and we'll have 2 more people sending your prayers up the the Big Guy :)

photo of the week

OK not that I'm saying this will be the only post of the week...I'm just saying this photo could be a "photo of the week" somewhere! Over the weekend we attended the annual Ice Cream Festival in a nearby town. They had all kinds of those bouncy, blow up machines for the kiddos to jump in. Booderbean got in a few of the littler ones, but wasn't too sure of the bigger ones.

I knew that once he got in them he would love them so they let me jump on in the slide one with him for a shot at it.

The photo says it all....Booderbean=excited and Momma=terrified???

By the way, the look on my face is because about .05 seconds after Military Man shot this photo, my legs and Booderbeans legs got wrapped around each other and i pretty much dragged the poor kid down the slide by his knees!!! I thought surely this was the end, he would never get on one again. Luckily i was wrong and he got back on another one. The crowd really did ones of those "oooooooooooooh" sounds as they saw us hurdling toward the bottom of the slide.

All Aboard!

Two very wonderful things have happened over the course of the last week.

We have boarded the Potty Train!!!!!!!! And i have entered my 2nd Trimester!!!!!

Booderbean got the chicken pox last week and it forced him and i to spend the week cooped up in the house. What a perfect thing to happen!!! I got to enjoy a bit of SAHM life and was given the perfect opportunity to potty train the little man. He had been showing interest lately but we just hadn't nailed it down and stuck to it. And please each of you, right this minute, KNOCK ON WOOD for me. Dare i say this...but potty training is going WAY better than i ever could have imagined! All the worry and stress for the past year over this has come to and end, i feel so silly for stressing myself out over it. This is the second day he has gone to school in his big boy undies and he came home yesterday in the clothes he went to school in!

Every morning is so funny now, he races in when it's time to get dressed to lay aaaaaaaallll his underwear out on the floor neatly while he picks out what he will put on that day. it's too funny!

The picture below is not the best, i only had my camera phone on me at the time but he was posing and actually WANTED to have a picture taken with them on. you get the jest.

the pox

Chicken pox has found it's way into our home! Actually as i post this we are on the very downhill side of the illness! YEAH!
I took booderbean to school Monday morning and just happened to show his teacher this itchy rash on his upper arm, i told her i was sure it was nothing but an allergy because we gave him benadryl and did benadryl cream and it was clearing up. I just wanted to be the informative mom and let her know, she went on to inform me that they had received a call from one of booderbeans little classmates parents late Friday evening that CHICKEN POX was at their home. which meant that for the 2 days prior to that the poor kid was at school infecting all the others because they didn't know he had it yet. Honestly i didn't' think anything of it because booderbean seem JUST fine and there was no way he had it. Never mind the fact that the kid that had it just happened to be booderbeans BFF.
Well about 11:45 on Monday my phone rings...his school is pretty positive he's got chicken pox! Great...i rush out of the office and try to make an appointment. Of course the doc is closed till 1pm for lunch. I go get the little man and sure enough, it looks like what i would assume chicken pox looks like. Finally get ahold of the doc and they won't see him until 4:30pm, AND we have to use the back entrance. They wanted to keep the exposure to other patients to a minimum, i get it i get it i really do, but MAN did i feel like we had the plague or something! So we head home to hang out till our appt. 4:30 rolls around and you guessed it, he has chicken pox. He is to stay out of school till the following Monday. Luckily since him and all his friends (5 others have been sent home with the same thing!) got the chicken pox vaccine they all have a very mild case of chicken pox, it's not nearly as bad as it was when we were all young!

I gotta say, even though my little boy is sick and not feeling so well and very clingy and emotional, this has been the best 2 days stuck at home of my life!!! We have played, red books, snuggled on the couch watching all of the Elmo DVD's, and cleaned the house like crazy!
I could really get used to this SAHM thing!!!

too bad i have to head to work tomorrow, have a seminar i just can't get out of.

the chef of the house

Let it be known now that I am in no way, shape, or form, a Chef. And I honestly have no desire to be either. I like to cook my family good home cooked meals, but they are usually pretty basic and follow a recipe strictly. I am not one to put "a little of this, and a little of that" in a meal, i would have no clue what to put in it unless the recipe told me.

Now, military man on the other hand...is a freaking CHEF!!! The man can cook you up a gourmet tasting and very fancy looking meal out of nothing! We've had those nights where i think there's nothing in the house i can make for dinner, and out of the blue within the hour he's created this fancy meal!

So....last night when my 10:00pm craving hit and the baby and desperately needed a snack, and of course nothing sounded good, military man came to the rescue. it was hilarious, all i asked for was an apple with some peanut butter. I'm thinking a bowl with some pb and a sliced apple right...no no no, not for my hubby, THIS is what he brought me:

apple slices, glazed in honey with pb in the middle and powdered sugar sprinkled on top!

Ladies, i am one lucky gal!!!

happy birthday my love!!

(Christmas 2008)

Tomorrow, Saturday May 30th, is Military Man's 29th Birthday!!!!! i asked him this morning if he was getting depressed at all, he looked at me like i was crazy.

For some reason i have had SUCH a hard time with him turning 29, because that means in 6 months i too will turn 29 witch in turn means only 1 year and 6 months till I am 30!!

ANYWAY...the point of this post was NOT to dwell on that Bologna, it was to wish the love of my life, the awesome father of my 2 kiddos, the bravest and strongest military man, and my best friend and soul mate a very very Happy Birthday!!!

(military man and booderbean in their PT's)

(still my most favorite photo ever, when daddy was home on leave!!)

(military man receiving Soldier of the Year 2008)

Happy Birthday to my one and only!!

Forever and Always.

favorite part of the weekend

I gotta say....of all the fun having, busy doing, lazy being, outdoor playing, sun soaking, campfire cooking, fish catching, pool swimming, family enjoying things we did this past Memorial Day weekend, my favorite moments happened on Sunday as we spent the afternoon doing whatever we wanted and just spending time the 3 (er 4) of us!

Military man conducted the 21 gun salute for the National Guard Memorial Day ceremony in the a.m. and then we took booderbean out for a yummy lunch, we piddled around and shopped some, went to sonic for a cold afternoon treat, took our time grocery shopping and picking out all the ingredients for our own little cookout, went to hubby's Armory to let booderbean ride the Humvees, and then took our time driving home and stopped and picked some pretty wildflowers for a nice bouquet! We did alot of fun things this weekend and have made lots of fun memories, but to me the best things happened just by doing nothing!

he was trying to smile but the sun was "blocking his eyes" as he told me.

my preggo booty...

Apparently my ever growing pregnant booty is something to look at! And trust me, I had no idea because it's not fitting into any of my Capri's for the summer so I'm not sure WHAT the attraction could be!

I decided to take full advantage of this lovely summer day and wash and vacuum my SUV for my lunch break. The black vehicle is now shiny black again (instead of covered in red dirt from our fabulous country roads) so i head on over to the vacuum side to get to work. As I'm taking the floor mats out and picking up books and plastic farm animals off the floor i notice a nice looking gentlemen vacuuming his car next to me. Being the friendly person i am, i smile and say hello and then get on with my job. Then as I'm vacuuming i can't help but feel someone looking (no gawking!) at me, and out of the corner of my eye I can see this man is soooooooo not vacuuming--he's staring right at me watching my every move as I do my job! I try to ignore it and go on to do the back seats...not luck, it's blatantly obvious that he's staring at my big ol' pregnant booty as I'm cleaning!
Usually I'm a nice person, who never says anything, i just ignore stuff like that and leave the talking back and comments to my husband--who trust me, usually has a lot to say to people in these situations. But not now, now that I'm pregnant apparently I'm becoming quite feisty!!
I stuff the mats back in my car and move the vehicle over to another spot to finish my vacuuming in peace. The gentlemen looks at me and says "oh, was that one not working for you Missy?". This time i snap back and honestly said to the man "No, it worked just fine, i just to appreciate someone starring at my ASS while I'm trying to clean my car! is that ok with you SIR?", and turned around and got back to work!

Military man would be so proud!!

Fishing Fun

We took booderbean for a fishing and picnic night on Monday night! He had so much fun and so did we. Chandler Lake is only 15 minutes from our house and has the best little fishing and campout areas. It was a nice night and we just needed a change from our mundane evenings. Poor booderbean thought we were going on a camping trip though because he kept asking us "where are we going to sleep, where is my sleeping bag and tent??"

To make it up to him we are going camping Friday night!

He LOVED the picnic, i think it may have been only our second one (the first only being in the backyard!). We'll be doing that a lot more this summer!

Friday Foto

WOW 2 posts from me in one day!?!?!?!

Well as i mentioned in my ramblings from before...i went out at lunch and bought a new camera cord so i could get the photos off my camera and onto here!

When the destruction to our spare bathroom happened last night my first words to military man were "oh don't you worry, this is sooooooooooo the topic of my blog post tomorrow!!!" I was angrier than any pregnant redhead could be!

notice all of booderbeans bath toys are destroyed, notice my pretty flowers that used to be in a pretty vase on the counter are destroyed, notice the white wicker stuff everywhere that used to be baskets containing booderbeans bath towels and washcloths, notice my CHI on the floor DESTROYED!!!

this...is what happens when you leave a 2 month old, 80 lbs St. Bernard alone in your bathroom for 3 hours!

luckily we hadn't done any of the redecorating to the bathroom except my pretty new floors! i woulda really been mad had i redecorated already.

momma was not happy :)

Friday Free For All

There's a few things on my mind today....HAPPY FRIDAY YA'LL

1. When i get on to or correct booderbean for a bad behavior he now responds to me with this sad puppy dog face and says "you be nice to me, that makes me sad"! BREAKS my heart but apparently that's how they teach them at school to respond to their friends for behavior that is not nice.

2. Booderbean has decided he doesn't want to snuggle in the rocking chair as long anymore at night, once the books are read he wants to hop off and walk to his bed for me to sing! where is my baby boy?

3. This baby in my belly is doing weird things to me...weird! Like making me think i NEED to eat chips and dip every morning at 10am at work, and then every evening around 10pm in bed.

4. Went out and bought me a Bella Band this week! It's the new love of my life! this thing is amazing! i can wear the pants i want, walk around with them unbutton (cuz Lord knows my pants don't button anymore!) and no one is ever the wiser!

5. Military man bought booderbean the most awesome Fedora hat at Baby Gap this week! our spring pictures are going to rock!

6. Crap--apparently i can't eat raspberry filled donuts at my desk anymore, filling is now on my jeans!

7. The Grey's season finale last night left me with swollen eyes this morning. I'm pretty sure military man thinks i went crazy for a minute or two during the show last night!

8. The new wood floors and ceramic tile floors and counters and back splash are finally finished in our house! I'm so excited to finally have it done, it's been a long process of our house being torn up with workers in and out and tools all over the place.

9. OH MY--military man brought home agian beast of a dog as our new "pet". We now have an 8 month old, 80 pound St. Bernard living with us! Think the movie Beethoven, b/c that is exactly what it is like! If you know me at all you know i am soooooooooo not an indoor animal kind of gal, so this is beyond words NOT MAKING MOMMA HAPPY! and the fact that i wasn't even consulted on the matter! i could go on and on about this but won't for now...I'm sure many posts from now on will be about this dog and the damage it is doing to my home!

10. SURE do wish i could get you all some photos up here but unfortunately I've lost the cord to my new camera and can't download the photos!!!! and apparently the 4 other cords in my office and house do not work, guess i bought a "special camera". I'll be shopping at lunch for a cord!

Baby Doc update

So Baby K 2.0 is growing big and strong at 10 weeks and 5 days today! And let me tell you, this momma seems to be growing as well! I only gained 6lbs since my last visit (at 5 weeks) but my baby bump is a growin'! no..i am not posting a photo yet! I am having my dear friend BO, take family and maternity photos soon and i am beyond words excited!! Go check out her amazing work at: http://greygillfish.blogspot.com/

Well the nausea is settling a bit, now I'm only sick from the minute i wake up until about noonish. At least it's not lasting all day anymore. But i am here to tell you that what they say about "every pregnancy being different" is so true! This pregnancy is completely the opposite in every single way than my pregnancy with booderbean. I think I've experienced every symptom I've ever heard about. But i have a dear dear friend, Miss Kasey, who is a dietitian and the smartest woman i know. She is getting me through every little bump in the road. She was there with me when i was eating a block of cheese a day with booderbeans pregnancy, and she's here now when i am not eating or drinking anything but OJ :)

Not much else going on in Baby K 2.0 world so I'll close for now, and i promise...I'll get better at blogging soon :)

photo of the day

I didn't have much to blog on today, and i have been somewhat of a slacker in the blogging department lately (such a busy time of year!) so i decided to show one of my new favorite photos of my nephew C and Booderbean!

I have titled this photo "Ready, Set, GO!"

i can tell they just wish they could jump in!

Baby K 2.0

This is the name my brother has given to our second baby...Baby K 2.0! classic! When little booderbean was in my tummy and we didn't know if he was a he or a she, everyone referred to him as "Baby K", so it just makes sense i suppose.

I have been purposely not posting this week b/c i just loved the though of our little announcement being on the front page of my blog...but it is time. And i thought what better way to go on than to have a little preggo girl update huh!

you can stop reading now if you are not into this sort of thing....but i have a feeling a lot of my posts over the next 8 months will be about this wonderful little being!

Oooooooooh the world is a great place right now!! as I type I am eating a lunch that actually sounded good, smelled good, and is settling quite nicely with my finicky tummy! AND thanks to my brother I have found my new little piece of Heaven: Smoothie King!!!!!!!!!!

About 10 AM I was starving…and the drawer full of snacks and fridge full of other peoples snacks (yes I have been given the go ahead to eat whatever I can keep down from the office mates) did not sound good at all. I mean I am getting very nauseous at this point, and nothing is sounding good.
Co-worker suggests soup from McAlister’s…bingo!
We head that way at lunch time and I got the best little cup of country potato soup to go I have honestly ever had! So excited to find something that sounds good!

I have heard and read on many websites that a good fruit smoothie is the way to go on a preggo tummy that can’t seem to keep anything down, not even water. So after I grabbed my soup I text the brother for a good place to get a smoothie and of course he says Smoothie King—bingo!! I head in and of course have no idea from their large menu what even sounds good. the guy asks what I want and I tell him I have no idea, so he is EVER so helpful and makes suggestions….my stomach is turning as he is mentioning all the food. I tell him nicely that I am pregnant and can’t seem to even get water into my tummy but I know that I need to get some nutrients in me quick. it was amazing! That place kicked it into high gear and had all kinds of great suggestions for me (they really know their stuff there!) and then let me sample all of them that they mixed up before I had to settle on one. it was so great. so I picked one out and I am now in Heaven!

THIS is my new favorite place…pretty sure I’ll be a regular there!

Booderbean is a...

Military Man and I are so happy to announce that we have another "Baby K" on the way!!

Due on December 7th--Pearl Harbor Day!

cutie cousins

On the Bridges side of the family there are 4 grandchildren, and they are all BOYS! Getting these boys together is always so much fun, so hectic, so loud, and so full of smiles-hugs-kisses-and sticky hands! I love these boys to death! It is so amazing to me, and so blessing, that you can see the love they have for each other at such young ages! The oldest is C- he'll be 5 next month, then there's my Booderbean-just turned 2.5, then there is J-he's 21 months, and lastly is little G-he's 3 months.

We took some fun photos last weekend when we got the boys together....too bad little G was nursing the whole time, i got no photos of him.

This is little J and Booderbean--such cheesy funny boys!

C looks like he's deep in thought in his favorite spot in the tree.

This weekend we'll all be together again for Easter at Mimi & Papa's and you can bet I will capture some more cousin cuteness!

my pretty pretty niece

This past weekend we got the chance to see our niece all dolled up and looking way too beautiful for her first prom! She went with her boyfriend to his prom in another town. There they had a promenade so we were able to see all the girls parade around in their fabulous dresses. It was so much fun!

Miss Brittney was beaming, you could tell she was so happy! I haven't talked to her since that night to hear all the details of her first prom, but i am certain she had a blast and stole the dance floor!

Of course when Booderbean saw his cousin Britt, he had to be up in her arms!

two. point. five.

For some reason 2 1/2 has been a hard number for me to grasp with Booderbean...for the past few months and weeks I've been saying he's "almost 2 1/2" and now that TODAY he is officially 2 1/2 it seems so sad. Not like this is some major milestone, or some grown up age...but 2 1/2 just seems so big boy for me!

Are you sure you don't want to go back to this size again???

I love you, and i miss you

(this is his new favorite line to say before bedtime to us!!!)

we are NOT getting a donkey!

We spent a wonderful and much needing 3 day weekend mini vacation in Frisco, Texas visiting my cousins! We arrived late Friday night and didn't return till evening Monday. It was just what we all 3 needed...though it left me most definitely NOT wanting to go back to work :)

We got in some shopping, spent a few hours at Cabellas (or "the man store" as booderbean called it), enjoyed a fabulous cookout with cousins we don't get to see very much, and had some really good hanging out time with my cousins at their house. Booderbean enjoyed himself so much that i really think he thought we had moved there! When we got packed to leave he kept asking me "why, we are leaving Amy and Will's??" then we got ready to leave and he got so sad!

To make it up to him we stopped at Arbuckle Wilderness on our way home...booderbean didn't know what to think at first! he pretty much freaked out when the Alpaca stuck his head in the car the first time...then after he saw daddy feeding them he calmed down a bit.

Honestly militaryman had such a blast there i think i may have to take HIM back to visit! He seriously asked me if we could get a donkey!!! NO SIR :) and booderbean would have loved to have taken home a zebra!!

Amy, Will, Brian, Natalie, Collin, Ella..we will be coming back very soon for sure!!

Friday Ramblings...

Just a few random thoughts for your Friday pleasure...

1. I have had the most annoying on-going cold/allergies for the past 2 weeks. It's about to drive me nuts! I had it for a full week prior to going on a work trip to NYC, then this past Tuesday the stupid cold came back! It's one of those where one minute your sweating and the next your shivering, coughing your lungs out, and blowing your nose till it's red! Like i said, annoying!

2. It's Friday during Lent, there for I will fast today and not eat meat in observance and reverence. But of course my Qdoba naked chicken burrito craving it hitting an all time high today!

3. More on the Qdoba naked chicken burrito...those things are Heaven in my mouth! i love them, Qdoba is within walking distance of my office here on campus and i pretty much could eat it 5 days a week! It's packed with cilantro--my new favorite additive to any food!

4. We are taking a road trip to Dallas tonight for a long 3 day weekend to visit my cousins and i could not be more excited!!! it's been too long since we've seen them and the 3 of us haven't be there together yet. Booderbean and I made the trip when military man was deployed, and military man and i made the trip minus booderbean about 6 months ago. So we are excited to get the heck outa dodge! The stinky weather better not slow us down for our Dallas trip though!

5. Military man thought he need to cuddle with booderbean in our bed last night, so not only is my body aching from being sick but it's aching from having a 2 year old waling all over me all night.

6. As i sit here at my desk I have Twilight staring me in the face...i have not picked up the books once to read them, i was never really interested, i honestly thought the obsession with vampires was soooooo not up my alley. Then a friend in the office decided to lay the book on my desk and make me read it. We'll see. I still just don't have the desire. But i hear that once i read it I'm hooked.

7. I have realized over the past week that i need to spend a little more time with God. There have been some unsettling things going on lately and i think i need my God time!

8. I had my office painted while i was out last week and it's the most amazing shade of creamy green!! i love it! i just really need to get on the ball and decorate now!

9. I ordered a new digital camera (my Christmas present--long story) this week and it's supposed to be today, it has to be here or i will have no photos from our Dallas weekend! Come on Mr. fed ex!

10. Thanks to my in-laws-- booderbean, military man, and i have a new obsession snack--Puff Corn! It's made by Cheetos and it's sooooooooo yummy!! it's addicting as hell though! I honestly went to the store last night and bought 4 bags! oh my gosh i can't believe i said that out loud on here! so military man and i plopped out booties in front of the TV last night with a bag! What?? don't judge me! It's my comfort food!

Thanks Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,

While i do appreciate the recent rains (our dry grass really needed), and i do appreciate the large hail (booderbean does love to see it fall), and i do appreciate the strong winds (not sure why but i bet I'm supposed to appreciate them for some reason)...i am not too fond of what you left behind for us. I know it was not your fault, and I know this is just what comes with being a Home Owner, but really.....

This is our roof, it shows how the shingles are big pockets.

This is part of our back porch that flipped up and landed on our roof, i have no idea how the 2x4's and steel rods were pulled out of the concrete but they did. And you can see the guttering is gone and the porch is nonexistent.

This is the roof to our porch...or what was left of it. this tree is in our front yard by the road, that's how far it carried it!

And this is the leak/tear or whatever you want to call it to the ceiling in our garage!

Mother Nature, would you mind making the call to our insurance company? I'm not sure they are going to be too fond of us :)

The Big Apple

Ladies and Gentlemen...I am NYC bound!!!

I'll be taking 33 college students and 1 professor on a travel trip to NYC for the week of spring break. This may sound like fun to some of you...but if i can jsut get past all the stress of planning the trip and preparing my family for me being away for a week...then maybe it will be fun!

Top 3 things i want to do while in NYC

1. See a celebrity

2. Get in some shopping--find a fabulous pair of shoes, think Sex In The City style!

3. Get a hotdog from a street vendor

4. Go see the 9/11 memorial site

5. See my friend Patrice and let her show me the ropes to NYC

daddy's proud day

Today was a proud day for military man...booderbean shot his first gun. Yeah, that's right, i said it, my two year old baby boy shot his first gun this weekend. Mind you we were out on the hunting land and booderbean sat on military mans' lap while military man loaded and held the gun while booderbean got to pull the trigger at the tree we were using as practice. But still...military man can technically say that his son shot his first gun.

Before i get any comments on this let me just tell you that military man is the most safety conscious person i know, he comes from military background

and is his training has taught him well.

Of course as we headed out for our fun day i forgot the camera!!! Luckily the good ol' camera phone was there for backup. Sorry, the pics don't do justice!

We just went out to enjoy a nice day in the woods looking for treasures in the fields, of course i ended up with a pocket full of them!

He is showing off his shots into the tree!