Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Aiden and his new friend

Aiden and Will bonding...
Yesterday I picked Aiden up from school and he hung out at work with me for the last couple hours for a couple of hours.  I had promised him we'd go see the new Twilight movie after work if he got all of his homework done which he did and very quickly so then he was bored.  "There's nothing for me to do."  After about the 20th time of hearing him say that I sat him down in front of a computer where he and Will looked at Legos for the last 30 minutes of the day.  Will is a 6'5" college student.  Scary enough...Aiden looks a whole lot  like a mini-Will.  Anyway the two of them bonded over Lego gumball machines.  Nice.

For those of you who have not yet seen the final edition of the Twilight Saga I will not be a spoiler but if memory serves me correctly the movie strayed a little from the book especially at the end.  I don't remember them all dying at the end...oops! 

Monday, November 19, 2012

I know...I know...it's been FOREVER!

Behind bars...for the first time
What can I say?  Life get's in the way : )

So, what's been going on since I last blogged?  A bunch. 

Emrie and Aiden on the hay tractor
Poor Emrie has been sick.  First, she started with a crazy rash all over her body.  I took her to the doctor and he said it was probably tied to some kind of virus she had...except that she hadn't really had a virus that I was aware of.  If she was sick - I totally missed.  Anyway, a week and a half later, we're back at the doctor because the rash still hasn't gotten any better.  If anything, it's gotten worse.  This time we left with a prescription for a steroid cream and detailed instructions on how to grease her up twice a day.  She was so lubed up she stuck to her pj's and the parts that weren't covered stuck to her sheets.  Sticky or not, it worked and her rash got better. 

Emrie and grandpa...just not feeling it
Next, she got that little stomach bug that was going around.  We actually went to a birthday party at the corn maze in Snook and she pooped 3 times while we were there.  And when I say pooped, I mean certifiable blow outs!  As you can see from the pictures, she was not feeling it.  Add a little congestion and cough to the stomach bug and by the end of the day I'm walking around with baby vomit in my hair and down my back. Ahhh...a mother's job is never done. 

Ready to go back to Big School
And, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Emrie starts running a pretty high fever.  I took her back to the doctor and this time she has an ear infection!  BLESS HER HEART!  She was still recovering from the virus so the doctor gave her some meds that would not upset her stomach; however, one of the nice side effects from the meds she did prescribe is that Emrie's poop is a nice dark maroon color.  I decided to spare you the picture.  Anyway...for all you Aggies who claim to bleed maroon, I think Emrie has got you beat!

Aiden had a runny nose but other than that has been pretty healthy.  Brian was also sick for a while.  I'm not sure if it was just a bad cold or the flu but it put him out of commission for several days.  He's finally feeling better - thank God!  It's tough being a single parent with two sick kids - a 16 month old and a 37 year old! 

Other than that life has been good.  Busy but good!  I'm totally excited about Thanksgiving.  My family can definitely use a nice long weekend.  I'm still debating the whole black Friday shopping.  It used to be my thing.  I loved the thrill of camping out and barging through the doors of my favorite stores in the wee hours of the morning; however, now that the stores are open on Thanksgiving eve, some of the thrill is gone. 




I'll have more on Thanksgiving and the day after for you tomorrow!  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Emrie's Own Space


Those of you who have small children will totally get this.  As I was taking inventory of my home over the weekend, I realized that Emrie and all of her stuff had taken over the living room.  It seemed that pretty much every toy she had was in the middle of the floor.  We had even pushed the coffee table and any other stray pieces of furniture up against the fireplace to better accommodate her.  So, yesterday as I was pleasantly anticipating the cold front and the possibility of actually having a fire in the fireplace, I decided to makes some changes.  We have an open floor plan - our kitchen, dining and living area are all open to one another so the move was relatively easy.  We pushed the dining table against the wall (leaving 3 chairs for me, Brian and Aiden) and then dedicated the rest of the space to Emrie and her stuff.  It actually worked out pretty well AND Emrie seems to really like her new space.  I know I like having some of mine back!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Banana are good...and fun...and a mouthful

Emrie loves bananas.  This morning she absolutely had to have one. She doesn't want it cut up into bite size pieces or even completely peeled.  So, I peel it about halfway and then she likes to hold the whole banana and eat it all by herself.  She eats it so fast I really have to be careful because if I'm not paying attention she just keeps eating...peel and all!  When she gets down to about the last quarter, she normally stuffs the rest of the banana in her mouth.  As you can see from the pictures - its a mouthful.  What a little monkey!


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Another 4 years?

I'd rather face the zombie apocalypse...

I found this on the internet and thought it was worth posting.

5 Truths You CANNOT Disagree With:

1.  You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2.  What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 

3.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

4.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

5.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them; and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. 


ENOUGH SAID. 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Our Nashville Trip - Day 2 continued...

It didn't take long before the big night was upon us! 


The red carpet

Before the show
We were just a couple of hours from the start of the CMA's and I was still trying to get ready.  Granted I wasn't going to be on the red carpet but still how many chances do I get to really get dressed up and go out on the town?  The answer:  Pretty much never.  Oh sure, I had a life before baby but those days are long gone.  So, I took full advantage of this opportunity.  I opted for an understated black dress with a V back and leopard print shoes with black and gold accessories.  Brian wore...well, exactly what I packed for him, jeans, long sleeve pearl snap shirt and a navy sports coat with his boots.  I have to be honest, he looked G-O-O-D! 




Zac Brown doin their thing
We got there about an hour before everything started.  That was plenty of time to catch a few country music stars on the red carpet and get to our seats.  Speaking of the red carpet, it's much smaller than I thought it would be and the stars are only on it for a split second before heading inside.  Our seats were on the first row of the balcony to the right of the stage.  Now keep in mind the Bridgestone is HUGE so while our seats were great we were still a pretty good distance from the action (see pics).  Because of the location of our seats we could see the front of the stage as well as behind it.  That was the really cool part.  We could see all the singers taking their places and getting ready to perform.  During the TV commercial breaks, they showed video clips of past CMA's.  And then they'd count it down...in 5-4-3-2-1 and we're live. 

After party with mac - n - cheese
After the CMA's we walked around downtown for a while.  We saw Darius Rucker, Big and Rich and Lee Brice going into an after party.  And although we couldn't get into the party, they did walk right by us.  I also snapped a picture of the Eli Young Band crossing the street and heading into a party. 

EYB headed to the after party


The highlight of my CMA after party was the gourmet mac-n-cheese I had for a late night snack.  DELICIOUS! 

Our Trip to Nashville - Day 2

On Thursday, the day of the CMA Awards, Brian and I decided to do some of the touristy stuff like check out the Country Music Hall of Fame and Music City's Walk of Fame.  I love classic country music, so I LOVED the Country Music Hall of Fame.  It was so cool to see memorabilia from the good old days (not that I was around for them but I have a great appreciation for the music).  I learned things like Webb Peirce was the first country artist to introduce the steal guitar to country music.  Nice job, Webb.  There was a huge Patsy Cline exhibit.  I love me some Patsy.  I got to see Elvis Presley's gold Cadillac.  It actually has 24 karat gold headlight covers and crushed diamonds in the paint.  Nice but a little eccentric.  There was a huge Streets of Bakersfield section which paid tribute to the late, great Buck Owens.  In honor of one of the greatest movies of all time, El Toro, was also forever memorialized at the CMHoF.  That's right...the mechanical bull used in the movie Urban Cowboy.  And, probably my favorite part, there was clothes...lots and lots of clothes.  There were all types of outfits worn by country music legends such as Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Charlie Pride, George Strait, Hank Jr, Alabama, Reba and more.  There was actually an entire section dedicated to Taylor Swift's attire. 


After the CMHoF we took a stroll down Broadway, listened to some country music while dining on burgers and stopped off at Ernest Tubb's Record Shop before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the night's festivities. 
El Toro

More on the CMA's in a few...

Monday, November 5, 2012

Our trip to Nashville - Day 1

The Allen Band at Puckett's
Tour Guide
The Capital - Ghost Tour
We arrived in Nashville late Wednesday night.  I'm pretty sure Tim McGraw was on our flight but Brian refused to let me sneak into first class for a second look...so, as far as I'm concerned it was Tim McGraw!  We checked into our hotel, bundled up and headed to the downtown area for dinner and some Halloween fun.  At the recommendation of a guy on our flight who was actually from Nashville, we ate dinner at a place called Puckett's.  It was DELICIOUS!  Brian ate what he swears was the best chicken fried steak he's ever had in his life and I had the pulled pork with a side of fried green beans.  It was all super yummy.  Our waiter was dressed like a blind referee.  He was funny - he took our order facing the complete wrong direction and occasionally stumbled into tables and chairs.  He was actually from Texas AND roommates with Ben Danaher and great friends with Ryan Beaver - small world, huh?  After dinner we took the haunted history tour of the downtown area.  It was cool.  We walked all over looking at historical landmarks while getting the ghost stories associated with each.  It was fun but I think we would have enjoyed it a bit more if it hadn't been 30 degrees. 


The Ghost Tour Limo

Picker's Alley - Ghost Tour