Eli's 1st Haircut

Before we left town for Omaha, I took the kids to get hair cuts. I forgot to post the pictures, so here are just a few of Eli. He was such a good boy!

2012 Christmas Card

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Thank you priceline!

Thanks to Priceline.com, we stayed in an awesome hotel for $60/night!  Here's the view from our room:

Inside the room was pretty "suite" too. LOL (I'm such a dork.)  In any case, I didn't take pictures of that.  I got a few of my adorable kids playing on the luggage cart though.  Sigh...

(Great) Grandma Revenaugh

Grandma Revenaugh was the kindest, gentlest, soul I think I've ever know.  On Nov. 10, Dad called me to say that she went home, to be with the Lord, to finally rest and be at peace, perfect in body and in mind.

Grandma, I miss you so much, more than I thought could be possible.  I love you so much, and I'm so happy that you are in Heaven right now, but I'm so sad for all of us.  The world lost an angel yesterday.  I love you.

This is the slide show I put together for Grandma's visitation. I'm so happy my dad had so many pictures of Grandma throughout her life.  Even better, was that he had them on the computer, ready to be uploaded.  Thank you to everyone who sent me pictures to put this all together.  It makes me sad to see how in Grandma's time, they only got out the cameras for special occasions.  I feel like a great deal of her life is documented by Easter and Christmas pictures.  Nowadays, I feel like I have my camera out for everything little moment and I take a million pictures of it.  I'd like to say sorry in advance kids for the amount of pictures you'll have to sort through in an effort to put together something nice for me one day! :)

This is 3635 Valley St.  I took this picture when we were just in Omaha for the funeral.  Grandma and Grandpa built this house and raised their children here.  This is the house that I will always picture in my mind whenever I think of Omaha.  This is all of my Easter egg hunts took place and where I anxiously awaited Santa filling my stocking.  

Our trip to Omaha went pretty well.  It was a whirlwind visit, even though we were there for 3 days/2 nights.  When we were kids, I'd always get choked up about leaving, but I'd tell myself, "I'll see everyone again at __________."  I'd fill in the blank with Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, or whatever trip was planned next.  It's not the same now.  I leave now and think, "I don't know when I'll be back again."  I'm going to try to make it up there once a year, maybe each summer or something.  That way I can visit with family and the kids can see a place that I always loved.

I did see a lot of family on this visit, but I feel like there's never enough time to visit with everyone or to visit long enough with people.  Looking back, I was around so many people, but I didn't take a single picture of any of that.

I have no way to close this blog post.  I feel the same as I did at the cemetery when I tried to take those first few steps away from Grandma.  Why are the first few steps the hardest to take?  Why do your feet feel so heavy like you can't walk?  Maybe because in walking away, it's an acknowledgement of the actual, real finality of the situation.  I've had many of these moments this week from Dad's phone call to the visitation, to laying a rose on Grandma's coffin.  I expect (and hope) that the end of this post will be the last time I have this feeling.  And so, since I have one million things to say, but no words to say them in, I'll just leave it at that. I love you Grandma.  Thank you for all you gave to our family.  I'll miss you. 

Halloween 2012

Rapunzel and Pascal wish you a happy Halloween!

Phobia

Oh gosh....I may have just given my daughter a phobia....

Ella was playing and alerted me there was a spider in the house. "I have to save my children!" I thought to myself, grabbing the fly swatter. Ella was running behind excitedly saying, "I GET TO KILL IT!  I GET TO!"  No way was I going to let my little girl get close to this creature!  I instructed Ella to grab a tissue for me. This was no ordinary spider, but Halloween prank-sized. I was set in position when it happened.....

It fell off the wall and crawled insanely fast towards us. As I lunged to protect Eli from this arachnid, I heard a scream escape my lips, only to be echoed out of Ella's mouth.  This was not a small "ah!" scream, but rather one from a horror movie, so loud and long that my throat began to protest in pain!  As I'm smashing the tarantula to smitherines, legs are falling off, limbs are being cast aside, I'm repeating, "This is SO gross!  It's disgusting!"  and in the background, I can hear Ella repeating everything I'm saying.  That's when I realized....

I've worked so hard for nearly four whole years at not freaking out about a bug in front of her.  Here she was poised to kill the spider herself, and what did I do?  Not only force the job on me, but now I've totally freaked her out about it!  Great!  Mom of the year?  Doubtful.  Oh well, I guess this phobia probably would've happened for her one day anyway....

Here are some pictures of the kids in happier moments...

watching baseball

sleepy time

I know this is terrible quality, but it was adorable--
As soon as the baseball game came on, Eli begged to sit by Nick.  Then he watched the first 3 innings, clapping the whole time!
When he saw me take the picture, he started pointing to the TV excitedly saying, "LOOK!" followed by a bunch of baby gibberish.  It was too cute.  That's my boy! :)

Ella's Birthday Party

For her birthday, Ella wanted to have a Tangled (Rapunzel) birthday party. She also wants to be Rapunzel for Halloween, so I figured we could somehow combine these themes.  (In fact, with her birthday so close to Halloween, how has it taken me this long to figure it out?!)

Ella dressed up as Rapunzel.  At her request, Eli is Pascal (Rapunzel's chameleon and only friend).  The other kids got to play princess dress up as well.  Brady had a knight's costume, but he was a little bashful about wearing it.

We had such a great time.  And now, my baby girl is 4.  How have four years possibly gone by so quickly?
Yesterday, Nick took the kids to Jack in the Box for brunch.  (BTW, Ella finds the concept of brunch to be hysterically funny and that Daddy must be mistaken!)

I was a little bummed that I didn't get to be there when she woke up in the morning.  But I decided to make the best of it and do something fun when she woke up from her afternoon nap.  I blew up a bunch of balloons and put them all over her bed.  When she woke up, she asked, "Oh my gosh!  How did these get here?"  It was so stinkin' adorable!

For dinner, Ella requested buttery spaghetti noodles and some pineapple.  So that's what we had and she ate it like a queen!  We also played with play dough and finished a puzzle.  It was a great time.  Ella got 2 bedtime stories last night, one that she picked, and then one I picked, "The Story of You."  Nick and I cuddled her in our bed and told her all about the night before she was born, how excited we were to finally meet her and how we could hardly wait to become Mommy and Daddy.  She loved it.  I want this to be a birthday tradition.  My favorite part was telling her the first words Nick said when he saw her, "Look babe!  Look!  Look at how beautiful she is!"  and how I was crying uncontrollably and repeating, "Thank you God! Thank you!  I love you so much Ella.  I love you so much."  And how soon even the nurses were crying with us.  I love my girl, and I can't believe that day that is so very clearly etched in my memory was already four years ago.  It's so fresh it can bring tears to my eyes as if I'm in the hospital room again.

Ella, you are so special to me. <3

A few weeks ago, I made Ella a slideshow of all that we did this last year from Oct. 2011-Oct. 2012.  I worked really hard on it and it makes me cry.  I wanted to share it with everyone at her party....and then I forgot. :(  That isn't the point; I know the point is for Ella to be able to watch it when she's older.  In which case, Ella this is for you.  I cry every time I watch this, especially during the first song, so perhaps get a tissue.

Eli Walking & Covered Bridge

Last week was a super hectic week!  I had parent-teacher conferences on Wed. and Thurs.  These kept me busy in St. Charles from 7:15 AM-8:00 PM both days.  When I got home, the kids were ready for bed and I was exhausted.  I had to pack up on Tuesday night because Kristin and I left town on Thursday after conferences to head to Indiana.

We went to the Covered Bridge Festival with Brandy Nieters and Krystal (Smelcer) Blattner.  We rode down there and met up with Nick's mom, Aunt Jody, and a bunch of other campground ladies.  There were 12 in our group total.  It is a giant festival/flea market/craft bazaar the size of a town.  It's HUGE!  We went up Thursday night and slept.  Friday, we shopped all day and watched Game 5 (IT WAS AWESOME!!! COMEBACK OF A LIFETIME!!!!).  Then we left Saturday morning.  Normally, we would stay Saturday and shop, but Kristin and I were really missing the kids after last week.  We were gone for a day and a half, and had a blast.

In 16 months, I have been gone roughly a day and a half.  36 hours.....and Eli started walking while I was gone.  Are you kidding me Eli?!  I was incredibly sad to miss this big event.....  Here's a video of him that night:

I really cannot believe that I missed his big moment!  However, I am trying my best to focus on his success now.  3 days after learning to walk, I got an awesome video of Ella and Eli dancing in the kitchen to "Pontoon" by Little Big Town.  (Dancing is one of their favorite activities after all.)  I have tried my best to post the video here, but for some reason I can't.  It's on my Facebook page, so you can see it there, but kids, in the future if you're reading this, thinking, "What is Facebook?"  Sorry.  Rest assured it was an ADORABLE video of you guys. <3

Also, last night, I found him kicking a balloon all over the kitchen!  I guess he was really ready to get going. :)

How Did I Miss Omaha?!

As I was just looking over my blog, I realized that I didn't write about our trip to Omaha.  We weren't able to make it to Devon's baby shower, so we went up in mid July.

Kristin, all four kids, and MeMaw squeezed in my mini van (or "swagger wagon" as we call it in our family) and we headed up there for a few nights.  The day we arrived, it was Uncle Mike's birthday.  We went out to dinner to celebrate.  I don't think I got a picture of Uncle Mike when we were in town.  Here he is walking Devon down the aisle last October.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and the kids got to unwind a little after a long day by playing in the pool.

The next day, we went to the Omaha Zoo.  Here's a picture of the girls near the front of the zoo.

The zoo has a really awesome aquarium.  It's probably the coolest one I've ever been to; it was definitely the largest.

 Uncle Mike knows someone who works at the zoo and he called her to say that we'd be visiting.  Here are some pictures of the strings she pulled for us on our "back stage" tour.

We got to visit the giraffes in their shelter.  This one is Sammy.  Notice a mommy and baby in the background.  They were too scared to come over to us, but Sammy was loving all the attention and treats we gave him.

Yes, that's correct....it's MY hand you see feeding Sammy right now.  Ella was too frightened to feed him, but Reagan and Brady got to feed him as well.

It was really neat getting to hand feed the giraffes and see them so up-close.  After that, we went to see African penguins.  The zoo was a really neat experience for all of us.  Here are some pics from the acquarium. 

Later we went out to dinner at Cheddar's, a restaurant I LOVE now, and then took the kids back to the pool to swim.  I was creeped out by a man who came to the pool, so sorry kids, but Mommy/Aunt Carla made you get out after only 15 minutes of fun and bribed you with a "surprise" to go back to the room.  The surprise was a bath, and then we had to figure out a real surprise...wait!  There was a little shop next to the lobby.  How about ICE CREAM JUST BEFORE BEDTIME!!!  It was so special and the kids thought it was a real treat instead of just a bribe away from the pool. 

The next day, we went to visit my Grandma Revenaugh in her nursing home.  This was not a pleasant experience, but it went as I expected it to go mostly.  I knew Grandma wouldn't recognize any of us, especially without Dad.  However, my plan was to try to tell back to her MY favorite stories she told me growing up.  I figured she MIGHT remember something from her childhood, and if not, then it'd be nice just to reminisce about the stories she used to tell us.  I also brought pictures of Eli's birthday party.  Last resort, without fail, was Ella.  She's a talker, so I KNEW I could lean on her to carry the conversation in awkard moments, right?  Well pretty much.  That was the plan...here's how the visit went: we found Grandma's room and asked that someone bring her to meet us in a dining room-ish family area.  Just as she's being wheeled down the hall, both girls decide they MUST use the restroom at once!  I wasn't even going to be there for the hellos.  The bathroom trip lasted about 5 minutes.  When I got back, Kristin had already gone through all the birthday pictures with Grandma.  What? Are you kidding me?  Where was her conversation story? Apparently, conversation was awkward and she was desperate, so she pretty much went through all of her ideas very quickly.  It was as I expected, Grandma didn't recognize us.  That's okay, I can deal with that.  I talked about my memories of Grandma's stories.  She remembered some, or acted like it maybe.  The kids made it hard to carry on conversation though.  But I was right about Ella, she talked and talked and talked.  There wasn't really a moment of silence.  Eventually it was time for ust to leave.  We wheeled Grandma back to her room.  I wanted to help her in, but an orderly said she'd handle it.  She turned Grandma to face us.  We gave her hugs goodbye and told her we loved her.  And then the moment that will never leave me, we walked away.  Kids, I don't know if you'll understand until you have to do this; I'm not sure that I can describe it.  It's just the feeling of leaving, of walking away from someone you love.  The feeling was very similar to leaving both of you as babies for my first day back at work.  Logically, you tell yourself, "I gave hugs and kisses and said, 'I love you.' I am coming back."  But the logical part of my brain is never what wins over the emotional part; it's the fear of walking away and thinking, "But what if something happens before I come back?"  It's a wretched feeling and one that I can never shake.  I walked away, crying, trying to hide it from the kids to avoid the endless questions that would follow.

Afterwards, we met up with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike one last time for lunch before heading home.

All-in-all, I think the trip was a major success.  I had a great time visiting everyone.  As always, I just wish we'd had more time to visit with everyone.  <3

New Camper - Woot! Woot!

We spent the long weekend at Mark Twain cleaning out the old camper, preparing it to be sold and cleaning out the new camper for us to move in.  I LOVE it!  It's a 2004 Conquest (I think) by Gulf Stream.

These are pictures of our bedroom.  I love having a bed in a camper that I can actually walk around to make it!  (Ah, the joys of little things in life....)

 Here is a picture of our bathroom.  I'm standing on the other side of it where the toilet is behind another door.  There's also a closet on that side.

 Here's a picture of the kids' bedroom.  At least next season, it'll be for both kids.  For now, Ella is enjoying her "own" room with bunk beds and a separate place for kids to eat!!!  She couldn't be happier with the new place.  When we let her go inside for the first time, she just kept saying, "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! Bunk beds!" and she loved showing off her room to every single visitor who stopped by.

Currently, I cannot figure out how to rotate this picture of my living room, so here it is...

You'll have to pardon all our junk everywhere.  I'd blame it on moving-in weekend, but let's be real here, that's just sort of our family.

                                      

Here's a pic of the gang (from Left: Lynn Brown, Jimmy Brown, Mama J, Kevin MacAfee, Linda Gilmore, Aunt Jody, Art ?)

I love the new place and can't wait to use it every weekend!!!

 Here are a few other pics from the weekend:

Playing trucks under the table

Eating, Eli's favorite past-time

  

And now a bit about my girl....

Ella, Ella, Ella, my sweet Ella.

Aliases: Pumpkin, Sassafras, Lilley Lou (from Memaw Johnson)

Age: 3 and 3/4 if you ask her

Activities: Ella is in ballet.  She LOVES ballet.  I can say that it's helped her to be a little more graceful and I think her technique is there.  She would like to do gymnastics too, but I told her that has to wait until she's school aged.  The gymnastics is thanks to the Olympics and a Dora special, "Fantastic Gymnastics."

Future profession in my opinion: doctor?  She loves playing "check up" thanks to a Disney show, Doc McStuffins.  Recently in preschool, she answered that she'll be a mermaid someday.  When asked why, she answered, "So my hair will go up and down just like Ariel's." :)

Favorite Pastimes: playing check up, playing Barbies, playing My Little Pony, pretending to be a puppy, pretending to be Mommy.  She is beginning to play more and more with Eli, which makes my heart so happy. <3

Personality:  Ella is so sweet and thoughtful.  She is starting to pick up words in a sassy-way, but has not used them with attitude yet.  Ex: totally  Today I packed my lunch in her lunch box because I'd forgotten mine at work.  When I asked if I could use her Tinkerbell lunch box, she said, "Yes Mom.  You can TOTALLY use my lunchbox today."  It was so cute of her.  I'm glad she said yes though because my lunch was already packed and the other side of her is a fiery temper.

Best facial feature: It's a toss up between her beautiful blue eyes and her magnetic smile. Or her double dimples.  I love those too.  It's so funny because the other day, I realized that Eli makes the exact facial expressions Ella does whenever they're being silly.  I wonder if Nick makes them or if I do.  Huh.


*As I wrote this post, I heard news of a friend and coworker's daughter had a seizure today.  Nick and I are praying for their family and the doctors.  It's hard to even continue this post.  I am SO grateful for each blessing I have.

Link to Linzamos

http://ybstl.blogspot.com/2012/08/carla-sue.html

Lindsay blogged about each one of her friends.  Here's the link to the one about me.  I felt like it merited a spot of its own today.  :)

A Little Bit About My Boy

Most times when I think of my kids, I just think about how I'd love to hit a pause button on our lives.  I wish I could just keep them frozen at these ages.  They are such wonderful kids and my heart bursts with love for them.  Since the real-life pause button has yet to be created, I will try my best to capture their little personalities in this blog.  Here's a bit about my little Eli right now:

Age: about 15 months

Nickname: my baby bird (based on his small, little cries at birth and currently the way he eats),  chunky monkey 

Method of Movement: Crawling at lightning speeds and refusing to walk.  Eli enjoys walking with a lawn mower-type toy.  He enjoys walking and holding hands.  He refuses to walk independently.  He just laughs at us and sits down.

Favorite past-times: Throwing everything he can get his quick little hands on.  He throws things hard and far.  You can see he's giving it all he's got as he nearly folds himself in half and lets out a loud grunt as soon as the object has left his hands.  He also loves playing in water, specifically the bath, but honestly, the dog bowl is right up there with it.  He just wants to splash all the water out of everything!  And he crawls his fastest when he hears bath water going or sees the dog bowl on the floor.  

Future profession in my opinion: Maybe a pitcher?

Personality: I LOVE his eyebrows.  They indicate whether he is happy or sad or feeling mischievous.  He is very animated with them and uses them frequently in his facial expressions and "conversations" with us.

Words he knows: Uh oh (when he throws something), MaMa, DaDa, Ella, Good Girl (for Scout, dogs, and other 4-legged creatures), PaPa, ball, boat, no no no no no no (he says this to me if I try to slap his hands and to Scout whenever she barks), hi, bye bye.  I've also heard him say "Thank you" before if I've given him something.  He's said it several times, but most of the time just looks at me like I'm crazy.

Hobbies: Getting past the child locks on the fireplace and kitchen sink.  Luckily thanks to a call I placed to poison control, I know now that all the rocks/materials in the fire place are non-toxic.  When he is scolded for these things, he laughs or mocks me saying, "No no no!"  Pulling girls' hair is another favorite of his.    He will look me in the eye and grab my hair and give it a good yank.  When I say/yell, "Ouch! No, we don't do that!"  He cries as if I've pinched him.  He makes everyone in the room feel bad for him! 

Best facial feature: Eyes, definitely the eyes.  They're the color of denim and beautiful.  Yes, I said it, my son has beautiful eyes.  I'm not the only one to recognize it either.  Others tell me all the time what a beauty he is. (I know, I know, boys are handsome....but I'm his mother, and I feel like he's beyond that....beautiful.)

The Story of Us--How I Met Your Father

A few weeks ago, Nick and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary (of course we were together LONG before that).  Looking back on our relationship, I realized that one day, I want the kids to know about the story of us.  So Ella, Eli, here it is.  (Buckle up, it's a long one!)

The year was 1998 and I was a sophomore in high school.  I sat at lunch with a few of my close friends (Jennifer Everett, Lindsay Oldham, DeAnne Regensbuger) and maybe a few others.  At the beginning of school, we noticed two people (Megan O'Neal and Mike Hampshire--who is your dad's cousin, but I had no idea then) sitting by themselves at lunch.  We didn't know them much except having a few classes together, but we felt bad that they were sitting alone and invited them to our lunch table.  After I turned 16, I knew it was time to get a job so I could afford car insurance and gas. (I mean at $0.88/gallon, it was SO EXPENSIVE, right?!)  For some reason, I threw the idea out at lunch.  "Where should I get a job?"  Megan said, "Come work with me at Texas Willie's. I like my job.  We have $200 weekends serving."

Children, let's learn a few lessons here:
1.  When someone tells you how much they make that easily in conversation, they are usually lying or at least embellishing. (And she was, I NEVER made that kind of money there!)
2.  Never work at a place called Texas Willie's.  It's humiliating to tell people where you work, and you never know, you may be repeating the name of it decades after it's gone out of business to tell your children "The Story of Us."
But I digress....

This is how I know looking back, that it was a God-thing for me to work there.  I didn't even know Megan; we never really talked, just sat at opposite sides of a lunch table.  No one else had an idea where I should find a job, so I went there, even though it was a 20 minute drive from my house.  I had to get directions for Heaven's sake!

So I got a job there as a seater/greeter, then a hostess, then eventually a waitress, and made $5.25/hour.  I was the new girl, the fresh meat.  Most of the guys who worked there were....different.  More lessons to be learned....pause the story!

3.  I will do everything in my power to not have you work in restaurant in high school and even college.  It is a big drug scene.  Honestly, I had a crazy amount of access to underage drinking and drugs if I'd had wanted it.  Seriously, I will try to shield you from this environment as much as I can.
4.  The people who work in restaurants (and believe me, I've worked in a few, for more than 6 years) are a little off.  Not so much the servers or front stage people, but the behind-the-scenes people, are just odd.  The cooks especially are a little crazy.  It takes a special kind of person to put up with the stress of a busy restaurant WHILE being over a hot grill.  That "special" kind of person is freaking weird (usually, anyway).

Okay, back to the story.  As I was saying, most of the guys I worked with were a little "different."  I was the fresh meat.....People started asking me on dates.  I felt horrible telling these new people I just met no, I mean, I did want to make some friends.  So I said I had a boyfriend....good excuse, right?

It all worked out until one day, I saw a cute guy at work, and what was that?  Was he wearing a kelly green Texas Willie's polo shirt, just like I was?  YEAH!  He had dark hair that was frosted with blonde tips.  I later found out that he was a busser.  He had just finished cleaning off a table, and was carrying a heavy bus tub.  (READ: Since Nick was carrying something heavy, his biceps were flexed and 16-year-old Carla could barely resist.)  "Who's that guy?" I asked Megan.

"Who? Nick?  Why?"
"Uh....do you see him?!  Look at his muscles!"  <Insert girl giggles here.>
"Why don't you go back and talk to him?"

And so I did...and he ignored me.  (I later found out that your dad was ignoring me, not to be mean or because he didn't like me, but because he thought I had a boyfriend. DANG! The plan backfired!)  In any case, I didn't like being ignored.  I'm not trying to say that I was a big deal in high school by ANY stretch of the imagination, so please don't misread this here.  But I was certainly not used to this type of treatment!  And so like most naive 16 year old girls, for some reason, I pursued him, this guy who was "clearly not interested" in me.  (It must've been a God-thing because otherwise, seriously, if I had more intelligence than hormones, I'd have thought, "Maybe he's just not that into you" and moved on, but instead I worked harder at grabbing his attention.)  After a few months of trying unsuccessfully, I realized maybe it was time to give up.  And then was Valentine's Day, a busy holiday in the restaurant business, even at Texas Willie's.

I was hostessing and my seater was a no-show...something about her having better things to do on Feb. 14.  Well I couldn't NOT have someone to seat the guests on a day that we'd certainly have a wait!  The manager pulled the busser and had someone fill in for him.  Who got to be my seater and greeter?  Your dad!  We got to know each other through actual conversation instead of the "Look-at-me!" "No." types of interactions that we'd been having.  I signed my name, "Carla R. Revenaugh."  Nick said, "What's your middle name? Rae?"  Say WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA????  "No!" I quickly replied, embarrassed 1.) of my middle name and 2.) that he could guess it on the first try.  I mean, it's practically a name like Rumplestilskin.  Never in my whole life had anyone guessed it at all, how could he have gotten it on the first guess?!  (Sorry Ella, but up to this point, I'd usually lied when people asked me my middle name and said that it was Renee....I love it now as an adult though.....)

The next day was Monday.  My 4th hour teacher said, "Did you all have a good holiday with your sweethearts?" I said, "Actually, yeah, I didn't go out on a date, but I had a really nice day with a guy I like."  That night, I worked again.  Nick was for whatever reason hanging around, but not working.  A manager caught me staring dreamily at him.  She said, "Why don't you just go over and talk to him?  You look ridiculous staring." Uh, what? Staring? Who's staring? Not me....why? Did he say he likes me?  Kylie (my manager) and I sat across from each other in a 2-seater booth and rolled silverware as the night went on.  Nick was still hanging around and Kylie called him over and asked him to sit down by me.  Honestly, I thought she was going to tell him to go home and leave working people alone, but instead, she looked at us and said, "Okay, now ask each other out."
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Blood rushing to my face.  Am I going to pass out?  I put my head down.  Seriously.  How embarrassing.  I have no idea how that moment ended, but Nick awkwardly got up and left.  I felt like crying.  For sure this was it, right?  I mean, he had a chance to ask me out and didn't.  So, for sure, he does NOT like me, right?  Well, heck I might as well give it one last try!

I walked out the door that night, hoping Nick would follow and ask me out.....  But he didn't...(later I was informed that he'd been waiting for me all night, and why did I think he was hanging out so long, and that I just walked out to fast.....)

And so I went back in.  I didn't ask for his number (because then I'd have to call and HOW EMBARRASSING!).  I mumbled that I'd forgotten something and walked right past him.  On my way out the door for the 2nd time, I said, "Hey, do you want to hang out sometime?"  Nick looked up at said, "What? Yes!"  So I gave him my number.  By the 17th, we went on our first date.  (Maybe I'll save that for my sequel novel, because it's a hysterically funny story by itself!)

Somehow 13 years seems to have flown by and I couldn't be happier to be spending my life with your dad by my side and holding your hands.  I love you guys!

Confidence and Germs

I joined a gym this week in an attempt to get back in shape.  My weight is the same as it was before Ella, but having a baby or two takes its toll on a body.  Some of the most important things that I want to pass onto Ella are a good self-esteem and self-confidence in her body.  I spent my childhood in what can I suppose only be described as a mousy attitude towards life.  I was too afraid to ever stop anyone from doing things that I knew were wrong or to speak up for myself.  I so badly want to build Ella up so that she does speak up for herself and she does step in and stand up for what is right.  So what does all of this have to do with me joining a gym?  After I had Eli, despite what the number on the scale or even what my husband said, my body didn't look the same and I didn't like it.  Frequently I would have thoughts like, "Ugh, look at that" when I looked in the mirror, but I made sure to censor them in front of Ella.  If I ever heard her say the same thing when she looked in the mirror, it would break my heart.  And then it occurred to me....I shouldn't have to censor my thoughts like that because I shouldn't be having them.  It's not healthy and I needed a change.  Getting out of the house for a few hours a week is hard.  Every time, Ella tells me how much she's going to miss me, and the whole thing has to be scheduled around Nick's work.  These are not the easiest of obstacles to overcome.  But somehow, I've managed, 5 times now (there was a 3 day trial....I haven't gone 5 times this week...that'd be just CRAZY!).  In any case, I feel like this is something that's worth it.  And I'm going to do my best to keep it up, because if that's what I have to do to get the body I want so I can be confident in it, and impart that on to my daughter, then it's what I have to do.

And on a lighter note....I think I'm going to take up sewing.  I'm super excited to start this new hobby.  I'm hoping to make gifts for Baby Austin (this is Craig & Amanda's baby's name for now in case they for some reason drastically change their minds later and in the future no one knows who I'm referencing).

And a funny story from a few weeks ago (6/23).  I didn't have time to blog it, but I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget.......I needed to shower and shave, so I thought I'd put Eli in the bathroom with me to keep him "safe."  What could happen with glass doors and Ella's help, right?  EPIC FAILURE.  Even after removing germy hazards, my son still found all of the grossest places in the bathroom, including: running his bink along the bottom and corner of the shower, then after getting a new one, throwing it in the trash (how did I not pick that up?!) and before I could get it away, getting it out of the trash and putting it on top of the toilet, then putting his MOUTH on the TOILET!  Ugh....I was half tempted to give him some alcohol to sanitize his mouth!  So grossed out.....

Stayca-Vaca June 29-July 8

Since we got our camper, we've been taking a staycation the week of the holiday at Mark Twain.  Almost our whole group camps with us, so it's Memaw & Papa Johnson, Aunt Jody & Uncle Bob Witt, Linda Gilmore & Kevin McAfee, Bill & Mickey Deuser (who live there now), and Tara Sheffield (who also lives there).

On our first night up there, we karaoked at Linda & Kevin's "red neck dome".  I was so proud of Ella.  She got up and sang "Big Green Tractor" with me.  Really, I just sang it with her.  She knew every word and did GREAT with the microphone. Seriously, my heart SWELLED with pride. :)

On Saturday, we had a campground potluck dinner, a golf cart parade, and watched fireworks.  Wouldn't it have been nice if we'd taken pictures of ANY of it?  Nope.  Sorry, but here's a few I took on my phone when I randomly thought about it.

She wants YOU!

Ella dubbed herself the "American Princess."  Who am I to crush her dreams?  She told me that she would wear  it every day and "Even princess sleep in their tiaras."  Really?  I didn't know that!

Eli in his drastically different, but so adorable 4th apparel

 On Sunday, Memaw and Papa left for a graduation party.  Nick & I had a party of our own on our new deck during naptime.  This was maybe my favorite day.  You should've seen the looks on their faces when they came back!

Ugh....I don't like it, but at least he gets it honest.

Scout went to the Johnsons' on Sunday.  I missed her terribly for the rest of vacation.  We heard she was acting depressed.  This made me miss her more. :(

The weekdays are pretty much a blur of Nick fishing, go out on the water, hang out at night, and repeat.  We played some games, which you know I love.

The only notable difference was on July 2.  Amanda got the best birthday present of all.  Her 20 week ultrasound was scheduled.....and...it's a BOY!!!!  How exciting!  We are so happy to hear the baby is healthy and a little playmate for Eli will be headed our way in November.

The following weekend, we traveled to Wheatland with Kevin & Linda and the whole gang for Kevin's boat races.  Nick really enjoys watching them.  The heat got to me, and I ended up leaving early on Sat. with a migraine.  On Sunday, instead of going back to the races, we decided to pack up and get home at a decent time.  

Over vacation, we realized that Eli's entire top gum is filled with teeth ready to break through.  The top 4 are clearly outlined and white because they are just so close.  However, we discovered a bottom tooth had finally broken through! (7/6/12)  My son is 13 1/2 months old and finally has his first tooth!  He wouldn't let us take a picture (not that you can see it clearly anyway), so just here's one after we found it.

Grant's Farm June 25

Kristin was in KC this week with Lewis & Clark kids at SkillsUSA nationals competition.  Why do I mention this?  Because it means that we didn't get in our weekly adventure with the kids and I really missed her.  It's so odd when your sister, who you work with and speak with every day (usually multiple times per day) is out of town, and not only that, but BUSY!  (How dare she be busy!) I missed Kristin, and Ella missed her cousins.  I knew I had to plan something big to make up for it....but what?  How about asking Nick on his day off to come with me and the kids to Grant's Farm, on a day when I knew it'd be hot?  Okay....Here's the thing, starting on WED, temps will be at 108.  However, the 25th was a TUES and highs would only get around 95ish.  That means if we get there when they open (around 8-9), we can get there, look around, eat lunch, and be gone by 12, 1 at the latest.  Although that's always the plan, and usually I can accomplish said plan with Kristin, somehow with Nick, we move slower.  So it was pretty hot when we left, but we had a great time together.  Here are some pictures.  There are lots of cool animals, and I took pictures of them, but let's be honest, if there's not people in the picture, to me, it's not worth my time in uploading it!  So I'm not posting pics of the buffalo, mules, horses, camels, etc....

getting ready for the tram ride

feeding the baby goats--through the fence--maybe next year we'll try inside the pen