Can’t resist these things

I have never seen this get to know you tag thing before! You guys do it too (please tell me I’m not the only dork who loves these things!)

1. Who was your first prom date?
Derek Burkett

2. Who was your first roommate?
Shauna. We still call each other roomate to this day. .

3. What was your first alcoholic drink?
I think a pina coloda.

4. What was your first job?

Babysitting, but first with a tax-paying paycheck was a retirement community dinner server.

5. What was your first car?

1991 Toyota Celica

6. Who was the first person that texted you yesterday?
I’m not a cool kid. I never get text messages, except from my sis occasionally.

7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning?
Connor because he was in my face a little bit.

8. Who was your first grade teacher?

Mrs. Pyles

9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?

The first that I remember was North Carolina to visit my dad. I was 8 or 9.

10. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was with you?

I never snuck out of of my house. I totally would have been caught. but I did sneak out of the dorm Freshman year with some people.

11. Who was your first best friend and are you still friends with them?
Jennifer, and we have lost touch over the years.

12. Where was your first sleep over?
I am sure it was with Jennifer.

13. Who was the first person you talked to this morning?
Connor

14. Whose wedding were you in the first time?
My mom and Nick’s when I was 10.

15. What is the first thing you do in the morning?
go pee.

16. What was the first concert you ever went to?
Michael W. Smith in 1993.

17. First tattoo or piercing?
Ears pierced when I was 10. Belly button and cartilage when I was 18, and tattoo when I was 21.

18. First foreign country you went to?
Does Canada count? If not, then Germany.

19. First crush?
the first boy I “went with” was Josh in the 5th grade.

20. When was your first detention?
6th grade. I was traumatized. I go it for forgetting to get my folder signed and then forgetting a book at home. Two checks=d hall.

21. What was the first state you lived in?
Washington

22. Who was your first kiss with?
Jeremy, at camp. Staci, JB, and Shauna witnessed the whole thing. It was quite the event!

23. Who was the first person to break your heart?
Derek back in 1996. I thought I would never get over it at the time.

24. Do you still think about that person?
Every day since I’m married to him!

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That was fun, right!

One other blog worthy thing. Carrie asked me to be the Paper Trunk designer of the month! Check it out! I got my box of goodies the other day and scrapped this page. The papers are amazing, and I am so honored that Carrie asked me to create pages for her. I will hopefully have more to share tomorrow, but here is my first page.

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Spectacles

I haven’t had my eyes checked in about 5 years and I think my eyes are getting worse. That coupled with the fact that we have insurance for things like glasses prompted me to make an eye appointment. My glasses came in today, and I love them! I decided to go with something sassy rather than my typical thin, wire rimmed, inconspicuous frames. Derek said I looked “cute and crafty.”

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Speaking of Derek, I just need to brag on my wonderful husband. Not only is he an amazing Christian, family man, (he is giving the kids their baths with super bubbles right now as I type this), but he is so super smart and kicks booty at his job. He got a promotion this week! I am so proud of how hard we works for our family. I am so proud of how hard he works when he comes home to us. I am proud to be his wife, and Connor and Logan are proud to be his sons. We are so incredibly blessed to have Derek! Love you, babe!

I am off to make a yummy celebration steak dinner in honor of Derek. We are having date night in tonight. We put the kids to bed around 7:00, and then eat a peaceful, (mostly) uninterrupted dinner. Any of you with kids who will go to bed early should try it! Have a great weekend!

Terrible Twos

Okay, it’s 8:36. Logan is on his third time out of the day for blatantly refusing to do as I ask. And hitting. The terrible twos are definitely upon us! However, since Connor’s terrible year (which was actually at 3, not 2) was so incredibly difficult, I think I will be able to handle Logan. And keep it all in perspective. If I stick to my guns, in about a year I firmly believe that I will have a delightful child (for the most part.)

Anywho. That’s today. Let me tell you about yesterday. Derek got home from his last business trip yesterday at lunch time. Yay! He was gone 17 days this month. Not cool at all. So I am relaxing, reading blogs, and one of the scrapbooker blogs I read (Heidi Swapp) had blogged about a new scrapbook store that is opening in Houston. So I follow the link and I had a complete scrapbook freak out when I realized the store is less than a mile from my house! How cool is that! (ok, this is probably only cool if you appreciate a good scrapbook store.) Since my sweet husband was home, and since he had mentioned that he wanted to get me a little gift for hanging in there all those days he was gone, I took it upon myself to head to By Design Scrapbook Boutique and do some shopping. Then I came home and scrapped this.

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Now for a totally different topic. Some friends of ours gave us a swing set. I didn’t tell the kids about it, our friends just brought it over one night after the kids had gone to bed. So the next morning, they go outside to play and I loved their reactions. They were just so them. Connor didn’t even notice it at first. Logan, on the other hand, saw it right away and ran full speed to it, shouting “yay! yay! yay!!” He tromped through the wet grass, threw himself onto the wet slide, and then ran back to me crying because, as it turns out, he didn’t actually want to be all wet. Logan’s actions are almost always a step or two ahead of his thoughts. But not Connor. Connor stood completely still on the patio, his head cocked to the side trying to figure out exactly where this thing came from and how it got in the yard. He looked at me quizzically, looked at the swing set, and looked back at me. Finally, after about 45 seconds of processing, he asked, “where did that come from?” I told him our friends gave it to us. He looked back at it again, still thinking about it. And he said, “hmm…I usually think I wanted a pole.” He didn’t say it in a bratty way at all, just very matter of fact. Like he had processed and thought about it and if a swing set was going to just appear in the yard, in his mind it sure would be nice if it had a pole to slide down. Then he tentatively walked onto the grass, realized it was wet so came in for a towel before playing on it.

My boys are so different, and I love it! Connor, always thinking, processing, taking it all in before making a move. Logan, my fearless ball of fire, always going full speed ahead. I loved their reactions to the swing set.

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Reading update…I finished Something Borrowed (loved it!), Something Blue (loved it!), Two Little Girls in Blue (just okay), and The Pact (my new favorite Jodi Picoult book). Now I have started Baby Proof(by Emily Griffin), and I have The Glass Castle(by Jeannette Walls) to read next. I only have 3 books left on my hold list at the library, so I need some suggestions! Help a bookwork out please. At the rate I have been reading, I will run out in the next 2 weeks or so.

VBS Central

Connor is attending his third VBS in a row this week. I know crazy, right? And before you think that it’s just because it gets him out of the house for free every morning, I will say that is only part of it. The first week was at our church. The second week was a really huge one where some other friends were going. And this week it is at his school. This week has been his favorite-I think because of the little mini-reunion with all his little school friends.

So all week he has talked about a boy named Ethan. This is not a friend from school, but someone he just met this week at VBS. Now, any of you how know Connor personally have probably gathered that he isn’t the most outgoing, social kid out there. Once you get to know him, or get on his good side by playing a crazy imagination game, you are a friend for life. But he doesn’t usually make friends wherever he goes. Derek and I joke that he gets his social awkwardness from his daddy. 🙂 Anyway, back to Ethan. I figured Connor talked about Ethan because either a) he loves space as much as Connor, or b) he is a bit of a trouble maker. Tonight at dinner he mentioned Ethan, and I asked if he was his friend.
“Well…we were playing duck duck goose, and he was the goose and kept chasing me and tagging me. So he’s usually not my friend.”
Very matter of fact. Oh, to be 4 again and choose your friends based on whether or not they let you be safe during a game of duck duck goose.

Last night, Connor very carefully chose his pajamas. And he could not be swayed.
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For the record, the socks match the sweater vest. It was actually the socks that inspired the pjs.

Let’s see….what else has been going on…Logan got sick a week ago with croup. It was pretty bad-he woke up from his nap really having a hard time breathing. After a steroid shot, a breathing treatment, and 4 days of steroids at home, he is back to normal. Derek’s parents came to visit last weekend. We kept the visit very low key since Logan was sick, but it was still a good visit with a trip to the pet store, Sams, and some good fun playing dominoes. I will state for the record that I really kicked everyones tail at dominoes that night!

We looked at some dogs for adoption at the pet store-not pet store dogs, but from one of the dog rescues that goes to the pet store on the weekend. There was nothing for us. I think if the time comes we will head to the SPCA. I have talked to several people in the area who adopted puppies from there and had great things to say about it. I am still on the fence about the dog. We are having a vacation with Ryan and Maggie in July, plus my (much anticipated!) girls weekend after that. So I think I will revisit the dog issue in August when I will be home for a long stretch. But in the meantime, Connor picked out a beta which he has named Goldfish Hungry. Don’t even think of shortening that name, by the way. He is adamant about his name being Goldfish Hungry.

So I guess that’s it! We have a pretty busy weekend with my parents coming to town and my niece and nephew’s birthday party. Should be a fun weekend!

Silly kid

Connor has discovered the fun of Photo Booth. He loves to play with all the different effects. Here is a sampling of his photo booth fun!

Thanks, DB

Patrick gave this authentic Chinese outfit to Connor for Christmas, but up until today it’s been ignored and folded neatly in his closet. This morning, he was taking and extra long time getting dressed, so I went to see what the holdup was. He was struggling with the buttons on this little number. He was SO excited to wear his today to the pet store, Wal-mart, and Sams! He did get a few odd looks, but really not too many. This kid cracks me up!

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Bookworm

When I was a kid, one of my favorite summer activities was the Summer Book Club. I loved going to the library and browsing shelf after shelf of book. I loved racing to the VHS section to see if Savannah Smiles was in that week. I can still remember the layout of our local library branch. I spent summers with my nose stuck in a book. I read during breakfast and lunch. I would spend hours swinging in the hammock reading. My favorites were the Baby-Sitter’s Club and anything by Judy Blume. I loved to read. I think my dad instilled in me a love of reading. We would regularly go to Bookstop, and I would devour at least half my latest BSC book while he browsed.

But somehow, through the years, I lost touch with my love of reading. I got busy with sports and friends in high school. I got busy with marriage and baby-making and raising kids and scrapbooking. Reading a book was pretty much reserved for airplanes, until I had kids, and then even that time went away. I think there were years when I would read maybe one or two books, times when I would rather pick up a People Magazine or US Weekly than a book.

But this summer, I have rediscovered my love for reading. I started taking the kids to the library pretty regularly. I started taking notice when people talk about books on their blogs. And the final straw…I discovered the Request Page for my library. This is the greatest thing ever. I search the books from the comfort of my home. I find one I like and click request. When it’s in, it’s placed in an envelope with my name on it, right at the front of the library. I can be in and out so quick. No more hushing the kids, reminding them of the library rules while I search for books. In the past month these are the books I have read or have checked out right now:

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult (notice a trend? When I get stuck on an author, I tend to read everything he or she comes out with.) I read this one in 3 days! It got me. When I read, I completely and utterly get into the story. I cry when I read. I laugh out loud. I identify with characters so much that I feel like they become a part of me or a best friend. People who are not book lovers cannot understand this. Anyway. back to my book list for my own summer book club:
Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. This is such a great parenting book for those of us with spirited a.k.a. strong willed kiddos. So many practical ideas, and just the whole philosophy of the book is great. Why do our strong-willed kids have to be negatively labeled? They possess so many great qualities that just need to be refined!
Tonight I checked out Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin, The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark, and three books about dogs-one about adopting rescue dogs, one about choosing a dog, and one about beagles because I think they are so cute and are at the top of the list for potential breeds…which reminds me, thanks to all of you who commented about the dogs. You guys all have great advice!

So, wow. I just re-read my blog and this is totally long and probably pretty boring! But I wanted to get it down on my blog in case in the years to come I forget that I love to read. And so I can get a prize at the end of the summer for reading a bazillion books.

Football and the frog

Meet Buster.

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Connor found Buster in his Powerwheel Jeep. Creating this little habitat and watching buster climb the side entertained the boys for quite awhile this morning. Shortly after taking these pictures, Connor and Logan filled the tank with grass, sticks, and more rocks. Shortly after that, Connor decided to let Buster go, much to my relief. I mean, I am fine with him doing the little boy play with frogs thing, but I was afraid that if we kept him one of two things would happen: 1) either he would find a way to climb out the little hole in the top and hop straight to my bed, giving me a coronary in the middle of the night, or 2) he would die. Buster was a fun diversion this morning, and I am quite happy that he can live out his little frog existence in the backyard with all his little frog buddies.

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Just because I think these pictures are cute. He is our future football star.

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Possible new family member

First of all, no, I am not pregnant.

On our way home from dinner tonight, I casually mentioned that I wanted to get a dog. We’ve talked about it before, like one of those things that we will do eventually. But tonight, we actually had a serious conversation about getting a dog maybe this summer sometime! There are a few really specific things we want (and by we, I mean me. Because while Derek is a-ok with getting a dog and is really more of a dog person than I am, he made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want to be the one responsible for taking care of and training a dog.) So the specific things I want:

-Smallish. Not put-in-your-purse-small, but I am not a fan of big dogs. Big dogs=big poop. And big dogs make me nervous.
-Must be good with kids. That is a given.
-short hair is better, but this wouldn’t be a deal breaker or anything.
-Fairly cheap. Spending hundreds of dollars isn’t really in the budget. We want a rescued dog.
-Here’s the biggie. I want one that is already trained. Do those even exist, or should I just count on a lot of training?

So I am going to start researching, checking out the shelters around here, and who knows. Maybe this summer we will get a dog. Or, I could wake up tomorrow and be completely over this dog thing. That’s how I roll sometimes.

Oh, I almost forgot. I was going to see if any of you faithful, dog-loving, blog readers had any suggestions as far as breeds, what to do or not to do, just anything in general.

Shout Out

For the past few weeks, I have been in a creative slump. I love to scrapbook. I love to make stuff. But for the past 3 weeks or so, I am just not in the mood. I’ve been doing lots of reading and lots of watching Veronica Mars. Did you know you can check out entire seasons of shows from the library? Anyway, I digress. I have not been feeling creative, I just felt like curling up with a good book or my shows.

But I am starting to feel the tingle of a creative surge looking at my friend Carrie’s new papers! I got to know Carrie through an online scrapbooking site awhile ago, and had the pleasure of meeting her in real life back in January. She is truly one of the most Godly, loving, compassionate, and fun people ever, and I am so thrilled for her latest adventure–staring her own scrapbook company, Paper Trunk! I can’t wait to play with these papers, and I just know that Paper Trunk and Miss Carrie are going places! So here is a shout out to my friend Carrie and her super cute papers!

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