Daddy's b'day

Donning the party hats...RR's had already broken. :)

The Bean's cake decor philosophy: the more sprinkles, the better.

Helping Mommy clean up

Mommy's little helper

Daddy turned a whopping 35 years old this month, and we had a big par-tay for him. The Bean was the party planner, coming up w/ the theme ("balloons, and streamers, party hats too" - taken from her Barney movie), picking out his gift (bagels - also from her Barney movie, and pajama pants), and helping Mommy make the cake (she chose the cake decor - sprinkles). She insisted that we all wear party hats like Barney, but Wal-mart was out of them (what?!?!) so I made some from elastic and cardstock. They weren't my best work. We had a big breakfast for Daddy that the Bean helped me make too. Oh, and RR and I did actually go on a date for his b'day too...Firebirds and "Paul Blart: Mall Cop". RR loved his b'day weekend and a great time was had by all!

8 months

This is his Owen Wilson/Zoolander look.

Well, the little guy is already 8 months old!! (I'm a few days behind in posting this.) He is sitting up really good by himself, even in the bath, and he is "commando" crawling everywhere on his belly. He can easily get on all fours, but so far he hasn't really gotten the crawling on all fours concept. He wants to pull up so badly, but he just can't get it yet. His 3rd tooth is coming in now, with much less fanfare than the 1st one. :) He is starting to eat some table foods, mostly b/c he's not been really good about eating the baby foods. But he is getting better. We're down to nursing just morning and bedtime now, which gives me a little more freedom if I need to be away. He's still "razzing", and has started to say the "buh" sound. He's a cutie, and we are enjoying him!

Christmas 2008

The whole clan on Christmas Eve...Baby Sarah Grace is the only child smiling!

Hmm, what do I open next?

My Dad and sister-in-law opening gifts...note the newborn on her lap!! My niece, Sarah Grace, was born right b/f Thanksgiving.

The rest of the Christmas Day crew...not pictured - me. :) Nobody wants to see me in my jammies w/ no make up.

Hey everyone! Sorry for the blog hiatus, but I left my camera at my mom's after Christmas, and then RR and I went on a week-long anniversary trip (more on that later). So here are some pics from Christmas. Sadly, I only took 4 pics. Oops. But even with the lack of visual proof, we all had a great time! We went to my mom and dad's house Christmas Eve for my Dad's side of the family get-together, then I got together w/ some high school friends of mine (why didn't we take a pic?), and then the next day my brother and sister-in-law came to my parents house to celebrate Christmas. The Bean got a kitchen for Christmas that took my sister-in-law and I 3 hours to put together. Yes, 3 hours..."some" assembly required. But far and away the Bean's favorite Christmas gift was her Barney video. She LOVES it and wants to watch it all the time. She understood so much more this Christmas and liked to carry around Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph from our nativity set. They became fast friends. She wanted Baby Jesus to watch her eat, tee-tee, and sleep. :) We had a great time celebrating Christ's birth and already can't wait for next year!

16 Random Things About Me...

I've been tagged by my friend Kari, and sadly, I am very excited about being tagged. I'm kind of a nerd that way. Makes me feel loved...like someone is choosing me for their team when you were in elementary school. :) So here goes my facts:

1) I appeared in 2 episodes of "Club Dance" on The Nashville Network. Don't think I'm too special...anybody can be on it. That was during my country dance phase. I had cowboy boots, Wranglers, and the whole nine yards.

2) I've broken 13 bones over my lifetime, and no, I've never been in a major accident.

3) I've had a job that required a hair net...worked the salad bar at Winn Dixie during Summer Beach Project '98. Don't like wearing a hair net...cramps my style. :)

4) I don't like sweet tea...I know, I'm not Southern.

5) High school/college Amanda would be shocked and appalled at what Mother-of-Two Amanda wears around town. I don't think yoga pants and a college t-shirt qualify as an oufit. The girl who used to reapply lipstick IMMEDIATELY after eating now believes that drying her hair equals really trying to look nice. Wow. Stacy and Clinton would have a field day on me.

6) Seafood weirds me out. Think about it...when you eat shrimp, lobster, crab, and even some fish, they are served on your plate looking pretty much like they did when they were alive. They have tails, claws, sometimes they still have their heads!!! I've never seen a hamburger or chicken finger on my plate looking at all like a live cow or chicken, thank you very much.

7) I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diet Coke. If there were no health concerns and it were up to me, I'd only drink that and coffee.

8) I had Diet Coke for breakfast every day in high school.

9) I hate exercising, except maybe leisuring walking w/ a friend. But if it works up a sweat, I'd rather avoid it.

10) I hate controversy of any type.

11) I think I like the idea of cooking rather than the actual act itself.

12) I don't take my makeup off at night. I know, I should be shot. Erin, feel free to chastise me. In fact, all of you can chastise me. Maybe that will motivate me to start taking my makeup off. I'll look old and wrinkly by the time I'm 40.

13) I'm very absentminded, and it's only gotten worse since I've had kids. The campus police knew me by name in college b/c I locked my keys in my car so much. And I've had to give my neighbor a key to my house b/c I've locked myself out of the house so much...sometimes w/ the kids inside.

14) I cannot keep sweets at my house. I have no will power and can't ration them out. A box of cookies or a half gallon of ice cream would be gone in a weekend.

15) I am very detail-oriented, and even have a system for loading the dishwasher cutlery basket. I put one piece of cutlery in each section so that each section will have the same amount of pieces. Most people stuff the front two sections full b/c they are easiest to reach and leave the back sections half-full...and I can't stand it!!

16) I love these stupid tags, and forwards about getting to know your friends, etc. When I was a kid, I used to make up info "forms" for myself to fill out to pass the time in church...you know, like name, address, phone number, eye color, hair color, favorite color, birthday, etc. That's right, I took the time to make a form just to fill it out. I am sick. :)