April 24

Happy Birthday(s) and Anniversary to Brittany and Jason Hudson!!!

That's right folks - they share the same birthday and got married on that day... Talk about making it easy to remember the date!

Today, we were going to a baby shower and I convinced the Mama-to-be to let me take pics of her and the Daddy-to-be before the shower!

Here are a few to enjoy....
























Valuable lesson #1

AVOID TAKING PHOTOS NEAR NOON ON A CLOUDLESS DAY IN AN OPEN FIELD.

It was a tiny bit bright...  Just a bit.

However, this prompted us to invest in a reflector, so I have a feeling we won't have as much of a problem next time!

April 23

I know that I am quite a fun and exciting person and you are all dying to know how I spent my Friday night????

Jess had organized a poker night at our house - YAY!  

Unfortunately, everyone bailed.

So, I spent the night cleaning out my car my the light of a shop light.  Wow, huh?

The best part of the whole night??  

Take a look at this refashion....

As I have mentioned before, once upon a time I was a flooring estimator, which means I drove all over the Austin and surrounding communities measuring houses for new flooring.  It was fun, hard and I miss it.  I had all kinds of gear - including the organizer pictured above.  I have tried to pawn this thing off on several people, but no takers!  I am so glad I kept it!  

Now, I can easily organize Jake stuff and if someone wants to ride with us I just grab it and throw the whole thing in the way back.  

I seriously feel a little awesome because of this.  

I owe my new found interest in keeping my car clean to Alexis (Jess' cousin and my friend).  She has a tiny baby and I happened to take a peek in her car the other day and was FLOORED at the emptiness of it - so clean and tidy - it was AMAZING.  I decided right then and there I would do better.  

Anyone need a ride?  I've got a clean car and room to spare!

April 22

Do you want to hear something funny and rather ironic?

Remember my blog from yesterday about the good in people?

Well, this morning Jess discovered that someone got our credit card number and spent $400 out of our checking account.  My sweet hubby got to take off of work and spend his morning at our bank trying to get it straightened out.

Luckily, it was clearly credit card fraud and they were able to refund all of the funds today.

Geez.

April 21

Something I saw today really struck me as... well... important.  Or at the very least something I wanted to share.

I was driving to work this afternoon after dropping the munchkin off at the sitter when I notice what almost looked like a police car pulled over, but there was no other car or lights or anything.  I was already quickly checking my speed, putting my phone away (so that he wouldn't see that I had just been making a call in a school zone), and wishing Jess had already gotten my car inspected when I figured out that it was just a security guard - WHEW!

What I saw next was really what caught me off guard - he was out in the middle of the road stomping out a grass fire - WHAT?!  With all the rain we have had I was pretty surprised, but then I thought to myself what an amazing person that must be, to pull over on a relatively busy road and take it upon yourself to stop what could have been a HUGE mess.  He could have kept driving and assumed someone else would take care of it, that's probably what I would have done (I was in flip flops after all!), but no he stopped.

I just think that is a pretty amazing thing.  The compassion of people in this world always makes my heart swell a little.  I never will forget several years ago I was in a wreck (not my fault!) and was just sitting in the middle of the road in my car, completely unnerved, when several complete strangers told me to put it into neutral and pushed me, in my car, into a parking lot and then stayed with me until the police came.  I was totally fine, just really upset, but total strangers were there none the less.

So, if you see someone in need tomorrow - help them out!

You never know who might be watching...

Ya know, Santa and such.  :)

April 20

Tonight I made this....

I thought it was pretty... and yummy.

April 19

Today I was the person who everyone hated in the checkout line, and I kinda hated myself a little bit because of it.

We are trying to be frugal, but I didn't have anything to drink at the office so I stopped over at Walgreens on my way to work, but you have to be careful at Walgreens because the prices can be high, unless you catch things on sale.  Today was my lucky day - they had the soda and candy that I wanted on sale!

AWESOME!

Unfortunately, you have to watch them because they OFTEN don't have the sale prices in the register, which of course they didn't have the soda price.

So, I kindly inform the sales lady of the price - she looks at me like I am crazy, but asks another girl, who confirms that that is the price.  This is where the trouble really starts, I'm not sure how long this associate had been working the register at Walgreens, but the technology part of it was really giving her trouble and it took her several tries to fix the price.

YAY!

Not quite...  I had to go and make matters more complicated.  In an effort to control my spending I had gone into the store with $2 and a gift card for $1.04 that needed to be used up, and I had mistakenly gone 10 cents over my budget.  So, I ask the lady to remove something - she again looks at me like I'm crazy, but does it.

There's a line behind me now and they are really starting to look annoyed.

So, I quickly hand her my gift card with $1.04 and tell her that is has that much on it - she swipes it and it doesn't work.  At this point I am wishing I could just abandon the whole fiasco, but I've already caused this much drama so I knew I had to see it through.

I explain that there is only $1.04 on the card, but there is money on there.  The other associate from before is trying to help the nicotine desperate guy behind me find his particular smokes, but has to stop and help ring through my gift card and it works (the 2nd time she does it).  I am apologizing to everyone at this point, but I know we are in the home stretch!

I hand the lady my $2 and my change drops out of the little machine next to register, it's 20 cents short, but I just don't care anymore - I grab my purchases and run!

I don't think I can ever go back to that Walgreens again.

April 18

Happy Birthday to Josh!  He was born the day after Noah and is totally adorable!  I can't wait to see how he and Jake do together this summer when they come to visit.

I don't think I have one from the day he was born, but here is one of him with my his mom (my cousin LeaAnn).  No, that is not baby Jake - they just look very similar! :)



Today, we went and had lunch with Amanda and her girls - it was fun and exhausting!  I seriously don't know how she keeps up with them.  Shelby is about 2.5 and Haley is just a few days older than Jake, they keep their Momma busy!  Heck, between the 3 adults and 3 kiddos we were all running pretty much the whole meal.

Made me wonder yet again if I could handle more than one munchkin...

April 17

First of all, I have to wish a very Happy Birthday to Noah James!  He was born 3 years ago and it is amazing how much has changed in those 3 short years.  We miss Noah and his folks a lot, but we are going to see them in late August!

Here is a photo from the night little Noah was born.



Saturday's are always busy at our house - it's the only FULL day Jess and I have off of work together so we are always trying to make the most of it.  We expected nasty weather so we started out the day thinking we'd be home mid afternoon, but the weather held out and we were out and about most of the day.  I got a really great BIG picture frame and Habitat ReStore - stay tuned for that project! We were supposed to take pictures of my friend Amanda's little girls, but with the weather we opted to try that next weekend.

Here are a few shots I took while we were waiting on Jess in the car:

I love this one because you can actually see how blue this kids eyes are...







Fish face!

April 16

Jake is blessed with the sweetest Daddy (almost) ever, with the exception being my own Dad.

Anyways, my hubby happens to be a tiny bit obsessed with our little guy - which I don't ever complain about - I think it is really cute.

Jake and I headed up to his office today because I wanted to take a picture of this:

While we were there I was also able to get a few shots of Jake doing what Jake does - being SILLY!

April 15

Here's LAYLA!



How sweet and cute is she??

I had to dig for a Buster pic, but I didn't want him to feel unloved. :)



Nermal actually posed for a basket photo shoot just a few weeks ago.

April 14

I blogged about this little while ago, but I'm just now getting around to dealing with it.

You can read the story of my wonderful and FREE Bookcase here.

Anyways, so I had already decided where I was going to put this bookcase - I measured and everything!  However, of course it just didn't work there - as shown below...



So I had to go back to the drawing board...  after days of pondering on it I was only able to come to 1 conclusion - I was going to have to get rid of something to make room for it. WHAT?! Get rid of something!?!?

Eventually, I was able to come to peace with getting rid of the baby changing table in my dining room. Yes, I know, it should not have been that hard to get rid of that - I mean a changing table in the dining room doesn't sound like a very great idea to any of you now does it?  I'm here to tell you that you are wrong people - that thing was wonderful!  When Jake was tiny we could set him in there and he was safe and secure, we captured many giggling fits on video on that table, not to mention we didn't have to run up the stairs everytime he had a dirty diaper or risk getting other furniture dirty.  But, these days it is just as easy to plop him down wherever to change his dirty drawers, so it is time to move our beloved changing table to a new loving family...  (sigh).

The mess that was the changing table is pictured below.  Now that I see it on the screen I do realize that it is kind of an eyesore.  Oh well! :)



So here is what that spot looks like now!



Much better than that changing table, huh? :)

I'm working on what to put on it, so stay tuned for that!

April 13

Hey you!  You!  That's right - I'm calling you out!  I'm actually starting to really enjoy this blogging thing, but I'm honestly not sure if anyone even cares about what I have to say.  So, do me a favor and if you enjoy reading this thing please leave me a comment or send me an email and tell me so!

To thank you in advance for your comments I am going to share with you this very lovely photo of myself:

Thanks!

April 12

I love to read.  No seriously, I really really LOVE to read.

The weirdest part is that I don't really care what I am reading, as long as it is positive with a relatively happy ending.  I know - I'm totally lame, but I don't really care.

I have found that I can buy 6 romance novels at Half Price Books for $3 - you can't beat that! I am also VERY cheap.  :)

So my question to you is whether or not anyone wants a bunch of my old romance novels (because quite honestly I am embarrassed to put them on my bookshelves) and I don't want to just throw them away.

April 11

Home again... home again... jiggidy jig.

I have no idea where that came from, but I like it.

While I was off making some bacon Jess and Jake happened upon a car show!

Luckily, Jess was able to keep Jake from running out into traffic and even take a few pictures... well more than a few.... 142 to be exact!  I think he might have been hanging out with me too long - I'm the girl who can take 300 pics of Jake in a single afternoon.

Crazy?  Nah...

Here's the link if you want to take a look for yourself...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjhkinnison/sets/72157623711057915/

This one is my favorite.

April 10

We need to put new floors in our house!  Jess and I have decided we LOVE LOVE LOVE the laminate in Will and Kristi's house. I somehow did not get any pictures of it, but I took some with their camera so I will steal one as soon as they are up on facebook.  It is an Antique Cherry laminate that is JUST rustic enough to be beautiful without looking like you live in a barn.

We didn't finish them today, but we got them started off and they should be able to finish it tomorrow.  

While we were driving to and from their house (they live out in the country-ish) I saw this field of wild flowers that was just GORGEOUS. 

I don't think my pics do it justice, but here are a few...  

I almost forgot - Layla went to the beauty parlor and got her summer cut - isn't she just adorable with the little bow?!?!  (She wouldn't cooperate to take a pic, Jess claims it was because she was embarrassed over the bow)

April 9

We are heading to Victoria again this weekend!  We are going to help put in some new laminate floors into my bro in law and sis in law's house.

For those of you who either don't know or don't remember, once upon a time I was considered a flooring expert...  I don't know that I was actually was such a thing, but it's what they called me. :)

I'm pretty excited to be using some of that knowledge again this weekend and hopefully actually getting down and dirty on the install.  When "we" put in the floors in Jake's room I wasn't allowed to help due to my delicate position, so this will be my actual first time putting in laminate!  (I'm officially a nerd for being so excited)

April 8

Another one bites the dust...

Another wasted day that is.

Jake hasn't been sleeping well lately, but it has gotten worse since his surgery - he wakes up several times night and cries for what feels like hours. Jess has been to work early several days this week because we both ended up getting up to care for Jake in the wee hours and instead of going back to bed he just stays up.

I think I have figured out the problem - Jake is spoiled and it is totally our fault.  I feel rotten about spoiling him and I know that breaking him of this waking up and wanting to be "walked" to sleep thing is going to be really painful for all parties, but when I have just gotten to bed an hour or two earlier and then Jake wakes up for an hour or more - that puts me going back at bed at around 5, which makes an exhausted and worthless Mommy.  Not to mention a cranky kid all the next day.

The first step in the repairing the damage we have done is we are both going to try to wear him totally out during the day and cut out any late afternoon napping.  I'm hoping this works so we don't have to do step 2 - letting him cry it out.  :(

Any suggestions?

April 7

On my way to work today I noticed a yellow haze across the Austin skyline from the CRAZY POLLEN this year!  The oak trees are blooming and everything is yellow/green/gross!  Even Nermal, our formerly white cat is currently yellow with black spots.  

Luckily, we are surviving it with nothing more than annoying allergy sinus/headache, but we need a seriously soaking rain shower to clear all this crap out!

 

April 6

I've had this spring cleaning bug for some time now, but it seems as though actually accomplishing things is always eluding me!  I have been looking for a decent priced tall shelf for a while - so I can put my books up high and possibly toys and Jake friendly stuff down low, but I'm REALLY cheap so it's been tough.

UNTIL TODAY!

I found a FREE - that's right FREEEEEEEEEEE - wonderful amazing tall shelf on Craigslist!  Yippee!

We got really lucky because there wasn't a picture up, so I sent Jess over to look at it and he thought it was so great that he man-handled it down from a 3rd story apartment by himself... he's so wonderful!

I am still trying to decide where I want to put it, so stay tuned for pictures.

April 5

I love my job, but this time I was totally not ready or wanting to go back to work.  However, duty and our pocketbook calls... 

A big SHOUT OUT to my Uncle Rick - who had to have his appendix out yesterday on Easter.  Everything went great, but talk about a cruddy way to spend Easter.

Lollie is here for the next couple of days to spoil Jake - Thanks Lollie!!

April 4

Happy EASTER!

Jake has been doing so well that today we decided to pack up stuff for the afternoon and head into the hill country to take bluebonnet pictures.

It was just a fantastic day...  Jake did sleep a lot, so I didn't get to take as many pictures of him as I would have liked, but I also got some pretty good shots without Jake in them. :)

What do you think?

April 3

I have been waiting for this day for many months... I have been trying to convince everyone around me to agree that this REALLY needed to be done, but I was getting a lot of push back.  After a couple of incidents at the hospital FINALLY Jess and Lollie agreed with me.

It was time to turn this...



...into THIS!



My baby is a big boy now!  Of course, he cried the entire time and you would think that we were killing him.



In the end it turned out adorable if I do say so myself.

We also spent the day looking for DEALS at garage sales and Goodwill - we found a few things that I am excited about, but you'll have to stay turned to hear about that. :)

When we got home we all went across the street and Jake had a blast playing with bubbles!

April 2

Today we rested...

Until Jake got so fussy that I just couldn't stand it, so we got in the car in our pj's and went to see Daddy.

Nothing like car ride to cheer up a fussy kid.

April 1

Today is April Fools Day and it went completely unnoticed in my world - which is kinda sad because I love a good practical joke...

I was worried we would not get to leave today because the night was a little rough.  Jake threw up several times and just couldn't seem to settle, finally at about 4 AM we gave him some strong pain medicine and everyone got some much needed rest.  Apparently people were in and out of our room really early that morning and for the most part I didn't even hear them - which is scary, but luckily Dell Children's is an AMAZING hospital that took fantastic care of us and our precious little guy.

Jake was up and walking the halls by late morning and then in afternoon we were on our way home!

I am SHOCKED at how quickly he improved - still on the pain medicine, but all in all you can hardly tell that he had surgery just yesterday.

By bedtime it was a slightly different story...




...this was after he threw up on Lollie twice.

He was plum tuckered out!

March 31

Today was an amazing, scary, surprising, funny, exhausting, and wonderful day.

Today was surgery day and it has been confirmed that I have a completely perfect son and fabulous family.  

It started at about 4:30 this morning - we had to be at the hospital EARLY and we were a few minutes late, but Dell Children's is an amazing place and it didn't matter at all.

I had really been stressing about the total freakout that would happen when I had to hand Jake to the people in the OR, and it seemed like it was going to be bad when he was already wigging out while we met with all the Doctor's beforehand, but I remembered they could give him something to calm him down and asked for that and WOW! It was like the kid was having the best day of his life (and a little drunk), he was just looking at me and giggling over nothing.  I handed him to the Doctor and he giggled at her, it warmed my heart and made what could have been a terrible moment into a hilarious one.

Then we waited and waited and waited...

They called us into meet the Doctor - and we waited almost another HOUR! That was the most terrifying time of our lives, all Jess and I could do was try to stay calm. When she finally came in we found out that everything was fine the whole time, they just called us back too early!

Everything went PERFECT!  Dr. Sweeney said he cracked them up before they put him under... leave it to Jake to charm the OR before his surgery.

We eventually made it into his room - most of that time was spent with him sleeping on someone because he refused to be put down, but I can't blame him for that.  Luckily, we had reinforcements in the way of my Dad and Jess' Mom.

Jake was such a trooper - he was fussy and threw up on Lollie and myself, he did not rest well in the hospital, but none of that even matters in the end because he is whole and perfect.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and positive support - I could not ask for a better support system!