Just another Manic Monday (oooh ooohh)

Hey everyone. I wanted to say a quick hello out there to the blogger world. I have a few things to share for a cold and breezy Monday.

First of all, today is Jackson's 17 month birthday. I can't believe that it has been almost a year and a half since he was born. He has just been the best thing ever, and it is so much fun watching him learn new things. Seriously, he is like a sponge now, and you can almost see the wheels spinning in his head while he figures out how things work. He is amazing!!!

We had a great trip to Hattiesburg this weekend. Jackson had a great time as usual, and I picked out my dress. It is the one in the picture. It will be all pink (think watermelon pink), and this will actually be the first strapless dress that I have ever worn, and I am excited because it is a beautiful dress, but nervous because I don't want to be one of those girls that is constantly pulling their strapless dress back up. That is sooo tacky. If your dress doesn't fit you , and won't stay up, then Don't Wear It!!!! Now, I am on the search for the perfect strapless bra. This should be easy to find (note the sarcasm in my typed words). I always have the albsolute best time bra shopping....so much fun!!! Puh-lease...I would rather go through labor without pain medication.

In other news, Jeremy now has bronchitis and sinusitis, along with a steroid shot, and $150 worth of prescriptions to make him feel better. I seriously hope that he feels better soon. His cough has been terrible, and goodness knows, neither I nor Jackson needs to come down with anything.

I am heading to the neurologist in a few hours to see about my headaches. I can only imagine that my visit will be so exciting and joyful. I will keep you posted.

Anyways, have a great Monday, and I will post pictures from this weekend tomorrow hopefully. I am hosting a conference for 90 people, so I know I will be busy, but I will see what I can do. Talk to you later!!

TGIF!!!

Hey ya'll!! I hope that you are doing great. I have just a few things to share.

1. My favorite sister in the whole world got a job and a super cute haircut. She will be working with a home health agency and she is really excited. She also got 9 inches cut off of her hair, and it is now a little longer than shoulder length and has the cutest layers. It makes her look so much older (which for both of us, has always been a struggle).

2. We are heading to Hattiesburg to go visit Jeremy 's family and also for me to get measured for my bridesmaid dress for Amy's wedding. We have 5 dresses to choose from, and so far, I have only eliminated 1 of them. So sometime between now and tomorrow, I have to figure it out. They are all gorgeous, and it is going to be so hard to choose...

3. My bp is doing better, but is still not great. I just took it again, and it was 136/92. Fair, but still not great. At least I feel better. I have a slight headache, but nothing intolerable.

4. The 6th grade girls mission class that I teach on Wednesday night is doing a mission project where we are going to be collecting new and gently used shoes of all sizes and styles to donate to a wonderful organization called Soles4Souls. They give these shoes to people who have been in disasters such as the tsunami's in Asia, Katrina, and other various disasters around the world. Their motto is, "Changing the world, one pair at a time." So far, they have contributed over 3 million pairs of shoes to over 40 countries in 5 continents. I know that I have at least 10 pairs of shoes at home that I no longer need and will be donating. We will be collecting for at least a month, and if you would like to donate some shoes, please email me at auflag@yahoo.com to see how you can get involved. We expect that the cost of shipping will be about 1 dollar per pair in case you just wanted to help with that. My girls are so excited, and our goal is 500 pairs of shoes! Can you help us??

Have a great weekend, and let me know if you can help our shoe drive. See ya later!

So much to say, so little time

Hey Ya'll. I hope your New Years has been wonderful. My 2008 has been so stinking busy at work. We have a huge conference next Tuesday, and I have been so busy getting ready for it. I have hand labeled and zip code sorted over 3600 pieces of mail in 3 days, and let me just say, I am sick of labels!!! So far, my smooth move of 2008 has been to send a 1900 piece mail out to the printer only to find out that I had made a huge typo on it, and had to have it reprinted. Fun huh!!! I can promise that I only make the same huge mistakes once. I am a pretty quick learner!!!

In health news, for anyone who knew about my blood pressure problems that I have been having, they are slowly being resolved. I have been on bp medicine for awhile now for my headaches, and once upon a time, before Jackson, my bp was perfect. In fact...it was often rather low. Not so much after Jackson. I promise he doesn't stress me out, but apparently a lot of things can change after you have a baby. During the holidays, I quit taking my medicine. I know, I know, bad idea, but it was making me feel so sick. I have been having headaches really bad for about a week, and when we were at my parents on Monday night we took my bp on their monitor. It was an alarming 182/125 which apparently means that I could have had a stroke. Everyone fussed all over me until I agreed to go see my doctor yesterday. My pressure was still really high when I was there, so Dr. Banach made me have an EKG, and they are doing alot of blood work. I do know that:

1. I am not pregnant

2. I did not have a heart attack

So I have been put on a different medicine, and my bp was much better this morning. The doctor thinks my head has been hurting so bad because of my pressure, so I will see my neurologist on Monday, and see where we go from here. My headache is much better already...still there, but much better!!!

In other much more fun and exciting news, I have been meaning to share some new Jackson stuff. Here goes!

• Jackson can now pitch a fit like a pro. He has mastered the art of turning his whole little body into Jello and sliding out of your arms into a heap on the floor. His new frustrated sound is "Uuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh." It sounds great, and let me just share what fun it was to carry him over my shoulder through Wal-Mart the other night with him screaming his new word and everyone staring. Apparently, he was not ready to leave the kid trap section that includes all those machines that sell lead-filled toys for only .25 cents and carousel rides. I loved every second of it, and now can be inducted as an official parent.


• Jackson has several new words: Cheese, Ra-Ra (rabbit for those of you not used to Jacksonese), Mommy, Daddy, and our favorite, duck. Duck usually comes out as "Kuh, Kuh, Duck. It is so stinking cute.


• Jackson got his haircut again last night. He did great with the help of a bubble gum flavored sucker. They even used the clippers on him, and he didn't even flinch. He looks so cute.


• Jackson spotted a stuffed animal tiger last night in the front of a car. He was with my Mom when he saw it, and immediately said, "Gggrrrrrrr." He is a genius, and of course, an Auburn Tiger fan!!!

Completely unrelated but blog mention worthy anyway, our friend from church, Miranda, sent out an email today that she had had a flat tire and needed help today getting the tire replaced/repaired and then getting it back on her car. Guess who volunteered???? My little sister, Kellyn!!! We always say that she is the son my Dad never had. I have never changed a tire in my life, and although my Dad tried to show me several times, I would imagine it would be a lost cause if I ever had a flat. No offense Dad, I know you tried hard!!!! Kellyn on the other hand, has changed 3, and is up to the challenge. So in honor of Kellyn, I leave you with these words...

TIREBUSTERS!
We ain't-we ain't-we
We ain't afraid of no tires
TIREBUSTERS!

Happy Birthday Amy!!!

I want to give a huge Happy Birthday shout-out to my favorite Sister-in-law, Amy Elizabeth Wade on her birthday. She is amazing, and I feel so incredibly blessed to know her. She is such a witness for Christ, and has a heart of gold. She is so wonderful, and Jeremy and I are so excited about being in her wedding on 06/07/08. She and Adam are going to have a terrific life together, and everyone knows that their kids will be the smartest kids in the world (except Jackson of course!!) Hopefully we will be able to come visit this weekend, and let Jackson give her a big Birthday kiss. We love you Amy!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

In other news, today is the 1o year anniversary of the death of my Grandpa, Ben Moore. He was a fantastic grandfather, and I will always treasure knowing that his grandkids were forever "his characters." I will always miss him and love him!!

Pics...finally

Jackson on Christmas day with some of his new toys!

Wade family


Jackson on the ride home (notice his hands on the vacuum cleaners...he wouldn't let it go)

Jeremy and I before Trans Siberian orchestra

The incredible Trans Siberian Orchestra

Jeremy and Jackson hanging out at home (Aren't they cute!!!)

The randomness that is life...

Hey ya’ll. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Years. I have been gone so long from blogging that I feel absolutely desperate to share all my randomness with everyone. For ease of reading, I will have to break things down into daily tidbits. Let’s begin, shall we?

December 20th: I got off work at noon, not a minute too soon, met some former MACOA coworkers for lunch, and had a great time catching up with everyone.

December 21st: Sent Jackson off to preschool for me to finish all my Christmas shopping with my sister, Kellyn. We had breakfast, shopped around, and I still had time to go home to finish packing to go to Mississippi for Christmas. I was on my way to get Jackson at school when I got the message that Jackson had thrown up at school. The message assured me that he was fine, and with that calming note, when Jeremy got home, we loaded the car and headed to Hattiesburg. We stopped for dinner at Wendy’s, pulled out of the parking lot, and Jackson proceeded to throw up all over his car seat. Let me just share something simple with everyone. I can handle a lot of things, but vomit is NOT one of them. I made Jeremy swap seats with me and I insisted that we go back home instead of continuing our 4 hour journey. I don’t know what we would have done had he thrown up at the halfway point. I can assure you of one thing: had we had to stay in that car for much longer I would have joined Jackson’s little throw up party. When we got home, Jackson did get sick one more time, and then we cautiously got him into bed.

December 22nd: Got up at the unholy hour of 5:00 and got ready to head to Mississippi. We were on the road by 6:30, got breakfast, and then headed to Mississippi. At 8:00 a.m., Jeremy aka “Leadfoot Wade” struck again. I was laid back in my seat, taking turns snoozing and reading, when I heard Jeremy say, “Oh man.” I sat up, and behind us was the lovely lights of a Uniontown, AL police officer. We got his insurance stuff out, handed him the license, and the whole time, our sweet little Jackson looked over at the lights and kept saying, “Bluuu, Bluuu.” He loved looking at the lights out of one window, and the cow pasture out the other. He had a great time, and the whole experience will only cost us $183.00!!!! You know, you really can’t put a price on entertaining your child!!!

We had a great time visiting with Jeremy’s family in Mississippi, and Jackson got the coolest front end loader dump truck thingie (love the name of that don’t ya) that he has ridden all around, a really cute USM wind suit, along with a bunch of other toys and clothes. Jackson loved everything!!It was a great visit, and we were so happy that Jackson got well enough for us to go.

December 23rd: We came home from Mississippi and got home in time to have our “Moore” family Christmas. We played Dirty Santa, and I think my Uncle Bill opened about 10 gifts because his kept getting stolen. It was too funny.

December 24th: I don’t think anything notable happened this day. It was too rainy to do much.

December 25th: Christmas Day!! It was still extremely rainy and yucky outside, but we had a good day. Jackson got his very own vacuum cleaner (he loved it) more toys, some puzzles, and lots of musical instruments. We had a great day with him, and we were exhausted when it was over.

December 31st: New Years Eve was spent watching Trans Siberian Orchestra perform in Birmingham, AL. Kellyn and Jason watched Jackson for us. Jeremy and I rung in the New Year with 11,000 of our closest friends and when the year changed to 2008, tons of confetti and balloons fell in the BJCC. It was great!!!

I guess that just about wraps up 2007 for us. I will post tons of pictures tomorrow, because today I have been swamped at work. I hope you had a wonderful New Year, and now it is just time to start breaking all those crummy New Years resolutions!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Jeremy and I just wanted to wish everyone a happy New Year. We got back into our hotel in Birmingham at 1:00 after seeing the Trans Siberian Orchestra. They were great!!! I will post tons of pics and other random stuff later, but for now, I must run.

Happy New Years!!!!!

Thursday Ramblings...

Last night our church had the Lamb Family come and play during our church service. Let me just say that they were a blessing. I have never been so amazed at what 4 talented violinist were able to do. They play a violin better than I can play a CD. They have even been featured on some major radio and news shows, and now have 4 CD's out. Even Jeremy couldn't stop talking about them on the way home, and that says alot!! They did a rendition of "Overthe Rainbow" that brought tears to my eyes. It was so beautiful, and they were AMAZING!!!If you ever get the opportunity to see them in person, do not pass it up.

In ear news...Jackson went to the ENT yesterday to check on his ears. To our shock, they are fine. He did note that the right ear is draining a little, but it is doing just fine, and the left ear is "perfect." I am so relieved that this cough/cold hasn't kicked off a major ear infection.

Jeremy and I have decided that we are going to go see the Trans Siberian Orchestra on New Years Eve in B'ham. The show starts at 9:30 and will probably go through the New Years. How cool is that!! Kellyn and Jason are going to take care of Jackson, and we are so appreciative of the two of them. They are wonderful for how much they help with Jackson, and we love them so much!!! I can't wait to see the show, and we are so excited. I will definitely tell you all about it next year!

My blog posting will probably be few and far between through the rest of the year. I am lucky enough to have today be my last day of work for the rest of the year. I will try to catch up with ya'll soon. If I don't see you before then, Have a Merry CHRISTmas, and Happy New Years!!!

Wade family Christmas card

Thanks Heather!!!

Super big thanks to Heather for designing my new blog banner. I love it!! It is so cute, and I am mucho appreciative. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

Britney's Lil' Sis

In blog worthy news, it has come out that 16 year old Jamie Lynn Spears, little sister of Britney, and star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, has gone and gotten herself knocked up. Apparently the father-to-be is her “long-time boyfriend.” Now I may be crazy, but since when can any relationship be classified as a long-time relationship when you are under the age of 18? Jamie and her man Casey, have been dating since she was 13 ½ (does the half year really make that big of a difference??) and Casey is now 19 years old. Now in most states, if you have a “relationship” with someone under the age of 18, that is called statutory rape. What makes celebrity relationships any different? It seems like the norm in Hollywood is that everyone can have "relationships" with anyone, and no-one ever gets married. That just seems so against everything that I believe. Is it truly normal now to have children without being married? Maybe so, but I am so grateful to have a husband and a child. It makes life so much easier. Now don't get me wrong, I truly feel sorry for Jamie. Having a child is hard work, especially when you are only 16 years old, and I can only hope that she is ready for the challenges ahead of her.

Where has her mother been while she has been in this relationship? Oh wait, her mother has been busy writing a parenting book. Now it all makes sense. Lynn Spears wanted to share all her parenting tips with everyone about how she has successfully raised two girls in show business. I don’t know about you, but I was waiting on pins and needles for Mama Spears to tell me the best way to cash in on Jackson. Seriously, kids are expensive these days.

Some of you may remember that I so graciously offered Britney some help during what may be deemed as her darkest days. Sadly Britney never took me up on my offer. Now, I humbly extend that offer to her little sister Jamie. Britney can still be included in the package deal. I know that it can be tough being a big sister; after all, you do have your little sister looking up to you for everything, and following your lead in life. I mean, who else is going to teach you to color coordinate your thong panties with your sequin bra top. That my friends is the true meaning of sisterhood!!! I can only hope that I have taught Kellyn as much as Britney has taught Jamie. Then, and only then, would I be truly proud of my skills as a big sister.

My next official Job Title: Common Sense Consultant for the Spears family. I think it could work, and I only charge a nominal fee…

So much to say...

After much anticipation on our part, the crib tent finally arrived (2 days earlier than expected!!!) I thought that I could handle putting it up all by myself, and surprise Jeremy when he got home with my ingenuity. Let’s just say, that didn’t happen. I believe that I was at the point where I was equating putting this tent together with labor and childbirth. I honestly think I actually worked harder last night trying to put that stupid tent together than I did when Jackson was born.

All that to say, it was nowhere near finished when Jeremy got home. After a few minutes, we got it done, and put on his crib. Jackson had the best time playing with the box it came in, and I couldn’t help but smile at him and tell him that he had no idea how much fun I was going to have once we got that tent up.

If any other parents out there have the aquarium that goes on the side of the crib, you know how much fun it is to put that thing on, or take it off. It’s about as fun as a root canal with no anesthesia. Well, guess what..the tent won’t work right if the aquarium is inside the crib, so we had to take it off. Let’s just say that whoever designed that little contraption should be lined up and shot. They decided to put the batteries inside the little section that screws on, which is fine, but then you also have to attach it to the crib from inside the battery section. How stupid is that!!! This involves putting yourself into positions that could only be mastered by yoga experts, and that I have no desire to find myself in anytime soon.

Finally…we got it all done. Other than a zipper that is slightly louder than one might like when you are trying to check on a sleeping child, it seems great so far. Jackson was asleep when we put him in the crib last night, and he slept, well, like a baby all night long. Then, at 5:00 this morning, he woke up and must have been panicked by his tent. He was WAILING. We got him in bed with us, and then later this morning, we put him back in the crib, and got him laughing. I don’t want him being scared by the tent, or needing therapy in 20 years because of his fears that he is being trapped. I am sure that I will have plenty of tent reports in the near future.

In other news, Jackson is having to go back to the ENT tomorrow to have his ears checked out. As you may know, Jackson got tubes put in back in April. His left tube has not fallen out of his ear, but it is not working, and the right one is fine. Because of that, his right ear is draining like a faucet right now from his cough/cold, and the left one is not doing anything. I would be big bucks that he has another ear infection, and if so, I will be jumping to get that tube put back in his ear. I will NOT go through another winter like we did last year. Simply not gonna happen...

I have posted several new pics are of Jackson's few favorite thing to do while I am getting changed after work. Look closely....Where's Jackson???? Have a great Tuesday!!!

Haiku Anyone???

First things first…Baby, it’s cold outside!!! After weeks of sub-tropical weather, it has finally gotten cold outside. Who believes in all that global warming garbage anyways??? Not me, and I would gather that there are quite a few global warming skeptics in the Midwest and northeast region of the U.S right now. Anways….guess what. I had a totally normal and fun weekend, and I will gladly share a few highlights with my loyal readership.

But first I have to share something that I found totally exciting. Many of you know that I am an admitted blog-stalker. I read the sites of people that I have no idea who they are, but yet, I feel that I have known them forever. Most of my blog-stalking comes from links from Heather’s page, but occasionally, I stumble onto blogs that I just get hooked on. Something along the lines of 7 degrees of blogging. Rocks In My Dryer was that way. Shannon is her name, and she has an amazing site, and it is hugely visited. Anyways, all that to say, I got a mention on her page the other day. She has tons of fun contests, and mostly you just have to enter a comment to be registered for the contest. Last week, she had one where you had to write a haiku (you know the 3 lined poems with 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and then 5 syllables) about the snowfall. I entered a haiku, and she named mine as one of the Honorable Mentions. This was out of over 300 poems!!! I was so excited.

Here is my (almost) Award Winning Haiku:
No white snow for us.
Too hot in Alabama.
Eighty in Dixie.

I know you are so proud of me. If ever you need a haiku written, you now know where to turn. I will be signing autographs later for a nominal fee.
In other news, here is our weekend in a nutshell.

Friday: Jeremy and I went to have dinner with my former boss and her family. They made to die for chili, one of Paula Deen’s salads, and then we had key lime pie for dessert. We had a wonderful time, and may I just say that Jennifer is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She is fantastic!!!

Saturday: We got up and headed down to Greenville, AL for Christmas with my Mom’s side of the family. It was a Mexican extravaganza, and the food was so good. On that side of the family we never do “normal” Christmas food like turkey and dressing. We have had seafood, Italian, sandwiches, and now Mexican food, and it is always so good.

Saturday night: Jeremy and I went out to dinner at Logan’s for our 6th anniversary. The food was great, and boy do I have a wonderful husband. I am so lucky.

Sunday: Normal church and then Jackson and I took an amazing nap together after lunch. After Jackson woke up, he tried his hardest to give Macy a kiss. She was all for it, and every time I stopped him from kissing the dog, he would just crack up laughing. It was so cute. Jackson was in a terrific mood all day, and we had a blast spending the day together. He is so much fun, and even though he has fought through a bad cold all weekend, he has been a trooper.

Sunday night: Apparently while I was at church Sunday night, my dear, sweet husband, thought it would be okay to give Jackson some of his sweet tea. Then, when it was time for bed, my dear sweet child was literally pinging off the sides of the crib. Jeremy tried convincing me that he had only given Jackson a few sips, but I beg to differ. Somewhere in our dishwasher is the rememts of a sippy cup filled with tea. I just haven’t found it yet.

I guess that’ s it for today. In the words of that famous little porker, “Th-th-th-that's all folks!"

Friday Ramblings

Hey everyone. I hope you are having a great day. I don't have much to say today other than ramblings, so here goes!

• Jackson is 16 months old today! He is growing like a weed, and is learning new things almost daily. It has been so much fun to see the changes he has made. He's great!
• Jackson must have had a nightmare last night because he woke up at 1:30, and it was after 2:30 before I got back in bed. I spent most of that time laying on the floor of his room saying, "SSHHHHH, SSSHHHHHH" while trying to get him back to sleep. Every time he dozed off, as soon as I would get up, his eyes would fly open and we would start the whole process again. Needless to say, I am dragging today.
• Jeremy turned the alarm clock off sometime during the night, so when I woke up at 6:10 my first thought was, "Oh Crap." That is 30 minutes later than I normally get up. That my friends, will start your day out on the wrong foot.
• Jeremy and I are having dinner tonight with my former boss, Jennifer. I am so excited about seeing her again. She is wonderful!
• Tomorrow is Jeremy and my 6 year anniversary. We don't have big plans other than going to the Ox Yoke restaurant for steaks tomorrow night. It has been a great 6 years, and I look forward to about 70 more years with him.

I guess that's it. Have a great weekend, and try to finish all that Christmas shopping you have been putting off!!!

Our solution (at least we hope it is)

After much debate and many creative solutions offered, we have decided to purchase the Tots In Mind Cozy Crib Tent to try and contain little man for a few more months. Actually, I decided to buy it, and Jeremy graciously agreed. I know that I don't want Jackson in a toddler bed or a twin bed yet, and I am just a nervous wreck when I think about him climbing in and out of his bed. So, I had to find something to help us. We actually were watching Dateline last night and it was featuring the McCaughey septuplets and showing them over the last 10 years. It had tons of highlights from when they were toddlers and Jeremy and I spotted the crib tent over many of the beds and I just had to do some research and find out what it was. Thanks to GOOGLE, I now know. It looks weird, but parents that have tried it sing it's praises. I know....I did research! It should arrive by next Wednesday and believe me, you will hear about it whether it is good or bad.

Bite-Gate Update: I know you have all been on the edge of your seat wanting to know whether we got Jackson to quit biting. Answer: Sort of. He had stopped biting and then they promoted Kaitlynn to his class at school, and guess what her favorite thing to do is? You got it…Biting! She has left 3 bruises on his arms from her little canines. Jeremy’s main concern was that she had her rabies shot. After all, we can’t have Jackson getting sick! Now, Jackson has reverted back to biting occasionally, and I can’t really blame him. Kaitlynn is chewing him to pieces. He has to defend himself somehow!

I gotta run. Tonight is the last night of Dave Ramsey, and in his honor, I am going to skip class and go Christmas shopping! Have a good Thursday!

His new trick!!

Last night we had a wonderful time at my office work party. The food, decorations, company; everything was perfect. Then I called home and my perfect evening came to a screeching halt.

Me: We’re on our way home. How did Jackson do?
Dad: Let me tell you what your son did.
Me: What did he do? Was it bad?
Dad: I’ll just wait until you get here to tell you.

Let me just say, that is the worst thing in the world to hear. My mind literally started turning with possibilities of what Jackson had done. With an adventurous son like Jackson, you never can tell what he is going to do.

My parents watched Jackson while we were at the party. Everyone had fun. Jackson had played, probably cut up a little bit, and had a wonderful time. They gave him his bath, and after his bath, they were in his room, he pointed to his crib and acted like he wanted to get into it. They put him in, and this is what he did:

This little monkey has figured out how to climb out of his crib!!! At 16 months!!! I was so counting on at least 2-3 more months before I had to worry about this. Of course Mom and Dad stopped him before he was able to complete his mission. His new trick however is causing me a great deal of heartburn. I CANNOT put my 16 month old so into a bed where he has can come and go as he chooses. He would be into everything. I would officially never sleep again. I would be completely gray by the time I am 30. Life as I know it would be over…Sigh. Parenting really should come with a manual.

This is how he slept last night. This way, we figured, if he climbed over and fell, at least it would be cushioned. Perhaps our reasoning is a little skewed, but we are definitely open to suggestions . My first thought was of Macy’s enormous dog crate, but I don’t think DHR would take too kindly to that. Any other ideas?

Lots of Pics!

I have posted some of pictures from this past weekend. I hope you enjoy!

The cute grad, Mrs. Kellyn Moore Gibson

Dad, Kellyn, Jason, and Mom

Jason, Kellyn, me, and Jeremy

Me and Kellyn

The future grad of the family

Jackson playing before graduation

Doesn't he look like a little man

As promised: Kasheesh and friends!!!

Praise Baby!

I'm gonna get a Praise Baby bib for posting this! How cool is that....I seriously love free stuff!!!

Happy Graduation!

Hey everyone. I hope ya’ll had a wonderful weekend. I have so many things to share from this past weekend that I have decided to break things down into categories for your reading pleasure. This will be a little long, but oh well. Here goes!

Graduation Stuff!!

• My incredibly smart sister, Kellyn, won the Dean’s Award in her school for her incredible 4.0 grade point average in graduate school. We are so proud of her!!! If anyone out there in blog world is looking to hire a new Occupational Therapist…give me a call. I can hook you up with the smartest graduate the University of South Alabama can offer you.
• Kellyn’s totally average big sister made a fool out of herself before the ceremony began. Picture this….Jackson decided to wait until we were at the ceremony to fill his diaper with the worst possible graduation gift ever. Since Jeremy claimed that the men’s bathroom didn’t have a diaper changing station (totally not true by the way), I took Jackson into the women’s bathroom to fix him up. When I finished, I realized there was no way that I could put Jackson down, and wash/dry my hands with him running around the oh, so sanitary bathroom. My solution: take Jackson back to Jeremy, and then I went back into the bathroom to wash my hands. Sounds good right?? Only I didn’t walk into the women’s restroom. You read that right. I walked right into the men’s restroom. My first thought was, “That’s weird…why would there be urinals in the girl’s bathroom?” My second thought…”Why are there men in the girl’s bathroom.” After about 2.5 seconds, I realized my mistake and quickly said, “Whoops…I’m in the wrong bathroom. “ I think the men were in shock. At least no one was visiting the urinals during my little visit. I was mortified enough as it was. Jeremy was pretty embarrassed by it also.
• Kellyn’s graduation was at 2:00 in the afternoon. In typical Moore fashion, we arrived at 1:00 to scope out the best seats. This was after arriving on campus at (I’m not kidding) 11:00 for pictures in front of the jaguar on campus. My Mom is world famous for her photo taking, and much to her credit, we always have tons of great pictures to choose from. Pictures sessions were always easier pre-Jackson…He tends to be a handful. We found the perfect seats right by the stairs, and on the end of the aisle so we could make a quick exit with Jackson if needed. So imagine my pleasure when at 1:55 I look around and I am literally surrounds by Indians (as in from India, not Native Americans). They have completely covered my planned exit route, and are just standing there. Not looking for seats, not taking a quick picture, they have planted themselves in my exit route, and I was not happy about it. Oh well.. I figured that I could weed my way through the crowd if needed. Imagine the next surprise I found. These people around us talked the ENTIRE graduation ceremony. It started at 2:01 when the guy directly behind me got his first cell phone call of the service. This was immediately followed by calls 2 through 97. Picture this…he answers his phone (in whatever language that was..) and proceeds to look down over the balcony where he is standing and he starts talking to someone BELOW us. ARGGGHHHH. I was beyond frustrated. Then the girls start talking/laughing/answering phone calls/giggling/generally annoying me. Now I tend to be a nice person. I try so hard when stuff gets on my nerves to make myself behave. However, when you are at a graduation ceremony, the least you could do is be respectful of those around you. I don’t care what culture you are from…it is RUDE to be disruptive and obnoxious. At first I tried my dirty look over the shoulder when they started talking. It is 97% effective for dealing with rude people. They were completely oblivious to it. Is that a culture thing? Next I tried sighing loudly…still nothing from my Hindu brothers/sisters. Finally, I pulled my last trick out of my bag. When Mr. Kasheesh answered his phone for the 80th time, I turned around and asked him to leave. I believe my words were, “Do you mind? Can you take your phone call out there?” and then I kindly pointed the exit out to him in case he couldn’t read the English it was written in. Did I go too far? I don’t really care. That kind of thing really gets on my nerves. They were disbanded for a few minutes when the policeman asked them to find seats because the people sitting behind them couldn’t see. It didn’t last for long. After a few minutes the whole Indian Consulate was back, and now, one gentleman was kind enough to take Jeremy’s seat (he was out with Jackson). It wouldn’t have been so bad had he not had the worst B.O. I have ever smelled. My Mom and I finally gave up trying. Clearly…it was a lost battle. I will post pictures later of our new friends. We discretely got their picture. The entire thing was priceless….

Hotel Stuff!!!

I promised stories from Jackson’s first stay in a hotel, and usual, Jackson did deliver.

• We had just checked into the hotel, and Jackson and I had gone on up to our room while Jeremy was getting the luggage out of the car. I had put that little bar in the door so it wouldn’t shut all the way, and then I walked over to the window to open the curtains. I then heard, “Boom, Boom” and then silence. I turned around and looked, and Jackson was gone. I ran to the door, looked out, and there was my little monkey running down the hall laughing his head off. I know..I know..I will definitely win Mother of the Year Award for almost losing my child within 5 minutes of checking into the hotel. That my dear friends, takes talent.
• Jackson was kind enough to wake up at 5:00 on Saturday morning. Is this some kind of sick trick that kids learn to inflict punishment on their parents. Seriously. Saturday morning. At 5:00. We were basically offering him everything from a cold hard cash to a new Mustang on his birthday for him just to go back to sleep.
• We finally got him to take a nap at 8:00 in the morning before we were going to check out. We had no more put him down in his playpen when housekeeping came knocking. I thought I was going to come unglued. He did stay asleep though, and then he was running full tilt until 7:00 on our way home.

Random Stuff

Some random stuff that I though might be of interest to you.

• After graduation, we ate at Wintzell’s Oyster House which according to the menu, has a location in Hattiesburg, MS. For anyone who hasn’t tried it, I must recommend this seafood restaurant. The have all these great signs posted all over the restaurant that are just hilarious to read. The whole place is two crab claws up!
• We are going to the Montgomery Zoo tonight to see their Christmas lights. I am planning to take full advantage for our outdoor adventure while it is still 80 degrees outside.
• Congrats to the Prattville Lions for winning their 2nd 6A Football Championship in a row. They beat Hoover last year (from the MTV show Two-A-Days), and shutout Spain Park this year. They are currently ranked #2 in the nation. We are so proud of our lions!!!

I guess that’s all for now. I will post pictures from graduation as soon as I remember to bring my camera. Have a great Monday!

Random Ramblings...

I tried Pom Wonderful yesterday. I have eyed it in the grocery store for a long time, but at $3.99 per 16 oz. bottle, I wouldn’t have dared try it. The bottle is super cute and curvy, and some homemade pepper sauce will look so cute in it next summer. But yet that curvy bottle beckoned me from the shelf when it went on sale for $2.99. I know…I know….it’s only 1 dollar off, and that still amounts to almost .20 an ounce, but I only get to live once, so I was bound and determined to try some pomegranate juice.

Their website description is “Just imagine: a tempting, jewel-like, ruby red fruit that explodes with rich, sweet flavor. When you think about it, pomegranates and cherries belong together. Both are a rich source of antioxidants. A cheery, cherry thought.”

Verdict: It’s Okay. I wouldn’t define it as cheery, not for $3.99 a bottle. I could do just as well drinking some Welch’s grape juice, or even apple juice for that matter. Just my humble opinion.

In other news, yesterday was our Dave Ramsey class. That means two things for us…Dave is going to tell us how to not live once again, and we are going to have to do the mad dash dance out of the house in order to make it to class by 6:00. So I got home last night and was putting the mail down on the counter when I heard this weird sound. “Thunk..Thwock…Thunk…Thunk.” I look around and realize that Jackson is nowhere to be seen. Then I spotted him. Enjoy the pictures.

We are heading down to Mobile in a few hours for my sister’s graduation from the University of South Alabama. She has finished her graduate degree in Occupational Therapy, and we are oh, so proud of her. She has finished both her undergrad and graduate degrees with a 4.0 average. That my dear friends, is impressive…and something that I was nowhere near accomplishing!!! At her graduation from college, I was 6 months pregnant with Jackson. I am sure that I will have some interesting things to post about Jackson’s first graduation ceremony to sit through, and also his first hotel stay. Stay tuned…I’m sure it will be exciting!!

Prattville's Finest

I have a story to tell today. It has a lot of rabbit trails, and I am going to have to chase them all, so forgive me ahead of time.

We went out to eat with my Mom last night for her B’day. After eating, we headed over to K-Mart to check out their outdoor Christmas lights. You see, yesterday, Jeremy was going to set up the Christmas tree, and I was going to decorate it last night. We had a great pre-lit artificial tree that was up at our wedding, and I guess the life expectancy for the tree had reached its limit. When Jeremy got the tree out of the attic, he found that there were several frayed wires, so, the tree has to go.

*Now I have to find a real tree that I like just as much.

There wasn’t anything we liked at K-Mart, so we headed over to Lowe’s. Now let me give you a little picture of our Lowe’s. It is located at this great cut through road that takes you from one busy side of Prattville, to the other busy side, while bypassing a lot of traffic. Super convenient. We found just what we were looking for, and as we were headed home, just as we pulled out onto that road, I commented to Jeremy that he needed to slow down because of the construction they are doing in the area.

We got home at 7:00 only to find out the strand of lights was about 10 feet too short. I told Jeremy just to leave the lights up, but turned off, and wait until tonight, and after our Christmas party, we could run back to Lowes and buy another strand. But oh no….We can’t do that. These have to go up tonight!

So Jeremy decides to head back to Lowe’s at 7:30 last night. I made him take Jackson with him, because Jackson would have had a meltdown had his Daddy left him. So there I was, the house to myself, with my bathtub calling my name.

*No sooner did I get in the tub, when the phone rang. Ugh. Oh well.
Meanwhile, Jeremy got home and said, “Well. Something just happened to me that has never happened before.” Without batting an eye, I said, “You got pulled over didn’t you?”

Jeremy said that he was on that infamous cut through road when one of Prattville’s finest got him. The same road I warned him about his speed on! He said he passed two motorcycle officers, and immediately one of their lights came on. Here is their conversation:
Officer: “Where you going so fast?”

Jeremy: (Picture him opening his door because the windows won’t roll down anymore) “Lowe’s for Christmas lights. We didn’t buy enough.”

Officer: “Did your wife send you back?” (Why would he assume that?)

Jeremy: “Yes.” (Not technically true, since I told him that we could wait until tonight…but I digress.)

Officer: “I need to see your license and proof of insurance.”

Jeremy: “Okay. Hold on…It’s in here somewhere” (picture Jeremy opening his glove compartment and pulling everything out because he couldn’t find the current card). He finally found a somewhat recent card and the officer glanced at it, and told him to slow down through there.

End of story: Jeremy did not get a ticket, only a warning, but the price he had to pay was me laughing my head off at him, and a HUGE “I told you so” from me when he got home. Jackson apparently was great during their adventure. Jeremy said that he didn’t make a peep, just looked at the lights.

Strand of Christmas lights: $11.95
Another strand of lights because it just couldn’t wait: $11.95
Being proved right by someone in uniform: Priceless!!