Holiday Traveling

Early early this morning we set out to Arkansas for the holidays. Garrett got up at 2:45am, slid Ben in the car, and began the 12 hour trek. Olivia decided that she didn't want to do that drive again, so she and I got up at 4:30am to catch a flight out of Denver to Oklahoma City (seriously cheap flights for those that want to come visit!).

Garrett and Ben had some good daddy/son bonding. 

Olivia taking a much needed play break at Grand Meme's house. 

I am happy to say that Olivia did surprisingly well on her first flight. I was so afraid that she was going to melt down for no reason at all, but she didn't! She just flirted with everyone around us and wiggled around enough to make sure I got my arm workout in for the day. It was still a stressful process, flying on my own with a baby, but overall a success. 

Because we flew, Olivia got to hang out with her Aunt Kimmy and Grand Meme before driving with my parents to Arkansas. It was nice getting to see them since we didn't get to come to the big family gathering this year. Hopefully we can next year. 

Now let the holidaying (that's a word, right?) begin!! 

My Experiment Failed...In Other News

Since my Luxurious Locks post, A LOT has happened.  Most of you reading this know that we moved from Ohio back to Arkansas after my son was born (his story here, I know I left you all hanging).  I was all too happy to leave Ohio, mostly because having a new baby and no friends or family isn't fun.  As soon as we were back in Arkansas, we started on a journey to plant a church in Boulder, Colorado. This journey flourished then came to a screeching hault summer 2013.  Let's just say God was, and is, happy to change our plans.

We found out we were having baby number two last September.  Olivia was a bright spot in what was a crazy, stressful year.  We were in limbo for a while, when the blessing floodgates opened, and the University of Colorado in Boulder called Garrett--out of the blue--offering him a teaching position.  So now we're here in Longmont.  Garrett LOVES teaching at CU, and Brittney just accepted a position in financial aid at Front Range Community College; I'm so happy for her.

A great place to throw rocks, Ben's favorite new activity.

My kids are also loving the move; well, Ben is as Olivia could care less about where she's at as long as she's being paid attention to. My little girl (whom I love dearly) is, shall we say... spirited.  She is the definition of high-maintenance!  If you know my son, you know that he was a super chill baby.  Olivia, on the other hand, prefers others to know 100% that she's there and has something to say.  Athough she's trying at times, I love her spunk.  She is so expressive; a smile and laugh from her makes all the screaming seem like a distant memory.

My little girl. She's a Ladybug Princess

Ben, now almost three, is a ball of energy; one day a switch just got flipped in him and he hasn't stopped moving since.  Even though he's "Mr. Crazy Toddler" now, he still has the quiet focus and concentration of his baby months. Give Ben a puzzle and he won't hear a word you say; he goes into studying, problem solving mode. He and Olivia currently couldn't be more different, but they sure do love each other.  Each of their faces lights up when the other comes into a room.  I'm so happy that they're good together.

Look at my boy all grown up! NO! I refuse! He's still a little, bitty, tiny man...so there.

One of my favorites of the two of them laughing and playing. They really do love each other.

Beautiful, Beautiful...Wish You Were Here!

One of my favorite movies, one that I could watch over and over again, is French Kiss.  It's a typical Meg Ryan (pre-face alteration, why Meg why) romantic comedy flick.  It has tons of quotable gems that make me happy just thinking about them.  One memorable quote occurs when Meg and Kevin Kline are walking through a quaint French village; she exclaims, "Beautiful, beautiful...Wish you were here!" She's basically wallowing in the fact that she's in an amazing, beautiful place with an annoying frenchman (Kline) and not her former fiancé (Timothy Hutton).

Despite the reason Meg had for this exclamation, I like the quote and how it relates to where I'm at in my life.  We recently moved to Colorado and are loving it.  AND I wish all my friends and family could move here with me.  It's so beautiful in Colorado, and I wish everyone else was here.  I wish my parents could come over whenever they wanted, play with the kids, sit on the back porch, chat, and enjoy the view as much as I do.  I wish my best friend Lacee lived a couple of houses down and came over for play dates and coffee every week.  Even though I love living in Colorado, I miss my friends and family in Arkansas. Sigh...

Watch it and Love it.  You're welcome

Where Are My Luxurious Locks?

One of the perks of living in pregnancy land is typically having thicker, fuller hair.  All the things I read say things like, "enjoy your lovely, flowing locks while they last."  (They say, "while they last," because once the baby comes, your new thicker hair will supposedly start coming out in clumps.)

For those that don't know, my hair is naturally wavy.  I typically style it scrunched curly, flat-ironed straight, or in a pony tail (I don't get fancy as I don't think I could a) pull it off or b) accomplish any other style on my own--ask my sister, I'm hair styling handicapped).  A couple of months ago, after a long run of pony tail days, I decided to go curly.  Things didn't go so well.  I chalked it up to having to rush until I tried again a few days later.  I ended up having to use a curling iron on my entire head of hair thus looking like a much older version of little Shirley Temple (minus the super short dress).  Thus is my life now: I no longer can get my hair to curl naturally.

That's not all folks.  "Just go straight then" you say, well there's a problem there too.  My hair has hormonally become quite corse and a little stiff.  Blast!  Now the only pony tail outlet I have leaves me with an outcome I am not 100% pleased with.  I cry out, "Where Are My Luxurious Locks!"  I'd be happy to deal with losing all my luxury after the baby comes to have a few months of loveliness.  Oh well.

After all that complaining, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the baby's room.  I still need to put things up on the wall, but I thought I'd end on a happy note.

My, essentially free, changing table.  I wasn't going to buy a changing table, but it came with the crib at a cheaper price than the crib by itself.  Thanks Black Friday!

Ben's bedding.  A little cutesy, but I love the colors..

This is Bubble Bear; he's just hanging out.

Bubble Bear is famous!!

Front shot.  My mom insisted on the matching mobile.  It's cute though and completes the picture.

This is Ben's shelf that is a bit cluttered at the moment.  Notice the AMAZING moo bank on the top that Brittney found for us.  We have already started filling it with spare change.  

Thought I'd throw in a prego picture for those that have been asking for one.  In this picture, I was about 29 or 30 weeks.  I'm not big on being in front of the camera, so you're welcome.

           

I'm A Fan

As most of you know, I am done teaching for a while.  Thus, my days are filled with sleeping in (wonderful), doing dishes (blah I miss having a dishwasher), and organizing (a guilty pleasure).  Ok, so I also spend some mornings catching up on all my Hulu shows that Garrett doesn't have an interest in.

On the days that I am trying to put off the dish washing, I find myself surfing the web.  The other day I got caught up for half an hour watching YouTube after YouTube about people giving puppies as surprise gifts.  If anyone had walked while I was watching said videos, he or she would think something was wrong with me as I was sitting there bawling my eyes out in the darkness of my apartment's living room.  I must note that this is not a usual occurrence.  Usually I'm crying over the latest Parenthood or Biggest Loser episode.  

When I'm not crying at my computer, you can find me searching through Pinterest.  I originally had no interest (ha! no pun intended) in this trend until I spent an hour one day looking through recipes people had posted and I found myself trying to bookmark at least ten different blogs on this or that.  After that day, I saw the benefit of having one place that you can save all the wonderful things that you'd normally bookmark the entire site to find again.  Brilliant!  I asked my sister to invite me to join (sounds fancy I know).  I was off to pin (pinterest lingo meaning to save whatever is cool to my account) to my heart's desire.  This image was one of my first finds on Pinterest; if it doesn't make you want to drop everything and join, then I don't know what will.

I've named him Boots.  

The ultimate goal of Pinterest for me is to utilize the pins I'm saving; I want to actually make the recipes that I'm pinning (I'm not sure that I'd actually do any of the crafty things I pin).  If I don't accomplish this goal, then I am junking up my computer in the same way I have managed to collect far too many food magazines with the thought of one day making that one chicken/beef/pork thing that looked so good and easy.  I have made one recipe so far, so I feel I have already taken an important step toward success.  I'll keep you posted on my progress of this goal.  For now, enjoy looking through the world of Pinterest!