You think you can tag me?!?!

Well, you can. ;)

Okay... I believe I've done this before, but I am gonna try again...

8 quirky/odd facts about me...

1... I CANNOT stand it when my Mom or anyone for that matter, pours a Pepsi and loses all the carbonation because they just dump it in the glass and they don't pour it slowly! My Ryan kinda mocks me for this, but I can't help it... Makes me go nuts!

2... When I was younger, I had a bit of OCD about counting a lot of things out by 10... If we were driving on the highway I would HAVE to tap my foot 10 times between each light pole... I remember it so vividly... (said very fast) 12345678910...12345678910...12345678910 Oh the joys... ;)

3... I have an addiction to Bunny Tracks Ice Cream... It is physically impossible for me to walk past it in the store and not buy it! ;)

4... I get super annoyed when people say Always and Never when they are trying to prove a point.. I mean, really do I NEVER say Thank You, and do I ALWAYS slam the door? (Of course these are examples, not actual statements...) ;)

5... It really annoys me when people write emails, posts, blogs, etc... and there are horrible, glaring spelling errors all throughout them. I'm not talking about the run of the mill misspelling or occasionally forgetting a punctuation mark. It's mainly those who never attempt to use spellcheck or even proofread their work.

6... I'm a mocker... There... I said it. Although I think this is often a character flaw, not a quirk... ;) Whatever the case, it is very hard for me to control the urge of pointing out other people's flaws, usually when someone misspeaks or does something that I think is hilarious, and not mock them or make a joke of their perceived indiscretion... I mean, I don't make fun of something you were born with that you cannot change... I don't walk around making fun of the handicapped or mentally impaired, but I still think maybe I should tone it down a little... ;)

7... I don't know if this is a quirk, but I HATE scary/horror movies... My Ryan of course loves them and cannot understand why I don't. Why do people like being scared or horrified? I like action/thrillers, but they are different... Also, movies that could actually happen, i.e., someone breaking into your house and killing you, scare me a lot more than movies where aliens invade the planet... You get my point. Scary movies stink... bottom line! ;)

8... Whewww... I was beginning to think I wouldn't make it... :) Lastly, this probably isn't a quirk, but I HATE doing laundry... There are other things that don't bother me, and I don't mind loading the washer and switching things to the dryer... It is folding and putting everything away... I HATE it! I know this may sound stupid, but it is my most dreaded chore and one I pretty much do every weekday, so you would think I would get over it, but I don't... I guess it is so boring and there always seem to be piles and piles... Oh well... I guess I'll live. ;)

Alright that's it... I think all my friends have already been tagged, but if you haven't and you want to play along... Help yourself! ;)

Brace Face!

This is a name that I WISH I would have been called as a child, because that would mean I wouldn't have to go through this now, but seriously, I am SO VERY GRATEFUL to be able to finally have this done (Thank You Ryan!) and be one step closer to having straight teeth and not be embarrassed to smile in public! Yay! :) You will definitely be seeing many, many more full teeth smiles in about 2 years! ;)

Anywho, I'm posting this because as I was brushing my teeth tonight, which by the way is like a 15 minute process to get all this metal cleaned, I noticed that I was seeing more of one tooth than normal... (If that makes any sense!) I have one tooth that is usually almost completely hidden behind one of my "2 front teeth" and I could see almost all of it! I took a picture and compared with a pic I took before I got braces, and sure enough, it has already started shifting! I still have a LONG way to go, but I am so thankful that God gives us little encouragements along the way through this somewhat painful process! :)

Under Construction...

As you can see... I've been changing a lot of things as of late, and I'm still not quite happy with it, but this is at least presentable for now... I had created my own background, but just didn't like it after it was all done, so this will have to do for now, but hopefully in the next few days I'll be putting one together that I really love... So, if you don't recognize the blog everytime you come to visit, sorry... :) Soon enough I'll settle on a background!

Unfortunately, you can't shield them from everything...

Well, one of the many joys that comes with your child learning to walk is their attempting to run, and in turn falling on their face a few times... :( Normally it isn't too bad, and Eli just hops right up and tries again. Well, last night Eli wasn't really wanting to go to sleep, so I thought I would let him run around a little to maybe burn off his last reserves of energy and then he would fall right asleep. Unfortunately, that entailed running towards the cofee table, (we put it away in the office fearing this exact situation) tripping before making it and falling headfirst into the sharp corner edge... You guessed it... the coffee table won. I run over to pick up my screaming baby thinking maybe he hit his chin and his mouth might be bleeding, but no, he hit just above his right eye and he was "bleeding like a stuck pig". I scoop him up and head for the kitchen as I yell to Ryan to come help me... We make it to the kitchen and I get a paper towel and try to hold it on there to stop the bleeding, then Ryan comes over and he takes the job... Of course Eli did not agree to our switch, so he starts panicking even more because Daddy holds him a lot tighter than Mommy can... So we talk and Ryan told me to call my Mom to see what she thought we should do... I almost told her that we already had a wet paper towel on there, so she better have another solution, but I didn't! She said you might as well take him to the ER since we couldn't get the bleeding to stop and it was a pretty good size gash, so off to the ER we went, but not before I crafted an awesome bandage from some leftover gauze and medical tape I had lying around... He looked like a wounded war veteran for sure with all the tape I used!

We got to the ER and didn't wait too long until we were seen and the Doctor took off my wonderful bandage, and I had succesfully stopped the bleeding (Yay for Mommy!) but the Doc decided to open it to see how deep it was and then it started bleeding again, :( so he said it was too deep and we had to have stitches! :(

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, we had to lay him on the bed, and I pretty much laid down on him and held his hands and feet down while Ryan had a vice grip on his head... This in itself brought panic mode on and when the doc put the first shot into his boo-boo it was all over! He was screaming louder than I've ever heard him and he got 3-4 shots to numb the area and then he had to start the stitches and it was so awful! I just felt so bad for him because he just didn't understand why Mommy didn't pick him up and protect him from the mean man poking him. :( He of course bled everywhere and after it was finally all done, Ryan had to hold gauze on it to try to stop the bleeding while I laid with him and sang and tried to soothe him... He basically calmed down and when they didn't come back in to tell us anything, I just picked him up and basically all was well with the world! ;)

I have to change his bandaid and give him antibiotics, but otherwise you would never know it happened! He is playing, sleeping and eating fine, so that is a relief! We have to go back in 5-6 days to get the stitches removed, Oh joy, but we are just happy he is doing so good now!

So that is our latest trauma! Here are a few pics of our battle scarred baby!


Still looking adorable even with his boo-boo

Showing off his hospital ankle bracelet!

Close-up of his boo-boo! :(

This was this morning when he first woke up... He's still got the hospital bandaid on and his bloody shirt. :(

This is the bear the hospital gave to him and he kept hugging it the whole night! :)

My Georgia Pirate Party...

Woo-hoo! I am really starting to make headways with all the pictures, Yay! ;)

We had so much fun at his Georgia Party, and I think the pictures really show it! It was so nice of Gramma Leigh-Leigh and Granpops to host the party, and everything looked great, especially the massive Pirate Ship cake that we got at Publix! We were originally going to get something relatively simple, but a certain favorite MIL of mine let the crazy bakery lady talk her into this huge pirate ship, and I'm really glad she did cause it really added something to the party, so Thank you Gramma Leigh-Leigh for being crazy! ;) j/k about the crazy part! ;)

Anyways, thanks everyone for coming and for the awesome gifts that you brought... We really do appreciate you spoiling our baby, so... Thank you! ;)

Hope you enjoy the pics of our crazy son! ;)

My Alabama Party...

Yes, I have to say "Alabama Party", since the kid had 3 parties! ;) I am starting to whittle away my pile of photos to edit, so here you go... A few pics of Eli's first experience with a birthday cake... :)

Hope you enjoy...

Curious George Lights up our Lives...

Eli received this awesome Curious George doll...excuse me, Action Figure... for his 1st birthday from his awesome cousins Haylee and Wade, and until now, he hasn't shown a lot of interest in it... That was until he figured out it lights up! ;) Tonight Mommy and Daddy were watching TV while Eli played with his toys until all of a sudden I see him hugging his Curious George action figure ;) and it lit up and he just beamed, well, he couldn't manage to get it to work again, so he brought it to me. He got so excited when it lit up, that I thought I would video it, so all of you crazies could see... ;)

Oh yeah, hugging is his newest trick... ;)

A few fireworks...

I know I am still behind on a few blogs, but I have A TON of pictures to edit and that has to come first, so sorry if you are going into withdrawl, but oh well, you'll deal! ;) j/k!

Anyways, I didn't really have to edit these, so I thought I would share a couple of my fave fireworks pics...

Hope you enjoy!

Love y'all!

part of the finale

my fave boys

I stinkin' love the colors in this one...

What I should have said...

...was "I don't think my bottom jaw is completely numb"... (as the dentist comes at me with the extraction tool)... Oh wait... That IS what I said!! I cannot quite explain the pain that followed as he yanked and pried and pulled on my poor unsuspecting bottom teeth... I pride myself on "acting" brave when I am at a doctor, dentist, etc... I mean, I ALWAYS got a sticker for not crying when I got a shot as a child. I am tough, not to be messed with, or so I thought. The whole time he was yanking, and I do mean "whole time" because it must have been a good minute on each tooth, I was wincing and making pathetic sounds which one would think would cue the guy to stop, wait, take a minute and let me recover, but no, he continued to pry all the while telling me how "good" I was doing! I wasn't doing good, I was in agony, but apparently dentists have a different measuring stick of good then the rest of the sane world. I still can't believe I managed to let him continue onto the 2nd tooth knowing full well the pain that was sure to follow. I guess the knowledge of my beautiful straight teeth (2.5 years later I might add) was the only thing spurring me on, and the consolation that my top jaw felt much more numb, assuring me of a much more, I hoped, manageable experience. Thankfully the top two teeth, yes that is a total of FOUR, brought the typical strong pressure feeling that usually accompany teeth being pulled and was quite bearable. Really, should it worry me that when the doctor sees me, he starts beaming while saying, "Oooo, you're the 4 extractions!" or after yanking my poor teeth, state, "What large teeth you have?" Or, "Wow, that was really hard?" So after him assuring me that I was a very good patient, and I could call him at home if I have a problem, I exited the office with the greatest relief of all... a prescription for powerful pain medication and no bill to pay! ;)

I'm breaking my blogging silence... :)

I have been slammed with pictures, housework, Eli, stomach virus, Ryan, etc... :) And I am finally breaking my blogging silence! Hopefully this will be one of many new blogs, but for now, this will have to do!

Eli had a wonderful birthday (another blog with a million pics!) and he got a ToysRus Gift Card from his Great Aunt Kim and Uncle Al and some birthday money from his Great Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, so Eli and I headed to ToysRus to pick up this awesome toy that I've been eyeing for a while and that has awesome reviews... After a lot of drama with the pricing, we walked out with our new toy and some awesome clearance Pirate shirts and shorts, Yay! ;)

Eli was trying to climb on it while I was still putting it together and about had a fit he was so excited when I put him on and he started bouncing around, so I decided to video him doing it and that was pretty much the end of him bouncing a lot and laughing hard! Little stinker! But I thought you would enjoy it nonetheless! Please ignore my annoying voice, but hey, that's just me! ;)

Love y'all!

Ahoy Matey! A pirate Party for me!

I also made Pirate Invitations and sent them out to pretty much just immediate family, so don't feel bad if you weren't invited... we still love you! ;)


I had these printed at Walmart, so the inside had 3 more pics of him in his Pirate hat and this wording except it had the actual date and address... ;) We're having 2 parties (One in GA and one is NC) so the invites were customized for both places...

Ahoy Mateys!

Join us on the High Seas!

Setting Sail ~ x:xx pm

xxxxxx, June xx, 2008
Returning to Port ~ The First Mate's naptime

Grandpa and Grandma's Ship

115 Main St

Anytown, USA

Please reply to my email or walk the plank!

(Click on it to enlarge)

(image removed due to misunderstanding with www.inababycarriage.com)

Just a little announcement...

To let you know Eli is almost One!! ;) I have tried to send this to about every address on the planet, so if you didn't get one, please don't feel left out, I just didn't have your address! ;)

So, here is the front (Just click on it to enlarge it)

And the Back...

(images removed due to a misunderstanding with www.inababycarriage.com)

Isn't he adorable?! ;)

Don't get any wild ideas...

I am NOT a true crazy couponer, but this is just too good of a deal if you have babies in diapers!

I don't know how many of you like Pampers or even shop at CVS, but they have a deal starting tomorrow where their Jumbo pack of diapers is on sale for $7.99 and if you buy $20 worth they give you $5 Extra Care Bucks towards a future purchase that you can use same as cash, and if you have any coupons for Pampers you can of course use 1 per package...

So, tonight (some CVS' have the deals already in the system the night before)I bought 3 packs @$7.99 each, total $23.97, and I had 2-$2.00 coupons and 1-$1.50 coupon, plus I had a CVS coupon for $3 off a $15 order, so I paid out of pocket $15.47 and they gave me a $5.00 credit for a future purchase, so it's like I paid $10.47 for 3 packs of Jumbo diapers, or about $3.50 a pack!

Even if you don't have ANY coupons, it is still like paying just over $6 a pack, which is still a great deal! If you have boxes of Cheerios, most of them have a $1.50 Pampers coupon on them. Also, I used coupons for Pampers Splashers and Pull-ups from the Sunday paper and they worked fine!

You can only do the spend $20 get $5 back deal once per CVS card, so good luck, hope this will help you get a good deal! I hope I wasn't too confusing! ;)

Eli's first time swimming...

I am slammed with picture editing right now, but I just have to share these photos of Ryan taking Eli down the slide when we were down in GA at Uncle Russ and Aunt Erin's community pool...

Eli is under all that water! Poor kid got the mess scared out of him when that giant wall of water hit him! Ryan's response when Eli is screaming bloody murder afterwards... "He'll be fine... Let's do it again!" ;)

This is Eli's face when Ryan decided to take him down the slide again! :( Do you think he likes it!? ;)

Daddy's are a mess! :)

-On a side note... Renee figured out why you can never click on my photos to make them bigger, so yay, now you should be able to click on them and see them full size! :)

A few pics from our fun day at the park...

Well, we took a little impromptu trip to Georgia since Ryan had a couple days off because of Memorial Day... We had a pretty relaxing time and overall just had a lot of fun and here are a few pics when we took Eli to the Park. Ryan had never been to the Park with him, so it was fun getting to see them have fun together!