If you can read this, thank your parents and teachers

Hello friends! We've had a good morning, just cleaning up and reading books and staying inside cause guess who showed back up again...old man winter! UGH!!!

I'm excited because I got Anderson's birthday party reserved at Landmark. I forgot to tell you that it's going to be April 10 from 11-1(if you are reading this and can come or if you are my family and are coming) Also, my friend and old co-worker Laura said that she would make Anderson's birthday cake again this year! She made his cake for his 1st birthday party and she did a fabulous job and it tasted great!
Today, as we were reading Anderson's books, I took inventory and discovered that he had exactly 103 books! I am not bragging please don't think that I am. He just loves to read and I'm sure your kiddos have just as many if not more books. :) I was reading an article in Parents magazine yesterday and it really disturbed me. It said that some poorer parts of the country, it gave the example Lubbock,TX have areas where the neighborhoods don't have any books hardly at all. It gave some crazy statistic like for every 300 kids there are like 3 books. And to boot, the libraries in these poorer areas don't get as much money as other affluent areas. As an educator(yes ,I STILL place myself in that category, cause once one, always one, right?) this really BREAKS MY HEART!

And especially since I taught in a school that was in the ghetto and was low-income, I know this to be true! There is a great website you can donate to to help these children get a jump start in life and get them reading. Go here to see all about it. OR You can also:

1. Go through your bookshelves and pull out books that you will never read again or have owned for more than 2 years and haven't read yet.
2. Pack the books in a box.
3. Call your local library, school, foster home, or children's organization to see if they need books.
4. Deliver the books.

Two months

Hello friends! We were just saying yesterday that it felt so nice and warm out and then BAM, it's cold again today and tomorrow....ugh...dare I say it...more snow! I have always said that I would have liked to live in Canada, but maybe not anymore. :) We got started this morning by taking Anderson's books back to the library and staying and looking around. I looked TERRIBLE, no bath, no make up, sweat shirt and pants and boots...a lovely picture. One of the moms told me that the library story time was about to begin. Okay...Anderson and I went and lots of people were there and Anderson was a WILD MAN! Running all over and then when the singing started...this kiddo was cutting a rug! Hilarious! Sorry no pictures, I was too busy doing crowd control!

These pictures are not from the library, but I wanted to show you a picture of him doing the "centipede" it's where he stomps his feet and looks like he's dancing. My mom taught him this. Ha! And us reading today. I swear to you, we read at least 30 books everyday...maybe more.Today, Anderson is exactly 22 months old! We only have two months until we are about to have a 2 year old! Where did the time go? I was just holding him and feeding him every 3 hours and now....he's just....BIG!We've been talking a lot and planning a lot for his 2nd birthday. We are going to have it in Dothan on April 10(which is a Saturday) and are going to have it here. Since Anderson LOVES all things animals. And I'm ordering his invitations from here. They are SO inexpensive!! And my friend and old roommate, Angela is doing his birthday outfit. I can't wait to get it! We are doing a giveway for you to win one of her beautiful outfits for your child. It will be either in March or April...so stay tuned.

Give me some ideas for a cake...think barnyard animals or any other ideas ya got?

You just call out my name

Hello friends! I'm back, a little sadder than before, but okay. Momma left today and I am a little sad today. We had such a glorious time, the week literally FLEW by! We didn't do anything earth shattering, but simply... just had a great time together. We miss her already! As we were leaving the airport from dropping her off this morning, we heard one of my favorite songs by a GREAT singer, click here...LOVE IT! It truly defines my relationship with this lady!

On Monday, we picked mom up from DFW and took her to a cool little restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network. Click here to see the restaurant. This place is seriously in a gas station, but the food is delish!!

Tuesday: was pretty cool. We went to Ft. Worth to eat hamburgers at Kincaid's! One of our favorites!!And my momma, introduced Anderson to root beer ;) I know it looks kinda bad..ha!

Wednesday: we took Anderson to the Ft. Worth Zoo again. I know, I know what you're thinking...but seriously this kiddo LOVES this place. I swear to ya'll he's gonna be a zoologist or marine biologist!:)Anderson was squawking like the pelican.Thursday: we just hung around and went to a couple of stores around Arlington. And to P.F. Changs for lunch!Have you ever had the lettuce wraps...SINFUL little things! YUM!

And then to Borders books!(Free entertainment:)And of course, it was so hard this morning to take her to the airport. We cried...all of us(Anderson included). And then Anderson kept telling nunna "bye-bye" after she left and then said "see you next week" that's what he tells everybody.Ha! I wish!!

Hello

Hello friends! I'm going on a 4 day hiatus! My momma is in the air as I type on her way to DFW!!!! YIPPEEE!!! I'll post a blog on Friday to let you know about our fun times! Have a great week!:)

Snowy Stuck in the House Friday

Hello friends! We've had a snowy night and have racked up 12 and a half inches of snow overall!!! This is so unprecedented in DFW! They have NEVER seen this much snow and we haven't either! The most I've ever seen is like 4 inches, maybe.
To give you an idea of how much snow this was. This pic is from 9 a.m.And this one is from this morning...WOW!Last night, as it continued to snow, we had some wonderful chili. It was the best I've ever made...if I do say so myself. ;) And Adam built our first fire in our new house, it was delightful and warm!Yesterday afternoon, Adam got home early from work and he took Anderson out again to play in the snow. But, Anderson kept falling down and crying because the snow was so deep and he couldn't stand up. We walked over to our neighbors house and watched the father build a snowman and as we were leaving, Anderson started screaming "byeeeee" cause he didn't want to go. The lady told me something, but I couldn't hear her because of his screaming and I said "you're having fajitas" and she laughed and said "no, we're here if you need us". I don't think I wouldn't have felt so bad if it wasn't a Hispanic family...I feel awful!

Anyway, I said all that to say that there was a snowman building contest happening on our street. So fun! It was the men and not the kids who were building the snowmen th0ugh. Ha!
And of course...THE BEST ONE ON THE BLOCK!!! ROLL TIDE ROLL!!! :)Adam didn't go to work today because he couldn't even get out of the driveway, so we've just been hanging out all day again, not doing much. We are getting out in a bit to go look around and go eat...I've got CABIN FEVER!!

Dashing!

Hello friends! We have been dashing through the snow all morning! 5 and a half inches so far! Well technically I've only let Anderson stay out in it a total of about 30 minutes, but we've still been dashing...okay;)I have 1,567 pictures to share with you. Are you ready? Well.... really it's more like 15.

I woke up this morning panicked because it was 6:30a.m. and Adam was still in the bed. I was relieved to find out that his work start time was delayed an hour. It took him a WHOLE HOUR to get to work this a.m. and usually his commute is around 35 minutes or so.

When Anderson and I finally woke up around 7a.m. this is what we saw!
Gus and Annabelle were less than thrilled with the thick snow! Ha!I let Anderson play outside a little this morning with his froggy rain boots on that double as galoshes too!Momma and Anderson...just pretend that I have on my mascara and red lipstick..yikes!And after lunch, we went back out because the neighbors across the street were building a snow man. This is Jaci, she is 5 and a doll. Anderson kept hugging her and then would turn around and lick the snow man. We've also been reading lot of books and watching Sesame Street because it's FREEZING outside and I don't want to drive anywhere in this lovely weather.

Hope you are bundled up South Alabama...it's headed your way!:)

Work in Progress...

Hello friends! It's sooo cold here burrr! I'm sure it's cold where you are too! Aren't you ready for Spring to get here, scratch that...Summer! When we can go swimming, take long walks in the evenings(and it's still light out) and go barefoot or wear flip flops all day. I LOVE the Summer. I have always loved the Summer especially when I worked because I got to be lazy during that time and then when Anderson came along I got to be with him.

Today, to stay inside, keep warm and find things that were FREE to do were our goal. We went to the library(hooray, check always free) and fun too! Then as you saw yesterday, my momma, gave us Chick-fil-A gift cards and so we went there to eat and play.
We're home now and I'm bummed it's only Wednesday, cause my momma comes next Monday, you know.

My sweet friends have been emailing me and asking me, how am I doing on my diet? The one that I started in December. Ugh...darnit...I had forgotten about that! Not really, cause you know with us girls, it's always there in the back of our minds. But, I am happy to report that I have lost 5 pounds! That's not much, but it's a start. You know I've done it? I've replace my nightly snack of chocolate with 80 calorie popsicle instead! They are sooo delicious! That's it...oh and we've been walking a little too.

Here is our guest bedroom that we've been working on. Two of the walls were teal(ick) and we primed them lastnight and will hopefully get through painting them a bone color tonight.(Isn't this a great picture, what was I thinking?)