dinner talk.

the other night i bought an us weekly in the grocery store checkout line. impulse buy. dangit! well, i read/flipped through the pages last night while james was coloring. i left it on a table in the living room and forgot about it.

until i walked back into the room to see this:

perfect! now we'll have some fun celebrity gossip to talk about tonight at dinner. can you believe they broke up? and she actually wore that?! she should fire her stylist. and oh my! you can see her skeleton. she is too skinny. oh, the list goes on and on. i'm glad james shares my passion for cheap, gossip mags.

well, maybe.

james ended-up ripping into pieces until i had to pry it out of his little hands. man, he has a tight grip! in this process it was destroyed and found a home in the trash. oh well. do we really care about those people anyway? nope. not at all.



gold star.



i grabbed my camera a bit too late but here is james proudly playing with wearing my whiterock medal.

i missed the lawnmower episode but i got a few snaps. this is his chair. it is james' recliner that is in my bedroom. i hate to say this, but i do not like it. it is big and blue and toy story-ed out. and i kick it. and i could go on and on but james likes it and that is all that matters. (don't worry grandma, i didn't mean it bad. james loves it, so i love it.) he used to just sit in it and love it but now he loves to flip it over and climb on it. all the time.

have we told him no?

yes.

have we turned it back over a million times to try and stop this?

yes.

 has it worked?

no.

do we just let him do whatever he wants to his chair now?

yes.

am i mother of the year??

h*ll yes.

i let my son wear my prized marathon metals and flip over his chair whenever he wants. i'd say that gets me a gold star in the mom department.

did i "fix" james' hair after bath like this?

no. mr. h still tries new hairstyles. we laugh.

austin pictures.

as i have said before, i've never taken my phone along for a run. in fact, i haven't taken my phone on any run since i've been back from austin. so, since i was apparently all about my phone this run, i took some snaps and would send them to mr. h or some friends for support.

this is early, before the run trying to catch a ride to the start line.

i sent this to my friend, and run buddy, and said, "no turning back now".

this is the point where i think - this is what sets the men from the boys. well, except i should say the ladies from the girls. this is where i wish i were heading back toward the finish line. even though i went to run a full marathon, i was jealous of the people in the right lane. i love half marathons. i think it is such an accomplishment and such a great distance to run, so i'm not knocking it.

this sign made me laugh. i love that this runner knows how much encouraging signs help so she made one to help out others even though she was running herself. if i remember right, she lives on a hill. of course i remember right, the whole dang course was hills!

oh man, see those signs, i loved seeing those signs. mile 24. it was beautiful. i sent this to the hubs. remember, i called him at mile 18 in tears so i wanted to show him i made it. i was surviving and trucking along.

then i saw this:

eggsalent job! baaahahah. i had to stop, check this out and take a picture. i don't remember if i sent this to anyone or i just wanted to remember the moment. i would have never guessed i would see this is the home stretch. thank you chicken owners. you are awesome! you made me smile.

then i sent this, of course:

thank God! i finished.

and then this is just a favorite picture. sorry you get to see it again.

i love medals. are they worth it?

absolutely.

just the other night james came into the living room wearing my dallas white rock medal while pushing his lawn mower. honest, one of the cutest things i have ever seen. i wish i had a picture but you'll just have to imagine it. it will make you happy.



saturday morning scene.

i'm linking up with katie over at loves of life for the saturday morning scene.


this morning i got up about 6 and out the door, a little late, about 6:40 for a 10 mile run. the weather here has taken a turn from beautifully sunny to cold and rainy. this would only happen on my day off from work. go figure. i debated sleeping in but as always i'm so glad i put on my shoes and got out the door. we ran to the top of reservoir hill and if i had my phone i would have taken a picture from there to show you the view. the nice thing about a 4 mile up hill run is the 4 mile stretch coming down. i love the feeling of accomplishment. the feeling of rising to a challenge and kicking its tail.

now is time to play legos with my sweet boy. happy saturday!

 

tagged.

my friend, mandy, tagged me in her blog last week. so here goes....

four places i go:
work
daycare
starbucks
wal-mart

four favorite smells:
clean sheets
coffee
rain
markers

four favorite movies/tv shows:
glee
grey's anatomy
sweet home alabama
old school

four recommendations:
sleeping in dry-fit tops
not gaining 50 pounds while pregnant
taking bubble baths
taking a lot of pictures

four favorite things to do:
be with my family
listen to live music
be outdoors
run

four things i dislike:
olives
traffic
theives
litter bugs

four blog friends to tag:
jenn
chelsea
tara
erin

i hope everyone is enjoying the first official days of spring. i am. i hope to enjoy being outside as much as possible before it gets hotter than hades here in oklahoma.

happy spring!





happy st. patty's day.

we all successfully wore green today even though i'm sure no one is james' class would have pinched him anyway. i really like the color green and enjoyed seeing so many people at my work wearing green and being festive. 

i bought james a t-shirt last week with the sole purpose so that he could wear it today. i hope his teachers appreciated the festiveness. i tried to take a couple of pictures after work today but this is the only pictures i could get:

james love sticks. i mean, if he sees one, he must go and pick it up. he will go into meltdown mode when we won't let them come inside to play. he's all boy.

happy st. patrick's day!!!

where did he go?

it's that time of year. i've been cleaning out james' closet to make room for his new spring clothes. i get so jealous of his wardrobe every season. i wish i could get a new seasonal wardrobe too. anyway, i had a hard time packing away his clothes. it always amazes me how emotional i get when this process starts. he is getting so big and his clothes look so small.

then i saw this picture...

doesn't he look BIG?!!?!

i know!! where did my little baby go?

please don't mind the nightstand. you can tell i'm a mom - i am prepared with a humidifier, milk and wipes.  sometimes i don't post pictures bc i seem to always have these and other random "mom" items on our night stands. i still don't like the way it looks as the background of this picture but please just squint and try not to notice. only notice that big, handsome baby that is front and center. thank you.

this is my baby less than a week old. he was just a little shy of nine pounds here but he just looks so small.



where did this guy go?!?? i swear i remember these pictures like it was yesterday.

happy birthday sugs!

sug·ar (shoog.er) - slang sweetheart. used as a term of endearment.

sugs - pronounced (shoogs). i can't make that sign about the actual definition and i had to modify it so it wouldn't show up as a blob. sorry beebs.

okay, this is sounding like a foreign language so let me explain. my dear friend brooke has a couple of known nicknames; beebs and blb. after james' birthday party i gave her my nickname, sugar momma. she loves to bake and made all the sweet treats for james and fellow partiers. it was amazing. well, after a while, sugar momma just turned into sugs. and today is sugs birthday! it's a big one.

this is the only picture i can find of the two of us on my computer. please wish sugs a happy birthday.

photo by amurphy

to be honest, i'm a little disappointed that this is the only picture i can find. i know i have more but where are they. this one is a bit dated but you get the point.

anyway, i'm not a huge fan of giving gifts just to give them. i mean, i know everyone loves presents but not if they are random and don't have a meaning. well, that is how i am. hopefully i'm not the only one.

but

i knew that i wanted to get something good for my sweet friend. no pun intended. maybe. but i wanted to get her something she would like. something that would make her smile. something i knew wouldn't require a gift receipt. so, naturally my thoughts went to something for baking. one problem - i don't bake. i know, shame on me. sugs will teach me though so i have hope. regardless, she is one of my dearest friends so i know her stores - jcrew and william sonoma. i can guide myself through jcrew but she almost owns the whole store but i can't go wrong with a gift card. i've done that with great results but i wanted to be more personal this year. i wanted her to feel loved. i wanted to find a way to show her how much our friendship means to me. well, that left me with william sonoma. oh dear. i knew i was in trouble but luckily i have great friends and helped to point me in the right direction. i asked for their help and inturn, got asked a million questions about what i had in mind. finally, we made a decision. nielsen-massey vanilla. sounds boring right? well, apparently this is not just any vanilla. and i'm pretty sure the bottle i bought isn't the typical, run of the mill either.

yes. that is 32 ounces of sugar heaven.

my husband was quick to point out that most vanillas are in nice, glass containers and this was just big. and plastic. it got me nervous too but i tried to hide it and reassured him that this would not matter.

i am used to normal vanilla bottles so i wanted to take a picture for scale.

i'd say that can bake a lot of sweets. i just hope i get to taste test some of them. oh, who am i kidding?! i know i will! i always volunteer for quality control in beebs kitchen.

happy birthday sugs!!!

nakey time.

warning: this post is for the grandparents and contains a naked baby. 

each night after bath we allow james to run around for nakey time. there is such joy in james smile and screams as he runs and stomps. james loves bath but i think he loves nakey time just as much. friday we had a big time! it was nakey cowboy time. (if you thought something gross, get your mind out of the gutter!) here is my little cowboy.

it was all fun and giggles until we had to tell him it was time to put some britches on. 

my boy loves some nakey time. too bad he can't be trusted for long.

and if you are wondering, he has not made any puddles on the floor...yet.

ummm...

i'm sorry.

i have no excuse. i haven't blogged in too long. first, life just got super busy and then i went through a rut where i didn't take pictures or feel like i had any blog worthy material. well, now i'm back. i still don't have anything super exciting but, believe it or not, it actually stresses me out and makes me upset that i haven't blogged in so long. like, i lost sleep last night over it people! that is just nuts. so, here i am ready to spill it and promise not to go on a blog vacation again. unless i physically go on a cool vacation without internet, then i'll leave you bored and lonely again. well, probably not but you get the point.

some random happenings:

• last week i got the announcement at work that i would be taking on two new assets and moving floors. this has led to training and a busy, busy time at work. overall it is a great thing and i look forward to the opportunity.

• i hurt my neck. well, neck and shoulder. i am getting old and falling apart. i now am addicted to my roll-on biofreeze. i might smell like a medicine cabinet but it is much better than the alternative. plus, it feels the best when applied first thing in the morning. i even sound like an addict. oops.

• i ran some hills last saturday. i was dreading them bc of my new found hatred of hills after austin. i did them, didn't really complain and had a great run. i had a strong run and got the affirmation that i should continue to run after such a bad one. sh!t happens.

• i have been growing out my eyebrows and it has been torture. seriously. i hated it and felt so self conscious. i know that no one cares but me - but it was hard. i'm so glad i did it though. i got them dyed and threaded yesterday and i am in love. now i just need to work that into my beauty routine. i tinker between thinking it is high maintenance and necessary. today i've decided it's necessary.

• james currently loves to say "oh no!". it is so cute. they must say this at daycare and now he'll say it just about anytime he can. his cup runs out of milk - oh no! he drops a crayon (or color as he calls them) - oh no! i turn off the tv or toy story - oh no! as you can tell, james lives a rough life.

• james also has started to throw milk tantrums. yep, you read that right. he has this new found love for milk in the evening. he'd like one bottle before bath, one after bath and another before sleep. heck, he'd probably like the option of having one while in the bath but that just crosses the line. oh, and i should clarify, james no longer uses a "baby bottle". he hasn't since he was 1 year old. he now has some big boy sippy cups and straw cups but i still call them all bottles. anyway, now if james wants more milk and i don't think he should, he goes up to the refrigerator, opens his arms wide and slams himself up against the door. he wipes off his m&d animal magnets and goes into meltdown mode. ummm. seriously james? i cave and give him milk. i mean, it's only milk, right?

• i took james to bouncy barn last saturday. bouncy barn has big inflatables for little kids. james had so much fun! well, except for the first 30 minutes where he cried on my lap. now he wants to "jump" on the bed and say "bounce bounce bounce". it gives me a heart attack. if you didn't know, when i was four i was jumping on my bed, fell off and broke my right arm. i couldn't suck my fingers or color! this is terrible. i would hate for that to happen to james. i cannot imagine rushing him to the emergency room. stop! i don't even want to think like that.

• oh! and most important -james had his first chocolate shake. love at first sip.

oh great! now i'm craving a chocolate shake.