my check list

Plant Flowers- check
Paint rocking chair- check


Spring/Summer is finally here to stay! I have been doing alot of outside work lately. I planted my first thing of flowers this morning :) I was so excited when I went to pick some out at Lowes yesterday. It was a hard decision on what colors to get and even what kind of flower. I wanted a little of each, but ultimately I could only pick two. I chose white and purple petunia's b/c they look good and they last most all summer.

I also painted this rocking chair Rusty had. It was suppose to be white, but it has turned beige due to the weather damage over the years. I decided to paint a "P" on it for Palmore. I wanted to do like and old english P, but I couldn't find what I needed. SO, I just free handed a P on there instead. I'm not exactly thrilled with the way it turned out, but atleast the rocking chair is white again ;)



Purple Pentunias




White Pentunias




The other white pentunias




Close up of the "P" (REMINDER: I'm not an artist!)




The rocking chair remodeled

she lookin' like her mama..... well a little :)

Halle is 75% mommy's girl and 25% daddy's girl these days :) Don't get me wrong she LOVES her daddy, especially when he chases her or tickles her. She just prefers mommy more these days, probably b/c she's with me all day almost everyday. People say that she's looking more and more like me. I kind of see it now that I went through some of my baby pictures. Although I have to admit I was a bit more chunky than she is ha! For a year people told me I was just "the oven that baked the bun" and that she looked so much like Rusty did when he was little it was scary (which is the truth!). She still resembles her daddy alot, but she is starting to develop a little bit of that "Rogers" look... watch out world haha!



You can see where she gets her nose and eyes from...




Same pouty lip/mouth when sleeping, and the same nose :)

"people let me tell you 'bout my best friend"

Lately Halle has been so fond and curious of our dog, Abbagail. She follows her around everywhere she goes. Halle even sits in the floor with her as she eats. Abbagail's bed has now become a place Halle likes to stand and sit in. They are both fascinated with each other. It's so sweet to see them interact, both trying to really figure out the other. It's true when they say a "dog is a man's best friend", but in this case the "dog is a toddler's best friend". I posted some pictures of the two together...



Playing ball with Abby



Running after Abby



Getting Abby's toy to throw



Wow look at that throw!




Good Morning Sunshine! Time to play!



Making sure Abby is eating all her food




She's watching her closely :)



Wait turn around here and let me see!



What's that taste like?



Hmmm, the water taste the same...


This is kinda comfy...



Feels nice and soft under her feet

Miss Fit Pitch'er

Halle has recently learned how to pitch a fit. She is learning slowly, but surely, that things don't always go her way. She is so curious and nosey (hmm wonder where she gets that from? ha!) that she is in to EVERYTHING she can get her little hands on. Yea, I know it's normal for all kids to be into things they're not suppose to, but I want to try to teach her early that there are some things that are off limits. For example, she likes to get the tiles out of the coffee table. These tiles are heavy, especially for a toddler. I don't want her to drop it on her toe and shatter her bone or something. Understandable right? When I tell her "no maam" you would think I just told her that she is not allowed to have any more sweets for the rest of her childhood. She throws her hands in the air and screams, thus slinging her body to the floor, looking up at me with the look of "am I doing this the right way?" on her face. I just turn around and walk away so she won't see me smile b/c then she will think that it is a game. May I also mention that if she doesn't think her "fit" she just pitched got my attention, she will indeed cut me off from where I'm going to throw, yet again, another "fit". I tell you, this toddler has got it figured out, or so she thinks haha! After her little "episodes" are over she wants to be scooped up, hugged, and kissed a million times just to be reassured that mommy still loves her more than anything in the world ;)

The time has come the Walrus said

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."


I don't know if many of you have heard "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There. Me and my sister's used to watch Alice and Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass whenever it came on T.V. We even taped it when we were younger so we could watch it anytime we wanted. I don't know why, but I recite a the small portion I posted above to Halle when I'm walking her in her room for bedtime. I seen it a long time ago on the movie Harriet the Spy (another childhood fav!) and I thought it was cute. Random? Yes. Does Halle understand? No. Will she eventually? Of course, and then when she's old enough we will have our little bedtime moment, each reciting a line as we walk to her room for bedtime... and lastly, but most important, is our night night prayers and goodnight kisses.

Play Ball!

One of Halle's new favorite things to do now is to go outside and kick and chase one of her many balls around. She really gets into, grunting as she kicks it and clapping to show me she did it! She loves it when Abbagail gets in on the action of chasing the ball when she "throws" it. I take these little moments in because I know that they won't last forever....


Seeing Abbagail attack the ball



Hello Mommy :)



Chasing the ball



Get it Halle!



Running around on the carport




Who could she be laughing at??



Abbagail!

Crazy weather in Clarksville, TN

This past weekend has been EXTREMELY busy! We went to Birmingham to visit Don, Amber, Brayden, and Caitlyn. Rusty had to go fix some things on his house in Jacksonville, so I packed up with him to get in a little visitation time with the Palmore's of Lincoln, AL. We left on Thursday night and had to come home on Saturday morning because I had to work that afternoon. I was so exhausted from riding and then having to go to work. They were calling for really bad weather Saturday so we left extra early just to be safe that we would get back in time. Luckily, we didn't run into anything but a little rain! It was later that day that the weather took a bad turn...

It was around 4:30 in the afternoon and the sky started getting dark... I'm talking as black and charcoal gray as I have ever seen it. I was really scared! One of the girls I work with, her husband called and said the sirens were sounding in the downtown area. I immediately called Rusty to let him know that they needed to take cover. He got Halle and Abby to safety as soon as he heard how serious and shaky my voice was. I, on the other hand, was getting my patients to safety, which was my main priority. I looked outside and the black and gray sky wasn't visible anymore. I couldn't see anything. It was like the rain and wind made it impossible to see outside. I just knew that any minute we were going to be encompassed by a tornado. Thoughts raced through my head... thoughts like: "I kissed Rusty and Halle good-bye when I left for work, but I didn't kiss them good-bye", and "God please watch over my little family and keep them safe, I know you're here with me". It may sound crazy to some of you (or maybe even all of you) that I thought those things. I am so thankful that it's over, it passed without any damage to us or anyone that we know. I was definitely one of the scariest moments of my life. It was the first time I wasn't there with Rusty and Halle when things could have really happened to all of us. I hope it never happens again!!

P.S. In case you didn't get it from reading, I'm a chicken and I'm not a great person to be with in horrible weather... I will panic :)

DVD monster!

We have a monster in our bonus room in the upstairs of our house... the dvd's somehow get thrown out all over the floor. Who is responsible for it? Who is our bonus room dvd monster? One guess... you got it! My mischevious little girl LOVES to take all her DVD's out of the entertainment center over and over again. No matter how many times I tell her "no ma'am" or "mommy said don't do that", she does it anyway. She looks at me, gives me a huge grin (which in turn I can't help but smile back), and takes off running after she pulls every last one out. Sometimes she even puts her hand close to them while I'm saying "noooo" just to see if she gets a reaction out of me. She also loves to open and shut the doors where her daddy keeps his PS3, which is a BIG no no. I have been putting a rubberband around the knobs to keep her from getting them open. Well, today she figured out how to take the rubberband off. Smart little booger! I posted just a few pictures of her, she didn't realize I was there until I was right next to her and took a picture... she smiled of course b/c she knew she was in trouble :)



Getting the rubber band off the knobs




Now she can open and close as much as she wants (or so she thinks)




Finally noticing mommy is behind her, caught in the act!

How much are you worth?

Have you ever wondered how much money stay at home moms could make if they were paid? Well I waws thinking about it so I went searching for the answer. I found out that with me being somewhat of a stay at home mom that I should be raking in somewhere around $107,215/yr. WOW! That was just the "median" range for Clarksville stay at hom mommies (I figured I would be in the median range b/c I do have a job and I'm not just a full time stay at home mom). They say that stay at home moms do up to 10 different job titles. Those job titles include: housekeeper, day-care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, nurse and psychologist. They also say that "Moms work an average of 90 hours a week. Working Moms reported spending 44 hours per week at their "work job" and 49.8 hours at their "mom job," for a total of 93.8 hours per week. The Stay-at-Home Mom works 91.6 hours at her mom job."


I do work PRN, and I sign up to work at least 2 days a week, but whether I get to work or not depends on how many patients we have. I like to work, but I definitely don't want a full time job right now, that would mean I would have to work 3 days a week, plus take on call shifts, so it would be more like 4 days a week. I know, I know 3 days a week is nothing right? Better than 5 days? Those 12 hour shifts get tiring! Plus, I like staying at home with my princess and spending as much time with her as possible. I don't want to miss anything, eventually I know I will, but so far I haven't!


For all you stay at home mommies, don't let your spouse tell you that your job is easy! You tell them how much you are actually worth by being at stay at home mommy, and they should be grateful you love them so much that you don't make them pay you :) If you want to figure your salary go to http://swz.salary.com/momsalarywizard/htmls/mswl_momcenter.html

Extra, Extra, Read all about it!!

Not only was this a big weekend for my mom and her 50th birthday party, it was also a weekend for my oldest sister... to catch many of you up, she was married to who she thought was the love of her life. He was wrong for her in SOO many ways, but I won't go there considering that's my niece's father and she loves him no matter what (plus she's to young to know what's really going on and why).

ANYWAY, my sister got divorced a year and a half to two years ago. She has been dating her high school/half of college sweetheart. They both share their faith, love, and values so closely with one another. Both have grown up so much over the years, seeing what they really wanted/needed in a spouse. Well ladies and gentlemen, they are now ENGAGED!! Yes, I will have a wonderful brother-in-law who I know loves my sister and niece with all he has. I know without a doubt they will be so happy together. You can just look at them and tell that they are meant to be together. It took happiness turned pain, sadness turned anger in both their lives to finally bring them together again. They said that though it wasn't right for them to marry back when they were younger, God just wanted them to have time to see and appreciate one another before they spend their lives together. I am ecstatic for them and I wish them all the best and a happy, healthy, loving, wonderful marriage!!! Congrats Heather and Scott, we love you!


A picture of the happy couple before my mom's party (Scott was trying to be Ron Burgandy and trying to play it cool haha)

shake ya groove thang...

Yesterday we arrived in Bridgeport, AL for my mom's 50th birthday "throw back to the 60s" party! We were all so pumped and excited to get the festivities started. We did a little family visiting first with my mamaw, great aunt, aunt, and uncle from Kentucky. They all ooo'd and aaahh'd over how precious Halle was (who's to blame them? she really is!). She was being in one of her "mommy's girl only" moods. She would not let anyone hold her the whole time. She did get down to play with the dogs, but as soon as she spotted someone coming to pick her up, or someone gesturing to come to them, she made a bee line straight for me, flinging her arms up for mommy to scoop her up to save her. After Halle layed down for a nap, we all started getting ready for the party....

Hair, make-up, outfits, etc. I don't know how, but I got the job of fixing people's hair, and doing their make-up. Might I add, the "Bump-It" was a wonderful thing for fixing peoples hair the way they wanted. I'm no professional by any means, but I did my best :) I was rather short on time so I had to just put a headband around my head, throw on eye shadow and go! We all were trying to rush out the door, I was trying to gather people for a few pictures before we all got seperated and pulled in different directions at the party. I did manage to get a few....

When we arrived at the party, the DJ was setting up, the food was being prepared to be put out, and the decorations were all perfectly in place. My mom looked amazing! She definitely fit the part of the 60's girl. She hardly looked like it was her 50h birthday. Soon, the DJ started up, we all lined up for our spots on the karaoke list.

Meanwhile, Halle was running around in the grass, picking up each piece of gravel to "feed" it to the dog. After a long time of convincing, she strolled back into the party area, glued to mommy's hip, needless to say. She was shy the entire night! She fought hard to stay awake, but in the end, the party had taken its toll on her. My mamaw and great aunt were kind enough to watch Halle when we went home to put her to bed. I took full advantage of it :)

Back at the party, people were singing, dancing, laughing, and all around in full party mode. We had many "contests" starting with Best Costume- taken by Tony Cannon (there was a whole "dance off" for this one b/c we couldn't decide between him and another guy who were both extremely comical), Best Karaoke- taken by the Phillips family, and Worst Karaoke- taken by my little niece, Madison, (not that she sang, she just say trophies and cried for one so that's the one she got haha).

All in all the party was a HUGE success. We all had tons of fun! I was so ready for bed by 2 a.m. rolled around. We all cleaned up and headed for bed... this mornig we woke up, got some breakfast, visited, watched a recap of the events from last night that my sister so kindly taped, and all headed in our different directions.



Mom and Mamaw, so pretty!!



Mommy's yummy cake!



Rusty, Me, and Halle (she didn't recognize him and would NOT go to him at all)



Cassie, Heather, Madison, Me, and Halle



Me and my girl :)




The BEAUTIFUL birthday girl, and all her girls



My sis and her best friend Meg



Me and my main squeeze :)



Me and my sis, Cassie



My mamaw and great aunt




Me and my sis singing karaoke



Dancing the night away!




Halle and Carter posing in the life size poster




The runner-up for best costume with my mom and her best friend Denise




Looking for rocks to feed the dog




Still worn out on the way home today

I fought the sun and the sun won

Wednesday, I decided that I was going to read my book outside since it was such a nice day. The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing, a perfect day for reading :) I didn't think to put on sunscreen at all. I just read and read and read until sweat was literally pouring down my back (sorry that may be gross to some of you). I decided that I had read enough for then, also I was hearing my princess wake from her nap so I knew it would be time to put the book down anyway. Later that afternoon, I went to take a nice relaxing shower and I noticed that I was EXTREMELY sunburnt! I don't think I have ever been this burnt in my life (with all the summers I spent on the beach combined)! It's all my fault for not putting on sunscreen in the first place. I am kicking myself more and more every day. I am seriously to the point of wanting to just fill the tub with ice cold aloe and jump in it. It stings, burns, aches, itches, etc. I'm just thankful I don't have sun poisoning, as of now (fingers crossed).

I am really sad b/c I have the cutest hippie dress to wear to my moms big 50th "Throw Back to the 60's" party tomorrow. Now I am going to look like one big red chili pepper. I am really excited for my mom! She has never gotten to have a big party before and we are expecting a great turn out. I have Halle's outfit all ready for her, she is sure to get alot of attention, as always :) My family from Kentucky is coming in, so we will get to visit with all of them. Some of them I haven't seen in about 2 yrs! I'm looking forward to a good time! I will be taking pics of everything and I'm sure I will be posting them asap. I'm sure you will be able to spot me in every picture I'm in... just look for the big red dot haha!

and then there were 2

Our dog Abbagail had her first (and only) litter of puppies 6 1/2 wks ago. She had 4 males and 3 females.

The runt of the group was the first born. He was SOO tiny! We noticed after the first few days that the others were growing like crazy, but the little runt was still the size he was when he was born. Rusty worked with him to try and get him to latch onto Abbagail to milk. Later that day, I picked him up and looked at him closely, thinking something else was going on with him. I noticed that he had a cleft lip. That was it! That was why he was not getting any milk. We ran to the pet store to get some puppy formula and a bottle. We tried feeding him but he wasn't doing well with the bottle. I thought "well if he can't latch on to abbagail, then he probably can't latch onto this bottle". I found a syringe out of a medicine kit that I got for Halle before she was born. I never used it and never planned to, so I thought this would be perfect for him. He was sucking down the milk faster and faster with each drop I put in his mouth. He then started getting more fiesty. It felt like I was a new mommy again, waking up every 3-4 hours to feed him, but if it saved his life then it was worth it to me. After a long, hard fight he just couldn't hold on anymore. He was just over 3 weeks old when we found him not moving or breathing in the dog box. I didn't want to believe that he had given up. He was such a strong fighter! He is no longer struggling in pain, he will always be remembered, we love you Chance!

We are now down to our last 2 males. The other 4 have found great homes! We now need to find 2 more people/families who are looking for a new little friend to make new memories with. The two left are SOOO cute! They are very playful! If anyone would like one, or knows of anyone who is looking for one let me know! I would like to keep one, and so would Halle :) She squeals with excitement when they attack her little feet and toes. I'm already crowded enough as it is in the bed, I don't think we can fit another dog in there with us!

active toddler days are here....

My princess is growing up more and more everyday! She is weighing in at 25lbs 6oz! She loves to playing outside and in her swimming pool. She loves strolling around the neighborhood in her pink car. She loves Dora, Mickey Mouse, and Special Agent Oso. She loves it when she thinks Abbagail is chasing her around the house. She loves when her daddy pulls up in the driveway, anticipating his kisses, and running to him to jump in his arms. She loves to dance. She loves to be the center of attention (only when it's just mommy and daddy around, otherwise she is shy). Last but not least, she loves her mommy!

It's hard to believe that my snickerdoodle is 14 months old. She has grown up so much since the day we brought her home from the hospital, wondering how we were going to raise such a small, fragile person. Now, she's a tough girl, falling down just to pick herself back up to prove she's not hurt. She is as stubborn as the day is long. She will not say anything more than once. She said, "hey" to me driving down the road and that was the last time she has said it. She said "more" to my sister when she was feeding her, and that's the last time she has said that. She says mama when she's tired, sad, or ill, but not too often. She said "ball" when she was wanting her beach ball out of her pool, and, of course, that's the last time she's said that. When she wants food, she bangs on her high chair to let me know it's time to eat. I try to get her to say things all the time. I work with her when she's in her high chair b/c she is running wild every other minute of the day. I say things to her and she gets so mad at me and give me a warning grunt that I better stop trying to get her to talk. If I don't stop she will scream and kick until I do. I have no idea where she gets this stubborness from *cough, cough her daddy* :). I guess she will talk on her own time. Everyone tells me not to rush it, that once it starts it doesn't stop. We even had her hearing checked out b/c I thought with all her ear infections maybe it's affected her hearing. BUT she passed that with flying colors, so I'm pretty certain she's just being stubborn.


She is getting more and more hair, she actually has little curls in the back. I finally got a bow clipped in it the other day and it stayed! Woo hoo!


She has more toys than we can keep up with, and she still has a closet full of unopened ones left from Christmas and her birthday. It just goes to show how truely blessed she is to have such wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles, and parents :)


We are SO ready for summer to soak up the sun! We have blown up her pool and she has already been in it a few times. She loves to prance around in her swimming suit in the front yard. We can't wait for our big trip to Mrytle Beach in June with Nanny, Poppy, Aunt Sara, Uncle Jay, Hayden, Gabby, Uncle Don, Aunt Amber, Brayden, and Caitlyn, just to name a few. It is going to be SOOO much fun! I am excited b/c Halle will be old enough to play in the sand and in the little kiddie pool.


I want to make this summer be the best yet! Although we have crazy work schedules, I have many activities planned for us, which includes taking a trip every month, whether its just an hour away or 8 hours away. We are going to be one big happy family, spending as much time together as possible. Now, we just have to figure out how to survive these trips with our spunky toddler!

Vampires, wizzards, and more...

Lately, I have taken up reading as a hobby thanks to my sister Cassie. She absolutely loves to read and you can always find her at Barnes and Noble :). Reading isn't exactly my idea of fun, but she talked me into it. I started out reading the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood on HBO) series. Turns out that I actually, seriously and truly, enjoyed it (although some of the parts in it can be rather "in depth"). After I started reading the first book I couldn't stop. I found I had read 9 books in just a few weeks! Sadly, that is more than I have read throughout my years in school combine. I tell my sister that I got sucked into the world of Sookie. If you ever start reading them, be prepared and have the next book ready at your bedside. The new book comes out next month and I am already so excited to get it!! I can't wait to see what happens next....

From vampires to wizzards... Now, I have started reading the Harry Potter series. I just started the first book yesterday and I am about to be on book #2. Even though I have already seen the movies, I still find the books to be very interesting. There are several parts that are left out that I get to incorporate into my ideas/thoughts as I read along, which is fun :) I usually like to form my own ideas of what the characters look like, but its hard to do since all the movies are out and I have just started to read the books.

You may ask, when do I find time to read without ignoring my princess? I read during her naptime and I read at bedtime for hours until I look at the clock and see that it's 1 a.m. It's strange how you change as you get older. I used to seriously hate to read any book and now it's one of my favorite things to do. The list of books that I want to read grows by the minute. Needless to say, I am hooked!

P.T.D.D.

On Tuesday April 6, 2010, my little princess attended daycare for the first time. I woke up feeling a bit nauseated b/c this was the first time someone I didn't know was going to care for my child (let me tell you, it really puts an emtpy feeling in your stomach). I really thought hard about skipping my CPR recertification class that I had just so she wouldn't have to go, BUT in reality there was no possible way I could skip it. I continued with mine and Halle's getting ready routine, we have it down to a "T" now. I loaded her up and headed out!


We arrived at daycare 25 minutes prior to when I was supposed to, I thought that I would hang around in her classroom until she was ok with me to leave. She's usually been so good around other kids. She always loves to watch them and play with them. Somehow this time, she knew that it was different. She was clinging to me and crying when I put her down. The teacher said it was probably better if I didn't hang around long so Halle could get used to things. I left my girl sitting in her little chair at the table crying for me. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I stepped out, closed the door, and started crying. There was nothing I could do. I had to go to my class and I had no one to watch her besides the daycare.


To my surprise, time flew by and I was back at daycare within a couple of hours to pick up my girl. The teachers were excellent with her. They wrote down everything she did, under the "mood" section they put "a little upset", which was probably putting it lightly. They said that she played, then cried for a minute, then played, cried, ate, cried... you get the point.


Now we are dealing with a whole different issue... seperation anxiety, which I think was caused from what I like to call P.T.D.D. a.k.a. post tramatic daycare disorder. She screams when I leave the room, she screams when I try to put her down to do anything, she screams when I'm sitting on the couch and shes not (which results in me sitting on the floor with her in my lap), she screams when the neighbor brings her kid over to play thinking I'm going to leave her with them... it's just a whole list of things that gets longer everyday. She doesn't play much with her toys anymore b/c she has to be sitting in my lap or rolling around on me or something that has to do with her touching me to know I'm there. I'm really hoping that this phase ends SOON!

P.S. I was going to post pics of Halle's 1st daycare day, but blogger is being difficult an won't let me upload any!

Serendipity

I decided last week that I needed to fully update my blog and stay on top of it this time. Things have been so busy for us lately that we hardly find time to sit down... as you have seen I changed the name of my blog to "Serendipity". I'm sure most of you have seen the movie and probably know the meaning of it. In case you don't know the meaning I will tell you. It means the effect by which one accidentally stumbles upon something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.


Let me explain why I chose this to be my new heading... I was thinking back to the day when I got the phone call from an unexpected ex, which we all know by now was Rusty. I wasn't sure why he was calling and was completely confused. We talked for a while catching up on life, etc. After that I didn't hear from him for a couple of weeks. I didn't think anything of it b/c I was at a point in my life where I happy with my job, friends, family, and just life in general. It was a few weeks after he called me when I saw him at the Battles of Bridgeport (an annual thing that the whole community come together for to have a good time and remember the seige that took place in Bridgeport). I knew then that this whole time when I thought I was so content with where my life was at that I was actually missing something....something I wasn't searching for... something unexpected.... him.

Of course we talked and hung out and laughed at old times. It was so natural and comfortable. I knew from that point that I was missing a big part of my life. I never realized that I wanted a relationship. I debated on it each day we spent time together. The day he left to go back to Enterprise, he invited me to have lunch with him, his mom, and his dad. I was so anxious, nervous, and excited to see them again. Needless to say we had a great time! The time for Rusty to leave was quickly approaching and I grew sadder by the minute. I mentioned to him that maybe I would come and visit on my week off from work, he immediately said "come, come!" I did, and the rest is history. Here we are today in our beautiful home raising our beautiful daughter. I couldn't ask for anything more. I am completely in love with my life. I am so grateful to God for the things he has given me. Without him, no of this was possible.


Serendipity, I stumbled upon something unexpected, something I wasn't searching for, something fortunate....LIFE.