Holiday Fun

So I have been hearing from you how long its been since I blogged and I couldn't believe it- Oct. I guess that's what happens when its year end and you are in the pension world! Just 2 more days and life will be good again. Whats so hard is this is my super busy season (50 hrs last week and I am scheduled for 24!) and Rusty is working 2 days in the next 2 weeks. Must be nice to be on an academic calendar!

The big news in our world is that after much talk and back and forth we are going on a vacation. I booked it this week so its for sure now. We will spend 4 days in Cabo San Lucas. We threw alot of ideas around but that's the one that seems to have stuck.

We are getting ready for a busy holiday season.
Sat we have family at our house for Christmas with Dad
Sunday we are off to celebrate with the Clarks
Monday we have Reese's bday party and Rusty is off to fish with Brad for 2 days
Wednesday we are off to Christmas with Mom
Thursday we are celebrating Santa and Reese's bday with my Mom and the Clarks
Friday Reese and I are headed out with my mom and sister to Oklahoma to visit family
We of course said as we do every year that we wont tour Texas during the holiday and of course we are! Now if I could just get some time to get a few toys for Reese

Reese is talking more and more everyday. Its often a challenge to understand what he is saying but "boat" ,"truck", "milk" and "juice" are by far the most frequent. He loves to look at Bass Pro catalogs and anything that involves the boat. He adores his father and all the cool toys he has:)

We are doing well and loving life more everyday.

Update

I cant believe how long it has been since I last blogged. It has been a busy month visiting friends and family. We have made several trips out of town and even a day at the farm.

I have been down with shingles for the past week. I almost feel like when I had mono- where you cant even move. I have been so lucky though that my in laws and my father were able to come and help out a few days. I did make it to Micah's baptism, but otherwise I was pretty much in bed for 4 days.

Reese is so unbelievably perfect for his grandparents- go figure. He is acting more like a 2 year old every day with his stubbornness and tantrums but we are making it just fine. He amazes me more every day. He is talking more and more and is my little buddy. His favorite words are boat and daddy of course. He talks non stop about the boat all day. He only wishes it was uncovered so it would be his own personal playground.

I will post more pictures soon.

Catch Up

Dressed up for church. Taking advantage of my ability to dress him cute until he is 2!

I love the way they are looking at each other. Good cousins!

I apologize that its been 2 weeks since the last posting. I will follow up from the prior posting and say that as hard as it is to mentally keep Reese up later, I have been doing that and he is back to a 2-3 hr nap. Who knew 12:30 vs 1:00 would make so much difference.

The highlight of my week was the return of Friday Night Lights. I was a bit disappointed in the episode, but so happy to have my favorite show back.

Last week Rusty was in Virginia all week for training. I was so lucky that it was coincidental that was the week my friend Stephanie was coming for a visit. She stayed for 3 days and then my dad made an impromptu stop on Thursday. On Friday night I went to a Junior League preview party at a local jewelry store with Amy and Angela. I didn't think it would be as much fun as it was. It was fun to dress up and go out for an adults only night. It took me a while but eventually I did get into the spirit of trying on $12,000 necklaces like it was no big deal. I think the best moment was the 40+ caret blue topaz ring that Amy tried on. I cant imagine who can wear a ring that big. The week flew by. Rusty returned home in the middle of the night on Friday. Sunday he spent the day at the lake, but Saturday he played with Reese all day and we had a great family day. I also had a chance to relax a bit and let the daddy son bonding occur around the boat outside.

Reese is OBSESSED with the boat. We nearly couldn't get him out the door to go to church on Sunday with it parked in the driveway. When we went outside he just stood on the slab screaming for the boat. It gets better because he saw a boat in someone elses driveway the other day and cried all the way home. I think he might be a boater one day- what do you think? We met my brother down at Bass Pro a few weeks ago and I think he was a little shocked how Reese got in the boat and acted like he knew what he was doing- opening compartments and all.

On a side note regarding my brother. After living with each sets of parents they did return home about a week and a half after the storm. A tree fell on the house but didn't cause major damage. They were very lucky because they had to condemn 43 houses in their neighborhood. I am very lucky that no one in my family had major damage- not to say that I don't have friends who do.

This past week has been a whirlwind. We have gone to the Children's Museum, played outside every day and had 2 dinner parties. Reese is such a good little boy and he is doing very well with his manners and learning to put things back where they go. It amazes me everyday how much he can do and how much he understands what I say. He doesn't speak a lot (at least that I can understand) but his favorite phrase right now is saying stuck. "I'm Stuck" is a common term in the house referring to him, food, toys etc that he cant get.

Reese and I are headed to the outlet mall on Monday and then on to see Grandma and Grandpa for a few days.

Why no nap?

I promise to post pictures very soon.

We have had another busy week. I was one of the few people who could actually work at my job last week so I was super stressed and busy holding down the fort for many others. I am glad the office is back up and running. In the meantime I had an impromptu dinner party and playgroup.

Angela offered me a ticket to the game this weekend and I had a blast. I hadn't been in many many years and definitely didn't have great seats the past few times I went. I felt like I was back as a band date at the 30 yard line. Rusty happened to be at the game because his cadets were doing the march in and the band performed at half time.

Yesterday Reese and I attended a church picnic with our Sunday school class. It was nice to see alot of my friends from the other campus. This is my 3rd picnic to go to solo- maybe one of these days Rusty can come and help me chase Reese all over the park!

Reese is really starting to act like a 2 year old. The tantrums are starting to really come out. He has not taken a real nap in 2 days so its been fun times around here. Exhausting! We had a great morning with a trip to the park and MOPS but a cranky afternoon. Poor little guy was scaling his crib at 6:45 tonight because he was so tired!

My friend Stephanie , her husband, and their 6 month old are coming for the next 3 days. Perfect timing since Rusty is gone all week to Virgina.

90210 and busy days

I have been crazy busy with extracurricular activities and have really fallen behind on posting new pictures and blogging. Everything seemed to get busy with the kick off of the school year(which is funny since none of us are in school). I started in a local MOPS group this week to add to the fun. Reese started his new Kindermusik class and loved it. We will go at 9 on Thurs so he will show up 30-40 min late to school on Thurs. Funny thing is this puts him at school just in time to straight to MDO music time. Double music time on Thurs for him.

Reese was very sick last weekend. but still took a day trip to Houston. Reese and I went down for a gymnastics 3rd birthday party and ended up getting to spend some time with my sister and her family as well.

Reese is doing well and didn't even make a peep amongst the hurricane winds last night.We have had a lot of strong wind but we are very lucky. The local Starbucks is even open- how silly is that. I had my bathtub full of water and had things unplugged and a few things moved up off the ground but I am of the camp that its better safe than sorry. I can still remember the sound of Kelley's bedroom window breaking in hurricane Alicia. I think Rusty finds it a bit amusing how I handle the storms vs him. It's sort of funny that he is home actually. Since he isn't attached to a unit he doesn't get called up for storm duty. This soldier is taking an afternoon nap

We still have power so I took the opportunity during his nap today to watch the new 90210. We don't have the CW on our satellite (I have called many times to complain) so I have to watch it on line. I thought it was pretty good. Between it,The Hills and my new found show Million Dollar Listing on Bravo, I think I should move to California. I would need many millions of course to buy a tiny house, but I could get used to the beach and sun year round. Life without hurricanes would be nice as well- but then there are the earthquakes to think of.

I was surprised by the new 90210. I watched every episode for 10 years of the old one. It is a bit nostalgic to me because my life when it started and my life now is so very different. Better now- just different. More responsibilities for sure. My biggest when it started was probably if some boy liked me and if I was going to get to hang out with my friends on the weekend. Its funny how you think everything is so tragic when you are a teenager and looking back its so silly. This is an issue I face alot when I spend too much time up at the sorority house. When Rusty was deployed and I was up there I sometimes wanted to say to the women when they were complaining "Send your husband off to war and then we will talk about a real problem". You all know I am too nice for that and only see the good in everyone but sometimes it would have been nice.

I thought Shannen D(Brenda) gave me the creeps and was very awkward when she and Jennie G(Kelly) try to play nice. Its so clear they don't like each other. I have been wanting to get Tori Spellings book where she talks about their fall out. Here is what I think- if 2 of them said Shannen was horrible- does she have a chance to win that fight. I do like how they did use Andrea's daughter and Kelly's sister on the show. It makes it tie back to the old one a bit more.

The show made me a little nervous for the life Reese will have in high school. I was so naive and never even knew where to find trouble. I used to think I wanted a girl, but then I think of the awkward teenage years and I think of how silly I was. Ang and I were just talking the other day about how we were crazy emotional and cried over everything- blame the hormones.

Guest bed

After 8+ years of marriage there are very few things that Rusty and I do not see eye to eye on. One of the areas that we never agree on is the guest bed. We have 2 guest bedrooms- each one with a full size bed and each with a desk. Rusty is constantly wanting me to take the bed out of his room so he has more space. My thoughts are that I gave up my huge beautiful desk (where I will add that I do earn a living unlike his desk where he looks at fishing web sites) to have a small desk and keep a guest bed once the nursery was made. Not to mention that in another few years one of the guest beds will become Reese's bed which leaves us with only 1 guest bed. No reason to get rid of one to buy one in a few years.

All of this to say that the guest beds are used alot. Its especially nice when we have guests during the week to utilize the bed in his room so that I don't wake up a guest at 6:30 am when I start working.

Bryan lived with us for 3 months this summer and stayed entirely in Rusty's guest room. Since he moved out on Aug 15 we have had the following house guests

• Bryan
• Marie(3 nights)
• Brittany (2 nights)
• My Dad
• Brook, Tracy,Robyn and Allyson
• Ryan

I think you see my point!

I meant to write this post yesterday and had it on my mind and then today I find out from Stacy that Rusty was talking about getting rid of the guest bed last night at bible study- ha! He wont be winning this one! As you can see we have plenty of space so come and visit

Since this is the biggest argument we have in our marriage, I think we are doing pretty well!

Galveston trip

It has been quite a week. Reese has been sick for a while and this week he was diagnosed with Giardia which the dr believed he got from the swimming pool. We started the antibiotics and then were called and said there was a lab error and he doesn't have it. It took 5 days for the test results and in the meantime he managed to get well on his own- horray. He was sleeping about 18 hrs a day which while nice wasn't right and wasn't able to eat very well. I am happy he is back to himself- although he is a busy busy kid again.

Rusty's mom came and stayed a few days. We went to the park to feed the ducks and they really swarmed Reeese. I guess they aren't getting fed as much now that its hot. We even saw a duck take the bread out of a turtles mouth.

Reese and I headed down to Galveston yesterday for our weekend vacation with my family. We made it down to Friendswood where I was able to visit with my Aunt Louise. Afterwards we met up with Swati and her family for dinner. Swati and I were best friends in elementary and saw each other at A&M new student conference. Other than that, I think its been about 15 years since we last saw each other. It was alot of fun catching up. Reese was not being his usual good self and was a nightmare at dinner, but it was worth it.

I was supposed to see Jackie and Molly also but that didn't work out so we will meet up next time... because... after all of the packing, taking off early, driving and preparing the trip to Galveston was called off. With the storm potentially coming, my Dad called off the trip so Reese and I drove right back home. I never go to bed before 11:30 so you can imagine Rusty's amazement when he comes home last night to find me asleep at 10 PM! It was a long day for sure. I am looking forward to Reese's first trip to the beach--- whenever that may be.

Stacking his tower of cups and knocking it down Playdate with Gianna and AustinSwati and her adorable family

Aunt Louise

Trip to Houston

Reese and I took a day trip to Houston yesterday. He was on excellent behavior and was such a good shopping partner. He was even good about trying on clothes and by the 10th pair of jeans that's pretty impressive. I even found clothes for me which is very rare. We came home prepared for the fall with clothes for both of us and hit a lot of great sales.

Everything was perfect until I was trying on clothes at Harold Powell and realized his diaper had exploded. I was out of diapers in my bag so I ran out to the car to get more. The car was pretty far down the shopping center but I went as fast as I could. While I was gone, apparently one of the sales associates came and asked my mom to take the diaper outside. She explained I went to get one and we would be done soon (after I already told them I was going to take care of the diaper and would be back to finish trying on the clothes). Well I got back and changed him and his clothes and took the diaper out ASAP. I look outside the stall and see the associate lighting a candle and spraying air freshner. I apologize once again for the diaper smell lingering and she asked if I took it outside (hello- am I am idiot). Then she tells me she went to Bath and Body to get candles and air freshner-- hello- its way down the shopping center. I apologize again when I proceed to buy my $175 worth of clothes from them. I think I am going to write a letter because I have never been treated so poorly in my life. If it wasn't all over his clothes I would have taken him outside from the start but decided it was better to leave him be and contained.

Maybe I was wrong in keeping him in the dressing room but this is crazy! Snobby store. I thought from the beginning that they were nice until they realized the child was mine (my mom was pushing him). He was well behaved and in his stroller the entire time. You would have thought he was pushing fixtures over the way they reacted!

First Hair Cut and Bid day

Reese loved the old barber chairs

Playing with our playgroup at the splash pad

He loved the yell leaders and even chased them down to the next house Reese and ADPI president Amanda

Sunday

It was a very busy week. Sorority recruitment is in full swing and I was at the house every day to check in on things. We had a busy social week.Tues we had our Olympics Party. Wednesday Rusty took Reese to swim lessons so the Moms could go out for dinner (4 hrs at Cafe Eccell- I think we should get out more). Thursday we had our friends Gabe and Stacy over for dinner (their kitchen is being remodeled so we had a little dinner party).

Reese completed his swim lessons on Thursday. Our friend Chris videoed the last swim lesson (his child was in it with us) and I cant wait to see the video. All of the kids went flying down the slide except for Reese. He managed to use his feed to stop him all the way down and then he hung off the edge for at least a minute until the swim teacher pulled him the foot or two plunge into the water!

Rusty and Reese went to visit Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend. I don't think I have had this much time at home alone since Reese was born. I had a very busy weekend getting ready for and throwing a baby shower for my sorority sister Robyn. After the shower we went up to the ADPI house for alumnae skit day. After skit day we went out to dinner and then 4 of my friends spent the night.

Today I attended what is most likely my last church service at GBC Anderson Campus. I am so excited about the new campus opening next week.

Reese doesn't have MDO this week so I have babysitters coming every day to the house. It should be a fun week with him at home!

Rustys Return

Wearing Daddy's socks

The blog posting has really slowed down now that Rusty is home. Now you all just get to read the interesting things and not a daily update

We have had a busy couple of days. We are finishing up swim lessons this week and I am in Olympic Mania around here. We had our bible study over last night to watch the games and had a lot of fun.

Reese has been sleeping like crazy since Rusty got home- go figure. I went shopping on Sat am (how wonderful it was to get out of the house on my own) and came home at 10 am to find both boys still asleep:)

It has been great having Rusty home. He and Reese have had a lot of fun playing together. Reese didn't want anything to do with him at the airport, but a few minutes into the car ride he warmed up to him and cant get enough. Every morning when he wakes up, he goes in our room to see if Rusty is in there. So disappointed to find him at work!

We went straight from the airport to swim lessons on Friday. Reese could hardly focus on swim lessons with his head turned always looking to make sure Daddy was watching his every move so that he could show off!

I have been busy with ADPi all week. Kick off meetings and getting ready for recruitment.

Student Invasion

I watched Gianna this morning so that her parents could go to Houston. She and Reese had a blast playing together. I always think its so neat to see him play with kids close to his age (and to see is on par and doing the same things they are). I will post some pictures from this morning when I get a chance

I love living in this town 11/12 of the year. That's right-- its August so the student invasion has begun. I know I should love students since I live in a college town, and most of the times I do (hello- babysitters a plenty) but in Aug the students and their parents are crowding the streets, church, grocery store, restaurants etc. No longer can you go out to eat without a wait. I always loved the summers here because we could eat out wherever we want- now that Rusty is gone in the summer- there goes that. I also do not enjoy driving because we have way too many people who don't know where they are going. I don't understand between all the signs and the new labels on the road why everyone gets so confused where Texas and 6 split and nearly cause a wreck every day!

I have been very fortunate that Reese has always slept through the night since he was 3 months old- even when he was sick. Well last night he woke up at least 5 times. I forgot how horrible infant life was! I think he is teething but we are going to the Dr today to be sure since he isn't himself. On that note, Rusty will be home tonight so this is not the best time for him not to be happy:)

Wed

As a follow up from my last post, the pork tacos were very good but way to spicy for Reese to eat. I guess I will freeze it for later because there is no way I can eat 4 lbs of pork myself!

Yesterday was a long and dreary day. We did get rain (yeah!) but that kept us inside all day and away from swim lessons. Eventually I put on the stroller cover and a rain coat and took him for a walk- he appreciated that very much. I got out my book that has 365 activities for toddlers but he wasn't interested in any of the ones I tried. He was more interested in showing me that he can break the child locks on the cabinets and get out food anytime he wants

Today we had a great afternoon. We had an impromptu playgroup with Gianna, Kylynn and Erich. The afternoon flew by watching the kids have a blast. Tonight we returned to swim lessons. He wasn't as happy as he was on Monday but overall pretty good. I think he is teething right now because the drool and crankiness are at an all time high

I love this phase of his life. He is so animated and wants to repeat everything you say to him. He is working on bowl and diaper. Now if only I could figure out what he is pointing out the window and yapping about!

Busy Times

My Mom came up to visit yesterday. We had a nice time at church and spending the afternoon together. Heather made an impromptu visit on her way back to Houston from Waco. Because of the storm in Houston, it turned into a long visit and dinner. Mom, Conner, Reese, Heather, Heathers Mom, and I all had a nice dinner at home. I had cooked a long the night before and luckily had a ton of food left over for our impromptu dinner party. Reese and Conner had a blast playing together. I think they missed each other since Disney.

I cooked bread and a roast last night. Cooking up a storm around here lately. I am finally becoming more domestic.

I hosted playgroup at my house today. We had all boys and they had a blast. It was nice to get to catch up with my playgroup since I haven't been able to attend my Monday group this summer.

Tonight we started swimming lessons. Reese had an absolute blast. We are doing the lessons with Angela/Austin and Amy/Emma so it was fun to see all the kids in the water. Reese did really well kicking and blowing bubbles. He likes to jump off the edge of the pool into your arms. Reese did really well and I hope that these lessons pay off and going to the pool becomes less of a chore and more of a joy. Reese doesn't really like to stay in the pool when we go!

Saturday

Playing with bubbles (he loves to say the word bubbles)

Its been a couple of fun days around here. We had Kindermusik on both Wed and Thurs this week and then went to the pool with our playgroup on Friday. Friday night I went to Moms Night Out with my Sunday School class to learn a few new recipes, meal planning and ways to save money at the grocery store. It was nice to get out of the house and visit with the women in the class.

Reese was sitting in his high chair eating and I was in the kitchen cutting up food. He was talking away and kept repeating something- I thought surely I cant be hearing what I am- I go to look at him and he is doing his sign for more and going moooooorrre. He was so proud of himself and was really trying to enunciate. He also attempted to point to and say tractor today while we were at Tractor Supply getting dog food.

Reese slept until 9:30 this morning. What a blessing! I was able to sleep in and get all my ironing done before he woke up.

Helping to clean Daddy's floor mats

He just started really liking his horse today- and now he can't get enough of it. He gets on it and knows right what to do

Hello and Goodbye

Bryan turns 30 tomorrow so the Clarks came down last night to celebrate his bday. They came down to spend the afternoon with Reese and then the adults went out to dinner. After dinner I went over to game night with my bible study and had a good time socializing. I feel its worth every penny I pay the babysitter to be able to go out as an adult each Tues night and socialize with other adults.

Today was a great day. I took the day off work - a very rare thing for me. I take off for vacations and such but never just to have a "me" day. I slept until 8 (shocking since I am always up early) and then took Reese to MDO. I went to the gym, had the sprinkler system fixed, went out to lunch with friends, ran errands and spent time at home with the tv. Of course Reese has to be picked up by 2:30 so I am limited in what I can do with a day off- but it was great. Reese and I had a great afternoon. We went to Kindermusik, Reese ate like crazy for dinner and we went for a walk. Today is a sad day because I went out to lunch with my old FRG (military support group) friends to say goodbye to Sharen Leigh. Ben and Sharen Leigh have been great friends to both Rusty and I. Since Rusty and Ben worked at the armory together, they were friends independently of Sharen Leigh and I which was nice. We used to meet for lunch and hang out alot when they were both stationed here. Ben and Sharen are headed to AL for flight school and then back to Houston in approx 2 years. Its not goodbye forever, but CS wont be the same without them. I can't imagine if we ever have to face an overseas deployment again, not going through it with Sharen Leigh again. There are times this summer that I wanted to have a pity party for myself and I was reminded of how Sharen Leigh was home alone with 3 kids- including a newborn- and if she could do it and never complain- so could I!

I sandwhich tray leaked on my shirt so I am bent all crazy in this picture trying to hide!
I am going to finish up my night watching my Friday Night Light DVD's that came today. I love that show and I have never been so anxious for my DVD's to come in the mail from Blockbuster as I have for this series.

I am trying to think of creatives names for the title of my blog- so if you have any let me know. Reese isnt that catchy!

Monday

Reese woke up early enough for me to hit the gym before taking him to school - which was good but made for a long afternoon since lately I have been working later in the morning and therefore logging back on later:) Charissa and Heather always need to work out with me to make the time fly- so much fun!

It is over 100 degrees and that's no fun with a toddler. We hit the mall this afternoon. I didn't find a swimsuit (swim lessons start next week) and didn't buy a thing but it was nice to get out. Reese and I did play outside tonight in the baby pool and with his sidewalk chalk but at least it was later in the day when it was more like 98!

My night has been full of Facebook and relaxing. Facebook sucks up my time but it is addicting for sure.

The maid, the Clarks and the babysitter are coming tomorrow so we have a big day ahead of us!

Time with Laura

My mom sent me the CD with the Disney Pictures and this was on it. This is my favorite picture of us. Its rare that he looks at the camera and smiles. She blew it up to an 8 by 10 for me so I better go get a frame. This picture is a few months old but I still love it. I have also updated my Disney blogs below with new pictures now that I have hers.

Laura and I had a wonderful visit. We went to dinner and the grocery store but otherwise just hung out at home. I felt like I should entertain more but she assured me that spending time at home watching Homefront (a tv series from the early 90's we both love) and just talking all weekend was good for her. Its nice to be with old friends because its so effortless. You can tell stories and they don't need to know the backstory because they already know it. This is the problem I found alot when we lived in GA because no one knew a thing about you or about Texas so everything had a backstory.

Of course he wouldn't pose when he was in his nice church clothes with her!

I cooked up a storm with Laura here. I made orange rolls this morning -too much sugar and too much effort to knead bread for me to do it again. I cooked jerk chicken last night and steak tonight. I am ready for Rusty to be home so I am not cooking meals like for Reese and I. It was nice having Laura here so that someone actually appreciates my efforts. Reese is so obsessed with jello that he could pretty much care less what else I feed him! Reese was an angel this weekend and was quite the show off for Laura. His vocabulary is really improving and he clearly understands what I say. This goes for when I talk on the phone now as well so I have to be careful what I say when I talk about the good or bad things he is doing over the phone:)

Ross King lead worship today at church and it was amazing. I had been a fan for years and have alot of his cd's. I cant wait for him to be our worship leader when Grace Southwood opens.

I got out the playdoh for the first time yesterday and Reese loved it

Friday

He likes to snap green beans with me now

Today was a busy and fun day. We went to the gym and to playgroup before lunch and had a spontaneous playdate with Erich and Lacey this afternoon. My friend Laura has come to spend the weekend. She has never met Reese and I am glad she got to come for a visit. I claim we have been friends since 7th grade. She claims I met her in 6th grade but wasn't her friend until 8th. I will go with somewhere in the middle we became friends:) Most of you will know her as Laura from France since I went to visit her over there twice. She now lives in Dallas and is buying a house next month so she will be entering the homeowners club- yeah!

Wrestling with Erich

Per Charissa- I have been tagged for her questionnaire and I am a woman of my word.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Starting my senior year of college. Living in my duplex which was first time not in the sorority house or dorm. Drama with my duplex roommates! Preparing to be a rho chi for recruitment and hating every minute of disaffiliation from my sorority. Having a fantastic summer in CS. I always loved the summers in college because the classes were smaller and you made friends-- including my friendship with the Weavers that later led to my friendship/roommate Ellen.

Things on my to-do list today
I still need to call and find out where my half price Veritas coupon is. I need to check my finances and pay bills. I need to call the mortgage company and see if they can cut me a deal on a refinance. I need to plug in my new freezer. I am proud to say that most of my to do list was accomplished this week because I didn't have a bad week at work and had time to take care of things- yeah!

What are some snacks you enjoy? I really like the Natural Cheddar Cheetos and was excited I found them this week. I mostly eat healthy foods and my favorite snacks are smoothies and cliff bars

What would you do if you were a millionaire? The fluff answer is I would get a private jet so I could travel the world. I think realistically I would give money to my top charities which are Grace Bible Church, Wilcrest Baptist Church, Star of Hope, World Vision and Homes of St Mark(my adoption agency). All of these charities are ones I give to now and are very important to me. I would give a small donation to ADPi as well (although not to be grouped with the ones above since its not really charity). I would also give money to my family so that they could pay off their houses

Name some places you've called home
My life story is Houston(Alief for a year and then Mission Bend for 23 years) College Station, back to living with mom in Houston waiting to get married, The Woodlands, TX- and now back to College Station. I guess I could technically call Fort Benning GA and Fort Knox KY home for 5 and 4 months.

So that's - Houston- College Station- Houston- Woodlands- College Station. I don't travel far and I know the Army will move me somewhere not fun in the future

What are some of your bad habits?
Talking too much, being too blunt, interrupting, gossiping

What are some jobs you've held?
babysitting
Target for a few months when I was 16 and saving for a car
Joshua's Christian Store/Family Christian Store- 8 years
Hewitt-9 years
I am a stable employee and don't like to switch jobs.

Who are you tagging?
I am going to say whoever has time to do it

Disney Part 2

Back to the Disney World synopsis.

On Thursday we went back to Magic Kingdom. I must admit this trip was much different because I rode all of the Fantasy Land kid rides that I had always skipped. We rode Winnie the Pooh (which I must say is a BEAUTIFUL ride), Snow White, Peter Pan, Dumbo, the Carousel, and the family favorite Its A Small World. He also rode several things in Tomorrow Land -the people mover twice, saw the Carousel of Progress twice, and I rode Space Mountain!

Riding the people mover for the second time that day

Reese's first time on the carousel. He cried when he had to get off. He loved it!

On Friday we went to Epcot. In the past, we did the front part of the park in a few hours and then the countries all day. This time, we didn't even get back to the countries until after 5. The fun thing about this day was that Reese and I were walking around in the Innovations building when we were handed dream fast passes. I was able to get Heather and Brent over there soon enough but too late for Kelley. Basically it was a fast pass to 6 of the rides that you could use at any point of the day. I could have really used that in Magic Kingdom! Some of them we didn't need because lets face it- there is never a line for the boat ride in the "Land", but some of them came in handy. At 8:45 we ended up using one of them to ride the ride in Norway and then we were able to make it back to our spot for the light show at 9!

I rode Test Track and then watched Conner and Reese while the others rode it. I took Reese and Conner over to the aquarium and I must admit that having 2 kids is much harder than 1 alone at an amusement park:) We went to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show (Reese loved the 4d again), the Nemo ride and aquarium, a ride that talked about your senses, and played musical hopscotch for toddlers We also went on the boat ride in the "Land" (twice- pointing at everything along the way)- I think he has alot of Rusty in him because he loved the greenhouse and the fish hatchery.

I rode the new ride Soarin and I must admit it was really cool. Its a simulated ride of what it would feel like to fly or para glide over different areas in the US - The Golden Gate bridge, Yosemite etc. I really like how they incorporated the smell of the areas you were flying over in the ride. For example, when you flew over the orange grove you smelled oranges, when you flew over the mountains you smelled trees etc.

We stayed for the light show and had a fantastic view. Reese loved the light show and especially loved that I gave in for one of those blinky rope necklace deals that he stared at until I decided he was overstimulated!

Visiting the aquarium

Such a big boy

Reese did a great job on the flight home. He was so tired that he slept almost the entire way home from the airport (about 5 pm). We went to Mi Cocina with Grandpa and Uncle Bryan and that was the ended our fun trip! Reese woke up at 6:30 on Sunday- I think he was ready to hit the parks! Luckily he has slept late every day this week since!

I am impressed that you read the whole thing. I promise they will never be this long again