Tagged...

Okay, sorry this is so long in coming Courtney, but I was tagged weeks ago and now I'm finally responding. Six things people probably don't know about me was kind of hard because I'm a pretty open person but here goes...

1) I did an all important study in college and determined that Burger King has the best french fry. That's strictly from a fast food stand point, steak fries are hard to beat. Needless to say I do like my fried potatoe but I usually do a good job of maintaining my distance.

2) I can't stand to sleep with my socks on. A good night sleep requires a little chill in the air, a big warm blanket, a big warm Joe and no socks. It's the only way I sleep.

3) I am almost 20 weeks pregnant and we are having a girl. We don't normally keep big secrets but due to our miscarriage earlier this year we have been a little close mouthed about it and then with all our house projects time has flown. My favorite part about the whole thing is when Carter rubs my tummy and talks about his baby sister- hope he still feels so compassionate towards her come April. Oh yea, she's due on Carters birthday- April 28th.

4) I find therapy in cleaning, and I am a compulsive cleaner. I vacuum out the couch, dust the fans, and move all furniture to vacuum on a regular basis. If I'm mad or upset I clean and somehow it puts things in perspective. But I hate to mop, that always leaves me worse than when I started.

5) Okay, here's one even Joe doesn't know the extent of. I keep Subway in business. I LOVE turkey and ham on honey oat and I've even gotten Carter on the wagon. It's also my pregnancy craving and since being able to eat again (yea for second trimesters!) I make it to Subway 3-4 times a week. Here's to hoping Joe never reads this...

6) I love horses, most of that probably stems from an infatuation with Tom Burlinson (anyone seen Man From Snowy River?). I love living in our area, right out of our neigorhood there are lots of horses- Joe, Carter and I are all fans. It would be great to take riding lessons again, maybe it's in my future.


I think I'm supposed to tag someone at this point but EVERYONE on my list of bloggers has been tagged before. But it's been fun to be one of you- have a great weekend! And I'll add pictures from the last 2 holidays soon:).

Carter, Sleep and Waffle House..

Carter is trying so very hard to give up his naps but I refuse to give up without a fight. So I have started waking him up earlier in the morning (breaking my own cardinal rule- never wake a sleeping child) and it's working! Yes, of the 2 of us I'm the one with the college education:)! Ironically, here are some pictures of him snoozing with his best friends, our friends dog Jenny and his Daddy- he's actually only truly asleep in the daddy picture. And on a different subject, the state of Georgia is overrun with restaurants called Waffle House. They are like a Denny's and they had Joe at hello- he is hooked. I have mixed feelings but that could be because nothing tastes good right now. Here are Carter and I in our official hats enjoying a little Southern living.

New York in the summer...

I had every intention of posting some super cute new pictures of Carter but that will have to wait because Carter is at this moment watching videos of himself on the camera and will not relinquish it. So I thought I'd post some forgotten goodies from our trip to New York in July. All of Joe's siblings and their fams got together to celebrate his Dad's 60th birthday and Carter was in heaven with three older cousins who included him in all their fun. Joe is in New York for work and McKenna and I were all prepared to have a girls party but 36 hours into it- I miss you Joe! Just 24 hours to go...

The rain...

I don't have any great pictures to share (and I won't until I find the right cable) but Carter is napping, it's raining and I am feeling so peaceful. I love the rain, it's good for the soul. Thank you for all of your thoughts in your blogs everyday. With all the chaos in our lives it's fun to stop and smile. And it has been so fun as Carter (who needs to be involved in anything I'm doing:) recognizes people and wants to see their pictures (right now he's all about Molly and Macy). So thanks for enriching our lives and helping us to see the positives in life. Hope that you all have great weekends, and that you get some rain.

Our house...

We thought it about time to update everyone on our new living arrangements. You would think that after 6 weeks of home ownership we would be unpacked and living large. I am attaching pictures to dispel any of these rumors. Some of the pictures are dated last month but some of the house looks pretty much the same (like my master bathroom for instance). Dawnelle's Dad came out last weekend and thanks to a hard long weekend of work (thank you Dad!!) he rewired a bunch of the electrical outlets in our kitchen and moved our gas line and hooked up our appliances and hung our kitchen cupboards and we got a lot of our wood floor down. On Wednesday when my countertops and sink come in I should have a whole working kitchen. If we get the wood floors in by then. We have high hopes. We also are indebted to Dawnelle's sister McKenna who is staying with us, she is the daredevil 20 feet up on the ladder painting our living room. She is helping us keep whatever of our sanity is left:). Joe and I are still on speaking terms, usually, and looking forward to living like normal people. Please keep updating your blogs, reading about what's going on in your lives is the highlight of ours. Carter is still being as cute as can be- and cuter. He likes the concept of "hiding" and he'll even stick his hand behind his back and tell me it's "hiding". He has been a trooper with all this construction going on, he can sleep through hammering and deafening air compressor noise. We are so blessed that he still loves us after all we're putting him through. We hope to have "after" pictures to share soon!

Hanging out with the fam...

Here are a few more pictures of the fam. One is of Carter and I at our "Mommy and me" gymnastics class (he's walking the balance beam way up high!). He loved the class, so much fun. His favorite part was the 30 foot long trampoline he got to bounce down over and over and over...:). Carter has finally (about 2 months ago) discovered television. Only elmo and not for very long at a stretch (about 3 minutes, then trucks, then another 3 minutes, then more truck time). Also Carter INSISTS after each bath on sitting on the counter and making eyes at himself. He loves his new alligator (pronounced aw-i-ga-to). They have these great indoor blow up toy play places (because it is TOO HOT to be outside) and Carter thinks the place is one big trampoline. He is sometimes over 2 feet in the air! Joe and I have recently had some moral struggles with house-sitting. We are taking care of the families 2 snakes and yesterday we had to feed them live mice. It was TERRIBLE! The little one at 2 little baby mice and the big one at 4 big mice. By the end we couldn't handle it anymore and we spared one of the big mice. We fed him cheese and strawberries and set him free in a field. At least now he has a fighting chance!

Our home...

When we took pictures of our house we didn't take any great shots of the exterior, this is the only one I've got. The house has great bones, but we are putting in new floors throughout, painting every wall, gutting the kitchen and bathrooms and we hope to have it done in three weeks. Did I mention we are doing most of it ourselves. You can stop laughing now. But we have been somewhat realistic- we are saving the yard work for next year:). Demolition starts next week and will culminate with my Dad (Mr. Fix-anything) coming out to help with the hard stuff. We are so blessed to be in a ward with wonderful people who are letting us house sit during all this chaos. Atlanta is humid, but other than that we can't complain. The people are so kind, it's beautiful and green and there are things to do and see. We'll keep you posted on the chaos, we're hoping for some great before and after photos. My sister McKenna is coming out on Monday to stay for MONTHS and MONTHS. Without her none of this would be possible- thank you McKenna! I love checking everyones blogs- I hope someday ours will get a facelift and regular updates too. And music, how do you do that...?