The Concert... Finally!

The craziness we went through a few months ago getting tickets to see Daughtry paid off on December 20th when we got to see him live at The Ryman. It's gotta be the best place to see a concert. I don't think there's a bad seat in the house.

Our original group changed up a little because Uncle was unable to go with Juli. Holden went with Juli in Uncle's place. His first concert! It was a good one for him because he likes Daughtry (maybe because I'm always playing in the car) and Daughtry's music while definitely being rock is also very PG.

The concert was one of the best I've been too. My only regret is that Holden wasn't sitting with me and Ben. We could see him and Juli from our seats though and we kept in touch with text messages throughout!

All in all a really fun night. And in true rebellious rock-n-roll fashion Holden skipped school the next day!

As a side note, there were two opening acts. In my concert going experience I know there are two kinds of opening acts. There are the ones that are on the brink top 40 stardom and the ones that are destined to be playing in the Holiday Inn lounge a year from now. Daughtry had one of each: You Are I Am were pretty decent; The Midway State not so much. I am not at all qualified to be a music critic so don't mark my words, but I do think you will hear from You Are I Am (even if you can't distinguish them from Coldplay or The Fray), but you've already forgotten the name of the other band.

Thankfully, I've Been Busy!

The last 25 days... I am ashamed to say... have been busy. We've dealt with several illnesses (Owen's first stomach virus was one of them... poor baby!). Made a long road trip with all three kids in tow. Helped out an ailing friend. Contended with some really late nights at work for me. All while keeping up our usual schedule... more or less.

Some things slip during times like these... dusting, folding socks, four course dinners and my blog. OK... the dinner thing never happens anyway, but you get my drift. Unfortunately, my blog is so new it can't really afford to be ignored or else the handful of you out there who take the time to read it will stop!

I wish that I had exciting and wonderful things to fill my post with tonight. Instead it's the boring and mundane that has kept me so distracted that I was unable to find the time to sit and write... something that I enjoy so much. OK... boring and mundane as well as sleep... I did forgo writing a few times because I desperately needed to sleep!

It's times like these in my life that I think of one of my favorite Rob Thomas songs. The first time I heard it, I cried... and every time since. This song is so precious that I have to share it with you all tonight. If you have the time to listen to Little Wonders, please do. Really listen to the lyrics and the message therein.

Whenever I get overwhelmed with my so-called busy life I try to remind myself that it's the all -nighter I pulled on the couch with Owen and a"puke bucket" by my side, the late night at The Peddler with some really funny workmates, the piles of mismatched socks, frozen pizza dinners and the occasional night out with a best friend or husband that make up the tapestry of my life. These are the things memories are made of no matter how boring or ordinary they seem to be at the time. Once you put them all together what you have is your life, your story and the realization that they may be "the little things" but they are wonderful.

I am thankful for each one of them.

A Winner!

Wednesday was 4H day in school. It was the big speech competition day. All of the students had to give a speech about what they want to be when they grow up. After much debate Holden chose teacher as his future profession. He wrote the speech all by himself and was very proud to recite it to me over and over and over...

Well, all of that prep must have done some good because he won FIRST place and now will compete in the county-wide 4H competition! He's bursting with pride...

Mission Accomplished!

Things have been pretty crazy since I took O-boy to the doctor two weeks ago. I had early deadline at work for Thanksgiving and had to work on a Friday. That always throws my days of the week off. Then, of course, Holden was off for Thanksgiving Break and Granny was down for a nice long visit. The house was full and chaotic and loud! But for a change, we accomplished something around the house while she was here!

Ben and I have been putting off organizing our master closet for over a year now. It seemed too difficult to hang the shelving ourselves, too overwhelming to choose the design ourselves and too expensive for our tight budget. But after months of mess I absolutely could not take it one more day and no fear of the unknown, no indecisiveness, no amount of money was going to keep me from the peace of mind an organized closet would bring me. We could procrastinate no more!

I have come to accept a good degree less than what my dreams were. This isn't as bad as it sounds because as I have found we can be just as happy with a little less. For example, I used to dream of owning a nice, new SUV. A big one for at least seven passengers like an Armada, Sequoia or LandCruiser. When Emeline came along I held onto that dream. Then Owen came along and I saw the need for a van, but a new one. Time flies and so does the money. So I downgraded my dream to something more realistic: a used van. We ended up with a 2000 Toyota Sienna that was much nicer than we imagined we could find, but no where near that initial dream of a brand new Armada. And you know what? I wouldn't want anything else.

So this is what I did with the closet. I downgraded my dream to something we could manage to install ourselves and afford. It's simple, but I can't imagine it being any more perfect. As usual, we wondered what took us so long. It wasn't very difficult at all and would have taken much less time to complete if Ben didn't have to keep checking the UK/UT game score!

Here's the finished product. We are pretty proud!

Wild Man

Owen is getting so big! He'll be 17 months old on Wednesday. Last week he had his "16-Month" Check Up. He hasn't quite broken the 25 lb. mark yet, but he's working on it! Besides physically growing by leaps and bounds I've noticed his mental and emotional development taking off in recent months.

Owen scored perfectly on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire the doctor has us fill out. It covers communication skills, gross and fine motor, personal/social development and problem solving. I enjoy filling them out because I get to concentrate on what Owen is doing these days. Unfortunately, there's so much going on in our lives I don't always take the time to stop and sniff the flowers along the path of developmental milestones.

Physically, Owen excels. He's been walking since he was nine months old so at nearly 18 months old he's got running down pat. Now he's become expert at climbing. Chairs onto tables. Floor to coffee table. Pillows to bed. His favorite? Scaling the toilet... first, he climbs to the seat, then to the tank. He tries to stand on the tiny window sill above the toilet, but hasn't gotten his "spidey" legs to figure that part out yet.

That's not to say he doesn't have his fair share of accidents, but he's pretty tough. Last week I noticed a little dot under his right eye. Initially, I thought it was dirt then I realized it was a bruise. Upon close examination I realized that his whole right eye was bruised. The little guy had gotten a black eye at some point during the day and didn't even make a fuss over it. When he got his shots last week he first had a finger prick for a blood draw (remember how bad those hurt?) then a shot in the left leg and another in the right and finally let out a wail.

Owen is also making social strides. He says "hi" and "bye" but not always when I want him to. He often says hi to strangers and then looks intently awaiting their response. He continues to prefer men often reaching out to them. I have also noticed that he's developed relationships with people outside of the family... people that he feels comfortable with and remembers.

He's become very talkative. When he chooses to, he can repeat anything you say to him. He understands it all. A few weeks ago we were eating hot dogs and he said "hot dog" clear as day, but I've yet to get him to do it again. Here are his most frequent words:

• Mom/Mama/Mommy
• Dada/Daddy
• Bubba/'Den
• Emmy/Dissy (sissy)
• Cat/Meow
• Duck/Quack
• Bible
• Sing
• Bus
• Car
• Bye-Bye
• Hi
• Dog
• Dink (drink)
• Bopple (bottle)
• Dat ("that" for pacifier because we say to him, 'you don't need that thing')
• Cup
• Bite
• Up/Down/On/Off
  

He'll say just about anything you get him to focus on so this list is just part of what he's says. And he's adding a new word to his repertoire every few days. He also says two word phrases like "Dada bye-bye"; "Bubba bus"; "Mama up".

I am so happy that he's developing normally and doing all the typical things little boys do. I guess I should maintain that positive attitude even though I detect terrible two behaviors starting. My gut feeling is that it's going to be a pretty wild ride with our wild man, Owen.

Emeline Says The Darndest Things

Emeline is so funny. She says the most hilarious stuff and when we laugh she insists that we stop laughing at her. We try to explain that we aren't laughing at her but at what she said. She's a comedienne, I tell her.

This past week she made me laugh lots...

Sunday evening, Granny called someone a "hillbilly". (That's ok because we're from Kentucky!) Emeline wanted to know what a hillbilly was. After a few explanations, I summed it up by saying a hillbilly was sort a like a redneck. That spawned the question, "why are they called rednecks?". So after another explanation and clarifying that those words were actually meant to be put downs, she thought for just a moment then came back with "what about 'pink-neck'?". The car broke out in laughter while Emeline sat indignant assuming that we were laughing at her. Apparently, in her eyes if being a redneck was a bad thing; being a pink-neck would certainly be better. To a four year old girl, everything is better pink.

The scripture at Mathew 21:16 came to mind after a conversation I had with her last week. "Out of the mouth of babes... you have furnished praise"...

Emeline and I were reminiscing about swimming at Gramma's over the summer and the subject the torpedo toy came up. She informed me that real torpedoes are bombs but she wondered who has real torpedoes. I tell her governments have bombs. So then she asks "does Jehovah's (God) government have torpedoes?". "No", I say, "God's government is one of peace, not war." Then she wants to know if God's government is the government that "took her runny nose medicine off the market" (her exact words).

Her questions are endless. She is learning so much even when we are unaware that she's paying attention to us. But her mind is so logical and she is retaining everything. I am so proud of her.

Haircut Horror

A picture's worth a thousand words. So the saying goes. But what if you take a picture to a hairstylist hoping that it will convey the haircut you wish to get and the stylist doesn't speak picture?

That's what happened to me on Friday. I have been in desperate need of a trip to the salon for a while now, but my schedule hasn't worked with my usual hairstylist in Louisville. After much trial and error here in Clarksville to find someone decent, I keep going back to Sandy. Her skill and price just can't be beat. Plus I trust her completely. She's been cutting my hair since I was 15. She was with me when I had long, straight high school hair; been there through shag cuts and red dye; keeping me up to date with side swept bangs and highlights. But desperation drives people to do crazy things... like try yet another Clarksville hair salon.

But this time I felt pretty comfortable. I was going off a second and first hand recommendation. These girls have nice haircuts with pretty highlights. How bad could a haircut (based on a picture) be? Especially when I needed one so badly.

Well, here's the cut I wanted...

Yes, I know it's Jessica Simpson. Ignore that. Cute hair, right? On the longer side of medium; nice style. I've been growing my hair out since I had a bob last fall and was looking forward to keeping some length but updating the style. Here's what I got...



Short. Choppy. Poofy in the wrong places. Weird bangs. Did I mention short? I don't know what she was thinking. She cut way too many layers in my hair and they are much shorter than in the picture. She cut it shorter than the pic and it looks even shorter (and thinner) with all the crazy choppy layers in there. You know it's bad when your 10 year old son is giving you tips on how to "fix" it by getting another haircut. Holden's recommendation? Cut it even shorter so it's not so poofy on one side and not the other. Guess I see his point.

Kids do always tell the truth. Emeline probably said it best when immediately after the cut she wanted to compare my hair with the picture. After examining me and the photo she says, "Doesn't look the same at all."

In the process of looking for a hairstyle I found a great website with lots of great pictures of hair. Check it out before your next cut... if your stylist speaks picture! BeautifulHairstyles.com