Ladybug Party

In all of the sadness of the last few days, I've neglected to update everyone on the Ladybug turning 1. Can you believe it??!! She's ONE already! We had a....wait for it...a Ladybug themed party. Do you know how difficult it is to find red and black ladybug party supplies? They don't exist. There are party supplies with hot pink ladybugs but last time I checked, ladybugs were red and black, not hot pink. So a lot of our decorations were hand made by the one and only Chad Flora. You thought I was going to say Melissa, didn't you? I'll have to do a whole separate post on the decorations. Anyway, below is a picture of the Ladybug and the Doodlebug on the party day. She's sitting in her new red chair that she got from Granny and Granddaddy.
We got a bouncy house. Here she is with Maddie in the bouncy house - John in the background. Oh yes, even the adults get to jump. The Doodlebug got to invite a couple of friends over so he wouldn't be surrounded by girls and babies. I think he had more fun than anyone

My friend Lynn made the cake and the cupcakes. They were SOOOOOO good and the cake was so cute. Below is a picture of it. (And yes, the poster board it is sitting on was made by Chad). I highly recommend Lynn for all of your cake/cupcakes/cookie needs. She is fantastic! She even made the little ladybug candies that are sitting on top of the cupcakes. So yummy!
I could barely get the cake in front of the Ladybug before she started poking it.
The weather was great for the party. Everyone had a great time - kids and adults. The party lasted into the evening so we could celebrate Chuck's birthday too. He and the Ladybug share the same birthday. Me & Chad, John, Chuck & Melissa and the Nichols' all ordered fajitas and partied into the evening. Royce had to do a blindfolded taste test to prove he could tell the difference between a cupcake and a piece of cake. He's right - he can tell the difference.

We didn't get a separate cake for Chuck so I just took one of the Ladybug's cupcakes and put candles on it. I bought 40 candles and used all but one of them. You do the math.....

Heartbroken

I'm writing this post this morning with a broken heart. Last night while we were at dinner, Maxx got into the leftover goody bags from Carly's party. Those bags were filled with nothing but M&M's. He ingested anywhere from 1.5 to 2 cups of M&M's. I took him to the emergency clinic where they laid out a very detailed plan of what they were going to do to help him. Around step 3 he took a turn for the worse. He developed a severe case of pancreatitis. He's had this before but this case was so severe and came on so rapidly that his chances for survival were very low. He's also diabetic so that wasn't helping his case. Without going into all of the details, that I'm sure I'd get wrong anyway, we made the heartbreaking decision early this morning to let him go. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I've had Maxx since he was 6 weeks old - he was my first born. As hard as the decision was, I know it was the right thing to do. I didn't want him to suffer anymore than he had to. It was a decision Chad and I made together and I'm so incredibly thankful to have a such an awesomely strong husband. Maxx will be missed by so many people, no more than me, but I know he's in a much better place now. And I know his last couple of days here were good ones and I know one of the last things he did was something he really enjoyed - eating people food.

Bernice ma me na

That's right. "Bernice ma me na." Those are the new words to "Feliz Navidad." New words by the Doodlebug. Bernice ma me na. Just thought you might like to know.

Everyone sing!!!!!!

6 people went to Las Vegas....

Oh my!!! What a trip! There is so much to recap from this trip...it's hard to pick a starting point. I'll just take it day by day. And a lot of this may not make sense to anyone other than the people who were on the trip. And it's probably best that way.

Thursday -

• Started drinking in the airport.
• Continued drinking on the plane.
• Went to dinner at BB King's Blues Club (or something like that).
• Chad drank a 40.
• Me - bed. Everyone else stayed up. (Don't judge me - I need my sleep).

Friday -

• Breakfast at the Paris buffet - YUM!
• A little shopping at the shops at Planet Hollywood.
• Headed to the shops at Ceasar's Palace. Stopped off at Margaritaville first for 2 margs.
• Hit the Coach store - cleaned them out. (Not really but we all did make a purchase).
• Headed over to the IP for some blackjack with the Dealertainers. We were dealertained by Joan Jett, Jake (Blues Brothers), John Fogarty, and Bette Midler and her boobs. Mucho drinking whilest gambling. When we went in to the IP it was daylight. When we came out it was dark. And we were hammered. Good times.
• We went to Japonaise (in the Mirage) for happy hour. $7 drinks and appetizers - so good!!
• Before dinner we went to Carrie and John's room. They lied their way to a room on the 24th floor. You could see the dolphins from their room.
• Royce, "I love you dolphins."
• More drinks.
• Headed down the hall to the elevator, Chad decided to play kickball with an ice bucket with champagne glasses in it. Broken glass everywhere. Me, "Run!" Royce, "Lock it up."
• Burger place for dinner. More drinks.
• Chad was convinced there was a bathroom in the restaurant. There wasn't. Don't think he didn't check the kitchen for a bathroom though.
• On to the next bar.
• Royce, "I need a cigar." Michelle, "Go get one." He came back empty handed.
• Contest between the 4 sides on the bar - the loudest side got free shots. When they called on our side, Chad felt the need to throw a stack of napkins in the air. Nice effect.
• Royce, "I need a cigar." Michelle, "Go get one." He came back empty handed. Again.
• John does the Cha-Cha Slide.
• Royce, "I need a cigar." Michelle, "Go get one." He came back empty handed. Again. Claims he can't find them.
• We all leave and find cigars within 2 minutes. Don't know why that task was so difficult for Royce. Oh wait.....
• Back to the hotel to the Rhumbar. Boys smoke cigars.
• Corrie goes to bed. Don't judge.

Saturday -

• Royce doesn't feel good. He remains in bed.
• The rest of us head over to the Venetian for lunch.
• We get a call from Chad's mom, who has the bugs, with a bit of unsettling news. But I'm not going to go into that. I'm not going to go into the story about the idiot neighbor of mine that was doing something with a loaded gun in his house and how it went off and went through his kitchen window, through my fence, and hit the narrow column of bricks in between the 2 kitchen windows by the table that my mother-in-law and my 4 year old were sitting at working on a puzzle. No. I'm not going to go into that.
• Then we went to the wax museum - very touristy of us.
• Back to the room for a bit.
• Over to TI for some drinks - Royce attempted to make an appearance. But it didn't last long.
• Back to the hotel for some drinks.
• Saw "Love" at the Mirage that night - Royce did join us for that.
• Nice Italian dinner.
• Early to bed.

Sunday -

• Headed over to the Hard Rock Hotel for lunch at Pink Taco. Yum. Pitcher of margs with lunch. Royce had a diet coke.
• Then to New York New York - walked around there a little.
• Royce and Michelle went and did some touristy things.
• The Floras and the Havertys went to Diablo's and had 2 more pitchers of margs.
• We all met up at the Bellagio and went to a chocolate shop that had a 30 foot high chocolate fountain.
• Back to Margaritaville.
• We attempted to go back to the IP but there weren't any good tables open.
• Dinner that night at Red 8 at the Wynn. So good.

Monday -

• Home

Celebrity sightings:

• Lewis Black (I think that's right) at the Mirage.
• Jenna Jameson and her fighter boyfriend at the Wynn.

To sum up: lots of drinks, lots of laughs, lots of memories. 6 people went to Las Vegas....and had a blast.

10 + 1 = 11.....

.....months that is. Yes, the Ladybug is 11 months old today. Here she is doing one of her favorite things - playing in Maxx's water bowl. There he is back there keeping a close eye on her. She's still lightening fast when she crawls. She's up to taking about 5 steps all by herself. She loves ripping the magnets off of the refrigerator, emptying her toys out onto the floor, pulling books off of shelves, closing doors (can't open them back up which makes her mad), gives "noggin," gives kisses and blows kisses, waves, smiles and giggles at everything....I could go on and on. She is a very active and curious little girl. And she's loud!!!! And I swear she just said Elmo - she's a fan.

This will be a short post because I have to go pack for Las Vegas. We leave tomorrow and I cant wait! We've had this planned since January. Below is one of the pictures from the bugs recent photo session.

The Black Swan ain't what it used to be

A few weeks ago, Chad & I and Sarah & Jason decided we needed a night to go out and boogie. Don't know why - we just did. We started out at one of our favorite restaurants - Sylvia's Enchilada Kitchen. They have a new location on Woodway, which is right down the street from The Black Swan - a great place to get your boogie on. Sylvia's food was fantastic but I will admit I was defeated by the margaritas. I have actually never met a margarita that I couldn't conquer but those bitches were strong. I don't think I finished either one of mine. So strong. Then we went to a wine bar on Washington - met Chuck and Melissa there - and we killed some wine before moving on to the Black Swan.

Let me give you a little background on the Black Swan. It's in the basement of a hotel and they play old school music that everyone likes to dance to regardless of their age. We used to go there A LOT in my single days when I was working at VKAC. Our Friday night ritual was to go to Birra Poretti's and then go dance the night away. I can remember times when me and my friends were the only ones on the dance floor. Kathryn and I made up our Dancing Queen dance at that very place. Friday nights were not very crowded. Saturday nights were usually a little more crowded because it is a great place for wedding parties to go after receptions still in their wedding attire. Anyway, I haven't been there in a LONG time. We got there last night pretty close to midnight. Oh. My. Goodness. Wall to wall people!! There are now couches and secluded booths all over the place. The dance floor was unbelievably packed. It took us forever to get a drink. Some drunk chic hit on my husband. We came across one of the secluded booths right next to the dance floor and took a seat. Let the people watching commence... We lost count of the different wedding parties that were there. There were 2 brides there. (Aren't the bride and groom supposed to be in the honeymoon suite, I don't know, sleeping?) There were a lot of girls wearing things that they really shouldn't be wearing - I guess they thought they looked cute. Guys thought it was a good idea to take their tie off and tie it around their head like Rambo. Some guy walked by our table, wearing a jacket that looked like it was made for a toddler, and almost fell on Sarah. Thankfully there was a curtain by our table that he was able to grab onto to keep from falling.

Now, I know I'm 35 and the age of most people in there (with the exception of the sugar daddy we saw) was much younger than that, but I'm pretty sure my friends and I never acted the way most of these people were acting last night and I'm pretty sure we looked a lot cuter than the people we saw last night. We were good for one drink and then we headed home. Next time we will have to go on a Friday night....at 6:00 in the evening.

Oh, and on the way out, we walked by the pool and there are some fountains and ponds out there and what did we see??? A black swan.

The Mighty Papercuts

The Doodlebug got bored with gymnastics and decided to try something new. Ok, that's not 100% true. I got bored with gymnastics and encouraged him to try something new. Or I made him try something new. Details, details. Anyway, he decided to try soccer. He played on a team through the YMCA. His team name was the Papercuts. Here is a picture of him before his first game.


Now, he missed his first practice because he had to go to the doctor because he was sick. Then his second practice was rained out. So for the first game, where do they put the kid that has never played soccer EVER and who has never attended a practice? They made him the goalie......

He did so good the first game that they made him the goalie at the second game.

And he was goalie at every game this season. (Not the only goalie. They did switch out. But he was the best goalie.) Seriously, he rarely let anything past him. You know why he is such a good goalie? Because the goalie doesn't have to run!!!! That's right. My kid who runs like the wind through the house and through Target and through anywhere else doesn't like to run on the soccer field. Doesn't care for it at all. He even invented his "super fast runner" button and would push it mid-way through the game and that didn't help so much.

But he had a great time playing. He had a cheering section every week. Here is daddy, granny and granddaddy, along with the Ladybug cheering him on. Nonnie made it out to a lot of games too.

The soccer season has come to an end and now he's ready to play baseball. I was pushing for basketball because it is played inside rather than out - during the winter - but he wanted baseball. I'm sad that we will miss his first baseball game - we'll be in Las Vegas - but I know he'll do great. We'll see how this sporting adventure pans out......

We proudly present....

The Doodlebug as Spiderman....

The Ladybug as, well, a ladybug.....

I suck at blogging.

I have lots to cover so I'm going to do it quick and without pictures. Sorry.

It's been a month since I last posted. I know this because my last post was about the Ladybug's 9 month birthday and today is her 10 month birthday. She is such a fun baby. She's so happy. I know I say it every month but she really is. And you know what? She loves men. She is such a daddy's girl. She loves her granddaddy, her Cee Cee and especially her brother. Don't get me wrong - she loves me too - but she is really a fan of the boys. Already. Great.

The Doodlebug has started playing soccer at the YMCA. He missed his first practice because he was sick. Then his second practice got rained out. So the kid had never played soccer and never practiced soccer and what does the coach do? He puts him at goalie. First game - he's the goalie. He did great though. He's played goalie at every game and I must say he is a pretty good goalie. He's back a school and having a great time. But he is counting down the days until he gets to go to school with me.

Ok, that covers the bugs. Now onto Chad. He started a new job and he's really enjoying it. He's going to start back at school working on a couple of degrees for the new job. He's doing it online though so he's not going to have to spend a lot of time away from us. He went on his annual trip to the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival with my dad and they had a blast - as usual. Carrie came in from Kansas to visit me while her husband and her dad were there too. We chilled with the kiddos, did some shopping, drank just a little - we had a great time. I'm hoping we actually get to make the trip to the festival next year.

Now me. Remember back it June when I had the privilege of wearing "the boot?" I graduated from the boot and have been in tennis shoes with some sort of orthodic insert to help with the tendonitis - even did physical therapy this summer. Well, I'm at my parents house and they have these new floor mats at various places around the kitchen. Now, I'm not going to say they are platform mats but there is a definite step off - and I stepped off wrong. On my bad ankle. All the way to the floor. The fall, I think, fixed my other problem (not really, but it is better) and now I've got a new problem. I've aggravated a tendon that goes from the front of my ankle all the way to my knee - it runs along the right side of my shin - and it hurts with every step I take. SO, I'm back in the boot. My doctor did x-rays to make sure there was nothing fractured and there is not. But 3 days in the boot and my pain is much better. And in September I had the flu and bronchitis. Good times.

What else?

• Jason - Happy Birthday! The Clue party was a fantastic hit. Why the long faayyycccee?
• We got to hit the Greek Fest this year! Yay! We usually miss it because of the blues fest but this year there was no interference. Opa! Greek wine is good. And the margs we had afterward were a hit too.
• Chuck and Melissa have joined the homeowners club. They bought a phat townhouse in Midtown. The townhouse has a tad bit of history in it's short 4 year existence but we won't go into that.
• One month till we leave for Las Vegas. Vegas baby!!!

9 months!!! Seriously...

The Ladybug is now 9 months old. And for her 9 month old birthday present she gets...a double ear infection!!! She looks real sick, huh? Go ahead...feel sorry for her. She still only has 2 teeth - 2 teeth that she has worked very hard on. She is still incredibly happy and still loves her veggies, her brother and Maxx (much to his dismay). She's fast too!! She has started standing on her own without holding onto anything so I know it is just a matter of time before she is off and running. I could go on and on about her special talents and her cuteness but I don't want to bore my audience. We are all having so much fun with our Ladybug.

Now, let's talk about this one. Below is the Doodlebug on his first day of preschool this year. Cute, huh? Let me tell you something about this cuteness. I'm done trying to force him to eat things he doesn't want to eat. Here's why. There is this Chinese restaurant that we go to and he will eat the mess out of the chicken the the fried rice. So, we went to PF Chang's today for lunch. I got him some chicken fried rice off of the kids menu - yes, PFC's has a kids menu now. So the first bite of the chicken he says, rather quickly, "Hey, that's pretty good." Well, the second piece I forced upon him must have been poisoned or something because he started gagging on it and then proceeded to puke on me and himself and the floor. WTF???? It's chicken!!!! By the time I finished cleaning ourselves up my food was cold so I didn't get to finish it. Like I said, I'm done forcing the issue. He'll eat when he is hungry.

Anyone else watching the Arkansas game? Could there be any more penalties? Jeez. Put the flag in your pocket, ref. Let the boys play!

4 year old words???

Doodlebug: Mommy, a herbivore is a dinosaur that eats grass.

Me: (puzzled) Yes baby, you're right.

Doodlebug: A carnivore is a dinosaur that eats meat.

Me: (even more puzzled) Right again.

And then he asks me if I know what a paleontologist is. Yes. Yes I do. Because I'm 35 and I'm an adult and I'm a mother and I'm a teacher and I'm supposed to know what a paleontologist is. But YOU. You're friggin' four years old. Paleontologist is not a four year old word!!!!

(Sigh) He's going to be sent to the office every day when he starts kindergarten. Lord help me.

AND, tonight we ran into the grocery store and when we went to check out he told me to put my groceries on the conveyer belt. Jeez....

Babysitting Update

We left around 8:00 and were home by midnight. Throughout those 4 hours we got no phone calls. We got no text messages. We walked into a very quiet house. The dinosaur hot wheels tracks were all across the living room - so a good time must have been had. The Doodlebug was asleep in his bed. The Ladybug was asleep on Cee Cee - she apparently wasn't a fan of her bed that night. The babysitters were not comatose. Everything went great. I think they'll be back. I'm sure it would be easy for me to find a trustworthy teenager to babysit but I sure do like it when I can leave my bugs with family.

The Babysitting Chronicles

Tonight, Chad and I, along with Sarah and Jason, are going to see Chuck's band. My brother (Cee Cee) and sister-in-law (Lee Lee) are coming over to babysit. Everything will be fine. The bugs love them and they all have a lot of fun together.

Now, let's rewind to December of 2005 and I'll tell you about the first time Cee Cee and Lee Lee tried to babysit the Doodlebug. The Doodlebug was 9 months old and we were going to dinner for Chuck's birthday. We were going to a restaurant far, far away. About halfway there we got a phone call from Cee Cee telling us that the Doodlebug had not stopped crying since we left. He had called my mom and she gave him suggestions - none of which worked. So then I gave him some suggestions and told him I'd call him when we got to the restaurant to see if he was any better. Well, we pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant when my phone rang again. The Doodlebug was at the crying stage where you are pretty sure he is no longer breathing. Without a doubt, Cee Cee and Lee Lee are freaking out at this point. So we went into the restaurant. "Happy Birthday, Chuck. We can't stay." We rushed home to rescue the babysitters. When we walked in, the house was silent. The Doodlebug had cried himself to sleep. Cee Cee was sitting in the rocking chair in his room staring at the floor, semi-comatose. Lee Lee was on the floor, back against the wall, knees to her chest staring at the floor, also semi-comatose. Chad and I had to giggle at them. They were so traumatized. It was a VERY LONG time before the ever agreed to babysit again. Hopefully tonight will not scar them like the first time did.

August 18th

Eight months ago the Ladybug was born. 8 MONTHS??!! Are you serious??!! Yep, she's 8 months old and still an extremely happy baby...despite having cut her first tooth (not a fan of orajel, by the way). She is a fan, however, of veggies, Maxx, the Doodlebug, my jewelry, exploring the house, playing with anything other than her toys, pulling up on everything, going on walks, taking baths in the big girl bathtub, squealing, babbling....she's pretty much a fan of everything except orajel.

I'm back at work so both bugs are back to being spoiled by the grandparents on a daily basis. And speaking of being spoiled, they received a package today from their aunt Carrie. Bath time body paints!! How fun is that??!!

P.S. I realize the quality of these two pictures pretty much stinks but you can still get the bug cuteness regardless of the quality.

I have to get better at this.

Let me look at my calendar here and see what we've been up to since we last met...on August 1st...long time ago.

August 7th - me and my brother and my sister-in-law all stole my dad's car (we actually borrowed it) and headed to Arkansas to the farm to see my aunt and my uncle and my cousin and his fam. It was a lot of fun. I don't think Leah (SIL) had ever been on a farm...ever. She had a great time - we all did. We hung out with the cows and she rode a tractor and we played in the hay and the corn. I sat out on the second round of farming and from what I hear that was a smart move. Leah got pounded with, as she says, grasshoppers the size of cats and other various bugs. She even had a tick on her at one point. We brought Trey back with us so he could do his back to school clothes shopping here because they apparently don't sell cool clothes in Texarkana....but they do in the Galleria.

Chad is switching jobs - by choice. He had this week off before he starts his new gig on the 17th. He got to play Mr. Mom a lot this week because I was very busy getting ready to go back to work - also on the 17th. I don't really want to go back to work. Actually, that's not true. I don't want to go and sit through all of these meetings that I'm going to have to sit through this week. I wish I could skip this week and go to the 24th when the kids come back. Did I just say that out loud?

The bugs are great. The Doodlebug still has a couple of weeks before he starts back to school. One more year and he will get to start kindergarten. The Ladybug has been working awfully hard on getting some teeth and one finally broke through this morning. Yay! Big girl!

Have I ever told you how much I heart Sarah and Jason?

I love them because they love my bugs and my bugs love them.
I love them because they will get on the floor and play with the bugs...not many people do that.
I love them because they put up with the Doodlebug's silliness and don't seem to be bothered by it.

I love them because they let me over serve them on fajita and margarita night.

I love them because they always bring ice to fajita and margarita night because my ice maker always seems to run out of ice (it's small). Last night we even got a cake....mmmmmmm......

And I especially love them because they are going to go to Las Vegas with us in November. They haven't actually agreed to this but peer pressure is a bitch.

What happens in Vegas...

...goes on the blog.

Our first of 2 Vegas trips for the year is over and I am sad. We had a great time! I would love to share every detail and every picture but I know you would get bored so I'll just share a few tidbits.

It started in the airport bar. Chad, Melissa and I all ordered a pre-flight drink.

Bartender: Would you like an extra shot in your drink for a dollar?
Melissa: Hit me!

We did that twice. And then again, twice, on the plane. Drinks make a flight go faster.

Here are a couple of celebrity sightings:

Mike Myers was in full Austin Powers gear in the seat behind us on the plane.

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top in the Las Vegas airport. They were there performing with Aerosmith.

Here is the limo ride from the airport to the hotel. We made a stop at the ABC store at Planet Hollywood for some booze and some real Coke products.

Here is the first day at the cabana. The cabana was money well spent. It was a great retreat for drinks and lounging. Of course, certain underage people kept using it as a walkway but we survived. We blocked them off a little bit and had fun attempting to be mean to them. The pools at Mandalay Bay are great. They have pools, a lazy river and a wave pool. Now, let's talk about the "wave" pool for a moment. Notice that the word wave is not plural - there is a reason for that. They literally let one wave go at a time. It's not like your normal wave pool where you have wave after wave after wave. It is seriously one wave every 45 seconds or so...weird. The lazy river was fun if you don't mind getting splashed, kicked, and bumped into by kids at every turn. A note to the Mandalay Bay executives: the first and last 2 hours of each day should be kid free at the pools so the adults can enjoy themselves a little more. I'm just sayin...

The second night there we had dinner at a restaurant called Diablo's. It is in front of the Monte Carlo. We had a table upstairs overlooking the strip. It was awesome! Here are Sarah, Jason and I. We killed 2 pitchers of margaritas between the two of us. 4 or 5 drops of rain fell from the sky so Sarah requested an umbrella.

Adam (the waiter) to Melissa: Would you like another drink?

Melissa: Hit me!

Day 2 at the cabana. Random photo...I know.

Ok, this was a bar on the 64th floor at THE Hotel, which is the 2nd tower at Mandalay Bay. There was an incredible view from up there and some very odd furniture. There was glass in this place from floor to ceiling, even in the bathroom. It was great.

After drinks there we went to the Venetian for a nice Italian dinner and then across the street to Rhumbar. THEN, me and Chad and Chuck and Melissa went to a bar back at Mandalay Bay called Minus 5....as in minus 5 degrees. Before you go in this bar, they give you a parka, some boots and gloves. Why do they do this you ask? Because EVERYTHING (with the exception of the floor) is made out of ice. That's right - the bar, the walls, the tables, the benches, the glasses - all ICE. It was freezing in there but it was so fun. I don't have any pictures of it because they won't let you take cameras in because your camera will freeze up.

We came home Friday and we are counting down the days until we go back in November. There won't be any pool time in November so I fear there will be more gambling and perhaps more drinking. We have to give Melissa more opportunities to say, "hit me!"

P.S. That's not really Mike Myers up there. That's totally Melissa. But that really is Billy Gibbons.

Long post...have a seat.

It's been a while since I've posted anything so let's catch up! Like I said...have a seat. Why don't we start with....

July 11th - My parents were out of town so we decided to use their house for a pre-birthday celebration for Chad. The July Vegas group (different from the November Vegas group) came out to play with us. John brought out some cupcakes from Crave - yum! Here are some pictures from that fun night.

Chad enjoying his red velvet cupcake.....

Sarah and Jason with their cupcake carnage......

Chuck and Melissa and SpongeBob....And John - all smiles....

July 12th - This was mine and Chad's 6 year anniversary. We celebrated by having dinner with the bugs at PF Chang's - my favorite.

July 13th - The Doodlebug started his 2 week "fun days" at his school. He goes 3 days a week for 2 weeks. He likes going and usually comes home a complete mess. If you ask him what he did during the day he says "we just play, play, played." I guess it's money well spent...???

July 16th - Back to the foot doctor I went. He seems to think I've made progress. Me? I don't know. It still hurts about the same and the swelling looks about the same but I don't have a license to practice foot medicine so what do I know? Anyway, I get to start physical therapy on the 27th to see if that can help the healing process. In the meantime, I'm still in the boot and the boot is going with me to Las Vegas this week. Yay.

July 17th - Chad's real birthday. My parents watched the bugs while Chad and I went to see The Hangover at Studio Movie Grill. That is seeing movies at it's finest - eating and enjoying a full bar while the movie is going. Anyway, have you seen The Hangover?? If you haven't, stop everything you are doing right now and find the nearest movie theater and see it. It is the funniest movie I have seen in a loooooonnnnnngggggg time. Go see it!!!

July 18th - The Ladybug is 7 months old. Seven months old!!!!! And that girl is non-stop action. She is crawling all over the place. I have to close every door in the house to keep her out of all of the rooms. She's so curious and so fast. She is SO happy - she is constantly smiling. She is such a good eater but HATES having her face wiped. And she still love, love, loves her big brother. She gets the biggest smile on her face any time he comes anywhere near her.

July 18th continued - The New Kids on the Block came back to town. Me, Michelle, Elizabeth, Laura, and Rucker! went to see them. We got a hotel out there by the pavilion and had us an extended girls night out. We went out there mid-afternoon, checked in and had a quick beverage at the hotel bar and then went to Chuy's where we have a vast array of margarita's at the table. We had dinner there and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the show. After we got ready, we went back to the bar for another drink - cuz that's what we needed. Wait, I think we had 2. Anyway, we went to the show and it was pretty good. I think we all liked the October show better. This show was their last show of the tour and they seemed tired and they did a little too much talking and then they all started crying at the end of the show (seriously) and at times I felt like they forgot they had an audience. But I still love them. It will be interesting to see if they ever tour again or if they are done.

After the show, Honey and Graham met us at the hotel bar for more drinks - cuz that's what we needed. Elizabeth and Laura went to bed but Michelle and Rucker! came down for a coke. Then they headed to bed - Honey, Graham and I continued to drink. We stopped drinking a little after 1 and then proceeded to look for a cheeseburger in the Woodlands. Apparently, the Woodlands shuts down after midnight because there was not one cheeseburger to be found out there - lame! So they took me back to the hotel and I woke all of my friends up and we had a few more giggles before I fell asleep and snored in Michelle's ear.

Ok, that's it. Whew! We leave for Las Vegas on Tuesday - can't wait! So I'll see you after Vegas baby!

Chow time!

The Ladybug - big girl sitting at the table dined on green beans and bananas (I have to sing that dang Gwen Stefani Hollerback song to spell that right).


The Doodlebug - are you sitting down? I'll let the pictures speak for the Doodlebug's meal.

Yes. Yes that is meat on that cheeseburger.

Yes. Yes that is the Doodlebug eating that cheeseburger with meat.

Yes. Yes that is a bite, with meat, taken out of that cheeseburger by the Doodlebug.

Yes. Yes that is several bites of that cheeseburger with meat taken by the Doodlebug.

Yes. Yes he did like it. And yes. Yes I did have to bribe him. And yes. Yes we will be making

a trip to Target in the morning to pick up the bribe. Don't judge me - bribery works.

**For those of you keeping score, he is 4 and this is his first time to try meat on a burger.**

P.S. The formatting on this blog is not right and I can't fix it. I'm not blaming it on user error - I think the website is having issues.

I can't think of a title.

It's been a while since I posted anything so I thought I would post a post about nothing. Why nothing? Because I really have nothing exciting to talk about. I'm home for the summer with the bugs and I've hit my bored point. Today was especially bad because I didn't have a car. I didn't need to go anywhere, didn't need to pick anything up - it's just the fact that I couldn't go anywhere even if I needed to that was driving me crazy. The Ladybug was a little high maintenance today. The Doodlebug was bored too. I feel bad for him. I want to take him places to do things but the Ladybug isn't a fan of being in her car seat for too long and then when she is out of her car seat all she wants to do is roll around on the floor. Anyway, I would like to take the Doodlebug places but I feel bad asking a grandparent to watch her and I feel bad leaving her. I'm in a no win situation - pity me. Just kidding. Let's see if I can come up with some random bullet points of discussion....well, not really discussion, just random points.....

• I was supposed to get paid for my Saturday school endeavors today but I didn't.
• I'm so stinking tired of this freaking boot on my foot.
• The Doodlebug starts swimming lessons on Thursday.
• Sarah and I are having a Southern Living party next week.
• Michael Jackson died - did you hear? Nobody is really talking about it.
• Chad's birthday is in 17 days.
• NKOTB is in 18 days.
• In 3 weeks I'll be on a plane right now on my way to Las Vegas. Actually, I might be about to land.
• Chad is in the living room right now watching "House Bunny" and he is actually laughing at it. ???

Half way there!

***Chad says this first line sounds like the Ladybug is only going to live to be one so I'm going to revise it. Revision in italics.**

The Ladybug has reached the half way point in the first year of her life. Today she is six months old - and she was actually born on a Thursday too. Time is flying by with her. She's pretty much sitting up on her own. We'll put her in the sitting position and she'll stay there for a while but she won't get in that position on her own. She's still rolling all over the place. She trying to crawl - she'll get on all fours and move her knees but her hands don't know what to do yet so she ends up doing a belly flop on the floor. She's chewing on everything, loves the remote control and the phone, loves Maxx and still loves her big brother. She even loves her veggies.




My week in a nutshell: gynecologist, dermatologist, pediatrician, vet, podiatrist (no surgery) AND are you ready....wait for it....boob smashologist.

....and that's all I have to say about that.