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. ???