Workin' In the Yard

Last week CR had a vision. A vision of a well maintained yard, all weeds pulled, new pine straw in our flower beds, and a beautiful vegetable and herb garden. He spoke of our plan each day, and could not wait to feel the earth in his hands on Saturday. CR used to work for a landscaping company, and I am quite certain that the enjoyment of sweating in a yard has never left his system.

CR2 decided to take 2 long naps on Saturday, allowing me to actually help CR in the yard. To be honest, I was kind of dreading this grueling task. To my surprise I actually really enjoyed myself, and the one on one time with CR. We were a team. We were outside (bye bye winter), and we were making things pretty!

We decided to head to Home Depot later that afternoon to check out materials for building our vegetable and herb garden. CR has been promising me a garden ever since we moved into our new home. We had no intention of ever finishing this task in one day but we did!!! I threw a frozen lasagna in the oven when we got home, put CR2 down for his second nap, cracked open a few silver bullets (Coors Light in a can, yes we are rednecks!), and got to work!

I now have a beautiful garden filled with goodies to come! We have jalapenos, banana peppers, cilantro, spinach, red onions, and tomatoes. As I read these items I realize just how much southwestern cooking has influenced my garden! haha. My mother is from Colorado, therefore I have learned to like it hot and spicy!

We plan on adding a few more goodies this weekend, and finishing the pine straw in the back yard. And yes, I am looking forward to working along side CR!

Love to you all,

JP

Ahhhh....Date Night

We went here:

We ate this:

We drank this:

And had a wonderful time :)

Thank you CR for trying to surprise me (oops!)

And thank you Poppins for watching the rug rat!

Love to you all

JP

Waynesville Weekend :)

Last Friday afternoon we headed to Waynesville to visit my family. Of course it was raining and people in the ATL forget how to opperate their vehicles when the wet stuff falls from the sky. It took us a good hour and a half to even get to I-985. A trip that should have taken 3 hours took about 4 1/2.

CR2 was very well behaved and enjoyed his sippy cup on the way out of town :)

We had a great weekend with the fam! CR2 was quite the trooper when mom and I dragged him to Aunt Scouty's dance pictures on Saturday. Imagine being a baby and masses of teeny boppers in drag queen make-up and sequins approach you, just to have their moms on the way behind them ready to pinch your cheeks. Let's just say it was a toned down "Toddlers in Tiara's" haha!


CR2 loved spending time with Uncle Z and Aunt Scoutie!

Thank goodness mom pulled a walker out of the archives for CR2 to enjoy!

Silly time with Uncle Z!

We enjoyed family movie time on Saturday night and chose to watch the Academy award winning film "The Hurt Locker". Isn't it cute how the kids mimic CR!

Giggle time with Petey!

CR2 loves his kitties, but was not too sure about his first ride on Mac the English bulldog. (I can't stand that thing either...sorry dad!)

CR2 hanging with Grandpaw! He took a minute to warm back up but was all for Grandpaw when he brought out the guitar. I guess CR2 is a Blues Man just like Grandpaw!

We had a great time and can't wait to come back. I love the mountains and miss them terribly! I am so ready for our camping trip in April! There is nothing like the Smokey Mountains!

Love to you all!

JP

7 Months Old TODAY!!

Happy 7 month birthday CR2!!!!

You are the most precious gift we could ever receive!

At 7 months CR2 is now:

- sitting successfully on his own

- so close to pulling up on furniture to a standing position

- eating meats mixed in with his veggies

-is making the sounds ma, ba, da, ga and na

- has started waking up in the middle of the night again :(

- we can feel swollen spots on his gums but there are still NO TEETH! (is this normal?)

- has a little seperation anxiety, hopefully this will pass soon!

- loves to ride in the jog stroller

- is a daddy's boy when he wants to rough house

is a mommy's boy when he wants to cuddle :)

- loves to torture our big fat cat Mischa

- is all in all a very happy baby!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Love to you all!

JP

Spring is near!

On Monday the temperatures reached 60 degrees in Atlanta! CR and I decided to throw CR2 in the jog stroller and go for a run around our neighborhood. We do this quite a bit but usually have to bundle CR2 up and put on the long sleeve T's. Monday was a different story!

This was the first time that we have acutally seen people hanging out outdoors since we moved in. It was refreshing to see families out playing in their driveways, or taking a walk. Maybe we will meet some young families afterall.

We decided to grill kabobs when we finshed our grueling 1/2 mile run (haha...it's a process). I have been obsessed with this blog, and have tried quite a few of their recipes lately.

Don't these look yummy!!!

And check out that sexy grill master!

And his sidekick :)

We had a lovely evening grilling on our concrete slab (one day we will have a porch), and playing in the yard with CR2!

Check out the ghost baby in these pics!


We are so thankful for warm weather! Good riddens winter '09 - '10.

Love to you all!

JP

Mommy Moments

Do you ever have one of those days that you look in the mirror and just start to fall apart? I do...and I did today. I like to call that a "mommy moment". You may have had one to many sleepless nights in a row, you are trying to balance a well kept home and a part time job, you may be a little over weight and start to spot the beginnings of a double chin, your roots are showing, and you realize that life is not just about you anymore!

Don't get me wrong, I could not be in a more perfect situation right now; beautiful new home, wonderful child that is the light of my life, and the best husband I could ask for. But even with all of that there are "moments". I never knew how stressfull being a mom could be, and now I praise my mother for all that she does and has ever done! 5 kids!!! She has done this 5 times!

When I have "moments" like these the best medicine is a long chat with my mom. I feel like we may have had the same conversation about 50 million times, but man is she reassuring. It is nice to know that other women have "moments" as well, and that this too will pass.

Love to you all!

JP