Baby is cold..err..slighty chilly and rainy outside.

It's the most stressful time of the yeearrrr. That's what I keep singing anyway.

So Thanksgiving was pretty warm.. something about being able to wear flip flops while stuffing my face with a Thanksgiving feast just doesn't feel right. I think our air conditioner turned on 3 times while we were celebrating with family. Got to love Alabama weather. Thankfully it cooled off the next day. In time to put up some Christmas decor.

I'm so undecided about what to do about our Christmas tree this year. We could be moving into the "Cottage of Funk" before Christmas so I don't really want to take it down and put it back up, but am I just being a Grinch if I deny my children the privilege of seeing a lit tree every evening until Christmas??? Maybe if I had one of them fancy pre-lit trees it would be easier, but we have an old fashion put the lights on yourself kind of tree.. I'm so behind the times. (That was said in my best redneck accent).

Next weekend is Cully's 1st Birthday party... I can't believe it!! In just over two weeks I will have a one year old *tear*. I have so many mixed emotions about him growing up. So I've decided to do all these "projects" for the party.. what was I thinking? Usually what happens is I end up stressing myself out over little things that people probably won't even notice. Like last night I was making a birthday banner and I ended up gluing the wrong color letter to the wrong color background and I about came unglued. (no pun intended.. or is there?) Usually I end up throwing something when things don't go like I need them to. I think I get it honest (mom remember the first wedding cake you made me... haha). So I slammed some things around and then went and sat on the couch and pouted. Now before you judge please note that I am sick so things are intensified for me at the moment.

I'm not a very good sick person. I get kind of mean when I'm sick. Sweet husband would tell you I'm always mean, but don't listen to him. I don't like to be touched, I prefer to stay in bed, and I don't like to take a lot of medicine. Sweet husband likes to be close and have someone take care of him when he's sick so we're pretty opposite when it comes to that. He swears by Apple Cider Vinegar... have any of you ever tried apple cider vinegar?? Gag me with a spoon! I tried it one time and almost threw up everywhere so I refuse to do it again. SO I'm not aloud to complain about feeling bad because Sweet Husband will only try to shovel spoon fulls of nasty down my throat. Since I still nurse little chub chub I have to be careful what kinds of medicines I take so usually I just suffer through feeling bad and try not to cough on the children.

Well this rain is making me rather sleepy so I think it's time to go relax and watch a little Barney....yay....

If it weren't for bad luck....

If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck. I'm learning just how true this is. When it rains it pours! They say that bad things come in 3's, but I'm thinking in our case it comes in 300s.

So as most of you know, we're in the process of moving up to my parent's farm. We've had the house on the market since April and have had 1 person come look at it. SIGH. The market is terrible right now. Well apparently our house is mad at us (as my sister in law pointed out to me). Let's just start with the washing machine. I think that the washing machine is mad that I am terrible about doing laundry. It must be tired of me leaving clothes in it for too long because several times it has dumped all of its water all over my floor. Sweet Husband and my father in law have had to fix it at least 3 times. It also doesn't spin the water out if you wash it on small loads. So you can only use the medium size setting if you don't want all the water to stay in or if you prefer to not have all the water all over your floor.

The next appliance to be mad at us is the dishwasher. Well I don't blame the dishwasher... I blame the stupid mice who have popped into the Hinds home. Last week I was washing some dishes and I realized that the soap wasn't completely coming out of the dishwasher so I checked to make sure the package was okay. That's when I discovered that EVERYTHING under my kitchen sink was soaked. GREAT. So Sweet husband checked it out and discovered that mice had chewed a hole in the hose that lets the water out of the dishwasher. So father in law bought a new hose for $20 and brought it up to fix it. Okay cool things are going great. Next day... water on the floor. The dadgum mice chewed it AGAIN!!!!!!!! So last night they bought a new hose and fixed the hole and I bought mice traps so I can kill the stupid rodents (Go away PETA I don't want to hear it).

The last appliance to mess up is the biggest. The fridge. Why oh Why?!?? I just wanted some ice. That's all I wanted, but when I tried to get some.. there was none! So I opened the freezer and..... everything was thawed. Checked the fridge.. everything is lukewarm. SIGH, cry, SIGH. So sweet husband and father in law tried to fix it. Nope not going to work. Now the fridge has no reason to be mad at us because he's coming with us.. unless he doesn't get his act together. So tomorrow the handyman will be here bright and early to check it out. Thanks fridge for ruining my morning of sleeping in.

The next thing that went awry this week wasn't an appliance, but was fun enough. I walked into the front living room only to find hot pink spots in a trail from the futon to the oven. I bent down to see what it was and quickly realized it was my lipstick... I hunted down Slaten ready to bust tail, but he acted like he knew nothing about it. Slaten's not the type to lie so I went for further investigation. I couldn't find the lipstick, but I did find the top in my purse and the trail started there, went behind the futon, across sweet husbands boots, and then it was a consistent pattern all the way to the stove. Those dadgum rodents stole my blooming lipstick!! Why on earth would a mouse need lipstick?!? I guess they wanted to paint their new digs. So I spent over 30 minutes scrubbing hot pink lipstick out of the floor. SIGH.

So each morning I wake up wondering what else is going to go wrong. So if you want to pray that things start going better for us please feel free to :).

On a happier note we finally took some family pictures!! My mom took some pretty fantastic pictures if I do say so myself. Granted we don't have one where we're all looking at the camera at the same time, but we did get some cute ones none the less. I hope you enjoy looking at some of my favorites and in case I don't get to blog again this week... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

These are a few of my favorite things

There are a couple of stores that I could spend sweet husband's whole paycheck in. I visited two of those stores this past weekend and went back for another visit to one today.

The first store that I just fell in love with is 2nd & Charles. Oh my. If you have never heard of 2nd & Charles, it is a store that will buy your books, DVDs, video games, and Cds. I took a bunch of books and DVDs so that I could sell them to buy more books. Well I walked in and instantly the smell of books engulfed my nostrils. I looked and there were rows and rows and rows of BOOKS! It was like seeing a little slice of Heaven on Earth. I was so overwhelmed. I didn't know where to begin looking so I just kind of roamed around wiping drool off my chin and rubbing my eyes to make sure it was all real. I told you, I'm a total nerd. Anyway, I ended up in the children's section because I am obsessed with my children's bookshelves always being full of great books. I found so many fun books! Most of their paperback books were $2 or less! I got Slaten about 13 books.  I let him go ahead and have 2 books and the rest I'm saving for Christmas (he doesn't care if they're "used" and neither do I so there!).  I found me a new series and even sweet husband found a couple of books! He NEVER reads. His books are still sitting on the bookshelf... I guess he's going to read them..
I highly recommend you check out that store if you have one in your area, but be sure you have loads of time because you're going to want to browse.

The next store I visited last weekend and today was Hobby Lobby. Oh Hobby Lobby you make me so happy. We went in last weekend just to browse. We're moving soon and the house needs a couple of things. I was eyeing some handles for my kitchen cabinets so I had to wait for them to mark them 50% off which they did this week! Cha-ching! So I got me some cute new handles!
These aren't the exact ones, but they look similar. They're spoons and forks! How cute is that??? My new house has a decorative theme. My mom calls it "The Cottage of Funk". It's going to be very bright and sunny. We're putting in floors hopefully this weekend so maybe soon we'll be up on the farm! I'm so ready to wake up on the mountain every morning. Nothing like seeing God's artwork from a mountain. Breathtaking.

Today I am actually getting some mommy time. Though I did step out of my room to get something and Slaten was just sitting outside of my door... he has a way of freaking me out sometimes haha. So I just put him back to bed. Or he's outside of my door.. who knows? But at least it's quiet!!! (Insert happy content mommy smile here). Sorry if I've invoked your inner shopaholic with my blog. I will not be held responsible :)

Special shout out to my mommy! It's her 25th birthday today!! (Don't worry mom I won't mentioned your real age). We love you and hope your day is fantastic!!

But Why???

I love that my 3 year old has such an inquisitive mind.. I really do..., but boy am I thankful to be out of the car now. After being in a car for an hour and a half with the boy with a million questions, I have a headache. Why is it that we rush our kids to say their first word? What are we thinking? Once they start they never stop. Here are some of the questions I was asked on our long car rides today. Keep in mind that "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer. (My answers are in blue).

"What is that tall sign?"
"That is the Cracker Barrel sign."
"The place where they have the big fries?"
"Yes."
"Why do they have big fries?"
"They just do."
"But why?"
SIGH

"What was that pink circle thing on that thing back there?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know the pink circle thing back there."
"I still have no clue Slaten."
"The PINK CIRCLE THING!"
SIGH

"What is that smell?"
"It's the trees."
"What do they smell like?"
"They smell like trees."
"But what do the trees smell like??"
SIGH

He hurts my brain. He has a question about every single thing he comes in contact with and I LOVE that he is so curious, but I wish that I don't know would be an accepted answer. That would help me tremendously. Another thing about Slaten is he has an impeccable memory. He can remember things from when he was a baby and saw something one time. It's really kind of freaky...

About 6 months ago we were at my father in laws house and there were some pretty nasty storms out so we were watching the weather channel. Well the Cliffs of Dover song was playing in the background while they showed the weather. A couple of weeks ago Matthew was listening to that song on the computer and Slaten said, "Hey that's the song from the background of that bunder show." Bunder=thunder. Matthew and I just looked at him in amazement. How on earth did his little mind remember that small detail? He does stuff like that all the time. SO don't ever tell him something if you don't plan on following through with it. I made the mistake of mentioning that we might go to the Veteran's Day parade this year. I figured he would have forgotten so the next morning I decided we would skip it because it was so chilly. Nope, I was wrong. He remembered. He even remembered that they handed out flags with stripes the year before and he wanted one. He was 2 years old at the last one. How on earth could he remember that?!?

Kids are amazing! So Slaten is now napping and Cully is wide awake because he slept in the car so I am trying to entertain him while typing (not an easy feat). No quiet Mommy time today. You know what that means! Long, hot shower for mommy later.

Oh yeah I'm now an aunt (insert proud aunt smile here). Camden was born on Thursday and he is absolutely perfect! He was 8 lbs 10 oz and has a head FULL of hair. I can't wait to get my hands on him again in a couple of days. He and mommy are doing great!!

Sweet boys

Camden

I'm one proud aunt!

Cullen meeting his cousin

Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert

If you want your children
to be bright,
read them fairy tales.
If you want
them to be brilliant
read them even
more fairy tales.

by Albert Einstein


Okay, confession time. I am a self-proclaimed bookworm. A nerd some might would say. I absolutely love to read to the point that sometimes I ignore my family, house, friends, animals, everything just to read a few chapters in a book. You might could call it an addiction.

Sweet husband absolutely hates when I get sucked into a new book series. He feels neglected I do believe. So I try not to succumb to my desires to dive into a book every minute of every day. I do however sneak off to "use the bathroom" several times a day.... usually I do this when I'm to a good part of my book and want some uninterrupted alone time. Shhh don't tell my secret to sweet husband (I hope he doesn't read this..). He doesn't understand my love for books. At the beach I'd rather sit in the sand and read and he thinks that is so absurd.

So I've been using swagbucks (if you haven't heard of it, it's a search engine you can use to get points and then use those points to get rewards) anyways I'm using my points toward Amazon gift cards because I am obsessed with getting a Kindle to satisfy my book needs. The thought of being able to have books I want at my fingertips immediately thrills my mind! I usually order books off of amazon used because it's so much cheaper than buying in a store, but I'm running out of bookshelf space and I am the type of nerd that can only read a book once. Once I know the story it no longer excites me so I can't read it again.

My plan is to take all my books that I'm finished with and sale them to a bookstore so I can get money to buy more books or save up for my Kindle.

What got me thinking about my love for books is this sweet little lady down the street. Every morning around 7:30 she gets out and walks her little white dog. The little white dog usually stops at the corner of our yard to do some business so while I loaded the boys  into the car yesterday morning she waved me down. I stopped and she asked me if my boys would be interested in some children's books. She was just going to give them to Goodwill, but wanted to give them to someone she knew would love them. She came to the right house!! I am currently raising a future nerd. We opened the door this morning and there on the porch was a box full of books!! They're older books that are probably hard to find. These are books I would have loved when I was little. There is also some joke books, educational books, and chapter books for when he is older. I am so excited about them!!!  Slaten's bookshelf is almost completely full now. When we move I'm going to have to put a bookshelf in Cullen's room so that I can transfer books to his room.

A long with my book passion comes a writing passion (as you can tell from the amount of blog posts I have). I've written a children's book and if I could figure out how to publish it I would do it in a heartbeat. Too bad it's a hard business to get in to. Maybe one day...


You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.  ~Paul Sweeney

Here's some pictures of my youngest nerd with some books!

A toy is a toy no matter what you spend.

Word of advice for people who are planning to get pregnant, do NOT plan on having a December baby. What on earth was I thinking?!? Well I didn't exactly plan on him being a December baby. He was suppose to be a after the new year baby. Well he came the week before Christmas and this year I'm learning just how stressful that can be.

We're in the process of fixing up a place and moving. (My hope was that we would be in there before Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure if that will happen yet). We're also planning a first birthday party for our littlest munchkin, and of course we have the holidays approaching quickly. I didn't think of how difficult a winter birthday party would be either. Slaten's a July baby so we always just have a party outside. Then we don't have to take into account how many people will be there because there is plenty of space. So we have to figure out a location for the party now. We're doing all of this on one income too...

I have to remind myself  often what's really important here. I've discovered that my kids get just as excited about toys from the dollar store than a $50 toy from Toys R Us. And my biggest discovery has been that no matter what or how much the toy was they will grow tiresome of it by the next week. So what am I really accomplishing by spending hundreds of dollars on my two children under 3? Nothing... I might as well save that money for a rainy day! See how money savvy I'm being??

Speaking of money savvy, I went to Walmart (surprise, surprise) today and I only spent $7!!! I only bought the things on my list! How impressive is that!?! I was so proud of myself. I bought a Pepsi, ketchup, chips, crackers, sauerkraut, and of course a donut. If only I could stick to my list every time.....

So nothing too exciting has been going on this week... just a screaming, teething baby, but by Thursday I will have a nephew!!! I am so excited! My best friend/ sister-in-law will be induced if he doesn't decide to come sooner. I can't wait to kiss his little face. I know seeing him is going to make my Cully seem sooo big (insert sad mommy face here). Be looking for pictures at the end of the week of sweet baby boy.

Sorry this blog isn't too action packed, but I'm feeling pretty lazy at the moment and I'm sucked into a Lifetime movie.. Power to the women!!

So here enjoy some pics before you go!!

Slaten with his cookies

Cully doing his new favorite thing....

Hmmm??

Slaten painting

Beautiful job!

SDS has a cure.

BLOG DISCLAIMER: This blog may contain material not suitable for people who suffer from SDS (slow driver's syndrome). It may be offensive and cause self examination to those who read this blog. If you or someone you knows suffers from SDS please stop driving immediately and call a car service.

Why is it that every time I am on a 2 lane road with a screaming child I pull in behind an extremely slow person?? Is someone pulling a really annoying trick on me every time I sit behind the wheel?? I'm starting to think there is a conspiracy going on against me. I think the government is watching me and every time they see I'm getting flustered with a screaming child in the backseat they throw a car in my way. "*Static* She's driving on HWY 231, the child is screaming, I repeat the child is screaming. Que old woman in Dodge Caravan, Dodge Caravan NOW NOW!" Okay so maybe that's not what's going on, but really what gives?

Today I was driving us home from preschool, going a pretty good speed on down the HWY and turned off onto our cut over road to the next highway. And there I was behind the slow poke van filled with excited passengers. I could tell they were excited from their hand movements and laughter. The driver was one of these that every time she passed another car coming her way she'd hit the brakes.. Meanwhile I drove behind her listening to Cullen scream his head off. He has now learned not only how to up the volume of his scream, but the pitch too! As he's screaming Slaten is yelling, "STOP CULLY" and I began to beat my head on the steering wheel.. I hate rides like those. I ended up with a headache (not sure if from the screaming or the head beating) and we finally pulled into the driveway about 15 minutes later than usual *sigh*.

Well I got the kids unloaded and hurried quickly through story time because *I* was ready for mommy time something fierce today. Got Slaten down and went to my room to get Cully to sleep. HA! Jokes on mommy! I fought Cully for a good 25 minutes and he finally started to drift off to sleep then I hear, "MOMMY, MOMMY I'm ready to get up!!" SIGH. I got up, put Slaten back to bed, and went back to my room. Cully was then wide awake. Thankfully 15 minutes later sweet husband came home. I am thankful for days when he gets off work early. It's a nice little treat. SO I intend on taking my mommy time soon... a long hot shower.. with a LOCKED door so there will be no interruptions!

Mumble mumble, Jesus' name AMEN.

So it's November. Where did the past year go?!? In about 7 weeks I will be the mother of a 3 year old AND a 1 year old. Sad Day. I'm not ready for him to already be a year old!! I demand that he slow down this instant. Hmph. (Pouty, stubborn mommy face inserted here). I think because he's my last (if I have anything to say about it) I want to keep him a baby for longer. He's never wanted to be a baby though. He's ready to be like big brother.

Well last night we met a woman to sell her our baby bouncer. I forgot that I had it for sale until I received an email that someone wanted it off craigslist. What a pleasant surprise! We did the hand off and then went into Arby's for a quick bite. We ordered and were sitting enjoying our scrumptious meal and Slaten asked, "Who made Arbys?".
Matthew answered, "I don't know we'll have to find out."
Slaten then replied, "I know! God made Arbys. God made food, so God made Arbys."
What a smart little booger. He now likes to say the blessing before we eat. Here is an example of a Slaten prayer,

"Dear God,
mumble, mumble, food, mumble, mumble, Thank you, mumble, Jesus' name AMEN.

Hey it's the thought that counts.. he'll get it one day. After dinner we went to Target to buy a few essentials. While there I decided to use the bouncer money to pick up a few birthday presents for my little chub chub. It's easier to shop for a kid that can't remember or even comprehend that those fun, bright toys are his. I didn't have to find time to sneak out without him to go buy his gifts. Shoot they're sitting on the counter right now and he doesn't even bat an eye. Ah so much easier than shopping for a 3 year old. So today while we were at Walmart (Ah Ah there it is.. my Walmart plug) we picked up a few little Christmas presents for Slaten. One of the stocking stuffers I got him is one of those sticks that you turn over and it go OOOWwwwww and turn it back and it goes WOOOOoop. Know what I'm talking about? Yeah I don't know another way to describe it.... Anyway, the little old walmart cashier put it in the bag and said, "What did that thing say?" I said, "Oh it just makes a funny noise when you turn it over." She said, "Oh I thought that thing said WAR EAGLE".... I love to find other nutty people in the world, it comforts my soul. It's as if I've met a long lost relative.

AHH Cully's trying to wake up and ruin mommy time! Must stop that now, but before I go enjoy some pictures of probably the cutest kids ever made.

Brotherly Love

I will have you all know that I have the prettiest little girl ever. So I'm thinking maybe Cully needed a more masculine Halloween costume. At almost every single house we trick or treated I was told just how pretty my sweet little girl was.... His feathers were brown and tan not pink and purple, but I guess the feather headband and tights might have been a little much. Either way he sure was a cute baby bird! These pictures will go into my pile of blackmail pictures for when he's older (evil mommy laugh inserted here).

Slaten was Jack Skelington and surprisingly some people knew who he was!! I was so proud of myself (pats self on the back). He started asking me about 10 am if it was time to go trick or treating yet and he continued to ask every 5 minutes until we were out the door walking with our trick or treat baskets.  We went trick or treating on Saturday night so Sunday night we went to a trunk or treat down the highway. They got almost as much candy in 5 minutes there than trick or treating in a neighborhood! I was told there that I had a pretty little girl too....Sigh.

So last night I was tucking Slaten into bed and he said, "I want to take Cully back to the hospital and get a new baby." I laughed. I shouldn't have. We explained that Cully is our baby and he needs his big brother so we couldn't take him back and he reluctantly agreed that we could keep him. I have no idea where that came from. One minute they're happy playing together and the next Slaten wants a new baby. Maybe it's because he isn't brown....

Most days he really likes Cullen, but now that Cully is more mobile he gets into all of Slaten's toys. It amazes me how one lonely toy finds it's way into Cullen's hand and then it's the beloved favorite toy of Slaten. This usually results in Slaten snatching the toy from Cullen which breaks Cully's little heart. Slaten then gets reprimanded and sits in his room crying that he "needs that toy", and I try with all my might not to pull chunks of hair out of my head. Oh the joy of having two little boys. We've recently taught Slaten that if he wants a toy Cully has, exchange it for something else. He's easily distracted and will usually let go of what he's holding.. for the most part. I'm sure this is just the beginning of many fights. I can't imagine what it's going to be like when they're 10 and 8... perhaps by then I'll be in the loony bin with my soft padded walls, sitting in the corner rocking back and forth.