Well, they're over.

So, if you haven't been able to tell, I've been a little busy lately. Therefore, the blog has been very, very neglected. This past Thursday I chaired a big dinner for Shiloh, very near and dear to our hearts. We had a great turnout, lots of money raised, and was a fun night. Very glad it's over though. . . :) Throw in some Usborne, other stuff, and just family and life in general - and what do you know . . . two weeks goes by!



Have you guys loved the Olympics? I tried to squeeze in as much as I could - which was mostly late at night. Yes, there were tears shed on more than one occasion, especially at Joannie Rochette's performance on the heels of her mother's untimely death. What courage and strength! Seeing Canada win gold and hearing the entire crowd belt out "O Canada" was moving. I LOVED snowboarding and short track speed skating with Apolo Ohno. My feet started sweating every time he would race. Seriously.



Lawton has loved the Olympics! He was riveted to the Opening Ceremonies and we actually let him stay up late - even later than Chad. ;) He made an Olympic flag, as well as a Canadian flag and a Japanese flag. ha!


Here's a few pics - maybe I'll be back in the groove again soon! :)

And the winner is . . .

#13 - Sara!

I would show you all how I did random.org, but I can't figure it out, okay? :)

Sara, just email me which book you would like and I will get it right out to you!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my favorite Winter Olympic events have to be the big thrill sports. I love speed skating! Go Apollo Ohno!! I was holding my breath as he was dodging in and out the other night - Wow! The snowboarding and skiing events are pretty awesome, too. I did watch the ice skating tonight, and yes, I teared up when the Chinese won gold. So maybe I don't have a favorite. . .

Thanks for entering!

The Best Valentine's Day

Yesterday I worked a shift at a consignment sale so that I could shop early this week. My, I had no idea how busy Chad and Lawton (and Carolina - ha!) had been while I was gone! Around 4:45, I thought we were about to head out to eat dinner somewhere, when Lawton told me they had a secret - don't move!! So, I followed directions thinking they were getting a present together . . . and then I realized they were cooking! Lawton was scurrying around collecting things they had hidden while Chad was cooking. :)

They made some chicken, spinach noodles, some sort of puff pastry "appetizer" of sorts, and then had fortune cookies. ;) Flowers (that Lawton picked out), candles (that hadn't been lit in years) and our china (which has been used once or twice) added to the ambiance of the meal!

After the meal, we ate the dessert they had made earlier - from scratch!! Yummy!

And . . . to top it all off - Chad had gone to the craft store earlier this week to get a craft for Lawton to make. He was really on the ball!! :)

I'm so thankful to be celebrating my tenth Valentine's Day with my true love! I love you Chad! You made me feel very loved!

side note . . . we recently got a new computer with Windows 7 and I can't figure out how to upload my pictures the way I want - specific ones, rotated, etc. Any thoughts or any help from anyone? HELP!

Oh, and if you haven't entered my giveaway, go to the next post down and enter! I'll announce the winner tomorrow!

I have been counting down the days!! (you'll want to make it to the end)

I have been very, very excited about this day for a long, long time. Not necessarily because of V-day this weekend, (love you, Chad!) but because of tonight. The Olympics. I love the Olympics! I LOVE the Olympics! I love the OLYMPICS! I can remember being infatuated with Jackie Joyner Kersee, the track star of the 1988 Olympics, doing a book report on her and dressing like her, even down to my (fake) press on nails.

It was a great moment when they announced that they would split the summer/winter Olympics to alternate every two years. I get caught up in the stories, the backgrounds, sacrifices and hardships of all the athletes. Oh, and the music, the music! The pride that some countries sometimes have for their sole athlete. . . wow. I get all caught up in the races and quit breathing I'm so into it. Oh yeah. . . and if you haven't read this blog for any amount of time, then you might not know that I cry when people win things. I cry more for these happy moments than sad moments - and I don't know why. (like Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune, people) So, with all the winning that is about to take place, I have a new box of Kleenex ready for the couch. :)

I was lucky enough to attend the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. I really wanted to go, but way back then the process for acquiring tickets was somewhat complex compared to what I can only assume it is like today. Mom told me that if I could figure out the ticket request system and actually get us tickets, we would go. It was on.

I vividly remember sitting at the kitchen table on the DAY the form had to be postmarked trying to figure out the schedule. For each ticket that you wanted, you had to choose your first four choices. Those choices couldn't conflict with any other events/time frames because it was a total lottery. My scheduling/problem solving/detail oriented ways were on hyper alert. After laboriously figuring out a proposed schedule and our top choices, then filling out the pages and pages of bubbles, (seriously) we raced to the post office to make sure it was postmarked that day. So fun! :) I might blog about some of my memories over the next two weeks so stay tuned!

We have big plans to stay home tomorrow night, order a pizza and watch the opening ceremonies. :) For several months I have been planning on giving my already geography infatuated boy THIS:


I meant to have already gotten a large world map to hang on our wall . . . hmmm. I hope Wal-Mart has one tomorrow!

And here is another book that I will give him tomorrow: :)

And this book is the next one on my list to get . . . it just came out in January!! So cool!

So . . . because I want to share my LOVE of the Olympics with you on this weekend filled with LOVE, I am going to give away either the Flag Sticker Book OR The Story of the Olympics.

If your kiddo is too little, that's okay. The Olympics will come around again in two years, and four, and six. . .so enter anyways! Or enter to win for your niece or nephew! Leave me a comment telling me your favorite winter Olympic sport! The winner will be announced Monday and I will immediately send it out for your Olympic viewing enjoyment.

Go USA!!!

He's something else. . .

Here's just a few Lawton stories for you . . .

The other night I hopped in the car with Lawton after dinner to get a few groceries that I hadn't had time to do earlier in the day. We also needed to get his valentines because they were due the next day.

In the car, he asked, "Which grocery store are we going to, Mommy?"

I replied, "Oh, I don't know . . . Wal-Mart or Publix?"

After a long pause, he chose Wal-Mart.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you can 'shop for less' there!" as any other four year old would likely reply. ha!

I'm glad the marketing worked for a four year old who doesn't even own his own bank account!!



Chad has had an iPhone since last spring and has loved it - every single thing about it. Actually, both males in the family love that little electronic device. . . Lawton will ask to have it in the car quite often, looking at the maps, the weather app and Sports Center mostly.

Back in December, Chad's employer decided to give all the principals Blackberries, and so for a little over a month, Chad had an iPhone AND a Blackberry (leaving me with a four year old, broken screen, outdated SIM card phone). But I'm not complaining or anything. Anyways, Chad decided he could (mournfully) give me the iPhone and get a new, free phone for our personal calls last week. (which I am now loving, by the way.)

This past weekend, I was out of town and somehow was able to silence my phone since I was in meetings most of the weekend. When I was on my way home, however, I tried to "unsilence" my phone again, but after searching all the settings, I couldn't figure out what to do.

Finally on Tuesday night, four days later, I remembered to ask Chad how to turn the sound back on. He showed me this little tiny switch on the side that I hadn't even noticed before. A few minutes later, Lawton walked in the room and Chad said, "You should have just asked Lawton. . . he could have shown you."

"Mommy didn't know how to turn the sound back on, Lawton" Chad taunted.

That little four year old just looked at me straight in the eye, grinned a crooked little smile, wondering why I wasn't smart enough to turn the sound back on and thought . . . I have Mommy in the palm of my hand. Seriously. I won't forget the look on his face.

So, challenged, I told Lawton to show me what Chad had just finished doing to see if he really knew what to do. I mean, after MONTHS of me playing with his phone, too, how could I have missed it and my four year old had not???

Lawton grabbed the phone, flipped the switch and smiled.

I guess we should have just asked him to switch our SIM cards and get all our contacts transferred correctly since it took the AT&T guy two hours to do. I've learned my lesson.

Maybe she's not quite over it. . .

She has repeatedly found this nut/bolt combo and placed it in her mouth the past few days, running to get her lovey when she finds it. Bless her. She loved her paci so. (and she has also taken up drinking . . . lots more milk than she ever has before - especially right before bed. I didn't foresee that as a "side effect" of no paci!)