Yay Me!!

Thanks to my boss being in town and the plague that has settled at my household, I've been MIA for a few weeks. I'm thinking maybe I should do this more often because what do I find upon my return to blog land? An award! Yay me! Much thanks to Mrs. Eyecansee at The Juice is Worth the Squeeze for the nod. It's always nice to know that someone other than your mom reads your blog . . . :)

The rules:

1) Link back and thank the fabulous person who awarded you.

2) Share 7 things about yourself

3) Award 15 other deserving bloggers

I have very few scandelous or remarkable secrets, so I'm warning you in advance that this might be a little boring.

1) I can't sleep if the hubs and I are facing each other in the bed. If his face is too close to mine I start panicking and feel like I can't breathe, like he's stealing my breath. Weird I know. And a constant source of amusement to him.

2) I have only one ticklish spot on my body. The only person that knows said spot is my best friend from high school. (Don't be perverted, it's nothing racy!) Even hubs doesn't know about the spot- he would only use if for evil.

3) I still watch the Disney channel and it has nothing to do with my 3 year old. I sometimes watch it when she's not even in the room.

4) I have never used the china I received as wedding gifts. Not. One. Single. Time.

5) I have an unnatural hatred of chickens. Not the kind wrapped in plastic at the grocery store- the live kind that like to peck at your shins. Traumatic experiences in childhood have scarred me for life.

6) If my younger brother Leo had not passed away he would be 25 years old this year. I think a lot about what kind of man he would have turned out to be.

7) I own 17 pairs of pajamas. I discovered my love of pj's after having Emma. Pj's were one of the few clothing items I could shop for that were cute and also sported the necessary elastic waist. A must while losing those pesky baby pounds!

Since I'm not in the business of blogging full time I don't think I could come up with 15 deserving bloggers if my life depended on it. Sooooo, I'm going to break rule #3 and not pass the award along. Dum dum dummmm. Blogging police please don't come after me! In my defense, most of the other bloggers I could nominate have already received this award! Yes, I'm a blogging loser.

Random Thoughts on a Friday

Still debating the pros/cons of a birthday party in March. I would prefer to have the party at my house , but since we've still got some construction (aka drama) going on with some rehab stuff I'm hesitant to have a bunch of people over. Gonna check into alternatives next week.

Big man will be 7 months old in a few weeks. And yes, I'm already debating birthday party themes for June. Seeley is defeating all of my efforts to clothe him by continuing to grow way too quickly-we're wearing 12 month clothing now. At his 6 month wellness visit a few weeks ago he weighed 20 lbs and 8 oz. I can't even wrap my hand all the way around his calves, much less his thighs. I'll have to take a picture to prove it. He now weights only 9 lbs less than Emma.

Hubs and I still have not officially celebrated our anniversary, which was on the 4th. First, babysitter was sick. Then Seeley was sick. Then it was my bro-in-law's birthday. Now we've got a gymnastics expo for Em and a cousin's birthday p
arty for her little boy . . . I'm holding firm that NEXT weekend we're going to go out for our special day. I hope. Geez.

Emma had her first snow this week. I'm not sure who was more excited-her or Jeremy. Definitely not the dogs. All but 2 of them were super pissed and highly suspicious of the white stuff.

I still can't manage to get into bed before 11:30 or 12am, which means that I have way too much quiet time on my hands after the rest of the house is asleep and I'm finishing up my "to-do" list. I catch myself eyeballing projects that need to be done around the house. Hubs is going to strangle me if I even hint at more projects at the moment. I think I'm safe though- funds are necessary to begin these projects and since putting the kids back into daycare full time our disposable income is in seriously short supply.

Just after the holidays I discovered someone apparently backed into the passenger side of my car, near the rear fender. Super. Why do I park out in the back 40 of the parking lot if someone can STILL manage to hit me? By the time I get this fixed I will almost have replaced or repaired the entire exterior of my SUV. And I only wish I was exaggerating.

Since owning my car it has been

• backed into a building courtesy of hubs (new driver side rear fender)
• backed into father-in-law's truck-hubs again
• rear-ended 3 times (only 1 new rear fender though)
• friend at work backed into driver side door (brand new now)
• flying object crushed front fender/grill on interstate (all new/replaced)
• the above mentioned hit and run on passenger side rear fender/panel

Since I'm pretty sure this latest mishap will require a replacement part that leaves the passenger door as the only original exterior part on my car. Awesome right? If I had caused some of the damage maybe I wouldn't be so bitter about it.

I overheard Emma and Jeremy talking about a baby sister last night. Shouldn't I be in the loop somewhere on this decision?

Plans for this weekend include:

• Emma's gymnastics expo
• Bowling birthday party
• Phase 1 of Project Organization- bathroom storage revamp
  

Why do I even bother?

Why do I even bother to watch football any longer? I love my Arkansas Razorbacks and I know they could have stomped Ohio into the ground last night, if only oh I don't know, someone could have caught a ball every once in a while. Or could have stopped getting penalties. Or would have scooped up the ball and run it into the end zone after blocking the punt in the last seconds of the 4th quarter. Sigh. My blood pressure cannot take another Hogs season. My love for them is going to drive me to an early grave.

On the flip side, I do feel bad for the team. I would imagine the receiver that couldn't receive is feeling a lot worse about the loss than I am. And these are guys anywhere from 6-10 years younger than me-how weird of a thought is that? Am I the only one shaking my head over that? When did I turn into an adult? I swear it was just yesterday that I was sharing a ghetto apartment with my girl Mollie and hitting the gym a few times a week, working and spending way too much money at Maurices, and suffering through Business Statistics at UCA. Now I'm married, two kids, and pushing the big 3-0. Yikes!

And I might also add, just spent my 8 year wedding anniversary watching the Razorbacks lose the Sugar Bowl. Eventually I'm going to make Jeremy take me out to celebrate. But not this weekend, we have a birthday party to attend. So maybe the next . . . . and you see now how I've become an old married woman with no life?! Why do I even bother?

So, to spice things up I'm thinking of throwing myself a blow-out 29th birthday party. My friend Jennifer inspired me to do this as she did up her 29th birthday in style. My other reason for celebrating 29 instead of the traditional 30- I plan to remain 29 forever. After this year I will never again admit to my age. I just can't age gracefully, sorry. I don't plan on growing older without a fight! :)

Good news on the weight loss front- down an additional 3.5 pounds, and over the Christmas holidays too! Go me! 9.5 lbs to go to reach pre-Seeley weight!

Catching Up

Where, oh where, has December gone? Where has 2010 gone for that matter? A "Catch Up" post is necessary.

Emma's Christmas program at daycare. She sang Jingle Bells for two weeks straight prior to this. Everywhere we went she was singing Jingle Bells, only it sounded like Giingule Beullllllls. She has developed this very pronounced Southern drawl and is cracking me up with it as I simultaneously try to nip it in the bud.
The adorable boy in the cap is Em's "boyfriend", Travin. They hold hands when they walk down the hallway together. Hubs is worried. (Travin is the son of a friend from high school and we both think it is hilarious and adorable.)

I took vacation time the week of Christmas and had all these plans for getting stuff done around the house-nada. Accomplished absolutely nothing, but I had fun with the kiddos!

Seeley STILL has an ear infection. Pediatrician says if this third round of antibiotics doesn't knock it out we're ENT bound. Yippie. I was really hoping Mr. Big wouldn't follow in his sister's footsteps and need tubes in his ears. Cross your fingers!

Christmas!!Jeremy just sighed and asked me when I would stop dressing the kids alike.

Santa Hubs was good to me this year.
(Not pictured is a gorgeous new watch to go with my other goodies.)

Jessica Simpson Ruffle Me HoboTOMS gray canvas

My mom also helped me out with my storage space problem. Best solution ever!! This baby holds 3500 books and is the new love of my life. Perfect gift for a book worm.
Baby Weight Loss Weigh In:
13 pounds to go to pre-Seeley weight. Stupid holidays and their stupid chocolately desserts.

12 MORE pounds to go to pre-Emma weight.

14 ADDITIONAL pounds to go to pre-marriage weight.

That's right-39 pounds. Yikes. I'll take your prayers now.

Coming events in the Johnson household:

Possible New Year's Eve party attendance
8 Year Wedding Anniversary

Stay Tuned!!

Sick-mas

A little ditty on how the past few days have gone at the Johnson Zoo . . . .

On the 12th day of Sick-mas my kiddos gave to me

12 Explosive Diapers

11 Sick Buckets

10 Hours of Dora (!)

9 Bouts of Crying

8 Clothes a Changing

7 Painful Bruises

6 Fights over Medicine

5 Poopie Baths

4 Trips to the Doctor

3 Ear Infections

2 Missed Days From Work

And A Stinky Mommy With No Sleep!!

Merry Christmas!

Catching Up

So I'm still catching up from my blogging absence. Things have been super crazy at work and since I have absolutely no spare time at home to blog, guess what that means! Crazy work= no blog. I'm getting my priorities straight though and trying to put blogging back on the "to-do" list since I've had some complaints, not to name any names but you know who you are! :)

Santa Train on our Hot Springs branch was its normal adventure and chaos. Remind me again why I subject myself to being the person in charge of this year after year? Oh, the kids. Riiight. This year Emma was super excited about it and begged to ride on the train. Since Jeremy decided to take a break from engineering the train this year he brought the kids to one of the stops and we all got on for a quick ride. Justin, B, and Parker rode with us and so did my good friend from high school Leslie and her adorable little boy Lyric. (I've decided that this is a new tradition for Leslie and I-riding the train with the kids. This is the 2nd year in a row and Lyric absolutely LOVED it!)

I coerced two of our MOW employees (maintenance of way-they do all the work on the track) into being elves and it was AWESOME!! I absolutely love any man who is secure enough to let me dress him up. They were even willing to wear tights but I couldn't find any at the last minute . . .there's always next year! They kept referring to the candy canes as their pimp canes . . .

Seeley thought Elmo the Elf was super, Em was not so sure. Elmo is his real name, swear.


And this is the BEST Santa and Mrs. Claus in the world. Brian retired from AKMD 6 years ago but still comes back to do Santa at one of the stops-14 years in a row! He and his wife are the sweetest couple and spent the whole train ride talking with the kids. Emma was so fascinated-she didn't hesitate to jump on Santa's lap. Her wish list from Santa is a baby doll, specifically the Baby Alive doll wearing purple pajamas) and a Tinkerbell dollhouse.

And since I always get asked the question about 100 times each year- the Santa Train is not a passenger excursion. There's only one way you get to ride on the train . . .you gotta know me! Ha! It's nice to have a little power trip once a year! LOL

I think I may have inadvertently caused a problem though because Emma now insists that Santa travels via "mommy's train". He absolutely does not ride a sleigh and she will argue with you about it until she's blue in the face. Whoops. I guess we'll work on the whole sleigh and reindeer concept next year!

We've hit a few bumps this month as well. Poor Seeley still has an ear infection. We're working on round 3 of antibiotics to try and clear it up. I have a call out to the pediatricians office as we speak to discuss the side effects of this latest antibiotic; mommy is not real thrilled with the way it is upsetting his stomach. I can only take being covered in diaper leakage so many times in one week . . . .not to mention the worry about dehydration. Hello pedialyte!

Also found out I may need surgery. Super. I'll know more by the end of January but more than likely I'll get to have an outpatient procedure during February or March. This does not make mommy happy either-I have this outrageous fear of needles. Having my blood drawn causes me to faint and IV's are pure hell. Ugggh!

On the bright side-Only 11 more days until Christmas! Yay!

A month later . . .

Yes, I'm finally getting around to posting about Em's Mickey Mouse party. Sad right? I also haven't written anything in Seeley's baby book since his first day in the hospital-Shhhh!

I decided to be a good mommy this year and let Emma pick out the theme for her birthday party-after much debate between Tinkerbell, Disney princesses and Mickey Mouse we finally had a winner. Since our house is not quite large enough to accommodate a crowd we decided to have her party at a church in Hot Springs. I know that sounds weird, but this huge church has the cutest little playroom and they rent it out for parties. There's a great area to have the cake/refreshments and the play area is completely enclosed so the kids can't escape. Perfect! (Quick side note here- I rented the area for 2 hours and felt beyond rushed. The next destination birthday will involve a longer rent time on the room.)

The color scheme was based on this shirt, which I found on Etsy. (You know how I love me some zebra print!) You can't see it in the pictures but she has a pair of black leggings on under the tunic length shirt and red glitter "Dorothy" shoes. I so heart Target! A local girl that is on Facebook made matching hairbows for me.
Decorations/Food:The table looks a little empty and the balloons are all in one giant cluster, but I just flat ran out of time to do anything more. (Rent the room for 3 hours!!) I made the Mickey Mouse heads out of Styrofoam, scrapbook paper, and spray glitter. I now want to spray glitter EVERYTHING! It's addicting.
I made the cupcake toppers to go with the zebra/red/black color theme.

Peanut butter cookies with icing and edible Mickey Mouse Clubhouse designs. Super yummy!

It's a little hard to see, but these are chocolate Mickey Mouse head lollipops. Soooo easy to make!

Presents! (I love Baylie's face in the background. Mollie- I think she needs one of these Dora dollhouses for Christmas!)
Taking turns going down the treehouse slide!Seeley was even sporting a Mickey Mouse shirt courtesy of Personally Stitched. Sorry I didn't get a better picture of it Mollie! And yes, Jeremy just rolled his eyes at the matchy-matchy stuff.


We got her a Dora jeep! As you can tell she was way too excited and insisted on giving all of her friends rides. She still hasn't quite grasped the concept of reverse though. If she runs into something she still yells for me or Jeremy to come and help her.

Happy to be 3!