june pics

I've had a bit of a technical difficulty lately with my computer and haven't been able to get the pics off of my camera as quickly as I wanted to. But I have put a band aid on it and can share a few from this month.


Grammy is so smitten with little Pete. She loves to snuggle with her favorite little guy every chance she gets.



Em is moderately obsessed with "fishing" in Grandma & Grandpa's koi pond. She dragged the poor fish out about a dozen times on Father's Day. Sorry, Grandpa!


Someday, and probably in the not too distant future, she's really going to hate me for this picture. But the potty has been a BIG DEAL in our house lately, and we've spent a lot of time in there. This is day 1 of potty training earlier this month.



We have a weekly date with my dad, and both Em and Grandpa have really enjoyed spending time together.


I love this sweet picture of my dad and my daughter.


This is just SO Emerson right now. Full sass and spunk with a touch of the sillies. Welcome to almost 3!

a childhood dream

As a girl, I spent hours combing and braiding my dolls' hair. And somewhere deep down, I hoped that I'd be able to braid my own girl's hair someday. A few weeks ago, I got the idea that Emerson's hair was long enough to French braid. And by some miracle, I got her to stand still long enough to let me do it. Look at my big girl!

busy, busy, busy

potty training

trike riding

mopping the floors (see potty training above)

water ballooning

book reading

laundry washing (again, see potty training above)

baby burping

ant killing

through-the-night sleeping (as in 7:30 pm -5:30 am...gotta work on the back end a bit!)

tantrum throwing

ice cream gobbling

vacation planning (I'm working on a family vacation to Disney, a family reunion to Disney for 14 people, a girls' trip to Disney to run a 1/2 marathon in October, and an auntie/grandma with the kiddos trip to Disney as well as a mother/daughter trip to NYC and a spa retreat in the Midwest. Wanna get away? I can help you with that!!)

These, among others, are the reasons that I've been woefully neglectful of my blog. Life is good, if not crazed, for this mama. But hey, I'll sleep when I'm dead, right?

'Nite, all.

hello, sunshine

Cutest guy ever. Seriously.

summer reading list

Now that the weather has turned warm and the good shows have gone into reruns for the summer, it's time to compile my reading list. I'm admittedly keeping it a bit shorter this year, for obvious reasons, but am open to suggestions from you all.

THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett
This one keeps popping up in different circles, and I've heard nothing but good things about it. I checked tonite to see if my local library has it, and they have 25 copies, all of which are checked out. Guess I'm not the only one to have it on my list.

THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY by Marian Keyes She's my fave author, and I've read everything she's written. My favorite is Watermelon, with Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married a close second. Can't wait to turn the pages of her next Irish chick-lit masterpiece!

SAMMY'S HOUSE by Kristin Gore
This is the sequel to Sammy's Hill, and is written by Al Gore's daughter. Don't let that sway you one way or the other. The main character, Sammy, is a political intern and ends up schlepping all over the place on a campaign. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and hope this one lives up to the previous one.

Ok, now DON'T LAUGH...

TIME BANDIT by the Hillstrand brothers from Deadliest Catch I'm totally hooked on this show and to be honest, part of the reason I want to read it is to see if Jonathan can string together a few sentences into a paragraph. Sadly, my local library doesn't carry this one...shocker, I know...and I don't see myself spending any money to read it, so I think it's just a pipe dream. Unless one of you darlings has a copy that I could borrow ;)

I'm open to suggestions from you guys for other books. I love chick-lit, mystery/thrillers, and historical fiction. Let me know what you think!

on my mind...

I'll bet you'll never guess what's on my mind these days? It's not getting Pete to sleep through the night, or potty training Emerson (which starts tomorrow, btw), or even when I'm ever going to find time to run more than once a week.

It's football. College football, to be precise.

Don't know if you follow, or if you even care, but several of the major BCS conferences are raping and pillaging the Big 12, and it's interesting to see how things are playing out. Colorado has already left for the PAC 10, with rumors of 5 other teams to join them. Nebraska seems poised to join the Big 10, and rumors about Notre Dame, Rutgers, Missouri, Syracuse, and a myriad of others are swirling. And I keep hearing that Texas and A&M will be in the PAC 10. No, the SEC. No, the PAC 10. You get the idea.

As a fan, it's fun to see this play out. As a football purist, who is staunchly opposed to a playoff system and who LOVES the bowl games, I feel like I'm watching the beginning of the end. If there are conferences with 16+ teams, there's no way that things can remain the way they are. Sigh. Change is coming. And to that, my standard response is "Who moved my cheese?"

just some pictures

Well, I had every intention of posting an ACTUAL post today, but I've just run out of time. Emerson went to Grandma & Grandpa's for the whole day, so it was just me and the boy around here. I had a to-do list a mile long and only got about halfway through it. But I'm busy booking trips again (Wanna get away? I can help you with that!) and am loving my life as a Mama of 2. Praise be to God!!

Check out my handsome men...

we had the best weekend!

Happy June, fellow bloggers. In the darkest days of newborndom, my mantra was just "Get me to June. Get me to June. GET ME TO JUNE." I knew it'd be so much easier with a 2.5 month old, and I was so right. He slept from 10:30 last nite until 5 am today. Woo Hoo!! And he's napping really well too. I am so lucky with this kiddo.

We had a grand weekend. I got to go to a party with grown-ups who I used to teach with ALL BY MYSELF on Friday evening. I even had a beer. The whole bottle, all to myself. I haven't had a whole bottle of beer since last May!!! Such bliss for me. Then on Saturday, I went for a run and we made a birthday dinner for my parents who share this birthday week. Emerson had so much fun making picture frames for their presents. Sunday brought 2 college sorority sisters for a dinner visit. It was great to catch up and I can't wait to see more of Miss Mary and Miss Meghan this summer. And yesterday, I bumped into one of my dearest friends from Jr. High and High School while I was out for my run. That made me smile all day! Plus, Grandma and Grandpa came in for a visit, and that makes for one very happy Emerson.

The summer is starting off with one Mama in very high spirits. Yippeeeeeeeee!!!