Fall Decor Preview

Update: 10/1 Southern Hospitality was doing a linky on fall so I decided to link up this post with it. You can view all the great fall links here. They have some great ideas for fall decorating!!!! I should hav eput more of my fall decorations pictures but I haven't had time to upload them to the computer yet...sorry but stay tuned they will be here soon!!!


I thought I would put up pictures of our fall decorations in the breakfast room so you can see a sneak peak at the start of our fall decor in the house. This is the room that has the least amount of fall decorations in it but I will show you what it looks like to get started with the season. The only decorations are on our breakfast room table and in the plant to the side of the table in the corner. I don't have pictures of it but there's a little scarecrow sitting in the plant.

My centerpiece for the table is usually a black bowl filled with grapes and some other fruit. Our kitchen which connects to this room is chef themed and this room is wine themed so I thought the bowl with grapes and oranges goes perfect. During fall I put the fruit in this pumpkin bowl. I got it at Kohls during christmas season so it was only like 2.50 instead of 24.99. I am definitely going back there this year to see what else I can pick up for cheap.
These chair covers I just bought this year because I just couldn't resist myself. My grandma has some snowman ones for Christmas and I fell in love with them last year at Christmas time so I wanted some for ours too. I will be looking for the santa ones around Christmas time but for now we have the boy and girl scarecrows.

That's all for now. I know it's a short post and not a whole lot of decor but I'm going to wait to post the rest of our fall decorations which is a ton haha until after we get back from vacation. And I've been super busy getting us packed and ready to go plus getting all my school work turned in so I won't have to worry about it while we're in Florida. Hope all of you are having a good week so far;)

Allergies

So I have come to the conclusion that Dalton has allergies. Last year he got sick around this time with a runny nose and it lasted all the way until the beginning of February. They kept telling me he was sick and put him on ammoxicillin the whole time. Well it never went away and now here it is that time of year again and boom he has a runny nose. I am so upset becuase we are flying in five days and I really want this to be a fun trip for him. I know when I fly my ears pop enough and my head feels weird enough without being sick at all but for my poor little angel to be sick with a stuffed nose on top of it I just can't imagine. I called his doctor and we have to go to see them because they won't just call in medicine for him. Hopefully since we're getting him in early enough in the week it will be mostly gone before Saturday and then he can enjoy flying on the airplane. Besides Dalton getting sick we had a wonderful weekend. We are completely packed and ready to go to Disney World!!!! We did all the laundry and all the monthly cleaning for October since we won't be here the first weekend of the month and that's usually when we do the deep cleaning. We got the oil changes that we needed to and we even had relax time and got to watch the Texans lose on Sunday. Hopefully my cowboys will win tonight and make up for the Texans losing. Aggie was wonderful this weekend, very calm which is very unlike him, ha! I think he knows we are leaving because he's been so lovey and gentle and usually he's a maniac. Chantz and I let him in our room Saturday and Sunday morning because we were still tired when he wanted to get up at 6:30 in the morning and he just came up on our bed and laid down and went to sleep with us. I was shocked. I thought for sure he would've torn up something or went pottey on the floor or chewed through something but he didn't he just laid down with us and slept. I also got alot done this weekend with Dalton's room. I decided since I was packing him for Florida I might as well get rid of all the clothes that are too small for him now out of his dresser. I bought those vaccum bags so I just put them in there all organized by sizes and then suck the air out and put them in the attic to save until they need to be used again. Who knows they may not because we may have a girl:) While I was doing that I also decided to get his changing table and crib out of his room. We took all the stuff off the changing table and I don't know how but we found room in his drawers for it all. He hasn't used the changing table in months but it was a good storage unit for his stuff, ha!! Then we went for the crib. He has been sleeping with one of us each night on his floor in his room on pallets of blankets because he hates his crib now and he climbs out of it. So now I just took the mattress out and it's laying on the floor and we're taking the crib apart when we get the right tool from my grandpa. It's some special screw driver that's needed I don't know because I'm horrible with tools but that's what Chantz said. It's a crib that could've been converted to a toddler bed but Dalton's Great Grandpa is building him a Lightning McQueen bed instead so the crib is being taken apart. I am so excited to redo his nursery into a big boy room. I took pictures of his nursery this weekend just so we could remember what it looked like and I will post them when I get them uploaded on the computer. They are hilarious becuase I stuck him in his crib since I have like no pics of him in there and it's like he was posing for me. He would lay down real fast and then jump up and then roll over and then stand then kneel down then jump up and down. He was all over the place in that thing. And then he finally was showing me how he climbs so no more pictures after that haha. He's a little turkey butt sometimes he keeps saying a bad word and I keep telling him we don't say that word but he does it anyways. I really can't get too mad at him because he picked it up from me when we're driving in the car and my road rage psychotic twin comes into my body. It's the word for poop that starts with an s and now he's starting to learn to put the bull in front of it which I don't know where he's getting that from cause my evil twin doesn't say that. My little boy, what am I going to do with him, haha!!

Busy Weekend

Well this weekend is going to be very busy for us. We have to get Aggie's shots, Dalton's hair cut, Chantz's hair cut, Pack, Find Dalton a carry on bag, Get all the snacks for the airplane, drop our suitcases off at our Grandma's house since they are driving (we skipped out the cost per luggage that way, ha) and my Uncle from Fort Worth is going to be in town and my best friend from California is going to be in town. Plus, every first weekend of the month we always do our deep cleaning of the house and since we won't be here next weekend for the first one we are going to have to do it this weekend. We have to get both vehicles oil changed, and we're supposed to pick up our dining room table too. I know Chantz is going to want to watch at least one game during all the craziness and I need to finish all my school work and get caught up for us to leave on vacation. Whew that's alot. I hope all of you have a nice RELAXING weekend and all I can say is TGIF!!!!:):):)

2 for Tots

Old Navy is having a 2 for Tots sale right now as I type. I went during lunch and grabbed a couple of things for Dalton. As soon as I get home I am trying them on him and returning what doesn't fit and then going back to finish his winter wardrobe or at least the start of it, ha cause I always shop for him throughout the year. This is some of the stuff I got him and I just think it's going to look adorable on him I just want to make sure I got the right size!!!

I just love him in camo stuff so I think this will be perfect for him.
I want to find one just like this is Daddy's size so they can be twins this winter season:):)

I needed a lighter jacket for him but luckily his heavy one from last year still fits him which is also CAMO!!! The inside of this jacket is so soft I could fall asleep laying on it.

And these jeans I just thought were the cutest and are going to go perfect with his new little boots that he got. I love that they are washed out and look just like mommy and daddy's!!!

Anyways, the sale ends today so any of you with toddlers go scoop up your deals. Just don't take the 12-18 months sizes ok?

Dalton is our Proof

So this morning on the way to Laura's house I heard this song that I just love. I don't know the name of it but some of the words are there is a God, this is the proof. When I was pregnant with Dalton, we went to Christmas service and our church had a video playing of all sorts of pictures on the wall during one part of the service and one of our singers was singing this song to it while it was flashing through the photos. One of the pictures was a baby in a mother's womb and I started crying. I kept telling everyone I know that Dalton is proof that there is a God. There were times we tried to get pregnant and it just wouldn't happen and when we conceived Dalton we were using preventative methods and not trying by any means to become pregnant. When we found out we were pregnant we just knew that there was a reason God had blessed us with him. Soon after I had him in the hospital my doctor discovered that I had precancerous cells on my cervix. Before I was pregnant it had been a couple of years that I had gone without going to one of those doctors. Thanks to Dalton coming I was forced to go to one for check ups during and after the pregnancy. So, Dalton basically saved my life because I would've never known about it until it was too late. Now, after knowing this the song means even more to me. When it came on this morning I just turned around (we were at a red light don't worry I wasn't driving) and looked at my beautiful little boy sitting there looking at me and even though it was dark outside I just felt like the rays of Jesus were shinning down on the two of us there. I am so thankful that he blessed us with Dalton and we cannot thank him more. Not only did he save my life, but he has enriched it so much more than I could've ever thought possible. We love him so much there aren't even words to describe it. I just love little moments like this and they just makes all the worries and stresses vanish.

Fall, Costumes and The Swine Flu

Sooo, I don't know about everywhere but it is finally a cool day outside here in Houston. Hooray, the start of some cooler more favorable weather. A couple of people in my office are from the north and so they think I am NUTS for saying it is cool outside when it's in the 70s but down here that's almost winter, ha!!! I remember last year for Thanksgiving I wanted to put Dalton in this adorable flannel shirt with these courdory pants that I bought him and it was so hot he couldn't wear it or he would've melted. I hope this year it's really cold since we have our house now and we will be putting the fireplace on. When we were building our house I didn't want a fireplace because I just saw our kids touching it and burning themselves but our builder used this new kind of fireplace. It's a gas fireplace but the glass doesn't move. The logs are fake and it's all controlled with a remote control. It's called a direct vent fireplace because there is no chimney and instead there is this box thing on the backside of the house that it comes out of. When we were building out deck outside Chantz had left the measuring tape up on the box and then we lit the fire to show my sister in law at our housewarming party and the next weekend we found the measuring tape MELTED into the box. It was not pretty. Anyways, the glass will not get hot, it's cool to the touch but that thing will heat up the whole house up and downstairs. Last year when we came to the model which is the same floorplan as ours we were switching some stuff on our papers and it was freezing outside and when we walked in it was so cozy and I asked him if he had the heat on and he said no it's just the fireplace we turn it on when we get here and it takes about 30 minutes and the whole house is warmed. YAY!!! I can't wait to use it this year!!! So it better get cold:):) Do any of you have the direct fireplaces?? Another reason I'm ready for it to get cold is I love when it's cold outside and I come home to a warm house decorated with fall colors and smell something WONDERFUL cooking in the crock pot. We usually don't use it alot during the summer cause it makes the house hot and it's a heavy meal too heavy for when it's over 100 degrees outside. I can't wait to use my new crock pot this year. I got this one from my step mom and dad last year for Christmas. It's a 6 quart one instead of the smaller like 2 or 3 quart white one that I had. I can see the difference in amount of food that it can handle compared to my smaller one. I also can't wait to use my new kitchen aid mixer that they bought me.
I've only gotten to use it one time to make my fourth of july cake, and I am so excited to bake cookies this year but Chantz says the oven being on makes the kitchen hot so I had to wait til it got cool outside. But lucky for me it's starting to get cool!!!! My car read 76 today during lunch instead of the usual 89 or higher. The last but definitely not least important thing that I'm ready for is DECORATING!!! I love this time of year with halloween, thanksgiving and christmas. My good friend Destiny and I are supposed to go look for decorations this weekend. Not that either of us don't have enough, but we are overly obsessed with the holidays and decorating our homes, ha!!! Hopefully in the midst of packing and getting hair cuts and Aggie's shots and everything for Florida I will be able to go with her. I can't believe we leave in 9 days. I feel like I have so much to do between now and then but hopefully I will find the time somewhere, somehow :)

We have already starting thinking about halloween costumes for this year. Well I lie we've been thinking about it for weeks now, ha! We can't help it because we just get so excited, well I do, ha!!!! So we decided Mister Dalton is going to be The Incredible Hulk since he always makes his little hulk face when we tell him show us your muscles. This is his costume

We got it for him last Saturday and I will post pictures of him in it as soon as I get a good one right now he just fights with me on wearing the headpiece. So they are all of him yelling or making mean faces at the camera, ha what a character he is. Anyways any suggestions as to what Chantz, I and Aggie could be that goes with the Hulk???

Finally, the swine flu. Dalton's Uncle Aaron, my little brother, has the swine flu!!! Ugh we are so scared for him. He called me yesterday afternoon after getting out of the doctor to tell me. You know I have been telling you about chantz and I being sick lately and it's like we just keep giving it back and forth to each other but Thank God Dalton has not caught anything. Well I wanted to give you guys a headsup on this whole swine flu thing. If someone you know has it and you have been in contact with them all you have to do is call your doctor and tell them and they will prescribe you this medicine called TamiFlu and it should be knocked out of your system within 72 hours. They did that for multiple people in my family since they were all around him. Also, it was said that they will have vaccines out for the swine flu soon. This is a different vaccine then just for the normal flu so make sure you get this one too. I hope all of you have a great holiday season and that noone else gets sick and my brother gets over this sooner rather than later. Please keep him in your prayer as we are all scared for him because he has asthma and this will just make it worse. Oh also it is his high school homecoming this weekend and the poor thing has to miss it now and he can't play in the game either. I know that's hard for a kid in highschool, so it just makes it even worse. We love you Aaron Get Better Soon!!!

Tuesdays and Thursdays and A New Car

Every Tuesday and Thursday we always go on a walk in the neighborhood because our VERY energetic furry family member Aggie HAS to go on a walk otherwise he gets restless and starts getting into things he shouldn't be in. Dalton rides in his little red wagon that he got for his birthday a couple of months ago and I pull him while Daddy fights with the monster, I'm just kidding Aggie is getting WAY better about walking on a leash. I want him to be perfect before Christmas because by then he will be HUGE and he will be dragging me down the road if he doesn't know how to heel. Luckily, he's been a really easy dog to train, knock on wood.
As you can see behind Dalton and I Aggie is trying to dig up our lava rocks bordering our deck before we went walking one night. After the walk, like always when we come back, he was out cold on the tile.
Dalton was in a crabby mood before the walk too ^ but when we got back he was in a much better mood (below) He just loves being outside I think if I let him he would live outside.
While we were walking, a dad was jogging with his little boy in one of those jogging strollers and I said to Chantz wow we need one of those for Dalton so we can start RUNNING with Aggie :) and we both looked back and this is what we saw
It was hilarious. I had to take a picture because he looks so relaxed with his feet up on his cup holders and his face says it all. He is giving us the look of please don't make me go in one of those I don't want to I like this wagon instead. I can't wait to decorate his wagon for halloween to drag him around while trick or treating. I want to put some hay in there and hopefully it's cold like it was last year so I can put his cute halloween fleece blanket that I made him in there with him. I'll show you the blanket I made when it gets closer to halloween and how easy they are to make.

Ok so I had told you all the trouble that my car has been giving me lately and how much it is making me angry. I love that car when I first bought it and it was my dream car, but now that I have Dalton and huge Aggie it's not very practical for our family. So, we set out to find me a new one a couple of weekends ago, actually it was labor day weekend to be exact. We went to carmax because I had seen this practically new Jeep Patriot there and I was in love with the pictures online. Well we got there and when we sat in it I almost threw up on myself. No offense to any of you that drive them but I get VERY chlostrophobic in dodge nitros and I sat in a Jeep Patriot and Jeep Comander and it was the same way. I think it's the very vertical windshield and dashboard. I am used to a car with a leaned slanted very cozy comfortable feel not sit upright. My friend Audra drives a dodge nitro and the one time I rode in it she had to pull over and I threw up, that's how car sick I got it in. So, we didn't get it or anything else on the lot because I just didn't see anything I liked. Hopefully the right car will come and find me. Chantz was a little aggrevated that we drove all the way out there and then as soon as we got there I was like no I don't like it, ha! He said that before we go get me a new car I need to go test drive every car that is out there and decide which one I want so we only have to go and do the dealing and leave not sit there and decide which one I want or what I want it in or what color or anything. It was well worth going out there though because Dalton had a blast.

We were letting him "test drive" all the cars that were on the show room floor. Of course he threw a fit when we made him get out.

Here is us sitting together and him giving his whatever look because we wouldn't let him get down and run around.
I think this picture is hilarious because he looks like he's saying hmmmm should I just jump off Daddy and run over there even though they told me no. He is too much, ha!!!!

My little Pumpkin and Our Front Yard

Dalton is now 16 months and growing bigger by the minute it seems. I swear I am going to have back problems from him wanting me to hold him, ha! Yesterday was his actual 16 month birthday and he was being in his stuck up my butt moods all day. He wanted me to hold him every five seconds and finally I just had to sit with him on the couch because I couldn't do it any longer. Now today, my lower back is killing me. I don't know how much he weighs I haven't checked but I thought it was funny how when he was a newborn and only 8 pounds I was like Oh he's so heavy I can't hold him for that long or my arms are going to fall off and now he has to be over 25 pounds and he's still wanting me to hold him. Him and Aggie are doing great they just are driving me crazy. I really feel like we're living the Marley and Me life right now. As far as housebreaking Aggie is doing great but someone by the name of Dalton is deciding that when I go to change his diaper to take off running and then pee on the floor. Aggie is horrible about chewing. In fact, if you have any hints please push them my way. He is definitely like Marley. He chewed through the cord of our stand up fan in our bedroom so now there is two pieces of cord and I swear I'm going to start buying shoes from the dollar store because he has eaten almost every single one of my heels at least one out of the pair. Here is a picture of both of them looking at me like who us we are not bad at all.

One thing that they are is very sweet to each other. Aggie plays with him all the time and lets him lay on him and kisses his hands and feet and Dalton gives Aggie kisses and has to always lay next to him on the floor when taking a nap with his hand around him instead of on the couch or bed. Dalton started learning how to sing this weekend. Yesterday Dalton and I went to my mom's for dinner and he was sitting on her couch swaying back and forth saying "happy" and claping his hands. My MIL taught him the song You are my sunshine Saturday and she kept singing it to him over and over and over and then he finally starting singing happy eyes happy eyes I know he's trying to do the part happy when "skies" (eyes) are gray. It was just adorable. Poor chantz missed it because he was at home miserably sick:( I think there is for sure a stomach virus going around and he got it. I tried to keep Dalton away from him all day and kept trying to sanitize everything so we wouldn't catch it. He's also talking up a storm. He says Diego clear as day now instead of Dehdo and he says Doorah and Bob for Sponge Bob which I'm super excited about because we're staying at their hotel and going to their character breakfast in less then two weeks when we go to Florida now I just need him to learn Mickey and Minnie really quick:) He's still learning more colors and he learned GiGi and Aaron and out, no more, all done, hi, hello, and he waves by bending his little hand like he's squeezing the air now instead of just waving. He knows high five and he knows how to say bad dog and stop to Aggie. If we ask him does he want a spanking he'll shake his head no and say no in a high voice or if we ask him if he's supposed to be doing something that he's not supposed to he'll say no and shake his head no. He loves to get on his four wheeler and drive it all around the house and he's learning how to turn the wheel. He's starting to do very good with silverware instead of eating with his hands. He can eat a whole kids meal now when we go out to eat and he drinks out of the little kids cups with the straws so it's nice incase we forget his sippy cup. He LOVES to wear his shoes anywhere and everywhere. He knows how to brush his teeth all on his own now but we still aren't using toothpaste as the doctor said it's bad at this age because they swallow alot of it. And as soon as we get back from Florida we're taking his crib apart and starting to transition him to his own big boy bead!!!! Last night he slept with me in the guest room since Chantz was sick and Dalton's been having nightmares alot lately and waking up so I just had him next to me so he could feel me if he got scared and this morning I left him in there while I was getting ready. This is an extremely high bed in fact we had to get our queen bed in our bedroom that we have now when I got so far along pregnant because I couldn't even get into it anymore when I was so big and this little man got down off the bed and came into the bathroom and grabbed my legs this morning when we woke up. He didn't even fall off the bed. I kept walking by the room every now and then because I was so scared he would but when it was time to get up he just got up and got down and came to say goodmorning to me. It's so easy with him this age but it's also sad because he's growing so fast I feel like before I know it he's going to be going to school:(

Ok, I know I said I would show you before and after pictures of our front yard from two weeks ago, but I lost the before pictures. I am going to show the after pictures and try to explain best as I can what it looked like before....

Ok this is actually the front garden. When we moved in the plant in the back that is wild grass I think there was five of those and three indian hawthorn plants scattered in here with brown mulch and that's all. We added these two red cactus looking plants but one of them died so we dug them both out and my Uncle wanted the one that was still alive so he now has that one. We wanted to go with a more simpler look here so we got two yucca plants and kept the one wild grass plant. We added red lava rocks to border the garden to match our brick and put the solar lighs in. We also bordered the garden with those little plants I don't know the name of them but I see them everywhere and they have little white flower sticks that come out of them during spring and summer.

Here is a better view of the whole thing I just wanted to get a centered picture for up top. We still need something for our gutters that the water won't destroy that little area of the garden. Any suggestions???
Ok now this border of the other side of the sidewalk never existed. It was all grass when we moved in. So we had to dig up all the grass aligning it and then plant the bushes and fill in with lava rocks to match the other side. It came out beautiful, it's really hard to get pictures because I can't fit it all in the camera at one time. We were trying to get red tips for here because on the other side we face the mailboxes and the people whose properties touch it are not the greatest landscapers so we wanted something pretty to look out to from the breakfast room. Well when we went to the store these were so much more full than the red tips. I don't remember what they're called but they start with a c and they look just like red tips to me. They have the red tips but they get this really beautiful flower thing that you will see below. We didn't know what those were at first but after a couple of days they started blooming so I think it will look really pretty once they grow bigger and thicker that we can shape them and see the flowers coming out.

Anyways, that's our new front yard. It was alot of work but totally worth it. We now have a very distinct walk way instead it just looking like it's sitting there all alone and we'll have more privacy with the shrubs once they grow and it will block all of the bad views that we have from our breakfast room. We have solar lights every two bushes going on the other side of the walkway now too so that makes it very lighted and pretty at night time. I really wish I had the befores so you guys could see the difference because it's really a big transformation but I don't know what happened to them:(

Yellow

So I stayed home with Dalton yesterday because he was supposed to be getting a TBD shot and some bloodwork done. The doctor had called me back when we had his 12 month check up and told me that the substitute nurse forgot to give this shot to him when he was there and forgot to tell us to go get bloodwork done. Well when we got there I was asking the nurse who we always have if we could have a copy of his shot record for the airplane because we are leaving for Disney soon. (BTW I was warned by a coworker that they will not let you board without their shot record if they are sitting on your lap even if you have their birth certificate becuase they made him and his wife go home to get their shot records before they would allow them on the flight which cause them to have to be on a different one) She asked me oh is that why you are wanting him to have this TBD shot? I said no that his pediatrician had told me that he had to have it at 1 year and she said that the only way he would need that shot right now is if he was around kids who have tuberculosis or if he's been around people that were in jail. Since he has not been around either she said it's just recommended not required so we didn't make him get it just yet. I will wait until he gets a little older before we do that. Instead since we were there he got his flu shot. I didn't even know that the flu was already going around however when I got to work this morning I realized that someone in my office has been out all week with the flu. Everyone get prepared early especially if you have little ones I would never want to see one of them have to suffer through that. I am glad that Dalton already has his now so it's done with and will start working already. Sure enough yesterday around 2 I suddenly got very sick. I couldn't move my neck or arms without it hurting. I was so stiff and sore in all my joints and I just wanted to lay down and be still. I was very nauseated and had the worst headache imaginable. I was freezing to where I was shaking but yet I was burning up when you touched me. I guess that's what I get for saying "the flu isn't even out yet". Luckily this morning I feel so much better and I now and stocking up on germ x and wet ones along with orange juice so that our family won't get sick during this season. It just sucks that always around the holidays is when people get sick I mean that's when it's fun and cool outside and so much is going on and that's when you get sick:( I pray that Dalton does not get sick not one day this year because last year the poor little guy lived with a stuffed nose and cough all througout winter.

Anyways while I was home with him yesterday my grandma came over to be with us. She always talks to him and says words and spells everything that she's saying. Well I always make fun of her when she does this but yesterday I saw that Dalton really does pick up what she's saying. He was building his legos and she was telling him the colors and he already knows the word blue or BOO as he says so when she was saying that he would say it back but yesterday when she said the word yellow he repeated ELLOW. It was awesome to hear him say that and pick up the yellow lego as he was saying it. I can't believe how fast he is learning it's just amazing. Another thing is he says Aggie clear as day now he used to call him Addie but now it's aggie so he got the g sound down. He also runs to the tv and points and says Dehhdo for Go Diego Go and when the show comes on and he hears the music no matter what room he's in he comes running in and skips in circles in the living room. I don't know what it is about little kids wanting to go in circles but one of my friend's son's Jace does the same thing she tells me he runs in circles in the living room? I know I definitely could not do it as quick as they do I would for sure run into something but they will come soooo close to the entertainment center and then they always seem to miss it. His skip is just adorable I got it on tape because it's not a full fledge skip he looks like he's trying to jump/skip but only with the top half of his body, ha!!! Other new things is he is telling us no when he doesn't want something. Before he would just kind of walk away or shake his head no but now when we ask him do you want this he shakes his head and puts this puzzled look on his face like you should know I don't want that and tells us no. I think his favorite word is huh. Every time I say something if he doesn't hear me he goes "uuh??" in a question tone. I just love my little parrot these days who repeats everything to me. I just have to try to tone down my road rage because sometimes I say bad things that I for sure don't want him saying. But he will repeat everything whether it's good or bad so I'm starting to watch myself more and more.

I am going to try to post the before and after pictures of the front yard tomorrow. I just got a chance to take all the pictures of the after and now I just have to upload them on the computer to post them.

This Weekend

So this last weekend we finished relandscaping our front yard. I am so excited I think it turned out beautiful. I will post pictures of the before and after so you can see what you think. We had a little trouble with our initial plan because we hit some wires while digging so we had to change it up some, but I still love the overall outcome. I am so sore and tired though from removing the grass in areas. That is an exhausting job!!! Lucky Chantz had to work so he missed out on all the hard work, darn he was so upset, not!!! After we finished the yard we took my brother Aaron and his friend Drew with us to the mall. We got Dalton his new shoes for the fall season from StrideRite. They have the best shoes for little kids. I never knew there were so many different types of shoes with different technologies before. Good thing they were there to help us because we wouldn't have known which ones to get. They are so cute on him and he loved walking around the mall afterwards holding our hands. He was stomping around everywhere and I am so thrilled that he loves them that much.

We got him a pair of tennis shoes and then a pair of nicer brown shoes to match Daddy's polo boots. We got both with velcrow because there is no way I can Dalton to sit that long to get both shoes tied right now. He got sized while we were there and he is already a 5 1/2 I remember when he was just a size 3 like a couple of months ago when we got his sandals for summer:(

I have to share a story of the shoe store because this is part of Dalton's scrapbook. We were trying on the tennis shoes and we put him down to walk on them and he of course took of running and so I made him turn around to go back inside the store. Well there was another little boy in there that was trying on his first pair of shoes and trying to balance and as he was wobbling over in Dalton's direction Dalton took off running and went straight up to the little boy and wacked him in the face. Chantz and I were so embarassed. We sat him down on the stool and told him we do not hit other little boys. The other little boy just stood there in aww and didn't know what to do. In the back of my mind it was funny, but I don't want him to learn to hit other kids so it was not funny. I don't know what got into him because Laura says he is great with the little babies at his babysitters house. He does soft to their faces (which is where we tell him soft and he gently rubs his hand on the side of your cheek) and sits and plays with them. I think he was just in one of his moods because he was running around doing his hulk face and showing his muscles and doing his new thing which is where he acts like a crab and takes his hand and pretends to pinch and roll his hand around pinching the air? The lady helping us goes oh wow he's a little character huh, ha. Yup he sure is.

The next day of course was Sunday which means Football Day. I was so happy it was opening week and my cowboys won!!!!

I am and have always been a HUGE cowboys fan. Tony Romo had a great game yesterday so hopefully that's how the rest of the season is going to be for them!!! It was a very embarassing day for the Texans, so we just mostly kept the tv on the cowboys game during that time. We are going to take Dalton to his first NFL game later in the season when it gets cooler outside so it feels like football season, ha. He went with us to Reliant Stadium two weeks ago to see my brother's high school play a game there and he loved it. At first yesterday morning it felt really cool and looked like rain but unfortunately the sun and the heat came. We bbq'd hot dogs and hamburgers and had some friends over and watched game after game after game. It was a really fun and relaxing day. Overall it was a really good weekend and we had a lot of fun we just wish it was longer like always;)

September 11th

Every year this day comes and I cry every time when I start hearing the radio call ins or see the documentaries. Chantz and I were watching a documentary on September 11th this past Wednesday and it just gets me every time. Even though I know exactly what happened it's like I learn something new each time I hear about it and it just brings all these emotions out of me. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was in 8th grade and I had just gotten out of cheerleading practice. I was sitting in my mom's classroom with my friend Kayla P and we were talking as most teenage girls do and not paying attention to what was on the tv (all of our classrooms had these tvs in the upper corners of the room). My mom always had the news on every morning before classes started and this morning was no different. She had walked out of the room for a minute and when she came back in she went balistic and started yelling Angela what is going on what did the tv just say look at that the world trade center is on fire. We didn't hear what they had said nor did we really know what was going on. I remember my mom's face went white and she had this look in her eyes that made me realize it was something serious. My mom ran to tell our principle and he came on the announcements to tell everyone to put their tvs on the news. Throughout the rest of the day people were coming to pick their kids up from school even my step dad came to get my little brother from his school. Mom wanted me to stay with her since we were both at the same building and I kept asking her what is going on is there fixing to be a war in the United States?? I remember everyone was very scared that the Port Of Houston was going to be targeted because it's one of the biggest ports and so everyone in the city was leaving work and school to be with their families. That night my grandma called up to New York and we were told that my mom's cousin Bernard worked in the World Trade Center, the week before this had happened he got transferred to another office. My whole family is from New York and most of them still live there so it was very emotional for the few down here to know this had happened in the city they grew up in. My cousin that lives in New York was in elementary school at the time and he played baseball. My uncle told us that over half the kids on the team lost one of their parents either an employee that worked there or most of them were firefighters. We had already bought plane tickets to visit them for christmas this year and we were scared to death to fly especially to the city that had been attacked by the planes. I remember walking in the airports there were soliders everywhere with huge guns and the security was so extreme you had to be at the airport 2 1/2 hours before your flight left or you would miss it. When we got to New York my mom started crying because as we were flying in you could still see a cloud of dust and there were no more twin towers. My Uncle lives in northern New York but while I was there I got to go with my cousin to work in Manhattan. She took me by ground zero and I almost died. I couldn't stop the tears from just pouring out of my eyes. There were signs up everywhere with people still trying to find missing family members and it was still foggy and dusty and there was debris everywhere. It looked like a nightmare seeing it all in person rather than on the tv. One of my aunt's friends husband is a New York firefighter and she told us that she can't even hear the sound of bag pipes now without getting chills. She said the amount of funerals they went to in the following weeks was unbelievable. I receieved an email a little while ago about running late and it made me realize I will never be upset again if I am running late to work or school or a football game or anywhere. Some people's lives were saved because they were simply running late to work that day. The email said that one person's shoe strings didn't match so they had to stop to get new ones which delayed them and saved their life. It makes me think twice every time I say to myself "God why am I running late" maybe because there's a car accident that was going to happen and I'm not supposed to be involved in it or maybe I would've gotten a ticket instead of the person I end up passing who is pulled over. I know that God is always looking out for us and has our whole lives planned so now I will just appreciate running late.

Now is the day to celebrate all those who paid the ultimate price in this tragedy. My heart goes out to all those families who lost loved ones during this disaster, to all the firefighters, police officers, emergency crews, employees and everyone who was just trying to do their job, and to all the military members who are serving or have served our country we appreciate everything you do.

I love you!!!

I know it has been forever since I posted. It has been a week, oh my. Last Saturday my ac wasn't cooling in the car so we took it in and what do you know there's a leak in the condensor. They said the extended warranty should cover it because it was a "malfunctioned piece of equipment". Well I got a phone call Monday morning letting me know that the leak is not on a seam so a small pebble must have popped up and hit it while I was driving sometime and so the extended warranty is not going to cover it. They told me the price was going to be 835.00 with parts and labor HELLO that is almost a thousand dollars. So I went and picked up the car and took it to Shell Oil & Lube and they are fixing it right now for only 500.00 so I got a little bit of a break. This car is just a nightmare in itself. Ever since I bought it I have been doing nothing but replacing things. It's a toyota solara and everyone keeps telling me "this is so unusual it's not like toyotas to have all these problems". Well I guess I bought the one that is a lemon. So now we are trying to figure out if it would just be better and easier for us to trade it in and get something more practical and economical for our family. I don't need a two door luxury car with all the bells and whistles anymore I just need something with space and that doesn't stain easily, ha!!! The week after I drove off the lot in my solara I found out I was pregnant, nice, now I have a two door car that I just traded my FOUR door car in for. Dalton and I drove the truck for the first year of his life because it has four doors and was easier to get the car seat in and out of but now we are taking the car again because I feel like I'm driving a boat when I drive that truck. I love my car and it was my dream car however not with a lab that is getting bigger by the day and a growing family. So we will see what happens at least the car is finally being worked on this morning after taking three days for the part to come in and being without a car since last Saturday.

On top of that, Monday morning we heard that Baker Hughes is buying out our company. WONDEFUL, just what I need right now. Some think it's good and some think it's bad, but overall every employee at BJ and Baker right now is pretty scared as to the impact it will have on employment opportunities for us. I'm sure all of you know by now becuase it's all over the internet, newspaper, and tv. Now we're all just sitting tight until we can find out some more information on the outcome of all of this. I hate situations where I don't know what's going on whether it's good or bad news I would rather know upfront than sit in limbo trying to figure it out and guess what will happen.

Aggie is doing much better ever since we bought that apple bitter spray. I would definitley suggest that with puppies to help them learn not to chew. We are probably still going to replace the carpet at our earliest convienance because there are two areas that he had gotten a hold of them and on Tuesday night he ran all over the living room WHITE carpet with little black and brown paws from running through the dirt and mulch. So now we have little spots all over the place and hopefully tomorrow when we rent a steam cleaner it will take most of them out for the time being.

Dalton is awesome!!!! He is learning how to say I love you!!!! When we say I love you he says "IIIIIIII lldgeeeww" It's so cute because the I is clear as day and he says it so long and drags the word out and then the rest is really quick:) It still makes my heart melt when I hear him say it because he's telling us he loves us. Last night we watched Mama Mia because I had to write a couple of paragraphs on it for my theatre class and since I've already seen the movie more times than I can count we were having dance practice in our living room:) I would hold Aggie and dance with him and Chantz would hold Dalton and dance with him and then we would switch and we would dance really close together so Dalton would hold onto Aggie and he was just laughing and laughing and laughing. It's moments like those that just make you realize there is nothing else that matters in the world except for those that you love the most and spending time with them is the only thing you need to be happy.