every captive thought

We finally made it here! It is nice and cool...currently a lovely 60 degrees. I have been up since 3:00 am this morning and should be sound asleep...but apparently this mountain air is jacking up my sleep cycles because I am wide awake at 11:45. James cried for a good portion of the trip here. A big thank you to my sister Carrie for riding with me and sticking it out. But James was more than ready to go nite-nite around 7:00 and gave in without a fight. I am sure this means he will be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at like 5:00 in the morning. I love the relationship my sisters have with Brad. He is like the little brother they never wanted...I mean never had. Brad asked Carrie to write his name on his cup for him and this is what she did. So funny! He's so trusting. (It says "Brat" instead of "Brad"). After dinner I made my sister's blow out their birthday candles...along with one of my nephews who is having a birthday tomorrow! Carrie and Christi's i

Ok...so tentatively we are planning on leaving in the morning. There has been no barfing today so we think we are in the clear. Plus, it helps to ease my mind that we are traveling with a doctor. Isn't that the best! Such a secure feeling. So today was cooking and packing day. I cooked my sisters' birthday cake since we will be celebrating their birthday there. It is August 1st in case anyone wants to know and wish them a happy birthday! I made them a German chocolate cake. It's my Mom's recipe and it is the best! It is usually made in 3 layers but Mom and I have figured out that you get a much yummier ratio of frosting to cake if you make it in a 9 X 13. LOTS of frosting! But if you want to be all fancy schmancy, go right on ahead and do it in 3 layers. Let me tell you, this is the best batter in all of the history of the whole world. I always make sure to save plenty for lickin'. Here is the finished product. I don't normally make things in foil pans but we w

After re-reading my last post I thought it would be polite of me if I posted a picture of what a Maltese is supposed to look like. This is NOT George. This will never be George. You see that brush sitting there beside that dog? That is why this will never be George. You have to brush them out like every two hours. For reals. We tried to grow George's hair out once. It didn't go so well. We spent far more time grooming him than we did ourselves. It just is not reasonable. Having the semi-long tail is about all I can handle. And you know how that has been working out for us. So that leaves us with this... Which looks sortakinda more like a creepy albino ewok than a Maltese. Sorry George, but we still love you.

I was so tired from my shopping day yesterday that I couldn't even blog. Well, that and Brad was rushing me to come watch Heroes with him. (We've started that series from the beginning because we had never seen it and it is sort of addicting.) But I got all of my shopping and errands for our trip done yesterday and just when I got home I got a call from my sister. The sister that is already at the cabin. And she told me that her littlest has been puking. If I could insert screeching brake sounds here I would because that is what happened to our plans. I don't do throw up real well. I would rather have a broken arm than a stomach virus. And the last thing we want is for all 12 of us to be in a cabin together throwing up. So we are currently awaiting word from her to see if the barf-fest has come to an end or if it is making its way through her family. If so, we will enjoy a lovely staycation in Amarillo. Stay tuned for updates...... Anyhow, Mom kept James for me so I could g

Cleaning day. Ahhhh....I have a love hate relationship with cleaning. I hate doing it but I love to have it all done. Back in the good ol days when I had a job that paid me in money instead of the love and drooly baby kisses that I get now, I had a cleaning lady. And I loved her deep deep down to the very bottom of my heart. I miss her. But now since all I do is play all day my husband seems to think this duty should fall on my frail shoulders. If you have kept up with some of my other posts, or if you just know me really really well, then you know I like to sing and dance and make a big time fool of myself...especially on cleaning day. It makes it so much more entertaining and fun. But I like to sing and dance like an idiot just at any random time too. For instance, Mom and I were in the K-Mart the other day and I busted out with an impromptu dance on the card aisle. Those were some snappy tunes they were playing in there. I couldn't help it. The music made me do it. I also danced

Yesterday was a fun and relaxing day. Well, relaxing for me. Brad refuses to relax. He just can't do it. He HAS to be moving at all times. He was fidgeting and fussing around the house and I told him to just sit down and relax for pete's sake, he was making me all nervous! And he couldn't. So what did he do? He went out for a 40 mile bike ride at 10:00 on Saturday morning. I stayed in my jammies and did nothing. I'm good at that. Then I went to a friend's baby shower yesterday evening and it was fun to see her and her baby belly! So cute! She's having a girl and everything was pink and precious...so now I need a girl. I need to do the whole frilly lacy pink fluffy cutsie-pie ruffly thing. I NEED it! I am the girliest girl in all the world! I have to have a girl! Last night after I got home from the shower James started feeling hot again. Brad took his temperature and it was up to 100.9. So of course I flipped out and called our doctor. That poor woman.

Not too much to say about today. James and I had a fun day with Nana and Papa. He is feeling a little better and his temperature has stayed down, thankfully! I am looking forward to a relaxing and lazy weekend with Brad and James. I hope your weekend is just lovely too!

We almost made it 10 whole months without James getting sick. But today when we went in to wake him up he had all sorts of green snot and boogers all over his face and bed. It was really gross and horrifying. Being that this is our first run-in with baby sickness we both stood there quasi frozen and all sorts of shocked wondering what to do. We got him and the bed all cleaned up and took his temperature. It was 100.4. I called the doctor and asked what to do. They probably wouldn't have had us come in except for that he wasn't eating. I guess in pedia-land that is a big deal. Who knew?!?! So off the 3 of us went to see the doc. (Brad is such an awesome Dad! He goes to ALL of the doctor's appointments with us. In 10 months he has only missed one because he was out of town.) Poor little James has a nasty virus and she said his throat is very red. So he is on a few different medicines and hopefully he will be better soon. She told us just to baby him until Monday and call her

1. I woke up and it was raining which is an automatic disqualifier for running. It is an actual invitation to stay in my jammies and snuggle down with a cup of coffee. 2. Mani 3. Pedi 4. I got a Frosty and spilled a large amount of it down the front of my white shirt BUT it didn't cause me to have a meltdown as it would have yesterday...I just laughed....and bleached the shirt. 5. I'm made hamburger helper for dinner because it was easy...disgusting...but easy. 6. James tried his first popsicle. 7. George doesn't have worms. 8. There have been no more worms on the kitchen floor. 9. The Lord showed me His sense of humor this morning when I was reading Psalm 22...specifically verse 6 in light of yesterday. 10. This pile of unfolded laundry... Turned into this pile of folded laundry.... 11. Brad and I focused on the fact that his speeding ticket from yesterday was nothing more than that...just a ticket. He wasn't in a wreck or something awful. 12. Brad took me and James fo

Have you ever just had one of those days? That was today for me. It started out all wrong from the get-go. I opted for a cup of coffee and the computer as opposed to running. Then after James went down for his first nap I made my second mistake...I went to get ready for the day and made the never-wise choice of just pulling my hair back instead of washing it (and really I know this is not fooling anybody...it doesn't make it clean just because it's in a ponytail). Then I took my sloth one step further by choosing comfy clothes to wear for the day (i.e.-something you should probably only wear to bed...never ever out in public). Then I sealed my fate by committing the ultimate housewife sin...I chose not to put on make up. I should have known it right then. It's going to be a bad day. It may have been ok except for the fact that I WENT OUT IN PUBLIC like this! GASP! I went to the grocery store and saw 3 whole people that I know. The humiliation! And why is it that when you ev

Wow! I need to get a life! All I do is blog and play with James, I guess. 100 posts...all to say a whole bunch of nothing. (Thanks Mom for reading all 100). I don't know if it is the blog, the baby, the homemaking duties, or what...but something really sad and shameful has happened. I'm embarrassed to even tell you. But they say confession is good for the soul.... So here goes.... Look at my poor dog George... Once upon a time he was meticulously groomed every couple of weeks, hours were spent brushing out his beautiful fluffy white hair (look how lustrous and healthy it was!), picking out darling outfits, toting him over to Mom's to show him off, bragging about the darling things he was doing, proudly walking him in the neighborhood, hours spent bonding with the groomer discussing what color of bows to put on his ears....and now we've come to this... A ratty, old, scruffy-looking, matted-up, neglected pooch. I don't blame him for being depressed. I would be too. J

I am taking advantage of James sleeping late to get in a quick post. I'll type fast. Yesterday was wonderful as always. We went to church to hear Tommy's final sermon in his 12 part series on Text Messages. This one was over 1, 2, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Of course it was wonderful. He talked about the Lord ALWAYS forgiving our sins when we confess them. (Thank goodness!) He talked about not losing your salvation, "if my good deeds weren't enough to GET me saved, they aren't enough to KEEP me saved", walk in love, grow in truth, contend for the teaching of Christ, and then he wrapped it up by talking about the 1st and 2nd judgements in Revelation. He ended with all of us standing to read the final sentences in Revelation as our closing prayer. For some reason this was particularly powerful to me. Anyways, what a wonderful series. After church we had lunch with Mom and Dad. James was extremely happy to see them both since he hadn't gotten to see them i