MDO, parade & more!

We have had a busy week!

Monday I had class & Mr. Grant came & watched Ryder for me...what a BLESSING!  They played outside most of the time & Ryder was so excited when I told him Mr. Grant was coming over--the first thing Ryder said was "Icee?"  Haha!  I swear that kid never forgets anything!

Monday night, Jake came & got Ryder so I could go out to eat for Rachel's birthday!  Me, Kelly, Rachel & Katie all met & Zaza's for some yummy specialty salads & may or may not have gotten some gelato!  ;)

Me & mom had tickets to hear Erin Brockovich speak after that...so I met her at UCA for that!  My writing class last semester was focused on "How corporations affect our every day lives" & we watched Erin's movie & I fell in love with her!  It was hard to believe that it was a true story...& when I heard she was going to be at UCA I knew I wanted to hear her speak!  I wasn't as GREAT as I thought it was going to be, but it was good.  She is still pursuing companies that are polluting our drinking water...

Ryder ended up staying at Jake's over night & brought him to the house Tuesday morning before MDO..



Dad went with us to drop Punkin' off & poor baby cried when I left again...It breaks my heart.  I went to Chick-Fil-A to get some chicken minis to drowned our my sorrows.  :(  & then off to class I went...




They said he had a pretty rough day at School & cried most of the day, but we are working on a new bed time routine...dinner by 6, bath by 7 & bed by 8 hoping that this will help improve things!  But thinking about how much our time together the passed couple of weeks has drastically changed, I think it's just going to take him some getting used to.



Tuesday night was the county parade & I wanted to take him!  Poor thing fell asleep on the WAY there! Ha...but that wasn't stopping us!  We walked SO SO far (but it felt good to get some exercise) & sat in front of Morgan's store & watched the parade with her!  We even saw Miss Arkansas Kristen Glover!  He loves the bands, horses, tractors & "pretty girls"!  Ha!  =)








One thing that did go right on Tuesday at MDO was that Ryder went up to his teacher & told her he had to go pee pee & she took him & he went!  OH MY GOODNESS!  I take him to go here at home, but never has he come up to me & told me he had to go!  I was so proud of him & told him if he would tell me when he needed to go here at home I would let him wear "big boy underwear" & sure enough he did, so I put his cute little booty in a pair of Thomas underwear!  =)

I have never forced things with him when it comes to potty training, & I guess I'm starting to believe that "they will show/tell you when they are ready".  So...we are slowly stepping up our game, but at Ryder's speed!



This is my new favorite weakness snack.  Starbuck's lemon pound cake formally known as their lemon loaf.  They used to be good, but now they are EVEN better.  Uhh...I think I'd rather have one of them than a coffee!  ha!



& here is my lil booger last night when I got home from night class...(underwear were on over his diaper) isn't he just the sweetest thing?  Sometimes it's still hard for me to fathom that HE.IS.MINE.



Here is a lil sneak peak of Ryder's FIRST school pics Ms. Donna e-mailed my mom today.  I just about SQEALLLLLED!

Today he went to school again & cried when I left & kept saying "Mama come back...come back"  It broke my heart again, but I knew he would be perfectly fine once he got his mind off of things.

He had a much better day at school & got all four smileys!  & he got rewarded with a sweet tea from Sonic!  ;)  We came home & went & got Brett from KeeKee's & played outside for a little bit until just right before the storms hit!  We had a great day together & I just love that little boy!  =)