snuggle bug easter party

I loved this little "Spring Book" R made at school!  I love how he wrote the words on his own and drew his own little pictures!  These are the first "words" I've seen him write other than his name.  

He was beYOND excited about the Easter Egg hunt and carrying around his basket to ensure he didnt' miss it! :P

All the Snuggle Bugs getting ready to head outside!

Ryder and Lexi at the starting line!

They had a wonderful hunt and then we went in to enjoy some delicious pot lunch dinner provided by all the Snuggle Bug parents, and wonderful smoked meat from Mr. Jerry!--He always does such a good job!

This is Mamaw Rose.  She is like a Snuggle Bug grandma and all the kids just LOVE her!  She told me R was "her buddy" and he wanted his picture made with her!

first t ball practice

R's first T ball practice was the 17th!  They were supposed to have two practices before their first game but the first practice got rained out! :(  I can't believe it was finally time for me to take my baby lil man to his first T ball practice!  I hope this is the first of many years of baseball ahead!!  Poppy took us even though he was on crutches, and R's dad also met us there which made R really happy! =)

 I think he might have been a teeny tiny nervous!

Thankful for Mimi for providing the bag, bat and glove and KeeKee for the cleats!  He was SET UP!

Running bases for the first time!  They were ALL the way around to get the feel for the order and direction!

Then they practiced just swinging the bat, letting it go...and then running the bases!

Then they took turns fielding and hitting the ball.  They focused on throwing it to first...

R actually got to ground a few balls...

 Finally his turn to bat!

He got a few good hits and had a blast doing it!

It's gonna be a fun six weeks!!

i heart nicholas sparks

Since early March, I have finished three Nicholas Sparks books.  Crazy I know!--and two of them I finished in less than a week!

The Longest Ride (which was just announced to be filming in Wilmington, NC), The Best of Me (which is currently filming in Louisiana), and Safe Haven (which has already been made into a movie).  I have Safe Haven on DVD and have watched it a dozen times, but I really enjoyed reading the book because I got so much more information out of it about the characters and from the characters than you do while watching the movie.  So, I really enjoyed reading the book after having watched the movie...which is not something I can always say.

I’ve had all of these books since the year they came out because I always ask for them for Christmas, but I just wasn’t always at a time in my life where I could read them.  Now is finally the time!

As I’ve stated before, The Longest Ride was two different loves stories intertwined.  One of them being about an older couple, yet the woman was no longer living.  Her husband was involved in a car crash which left him trapped in his car on an embankment, covered in snow, for several days.  While he was trapped in his car he had a visitor and it was from the spirit of his wife.  It was as though she was there with him, helping him survive and live through another day.  The reminisced and took many trips down memory lane.  He knew she wasn’t real and she wasn’t really there because she would come and go at different times.  She was there when he needed her most though and that’s what made it so sweet and intimate.

The Best of Me.  This book is probably the farthest from any of the other Nicholas Sparks book I’ve read.  It is about High School sweethearts, Dawson and Amanda, that had both gone their separate ways and and went on to live their own lives without each other.  Throughout the entire book, Dawson constantly sees this man in a blue jacket...but when he makes it to where the spot where the man was, the man is always gone and no longer there.  Dawson only sees this man during life changing events in his life and at times when he is in need of help and distraction to survive.  It’s hard to pick a favorite, but the end of this one had tears fall down my face.  The end as in the last sentence….and then it’s over.   ECCK!  Can’t wait for the movie to come out in October!!  You have until the to read it!

And Safe Haven.  This is the oldest of these three, yet still a goodie!  It probably read it the quickest because I had seen the movie I knew how good it was going to get!  In this movie a girl, Katie, runs away from her abusive husband.  Once she settles into a cottage, that she thinks is far from everyone else, she soon discovers she has a neighbor.  It is a woman about her age, maybe a little older.  She ends up becoming her friend, they drink wine together, go to eat dinner together and talk about life and the love relationship that starts to accumulate over time. Without giving too much away...she later realizes this “friend” was only someone she could see.  

I thought it was interesting that all three of these books has a "ghost" of some sort in it...or a "spirit" if you will. I just love ole' Nicholas and the way he writes his books! He never disappoints! I actually got to listen to him speak and then meet him afterwards a few years ago! You can read about that HERE.

(This picture isn't great...but that's what happens when you ask a stranger to take a pic for you!)

just a lil ER visit

Just to document...two weeks ago Wednesday I had a little ER visit.  I had gone to bed REALLY early and would wake up to pain in my chest that would happen about every 20 seconds.  It would go away for a while, and then be right back,  I have severe heartburn that I have had for YEARS but this was different.  A stabbing, or someone squeezing my heart like they wanted to make it pop.  My dad's mom passed away from a heart attack at 52...so heart problems are not something my family can mess around with.  

This was only my second visit to the ER which I am very thankful for...and lemme just tell ya, when they ask what's wrong and you say "chest pains" they getcha right on in there!  Which I am VERY thankful for!

I had an EKG and they set me up in a room where they monitored my heart.  Everyone was very nice and sweet...which was a little unexpected considering the horror stories you hear about the ER.  I guess we got lucky! ;)

I was told my heart rhythm was "beautiful"---even when I was experiencing the pain, it didn't affect my rhythm so that was a good sign!  They took my blood which is something I don't do well with, but I survived!  They sent me in for a chest x-ray and poor me...I don't know if it's because I have a little bit of "blonde" in me or if it's the fact that I'm a teacher and teachers spend almost, but not quite 100% of their day GIVING other people instructions...we aren't quite used to TAKING instruction! :P  But the x-ray tech told me to put my chest against the board and I put my back against it and just stood there.  He said it again with a little more emphasis on the word chest, "CHEST against the board."  All I could do was laugh...just like I'm doing now as I share this story with all of my readers! ;)

They basically told me it was my heartburn and all that stuff is "up there together" but I just knew they were wrong.  HEARTBURN DOESN'T HURT RIGHT ABOVE MY HEART (where you put your hand over your heart).  But oh well...at least whatever it was wasn't affecting my heart rhythm.  

Two days later I got this sweet letter in the mail!  It made me laugh, but I was thankful for it at the same time!

A little update since I have gone to see my PCP for a post ER visit.  He determined it was a {druuuuummmm rollll please!!!!} strained pectoral muscle.  WOMP WOMP.  But I am VERY thankful for this news...it's the best outcome I could receive!  Again, as someone with family heart issues, I do not regret responding to the signs and taking a trip to the ER.  Even if it was just a muscle strain, heart disease is the NUMBER ONE killer in woman and it is SILENT.  So when you have even the SLIGHTEST sign---TAKE NOTICE!

#katiaday2014 {week 15}

{april 9}

Enjoying a little bike ride/walk around the neighborhood.

{april 10}

Flashback:  3 years okay little man playing t-ball in the back yard and this following week he will start t-ball

{april 11}

I found these selfies of somebody on my phone! :P

{april 12}

Couch snuggles before heading out to Mimi's for the night!

{april 13}

Mimi got him new pool stuff and he had to try it out in the bath first!

{april 14}

R was messing around after he were looking at KeeKee's new readers, or as R calls them..."lookers"!

{april 15}

Afternoon scooter riding sesh at KeeKee and Poppy's!

change

You hear about the different role a parent takes on when it comes to raising the second child.  With the first, everything is so new and exciting and you can’t wait to do anything and everything with that child...especially when it comes to holidays!--Yes, that was totally me!  And still is to an extent!  

Visits to see the Easter Bunny at the mall and spending $30 on pictures that you are also in because your child won’t dare sit there alone with the bunny---but can you really blame them?!  The bunny’s ears are as big, if not bigger than your child!

Dying Easter Eggs, making them their own Easter basket and spending trips to Target and TJ Maxx thinking of the perfect things to put together to create the funnest basket for them...all so I could take pictures of it...to try and keep up with what everybody else is doing for their kids!

Yeah!  All that is fun and it still is...to a degree!  To be real honest...over time it’s not as exciting as it used to be.  Especially considering you have other “gift basket” holidays like Valentine’s Day where you have to find stuff to get for your child to show that you “love” them.  It shouldn't be this way...even though I am guilty of falling into these buy buy buy holidays just as much as everyone else!  I provide R with everything he needs without these holidays.  I shouldn't feel like I have to go to Target and find something for him for his Easter basket...and I am so guilty of feeling that and I’m not going to let that guilt hang over me any more.  

Also...those Easter baskets aren’t even what Easter is truly about.  Getting your picture made with the Easter Bunny isn’t either, and neither is dying eggs.  It’s so easy for kids to get wrapped up and excited about all those fun things...and my child is one of them.  

Fast forward...Ryder is still an only child, yet I feel like he has turned into the second child poor thing.  Thinking about taking him all the way to LR just to see the Easter Bunny and spend $30 on pictures seems like a complete waste of gas AND time.  I’m doing my best to not remind him of “dying eggs” because he’s done it every year since he was born...even at 7 months old.  I’m praying he doesn't remember that that is “tradition” and asks to do them because I just don’t wanna!  

I’m realizing that it’s okay to not do all these things every.single.holiday!  Life will go on and he will still be a happy child!  If R isn't asking to do those specific things, then I've realized I don’t have to kill myself to try and do those things that are only on a mom’s “check list” of things to do during holidays.  And I sure as heck don’t want to feel the need to do them just because everybody else is doing them!  That can burn a parent out real quick!  I don’t want to do those things just to do them...but only do them because we truly want to and because we truly enjoy them the entire time.  That is when the effort and money put into these things doesn't seem like a big deal, and that is how it’s supposed to be!  

I’m scared to even think about what I won’t do with my second and third born...but we’ll deal with that when we get there!  For now...I’m focusing on what makes us happy and just making memories together, not checking things off of our to do list.