R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S

So........

1. I'm pregnant

2. We bought a house

3. Blake is two and her favorite song is Boom Boom Pow

4. My belly button is already sticking out

5. I am due July 13

6. We don't live with my parents anymore but I am about to eat dinner at their house

7. We do not have a computer at our house therefore no internet therefore no blogging

8. One of my students asked me if I was gaining weight since being pregnant...really?

9. We found out last Monday March 1st that we are having a BOY!

10. Blake is experiencing a lot of time-out lately

11. Ryan and I found a totally legit recipe for German pancakes (like they make at Ol South). The recipe says it makes four servings and I have succesfully killed two of these all by myself.

12. It may not sound like it from #11 but I am gaining less weight with this pregnancy so far but I feel HUGE. My belly is sticking out way further with baby dos.

13. I have at least one student everyday ask if I have chosen a name...No, I haven't.

14. I have been working out most of this pregnancy but today may have been my last time since I spent 45 minutes there and peed 3 times.

15. We went on a ski trip at Christmas...it was heaven and I think about it at least once a week

16. Our house is smaller than the one in Fort Worth but I love it much more. We are about to have a garage sale because all of our stuff won't fit

17. Blake has had killer allergies this winter...I am ready for spring

18. Spring break is next week and I have NO plans...maybe go to Fort Worth?

19. We killed 7 mice about a month after we moved in to our house. Ryan bought the sticky traps and I thought that was mean but apparently the mice thought it was funny because they crapped on them. We had to buy the snap and kill mouse traps next...got em.

20. Ryan got me a flip video camera for valentines day so as soon as we get internet I will be able to post some videos---yippee!

21. I am now wondering since I have written this many things if anyone still reads my blog...if you do, leave a comment so I know I am not just writing to whoever keeps leaving anonymous comments.

22. We have really enjoyed being in Abilene. Things are much slower and easier to maintain. We miss our friends in Fort Worth but not the traffic!!!!

Still on the hunt...

Still looking for a house, we're coming up on three months. The last "perfect" house I posted about turned out to be not so perfect. When we went and looked at it a second time we realized that the neighborhood was not so great. I would rather have the worst house on the best street than the other way around. I can fix my house, I can't fix the neighbors!

My students are k-i-l-l-i-n-g me right now. Today I had to explain to one of my little angels that algae is not a predator (this is 8th grade). Really? Watch out for the attack algae!!!!! It makes me wonder why I even bother to show up to work sometimes....good luck on the TAKS kiddo.

Blake has been cracking us up lately. She has started talking more and more and saying some pretty funny things. It's pretty amazing to me that I can't think of ANY right now. So just trust me.

Blake has also been throwing some pretty righteous fits too. She does this great dancing move and stomps her feet and screams really loud. Good try, my little friend, but that's not going to get you another candy corn.

Well, that's about it for now. My brain is not 100% functional. I just ran for 8 minutes...

House Hunting....

Friday at school, Ryan sent me an email from our realtor. She had a house to show us that wasn't on the market yet but she knew we would love it. The price was just over our maximum we are willing to pay. My response: No. We will love it and we can't afford it. I don't want to look at it.

We went to look at it.

And guess what?

I love it. It's ridiculous. I knew we shouldn't have gone to look at it. I knew nothing about the house. I just knew it was out of our price range and I knew I would love it. It's a little cottage straight out of a magazine. I love it mostly because the lady who lives their is an excellent decorator. I try to remind myself of that every time I think of it. Would it have been as cute if she didn't live there??? I don't know. What I do know is the house devil is tempting me.

What sucks about this? The house isn't really that expensive. It's definitely on the low end when it comes to houses. But when we left Fort Worth we took a pretty big pay cut. This house is about the same price as our house in Fort Worth. But we don't make as much money as we did in Fort Worth. We are trying to simplify. Simplify, Meredith, simplify. I will continue to chant this over and over every time I remember the picture perfect cottage. It probably won't work. We'll see.

Blake putting in Mimi's earplugs. Those can't get stuck can they?

B's halloween costume. I should probably wait until Halloween to post this but after this day, it was really hard to get her to wear the hat. So, here she is.

wearing Mimi's glasses. Blake really needs more friends her age. No offense Mimi.

Day Off...

I took a day off from school today...mental health day. When I called in for a sub, I chose "personal business." I didn't feel good about choosing "personal sickness" because I'm not sick, just sick of school...Ha! (I hope my principal isn't reading this.)

Well, I finally made a freaking header for my blog. It took me two hours. I think I found my new hobby. Yeah right. I know that I shouldn't design blogs like my bff Shauna for many reasons. But I think if I went to blog design 101 they would tell you to pick your background and then make a header to match it. I did it the other way around. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R to find a background to match. When you are cheap and want to get it all for free, it doesn't end up perfect but this was my first go at it. I think I may get better....or I may have this blog design for 20 more years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... but really Meredith, where the heck have you been?? Well, thanks for asking!

We packed up all of our belongings, Blake, two dogs and a cat and moved to Abilene! We really love it so far and everything with our move has gone amazingly smoothe. I got a job teaching 8th grade at the beginning of June and had to be in Abilene by August 13th. We moved our stuff on August 9th and we closed on our house on August 12th. Ryan went back to Fort Worth to finish up with his job and then he moved somewhere around the 16th or 17th. Then after a little searching, Ryan found a job too. The last piece of the puzzle is not happening as quickly as the others......we have not found a house yet and we are still living with my parents.

Which is totally awesome, don't get me wrong. My dad cooks every night and there is a cleaning lady who comes every other week AND we have live in babysitters! Amazing!!! It has been like a vacation. We have been looking at houses and haven't quite found the right place yet. But we will...someday. Because, we can't live with my parents forever...or can we? More news to come.

IF you are reading this, thanks for not giving up on me! Here are some pics of the last few months. We've tried to change a few things about our life since moving to Abilene.(ps-if you think my blog is ugly, don't tell me.)

Blake with her nanny. We've really started watching the kinds of food we give Blake. Here she is enjoying some brownie mix for supper.

One day Blake told us she was going to run away. We just wanted her to be prepared. P.S. Her shirt says Dear Jesus, please holla back.

Since moving to Abilene, I have tried to avoid the there-are-no-cute-stores-here-so-you-can't-possibly-dress-cute-all-the-time stereotype. Heather looks good too.

Blake has made a lot of new friends since moving to Abilene, here she is with one of them...so cute. And I don't want to hear any comments about the pacifier in her mouth...it had been a long day, I think.

And finally, our cleaning lady at work.

trying to make a come back...

I really, really want to start blogging again...and I will. But first a new look is a must! I have played with about 50 backgrounds, not set on this one either but I can't make the header smaller. I love what Shauna did with my blog the first time but I don't think I can afford her anymore!! :) I love you Shauna!! So, I need a new look. What do I do? Does everyone pay someone to make their blog cute or do you all know how to do it now? ideas, please!!!!

Summa summa summa TIME!!!

We have been successful at doing a whole lot of nothing our first week of summer. But here are some of the things we have done so far.

hErE is WHAT I am LoVInG about SuMMERtIme.....

1. Playing everyday all day with my favorite kid in the world. To all of you stay at home mommys: how do you ever get anything done? Naps? Okay, I guess I should stop napping everytime Blake does.

2. Eating...a lot of eating.



3. Working out again. I took some pics in my swimsuit (no, I am not putting them on here) so that I would be able to track my progress this summer. Eating 24-7 is not helping this cause much.

4. Being outside. Blake has been playing in the water A LOT. Maybe we should get out more and go to the pool?? I think she is trying to tell me something.

5. Watching Blake come up with creative, and sometimes a little gross, ways to play on her own.

Yes, that's an empty can of cat food. And notice that this is two different days doing the same activity.

6. Taking baths in the middle of the day because we have played so hard and we are DIRTY! I have a little tomboy on my hands.

7. Letting Blake and Daddy spend time with GiGi and Grandpa so I can go to VEGAS with my mom and sister! (I don't have any pics yet...)

ThINgs i Am NOT LoVinG so MUch.....

1. All the stinkin' mosquitos in our backyard!!! We bathe in off everyday before we step foot outside.

2. Since we are trying to sell the house we have decided it probably needs to be clean... I HATE trying to keep the house spotless with a kid running around behind me pulling out everything I just put up! I am doing a really good job though, as you can see....

NOT!!! This is ridiculous!

And to all who are wondering, yes we are planning on moving. I don't want to go into details because... well, I just don't want to yet. More info to come!~

Here you go Joni...

And for anyone else who still checks....... Blake takin' the mic

I love this one because you can see her face through Darth Vader's (sp?) eye hole

Blake with uncle Barry
She didn't love the mac and cheese as much as she loved using her own fork

Computer hog...this is why I can't get on to blog anymore

B got a huge misquito bite on her ear and it swelled up. I didn't think it would ever look the same again...but it does.

Playing in the sprinkler

Yea!!! mommy stopped being lazy and finally posted about me!!!