I've been a long time gone...

I don't look at blogs anymore. Not because I don't want to. But I have so many other things I want to do instead. And I read soooo many blogs that I'm always on the computer forever and I would either rather play with Blake, hang with Ryan or go to bed. Anywho...I really wanted to catch up on blogs and I felt guilty reading and not posting so here I am! I am going to have to figure out blogging time into my schedule. We'll see...only 5 more weeks of school and then I can do whatever I want!

This is an update blog...by the way, I have realized after catching up on your blogs that many of you have way cooler lives than I do. I wouldn't trade though.

We had a fun weekend with Beau, Joni and Grant. We had Joni's shower, went to church and went to Central Market. Grant and Blake are in love!

A few weekends ago we went over to Jeremy and Julianne's apartment with some other great friends and played volleyball and had a cookout. I love Blake's face in the picture with Ryan.

This weekend is pretty busy. Ryan's parent's are in town. We are meeting friends tonight for supper and then tomorrow we are going to a musical (that's right) of Wedding Singer with Meredith Bills (one of my bffs) and Nate (one of Ryan's bffs). More pics to come!

Denial

I think that I have been in denial that Blake is actually getting older. I know that she does more stuff and has gotten bigger but I just really have tried to keep her from getting older in my mind. Does that even make sense?

Today was Blake's first day with her "nanny". I like to call her that in my head because it sounds fancier than babysitter. She is staying with a wonderful lady who lives across the street from us. Today when I came home they were sitting out on the porch and I just walked over and picked her up! It doesn't get any better than that.

We had a fabulous weekend with Beau and Joni and Grant! I will post some pics tomorrow. I haven't uploaded them on the puter yet. Blake and Grant are definitely boyfriend and girlfriend now. It was fun having all the girls over on Saturday...see Shauna's blog for pics.

So, I am officially a working mom now. Our house is a mess. I have yet to cook a meal. And Blake has been eating more formula because pumping is more of a hassle than I thought it would be. But on the bright side of things...I have not been late to work yet. I think that I am a better mom now. Blake has the hugest grin on her face every time I get home from work. My afternoons are carefree. Blake sleeps from 9:30-7:00 eats and then goes back to sleep until about 10:00. (Please don't let me jinx that by talking about it...) Ryan gets to have Blake and daddy time every morning. I miss being at home but summer is just around the corner! Forty school days left!!!

Spring Break...a week late

I had a pretty good week back at school. It wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. I like being with my teacher friends again and it gives me some time during the day to be a little selfish. The day goes by and coming home to Blake is the best! We have afternoon talks now instead of morning talks and our time together is even more precious than before...because there isn't as much of it. So to the mom's out there who are headed back to work soon, my diagnosis of the situation is that it's not as bad as you think it is going to be.

Needless to say, I did not come home from work and hop on the computer to blog. So here is the spring break post a week late.

Ryan and I both love to ski but we haven't been since we went with Minter Lane Church when we were engaged. So this year we talked about it a lot. We thought the chances of us going were slim because of the Blakester. But the week before spring break we finally decided to look into it. (Yes, it was a last minute decision) So we talked with my parents, checked out the ski report and took off to Red River. We drove to Abilene Monday evening to meet my parents and then we all got in the car and drove to Clovis. We spent the night there and got up early the next morning so we could make it in time to ski a half day. We skiied half day Tuesday, all day Wednesday and Thursday and drove nine hours home on Friday. My mom and dad took turns skiing and watching Blake so Ryan and I got to ski the whole time! They are the best!!

This is Blake watching Baby Einstein. Ignore my triple chin in the background.

Two in One Day!!

Just wanted to give a shout out to my new baby friend GRANT DYLAN BENNETT!!!

Congrats, Beau and Joni!!!

I have some great pics of Joni's belly two days before Grant's delivery...you will not believe how great she looks!

If you think Joni should start a blog leave her a comment on mine!

So much to blog so little time...

So I have about a million things to blog about today and my daughter is currently screaming her head off so I don't have much time. (I am not ignoring her to blog...Ryan has her.) So today I will choose to blog about going back to SCHOOL! Bleeeecckkkk!!!!!!!! (that is supposed to be a throw up sound, I can hear it in my head but it is hard to spell.)

Yes, today was my first day back. I cried a lot last night and the night before but I only cried a little this morning. Once I got to school everything was fine. The day went by pretty fast and my kids were nice to me. (That will probably change soon!) One of my classes even cheered when they realized I was back. So that made things a little easier. This week Ryan's mom is here to keep Blake. And she is doing a fabulous job, of course. So that make it easier too. I also teach with several super great moms who have recently come back to work after having babies and they help me to get up every morning because I know I am not the only one. I do, however, hate everyone who gets to stay at home. Just kidding...sort of. I know that it is hard either way (thanks, Heather) and that I am helping lots of kids by going back to teaching (thanks, Ryan). Plus, the end is in sight. One school day down, fifty to go.

UPCOMING POSTS:
Our spring break trip
Easter
And maybe that is all...I just thought I had a lot to blog about

Donkey Basketball

Last night I played in a donkey basketball game. If you have never played donkey basketball...let me give you a few of the rules:

1. You don't have to dribble the ball...thankfully.

2. You must hold on to your donkey at all times. If you let go and you have the ball then possession goes to the other team.

3. When you are passing the ball one person (either the passer or the person receiving the pass) must be on their donkey.

4. You must be on your donkey to score.

You should also know that these donkeys are crazy. Some don't move at all. Other buck you off as soon as you try to get on them. And a few will run like crazy when you put any weight on their back at all.

I played last year too. The circumstances of my two years of donkey basketball were completely different. Last year I was training for a half marathon. This year I had just had a baby. Oh, and I have walked with her three times now and done my work out tape 5 times. So, my endurance level changed a little from the first year to the second. Luckily, I only played one quarter, which I think lasted 8 minutes. Unluckily (is that a word?) my donkey would not move. I tried everything. Here are a few pictures to show my battle:

Preparing for the game. Somehow I ended up with the hugest egg helmet. Everyone else had cool riding helmets (well, as cool as helmets can be.) So I am easy to spot in all of the pictures.

Pulling the donkey. And being slightly successful. I think we made it up and down the court once during the eight minutes.Trying to bribe my donkey with an apple. I don't know where the apple came from but he seemed to enjoy it.

The apple, however, did not work.

Even though my donkey sucked my team won! Another successful donkey basketball game in the books.

Tagged by Sara

10 years ago...
I was a senior at Abilene High, go Eagles! I didn't have a boyfriend...not surprising if you read my post about eyebrows. Probably playing tennis way too much. Loving all of my friends. Thinking about college. Driving a white Beretta whose driver's side window did not roll down without making this aweful sound...so one time I actually reversed into Sonic so that my passenger (I believe it was MC) could order out of her window and I didn't have to roll mine down.

To Do List...
1. Get this house cleaned and organized before I go back to work. Only 2 more weeks :(
2. Finish the bathroom. Here's where we are now...
We have one side completely done. The other side still needs: a mirror, light fixture and working sink. Then all we have left is the wood work. Our deadline is Sunday the 23rd. That is when Ryan's mom will be here to stay with Blake for a week and then my mom comes the next week. Thanks moms!
3. Long term to do-Simplify my life. This is more complicated than it sounds. (Ha!)
4. Order knobs for bathroom
5. Pay the water bill.
6. Pay MORE hospital bills...will they ever stop coming?
7. Take a shower?
8. Decide what to have for dinner

If I became a billionaire I would
1. Pay off all debts...obviously
2. Give a lot of money away to friends, family, good causes, church, people who need it, etc.
3. Move
4. By a house in Ruidoso, Colorado and Vernazza Italy
5. Quit my job and Ryan and I would open a shop that sells outdoor stuff. I could go into more detail because we have talked about it several times but I am not a billionaire so I won't.
6. buy Ryan a Toyota Tacoma and a Jeep.
7. have land rover make me a hybrid LR3

3 bad habits...
1. Being selfish
2. Biting my nails
3. Interupting Ryan's stories

5 jobs I have had...
1. cashier at Joe Allen's
2. Waitress at Lytle Land and cattle co.
3. Tennis coach
4. Teacher
5. Mom

5 Things People don't know about me...
1. I am freakishly afraid of grasshoppers.
2. I don't like to cook. When I get hungry I want to eat right then. I don't want to wait on stuff to cook.
3. I am addicted to coke. Not cocaine...
4. I have wanted a great dane my whole life. When we go to the dog park I have thought about stealing the ones that are there.
5. My real bad habit is picking my nose in the car but I don't want people to think i am gross so I said biting my nails.

JBF

I went to the just between friends sale last night and got several super cute outfits for the Blakester but here are my three favorite purchases:


1. A jogging stroller $65 (pronounced with a soft j) so that I can go on walks with Blake. I might eventually using it for jogging but after my experience a few weeks ago walking sounds pretty good.

2. A super cute snow leopard rocking "horse" $12 that makes a sweet growl when you press the ear. Lola flipped when I brought it in and chased her with it while it was growling.

3. I couldn't get a picture because I am currently wearing it but I found a Snugli $8 that lets me wear Blake around the house so I can get stuff done. Thanks to the Snugli I am able to type this post!

So if you get a chance shop jbf because it is awesome!

Three road trips in a month...

Blake probably hates her car seat by now. We have traveled to Oklahoma, Abilene and Oklahoma again in the last month. She has done really well in the car. When we went to A-town it was just me and Blakester because Ryan was sick and she slept pretty much the whole way.


This past weekend we went to Nowata, Ok (yes, that is a real town) to celebrate Ryan's grandpa's 80th birthday.

We drove to Edmond on Friday and spent the night with his family (about 3 hours away) then we all drove up to Nowata on Saturday. So this made for a long car ride on Sunday from Nowata back to Fort Worth. Here is how the driving arrangement ended up when Blake decided she was starving to death.
Ryan and Lola in the front seat and Blake and I in the back.













I am still having a hard time seeing that Blake looks like me. Everyone says that she does. Every once in a while I see a face she makes and I think it looks like one of my baby pictures but other than that I just don't see it yet. Unfortunately for Blake, I do see one trait she inherited from me...eyebrows. The poor kid got my eyebrows. They have no shape and they never will. She is doomed to a life of plucking and plucking and some more plucking. For some reason, no one chose to inform me about how bad my eyebrows looked for a loooonnnggg time. I think I was a senior in high school before I started plucking. Seriously??? My eyebrows grow all the way to my eyelashes and then meet in the middle in a Bert (or is it Burt?) like fashion.

I have found a solution to plucking everyday, however. If you are in a hurry or just don't feel like plucking just stand about 3 feet further back from the mirror than you normally stand and poof! your stray eyebrows disappear! The other day I was driving to my school and I flipped down my car mirror to put on a little mascara and AAAHHHHH!!! it looked like my eyes had bangs! So, if you decide to go with the 3 foot rule avoid the car mirror in the natural light. Not pretty, my friends, not pretty.

I am not as stupid as I thought

I think I am figuring it out. With help from Ryan and my sister I finally, with much trial and error, got my blog to look half way cute. (It only took about 7 hours) What do you think? Is it too busy?

For Linda

I couldn't get on blogger all night. So first thing this morning I checked and tada! So here are bathroom pics and some pics we took of Blake with our new camera.

I don't know if you can tell the paint color from these wonderful pictures but it is a neutral greenish. I am pretty sure that is the actual name.The white spots on the wall are where we decided not to waste paint or texture becuase that is where the mirrors will be.So close to being finished...I hope.

Blake and I had some fun with the camera yesterday. Here are a few of the products...And at the bottom, a picture of our neglected child.

And just so you know...I am still trying to figure out how to make my blog cute? Can I do it myself? How does everyone have those cute headers and I can freaking figure out how to do it!!! Someone let me in on the secret! Or I am going to have to just change my template everyday so that I feel a little better about myself.

What the...??!!??

I can't get onto blogger from my home computer. I was freaking out all day today. I can get on blogs but I can't see or post comments. It tells me that the page cannot be displayed. I also can't get onto blogger so I can't post. What in the heck is going on? Any suggestions???? I have pics to post and I can't do it. BTW I am using Ryan's work puter to post this.

I was looking back at some of my old posts and I used to be a lot funnier. I need some new material. You would think that having a baby would provide some new material but the mommy brain myth is totally true. I am waaayyy stupider now than before Blake was here. Anywho...Ryan is home now and hopefully he can fix the dang computer.

Sweatin to the Oldies

I have decided to start working out again. Last weekend I was in Abilene and I went to work out with my mom and I decided after that day that I REALLY needed to start doing some type of cardio excercise. I went and ran one day and that sucked. It hurt every time my feet hit the pavement and plus my boobs were all over the place. They hurt really bad and I just wanted to hold them while I ran but I knew that would be awkward so I tried the oh-so-subtle wrist hold. You know... hold your arms really tight to your body and use your wrists to keep your boobs in place. That worked for awhile. But then I started to get cramps near my shoulder from making my muscles so tense.
So last night I bought a Biggest Loser workout dvd. I just did the 5 minute warm up and the level one cardio workout. My butt is already sore. I think that this is going to be great. I have several more pounds I would like to lose. My goal is seven pounds before I go back to school. That means I have one month. The countdown is on!

Since my mom came this weekend to keep Blakester Ryan and I got quite a bit of work done on the bathroom. Yes, the bathroom that we started working on before Blake was born and is still not done yet. But major progress was made. Thanks for your help mom! Blake was so sad to see Mimi leave that she decided to cry from 5:30 when we arrived at small group (and left early because she wouldn't stop) until approximately 8:30. That's three hours of crying in case you couldn't add. Thanks, Blake. That was awesome.

Where da skunk?

On Tuesday night we had Heather, Jonathan, Laine and Bowen over for a late Valentine's day dinner. (Ryan was sick on the real V-day) I cooked...look out. And while I was in the kitchen cooking Bowen came in and stood next to me for a while. Here is how our conversation went.
Bowen: Where da skunk?
Mere: What, buddy?
Bowen: Where da skunk?
Mere: laughing What skunk?
Bowen: holding his nose It mells. Where da skunk?

Bowen walked around the living room for a while making a really bad face, holding his nose and continuing to ask "Where da skunk?"

So now I am a little worried. Was it my cooking? Does my house "mell"? Whatever it was Bowen was real convinced it smelled like skunk. So much, that he had Ryan go with him to look for the skunk in our bedroom. Awesome.

Tomorrow...

I always say to myself...I will write on my blog tomorrow. And then I don't. Blake is screaming her head off right now, so I am shifting into mommy mode. But here are some pics until I can think straight and write something interesting.

Smiley PantsPouty faceMike the dang cat on B's changing table

Blake in the couch

First V-day party

New blog title

When I first created this blog I couldn't think of a title. So I just titled it Enter Original Title Here but I decided it needed a real name. So here you go. I am also trying to figure out how in the heck to make my blog look cute like everyone elses. I was less than successful, obviously...but I did pick some new colors. Wow, Mere, that is really creative...

New hair cut

here are the pics for those that asked (and those that didn't ask). please only leave positive comments...if you don't like it make up something nice to say.

Stolen from Amanda who stole it from someone else...

1. Do you wear a name tag at work? I think I am supposed to.

2. What kind of car do you drive? mazda cx-7

What do you order when you go to Taco Bell? baja beef chalupas with no pico and a baja blast mountain dew...my mouth is watering

4. Have you ever had a garage sale?yes...i think they are always a little awkward.

5. What color is your iPod?pink

6. What kind of dog do you have? a choco lab named lola

7. What's for dinner tonight?uuuhhhhhhhh........

8. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had? A margarita the other night at mi cocina

9. Stupidest thing you ever did with your cell phone?dropped it in a swimming pool

10. Last time you were sick? the beginning of my pregnancy

11. How long is your hair?shoulder length but i am getting it cut today...yippee

12. Are you happy right now?Yes!

13. What did you say last? i said yippee out loud when i typed the answer to number 11.

14. Who came over last?my neighbor. she brought us cinnamon rolls, awesome!

16. Have your brothers or sisters ever told you that you were adopted?No.

17. What is your favorite key chain on your keys?a duck...but it's head fell off the other day. still mt favorite though

18. What was the last movie you watched at home? please don't judge me...the simpson's movie. ryan rented it the other day.

19. What is in your pocket?lint

20. Who introduced you to your crush? I think I introduced myself to Ryan.

21. Where do you hurt?i woke up with a headache this morning. probably due to the tornadic winds.

22. Has someone ever made you a Build-A-Bear?um no.

23. What DVD is in your DVD player? i think it is empty

24. What's something funny you did today? I don't think I was funny today. But Ryan and I were just eating dinner and I had some laundry on the couch and when Ryan walked to the kitchen he had a hanger hanging from the back of his pants and he didn't know it. That was funny.

25. Who was the principal of your high school? mr. curtis...cool guy

26. Has your house ever been TPd?yes

27. What do you think of when you hear the word 'meow'?my cat mike. who is supposed to be an outside cat but is currently sleeping on blake's changing table.

28. What are you listening to right now?blake whining

29. Drinkin? i just had a coke

30. What is your favorite aisle at Wal-Mart? Any aisle with body wash or hair care products.

31. When is your birthday?August 14th

32. What's the area code for your cell phone?No can I get an 817 up in here??!!

33. Where did you buy the shirt you're wearing now? I didn't. My aunt Linda gave it to me. Thanks, Linda!

34. Is there anything hanging from your rear view mirror?No.

35. How many states in the US have you been to? I have no clue...13ish or maybe more...maybe less.

37. What are you going to do after this?Well, when I first started this blog this morning I would have said going to get my hair cut. But it is now 7:00 and I am just getting to finish so I would say that I am going to sit on the couch and watch Lost with Ryan.

38. Who was the last person you went shopping with? Blake

40. What about your favorite dessert?I don't know where number 39 went. I am sure if it was here I would understand why this question was phrased "what about..." Anyway, my favorite dessert is cheesecake.

41. What is something you need to go shopping for?Some clothes that fit....not fun right now.

42. Do you have the same name as one of your relatives? Nope. But one of my we had growing up was named after one of my mom's relatives and my cat has the same name as my dad.

43. What kind of car do your siblings drive? Heather drives a minivan!!!! Haaaaa!!! Just kidding...it is actually the coolest minivan I have ever seen. I love you Myrtle!

44. Do you like pickles? Yes I do.

45. What about olives? G-ross

47. What is your favorite kind of juice? I love the v-8 fusions. I feel really healthy when I drink them because it says that you are getting a serving of fruits and veggies. So then I feel better about having a cinnamon roll and a coke for breakfast.

48. Do you have any tan lines? I have an eternal tan line around my ankle and on my thigh from playing tennis for 20 years. My legs have never been one solid color.

49. What hospital were you born in? I don't know...somewhere in wichita falls, texas

50. Do you remember the name of your kindergarten teacher?Lucy. I don't think she had a last name. She was kind of like Madonna.

Surprise!

Here I am!

Being a mom is suuuuppperrr. So is staying home from work everyday! I am not really all that busy but I seem to find lots of crap to do besides blog. I am looking at my sweet baby right now and she is frowning at me. I think that she is thinking that I am the worst blogger ever. Now I think she is pooping.

I was talking with my family last night saying that one of the reasons I haven't been blogging is because I don't want this blog to be the all about Blake blog. I am still a person and I still have thoughts but right now they are pretty much all about how freaking cute Blake is so I don't want to bore everyone with that. I want to have something else to talk about. And my dad had a great point...No one cares about what I want to say right now, they just want to see pictures of Blake. Good point, dad. So here you go!!!!

Blake and dad working on the computer.

Blake on her first date with Alex.

Alex thought Blake said I love you a little too soon and didn't say it back so it hurt Blake's feelings a little bit.

Tummy time.

What in the heck??

Blake's poop.

Blake in her super cute snow boots.

Blake and her big sister Lola.