A Tribute to Big Nancy

This past weekend, Brooklyn and I went to Texarkana so that I could attend the retirement dinner for my old cheerleading sponsor, Mrs. Tullos.  (Or as many of us would affectionately refer to her, "Big Nancy".)  I almost feel strange referring to her as just my high school cheerleading sponsor, though, because Mrs. T was so much more than that to all of us.  One of the cheerleaders even said that she would rank as one of the top 5 influences of their LIFE!  As I think about that, I think I might have to agree that she is in the top 5 for me as well. 

To start, shortly after "making cheerleader", Mrs. Tullos would always have a very serious conversation with "her girls" about their reputation and their represntation of Texas High School.  She taught us that we would always be slightly in the spotlight and to be very careful and intentional in our actions, words and deeds.  Hearing this speech for all four years of my high school life, really allowed these words to sink in and make me a big part of who I even am today.  She made us all buy purse-sized calendars at the start of each year and fill in all of our practices, competitions, cheering events, etc so that we would always know when and where we were supposed to be.  This is a practice I still continue today.  She taught us organization and repsonsibility.  She made us do TONS of community service and we cheered at EVERYTHING...including swim and track meets! 

During the years that we were "her cheerleaders," she had slumber and swim parties at her house; and she was never to busy for us just to stop by her house anytime to swim or just to sit in her living room and chat.

Each year, she planned a special trip for the senior cheerleaders.  We would have our own fundraisers to support this trip and then she would line up the transportation, chaperones, lodging and extra cirricular activities.  My senior year she took 9 of us to Memphis in May.  We went shopping all day and went on Beale Street at night.  After much begging on our part, she allowed ALL 9 of us to get our belly buttons peirced as a last hurrah bonding thing.  And then, despite the fact that she was probably in her 60s at the time, she got hers pierced as well!!  (And she ended up keeping hers in the longest).  Also, during our senior year, she insisted on taking us to the University of Arkansas for a visit because it was her Alma Mater and she LOVED it.  That visit my senior year is what convinced me to go there.  Crazy!!  That is where I met nearly all of my best friends and my HUSBAND!!  My life would be truly be ENTIRELY different if it weren't for her.

Even after I graduated, she would come visit me at college and take me out to lunch.  She never left without slipping me a little money for gas, food, etc.  During college when I was barely scraping by, this meant MUCH more to me than she ever could have expected.

The funny thing is, that I always felt like I was so special to her and one of her favorites until I attended this retirement dinner.  Only then did I realize that nearly EVERY ONE of her girls, felt this same way about her!!  They said there were more people in attendance for this retirement dinner than for any othere teacher in the history of Texas High School!  If anyone deserves that honor, it is Big Nancy!!

I also got to visit with one of my best friends and probably the friend that I've had the longest in my life, Heather.

And of course, B had a blast with Mimi and DooDad while I was away.

Fat Lip

Brooklyn busted her lip on the concrete yesterday while we were playing outside.  OUCH!  I'm not sure you can tell how absolutely ENORMOUS it was in the pictures.

My friend, Stephanie Stewart, taught her to say "cheese" while she was in town, so hopefully we can get more smiley pictures like this one in the future (minus the mouth full of graham cracker).

Also, in recent Brooklyn news, she climbed out of her crib yesterday for the first time!!  OH NO!!  I'm so NOT ready for this.  We have a babysitter that watches her for 2 hours on Mondays and she puts her down for her naps.  After she puts her in her crib, she continues to keep an eye on her via this cool video monitor that Eddie's parents got for her.  Well, she happened to glance at the monitor and noticed the crib was EMPTY!!  When she went back to her room she said B was sitting in the floor playing with her sound machine and was OH SO DELIGHTED with herself on her most recent accomplishment.  She put her back in her crib and B went to sleep without further incident.  She never heard any crying so thank goodness Brooklyn didn't get hurt, but now I'm trying to rethink my plans about Brooklyn's bed, new baby's crib, etc.  Ugh!  Just when I thought I had it all figured out!

Extreme Playroom Makeover

My good friend Stephanie Stewart came in town this weekend to help me decorate the playroom.  She got in town late Thursday night.  We literally spent ALL DAY Friday shopping for stuff (yes, Brooklyn too) and spent that evening painting shelves.  One of Eddie's colleagues met us out for dinner Saturday night and got roped into coming over to our house to help Eddie put together the new toddler size table and chairs AND also helped us paint shelves...disappointed that I didn't get pictures of that.  Saturday morning, the painters came while we (meaning mostly Steph S.) worked on the letters and other craft projects for the room. 

Since we were busy crafting and the playroom was out of commission, we turned our living room into a make-shift playroom for B.

So thankful for the playroom so that our living room doesn't look like this everyday!!

The paint in the room was finally dry and we could actually start decorating around 2-ish.  Our friends, the Wyatt's, came over to see Stephanie while she was in town and they got roped into helping out as well!  (Eddie got called into work ALL DAY, which is why you don't see him in any of these pics) 

We finished up around 5 on Saturday evening...so after 2 VERY FULL days, the playroom was complete!  Here are a few before and afters:

Before:

And after!!

Close-ups of the 3 shelves:

How good did she do?!?  I couldn't BE any more excited about how it turned out!!  Even Eddie, who was initally skeptical about the PURPLE and YELLOW paint colors, loves the room!  Thank you Tiaan (Eddie's colleague), Ben and Brooke for helping!  Thank you to my old Arkansas neighbor, Becca, for giving us the shelves and letters.  AND, obvioulsy, A HUGE thank you to Stephanie for devoting your weekend to helping us out!!  You are the best and we can't thank you enough.

It is not near enough, but we did at least take her out for her birthday Saturday night.

Happy Birthday, Stephanie Stewart!!

Take Me Out to the Ballpark

What a fun weekend we had of grilling out, new baby shopping with Mimi Sue and taking Brooklyn to the Texas Rangers game.  Our friends, Laura and Brad were so nice to GIVE us 4 tickets to the game and we were so excited to get to go.  How is it to have a 21-month-old at a baseball game?  Well, we started off GREAT!  Brooklyn was so happy to be outside and to be around so many people.

By the end of the first inning, though, she was over being contained in this isle and was determined to explore the rest of the ballpark.  So we thought, no problem.  Eddie had seen this area in the outfield before where kids were playing and running around so we thought we'd just let her lead the way over to that area.  Well, we quickly learned that this was mainly an area for older kids.  Basically there were caged off areas where kids could throw baseballs at a target and have their speeds measured and there were lines to each of these cages.  Brooklyn was not interested in waiting in lines and just wanted to be in the cages where kids throwing these baseballs.  Obviously this was not ok.  Stopping her from going in didn't upset her the first or second time, but by the third time, she was done being told, "No."  She didn't want anything to do with snacks or toys and was OBSESSED with being inside these cages.  All we could figure out to do was to just hold her tight and let her scream.  This picture doesn't do the scenario justice.

After an eternity of screaming (probably just 2 full minutes), we let her down and guided her back towards our seats without any real plan.  We were pretty sure we were just going to have to leave, which is a bummer because some friends had ridden with us and it is like an hour drive.  We decided to try one more time to go to our seats.  AND?

Perfect Baby!  We actually stayed until the 9th inning and had so much fun!  Brooklyn ate about 125 goldfish, 20 Vanilla Wafers, 5 French Fries, drank 2 cups of juice, read 2 books, climbed back and forth between the two empty seats we left between us and couldn't be any happier! 

If you could gaurantee me 3rd-9th inning Brooklyn, I would LIVE at the ballpark.  But oh beware of 2nd inning B!  =)  Thank you so much for the tickets, Brad and Laura!!  We had a blast!

Big Baby!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything looked good.  The baby's heartrate was in the 140's.  I am 21 weeks pregnant and this baby measured 23 weeks!  This is still in the normal range, but maybe a little on the bigger side of normal.  When the doctor went to measure, she was surprised that baby girl was already up past my belly button.  Eddie was literally 10 POUNDS when he was born, so I am hoping that we are not headed in this direction.  OUCH!  Here is the latest picture of "the bump."

And you know how they say that the camera adds 10 lbs?  Or the camera doesn't lie?  Well, in this case it has SUBTRACTED 10 pounds and it did lie.  I look MUCH bigger than this in real life.  Someone asked me the other day if I was 6 or 7 months pregnant and I had to tell them ONLY 5!!  And total strangers will come up to me and ask me when I'm due.  Just so you know, this doesn't hurt my feelings...I think it is all kinda funny...at least for now.  =)

We are still trying to decide on the baby name although Eddie might tell you differently.  He really wants to have it decided and start calling the baby by it's name.  I'll run a name by him and he'll just want it to be "it."  I have to think about it a little longer...write it several hundred times...picture the monogram...think about how the name will sound at every stage of this human's life...think about how it will look on Christmas cards...in letters above the baby's crib...etc.  I know...I'm so out of control.  But it's the child's name...and they will have to deal with it for a lifetime.  I'll keep you posted on how we are progressing with Big Baby #2!

Easter Weekend 2010

We had such a great Easter Weekend!!  It started off on Friday when Eddie was unexpectedly given the day off!  So...we used the day to go shopping for new patio furniture and it was a success.  Eddie spent the rest of the afternoon putting it together...

and it turned out looking great!

Then Eddie and I had a date night which consisted of eating at a nice restaurant and bowling.  Super-fun!

Saturday, we had some friends over to do an Easter Egg Hunt and to grill out...all while enjoying our new patio furniture of course!  Brooklyn's best friends Ava and Macy were really in the spirit of Easter...

How cute are they?!?  They brought over a pair of ears for Brooklyn, too, but she wouldn't leave them on long enough for a picture.  Boo!  The egg hunt was fun...

Then Sunday, we went to church for a full-out resurrection celebration.  I think part of the reason I don't take very many pictures is because I'M NO GOOD AT IT!!  Ugh!  Here are a few of the best ones I got of Brooklyn in her Easter clothes...

And for the grand finale...I've been working with Brooklyn on "show me your teeth" so that we could have a good "smiling" Easter pic...so here she is showing them to me...

The late afternoon/early evening turned out to be great weather so we decided to go out to eat at this really cool area called "The Harbor" that is near our house.  There are several restaurants with patio seating that overlooks the lake.  The area also has a walking trail and several dock areas with seating that you can check out.  Here is a pic of Eddie and Brooklyn enjoying the scenery after a FANTASTIC dinner on the water.

Hope your Easter was wonderful as well!!

Where's Brooklyn?

If I ever get busy (getting dressed, cooking, handling something on the phone, etc) and lose track of Brooklyn for a minute, I can almost always find her in 1 of 4 places.

1.  In front of the TV in the playroom standing just like this...

(Most common)

2.  In our closet trying on all of Eddie's ties and my shoes...

3.  In the office emptying the trash can...

(my least favorite)

or 4.  In her room reading books to herself in Brooklyn-eese  (her own very developed language that only she understands)...

(my VERY favorite!!)

None of these pictures are that great, but if I distracted her she would stop what she was doing and I wanted to capture her exactly as I usually find her.

Now off to put together the rest of our new patio furniture!!  Happy Easter everyone!!