a long 23 minutes

Yesterday was an eventful day. For 23 minutes Hampton was locked inside our house, while Hudson and I were outside.

Ugh, just look at that little hand begging to be held. When Danny left for work yesterday he locked the bottom lock of the front door, but never actually closed the door. The boys and I followed him outside to watch him leave. Hudson loves watching danny drive away in his truck and danny is so sweet to always "beep" the horn, which causes a few giggles.  So if attitudes and the weather permit it, then we do it. Well, hampton could really care less about watching danny leave, instead he enjoys closing doors that are left open. 

Which leaves us to how my one year old got trapped inside our home. After danny left, Hudson and I stayed outside to water the plants and hampton played on the porch crawling in and out of the house. It is pretty typical for him to crawl in and shut the door and I just wait until he starts crying to go back and open it to let him back out. Well, when I went back to open it, the door was locked. I didnt immediately panic, I kind of figured there would just be another way in. But after surveying all my options, there was no way to get in without a key. Ugh, I would never make a good criminal. 

I called danny because well, he's always my life line and the father of the child who is locked in the house and for the obvious reason that he has another house key. He works about 35 minutes away. He was home in 23 minutes. I am almost certain there were no laws broken. This may or may not show how he would probably make the better criminal out of the two of us, just saying. 

For 23 minutes Hudson and I sang songs and tapped on the window & door for two reasons mainly...so hampton would stay close and so that he would calm down. He never calmed down. And he didnt stay by the door. When we walked in he was at the top of the stairs just crying. I knew he was on the stairs just because how faint his cry was sounding, i could tell he was getting farther away. This made me super nervous. Him screaming and on the stairs, just not a good combination. 

But everything ended up just fine and one thing is for sure...it was blog worthy. ;) 

choo choo part 2

This past Saturday we went back to the train museum for the Railroad Rendezvous! Once again, there were trains everywhere,But this time there were electric trains that the kids could run themselves.

There were crafts, that you thought were kid friendly until your two year old decides to swat at people with his. 

we got to see parts of the museum that we didn't see last time. 

we even broke some laws and played on the train tracks. 

afterwards we headed under the train and into the tunnel to eat at the new burger place, BurgerFi! All vegetarian fed beef, all natural burgers, no additives and all that jazz.  It was super yummy and the place was so cute! We sat outside on the patio because really that is where we always opt to sit if the weather allows it because lets be honest...tantrums outside are so much better than indoors. 

I think we both decided that this is now our new favorite burger place, which really is a lot for me to say since i rarely eat hamburgers. I also couldn't help but notice that the burger you actually got looked exactly like the picture advertised. You wont find that at Burger King.

Hampton once again missed out on his morning nap and about two minutes of putting him in the car he was out like a light. All that strolling around must of really worn him out ;)

choo choo part one

I'm a boy mom. When your whole day is filled with trains, balls, rocks and more trains... you accept the fact that painting nails and tea parties just aren't going to happen. With that said, I love being a boy mom. I was made to be a boy mom that is for sure.  I can do low key, I can do low maintenance, I can do dirt and most days I can do high energy. ;)

This past week and again this weekend we went to The Locomotive History Museum.  After two trips in one week, we are officially decided to become members of train museum! On Thursday we went to the "Mommy & Me" class because the theme was "Thomas the Train" and though Hudson has never even watched one episode of Thomas the Train we read a lot of the books. Actually we read the same 3 every single night, along with "The Little Engine that Could." Has anyone read that classic? It's kinda lengthy for a two year old and pretty repetitive for a 28 year old but my son, the book & train lover, sits still with his little head resting on my shoulder the whole time. 

So once we got to the Mommy & Me class I quickly learned that these classes have been designed for 3-5 year olds and my children made sure to make themselves as well as their ages known. Hudson was so excited during the class and while all the other kids sat quietly on the rug listening to the teacher he kept getting up and running/skipping back to me while holding "himself." Apparently all the excitement made hudson have to pee... three times. 

 After "circle rug time" the teacher announced the kids would be moving to the back of the classroom to work on a craft and they would need to grab a pair of scissors and a bottle of glue. Umm hold the phone... there is no way I'm giving my children scissors and a bottle of glue. I have a very scarring memory of a little boy putting glue all in my air in the first grade. Thank you Allen Conly for that by the way, my hair is still recovering. So in order to escape the torture of crafting we headed to the Museums Jolly Education room aka room for even the littlest of train lovers.

My Hudson was in absolute heaven. I have never seen him so into something, so intense, so focused.

 (I spy a hampton)

Hampton had no problem making himself at home too. He was quiet the train enthusiast himself. 

In other area they had this awesome crawl area! And even more Trains!

After playing conductor for over 2 hours, I finally convinced Hudson that we probably should leave to go eat lunch. But once we were outside I had forgotten about the park right outside! 

of course we had to play!

The Boys were sooo worn out, hampton actually skipped lunch and took an almost 3 hour nap, I kept hudson up thru nap and put him to bed at 5:45, he was out by 6:05 and both slept till 8 the next morning. I call that a pretty successful day!  I highly recommend taking your little boys here, it was perfect for mine in so many ways! Indoors, free to roam, kid friendly, toddler friendly, baby friendly, surrounded by cute little restaurants (more on that next time) and educational!

Tomorrow I'll write about our Saturday trip when we went back to the museum for the Railroad Rendezvous! Good times here in Kennesaw, GA!

RIP Kidd

Late Saturday night my friend Kelly texted me to that Kidd Kraddick had died.

Dallas morning radio host, Kidd Kraddick is dead? I am still in shock to be honest. I really can't even believe that it is real. I've listened to Kiss FM's morning show since my preteen years all the way until this morning, which most likely will be my last. Though I love Kellie (who is my personal favorite), Big Al, J-si, Jenna and the rest of the crew, the show as everyone knows will not be the same. Kidd was the show, he ran the show, he kept it flowing...he made it a family and everyone was invited for thanksgiving dinner.

No, Ive never met Kidd Kraddick and until Facebook I never even knew what he looked like. But when you listen to someone talk about their lives, ever morning for 15 plus years straight, you honestly feel like you know them and you can relate to them, and laugh with them and on days like today...you cry with them. We all remember the famous letter Kidd read when his daughter went off to kindergarten, she's now in college and that letter is read every year on the first day of school in August. Sweet enough to make any momma shed some tears. I have always been an avid Kidd Kraddick in the morning fan, I actually would cringe if I were to get into someones car and the morning show wasn't what was playing. After having babies, since I no longer got the chance to listen to the radio on my morning commute, I would sometimes have Danny recap what the show had to say about the latest media frenzy.

 Yes, Dallas has lost a very good man. Kidd Kraddick did not just provide morning entertainment in a 45 minute car ride while stuck  in traffic on highway 75. He did much more, he was like a second cup of coffee. He was part of so many peoples routines, their daily dose of pick me up, their first laugh of the day and for me, a first time radio call in winner of a pair of miley cyrus concert tickets. ;)

When we first moved to Georgia, I made a list of all the things I missed about Texas... The Kidd Kraddick morning show was in my top 10.

I'm thankful for facebook, because I know for a fact that I am not the only one who is somewhat emotionally attached to someone they have never even met. Praying for the whole morning show and all of Kidds family. "Keep looking up, cause thats where it all is!"

Say yes! to green thumbs & movie nights!

This past week, my very best friend of almost 15 years was proposed to, and my heart could just burst with joy for her! I am so anxious to get this wedding planned, to facetime her while she's dress shopping and to list all the pros & cons of bands vs dj's! I am so overly giddy to talk weddings instead of analyzing why my 2 year old still wets the bed or why my 14 month old refuses to stand on his own much less take a step. So with that said, Ive already gotten 3 phone calls this week from the bride to be and I must say that my masters in counseling is finally paying off ;) All jokes aside, this is going to be the best wedding ever! Congratulations Amelia, I'm already working on my speech!

Besides proposals and wedding coordinating advising we finally got our front yard done even though it probably looks worse than what it did. The thing about landscaping is you have to wait 6 months to a year to know if what you did was a complete fail or job well done. were clearly hoping for the latter.  One thing i learned after digging through rock solid clay that was filled with random roots and onions (seriously we have found tons of onion roots in our front yard, is that not the strangest thing?) is those knee pads you always see in the gardening section next to the flower printed gloves and pink hand held shovels are no laughing matter. After about 5 minutes of planting our begonias, i was desperately wanting a cute polka dot knee pad thing which is probably on the clearance aisle at hobby lobby. 

i might have also failed to mention that this was my first time to ever plant anything in the ground. i know what you all are thinking "she's growing up so fast."

see? like i said, it still looks bad, but just imagine grass where all the dirt is, those green splots (made up word) also known as pinwheel gardenias, will eventually turn into 3 feet wide shrubs, below the window will someday be a 5 foot wide purple (danny insisted we get purple) crate mytle bush and then that little christmas tree look alike on the end will be about 7 ft tall ;)

right as we were finishing it up, it started raining, which i guess is a good thing after you've planted so much, but not that great of a thing for the pizza delivery guy or for the family waiting for the pizza delivery guy ;) .  we all played and ran around in the rain! the boys loved it! they both couldnt stop laughing. it was one of those family moments that would never be caught on instagram so i can only hope that the Lord will place that image in my slideshow of life when I get to heaven. I did however get a picture of how we are always a "safety first" kind of  family. 

that night we had family movie night, it was hamptons first time to join movie night! you could tell he was pretty pumped about it. It was also Hudson's first time to watch a full length movie, usually movie night for him would of just been an episode of Barney or Thomas the Train. Movie of choice: Kung Fu Panda, only because it was the only cartoonish movie we had recorded. 

Hampton did great until he ran out of popcorn. Hudson was glued to the tv until about the 45 minute mark...and proceeded to turn the air mattress into a trampoline.

well thats a wrap, from proposals to gardening to air mattresses... your not going to find that kinda of blogging anywhere else. ;)

Mountain Biscuits

Right down the street from us is a little old house that is actually a little breakfast/brunch place. We pass it all the time and since we've moved here have been dying to go check it out. It is always crowded, mostly with mountain hikers since its practically right by Kennesaw Mountain, but also with tourist. I actually got that last part from the online site Urban Spoon after I googled it, because really how would I know who goes there if I've never been there. I like to know where and what I'm eating before I agree to go, it really does save a lot of time, and arguments last minute change of plans. I may or may not have a really bad habit of staring at menus in hopes to figure out what is the best option for us to get as a family in order to not over spend or over eat. Danny is the complete opposite, he wants to order quickly, not ask any questions, make no extra request and eat whatever they bring him. We balance each other out quiet well I must say. ;)

So after figuring out what we all would order, I suggested to Danny that we should go try out Mountain Biscuits one morning! He was totally on board until I told him we would have to go pretty much right when the boys woke since they would want breakfast ASAP. Are our kids the only ones who wake up starving?! After letting him know how awesome all the internet reviews were he was all in! Danny is such a sucker for different types of restaurants, especially any place that has been featured on the Food Network, where as I am all about the chains! Take me to a chilis or red lobster and I am one happy momma! But mountain biscuits seemed promising...

Morning came, and with just a few minutes after 8 we were all loaded up in the car headed to the little white biscuit house! It was seriously just as awesome as we expected! We went inside built our own biscuits and went outside to sit out on the picnic tables! The weather was perfect even though it was expected to rain...again... have i told y'all how much its raining here?! I'm pretty sure were going on week 4 of cloudy and/or rain daily. Seriously this Texas girl is kinda missing that 102 weather, I may regret saying that, but really, whats with all the rain?!  Thankfully we missed the rain that morning and really enjoyed a nice family moment eating some huge homemade biscuits! Danny got a sausage biscuit, I got a chicken biscuit and the boys shared an egg biscuit with some berries that I brought for them. They loved it!

Oh and if your wondering I got their outfits at Target for $2.50 a piece. Cannot beat a $5 outfit that comes with pinstriped shorts. Just saying. 

38 days later

38 days ago we started the famous 3 Day Potty Training method, for 38 days my husband & i changed pajamas, underwear, blankets, crib sheets, mattress covers and pillows 2-3 times a night. Tonight is night 38 and our sweet two & half year old son finally went to bed with a pull up on. Doctors orders. This momma will finally (hopefully) get a full nights rest with the only interruption being to tell her husband to flip over to his tummy in order to stop his snoring.

I really have nothing against Lora Jensen's 3 day potty training method, in fact, I'll probably use it again with Hampton. I liked the method and I liked her approach, the only think I felt was lacking from her method was "the what to do after the 3 days." I read her e-book 47 times and I still am wondering "what do i do on day 38?" But regardless, I will confidently say that Hudson is most certainly day time potty trained as long as you stay on him ;) I am worried that by putting him in a pull up at naps and night will cause him to regress but I suppose only time will tell.

The final straw in my decision to throw the towel in on Lora's recommendations for night time was when she advised me to take Hudson to the doctor and to put a devise on his underwear that alerts him during the night when he is wet. I wish I had a photo of my face when I saw the gadget she wanted me to stick on my two year olds penis. I was floored to say the least. She told me that it was very unusual for the amount that Hudson was peeing and that she was very concerned. Of course I went straight to google. Turns out a sign of diabetes is urinating excessively due to drinking excessively...(insert rapid heart beat here).

I'm not sure if other moms are like this or if its just me, but I am so amazed at how quickly my mind went into thinking something awful could be wrong with my son just because he pees the bed at night.  I feel like I am queen of diagnosing, I almost always know what the doctor is going to say before they say it...because of my awesome googling that is. I am the text book definition of that person that goes straight to the internet and has absolutely no problem believing what the internet says. So after all my googling, I started a pee/poop journal for Hudson for two days. I wrote down how often he was peeing, pooping, what he was eating, drinking, sleeping, waking up wet etc. Gathered all my information and called our pediatrician back in Texas. I knew what she would say.

As most of you know, our pediatrician in Texas is a holistic pediatrician. My kids have never been on antibiotic and each of them have only been in for one sick visit a piece. She never freaks out about an illness and always wants to get to the root of the problem instead of offering a band aide fix.  Seriously, thats like her motto, "no band aid fixes here!" We love Dr. Bain, we miss Dr. Bain...move to Atlanta Dr. Bain?! I knew Dr. Bain was not going to be concerned and I was a little nervous even to call, I even told the nurse and the sectretary "I know this may sound crazy but the potty lady said to call" for the record, i know for a fact that secretary thought I was crazy.

The nurse however, who I talked to first, was a bit concerned after I told her that Hudson is peeing pretty much every 2-3 hours around the clock and has less than 28 ounces of liquids a day (milk and water only). She even asked if Diabetes ran in our family (i knew where this convo was going because i had already done my research). After 21 questions she told me she or Dr. Bain would call me back. You know its bad when the doctor calls you back.

A couple hours later the nurse called me back, (thats a good sign) she said, I kid you not "Dr. Bain has no concerns with Hudson's health whatsoever, put him in a pull up at night and stop waking him up...he just isn't ready to be night time trained. ";) Exhale. Praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus. The nurse did go on to say if we wanted we could test his sugar levels by getting some urine strips at our local pharmacy. I hung up the phone, loaded the boys up and headed to walgreens.

His sugar levels are completely normal. All in all the kid just pees a lot. I'm gonna go out on the limb and say he may or may not be getting this from his father. ;) just saying.

Our 4th of July

I sort of jumped the gun on the fourth of july this year, i dressed the boys in their red, white & blue attire the weekend before instead the weekend after. Clearly I was wrong in this decision based on no one else being dressed like uncle sam, but when holidays fall in the middle of the week it just throws me off. Regardless the boys got to wear their flag bow ties to church last week even though hampton's didnt make it out of the car and i never got a picture of it.  So just imagine little flags sitting below their chins, your exactly right, they didnt look that cute...but they did look festive and that was the whole point.

So I dont know if you guys know this or not, but it has rained almost every day for the past  3 weeks. Though I have no problem with the rain, it definitely puts a damper on things. I feel like I live in Seattle. I think. I've never been to Seattle but I've seen Sleepless in Seattle several times and I'm pretty sure they talk about how it rains a lot there...and as my husband always tells me "its just a known fact." Literally, I think he tells me this in conversation almost everyday, "Its just a known fact, Amber." I learn so much from that man. So with all the rain, our july 4th plans were cancelled, we were suppose to go to the parade in downtown Marietta, so with no pun intended (well maybe a little bit intended) the weather definitely rained on our parade. The evening before we were suppose to go to a little festival that was going on in downtown Kennesaw, but again it was raining. Instead we taught Hampton how to "praise the Lord."

hudson ate corn on the cob and then decided to join in on the fun

Thursday morning we had to regroup and figure out a plan B since everything was cancelled.

So, we did what all normal families do when their holiday plans get rained on, we loaded up the car and strutted our red, white & blue attire straight into Lowes.

When you buy a home, especially a foreclosure home, you spend a lot of time at Lowes or home depot but we like lowes better maybe its their color scheme?Anyway, we go to lowes a lot, like once a week at least.  Something always needs fixing, repairing, or redoing. Our Lowes trip was fun (yes Lowes can be fun), after hudson accepted the fact that umbrellas are for outdoors only. On that note, can someone get this kid an umbrella? He loves them. After Lowes, we ate out at Chilis because it was raining and grilling out wasn't going to happen and i really wanted their grilled chicken sandwhich . Have I mentioned that this entire day i could not stop sneezing? It was crazy. and embarrassing. I sneezed so much that Hudson caught on to saying "bless you mommy" after every sneeze. Out of control.  But then again, if it takes a sneeze for someone to pour blessings on you, I say sneeze away.

After we got home, the boys napped while Danny and I did house stuff. We still cant get our cars in our garage so he worked on organizing the garage and I worked on the dining room table. Once the boys woke up I wanted to get their picture, ya know just to document the holiday and what not. And because there was so much pressure on facebook and instagram to post a "we love america" pic of your kids, so obviously i had to join. Here was my first attempt to get a pic of the two of them:

hmm. not what i was going for. 

Plan B (we do a lot of "Plan B's). Pull out the big guns... and by big guns I mean put a chair in our back yard and have danny make the smile. 

Results:

3 things: 1) Hampton thinks danny is really funny. 2) Putting hair gel in hamptons hair only made it look even more crazy 3) Hudson had to poop.

Happy Fourth of July!