In Honor of Memorial Day

(this picture was taken from here )

On this Memorial Day, May 31st, 2010 my family and I went to the DFW National Cemetary for their annual Memorial Service.  We weren't sure what to expect since it was our first time there but let me tell you - it will NOT be our last.  From now on this will be our annual Memorial Day tradition!  It was such a humbling and honored experience to be apart of! 

We arrived early (it started at 11 PROMPTLY) and were amazed at how crowded it already was.  We knew it would be crowded but when we showed up ONE hour early we were in awe of the lines to get through.  What a beautiful problem to have :-)  Once we picked out a spot my mom and Carolyn settled down as we ventured off to see the surrounding sites.  Thankfully my mom brought a big umbrella and two sheets to sit on.  Guess it's a good thing she never cleans her trunk out LOL!!!!!  After we settled in our spots, Scott, Austin, my dad, and I went to go see the cannons that they had out in preperation for the Cannon Salute during the service.

Checking out the cannons

After we checked the cannons out and grabbed a few free bottles of water that the Boy Scouts of America were passing out we headed back to our spot.  Of course, with a two-year-old in tow bringing reinforcements are a MUST!!  I brought along his faves: Red Car (Lightening McQueen), Blue Car, "Mater wa" (Tow Mater), "Big Truck" (Green Peterbilt), and "Hippy Car" (Filmore) to keep him entertained and occupied. 

Austin did Fantastic!!  He was either wandering within a few feet from us (we had an empty space to the side and front of us), playing with his cars or sitting in the stroller or my lap snacking and drinking plenty of water.  We are all so impressed and proud of him. 

The memorial service was so much more than what I expected.  The Cannon salute and the Fly over gave me goosebumps and it was so moving.  I can't express into words what it felt like to stand there watching it with my own eyes and ears.  When the Bagpipes started playing that was just another example of how thousands of people can be silenced. 

After the service, we all walked over to Patrick's (my Father-In-Law) gravesite.  We were so touched that someone came by sometime and dropped off flowers.  We don't know who it was who came by or when they came by, but we were just grateful they did and remembered him.  He was such an amazing man with a beautiful heart!   

I am so eternally grateful/thankful to the men and women who are currently fighting for our freedom as well as to the fallen heroes and soldiers currently (or have been) missing in action.  May God Bless them All!!

(Picture/Poem derived from HERE )

POTW: May 9 - May 15

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Cousins Trista (age 2) and Trevor (age 6 mo) with Austin

It's A Bathroom Transformation!!!

Today while Scott was at work and Austin in his final week of Preschool my mom and I did a Bathroom transformation.  My mom is officially my painting partner, especially after tackling the stripes in the kitchen together :-)  It's a great house project to work on together; We apparently work well together because we tackled this project in about 3 hours!!!

We did the second bathroom (the first being the master) because now that Austin's getting older I wanted his bathroom space to be a reflection the little boy that he is.  Guests, obviously, do use the bathroom since it's the only one we have, minus the masterbathroom, so we didn't want it to be TOO outrageous for them to use but we did make it pretty vibrant!  It all started from the shower curtain I found on Amazon.com.  I feel in love with it the moment I saw it since it def. was a reflection of our little boy who loves all things transportation: planes, trains and most of all firetrucks, cars and dumptrucks! 

So here are the before, during and after pictures - which we all know is the most important part of blogging!

BEFORE

DURING

(celebrating 1 1/2 walls being done LOL)

Mom rolling above the shower

Me tackling the task of painting around and behind the toliet

AFTER -

The Final product!!

We're all so happy at how it turned out!  Even Austin loves it because when he saw it for the first time after his nap he looked around wide-eyed and kept saying, "Wow!"

Happy Mother's Day

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.

~Tenneva Jordan

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I'm so honored that a handsome little 2 yr old calls me his "momma".  What a blessing it is.  Nothing can top the hugs, kisses, smiles, and yes even those days of the awful 'terrible twos' . . .  I wouldn't trade them for the world! So even though I had to spend this Mother's Day caring for other little ones at work, I'm thankful to be able to go home after a long days work and see my son's face light up when he sees me.  I love you Austin.  Thank you for making me strive to be the best mom ever!!

This is a picture of my very first Mother's Day.  May 2008, Austin was 2 1/2 months old

Happy Mother's Day also to two amazing women.  Margo, my mom & Austin's Nonna as well as Carolyn, Scott's mom & Austin's Amma.  They are two loving momma's who are the epitamy of Awesome Moms.  We all are so blessed to have them in our lives

Austin says, "Happy Mother's Day, Nonna!"

Austin says, "Happy Mother's Day, Amma!!"

POTW

This is NO JOKE











Last Thursday right before going to bed I always check up on Austin, tuck him in, move all his cars off of his bed and give him a final good night kiss.  This one night in particular however I spotted Austin in THIS position - NO JOKE!  I guess Preschool that day wore him O.U.T.!!!  LOL

(Austin didn't even budge when we turned on the light. . . AND he's a light sleeper!!)

Then, literally 2 min later, as I'm about to get into bed I look over and spot Austin sleeping in a funky position on his video monitor.  After picking my jaw up off of the floor in shock and bafflement, I grab Scott to show him what position Austin was in NOW. 







Wait for it. . .









Keep waiting. . . .








Keep in mind, no less than 2 min prior I pre-positioned and tucked Austin in his bed!




Here is the New position, and YES he is sound asleep. . . snoring no less LOL

What a goofball!! 

Dino RAWR!!!!!!

Last Friday Scott, Austin and I went to Dinosaur World in Glen Rose.  Lately Austin's been loving his "dino rawrs"  Remember a few weeks ago when Austin and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo and he was asking about Dino Rawr's?  Well when Scott took a motorcycle drive one day he came across a billboard advertising that a place of life-sized dinosaurs really did exist!  So off to Dinosaur World we went.  Here are a few pictures of the excursion.

Our Favorite.  Austin RAWRing at the Dinosaur LOL!!

We even stopped for a picnic there.  Scott was so cute and even brought along Austin's Dinosaur sippy!