Anniversary #7

Derek and I celebrated our seventh anniversary today!

I'm not sure who created the idea list for anniversary presents. Apparently, the traditional 7th anniversary gift is wool or copper. The modern gift is either a desk set or pen/pencil sets. While we didn't stick to tradition-- we still gifted each other equally un-romantic gifts... new shoes.

They might not be romantic, but they are certainly pricey!!!

I guess this means that by year seven comes around, you can pass up all extraneous gifts and go for the practical things! We both have particularly tender feet and it's important to have a good shoe to prevent many trips to the podiatrist. I wanted to stick to the doctor's orders when picking out my shoes... and that led me to getting a pair of shoes that are only two velcro straps away from being the number one shoe sold to senior citizens. At least it has some pink. Derek's shoes are cool, though!

Truthfully, the best part of our anniversary is that Derek wasn't away at army training!! His unit is typically scheduled for annual training during our anniversary and thanks to a change in plans, annual training isn't until August, so we got to spend our anniversary TOGETHER! How much more romantic can it be?!? 

Well, Derek actually took today off as an optional holiday so we got to spend all day together! We ventured to new restaurant for lunch and to went to a movie. We were a good three decades younger than anyone else in the theater! ... at least they weren't texting!

We opted for a day time-date to accomodate Jackson's t-ball game tonight. Going to a ball game might not sound like an ideal anniversary activity, but I think it was just perfect. Seven years ago, we said our vows and committed ourselves to each other and our future family. Today, we spent the evening supporting our little boy as he played a t-ball game having the time of his life (other than the inning he didn't get to catch the ball...). 

Celebrating marriage doesn't always need a romantic getaway. Today, we found joy in the life we started together and brought us to where we are... even if that means cleaning out the gutters. We cherish our family, we're thankful for our house, and we love each other more than when we said "I do".

Today at a glance

We got Belle giggles!!!!! This little cutie happens to be super ticklish- her neck and her feet, especially. It was so super cute. I am a bit relieved to have found a way to get her to giggle without having to flail about like an idiot, as was required to get laughs from Jackson. She's sleeping now, but I am almost tempted to go wake her up just to hear those laughs! Okay, I would never wake a sleeping baby for that... but I am totally looking forward to more giggles tomorrow!

Derek left for drill tonight. After packing all 50 million pounds of gear, he raided his tootsie-roll bank to score some change to feed his caffeine addiction over the weekend. You can tell he's done this a time or two before as his pile is mostly bronze. I may check him in to Dr. Pepper rehab once he starts taking 104 pennies to QuikTrip.

Right now, I have a group of teenagers in my basement watching Titanic. I totally thought it was a weird movie choice, but it turns out that there are several who haven't ever seen the movie. Americans-- you should be ashamed of yourselves! I mean, even the Dane, German, and Israeli have seen it. Geez! How can this be?! Even worse... most haven't seen Grease either. 

Even though this was yesterday, I'm still including it! In attempts to occupy Jackson without using the television (he asks to watch tv every second of every day and sobs when I say no... so I have to be creative!). He totally had fun. His favorite "toy" was the medicine measure spoon.

He also liked to play "where's my feet?"

As you can see, this was a pretty messy activity. Derek was home for a few minutes in mid-morning and when he left, he remarked "have fun!" in a total "yeah right" sort of way. So, I asked, "is he climbing on the counter? is he crying at my feet? No? Well then I *am* having fun!" Who cares if I find beans around the kitchen for the next 5 years?!

Catch up from last week

Last week was a busy week filled with a long to-do list and hopes to spend as much time together as possible. I was in a blogging hiatus, so here's a recap of some of the things that filled the last week before Derek left.

First, we took a quick trip over to St. Louis to visit Derek's brother and his family. Portable DVD player = new BFF when it comes to traveling with a boy who hates to sit still, except for Elmo.

Derek spent a few nights with the guys putting up some studs for my office that will soon (hopefully) exist in the basement!

Per the great review of Wonderscope from my friend Elizabeth, Derek and I headed over to Shawnee Mission to check it out. What was even cooler was that it was FREE because the museum has partnered with a group that is offering free admission to military families-- way cool! Jackson had lots of fun playing in the ball room, the sand pit, water room, and picking vegetables.

My Dad brought down and installed my new countertop, (this time it was the right size and everything) and not a moment too soon. Life without a kitchen sink is rough! At Derek's party, we were washing dishes in the bathroom sink, filling up water coolers in the bathtub. And because the dishwasher is hooked up to the sink, our dishes were piling in the dishwasher. But it's all back together now and I love, love, love it!!

Jackson redecorated the wall in the few moments I left the room to switch the laundry.

Jackson's Daddy Book came in the mail on Friday and I spent *hours* covering each page with contact paper. It's been totally worth it and we haven't even had it a week. The book is a hit. After we read it, we says, "more, more". I even got the change to capture Derek reading the book to Jackson on video.

Derek and I went to see the movie Salt and we both really enjoyed it (since when did matinees cost $9.50?!). And lastly, we just spent some time together hanging out and just doing nothing at times. We caught up on laundry, picked up the house, and he gave me final lessons on the xbox network, backup systems, and other household things.

 The goal was to be productive and spend some good last-minute quality time together and I consider the week a success!

Not Mom of the Year

I've come across this Not-Mom-of-The-Year contest and I looked like too much fun not to join in. It's not even the fact that it's a contest, it's just therapuetic to go out there are read other peoples stories that make me feel a little a lot better about myself as a mom and how "un-June Cleaver-ish" I am.

1. I have actually picked an Elmo movie to watch specifically because it was the longest video so that I could take a longer nap while he watched it-- there is a big difference between 46 and 54 minutes. 
2. I am too cheap to buy my son summer pj's (the winter ones are always passed down from friends) so he wears his clothes to bed every night.
3. I put Jackson down to nap with a cup sometimes-- but I do know that he doesn't fall asleep in his mouth because I hear him throw it out of his crib along with his books, toys, etc... before falling asleep. Wait- why I am I defending myself.... I already know I am a qualified Not-Mom-of-The-Year. 
4. I dropped Jackson big time when he was only a couple weeks old. I was carrying him in the bouncy seat and the seat caught on the door handle and so I dropped the seat and he slid right on to the floor... head first.
5. I call my son gross so often that it was actually one of his first words-- after meals, during diaper changes. I never noticed it until he started saying it each time.
6. We've lived in this house for nearly a year and I just finished getting his room together yesterday.
7. Our laundry is always behind--even if I wash it, it stays in the basket probably until I need the basket again to take more dirty clothes downstairs. The last time I mopped, was-- oh wait.. I haven't while I've lived in this house. The toilet-- haven't done that either. (in my defense, I did get a cleaning certificate for Christmas and they did do these each once...). 
8. And I'm always to forgetful to even call the cleaning ladies. I complain about not having a maid, but then it's because I am too lazy to just call. So the house is a remains a mess. 
9. Jackson doesn't bathe every day and he hardly ever gets to play in the bath. Most of the time, he just gets to hop in the shower with me or Derek for a quick lather and rinse before getting handed back out to the other one.
10. I let my child eat dirt.
11. I'm not even cool enough to have lots of cute pictures on this post or to make a nice ryhming poem for this thing-- it's totally boring. 

So, I totally think all my mom friends should try this-- It's like free therapy. Go ahead and share some comment-love with some of the things that qualify you as a Not-Mom-of-The-Year and be sure to read some of the other entries just so give your self-esteem a little boost!

Friday Night Flicks

I was running behind and didn't get to share about the tons of fun we had last Friday night! I will tell you all about it today and you'll know exactly what we'll be doing again tonight!

Friday night + July + Kansas City = Free Friday Night Flicks!!

I just love the summer movies at Crown Center and I'm so thankful for our friends Justin and Audrey who got us hooked. It's fun to get out of the house, hang out with friends, have a picnic, and lounge around until dark for the movie to start. 

But before the movie fun could start, we got their early to save our spots and enjoy some fun at Crown Center. We walked around a bit, picked up some dinner, and then headed over to the fountains to let Jackson have his fun playing in the water.

Jackson didn't care much for the fountains when they were taller than him, but he loved to go splash when they were small. At 7:00, the fountains put on a show that was choreographed to some music. That was neat to watch and Jackson loved to dance. Jackson colored on the sidewalk and had lots of fun walking up and down the stairs.

But then we settled down, got comfy in our chairs.
(I snuggled up in a blanket on the ground).

And we waited for the movie to start around 9:15ish
(after it gets dark).

Last week the movie was Pretty in Pink, a 1986 chick flick. I spent the entire movie trying to figure out why that one kid looked so familiar and was proud of myself when I figured out he was the guy from Two and a Half Men. When I mentioned it to Derek, he was like, "Uhm... yeah, they mentioned that before the movie, but you were still reading your book." Ugh...

Tonight's movie is Jurassic Park and we've recruited some more friends to go. The more the merrier! 

Mourning the loss of a friend

Okay, so I'm being a bit dramatic. My friend is alive and well, but she's just not here. It's Wednesday. And she always comes over on Wednesday's for lunch (sometimes other days too!). Sure it's cool that she got selected to attend the Picturing Early America institute this summer and all up in Massachusetts , but what am I supposed to look forward to each week while she's gone?

I really am such a lucky stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) with the coolest friends. I mean, when I have several kiddos here during the day I don't always get out of the house. But instead of being bottled up and lonely-- I have friends that come to me!! How great is that? I mean, I get to have real conversations (I mean, conversations with 18 months-olds are fun and all...) with adults several times a week. And Derek probably doesn't even realize how valuable these friends are to him because without them, I'd just be waiting for him to walk in the door to bombard him with conversation about things he couldn't care less about!

Instead of sitting around lunch-dateless, I decided the next best thing would be to hang out with her offspring. Or maybe I wanted to go see a movie and it was more justified if I went with a 5-year-old. So this morning, Carter came over so that we could go to a Summer Kids movie. The movie of the week is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs-- it as cute. Carter is a super cute kid and he says the funniest things. Today he told me not to be nervous that he sometimes calls his dad, Trey because it was totally okay!

On the way to the movie

And a stop at McD's for lunch

 Boys and their video games...

 

So, Brooke- we're making it by without you, but it's not nearly as fun. Hope you're having a good time, but hurry back!

Weekend Report

We spent the weekend doing lots of fun things. Let's take a look:

This was actually Thursday, but I love this picture. Jackson is all about (double) dipping his chips in the salsa these days.

Friday night, we had friends over for dinner and headed out to Community Days to walk around and enjoy a funnel cake. Jackson loved looking at the big "gruck".

Saturday morning, we walked in the Community Days parade with our church. Jackson did an awesome throwing tootsie rolls when he wasn't putting them in his mouth (with the wrapper).

Saturday afternoon we took Jackson to see his first movie, Toy Story 3. He was mesmerized by the giant tv and didn't move a muscle for an hour and fifteen minutes. After that, he was pretty squirmy, but overall he did really well. He didn't quite weight enough to hold the seat down, so he sat in a slight v formation, but he didn't mind.

I went to work and Derek held down the fort on Saturday evening. After Jackson went to bed successfully fixed three computers-- one which was my laptop. If you listen closely, you can probably hear my singing the Hallelujah chorus right now! Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Unfortunately I had a monstrous headache that lasted every minute I was awake yesterday. The good news is that I spent over four hours in naps, which lessened the time spent with the actual headache. We went to lunch with Derek's grandpa and some other family to celebrate Father's Day. Then Derek went out and bought the lumber needed to begin the work on finishing the basement and he cleared out the area we are going to start with. Oh! And Dad brought down the new kitchen  countertop that his wonderful friend made for us and that will be getting installed soon. Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!

We got a lot accomplished this weekend, but we had plenty of time for relaxing and fun too! And in case you are feeling a case of the Mondays this morning, check this out!!

A girl can dream

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

My first was Aladdin. He was just so cute and he tried to so hard to impress the girl he liked. And he could sing. There have been a few others including, but not limited to Uncle Jessie, Zach Morris, Batman, Will Turner... and now, it's Iron Man.

First I thought it was a Robert Downey Jr. thing, but it's really not. It's definitely Tony Stark. He's kind of like Batman-- a super hero without actually being "super" (aside from super good looking). No spider bite, no alien species, no vat of toxic waste-- he's just incredibly smart. And rich. So it means that he could actually exist... right??

I actually went on a date with Iron Man last night. Besides Mickey Rouke (creeptastic!) and Scarlett Johnason (overated!) it was a good movie. But, I've decided that someone that intelligent could never be so good looking. And probably not that socially normal either (surely you've met those super-smart types and sometimes they are just weird). And big biceps, probably not. But hey, that's why it's fiction! And a girl can dream.

And while I'm dreaming, I'll pretend that Jackson's name is spelled right on his clay handprint he made at Sunday School. Haha. To be honest, I didn't even notice it. I was carrying it around, showing it off, oohhing and ahhing over his first of many Mother's Day gifts. Derek didn't notice either and was in denial about it until he saw it himself. It was my sister, yesterday afternoon, that said, "Uhm... this isn't right." What kind of Mom does that make me-- that I didn't even notice?!?!!

Whether it's JACKON or JACKSON, I don't care. I still love it. :)

Date Night

I received so many super fabulous birthday wishes this year- seriously, it was amazing! Here's just some love that was sent my way:

• 
  

  Happy birthday, Amy! I hope today is the best birthday you have ever had. Make Derek take you somewhere wonderful.

• 
  

  Happy birthday Amy. I hope it brings you as much delight as you bring the rest of us. :)

• 
  

  I simply love you tons and a million, dear friend! Have a marvelous, wonderful day!

• 
  

  Amy, I hope you have a fabulous birthday with lots of love and attention showered on you!

Man, do I feel loved! I did have a wonderful day- did the whole watch kids thing during the day and when Derek got home, we went out for a date night!

We love going to the movies and we haven't been to one in several months. The only time we have to go is on the weekends and I don't know if you've checked out movie ticket prices lately but they are outrageous. We were even bummed to see that the Weekday Escape prices went up to $6 a piece.

We bought our tickets first because they have the whole assigned seating thing now too. Is that weird for anyone else or just us? I really don't see the point- aside from opening weekend for big movies. Then we walked over to Panera for dinner and it was so nice to sit and chat with Derek.

Derek had earned a free drink and two popcorns with his movie rewards card so we headed to the concession line after walking back to the theater. Who knows how long it's been since I've gone to the concessions at a movie- but $17 for popcorn and drinks?! Who pays that?! But it didn't really matter since we had free coupons. I was so annoyed when a man just walked right up and cut in front of us to order but then another line opened up and I turned around to see my old friend Jenny behind the register. It was so unexpected, so sweet. It seriously made my day. Thank you Mr. Line-Cutter Man!


I had gotten mixed reviews about the movie Date Night, but I love a good laugh so that was my pick. And it was a great pick. I have not laughed that much in a very long time (Derek would probably want me to mention that I did indeed 'snort' but I just couldn't help it. Steve Carell was pole dancing- just too funny.) These two are SO funny together- they should do lots of movies together like Doris Day and Rock Hudson. This being said, one must have an appreciation for that this type of comedy and it's not one that I would recommend going to see with your grandmother.

Derek and I spent the entire drive home quoting the movie and laughing at the movie all over again. It was such a great night out and a much needed one at that because I have two huge papers due in the next couple of weeks (one due next Tuesday) that will be draining all of my free time.

So many shows... so little time!

If I were ever to move out of Kansas City- aside from my friends and family- I think I'd miss the library system the most. It has over 30 branches in the KC and surrounding areas and they all operate as one system. It gives me access to so much more content than any library could do on it's own. And technically, I don't even live in a county that pays taxes towards that library and I still get all of the benefits. (The down side is that the libraries my taxes do support are pretty awful.) The branch that is closest to me is a fairly small branch, but it doesn't even really matter since I use their website to find the material I want, place it on hold, wait for the email to tell me it's available, and then I swing by to pick it up. Other cities have similar systems, but you have to pay for the transfers and/or pay for the use of entertainment items (i.e. DVDs and CDs). Seriously, if you don't live in Kansas City then you should be jealous. Of the library at least. The mayor is kind of an idiot.

So, yesterday, I decide to stop by the library to pick up whatever items I had on hold. I had no idea what they were- only that I remember getting an email to say they are ready and this is what is waiting for me:

There is no possible way that I could watch 4 entire seasons of tv shows in my 28 days check out limit (especially since I have two 10+ page papers due in this time). Most of these shows I have had on hold for several months (Smallville- it's been at least a year) and of course, they all become available at the same time! I guess I should be watching TV instead of blogging!

NCIS is first, next is Smallville. Numb3rs is last because it has the shortest hold list so if I don't get to it, I could get it back fairly soon.

And don't judge me. I get books from the library too. In fact out of the 33 items I have checked out, 25 of them are books (some for me, most for Jackson) and two of them are CDs that Jackson listens to when he takes a nap.

This has nothing to do with the library. Today is Wednesday so the grocery ads came in the mail. I took a few minutes to look at them and then put them down. Obviously, grocery ads are really funny to little boys.

Summer Time

I have had a really good summer.

We spent the 4th of July up at my parent's house in Kearney and Derek's parents, Brad & Mary, came too. It was really nice to get to spend it with both of our families together. We played in the pool, played the Wii, ate burgers, and did fireworks. It was good. I miss not seeing Dad at work every day! I try to call and catch up with him periodically though.

We've seen a handful of movies lately too, which is something we just love to do together. We went to see Get Smart with Derek's folks when it first came out. It was so funny!! I really like Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway did a good job. We also went to see Hancock too and we both really enjoyed that movie too. I am a big Will Smith fan, even when he a bad superhero! And its a great example of how believing in a person can make a difference. And of course, we went and saw Batman today. You know its a big movie when the 1:00 and 3:00 matinée shows are even sold out. It was good movie. Seriously, the Joker is one of the creepiest Villains ever! He was so creepy. And Batman's gadgets were as cool as ever.

Last weekend, we went up to watch the Free Friday Night Flick at Crown Center with friends. I like just being outside and watching a movie, though the camp chair is only so comfortable. We watched the Monte Python and the Holy Grail. Interesting movie. I met with my book club friends this week and that was so enjoyable! Things have been so busy with one having a baby and then me starting school and I'm really looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I've been in a reading rut and I hate it. I am really looking forward to the last book of the Twilight series that comes out on August 2nd. I am anxious to see how it all works out! And I am very anxious for the first book to come out in theaters in November. Which also reminds me that I am excited to see the new Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants that comes out soon. We have friends coming up to visit on Friday so we are going to head out to the Royals game for Fireworks friday and buck night! In a few weeks, we are headed out to a T-bones game too.

Derek's been working on his motorcycle with his dad each weekend and driving it around more and more often. It's nice that it gets such good gas mileage. Once he beings to drive it to work, I'll probably end up driving his car a bit more since it gets about 10 miles more per gallon.

A friend of ours got us to watch Veronica Mars and we both got really into it! And let me tell you that it is so hard to focus on school work when you would rather be making your way through the seasons! I didn't really expect to like it much, but I think it's pretty good. Derek just thinks Kristen Bell is cute, and she is. One of Meg Cabot's (author of Princess Diaries and other chick lit) books, Queen of Babble, is being made into a movie and she is Lizzie, so I am pretty excited to see that too.

So even with work and school, I have had a great chance to enjoy the summer and have some fun! I know my posts are long, but I hardly ever post, so I have so much to say! Hopefully next time I won't wait so long.