Where are the good Christmas Lights?

Well, if you live in the Dallas metroplex, you can go here to find out! Enjoy!

Oh, and my house isn't on there. We don't have any lights yet. But I am planning on putting some one our bushes this weekend. It still won't be impressive, so don't feel the need to drive by my house.

P.S. Right now I have a Christmas swag on the front door and my Fall decorations still on the porch. I just might get written up by the HOA any day now. The removal of these items is high on my list for this weekend though.

Additional Thought to "Caleb's Last Trip to Kohl's"

Last night after the Kohl's trip, I talked to my mom on the phone who talked about what it was like taking my brother to the store when he was little. She said she kept telling herself:

"Maybe when he's 2, I can take him to the store."

"Maybe when he's 3..."

"Maybe when he's 4...", etc., etc., etc.

She says now "Maybe when he's 25..."!

Sounds like Caleb is headed down the same road!

Caleb's Last Trip to Kohl's

Caleb had his last trip to Kohls (and any other store that does not have carts for me to strap him in) for a very long time last night.

Here's the story...

I volunteered yesterday to help host a table for Holly Jolly (our church's Christmas party), and I knew that there was a good sale on at Kohl's. So after work, I hit the sale to get some decorations with Caleb in tow.

While looking around, I needed to have use of my hands in order to place things around on the floor so that I could get an idea of what it might look like, so that meant Caleb had to be put down. This is always a HUGE mistake! Caleb immediately darts off as soon as I put him down. I tried squeezing him between my legs, having him hold stuff so that maybe he would be interested in playing with that and not running away (instead he just runs away with the stuff), but none of that worked. Really it should have only taken a second for me to look at the items I was interested in, but with chasing a 17 month old around, it took way too long! At one point I had to grab him really quick by the arm as he was running away, and I sort of yanked his arm. I immediately thought, "Oh no! I've become one of THOSE mothers!" You know the ones! The ones that you see yanking children around in stores or who have no control over their child. In the past I have thought, "What a horrible mother she is! What is she thinking?!" Now, sometimes that is true, but I now understand that no matter how great of a mother you are, we all have times like this. We just try to minimize them as much as possible!

So, I finished looking around and went to the register to check out. I had to have Caleb hold a candle so that I could hold all of the other stuff we were going to buy. As we're standing in line, Caleb drops the candle which makes me drop a plate I was holding. Of course even though the plate was plastic, wouldn't you know, it broke!

I immediately felt like crying in the middle of the store. I had already been fighting my kid from running off, and now we had broken something. The lady in front of me was so nice to pick it up for me, and then I went off to see if I could find another plate. None of the plates like it looked decent enough, so I was not able to get another plate. Big time bummer!

So, I said "forget it!" and went back to the line to check out. A lady that was in front of me, kindly let me go in front of her since I had Caleb in my arms and my arms were completely full. I went to the same register that I had been at before, and when the lady behind me's merchandise clanked around in her arms, the check out girl said "Did you break something else?" It was so crummy!

So, I got Caleb in the car and went home in time to see Chris for a few minutes before he went to a meeting at church. I was so tired of dealing with Caleb that I really wanted to ship him off with Chris, but that wouldn't have worked since he had his meeting.

So, the moral of the story is: don't take toddlers to a store with no carts to strap them down in. It is a mistake every time! :)

Christmas Music

I listen to KLTY quite a bit. It's not my favorite station in the world, but it's what I grew up listening to, so that's what I listen to most of the time. I love Christmas music and want to listen to it the day after Thanksgiving. I just wish they wouldn't play it almost constantly the whole Christmas season. I would still like to hear more rest-of-the-year music mixed in with the Christmas selections. So this time of year, I find myself flipping to other stations more often than I normally do just to get a break from the Christmas music. Just a few more non-Christmas songs an hour would be great!

Also, I think Christmas Wish is great and a wonderful idea. The stories are heart wrenching and glorious. But I also find myself turning the station at times when these are playing just because I don't want to be bawling in the car. Especially when I'm on the way to work. I don't want to have to walk in to work after crying in the car. So, while I think they are wonderful and beautiful stories, sometimes I just can't handle listening to them. Maybe I'm just a wuss, but there you have it.

My Christmas Helper

We got our tree and all our decorations up on Friday (Yayyyy!), and Caleb loved the lights!

A Question For You

Is it really all about tryptophan, or the mounds and mounds of food that we eat at Thanksgiving? There may be something to tryptophan and making you sleepy, but I seem to think it is more in the massive amounts of food that we eat in a short period of time. What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

I LOVE Thanksgiving! I might even like it more than Christmas. It's all the fun of seeing people, hanging out, and eating great food without the pressure of having to buy presents for everyone. I love Christmas too, but the amount of presents I always have to buy seems overwhelming.

Tonight, we are going to Chris' brother's house to eat dinner and spend the night. Then in the morning we are going to my family's house for lunch and then back to Chris' family for dinner and more spending the night. That is a whole lot of turkey!

I am looking forward to time off work, time to relax, time to play with Caleb, time to visit with family and do things that I normally can't do because I'm at work. I can't wait!

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Get It Right People!

I ordered a couple of things online from a store last week, and yesterday I received emails letting me know that both of my items had arrived at the store so that I could pick them up. So yesterday after work, Caleb and I went to the store to get them. They looked around FOREVER and could not find them. Meanwhile the line behind me is growing longer and longer which always makes me feel horrible when I'm the one causing the bog down. After a long time of searching, the girl came back and said that maybe the box was back in the warehouse and hasn't been opened yet and asked if I could come back the next day to see if it was there. Now, there is no way I want to go back every stinking day to wait in a line and cause big lines to form behind me just to see if my items are there. So I asked if I could call instead to see if they were there before I came again. She said that would be fine. And I went on my way. I was going to keeping shopping around at that store after I picked my items up, but I was so ticked off I was just ready to get out of there.

Somehow this company needs to fix this problem. If they tell a customer that their items are ready for pick up, they need to be ready for pick up. At least that is what I think.

Things Caleb Has Learned Lately

For awhile now, I have been singing the song "I may never march in the infantry, ride in the cavalry", etc. Caleb has been able to say "Yes sir!" during the song for a good while. So, now he likes to just randomly say it whenever he feels like it. (This morning on the way to school, I was singing it. When it got to the Yes sir! part each time, I pointed to him and he saluted and said it! So darn cute!)

Yesterday at lunch, I taught him to put his hands together and say "Amen". So, now that is another of his favorites.

Last night at the Community Thanksgiving Service, each time we prayed (and other times too), Caleb put his hands together and said "Amen". Then there were times that he said "Yes sir!" too! He did great through most of the service, but I had to take him out for the last few minutes because he kept clapping and and yelling "Yay!!!". At least it was happy noise, but noise none the less.

Caleb's School Thanksgiving Lunch

Here is Caleb sitting in a big boy chair with his turkey lunch!

Here is some of the family that came to eat with Caleb!
Here are more of Caleb's guests. Mommy not pictured.

Swallowing Pills

I used to HATE swallowing pills. I was horrible at it. As a kid, I hid my pills from my mom a few times because I hated them so much. I would gag on them and sometimes they would make me throw up.

All of this changed when I got pregnant with Caleb and had to take prenatal vitamins all of the time. I finally got used to taking pills. Little pills, big pills, blue pills, red pills. It doesn't matter now! I can take any kind of pill.

It is really a freeing feeling. No longer am I afraid to take pills.

I have pills that I am taking now for my ear. They are kind of big. But I have not had any problem taking them.

It feels so good to be able to say that!

Kissing Baby

Caleb has been blowing kisses for a long time, but I've been trying over the past few weeks to get him to give us kisses on the cheek. On Sunday night, he finally gave me a kiss on the cheek. I celebrated greatly which always makes him want to do it more. So that night, he gave Chris a good night kiss when he went to bed. Now he thinks it is so fun to give us kisses (and we think it is the cutest thing ever!). Yesterday morning, as soon as he woke up, he wanted to give Chris a kiss and then kept going back over to him to kiss him some more. Then last night he ran back and forth between us giving us kisses. I love it!

Turn Off Your Phone!!!

Well, if you check out my previous post, you will see that I just went to the doctor. While in the waiting room, there was a guy that was on his phone the WHOLE time. While waiting in line, while talking to the lady at the counter, while waiting. Now, this normally wouldn't bother me, but he was YELLING into his phone the whole time. With my ear problem, it doesn't feel good to hear loud things anyway...and I had brought a book and wanted to read while I was waiting. I couldn't read because he was so dang loud! When he finally sat down to wait, I tried catching his eye to get the point across that he was too loud. He looked at me once, but that obviously was not clear enough for him. I really wanted to say something to him, but I didn't. I really wish I would have had the guts to say something. Man, I missed my chance!

I just think it is really rude to be on your phone (especially yelling into your phone) in places like that. No one wants to hear your conversation. I was really tempted to tell him to go talk outside when he first came in. Again, I wish I would have done it! There's always next time!

My Ear Hurts

UPDATE:
Well, I have eustacian tube dysfunction...my tube isn't draining properly. I have two different kinds of medicine to take, so hopefully that will make me feel better soon!

My ear started hurting about three or four days ago. It wasn't a big deal...just kind of annoying. It became a bigger deal yesterday afternoon and has hurt pretty bad since then. I have a doctor appointment here in a little while so he can look at it and figure out what the deal is. I hope it's not an ear infection, but it may be. If it is, I'll know what Caleb has felt like when he has had ear infections. Poor kid!

I Did It Again

Last night, I walked out of Kroger and could not find my car. Within a split second, I thought: "Someone has stolen my car! What am I going to do? Chris is gone tonight. I'm going to have to call my parents. How did someone steal my car? " Then finally I looked back one more row, and there was my car!

Isn't that one of the worst feelings in the world? Come on, you've got to admit you've done it. I'm not the only one out there. It kind of makes me feel crazy each time I do it. Not that I do it all of the time. Maybe only once every couple of years or so. So that's not too bad.

Love in the Time of Cholera

I just started reading this book last night. And I was just looking up the author's name to put on my reading list on here, I saw that it has been made into a movie that is coming out Nov. 16. Did anyone else know about this? I'm so excited! This is perfect timing to read the book and then get to see the movie! Yay! Yay! Hip-Horray!

Caleb's Second Hair Cut

Caleb got his second hair cut on Saturday. He didn't much like it, but it looks really, really cute!

BEFORE

AFTER!

If I Stayed Home...

Ok, I've discovered that if I stayed home with Caleb all of the time, I don't think I would ever get out of my pajamas! So, good job! Way to go! to all of you moms that stay home and actually take showers and put on clothes while watching your kids at home. You're better than me!

Momma's Turn

Well, it is my turn to stay home with sick Caleb today...well at least this morning...daddy may get to come home this afternoon so I can go to work.

Caleb slept great all night long. When Chris' alarm went off shortly after 6 this morning, I realized that I had slept all night and hadn't had to get up with Caleb. Though it was nice to realize I had gotten to sleep, it made me worried (you know how mom's are!) that something was wrong with him. Was he in a coma or something? I checked on him once and he seemed fine. Then a little bit later I decided to go in and touch him to see if he would stir. He immediately shot out of bed happy and has been doing fine all morning. Hopefully he'll be alright all day today (with no fever or anything) so that we can all go back to normalcy tomorrow.

He's sitting in my lap now trying to erase what I'm typing. Little rascal!

Bring On the Old Pants!

There are clothes in my closet that I have not been able to wear since having Caleb. I've been wondering lately if I needed to just go ahead and get rid of said clothes.

The past few weeks, I have been eyeing a pair of pants that I always have liked but that I just knew were not going to fit. So I haven't tried them on.

I decided this morning that I would try them on...just to see. I figured I might be able to squeeze them over my hips, but they would probably be too tight to button. Or if I did get them buttoned, they would be way too tight to wear in public.

BUT! When I tried them on this morning, they fit so great! They weren't tight at all...they had extra room! They just fit so darn good!

I can't tell you how excited I have been all day. I get to wear my cool pants again! It's just almost as fun as getting a new pair of pants. Wait, it's even better! Getting to fit into old pants!

Google search results

Here are the latest and greatest Google searches that led people to my blog:

how to talk with a texas accent
Cheesy church signs
carroll school clothes
smiling Jesus picture - this one really confuses me. Not sure why my blog would have shown up for this one.

I love finding out how people got to my site. It's always interesting!

What's The Deal?

Caleb is at home sick again today. He has had congestion & a runny nose FOREVER! This morning he was crying uncontrollably and then coughed up a bunch of flem. Yum! Chris had a meeting early this morning but then came home to stay home with him so that I could go to work. It sure seems like we just can't get over all of this yuckiness. I would take him to the doctor, but he isn't running a fever, and it hasn't been a really big deal yet. I'm just ready for the kid to feel better! That's not too much to ask!

Voting Day

(Cue the patriotic music!)

I went and voted today during my lunch time. It always makes me feel so good to get out and vote. Such a good citizen!

My dad has always been big on voting. When my brother and I got old enough to vote, he would make sure we voted. So maybe that is why I won't miss an election...no matter how small.

So here's your friendly reminder to vote today! It'll make you feel patriotic too!

Concert Update

Caleb did GREAT at the concert last night! I was so proud of him! As soon as we got there, he was dying to see daddy, so he ran over to him and let daddy carry him around for a little bit. Then when the concert was about to start, we went and got a hotdog, Cheeto's and a cookie. The Cheeto's and cookie kept him busy for most of the concert. I've already requested Cheeto's at every concert Chris has from now on!

It was so nice that it was a relaxed atmosphere so that Caleb could make a little noise and not be a big deal. He waved his arms in the air like Mr. Dan was doing, and at the end of the last song of the night he said "Daddy!" (Because daddy was standing right in front of us directing his band.) That made the front row of flutes start laughing.

So, maybe I won't be as nervous next time about taking him to a concert...as long as there are Cheeto's!

Concert Tonight

Chris is having a band concert tonight, so I'm going to attempt to take Caleb. This concert is in Sachse HS's cafeteria and there are hotdogs, cokes, etc. So I'm hoping there will be enough atmosphere to distract Caleb, and maybe he'll be into the music. I took him last year when he was only 4 months old and he did great. This year may be a little harder since he is so mobile. Could be interesting and not so much fun! But I'm sure it'll be fine!

Driving With a Nosebleed

I saw a lady this morning who was driving with a nosebleed. It looked like it was really bad, but she seemed to be controlling it pretty well. I don't know if I could drive if I had a nosebleed.

It's kind of strange the things you see when you're driving.

Come One, Come All!

Ok RE people, you need to come to Christina's shower tomorrow just to see my house clean! It doesn't happen very often at all, so it's kind of a big deal. So, I encourage you to come! It feels so nice to have my house clean! (But with a 16 month old running around, it is very hard to keep it clean.) I absolutely LOVE lemon-scented PineSol! Greatness!

So, remember, come to the shower tomorrow for a good time and to sit in a nice, clean house! This is your one chance folks! It may not be this clean ever again! :)

A Million Posts

Ok, I have posted a million times today! So make sure you check them all out because there are too many cute & fun pictures to miss!

Halloween Night Pictures 2007

Last night we went to Mimosa Lane's Hoedown festival and then went to Forney to Uncle Casey's church's (CLIFE) Trunk or Treat. We had an awesome time! My parents and my grandmother made the rounds with us, and it was a blast!

This was at Casey's Trunk or Treat (it was in the parking lot of Chick-fil-A, Walmart & Lowes in Forney - they had a ton of people, and the atmosphere felt like the fair. So cool! All of the cars had games, so that was neat too!)

Caleb was scared of Sponge Bob, so we took a quick picture and went on our way.

Daddy & Caleb hanging out at Mimosa.

Cute picture of the hotdog and the mustard smiling at each other.
Caleb with Uncle Casey. He wanted Casey to hold him the whole time we were there!
This is a way cool transformer that was at Casey's Trunk or Treat. It was huge and had lights, smoke & sound. Very cool, but these people obviously have way too much time on their hands!
The Chick-fil-A cows were at Trunk or Treat too! I couldn't pass up a chance to take a picture with them! So cool!
My grandmother and Caleb walking into Mimosa.

Grandmother & Caleb
Hotdog Chris! He is such a good sport!
They had a cute backdrop with a saddle, and I had to get a picture with Chris & Caleb! So cute!
Chris was still hungry after dinner, so he wanted a hotdog. Something's not right in the world when a hotdog eats another hotdog.
We had such a great time at both of the churches and hanging out with family and friends! It was so good to see people that I grew up going to church with, and it was fun to show Caleb off! I love parties, and Halloween parties are some of the best!

Trunk or Treat 2007

Here they are at last! I know you've been waiting for them! We had a great time again this year at Trunk or Treat!

Daddy (Hotdog) & Caleb (Mustard)

Pops came to see Caleb all dressed up!
Pops bought Caleb a whole bag of M&M's and fed him some. Caleb will be hyped up on sugar for a very long time. Thanks Pops! :)
The Carroll family Hotdog stand. Daddy (hotdog), Caleb (mustard), Mommy (hotdog vendor).
Caleb & Daddy walking around to visit the other trunks.
My little mustard (minus his hat...it was too top heavy...but pretty cool anyway!)
There's the hat!


Can't wait till next year!

More cute pictures

Cute!

Cute!
I love this one! He was trying to touch the camera, and it looks like there is an alien finger floating in air. Priceless!
Taken when he was laying in my lap playing. I love little boys! So fun!
I caught this shot this past weekend. He ran to the door and acted like he was leaving. It was so darn cute!

Fun With Dad

I'm finally getting pictures off my camera (since I want my Halloween pictures), so there will be lots of picture posts today!

Caleb's newest favorite thing to do is read books! That's basically all he wants to do from the time we get home from school till he goes to bed. I really hope he keeps loving books since Daddy and I are such big book lovers.

More reading with Daddy!
Caleb has had great smiles lately! Sorry he has food in his mouth in this one, but I couldn't resist!
Another cute smile!
Close-up smile