bachelorette party this weekend... good times.

This weekend is my sister’s Bachelorette party. We are heading to the “Big D”… Dallas, Texas. In total, there are 9 of us (and that includes the bride – my sister, Mary). It will be a jam-packed, happening weekend full of libations and good-time girl fun… totally not my scene. I am going to do my best to have a swell time though… wish me luck.

Here are the plans for the trip:

Friday night we will be having a Lingerie shower at the hotel accompanied by bachelorette games. We are then headed to the W rooftop Ghost bar for drinks. Afterwards, we will be going to the Victory Tavern for dinner. Our reservations are at 8 pm. Yes, 8 pm. I usually eat dinner at 6 pm, and I’m in bed by 9:00 pm… this 8 pm dinner will be interesting. Following dinner, I think the plan is to go party some more… I, on the other hand, plan on returning to the hotel and going to bed. I know… I am incredibly lame… but I have accepted that.

Saturday is a “lazy day” until the evening comes along. At 7 pm we will be at the Dave Matthews Band concert… we have lawn seats. Everyone is super into Dave… I like him, but I am not a “super fan”… we will see how this concert goes (I think it’s supposed to rain… uh oh!).

Sunday we will be on our way home to “recover”… I will be on my way home to see my boys and to return to life as normal.

But seriously, it really will be an awesome weekend. I can’t wait to hang out with my sister and her friends… it will be fun. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how the weekend goes… and include pictures of the festivities. Good times.

Jamie and Ryan's Baby Shower

Sunday was one of my best friend Jamie's baby shower... it was a co-ed shower, so really the shower was for Jamie AND Ryan. I was one of the hostesses and was in charge of the balloons and the game. Both were a hit as was the whole shower. Everyone had a fantabulous time (at least I think they did). Here are some pictures:

Jamie and Ryan with the cake.

The hostesses (Courtney, me, and Dory) with the "guests of honor" (Ryan and Jamie)

Me with the balloons... aren't the lovely?

me and Randy.

the hostesses: Courtney, me, and Dory

me and my mom.

Randy and Dave.

the cake. isn't is AWESOME? Good job Dory (and Rick's Bakery).

the spread.
Dave and Randy... laughing while we sang, "Happy Baby to You"
Cutting the cake.
Alfie.
The presents
opening the presents...Randy, Naomi, and Will.Dave, Will, and Randy.

the booty!

the party crowd.

mary and clark... wedding invitation.

My little sister Mary is getting married June 27th, 2009 to Clark Carroll. Soon, she will be Mrs. Clark Carroll. Their wedding invitation came in the mail yesterday. It is BEAUTIFUL! Even the envelope it came in is gorgeous... they hired someone to do them. Very fancy. Anywho, I thought I would share the beauty... so here is the invitation:

Isn't it pretty?... I sure do think so.

peace at home family shelter grand opening

This past Thursday was a big event for the 'Donald W. Reynolds Peace at Home Family Shelter'... they had their big grand opening!... I am on their Board and am actually the President-Elect, so obviously I was there. It was really fun and I had a lovely time!

Check out the pictures I took:

Randy and I with Donald's bust... it cracks me up. I know it isn't professional of me, but it amuses me nevertheless.

Randy, my mom, me, and my dad.

Me and Randy.

the actual "Program".

 more of the actual "Program".

my favorite thing... the AWESOME playground!

hayden wearing underwear.

Hayden has some underwear. Even though we are NOT potty training, we have still purchased a few pairs for him. He even helped pick some of them out.

Hayden probably goes pee pee on the potty about 4 times a day still and poops on the potty at least once a day (usually). We were about to start actively potty training when he started to "regress" a little and I decided he isn't really ready. I think we will just wait until June when we have a whole free week and we will do a "potty training boot camp" (basically, that week we plan on him wearing just underwear... no diapers... hopefully he will take well to this, it will go well - with relatively few accidents - and he will be potty trained... yeah right... but you never know, it could happen).

Anywho, Hayden has some underwear. The other day he REALLY wanted to wear them. He got out one of his 'Thomas the Train' pairs and wanted to put them on. I figured, alright... why not give it a try?... so I helped him put them on. He did really well for about 2 hours, then he told me, "I'm wet"..."I go pee pee"... sure enough, his underwear was damp. He must not have gone much though, because only his underwear was wet. There wasn't a puddle of pee pee on the floor or rug. So that was good... I then told him we should probably put the diaper back on, because I didn't think he was quite ready for the underwear and he agreed.

I suppose I could be handling this all wrong... I sure do hope not. Randy thinks we "missed our window" and now we are in for a world of hurt (by window he is referring to the fact that Hayden was doing better at keeping his diaper dry a few weeks ago... now he isn't doing as well).

I know one of the major reasons I don't want to go "all in" with the potty training is because of the work and effort involved... plus, I really don't think he's ready... oh well. I did take some pictures of him wearing the underwear... he looks pretty cute... see:

Hopefully, the potty training boot camp will go well... assuming we still stick to that plan. We really are okay with how things are... it isn't like we are REALLY wanting him to be diaper-free... we just think it's about that time.

hayden likes school.

The other night as I was saying good-night to Hayden, I mentioned that the following day was a school day… I usually don’t give Hayden a heads up on these sorts of things because he wants to do whatever the thing is NOW… and that just makes things stressful and difficult (it works better to let him know that we are going to 'Wal-Mart' for instance 5 minutes before we plan on leaving as opposed to an hour before the scheduled departure... the hour heads-up just makes him angry and he CONSTANTLY keeps saying "Haydee ready to go now"... not an enjoyable experience)… but anywho, I mentioned it nevertheless and it went pretty well.

Hayden said, “I see my friends,” “we play”… “I play with Beckham, Charlie, Clare, Maddy, Kenna, Skylar, Sloane, Miss Christian, Miss Susie”… “yay… I like school”… (those are all his friends as well as his two teachers).

I was so pleased with his response. Knowing that Hayden enjoys school so much and his friends is a great comfort… yay for First School!

they're back!

For about 2 months, my ‘Zone Chocolate Peanut Butter’ bars that I LOVE have been off the shelves due to the Peanut Butter recall incident. Every time I go to Wal-Mart or Target, I check to see if they have returned. And until yesterday, my quest had yielded no booty; however, yesterday while doing my diligent check at Target I was finally successful!!! They were there... in new packaging... I was so pumped!!!

I purchased by box of them, came home, and ate one (only one, not the whole box)… YAY for the Zone Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar… I heart them!

P.S. I love that I used the word 'booty' in this post in reference to my valuable 'Zone' bar... it cracks me up!... booty. SO FUNNY!

P.P.S. On a completely different note, Hayden is 27-months-old today... he is growing up so fast!... and I REALLY like the number 27.

baseball game.

hayden's new car... (well, not really. it's really lili's car... and it's not new.)

jump... couch style.

Hayden has a new activity he likes to do… jumping off the armrest of our couch onto the couch itself… He LOVES it, and it gives him so much happiness… and relatively speaking, it’s not that dangerous (right?). He knows whereabouts to “jump to” on the couch and so far (knock on wood), he hasn't hurt himself… here are some pictures:

I desperately tried to get a picture of him in the air doing one of his jumps; however, I was not successful... sad me.

razorback helmet featuring popi and hayden.

Hayden and my dad, Popi... they are quite a pair.

fun with mechanical equipment.

Hayden, Randy, and my dad, Popi, with some Mechanical Equipment... fun times!