Back at It

Now that Eric has been cleared for full work release and all activities, we have resumed family swim time. Last year, we did this weekly at thy gym when the weather was chilly. And then when it was gorgeous outside, we would head to the club house at one of the private golf courses (it's nice to know people) and cool off in the pool. This year, we hope to do much of the same. Today, we took Carter to the gym. His swimming is leagues better this year - I can tell he definitely listens better on how to kick and use his arms. I clearly need to get him into lessons, or just teach him since I was in swimming lessons my entire childhood. Might as well do it myself instead of paying someone else, right? Here are some shots from today.Gee, I can't tell if he's having any fun!!

After spending quite a bit of time jumping in, we ditched the pool and headed for the hot tub. He LOVES the bubbles. Can't say that I blame him - it's quite relaxing after splashing all over the pool. I'm sure we will be back next weekend!

Mr. Attitude?

I stuck Carter in the direct sunlight today, hoping to catch his baby-blues.....and I told him to give me a big boy smile. This is what he gave me.

Hmmm.....thanks for trying, buddy! ;)

Cartoon

Everything is always more fun in cartoon! Especially chasing geese through a park!

Book Review: The Host

I have gotten away from doing these, and I think it's time to revive the habit. I LOVE reading. I feel lost when I don't have a good book in my life. I just finished up with a book called "The Host" (I understand you are supposed to underline book titles, but Blogger doesn't let me and it drives me nuts - just thought I would point that out.).

This book was referred to me by my best friend, Meag. She actually loaned it to me back in November when I went to visit her, and for some reason, I just now got around to it. The author is Stephenie Meyer......if that name doesn't ring a bell to any of you, she wrote the Twilight saga. This book is not a vampire book. However, it is science fiction, which I noticed right off the bat.....which is not my preferred genre. Meag told me to stick with the book because it was really good. So I struggled through the first 5 or 6 chapters, wondering how I was going to finish 619 pages of it. And somewhere around the 6th chapter, I was hooked. And I finished the book 3 days later. It was that good. Yes, it does involve aliens, of sorts. And a love story. And conflict. I highly recommend this book. I also did a little bit of research and Meyer plans to write two sequels to this book and it's also been picked up to be turned into a movie, which I'm extremely excited about. If you want to dive into a fantastic book that is maybe a little out of your normal genre, I definitely recommend this book.

New Family Pictures

Eric's mom took us out today for some updated family pictures. We haven't done any serious ones since the summer of our wedding. Needless to say, we were due.

We had quite an adventure with Carter today.

There were geese all over the place and he was sprinting from one side of the park to the other, trying to catch up to them.

From time to time, we caught up to him and made him sit down for a picture....which was still quite difficult.

It was a gorgeous day to be outside and it was a fun outing......and I'm pleased to say we got some shots that will be on full display at our house.

Thanks Michelle!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Wishing my fabulous mother-in-law a wonderful birthday today!! We hope it's a good one!

BIG

Everything to Carter is BIG lately. BIG schoolbus. BIG truck. BIG cup of milk. BIG slide. You get my drift. So we decided that it was time for him to move into a big boy bed. He has outgrown his toddler bed.....not physically, but the rails are serving no purpose anymore since he hasn't once fallen out. So why continue to keep him confined in the toddler bed when he's clearly ready for the big boy bed?

So I called up my mom because she has been holding a bed for me. The bed that my brother used when he was a boy, and before that, my uncle used when he was a boy. Well, not the mattresses, but the headboard and footboard, which we will be sanding down and re-staining to match Carter's dresser.

In the meantime, the mattress set is on the floor, which works out better anyway since it's the perfect height for Carter. The sanding and re-staining project will be tackled next weekend, and I'm quite excited for it.

Congrats, my big boy! You're moving up in the world!

Spring is in the air.....

My car told me on the drive home today that it was 71 degrees. Whether or not that was true, I didn't really care. I was sure of one thing: Carter and I were going outside to play the minute we got home. And play, we did!

There were certain things going on in the backyard today that told me spring is in the air.

First, my tulips are coming up all over the place. Tulips are my favorite flower, so I'm very excited to see these up already!

Second, there was a little boy running all over the place, messy hair, covered in dirt, and carrying around the dog's slobbery ball. Yup - sounds about right if you have a little boy in your life!

We had a great evening playing in the sun, enjoying the light breeze.

I am so excited for spring to hit and STAY so that we can be outside every afternoon/evening after work. I'm sure Carter will keep us extremely busy!!

And my washing machine quite busy since he has no fear of getting dirty.

Hope you all are able to get out and enjoy the gorgeous weather!!!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a fairly quiet weekend. My hubby headed up to my family's cabin for a guys-only trip. So Carter and I were on our own.

Friday night, right after work, we headed to one of my favorite places:

Saturday was spent doing a lot of playing. We actually woke up to SNOW, so we spent most of the morning playing with Play-Doh. We made numerous creations....Carter is quite creative. It's fun watching him make dinosaurs (or his version anyway). I like to challenge my child through creative outlets - I think it's very important in development.

After playing, eating lunch, and attempting a nap through the howling wind, we made a trip to my parents' house to check out their bathroom remodel. Last week, everything was gutted out. They have now installed the lighting in the ceiling and over the vanity, the medicine cabinet, and have now begun laying the tile. (Note: the green walls in the shower area will not stay green. It's just the water-proofing.)

Saturday evening, I had some girlfriends over for dinner and drinks. The dinner was baked pork chops, rice and veggies. The drinks consisted, among other things, of the following:

It was a great night filled with deep conversations, many laughs, and maybe a little bit of man-bashing. ;)

Today, Carter and I spent a little bit of time doing chores around the house. His favorite thing to help with is laundry.

His favorite part is when we turn on the water. He squeals every time!

Then we made our shopping list for the week and headed to the store. We also decided that it was time to go green and ditch the plastic shopping bags we bring home every weekend. Though we do recycle those, these just seem to make more sense. So we will buy a bundle for the next couple trips and we should be good to go.

Overall, it was a great weekend. I just got in a great workout, following by a refreshing shower, and now it's time to dive into a good movie.

Hope you all had a great weekend, too!

There Comes a Time.....

......in everyone's life where it seems like we make the choice to eliminate the negativity. That negativity can come in many forms - whether it's work, shows you watch, or the people you call friends.

In my specific circumstance, it was someone who I no longer considered a friend. And this can happen for many different reasons - though mine were very specific. And I felt it was time to let the negativity go because I'm at a point in my life where I don't need to deal with unnecessary drama. And that's all this person was - drama, drama, drama. And I tried to approach the situation with some maturity, in hopes that the discussion wouldn't end up in a blow-up situation, much similar to when she lost yet another friend last year. But what I learned from all this is, no matter how mature YOU try to be, or how logically YOU try to explain something to someone, some people just cannot handle the situation with any sort of tact or dignity. And this was proven right off the bat. And it's sad, really, because we are all adults here....or so I thought.

In this circumstance, the person happened to be a "competitor" in the photography business. The professional ethics of this person left a lot to be desired. In fact, you could almost call it shady. I do. And to me, a true definition of the word "character" is: doing the right thing when no one is looking. And when someone does something that specifically goes against a client's wish, that's not cool. It doesn't sit well with me. And I refuse to be associated with someone who can't practice even the most simple business ethics.

Another area of concern for me hit really close to home since I'm a mother. It got to the point where the safety of this person's child was causing extreme concern for me. Actually, not just me - those around me with whom I shared the stories. So I had to make a decision - a hard decision. Either I was going to make a phone call, or I needed to just walk away and hope the child would be okay. I chose the latter, seeing it as the lesser of two evils. Specifically because this person happens to be married to a man I know to be violent. Someone who knows where I live. Where my child lives. So the choice was easy for me.

So I sat down and put my thoughts on paper, uninterrupted from the many excuses I knew I would hear in reply. I had several people read my thoughts so that I could be sure I was handling the situation in a mature manner. Each person felt I was. So I sent my thoughts and hoped that the recipient would also handle the matter with the same maturity. My hopes were quickly proved wrong when I received numerous responses, lashing out and making excuses, instead of focusing on the valid points I had tried to make. Then, in further acts of childlike behavior, the person decided to compose several online posts, bashing me and misconstruing the entire situation. But that's what I expected. And that's why I made the decision to eliminate this person from my life. And it looks like my decision was dead-on. So I guess I owe this person a thank-you for proving what I DON'T need in my life. Sometimes all you have to do is give people enough rope, and they will hang themselves.

How Do You Decide?

When is enough, enough when it comes to your pet?

I've had my cat for 5 years now. I got her when I lived on my own - shortly before my husband and I moved in together. She pees. She's fully litterbox trained, yet she still pees. If you leave a towel on the floor, she will pee on it. Not every day - but still, consistently. And when my husband moved in with me, she didn't adjust well to a new person and the new person's dog. So she peed more. Then we had a baby. She peed more. On my clothes. His clothes. The floor. Bathroom rugs. Everywhere BUT her litterbox - which is cleaned out REGULARLY. Then another cat came along, and she REALLY didn't like that. So she started pooping. I have reached my wit's end with this cat more times than I can count, but I just can't bring myself to take her to the pound. Why? Because that's where I got her. I adopted her when she was 2 years old to save her from being put down. And it seems cruel to take her back to the same place where she will most certainly meet the same demise.

My husband and I have had countless fights about this cat and her peeing issues. And I'm back to my wit's end. What do I do with her? Take her to the pound? Make her an outside-only cat? What happens in the winter when there is three feet of snow? I want to keep my cat - I truly do. But I have zero patience left for her and I really don't feel like I need to bend over backwards to find a solution to her peeing.

HELP?? What would you do?

If That Ain't Perfect.....

I don't know what is.

I snuck into Carter's room several times this evening to grab some pictures of him.

He's moving into a big boy bed this weekend - he has no use for the toddler bed. So these are the last pictures of him in his "old" bed.

Lions and Tigers and.......no bears, AGAIN

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. We spent most of the morning doing some spring cleaning around the house.....about 3 hours worth actually. And after Carter took a nap, we headed down to the zoo to check out the animals. This trip was really fun because a lot of the books and movies Carter has feature most of these animals. So he was excited to see them in "real life."

The monkeys were quite tame today. Usually they are swinging all over the place, hootin' and hollerin'. Maybe they just woke up from their naps, too.

We also saw the bald eagles - both were injured, and that's why they are at the zoo. As you can see, one wing is fine, but the other is pretty badly hurt. Not sure what happened to them. But they were certainly vocal while we were there.

I put Eric behind the camera several times today - since I'm usually the picture taker, there are hardly any pictures of Carter and me. We also got to see the giraffes outside. Every time we have seen them in the past, they have been inside their {huge} house. So it was nice to see them out and about.

The lions were also pretty active today. The male was sitting right by the viewing window - but the female was pacing all over the place. I think she was having a bad day - what do you think?

We also went to the penguin house, which we had never been to before. I'm not sure how we managed to skip this the last couple times we have been to the zoo. But Carter LOVED the penguins. They were swimming all over the place.

Right here, he was telling Eric that the penguins will bit your finger. Every animal we saw today, Carter pointed out how they would bite your finger.....which is most certainly true.

Going down the BIG giraffe slide.

In the tunnel to view the prairie dogs.

The two brother tigers were definitely fiesty today - they were fighting when we first walked up, but as soon as I took out the camera, they just paced around. Go figure. I was waiting for a good NatGeo moment! (have I ever mentioned how cool it would be to work for NatGeo?!)

Carter especially loved the lemurs, since they play a big role in the Madagascar movies.

This is an African porcupine - I have never seen anything like it. Definitely not something I would want to meet in the wild!

All in all - it was a fantastic afternoon. Carter had a ball seeing all his favorite animals....though he didn't see his main favorite: a dinosaur. Better luck next time kiddo!