Our Adoption Day

July 10th is adoption day at our house. 30 years ago on July 10th my parents adopted me. And 2 years ago on July 10th Hulk's adoption was finalized. So it is our special family day. I wanted to do something special that day as a way to start our traditions. My mom used to do special things for me on that day and I would like to carry that on.

So I decided that this year I would take Hulk to the bigger city and go to a park there that has a carousel and train for kids to ride and some cool flower gardens. I started planning a couple weeks ago and I was super excited. In my mind it would be a wonderful day. The weather would be nice. We would ride the rides and he would LOVE them. He would laugh lots and maybe glance over at me as the carousel turned round and round and we would have a mother child moment I could remember for a lifetime. In my mind I would also be able to take some beautiful pictures of him in the rock and flower gardens there. Oh the vision I had in my mind!

So Saturday morning we were up and ready to go. Hulk woke up in an amazing mood and was super funny while we were getting ready. I even had some good hair going on. Things were looking great. We hopped in the car for our hour long drive to the bigger city and all seemed well. 20 minutes outside of the city though Hulk fell asleep. And then he woke up when I parked the car. He woke up poorly!

He was somewhat disoriented so I thought well we will walk around the park while he wakes up and look at the flowers etc. Well no sooner were we out of the car and he saw the carousel and wanted to ride. So we rode and he did love it. He loved it so much in fact that he wanted to ride it again right away. I convinced him to try the play ground toys which he did for about two minutes before beelining back to the carousel. So we rode it again. This time he was not loving it as much. He still seemed disoriented and sleepy. When we got off we watched the train go by and I told him we could go ride it. We heading for the parking lot to go to the other side of the park and all hell broke lose.

He began to throw a fit of epic proportions. I mean it was the grand champion of all fits! I tried to pick him up off the asphalt and he was going so insane I could hardly hold on to him. Kicking, screaming, hitting, more screaming. I got him to the car and tried to put him in his seat and he was fighting me so hard I couldn't get him in the car seat. After ten minutes of trying that I just closed the door and thought he could cry it out. I went to the front and started the car so he would have a/c during the epic disaster and as I got back out security was there. They thought I was KIDNAPPING him! At this point he is banging on the windows, screaming, crying, snot running down his face, ugly cry. I convince security this mess of a child is mine and they leave. I try to talk to him and explain that we can't go ride the train until he gets in his seat. Nothing works. So I decide to wait him out and ignore the fit.

48 minutes later I got him in his seat. Needless to say we did not ride anymore rides or visit the flowers and the only pictures I got were the ones I posted to this post. We went to my Aunts house and then to lunch and he did well. Thank God. But definitely not the day I had planned. They never are right?!? We got home that night and read stories and cuddled and sang row row your boat about 800 times. And that was good enough for me. Epic fit, yes. Good adoption day, yes. I wouldn't trade that fit throwing, embarrassing his mama in public kid for anything.

Not Me Monday!

I promise you that I am NOT terrified of snakes! Since I'm NOT terrified of snakes I would not have freaked out at finding one in my jungle of a flower bed. Because I'm NOT terrified of snakes I did NOT have my toddler pick up the snake and put it in the trash can. He does NOT love snakes and think they are the coolest thing ever (after dinosaurs of course). I then did NOT call the neighbor kid over to kill the snake. I would NEVER involve children in the removal or murder of snakes. That is so NOT like me.

I did NOT write down a photography clients information on a diaper I had in my car. I was NOT caught without a notepad because I'm always prepared for work calls. Once home I did NOT place said diaper on my child and then remember later that I needed to copy the information. I then did NOT have to hold my child down so I could copy all the important details off of his butt.

What did you NOT do this week?

In Trouble

Oh I'm official in trouble. The Granny called me just a few minutes ago and I barely got hello out before she asked why I hadn't posted lately. I pulled up my blog and realized I hadn't posted since Tuesday! Sorry Cricket!!! She gets her Hulk fix and our life updates through the blog so if I don't post I get in trouble. So to get me out of the dog house here are some random going ons at our place.

1. The living room, hallway, and both bedrooms are completely painted! I finished the living room and hall last night and the boy and I put everything back today. He is actually fairly helpful at moving furniture. That kid is freakishly strong!
2. My flower bed is a jungle! It has rained so much that I walked in the backyard today and swore I saw a dinosaur out there. It's ridiculous and I think I'm just going to mow it rather than try to weed it.
3. I only eat meat on Fridays. That is when I go to lunch with Darby and I always get a chicken wrap. So I'm like a backwards Catholic. Only meat on Fridays.
4. I have about 180,903 photos to edit. I am so behind on our own pictures. It's ridiculous!
5. I've used ridiculous twice in this post. That is also ridiculous. I'm beginning to think that is the word of the day. Maybe I should title this post ridiculous.
6. I'm watching Season 4 of 24 thanks to Netflix. I love Netfilx.
7. I found two dollars in my pants pocket when I put them on this morning. You would have thought it was $200 I was so excited. I love finding money.
8. I got a rice cooker for my birthday and I'm in love with it. Seriously we are eating a ton of brown rice lately and it cooks it perfectly!
9. My garden is growing like crazy. I got our first tomatoes last weekend and have had a new one ready each day. Green peppers should be ready to harvest later this week.
10. The carpet is getting cleaned on Tuesday! Yahoo!!!

Okay Granny does that get me out of the dog house. I promise tomorrow I'll post pictures of the boy. Be careful on the beach!

Favorite Things (Kid Edition)

My boy likes a lot of different things. But the older he gets the more obvious his favorite things become. He is now able to voice his opinions and is very clear on his love of the following things.

1. The red blanket you see in the picture above. This blanket was actually given to me by my Aunt Adair. It is a super soft corduroy material. It seriously is so soft and warm and wonderful. And I never get to use it anymore. The boy has snagged it as his own and hauls it with him to bed each night. During the day he usually brings it out to snuggle with it or cover up with it.
   
2. Dried cranberries. That's what he has in his bowl in the above picture. He would eat them all day if I let him.
   
3. Dinosaurs! He loves dinosaur toys and books and puzzles and all things dinosaurs. He likes to pretend his is a dinosaur and roar at you. Dinosaurs are a huge hit! There are usually a couple dinosaurs in his bed with him each night.
   
4. Animal toys. He loves the little people animals. He calls them his "manimals". He will feed them all toy hay and then kiss them all.
   
5. Music! We pretty much have music on as long as we are awake. The child will dance everywhere and knows the words to lots of songs. Since we listen to our music on Pandora he often goes to the computer and asks for Sylas Songs if I don't have the music playing.
   

So those are the kid favorites around here. Do your kids really love anything?

Flower Power

While we were out walking the other evening I grabbed these shoots of some flowers. Actually these are some of my favorite types of flowers. Black Eyed Susans and Coneflowers are beautiful in my opinion. I've always wanted them in my flower gardens and I've planted them several times. But they never come up! I see them all over town so they can't be that hard to grow. But I have never had any luck with them! Does someone out there know the secret. I'd love to have a huge bed of coneflowers! I think they would be beautiful to use for photo sessions...

A Fourth To Flip Over!

The boy has turned into a little monkey lately. He loves to jump off of everything! The newest trick is flipping. I have given up on trying to stop him. He is going to do it no matter what. So now I'm on the hunt for a tumbling class to teach him how to do it a little safer. Either way he thinks he is pretty cool stuff and loves to watch himself on the camera when he gets done. I don't know if I'm raising a monkey, a movie star, or a silly little boy. Maybe it's a combination of all three.

30 Rocks

Well 30 works for me! I had a wonderful birthday! Darby and I spent the day in the city doing some shopping, some eating, and a lot of laughing! Just what I needed. I can't imagine a more relaxing or fun filled 30th birthday. I'm so lucky to have such good friends and great family. It was a real treat to get so many phone calls, text messages, and cards. I'm blessed!

We were going to head to Tulsa for the holiday weekend but the boy is under the weather. Since he is sick we are going to stick around here. I'm hoping he will perk up some over the weekend so we can still do some fun things. There is a parade on Sunday that I figured we could go to and a fireworks show if he is up to it. While not the weekend I had planned I'm sure we will still have some fun.