Random Pictures

I put some makeup on Kelton, which he's not so sure about!

And he put some makeup on me. James doesn't much like the
thought of him dabbling in the world of makeup artistry.

Thanksgiving 2007

My 2 Turkeys! I can't believe Thanksgiving has already passed and it's almost time for Christmas. We had a great Thanksgiving, though it went by too quickly. Pretty much all of my family lives in the same town so we see each other all the time, but it's still nice to go home and sleep in the house where I grew up so we always spend a couple of nights at my parents' house (even though ours is 20 minutes away)! I feel like a kid again & my folks "baby" me the whole time I'm there, so that's always nice. Who wouldn't want to go home to that? Kelton loves to go out & hit golf balls & feed the horse & all those fun things that you get to do in the country. One of my parents' Great Pyrenees keeps managing to get out of the fence so my dad took Kelton with him to inspect the fence. Kelton got a kick out of that. I was watching them through the window & it was so funny. My dad would bend over & look at the fence & kinda pull on it to examine it. Right behind him, Kelton would kinda bend over & check out the fence himself. I never knew the fence was so interesting out there, but that kid would've stayed out there forever had we let him!





My little sister, Aubin & me. Isn't she cute? We shared a bedroom until I was 13, when I was finally brave enough to sleep in a room by myself (though honestly, I would still have her come sleep in my bedroom when I got scared......I had a very overactive imagination & just knew she could protect me if harm came my way which is funny b/c I'm 4 years older)! Not that she needs protecting, but I am fiercely protective of her all the same. I often call her when she's out with friends & she gets to hear a lot of, "where are you?" "when are you headed home?" "have someone walk you to your car when you are leaving" & "if no one will walk you to your car, call me....I'll send James!"I love to bust out with "nothing good happens after 12:00 so there is absolutely no reason for you to be out past then", which is what my dad used to tell my when I was in high school. At 25, Aubin doesn't find it very amusing, but I think she knows I just worry about her & that I'd be lost without her. I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture with my 2 other siblings. Probably a good thing. Otherwise who knows how long this paragraph would be?!?!


Golfing in the pasture. That's how we do it in the country!













My little Indian! This picture is out of focus because he was standing so close to me, but I had to post it to show off his feathers & vest he made at Mothers Day Out!

Mispronunciations

It's been awhile since I last blogged. We've been so busy here lately , though honestly, I have no idea what we've been doing. Kelton has been sick off & on for three weeks with the same bloomin' virus. He threw up all over mat the doctor's office. It was down my shirt, in my socks, in my hair - EVERYWHERE, which was delightful. He cracks me up. He talks constantly & I know ya'll can't imagine where he gets that from! He says "E-I-E-I-you, mama", which means I love you, all day long, which of course melts my heart & probably allows him to get away with more than he should. He likes to sing his ABC's & Jesus Loves Me and he can count to ten. Six is his favorite number & he likes to say it all the time. In fact almost all numbers are 6's in his mind. The problem is when he pronounces 6, everyone else thinks he's saying the four letter word, sh*t. Which brings me to his favorite animal, a "horny", which is Kelton code for horsey. So every time we go to a store my sweet little boy points & yells, "sh*t, "horny", & "my body", which is Kelton code for his blanky. So basically the entire time I'm at HEB I'm walking around smiling wondering who is gonna turn me into CPS first. This kid cracks me up. I'm so thankful he's mine!

Big Daddy's Halloween Birthday

My dad's birthday is on Halloween, so my mama has always made October 31st extra special. She has always jumped at the chance to dress up & this year she decided to be an officer in the navy (though I'm not sure why she decided to draw a large, fake mole on her cheek). Since we had Trunk or Treat at church we decided to postpone my dad's birthday dinner until Saturday night. After Trunk or Treat, we headed over to my cousin's house to have some cupcakes and let the kids get even more hyped up on sugar! I have got the greatest dad ever and as far as I'm concerned that's a fact, not a biased opinion! He's always been so loving, giving, patient and wise. He's eager to help any way he can, even if it means spending all weekend at my house helping James put a swing set together for Kelton. When I was growing up he used to say, "your mama and I are your biggest fans" and I always knew he meant it. He's the first man I ever loved and I couldn't wait for him to get home from work everyday so I could help him take off his cowboy boots and we could hang out! Growing up, he would take all of his daughters' on "date nights" & let us decide where to eat, etc. He still takes us on date nights & I so enjoy getting to have my dad all to myself for a couple of hours! One of my favorite things about my dad is the way he loves my mother. I love to watch him while he's watching her. He is endlessly amused by her (honestly, we all are - she's pretty entertaining) and you can tell she is his world. I hope James is still that smitten with me after 38 years of marriage! Another thing I love about my dad is the way he is with his grandkids. It doesn't matter how tired he is, that man gets down on the floor and "wrastles" with them just because it makes them happy and he lives to make them laugh! My dad is one of the biggest blessings in my life! My mom says that I have him wrapped around my little finger and truth be told, he's always had me wrapped around his!

Halloween 2007

Kelton was not a big fan of his dinosaur costume. In fact, this may be the only picture of him where he is actually wearing the dinosaur head. Poor Kelton has been sick with a virus for over a week & I came down with it Monday night. We missed the Halloween party at Mothers Day Out on Tuesday so I refused to let us miss the festivities on Wednesday night. I gave Kelton some medicine to nip that runny nose in the bud & off we went! We first stopped by Daddy's work to trick or treat around the office and then we went to Trunk or Treat at church. You can tell from the pictures that Kelton is a little groggy. We had lots of fun, but hopefully we will feel better next year.

Pumpkin Patch

Visiting the pumpkin patch with Kelton's buddy, James!

My Fella'

Well, I've been tagged by Lauren & Daley to write all about my fella'!
1. Who is your man? James
2. How long have you been married? 6 years
3. How long did you date? first date to engagement was 9 months; first date to wedding was 18 months
4. How old is your man? just turned 30
5. Who eats more? James (unless you're talking about dessert & then I challenge anyone to try & out-eat me)
6. Who said “I love you” first? Back in college I was sick one night, so James came over & brought me soup & was tickling my back. As I started to fall asleep, I was thinking in my mind, "I love you", & then all of the sudden James said "what did you just say?" I immediately opened my eyes, played dumb & made up something. We'd only been dating a few weeks & I didn't want to scare him off, plus I kinda wanted him to tell me first. Anyway, a couple of minutes later when he left to go home, he stopped at the door, turned to me and said, "Oh, by the way, I love you too" and then he smiled.
7. Who is taller? James is 6'2 & I'm 5'7
8. Who sings better? me
9. Who is smarter? James has a photographic memory (except when we argue & then his remembrance of events becomes fuzzy)
10. Whose temper is worse? we're both pretty hot-headed, luckily it's usually about different things so one can usually put things into perspective for the other
11. Who does the laundry? me
12. Who takes out the trash? James
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? James
14. Who pays the bills? me
15. Who is better with the computer? James
16. Who mows the lawn? James, but I usually mow the front a couple of times a month
17. Who cooks dinner? me
18. Who drives when you are together? James
19. Who pays when you go out? James
20. Who is more stubborn? James (though he would probably say me)
21. Who is first to admit when they are wrong? probably me
22. Whose family do you see the most? mine, we live in the same town
23. Who kissed who first? James kissed me after I baited him by saying, "so, you think you might ever kiss me"?
24. Who asked who out? I asked James to a grub for our sorority
25. Who proposed? James
26. Who is more sensitive? me, I cannot watch Extreme Home Makeover without falling apart
27. Who has more friends? we both have a lot though almost every time I'm in an airport with James, he manages to run into to some long lost friend he hasn't seen in ages (including the guy who was scanning me with a metal detector wand in airport security after my underwire in my bra set it off; I guess I was the only woman wearing a bra that day at DFW)
28. Who has more siblings? me (I'm the 3rd of 4 & he's the 1st of 3)
29. Who's wears the pants in the family? We both do, but he's definitely the disciplinarian & head of the household

Aaron Watson

We have a good friend from college named Aaron Watson. He was always fiddlin' around with his guitar in college. He'd sing for us & we always knew he was really talented. Well, Aaron decided to enter a contest for up and coming musical talents while we were in college. He and James drove down to Luckenbach and hand delivered Aaron's demo CD to Larry Gatlin during Willie Nelson's Annual Picnic. Aaron won the contest and has since become quite the little singer. He came to town this past weekend for a concert. James, Matt & Aaron golfed Saturday morning and then he spent the day at our house. We had the best time remembering the good old college days. Aaron has not changed a bit. I am so proud of him. He doesn't drink or cuss and his songs are all clean too, which is nice in this day and age. He has this huge following and he is still as sweet and humble as he's always been. He travels and sings on Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights and he's at church on Sunday mornings. We went and saw his show at the fair Sat. night with Hilary and Bird. It's so cool to see thousands of people cheering for him and screaming his name. Those of you who haven't heard any of Aaron's music, I highly recommend you look at his website (http://www.aaronwatson.com/) & listen to some of his music. He's really talented. My favorites are Off the Record, San Angelo, Shut Up and Dance, and I Don't Want You to Go! Well, there's my shameless little plug for Aaron, not that he needs it!

My little Evil Knevil

Well, I've been busy trying to keep Kelton out of the Emergency Room here lately. He mistakenly thinks that he has the coordination of a professional athlete and the daring bravery of Evil Knievel. This kid is not afraid of anything (except squeaker shoes) and he is in fact a little too daring for my comfort. As a result, he keeps standing on any surface that he can climb and jumping out into the great unknown. It's really more of a dive rather than a jump because he has landed on his face about 7 times in the last week, as evidenced in the pictures of him. He has face planted off of the couch, off of our bed and as of today, off of a bench in a Target dressing room. I had just taken my clothes off so I could try something on, when I heard him say "one...free...JUMP". Well his feet got tangled in the diaper bag, so they never made it to the ground to break his fall, but his face did. He landed directly on his nose, which then began to bleed profusely. So I'm standing there in my unmentionables trying to assess the situation and decide if a trip to the hospital would be necessary. I used his blanket to try & stop the bleeding. Once I was finally able to get my skirt on & my shirt half way on, I ran out to ask for some Kleenex. I'm sure the dressing room attendant saw more of me than she cared to, but you mothers understand . . . when your baby is bleeding everywhere & crying hysterically, all modesty goes out the window and not much else matters. It eventually stopped bleeding and we left Target. We were covered with blood from head to toe. I got home & looked in the mirror & realized what everyone had been staring at. I had blood smeared all over my neck and chin. I even managed to get some in my hair & poor Kelton looked like he had been playing with red paint in a spin art machine. Well, we're okay, thank goodness. God is so clever. I think he must have had Kelton in mind when he decided that kids' bones should not fully harden until the first couple years of life are out of the way. Otherwise we'd probably be on broken nose #10 by now! Here are a few pictures of the last couple of weeks. Kelton is trying to catch a raindrop in the first picture. Susannah turned 2 & Justin had his 6th birthday party as well, so we had a busy weekend! Special K was tuckered out by Sunday! In the last picture, he is sound asleep with his face pressed against the bars of his baby bed!

Special K's Fashion Sense

This is what Kelton wanted to wear to bed the other night. I can't really argue with the Cowboys jersey, but I'm not sure why he felt the need to wear his swimming suit. I guess he was planning on sneaking out during the night to go swimming. Too bad for him, we put a tent on his crib to prevent such events!

Who Knew Cool Whip was so Entertaining?

Not much new to report. We started back to Mothers Day Out a couple weeks ago. Kelton has one of the teachers that he had last year & he loves Miss Jari, so that's nice to leave him with someone familar! I'm teaching the 3 year old class this year. I've got 9 students, including my niece, Whitney and one of my friends daughters, Mary Elizabeth. They are so cute & fun and Whitney just about has the enitre class calling me "E-boo" instead of Miss Amber. E-boo is what all of my nieces & nephew call me! I don't mind it at all though! James & I went to Dallas last weekend and hung out with a bunch of our college friends, which is always lots of fun. On Saturday we went to a baby shower for some of our friends who are expecting a little boy next month, which is kinda funny because she had a little girl today! The sonogram was 99% sure she was pregnant with a little boy, but that 1% margin of error turned out to be correct. Apparently the umbilical cord was placed just perfectly between her legs! It's been so hot & humid lately, we've been trying to entertain ourselves indoors, hence the blue cool whip on his face!

Look what Kelton got into!

My adorable son is MISCHIEVOUS! Yesterday afternoon he was playing in my room while I did laundry. When I went to check on him I found that he had gotten into my makeup & "wrapped" my bathroom with toilet paper! I couldn't help but laugh & pull out the camera. He hammed it up & said "TEEZ", which means cheese in English! My mom has a picture of me after I did the same thing in her bathroom when I was little. Except, I also dumped a jar of baby powder all over the bathroom. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but he also drew all over his arms & legs with my eyeliner. There is never a dull moment with Kelton around.

James' Birthday Weekend

September the 5th marked James's 30th birthday. I had a small surprise party for him this past weekend. Our closest friends & family (locally) were pretty much all able to come. His sister flew in from California & his folks came in from New Mexico. We actually pulled off the surprise & he didn't have a clue. I think everyone had a really good time. . . except me. I got sick with the stomach bug (which James had earlier in the week) a couple of hours before the party. I was able to "lure" him to the party & visit with everyone for a couple of minutes before heading back home with fever. All in all, we had a good time with family and I've enjoyed making fun of how old James is. If you ask me, he's still pretty cute . . . for a geriatric.