Embrace the Camera

I am linking up with Emily for the very important Embrace the Camera day. Please don't forget to get in front of your camera WITH your kids. It's something that they will have forever. And who cares what you look like? Some of my favorite pics are of my mom rockin a huge perm and bad 80's white sunglasses (that are now cool again...holy crap I'm old).

Me and my little lady flying to Atlanta. She (thankfully) passed out right after takeoff. Behind the scenes secret: I'm fake sleeping.

Night Out

My first night out as a 27 year old woman was better than I could ask for. Do you remember when birthdays used to be a big production, where everything had to be perfect and planned? I guess now we focus more on our kids' birthday parties and planning for those that by the time our own birthdays roll around, all we want is peace and quiet. I wanted an "unbirthday" birthday party. And that's exactly what I got.

My mom picked up Isabelle for the night and I got to take a shower, get dressed with a glass of wine and listen to Christmas music (lately, Isabelle has made us listen to AWFUL kid music..I'm talking kids singing the most boring, poorly written christian songs out there).
Mr. T and I just sat at the house for a bit talking about our days and enjoying each others company. I forgot how quiet the house can be without a little one running around. The pitter patter of little feet running around on wood floors is a beautiful sound.
Do you know what else is a beautiful sound? Silence. Only parents understand me on that one.

We then went to eat at my favorite sushi place (Mr. T filled up on cream cheese won ton's before the meal even came....his biggest fear is walking away from a meal hungry) and enjoyed our favorite past time of just driving around town in his truck. While we were dating we spent a lot of time in his truck (not in a dirty way) because when you live with roommates, you don't get much alone time. We would talk about the future and where we wanted to be in a few years. Our new little roommate hates driving around, so we usually just drive from point A to point B in a hurry. We took our time getting to the restaurant and enjoyed the easy ride while we talked about what the future may hold, listened to Christmas music and judged all of the Christmas light displays.

Can you guess what our favorite Christmas light display was?

If you guessed Santa peeing off the roof, then you are correct and you know us well. Only in Oklahoma.

We spent the remainder of the night shopping at the mall (uninterrupted) while eating ice cream. I love the time with my little lady, but it's so nice to have a night out with just adults and it makes it even sweeter to know that Isabelle is at my parents house having a great time without us.

This morning we picked her up bright and early and returned to business as usual.

 
No complaints here....

{Happy Birthday to ME!}

I feel completely ridiculous wishing myself a happy birthday, but I love birthdays and mine is my favorite! I am turning the big 2-7 and I have already had a great birthday. Mr. T gave me a brand new camera that I am LOVING and I'm really eager to learn (because holy moly, there's a lot to learn) everything about it. So I will soon be taking lots of self portraits in the bathroom mirror (because that's what you're supposed to do right?). I kid, I kid.
Until then, I'll leave you with an ol' iPhone pic of our little pink yetti waiting for the Christmas parade to start.

Yes, that's right, I said "Christmas" and not "Holiday". We live in the bible belt where people get offended if you wish them a "Happy Holiday". All night I dared Mr. T to say it.

Jesus is the reason for the season people!

Hair raising stories

Now, anyone that takes a glance at my daughter will quickly tell me how she looks exactly like my husband. That is no secret. Her almond shaped, coal colored eyes rival Frosty's and look just like her daddy's. 

After Isabelle started growing hair, I realized she also had her dad's wild mane. She wakes up from naps looking more like a lion and less like a toddler. (She does, however, get her grouchiness after nap time from me. I can claim that little trait. She also sounds more like a lion and less like a toddler.....Not fun.)  

Exhibit A: After nap time yesterday

Yup, you can't train that people. I promise (Santa's watching) there is no gel, balloons, or water involved in this hair do. It's au natural.

Don't believe me?

Exhibit B: Her daddy

Now, his might have a tad of grease in it. He was at the lake all weekend and for some reason he believes lake time doesn't go with hygiene.

P.s. Sorry I posted this picture Mr. T. That's what you get for making coffee that tastes like old, dirty, pot roast water. It's also what you get for taking pictures while driving...gah.

They both come by that hair honestly. Mr. T's grandma has got herself a full head of hair that you can see more of here. It's so awesome.

Remember when I used to think she had a mullet? Wow, times have changed. She has a full on mullet/ rat tail that is getting completely out of control. I think I am ready for a little sniparoo on the ol' hair to kind of even her out and make it more of a pixie cut and less of a business in the front, party in the back.

In her defense, I will say it doesn't look that bad when it's not wet, but no one wants a mullet at any time (unless of course you are attending a Nascar event and need one in order to fit in). My mom let me walk around with one and I am still bitter about it. I vowed to never do that to my kid and then here I am! So maybe a new Christmas-do is in order. Or maybe I will just continue to save these pictures for her wedding day. Probably the latter.  

SO WHAT! Wednesday

This week I am saying SO WHAT! :

If I get a tad nervous every time I have to enter one of those codes on the computer to make sure you're not a spammer or whatever. You know the ones...where you have to type TYGPE, KiTe. I feel like if I type it wrong, I am going to be in trouble.

If I sign up for something on the internet and I have to confirm my email, I will generally not sign up for it. Takes wayyy to long and I am compulsive. If you make me wait that long, I will most likely be over it quickly.

If I wonder who actually reads the "terms and conditions" when they are 37 pages long and in tiny writing. One of these days I am going to learn my lesson and at least skim the pages. Probably not though.

If it's obvious that I have been shopping wayyyy too much online lately. Not obvious to you? See above.


The instrumental Christmas music gives me the urge to go shopping at Hobby Lobby. They always play that kind of music and I love it. Classical Conditioning at it's finest right there folks.


Teen Mom is back and I'm so excited to watch it (I DVR'd it). I follow most of them on Twitter (except for Kailyn....snooze fest) so I feel like I already know what's going on with them. Jennelle's still a train wreck and still needs some serious counseling while Chelsea still needs an intervention for her obsession with leopard print.

Trip to Atlanta in Pictures

We did it! We met the "real deal" Santa and he was everything they promised. He was fat, jolly, with rosy cheeks and knew us by name. Now in my days, I have met plenty of Santa's. I have been yelled at by two of them, waited an hour and then right when I got up to see him I was told Santa needed to "feed his reindeer" which in reality meant take a smoke break, and visited a Santa that's belly was so fat that is honestly hung down by his ankles. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Claus was not real turned on by that (I know, I know. Coal for me). 

This guy was the opposite. He was so sweet and caring and we never felt rushed by him. Of course Izzy loved him too:

Sure, we had to take a plane ride in order to see him and sure he makes SIX figures for working for two months, but this guy was so worth it. We have already decided it is going to be our family tradition. So if you're in the Atlanta area head over to Lennox mall and visit the man. You won't be disappointed and please tell him I sent you...I would prefer less coal this year in my stocking.

After Isabelle's awesome visit with Santa we cheered her up a bit with some hot chocolate and cookies.

The little blur to the right is cousin Carter aka "Bubba" sneaking in some bunny ears.

The girl already has expensive taste...Daddy's in trouble with this one.

Seriously, I couldn't have planned a more perfect picture.

Atlanta is an amazing place to me. I will not lie (Santa's watching), I would LOOVE to move there. My Aunt lives in the suburbs and it's quiet with a lot of trees and is peaceful and quaint, but then you have a 20 minute drive and you are in the heart of Atlanta where there is EVERYTHING to do and it a mush pot of cultures and people. Amazing!

We also got to join my cousins for lunch which was a lot of fun to see OUR kids playing together! Is it just me or do you feel like you should be 12 again when you reunite with your cousins? I feel like we should be pestering each other, not having play dates with our kids!

Mr. T didn't get to make the trip this year, which was sad (and hard...single moms deserve a medal of honor, and most likely a purple heart) but also meant that we got most of our Christmas shopping done without having to hear, "You're losing me, I don't have much longer. I've had enough" over and over again. He was also happy he missed out on that part as well. One thing he did miss? The most amazing milkshakes ever! Of course I gained about 20lbs on the trip, but it was so worth it. If you have a Flip Burger in your area...go now. Order their milkshakes. Don't believe me? Ask Isabelle.

Sister means business when it comes to milkshakes or ice cream. Cookies? Pie? Cake? They're OK. Ice cream....is serious business to her. When she learned that she had to share, she got stressed out. She gave everyone the evil eye while they drank some of her milkshake. We generally don't let her eat a ton of sugar, so when she does get some she resembles the spawn of Richard Simmons and Joel Osteen. NOTHING could bring her down!

Nothing except, of course, the Sugar Crash.

Girlfriend loved her some Atlanta. She was sick the day we left, but thank goodness she felt great the entire trip!

Now of course, it's vacation hangover day. Time to unpack, catch up on sleep and FINALLY decorate the house for Christmas.

Was the Spicy Chicken Sandwich worth it?

This week, my car decided that it didn't want to blow hot air anymore. It's getting pretty cold here, so heat is a must. At least it's not snowing, but really is there ever a great time for your car to act dumb?

A plus side to having your car fixed? Lunch dates with Mr T!

Isabelle and I got ourselves all dolled up for a fabulous little 3 course meal at Chic*fil*a.

Of course she has a better wardrobe than I do. She is also still letting me dress her...even though I am slowly seeing that change. More on her tacky adorable, glittery choices for another post.

So we loaded up and headed to eat our favorite meal. Where else can you get sorta healthy, fast food with a super clean playground and a great staff? Isabelle doesn't love chicken nuggets, but she loves the fruit that comes with her meal so Mr. T and I usually get our sandwiches, plus her chicken nuggets..seriously, I hope she doesn't grow out of that stage...On the other hand, the seams in my jeans are praying for her to grow out of that stage. She gets a fun, learning toy with her meal and then gets to play in a safe playground with other little kids. PERFECT! What could go wrong with this? 

Fast forward to today, she now has a fever, runny nose, a cough and all she wants to do is lay around. We are also flying out to Atlanta for the weekend to visit family. Couldn't have been more ridiculous timing. 

Now, I will not point fingers or blame anyone. But before she played on the playground she was happy and healthy. Mr. T and I were fat and happy as well. Now we are tired, stressed, and unhappy.

 Laying around and reading books is the new thing to do.

Is the playground at fault? I don't know...But I do have to wonder now, if I really think the spicy chicken sandwich was worth it?  Jury's still out on that.