Friday, October 26, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Each year we host a Costume Halloween Party for our close friends!
This year's party was probably my favorite!
It was soooo much fun!!
The Barrington's have had a rough few months medically, so party planning has been put on the back burner. I honestly thought about canceling the party in all.
What in the heck was I thinking?!?!
I would have totally regretted it.
So, since the party planning was on the back burner, I really didn't do any decorating at all.
We set up the garage for the oh so classy flippy cup and beer pong, I cooked some yummy food, and that's that. So less stressful to do things this a way.
Not only did I choose to not decorate. I totally forgot about getting a prize for the Costume Contest, so there was no Costume Contest this year. :(
So sorry peps!! Next year, I'll make up for it!
Our group of friends is the best. It's always a great time with them.
I'm so lucky to have found some amazing girlfriends here in Carterville and even my two best friends made the party as well--prego baby and all!
I think we all know that I was Giuliana Rancic. Ha.
She totally tweeted me that morning and told me to send her a picture.
I did.
She didn't respond.
Bummer.
I am telling myself that she just did not see it. ;)
Maybe she was disappointed in my costume though. I did not really put enough into it. Now I wish I would have worn skinny jeans, heels, and worked a little harder at figuring out my hair extensions. Oh well.
The hubs pulled off the Bill Rancic outfit pretty well. Suit. Unbuttoned top shirt. He tried to comb his hair to the side, however, as we all can see he is going bald. (Hehe.)
Kim Kardashian also made an appearance at the party.
All the costumes were great this year, like always. Creative group of friends I have!
Hockey Lockout...
Lance Armstrong...
Walk of Shame...
Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski...
Uncle Sam and Miss America...
Sons of Anarchy...
Socket and Plug...
Kourtney Kardashian and Eric Church...
Kourtney and Kim Kardashian...
Greeks...
My personal favorite...Miss Piggy and Kermit...
We hope everyone had a great time!!!
Already looking forward to next year's party!
What is more fun than adults dressing up for Halloween?!
Sam, I know you told me to mention something in this blog post. But I have no idea what it was...:)))
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
I have been like crazy home decor shopping lately.
I remember when I was little I would be constanly re-organizing, re-decorating, and re-arranging my bedrooms. I wanted to be an Interior Designer for quite some time.
We have lived in our house for almost three years now and it is taking forever to get it decorated. I have not even began on the Master Bedroom!
I keep changing my mind too much on the other rooms in the house.
I get some ideas off of Pinterest, but honestly, I am not on there a whole lot. I occasionally will get on for a few minutes, pin some ideas then I am off. Plus, I feel like since everyone and their sister is on there now, everyone has the same ideas.
I love love love to watch HGTV for ideas. I literally could watch that station 24/7. But then I would miss Giuliana & Bill and all my 235 reality TV shows that I watch.
I also love home decor blogs. My favorite is:
Her home seems very similar to mine. It's nothing too fancy and out of norm like some other home decor blogs I read. I mean, after all, I have two messy boys, I can't live in an all white house even though I would love nothing more. Her home is Cozy. Comfy. Normal. Simple.
She recently re-did a dresser that I am obsessed with.
I know if I like something when I see it, first instinct. And I LOVE this dresser.
LOVE the two colors.
I want so badly to re-do a dresser, but I am so scared to do it.
I have been recently wanting to re-paint Drew's room. I love the brown on the walls in his room, but I want something lighter.
This dresser would look great with what I have been thinking of doing in his room.
Hope I can get the guts to actually do it!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Now, we all know I could care less about the Cardinals or sports. BUT, my butt was taking up a seat in Busch Stadium Thursday night for Game 4.
I must have been an amazing good luck charm because they WON!
Okay, maybe not, because the only game they lost last year in the World Series was the game I attended.
I go for my boys. After all I am a boy mom and have to deal with this the rest of my life. It's worth it to see them having fun. So I enjoy it as well all kidding aside.
Someone asked me if I actually got into the game. Honestly, I could not even tell you what the score was. I was too busy taking pictures and ordering hot dogs, soda, cotton candy, peanuts, and popcorn.
Literally, we ordered everything they served I think.
The boys had a great time.
Drew has really been getting into the Cardinals lately and his favorite player is Molina.
He wanted everything Molina that night.
So, his Ba bought him a new Molina jersey.
Of course, he changed into it and kept on waving his rally towel.
Dylan's favorite?? Still Fredbird.
He was all about finding Fredbird.
I wish we could have found him to get a picture because everyone made such sad faces and said how cute Dylan was with his little baseball sling.
I am sure Fredbird would have thought the same thing! :)
I got some other cute pictures of the boys...
It was a great night! We stayed the whole game. We even stayed after the game was over to get some family pictures of the whole family!
(I need a closing line...you may never hear me say this again...)
GO CARDINALS!
Monday, October 15, 2012
On our way to the Pumpkin Patch Sunday, I asked Drew to let me snap a few pictures of him.
Not only did he let me snap a few...he let me snap a bazillion!!
What happened to "Mr. Do Not Take A Picture of Me"?!?!
Hey, I'm not complaining.
I took full advantage of the opportunity and got some handsome pictures of this little skeleton!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Not a whole lot has changed in 10 years...but yet, so much has.
For instance. Spanx. That's all I'm saying.
Oh, I had so much fun at my reunion!
I really really wish more people could have shown up. I, myself, wanted to see what everyone was up to. Yeh, Facebook may have ruined the whole idea of a Class Reunion, but I still think it is much different sitting down with a person and having a conversation with them and talking face to face about life, children, jobs, etc.
It was so fun to reminisce and so fun to look back at our old pictures.
.JPG)
{Our 8th Grade Washington D.C. Class Picture}
{Our Senior Class Picture}
*Found these awesome purple frames at Hobby Lobby. Now, we will be able to use it at many of our reunions to come!
.JPG)
{Our Senior Yearbook...Remember When...}
I can still remember exactly where I was sitting in the library at the High School when I came up with the yearbook title. I was very insistent on the dot.dot.dot.
Still to this day I use the ...
We were with the same people for 12 years of our life, how could it not be fun to see what everyone is up to now?!?!
A famous quote of the night was:
"I LOVE OUR CLASS!"
And I can honestly say I really do!
I mean, LOOK! How can you not LOVE these laughs?!?!
.JPG)
.jpg)
Some of my friends I haven't seen since college days and it was like we just picked up where we left off. It was so beyond fun to hang out with them again!
I literally got goosebumps and jumped with excitement like a little schoolgirl when I seen my friend Erin before the reunion while we were decorating.
I probably gave way too many hugs that night.
What can I say?!
I'm a hugger.
I kept saying my face hurt because I was smiling and laughing so much!
.JPG)
{This was our group in Jr. High--minus 2-Heather and Lacy}
.jpg)
I really really really hope that the 15 year is as much fun as the 10 year! AND...
I hope more people can make it!!
See ya again in FIVE!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Ever since Dylan's incident I have not wanted to leave his side. I went back to work on Wednesday and cried leaving him. (Which probably does not surprise too many people.)
I should be with him. I'm his Mommy. However, he was feeling better by that point, so I knew he would be okay.
I know this is just a simple broken bone to some people and many kids go through much much worse than this, but this was tough for US. The first few days Dylan was in so much pain and sick. It was miserable and heart breaking.
I usually do not care what people say or think about me, BUT, I can not help but think:
"I wonder if people think I am a bad mother because this happened to Dylan?"
"I wonder if people think I was not watching him?"
"I wonder if people think that this is my fault?"
Do any other mothers feel this way when something like this happens?
I believe I am a great mother. My kids are my life and I am sure I make that pretty evident. I shouldn't care if people even think that way anyways because I know what happened. I know it could not have been prevented. I know I was standing right there and seen the whole thing happen and there was nothing I could have done to make it any better.
I know I am over thinking this, but it is still on my mind.
Which brings me to another parenting thing I have been thinking a lot about lately.
Everyone parents different.
Sure, it's great to get parenting advice and tips from other people. I have tried many different ideas from talking to friends, reading Mommy blogs, etc.
However, I absolutely can not stand when people judge the way you parent.
My biggest pet peeve.
What works for you as a parent may not work for others.
What works best for your kids may not be what works best for others.
Just because someone does something different than you does not make them wrong.
And I am not saying everything I do is perfect either, but please just do not judge.
Back on track here...
Dylan is feeling much much better!!!
He is keeping his sling on just like he is supposed to.
He still occasionally says it hurts whenever he moves in certain positions, but that is to be expected.
He, in fact, I think is crazier than ever. I told him the bone turned into a extra crazy bone because he has been so stinking hyper. I asked the Pharmacist if his medicine could be causing this.
Not so much.
Maybe he is just making up the 3 days he was in bed.
I am so happy to see this face again:
Have I mentioned too that I have added inflatables to my list of things that scare me now?!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Once upon a time...
A LONG LONG LONG time ago...
October 2, 1965..
Lia Gayle Stricklin was born.
Lord help us all! :)
I had big plans to pull out some old pictures of her, but since Dylan's accident, I haven't really had much time on my hands.
So, instead I will be nice and show one of my favorite pictures of her.
Happy Birthday, Mom!
We hope you have a wonderful day!!
PS- Like me title?!?!
Almost 1/2 way to 100!
Monday, October 1, 2012
Well, the time has came.
The time I have dreaded for oh so long.
The time that I prayed would never happen to me.
A BROKEN BONE
Poor poor poor Dylan.
Here's the story....
We were at a party for Justin's work. It all happened so quickly. Justin's boss rented some inflatables and one was this really super cool Dragon slide.
The Dragon had two slides and you could exit through his mouth.
Sounds funny, I know.
But as Dylan was playing on the Dragon's tongue, I thought:
"Oh this would be such a cute picture!"
Took my phone out. Started walking toward him. And there he goes. I am thinking he leaned on the Dragon's tooth which he thought would hold him, but little did he know it was just air.
So down he goes. Flipped onto the ground.
I threw the things I had in my hand in the air. I really have no idea where they landed and now that I think about it I am so glad I didn't hit another kid.
He was hurt. I knew he was hurt badly.
Mother's instinct is always right.
As soon as we put him in the car to go home, he screamed BLOODY MURDER and immediately grabbed his shoulder.
We went back and forth whether to go to the ER or wait to go to a walk-in clinic the next day.
Then BAM. About 20 minutes or so into the ride home, he starts vomiting.
I told Justin: Get to your parents to drop Drew off NOW! We are going to the ER!
He still wasn't convinced. So we stopped at Justin's parents and pulled up Dylan's shirt.
The back bone was poking out.
Justin did not say a word and he immediately was out the door and in the car.
Now that I think about it, it was like he just disappeared. Ha!
Anywho-once we got to the ER we were taken care of quite quickly. Overall we were there for just a little over an hour.
The PA we seen was wonderful.
The radiologist let me stay with Dylan and hold his hand through the x-ray.
Having to lay him on his back for the x-ray was the hardest part of it all.
He was in SOOOO much pain.
The radiologist immediately said. "Oh yes Mom, you were right. It's a clavicle fracture."
My heart sank and broke into a million little pieces.
My poor baby. He was hurting so bad and there was nothing I could do about it.
They put him in a sling and wrapped him up and referred us to an Orthopedist first thing Monday morning.
On our way home we had to stop and get some medicine for him.
By this time he had already had a dose in the ER.
He was telling stories left and right.
HILARIOUS stories!
It made the 30 minute wait for the medicine go by fast.
He would say:
"Hey!! I gotta tell you something! I don't like blue anymore. I tried it. I didn't like it. I like red now. I don't like blue."
Blue what? Red what? I have NO idea.
OR this was another favorite...
"Hey!! I gotta tell you something! That boy and girl?! They are going to Chicago."
Haha. Random?? Maybe because we just passed the train station.
What a hoot.
Finally we got Drew and got home. He fell asleep pretty quickly.
But not me. I woke up at 3 a.m. sick as a dog.
Was up all night from then on.
Then Dyl wakes up. He pretty much slept all night but would constantly say in his sleep "Ouch! Ouchy!"
Once he really woke up for the day, he too starting getting sick.
All. Day. Long.
He is obviously potty trained, but we kept him in a pull up just in case the medicine made him do something funky. He went 24 hours without peeing. Not a good sign. I just knew he would be dehydrated.
Then to top it off even more, Sunday night, Drew wakes up throwing up too!!
Can we seriously catch a break?!?
By this point we pretty much had ran out of towels, sheets, covers, etc.
We were down to our very last ones.
FINALLY--everyone sleeps.
We wake up, Drew feels better, so we send him to school and take Dylan to his Orthopedic Appointment.
I just knew they were going to send him to the hospital for dehydration.
BUT--in the waiting room he drank some Sprite and munched on some chips and kept it all down!
Praise the Lord!
The Orthopedist said he would not need any surgery. There is not much you can really do with a child of Dylan's age with a clavicle fracture. He said the bone would lower itself and
re-attach.
How crazy, huh?!
He does however have to stay in a sling for 6 weeks.
That 6 weeks includes Halloween. :(
So...Dylan will be an INJURED Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year! :)
Once we got home, Meme stayed with us. We took the bandage off to re-adjust him and they had some fun playing with it.
Can you tell he finally started to feel a little better?!?!
Once we took him off of the Codeine he was a new person!
Never again Codeine. Never again.
All in all...he was pretty tough through the whole thing.
He still cries anytime he is moved, but it is already getting better.
He refuses to take off his sling and freaks out when I have to adjust it again.
He also wants it constantly wrapped and likes when it is iced.
Whatever makes it feel better, he lets me do.
You can tell when it really does start to bother him because he goes from this face...
to this one...
Please still keep him in your prayers!!!
Not sure how long he will be in pain, but I hope not too long.
He really has been a trooper through this all!
He does refuse however to walk. He says "It hurts my shoulder to walk."
Poor guy.
It is like having a baby all over again. Have to keep an eye on him at all times.
I must say too...he can be a very bossy patient! ;)
But I don't mind...
I am even letting him sleep in his Dinosaur sleepers tonight! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)