MONDAY RANDOM CATCH UP, THOUGHTS, AND UPDATES!

This is just because I love Hugh Jackman and WOWZERS! He is cuuute!

But not quite as cute as this one! Sweet Muffin kicks.my.tail. Thank GOODNESS he is cute, sweet, kissable, lovable, and has some ooh la la dimples!!

Griffin was 18 months on Friday! I cannot believe how big my baby boy is growing.

SOME FACTS ABOUT GRIFFIN:

-He loves to hug and kiss.

-He calls most things daddy. Or dah-dah.

-He has a FULL set of teeth. I think he is only missing two!

-He loves to eat chicken legs, muffins or doughnuts, fruit, yogurt, macaroni, peas, scrambled eggs, goldfish, pretty much everything you put in front of him!!

HE LOVES TO BE OUTSIDE! loves. loves. loves. He stands at the door all the livelong day and asks to go swing. It will be a LONG winter!!

He also throws temper tantrums and this is NOT fun, but kinda funny. When he becomes truly angry he will bite himself and bang his head on the wall.

He.is.fearless. He will climb up a 6 ft. wall at Monkey Joe's and never look back. I have had to climb in there twice and remove him kicking and screaming.

He also LOVES to dance. As in, goes crazy. He loves to break it down!!

Total Opposite Direction:

I freaking LOVE this Cupcake Maker. It is awesome to make cornbread muffins for dinner and also little blueberry muffins in the morning. I use it at least twice a week. Just thought I would share! Ha.

I told y'all this was a random post! Paisley has been taking swimming lessons for the past 6 weeks with a wonderful lady named Kennette Pyles. She is probably one of the coolest people I have ever met. She has been teaching Infant Survival Swimming for years, ever since she lost her own son at 18 months old at a lake. Can you imagine? My greatest fear in life is losing one of my children and she lost hers in the water and she gets in and swims every single day. What a testimony! Anyway, she is so great. Paisley absolutely hated the water and if you splashed her face she would cry and cry. Now she BEGS to swim everyday. She is jumping off the side, swimming under water, holding her breath, it is truly unreal. Be warned, it is a big commitment but a good one! You swim every day for 10 minutes for 6-7 weeks. You read that correctly. Every day. Call Kennette! She is on Facebook or Prairie Life Fitness can get you in contact with her. If you want to take next year, CALL NOW! She is nearly booked for next April.

I also had to share this darling hat I bought at Nordstrom's for Paisley. The kiddie section is to die for!!

I love this picture of Paisley and her little friends. These two sisters had the cutest birthday party at Divas and Dudes. We miss the Goddard School but it is SO fun having her home with me!

I also love this picture from my phone of Paisley helping me make cupcakes in a Tinkerbell costume! Staying home is so different in so many ways!! I still find myself waking up, applying make-up, styling my hair, and wearing jewelry! ha! I still make to-do lists and try to have some sort of a schedule. I am also trying to make sure we are home in the afternoons for the kids to take naps!

The things I am struggling with are definitely guilt of not working, and the fact that I don't want Stephen lifting a finger. I feel like my responsibilities are everything else. Which is hard. I need a break from the kids, too. Thank goodness Grammy and Pappy keep Griffin one to two nights a week, which is so nice! It helps me do the things I cannot do when he is here. They live far enough away that the overnight makes the drive easier! I am also spending lots of time eBaying and also working out (whoop whoop!!!) I am doing so good! I am working out hard on cardio M,W,F and then usually Pilates or Zumba on T, TR, Saturday. I love Prairie Life. I thank God for that place. I love the nursery and the food is divine. I am thinking about a possible 10 sessions with a trainer to get back to my goal weight. So far, I am down 50 pounds post baby. I would love to be in a 6! That is my goal. I am about 25 pounds away. And the dieting...well I have good days and bad days just like anyone!

I am trying to remember that I didn't gain it all in a day and I am not going to lose it in a day. And I usually do crunches and sit ups while the kids play. That is, until Griffin jumps on top of me and thinks I am a dinosaur.

In other news, pray for Grace still! You can visit her Caring Bridge page at www.caringbridge.org/angels4grace. Amy, Grace's mom, had a huge project she had committed to long before Grace was diagnosed. It was for the Writer's Symposium and it was to plan and organize the visit and performance of Maya Angelou.

Here is Amy before presenting her. This was held at The Curb Center at Belmont which is so nice!

Maya was absolutely beautiful both inside and out! Her stories were fascinating and she spent most of her childhood as a mute. She escaped through poetry and was heavily influenced by William Shakespeare. Such a fantastic lady.

Amy's support team! We had such a great time! And also keep praying for Grace! She is in terrible pain right now from chemotherapy and steroids. We are hoping after October things will start looking up Aren't they beautiful?

And this one is a MESS! She is my little shadow right now. She never gets more than 2 centimeters away from me. You think I am kidding? I am not. She is in my face from the time we get up until we go to bed. And she holds me around the neck while I pee. And she stands outside the shower and talks to me. Hysterical. I love her so much and I am so glad we spend every waking moment together. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Her boots are Minnetonka and they came from Nordstrom's also. I love that place. It's big trouble for me!

Griffin is wild like I said before. Here he is riding his zebra bare back. Yes, I cloroxed it off.

Here is the look of guilt. He just did something he was NOT supposed to. I am sure of it! Ha.

But those dimples save him!

Here he is at Monkey Joe's playing around!

And this is the day I had to call the cops on the Barbie's. Things were out.of.control. over at the Dream House.

And here is Paisley playing Lady Gaga. Thank goodness she doesn't even know who that is, but I think this picture is hysterical. What has happened to Lady Gaga? She has gone nuts. She is now wearing a prosthetic penis out in public? Gross. What happens to these people? Brad Pitt? He hates his parents for raising him in a Christian home? You can kiss me good-bye. I will never pay to see one his movies again. Okay, I am off my soap box.

And I love decorating for Halloween. These are some mobile pictures of my favorite decorations. My sister bought me this candy bucket years ago from Target and it is my FAVORITE thing ever!!

I also have this pink glitter skeleton that I adore and I some how managed to just delete the photo. I will repost later! It is pretty cute, too. I always shop for decorations at Kohl's, Cracker Barrel, Michaels, and Target. Also Dollar General had some cute stuff, too! TJ Maxx and Marshall's always have great stuff as well.

Paisley passed her swimming test and ate off the You Are Special plate. Do you have one of these for your kids? I love this idea! We had growing up and it was a HUGE deal! You can find some really cute ones on Etsy.

I also organized the pantry this weekend and what a chore! It only took 2 days and 3 trips to the Dollar Store for all the buckets! HA! I love it though! It is so easy to see what I have and what I need. My next project is chalkboard painting the back of the door for a grocery list and also one wall for the kids to draw on. I am LOVING all these Martha Stewart like projects!! Pinterest is fantastic!!!

This past Sunday we tried out a new restaurant in Cool Springs called Brixx. It is a spin off of CPK and it is great! Wonderful pizza and salads, and great whole wheat pasta...It was yummy...

I snapped this cute picture of Stephen and Paisley. They are little twins!

And Professor Plum here...

I love me some Cookie Monster! He is my boy!!

Well, I hope you aren't asleep. Maybe my longest post EVAH. Ha. Glad to be back blogging more frequently!! Leave me some comments! You know how much I love them!!

XOXO-

KJ