You Scream! I Scream!

Kaiden and I enjoyed a "Mama & Son" day on Saturday! I love these special times with my sweet, precious boy!! We went to a nature conservancy center and saw lots of snakes, turtles and frogs. We also saw an injured eagle, owl, 2 turkeys and 2 hawks. They were pretty cool. We then we on a nature walk and just enjoyed each others company! We climbed rocks,

sat by a waterfall

and played hide and seek behind trees. After, we treated ourselves to a 99 cent cone at McDonald's. YUMM-O! It was Kaiden's first ice cream cone and once we got down to the actual cone part, he loved it! Can you tell??

Ahh, my baby is growing so fast! These moments together are so very priceless!!

Pregnancy Brain & Early Birthday Fun!

I laughed today as my pregnant co-worker took 20 minutes to leave for lunch. She kept forgetting things and/or losing her train of thought.

I laughed and said she "has pregnancy brain" hardy har har! And then I thought, she's acting a lot like me!! Maybe it's not pregnancy brain after all! Maybe, just maybe, it's mama brain. And lets face it, pregnant woman are mama's!

And if it is, I've got it!

Hence the lack of photos lately. Or, at least, good quality photos.

Mmmhmm, I haven't, for the life of me, been able to locate my camera lately when my pumpkin is all cute and camera-ready!

Like last night when he climbed up on the love seat and sat next to his aunt and uncle. It only, like most things he does lately, lasted 30 seconds.

30 seconds!?!? You really expect my brain to work in a mere 30 seconds?? ha! Not gonna happen.

I'm really considering hanging the camera on the key holder by the door. Is that weird? Since I bought the key holder, I really haven't misplaced my keys all that much. And when I do, it's usually when Kevin grabs them and (ahem) doesn't put them back on the key holder. Ahem.

So, maybe this could work.

Anyhoo...my fabulous little sister took me out Friday night for a little early birthday fun. Aww, I know, she is so fricken sweet!

We got our nails done. And, yes, that is navy blue tips you see! We decided to go edgy!! You like? Oh, it really doesn't matter cause WE like! That is one great thing about getting older, you start realizing stuff like what others think really doesn't matter at all! :)

As you can see, there are yummy chips under those edgy nails! Mmhmm, we enjoyed some salsa with those chips too! And some margaritas! Yummmmm!

The Mexican restaurant was a last minute decision. We weren't dressed nice and our hair wasn't done. But, ya know what, it didn't matter! We were just two sisters having fun, with our edgy nails and sweats on! I wouldn't have changed one second of it either!

Thanks, JoJo. You really made my early birthday super special! I love you!

And, speaking of birthdays, my sweet hubby got me a GPS!!! He's been wanting to get me one of these for a long time. He found a GREAT deal and decided to hop on it! It was the perfect gift!! Thanks babe, I love you!!

Yes, he gave it to me early. Why?? Because we have company in town and in case we wanted to go exploring I wouldn't need to call him 10 times to figure out where we were going! ha!

This gift is really for both of us! I will (hopefully) no longer need to frantically call him b/c I'm lost. Usually ending in me hanging up b/c the mapquest on his phone won't load quick enough! haha. (hey! I never said I was the perfect wife!) lol.

So, happy birthday to YOU too honey! May this GPS make for an EVEN better marriage! :)

I'm happy this birthday. I'm going to be 26 on Wednesday. It feels good to be 26. I have all my immediate family with me and I'm going to get my moms pineapple upside down cake! Life just doesn't get better than this!

This Kid.

This kid.

He's my answered prayers.

This kid.

Makes me laugh every day.

This kid.

Melts my heart with every hug & kiss.

This kid.

Makes me a better person.

This kid.

Has the brightest soul I've ever known.

This kid.

Is so smart and brave.

This kid.

Has a gentle spirit and a rough edge.

This kid.

He is our everything.

Matching Socks are Overrated!

I obviously had trouble finding matching socks yesterday, b/c when I took off mine and Kaiden's shoes last night, this is what I found:

Matching socks are overrated anyway! ha!

With This Ring..

When I was younger, I was very creative. In high school and my early 20's, not so much. Since Kaiden has been born, I feel that the creative juices are-a-flowing! ;)

Here is my latest creation. A ring holder. "Ast" is the last name of the couple. What do you think?

With their rings:
There are also rhinestones on each side:

So Sorry!

I'm sorry I've been a slacker-blogger lately! I've literally had NO time! I took pics the other day and realized I had not taken any since Halloween! OMG! I totally missed like a WEEK of Kaiden's life on camera. Ugghh. I got some pretty awesome shots though. Ones I'm going to use for his 18 month pics! He. Is. Adorable.

Since I have no pics loaded to my computer yet, I'll give you a Kaiden update! :)

Literally his FAVORITE thing to do lately is: draw.

He loves drawing. He's pretty good at keeping it on paper, too. In fact, "paper! paper! paper!" is what I hear most of the time. Last night, I was working on a gift, so "paint!" and "paper!" were heard throughout the house for a good hour, if not more. :)

Notice my use of the exclamation point. Yes, he shouts what he wants loud and proud!

We had his toy box under the light switch in his room, until recently. He learned that climbing up on it and flicking on and off the light is SO fun.

His toy box is now in his closet.

Last night, while I was bringing in groceries, he learned to climb on top of the couch and flicker with that light. Do I really have to rearrange the living room, again? :( haha.

"Bight! Bight! Bight!" he screams. In the bathroom. In the hall. Anywhere he sees a light, he wants to turn it on or off. "Bight" is for "light" if you didn't figure that one out. ;)

Yo Gabba Gabba is still his favorite (and only) show with an occasional Sesame Street. He loves him some Elmo. He can now name all the Gabba characters and sings along with the intro song. It is SO fricken cute!!!! He also dances along with "Dancy Dancy Time". The other morning, he did a little John Travolta move...LOVE IT!

My kid, he is awesome. He has a very strong personality and I love that about him. He is kind and gentle (most of the time). haha.

He still must include everyone in the room when giving out kisses, hugs or high-fives. Even when he pets or throws the ball for the dogs, he must include both. It is so darn sweet & we didn't even teach him that. It just comes natural, which is so awesome.

He can repeat everything.

I accidentally said "oh crap" the other day and wouldn't you know...he repeated it! Oops!

I haven't said that one since. HA!

At the park, he is mister independent. He can climb all over by himself. I have to keep close though, because he still thinks he's Spiderman or something and just lunges off things!

Anyways, he is just awesome and I'm so proud to call him my son. He rocks my world!

Plan.

Kevin and I spoke about our debt last night.

We have a plan.

The first part of our plan is to cancel 2 of our monthly bills that aren't really needed. (this will mean our email addresses and our website url will change - stay tuned!)

We are also researching cutting our cable bill down.

We already cut our car insurance bill down significantly a couple months ago.

We are on the right track.

Once the holiday season is over and we are fully caught up on our bills, we are going to start a bi-weekly allowance. We are actively going to start paying down our credit cards & stop using them completely. We are going to use our tax return money towards our debt as well.

I feel good about this.

But, again, this will not be easy!

I appreciate your support and love you all so much!

Brandi and Chris are already taking an active role in supporting us by coming here to visit for Thanksgiving. I am SO excited! Thanks you two, for loving & supporting us!!!

Truth.

We. Are. In. Debt.

It's true.

I just listened to this video called the "Financial Black Hole" and the first step to getting out of debt is admitting it.

So, we are in debt.

The truth is we have 9 credit cards between us. Two hefty car payments. A mortgage. And other bills that add up SO much.

It is truly embarrassing.

I don't think anyone but us knows this about us. Until now.

It's time to be truthful about it, not for you, but for us.

If I can share this with you, I know you will help us through it.

Not help us financially. Because, lets be honest, that won't help us change at all. But, support us emotionally.

We need your love and understanding.

We got ourselves in this situation and I want so badly to get us out.

Will you support us? Emotionally.

Because I have a true feeling that this is going to need a lot of emotional support.

This is going to be the hardest thing either of us has done.

It will hurt.

It should hurt.

The more it hurts, the least likely you'll do it again. It's true.

This is my first step.

We're not in Kansas anymore..

We're back in Missouri! ha. ha. ha.

Halloween night, we decided to go down to the Heckathorn's hood. We trick or treated at relatives and friends houses. We went on a hayride and went through the scariest haunted house EVER! It was awesome!

Once Kaiden got his first piece of candy, he totally knew what was going on! He was jumping out of his carseat to get to the next treat! Although he was a bit shy meeting new people, he sure wasn't shy when grabbing in those candy bowls! ha! Well, isn't that what Halloween is all about?

We all had a great time and got to spend time with Grandma Heckathorn, which is always fun times and such a blessing! We might just have to make this a tradition!

Blogger isn't allowing me to organize these photos, so start from the bottom and work your way up! ;) Love you!!

Cheese!