I'm Back!

It has been forever since I've blogged! No, really..forever. I'm not writing a post right now. So, I havent been on my computer too much at all, it all started when I took up sewing. I remember it like it was yestereday....I sat down in front of the machine and LOVED anything I made. Even if it was crap, it was crap that I had made with my two hands! My two hands and my super cool machine. I spent several hours learning tricks from my crafy friend Laura Mancuso, she is creative with her embrodery business and doesnt make crap like I do. Some of the crappy things I've made are reusable snack bags, evelope pillow cases, pants for Crew, skirts for Irina and too many other crappy things. So that is the reason that I've neglected my blog, oh and the kids keep me busy too! I dont just sew all day, I have to love on my kiddos of course! Not that any of you were hanging to my every word on here...

what would you do??

My child hood friend Mary and I get to together every couple of months to catch up since we are both super busy with our every day schedules. Usually we meet up at night once the kids are asleep and enjoy a dessert at a near by restaurant. Recently we got together at FLIPS the sports bar and grill, it was late..I'd say about 9pm (thats late for us) when we got there. We ordered some cake and started on our catch up chat, the place wasn't too busy but it wasn't empty either. Near by was a table with a dad, mom and little boy that was about 6 or 7yrs old. Mary and I could help but over hear the dad yelling at this little boy for no apparent reason, I had a clear view of their table but never saw this little boy act up in any way. The place was filled with t.v.'s so I only heard some of his louder comments like "SH**, what are you doing?", "wait till we get home!" and other things were said that I can't exactly remember. The little boy was playing with a cell phone and didn't seem to be bothering them, maybe he was asking for help with a game, I'm not sure. I kept looking and telling Mary that I felt like I was on the ABC show "WHAT WOULD YOU DO?". I seriously was looking for camera men and thought I should do or say something. Have yall seen that show? I love it, Craig says it was made for me because I'm so nosey and always over hear weird situations. Here is a link to the show http://abc.go.com/watch/what-would-you-do/SH5555951?cid=google_news_sem. The mom at the table gave the dad a few looks and told him to be calm but that was it, I just felt bad for the little boy. Every time the dad screamed other tables turned and looked at them, I was worried for the little guy when he got home. Mary and I agreed that as a parent we wouldn't want someone telling us how to train or correct our own kids so we just sat and in my mind I quietly said a prayer for the son.

Lunch Break

daddy and irina

they were laughing so hard at something, i wasnt let in on the joke..

my handsome lil man

mr. ever or crew, your choice :)
i need to carry anti-bacterial wipes, all i had was baby wipes :(

Last week for Good Friday (which was also Earth Day) Craig got off early from work at noon, we met up at chilis for lunch and Irina was so excited to see her daddy in the middle of the day again. She was used to seeing him for lunch often but since he started a new job in Arlington, its very rare. Speaking of Craig's new job, he is just loving being the new Manufacturing Engineer at Aerospace Optics Inc. I'm so proud of him, he had been looking for a new career move for over a year and even turned one down before accepting this offer. His new position is keeping him challenged and has lots of perks too. From May through Labor Day (sometime in September) the entire company closes at 11am every Friday, I LOVE THAT! We got Texas Rangers tickets with free parking and even a concessions gift card, I LOVE THAT! His birthday is a paid holiday and Craig also has his very own parking spot with his name on it, HE LOVES THAT!

Happy 30th to Craig!

HAPPY 30TH!

Yummy food with great company!

irina and zerrin

CHEESE!

this is so cute, they had a blast in the fountains with zerrins mommy

Last month my husband made it over the hill and turned the big 3-0! I wanted to do something for him but I'm not the party planning type. I love people who have an act for it but its just not me. I took the easy way out and set up a surprise birthday bash at joe t garcias. I just sent out an evite and baked some cakes, easy! I told Craig I was having a girls dinner and that he needed to pick up Crew so we could go out for (more) drinks after wards. He was confused why I just didn't leave him at home and then got upset with me because I made him find parking in the over stuffed parking lot on a Saturday night. He was dumb founded when he saw familiar faces sitting together and it took a friend yelling "SURPRISE" for him to piece it all together. The weather couldn't have been better, we had fun talking about how Craig was mad about the whole thing. We had a great turn out, about 20 people came out to celebrate Craig getting old.

Story of Toys Chapter 2

This story last left off with a little girl losing ALL her toys because of naughty behavior. Currently the little girl we met in chapter one has had a big improvement in her behavior and in her attitude. Lets call her...Evelyn just for fun. Evelyn still has days where she doesn't obey and says things she shouldn't but overall a major positive change has happened. Toys have slowly made their way back to Evelyn's room, first her kitchen, then Woody and Buzz and finally her toy box. Evelyn was warned that the toys were back on a probationary period only, if she couldn't keep a happy heart they would disappear again and for a much longer amount of time. She has been following instructions better and has been playing with her little brother Everett, softer and gentler as a result.

Busy Lady

Every day Craig and I have "couch time", this is something we've been doing for about 2yrs or so and love what it does for our family. When he gets home from work, he greets me and the kids and then we head to the couch to catch up on each of our days. The kids stay in the living room with some toys on the floor but do not join us on the couch or in our conversation. The daily exercise helps our kids take note of the importance of marriage and communication. Craig and I get to talk uninterrupted for a few mins, the other day he stopped me mid sentence and said "what play date did you have today"? and I said, "ugh! aren't you listening,..MOPS"! The next day he asked the same question and I replied with the same tone "...my HAND meeting"!, the day after that I said "...TCBN meeting". After a couple of these talks, I realized he was confused because I have SO MANY things that I take part in. I mean, I am really busy and usually booked for the week with all kinds of play dates, meetings, church events, and the list just go on.

Here is the the official list of the things the kids and I do:
Playgroup- neighborhood playgroup meets every Monday at someones house or off site places also
MOPS- ( Mothers Of Pre-schoolers) we meet at our awesome church on the 1st & 3rd Wed of the month, I'm a member and no longer on the steering committee
HAND- (Home birth Association of North Dallas) we meet in Fort Worth the 1st Mon of the month,
MoFo- (MOthers FOrever) we meet randomly but usually weekly at night when our kids are asleep at each others homes to eat"naughty" food such as pizza and ice cream
Real Healthy Housewives of Tarrant County- we share healthy recipe ideas
Praying Wives- we meet weekly on Tues mornings to pray for our husbands
DFW Moms Around Town- random meetings with moms to talk about breast feeding, EC, baby wearing and home birthing
Holistic Moms Network- we meet monthly to talk about holistic health and green living
GEMS- (Godly Encouragement for Mothers)- meetings are once every 3mths I think, great meetings on parenting and marriage

I do attend these groups on a regular basis, I cant believe I was getting annoyed that Craig "wasn't listening" to me. The poor guy was just confused! Seeing it all on here, I can totally see why, I'm exhausted just typing it out! whew!

6yr Wedding Anniversary

6yrs with my love

This past weekend Craig and I celebrated our 6yr wedding anniversary. We kept it low key since I'm not up for a whole lot these days. Dinner at Italianis and a late movie at home, my sister insisted on keeping Irina for the night so we let her and got to sleep in; that was the best gift!

37 weeks

I realize my tummy needs a tan, I'm worried drying out my skin will cause me to get stretch marks. I'm sure its all in my head and the two aren't related but I'm crazy like this

I am 37 weeks pregnant and still enjoying it for the most part. The discomfort I have is quickly gone with a call to my awesome chiropractor; the back, ligament and knee pain are a thing of the past now. At night is when things get rough for me, I cant get comfy in bed and I have to pee every 2 seconds. This baby is still moving and does it during the day now, I love feeling his legs and arms in there. Irina has felt the baby move and says the baby "pushed" her, silly girl. Just the other day she brought over a little dino and put it on my tummy saying "here you go baby" and then walked off. I'm excited about my pregnancy, birth and of course meeting this little guy!

Irina Swimming!

Irina went to what I call "swimming boot camp" this past week, I was surprised how much she liked it. The instructor Kaleb, is my friends husband and him and his assistant, teach the classes out of Kalebs home. In Irina's class there were 4 kids total, her and another little boy were they youngest at 2yrs old. The classes are a bit pricey but WELL WORTH it to me, we have taken "mommy & me" swim classes in the past but never saw this much progress. I was so bummed that I had little memory left on my camera so I only have short clips to show yall. Craig took a long stream lined video with our actual camcorder but its too long to upload on here. Anyway, she did GREAT! Craig and I are SOO proud of her! I can tell she was proud of herself too, especially when everyone clapped. The whole week I dropped her off for an hour and went to the near by, kid to kid shop and to starbucks with another mom. She has learned to actually propel herself forward by pointing her arms and kicking her legs, she can hold her breath easily and can float on her back. I was very impressed with the other kids skills as well. The instructors are AWESOME! This short clip below is of Irina being taken to the bottom of the pool and picking up rings and a colored stick. She was SO PROUD of herself! Friday was the final day and the parents were all invited to watch their little fish!

Fathers Day Photos

these top 2 photos are Craig's faves

I took these photos of Irina as Craig's Fathers Day gift. Irina is taking instruction so well when it comes to photos-it makes photo sessions much easier than last year. I took some others but I haven't showed them to Craig yet, as soon as he sees them, Ill post them on here also.

Date Night

the baby starting kicking and we started to laugh after this pic

A few weeks ago my sister Priscilla asked if we would let Irina spend the night, I hesitated but let her go. This is only the second time she has spent the night away from us; her first was also with my sister. She is single and has no kids, she is head over heels for Irina and Irina feels the same way about her. She calls her "Te-he", because she cant quite say "Tia" which is Aunt is spanish, you'd think we would have corrected her but we just started calling her "Te-he" also. I guess its her name now. So we dropped her off and they had a great time together, they went shopping and ate at chick fil a together. Priscilla also rented some movies for her to watch and then they fell asleep together, apparently Irina wanted her "Te-he" next to her in bed and just played with her face until they both fell asleep. For our date night, Craig and I finished painting the babies room that night and then went to dinner a movie. We had a delicious meal at Italianis and then watched Iron Man 2, we ended up home at 2am! Thats a first for us in a LONG, LONG time! I am SO thankful to have a sister who loves and takes care of Irina they way I do.

COUSINS!

abbie, kimmie irina and craig

abbie and kimmie with their finished cookies!
they were so proud about staying inside the lines :)

Every week my brother and I get together at our moms house and bring all the kids together to play and hang out. We dont see them on a daily basis since my brother and his wife are separated, but we do see them 2/3 times a week. Abbie and Kimmie are 4 and5 so they play very well with Irina, I like picturing Irina at their age. Irina loves her cousins "appie" and "kikkie", she asks for them any time we go to the park or some where fun that she wants to share with them. Last week at Target I picked up these Dora cookies for them. They come with food coloring markers so they can color the photo of Dora on them. They all had fun with the cookies, Irina just licked the markers and ate the black/white cookie. On a side note: I was surprised the cookies had 0 trans fat :)

Breakfast w/ Grandparents

Granny, Turner (Craigs cousin) and Irina

Daddy-O and Irina with his glasses

Irina is blessed to have her grandfather and great grandmother present in her life today, we have special days allocated to them. We get together for breakfast on a regular basis, either at our houses or out at restaurants for a treat. We went to Rise & Dine on this day and sadly werent too impressed, but we enjoyed each others company. Irina loves to see her Daddy-O, when she is being disciplined and Craig is home; she asks for her Daddy-O to help her. They have a special bond, he always wanted a daughter and never had one; so Irina is extra special to him. She is the only girl born into the Odom family in 60yrs. Turner was able to join us for breakfast this day, he works nights and it was nice to see him also. My favorite part about getting together is talking with Granny, she is 94yrs young and has experienced SO much in life. She told me that she admits being extremely excited that we are expecting a boy, she wants Craig to help carry on the last name. We love getting together with them!

Craig watching Irina

what happened when craig watched irina the other day

SNOW DAY #2

Last Friday we woke up to even more beautiful snow outside our homes! I have never enjoyed a winter more in my life than I did this year, the family had so much fun in the wintery blast! Craig went into work late that morning so we enjoyed playing with Irina in our bed. My brother Roy and Irina were hard at work shoveling snow off our driveway. Notice my front neighbors driveway..how did they shovel the snow off so well?? I wish I would have seen what they did, they're from New York so maybe they have some experience and tricks up their sleeve.

SNOW DAY #1

Wow! I can not believe the amount of fluffy snow we got here in Texas! Irina and I had a great day together watching the snow fall and pile up outside our windows. After lounging around at home next to the fire place, we went out to play in the white snow!! Of course we had like 15 layers of clothes on...ok, more like 2 pants, 2 pairs of socks, 3 shirts, a hoodie and a coat and of course snow boots. At first Irina was a bit hesitant to walk around in it but she quickly got over that, she even started eating the snow!

Pretend Time

irina pretending to feed her baby

yummy organic food im sure ;)

WE REMEMBER 12 FALLEN AGGIES

10 years ago today Texas A&M University experienced an unexplainable loss, 12 students died in the bonfire collapse. I remember hearing the news my senior year in high school and asking "where is college station"?. Craig was there and lost his friend Chad Powell from Keller, TX; they were both in cross country. I see the video and continue to pray for the families no matter how much time has passed. We visit the bonfire memorial every time we go to college station, it no longer brings me to tears the way it used to; it makes me think about life and how fragile it is. Today our family remembers the families of:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I7yJWxq93U

more pics

Irina w/ her Datty

loving the country air and flowers