The things a grandparent will do for their grandchild...

Santa Misfortunes

So I just wanted to share this somewhat humorous story with you all... We went to Birmingham on Monday evening b/c Noah had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning. I wanted to go to Riverchase Galleria and have his picture made with Santa because a.) he had his pic with him last year and b.) its a really good looking Santa and the decorations/backdrop are really good. The decorations at Regency Square are pitiful looking and so I wanted to do the picture somewhere else. So we get to the Galleria around 7ish Monda night and I get Noah changed into his Christmas outfit in the bathroom and we go to where Santa is set up ... to our surprise it's "Bring Your Dog and Get It's Picture Made With Santa Day!!!" You wouldn't BELIEVE how many people with their HUGE dogs were there... there was a St. Bernard, a Rottweiler, a Boxer, etc etc. Basically a disaster waiting to happen! (and this one little lady had her poor little cat in a carrier, I'm sure that cat was TERRIFIED) Noah was in a pretty good mood, however it was dinnertime and the line was really long. Plus the dogs were all barking at eachother and I didn't think Noah would tolerate that for too long. So we go eat dinner at the food court and see if the line gets shorter after we do a little shopping. Jamie finishes feeding him and I go to Gymboree to return some things. I meet back up with Jamie and guess what, Noah's thrown up Chicken Noodle Soup ALL over his Christmas outfit. So much for pictures on Monday night... but our thoughts are that we can wash his outfit at my aunt's house and come back to the galleria after the doctor's appointment. Well, unfortunately things don't always go as planned, right? His appointment was at 10:30am so I thought we would get out in time to have pictures before Santa goes to lunch or maybe get there after his lunch. Well the doctor ordered an X-ray which took a little longer. We get back to the galleria around 12:45pm and guess what?!?! They had shut the line down so Santa could finish up a few more pictures and head off to his lunch break for the next hour! Noah was soooo ready for his nap and I just knew that if we hung around for another hour that he would have a meltdown so we just left. I guess it just wasn't meant to be! Fortunately, we are going to Huntsville on Thursday so I'm going to attempt Santa pictures in Huntsville... hopefully it will go better that this one did! :)

Tag ... You're It!

Sonia tagged me...

8 favorite TV shows (in no specific order)...
1. new 90210
2. One Tree Hill
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Private Practice
5. Lipstick Jungle
6. Jon & Kate Plus Eight
7. The Girls Next Door (I know, I know)
8. The Hills

8 things that happened yesterday...
1. Ate breakfast with Jamie's family at the Opryland Hotel
2. Bought Noah's Christmas gifts from Santa
3. Shopped at Cool Springs Galleria/Franklin, TN
4. Drove home from Nashville
5. Picked Noah up from Mimi & Papa's house
6. Watched Desperate Housewives
7. Talked with Chenequa from Franklin to Athens
8. Ordered Christmas Cards

8 things I am looking forward to...
1. Christmas Eve
2. Christmas Morning
3. Chenequa finding out if her baby is boy/girl
4. Noah's first cousin, Maddie, being born in early '09
5. Seeing Chenequa and Amanda this weekend
6. Noah's 2nd Birthday in April
7. Noah learning new things
8. Adding to our family

8 things on my wish list...
1. new laptop
2. for our house to be ready in January
3. for Noah to begin walking and talking
4. good health and happiness in 2009
5. to learn and enjoy to cook
6. for my dogs to quit using the bathroom in the house
7. to begin working out and eating healthier
8. for the economy to get better

Remodeling

Jamie, Noah, and I have long outgrown our current house and had plans to build sometime at the end of this year - beginning of next year. However, we have since decided that we would get more house for the same (hopefully less) money, if we bought a home and just remodeled it. So that's what we did... we found a house in Florence, closed in October, and began the renovations 2 weeks ago. And surprisingly, it's going quicker than I expected. The house is lots bigger than our current home and is a two-story with 4 bdrms, 3 baths, a big playroom for Noah, lots of storage and closet space, and a big backyard. It will definitely allow for us to grow as a family! I think Jamie is trying to turn the downstairs of the house into a semi-batchelor pad.... he's going to have a TV room for watching football games, etc. with the guys, a workout room, and basketball goal in the back... plus he wants to get a pool table or ping pong table to put in Noah's play room (it's a really big room, so there would be room for Noah's toys and a pool table or whatever). We are both so excited about the new house and HOPE to be in at the beginning of January (fingers crossed). The good thing is that the people we bought it from had very recently put in a new a/c system and had a new roof put on it. However, we have completely gutted the interior b/c it was horribly decorated (think blue toilets/tubs/sinks, shimmery seashell wallpaper, orange carpet, ugly kitchen cabinets ... you get the picture). Plus, we are knocking down walls, adding new ones, that sort of thing. I'm really excited to see how it's going to turn out, especially because some of the interior "structural" changes were my ideas (making mine and Jamie's closet a larger his/hers, making a den into another bedroom and adding a closet, etc) I'll post some pictures of the "before" and when it's finished I can post the "after" pictures. Fortunately, Jamie's dad is a builder and really enjoys remodeling jobs, otherwise, I don't know if I would have gone this route. I've seen what he can do so that's how I have the hope that this house will eventually look good! ... in fact, the house we live in now was remodeled and doesn't even look the same as it did before.

"Before" Kitchen

"Before" Guest Bath

"Before" Entryway

"Before" Den

New to the Blogging World ...

So I've been a fan of "stalking" others blogs for a few months now and have debating back and forth whether or not I wanted a blog of my own... after some persuasion from a few friends, I decided to give it a shot. We'll see how it goes... I'm afraid that it might be kind of boring but hopefully I can come up with some ways to keep it interested! Wish me luck! :)