Just the 2 of us

1st Grade Performance

2011-12-02T20:03:00.020-06:00

Last night Brayden had his First Grade Performance. It was super cute! It was a pirate theme and although Brayden looked frightened to death the entire time and barely sing, all of his classmates looked like they were having a blast and I was happy he participated. :) All week leading up to it, he kept telling me that he didn't want to go to it. His complaints ranged from "what's the point, I don't even have a speaking part" and "the performance is sooooo long, my legs hurt from having to stand so much while we sing" to "I have stage fright and I don't want everyone looking at me." After hearing this every night, he almost had me convinced that it wouldn't be worth going, especially if he was going to have that kind of attitude towards it. But I decided I would definitely regret it if we skipped out. So for all of our family and friends who couldn't make it to the performance, and would like to see Brayden's First Grade Performance....here are are the songs they sang (minus all the speaking parts in between):

This one is called "I have a loose tooth"...I think it is one of the only ones that Brayden actually sang- must be one of his favorites. :)

Down by the Bay....His Stage Fright started to kick in at this point and he just had a petrified, scared to death look on his face...

At the end of the performance, one of the music teachers let all the parents take pictures of the first graders. Brayden's stage freight was out the door and he had the biggest smile on his face....
Pretty cute, I must say! :)

Removal of Sharpie on Wood

2011-11-27T18:25:00.006-06:00

"Removal of Sharpie on Wood Furniture".....is a phrase that I did not think I would have to "google" with a 6.5 year old in the house....maybe 4 years ago, but not today. He should know better, especially only 4 days after we just got the new kitchen table set. You would think he would know better and I wouldn't have to say "don't write on the new table" right?!?! Well, unfortunately, lesson learned...purchase new furniture, put it together by hand, and MAKE SURE to CLEARLY TELL Brayden NOT to write on it....regardless of his age, and regardless of the fact I thought he would know better. From now on, he will be told not to write on new furniture. This morning I came downstairs to see this nicely "set" table by Brayden...I was so impressed with his efforts. He got out the new Christmas placemats, plates, silverware and plastic cups.

Then I looked more closely and I spied...

I couldn't believe my eyes!! I asked him WHAT was on the table. He very innocently replied, "I wrote our initials for our assigned seats." On each of our place settings he wrote our initials...he wasn't sure if he should use our current initials or our new initials so everyone got both sets of initials and the phrase "don't no" because he didn't know which initial to use and a piece of gum for our dessert. I couldn't believe it! As I was in shock, I tried to stay calm and immediately went to swagbucks and searched "how to remove sharpie from wood". After reading a few results, rubbing alcohol was an ingredient that was mentioned a few times and I already had it so I grabbed my cotton balls and q-tips and got to work. THANKFULLY, it worked!! After A LOT of elbow grease, about 95% of the Sharpie is gone and our new table is back to normal!
So just a word of advice, if you ever find yourself in the same unfortunate predicament, Rubbing Alcohol DOES remove Sharpie/permanent marker from wood furniture. Hopefully you will NEVER have to experience this. :)

Our Special Someone Part 3

2011-11-13T17:11:00.000-06:00

Well, it's just about time to change my blog name from Just the 2 of Us, to Just the 3 of Us. Friday night (11-11-11) I had the most AMAZING surprise visitor ring my doorbell around 10:30 in the evening. Already in my pjs laying in bed, my first thought was "who in the world is ringing my doorbell at this hour?!?" Since the mystery person rang the bell MULTIPLE times, I felt it must be some kind of emergency and worth me going downstairs to figure out what in the world was going on. My little "protector" (Brayden) followed me down, as I looked through the peep hole in the door. To my surprise, all I could see was....

I assumed it had to be a safe person if they were going to have a dozen roses in their hand, so I opened the door. To my surprise, Jason was standing there holding a dozen roses in one hand, and the other hand behind his back. I immediately asked him what he was doing here because we had already decided that this would be our "off" weekend where he would stay in Rogers, since he had just stayed the last week in Texas with us for his vacation. He stepped in the doorway and gave me the roses, then he started telling me how much he loved me and Brayden. I begun my state of shock as he continued to speak. Not sure exactly what all he said because I was so distracted at the fact he was getting down on one knee and brought his hand from behind his back and was holding a small box. He opened the box and I saw a bright SHINY ring. I was anticipating what he was about to say, so I started to say "are you serious?!?" He tried to continue his "prepared" speech, but I was in such shock, I didn't quite hear everything he was saying, but I did hear the magic words that I have been dying to hear for the last several months, "Christie, will you marry me?" After I said, "are you serious?!?!" about 100 more times and he kept reproposing to me, I finally said YES!!!!!!!!!! And he put the ring on my finger...

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!

We were so excited, we held each other super tight as Brayden cheered us on. After Brayden realized what had just happened his first reaction was "Let's get this wedding started!!"

So we are now in the process of planning a wedding. Before we set a date, we ideally would like for Jason to find a job in the area and get him moved down here. If you have any budget friendly wedding advice, we're all ears. :) Ideally, our dream wedding would entail a beachside ceremony, but we are looking at several others options. Stay tuned for updates. :)

Our Facebook Announcement to family and friends-

Back to Blogging

2011-11-13T11:21:00.008-06:00

Recently we have had a few events in our life that have made me want to get back into blogging on a more consistent basis, rather than just a few times a year. I've asked Brayden and Jason to help make sure that I post at least once a week and to hold me to it. :)

A lot has happened since my last post---I can't believe I went a whole summer break without posting. I will fill you in on our summer in another post. Moving on to the school year, Brayden is now in first grade and LOVING it. I have switched to teaching third grade (from first) and although I was hesitant at first because I wanted to be in first grade with Brayden and my teaching buddies, I am really enjoying third grade. I have an AWESOME class and they definitely make coming to work each day a joy.

Here is Brayden at our Meet the Teacher Night with his first grade teacher/my friend...Mrs. Kendle.
He was really excited to see he had several of his friends from his kindergarten class in his first grade class too. Here is a pic of Brayden and I on our first day....

Brayden on the first day of school putting his backpack in his locker. Getting him to take a backpack this year was a big deal because last year he didn't like using a backpack...probably because his backpack was practically bigger than he was, but this year with all of his things he needs to carry his own.

In first grade he has met a lot of new friends and is starting to become more responsible. After school, I work an extra hour for the academic portion of our afterschool care and I work with the first graders, so Brayden gets to spend more time with a few of his friends working on homework and studying for his spelling tests. Overall, he is really enjoying it and I can't wait to see the growth he makes at the end of the school year!

Busy, Busy Weekend

2011-05-08T18:30:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we had a super busy weekend! Saturday morning started off with Brayden's soccer game. Although he did have his first "header" and it took him out of the game for a few minutes, he played really well! I was very proud of him for not having any fear as he guarded this one player that seemed like he was almost twice the size of Brayden.
He was also the one that kicked the ball that hit Brayden right smack in the forehead at close range. One of the first things he said when we got in the car was "why didn't that kid say he was sorry to me, that really hurt!"

As soon as the soccer game was over, we headed home so he can change clothes. Then we were headed to Chuckie Cheese for a birthday party. He had so much fun running around with his classmates. He was a sweaty mess from playing in the playground tunnels. After the cake, they went to use their tokens on the video games.

After Chuckie Cheese we went home so he could change into his swimsuit. It was the opening day at our swimming pool and he was determined to go swimming. Jason was sweet enough to brave the freezing water temperatures so Brayden could get in the pool.

If you can't quite tell in this picture, he is SHIVERING!! :)

After we finally convinced him to come inside and change clothes we were able to take a short lil nap before we had family date night with our friends the Winter's. We introduced Jason to one of the local Mexican restaraunts then we headed over to one of our new favorite places, Allen Bowl, for a family night of bowling.

After such a fun day, we were all exhausted!

On Sunday, we had to say good-bye to Jason as he headed back to Arkansas. Then Brayden and I were off to the FCDallas vs LAGalaxy game. This was Brayden's first game back since his lil episode of getting sick and vowing to never go again. We didn't have the best of weather condititions. We had a MAJOR cold front come through that brought the temperatures down into the 40's, with a windchill of 37 degrees! Quite different than the 80 degree weather we had the day before! Here is Brayden all bundled up....Yes, he is wearing WINTER gloves on May 1st. :) There was also a chance of severe storms so we had to dress for rain as well.

I knew this particular game was a sell out, so I wanted to make sure that we got there in plenty of time to get a parking place. Last time they had a sell out and we got there thirty minutes before the game, we had to walk almost an entire mile just from the car to the stadium. That was not going to be happening in these weather conditions!

After we sat down, Brayden realized the team warms up, just like his team---with orange cones. :) (We have never got there early enough to see this.)

He was excited to see them warm up. We did get to see David Beckham and Landon Donovan--although I dont have any good pictures to prove it. It was still exciting. :)

We made it through the first half of the game with no rain then shortly into the second half it went from a light sprinkle to an absolute down pour in a matter of 10 minutes. They announced on the speakers that we would be experiencing high winds and heavy rain for the next thirty minutes. In MLS, they play rain or shine as long as there is no lightening. So we sat there in the heavy downpour freezing as long as I could take it. Then we had to get of there. I honestly think our walk/run back to the car was worse than just sitting there in the stadium. We eventually made it home safely, in the meantime they did end up having an hour weather delay so I was thankful we went ahead and left. By the time we got home, I made us some hot chocolate and we got changed into our warm pjs, the game was back on and we were able to see the last 10 minutes of the game. One of Brayden's favorite players, Brek Shea, scored the winning goal. The best part, Brayden realized that he could go to the game and not get sick. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T11:16:00.009-05:00

This morning I was blessed with a sweet little voice coming into my room to wish me Happy Mother's Day. I wasn't quite sure if he would remember or not, but it was the first thing he said to me. :) He then proceded to tell me that my gift from him was a "pool date." He had already switched out of his pjs and into his swimsuit, so he could take me swimming. Of course, he wanted me to switch into my swimming suit immediately, but I told him we had a few other things on our agenda before we could go.

After visiting with my sister using Facetime, he decided to make a mother's day video to show off how he can now blow up a balloon all on his on. He learned this yesterday and has been doing it constantly ever since.

One of the things on our "to do" list today was to clean the downstairs. I told him that we were going to have a dance party as we cleaned. Well, he interpreted the cleaning dance party into something completely different than what I had intended. He pulled out our Dance Dance Revolution 3 on the Wii and started having his own dance party as I cleaned the kitchen.

He told me that he is trying to get all hot and sweaty, so then "we" will be hot enough to go swimming. I'm not sure, but I think I foresee swimming sometime in my future today. :)

Happy Mother's Day!!

Kindergarten Performance

2011-05-07T13:11:00.015-05:00

Brayden just recently had his big kindergarten performance. It was a cute lil tribute to Mother's Day. Leading up to the night, he was SUPER excited! When we were shopping for his new shirt for the performance, he had to tell every store worker that we came encounter with that he had his "kindergarten performance in a few days".

He even gave me this impromptu sneak peak on our way home from school one day:

And then the actual night of the performance came. We came super early so I could get a front row seat. I was all set up with my camera, video camera and iphone as backup. (Thank goodness I did, because after 5 minutes into it my video camera battery went out.) As all the kids came out, I could tell that Brayden was a lil overwhelmed with how big the audience was, I was barely able to get him to crack a smile for a few pictures. I think stage freight got the best of him and one of his lil girlfriends (standing next to him). Afterwards he told me that it was so scary singing in front of everyone and it would have been better if it would have just been in front of the parents from his class. :)

Here are clips of each of their songs---not the best quality since they were taken with my phone. :)

This was my first time to use youtube to upload my videos, so hopefully it worked out ok. :)

Sixth Birthday "Wish List"

2011-05-04T18:15:00.003-05:00

I CAN. NOT. believe ONE WEEK from today, my lil boy will be SIX years old!! He is so excited for his birthday, each day he lets me know how many more days it is until his birthday. On his actual birthday day, my parents are coming into town to pick him up from school for our early release. Then they will all get to spend the afternoon having fun together. :)

Brayden has quite the lil birthday wish list this year! The major item on his list is an Xbox 360 with Kinect. I know it's a BIG gift, but after playing my nephew's Xbox, I think I want it just as much as Brayden does. :) I do have to say, thanks to all the Amazon giftcards I earned using Swagbucks, I was able to save $140 and an extra $10 Amazon giftcard using Checkpoints. Jason also earned $25 using Swagbucks to contribute to the cause. :) All that added together makes the price a lil more bearable.

Here are a few other things that he would like for his birthday, in no particular order-

He is very into this new remote control car called Stealth Rides. They are made by Hot Wheels. This was something that he originally saw on a commerical and had me looking at all of the stores for something called "Lock it Pocket"....well come to find out that was just a catchy phrase used on the commercial. The car actually flattens so you put it inside the remote control and then it fits into your pocket.

Right now, he is in LOVE/obsesed with this educational show on PBS called "Wild Kratts". It is full of information all about animals and it's great because he retains everything he learns from the episodes. One of his favorites animals now is a Honey Badger, something I had never heard of before, but he can tell you all about them from watching this show.

He has also been wanting this butterfly garden for quite some time, thanks to the fabulous infomercials on it. :)

He thinks he needs a couple of new games to go along with the XBox, so he chose:

And of course he thinks he needs these Xbox accessories to go along with his new Xbox:

We'll see how many of these items he actually gets for his birthday...I'm thinking a few of them will have to be switched over to a Christmas list. :)

Easter 2011

2011-04-30T14:10:00.001-05:00

Easter 2011 was spent at my parents house. Brayden woke up to the door bell ringing and when we went to see who it was he discovered the Easter Bunny stopped by and left him a few little gifts.

Of course, he had to immediately go check out what all was in his basket and eggs.

We took a few pictures of him dressed up after church, but he was in a very silly mood.

Then he got to change into his "comfy" clothes and we did SEVERAL Easter egg hunts.

Then it was his turn to hide them....he does such a great job hididng. :)

Counting to make sure he had all of them.

After we finally convinced him to go back inside, my mom and him made "Easter Story Cookies". This was a recipe that Brayden was given in Sunday School last year and I kept in hopes of turning it into an Easter tradition. As you make and bake the cookies there are Bible verses that you read that go along with the process of making them but also sharing the Easter story. He really enjoyed it!

Here is a link I found online that had the same recipe and Bible verses. If you haven't ever had them before, you'll have to try it out next year. :)

March/April Happenings Pt 2

2011-04-18T00:56:00.004-05:00

Here is a continuation of our March/April happenings, if you missed part 1 you can check it out here...

Jason got to experience his first Lowes Build and Grow workshop. Him and Brayden made a pinball machine. Luckily no fingers got smashed with the hammer. :)

The finished product:

Brayden and I made slime for his first time. We used a very simple recipe found here. The only ingredients were Borax, glue, a lil bit of water and food coloring. We tried to make it red but it turned out a lil hot pink even though we practically used the entire red food coloring, so I might suggeset making a different color.

Brayden enjoyed it so much, I think this summer we will try glow in the dark slime so we can use it under our black lights.

We also went bowling with our friends. Ever since Brayden went to a bowling birthday for one of his classmates, he has been wanting to go again. We both had a BLAST at the Allen Bowl. It is a great place for family fun! Brayden enjoyed it so much we decided to go ahead and book his birthday party there.

It's so hard to believe we only have 6 more weeks of school left! I know the month of May is just going to fly by just as fast as March and April did. We have so much going on and so much to look forward to. :)

March/April Happenings Part 1

2011-04-17T13:36:00.024-05:00

Oops..I guess it has been a couple of months since I last blogged. :( Time has just gotten away from us here lately! I was just asking Brayden if he had any blog post ideas for me, and he thinks I should write about the pool and how excited he is to go swimming this summer and that his birthday is coming up. I think I will just save his ideas for when they are a lil closer. :) Instead I will just fill you in on what we have been up to lately.

Brayden started his Spring Soccer. It has been such a great experience for him. This is his third season with the same team and I LOVE everything about his team- his teammates, coaches and the other parents. He has grown so much in soccer since last spring when he first started. Most importantly, he is having tons of FUN! It has been such an enjoyable experience for both of us that I think we will both be a lil sad in a few weeks when the season is over.

Spring Break for me was split between Jason's house and my parents house. I had a fun time visiting Jason-we explored a lil bit outside of Rogers. We went to Fayetteville to see the University of Arkansas campus and the Chi Omega Greek Amphitheatre, had a YUMMY treat at Ricks Bakery, and had dinner with some of my friends from Texas who also had an Arkansas weekend getaway. Then it was back to my parents house, just in time to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with Brayden.

Brayden played laser tag for the first time at one of his best friend's birthday party. Of course he LOVED it and can't wait to do it again.

He also went to his first little cooking class at Young Chef Academy. He ABSLOLUTELY LOVED it! It was a Kids Night Out event that they have every couple of weeks and thanks to a great deal that I got from juiceinthecity (similar to Groupon), he was able to go for only $12! More than half off the origianl price. He made pasta and cupcakes and now he thinks he is a master chef. :) He enjoyed it so much I hope to sign him up for another class or workshop over the summer.

We also went to a couple of FCDallas soccer games. Last season, Brayden LOVED going to these games so much that I got us two season tickets for this year. Our seats are close to our good friends and one of Brayden's best girlfriends so you would think that it couldn't get much better than that....unfortunately that all changed the second game of the season when fifteen minutes into the game Brayden got sick and threw up everywhere. Since this is only the third time in his life to get sick like that I guess it was pretty traumatic for him because now he does not want to go back to another game, at all. He thinks something there must have made him sick and if he goes back he will get sick again. So we'll see how the rest of the season pans out, the next game is in a couple of weeks against LAGalaxy and I am MAKING him go to that game. :) So hopefully after that, he will realize PizzaHut Arena had nothing to do with him getting sick and we can go back to having fun with our friends as we watch the soccer games.

A couple weekends ago, I traveled for the the first time to Lubbock, Texas. I am our school sponsor for Destination Imagination and we had three teams competing in the state tournament. All three teams did a great job! Two of the teams (and me) will be advancing to Globals in Knoxsville, TN at the end of May where they will be competing against teams from all over the globe. I've gone the last two years, but this year will be the first time for our school to take two teams.

The Month of March was here and over with before we even knew it! And April is going by just as fast....which is a GREAT thing because I know we are both super excited for summer to get here!

St Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T14:45:00.011-05:00

A lil tradition that I started last year for St. Patrick's day is having a "leprochaun" come visit Brayden while he is sleeping. The first important job the leprochaun has, is to hide Brayden's green shirt that he plans on wearing for the day. (Last year this was pure accidental. After hours of searching for his brand new St Patrick's day shirt we had bought, we finally gave up and he claimed the leprochaun must have hid it....who knew a brand new shirt would later be found in the dirty laundry basket??) Well this year, he tried to outsmart the leprochaun by bringing 3 green shirts to my parents house, plus I had just bought him a new one while I was in Arkansas. So when he woke up that morning, he immediately went straight to his suitcase to switch to his green shirt but quickly learned none of the four were anywhere in sight. (I had hid them throughout the house in high places and he had to find each one.) After he found all 4, he wanted to wear his new shirt I got him, but it must have been missized because it was way too big for him. It worked out perfectly because he immediately blamed the leprochaun for stretching out his new shirt. :)

Next he learned the leprochaun changed all the toliet water to GREEN.

Then he went to have breakfast. On the menu was green scrambled eggs and green milk. It sounds and looks totally disgusting, but he loved it! All I did was add a lil green food coloring to the milk and a lil blue to the eggs so they would turn out green.

For lunch, he had a green grilled cheese sandwhich. After I put the butter on the bread, I added just a lil drop of food coloring to each piece of bread and then spread it with a knife. Again, it looked totally disgusting---but he LOVED it!! He also had green grapes, green squeezable apple sauce and green kool-aide. He wasn't a fan of the kool-aide, so I switched him back to the green milk.

For an afternoon snack, I made him and his lil buddy "Leprochaun Fizz." Super simple to make! All I did was a scoop of lime sherbert and Sprite. It was so DELICIOUS and a perfect cool down from playhing outside on a hot day!! I think we will have to keep that recipe in mind for this summer. :)

As one last St Patrick's Day treat, my dad installed a new tree swing for Brayden. SO much fun!!

Although we didn't have enough time to do everything I planned, we had an awesome day! And I can always save my ideas for next St Patricks Day. :)

Kindergarten Open House

2011-03-11T10:25:00.024-06:00

Every March before Spring Break, our school has an Open House. This is a great way for the students to show off all their hard work that they have been working on the previous months. From a teacher perspective, it is a VERY stressful time trying to make sure every student gets EVERY project finished in time. From a parent perspective, it is a wonderful opportunity to see your child beam with pride as they show off all their hard work. This year, Brayden's class had a rainforest theme and his teacher went above and beyond transforming the classroom into a rainforest. He was so proud of it!! He learned so much about the rainforest and many different rainforest animals, he was even able to teach me a few things. :) I had to take a picture of him showing off each piece of his work:

Brayden showing off his rainforest diorama with his clay macaw that he made.

Showing off his Poison Dart Frog.

Showing off his butterfly and spider monkey.

Layers of the rainforest.

Showing off his macaw book that he made:

In case you can't tell, he has definitely perfected the "cheese" smile. :)

I'm so proud of Brayden and all his hard work!! It's no wonder he is TOTALLY exhausted at the end of the day. :)

Lovin Swagbucks!

2011-02-19T18:33:00.005-06:00

I just have to say it, I am LOVIN Swagbucks!! A lil over a year ago, I introduced you guys to Swagbucks through this post. Well they have done a lot of updating since then and now it is even EASIER to earn more Swagbucks.

In case you are new to Swagbucks, it is basically a search/win website where you can earn Swagbucks when you use their site to search. Then you redeem your "swagbucks" for prizes. My FAVORITE prize is the $5 Amazon giftcard...it only takes 450 Swagbucks to earn one. And yes, it really does work!! I have earned Amazon giftcards and have used them to purchase lots of things on Amazon. If you haven't already signed up, use this link to sign up so you can get started. :)

A few of the ways I like to earn Swagbucks -

* SEARCH and WIN... You won't get Swagbucks for every search. I found for me, there are usually 3 times a day I earn them by searching. First thing in the morning, afternoon, and sometime in the evening. Use Swagbucks as a replacement for your current search engine (google, yahoo, etc..) Use it frequently! In order to get to facebook, I never type in facebook.com, I just go to swagbucks.com and I type in “facebook” as a search. Sure it is one more step, but it’s worth the extra couple of seconds to possibly earn swagbucks. :)

*COUPONS.... Just today alone, I SAVED $16 at Walmart using coupons I printed off of Swagbucks!! I used a total of 9 coupons and each is equivalent to 10 swagbucks. So not only did I save $16, I also earned 90 swagbucks!!

*SWAGBUCK TV.... They have several categories to choose from...Entertainment (celebrity gossip), Fashion/Beauty, Homes and Garden (a lot of stuff from HGTV and DIY), Technology, Food (excerts from Rachael Ray, Paula Dean, Bobby Flay, etc...) as you watch the short videos (usually under 5 minutes), a meter will go from 0-100%. Once the meter is full, you earn 5 swagbucks. Then the meter starts over and you can continue watching more videos. Just think, if you average 30 swagbucks a day through swagbucks tv alone that = 900 swagbucks or 2 $5 Amazon giftcards a month just through the Swagbuck TV.

*SWAGBUCK GAMES... Brayden LOVES to help out with this one. :) They have a limit of 10 swagbucks a day playing the games…but if you earned 10 each day, that can be an easy 300 for the month. Plus he loves knowing that he is helping me earn more swagbucks.

There are a TON more ways to earn Swagbucks, but I won't bore you with them all now. I'll save that for another post later. :)

In January, with the new year, I started my mission to earn more Swagbucks. Not necessarily for any particular reason at the time, other than it is basically like FREE money. Now I have a purpose for earning more Swagbucks...Brayden (and Jason and I) are wanting an Xbox 360 with Kinect. (Special thanks to my sister and her family for introducing us to it.) So our goal is to earn enough FREE Amazon giftcards to pay for at least 1/2 by Brayden's birthday in May. So far, just since January, I have earned a total of $60 worth of Amazon giftcards...getting closer to our goal. :)

And just in case you are wondering why I have Swagbucks, linked SO many times...it does run on the referral system. So please make sure you use my link :) Thanks!!

Our Special Someone...Part 2

2011-02-14T21:45:00.010-06:00

After my original post introducing everyone to our "special someone" (found here if you haven't read it yet), I asked Jason for his approval on the post. Thankfully, he LOVED it, his only question was...when is part 2 coming? I replied "part 2?!? What would part 2 include?" Then he mentioned a couple of ideas like our first Thanksgiving together and our official dating anniversary. I liked his thinking of a part 2, so here we go...

* Our official anniversary for boyfriend/girlfriendness is 10/10/10...such a fun date, right?!? :)
* A backdated Thanksgiving post will be coming soon, so be on the lookout.

Now that I addressed his part 2 request, I think I will take an opportunity to switch over and let you know just how amazing we think he is. First off...the fact that he doesnt have any kids of his own and he is more than willing to be apart of our crazy life and help fullfill that role that Brayden has been missing for the last 5.5years should be enough to show how amazing he is, but I want to share a little more.

* First off, Jason is a shy guy, but he is also the kind of guy that is willing to get his dance on...
and his singing on....

just because he knows how happy it makes me to see him do two things, he is really good at but doesn't want to let the world know...until now. :) Hahahaha!!

* He is an amazing cook and recipe follower. Some of his specialities that I have got to experience so far are grilled steak/vegetables, turkey tacos and our favorite queso. We are sort of a creature of habit and tend to eat our favorites over and over, but I can't wait for us to try out many more recipes together.

* He is willing to try new things....like ice skating and going to the hockey games with us. We look forward to introducing him to the FC Dallas games as well.

* He often spoils me with BEAUTIFUL dozen roses....just because. :)

* He is willing to support and wear to my alma mater...even though it is his favorite team's rival.

* He embraces me and all my imperfections.

* When it comes down to it, he is just a big kid that loves playing with toys.

* He is my "calmness" in all my "frazzleness" and "rushness". (Yes, two words I just made up.) :)

Example: I'm always rushing around to get to my destination somewhat on time and a few weeks ago was no different. This time we were rushing to pick up pictures at Walmart before my mom's surprise birthday party. And as I did my fastest mall sprint back to the photolab to pick up the pictures, Jason was going to grab a biscuit sandwhich at the McDonalds. Now as I rushed back after picking up the photos, I was expecting him to be in the doorway where we could just quickly dart out the door. When I approached the front of the store, I didn't see him. I looked over to the McDonalds and there he was sitting down leisurely enjoying his sausage biscuit. After my shins hurt from walking SO fast, I couldn't do anything but stop and laugh (and thank him for the soda he got me). Didn't he realize, we were in a HURRY and didn't have time to sit and eat?? :) Again, he is the calmness to my "frazzleness" and "rushness"...by the way, we did make it my mom's surprise party with time to spare. :)

* He is still learning the joys (and not so joyous moments) of living life with a five year old...but it is definitely an adventure I am so happy to take with him, and extatic that he is willing to take it with us. :)

Goodness, my list could go on and on! I'm definitely one, lucky gal!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-14T01:52:00.017-06:00

When Brayden woke up this morning he was "Heart Attacked"... Attacked by the Hearts....I found this super cute idea online and since I haven't had a chance to go to the store without Brayden to get him a Valentine's gift, I thought this would be just as special. He LOVED it!!! Although I have to confess, I was a lil saddened when I asked him who he thought did it and I was THIRD on his list. Apparently two girls from his class take priority over me nowdays. :)

This year for Valentine's Day we decided to go the simple route. You might remember Brayden's Valentines from last year....
They were a big hit, but I decide those were a lil too expensive and a lot of work for all of his classmates...maybe next year we will do them again for family and close friends. This year instead he is passing out Valentine Fun Dip...very easy and something that he LOVES to eat himself!!! I was very proud of him for writing his name on all 24 for them in such a small space. Then we made heart shaped Rice Krispie treats for his teacher and my coworkers. We used strawberry marshmallows so they had a pink tint to them (although you can't tell from this picture). :) We thought they were pretty yummy!

Here is Brayden on the big day....cheezing of course. :)
Now on to my special Valentine gifts...

First, I was surprised at school with these BEAUTIFUL dozen roses (in a GORGEOUS ruby red vase), cute teddy bear and chocolates from my very, very special boyfriend. LOVE THEM ALL!!

Aren't they GORGEOUS?!? I definitely think he is a keeper. :) Then I also received lots of adorable cards, chocolates and gifts from my sweet students. After school, my parents took Brayden and I out to a yummy Mexican dinner at Gloria's. Gotta have chips and queso on Valentine's. :) My mom also made us each an individual red velvet cake and chocolate covered strawerries... D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!! She did such an amazing job on both of them!

Thankfully, my mom also got me the Biggest Loser: Power Walk DVD
after eating all these yummy sweets and chocolates, I'm going to need to do something!!

Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Day!!

I'll leave you with a few of our favorite, SUPER CUTE Valentine books we have read this year. All would be great books to save for Valentines next year to use in the classroom or at home. :)

Click on any of the links above and you can purchase them directly from Amazon...just a reminder they have free shipping on orders over $25.

First Lost Tooth

2011-02-13T21:07:00.008-06:00

For the last month or so Brayden has had his first loose tooth. A few weeks prior to that he kept telling me his tooth was wiggly and everytime I checked it...I could never get it to budge. Fast forward two weeks when I was doing the daily wiggle check. I wiggled his tooth like I did every other day...but this time was different, it really did wiggle. I was shocked! And I must admit, I did shed a tear or two (or maybe three)...with the realization my baby is growing up!!

Fast forward to last night....we had just walked into the Allen Event Center for the Americans hockey game and as we started to walk up the stairs to our seats Brayden turned to me and said he lost his tooth. I said, WHAT?!?!? At this time, all the lights were going down as the players skated onto the rink, so I had him come back down the stairs because I wasn't sure if he really lost it as in couldn't find it or just lost it. Thankfully, he just lost it. I think it was so loose that his tongue must have nudged it out and he felt it and spit it into his hand....no blood or anything. We were both so excited. I think everyone within his radius found out he lost his tooth...of course, including the cheerleaders. He was grinning from ear to ear the whole evening!

He couldn't wait to put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy. Of course, it only took me once to tell him that the tooth fairy wouldn't come unless he was asleep. This morning, he was so excited!!! I could hear him calling "mommy, mommy" so I went into his room to find him beaming with joy.
He was a lil disappointed that the tooth fairy actually took his tooth. He didn't understand why she would need it..."doesn't she already have plenty?!?" He told me that if he would have known she was going to take it, he would have tried to hide it better. He also thought next time, he is going to keep his tooth in his hand, so then he can feel the tooth fairy land in his hand to grab the tooth.

He is so funny....now that he has a lost his tooth, he is officially a big boy now (in his words). He even asked me if he could stay home all by himself....like when I go shopping at Walmart. I told him absolutely not and he just couldn't quite understand why not...since he is so big now. :)

100th Day of Kindergarten

2011-02-07T22:55:00.020-06:00

Today was our 100th day of school....Brayden's 100th day of kindergarten. It is just so amazing how quickly the time flies by!!! It seems like yesterday we were anxiously preparing for his first day of kindergarten.

After a busy first day, he was fast asleep on our way home.

And now here he is, 100 school days later...

Still fast asleep afterwards... (and yes, he really is sleeping in this pic...I know his eyes look just closed, but I promise he really is sleeping.) :)

Doesn't he look so grown up now?!? He can barely even squeeze into the Hobby Lobby shopping carts!!

While he has been in kindergarten he has done a lot studying.....

[When I asked him what he has learned this year, he claimed "EVERYTHING!!"]
He has met a lot of new friends building those social skills and a lot of new lil girls to crush on...

He has discovered Friday is his favorite weekday. Hmmm... I wonder why?!? :)

And one thing for sure we have discovered....kindergarten completely exhausts him!!! Most days afterschool you can find him fast asleep taking an afternoon nap...and it can be found ANYWHERE...

It's so hard to believe that it won't be long before he is in first grade with me! He is very excited to graduate kindergarten and move on to first grade. :)

He also wanted me to show you his 100th day of school project that he made. He is very proud of it. :)

A Gumdrop Picture Frame

Our Allen American Snowman

2011-02-05T18:00:00.018-06:00

Brayden and I LOVE going to watch our local hockey team the Allen American play hockey. It's a new hobby that we started last year and we both really enjoy it! So when I saw on Facebook today, they were hosting a contest to build an Allen American Snowman and the top 3 win 4 FREE tickets I knew we had to take advantage of this beautiful day....and we had to HURRY before all the snow melted!

I took a TON of photos today but here is our final photo that we submitted:

One of our "snowmen" is slightly falling over but we were having to work super fast...he was melting by the minute!

Here is a short lil video of Brayden introducing everyone...

In case you can't hear him....the lil snowman is his "baby sister" and the middle snowman is his "medium brother." Not sure where he came up with that idea...but he does have quite the lil imagination! I apologize for my voice being sooo loud.

Here are a couple of other cute videos of Brayden playing in the snow...

He keeps saying "he absolutely LOVESS Christmas" thanks to his obsession with the Eloise movies.

Thankfully he doesnt hold a grudge, just a few moments later....

I'm not sure when the contest is over...but I will be sure to update everyone if we actually win the tickets. :)

Snow Day

2011-02-04T15:43:00.017-06:00

It's official...today can actually, really be called a "Snow Day". We have had continuous light snow fall for the last 15 hours or so and up until a few minutes ago it was still coming down. We still have not left the house since we came home Monday night and since they cancelled the hockey game we planned on going to tonight we have no intention of leaving anytime soon.

Today though, we did at least venture outside the house...even though it was for only 10 minutes and not much further than the front door step.

First thing we did was measure the snow...

and according to our calculations as seen on eye level, we measured 5 inches of snow!!!
Next thing on the agenda...snow collection for our snow ice cream.

Finally got enough....

And of course we couldn't come back inside until after he made a snow angel. And in keeping with our stay at home pj days....he does still have his pjs on underneath his snow pants and jacket. :)

After we came back inside and warmed up with hot chocolate and brownies we made our snow ice cream. We used our big bowl of snow, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk and a lot of vanilla (probably 5-6 tablespoons.) It was DELICIOUS!!!

Sadly this picture was taken AFTER I dropped my camera. :( I think I broke the lens...it wasn't taking pictures properly or using the auto focus. I'm going to have to try my other lens to see if it still works correctly.

Hope everyone is staying warm!!

Our Special Someone...How it all Began

2011-02-04T01:05:00.023-06:00

Hopefully sometime in the near future I will be changing the header/title of our blog. It will no longer need to say "Just the 2 of Us"....it will be switched to "Just the 3 of Us" :) About 5 months ago, we added a super special guy to our life and we couldn't be happier.

Let me introduce you to my boyfriend, Jason....

And yes, it does feel extremely weird to be a mother and almost 32 years old and say that I have a "boyfriend." It sort of makes me feel like I am back in highschool again....which by the way, is ironic because Jason and I actually DID go to highschool together. In fact, we even graduated the same year together. The funny thing is, back in the day we never even said two words to each other. (Just in case you are wondering, our class wasn't all that big, maybe 400.) We did know of each other but we just hung around different groups. He was a shy, football player that always hung out with the guys and I was a golfer who was always tied up with a boyfriend. In our four years of high school, we never had one class together, lockers were never near each other and we both parked on opposite sides of the school building...so basically we just never crossed paths...until 12 years later...Thanks to Facebook!!

It all started last March I had made a status update about introducing Brayden to the 80's movie Space Camp and Jason commented how that was a classic 80's movie. So of course I had to do a lil FB stalking and I noticed he doesn't really comment on anyones status' so of course I felt extra special. :) Then I noticed on his profile it said he was single...but I couldn't imagine how/why so I wasn't totally convinced he was single. Then I noticed where he lives...Rogers, AR so my detective skills got to work on yahoo maps and I discovered we were 5 hours apart..... 5 hours!!! Keep in mind the most I have been in a car since my parents moved closer to me is probably about 3 hours and that just about did me in...so again I had to ponder the 5 hours. Then I took another look at his profile pic and decided, yeah it was totally worth pursuing. 5 hours isn't really that long right?!?

So over the next few months I would think about him often and check out his page. I noticed he wasn't really all that active- no status updates, no comments, no new pictures, etc... so it had me thinking maybe he really was single. Then back in May he made a comment on my graduation status/photos and again on my birthday in June. Each time, my mind would begin to visualize what life would be like if we were together. (I know that sounds cRaZy.) Then July 4th came around and he sent me a Happy 4th of July message. I thought it was extra special because he included Brayden in it too. Of course I was on Cloud 9 and replied back to him wishing him a safe trip to Houston to visit his family. Since he initated the communication I was super excited and again started thinking maybe he really is single. But being a single mom of a 5 yr old, my self confidence wasn't always the highest so I tried to convince myself he was "just being nice" and nothing more than that. But of course that didn't stop me from thinking about him...and let me just say I have a lot of thinking time during summer break. :)

Then August came around and Money magazine voted for the Top 10 cities to live in. McKinney (where I live) was voted #5 and then I saw Rogers, AR voted as #10. Perfect conversation starter!! So I emailed him the link and told him that I was thinking about him since both of our cities made the Top 10 list and that maybe we should share our cities with one another. He replied that he had actually just read the article before he saw my email and that sounded like a great idea. We had a lil more small talk back and forth but then it fizzled out. Jason will be the first to admit he's not always the best conversationalist and I think neither of us wanted to admit we had a crush on one another in fear of rejection. Then a few weeks later as Brayden and I were frequenting the neighborhood pool we befriended one of our neighbors and her boyfriend. They were telling me how the boyfriend was going to be traveling back home and I asked where he lived...believe it or not....he lived in Rogers, AR!! Talk about a small world!! I definitely took it as a "sign." If they were able to have a successful long distance relationship between McKinney and Rogers, why couldn't I at least give it a try. So of course I really started visualizing our relationship.

Then Labor Day came around and I was pleasantly surprised by an email from Jason wishing us a Happy Labor Day...so then we had a lil back and forth conversation and I noticed now was my chance to finally admit I had a secret "crush" on him....so I took the plunge and told him. Then I anxiously awaited for his reply. Luckily the feelings were mutual...and the rest as they say is history. :)

Jason still lives in Arkansas but is hoping to find a job in the Dallas area very soon. I know 5 months doesn't seem like that long of a time to get to know each other, but it has been a very natural relationship and we both feel like we have already been together much, much longer. Thanks to todays technology (Skype, email, high phone bills, etc..) we are able to stay in constant communication and probably communicate more than dating couples that live in the same town. We are both more than ready to be together on a daily basis rather than weekends only. It still amazes us both how we use to live 5 minutes apart from one another and never even talked and now we drive 5 hours just to see each other on the weekends....for less than 48 hours. Hopefully one day, sooner than soon, that day will come where we can be together full time. :)

Here is our first "family" pic taken at the Texas State Fair back in October.
Brayden ABSOLUTELY ADORES Jason and he can't wait for him to be apart of our life full time too.

On another note, stay tuned for more "back" dated posts...I'm really starting to get the hang of blogging again and I promise they won't be so wordy. :)

Ice Days

2011-02-03T18:24:00.009-06:00

Ok, I know it has been awhile since I have posted...about 8 months to be exact. Way to long!! I actually just noticed that I have a couple of post from over the summer that I started but did not finish so I will work on finishing those up as well and post those too. Brayden and I have had something very exciting happen to us in the last five months that I will share in a new post too. Now you might be wondering, how I have all this time to catch up on our blog....it's called Dallas' Ice Storm 2011. :)

In my school district we are lucky to get 1 snow day, 2 if we are really lucky, but having 3 in a row is just unheard of! Well tomorrow will actually be our 4th snow day in a row!! It's actually due to ice and not snow, but either way it is absolutely unheard of in this area!! Let's just say Brayden and I are LOVING EVERY SECOND OF IT!!

So what do you when you have 4 days off of school? Well I would love to say I have cleaned out and reorganized every room and closet in my house, but let's be honest, that's not really "fun". I like my friend, Lauren's philosophy.... Normally we would be at work and the cleaning and organizing wouldn't be getting done anyway so it's ok to take these snow days and just enjoy them since we are supposed to be at work. :) So what we have done is....

** Stayed in our pjs all day long- no point getting dressed when you can't go anywhere, right?!?. :)
** Watched SEVERAL movies thanks to Uverse OnDemand
** We caught up on all of our DVR recordings
** Read books- I am enjoying extra time with Apolo Ohno since I don't normally get time to read during the week. I highly recommend his book, Zero Regrets: Be Greater Than Yesterday. It is very motivational and a great read!! Right now Amazon is offering it for only $13.39 hardcover with free shipping.
** We have played Wii until we used up all the batteries then we switched over to playing his new Dsi. We can't get enough of Mario.
** I worked on my taxes.
**Baked some brownies and other yummy meals.
** We have worked hard on earning some more Swagbucks. Brayden is even addicted to it now. :) It's only the 3rd day of the month and we already have another $5 Amazon giftcard on the way. They have swagbuck tv and games that he likes to watch/play. I told him that we could use our amazon giftcards we earn to apply to a new Xbox360 Kinect that he is wanting. So he is all about trying to earn those Swagbucks. :)

Whew! Now that it is all listed like that it sounds like we have been pretty busy. (just kidding) :)

Personally I dont quite understand getting "cabin fever". Brayden and I are enjoying every second of this unexpected winter vacation break. :) Maybe, just maybe...tomorrow's agenda might include some cleaning/reorganizing but I'm not making any promises. :)

On a side note-
Tomorrow's forecast: high of 28 degrees and a good chance of snow
The weekend: 46/49.... just a lil warm up for the SuperBowl. :)
Monday: back down to a high of 35 degrees with a light wintery mix... another possible snow day?!? We shall see. :)

60th Birthday Celebration

2011-01-31T20:52:00.013-06:00

We recently celebrated 60 wonderful years of my mom's life. To make her birthday extra special, my dad, two sisters, and I had a few suprises up our sleeves for this milestone. :)

First, my dad surprised my mom by flying my middle sister in from Denver, CO. She had no idea until both of my sisters and grandma surprised her as she was volunteering at church. Then, the next surprise began, they "kidnapped" her to bring her to McKinney for a fun girls night out. She was NOT expecting it AT ALL!!

First on the agenda for the girls night out was a painting class at Sip n Doodle in downtown McKinney. We had a GREAT time!! It was something new and we all agreed that we can't wait to do it again. Here are a few pictures from our fun adventure:

Mom just starting her background.

My oldest sister and grandma, hard at work.

Mom a lil further along on her painting.

My middle sister and I were painting right next to each other and although we had two completely different paintings... you would have never been able to tell based on our background, they were almost identical:

All of our final products-

One of the things we really liked about painting at Sip n Doodle we were each able to choose our own painting to fit our own style. I was pretty impressed with each of our masterpieces. Looking forward to doing it again!!

After painting, we headed over to one of my favorite downtown Mexican restaraunts, Aparicios. Then they all headed back to my parents house because I had to "work" the next day (on Saturday). Little did my mom know, one of our other surprises, was I would actually be able to spend Saturday with the family too. So Saturday, we surprised her with 1)me and then 2) my dad and sister collaborated with my mom's Bunco Group to have them switch Bunco from Monday night to Saturday afternoon. It was a great "surprise Bunco party" with many of my mom's friends and my sisters, grandma and I were able to play as well. Guess who was the Bunco Queen....your's truely, of course. :)

After Bunco, we went back to my parents house for more family time. My sister brought her Xbox 360 Kinect, so we were able to have fun as a family challenging each other in Dance Central and in Kinect Adventures . SO much fun!!! Then my brother in law and nephew joined us for the festivities, so our family was complete. It has been waaaaaay too long, since we have all been together as a family.

After a pizza dinner, we had an amazing strawberry cake that my brother in law brought in from Oklahoma City along with homemade icecream, courtesy of my dad and Jason. It was all delicious!!She opened her presents and then we played the dice game, Farkle as a family. Farkle is a great family game that even Brayden could play along with us.

We had such an amazing day and weekend!! I think we definitely were able to pull off some great surprises for my mom. And hopefully next time we wont have to wait as long for us all to be together again. :)

Happy 60th Birthday Mom!!

Our Summer Fun

2010-07-17T14:15:00.027-05:00

Our summer summed up in pictures...

First off for summer break, Brayden continued his ice skating lessons. Then he didn't want to continue with the second session because he realized it interferred too much with his "social" schedule. He was missing out on playdates with the neighbors on Monday nights and he just couldn't bare to do that anymore. Life's tough when you're 5! On the bright side before he quit, he did pass the basic ice skating lessons and was able to advance to pre-hockey...his original goal. Hopefully soon he will want to get back into it. :)

Of course we got a LOT of swimming in over the summer...

Brayden with his neighbor girlfriend. :)

We did so much swimming that he even got a Swimmer's Ear Infection...which was no fun at all!! We had to make a special trip from grandmas and Vacation Bible School to go see the doctor.

We did make it over to watch an interview with a couple of the Allen American hockey players as they did a radio talk show. Brayden enjoyed getting their autograph and I think they enjoyed using his squiggly pen. :)

Then they had a buy 1 item, get 1 item free so we had to stock up on a couple of miniature goalie sticks.

This summer we also celebrated my 31st birthday and Father's Day with my parents. They happened to fall on the same day this year.

After a lot of anticipation, we had to go see Toy Story 3 in 3D. We both LOVED it!!

We also made it out to a McKinney Marshall baseball game. It is our area summer collegiate league.

Of course we spent a lot of time at the lake.

Boat naps are the best...

We survived the heat at a few of the FC Dallas games... Brayden enjoyed them SO much we got season tickets for this upcoming season.

Brayden went with me for the first time as I got a pedicure. He was definitely treated like a prince getting to sit in the massaging chair.

4th of July and Brayden looking up at the fireworks...

and finally a summer picture of just the two of us.....

We had a great relaxing summer....Can't wait to see what this upcoming summer has in store for us. :)

My Graduation

2010-06-10T00:32:00.010-05:00

Another exciting event we had in May was my graduation from grad school. For the last eighteen months I have been working on my Master of Education in Teacher Leadership via online courses. I can't tell you enough how excited I am to be finally be done with assignments, midterms and final exams!!

This was a fun mini trip that we are able to spend with my parents. Believe it or not, this was Brayden's first time to actually stay in a hotel....5 years old and he had never stayed in a hotel before. He was beyond excited and loving every second of it, especially the elevator! He kept calling the hotel, the "show in tell" and by the end of the weekend was wanting us to move into one. On Sunday, we drove down a little further to Port Arthur, TX (close to Galveston) so Brayden could see the ocean for his first time. He LOVED the waves! I wish we could have stayed longer and actually enjoyed the ocean but unfortunately we had a 6 hour drive ahead of us.
It didn't take long before he wanted to switch into his swimsuit and try out his "surfing pose."

I can't wait to go back and spend more time enjoying the ocean and beach....hopefully we will make it down there again this summer. :)