Katie...or something like that!

Where am I?

2012-10-24T16:48:00.001-04:00

Where have I been? Well, ALL OVER! LOL. SO much to do, so much to see, so much to watch! I have been working and cooking and playing and shopping and screaming and footballing and running and laughing and facebooking and tweeting and dancing classing. Whew. I am exhausted. haha. The End! ;-)

25 Things you might not know about me

2012-05-28T11:23:00.000-04:00

Once a week on Twitter, I see a post by USweekly- 25 interesting facts about a certain celebrity. For some reason, I read these all the time, but always end up going "Pshh I am way more interesting than that" LOL. So I am going to post my own 25 interesting facts.... about me.... :-)

OK-----
1. My favorite movie of all time is Rookie of the Year.
2. I hate nuts on/in my food. A Snickers is the ONLY exception. lol
3. My favorite superhero is Superman. The Dean Cain version. :-)
4. I want to kill people that whistle.
5. I once went to Tennis camp and won first place. In my adult years, I have never won- without cheating.
6. I seem to have an extremely weak stomach. I get nauseated so easily.
7. I took 4 years of Latin in high school.
8. I am extremely scared of needles, cats, and balloons!
9. I am a Mario Kart Champion!!!
10. When I was 4ish, I cut both mine and my brother's hair! hehe
11. I laugh SO much. I love watching Stand-up. Sit-coms are my fave. And I scroll the funny posters and memes online like its my job!
12. I have been following baseball (pro) for 17 years. Like, seriously following baseball.... all the time. Watching games 24/7.
13. I was one of the first people ever to own an iPhone. haha. had to be... TJ bought me one right when the first one came out!
14. I think the pilots of the Blue Angels are SO sexy, yet I do not know what any of them look like. haha
15. I broke my leg on the last Friday of summer, before my 4th grade year started, so I started that year in a cast all the way up my thigh.
16. I worked for a year for Fred Levin in his home. His wife arranged and paid for our entire honeymoon as a gift!
17. I used to never ever ever EVER want kids!!! I was dead serious that I never wanted kids!! ......... Now I want more!!! What a blessing they are!!!
18. My mom was my 10th grade biology teacher and my 12th grade anatomy teacher!
19. I passed out each time I got a hepatitis b shot! My brother passed out in the middle of laughing at me for passing out!!!! Lmao.
20. My high school football team won the FL State Championship when I was in 11th grade... 3rd overtime fumble recovery in the end zone.... Intense! Ha
21. Elleah was my second pregnancy. :(
22. I once tripped over a stadium chair trying to get down to take a pic with Jeff Francour at a baseball game. I fell over the railing, almost landed on the field. Jeff caught me... (most embarrassing moment ever)
23. I can burp extremely loud. Lolololol
24. I can name all 50 states in alphabetical order in less than 20 seconds.
25. I still can't jump into a pool without plugging my nose, I don't trust myself to not breath!

I think I am going to ask other people I find interesting to make me a list and my blog can be like "USweekly-people that Katie knows edition!!" lolololol. Laters!!!

50 Shades of Red!!

2012-04-26T11:10:00.002-04:00

I love to read! I love reading a good book almost as much as I love watching a good ball game!!! I usually stick to emotional romances, mystery, thrillers, or a combination of these. Nicholas Sparks, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Jodi Picoult, Janet Evanovich to name a small few.... !! I steer clear of sci-fi, futuristic, or horror/scary! My only exception was the Twilight series which became my FAVORITE books for a long time....... Until a few weeks ago.....

A friend of mine asked me if I was gonna read "50 Shades of Grey," - it had just become a best seller so I'm sure I eventually would have heard of it and read it. But after she brought it to my attention, I looked it up and gave it a go!! I was warned that it was quite racy and.... *ahem*... Explicit, but the description on the book gave me absolutely NO indication of what I was getting myself in to!!! I will say this much, if you can't handle a detailed and explicit description of, um, adult activities.... DO NOT READ this book!! This book is being dubbed "mommy porn," and I can see why, sorta (not sure its "mommyish though").

With that being said, I was 10 chapters in, completely inthralled by the story by the time I looked up and said out loud to myself "what the heck????" I swear I turned every bit of 50 shades of red with my mouth hung open while I continued to read! However, as explicit as it was, the story behind it and the big question of WHY? hung over my head. It is graphic, but with the story line, there really is no other way the author could have approached it..... Each "scene" shows a tad bit more into the WHY?! And trying to answer that is what makes this book MY NEW FAVORITE!!!

I read all three books in two weeks! I could have finished quicker but between each book I felt compelled to "take a break" from wrapping my head around this feeling of WHOAness (it's a word, google it lol)! Now that the story is over for me, and I have read all three books, I GET it!! The actual story line is compelling!!! It reaches out to those of us that loved Twilight but who also needed a more adult approach! Twilight was based on high schoolers, teens, and was geared towards attracting that same crowd. This book is geared towards ADULTS who do not mind stepping out of their comfort zone for the sake of a good story! I am so glad I kept reading......

I laugh at myself because when I get into a book, I talk about it 24/7. Not just this book, any book! I need to join a book club! Poor hubby gets the details and opinions of all the books I'm reading and he really really just don't care! Haha!

For those of you that HAVE read it- I googled "50 Shades of Grey" and guess what? It's BIG!! Movie is in the works and people are posting all over how wrapped up they are in this series and reading it again and again! I couldn't help laughing at how you know you've been reading too much "50 Shades!" You know, when you find yourself thinking or doing things from the book that you normally wouldn't do!? Here's my list:
1) You start calling your husband by his surname. Mr. -- ! Just as Ana does with Christian!
2) You smile every time you see an Audi.
3) You start using words you never have before, such as mercurial and beguiled.
4) Instead of saying "Bye", you now say "Laters, baby."
5) You could really use a glass of Bollinger and have no problem using a tea cup.
6) Vanilla is your new favorite flavor of ice cream.
7) You consider yourself every time you roll your eyes!
8) You have a new appreciation for kindles, iPads, nooks, and any other discrete source of book purchasing!
9) You finally realize what Rihanna meant in that one song! ;)
10) You feel compelled to buy your husband a silver tie!
11) ----you google 50 Shades of Grey and skip anything having to do with the actual color GREY------ (me) lol

Misconception---- Even though this book is basically one big porn, it does NOT get you all hot and bothered!!!!! Well, I'm sure it does for some!!! But it's a story about a man with some deep issues and the effect this woman has on him and his issues.... It's a STORY.... And moving along to learn more about the story is what keeps you going.... NOT all the sex.. It's just part of this story..... BUT seriously don't read it if you can't handle explicit stuff! lol
The Bad news--- I always wanted to name my son Christian and now I am not sure I can do that to my baby boy! That name will always be synonymous with this book! Oh well! lol

HILARIOUS!!.... don't watch it if you get offended easily!

The Rules of Friendship, the Basics!

2012-04-04T11:34:00.000-04:00

Here are the rules!!!

If you have a lot in common with someone, you can become good friends with that person!
If you do not have a lot in common with a person, be nice, but don't try to be BFF's. You will only end up silently judging that person for all their differences. And they will probably be doing the same to you!
If you are mad at a friend for something that offended you, tell them, and talk about it.
If you are mad at a friend for something they say or do that is just "who they are", keep your mouth shut and just accept who they are!
If you cannot accept who they are, they probably should not be your friend.... which is completely OK!

You do not have to be friends with everyone! Do not try to force friendship with someone just because you think you have to. Fellow military wives... I am looking at YOU with this. We often think that because of our co-dependence on each other that we all have to be besties!! We don't! We can be there for one another and help one another, but we should limit ourselves to be close with those that have similar things in common with us. This will prevent the eventual breakdown of the friendship due to the fact that you have nothing in common and have been silently judging and getting annoyed with each other! This is also true for any kind of work or social environment. If you are trying to be besties with your co-workers who have nothing in common with you in your personal life, the outcome is the same. Count on it!

IF you become good friends and THEN realize you do not have anything in common, well, look on the bright side... you have a constant and stable topic of conversation with your husband or mom everynight! smh. And so do they!!! win-win?! lol

Please keep in mind that this is my opinion, not scientific fact! lol

...When You Wish Upon a Spring Training...

2012-03-19T00:02:00.000-04:00

It is very fitting that the Braves play their spring training games at Disney....because when I am at a game, that IS my Disney! Ever since last year's spring training game that we went to, I have gone on and on about going "next year." Well this past week was next year and we finally went to a game. Spring training games are, in my opinion, the BEST. The players are so relaxed, there are less people around, the players sign autographs and talk to fans, and the seats are cheaper! Can't beat that! So this day was MY day. TJ is awesome and he knows that this is my day. hehe. It might as well be my birthday! And to top it off, Elleah loves every bit of it!!!

My lil booger headed up the steps!!

She rocked the Mickey stickers!!

Stretching 2, 3, 4, stretch....

Chatting.... wonder what they are saying?

Streeeeeetch.... two of my faves

Dale Murphy's son proposed to his GF before the game!

5th inning...

She had a BALL!!!! (get it?)

We moved up a few seats in the 8th inning
so she had room to be awesome!!!
(this video of her being awesome will follow... on FB maybe)

After the game, they let the kids run the bases on the field. When they made this announcement in the 7th inning, Elleah alertly heard them say "kids run the bases" and quickly informed me that "she was a kid, she wanted to run the bases." lol. So even though she was SO tired, and we really didn't think she would actually do it, we waited in line and when we got down there.... much to my disbelief, she dropped my hand and RAN THE BASES!! I was so proud and yet, so sad!! LOL. Parents couldn't go on the field, but this AWESOME lady saw Elleah come down and took her hand and ran ALL the way around with her!

So another year in the books... I cannot wait until 2013, when I get to do it all over again!!!

PS- We are talking about riding down for another game... this weekend maybe?!? I would die with over excitement!

PSS- I love when there are things to love!!!

Daytona 500 - epic really!

2012-02-28T20:34:00.001-05:00

If your have ever said "I will never go to a NASCAR race, I hate NASCAR." Then you are seriously limiting your life's experiences and boy do I feel sorry for you. NASCAR I guess is known for being a "redneck" sport so there are some people out there that never even give it a chance. Most of you know that I do not limit my love for sports though. I pretty much love all sports (basketball can get kinda sleepy for me but I still like it). So a few years back, when TJ and I had our first opportunity to go to the Daytona 500, we went!! And I found a love that I never thought I would. I mean, I have always liked watching races on TV, but that was the extent of it. Actually going to a race changed that.... it is LOVE. NASCAR races live make football and baseball games just "ho-hum" events. YEP, I just said that.
So now that we live back on this side of the country, and Elleah is a little older, all the stars alined for us to go to another race. We got the family together and decided to go Daytona the RIGHT way. We rented campers and camped all weekend out by the speedway. We had a BLAST. Lots of cornhole tournaments, lots of food, lots of family fun.... it was GREAT!
Until Sunday. Race Day. It decides it is going to rain. A lot. We still tried making our way to the track but by the time we got there and got UNDERNEATH the grandstands for shelter from the rain, the race was CANCELLED! ugh!!! Rescheduled for Monday at noon. Well, like most normal people, my parents, brother, and rest of the family had to get home Monday... some people have to work, right? It was still raining at 10am on Monday so TJ and I headed home too. We had to turn our rental in and for heaven's sake we needed a SHOWER! LOL. On our way home though, it was announced that the race was pushed to 7pm. We only live 2 hours from Daytona. So after turning in the rental, we showered and like a couple of silly heads, we schlepped Elleah BACK down south for the race. I was SO sick that my family had bought tickets and were not able to go. But we live just too close to not give it a shot. We got there just in time to hear, "Gentlemen, start your engines." Such an awesome place....

Elleah was originally NOT going to go. She was going to stay with mom while the rest of us went. But with mom no longer there and all these extra tickets we had, Elleah went. That turned out to be great though, because she LOVED it. And she loved loved loved the...... Blimps! lol

The race was delayed 2hrs for a crazy fire!! We thought about leaving, but, naaaahhh! Elleah conveniently took a nap during the delay. She woke up ready for more racing!! So it worked out good. It was a LATE night though. We got in the car to come home at about 2:30am. Elleah was such a good girl. I am so thankful that she is so awesome and makes it easy for us to bring her along for things like this. She was asleep before we could hit the road. TJ and I both WANTED to be asleep too! So we pulled over at a rest stop to catch a few Zzzzz!! We were not the only ones....lol.... This rest stop looked like a camp grounds! It was crazy! Cars were parked EVERYWHERE!!!! We pulled up in the grass along side a few other cars, folded the seats down in the suv, and passed out from exhaustion!!! Elleah woke us up about 7 saying she wanted to go home. She fell back asleep on the way home. When we got home, we all three curled up in our bed and slept till after 11. Then we went back to sleep around 1 and woke up at 5. We. All. Were. Tired. But it was worth it. It is not a normal day, it definitely threw us off routine, but we had a balllllll.
My advice.... Get your booties to a NASCAR race, just do it how you need to do it, and enjoy the heck out of yourselves!!! It gives me an adrenaline rush watching those cars speed by! I think Elleah felt it too!! Amazing!!

YouTube Video

*****The circumstances of this particular Daytona 500 were unbelievable. I know most people do not care about the details and since I am not ESPN, I will let you looks those details up if you are interested. But if you know all the little details, I think you too would agree it was epic really!!

Lovetown, USA

2012-02-15T22:59:00.002-05:00

For months now, Kingland/St Marys, GA has been being scouted for a new show called Lovetown, USA. It is a match making reality show for the OWN network (Oprah's new network for you cave dwellers). Anywho, our little town was finally chosen and filming started Sunday at the kick off "love rally"! I was already thinking of seeing if TJ wanted to go down there for a bit when he called me from work on that Friday to inform me he had to work Sunday. Oprah had decided to come to the "Rally" and his boats were to pick her up in Fernandina Beach and bring her to Saint Marys. It wasn't completely out of the blue, the Coast Guard here is already sorta involved because one of the guys TJ works with is a 'contestant' (if thats what we are calling them). So while half the town was getting their panties in a wad over how much they hate all this, I embraced it and thought "Neato!!!!" PS: I think most people saying they hated it just said that because they didn't want to admit that they too thought it was NEATO! Because we all know it's Neato! Whatever! So I made plans for me and Elleah to go downtown and watch her daddy's boat come in. I gotta tell ya, they keep these boats under pretty tight lock and key and even though I had seen them before, it isn't a normal day they pull these boats out like this and bring them downtown, so I may have been more excited about THAT!! We ended up running into a few other coastie wives and had such a great time!! I think the rest of the day is better explained in pictures.....

Elleah was so good and had so much fun!

An empty pier, waiting on the boat!

Camera man gets ready...

Boat one... small boat... doing a sweep through :)

Boat 2, TJ's boat (he is the hunky one on the front)

TJ's boat pulling up! TJ is standing on the outside up front!

Then Oprah got off the boat for the show...

Then, while the show was going on, we crossed
the barricades to see the guys on the boats

aww

crossing the ramp....

Finally it was over and they all lined up for a pic....
TJ is behind the pole...LOL figures!

We had such a good time!! It was a gorgeous day, so spending it in the park was perfect!!

Love is Always in the Air!

2012-02-12T23:35:00.001-05:00

TJ and I have never celebrated Valentine's Day like some do. Do we buy each other cards?? Eh, not really! Big stuffed bears?? Nah, waste of money! Chocolates? Of course, but we don't actually present them to each other on vday like two Cupid struck lovers! I love TJ, almost more than anybody! But I don't just love him on Feb 14th!! I love him Feb 15th-Feb 13th too!! With that being said, I'm not anti-Valentine's Day either, I'm fine either way! Having Elleah makes things a little bit more interesting though. I don't need special days for her, but I love having things to celebrate WITH her! I decided that I would let her make special Valentine's cards for all the special people in our lives!! While I don't think it is necessary to celebrate Valentine's Day like two love birds with TJ, I do think it is a great opportunity to remind everyone that we L<3VE them and think of them!! So I laid out construction paper, stickers, pipe cleaners, glue, paint, glitter, crayons, markers, foam paper, and more!!! I invited some friends and their little ones over too!! What is more fun than making a biiiiiig mess with friends?? I let E make whatever she wanted on each card and then asked her who we should give it to! I helped her with name options, but she chose the end results!! I hope you all get your cards in time for Valentine's Day!! ;-) hehehe.

So TJ and I are laying in bed one night, both online, and he sees this invite to the Daddy Daughter Dance on base! Without hesitating, he mentions that he'd love to take Elleah. My heart melted because I just knew she would love nothing more than to go on a date with her daddy and that he was serious about taking her. I decided to make her a twirly skirt and top (the corset style that she loved so much) to match this zebra print shoes she always calling her "princess" shoes and dancing shoes!! She did not pose very well for pics, but here are a few pics of the end result. Notice how dapper Mr Runnels looks!!!! ;-)

After the dance, TJ informed me that while Elleah loved going in and watching, she got shy on the dance floor. He was able to slow dance with her a few times, but she mostly just loved the chocolate fountain and grapes! lol. When they got home, we turned on the music and all three danced! It was so much fun!!

And then TJ made us these this morning.... We love him so much!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Christmas, Birthday, Yes!

2012-01-04T10:14:00.000-05:00

So I have not blogged in a while.... so sue me! lol. You know how it goes - the Holidays can suck it out of ya! So here is the recap -

I took the week before and the week after Christmas for family, food, friends, fun, and rest! I went to Pensacola the week before Christmas. TJ had to work and Elleah and I wanted to see friends and family, so us girls took off and made the trip. It was SO worth it. We got to see some awesome friends and got to go to two family Christmas gatherings. I cannot remember the last time THAT has happened.

When we got home, it was Christmas Eve and time to get ready for Santa. We took Elleah to look at lights and then came home and made Santa some cookies. Elleah kept saying "I don't want to see Santa." haha. She is a "stranger-danger" kinda girl. I guess that is a good thing sometimes. But there was no convincing her that the bearded man with the big belly and deep voice was "JOLLY" and/or "Merry". When I told her that Santa brought her toys, she said "I don't want toys." haha. And whenever she seemed to be coming around, she changed her mind again. She was so funny but on Christmas morning when Santa left the presents and she did not have to SEE him, she was all good!

The week AFTER Christmas... I mean... what can I say?! It might be the most boring week of the year. You have that Christmas hangover, but you are not quite ready to move on. You have no money left, the good movies are no longer on TV, the redbox is sold out, you are tired of cooking and even eating at times, and you have a mess of a house because of all the new toys/wrapping paper/trash/etc. You just sit back and wait for the New Year.

OR, you get it all cleaned up and head up to see your brother in Atlanta. :-) Mike had the Monday game in New Orleans the weekend of Christmas, so on Christmas Day, he was just hanging out with Levi until time to take off. We skyped and chatted, but then he somehow convinced us to try and make it up there

Mike had Mom and Dad on skype too! haha

.

It took some maneuvering and manufacturing on TJ's part, but we made it up there! My parents had snuck up for a few days too so by the time my birthday came around, I got to have my whole family together (even if it was just for a day). But we did presents and CAKE! It was fun!

The cake was patiently waiting...

The candle... cracks me up! I love it!!

Mom and Dad left and TJ, Elleah, and I stayed through Sunday and went to the football game. Elleah LOVES a good football game. LOL.

She also LOVES her Uncle Mike. She stays up on him as much as possible when he is around. I don't think he minds...hehehe.

Elleah and Uncle Mike. And the clouds were added
thanks for me playing too much with my new ipad! lol

Such a good Christmas and Birthday!!!!! Now I am excited for what 2012 has in store for us!!!! Hopefully more of the same.... Family, Friends, Football, Fun, and Food. lol. FFFFF <~~~ Ok I am done. lol.

And Baseball..... ;-)

I'm A Barbie Girl

2011-12-03T22:19:00.000-05:00

I love Barbie! Always have! And I had hoped that one day, Elleah would also love Barbie! I figured she would be 3 or 4 years old. I was wrong.

A while back, we bought Elleah a Barbie movie out of the $5 bin at Wal-Mart because.... well.... because it was $5 and we needed her a new video to watch in the car for a road trip. Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus. It changed our sweet girl's life. She loved it. And now all she wants to do is watch Barbie, play with Barbie, watch Barbie, sing with Barbie, dress like Barbie, watch Barbie, and watch Barbie. Whew. So, I bought her two more Barbie movies: Barbie in Swan Lake and Barbie the Princess and the Pauper. She loves them both as much as the first one. If she is upset, we turn on Barbie. If we have a long drive, we turn on Barbie. If we want her to settle down and rest, we turn on Barbie.

I have decided that I will collect all the Barbie movies (like some people do the Disney movies) for her and give them to her for various occasions. I am super excited. I will definitely pay $15-$20 for one movie, but not now. I found a few movies at Target and Kmart for $5 or LESS. So I think I am going to pick them up as I see them for a good price, at least for a while since I am in no rush. I got her Barbie in a Christmas Carol to watch for the holidays and well, she loves it. So here is my mission:

Barbie Movies
1. Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001) <~~got it
2. Barbie as Rapunzel (2002) <~~got it
3. Barbie of Swan Lake (2003) <~~got it
4. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004) <~~got it
5. Barbie Fairytopia (2005)
6. Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (2005) <~~got it
7. Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia (2006)
8. The Barbie Diaries (2006)
9. Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
10. Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (2007)
11. Barbie as the Island Princess (2007)
12. Barbie Mariposa (2008) <~~got it
13. Barbie and the Diamond Castle (2008)
14. Barbie in a Christmas Carol (2008) <~~got it
15. Barbie Presents Thumbelina (2009)
16. Barbie And The Three Musketeers (2009)
17. Barbie in A Mermaid Tale (2010)
18. Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale (2010)
19. Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011)
20. Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)
21. Barbie: The Perfect Christmas (2011)

There are also lots of toys I would love to get here, and of course, collectibles. I still have the collectible Barbies I was given when I was younger too! My two faves-

My Two Favorites:

...This is the reason God gave me a little girl......

The GNO

2011-11-25T21:44:00.001-05:00

I will admit it... since I became a mom, I don't get out much. Not because I can't, more because I don't want to. You always think that you will miss going out with friends when you have kids.... but you don't. You would rather just stay home with them. Kiss them goodnight.... and then pass OUT as soon as you can. But you have GOT to get out sometimes and just be with friends. So when two of my friends (Katey and Anika) and I decided that we would all go see Breaking Dawn together. We ended up getting straight up giddy about this "event". We giggled on the phone when we talked about it, we planned and planned even though the plan never actually changed, and we talked about it like we were talking strategy in the huddle - "Ok Ok Ok..We will both pull our cars up next to each other at approx 11am, I will get out and go get my ticket and you stand in between the cars watching the kids. Then when I get back, you go get your ticket and 'break'. We will meet back here at 4:15pm. No, lets make it 4pm to be safe. We will get our popcorn and pee and meet back to take our position in line. If we get in there early, we need to save a seat. Lets sit in the middle. Not too close. Not too far. I don't want to have to turn my neck at all to see the movie." hahahahaha Strategy!! We came very close to getting matching shirts to remember the date!

You see, it really was not about the movie. Well, we WERE really excited that Breaking Dawn was finally out. But not near as excited as we were that all 3 of us have kids, all 3 of us are married to the military, and all 3 of us were able to go AT THE SAME TIME. This was an EPIC event. Monumental really. Our husbands are not on the same rotation (one is not even on the same kind of boat) and it seems like making something like this happen is tough. The good news was, our husbands/babysitters were on alert from the beginning that Nov 18th posed a great chance for a Girls' Night Out and were ALL for it if it meant that they did not have to attend this movie as our date themselves. Their words - "oh Gosh GO... stay out all night... why don't you get dinner afterward... for gosh sakes I will stay here and clean toddler pee off the floor just do not make me be the one that has to go with you to see that movie." hahaha. <3 them.

So off we went!! We had SO much fun. Our little theater here in town is just that.. little. So it is not like you have to stand in obnoxious lines and crowds. I happen to LOVE that about this place. We sat there for what felt like 15 minutes watching the movie (oh wait, that movie was 1hr, 50min??? didn't feel like it haha). Then two of us headed out to dinner. We laughed...we cried... we found out our waiter had a vasectomy 6 days earlier... it was a good time.

We have GOT to start making this a monthly thing. Us mommys need it!!!! It is hard because we ARE each other's family. We usually call upon each other when we need someone to watch our kids last minute or whenever. We bring the kids along on outings because our hubby's are out on the boats so much. We kinda depend on each other. I envy people that can call their mom's, aunts, or sisters/brothers when they need a night off! Us girls call upon each other and therefore, we do not get to spend any of those nights TOGETHER!!! But while I envy those other people, I would not change anything in the world. I am just thankful... thankful to actually have friends like that in my life at all... that I can depend on and that I trust! Also thankful to have a hubby that supports the GNO. That's right, I said it.... The GNO! haha. Lets do it again!!

As a side note - I was supposed to meet my bestie Maria somewhere half way between her place in Raleigh and here in GA. Girls weekend away!!! It didn't work out..... Just an example of how hard it is to plan something and have it stick when you have the jobs, and the kids, and life to worry about!! The good news is, we get to REplan for another weekend! :-) Having a GNO was probably what kept me from being bummed about not getting to see my Maria. Love all these darn girls!! <3 <3

Awesomeness.....

2011-11-17T21:49:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I have become a pinterest-aholic. It is SO a word. Look it up!!! I started a board on there called Genius because I kept running across things that I had nothing more to say about than "That is genius." Well, I sometimes think "I should have thought of that!!!!" You can check out my board here but here are a few samples:

This is great.... you can put it away hot!

I should have thought of this....
it would be more useful in a diaper bag though! ;-)

I am just speechless with this one...

This got me thinking about other awesome things!!! Things you cannot find on pinterest because there are no pictures for such. Like my doggie's "innocent" look or Elleah's "innocent" look. I am such a sucker for that look, what can I say. Or when I am watching my dvr and I am skipping through commercials... how awesome is it to stop right when the show starts back up?? How about when you get an answer RIGHT when watching Jeopardy. Just shut up now if you get NO thrill from guessing the answer before they even buzz in... just shut up!! Oh and especially when other people are in the room. I also think it is so super awesome when I am sitting at home alone and something makes me laugh out loud. Literally. (ps-just being at home alone is pretty awesome too, all in itself). You know what else is really awesome.... fedex showing up when you completely forgot you ordered something online! SCORE! Oh and when I forget to set my alarm but I manage to wake up in time all by myself. That really is divine intervention right there (or sometimes Elleah).

The other day, at Walmart, some guy who had a lot of things let me go ahead of him in line because I only had 2 things. THAT GUY, that guy is pretty awesome! Oh and when I can successfully pick something up with my toes!! And when your 28 year old friend hangs upside down from the bars at the park... AwwwweSoooome!

When the score of the game is tied near the end of the game, when you high-five strangers, and when you say the exact same thing the sports commentator said minutes before he actually said it.. ALL awesomeness!

I Love My Crock Pot! Chicken

2011-11-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

I do not fancy myself a chef by any means. But I DO love to cook. I used to be an awful cook. These days, however, I am getting pretty darn good (if I do say so myself). And while I do love to cook, I do not like to cook the same thing again and again, and I do not like to cook too extravagantly. After all, I am a mother to a two year old and usually want to crash by the time dinner time even rolls around. I am a crock pot kinda girl. I love that dang thing. I can prepare my meals while Elleah is at morning school and serve it up easily at dinner time. The only down fall... you have to plan ahead to use the crockpot. I stink at planning ahead. But last night, I took out some chicken and grabbed my crockpot cookbook and started planning.

I am one of those people that has a TON of food in their pantry and still think I have "nothing to cook." I made a promise to myself that in the coming weeks, I would try to cook something using EVERYTHING I have in my pantry. Not all at once, of course. With that being said, I needed to search for a recipe that involved not only chicken, but potatoes too! Because I had a whole 5lb bag of potatoes that has to go.

So anyway, here I am looking for a recipe and I come across one that involved chicken, potatoes, and velveeta cheese...?!?!. I love velveeta cheese, but it sounded a little too heavy for me. I like my velveeta cheese on a chip, with a little rotel. :-) I stopped looking though, because I came up with recipe in my head based on this recipe I found in my book.

It turned out AWESOME and I thought to myself "Self..... you may need to blog about this stuff."

Here is the recipe: (in a "dinner for two" style format)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast (I usually get 3 in a Tyson pack, so I just saved it for another day)
4-5 red potatoes
handful of frozen chopped bell pepper (any or all colors)(I keep these on hand bc I use them like its my job)
handful of frozen chopped onion (I also keep these on hand)
1 can cream of Chicken Soup (any cream soup would work)
1 "can" of Milk (use the empty soup can)
salt
pepper
Garlic Pepper Grinder (or just Garlic salt)

I sliced the potatoes into coins about 1/4 in thick. Then, I layered them in the bottom of the crockpot and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, I mixed the can of soup with the can of milk and whisked it till it was combined. Add a little salt and pepper to the mixture. I poured it over the potatoes and then added the handfuls of peppers and onions. I laid the chicken breast on top and used my Garlic Pepper Grinder to season the chicken (you could totally just use pepper and some garlic salt). I popped the top on it and let it go. On high for an hour and then on low for another 4 hours. I just made sure the potatoes were done and then declared it ready!

So simple and so easy. You could even add a little butter down with the potatoes if you wanted to. I am not exactly a recipe book writer, so it is probably hard to follow my directions. LOL. There is no exact anything though. Add as much peppers, onion, and salt that you want. I have learned that potatoes NEED salt. RIGHT? RIGHT! :-) These are things I ALWAYS have in my pantry so I am excited that I combined them to make something yummy. I have this meal as "I have nothing in this house to eat" back up!! haha.

Yummy

Did you say, Ghost? Zoinks

2011-11-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

As I have mentioned before... I Don't Do Scary!! Halloween has never been my favorite event and I pretty much down right hated it. However, like most things in my life, that ALL changed when I had Elleah. And this year was by FAR the best!! She is at the age where she really gets into it all and seeing her so into everything has totally sucked me in. We decided that this year, we would attend Trunk or Treat on the base here in Kings Bay. Basically, a bunch of cars line up around this block and kids in their costumes go from car to car "trick or treating." Elleah dressed up as an Angel/Devil. I think this costume is the epitome of what being TWO is all about. haha.

The trunk or treat block!

Devil and Angel

The next weekend, we went to the zoo in Jacksonville for Spooktacular. It is an adorable presentation of mixing the festivities of Halloween with the animals at the zoo. You follow the path lined with thousands of carved pumpkins and "trick or treat" at stations along the way. There are also Scare Zones where if you are 12 and up, you can go get spooked. No Thanks!! haha. But after telling me the first one was not so bad, I entered the 2nd one with my friend Katey. I literally walked about 10 ft in and when the first "monster" jumped out at me through the fog, I turned around and started to walk out. Katey and I had our arms looped and she dragged me back in. "Strategy thinking" kicked in and I decided to stay on these other people's heels in front of us because as long as they were ahead, nothing spooky could jump out without scaring them first, so I was more prepared! :-) Since I am typing this now, you know I made it out alive, but it was a close call and I will probably never attempt such pish posh again! LOL.

Some of the MANY MANY pumpkins!

The Saturday night before Halloween, TJ was out hunting and it was Elleah and I doing our thing. Which would have been fine if Elleah did not tell me she wanted me to play with her and her ghost!!!! In the spirit of Halloween??? Big imagination??? I don't know! But I know that I do not care to play with a ghost! A few hours later, while she was watching TV, she lifted her head up said "Hi Ghost" real quick and laid her head back down. I don't dig that kinda stuff! lol. So I came up with a great solution.... We built a tent. Naturally! Two blankets, three dining room chairs, and one piece of duck tape and WA-LA... ghost protection! You might be saying, "Katie, why not just put Elleah's little tent up in the living room?" Well, because one, I would not fit in it and two, where is the fun in that? So we made snacks and piled in there and watched Charlie Brown's Halloween special. It was a fun girls' night..... except for the ghost thwarting, of course!

Waiting for me to join her in the "tent"

Halloween FINALLY came and with all the practice Elleah had, she was a pro at trick or treating! Well, besides the fact that she does not talk to people she don't know, so she did not say trick or treat. She just walked up, waited for me to ring the bell, stuck her bucket up and got the candy, and turned and went running to the next house. She made it all the way around our block with her friends (Lily and Dylan) and filled her bucket to the top!! She dressed as a clown (another good costume for her personality, lol) and wore every piece of it the entire time! I was thinking that at some point, her wrist cuffs were comin off!! But nope, she stayed in tack!! :-)

Dylan as Bam Bam

Lily the Owl

I just think each year will keep getting better and better!! So, I guess Halloween isn't so bad! As long as the ghosts and monsters stay away.......

Next year I will call Scooby and the gang to help me out though! :-)

True Freedom

2011-09-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

Guess what?? I grew into my nose and my forehead. Well, maybe not, but mentally I did. When I was in middle school, I was BEYOND insecure about my looks. I felt inferior to my friends and, in my opinion, was shy and awkward. I am not sure what everyone else thought, but that did not matter. When it came to ME, I was blah. I remember a friend of mine (whose name I will not mention but she may be reading this and was a DOLL for trying) talked to a guy I had a crush on about me and reported back to me that he said "Her nose is too big!" Yeah, it stuck with me. Even when I got to high school, those words never went away. I did not dwell on it, but it never... went... away! I had great friends in high school though, and even though I felt awkward and like I did not fit in much, they never made me think that THEY felt that way. It is only NOW that I can look back and realize I was lucky for that.

I am not sure at what point in my life this all changed, but it changed BIG TIME. I love my nose. :-) And my forehead. What is not to love? Yes, Elleah looks a lot like her daddy, but when I look at her, I see a lot of myself as well, and she is perfect!!! So how dare me think anything about myself that may cause me to be hard on myself. I have become comfortable with who I am. I am honest about who I am. I am serious and silly, and definitely have my moments... both the blonde variety and the bitchy variety. I speak before thinking, and even though my body has suffered a tragic loss after Elleah, I still rock my swimsuit at the beach. I do not wear make up every day and I have been known to mosey up into Wal-Mart in my big tshirts and comfy pants. I do take pride in myself but I have become comfortable with what is realistic for myself.... and so even though I may look a-mess sometimes, I take pride in WHY I look that way.

I think that this is TRUE FREEDOM. When you reach a point in your life where what others have to say about you and what they may think about you does not matter, that is an amazing feeling. I know that most of us say "Oh I do not care what other people think about me." But if you think SERIOUSLY to yourself if that statement is true, and it truly truly is, then you have true freedom. I think that there are times we steer away, but finding your way back to yourself is what it is all about. Right now, I feel that way. I am extremely content with being me and I hope I stay that way for a long long time (like as in FOREVER ;-)).

I know a lot of people that spend their days thinking/saying/judging things that are so insignificant. And it is their right to do so. But this is not the kind of thing that I want to surround myself with. It is hard to stay content and happy when there are so many negative nellys out there. And while facebook is awesome, I think that it is time for me to step away for a little while. Gradually. And by basically saying bye-bye to people as their negativity is shown (whether it is shown ON fb or in person). Most of you won't even see the difference though, because most of you are amazing people!! :-P

.....You Might Be a Mommy.

2011-09-05T20:01:00.001-04:00

This one is for all you mom's out there!! OR for those of you that just get IT!! The past week or so, I have been posting "you might be a mommy" lines! Ya know, kinda like Jeff Foxworthy's "you might be a redneck" lines. As I have said a BILLION times, being a mom is the greatest experience, and also a very educational one. TWO years and I have learned more than I did in the previous 25 years of my life. So here are a few of my personal experiences where I said "omg, I KNOW I am a Mommy now." (ps-I am adding the ones a few of my friends have posted too)

If you have ever watched an entire TV show on mute.... you might be a mommy.
If you can keep a rocking chair RoCkInG while drifting away into a dead sleep.... you might be a mommy.
If you pray more than 6 times a day..... you might be a mommy.
If your prayers usually start with "Please God" in lieu of "Dear God" ...you might be a mommy.
If you have ever crawled on your hands a knees out of a room to avoid being seen above the bed level....you might be a mommy.
If you are willing to exchange cookies for silence..... you might be a mommy.
If you hear the word "poop" before your eyes are completely open in the morning.... you might be a mommy. (thank you Lisa)
If you are home EVERYDAY between 1-4pm.... you might be a mommy. *crucial nap times*
If you are planning an awesome party, and the theme centers around a cartoon character... you might be a mommy. (thank you Lisa)
If you cuss bedroom doors for making that "creaking" noise.... you might be a mommy.
If you think 6am is entirely too early and insanely inappropriate for the garbage man to be in the neighborhood... you might be a mommy.
If you think that 1-4pm is an inappropriate time for the mail to be delivered....you might be a mommy.
If you can make an apple pie with one hand..... you might be a mommy.
If you can do almost anything with one hand.... you might be a mommy.
If 78% of your camera roll consists of blurry shots.... you might be a mommy (of a toddler for sure).
If you consider a night on the town going to the grocery store alone.... you might be mommy.
If you have ever woken up in the morning with extra people in your bed.... you might be a mommy.
If you have never called a pacifier a "pacifier"... you might be a mommy.
If you have ever held out your hands to catch vomit.... you might be a mommy.
If your "me time" consists of the 15 minutes it takes you to clean the kitchen... you might be a mommy.
If you call your husband "daddy".... you might be a mommy.
If you have ever FAKED needing to go to the bathroom just to get some peace.... you might be a mommy.
If anything you might possibly need can be found on the floorboard of your backseat.... you might be a mommy.
If you have ever crawled on the floor at 2am searching for a paci like your life depended on it.... you might be a mommy.
If you are in the car alone for a full 15 min before you realize Toddler Tunes is playing on CD player..... you might be a mommy.
If you have cheerios in the bottom of your purse and it does not phase you to just leave them there.... you might be a mommy.
If the loud, obnoxious noise in a restaurant is coming from your table.... you might be a mommy.
If you have even gone 3 days without remembering to take a shower.... you might be a mommy.
If you head out on a road trip and snuggle in the car to a mickey pillow and winnie the pooh blanket... you might be a mommy. (thank you Michelle)
If gifts are always being sent to your house and none of them are for you... you might be a mommy.
If preparations for a nice relaxing bath consists of removing toy boats and rubber aquatic animals that squirt water.... you might be a mommy.
If you ever thought having kids was a stupid, crazy, idiotically wonderful idea... you might be a mommy.

I could go on... and maybe I will one day! ;-)

Please remember... these are "you MIGHT be a mommy"! I am sure some of you with NO kids call your husband "daddy!" But that is just weird. And I am sure some of you with NO kids also think that 6am is too early for the garbage man. Call your city officials, but do not lessen my meaning for posting that! lol.

Jim Cantore? Is that You...Again?

2011-08-26T16:35:00.000-04:00

My hurricane stories HAVE been told. It is one of my favorite things to tell about. I am sure you have all heard them before. BUT with Irene looming just East of where I am now, it got me thinking... Here we go again! Looks like Irene is missing us, but still... HERE WE GO AGAIN!! It really is a rather interesting story....

I have lived in 5 different areas and there is only ONE area that I have lived in that I was NOT hit by a hurricane! That ONE place? HERE! In South GA! And so it is safe to say that I have not been hit by a hurricane while in GA... YET!

I grew up in Pensacola, FL which is the City of Five Flags. It should be called the City of Hurricane Alley! My most memorable Pensacola hurricanes were Erin and Opal! Opal being my most scary one because we had to evacuate to a shelter so we went up to the a high school and had to leave my beloved Benny (Benji, my dog) home. We put mattresses in the center room of the house and locked him in there. It was SO SAD. Luckily the house was fine and so was Benny. But the high school we went to (which would later be MY high school)... well... the gym roof got blown off. Should have stayed home!! HAHA. No power for weeks.

After marrying TJ, he went up to Yorktown, VA for A school. I went up there after a month away from him... we rented this studio place. We were there TWO months and a week before we were leaving, hurricane Isabel hit Hampton Roads in VA. It had been a while since their previous hurricane!! I come to town for two months and BAM! FROM nhc.com- "Isabel is considered to be one of the most significant tropical cyclones to affect east-central Virginia since Hurricane Hazel in 1954."

We then moved to Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach, FL. That is when the real fun began. We lived directly on the ocean on Patrick AFB. While we lived there, Hurricane Charley (cat 4 by landfall) hit the WEST side of FL, coming up through the Tampa area. I really did not think we would see THAT much damage. But as the neighbors trampoline, dog houses, grills, and patio furniture went flying by my back door and water began to seep in my bottom floor, I thought otherwise.

Frances was next. Hurricane Fances (cat 2 at landfall - Sept 5th), however, forced us to a mandatory evacuation of the island because it was coming in directly from the Atlantic. TJ had to, of course, leave on the boat, so I left with Gracie and headed to Pensacola to stay with mom and dad. I could not get back on base where I lived after the hurricane so I stayed a little while in Pensacola. A little over a week later and I had to go because Ivan (cat 4 by landfall Sept 16th) was headed up to the Gulf Coast. By the time I got home, and realized my house had flooded again (worse this time of course), I had to leave again because Hurricane Jeanne (cat 3 by landfall Sept 25th) was forcing another evacuation with another east coast hit on FL. This time I went to a hotel with another one of the wives in Orlando (that is another blog for another time....looooordy), and was not able to return home for a quite a few days. Trust me, two women, 3 dogs, in a small hotel room with NO POWER is not that fun. When I did get home, my house was flooded again. Needless to say, I got 1 good steam cleaning and 2 complete carpet changes that year!! PS- those were the first FL east coast hurricanes in over 10 years.

I finally ended up in South Texas! After two smooth years of no hurricanes, Hurricane Dolly (cat 1 by landfall) found me! Although TJ was not stationed on a boat at the time, the CG had convievently sent him to VA for a school that week. Mom and dad had come to see me (without knowing Dolly was headed that way as well) and us three rode it out together. No power for over a week and the flooding was ABSURD!! That hard hard hard South Texas ground does not drain well. From weather wiki - "Hurricane Dolly is considered to be the most destructive hurricane to hit the Rio Grande Valley in 41 years; the last such storm was Beulah in 1967, but Beulah was not more damaging; it was just deadlier."

SO, now I live in South GA, and I have come to the conclusion that it is now IF a hurricane comes to find me again, but WHEN! Although this part of GA has not been hit in like a billion years and the last time any part of GA was hit was in 1979 when David hit Savannah! I will still believe that it is not going to happen AFTER I move.

Elleah, you are the greatest! (Elleah's Antics Pt 2)

2011-08-22T10:04:00.000-04:00

I am always saying that spending one day with Elleah will give anybody enough material to write a bestseller. Or at least a pretty entertaining blog post. Seems like the last 3-4 months has been a whirlwind of entertainment for the Runnels' household. Here are a few of my favorite instances:

We were dog-sitting for a week to a dog named Sprite. Well Sprite got out of the fence quite a bit and we had to chase her down. One time, she got out while Elleah and I were napping--for 3 hours!!! We hopped in the car and when scouring the neighborhood. I had the windows down in the car and from the backseat, Elleah starts yelling "Spriiiiite, where you? Spriiiiiite." I though it was adorable so I told her to keep it up. Then she starts shaking her cup towards the window and saying "Spriiiite, chocky juice...." trying to lure Sprite back with her with Chocolate Milk!! HAHA. PS-the lure of chocolate milk did not work, BUT we did find Sprite safe and sound.

She is seriously into singing. She has recently found the spare plunger (yeah I said it... our spare TOILET plunger) from the bathroom closet. She carried it into the livingroom, set it on her lap tray, and started to sing into the handle like it is her microphone stand. She then puts it in our face saying, "You want some?" No Elleah, I do not want a toilet plunger near my mouth. And try to take it from her and it is ON! PS-We got her an actual microphone and stand for her birthday and it has replaced the plunger for now!

We have been teaching Elleah to say please and thank you. She is great at this actually. Maybe a little TOO great though. When I tell her to do certain things such as pick up her crayons or go get in her bed, she says "Please No mommy, please" OR "Please stop mommy, please"! Haha what do you do about that? She is saying it like you want her to & you do not want her to think that saying please does not work. She also says thank you about everything... I lift her onto the potty "thank you mommy", I wash behind her ears "thank you mommy", I let her out of time out "thank you mommy", and even when I change her pull-up (if necessary) "thank you mommy". This is not a bad thing, just super funny that she says thank you about EVERYTHING! Gotta love her!

She used an old cellphone and dialed 911 the other day. That was fun.

She gets me up every morning by climbing on top of me and saying "moooooommy, I want eeeeeeat" LOL

She gets OBSESSIVE over certain people. Out of the blue she dials in on a certain person and will not stop saying that she wants them. For Example, Mike's first day of football camp, the first day in MONTHS that we can NOT call him up any time and she wants MIKE. And that is all she says ALL DAY "I want Un miiiiiiiike."

When Gracie barks, she yells "hush Gracie" and puts her finger to her lips. LOL

She says "oooooo ooooooh." It is kind of hard to type how it actually sounds, but it is when she is excited. It kind of sounds like something Oprah would say. haha. She also says "Oh boy" and "Oh YAY."

While in a restaurant one time, she saw a big, tall guy come in. Kinda looked like her Un Mike, but he was black. So instead of yelling "Miiiiiike" she yells "Chocky Mike"!!!! Kinda freaking hilarious and as far as I know, her noticing the difference in her milf and chocolate milk is what prompted this same distinction! PS-the only thing better than a Mike to her is a chocolate Mike... but then again, who wouldn't love that?!

She stops dead in her tracks to yell "Yay, Home Runny" every time the crowd on TV gets excited during a game. They are ALL home runs to her. Awesome!

When we tell her it is time for bed, she says "I play morrow?" Yes baby, your ONLY worry in this life is whether you get to play tomorrow.... and I intend to keep it that way for a while!!

She thinks she is a big girl when she says "I'm gonna go outside, k?, bye".

She has begun answering Dora's questions. When Dora waits too long (you know that pause that Dora does?) she yells the answer to her again in a frustrated manner!! hahaha

When she toots, I say "Did you just toot?" and she laughs HYSTERICALLY!! Then does it again, on purpose! She is the only girl I know that can stand there and toot on demand!! (she will read this when she is 16 and just LOVE me..haha)

She kisses MY bobo's. Love her!

She told me she had a bobo and this when I asked her where, she turned around and pointed to her butt and told me to kiss it. I know to her it was an innocent bobo that needed a kiss... but I could not help but laugh at the thought of her telling me to kiss her butt. One day that will not be so funny!

As I am sitting her typing this, I realize that I could be sitter here forever typing up all her little things! Maybe I am the only one that finds them funny, but watching her little personality develop is soooo adorable and fun!!! I guess this is a good idea of who she is, so I will leave it here!!

Telling her to "smile"...

Telling her to give me a "funny face"....

This is what she decided to do with the BOX one of her birthday presents came in! hahaha

Camping - With 2 Kinds of Hot Dogs

2011-08-08T23:44:00.000-04:00

In every happy marriage, you must learn to give a little and compromise. I am spoiled and well taken care of, I have never denied that. So in order to show my husband how much I appreciate and love him for all that he does, I must occasionally give in and do what HE wants to do. That is why I went camping.... in a tent.... in August, with a (almost) 2 year old. God love TJ though, because I am not sure what is worse.... me camping in a tent, in August, with a (almost) 2 year old, OR TJ having to camp with ME and a (almost) 2 year old... in a tent.... in August. We took our dog by the way.. so that made it extra fun.

So TJ picked a campground right on the beach and let me just say... he did GOOD. We went to St Augustine to Anastasia State Park. So gorgeous out there! We got out there at about 6pm on Friday and started to set up. It took approx. 2 hrs and 7 minutes (just an estimate of time) to construct our tent. WHY? Because TJ bought us a new 10 person tent a while back and this was only our second time putting it up... just the two of us.... with a TEN person tent..!! A family of THREE, that all sleep on the same air mattress... yeah, its large. But I guess that makes it fun. By the way, if you are not completely in LOVE and have a stable relationship with your hubby or significant other, do not try putting a tent up together... it could cause serious issues in the relationship. haha

TJ....so proud of completing the "tent task"

Elleah started having the time of her life as soon as we stepped foot out of the truck. I decided to just let her get dirty and go at it hard. And she did not disappoint. No bow, no shoes, and no snazzy outfit.... the girl looked a-mess!!!! Still cute, but.... well... you can see for yourself...

Such a mess... but still amazingly cute!!!

All that playing ended up like this though.....

Tuckered

I don't know if you can see it, but she IS wearing her glow in the dark "I heart Vampires" tshrit. And don't judge me.... the way I see it... we were out in the woods.... in a TENT... she needed to be on somebody's team.

We woke up the next morning and after TJ cooked breakfast, we hit the bikes and headed to the beach. Gracie couldn't go to the beach so we left her in the tent with 2 fans and a bowl of food and water!! Yay.... such a good idea. I will revisit this in a second. First of all though... the beach!! What a perfect day to go. We took the bikes down along the water and rode for a good while. Then we decided that the water was looking too great to not be in...

Mr Hasselhoff himself (TJ said that when he saw this pic)

Well... we had a great hour and a half by the water and then returned to the campsite.... where Gracie had decided NOT to stay. Why I did not think she would be able to get out is beyond me. This is something I should have thought about when we decided to leave her there. I should have said to myself "Self, this might not work." So in a panic, I hopped in the truck and roll off to search for her. It only took me a minute to remember I had a smartphone and I looked the # up to the rangers station! I called them and they called the rangers to check if they had seen her. One guy had seen her.... and she was riding around with him in his golf cart!! hahahaha. He took her to our campsite # and told TJ that Gracie told him that she did not like camping without a/c. This particular park ranger spoke cocker spaniel. The vision I have of Gracie finding her own thing to do and cruising around on the cart cracks me up. The ranger said he went around asking if anybody lost a dog, but then decided she could ride around with him until somebody reported her OR he was able to get a chance to take her to some a/c. THANK GOD he was such a sweet guy!! We felt so awful though... and pretty stupid! We got cleaned up and decided to get in the truck and go riding around St Augustine. We were not even out of the park gates and Gracie and Elleah were BOTH knocked out.

Our second trip to the beach that day was a little different.... we took the truck, not the bikes, and we left the truck running with Gracie in it. Oh yeah folks, we are awesome. But in our defense, we could not PAY Grace to get out of the truck. I swear if she could talk it would have sounded a little like "Rorge, I ran away once, and I will soooo do it again.... just try and call my bluff... I am keeping my a** right here!!" By the way, I do not know WHERE she gets that naughty language from! So we left the auto start on and let it run its course.... then every 15 minutes, we had to walk back up, recrank the truck, and go back down to the water. Needless to say, we had a BALL, but it only lasted about 45 min hahaha.

This was no ordinary camping trip, people! We took glow sticks, water guns, and silly string. The glow sticks and water guns were a HIT with Elleah. The silly string?... not so much!! She could not work the can and did not want TJ's help and DID NOT want to be sprayed!!

This is what TICKED looks like... haha

So, you know that expression... "Go fly a kite." Well, we did...

Elleah flying her first kite!

You know how I am always trying to be festive?! Well, camping is no different....

Our setup for dinner!!! hehe. Working with what I had!!

How come even when it is 5 thousand degrees outside one still feel the need to start a campfire when camping?! To roast a weenie of course!

Teaching E to roast a weenie!

I hate sleeping outdoors, in the heat, with the bugs and the raccoon's and the other scary things. I hate being sticky and sweaty and icky. I hate my doggy running away. I hate camping. BUT... I love camping with my little family!!! I LOVE sleeping ANYWHERE when I have them to snuggle up with (even if it IS 5 thousand degrees). I LOVE teaching Elleah to fly a kite and roast a weenie. And I even LOVE that she hated silly string. I LOVE that SHE has so much fun camping, so it is all worth it and I will go whenever my duty calls again. TJ and I really do camp well together though. He loves doing and prepping and grilling and the whole kitten kaboodle. And I love letting him do all that while I do not-much-of-anything. Teamwork folks!!! TEAMWORK!!!

A few things I learned this weekend:

1. I need to try harder to make E hate camping! ;-P

2. Do not wear white while camping!

3. OFF is my BFF!

4. Dogs can open tents!

5. Some park rangers conveniently speak Cocker Spaniel! (who knew)

6. If the campsite is secluded enough, one could go all weekend without having to wear a bra! *a camping PLUSside*

7. A tuba placed on your picnic table will keep the campsites on either side of yours vacant!!

More pics on facebook!!!!!!! Till next time....

Parenting like.... Pinocchio!!

2011-07-28T23:52:00.000-04:00

I was reading a 'mommy' forum on facebook the other day and this question was asked:
What lies do you tell your kids?

More than one person said that they did not lie to their children. Oh... that is SO noble!! But it is bull honky! We all lie to our kids. No, we do not tell them lies like, "Mommy weighs 105lbs" and "Mommy never had sex before marriage." That is just silly. ;-) But we totally lie to our kids. I could not even answer that question because the asker was like, "One answer please." And I was like.... No Way. I cannot give you ONE answer.... I tell Elleah so many lies that I could blog about it. So here I am....

First of all, I lie to Elleah when she wants to wear something like a coat to the park on a 100 degree day. She does not care if it is too hot, so I tell her it is dirty. She grasps that concept of it being dirty, so I just lie. :-)

She thinks cereal is cookies. So if you are ever around her and she asks for cookies, she is not trying to tell you to go whip up some oatmeal-chocolate chips. She is tell you to pour her a bowl of cheerios. And I did not technically teach her this.... but I lie by omission because I never tell her that cereal is not cookies. To me, it is quite ok if she thinks this.

If we are in the car and I cannot fathom listening to the same episode of Dora or Blue Clue's again, I lie and tell her the DVD player broke. She just goes, "Broke? Oh. Ok." She is happy, I am happy.... its all good.

I tell her that my cola is icky. It is NOT icky. lol. (see my old post about cola here - and for those of you following along, the answer is NO, I did not stick to this resolution, I suck, oh well). But when Elleah says, "I want mommy's juice." I lie and tell her it is icky.

Lets not even get me started on Santa and the Easter bunny.... (a perfectly safe lie that helps create wonder and excitement)

Lying to our kids is ok. Small fibs will not emotionally damage kids. We are not distorting their future and eroding their reality!!! We lie to them to encourage them to try new things, to NOT do certain questionable things, and to minimize a BIG explanation that they will not understand into a smaller one that they can comprehend. So imo, those mommies that said they do not lie to their kids.... they were probably LYING. haha.

As Elleah grows and learns, the lies will fade away.... BUT I kinda can't wait until I get to use the ol' "eyes in the back of my head" lie, the "store ran out of toys" lie, and the "it is bed time" lie (a lie because it would be after i secretly set all the clocks back an hour).

PS-I am 74.7% sure my mom still tells me lies like these. Harmless, but sometimes necessary!

Party In the City Where the Heat is On

2011-07-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

So, if your husband had a 'conference' for work in MIAMI, where most of the expenses were paid, and your daughter was with her grandparents for the week..... What would you do? You would go to Miami, DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!! As did I. We decided to drive down and take our time. We stopped at outlet strips along the way, took A1A through our old haunts of Cocoa Beach, and made it to Miami in plenty of time to have a great first night!!

My cousin Nate lives in Miami, so naturally, I called him up. He scooped us up at the hotel and took us to the Clevelander in South Beach for a drink!!!

Mojitos, anyone?

After our Mojitos, we moseyed on down (wait, is moseyed a word?) to a place Nate suggested called Mangos Tropical Cafe. And I know what you are thinking... Oh a cafe... it must have bagel sandwiches and coffee and spiced tea and such. And maybe it did.... but I sure the heck didn't noticed. I had an awesome Cubano for dinner on the patio and after dinner.... I walked inside to this------

And THEN I get lead to a special seat at the bar that had THIS waiting on us----

We had such a great time!!!!!!! It was Latin Night and the girls did salsa and belly dances, and then.... the GUYS came up. There was a little something for everyone. They even did a Tribute show to Michael Jackson and it was UUHHH-MAAAZZ-IINNG (click here to watch it)!! And in case you are wondering, yes, they wore very little clothing, but NO, the clothing did NOT come off. haha. It was not THAT kind of establishment. However, we did not leave until the whole bottle was gone! FUN FUN NIGHT!!!

The next day, I decided to walk down to the beach and rent a chair and umbrella! I took a book and was down there for about 4 hours. Not much else to tell there.... it was GORGEOUS and the water was PERFECT!

After TJ got back from the CG station for the day, we rested for a few, took showers and headed out to dinner!! Texas de Brazil. If you have not been to one. GO! Be sure you do NOT eat breakfast or lunch! No snacks and I would not even drink water if you can help it. This place is crazy crazy CRAZY! You start by making a trip to the craziest salad bar you have ever seen. If you name it, it is probably there on the bar. Cheeses, meats, salads, sushi, tuna, hot sides, and MORE! Then, they walk around the place holding absurdly large cuts of meat. And slicing whatever you want right there on your plate. Leg of lamb, skirt steak, filet mignon, pichana, chicken and bacon, ribs.... you name it!!! www.texasdebrazil.com/

Thursday came and Nate scooped just me up but this time.... we shopped!!!! He took me to Dolphin Mall..... it was big, gorgeous, and loaded with the word OUTLET!! Which, as most of you know, is like one of my favorite words ever!! (along with CLEARANCE, SALE, and CLOSEOUT haha)

the commons

TJ got back and we grabbed a drink at the bar and started walking down the boardwalk to the beach. We ended up walking straight down into South Beach. It was sooo fun down there and lively! But we had dinner plans, so we snapped a few pics and walked back down the boardwalk to the hotel.

South Beach

Lummus Park

That night was the BEST!!! We went to STK. One of the nicest places in Miami. We got seated in this awesome corner booth. I was told Alex Rodriguez sat at this booth when in town. We ordered the YUMMIEST hamburgers called Lil BRGRs and Tuna Tartare as an appetizer. I cannot even explain how yum they were.... pretty much absurdly yum! And so was dinner!!! Crazy good!

Tuna Tartare

Dinner - Beef Filet and Sesame Peanut Tuna

We skidattled (is THAT a word?) out of there and went to a place called the Playwright! We had a few drinks there and then everybody decided to get a tattoo!! So we went to the tattoo shop! Did we get a tattoo?! HMMM??

HECK NO!!!! We had all drank enough to THINK we would get one, and in the end, we sobered right up and got the hell out of there!!

This was truly one of the best weeks ever!! I LOVE Miami!! Most of you know that I am not really one to have a few drinks and let loose. But when it Rome. Or in Miami!! ;-)

Huge shout out to Nate though!! He made sure we had a good time and I cannot thank him enough for showing us what MIA is all about! And Steph, of course, for putting up with us all week! :-P

Oh That Reminds Me!

2011-07-18T22:13:00.000-04:00

I think everyone, at some point, has listened to a song and was like "OMG that is soooo ME right now!" I did that today!! I was cruising down the road and "Miami" by Will Smith came on Pandora!
Miami - Haha. -->
Dont get me wrong Charlotte Town got it going on
and New York is the city that we know dont sleep.
And we all know the LA and Philly stay jiggy, but on the snake,
Miami bringing heat for real

It got me thinking about other songs that remind me of random things....

I have always said that "This is Me", by Faith Hill is like my theme song. Anybody else have a "theme song"? Maybe 'Club Can't Handle me Right Now' by Flo Rida, or maybe a Martina McBride song because I think we can ALL relate to a Martina McBride song at some point.

"My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw reminds me of how I see TJ viewing Elleah.

I remember I thought you looked like an angel

wrapped in pink so soft and warm
You've had me wrapped around your finger

since the day you were born

"Gone" by Montgomery Gentry reminds me of the Braves. Cause when they hit a homer, they play it over the speakers at the stadium while the player trots around the bases.

Gone like a freight-train, gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the civil war, bang bang
Gone like a '59 Cadillac
Like all the good things that ain't never coming back

Cracks me up!!

"I made it" by Kevin Rudolf reminds me of my brother. The night he got drafted, they played that song on ESPN nonstop coming from and to commercials. Then, later that night, we were all playing dominos (cause that is the appropriate celebration for getting drafted to the NFL - apparently) and it came on the radio 3 times while we were sitting there!!! Nuts!

"The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars reminds me of the way I WISH I could be sometimes!!

Today I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
'Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything

Clearly, I never have actually related to this song... it is just on my 'wish list'.

"O Holy Night" by Mariah Carey is my favorite Christmas song. I can listen to it in June and love every second of it! Oh yeah.... it reminds me of Christmas!! lol

By favorite song right now is "twinkle twinkle little star" as sung by Elleah....

tinkle tinkle

tinkle star

tinkle where

are

tinkle tinkle

staaaaaar

Ok, that is all I have for now! :-)

OB to the A

2011-07-03T22:52:00.000-04:00

This past week... well... what can I say? life was GOOD! Family, Beach, Boat, good food, and lounging by the Pool! Mike had brought up a few months ago, that he wanted to get a beach house or condo for the family sometime in July before he had to go to camp (yes I just said the "C" word Mike...haha)! We were ALL for it. After the past few months that the Runnels' family has had.... we NEEDED a vacation! We decided on a condo in Orange Beach, AL.... truly is one of the most beautiful and relaxing places ever (and since my dad works in Perdido.... it seemed only logical to get a place close by). After the NKOTBSB concert in Atlanta, we all stayed a few days and then headed south to OBA. The condo was gorgeous, with an awesome view!! 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms... we all wanted the master bed, which had an awesome jacuzzi tub, but Mike and Teal won out - I guess it makes sense since Mike was the one footing the bill. lol duh! But we all got our turn......

JJ's turn got a little out of hand..lmbo

As you can probably imagine.... Elleah had the time of her life!! There are not too many OTHER things Elleah loves more than a pool..... or a large body of water (she scoffs at bathtubs)! She is such a big girl and early this summer had learned how to swim with her floaties on. Now she does not need our help and really prefers us to keep our distance as she jumps 98345961350936 times off the side of the pool. I had a few panic attacks watching her do this, but she is a pro!

She loves floating on her back too...

Mike, on the other hand, likes to see how long he can hold his breath... I think he made it to 71 seconds.....

More of my sweet baby and her swimming obsession -

The weather got straight up spooky the second night we were there......

But we just enjoyed some dinner at Cobalt's and tried once again to get Elleah to look at our cameras -

We got a boat the next day and everybody was SOOOO excited and well.... silly -

Um.... who let him drive... seriously

Yep... I married that!

Dad and Teal..... don't ask... cause idk

The normal one.... ;-)

BUT WAIT....... the fun did not stop there.....

She can get him to do ANYTHING!!!! haha

We all had SUCH a good time and plan on doing it again next year!!! We do not get to see each other very often, especially all at ONCE! So this trip meant the world to me!!! I love you all soooo much!!

NKOTBSB - AGAIN... PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

June 22nd finally came!! And then went.....way too fast!!! The New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys concert was absolutely AMAZING!! Kind of even a little bit EPIC! Let me set the scene for ya -

Back in the day, Chipper Jones was of course my #1. But my close 2nd was the guys of BSB (esp Nick - don't judge me, he's SO my type). I was kind of a closet BSB fan! My parents, brother, and close friends knew I LOVED them, but when asked in random convos, I just kept quiet and shook it off. I guess I assumed it wasn't "cool". Well guess what?? It IS cool...lol... because I am 27 years old and anything I say I like... well, it is freaking COOL! haha. So going to see a Backstreet Boys concert before I die - check!

And to make things THAT much greater.... they were teamed up with the New Kids on the Block! I know and love ALL of the New Kids' music, but I probably would not have gone to see just NKOTB. That has ALL changed. I knew BSB would be great (and they were), but NKOTB BLEW ME AWAY!! They put on an amazing show!!! SO combined... NKOTBSB..... BEST concert EVER!

Hanging Next to the Stage

Love My Mommy!!

They finally arrive -

And then they do FABULOUS things......

Danny from New Kids walked right past me....

Jordan gets my vote for best dancer/all around performer out of all 9 of them.....

The encore was UNBELIEVABLE...

And we made some new friends....

SO this was one of the best nights EVER! I want to do it all over again.... and again!!!

AND AGAIN!!!!

(more pics on facebook)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Special shout out to Lori and Brittney for the great pics*

Ceiling Fans, Buoys, and fence posts!!

2011-06-06T22:59:00.000-04:00

It is time for another installment of "what the heck is Katie thinking about?" I sometimes just daze out and my mind runs around thinking different things. Some of my thoughts have to do with what is going on around me. Sometimes I am wondering random things. Sometimes, just sometimes, I am thinking of GOOD ideas. So it has been a while since I shared these thoughts, so I thought I would give you a typical day in the life of Katie's thoughts.....

Waking up in the morning:

I wonder what time Elleah got in here last night?

Should I eat, or brush my teeth first?!

Maybe if I hum, Elleah will go back to sleep and give me another 30 minutes! (don't lie mommys, you've tried it)

While sewing:

Why did I choose a hobby that involves needles? (ouch)

Why does there have to be a million shades of blue thread, and none of them match the blue fabric I am working with?

While driving:

I wonder how many miles I get after the gas light goes off?

Where is my windshield washer button? (its not just me, don't play)

How do they get a deer to cross at that yellow road sign?

When I get home, I should blog about my random thoughts and get them off my chest!!

While playing with Elleah:

How does someone so small have so much energy?

I really understand why Elleah loves fruit snacks, they are freaking delicious!

Why does my daughter drink so much juice/milk?

How come when I pull out my camera, Elleah stops doing the cute stuff?

What is that smell?

Huh?

While on the computer:

I wonder if I can scare that fly on my screen with my cursor?

While Elleah naps:

I think I will take a nap too.

I could kill those people for deciding that NOW would be a good time to mow outside my daughter's window!

I sat here and thought about it too long, now it is too late to go take a nap.... I hear Elleah stirring herself awake!

I take back all those times when I was younger and did not want to nap! You were right again mom!

While watching the game:

Boooyyaahhhhh!

Darnnit!

Random thoughts throughout the day:

Where, on the ark, did Noah keep the woodpeckers?

There is no way paper can really beat a rock.... is there?

WHOA.. Seaworld serves seafood don't they? hhmmmm is that a lil inappropriate or what?

How the heck do you fold a fitted sheet? 27 years old and I still just roll it up and wad it in the closet!!

I never write in cursive... (only my name)

ONE trip from the car with 20 grocery bags is way better than making two trips!

I clearly like every song that I took the time to download into my iPod... so why when I put it on shuffle do I still feel the need to flip the songs?! oh me!

If I die tomorrow, I will regret the fact that I did not eat that big chocolate cake today!!

Flashlights were put on this earth to hold dead batteries!! I am convinced!!!

Why are they interrupting my programming to announce power outages.... the people with no power are probably NOT seeing this!! DUH!

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers? (the chocolate ones are YUM)

Is 8:43 too early for a drink?!

I am not the only one that thinks these things, I just might be one of the few that say them out loud!!! haha Oh well!!!

PS-My mommy actually read my last blog without being asked to! SwEEEEt! lol