_Web Savvy Mom_

Let's Play Ball!

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:25:00 PDT

Troy recently joined his first baseball team and the first game was this past Saturday.

For opening day, there was a parade of teams at the ball park.

Later in the day we had his first game. Watching a bunch of kids who don't know all the rules of America's favorite past time, is highly entertaining.

Each batter gets three pitches from his own coach and then the T comes out.

Troy hit his first pitch and made it to second base.

When his team, the Detroit Tigers, were out in the field the coaches rotated the kids in positions. At one point, Troy was at shortstop fielding the ball and since there was a runner at second, we told him to throw it to third base.

He did.

Too bad the third baseman was standing right next to him.

We figure that it will be like last year and playing soccer where one day it just clicks and he'll understand the rules of the game.

Wordless Wednesday - Monster Truckin' Through the Orange Groves

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 07:37:00 PST

Last month, we spent a long weekend in Florida with my parents and The BobFather and his wife Debbie.

Besides a trip to Legoland, we rode this through the orange groves of Central Florida at The Showcase of Citrus.

This included mud puddles.

Then fed the cows oranges.

Feeding cows oranges does not result in orange juice.

My parents joined us for the ride.

Troy really enjoyed it.

As did I.

Wordless Wednesday - Visiting The Neighbors at The Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 06:08:00 PST

THE Neighbors moved last year to Northern Virginia, very close to where I went to high school. Caroline blogs about their life on the farm at Muss Family Time.

Here are some pictures of our visit last month to see their kids and all of their many animals before we went to the local wineries for some sampling.

Alexis, Mo, Troy and Ethan

Caroline and Tim

Chris

Partners in crime, Troy and Mo with one of the rabbits.

First winery tasting

Second wine tasting

Alexis, Troy, Ethan and Mo at Bluemont Vineyard.

It was a nice visit but I'm ready for them to return to being our Neighbors in Virginia Beach.

Too Many Sweets

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:56:00 PST

Driving to school, I asked Troy if he had any teeth that were loose.

When he said not yet I suggested that it might happen soon.

He thought for a second and said, "Well, I guess I should stop eating sweets so they don't fall out."

I said, "Well, that's not a bad plan but they're going to fall out anyway. They're your baby teeth and your big person teeth will come in behind them."

After a quick pause, he said, "Great, now I can eat even more sweets!"

Christmas 2012 aka Trying to Catch Up

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:05:00 PST

I don't want to kid myself, it's not as much fun having a blog anymore when it's so much easier to post pictures to Instagram and Facebook from my new iPhone 5. Here is a few photos from Christmas that extended up until this past weekend. Tucker and Sandy under our Christmas tree.

Tim being Tim.

My brother Mike aka Uncle Monkey

My Dad

Troy playing on my iPad at the lake house.

My parents opening gifts.

My sister Tricia and her two kids on Christmas Eve.

Troy in front of the tree.

Troy showing off his new hat on Christmas morning.

He just realized he got his own iPad for Christmas.

One more of his gifts.

Reunited with his big sister, Carson.

More presents from The Bobfather and Grandpa.

We had a great Christmas. I got a new iPad, new iPhone and a new tv for the bedroom. Tim got a bread maker he wanted and has made several loaves. Since I love bread so much, I'm sure there will be a lot more of me this time next year.

Wordless Wednesday - Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 07:03:00 PST

I'm a little late with posting pictures of our trip to Kentucky over Thanksgiving.

Most of these faces can be seen on our numerous OBX vacations each summer.

However, here is four generations of Thaxtons.

Thanksgiving dinner with my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and husband.

Someone I'm always thankful for, Troy.

Troy said, "That's a big chicken!"

Cousins hanging out before dinner.

An early Christmas with Mamaw.

More of the Kentucky family.

It's hard to believe Christmas is less than two weeks away.

And Then He Turned 72 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 05:58:00 PST

When you first have a baby, you describe his age in months. Although I stopped once Troy turned one, he is now 72 months old or for those of you math challenged, six-years old.

Keeping with tradition, we invited just close friends and family over and their children for his birthday party this past weekend.

Caroline made him cake pops this year and so Chris put icing on a hamburger bun so we had something to put candles in.

It worked.

Here is the mandatory shot of my buddies, Nadya, Caroline, me and Kim.

Our fellow Costa Rican traveling partners, Kim and Pat.

Their daughter Emily.

The Laugher who has lost 65 pounds since January.

Troy with The Neighbors' two daughters, Alexis and Mo.

After Troy opened his presents and blew out his candles. He addressed the group to say thank you for coming and for his presents.

The day I became a Mom, his second, third, fourth and fifth birthdays.

Wordless Wednesday - Smell Ya Later

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:58:00 PST

Two weeks ago, Kim, my best friend hosted a Scentsy party at her house. It was a chance to spend time together since our trip to Costa Rica but most importantly, see her brand new kitchen.

Charity and I enjoyed the ~~wine~~ party.

It was a great party and I can't wait to see what the hell I ordered.

The Price Is Right

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:57:00 PDT

I'm a competitive person so when I heard that my new office was having a Halloween costume contest, I immediately sought out my trusty advisor, Pinterest.

Since I'm not a naturally crafty person in the beads and hot glue sense, I found this costume idea to be one that I thought I could easily execute.

Here is my finished product for The Price is Right DIY costume.

It was a relatively simple costume to make. I downloaded The Price is Right font for free, "borrowed" the logo from a website and created the t-shirt design. Then reversed it to print out on a t-shirt transfer.

Here are my supplies.

I found a name tag template online that I saved as well.

Then I purchased some white foam board, black pipe cleaners, white t-shirt and construction paper in green, white and yellow. I cut the green to fit the foam board, created a one inch border in white and cut that out. After it was all glued together with tacky glue. I traced and cut a template for the numbers and glued them down.

My husband had the string in the garage that I measured out and secured to the back of the board with duct tape along with the pipe cleaner to look like a microphone.

It took me about a hour to make mostly because I got distracted and math isn't my strength.

Happy Halloween and don't forget what Bob Barker always said, "Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered."

Wordless Wednesday - Morning Sunrise

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:51:00 PDT

I took the dogs out back this morning and the sky was full of brilliant colors.

Mother Nature knows her colors. See more of my Wordless Wednesday posts here.

Wordless Wednesday - It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Tucker!

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 05:57:00 PDT

We spent Columbus Day weekend at my parents' lake house to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. It was an excellent opportunity to wear out the dogs, especially Tucker.

Now, let's hold Tucker back a little. So Sandy can get a head start.

But here comes Tucker...

It was a pretty day at the lake.

Troy loved it too.

Wordless Wednesday - Heart of Darkness

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 05:59:00 PDT

I've downloaded numerous camera apps to my iPhone in the last 18 months and since Troy was in bed, I went to my second favorite subject to photograph, the dogs.

This picture of Tucker reminds me of Heart of Darkness.

Wordless Wednesday - Kindergarten Picture Day - - Take One

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 05:37:00 PDT

Long time readers know that picture day hasn't always been a successful one for Troy. Years ago, I started taking shots of him in the morning so he would be at ease and practice his smile.

Here is the dress uniform for kindergarten.

Previous picture days in March 2011, March 2010 and March 2009 and November 2008.

Summer is Over

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 05:42:00 PDT

Troy has had an incredible summer with trips to my parents’ lake house for weeks at a time, a week in the Outer Banks (OBX), two weeks with his sister by our pool, a week in Costa Rica, in Kentucky for two weeks, time at our house with his Mamaw, my parents and The Bobfather and the other Deb Thaxton.

And just like that - - summer is over and Troy is in kindergarten.

Unlike the local public schools that start after Labor Day he was back in school on Wednesday for a half day and his first full day was yesterday.

After back to school night on Monday I told him his new teacher has been teaching kindergarten for over thirty years and knows ALL the tricks.

He said, “Well, she doesn’t know mine and I have trickier tricks.”

You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:41:00 PDT

Most of my friends know the sloppy joes and French fries story and how it relates to birthdays in our house.

This past weekend we went to my parents’ lake house to drop off Troy for the week. My parents friends of 50 years, John and Karen, were coming down along with their kids and grandkids. Karen puts Mrs. Fields to shame so I asked if she’d make Tim’s favorite birthday cake, red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

It wasn’t until we were all in the lake, that I told her that I didn’t think Tim had ever eaten red velvet cake, but I had been craving it.

Then she threatened to punch me in the face.

CC came in from Annapolis and joined in the shenanigans.
So we celebrated with mud slides.

Then it was time to sing happy birthday and Troy was very enthusiastic about it.

But he was more anxious to eat it.

The cake was delicious.

Happy birthday, Tim!

My Head Hurts

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:00:00 PDT

Troy told my Mom last week his head was hurting.
She asked him what was wrong and he said......

"It hurts because I can't figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up."

People, Some Things I Don't Understand

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:02:00 PDT

Going about my life I often think to my Self,
"Self, why do people do such stupid things?"
Self never responds so I usually turn to Twitter.

In no particular order here are a few things that I don't understand.

People who leave three car spaces in front of them at red lights. Don't they realize there are people behind them with their signal on that can't get into the turning lane because they haven't moved up enough?

People who drive with the seat up so close their chins could rest on top of the steering wheel.

People who park their carts in the center of the aisle at the grocery store and then walk up and down the aisle.

People who participate in flash mobs. I have been known to watch one or two on YouTube but how much time and practice did these people put in for these things?

People who don't go on vacation. I just took two vacations in a month to OBX and Costa Rica. I'm already planning next summer's vacation. It doesn't just happen.

People who do hot yoga. It was 107 F yesterday in Virginia Beach with the heat index. I don't understand the desire to seek out this temperature and then exercise.

People who walk in the rain with no umbrella like it's a sunny afternoon.

People who look at what you're about to eat and say that it looks disgusting and they wouldn't eat it.

People who are mean to children, animals, the elderly and anything else with a pulse.

People who work 80 hours a week. On Purpose.

People who drink coffee all day.

People who don't know how to swim.

People who don't know how to drive stick shift.

People who create the "Hey Girl..." images of Ryan Gosling and post on Pinterest.
People who wear pajama bottoms in public.

People who bite their nails. This is a huge pet peeve of mine.

People who live without a smartphone. I left the house this morning and turned around within 30 seconds as soon as I realized I left my iPhone at home.
People who use multiple exclamation points!!!

People who don't write a lot as two words.

People who spell out words in puffy paint on t-shirts and wear them to concerts. I saw quite a few "Duran Fans" just after Simon LeBon put his arm around me in a group picture.

People who wear high heels all day and then complain their feet hurt.

People who don't smile in pictures.

People who don't read this blog.

People who can't take a joke.

Because I always include pictures here is one from our Costa Rica trip two weeks ago.

What are some things you don't understand?

Wordless Wednesday - Zip It, Hippie

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:31:00 PDT

Going on seven zip lines in the jungle of Costa Rica last week was one of the most fun things I've had in a long time.

Emily, Troy and Carson

The best was when Troy, 5, rode down alone and decided to flip upside down, pulled himself up, gave the thumbs up and then did it again.

At the end there was a tarzan swing from a platform about 30 feet in the air. Unlike the kids, I jumped off. Carson just screamed and stepped off.
We saw more wild animals at our villa than in the jungle.

Steve Irwin Reincarnated in Costa Rica

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 17:34:00 PDT

I just returned from a week long stay in Tamarindo, Costa Rica at Casa Wendt with Tim, Carson, Troy and my best friend Kim, her husband Pat and their daughter Emily.

I will be chronicling different phases of the trip with some interesting stories over the next week or so.

One thing I can say with certain, I love Costa Rica.

The second is that animals love themselves some Deb.

On our first full day there, we ate dinner on the beach at sunset.
There was a stray cat wandering around that caught the kids’ eye and they kept calling him over to our table on the beach. Troy decided to name him Bob which I think is inspired by The Bob-Father who would have shouted, Run For Your Lives.

Almost without warning, Bob decided to jump up on my lap.

Then it was a perfect storm of Tim saying be careful he doesn’t spray you as a giant ant walked across my knee. I thought the cat was spraying me and screamed.

Two days later while the bulk of our group was ~~attempting to~~ surf, one of the many random dogs walked by us on the beach. The biggest, fluffiest, Golden Retriever walked right over to us, sat next to me under our umbrella. Troy decided to name him Jack (after my dad, I presume). Later, we saw Jack outside a local surf shop.
Back at our house one night we were sitting by the pool drinking Imperials when I thought I spotted the tail of a cat a few feet away.

I said, “Oh, a cat!”

It wasn’t a cat.

I was standing a few feet away from a wild raccoon who we named Rocky because he liked to visit us at night.

The following night I was standing near the edge of the pool when Carson spotted something “rodent like” run inches from my feet. The next day we figured out it wasn’t a rat but a red, bushy-tailed squirrel.

I don't care if they speak Spanish, I still hate squirrels in every country. Besides lizards running around we did have a cool green frog join our party one night too.

Later in the week on our drive into town we saw wild howler monkeys in the trees. Thankfully, they didn’t try to climb on my lap or throw poo at us which they tend to do to show dominance.

Another frequent sighting was Fabio on horseback. He didn't get on my lap either. I’m just glad we didn’t see any crocodiles.

Our Last Night

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 11:53:00 PDT

I'm sorting through over 1,000 pictures taken last week in Costa Rica. This was our view from dinner on the beach on our last night.

Wordless Wednesday - Top of the Lighthouse

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:13:00 PDT

This year on our family vacation we took a break from the beach to climb to the top of the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in the Outer Banks.

The Currituck Beach Lighthouse was built in 1875 which I think is the same age as Ed, the curator.

It was 214 steps to the top.

The yellow building is the Whalehead Club.

It was a very windy day which explains why the Wright Brothers probably picked the location just south of us.

To entice Troy to the top we bribed him.

He didn't last long but was rewarded with ice cream when we got back down.

It was a beautiful day in the Outer Banks.

Wordless Wednesday - Christopher Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:33:00 PDT

These ships sailed in across the street from my office over a week ago for OpSail 2012.

See more of my Wordless Wednesday posts.

Wordless Wednesday - We're Halfway Through Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:05:00 PDT

\
Here is what we were doing last year on vacation.

Where To Start...

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:08:00 PDT

Besides the weekly Wordless Wednesday post I’ve been throwing up on this blog for the last six weeks, I haven’t been blogging. There have been a lot of exciting things going on in my life and most notably, I resigned from my full-time web job and started a new one where I don’t do any web work at all. It’s extremely exciting and challenging and after six weeks I remind myself that there is no way I’ll be able to know everything so quickly.

And I’m writing.
A lot.
For the new job.

So now that I am at my new job, Tim isn’t taking two online courses for his Master’s and Troy’s soccer is over, we have reclaimed our weekends.

*We have repainted our shed.

We invite friends over for part of Memorial Day weekend.

The same friends who will be going to Costa Rica with us at the end of June for a week.

We have gone to The Neighbors’ lake house in North Carolina. The kids picked up some of the chickens.

The dogs run around like they’re being chased. We take the kids out tubing in the boat. We visit friends on the lake by boat because it’s faster than the road.

Then we come home to unwind by our pool and admire the shed *we painted at the start of the long weekend.

*We refers to my husband doing most of it but I did roll three out of the four sides and pull off the tape.

Wordless Wednesday - Not for the Squeamish

noreply@blogger.com (Deb Thaxton) — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:27:00 PDT

This is one way to avoid a follow-up trip to the doctor. Give my mother-in-law a drink, tweezers and an X-Acto knife.