KIDS 101

Any day now, my best friend is going to be a MOM. I'm so excited for little Grace aka Peanut to get here, but not nearly excited as her awesome parents! Isn't she the cutest soon to be Mommy?!
As an aunt of 11 for 11 months today, I know a lot about kids. Really. Well, maybe not a lot but definitely something. So here it goes, just for you, Na: Everything you need to know about kids in one blog post or less!


1. First things first. Babies are adorable.

Everyone needs to know how much more adorable yours is than any other baby they ever imagined. You are lucky that you are already a professional photographer; that will make this one easier. You must be ready AT ALL TIMES to take a picture when they do something cute. I know what you are thinking, "what about actually enjoying those cute moments naturally when they come?" Terrible thing to think. What is the point of babies doing something cute if you can't post it on your blog later for EVERYONE to enjoy?

Exhibit A: Cute as a button baby face captured to bring joy to all who see it.

2. What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine too.

This is the baby mantra. It starts young. First they just go for little things like earrings or necklaces(nevermind you are wearing them), but they move to larger items very quickly. You should be careful how far you let this go, or she may turn out like this kid...

Notice the stolen shoes and obvious casing of the TV...

3. Privacy: Forget about it.

Kids have basically no concept of the word privacy. You are in the bathroom. They think "Who cares, I'm hungry!" Very inconsiderate. Babies are the worst about this, but it doesn't stop when they get older. That pile of laundry you were planning to wash? Nope. That is now dress up.

Your most intimate secrets will be EXPOSED.

4. Kids like to laugh.

So you need to know what is funny. Luckily, I have discovered the answer to this through my rigorous research.


Hilarious.

5. Kids are nosey.

They are always listening. You may be trying to have a private conversation, but if there is a kid within a mile radius, it's not happening. Who cares that they think you are the most interesting person they know? It's just rude.

So there you have it, my list of the 5 most import things to know about kids. ;)

Good Grief!

We have been having so much fun lately! Things have been busy, but definitely fun too! We had a great Halloween weekend going to a party with our ward friends as Charlie Brown and Lucy. Then drove to Georgetown to spend some time with my family and have some of my Papa's famous Catfish Stew followed by trick or treating with our super cute nephews! I felt like I needed a 10 hour nap by the end of everything, but it was definitely worth it! :)

Ethel May and Lola Faye

Last night while driving home from Cory's softball game we somehow got onto the subject of what we will name our children (at that time in the distant future when we have them). Well, here is how part of that conversation went:

Cory: "If we have a girl, or a lot of girls, we are going to name them things like Ethel May and Lola Faye."
Me: "Ummm...No."
Cory: "Well, we wouldn't call them that! Those would just be their middle names so they can use them when they are old ladies."

That's my husband, always planning ahead. :)

Halloween Advent Calendar

I love Conference Weekend. The messages and feelings I get out of this weekend are just amazing. The hard part about it for me is staying awake while the most soothing voices tell me all these messages! :) So this year I decided to work on some crafts during the sessions to help keep myself alert. Well, it worked because not only did I stay awake during all sessions, I also finished this adorable Halloween Advent Calendar from Oopsey Daisy I posted about last month. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Without Candy.

Candy!!!

Hide Yo Kids...

What does it say about me that I find this super funny and can't stop dancing to it? I'm not sure I want to know...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKsVSBhSwJg

Just Around the Corner...

I am SUPER excited for Halloween! I have always made fun of my mom for loving it so much, but now I am just the same. I have begun to resign myself to becoming my mom and starting to think that it isn't really a bad thing.
The other day she posted the link to this Halloween Advent Calendar and I thought it was so cute I had to share! I am planning to make my own and as soon as I do, I'll post the pictures!
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2010/08/halloween-advent-calendar-tutorial.html

Now to think of a costume... I may even have to break out my sewing machine. We will see!

Where are YOU?

Right now my husband is out helping someone move. I was upstairs reading Pride and Prejudice when he got the call from his EQ president and when he came up to tell me, I must admit I was disappointed. Even though we weren't having "together time" the realization that it wouldn't be a possibility for the next few hours was not at all pleasing. Kind of funny how that works. At least I was able to finish my book, which only gets better each time I read it. Between readings I somehow forget the small things that make me love their story so much. It is nice to rediscover them.

Cory has never been to the apartments where this couple is moving so he had me tell him how I would go there before he left. It is a little ironic that someone who is so terrible with directions is married to a geographer who creates maps for the highway department. :) When he got into his car, he also plugged it into my GPS, which I have really lost ownership of at this point, and calls me when it tells him to go a different route than the one I gave him before he left. After assuring him that the route given by the GPS would take him where he wanted to go just as well, I told him to have fun and hung up. When I called about 15 minutes later to make sure he had gotten there okay (this is the man who once drove all the way to orangeburg trying to get home from the Fort Jackson building) I didn't get an answer. Immediately I know that he put his phone in the cupholder after we hung up and didn't think to put it back in his pocket when he got out of the car. How do I know this, you ask? Well, lets just say I have shed a few tears worrying over not being able to reach him after he assured me I would be able to only to be told "Sorry babe, I left my phone in the car." The fact that I really didn't need anything doesn't matter at that point. It bothers me that IF I needed to reach him, I couldn't. Silly, I know. It is strange what being so connected to another person will do to you. You think you are a totally independent person and then bam! a huge amount of your happiness depends on another person and how "reachable" they are! :)