FTW Stockyards

Pdub

Mandy and I persevered last night and were very excited to meet Pioneer Woman/Ree Drummond and get our cookbooks signed. It was so gratifying to learn that she is just as nice in person as she seems on her blog, and we met her after she had already been signing autographs for 2 hours. What was extra fun was that she brought all of her kids, her husband (hellooooo cowboy), her sister, her nephew and her mom and GaGa so it was the entire cast of the blog! Her kids are so precious and polite, it makes me want to home school. Her girls were very sweetly walking around the line and talking to people and signing their books.


Aidan was actually pretty patient in the line and Mandy and I switched out taking her and Viv to the children's section at Full Circle which thankfully had toys. The bag of Halloween candy we brought as a last resort may have had something to do with our success as well. We went into the line knowing we would have to leave if the girls just completely lost it but it never really got to that point. We were out of there by 8:30 but I feel bad for the hundreds of people who were behind us in line. Who knows when they got out of there.

Amy Bellgardt took a good picture of Aidan, PW and I.

Hello tired, gray, morning sickness face. Maybe by the time I'm 40 I will look as good as PW.

Sonshine School Halloween

Here's my little Hermione Granger getting ready to go to her Sonshine School Party. I didn't let her take her wand, that's just a fight waiting to happen.

What I won't be wearing this pregnancy...

I'm trying to assess what's left of my maternity clothes as they seem to have all disappeared in the past 2 1/2 years. I was browsing the interwebs when I came upon American Apparel's new maternity line. I thought it must be a joke. But this is real. If you are currently expecting, know that you too can purchase a fabulous little outfit like this.

I don't know about you but when I was pregnant I often thought, you know what would make me look better and feel less huge? Some sort of spandex unitard.

I am willing to bet cold hard cash that no one involved with the development of this line has ever been pregnant. Was there a focus group? Did this focus group include pregnant 15 yr olds? I'm not exactly sure that's an audience you should be targeting. I can't for the life of me imagine a pregnant person talking to a designer and saying, You know what I would really love? An outfit that makes it even harder to pee ever 5 minutes. Yeah I want something I have to completely peel down to my ankles.

Oh don't worry there's an option for all the summer mommies too. Order now, they may sell out.

PS Before you ask, no these are not work out clothes. Although I'm not sure that would make it better.

PSS If you think this is cute...just don't talk to me.

Coming May 30th

Iphone Update

The bad thing about having a really nice (but bulky) camera is that you often don't feel like lugging it around everywhere. So anything I can capture in the moment ends up slightly blurry on my Iphone.

You would never believe this girl spit out her Pei Wei lo mein just seconds later.

With her daddy spotting her, Aidan can now crawl to the top of the rope pyramid on the playground.

Imitating the preteen models at Wal-Mart. I'm glad that kids will have moved on from Hannah Montana by the time Aidan is in elementary school because that is so right up her alley. Of course she will probably like something much much worse.

Waving the white flag

I don't know what we did but Aidan and I have hit the contagious virus jackpot. I haven't had the energy to blog in between running to the doctor and Walgreen's and back and forth from my sick bed to my sick couch. Now we have strep throat and I have to say that I preferred the swine flu. I plan on experiencing all the illnesses this fall and then I'll prepare a final report on my favorite.

Back to Life

I think we are done with the H1N1 virus. I actually prefer the term Swine Flu no matter what the marketing honchos in the pork industry demand we call it. Swine flu is much more catchy. I don't know about everyone else's experience and I know many people have had some serious problems, but this flu didn't seem as bad as others I've had. I will take an insane fever over puking any day.

My sister finally started a blog. Now I get to be even more jealous of her beautiful surroundings.

1st Day of Sonshine School 2009

Sure she may have thrown a colossal fit on the second day of Sonshine School and smacked her head on the door while trying to escape. And maybe she kicked her teacher a little bit, possibly, allegedly. But on the first day of Sonshine School Aidan was perfect. And since that's what I have pictures of the record will show that Aidan had a perfect first week.

Are you done yet? You are mortifying me.

A typical day...

Do NOT put this on your blog.

19th Street

Last week we had dinner with our friends Blake and Rachel. They just got married and are living down in our old stomping grounds on 19th Street in OKC. We went to visit our old landlady Bonnie so she could meet Aidan. She has so lovingly decorated and cared for all of these 100 yr old buildings. It really got me thinking about our time there and how much we loved it. We'd probably still be living somewhere in Mesta Park if we could afford private school:) Our lives were so different just a few short years ago.

My beautiful fireplace decorated for Christmas. I have dreams about that mantle.

Our screened in balcony looking over into what was Jayna's then Lailah's balconies. So many hours were spent on those balconies.

Our view, we kept those doors open all the time until the mammoth sized squirrels would try and break in. I just miss living there so so much.

But then I remember why we moved, and she's pretty great too.

Traveled down the road and back again ...

The bad part about having an amazing reunion weekend with your girlfriends is that for one thing you're kind of depressed when it's over, but also you're having so much fun you forget to take pictures. We laughed, watched reality TV, ate a lot of cookies, saw Julie and Julia, had fabulous Iron Starr and just generally reveled in our awesomeness. We threw a "surprise" baby shower for Jayna at Inspirations tea room and I managed to remember to bring a camera. The population of our posse is rapidly expanding.

Jayna and I, no I am not nursing Violet. That would be weird. And impossible.

Mandy and Lynn

The guest of honor with her mama Sue.

Chloe, Angie, Mandy and Miranda's back

Tams, yes I did.

Getting pedicures. Morg you look beautiful in this picture, I don't want to hear it.

Anna Jane happened to be in town so I saw even MORE friends. Chloe got to meet her 3rd cousin Aubrie! Soon everyone will be a Lashley.

Photoshoot in Mandy's backyard. Chloe had all of us at her beck and call.

Til next year ladies...

Win Susan

Last year I started reading a blog that really had an impact on me. I don't even know how I stumbled across it because its about the sport of cycling and I haven't ridden a bike since I was 15 and I am definitely not sporty. The blog is Fat Cyclist and for the past few years Fatty's (Elden's) wife Susan has been fighting cancer. Last night she died, and when I clicked on the blog this morning I burst into tears. I have never met this family, but I have been so struck by how much Elden loved his wife and how strong and graceful she was in the fight of her life. You can read her story here. Fat Cyclist has been raising money for the Lance Armstrong foundation and they have raised well over 1/2 a million dollars in honor of Susan. If you want to see how a husband should love his wife scroll back through the past few months of entries. Susan and Elden have four children so if you feel like leaving your condolences for the family or donating money to the Lance Armstrong foundation, you can do so here.

Brush with Greatness

Ben and I went on an impromptu date last night and ended up going to see Harry Potter for the 2nd time. Don't be a hater. Anyways, we had just pulled into Harkins in Bricktown when our entry to the movie theater was blocked by a large silver bus. I sarcastically (as is my way) said to Ben, "Oh look, it has Arkansas plates maybe its the Duggars." A SECOND after I said this I looked up and thought hey that little boy kind of looks like a Duggar and so does that girl with the super long hair. And then behind the wheel, in all his hair sprayed, helmet hair glory was Jim Bob Duggar, trying desperately to turn the Duggarpalooza Tour Bus around.

Now here is something you need to know about me. I am afraid of famous people. I get nervous and my initial reaction is to run away. When I met Dwight Yoakum on his tour bus I was a wreck. When I met Hilary and Chelsea Clinton when we lived in Turkey they probably wondered how I got into the honors class group that was welcoming them at the airport.

For all my sarcasm I suffer from a severe case of famous people empathy so I cannot take pictures of them or ask for autographs because I know that I would HATE that if I were famous. So I have no proof that I saw the Duggars, but Ben was there and he's a horrible liar.

When we came out of the movie the whole crew was walking back towards the bus. It was the weirdest thing to watch people you see on TV all the time, even reality TV, walking around like a normal family. The only thing that would have been weirder would be seeing Jon and Kate Plus 8. Then I would have to kick Jon in the you know where (take a cold shower dude) and then tell Kate that I secretly like her and admire her abs. Michelle Duggar is teeny tiny, which is saying a lot after having 18 kids. I actually thought she was one of the daughters at first. All the little boys were running around and acting very cute and the older girls were taking pictures. Also they were not filming and seemed like a very happy family. I secretly hoped I would see them sneaking into a PG movie but alas.

I'm sort of afraid that just breathing the same air as Michelle Duggar will have been enough to get me pregnant.