Generation Gap

Tanner and I have been staying with my parents for the last week, helping with preparations for the big wedding this weekend. We're so excited, but more on that in another post.

This conversation took place at our dinner table last night:

Dad: What happened to Tanner's forehead?

Me: He "bit it" outside this afternoon.

Dad: Max bit him?? (Max is our dog.)

Me: No, Dad. Tanner "bit it."

Dad: Tanner fell and bit his own forehead?

Me: Yeah, dad. :)

I can't believe I just stayed up until 1:00am playing with my blog design. It had to be done, though! I was getting incredibly jealous of the chic new looks on several of the blogs that I frequent.

I'm off to bed for now...

Christmas in July -- Oops! I mean August!

This morning, I was THAT mom.

You know the one I'm talking about. The woman in the grocery store whose child is shrieking in the front seat of the cart. The one who gives in to his tantrum and lets him out of the cart, only to realize such a decision was a HUGE mistake. She wrestles to get him back in his seat as he arches his back, wailing. Once he is finally strapped in, the child cries just loud enough for people to hear in all four corners of the store (we're talking SuperTarget here) and out into the parking lot. You've seen this mom before. Usually, you wish that management would come over and ask her to leave so that you can shop in peace ... because your child would never act that way. Ever. What kind of parent is she, anyways?

Yes, sadly, I was that mom today. For some reason, Tanner finished his snack cup only 5 minutes into our trip. Usually, I get at least 20 minutes of happiness out of this precious treat, but not this morning! I was tempted to grab a bag of Goldfish from the snack aisle and just rip it open and start feeding him, but I would've felt really guilty opening something that I hadn't paid for yet. Note to self ... next time pack some reinforcement snacks.

He finally settled down as we were checking out. As I went to refill his snack cup with some Goldfish that were actually paid for, I heard a woman talking behind me.

"Yeah, so like, tons of their toys are marked 75% off right now."

My ears perked up and I started to get excited. Even though he is definitely on Santa's nasty list right now, he might just redeem himself by December 25. Just in case, I headed over to the toy section. I was so pleased -- I got $110 worth of stuff for $29!! There's nothing like a good deal to turn around your morning. Now the hard part will be saving all of these toys until Christmas!!

A Fair, a Wedding, and Some Water

Time continues to fly by here in the Hall House! Notice the all the bruises and scrapes on my rough and tumble little boy. We're seriously considering buying a helmet for him.

What we've been up to:

Last Friday, Tanner and I went to the county fair with a friend and her son. I was only expecting to stay for about an hour, but the boys were having so much fun, it was more like 3 hours!! We spent all of that time making our way through the animal barns, mimicking their sounds, trying to get our boys to do the same. :) Tanner was very interested in all of the animals, but especially liked the bunnies and the goats. The sheep scared him a bit -- who would've thought!! We ventured into one last barn before we left and found ourselves on a "tot" farm. The boys LOVED it!!

What IS that?

That's where my milk comes from?!

Hey, Seth, you got any snacks over there?

Just call me Farmer Tanner!

Can you BELIEVE these gas prices?!

The next day was Saturday, and we drove home to Michigan for my cousin Brent's wedding. It was so much fun to get all dressed up and see family members who I haven't seen in a while! I'm not sure if the highlight was Mary Lou's cookie display (YUM!!! -- I'll get some pictures of this at Katherine's wedding next weekend), or Tanner tearing it up on the dance floor.

Me and my Lovey.

Boogying down on the dance floor with Aunt Mary Kay.

My Main Squeeze.

So far, this week has been a little boring, but we did make it to the spray park again yesterday for some cooling off. Tanner was all over the place. At one point, he was sitting underneath this pole that has three buckets attached at the top. The buckets fill up and then dump over -- completely soaking the unlucky person underneath. The water comes down pretty hard, so when it hit Tanner, I held my breath to see what his reaction would be. He literally shook the water off, shivered a little, and went back to playing. I think at least 4 other moms commented to me about how brave he was while we were there. Oh my ... While he did enjoy the water, he also spent a good amount of time plucking blades of grass and rocks from the ground and then shoving them through openings in the fence. All in a days work for my little boy ...

Hope you're having a good week!

Must Love Dirt

I just can't believe it's almost THURSDAY already!! Where is the time going?! I feel like we are just busy busy busy all day everyday.

I've been a little (okay -- a lot) stressed out lately about my 10-year class reunion, which I'm in charge of planning. I am a little frustrated right now as people are VERY slow to RSVP. I wouldn't worry about it, but our contract with the venue where we're having it says that we must have at least 100 people in there, or we pay regardless. I am praying for loads of patience as I wait for more RSVPs to come in.

On a more positive note, Tanner and I have been enjoying LOTS of time outdoors lately. The weather has been gorgeous! He has recently made it his mission in life to transfer the dirt from some old pots outdoors to our outdoor fire pit. I just keep telling myself "it's just dirt ... it's just dirt ... it WILL wash off ..." and I try to just let him play without interrupting his fun. And actually, it's not just the potting soil from the old pots that he's obsessed with, he finds oodles of joy in just about any pile of dirt that he can find.

I've been thinking a lot lately that God specifically gave me a boy so that I could learn to appreciate them. When I was a teacher, I always seemed to have the most trouble with the boys (I know -- GASP!!). I just couldn't understand why they were so destructive, so physical, so ... irresponsible for lack of a better word (remember, they were 7th graders!!!). I feel like I'm already learning so much just from my one year old! And because I LOVE him so much, these "boy" qualities are becoming quite endearing! I have come to the point now where I do miss my job sometimes (but only sometimes!!). And I'm excited to see how my perspective as a teacher will change once I go back (in many many years, hopefully!!) now that I am also a parent.

Enjoy the pictures of our backyard fun...

He doesn't really GO anywhere in this car. He just gets inside, closes the door, opens the door, climbs outside, closes the door, opens the door, gets inside, etc...

Is the gym THIS way or THAT way??

Cooling Off

When I think of my summers as a kid, I think of being in a bathing suit all day long, just looking for something to get wet in! Sometimes it was a sprinkler, sometimes it was the beach, sometimes we just "happened" to walk by the fence when we heard our neighbors splashing in their pool -- looking pitiful and hoping to get an invitation! The other thing I think about is ice cream ... but I won't go into that now. :)

Today was Tanner's chance to get wet when we met some friends at the spray park. He was very tentative at first, but after a few minutes and a snack break (Thank you, Betsy -- my son is always stealing your snacks -- sorry!), he was off on his own, having a ball in all of that water and leaving his mommy in the dust! Of course, he did find the lone mud puddle in the grassy area (probably constructed by another little boy) and threw a tantrum every time I steered him away from it. But all in all, it was a great time! I see many more visits in our future!

I'm not too sure about this place, Sam. You're soaked!

Okay, maybe this is fun!

Look, Mom! If I put my hand right HERE the water shoots right towards you!

Will somebody PLEASE pull up my bathing suit?!

Mmmm. Could that be some sort of snack?

Meals on Wheels

Most of my day yesterday was spent making meals and delivering them to some families at church who just welcomed new babies. I love doing things like this and I thought I would share the recipes for the meal that I always take. I usually double it or triple it so that I have enough leftover for my own family that evening. Enjoy!

Chicken, Rice, Broccoli, and Cheese Casserole
1 pkg. frozen, chopped broccoli (thawed)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups minute rice
8 oz. light Cheese Whiz
1 stick margarine (melted)
1 cups chicken, cooked and shredded

Combine all ingredients. Place in buttered 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes.

No-Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick oats

Combine 1st 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until blended. Pour over oats and mix well. Drop only waxed paper and allow to cool.

The Longest Post Ever

What a week we've had here! So much has happened since my last post! Here's the rundown along with some pics ... (WARNING: it's long!)



Tuesday, July 1

Tanner had an appointment for his 1 year pictures. As soon as we walked in the door to the studio, he started crying. Right away, I thought this was wierd because there were several kids playing with the lego table in the waiting room and usually this would make Tanner VERY excited! When he finally stopped fussing, I scooted him over to the table, where he was trying to play nicely with everyone. Another, older, little girl was determined not to share any of the legos with Tanner, and as soon as he would pick one up, she would take it away. At one point, she grabbed Tanner's hand and squeezed really hard and yelled at him. I immediately snatched him up and walked away -- he was SO upset! Anyways, they finally call us back for our appointment and Tanner immediately starts crying again. After 5 minutes with no change, I told the photographer that I would just reschedule. I was so mad as I walked back to my car. All the way home (45 min), I thought about how bratty Tanner acted and was frustrated that he couldn't be his usual cheerful self for 20 minutes so we couild get a few pictures. GEEZ!

You can go ahead and give me the award for Worst Mom of the Year now.

When we got home, I took him into his playroom and tried to play around with him a little bit. After a few minutes, he crawled into my lap and layed his head against my chest and I noticed that he was burning up! My poor sweet boy had a fever all day and all night and then again in the morning. How did I miss this?!! Surely, a good mommy would have seen this coming! Still, though, I can't seem to snap out of bad mommy mode. He doesn't have a rash. Hasn't vomited. No diarrhea. I assume he is getting a tooth.



Wednesday, July 2

My sister came to visit. We shopped. Despite the photos you are about to see, Tanner was cranky again for most of the day.






Thursday, July 3

I took Tanner to the doctor for his 1-year "well"-baby checkup. The appointment started out fine, but after they weighed and measured him, he proceeded to cry nonstop for the rest of the appointment. Nothing I did seemed to soothe him -- I didn't know what to do! I was literally yelling back and forth with the doctor over Tanner's cries. The doctor asked me how he had been feeling lately. I told her about the fever. She said that a virus involving a fever had been going around lately. She checked inside his mouth and found several sores. It turns out he had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Virus. Poor Poor Thing. And his mommy thought he was just being a brat ...

Later that evening, I packed up the car and left to pick up Jon in the city on our way home to Michigan. What a nightmare! I definitely wasn't aware that this was their night for fireworks. The traffic was TERRIBLE and our usual 2.5 hour trip took 5.5 hours! We didn't pull into my parents' driveway until 2:30am!



Friday, July 4th

Today we celebrated Tanner's one-year birthday with our family! Tanner was a little bit cranky again, but I think it went pretty well. He loved his cake and couldn't get the chocolate into his mouth fast enough. We had a great time with our family! Aunt Lauren and Uncle Daniel came in from Georgia. Uncle Pat came in from North Carolina. Aunt Kat and all of the grandparents were there, too. Earlier in the day, all of us "kids" were able to go tubing on my dad's boat. It was such a special time with my sisters and their husbands! I even stepped out of mommy mode for a few minutes and tubed -- after pleading with my dad to take it easy on me!!

Saturday, July 5th

We started the day doing what the Shirley family does best ... sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee and talking. I love those kind of mornings. In the afternoon, we went cherry picking at a U-Pick farm down the street. We got TONS of sweet cherries. We were going to let Tanner help us pick, but he insisted on putting the cherries directly into his mouth as soon as he picked them, which was messy business. We also picked some tart cherries and I made my first cherry pie with them today (7/9)! It was so yummy!


Later that evening, our extended family came over for a cookout. Tanner still wasn't feeling good, and was a bear the whole time. Poor guy.







Sunday, July 6th

Early morning fishing on my dad's boat.

Tears as we bid farewell to our dear Aunt Lauren, Uncle Daniel, and Uncle Pat.

More sadness as Tanner and I said goodbye to daddy for the week -- he was headed back home to work, and Tanner and I were staying in Michigan for the week.



Monday, July 7th

Tanner doesn't sleep well when we're here. I don't know if it's because it's a strange crib, or because we sleep in the same room, or what. He usually spends the first few hours in his crib. By 11:30, he is in bed with us, and he still manages to wake up at least 3 more times during the night. Needless to say, I'm TIRED!!! Tanner isn't, though! He decides 5:45 is a good time to start the day, so we head into the kitchen where I start some coffee and do a few dishes. While I'm working, TANNER STARTS WALKING!!!!!

HOLY COW!!! He turns one and thinks he's big enough to walk! I watched him take about 5 steps from the refrigerator to the cabinet where my mom keeps her tupperware. When he was done, he looked at me with this HUGE grin on his face like, "Mom! Can you believe I just did that?!!" Later on, he walked all the way across the kitchen, and he has been taking more steps ever since. He laughs the entire time he is walking -- it's hilarious. Poor Jon is missing all of this, but at least Tanner has 4 other people here cheering him on!



Tuesday, July 8th

Nothing happened today. It rained. We ran a few errands.



Wednesday, July 9th

Tanner's first trip to the beach! My car was packed to the gills with stuff we would "need" for this outing -- a beach chair, a beach blanket, beach towels, some magazines (what was I thinking?), a floaty toy, sand toys, snacks, a change of clothes, another bag of miscellaneous stuff we might need. I wasn't sure what to expect and I wanted to be fully prepared! It turns out, all I really needed were a few towels. He LOVED the sand. By the time we left every inch of him was covered! He just loved rolling around in it and crawling all over the beach. He played with his toys for about 10 minutes, but insisted on exploring for the rest of the time. He was also fascinated with the water. After an hour and a half, I was exhausted from watching him and chasing him around everywhere and we had to leave.






I have to admit, I was a little jealous of my sister, Katherine, who stayed a few more hours and enjoyed the perfect summer weather while she read a book. Those were the days ... ;)



Okay, if you've made it this far, you are truly a loyal reader! I hope you've had a good week! Hopefully I'll be able to post again sooner rather than later -- today is a trip to the zoo! Can't wait!

Blessings!

The Best Year Of My Life

A Year Ago Today ...

I don't even know how to describe the feelings I had today as my little boy turned a year old! I remembered how EXCITED (and scared) I was at this time last year as I got ready to welcome him into our family. Despite all of the physical preparations I had to make, I never could've prepared myself for how much I would LOVE this little guy! How much JOY he would bring into our lives! How a smile from him could literally turn my day around! He is truly our sunshine and God's perfect blessing to our family. I think Jon would agree that this has been the BEST year of our lives!

We definitely took advantage of this opportunity to spoil our little man. We spent quite a bit of time at Toys 'R' Us yesterday picking out birthday presents. (Jon was like a kid in a candy store -- it was hilarious). We finally settled on a sand and water table, a kiddie pool that we are also using as an indoor ball pit, a stuffed dog, and some sand toys. All of his presents have been a hit. We laughed at how much he adores his little dog -- he is constantly hugging it and patting it. He also LOVES the sand and water table. I was going to just put water in both sides, but I'm so glad I didn't! He is having so much fun with that sand! We actually finished all of our landscaping yesterday and today while he played with it (pictures to come tomorrow!) -- I only wish we would've gotten it sooner!

We're not having a birthday party for him until next weekend, but we still wanted to give Tanner a special treat, so we took him to Maggie Moo's for some ice cream. We're not quite sure what he was more excited about -- his little sundae or the other kids that were there. He definitely loves his ice cream -- it's in the genes!

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Tanner! I love you so very very much!!