Thanksgiving Recap.

If you ever want to make plans just to watch them change.......have a baby. 

A baby changes everything. 

99% of the change is good. 
But, there is always that 1% that will kill 'ya. 

Let's start our recap on Monday shall we?

Monday am: 8am, Jax is being tested for the flu. 
Remainder of the day: pajama day. 

Tuesday: Jax is still sick. Another pajama day. 

Wednesday: Mama was climbing the walls and left the boys to another pajama day while she met up with Granna to Christmas shop. 

Wednesday night: it's time to start cooking. 

My little chef loves to help me "cooookk." 

Thursday am: I had imagined cooking a breakfast casserole for my boys and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. 

Instead, my little buddy was still running fever and tag team parenting commenced. 

It took 2 hours to load the car because Jax thought it was Monday or Tuesday again and he wanted me to sit on the couch with him and watch a "moo bee." Meanwhile, the corn casserole in the oven is now dry. 

Once the car was loaded and everyone was buckled up.......click.click.click. The car battery is dead. 

Apparently, leaving the back hatch of your car open for 2 hours will drain your battery. 

After a trip to Walmart for a new battery, we were on our way. 

Due to fever and hunger and who knows what else, sweet Jax cried half of the way to Birmingham. 

However, our day turned around. By 8:45 pm, everyone was showered and laying in bed watching Paw Patrol. By 9pm, the lights were out and we all slept until 7:30am!

Friday was a new and better day. 

Even on the down right terrible days, I'm thankful for them. 
I love my people. 
I realize that my terrible days are still better than someone else's terrible day.....and that puts things in perspective. 

Because H and I were both in terrible moods on our way to Bham, and because we both needed attitude adjustments, we had to talk about putting our "bad day" in perspective. 

1. Our car battery died......not a family member. 
2. Our child has flu symptoms......but, he's not in the hospital. 
3. In order for you car battery to die......it means you actually have a car. 


Sometimes in the midst of the storm of the day, we need to step back and put it in perspective. So, I held my man's hand all the way to Tuscaloosa and I sat with Jax some in the backseat so I could hold his hand and "play." 

And because Jax slept until 7:30 am on Black Friday, we treated him to stack of "pan pakes" at Ihop along with his first glass of chocolate milk. I swear my child looked at me like "woman, why haven't I had this sooner!" I felt the same way when I took my first bite of Haverie cheese. WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS CHEESE?!?!

I digress with the cheese. 

But, just know, I'm thankful. And grateful. And undeserving. 

Round 2: Dallas, Day 5

Y'all.

At times, I think events happen in my life just so blog posts can be written.

There are somethings that you just can't make up.

Today was pumpkin patch day. So, Katie and I loaded up our pumpkins and drove an hour to the patch.

To speed this up and keep your attention, long story short, I got the rental car stuck in the mud. 

Because Katie and I know what to do in a moment of crisis, we called up the Pumpkin Patch and asked them to send their "manliest" men to come and help us out. 

Once our knights in overalls literally pushed the rental out of the mud we had the perfect day. 

"Hey Jax, sit right here on the hay for Mama."

Dallas did us good, but we were ready to be home. 
Thankgoodness, little buddy is a great traveler and slept, snacked and watched "moo bees" on our ride home. 

We stopped long enough to change a diaper, drive through Chick-fil-A and get back on course. Thank the Lard for an iPod and a rental car that you can allow your child to eat in. For the blog record, little Buddy is only allowed water in my car. 

The drive home was smooth sailing, but the drive from Jackson to our driveway seemed like 298, 3976 miles.  I was thrilled to see our hood and the 1,000 kids in it Trick-or-Treating. 

Round 2: Dallas Day 2

Before we left our 800 square foot 'home away from home'........Jax and I had a little meeting.

Mama needed to set the ground rules.
The sweet child listened. 

Rule #1: If you want to see the 'Moo-Moo's", you have to listen to mama and follow directions. 

Rule #2: Don't whine. If mama can't WINE, you can't WHINE. Kapish! 

Rule #3: Don't bite Greyson. 

Well, this isn't looking good.

At the petting zoo, there were no cows. Only goats, sheep and a weird looking chicken. 

Obviously my child didn't know what to think about this discovery.

 His personality makes me laugh out loud everyday! He laughs hard, dances like his dad, talks as much as his mom and wants to be in the middle of the party. 

The Dallas Arboretum was gorgeous! My child thought all of the pumpkins were placed there for him! He needed to inspect each of them....then try to carry them around. 

Pure sweetness! I hope these little boys are as good friends as their mamas are! 

At the risk of sounding like a maw-maw, the weather was perfect. 
It was so perfect we ordered grilled cheese sandwiches (with bacon) and picnicked on a park bench. 

I'm forever grateful of the memories that we are making while crashing business trips with H. 

This may be the photo I chose for some family Thanksgiving Cards:

In case you missed the review of day 1, click here. 

Thoughts for Thursday.....On Friday.

- On Tuesday afternoon, my Auburn neighbor brought over this lovely dessert due to our friendly bet and State winning:

I have ate this dessert with every meal since Tuesday night. 
No shame here. 


- P!nk has a new album and I squealed with delight when I first listened to it! 
It's magnificent and magical and very surprising. 

It's John Mayer meets Colbie Caillat. Sorta. 
I'm bad at descriptions. 

I may listen to this album everyday. Twice. 

- So my dad has been making these pumpkins. 

At this point, he is only making them for me, mom and my sis-in-law. However, I told dad that he could 'Pinterest the heck out of these and make a small fortune!'


- One of my BFF's will be having her sweet baby boy next week. I'm so sad that I can't visit her in the hospital I just can't stand it! (She is in Dallas, I am in MS).

- This weekend is the Walley Family Fall Festival. When I was growing up, I had A LOT of cousins my same age and we all lived within a mile from each other. Well, now, all of the cousins are having babies and we love to give those sweet kids reasons to play together. Therefore, my Aunt is hosting 'The Walley Family Fall Festival.' Jax is ready for his very 1st hay ride. 

- My Erin Condren 2015 planner should arrive next week.......and I may have already bought some washi tape to accessorize it the minute I take it out of the box. 

-Did you read my blog post on the Bulldogs? I'm like a proud mama! 

- I have come to a stand still on my Christmas shopping. I was on a roll.....then halted because I'm at a loss at what to buy for some family members........which then begs the question, why do we even do gifts as adults?

- Here are the outtakes of Jax's 4 month photo:

This sweet baby is nothing but pure sunshine on a cool Fall day! 

When I picked him up from school on Tuesday, he was watching a movie with the big kids! Melt my heart......he was loving it and smiling and talking to everyone. 

- This weekend last year, as we celebrated Dad's birthday, his gift was a cake announcing that Jaxon was on his way! This year, since I can't top that......he is getting the Sports Illustrated with MSU on the cover. Oh, and he gets to take Jax on a hay ride. They will both beam over that.