Moving (into a Flatulent-Friendly Home)
(See title. When will I ever stop saying awkwardly inappropriate things? I hope never. Along those same lines, I just peed a little when I sneezed, if you want to know how 36 weeks pregnant is going.) I can’t tell you much about the past few weeks other than that they happened. So there’s that. Moving Day’s Eve was pretty much the worst ever, but actual moving went swimmingly aside from a few hormonal outbursts (from Taylor, of course). We honestly couldn’t have managed without the help of my brother and my parents, who were in town for 5 years 2 weeks. We painted and decorated and unpacked our little…
Moving Day’s Eve
Moving day 1999: My family was moving from Nebraska to Tennessee and, on the day we were to depart, my oldest and favorite chinchilla decided to bite the dust. (More like he was nibbling the dust and the moving truck driver had to take him out back and finalize the process.) 1. Yes, I had chinchillas. 3 regular, 1 inbred. 2. It was a bad moving day. Moving day 2013: I’m 6ish weeks from birthing a child, our other child is handling the chaos by sprinting through the house adding his bath trumpet to the dishes box and unpacking the bathroom towels, Taylor is working, and my mom is…
“Don’t slap your face with the bread.”
“I’m not gonna lie…your belly button creeps me out.” – my brother. Just one of the special moments we shared over Thanksgiving. Parent instructions. No amount of parenting books can prepare you for the random battles you’ll face with a young child. Like the yellow train needing to go before the red train. No, not THAT yellow train, the OTHER yellow one that looks identical to the one you just held up. {insert hysteria} You also have to say a lot of things out loud that you never imagined needing to specify. Like when we had to say, “Don’t slap your face with the bread.” out loud at dinner a few…
Kansas Extravangaza: 2 Parts Fantastic, 7 Parts Terrible
If you ever need advice on how not to take a vacation, hit me up. I’m your girl. My family is really, really good at taking bad trips. A little over a year ago was the beach trip from hell. You might wonder what could go wrong at the beach with the ones you love. Apparently everything. Jogging into fishing lines, hitting deer on the way to church, strep throat, ear infections, stomach bugs…you name it. What better way to commemorate that special time than to replicate it a year later? Just trade in those sunny skies and sandy beaches for some crisp, fall weather and grandparents. Just me, my…
Mom’s Day & Disappearing Presents
…join with me in pretending Mother’s Day wasn’t 8 days ago… Mom’s Day One of my favorite things about marriage is seeing my husband and my brother become friends. They are brother-in-laws, obviously, but they also like each other and are real life friends. And it’s awesome. (Especially since my brother scared off pretty much every boy who ever had interest in dating me, until Taylor came along. He instantly liked Taylor. That’s big time.) So, out of all of the fabulous events from Mother’s Day weekend, my favorite was the gunfight between Jared and Taylor. It all started with sweet Beckett and his little $1 squirt bottle, that he…
Roni the Chihuahua & Road Trip
Roni Tuesday morning, with 5 hours to pack and get the estate in order before Beckett and I left for our excursion across America, I found a collarless Chihuahua in our backyard. It might be helpful to know that: a) I do not love small dogs. Especially Chihuahuas. b) This is not the first Chihuahua that has gotten stuck in our backyard. (Which is odd now that I think about it.) I seriously didn’t have time to figure out where the dude came from, so I just set him in the front yard and went back inside. …less than 2 seconds later… I came back out, picked him up, and…
Beach Vacation: 2 Parts Fantastic, 7 Parts Terrible
Why, yes, I do have a glow about me, don’t I? Thanks for noticing. No, this is not a pregnancy announcement. We just came back from a week and a half at the beach. The end of September/beginning of October is a perfect time to finally get a summer tan, amiright? We’ve had a Sparks family beach vacation on the books for a while now. I’d like to report that it was a relaxing, carefree time full of laughter and shrimp. But unfortunately enough, it just wasn’t that kind of get away. It was this kind: Saturday: Arrive in Cape Sans Blas, Florida, no thanks to Apple maps. Run around…
Smith Reunion: Walkers, Canes, & everything in betwane
inbetwane…get it? it rhymes with cane!!! nevermind. The past week, Beckett and I flew to Kansas, drove to and from Arkansas, and flew back to Texas. It was a lot of traveling for an almost 25 year old 1 year old. The flight to Kansas went swimmingly, aside from being a teensy bit tardy to the airport, neon yellow “LATE CHECK-IN” tags being stuck all over my bags, and the always awkward terminal-speed-walk to arrive at the gate just in time to be one of the last to board the aircraft. But we made it. [One day I’ll write a post about the genius of stuffing your toddler so full…
Rangers Game & Antfest
For Father’s Day, we scored some tickets to a Rangers game (we love you, Marla). It was Beckett’s first game and Taylor was beside himself with excitement – which, if you know Taylor, means that he smiled only slightly more than usual. He’s not quite as expressive as me. Or our son, we’re beginning to learn. We lathered on sunscreen for the 99 degree afternoon game, found our section, scalded our butts on the plastic seats, sweated (swat?) through our clothes within 4 minutes, laughed when other unsuspecting attendees yelled “OH $#!&” as they scalded their butts on the plastic seats, and waited for the game to start. The Rangers…
April Highlight Reel & Indiscernible Genders
My child has consumed 3 pieces of dog food, a helping of kitchen tile, and a tag from Target in the past week. In case you were wondering. Also in the past week, we got to meet our nephew via Skype! Oh, the wonders of the interwebs. Is he not just the most perfect thing ever?! Lincoln Shutt, everyone! (You can follow Taylor’s amazing sister & brother-in-law’s missions in Chile on their blog.) Photo courtesy of Reid & Meriden and or Dale & Cherie Photography©. Not really sure which. I stole it from Facebook. April Highlight Reel This month has been fantastic. Look at this little stud. I outran a…
