The No Bow Baby

Anyone that knows me knows that I am not the biggest fans of bows. Bows in general, on clothes or in hair have never appealed to me. I have always thought that bows worked best on presents and that is about it. Now other people can pull off bows, I have seen some adorable little girls with gigantic cute bows in their hair that look great, but me personally not a fan.

Until Now.......

With Jessica not having much hair on her head, bows seemed kind of silly to me. Then we received these headbands in a bin of hand me downs and boy do they look cute. Now the thicker headbands that we have tried in the past made Jess look like she should be in the movie Flashdance. But these thin ones are way fun. The only trouble we have come into is.................

We hear her fussing and crying and come to find that the crazy headband has become a blindfold! This has happened more than once and even the ladies in the church nursery said that it kept sliding over her face. So it looks like for now, she can wear the cute bow/headbands only under constant supervision ;)
Looks like bows will wait a while longer.

34 years of Blessings

I turned 34 this past Friday and it was GREAT! I have never really been one afraid of getting older or telling people my age, now that may change the older I get ;)

After breakfast Ristow, Jess and I headed to the Zoo. The beautiful weather was a treat and when we got to the gate Ris pipes up "Hey! It's my mom's birthday! She's 34!" With a smirk the guy behind the window reaches out and hands me a kid's club birthday card...good for your choice of a free cotton candy, snowcone or soft pretzel ;) We chose the soft pretzel and shared it on a warm sunny bench by the pond. So far, so good.

One thing I asked Ristow for, for my birthday, was a whole day with no whining. Did I really think that could be accomplished, not so much, but to my surprise we had a most fabulous day and he didn't whine an ounce. Quite possibly the best present I got. (next to the rickshaw of course!)

After the Zoo we headed to my parents house for lunch before they headed out of town. Great lunch and great company. Next we headed home and my fabulous friend from college Tabby arrived from Dayton, TN. It was so wonderful to see her and spend time together.

When Christopher got home from work we all voted on Cake and ice cream for dinner (a chocolate raspberry ganache cake) and pizza for dessert. It was yummy. Soon the babysitter arrived and we were off to the Wildhorse saloon in downtown Nashville for some boot scootin. Wonderful friends met us there and we had a blast. I soon hear from the stage "It's Christie's birthday and she's 34! Come on up here." Well hearing my little boy announce my age to the guy at the zoo and hearing it announced in front of the everyone at the wildhorse were two different things ;) Everyone sang Happy Birthday and complete strangers came up and bought me a drink. It was fun and a special way to celebrate my birthday this year. I am so thankful that I am blessed with wonderful family and friends who value me and want to celebrate me. Thank you so much for the love and support I feel every day and especially on my birthday!

The Hero Factory

This morning I let Ristow have some computer time and he got to pick what he wanted to do on it. He chose a website that we have visited a number of times called The Hero Factory.
It is a cool website where, as you can guess, you build your own super hero. Ristow loves to create and re-create his army of heros.
Only he takes things up a level... He wants youtube opened up to the 1985 Bonnie Tyler song Holding out for a Hero and have that playing in the background while he works his magic.
It is awesome, he sings along, usually with his own superhero lyrics and rocks out in front of the computer. A very fun way to start the day and get him psyched for his own heroic adventure at school!

Family weekend pictures part 2

Again, what a wonderful weekend! Another cool thing was that Ristow was a half of an inch taller than the requirement for going on the big waterslides! So he went on every one that he could. I was proud of him. Plus it made it more fun for the us to be able to go on the big waterslides with him.

Also here is the only picture Mom and Dad wanted to make sure they got this weekend .... them with all of their precious grandchildren!

Ristow, Jessica, Dylan and James

Family, Family and More Family!

We spent a most wonderful time last week visiting a plethora of family. Wednesday we headed up to Ohio to see Christopher's parents and introduce Jessica to Nana and her Auntie Ames and Uncle Todd (who are expecting their own little bundle in Sept!). We truly enjoyed our time together. Christopher even took Ristow sled riding on the Camel's Hump, one of his own childhood sledding favorites and everyone had a blast. The kids traveled great and come Friday it was off to Cincinnati and the Great Wolf Lodge ( with the indoor waterpark!) There we met up with my parents, my brother Jim , Suzannah, my niece Dylan and I got to meet my precious new nephew James!

(Yes you read that correctly, we did sled riding in the snow and swimming at the waterpark. We had to pack for EVERYTHING. You should have seen our car! Not to mention all the baby's gear, it looked like we were leaving for a month.)

I absolutely loved seeing my family. We had some much needed time to just hang out and enjoy one another. I miss them already.

So many pictures to share.... Here are some from the first part of the trip, more pics of the Paul family and waterpark pics to come!