She's So Serious at Times

Please Vote for My Pumpkin!!!

I have entered Dallas into a contest for a chance to be on the cover of our local mom's magazine. The winner gets to be "Cover Cutie" for 2009. Dallas is #39 and is in the 6th row. There are no names by the kids so here is the photo of her to look for. You can vote as many times as you want to each day until March 11th. Please, please, pretty please go vote for her!!! Here is the link.

Mardi Gras Madness

Mardi Gras 2009 saw Dallas' first parade and her first trip to the ER in an ambulance!!! I kid you not. We went to a Saturday parade and she had a blast. Dallas learned how to say "Throw me something mister" and caught quite a few beads and other trinkets. We also took her to the fair and she got to ride and eat cotton candy and popcorn. Just try and take it away from her once she tasted it!!! Fat Tuesday was another adventure. We went back to the same spot as before. My parents had their RV parked out there all week end so we had a place to chill in between parades. I was standing with Dallas on the parade route along with my parents and nephew. John had to go back to work so he wasn't with us. The last float of the first parade had just pulled up beside us. One of the riders threw me a huge bag of beads for Dallas!!! I was so excited because I had never caught an entire bag of beads before. I was holding Dallas in my arms and all of a sudden I see a large hard plastic bucket come sailing off the top level of the float right at us. I tried to deflect the bucket with one arm but I couldn't. It sailed right into the top of her head while I was holding her!!! Dallas started screaming and I started cursing like a sailor. I was furious and freaked out at the same time. My Mom saw the incident and she picked up the bucket and ran with me back to the RV. I just sat there and rocked Dallas in my arms while trying to figure out how bad she was injured. The bucket hadn't split her head thank goodness. The sheriff showed up to see what happened and took the bucket to go find the float. Here come the medics and we decided that she needed to go to the ER as there was a ridge in her head and the front was swollen. So Dallas and I got hauled off the parade route in an ambulance with the sirens going!!! By this time, Dallas had stopped crying and was loving the ambulance ride. The doctor said she would be fine. She had a red stripe on her scalp where the ridge of the bucket hit but no concussion. Her head was very sore and swollen and she was tired. We had to get back to the parade route because that is where I had parked. We get back and the parades are over. Dallas got lots of sympathy beads and trinkets from people who saw what happened. According to the witnesses, it was a freak accident. When the guy went to throw some beads, they snagged the bucket so the bucket went flying along with the beads. Five days later, she still has a slight ridge in the top of her head but she acts fine. The Mardi Gras Association delivered roses to the house along with more beads than she can ever play with. These photos were taken at the Saturday parade. BTW, we don't live in New Orleans so I have never questioned taking her to a parade. Next year she will have a helmet on!!!

3 Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today my dream came true. I saw my daughter's face for the very first time. The phone rang at exactly 2:00 pm CST. Amanda from CCAI said "Congratulations Mommy, It's a beautiful baby girl." As she went over the referral information, I opened up the email she sent and just stared at the face of the most beautiful baby girl in the world. I was in shock, I was in love, I was a MOM. Right then and there, all the pain, hurt and fear just left my body. I was filled with instant love for my daughter. I just wanted to jump on a plane that day and get to her soon as possible. As I grow older I know my memory will begin to fail me and I won't remember all the little things that I would like to. Rest assured, somewhere in my heart I will always remember how I felt the moment I saw her sweet little face for the very first time.

Happy Valentine's Day

Blog Redesign

I am going to totally redo the blog. It might look freaky for a while but please bear with me. I want a fresh new look for this year. I am hoping it might inspire me to post more often with pics of course!!!

ETA: It is now Sunday night and I am still not finished. I have never met a more stubborn blog layout before. Hopefully it will be completed this week!!!

ETA: It is now the 11th and I have turned the blog over to Jonni at The Chronicles of Mommia. She has kindly offered to fix it up for me. Just wait until she sees the big Mardi Gras care package coming her way!!!

Hey You, Slow Down!!!

Dallas has now turned into a back seat driver!!! Mama, slow down, slow down, SLOW DOWN. I'm not even doing the speed limit and she's screaming at me from the back seat!!! I'm not speeding these days because the cops are out in full force in our town lately. Plus, the next town over has those lovely speed vans and cameras at many intersections. Don't even try to argue with her and explain how you are carefully doing 3 mph under. You cannot reason with an almost 4 year old. Just admit you are speeding and promise to slow down!!! Dallas was screaming at her Daddy while he was mowing the lawn today. Slow Down Daddy, Slow Down. Hey you, slow down. I was laughing so hard I just had to go outside and tell him to Slow Down!!!

I bet many of you thought I would go an entire month without a post!!! We have had things going on around here lately that have taken up my time and energy. It just seems as though there is never enough time to get everything done that needs to be!!! My digi-scrapping is non-existant for now. I am concentrating on my photography skills as well as trying to learn Lightroom 2. Here are some pics I have taken lately.