Catching Up...

I am sorry that I have been gone from the blog for the couple of months or so. Things have been pretty busy around here. Judah is now completely mobile and takes only one nap a day, so the little bit of down time I did have has shrunk drastically. We have been really busy with Judah's party preparations, my DH traveling for work a few weekends, getting ready to a garage sale, all piled up on top of the busyness of everyday life.

I have several different things that I want to post about and some new pictures to post as well.

I can't believe that November is already here. For those of you that know how much I like to decorate for fall, things have been so crazy I haven't even gotten to start decorating yet.

Tolerable Weather and a Nice Size To-Do List...

First of all, do these lashes not make you jealous? I mean, I wish mine looked like that. Anyway.

I can tell that fall is making its way to us. It was just something in the way that the sunlight twinkled in through the leaves this afternoon. As I sat in the car this afternoon as Judah napped and I made my weekly to-do list, I almost thought I felt a crisp, fall breeze. In truth, it was only my imagination and excitement from not having triple digit temperatures this week. We've just had mid to high 90's and it feels so great comparatively.

The "cooler" temperatures that we have had this week brought Judah and I outdoors twice this week. On Monday afternoon I had Judah's monthly photo shoot, 11 month one, and I couldn't get him to smile. He was in a very serious and contemplative mood. Nothing I did, said, or sang would even make the corners of his mouth turn up the slightest bit.
This afternoon, we once again found ourselves outside, this time outside my DH's work. We walked around and then found a nice patch of grass to play on. Judah is very interested in crawling around in the grass and pulling at the blades. I was able to get a couple of non-serious baby pictures then.
I have a pretty large to-do list going on. On top of the list is putting away the mountain of clean, folded laundry in the laundry room that is teetering on the verge of a chaotic avalanche. We are taking a short trip to Washington DC over Labor Day weekend (my DH is going for work and Judah and I are tagging along), so I am starting on the whole packing process and have implemented the "if you want to wear it on the trip then don't wear it" statute. I have been working on a few sewing projects for Judah that I need to have done by his first birthday. I have some blogging that I want to catch up on as well.
So, now I am off to bed so tomorrow is productive and I can keep up with my busy little fellow.

Showing Some School Spirit...

This past weekend, we had some of my DH's students over for dinner and dessert. We had 15 students over, which made our little house extremely cozy. However, it was fun having them over and getting to meet some of the students my DH teaches.
All but two of the students we had over are freshman. It was funny because for the first time in my life, I introduced myself as "Mrs. _____". I think I truly felt "old" for the first time when I was introducing myself to all of these college freshman.

So in keeping with school spirit, I made some ribbons to go around my drink bucket and tried to make the table look festive without spending a bunch of money.

For dessert I we had a Brownie-Strawberry Triffle, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and some fruit. The school provided Lasagna, Salad, and Breadsticks.
I couldn't believe it, but of the 4 dozen cookies I made only four were eaten and we had 1/4 of the triffle left. I also bought 4 12-packs of various soda, a 12-pack of water, and a couple of containers of Simply Lemonade. Hardly any of the sodas were drank, 1/4 of the lemonade was left, and all but 4 of the waters were drank. I was worried about having enough (especially considering there were 18 year old guys there, but apparently I was wrong.

Good thing we are going to be LIFE Group hosts for church and we can use up the sodas.

Three Quarters of the Way to One...

Yesterday, Judah had his 9 month check-up with the pediatrician. He was so good while we waited for the doctor and he "walked" over to the nurse when she was asking the routine questions.
Judah now weighs 24 pounds and is 30 inches long. He is in the 90th percentile in both weight and height. What is kinda' funny is the fact that Judah loves his veggies and usually acts like you've given him a lemon when we try to give him fruit. The doctor said he has heard that conversation so many time but under opposite terms. My DH said that Judah will be the most popular child in the lunch room saying "I'll trade you my cookies for your broccoli". Judah scored really well in the development test we did. He is right on track, which translates into Judah being interested in everything around him and now having the capabilities to try to check said items out. At least the falling over has slowed down ever so slightly.

I just can't believe my precious boy is 9 months already.

Tubes and Tunnels...

On Monday evening after dinner, we walked over to the playground by our house. Judah did his best to climb around.He tried out the tube slide and the tunnel tube. He was a big fan of the latter and he crawled back and forth from my DH to me and back again.
When Judah would get near the end of the tube, he would start holding one of his hands up for me to hold and then he would stand up as he exited the tube.
We also walked on the moving bridge thing (I am not sure what the real name of it was). Judah thought that it was fun and managed to keep his balance pretty well, holding on to my fingers of course. I can't believe how big he is getting.It was so nice to be out is the fresh air, even if it was a more than a little warm.

A Zoo Day...

On Sunday, we went for a family outing to the zoo.

It was extremely hot out, even though we tried to get there before the hottest part of the day. Here I am trying to bring sunhats back into style and avoiding a sunburn at the same time.
We think that the fish are Judah's favorite part of the zoo. He tends to recognize them and they manage to hold his attention the best.
We also figured out that Judah can last about 1/2 of the zoo. Before we were finished, he was zonked out.Matt and I did manage to get a pretty good self-portrait while the little man was napping though.

Mom aka Grandma...

My mom came for a week long visit over the Fourth. It was so nice to have her here and our time always flies by.
We got to brainstorm ideas for Judah's birthday and do a little bit of crafting. Of course, my mom (aka Grandma) also got to play with Judah as well.

We also went out to dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday, which was on the 11th. Judah helped her open her cards and her gift. We got her the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. I ordered one for myself as well so that we could cook some of the recipes together across the miles. Mine hasn't come in yet, but I can't wait to start cooking from it, I have heard so many good things about it.

I just love this picture, I think it is really good of both of them. I think my mom is so beautiful.

My Messy Office? Not Anymore...

I survived the office mess. To start with I thought that I might have bitten of more than I could chew, but I managed to get it all put away after all. Here is the after picture of the office. The lone box you see is my donate box.
For the record though, my house cannot hold another piece of furniture in it and I am pretty sure that all of the storage space is maxed out as well. My laundry/storage room is filled to the ceiling.
I did manage to keep my crafting stuff somewhat accessible, which my DH said was a must. He said if I put it all away in crates, I wouldn't touch again. So, with his help we reworked the bookcases in the office so I could put the books that were in the below bookcase out in the office. Then I filled the recently emptied bookcase with fabrics. One of these days I am going to start on that long list of projects I have to complete. For now, I am trying get crib rail covers sewn for my teething little boy's crib.

I also found some great sheets that I am wanting to use to redo our bedroom with. I am doing a room makeover on a tight budget and I was sooo excited to find some twin Ralph Lauren floral sheets (the same print as the comforter in the picture) for $8 each at Marshall's. I am wanting to make some pillowcases, a bedskirt, and some valances out of them. I was thinking about trying to find a queen sheet to make a shower curtain out of, but my DH said we might should do our bedroom first and make sure it isn't too much of the same print. I will have to put some before pictures of our room and then some after ones (once I actually change it up).

Speaking of before and after pictures, I had to wonder what possessed me to put up pictures of the office in such a mess. However, I figured out that it served to be great motivation to get the office finished. I needed to be able to post the cleaned up after pictures quickly so that my office didn't go down in blog-infamy looking the way it did in the before pictures. So, you just might see more before after pictures around here.

Flying Again...

Well, the office/laundry room is almost finished getting reorganized. In fact, the laundry room is done and now I am finishing up the overflow in the office. I hope that I manage to get the office finished by the end of the day and have pictures tomorrow.

This week, I am really wanting to get back to the basic FlyLady zones. I understand that I am not going to be able to go over it with a fine-toothed comb as I have previously done, but I do want to do the big things.

My mom is coming for a visit at the end of the week (Yay!) and I want the house to be nice when she gets here. My DH's parents will be here later on in the month, so I hope that I can carry on my zoning until they arrive. I just hope this little FlyBaby can manage to keep flying and get back in the FlyLady routine of things.

Judah is getting so close to walking. He is crawling all over the place and pulls up anytime he can. He is still learning that once he pulls up he can't just let go. I am learning that falls come with the territory, but I am hoping I don't have a heart attack before he gets the hang of it. I constantly feel my heart jumping into my throat and am always wondering whether or not the last little fall gave him a concussion. (Those of you that have gone through this, did you feel the same way or is it just me?) I am seeing how much Judah bases his reaction on my reaction so I am trying not freak out every time.
I am currently taking a little rest with my sweet little boy napping nestled right up next to me. He is having a snuggle day today. I think one of his top teeth is about to break through because he is kinda' unsatisfiable today. When I set him down, he just crawls over to me and starts pulling up on my legs. So, snuggle day it is and I am cherishing these moments.

Invictus Movie Review...

This past weekend, my DH and I had the chance to watch Invictus. I was completely unaware of the story that was portrayed, other than what I had previously gathered from the movie's previews. I don't want to give away too much information and ruin the movie for you, but here is a general overview.
The story is about the underdog South African rugby team, the Springboks, and Nelson Mandela's encouragement/inspiration to the team captain leading up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

In the development of the rugby story, the relationships between the English South Africans and the native South Africans come to life and how Mandela mediated between them.

The title of the movie comes from a poem that Mandela used as inspiration for himself and later passed on to Francois Pienaar, the Springbok's captain. The poem, titles "Invictus", was written by William Ernest Henley.

From a Christian perspective, the poem has questionable assumptions, primarily the closing lines (which are the summation of the movie).

"I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul."

These lines brought up a discussion between my DH and I about the validity of these lines. In regards to a Christian interpretation, I understand it to mean that an individual can choose whether or not to let a given situation be the cause of ruin for their life. In the case of Mandela, even though he spent 27 years imprisoned he didn't resign himself to being the victim for the rest of his life.

The movie wasn't without some bad language, but overall was had good content. To get a better review on objectionable content, you can go to Focus on the Families Plugged In Review.

I am curious if any of you saw Invictus? What did you think of it?