Pulling On Up...and Up...and Up!

Oh it has begun! The wonderful milestones babies reach up to and maybe for some, after they turn the big 1! Makenna's new thing is pulling up. Seems simple but with your children, all the little things are exciting and something to be proud of. She has been army crawling awesomley for 3 weeks now and in a matter of days has become so very brave! Anything and everything she can steady herself on has become a stepping block to the standing position! Now I know that all babies are different but Im always comparing her to the only baby I would and that would be brother Bryden. I know that not long after pulling up...comes brave steps and then they are off and walking never to slow down again! CRAP. Got to finish baby proofing! This is going to seem impossible because this little girl is into everything!!!!

First it started like this (sorry for the blurry cellphone pics)

Getting up on things with her knees!

Then the very next day we litterally pulled all the way up on everything!

Today it seems she is taking tiny little steps and even standing up in her crib!

Oh my she is precious and these 8 months have flown by. Can't wait for all the other small things that will make me just as proud as this! I remember being this way with Bryden ( and I still am)! So happy God has blessed me twice with beautiful babies. So glad He picked me to be their mama!

Hello, Kindergarden!

The day has come! Bryden, my baby, my first, my little man...has started school! How did this happen?! It defintley doesn't feel like I should have one starting school! Yes, he has gone to the Headstart program and Pre-K but this is different! This is the start of when it all counts. The 12/13 year journey that will now consume us until he graduates! That I must say, is a little scary haha!

Waking him up this morning was NOT easy. Although yesterday he seemed excited to go...when it came time to wake him up this is the face he gave me:

It didn't get any better from there. After making his waffles and pouring his milk so that he could eat breakfast this is the face he gave me:

Now that is one cranky Kindergardner. I feel sorry for his teacher :)

Now on to talk about the morning schedule now with 2 kiddos and myself to get ready before we take Bryden on to school. It is to say the least, BUSY! Im pretty proud I adjusted and got it done today. Lets see if it continues! The routine looks a little like this:

Alarm: 6:00 a.m.

Coffee: Already auto-brewing (set it up the night before)

Me: Make-up and getting dressed

6:30: Wake up Makenna and feed her breakfast

6:45: Wake up the school boy

7:00: Fix and feed him breakfast

7:15: Fix Brydens hair and brush his teeth

7:20: Make Makenna a bottle and get her in her carseat.

7:30: Get both dogs in their kennels. Make sure Bryden has backpack and lunch kit.

7:40: Leave my driveway.

7:50: Arrive at school and Bryden is off :)

Doesn't really sound like a lot but I was moving the entire time as soon as my feet hit the floor haha You mean I have to do this for what feels like the rest of my life and do it multiple times? I hope I survive :)

During all the chaos I managed to snap a few pictures. Mind you my REAL camera decided to take a crap on me so I only had my cell phone. Not really the ideal situation for great first day of school pics but I guess sometimes you just have to work with ya got!

We got to his Kindergarden class and I honestly was awaiting the huge meltdown. The "I wanna go home" cry. It never happened! What a BIG little man I have! Once we got there he seemed more accepting of the whole Kindergarden thing and maybe relaized it wasn't gonna be that bad afterall. There was already a color sheet layed out on his desk and so he was happy to know that coloring it would be in his near future. It doesn't get any better than that in his book!

So, there is where it ends for me and the big journey begins for him! Leaving him there at his desk I felt that lump grow in my throat and that little sting in my chest. That feeling inside just made me want to just wisk him away back home and shrink him to Makennas size, just so that I could prolong this moment. Despite the stinging chest, I was so proud. These last 5 years flashed through my head as I saw him there smiling clutching that yellow name tag! Having him, bringing him home, learning how to be a mama, the terrible two's, the even worse 3's, the getting better 4's and the big go to Kindergarden 5 year old! We did it. Then I questioned myself. I wonder if anything I taught him will reflect in his behavior at school? Did I do enough to prepare him? Have I given him all that I could in those short years I enjoyed staying at home with him? Will he feel Im still there for him? I know he has to know I love him. I tell him at least 50 times a day! He looks happy at that big boy desk and Im sure him and the kid next to him will become great friends. I mean how can you not become best friends with the kid the teacher decided to stick beside you?! Im sure he will go on about his day and forget about me. I guess I will learn to be okay with that. It's all a great milestone. I mean I have a precious baby girl to raise and start over everything that has gotten me to this point with Bryden. That makes me feel proud. Look what this mama has accomplished :) Oh, how I love my Kindergardner! Now I wonder where I sign up to be a room mom?!!! HAHAHA!

Giving It a Big Shot

The time has come (again) to jump back on the healthy train! How many people actually say that and it lasts for 2 weeks and then they fail? A LOT! I know quite a bit personally that fall into that sad category. I know it's mean but whenever they say they are on a new diet or gonna try this out to loose weight I just roll my eyes. It never lasts haha I have been there a time or two myself. It requires great discipline and self motivation. All of which I know that I have but sometimes apply it all wrong.

It has always been easy for me to loose weight. Im not sure if this accounts to me being tall or my metabolism but once I start...it isn't very hard to shed those extra pounds. It isn't very hard for me to pile them right back on when I loose focus on that skinny goal either! This time though, this is going to last longer than 2 weeks, longer than a month and even longer than 6 months! I have a wedding to be in come March people and I refuse to be the ugly and fat maid of honor :)

So look what Wade got me......

...and the cool thing is that it folds up and stores nicely when not in use.

When I started talking to Wade about me getting a treadmill he really didn't express an opinion either way. His simple reply was that he loved me for me and that was just the way it was going to be. Now that I am on day 5 of running and power walking on it...he has a different opinion! He thinks I have become completley obsessed with it and has even threatened to take it away from me! Im always telling him how I want to run on it and I feel so GREAT after I do. I have even started obssessing about my calorie intake and how I feel the need to go run on the treadmill if I consume anything! This does sound un-healthy and I am completley aware. Im in this for the long haul though and I will accept nothing less than ultimate results. So crazy I have become!! I have begun to consume ridiculous amounts of water too and it is becoming annoying honestly. You have to do what you have to do!

I know this is tottally off subject but Makenna has begun to crawl! She is more or less army crawling but any day now she will be EVERYWHERE!

My precious boy is just busy being the sweet boy that he is! We are 2 weeks away from starting Kindergarden! Where has time gone? Oh yeah and if you are wondering if I am gonna become that crazy room mother/volunteer, go to every school function type with camera plastered to my hand...you guessed right. I stay at home, I have time and I feel like there is nothing more rewarding than being involved with your child and their school as much as possible.

Craigslist

Hi my name is Kristin Diane Smith and I am addicted to Craigslist. Wow that felt good! Not only am I addicted to buying things off of there but I admit I am addicted to selling as well. If I am bored and at home I feel like I get on it 50 billion times a day. My dog came from there, my washing machine, some of Makennas hair bows, Brydens turtles and various different other dorky things. A lot of times I am looking for nothing imparticular. Mainly to browse. GEEK ALERT.

I was introduced to it I guess in 2007. That year...I made a lot of money on that site. I sold anything and everything and did quite well at it. I got out of the selling aspect of it for a bit and when I got pregnant with Makenna...I pretty much hit the Craigslist jackpot. Who knew that exsisted?

The website is also entertaining and in the past few years has become overcome with spammers. Its awful. They try anything and everything to hack into your email accounts, bank accounts and even try to get you to wire them money. Sad thing is...a lot of people have fallen for it. IDIOTS.  Im not the only person in the family that enjoys it though. My brother actually sometimes replies to these spammers and it is hilarious! Check out his last few Craigslist blogs here:

http://jaksha.blogspot.com/

They are HILARIOUS.

Bow Madness

If anybody knows me well...then you know I like all things colorful, big and beautiful. The bigger the better...the more bling...the better. It doesn't matter what it is. I like big hair, huge pictures and I love big bows. I try and put one on Makenna everywhere we go. I want them to match perfect, be sparkly and have lovely detail. Sometimes this would make my search for bows really hard! I AM PICKY. If I found a bow I liked though, I was willing to pay a good price for them and I certainly have! Makenna rocks bows anywhere from the 10-15 dollar price range. Holy smokes! As many bows as that girl has...add it up people! Thats a crap load of money.  

Well, yesterday when Makenna was napping I was cleaning out some cabinets and came across an art box. I had purchased 3 or 4 rolls of ribbon around Easter time to decorate the kids Easter baskets with. Bryden isn't here to entertain me so I thought what the heck? Im gonna make a bow! I youtubed bow making videos and grabbed my ribbon and got to work! I was actually having a great time. The outcome makes you feel super accomplished. My first bow was hideous. Not only because the ribbon I had didn't go together what so ever but the left hand side was shorter and lopsided lol We all have to start somewhere right? Did I mention that bow making is addicting?! I wanted to make more and more! What did that mean? A WALMART RUN :)

Needless to say...I have found a hobby. I don't plan on selling them but I am tossing around the idea since I already have a buyer ineterested. The bow making buisness is too competitive for me. You have to have over the top wonderful bows for them to sell and I need lots of practice. People want big bows with amazing detail...not little bows with one or 2 colors that look like my 5 year old could have made in 10 seconds... that the people want to sell for way too much (which I have sadly seen). In the meantime though I will be enjoying making them for Makenna and also trying to figure out something I can do for Bryden as well. I can't do one thing for one and not the other. It's become bow madness around here and I have a feeling it's only gonna get worse!

Neighborly Love

Nothing like a sweet old neighbor who brings you these first thing in the morning....

Yup! Eggs fresh from his chicken coop! They are always looking out for us!

Mr. and Mrs. Risner live a couple of doors down from us. We bought the house we are now living in from his daughter. His whole family lives on this road. We are the outcasts lol Since day 1 though, they have never treated us that way. They are the sweet little country couple you see in the movies. So in love after years and years of marriage. They have goats, cows and they have recently added chickens to their little farm and we get to share in their purpose: to poop out delicious eggs!

Mr. Risner used to raise and sell registered Brahman bulls. When Wade was in highschool he purchased one from him. They aren't cheap bulls and Mr. Risner take very very good care of his cattle so naturally Wade was proud. A little over a year ago we found the bull dead and bleeding from his hiney hole in the pasture. Nobody, to this day, knows what happened to him. If you ask Bryden about this story you would think it was the most terrifying thing he had ever witnessed. You see...you just can't leave the cow in the middle of the pasture dead. You have to drag it off. So here is 4 year old Bryden witnessing Wade tie this massive bull to his truck and drag him off. Unfortunatley, I wasn't there but if you get Bryden to tell you the story he can tell you it in emmaculate detail!

So, now enters the redneck side of us. Were talking a $1,500 or more bull. We HAVE to keep something. So we keep the skull and proceed to hang it in our front yard on one of our lightposts that sit to the side of the house. Now that is one expensive yard piece if I might say.

You know you're jealous! Yes, I know the pic is sideways but my computer won't let me do it any other way...or maybe I am a computer retard! Whichever you choose to believe :) Anyways, do you have anything that expensive decorating the front of your house? I think its way better than anything I could get out of a Better Homes and Garden magazine for sure :)

I Have Gone and Done It!

Well, I did it. I joined the world of blogging. All I can say is FINALLY! I love to write and vent. A blog is perfect for that :) Although I thoroughly enjoy Facebook, it just isn't adequate enough sometimes for bigger things I feel the need to share and elaborate on (I just ended that sentence with a preposition...my mom is gonna kill me)! Status updates only say so much. So, IM HERE! Im not really sure where this blog will go. Mostly I would like to share things about my kids, my day, redneck stuff my husband and I participate in and defintley awesome Southern recepies for anybody interested!


I always felt like my life wasn't interesting enough for a blog. Then one day I just glanced though all my pictures I have shared with everyone on facebook and my oh my....WE ARE INETERSTING! I just shouted that like Im trying to convinve y'all we really are or something! I had a funny story for every picture I came across and thought to myself "Now that would make an awesome book"! So welcome to my book...MY BLOG: Out in the Backwoods and Deep in the Hollers.

However, I must admit that almost all of my experiences with blogs haven't always been positive. Through other people, or links on Facebook I have found myself captivated by complete strangers blogs. Now before you think Im stalkerish...hear me out first. Some of the stories I have read, have had me following them through tradgedy and loss. I have been touched by a couple of moms sharing and venting their feelings and going through the emotional roller coaster of loosing a child. I cried with them, smiled and even grieved. Yes, over a strangers life. Im tender hearted in that way I guess. I know that my blog will never amount to the signifigance level of theirs...but I want to captivate people too. Hopefully in the best positive way that I can but we all know that everybody has their good and bad days. I will try and fill it with pictures, our adventures and interesting things I run across along the way. Be prepared because it does get a little rough around the edges when you're married to a good ol' country boy like I am! We are just as this blog description says..."traveling through life southern style and trying to take every back road on the way"!