Dawn is the bomb!!!

So, I just have to share a new product by Dawn that every woman needs in their house. It's called Dawn Power Dissolver, and I swear by this stuff!



I was first introduced to it on Christmas Eve at my sister-in-law's house while we were cleaning up the dinner dishes. We had a dish with dried mac-and-cheese and a crock pot with pinto beans dried to the side that needed to be cleaned. She told me to spray this stuff on it and leave it for a little while. I did what she said, and the dishes were clean in no time.

Fastfoward to tonight...


I came home to make dinner and decided to make roasted potatoes with my pork chops. The dish always is hard to clean when I cook this because the ranch dressing burns on to the side, but this time I was fully prepared for its wrath! After Luke cleaned the kitchen (no, I'm not kidding, he really did and does most nights), I sprayed the dish and this it what it looked like...









Then I let it sit for 30 minutes (the bottle recommends 15-20, but this was really set in). It took me only 5 minutes with minimal effort to clean the dish.

I'm telling you girls...you have got to pick one of these babies up. It's right near the dish soap and well worth it!!!!

Wow...we need to take a break...

We have been so very busy since I last blogged. Logan's birthday was last Thursday and I still cannot believe that I have a 3 year old. We started the day with a trip to the Y so I could work out and then had lunch with my friend Christie and her daughters at Logan's favorite place, McDonald's. After lunch we went to the movies to see Toy Story 3 and both boys were awesome. Logan looked up at me at one point and said "I'm having fun!" I took Layton to his first movie and he was great. He slept a little, ate some and just hung out in my lap most of the time; I doubt many people even realized there was a baby in the theater.

On Friday, we had Logan's 3 year checkup and he is growing like a weed. He weighs 32 pounds now and is 38.5 inches tall. The nurse asked me if I could get Logan to pee in a cup, and after three tries, he gave up. He had to have his finger pricked for blood and got two shots and he was such a champ. He barely cried at all.

When we got home, Luke and I got us packed up for a weekend trip to the mountains for his 10 year class reunion. We went to the family picnic Friday night and Logan had a good time playing some baseball while Luke got to catch up with some old friends. On Saturday, we went to Vogel State park for a picnic with our friends Linda and Michael, and the weather was perfect. We had lunch and Luke and Michael took Logan to play a little putt-putt while I hung out under the shelter with Layton. After the picnic, we had to get ready for the reunion dinner. We ended up sitting with the weirdest guy at dinner, and I could tell you his whole life story, and trust me, you don't want to hear it. We went over to Luke's buddy Joe's house for a little while afterward, but it was so late and we were so tired that we left soon after we got there so that we could go to bed.

On Sunday morning, we headed home to get ready for Logan's birthday party at Fort Yargo. We stopped to get Logan's cake and it was awesome!!! The lady that made it made a Lightning McQueen and Mater out of Rice Krispies and covered them in fondant and they looked great! I got to the park a little before Luke and started setting up, and while I was putting a tablecloth on the table, Layton fell out of the stroller. I was so scared when I saw him laying on the ground, but thank goodness, he didn't get hurt at all!!! Logan had a great time and got lots of awesome presents. He loved his new cleats and catcher's gear and has played with all of his other toys all week.

On another note, we have been having a terrible time getting Logan to go to bed at night. He has always been a good sleeper and for the most part, we can just put him to bed and he goes right to sleep, but for the past few weeks, he has been getting up and crying at his door. He doesn't really say why he is scared or crying, but I am hoping that it is just a phase he is going through and he will be going to sleep more easily soon.

Hopefully, we will have a few calm weekends before I go back to work in 4 weeks. I don't want to go back exhausted...it's going to be exhausting enough to get back into that routine with a new baby in the mix.

Wow...it's been a while

The past year has been so busy! I just realized I haven't blogged since right before school started last year. Since then, I have come one class away from completing my master's and had my sweet baby boy, Layton. Logan is now hitting real baseballs with this tee-ball bat and will be turning 3 in just 3 days. I cannot believe how quickly the time has past! He is so incredibly obsessed with baseball and unless you have spent some time with him, I don't think you understand how bad it is. He pretends to play everywhere we go. He is the catcher, pitcher, fielder, umpire, announcer, vendor and fans all in one. He gets struck out, hits line drive doubles, singles and home runs. He knows all of the Braves players names and adds them to his own. A few of his favorites are Chipper Jones, Jason Heyward, Brian McCann, Troy Glaus and Eric Hinske- all with Logan added to the end of their names when he's playing. He does enjoy playing with his cars, trains and other toys, but he prefers activities that involve sports and baseball is always his first choice. He can play Wii baseball, bowling and golf all by himself and is quite good at them for a two year old. He has recently started enjoying swimming and gave us a huge scare the other day. We were swimming with my friend Leigh and her two sons when he forgot we took his float off for a snack and he got back into the pool without it. He stepped right off the steps when Leigh and I both realized he was drowing at the same time. I was holding Layton so she jumped in and grabbed him. He hadn't swallowed any water at all and was ready to swim again once he got his float back on. I realized then that he has to take swim lessons just because of how comfortable he has become around the water.

Layton has become a huge momma's baby. He wants me to hold him all the time and that makes it hard to get a lot done around here. I will let him cry it out while I do some things but it just breaks my heart. I don't know how he's going to do when I go back to work, but hopefully, he'll be okay for Wanda, our babysitter. He smiles and tries to talk some and can hold his head up quite well. I also think that he's beginning to cut a tooth.

I only have one class left before I finish my Master's degree and I cannot wait to be done. Even though I have not worked for three months now and have had lots of time with my kids, I will be so glad not to have to worry about school, even if I am back at work!


We joined the Y about a month ago and I love it. It took Logan a good week to get use to being dropped off and Layton is still having a hard time because they can't hold him the whole time he is there, but we are managing to get a good workout in most days that we go and I have to say that it really has improved my energy level a lot to be exercising. I just hope we can get Layton in there and calm the whole time so they don't have to call one of us over the PA system to get him...it is so embarrasing!

I'll update again later this week. I think it's time for me to head to bed (it's 12:42 a.m.).

School days...

So the time has come again. School starts in a week and as much as I look forward to having something to keep me from being a total bum, I am really going to miss my days with Logan. We really had a good time playing this summer. He is learning so many new words and behaviors; it just amazes me how much he takes in each day. Preplanning begins tomorrow and I got a little bit of a headstart this morning. I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and hearing about their summers. I'm also looking forward to a new group of kids. I know that this is going to be a great year. I have some new ideas for things I want to do this year, and I'm hoping that my kids all have a great attitude and are always trying their best. I'll write again tomorrow to tell about my first day back.

Baseball Madness

My two year old son is more obsesssed with baseball than most grown men. He loves to hit, throw and catch the ball. He plays baseball at the dinner table with straws and forks for bats and the wadded up straw paper for his ball. I even used my straw as a tee one night at dinner, and he loved it. During the home run derby Monday night, Logan saw the pitchers taking balls from the bucket to pitch so Logan pretended to take one from the basket in the tv and throw it. He has better form than me and has the perfect bat flip so that when he does hit his first home run, he'll be ready to trot around the bases.

Right now, Logan has two gloves, about 10 different sized bats and about 40-50 different balls to play with. Most of those are outside and the rest are on their way to the outside bucket because he is just too good. By the time he plays t-ball, Logan is going to run circles around most of the other kids. I can see everyone on the team playing in the dirt and whining about being bored while Logan is getting mad because they are not paying attention or make mistakes. It will be then that he gets a good lesson in sportsmanship and cooperation. We hope to sign him up next spring right before he turns 3, but I doubt that there will be enough kids for a pre-tee league so it might have to be another year.

Logan is telling me he is ready for lunch now, so I better go.

Later

Hmm...

Well, I have been feeling very reflective lately. There are so many things I have experienced and people that I have been blessed to know that I don't see anymore that have just got me thinking. This blog will probably be a little bit of those thoughts, descriptions of my sweet boy and silly husband and anything and everything random that is me. I hope that those of you who choose to follow this blog are entertained and maybe you'll get to know a little more about me along the way. More to come soon...