What I love Most Mondays

Are some simple phrases...2 to be percise. And they include:

What you talkin mommy?

What dat makin noise mommy?



Elem's vocabulary continues to grow it seems almost every single minute of every single day. Many times blowing my mind with some of the things he says or some of the things he repeats that I have said! However the 2 above he says on his own and with no probing from mommy. It is so funny to be talking to Elem from another room and hear him shout out, "what you talkin mommy?" I think I laugh every single time I hear it. I mean com on it is ridiculously cute:) And then I also can not help but giggle every time he hears any kind of noise, be it a bird chirping, an airplane flying overhead, rain outside, or even a lawn mower from across the neighborhood, he has to hollar out that little phrase.."what dat makin noise mommy?" Each time he says either of those phrases I almost melt because they are too sweet coming from his raspy little voice.

He would have loved you.

As cheesy as it may sound, I must pay tribute to the "King Of Pop", Michael Jackson. Today we mourn the death of a beloved musician and dancer, one who received so much grief form the public eye for choices he made, but still proved to be an icon in the music industry. seth told me today that the first tape he ever had was BAD by Michael Jackson. For some reason I remember listening to "It Doesn't Matter if You're Black or White" throughout my child hood. I guess i am kind of in shock that MJ has passed away, although all I can assume is that he is at peace. From one music lover to another, I can be certain that Elem would have loved Michael. And most likely WILL love MJ in some form or fashion. Whether he is trying to learn the moonwalk, or trying to dance at his wedding to "Thriller" (which is the new thing by the way) :) I am positive that Elem will be and would have been an MJ fan.

Dance on Elem:


Sing like nobody is listening, love like nobody is hurting, and dance like nobody is watching.


We love you Michael, you are a true representation of how the world of music and dance have come about.

Happy Father's Day 2009

This year Father's Day was even a little more special because it was also Seth's birthday! I guess that will only be happening about once every 7 years so we made sure to spend this past Sunday in the way that Seth wanted! his only desire was to spend it with Elem, relaxing, and chilling by the pool. I couldn't think of anything better myself! Do that is exactly what we did. We headed over to Grammy and Poppas around noon and didn't leave until about 6 p m that night. Elem and I started the day off right with a card from Elem that his his very own little voice recorded on it, and I even chose a card that was "jungle book" themed for "I wanna be like you" since that is Elem's new thing. He is totally all about Seth and wants to be just like him, so I couldn't think of anything better than a card that reflected that! We also got daddy some new clothes, swimming trunks, and then a new grill is on the way. He wanted to pick that one out himself so I didn't try and get that one on my own. However, I did make a special point to put together a little special something for Seth from Elem and I just to commemorate the past 2 years of Seth as a dad. We love you so much Seth and you are the best daddy we could ever ask for. You are such a good role model and work so hard to keep Elem happy and do your best to keep mommy happy all at the same time. I must admit I am one stressed out mommy with all that seems to be going on with work, Elem, and just in our every day to day life, but Seth keeps us all grounded. I once thought it was me who was more grounded and calm but Seth has proved to be more and more the concrete portion of our relationship. I am so lucky to have him in my life, and be such a strong daddy for Elem. This video could not even capture all the special moments between Elem and Seth, but it does provide a glimpse into part of what I like to call "daddy/Elem time." Elem and Seth have such a special relationship, and I am slowly becoming more and more jealous of the time they spend together and the effort Elem puts into trying to be like daddy. At times I feel left out, but I could not imagine a better man that my son could look up to. We love you daddy, and as the song says..."I could hold you, in my arms forever"......and "I could use somebody"! We both needed a little ray of sunshine in our lives and Elem Zane has proved to be just that! :) Happy Father's Day Seth, we love you more than words can say.



(for some reason the slideshow will not play the second song...so you will have to enjoy it music free for now...Seth is working to convert it for me or shrink it so we can all enjoy the full effect)

What I love Most Mondays!

I have to admit Monday was the start of one hell of a week for me! Work seems to be monopolizing so much of my time, I cant event seem to see straight, much less think straight. So by the time Tuesday rolled around, I realized that I had already missed Monday, I thought I had better sit down and think about something that I loved about Monday! Because in all honesty I was thinking pretty hard that I really hated this Monday! :(

However, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

-despite all the bills I needed to pay, even though I didn't have any stamps
-despite all the time sheets I needed to complete at work, even though I never have time to sit down and actually calculate all the hours every one of my 12-15 employees have worked-I cant even keep up with how many there are these days
-despite the fact that no matter how early I get work, people seem to run up to me the second I pull in with some kind of crisis that I MUST fix immediately
-despite the fact that an entire diet coke exploded in my car because it is so freaking hot here!
-despite that I slipped when walking into the pool on father's day and have a huge purple bruise on my butt, that looks like someone beat me :)
-and despite that I had to wait 55 minutes for a 10 minute haircut for Elem that I dont like because they chopped his bangs off!

There is still this sweet little boy that wakes up every morning, groggy and confused, ready to be held, and cuddled with, and ready to embrace the day before most of us have gotten our thoughts together. Although Elem does not get up extremely early, it still makes me smile at the things he wants to do so early in the morning before we head off to school (work). The usual: the "wooter" as he likes to call it.


In the early morning sunlight, about 8:15am around here, I am usually packing up his bag for the day, getting juice ready, finishing getting ready myself, blah blah blah, and Elem is just in his own little world, ready to get going outside! He just cant get enough of riding his 4 wheeler around the driveway around our cars and back, and thru to the backyard. Sometimes I dont hear him or see him for like .3 seconds, and then I realize he is just sitting quietly watching the birds fly over him, or checking out a fried "wormy" on the driveway. We are often in such a hurry to rush our kids out the door and do everything so fast to try and squeeze just a few more things in before we have to be at work, or throughout the day, that we (meaning I) have to really make myself chill out and take a step back to remember, not everybody, especially Elem runs on that same kind of schedule. So thank you Elem for my Monday bit of happiness, and for reminding me to take a look at the worms and the birds, and do something fun in the morning before all the stress and routine begin!

nothing like..

Going in to check on your child in the little middle of the night to make sure they are snuggled in bed with covers on to make sure they are all comfy and cozy-and finding your little boy naked booty and all with a diaper half way down one of his legs because he took it off at some point in the night. And then think-should I wake him up and put the diaper back on and risk him getting for up for a while, or should I let him sleep and just hope for the best? Then feeling the mattress and it already being soaking wet! yuck! Needless to say I did wake him up, throw on a diaper, and had daddy rip the sheets off the bed as quickly as possible. It wasnt a terrible disruption and I almost think he thought he was dreaming! STill, naked booties are cute to see in the middle of the night when they are the last thing you expected to see.

Riverfest 2009

In true "Happytimes" fashion I am a little behind on blogging on actual up to date events. But my whole purpose of my blog is to allow myself a chance to go back and read and remember all of the happy times Elem and Seth and I had as a family. And hopefully allow some friends and family a glimpse into what is going on with us! So I cant forget about Riverfest, an annual music festival here in Little Rock that Seth and I hit up each and every year. It is full of good food, tons of shows, and lots and lots of people! Not to mention hot and humid-and this year a little bit of rain. No matter, we still made the best of it and this was Elem's first year to go. Last year he was just a tiny bit too small and would have most likely just been too hot, so we skipped out last year, and had high hopes for this year.

We headed downtown around 3 or 4pm on Saturday after Elem had a nice long nap and we scooped up Poppa along the way. As soon as we walked in the door Elem was immediately intrigued by all the people, but a little overwhelmed all at the same time. First stop: the Jesse White Tumblers! However we were a few minutes early so we ended up catching this chick singing some country music! Can you guess who loved it?? This guy! He was a little timid at first, and checked it out from afar.

But just a few minutes later, once he saw the pretty girl singing on stage, and heard her music, he was ready to get down! He and daddy took off down to the stage.

Once they got there, Elem was so excited. He is such a lover of music and just almost seems so in awe when he sees someone playing music or dancing or singing -anything. Here he is cheering the girl on!

And here he is once he moved onto the stage. haha! He couldn't let her get all of the attention, he was showing off some of his moves.

If you have never seen these guys they are insane! It is a group of about 25 super athletic guys who can jump so high it is ridiculous! They do all kinds of flips and back handsprings and all that good stuff. They are super entertaining for the kids, and not to mention the adults too. :)


Although Elem did make it up the hill for a few minutes to catch a quick drink, he was back down in a flash to keep on watching the show....this time with Poppa.


AFter the show was over, we headed over to the kiddie section, where there was a bounce house, motorcycles, all kinds of stuff for the kids to do and look at, but the best booth there was one of Seth's friends from when he worked at the Rivermarket down town. He had a booth set up with all kinds of upside down buckets painted for the kids to play drums on. They had buckets and buckets of sticks so every kid who walked up could just grab a couple and get to playing! This was another one of Elem's favorites! here are Elem and Sissy showing off their musical skills.

Now he has moved onto the big drum. He isnt joking around here people.

After eating lots of pronto pups and popsicles, we finally made our way to one of the music stages, but it was almost to late for us to stay! I cant for the life of me remember the name of the band we checked out, but it was good! Of course the 2 little people below ran around until they both just pooped out.

Riverfest was so much fun and I can not wait to go back next year. I think Elem will have a lot more fun and not be so intimidated by all the people! And hopefully we will be able to stay a little bit later. Still all in all, a super fun family event fr a Saturday afternoon and night!

Bathing suit bonanza.

I literally JUSt got home like 2 hours ago from my work day. I am feeling soooo tired and insanely dragged down lately. Currently I have 50 children's swim suits sitting in my car that I purchased from Old Navy tonight. I also have 54 towels that I got from Walmart, along with a few extra things I had to grab last minute since I was there. Man I never thought I would hear myself say that I am so sick of shopping! And Old Navy and Walmart are 2 of my very favorite stores that I actually try to hit up like every weekend. However, this weekend I am totally out! The swim suits and towels are for the kids at school, they will be swimming every week as part of my summer program for the school age kids! On the plus side, they are going to LOVE the suits and towels. And the swimming for that matter. On the flip side, I feel like I have worked about 90 hours this week and we are not even to Friday yet. Man oh man, I havent been this tired in so long. I also have a test in my Anatomy and Physiology class this weekend and need to rock it to keep up my "A" average! Been a long time since I have been to school so I have been working extra hard on get the grade I wanted. Okay enough venting...but I am in need of a serious "umph" if you know what I mean. Momma is struggling, daddy is out of town, and Elem is going through the needy me stage, that I think he has been stuck on for at least a year. :) Also, the baby birds that have been living in the nest right outside my back door have hatched and are now about 2 weeks old. One jumped out of the nest yesterday for the first time, and I am happy to say that the bed of towels and pillows that I put on the grown safely cushioned the fall. hehehe. I knew they needed my help to ensure the safety of the babies! Lets hope to morrow goes smooth, swimming is fun, and the kiddies all go home on time!

No fear

At the beginning of this month-after the rain FINALLY ended for the entire month of May, we actually started being able to go swimming!!! Seth and I LOVE water, beaches, swimming, just being in the sun in general, and we so happy to finally get Elem in the water. We started the summer out by going to Uncle Spoons pool to "test the waters" and see how Elem felt about getting in. Last year he seemed to love the beach, and liked the pool okay, but this year is a totally different story.

As soon as we got to the pool, Elem took up residency on the stairs. The water was freezing....but that did not seem to stop him! His farmer tan is a little out of control here.


He was on a mission to get in that pool and swim. After a couple of seconds of seeing daddy jump right in, there was no turning back! The swimmies were originally put on in hopes to keep him afloat if anything went wrong, but I think they are really intended for an older or bigger kid. Maybe next year those will be a little better for us. But like I said, once he was in there, he was happy! He was smiling and laughing the whole time and just happy to be in this vast amount of water....with his daddy even made it better :)



After swimming at Spoons house, Elem was all about going back to go "swim in the pool". Lucky for us, Grammy and Poppa have a great big pool and it just got all cleaned up for the summer. As soon as we go there, Elem and Cecilia were right in the pool. Again, the temperature of the pool water seems to have no effect on small children. Wish I could say the same for myself. Instead I kill my self each and every time by inching into the water, first my feet, then my calfs, knees, etc. Once i get to my waist I am pretty good to go. However, daddy is a little more daring, and of course makes the grand entrance every time! So Elem counted "1, 2, 3 Jump" and daddy was in the water. After Elem saw that, it was his mission to be just like his daddy, which is his new thing, and he became a jumping maniac! No fear I tell you!



He must have jumped in the water about 100 times, and that has continued every single time we go to the pool! I love seeing him have so much fun and I am so happy he is a water bug like us! We wouldnt want it any other way. My only fear with him loving the water so much is that he seems to be very carefree when getting around outside of the pool. I am super paranoid about him having shoes on at all times so he doesnt slip and fall when he is walking around through the water on the concrete. And I am also super freaked out by him running or walking fast, because he doesnt even think about falling! So I have to overcome my fear of those things, and just hope for the best. We are hoping for an injury free summer! Full of lots of sun and swimming.

What I love most Mondays!

...is the look on Elem's face in this picture:


It is Priceless.

What I love most Mondays

Yes I admit I skipped a couple of Mondays, but I am back on track! At least for this week that is! This week I am keeping it nice and simple. Currently I am LOVING the effect that popsicles have on kids! Both at work and at school, with the rising temperatures outside, a popsicle seems the best way to keep everyone hydrated and happy.

Elem actually got on the popsicle kick from being at school, and once he had one-he never went back. Throughout the day at school he will tell me he wants one, and of course then I have to give one to everybody, but they are super cheap, and really do seem to have this magical effect on kids. Instant smiles, calmer children, and no disagreements for at least 3 minutes. :) ANother favorite that has creeped it sneaky little way into our lives would be the ice cream man. But I wont get into that one today. Even though he does drive through our neighborhood every single night at about 7:20pm on the nose, and continue to drive slowly for at least 20 minutes, dinging that little bell over and over with the song playing from his speakers. Even though we have only bought ice cream from him literally 2 times, Elem still can hear that dinging from a mile away, and ALWAYS wants to get ice cream from the ice cream man.

Okay back to popsicles. Our current favorite are flavor ice. They come in bulk, all different colors, arent really all that big, are probably one of the least messy popsicles ever, and taste super good! Elem picked up in about 1 week how to push the popsicle up the paper as he ate it, and likes to be super sensative and needs a paper towel to wrap around the popsicle because they are always too cold. Go figure. Last weekend we took a swim break to enjoy 2 or 3 refreshing popsicles:

Everybody has figured it out!


Sissy caught on very quickly. You can tell she has had a popsicle or 2. :)


I love the determination in this. Everyone take at least 2 seconds and think of the last time you tried this hard for something. Anything.


I didnt say they work miracles people! Of course when someone's is running out and someone else still has some, there will be conflict!



We love popsicles!

Happy 1 year anniversary

Of course in true blogging fashion I am late on my post. But I just wanted to throw in a quick shout out to honor my 1 year anniversary. :) On May 30th Seth and I were officially married for 1 whole year and we couldn't be any happier. In some ways it seems almost like we should be celebrating our 5 year anniversary because we started dating almost 7 years ago...or is it 8, I think I have lost count! But in other ways it seems as if we were just married last week. We have such a great and open relationship, and every day just seems to flow so great. We pick up where the other needs help and we each know our roles in our relationship without fail. Seth cooks, does the yard work, I clean and change all the dirty diapers. :)We just fit and I couldn't imagine spending my life with anyone else! We are still just as happy as we were this time last year, although we were a lot tanner, and a lot more relaxed chilling on the beach with our feet in the sand. For our one year anniversary we didn't do anything extravagant like some couples would-that is really not us. We actually chose to spend the day with Elem, just our family having fun and enjoying the outdoors. In the early morning we headed off to the baseball field with Elem to play a little ball and run the basis, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at Spoons house, soakin up some sun, and enjoying watching Elem play in the water for his first swim of the year. We finished up the night at Ali and Dustin's by cooking up some food and still playing with the kiddies. It was such a great day, surrounded by family. Seth is my best friend and my "baby daddy". haha! Rather than include some great pic of us all dressed up at a fancy restaurant, (not that I have one like that or anything), I included the only one from that day that we had. Us all sweaty and still in our bathing suits, chillin and enjoying each other's company. Happy 1 year baby. I love you.

Best Friends

Elem and Cecilia have been turning into quite the Best Friends lately. They have always been such great friends but it seems that every single day they just become closer and closer and you can see it at the funniest times. The weather has been really nice here so lately it has been outside in Ali and Dustin's backyard, just playing on the swing set or as you can see from the video below, just playing with dirt! They communicate so good to each other, it is almost heart breaking to watch them have conversation together, all by themselves! They arent supposed to be having conversations together yet!!! They are growing up so fast, and being only 3 months apart has allowed them to pretty much grow up right at the same pace. For now, Elem has taken the role as the leader of the 2. :) I often catch him out of the corner of my eye, telling Cecilia what to do, or taking a toy over to her and trading her for her toy, that he is wanting, and telling her that this is Sissy's toy and the one he wants is Elem's toy. Cecilia is a little bit quieter but once she gets going, she does say a lot. And once she gets to giggling, there is no stopping that girl! They really do love being around each other, and even though one of them always ends up accidently hitting the other in the head with something, or pushing the other off the couch, they still turn right around and are best friends no matter what. They are really god at apologizing these days too! Which is so great to see. I often hear Elem say, "I sorry Sissy...its okay." or Cecilia say, "I sorry Elem Zane."

For now they refer to each other in their own special way...Elem calls Cecilia "Sissy" and Cecilia ALWAYS calls Elem, "Elem Zane". She just called him "Zane" for the longest, so it is a step in the right direction. We are just so thankful for Sissy and love to watch them grow together. It is really nice to have a cousin right around the same age. Guess it is an automatic friend right around the corner at any given time.

Here is some good ole play time in the backyard..2 BFFs just enjoying the afternoon. Please excuse Elem's outfit, his teacher at school dressed him very 70s to enjoy the sprinkler fun outside!

Stop that daddy

Tonight Elem, Seth and I all piled into "daddy's bed", meaning Seth and I's bed to fall asleep. "Mommy's bed" is on the couch where Elem and I usually cuddle before we both drift off to sleep, but he has recently, for the past three days chosen daddy's bed to go night night. While we all three laid cuddled up and as I repeatedly told Elem to close your eyes and go to sleep, Seth attempted to make the false snoring noise..."snggggghhhh-shhhhhhh" I am sure you can imagine it in your head right? The typical choice you would make if someone told you to pretend to snore. Immediately Elem leans up and says, "stop that sngggg..shhhh"...hahah. It was one of the funniest things he has ever said. Not only did he continue to repeat it, because he was getting a laugh out of the both of us-allowing him to stay up a few minutes later, but in no way did he believe the fake snoring for a sign that daddy was going to sleep. Ahh my little baby is so turning into a little boy and it is getting harder and harder to get things by him. Seriously one of the funniest things that has ever come out of his mouth.