BOY... oh boy... oh boy!

It has become quite evident to me in the last few days that I am definitely raising a BOY! I know, some are saying da....., you've known that since your ultrasound at 18 weeks where the doc points to the little hotdog and says... "It's a boy!", but over the last few days several events have happened that have really solidified that fact.

You have to understand, I was a very quiet, reserved, shy child who was scared of my own shadow...so this is new for me. Trace is best described as "all boy", the term people lovingly use around you to explain the fact that he never stops, sits for long, is very outgoing, runs rather than walks, talks a blue streak while using his outside voice inside (school teacher talk), and gets more daring by the day! Here's the proof...

At Red Lobster the other night, he grabbed and fondled the bottom of the neighboring waiter as he served food to the table beside us. He was trying to simply pat him and say hello, but his reach just hasn't quite caught up to an appropriate patting level yet. The waiter turned, after being molested from behind, to find T with a mouth full of garlic cheese biscuits, waving his little hand and saying "hi"!

Anna Claire (also 2) turned to me the other day while she was sitting quietly in my lap reading a book and said, "he's loud" while Trace ran through the house playing with every toy within reach, singing at the top of his lungs.

I caught Jimmy teaching him how to shoot spit balls out of his juice box straw at the table the other day. Trace thought that was hilarious! Then while J was changing his diaper he said "where's your du danky?" (where do they get these terms?) and T enthusiastically reaches down and pulls it (why do they do that?) and hollers "Dere it izzz!"

He was on the table at MDO when I went to get him yesterday, and this morning I caught him sitting on the countertop in the kitchen playing in the silverware basket. Oh yes... he's a climber!

My living room looks like a parking lot for his 4 wheeled riding contraptions (that really belong outside) like his plasma car, fropper, tonka truck, and cozy coupe car. Every night at bed time I park them along the wall as if they were parallel parked on the street.

And finally, he kisses the lawnmover (which he loves to ride on, in spite of my constant objections) and daddy's B...I...G truck as he calls it before we come in at night from playing.

It is amazing to watch his little personality begin to emerge and I can already tell, I've got my hands full! While he is "active" and "busy", he is also the sweetest thing in this world. Nothing makes me melt like hearing, "dank you mommy" and "I u mommy" (he leaves out the love) or getting one of those slobbery wet kisses. Yesterday, I went to get him from his nap and he stood on the bed rail and gently rubbed both sides of my face with his little hands and said, "ohhh mommy" and then hugged me sooo tight.

Wow, I never knew just what all I was in for when I heard "it's a boy" but I'll tell you one thing... I wouldn't trade it for the world. That boy has my heart!!

Just Catching Up

It occured to me while looking through my most recent posts, that although my blog is titled "Trace's Place", he hasn't been mentioned or shown in any recent pictures... what a horrible mommy! Since I am using this as a make shift baby book (of course he has one, but I'm not very good about writing in it anymore) and one day I will hopefully copy and print all of this to remember his early years, I need to do better! So I am catching up...

I have to start by saying, we went to Sportsman's Warehouse tonight (every hunter/fishermans dream), it's like a boy's Target... everything you could want in one place (I know Lu and Kadi can appreciate that).

On our way in, I had to use the little girls room and of course, trying to be the good, supportive wife, told Jimmy to go ahead and start looking (since they closed in 10 minutes) and I would take Trace with me... oh joy! Every mother knows the thrills of trying to use a public bathroom while simultaneously keeping their toddler from climbing under the stalls (on the nasty floor), opening the door and exposing you to the rest of the world, unrolling ALL of the toilet paper, and finally... keeping them from touching the disgusting, germ infested toilet! Trace's new favorite thing to do is flush the comode and say "bye-bye tee tee" as he watches it go down the drain. So you can imagine how relieved I was to finally get to the hand washing part of this journey. Although Trace technically didn't use the restroom, I felt a good hand washing was in order.

After we washed, I went to get towels from the automatic dispenser... oh boy, it's amazing the everyday things you discover through the eyes of a 2 year old. As I tore the allotted paper towel, dried my hands and threw it away, another section "automatically" dispensed, much to Trace's amazement. He proceeded to tear, walk, and toss the paper towels into the garbage can continuously... at least 6 times, only to find another one waiting for him. I honestly believe he would have done that until closing time had I not began to feel guilty that we were abusing the environment and massacring countless amounts of trees all in the attempt to "entertain" my child while Jimmy shopped. I like to think it was a little lesson in conservation and how to help keep our public restrooms clean.


I went to check on my sleeping beauty last night and found him like this in his crib. He, for some reason, has begun sleeping sideways and loves to prop his feet up on the rails while going to sleep. Apparently, he fell asleep quicker than expected and his little legs fell right through. There's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.

Well, Jimmy's late Christmas present finally arrived from Cabela's and he couldn't wait to try it on. My mom got him this for Christmas to hunt and fish in. Apparently, while hunting you must wear blaze orange to keep from getting accidentally shot, however, the deer are color blind so they can't see it. He keeps threatening to wear it out somewhere, especially after he saw Daddy Bush wearing one very similar at Obama's inauguration the other day. I felt that, since his was brown not blaze orange, he is over 80, and as a former president of the free world, he could pull it off.

Back off ladies... he's mine!
Demonstrating the many ways it can be worn...

I will say... it was certainly the warmest hat I've ever worn!
I LOVE these pictures!!! There is nothing sweeter than seeing the man you love snuggling with your baby! It melts my heart to know how much Trace loves his daddy, and the feeling is mutual! They are the best of buddies and it makes me so excited for the future to know all of the things they will do together! Here they are watching... Barney, of course!

I went to order Trace's birthday cake today and asked Kimmee if she does Barney. She looked at me and said, "Wow, I haven't had a request for that one in years, surely I have a picture of him somewhere!" Apparently, the big purple dinosaur is out of style... for everyone, except my son. Oh well, Barney's what he wants, Barney's what he'll get! He's got the rest of his life to worry about what's cool and what's not!

Slumbering at Sixty

OK, I'm getting worried about myself. You know when you plan to do something in your mind and you think about it over and over until you actually begin to believe you did it? Please... someone else say this happens to them. I thought I had already posted these pictures and it turns out... no, I'm just crazy!

Kadi (my brother's wonderful fiancee) and her sister threw their mom, Carol, a 60th birthday slumber party... how fun is that! Mom and I went and unfortunately couldn't spend the night but had the best time. They truly thought of everything, pjs, pinatas, old pictures, music, games, prizes, food, wine, you name it! They did it at the Pot House, off of Suck Creek Road. They put on the invitation... "bring your cold cream and bifocals!" Here are some of the pictures from the night.

Above is me, mom, Kadi, and Carol... I can't wait to be a part of this family, they are really amazing and so much fun.

Oh, and they even made these cutouts for everyone to make pictures in. I thought mom might let me be the busty one for once, but noooo, still flat as a flitter!


Here is Carol opening her gifts. Look closely, that is a bra with golf balls in it. My mom got that at her 50th birthday and decided to pass it down to Carol for her 60th... oh, those family heirlooms!There's the birthday girl... isn't she gorgeous? I just know my nieces and nephews are going to have those beautiful dimples!!
Kadi and her sister (sitting in the chair) made up a questionaire... "How well do you know Carol?" This was the prize box for whoever got the most and least right. I was very honored to be apart of the celebration! You guys really know how to throw a party and your mom is so blessed to have you!

Woo-hoo... cold day!

I just wanted to give a shout out for a no school, cold day to all of my school teacher friends... woo-hoo!! Even though I'm not teaching anymore, I still find myself glued to the TV set to see if Hamilton County is out! I guess old habits die hard.

Last night, while Jimmy and I were watching Grey's Anatomy, it came scrolling across the screen... I immediately sat up and held my breath, just like a kid. I swear, I think that's how I learned to alphabetize things, watching for Catoosa, Dade, Franklin, Grundy and cccooommmeee ooonnnn...Hamilton County! It always seemed like Hamilton County was the last to fall, but lately they have been going with the flow and calling it off more... must be,the what, 13 snow days built in to the school year that we will NEVER use! I used to laugh and say I was moving to Polk, Marion, or Grundy county to teach because they were ALWAYS out... pipes burst, electricity out, too cold, snow, flood, you name it...
Everyone enjoy your day off... actually your 4 days off, you deserve it!

Beautiful Baby Lucas

Our family grew by one with the arrival of sweet baby Lucas. My cousin Carrie had her baby and we are all so grateful he is here, healthy and perfect... not to mention, beautiful. I know that doesn't matter in the long run but it sure is nice when they are this pretty!!


He joins big brother Abram and is so adored already. They kept his name secret until after he arrived and they decided for sure when they saw him. One of the Papaws even jokingly threatened to not bring them lunch after the delivery until the big name was revealed... unfortunately that didn't work (they must not have been that hungry). We had to wait several more hours to learn he was Lucas... but it was worth the wait for him and the name!! They used Carrie's maiden name as his middle name which I love. Obviously, with Trace that was not an option, since he is James Franklin III, hence the nickname, Trace, or "Frankie" as his Uncle Andy calls him. But I have ALWAYS loved using family names! He is beautiful and such a blessing from above...we love you Lucas!!

Friends, Food, and Football

Saturday night, we had some friends of mine over from college. We rotate getting together at each other's houses (for dinner AND gingerbread houses) and it was my turn. We all bring food and sometimes the hubbies come! This time we decided to do adults only, with 4 kids under the age of 5 and an 8 year old running around, it would have been a whole different kind of party! It was supposed to be a "Christmas" thing but because of crazy schedules we did in on January 3rd, and had to pretend. I left all of my decorations up in hopes of holding on to the holiday cheer a little longer.

After reassuring Ronnie (Iris' husband) that yes, I do have cable AND a big screen and the Colts/Chargers playoff game would certainly be showing on it... we got them there! You can imagine my horror when, the day before they were coming, I found my long lost Comcast bill OVERDUE under my computer table. Apparently, in the midst of Christmas hysteria and an overabundance of catalogs piling up on my desk, it got pushed off!! I pay my bills online, so I frantically called in the hopes that my sweet, innocent voice would persuade some nice gentleman not to turn off my cable before the big game... can you imagine how bad that would have been! "Hey guys, so glad you came, sorry, the cables been turned off so there will be no game on tonight, but here's some chips and dip, and... we'll play Taboo in a few minutes!!"

It is always so much fun to see my girls! We sat in the dining room and giggled looking at OLD pictures from college while the guys were in the living room planted firmly in front of the game. It is rare that we can get them all willingly to participate in these little "couple" events, but after numerous emails and convincing... we did it. However, I'm no dumby... I didn't tell Jimmy we were playing games until RIGHT before they all walked in! I think Jill broke it to Will on the ride over :)

At one point, the guys must have counted to 3 and delivered, in unison, a mocking, gutteral laugh from the other room. Ironically, the stories and pictures we were all laughing and reminising about from college were before we knew and loved any of them... it's that weird!



Luckily, everything was fine and we actually talked them into one (very short) game of Taboo in between plays, timeouts, and commercial breaks. It was truly heartfelt on their parts. We, of course, had to strategically seat ourselves so that all 5 of the males had an unobstructive view of the TV! Needless to say, when it went into overtime, all bets were off... Taboo was over!

Aside from the girls discussion of the fact the Peyton Manning's wife, Ashley, was actually at the game and shown in the box with the fam and one little slip (I won't say who) asking "What does the SD (San Diego) stand for...South Dakota?" I think the boys really liked us being in there with them... yeah right!

Here are some pictures...

Jill, Iris, Leslie, and Sean's back and forehead :)

Ronnie and my honeyI actually learned to make sushi rolls on New Years Eve (thank you Janet) so this was a picture of the finished product... so good and easier to do than you think!Misty and Ted... back from Iowa!!! We missed them so much. We had to keep the door open most of the night for them because they were so hot! Imagine, less than a year in -20 degree weather and they can't take the January "heat" in Hixson anymore...

Leslie, Iris, and Ronnie watching intently. Again... the man without a face (and apparently with our dog on his head), is poor Sean!
Jill and Will- I don't think he even knew his picture was being taken!
Iris and Ronnie... so serious, must have been overtime. You notice, the Taboo timer has not moved... no "sands through the hourglass" happening during overtime!
I LOVE to watch Jill play... she is so animated and funny. You can tell, Will, is sittin on go with that buzzer!
I can't wait to do it again soon ladies!!

A Prayer for Sherry

As I sit here right now typing, a very dear friend of our family, Sherry Campbell, is having the 2nd leg of her spinal fusion surgery. She went into the hospital on Monday morning and the doctors performed a 4 hour surgery to seperate her vertebrae and prepare for placing metal rods into her spine today. She has been in SICU ever since and as you can imagine in tremendous pain. Unfortunately, her pain and recovery has just begun. My prayer this morning is for her to find peace and minimal pain throughout this procedure and in the long days of recovery to come. She had no choice but to do this surgery. She has suffered with back pain and scoliosis for many years and would most likely have been crippled if she had chosen to put it off.

Sherry is like a second mother to me and her family has become like my own. We lived next door to them for 20+ years and their daughter, Christy, is one of my best friends. If you know her, you know she has spent the last 30 years taking care of her severly handicapped son. Just recently, she kissed her other son goodbye as he headed off to defend our country in the Navy (I can't imagine that!). Last February, her husband Steve, had a motorcycle accident and late in 2008 suffered a minor heartache. She has had her share of burdens and heartaches but you would never know it. She has a faith in God that is stronger than her pain and problems and has always trusted in him to see her through. I have no doubt he will see her through todays surgery and the long months of recovery that lay ahead.

I pray that her surgery is a success, her pain is minimal, that God guides the hands of the skilled surgeons and nurses that are taking care of her, and that he gives peace to her family and friends. Christy, being a nurse, I know struggles with having to watch while others take care of her in the hospital. She wants to be the one to tend to her mom as she has done for her all of her life. She has spent her life taking care of the those she loves, I hope she now can let them return the favor. Sherry, I know you will come through this like you have with everything else in your life, with grace and glory to God.

I love you all!
God Bless!

Holiday Message

Gotta see this and send it on to the people you love and appreciate most! Loved it...so, so true!

http://www.corporatecomm.com/holidaymessage/

Magneatos... neato!

One of the gifts Trace got for Christmas this year was a magneatos set. Lynda and Penny (my friends from school) always get him the coolest toys, that he always loves. I had to put this on my blog in case anyone was looking for a great gift for a child...or a child-like adult! They come in all different sets, this is the **JUMBO set of 148 and it is so fun! I know the inner teacher in them were secretly laughing. I have spent a lot of time in their perfectly neat, orderly classrooms where something like this, with a million pieces, would drive them CRAZY (especially Penny). But yet they LOVE passing these gifts on to me! Payback ladies... payback!

**Yes... moms that is a LOT of pieces I know, but it comes in this very organized, sturdy box, where miraculously all of the pieces fit back into! I had a minor meltdown over that too!

When I saw Trace and Jimmy's name on the tag, I knew it wasn't just for tots... boy, was I right. Jimmy is more from the tinker toy/lincoln log era (if you don't know what those are, you are to young to be reading my blog!) but this was right up his alley. All of the construction pieces are magnetic so you can build all kinds of things. We all sat down the other night to do a little "family" project.

You can imagine about the time we actually got something going, little bit came along and tried to "help" , in his own special way! I had to remind daddy that it is technically Trace's toy and he had to share, even if that meant allowing him to knock over every creation you make, just seconds before you get the last piece on!
Long after Trace was over it and had moved on, Jimmy and I were still sitting in the floor working vigorously to construct this... rocketship, I guess. It literally took both of us 30 minutes just to duplicate the picture on the box (how sad) but LOOK, we did it!!! Meanwhile, Trace was busy playing with Barney, Mr. Potato Head, Elmo Live and every other toy he could drag out. The attention span of a 23 month old is well, ... about 23 seconds. Nothing lasts long with him yet, but I know one day he will construct a skyscraper out of it :) We had so much fun guys... awesome gift, thank you!