best money my mom's spent

Today, we went to IKEA again. Mom and I did- we had to get a part replaced, like I mentioned.

Mom and I ran over to the children's department and Mom couldn't leave without buying Liam his first tent and tunnel.

Well, Mom, money WELL spent!!

week's worth

I suppose it's a little late to do a "weekend wrap-up" post since, oh, the weekend starts tomorrow?

We've been busy around here- as usual! But no, really, it's been a crazy busy week.

Monday, I can't remember what we did. Something. ? Tuesday Liam went in for his 9-month check up (still a big boy!) and left happy, because he was up to date with his shots. Figures. One time daddy can go and have to take over for mommy and what- no shots. Oh well, I'll take it. We lunched at Lopez, which we tend to do whenever we're in Sugar Land since it's such a far drive for us now. Then we went to IKEA. So you know: I love IKEA. LOVE it. It reminds me of Norway- we made pretty regular IKEA trips while we were living there. They have great stuffed animals. And great Scandinavian food. Love IKEA. Zach had never been, and was completely underwhelmed. Even more-so when he discovered that he had to find all the parts of the entertainment center we bought, and wheel it around the store, and put it in the car, and put it together. Then on the way home, we went to Verizon, which was a LONG stop, because my dear, Iron Man Tony Stark LG phone decided it just didn't ever want to turn on again. Problematic, no?

Wednesday we ran errands. Today I had a doctor's appointment early in the morning, then we ran around in Sugar Land a little bit. Ended up getting Japaniero's to-go for lunch, which made my whole day really good. Yum-o. And we had to order *another* charger for my MacBook. Liam loves the chargers, loves to put the magnetic end in his mouth and suck on it. I've been trying to keep on top of this, but we caught him at it yesterday and today my charger won't charge the computer. He likes to ruin expensive things.

TOMORROW is another big day- I have to return part of the entertainment center and get the right part, then we're heading to Town & Country (uuugh) for my HAIR appointment at 3. I say uugh because I really liked the Rice location of Beautique, but my hairdresser got a promotion and moved to the other location, so I bid adieu to Rice Village and hoof it to Town & Country. Yes, Steve is THAT good. Then we're going to make the mandatory post-hair appointment visit to Anthropologie. SOMEWHERE in there tomorrow, I have to get back the Katy way to pick up baby Slade's present... might have to recruit my mother-in-law to help me out.

We had a lot of fun this past weekend. Saturday, after getting home from work in the morning, Zach, Liam, Jethro, Shiner and I packed up our swimming trunks and headed over to my mom's new house. She had an inflatable pool in the backyard that Uncle Brad had filled up to let the water warm, so we went over and let Liam play. Zach grilled for dinner, the boys sat downstairs and visited and mom and I went up to the media room to watch my fave TV show. Liam loves his Grandma's new backyard. He's an outdoors-y guy.

{grandma getting liam ready to swim}

{tellin' uncle brad what's up}

{water baby}

{jethro has hijacked our baby pool}

Sunday, Zach wanted to veg at the house, so Liam and I ran to Michaels and got the supplies to make decorations for cousin Valerie's upcoming lingerie shower.

{my favorite part: i love martha stewart glitter}

{arrangement for the food table. love the touches of glitter!}

{little man at IKEA- waiting with the boxes for daddy to bring the truck around.}

shake it, baby!

It only took forever to load, so here's the video we got of Liam dancing in his crib. I've got various others, but this one is my favorite at the moment.

Will try to post more, later today. We've got some errands to run this morning & we're dragging because Mr. 8:30 decided to be Mr. 6:00 this morning. Gag.

this and that

Hello, friends and enemies.

(fear not, pulled that right out of Cary Grant's mouth)...

It's been a whole week since I uploaded photos, and I feel horribly remiss about not blogging more- I just can't even being to explain to you how hard it is to keep anything else going with Mr. Mobile in the house. He's going, going, going all the time and I have to be on top of where he is at every second because we haven't gotten everything out of his reach that needs to be.
Example:
I spent about 30 minutes this morning messing with our surround sound receiver because Liam can reach it and the second he gets in front of it, he just slaps it, and the sound went out this morning. We're going next Tuesday to look at entertainment centers. I'm very picky about furniture. It has to be just right, and a decent price. I flat refuse to pay more for an entertainment unit than our couch cost- but at the same time, I expect it to hold all 300+ of the DVDs we own and I want all of Zach's components away. I hate seeing cable boxes, receivers, x-box 360s, wiis and whatever else you plug into a TV sitting out. Hate it. I hate seeing cords. To me, it just looks trashy. I have, have to get this organized and away. BEFORE Val's shower. Wow, I can get off topic.

How about a list to cover everything?
*I hate garage sales. I hate having them. I don't think I've ever shopped at one. I *hate* garage sales. And I was HORRIFIED when my mom and I had one *GAG* to sell all my old Barbie dolls and some other miscellaneous toys and a lady wanted to buy Liam's old clothes. 1- I'm not done having kids. 2- Your current 3 month old and my current 8 month old will not have coordinating season to size clothing. 3- EW! 4- I buy Liam nice clothes, in general. Here and there, I'll buy at Babies R Us or Carters (good jammies!) and Target, but in general, I'm not going to sell you a sweater that I spent more than $30 on for $2. Not going to happen. You want Baby Gap- you shop at Baby Gap.

* Liam stood by himself for about 5 seconds yesterday. Barefoot. On the carpet. I was really proud.

*I can't find our DVD copy of Kung Fu Panda. It's Liam's favorite movie and I had to DVR it so he has it to watch.


* My mom moved! Yesterday! She's now 5 minutes down the road. We schlepped down there this morning, and spent the afternoon in her backyard. I got some fantastic pictures of Liam- the sky & grass were gorgeous!

*Jethro went to work with his dad this morning. Lost 3 more toenails. That makes 4 toe nails we've had to remove because he breaks the nail and it exposes the quick. Poor dog, the ground in our backyard is so hard, he can't help it.

*Some of you asked why I was so emphatic about not laying out in my backyard. I have 2 dogs. One weighs ~115 pounds. He poops regularly, and it's large. Thus, my yard is stinky. Ew. Not judging my friends who are layer-outters. Once my mom puts in a pool, I am sure my tune will change. OR I'll be that lady "laying out" with SPF 50+ on because I'm still afraid of looking like leather. And skin cancer. Too much cancer in my family. No thanks.


* I am not pleased with how many "boyfriend" clothes are out there for women when they still make the waist for a man and not for a girl. I don't want the button cinching at my hips-I want it at my waist! Hello! Don't emphasize my widest part! And most of the blazers have SHOULDER PADS. That's horrific. Shoulder pads AND hip emphasis? Thanks for adding 50 lbs to my frame. I'll stick with feminine cuts, thank you, and be glad when this trend is d-o-n-e.

*We're watching The Men Who Stare at Goats. I'm hopeful. It can't be any worse than Jennifer's Body. afterwards: not that bad. Entertained me. Especially when they put LSD in the scrambled eggs. Priceless. Great cast.


*Speaking of movies: we've seen a bunch lately. Gamer: not so good. Surrogates: better than you'd think, liked it a lot. Jennifer's Body: stupid & why did we have to ugly down Amanda Seyfried? The Warlords: I expected a lot more. Why did you make Jet Li act? Just let him kill people in awesome ways. Zombieland: freaking awesome. Loved Bill Murray. Love Emma Stone.

*Currently I'm stuck on my Sherlock Holmes DVD. Y-U-M. 1- I worship Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Classic Lit=happy me. 2- RDJ. 3- Jude Law. 4-FANTASTIC score. I could watch just for the music. I love it so much it's not even funny. However, it makes me want to watch Gene Wilder's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.

*Can't believe we missed SNL last weekend. But I was watching Doctor Who instead. And thats my favorite show ever.

*Liam and I made strawberry cupcakes... Monday? Gross. I bought a mix, which I am guilty of, but when I tried to do what I normally do to make the cake perfect and moist, but ew. Liam is the only one who likes them. Oh garbage, I hear you!


*Liam has figured out how to pull up on the coffee table. He can reach everything, almost. It creates a problem when we try to put our drinks on the table. Or when I don't realize Zach's left his dinner plate on the table and Liam finds it first. Yep...

*Zach and I are nerdy excited about the upcoming movie The Expendables. Hello. I like "boy" movies. Good, old fashioned action movies. This cast makes me cry like Beaches (Marc Ecko said that on Iron Chef America- we use it in conversation). Sly Stallone. Arnold. Bruce effing Willis. JASON STATHAM. Jet LI! Randy Couture. Steve Austin. Mickey Rourke. HELL-LO. So excited. The only thing that would have made it better? Um... wait, can't think of anything. (don't worry, I do in fact still enjoy lady movies, I'm very excited about SATC2)

*My back is painful. About once every 3 months, for a couple days, my back is just murder. I think partially I'm just sleeping badly, but I know it doesn't help lugging big Bits around.


* I don't know what I did to funk up my font. Whatever.

*Liam has discovered music. He likes to dance now. But he doesn't dance to your pop songs. No Single Ladies for Liam (kinda bummed- all the videos of kids dancing to that song are so funny!). Liam dances to... Metallica, Rob Zombie and Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit- come on, that's like, one of the best songs ever!). Yes, I know. I've already messed him up! ;) I have video. I'll try to post soon. So funny.

*My blog will soon reflect the beautiful bringing together of two of my favorite ladies that I have been blessed to find. All I'm saying. So excited.


*I managed to FINALLY find something Slade-worthy for sweet Mer. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Is there anything better than celebrating a new life, with a beautiful, inspirational mama? Nope!

*We've started thinking about Liam's birthday party guest list. I am in the dumps because our dear, darling, wonderful friend Trevor will still be in Cali-forn-eea. Trevor was our head usher, and one of the best, truest friends you could have. I really miss him. Why did he have to be so dang smart that Cal Berkeley would take him in their Doctoral Chem program? He WILL win the Nobel Prize one day. Or burn down half a college campus with a simple Saturday morning whim of an experiment. Or both.

*I bought Liam a swing on Monday. We don't have the eye hooks we need to hang it up, but I cannot wait to get it installed under our covered patio. I know it's going to be a hit and the kid just about leaps out of your arms every time you start to take him outside. Winner!


*I am such a dunce sometimes. I definitely gave Ashley Brooke the wrong phone number to put on the invites she did for me. LUCKILY, I also gave her my cell phone number, and that one works. Sometimes. So far, only our family has responded. So at least Val knows she'll have her fiancee's two aunts, his step mom and step sister, his dad's cousin and her *hopefully future dauther-in-law*. RSVP people. NOT hard to do!

*My camera hates me. It randomly decides that I don't want to take stills, I want to take video. Makes for interesting photos of my 9 month old.

*I bought the most rockin' Lilly Pulitzer paper to wrap all of Valerie's gifts in for her shower. Oh yes, I'm theming. I can't decide whether I want to go all out and buy myself a Lilly dress for the party. Meredith, what do YOU think? Do I dress to match the party, or would you have me leave that to Valerie? I'm still stumped about Liam's birthday party. WHY can't I find a blue and white striped seersucker sundress?

And in honor of the trials and tribulations my mommy went through a few years ago...

{Glassybaby}

My mom had Ovarian Cancer, so this is very close to my heart. Love Glassybaby. SO pretty.

thanks & come again

Wow- I have turned into the crummiest blogger.

First things first:




Here the award rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award and link back to their blog.
Thanks go out to sweet Kristen @ On the Move. Kristen and I had Senior AP English together in HS- we sat almost next to each other and had a great time. My favorite class @ AHS ever, and she's a big part of the reason why!! Thanks again, Kristen!!!

2. Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers who have a beautiful blog.
Merdith @ Sweet T Family
AFS @ Artsy Fartsy Shopaholic
Betsy @ Miss Monogram
Sarah @ Plenty of Paper
Ashley @ Nice Work, If You Can Get It
Ivy @ Lucky in Love
Haley @ Bloodhounds and Babies

3. Contact the other bloggers and let them know they won an award.

4. Say 7 things about yourself.
1. I have a 9 month old, as of today. That's kind of scary!!
2. I bought two canvases today at Hobby Lobby. I'm going to paint them for our bedroom- with the Kanji characters for love and laugh. I can't wait to get started.
3. We're REALLY into Indian food at the moment- we were going to go out for it tonight but hubs changed his mind after he did the yard work.
4. Inspired by Betsy (see above links)- I made myself a hair appointment for April 30. I made it for a cut, style and COLOR. I've not had my hair professionally colored since high school. Eeep. I haven't colored my hair period since my senior year. *eek*
5. My husband's birthday is Thursday. My mom is closing on her gorgeous new home on Thursday. It's a big week!!
6. I am a rut girl. I wear the same jewelry every day- my wedding set, my Tiffany's ring, my Tiffany's necklace, my diamond studs and my sapphire studs. I am a stickler for my makeup too. I use Bare Escentuals foundation, Tarte eyeshadow, bronzer, blush, illuminator, lip gloss and Dior Mascara. That's it. Period. Won't change.
7. I am so incredibly flattered, my hubby's darling cousin Bo and sweet fiancee Valerie asked me to read a passage during their ceremony! I'll overcome my severe, SEVERE stage fright for them. Cause I love them both!

Here's what's been going on lately---

{sweet smiley boy}

{sharing a marble cupcake with mommy}

{beautiful box of pretty paper}

Want to see what's inside? Have a look at Ashley Brooke's new blog.

She's a darling. I love working with her- and I adore Ashley. I just wish that Texas and Florida weren't so far away from each other- I'd love to meet up with her, face to face. I know we'd be fast, forever friends. *sigh* The downfall of internet friends.

{jethro and shiner cleaning up after liam's cucpake.}

{he loves it.}

{playing with mom's old gigantic pooh}

{check out this bed head. epic.}

That's going to be all for now.
I will write again sometime soon- hopefully. After Zach's birthday maybe?
Who knows- but stay tuned.

bunnies and bushes

Happy Easter, sweet friends and family!

It's been a busy weekend around the Clark household. Busy, but fun and full of family and friends.
Friday night (in my mind, the official start of the weekend!) we went to dinner with my in-laws and their best friends, the Talberts. I love the Talberts- they're just about some of my favorite people on the planet. Mrs. Talbert threw me one of my bridal showers and Mr. Talbert is one of Liam's favorite people. We finished the evening at Ooh La La and the liquor store, never a bad thing.

Saturday, we didn't wake up in the morning with plans, but the day started out so beautifully, I knew I'd go crazy if we stayed in the house. So I called my in-laws because Roger had offered to help us restring our weed eater, and we wanted his opinion replacing the little palm by our front door that died this past winter...
One store, one nursery, and many, many plants later, we gave our entire front yard a make over!

Here's before:

And AFTER:


Zach wanted a bottlebrush out front, and he really wasn't a fan of our ligustrum, so we dug it up and moved it to the back yard. I have grand plans for the space back there, and so we planted that, and the tree I picked out, a double weeping cherry tree, in the back of the yard. I love looking out the kitchen window and seeing PLANTS! We picked a gorgeous Japanese red maple tree in place of the offensive palm and are so thrilled with it- Roger made the perfect recommendation!

{some of my favorite flowers in the yard}

{liam with mom's hibiscus, dad's garlic and his bluebonnets}

I got my first sunburn of the year on my shoulders while we were out working in the yard, but that's okay because I don't hold a burn very long. I was a little worried about shocking red shoulders in my dress this morning; I don't tan- I don't spray tan, I don't bed tan and I DON'T lay in the back yard. My coloring doesn't lend itself to spray tans, and I don't want to look like saddle leather by the time I'm 30. Plus, I like my fair skin, and get so, SO many compliments on my skin tone- why WOULD I want to tan on purpose?

We headed to church this morning- we all looked VERY nice, but my camera was being a poop and the only pictures I was able to get of the three of us are incredibly blurry. Thanks, thanks for that. Liam doesn't go to the nursery during church because he's not disruptive at all. He's a doll, he's happy to sit there, hardly makes a peep and entertains Heather, the associate pastor. He got a little bit bored during Karen's sermon today (but it went a little longer than usual, can you blame him?) and was just about to decide to start entertaining himself loudly when she finished up. Such a good boy. After church, we headed to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast- where all the pent up energy from church was released. He was de-man-ding at breakfast! But he ate almost a whole biscuit with blackberry jam, drank his water, got into my maple syrup...

But he got tired on the drive home, and this is what we found when we went to get him out of the car when we got back:

{opening his Easter basket}

After we farted around for a little bit, got out of our church clothes and decided, since the weather had cleared up (seriously, ugly nastiness during the morning!) that we'd slather the baby with sunscreen and let him play in his baby pool for a little while. Steph and I went ahead and got him this blue plastic one yesterday because it's sturdier than the inflatable ones, and since Liam's pulling up on everything, we didn't want him trying to pull himself up on the slippery plastic inflatable, only to end up face planting in the water, or worse, the grass. He LOVED sitting in his pool, he had so much more fun than he did last summer- I can't wait to take him over to Uncle Ross' pool to REALLY swim when the weather warms up a little more.

{on our way to get ready for bed}

All in all, a very happy, fun, sweet weekend! I hope you all had as wonderful a weekend as we did.