V I C T O R Y!!!

Roman became an official youth minister's kid this past weekend by attending his first real youth event. He's gone to bible studies and devos before but this past weekend he went to his first retreat- Remix! I had to drive my vehicle b/c of the car seat and I really should have taken a picture of it....literally filled to the brim with his stuff, and I thought of everything, and brought it too! Thankfully our whole group was in this one huge cabin and it had a "director's room" that we were able to stay in (otherwise I don't think we would have gone). It was really nice with its own bathroom, basically a little hotel room, perfect for the situation. To prepare for this excursion we began 3 weeks ago practicing taking naps in the pack n play since he hasn't slept in there for a long time and when he did, it was up top. We wanted him to really be a part of things so we made him some iron ons for a onesie to match the rest of us! Too cute!

We got there about 9ish Friday night, after hearing him scream for half of the drive (he still is not a fan of long rides in the car). We quickly found out that Roman did not like all the noise the kids made and how it echoed all over the wooden cabin. I was nervous of how he would sleep in a new place like this, but like we say "he's a champ!", he slept from 11 til 7!!!! Dude rocks! He took 2 naps later on in the day, as easy as ever to lay down and go straight to sleep. Roman also made lots of new friends with all the chaperones and the girls-chick magnet....it's those blue eyes and dimples! He was so worn out Saturday from all the fun he had from things like watching Mommy on the high ropes course(including the swinging bridge), that he was falling out at the bonfire.

I told Reed on the way to Remix that if he sleeps, does not get sick there and does not get sick from being there when we get home, then I will say it was a victory.

Our family is still all well, even after we had a girl go home from Remix with a fever, that we later found out was Swine flu....yay for hand sanitizer!......V I C T O R Y!!!!

Going Digital

About 6 years ago I got this awesome film camera for my birthday. It was a Canon Rebel, really nice camera! It took beautiful pictures and Mom was even able to embroider my name on the strap b/c another girl at church had the same one. I used it and loved it til I heard about digital cameras that let you take pictures and see what you've shot to know if you got a good picture or not. And you could shoot in color and make it be black and white without having to have separate film, how cool! So the summer of Courtney's wedding before our out of the country mission trip I decided to "make the switch" and go digital. I decided on a Kodak camera with dual lenses and an incredible zoom, I love an awesome zoom! It's great for what I needed, pocket size and a zoom like a big camera. Well, I've noticed since we've had Roman that there is a long delay between pictures, like 5 whole seconds, and if you have a kid you know that's like missing tons of smiles that happen after the first flash!!!! .......
When we moved to Texas we were introduced to what I named "the beige Walmart". We were told it was a Target competitive Walmart...like a tester. Well, it's awesome! And you would drive to the other end of town to go to it, well in Texas, it is the other town. Anyway, apparently the tester got an A because this year the star logo changed to this digital looking star and one by one they have been remodeled. The remodel consisted of fabric-gone, which was torturing to see go, and the health and beauty on the food side which is so helpful........
Well, last week I took Roman to a little park to take some pictures. And I thought, "Hey, I'll take my film camera too and I can just have it developed to a picture cd!" So, I felt like I got some really good pictures b/c I can shoot so much quicker. So..... to tie both these stories together....
I go to Walmart today and take my film up to the photo desk and say I would like a picture cd. I was then informed that as of July (when our Walmart was remodeled) they took their film developing machine away and are all digital. But said I could still go to Walgreens and get it developed.
So the moral of this story is: If your Walmart has not been remodeled yet...buy lots of fabric and use up all your leftover 35mm film!
Hey Santa! I think I need a new camera for Christmas!!!

Pumpkin Carving 09'

Every year one of my favorite things to do is carve a pumpkin. I have only started this tradition since Reed and I got married. I'm not sure where it came from, I think I just thought, " Hey, I can do that!" Ya know, like any crafty person does. And a couple years ago I found a new technique of shaving the pumpkin so it is translucent. Martha Stewart inspired! This requires many more steps such as hollowing it to 1/4" thick and cutting the holes first, then shaving. So the search for the new, challenging design begins as I scour through the internet. I like them to represent the halloween spirit, or our family. Mostly they say " trick or treat" or one year I did Simba when we went and saw Lion Kingthe musical. This year I found a haunted house scene that already showed me where to do my shaving and cutting. So I thought, "Awesome!" So it begins... I hollowed and bleached my pumpkin in the bathtub like I used to do in Alabama. ( I didn't do a pumpkin last year b/c we had just moved into the house and I was pregnant, so one of my carvings would have just been too much.) I copied the image off the internet and poked holes of it on the pumpkin. Once I finished this step I realized it would have looked so much better if I had made the image a little bigger and moved it up some b/c I cut out the bottom this year instead of the top, just to see. So what does Bridget do at 11pm at night... goes and redraws the whole thing larger, hoping that this time I poke the holes they will be a different size and see a distinct difference. Well, as you can probably guess, there was not much difference which led to me pretty much cutting freehand. The biggest problem was that when you shave a pumpkin you should cut all openings first like I said earlier...well I didn't really do that b/c I'm having to draw imaginary lines out of hundreds of dots on this pumpkin. I had been fortunate in years past not to have cut parts of my pumpkin I didn't want cut, well I think I did that like 5 times this year, guess that's what happens when you take a year off! I finally got it done and it actually lights pretty well. By the way the carving part I did in half a day, probably why I cut so much, to get ready for Fall Festival that night. Took it and it was a hit. But being the new mother that I am, I was so worried about getting Roman out of the cold, I left it in the back on the way home, so, you guessed it, more pieces broke! I was so sick. Well, at least I got pictures!!!

By the way, I have also learned that you don't carve a pumpkin early in Texas and think it's going to last til Halloween. It is so hot here, even after bleaching the thing, still molds! In Alabama, I could bleach it and carve it 2 weeks b/f Halloween and be able to turn it around til Thanksgiving and it be fine! Literally, my pumpkin is melting out there! Oh well! There's always next year!

Hey Mom! Look, I'm blogging!

Well...I've done it...yes, I've joined the blogging world. I guess I think my thoughts and experiences need to be shared with the world, or my closest family and friends. I'm not promising anything spectacular and anything life changing, or even grammatically correct... see I've already started, I just checked the spelling of "grammatically". But maybe something in here can inform you or make your day a little brighter. But probably just make you think, "Wow! Bridget really is screwed up!"
One thing I can already tell you is I had to make this blog presentable to "Bridget standards" before its grand opening! So far, it's at least fun to decorate! Maybe I can figure some more out about it to highten its cute factor! Give me time, I do have a 7 month old son that thinks crawling is for babies and he's a big boy that will either roll to where he wants to go or stand up and leap! Can you already tell these will be written during naptime since I have to keep my eyes peeled at all times?!