A Shout Out To My Fam

I forgot to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my cousins Susan and Richie for the Easter duck. Abram LOVES this duck. Kris had him in the rocker and was tickling him with it. Sadly, he is a little worn out in the video and is not laughing as hard as he was the 15 million times we did it before we decided to get out the camera. But he has gotten to whenever he sees the duck, he runs into his room and climbs up onto the rocker, and giggles to himself waiting to be tickled. He is such a mess, how can you not love him?

Monday Night Fun

It is encouraged by our church to set aside one evening a week for something called Family Home Evening. FHE is just that, a evening of quality time with your family. It includes a hymn, a lesson, and activity, and treats. It's kinda hard with our little one because his attention span is not so much. So today we went for a nature walk and talked about the creation. So I am thinking I am talking to myself until I say "Heavenly Father" and Abram stopped walking and folded his arms like we were going to pray. My heart melted. So if you are wondering where that possessed boy from this weekend went? I don't know, because we had a great day today-but I am sure that little boy will be back eventually. Until then, let's have fun cooking and putting up a tent (I am telling you, we are getting more creative by the second without cable)! Abram had so much fun playing in it! Kris said we should leave it up for him, I think it's because he doesn't want to take it down. Sometimes in the Raisor household we are random, but it's so much fun! P.S. I know my bandana does not match, but it's better than hair in the food-ya know what I mean?

Funny

We tried and tried to take a picture of the 3 of us today. We didn't even try to get Obi in too, that was a lost cause. But seriously, there are many bloopers. So here are 2 pics: one was taken 3 years ago, and one today-self taken, obviously. Man, we looked so young and naive....and yes,his shirt does say "My Mom Rules"

Speaking of Hysterical...........

Kris went out of town this weekend to go and help his mom in Tennessee. So I decided Abram and I should have a super mom and Abram day doing tons of fun stuff. We started off with a walk around the neighborhood talking about springtime and listening to the birds, waving at neighbors, then followed up with playing with cars, and watching the Backyardigans. We tried to go to the park, but it was birthday party city there and the parking lot was too crowded. So after his nap and something to eat we tried the park again. There were balloons there and it looked like they were cleaning up yet another birthday party.....little did I know. We got out of the car and there were a few left over kids dressed in superhero costumes, the birthday boy was "the flash" and they were packing up-or so I thought. Actually they were setting up for ANOTHER birthday party!! Abram, being 17 months old, doesn't realize that he is not invited to the party meaning he is not aloud to play with "the Flash"'s toys or with the balloons. As I try to explain this, that is when it starts (while you are picturing this, know that other people are showing up for the party). He starts to cry, then scream, then cry and scream simultaneously, then kick and then hit-I am carrying him sideways while he is doing this. Did I get a comforting "I have been there" look from a fellow sister of the motherhood sorority? Uh...no, did I get a "why can't you control your child?" look-most definately. So there I am smiling, trying not to die of embarrassment, sweating because I am embarrassed and my little monkey is A LOT stronger than he appears. So it gets better, I open the car door (by then he knows we are leaving so the screaming, crying gets louder), I am trying to get him in his carseat when HE GRABS ONTO THE DOOR TRYING TO PULL HIMSELF OUT WHILE I AM PUTTING HIM IN!!! Seriously, it looked like I was trying to kidnap him! I am fumbling around trying to find the duck puppet to help, he is sweating because he is so upset, I finally wrestle him into his carseat (still crying, you can hear him outside the car). I wipe my forehead and go sit in the driver's seat trying to pull myself together and look forward to see people with their mouths gaped open. I take a deep breath and drive away. A few minutes later he is calmed down as if nothing happened. We went to Target afterwards and as we were walking in I heard it, the same crying and screaming, except this screamer could talk "No mommy! No mommy!" and then I see a mom carrying her screaming tantrum throwing child out of Target. I just smiled, it's funny how Heavenly Father gives us that "You're not alone." pat on the back when we need it. The joys of motherhood, but you know what-even on days like this, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Samson

I think I have figured it out. Abram must think he is Samson (for those of you who don't know what I am talking about, bust out your Bible and look it up). That must be why he gets HYSTERICAL (red faced, hyperventilating he was crying so hard, shaking, the works)while getting his haircut. I am serious, it's almost as bad as getting a shot for him. I pull out all of the stops-candy, songs, puppets, nothing works. I needed to get his haircut in case it looked stupid-I mean....er.....uh.....didn't look right, it would have time to grow out before my sister's wedding. I contemplated doing it on my own, but chickened out. It didn't turn out that bad actually, his bangs are too short and I had to trim it up a bit. I would include a picture, but Kris has the camera. Do all boys hate getting their hair cut?

Calvin and Hobbes

It was Valentines Day 2004 and I called Kris. "Hey, let's torture ourselves and go to the pound. We'll just look around and play with the puppies." We had just bought our first house, it was small and brand new (I put that detail in because my mom said "Just what you need, brand new carpet and a brand new puppy."). Kris got there first and had this tiny little wussy looking puppy in his arms and said "What do you think?" I replied "eh, let's look around" He was in the very last kennel, laying on his back with his legs sprawled in every direction. "Hi" I said, and he flipped over revealing his mohawk on his back (he is a rhodesian ridgeback/springer spaniel mix-they think). "He is the one." I thought immediately. Kris took his dog and I took mine out to the pens to play. The puppy I picked out galloped (literally) around with these oversized paws, while Kris's was shy and didn't do much. My puppy stepped on Kris's puppy's head, I laughed and Kris hung his head, knowing his puppy was defeated. I couldn't stop thinking about the puppy. My cousins were coming in town that weekend and we went to visit the pound as well, that did it. It was decided, we were getting a dog. I will spare you from the high maintenance it was, taking a week off work, Kris's car getting stolen the same night we brought Obi home, me potty training Obi in 3 days-he only went once inside, having friends come in in shifts to let Obi out (thanks again!), Kris saying "He's so cute, let's let him sleep with us" when he was 17 lbs, 70 more pounds later-it's not as cute. Since I picked Obi out, Kris named him-Obi Wan Kanobi Raisor (only used when he is in trouble)well....the point to this, is Obi was our first "baby" and we were wondering how he would handle Abram. I remember being pregnant and all of going on a walk and Kris saying, "Maybe they'll be like Calvin and Hobbes (his favorite non-superhero comic)" Judging from the picture, I think they might be.

The Carousel

I have ALWAYS wanted to take Abram on a carousel ride!! Saturday we got to do it!! At first he HATED it, that is-until it started to move, then he was screaming for more! It was the funnest ever, I cannot wait to go back!!!

We LOVE the zoo!

We didn't get to go home like we wanted to this weekend, so my sister and my soon to be brother-in-law came to see us. On Saturday we went to the zoo and had the best time. Unfortunately SOMEone (me) took forever to get ready so by the time we pulled into the parking lot Abram started to yawn. Needless to say we didn't get to stay long, but long enough to have fun and for Natalie get her foot stuck in a dinosaur fossil-it's a good thing JJ was there to save her!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

One year later and I don't think he likes the bunny ears any more than he did last year. The difference is, this year he can take them off and run away...........and he did.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!

Daddy's Home!!!

Kris had to go to Rincon this week and he just got back today. We are so happy he's home! Tonight we celebrated with spaghetti and homemade meatballs. It was my first time making them (I even made them with red meat Mom!). I didn't eat any, but I got rave reviews. I love Rachael Ray. We finished it up with pudding and a family walk-well at least we tried. It stormed all morning and then the sun came out. We tried to go for a walk and put Abram in the backpack. We were a little ways out when it started to rain. Abram had on a hooded sweatshirt but the wind kept blowing it off. We were laughing so hard wondering what our neighbors must have thought and we couldn't run back because Abram was on Kris's back, so I put Kris's hat on Abram, he couldn't see, we were power walking........okay I realize now as I type that it was a definate "had to be there" story, but I am still laughing about it.

I AM DONE!

Two days, 629 pages. I feel the "the woman". Kris commented "I don't know if I am impressed, or worried." So I must say that this book had me a little "put out" with ol' Bella. I wanted to smack her a few times, but I guess you have to feel that way so that you'll want to read the next book. I don't know what that last chapter the epilouge was all about, anyways- I looked at the picture of the cast for the movie. What is up with Jasper's hair? I thought he would be bigger. And I am a little disappointed in Esme-the fact that she is Ava from Grey's Anatomy-we'll see about that one. I am unsure of Bella as well, but unfortunately, they didn't call me when they casted the actors so I will have to deal with it.
Today Kris had to go back to Rincon, and before he left we went to the park, Kris could only stay for 15 minutes because he had to get going. So we went on this nature trail and Abram was all about it, it was very cute. There were a few steep parts where I carried him because he was making me a nervous wreck, but picture this: the path forks and one way is uphill and one downhill. Kris, Obi, and I were going downhill and Abram decided to go up. Kris tried the ol' "Bye Abram, we are going this way!" Abram who was already walking up the hill-his back to us-put one hand in the air, not missing a beat and waved "bye" as in "see ya!" We just laughed and then chased him down. He is so funny. I know I am being a little mushy, but I decided today that my favorite sound in the whole world is Abram's laugh-when he was 7 months he started laughing outloud and my mom called his laugh "husky"-it totally is, and I LOVE it. He is so awesome, I can't believe his will be 17 months in 2 days.

Daddy's Cool Trick

We have been trying to keep busy while the weather is going psycho outside (in between rain, tornadoes, and beautiful sunshine) some of us are getting more "creative" than others. Fortunately, Abram thinks this is hilarious. Unfortunately, he thinks everyone can do it and gets upset when he discovers only Daddy is this talented.

DANG IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this is where I have been. I read it in two days, I haven't been sleeping because I have been staying up to read........maybe I am turning into a vampire. On a random note, that used to be what Kris would ask everyone he met, sometimes when he FIRST met them, like that would give him some insight to the person "Okay, if you had the choice, would you be a werewolf, or a vampire?" I pick vampire, he picks werewolf, so what would you say?

I don't know if I love you, or I am mad at you.......

First of all, let me preface this by saying, I do not like to read. I don't have time to read, and I very seldom find a book that grabs my attention enough to stick with it. That being said, in reference to my subject title today-you know who you are, there are 3 of you-we were standing in Liz's kitchen when you cornered me, gasping at the fact that I had never even heard of this series. Then, instantly telling me that I NEEDED to read them. SO I went to the bookstore, decided I didn't have anything better to do, looked it up and had to go to the Teen Fiction section which was "really cool" and bought the book. SO here is the second problem, when I do find a book that grabs my attention, I can't put it down, every free minute is obsessing over it. As it was with this book. The first night I read halfway through, the only reason I could stop was that it was 1:45a.m. and I knew Abram wouldn't be too keen on the idea of sleeping in (understatement). SO the next day during his nap time-I didn't care that there were dishes in the sink, toys all of the place, a funk smell coming from the trash can in the pantry-all I could do was read. And it finished last night, Kris found out a couple of days ago he might have to go to Rincon, and he did-he left last night (so for those of you out there-he is there right now, if you want to feel sorry for him and invite him over for dinner :) ) I told him I would wait up for him to know he got there because I was worried about him driving at night, and he was tired. This was true, PLUS it gave me and excuse to stay up and read-it was BONUS, I got to be supportive, and finish the book. There I was, straining my eyes because I was so tired, but I had to find out...would James find her? would Edward turn her? I finished the book and like an idiot read the first chapter to the sequel (you know how it's in the back of the book) and that did it, I am going to the bookstore this weekend-I AM HOOKED PEOPLE!!!!

One of those things you HAVE GOT to make....

Some of my fellow bloggers like to post recipes (which I love) so I decided to follow along. Now before you analyze this by calories-you need to remember that bananas are good for you, so I think it all evens out in the end. That being said, here goes:

Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1c margarine, softened
3c all purpose flour
2c white sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
4 eggs
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
6 ripe bananas, mashed
1c lite sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1c semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar, and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda, and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

Delicious!!!

Whatchoo talkin' bout?

Abram does this lately, I don't know what this look means-it's usually when he doesn't like something. In this case, we went to eat at The Golden Rule Barbeque-Kris and I thought it was really good, Abram didn't agree.

Cutest picture ever...except

SO here is the deal. We did the Easter egg hunt at church, it was wonderful all except one thing. You see I wasn't going to post any pics of it, because then I would be reminded of what a slacker mom I am. I had a lot to do that morning: make chocolate banana bread, make cheesy potatoes (it was a brunch and egg hunt) so I could be supportive and make new friends, get my husband to get in the shower from playing paintball, get ready, put Abram down for a nap, wake him up and see that he had something to eat in case he was too picky to eat when we got there, you get the picture. Well, in all of this drama.....(insert dramatic sigh)...I forgot his Easter basket. Kris and I decided we would just carry his eggs since we were already running 30 minutes late. Thankfully thay had extra baskets-extra pink lacy ribbon baskets.........yah. Here it is, Abram's very first Easter egg hunt with a pink lacy basket-I am sure I will laugh about it, one day. Though it is funny that Kris is carrying it. But seriously, the cutest picture eh-ver, minus the dumb basket.

Practice Makes Perfect

I told you I wanted to give him a little bit of an edge for the Easter egg hunt. So last night we busted out the eggs and decided to practice. He LOVED it! I didn't even put anything in the eggs and he loved it. Abram is a little enthusiastic as you can tell, I love him. Everytime I look at him I am so thankful and I feel so blessed to have such a sweet little boy. We did the egg hunt today-and when he discovered you can actually put things IN the eggs-you should have seen the look on his face. Kris decided to use this to his advantage and got Abram to eat his turkey sandwich by doing what else? Putting pieces of it in an egg (I am inserting a pause because I know you are shaking your head with me right now and probably laughing more AT me than with me) but, I have to give him points for creativity!!

I AM OBSESSED!!!!!

SERIOUSLY, I AM OBSESSED!! Here is how it starts, a couple of years ago Kris is geeking out on some sci-fi show where these people are stranded on an island with polar bears. I start making fun of it, because how ridiculous is that right? Well, what better way to make fun of it than to watch it with him to get more joke material, and then somehow it happens-IT SUCKS YOU IN!! You find yourself not being able to get enough!! It's almost like the Pavlov dog experiment, when the time comes around Thursday night I start to get ancy, pacing, making theories, wondering how the show will leave me hanging on for another week!! Ugh. So let's discuss, first of all might I say that the red head has some anger issues-she is a beast. Secondly, when what's her face (the wife/therapist) mumbled "Of course you look just like her..." who do you think she was talking about? My theory-remember when Ben blew up his people? Well he had that one little blond friend-remember she gave him that doll she made (the one in his bag before he killed everyone?) could it be her? Who do you think is the 6th person of the "Oceanic 6"? Oh and the person "you thought you'd never see again" I am banking on Michael. Okay, maybe this is a little pathetic, but I haven't made any friends yet.

Don't worry.....

I will remember all of the "little people" in my life when my son is drafted into the NBA. Abram is obsessed with basketball. It all started when I wanted to help him learn to crawl-I bought him a ball, he wanted it, he'd crawl to get it, etc. Well then I joined a gym (in Rincon), at first it was hard for him to stay in the nursery area. One of his "teachers" would shoot baskets while holding him and that was the only way he wouldn't cry (he was 10 months old, and just as a side note, I didn't make him suffer, in fact, the week before we left he wanted to go home with one of his teachers instead of me, yah-I didn't want to die or anything). From that point on, he was obsessed. We were at church early one Wednesday night and the boys were playing basketball, I wanted to see what he would do, so I took him into the gym-he was in awe. Jaw dropped, goofiest grin, clapping his hands, screaming bloody murder when we had to leave the gym, etc. he was hooked. My parents bought him a little tikes basketball goal for Christmas. We couldn't take it on the plane with us, so he didn't get it until his past weekend when we went to visit. Seriously, he LOVES it, and he's pretty good. He actually (accidentally) shot it in today (mostly he prefers slam dunks). This is to our despair, because neither Kris nor I play basketball-in fact, putting it lightly we suck-unless we are playing little tikes, that is a whole different ball game (ha..... ha...... ha). I will have you know that I am already making up cheers to embarrass him to the tune of "We Will Rock You", I am SO going to be that mom. FYI Carrie I am feeling your pain, because my camera is acting up, hopefully I will get it working and post some pics this weekend. Just think, you all can say "I knew him when....."

Liquid GOLD!!!!!!

I am SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!! Those of us from Knoxville refer to this as liquid gold. What is it you ask? Caffeine free Dr. Pepper!!! Only sold in select areas for some reason--seriously, before now I only knew of it being sold in Memphis (no joke, I have asked everywhere). When I was pregnant with Abram, my friend Amy bought all they had at her Walmart and brought it to me (she is the greatest, and I am not kidding I think she brought me 10 12 packs from Memphis). So there I am, in Winn Dixie wondering why in the world they have every kind of turkey except ground-and then, behold, it was as if a light shone down upon the shelf. I almost started crying, in fact, I think I teared up a little. Alabama has liquid gold!!!!! Gotta go, we might be under a tornado warning-great.

Sweet Home Alabama???

Okay, so I have a lot to catch up on. Let's start with the move. Being the smarties that we are, we decided to move on a Thursday. Why? Because we just wanted to get the move over with. The trip was supposed to be 6 1/2 hours and ended up being 9 1/2 hours, BUT the timing of it all worked out great and Abram did AWESOME. We get to Alabama on Thursday afternoon and everyone (that was supposed to help) is at work, the missionaries from our church show up after we stalked them down and helped move everything in (bless their skinny little hearts). After we got a little settled, we decided to go out to eat, because we had no groceries, much less knew where a grocery store was. We found the Olive Garden. SO exciting that it was 5:00pm and that we would beat all of the crowds-there we go in our grubby moving attire and the wait was an hour and 15 minutes......um, no thanks. SO we found a steakhouse, the wait was 1 hour and a half-unless Abram would like to demonstrate his vocal displeasure of standing still for a long period of time, I didn't think so. WHY was it 5:00 and the wait was so long? Why was everybody so dressed up while we were so grubby? Do you have to dress up to go out to eat in Alabama? Does everybody get off work early on Thursdays here? Well, we found a Chick-fil-a where there were no lines and ate there. There were little cute families all around, and all seemed to be wearing red......so you have to get off work early, dress up in red, and make sure you have reservations if you want to go out to eat on Thursdays.......so there we were and I was thinking and it came to me "Kris, it's Valentine's Day." and we both started laughing. Kris said "I bet everybody thought I was such a scrub trying to get a last minute dinner in." and we toasted our lemonades to a Happy Valentine's Day, and went home to be overwhelmed. We have a nice house which is close to an awesome playground, and it stopped raining for a day last week to go and explore. We had a blast and made a couple of friends which I need to call. You all I am 15-20 minutes from a Target and the most beautiful Walmart I have ever seen. I am so excited for Saturday because our church is having an Easter Egg hunt and Abram will be old enough to hunt for eggs-not that I am competitive or anything (wink) but we may start practicing this week. Things are so far so good, but I really miss my friends in Rincon, (and Knoxville too). Funny story though, my friend in Tennessee-her church just hired a youth minister and she was talking to his wife and they are from Savannah-well my friend continued to talk to her about how I lived in Rincon for a year and she said the youth minister's wife's eyes lit up and she said she was born and raised in Rincon! It's a small world after all. I have more stories and pics to share when I get this all figure out!