Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

I hope you all had a great Halloween! We didn't really do to much

here...it was pouring rain all day and we are all sick! I ended up

with a bad sinus infection that has spread to my ears and JR has a

sinus infection as well. Aidan is not too sick, but a runny nose and

cranky!! He was so NOT into Halloween this year. We attended a

couple of Halloween Parties for him and did some Trick or treating the

week leading up to Halloween. I couldn't find a costume that was cute

for him without being like every other 2 year old on the block! I

ended up picking up a Dragon w/ wings costume, but he of course

refused to wear the head piece. Didn't even get a picture of him in

full costume! Last night we just stayed in and watched movies and

hung out. It was nice...I felt guilty for not taking him out, but he

is 2 and he really really does not care. I should mention that the

home we are currently in while waiting to move into our new home is in

a retirement community. So there were NO kids, and no one handing out

candy! Sad.

On Friday night though we took him to the Farragut Freaky Friday,

which was a blast. A bunch of businesses in Farragut (suburb of

Knoxville) get together at the park and the kids trick or treat and it

was so much fun. There were a ton of people there and lots of little

ones in costumes! Some were so cute and original! So we did that,

got eaten alive by mosquitoes...poor Aidan they just love him. It was

humid and rain coming and they mosquitoes were out in full force!!

Here are a few pictures...

My boy...

Pop Culture

I have a bit of a dirty secret.  I love pop culture.  My sweet husband just shakes his head at me, he could care less.  So that being out in the open...

Jon and Kate...Shut the hell up.  Both of you.  Just.Stop.Talking.  I am SOOOOOO tired of hearing about you.  Hopefully your show will be off the air soon and you can fade into oblivion.  I used to LOVE this show.  Yes, Kate is a bit over the top but she has 8 kids....I'd be crazy too.  I am nearly crazy already and I only have one.  Jon...I can understand your need to rebel...you were treated like the 9th child instead of a spouse, but come on.  You are parents both of you and you should be ashamed of yourselves.  Stop.Talking. Stop issuing statements and stop airing your dirty laundry in public, your children will see all of this crap one day.

Jessica Simpson...She is NOT fat.  My God, what is going on with our society?  This poor girl, the latest skit that was done by the NFL was ridiculous.  Jessica looks beautiful...God forbid she gains 5 or 10 pounds and ends up looking like a healthy girl.  She is fine just the way she is.

This leads me to the next rant...What in the hell is this???

I read a follow up story on this and this model says that she was fired because she was too fat at 5'10 120 pounds.  Wow.

Then this photo came up again Ralph Lauren...

What is going on?  Models are not skinny enough?  I mean if some of them were any thinner they would be dead!  So we now have to alter their bodies to look like what? Aliens?  Their heads are bigger than their pelvis/hips...As a woman I am offended.  I refuse to allow myself to believe that this is beautiful.  This is not beautiful.  This is sick and I can tell you that I will absolutely not be buying anything RL!  I am officially boycotting RL! 

I will never understand how we got here.  What happened to the idea of beauty in the 40s and 50s?  Women...real women with busts and hips?  Even the supermodels of the early 90s looked like real women.  Cindy Crawford...she is beautiful and she had hips!  It is no wonder that we have such a problem with eating disorders in this country.  Society has dictated what is considered beautiful and unfortunately so many girls, women and men buy into that. 

We as consumers/members of our society have to put a stop to it. 

Next up...Who in the heck are the Kardashians?  Why do I care that one of them is pregnant?  That one got married after dating some obscure basketball player for a month? And that one...well I don't know what she has done, broke up with her boyfriend and then got back together??  I like pop culture but seriously? If People online has another story about the Kardashian that is pregnant, what she is eating blah blah blah I am going to boycott People.  Who are they paying for this publicity and again, who is that cares?  I realize that I just dedicated an entire paragraph to these 3...hypocrite. :)

And I would never boycott People.

I just realized that for some reason my blogger thingy no longer has spell check on it...I'm too lazy to spell check it myself tonight so I apologize in advance for any mispelled misspelled words... :)

Aidan's Second Birthday

We went to Nashville for Aidan's second birthday! Our baby boy turned

two on Sept. 18th. I made this cake for his birthday. It is the

Williams Sonoma cake pan. I took me 10 hours to decorate it. I am

not kidding. 10.hours.

It was fun though and it turned out cute. Aidan loved his choo-choo!!

He had an amazing time with his Aunts, Uncle and cousins in TN!! My

mom, dad, sister Aimee and brother in law Mike were able to Skype with

us and watch as well! Nana and Papa bought Aidan this super cute Jeep

for his birthday and he loves it!

TN house Views

Thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the view off of our back deck where we have been living while house hunting! It is so pretty and quiet and SO far from anywhere!!

Pictures of our life in TN

This is the farmer's market in Market Square in Downtown Knoxville. We love to head down on a Saturday morning, have breakfast and browse the market. They have it through November 21 and then have a 4 week holiday market complete with carolers and pits for roasting marshmallows!! Yummm...

This is Aidan the first time he went fishing. He and daddy fished off our boat dock on the lake and caught this little guy...

One of our favorite parks "The Cove"

Daddy and Aidan at the petting zoo at the Tennessee Valley Fair

Aidan on his very first ride by himself. He was not amused!

My baby's first day of pre-school! He loves his car car lunch box...

Dinner with Gram at Tagaris

While I was at home over the summer we took my Gram out to listen to music, drink a couple of bottles of wine and have fun with the girls! We had a great time! Love you Gram!

Bury your head...

I have found since I moved back to the US that I have been essentially burying my head when it comes to news. I am SO SICK to death of politics and politicians, all of them. I guess when we were living in Scotland we lived in sort of a bubble. Sure, things continued to happen around the world and in the States but it was like we were insulated from them a bit. I watched US cable news to keep abreast of what is happening in the world. I cannot believe how biased the news and associated channels have become. Whatever happened to just telling the news, telling us what is happening and letting people make their own minds up? Here is a news flash...Barack Obama is not a God. Really. He is not. I find it amusing that there was so much belief that he was going to be elected and with his magic wand make everything okay. Poor guy will never be able to live up the hype...even if he helped create it. That is what you do during campaigns.

About 12 years ago I stopped watching movies that made me cry. It was after the Titanic and I was traumatized by the movie. Don't laugh. I remember coming home from the movie and asking my best friend Kat (who had seen the movie) why didn't you tell me they were all going to die? She just looked at me like I was crazy and said "It is the Titanic, what did you think was going to happen?" Good Question.

There is so much bad that happens in our world. We have had a trial going on here in Knoxville about a young couple who were kidnapped, tortured, raped and killed. It is a huge racial thing here since the couple was white and the accused are black. I don't care if you are purple, why do things like this happen? I can't and won't give any details....I just can't read about it. My heart literally breaks. I look at my son and think kids are born so innocent. They really are. I don't want to hear about class, income blah blah blah. What happens along the way? Why did the accused allegedly do this? I have an internal "thing" within me...I know the difference between right and wrong, not because of religion or because I was "taught" the difference.

I guess this is brought on because as I was laying here in bed this morning looking out at the beautiful lake and sunshine having a cup of coffee while my boys are out getting tires put on the car, I happened to stumble across an article of the testimony that Elizabeth Smart gave regarding her experiences in captivity. I usually don't read these articles, literally because they tear me up. The things that happened to this little girl are horrific. Why? Why? Why?

I don't know. It just rocks me to my core to know that things like this happen. How do we stop it? I just want to take my little boy and wrap him in my arms and turn on Mickey Mouse and pretend like things like this don't exist. But what kind of parent would I be if I did that? I hate the fact that I have to teach him this side of human nature to protect him.

I know...a random post.

Summer Fun

Catching up

I figured since I am on my death bed that I could at least post a few pictures and give some updates. We were able to take a weekend away over the summer (2 WHOLE days) and get away just JR and I. We spent the weekend at a gorgeous luxury B&B called Cameo Heights Mansion. We stayed the night here (one of our only other times alone) on our wedding night and our return trip did not disappoint. If you are ever in the Walla Walla Valley doing some wine tasting and would love a nice kids free place to stay with amazing food and wine...this is the place!

Kaylee and Aidan at Tagaris Winery and Restaurant.

My Love at Cameo Heights...

Self Portrait...