the night we met PDUB

If you have facebook, you've probably seen that last night I got to meet a blogging hero. Her name is The Pioneer Woman, but we refer to her lovingly as P-Dub. She writes a fabulous blog that I've been reading for years... and just recently she was able to publish a cookbook.

Last night, at Full Circle bookstore, she and her family were there for a book signing. Jamie, Mallory, Sara, Lauren and I loaded up and went.

We got there at 5:30, signing started at 6:30 and we thought we were good. We were in line into the mall, but still relatively close to the front of the line. We had a fabulous time in line... And I'm pretty sure that we kept the ladies around us entertained.

For example, at one point during the wait, Lauren noticed PW's husband (who we in the blogging world know as Marlboro Man) was walking through the mall, right toward us.

Jamie has a fancy camera and we wanted her to take a picture... but she was on the phone with Chris. So we stood there yelling at her and jumping up and down... This is our recenactment of the moment later-

Later in the evening, her daughters came walking through the crowd. They walked right by us and Sara was bold enough to ask them for a picture. At this point we were all giddy, but still being oh-so-smooth....


Mallory said to them "I like your boots"... Then turned to us and immediately said (in the highest pitch EVER)- "I totally froze!!!" We all CRACKED up and somehow it turned into "BOOTS... PUNKS... RANCH" for the rest of the night... the lady in front of us was even quoting it by the end!

Her husband and two sons walked through the crowd a little later. Sara and I followed (read, hunted them DOWN) and were able to get a pic with them. Jamie, Mallory and Lauren were SOOOO jealous!

We finally made it INTO the actual bookstore and started to get excited... but the excitement turned into more waiting... and waiting... and waiting...


But finally... it happened- we got to meet P-DUB!

She is as cute and as sweet in person as she is on her blog. She chatted with us and commented on all of our clothes.


She loved us so much, she even put us on her BLOG!!


Anyway, to say it was the night or our lives would be putting it mildly.
And now you can all say that you know someone famous. ;)

want to bless someone?

Sara over at sara e photography is hosting a contest.
The prize: a FREE one hour photography session and a CD of high resolution photo files... but not for yourself.
Go to her blog and leave a comment nominating a deserving family who wouldn't otherwise have fabulous family photos available to them. The contest ends October 31, so go now and sign up!

What a great way to start off the holiday season!

And in case you forgot, she took this awesome photo!

back from vacay

We had a FABULOUS trip to Grand Lake this past week. Micah and I started off the week with probably the highlight of his life (besides marrying me and having little boy) which was seeing U2 in concert!! Not only did we see U2- we were up close and personal with them.

I'll post a recap and photos later, just wanted to let everyone know that I am, in fact, alive.

ideas

I need your help!!

Dilemma #1- My old comforter set got ruined... let's just say it involved a leaky pull-up and a tragedy in the washing machine. Anyway, it died. Inspired by Natalie over at The Pettijohns, I ordered a fluffy white duvet set from overstock.com. Um, how have I missed that place all these years?? It's glorious!

Now- what I need your help with is this- I now have a blank canvas of a room! My furniture is black, my bedding is white- I NEED SOME COLOR!! How should I add some color to my room?

Bear in mind the following things:

• I am poor
• I am fairly boring and bright colors scare me
• I have a 3 year old tornado son who thinks it's his job to destroy anything in his path.

SO- the cheaper, calmer, sturdier your suggestions, the better!

Dilemma #2- We're going on vacation next week (WOO-HOOOOO!!) and my all-time favorite vacation activity (besides sleeping) is reading a good book. Last year on our 3 day vacation, I read the entire Chronicles of the King series. Yeah, I read kinda fast... so- I'm looking for an interesting series/author to read through! Please give me some new ideas!

Dilemma #3- Any good road trip needs fabulous road trippin' music! What should we listen to??

Ready, set, GO! Solve my problems! :o)

how could i forget?

I forgot to post my favorite picture of the little boy yesterday!

family photos

The lovely Sara Wheeler took awesome photos of us last weekend. Not only is she a talented photographer, but also a dear, dear friend of mine.

Now I can't wait to see what Sissy Bird cooks up for our family Christmas card this year... I mean, look at these great images she has to work with!

Tony's Tigers

John Mark played his first soccer game on Saturday.
The term "played" is, of course, relative...



His team, Tony's Tigers, is a bunch of kids from church.
You've got Carmine, who just wants to play with the flags on the sidelines...
Rhett, who has more athletic ability in his 3-year-old body than ME...
Sweet Leslie, whose older sister has taught her a thing or two...
Coach Tony, who tried so very hard to pitch the concept of soccer to this motley crue...
John Mark- we'll get there later...
Cassady, who enjoys picking her nose and scoring for the other team...
Haley, who also has it going on...
And sweet Logan- who just wanted to kick the ball.

John Mark started out promising- he was kicking the ball so well... Although, he didn't quite grasp the concepts of: A- not using his hands and B- chasing the ball post kick...

He took a time-out from playing to do the hot-dog dance...

And when it was his turn to sit-out, he walked over and said:

"Coach Tony said I'm done...

Can I get my donut now?"

But he stayed with it...

and had fun- which I suppose is the point of Tiny Tot soccer.

John Mark even comes with his very own cheering crew-

Reminds me of my glory days playing basketball...

The whole fam out to watch.

John Mark is a blessed, blessed little boy and he doesn't even know it!

Stay tuned for more soccer updates.

This can only get better!

favorite bible verse night

Last night was "dress like your favorite bible verse" night at Pre-Stomp. Since I forgot about this unitl 10:00 the night before, I had to come up with something quick and easy. John Mark loves the verse: "I'm the apple of His eye..." so, may I present:

i may or may not have...

*bought Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus last night

*danced to an unnamed Miley Cyrus song while running

*enjoyed a braum's frozen yogurt while watching The Biggest Loser

*cried when Abby got to call her mom during TBL

*forgotten until 10 PM that I have to dress JM up as his favorite bible verse tonight for church

*become obsessed with "Payday Mix"- candy corn & peanuts- and eaten 2 or 3 or 10 handfuls

*been excited that a blog reader saw me around town and recognized me... i feel so famous!

family photos

My sweet, sweet friend Sara took family photos of us this afternoon.
Check us out on her blog-
I can't wait to see the rest of them!

a lesson in snuggling

Last night, we were putting John Mark to bed per usual.
After singing and praying and saying Bible verses,
he looked at me and Micah and said-
"I want you to snuggle me...
Daddy- little bit (insert thumb, finger close together)
Mommy- WHOLE LOT (two hands stretched out)
little bit (fingers to micah)
whole lot (hands to me)
little bit... whole lot...
Got it?"

Seriously- funniest kid ever.

this would happen

So, my life has a way of always being strange...
or strange things happening to me...
Jamie calls it my "beacon."
It's so true... I'm like that 1% of everything.

This morning, I decided I wanted a smoothie.
Now would probably be a good time to point out-
I haven't wanted a smoothie in about a year...
That means the blender has been in the cabinet-
for about a year.

I pull everything out, dust out the inside-
Take a peek and then pour in my milk.
I add a handful a peaches...
And then I see it.
Something brown and crunchy-
with antennaes...
FLOATING in my milk.

Immediately I start screaming.
I'm yelling for Micah...
"There's a bug in the blender...
A BUG is in the BLENDER...
PLEASE GET THE BLENDER..."

John Mark is dancing around singing
"Mommy's blending a bug...
Blend the bug mommy"

Micah is laughing hysterically,
"It's just extra protein...
What's the big deal?"

And I am dry heaving in the corner.

Welcome to my life, friends.
Welcome to my life.

look mommy, i dressed myself

process of a haircut

Saturday was haircut day for the Rigdons.
Well, really just for John Mark-
He needed his "first day of school" haircut.

Now if you remember, JM's not a huge fan of haircuts.
After this lovely little incident, we bought clippers.
I decided it would be better for us to inflict this trauma.

So Saturday morning, we laid out a sheet,
turned on Phineas and Ferb,
and went to town.

The first part of the haircut went off without incident.
He sat still, watched TV and even laughed a little.
I thought we were going to make it.



But then Micah had to switch sides...
And do the bottom of his neck...
And trim around his ears...
And all peace and calm flew right out the window.
There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.



But then it was over.
And all was well.
John Mark was happy with his new hair-
"I love my hew haircut, mommy."
He was also happy with his ice cream.
Mommy, however wasn't happy with the cleanup.
Can you believe this crazy amount of hair???


Thank goodness for vacuums...

first day of school

John Mark starts preschool today.
I'm excited for him- he has awesome teachers.
But I'm also sad.
PRESCHOOL???
It just sounds so grown up...

He was excited to wear his new "wolverine" shirt.
And show off his new haircut.
He was not excited when I told him they don't get a snack.
I'm not too thrilled with that either,
but that's another story.

A sweet college freshman, Haleigh, watches him for an hour each morning,

Then brings him to me to walk over to school.

It's a nice system, and JM loves Haleigh.

Unfortunately, today I forgot to have her bring his bag-

which has his lunch...

Fortunately we don't live far.

And Micah is at the eye doctor.

So he's bringing the bag to him.

This is John Mark with his teacher, Ms. Casey.
She is awesome.

I know her from my brief year at CLC.

I'm excited he gets to be a part of her class.

Here he is, playing puzzles with his friend Leslie.

I was trying to be sneaky when I took this,

but he obviously sees me.

So to sum it up, I'm excited for John Mark's year of preschool.

I know he will learn a TON,

and hopefully make some new friends.

I'm not excited that he's big enough to be doing this.

He should still be a baby...

many faces

John Mark has many faces.
Last night, he as in a good mood and willing to take pictures
(which never happens!)
so we laid on the floor making faces.

fishy face

sad face

silly face

surprised face

getting too big

Seriously- where did the summer go?
I can't believe it's almost September...
or that my baby is 3 and starts Pre-STOMP tonight at church...
And preschool next Tuesday.
It's MADNESS, I say!

Anyway, tomorrow night is meet the teacher night at "school."
I'm so excited about the two ladies teaching preschool.
I love both of them and I know that John Mark will too.

Did I tell you that John Mark is potty trained?
It finally happened.
He just decided to go in the potty
Since his 3rd birthday, he's had maybe 3 accidents.
Awesome.

These pictures are from last night.
JM decided that he wanted to sleep in "just boxers."
And he looked so cute, I had to take pictures.