LONG LONG car ride!

Man do I love vacations! The only thing I don't enjoy about vacations is the getting ready for. That part is stressful! Especially when you are driving 8 hours with your husband and a 2 year old! There is nothing that makes Jim and I argue more than traveling! So you can imagine my excitement! Thankfully we left last night and Kade and I were able to sleep! All I can say is that portable DVD players are ah-mazing!! Except when your child only wants to watch zebra and giraffes (Madagascar). We watched it 3 times. I repeat 3 times. Oh my lord! Oh well, it kept him happy. While we were watching the movie, Jim was up front with headphones on listening to a book on tape. The only time I wanted to punch him in the face the whole trip was when he ran off the road trying to grab sour patch kids. I mean really? You want to jeopardize your family's life over stupid candy? We made it to Jim's moms house around 1:00 this morning but Kade wouldn't go back to sleep until like 4:00 bc he was over tired. After pulling out half my hair, hitting and kicking Jim and I, and hitting me in the head with a baseball bat, he fell asleep only to wake up 3 hours later. Worst night of my life! Oh well, we made it safely. Now tomorrow we are getting up early and driving to Alabama to see some of my family and then to Atlanta to stay with my parents! So unbelievably excited! Here are a few of the pics from our trip so far

Tomorrow starts another day of excitement and another car ride with zebras and giraffes!

Daddy blog time.  I've been extremely overwhelmed at work.  I have recently been given a temporary supervisor role while one of the supervisors has an operation and recovery.  I love what i do and i really love grass.  I also knew if my family was going to love it i would need to make the most of it in an industry that doesn't get much credit.  Most people don't event know it exist.  This will be a great test to see how if I'm as good as i talk myself up to be.  More than anything else i would love to be able to give Kade more reason to see how hard work can finally pay off.  Trying to raise a child in Boca can be very tough.  Very few friendly strangers due to the strong NY and New Jersey influence.  There might not be a whole lot to do in Leesburg GA but there is very strong community that i do miss.  I also don't remember anybody showing off money like they do here.  Maybe i was just to young.  It will definitely take a lot of work to instill mine and Rays southern values into Kade but that is one of our biggest goals.  I will be proud of Kade Man no matter what but would love to know he was a southern gentleman when it comes that time. 

Slow it down just a little....

So today I think I realized just how fast time was passing by. I've always heard that when you have a kid, they grow up so fast that the next thing you know, they are a teenager and then driving and then off to college and so on. Tonight was one of those nights that I realized just how fast Kade was growing up! Or maybe I realized how much I actually work! While I was on my way home from work today I was talking to Jim and he told me that he had a surprise for me. The surprise was a video of Kade. Before I go on about the video, let me tell you a few other things first. See, because I got a good opportunity with work, Jim and I basically switched roles. He took a job with the City of Boca Raton where he works 7:00 am- 3:00 pm so I could basically tackle my new store (same position but bigger store with a lot to prove and was afforded the opportunity to do so by myself- won't go into any other details but just know it has helped me tremendously grow as a manager). Anyhow, with my new store I have to work 7:45 am to 6:30 pm pretty much everyday and then most Saturdays. So basically 6 days a week for the most part. With that being said, Jim has to go get Kade from school everyday, most of the time go grocery shopping and run errands, come home and cook dinner, clean up and give Kade a bath, all before I get home from work! So I never get to see Kade  with me getting home at 6:30 and him going to bed by 7:15. In that 1 on 1 time with Kade, Jim gets to experience and see first hand just what Kade has learned at school and what he can say and do. I'm always 2 to 3 weeks behind. Jim took a video for me of something he watched Kade do. Jim turned on Pandora for kids and the song "If You're Happy and You Know It." and Kade immediately started doing the motions and singing it.

Then, we were video chatting with my parents tonight and played that song from You Tube so they could see him sing and dance. We took a shot in the dark and did other songs too. We did not realize just how much he knew! We took another video of him singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

I am still in complete awe at what all he knows and can do! I absolutely love this boy more than anything! I love these moments!!

Funny faces and Sidewalk Chalk

I'm just going to come out right and say it..... Jim and I have the coolest little boy there is! He is so much fun and just loves living life to the fullest! And, he by far has the best personality of any 2 year old out there! Jim, me, Kade and Jim's mom went out to eat Saturday night and Kade had people mesmerized by him! This one couple couldn't stop staring at him telling me how cute he is, how they couldn't believe how independent he is (cutting his hamburger with a fork and knife. I helped him with the knife part), and how personable he is. Kade was also asking every single person if they "want some" of his Lemonade, while shoving it in everyone's face or direction. It was one of the funniest/cutest things we've seen him do. And of course, because we laugh, he does it even more!

This was Kade and I on our way home from dinner. This is his funny face. We watch a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba and when they do funny faces, this is the go to for most of the kids on the show, which is why that is Kade's funny face. We love it!

On Sunday, we went to Toys R Us to get a portable DVD player (we are making the 8 hour trip to Georgia next month... driving ) and Side walk chalk. Don't you love the man tank that Kade has on? We went to Target on Saturday and they were having a huge sale on boys clothes and when Jim saw this, we had to have it! When I put it on Kade, he was so confused and couldn't figure out where the sleeves were. My parents got him a new pair of sunglasses when they were in San Francisco last month and he loves them! We love them too because when you register them, if something happens to them, you get a brand new pair for free! They are called Babiators (however you spell it).

The Sidewalk chalk was a big hit Sunday afternoon. It kept him busy for a good hour or hour and a half. Nothing ever occupies his time for that long so I was impressed with how much he loved it. It also helped us practice our colors. Let me brag by saying that my smart 2 year old knows all of his colors, primary that is. He doesn't know gold or silver or anything like that. But you could throw red/yellow/green/blue/orange/purple/pink at him and he can tell you exactly what color it is! Below are a few pictures from our Sidewalk Chalk funday!!!

                                                                     Tracing his hands!

                                                                           Clean up!

                                                               Coloring with daddy!

I absolutely love this sweet boy more than anything! It's amazing watching him learn new things daily and grow into the young boy that he is. Love my family!

Kade is the coolest little boy in the entire world.  And he is a little over two years old.  How in the world can a guy that cute, sweet, and loveable flip that switch that causes me to ask him " Do you need to go to time-out"  My legacy hit me in the head twice the other afternoon in daycare.  I'm 31 years old and still got embarrassed in front of all the other 2 year olds.  If I'm not with Kade I'm upset that i don't have my Kade Man next to me.    But.  I get dizzy trying to figure out what the next step is when he throws a fit in Publix and I have to spend 10 minutes talking to him about why he cant open every bag of chips on the isle. I know this all part of the process and that its the age, but only when I'm at home and we are playing catch can I actually think about it in the proper respect.  Because when I'm carrying him out as he yells "Stop It Daddy" with his tiny hand in my face (i think this might come from Momma) I don't think about all that crap  read about in those magazines.  It is a beautiful thing to think about at night though. How does my Kade Man,  Bull Frog,  treat me like crap, be soooo mad at me, and me on the verge of yelling at him like he's not 2 make all that emotion stop; with a perfectly timed fart. 

Another Successful weekend of Crafts

I believe that Jim and I are getting the hang of redecorating on a budget. We've been wanting to do so much to our house but never really figured out how without spending a whole ton of money! Well.... tadaaaaa! Figured out the trick. Spray paint and sand paper. There is a lot you can do with spray paint and sandpaper. Case in point.... One of my good friends gave Jim and I a desk that he was no longer using. He knew that Jim and I were into redoing furniture and stuff and wanted us to go to town on a desk that he was going to throw away. Once Jim and I picked it up, we could hardly wait to get started. As soon as we put Kade to sleep, Jim and I spent 2 hours outside. I was over the whole sand papering crap after a good 3 minutes! That part is not fun! Then came the fun part.... Spray Paint.... and a pretty color at that!

                      This is a picture of the before. As you can see, nothing is wrong with the desk.

And the after picture! I have to say, I think we did a FABULOUS job if I do say so myself! It makes it look like a whole new desk! The desk we had our computer on was nothing special at all. So once we got this new one in, we did a lot of rearranging in our computer room, off of our kitchen. The wall that the computer is on now had a couch. So, we moved the couch to the other wall, where the computer once was.

So, this is a picture from far away. Ignore the filing cabinet in the middle. That is being moved somewhere else, just not right now. Our backs are a little shot from all of this. It won't hurt anyone leaving it be for a little while.  This room now looks so much different and bigger!


To end our weekend, Jim and I took Kade to the beach. We haven't been able to go in several weekends due to the weather being so horrible, so we were extremely excited about going. We even got up early for it! Good thing we did, because not even an hour after being there the weather was horrible!

We had to bust it to get out of there before the bottom basically fell out. It was thundering and lightening so bad that it was beyond scary. This is a picture of us driving home right before it rained cats and dogs. Then I pulled up the weather on my phone and it said we were under a significant weather advisory for a severe thunderstorm and possible funnel clouds. Then, I saw this picture below that someone had taken just north of us!

UMMMMM..... Yes very very scary. Waterspout just north of us! Slightly scary... just sayin'. Anyhow, at least we got one good hour! All in all, it was another fabulous weekend with my family! Not excited about going to work tomorrow, that is for sure! Love!!

I promised Sim if she would do the blog i would contribute to help keep each other motivated so we could give family and friends more than just a bunch of Facebook photos and keep every-body up to date on the family that is just a little to far away.  I have lost a lot of motivation for blog writing since it feels much like a journal.  But i owe it to Slim to continue.  I'm glad she is excited about doing projects around the house because its so easy to just give up at the end of the day and try to relax after Kade has gone to bed.  I really respect parents with multiple children.  I really do.  I tried to be Mr. arts and crafts dad my self recently and failed.  i don't really know of many father son things besides building and Kade isn't quite there yet, if anyone has ideas for his age. I tried to make glow in the dark bounce balls but the mold broke and I instead made glow in the dark balls that looked like VHS tape left on dash of hot car ( showing age).  I worked at Video Warehouse in Albany and always laughed at those tapes.  So i am interested in ideas that me and Kade can do together and proudly show off to family. 

Gettin' My Arts & Crafts On!!

From time to time, I will get in this kick of wanting to DIY everything, Pinterest Style! I've been getting all of these HGTV magazines, thinking, what can I come up with today. Kade's bathroom has forever been a project of mine. I got really excited and painted his bathroom in stripes a long time ago. After about 2 hours, I was over it. And I mean over it! I half did the last part and it looked sloppy, making Jim come in and touch it up. Well, ever since then, I haven't really had the desire to do anything else in the bathroom. It took too long, colors didn't turn out like I like, and I couldn't come up with anything cute. So, this past weekend, I figured I would give it another shot. Here is what I came up with.

This has to be my favorite canvas that I printed. I absolutely love Hakuna Matata! I mean, I even have a tank top with the saying on it! I've been dying to paint it on something and well, I finally did.

When Kade was a baby, we would always sing Splish Splash I was Takin' a Bath and he absolutely loved it. I mean, it kept him giggling non stop. Don't know if it was the song that kept him laughing or me singing it since I can't sing at all. I'm just going to go with, it was the song that kept him laughing!

I painted four different things. 2 canvases and 2 frames. What I thought was only going to take me 1 hour to do last night, ended up taking 2-3. I was about to get to that point of having enough of it again (catch a pattern? Just like the bathroom painting fiasco? If it takes longer than expected, I'm over it!) Thank goodness I didn't hit that point, though! Love the poopoo potty picture? A girl from work gave me the idea of blowing the picture up and framing it for the bathroom. I loved the idea! He will hate me for it whenever he gets older though! LOL Don't care though!

This is part of Kade's bathroom now. Notice the green little shelf thing at the bottom of the picture? It used to be black. Got my spray paint on again today! I think that it definitely adds the much needed color in the bathroom. The bathroom is still not completely finished. This is just the motivation I needed to finally finish it. I need to get him a new shower curtain, etc. Maybe some kid towels, who knows. If anyone has ideas, I am definitely open to them!

This is a picture of something I did for Kade's room a few weeks ago! I spray painted two HUGE canvases. One orange and one lime green, and free handed quotes on them. Well, you can see that from the picture. One says, "I Yam What I Yam, An Thas All I Yam!" -Popeye and the other one says, "Today you are you that is truer than true, there's no one alive that is youer than you!" -Dr. Seuss

I don't know why, but I have a feeling that shortly I will have painted every furniture, every frame, every possible thing I can! I think I'm beginning to watch too much HGTV!! NOT you can never watch too much HGTV!!

Weekend of PooPoo Potty, Artsy Fartsy, and Naps!

As always, the weekends are well anticipated and when they come, they are very short. I unfortunately had to work on Saturday and have been sick since I had to stay home with Kade last Tuesday when he was sick. I am still not over it. Nevertheless, the weekend was still good. Got to see good friends, hang out with Kade and Jim and Boogie, and sleep. Here are 3 of the highlights from this weekend.

Kade sitting on the potty. This was funny because of how it ended up going down. See, we were anticipating some of my friends coming over so Jim was vacuuming and I was hanging out with Kade until he got done so I could mop. I walked into the kitchen for one second and next thing I know, Kade is running down the hallway with all of his clothes off and his diaper half off saying "Mama, poopoo potty." He ran into the bathroom, scrambled to put the small thing on top for him to sit on and asked me to put him up there. However, I am not sure if he did anything because everytime I tried to get close to look, he would put his hand in my face and say, "stop it mama!!" Then he grabbed the toilet paper, wiped his butt and flushed the toilet faster than I could look in the toilet to see if he did anything. I ran and grabbed Jim while Kade was on the toilet so he could watch too. It's funny how we get so excited when our kid poops and pees or even just wants to sit on the toilet! Jim was high-fiving him on the toilet and I was screaming and clapping saying good job, unsure if something actually happened but for the fact that he was just wanting to sit on there! 

This is one of my favorite moments because very rarely do I get to cuddle with my 1st little boy, the hound dog! (Notice the orange nails. This is Jim's doing. Everytime he goes to get groomed, Jim has them paint Boogies nails a different color!) So to cuddle with the hound and get a kiss from my sweet boy.... Great Moment!! Then asleep I went! (Remember I'm sick. Kade had it too so I wasn't concerned with kissing him)

This was one of Jim's brilliant moves. Not too often will I incorporate Jim and brilliant in the same sentence but here I do. (JK Love for whenever you see this). Jim has this old stool that he painted all one color. Well, Jim got all artsy fartsy and decided that it would be fun for the 3 of us to paint on it. So we put down painters mats, got out the acrylic paints and brushes, stripped Kade and went to town. It was fun for about.... 5 minutes before Kade got bored. He messed up mine and Jim's lovely drawings, put his belly all over the stool which in turn got paint all over him and then wiped the paint brush all over this face. We never got finished because we could see it starting to get out of control. So, this project is a To Be Continued....

All in All, it was a great weekend. Hate that it is already over and I get to start another 6 day work week. YAY. Another week that I don't get to see Jim and Kade very much.

Daddy Time:
Had a most awesome time this weekend with my momma Marry Marry.  Got to feed giraffes at  Lion Country Safari. One day  Kade man and I went to Bounce House while Slim and Mom got fingernails done. Of course the best time was just spending family time. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing mom, I'm so glad her and Kade Man got to spend time together.  I got Slim to come down to South FL for me to have a better chance at enjoying my work, and to experience something new.  We both knew it would be tough to be away from family, but you really don't understand how you feel until so

many opportunities go by that you wish they were there.  I'm just happy we live in a time that we can share Kade Man through IChat, Skype, and all that other stuff.  As Kade grows older i realize the importance of family more and more.  More time with family is the reason i took my current job.  I just want to take this opportunity to thank my family, everyone.  i really am grateful for all you do and putting up with me and not being mad for having Kade Man so far away. 

Cleaning.... No bueno!!!

Why is it so nice to have a clean, orderly house that doesn't smell like a dog 24/7 but so hard to get? There is nothing I hate more than to clean. Close in second is cooking. I am by far the complete opposite of a domestic housewife! I did not come by it naturally because my mom, my mom's mom and my dad's mom and even my sister are all about having a clean house (and their house is ALWAYS clean) and cooking a nice, healthy meal. I am the complete opposite. I don't mind a little mess, a little dust and a little laundry here and there and I certainly don't mind McDonalds, Chili's, and Boston Market (if I'm craving something a little healthier). Don't worry though, I make sure my son has fruits and vegetables from Fresh Market and there is nothing he loves more than Broccoli, Strawberries, watermelon, etc. He just has that along with the aforementioned! Anyhow, back to the cleaning ( I get sidetracked really really easily). I hate cleaning. Like absolutely DESPISE cleaning with a PASSION!!! I will put it off and put it off until it makes the cleaning even harder and take that much longer. Like, a bathroom shouldn't take over an hour to clean, right? Well, I guess it does if I like to have a little dance party while I'm cleaning.

Jim walked into the bathroom the other night and found me dancing to Hanson's MMMBop and then breaking it down to Come on Ride That Train while I was scrubbing the shower in rubber gloves (I just did my nails) and an awesome hard core sponge! After taking this picture, he just walked out shaking his head at me and told me that I must be on drugs! lol. I will not even tell you the last time I cleaned the shower prior to that so I had to make it fun or I would be really annoyed at myself! But it took me an entire week, basically my whole vacation, to clean my house. Fast forward to tonight, Jim and I cleaned the house a little more since his mom is coming to visit us for a few days starting tomorrow. After Jim vacuumed, he got up on the roof to finish fixing the leak and I had to mop. Well let me tell you, it is not smart to wait a long time to mop your house when you have a dog, a 2 year old and a husband who works outside for a living. Our white tile was only half white. So as I'm mopping, I have to stop every so often because my arms are hurting, I'm panting and I have sweat dripping from my head! Last time I checked, mopping was not supposed to be labor intensive. It would be nice to just wiggle your nose like the lady from I Dream of Jeanie (however you spell it) and poof, your entire house is clean. Like you can see it sparkle because it is so clean. But since that will never happen, I should just suck it up and clean or hire someone!

Today is my birthday which is always good for reflecting.  Once I reached a certain time in my life I decided my goal in life was to be the greatest dad ever above all else, I just want to be a father Kade is proud to have and to make decisions based around that.  Always make life for Kade better than what I had.  I didn't have a bad childhood, but I believe that is what everybody strives for.  Great thought.  Problem is that I really don't know what I'm doing.  I realize this fact daily as I try to figure out situations like how Kade can clean his room on his own and on two different occasions poop the tub with a huge smile on his face. 

This birthday i spent most of my time fixing a leak on our house.  Started with great plan, followed by many things out of my control, to where I'm at now, a leak in the roof.  A smaller leak thanks to Mr. Fix It, but still a leak.  As i watched the rain come down again and again this birthday weekend and worried about the leak and possible future issues and all that crap. I  had my reflection and a beautiful moment of happiness.  I'm losing a battle with the leak, but I'm in an amazing part of my life.  Amazing family, house, and job that allows me to enjoy it. This will hopefully, eventually be a past battle.  Just like with the roof I will just have to be a dad in the same way.  Start with a great plan, deal with many things that are out of my control, and continue on my greatest dad ever path.  I know there will be more moments in life much like while I was fixing the leak.  When the pain of my toe after slipping on the sweat that was dripping off my face in the million degree attic and stubbing my toe on a board causing me to raise up into a cactus like bed of nails that is my entire attic and feeling as many of them as possible in my back.  But I have Kade.  I have a beautiful wife and a basset hound named Boogie.  Thank you to all my family and everybody for the birthday love.  It means a lot to a kid dad that respects family above all.

Juice and Toddlers and Fits OH MY!!!

Rachael: So a couple of days or so ago, Jim, Kade and I pulled up at the gas station to get gas (perfect thing to get at a gas station huh?) Anyhow, while Jim was pumping gas, he asked if I could go inside and get him a drink. Sure, why not my dear. So as I grab my wallet and get out of the car, Kade starts yelling, "mommy, drink. mommy, drink." while he is drinking a water. So of course I tell him that I will get him a drink, even though I don't plan on it simply because he is drinking water and I don't think that he will remember when I come back. BIG MISTAKE!! As soon as I get back in the car, Kade immediately hands me his water bottle and our conversation goes as follows:
Kade: "Mommy, my drink. Mommy my drink."
Me: As I'm handing him back his water bottle "here is your drink honey"
Kade: handing the drink back at me while shaking his head "NO mommy, Drink"
Me: handing him back the water bottle "Kade, this is your drink"
Kade: throwing the water bottle back at me and now screaming crying. " NO, MOMMY DRINK"
Me: "Don't throw the water bottle at me or anyone. Don't throw things period. The water was your drink."
Kade: "WWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH DDDDRRRRRIIIIINNNNNNNKKKKKK"
Jim: shaking his head at me like I had done something wrong. (really jerk? Just kidding. He likes to joke like its all my fault but in reality we are on the same team and he backs me up.)

So the screaming and crying doesn't stop the whole way home nor does it stop when we get home. As soon as I put the bag down with Jim's drinks and candy, Kade runs to the bag still yelling "DDRRIINNKK." I mean really? Had I thought he would remember that I told him I would get him a drink, I would have gotten him the dang drink instead of listening to this. So, what do we do now? We try to get creative. The kid loves milk so Jim pours him a glass of milk in a big boy cup and says "here you go, here is your drink. Milk."
Kade: "Noooooo." shoves the milk making a mess and points to the bag "DDRRIINNKK."
Jim: "Kade, DO NOT shove your drink. THIS was your drink. Do you want to go to time out?"
Kade: starts rolling around on the floor and all hell breaks loose!!! Rolls his way to me and starts hitting me. Like really hitting me!! "WWWAAAAAHHHHHH"
Jim: grabs Kade and puts him in time out while Kade is kicking and screaming and crying the whole way.

So long story short, Jim gets him calmed down, Kade comes over and gives me a kiss and a hug and tells me he is sorry and we end up having a great night.

Fast forward a day, Jim and I are on our way to go get Kade from daycare and we have to stop at Walgreens to get a few things before picking him up. The first place I go is to the drinks and find a lovely juice bottle with sponge bob on the top and I'm like, "hell yeah! This kid is getting his Drink." I grab the drink and whatever else we had to get and after I pay, I start strutting my stuff to the car where Jim is looking at me like I'm the biggest idiot (I get the look everyday so it's not really abnormal). Then he is like, "Oh Lord, what did you find?" I pull out the drink and I start doing a happy dance!! I told him that Kade made me feel really guilty yesterday because I promised him a drink and never got him one, so I got him one now!! Then he tells me the usual, "that boy owns you!" yeah whatever! Let me just tell you how happy that boy was when he got his drink in the car once we got him!! It was honestly the cutest thing to see his face light up.

The next day when we went to go get him I made Jim go to Walgreens and I get Kade 2 more. Again, in the car when he gets in, his face lights up. Now Jim is not happy because on a normal week he goes to get Kade alone (I am just on vacation this week) and now Kade will be expecting a juice as soon as he gets in the car (don't worry I have one for him today too when we go get him). Good thing it's him and not me!

Lesson learned: When you promise a 2-year old a drink, Get him a dang drink because he will remember!!!

InTrOdUcInG...

                                            RACHAEL GANNON- THE ROOKIE MOM
                                                 AND RULER OF THE HOUSEHOLD

                                      
                                    JIM GANNON- THE KID WHO TRIES TO BE A DAD
                                                                      "MR. MOM"

                                            BOOGIE VON GANNON- LAZY HOUND

                                         KADE GANNON- 2 YEAR OLD WILD MAN