Vegas, baby!

What next?  I feel like that's been playing over and over in my head in the last few days...  All I can tell you at this point (sorry!) is that the number of things that are unknown are outnumbering the number of known things.... and it's getting more and more lopsided by the minute.

So, excuse me and my current panic attack.... and let's go back to a simpler time, a time when it didn't seem as if my whole world was up in the air.  You know, like last week.  And so I present to you (since so many of y'all asked!), the Semi-homemade/Everything Vegas trip!

Mr. Fix-It took this pic of us (seriously, I'm not that photogenic, so my best pics are usually these self portraits, ha!) in front of a fountain outside of Paris. 

We had just been to see the hypnotist Anthony Cools with the Everythings.... he was hil-arious! The only downside... was crying off 1/2 my party makeup in the first 5 min of the show, while I was laughing uncontrollably!  Here I am with Mrs. Everything, right after the show!

And with my sweet groom.... celebrating 8 years of wedded bliss.  (Okay, that sounds cheesy, but it's true!)

The Everythings!  I love Mrs. Everything's fun necklace - it says, Hello Summer of 2010!  (For those of you who are just joining us... Summer of 2010 has special meaning for the Semi-Homemades and Everythings! It's the first summer in ages when someone wasn't pregnant!  She was pregnant for summers of '09 and '07 - I was pregnant with G-man in '08... and back in '06, I was a first time mom and the Everythings were childless newlyweds!)

I picked our dinner location one night and this was it - our night at Tao!  YUMMY!  Don't the Everythings look sweet?

Another self portrait....  We went to Nobu for our anniversary and it was absolutely the.best.dining.experience.EVAH!  Loved it!  We picked a couple things from the cold menu, a couple from the hot menu, and some sushi... and these white wine Saki drinks... mmmm... I'd fly back to Vegas just for those!  I never thought the day would come when we'd go to a sushi place over a steak house for our anniversary - and mr. fix-it even ate raw fish!

Me and mr. fix-it at Tao.

This is the ONLY pic I ended up with from our cabana - bummer!  We had so much fun the first day (probably had nothing to do with the 2 bottles of bacardi we finished off!) that we booked a cabana for the next day, lol!  Here's Mr. Everything, kicking back...

And finally, my farewell to Carly.  Y'all, Carly has been my love.  Mr. fix-it got her for me a million Christmases ago and she's gone with me everywhere.. regardless of what Iwas wearing, where I was going.  I committed to her and there was no other bag for me.  (Okay, this is sounding dramatic to some of you... the rest of you are nodding your head in agreement!)  I loved this bag because it was big enough to be my "mom bag" but all that metallic trim and big hardware kept it from looking like a mom bag!

So, walking into the big Coach at Caesar's, I wasn't expecting to say goodbye to her.  I was simply there to look at shoes.  But... while talking to the (amazing!) salesperson, we ended up discussing how my Carly was one of the originals, which had issues ripping out at the top.  Coach was replacing them a couple yrs ago, but I couldn't ever find a replacement bag I loved.  But, the salesperson offered to replace my bag in Vegas, even though it was a few years old, and they gave me the allowance of the full price that was paid for that bag.  Wow, how could I pass that up?  Especially noticing that my bag had the wear & tear (dirt!!) that accumulates after a few years of being a busy momma.  So I said hello to Maggie... and here I am, saying goodbye... to Carly.

Ooh, got a few pics from Mrs. Everything! :)

We were joined at the cabana by a friend of the Everythings, and the 5 of us had so much fun!  (Seriously, can we go back?  Like tomorrow?)  :)

Thanks, Mrs. Everything!  You got lots of good pics!  And some funny ones (you & I will discuss those later!)

You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all....

Y'all. I'm grumpy. And I seriously never wake up grumpy. (Now, before you classify me in that group of really annoying women who is perky all the time, please know this... at some point in my day, as early as my commute or even occasionally in the parking lot of daycare, someone makes me grumpy. I just don't wake up that way.)

Anyway, I'm not going to say much because if I did, it would just sound whiney. About how tired I am that I'm so incredibly busy that on some days I literally don't have time to pee. That - even though I know there are tons of other busy moms out there just like me - it seems like there's no way anyone could be as busy as I am. That no one starts their day by 5:30 and doesn't finish til 11 and is at a dead run the whole time. Oops, guess I did say that. Just slipped out.

And that picture? That's from the LAST time Big Sis had strep throat. Which she has again. At least that's my diagnosis.... we're leaving in 5 minutes to have it confirmed by a professional. Mr. Fix-It is attending a big time meeting this morning, then coming home at lunch so I can get some work in and attend an important meeting, too. From 3-5. Sigh.

At least my sickie is being super sweet and has been my reason to smile this morning. She just said.... Momma, I love you SOOO much. You're the best mommy to me. Awww.....

Nothing - seriously, nothing - could get me out of the funk I was in Friday evening over not going to OK for my sis's shower. Even though Mr. Fix-It really did pull out all the stops... he brought home stuff so we could make chili (my absolute fav!) and he brought home ICE CREAM.... which I haven't had since Sept, when I had to quit eating dairy for my sweet g-man. (Quick update... I've been weaning and we've gotten him to tolerate regular - i.e., NOT the stuff that costs an arm and a leg - so we're working towards 100% weaned. That makes me both happy and incredibly sad. But that's a whole other story...)

So you can imagine how insanely mad I was when I called my mom Sat and she was looking at conditions pretty much like this:

Seriously?! Apparently, this massive storm had missed.... So, I spent the next 30 min calling everyone I know in OK and looking at every weather radar.... And that's when we did something I still can't believe we were able to do! We dressed both kiddos and ourselves and packed clothes, bottles, gifts and shower food in right at 30 minutes. WOW! We had nothing packed - I have no idea how we did it that fast.

Now, fast forward to a few hrs down the road.... and we run into this south of OKC:

Um, WTH? The radar had showed we might encounter some rain. Not blinding wind, whipping snow around and giving us about 1/4 mile visibility. Crap. Seems we can't win for losing. Mr. Fix-It was SUCH a trooper in getting us there. And we arrived at the location, exactly 20 min before the shower started!

Y'all, what a whirlwind.... we weren't in OK for even 24 hrs.... we got back to a house that looked like a tornado had been through it, as we were literally throwing things around to get out of the house. But, my sister was so excited.... it was all worth it.

I'll download pics and will soon share with you: A Semi-Homemade Baby Shower (a snowy edition)

Yee haw!? More like boo hoo....

These are the CUTE, so, so cute little boots I bought to give my sister at her baby shower tomorrow. Her cowboy-themed baby shower. That I helped plan. And should be hosting at her best friend's house tomorrow. Instead, I'll be in TX. While the snow has her way with OK and I just sit here, sad that I'm missing it all. They're going to send pics, but we all know it's not the same. I got this weather update from my mom:

SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET TO NORTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA LATE THIS MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON. A 1/4 INCH OF ICE ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE BEFORE THE PRECIPITATION CHANGES TO SNOW AND SLEET TONIGHT. THIS MAY CAUSE POWER OUTAGES DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS GREATER THAN 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED...WITH THE HIGHEST SNOW TOTALS ACROSS NORTHERN OKLAHOMA...WHERE 8 INCHES OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE.

Awesome. It BETTER snow that much or I'll be insanely mad that I missed my sister's special day for nothing!

(And if anyone is wondering... YES, I got those boots on Etsy. Check out Curious Workmanship's Shop! She's got all booties 50% off right now and that's a steal! She's super easy to work with, offers ways to save on shipping and more! Go see her!!)

So, I've been helping my sis with the super cute Whale Nursery... and look at this! I found a couple little baskets she can throw pacis or diaper cream or whatever in. Cute, huh?

Just wait til you see the finished room! I've been helping her plan it from afar, and it's going to be soooo cute!

~~~~~In other news, I forgot AGAIN about Friday Show & Tell. Poor Big Sister... Mr. Fix-It said he was dropping her off and all the moms were handing their kiddos their whatevers for show and tell... and he just felt awful because we forgot. Again. She's been in this class a month and we have yet to remember. We suck.

Just a few requests...

I haven't ever really posted anything like this, but here are a few things I'm praying for right now.... and would love if you could add to your prayer list, or think positive thoughts or wish well or whatever it is that YOU do!

Baby Stellan - I have his button at the top of my blog and I just can't get him or his momma out of my mind this wk. I don't know why I feel so connected to them - probably because her posts are amazing.

***The rest of this list will seem totally insignificant in comparison, but a few much smaller things...

The Semi-Homemade Family. After being fairly certain that Mr. Fix-It's job would be safe (due to the fact that he totally rocks at his job and is currently #3 in the whole DFW!!), we're no longer certain. At all. Rumors are freakin' rampant, with the current one being that they will go down to 3 builders. Strictly by the numbers, that would be Mr. Fix-It and 2 others. But we all know that politics and whatever else can come into play, making Mr. Fix-It the first to fall to the chopping block if someone below him is being protected. We just hope to know by tomorrow, honestly... We've been preparing for this since Oct - and with much intensity for the last 3 months... There will be so many bridges to cross, and we can do it. But it won't be easy. I am definitely inspired by so many other people I know (IRL and blog-land and other places) that are going through the same thing.

Lastly, the weather. Sat is my sister's Semi-homemade Baby Shower in Oklahoma and now it's supposed to SNOW tomorrow!! We've had not-so-great recent luck in driving in bad weather, so we're obviously concerned. Esp since we're toting both the kiddos with us. As hostess and sister of the mom-to-be, I simply must be there. And I will be. Do you hear me, weather?!