Judson Wise Paben entered the world on April 21, 2012 weighing 5 lbs 10 ozs.  He was 19 inches long.  What a blessing he has been to our family.  He is such a good baby...let's hope it continues! 

Time has flown by and he is already 2 months old.

Weight: 11 lbs 8 oz

Length: 22 inches

Here are some recent pictures of the sweet little guy!

 

What a weekend...

I'm pretty sure weekends aren't long enough. This last weekend was pretty much non-stop. The relaxing weekend I wanted/needed did not happen!

Friday, I stopped by Dianne and Tom's after school so that Aunt Evelyn could see T. Abby brought the baby over so we visited a little bit. Then I headed off to Amber's Pampered Chef party(yikes that stuff isn't cheap!). I stayed there for a little bit before I rushed home only to leave again. We went to the first home football game. I failed to take my camera or take a picture with my phone. Sigh.

Football games bring me to my next point. Finding a toddler spirit shirt for Waller is a little challenging around here...especially for a boy! So I decided I would see about making one(some if it worked out for me). So T and I made a trip to Hobby Lobby Saturday morning to buy stuff. An hour and a half later and almost $100 poorer, we walked out with stuff to make shirts...some for me, some for him. I got some fall decor, a birthday present, and a scrapbook punch too. Whoops...Hobby Lobby, you are the devil!!
Here is a shirt I made, complete with his name on the back.



We get home, ate lunch, and then went to a friends birthday party. T had a 20 min nap and was done. Joy.
They had pony...errr...donkey rides, paint the pony(cute idea), ice cream bar, and cotton candy.
Here is T riding Squirt!



After this, he decided to forgo every other party endeavor and play by himself. After sitting in 100+* heat, I was soon ready to go home to tackle my "to-do" list that was a mile long. We got home and I enlisted Tommy to help me clean...that was pretty much the rest of our day! :-(

Sunday we went to church in the morning. While T was napping, I worked on his shirt. Tommy decided to take T swimming so that I could work on school stuff.


After I got through, I went up to Tom and Dianne's. Evelyn and Grandmother wanted to see T's "to infinity and beyond" trick which is usually done without floaties. I couldn't get the video to load...Tanner screams "to infinity and beyond" and Tommy throws T in the air and he crashes into the water. Yes, I know, it's really safe! ;-)

We ended the weekend eating pizza and visiting with family.

It was a good weekend but busy!! Hopefully, next weekend will be restful!!

PS: why did I just type this whole thing with my phone??

Hugs,
Samantha

Summer came and went

It's been a pretty good summer other than the extreme drought and heat! I've enjoyed being able to spend time with little man this summer. He is a mess!!! Here are a few pictures of him from this summer.


We've been working on potty training. Unfortunately, we have a very stubborn child on our hands.



Haha...big boy underwear, "John boots", and a bucket makes the perfect outfit don't you think??




A daily occurrence that was just about all this OCD momma could handle!!




According to my mom, I was quite the climber when I was young. Apparently, Tanner inherited the ability to climb like a monkey!!

Hugs,
Samantha

Let's see if this works!

So as usual its been a while!! I just downloaded a new app to my new phone. New app = blogpress : new phone = iPhone 4(finally)!! Maybe this will make it easier for me to actually keep up with my poor neglected blog!

It seems summer has gotten away from me and 2 things on my to-do lost have gone untouched...T's scrapbook and this blog!! where did the summer go?? I start back to work officially on August 15th! Boo!!!

Yesterday, Tommy and I made a trip to Ikea and found a secretary/hutch that we liked. Let me back up by saying our primary reason for going in there was to get magazine files for $1.99!!! We went ahead and bought it...which I am glad that we did b/c it has a ton of storage!!



Bad picture but isn't it cute?


Hugs,
Samantha

Easter Weekend

We were able to make the trek to East Texas for Easter.  We left when I got out of school on Thursday.  After a quick stop in Crockett and dinner at Hershel's in Henderson, we made it to my mom and dad's about 8.  Mimi, Grumpy, and Carter welcomed us home.  Tanner and Carter LOVE seeing each other.  The didn't go to bed until about 10:45 that night.

Friday, we had Carter because Kim and Brandon both had to work.  We hung out at Mom and Dad's house for most of the day.  Mom and I made a quick trip to Longview to The Children's Place and Target while the boys napped. That evening, we took Carter home and met their new puppy, Zebbie. Brandon cooked hamburgers and then we went to the pasture behind K&B's house.  It was covered in Indian Paintbrushes but sadly, they were starting to dry up.  We should have known better because both boys were G.R.O.U.C.H.Y!!  I got a few good ones.

Saturday, we went to see my best friend from HS, Kristin, and her family out at her in-law's lake house on Lake Bob Sandlin. As always, it was great seeing them and being able to hang out for a little bit.  We didn't get to stay too long but had a great time while we were there.  Tanner, of course, spent most of his time on the tractor or playing on the swings.  Kris and I got to catch up while she made her cute cupcakes with the help of her two oldest, Allie and Peyton.  We left before it was time for T to take a nap and so that we could make it back to mom and dad's for the afternoon.  That evening K, B, and C came out and we ate dinner at mom and dad's. After they left, we watched "The King's Speech."

Sunday, we went to church at Mobberly in Longview.  I went to church there regularly with Kristin when we were in HS.  Tanner got to go in the room that Kim was teaching so it made it a little bit easier to leave him.  Church was great...I love their pastor...love their music...love being there.  After church, we went back to mom and dad's for lunch and egg hunt. We took a few pictures when we got home but neither boy wanted to cooperate.  I remember having the same exact behavior last year on Easter Sunday!  So frustrating...no family picture!  Mom fixed ham, potato salad, green beans, rolls, and "pink stuff" for lunch!  It was yummy...one of my favorite meals!

Strangely, I didn't get many pictures of the boys hunting eggs.  It seriously seemed like it lasted a few seconds.  T was only interested in the eggs if he heard something in them when they shook.  If he didn't hear anything, he threw them back on the ground. Soon after we got done, we packed up and headed home.  It was a great weekend and very busy as usual. 

I'm back...well, for today!

Dang!  It's been a while.  I wish I was better at keeping up with this thing but I am obviously NOT! I picked T up from school yesterday and he was running a fever.  Tommy is out of town so that means momma has to take off work.  It was not a fun night...sleeping with a sick 2 year old is not fun!  His fever finally broke about 12:45 or so.  He has been acting like he felt fine today so I have taken advantage of my day off.

Not a lot goes on around here but here is a little update.

Tanner:

• This kid is definitely not lacking in the personality department.  He is ALWAYS into something.   He keeps us laughing at all the stuff he does.  I need to upload all my pictures from my iPhone.  It is so funny looking through them. 
• He talks up a storm. He can definitely carry on a conversation.  I adore his little voice.  It is so precious.
• He is obsessed with Toy Story...well, "Woody Buzz!" I swear we watch one of the three movies at least once a day.  Sometimes he watches it two times in a row and then asks to watch it again!  He knows every character by name.  He has a ton of these little books that he got for his birthday.  They are among the favorites for us to read.
• Most of the time you will find him without shoes on.  Most days when I pick him up from school he is the only shoeless kid in the class.  I guess they get tired of battling him to keep them on!
• Even though he has a dislike for most shoes, he loves his "John boots."  I am glad no one can see his "play" clothes on a daily basis.  I am afraid we would be judged for letting our child dress the way he does! 
• He wears 2T clothes and has his Daddy's wide feet.  I took him to stride rite to find shoes and they measured right at a 7.5.  The girl told me, "He needs wide shoes, I would probably get extra wide if I could."

Tommy was building a tree "fort" for T's 2nd birthday.  Tanner was helping!

Tommy:

• He is on his way home from South Texas.  He left on Monday for one of his AgLead trips.  I wasn't too comfortable with him going down to the border especially after he told me stories they had heard. I am thankful that he is on his way home!  It has been a long week without him!
• He LOVES his baby boy.  He takes him to school every day.  He gives him a bath every night.  He loves that T is old enough to ride around with him and check cows.
• He is such a sweet husband.  He got me "The King's Speech" and a new Starbucks coffee cup for Easter.  Who gets Easter presents as an adult?  His gift from me...chocolate covered marshmallows.  He always out does me with gifts...always! BTW, "The King's Speech" is a must see!  It is a great movie!

Easter Sunday

Me:

• School is winding down and I have summer FEVER bad this year!  I can not wait for this school year to be over.  Luckily, I did get my contract...even if my name was misspelled. Sadly, I know several people that didn't get their contracts renewed. 
• I am newly obsessed with photography.  I love reading and looking a pictures on photographers blogs.  There is SO much to learn and you can easily get in over your head. I am currently saving my pennies for a new lens!!
• I sometimes wish I had a body double that could help me keep things around here clean!  I swear...its the same thing every weekend...laundry and cleaning!  GAG...who wants to spend their days off doing either of those!?
• I am still selling Scentsy.  It is and has been VERY slow but this area is saturated with people that sell it.  I have a few regular customers but I don't do much other than place an occasional order.
• I miss my family and friends!  I wish we lived closer to home.  I am hoping to spend sometime this summer back in NE Texas!  It is awful going home for a weekend and not be able to see everybody!

All things Tanner!

We have our hands full with this one! Tanner has quite the personality! I love him more than words can say. God has blessed us with a "gem" of a child...just like his doctor told me!

Here is a few things :

-he has a temper and he is very hard headed! I don't know what to do with him when spankings do NOT phase him at all and he puts himself in time out. We started the whole idea of time out a few weeks ago when he was throwing a fit and stomping his feet. I told him that throwing fits was ugly and he needed to go to time out. I took him over and put him on top of his toy box...yes, I know...not the ideal "time out" spot but it was the first place that I took him. So he just looked at me and kind of whimpered as I told him that he couldn't throw fits. He looked at me and said, "I sorry. I hold you!" as he reached his little arms out.
So the next day, he was stomping his feet again. I said, "Tanner, that is ugly." He said, "I go time out," and marched his little self over to his toy box, climbed up on top, and looked at me. So really....what do you do with that??

-he likes "chocate milk" very much! Well, anything chocolate for that matter!

-He has a vocabulary out of this world. Yes, I am bragging but anyone who is around him can't believe how much he talks and how clear it all is. It's very rare for me not to understand something that he says. The little toot can say just about anything, including "gum-mit" after hearing me say, "dad-gum-mit" the other day. We really have to watch what we say around him! The other day we were outside and he patted me on the leg and said, "I be back, Mama." "Where are you going?" "To the field!"

-he already wants to know "who dat?" or just points to something and says 'Wha dat?"

-He takes after me and is very social. He loves being around people!

-he can count to ten, get to G in his ABC's, recognizes T, O, S, and a few other letters, and knows the colors orange, blue, pink, and yellow pretty well.

-he likes to watch VeggieTales, Mickey Mouse, and Handy Manny.

-He loves to sing songs.

I attached a few pictures of typical Tanner...

He was a farmer for Halloween. I didn't spend money on a costume he would wear. We had a pretty low, key Halloween and just went to Tommy's Aunt Sue's house. Tanner helped pass out the candy to the trick-or-treaters!
Earlier during the day we had gone to ride horses. When we got back to the barn, he had to feed the horse some corn. "You want it?" he kept asking!

Getting corn for the horses to eat!
Climbing into the bath with our clothes on. "I wet!"

Playing with a "locus" He loves bugs!

He makes a beeline for the dryer anytime it is open. I guess he likes the sound because he gets REALLY loud! This night he looked at me and said, "I need chocate milk." I guess he was just going to hang out in the dryer for a while!

He has an obsession with cat food and dog food. He often chomps on it when we are playing outside. I can not break him of the habit of putting it in his mouth. "Tanner, what are you eating?" "uh, cat food." Gross!! This day he dumped it all out and made himself a hat!

He is a little stinker, but I wouldn't have him any other way. What a precious little boy and it is such a joy to be his mama!

Wow...it's been a while!

Wow, has it really been since August?!? I told myself that I would do better this school year keeping up with my blog, but I guess I really dropped the ball! It could have something to do with the fact that we have to have the SLOWEST Internet on the face of the earth and it takes forever to upload pictures!

So...since August...man, a lot has changed and a lot is still the same! Tanner is growing like a weed and surprises me everyday with the stuff he is absorbing. He is so precious. More updates on him to come...

Me...well, there is a lot going on in this head of mine. Teaching is not as enjoyable as it used to be. I am more stressed out than I was my first year of teaching. The paperwork is ridiculous and I am having trouble keeping up. Just when I think I get caught, they add something else to our plate. Let's just sum it up by saying its been a tough year and I don't know how much longer I will last... :-( Makes me sad...

Tommy, still loving his job. He recently got chosen for something called AgLead through Farm Bureau. It is composed of 12 participants that focuses on leadership in agricultural producers. It's a great opportunity, although I am not sure of the timing!! It is a 2 year program and over those 2 years he will get to travel to several different places including California, Chicago, Washington D.C., and an international trip. I do have to say I am a little jealous...I do get to go with him to D.C. so I guess it isn't all that bad. I am excited for him.

Last weekend, we went to the Sam Houston State vs. SFA game at Reliant Stadium. They called it the "Battle of the Piney Woods." For those that don't know, SHSU and SFA are rival schools. All of Tommy's immediate family and spouses went to SHSU. Grandmother went to SFA so she was the lone ranger.

It isn't nearly as fun when you don't know the players like I did when I was in school. Not to mention, when you have a 19 month old to entertain. However, it was nice to see the huge crowd of orange to bring back so many memories of my time in college! I miss those times! I will also add that SFA had some of the rudest and most annoying fans that I have ever seen!!

It was a great game, but sadly SHSU didn't pull it off...oh well, maybe next year!

Here is a picture of us...of course, Tanner can't smile when he is supposed to! The little munchkin eating his raisins and supporting the Kats in his cute little shirt. He can say "eat 'em Kats" but refused to do so at the game!

Tanner and his Diney...thanks to her for bringing all of the toys and food to keep him occupied. He did pretty well considering how long we were there!!

These are the days...

Yesterday, I started back to work...Booo!!!! Summer went by TOO fast! So summer is over but the heat is still sticking around! Tanner hasn't been able to go out and play much lately because of the retched heat. I have been waiting until late evening to take him out to play and most of the time he is only wearing a diaper. If we lived somewhere else, I might make him wear clothes but #1 who is going to see him out here and #2 it is usually so hot! Yesterday, we went out about 6:30 and surprisingly, it was nice and breezy! So our afternoon play began with a our fingers in the dirt!

Then he heard an airplane so we looked "Up!" Note the nice "granny beads" on his neck!

Then we ventured to the backyard, where we climbed on the dog pen gate and yelled at the dogs.

Then he fell in the grass while mommy was chasing him!

And he thought it was Hysterical...even getting up and running and then purposely falling down again!

Then he crawled under the back gate to go find the "ssshhh" (fish) in the water trough!

Ooooo...he heard another airplane...I love the look on his face...so precious!

Then we took a walk down the driveway which didn't last long. He was quickly distracted by the gates. Sheer determination as he almost succeeds in completing his task...

Soon after this, we had to venture inside to change our "naatee"(nasty) diaper. These pictures record a typical afternoon around here. I know these days will pass too soon.

These are the days I want to remember....

FOREVER!!!

Ride 'Em

Tanner has started a new daycare called Feels Like Home. I have felt a lot better about him being there and he seems to be adjusting well. I know he will be moving up to the next class soon. I do have to say I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that he isn't a baby anymore and will soon be sleeping on a NAP MAT!!! I wanted to go ahead and have one ready so yesterday I started searching online...Ummmm HOLY CRAP! I never knew there were so many types and brands of nap mats. When we were little, it was the blue and red, thin as crap, kindermats. Call me high maintanance, but I just can't send a plastic mat for my baby to sleep on. So my options were to make covers for a kindermat or buy one already made. Since I waited until the last day of summer, I decided to just buy one pre-made. After literally spending most of the day yesterday looking and researching, I decided to buy a Wildkin brand mat called Ride 'Em. I am going to have my friend Lacey monogram Tanner's name on it whenever it comes in. I hope it is as cute as it looks and that the quality is good!
I am planning on finding some fabric and asking Tommy's grandmother to make Tanner another one! I hope she is up for it!

Toes in the water, Toes in the sand!

I have been wanting to take Tanner to Galveston for a while now. Tommy has been really busy with work so I decided to see if a few of my girlfriends wanted to meet up. Jo and I were the first to arrive, so we stayed at the hotel until Courtney and Jessica got there. Once they arrived...both late :-) ....it was 5 o'clock. Tanner usually eats between 5:30-6:30 so that didn't leave too much time to play. We decided to go to the Strand to check out some of the shops. I hadn't been there since Hurricane Ike. I have to say that they have done a really good job cleaning up. You could still see the water line on some of the buildings...left purposely. After walking around for just a little bit, we got REALLY hot so we decided it was time to eat. We went to a place that was near the Strand and ate. It was YUMMY!! We watched some people try to navigate a row/sail boat around. They didn't look like they really knew what they were doing! It was great entertainment!

By the time we were through it was 7...too early to go back to the hotel for the night, but too late to really do much. As we were driving down the Seawall, we decided to go get Tanner's swimsuit and a towel and let him play on the beach for a little while. I was really surprised at how "nice"(for Galveston) the beaches were. They have brought in a lot of sand and there was NO seaweed, but the water is ugly! But Hey, it is a beach and it is close! Here is my little munchkin and I before we went down to the water!
So Jo and Jessica spotted a guy in a Speedo sitting on the beach. So guess who took our picture...hahaha!!! At least he put on his shorts before snapping this shot! The lighting was terrible but it's all I have!

He LOVED the water and the sand between his toes! He had the best time running into the waves and picking up the sand to throw it! I loved watching him experience something new! I can't wait to take him again!

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Galveston, other than the beach, was to go to Moody Gardens and take him to Palm Beach! It was SOOO cute! The main area has a swimming pool that gradually gets deeper and just like the beach it was surrounded by sand. They also had a splash pad in one area...Tanner really liked it! The third main area had a water "playground" that had slides. Tanner LOVED it all...well for a while!

We didn't get to stay as long as I wanted to because Tanner had other plans. He was getting really grouchy...maybe b/c I wouldn't let him play with other kids toys. I had brought him his own but those weren't good enough for him! So we had to pack up early and head back home!

All in all, it was a great trip! I hope next time Tommy can go with us and we can enjoy a little family time together!

Happenings around here...

I thought with summer, I would find more time to actually keep up with my blog. Boy, was I wrong. Summer has gotten away from me!!! I am so sad that we only have a few weeks left...boo hoo!

Here are a few things that have been happening in the lives of the Pabens:

-Tanner started at a new preschool today. I am really sad that it is already that time again. I only took him for a few hours because I want to slowly get him used to it. They said he did pretty well but he was upset when I got there because it was about nap time. While he was there for a few hours, I got A LOT done around the house! It is amazing how much you can get done when you don't have a 1 year old to chase around and keep out of things!

-I called AT&T to change our phone plan. So I talked to "Bill" who spoke with a very heavy Indian accent. I explained to him that I wanted to know my options for phone plans. He repeatedly told me, "I will be happy to help you because I want you to be a very happy customer," spoken in his heavy accent. So he told me that he would have to transfer me to another department, even though the #2 phone option I chose was "plans and services." And yes, he transferred me alright...to a LAW FIRM!! Seriously?? The lady that answered the phone sounded really confused when I started telling her that I wanted to know my options for phone plans!!! "Umm, ma'am, this is a law firm. I can't help you with that." I think "Bill" needs a new job!! haha at least I got a good laugh about it!

-As forgetful as I have been, it does not surprise me that I let my teaching certificate expire. YIKES!! Every 5 years in the state of Texas, you have to pay to be re certified...DUMB!!! So since I didn't apply on time, I just have to pay $10 more to get it renewed. So I went online about 2 weeks ago and followed all the prompts to renew. It got to the screen where you type all your credit card information in and submitted my payment. Instead of it showing a receipt, the website informed me that my session had been "timed out." So I logged back in and started to type it all in again. But I checked my email and there was a receipt of payment. I thought, "Okay, I guess its fine." So fast forward two weeks, and I go to check the status and it only says applied and gives me the option to pay. What?? So I SEARCH the website for a number to call and finally get in touch with someone who can help me. She informs me that their system is new and has some glitches but it shows that I haven't paid. So I have to go check my bank statement which shows that they payment cleared the bank. I had to fax them a copy of my bank statement so that they could manually input the data. Ummm, all I can say is they best hurry! School starts in a few weeks!!! What a nightmare!

-I was in the kitchen fixing dinner last night and Tanner was in the living room. As I peered around the corner to check on him, I found him standing on the coffee table. He was on the edge bouncing up and down and peering at the couch. Before I could stop him, he jumped from the coffee table to the couch!!! Wow...the things I have to look forward too! He isn't even 1 1/2 years yet and is already being a dare devil!

-New windows are going in on Thursday! I am SOOO ready to have these old ones replaced! It is going to do so much for the house and hopefully we will see a drastic change in our electric bill!!
They say it should reduce it by 20-30%...BRING IT!!!

-I found out today that I will be teaching 6th grade math again next year! What a relief that is...I am glad that I don't have to quit my job! And we are getting a new teaching tool called a SMARTboard! They are REALLY neat!!

So there you go...few things going on in the last few days with us! We live a pretty uneventful life right now...hopefully, we will liven up pretty soon!

Happy Birthday, America!

The Fourth of July kind of snuck up on me this year. We don't ever really have any major plans but this year we really didn't! We spent most of the day at the casa...me trying to clean the new floors and Tommy was mowing the yard with the little munchkin! To our surprise the weather was actually nice...after DAYS of rain, the sun was shining and it was beautiful!

After lunch we decided to take advantage of the pool, and went for a swim at Tom and Dianne's! I love THEM having a pool! Tanner LOVES it too! He has NO fear of the water which is good and bad! He jumps in, gets his face wet, and refuses to wear floaties or sit in a float! Here is a picture of the water baby...
Tommy was able to go swimming with us too. Munchkin wouldn't let go of that ball...I only wish you could see his little face! He was having a grand ole' time!

Tanner wouldn't look at the camera and my hair was ridiculous but here is a family picture...there aren't very many of these so you take what you can get! Dianne graciously took the camera and snapped away! On a side note, I have these dumb "baby hairs" (as seen here)around my face that popped up after I had Tanner. They are SLOWLY growing out but I told Tommy it looks like "White Trash" hair. Yikes! I think they are a pretty common but boy I am ready for these things to grow out! But until they do, I will have terrible ponytail hair! Anyone else have this issue??

After swimming for a while, we headed up to the church for their 4th of July celebration. It started at 5, but Tanner was napping. So we headed to Sonic for a drink...FYI: "Sparkling" Lemonade = Disgusting!!!! Then I snapped a few pictures of the cute chapel in front of our church. I was a little disappointed that the flag was wrapped around the pole. Oh well...here is one of the shots.

After Tanner woke up, he didn't stop. The boy could wear the energizer bunny out! We chased him all around. Luckily, they had these play toys near our "camp" that kept him busy for a while. Once he got tired of that, he wondered around...everywhere! Tommy was a sport and chased him the majority of the night so I could socialize with the girls from our SS class!

The night ended with a fireworks show from the Katy Mills Mall parking lot. People gather at our church on Fourth of July so they decided to just make it a community outreach this year. They sold food and had jump houses for the kids. It was a fantastic night! Here is a not so great photo of the fireworks as we were leaving. We left early so we would miss the traffic! Fireworks are NOT an easy subject for an amature to photograph!!

Happy Birthday, America! I am PROUD to be an American!