I almost forgot two things.

1) "Carlton Banks" hosts a game show on GSN now. He's pudgy and really corny.

2) Elisabeth might be leaving The View. Although I think that she doesn't do a great job of explaining herself sometimes and she gets a little too defensive at times, I understand why she would be leaving, but I hate to see the one conservative on the panel leave.

Not much going on here. We've had a pretty uneventful few days. Yesterday I did make my first 100% solo outing with both boys. After I dropped Nina off at dance I only had about 45 minutes before I had to get Alexandra for her dance class so I drove down the road to a Big Lots. It's the only thing out that way and I had already been to Wal-Mart once that day. But I got both boys in the stroller and headed in. They were both so good I was able to just wander around the whole place for about 40 minutes. Of course I almost couldn't get Caden's car seat out of the stroller when we got back to the car, but I finally managed. I wouldn't want to have to be out by myself in bad weather or if one of them was in a foul mood, but I'm much more willing to go out with both of them now.

Caden is cooing in his pack-n-play and Corban is hanging out with Johnny and Luke. I'm headed off to make dinner - a really delicious roasted vegetable and pasta "ratatouille" that I got off of the Rachel Ray show. I'm 3 pounds heavier than I was when I got pregnant with Caden - if I can lose another 15 I'll be happy, if I can lose another 30 I'll be thrilled!

I haven't left the house since Thursday morning other than to go to church this morning and other than the fact I had to get ready, that hardly even counts. Someone had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart yesterday but I had Johnny do it because I didn't want to shower yet - how pathetic is that? What's even worse is that we're trying to eat better, but were both craving something sweet yesterday so he comes back with: ice cream (not the good Under the Stars that we've been getting :( ), Reese cups, swiss cake rolls (per my craving), milk, and 2 1/2 dozen donuts. Granted, the donuts were for church this morning, but still. UGH - I know we need to be eating better, but if I don't have a little taste of something sweet during the day I go way off the deep end.

On a nicer note, Caden slept really really well last night! I fed him at about 7:30 and put him to be around 9. I didn't hear a peep out of him until almost 5 this morning! Of course, by the time i fed him and was getting back to sleep, Johnny's alarm was going off. Then when I was getting back to sleep from that, Corban started waking up. Oh well, I went to bed around 10 so I got almost 7 hours!

Last night Corban and I were looking at pictures from the zoo on the camera. He was really fascinated with the rhino, or "nino" as he called it. It was probably the animal he paid the least attention to at the zoo, but he loved looking at that picture. He's also having fun watching the hippos, elephants, and gorillas on Survivor. I alwasy try to pause and let him see when the animals come on. Well, I'm going to get some cross stitching done while my boys, ALL of them, are asleep!

We've had a long day already. This morning was my first MOPS meeting of the year. They met the 2nd Thursday of September, but I was in KY. So anyway, I hit the ground running this morning. Corban had a bad night, so we all slept in a little bit. I got showered before Corban even woke up. Johnny helped me get everybody ready and get the kids in the car and we were out the door before we knew it. MOPS was good, but very different now that I have an infant that I don't put in nursery. They said Corban was good, but I have a feeling he was a little bit of a bully. We came straight home and a member of the church had asked to visit this afternoon and bring some gifts over for the boys. She stayed from the time we got home until about 2:30. I'm exhausted and have a headache, and was starving by 2:30 but I'm so glad to be back with MOPS. Kim Fitzroy came with me this week, I'm hoping she keeps coming and maybe we can do lunch afterward sometimes. I would LOVE to start a Teen MOPS here at Turtle Creek, but we would need so much more support and volunteers than what we've got now. Maybe someday.

Corban has been saying some new words all of a sudden. Yesterday he was trying to say "vegetables" which was hilarious. Today I was getting ready to change his diaper and I said, "stinky, stinky" and he repeated me. He's also actually saying "milk," not jus signing it. It comes out more like "muck," but it gets his point across. "Juice" is still probably one of my favorite words that he says. Today Caden has been cooing - the first time he's really done much of that. He's been smiling at us, but honestly hadn't been content for long enough to do much cooing until just recently. Well, I believe that my big one is up. It's almost the weekend!

So far, today has been an exceptional day! Corban had a late night last night, so he slept in a little bit. We all got up and had monkey bread and Johnny put the new double stroller together then we headed out to the zoo. Caden was a little fussy at times, but it never took him much before he fell asleep. Corban LOVED the zoo. He had so much fun seeing all of the different animals and he got to walk around on his own quite a bit because it wasn't very crowded at all. The weather was just about perfect too. I can't tell you how many times I almost teared up at the stinking zoo because I was so happy just to see him enjoying himself so much and to think of what a little boy he's become. He made all of his animal sounds and was up close with a gorilla. I think that he enjoyed the elephants the most and I would probably say they're usually my favorites too. It's really cool this year because there were two baby elephants born earlier in the summer - they were SO cute.

Corban fell asleep as we were walking out of the zoo, so Johnny's upstairs trying to get him to lay down to finish his nap. Caden is still asleep in his car seat. I think I'm going to get some laundry done and make some Mexican Chili for dinner tonight. I think we might even treat ourselves with some "Under the Stars" icecream tonight too. Honestly, today has been the perfect day - I don't want to even think about it ending!

We had a pretty good weekend. Saturday started out slow, but then we went to Craig and Diana's for a cookout. They were having all of the kids from church over so there was a pretty big group. Everyone else was spending the night, but we just stayed until about 5. Corban hadn't had a nap, so of course he fell asleep in the car on the way home. He slept for a bit more and woke up in the best mood and still went down at his normal time. He's on an 8:30 bedtime now. Everyone slept great Saturday and Sunday was a good day too. We did church and Subway for lunch. Everyone relaxed and took naps, then we headed out to see Gail since we hadn't seen her after her surgery and then we went stroller shopping. We found one that I'm going to go get at Burlington Coat Factory this afternoon. We were THOSE parents though because Corban wasn't being cooperative and was screaming his head off while we were trying to look at the strollers and get him to test them out. Sometimes he just wears me out!

We've got a crazy day planned for today. Nina gets here at about 3, which is about the time Corban will be waking up from his nap. Nina and I will leave with Caden at 3:45 to drop her off at dance, Johnny's keeping Corban because the two of them are going with Luke and Nadine to Cabelas in Wheeling this afternoon. I'm going to run some errands then pick up Alexandra, take her to dance and pick up Nina and Nina and I are going to Monroeville to get the stroller. THEN it's back to pick up Alexandra at dance and drop the girls off at their house. We're in a rush now to get the stroller because we're taking the boys to the zoo tomorrow! Corban went when he was about 6 months old, so of course this is really the first time he'll have gone. We're hoping that he enjoys it and isn't going to be a bear because he's not going to get a nap. We'll see how it goes.

Nothing is really going on in the Shirey house right now, but Kenan is getting to come home tomorrow! He's off his meds and seems to be doing really well. Libby and I talked for about 45 minutes last night - she actually got to feed Kenan that evening.

Other than that, there are two random things that happened lately.

1 - I was walking out of Target and thinking about how I know so few people in the area, so it's very unlikely that anyone will ever call my name as I'm leaving a place like that. And that got me to thinking about my first day on campus as KCC. Sherry and Kerry hadn't gotten there yet since freshmen had to be there a day early, but as Mom and I were walking into Lusby, someone yelled my name across the foyer - it was Amy Tyson. Mom always thought that was so cool that as a freshman there was already someone who knew me.

2 - I saw a Ford Escort EXP today. Now, it wasn't red like The Rusty, but it did take me back in time a little bit. Man, I loved that car. I guess there's nothing like your first car - I wish I still had the old rattle trap and I've never named a car since :(

That's all for now. I've got to get the desk cleared off before Corban wakes up - there is a ton of mail still not gone through since my trip to KY. Have a good weekend everyone!