Where have I been?

Oh my, so much fun has been happening at the Dowdy House I just haven't had time to blog this week! Never fear I have so many exciting things to post soon including: one of mine (and the urban Marlboro Man's) most fun dates...ever (period) AND the cutest ladybug in the whole wide world and her stellar Halloween date the "Sam on the horse" (while Sam was going to be a cowboy for Halloween he currently will only "wear" his horse on a stick...we will see how tonight goes...keep your fingers cross, they may or may not, but DEFINITELY will be some bribing involved....I am SO not above bribing...so not above:) and good news of the week: I made it through the extremely large corn maze without losing a first grader (and Mrs. Dowdy's pigs (yes we are the pigs...don't ask...somebody has to be them) were the FIRST ones out and we were the only class without a male "helper" if that tells you anything AND I survived the day before Halloween with my extremely excited 17 first graders!!

More exciting news to come...and NO I'm NOT pregnant...until then...these should suffice...

Clem (even though you have been married for 5 years and I still call you by your maiden name) this is the adorable outfit you gave her...I promise to call you SOON!!! and for the record I am SO not above personal shout-outs on a public blog either...it's called mommy multitasking!! :)

back off ladies, and Ed, he is ALL mine...

Christopher Stevens Dowdy, Marlboro Man "ain't got nuttin" on you! And I believe by a unanimous vote you must guest blog at least once a month!


While Chris was busying making my day on Thursday I was busy taking the cutest 2 year old of the world to his class field trip to the pumpkin patch! We had a great time and I SO enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with my little man, and I do believe he liked having his momma all to his self!


Enjoy the pics...things to watch out for during the slide show:

1. my little man has good taste already (I knew he was his father's son ;)), check out the cutie with the blond ringlets he sat beside for the group shot, and she def. has a great 'ol big 'ol bow in her hair, so for obvious reasons she already has "mom's approval"!! :)

2. ALERTING ALL AMY JO's...there may or may not be, but totally is, a "serious Sam" take 2!! You will love it and I totally thought about you the second I saw it!


~~other fun facts from the pumpkin patch:
1. We were the first one's out of the corn maze, does it count if you did the exact maze 2 weeks earlier?? (On wed night when I was about to fall asleep Chris whispers.."remember honey, when in doubt go right, except the last turn take a left, and always choose the path that looks beaten down"...I love the fact that his last thought before he went to bed was to give his directionless wife the low down on the maze as to concur all the other moms!! :)

2. Sam was not afraid of any of the animals and kept going over to the baby cows and feeding them hay..precious...

3. I also came to this realization...I was the outsider...I did not know the other moms, Sam does not have a playdate with their kid, I do not have inside jokes with the teachers because well, I never see his teachers. I'm the working mom, they are the SAHM's...so instead of feeling insecure and wallowing in my pity I choose to rise above...and by rise above I mean I sat at the back of the hayride with the hippy grandad, clinched my cutie-patotie 2 year old, and only chuckled once, completely under my breathe, when their 2 year old pitched a fit, kicking and screaming! :) (oh lightening please don't strike me, for I will only be a teensy mean just this once:):)...)

Surprise, Surprise!

I guess most of you guys are thinking to yourself…who is this? And why aren’t there any misspellings? Well, I figured my guest appearance on my wife’s illustrious blogging career was long overdue and to be frank, I’m pretty excited about it.

I love the blogging scene and contrary to popular belief, I do keep up with Emily’s blog from time to time…albeit, not nearly or awkwardly as much as one of my best friends and soccer goalie connoisseur, Ed Martin. Do you give “shout-outs” on these things? Do people still say “shout-outs?” Well, assuming they do, that’s my official shout-out to Ed – love you man. Don’t forget to watch Bingo Night this Monday (harmless Redskins joke).

All that being said, I’ve officially blogged about nothing at all, so I better cut to the chase. And fear not, I happen to know my demographic here very well, so I’ll save everyone from my current soapbox, which happens to be the debacle in D.C. with my beloved Redskins. I could probably create a blog solely dedicated to that situation – watching them each week is almost like Emily making me watch DVR’ed episodes of Private Practice and/or the all new 90210. Does anyone else watch an inappropriate amount of hospital shows? Emily’s grab-bag of sitcoms includes (in no particular order):

House (I’m a fan)
Grey’s Anatomy (definitely NOT a fan)
Private Practice
So You Think You Can Dance (if I said I wasn’t a fan, I would be lying…do your thing Billy Bell)
Monk (major fan)
Dirty Jobs (o.k., this one’s mine mostly)
Glee (not religiously)

So my main reason for blogging today is to give you my top 5 list. Today’s list will be:

Top 5 – Favorite things our kids do/say (current as of 10/22/2009)

1. GHOSTMUSTERS! (Sam’s favorite dancing song from the Hallmark Halloween Ghost that we get to here about 38 times each night…the GhostBusters is GhostMusters for him)

2. Sam’s questions now usually end with “Yes, No?” For example, “Daddy, wanna do football plays, yes, no?” Hilarious, especially if you add a foreign accent.

3. Walking in to my closet as quietly as I can (Charley’s room), turning the corner, and seeing Sissy standing in her crib with the biggest smile on her face – as if she’s been smiling since 4 a.m.!! Best morning surprise in the WORLD!

4. Playing GOAL LINE with Sam (Aaron would be proud – reminiscent of our infamous, Dowdy-created “Goal Line Stand”)

5. Charley’s infatuation with stairs – completely modeling her brother, Charley attempts to climb these shiny, wooden and obviously steep things every chance she gets.

*no particular order!

So there you have it – my first guest blog. Feel free to comment, just be gentle. I had a good time – thanks for coming out.

Chris
Emily's husband/Marlboro Man...what?

Remember when I used to be funny...

Back when I started this blog I used to spend hours putting an extreme amount of thought into each and every post...remember this and this...I honestly tried to make each one funny and "worth your time", ahhhh those were the days...sorry peeps, enter offspring number 2 and all you get are the most adorable pics of the cutest kids in the world..I'm not sure I'm allowed to call this a blog anymore, maybe I should just go with photo album? :) If I had time I would send you all shirts that read, "I visited the "Dowdy House" and all I got were pictures of cute kids! That being said, I challenge you to look at these pics and not smile...the grin is on us here at the Dowdy House...no charge!!!

I don't know if Charley's told you but....

she loves her "mummy"!!!!

and as Sam would say, "her's mummy loves her"!

Does this make me a bad aunt??

Around this same time last year we still didn't know what that little bun in the oven was going to be!!! Remember when we found out here!!! Mom and I were out doing what we English girls do best...shop...you can't blame us, we know our strenghs:):), when mom saw this cute outfit for a litle girl. It was Carters ,and it was brown and pink one of my most fav. color combinations, and it had an adorable little elephant and it was dirt cheap. Mom was all "Emily, you just have to get it" and I was all "no, I don't want to jinx anything and I don't want people to think I'd be disappointed if its a boy"!!! So mom got the outfit for Eliza (my neice) for Christmas, but as we were walking out I was all, "but what if it is a girl" and mom was all, "Emily if it matters that much I will give you the outfit if it's a girl and get something new for Eliza"..because well, that's what good moms do!!! :):)

Weeeeeelllllllllllll....sorry 'Liza, but look how cute my little Charley looks in it...and it probably wouldn't have fit that big head of yours anyways ;);):) (FTR Eliza really does have a large head I'm not soley trying to be funny, and this joke is only funny now because she had several test run before the doctor gave her a clean bill of health only after they measured Aaron's head and determined "big heads" run in the family...Chris and I might have laughed once or a million times over this one....PS, we miss your little big head and that brother of yours...)

Ohh and look who has been standing up in her crib..:) Go ahead you big girl :)

Charley Jane just how do you stand being so cute....

Making teeth marks right beside her brothers:):)

Charley wanted to tell Cam just how much she loves her hand painted name artwork...thank you aunt Cam!!! :)

Not me Monday

edited to note: I had a whole list of Not me Monday ideas in my head but I laughed so hard at this first one that I couldn't remember the rest...

I most certainly, definitely, not in a million years, no-way-hosay, DID NOT teach my son to run to the corner of the room, YELL at the top of his lungs, " Nobody puts Baby in the corner", then take off in a dead sprint to his daddy so he can "perform" the Dirty Dancing lift....nope not me, and I MOST certainly do NOT laugh my head off each and every time...you my Internet friends have GOT to see this...it will make your day!!!

Sometimes they get a little carried away...

I don't know if you can tell, but my boys...they love each other ... and I love my boys...

(I would post a video of it but in our family I'm in charge of pictures and Daddy is in charge of all video...hence the 1.5 seconds of video we have since Charley was born..the film literally goes from me in labor with Charley to her crawling across the room...whoops... :) :) :)) I did manage to catch it on my phone video and it took me all of .7 seconds to send it to Amy Jo because I knew she would appreciate it, plus Jennifer Kasey and I owe it to her...we would make her watch Dirty Dancing all the way to the beach EVERY YEAR, and recite EVERY line...and I do mean, EVERY line!!!:) Just know Amy, I was ALWAYS ready to use, "stay away from me, stay away from my sister, or I'll have you fired"...I just never got the chance...:)

Because you can never have enough fall pictures...

Something about my kids and being outside for pictures...they just do not want to smile!!! I swear they are happy kids and they smile ALL the time...I promise!! Here are some pics of us before the Vinton Fall Festival! Don't they look just precious!!
My strong Sam

and what a good big brother. If you ask Sam what Charley is going to call him he says...buddy!! and it makes me smile really big!!

What... is that a smile???...hold the phone, I'll take it, even if his tongue is out!

This smile doesn't count...we went back inside for it! Don't you love her little fall sweater and matching collared onsie! I got them last weekend at a used clothing sale for 3 dollars for the set...and they are Gymboree!!! :) The jeans are courtesy of Sam, you can barely tell they are "hand-me-down" boy jeans!! and the shoes are courtesy of Amy's bargain hunting skills at Target, I think she paid maybe 3 dollars for them!!! Talk about a cute, CHEAP outfit!!!! and FTR... it did occur to me that I might want to take a picture where Charley is NOT wearing a bow...I'll put that on my to do list!!
We had fun at the festival and Sam even saw a little girl from his preschool class! Speaking of preschool, did I tell you about when I picked him up on Thursday?? I peeked in and all the other kids were standing up singing a song...everyone except our Sam...he was lying on his belly in the middle of the circle, with his feet up in the air. Oh No!!! Could my Sam be "that kid"! :):) I asked Mrs. Tiffany how he was doing and she said great, so I hope it was just a fluke...he made up for it when they opened the door and he yelled out mommy and came FLYING over to give me a hug...my heart did a little pitter patter!!! So while I wanted to give the SAHM's who were busy making a play date a dirty smirk because really my jealousy "overflowith" at JUST HOW BAD I wanted to be one of those SAHM's making a play date, I simply smiled! Because whether I had to go to work the next day or not...the cutest little 2 year old in ALL the WORLD had just yelled mommy at the top his lungs and single-handedly made me feel like the best mommy in the world. The good news is that this epiphany of "just how blessed I am" came before my urge to stick out my tongue and blow rasberries....whewww...that was a close one!!!!
Enjoy yet more Fall pics...

Just when I started feeling like super mom

Last night we went to the PH homecoming game. The weather was perfect and my kids looked absolutely edible cute...as in, you could gobble them up!! We had a blast seeing all our PH kids and families and we even got to see a lot of the graduates. Sam got to see "Big Sam" and after making our rounds we finally settled down to watch the game with the Khalilians because have I mentioned to you that I heart the Khalilians!!! Kate (Big Sam's mom) held Charley the entire second half because she was of course the "best baby in the world"...this helped out greatly considering Chris was busy talking to his guys that are freshman in college and watching the game and I was busy taking Sam to the bathroom approximately 316 times. Now this is when I let my mind swell up and I actually believed that I was super mom for about 4 seconds because lets be honest... my 7 month old was as good as gold asleep in Kate's arms and my 2 1/2 year old was potty trained and several people had commented on "how mature" he was...their words not mine :):) All is good and my super mom cape was waving in the wind until we went to leave "to beat the crowd." I was walking Sam up the stairs when I noticed Kate had on some adorable skinny jeans and that just got my mind all racing because have I even told you my internet friends about my 64 hour debate about whether I could pull off the skinny jean ??? After finally deciding that yes, I Emily Dowdy could pull off the skinny jean I started walking up the stairs some more, when I looked back I noticed the ladies laughing and I even said, "are yall making fun of me?"! They just giggled some more until I realized I was walking right up with the stairs of the stadium WITHOUT my adorably cute 7 month old still laying asleep in Kate's arms. OH MY, needless to say my super mom cape failed to flap in the wind no more! In my defense I had Sam, and Chris was still talking to Big Sam right in front of Charley but I'm willing to bet he would have walked right up the stairs too!!! OH HOW I LAUGHED! That's when Chris declared me mom of the year and I gently reminded him that I had Sam and that little episode would have TOTALLY been his fault...right...!! Here's to almost getting a good night's sleep...we tried anyway!! :)

That's when I realized...It doesn't matter if YOU think you're super mom...it matters if your kids think you are!!! :):)

Had any super mom moments lately...or am I the only one??? :):)  and most importantly, your thoughts on the skinny jean...just don't let the thoughts cloud your mommy brain!!! 

"Walk" down memory lane...

2007

2008

2009

Here's to the best daddy in all the world!!!

Pumpkin Patch, Dowdy style!

We had so much fun at the pumpkin patch. My kids did NOT want to smile for any picture...I'm talking they were not having ANY part of it!! That didn't stop me from clicking away. Sam got to ride a pony, pet the animals, run and climb on the pumpkins, go on a hayride, find his way through the corn maze, pick out his own pumpkin, and spend time with his buddies Jackson, Riley, and Jordan...all for just 6 dollars...what a steal! We went to Jeter's right off 460 and it was just perfect, I do believe we have started another friend tradition!! :):) Thanks Amy W. for organizing all of our crazy schedules!! We almost filled an entire tractor full...not to mention Jordan got to help "drive" the tractor! They were so family friendly there!!! And Sam LOVED it!...let's be honest, Charley was just there to look cute, and she succeeded!! :)

Action Shots...at its finest ...not to mention cutest

***Check out Kelly's post here...proof that Candace are I are practically BFF's!!!!

I know we have joked about Sam's OCD tendencies...but notice the pillows...in a line..all faced the right way. The one not in the line doesn't have to be facing the right way. If one of the pillows flipped in the process he had to flip it back over before he would jump!

By the way, this is an every night occurrence...right after him and daddy run their "football pays"!

It's a bird, It's a plane...IT'S A FLYING SAMMY C!!!

Not really sure what to call this face!!

Happy Boy!!

Kid Catch up:

Sam: had his first sick appt. of the year :( he has felt pretty crummy but is starting to make the turn. He had an upset tummy, which you could imagine was not the best timing right after potty training :( Which brings us to this funny Sam story that made my eyes tear from laughter. On our way to grab something to eat:

Sam: UH-OH mommy, Sam poopy in his under pants (while still in his carseat)

Me: Oh Sam that makes mommy sad. (then I go on and on and ON about how I know Sam didn't feel good but now he feels better so he has to tell mommy when he needs to go...apparently my little lecture was a little lengthy because Sam responds:

Sam: Mom no talk!!!!! (enter 5 minute laughing)

Finally arrive at destination

Me: Sam lets check your undies...Sam you are dry...YEAHHHHHH

Sam: (while laughing his two year old laugh) jus (just) kidding mommy, make mommy happy!!!!!

that kid cracks me up!

Charley: Has a cold and her first tooth just came in!!! double whammy!

All this equals...no sleep for mommy or daddy the last week! I'm off to get my office fix and then hopefully sleep...wish me luck!!!

ohh I almost forgot about my African son: he has all A's and B's and he had an assist last night! and like a proud son he called right after the game (but of course we were watching the updates on game tracker already) YEAH Nonnie!!!! Keep up the good work!