We had a great weekend! It was pretty busy with family plans and the Super Bowl, but we crammed in some rest, too, because I really needed it!

1. TC’s parents took us to the circus on Friday night. It was a lot of fun! I wasn’t sure how Hudson would do or how long he would pay attention, but he did a pretty good job. We basically played “pass the baby” across all of our laps for the entire show because he needed a change of scenery to stay entertained.

He loved the elephants, the little ponies, and the tigers. He didn’t pay much attention to the trapeze artists or the tight rope walkers. He preferred the loud noise and lots of activity.

He was keeping a close eye on someone’s popcorn that was sitting near us, so we went to get him some popcorn and he also went home with an overpriced toy. But he loves it! And doesn’t every first circus experience need a souvenir? He had a great night!

2. I did a lot of reading this weekend. I finished up the first reading section of Ape House and finished our next section for Crazy Love. I’m loving both books so much!

The discussion questions for the first section of Ape House are posted on Book Beginnings and Bookends. I hope you’re reading along!

4. We went to a Super Bowl party last night for our Sunday school class and had a great time. I didn’t pay much attention to the game because I was too busy chatting and chasing Hudson around, but it’s always fun to be with friends. I took a fun little appetizer over for the party that I got from Samma‘s blog. It’s Kate’s recipe and Nina also made these for the Super Bowl. I knew if they were getting so much praise in the blogosphere, they’d be a hit. And they were! I was just calling them “sausage cups” for lack of a better name.

you can find the recipe here

5. Speaking of the Super Bowl, the one thing I paid any attention to was the National Anthem. It’s my favorite part. I usually don’t even care who’s playing in the game, but I always want to know who’s singing the National Anthem. It’s such an honor to sing such an important song.

But this year they picked Christina Aguilera? She typically has a powerful voice, but she never sings songs as they are written and adds endless amounts of runs to them. And runs can be very impressive, but in excess during the National Anthem? It’s a well-known melody! Make it recognizable, Christina. And worse than that, she couldn’t get the words right! I caught two instances where she messed up the words. You should know the words to that song like the back of your hand. One of those things that you don’t even have to think about. And if you don’t know the words? Just pre-record it or get a prompter! So embarrassing!

I’ll get down off my soap box now.

My all-time favorites are by The Dixie Chicks, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, and Faith Hill. I tried to embed them all from You Tube, but it didn’t work for some reason. So if you want to see some awesome Super Bowl performances, go look for those four!

6. Just for a laugh this morning, I thought I’d show a screen shot of an email from TC. I am not a Kenny Chesney fan and he knows that. I may be the only person on the planet that doesn’t like Kenny Chesney. So this was hilarious to me!

But if anyone wants to see Kenny Chesney in Columbia- there’s a presale opportunity!

So I loved my little opportunity to tell it like I see it in my “honestly…” post from a few days ago. I’m thinking I may need to end every week on that kind of note. I’m not so great with keeping up with days-of-the-week-blogging, but we’ll see how this goes.

1. It is cold. But. I have made a vow to myself never ever to complain about the cold because I really can’t stand the heat and I live in the South. The heat is gonna come every single year no matter what, so I’m just taking advantage of the fact that I can put on more clothes than I can take off!

2. I am mourning the loss of Lost. A year later. If I had a little bit more time on my hands I might break out my DVDs and watch from the first episode. Rachel, are you with me?

3. I made a casserole (Bow Tie Fiesta to be specific) stretch from Monday until today’s lunch. That’s a lot of casserole-eating. And I only ate one supper that wasn’t that casserole this week.

4. TC was gone a couple of nights this week because of work– and the back of his head was even on TV for a second. If he’d been at home, I promise we wouldn’t have eaten Bow Tie Fiesta for that many meals!

5. Budgeting is the most depressing thing on the planet. Especially when you’re saving for college for two kids. So much of our money goes to things that we will never ever touch. (And I know things like insurance and savings are immeasurably important.)

6. I could listen to the following songs on repeat every single day and never get tired of them:

• “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pipps
• “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John
• “Second Hand News” by Fleetwood Mac
• “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel
• “S.O.S.” by ABBA
• “Cowboy Take Me Away” by The Dixie Chicks

7. You know what else is depressing? Cleaning out your closet and refusing to sell or donate the dresses you wore on your wedding weekend. But also knowing that you will never be a size 2 or 4 again. Excuse me while I go weep into my ice cream.

8. When discussing turning 30 in 2012 with a friend, we both decided that these late 20s and no doubt the early 30s will be so much better than the early and mid-20s were. Those were some fun years, for sure. But I wouldn’t trade where I am now for anything. And I have a feeling that every year that goes by and every little line on my forehead or around my eyes will be welcomed. Laughing is so much more fun than unnecessary drama and uncertainty.

9. I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain during one of Hudson’s naps this week. It’s a good thing I was home and my child was sleeping because the sobbing noises I was making would have frightened him for sure.

10. The worst SAHM days are when it’s freezing and rainy or snowy outside. Hudson wants to play outside or go somewhere so badly, and there’s just no where to go. So we’re getting creative with sticker books and baking. But I honestly wish I could just ask Boudreaux to keep an eye on Hudson for a minute while I go take a nap.

11. That last sentence is a joke.

12. I am stupidly tempted by anything in the stores that is red and pink. Valentine’s Day was made for suckers like me who just like to buy cute heart-shaped things that serve no purpose. A cute little bath mat at Target with hearts on it? Yep- made just for me. For me to enjoy for a couple of days and then beg someone to take it off my hands!

I’m such a bad giveaway host! I never announced the winner of the Southern Tots play case giveaway.

Congratulations to Kristin!

And it’s not too late to buy your own play case for the girl or boy in your life. They’re perfect Valentine’s Day gifts or Easter gifts. Click HERE to purchase!

There is a wacky phenomenon that is associated with pregnancy. A woman is preparing to grow her family and there’s a switch inside that gets turned on and causes her to go around her house changing things, tidying up, getting rid of stuff. This phenomenon is known as nesting.

This happened to me when I was pregnant with Hudson, but I had the urge to do some crazy things like shave Boudreaux bald because I wanted to protect our baby from all the dog hair. I didn’t do it and that’s mostly thanks to TC and his level-headed way of thinking.

With this pregnancy, I’m not really doing anything much to prepare a room for our baby. But I am starting to think about getting all of the baby boy clothes out of storage to wash them, organize them by size, and hang them in the closet. I know that as soon as I see all of those soft Kissy Kissy gowns and sweet little footed pajamas that I’ll feel like a baby is going to be sleeping in that room.

To make up for my lack of nesting in the nursery department, I’ve gone a little wild with the purging of the stuff. In a random moment, I began emptying out our pantry and tossing anything that we didn’t need. I know this seems wasteful, but there was a time when I would prepare my weekly menu and put some random dish on there that called for a random ingredient. So that ingredient got used once and that just took up space in my pantry. And then it expired. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I filled up 4 large trash bags full of expired dry pantry products. Sick!

I cleaned out my closet, which is not a great idea when you’re stuck to a strict maternity clothes wardrobe. But I took some stuff to be donated and have a pile of stuff that I’m going to sell on my blog. These are nicer things that I wore to wedding showers or other people’s weddings. But I just know that keeping them as a reminder of the size I used to be isn’t a great idea.

I’m an impulsive person. So when I get it in my head that a piece of furniture needs to be moved or a pantry needs to be cleaned out, I do it right then. I could wait a while for some help, but in my mind, no one else is operating on my timeline. I mean, hello? I have a ticking time bomb growing inside of me! I only have 13 weeks to clean out the pantry! If no one is going to help me right now, I’m just going to do it myself.

When I was pregnant with Hudson and our rocking chair was delivered, the UPS man wouldn’t bring it inside. And it was about to rain. So I moved the crazy thing inside like the insane pregnant person that I was. And I moved a chair in our bedroom yesterday. And at the time I was proud of myself for getting it done. (When I look back at those two wacky moments, I know that it was probably the stupidest thing I could have done.)

I was cleaning out one of the catch-all junk baskets in our house the other day that tends to hold things like magazines, birthday cards, fabric swatches, etc. I came across the notebook I used to write everything down when I was pregnant with Hudson. It was my to-do list notebook. But while looking in it, I found my hospital packing list! What a gem! I saved that sucker and put it in a safe place. I’ll be needing it in a few weeks.

After I found my notebook, I tore out the old pages and made a new list of things I would like to get done before baby #2 arrives in May. Want to see the list?

• Get baby clothes out of storage. Wash, organize, and put in closet.
• Finish cleaning out my closet and t-shirt drawer.
• Print out all of the pictures of Hudson from January 2010 to date.
• Order more photo albums from Exposures for Hudson’s photos.
• Make a “best of Hudson for 6 months-1 year” and another “best of Hudson for 1 year-2 years” digital photo album.
• Order a baby book and keepsake box for baby #2
• Clean out the guest bedroom closet and the closet in Hudson’s new room
• Have a garage sale

Some of these things aren’t time-sensitive, but a lot of them are things I’ve been putting off as long as possible. And they are all things that I won’t want to do when I’m busy playing with my babies!

What kinds of things did you do to get ready for a new baby? If you’re not pregnant, what wacky habits do you have when it comes to tidying up and purging stuff?

Also, I’m craving a bucket of fried chicken. I know what’s for dinner tonight!