Another Birthday Celebration

Yesterday when Sharon brought the kids home she stuck around and we finally celebrated Dave's birthday with her. She wanted to take us all out to dinner but Dave wasn't in the mood to go anywhere. So we ordered in pizza and she stopped at the store and picked up a cake for Dave.

It was very nice to not have to make anything for dinner last night so I didn't mind the pizza too much even though I had pizza on Saturday night too (they were from different places). Of course Sharon made us order more than we would eat so we could have leftovers. It also meant us adults ate more pizza than we really needed to last night.

We could not eat our pizza fast enough for the kids though because they were dying to eat the cake we had waiting for Dave. Once I was finally done eating my pizza I went into the kitchen to cut the cake but Emma came running in and stopped me. She insisted that we light some candles and sing to her daddy. She also insisted that we put 29 candles on Dave's cake. I didn't think I had that many candles in my drawer but I started counting them and low and behold I had more than 29. Now you know lighting that many candles on a cake for Dave meant there was going to be photographic proof so here it is, doesn't he look thrilled?!

Biker Bars are scary

This weekend the kids were with my MIL. As usually I met her Friday evening half way between here and her house. Dave had to close so I stopped and got myself some dinner on the way home and was just getting ready to start my grocery list when Dave called and said his Uncle Bobby and Steven were at a bar and wanted us to come out.

I agreed to go out with them as long as it wasn't going to be a late night because I had plans to go shopping with my mom Saturday. Looking back I should have asked what bar his uncles were at because it would have seriously changed my mind!

So Dave left work a little before 8 and came by to pick me up. A little side note to my story but when he pulled up he actually honked to have me come out instead of coming in the house for a few seconds. Anyway I went out and got in the car and we drove off. I assumed we were going to his Uncle Bobby's favorite bar Gilley's but Dave pulled into a parking lot that I didn't recognize and the lot was full of motorcycles. I instally asked him where the hell we were and he said his Uncle Steven had started coming to this new bar so that's where we were going. I did not have a good feeling about this but I said ok lets go.

The instant I walked in the door I knew it was going to be a very long night. This bar was very much a hole in the wall type of place that was full of your stereotypical biker looking people. There were women there in tight jeans or leather pants, vest, and bandanna around there heads. I was still in the clothes I wore to work that day which consisted of a jeans, a chocolate brown tee with a teal cami underneath, a chocolate brown corduroy blazer, and my brown croc mary janes heals. I swear it felt like the scenes in the movies when everyone in the bar turns to look at you when you walk in the door because you just don't fit in.

Dave and I made our way to the bar where his uncles were sitting and I sat down and stayed there as much as I possibly could because I was not about to walk around that bar. The only thing that helped me feel a little better was that Dave was still in his work clothes of dress pants, a shirt and tie, and his Toyota jacket. I did get up once to use the bathroom and I have had two showers since but I'm not sure I am clean after being in that bathroom. It was the worst bathroom I have ever been in and I just wanted to die!

Of course a trip to a biker bar would not be complete without a bar fight and there was one of those. Apparently the two guys were brothers and started arguing about something which led to some pushing, and then some punches were thrown. The pushing got them out the front door so all the punches were thrown in the parking lot thank god.

Clearly I made it home that night in one piece and I will not be going back to that bar. I guess the lesson learned this weekend was always ask where your going before you leave.

Beware of the Blue Birds

Every morning I take my bags and the kids bags out to the car before I get them up to leave. We do not have a driveway so I park on the street but our front yard is small and there is a side walk that leads from the porch to the street so it's not that bad. If you look at my profile picture which is a picture of our house you can kind of see on the left side a pine tree.

Well this pine tree is huge and it is the home to some very lovely blue birds. I don't know if any of you know much about blue birds but they are very mean, territorial birds. The are the absolute worst in the spring and I assume it's because they have babies to protect.

So this morning I am walking down the steps of my porch carrying my purse and tote bag, Emma's book bag and overnight bag, and Ian's book bag and overnight bag (they are going to the MIL's for the weekend and I leave straight from picking them up to meet her.). Out of the corner of my eye I see movement in the air to my right side (from the pine tree)and the next thing I know I have two blue birds making a bee line for my head. I scream and toss my hands up to cover my head which the birds are dive bombing. This causes the bags I was carrying to go flying across the yard. At the same time I also loose my balance and start stumbling backwards. I eventually fell and landed on my butt on one of the cement steps. By the time I was down I was laughing hysterically because I know that the site of me was just crazy and I was pretty sure the high school kids standing at their bus stop had seen all of this happen. I feel I should also mention that before I could get my hands to my head I felt the birds so close to it that it moved my hair.

Once I stopped laughing at myself and stood back up I was able to see that yes the high schoolers had seen me and they were all laughing hysterically at me and I don't blame them it had to of been a very funny site.

So if you see any Blue Birds protect your heads!

Kindergarten here she comes!

This evening Dave and I registered Emma for the Kindergarten class of 2009 - 2010. Last year at this time I did the same exact thing just so Emma could be tested for early entrance into Kindergarten. In Ohio state law requires that a child be 5 by either August 1st or September 31 of the school year they would start. If they are not but will be by December 31 of that year and a parent request it the school has to test the child for early entrance. Early entrance in Ohio means the child is gifted so if they are 4 they should be at or above the level of a 6 year old in the three areas of Social, Academic, and Developmental.

A few weeks after filling out the crazy long enrollment packet Emma was tested and she passed the social and academic sections with flying colors but did not pass the developmental because she couldn't tie shoes, dribble a basketball, or cut a circle out good enough. It was very frustrating for us last year at this time because even the school counselor could tell that Emma was more than ready to start school but according to state law she couldn't.

Well this year because she was 5 well before August 1st of the school year she will start she gets to go no matter what. In a mere 5 months my baby girl will start school and she couldn't be more excited. It has killed her this year to watch all her friends from the babysitters go to school. At least twice a week if not more she has asked when she gets to go to school and she never likes the answer of in the fall.

Now I just hope she continues to like school this much once she starts it. I guess I will find out very soon.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Today is Dave's 29th birthday! The poor guy has to work and open to close on his birthday which has to really suck. Knowing this the kids and I celebrated with him yesterday.

Dave's all time favorite desert is brownies so we made a big batch of those for him and I made one of his two favorite meals. Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cheesy broccoli/cauliflower/carrots mix. It all turned out really good last night and Dave loved it! Actually so did the kids because they each had seconds and that almost never happens.

The kids also got Dave a present (I did not because we just go out to dinner together which will happen next weekend when the MIL has the kids). The kids and I were discussing what to get Dave and Ian said we should get him a Cleveland Indians jersey like his. Now Dave actually has one even though it doesn't look like Ian's but I did think it would be a good idea to get him a new t-shirt since most of his are like 10 years old now. Since Emma picked the meal and which brownies we bought I let Ian pick which t-shirt. He choose a grey one with the words Cleveland Indian's on the front and a big Chief Wahoo on the back. Dave loved it and wore it yesterday for the kids. I tried to get a picture but Dave didn't want his picture taken and since it's his birthday I decided to be nice, after all it was his day.

So to my wonderful husband Happy Birthday!

Emma and Me

My typical Friday night evening consists of picking the kids up and coming home to either make a frozen pizza or order one from somewhere for dinner. Then we usually watch a family type movie. After the movie the kids head to bed and I head off to the grocery store all by myself while Dave stays home. I have found that it's much eaiser to shop without the kids and by 8:30 - 9 o'clock at night the store is pretty empty and I don't have to deal with the crazies.

Last night started in the same way, I came home and fixed the frozen pizza and then the kids asked if they could watch The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. I really didn't care so we watched about 4 episodes before Dave got home. Once he got home I started to make my menu and grocery list for this coming week. While I was doing that Emma started asking if she could come with me. She was so cute about it and Ian didn't care becasue he wanted to stay home and watch tv with Daddy.

So for the first time in a very long time I decided to take Emma to the grocery store with me. While I was driving there I started to think about how I used to take Emma with me when Ian was a baby and Ian would stay home with Dave. I was telling Emma all about that time we used to spend together and of course in her typical fashion she had a million questions. This trip down memory lane also made me remember the time I accidently locked her in the car after shopping on afternoon. It was mid August and in Ohio that means high 90's and 100% humdity. I had loaded all the groceries in the car and then I tossed my keys and purse in the front seat while I buckeld her in the car seat. I shut her door and went to open mine but it wouldn't open. Of course complete panic set in because she was locked in there but so was my cell phone. I didn't want to go back into the store and leave her there alone and of course no one was around. Finally a female police office still in her uniform but on her way home was walking back to her car. I stopped her and explained what was going on and she radio'd for a local officer to come. It wasn't more than a minute later that the poilce office came flying down the isle with light and sirens blaring. Not far behind him was an ambulance as well. With the high temperatures the paramedics wanted to check Emma out to make sure she was ok. She was fine but they told me to go in and get her something to drink to make sure she didn't get dehydrated.

Since that day I always keep my keys in my hand because I am scared to death that something like that will happen again. When I told Emma this story she was very upset with me but she told me she forgave me for locking her in the car but that I had better not do it again. I just had to laugh at that one.

By the time I finished the story we were at the store and this time the shopping was alot different than back then. Emma walked the entire time and she helped me pick out which things to buy and she would get them off the shelves and put them in the cart. My usual trips are just around an hour from the time I leave the house to the time I pull back up. Last night's was a little bit longer than that because Emma doesn't move as fast but it was worth it to have that time with her. I just might have to do it a little more often.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

This week has had some very big ups and downs. At the beginning of the week Dave and I were starting the process of finding a home to buy and getting pre-approved for a mortgage. We were both very excited to finally be taking this step and we were both happy with the area we had chosen.

Then out of nowhere Dave is told that he may or may not have a job and that the higher up were going to have to discus this. It's a really long story and I wont bore you with the crazy details but it has nothing to do with Dave not doing his job and everything to do with the economy and car sales being down. We spent two days not knowing what was going on. Then finally this afternoon Dave was told that they had a place for him on the sales floor. We are so thankful that he has a job but after the way they have treated him he is out looking for something else. For now though we are good.

Of course this scared us more than I can explain and we decided that we would put the house buying on hold for a couple of months, maybe longer, and see how things go. I think that this scare was a sign that it wasn't our time yet.

Things like this always make me think about how lucky I am to have him in my life and to have our children. All of this made me decided that maybe this week I should pick a picture from out wedding to share for Candid Carries Friday Foto Finish Fiesta and here is the one I choose.



I always loved the pictures of the hands and had to have one from Dave and I's wedding. I had my nails done specifically for this picture. For some reason I thought that the little rhinestones on all my nails would look really good in this picture and they do. I love this picture so much that it is framed and sits on my nightstand for me to look at every night before I go to bed. This picture is also the only thing we have left of Dave's original wedding band, but that's a story of it's own.

Now it's your turn to go and share a picture with us.

Un-Lady Like Behavior

I am starting to think that Emma is spending to much time with her father because she did something yesterday that only a boy would do. The story I am about is not something Dave would do but it is very much a guy thing.

I was sitting on the couch after dinner waiting for Dave to change out of his work clothes so we could go to the park. Emma was playing right beside me on the floor when all of a sudden she reached her hand into her pants in the butt area. Before I could process what she was doing and tell her to quit digging in her butt she whipped her hand out and stuck one of those fingers up my nose. Of course since it had just been in her butt crack it smelled gross.

I was completely shocked by this behavior and didn't know what to say at first. Then I was mad because that is gross and a very mean thing to do to someone so I yelled at her and told her that she wouldn't like someone to do that to her so why would she do it to someone else? Then I made her go and wash her hands. I also decided to tell Dave who had a talk with her as well.

I really have no idea where she learned this or what made her do it but I have noticed that lately she has been acting more like a little boy than a little girl except she still loves to wear her dresses. I am thinking it might be time for a little mother daughter girl time!

Dinner and a Drive

Last night my mom, the kids, and I met Dave up at Easton for dinner. My mom had called Thursday evening and asked if she could take us to dinner she would pay and we could pick the time and place. Of course I am not one to turn down that kind of proposal.

Dave has been in the mood for a good burger lately so we decided on Red Robin since they have good burgers and are kid friendly. We met Dave there at 6 so they were busy but we got lucky and only had a 10 minute wait because we agreed to take a booth with Ian's highchair on the end.

We ordered the Onion ring tower for an appetizer and both the kids ate two onion rings a piece. Ian ordered the corn dog and broccoli and Emma got a cheeseburger and oranges. When the food arrived Ian decided that he didn't want the broccoli anymore (I tried to tell Dave he wouldn't eat) so we gave Ian some of our fries and Emma got the broccoli. Both the kids ended up eating every last bite of food they had. I'm not sure that has ever happen when we've gone out to eat before. They were also very well behaved which was surprising for me because they had done nothing but fight all afternoon.

After dinner we came home and my mom went off to do her grocery shopping. I'm pretty sure the kids have reached their limit for being inside at home and were itching to get out even at 8 o'clock at night. Now normally 8 is bedtime for them but after all the food they had eaten they were wired and I knew there was no way they would go to sleep. So finally Dave and I decided we would all take a nice country drive.

We drove about 15-20 minutes south to a very small little town, drove around that town, and then headed back. By the time we got home both the kids were sound asleep in there seats. Thankfully I was smart enough to have them put their pj's on before we left the house so Dave and I took their coats and shoes off and then put them in bed.

What was a rough morning and afternoon of playing referee for me turned out to be an very nice evening.

Smart Mop

Have any of you seen the new commercial for the SmartMop? Dave was watching one of the shows he DVR'd last night while I was grocery shopping and for some reason did fast forward thru one of the commercial breaks. It's kind of a good thing because if he had he never would have seen the Smart Mop commercial and then he wouldn't have been able to show it to me.

Once I got home and had all the groceries put away he had me watch it. Now he didn't explain to me what it was going to be about he just told me I had to watch.

At first it was your typical infomercial type thing. The pop will pick up more spills than the regular mops and you don't have to bend over to ring it out. Then he demonstrates how well the mop works by pouring an entire can of pop on the floor and mopping it up. This is where it gets interesting, instead of ringing it out in the bucket he rings it out into a glass while telling you that in this hard economic times you can ring it out into a glass and still drink it.

I tried to find this commercial on the Internet somewhere but I couldn't. I swear on my life that this is what the guy said. So my question is would anyone actually do that? I know I wouldn't. Also are times really that bad that we would sink to the level of drinking mopped up pop?

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

As promised I saved the pictures I took Sunday evening of the kids playing catch with Dave. These were my two favorites.



Even though you can't see Emma's beautiful face I still love this picture. There's just something about it!



I think Ian looks like a pro in this one with that baseball stance. Really I snapped the picture just has he was pulling back to throw the ball.

Now you should head straight over to Candid Carries and share your own picture.

Kite Flying

Last year about this time Dave and I were at Target and saw some kids kites on sale for $3.00 a piece so we picked one up for Emma and Ian with the thought that we would take them out on the next nice spring day. Unfortunately Mother Nature did not want to cooperate when Dave and I had the free time. So the kites sat in Dave's office for weeks and weeks and then got moved to behind the love seat in his office and you know the saying "out of site, out of mind".

Then fall came and winter and the kites got moved to the basement where they stayed until this evening. When I left work at 4 today I was completely surprised by how sunny and warm out it was. The forecast was calling for a high of 65 and rain but it was sunny most of the afternoon and reached a record high of 79. It was very windy though which gave m the idea to finally get the kites out since Dave was only working until 5.

So I came home and made a quick dinner of Johnsenville Turkey Cheddar Brats (they are so good you can't tell they aren't beef and they are half the calories) and fries. Then it was off to the soccer park better known as Crusiser Park to fly the kites.







I was kind of surprised that Emma didn't like kite flying that much. She flew hers long enough for me to snap those pictures and that was about it. She more happy to run around in the open field and just watch which of course meant that I was the one flying her kite. I was also surprised at how well these cheap kites did in the crazy winds we had.





Ian on the other hand absolutely loved flying the kites and had that cute grin on his face the entire time.



He liked to run with the kite flying high behind him. He may be a little guy but he hung onto that kite really well!

After about 40 minutes with the kites we loaded them back into the car and headed for the park at the end of our street to play on the swings and slides for a little while and then on the way home we just had to go by the DQ for some ice cream!

What started for me as a lousy, gloomy day ended as a sunny, happy day and the kids were so worn out that it only took them about 10 minutes to fall asleep tonight.

Weekend Recap

It is official, I have Spring Fever bad and I mean real bad. I was starting to get it a few weeks ago just based on being tired of the cold. After the 70 degree weekend I am done, it was completely gorgeous even with the clouds that came and went.

It probably didn't help that I had the weekend to myself. Friday morning Emma's fever (from the flu she had last week) broke and she ate a ton for lunch and ran around the house like a mad women so I figured she was feeling better and could spend the weekend with her Grandma like previously planned. So I packed the kids up and went to meet the MIL. We stopped to get Dave on the way but he was stuck with a customer. I took the kids to the MIL and on the way back home I stopped back by Dave's work and he was just finishing up with the customer. After I waited a few minutes we went and had dinner together at Las Margarita's. It was such a nice night for Margaritas that we couldn't pass them up.

Saturday morning I had to ride into work with Dave because my car was still up there. Both Dave and I were amazed when we walked out the door and we didn't need coats or even the sweatshirt I had on. When I got back home I decided that it would be a good day to start my new workout program since I will have my 10 year class reunion this summer. Of course I went back to the workout videos on Exercise TV OnDemand and found a new cardio video to try. It ended up to be a great workout and an even better way to start such a gorgeous day. After my workout I showered and got ready for the day. I decided I wanted to be outside and enjoying the nice weather so I pulled my car around back and cleaned and vacuumed it out. Then it was back inside to watch a few chic flics before I had to fix dinner. For dinner I fixed some pasta and garlic bread and then Dave and I sat down and watched another video.

Sunday was another nice day temperature wise and we had the windows open all day. I did leave for about an hour to do the grocery shopping and the rest of the afternoon I sat in my recliner with the breeze blowing in and watched TV while Dave played his computer game. When the kids got home they ate some dinner and then Dave took them outback to play with the baseball gloves and balls that Santa brought them for Christmas. Of course it was so cute that I took some pictures but I am too sore from my workout tonight to get up and upload those picture. Maybe I will save them for Friday. Anyway they played out back for about and hour and then it was back in to get ready for bed. I don't know if it was my internal time clock or something else but come 11 I wasn't anywhere near tired. Around 12 I went to bed but I layed there watching TV for another hour or so before I finally fell asleep. That made 5:45 come very early but I have survived so far. I guess we will see how the rest of the week goes with the cooler weather moving in.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

It's Friday and that means Candid Carries Friday Foto Finish Fiesta. I have been waiting for this day all week because I knew last Saturday what I was going to use for this. This week I actually have two pictures so I will get right to it.



This is of Emma eating a cupcake from Uncle KJ's birthday cupcake cake. For some strange reason my little brother has gone against the rest of the family and decided to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan when the rest of us are Browns fans. Man just typing that makes me cringe! Anyway because of his weird love of this team my mom had his cupcake cake done with white and black icing with yellow lettering. This is the effect of that black icing.

Of course I couldn't leave Ian out of this so here he is eating his cupcake.



I don't think there are words for this one.

So now it's your turn to join in all the fun.

Chest Pains

Work was absolutely horrible today. I was swamped before I even walked in and it stayed like that until I left.

I spent my day doing two different things. The first was trying to figure out why a report I printed on Monday was now showing different figures today when nothing had been changed. The second was working on my monthly billing and trying to figure out why my percentage breakdowns on my billing report was not calculated correct. Now I don't know if any of you work with numbers but when I am trying to figure out problems like these it's very hard for me to get up and walk away from my desk for anything. Once I get going on a solution (or what I think will be a solution) I just can't stop for fear I will forget where I was going.

While I was working on my first issue this morning I started to notice this weird stabbing like pain in my right boob. The pain was not near any of the edges of my bra so I knew it couldn't be the wire. Since I was in the middle of problem solving I just keep tugging on my bra straps to move my bra around thinking that maybe it was just laying weird. This went on for about 3 hours before I got a chance to get up and take a break. On my break I went to the bathroom to try and figure out what was causing this awful pain of mine. When I pulled my shirt out and looked down I realized that the back to my earring was inside my bra and my bra was pushing it into my skin. I didn't even know the back to my earring had fallen off and I really couldn't tell that there was actually something inside of my bra. I was also shocked that something so little could cause so much pain. I guess next time I will have to force myself to get up and check out my pains a little sooner.

Lights Out

Let me start this post by saying that in no way am I being paid to endorse the following product. I would if they offered but they haven't so....

Eight years ago next week Dave and I moved into our very first apartment. It was a cheap one bedroom economy apartment. We had a living room and kitchen on the bottom floor and a bathroom and bedroom upstairs. Of course Dave being the law enforcement junkie that he is wanted to make our apartment as safe as possible both day and night and that included using one of the oldest tricks in the book. Keep a light on in the living room over night to make it harder for criminals to sneak around unnoticed.

After two weeks of keeping our living room lamp on over night we had gone through a four pack of cheap light bulbs. While at Walmart doing our weekly grocery shopping we were in the isle with all the light bulbs and we noticed these really weird looking bulbs. It was a new product that General Electrics had come out with. The package stated that these light bulbs would last longer, up to five years, and save money on electricity. Doing the math in our head we decided that spending the extra money and buying that bulb would be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying hundreds of the regular kind over a five year period.



We went home that evening and placed this new light bulb in our living room lamp and it stayed there burning overnight every single night and a few hours each evening, even sometimes during the days when it's been cold and dark out for the past 8 years.

Yesterday evening around 6pm I turned the lamp on as the kids and I were leaving to go to Emma's gymnastics class. It wasn't dark out yet but I knew by the time we got home it would be and I didn't want to walk into a dark house. It stayed on the entire evening and was on when Dave and I went to bed around 11pm. When I got up this morning the living room was pitch dark. At first I thought that maybe Dave got up and turned the light off in the middle of the night. I came into the living room and turned the switch but nothing happen. I checked the plug but it was plugged in so again i tried the switch before I realized that our first GE Smartbulb had finally burnt out.

After eight years and what Dave and I have figured to be over 35,000 hours of burn time our light bulb finally died. It's kind of silly but I was a little sad this morning because that bulb has moved with us twice now and been around for everything. It even got a new home (lamp) this past spring which is much nicer than it's last one and now it's gone.

I was curious about how long these bulbs were really supposed to last so I did some research before I started writing this post and from what I have found the type of bulb we had should last between 6,000 and 12,000 hours. The longest lasting bulb they have only goes up to 15,000 so ours burned far more hours than these. If I can find a contact email address I think I may just have to email them to let them know just how long their bulb really lasted.

When Dave and I moved into this house we started replacing the light bulbs that burnt out with these energy saving bulbs. Our front porch light was the first one to be changed and it has been burning every night for almost 3 years now. We still have about three bulbs all of which are can lights that have not been replaced but we don't see a reason to take them out when they still work.

So if you don't own any of these bulbs go to the store and buy them so the next time your light burns out you can replace it with one of these awesome bulbs. I'm serious about this just based on how long they last you will save money but then you have to add it the fact that they don't use as much energy to use and they are better for the environment. So why not buy them!?!

Yee Haw

Three years ago when we were getting ready to move into this house the owner was awesome enough to let us come in the week before and do some painting. I knew when we decided on this house that I wanted to let Emma pick her room decor and I was going to do a Ian's room.

Emma's nursery was done in Raggedy Ann and Andy and Emma always seemed to love it but when we asked her if she wanted her new room to be the same she said no. She wanted a Princess room. I knew that doing a Disney Princess room (which is what she wanted) would get old to her in a few years so I decided to go with a very girly room with a few Princess items. I have always been a huge fan of quilts so I asked my mom if she would make Emma's bedding. We went to JoAnn Fabrics and I picked out the fabrics I want and laid the pattern out for my mom and she sewed it for me. It only took her a month or so and it turned out great!

It took me a little bit of time to decided on what I wanted for Ian's room. I had the normal choices of sports, or cars, or even the zoo animals but I wanted something a little bit different. I finally decided on a Cowboy themed nursery for him. His room was already painted a dark cream color so I took one of the walls and painted it red because I knew I was going to find a way incorporate the red bandanna fabric in his room. After Emma's quilt was finished my mom and I went back to the store and I picked out the fabric for Ian's. I decided that I wanted small squares of the red bandanna, khaki, and denim fabrics. It was at this point that things kind of stopped. For some reason my mom just couldn't get into making Ian's quilt. Once she finally finished the quilt I had to come up with a design for the stitching in it which took me alot longer but I finally found some really cute patterns that were cowboy hats, stars, and cowboy boots.

Finally after three years of work my mom finally finished Ian's quilt. She brought it over for Ian when the family was here for my brothers birthday on Saturday. Ian loved it instantly and I must say my mom did a great job sewing it and I love my design.

So without farther ado here is Ian's new quilt.



and this is a close up of the quilt stitching.

KJ

I was busy yesterday claening and playing referee with my kids and wasn't able to get on here to write this post so I'm doing it today.

Yesterday we celebrated my youngest brother KJ's 13 birthday. Most years we celebrate his birthday on the 28th of February except for Leap Years because KJ's real birthday is February 29th. That's right by brother was born on leap day. When my mom was pregnant she joked that she would have KJ early and it would be on leap day but it really did happen.



This year KJ's birthday seems very strange to me for a few reason. The first one being that my baby brother is now a teenager. The second reason is that I was 13 when my mom got pregnant with him. It was the summer before my Freshman year. I remember one afternoon during the week my mom had taken it off work and Steph, Nick, her, and myself were all cleaning the family room when the phone rang. I answered it but the lady asked for mom. For some reason mom decided to take it down there and while her conversation sounded vague I hear the words after the first trimester. At 13 I was smart enough to know that was referring to pregnancy but I was very confused as to why my mom, a 36 year old single mother of 3, would be talking about it. When my mom got off the phone I followed her upstairs and just asked what was going on. Apparently she wasn't going to tell us kids until after the first trimester but since I asked she told me she was pregnant.

For the next nine months I barely spoke to my mom because I was so angry that she was going to have a baby. I was embarrassed by her but really it doesn't take much for a parent to embarrass you at that age.

I remember waking up the day KJ was born and going upstairs to get my medicine. I was at home sick with strep throat. While I was taking my medicine I could hear my mom was up and on the phone with someone which was strange because it was barley 6 in the morning so I walked back to her room to see. it just so happen that she was on the phone with her doctor because her water had just broke. Later that afternoon KJ's dad called to say he was born and it was for sure a boy.

Now I didn't want much to do with KJ's when he was in my moms stomach but once he was home I fell in love with him. I used to love to sit a rock KJ to sleep but it got really fun when at 7 months I taught KJ how to walk. Mom was so mad at me but I thought it was so cool that he could finally walk because that's when he really got fun. I remember when I went away for College KJ would call me just to talk because he missed me and he was very excited when I moved back to Columbus. I also remember how he was when Emma and Ian were born. He has been a very good uncle to both of them and they just think he is the coolest person ever.

So to my baby brother Happy Birthday and even though your a teenager now you will always be my baby brother. :)