The Wilson's House

My Little Boy

2010-12-21T21:33:00.004-05:00

Five years ago today I was just getting to my hospital room wondering why it was taking so long to get Ian through the nursery and back to me.

Back then I didn't think this day would come so fast yet here we are. I have a big boy who walks, talks, dresses himself (sometimes), and sleeps in his bed all night long. It just doesn't seem possible that this teeny tiny little boy

could be this big (little) boy

Happy Birthday I-man I love you more than words can describe!

I have a new name....

2010-12-15T12:46:00.002-05:00

... and it is Aunt Jessie! On Monday at 6:39pm Cayden Elizabeth Jurden was born. Cayden is the first born of my brother Nick and his wife Alicia. She is also the first baby to born that isn't one of mine.

I have wanted to be an Aunt since before Ian was born. At that time my sister and brothers were no where near the baby point in their lives. When Nick and Alicia got married I knew they weren't ready but I was even more ready. I had prepared myself to wait another five years because Nick was saying it would be 10 (I knew he wouldn't hold out that long). I was really surprised this past spring when Nick and Alicia sprung the news on me that they were going to have a baby, but I was so excited.

It's been a long nine months but I waited patiently for my niece to arrive and she finally did this week. I knew I already loved that little girl but I was not prepared for how strong that love would be the instant I saw her for the first time. Everyone talks about how you will have those instant feelings as a parent but no one mentioned them as an Aunt. I think Emma and Ian have those feelings to. They got to hold their cousin last night and each of them were beaming.

I'm so proud of my Nick and Alicia and I can't wait to watch Cayden grow up!

I can't help myself

2010-12-01T19:52:00.003-05:00

I come from a long line of ABC soap watchers. I've been told that I was watching All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital since before my birth. I can't say I remember much of them before my middle school years but from middle school thru college I was a faithful watcher of All My Kids and GH. If I caught One Life fine but I didn't have to see that one.

After college I worked in retail for a while which limited how much of my shows I was able to watch but I made sure more days than not I saw GH one way or another. General Hospital has always been my favorite and for me the best days for it were when Brenda Barrett was around. I loved her with Sonny, then I loved her with Jax. Of course I loved Robin and Stone and then Robin and Jason. When Luke and Laura returned to the show with their very cute son Lucky I was in heaven. As with any Soap Opera the characters come and go or the actors playing them change. I was devastated when Brenda left Port Charles and I hated when Lucky changed but I remained faithful for years after.

By the time I started working for the Attorney Generals Office Dave and I had the soap network and they played the current days episode of General Hospital every evening so I never missed anything. Around the time Ian was turning 6 months things at home were crazy and busy and by some miracle I was able to ween myself from watching any of my shows.

Ian will be five in 21 days and for these past 4 1/2 years I have not stopped to watch a single episode. I knew if I ever did I would go right back into that craving to watch every day. You could probably say General Hospital is my crack.

Two weeks ago I called in sick to work on a Monday due to a very sore back. I was flipping through channels and our cable box locked up on ABC during General Hospital. It took only one second of me seeing that Brenda had returned to Port Charles and I was hooked. As soon as the cable box unfroze itself I set the DVR to record everyday. After a day of watching my recordings I find out that the original Lucky is back and that was like the nail in the coffin. I am without a doubt hooked again and I can't help myself.

My First Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T15:22:00.001-05:00

This year I hosted my first Thanksgiving. I've done Christmas for the past 5 years, and I have more parties than I can count where I have prepared the food, some of which I have even made Turkey's. This time it was different though, this was for Dave's family who I've never cooked for before. To add to that nervousness I have never cooked so many different dishes for 19 people before.

Wednesday when I got home from work I did as much prep work as I possible could as well as some last minute cleaning. I tired to get to bed early but i just could fall asleep, my mind would not stop running. I finally fell asleep around 1am and my alarm went off about 5am.

I reluctantly got up and started the Turkey. Once I got in the over I was too awake to go back to sleep so I got myself ready for the day. Sometime around 8 Dave got up and it wasn't until 9 for the kids. I think it was around 10 when I started peeling the potatoes that I finally relaxed and realized everything was going to be great. I must say it really was, I made the best Turkey yet, the potatoes, stuffing, and my Swiss cheese green bean casserole were a huge hit.

Besides preparing the food I was nervous about how the 9 kids were going to be. We set a table up in our basement for them in case there were any spills. We figured a concrete floor would be easy to clean up. We also had a TV and DVD player down there for them. They played down there all day with only one fight when Ian hit one of his cousins because she wouldn't stop kissing him.

Dave says that his family all had a great time and enjoyed the food so I would say Our First Thanksgiving was perfect. How was yours?

It's Offical

2010-11-22T19:28:00.002-05:00

Well this coming Monday my little girl will be a 2nd grader. The principal, Emma's current teacher, and the second grade teachers all agreed they think the best action is to move Emma to second grade.

Dave and I haven't met her new teacher yet but we are hoping to early in the week next week. She did send home the supply list and it looks like we will be doing some back to school shopping this weekend instead of Christmas shopping. I hope the office supplies will be on sale because we have allot to get. It's amazing how much more they need from first to second grade.

There will be allot of work to do in the next month or so but hopefully we can get Emma up to speed quickly and I wont feel as anxious about all of this. One great thing right now is seeing Emma excited about school again, I didn't realize how much I missed that in her.

Some Big Changes

2010-11-15T20:40:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago Dave and I had Emma's Parent Teacher Conference. The night before our meeting Emma's report card for the first nine weeks came home. Emma was acceding at ever level which was awesome, yet I was nervous for her conference.

Last year during Emma's first week of Kindergarten we set a rule with her. She has to tell us at least one thing new she has learned from that day. We don't care if it's a big or little thing just something. For the most part Emma was able to share something with us each day and she was always excited about telling us how her day was and what she learned.

This year has been completely different. I know as children get older they share less about there day with their parents but I'm pretty sure that shouldn't start at the age of 7. Most days when I ask Emma what she learned I get answers like "nothing" and "I don't know", or "we did the same things we did yesterday so I didn't learn anything new". Add to that a little girl who has been more moody and grumpy when first picked up from school and you get an uneasy feeling in your gut.

So going into Emma's Parent Teacher Conference I knew Emma wasn't being challenged enough at school and I was prepared to ask her teacher what she was going to do to improve that. Dave and I can't and shouldn't be the only ones to challenge Emma academically. I was surprised when Emma's teachers only topic to discuss was how to keep Emma interested.

It seems Emma is at the very top of her class in all levels and at the top when compared with the kids in the other First grade classes. Based on where Emma is she is showing at the same level as Second graders. This comment for me was like a dagger and I could have spit fire at that moment. If you remember we had Emma tested for early entrance to Kindergarten when she was four and we were told no because under state law she would have to test as gifted in all three areas (social, academic, and developmental). Emma tested as gifted in social and academics but was not able to dribble a basketball or tie shoes therefore she was not granted permission to start school two years ago. Now here we are being told that are daughter is at the same level as those kids and bored to tears in her own class.

After our conference the school had Emma take a series of Second grade standardized test. In the reading and writing Emma did exceptionally well, in math Emma did very good especially considering most of the concepts have not been taught at her level.

Last Thursday Dave and I met with Emma's teacher and the school principle to go over her test results and discuss our options. We are considering many currently but the one that stands out the most is to move her to Second grade. Dave and I have talked to Emma about the possibility of that and she wants to. She told us she wants to learn new things and make new friends. I shouldn't be surprised by this, yet I am. I'm not sure most kids would want to leave the Friends they have made and enter a new classroom where they don't know anyone, but Emma does and I am so glad she is so open to things like this. Even knowing Emma's feelings about this Dave and I are having a difficult time with this decision. We don't want to screw things up for Emma and this is so important. One minute I think leaving her where she is when she is so bored and already starting to hate school is the wrong thing and it would be best to move her up, not to hold her back. The next I think it will be to hard for Emma to play catch up and she wont make new friends so we should leave her and try and do more at home with her.

Of course we are still waiting to here from the school as to what they think is best and what is allowed to be done. We are expecting to here from the principle tomorrow, but no matter what there will have to be changes made in Emma's life.

Please wish us luck.

The First Tooth

2010-10-04T22:19:00.005-04:00

Back in August shortly after school started the kids and I were eating dinner one evening when out of no where Emma starts crying. At first I couldn't figure out what was going on but finally Emma was able to tell me through her tears that her tooth hurt. After some investigating I figured out it was loose. As soon as I told Emma this the tears stopped and she was so excited. Last year Emma was the only kid in her class that didn't loose a tooth so this was a big deal.

A few weeks went by and Emma refused to wiggle her tooth or pull it out even though by then it was barley hanging on. The Sunday morning before Labor Day Emma was taking a shower. I told her to finish washing and get out. Within seconds of hearing the water turn off Emma came running into the living wrapped in a towel, soaking wet, and yelling it came out,it came out. It took me a few seconds to realize she was talking about her tooth. Emma spent the rest of the day carrying her tooth around in a baggie and asking how much we thought the Tooth Fairy would bring her.

That night was the easiest bed time with her I have ever had. I tucked Emma in and placed her tooth under her pillow. After I left her room I told Dave that he would need to take the tooth and put money under Emma's pillow since he stays up the latest. Around 2am I woke up and realized I had forgot to tell Dave to save the tooth for me so I got up and went in search of it. When I couldn't find it I had a thought that just possibly Dave forgot to play Tooth Fairy. Being the good mother and best Tooth Fairy I grabbed some money and tip toed up to Emma's room. I reached under her pillow and instead of feeling money I felt the baggie. I was so glad I had grabbed the money before I went up their and was able to place it under the pillow and make a quick escape. I can't imagine how heart broken Emma would have been if the she would have woken up to her tooth and no money. Instead I got a 7 am wake up call from a super excited Emma showing me the money the Tooth Fairy left for her.

So far this is the one and only tooth to come out or even be loose. I think I will be staying up late for the next one to insure the Tooth Fairy leaves a prize.

Birthday

2010-07-14T11:17:00.002-04:00

Birthdays in my family have always been a big deal. Even as an adult my family treats your birthday like a second Christmas for you. I've always loved celebrating my birthday until this year.

Next Tuesday I will turn 29 and for the first time in my life I have been dreading this birthday. For the last few weeks I have had these uneasy feeling anytime someones mentions my birthday but I didn't know why. I did know it had nothing to do with the age like some people might think. Getting older isn't something that has every bothered me. In fact I like it because I know there are so many great things that come with getting older.

Last night Dave and I were watching Deadliest Catch which is one of a few shows we actually watch together. If any of you are fans of this show then you know the last few episodes have been documenting the last few days of Captain Phil Harris life. Captain Phil suffered a stroke while they were filming this season of the show. At the end of last nights episode Captain Phil passed away. Anytime there is a story about a father passing away I tend to get emotional because it always reminds me of my death. During one of the commercial breaks I was thinking about my dad and his age at the time of his death popped into my head. He was 29 years old at the time of his death and it was at that moment that I pieced everything together.

I'm not sure why but I am pretty sure that my uneasiness about my 29th birthday has something to do with the fact that my dad was 29 when he passed away. I don't know exactly why this is bothering me because I am healthy and he wasn't for years before he turned 29. I think it may just be fear and fear isn't always rational. I just know that I don't want to turn 29 and would prefer to go straight to 30.

So for my birthday this year I will keep myself as busy as possible. Dave and I are taking next week off and on Monday we are taking the kids to Kings Island. We decided to stay at a hotel that night and then go to the Newport Aquarium on Tuesday (my birthday). At some point either this weekend or one night later in the week I will have to have my family birthday dinner but I'm hoping not doing it on my birthday will make it all easier for me. I am also hoping that once my birthday is over this uneasy feeling I have will disappear. I guess only time will tell.

Cancer Survivor

2010-07-09T22:01:00.003-04:00

Hallelujah, praise the Lord my sister is officially a Cancer Survivor!

On Tuesday afternoon Steph had her final scan to make sure the radiation treatment got rid of all the cancer cells and it came back clean. I am so thankful that Steph found the tumor early and that the surgery and radiation went smoothly but I'm even more thankful that my sister can go back to living her life.

Steph has always been that person that everyone wants to be around. She is the life of the party and every ones best friend. The moment she found out she had cancer life changed for her. Between the stress and depression that goes with learning you have Cancer and the fact that her doctors didn't want her doing much Steph ending spending large amounts of time at home. For her that was difficult and while it taught her that she can be alone and stay home it's not who she is. Of course she did take it easy for months and not do much because she new she needed all the energy possible to fight the Cancer but now she doesn't have to.

When I talked to Steph today I could her the difference of attitude in her voice. She seems to be more of the old happy, always upbeat, constantly going sister that I love. Until today I didn't realize how much I was missing the old Steph but hearing her voice just made me smile.

I couldn't be prouder of my sister for how strong she has been throughout all of this and while she feels funny calling herself a Cancer Survivor I don't because that is exactly what she is and that is an amazing accomplishment.

Huntington Park

2010-06-30T22:09:00.005-04:00

Here in Columbus we have the farm team for the Cleveland Indians, the Columbus Clippers. Last year they were given a new stadium in the arena district downtown but we never made it to a game. This year we have made it to two games so far and I hope to go to more. The new park is beautiful and lots of fun.

The first game we went to was at the end of May for a goodbye party for my friend Shanna who has since moved to Texas. It was a very sunny, very hot Sunday afternoon but we still had a great time and I got these awesome pictures.

The second game was last night for Ian's baseball league. The players all got to walk out on the field while there teams were announced. On of the older kids was able to throw out the first pitch which had to of been a pretty cool feeling for him.

Ian is the tiny little guy with the number 10 shirt on. This time not only did we have Jenn, Tim, Andrew, and Tyler with us but my sister Steph flew in from San Diego yesterday and came to the game with her best friend and my sister-in-law. The weather was perfect last night for the game and the Clippers won.

There is nothing more American than a sunny day, cloudless night, hot dogs, beer, peanuts, cracker jacks, ice cream, and baseball so I think this was the perfect week to take it all in.

Landscaping

2010-06-30T21:47:00.005-04:00

During this very busy spring and early summer of t-ball, t-ball, gymnastics, t-ball and more t-ball Dave and I were able to spend a little time re-doing the landscaping in our front yard.

When we moved in our front yard looked like this

It was all builder grade plants that had the same feel as an apartment complex. I am not a fan of anything in the pine or evergreen family. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm allergic to them but beyond that I just don't like them. I was so happy the day I came home from work and Dave had them dug up.

That same evening we took a trip to Home Depo to check things out and finalize our plan. We picked out most of the plants we wanted to place in the front and we found some nice stone edging. After a little convincing I was able to talk Dave into the new shape of the flower bed.

Finally on Father's Day (Dave's idea not mine) we purchased all our supplies. The edging, a couple of boxwood's, a hydrangea bush, hostas, and a few annuals that I can't remember the name of. After 4 very long, very hot hours we finally finished everything. After adding some solar lights and a flag we have this.

I think Dave said it best "now it looks like a home and not an apartment complex!"

A Trip To That State Up North

2010-05-16T20:37:00.004-04:00

This past Thursday Dave, the kids, and I made a trip to Michigan for Daves lifelong friend Joe's wedding. Christen (the bride) is from a very very small town in Southwestern Michigan so that's where the wedding was. This trip was the very first time either of my kids have ever been out of Ohio so it was fun for them.

We drove straight to our hotel room and had just enough time to check in before we headed out to the church for the rehearsal. Christen choose a very small historic church that her Grandma attends as the place to have her ceremony. After the rehearsal we headed down the road about a mile to Christen's family farm. This fruit farm has been in the Sprauge family for over 100 years and it is still a working farm. Emma and Ian got to play on the playground equipment and sandbox with Christens niece and nephew while the burgers and brats were being prepared.

Christen's dad Bill also started a very nice bonfire for all of us to enjoy and to roast a few marshmallows. After hours of playing we headed back to our hotel room.

Friday morning we got up and headed back out to the farm to pick Joe up. He was in desperate need of a haircut so we took him to a mall in Mishawaka Indiana. While we were there we got some lunch and relaxed a little while the kids played.

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. Joe and Christen choose to have a small family wedding with just a few close friends. The ceremony was very sweet. After the ceremony we all headed to a local German club for the reception. The reception was a blast. Christen's brother was the DJ and he did a very good job. He kept us all dancing all night, even Dave danced and not just during the slow song.

Saturday morning we got up and Met Joe and Christen for breakfast at the hotel and then we headed back to Ohio. As much as I am not a fan of that state up north I still had a great time and I was honored to be part of Joe and Christen's special day.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2010-05-01T20:06:00.002-04:00

Since coming back from San Diego Dave and I have been at one of the kids events after another. Between Emma's Gymnastics and Ian's t-ball we seem to always be somewhere other than home. If I am home all I want to do is lay on the couch and read a book to help destrss.

I love watching my kids participate in activities and I LOVE that they love it but it can be very tiring for Dave and I. Tuesdays and Thursdays Ian has t-ball at 6 so I have to rush from work to get both them picked up and home. Then I have to fix something very quick and easy for dinner which of course means it's probably not the most healthy meal we could be eating. Then I have to get Ian changed and make sure Emma has something to entertain her in about 30 minutes. Then we are off to the ball field for an hour. By the time we get home it's baths, Emma's homework, and then off to bed.

On Wednesdays it's very similar only I have about 40 minutes to get dinner and Emma changed. Her Gym has toys for kids to play with in the waiting area so I don't have to worry about Ian bringing something to play with. Once we get home it's the same routine as Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Of course once they are in bed my work is not done. I still have to pack Emma's and my lunches, Ian's bag for the next day, and lay Emma's clothes out. By the time all of this is done I crash on the couch and read which ever book I have for an hour or two and then I'm off to bed. It seems right now the only thing that is destressing me from all the madness at work, and there is alot of it, is reading. I am averaging a book every day and half.

So that is what I have been up to lately, how about you?

Sister Update

2010-04-22T15:15:00.001-04:00

No no I have not fallen off the face of the earth I've just been a little out of sorts. There has been so much going on in the past 2 months most of which has been very stressful. I think I have moved past most of that now but I'm still dealing with some work crap.

Of course the biggest stress in my life has been my sister's Cancer. Last week my Aunt Pat and I flew to San Diego to be with her during her surgery. We were able to fly in the day before and we toured the city and did a ton of sightseeing.

Wend morning we took Steph to the hospital for her surgery. It was only supposed to last 3 hours tops so when we hit the 3 hour mark and had not heard anything we started to worry. At the 4 hour mark they finally came out and talked to us. Everything had gone fine, the cancer had not spread to the lyphmnodes but there was a nodule on the opposite side from the tumor. They took the whole thyroid just to be safe.

The next 8 hours for Steph were really hard. She had a reaction to the anesthesia which made her very sick to her stomach. I know what it feels like to get sick after having a c-section so I can only imagine how it would feel to vomit after having your neck sliced open. After 4 different medications they finally found one that stopped the vomiting and she was able to get some sleep. They were also able to get her calcium levels up so she only had to spend one night there.

The next few days we took Steph out on some short trips. My sister does not sit still for long periods of time and hates to be confined so this was necessary to keep her sane. My Aunt and I also spent and afternoon with Stephs car doing some shopping while Steph was at home with her boyfriend.

Our last day in San Diego Steph was feeling much better so we all went to the beach on Coronado Island for the afternoon and my feet got burnt.

We fly home on Sunday and my mom fly out Sunday to be with Steph this week. She has had her stitches removed and her post op appointment. It looks like she will have her radiation treatments in about 6 weeks. The type of Cancer she had will require a radiation that you can't be on medication for so this will take every ounce of energy away from Steph but other than that things are looking really good!

As soon as I can find the time I will post some pictures from my trip. San Diego is truly a beautiful city and you should go if you haven't been.

Easter 2010

2010-04-11T12:01:00.006-04:00

This year we spent Easter the same way we have the past four years. We started on Saturday by going to my grandma's house. It was strange this year because my sister wasn't there but other than that it was a normal Easter for our family. We ate a great meal and then my Aunt Pat and I laid the trails to all the kids Easter baskets. In our family the grandma's get the kids baskets each year and the way they find their is by following the trail of Easter eggs with their initials on them. We figure since they are 7 and under hiding the eggs would still be too hard.

Once the kids were back inside playing with all their new stuff my Aunt and I sat down to book our plane tickets to San Diego. We leave in just two days and I can't wait to see my sister.

Sunday morning we woke up to Emma nearly in tears because she had come downstairs and there were no eggs or baskets anywhere. Her exact words to me were "but mommy Ian and I were so good I promise! Why didn't the Easter Bunny leave us a basket?" I had to tell her that I bet the bunny just hid them really well. Of course that is exactly what he did. See since it was so nice outside this year the bunny left there eggs and baskets outside. So once Dave and I got up we took them outside to look.

Then it was time to get ready to go up to Dave's mom house for more eggs and baskets.

Finally we were able to come home and relax for a while before bed time while the kids worked on the activity books that the Easter bunny got for them. It was a wonderful weekend spent with family.

The Big Three Zero

2010-04-02T21:34:00.004-04:00

On the 23rd of March Dave turned 30. It may not seem like I did anything for him since I have said anything but I did. There was no way I was going to let it go buy without a party.

Dave and I invited all our friends and a large amount of our family to celebrate with us. I think Dave was a little worried about having the odd mix of people all together but it worked very well. It was so nice to have so many people share this big moment with us. I ordered the food from Hoggy's and it was a nice change to not have to run around the night before a make a ton of food for everyone.

We got lucky that the weather was nice that day so allot of people ended up hanging outside until it got dark. Most of our family headed out early which left the friends to hang out and drink and just have a good time. It was nice and something both Dave and I needed. All and all it was a great evening and I'm glad I had the party for Dave.

Of course I can't let you go without some pictures from the evening.

Shanna and Me

Joe, Dave, and Dave

The Cake

Emma and Ian

Me and Dave (ignore the finger please)

Noah and Tif (trying to get him to sleep)

I've Reverted

2010-03-23T11:16:00.002-04:00

In life I thought you were suppose to grow and change as you got older but it seems that I must be done growing and changing for a while because I have reverted back to how I was between the ages of 10-21. Yes I know this is a long period of time but during that time period I broke a bunch of bones, had a ton of sprains, and just got hurt all the time.

Around the time I got pregnant with Emma my clumsiness seemed to go away. Not completely away but it didn't seem to present itself nearly as much. As time went on I had less and less accidents.

Then just a mere month ago it reared it's ugly head again. It all started with me trying to dig thru a stack of reports placed on the window vent at the office. I was in such a hurry and not paying attention when I slammed my head into the window. I hit it so hard that I instantly had a headache that last the rest of the day.

Just a few days after that I tripped over some reports on the floor in my cube and slammed my head into the window again. I swear I was not trying to jump out the window.

I believe it was a week after that when as I was getting out of my car to come into work I fell landing on my knee while my other leg went out to the sides like I was doing the splits. Somehow I managed not to tear a hole in my dress pants but my knee was not looking good for a few days.

I can't remember exactly when but sometime after the fall in the parking lot I had just crossed the street and was rounding a corner on my way into work when a guy on a bike flew by running over one of my feet. Luckily I had one my pointy toed boots that day so it didn't hurt to much. It scared me more than anything.

This brings us to yesterday morning. Ian eats breakfast at the babysitters so I don't get him up until it's time to leave. Usually he wont wake up so I will put his coat on him and carry him to the car. I made it all the way down the stairs and out to the garage and as I was walking around the car to put Ian in on his side my ankle gave out. I went crashing to the concrete twisting my ankle and knee before my hip it the floor. By the grace of god Ian did not fall and stayed sound asleep in my arms. This accident has resulted in a lovely sprained ankle which I just don't have time for.

Both my mom and sister asked me what is going on because this is just how I was as a kid. I really don't know but whatever is causing this I need it to go away.

Updates

2010-03-13T13:26:00.002-05:00

I know I've been gone for what seems like forever but really only a few weeks. Since the news from my sister life just seems to have taken over and I haven't had much time for anything.

There hasn't been anything new with Steph I'm just waiting on a surgery date so that I can book my flight out there. Of course this waiting is killing all of us but Steph is doing really well and staying nice and positive.

We did get some more bad news last weekend though. Our dog Ginger died last weekend. It appears to have been cancer even though she was so young. The kids were at my MIL's when it happened which I was glad for but we had to tell them when they got home Sunday night. Emma seems to be taking it the hardest and I feel so bad for her. She has spent most of the week upset and sad that she doesn't have her Gingy Bell.

On a happy note Dave's 30th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I couldn't let this one go by without celebrating so we are having a big party here at our house. I found a great website Zazzle and ordered his invitations which I sent out early this week. Since we are going to have what we hope is a large number of people here we finally bought some bar stools for the breakfast bar and I love them. Dave and I also found these really cool metal panel sconces that we have hung on each side of the fireplace that look awesome. Hopefully we will be able to finish a few other small projects before the party but if not the house is still looking good even though it's not where we want it.

Well that's the big stuff going on here hope all is well with the rest of you.

Cancer

2010-02-26T20:28:00.003-05:00

Last month I wrote this and today I am able to explain it all.

That post was all about my sister. She moved to San Diego California at the end of October. At the end of November she found an OB and had her yearly exam. Thankfully the OB she found is one that believes in checking her patients overall health not just the female parts. Part of that check up was to examine Steph's thyroid where she found a lump. She strongly urged Steph to see her family doctor about that which Steph did.

Last week Steph had her biopsy and the results came back yesterday. I just had to pause after typing that last sentence because I'm struggling right now to type the next one. My sister has cancer.

Yes I said it, my sister has thyroid CANCER.

When I got the call last night from Steph I knew the second I heard her shaky voice say Jo (her nickname for me) that it was bad news. She didn't actually tell me because I instantly started crying but I told her it would be ok. Even though Steph knows the medical side of this it was still hard for her to hear it as a patient this time. She was in complete panic mode. Not because she thought this was going to kill her but more because she knows that while this cancer is the least deadly it's still not an easy process. Her doctor also warned her that there could be a chance she will have to go through chemo and to her that was devastating. Of course Steph wasn't in the mood to talk much so I didn't ask to much just that she call me today. I spent the rest of the evening and all night just thinking about everything.

For me the word chemo brings back very vivid memories of my dad during his chemo treatments and after and he didn't make it. I had to keep telling myself that what Dad had was much worse that what Steph has and treatments are so much better now than they were 22 years ago.

As promised Steph called me this afternoon and I have more details. The first step will be surgery. As long as the Cancer has not spread farther than her lymph nodes, which they are pretty sure it's gone that far already, then she will only have to go through iodine and radiation treatments. If the cancer has spread more than she would have no choice but to do chemo. So please pray, cross fingers, whatever you do that she doesn't need chemo.

Right now that's is all we know. We are hoping to have a surgery date sometime next week but it will all depend on how quickly she can get in to see the general surgeon. When I have more information to share I promise I will.

Freddie the Friendly Monster

2010-02-15T13:41:00.008-05:00

In September when we found out we were getting the house I started looking for stuff for the kids bathroom. I wanted their bathroom to be fun for them, and I wanted something different then everyone else has but it also had to be something that would work for a girl or a boy.

Little did I know that finding something that worked for a girl and boy and wasn't fish, ducks, or safari animals would be so difficult. After a few months of searching Target came out with the Freddie the Friendly Monster set and it was perfect. Both the kids liked it and it had a good mix of boy and girls. On top of that it wasn't too expensive.

For Christmas Santa was oh so smart and got each of the kids a monster hooded towel and monster puppet wash clothes so that mom and dad wouldn't have to get those too. Originally Dave and I were going to get the rest of the stuff for the kids as a Christmas present but at the last minute we changed our minds and got them more toys.

A few weeks ago we finally took the kids to Target and picked out all the stuff. We got the Green monster tooth brush holder who has a hole in his back for the toothpaste.

The make your own monster soap dispenser.

Multi monster trash can with removable bucket which makes emptying the trash so much easier.

Monster head shower curtain hooks

The circle fabric shower curtain. I had my choice between this one and a vinyl one that looked just like the trash can.

Fun circle hand towels

Finally my favorite piece so far the giant monster feet bath mats.

The only thing that sucked was that the feet were the only bath mats that Target had. Luckily Kolhs has also come out with a Monster bath set and while I don't like it as much they do have this.

The plan was to get that today but it seems we are in the middle of yet another snow storm so I will have to wait. I also need to find some kind of decorative hooks for the kids towels and robes which is proving to be a bigger challenge than finding a bath set for them. Lastly I need to figure out what pictures I'm going to frame to hang above the towel rack.

So once I had all the items set up I had to figure out how to paint the room. I finally settled on doing the walls in Caribbean Blue and painting different sized circles in Fruit Juice Purple, Sexy Pink, Daffodil Yellow, and Lucky Shamrock Green. I started the painting Friday evening and finished at 12:30 am last night. There was a point where I thought I would never finish it but I'm so glad I spent the time to do it.

So what do you think?

Super Cute right!

Surprise

2010-02-07T18:25:00.006-05:00

After two weeks of listening to my mom whine and complain about us not doing much for her 50th birthday I was finally able to get her back for that. I had planned a lunch at the Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse and mom thought it was just going to me us, her, KJ, Nick, and Alicia and that it was going to be for her and Alicia. She was a little surprised when she walked into the restaurant and her mom, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and sister-in-law were also there.

I had made reservations for 1:00 but there were still people sitting at the table we were to be at so we ended up having to wait for about 20 minutes before we could seated which was a little frustrating. Since we had a group of 14 they brought out 2 chefs so the food could be cooked and served faster. Both of my kids wanted to sit by their Aunt and Uncles so they sat at one side and Dave and I sat at the other.

It ended up being kind of nice, almost like a date for Dave and I. Thankfully the kids were good for Aunt Alicia, Uncle Nicky, and Uncle KJ. The kids love Japanese food and they really love eating with chopsticks.

I think they actually ate better with those than with forks.

My Grandma told the servers that we were there to celebrate my moms 50th birthday so they brought her out a big pineapple and sang to her. They made her stand up and announced that we were there celebrating her 74th birthday which we all found hysterical but she didn't.

Mom really enjoyed her surprise lunch and I think everyone had a good time. I am so glad we were able to keep it a secret and really surprise her. Happy Birthday Mom.

Snowgirl Suzie

2010-02-07T09:40:00.004-05:00

Say hello to the newest member of the Wilson's house.

This is Snowgirl Suzie and the kids and I made her yesterday afternoon when we went out to play in the snow. It seems the only good part of this snow is that it is the perfect kind of playing in.

The kids had a blast building Suzie, throwing snowballs, and just jumping in the snow.

Of course after being out there for an hour they were nice and cold which of course meant hot chocolate once we came in.

Do you think they like it?

Snow Snow Go Away

2010-02-06T09:57:00.002-05:00

By the time I reach February I am done with winter. I really only like the cold and snow between Thanksgiving and New Years after that I want spring and summer. Unfortunately here in Ohio winter doesn't really even start till January and typically we get a big snow storm every February.

This year is no different. Yesterday morning it started snowing and by noon they were closing all the schools in central Ohio. So I left work at lunch time to go and pick Emma up from school. If school closes then so does her after school care so I didn't have a choice but to go and get her. Since it was Friday I was more than happy to leave early. Once I picked her up we ran to Kroger for a few things and then I picked Ian up. The roads weren't too bad yet but I knew if the snow kept coming the way it was by the time 4:00 rolled around they would be.

The kids and I put our jammies on popped some popcorn and cuddle up to watch movies. We started with Honey I Blew Up the Kid. Next we watched the Hannah Montana movie. Just as it was ending Dave got home from work and it was time for dinner. After a long stressful week this was the perfect way to end it.

It snowed all through the night so everything is covered which means here in a little while I will spend an hour bundling the kids up so they can play in the snow. Hopefully this will be the last snow like this of the year so I can't not let them out to play in it. For the rest of you stuck with this snow stay warm.

Commence Birthday Month from Hell

2010-02-02T19:29:00.003-05:00

If any of you reading this have a birthday in February I love you but I hate the month of your birthday. You see growing up I was the only one in my family with a birthday not in February so just a mere 1 month after Christmas I had to watch as my brothers and sister got more presents. I'm sure my sister teasing me about that didn't help the situation either. As an adult the presents thing doesn't matter but I have to turn around and by all my family presents again a month after Christmas.

So yesterday began the birthday month from hell with me and we kicked it off with a big one. My mom turned 50 yesterday. Seeing as 50 is a very big deal I have a surprise lunch party planned for this coming Sunday and she has no clue. Mom thought that the cake with us, my brother and his wife, and my baby brother was all that we were doing for her. I'm sure come Sunday she is going to regret all the pouting she has been doing for the past two weeks but I guess if that's all I got for a big birthday I would probably be sad too.

This Thursday the 4th will be another big day for us. It is my awesome sister-in-laws b-day. We have told my mom we are celebrating that on Sunday by going out to lunch but really that's her lunch. My brother however is throwing my SIL a party Friday night. Also on Thursday is Dave's best friends step daughters birthday party at Magic Mountain which we will be attending.

Moving on to Saturday we have another of Dave's friend celebrating his big 30 with a surprise party thrown by his wife. His birthday isn't until the end of the month so he should be very surprised by a party this early in the month.

Of course Sunday is the big party and then we get a little bit of a break even though I have a bunch of cousins, aunts, and uncles whose birthday fall in the middle of the month.

This brings us to the last week of the month and my most dreaded part of the month. We start off with my Sisters birthday on the 23rd. I have to make sure I mail her present out before that since she wont be coming home. Two days later on the 25th is my brother Nicks b-day and we have yet to determine how to celebrate that one. Three days after that on the 28th we will be celebrating my baby brothers birthday. Since he was born on February 29th and this isn't a leap year we choose the last day of February as his birthday. This same week Daves friend (the one with the surprise party) has his birthday and one of my best friends Shanna also has her birthday.

So that finally brings us to March and a much needed rest except for the 1st which is my other best friends birthday but she is technically a March baby so I don't give her a hard time. Needless to say it's going to be a fun filled busy month.

Teachers Choice

2010-01-30T16:33:00.002-05:00

When I picked Emma up from school Thursday the first thing she told me about her day was that they had an assembly at school and she won an award. She wasn't sure what the award was but she said it was in her folder.

As soon as we got home I opened her folder and found two awards. One was the Teachers Choice award and the other was The Most Improved Student. On the Most Improved Student it said it was for Emma knowing all of her upper and lower case letters and over half of the Kindergarten sight words. I'm still not sure what the Teachers Choice but it seems like it's a favorite student type of award.

This past week we also got the second nine weeks grade cards and Emma is either right where she should be or above that level. I am just so proud of how well my baby girl is doing in school and I love that she loves it.

Way to go Emma!

A Day Off

2010-01-27T15:25:00.002-05:00

This morning Dave and I took Ian to his Endocrinologist appointment. We weren't sure how it was going to go so we both took the day off just in case there was blood work that needed to be done.

Thankfully there was none of that and the appointment went well. Ian has grown enough in the last six months to maintain is 3rd percentile curve. A centimeter or two less and he would have been below that and in bad territory but since he is maintaining we are going to continue to monitor. So it looks like we have another 6 months in limbo mode hoping and praying that something is jump started. I know it could be worse but this limbo stuff is really starting to get old.

Since Ian did so well at the doctors Dave told him we would go and get him a new leapster since his stopped working a couple weeks ago. We decided on Walmart because we needed a few grocery items and Dave need a new pair of hair clippers. Since we didn't have anywhere to be we looked around at some other items and then headed for the checkout. We only had a few items so we went through the self checkout which ended up being stupid on our part. We had to wait forever for the attended to come over and type in some code because of the Leapster, then we had to wait again for her to come and check Dave's ID after swiping our card. By the time we had finished checking out Dave was highly irritated and just wanted to get out of there.

Of course as we were walking out the door the stupid alarm went off but we just kept going because we knew we paid for everything. After I put Ian in his seat I noticed one of the greeters standing on front of our car writing our licence plate # down. This was the final straw for Dave and he flew out of the car and confronted the greeter. Dave then went into the store and asked to speak to a Manager. The women Patricia at the Customer Service desk asked what was going on and she laughed as Dave explained the situation. That prompted Dave to come back to get the stuff out of the car and then return it. When he got back up to Customer Service another women was there and she did call a Manger for Dave and he told her what had happen. Of course she was unhappy that the greeter came out to the parking lot like that. This employee had told her that he asked for our receipt which I didn't hear him but regardless that man was not law enforcement so he had no right to treat us as though we were criminals. The manager agreed and she did say that was against company policy. Unfortunately for them they lost a sale because we still returned everything and went to Target.

It ended up paying off for me because the line of kitchen accessories that I have been buying a few pieces at a time were clearanced so I got the rest of what I wanted. That included the napkin holder, 2 trivets, the cookbook stand, and the coffee and sugar canisters.

Minus the walmart incident this day has been a nice day spent with my two boys and I'm glad I took the whole day off.

Worried and Scared

2010-01-20T20:27:00.002-05:00

I've been keeping a secret since Christmas because I was asked to by someone very close to me. I'm still being asked to but after today I need a place to talk about it so I'm going to share something here but I wont be saying who this is about because they don't want it known yet. I will refer to this person as Eliza to avoid using the this person a million time.

Eliza had her regular OB yearly appointment and the OB did the normal check up. When she felt Eliza's neck she felt a rather large mass in the area of her thyroid. After a closer exam the Doctor said it appeared to be a tumor and that it needed to be looked at as soon as possible.

Eliza was finally able to get into her regular Doctor today and she confirmed what the OB had said. It is a thyroid tumor and more test need to be ran. From research that's been done and what the doctors have said there are different test you would have done if you thought it was just an enlarged thyroid, those are not the test being ordered for Eliza. All of the test Eliza needs are strictly for Cancer. Eliza's doctor said she was worried because Eliza has not been sick since last fall yet her lymph nodes are very enlarged. Typically with thyroid cancer it first spreads to the lymph nodes so this is not a good sign.

I am trying to stay positive for Eliza and for myself but the signs are all pointing towards this being Cancer. I know that if you are going to get Cancer this is the kind you want because of how easy it is to treat and how successful those treatments are but it's still Cancer. I also know that this still may not be Cancer so I could be worried for nothing. At this point there isn't a whole lot that I can do other than be there for Eliza when she needs to talk but it just doesn't seem like enough.

When I know more I will be sure to update everyone and when this person is ready to let people other than me know about this I will tell you but until then just say a prayer or two for this very special person.

Family Movie Night

2010-01-16T12:11:00.002-05:00

Last night Emma's school hosted a family movie night in the auditorium. From the moment I picked Emma up from school until we left for the house Emma asked if we could go. Of course she didn't mention that it was last night until about 15 minutes before we needed to be there. I figured since Dave was stuck at work why not. So we rushed around to get our shoes and coats on and out the door we went.

It only took us 5 minutes to get to her school so we made it there before the movie started. We even had time for us to get some popcorn and water that the PTO was selling for a buck each and Emma was able to say hi to numerous teachers and a few friends. Then we made our way into the auditorium to find some seats. Emma wanted to sit with her friend Haily but the seat around her were all taken. Of course that lead to me being a mean mom and making Emma sit a few rows in front of her. At that moment I really considered turning around and going back home but I didn't. Eventually Emma quite pouting and watched the movie.

About half way thru Hailey and one of the other girls in Emma's class Bethany started running up and down the side isle and Emma asked to join them. I told her no, we are here to watch a movie not play. Again Emma got mad at me but I didn't care to much. I think Emma tried to talk me into letting her up 3 or 4 times and my favorite excuse was that if she didn't get to go with them then Haily would stop being her friend because Bethany was cooler. Eventually the two girls settled down and sat two rows in front of us with no one in between. Bethany turned around at one point and asked if Emma could sit with them and to that I said yes. I figured there was no one between us and I could see her ever single minute so it couldn't hurt. Of course I made it clear to Emma that she was to sit and be quite and if I saw her get up or if she was loud she would have to come back and sit with me. This action of mine returned me to the best mom ever status, at least with Emma.

Of course Ian got mad at me for not letting him go with Emma but I just wasn't ready to let him go sit with someone other than me. Letting Emma sit with friends was a big step for me and I just couldn't do both. I did think it was sweet that Emma asked if Ian could go with her though. I was able to make things up to Ian by giving him a brownie I bought before the movie started and that cheered him up enough to get through the rest of the movie.

I guess I should say a big THANK YOU to the Groveport Elementary School PTO for putting together the free Family Movie Night. It was a great way to spend the evening with the kids.

The Playroom

2010-01-13T18:49:00.002-05:00

During the moving process Dave and I went back and forth on what to do with the 4th bedroom. At first we thought we would use it as an office, then we thought about a playroom, then it was back to an office, and finally it was decided that it would be a playroom.

At the old house the kids bedrooms were always a mess because all of their toys were in their rooms and of course they had to get all of them out at the same time and never put them back. It was always so frustrating for me at bed time because I would have to walk through all of their toys without killing myself. It also seemed that once their rooms were a mess the toys would start to find their way downstairs and into the living room which then would make the living room seem like a mess.

Here a few toys have found their way down to the living room but for the most part the toys have stayed upstairs. However it seems the toys in the playroom are making their way to the bedrooms. This weekend I thought Emma was being so good and playing nicely by herself upstairs. She was playing up their but it seems she had moved half her toys from the playroom to her bedroom and the other half were in the hallway by the bathroom. I was so looking forward to this playroom and being able to just shut the door when I didn't want to look at the mess but it just doesn't seem to be working that way. I'm hoping that sending Emma to her room to clean until it's all back the way it should be will teach her not to do it again but I think that's probably not the case. Any thoughts on how to make this work? Please!!!

Yum - O

2010-01-09T18:48:00.003-05:00

If any of you are like me you are always looking for something new to add to your selection of dinner recipes and it's always nice when it's easy and quick. If you are keep reading it will be worth it.

Thursday evening after dinner the kids went upstairs to play and I was able to watch 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray and I am so glad I had that opportunity. The episode airing was titled Guiltless Pleasures and Rachel was taking a couple of classics and giving them a twist. The menu consisted of Sloppy Buffalo Joes and Mashed Potato Skins. I'm not really sure if she was redoing Buffalo wings and Potato Skins or Sloppy Joes and Mashed Potatos but either way they looked amazing and I decided they had to be added to the grocery list for Friday evening.

I decided that they would make a good Saturday evening meal. This may sounds weird but I prefer simple meals for Saturday like Sloppy Joes, or Burgers so this fit that bill perfectly. They were so simple to make and didn't use too many dishes which is yet another plus. The best part was that it really was 30 minutes maybe even less so I didn't have to spend for ever fixing dinner. Dave was still at work, and still is so he hasn't tried them but the kids and I LOVED the meal and it has already been added to my recipe box.

So if you are looking for something quick, easy, and tasty here it is.

Sloppy Buffalo Joes

2 TBSP EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
2 Pounds Ground Chicken Breast
1 Carrot, peeled and grated (I used a handful of bagged shredded carrot)
2 Stalks Celery, chopped
1 Yellow Onion, finely chopped
2 to 3 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper
2 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar
1 TBSP Worchestershire Sauce
2 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cups Hot Sauce
1 cup Tomato Sauce
1 cup Chicken Stock
8 Buns
1 cup Blue Cheese Crumbles ( i used ranch on the kids and pepperjack cheese on mine)

Directions

Heat a large skillet with EVOO over medium high heat. Add meat and break it up with wooden spoon, cook 5 to 6 minutes. Add in carrots, celery, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, cook 7 to 8 minutes more. In a bowl combine the vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, hot sauce, tomato sauce and stock. Pour into the pan and stir to combine. Simmer a few minutes more. (The sauce seemed a little soupy to me so I took some cornstarch mixed with hot water and added it to the mixture to thicken things up.) Pile sloppy Buffalo filling on buns and top with your choice of cheese.

Mashed Potato Skins

6 slices Bacon
2 pounds small Yukon Gold Potatos, halved
1 cuo Buttermilk
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup Fresh Chives or Green Onions, chopped
1/2 cup Extra Sharp White Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange the bacon on a sheet pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until crisp. Cool and chop.

Put potatoes in a medium sauce pot and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil and season with salt. Cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash potatos with buttermilk and season with salt and pepper. Stir in chives, Cheddar and fold in bacon. My own special touch to this was to top with sour cream.

I hope you all will enjoy this meal because it really is Yum-O!

Looking Back on a Decade

2010-01-05T15:21:00.002-05:00

I just finished reading Tabi Rambles On's latest post about the events of her life in the past decade and thought it was a great idea. So here are is my life in the last 10 years.

2000 - Began planning Dave and I's wedding while attending college in Dayton, Ohio with him here in Columbus

2001 - Moved back to Columbus and Dave and I got our very first apartment. Looking back I can only laugh at how bad that place was but it was cheap and worked for what we needed then. I do owe that apartment though because Shanna moved in across from us and even I hated her in High School we became best friends and things today just wouldn't be right without her.

2002 - This was a big year, I turned 21 and then a month later Dave and I were married after almost 3 years of planning and 6 years of dating. We also had a miscarriage that year which was not easy but it all worked out in the end.

2003 - I spent the first 9 months of this year pregnant and miserable but the last 3 months were spent learning how to be a mother and loving my sweet baby girl. This year truly changed me.

2004 - This was a tough year for Dave and I. We both lost our jobs (at different) times so things were financially hard for a while but clearly we made it through.

2005 - '05 was a very busy year for me. I started working for the Ohio Attorney Generals office that summer and I'm still here. Dave had the opportunity to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help and I was able to visit him for a weekend. The biggest and best part of 2005 though was Mr. Ian man being born which again changed me forever.

2006 - The biggest thing to happen to us in '06 was we moved from an apartment into a cute little house that was built in 1861 and had tons and tons of charm and character.

2007- I was promoted at work and joined the Bookkeeping section which is now known as the Accounting section. I was so excited to being moving up and into a different section.

2008 - I really can't think of anything major that happen in 08 just the normal stuff of a working mother with 2 kids.

2009 - This was another very big year for our family. After allot of thought Dave and I bought our very first house which has been so much better than we ever could have imagined and still doesn't seem real some days.

Looking back at the past decade it is really amazing to see all the changes that I have gone through most of which have been good. Even the things that seemed bad at the time turned into something better for us. Hopefully the next 10 years will be just as good or even better than the past 10 years.

2010 Rose Bowl

2010-01-04T18:39:00.005-05:00

I think you all know there is no way I could keep quiet this time. So to set the mood you should watch the video below.

Now all I have to say is who has the best team and who has the 1968 offense? We Ohio State fans have always had to take crap from the national stage even when we win. I know the last few years we have not stepped up when we needed to but this year we did when absolutely NO ONE thought we had even a chance to win. So to all of the haters what do you have to say now?? What? I can't hear you?

Win or lose I will always be an Ohio State Buckeye Fan because that is just who I am but it really does feel nice to have a win to take us into the 2010 season.

Before I end this post I do want to share one of the best pictures I have ever taken of my kids and it's not the picture quality I'm talking about it's the content of the picture. This pic was so good I text it to my sister out in California and in true Buckeye spirit her and her California bread (yes we are converting him to a Buckeye) boyfriend sent this response.

O - H

I - O

As always when concluding a post that has anything to do with my Buckeyes I have to leave you with the Carmen Ohio tradition and this is the team singing it after their win at this years Rose Bowl.

GO BUCKS!!!

Christmas Recap

2010-01-01T21:30:00.004-05:00

I know it's been a while but it seems anymore that when I have time to get on here and blog I'm just too tired to do it. Tonight though I'm feeling pretty good thanks to an awesome BUCKEYE win.

This year for us Christmas was different and not just because we are in a new house. My MIL came down with H1N1 which turned into pneumonia and that had her out of commission for the two weeks before Christmas. For the past 12 years Dave and I have spent Christmas Eve at her house but she didn't want us bringing the kids up this year without her having the chance to clean and sterilize her house. Of course Dave and I didn't want the kids up there before she did that either. At the last minute Sharon decided she was come to our house Christmas morning and watch the kids open their Santa presents and then do Christmas with her.

So for Christmas Eve the kids and I hung out at home while Dave was with his Uncles and we did some last minute cleaning, made the cheeseball for Christmas, chopped some onions and celery for other Christmas lunch dishes, and we spread some Reindeer food in the back yard to make sure Santa could find our house. Mostly though we waited and waited for Aunt Stephy to come in from California. Finally around 10pm Aunt Stephy arrived so she hung out with the kids for a while before I sent them to bed. We also ended up with a surprise guest which was Uncle KJ. My mom came down with a bad cold so I agreed to have KJ stay with us Christmas Eve. Once the kids went to bed, Steph, KJ, Dave, and I wrapped all the presents Steph brought with her and all the kids Santa presents. At 2am we all finally made it to bed which made the 7am wake up call from Sharon a bit tough.

Bright and Early Christmas morning Sharon came over and just after we got all of her presents unloaded the kids got up and the crazy day started. The kids loved all their presents and of course had to open everything as soon as the last present was unwrapped. Thankfully my MIL brought breakfast with her so all I had to do was make coffee. After breakfast I started on the food for lunch which consisted of Ham, cheesey potatoes, stuffin muffins, peas, and dinner rolls. While I was cooking my Grandma arrived which was so nice. This was my Grams first Christmas without her husband so we wanted to make things easy for her and thought being with us and the kids would help. It was also nice to have her with me in the kitchen and helping. My love of cooking comes from watching her in the kitchen growing up and this was the first time I have ever cooked her an entire meal. Shortly before lunch Sharon left to go over to her dads, and my brother and his wife came over. After lunch my mom showed up and we all opened our presents. This year was a little bit emotional as my sister, brother Nick, and I all received scrapbooks of our dad. Back this fall before my sister moved her boyfriend came out to meet us all and Steph and I made a comment that we didn't have any pictures of our dad. That gave our mom the idea to make the scrapbooks and they mean more to the three of us than I think we can explain.

After a long day everyone left to go home except my Grams who decided to spend the night with us. The kids of course loved this and took the time to play with her and talk her ear off. The next morning after breakfast Grams left to make her way back home and the kids and I took Aunt Stephy to the airport which was very hard to do. That put an end to The Wilson's Christmas 2009 and it was a very good one.

Happy 4th Birthday Ian

2009-12-21T19:20:00.004-05:00

The first day of Winter is also known in the Wilson's House as Ian's birthday. It seems so strange to me that my little boy is four years old today. I remember after having Emma everyone would ask me if time was flying and it never seemed to be. Then Ian came along and time has just flown by. It really does feel like yesterday that I had just come out of the OR and was trying to feed Ian.

Now that same little baby is upstairs yelling and jumping and playing with his sister and Uncle KJ.

So Happy 4th Birthday Ian!

To the Bat Cave Robin

2009-12-15T20:28:00.005-05:00

This past Sunday was Ian's birthday party. With his b-day being the 21st I always have the party earlier in the month. Having the new house we decided to just have his party here which Ian was fine with because he got some special games to play.

We started off with lunch of Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Mac & Cheese a menu made just for little ones. The only thing I didn't get that Ian asked for was doughnuts but I figured the cake would take care of that.

After lunch Ian had to open all his presents which was ok with me because I knew we were going to need the bat from the t-ball set we got him for later.

While Dave, Uncle Nick, and our friend Joe worked on putting all the toys together the rest of us played Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Ian won. His tail actually touched the bulls eye, I couldn't believe it! Next up we played a few rounds of Hot Potato using a foam Bat Signal that I made.

After that it was time for some good cake.

Finally we spent 20 minutes letting the kids whack a pinata before Dave finally helped Ian break it open.

After all the guest left Ian told me it was the best birthday ever so I think he had a good time.

The Nutcracker Tradition

2009-12-07T21:09:00.003-05:00

The first Christmas Dave and I were together his boss at the time Kelly bought us a nutcracker.

He has gone up every year since and I have always loved him. Last year both the kids took a special liking to him. Ian was completely amazed by him and wanted to move his mouth all the time. A few days after Christmas we were all at Target and they had a bunch of nutcrackers clearance so Dave and I decided we were going to start a tradition and get a new nutcracker every year starting right then. We let the kids pick which one we got and here is what they picked.

This year a few weeks before we moved Dave and I were at Kohls and they were starting to put up their Christmas decoration. I hate that they have Christmas stuff up before Halloween now but for some reason I just had to walk through it all to see what was there. I turned one of corners in the back and ran straight into their nutcrackers. I instantly saw a Scottish Bagpiper and I just new that was the one for this year. It just so happen it was on sale for under $10.00 and since we were going to get one at some point we went ahead and got him because he was just perfect.

I had already packed all of my decorations so I just left my Scotsmen in the bag and then brought that bag along with some other small things we had bought for the house over the first night we owned the house. He has been sitting on our mantel ever since, even before the holidays. My MIL saw him the first weekend we were here and we talked about how we had decided to start collecting them. Thanksgiving weekend when she brought the kids home she also brought two round and fat baby nutcrackers to add to our collection.

So we are now up to 5 and I already know that I want a tall one that can sit beside the fireplace for next year and I'm hoping for a traditional one.

The Perfect Christmas

2009-12-06T18:38:00.003-05:00

This afternoon we had our November bookclucb meeting. Yes I know it's December but November always seems to get pushed to the first weekend in December because of Thanksgiving, plus we don't have a meeting in December so it doesn't hurt anything.

Anyway, November was my month because I switched with Jen, there was just no way I was going to be able to host Octobers with the move. Since I knew we would be having the meeting today I decided on a Christmas themed book I just didn't know which book at first. I thought it was going to be super easy to pick a book but it ended up being harder than I thought. In the end I went with Debbie Macombers The Perfect Christmas.

There really isn't much to say about the book. It was cute, fun, and predictable but it left you with an overall happy feeling which a Christmas story should. Actually if you have been watching Lifetime, Hallmark, or ABC family then you know the type of story it is. In the book the main character is given 3 Christmas related tasks to complete to get what she wants. One of those tasks is to host the perfect Christmas Dinner for friends and family. Now she made the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, and three different pies. As I was reading this I was feeling a little sad because there was no way I was going to make a full Christmas meal for the meeting but I always try really hard to pull my menu from the book whether it be food they eat in the book or food that matches the theme of the book. This would have been so easy to do but in the end I decided to go with a smaller version of what my family eats on Christmas day. We had veggies and dip, cheese, summer sausage, and apples slices for appetizers. For the main meal I served
Ham, Cheesy potatoes, corn, and dinner rolls. To finish the meal I served a warm Dutch Apple pie.

Of course with it actually being Christmas my house was already decorated to go with the theme of the book and this gave me another chance to use my Christmas china which I usually only get to use once a year. I hadn't yet decorated my table for Christmas so I took this chance to make my centerpiece and set the table. It turned out better than I thought so of course I have to share a few pictures of it.

It ended up being a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The food was great and it's always nice to have some girl time without kids running around interrupting you every two seconds. The best part though for me was finally getting to show the new house to some of my friends.

Christmas Cheer

2009-12-02T22:13:00.005-05:00

One of the many Christmas traditions in the Wilson's house is putting the decorations up. Every year since Dave and I have lived together I have put the Christmas decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving and this year was no different.

We went to my MIL's for Thanksgiving this year and the kids stayed with her for the rest of the weekend manly because both Dave and I had to work the day after and our sitter doesn't. Thankfully Sharon didn't have to work either so she was able to watch the kids. When Dave and I got home that evening we started by getting the tree out. I put the tree together and got all the lights on it but I never put any ornaments on without the kids. Next I moved onto the other decorations which was harder than normal this year. Being in the new house I had to figure out where to put things. It is so nice to have the fireplace and mantel for the stockings and some of our nutcrackers but Even with those up there I could tell something was missing. I also new we were going to need something for the banister.

Friday evening after Dave got home from work we headed out to Target and we picked up some lighted garland for the banister and some regular garland for the mantel. Yes we also picked up a few other things because they were having some great sales.

Saturday afternoon my mom and I did some major shopping and I am almost done with the kids and half way done with the family. Part of that shopping included a trip to JoAnn Fabrics where I bought ribbon for my mom to make her awesome bows to add to the garland and some outdoor ribbon to make bows for my wreaths.

Sunday when the kids got home we all added the ornaments to the tree to complete it and I hung the garland. We were almost done but I was still missing the bows which they really needed.

Well finally this evening my mom came over and she made all 10 bows for me and one for Emma to play with. I must say I am seriously loving my house all decorated for Christmas. Once it was all done I dressed the kids in their Christmas outfits and took their pictures. Some of them are being used in this years Christmas cards but I wont tell you which ones since some of you will be receiving one. So finally here are some pics of my new house and our first Christmas in it.

Christmas Shopping

2009-11-24T20:17:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago while I was sitting at home by myself on veterans day I decided to do some more research on a Christmas present idea I had for the kids. Both Emma and Ian love music and they both love my iPod. In fact they often fight over who gets to listen to it and spend allot of evenings trading back and forth. Them using my ipod, however has taken it's toll on my headphones and on me. I remembered a few years ago when Fisher Price came out with their kid tough toy line (the one with the cameras and dvd players) that it included an mp3 player.

I looked at all the major toy store sites and couldn't find it. I finally got on Fisher Price's site but they didn't even have it but they did have headphones that were fp3 compatible. The fp3 stuck out to me so I googled that and found exactly what I was looking for on Amazon. Of course there was a problem though, a single fp3 player was priced at $160.00 and I knew that would be to much for us to get one for each of the kids.

At that point I went back to the Internet and searched, and searched, and searched for kid friendly mp3 players. I'm still surprised that there aren't any out there. the ones that come out are not really mp3 players. They do have ones that have preloaded music on them but you can't add your own and they don't have very many on them.

I decided to try one more thing before I gave up on the mp3 idea for the kids big Christmas gift. I got on eBay which I never do and searched. I couldn't believe it there were a bunch of used ones for sale as well as a bunch of new ones still in the unopened package and the prices were so much cheaper. I immediately called Dave and he got on his account to place a bid on the set of two, one pink and one blue. In the end Dave and I won the bid and got both plus shipping for less than the amazon price for one. They are both now in our new secret Santa present hiding spot and I can't wait to give them to the kids I just know they are going to love them. Now I just have to decided what else to get them for Christmas that will fit in the budget, of course they want everything they see.

Signs that I'm really a mom

2009-11-18T18:05:00.002-05:00

Last night Ian came down to the living room while I was watching TV and asked if I would find some music to listen to. I went straight to the Music OnDemand stations and the first one had Totally 80's. One of the first songs listed was Bon Jovi's Prayer so I played it. After that Ian asked me to play that song over and over which I did because he was so cute singing and dancing to it.

I think we were on the fourth or fifth time when Dave came in from work. Emma ran back to greet him and he asked her what we were doing and there conversation went like this.

Emma: Mom and Ian are listening to that old 80's music stuff.

Dave: They're what?

Emma: You know that old music from the 80's. I mean it's not bad bad I like it, but it's old 80's music.

Dave: Ok!

Then this evening as Emma was finishing her dinner and I was cleaning up Emma and I have this conversation.

Emma: Mom if you ever have a day you don't have to work and you come into my school you better not embarrass me.

Me: I had better not do what? (said in a very Sterne tone of voice)

Emma: I just don't want you to come into school and embarrass me.

Me: Have I ever embarrassed you?

Emma: No I just don't want you to.

Me: Ok I'll try my best not to embarrass you.

If those kinds of conversations don't make you feel like a mom and old I'm not sure what else would!

Ride Em' Cowboy

2009-11-15T20:53:00.006-05:00

My MIL had the kids this weekend so I took advantage of the no kid time and made good use of being stuck in the house all day while Broadview installed our security system by painting Ian's room.

This is what Ian's room looked like when we moved in.

Obviously we couldn't have Ian sleeping in a dark purple room, we knew we would have to paint it and fairly soon so we hadn't put any of Ian's things together. Ian has been sleeping with Emma for the past two weeks because of this.

When we found out we had got this house we asked both the kids what they wanted done with their rooms. The only thing Ian said was that he wanted his room to be green. Now my mom spent a long time making a cowboy themed quilt for Ian's bed and I love it, not to mention I have a lot of very nice and cute decorations that go with that room. I spent a lot of time on line looking at decoration sites trying to figure out how to incorporate green walls with the blue, red, and tan bedding I had.

After a few weeks of searching and not being able to find anything I started trying to talk Ian into another color but he kept insisting he get green walls. Then one Saturday afternoon I was packing up Ian's room and I came across a box of stuff my mom had found for Ian's room when we first moved into the last house. It was some of that sticker wall boarder and decals for kids and it happened to be cowboy themed. With the shape of Ian's room at the last house I wasn't able to use it so I had put it up and forgot about it. Once I started looking at it I noticed it had a bunch of green in it and then the light bulb went off. Here is what I came up with.

I think the green or Canteen as Eddie Bauer calls it looks great and it matches the green in the border perfectly and the brown or Cayenne is a nice rustic shade of brown that was taken from the rope detail in the border. I still have a few things left to get for the walls in his room, like some wooden letters that spell his name, and a valance, but for the most part Ian's room is done and it feels good to finally have accomplished. The best part though was to see Ian's face when he walked in tonight. He loves his room and he was so happy that it has green in it.

A++

2009-11-12T21:43:00.003-05:00

This evening Dave and I went to our first Parent Teacher Conference for Emma. The first thing Emma's teacher said to us was that this wouldn't take long because Emma was great and she just loved her. I'm not sure I can really explain how that made me feel but it was a very good feeling.

Emma's teacher went over the report card that was sent home last week. Emma's vocabulary is way beyond where it should be, it might possibly be beyond the level expected at the end of the year. Emma can count twice as high as what is needed during this point in the school year. She knows what letters make what sounds, and she is right where she needs to be with reading. Emma has also achieved the Shapes, Colors, and Size recognition when they only expect the kids to know one of the three at this point. The one thing Emma does need some work on is writing her lowercase d's and b's she tends to get them confused but her teacher said that is very normal. We were also informed that Emma is always eager to learn something new, she is a big help in the classroom and she has the ability to notice when other kids in her class are struggling with something and she will help them.

I think the best part for me was hearing that Emma helps the other kids when they need it without being told to and that it is truly helping the other children. Even though I knew Emma was more than ready for school and that she was smart enough to handle it it was still a scary thing. What if she doesn't do well, what if she doesn't grasp all the things she needs to, what if she doesn't make any friends and the other kids pick on her? After tonight those fears are all gone and all that's left is pride that Emma is my child and she is excelling. That may sound a little cocky but I honestly can't help it I am so proud of my baby girl and I want to share it with everyone. I'm sure you other parents out there get that.

Oh and since Emma is doing so well Dave and I stopped at the Book Fair going on in the Library and bought her a new book that we gave her tonight and some more for Christmas. She loved her book and even read some of it to us before bed tonight which is amazing to hear.

The Cable Guy

2009-11-04T14:49:00.002-05:00

The week before we moved we called to schedule our cable provider to come out to the new house and install cable, Internet, and phone service. We thought calling a week in advance would be plenty of time for them to come out while both Dave and I were on vacation. Well we were wrong and the couldn't come out till today, almost two weeks after our call which in itself is a load of crap.

So we scheduled them for 12-4 today and I went into work this morning but took half the day off to come home for the cable guy. He arrived a little after one and I walked him through the house to show him what we needed. For some strange reason the people that built this house did not have any cable or phone jacks ran to the entire upstairs which includes a large loft area where we have the computer set up. When the guy saw that the wall for the Internet was an internal wall and would have to be fished he said he wouldn't be able to do that today because it wasn't on the work order that Time Warner sent him. A helpful piece of information is that the cable guy doesn't work for the cable company but his company is contracted out to do the installation for them. Back to the story, I called Dave and had Dave talk to the guy because not only was he saying he couldn't do it today but that it would cost us $39.99 for every half hour he spent in the attic fishing the lines and he said they typically take 30 to 45 minutes to do. We were planning on having jacks in both the kids rooms installed but the walls they would need to be on are also inside walls and I'm not paying that much for the kids to have cable they can watch movies just the same.

Dave finally works out what we want done and the guy then tells us that Time Warner is saying he can't even install the cable box downstairs because it all has to be done at the same time when the Internet and the phone are installed which still does not make a single bit of sense to me. The cable guy called his supervisor or told him he could install the one cable box and come back Saturday to do the rest but Time Warner just wouldn't agree to that. At this point we still have them scheduled to come out Saturday morning but I'm not sure if we are going to keep them now or not. We may do some more research and see what else we can get but we don't have very many options where we are which make all this that much harder. The thing that really upsets me is that I took half a day off work for this and got nothing for it.

The only good thing about today is that the cable guy was nice enough to hook up cable to the house so we do have the channels that you can get without a box and he didn't tell time Warner that he did that. Since he has left though I keep thinking about the movie The Cable Guy with Jim Carey, I really hope this guy isn't crazy like that!

My New Love

2009-11-03T20:00:00.009-05:00

I am head over heels in love with something in this picture.

Technically you can't see this in that picture but could it be my dishwasher?

No, but let me tell you I do love this dishwasher, it has a ton of setting to choose from which are on the top of the door instead of the front. The silverware rack fits in the bottom or top rank or my favorite place in the door and it cleans my dished so very well.

Could it be one of these?

Nope, but we are getting closer. My new microwave is very pretty but come on folks it's a microwave. My new oven is very close to stealing my heart but it still not the one even with it's regular bake, broil, and convention oven options. The steam cleaning and three ranks don't bump it up but they are very nice features to have. Not even the warming zone and multi size burner options make this my new love.

Of course that only leaves one thing which would be this,

Say hello to the Whirlpool Gold 27 cubic feet French Door Refrigerator with LCD touchscreen front panel.

Just look at all the room in this thing and I just went grocery shopping on Sunday and bought my normal amount of groceries. Did you also happen to notice in the top part of the left hand door is the ice bucket which is removable. No more taking up food space for the ice.

Now I can't forget the freezer. It may look small from the outside but let me tell you there is more than enough room for everything.

See those drawers on the top portion, each one slides all the back when the door is open for easy access to the bottom portion which will hold a ton of food. My old freezer would have looked packed full with just this stuff in it but this one makes it look like we don't have anything.

The LCD panel was hard to photograph but it's so cool. When you select the water option you can go in and tell it how much water you want to dispense in ounces, cups, or liters and it will stop once you have reached the programed amount. Of course you can use the non measured option to get a glass of water too. You can also extend the base out to rest larger containers on and the nozzle for the water swivels to fill those larger container easier. The ice options are the same as always cubed or crushed but this one crushes the ice very small which is the way I prefer my ice.

Can you see why this has stolen my heart, I mean really what women who loves to cook and loves her kitchen appliances wouldn't love this one. I still can't believe I was able to get it!

The Post I've been Avoiding

2009-11-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

I've been avoiding writing this post because I'm afraid it will make me cry but I figure sooner or later it has to come out so here goes.

This past May my little sister Steph went to the annual P.A. Conference. This years conference was in San Diego California. It just so happen that Steph had a good friend from college who moved out their to work for Homeland Security. Well Steph came back from her trip and she was completely in love with the area. It was at that point she started looking into finding a P.A. job out there.

After Steph passed her medical boards this summer she went back out and stayed with her friend and his roommates while she did some major job hunting. While she was their she met someone who she really liked and she was able to apply for quit a few jobs. When she came back after that trip you could just tell that Steph desperately wanted to be in San Diego which was so hard for me. I always thought that once she was done with school she would come back to Columbus and settle down.

Then a month ago Steph received a phone call from a Sleep Clinic in Orange County that she had applied to while she was there. A little background info, for a year after Steph graduated from undergrad and before she started grad school she worked as a sleep tech from a clinic here in Columbus. When this office saw Stephs background they jumped. Apparently there are very few sleep clinics in California unlike here and they have been having trouble finding someone. They conducted a phone interview and told Steph they were looking for someone that was upbeat and bubbly, not aggressive, and could handle 10 to 15 patients. Anyone who knows Steph knows she is not aggressive and has a very bubbly personality and her during her last rotation she was seeing anywhere between 40 and 50 patients a day. Add all of that with her sleep experience and I just knew this job was meant to be. So two weeks later she flew out and had a interview and then worked with the doctor in his office for a couple of days. Like I predicted they loved her and offered her a job.

Steph flew home and her new boyfriend Arron flew out so that we could meet him. In the short time he has known Steph he was able to tell how close she is with us and how much family means to her and he wanted us to be know someone she would be out there with. Thankfully we all really liked Arron, even Dave which is very surprising.

So a week ago today Steph left for a three day drive to get herself, her car, and some of her stuff out there. She came by the house the night before she left to say goodbye to the kids, Dave and I and it was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I know I will see her at Christmas but it's just not the same. I can't call her to come over for dinner any old night, or plan a girls movie night when my MIL has the kids. For the longest time I have known Steph isn't the person to stay still but I never thought she would move all the way across the country. Even now when I think about how far she is I start to tear up. I know everyone says I can still call her, and we have a web cam but no matter what it's just not the same! She says she only wants to be there for two to three years but I'm just not so sure about that.

Even though I am sad for myself right now I am so proud of my sister for going after her dreams and working so hard to achieve them. I am also proud of her for driving across country by herself without getting lost or having any problems. Now if Christmas would hurry up and get her so I can see her again.

Goodbye Old, Hello New

2009-10-27T10:05:00.002-04:00

It's official, Dave and I are finally home owners. We have dreamed about the day we would purchase our first home for what seems like forever. We have watched all of our friends purchase their first homes some even their second homes while we were waiting for the right time.

At the end of last year Dave and I talked about this year being the year we would do it. We were finally comfortable with our income and debt we just wanted to take care of a few things. Then the government announced that they would give first time home buyers $8,000.00 cash after purchasing a home if you did it before December 1. That sealed the deal, how could you pass up 8 grand, extremely low interest rates, and low prices on houses.

Next came the hard part, finding a house. Dave and I new we wanted to stay in the same area and that proved to me a little difficult. The houses in our area were just above our price range and if we went for one in our range they weren't in an area we wanted to live. Finally one day out of the blue our realtor (also a friend Dave works with) found a house in our area that the price had just been lowered on. That same evening we came and looked at the house and we knew this was the one. It met all the big criteria, it was in the right area, and the price couldn't be beat. So we put an offer in.

Here comes the crazy part, the day before we placed our offer another couple had placed an offer and the bank (the house was bank owned) had countered. Once the bank saw our offer they told the realtor that any interested parties needed to submit an offer the following day and who ever had the highest bid at the end of that business day they would accept. Initially Dave and I were freaked out by this but after talking things over we decided that the offer we had placed was a very good one and if it was meant to be it would. So the next day we resubmitted our original offer and we beat the other couple by exactly 1,000.00. If that isn't meant to be then I don't know what is.

That all happen at the beginning of September and this past Friday October 23, 2009 Dave and I signed the contract. I still don't think it has sunk in yet that this house is mine. I never thought I would be able to purchase a house as big or as nice as this one at this point in my life. So far it has been a great experience minus the delivery of the wrong microwave and the furnace not working Saturday (thank god for home warranty's).

So here is the NEW Wilson's House

No Time To Chat

2009-10-26T15:35:00.002-04:00

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. We moved this past weekend and Dave and I are both off this week to try and get the old house cleaned out and the new house in some kind of order. Right now I am sitting in my chair trying really hard to get my butt back in gear but my whole body aches from all the lifting and carrying. When I say whole body I really mean it, even my fingers hurt.

So as soon as I get some free time I will be back to share with you all about my amazing new house that I own!

Circle S Farms 2009

2009-10-17T13:14:00.008-04:00

Every year except last year my babysitter takes a field trip to Circle S Farms in the fall to get pumpkins for the kids. This year's trip was yesterday so I took the day off to go with the kids. Emma had Thursday and Friday off school for some kind of teachers in service so even she was able to go.

We met at the sitters house around 8 yesterday morning and left from her house. Here in Ohio it has been unseasonably cold so we were all bundled up in tons of layers. Of course this year Sheree found knit jackets for the kids to wear instead of t-shirts but it was too cold and they were all covered by heavy winter coats.

Once we got to the farm we started with some pictures in their little picture field.

Once we were done with the pictures we headed into the hay barn where the kids could run around and slide down a bunch of slides. This is always one of their favorite places.

After the hay barn we took a break and enjoyed the complimentary doughnut and apple cider then it was back out in the cold for a fun sunflower field maze. After the maze we let the kids look at the animals and play on the tractor.

Finally it was time for lunch and then the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Us adults were a little worried about the hayride because this week we have had some rain and the path for the tractor was nothing but mud. Thankfully we did not get stuck and we were able to pick out some really good pumpkins.

Even though it was cold and muddy the kids and I still had a good time and we can't wait for next year.

No matter what!

2009-10-06T18:41:00.002-04:00

Today during my morning break at work I jumped on Facebook to see what was going on. One of my friends had posted her horoscope for the day and she has the same sign as I do so I decided to take a look and see what it said.

Well, I instantly started laughing because the horoscope had already hit the nail on the head for how my day was going. It basically said that no matter what I did or how hard I worked I would not complete any task or resolve any issues. Before my break this morning I had already gone through two projects that I was trying to complete but was unable to for reasons out of my control. As the day went on it just got worse. I hit road block after road block in everything I did today. In some cases I think I'm in a worse place than when the day began. By the time 4 o'clock rolled around I was more than ready to come home.

Now since I've been home I was successfully able to clean the kitchen up and fix a nice meal so I guess I did complete something. I am now sitting in my chair watching tv and that is all I will be doing the rest of the evening to avoid stressing myself out even more.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2009-10-04T19:02:00.008-04:00

Tomorrow my baby girl will be 6 years old which seems completely crazy! This morning we had her birthday party at the Roller Skating Rink like we did last year. It is so nice to have great friends that let us go in before it opens and have a private party. Before we left this morning I had to snap a few pictures of Emma and this one I just love!

As soon as we got to the rink Emma and Ian had to get their skates on.

The rest of us eventually got ours on too and then we had to do the Chicken Dance for Emma

and the limbo for my sister. Steph won last year and was bragging she was going to win again this year. I wanted to beat her so badly but again she won.

After the limbo we had pizza and then it was all about the presents. Emma has been asking for the Barbie Doll heads that you can do their hair since the beginning of summer so Dave and I got her one and I think she liked it.

After all the presents were opened we did cake and then it was all over.

Again this year Emma's birthday party was great and we all had a good time. Tomorrow Emma gets to take chocolate cupcakes into school for her class and then we will have our normal Monday evening craziness of t-ball and gymnastics.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-10-02T08:08:00.003-04:00

This week since I have a picture to share I am playing along with Candid Carrie again. So once your done here go check her out.

Dave gets one day a week off and lately it's been Thursdays which doesn't leave him much time to get things done. Some of those things include taking car of my car. So yesterday I drove his car to work and he took mine in to have the oil changed and the tires rotated and balanced. My car is going on 7 years old now and still had the original battery. Really it's a miracle that it still worked but I've never had problems with it starting even in the insane freezing cold weather last winter. After the guys did the work on my car Dave came home and decided he needed to do some other maintenance stuff that really I don't know about. He also decided that it was time to replace the battery. He was still working on it when I got home with Ian last night and of course Ian had to be out there with Dave.

Ian did not leave Dave's side until he was completely finished and he asked Dave all kinds of questions and of course I had to capture some of that on the camera.

Some Privacy Please

2009-09-23T23:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday evening when I got home from work and picking up the kids I let Ginger outside and since it was nice I left the screen door open as well as the door that leads from the kitchen into the office which is where the screen door is. After opening some other windows in the house I came into my bedroom to change my clothes. While I was changing I heard the door from the kitchen to the office close and figured it was one of the kids thinking I left it open on accident.

Once I was changes I went into the kitchen and opened the door to the office to find Ian standing with the screen door open, his butt hanging out the door with his pants and underwear down. Now any parent that has watched a child poop there pants would have recognized the look on Ian's face but I still had to ask my son just what in the world he was doing. Of course he responded with a very strained I have to poop! It was at that point that I started yelling ran over to him and carried him to the bathroom. Once Ian was on the toilet I ran back to the porch to see if there was any kind of mess for me to clean and thankfully there was not. I went back to the bathroom and asked Ian why he was trying to poop on the porch instead of in the toilet and I got nothing from him. So I explained to him that we can not EVER poop on the porch and that we have to use the toilet.

Of course in the heat of the moment I did not stop to think about taking a picture but looking back I really wish I had. The look on Ian's face was truly priceless and it would have made some very good blackmail one day. I also can't help but laugh at the thought of my son trying to poop on the porch and at the fact that he closed the door to the office for some privacy while pooping. The older this kid gets and the more crazy things he does I become more and more convinced that he really is the cause of my gray hairs. He really may be the death of me.

Something To Talk About

2009-09-22T18:23:00.002-04:00

Before we start if you have never seen the movie Something to Talk About with Julia Roberts you need to watch the trailer below before we go on and I highly recommend watching the movie sometime because it is my all time favorite Julia Roberts movie.

Ok now that you have a little bit of an idea about the movie let me explain the opening scene of the movie. Julia Roberts character Grace and her husband and daughter are getting ready for the day. Grace and her husband walk out the front door and head off to work. Grace gets a block down the street and then you see her back up to the house and open the front door to her daughter standing there waiting for her. Yes she forgot her daughter but it gets better. Grace and Caroline head off to Grace's work which also happens to be her fathers horse farm and after taking care of a few things Grace gets mad and starts to leave only to have her sister chase her down the drive with her daughter. Yep she forgot her again! Every time I watch the movie I laugh at this and usually make some kind of comment to the effect of "how do you forget your own kid?"

Well apparently I should have kept my mouth shut because for two days now I've come home from work without stopping to get Emma. Wow, I can't believe I am sharing this but here goes.

Yesterday Dave stopped and picked Ian up to help save me time because we have t-ball and gymnastics. I only had to stop and get Emma so I was able to go a different way which is also the way I would go if I was coming straight home. Now I was on the phone with my sister most of the way home and as I was driving through the alley behind our house it dawned on me that I didn't have Emma. Of course I just kept going and got her then came back home for real. I told my sister what was going on and we both agreed that I was distracted by talking on the phone and it was my normal way home so I was good.

Today I did have to get Ian so I went my normal way to the sitters house and then I went the new way from her house as if I was going to pick Emma up. This time I got a block away from home when I realized I forgot to get Emma again. As I was turning around to go and get her Ian figured out that I hadn't got Emma and told me I was going the wrong way. If only he would have said something two minutes earlier! I really don't know what's wrong with me or how I could possibly forget to get my daughter two days in a row. The only good thing is I haven't gotten in the house before realizing this yet and I'm hoping that doesn't ever happen.

So in leaving you this evening I will just say what Grace said;

God help me! (in a wonderful southern accent)

T-ball

2009-09-15T18:19:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago i received a flyer in Emma's school folder talking about a fall t-ball and baseball league that the Groveport Rec Center was going to have. I almost didn't read the flyer because Emma was already signed up for gymnastics and I didn't think Ian would be old enough. For some reason I did read it and the first group they had listed was t-birds t-ball for 3 and 4 year olds. I've never seen any t-ball leagues for 3 year old so I immediately called Dave at work and they went and signed Ian up.

Well yesterday was the first practice/game. We arrived at the park and signed in. I was a little worried about how this was going to go when the coach asked Ian his name and he put his glove over his face but Ian eventually warmed up.

They gave each kid a tshirt and hat. Ian is on the Indians so he got a real Cleveland Indians hat and then his shirt is grey with blue letters and numbers. The shirts and hats were huge on all the kids but I guess that's part of the reason they were all so cute.

Once everyone was signed in they talked to us about how things would work. Every week they will have 30 minutes of instructional drills to help teach them how to catch, bat, throw the ball, and run the bases.

The second 30 minutes will be used to play a game. Now I am using game very loosely because it's basically each kid on the team gets to bat once and run the bases while the other team tries to field they balls then they switch. Unfortunately for me right now Emma has gymnastics on Mondays too so I had to leave during the practice part. Dave did fill me in on everything Ian did and I guess he had a really good hit and took off running to first base so fast that his helmet fell off.

When I got home Ian had to tell me all about and he was so excited which made me feel so good. Ian has had to sit through dance and gymnastics classes of Emma's since he was a baby and now it's finally his turn to do something. I also think it will be really good for him since he is so shy. The only problem we had yesterday was Ian didn't want to take his shirt off and he through a fit when I told him he didn't have another class today.

Accepted

2009-09-10T20:09:00.002-04:00

After six very long days of waiting for an answer and submitting and re=submitting our offer the bank ACCEPTED ours.

A little background, we placed an offer late Friday knowing that there was an offer placed that the bank had countered the it had not been answered. Late Tuesday afternoon we got a call from the bank that owns the house and they stated that they had received multiple offers on the house so they wanted any interested parties to submit there offer Wednesday and they would take the highest offer at the close of business Wednesday. After some digging we found out that it was just us and the other people so we just re submitted our original offer. Today at 3 we received the call that our offer was the highest and we had got the house. It turns out we offered $1,000.00 more than the other people but it was more!

This is Dave and I's first house so it's a huge deal for us. We are so excited to finally be living the American Dream and buying our own house. I am also really excited about the house because it has so much room and it's in an area we really like.

So now we have tons of packing to do and we will have some painting that needs to be done in the new house but it will be so worth it!

A bunch of random stuff

2009-09-08T20:28:00.002-04:00

I know you want to know about the house but there isn't much to tell. We put the offer in and the bank said that there were multiple offers so everyone has to resubmit tomorrow morning and they will take the highest offer. Our awesome realtor did some digging and is pretty sure it's us and the other people that had placed an offer and the bank had countered. So we decided to stand firm on the offer we put it and it will be resubmitted tomorrow. If it's meant to be then we will get it if not we keep looking and find the place that's meant to be.

I was a little worried after such a crazy Friday that the weekend would be rough but we got up Saturday and went to one of my best friends house for their annual Ohio State party. There were tons of kids there this year so my two had plenty to keep them occupied while Mommy watched the game and talked. The food was great but way off the nutrition plan that Dave and I had set. The Bucks did win but I'm a little nervous for the first year in a long time about our defense. This weeks game against USC should be interesting.

After the game I came home and cleaned then after dinner Dave and I went to Lowes and looked at appliances. We figure one way or another we are going to have a house by the end of the year and it's pretty likely that we will need appliances so it couldn't hurt. Since I love to cook and spend alto of time in the kitchen I am very picky about what I want. It's the one area I will be a snob and I really don't care. Before you say anything though I did not pick the most expensive items out there. I actually hated the highest end one we saw and fell in love with a very nice Whirlpool Gold set. All stainless, french door fridge, flat cooktop stove. Of course we will be doing some more price shopping to get the best deal but I'm pretty sure that's what we will end up with. Once we got home Dave and I put the kids to bed and fixed ourselves a few cocktails to relax some and we just talked about all of our options.

Sunday we all got up early so I made eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast then Dave headed off to work and the kids and I did the grocery shopping. Once we were home and everything was unloaded we just sat around and watched movies on TV. It was a very nice afternoon.

Yesterday, our last day for the weekend Dave had to work again so he was gone early. The kids and I laid around for a while then we had to go and pick my sister up at the airport. It was the first time Ian had been to the airport other than when he was in my belly and the first time Emma remembers being there so they thought it was really cool. After dropping my tired sister off at home the kids and I went to meet Dave for lunch. We went to Hometown Buffet and the kids cleaned there plates and ate all their desert. Dave and I were shocked! The rest of the day was spent watching DIY networks Manual Labor Day marathon and playing with the kids.

Of course that brings us to today which meant going back to work. For whatever reason 4 day work weeks are always so hard. Today I spent alot of time working on some issues for a client of ours and I still don't have answers for them so I will be working on that again tomorrow. Hopefully I can get it figured out so I can move onto the next issue.

I can't believe it!!!!!

2009-09-04T22:49:00.002-04:00

I'm not ready to go into allot of detail but Dave and I signed a offer for a house that we really love. Of course there is the small issue of someone else's bid that the bank countered on and they haven't responded to.

We should know something by Tuesday afternoon so it's going to make for a long weekend. I know if we don't get it then that is what is meant to be but I'm hoping that is not the case and we will own a home in a month or so!

Right now things are strange, this process has been a little crazy and I know not to get emotionally attached to the house but the process itself has brought out a lot of different emotions. I promise once I know something you will know too just pray that it's something good!

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-09-04T10:07:00.003-04:00

So I am playing along again with Candid Carrie. It's been a while but here I am and it would only be fitting that I share with you a picture from one of my early Friday Foto Finish Fiesta post a year or so ago.

It was only appropriate to show something with my Buckeye's on it seeing as tomorrow is the opening game against Navy. This of course is Emma as an Ohio State Cheerleader and Ian as Brutus the Buckeye from Halloween 2007.

Now before you go you really should watch the video below of the OSU Marching Band, better knonw as THE BEST DAMN BAND IN THE LAND performing the awesome tradition of Script Ohio.

All thats left is Goooooooo BUCKS!!!

Not a Good Start

2009-09-02T19:02:00.002-04:00

Monday Emma had an awesome day at school. She loves her teacher, made friends with one of the girls in her class, and even made friends with some of the older girls on the playground. Of course Monday Dave and I took her to school and I picked her up because I had taken the day off. When I picked her up Miss Goldman made she she understood correctly and from here on out Emma would be riding Bus # 37 to Glendening for EDP (otherwise known as Latchkey, or after school care).

Today Dave got Emma up, feed her breakfast, made sure she brushed her teeth, got her dressed, and made sure she fixed her hair then he took her to school. I called an talked to her before they left and made sure she knew to get on the bus to go to Glendening and she even remembered that her bus was Purple 37 (they give the buses different color to help the younger kids).

At 4 o'clock today as I was getting on the elevator to leave work my phone rang and it was an 836 number which i knew to be a Groveport # but I didn't recognize it. Usually I don't answer numbers I don't know but something told me to answer this one. It's a good thing because it was EDP asking if Emma was supposed to start today. When I told them yes they informed me that the bus had come and gone and Emma wasn't there. At this point panic hit and it took everything I had not to cry. I told them I hadn't heard from her school and both her teacher and Emma knew she was to get on the bus but I would call the school and see what I could find out.

So I called the school and explained to the secretary what was going on. She placed me on hold to check with Emma's teacher to see if Emma was placed on the bus which she was. It was even harder then to not cry but I kept the tears in and asked what I needed to do next to find my daughter. The Secretary gave me the number to the bus companies garage and told me to call them.

I called the bus garage and explained to them how my daughter was placed on the bus but never made it to EDP and that women placed me on hold while she contacted Emma's bus. What seemed like and hour later, probably less than a minute, the lady came back and said Emma was still on the bus and didn't get off at her stop so they were going to turn around and take her back. Of course I was super relieved to know Emma was safe but then I got a little angry that this happen. I asked the women at tha garage if the bus drivers were supposed to make sure the kids got off at the right stops and she told me no. This was very surprising to me and I expressed that to the women. I explained to her that Emma was a Kindergartner and this was her first day on the bus so how was she supposed to know when to get off and it just didn't make sense to me that no one was checking this. the women's response to me was "didn't I know an older kid that got off at the same stop who could make sure Emma got off". Of course this just flat pissed me off and I told the lady that no I did not know any older kids because Emma was my oldest and it was her first day. The women then suggested that I put a tag on Emma saying Glendening so they would know when she was supposed to get off to which I responded with well if I do that will the driver check all the kids on the bus after each stop to make sure they got off because you just told me they don't check and Emma does have a huge kite shaped sign on her bookbag that says Glendening. The women didn't know how to respond to that and just said well that's the best I can do.

After I got off the phone with her I called Emmas school and EDP to let them know what had happen. When Emma arrived at EDP they called to let me know she was fine and there. When I picked Emma up tonight the EDP teachers told me that since the bus driver wasn't checking they would go out to the bus to make sure Emma got off until she was comfortable with it. They also said it was strange that the driver wasn't checking that this year since they have such little ones on the bus.

I feel much better know knowing the teachers will check but it really was not a good way to start the year. Hopefully things only get better from here on out!

First Day of School

2009-08-31T10:26:00.006-04:00

This morning Emma started Kindergarten and yes I cried.

I got up early and took Ian to the babysitters. Anyone who knows my two knows how close they are and even though Ian has lots of friends at Sheree's and he loves her he stilled cried because sissy wasn't with him. Of course that made me cry a little but I know he will be fine.

I came back home and Dave and I started breakfast, we made cheese scrabbled eggs, bacon, toast, and some strawberry milk for Emma. While I was finishing it up Dave went and got Emma up.

I love how she is always so happy when she gets up but today you could tell she was happier than normal. We all sat down and had breakfast together and then while Dave got ready for work I got Emma dressed and fixed her hair. This is the one area I feel bad about for Emma. See Dave will be taking her to school everyday because he doesn't have to be at work till later. This means that he will be getting her ready because I will be at work before she even gets up and he will have to help her do her hair. For the last few weeks I have had Emma practice wetting her hair down and scrunching the curls back up and then she can put a headband in her hair. I figure headbands are the way to go because she and Dave can handle those. So since she will be wearing headbands when I'm not around I decided the let her pick how I was going to fix her hair. She wanted it down and curly so I just pulled the front back to keep it out of her face and she looks so cute!

Before we got in the car I snapped a few shots of her in her super cute outfit that she picked out, and some with her new bookbag on which she also picked out. I also got one of her with Dave and one with me.

Doesn't she look adorable!!!

We arrived at school just a few minutes before they were letting the kids in but the three Kindergarten teachers were waiting in the hall for their new students so we introduced Emma to her teacher and just like Dave taught her Emma walked up to Miss Goldman and said Good morning I'm Emma Wilson. I had to fight back the tears at that moment but I put on a big smile and gave Emma a great big hug and told her to have fun. Then Dave and I walked away leaving our big girl with her teacher. When we turned the corner I looked back one last time and Emma had a smile on her face and was happy as can be which is good but it was at that point that the tears came. I'm not worried about Emma at all, she is smart and she knows how to take care of herself and I know she will make all kinds of friends and love school. I'm also not sad because she is getting older, I love that she is growing up. I actually cried more because I was happy for her. She has wanted to go to school for two years now and she finally is which makes me so happy.

Ok now that I have the tears going again I am going to go and find something to do while I enjoy this beautifully sunny unseasonably cool day.

Look Alikes

2009-08-29T16:12:00.004-04:00

This past Thursday evening Dave and I had to go to Emma's kindergarten orientation at her soon to be school. We started in the auditorium of the school and the principal, President of the PTO, and all three Kindergarten teachers spoke to us. When they were done they posted a list of students and which teacher each student had and we had to go to that teachers classroom. Emma's teacher is Miss Goldman who is young and pretty and I think Emma and her are going to get along very well.

Once in the classroom we had to fill out some forms and turn them into Miss Goldman. When I walked up to her and told her who my daughter was she turned and looked at me and said "wow your daughter looks just like you". Now Emma was not with us so she remembered Emma from her testing on Monday afternoon and I'm hoping she remembered for a good reason.

Of course this isn't the first time I have heard this, in fact I hear it all the time. It is true though the older Emma gets the more and more she looks like me. When she was first born she looked more like Dave than me but around 18 months the curls came in and ever since then she has looked like me.

My favorite pic of the two of us

Being like me seems to stop at the looks though, personality wise Emma is so much like my sister. Emma can make friends with anyone anywhere she goes, she is so outgoing and friendly and I love that about her. She is also they type of kid who always wants to be on the go and doing something. Don't get me wrong she can sit still and do something for long periods of time but she doesn't like to just sit around the house which I'm sure will drive me crazy when she is a teenager. I wasn't like that as a kid. I was shy and while I liked to go places on trips I also loved to just sit and relax.

I have recently discovered that there is one part of Emma that is like me though. We were in the car driving home the other day and Emma decided to tell me about her problem. It seems that everyday on our way home from the babysitters house in Emma's mind she pretends she is holding a saw and cutting down every tree we drive by. Apparently these thoughts are starting to bug her because she also told me she is very tired of cutting all the trees down but she doesn't know how to stop thinking about it. I'm sure you all are thinking she is crazy but when I was a kid whenever we were driving on the highway I would count the white dotted lines on the road in my head. I used to drive myself nuts doing it but I couldn't stop it. The older I got the less I did it until I finally stooped. I have no idea why I did it or what it means that I did and I really haven't thought about that in years. I guess whatever it is I've passed it on to my daughter and I feel bad about it but it seemed to make her feel better when I told her what I used to do.

As Emma gets older I hope she doesn't hate looking like her Mom and having inherited the crazy parts of me, but only time will tell.

Say What Wednesday: Nuts

2009-08-26T09:54:00.002-04:00

This week I have decided to join in Say What Wednesday over at Two Little Monkeys. It's really cute so you should go check it out if you haven't yet.

Sunday evening after Emma got home from her camping trip the kids and I were laying on the couch together and Emma was eating some candy the sitter had got her over the weekend and Ian was munching on a can of Cashews. Emma decided she wanted to play a game and this is the conversation after that:

Emma: Whoever likes my candy raise both their hands

(we all play along and raise both our hands)

two seconds later....

Ian: Whoever likes my nuts raise both their hands!

Of course we all raised our hands but Dave and I were laughing hysterically. Of course Ian was talking about the cashews he was eating but Dave and I couldn't help but laugh.

Our Date with Ian

2009-08-25T18:26:00.005-04:00

Saturday evening after Dave got home from work we took Ian to Magic Mountain. I was a little worried that afternoon that our plans for putt putt wouldn't happen because we had some rain come though but it cleared up by the evening.

When we first got there we were all hungry so we started with some pizza and a hot dog for Ian. The whole time we were eating Ian kept talking about the yellow car ride in the arcade area so as soon as we were done eating we let him take a ride.

Next we went out and started our game of putt putt. Ian caught on fairly quickly and while his form wasn't always right he still managed to hit the ball pretty well.

After hole 6 or so Ian decided that he didn't like the starting places for each whole so he would walk up to the hole and place his ball about two feet away.

Our next stop for the evening was the batting cages where Dave played a few rounds and Ian got to try on Dave's helmet.

Last stop of the night was the arcade where Ian played a bunch of different games and won lots of tokens.

It was really nice to have some alone time with Ian and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it too.

Canes and Video Games

2009-08-22T15:32:00.002-04:00

This weekend Emma is with her friend and the babysitter at the babysitters camper. That means it's just Dave, Ian, and I. When I picked up Ian yesterday evening and Emma didn't come with us Ian had a minor meltdown and would not stop crying.

Since Dave was closing I decided to give him a call and see if we could meet him for dinner. I knew that would get Ian to stop crying and it worked. So we headed up to see Dave but when we got there he informed us that he had a customer coming in. So it was just Ian and I for dinner. I decided to give Ian the choice of what to have for dinner and he choose Rasin Canes which sounded great to me.

Apparently Ian was very hungry because he ate all of his chicken strips and fries and then he stole some of my chicken and bread. After dinner Ian and I came home and he asked to play some Mario Cart on the Wii. Two hours later he was still playing Mario Cart but he was having a blast so I couldn't make him stop.

So far today we have cleaned the house, got lunch, and I made a tent in the living room for Ian to play in. Once Dave gets home we are hoping to go play some putt putt with Ian. I'll let you know how it all goes tomorrow.

Put it in Park

2009-08-19T21:18:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week I had dinner with my friend Jenn (who I see often and talk to everyday) and two of our friends that we had not seen since High School. As any typically dinner with old friends goes we talked about all the stories from high school. One of the stories my friend Kristina brought up was one I had forgot even happen but it made us all laugh.

Around the time all of us were turning 16 my baby brothers dad Kirby had a beautiful Mustang. One afternoon Kristina was over and I think we were working on a school project. Whatever it was we were doing we had to run to the store and we were able to talk Kirby into letting Kristina (I didn't have my licence yet) drive the Mustang. I still can't believe he said yes but her did and we thought we were so cool driving around in it.

We eventually got to the place we were going and but when we went to leave the car wouldn't start. Of course we both completely panicked, we thought we had broke Kirbys car. The car he LOVED. I don't remember how long it was or how we figured it out but eventually we realized that the car wasn't in park.

When I got home that evening I was telling Dave about the story and like any man he shook his head and said what is it with women and doing that. Now normally a comment like that would tick me off but not this time. I actually think he might be right this time. Other than that time I did it once and my uncle had to come get me because I thought my car was broke. I also now that my sister and few other girlfriends have had similar situations. So why is it that we can't remember to put the car in park?

Happy 7th Anniversary

2009-08-17T09:59:00.002-04:00

Today is Dave and I's 7th wedding anniversary. It's kind of strange this year for me. We aren't doing anything today because it's a Monday and Dave has to work. I will actually be going to dinner with a bunch of girls from High School instead. Anyway Dave and I aren't doing our typical dinner and night out this year. We figured that we did that for four days in Savannah, plus we had my reunion Saturday night so that kind of covers it.

Since Dave and I were together through most of my High School years seeing all those people brought back so many feelings and memories for me and most of them revolve around Dave and how much I truly love him. We have grown up together and we have been lucky enough to grow closer and closer to each other. He is truly my best friend, I love to just hang out with him and talk to him about anything. There isn't anyone in this world that can make me laugh as hard as he can and NO ONE gives hugs like he does.

If you would have asked me 7 years ago if I would love Dave more I would have looked at you like you were crazy, rolled my eyes, and said absolutely not but I would have been wrong. Everyday I love Dave just a little more and I can't wait to see what the next 7 years have in store for us.

Happy 7th Anniversary Dave, I love you!

10 Years Ago

2009-08-16T17:53:00.005-04:00

Back in January my two best friends and I started planning our high school classed 10 year reunion. It took a ton of calls and allot of research but we finally decided that we would have a Meet & Greet on Friday evening, a family picnic Saturday afternoon, and a main adult only event Saturday evening.

We picked a local bar for Friday evening and I was told by those that attended that it was nice. The picnic was at the YMCA park just outside of Groveport and it had a nice playground with a fort for the kids to play in. The main event was at the Elks Lodge in Grove City. We choose it because the price was low, they had a cheap cash bar, and they allowed outside caterers without an extra charge. Since our class didn't have any money left in our account from high school everything had to be paid for with ticket sales. To help keep the cost of the tickets down we went with Heavy Horederves instead of a full meal. We were also lucky enough to have my friend Jenn's husband DJ for free. I actually think it helped that he was DJ'ing because that gave Dave and Shanna's husband Scott something to do as well. Instead of our husbands just sitting and talking they got to pick the music and talk on the mic.

It seemed like everyone had a good time and they were grateful to us for planning the event which was nice for us to hear since we worked really hard to do it. Even if they didn't have fun Shanna, Jenn, and I did and I think that's all that matters.

In honor of the Groveport Madison Class of 1999 I will leave you with our class poem.

Party Hearty
Rock & Roll
Drink a Keg Smoke a bowl
We kick ass
Sex is fine
We're the class of 99

Summer Cold

2009-08-11T19:11:00.002-04:00

No I am not referring to the temperature for once that is actually hot this summer. I am referring to the chest cold I have obtained.

I woke up Saturday morning feeling like death and it continued all through the weekend and it's still going strong. My chest feels like it's on fire and I can not stop coughing. I have coughed so much that I'm pretty sure I've pulled some muscles in my chest. I did that once in high school and if my memory is correct this feels allot like it.

I did suck it up some this weekend and attended my MIL's 50th birthday party. We had a nice small gathering a Highbanks Park. Sharon is the third of seven kids in her family and all of them came with their kids and their kids kids in some cases. In order to make it easier on everyone we all were in charge of bringing different things for the meal. Dave and I were in charge of buns and chips. I had planned on making my homemade salsa but the cold got in the way of that. In face Dave was the one that had to go to the store and get our stuff so it turned out to be a very good thing that we got some easy items. I was very happy when we arrived that the shelter house Dave's Aunt choose was in the back and in the shade, it made it much easier for me to sit there all day. Dave and the kids played on the near by swings allot and they also played a little catch and kick ball with the gloves and balls we brought with us. There is only one thing I am disappointed in and that is that I forgot to get a picture of the finished platter we made for Sharon. It turned out so good and she really liked it. If any of you are in the central Ohio area I highly recommend Color Your World at Easton.

So now I am just trying to get rid of this nasty cough before this weekend and my 10 year class reunion. Something tells me it will be tagging along with me. :(

Movies, Movies, and more Movies

2009-08-04T10:02:00.003-04:00

Dave and I have finally joined the Netflix bandwagon. Looking back I'm not sure what took us so long. For the past three, four, maybe five years we have been renting the movies from our OnDemand which has worked fine and we didn't think the $3.99 price tag was too bad. It was cheaper than going to blockbuster or the theater.

Amazingly enough neither of us have ever wanted to see a movie that we couldn't find on there or at Blockbuster until a couple Sunday's ago. In Savannah they mention on numerous occasions the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good an Evil. Somehow Dave missed seeing that movie when it was really big and if you know Dave at all you know there is no way he has ever read the book. After we took the out of the Mercer-Williams house Dave said that he wanted to rent the movie when we got home to see what it was all about.

So the Sunday after we got home I stopped in at Blockbuster but they didn't have the movie. In fact one of the employees did a search for it and Blockbuster has never carried it on DVD only VHS and none of the stores around us had any copies. Feeling a little bummed I went home and did a search online and was able to find a DVD on sale for $.25 but it seemed silly to pay $5.00 in shipping for a movie that cost a quarter. It was then that I decided to check out Netflix, there website had a free two week trial and since they had the movie in stock and it said it would arrive in one business day I said what the heck. During the sign up process for the trial you of course have to pick a package to have once the trial is over if you don't cancel in time but I was surprised to see how cheap it was. Way cheaper than what we spend in OnDemand movies each month. It made me even happier to see how quickly they have shipped our movies out to us, and even better than that is all of the movies you can watch on your PC.

In the last week and half the kids have watched 7 or 8 movies on the computer (it's been raining allot) and I have watched about 10. The best part is I can put my headphones in and watch one on the laptop while Dave or the kids are watching something else on the TV. I've been able to watch all the chick flicks I want which has helped with my horrible stressed out mood lately. So thank you netflix for the great services you have given us and don't worry we wont be cancelling you.

New Recipie #2

2009-08-03T18:48:00.002-04:00

Tonight I tried the second new recipe I found yesterday on Food Networks website. I wont give you the real name of this one but it was a Lemon Chicken and Pasta and it was not good. The kids took about three bites each and refused to eat anymore. I wouldn't say it was that bad and I did eat what was on my plate but I did not enjoy eating it.

Dave is closing tonight so I called him and asked if he wanted me to save him a plate or not and he said if I wouldn't eat it he probably wouldn't so he will be stopping on the way home to grab something.

I guess one out of two isn't bad but I was really hoping for another simple good recipe to add to my weeknight meals. Now here is where you can help. I would love it if you could send me one or more of your favorite recipes that are no more than 40minutes I would love you! PLEASE!!!!!!

A Day of First

2009-08-02T18:58:00.002-04:00

My MIL's 50th birthday is next weekend and Dave hasn't been able to think of anything to get her for her birthday that we can afford. It seems the older she gets the harder it is to figure out what to get her for birthday's and holidays. Last week when Dave and I were talking about her birthday he mentioned maybe getting her some kind of memento but he still didn't know what.

This morning I left the kids at home with Dave and I went to do my grocery shopping. While I was standing in the slowest line on earth an idea popped into my head out of nowhere. After I got home and put the groceries away I jumped on the computer to see if there was a pottery painting place nearby that was open on Sundays.

I got lucky because there is one at Easton Town Center called Color Your World. There website explained that you just go in and pick your piece then paint it however you want. They will fire it and it will be ready in a week. So Dave, the kids, and I headed up there. we picked a wavy platter and I put both the kids hand prints on it with their names painted under them. The kids also had me paint We love you across the top only we used a heart stencil instead of the word love. I really like the way it looked and I'm really hoping it looks great when it's done. I've never done anything like this before but it was really fun. I think the kids and I will be going back again and maybe next time I will let them pick something to paint.

By the time we got home it was time to start dinner. I have been stuck in a cooking rut lately because of the crazy stress I've been under so I decided to get on Food Networks website this morning while I was making my grocery list and I found a couple new and quick recipes to try. The one I tried tonight was Rachel Ray's Chicken Mug Pie and it was delicious. It was also easy and quick to make which makes it a winner in my book.

Now I am sitting in my chair with a very full belly wishing it weren't Sunday evening already. Hopefully the good day from today will rub off onto tomorrow.

Finally some GOOD news

2009-07-29T12:01:00.002-04:00

We had another appointment with Ian's Endocrinologist this morning. Three months ago when we were there it was not a good appointment. Ian hadn't grown at all at that appointment. Today however he gained 2 pounds and grew just under 1 inch. I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't be happier.

Now Ian is back up to the 3rd percentile in height which is still not good but at least he is back on the charts. At this point I will take any amount of growth small or big. If Ian can maintain the growth rate of the past three months the rest of this year we may actually be out of the woods. So for the next six months we just have to make sure Ian eats a good protein diet and gets lots of sleep and lots of exercise. The exercise and protein diet part will be easy but the sleeping thing may be a little more difficult. :)

To celebrate Ian's growth and his good behavior at the doctors Dave and I took Ian to Bob Evans for a great breakfast. Dave and I got the Homestead which is a little of everything eggs, home fries, sausage, and biscuits and gravy. Ian picked the Lil Farmers Breakfast which had eggs, sausage, home fries, and pancakes and he ate all most all of it.

Now the three of us are sitting in the living room relaxing and watching it rain outside. Something tells me this will be a very good day!

PA-C

2009-07-27T19:11:00.003-04:00

So something really BIG happen last week while Dave and I were on vacation. My little sis found out she passed her medical boards. Steph is officially a Certified Physician's Assistant or PA-C.

She took the test on Friday the 17th and they told her that it would take about 3 weeks to get the results. Steph had spent the entire week before down at my Grandmas studying where there were no distractions and it seems it paid off for her. She passed by over 100 points which shocked her because she left the test that day feeling like she knew nothing.

So Thursday morning, Dave and I's first day in Savannah, we got a text around 10:00am from Steph saying I PASSED MY BOARDS!!!!!! :) Of course I instantly tried to call her but she wouldn't answer. It seems she was calling the rest of the family to share in the great news and who could blame her. She has been working towards this for almost 7 years.

I guess I would have to say that last week was a good week for my family, I had a great birthday, a wonderful vacation, and my sister got some awesome news. Now she just has to find a job and I'm crossing my fingers that it's in Ohio not San Diego.

Savannah Days 3 & 4

2009-07-26T12:15:00.010-04:00

Sorry I didn't post anything Friday night but we didn't get back to the hotel until very late Friday night and we had to get up early. So I am combining Friday and yesterday's event in one post.

We got up Friday morning and headed to the Historic District to meet our tour guide for the Savannah Civil War Walk or as the Savannahians kept referring to it The War of Northern Aggression. Our tour guide was awesome he went to the University of Scottland and has his degree as a Historian but he focus on American History. He was born and raised in Savannah so he grew up learning the history of his town. We walked all over the city stopping in areas that had great importance to the War. He also talked to us allot about the days and years leading up to the war and how slavery was not the reason that Georgia and the rest of the South started the war. In fact the war was started over money. The south was producing cotton and some other exports for the entire world and the government or the North as they say was taxing them at a rate of over 50%. Now this is not to say that slavery wasn't also another reason for them but it didn't really play into things until later in the war. Even though it was hot and we were walking I greatly enjoyed the tour and I learned allot from it.

Our tour finished just down the block from St. John the Baptist Cathedral which was on my list of places to visit so we went back to it.

The outside of the Cathedral was stunning but it has nothing on the inside. It was unbelievably beautiful in there.

After that we walked what felt like a million blocks to the Moon River Brewing Company for lunch. When I was doing some research Thursday evening I found out that while Ghost Hunters was in Savannah back in 2005 they not only investigated the Sorrel-Weed home but also Moon River. Once I checked out there menu I knew we would have to go there. The food was excellent, the drinks were better and the building was really cool. We didn't have any ghost experiences but it was still nice.

We had some time to kill before our next stop so we just walked around for a while and then sat in a square while we waited for our tour of the Mercery- Williams house to start.

I only have a picture of the front of the house because they do not allow pictures inside. You might recognize this house because it was the house from the book and movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The land was purchased by the great great grandfather of Jonny Mercer the musician and construction was started on the house but it stopped during the Civil War and was sold after due to low funds. Wilder purchased the home and finished the construction. There was one other family that owned the home and then the Shriner's purchased it. After the Shriner's left the house was vacant and needed allot of work. Jim Williams purchased the home and spent two years restoring it and lived there until he died. The main floor of the house is so beautiful and it's filled with art and antiques. I was disappointed that we were not allowed to see the upstairs though.

When we got out od the Mercer House storm clouds were heading in and you could here the thunder so we headed back to the car and went to the hotel for a break. Dave and I were both exhausted so we just laid around and watched TV for a few hours. Then we left, grabbed a bite to eat, and went back to the RiverWalk for the last of our souvenir's and to catch our trolley for the Ghost & Gravestones tour.

On this tour you have a tour guide who is dressed up, ours was dressed as a flapper and she had the stereotypically sotuther voice that I just loves. It was real to because she was the employee that introduced us to our Civil War guide. this tour drove us around town and our guide shared all the ghost stories and experiences of the area. We also got to make two stops. The first stop was the Sorrel-Weed house.

As I stated earlier the Sorrel-Weed house was featured on Sci-Fi's Ghost Hunters and they found it to be haunted. We were taken into the house through the slave entrance and then into the front Parlor. Our guide began telling us how guest would have been treated in the house. At one point she was saying how you would be seated on the sofa and the mistress of the house would come down the stairs to greet you. At that point two people started up the stairs and scared the guide. At first I thought it was part of the tour but after the guide went and checked she told us how the house is still a private home and those were the owners on the way in. Next we were ushered into another Parlor like room and it was odd. As soon as we walked in the room I got this heavy feeling in my chest and just felt uncomfortable. Dave and I were standing on a corner next to a window that faced the carriage house and a porch. While standing there Dave kept hearing what sounding like shuffling of feet behind him but nothing was there. He took a couple of pictures but nothing showed up. Now some of you may think we are crazy or stupid but we both believe in ghost and while I don't know if there was one there or not something strange was happening.

The next stop on our tour was to one of the cemeteries. When Sherman took the city of Savannah he put his Calvary in the cemetery and these men robbed graves, changed headstones, even took some out all together. She also told us about another story there and why they think this is haunted. Even if you don't believe in ghost I think you would have a blast on this tour because it was just fun.

This bring us to yesterday. We got up early, ate some breakfast, and checked out of the hotel but we didn't head home. Instead we headed south to Tybee Island. On the island is Georgia's oldest Lighthouse.

Dave and I climbed the 178 steps to get to the catwalk and the view was well worth the walk up. It was a beautiful day so the views were just amazing.

Once back down we did go through the other building that have been restored which were the living quarters for the light keepers family's. Once done there it was time to head home. We left Tybee around 10:30 but did not arrive home until a little after 11 last night. The drive down was almost exactly 10 hours but on the way home we got stuck on I77 in the mountains in Virginia forever. The worst part was there was no real reason for this it was just backed up and it extended our trio by two hours.

While it was nice to sleep in my own bed last night I am still a little sad that our vacation is over. Savannah was a beautiful city and we had such a great time. I would love to take the kids or at least Emma back one day because I know she would love it. I would also recommend it to anyone else. There is so much to do there that no matter what you like to do on your vacations you could find it here.

Savannah Day 2 - Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-07-23T21:37:00.019-04:00

Dave and I were up bright and early this morning to grab breakfast at the hotel and then it was off to the Historic District. Our first stop was to Paula Deens restaurant The Lady & Sons. They don't take phone reservations you have to go stand in line to put your name in with the hostess for either lunch or dinner.

We arrived at 9:36 and the line was wrapped around two corners of the building. Luckily it was shaded and the line moved pretty quick. Thirty minutes later we had our dinner reservation for 7:15.

Next up was the Old Town Trolley tour of the Historic District. This tour was 90 minute narrated tour of the Historic District and it hit all the big attractions and most of the squares in the city. This was Dave and I's first chance to truly see the city and it is so beautiful. The squares are full of the huge Oaks trees (Georgia's State Tree) that are covered in Spanish moss.

After the tour we got off one of the stops in the City Market area and grab some lunch at Panera. We wanted something fairly quick so we could really start seeing things. We decided to head south down Bull St and the first stop was Johnson Square

Next was Wright Square

On our way to the next square we stopped at the Independent Presbyterian Church which was used to drop the feather from in Forest Gump.

The feather flew a block in a half over to Chippewa Square were forest was sitting on one of the many benches.

Following Chippewa Square we headed down to Madison Square. On the edge of Madison is the Sorrel-Weed House but there will be more on that tomorrow after of Ghost & Gravestones tour.

Monterey Square was after Madison and it is home to the Pulaski Monument.

On the west side of Monterey Square is the only Gothic Synagogue in the United States. It's the Temple Mickve Israel.

The last stop for the afternoon was Forsyth Park and it's famous fountain.

By the time we got done in Forsyth Park Dave and I were both hot and ready for a break so we made our way back to the hotel for a few hours. We left again around 6 to make sure we had plenty of time to get back to the Historic District and make our dinner reservation. We were fairly quickly seated at our table on the third floor. Dave and I both ordered the Buffet. I got Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Mac & Cheese. Dave got the chicken, potatoes, mac & cheese, ribs, and beans. For desert I had the peach cobbler and Dave choose some sort of chocolate cake. The food was excellent and worth the 30 minute wait that morning.

After leaving The Lady & Sons Dave and I headed back to the River Walk and just strolled around. We did make one stop by the Waving Girl Statue.

This Statue was constructed after a women whose lover was shipped out to sea and for 40 years the women would stand by the river watching for her lover to come back, he never did.

So now that I have shared my pictures it's your turn to share a picture or two or more. Just head over to Candid Carries.

Savannah Day 1 - On the Road

2009-07-22T20:53:00.010-04:00

At 4:30am this morning Dave and I left our house and hit the road for Savannah, Georgia.

After what seemed like an eternity we finally made it to West Virginia.

At some point in the West Virginia the sun finally came up but it was very overcast and there was tons of fog coming off the mountains.

Next up was the very pretty state of Virginia.

Just at the edge of Virginia and North Carolina we hit some VERY, VERY, VERY nasty fog. It didn't help that we were winding our way down the mountains and we couldn't even see the front of our car. Looking back I wish I would have taken a picture of it but I was too focused on helping Dave watch the road.

The third state on our trip was North Carolina.

About half way through NC the sun came out and the temperatures started to rise. By the time we got all the way through NC it was in the 90's and I couldn't have been happier. Up until that point I had been wearing my OSU sweatshirt. I can't ever remember needing to wear a sweatshirt in freaking July before this.

The next to last state was South Carolina.

SC was a very long state for us because we started in the northwest corner and drove southeast across the state. I did enjoy seeing all the baby Palm tress (that's what I call them but they were really just tiny palm tress).

Finally we arrived in the Peach state of Georgia.

Within minutes of entering the state we were at our hotel. Overall the ride down was not bad at all, other than the fog and one mini rain shower the weather was perfect. The best part was we only had to stop 3 times, two potty breaks and one gas break.

We are staying at a hotel in a suburb of Savannah because I got a really good deal on the room. I was expecting the room to be a normal hotel room with a bed, tv, dresser, and table so when I walked in and saw this I was pleasantly surprised;

Since we arrived a little before 3 we decided to relax a little in our room. About 4we left and went into the Historic District of Savannah. I wanted to stop by the Visitors Bureau for some maps of the city but one of the employees there was very helpful and gave us a great book with maps and all kinds of other info. Before we left the hotel we made dinner reservations at The Pirate's House for 7pm so we had some time to kill. We decided to walk a block over and check out the Riverwalk. This street follows the Savannah River and is full of little shops and restaurants.
You enter the Riverwalk by going down these crazy steep and thin steps beside the Cotton Exchange.

The sidewalks down there and in some other areas are made of crushed shells and cement.

Our first stop on the Riverwalk was the Candy Kitchen and I truly think this is the largest candy store ever. They had all kinds of chocolates, tons of pecans and peanut brittle, salt water taffys, and then the usual gummy candies, rock candy, and old fashion hard candy. One of the cool products they had were all different kinds of tins that if you purchased the tin you could fill it for free with salt water taffy so we got Emma and Ian a small tin each with the taffy in it. I picked out a bag of glazed pecans for myself and Dave got a bag of Chocolate Peanut Brittle. We also bought a bag of Paula Dean coffee for a friend of ours.

After the candy store we walked through a fee other souvenir shops and checked out the goods. We picked up two postcards at one of them. One to send to Emma and one for Ian because yesterday before bed Emma asked if we would send her one in the mail even though we will beat it home. Of course we couldn't send one to Emma and not Ian hence the two postcards. As soon as I'm done with this post I will be writing those for the morning. The rest of the time we just walked around and and checked things out.

Our last stop for the evening was dinner at the Pirates House. The building was built in the 1700's and was part of the Trustees Garden. Later it was turned into an Inn and pirates and see goers would stop in for drinks. Of course the building is said to be haunted by many ghost but the most famous would probably be Captain Flint. It is said that he died in an upstairs room and still walks the halls. Dave and I did not experience anything strange while we were there but we did have an excellent meal.

Now we are back at the hotel and I we are watching Ghost Hunters International and then we will be heading to bed. It has been a long day but a good one and we have lots of fun stuff planned for tomorrow.

My Birthday Dinner

2009-07-20T20:31:00.007-04:00

Like I said earlier today my family was coming over to my house this evening for my birthday dinner.

As I was walking up the sidewalk to my front door I heard Emma yell to everyone in the house that I was home. As soon as I opened the door she yelled surprise. I guess she didn't realize I knew everyone was coming over. I was surprised however to see two wrapped presents, a gift bag, and a bouquet of flowers sitting on the table along with a plate of chocolate cupcakes. I knew Emma was upset that I wasn't going to have anything to open but these gifts were kind of big.

I was told by Dave that I wasn't aloud to look at the two wrapped presents because the wrapping paper was thin and I might be able to see through it. So I avoided the present table which if you know me you know how hard that was.

My mom grilled the brats, and cooked the corn on the cob here at my house but she brought the pasta salad and some chips with her. Once everyone was here we sat down and had a great meal where we talked about childhood memories and about a possible family reunion vacation next year.

After dinner it was time for me to open my presents. My brother and sister-in-law got me a gift card to Kohls, my sister got Dave and I a key chain game of Are you smarter than a 5th grader for us to play on vacation, on top of my hair cut from my mom and brother KJ she also got me a little framed saying that says I know what love is because of you. Then came the big gifts I really wasn't expecting. The kids got me an iPod dock thingy for my car which I am super excited about.

Dave got me a Wii Fit, oh and Dave got me the best birthday card ever. This of course is on top of the vacation Dave and I will leave for in just one more day.

Once all the gifts were open Emma and Ian made my mom light all the candles on my cupcakes and everyone sang happy birthday and I blew out my candles.

My mom knew that the kids wanted to get me regular cupcakes so instead of the Coldstone cupcakes she just got a small ice cream cake and a pint of cake batter ice cream for me. Needless to say I have plenty of desserts and they were all great. In fact the whole day has been great even work was pretty good today.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to

2009-07-20T09:58:00.003-04:00

Well it is my birthday but I don't plan on crying today i just love that saying. On second thought maybe I should cry a little because I am sitting here at work on my morning break typing this while Dave and the kids are at home today. Is something wrong with this picture?

Anyway, the ladies at work were super nice and surprised me with a potluck (Julie slipped and spilled the beans on Friday but I was surprised then)and a very nice card. So far I have had some very good doughnuts and strawberries and I can't wait to see what else is here today.

This evening my mom, sister, brother, sister-in-law, and baby brother will be coming over to my house and my mom is going to cook Turkey Cheddar Brats (Johnsinvilles of course), macaroni salad, fresh corn on the cob from the local farmers market, and for desert Coldstone Creameries Ice Cream Cupcakes. It is tradition in my family theat the birthday person gets to pick the meal on their birthday and no matter what else I have there is always corn on the cob and either a cherry pie or ice cream cake and this year wont be any differnt. Emma is a little disappointed that I will not be opening any presents because my mom paid for me to get my haior done last week which I love, My MIL sent me money with my b-day card, and then of course I have my vacation from Dave that we leave for Wendesday morning. Something tells me though that Emma will have something for me to unwrap no matter how small it is because she just can't stand the thought of me not opening anything.

Ok my break is almost over so I guess thats all for now. Hopefully I will have time to post some pictures of my new hair tomorrow before we leave for Savannah. If not I am hoping to get in at least one post while we are on vacation but who knows how things will go so if not have a great week!

How old do you think I am?

2009-07-15T20:48:00.002-04:00

Yesterday evening my mom called to ask what I want for my birthday dinner this coming Monday. Emma must have overheard me say something about my birthday because shortly after I got off the phone with my mom Emma asked when my birthday was. I told her that it's Monday. Then she asked me how old I will be.

Well I made the silly mistake of asking her how old she thought I was going to be instead of just answering her. She certainly had an answer for me though and it was 81! She thinks I'm going to be 81 years old.

To try and make myself feel a little better I asked Emma if I was 81 then what was daddy and she told me 30. I mean really Dave who is older than me gets to be 30, just one year shy of his real age, and I get to be 81.

When I told my friend this story this morning she said maybe Emma heard someone say that I was born in 81 and that's why she picked that number. I'm not sure if this is the case or not but I sure hope so.

Shopping Therapy

2009-07-12T16:41:00.002-04:00

Work has been very stressful for the last month or so but this past week was by far one of the most stressful that I have had there. Every evening last week I did an hour of yoga to try and relieve that stress and while it did some it wasn't enough.

So yesterday Dave treated me to a shopping spree, well kind of. Both of us have been in need of some new summer clothes to take on our vacation next week and when Sharon called and asked for the kids Thursday evening it seemed like this weekend would be to time to finally go and get what we needed.

We started by getting Dave some new shirts and shorts at Kohls on Friday evening. Then Saturday morning I got up and headed to New York & Company. I had never been to that store before but alot of my friends shop there and they all look so cute so I thought I would give it a try. I apparently picked the perfect weekend to go because everything in the store was 50 % off which meant I made a killing. I loved the way all there clothes fit and even if they wouldn't have been on sale the prices were not bad at all. After my killing there I stopped at Victoria Secrets and bought two new bras that I was desperate for. My last stop for the day was at Target to see about a pair of sandals I had been thinking about. By that time I was starving so I grabed some lunch and headed home.

It wasn't over there though, I needed to go back to Kohls for myself this time so I went this afternoon but really didn't find anything for myself. I did however pick up a pair of sandals and a shirt for Dave.

So after a weekend of shopping and great deals I am feeling much more relaxed and ready to start a new week. I'm just praying it's not as stressful as last week was.

Yoga

2009-07-08T20:36:00.002-04:00

When I worked for Bally Total Fitness (before Dave and I were married)one of my Operations Managers was also the head aerobics instructor. Shelly was AWESOME when it came to teaching classes. It didn't matter what class she was teaching you knew it was going to be fun and you were going to get a great workout.

My favorite class of hers was her Power Yoga class. I remember the first night she taught that class I just happen to be in the gym working out (a side note it was very difficult to go back to work to workout after spending 8 hours there that day) and I was walking around the track above the aerobics room. I kept thinking that the class going on was very strange, how could a bunch of stretches do anything for you.

Well a few weeks later Shelly talked me into trying it and I was instantly in LOVE. It was one of the most intense workouts I had ever had and at the same time it was very relaxing. It also helped immensely with my scoliosis. For the next year or so I took that class every Tuesday and Thursday evening. I was in the best shape of my life. My abs looked amazing and the rest of my body wasn't bad either. Then I got pregnant with Emma and I had to stop due to some sever back and hip issues. I remember when my OB was cutting me open during my c-section he made the comment that my abs were very strong. Too bad him cutting through them ruined that for me.

While I was pregnant Shelly left Bally's and teaching aerobics so I didn't have a class to go back to. Since then I have been trying to find something that gave me those same results both physically and mentally. I hadn't found anything until this past week. I decided to go back to Exercise TV onDemand (the videos I used last year to loose a bunch of weight) and they had a bunch of different yoga videos to try. I picked one that I thought sounded good but didn't get my hopes up. Within the first few minutes I could tell that this video was almost identical to the class Shelly used to teach.

So now I have my Yoga back but I am no where near where I used to be. I know I'm not in the same kind of shape as I was back then but I didn't realize just how bad it was until I tried to do some of the positions I used to and couldn't even come close. On the positive side I guess it gives me something to work towards.

Independence Day

2009-07-06T17:47:00.006-04:00

Since I work for the state I am lucky enough to get the day before or the day after a holiday off if the holiday falls on a weekend. This year that meant I had Friday off for the 4th of July. I was super excited about that because every year Columbus has their July 4th celebration on July 3rd. Red White & Boom is one of the largest fireworks displays in the Midwest and is set to a wonderful soundtrack. Typically I amd rushing to get home from work so we can head down to our normal spot, but this year was going to be different.

Well it was different but not for the reasons I thought. Dave ended up stuck at work selling a car (which is great) and he didn't get home till almost 9:30. Thankfully a local TV station shows the fireworks on TV every year so we did get to see them together it was just in our living room. We did have a few minutes to kill before they started once Dave got home so we went out front and Dave helped the kids throw some of those pop things and he let off a few smokers. (most fireworks are illegal in Ohio so you are limited on what you can set off) I was able to catch this one picture of Dave and the kids. I love the look on Emma's face!

Unfortunately Dave's dealership was open on Saturday and everyone had to work. The kids and I, my family, and some friends all met here at our house and we walked the two blocks up to main street for the afternoon parade. The weather was perfect for the parade which is a change from the past few years and the rain. A good friend of mines husband runs a local skating rink and they are always in the parade. These friend also happen to take there kids to the same babysitter as us so the kids know them very well. Emma got super excited when she saw Tim in the back of a truck on the microphone being his silly self. She got even more excited when he saw her and said hi through the microphone. :)

After the parade everyone headed back to my house for some very yummy food and relaxation. Shortly after the food was ready we were surprised by Dave who got to come home early because his work was dead (big surprise). Sometime around 4ish the weather went south and it started raining. It was one of those rains that was just a constant drizzle. It stopped for a while around 7 so we decided that a little wetness was not going to stop our fun and we all headed down to the Elementary school for the festivities there. Typically Groveport has a bunch of inflatables and carnival games and rides as well as allot of food vendors but when the rain started this year a bunch of them packed up and headed home. There were still a few that stuck around and my kids had a blast.

The rain did help us get some very good seats for the show this year along one of the baseball fences. I put the kids wagon up against it and then hung a couple of large umbrellas off the fence so they had dry seats when they wanted to sit down. Here are a few pictures of some of my family and friends that sat with us this year.

We all had a really great time despite all the rain and wetness. Hopefully next year it will be dry.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta, vroom vroom

2009-06-25T19:34:00.005-04:00

It's Friday again which means time for Candid Carries Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta.

Dave received a very nice bonus check a few weeks ago which was very unexpected. we spent a week trying to decided just what to do with the money and in the end we payed off some bills, put some in savings, and decided to do something for the kids. Dave and I looked at some different Power Wheels motorized cars for the kids but we just weren't sure of the prices. We knew getting just one would only cause fights over who got to drive and the price for two good ones was a bit high. We finally decided that we would take the kids to Toys R Us and let them each pick out any toy they wanted.

So Wednesday evening we took the kids to the toy store. On the way we told them that they could each pick out any toy they wanted. Ian immediately said he wanted a mower like his friends Andrew which made me laugh because it was one of those push ones that blow bubbles and pretty inexpensive. Emma said she knew what she wanted but refused to tell us until we got to the store. On the way in Emma finally told me she wanted to get one of those girl heads with the hair that she could play with and practice fixing hair. I took Emma and went through all the girls toys. We saw a couple different kinds of the doll heads that she really liked but I wanted her to look at everything in the store and we still had the games and educational area to look at. While Emma and I were looking at her stuff Dave had taken Ian to the other side of the store to look at his stuff. As Emma and I were walking over to the games are we ran into Dave and Ian who were coming to find us. I asked Ian if he found anything he wanted and he told me he wanted the green car. I thought he was talking about a remote control car or something. I asked Dave what it was and he didn't know so we asked Ian to show us. Apparently as they walked to their side they had to pass the Power Wheels and Ian spotted a Green Jeep.

As we were looking we noticed that they had some of the cars on sale and the prices were good. Then we spotted a John Deer riding lawn mower with a trailer. We showed Ian and his face lite up. I knew at that moment there would be no way I could tell him no and I held my breath as I looked at the price. Thankfully it was on sale too. Of course since Ian was getting one we had to find one for Emma too. Now about a month ago Emma informed me that when she was a big girl and could drive a car she was going to have a purple car with no roof. Well it just so happen that they had a purple corvette that was the perfect price. When we told the kids we were getting them for them they both jumped up and down and Emma informed us that we were the best parents ever!

Dave and I had to live up to the best parents ever so we stayed up till almost midnight last night putting them together and charging the batteries so that today they could go outside and play with them. After dinner we took them out and after a little coaching they both figured out how to make them go and steer fairly well. They were so happy and they look so cute driving them.

Anyone want to guess what we will be doing all weekend?

I Hate...

2009-06-24T09:40:00.003-04:00

Lately Ian has been going around and saying things like I hate this, and I hate that. Usually it's a object or TV show so it hasn't been too bad. The past few weeks however it has changed to him hating people which I do not like. A few times it has even be Emma, Dave, and myself he has hated. So I have been trying to explain to him that it's not nice to say that you hate people because it hurts their feelings.

I thought I had him broke of saying that he hated people and then yesterday evening he walked up to me and said.

"I hate everyone!" and he had a huge ornery grin on his face. Just I was about to tell him that was not nice he said "not everyone just the people I don't know." then he started laughing so hard he fell over.

This time I couldn't help but laugh myself. The things kids think of just amazes me.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-06-18T18:56:00.003-04:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted a Friday Foto because I just haven't had any to share but I'm back this.

Today when I picked the kids up from the sitters Emma ran up to me and asked if I would get the pool out when I got home so her and Ian could swim. I tried to explain to her that even if I got it out the water would be freezing cold and no fun to swim in. Of course she was not happy about this at all. I did have an idea that made her happy. I told the kids if they were good and ate all their dinner I would get the sprinkler out for them.

So after a delicious meal of turkey Cheddar Brats and potato chips (it was a really long day at work) I kept my promise and hooked the sprinkler up out back.

As you can see Ian figured out if he grabbed the antenna of the bugs thing he could move them where ever her wanted and soak is sister. Usually something like that would have caused a fight but tonight Emma was perfectly fine with it.

Now it's your turn, go over to Candid Carries and share a fun summer picture with us.

Country Boy

2009-06-16T18:38:00.002-04:00

Last night Dave was playing music on the laptop for the kids. We were listening to a bunch of different songs and the kids were dancing around. Emma eventually got tired and curled up with Dave. Shortly after that Alan Jackson's Country Boy came on and this is what happen.

Isn't that just too cute!

An Odd but Good Weekend

2009-06-15T18:26:00.002-04:00

Dave's family had a reunion yesterday but Dave had to work so we weren't planning on going. My MIL however was and she wanted to show off her grandchildren. Since Dave was actually only scheduled till 3 (this never happens) he picked up the kids so I could come straight home and relax a little before we had to leave to meet the MIL.

After we dropped the kids off Dave and I decide to go over to Polaris and get some Steak Escape for dinner. On our way to the food court some sales people for the Comfort Zone stopped Dave and he decided to get us both a 10 minute neck, shoulders, and back massage. It felt so good and it was a great way to start the weekend. By the time we were done with that we were both starving so we went straight to Steak Escape and enjoyed a good sandwich. To my surprise Dave actually was willing to walk around the mall and window shop. We went into the Itsy Bitsy World and looked at all the cute and different toys for the kids. Then we headed over to my favorite store at Polaris The Olde Farmstead. I could spend hours in that store looking at all the different knick knacks. I could also spend a small fortune there. Our last stop in the mall was at one of the Buckeye Stores and I found a couple of really cute tees for this fall. Once we left the mall we headed over to Target so Dave could pick up Clint Eastwoods latest movie Gran Torino. Of course that meant as soon as we got home we had to watch it. I really didn't think I was going to like it because I'm not really a Clint fan but it was surprisingly good movie.

Saturday morning I had to be up bright and early to go into work. We have an audit coming up which means they have offered us comp time to get things caught up and to write procedures for our manual. I left work a little after 11:30 and met Shanna and Jenn for lunch and to discuss our To Do List for our 10 year class reunion. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it on here but two months from today I will have my 10 year class reunion and Jenn, Shanna, and I are the ones planning all the events. After lunch I came home and sat and watched TV until Dave got home from work. Then Dave and I went to Smokey Bones for dinner. Neither of us have been there in a long time so it was a nice change and the food was great. After dinner we stopped by Wal-mart to do some research on Power Wheels for the kids and then we headed home.

Sunday I slept in which was oh so nice. Once I got up I got ready for the day, did some cleaning and laundry, and just relaxed before the kids got home. If it wouldn't have been for the four hours of work the weekend would have been perfect.

A Tearfull Goodbye!

2009-06-11T15:00:00.002-04:00

At the beginning of the week both my sister and I had very high hopes when it came to the dog sitting adventure we were about to embark on. Last night those hopes were finally shattered.

I'll start with Steph's situation. Sunday night and Monday night she had Zeus at her house and he barked all night long keeping Steph and her roommate up. Tuesday night Steph decided to try sleeping at Nick and Alicia's house to see if being at home would keep Zeus from barking but it didn't. By yesterday afternoon Steph was so exhausted and didn't know what she was going to do if Zeus didn't let her sleep that night. I had noticed that on Tuesday Daphne seemed sad so I told Steph she should bring Zeus over for a visit to see if that would cheer him up and her up.

Now my situation started Tuesday when Daphne ate the screen door. Then yesterday morning Dave called me to let me know that he had let Daphne outside when he got up and 10 minutes later the construction guys working on our neighbors house knocked on our door to bring Daphne back to us. In 10 minutes time Daphne had chewed thru her lead and ran over to them. Yesterday afternoon Dave thought it would be nice to take her for a ride with him while he went to get some lunch. At one point Dave looked over to see blood on his car seat because Daphne was menstruating.

So yesterday evening came and Steph brought Zeus over. Immediately I could see a difference in Daphne. She had a bounce to her step again and her and Zeus played like crazy together. When Steph left Daphne stood at the door and watched and you could tell she was upset to see her brother go and I felt so bad for her. I however went about the rest of my evening. I got the kids there baths and as I was getting their pajamas on them I heard a very loud commotion coming from the next room. I got up and walked in to find Daphne standing over Ginger, pinning her to the ground with her mouth around Gingers neck. Ginger was squealing like a pig and Daphne was growing. I ran over and tried to pull Daphne off Ginger but I couldn't get her. Dave came running in and was able to get Daphne off Ginger. Dave put Daphne in her crate and went to check on Ginger. There was no blood and she walking fine she just seemed to be scared.

I decided then that Daphne just couldn't stay with us. Eating my screen and chewing through her lead were one thing but attacking Ginger was something else. I called Steph and told her what happen. I then packed up Gingers stuff. Before we left I let the kids say goodbye to Daphne. I don't think Daphne is a mean or violent dog at all there was just something about Ginger that she didn't like. Emma was sobbing as she said goodbye and it broke my heart to see her like that but Daphne wasn't going to stay with us forever anyway. I told Emma that she could go over to Uncle Nicky's and Aunt Alicia's to see Daphne and that helped some but the tears just kept coming.

I talked to my sister today and it seems that both the dogs were much better last night so I think it's safe to say that they do not like to be apart or away from their own house.

The door is no more

2009-06-09T17:59:00.005-04:00

This morning as soon as I got up I let Daphne out (I can't let her and Ginger outside at the same time because they fight with each other) and went to take my shower. Fifteen minutes later after my shower I left Daphne back in but I didn't pay attention to anything outside. I then let Ginger out and and in again not paying attention to anything but Ginger. I am not a very observant person that early in the morning and my mind can only focus on one thing which is getting ready for work and getting out the door on time.

Around ten this morning Dave texted me to ask what happen to the screen sliding glass door that leads to our back yard. Apparently the screen was no longer in but laying in pieces on the back patio. Since Gingers lead doesn't reach the door and Daphne's does that lead us to one conclusion. Daphne pulled the screen out and tore it to shreds.

Of course I came home this evening and took a picture so all of you could see the damage this beautiful sweet puppy caused.

All I can think about is the movie Marley & Me and all the damage Marley caused over the years. I guess this kind of thing happens more when you have big dogs.

Kids say the darndest things...

2009-06-08T19:51:00.002-04:00

My kids have decided that they enjoy showers more than baths which I LOVE!!! It's so much easier to do bath time when they take a shower and I don't end up with water all over the place.

Tonight shortly after Ian got in he tells me that he has to pee. Just as he was climbing out of the shower Daphne came running into the bathroom. Of course Daphne's head happen to be right at Ian's crotch level because Ian was standing on the ledge of the tub. Ian instantly screamed and grabbed himself. Then he said to me;

"Get Daphne out of here before she bites off my peebob!"

(peebob is what Ian calls his pee pee and I have no idea where he got it from because I always call it a pee pee)

Of course I could not control my laughter and was on the floor which irritated Ian so much that he told me again to get Daphne out only he yelled it. I guess the thought process to protect your private area starts early in boys because Ian was dead serious and did not think the situation was funny at all. I on the other hand can't quit laughing.

My Niece Daphne

2009-06-07T20:18:00.003-04:00

My brother Nick and his wife Alicia are leaving for Myrtle Beach tonight at midnight. They have two dogs and a cat. Titan the cat who is mean and we don't like, Zeus their two year old Doxson, and Daphne their one year old Siberian Husky. Our sister Steph originally agreed to stay at their house for this week to take care of the animals. At the time she thought she would still be doing her rotation in Lancaster which would put her closer to it, but she really is starting her last rotation up in the northern part of the city. Stpeh called me one day last week because she was trying to decided if taking both Zeus and Daphne to her apartment in German Village would be a good idea.

For those of you not from around here German Village is within walking distance of downtown Columbus. The houses in German Village are extremely old and set right beside each other. Steph and her roommate do not have a yard just a very small strip of grass along the fence in front of their house so if Daphne were to stay there with her Steph would actually have to walk her everyday. So I told Steph that I would keep Daphne if she kept Zeus. Nick and Alicia are getting ready to breed Zeus and he is just a little to fond of Ginger. I did not want to spend the week keeping Zeus from humping Ginger but he will have plenty room at Steph.

So this afternoon Steph, the kids, and I went over to Nick and Alicia's and got Daphne. As soon as we walked in the door here Ginger attacked Daphne. It was kind of funny to see Daphne get scared and run and hind behind the chair. If Daphne wanted to she could eat Ginger in one bite but Daphne has been very patient with her. So far the only time Daphne has been mean to Ginger is when Ginger tried to eat out of Daphne's bowl. I'm pretty sure Ginger wont be trying that again this week.

Hopefully Ginger will relax this week so that we can all enjoy having Daphne here but if not the rest of us will still enjoy her.

Six Weeks Five Days

2009-06-05T18:43:00.002-04:00

In six weeks and five days Dave and I will be on vacation. Our last vacation was seven years ago and it was our honeymoon so we are long overdue.

If you read my post a few days ago you know that after reading last months bookclub book my desire to visit Savannah was re-ignited. Earlier this week I did some major research and found a hotel 10 minutes from the Historic District for a very reasonable price. I calculated the amount of gas that would be spent if we were to take Dave's Explorer, and then I put together an itinary for the days we would be there. Once I had evertything calculated I went to Dave and gave him the rundown. I think he was a little surprised at what all we could do for the cost.

Even though Savannah Georgia is not on the top of Dave's list of places to visit he put in his request for the week of July 19th thru the 25th off and it was approved today. I have been fighting sinus issues all week so I left work at lunch time and when I got home I made our hotel reservation and then I booked a few of the tours we wanted to do. On our list is:

- Trolley Tour of the Historic District
- Savannah Civil War Walk
- Ghost & Gravestones Tour
- Tybee Island Lighthouse
- Captain Dereks Dolphin Adventure
- Bonaventure Cemetery
- Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
- Forsyth Park Fountain
- The Waving Girl Statue
- Wormsloe Historic
- Mercer Williams House (House used in Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil)
- Owen-Thomas House
- The Pirate House Resturant
- The Lady and Sons Resturant (Paula Deans)

I am sooooo excited about everything I have planned. Dave and I both enjoy American History so I think the Civil War Walk is going to be really fun. Dave and I are also HUGE fans of the SciFi networks show Ghost Hunters so when I read that the Ghost and Gravestones tour is the only Haunted tour that takes you into the Sorrel Weed House that Ghost Hunters visited and confirmed to be haunted I knew it was the tour for us. Now anyone that knows me knows how much I love Paula Dean which means there is no way I could go to Savannah and not eat at her resturant The Lady and Sons.

Now I just have to make it through the next six weeks, I just hope it goes as fast as the past six have gone.

Globetrotter

2009-06-02T17:50:00.003-04:00

Today at work I received the Globetrotter award for my section. Currently in our office we have a contest going which is supposed to motivate us to reach our collection goal of $360 million for the fiscal year. The contest has the theme of Around the world 360 degrees and the employee of the month award is called the Globetrotters award.

I was nominated for this award by my new Manager for my hard work on a formal proposal for a new billing process as well as my customer service and hard work working with one of our biggest clients to reconcile some of their billing issues.

Now apparently right around 3 o'clock this afternoon and email was sent out to gather in our normal meeting spot but I had already left my desk for my break so I had no idea we had a meeting (I wasn't the only one). Just as I was coming back one of my co-workers came running down and telling me to hurry and get upstairs they needed me. I was really confused and kept asking her what she was talking about. Finally just as we were getting up stairs she said that I had one an award. Of course when I got up there all 160 plus employees were standing around waiting for me so it was a little embarrassing. I did recieve a nice award and a hand written note from the Attorney General Richard Cordray as well as a State of Ohio Attorney General seal pin (the kind you put on your shirt). I also had to have my picture taken with the Attorney General.

I am very honored that my manager thought I deserved this and I was also very surprised that I received it so thank you!

Savannah Blues

2009-06-01T18:47:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I hosted bookclub. The last two books we have read have been heavy books that require allot of thought so for my book I wanted something light and fun. I also wanted something summery since for me May indicates the start of summer. My pick was Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews and this book hit the spot for me.

This book had a little bit of romance, a little bit of comedy, a big ole murder mystery all taking place Savannah Georgia. All I also forgot there is some history and antiques. The main characters name is Weezie (Eloise) and her best friend is BeBe pronounced BayBay. Weezie comes from a typical middle class catholic family and marries a man from a well to do family. After 10 years of marriage he leaves her for a young blond and in the divorce Weezie is awarded the carriage house of the historical home her and her ex restored. Being a stubborn southern women she takes it and has to live within feet of her ex and the other women. The rest of the story is about how one wrong (or maybe right) step that Weezie takes changes her life forever. Now I'm not going to say anymore so as not to ruin any of the mystery just in case you want to read this for yourself. I actually highly recommend reading it if your in the mood for something light and fun.

My problem now is that my already large desire to visit Savannah has grown tremendously. Add to that the face that Dave and I have not had a vacation since our honeymoon 7 years ago. Of course me being the crazy women I am I have spent the last hour and half researching hotels and tours in Savannah. I have found that it is more affordable than I thought it would be. This just leaves two teeny tiny points; talking Dave into, and finding someone to watch the kids. I know nothing big right. :) I guess a girl can always dream and you never know sometimes dreams do come true.

You're Grounded....

2009-05-28T20:12:00.002-04:00

I think every parent expects to use those words at some point in their children's life, I just didn't expect to use them when my two were 5 and 3. That's right Emma and Ian have been grounded since Sunday. Now by grounded I mean no TV, no playing outside, no Popsicles or ice cream, and a bed time of 7:30 instead of 8. It sounds like alot for kids so young but after you hear this you probably wont think so.

Sunday Dave and I were in one of those moods where neither of us wanted to do anything, so we didn't. We watched a movie with the kids in the morning, played some Wii in the afternoon, and just laid around the house. We haven't put the air conditioners in yet and it has been in the 80's since late last week. So we have had the windows open and fans going. While this has kept the house very comfortable it can get a little loud.

Sometime around 5 Sunday evening the kids went upstairs to play in their rooms. They had been up and down all day. Normally we can hear everything they do up there but with the fans going this time we could only really hear some footsteps hear and there.

All of a sudden we hear are neighbor scream Dave and I's name in a way that instantly make us think something was very wrong. Dave got to the window before I did so I couldn't tell what she was saying. The only thing I heard was the word kids. The next thing I knew Dave was flying up the stairs. By the time I got up there Dave was spanking both of the kids who were crying and he was yelling at them but none of it made any sense to me.

Once Dave finally calmed me down he filled me in on what the neighbor had said. Apparently she had caught the kids climbing on the roof of our house. Instant panic set in, I couldn't believe my kids were on our roof! They could have been seriously hurt or killed. I immediately went through their rooms and closed and locked their windows and Dave told them that they were going to be grounded for a week and to start they needed to clean their rooms.

Dave and I went back downstairs to talk about things. Everything seemed so strange, we knew there were only two roofs the kids could have been on because of their window placement. One was the one out front over the porch but our neighbor was in her backyard so how could she have seen them. The other was out a side window of Emma's room that is the roof to Dave and I's bedroom which runs the length of one side of our house but it's the side opposite the neighbor that caught the kids.

A few hours later our neighbor came over to see if the kids were ok. Dave of course asked her where they were so she took him out back and showed Dave what they were doing. Somehow the kids managed to get out Emma's window onto our bedroom roof and then in the back they transferred from it the the main roof that is over Dave's office and then goes up to the top peak of the house. When our neighbor went out to smoke the kids were running up and down the back pitch. She immediately yelled up to them and asked what they were doing and Emma said to her

"ssh we're on a secret adventure!"

At that point the neighbor told them to stay there and she started yelling for us.

I am so thankful that she decided to have a smoke when she did because God only knows what could have happen to my kids. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think about. I've been debating about whether or not to post this all week because, quite frankly, it's embarrassing. I mean what kind of parent would let something like this happen. I decided to share it one because I know one day a long time from know I will be glad I have all of the details written here to share with kids and their friends. By then maybe it will be a little funny (for what ever reason this makes me think about the time my 3 year old cousin stole my aunts car keys and he started the car and backed it out of the driveway hitting my moms car parked on the street while I was in the car with him), and two because I think I am a good parent and if something like this could happen when I was watching my kids something could happen to another good parent. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that you never know what things kids will think of and no matter what precautions you take anything is possible so just keep that in the back of your mind.

Of course Dave and I have had numerous talks with the kids since then explaining to them how dangerous what they did was and how they can never do that again. Their air conditioner has been installed because I will not be opening those windows again this year. We were also able to find out that it was Ian's idea but Emma went along with it which probably means that Ian is going to be one of those boys that is into everything. The only thing we don't know is what gave Ian the idea to do that. Every time we have asked he just says he doesn't know. The only thing I can come up with is that they though it was safe after seeing the men up there replacing our roof a few weeks ago.

The kids only have a few more days of being grounded and I am really hoping that I don't have to use it again for a few more years!

Boys, Dresses, and Black Eyes

2009-05-22T19:26:00.002-04:00

This week the weather has been really nice and the past few days the temperatures have reach the 80's. For Emma the warmer weather means she can wear her summer dresses which she has been dying to do. So far all of her summer dresses are sleeveless kinds.

Yesterday was the first day I let her wear one and she choose to wear this really cute pink strapy one that has orange and white flowers on it. She looked so cute it in but really she always looks cute! :) When I got to the sitters after work yesterday my cute little Emma came running up to me talking a million miles a minute. Once I got her to calm down and speak slower I was filled in on the activities of the day.

It seems that yesterday morning one of the 3 year old little boys at the sitters stuck his head up Emma's dress. Her being the proper girl that she is pushed him away and told the sitter so he got in trouble. It doesn't stop there though, a little later in the day that same boy pulled Emma's dress up and stuck his hand down her underwear. This time Emma screamed and turned around and punched the little boy in the eye giving him a black eye. Of course the sitter snatched the little boy up and he received a long lecture and spent a long time in timeout. She also talked to the little boys parents when they picked him up so hopefully they talked to their son so that he doesn't do that again.

As for me I'm not really sure how to feel about this. I know the kid is only 3 but it still seems like he should know not to do something like that. It also makes me wonder where he would have got the idea to do that. What I do know for sure is that I am very proud of my daughter for standing up for herself. Dave and I truly believe that if someone is doing something harmful to you that you have the right to fight back and Emma seems to understand that concept. Of course the kids and I talked about this on our way home yesterday and I was able to reiterate to them that Emma's reaction to what happen was ok and that no one should ever touch those parts of their bodies unless it's a doctor and mommy and daddy are there. It is nice to know that even at such a young age Emma seems to be able to take care of herself.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-05-21T21:11:00.004-04:00

I am so excited that it's finally Friday. This week has been complete and total chaos for me. I have so much to tell you all I just haven't had the time or energy to get on here and post but I promise over the weekend and next week I will fill you all in.

To start I will share a picture and a story from this week.

Of course this is the Ian man and he was playing Mario Cart on our new Wii. Can you tell he is addicted to this game???? He loves it and wants to play it all the time and for a three year old he is pretty good most of the time. For some reason by the time I got home Monday night I was so worn out and even though it was nice outside I couldn't bring myself to go outside with the kids. Yes I know bad mom but I just couldn't so instead I bribed my kids with the Wii. Emma decided early on that she wanted to go upstairs and watch a movie but Ian wanted to keep playing. About five minutes later a very frustrated Ian decides that since he can't get his kart to turn and go the right way he could throw the wheel at the entertainment center. Well that was the end of video games for the night and Ian spent some time up in his room to cool down. After that I didn't think to much about it.

Tuesday evening after we came in from outside and the kids had their baths they had about 30 minutes left until bedtime. Ian asked me if I would play a the freight train song (No Leaf Clover) on our Metallica Guitar Hero for him. Of course I couldn't say no to him but once the song was over Ian asked if he could try. So I started him on Tuesday's Gone in the beginner mode and showed him what to do but of course he didn't want my help. The first time Ian got booed off stage rather quick but I started the song again and was surprised at how well he was doing. Well I was thirsty so I started towards the kitchen to get something to drink and I heard some of the booing start but I decided to let it go. Just as I was coming back in the room Ian got booed off the stage and next thing I knew he was throwing the guitar across the living room.

In Ian's defense I really think the boy gets this honestly. In the past Dave has been known to throw things at walls when frustrated or even pick up a couch and slam it to the ground the same day he came home from the hospital because the Cleveland Browns weren't playing very well. Back to the point though, I am a little concerned that if Ian is already throwing things at three what is going to happen at thirteen? I guess I will have to wait and see, wish me luck.

Now it's your turn to head over to Candid Carries and share your picture.

Occupational Hazard

2009-05-16T16:38:00.004-04:00

The past few days have been one heck of a roller coaster ride of emotions for my family. I'm sure you all remember that my sister is currently in school to be a Physician’s Assistant (PA, almost done) currently she is on her next to last rotation which happens to be general surgery. On Thursday she was assisting a Gallbladder surgery by helping to do some sutures. During this process Steph came to some tough parts of the skin and when she pushed harder to get the needle through it came flying out the other side and went right through her glove into her finger. Just to get this out of the way now she was doing everything exactly that way it should be done this was just one of those accidents that happen and no one has control over.

Steph immediately stopped what she was doing and notified everyone in the ER that she had just had a needle stick. She backed away from the patient and her finger was treated and wrapped. Protocol requires that the hospital or office take blood from the patient when this happens to test for HIV and Hepatitis. Steph called me that afternoon on her way home from work to talk about this because she was so upset that it happens but at that point she wasn't worried about the test. The doctors and nurses she was working with weren't that concerned about this patient’s health because of how her records looked.

Shortly after I got off the phone with Steph the Doctor she is working with called her and told her that one of the HIV test of the patients came back positive so she needed to come back to the hospital immediately. Steph said at that point she dropped to the floor of her kitchen and immediately began to cry. She describes the feeling as being hit by a truck. Thankfully Steph's roommate and classmate walked in the door and was able to decipher some key words in the conversation Steph was trying to have with her doctor. Once Steph's roommate calmed Steph down some she had her go change and then drove her the 45 minutes back to the hospital. Steph just happened to have done her ER rotation at this same hospital so she knew the nurses and doctors that were working. They took the time to explain to Steph everything her doctor had tried to tell her over the phone. I will do my best to explain this to you all because it's an important part of this story but please remember I am not in the medical field.

There are a few different kinds of HIV test. One is the generic, if you will, test that is done when screening someone for HIV. It's a yes no kind of thing. This test came back negative on Steph's patient. When you have had a needle stick they run a second test on the patient that looks at proteins in the blood. This test is very sensitive and has a high false positive rate. This test came back positive on Steph's patient. So Steph had to go into the hospital and have the test ran on her both of which came back negative. Now according to Steph HIV will not show up until at least three weeks after you had the contact so this was not surprising. They also had to run some blood work to make sure Steph's liver was functioning so they could give her the HIV antibodies to hopefully help protect Steph. They gave Steph the first dose of these and a prescription to fill for the other doses. Now based on the test that came back positive Steph's risk of contracting HIV was 3%. While they were waiting on Steph's blood work the nurses looked up some case history that was very encouraging. Apparently no one has EVER contracted HIV from a needle stick using the type of needle Steph was so that dropped her chance to under 3% chance. Even with those figures they weren't going to take any chances. Lastly the patient had to have more blood taken to run a third HIV test that if it came back positive it would be for sure thing that the patient had it and Steph would have to have HIV test done for the rest of her life. Before Steph left the hospital they told her that the patients third test results would be back the next afternoon so she could wait to here before going to fill her prescription.

Yesterday morning about 10:30 I received a call from Steph at work and she told me everything I just told you. She seemed very calm about it and said that everyone she had talked to had had at least one experience like this and the likelihood of her getting anything even if the patient had it were very very slim so not to worry. Of course this was still all very upsetting because of the what if's. It was very hard to concentrate the rest of the day and I wanted to call and check in with Steph but I didn't.

Finally around 3:30 I broke down and called Steph. She had just got off the phone with her doctor who had called about the test results but was informed that they took 24 hrs to get back so the earliest they would know was midnight. This meant Steph had to go and get the prescriptions filled in the event the test came back positive. If she didn't have another does in her by yesterday she would have been screwed.

Steph and I made plans for her to come over to my house after I dropped the kids off with the MIL so she wouldn't have to sit at home alone. I told her I would call her when I was leaving the meeting place which I did. I could tell as soon as Steph answered the phone something more was wrong. It seems that the three different drugs she needed were not ones very many pharmacies carried. She was able to find one at a Kroger near her house, another at the Wal-mart near her house but the third was a little more difficult. No one in the Columbus area carried it except the hospitals and they can't fill prescriptions unless you are an inpatient. So Steph had to call the hospital this happen at and they ended up selling the drugs to the Kroger across the street from them so Steph could go there to have her script filled. I could tell my little sis was exhausted so I told her I would head to her house and pick her up and drive her to that hospital since it's a bit of a drive then she could come home with me and spend the night in case she reacted badly to the drugs (common side effect).

Once we finally made it to the Kroger we went straight to the Pharmacy. The very nice girl behind the counter had some trouble understanding that they hospital didn't call the prescription in for Steph but sold the drugs to them so they could then fill the prescription Steph had in her hands. It took about 10 minutes to get that straightened out. Once she did Steph explained to her that the prescription she had was for a full does but that per the hospital she was only to have a 24 hour supply filled at first. The girl wasn't sure about this so she took it to the pharmacist who was a very mean cruel woman, but you will see why soon. The pharmacist argued with us that the hospital sold her 18 pills and that was what she had to give to Steph even though the prescription Steph was holding said to only fill a 24 hour dose at first. After what seemed like an eternity of arguing with this woman she finally said she would do it.

Steph and I decided to wander around the store since they said it would only be about 10 minutes. Five minutes into that they pages Steph back to the pharmacy. As we were walking up the pharmacist came out and around the counter, she walked up to Steph and said

“You do need all 18 pills because your blood work came back positive!"

I am pretty sure at that moment I gasped very loudly and yelled WHAT??? Steph on the other hand instantly began sobbing and almost passed out. It was a good thing I happen to be standing behind her to catch her. Through allot of tear Steph started yelling at this lady and telling her that when she was in the ER they told her the test was negative. I was trying to be the calm one and eventually got Steph to call the hospital back and talk to the nurse that set all of this up for her. That awesome nurse checked Steph's files twice and confirmed that Steph's results were negative. At this point the nurse becomes enraged because Pharmacist do not have the authority to give a patient a diagnosis because they are not certified to do that. The nurse was also upset because when she called to have the drugs transferred the only reason she gave as to why was because of a deep needle stick, never did she say anything about anyone’s blood work or test results.

Steph got off the phone with the nurse and told the pharmacists that no her test results were negative and she just needs the 4 pills. The pharmacist didn't argue this time and filled the script right there. I think total this process took about 10 minutes but it was truly the longest 10 minutes of my life and I can't begin to imagine what it felt like for Steph. Steph didn't say much as we checked out and walked to the car but shortly after getting in the car the shock of the situation wore off and Steph became very upset and rightfully so. She had just had a pharmacist tell her that she was HIV positive which was a downright lie! On top of that she told Steph this in front of about 6 to 10 people that were waiting to pick up their prescriptions. Throw in the way in which she told Steph and I think this all equals a law suit.

After all the craziness of the day I stopped and got us some dinner at Chipotle and then we came back to the house and watched Braveheart with Dave. Steph had never seen this movie and its Dave’s favorite so it seemed like a good time. Thankfully it is a bit of a longer movie so by the time it was over Steph was tired and went up to Emma's room to sleep.

I had to work this morning which meant a 6am wake up call. It also happened to be the same time that Steph needed to take more pills so I got her up. She came downstairs took her medicine while I was getting ready for work. When I walked out to the living room she informed me that at 2:39am her doctor texted to her to say that the patients test came back negative so she didn't need to take anymore of the pills. It also means that Steph doesn't have to worry about anything for the time being.

During one of the conversations Steph and I had the past few days she made the comment to me that she knows this is a risk of being in the medical field and she is ok with that risk she just wished that her first needle stick didn't come with the positive HIV test. What I think is that while she is bound to have more in the future maybe she was lucky and got the big scare one out of the way but who knows. What I do know is that I love my little sis and I am so thankfully that this scare is behind us.

Friday's Foto Finish Fiesta

2009-05-14T20:20:00.003-04:00

I wish I could be excited that it's Friday but since I have to work a full 8 hours tomorrow this really isn't a Friday for me. The only thing that could put a smile on my face are these two pictures that were taken after my sister's graduation last Sunday.

Aren't they just the cutest little graduates you have ever seen!!!

Now it's your turn so head over to Candid Carries right now!

My non mother's Mother's Day

2009-05-12T18:51:00.005-04:00

For the second year in a row I have spent my Mother's Day focused on one of my siblings instead spending the day being recognized as a mother. Last year my brother and now sister-in-law were married on Mother's Day, this year my sister had her commencement ceremony for grad school.

So Sunday morning I got up very early to get myself ready, then I got the kids up and ready while Dave got himself ready. Just a quick side note but why is it always us women that get the kids ready? Anyway by 9:30 we were out the door and in the car. We stopped at Tim Horton's and Dave and I got some breakfast, then at the gas station to fill the tank up. Finally we hit the road for the 2 hour drive south to Marietta.

Being the prepared organized person I am I knew we would be arriving at Marietta College just at lunch time and if you know anything about my kids you know that when they are hungry the loose their minds. So I packed a couple of drinks and lunchables for them to eat in the car and I am so glad I did that. I also packed their bookbags with their Leapstar II's, activity books, pens, stickers, and small snacks. Emma played with one of her activity books on the ride down while Ian slept. I actually had to wake Ian up so he would have enough time to eat.

Marietta is a very small town that literally sits on the Ohio River so Marietta College is not a large school therefore they only have one graduation each year and during that they allow all grad students set to graduate before the start of the fall quarter or semester (not sure which they are on) to participate in the ceremony. Steph will officially complete her program in July so this qualified her to be a part of the graduation. The part of this that kind of sucked was it meant that everyone that has completed there programs from last August till now was at this. We did get lucky and found a parking space fairly close to the building the ceremony was in.

By the time we got there my mom, brothers, sister-in-law, grandma, and great aunt were already there and had seat saved for us. As we were walking down the aisle to our seats i realized that the seats we were going to have to sit in were very tiny old wooden folden chairs that did not look comfortable at all. I was very right about that they were unbelievably uncomfortable. I really not sure how much time passed from the time we got to our seats till the ceremony started but it seemed like forever, thankfully the space between rows was large so the kids were able to walk back and forth between the family instead of being confined to their seats.

Finally the ceremony began and we realized we picked the right side to sit on because the brought the graduates in right beside our row which meant we got to see my sister walking in. The ceremony itself had the normal speeches from the Dean, president of the board of trustees, president of the alumni association, and then they had two very long speeches given by the 1st and 2nd place winners of a speech contest the school holds every year. There was also a presentation on the seniors gift to the school as well as the announcement of winners for all the awards being given out. Eventually they got to the commencement speaker who was F. Story Musgrave. Musgrave graduated from Marietta College back in the 60's and after obtaining a few more degrees from a few other schools he went on to join NASA. He is the only astronaut to have flown missions on all 5 of the spaceships. Dave and I both really enjoyed his speech to the students and found that it applied to anyone not just a college graduate. His main point was that sometimes in life you just have to follow your instinct and take a leap. He also said that sometimes those leaps are failures but that doesn't make you a failure. Lastly they handed out diploma's but first they hooded all the grad students.

Steph walking across the stage

I am a bit of an emotional person, ok maybe I'm alot emotional so of course I cried watching them place my sister hood on her but that didn't stop me from yelling loudly for her! :)

After the ceremony and the very long walk out of the building we made our way to the science building to meet up with Steph and take some pictures.

The Graduate

The Grad showing off her new hood

Steph and Me

KJ, Steph, Me, Nick

Mom, KJ, Steph, Me, Nick

KJ, Steph, Ian, Emma, Me, Dave, Alicia, Nick

Aunt Lois Ann, Grandma, Steph, Mom

Emma, Steph, Ian

After we headed to the parking lot where we were all parked and my grandma gave Steph her present. Both my sister, our great grandpa, and grandpa were born in February. At some point in my grandpa's life our great grandpa gave him a very large emerald cut amethyst. My grandma decided for Steph's present to have the ring reset into a pendent and it is so beautiful. I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't get a picture of it. Of course it made us girls cry. After saying good bye to Grandma and Aunt Lois Ann the rest of us headed back to Columbus. We knew that all the good restaurants in Marietta would be packed so we stopped around the half way point in Zainsville to have dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant that I can not remember the name of. The food was great and the atmosphere was really neat. For Mother's Day they had a man playing a guitar and signing who did a great job.

We were all so stuffed from the appetizers and main courses that we didn't order desert but by the time we got back into Columbus Dave was craving something sweet. Last week they opened a Cold Stone Creamery down the street from us so we stopped in there. It was outr first time and while we can't afford to get that all the time we will be going back for more.

So there it is my mother's day that was all about my little sis and her great big accomplishment. I am so proud of her and all she has done with her life in such a short time. It hasn't always been easy for her and I know there have been many times when she has wanted to just give up but she didn't and it has payed off so far.

P.S. I have told everyone that next year Mother's Day is all mine no matter what they have going on. I will be sleeping in!!! :)