Good Karma

Basketball/Volleyball Saturday

2012-02-18T21:49:00.000-05:00

This baby was a trooper. She spent all day today watching/sleeping through her oldest sisters basketball & volleyball games. I must say her oldest sister did great. I am so proud of how well she played! Granted, they did not win a game out of the 5 she played, she put in a ton of effort. I have to remind myself she is playing older kids, while that is great in the long run now it is frustrating. You would think I would take a picture of the older sister during one of her games today, but no. Tonight though, I am one proud mama.

I work out....

2012-02-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

no I don't, but this girl does!

This is something that has been KILLING me lately, I cannot get my mojo back and it is bumming me out. It is a long boring story, but if I type it, well then maybe it will bring me back, here goes. Before I was pregnant with Mae I was running so good, training for the Chicago Marathon was one of the best experiences of my life. Most of that was due to my amazing running friends and how much fun I had with them. After 10-10-10 I stopped, I didn't do much while pregnant, some yoga and walking here and there, but I would watch people running and would be so jealous, because I wanted to. A week after Mae was born I was walking, 2 weeks later I ran 3 miles, then I slowly but surely was going 4-6 miles three days a week with a longer one in there. I ran a half when Mae was 2 months old, then another half November 21st...that half killed me. I was burned out and said I am done running for awhile. That was fine because I hate running out in the cold, and it was getting cold out, so I was fine with my break.
The week after Thanksgiving I started weight training, this was for several reasons, but mainly because I am weak, I always have been and hated that. I cant stand my arms or the way my triceps blow in the breeze! I knew I needed to weight train in order to try to reduce the fupa and get some sort of shape back in my life. Enter my great pal Andy. Fitness, weight training is his life. He studies it, obsess on the perfect form, knows the science behind what foods to eat and when, he is disciplined. I think I was his science project, but I was good with that, and I was lucky to have him help me, I couldn't have asked for a better, non judging, honest, ethical person to train me. The first day I went to gym I was totally prepared for this new venture and was excited about it! I left frustrated and annoyed, because I SUCKED at it. I could not even squat a 12lb rubber bar let alone the real bar. I had to drop so low to dead lift 9 times out of 10 I feel over because I could not keep my balance. A pull up, well that made me laugh! Not Andy though, he was convinced I could do this, and each week I got stronger, was squatting with real weight on the bar, dead lifting off the ground where I was supposed to, and was doing 30 pull ups each workout, that is with assistance. THEN.I.HIT.A.WALL...not a dry wall, but a hard, cinder block, cement wall! I weighed myself, was chubbier than ever and was gaining weight by the day. NO my clothes were not fitting better, NO I did not feel better I was crabby and done.
(I will say I did go to yoga, and felt a ton stronger though, i could hold planks, and do push ups, that was fun!) Weight lifting was bringing me down hard, I realized I was working out half the amount and a quarter of the time I used to, and not running was making me super crabby and the poor people that live with me were being affected by that. The weight training was killing my morale and I was not getting that mind numbing run/sweat time. So I stopped, I freaked out and panicked! Andy was not at the gym with me, I was defeated, frustrated, chubby and done.
This week I have ran, mind numbing, sweaty runs, and it has helped me but I know I need to go and pick up the weights again. I need to find the balance of weight training and running and this week I AM GOING TO FIND IT! Sunday morning I am going back into the weight room, and somehow throughout the week I am going to get both in, running and weight training. I have to, for my own sanity, I need to balance both somehow. I have let Andy down, and believe me, Andy is not the person you want to let down.He told me 'I didn't think you were a quitter' and although I did not either, I was. I had gotten so frustrated and freaked out I had quit. Quit doing both things that made me feel much better.
So...if I publicly state it here, to my 3 followers, then I cannot quit again. I do not want to be a quitter, or a weak, floppy arm tricep girl. So my week of quitting weight training is over. I have taken 7 days off, and I cant let that happen again. I WILL find the best running/weight training combo that works perfect for me, and I will find it THIS week! Heck, if I quit I will never look like the girl above!

Elf

2011-12-24T15:38:00.000-05:00

We cannot stop watching this!

Probably not appropriate for a three year old, but J loves this move! She has watched it on her way to and from school all week and any other random times in the car. We actually sat in the parking lot at Costco so they could finish the movie, just to start it all over again when we returned to the car.

Best lines

Marry Christmas!

time is slipping away...

2011-12-11T20:58:00.001-05:00

and I just want to STOP it, ok maybe just slow it down some. This baby is 5 months old today! WHAT!?

When did this happen? She is a food eating, getting ready to roll over big old baby. I snuggle her closer & kiss her a zillion times more just because I feel that precious time slipping through my fingers :( That sweet baby sweat smell after she has been laying on me long enough to work up that sweat...dang, i love that and it is something i am just not ready to loose yet. I mean, clearly, she is the smartest baby in the world. She knows when I walk into the room, she is lifting herself up to sit up. She is eating new food, she is doing more & more everyday and it breaks.my.heart.

J has been doing "ballet" this year. I wish I could type it like she says it "Bahhhhllllaaaa"I don't know if she will ever be on the stage for The Nutcracker, but she sure does have a mean plie. (J is the one in the middle)

Meanwhile...her brother who was SO thrilled to be at his sister dance social decided it would be fun to retrieve the balls from the pool table pockets. (The pool table was in the same room as the dance show) This lead to Wyatt's hand being stuck inside the pool table pocket. At first he was wiggling around, then I noticed a look of panic on his face. He then asked for help as we are quietly trying to not make a scene in the middle of the show & wiggle his hand free. That wasn't working and by this time he was getting pretty scared, he told me his hand was never going to come out. About 3-4 people had gathered at this point, again the dance social is going on, and one very nice woman went and got him a glass of water to settle him down a bit. By this time Todd was working pretty hard to figure out where his hand was stuck exactly & telling Wyatt which way to move it free. About 10 minutes later, and about 5 dances of the show, his hand/arm pop out. Bright red and pinched pretty good he was free, and sat quietly for the remainder of the show.
If you were ever curious to what the inside of a pool table looks like please refer to the pic below. Todd took this to try to figure out where he got his hand stuck and be able to tell him how to maneuver it out. What did we do before we had the iPhone!

Really...can I just not have a normal life. Something, everywhere we go.

1 month later...

2011-10-17T20:47:00.004-05:00

I apparently am not too good at this blog thing. I went back to work over a month ago and it has been that long since I have blogged!
My favorite time is running out, Mae is a little over 3 months now and although she is just the sweetest little thing ever, she is no longer a small little newborn. She is just a cute, little, big, baby!

my nights are consumed with her, it is my favorite part of the day, I take her in bed with me and just snuggle her sweet little self until she is fast asleep. I listen to her sweet, rapid breathing. Feel her little chest & back rise & fall. Smell her Johnson's baby self. Watch her stare at me until she drifts, drifts, drifts off to sleep.

I.LOVE.EVERY.SECOND.OF.IT.

MY boy turned 7 and he was so happy to have a lego birthday! He loves legos and watching him put them together is so fun. I love that he can follow the directions and will sit for hours putting them together. What I do not love is how I spent my night last Friday night, going through the whole pile of legos and sorting them all into their own individual bags according to which kit they came in. That took some serious time and I should have added wine into that chore!

I have so much more to post...but time is running out on this evening and I need to get snuggling up with my sweet baby. More to come!

2011-09-14T20:58:00.001-05:00

My time as a Stay at Home Mom ends tomorrow, back to work first thing in the am. While I am happy to get back into a routine I am a wreck I have to part with this sweet little baby for the entire day.

She will be close by, waiting for me to come in and grab her for some snuggles throughout the day. I am thankful I have a job where I can see her as much as I like.

I have become a fan of Ellen during my stay at home mom time. She cracks me up! It is now set to record each day.

PreSchool

2011-09-06T08:09:00.004-05:00

and she is off...her first day of pre school in a brand new classroom in a brand new building! I am shocked and amazed I cannot believe she is in preschool, I know she is ready I just didnt want to let her go. She keeps telling me 'Mom, PLEASE let me get bigger!' so off she goes to the new emerald room, with new teachers, new work everything she needs!

When I got home I was carrying Mae into the house and she looked right at me & gave me a HUGe smile as if saying 'Mom, this is what I have been waiting for for the past 8 week!'

so here I am in my 4 hours of solitude & Mae time, she is asleep and I feel like I have forgotten to put on a major piece of clothing without someone yelling, whining, or needing something from me. It is crazy that I miss them when they are away...but totally LoVE the time :)

I Scrapbooked!

2011-09-04T17:14:00.003-05:00

it is amazing...2 whole layouts!

I love this one, it is Jesse but looks just like Mae. I guess I never realize it until I look at the past picture. The whole reason why I scrapbook.

This layout I have wanted to do for a long time. Tags from all the different clothes that the kids wear. This one I wanted to do because I am constantly finding these tags and the little plastic things that hold them on in the kids bedrooms. They rip the tags off and just throw them on the floor.

Working on binders now to hold all the school items that come home. Yes, I was trying to get them done prior to school starting but we will start with September.

2011-08-31T13:13:00.009-05:00

(he really does LOVE her!)
School is back in session! This usually makes me sad each year. I do not like it when summer is winding down, days get shorter, nights get cool, kids back to bed early & up early. This year though...way different story...GOODbYE older two...have a great day!! ok so about 1pm I did start to miss them. I do not miss:

the name calling

the tattle telling

the door slamming

the junk everywhere

the crying

the hitting

the wet floors from the pool feet

the screaming

the capri sun wrappers all over the yard

but I was very happy for them to come home.

This girl is a third grader and I know she will do GrEAT!

This boy is a first grader and is very excited to buy lunch!

Rosa Parks here tried to sneek on the bus on the first day, she got up three stairs before she got kicked off.

but she went down kicking and screaming!

(here is her brother pushing her out of the bus line)

so my days are now dwindled down to 2, two small little people, and only one can talk but she talks enough for all four of them! Jeez...either she just started rambling on or I could never hear her before but GOOD LORD!

I need to write down all the funny things she tells me, todays funny thing was as we were driving listening to the new Muppets album she tells me randomly 'Mom, Mae likes this song' that is not to funny here in type, but when she said it to me it just cracked me up!

There has been lots going on :

Had a shower for Betsy

(listing to LO read Go the F to Sleep) GREAT BOOK!!

Try to keep this one busy

(village green with Fisher)

Hopie was here...I love this pic

(Hopie on the iPad, J on the iPhone)

and this one, I still just sit around an hold her

New Pictures

2011-08-12T11:08:00.006-05:00

How cute is Amy sending me this awesome little package:

and in this little package was all this goodness

She is amazing...so calm, which makes me a little less of a freak during the session.

GO to her Facebook page and 'Like' her page, then post on her wall telling her I sent you there!

1 month

2011-08-11T20:52:00.002-05:00

This baby is 1 month...WoW I am amazed how the time is flying by!

She spent her 1 month birthday at the Wild Water Adventure Water Park with her sisters, brother & cousins. She had a great time and so did they!

It kills me she is 1 month already...I know, I know, that is not old by any stretch of the mind, but in my mind she is downright old! She is doing the following in her 30 full days of life:

she loves to be held...yes, that is my fault but I dont care!
she is not a big fan of the swing
her ears are no longer scrunched up
she is getting chubby
she has shoulders like a linebacker
has a sweet hairy back
her cord fell off on July 28th
she will give a smile every now and then
she gets crabby about 6-8pm
she gets carried around in weird ways, multi-tasking
she likes to have her hair washed
she has been to Starbucks more than any other place, she may not always get out but has been there
she stays awake a little longer
she sleeps 6 hours at night
she loves to sleep all swaddled up
she prefers to sleep next to me on the couch then in her crib, again my fault, again dont care
she is such the perfect piece to our family unit
although she has only been here a month, it feels like she has been here all along
she can totally pull off the fohawk & look amazing!

2011-08-05T13:30:00.002-05:00

Two weeks ago Joel's son Josh got married (Congrats Joshua & Katie!) I was able to go to the reception for a bit, it was fun, but made me miss Joel so much again. Of course I forgot to leave the card with the gift. When I got to the reception it was beginning to pour, and they move all the gifts inside, so I just never made it in. (It was an outside reception) This week I finally dropped the card off for them, so I had called Josh to let him know, and it was like speaking to Joel, which totally freaked me out. We were getting ready to hang up & he said, 'I gotta get back to it' which is a total Joel line he would say all the time. It was so weird hearing Josh say that, who sounds like Joel. So it could be the crazy baby hormones, but that led me to tears for the car ride home.

Joel is laughing at me now from somewhere with these three sassy girls. His favorite age is what Jesse is now & I just know he would be loving the sas I get from her each day. I am sure he would be pleased with how much Grace talks back too!

I miss him so much.

my 38th year

2011-08-04T15:20:00.003-05:00

Last week i turned 38, so i decided to log how i spent the first day of my 38th year:

woke up

feed

got Mae dressed

sit & stared at Mae until the others woke

vacuumed

got 2 breakfast

got myself dressed

got the other 2 kids dressed

coffee

got the most amazing flowers

feed again

worked out

showered and got myself normal looking

feed again

crocker park

APPLE store

anthropologie (not a good store to go to with 4 kids but LOVE IT)

waited for a good storm to hit us

good storm passed us by

feed again

Graces championship game

wanted to go here but did not make it due to event above

stared at Mae

feed again

ate

stayed up too late playing with my 'I'm 38 and have had 4 kids gift'

feed again

2011-08-04T14:02:00.006-05:00

WoW...again there are tons of things i need to post about, but just never find the time. I NEED to make the time! It keeps flying by and I forget what it is I want to remember.

I took Grace for some girl time with mom last Saturday, we went to see Taylor Swift and again she loved it! She was so sweet, as we were walking to our seats she just looks at me and says 'Thank you Mom, for bringing me here tonight!' I just love her & how grown up she is, ok bums me out too, but i feel like she is just a good kid and that makes me feel like I may have done one or two things right in this life. She has been such a HUGE help with Mae. She will hold her so I can shower, or work out or clean or whatever it is I may want to sneak in.

Wyatt is just Wyatt, he LOVE his baby sister, but the other 2 I am pretty sure he is ready to trade in. He has had a little 'Shark concern' this week because Grace has been watching Shark Week on the discovery channel. Well she asked him if he wanted to watch with her and this boy never turns down some TV time, and they happened to tune in right when the Great White was tossing around a 13 year old boy. Grace then proceed to give Wyatt all the 'Shark Facts' she had learned throughout the week and where they live etc. The next day he was in no hurry to go swimming, and asked me randomly during the day

'What is that water that Sharks live in?'

'Salt water?'

'yes, isn't it salt water at Hilton Head'

'yes Wyatt, Hilton Head is salt water'

he just stared at me...pretty sure he want be jumping in the waves next year on our beach vacation!

Jesse is a beast! She is sassy and crazy and seems like she is 15 years old now! Right now the goal is to get her and Grace's new room set up so this child can get back to some sort of routine! She sleeps in Wyatt's room with everyone and goes to bed WAY to late. She did get to go into the REd Room today and see all her pals, but was especially glad to see her boy Ben. She just loves him! They let her have lunch and sit next to him and she has been on cloud 9 for the rest of the afternoon! She is all about dressing herself each morning, this is what she came up with recently, so apparently i need to intervene!

and this sweet baby...all I want to do is hold her!

Outing

2011-07-19T22:23:00.003-05:00

I ventured out today with these 4 little people i adore... it was a SUCCESS!

Alot went into this outing:

1. Shower myself not forgetting to brush my teeth

2. Lay out clothes for 3 older ones

3. Give Mae a wash down

4. Get Mae dressed

5. Feed Mae

6. Ensure oldest 2 got dressed

7. Get J dressed

8. Go back and dry my own hair

9. Brush Wyatt's and Jesse teeth (they cannot be trusted)

10. Cleaned the sink in their bathroom as I realized how dirty it is while brushing teeth, whcih lead me to clean the rest of the bathroom.

11. J's hair

12. My hair

45 minutes later then planned we successfully left the house! I had everything I needed for our trip to the library and the grocery store.

As I am pulling into the library parking spot, Wyatt says to me...'what are we doing at this library? This is the most boring library! We need to go to the Berea or Strongsville one' Grace chimes in with a 'yeah mom, we do not go to this library' Rookie stay at home mom mistake, taking the kids to the wrong library.

I then drive to the Strongsville library, get everyone out and we walk into the library and immediately I was awestruck by my children! Inside the library they were quite, spoke in quite voices, walked to their respective areas to select the 2 books and 2 videos they were told they could choose. All 3 waited in line patiently, while the librarian was socializing, to have their summer passports stamped, filled out their own applications (the oldest 2) for a library card, signed their names (very officially i might add) on the back of the card when they were handed to them, and then checked their books out with their own cards (they have always used mine or Grandma's up until today). It was amazing to me, how old and well behaved they were, not that I was expecting unruly crazy kids, but I was shocked at how they had great library behavior. Mae, slept the whole time.

Next up...the grocery store, I made it through with all 4 and no one went to the Eagle's Nest! It was great, again I was amazed on how they all stuck by me and were not running round like crazy people! I did purchase 4 more boxes of pure sugar cereal for them, I have a cereal weakness.

Mae, slept the whole time.

A quick Starbucks stop, ok I admit it I left them all in the car while i ran in for my drink.

then home...a successful outing, I was amazed with myself!

New baby conversations people strike up with me crack me up! It always starts with the typical questions, well they ask a questions, but never wait for an answer and ask them as a statement not as a question:

'ohhhh look at the baby. How old?'
'Look at all that hair! you must have had heartburn?'
'she is so little! are you sure that is what she weighs?'

Then it leads into the stats on their own kids (please keep in mind I have no clue who these people are):

how much they weighed at birth
if they were born C-section or natural (sometimes they do not use the word natural...creepy)
how long labor was

Then it turns back to me:

how am I feeding the child
has my milk come in? SERIOUSLY...you just asked me that at the library??? Where is it coming from? Is it backordered somewhere and I am waiting for it to come in?
how are things healing. Yep really, that one from a creepy guy

and even more I will not subject my 1-2 blog readers with. It just amazes me.

I realize they probably always mean well, just trying to make conversation, but I am not a real talk to stranger and share my birth story with you kind of girl.

When we successfully got home Wyatt was digging through the library bag looking for his new library card, he wanted to take it across the street to show his new pal Pat, he is so proud of HIS library card.

My first full day ended well, everyone tucked in bed, maybe not all sleeping, but a successful day as a stay at home mom.

What I do not want to forget...

2011-07-15T21:31:00.005-05:00

the noise the fetal monitor makes
the feel of the contractions
the nervous feeling i get when they stick me
the nervous chatter with the epideral guy
the happiness when they tell you 'your staying'
when the water breaks
the excitement when they set up the 'table'
the excitement when they set up the baby warmer
my baby playlist
my blue sports bra
the ugly hospital gown
the cold packs
how hungry i am and the meal after
when Todd tells me if it is a girl or boy
that first cry
that sweet smell
holding them close first
kissing them
watching the nurse weigh them
the dead weight of my legs
push
don't push
it is right there
wow lots of hair
the cry
the slime
the small little feet and hands
the cord
the middle of the night in the hospital, I am so tired but cant sleep, just holding them looking at them
the shower
the pain when they first nurse
the contractions that happen still the next day
not sleeping the last month
flipping side to side all night trying to get comfy
waiting for labor to begin
waiting for my water to break
walking...walking...walking
the brothers and sisters meeting her for the first time
the looks on their faces
the middle of the nights feedings
how tired i am in the middle of the night but do not care
wearing real clothes again
newborn diapers
the hospital blanket
ginger ale
getting ready to go home
going home, all those people driving on the road like it is any other day. Don't they know I am bring my new baby home!
the band aids and tape marks the next day
the car seat
the burp clothes
the pain
the spider veins
the veracious veins
timing everything
the over powering feeling of love
the doctor
thankfulness
tiny diapers
how HUGE Jesse looks, I just sit a stare at her at night!

37 weeks

2011-06-23T20:51:00.002-05:00

I am right in the middle of 37 weeks pregnant, and although i am uncomfortable, have cankles, VERY crabby, cant breath, spider veins, my fingers look like sausages, i pee at least 6 times every night, can't sleep, cant get comfortable, am out of clothes, and tons of other ailments, I am trying to embrace it.

Mainly because I know this is the last time I will feel this way, as annoying as it is and as much as i am ready for this little person to come out, I am trying to just take it in and remember it all. Part of me is concerned labor will go to quick...and i will miss that anticipation of him or her being born. I want to be able to remember every little detail cause it will be the last one. I already know all the little milestones this new baby will have will break my heart a little bit as I will not have a little newborn again. I am very certain that this is the last one, and feel i have been blessed beyond measure with my little beasts...but I am sad that this phase is almost over.

I am looking forward to the next phases though, my kids will adapt to the changes, they will grow up and have new experiences and milestones that will make me so proud and break my heart. I am ready for those. But for now...i just want to hold this little moment in time when i feel this little dude flipping around and kicking me, a knee, a foot, whatever it is.

Cankles

2011-06-18T22:15:00.003-05:00

I am not sure if that is the correct spelling but I have them.... cankles

Wyatt

2011-06-18T21:41:00.004-05:00

Friday was a great day for Wyatt. Sports, a touchy subject, the main reason my kids are active in sports is to keep them active all year long. They play soccer all winter indoors, then move into the summer outdoors. Summer brings softball/baseball, Grace's team is fun to watch, she has great coaches and likes the game, she does well. Wyatt...well...he isnt the picture of an athlete, nor does he have any instincts some kids his age have. He goes to the games, plays in the dirt if he happens to get in the infield, his goal thus far had been to be the dirtiest one, that would be from picking up the dirt and dumping it on himself. It is coach/player pitch and the kids are all 7-9 years old, so he is clearly the youngest and the smallest. (That would be his parents fault, they could not withstand another year of tee ball so bumped him up a division) Anyway...Three games into the season Wyatt still had not gotten a hit, it is pitiful, he goes up there in his too big shirt and too big batting helmet and strikes out. The bat is too heavy and he swings a bunch, misses, looks at the coach to see if he has struck out or not, then drags the bat back to the bench and is so sad. It broke my heart watching it each time.

This past Wednesday he came home after striking out each inning and finally wanted his Dad to help him. (Every other time his dad tried he did not want to work on it) Todd pitched to him for about an hour and it went pretty well. Friday night game time comes and Wyatt of course does not want to go, fights and yells the whole time he is getting ready, says he is terrible, doesn't want to play and he cant be on the team cause he is terrible. Breaks my heart again, i am ready to just let the poor kid stay home, but we talk to him about trying, just go out there and try that is all he has to do. That kid goes to the game and has 3 GREAT hits and a few good palys in the field! It was amazing...when he got up to bat it was a whole different kid! Ready to swing, watching the ball, good swing and real legit hits! Each time he got to first base he would peer over at me with the too bog batting helmet on his head and give me thumbs up with the biggest smile ever! He was so proud of himself! Then when he would cross home and his team would give him high fives and yell 'Good job' he was so thrilled it was so great seeing such a change in him!

Later that night, after he got ice cream with Grandma for a job well done, he came downstairs way past his bed time and was hanging out. He was still so proud of his accomplishments and still talking about how it is so much more fun when you get hits. He told me 'Some guy I don't even know said to me Great Job Wyatt'

Friday was a great day to be Wyatt Simon:

McDonalds released the new Happy Meal toys, which he was aware of because he reads the fine print on the bottom of the happy meal bag and finds out which toys are coming next. He then checks with the McDonalds people to find out when the new release of Pokemon toys will be hitting the restaurant.
He got 3 hits
The tooth fairy came! He finally lost a tooth Thursday night, he was pretty happy since he is the only 6 year old he knows that has never lost a tooth, and he is almost 7.

Bullet Points

2011-06-18T21:27:00.002-05:00

I am not a fan of typing in a bunch of separate posts in one day with all different topics. At night when i cant sleep, I think I should just come downstairs and blog...that will bore me to death, my own life! So instead of doing a bunch of past posts i am doing a bullet list of things i should have blogged about, but didn't. Mainly because when I look back in 3 years, when I am trying to remember something maybe this will jog my memory!

Relay for Life was last week...great cause, we walked all night (i think we were the only team that did) I believe a total of 100k was raised for American Cancer Society.
Relay for Life was great but makes me miss Joel so much the whole weekend
I am HUGE
My fingers look like sausages and my feet are fat
I may soon not be able to refer to the White Trash Pool as the White Trash Pool. The deck is almost finished
Brenda & I had flower day!! It is my favorite day of the year. I got some great stuff and made beautiful pots, I need to add some more but that makes me super happy, flower day. I think we are going to have flower day part 2.
I have new beds around the patio which i LOVE and got some new patio furniture that makes it a little oasis while sitting in the back yard. That really makes me happy!
We got neighbors...
I cannot wait to join Weight Watchers
I cannot wait to go for a run!!! I am so jealous watching runners.
Kids finished school and got the best report cards again for the entire year. It makes me so proud my kids get perfect marks, probably cause I never did!
I am having a contraction right now, that is annoying because I have them all the time but they are not the big ones which i need to happen!
This new baby has nothing yet, not even a name
The girls need to bunk up
Cedar Point day was great fun! Grace rode every ride and Wyatt even jumped on some coasters. His highlight was riding the Wildcat a Bunch of times in a row with different high school girls each time.
I walked 6 miles today with Aunt Kath and that felt great!
Grace went to basketball camp last week and worked hard which makes me happy
The kids stayed all night (the older 2) at Relay and it makes me proud they know what the cause is and why it is important. Wyatt crawled up on me during the lumaniaria ceremony & told me he was going to sit with me because he knows i am sad about my friend dying from cancer.
We got a piano, it is old and out of tune but it was free and I am trying to get used to it
I need a new playlist
I hope my brother Rob comes to visit soon

That is all I have for now...

Jesse is 2

2011-06-18T21:14:00.009-05:00

Although I am late, I wanted to post some pics of J's Sweet but Sassy birthday. Her only request for the party was to have meatballs...so we had meatballs with a LOT of candy! Her cousins were here which was her other request, she wanted Alec at her Birthday. Not that she doesn't love all her cousins, but Alec is the one she talks about all the time.

I cant believe she is 3, where is the time going? :( and all the things she says and does. She is SO independent and such a big girl.

Here the table is set for her day!

two sucker trees!

Sweet but Sassy water

silverware tied with candy necklaces.

Bad Blogger

2011-05-15T07:54:00.007-05:00

What a bad blogger I am...I will get over it.

I can say up until today, since we have returned form our rainy vacation it has NOT rained only 4-5 days. I am so sick of rain. I love spring, I love planting the flowers, cleaning out 'stuff', opening the windows, hearing the birds in the am, feeling the sunshine, taking a spring run, all of it. I have not done any of it, and I am annoyed!

Speaking of running, today is the Cleveland Marathon and Half. It kind of bums me out that I am not there, but I am hopeful next year, and it is rainy and 40 degrees right now, so I am not that upset.

The grass has gotten cut once, the kids ran and chased their dad doing it, so the end result was green shoes and feet!

even Chewy had green paws!

NSD came and passed, I did scrap one page that day, I just felt I had to and it made me miss it SO much! I say over and over I am going to get back into it, I just cant get the time!

that second LO was scraplifted from Jenni Bowlin's site. I love that pic of Grace, it is old but I love it. Speaking of Grace, I have had some conversations with her as of late, she is getting so old and she is so wise. I love her candor and it makes me laugh that she gets things and they just don't bother her. She does so well in school and that just astounds me every time she brings home another challenge. I think because I was not that great of a student, (I am now though) so the fact she works hard and it pays off for her makes me so proud. Each note I get from her teacher and each report card just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside and I must admit, not much makes me warm and fuzzy.

This sweet girl will be 3 in two weeks...WHERE is time going???

I really hope it stops raining soon :(

Vacation

2011-04-03T18:18:00.002-05:00

We just returned last night from our Hilton Head vacation... it was great, BUT it was COLD, and I am FAT so I am in no hurry to upload pictures or reflect. I apparently am not a good vacation person, the majority of the time I sat in the house working on puzzle(s) and trying to stay sane knowing it was cold and rainy outside. Earlier in the year I was looking for my word, I know the meaning of the word I wanted to use but could not figure out the word I was looking for. I need to work on being one of those people who can live in the moment. What is that word??? That is what I want to be when I grow up.

The Nike Ad

2011-03-17T20:33:00.002-05:00

The Nike Ad That Changed My Life

You were born a daughter.

You looked up to your mother.

You looked up to your father.

You looked up at everyone.

You wanted to be a princess.

You thought you were a princess.

You wanted to own a horse.

You wanted to be a horse.

You wanted your brother to be a horse.

You wanted to wear pink.

You never wanted to wear pink.

You wanted to be a Veterinarian.

You wanted to be President.

You wanted to be the President's Veterinarian.

You were picked last for the team.

You were the best one on the team.

You refused to be on the team.

You wanted to be good in algebra.

You hid during algebra.

You wanted the boys to notice you.

You were afraid the boys would notice you.

You started to get acne.

You started to get breasts.

You started to get acne that was bigger than your breasts.

You wouldn't wear a bra.

You couldn't wait to wear a bra.

You couldn't fit into a bra.

You didn't like the way you looked.

You didn't like the way your parents looked.

You didn't want to grow up.

You had your first best friend.

You had your first date.

You had your second best friend.

You had your second first date.

You spent hours on the telephone.

You got kissed.

You got to kiss back.

You went to the prom.

You didn't go to the prom.

You went to the prom with the wrong person.

You spent hours on the telephone.

You fell in love.

You lost your best friend.

You lost your other best friend.

You really fell in love.

You became a steady girlfriend.

You became a significant other.

YOU BECAME SIGNIFICANT TO YOURSELF.

Sooner or later, you start taking yourself seriously. You know when you need a break. You know when you need a rest. You know what to get worked up about and what to get rid of. And you know when it's time to take care of yourself, for yourself. To do something that makes you stronger, faster, more complete.

Because you know it's never too late to have a life. And never too late to change one.

JUST DO IT

I blogged lifted this, but do remember when it came out, I did have it taped to my wall cause it was 'so cool'. Reading it now it is SO COOL and something I will be reading my daughters. That last paragraph has also come at a great time for me, and holds a lot of meaning. Thank you NIKE for reminding me what is important.

Productivity!

2011-03-05T02:26:00.003-05:00

What has it come to??? It is Friday night, 2:26am, and I have lost steam. But boy being SO productive until 2:15am is really making me happy!

dinner
dropped car off for maintenance
caught up on my blog reading
caught up on Mouse,Paper, Scissors
made 3 cards
made a notebook wrapper
scrapped a few pages
finished my homework

The hallway is painted

so maybe I can finish my picture wall I have been thinking about! These are the kids painting last weekend. Why is J not in the pics you may ask? That is because these were taken at 11:30pm, and like any good parent would have, my 2 year old is in bed. Seriously, who lets their kids stay up and paint at midnight!

Enjoy!!

I want this...

2011-02-26T22:49:00.004-05:00

& this

I am done with snow, slush, cold, boots, hats, scarves and everything winter has to offer! I want the smell of spring and warm rainy days. I was so sad with the Friday snowstorm, so I headed to target and browsed the aisles of garden hoses and patio furniture to give me some inspiration. Thankfully in less than 28 days we will be headed to Hilton Head for some pool time, sand & surf, I cannot wait!

Things are going great in baby world! I got to see the little guy last week, that is always fun and puts things into perspective! At one point he/she did a flip and I actually looked, but could not see anything to tell me if it is a boy or a girl. So we will just have to wait until the arrival, which is still 5 months away. On Valentines day I went to yoga and during savasana the little dude was flipping and kicking like a crazy baby. It was great, while I had felt him move before, this was way more active then usual and made me happy. I just laid there smiling and giggling to myself. I am trying to soak it all in, knowing this will be my last experience with this, so I want to try to remember it all, hence journaling it here so I can look back in 10 years and remember.

on another note...loving Mumford & sons!!

The Blue Guy

2011-01-31T21:35:00.005-05:00

Wyatt has his favorite stuffed animal, his name is The Blue Guy. He got the Blue Guy from Grandma Holly when he was less than a year old. We had gone on an outing up at the lake to a shop where you could make your own stuffed animal. Grace made a unicorn and Wyatt/me 'made' the Blue Guy. Wyatt has always loved him, sleeps with him every night. Weird thing was as I was looking through pictures to find one of the Blue Guy to add to this post I could only find this one. See the Blue Guy sitting on Wyatt's pillow?

Tonight this beast, got a hold of the Blue Guy.

and poor Grace found him with two missing eyes. She broke it to her brother gently, and he came to me sobbing, crying harder then I have seen him cry when I take away his DS. Grace was hugging him as he told me what they found with huge crocodile tears streaming down his cheeks. (The beast quickly ran away and hid as she knew trouble was coming) My poor little 6 year old heart broken. As I surveyed the Blue Guys plastic eyes, I calmed Wyatt by telling him I or Grandma could fix him, he would need minor surgery at the hospital and then be fixed like new. Wyatt slowly moved his way to his bedroom his sister holding him closely along the way. She helped him into bed and tucked him in so sweetly knowing his little heart was broken, and he said to her between his sobs 'Grace, I dont think I want to sleep alone, could you please sleep with me tonight?' She of course grabbed her Green Pillow (also from Grandma Holly when she 2) and snuggled in with her little brother. So sweet...my heart breaks for him. Now I just hope I really can fix the eyes of The Blue Guy.

Four!

2010-12-31T22:42:00.012-05:00

Before I was married, before I had children, I had Bob. She was the sweetest dog, loved me unconditionally, no matter where I took her, where we lived she slept right by me and snuggled in.When I got married, Bob walked down the aisle right before I did and at the reception she was there, indirectly, and melted away at the end of the night.

When I was pregnant with Grace I remember wondering/worrying if I was going to have enough love, enough love for both this new sweet baby and Bob. Am I going to love this baby as much as I love Bob? Obviously the answer was yes, and from the moment I saw Grace my heart doubled and filled with that same love for Bob and poured full of new love for my Grace Elizabeth.

(Bob loved Grace as much as I did also) They both entertained me with posing for silly pictures. Not even two short years later, Wyatt Houston Simon joined our little family, and again, my heart was filled with a new love for my sweet little boy. And again I understood that my heart is big enough for more than one child.

and again, they posed for me.

Although my heart was broken with the loss of Bob that next year, I knew there was still room for more love when Jesse Elizabeth joined us.

my sweet new baby girl brought so much joy to us and not only was my heart filled with a new love, it even burst more knowing how much her brother and sister adored her.

so...where am I going with this? My heart is getting ready to be cracked open again, and filled with such joy as we wait for the arrival of our newest little family member to complete us as a family of 6. I no longer worry that there isn't enough love to go around. As I type this I hear the older two arguing over who gets to play first, who is better at the game, but I know they love each other.

This sassy little 2 year old, she will even find love for a new baby, although it may be a bit of a challenge for her. I am so looking forward to these long 9 months, well 7 months left to go. I am going to try to revel in the pregnancy and enjoy it, yes try to enjoy it.

2010 was a good year of change for me, but I am looking forward to 2011 and all it has in store.

Happy New Year my blog friends!!

sound like my mother

2010-12-19T00:14:00.002-05:00

ugh...it happened to me tonight. Not that it hasn't happened before but tonight was a good one.

My good pal Hope is staying with us and she was heading out to a wedding tonight. She wanted me to see the dresses she had in mind and each one of them i felt were too short! Before I was leaving for the evening, she asked me one last time to tell her what i though, I even asked, you want me to tell you the truth?

and i said it...It is too short and you need to wear nylons with it...that is SO my mom talking, and it made me gasp! I even carried on to say she needed something more conservative, which is totally not her style!

When i left that night i felt terrible, for telling her that the dress didn't look great & for sounding like my mother. As I was walking through the mall later that evening I cut through H&M and passed three different versions of the dress Hope wore to the wedding. I then decided that apparently she is young & hip and I am old and lame...and sound like my mother :(

beginning to look like Christmas...

2010-12-12T16:45:00.003-05:00

Each year i am so annoyed by my christmas decorations, this year is just the same. Although I am happy with how this turned out. We had a 'treat calendar' to count down to Christmas the past few years I had made, it was fun but this year I wanted a re-haul. So, I headed to Target with something in mind and came back with these instead! 25 little mittens, I stamped 1-25 on them and hung them from the mantle. I added some little treats in each mitten for each day and a new count down to christmas! And I had it completed by December 3rd, that isn't too bad I thought. In the picture at the end you can see our little pal George. He is our elf from the Elf on the Shelf and the kids LOVE him! Even J wakes up each morning and races down to see where George will be that day. It hasn't really helped with the behavior but it is cute. What has helped with the behavior is 123 Magic, last week the kids were out of control! It was mayhem! So instead of reading Harry Potter and finishing the last chapter of book 2 we switched over to 123 magic and it is really making a difference. The fact they are not watching TV after school or playing on the computer I am sure is beneficial as well, but the 123 magic really helps! It is also VERY funny to watch Wyatt lay in bed with his hands over his ears because he is 'not listening to this book that is not even about magic'. He is protesting until we get back to Harry Potter.

We have two tree's up

the cute skinny tree with the bulbs I like, and then the bigger front tree with the mix of ornaments all over it. Although I love the big tree, it drives me crazy as things do not match and there is no order to anything on it. Therefore the little skinny tree sits next to me each night.

Tonight...Christmas cards...just as soon as I dig out the scrapping room.

I may even throw in a layout or two this week.

Thankful

2010-11-25T20:25:00.002-05:00

today i am thankful for:

the little people in my life

my dear family & friends

brooke

i got to take a nap

food food food

our turkey bowl

and really comfy pants

enjoy your Thanksgiving!

COULD HAVE SHOULD HAVE

2010-10-24T19:43:00.009-05:00

I was going to do this:

Inland Trail Marathon

but instead I did this:

there was 5 others on the plate before i took this picture

and this:

I also got to spend a few hours with these great friends:

to celebrate the October birthdays of these girls:

so although i questioned my decision all day, and timed where i would be from 8am until noon, got a little pang in my heart each time i passed a runner out on this beautiful day, i made a great choice and had a BEAUTIFUL Sunday on the BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL Fall day :)

Tomorrow though back to this:

Have a great week!

10.10.10

2010-10-11T11:39:00.002-05:00

What a great experience!

I am back from Chicago, my legs are sore and I finished 26.2 miles. It wasn't pretty, but I crossed the finish line with a little spring in my step! Chicago had record breaking temperatures, the high hit 88 degrees! At one point we came around a corner and there was a sign on a bank that said 87, I figured it was wrong that the sign was in the sun and that was with the sun hitting it directly...I was wrong, that sign was RIGHT!

This marathon had 45,000 participants, it took us over 18 minutes to get to that start! The crowd support was amazing, at some cheer stations the crowd was 5-6 deep. There were people along the WHOLe route, never an area where no one was there cheering you on. There is an estimated number of 1.5 million spectators and felt as if each one were cheering just for me! We ran through the whole city so I got to see so many different areas I would not have been able to see otherwise.

The months and miles leading up to this event really is what was amazing, the training was such a great, special, cherished time for me. The girls I trained with are just awesome, Brenda, Beth & Lisa became my friends and a relationship I will cherish. Over 500 plus miles we had conversations, story telling, medical diagnosis, tear and amazing memories. I looked forward to waking up at 4:30 am and trekking out to Bay Village to begin our runs in the dark, cool, dewy air. When that weeks miles were complete I felt as if I had accomplished something, something good. Running each week has made me a better person. I am calmer, happier, think clearer, a better mom, wife & friend. These girls have made me a better person and I can never give them enough thanks for that. I look at things with a different perspective and I like that, and better yet feel much better. The training for this marathon was great, I followed Hal to a tee so that fact my time was 35 minutes behind where I wanted has me bummed out. It was the heat though I have decided, I walked water stops when I had usually not have, I hung back in fear that I would out run myself, a bunch of rookie mistakes I suppose, although the time is disappointing, the experience still amazing!!!

Committed

2010-09-24T20:31:00.002-05:00

I am now committed to run 26.2, I have booked the flight. When I started training I didn't know if I would really commit and go, I just thought I would train with them. NOW I cant imagine my running pals being there and me sitting home watching them online.

Air

Show pricing information

- Passenger Type
- Name
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- ADULT
- ELIZABETH SIMON
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ITINERARY

DEPART

OCT

Cleveland, OH to Chicago, IL
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Travel Time 1 h 10 m
(Nonstop)

Add EarlyBird Check-In

#786	Depart Cleveland, OH (CLE)	11:40 AM
	Arrive in Chicago (Midway), IL (MDW)	11:50 AM

RETURN

OCT

Chicago, IL to Cleveland, OH
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Travel Time 1 h 10 m
(Nonstop)

Add EarlyBird Check-In

#654	Depart Chicago (Midway), IL (MDW)	5:05 PM
	Arrive in Cleveland, OH (CLE)	7:15 PM

run

2010-09-12T18:32:00.004-05:00

1. running makes me feel so much better

2. i hate the anticipation of getting ready to run

3. it makes me get up at 430am for long runs on the weekends

4. i feel so good when i am finished

5. i have made amazing friends running

6. it has made me a better parent

7. it helps me to think & reflect

8. this picture is of my old shoes, i love my new shoes!

9. getting in the shower with chaffing burns terribly!

10. when the salt drips in your eyes it burns but is a good burn

11. i will not wear compression socks

12. i am not fast nor do i have any desire to be

13. i feel naked without my water bottle

14. i lost my toenail

15. i got a fresh pedicure since i lost my toenail

16. Peanut sweet & salty bars ROCK!

17. i have gone through 2 ipods over the past 2 months

18. todd will never understand how happy running makes me

19. my knees can tell me when the weather is changing

20. i am SO thankful my running pals let me join their 'circle', it has changed me in so many great ways!

First Day

2010-08-26T14:09:00.006-05:00

She is a second grader:

she is sassy

she spilled purple nail polish on her carpet just 12 hours prior

she LoVEs to watch TV

she is smart

her favorite thing to tell me is 'No'

she sleeps in her new loft bed

she makes me laugh

she is sarcastic...really?

and I am thrilled she is mine, just the best parts of her dad and I.

He is a Kindergartner

he is mean

he is a a heartbreaker

he LoVEs video games

he is smart

he eats all the time

he is fast

he is a negotiator

he is a story teller

and I am never surprised by him. He just has a personality, not sure where he gets it.

He left on the bus today

What a crazy feeling when your child is getting on the bus for the first time. I am thinking who is going to watch him, he is a wanderer, they will loose him. I don't know this lady driving the bus, he is going to get annoyed and call someone a loser, he is going to drop his pants and shake his dupa, he will get hungry and angry, they don't know he loves mazes, they will need to give him puzzles, if he gets bored he will turn into a crazy person...on and on.

Thankfully, he did none of the above, he got off the bus very happy and made it home in one piece (with his sisters supervision). He is happily playing Mario with his sister and will do it all again tomorrow without me...that makes me so sad :(

Supplies

2010-08-26T13:57:00.004-05:00

Last week I went and purchased all the school supplies. This trip is insane! People fighting over bins stuffed with crayons, scissors, folders, pencils, markers and snatching them up like they are gold. I do not take the kids with me on this trip, people are mean, mean, mean in the school supply aisle. Complaining about the items they can't find, the fact they have to buy supplies, it is miserable listening to them. The best are the ones with their kids, they are arguing, and it just does not seem to be a fun experience for anyone involved. That is a bummer, I would think kids would be excited about FRESH new school supplies, my kids loved seeing them all on the table the next morning, waiting for them to check them out and figure out who got what. After I went through all the bags and got items labled this is what i ended up with:

all the supplies needed for 1 first grader & 1 kindergartner.

Productive/Photos/Yoga

2010-08-06T00:32:00.004-05:00

I was productive tonight... amazing!

completed a digital layout...WoW!

ran

swam with kids

updated blog...twice!

updated blog header

cleared out my email

read some of my book

I want to share with you..not that I have many blog readers.

Amy Eldridge, I met Amy through my friend Becca.

She came to my house and took AmaZinG photos of my kids. It was great, I of course walked away cause i get way stressed out when they are getting their picture taken, with her though, No stress! She is a mom and knows how to work with the children and adapt to them, she does not take those staged pictures she just captures them doing what they are doing. She got great pictures of them, and I cannot wait for her to come back again, again & again! She is working on her site so email me if you want her contact info.

So here are a few:

Another great place I started going to today is Yoga 101 Studio. It is located right in Berea, convenient, and it was a great class. I wanted to start incorporating Yoga into my workouts twice a week so I am hoping this will work well.

bloggin again

2010-08-05T18:01:00.010-05:00

I'm back and the problem was google...annoying. I could not remember my eblogger password for the life of me! They would only email it to an old email account I no longer had access too...SO annoying! So i had to reactivate my old email by paying $12.95 to get my password, if not i would have had to create a new free blog. Crazy.

It is summer, well summer is winding down, I just love summer. I love the heat, I love it when you step outside and you can't breath heat, it hasnt been like that in a few days and I have a feeling we may not have many more of those days left this summer. The kids head back to school in a few weeks. They have had a great summer at home with Grandma. They have been very busy with swimming, piano, library, parks and tons of fun stuff. They both played baseball

and had fun. Grace's team was a great experience for her, excellent coaches, all her friends & she even made a few plays and had a couple hits!

July 4th was fun!

The older 2 kids were in the parade with their baseball teams & this little girl was just cute.

Our sweet little pal Colin was learning to get steady on his feet.

We had a great firework display here at home thanks to the neighbors. We had friends & family over to BBQ and it was just a good amount of fun!

We spent a few days up at the lake with the Connelly's, SO fun. The kids love that they are with their best pals and we love hanging out. They went on the jet ski's, made smores, all that fun stuff.

And look at these two beer drinkers...

they are enjoying little bottles of bud & bud light. (at least they chose their father's favorite brands) & look they are both just like their dads...they become dancers after a few drinks!

no need to call children services, they are little bottles that belong to a checker set, but cute none the less!

I have just finished up walking the Susan G Komen 3 Day, that is such a great experience. This year Aunt Kathy & I walked with a Team! There were 6 of us total and SO much fun. We had a great time and injury free! I got blisters pretty bad but Aunt Kath moves through like a trooper. It is such a great experience and so well ran.

More to post later...now that i have my password!

Changes

2010-06-26T14:32:00.001-05:00

lots of changes here in my house...i like it, change is good!

accomplished something

2010-05-18T18:15:00.003-05:00

i finished another half...that makes me feel like i have accomplished something. although i finished 1 minute over the time i wanted, i still shaved 13 minutes off from last year. That makes me happy...now to try to get some more minutes off that time.

Tomorrow is my favorite day...CEDAR POINT DAY! i am so fortunate to work at a company where they for one day pay for our admission, pay for parking, give us $20 bucks to spend, and allow us the day to go and play! It is one of my favorite perks and I'm so glad it's back!!

Mom

2010-05-11T18:34:00.007-05:00

I have a great mom...I am going to PUBLICLY state all the reasons for here in honor of this Mother's Day

Thank you for being an amazing Grandma

Thank you for always looking out for us

Thank you for making my life easier with all of your help

Thank you for providing me and my kids so much love

Thank you for allowing me to work out every morning

Thank you for turning yourself into a walker, you finished your first race!

Thank you for being funny

Thank you for being crafty

Thank you for being dependable

Thank you for putting your children first

Thank you for being an AMAZING MoM!

I love you!

I also had a great Mother's Day, thanks to Todd and the kids. I love being their mom, although i am sure i make mistakes on the job each day they are still the most amazing thing i have ever accomplished. My mother's day started with a GREAT brunch! Brunch is my favorite, and a good brunch is the BesT! We went to Pickwick & Frolics and I am a big fan of them making the omelet for you, so I had @ Havarti & tomato omelets...so delish! They also had a great chocolate fountain who doesn't love that and i finished it off with bananas foster...yum yum!

After brunch we took a walk down to the Q to see all the hype over the CAVS! We love the CAVS and love playoff time so it was fun to watch the kids run around in that area and see player pics. We had one crabby boy on our hands so he refused to be in the picture:

therefore i was forced to tickle him until he smiled

We then came home and took a nap! I love naps!!! everyone napped which is the best...even chewy.

then the CAVS game ( they lost though ) then a mega shopping trip to Target!

What a perfect day!

I am a lucky girl :)

Hilton Head

2010-04-26T19:33:00.018-05:00

We had a great Hilton Head vacation over Spring Break! We were lucky enough to have a house in a perfect location. We stayed at 4 Dinghy in Palmetto Dunes and we will defiantly be heading back next year! The location was perfect and we could not have asked for a more accommodating experience with Luann the owner, she did everything to make our stay enjoyable!

We took so many pictures at her beach home one night, just trying to get a good shot. We are just not a photogenic group...but they are great memories!

The kids loved playing on the beach, of course.

and I really could get used to running on the beach each AM.

We had a pool at the house as well which was a great convenience. The kids loved it! Jesse had a blast just jumping in, she had no fear which was no surprise. She was swimming to the side in not time and getting out by the steps and jumping right back in. My kids are like fish...they love the water.

Wyatt of course drinks too much water when he is in the pool...

(sorry Luann!)

The Peters & The Nanasys were there at the same time we were, we rode our bikes down the beach to spend sometime with them

We went to Harbor Town for the day and played at the park, had lunch with everyone, climbed to the top of the lighthouse & enjoyed ice cream at the salty dog.

The kids really enjoyed the 'clubhouse' it was a great spot for them to hang out!

We had breakfast on the beach one morning to watch the sun come up, we went down really early with flashlight (i was scared to death, i have watched to many episodes of CSI Miami) but it was beautifule watching the stars go out, the moon go down, and the sun come up. The kids loved it...well they probably loved it for the doughnuts.

We just had an overall great vacation spending time relaxing and being together. We needed it and will be back again next year!

i miss joel

2010-04-06T20:14:00.002-05:00

i miss my friend so much...i miss joel. i think about him and my whole body feels weighted down with grief, like i am paralyzed. it goes in waves and this most recent wave just sucks. it started towards the end of vacation, i was on the beach in the evening, i remember the exact moment the grief came on and since then i cant seem to shake it. I go back and read his obituary often as sometimes i feel like it didn't really happen, he didn't really die. Sometimes i can still feel the feeling of holding his hand that last day of his life and how strong his hands still were and how dry his skin was .i can feel the exact spot on my hand where he was squeezing my hand. i often question my friendship with him and wonder of i imagined it all & don't know if he knew how much i loved him and depended on him. i just miss joel so much.

VACATION

2010-04-04T08:19:00.003-05:00

We are back from an amazing vacation on Hilton Head Island. WoW did we have fun, we stayed in a great house that was right by the ocean literally less then 500 feet how great to sit outside in the pool but hear waves crashing in the background.

Once I get all the pics uploaded and the new blog look i will post the details.

For now...

laundry

grocery

clean out car

run

homework

kids ready for school tomorrow

HAPPY EASTER!

Worst Blogger

2010-03-25T21:49:00.002-05:00

yep, I am the worst blogger ever! But really that is all about to change. Leaving for vacation tomorrow, when I come back & maybe while on vacation I am going to become a blogger again. It was my goal for this year, I cannot fail!

Great Day!

2010-02-14T20:54:00.003-05:00

Friday & Saturday were just great days! I love that, lots accomplished and lots of fun. I had taken Friday off work to spend some QT with Grace. She was off school so it was a great day for us to hang out, and that we did. We dropped the other kids off at school and then had breakfast together, ran a few errands and then headed off to Boston Mills for a day of skiing. Grace was great, she took 1 lesson with a great instructor and when I returned she was going up the chair lift and down the hill! It was so COOL, I was nervous about this because I knew she wanted to like it but was not so sure how it would go. When I left her with the instructor it was odd, just leaving your child with some random stranger that you knew nothing about. I got to have a few runs in that hour, well several seeing how it was Boston Mills but the snow was great and I really had a peaceful time. After Grace was done we spent the next 4 hours just skiing, she was a trooper, she did not want to stop and even hit the blues. Im so glad she loved it and it is great it is something we can do together for many years to come. Makes me smile:)

Here she is riding up the lift, it is great ride a ski lift with your kid.

Grace wanted to spend the night at Grandma's after her full day and boy was she beat. We headed over to Megan & Mike's to watch the opening ceremonies, that was great to spend some time with them and the girls. Wendy and Stones were there as well but we missed Fisher as he was already asleep.

Saturday was productive, I worked out which was great! Grace spent the day with Taylor which thrilled her! Wyatt, J & I went to the game. Wyatt was thrilled he got to catch a t-shirt from one of the 'big guy's' that made his day. I then cleaned, I love getting the kitchen just good and clean! I put a log in the fireplace and watched sappy movies 'Pretty Woman' & 'The Time Traveler's Wife' I had seen both which is even better, but good flicks. It was a great night.

Tomorrow work, lots to do!

but first I am working on candles tonight...very exciting!

sunday

2010-01-31T17:46:00.007-05:00

What a productive day today has been! Grace had spent the night at her friends so after we picked her up it was right to the grocery, although it is a chore getting through with 3 crabby kids if it is done early it is so much better then sitting around dreading to go. After the grocery is the harder part of putting it away, and purging all the stuff from the week before that wasn't used (so annoying). I volunteered on Friday at the food bank which made me feel more guilty about the amount of food we throw away. it is awful. I was able to work on a few more projects this afternoon which made me happy, it is good to accomplish things that you want to get completed.

Here is one more card i finished with the Jenni Bowlin cards, I really like this one with my pal Joel on it.

I played with the glitter mist today and boy was it fun. I was able to take the boring old frames that i had the kids pictures in and make them look great! I just glitter misted the mats and then added ribbon around them. It was so easy and fun to do!

here are the frames before, sorry the reflection from the backyard comes through, but you get the idea...boring Ikea frames:

BUT AFTER...

you can still see a little of the reflection, but again, you get the idea. I love them!

Have a great week!

A couple pages

2010-01-30T22:06:00.007-05:00

This one was for a design layout on SISTV I haven't uploaded it yet.

This is what i didi with the PSE elements pic i made, nothing too special

These are the Jenni Bowlin tags from 2 years ago i have never finished

just a layout of the first day we dropped off Grace at Preschool. Wyatt was happy to see her go :(

ok this one really doesn't count because i didi the layout years ago and just added the pics this weekend. Not happy with my picture arranging.

So I was productive a little bit. I am going to work on one more fun thing tomorrow I am excited about. I will post if it turns out well

Oh and one more shot, just cause how cute is this baby who fell asleep in the grocery cart.

PSE

2010-01-30T11:01:00.002-05:00

i actually accomplished something in Photoshop elements...it was somewhat easy and i am excited to do more digital scrapping. I have not been as productive as i would like, but there is still today to kick some pages out. I also am going to work with glitter spray later today. That will be fun.

Create weekend!

2010-01-29T16:55:00.002-05:00

All I am doing this weekend is scrapbooking & projects! I will be posting finished projects along the way:)

Enjoy your weekend!

Good bye Joel

2010-01-14T21:22:00.002-05:00

I lost my friend today, i lost him entirely too soon and very quickly. One week ago i was walking with him talking about how he was going to attack the cancer to try to beat it...one week later he is gone. Joel is the strongest person I know and he was the strongest at the end, fighting the disease to make the most for those around him, only thinking of others never himself. His girlfriend, his kids, his family he was trying to make everything easier on them. He asked me last week 'What can I do for you?' I love Joel with all my being, he was so dear to me and each day without him will get easier but i will never loose each cherished memory i have of him. My heart is broken and i am so so sad, but i am also grateful. I am grateful that i spent over 20 years of my life as his friend, grateful i was able to sit with him today and hold his hand, and grateful of every moment i spent with him. i love you Joel...

Joel

2010-01-07T20:26:00.002-05:00

I have a dear friend, his name is Joel. We have been friends for a very long time, I cant even tell you how we met, or how we started hanging out or how much he means to me. Joel is sick...sick with what he thought was a stomach ache that had turned into something more than a stomach ache. He was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer that has traveled to his liver & his pancreas. Last night i sat with Joel for awhile , as he explained to me everything in his calm, quite, one tone, even voice. It was heart wrenching, Joel is the strongest person I know and can take the most amount of pain as anyone i could know and he is beginning the biggest battle today as he got his first dose of chemo. I'm so helpless for my dear friend, when i was leaving him he asked me what he could do for me, that is how he is, he is worried about me. I need Joel to fight, to get mad and i need more time with Joel.

2010-01-03T17:19:00.002-05:00

Here is my most recent picture of all three kids. Since I have not blogged in so long i thought i should post it:)

This of course is why i am going to stick to my goals for 2010 and that is to get back into scrapping. I am heading into that room now which has turned into a crap room and purging all the junk laying around to get motivated again!

Tomorrow starts new classes for me for school, I always look forward to that as it is a fresh start and a new challenge.

Good Luck to all with your 2010 goals!

2010

2010-01-02T20:04:00.002-05:00

Im excited for 2010...I am doing what a lot of other scrappers/bloggers are doing and choosing a word. I have not jumped on this bandwagon yet and i have not yet chosen my word but i will soon. I also am going to try to get back on the creative scene and be a better blogger!
goals...i have to set goals!
more later!

camera

2008-11-14T23:25:00.002-05:00

so i got a new camera before we went to disney and i love it! It is the cannon D40, to most of you that is not the newest and fanciest but for me it is GREAT! I love it and have gotten some great shots. The problem is i cannot get the pictures from the memory card to the computer. My computer is so old that i cant even get the software loaded on here. I really need to sit down and figure it out! Then i will post some of the great pic's.
Another thing that has been killing me is i have not been creative in a VERY long time. I really need to dig out the scrappin room and get something created. I havent even seen a lot of the newest supplies out there because i have been so far out of the loop. Not for long, i really need to get creative, i have had enough time off!
Tonight we went to a local production of The Sound of Music. It was so good, done VERY well. The singing was great and the acting, i was impressed. very fun! It is friday night and i am not working at the oriole...i love that also! I will not love it tomorrw though when i have no money.
Tomorrow our friends from columbus are coming here to hang out and watch the buckeye's, it is always fun with them!

An extra hour

2008-11-02T22:00:00.005-05:00

in my day was exactly what i needed today! It actually gave me time to post! I am so behind on everything but i sort of feel like this weekend i may have made a dent.

First let me post about my sweet little Jesse.

this picture was taken a few weeks ago when she was four months, she just turned five months on the 30th. She is such a great baby. She eats all her veggies & fruit now and is getting so big, it makes me so sad but i do love it. She has the little rolls in her arms she is so thick, and those cheeks are the best. She smiles all the times and talks and coo's. I can never get enought of her talking and smiling. Each morning when i go into her room she is so happy and 'talking' so sweet. She is almost sitting up but not quite yet, when she is sitting in her seat lisa got her she looks like such a big girl. She is such a joy!

wyatt turned 4 in the beinging of the month, he is getting so big and seems so old to me now.

here he is with grandma on his birthday. He is all boy and CRAZY i cannot stress that enough. Then he turns so sweet (or he really just know how to play me) he will being as nutty as he can be and then just turn to me and grin his sweet grin and say 'mam, i love you' He is writing his name well now and learning so much each day in the blue room. His teachers are so great, wyatt learns so much in his crazy little way and they are so patient with him and truly do love him and his ways. I am so proud of him.

My big girl turned six this week...dang this really kills me.

Each day with her is adventure. She is a kindergartener and so smart, really amazes me. She has learned to read and listening to her read just is amazing to me. I look at her and think how can she be old enought to do all this. I get excellent reports from miss catililn each week and all her papers come back perfect. I can't ask for anything more from her in school!

This pic is from disney. She had a special day and went to the bippity boppity boutique, she was totally in her element there! She got her hair, nails and make up done and then got to go eat at cinderellas royal table. It was so fun.

I am just hoping to scrap it someday. This past friday on halloween i realized what a slacker i have been on scrapping. I have not even done halloween from 2 years ago! My mission this week is to get the scrappin room cleaned. I have big plans for it in the coming year!

I have told tood i am doing what i can to get this house a little closer to the way i lwant it to be. Tha means moving the scrapping/computer into the front room or 'tree room' as wel call it. Right now it is just basically a sitting room that the kids play in and then i have to move all the toys they drag in back to the nasement, as well as all the other junk and misc. stuff that gets put in there. I want to turn this room into the computer/scrappin room and then the scrappin room into a 'cubby' room. I want to make cubbies or cabinets for everyone to drop all their stuff into when they get home, again less maybe i will have to pick up and put into the right stuff. The kids are good about hanging up their stuff but if i didnt have to see it it would even be better. I cant wait to get started on this project. This all of course means i will have to keep working at the oriole, which bums me out but im going to work with jenny now so that is fun.

Tomorrow is Todd's 35th b-day!

happy birthday to him!

When i figure out how to upload all my pics from disny on here as a seperate page i will do so. There is so many and that will be a great post here someday!

Catching up

2008-10-26T21:05:00.002-05:00

man... i just never have time to blog anymore, i need to make time! I wish i could blog from my phone, there has to be a way, i just need to figure it out.
I have not scrapped in so long, i need to make the time for that also. Right now my scrappin room is so buried in crap i need a weekend to just dig myself out of there. That is on my list of things to do. Amazingly i do have a master plan to get to that! I actually have plans to change the front room into my scrappin/office. I am so excited about it. My friend Hopie is helping me with all my home winter projects. This weekend Todd is finally going to hang the TV on the wall and then the winter projects will begin. I decided maybe if i attempt to make thins house a little better i may like it more. I figure im pretty much going to live here forever so i may as well make the best of it.
MY MOM GOT A JOB! yeah! that is the best news ever! I am so happy for her and for the whole job thing. She has been off work since last december so about 10 months so she was really freaking out. It is right down the street from my work so i am glad for that. I think it will be great for her so i am so happy about that.
Last night i went downtown for Katy's 21st birthday...i'm pld that is all i have to say about that.
Grace turns 6 on tuesday, so amazing she is 6. She is doing SO well in kindergarten, her teacher is great, so nice, sweet.
Wyatt is 4 and is a crazy little boy. He is in preschool and making it through each day, some days trouble some days none.
Jesse will be 5 months this week and is such a joy. She is eating everything and growing like a weed. She smiles and laughs and such a good baby.
i will scrap soon and post pictures... i promise.

anyone know how?

2008-10-08T18:10:00.001-05:00

i cannot blog from my iphone! if i could i would blog so much more...

went to disney...it rocked!
everyone is in school!
work is so fun!
mym baby is HUGE!
i will post pics soon!

finally...

2008-09-03T20:47:00.006-05:00

i am bloggin. it is amazing, i just read a bunch of blogs so i figured i would update mine.

so...it has been three months...

grace started kindergarten yesterday...so sweet so cool to watch her become a school age kid but yet breaks my heart. i took pics but they are not ready to post yet. she is going to kindergarten where i work so it is so awesome! there are only 10 kids in her class and miss catilyn is just so nice, young cute happy all the things you want for a kindergarten teacher. I was nervous for her even though it wasnt much of a change from her summer 'kids club' routine but it ended up being a big change anyway! The room was transformed in one week into a AwEsomE kindergarten room and she has transitioned so well into her new role in the kids club all day tonow kindergarten and kids club. Waking up early is her biggest complaint but i can relate to that. i am so proud of her!

wyatt is a BLUE room boy now! he officially started pre-K last monday. this is going to be a HugE challenge for him as he is only three...will be four in a month. All of the kids in his class are four turning five now he is a year behind him due to a paper work mistake. They wanted to move him along though from pre-school ciriculum to pre-K since he had already completed all the work from the red room. The montessori education has been so good for him and although this year is going to be very tough for him i really think he is going to do all this work just as well. He is so smart it just does not come out until he is working on his own in the classroom.

jesse is three months old....WOW of course i can say it has flown by but it just amazes me that she is three months old. At night i still just sit and hold her cause i want her to stay small ( probably why i never blog) i can just look at her and i am so content. She is in the green room and does well...really all she does is eat, sleep and play a little. They take amazing care of her and she does go outside and on plenty of walks! I am grateful she is right there at work with me i could have it no other way!

some summer highlights that it is now over..

Jesse on May 30th of course
Maternity Leave!
Zoo trips
Grace had 2 trips to Cedar Point...just last week with A.Kathie and Katy she rode all the roller coasters....freaks me out!
pool trips...we made a few!
road trips to columbus to visit our friends
Hopie donated a trampoline to us and we LoVE it!
Cooking out on sunday evenings...hopie comes overrunning three 5k's so far and actully running on a regular basis.
work
promotions
no broken bones

The fall is so busy coming up! We leave for a week long Clark W. Griswold family vacation to Wally World (disney world) the kids are so excited so i am excited to just see them and how amazing it will be for them. This will be the happiest time of there whole little lives...that will be cool. Wyatt just keeps telling me he can't wait to meet the real woody and buzz. I have LOTS to do to prepare for that trip.

All the birthdays begin...cooler weather...i am not a winter fan so the fall is not a favorite of mine either because i know what is coming around the corner.

he sleeps with the disney tour book...tell me he's not excited.

fyi...dont you just love obama?

S{crap} Room

2008-06-23T14:45:00.006-05:00

i stole that s{CRAP} room from Kim L. blog...that is how i feel about my scrappin room right now. It looks like a bomb went off in there, so today i am cleaning it, so i am putting it of by posting to the blog instead. I am going to get things accomplished in here today though.

Brooke & I are having a garage sale in a few weeks and i am selling a TON of scrappin stuff. Stuff i KNOW i wont ever use so i need to clean this junk out!

Besides putting off cleaning... I have been just sitting around looking at Jesse. I have gone out and about some but that is what my day consists of mostly. She is getting chubby already her little arms have rolls on them and she has a bunch of chins now. Her cord fell off last week so we gave her a bath last night, she actually didnt scream she just sat there looking at all of us! She made the big jump to size 1 diapers from newborn, those were getting a little snug. All of these little milestones just break my heart cause she is getting bigger.

here she is after the tub...so sweet.

Since Kristin doesnt live near me and she cannot take pictures of my kids I had to have someone else do it. Jim came over when Jesse was one week and got some great shots of the kids

he will come to you if you want which was a HUGE bonus for me! the thought of taking all three of them somehwere to have pictures taken...ugh!

i am going to go and clean something now.

so sleepy...

2008-06-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

i just cant stop holding her. that is all i do all day.

What a week!

2008-06-07T23:19:00.009-05:00

Here is my sweet girl...

Jesse Elizabeth Simon
6lbs.12 ozs

she is so sweet. here is Jesse and her big sister who just loves her so much!
and the brother who insists it is his sister... a boy

i think he is starting to accept it though.

Jesse's birth was a great one, went smooth and moved along slow but that was fine with me.

I think all i have done since we came home was sit a stare at her. I just sit in a chair here in my living room and look at her, or nap with her, but mostly feed her.

It has been a week and she already seems so big to me. I just want her to stay small like this, snuggly, smelling like johnsons baby loation. I love wrapping her in her blanket and laying her on my chest and just watching her. She has so much crazy dark thick hair, more then both my kids had combined, she is a hairy little thing.

i have 6 weeks home with her and i feel like it is going to be the quickest ones ever. I know i am lucky she will be close to me all day when i go back to work but it already breaks my heart. I want to be with her all day. I guess i just have to not think about that right now...or just not think about it at all. I have a great job and am so lucky to have her right there in the CEC where i can go and be with her as much as i need to during the day.

Speaking of the AWESOME CEC. Here is the Red Room Graduate!

Wyatt had his ceramony on friday so we had an outing to Hyland to watch him graduate, basically from the red room to the blue room BIG changes, the biggest being he now has to take care of all his own bathroom needs!

this is his favorite bikei am amazed by what he has learned in his short time in the red room. his teachers are the best, they took such great care of him and he loved each of them for a different reason which i love. Ms. Danita saved me though. i was such a mess when i first had to leave him and she made the transition so much easier for me and for wyatt.

Jesse got thrown into the routine early... she was one week yesterdayand today she went to watch her sister play soccer first

it was the last week of soccer. Grace was lucky enough to have an amazing soccer coach. Coach Colleen is such a good coach and Gracie really likes the sport and learned how to play. After soccer was her first T-ball gamei think T-ball is going to be a whole different story, it is a little crazy and slow moving. We will see if it improves. hopefully cause it is a long season.

ok this was a super long post... i will update again soon!

Pre School Grad!

2008-05-25T20:13:00.007-05:00

There she is my graduate...so proud! she cracks me up when we got there she asked me not to cry, which i so did not. She is such a good kid in school and that makes me so proud, she is smart, which i love! I know every parent thinks thier kid is the smartest but really she is smart! Anyway Grace graduated on Thursday night she is on to kindergarten in the fall.

In the meantime we have been waiting for our next one to come along. See that cute little baby floating on the side of the blog saying 9 days left...feel free to come out now! I am SO done with this pregnent thing...I have cleaned each base board in my home on my hands and knees, cleaned the basement out, moved boxes to brookes, washed cars, vacuumed cars, walked MILES.

This happens to me each time at the end, i am SO crabby, so tired, all the pains everything i dont think i can take it one more day. I wake up each morning angry i am still pregnent. I walk and walk and walk and all it gets me is blisters. Each day i think today is the day and NOTHING... I go to the dr. wednesday so i will see then again.

We have actually had a very productive weekend and fun staying at home! It is beautiful out and the kids have been to the park four times so it has been great!

My brother Rob was here last week, it was so awesome for him to be able to be here and see my kids and just have him around a little. It is always the same which is so weird to me, but i havent seen him in 5 years and it is just the same. We all went to Cedar Point and it was fun. I walked around the whole park with wyatt and went on kiddie rides while Todd, Rob and Grace went on all the coasters. YES grace was a roller coaster Freak! She went on them all, she was exactly tall enough and i was just amazed each time she went on another, she loved it! My 5 year old was on the biggest, fastest, tallest roller coasters around, she rode them all, The Corkscrew, The Magnum, The Mean Streak, even The Millenium Force.

wyatt drove me around in the charlie brown jeep, it went about 3 mph ThRIllInG! Maria walked around with us so her and wyatt got to go on the JR. Gemini five times in a row cause there was no line...so cool! It was a GREAT day though, so nice out not crowded we did have a bunch of fun!

The CAVS were in the playoffs while Rob was here, that was a bonus. He got to go to the home games and we had our 'Big Game' parties at home. I love when the CAVS are in the playoffs, but i get so angry! If that didnt put me into labor or break my water nothing will. Boston is a good team, i said that from the begining though, i just think they are good, and play GREAT defense.

The kids get so into the games to though which makes it just as much fun. See howmuch fun Wyatt is having...
really we do have fun during the games though, we eat popcorn, get out the hoop, write all over the windows. It is fun!
So it is back to work on tuesday, unless i have this kid before then. I will keep posting, or try to anyway!

Happy NSD!

2008-05-04T20:12:00.002-05:00

I had a great super productive weekend and spent to much $$. But that is ok i guess, i think i am trying furiously to get things organized before the baby arrives! I am four weeks out now...that is a long time in my world but a short time in everyone elses! The room got painted this weekend, so it is moving along nicely i am hoping it is done by the weekend! I bought my kids their summer clothes so they are all set for when the weather breaks, i even bought some cute little baby outfits (Brooke bought to many baby outfits for the baby) I got blinds for windows...YES we have lived in this house for 3 years and all we even had on the windows were the paper temporary blinds that you get when you first move in. I bought real blinds for the kids rooms, i BOUGHT them i did not say they are hanging up, HUGE difference!

This weekend was also NSD or for you people that live under a rock (kidding) NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY! yes, there is a day! I spent my whole three days over at Scrap in Style TV for there online crop. I didi not get done as much as i would like but it was fun to be in on the festivities! i will be finishing all the projects but here are a few that i did get done:

I did a real awesome l.o. of grace last week also i need to get posted. I love the online challenges though, they make me scrap something different and i like that, not the same old stuff, b-day, parties, sleeping etc.

This l.o. i did awhile ago but i thought i would post it CAUSE i am so excited my brother is coming home on FRIdAY! ok i guess it is not home to him anymore, he hasnt lived here in forever he hasnt even been here since grace was 2 months old...so five years. BUT he is coming here and i am so excited! I would be way more excited if i wasnt 70lbs overweight and i could drink some beers/wine with him but still so happy to see him! This was a l.o. i did about if he will know who the kids are, i tell the kids about him all the time but really they dont know him or how great he is. This picture was at my wedding and Ian was only 2 years old. I know my kids will love having him around the house, they love anyone new to entertain them. Rob will be sick of them, seeing how Grace and my mom are here all day! We have lots of fun planned! We are going to cedar Point on tuedays, hehehe that is funny since i am 10 months pregnent! It is a day of fun for work so you only get paid for the day if you go to the park...therefor i am going to the park and walking around kiddie land all day while todd & rob get to go ride the rides. The cavs are playing so i am sure they will go to a home game, the tribe is in town and jim & rob are going to a tribe game. It will be a fun week, even overweight:(

Have a great week! Maybe i will be really productive and post again!

I think i am nesting...i also cleaned the pantry for two hours, really how long can you spend in a pantry???

Some Layouts

2008-04-28T18:37:00.003-05:00

Not this past weekend but the one before i actually sat down and worked on my BPS class i had not touched! These are some of the layouts i got accomplished. I am trying to get most of wyatt's stuff done before i have to start on this new person...
wait, it is easier for me to make a link of layouts on the side...check it out.

Do you think???

2008-04-24T19:04:00.003-05:00

Do you think

Lebron James and Nike were thinking this when they came up with Witness campaign?

This pic gives no justice to the girth of me...black is slimming.

HUGE post

2008-04-02T19:53:00.004-05:00

So here comes a huge post...I went to Staten Island New York this past weekend for The Grace Crop. It was great had so much fun seeing my scrappin friends! I stayed at Kristin's House the first night her house is BEautIfiL! It was so cool being there, when we were coming home from setting up the Grace Crop she drove me around her block...i'm not kidding it is her block, her sister Kaycee lives behind her...literally. Her in laws around the corner...literally, and her parents around the other corner...literally. AnnMarie her sister in law lives 3 blocks over. It was so cool. So on Staten Island there were two crazy things i saw, #1 EVERYONE parks on the street, half the houses dont even have garages i told kristin 'you guys park in the street. We cant park in the street in Ohio, you get a ticket if you do that" I think she thought i was nuts. then, as we were leaving Barbs Friday night i notice that everyone has their basketball hoops at the end of their driveway in the street again i was amazed i told kristin it cracks me up they keep their hoops in the street and we build basketball courts in our backyards. So fuuny! ANYWAY...the Grace Crop was so great, Barb just amazes me how much she does and what she accomplishes for her foundation and for the families of the foundation and especially her son. She is amazing! I am so happy we are friends, she is so calming and makes you feel like you are her friends (even if she is thinking what the hell am i going going to do with this girl from ohio who crashed my crop). I feel like i have known them all forever! so down to earth...i love that. and they swear i love that even more!

so onto my chubbiness...grace thinks it is so funny my belly gets bigger each day! as you can see from this amazing photography my belly button is still an innie, it is so weird, it keeps going in more to where it is now a dent in my shirts. so i have to wear like 3 shirts so you cannot see the dent where my belly button is, and really you can still see it. it is so weird. This pictures size is due to this...

___________________________________________>>>

this is the candy that my scrappin friend Kim gave me in this cute little bag with note paper and some stamps. Kim is great, she always puts together the greatest, cutest little gifts when everyone is meeting up for a crop. She is cool, fun, and AMAZINGLY talented. I love to see what she is {creating} each time i am around her! Anyway...back to the candy, i ate it all...seriously i sat down tonight to print off all the weeks i am missing from my big picture class and ate this whole bag of candy. Of course i did not take a pic of the cute little bag it was in, i am now taking a picture of the cute little wrappers after i have torn into them. Keep in mind, as i am stuffing my face with this chocolate i am on the phone listening to my dr.'s office tell me my iron is low and i need to take iron pills now twice a day. WHAT???? low iron??? your telling me all these cute little blue dove chocolates dont make up the daily allowance of iron??? un freaking believable! anyway Kim rocks!

Also at my grace crop table was my buddie Susan from NY, Megan Gerrity, Laurie, and the super talent and love her Catherine ! She cracks me up...Thanks to her and her glue stick! I also got to meet up with the girls on the committee, some i had met some not. Krisitns sister Kaycee and Ann Marie are so fun, love talking to Elise (sp?), i had met her at CKC and she is just the nicest person i ever have met...just one of those people who you talk to and is so nice and youthink wow i should be nice like that... never going to happen.

When i finally got home on sunday afternoon i was so tired i took a 3 hour nap with grace, nothing better then a little kid dragon breath in your face, i miss it so much!

So back to work i went on monday, i like this work thing. I have learned so much in the past three months and so has wyatt. I love working at Hyland, just feel so dumb sometimes when i am sitting in these meetings and have no clue what they are referring to, then all of the sudden i 'get something' and i feel like a genius!

SO this saturday i am off for another road trip to ikea. I love ikea, this time jess needs some stuff for her new house. I am buying blinds...that is all i swear. There will be no furniture this trip for me! It is just the best road trip though ikea is!

I think i have narrowed the kid's name down a boy and a girl name. For awhile there Cash was winning but since i was the only one who liked it i have now moved on. I was sick of hearing everyone else say "cash?" so the poor kid would have had to hear it all his life also. Lola was winning for the girl but i think that is out also, it is in the top ten of female dog names though, along with Max which was wyatt's vote. So now i am down to Brody Houston for a boy or Tess Elizabeth for a girl. PLEASe tell me your honest opinion on these...seriously i cant think of anything. Todd even said to me this am, no name is jumping out at him either. We do need to get started on the room, i was thinking this kid should probably have a place to sleep. Grace of course had a beautiful room all done up and waiting for her, i loved it. Wyatt slept in my moms dining room for the first 3 months of his life...nice huh? so i though i would make a spot for this little baby. It is never going to have anything of its own probably since all its other items are handed down so i will make it have its own space at least. I have to figure out what i am going to do in there, that is the project starting next week.

well...if you have read this whole post you deserve a prize! leave a comment and i will rak you something from my stash!

also check back i am going to be posting again some pagesi have worked on latley...well in the past 6 months i should say.

The Grace Crop for Autism

2008-01-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

This crop is going to be amazing! My dear scrappin friends got me involved in this one and i am so excited i am going to be there.

It is at the end of the month in Staten Island New York. This is how i got involved. I met Kristin through the yahoo board for CE. I was going to CKC Valley Forge and she was going with a bunch of her friends. One of them is Barbara D'Amora who is the founder of The Grace Foundation. She puts together a huge crop each year to raise money and awareness for the foundation. When i met all these girls i just loved them just so fun and down to earth...real scrappers. Barb, Kristin, Susan & I ended up all rooming toghter at CE and I told Barb i wanted to come to the crop for sure and would help anyway I could with the crop. So i got the blog job. You need to check out the Grace Crop for Autism Blog. Latley i am posting pictures of all the great donations they have received. It is so cool to see all this stuff, and people are so generous!

So I am posting a little challenge to ANYONE who reads this blog...and whoever you pass it along to. I want to get some donations of projects YOU create that can be used for a donation for the auction and prizes at The Grace Crop. So DIG in your stash and create something amazing and mail it off to me, when I receive your creation i will mail you out a little something to replace in your stash! Just email me for my address where you can mail your treasure to! I will post pics of our creations as well!

You can register to attend this event as well. All the info is on the blog! THANKS!

so tired/ultrasound

2008-01-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today I am so tired..have you ever had those days?
I have been working so hard at work getting ready for a HUGE test i had, so i took it tues. and they told me first thing when i got there this morning i failed... you needed a 90% to pass and i did not get it. So as these two really nice guys are sitting there telling me about what i had problems with it is taking everything in my being not to cry, i started to but held it back until they were done. what an iodiot i am, i could just not stop crying. Then i have to go back into my class (with everyone who passed the test) and get ready for the electronic test. you guessed it failed that one also.
i think i was just meant to be a bartender.. i never cry all day when i am bartending.

After all that i had my ultrasound today. i was so exhausted from crying it was nice just to lay down for an hour and watch my little baby wiggle around. so amazing to see its little body parts move around and how active it was. I did not look for the one body part most everyone wants to know about. I did not find out again what i am having. We will all find out in about 17 weeks...but whos counting. now i have to figure out a name.

a post for catherine!

2008-01-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

Catherine...you are so funny! So you must post if you do in fact read this blog.
so this is what i have been doing...
i went to the dr. today so i heard the babies heartbeat, i just love that sound.
i still do not have a name picked out. next week is the ultrasound.

work is hard right now, lots of learning

just started a new quarter at school

brooke and i went to ikea on saturday SO much fun. We are going back in 2 weeks for a couch

kids started swimming, they love swimming!

wyatt is in the cec at hyland now and loves his class, i am so happy he is happy there!

grace as a loose tooth

i am taking a class thursday at scraptacular with a designer from A to Z. We make 3 pages
and a goodie bag for $20.00 good deal!

i will post again soon...and not so long in between.

lots going on

2007-12-05T13:02:00.000-05:00

i have been a bad blogger, i am a blog stalker so i so do not like bad bloggers!
these are no excuses but just a few reason i ave been so bad at blogging.

first off i am pregnent again, most of you probably know that BUT i am not a happy glowy, pregnent person. i am chubby, crabby, tired, non motivated pregnent person. I am starting to feel a little more motivated though begining with yesterday!

I have been reading so many blogs that are so inspiring it made me want to snap out of it and get moving! So thank you ali edwards for this...Stacey Julian & Cathy Z. for this, it is so helping me be organized for this crazy month of December. I did find some inspiration in those over the past few weeks! What is so inspiring latley is Tim Holtz' blog man that dude is AMAZING. I so plan on sitting down and working on a tag album of these! I did order these two things from The Anywhere Studio which i cant wait to work on!

second i am back in school, i started in october but now i am in my last 3 weeks for this quarter and algebra 11 is kicking my ass! really i never learned it the first time so why would i learn it now 15 years out~ seriously there is no way i am going to need it. i am so lost. i just need to get through the rest of the class. My religions of the world class i am actually loving. i think the others in the class get irritated by my responses but oh well.

it is cold and snowing now...basically that makes me VERY non motivated. It is Christmas Ale season and i cannot have a one, that seems to be bumming me out.

A good thing though...probably the best thing that has happened to me latley(of course my little baby coming is a great thing), but this has been why i am getting motivated, organized, happy etc is I got a NEW GREAT job!
I start at the 17th and am so looking foward to it! I am excited even a little about how early i am going to have to wake up, this is going to transform me into a morning person! The company is AWESOME the benifits are going to be great and i am going to be a normal working human being. With normal working hours, paycheck, retirement, vacation days, sick days...i could go on forever! It is going to be a huge change for all of us, the kids are going to go into a daycare/school that is right in the company, so i can have lunch/visit with the kids during the day, that makes me feel so much better. i am just concerned about them of course and them adapting well, mainly wyatt he worries me the most. But as my friends have all told me i need to get over it, they will be fine. i just need to be thankful for the 5 years i did spend at home with them ALL day, i am so ready for the daycare! I also am so thankful for this job, it is a hard company to get into so i am extremly grateful and ready to work and learn.

now i need to shop for clothes...so hard when you are cubby...

so long

2007-11-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

since i posted on the blog... and SO much has been happening! first off i am not proof reading this post so if i am missing letters figure it out, you know why!

we had a big party for my moms 60th. it was a good time tons of work so glad it was fun. Kelly helped me imensely even though she tried to burn down my house.
My nephew Ian was great and arranged all the kids on the climber and took a pic. Amazing, he did this all on is own and it is a great pic of that many kids! Way to go Ian!

sorry didnt flip the picture so flip your head.

then we moved into Graces 5th b-day! We went to Boo at the Zoo on her day. It was fun, wewe, g. holly, grandma, meg, olivia, maddie, chris & becca. The kids liked it, it is always fun walking around the zoo especially at night!

After that was Halloween and pumpkin carving. I do not do the pumpkin carving thing, not much for ripping the guts out, apparently my kids are not either, todd did most of the work.

the next day was halloween, grace had a party at school so she was pretty much a pirate all day! We went trick or treating with connelly/odon and the kids had fun!
it was odd trick or treating in the day light but it did get dark.

they both were pirates but grace a 'pink princess pirate' and she let you know that. Speaking of pink the HOT pink cast came off today! We thought she was going to get the pins taken out of her arm but the doc. decided it still need to heal so she has two more weeks with a RED cast. I tried so hard to get er to pick blue, but Grace was stuck on red. It is a good red though, not bright! When dave took the cast off we both got to see the pins and i think we both were about to pass out. it was freaky. he covered them up for us because she had to go to x-ray and i was nervouse about walking around with them just sticking out. So two more weeks.

Saturday we went to see the BEE movie, if you like Seinfield you will like the movie it is all him. after we went to eat cause it was todd's b-day and he wanted prime rib. Then we watched American Gangster. WOW it was so good. I wanted to see it cause i saw the guy on dateline. I love movies that are someones real life and then they make it into a movie, i always want to know more at the end though. It always bums me out when it is over and i have so many more questions. for example...where does he live now? did he ever get is wife back? Does he ave threats on his life cause he took so many cops down with him? i need to know more!

if you know any answers please let me know!

SATURDAY i am cropping all day at SCRAPTACULAR! yeah! call and reserve your spot 440.934.4939. i love 12 hour crops. i usually get ohhh about 8 pages done, ow lame is that. I am going in with a specific project though, i will post it if i complete it! I migt even try to get 2 projects done.

I have lots of projects to update on this blog. I will get on it soon!

Classes @ SCRAPTACULAR

2007-10-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

THE {club}

Saturday Oct. 27th 1-3

Complete 5 pages while learning a new technique.

This month we are using a brayer!

TRANSPARENCY ALBUM

Tuesday November 6th

6-8pm $10.00

We will use some Hambly transparencies, rub-on's, chipboard & paint to create

this great little album featuring someone you love. Plenty

of space for journaling.

Call SCRAPTACULAR sign up for this class. 440-934-4939

CHRISTMAS CARD BLOW OUT

Saturday November 17th 2007
12-4

You will make 60 cards. 3 style 20 of each style.

you will be able to complete these cards in class, everything will be all ready for you!Call SCRAPTACULAR to sign up for this class. 440.934.4939

CLOCK CLASS

Saturday December 1st 2007

12-3

You will create a beautiful clock that you will cherish for TIME to come.

This working clock makes a Great gift for the upcoming holiday season.

Call SCRAPTACULAR to sign up for this class. 440.934.4939

day 8-11

2007-10-09T13:40:00.000-05:00

here they are...i have big goals for tonight. i realize i am behind but i will catch up!

day 8

day9

day10

day11

bones break

2007-10-08T19:03:00.000-05:00

9/29 grace learns to ride a bike (no training wheels)

10/4 grace falls off the bike

10/8 grace gets 2 pins put into her elbow

that sums up my week. thur night gacie was riding her bike at g-mas and fell off while trying to 'stand up and pedal' . After a trip to the er the dr. there says to me...yeah it looks broke, it is hard to tell maybe follow up with an orthopedic tomorrow. First we went to Dr. Banks he said yes it is broke...your child broke one of the few bones that we have to put pins in to heal in children. most time just a cast or splint. he sends us to Dr. Saluan...BEST dr. he was amazing with grace and with my blubbering self. He tells us same thing she will have the surgery first thing monday am. Over the weekend grace just had a splint on, she managed fine got to watch to much tv. This am we went in at 645 for her surgery. She was amazing...they tripled her 'relaxing drug' so she was VERY loOpY before heading into the or. it was so amazing sitting and watching my kid wasted. that is the only way to describe it. She was cracking me up, but the whole time i was a blubbering iodiot. (seriously I cried from the minute we walked in until 20 minutes after they started.) anyway the dr. came in before they took her in just to say hello to grace and she rolled over to look at him...very slowly...and says to him "i can dooooo MaGIc!.... so funny. They let me come into the or and stay until she breathed in one to many whip its then my blubbering self had to wait in the waiting room. So i am sobbing at this point..the goofy cap on my head, gown on, mask over my face sobbing. I walk out into the waiting room and about 20 people turn to look at me...gasp at me i should say. there are no seats so i am stumbling around looking for one through my tears and a lady stands up and says to me 'can i hug you? i was on ob nurse for 20 years i know how you feel right now' she saw grace in the pre op with her doll by her side. so this GReaT women took care of me the whole time she was under, talking to me about different subjects. Such the nicest women. Even another lady walked by and asked me if she could go get me someting to drink or someting. They all just thought i was nutty.

Grace is doing GReaT now...another temp. splint cast until next monday then the well waited for hot pink cast will go on.

here is a pic. of her after some tylenol with codine and me after stuffing my self full of chipolte! I cannot stop eating chipolte...

the tylenol with condine made her goofy again.

day 7

2007-10-03T15:09:00.000-05:00

is completed and i may just be back later
with day 8.
i am going to stay up late tonight, which defeats part of the challenge
to be better balanced. actually i have to wake up early, i never stated
not to stay up late. so i am going to try to stay up late!

3 years ago today

2007-10-02T20:57:00.000-05:00

i birthed this little boy...

happy birthday 'the lits'

day 6

2007-09-30T19:55:00.000-05:00

day 6 is finished. i was bummed out about this day of the challenge because i did nothing that day. It was Friday Sept. 21.

i stamped a big nothing in green as you can see.

i had finished working doubles 3 days prior and had to work that night so that afternoon i napped (i think). although i am a week behind posting my challenge layouts i am feeling glad i am keeping up with it.

Today we had Wyatt's Third Birthday Party!

he is not three until tuesday but today was a little party with the grandparents, we-we, loelie, & the peters. he had fun...this kid is crazy, CRAZY, CrAZy!.

from the minutte he wakes up...just amazes me.

Another amazing thing i this one...

really, she is the sassiest thing EVER! i have no dang clue what to do with her. fit throwing, crazy talking, sassy, sweet girl.

some days i think i am calling joe frost in for help, i have 20 more years of arguing with this girl?!? this will be my nervous break down.

the problem is SHE is ME through and through...SO scary!

she has her dads 'smarts' and my attitude.

if any of you believe in the power of prayer...help me out.

isnt there someone you pray to when you loose something? (barb?) pray this girl finds a new AtTITudE!...i know i know i love her to death blah blah blah.

day 5

2007-09-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

i finished another day...so proud of myself. i think by saturday i am going to be caught up. i need to add the picture on this day but i will. it is going to be a picture of jess's new baby logan, cause that is what i was doing of day 5 of the challenge.

i have to work tonight...do NoT want to but oh well.

also i am having my simply said party wednesday. (thanks lexi, i had said tues. but i mean wed.)
want to come? 630
if you read this feel free, really cool stuff. see my wall below.

day 4...a few days behind

2007-09-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

i finished day 4 today, although we are on day 10 of the challenge. i plan to catch up though.

i had a crazy week last week, worked entirly to much so today was spent 'catching up' well catching up after i went into work for a little bit, oh and then handled drama over the phone.

but i am happy to say i got a few things accomplished. i even watched dancing with the stars tonight. Last night i watched the bachelor...so funny. the drunk girl cracked me up, the girl that did the irritating ' i got my eye on you' thing and then whipped out her webbed feet, she HaS to go. I have never been a follower of that show but it just may happen to me this year.

day 3

2007-09-21T14:33:00.000-05:00

here it is day three of the 21 day challenge.

i am on a roll...

must stop now to get ready for work

day 2

2007-09-21T13:39:00.001-05:00

tHe challenge is on day 6. i ave just finished day 2 of the journal. i have kept up with my challenge despite the fact i have been working a ton this week. Work actually has been fun this week, i worked in the kitchen 3 days and it was fun.
also yesterday my dearest friend jessica had her most recent baby boy...Logan Reed. So sweet, she was a champ as usual. It is amazing seeing little brand new babies something i dont know if i could ever get board with.

21 day challenge

2007-09-18T13:32:00.000-05:00

i have to be so quick here...

when at CE one of the great classes was Rhonna's class making a 21 day challenge journal.

Basically it takes 21 days to form a habit so for 21 days she challedged people to do something they want to change the habit of. I orignially chose to run or walk each day, but ten realized i need to add so muc to that so i added i also need to create balance in my life. tis is probably te worst week for that cause i am working doubles all week for the next 8 days but no time like te present.

so it started saturday... i have finished the journal and now adding each day, i will be beind in posting causse i am sure it will take me a day to finish but here is day 1

on saturday i woke up at 630 (just another challenge i am giving myself) i need to wake up early to be better 'balanced' get things done before i start the day!
We went to do the race for the cure wendy, holly, mary anne, & I. We walked the 5K it was great. It was freezing...but we warmed up when we finally got moving. here is my post from day 1. i will be back soon with day 2.

spelling & puncuation

2007-09-13T22:13:00.000-05:00

i have to give a little explaniation on why my spelling and puncuation is on horrible on tis blog. MY SON... that is the reason. First i need to tell you i have always been a pretty good speller. English (spelling included) was really the only subject in school i liked. My mom, my brother Rob and I used to play spelling basketball each thursday night, Dave Pheneger also used to love to play that game with us. SO i always really liked spelling. Then in high school my first 2 years i had the BeST english teacher Mrs. Sedley. She rocked and still does. She also is so sarcastic and funny. She also has 3 boys...and they are 100% boy 2 of them being twins, i babysat for them i know how crazy boy they are. i still cannot tell them apart, i still keep in touch with her to this day. So english and spelling have always been good to me.
ANYWAY my computer is from 1994...seriously i bought it after i bought my first house. Pete (my dad) put it on the company credit card and took $50.00 out of each pay until it was paid off, (so it was a write off i am sure) i really paid him back for it though. Well about a year ago he (pete) had two laptop computers at the office he was going to throw away i begged him to let me have one, VERY relucently he let me have one, i really had to beg him for a 1997 computer he was about to put into a dumpster. The laptop then became the 'new' computer then until wyatt was able to get up into the chair on the office. He started picking the keys off the keyboard. first it was a few, then a few more. eac time he would sneak into this room and pick more off it got a little more irritating. ten one day e went wild, well a little wildier then usual i should say. he got 80% of the keys off...i hade no space key, the whole top line of 'qwertyuiop[]\' was gone and about 3/4 of the bottom. Thereforeeverythingwasinonesentenceandhalfthelettersdidntshowup.
So we brought the keyboard up from the 1994 puter in the basement and plugged it into the 'new' laptop. Whic leads me to (finally) the keyboard does not work so well on certain letter. for example the h s i r t m n. they seem to stick, i used to try to go back and fix all the mistakes but now i am telling you why it is like this and i am no longer fixing and proof reading...really this is only a blog no one really reads. And if you do i know you can figure out what i am saying through the type O's.
long story...pretty boring...5 minutes of your life you cannot have back.
sorry

Lots accomplished in 3 Weeks

2007-09-12T20:37:00.000-05:00

FiNALLy! I must show you this amazing wall saying i had made by Lexi from Simply Said. This thing is awesome...i have not finished putting the frames on it but wanted you to see how cool it is. The top says Family it is in white though so it is hard to see. It looks so good on the blue wall and i am going to add some cool old frames i have disteressed as soon as joel calls me back. (that joel...)

Brooke helped me put it onto the wall and we were just so happy with ow it turned out. Lexi i coming to my house so everyone can see what she and her business Simply Said has. October 3rd. So cool you have to come and check it out. It is very addicting...just what i need. This one i wanted to get up right away though cause i was so excited about it! So I may have actually decorated a room or area in my home i should say. It still needs a new rug and a curtain but that will hapeen sometime. Here is the shelf i added on the other side of the window

I have a few more 'scrappin' things to add to that shelf but need the weekend to get them accomplished. Also if you look beside that shelf to the right you will see a color on the wall. YeS! All of you that have been bugging me to paint a color in my home it has happened. While i was away last weekend Todd painted the tree room and living room. I must say it did make a huge difference. I like the colors and it does feel a bit more like home. I still am on the fence about this house though. I am trying, maybe if i keep adding things i will like it a little more. But back to the foyer/walk through the front door area. Last weekend i was at Creative Escape. WoW i had such a fun time and hung out with the best roomies. One of the projects we made in Heidi's class was a canvas wall hanging. It orignially was done in green but i changed it up a little to blue so i could use it in this area. I really do like the way it turned out and i didnt think i would. This picture really doesnt show it to well, but it works.

I am trying to appreciate what i have, focus on that each day and not stress about everyting else. I need to simplify and cut out a lot of things that are in my life that bring me down. I need to focus & remember. Hopefully seeing this I will attempt to do just that.

BACK to the amazing people i met at CE. I must tell you what a difference CE was from thi year to last. This year was so fun with people I had met along the way. I had three other roomates and had so muc fun with them. They are all from NY and just CraCkeD me up! I will say the have very strange sleeping problems (minus you Barb!) i laughed so hard over the 4 days i was there then i have in a long time. You know that belly laugh, i still laugh out loud when i think about some of the stories. Barbara D'Amora wa one of the roomies and after being around her i am inspired at what an amazing person she is. She as started a foundation called the Grace Foundation for Autistic Children & Families. her son Nicholas has autisim and she makes you put a new prespective on things. Like when you are walking around a huge Hotel complex in the 115 degree heat and want to pass out cause you are so irritated she just says "this is nothing my son has autisim" She made me think there are things way bigger then i am worrying about, just another thing i will try to work on. SHe has a huge crop for the Grace foundation in March the i am going to try to help the girls with so watch for stuff on that! I so plan on making the trip to be at this crop, these girls are so fun, they are sarcastic & they swear as bad as I and i LoVe it!

Grace started school while i was gone, i missed the first day felt like the bad mom etc. But it is her second year of preschool and she had the same class & same teachers so i got over it pretty quick. she is good at school and she likes it which makes me happy, now if i could just get her to be good at home.

I have lots more to post...but while try later in the week right now my hair hurts, yes i said my hair, i am not sure why but my hair hurts.

LovE the 80's!

2007-08-25T22:44:00.000-05:00

i have this thing i do some of you may know. when i am working at home and i need a little pick me up, or just getting tired i get into my 'way to cool' station wagon and go to Starbucks. On the way I play the music in the car so loud and it just rejunivates me so! What a treat tonight was...on mix 106.5 it was Big Hair 80's night, so first up was some twisted sister, member those guys with the really big long blonde hair? after that was oh my goodness... 'carrie' by Europe. Brooke i know you are reading this remembering when you used to sing to me 'Bitty' after some certain boy left for college. Brooke would ad lib "bitty" (my childhood name, that only my Grandpa Nickles & Dave Laut still calls me) into the song where they sang "carrie". She got this talent from listening to that college boy sing it to me the same way! ohhhh to be 15 again! BLAK! How odd is that it was 80's night because right now i cannot stop watching Rock of Love. It is an AmaZIng show! I was amazed the guy was still around and touring. Other shows i cannot stop watcing now are...

Scott Baio is 45 and single
The Hills I dont understand who Spencer is and where he gets is money though.
Newport Harbor This is because I want to live in the OC.
Friday Night Lights I just love Eric Taylor

this is all i can think of now...more will come to me.
what is your favorite show?

VACATION!

2007-08-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

We had the BEST vacation lat week at Burt Lake in MI. man i so did not want to come home, which is odd usually on vacation i am ready to come home at the end of the week not this time! the house was great, enough space for all of us, there were 17 total 9 of them being kid! My kids had so much fun, we tubed, jet skiied, i got up on the wave board, swam, swam, swam. man we did so much, so much sun! This lake is so beautiful! The water is crystal clear...so fresh. It felt so good to swim in clean, fresh water! I even did a night swim, which i am so scared of. I am so afraid of fish touching my feet while i am swiming. Then someone tells me there are 8ft. fish in this beautiful lake...good lord i was nervous but i never saw a fish ever, day or night. I even did some physical activity, Stacey and I ran a few times, then one of the days kim drove us out on the boat and we swam back. Apparently that wasnt the smartest idea on our part, some thought we would have gotten run over by a boat because why would a boater be looking for two people swimming through the lake. We swam about a half hour back so we figured we went pretty far and it ended up we didnt swim so far after all. Oh well at least i got some excersise, because i ate and drank enough. Such a great great vacation...did i say that already?

this is a pic of grace tubbing off the jet ski. this was at the sandbar (one of 2 on the lake) this sand bar was cool cause there was a huge drop off right where the color change is in the water. When you hit the darker blue there was about a 40 ft. drop. We could just jump right out into the deep water. Grace loved to swim out there, she is a fish, she loves to swim.

At night we had a few fires & did the whole campfire songs, altough our campfire songs turned into wiggles songs and the kids danced. Wyatts only request several hundred times was for gerry to play the thomas song on the guitar. The kids had a big dance compitition also.

We got home home friday afternoon and i got a quick shower (the first in 8 days, really, i know.) and i had to go back to work, and then had a crazy busy weekend. My friend kelly got married saturday that will be my post for next time. that was super fun also...good pics there.

overwhelmed!

2007-07-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

i think i am having a nervous breakdown...i am not sure but i think.
i am buried in so much stuff!
i did have an AWESOME weekend with the girls at CKC! so fun meeting them all!
i got home today after a VeRY crazy morning to the BEST Lets Escape package awaiting for me. It made my day thank you Kelle! i will be posting pictures and my real appreciation later. For now i need to try to dig myself out a little more, so crazed, thank goodness my children took a nap. bad day for me to give up the starbucks.

what a week

2007-07-23T23:12:00.000-05:00

i have had the craziest week, i think it is just going to stay like this. last week started out great, on monday night i went to the police concert. that was so great. then i worked the rest of the week like mad. i had projects i needed to get started for scraptacular, we had our golf outing for the oriole so i had tons of stuff to get that ready. Thursday i had to go to a meeting at berea city hall, that was VERY nerve wracking & i just had a crazy week at home to top it all off. I think i had a nervous break down about thurday afternoon. I have now bounced back, finishing my projects, and just got caught up on the OC repeats. I must say... I love the OC, i am pretty sure i want to move there now except i want jimmy cooper to be my neighbor. anyway i was so not expecting marissa to die. there i was sitting on my dead guy couch sobbing over the death of marissa cooper. i think it is going to take me sometime to get over this one.
i did go to see elenore today, she is the greatest "reader" (i am not so sure what her title is) anyway it is always a highlight to go and hear what she has to say. i think it gives me hope things may eventually calm down.
i am leaving thursday for CKC in philadelphia. i am meeting a bunch of great girls there so i am happy for that. i am driving there though all by my lonesome so that is going to be about boring. mapquest tells me it is 7 hrs. i was thinking of going to get bookso n tape/cd. i may try to get the previous harry potter. i figure i could use the brush up on that before i start on the 7th. book. i did pick the last one up on friday night or saturday morning i should say. i got it at the grocery of all places. i do my shopping after work a lot so the book was right there in the check out so i figured i would pick one up. it is great going to the grocery in the middle of the night, lots of advantages.

the kids have been in swimming the past 3 weeks. they love it, grace is great at it, she breezed through level 1 and is great in level 2. wyatt started out in the pre school class and went about that in his own way. the last day of the session he came running over to me with his certificate that stated he was ready for level 1 he had succesfull completed each phase of preschool. HA funny, i took the paper over to the nice little high school girl teacher & asked "are you sure about this? wyatt? he is ready for level 1? she assured me he can complete all the tasks. So the next monday (the first day of my crazy week) i take him over to line him up with the level 1 big kids. each child is saying their name and age. most of them were 4/5. The lits stands, raises his little hand and says "Wyatt 4 years old" so i had to then tell the teacher he is really only 2. After they did their stretches (which was hylerious trying to watch him follow along) the teacher tells them all they can go to the edge and get in the pool. my boy took a running start and jumped right in there. broke my heart, he is the smallest one, cannot even touch in the "big kid pool" and he has no fear. i sat in the corner where they make the parents sit, layed in a lounge chair watching him just crying cause he is so independent and doesnt need me. broke my heart, i think i need to get a dog or something.

dabbers

2007-07-14T01:40:00.000-05:00

how did i ever live without them! I just love these paint dabbers by ranger. I got 4 pages done tonight and used them on two of them. I think i am going to need all the colors to carry on in life. i used the pebble color tonight, you can see it in this layout the best and made a journaling area with a corrugated box. so fun.

I got a little mojo back tonight, i worked until 1030 got me an iced, grande, non-fat, no whip mocha, then went to work on my layouts for the {club} on sunday. This class is at Scraptacular and there will be its available if you are interested. I also got to play with some technique tueday stamps, as well as stickles glitter! I had a very productive night...that makes me happy.

it is now 3am and i need to go watch on episode of the O.C. so i can get caught up on that also. why am i always catching up?

tagged by kim L.

2007-07-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

i usually dont do the "blog tag" thing but since it was Kim L. and i think she is pretty cool i am doing the tag thing. So here are the 7 random facts, oh and unless you are kim L. consider yourself tagged & let me know when you post to your own blog by leaving a comment.

1) i am VERY insecure
2) i LOVE cheese in just about any form. i even eat it with popcorn thanks to a high school friend stacey.
3) i love to sleep alone in my bed right in the middle
4) i hate feet...really hate feet, unless they are a babies foot i think the cut off age is about 6.
5) i have always wanted to be on a soap opera.
6) i work in a bar and it is a miserable life the bar life.
7) i was a terrible student in school

you are tagged... go to it, even if you just write them down on paper.

SCRAPTACULAR

2007-06-27T17:42:00.000-05:00

i am so excited that i will be now teaching classes at SCRAPTACULAR!
ALL of you guys that have been working on the {club} we will continue with the {club} at Scraptacular!
The store has fresh & up to date scrapbooking supplies & a great cropping room! Linda the owner & Stephanie have been FABULOUS in helping me get some excellent pages ready for you all! It is going to be GREAT!
As well as the {club} Scraptacular has additional classes available, as well as weekly Friday night crops!

You can link right through here to see everything they have to offer
SCRAPTACULAR
and also check out the blog for additional info!

cannot stop with the youtube

2007-06-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

i got this off another blog, many of you know. but what a cool thing...gives me hope.

and to connie...namaste to you also, (i do namaste yoga that i tivo from the fit tv channel) yes i do remember the crabby years. i will say i do not think wyatt has hit that level yet, you are right. although right not he is singing avril levine to me.

amazing

2007-06-12T21:21:00.000-05:00

this has just been so fun! watching the cavs, lebron, boobie just fun. the kids and i have made 2 trips downtown just so they can get in on everything. many nights for the past 2 years they have watched games with thier dad. they know all the players, the coaches, they even know to look for my friend amanda (she is the pr manager) so these past weeks have been so exciting for them and that has been so cool to watch. tonight the kids & i watched the game together, todd is an actual witness, ok they fell asleep in the 1st quarter, but the pregame was just awesome with them. when the players are announced it is such a proud mom moment when my sweet 2 and 4 year olds know each player...even boobie.

i will post the pictures from downtown tomorrow, such great energy there, but todd took the camera to the game

another cj done...

2007-05-29T23:25:00.001-05:00

this one was for lara's cj heading back to s. africa. so cool. it was quotes that move you... i did a great quote my friend stacey came up with, well actually a matra {positive things happen to positive people} i must say i am trying to live by it. the picture on the layout is of stacey, i figured i would feature here since it is her matra. i was also able to use this layout for one of the monthly callenges on 2 Scrappy Chix Designs that was an added bonus.

ungrateful

2007-05-20T22:51:00.000-05:00

so i am not typing what i really want to say... i will keep all negative thoughts and bad karma to myself... therefore i will not emit bad karma. but i really want to.

team elsie

2007-05-15T14:06:00.000-05:00

here is the self portrait. as anyone would say i assume, i hate to see myself in pictures i always think...this is what i look like, oh that is terrible i am not talking to people or going out again if this is what i look like. this is what i look like all the time now latley. i have started running again, threw some weight training, yoga, and calorie watching in there as well. my friend carissa set me up on a beautiful program. anyway since i am trying to run 6 days a week it seems i never shower anymore and i am always looking like this stinky self portrait. i hate to shower twice a day, just cause i hate to shower so i end up waiting all day to go run, then shower at night when i get finished with the work out. i dry my hair maybe twice a week now, those would be the days i have to go into work and actually be presentable to the miserable drunks.

anyway i want to win some cool love elsie product so again... here is the self portrait. (those of you who have no idea what i am talking about it was a little challenge i did for the love elsie line)

Mothers Day was just about the best day ever. I woke up early with the kids.. we let todd sleep cause he was out at the really cool VFW the night before.. i got the ipod + nike chip for my shoes, so cool. i went for a little run around the circles...drank a big yummy grande nonfat WITH whip mocha from starbucks. (my barista goofed and put the whip on there, so i felt obligated to drink it and not make him make a new one) & then spent the day with the whole family & stacey & gerrys house sitting on there deck drinking wine. seriously does it really get better. we were going to go golfing but genisis came on who wants to golf when we can listen to phil collins sing su-su-sudioooooo. (we are golfing this afternoon instead) the whole day was just awesome, i even won at a game of pig with nancy & stacey. good times...good good times.

gotta go golf now, well i am going to take a shower first.

such a planner

2007-05-11T01:54:00.000-05:00

dh todd sends me an email this afternoon (thursday) about a baby shower they are having at work...FrIDAy! he has signed up to bring hot dogs, chips oh... he also needs a gift. it is 245am and i have just finished up making a cute little journal album for him to take as a gift for a coworker tomorrow. apparently it is a girl & her first baby so i thought this would be a nice gesture to be able to journal all those little baby things she will want to remember, (and you dont remember all of them unless you write them down) maybe add some pictures. what do you want to bet the girl does not scrap? does not know yet that she will forget all those little details that i have made this cute album to record them in. i will make a slide later of the inside...to tired now, lots of work to do tomorrow. g-night.

so much to say...

2007-05-09T12:11:00.000-05:00

i havent posted in awhile so here goes.

Grace is in preschool, in her class is a boy named cody, her and cody have been wanting to play for sometime, it just hadnt worked out but finally friday i got to make the call. the one where i called the other parent and identified myself as "grace's mom" i no longer had an identity of my own. i laughed to myself when i said it because it sounded so funny to hear, but nothing made me happier. my kids are the 2 good things i have done in my life so far. before them i was pretty much a screw up (not that i am not still occasionally) BUT they center me and make me a better person each day. i try to do things better just because i want to try to show them the right way as well as make thier world a little better of a place. i know i dont do everything right with them, i am short tempered, get irritated but it gives me something to try to be good at. just like with anything else i am sure i do better at it some days then others. so when identifying myself as "grace's mom" it made me proud, and proud that i am raising a good little girl, that another little child wants to play with.

which leads me to the next pre school event. muffins with mom, that was tuesday. i got to go to school with grace for an hour, see what she does, eat a muffin, and she made a flower pot for her & i to plant a flower in. she was so sweet, showing me what she likes to play with etc. i always worry about her playing with other kids etc. i grill her each day when she gets in the car about who she played with, what did she do. In the short hour i was there it was amazing because these kids four yrs. old already have broken into "cliques". certain kids play together, already with certain things, wont let the others play with them. i asked her if she played with one little girl and she responded with "no, she doesnt like me & told me she doesnt want to play with me." i instantly went into defense mode...i am going to go over to that kid explain to her that she is not worthy to play with my girl, you are talking mean to my sweet little girl...how could you not want to play with her? she is the funniest, cutest thing in this class... what??? how could this be???? i have to fix this. then i turned into sad mode... ahhh they dont like her, she must have to play alone by herself each day, how can i help her make friends. as the hour was ending i realized i am crazy... she is fine, that little kid doesnt not like my sweet little girl. she doesnt even know her she is being a 4 yr. old. i told grace the right parent response about finding friends. what i wanted to say was you tell that little snotty girl, YOU dont want to play with her miserable self you have BETTER friends. but again, my kids make me a better person, help me to do the right thing.

i have so much i need to get done {creating} wise before sunday, mothers day. i have to complete a mini album, two clocks, and a few layouts. this weekend is also an online crop at

2 scrappy chix designs so i would like to get a lot accomplished there. we shall see.