To warm your heart

Here's the kiddies in their matching pattern sweaters, although Abby's has fur trim!!

Some of Abby's new outfits

These are some of the favorites we got last night. Lots of great sweaters were only 3.39 and they also had matching hats, gloves and scarves for some of them. Luckily most of them are pretty big on her, so she'll get at least another year out of them.

Some quick math

I just added all my children place purchases from their original prices on the tags and then what I paid for them and it came out to getting 84% off the total purchase!! Pretty good!!

Today's outfits

Abby is wearing a beautiful salmony pink dress with flower at the neck, matching white tights and matching flower pony tail holder purchased at Gymboree for a total of 19.97 (not the cheapest but hey it's Gymboree!!)

Noah is wearing a black and red fleece hoodie purchased at Children's Place for 3.39 and Old Navy jeans he already owned.

Both children are stunning models and upon returning from school will model many more outfits!!

Normal life

Well today was a bit busy, but a good busy. Abby and I went around town shopping for my Dad's upcoming 50th Birthday party which is this Friday. It's not necessarily a surprise party, but we're not just giving out any of the information to him. When he comes home from work Friday I think he'll know what's going on because of all the decorations!! We're having a sort of Luau theme. We're not really going all out with it, just some cute stuff. I got flower lei headbands and bracelets for me, Abby, my Mom and my sister in law and then the plastic flower leis for everyone who comes. We got some Hawaiian tiki themed plates and napkins and decorations and we're having pork for the meal. Well at a real luau they'd serve a roasted pig and since I think that's really nasty, we'll skip that, we're just having pulled pork sandwiches, pineapple cole slaw, baked beans, chips, tropical fruit kabobs and we'll have hot dogs for those who don't groove on the pulled pork!! I think it's going to be really nice. I hope he feels loved and not sad about being 50!! So anyway, Abby and I did the shopping for that today and we visited my mom and we did some craft shopping and a wee bit of grocery shopping then we picked up Noah and finally came home. I think I'd take that kind of busy any day!! Tonight Mrs. Covert will be picking me up for a trip up to the Children's Place outlet to get us some good deals!! I'm excited about that!! Hopefully I'll get tons for way cheap!! Oh I forgot to mention we're getting coconut cream pies for the party too, yummy!!!! Well I better go make dinner (we're having steaks, yummy!!) so I'll be ready to go when Sonya arrives!! Hasta la Vista weedy!!

What's wrong with this pencil??

For Sonya

Just for laughs!!

A boy among girls!!

Well here's some pics from Noah's field trip last week to the children's museum. As I said before, we had three girls in our group and just Noah as the boy. It was tough for him but I think he still had fun!!

Pretty Girl

Friday night while Daddy and Noah were out doing sporty things, Abby and I were hangin out in my bed. We had tons of snacks and watched t.v. and then I decided we should put on some make-up. We hardly ever do that, but I knew she'd love it. So I put some on her and she put some on me and we took lots of pictures!! I think she's the most beautiful girl in the world, but maybe I'm a little prejudiced!!

Organized and ready to go!!

Before




After




Well last night Miss Sonya came over and we worked really hard and got most of her scrapbook stuff organized and easy to use. We went through all of it and put it into piles that were arranged by category (baby, kids, family, holidays, season, birthday, etc...) and then we went to Wal-Mart and found some really great organizing folder thingys and then put each category into a divided section and labeled it. Now she'll be able to just look through a small section to find inspiration for a certain page. I really hope it helps her get started!!

Here's how our night is going so far!!

T thank G goodness I it's F friday!!!

AAAAAHHHH, finally a day this week where I'm not bogged down with responsibilities. I only have to take Abby to take today and that sounds great. Monday thru Wednesday I took care of Riley pretty much full days and yesterday Noah had a field trip to the children's museum. I came as a chaperone and the group she put me with was Noah and three girls!! It was interesting to say the least!! One of the girls was very sweet, she complimented my shirt and had to sit by me in the Imax theater. Oh, the movie we saw in the Imax was about Beavers and I thought it was going to be boring, but I was wrong. (I know Sonya hates these kinds of things), but I really loved it. It amazed me that two little beavers could cut down 200 trees in one year to make a dam and a home to start a family. It was just incredible to me. The narrator said that other than humans, they impact and change their environment more than any other animal. I just didn't realize that. I just sit there and think, wow us and beavers, who knew?!?!? Well I really enjoyed it and now I want to see more movies there!!

Well in case you didn't notice, I took down my blingy bob countdown to disneyland paris, because we've had to postpone it due to the wicked wicked ways of the corporate world. We didn't get our annual bonus this year. They've taken them away from everyone, 1 month before we were supposed to get them, so we're hoping for next year!! We still had some airline coupons and frequent flyer miles that needed to be used or they would expire, so we opted for a nice long stay in Walt Disney World at the end of September. We were still able to get all 4 air tickets free and have enough for one more flight somewhere else. I'm actually a little relieved because it just seemed like we had so much to do before going to Paris and we weren't really working on it yet, now I can sit back and relax and just anxiously await a trip back to a familiar place where I don't have to worry about anything really. Especially with the dining plan they offer now. We did that the last time we went and we loved it, never again will we go without it!!

So today with nothing else to do, I am really hoping and praying to get the laundry caught up, the kitchen cleaned up, all the bathrooms cleaned up, the floors either swept and mopped or vacuumed, the house dusted and a nice dinner made. Plus go to Kroger, the bank, dance class and pick up Noah from school. With God as my strength I know I can get it all done and I just think about how proud I'll be when it's done. Oh and I have to pay all the bills online, that only takes 5 minutes though, I sure do love that!! Well later if I get a break, I'll post pics from the field trip yesterday. Hoping everyone has a great Friday and weekend as well!!

more!!

after the kids went to bed, i made more pics..it's so fun!!!

Playing with the computer

These are some funny pics we took with our computers, little built in camera thingy. You can make it do all kinds of weird things, and we just laughed and laughed!!

Small Update

Well, my brother brought Riley today at 2. I'll be keeping him until 10 or 11 tonight. HIs mama is working the afternoon and evening shift, so she'll pick him up after work. He didn't seem mad or anything which is good, but he didn't say anything at all about it really. He asked if I was free tomorrow, and I am so I'll have him then as well and then we'll see what happens after that. My brother doesn't usually hide his feelings, so hopefully it's true that they're not mad! Thought you'd like to know...

Bargain Baby

Thanks Sonya for the title, I gotta give props where they are due!!! Today only (Monday) milk at meijer is 1.50 per gallon. Pretty good deal. So hurry up and get out there and get you all some milk.

PS for Sonya, Hubby just emailed me and said he drove past the hotel where Anna Nicole died last night, thought you'd be interested.

My decision

Well I've just give a quick overview of my big decision so the inquiring minds can know!! It's about my nephew Riley. I've been watching him for my brother and his wife for about 4 months now and it's become incresingly clear that this just isn't going to work for me. First of all their schedules are never completely set until the actual moment it happens and my family is very busy and very scheduled. Both children are in school and with that comes, projects, parties, field trips,etc...that are planned long in advance. Plus they are both in different activities..basketball, karate, dance, church choir, etc...and all of that is also planned. Trying to work in taking care of an infant to all of this just isn't going well. Plus, when he's here, he's demands a lot of my attention, so much that I really can not be there for more own children other than basic necessities. Sometimes I can't even make meals for them without the help of my husband whose supposed to be working in his own office. Riley's used to being the only child to a very loving and attentive mother and when he's here he's the third child to a very loving but very busy aunt!! I love him dearly, but I can not be the best mother and wife when I have to take care of him as well. I feel stretched very thin and can not be good at any of my duties. I feel like my own family has to be my first priority and this has become a big stressful problem amongst us, and I truly felt like it was time to tell them I wouldn't be able to continue being his caregiver. I gave them two or three weeks to find another solution, and I just pray that they're not upset with me, but I just can't do it all anymore, it's just too much. I have felt guilt over this decision because I worry about them finding someone else, but sometimes I think you just have to be selfish when it comes to your family and put them first so you can devote your time and effort to them. When I told my sister-in-law Friday, she was very sweet and polite about it, but I haven't heard anything else. I hope their not mad and that they understand. I wish I could help them more, but it really has just been so hard. I feel so relieved though. Now, like Sonya said, I can just be his aunt and spoil him and love him, but not have him as part of our everyday life!! I still hope I've made the right decison, I guess only time wil tell!!

Post number 4!!

Ok, here comes post number 4, just some ramblings. Well Wednesday night/Thursday morning we did lose our power for about 2 hours. It started at 2:30am and Abby came running into my room saying her lights and fan went off. She has to have a nightlight and her closet light on with the door cracked open and her ceiling fan on (in the winter it runs backwards and actually helps warm her room) to sleep. She's crazy like that. And when they went off she immediately woke up and came running!!! I let her lay with me in my bed since the house was completely dark and I knew she'd never go back in there alone. So I tossed and turned for an hour or so and just kept thinking about what I was going to do if the power didn't come right back on. I tried so hard to get my mind to shut off so I could go back to sleep. Well when I did eventually get back to sleep Abby kept waking me up with her horrible snoring!! Her nose is a little stuffy and she was doing some serious log sawing!! Well at 4:30 it came back on and I promptly carried her back to her bed so I could finally get some sleep!! Well Noah ended up having school cancelled but Abby still had to go, so we got up and took her to school and then Noah and I came back for her Valentine party. Last night my honey finally came home. He went to a convention of some sort and came home with tons of free stuff. It was like Christmas. The three of us just sat there in awe of all the things he pulled out his brand new free wheelie computer bag!! Well today I made a huge decision that has been waying heavily on me and I sincerely hope I made the right choice. I'd rather not go into all the details on here, but I was very nervous and worried about having to tell someone tonight my choice, but it went better than I feared. Only time will tell how well it was really received, hopefully all will go well and they'll understand my choices. Well I need to get the kiddies to bed and then it's scrapbooking time!! I also just made some brownies so I'll be eating those as well (I just had a major chocolate craving!!!!) Don't worry Sonya, I have two more boxes and plan to make one Sunday!! Well hope everyone has a great weekend...I'm looking forward to the Daytona 500, when some dear friends are coming over to watch with us on the big screen. Go Jeff Gordon!!

Valentine Party

Well Abby did get to have her Valentine Party yesterday at school. A lot of parents came this time which was very nice for the kids. They had a really good time. Noah came with us too because his school was cancelled again. They made some different love bugs, played a valentine delivery game, read several valentine stories, went on a heart hunt and had a yummy snack. They always have such nice and well thought out parties. It's so fun for the kids. The cute box with ribbons and Abby's name on it is her little mailbox. I completely forgot to make it until Thursday morning!! OOOPPPSSS!! I quickly grabbed some consruction paper, cut it into strips and glued it onto a shoe box and then found 3 different ribbons which the first two were stapled on and the last was tied on. I just wrote her name with a marker and tada...a mailbox. It took me probably 6 minutes to make and I have to say it turned out really well!! Yes even with the snowdays, I forgot to do the project, what a terrible mother!! Oh well, at least I didn't completely forget!! Noah did have a small party at his school today as well, but his teacher didn't want it to be a big deal, so no parents came. She just had treats for them and they played a game and exchanged Valentines. What's wrong with that woman, holidays are for PARTYING!!! Anyway, just wanted to share!!!

Deer Family

Today we were eating dinner and out our back door I saw a deer come out from the trees. He had some cute antlers and we watched him for a few minutes. And then a little bit later a girl deer came out to join him. We decided that the husband came out first to make sure it was safe for his honey and then she came out too. They were only there for a few minutes and then a car went down the street and they ran off. I just love our deer family, those darn hunters I've seen back there better leave them alone!!!

Riley

Just a cute pic of Riley from today

Ice, Ice Baby!!

Here's some pics from around our house. The hunched over bush normally stands up in a triangular shape and is now completely hunched over. The one of our house, you can see the glistening ice on our bricks. Pretty much the whole house is covered in a sheet of ice. The driveway is now a few inches higher because the snow and then ice have just frozen solid and you can walk on top of it all. It's pretty crazy!!