My kids are growing up…
Tonight Kylie has a play date…with a boy!!!! A couple of days ago she was trying to get up the nerve to call him – she was so nervous! She kept calling her best friend for “girl advice” and in the meantime, the boy ended up calling her :) She said that he sounded so nervous – she was cracking me up!
Luckily the boys mom and I had been e-mailing back and forth before the kids actually set something up. She and I decided on today, after school, and Kylie could not be more excited.
I’ve decided to approach this boy thing with a laid-back attitude. I figure if I don’t make a big deal about it and just go with the flow, then maybe I can raise her to have good relationships with boys and feel she can talk to me about anything. When I was growing up, my parents made such a big deal about how “bad” boys were, that I think I had a very messed up view of them and as a result felt very awkward around them.
The other child growing up is Josh. I finally found him some boxers that fit his little tiny waste, and last night they were all washed and ready for him to wear after his shower. He was so excited to put them on and felt like such a big guy now that he was like Daddy. He was such a cutie! But he won’t sleep in just the boxers…the poor guy stuffs them into his tight little PJ pants because he says he’d be too embarrassed if someone (i.e. our nanny in the morning) saw him in just his boxers. We’ll see…maybe he’ll get used to them and change his mind.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
A Zoo Day!
Last Wednesday I got to take off work and chaperone Kylie’s field trip to the zoo.
Last week and this week the whole first grade is in Camp Skeeter. They have camp shirts (each class is a different color), brought in their sleeping bags, have camp fires in the classroom, sing camp songs and tell ghost stories. For the two weeks they are in “camp,” they learn about nature, insects, animals and anything else that you might encounter at camp. So a field trip to the zoo fit in perfectly with the camp theme.
When the form came in, Kylie begged and begged me to chaperone. I had no desire to do this…why? Because 1.) I really don’t like the zoo because I really don’t like animals, and 2.) because if I’m going to take a day off work, I’d rather take a day off to play with all my kids and not have to be responsible for other kids. But she worked her magic and I finally caved and sent in my form and ticket money.
The field trip date happened to be the date before John and I were leaving for Charlotte, so I only had to work two days last week which was a nice break! So that morning I got to sleep in and leisurely get ready and get some stuff done around the house before the kids started waking up. I got Ryan dressed and fed and Joshie dressed and fed. We all walked Kylie over to school, and then when we came home the baby-sitter was there for the boys and I left to meet the bus at the school.
I went in to Kylie’s classroom and saw my group. I already knew ahead of time that I had Kylie, her best friend, and her other good friend in my group, so I knew we were going to have a ton of fun! I gathered all of their lunches and put them in my bag and they headed out to get on the buses. Kylie was super excited because since she walks to school, these field trips are the only time she ever gets to ride the bus.
We are lucky because the zoo, which I’ve heard is one of the top zoos in the country, is 2 minutes down the road from us. So I go in and park and wait for the bus to unload. They have a really great system of getting the kids off the buses, which is good because there are a ton of schools there! We then all go and wait in line and finally they let us into the zoo around 10:15.
The kids had each done a research project on a specific animal just a couple of weeks before, so the teacher wanted us to make sure we got to see each animal they researched, so we headed off to find them. Around 10:45 the girls were starving, which is appropriate since that’s when they normally eat lunch. We stopped at a nice picnic spot and ate our lunch, and while we were there, their teacher joined us, which the girls just thought was the best thing (it’s so funny how they act like their teacher is some kind of celebrity!). So she joined us as we headed out to see some more animals. Despite me not liking animals or the zoo, I was really having a lot of fun with these girls! And I loved the time that I got with Kylie.
After a while the girls were getting tired so we stopped and got some Dippin’ Dots and rested. I honestly think that was the best part of the whole day for them :) After that we saw a few more animals and then headed back around 1:15 to catch the bus. The girls just collapsed in the chairs when we got there – they were so exhausted! When someone asked the teacher what they would be doing in class the rest of the day, she said that when they got back it would be time for recess and they all groaned! I’ve never heard kids groan about recess, but they were all so tired! Kylie said they actually ended up just watching a movie because they were so beat.
After I helped get them back on the bus I took off and headed home. I was able to spend some time with Josh and Ryan before we had to go and pick Kylie up. It was such a fun day and I’m really glad that Kylie talked me into going :)
Last week and this week the whole first grade is in Camp Skeeter. They have camp shirts (each class is a different color), brought in their sleeping bags, have camp fires in the classroom, sing camp songs and tell ghost stories. For the two weeks they are in “camp,” they learn about nature, insects, animals and anything else that you might encounter at camp. So a field trip to the zoo fit in perfectly with the camp theme.
When the form came in, Kylie begged and begged me to chaperone. I had no desire to do this…why? Because 1.) I really don’t like the zoo because I really don’t like animals, and 2.) because if I’m going to take a day off work, I’d rather take a day off to play with all my kids and not have to be responsible for other kids. But she worked her magic and I finally caved and sent in my form and ticket money.
The field trip date happened to be the date before John and I were leaving for Charlotte, so I only had to work two days last week which was a nice break! So that morning I got to sleep in and leisurely get ready and get some stuff done around the house before the kids started waking up. I got Ryan dressed and fed and Joshie dressed and fed. We all walked Kylie over to school, and then when we came home the baby-sitter was there for the boys and I left to meet the bus at the school.
I went in to Kylie’s classroom and saw my group. I already knew ahead of time that I had Kylie, her best friend, and her other good friend in my group, so I knew we were going to have a ton of fun! I gathered all of their lunches and put them in my bag and they headed out to get on the buses. Kylie was super excited because since she walks to school, these field trips are the only time she ever gets to ride the bus.
We are lucky because the zoo, which I’ve heard is one of the top zoos in the country, is 2 minutes down the road from us. So I go in and park and wait for the bus to unload. They have a really great system of getting the kids off the buses, which is good because there are a ton of schools there! We then all go and wait in line and finally they let us into the zoo around 10:15.
The kids had each done a research project on a specific animal just a couple of weeks before, so the teacher wanted us to make sure we got to see each animal they researched, so we headed off to find them. Around 10:45 the girls were starving, which is appropriate since that’s when they normally eat lunch. We stopped at a nice picnic spot and ate our lunch, and while we were there, their teacher joined us, which the girls just thought was the best thing (it’s so funny how they act like their teacher is some kind of celebrity!). So she joined us as we headed out to see some more animals. Despite me not liking animals or the zoo, I was really having a lot of fun with these girls! And I loved the time that I got with Kylie.
After a while the girls were getting tired so we stopped and got some Dippin’ Dots and rested. I honestly think that was the best part of the whole day for them :) After that we saw a few more animals and then headed back around 1:15 to catch the bus. The girls just collapsed in the chairs when we got there – they were so exhausted! When someone asked the teacher what they would be doing in class the rest of the day, she said that when they got back it would be time for recess and they all groaned! I’ve never heard kids groan about recess, but they were all so tired! Kylie said they actually ended up just watching a movie because they were so beat.
After I helped get them back on the bus I took off and headed home. I was able to spend some time with Josh and Ryan before we had to go and pick Kylie up. It was such a fun day and I’m really glad that Kylie talked me into going :)
Monday, May 24, 2010
This past weekend was so long and so busy and so hectic. But it was also a fun weekend, so I can’t complain!
We started it off by having dinner and some friends’ new house. They bought their house and did a lot of work to it and it looks so beautiful. They have two kids, one of which plays on Joshie’s football team, so the boys were playing football out in the rain while Kylie and their little girl played inside. My parents offered to watch Ryan for us, so we were able to stay until 11:00 and we had such a great time!
Saturday morning John and Josh had t-ball practice, and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then Ryan and I headed to our usual Saturday morning places (Yutzy’s and Dings and Dents). I really cherish the time that I get to spend with Ryan alone. He is at my favorite age and I love talking to him. The whole time we were in the car he was saying “big trucks, see, mo,” which meant he wanted to see more big trucks. He’s fascinated with big semi-trucks right now, and he gets so excited when he sees one…he says, in a squeaky high-pitched voice, “mommy, big truck.” He was such a good boy the whole time were shopping – I had so much fun!
After we ran our errands, we went to the gym to watch Kylie. The minute we got in there Ryan was yelling “Kylie, Sissy” and pointing. She has so much fun at gymnastics, and I love seeing her face out there when she’s practicing!
After that we went home and had lunch. John worked on a computer problem for his dad while Kylie and I went up and cleaned out her room. I sorted through all of her clothes, and then we pulled all the toys and furniture out. Then I taped her room so we would be ready to paint. Then we all headed to Home Depot to look at blinds for her room (because she had custom princess blinds up there that now needed to come down). My parents again were such a huge help and kept Ryan, so the four of us could get what we needed and get home! We ended up getting blinds for a couple different rooms and headed out to the pain store. We were going to get pain at Sherwin-Williams because 1.) I had a 20% off coupon, 2.) I had another coupon that I could use, and 3.) we were going to keep the pink that was already in her room, and it was from there and needed matched. We pull up to Sherwin-Williams at 5:10 and they closed at 5:00. It was the worst luck ever and Kylie was so disappointed because we promised her room would be done that day.
We decided to head home and cook some burgers and relax for the rest of the evening. The kids played outside, John mowed, and I played with Ryan. It was a good ending to a very busy day. If only we knew it would pale in comparison to Sunday…
Sunday morning we got up and went to church. I helped John get all the kids set up and then Kylie and I actually met my parents at the nursery to pick out my plants. One of my other goals for the weekend was to get my garden in, so I got all of the plants and my parents took them home for me while Kylie and I went back to church to help clean up. Have I said how much I appreciated my parents this weekend???
After church we headed to grab some lunch, and my parents met us there. We took our food to the high school where Joshie’s championship game was going to be played and we ate it in the parking lot with our friends from Friday night. We were tailgating before the flag football game :) Afterwards we headed into the stadium and got set for a hot game. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 80’s…a huge change from what we’ve been in (60’s, maybe 70’s if we’re lucky).
The boys had fun playing, and we were cheering super loud! Both teams were undefeated, so it was a really good game. In the end, our Titans lost, but they tried and for the most part looked like they had a lot of fun! Ryan was not making it very well and cried the last ½ of the game. Again, my parents to the rescue…my mom walked around with him in the shade so that I could watch the end of Joshie’s game.
After the game, as we drove home, we devised our plan for the rest of the day. Ryan fell asleep with the phone that he was playing with still up to his ear, and even though Joshie tried hard, he fell asleep too. Once we were at home, we put the boys down for a nap, and I went out to put my garden in. My parents weren’t back yet, so we couldn’t go and get the paint since the boys were sleeping. I got my whole garden in pretty quickly (thanks to my dad who had prepared my dirt in the preceding weeks), and once my parents were home John and I headed out.
We decided that God did not want us buying pain at Sherwin-Williams. We pulled in at 4:25 and they had closed at 4:00. I have never heard of a store closing at 4:00…it’s such an odd time. So we took it as a sign and headed over to Home Depot and got her paint.
Once we got home we quickly at some Skyline hot dogs and then headed up to put the first coat of paint on. My parents watched Ryan outside while my dad finished his garden project, and Kylie and Josh came up to help us. They helped with two of the walls, but then finally, John and I had to kick them out because there were just too many painters in there! I got them into the shower (Josh was full of paint!) and then they played a little bit downstairs while John and I painted. By this time my dad had left to go back home and my mom offered to take Ryan over to her house with her. When I sent Kylie over to get her backpack from my parents’ house, Kylie said that Ryan was on the trampoline, so I don’t think my mom ever made it inside :)
I got the kids into bed, and John and I continued. My mom brought Ryan in because he was hungry and needed a snack. I got him eating and my mom informed me she had watered my garden (the only thing I had left to do from planting) and cleaned up all of my gardening stuff and closed up our garages. I really don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t have her help! She ended up giving Ryan a bath and cleaning up after our dinner too. Seriously, such a help to us!
John and I finally finished up painting around 10:30. The only thing we have left to do are the edges where we have to tape the newly painted wall (because we have two pink walls and two brown walls), so we’ll wait to do that next week when we know the paint is good and dry. We will try to put her room back together tonight and hopefully get her blinds up. We were so beat by the end of the day!
So as you can see, it was a jam-packed weekend, but we got a lot accomplished which felt really good. I’ll hopefully have pictures of the finished room soon. And the only thing that was getting us through all the work was knowing that I’m going on Kylie’s field trip to the zoon on Wednesday, and then John and I head to Charlotte on Thursday, so only two days of work this week!
Joshie and his friend Taylor. This girl was the best player on the team by far! You could always count on Taylor to pull the flag or score when she had the ball. She was always chasing Joshie and he loved it :)
This is Joshie upset because they were no longer undefeated:
We started it off by having dinner and some friends’ new house. They bought their house and did a lot of work to it and it looks so beautiful. They have two kids, one of which plays on Joshie’s football team, so the boys were playing football out in the rain while Kylie and their little girl played inside. My parents offered to watch Ryan for us, so we were able to stay until 11:00 and we had such a great time!
Saturday morning John and Josh had t-ball practice, and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then Ryan and I headed to our usual Saturday morning places (Yutzy’s and Dings and Dents). I really cherish the time that I get to spend with Ryan alone. He is at my favorite age and I love talking to him. The whole time we were in the car he was saying “big trucks, see, mo,” which meant he wanted to see more big trucks. He’s fascinated with big semi-trucks right now, and he gets so excited when he sees one…he says, in a squeaky high-pitched voice, “mommy, big truck.” He was such a good boy the whole time were shopping – I had so much fun!
After we ran our errands, we went to the gym to watch Kylie. The minute we got in there Ryan was yelling “Kylie, Sissy” and pointing. She has so much fun at gymnastics, and I love seeing her face out there when she’s practicing!
After that we went home and had lunch. John worked on a computer problem for his dad while Kylie and I went up and cleaned out her room. I sorted through all of her clothes, and then we pulled all the toys and furniture out. Then I taped her room so we would be ready to paint. Then we all headed to Home Depot to look at blinds for her room (because she had custom princess blinds up there that now needed to come down). My parents again were such a huge help and kept Ryan, so the four of us could get what we needed and get home! We ended up getting blinds for a couple different rooms and headed out to the pain store. We were going to get pain at Sherwin-Williams because 1.) I had a 20% off coupon, 2.) I had another coupon that I could use, and 3.) we were going to keep the pink that was already in her room, and it was from there and needed matched. We pull up to Sherwin-Williams at 5:10 and they closed at 5:00. It was the worst luck ever and Kylie was so disappointed because we promised her room would be done that day.
We decided to head home and cook some burgers and relax for the rest of the evening. The kids played outside, John mowed, and I played with Ryan. It was a good ending to a very busy day. If only we knew it would pale in comparison to Sunday…
Sunday morning we got up and went to church. I helped John get all the kids set up and then Kylie and I actually met my parents at the nursery to pick out my plants. One of my other goals for the weekend was to get my garden in, so I got all of the plants and my parents took them home for me while Kylie and I went back to church to help clean up. Have I said how much I appreciated my parents this weekend???
After church we headed to grab some lunch, and my parents met us there. We took our food to the high school where Joshie’s championship game was going to be played and we ate it in the parking lot with our friends from Friday night. We were tailgating before the flag football game :) Afterwards we headed into the stadium and got set for a hot game. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 80’s…a huge change from what we’ve been in (60’s, maybe 70’s if we’re lucky).
The boys had fun playing, and we were cheering super loud! Both teams were undefeated, so it was a really good game. In the end, our Titans lost, but they tried and for the most part looked like they had a lot of fun! Ryan was not making it very well and cried the last ½ of the game. Again, my parents to the rescue…my mom walked around with him in the shade so that I could watch the end of Joshie’s game.
After the game, as we drove home, we devised our plan for the rest of the day. Ryan fell asleep with the phone that he was playing with still up to his ear, and even though Joshie tried hard, he fell asleep too. Once we were at home, we put the boys down for a nap, and I went out to put my garden in. My parents weren’t back yet, so we couldn’t go and get the paint since the boys were sleeping. I got my whole garden in pretty quickly (thanks to my dad who had prepared my dirt in the preceding weeks), and once my parents were home John and I headed out.
We decided that God did not want us buying pain at Sherwin-Williams. We pulled in at 4:25 and they had closed at 4:00. I have never heard of a store closing at 4:00…it’s such an odd time. So we took it as a sign and headed over to Home Depot and got her paint.
Once we got home we quickly at some Skyline hot dogs and then headed up to put the first coat of paint on. My parents watched Ryan outside while my dad finished his garden project, and Kylie and Josh came up to help us. They helped with two of the walls, but then finally, John and I had to kick them out because there were just too many painters in there! I got them into the shower (Josh was full of paint!) and then they played a little bit downstairs while John and I painted. By this time my dad had left to go back home and my mom offered to take Ryan over to her house with her. When I sent Kylie over to get her backpack from my parents’ house, Kylie said that Ryan was on the trampoline, so I don’t think my mom ever made it inside :)
I got the kids into bed, and John and I continued. My mom brought Ryan in because he was hungry and needed a snack. I got him eating and my mom informed me she had watered my garden (the only thing I had left to do from planting) and cleaned up all of my gardening stuff and closed up our garages. I really don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t have her help! She ended up giving Ryan a bath and cleaning up after our dinner too. Seriously, such a help to us!
John and I finally finished up painting around 10:30. The only thing we have left to do are the edges where we have to tape the newly painted wall (because we have two pink walls and two brown walls), so we’ll wait to do that next week when we know the paint is good and dry. We will try to put her room back together tonight and hopefully get her blinds up. We were so beat by the end of the day!
So as you can see, it was a jam-packed weekend, but we got a lot accomplished which felt really good. I’ll hopefully have pictures of the finished room soon. And the only thing that was getting us through all the work was knowing that I’m going on Kylie’s field trip to the zoon on Wednesday, and then John and I head to Charlotte on Thursday, so only two days of work this week!
The kid on the left is only 8 months older than Josh! Poor Joshie looks so little!
Joshie and his friend Taylor. This girl was the best player on the team by far! You could always count on Taylor to pull the flag or score when she had the ball. She was always chasing Joshie and he loved it :)
This is Joshie upset because they were no longer undefeated:
Coach dad and Joshie before the game:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Pictures From Kylie's Birthday...
Here are a couple of pictures from Kylie's birthday the other day:
Us singing to Kylie (that is her diet Coke in the picture - she asked me so sweetly since it was her birthday if she could have diet Coke...how could I say "no?"):
Kylie opening the cool wallet from Grandma. She absolutely adores that thing! All of her allowance money went right into it!
Kylie opening the picture of the bedding set we ordered her:
Us singing to Kylie (that is her diet Coke in the picture - she asked me so sweetly since it was her birthday if she could have diet Coke...how could I say "no?"):
Kylie opening the cool wallet from Grandma. She absolutely adores that thing! All of her allowance money went right into it!
Kylie opening the picture of the bedding set we ordered her:
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Recap of Kylie's Birthday...
What a fun birthday Kylie had!
I again copied from this cool lady and wrote out 7 birthday love notes that I went around and hid the night before. I taped the first one to my bedroom door because every morning she wakes up while I’m still getting ready and comes in and hangs out with me, so I knew she would see it there :) She ended up finding all of her notes before she left for school.
I decided to take ½ day off so that I could surprise her and pick her up from school, and so that I could get an early start on her special birthday dinner. So I got home and was able to play with Josh and Ryan all afternoon. We also decorated for Kylie’s birthday with streamers and balloons. Ryan LOVED the balloons!
Kylie was super surprised when I picked her up! As soon as we got home we started right in making her special dinner. Her request was fried chicken (which was always my request when I was little) and watermelon. So she and Josh helped me make the coatings for the fried chicken and got them all ready to go so they could sit out for a while before frying them.
While I was getting everything ready for dinner, the kids all played (mostly with the balloons) and my mom helped watch Ryan. We finally sat down to an awesome feast! We had some of the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and watermelon. It really was a wonderful dinner!
After dinner we got everyone bathed and then it was time for cake! Kylie had picked out these little chocolate mousse cakes that tasted so good! After cake Kylie opened her presents. She only had a few to open because we are having a joint birthday party for her and Josh in June, and most people have opted to wait and giver her their presents then. She opened a present from my mother-in-law that she adored! It was a wallet that she had wanted with some money in it and a McDonald’s gift card. She really loved it! Then she opened our present, which unfortunately was just a picture because it hadn’t gotten there yet! John and I are going to redo her room this Saturday, so I had a picture of the bedding I had ordered her and she loved it! Josh and Ryan got her a sheet set to go with her new bedding :)
After all that the kids played a little more and then it was bed time. They all crashed fast and hard! John met with his co-coach and neighbor to talk about t-ball and I got to just relax and watch a little TV.
It was a great birthday! I forgot my memory stick, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures tomorrow :)
I again copied from this cool lady and wrote out 7 birthday love notes that I went around and hid the night before. I taped the first one to my bedroom door because every morning she wakes up while I’m still getting ready and comes in and hangs out with me, so I knew she would see it there :) She ended up finding all of her notes before she left for school.
I decided to take ½ day off so that I could surprise her and pick her up from school, and so that I could get an early start on her special birthday dinner. So I got home and was able to play with Josh and Ryan all afternoon. We also decorated for Kylie’s birthday with streamers and balloons. Ryan LOVED the balloons!
Kylie was super surprised when I picked her up! As soon as we got home we started right in making her special dinner. Her request was fried chicken (which was always my request when I was little) and watermelon. So she and Josh helped me make the coatings for the fried chicken and got them all ready to go so they could sit out for a while before frying them.
While I was getting everything ready for dinner, the kids all played (mostly with the balloons) and my mom helped watch Ryan. We finally sat down to an awesome feast! We had some of the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and watermelon. It really was a wonderful dinner!
After dinner we got everyone bathed and then it was time for cake! Kylie had picked out these little chocolate mousse cakes that tasted so good! After cake Kylie opened her presents. She only had a few to open because we are having a joint birthday party for her and Josh in June, and most people have opted to wait and giver her their presents then. She opened a present from my mother-in-law that she adored! It was a wallet that she had wanted with some money in it and a McDonald’s gift card. She really loved it! Then she opened our present, which unfortunately was just a picture because it hadn’t gotten there yet! John and I are going to redo her room this Saturday, so I had a picture of the bedding I had ordered her and she loved it! Josh and Ryan got her a sheet set to go with her new bedding :)
After all that the kids played a little more and then it was bed time. They all crashed fast and hard! John met with his co-coach and neighbor to talk about t-ball and I got to just relax and watch a little TV.
It was a great birthday! I forgot my memory stick, so hopefully I’ll have some pictures tomorrow :)
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Happy Birthday Kylie!
Dear Kylie,
Today you are 7 years old. 7 years ago right now I was lying in a hospital bed wondering when I would get to meet you! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by…I look at pictures of you when you were younger and I feel like it was just yesterday. Right now I’m looking at a picture from your first trip to Disney, which was only 2 ½ years ago, and you look like such a little girl compared to how you look now!
You are an amazing little girl. Everyday you come up with new ideas or thoughts and I just sit back amazed. And you spoil me…I rarely have to help you with any of your schoolwork because you either already know how to do everything, or you take the initiative and work on the stuff by yourself. You just did a presentation on koala bears, and I was so proud of you because you got on the internet by yourself and googled “koala bears” (which you thought was the neatest thing to do) and did the whole project completely by yourself! I’m still so proud and amazed! If we could just work through your frustration when you don’t know how to do something, I think school will always be a very easy thing for you.
You are a fabulous big sister. Last night you told Joshie he could sleep with you, even though you like to sleep in your room by yourself, just because he was sad. You guys laugh together and play together and have a really good relationship. And you with Ryan? Amazing! You watch over him so well and are such a huge help to me with him. You hug him and kiss him (even when he screeches “Noooo”) and play with him when I need to get something done. Last night you voluntarily shared your mint ice cream with him, just as you share a lot of things with him. You are great about running and getting me something I need when I’m in the middle of changing his diaper. He looks up to you and loves you so much because you are so great with him!
You are doing great in gymnastics. You have joined the Scarlet and Grey team, so you will start competing next fall, which is super exciting! You have Miss Laura for a teacher, who is your favorite, and you practice with all levels, which I think has been motivating for you. But you also like to do a lot of chit-chatting during practice :) Right now you’re working on your mill spin and you’re so close! You do your back handspring with a light spot and you’re doing handstands on the beam. You love to go to practice each week!
You still love to snuggle, and you love “mommy-time.” We love watching Supernanny together and you tell me all about your friends and boyfriends :) I love listening to you read to me because you’re such a great reader. And of course you love it when I jump on the trampoline with you!
Thank you for being my daughter princess…I love you more than you’ll probably ever know. I hope you have a very happy 7th birthday and that this next year is even better than the past 7!
Love,
Mommy
Today you are 7 years old. 7 years ago right now I was lying in a hospital bed wondering when I would get to meet you! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by…I look at pictures of you when you were younger and I feel like it was just yesterday. Right now I’m looking at a picture from your first trip to Disney, which was only 2 ½ years ago, and you look like such a little girl compared to how you look now!
You are an amazing little girl. Everyday you come up with new ideas or thoughts and I just sit back amazed. And you spoil me…I rarely have to help you with any of your schoolwork because you either already know how to do everything, or you take the initiative and work on the stuff by yourself. You just did a presentation on koala bears, and I was so proud of you because you got on the internet by yourself and googled “koala bears” (which you thought was the neatest thing to do) and did the whole project completely by yourself! I’m still so proud and amazed! If we could just work through your frustration when you don’t know how to do something, I think school will always be a very easy thing for you.
You are a fabulous big sister. Last night you told Joshie he could sleep with you, even though you like to sleep in your room by yourself, just because he was sad. You guys laugh together and play together and have a really good relationship. And you with Ryan? Amazing! You watch over him so well and are such a huge help to me with him. You hug him and kiss him (even when he screeches “Noooo”) and play with him when I need to get something done. Last night you voluntarily shared your mint ice cream with him, just as you share a lot of things with him. You are great about running and getting me something I need when I’m in the middle of changing his diaper. He looks up to you and loves you so much because you are so great with him!
You are doing great in gymnastics. You have joined the Scarlet and Grey team, so you will start competing next fall, which is super exciting! You have Miss Laura for a teacher, who is your favorite, and you practice with all levels, which I think has been motivating for you. But you also like to do a lot of chit-chatting during practice :) Right now you’re working on your mill spin and you’re so close! You do your back handspring with a light spot and you’re doing handstands on the beam. You love to go to practice each week!
You still love to snuggle, and you love “mommy-time.” We love watching Supernanny together and you tell me all about your friends and boyfriends :) I love listening to you read to me because you’re such a great reader. And of course you love it when I jump on the trampoline with you!
Thank you for being my daughter princess…I love you more than you’ll probably ever know. I hope you have a very happy 7th birthday and that this next year is even better than the past 7!
Love,
Mommy
Monday, May 17, 2010
A Very Busy Weekend...
What a weekend! I can’t believe how much we packed into this weekend, and how quickly it went by…
Friday evening we packed up our picnic stuff and headed to a park for house church. The kids played on the playground, the guys grilled and played corn hole, and the girls talked/watched the kids. We stayed as long as we possibly could (which means it was dark and we could no longer see the kids playing) and had a really, really good time.
Saturday we woke up and my sister and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then we took Ryan and headed over to the nearby city for some cheap lunch meat and yummy donuts :) After that we headed to the dings and dents grocery store and then back over to watch Kylie finish up at gymnastics.
When we got home, we lathered everyone up in sunscreen and got ready to go play outside. It was GORGEOUS out! The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. Unfortunately, this was also the time that my other sister called us telling us that the moving truck was on the way to the house, so we loaded Kylie up and headed out.
We grabbed some Chipotle for lunch and then went to my sister’s new house. It’s beautiful! It’s a really neat floor plan and a great size for them. The boxes that we needed to unpack, unfortunately, were at the back of the truck, so the movers had to bring in all the furniture before there was anything we could do. Finally, around 2:30, the boxes started coming in and I spent the rest of the day unpacking all of the kitchen boxes. I’m amazed that my sister really didn’t care where I put things…if it were me, there’s no way I’d let anyone organize my kitchen – I would want to carefully plan out exactly where each and every little thing went!
We finally finished up around 7:00 and everyone else joined us to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We had pizza, watched Monsters vs. Aliens, and then had a wonderful Heath Bar Blizzard cake from Dairy Queen. We finally left around 9:30 and we were exhausted!
Sunday we went to church, and then afterwards drove through McDonald’s and headed to Josh’s football game. Thankfully it was not freezing like it has been the last couple of weeks! Ryan was in a great, funny mood and as always, I had a wonderful time watching the little Titans kick their opponents’ butts! Joshie caught an amazingly long pass for a touchdown!
After the game we headed home and went to work putting my dad’s dresser together (which was his birthday present). It was quite humorous listening to John, my sister, me, and occasionally Kylie, Ryan and Josh putting that thing together! But it was worth it because it looked wonderful and my dad was so happy!
After that my sister headed back to Michigan and John and Josh played some baseball. Kylie went in to finish up her Koala bear presentation and Ryan and I played in the court for a while.
We headed inside and the kids were bathed and fed, and then Kylie practiced her presentation with us a few times. Then we put the kids to bed and then ourselves to bed not long after that!
Ryan was up for about 1 ½ hours last night. I’m not sure what his deal was, but he was wide awake and wanted to play. So needless to say, I’m a little tired this morning :)
Tomorrow is Kylie’s birthday, so tonight we’ll be getting stuff ready for her to take her treats to class and make sure we have everything for her birthday dinner request (fried chicken and watermelon).
Friday evening we packed up our picnic stuff and headed to a park for house church. The kids played on the playground, the guys grilled and played corn hole, and the girls talked/watched the kids. We stayed as long as we possibly could (which means it was dark and we could no longer see the kids playing) and had a really, really good time.
Saturday we woke up and my sister and I took Kylie to gymnastics, and then we took Ryan and headed over to the nearby city for some cheap lunch meat and yummy donuts :) After that we headed to the dings and dents grocery store and then back over to watch Kylie finish up at gymnastics.
When we got home, we lathered everyone up in sunscreen and got ready to go play outside. It was GORGEOUS out! The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect. Unfortunately, this was also the time that my other sister called us telling us that the moving truck was on the way to the house, so we loaded Kylie up and headed out.
We grabbed some Chipotle for lunch and then went to my sister’s new house. It’s beautiful! It’s a really neat floor plan and a great size for them. The boxes that we needed to unpack, unfortunately, were at the back of the truck, so the movers had to bring in all the furniture before there was anything we could do. Finally, around 2:30, the boxes started coming in and I spent the rest of the day unpacking all of the kitchen boxes. I’m amazed that my sister really didn’t care where I put things…if it were me, there’s no way I’d let anyone organize my kitchen – I would want to carefully plan out exactly where each and every little thing went!
We finally finished up around 7:00 and everyone else joined us to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We had pizza, watched Monsters vs. Aliens, and then had a wonderful Heath Bar Blizzard cake from Dairy Queen. We finally left around 9:30 and we were exhausted!
Sunday we went to church, and then afterwards drove through McDonald’s and headed to Josh’s football game. Thankfully it was not freezing like it has been the last couple of weeks! Ryan was in a great, funny mood and as always, I had a wonderful time watching the little Titans kick their opponents’ butts! Joshie caught an amazingly long pass for a touchdown!
After the game we headed home and went to work putting my dad’s dresser together (which was his birthday present). It was quite humorous listening to John, my sister, me, and occasionally Kylie, Ryan and Josh putting that thing together! But it was worth it because it looked wonderful and my dad was so happy!
After that my sister headed back to Michigan and John and Josh played some baseball. Kylie went in to finish up her Koala bear presentation and Ryan and I played in the court for a while.
We headed inside and the kids were bathed and fed, and then Kylie practiced her presentation with us a few times. Then we put the kids to bed and then ourselves to bed not long after that!
Ryan was up for about 1 ½ hours last night. I’m not sure what his deal was, but he was wide awake and wanted to play. So needless to say, I’m a little tired this morning :)
Tomorrow is Kylie’s birthday, so tonight we’ll be getting stuff ready for her to take her treats to class and make sure we have everything for her birthday dinner request (fried chicken and watermelon).
Friday, May 14, 2010
I'm Back!
It’s been way too long since I’ve updated here. I’m so frustrated with myself that I’ve let weeks go by undocumented. But I can’t change it, so I’m moving forward, with a goal to get back into the routine of updating…because otherwise I will forget the daily craziness of my kids and our family life, and I don’t want to forget.
It is now the middle of May. We are so busy and I don’t see an end to the business until September, which makes me sick. I hate being so busy, but no matter how hard I try to not be, I still am.
Today my sister and her fiancé are closing on their first house! It’s an M/I house, so I’ve put together a fun bucket of gifts for the closing people to give them after they’ve signed the five million papers they will have to sign to buy this house.
Tonight we have house church at a park. We are cooking out and will get to just hang out and relax while the kids play. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and I’m really looking forward to being outside!
Tomorrow Kylie has gymnastics, and I hope to run to Yutzy’s and the dings and dents grocery store. Yutzy’s is a little market in a town that’s about 35 minutes from us. They have the cheapest sandwich meats and cheeses around and they taste amazing! The dings and dents grocery store is a warehouse that has grocery items that are either dented or are close to their expiration date. It’s awesome because they have name-brand products that I normally buy, for a lot cheaper. I got a box of chocolate Cheerios for $1.50 and I had seen it at Wal-mart the day before for $3.38! We try to get over to these stores every Saturday while Kylie is in gymnastics.
After that we’re (my other sister is here from Michigan) going over to help my sister unpack all of her boxes and stuff at her new house. After that we’re going to celebrate mother’s day and my dad’s birthday with some food and a movie.
Sunday we have church and Joshie has a football game. It’s his last game before the championship game. His team is doing awesome…they are undefeated! After his game I have to plant my garden!
So that’s the plan for the weekend. While it sounds like a lot of fun things, it will be fast-paced and go by quickly, which stinks. But the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so any time outside will be wonderful!
It is now the middle of May. We are so busy and I don’t see an end to the business until September, which makes me sick. I hate being so busy, but no matter how hard I try to not be, I still am.
Today my sister and her fiancé are closing on their first house! It’s an M/I house, so I’ve put together a fun bucket of gifts for the closing people to give them after they’ve signed the five million papers they will have to sign to buy this house.
Tonight we have house church at a park. We are cooking out and will get to just hang out and relax while the kids play. The weather is supposed to be gorgeous and I’m really looking forward to being outside!
Tomorrow Kylie has gymnastics, and I hope to run to Yutzy’s and the dings and dents grocery store. Yutzy’s is a little market in a town that’s about 35 minutes from us. They have the cheapest sandwich meats and cheeses around and they taste amazing! The dings and dents grocery store is a warehouse that has grocery items that are either dented or are close to their expiration date. It’s awesome because they have name-brand products that I normally buy, for a lot cheaper. I got a box of chocolate Cheerios for $1.50 and I had seen it at Wal-mart the day before for $3.38! We try to get over to these stores every Saturday while Kylie is in gymnastics.
After that we’re (my other sister is here from Michigan) going over to help my sister unpack all of her boxes and stuff at her new house. After that we’re going to celebrate mother’s day and my dad’s birthday with some food and a movie.
Sunday we have church and Joshie has a football game. It’s his last game before the championship game. His team is doing awesome…they are undefeated! After his game I have to plant my garden!
So that’s the plan for the weekend. While it sounds like a lot of fun things, it will be fast-paced and go by quickly, which stinks. But the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, so any time outside will be wonderful!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Great Monday!
Last night was a fun night…and what made it even better was the return of Front Porch Mondays!!!
This morning before I left for work, Jen, our nanny, informed me that this would be her last week working before maternity leave, which was a week earlier than we had planned. She told me that her doctor, who happens to be a male doctor in the same practice as my female doctor, had told her that she was dilating and the baby was moving down, and since she was full-term, she should take it easy. She felt so bad, and I know it’s not her fault, but I’m furious with her doctor! Are you kidding me? She’s freaking full-term!! I feel like I have talked to a lot of women with male doctors that tell them to take it easy and stop working…I’m guessing because they have no freaking idea what it’s like to have a baby. My doctor never said that to me, and I was huge and swollen with Kylie! Why didn’t she? Because she’s had 4 kids and knows that you just live with it! And what about moms that are pregnant with subsequent kids? All my nanny does is what any other mom does…she just takes care of the kids during the day! Could you tell a mom she needs to stop being a mom a couple of weeks before her due date?? Never!
Now if the baby was coming too early, or if there was something else “wrong” (i.e. high blood pressure, etc.) then I would completely understand, but even Jen acknowledged that nothing was wrong. But she’s a first time mom-to-be and just wants to do what her doctor tells her :( And like I said, I don’t blame her at all…I would do the same thing if I were in her position. I’m just mad at the doctor…
So anyway, I started immediately stressing about finding someone to watch the kids next week. I called John on the way to work and he was awesome…he told me not to stress and that he would take care of it. Later on that day he sent me an e-mail talking about how much he was looking forward to front porch Monday – just us and a glass of wine and catching up with each other!
As soon as we got home from work we went out to play. John and I took turns jumping on the trampoline with Kylie and Josh and pushing Ryan in the swing. We grilled some hamburgers and ate on the front porch.
After dinner the kids got baths/showers and we settled in for something that Kylie wanted to show us. She had come home Sunday all excited about how her teacher had shown her about having a clean and pure heart using water and food coloring. So we got her all set up and she gave us such a neat lesson!
After that the kids played their DSs for a little bit and John and I played with Ryan. At 8:15 all kids were sent up to bed and John and I headed out to the porch. It was so nice to be back again! We talked for a while and got into a serious discussion that actually took us away from the porch and up into our office to work on a solution to something that had been bothering us. At the end of the night there were hugs and tears and prayers and an overwhelming feeling of peace. So our first front porch Monday of the year was definitely a success!
The only downside to the day was the fact that Ryan got up twice in the middle of the night. The first time I was able to get to him fast enough, before he had sat up, and he went back to sleep. The second time, however, I was not so lucky. I rocked him and he finally stopped crying. After about 15 minutes I decided to put him back in the crib and see what he did. He was wide awake, but he just laid there and let me cover him up and give him all of his pacis. I swear that kid is an amazing sleeper! I kept waiting for him to start crying but he never did…he just went right back to sleep!
This morning before I left for work, Jen, our nanny, informed me that this would be her last week working before maternity leave, which was a week earlier than we had planned. She told me that her doctor, who happens to be a male doctor in the same practice as my female doctor, had told her that she was dilating and the baby was moving down, and since she was full-term, she should take it easy. She felt so bad, and I know it’s not her fault, but I’m furious with her doctor! Are you kidding me? She’s freaking full-term!! I feel like I have talked to a lot of women with male doctors that tell them to take it easy and stop working…I’m guessing because they have no freaking idea what it’s like to have a baby. My doctor never said that to me, and I was huge and swollen with Kylie! Why didn’t she? Because she’s had 4 kids and knows that you just live with it! And what about moms that are pregnant with subsequent kids? All my nanny does is what any other mom does…she just takes care of the kids during the day! Could you tell a mom she needs to stop being a mom a couple of weeks before her due date?? Never!
Now if the baby was coming too early, or if there was something else “wrong” (i.e. high blood pressure, etc.) then I would completely understand, but even Jen acknowledged that nothing was wrong. But she’s a first time mom-to-be and just wants to do what her doctor tells her :( And like I said, I don’t blame her at all…I would do the same thing if I were in her position. I’m just mad at the doctor…
So anyway, I started immediately stressing about finding someone to watch the kids next week. I called John on the way to work and he was awesome…he told me not to stress and that he would take care of it. Later on that day he sent me an e-mail talking about how much he was looking forward to front porch Monday – just us and a glass of wine and catching up with each other!
As soon as we got home from work we went out to play. John and I took turns jumping on the trampoline with Kylie and Josh and pushing Ryan in the swing. We grilled some hamburgers and ate on the front porch.
After dinner the kids got baths/showers and we settled in for something that Kylie wanted to show us. She had come home Sunday all excited about how her teacher had shown her about having a clean and pure heart using water and food coloring. So we got her all set up and she gave us such a neat lesson!
After that the kids played their DSs for a little bit and John and I played with Ryan. At 8:15 all kids were sent up to bed and John and I headed out to the porch. It was so nice to be back again! We talked for a while and got into a serious discussion that actually took us away from the porch and up into our office to work on a solution to something that had been bothering us. At the end of the night there were hugs and tears and prayers and an overwhelming feeling of peace. So our first front porch Monday of the year was definitely a success!
The only downside to the day was the fact that Ryan got up twice in the middle of the night. The first time I was able to get to him fast enough, before he had sat up, and he went back to sleep. The second time, however, I was not so lucky. I rocked him and he finally stopped crying. After about 15 minutes I decided to put him back in the crib and see what he did. He was wide awake, but he just laid there and let me cover him up and give him all of his pacis. I swear that kid is an amazing sleeper! I kept waiting for him to start crying but he never did…he just went right back to sleep!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Annual Scrapbooking Weekend Recap...
Another scrapbooking weekend was a success!
After work on Friday, John helped me finish getting everything ready for my weekend. This time we decided to move the couch out of the family room since there were going to be a lot of people there this time. This allowed us to stretch the tables all the way from the kitchen into the family room so that we could all scrap together.
John had booked a weekend at a local hotel with a swimming pool for him and the kids to stay at since they were booted from the house :) Kylie was going to a sleepover birthday party for her friend that night, so she stayed around with me until I had to take her over there. My parents offered to keep Ryan for the night so that John could have some one-on-one time with Joshie. We were really worried about everything we had to accomplish this weekend – Kylie to her sleepover, Kylie picked up in the morning and taken to gymnastics, Kylie picked up from gymnastics, Ryan picked up, and on Sunday, John had to pick up the Sunday school stuff, have all of the football stuff ready to go, after church, my dad had to bring Ryan home and John had to get Kylie and Josh lunch and then get them to Joshie’s football game. I asked John if he was nervous that we might lose a kid this weekend and he said “yes!” I tell you, there’s no way we could have done it without the help of my parents. I’m so grateful for their eager willingness to help us out with the kids and their acknowledgement that John and I need time together, as well as time with our friends.
John and Josh left around 6:00 and Kylie and I hung out until I had to take her at 6:30. All of my friends started arriving around 6:15. We had 7 scrapping on Friday night, with 6 spending the night. Everyone brought wonderful food to eat, and we all got busy scrapping. After a while we fired up the chocolate fountain, and most of us stayed up until around 1:00 AM.
I woke up the next morning around 7:00, but I hung out in bed for an hour. It was so nice not having to get out of bed if I didn’t want to, and it was so nice watching a girly-show while I was doing that :)
We spent the day scrapping, and eating, and watching TV. I easily watched more TV than scrapbooked, but it was so nice being able to watch shows that I would never be able to watch with the kids around. I know that’s why the weekend was so relaxing for me…I was able to do what I wanted, whether it be watch TV, scrapbook, or eat :) We had 8 girls on Saturday, and the day seemed to fly by way too quickly!
Saturday night we continued the annual tradition and went to dinner. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant and definitely enjoyed the margaritas! After that we walked over to our local scrapbooking store and had fun just wondering around and buying a few things.
We scrapped the rest of the evening, and around 10:00 I called it quits for the night. I made myself up some dessert and plopped myself on the couch to watch TV. I actually fell asleep on the couch and woke up to go up to bed only to find one of my friends still scrapping :)
Sunday morning John stopped by to pick up all of the Sunday school stuff. I went out to help him, and he said that Ryan was not happy. I went to say “hi” to all of the kids, and Ryan kept saying “et, et” (which means “out”). I decided to take him out and feed him breakfast so that John could get to church and get everything set up without worrying about him. My dad ended up taking Ryan to church with him, so it all worked out and I was able to get some scrapbooking done.
Joshie had his first football game on Sunday, so that meant that John had to leave right from church and go to the game. My dad brought Ryan home, and he fell asleep in the car. I put him to bed, and my dad packed up and headed to the game. My sisters and my sister’s fiancé were also going to the game, which helped alleviate my guilt for missing it :( My family was so awesome…John had forgotten to bring snacks for the kids, so my sisters stopped and picked them up for us, and my dad brought something else to John that he had forgotten. It was a crazy morning!
Once all of that was cleared, I went back to scrapbooking. Slowly everyone started leaving, which of course was sad. The last people ended up leaving around 2:30, and I was able to get some things cleaned up before Ryan woke up (he ended up taking a 2 ½ hour nap!). My sister was hanging out for a little while before heading back to Michigan, which was nice. So we all went outside to play. It was so gorgeous outside and I had so much fun playing with the kids. All Ryan wanted to do was “weeee” (swing) and the kids and I jumped on the trampoline.
Once we got inside we worked to get homework done, dinner eaten, baths and the house cleaned up. When John and I finally collapsed on the couch at 9:30 we were exhausted! But we both had a wonderful weekend! He said he had a blast with the kids, and I of course had so much fun with my friends. And we didn’t lose any of the kids… :)
After work on Friday, John helped me finish getting everything ready for my weekend. This time we decided to move the couch out of the family room since there were going to be a lot of people there this time. This allowed us to stretch the tables all the way from the kitchen into the family room so that we could all scrap together.
John had booked a weekend at a local hotel with a swimming pool for him and the kids to stay at since they were booted from the house :) Kylie was going to a sleepover birthday party for her friend that night, so she stayed around with me until I had to take her over there. My parents offered to keep Ryan for the night so that John could have some one-on-one time with Joshie. We were really worried about everything we had to accomplish this weekend – Kylie to her sleepover, Kylie picked up in the morning and taken to gymnastics, Kylie picked up from gymnastics, Ryan picked up, and on Sunday, John had to pick up the Sunday school stuff, have all of the football stuff ready to go, after church, my dad had to bring Ryan home and John had to get Kylie and Josh lunch and then get them to Joshie’s football game. I asked John if he was nervous that we might lose a kid this weekend and he said “yes!” I tell you, there’s no way we could have done it without the help of my parents. I’m so grateful for their eager willingness to help us out with the kids and their acknowledgement that John and I need time together, as well as time with our friends.
John and Josh left around 6:00 and Kylie and I hung out until I had to take her at 6:30. All of my friends started arriving around 6:15. We had 7 scrapping on Friday night, with 6 spending the night. Everyone brought wonderful food to eat, and we all got busy scrapping. After a while we fired up the chocolate fountain, and most of us stayed up until around 1:00 AM.
I woke up the next morning around 7:00, but I hung out in bed for an hour. It was so nice not having to get out of bed if I didn’t want to, and it was so nice watching a girly-show while I was doing that :)
We spent the day scrapping, and eating, and watching TV. I easily watched more TV than scrapbooked, but it was so nice being able to watch shows that I would never be able to watch with the kids around. I know that’s why the weekend was so relaxing for me…I was able to do what I wanted, whether it be watch TV, scrapbook, or eat :) We had 8 girls on Saturday, and the day seemed to fly by way too quickly!
Saturday night we continued the annual tradition and went to dinner. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant and definitely enjoyed the margaritas! After that we walked over to our local scrapbooking store and had fun just wondering around and buying a few things.
We scrapped the rest of the evening, and around 10:00 I called it quits for the night. I made myself up some dessert and plopped myself on the couch to watch TV. I actually fell asleep on the couch and woke up to go up to bed only to find one of my friends still scrapping :)
Sunday morning John stopped by to pick up all of the Sunday school stuff. I went out to help him, and he said that Ryan was not happy. I went to say “hi” to all of the kids, and Ryan kept saying “et, et” (which means “out”). I decided to take him out and feed him breakfast so that John could get to church and get everything set up without worrying about him. My dad ended up taking Ryan to church with him, so it all worked out and I was able to get some scrapbooking done.
Joshie had his first football game on Sunday, so that meant that John had to leave right from church and go to the game. My dad brought Ryan home, and he fell asleep in the car. I put him to bed, and my dad packed up and headed to the game. My sisters and my sister’s fiancé were also going to the game, which helped alleviate my guilt for missing it :( My family was so awesome…John had forgotten to bring snacks for the kids, so my sisters stopped and picked them up for us, and my dad brought something else to John that he had forgotten. It was a crazy morning!
Once all of that was cleared, I went back to scrapbooking. Slowly everyone started leaving, which of course was sad. The last people ended up leaving around 2:30, and I was able to get some things cleaned up before Ryan woke up (he ended up taking a 2 ½ hour nap!). My sister was hanging out for a little while before heading back to Michigan, which was nice. So we all went outside to play. It was so gorgeous outside and I had so much fun playing with the kids. All Ryan wanted to do was “weeee” (swing) and the kids and I jumped on the trampoline.
Once we got inside we worked to get homework done, dinner eaten, baths and the house cleaned up. When John and I finally collapsed on the couch at 9:30 we were exhausted! But we both had a wonderful weekend! He said he had a blast with the kids, and I of course had so much fun with my friends. And we didn’t lose any of the kids… :)
Friday, April 09, 2010
A Week in Review...
This week has been a mix of all kinds of things.
First, the week started off warm and sunny. It is ending cold and gloomy :( Our high today is in the low 50’s :(
Joshie had football practice on Monday night. This time John is head coach and they are both loving it! He’s also playing with a friend from church, and his dad is helping to coach, so that’s a lot of fun too! The problem for me this time is that Ryan no longer wants to sit in the stroller. So I try to keep him content playing by me while I try to watch, but then I eventually take him over to the playground. Last fall I was able to put him in the stroller and watch the whole game…not this time!
We grilled out for the first time this year on Tuesday and Wednesday. I love being able to cook dinner while playing outside with the kids!
John and I got to have lunch together this week, which never happens! His mom and dad were in town, and it was the day before his mom's birthday, so we met them, John's aunt and uncle, and his sister and her daughter for a wonderful lunch. It was so nice going out to eat and not having to cut food or worry about entertaining little ones :)
My annual scrapbooking weekend is this weekend, so I’ve been trying to get ready for it a little each night. There will be 8 girls in total each day, and 6 will be spending the night. Thankfully the kids spent the night at my mom’s last night, so I was able to get all of the sheets washed and their rooms cleaned and their bathroom cleaned so that is all done! Now I just have to get the playroom cleaned :)
I can’t wait for this weekend…we always have so much fun! We will have the chocolate fountain and go out for dinner tomorrow night, just like we have for the past 3 years. I love how we have so many little traditions when it comes to our scrapbooking get-aways!
So that’s my plan for the weekend. Joshie has an early football game on Sunday, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it or not. But at least the weather is supposed to be beautiful for it!
First, the week started off warm and sunny. It is ending cold and gloomy :( Our high today is in the low 50’s :(
Joshie had football practice on Monday night. This time John is head coach and they are both loving it! He’s also playing with a friend from church, and his dad is helping to coach, so that’s a lot of fun too! The problem for me this time is that Ryan no longer wants to sit in the stroller. So I try to keep him content playing by me while I try to watch, but then I eventually take him over to the playground. Last fall I was able to put him in the stroller and watch the whole game…not this time!
We grilled out for the first time this year on Tuesday and Wednesday. I love being able to cook dinner while playing outside with the kids!
John and I got to have lunch together this week, which never happens! His mom and dad were in town, and it was the day before his mom's birthday, so we met them, John's aunt and uncle, and his sister and her daughter for a wonderful lunch. It was so nice going out to eat and not having to cut food or worry about entertaining little ones :)
My annual scrapbooking weekend is this weekend, so I’ve been trying to get ready for it a little each night. There will be 8 girls in total each day, and 6 will be spending the night. Thankfully the kids spent the night at my mom’s last night, so I was able to get all of the sheets washed and their rooms cleaned and their bathroom cleaned so that is all done! Now I just have to get the playroom cleaned :)
I can’t wait for this weekend…we always have so much fun! We will have the chocolate fountain and go out for dinner tomorrow night, just like we have for the past 3 years. I love how we have so many little traditions when it comes to our scrapbooking get-aways!
So that’s my plan for the weekend. Joshie has an early football game on Sunday, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it or not. But at least the weather is supposed to be beautiful for it!
Monday, April 05, 2010
Easter Weekend 2010
This Easter was one of the best Easters I’ve had in a long time! We always have good Easters, but this one really was a lot of fun!
Saturday started with my sister and a couple of other bridesmaids coming over to put together invitations. She brought some bagels and drinks and we got to work. I had to leave for a hair appointment, and while I was gone my other sister got into town. When I got back, we finished up the invitations and then just hung out the rest of the day. My parents were over off and on, and we played outside and watched some movies.
Kylie and I went out and spent a lot of time on the trampoline together. We had so much fun jumping and laughing together. After that we went over to my dad’s back patio where he was sitting and hung out with him. I really loved the individual time I got to spend with Kylie.
Saturday night we got some Chinese food and at a late dinner. Suzie helped give the kids baths and we got them all into bed. The adults settled on the couch and I filled Easter eggs while we watched TV. Suzie and I love watching Being Erica, which she doesn’t get up in Michigan, so it’s always expected that we’ll watch at least one episode I have taped while she’s here.
Sunday morning we woke up and got everyone ready for church. The sun was shining and it was beautiful out! The kids all looked adorable in their brightly-colored Easter outfits and we were all in good moods (well, except for John who was quickly losing his patience with us because we were running late).
Our church was held at a hotel because where we normally meet was not open on Easter. The hotel was gorgeous, and we quickly went in and set up the kids’ rooms with their toys and snacks and other items. The baby room was the coat closet!
I love the feeling at church on Easter Sunday. Everyone is happy and smiling. And did I mention the gorgeous weather? We don’t have many gorgeous Easters, so it was apparent that everyone was enjoying this day.
After church, we cleaned up all the kids’ rooms and headed home. Ryan fell asleep on the way, so once we got home I took Kylie and Josh outside to get some pictures. Once my family got to the house, we let the kids go look for their Easter baskets.
We had a great lunch of cut-up fruit and crackers and chips and dip. Ryan finally woke up and we all went outside for a family picture. I was afraid I was not going to get one again this year because of his nap, but thankfully, I made it just in time! Last year, by the time Ryan woke up, Josh had chocolate all over his shirt, and John had changed his clothes :)
We sent Kylie and Josh inside so that John and I could go and hide all of the Easter eggs outside. Then they came out and went hunting! This was Ryan’s first year and he did really well :) They were all so cute out there looking for their eggs! It’s funny, my kids just wanted to hunt, they never even opened up the eggs to see what was in them! And as everyone who knows my family jokes, most of the candy will still be around next Easter!
The rest of the day was spent playing outside. John’s parents came over for a visit and we all sat around and talked, jumped on the trampoline swung on the swings (or “weee” as Ryan calls it) and just enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather. It was so gorgeous that we decided to have our Easter dinner outside! We had a great dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli and bread.
After dinner John’s parents left, and soon after that my dad, Cindy and big Josh left too. Then we played some baseball in the court with our neighbors. After that the kids all went back to the trampoline and we hung out with our neighbors.
Finally it was time to clean up and get ready for bed. It took a while, the house was a mess! But finally we had all kids in bed and most everything cleaned up, and John, Suzie and I sat on the couch to watch some TV. Suzie was leaving for vacation the next day, so it was a nice treat to have her with us on a Sunday afternoon. John opened his birthday presents from her and Cindy, and later on Darrin came in. We informed him that Kylie and Suzie were sleeping in the Buckeye room, and he and Josh were in the princess room…quite backwards!
So that was Easter weekend. Just writing about it brings back the good feelings and overall happiness I felt the whole time!
Saturday started with my sister and a couple of other bridesmaids coming over to put together invitations. She brought some bagels and drinks and we got to work. I had to leave for a hair appointment, and while I was gone my other sister got into town. When I got back, we finished up the invitations and then just hung out the rest of the day. My parents were over off and on, and we played outside and watched some movies.
Kylie and I went out and spent a lot of time on the trampoline together. We had so much fun jumping and laughing together. After that we went over to my dad’s back patio where he was sitting and hung out with him. I really loved the individual time I got to spend with Kylie.
Saturday night we got some Chinese food and at a late dinner. Suzie helped give the kids baths and we got them all into bed. The adults settled on the couch and I filled Easter eggs while we watched TV. Suzie and I love watching Being Erica, which she doesn’t get up in Michigan, so it’s always expected that we’ll watch at least one episode I have taped while she’s here.
Sunday morning we woke up and got everyone ready for church. The sun was shining and it was beautiful out! The kids all looked adorable in their brightly-colored Easter outfits and we were all in good moods (well, except for John who was quickly losing his patience with us because we were running late).
Our church was held at a hotel because where we normally meet was not open on Easter. The hotel was gorgeous, and we quickly went in and set up the kids’ rooms with their toys and snacks and other items. The baby room was the coat closet!
I love the feeling at church on Easter Sunday. Everyone is happy and smiling. And did I mention the gorgeous weather? We don’t have many gorgeous Easters, so it was apparent that everyone was enjoying this day.
After church, we cleaned up all the kids’ rooms and headed home. Ryan fell asleep on the way, so once we got home I took Kylie and Josh outside to get some pictures. Once my family got to the house, we let the kids go look for their Easter baskets.
We had a great lunch of cut-up fruit and crackers and chips and dip. Ryan finally woke up and we all went outside for a family picture. I was afraid I was not going to get one again this year because of his nap, but thankfully, I made it just in time! Last year, by the time Ryan woke up, Josh had chocolate all over his shirt, and John had changed his clothes :)
We sent Kylie and Josh inside so that John and I could go and hide all of the Easter eggs outside. Then they came out and went hunting! This was Ryan’s first year and he did really well :) They were all so cute out there looking for their eggs! It’s funny, my kids just wanted to hunt, they never even opened up the eggs to see what was in them! And as everyone who knows my family jokes, most of the candy will still be around next Easter!
The rest of the day was spent playing outside. John’s parents came over for a visit and we all sat around and talked, jumped on the trampoline swung on the swings (or “weee” as Ryan calls it) and just enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous weather. It was so gorgeous that we decided to have our Easter dinner outside! We had a great dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli and bread.
After dinner John’s parents left, and soon after that my dad, Cindy and big Josh left too. Then we played some baseball in the court with our neighbors. After that the kids all went back to the trampoline and we hung out with our neighbors.
Finally it was time to clean up and get ready for bed. It took a while, the house was a mess! But finally we had all kids in bed and most everything cleaned up, and John, Suzie and I sat on the couch to watch some TV. Suzie was leaving for vacation the next day, so it was a nice treat to have her with us on a Sunday afternoon. John opened his birthday presents from her and Cindy, and later on Darrin came in. We informed him that Kylie and Suzie were sleeping in the Buckeye room, and he and Josh were in the princess room…quite backwards!
So that was Easter weekend. Just writing about it brings back the good feelings and overall happiness I felt the whole time!
Last week was Kylie’s spring break. We had decided a while ago that we would not be going anywhere because the thought of trying to travel with Ryan right now makes my head spin. So John and I decided that we would take off Thursday and Friday and just hang out at home.
Unfortunately, leading up to those days off, John was working late every night. Twice he didn’t get home until after the kids were in bed. But it would all be worth it when we got to spend all that extra time together on Thursday and Friday, right? Maybe….
Thursday we decided to take the kids to COSI, which is a wonderful science museum we have in Columbus. We got there around lunch time, looked at a few exhibits, ate lunch, and then looked at more exibits. Kylie’s really getting into science, so she really had a good time. Ryan did really well…he would ride in the stroller and then I would get him out to run around when we were in areas that weren’t really busy. I had brought all of his “nap stuff” (real paci, elmo paci to hold, cookie monster paci to hold, and his mp3 player), and I would keep asking him “paci go nigh-night?” and he would emphatically shake his head and say “no.” Thankfully it really didn’t affect his mood…he did really well.
We ended the afternoon by getting Dippin Dots (my favorite) and just sitting and eating them. After that we dodged the rain drops and went home. The rest of the evening was relaxed and low-key while I made fried chicken for dinner and the kids played with John. We watched as it rained and then sleeted and then snowed all evening, very thankful that we didn’t have to go to work the next morning.
Friday we were awoken to John’s phone ringing. He finally got up and answered it and found out one of his clients was having a computer emergency. So he went into the office “for a couple of hours” (yeah right…I know what that means when he says it!), and the kids and I hung out all day. We had woken up to everything being covered with snow. No one had predicted this and the road crews certainly weren’t ready for it…it took John over an hour to get to work and it wasn’t even rush hour!
While the kids were napping (well, Ryan was, Kylie and Josh were “attempting to nap”), my neighbor came over and we discussed some recent events surrounding some recent events involving another neighbor, and then John finally came home!
That night was house church followed by the Buckeye basketball game. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and we had some really good food to eat!
Saturday we went to a local market to get some cheap lunch meat and other goodies (like donuts, which Ryan of course loved), and then I took Kylie to gymnastics. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to watch her, and I had so much fun seeing all of the new things she has learned! The rest of the day was spent with my sister getting her wedding invitations squared away. Some of her bridesmaids will be over this next Saturday to assemble all of them, so we wanted to make sure we had everything planned out.
Saturday evening Ryan started with a runny nose. I put him to bed, and at 10:00 he was up again, cranky. I started to get frustrated, but then I realized how lucky we had been this winter with no sickness, and I haven’t been up with Ryan in so long, so I really didn’t have a right to complain! I got him back to sleep, but he was up again around 12:00, and spent the rest of the night in our bed constantly waking up. At 6:00 AM he was up for good, so I took him down to the couch and we watched “choo-choos” (Thomas). Kylie and Josh came down at 6:30, which is so early for them, but with Ryan being so loud it was no surprise they couldn’t sleep! Josh told me as he climbed onto the couch that he just couldn’t fall asleep. I told him that was fine, he would just need to take a good nap that afternoon. Come to find out, he thought he had been up all night! He thought he had never fallen asleep at all!
Around 8:00 Ryan was ready to go back to sleep, so I laid him in his crib and I climbed into my bed. John took the other two kids to church, and Ryan and I were able to get some much needed sleep!
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, playing, and wiping Ryan’s nose! He ended up taking three naps throughout the day and really was in a pretty good mood considering how sick he was.
John and I cleaned out our coat closets this weekend in hopes that by putting away all of the snow stuff we would be done with cold weather. I was a little worried because as evidenced this past weekend, you never know what the weather will do! But in seeing the weather reports, we’re supposed to get in the mid 70’s the second half of this week, with clear and sunny skies. I really hope that the warm weather is here to stay this time…I’m done with being cold!
Unfortunately, leading up to those days off, John was working late every night. Twice he didn’t get home until after the kids were in bed. But it would all be worth it when we got to spend all that extra time together on Thursday and Friday, right? Maybe….
Thursday we decided to take the kids to COSI, which is a wonderful science museum we have in Columbus. We got there around lunch time, looked at a few exhibits, ate lunch, and then looked at more exibits. Kylie’s really getting into science, so she really had a good time. Ryan did really well…he would ride in the stroller and then I would get him out to run around when we were in areas that weren’t really busy. I had brought all of his “nap stuff” (real paci, elmo paci to hold, cookie monster paci to hold, and his mp3 player), and I would keep asking him “paci go nigh-night?” and he would emphatically shake his head and say “no.” Thankfully it really didn’t affect his mood…he did really well.
We ended the afternoon by getting Dippin Dots (my favorite) and just sitting and eating them. After that we dodged the rain drops and went home. The rest of the evening was relaxed and low-key while I made fried chicken for dinner and the kids played with John. We watched as it rained and then sleeted and then snowed all evening, very thankful that we didn’t have to go to work the next morning.
Friday we were awoken to John’s phone ringing. He finally got up and answered it and found out one of his clients was having a computer emergency. So he went into the office “for a couple of hours” (yeah right…I know what that means when he says it!), and the kids and I hung out all day. We had woken up to everything being covered with snow. No one had predicted this and the road crews certainly weren’t ready for it…it took John over an hour to get to work and it wasn’t even rush hour!
While the kids were napping (well, Ryan was, Kylie and Josh were “attempting to nap”), my neighbor came over and we discussed some recent events surrounding some recent events involving another neighbor, and then John finally came home!
That night was house church followed by the Buckeye basketball game. I had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone and we had some really good food to eat!
Saturday we went to a local market to get some cheap lunch meat and other goodies (like donuts, which Ryan of course loved), and then I took Kylie to gymnastics. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to watch her, and I had so much fun seeing all of the new things she has learned! The rest of the day was spent with my sister getting her wedding invitations squared away. Some of her bridesmaids will be over this next Saturday to assemble all of them, so we wanted to make sure we had everything planned out.
Saturday evening Ryan started with a runny nose. I put him to bed, and at 10:00 he was up again, cranky. I started to get frustrated, but then I realized how lucky we had been this winter with no sickness, and I haven’t been up with Ryan in so long, so I really didn’t have a right to complain! I got him back to sleep, but he was up again around 12:00, and spent the rest of the night in our bed constantly waking up. At 6:00 AM he was up for good, so I took him down to the couch and we watched “choo-choos” (Thomas). Kylie and Josh came down at 6:30, which is so early for them, but with Ryan being so loud it was no surprise they couldn’t sleep! Josh told me as he climbed onto the couch that he just couldn’t fall asleep. I told him that was fine, he would just need to take a good nap that afternoon. Come to find out, he thought he had been up all night! He thought he had never fallen asleep at all!
Around 8:00 Ryan was ready to go back to sleep, so I laid him in his crib and I climbed into my bed. John took the other two kids to church, and Ryan and I were able to get some much needed sleep!
The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, playing, and wiping Ryan’s nose! He ended up taking three naps throughout the day and really was in a pretty good mood considering how sick he was.
John and I cleaned out our coat closets this weekend in hopes that by putting away all of the snow stuff we would be done with cold weather. I was a little worried because as evidenced this past weekend, you never know what the weather will do! But in seeing the weather reports, we’re supposed to get in the mid 70’s the second half of this week, with clear and sunny skies. I really hope that the warm weather is here to stay this time…I’m done with being cold!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Plans For The Weekend...
The last part of this week has been absolutely gorgeous! I have gone out for lunch (not really to eat, just to run errands) and it has been sunny and beautiful, and then when I get home from work, I run inside and change my clothes as fast as possible and head back outside until we’re all so hungry we have to go in to eat.
Last night our fantastic Bobcats played their hearts out and upset Georgetown, beating them 97 – 83. I am a die-hard Bobcat fan…we obviously have a huge history with that school, but I was expecting them to follow their normal path…get so close and blow it. I’m so glad that they didn’t, and now there are rumors about a possible Bobcat/Buckeye meeting…that would be a hard game to watch!
I’m only working a ½ day today…it’s going to be so gorgeous that I can’t stay inside another afternoon! John and I are also taking some time off next week since it’s spring break. We’re having a hard time with the fact that last year at this time we were in Florida, but I just can’t imagine traveling with Ryan, so while I miss the beach, I don’t miss the headache of trying to occupy an 18 month-old on a plane for hours :)
Tonight we have house church (yeah!), followed by the Buckeye game which will keep us up late and on the edge of our seats I’m sure. Tomorrow I have a brunch with some girls from church (we make omelets in a ziplock bag?), and then it’s going to be another gorgeous day, so I hope to spend the afternoon outside!
Sunday is John’s birthday! He hasn’t really told me what he wants to do yet, and I feel bad for him because it’s just us…everyone from our family is gone :( But I’ll cook him whatever he wants to eat, make him a cake, and we’ll give him his presents. No matter what, nothing can compare to spending his birthday at Disney like we did last year :(
Hopefully it will be a great weekend and we’ll get to enjoy the gorgeous weather as much as possible!
Last night our fantastic Bobcats played their hearts out and upset Georgetown, beating them 97 – 83. I am a die-hard Bobcat fan…we obviously have a huge history with that school, but I was expecting them to follow their normal path…get so close and blow it. I’m so glad that they didn’t, and now there are rumors about a possible Bobcat/Buckeye meeting…that would be a hard game to watch!
I’m only working a ½ day today…it’s going to be so gorgeous that I can’t stay inside another afternoon! John and I are also taking some time off next week since it’s spring break. We’re having a hard time with the fact that last year at this time we were in Florida, but I just can’t imagine traveling with Ryan, so while I miss the beach, I don’t miss the headache of trying to occupy an 18 month-old on a plane for hours :)
Tonight we have house church (yeah!), followed by the Buckeye game which will keep us up late and on the edge of our seats I’m sure. Tomorrow I have a brunch with some girls from church (we make omelets in a ziplock bag?), and then it’s going to be another gorgeous day, so I hope to spend the afternoon outside!
Sunday is John’s birthday! He hasn’t really told me what he wants to do yet, and I feel bad for him because it’s just us…everyone from our family is gone :( But I’ll cook him whatever he wants to eat, make him a cake, and we’ll give him his presents. No matter what, nothing can compare to spending his birthday at Disney like we did last year :(
Hopefully it will be a great weekend and we’ll get to enjoy the gorgeous weather as much as possible!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Spring is Coming!
Good-bye winter!
The last few days have been wonderful. Partly because it’s still light out at 7:30, and partly because we have had some warm weather.
Monday night John took Josh to their last CBJ game this season. They went early so they could watch them practice, at which, one of the players threw Joshie a practice puck! Actually, he threw it over to John who gave it to Joshie. It says “Official NHL Practice Puck” on it and Josh was so excited!
While they were at the game, Kylie and I ran to the store while my mom was with Ryan, who was taking a really late nap. I had a lot of fun going with just Kylie! What surprised me was that she wanted to ride in the racecar cart. I thought she’d be so embarrassed, but she wasn’t, and I certainly didn’t want to say anything to her, so off we went.
When we got home, she wanted to make us dinner. A long time ago she saw a “recipe” for a meal in her kids’ cookbook, and ever since then it’s been her signature dish. So she got out all the ingredients and made her peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches for everyone. Basically, she uses a hot dog bun, spreads peanut butter and jelly on each side, and then puts the banana in like a hot dog. For Ryan, we just spread peanut butter and jelly on a banana and cut it up for him. I was fully prepared to give him a bath right after dinner since it would be a messy, sticky dinner, but he refused to eat it with his hands! He made me give him a fork and he was almost perfectly clean after dinner – no bath needed! Granted, I had to help him get almost every piece on the fork, but after that he was fine.
After dinner, my mom, Kylie, Ryan and I went downstairs. Ryan wanted to go down in the basement because that’s where the trains are, and Kylie wanted to play in the playroom (her mat and beam were there and she wanted to do gymnastics). So I stood by the door watching Ryan, and helped Kylie with her back handsprings. She’s pretty much got them by herself, I’m so proud of her! Then Ryan came up and we all played on the mat and wrestled and chased each other. Ryan found one of Joshie’s old ambulances that makes the siren noise and then goes by itself and he was in heaven!
Then Kylie went up to bed, I put Ryan to bed, and my mom went home. I made myself some dessert and settled on the couch to watch one of my favorite shows (Being Erica) that I’m of course, way behind on (thank goodness for DVR – so cliché but it’s true). I heard the ambulance noises through the monitor, so I knew that Ryan was playing for a while before falling asleep. John and Josh got home around 10:00 and the three of us watched some TV together and ate some snacks. I left them and went upstairs to bed around 11:00.
Last night it was gorgeous out! I got home and the kids were all playing on the swingset. I changed my clothes quickly and headed out. I took Ryan on the trampoline for the first time and he loved it! It took him a while to figure out how to walk, and he really didn’t want me to hold him and jump…he just wanted to walk around. After that we all headed up to the front yard and I took turns playing tennis with each kid out in the court. Even Ryan! Although he was playing golf/hockey with his racket and ball. Our neighbors came out when they got home and the kids all played together while we talked. I can’t wait for summer…this is a nightly occurrence in the summer, and there’s no worry about it getting chilly like it eventually did last night. And I wouldn’t have to worry about going in and making dinner because we would be grilling out!
The rest of the night was spent eating dinner, talking to Kylie, playing with the boys, and then bedtime. After the Cavs game, Joshie came up and laid with me in bed. It’s so sad to think that these precious times will be ending soon. This summer Kylie won’t have a reason to have to go to bed early, and then next year Joshie will have to go to bed early since he’ll be in school. So I’m treasuring this special alone time John and I get with him each night.
Today is supposed to be even nicer than yesterday, so I’m sure that after work we will be playing outside again and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine!
The last few days have been wonderful. Partly because it’s still light out at 7:30, and partly because we have had some warm weather.
Monday night John took Josh to their last CBJ game this season. They went early so they could watch them practice, at which, one of the players threw Joshie a practice puck! Actually, he threw it over to John who gave it to Joshie. It says “Official NHL Practice Puck” on it and Josh was so excited!
While they were at the game, Kylie and I ran to the store while my mom was with Ryan, who was taking a really late nap. I had a lot of fun going with just Kylie! What surprised me was that she wanted to ride in the racecar cart. I thought she’d be so embarrassed, but she wasn’t, and I certainly didn’t want to say anything to her, so off we went.
When we got home, she wanted to make us dinner. A long time ago she saw a “recipe” for a meal in her kids’ cookbook, and ever since then it’s been her signature dish. So she got out all the ingredients and made her peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches for everyone. Basically, she uses a hot dog bun, spreads peanut butter and jelly on each side, and then puts the banana in like a hot dog. For Ryan, we just spread peanut butter and jelly on a banana and cut it up for him. I was fully prepared to give him a bath right after dinner since it would be a messy, sticky dinner, but he refused to eat it with his hands! He made me give him a fork and he was almost perfectly clean after dinner – no bath needed! Granted, I had to help him get almost every piece on the fork, but after that he was fine.
After dinner, my mom, Kylie, Ryan and I went downstairs. Ryan wanted to go down in the basement because that’s where the trains are, and Kylie wanted to play in the playroom (her mat and beam were there and she wanted to do gymnastics). So I stood by the door watching Ryan, and helped Kylie with her back handsprings. She’s pretty much got them by herself, I’m so proud of her! Then Ryan came up and we all played on the mat and wrestled and chased each other. Ryan found one of Joshie’s old ambulances that makes the siren noise and then goes by itself and he was in heaven!
Then Kylie went up to bed, I put Ryan to bed, and my mom went home. I made myself some dessert and settled on the couch to watch one of my favorite shows (Being Erica) that I’m of course, way behind on (thank goodness for DVR – so cliché but it’s true). I heard the ambulance noises through the monitor, so I knew that Ryan was playing for a while before falling asleep. John and Josh got home around 10:00 and the three of us watched some TV together and ate some snacks. I left them and went upstairs to bed around 11:00.
Last night it was gorgeous out! I got home and the kids were all playing on the swingset. I changed my clothes quickly and headed out. I took Ryan on the trampoline for the first time and he loved it! It took him a while to figure out how to walk, and he really didn’t want me to hold him and jump…he just wanted to walk around. After that we all headed up to the front yard and I took turns playing tennis with each kid out in the court. Even Ryan! Although he was playing golf/hockey with his racket and ball. Our neighbors came out when they got home and the kids all played together while we talked. I can’t wait for summer…this is a nightly occurrence in the summer, and there’s no worry about it getting chilly like it eventually did last night. And I wouldn’t have to worry about going in and making dinner because we would be grilling out!
The rest of the night was spent eating dinner, talking to Kylie, playing with the boys, and then bedtime. After the Cavs game, Joshie came up and laid with me in bed. It’s so sad to think that these precious times will be ending soon. This summer Kylie won’t have a reason to have to go to bed early, and then next year Joshie will have to go to bed early since he’ll be in school. So I’m treasuring this special alone time John and I get with him each night.
Today is supposed to be even nicer than yesterday, so I’m sure that after work we will be playing outside again and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
A Relaxing Weekend...
This past weekend was so relaxing!
Friday night was house church, which as always was a lot of fun. That night my dad had all three kids spend the night. I think he’s crazy, but he swears he loves it.
Even without my little alarm clocks, I still woke up at 7:15 on Saturday, which stunk because I really wanted to sleep in. I was able to get a bunch of laundry done and most of our tax return done before heading out with my neighbor to a local farm market. John was supposed to go with me, but as sly as he could, suggested that I ask my neighbor if she would like to go instead, so that he and my neighbor’s husband and all the kids watch basketball. It was a great drive to the country and once we were there we had a great time getting a ton of great deals on lunch meats and cheeses, spices and tons of other cool things.
I came up with the great idea of grabbing a bunch of different things and having the kids make their own trail mix. So I grabbed a bag of min-marshmallows (like the size in hot chocolate but soft!), mini chocolate chips, mini butterscotch chips, mini m&m’s, honey roasted sesame sticks, dried bananas, oyster crackers, and ABC pretzels.
Once we got home we hung out the rest of the day while the guys watched basketball. The kids all played wonderfully in the playroom together! Around dinnertime we decided to order pizza and watch the end of the OU game. Our neighbors went home after that, and my dad took the kids over to his house again (without Kylie because her best friend had come over to spend the night). My sister called me and I ended up talking to her for almost 2 hours!
Sunday we got up and went to church. John and I were teaching and had a blast with the kids! It’s amazing how easy it can be to get away from what you love when you’re in charge of something. John and I spend a lot of time organizing the two kids’ rooms and making sure we get all the kids checked in, etc., and often we forget how much we love being in the room with the kids. We love teaching them and singing songs with them and playing games with them. And most importantly, we love knowing them. Thankfully, with house church (a large amount of the kids in our Sunday school room also come to our house church), and our personalities, we know these kids super well, and they mean a lot to us!
We came home from church and I made “gourmet” grilled cheese with the meat and cheese I had gotten the day before, and then we sent the kids up for naps. Just as we were settling on the couch to watch some TV, each kid came out of their room. First Ryan woke up from his nap, and then Kylie came out saying she couldn’t fall asleep, and then Joshie came out saying the same thing. So we nixed the naps and played. I did get a tiny little nap on the couch for a little bit, which was just enough to give me the energy needed to play with all the kiddos. My dad was over off and on, and then towards the end of the afternoon my mom came over too. After dinner the kids took showers and then Kylie’s hair salon opened. She brushed and colored my hair and I was in heaven! She finished my hair off with a braid – she’s really getting good at them! Then she went down and did my mom’s hair.
After that we packed up the kids and they headed over with my mom. She switched her days watching them and is watching them on Monday this week instead of Friday. So John and I were able to watch some TV together, which was the perfect ending to our wonderful weekend!
Friday night was house church, which as always was a lot of fun. That night my dad had all three kids spend the night. I think he’s crazy, but he swears he loves it.
Even without my little alarm clocks, I still woke up at 7:15 on Saturday, which stunk because I really wanted to sleep in. I was able to get a bunch of laundry done and most of our tax return done before heading out with my neighbor to a local farm market. John was supposed to go with me, but as sly as he could, suggested that I ask my neighbor if she would like to go instead, so that he and my neighbor’s husband and all the kids watch basketball. It was a great drive to the country and once we were there we had a great time getting a ton of great deals on lunch meats and cheeses, spices and tons of other cool things.
I came up with the great idea of grabbing a bunch of different things and having the kids make their own trail mix. So I grabbed a bag of min-marshmallows (like the size in hot chocolate but soft!), mini chocolate chips, mini butterscotch chips, mini m&m’s, honey roasted sesame sticks, dried bananas, oyster crackers, and ABC pretzels.
Once we got home we hung out the rest of the day while the guys watched basketball. The kids all played wonderfully in the playroom together! Around dinnertime we decided to order pizza and watch the end of the OU game. Our neighbors went home after that, and my dad took the kids over to his house again (without Kylie because her best friend had come over to spend the night). My sister called me and I ended up talking to her for almost 2 hours!
Sunday we got up and went to church. John and I were teaching and had a blast with the kids! It’s amazing how easy it can be to get away from what you love when you’re in charge of something. John and I spend a lot of time organizing the two kids’ rooms and making sure we get all the kids checked in, etc., and often we forget how much we love being in the room with the kids. We love teaching them and singing songs with them and playing games with them. And most importantly, we love knowing them. Thankfully, with house church (a large amount of the kids in our Sunday school room also come to our house church), and our personalities, we know these kids super well, and they mean a lot to us!
We came home from church and I made “gourmet” grilled cheese with the meat and cheese I had gotten the day before, and then we sent the kids up for naps. Just as we were settling on the couch to watch some TV, each kid came out of their room. First Ryan woke up from his nap, and then Kylie came out saying she couldn’t fall asleep, and then Joshie came out saying the same thing. So we nixed the naps and played. I did get a tiny little nap on the couch for a little bit, which was just enough to give me the energy needed to play with all the kiddos. My dad was over off and on, and then towards the end of the afternoon my mom came over too. After dinner the kids took showers and then Kylie’s hair salon opened. She brushed and colored my hair and I was in heaven! She finished my hair off with a braid – she’s really getting good at them! Then she went down and did my mom’s hair.
After that we packed up the kids and they headed over with my mom. She switched her days watching them and is watching them on Monday this week instead of Friday. So John and I were able to watch some TV together, which was the perfect ending to our wonderful weekend!
Monday, March 08, 2010
Recap of A Wonderful Weekend!
What a FABULOUS weekend!
Friday night started with house church. It was already scheduled to be game night, so when I was selected to host a house party for Arnold Sandwich Thins, I decided to incorporate it all in together.
Everyone brought some meat and cheese and some other snacks. We all made sandwiches and ate dinner. The sandwich thins were really, really good! After that the Wii was brought out and a bunch of people played that while the rest of us hung out and talked. It seemed like the night was winding down, but then Catch Phrase was brought out and we played girls against guys and had a ton of fun! We were laughing so hard we cried!
After everyone left we cleaned up the house and packed up our stuff because early the next morning John and I were headed to the slopes! The kids all spent the night with my mom so that we could leave early and not worry about getting them over there and saying “good-bye” in the morning. John and I didn’t get to bed until about 1:00 AM, and we had originally planned on leaving by 7:00. We decided that was still the best plan, and while it was hard getting up, I’m so glad we got out of there early!
We ended up leaving the house around 7:30 AM, and we had a wonderful 2 hour drive up to Akron/Cleveland. We talked the whole time and the drive went by very quickly! We went to the hotel first because they had our lift tickets. We walked into the hotel and it was old and just didn’t look very nice. Then we saw a sign on the desk that said “hot tub closed for maintenance until further notice.” We decided right then that we were cancelling our reservation and finding somewhere else! When we were cancelling it, the lady asked us why, and we told her because the hot tub was broken and we knew after a day of skiing that we would want a hot tub! Her response? “But that’s the only thing that’s broken.” What??? What else would there be? Anyway, we cancelled and moved on!
As we drove to the ski place, we drove through a little town that I had driven through millions of times when I was little. I had grown up (age 9 through age 16) in a town between Cleveland and Akron that was about 10 – 15 minutes away from the ski place, so as we drove through this area, I was bombarding John with all of my memories :) I showed him the road that my dad had me drive on when I was only 14, I showed him a restaurant that we loved to go to after gymnastics sometimes, and of course there was the library that we went to all the time to rent movies. The trip down memory lane was awesome!
We got to the ski place and went and bought our tickets and registered for ski school. This process was interesting…I’m not used to doing something when both of us have no idea what’s going on. I remember skiing when I was little, and we had my uncle and his family who skied all the time, telling us how to do things. This was the blind leading the blind! Thankfully someone lent us skis for me, so we only had to rent John’s. We figured out how to get everything on and headed out for ski school.
We were a little late, and when we got there, it was John and I, and three little kids :) But our instructor was great and we had a lot of fun! Skiing really came back to me, and John caught on really quickly! By the end of school, we only had to go down the bunny hill one more time and then we were ready to move up!
We found a hill (blue) that was a little harder and more fun! It took us a while to gain confidence, but after a few runs, we were flying down the hill! There was a little boy in our class at ski school on that hill with his dad…he was doing so well, and we would learn throughout the day that all of us would be progressing through the hills around the same time.
Around lunch time, we decided to head to the lodge and grab some food. At the top of the hill, we saw our instructor and another teacher and chatted with them for a while. They gave us some more pointers, and led us back to the lodge. At the lodge we had a great lunch and I called the kids for the first time. I talked to Josh and Ryan, and they were both having a lot of fun. Josh was following my dad on a map as he was making his way up from Athens. Kylie had gone ice skating with a friend.
After lunch we headed back to that same hill (because John was afraid he had forgotten how to do it), and after one run, we realized we were ready to move on. We headed to the complete opposite side of the mountain and found a hill that had some jumps on it! It also had a straight, flat part, so we started on that and gradually started going on the jump hills – slowly at first and gaining confidence each time, until finally, we were getting some air!
The last 4 runs or so were very frustrating for me…there were little kids (I mean little – around age 4 or 5) going down this hill, and they were not going very fast. The hill was narrow, so it was super hard to pass them, and I spent the whole time going down the hill worried about hitting them and not being able to hit the jumps because they were in the way. Their parents were right there with them and really didn’t care that they were holding people up. The last time I told John and I was done and was too frustrated to keep skiing. So we went up one last time so that we could take a different route and ski easily back to the lodge. On our way up we saw our little friend from ski school skiing down the hill with his dad. His dad was in front and about halfway down the hill, the kid fell. He was fine, but his skis came off and his dad had no idea until he was at the bottom of the hill. The kid was able to move off to the side, and John and I skied down as fast as we could to help him out. We stopped and helped him get his skis back on, and then the three of us skied down to his dad. John and I decided we were tired and ready to go home (we had skied from 10:30 – 3:30!). The kid’s dad was really thankful and it felt so good ending the day with helping him out. It’s so obvious how much John and I enjoy kids – other than being frustrated with them slowing me down on the hill, we have such patience and love for all kids!
We packed everything up and left the slopes not knowing exactly where we were going. We decided to heat back to the town I grew up in so that I could show John around and see if we could find a place to sit and look up hotel rooms online. I showed John the McDonald’s that my sisters and I used to ride our bikes to everyday in the summer to get chicken nuggets to eat while we watched Days of Our Lives. I showed John my old house, and the woods I used to play in and the lake I swam in everyday. I had so much fun remembering all of the good times I had had as a kid in that little town.
We found a Panera and got a drink and looked up hotels. My mom had reminded me about a place that was in Akron that had lots of little shops and had a hotel attached. I loved that place so I was excited to see the prices were reasonable. We headed over there and went in to check on a room. They informed us that there were no King rooms left, only double beds, and the hot tub was broken. We decided to keep looking.
We decided to stay at a hotel that my family had stayed at when they came to visit us when we were younger. We checked in and immediately went to the hot tub! We had the whole pool room to ourselves for a while, and it was so nice to relax our sore muscles! As we were getting out, a large number of kids came in to the pool area and ended up getting in the hot tub. I was glad we were leaving!
Our room was a gorgeous suite with a king size bed in its own bedroom, and a pull-out couch and desk and TV in another room. We showered and got ready for dinner, and sat and watched some TV.
We decided to go to dinner at the hotel restaurant that overlooked the river. We had a table right by the windows and the ambiance was perfect! The food was amazing…we had the best lobster bisque that we have ever had!
Then we went and crashed! The early start to the day along with the skiing had finally hit us!
I slept in until about 9:30, which of course is unheard of for me! I got up, and John and I watched some super cheesy movies on TV, and then we headed out for lunch and our trip home. I called Kylie and updated her as we passed major intersections so she could follow us home on a map (Dad’s idea of course and a really good one!). We ended up getting home around 2:30.
Friday night started with house church. It was already scheduled to be game night, so when I was selected to host a house party for Arnold Sandwich Thins, I decided to incorporate it all in together.
Everyone brought some meat and cheese and some other snacks. We all made sandwiches and ate dinner. The sandwich thins were really, really good! After that the Wii was brought out and a bunch of people played that while the rest of us hung out and talked. It seemed like the night was winding down, but then Catch Phrase was brought out and we played girls against guys and had a ton of fun! We were laughing so hard we cried!
After everyone left we cleaned up the house and packed up our stuff because early the next morning John and I were headed to the slopes! The kids all spent the night with my mom so that we could leave early and not worry about getting them over there and saying “good-bye” in the morning. John and I didn’t get to bed until about 1:00 AM, and we had originally planned on leaving by 7:00. We decided that was still the best plan, and while it was hard getting up, I’m so glad we got out of there early!
We ended up leaving the house around 7:30 AM, and we had a wonderful 2 hour drive up to Akron/Cleveland. We talked the whole time and the drive went by very quickly! We went to the hotel first because they had our lift tickets. We walked into the hotel and it was old and just didn’t look very nice. Then we saw a sign on the desk that said “hot tub closed for maintenance until further notice.” We decided right then that we were cancelling our reservation and finding somewhere else! When we were cancelling it, the lady asked us why, and we told her because the hot tub was broken and we knew after a day of skiing that we would want a hot tub! Her response? “But that’s the only thing that’s broken.” What??? What else would there be? Anyway, we cancelled and moved on!
As we drove to the ski place, we drove through a little town that I had driven through millions of times when I was little. I had grown up (age 9 through age 16) in a town between Cleveland and Akron that was about 10 – 15 minutes away from the ski place, so as we drove through this area, I was bombarding John with all of my memories :) I showed him the road that my dad had me drive on when I was only 14, I showed him a restaurant that we loved to go to after gymnastics sometimes, and of course there was the library that we went to all the time to rent movies. The trip down memory lane was awesome!
We got to the ski place and went and bought our tickets and registered for ski school. This process was interesting…I’m not used to doing something when both of us have no idea what’s going on. I remember skiing when I was little, and we had my uncle and his family who skied all the time, telling us how to do things. This was the blind leading the blind! Thankfully someone lent us skis for me, so we only had to rent John’s. We figured out how to get everything on and headed out for ski school.
We were a little late, and when we got there, it was John and I, and three little kids :) But our instructor was great and we had a lot of fun! Skiing really came back to me, and John caught on really quickly! By the end of school, we only had to go down the bunny hill one more time and then we were ready to move up!
We found a hill (blue) that was a little harder and more fun! It took us a while to gain confidence, but after a few runs, we were flying down the hill! There was a little boy in our class at ski school on that hill with his dad…he was doing so well, and we would learn throughout the day that all of us would be progressing through the hills around the same time.
Around lunch time, we decided to head to the lodge and grab some food. At the top of the hill, we saw our instructor and another teacher and chatted with them for a while. They gave us some more pointers, and led us back to the lodge. At the lodge we had a great lunch and I called the kids for the first time. I talked to Josh and Ryan, and they were both having a lot of fun. Josh was following my dad on a map as he was making his way up from Athens. Kylie had gone ice skating with a friend.
After lunch we headed back to that same hill (because John was afraid he had forgotten how to do it), and after one run, we realized we were ready to move on. We headed to the complete opposite side of the mountain and found a hill that had some jumps on it! It also had a straight, flat part, so we started on that and gradually started going on the jump hills – slowly at first and gaining confidence each time, until finally, we were getting some air!
The last 4 runs or so were very frustrating for me…there were little kids (I mean little – around age 4 or 5) going down this hill, and they were not going very fast. The hill was narrow, so it was super hard to pass them, and I spent the whole time going down the hill worried about hitting them and not being able to hit the jumps because they were in the way. Their parents were right there with them and really didn’t care that they were holding people up. The last time I told John and I was done and was too frustrated to keep skiing. So we went up one last time so that we could take a different route and ski easily back to the lodge. On our way up we saw our little friend from ski school skiing down the hill with his dad. His dad was in front and about halfway down the hill, the kid fell. He was fine, but his skis came off and his dad had no idea until he was at the bottom of the hill. The kid was able to move off to the side, and John and I skied down as fast as we could to help him out. We stopped and helped him get his skis back on, and then the three of us skied down to his dad. John and I decided we were tired and ready to go home (we had skied from 10:30 – 3:30!). The kid’s dad was really thankful and it felt so good ending the day with helping him out. It’s so obvious how much John and I enjoy kids – other than being frustrated with them slowing me down on the hill, we have such patience and love for all kids!
We packed everything up and left the slopes not knowing exactly where we were going. We decided to heat back to the town I grew up in so that I could show John around and see if we could find a place to sit and look up hotel rooms online. I showed John the McDonald’s that my sisters and I used to ride our bikes to everyday in the summer to get chicken nuggets to eat while we watched Days of Our Lives. I showed John my old house, and the woods I used to play in and the lake I swam in everyday. I had so much fun remembering all of the good times I had had as a kid in that little town.
We found a Panera and got a drink and looked up hotels. My mom had reminded me about a place that was in Akron that had lots of little shops and had a hotel attached. I loved that place so I was excited to see the prices were reasonable. We headed over there and went in to check on a room. They informed us that there were no King rooms left, only double beds, and the hot tub was broken. We decided to keep looking.
We decided to stay at a hotel that my family had stayed at when they came to visit us when we were younger. We checked in and immediately went to the hot tub! We had the whole pool room to ourselves for a while, and it was so nice to relax our sore muscles! As we were getting out, a large number of kids came in to the pool area and ended up getting in the hot tub. I was glad we were leaving!
Our room was a gorgeous suite with a king size bed in its own bedroom, and a pull-out couch and desk and TV in another room. We showered and got ready for dinner, and sat and watched some TV.
We decided to go to dinner at the hotel restaurant that overlooked the river. We had a table right by the windows and the ambiance was perfect! The food was amazing…we had the best lobster bisque that we have ever had!
Then we went and crashed! The early start to the day along with the skiing had finally hit us!
I slept in until about 9:30, which of course is unheard of for me! I got up, and John and I watched some super cheesy movies on TV, and then we headed out for lunch and our trip home. I called Kylie and updated her as we passed major intersections so she could follow us home on a map (Dad’s idea of course and a really good one!). We ended up getting home around 2:30.
When we got home the kids were so happy to see us! I could tell my parents looked a little worn out (though they would never admit it), so I scooped up the kids and took them home so that my parents could rest. John took Josh and Kylie outside for a while, and Kylie rode her bike, and then they played baseball with the neighbor kids. Ryan took a nap, and then when Kylie came in, we painted our nails.
We ended the day with a dinner of turkey and stuffing and mashed potato leftovers from my mom’s dinner the night before, and then we all played Uno Attack (even Ry-Ry!) and drank milkshakes. The kids headed to bed afterwards and John and I watched a little TV before going to bed.
The weekend was one of the best in a long, long time. I can’t remember the last time that John and I went away together, alone. I’m so grateful for my parents and their generosity in watching the kids. I’m so glad that they know how important it is for John and I to get some time together. Every time I tried to thank them they kept telling me that they should be thanking me, that they love watching the kids and that we need to get away more often.
They are right…I can’t describe how much better I feel today…even though it’s Monday I feel so refreshed and so happy!
Friday, March 05, 2010
A Fun Weekend Ahead!
Last night was a very refreshing night for me…I go to go to my monthly dinner with some friends. It’s been a while since we’ve had dinner together, and it felt so good to get together. We went to Applebee’s for their happy hour specials, ordered drinks right away, and stayed for almost 3 hours!
When I got home, John had already taken the kids over to my mom’s, so I went over there to kiss them goodnight, and then John and I settled on the couch to watch “our show” (The Mentalist).
Tonight we have house church, and it’s going to be extra fun because it’s game night. I’m hosting another house party, this time for Sandwich Thins, so we’ll have sandwiches and snacks for dinner, and then we’ll bring out the games and hopefully have a fun night.
Tomorrow John and I are headed 2 hours north to go skiing. Of course we’re going on the Saturday that it’s supposed to be in the mid-40’s, but I’ve heard that it will not be that warm up where we’re going. I bought John a gift certificate for Christmas a year ago – he’s never been skiing. We didn’t use it last year because our weekends were so busy. With January and February being my busy time, it’s hard to carve out a weekend.
The gift certificate expires 2 years after purchase, and since we don’t get much snow before Christmas, that meant that we had to use it this winter. No problem! We scheduled a weekend in February – had my parents all set up to watch the kids and the hotel room booked, and then a church thing that John was a part of got pushed back a week, so we had to reschedule…to this weekend :)
I used to ski a lot when I was younger, but that was 15 years ago. Each day I’m getting more and more nervous. It’s amazing how fearless you are as a kid…I never thought anything about skiing down a big hill, but now, the bunny hill scares me :) I’m sure I’ll be fine once I get back out there, and luckily John is very adventurous, so I’m sure as soon as we have our lessons, he’ll be ready to tackle the big hills too!
We haven’t decided if we’re going to spend the night yet or not. With having to bring all the kids’ stuff for church and the fact that my parents will have the kids for so many days, I feel bad trying to spend the night, but we’ll see. Either way, it will be so much fun to get away with John. We used to do fun activities all the time when we were dating and early in our marriage. But with kids, of course, it’s harder to do that stuff. So I’m really looking forward to this! I just hope we don’t break our legs…or our necks!
When I got home, John had already taken the kids over to my mom’s, so I went over there to kiss them goodnight, and then John and I settled on the couch to watch “our show” (The Mentalist).
Tonight we have house church, and it’s going to be extra fun because it’s game night. I’m hosting another house party, this time for Sandwich Thins, so we’ll have sandwiches and snacks for dinner, and then we’ll bring out the games and hopefully have a fun night.
Tomorrow John and I are headed 2 hours north to go skiing. Of course we’re going on the Saturday that it’s supposed to be in the mid-40’s, but I’ve heard that it will not be that warm up where we’re going. I bought John a gift certificate for Christmas a year ago – he’s never been skiing. We didn’t use it last year because our weekends were so busy. With January and February being my busy time, it’s hard to carve out a weekend.
The gift certificate expires 2 years after purchase, and since we don’t get much snow before Christmas, that meant that we had to use it this winter. No problem! We scheduled a weekend in February – had my parents all set up to watch the kids and the hotel room booked, and then a church thing that John was a part of got pushed back a week, so we had to reschedule…to this weekend :)
I used to ski a lot when I was younger, but that was 15 years ago. Each day I’m getting more and more nervous. It’s amazing how fearless you are as a kid…I never thought anything about skiing down a big hill, but now, the bunny hill scares me :) I’m sure I’ll be fine once I get back out there, and luckily John is very adventurous, so I’m sure as soon as we have our lessons, he’ll be ready to tackle the big hills too!
We haven’t decided if we’re going to spend the night yet or not. With having to bring all the kids’ stuff for church and the fact that my parents will have the kids for so many days, I feel bad trying to spend the night, but we’ll see. Either way, it will be so much fun to get away with John. We used to do fun activities all the time when we were dating and early in our marriage. But with kids, of course, it’s harder to do that stuff. So I’m really looking forward to this! I just hope we don’t break our legs…or our necks!
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
13 Years Ago...
13 years ago today John and I started “going out.” I really feel old when I realize that I have been out of high school for nearly 13 years now :)
It’s amazing to think that the person your son or daughter brings home in high school could end up being their husband or wife down the road.
I’ll never forget March 3, 1997…John and I had been talking a little bit in school, and he knew that I liked him. That Monday I realized that John was not in school. This was very unusual for him, but I went about my day.
A few periods later, someone came up to me and asked me if I had heard about John’s house and seen the paper. I had not, and when they showed me I was stunned, yet I did laugh a little. There on the front page of the Athens News was John, picking up debris from his front yard. His house had flooded with the recent rain.
I know John went to basketball practice after school (that will play into more of the story later). The details of the night are a little fuzzy after 13 years, but I think I remember the important parts :) I think John called me after practice to see if I wanted to do something. I of course said “yes,” and he picked me up in his old red truck. There were a lot of towels on the seats because his truck had been flooded, so the seats were wet. He needed something at his house, so we went over there. Not only did I see his house and yard a crazy mess, I got to meet his parents for the first time (I’m sure they were super thrilled to be meeting what they though at the time was some girlfriend of John’s when they were in the middle of a family disaster). Then we had to go over to the OU basketball game because some guys from John’s basketball team were there and he had left his wallet at practice (pretty hard to take a girl out on a date when you don’t have your wallet to pay for it). We spent a long time walking through the convo trying to find these guys (because John’s a guy, and why would he find out where they were ahead of time?) and while John was cutting edge and had a cell phone, most other kids did not.
Now remember, John and I had only been talking at school for a week or so…all of this craziness should have been red flags for me to run! This was crazy…a dude whose bed was “floating down the creek” and who couldn’t keep track of his money! But he was adorable, and such a nice guy that I just smiled and stood by his side as we searched for the guys.
I can’t remember if they guys had his wallet or not. I’m guessing they did because we then went to Dairy Queen (for some reason I don’t remember paying, and knowing John’s personality, there’s no way we would have been able to go have fun knowing he had no idea where his wallet was). We got ice cream and headed to Stroud’s Run, which was the huge lake/picnic area in our town. I remember the moon was bright, and I thought I remembered it being warm, but considering it was March 3rd, and seeing snow on the ground outside my window right now, that memory might be a little fuzzy.
John took me home and once in the driveway he “asked me out.” For my kids reading this years in the future, that meant that we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. He walked me to my door and while we were talking his truck rolled down the driveway. Neither of us will forget that moment, ever. He yelled that he would see me at school the next day as he ran to stop his truck (which thankfully didn’t hit anything!).
13 years, 3 kids, millions of smiles and tears and several family floods later, I’m still here, smiling and standing right beside him.
It’s amazing to think that the person your son or daughter brings home in high school could end up being their husband or wife down the road.
I’ll never forget March 3, 1997…John and I had been talking a little bit in school, and he knew that I liked him. That Monday I realized that John was not in school. This was very unusual for him, but I went about my day.
A few periods later, someone came up to me and asked me if I had heard about John’s house and seen the paper. I had not, and when they showed me I was stunned, yet I did laugh a little. There on the front page of the Athens News was John, picking up debris from his front yard. His house had flooded with the recent rain.
I know John went to basketball practice after school (that will play into more of the story later). The details of the night are a little fuzzy after 13 years, but I think I remember the important parts :) I think John called me after practice to see if I wanted to do something. I of course said “yes,” and he picked me up in his old red truck. There were a lot of towels on the seats because his truck had been flooded, so the seats were wet. He needed something at his house, so we went over there. Not only did I see his house and yard a crazy mess, I got to meet his parents for the first time (I’m sure they were super thrilled to be meeting what they though at the time was some girlfriend of John’s when they were in the middle of a family disaster). Then we had to go over to the OU basketball game because some guys from John’s basketball team were there and he had left his wallet at practice (pretty hard to take a girl out on a date when you don’t have your wallet to pay for it). We spent a long time walking through the convo trying to find these guys (because John’s a guy, and why would he find out where they were ahead of time?) and while John was cutting edge and had a cell phone, most other kids did not.
Now remember, John and I had only been talking at school for a week or so…all of this craziness should have been red flags for me to run! This was crazy…a dude whose bed was “floating down the creek” and who couldn’t keep track of his money! But he was adorable, and such a nice guy that I just smiled and stood by his side as we searched for the guys.
I can’t remember if they guys had his wallet or not. I’m guessing they did because we then went to Dairy Queen (for some reason I don’t remember paying, and knowing John’s personality, there’s no way we would have been able to go have fun knowing he had no idea where his wallet was). We got ice cream and headed to Stroud’s Run, which was the huge lake/picnic area in our town. I remember the moon was bright, and I thought I remembered it being warm, but considering it was March 3rd, and seeing snow on the ground outside my window right now, that memory might be a little fuzzy.
John took me home and once in the driveway he “asked me out.” For my kids reading this years in the future, that meant that we were officially boyfriend and girlfriend. He walked me to my door and while we were talking his truck rolled down the driveway. Neither of us will forget that moment, ever. He yelled that he would see me at school the next day as he ran to stop his truck (which thankfully didn’t hit anything!).
13 years, 3 kids, millions of smiles and tears and several family floods later, I’m still here, smiling and standing right beside him.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
A CBJ Date Night...
Last night Joshie and I had a date night. John had a meeting and was going to the OSU basketball game, so my mom came up and watched Kylie and Ryan so that Josh would still get to go to the CBJ game.
I loaded him up and we headed downtown to the CBJ game. It sounds silly, but I was a little nervous heading down there by myself and trying to find a place to park and everything. It’s silly because I used to work downtown, and had to park and walk every single day. But with not being down there by myself in over six years, it was a tiny bit intimidating. I was also worried about Joshie walking all the way from the car to the arena…normally John carries him on his shoulders the whole way, and I knew there was no way I could do that, at least not the whole way.
But I went ahead and Joshie and I had no problems getting there, parked and in to watch warm-ups. Joshie walked the whole way without a single problem or complaint! After warm-ups we headed up to our seats and listened to both National Anthems (because we were playing Vancuver) and cheered as they announced all of the players that had played on Olympic teams.
The first period lasted an hour! They stopped that clock so many times! At intermission, Joshie and I headed down to get hot chocolate and dippin dots. Then we watched the rest of the second period, and then he said he wanted to head out so that he could play in the game that was going on at home (CBJ vs. San Jose). I was so proud of Joshie because yet again, he walked the whole way with no problems (he actually ran a lot of the way pretending he was Mario).
When we left, CBJ was ahead 3 to 2, which means that we get free Chili from Wendy’s today (whenever CJB scores 3 goals, you can take your ticket into Wendy’s the next day for free chili), but then ended up losing in OT.
The night ended with CBJ winning in Joshie’s game, and him climbing into bed with me and me scratching his back while he fell asleep.
I loaded him up and we headed downtown to the CBJ game. It sounds silly, but I was a little nervous heading down there by myself and trying to find a place to park and everything. It’s silly because I used to work downtown, and had to park and walk every single day. But with not being down there by myself in over six years, it was a tiny bit intimidating. I was also worried about Joshie walking all the way from the car to the arena…normally John carries him on his shoulders the whole way, and I knew there was no way I could do that, at least not the whole way.
But I went ahead and Joshie and I had no problems getting there, parked and in to watch warm-ups. Joshie walked the whole way without a single problem or complaint! After warm-ups we headed up to our seats and listened to both National Anthems (because we were playing Vancuver) and cheered as they announced all of the players that had played on Olympic teams.
The first period lasted an hour! They stopped that clock so many times! At intermission, Joshie and I headed down to get hot chocolate and dippin dots. Then we watched the rest of the second period, and then he said he wanted to head out so that he could play in the game that was going on at home (CBJ vs. San Jose). I was so proud of Joshie because yet again, he walked the whole way with no problems (he actually ran a lot of the way pretending he was Mario).
When we left, CBJ was ahead 3 to 2, which means that we get free Chili from Wendy’s today (whenever CJB scores 3 goals, you can take your ticket into Wendy’s the next day for free chili), but then ended up losing in OT.
The night ended with CBJ winning in Joshie’s game, and him climbing into bed with me and me scratching his back while he fell asleep.
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