Recap

There has been so much to do with the holidays and just stuff in general for the kids that blogging has taken a backseat.

Cooper is getting way too big. And I know that he is growing up but when I saw this picture I just couldn't believe that he is so big!
Cooper has been talking about himself in the 3rd person lately and it cracks me up every time! The other day I was driving to Tar-jay and he says "Where is Cooper going?" and I told him then he says "Where is Cooper going after that?" He does it a lot lately and it makes me laugh =) Last month Cooper and I went and looked at a preschool for him and he was so excited! As I checked out the school he jumped right in and started playing. It was nice but I really like the preschool Madison is in so I have to decide if I just pick him up early every day or look at more schools. The one we looked at was fantastic until I asked about parent participation and she told me that they don't really do that. I left a message about another school and the lady called back and said "I understand you are looking for DAY CARE" and I said I'm not looking for day care I am looking for a preschool and she says "Oh that is what I meant". Ummm yeah no thanks. I don't know what I am going to do with him for preschool yet. I wish I didn't love St Johns so much!!

Madison had a Thanksgiving feast at school and I was pleasantly surprised. She is very shy. She wants to join in and play but is just so shy. Her teachers have been pushing her to interact with the other kids which is great. So at the feast some of the girls were building with the blocks and she jumped right in and started playing!!! This is huge for her. She was also talking to a little girl at the pool the other day and when someone asks her a question most of the time she will answer them now. I picked her up from the school the other day and she says to me "Abby and Jenna are my best friends!" Oh how that made my heart smile!


My little kiddos are growing up so fast!

It fell on the floor.

The other day Madison and I made apple doodle cookies. And I told her that she could have one if she ate all her dinner. In our house if you want a treat you have to eat good meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then you can have a treat after dinner.

So we were upstairs getting Cooper up from his nap and she said that she needed to go downstairs and get the dinosaur she had made Cooper. I asked her to grab my phone while she was downstairs. After a few minutes I called down to her to see what was taking so long and she said that she was looking for my phone.

She gets back upstairs and I look at her and she has crumbs all over her face! I asked her what she had been doing downstairs and she told me nothing like 5 times. (Now I was laughing so hard that I could hardly talk to her!) So she finally says that a cookie fell on the floor and she had to clean it up!!! And by clean it up she meant she had to eat it. I was absolutely dying with laughter. However, she didn't get any more cookies after dinner!

Now that is a BAD week.

Apparently my family is falling apart. I got a string of bad news all in the span of a week. It was actually more like a few days.

Shana's autopsy results came back. They said she died of cardiac arrest due to massive lung failure. Which is kind of obvious. According to the doctor there was a genetic anomaly that contributed to that but I still have not heard what that is.

Dawn, my SIL and Shana's mom, was told that she may have cervical cancer. She had an abnormal pap smear after my nephew was born (4 1/2 years ago). She buried her head in the sand and ignored it and now has to have biopsies and all that jazz. I still haven't figured out why they told her she MAY have cancer. I know that her pap smears are coming back abnormal but it is hard to get accurate medical information out of someone that isn't familiar with it!

Sarah, my SIL, has a lump on her thyroid. She had a biopsy done on it and has to go back for more tests in 6 months to see if it has changed at all.

And to top it all of my Mom was having some vision problems and went in for an MRI and was told she has a small brain tumor. She has to go back in 6 months to see if it has grown or changed then they will decide what to do.

Is that enough drama??

So busy here

Madison is back at school and really enjoying it this year! Last year for the first month she would cry when I dropped her off and then the rest of the year was spent with her little face pressed against the window waving until we were out of the parking lot. This year there is no crying and we get a quick wave out of the window and then she is off to play! Madison has also figured out how to pump her legs on the swing so now she can swing all by herself!! Madison is also taking swim classes at the YMCA. She doesn't like to go under water but her swim teacher already had her go under water and Madison was so proud of herself! She is really growing up!

Cooper is enjoying some classes as well while Madison is in school. He is taking an Early Explorers class that has art projects and gym time. He is also taking a soccer and lacrosse class and seems to be enjoying it. Cooper and I are also doing open swim at the rec center. He is already jumping into the water, going down the slide and going underwater! I can't keep him above the water anymore! He just keeps going under =) Cooper has also gone poop on the potty and peed on the potty. So hopefully soon he will be out of diapers! Although that is probably wishful thinking right now!

Wow, it's been 6 months already.

Today has been 6 months already since we lost Shana. For those that are new you can read it here. There still isn't any closure to what happened. We are STILL awaiting autopsy results. Tim and Dawn have been told that it is not a priority because it is not a criminal case. So we are still waiting.....

So much going on....

August has been such a very busy month for us! I guess we are tying to cram as much stuff in as we can before summer comes to an end.

Two weekend ago we had a fantastic time. That Saturday we went to my Aunt and Uncles (My Dad's brother and his wife) for a belated birthday celebration for Cooper. They are the kids Godparents but were on vacation when we had the party. When we got there my Aunt mentioned that she had invited her sister's family (her kids are 7,5 and 4). Which was great because I haven't seen A in at least 10 years. My Aunt then mentions that A just lost a baby last week. So I'm thinking a m/c until she starts talking about a funeral! Turns out Gerard passed away at birth. So A got there and when we were alone (or as alone as you can be with 6 adults and 10 kids!!!) I told her how very sorry I was about the baby. Her and I ended up sitting down and talking and crying for about 45 minutes. We missed dinner!! I certainly can't understand exactly what she is going through because I have never lost a child but I can understand a little bit because of what my brother and sister in law are going through. A told me that at her 20 week u/s they found out there was something wrong with the baby. They were thinking Down's Syndrome and decided that they would have an amnio just to know exactly what to expect. A came to terms with the fact that the baby was probably going to have Down's and they would all get through it. Turns out that Gerard has Trisomy 18 and would most likely die at birth. A said that the only thing keeping him alive was her. My Aunt's family is EXTREMELY religious. So the only option is to go full term and pray for the best. So for 20 WEEKS she knew that her baby was going to most likely die. I just can not imagine knowing that. It is heartbreaking. From my experience with Dawn I knew that A would most likely want to talk about Gerard. So we talked about her delivery and everything else. She showed me tons of pictures and my heart just breaks for them. She was allowed to keep Gerard in the room for 2 days. I didn't realize that they would let Moms keep their babies for that long. But A said that on day 2 she dressed the baby and called the nurse and told her to take him and run or she would not want to let him go. A is doing remarkably well and my heart goes out to them.

And then on that Sunday we went out to our friends Jeff and Kelly's house. Madison LOVES playing with their 4 year old daughter Kasey and their son is 2 also. They live up on a mountain in Naples with an awesome view of Canandaigua lake and they have 60+ acres. So the kids just ran and swam and had an awesome time! After dinner they got out the 4 wheelers and the dirt bikes and the kids rode on the golf cart and loved it! That was a fun night for sure!

This past weekend is the first time I have spent a weekend without children since Madison has been born. Yes she is 4 and a half!!!! Ryan and I went to PA for the weekend to go 4 wheeling and it was such a nice and relaxing time! It was really nice to spend alone time with Ryan. We are actually going back this weekend without the kids again! We are going with 3 other couples and I can't wait!!!!!

We finally found it!

Ryan and I decided long ago that we were going to bypass the local public school and opt for a *private school for the kids. We went to our first open house when Madison was 2! Yes, I like to plan ahead =) We have seen schools that were way too small. I mean 30 kids in the ENTIRE school. That was too small for us. We have seen schools that were AWESOME but way too much money. And by too much money I mean $17,000 a year per child!!! That is just crazy! Madison is headed to Kindergarten next year and I was starting to feel like we would never find a school that we liked.

My biggest thing was that I really wanted a school that was K-12. There was really only more school that we had left to look at and if that didn't work out then we were going to have to look at other options. We went Tuesday night for an Open house to Charles Finney and it was perfect! It was exactly what we were looking for. I am so excited that we have FINALLY found the school we were looking for. And the tuition for it is actually reasonable! I'm excited that we have found a good school for the kids and that it has a lot to offer academically as well as different clubs and for a smaller school it offers a lot of different sports as well. I'm really excited for the kids to go to this school!

I really wanted Madison to go to a half day Kindergarten and we have that option at this school which is awesome. However Madison will get out of school at 11:45 and Cooper will get out of preschool at 11:30 and it is about a 25 minute drive in between schools. So now I have to decide if I keep Cooper at the preschool that Madison went to and figure out a way to pick them both up or do I put Cooper into a preschool that is near where Madison will be going to school. Choices choices!!

*People get totally nuts when they find out that the kids won't be going to our local school. I think people have the thought that if it is good enough for my kids it is good enough for yours. So some "friends" would gossip behind my back pretty much saying I was a snob because the kids were going to a different school. There is nothing wrong with our school district and it is actually one of the best in the area. There are a lot of great things and not so great things about public and private schools. So I'm not here to debate the issue this is just our choice =)

That would have been nice to know LAST week!

My in laws visit every Wednesday. They come over after dinner and spend an hour or so playing with the kids. Last Wednesday we had them babysit so Ryan and I could go out. We can home and chit chatted for a bit about nothing and then they left. This past Wednesday they came over and said "oh by the way when we sat on the couch in basement last week we noticed that the dog has FLEAS"!!! Are you effing kidding me??!! You are telling me this now?! They said that they FORGOT! How the heck do you forget something like that! So today I went out and bought flea bombs for the house. We set them off before we left the house and we took the kids out to dinner and for ice cream. We only had to be out of the house for 2 hours so it wasn't too bad. I also picked up flea shampoo for the dog and he got rubbed down as well. I hope we got them all! It's just nasty nasty nasty!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Cooper turned 2 on Friday. I can't believe that my baby is two already! He is growing up way too fast. Part of me is sad to see him growing up so fast and not have him be my little baby anymore. He is such a little chatterbox! He is constantly talking and talk in sentences as well! He is going to be the class clown some day. If he gets a laugh out of you he will just keep doing it over and over, he loves the attention! He is so loving also. He loves to give "big hugs" and he will smack his lips at me for a kiss! He is still in his crib. More because I'm not ready to move him out of it than anything else. He is almost ready to start potty training. He knows when he has to go to the bathroom and tells me also. And his biggest change is no more binky!!

Madison had her binkys taken away when she turned 2. It was because her teething were shifting from the pacifier so the doctor said we really shouldn't give them to her anymore. We went cold turkey with them and she was perfectly fine. Since Madison's were taken away at 2 I knew that we would take Cooper's away at 2 also plus I could tell that his teeth were shifting from them also. But I'M NOT READY! When he wakes up he lays quietly in his bed with his pacifiers until I go get him. I didn't want to lose that! But it was going to have to be done! He was very excited for his Elmo cake for his party and I told him that after he had Elmo cake there would be no more binkys. I kept reminding him all week about the cake and binky. Saturday morning came and he stuck both pacifiers in his mouth (he would sleep with one in his mouth and one in each hand!!) and then he took all 3 into the bathroom and threw them in the garbage!! My heart was broken =) Naptime came and he was FINE! Not a peep out of him and the same at bedtime. He was such a big boy about it!!

He was very excited for his party! We had it at a local YMCA. They set up a bounce house and got out scooters and balls and the kids had a great time!! After they played for an hour we had pizza and then the big Elmo cake! Cooper would not even look at his presents until he had his Elmo cake, he was so excited for it! He was grinning from ear to ear when everyone sang to him. It was adorable! Present time was CHAOS!! Cooper was not interested in opening his presents at all! So Madison and some of the older kids were opening them. I had to put the brakes on that though when presents were being opened and the kids were walking away with the stuff and I didn't know who gave what! It was a great party though and all the kids had a great time!

Our PA trip

We had a GREAT time last month in PA. Here is how it went.

The kids did OK in the car. They were not interested in the DVD player AT ALL. They love play McDonald's so I did the trip locator for one. So we kept assuring them that we were stopping at one and they were very excited! So after 3 hours of driving we pulled into the play McDonald's. And surprise it was a regular old McDonald's! Well that didn't go over well at all! But they survived!

After we checked in to the hotel we went to Sesame Place. Cooper really enjoyed the rides! He was having a great time and did really well on them as well. Much better than I expected since he doesn't really sit still yet!






















Madison had fun but she has been to two local amusement parks near our house that has a lot of big kid rides which she loves! She prefers the roller coasters to the kiddie rides. The faster the better! So there were only two rides there that she really enjoyed. They had a roller coaster and another drop down ride that she loved!

We also had breakfast with Elmo. It was very pricey for the type of food that was served. Madison hated the characters!! She wanted nothing to do with them. She stood outside of the restaurant with Ryan while Cooper and I were inside. He did well with the characters. He would get his picture taken with the characters if I held him but wouldn't let me put him down!

All in all the park was really nice and really clean. I'm glad that we went.

We also went to the Philly Zoo. That was great! It is a really nice zoo. We got to see Giraffes and zebras and lots of things that we can't see at our zoo. Kids did really well again. We were there about 4 hours and then Cooper had had his fill and was done. So we headed back to the hotel and played in the pool and on the playground for the rest of the day.

We also went to Adventure Aquarium. We didn't get there till 11am since we went to Breakfast with Elmo first. And it was BUSY!! Busy is an understatement. There were so many people there that it was hard to get close to the exhibits and I wasn't comfortable with Cooper being out of the stroller. But Ryan and Cooper managed to get their hands in to the string ray tank and the shark tank! Madison and I didn't want any part of that =) We didn't stay at the aquarium long because there were so many people there. Had we gotten there earlier I'm sure it would have been fine.

Our last stop was the crayola factory. It cost $30 to get in (Cooper was free). I thought this was a bit pricey since it is basically a big store and then you get to paint, color, paste, etc... But the kids had a good time doing the crafts.

Overall the trip was really great and I am so glad that we went. Kids did great! There was pretty much no nap for Cooper the entire time we were gone (he still naps 3 hours a day). And they sat up giggling and talking at night also. It was really cute to listen to it!

The drive home was LONG! We were all tired and the kids were arguing and there was lots of yelling!

Next weekend we are off to Buffalo for a long weekend. We have a family reunion and then Madison and I have a bridal shower and then we are going to take the kids to another aquarium and to Niagara Falls!!

Fake Bloggers

There have been a few blogs that have been outed as fake the past few weeks such as the Baby April Rose hoax and the Cynthiaa/Aiden bug blog.

I admit that I got completely sucked in to Cynthiaa's blog. In the beginning of February she blogged that at 38 weeks pregnant she had lost her baby to a cord strangulation. I cried my eyes out as I read her posts about losing her baby. That is a loss like no other and a loss that you never get over. I couldn't imagine how you deal with such a loss.

It was only 3 weeks after Cynthiaa lost her baby that we lost our niece. My Sister in law went into labor at 32 weeks and Shana was born and lived for 3 hours before the angels took her. I contacted Cynthiaa for some advice on what to say/do for my brother and sister in law. She emailed me her thoughts and said she would be happy to talk to Dawn if I wanted to give her her contact info.

Not too long after she started changing the name of her blog and it pretty much was one day she was mourning the loss of her son and then all her blogs had to do with fashion finds. But everyone grieves differently so I didn't think much of it. Then a few weeks ago I clicked on her blog and she had made it private which was really strange. And then I was reading another blog and it was mentioned that Cynthiaa's was a hoax.

This bothers me GREATLY because we actually lost our niece and my brother and sister in law will never be the same. And for her to make up this story for readers and attention is deplorable. And thank goodness I did not pass along any contact info! Can you imagine how betrayed you would feel if you had divulged your feelings to someone that you thought was going through the same things to find out they are a fraud? I think that this fake blog bothers me the most because it is something that we are actually living through.

Happy Father's Day Ryan!

I want to wish my wonderful hubby a very Happy Father's Day! He works very hard to provide for us and doesn't get enough recognition for it! I am so blessed to be married to him and I love him dearly. He is a wonderful father to Madison and Cooper and I look forward to many more happy years! I love you!!

It's Highly Contagious....

I took the kids to the park this morning. And while I was pushing Cooper in the swing and Madison was whining about wanting to swing a Mom showed up with her kids for soccer practice. We will call her SM (sick Mom). So SM comes up to the Mom that is pushing her kid who is next to Cooper. We will call her HM (healthy Mom). So SM says to HM I think I need a doctor or a nurse. So my ears perk right up. SM continues to say look at my daughters hands she has a red rash on them and it has some blisters. HM says oh it looks like hand, foot and mouth disease and my kids have had that before. She then goes to say "IT IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS"!! And HM says I'm not crazy when it comes to germs so it doesn't bother me if SM stays at the park. What!?!? What about all the other kids?? So SM starts freaking out about how SHE doesn't want to get sick. Have I mentioned that her kids are running around the playground TOUCHING everything!

SM finally says "maybe we shouldn't be here" YA THINK!?! Does she go and get her highly contagious kids and leave? Nope! She continues to go on and on about how she doesn't want to get sick, how could this be happening to her, blah blah. I'm totally freaking out in my head because we are leaving for PA for vacation Tuesday. I say to Madison go get your cup we are leaving! And in her quiet 4 year old voice wants to know why we are leaving when we had just gotten there. Now I'm whispering to her to get her stuff we are leaving because there are sick kids there. And again in her quiet 4 year old voice wants to know why they are at the park if they are sick. I finally get them over to the car and douse their hands in hand sanitizer! And then gave them more sanitizer. Thankfully the kids weren't too close to the sick ones and I know that they didn't touch anything that the sick kids did. After we left we went to another park where Madison and Cooper were the only ones and they had a lot of fun!

Our Crazy Weekend

Last weekend was NUTS for us. Friday and Saturday I participated in a neighborhood garage sale. I also had 2 friends and my mother in law bring things over to sell. Thursday night my friend and I were setting up and she really had me worried! All these stories from people she knows. Like people showing up at 6am for a 9am sale. Or opening the garage door to find 40 people waiting for me and what not. I barely slept Thursday night I was so worried! I got up early on Friday (6am) and got everything set up and no one showed up till 9 and it was a steady stream but not the mad rush I was expecting. We did really well on Friday. It was steady all day. I got up at 6am again on Saturday to set up. I figured it would be busier on Saturday because people don't have to work. It's 7am and I am looking down the driveway and hanging out the window looking for people. Ryan was totally making fun of me! We didn't get our first customer till 10am! It was dead all day. It was not worth doing it on Saturday. Good to know for next time!

Sunday Ryan had a rock crawling event. Since it was so close to our house I went with him. (He usually goes to PA once a month to 4 wheel but I have never been there with him). He wasn't 10 feet on the rocks when he broke a bunch of stuff on his jeep. I'm talking $500 worth of parts (hazards of the sport!). So he was done for the day. We hung out for the day and watched everyone else and had dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant. We get home about 6ish and I said to him "can you get my stuff out of the jeep". (My purse and camera). I was still getting stuff out of the suburban when I hear a thud and him yelling for me. So I go hauling butt to the other side of the trailer and he is laying on the ground holding his head. And he is telling me his ankle hurts. I'm of course more concerned about the fact that he is holding his head! I finally figured out he didn't hit his head but when he jumped off the trailer he landed in a hole and busted up his ankle. So I help him hop into the house. He couldn't put any weight on it and we were concerned that he could have broken it. We argued about going to the hospital. He didn't want to go. We put the kids to bed and then he had to bleed a guys breaks before he would go to the hospital!! He is so stubborn!

The ER was REALLY fast! From the time we left our house till the time we got back was only 2 hours. I wheel him into the ER and the girl at the desk says "can I help you?" and Ryan says "I'm having a baby". LMAO!!! So we get signed in and Ryan is in the wheel chair trying to pop wheelies and we are kitty corner to this other girl. Well this girls friend shows up and she was interesting! She comes in and starts talking to this other girl saying how she is loosing her voice and her Mom told her she must be smoking too much weed and that is why she is loosing her voice! And the girl goes on to say how dumb her Mom is and that she isn't smoking weed. She then says that her Mom told her if she wasn't loosing her voice from smoking weed than she must be loosing it from having too much sex! (They couldn't have been older than 18 or so). It was so strange because after that little story she gets up and leaves.

Anywho, Ryan gets called back to triage and the nurse is asking questions and says "you live with your wife?" and Ryan says "currently"!!! He is too funny sometimes. After some x-rays it turns out it was a bad sprain. For our $100 copay he got an advil and an ace bandage! Better to get it checked out though. He was off of work for 2 days and he is almost 100%. Oh after we got home from the hospital we were both tired and all Ryan wanted to do was lay in bed and watch t.v. He turns on the t.v. and the fuse blows. TV won't work. I kid you not.

Our Memorial Day weekend (a few days late!)

We had a FANTASTIC Memorial Day weekend! Saturday I spent all day with Ryan, just the two of us! We went 4 wheeling for the day and then stopped and had dinner all by ourselves =)

Sunday was super busy. We left the house at 9am to go to Sugar Creek in Dansville. The kids had a great time! They went into the falls and played in the water for at least an hour. And the water was COLD. But they really had a great time. They had their clothes on in the water so I got them changed into clean dry clothes. And then they hit the playground and got DIRTY!! I mean covered in dirt dirty. And I had no more clean clothes with us and we still had 2 picnics to go to. So we left Dansville and headed to Honeoye to go to a picnic at my brothers. Cooper fell asleep on the way so we stopped at Walmart and I ran in and bought the kids new clothes! Didn't have much choice they were so dirty and we weren't going to head home since it was in the opposite direction.















And can I just say that it was REALLY hard finding shorts for Madison. All the shorts were super short and very inappropriate for her. But I managed to get her something. We spent a while at my brothers and then headed over to Naples for our last party. The party in Naples was at a friends house that I haven't seen since I was pregnant with Cooper. It was perfect because Madison and Casey are the same age and Cooper and Lucas are the same age. Plus there were a zillion other kids there. Madison was her shy self. After we had been there about an hour she ran over to the group of girls and sat down on the outskirt of the circle. She kept edging into the circle a little bit at a time and eventually was running around and playing with the other girls. This was HUGE! Madison is shy and tends to keep to her self and for her to willing join a group on her own was a big step for her. At preschool if one of the kids asks her something she usually won't answer them. At one point Casey turns to Madison and says "what's your name?" and clear as can be, and loudly, she says Madison!! I cried!! I was so floored that she joined a group and talked to them!! My baby is growing up!

All in all it was a great Memorial Day weekend!

Tea Parties, Trains and sand tables

I'm telling you that life is just too busy! I have no time to blog lately. Last weekend we were really busy. On Saturday Madison and I and her Grandmas went to the cutest tea party. The first part of the tea party was a little fashion show for dolls! Madison got to stand up in front of the room with her doll. The presenter told everyone the name of Madison's doll, what the doll was wearing and a special story about the doll. Madison brought her swim baby to class. She named her Emerson after a good friends daughter and Madison's baby can swim in the water by herself. Then Madison walked down the middle aisle. She did great! She actually stood in the front of the room all by herself which is huge! Then we went and had punch and some super yummy cookies! I ate way more than I should have =) They also did a raffle and had a TON of stuff to give away! Since I paid for everyone to go to the tea party the Grandmas paid for some raffle tickets. Madison kept asking me when she was going to get a toy. I explained to her that we needed to have a winning ticket and we may not win anything at all. But she did end up winning a very cute doll! The doll has a china face and hands and feet. As I am telling Madison shed needs to be very gentle with it she is twirling it around by the arm! LMAO! We really had a great time! Thanks Erin!!

Sunday we went to the Day out with Thomas the train. It was a lot of fun but it was COLD! We were in no way dressed appropriately! Winter hats and gloves were needed and we had neither. Both kids had colds and were feeling a bit off but still had fun. We got to ride on Thomas. Madison was as good as she always is and Cooper was very entertained for the ride. When we got back we did pictures with Thomas and then the kids did a bunch of the free activities that they had there and then Grandma and Grandpa said that they could both pick out a toy from the tent. So Madison got a Thomas the Train bubble blower and Cooper got a Thomas the Train boat for the tub. But I'm pretty sure that the favorite part of the day was when we pulled into McDonald's for lunch and it ended up being one of those play place ones. Madison's eyes got huge and she says "wow, I'm not hungry anymore. I want to play!" So they pretty much didn't eat but the rest of us got to relax and eat! Hopefully next year it won't be so cold and we can stay longer.

Madison got this sand table for her birthday. When I opened it it was EXTREMELY small. It took a 1/4 bag sand to fill both sides. But it was working. Until the kids leaned on it and the legs popped off. So after this happening 5 or 6 times I left it on the ground and they just sat on the ground to play with it. But my MIL was not happy that she paid $60 for a toy that doesn't stay together. She called Toys R Us and they wouldn't do anything because we didn't have the receipt anymore. She then called Little Tikes and they told her that people had complained about this happening and their recommendation is to place it on a flat surface and don't let the kids lean on it. Um yeah, so basically don't play with it and it won't fall apart! I ended up picking up this sand table for the kids and LOVE it! It is exactly what we wanted. My MIL is still working on getting a refund for the other table. Fingers crossed!!

Sweet Silence

Last weekend Ryan was out of town and next weekend he is going out of town again. From the end of April through mid June Ryan is out of town every other weekend. So I told him I needed a break this weekend. And by break I meant going to the grocery store by myself =) But Ryan decided I needed a real break and asked his Dad to take the kids today and also have them spend the night! So I dropped them off after breakfast and the rest of the day has been mine! I stopped at the mall (because who doesn't go shopping when they are all alone?!) and found these shorts. They are super comfy and have a wider leg on them! I sat in the food court and had lunch and read a little bit of a book I had just picked up from the library and then I stopped and had a reeses pieces sundae that was YUMMY! What do you want to bet that I gained back those 5 pounds I lost last month! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!!!!! And then Ryan and I are heading out to breakfast before we pick up the kiddos.

Madison was so excited when she got up this morning! She could not wait to leave for Grandma and Grandpas. I dropped the kids off and they didn't even look at me as I was leaving, they were having too much fun already!

It is strange to not have the kids with me! I usually only go out 2 times a month. One night Ryan and I go to a wine tasting and another night I go scrapbooking. Except for this week! This past Wednesday Ryan and I went out to dinner and then met up with his 4 wheeling friends for drinks (I didn't get to bed till 12:30am!!) and then last night Renae and I went to the Olive Garden for dinner and then went and had pedicures! So relaxing =)

I'll update after the weekend, it will be a busy one. Tomorrow Madison and I and her Grandmas are going to a Tea Party and then on Sunday we are taking the kids to the Day out with Thomas the Train and they are so excited that they get to take a train ride!! I can't wait to see their faces =)

I'm missing the kids already but the alone time is nice also.

Another shooting

Today there was a suicide at the local High school. The school that is 15 minutes down the road from us. We live in a small town and you think that something like that could never happen here. It scares me to death to know that a child was able to walk into school and kill himself in the bathroom. He had a modified shotgun with 30 rounds of ammunition and 2 Molotov cocktails. Thankfully no one else was harmed. But what was he doing with all of that stuff?? I am seriously afraid for the kids to go to school someday. School should be a safe place not a place where kids shoot each other or themselves. Condolences to the family that lost their son today.

The big day

Today was Dawn's due date. Today is the day that they should have happily been holding their healthy baby. Instead it has been almost 8 weeks since Shana died. The death of a newborn is different. People don't want to say anything to Tim and Dawn about Shana dying but obviously a baby was born. A baby was held. A baby was loved. A baby was lost. If Shana had been a week old or a month old you wouldn't hesitate to say I'm sorry for your loss. But since she never came home it is almost as if people don't want to acknowledge that loss. My advice to you if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of knowing someone that lost a baby at birth. Acknowledge that they were born. Tell the parents you are sorry for their loss. Acknowledge that a baby was born because her life is meaningful.

Spring Break

Last week was our spring break and it was awesome! The weather was perfect every single day. The kids and I had so much fun and were really busy all week. Monday Madison had gymnastics and we went out to lunch and then spent the afternoon playing outside. Tuesday we went to Jump Club and the kids had so much fun! It is smaller than Bounce it out but in a way there is more to do at Jump Club. At bounce it out there are about 12 bounce houses total. At Jump Club there are only 4 bounce houses but there is also a climbing/sliding apparatus and a toddler play area. The kids played for almost 2 hours at Jump Club whereas at Bounce it out I'm ready to go after about 45 minutes. JC was better suited for Cooper as well. Then we spent the rest of the day at a park near out house with my friend Renae and her daughter. Wednesday I asked Madison if she wanted to go to the museum. She wanted to go to the mall instead. She is so my daughter!! We ended up at Build a Bear and Madison made a cute pink monkey and Cooper picked out a panda. The rest of the day was spent outside. Thursday was going to be our quiet day. Cooper had a little music class but we also ended up at the bank and Home Depot for shelves for the garage. I'm tired of all the bubbles and buckets and stuff all over the garage so now everything is nice and organized! And of course the rest of the day was spent outside! And Friday we went to the zoo. This was Cooper's first time going to the zoo (not really he went last summer but he was too little). He loved it! He walked the entire zoo and kept saying more animals more animals!

Spring break was so nice and relaxing! I can't wait for summer! Last summer Cooper was so little and crawling and Madison would want to go to the park. I avoided the parks because he was crawling and eating grass and dirt and whatever else he could find! But now he is climbing the slides and playing right beside Madison and I just can't wait for a nice unscheduled relaxing summer. I bought us season passes for the water park near our house, we will also hang out at the beach and all the parks! Is it summer yet!?!

The only one

I have been avoiding writing this post because I am MAD! So so MAD! Last weekend Madison had a birthday party to go to. A few weeks before the party I called my friend and left a message saying that Ryan was not going to be home the day of the party and I was going to bring Cooper and to let me know if that was a problem. She called back and left me a message saying that she wasn't sure what she was going to do with her other child (why wouldn't she be at the party??!! It's at their house!) but if I HAD to bring Cooper than that would be ok. She would rather that I brought Cooper than have Madison not be able to come to the party.

After the kids played for a while it was craft time. These foam crowns where you put the sticker decorations on. All the kids sat at the table and Cooper wanted to do it too since Madison was. I waited till everyone sat down to make sure that there was enough. There were two extra spots. So I let Cooper sit down. Halfway through the craft she says to me "oh, I didn't expect Cooper to do one. I might have to take that away from him, is that ok?". Huh? Did you seriously just say that to me? Would it be ok to take something like that away from your almost 2 year old?! So whatever, I just let it go.

At the end of the party the kids headed for outside to do a pinata. She brings out the goodie bags. Which happen to be full size buckets and shovels. Pink for the girls and blue for the boys. Madison goes up to get a bucket for her and Cooper. She gets the pink one handed to her. And she continues standing there waiting for one for Cooper until there are NO buckets left. Madison comes back over and says to me "Why doesn't Cooper get one?" As my poor little Cooper stands there and says "bucket, bucket, me bucket, me bucket" and looks at me with those big round eyes. He keeps asking about a bucket as he is the ONLY one standing there without one. My heart broke as I told him we would go to Target and get him his own bucket.

It isn't like it was a surprise that I showed up at the party with him. I called two weeks ahead of time. This is the same person that is chronically late. Also, when we had Madison's party I told her she was welcome to bring her younger child and to just let me know if she was so that I had enough food and stuff. She called to say she was bringing both kids with her. So I paid an extra $14 for her second child to come (which was perfectly fine) and I went out and bought more goodie bag stuff for her so she wasn't left out. Wouldn't you know she showed up at the party with only the one child. And I even sent home the goodie bag for the other one.

I think that this is the last straw......

Scrapbook Pages

Over the weekend I went scrapbooking and completed 55 pages!! I mentioned before that I use an awesome system from Creative Memories. It is called the power layout and I LOVE it! Here are some pages I got done over the weekend. Lisha this is just for you! Now you better return the favor and share some of your pages! I always need ideas =)

Randomness

I have been so busy that I have not had time to blog. So this post is devoted to all the random stuff that has been going on!

A wii for mii!! A few weeks ago we were at my Mother in laws to celebrate some birthdays. She had gotten a wii for her birthday so we spent the night playing it and it was so much fun! My birthday present was supposed to be my cricut but we decided that we needed a wii also. Ryan picked up the wii for us, wii fit and guitar hero. We look like total morons rocking out on the guitars but it is so much fun!! And the wii fit is nice as well but it is apparently broken. It tells me that I am overweight. So it is broken. Right? Right?!? Stupid thing =)

Typically on a school day Madison tells me that she does not want to go to school that day. Well Tuesday she told me that she couldn't wait to go to school that day! I was excited because that NEVER happens. I mean once she is there she really enjoys herself but before we leave she usually says that she is too tired. And then when I do drop her off at school she stands at the window and we wave and blow kisses. She stands at the window and waves until we are out of the parking lot. On Tuesday we waved to Madison and blew our kisses and I buckled Cooper into his car seat. I turned around to wave some more and she was gone!!! My baby wasn't standing there wanting to wave to me. She is growing up!!

I went scrapbooking this weekend. It was sooo relaxing. I got 55 pages done!! This is the second time I have gone to this crop and the girls are really nice and it is just really nice hanging out and working on our albums and it was only $5 for the whole weekend! Jen had this great book for ideas for titles that if you are a scrapbooker you must get. It is called Ultimate guide to the perfect word. It is awesome! I was also talking to Michele and we were talking about spring cleaning and she recommended a website Flylady and it breaks your house down into zones to get a great spring cleaning!

Totally Clueless

The kids and I went up to the mall this morning. Ryan and I are going to dinner tonight and then over to one of Ryan's friends house to hang out. So I wanted to get something to wear. Well I ended up finding this adorable necklace at Penneys! It just screams springtime! And with the sale price and my coupon I only paid $8 for it!

Well after that we went to get lunch. As I was cleaning up from lunch this lady came over with her two kids and sat at our table. Which would have been fine if we weren't still standing there getting ready to leave!! Our coats and my purse were still sitting on the chair and the kids cups were still on the table. It isn't as though there weren't any empty tables. Because most of the tables were empty. I'm guessing she wanted our table since I already had the high chair there for Cooper. Apparently walking an extra 4 feet to the stack of high chairs was just too much! I proceeded to take my time getting the kids coats on and grumbling under my breath. She was actually standing there waiting because she couldn't sit down, you know because our stuff was still there!! I looked over and a lady at another table was watching and started laughing and just shook her head. What can you do? People are stupid. Here's your sign!!

Sesame Street

This morning was the show when Elmo Grows Up. It was OK. It wasn't as good as previous years. We have gone the past 4 years with the kids. What was great was Cooper's reaction to the show! He was so stinking cute! He was dancing in his chair and clapping. When Elmo would go backstage he would say "More More Elmo Elmo"!! He would also reach over while he was dancing and push Madison or myself until we were dancing with him! I had so much fun watching him enjoy the show. The people sitting behind him thought we was delightful as well. At intermission the lady seated diagonally behind him told me that she was watching him dance in his chair more than she was watching the show!

We actually made it through the whole show. It was an hour and a half so it's pretty impressive that Cooper sat (mostly) still for it. Madison enjoyed herself as well but the poor thing was so tired during the show! We decided it was time to leave when Cooper started taking his chewed up goldfish out of his mouth and giving them to me or wiping them on my sweater.

It was fun. If only the kid in the row behind us hadn't been kicking the seats the whole show. Grrrr!!

To go or not to go....

So here is my dilemma. I have a friend who is chronically late. And I'm not talking 5 or 10 minutes late I'm talking 30-45 minutes late. Every. Single. Time. I like getting together with her but I can't stand when I'm waiting around for people. It is my number 1 pet peeve. So today she was 35 minutes late. By that point we had already been there for 45 minutes. (I'm always early!). So I said that the kids and I would be heading to lunch in a half hour. She laughed and said already! Well yeah I've been here all morning! My kids are on a schedule and it works really well for our family. Cooper always goes down for a nap at 12:30. So I feel really bad that she shows up late and then after 15 or 20 minutes we have to go so that we can do lunch and nap time. I feel like a bad friend leaving right after she gets there but then again I was on time.

My other issue is another friend of mine. We used to get together all of the time. Now she regularly cancels on a regular basis. And she will cancel like 15 minutes before I walk out the door and I get the I have to run some errands. Which disappoints Madison because she was looking forward to seeing her friend and then I have to tell her that yet again we aren't getting together with them. So either I shouldn't ask them to get together or I shouldn't tell Madison until I'm sure they are going to show up.

So.. To go or not to go??

The Big Bad Water Park!

So this blog is going to be pretty long since I have had NO time to blog!

Madison's 4th Birthday Party
This past Friday we had Madison's 4th birthday party at Bounce-it-out. The kids had a GREAT time! They were all over the place bouncing and sliding. The adults had just as much fun! They were bouncing (which they got in trouble for =)) and sliding as well! Madison was thrilled because they had a huge blow up chair in the party room just for her! Madison got a TON of loot! For the most part the place was great about everything. Here where my two issues. 1) I specifically ordered 2 sheet pizzas (I had 25 people total there). What I got were 2 large pizzas. When I asked our party person she told me that they don't do sheet pizzas. I spoke to 4 different freaking people and every time I said sheet pizzas why the heck didn't someone tell me!!! Everyone got one slice of pizza. Oh well! And 2) My Mom and Mother in law went to the potty and while they were gone our party person lit the candles and everyone started singing Happy Birthday! I wasn't ready with the camera and the Grandma's weren't there! Oh well little things I guess. I would definitely have her party there again because everyone had such fun!! As we were driving to the party on Friday Madison said to us "Did you know that I'm almost 5 now?". LMAO!! We also decided to give her the bike on Friday since it was so nice out and she was beyond excited. She rode it up and down the driveway for an hour! She fell twice but got right back on!

The Big Bad Wolf Water Park
We had a great time at the park! We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. Madison calls it the Big Bad Wolf Water Park!

Sunday: We left our house at 10am. It is a 4 hour drive. At 10:30 Madison started with the whining of how much longer and she was tired from sitting. Neither one of them wanted to watch the movies I packed and were just bored and restless. We stopped for lunch about 11:30 because the kids were very restless and driving us nuts. We went to Burger King and they were running and ducking under the bars in line. Well the last time Cooper forgot to duck and ran right into the bar with his forehead! The rest of the ride to PA was spent with me twisted around in the seat with my arm in Cooper's car seat because he wouldn't. stop. crying! He is only allowed to have his pacifiers in bed so I didn't think twice about packing them in the suitcase. Well I found one in the console of my car but the stinker REFUSED to take it because it wasn't the same color as the ones he always uses!! He naturally fell asleep 10 minutes before we pulled up to the lodge! Good times! We spent about 3 hours in the water on Sunday. The kids had a great time. They both went down the kiddie slides and Madison was dying to ride the big slides! So she was just tall enough to ride all the slides but one. So her and I spent our entire time on the big slides. Madison is very shy and quiet but a complete daredevil when it comes to amusement parks and water parks. The bigger the better and the faster the better!!

Monday:
We got up and went out to breakfast and it didn't hit me until we got back that today was Madison's actual birthday!! Bad Mommy for forgetting! So I told her Happy birthday and she says to Ryan and I "What are you doing special for my birthday for me?". Ummm... aren't we already someplace special?!? And then she says "what are you giving me for my birthday?" and I reminded her about her party and her bike and a few other things. She says to me "that was for my other birthday!!" Madison and I spent 7 hours on Monday in the water. By 4pm I was EXHAUSTED from carrying the tubes up the stairs and feeling nauseous! I finally told her we were done and we had to find Daddy and Coop for dinner! Going up all those steps was a great workout! Cooper was pretty bored with the water because he couldn't do things on his own so him and Ryan spent most of the time running around the lodge.

Tuesday:
Madison and I went back to the watepark for a few hours before we headed home. I was so tired I couldn't wait to get in the car and head home! The trip home was much better. I kept Cooper's pacifiers out and he was happy with those and even slept for like a 1/2 hour. Madison watched the Jungle Gym all the way home (that is what she was calling the Jungle Book). We didn't have to stop at all!! So we made it home in about 3 1/2 hours!

We had a really great time at the park! It was well worth the money. Although the food was crazy expensive so we ended up leaving the lodge for all our meals but I would definitely go back when Cooper is a little bigger!!

One week ago today....

Our lives were forever changed. It is hard to believe that it has only been a week. Tim and Dawn are holding up remarkably well. As well as you can in this situation. Jeff and Sarah flew home to Hawaii and everyone is back at work. Wednesday the kids and I were back into our regular routine. Cooper has been VERY clingy the past few days. I don't leave the kids often (hardly ever) so for Ryan and I to be gone so much the past week was really difficult on the kids and Cooper hasn't wanted to let me out of his sight!

Wednesday I took the kids to Portrait Simple to get pictures taken since Madison is turning 4!! Well as you walk in there are lots of pictures on the wall and one little girl was wearing a dress that I bought a few weeks ago for Shana. Brought tears to my eyes. I have so much stuff here that I had bought for her. Toys for Christmas, her Baptism, her birthday and lots of clothes. Life sucks sometimes.

It is obviously hard for Tim and Dawn to look at a newborn and not think of all they have lost. Well a good friend of mine just had a baby 2 weeks ago. She mentioned to me today that she was thinking of bringing her new baby along to the party with her older child. And being that Shana has been gone for just one short week I had the horrible task of asking her if it would be possible to leave D at home. I feel like the WORST friend ever but I also have to consider my brother and sister in law. What would you have done people??

On a happier note Madison is very excited for her birthday party tomorrow! And she is more excited that we are leaving Sunday for "The Big Bad Wolf Water park"!! Yep that is what she is calling it!!! LMAO!!!!

Busy Busy Busy

This past weekend was very very busy and is the upcoming week.

Saturday I went scrapbooking all day it was a nice distraction. While I was there this girl told me that Joann's was having a sale on the Cricut. They are normally $199.99 and they had them for $99.99. I went over there right after I was done scrapbooking and I got the last one!! I am so excited. This is my early birthday present and as soon as I have a few minutes I can't wait to try it out!! Then I met Ryan and the kids at my Father in laws. We had a quick dinner of pizza and then Ryan and I left for Connecticut! We left at 6:30pm and got there at 12:30am. Ryan bought a Suburban off of Ebay that we were going to pick up. Picked up the car at 12:30am and found a hotel at 1:30am. Got up at 6am and headed home and got back home Sunday at 12:30pm! It was a very fast trip. We were in such a hurry to get home because I had my family coming over for dinner so that we could all get together before the wake and funeral. Yesterday is the first time I have seen my brother and Dawn since everything has happened. Dawn and I had a nice long talk and I finally got to see pictures of my Niece! She is beautiful! Last night was the first night since Thursday that I have gotten a good night sleep.

Tonight is Shana's wake and tomorrow is her burial.

I am looking forward to the end of the week. I think my whole family is. Among all the sorrow we will be celebrating Madison's 4th birthday! Her birthday party is Friday morning at Bounce it out! And on Sunday we are taking both kids to The Great Wolf Water Resort in the Poconos! We had planned this trip before everything happened and it will be a nice getaway from everything. We are leaving here Sunday after breakfast and we will leave the resort Tuesday after lunch. So Madison is very very excited about this trip! She already has all of her bathing suits out! She wants to bring everyone she has (there are 7 of them!). That should be plenty for 3 days I'm thinking! I have so much to do.

I need to get a few last things for the party on Friday plus I have to make a cake for her to take to school on Thursday and Saturday I need to bake another cake for some family that is coming over for another party for her. I also need to go shopping and stock up on snacks and juice boxes and stuff for the trip. Plus I need deodorant! Left my in CT by mistake, I've been using Ryans. I think I smell like a dude now! I need to wrap Madison's presents. We got her this bike and a few other little things. Her actual birthday is the 9th but we will give her the bike Saturday since we won't be home for her birthday! And my Aunt and Uncle bought her a set of twin American girl dolls with some outfits that I need to wrap (they were shipped here).

Now I am going to go get ready to go meet and say goodbye to my darling little Niece.

When will the tears end?

Thursday morning as I was getting the kids ready for the day my phone started ringing like crazy. It turns out my sister in law went into labor at 4am Tuesday morning. She was 32 weeks along. I got the call from my brother that my Niece Shana was born at 7:25am. He said that she wasn't doing well but they were hoping for the best. At 8:30am I got the call that my brother and sister in law were being taken upstairs to have Shana baptized and given her last rites and then she would be taken off the respirator. At 10:06am my Niece was taken by the angels into Heaven.

Tim and Dawn are living every parent's worst nightmare. The death of your child. What do you say to them?? I'm sorry just seems so inadequate. I have no words of comfort to give. I don't know what to say to make them feel better. I guess that nothing anyone says can heal their hearts only time will do that.

My 4 year old nephew got on the phone with his Mom, Dawn, and started crying asking if Shana was OK and when can she come home. He doesn't understand what is going on. This must make it extra hard for them.

As horrible as it has been the worst is yet to come. They have met with the people from the funeral home that suggested having her laid out Sunday evening so people can pay their respects. And then he suggested that Monday we have a private burial with just immediate family. They were told that the funeral will be very hard and they should not have a lot of people there. Just the thought of going this weekend is killing me. I don't want to see that impossibly small casket. Just as Tim and Dawn aren't ready to bury their daughter.

I dread this weekend like you can't believe however I will be there for them in any way that I can.

Your turn!

Here is a picture of Madison at her first dentist appointment. She was very excited for this. She did a really great job of it too! She did everything that Kara asked her to do and got a clean bill for her teeth! No cavities!! Kara also said that one of her bottom teeth is loose and not to be surprised if she loses it soon! I'm not ready for my BABY too lose a tooth! After we left the dentist she said to me "I'm surprised that didn't hurt at all!!"



Here are the RULES:

1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it

1) Courtney
2) Supahmommy
3) Erin
4) Bama
5) Sarah

My daughter is a pack rat!

Madison has a lot of crap treasures. She likes to keep every card she gets (and Grandma sends one for every holiday on the calendar), junky stuff we get from birthday parties (no offense Moms!). I lifted up her pillow the other day and she had a bunch of Kleenexes, hair clips, necklaces and even a fake rose we got at Disney on ice. She is the exact opposite of me in that regard. I throw EVERYTHING away! Just ask my husband, it drives him crazy! I once threw away the title to my car, really I did!

So Madison has 2 dressers and the one basically is a crap treasure holder. I decided to clean out the treasure holder today. She must have 50 blankets stuffed in that dresser. So I decided to send 3/4 of them to my brother who is expecting a little girl. Madison said that was OK. Then she wanted to know why I was also sending them her bibs, ummm because you are 4! I put her tap/ballet shoes in the pile to go and that didn't go over to well. She wants to keep them even though she can't wear them because they are 2 sizes too small!! As I was cleaning up the drawer and neatening (word?) up her doll stuff I pulled out a plastic Halloween coin. Here is our conversation:

Madison: What's that?
Me: Nothing, it's garbage
Madison: No it's not I need that!
Me: What is it?
Madison: I don't know but I need it. (And lovingly puts it back in the drawer).
Me: OK (Madison turns around and I lovingly put it under the pile of garbage!).

I cleaned just the one dresser and ended up filling an entire laundry basket with stuff to give away or garbage.

I just got Madison up from rest time and she had broken her headband. I told her to bring it downstairs to put in the garbage but she wants to keep it! Now how are you gonna wear a headband that is in 3 pieces!?!

There is too much crap treasures in this house!!!

Awww fuuuccckkkk!

Courtney and Lisha suggested Jillian Michaels exercise video to tone up! Ladies it is awesome! They said if I was doing it right I would say "awww fuuucckk". One of the first things they have you do it jumping jacks. Now, I have had 2 kids my bladder doesn't function quite as good as it used to! So there I am doing jumping jacks and seriously hoping that all the bouncing doesn't make me pee my pants! I do my jumping jacks then we do the jump rope and now I am thinking "thank god it's over" and she says now do jumping jacks again!! I stop and what do you think I said "fuuuccckkkkk!!!" Then I'm laughing hysterically thinking of what you guys said! It was quite the sight to see!

The push ups were a bit difficult. I had carpal tunnel surgery on my hand in October so it hurt to put pressure on it but I powered through! I LOVED this video! I have turbo jam which are basically dance moves with kicks and punches. I have NO coordination so it didn't really feel like I was getting a work out because I couldn't get the moves right. But this.... I finished an hour ago and my legs are still seriously quivering! This is nice because it is basic old school moves that don't require coordination and I KNOW I got a good workout! I may not be able to get out of bed in the morning and or sit on the potty without it hurting!!

I made it through the grueling 20 minutes and I will be back for another ass whooping tomorrow!

Jillian and I have a love-hate relationship now. She loves to kick my butt and I hate her for it!!! But if this doesn't get me toned up nothing will!

"You're a good Mom"

That is what Madison said to me on Thursday! My heart just melted into a pile of goo! I asked her why she thought I was a good Mom. She said that it was because I had gotten out the paint and paintbrushes and she was able to go to town with them! She had paint all over her hands. She literally painted her hands with the paintbrush! She also painted pictures for all the Grandparents. She was having so much fun and she kept saying over and over what a good Mom I was. It is so nice to hear that sometimes! Especially since I am the one that always has to be the mean one that says no to things!




And on to a totally different subject. Anyone have any suggestions on toning up? You know the arms, legs, BELLY! I walk on the treadmill daily which is great for keeping my weight even but it doesn't do much for toning up which is what I would really like to do. Any suggestions would be great!

Ithaca is gorges!

For Christmas I got Ryan 2 tickets to go see Josh blue (from Last Comic Standing). So yesterday we dropped the kids off to my Mom and headed to Ithaca. Ryan suggested stopping at the outlets in Waterloo since we were going right by there. He needed new work boots and I wanted to stop at the Children's Place. They were having an awesome sale!! I got Cooper 9 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of jammies, a hat and a tie. And Madison got 3 pairs of jammies, 4 dresses and 6 shirts all for $115!!! Ryan couldn't wait to get out of there, I had him loaded down with all the clothes!

We got into Ithaca and went to the hotel. After we checked in we headed to the restaurant in the hotel for some lunch. We were so hungry we ordered 3 different appetizers! After that I was STUFFED. We went back to the room and relaxed for a bit. After that we went to visit a friend that works at Ithaca College. He gave us a tour of the campus and it is really pretty up there.

After that we went back to the hotel to relax. We then headed out to dinner and went to the show. The show was hilarious!! Eric James and Josh Blue were both hysterical! I was laughing so hard that I was crying! We had a really great time.

I was hoping for a great night of sleep and looking forward to sleeping in. Well that didn't happen. The mattress was like a ROCK! I am used to our very comfy sleep number mattress and the mattress there definitely was not! I think I woke up about once an hour. And in addition to the rock hard mattress we were right next to the vending machines. So every time someone got ice it woke me up (why do you need ice at 3am anyways?!). Then I was awake for good at 7am. So much for a good night sleep and sleeping in! My back was killing me!!!

But all in all we really had a great time! It was nice to spend the day/night with just Ryan. As for the title of this, I just couldn't resist! On the way to Ithaca Ryan was laughing about their slogan and it was also a butt of one of the jokes last night so I just had to name it that!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello terrible twos, goodbye sanity!!

Ugh! Cooper was just terrible this afternoon! He did not want to listen. They were in the tub and he kept standing up. So the millionth time I told him to sit down or he would get hurt, can you see where this is going, he fell forward and hit his mouth on the tub. Cut the inside of his lip on his teeth. Blood everywhere, him crying. So I get him out of the tub to hug him and the stinker pees all over me!! And I do mean all over me.

*The rest of the afternoon was spent with him hitting Madison. He just kept bugging her and hitting her with his flash light. I have started putting Cooper in time out. He is almost 19 months old so it doesn't really work that well. I make him stand in the corner and I stand behind him to keep him there. But he will turn and look at me with that little devil grin! Or he will do something and then run over and put himself in the corner. So he sees it as more a game right now. And then I had Madison telling me every two seconds what Cooper was doing wrong. Which was lovely. So now we have terrible twos and tattle taling.

*Both kids have had colds and typically NEVER fight or hit each other. They play very nicely together and are always hugging each other. Cooper is also getting his 2 year molars so maybe that contributed to his pita status today!

Ahh... Sweet relief!

As you may remember right before Christmas the roof fell in on Ryan's shop. Thankfully it was fully insured. Being that we don't have credit cards or car payments we are able to save a good amount of money each month. So we went ahead and rebuilt the shop without waiting for the insurance check. We basically used every penny we had to rebuild. And it looks awesome! But now we have no money!
(Here is the old shop with the roof missing)

(Here is the new shop, mostly finished.)

Since it was such a big check the mortgage company decided that they would keep the check and we could get 3 draws on it. (Basically 1/3 of the check at a time). They kept telling us that the check was on the way. It took about a month and a half to get the first draw of the check. In the meantime I am stressing big time over it! Every day I'm checking the mailbox for the damn check. I'm not spending any money at all. And people I LOVE to shop!!! I went to the dentist for a cleaning last week and they told me that I was grinding my teeth in my sleep and I must be stressed about something! I'm stressed about the check all right. Well when I got home from the dentist there was a $7,000 check waiting for me!!!! Woo hoo =)

So the next day I hit up Target for some much needed stuff. I needed a new humidifier and the kids both got rain boots and various other things. I left $150 poorer than when I walked in but boy was it nice to spend some money!! I was able to order up a bunch of scrapbooking stuff and Ryan and I went shopping tonight and I got myself some new things for the summer and picked up a bunch of stuff for the kids for summer as well.

Have I mentioned I LOVE to shop!?! I could go shopping everyday! Now we are just waiting for the remaining 2/3 of the check. We may do our addition this summer with the rest of the insurance money. We want to put a master bedroom and bathroom over the garage and turn one of the bedrooms into an office/craft room!

Maybe I will stop grinding my teeth now.....

Ghetto Scrapbooking

So I have gone scrapbooking the past three weekends! I usually go one Friday night a month but there were a bunch of crops this month and with Ryan rebuilding the shop he didn't have cars to work on so I was able to get out more this month.

I enjoy scrapbooking. It is relaxing and I'm out of the house but I am still creating something for my kids. In the past 3 weeks I have completed 114 pages!!! I use this awesome power layout from Creative Memories and I can get a ton done! Madison's book is caught up to her 3rd birthday party (she will be 4 in March) and Cooper's is done up through 15 months (he just turned 18 months) so that isn't too bad.

The past two weekends both crops were at churches. It was a bit chilly but not too bad. There was a TON of food. I'm talking doughnuts, bagels, chips, candy, pizza, ice cream cake, etc. Lots of snacks, drinks and just lots of stuff period! They had nice comfy seats, big tables and good lighting. Fast forward to today. It was at a Community center that was pretty dumpy and holy crap was it cold! By lunch time I had my coat on with my arms wrapped around me trying to stop the shaking because I was that cold! I thought I would have some hot chocolate to warm me up so I grabbed a pack of cocoa mix and poured the water in my cup and the water was yellow. Seriously, it was yellow!! Wasn't drinking that. They finally brought in some space heaters and since one was right next to our table I finally warmed up a bit to scrap some more. I was starving since they didn't really have much for breakfast so when they said lunch was ready I was up like a shot! I walked back there and it was a tray of meat (no cheese) and a couple bags of bread (no rolls) and some soup. W.T.F I was hungry! I don't like bread. So my lunch was a bagel! They didn't have any bottles of water. They put out a pitcher of ice water. Once the ice melted in my cup there was crap floating in it from the ice cubes! Yummy! Maybe I am spoiled by the other crops I go to but I don't think that is it!

By about 3ish I was tired and feeling very unmotivated. I thought it was just from scrapbooking 3 weekends in a row and not spending time the Ryan and the kids. But as we were playing in the basement I was looking at my scrapbooking stuff thinking it would be nice to work on it some more tonight so I think that my lack of motivation was due to my surroundings!!

I don't believe that I will be going scrapbooking there EVER again!!

Honest Scrap Award

Lisha and Courtney tagged me in their "Honest Scrap" post. Thanks!! I feel so special!

The honorees are to:
A) First list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

Here goes!

1) It took 3 years to go through nursing school. I then worked only a year and a half before I quit to stay home full time with Madison.

2) When I was a child I wanted to be a pediatrician and then when I graduated from High school I was accepted into a pre-pharmacy program.

3) Being a Mom is the hardest job in the world!

4) I hate how my belly sticks out. I look like I am 5 month pregnant still. Seriously.

5) I love to read. I wish I had more time to lay on the couch with a good book.

6) I truly enjoy being a Mom and wife.

7) When I was 16 I was in a car accident. When I was 18 they tried to sue me for millions of dollars. They got nothing.

8) I think of the baby that we lost often (I miscarried in between Madison and Cooper).

9) I don't do enough things for myself. Therefor I am EXHAUSTED!!

10) I am the obnoxious Mom at preschool that is signed up first for every activity they need help with!!!

I don't know too many bloggers. I won't retag you all. So here are a few:

Sarah
Debby
Erin

That's it! Those are all that I have to tag! (Since Courtney, Lisha and Cheryl have already done this!)

Priceless

Today Madison and I went to Disney on Ice. We had a great time!! It was Madison, myself, my Mom, my Sister-in-law and my nephew. Madison's favorite was Belle and I think that my favorite was Toy Story. So here is the run down.

5 Tickets $150.00 on Debit Mastercard

Lunch at Mcdonalds before the show $18.00 on Debit Mastercard

2 Programs at the show $30.00 on Debit Mastercard

A Cinderella barbie and buzz lightyear toy $32.00 on Debit Mastercard

Snacks and drinks for the show $46.00 on Debit Mastercard

The expression on Madison's face as Belle came out- PRICELESS!!

She was just in awe of Belle and didn't take her eyes off of her the entire time she was on the ice. She LOVES Belle!

(BTW- Thank goodness it wasn't MY debit card!! Thanks Mom!!!)