April 23, 2009

For Christmas, Santa brought the children both bikes.  During Christmas break, I took them to the park to learn to ride them. 

Sarah wants NO part of riding her bike.  It has training wheels but it’s too high up.  She can get on but can’t get down, so she is too scared of her bike. 

Nathan is old enough to ride without training wheels.. he’s scared too.  We tried and tried but he just kept falling over so we quit for the day.  I’ve brought up several times about riding bikes and they both almost cry.  So glad Santa brought them, huh?!?!

Today, Nathan brought his bike out of the garage and just started riding!  Wha, Wha, What??!?! He practiced several times in the back yard and then we went out front.  Mind you that we are on a huge hill so I really didn’t want him out there alone “trying” to ride.  He did GREAT!!  Better than the fact that I am proud of him.. HE is proud of himself.  Way to go, little man!

April 22, 2009

Sarah and I met up with Tina today.  We ran some errands, swapped some goodies and had lunch at the food court in the mall.  We got some great deals, for Sarah mostly.  She’s so girly!  She insisted she ride the merry go round at the mall and don’t you know, I forgot my camera! GASP! How dare I?!?!  Good thing Tina can email pictures from her cell phone!

 

Even the horse was saying “Cheese”!  $1 for 1 ride.  Isn’t that pricey?  What happened to these rides being a quarter?  I’m I really that old?  Geesh!

 

 

Oh yeah, I did get these super pretty Gerber Daisies for the front porch.   I just couldn’t resist them.  I need to get more but 1 was enough for today.

April 21, 2009

Have you all had a bunch of rain lately?  We sure have.  Seems like every time Nathan has a game scheduled, it rains.  Today we got a very nice treat.. a rainbow!  We stayed outside and watched it change……

  

The middle was very faint so I took both ends….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is so neat to watch the sky change!  Here the ends were so bright but the middle totally disappeared…  

 

then the sky just ate up the colors with some jagged looking orange cloud…

April 20, 2009

OMG!!  The seeds are growing already!!  The children are so excited we have to look at them… up close… several times a day.  Now they think it’s a competition on who’s plant grows the most.  It’s insane.  But they are having fun growing something and I’m loving their fun! 

I guess I can have brown thumbs and they have green ones!  COOL!

April 19, 2009

 

Let me first say that Sunday is not a fun day.   I get up before the kids and head out to Wal-mart to get my food shopping done.  I pick Sunday because Steve can stay with the children.  BUT, before you can put everything away, you have to clean out the extra water in the fridge. 

Here is the story… Stephen’s Mom gave us a fridge when we moved in this house.  What a blessing that was!!  It’s a normal fridge, nothing fancy.  We love it.  About a year ago, I noticed that water would trickle out of the bottom.  My investigation lead me to see that water leaks down the back (inside) of the fridge, under the bottom drawers.  When it gets full, it trickles down on the floor.  Out come the drawers, I sit on the floor and sponge it up into a bowl.  This has become Sarah’s most favorite thing to help me with.  I either have to do it while she’s sleeping or just let her do it.  She does a good job actually, she just takes a long time to get done!  Here she is helping me this week.  No comments on her outfit.. it’s Sunday! :-)

April 18, 2009

WOW!!  Look what Stephen got me for our anniversary….

 

Aren’t they gorgeous?!?!?!  I was very surprised when they were delivered.  He hasn’t gotten me flowers in YEARS!  I started to feel bad then remembered I brought him home a surround sound speaker package for the computer.  John hooked that up today and man it is loud.

If you look closely, you can see a white paw behind the vase.  That is Patches coming to check out my flowers.  I had to move them off the table after I realized she was eating the babies breath.  Dang cat!

Extra Fun!!!

It's time for the next favorite things swap in Mamarazzi's blog!! I'm so excited to join in this time. I can't wait to meet a new friend and share MY favorite things. Come join the fun if you can!

April 17, 2009

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!!

15 years ago today, Steve and I met.  10 years ago today, Steve and I got married.  I was shocked when he proposed in January and I realized that the coming April 17th would be on a Saturday.  Talk about planning quickly!  3 months to put together a wedding.  Could you do it?  It wasn’t easy but I did it!!!  (yeah me!)  I did have amazing help.  My mother in law had the rehearsal dinner at her house.  A close friend of my mom’s did our photography, I just had to buy the film and develop it myself.  Our friend, Ed was our DJ.  My roommate from college, Lara, flew here from AZ with our tiered cake on dry ice.  We decorated it with editable flowers and each layer was totally different… Steve and I got the one bite in the beginning and all the rest was GONE!  My sister helped buy beer and wine.  We found a place in a local park and it didn’t cost much.  I know I’m forgetting who else helped us that day and I’m sorry.

I find that I love my husband just as much as I did 10 or even 15 years ago.  He’s the man of my dreams, the father of my beautiful children, and my very best friend.  I would be lost without him.  I look forward to the next 10 years and the next and the next!!

I love you, Stephen!

April 16, 2009

Cleaning the attic has brought out not only memories but treasures.  I've been wanting to give these to Sarah for a while but since my mom’s attic was mass confusion… Ok, I’m over that, sorry.

Here are MY Barbies.  Her hair isn’t the prettiest anymore but at least she still has her figure.  Ken (I think) still looks good in his leisure suit.  Steve laughed at the whole leisure suit idea but hey, I was a kid in the 70’s!

I am sort of rethinking the whole idea of Sarah having them.  Tonight, she stepped on one of the other dolls and broke her leg right in half.  Maybe these are better left in the attic for Sarah to find in another 30 years.   Who knows, I may have a fortune here and don’t even know it.  Nah, I doubt it.

April 15, 2009

Spring is here, a bit chilly still, but here!  The kids and I planted some seeds today.

Mini sunflowers in the yellow pots, sweet peppers and tomatoes in the others.  Nathan and Sarah got into it pretty good.  We will just see how well all the plants grow.  My thumbs are both very brown so if they look like this in a month…. don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

April 14, 2009

I’ll tell ya what, getting back from vacation is NOT easy.  I’ve been running like crazy since we pulled in the driveway on Sunday night. 

Today is “tackle the boxes” day.  Since I helped clean out my mother’s attic, it’s time to put some things in mine.  I brought back just a couple boxes of memories.   This is a memory I had not forgotten about but did not remember where it was.  Do any of you remember him?????

It’s Adrian Zmed from T.J. Hooker.  I went to junior high with his niece, Debbie.  Goodness, that was in 1983-4 and he was H.O.T.   I know I had this picture on a wall in my room!!  Steve and I just saw him on a show with Scott Baio giving “has been” stars a second chance.  Man, I’m old! Geesh.

April 13, 2009

There was a HUGE pile of mail waiting for me when I got home.  Guess I should have taken a picture of that but I didn’t.  I figured that this was more exciting….

This is what I won on Sarah Green’s blog!!  The bag is super cute, don’t you think?!?!?  And she had the clear stamps inside… LOVE those.  Then she made this super cute card!  Oh the fun of blogging just gets better and better every day!! :-)

Thanks so much, Sarah!!!

April 6 – 12, 2009

Spring Break! Yeah! Vacation! Yeah!  Drive 5 hours. Boo. Listen to “are we there yet” 1 million times.  Boo.  

I’m going to recap the week so I don’t have to do each day since a few of the days were “same thing, different day”.  So, this is gonna be long.  You might want to scroll down and just look at pictures!  Off we go….

 

We started our vacation with a trip to Bi Lo.  My parents eat out a lot so there wasn’t much to eat in the house.  I have never seen such small potatoes!  How cute, huh??!?!?!  I made sure to get some yellow onions in the shot so you can really tell how small they are.  You wouldn’t have to mash these, some of them are a perfect mouth full.

 

How about these little baby pineapples?  I wanted to buy one so bad and bring it home for Stephen but at that price??  After peeling and coring it, is there any fruit left?  Here a picture speaks a 1,000 words.  Those are grapefruits next to the pineapples.  Amazing!

That night, Sarah wanted to watch a movie.  Since we  borrowed a portable DVD player from Tina  (thanks, Tina!) I set her up.  My mom had this car seat in the house so why just sit on the carpet when you can relax in a comfy chair?  Looks to me that life is good for Sarah!

 

 

Now, on to the main reason for heading South!!  Off to clean the attic.  I admit that I forgot to take a picture before we started but in my defense, 2 people didn’t fit up there when we first started!!  So here is our progress….

Here is the view from below.  I had my mom “stage” boxes to come down.  This view changed many times before it was all said and done.

 

Here is the view sitting at the top of the stairs.  When I took this, I was very scared to get much closer.  I did find a spot to take this….

And here is where I took the next couple pictures so we could tell the true progress.  Just look.  Box after box after box.  Most of them have been up here for so long that we were able to just throw the whole thing in the trash without going thru it.  My mom wants to shred the papers that they kept up here but if they do it themselves, it could take 2 years!!!  So, they found a company in town that will shred their papers for a very reasonable price!  Ok, next day…

 

Looks pretty good, huh?!?!  The last picture holds the boxes that were mine.  I found 5.  I kept 2 and 3 went to Goodwill.  Pretty good if you ask me.

 

 

And here is our final attic!  I am so proud of my mom for getting it to look so neat and tidy.  She has sections now so she will know where to put things when she adds to this.  Not sure that you can do much up here but at least you can walk without tripping.  All total it took us THREE DAYS to get this clean.  I’ll be checking this attic every time I visit and it it’s a mess I’m gonna have to hurt someone!

 

Since we got our job finished, we drove up to Mooresville, NC to shop at the Scrap Shack.  Very exciting to shop at another local scrap store and the fact that Teresa Collins is going to teach there on May 6th!!  They had her flyer on the counter and said I could buy a kit since I couldn’t be there in person but I just couldn’t do it.  $72 is a bit much for a kit in my budget.  But I did get some super cute things!!  We went on to the Stamper’s Alley and bought a few other things there.  Now THAT store is way super cool!!!  I will be going there again in June with more spending money!  I did buy a stamp set from My Favorite Things.  I still haven’t unpacked my scrap things but when I do, I’ll share.

 

We had Nathan do the same pose as he did when he was a toddler…..

How cute is he?!?!?  Love it!!

 

 

 

Nathan asked Papa Pete to take him to play frisbee golf.  It was very windy but otherwise, a very pretty day on Saturday.

Nathan did super!   One of the holes, he beat Papa Pete.  We will have to get some frisbees so we can practice here.  I saw a park up the street that has a course.  Then when Papa Pete and Mae come to visit, we can challenge them to a re-match.

We hung out with Mae and Papa Pete most of the day on Saturday.  I got some good shots of them all together….

 

Before we left on Sunday, we took some pictures with Bubbie and Grandpa.  The kids were very silly so we didn’t get too many before we hit the road…..

Ya know what I didn’t get?  A picture of just me and my mom.  We don’t have too many of just the 2 of us and I’m sad I didn’t take one this time.  We will be back in June so I’ll be sure to get one then!

 

 

The 5 hour trip is so boring and long.  The kids kept busy watching movies and playing their DS games.  This was a very good site to see……

April 5, 2009

Getting ready for our trip to the Carolinas!  I’ll be helping my mom clean out the attic since she hasn’t done it in probably 15-20 years!!!  We will visit both sets of grandparents while we are there but sadly, no cousins.  This is the first time in 3 years that both schools are on spring break at the same time.  Funny that we are heading down there and they are heading up here!  They planned a trip to Williamsburg.  Bummer that we will miss them but I think we are getting together Memorial Day weekend.

April 4, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUNTIE SUSIE!

My aunt lives in Arizona.  I don’t get to see her but I love her so.  She’s got scleroderma and she’s one tough lady!

Today I got out in the yard to capture all the little flowers that are blooming.  My camera isn’t so good with tight shots so some of my pictures a bit blurry.  I kinda like it that way.

Here is my favorite picture from today…. 

This bush is right outside my bedroom window.  The blooms are pretty big but they don’t last too long.  Some of them have already fallen to the ground.  Where was I?  Oh well, spring happens fast so don’t miss it!!

April 3, 2009

I got my hair cut today… finally!  I’ve been letting my bangs grow out, and I can’t take it anymore!  This is Nathan taking our picture so we were posed forever.  Not totally sure I’m happy with the cut but Elena said I could come back if I wanted and she’d fix whatever.  She’s too sweet!

I went a couple doors down from the salon and got my eyebrows waxed after.  It was nice to get pampered at least a little.

April 2, 2009

I have carpal tunnel in my right hand.  It is very painful when it flairs up!  I have been dealing with the pain this time for 2 weeks now and some times during the day the pain is amazing. 

This all first started last year with tendonitis in my thumb and 1st 2 fingers.  It’s just gotten worse and I will eventually need surgery.  My Doctor is trying to help me avoid that, so he’s given me cortisone shots.  My very first one was January 19th.  He wasn’t very pleased that my pain has returned so quickly.  Today, he gave me a little more in the shot than last time.  He’s hoping I stay out of pain much longer than 2 months! 

Have you ever gotten a cortisone shot?  Well, I hate shots to begin with.  When the needle pierces my skin.. not so bad.  It’s the injection part that HURTS LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Last time it burned and stung at the same time.  This time, I could feel it pulsing into my fingers.  But, cortisone is thick, so when he first injected it, he couldn’t get it to inject.  He had to take it out, squirt some, and pierce my wrist AGAIN!!  Now I just have a little over 24 hours for the tingles and wrist pain (where I got the shot) to go away and I’m good! :-)  Happy once more… for how long??????????????????????

Here is a view before I turned my head.  If you look, you can see where he made a pen mark for the injection on my wrist…..